Backlash over Ben Carson’s anti-Muslim smears forced the Detroit-born neurosurgeon to twist and spin. But his refusal to apologize is winning him donations and crucial support. “I wouldn’t expect those remarks would hurt Dr. Carson in Iowa,” Steve King, Iowa congressman and the GOP’s Pope of Xenophobia, said. “I think they help him.” King is probably right. Republicans crave exactly […]

Michigan woman with a brain tumor is denied care that would be standard at any non-Catholic hospital. A Catholic hospital in Michigan is denying a pregnant woman care on the basis of religious principles, ignoring the life-threatening implications of their refusal to adhere to medical standards. Jessica Mann, a pregnant woman with a life-threatening brain tumor, requested an exception to […]

This past week my pal Amy Kerr-Hardin posted a now-viral piece at Democracy Tree titled “Michigan Lawmakers Propose Bill to Prevent Practicing Condom Use on Bananas“. She was writing about new legislation introduced by Republican Tom Hooker, H.B. 4883, that would, in part, prevent sex education teachers from allowing students to practice using condoms in class. The pertinent section she […]

This guest post comes from Sean McElwee — a research associate at Demos and an excellent follow on Twitter. Find out more about Sean, his work and what his research into voting uncovered about Michigan by checking out his first guest post for Eclectablog. In my latest report, Why Voting Matters, I argue that nonvoters are more progressive than voters, […]

Take action: Tell Michigan lawmakers to stop the attacks on women’s health and trust women to make their own choices. UPDATE: Committee vote on coercive abortion bills scheduled for the morning of Tuesday, September 29. Contact the committee immediately and request a NO vote on House Bills 4787 and 4830. Details in the original post below. They still haven’t figured […]

In the 82nd House District Republican primary election to replace Todd Courser, Courser himself is running and no fewer than ten others are, as well, along with three Democrats. In the 80th District, Cindy Gamrat is running to replace herself along with seven other Republicans and one Democrat. While primaries are not infrequently crowded, this is a nearly unprecedented number […]

As Republicans gather on Mackinac Island this weekend for their annual Leadership Conference, it concentrates GOP leaders into a small area and whenever that happens, things get weird. I don’t know if they emit some strange GOP-only pheromones or what but whenever they gather together like this, they say things in their out-loud voices that they would never, ever, ever, […]

After a sluggish debate that forced him compliment job destroyer/new GOP favorite Carly Fiorina’s looks and deliver a scorchingly white low-five to Jeb Bush, Donald Trump got back into the groove on Thursday by suggesting that he may be willing to build a wall around American Muslims in case they try to make a clock or something. “That’s my question. […]

At the Republican debate this past week, Carly Fiorina attacked Planned Parenthood with an earnest ferocity that got a LOT of attention. She did it, however, by telling completely fabricated lie. Anyone who has watched this videotape, I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully-formed fetus on the table, its heart beating, its legs kicking […]

The positive stories about the ACA are starting to outnumber the negative ones. It’s about time. Two years ago, it wasn’t easy to find a positive story about the Affordable Care Act (ACA), derisively called Obamacare by its critics. It wasn’t that there wasn’t plenty of good news to share, but the media loves a bad-news story. But now, with […]

In 1999, the Detroit Public School system had a positive fund balance of $246,300,000 according to a ten-year summary in their 2008 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (pages 91-92). That was the same year that the DPS was taken over by the State of Michigan under Republican John Engler. The school district was placed under the control of an Emergency Financial […]