Tag Archive for Politics

All the Other Stuff, Conservative News, Liberty, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion

New Years Eve Eve

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Going to be a live stream with a bunch of active conservative types on FaceFart.  It could be an entertaining night

From Rescue Michigan’s Adam de Angeli:

It’s going to be one heck of a live stream, with commentary from some of the hardest-working and most effective grassroots leaders in the Michigan conservative movement.

We’ll be recapping 2021: the good news and bad, the victories and defeats. We’ll be sharing what we know, what we’ve learned, and what’s in store for 2022.

If you cannot possibly tune in live, the show will be archived for viewing at your convenience, but if you can join us, we hope you will.

It’s not just our panel of guests, it’s the live interaction with all of you in the chat that make these shows so worthwhile.

It’ll be a marathon of a show, so it will, in large part, be a free-form conversation, with our guests and all of you that fight in the trenches to preserve and restore our great tradition of liberty in America.

There will be a lot of discussion, reflection, and a strong dose of levity for these trying times.

Looking at the cast..  It ought to be interesting.

The feedback alone would be worth the price of the ticket.

 

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Michigan, Michigan Politics

So What About That ‘Establishment?’

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What constitutes an ‘Establishment’ player?

Since the rise of the ‘Tea Party’ movement, certain elements of it have been co-opted by those who were originally threatened by it. The reality that money is the mothers milk of politics cannot be ignored however. The left has their billionaire backers, and we have our own.

Power is an aphrodisiac.

After spending more than a couple million in political expenditures attempting to gain a regents seat on the most liberal university in our state, Ron Weiser finally succeeded in 2016.  Riding the coattails of the now-president, a man who was one of the few candidates he did not financially support prior to Trump winning the GOP nomination.

That is how it works however, when an power seeking opportunist with a full wallet wants access to the oval office perhaps?  Truth be told, the $120,000 (roughly) given to the Trump Victory PAC may well have played a small part in Trump’s victory in Michigan.  Even one stop missed (easily $100K in expense) might have spelled doom for the effort.

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Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Republicans, Taxes

I’ve Heard It Snows In November

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Natural disasters, or 'states of emergency' CAN happen in our Great Lakes State.

circled-wagonsMichigan is not immune to the effects of nature, and the SoS may have once again missed an opportunity to protect the electorate.

“Once again,” I say because when it mattered, Ruth Johnson sided with the governor in his lawbreaking. In the Proposal 1 (loser by 80%-20% statewide) leadup, the governor broke the law in front of Johnson, Schuette, and nearly every single lawmaker and judge in the state.

Nothing was done, and in-fact there was an effort to circumvent the process that had been defended only years before.   Even the Michigan GOP’s pet poodle Greg McNeilly noted the infraction saying “.. it was “inappropriate” for Snyder to use the televised speech to advocate for a “yes” vote on Proposal 1.” yet stopped short of calling a misdemeanor what it is. Flame Hard indeed.

But this recent failure by the SoS is a little more local, yet profound.  When a natural disaster prevents voters from reaching the polls, ought not the top elections official be a little more proactive?  In the case of an Elmwood township millage question, Johnson’s office went from a failure to uphold the law to negligence and simple abject failure.

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Michigan, Michigan Politics

For All The Wrong Reasons

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Trump and the 16 dwarfs

Reposted from Redstate.com For permanence. ( I am again deviating from the ‘Michigan’ centric mission of this site for obvious reasons – JG)

The talking heads and putative conservative pundits have it very wrong.

A palpable fear of Donald Trump becoming the Republican nominee consumes the media from left to right. Fox host and debate moderator Megyn Kelly’s first question to Donald Trump “You’ve called women you don’t like fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals. On your Twitter account, your Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women’s looks,…” might well have been asked by Candy Crowley, or nearly any other left wing operative determined to ruin a GOP debate.

Kelly wasted Trump’s – and our – time by advancing the theme that ‘Trump is too brash, and says things that are hurtful or boorish’. By focusing on his periodic extravagant statements, perhaps she felt the viewers would be persuaded to abandon Trump and his candidacy. ‘The Donald’ can indeed be brash and say things that are both hurtful and boorish, but with 10 candidates to evaluate and a two hour time limit, it just wasn’t a productive line of questioning.

Kelly and many other talking heads who profess conservatism seem to think that ‘brash and boorish’ is a fatal flaw in Trump’s candidacy. Civil discourse, in their opinion, is the only acceptable path to the Presidency of the United States. Trash talk, such as calling people “stupid,” “moron” or even “disgusting animals” does not elevate the campaign discourse to the level they seek.

Perhaps our self appointed media censors should reassess ‘The Donald’ in light of our current predicament.

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Conservative News, Cronyism, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Philosophy, Rent Seeking, Republicans

Puppy Training

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Why the Mackinac Center decided to weigh in this way is somewhat of a mystery, but we learned from them ...

Mr Lehman, (with whom I have had little argument in the past) premises a decision made to be based on politics, though policy is really their game.

Gratuitous picture of Dave Agema to 'prove' he is not an insensitive Racist

Gratuitous picture of Dave Agema with ‘black’ tea folk

He makes a brief statement, which essentially claims that fact, and then implies clearly that (We cancelled our sponsorship of the Pow wow because we don’t like Dave Agema) “The reason the Mackinac Center withdrew from the event was Mr. Agema’s prominent role there” And stopping there. Fair enough.  Its not my money, resources, or political ties to the Snyder administration that is going to stop them.

OK, taking a page from the book of Mackinac, I figured it would be appropriate to deal with disagreements in policy or politics in the way they have previously suggested.  For this exercise, I have located two articles from the Mackinac Center.

The first article was written by a guy who once worked for MCPP, and now spends his time stalking a particular retired Air Force Captain hoping to find SOMETHING that can be used to further defame the many time honored veteran.   Ken Braun during his time at the Mackinac Center wrote:  (I have made critical edits to update)

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Michigan Politics

Free And Open Markets OR Enforcement Of Contract?

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How should the press release by Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette be taken?

Bill-SchuetteOne would think that a member of the party supporting ‘free and open markets’ would be inclined to liberate those same markets.

Yet recently and not for the first time, the Michigan Attorney General’s office has investigated, and prosecuted privately-held businesses for responding to demand and availability in ways they felt were necessary.  Using taxpayer dollars, the AG’s office obtained a $500,000 settlement from a provider of propane, because that business raised its prices.

Though some of the investigation had legitimate reason to happen (established deals were not being honored), the underlying premise that the AG’s office presents is one that seemingly panders to the “its just not fair” crowd. When Schuette says :

“I’m happy we can put money back into the wallets of hard-working families who paid steep prices to heat their homes last winter while already trying to make ends meet.”

He is not saying he is “happy to provide enforcement of contract”

THAT is a problem.  Its not the job of the Michigan Attorney General to make sure pricing is fair.  Its not the Job of the Office of the Attorney General to ensure people can afford their utilities or everyday needs. Its definitely not Bill Schuette’s job to “put money back into the wallets” of those he deems to have been victimized by a brutally cold winter, or those who must provide the resources to deal with it.

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Michigan Politics

Heretic-The conservative case for voting “democrat”.

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Will conservative Republicans continue to fall for the football pulled out routine of the past?

thCross posted from Muskegon Pundit

(Note-This discussion does not include the Presidency or national candidates. Because of unique Presidential powers, “best of the worst” is our only option)

In August of this year, the MSM reported the death of longtime democrat Senator Jim Jeffords. Coincidentally, his death was one week before the Florida primary election which elected Charlie Crist as the democrat nominee for governor.

It occurred to me that, not long ago, both men were respected republicans. A review of their political activities shows they were not just turncoats. They were hardly even moderates. They were liberals hiding under the cloak of the republican party.

And it worked…for them.

How’d that work out for us republicans?

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All the Other Stuff, Conservative News, Cronyism, Democrats, Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Philosophy, Rent Seeking, Republicans

License Of Looters

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The problem is not the expense of the tools, but the tools themselves.

hammerI have frequently argued that the problem with campaign finance is not the ability of donors to support candidates, but rather the destructive hammer that government wields.

Full disclosure, as we have argued on these pages is critical.  The process out in the open encourages good behavior, and provides a limiting effect on pandering to financial interests by politicos.  Even the amounts even being less important to the argument. Saying:

We DO agree that limits should be removed from campaign finance. We agree that limiting to an arbitrary amount can impede free speech and political expression. What is considered a fair contribution into the process is a completely subjective matter that can only be resolved by the person who is willing to contribute into that process.  A person’s individual priorities and where a subject reaches a level of importance are hardly the providence of external assignment.

The full argument making the point that ‘effect’ of the contributions  being known, lessens the harmful power of the influence.

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Cronyism, Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Rent Seeking, Republicans

Obsolescence And The Electoral Hereafter

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gates-medcWe’re thinking Michigan’s 104th district representative Wayne Schmidt doesn’t expect to win Michigan’s 37th state senate seat in 2014.

In fact, he might have had that realization for several months now. Perhaps an angel of mercy descended at that time from the polling pearly gates, because it was in September that Schmidt, authored a bill that has yet to make it out of committee. Schmidt appears to be trying to create a quasi-government highly paid position that will be ‘tailored’ for his haberdashery retail management (suit store clerk) background, and  government experience.

“And he’s buying a stairway to heaven …”

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