Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder continued his assault on education this week with two remarkable moves that betray his claims to have education at the top of his priority list. First, he signed legislation that fills a huge budget hole, created in part by ongoing multi-billion dollar tax cuts for businesses by diverting $167 million from the School Aid Fund. This […]

If it becomes law, any healthcare provider or payer could turn away any patient based on personal or organizational beliefs. With so much work to be done to make Michigan a better place to work and live, you’d think legislators would have more important things to do than enact laws that are nothing more than a license to discriminate using […]

Robert D. Putnam wants to have a debate without starting an argument. And he may succeed. His new book Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis succeeds in displaying the kind of canniness that makes the Harvard professor a favorite of both President Obama and Jeb Bush. To maintain the kind of equanimity that keeps your work at the heart of […]

A man who bravely goes by the name of Nunya Beeswax online went for an “open carry walk” in southeastern Michigan and prompted a lockdown of the Lamphere High School in Madison Heights. Police are aware of the guy who is known for doing provocative things to get attention. In this instance he “started in Royal Oak, and he walked […]

There’s been so much in the news about over-the-top idiocy from Michigan Republicans lately that I thought I’d just put them all in one post. Over the past week or so, they’ve been trying to further degrade a woman’s right to choose a safe and legal abortion and to corrupt our democracy by rigging the electoral system in favor of […]

This is the feel good story of the month so far. Planet Fitness, a national chain of fitness clubs, has a the motto “Judgement Free Zone”. So, when one of their members in Midland, Michigan complained (and complained and complained) that a trans* woman was using the women’s locker room, they reluctantly took action. The action was to tell the […]

A few weeks back, in what I knew would be a predictable response to my support for Proposal 1, MANY of you took me to task for my “fascist” and anti-Democratic reasoning to why I supported Proposal 1 (which you can read here). You have that right, I have that right, and we now find ourselves approximately eight weeks away […]

Recently economists and commentators have been debating how much richer the rich have gotten since the Great Recession. Republicans have decided shouldn’t be just sitting around yapping about it — we should get busy trying to make the richest richest-er. New York Magazine‘s Jonathan Chait took a look at the new proposal from Marco Rubio and Mike Lee and found […]

Catholic health systems aren’t always held to the same medical standards as secular hospitals. This is the third post in an ongoing series. You can read the other installments HERE. When you go to a hospital, you have a reasonable expectation that you’ll receive the care you need — whoever you are, whatever your circumstances. After all, there’s a reason […]

NOTE: All of my reporting on this issue can be found HERE. Four days after the self-described conservative group Livingston Classical Academy (formerly Lindbom Classical Academy) had a vocal opponent, Glenn Ikens, arrested for refusing to leave their “open house”, mainstream media outlets are beginning to report on it. The Detroit News has light coverage HERE and the Livingston County […]

Please proceed… NOTE: This story has been updated HERE. Over the past several months, I have been reporting on the ongoing efforts of a ideologically conservative group in Brighton, Michigan who have been attempting to have their charter school chartered by Brighton Area Schools (BAS). They have been unsuccessful in this endeavor. This group started out being called the American […]