Donald Trump came to Flint, Michigan today, a move decried (and accurately described) by most as a photo-op. And Trump made it very clear that it was exactly that. Although the Flint pastor who invited him made it clear to her congregation that the invitation was in no way an endorsement and that this was not a place for a […]

The brave example of his best friend inspired this transgender man to express his truth to everyone. This is part of a story series about the lives of transgender people. Read the introduction here. Growing up in a small town in Michigan, Ashton Niedzwiecki didn’t know that anything beyond the female gender he’d been assigned at birth was possible. He […]

The greatest irony ever is that the GOP wouldn’t be a national party today if Medicare weren’t keeping seniors alive The latest Quinnipiac poll shows the presidential race tightening on up, with Hillary Clinton ahead of Donald Trump by 5 percent in a head-to-head race and 2 percent in a four-way race. But here’s what stood out to me: It’s […]

Donald Trump is making a quick swing through Flint today to do a photo-op and will undoubtedly blame the catastrophic poisoning of the city’s drinking water with the powerful neurotoxin lead on Democrats. This, of course, is patently and provably absurd. The poisoning of Flint is the direct result of decisions made by a parade of Emergency Managers appointed by […]

It’s not often that a candidate for office reveals themselves to be such an incredible [expletive deleted] as Macomb County Commissioner and MI-24 State House candidate Steve Marino, 27, has this week. A tracker sent to a “coffee hour” held by Marino recorded him making some amazingly outrageous comments, largely related to his time as a lobbyist for Delta Dental […]

After years of offending Muslims, Mexicans, and black people, Trump is is very offended on behalf of… racists  Friday was quite a day. The leaders of the white nationalist “Alt-Right” had a press conference that dealt with what they called “the Jewish question” while hoping to keep their lasso around the rocket-ship of racism known as the Donald Trump campaign […]

I got into a bit of a Twitter tussle the other day with a self-styled “education policy expert” for a Michigan corporate education reform group. While this person has never taught in a public school, and has little background or experience in education at all, he is now the Education Policy Director for this organization. After exchanging tweets for a […]

It’s been a rough couple of weeks for the charter school industry, and it doesn’t look like things are looking up any time soon. In the wake of a devastating segment by John Oliver on the charter school business, and calls from civil rights groups like the NAACP and Black Lives Matter, the public is finally starting to question the […]

Today, I am pleased to announce the addition of our newest Eclectablogger, Dr. Mitchell Robinson, Associate Professor and Chair of the Music Education department at Michigan State University. He has his own blog at MitchellRobinson.net and has guest posted several pieces here at Eclectablog. His fine writing skills are matched by his thoughtfulness on education policy, particularly as it relates […]

Trump’s “policies” would hurt his fans but his words are already battering the most vulnerable Hillary Clinton is done being politically correct and the Trump campaign is demanding a trigger warning. The Democratic nominee has focused this campaign back to the subject of her Alt-Right speech of a few weeks ago — the racism and hatred Trump’s campaign has stoked, […]

There are three things that should never be privatized and profitized. You don’t have to be an expert in public policy to know that when profits are on the line, the needs of those being served will be trumped by the desire to increase profits. The first of these things is healthcare. We’ve seen the tragic outcome of that in […]