On April 25th, 2014, with its government run by the latest in a series of Emergency Managers appointed by Republican governor Rick Snyder, the city of Flint, Michigan switched its water system over to the Flint River, ending a decades-long purchase agreement with the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) which draws its water from Lake Huron. Within a few […]

James O’Keefe, the “film” producer who spends his life trying to take down any organization valued by progressives with heavily-edited videos of “stings” he orchestrates has been spending time in Michigan this year trying to bring down the American Federation of Teachers. Fortunately, a combination of an O’Keefe operative’s stupidity and the intelligence of the AFT’s staff resulted O’Keefe’s crew […]

Testimony in the first day of the preliminary examination for Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon, facing felony charges in the Flint Water Crisis, revealed that health experts believe the switch to the Flint River was the cause of the huge increase in cases of Legionnaires’ Disease in the beleaguered city: “My opinion is the most […]

It’s the billionaire donors, of course Graham-Cassidy — the latest version of Trumpcare — looks to be within one or two votes of passing the Senate with 50 votes by the September 30th deadline mandated by the budget reconciliation process. There’s a momentum and urgency to the bill that suggests that this really could happen, though no Republican can make […]

The only evidence backing up its wild claims are racist innuendo What’s the difference between David Duke and Donald Trump? If you’re a liberal, you’ll probably say, “Nothing” and high five a fellow vegan. But the difference is crucial and needs to elevated beyond subtext; it’s the difference between white supremacist policies being laughed out of polite company and them […]

Trumpcare is the worst possible Obamacare sabotage, and it could happen in less than two weeks The Senate is closer than it has ever been to finalizing a bill that reportedly includes a series of small fixes to Obamacare — if Democrats can convince Republicans not to throw out the “guardrails” that protect consumers. These slight adjustments have historically followed […]

Buried in a Washington Post article about Resident Trump’s meeting with Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi this past week was this nugget: At one point, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross asked, “What exactly does the president get out of this deal?” As Pelosi, the only woman at the table of 11, tried to make her […]

To save you from having to read this claptrap, I’m going to share the gist of a new “report” on teacher preparation programs from David Bergeron & Michael Dannenberg. Who the heck are these guys, you might ask? Well, our friend and Highly Effective Curmudgeon, Peter Greene, fills us in on their “credentials,” and it’s pretty much what we expected–they […]

Before buying a seat in getting elected to Congress to “represent” the 11th Congressional District three years ago, David Trott was a quiet, unassuming parasitic leech on the jugular vein of society. He had built up a vertically integrated business where he got money from foreclosing on poor people’s homes every step of the way. Here’s how David Dayen described […]

Category 4 Obamacare sabotage is also ongoing Some Conservatives feel as if secret liberal Donald Trump tricked them into not getting into a giant fight over Harvey disaster relief as Irma threatens much of Florida, but Trump’s assault on Obamacare and health care in general continues to be as Republican as hell. Trump has quietly let Obamacare's entire outreach budget […]

If we don’t stand up for our progressive values, who will? Some blog posts are more difficult for me to write than others. This is one of them. “One Fair Wage” is a coalition of pro-worker organizations who are working to ensure that all workers are paid a fair wage. Yesterday they announced they will introduce a ballot proposal to […]