Less than a year ago, the administration of President Barack Obama issued an historic guidance document instructing school administrators that anti-transgender rules, regulations, and laws are in violation of federal law including Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. This guidance was received the full-throated support of U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr., Attorney General Loretta E. […]

It’s a well-worn technique used over and over and over again by Michigan Republicans: send up a trial balloon of something outrageous that even folks from their own party ask “What the hell???” Then, they come back with something slightly less outrageous but still truly outrageous hoping we’ll all fall for the head fake. I call this the “fake concession” […]

Michigan Republican Congressman Tim Walberg is a tea partier’s tea partier. According to his rhetoric and actions in Congress, there are very few things that wouldn’t benefit from “local control”. He wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act and return healthcare programs to local control. He regularly talks about “improving education and job training initiatives through more local control“. When […]

The costs to replace the lead service lines in Flint is estimated to be north of $50 million. Governor Rick Snyder estimates that it will take $2 billion a year to fix and maintain Michigan’s roads and bridges. Disinvestment in education and our cities has schools being closed and cities on the brink of insolvency. When you add it up, […]

Up until three years, the progressive watchdog group Progress Michigan, held an annual conference called “The Michigan Summit”. However, due a lack of participation and a lack of funding, they were discontinued. This year, thanks to the new progressive energy sparked by the ascension of Donald Trump to the Oval Office, the Michigan Summit is back. “Donald Trump has created […]

Tomorrow, Friday, February 17, 2017, education activists in Detroit will hold a rally to protest the imminent closure of public schools there. The schools are slated to be closed under a draconian new policy in Michigan. The policy says that poor-performing schools that don’t show progress over a three year period may be shut down. 25 schools in Detroit and […]

Peter Greene, the amazing education blogger at Curmudgucation, broke a story this week that should send a chill down the spine of anyone who values both public education and the separation of church and state. In his piece “The Hard Right’s Planning Document for Education”, he reveals a new report out from the hard right group Council for National Policy […]

The following guest post was written by Ingham County Clerk and former State Representative Barb Byrum. Enjoy. Recently, President Trump assigned Vice President Mike Pence to oversee a special commission to investigate what he believes to be voter fraud. While I welcome this investigation, I believe the resources that will be expended could be better spent on strengthening the integrity […]

Last month, a group formed around The Indivisible Guide in the small city of Dexter, Michigan had their first organizational meeting. Over 150 people showed up. In fact, their “Indivisible Dexter” Facebook page now has nearly 650 people on it. That’s over 15% of the entire population of Dexter. The one question that seems to have this group’s attention above […]

Regular readers of Eclectablog know that I am a big fan of the political art of socio-political artist Michael D’Antuono. His often provocative artwork forces us to confront the sinister forces of racism, exclusion, and fascism that lurk in our country. Those forces have never been more powerful than they are now with the assent of the Bannon/Trump administration. D’Antuono […]

BOOM! Dan Adamini, the odious Republican from Marquette, Michigan who called for “another Kent State” for student protesters has resigned from his position as the Marquette County Republican Treasurer. Not only that, he deleted his Twitter account, deleted his personal Facebook account, deleted his radio show’s Facebook account, and has lost his right-wing radio show “In the Right Mind” for […]