Opinion

SEN. RICK JONES: Why Regulated Online Gambling Is Right for Michigan

Michigan’s legislature is considering a bill that would allow the Great Lake State to join a growing roster of states that have legalized online gaming.  Legislators would be right to ignore the scare tactics of legislation opponents, much of which, ironically, is funded and supported by gaming interests in Las Vegas.

For decades, the Department of Justice (DOJ) imposed a blanket ban of states legalizing online games of chance.  Thanks to pressure from states and some court cases, the DOJ in late 2010 reversed course and allowed states to make the determination themselves.  New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada were the first to legalize online gaming for their residents.

Opposition to the effort has been funded almost exclusively by Las Vegas billionaire and casino mogul Sheldon Adelson.  Speaking of which do not miss out of The Biggest Trade Shows in Las Vegas 2020 if you want to see how trade shows add value to a product or service being marketed, as one of these shows will be taking place at Mr.Adelson’s venue. Mr. Adelson has funded an organization dedicated to fighting legalized online gaming.  A group called the Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling magically appeared.  Lobbyists, like former Democratic Senator Blanch Lincoln, were hired and poll-tested and focus group language were employed to restore the federal prohibition.

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Employing a tried and true tactic…holding a tax hike vote during the lowest voter turnout.

...or worse yet, when Taxpayers aren’t even made aware of it by a complicit local media.

Even though this is affecting strictly Macomb County, I would HIGHLY recommend that readers contact their local clerk’s office to see if there is anything similar occurring in their part of Michigan.

Despite the fact that their current millage hasn’t even expired yet, the local community college not only decided to place a millage hike/renewal on the ballot, but they have done a slam-bang up job of letting everyone know about it.

I cannot imagine why?

{Continued below the fold}

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Oh no! This doesn’t look too good.

With County leaders going off-script and not following the established speaking points. When your (possible) PR-firm goes and takes a page from the Coleman A. Young (The First) Playbook and employed a time-worn (and easily recognizable) tactic which hopelessly backfired. When The Bridge Magazine (of all people), comes out and tells people that the latest iteration of mass transit, the Q-Line, over-promised its potential and hilariously underperformed when it comes to paid ridership and maintaining schedules. Now comes the Michigan Legislature throwing yet another log on the fire that is the RTA.

{You’ll need to click below to find out what that is}

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Cultural Equivalence?

Are we too afraid to ask the obvious?

What if you have an opinion that institutionalized misogyny is maybe not such a great thing?  Does even the question make you a bigot?

What if the centerpiece of my ‘religion’ was not a resurrected son-of-God who died in excruciating pain for all of our hatred, shame, and imperfections manifested in misdeeds.  But instead a warlord who to achieve power, subjugated other men, women, children, all in the name of (presumably) the same God.

What if that latter ‘religion’ was not one of proselytizing through love but through violent means, extortion, blackmail, lies and subterfuge.  What if it called for honor killings, female mutilation, death for apostasy, ransom, and purposeful deceit to advance it’s growth.

What if you do not have the intellectual ability to recognize a difference between spiritually uplifting beliefs, and those that foment acts of cowardice and terror quite literally DAILY.

Are these not legitimate questions?

Sadly we have those who in their political aspirations are too fearful to ask them.  The few who do, become targets of the purposefully stupid or intellectually dishonest in media, and are quickly branded as bigots and intolerant.

Go figure.

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I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody’s part!

Local leaders aren’t warming up you your schemes. The scuttlebutt is that focus group testing isn’t looking too good either (not having a real plan with real numbers didn‘t help). Lately, you have enlisted local business “leaders” to help in promoting your cockamamie strategy, but wouldn’t you know it, they aren’t getting that much traction either.

So, who are these people and why are they employing the last refuge for desperate men?

Here’s a hint: All the more reason to hold onto your wallet a little more tightly around Detroit.

{I’ll tell you who they are below the fold}

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Milton Friedman For Governor

If you wanted the best economic outcome for Michigan, wouldn't he get your vote?

Today’s economists aren’t.

I mean they aren’t around anymore. Not since November 2006 anyhow.  That was when Milton Friedman took his last breath.

No one understood markets based on how people respond to incentive like Milton Friedman.  While sympathetic to our desire to do good for others, he recognized the nature of how we prioritize (en mass) when making spending decisions.

The first time I heard the “four ways to spend money” was not Friedman however.  It was during a presentation on health care options for Michigan by Pat Colbeck.  He wasn’t a candidate for Governor at that time, but he was clearly advocating a sensible approach on how we pay for our health care needs.  Part of it is returning the incentive to those who will watch more closely how well the money is spent to achieve the best results and at lowest cost.

A recent newsletter from the Mackinac center reminded me of this, which is the way Colbeck had put it a year and a half ago.

There only four ways to spend money.

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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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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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