213 search results for "the wall"

Conservative News, Michigan, Opinion, Philosophy

Trump’s Good Opportunity

by  •  • 3 Comments

A golden opportunity to actually “pink slip” the nanny state looms large this weekend.

This coming Saturday Noon will mark the first anniversary of the inauguration of Donald John Trump as the 45th President of the United States. If we’re being honest (which the legacy media characteristically is not), then it’s been a year that even Reagan might have envied . . . and no, I’m not yet tired of winning. Believe it or not, though, this weekend might yet be remembered less for the demarcation of DJT’s actual first year in office, and more for the president making good on a threat from back in May, which comeuppance some senators – on both sides of the aisle – are on the record as thinking is some sixteen weeks overdue.

With Friday night’s deadline in mind, in light of the apparent deadlock around key issues (such as immigration infrastructure and military funding), Alice Ollstein penned a Talking Points Memo op-ed discussing what, in her opinion, are the three possible outcomes to the current standoff, none of which are particularly appealing. Former congressman, and current congressional candidate, Kerry Bentivolio, had a somewhat different take on Ms. Ollstein’s opinion, which he shared in an e-mail with fellow veterans, campaign staffers, and other supporters. With Kerry’s permission, I’ll share his thoughts following the break – with a skosh of editorial license and personal wordsmithing applied.

READ MORE ►

You Betcha! (12)Nuh Uh.(1)

Conservative News, Cronyism, Democrats, Elections, Government Incompetence, Liberty, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Rent Seeking, Republicans

And THIS is what we get when the republican party controls the House, Senate & White House???

by  •  • 0 Comments

If Pres. Trump fails to veto this, I easily see him a being a one and done president.

Perhaps yesterday’s coverage of the May Day “celebrations” touched something inside of Congressional republicans?

Perhaps the were “channeling their inner Obama™”?

Whatever the reason, sometime over the past few days, Congressional republicans clearly demonstrated some severe cognitive dissonance with the American Voter (to say nothing about the election results from last November).

More below…

READ MORE ►

You Betcha! (9)Nuh Uh.(0)

Conservative News, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion

I Hope She Prevails

by  •  • 5 Comments

Shouldn't voters have the right to clean their own houses?

Cindy Gamrat’s life was forever changed by her own personal decisions.

As a freshman legislator, her votes were outstanding, and logical.  She was owned by no one, and solid conservative arguments could be made for any lever she pulled. She performed as we expected, had hoped, yet had a failing that so many who are reading this are familiar.

She is human, has human characteristics, and is vulnerable to sin. As are we all.

The ‘dumb’ things she did caused a level of pain from which many of us would not be able to recover. Her career as a politician aside, the depth of hurt on the family level can have no objective measure from this side of the pen, but must certainly be spectacular.

I have often opined that “Stupidity must be painful.”  Bad decisions must have adverse consequence, or no lessons are learned and we repeat those bad decisions.  Generally the context is, of course, that the pain should be born on those who make the bad decisions. There is one situation that provides for a different result theologically and spiritually, but we are for the time being bound to the physics of our earthly existence.

In Cindy Gamrat’s case, there can be no doubt she has endured much pain.  There can be no doubt that much (if not all) of it was deserved. And there can be no doubt that all of it can be forgiven in the ways that matter.

READ MORE ►

You Betcha! (16)Nuh Uh.(2)

Conservative News, Michigan

ICYMI – The Presser Of All Pressers

by  •  • 0 Comments

Bad press! Bad press! .. Whack.

Not Michigan related directly, but I found something that happened yesterday to be too fun to be ignored.

Talk about taking a rolled up newspaper and tapping a few mongrels on the nose.

Donald Trump remained calm as he laid out the case (from the start) that main stream media has done our country a disservice.  By the end of the hour plus woodshed visit, the spirit of those labeled so easily as “very fake news” wash nowhere to be found.

I don’t think I have ever seen a press conference like this, and enjoyed every minute.

I hope you all will as well.

The transcript is below the fold.

READ MORE ►

You Betcha! (8)Nuh Uh.(0)

Michigan, Michigan Politics, Republicans

Old Men Throwing Tantrums – A Sad Account of the Oakland County Republican Party Convention

by  •  • 17 Comments

Although Trump may have won the state of Michigan in unexpected and dramatic fashion, it didn’t feel like that was the case at the Oakland County Republican Party Convention yesterday. Whereas we should have been singing Kumbaya and toasting the imminent demise of liberalism, there was instead strife, turmoil and mayhem due in large part to many dubious local swamp rats chomping at the bit to be drained.

Let’s cut straight to the chase, I will cover the insipid bureaucratic squabbling later. The conquering heroes did all they could to keep order during the event. The chairman was put into place fairly, and he was immediately confronted and challenged by the fringe minority. This unhinged minority presented confusing and contradictory motions. They yelled obscenities. They staged histrionics designed to trick unwitting delegates into siding with them in the frenzy of the madness they artificially created.

Chairman Matt Maddock entertained the motions of the crybaby minority, going out of his way to hear concerns that were frankly rude, unnecessary and embarrassing. This fringe minority called division on a motion to stop discussion that took roughly thirty minutes to sort out amidst constant chatter in the audience and poor audio quality staged throughout the venue. Old men were throwing tantrums like little children. Obviously, egotistical infighting had taken precedence to party unity and crushing liberal scum within these petty, desperate individuals.

READ MORE ►

You Betcha! (16)Nuh Uh.(2)

Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Philosophy

Ross’ Revenge

by  •  • 13 Comments

To understand the Butterfly Effect, one must understand whence the butterfly came.

To say that the 2016 Republican Presidential Campaign has become interesting since June of last year is a bit of an understatement, to say the least. An out-of-the-blue “chaos injection” on June 16th (that FOX News polling saw coming as early as March 31st, but no one else picked up on until late May) became the nationally-recognized front runner not five weeks later, completely leapfrogging the “heir apparent” (who promptly went into a freefall, and has now exited the campaign). Because of this chaos injection, one candidate, who was until that point considered to be irrelevant, leapfrogged to become the national runner-up about five and a half weeks later (and was the national front-runner for three days in November), and two young guns are now openly tussling for second place nationally, neither of whom were supposed to have a realistic chance to begin with.

As should have been expected, the thorough derailing of the coronation train for the republican heir apparent makes the professional political establishment very unhappy, and, of course, they’re hell-bent on doing something about that. But the reason that all of their scrambling is increasingly ineffective is that they don’t seem to really understand the causa provocare of the outsider’s challenge, perhaps because they really don’t understand the degree to which the typical voter is disgusted with the political status quo in America, or why. Thus, predictably, the flailing increasingly exposes them for who they are and what they intend, which conversely makes the outsider’s job that much easier.

READ MORE ►

You Betcha! (59)Nuh Uh.(5)

Cronyism, Democrats, Flint Water Fiasco, Government Incompetence, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Republicans

First Do No Harm…..

by  •  • 5 Comments

First Do No Harm ImageThe most disturbing aspect of the Flint water quality fiasco was the Legionnaires’ Disease outbreak in Genesee County and its concealment from the public. Eighty-seven people fell ill and ten died, nine if you want to be fussy about one victim lingering more than a month after diagnosis. By MDHHS’ definition, it isn’t Legionnaires’ Disease if you linger longer than 30 days after your hospital stay. So one of the ten Legionnaires’ Disease deaths got scrubbed from the statistics.

Harvey Hollins III

Harvey Hollins III

AP is reporting that Governor Snyder’s immediate subordinates were discussing whether the Legionnaires’ Disease outbreak was related to Flint water quality by March 13, 2015   Harvey Hollins III, Governor Snyder’s Office of Urban and Metropolitan Initiatives Director, received an eMail from former MDEQ Communications Director Brad Wurfel referring to the Genesee County Legionnaires’ Disease cluster.

Far earlier, in 2014, Jim Henry in the Genesee County Health Department was emailing Flint city leaders, the Flint emergency financial managers, MDEQ, and MDHHS. MDHHS Chief Medical Executive Dr. Eden V. Wells said the June 2015 [Bohm] report on the first outbreak was shared with officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well. No one in this vast chain of communications felt compelled to inform the public.

Dr. Eden Wells

Dr. Eden Wells

Dr. Eden Wells replaced Dr. Matthew Davis as MDHHS’ Chief Medical Executive at the end of March, 2015. One has to wonder why Dr. Davis suddenly returned to U of M after only two years as the MDHHS Chief Medical Executive, in the midst of the first Genesee County Legionnaires’ Disease outbreak. Did he jump, or was he pushed?  Perhaps MDHHS Director Nick Lyon found the career MDHHS bureaucrat Dr. Wells more accommodating than Dr. Davis? It was four months after Governor Snyder consolidated MDCH into the new MDHHS.  However, nothing in the U of M faculty manual suggests that Dr. Davis would have had to return to U of M to maintain his status there.

Dr. Matthew Davis

Dr. Matthew Davis

The public was not informed until Governor Snyder’s startling statement on January 13, 2016. Snyder said he himself was not informed of the Legionnaires’ Disease cluster in Genesee County until “days before” his public announcement. Michigan’s lefties have pounced on this 10 month delay, insinuating that Governor Snyder knew well before his announcement. This may or may not be true, and people will draw conclusions according to their political predilections.  Facts no longer matter on this question, even if you could penetrate the wall of obfuscation.

Director Hollins now says there was not enough information to take the issue to the Governor. Essentially, he is saying that no one could prove the source of the Genesee County Legionnaires’ Disease cluster, so there was no reason to disclose it to his superior. The other bureaucrats in this chain of communications also stayed mum, apparently following the same line of reasoning as Director Hollins.

There is a much bigger story here. One without any ‘he said, she said’ doubt.

It is now indisputable that a lot of CDC, MDEQ, MDHHS, and Genesee County Health Department bureaucrats knew of the first Genesee County Legionnaires’ Disease cluster by March 2015 and concealed it from the Michigan public for over 10 months.  Throughout the entire second Genesee County Legionnaires’ Disease cluster .

READ MORE ►

You Betcha! (14)Nuh Uh.(0)

Democrats, Detroit, Fees, Fees, Flint Water Fiasco, Government Incompetence, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Rent Seeking, Republicans, Taxes

Headlee Evasion Caused Flint’s Water Quality Fiasco

by  •  • 20 Comments

Water Has A Very Special Attribute In Southeast Michigan

Water is Money Image 6You probably think the water which comes out of the taps in your house is for drinking and washing. You would be wrong. Michigan drinking water is first and foremost a mechanism for Michigan politicians to evade limits imposed upon them by the Headlee Amendment. You probably think Michigan water systems have quality as their top concern. You would be wrong. Michigan water departments are directed to maximize revenue by their political masters. These unfortunate facts are the genesis of Flint’s sorry water quality.

Michigan’s lefties and the ignorati in our media have fabricated a popular history of the Flint water situation which begins with Governor Snyder and his emergency managers on 25 April 2014, the date Flint started drawing its drinking water from the Flint River. Craven emergency managers appointed by Governor Snyder plotted to poison Flint residents to save a few bucks. The truth is rather different.

The history of this calamity actually begins in 1978, when the Headlee Amendment to Michigan’s Constitution was passed by outraged Michigan voters.

READ MORE ►

You Betcha! (26)Nuh Uh.(3)

80th District Special Election (2015), Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion

Gamrat’s Final Word

by  •  • 3 Comments

Allegan race hitting a boiling point.

gamratCindy Gamrat is not giving up on setting the record straight in a recent messaging effort.

In my opinion she is rightfully standing firm and remains the best choice for voters in tomorrow’s special election.  A strange mission by house leadership, and the agenda that is in play to control the 80th district seat and its votes is simply bad for Michigan.  Our Lansing politicos have indeed gone to the dark side (timely Star Wars reference) after pretending a change to be made in the way things are done in the capitol.

The problem is that there is a lot of money to be made for SOME folks as the Michigan legislature passes more and higher taxes upon the serfs of the state. As we’ve seen, no majority of GOP in our houses can guarantee responsible management of what we have already surrendered, as long as the special lobbying interests push higher taxes to pad their road building bank accounts.

READ MORE ►

You Betcha! (18)Nuh Uh.(0)

All the Other Stuff, Conservative News, Cronyism, Democrats, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Philosophy, Republicans, Taxes

Let Them Buy Their OWN Damned Insurance.

by  •  • 4 Comments

We finally have a chance to tell Obama where to shove the atrocity known as the ACA, but ...

proud-of-obamacare copyThe play is set.

State Senator Jim Marleau is simply a two faced Obama sycophant.  He operates under the Republican banner, but he has presented himself as a wimpy cradle-to-grave patriarchal potlicker.  On the upcoming decision in the Supreme Court he doesn’t represent the stated GOP view that Obamacare is bad, but rather wonders aloud (sympathetically) what all the leeches in Michigan will do if their precious health care entitlements go away.  And then he suggests something must be done!

“He could have done it that way to begin with, but he wasn’t really excited about that,” said state Sen. Jim Marleau, R-Lake Orion.

“I think he’d have to. Our back is up against the wall, and we’ve got a lot of people in this state who are using it. That’s the thing. What do you do with those people?”

Let them find their own insurance without fear of penalties you imbecile!

READ MORE ►

You Betcha! (16)Nuh Uh.(1)