Michigan Politics

Michigan Political considerations.

Wayne Schmidt Has Challenger In The 37th District

Conservative ideas to be argued in the primary.

Good.

One of the best parts of any election season is the opportunity for the candidates to argue that they are best equipped to represent a particular set of ideas and philosophy.   When incumbency is used to mask what might be a crappy candidate, we all lose.

Yesterday, a challenger has filed to face the Red light camera king in the Northern Michigan district.

Republican activist Jim Gurr is not sitting this cycle out, and is not going to let the man who would have all property owned by government have a free shot.  From his site:

Our current State Senator serves many masters, but unfortunately not the voters in the 37th State Senate District. This is unfortunate, and sadly typical of those who hold power of office to be more important than the needs of the people they serve.

And lists a number of grievances.

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The song remains the same. (Updated)

Continuing with the “unofficial” theme this week, local officials have decided to strike while the iron is hot and use a tired old ploy to fix a problem that really should never have been a problem in the first place had elected officials done their jobs, looked at the problem as a whole and fixed the problem at the source rather than only reacting to the symptoms.

So what are they doing now?

{Details below the fold}

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Dingell and Upton Will Introduce Federal Gun Confiscation Legislation

Soviet Justice Comes To America

RINO Rick is playing coy with his impending school safety proposal, refusing to say whether Extreme Risk Protection Orders – now rebranded as ‘red flag laws’ – will be part of it. U.S. Representative Debbie Dingell has no such qualms. The Wicked Witch of West Bloomfield announced yesterday that she intends to introduce federal Extreme Risk Protection Order legislation based upon Indiana Code Title 35, Article 47, Chapter 14 (IC 35-47-14). She claimed on Fox News Live that West Michigan Congressman Fred Upton, a Republican, will be a co sponsor.

Indiana Code 35-47-14 establishes procedures for law enforcement to seize privately held firearms from individuals deemed ‘dangerous’. An Indiana law enforcement officer can petition a circuit or superior court for a warrant to “search for and seize a firearm in the possession of an individual who is dangerous”. Or the Indiana law enforcement officer can just go ahead and both search for and seize firearms in the possession of any individual; then at his leisure submit a written statement to the circuit or superior court with jurisdiction, declaring the individual to be dangerous ex post facto.

An Indiana law enforcement officer can declare the individual to be dangerous on his own accord, or rely on the declaration of a third party informer. The law enforcement officers and informants are not required to prove any qualifications in court. The law enforcement officer and the informants are unchallenged. Their assertions alone transform an otherwise legal activity – private firearms possession – into a crime.

Indiana Code 35-47-14 claims that this is legally sufficient probable cause, but is it?

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Is Congressman Mike Bishop Abandoning The Second Amendment?

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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Blowing Us Away

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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And the real difference here is?

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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Saturday Cinema – Free Speech

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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Yet Michigan Republicans Continue To Fund The Beast

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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Snyder “It’s Been A Gas!” (tax)

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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Sentencing for Pro Life Activists March 14

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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