In his inaugural speech, the newly installed President of the United States made the following comment: “An education system flush with cash, but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of all knowledge”. Incensed, I immediately wanted to share my thoughts about these mean-spirited, belittling words–but I couldn’t. Because I was in Grand Rapids at the Michigan Music Conference […]

Betsy DeVos believes these 5 things about government. As a career teacher, I thought I’d take this opportunity to grade Ms. DeVos’ responses as though they were answers on an exam. I understand she’s a big fan of “accountability,” so I’m sure she will appreciate the feedback, especially as she crams for her confirmation hearings, scheduled for later today… 1. […]

This movement moment is calling on those of us who believe in the vision of Dr. King to respond. This movement moment is calling on us resist. But, what does resistance look like? In 2014, I published an article in the beloved, but now defunct, Michigan Citizen newspaper called, “A Time for Visionary Resistance”. In that article, I said in part: We […]

Four years ago this weekend, my wife and I spent the day after Pres. Obama’s second inauguration touring some of the national monuments in Washington, D.C. It’s an incredible experience walking around our nation’s capitol and reading powerful progressive messages carved into granite and marble, a reminder that the truly great Americans in our country’s history all had messages that […]

The following guest post was written by Walt Sorg, a long time political activist and observer from Lansing, Michigan. Walt was a candidate for the Michigan House of Representatives in 2012 in the 67th State House District. Follow him on Twitter at @WaltSorg. Enjoy. We look at the cabinet appointments of the incoming President, and we are baffled. It is […]

Former Michigan Governor John Engler is out with a new piece on The Hill touting his friend, West Michigan billionaire heiress Betsy DeVos, as a “champion for all American students.” As a resident of Michigan, this strikes me as Lord Voldemort endorsing Dolores Umbridge as the Headmaster of Hogwarts, or perhaps as Stannis Baratheon offering his strong support for Melisandre […]

At a press conference on Wednesday, Donald Trump told the nation that CNN is “fake news”. That stunning declaration is part of a long-term strategy, honed by the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler, to discredit information sources that keep the citizenry informed about reality. For his most ardent followers, Trump’s statement just confirms what they already wanted to believe because […]

Not unless we fight like hell Here’s a tweet I think most of us can relate to: We need a Michelle Obama TV show — only needs to be 30 minutes each week — where she gives people hugs and tells us it's going to be ok. — Daniel Bentley (@DJBentley) January 13, 2017 Sounds like it would be a […]

Michael D’Antuono is an artist who challenges our social and political beliefs with his hard-hitting and often controversial paintings. His work has been featured here at Eclectablog before (HERE and HERE.) Just in time for the confirmation hearings of Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of Education, D’Antuono has a new painting out titled “Class System” that graphically depicts […]

“That wouldn’t have been true, but I would have said it anyway.” Donald Trump’s greatest asset is our good intentions. It may be his only asset that he hasn’t mortgaged. Who knows? We haven’t seen his tax returns. The latest example of Trump benefiting from the media’s fixation on the wrong hand in the sleight of hand trick is the […]

Over the past month and a half since the election, LOLGOP and I have been exhorting folks listening to our podcast to activate and be present in the lives of their state legislators, members of Congress, and their U.S. Senators. In fact, the cold open to our last podcast is a recording of us calling Senator Debbie Stabenow’s office to […]