NOTE: This story has been updated HERE and HERE. In early June, a decision in the California court case Vergara v. California deemed the state’s teacher tenure laws to be unconstitutional because they deny children access to a quality education. The decision has sparked similar cases around the country. In New York, the parents group New York City Parents Union […]

Democracy, deschmocracy First it was citizens overturning the majority vote of Michigan citizens to overturn our state’s anti-democratic Emergency Manager law. Then it was rape insurance. Then it was a drive to ban wolf hunting. Then it was the effort to raise Michigan’s minimum wage. In each instance, Republicans in the Michigan legislature decided that it wasn’t appropriate for us […]

This post has been edited to clarify that the fine arts program at Detroit’s Renaissance High School is being saved. Just a week after Detroit Public Schools Emergency Manager Jack Martin, announced draconian cuts to schools, higher class sizes, a second round of pay cuts for teachers, and the closing of 24 schools, he has changed his mind: After a […]

For the past several decades, teachers have been able to “opt-out” of their membership in the Michigan Education Association (MEA), the teachers union that bargains collectively on their behalf for good wages, benefits, and working conditions and that is there for them when they are being treated unfairly. During the month of August, teachers that don’t see the benefit of […]

Michigan is one of the states throwing a public party — or you can get an LPJ party kit and host your own bash. Are you sick of watching politicians trample all over women’s reproductive rights and the choices they make about their bodies? Do you want to elect officials who actually think women should be treated equally and with […]

Yes, I realize that’s about the least-shocking headline of the day, but it’s still appalling just how casually Republican candidates in Michigan are spreading misinformation about the Affordable Care Act. First up is everyone’s favorite foreclosure attorney and MI-11 Congressional candidate David Trott (best known for kicking old ladies out of their homes), who gave a newspaper interview recently which was jaw-droppingly […]

Progressive – n. someone who believes the future can be better than the past This giveaway is now closed. The greatest irony of American life — besides the fact that states from the Old Confederacy are among most likely to be dependent on the federal government — is that the progressive movement was born in the Republican party. The far […]

If Republicans ran on what they actually believed, they’d lose — even in red states. We know this for sure because a candidate who voted to privatize Medicare and Social Security is attacking his opponent for wanting to reform Medicare and Social Security. Just as we learned that Obamacare is fading as an issue in the 2014 elections, Republican candidate […]

The Sustainability Group, a group aimed at fostering socially responsible investment, along with Walden Asset Management, which offers portfolio management services to socially responsive investors, have been working with Microsoft to encourage it to end its relationship with the corporatist group American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC.) ALEC is responsible for much of the pro-corporation, anti-union, anti-regulation legislation introduced in state […]

After what had been the worst night of unrest in Ferguson, Missouri in response the killing of 18-year old Michael Brown by a police officer, a flurry of statements from politicians on Thursday condemned the aggressive action of the local police. Senator Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Justin Amash issued nearly identical statements noting that this is America, not a war […]

SEE UPDATE BELOW You know the corporate funders driving the push to dismantle and privatize as much of our public school system as they possibly can are freaking out when they do stuff like this tweet from the Great Lakes Education Project (GLEP): You also know they’ve stepped in it when they have to tweet out four explanatory tweets following […]