Yesterday I explained why billion-dollar baby Donald Trump’s boast that he will win Michigan makes almost no sense. Strategist and pontificater Dana Houle added another key point: Michigan has the largest Muslim population of any state. George W. Bush won the Muslim vote in 2000 while losing the state and that population has only grown since then. And Muslim-Americans probably […]

Republican Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof and Republican Speaker of the House Kevin Cotter have formed a committee called the Joint Committee on the Flint Water Public Health Emergency that has something to do with the public health catastrophe in Flint. They plan to hold hearings, looking into all levels of government from local all the way up to federal. […]

NOTE: There is simply too much news arising from the poisoning of Flint’s drinking water to do separate posts for everything. Therefore, I am assembling various news items into a single news round-up on a semi-regular basis. You can follow all of our coverage HERE. Former Snyder advisor concedes that “running government like a business” led to the poisoning of […]

Michigan has been poisoned by this act before On CNN’s State of the Nation, Donald Trump picked New York and Michigan as two blue states as he’ll have a chance of winning if the Republican Party’s immune system continues to fail and the party nominates the most unpopular candidate in recent American history. Trump spoke in Grand Rapids last year […]

This post has been updated below. Transparency was something Gov. Rick Snyder crowed about during his first election campaign. He issued a white paper titled “Create A Culture Of Ethics In Michigan’s Government” in which he said, “As Governor, I will ensure that government is open, fair, and accountable to the citizens by making Michigan a national leader in transparency […]

My friend Jason Karsh, a writer and political strategist, spent the past week documenting the Nevada Democratic Caucus with his camera. He offered up his view of the event in this photo essay of the week leading up to (and including) Caucus Day. Enjoy.

John Lindstrom, the publisher of Gongwer News Service, one of the top news outlets covering state government and state politics, published an essay this week that shows, despite the shiny, happy face that Gov. Snyder is putting on and despite his continuing calls for more privatization and the success of Emergency Management, they know full well it has been an […]

It’s now been 142 days since Gov. Snyder admitted in public that he and his administration knew there was a problem in Flint. A big problem, actually: the poisoning of the city’s drinking water with the powerful neurotoxin lead. Since then exactly ZERO lead water lines running into the homes of Flint residents have been replaced. This morning Lt. Gov. […]

“Wharrgarbl” – Gov. Rick Snyder At a recent visit to a Flint food kitchen, Gov. Snyder was asked by a reporter about revelations that have come from FOIA requests by various media and watchdog groups like Progress Michigan. “Getting back to those FOIAs, what has disturbed YOU most about what has come out of those?” she asked. What transpired after […]

Author and entrepreneur Seth Godin says he credits his many successes to his abundance of failures. This concept helps me understand Bill Clinton — who talks more and has accomplished more than most any other human being alive. But despite leading us through eight years of general peace and prosperity where 22 million jobs were created, his record is defined […]

Back in 2011, reports began to emerge that conditions in the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans had deteriorated after part of the staff had been privatized. According to reporting by The Detroit News, “contract workers [were] responsible for incidents in which a veteran suffered a broken neck as a result of improper lifting procedures and another veteran had a gastric […]