Michigan Politics

Michigan Political considerations.

Conservative News, Democrats, Detroit, Elections, Firearms, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Republicans

Is Congressman Mike Bishop Abandoning The Second Amendment?

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And the rest of the conservative agenda?

Michigan 8th District U.S. Congressman Mike Bishop’s campaign website has been scrubbed updated to remove any mention of the Second Amendment from its Issues page. Or anything else remotely controversial in the conservative agenda. His new campaign website Issues page has a bunch of anodyne pablum, but no mention of firearms:

His new, Second Amendment free, Issues page

His previous, 25 September 2017, Issues page:

2nd Amendment
Supporting our 2nd amendment right to bear arms, Mike Bishop championed right-to-carry legislation, received A/A+ rating from NRA and is personally a gun owner with a CPL.

The Rochester Republican has not made any public statements indicating changes in his position on the Second Amendment, but the update of his campaign website speaks volumes.

Bishop faces no opposition in the August 7th Republican Primary, but tough Democratic opposition in the November 6th General Election. Chris Smith, a labor-backed professor at MSU’s School of Criminal Justice, and Elissa Slotkin, an Obama Administration DoD appointee, are both running. The winner of this Democratic primary match up is expected to be well funded in the Fall.

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Cronyism, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Philosophy, Rent Seeking

Blowing Us Away

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Only SANCTIONED thievery is allowed in Michigan's cronyism environment.

It wasn’t just Granholm.

Rick Snyder got the ball rolling back not too long after Jennifer Granholm was blushing behind a privacy screen on the dating game, but well before she became our state’s executive Monte Hall.

Rick Snyder was the first CEO of the MEDC, and don’t let this fact escape anyone.

The MEDC has given BILLIONS of dollars to ‘winners’ since its inception in the 90s.  Granholm was certainly more embarrassed however, to find out that it was the MEDC under her watch which gave $9 million to a guy running an international corporation out of a trailer in flint. He just got out of prison.

That guy didn’t really have a business, and he went to jail.  He didn’t create the jobs and suffered penalties for fraud.

Of course there were others who abused the system and also paid.

But then there were others who legitimately, and legally stole from us under Rick Snyder’s creation, have not created those jobs, and none are screaming for heads. (free market minute audio here)

Why do you suppose that is the way its done?

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All the Other Stuff, Conservative News, Cronyism, Democrats, Elections, Government Incompetence, Liberty, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Pensions & Retirement Benefits, Republicans

And the real difference here is?

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Sitting down and catching up on my reading and talking head shows, I’m quickly reminded of the shallowness in today’s society when I’m watching things that clearly aren’t what they appear to be on the surface.

I’ve caught snippets of the “organic” and “student-led” anti-gun protests in DC and Detroit.

Pretty impressive for something that by all accounts was organized by a bunch of high school students.

From the professional stage and media system all the way down to the smallest details like the printed lanyards/backstage passes to the “I call BS.” & “I will vote” pins/stickers, it’s not too shabby.

But, I’ve attended more than a few high school drama productions in my time.

Those kids put plenty of heart and certainly a lot of effort into their sets and performances…but nothing even remotely like I saw on TV. That was light-years beyond the skill sets of those kids…especially when done in the span of about one month!

And then you have the democrats making another go a tipping the elections in their direction. Their ideas aren’t working, their candidates are uninspiring (unless you like getting free things), so they’re changing things up.

Much like the similarly “organic” Voters Not Politicians, their latest attempt is a group called Promote the Vote, which much like VNP, certainly has a lot of democrats behind the scenes pulling the strings.

But that’s just crazy talk, they’ll respond.

This is a legitimate extension of the outrage from the electorate…or some other silly nonsense along those lines.

Silly nonsense now being spewed forth by a certain political party which had lost its way long ago…and apparently never correctly learned the lessons from history.

{More about who they are below the fold}

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Michigan Politics

Saturday Cinema – Free Speech

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There is no question we are blessed to live where we can opine, joke, be completely idiotic and shoot our mouths off without facing a judge.

This particular matinee has little to do with Michigan, unless we step back and recall the attempt by a Michigan lawmaker to limit blogging to ‘professional journalists.’ But it is relevant, funny and sad all at the same time.

Do not watch if you are easily offended, take things the wrong way, or are somehow connected to the British law enforcement system, just in case I decide to travel overseas someday. Otherwise enjoy.

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Government Incompetence, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Philosophy, Republicans

Yet Michigan Republicans Continue To Fund The Beast

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Leftist indoctrination centers long on cash, yet short on real value.

Michigan’s state constitution does not specify a value when it mandates the support of our colleges and universities.

§ 4 Higher education institutions; appropriations, accounting, public sessions of boards.

Sec. 4.

The legislature shall appropriate moneys to maintain the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Wayne State University, Eastern Michigan University, Michigan College of Science and Technology, Central Michigan University, Northern Michigan University, Western Michigan University, Ferris Institute, Grand Valley State College, by whatever names such institutions may hereafter be known, and other institutions of higher education established by law. The legislature shall be given an annual accounting of all income and expenditures by each of these educational institutions. Formal sessions of governing boards of such institutions shall be open to the public.

Shall appropriate moneys.

How much?  It could be $1 million each school, money for a truck, or other provision that ‘maintains’ in someway the universities and colleges in our state.  But instead, we punish our taxpayers, and frankly our social norms by paying nearly 2 Billion a year for that which kills our culture and promotes leftist ideology.

And Michigan has Republican dominated Legislatures and Executive offices. go figure.

The slide into values negative programming was so obviously nearly complete when we discovered the University of Michigan was spending $85 million of our hard earned resources to promote a false vision of diversity.

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2018 Michigan Gubernatorial Race, Conservative News, Cronyism, Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics

Snyder “It’s Been A Gas!” (tax)

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Rick Snyder to say Adios to Michigan gaspayers this year

Rick Snyder will be gone after this year.

We will no longer have a progressive Democrat masquerading as a Republican in the governor’s office.  That is, unless his carefully selected heir is somehow elected.  From the Detroit Free Press:

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is expected to officially endorse Lt. Gov. Brian Calley at a campaign event in Southfield Wednesday.

“Lt. Gov. Calley and Gov. Snyder will attend an event this afternoon to highlight the best way to continue Michigan’s comeback over the next four years,” said Calley campaign spokesman Michael Schrimpf.

You know the guy.

Mr march-over-a-bridge-with-pied-piper-child-like-men-and-women political ad star?.  The guy who is Rick Snyder’s “Hillary?”  The guy who was the ‘conservative‘ in the executive branch?

The guy who was there to make sure that Michigan Taxpayers pony up an additional $1.8 Billion for roads sadly neglected because of Detroit bailouts and general fiscal malfeasance. Even after voters said.. “Nah we don’t want that” about Prop 15-1

Certainly, Brian Calley will parrot Slick Rick’s latest beg for new taxes.  Go ahead and ask him if he agrees when the Governor says we ain’t ponying up enough.

LANSING – It’s time to raise the federal gas tax to help fix Michigan’s ravaged roads, Gov. Rick Snyder said Tuesday.

Snyder, a Republican who is under fire along with state lawmakers over the shape of Michigan’s roads, said the state has taken steps to increase road funding and can do more, but it’s also time for the federal government to step up.

He said the state has increased road funding more than $1 billion annually since he took office, but federal road funding has decreased $250 million a year during that time.

“We need federal, state and local partners all working together,” but the feds are “going backwards on us,” he said.

Backward.

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Conservative News, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion

Sentencing for Pro Life Activists March 14

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Trespass conviction.

Left to right: Robert Kovaly, Matthew Connolly, Monica Miller, Patrice Woodworth, Will Goodman

As a reward for buying flowers and the gall of suggesting that life is worth something, a Jury has decided against a pro life group.

While millions of foreign nationals trespass daily on our sovereign soil, it is those who stood as life’s defenders that were prosecuted for such a violation  Five Red Rose Rescuers;  Monica Migliorino Miller, Will Goodman, Patrice Woodworth, Matthew Connolly, and Robert “Doc” Kovaly were found guilty of trespassing and also interference with an officer (due to their practice of passive resistance) by a 6 person jury Feb. 21, 2018 stemming from their Dec. 2, 2017 pro-life rescue at the Women’s Center abortion center in West Bloomfield, MI. operated by abortionist Jacob Kalo.

They stood trial before Judge Marc Barron in the 48th District Court (4280 Telegraph Rd., West Bloomfield, MI.). He will be will sentencing the pro-life group March 14th at 1:30pm. 

Prior to trial the trial the pro-lifers’ motion for a defense of necessity was denied by Judge Barron. On Dec. 2, 2017 the 5 pro-lifers entered the waiting room of the Women’s Center to talk to the mothers seated in the waiting room and hand them red roses. The pro-lifers argued that their attempt to persuade the mothers scheduled for abortion to turn away from that decision and their mere presence in the clinic as an act of defense for the unborn were acts necessary to prevent greater evils from occurring than the mere violation of the city trespass ordinance.

Prosecutor Larry Sherman requested from Judge Barron that the Women’s Center never be called an “abortion clinic” in an attempt to sanitize the trial from having anything to do with abortion. Barron granted this request. Miller explains: “The victims of abortion, namely the unborn, were kept hidden from the jury and the judge’s rules were designed to stifle any testimony having to do with the reality of abortion.”

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Michigan Politics

The Handmaid’s Tale – A lesson in the dangers of socialism

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I’ve watched a few episodes of the Handmaid’s Tale.  Admittedly, you get the gist of the series after the fist few episodes.  The real short version:

From Wiki: The plot follows a dystopian future following a Second American Civil War wherein women, called “Handmaids”, are forced into sexual and child-bearing servitude.

Me: Many women (and men) are left infertile reportedly due to environmental factors.  The women that are fertile are forced to bear children for couples (seemingly always wealthy or at least government connected) whose wives are presumed to be infertile.

This line of thinking seems to fit with the Socialist/Communist Karl Marx mantra: from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.

These women (handmaids) clearly have the ability to bear children.  The infertile couples clearly have difficulty conceiving children and have a perceived need to raise children.  I would like to think that most people can agree that forcing these women into sexual and reproductive servitude is wrong.  Yet, doesn’t this scenario fit exactly into the classical Maxist statement quoted above?

How is it morally incorrect to force fertile women into reproductive servitude to meet the reproductive “needs” of other people yet morally correct (or acceptable) to force other working people into servitude to meet needs of others.

An oft quoted line in the series is from Genesis 30:1:

When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”

Needs, in the eyes of many, can be subjective.  Our present society proposes several “needs” that are subsidized for the poor, which aren’t requirements for maintaining life.  The fictional society in this story line certainly seems to frame raising children as a need.

Who decides which “needs” of whom deserve forced enlisting of the services of others in order to fulfill?  Who decides which services are acceptable to seize?  Once you put the infrastructure in place to enlist/enslave people to meet the needs of other people, it could get used in ways you never intended or even foresaw — ways that would horrify you.

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2018 Michigan Gubernatorial Race, All the Other Stuff, Conservative News, Democrats, Detroit, Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Republicans

Going where other Republicans fear to tread – Follow up

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Let me start off by being honest here.

For 75% of the candidates speaking last weekend at the Michigan United People’s Governor Forum, I could’ve very easily just stayed home and wrote this piece out and included their responses even before they made them. They are ridiculously simple to predict and I would’ve easily gotten it pretty darn close to what they actually said with no one being the wiser.

I WOULDN’T do that because that’s not the kind of person that I am.

I also didn’t go to hear what those 75% had to say (although to be fair…some of what those other candidates actually said and how they said it was significantly far more concerning than even I would’ve initially suspected…more on that later).

I went to hear only one person.

Specifically, I wanted to see how he handled himself. More importantly, would he “modify his message” to placate the hostile masses.

Let me just say that what I saw should change your mind (if you haven’t already) regarding this particular candidate for Michigan Governor.

I’ll also get to why I waited this long to post this.

{And those answers are below the fold}

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Elections, Government Incompetence, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Republicans

Where is Bill Schuette? Chasing Feral Ducks?

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States Sue/ Contend Obamacare Unconstitutional - Michigan's presence in suit noticeably absent.

What a missed opportunity for a highly probable next governor!

Bill Schuette has failed miserably on two high profile United States Supreme Court cases already.  As simple as telling the federal government that the constitution still matters, and that Michigan invokes the 10th with appropriate and legal prejudice.  Defending Michigan’s Marriage LAW, and fighting the last Obamacare suit should have been easy work for any attorney/former judge/congress critter, but here we are years later living with the failure on those fronts.

And now another opportunity pops up, and the state attorney general is nowhere to be seen?

Cmon Bill!  It’s not as-if you are spending time going out and meeting the folks.  Get with the plan, and don’t take your current lead for granted.

Michigan needs better than this.

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