As Republicans in Wisconsin and Michigan work to cement their anti-worker agenda into our states’ laws during their petulant, sore loser session before they lose significant political power in 2019, perhaps the most outrageous is the effort to take away sick time pay for workers in over 93% of Michigan’s firms. This is because they changed the threshold for exemption […]

The following post was written by Beatrice M. Friedlander, JD, president of Attorneys for Animals. Ask your Michigan State Senators to stand up for man’s best friend Most Michiganders, like most Americans, agree that it is unacceptable to raise dogs and puppies in cruel conditions. Yet many puppies offered for sale in this state come from “puppy mills.” Take action […]

Michigan, where our GOP is almost as bad as Wisconsin’s It’s not just Wisconsin. After Michigan Republicans had their worst statewide wipe-out since 1938, the profoundly (and illegally) gerrymandered GOP State House and Senate have launched a smash-and-grab attack on our democracy, our workers, our wetlands and — even! — our puppies. “It’s the worst I’ve seen,” said Mark Brewer, […]

When the GOP loses their bets, they use their gerrymandered majorities to make workers to pay UPDATE, 12/4/18: Michigan’s GOP-controlled House has voted to gut both the One Fair Wage minimum wage increase and earned sick leave. The bills now go to the desk of the governor. If you wonder how that’s going to go, the Detroit Free Press reports, […]

So what does that mean for 2020, huh? You can’t clone Jon Tester or Joe Manchin. And you probably wouldn’t want to or you’d get a bunch of mini-Manchins shooting holes in whatever happens to be the least popular policy of the moment. But we may want to clone Tammy Baldwin. In addition to the biggest Democratic House wave since […]

Every time I go out to observe one of our music student teachers, I come away thinking three things… 1. These new music teachers are really, really good. Much better than I was just coming out of school. More musically versatile, more aware of the profession, so passionate about teaching kids about music. In spite of the doom & gloom […]

We are the Koch brothers we’ve been waiting for There’s much to mourn but a brief period of gloating may now begin. At a safe distance, you can now tell your aunt’s Trump-loving boyfriend, who added you on Facebook before he discovered Infowars and meth in early 2016, that we have seen a wave and it looks a little blue-ish. […]

The biggest and most profound victory in Michigan on Election Day was, for me at least (and LOLGOP chides me about mentioning this on the pod all the time) that Michigan’s Bigot-in-Chief, Bill Schuette is being replaced as Attorney General by lesbian attorney Dana Nessel. Dana is the amazing woman who helped bring marriage equality to the USA, something Schuette […]

Better roads. Cleaner water. Real Democracy. This post is part of a new project at Eclectablog called “A Fresh Michigan”. Our goal is to help people understand the astonishing impact they can have on the future of our state by supporting the three statewide ballot proposals along with Sam Bagenstos and Megan Kathleen Cavanagh for the State Supreme Court. You […]

We can transform Michigan’s democracy in time for 2020 — and your support is needed There’s a reason that Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jennifer Lawrence are focused on Michigan as the most important election of our lives nears. It’s not just because we have a historic all-women slate of statewide candidates. And It’s not just because we have a chance to […]

By now it’s no secret that Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Schuette used his office and staff for his own personal work. From working on political operations and promoting his book tour to conducting multi-million dollar real estate transactions and hiring “Republican campaign activists” as staff in his office right before the 2016 campaign began, Bill Schuette appears to view tax […]