754 search results for "prop 2"

Michigan

Take A Vacation

by Jason • April 4, 2016 • 4 Comments

Please.

We knew what it meant. There is plenty to ponder from RightMichigan on the subject of expansion. We knew it was a mess to begin with. We knew it was going to cost more. So did the Governor.

But how soon were the real costs supposed to kick in? Perhaps before the great relentless positivist moves on? We knew that the federal portion would not last, but could not have predicted how quickly this scam on the citizens of our great state would implode.

Combined, the budget hole could be about $700 million. So the options could include covering fewer people, cutting back on benefits or paying providers — doctors and hospitals — less.

But we couldn’t have THAT.

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Michigan, Michigan Politics

Gross Incompetence or Corrupt Lawman?

by Bos Bos • March 28, 2016 • 7 Comments

While Gov. Rick Snyder’s Relentless Poisonous Actions are discovered to be increasingly insidious, he’s not the only political cockroach running for cover when the disinfecting light of day occasionally penetrates the dark, dank recesses of the Lansing oligarchy.

The Michigan Attorney General’s duties are clearly mandated, and he is REQUIRED to represent the best interests of the citizens of Michigan, and to uphold the State and US Constitutions- not the Governor or his wants and needs.

Sadly, five years worth of opportunities to choose right over wrong has shown us a disturbing pattern of bad choices made by Michigan Atty General Bill Schuette.

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Firearms, Michigan, Michigan Politics

Michigan’s 1st Incarcerated State Senator?

by Jason • March 28, 2016 • 1 Comment

So much for the plea?

Gosh.

Senator Virgil Smith is headed to the hokey pokey. Not removed PRIOR to being criminally charged, Smith is now heading to jail with full pay and bennies?

state senator virgil smith is sent to jail

— oralandar brand-wms (@oralandar_DN) March 28, 2016

And he actually endangered people.

Smith was allowed to plead guilty to malicious destruction of property greater than $20,000 for allegedly firing shots at his ex-wife’s Mercedes Benz in May 2015. The charge, a felony, carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

Guess he never threatened THESE GUYS, right?

Whatever.

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Michigan

Why Are We Bailing Out DPS Again?

by Jason • March 23, 2016 • 10 Comments

Detroit is flush with taxpayer cash.

Not its own taxpayers mind you, but nevertheless, it has a spigot it can apparently turn on at will. A Granholm era program that somehow still exists and ‘guarantees Detroit HS graduates two years of college will apparently come out of the taxes collected for schools. Even after getting the State bailout money going forward?

Duggan on Tuesday said that in the 2018-19 tax year tax dollars from the growth of the city will start to go into the scholarship fund.

“What the chamber has done is raise the money to create a bridge for that,” he said. “We can’t expect the chamber to raise scholarship money forever. This is the way that it was intended to work. They’ve done a wonderful job in the short-run. We will have funding out of the education tax in the long-run.”

The city forecasts the tax capture, once effective, would provide funding for the next two decades, ranging from $1 million per year up to $4.5 million projected in 2035, according to property value estimates rooted in the city’s bankruptcy Plan of Adjustment.

Money is fungible.

Check.

Ask your legislator how they could allow this to go on.

H/T 10x25MM

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Michigan, Michigan Politics

Too Big To Fail

by Jason • March 18, 2016 • 5 Comments

The stage is set for more mis-'appropriations' ..

How on earth could any legislator demand accountability after voting to pay for the ongoing malfeasance of the DPS?

With a vote of 104-5, the Michigan House of Representatives cleared the deck for the ultimate prize of over $700 Million for continued operations.

Passed 104 to 5 in the House on March 17, 2016, to appropriate $48.7 million to keep the insolvent Detroit school district afloat until the end of the current school year. This is essentially a “down-payment” on a larger bailout package whose details have yet to find a consensus (the House majority wants more education reforms). The bill essentially “borrows” the money from a state account used to pay for college scholarships, and also places the Detroit school district under the same state oversight commission created to oversee the city after its 2014 bailout(see House Bill 5385).
Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No”

“we just need to get em to the end of the school year,” right?

Anyone who thinks there will be a plan from the current legislative slurry to fix the fundamental problems with the DPS is lying to themselves.

Even worse, they are lying to the kids who suffer under the inability of the DPS to teach.

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Michigan, Opinion

Free Speech?

by Jason • March 15, 2016 • 14 Comments

Beware the unintended consequence of shallow thinking.

Sometimes, folks want to have an impact in their communities.

They might oppose a millage, pass out literature and information about proposed spending by their local governments. Some might simply try to engage their neighbors in a campaign process through simple means. They might try to encourage certain priorities as well, and may do so by only spending a few bucks at the local copy mart.

All of this free speech is protected, right? In fact, such expression is legally permissible without a legal regimen, allowing up to $1000 to be spent currently. Candidates for public office, as well as ballot advocacy groups can opt out of reporting requirements if they do not reach that $1000 spending threshold.

However, as long as there are men occupying government, this too can change.

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Cronyism, Democrats, Detroit, Government Incompetence, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Part Time Legislature, Rent Seeking, Republicans, Taxes

Whoopie Ti Yi Yo, Git Along Little Dogies

by 10x25MM • March 13, 2016 • 19 Comments

Whoopee Ti Yi Yo, Git Along Little Dogies

Some boys goes up the trail for pleasure,
But that’s where you get it most awfully wrong;
For you haven’t any idea the trouble they give us
While we go driving them all along.

Whoopee Ti Yi Yo, Git Along Little Dogies

When the night comes on and we hold them on the bedground,
These little dogies that roll on so slow;
Roll up the herd and cut out the strays,
And roll the little dogies that never rolled before.

Whoopee Ti Yi Yo, Git Along Little Dogies

Traditional 19th Century American Cowboy Cattle Drive Song

Michigan’s tax-and-spend establishment continues to demonstrate world class tactical flexibility as they pursue their dubious ends. Their latest tour de force is the setup for the impending Detroit Public Schools bailout. Michigan’s legislators are being driven like cattle.

The new state appointed ~~emergency~~ transition manager of the Detroit Public Schools, retired U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Steven W. Rhodes, announced that the district would shut down on April 8th due to a lack of funds. This chilling announcement came a week after Governor Snyder appointed him to replace Darnell Early, who resigned at the end of February. Darnell Early, for some reason, failed to inform Michigan of the April 8th drop dead date. Judge Rhodes made his announcement four weeks in advance of the projected shutdown in a full court press to get a bailout from our State Legislature.

The first problem here is the State Legislature is scheduled to take two weeks off in the four weeks leading up to April 8th. The last week of March and the first week of April. Judge Rhodes certainly knew this, so the dilatory announcement is unquestionably a deliberate effort to stampede the Michigan Legislature into immediately delivering $ 50 – 70 million to DPS, no questions asked. Two weeks is not a reasonable legislative time frame, rather it is herding legislators like cattle on a two week drive. An echo of the tactics used by Judge Rhodes to ram through the bungled Detroit bankruptcy.

Governor Snyder has been floating an inchoate plan to rescue the Detroit Public Schools since the middle of last year; one which originally envisioned the creation of a ‘bad debt’ shell district and a new, debt free district by cellular division. Wasn’t really well received anywhere, even after he added dissolution of the much hated Education Achievement Authority. As his problems in the Flint water fiasco have mounted, Governor Snyder decided to wash his hands of the DPS situation by throwing $ 700 million at them to extinguish their ‘operating’ debt and return control to the next generation of ~~local thieves~~ elected school board members.

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Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Republicans

Kasich Surge In Michigan Changes Math Slightly.

by Jason • March 7, 2016 • 9 Comments

Fun with delegate numbers

Michigan has a proportional system to settle the 59 delegates choosing the GOP candidate for the presidential primary in 2016.

Because legislators chose a date prior to March 15, the is no winner take all system in place. Currently polling has Trump at about 42%, Cruz and Kasich each at about 20, and Rubio falling flat at 10 or so. In the delegate pooling (hopefully I calculated this correctly), this would result in 25 delegates for Trump, 12 for Cruz, 12 For Kasich and zero for Rubio. The remainder is split the same 8 for Trump, and 1 each for Kasich and Cruz.

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80th District Special Election (2015), Conservative News, Democrats, Elections, Firearms, Flint Water Fiasco, Government Incompetence, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Part Time Legislature, Proposal 15-1, Republicans, Taxes

Bitter Consequences

by 10x25MM • March 4, 2016 • 9 Comments

Scorched Earth Politics Isolates the Republican Establishment in Michigan

Anyone who watched or listened to Mitt Romney’s lame assault on Donald Trump yesterday had to wince at the Obamacare architect and gun control proponent questioning the bona fides of the current Republican front runner. Hypocrisy at its finest. A blatant violation of Reagan’s Eleventh Commandment. A testament to the abject desperation coursing through the Republican establishment today. Stark evidence of how few friends the Republican establishment actually ~~owns~~ has.

Just how did the Republican establishment get themselves into this predicament?

What does their predicament portend in Michigan politics?

This year’s Presidential nomination process demonstrates convincingly that money is no longer a substitute for actual human support in a political process where the great unwashed get to vote. Money – and the TV advertising it bought – had a 40 year run buying elections, but this elixir of modern American politics is no longer working. ¡Jeb! is very expensive history. The great unwashed are in open revolt.

Ace over at the Ace of Spades HQ blog offered the very best analysis of the national Republican establishment’s current predicament, which compelled Mitt’s embarrassing performance yesterday. You should read it in its entirety, but in a nutshell:

The Republican establishment has no one credible to make their case against Donald Trump. Absolutely no one who has even a shred of credibility with Trump supporters. They sent Mitt Romney out on yesterday’s kamikaze mission because they had nothing better to offer. Then they will have to spend a mountain of wealth with no real prospects of success. And engage in strong arm tactics. Making an embarrassing spectacle of themselves.

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