Well, it looks like Betsy DeVos is at it again. This time she’s sharing her thoughts about education and teaching with her new friends at CPAC, the conservative political conference going on right now in National Harbor, MD. Here’s a quote from her “prepared remarks” on Thursday: “The faculty, from adjunct professors to deans, tell you what to do, what […]

If you’re a Republican — or know someone who is — the time to speak out in support of the ACA is now. The last time I ran into Theresa, I was getting ready to attend the Save Our Healthcare rally in Warren, Mich., in January. Theresa is a lifelong Republican, and I don’t know who she voted for in […]

In the wee hours of the morning today after a marathon 12-hour session, House Republicans, led by House Speaker Tom Leonard, face-planted mightily in an effort to blow a $1.1 BILLION hole in the state budget by reducing the state income tax over the next four years. Their original salvo was to eliminate the state income tax altogether, an idea […]

Less than a year ago, the administration of President Barack Obama issued an historic guidance document instructing school administrators that anti-transgender rules, regulations, and laws are in violation of federal law including Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. This guidance was received the full-throated support of U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr., Attorney General Loretta E. […]

It’s a well-worn technique used over and over and over again by Michigan Republicans: send up a trial balloon of something outrageous that even folks from their own party ask “What the hell???” Then, they come back with something slightly less outrageous but still truly outrageous hoping we’ll all fall for the head fake. I call this the “fake concession” […]

My son asked me today on the ride home from his after school jazz band practice if it ever bothered me that persons with less education than I had made more money–a lot more money–than I did. “That’s an easy one,” I told him. “No. Because how much money someone makes has nothing to do with their value in this […]

Most Trump voters do not yet comprehend the sort of mass cruelty Paul Ryan has planned for them Kim and Rich Rankin are the kind of people any voter should love. They called the boy with “soft eyes” who they adopted “Nathaniel,” which means “God’s gift” in Hebrew. “Adopting Nathaniel also meant taking on his host of medical issues,” Dom […]

Michigan Republican Congressman Tim Walberg is a tea partier’s tea partier. According to his rhetoric and actions in Congress, there are very few things that wouldn’t benefit from “local control”. He wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act and return healthcare programs to local control. He regularly talks about “improving education and job training initiatives through more local control“. When […]

The costs to replace the lead service lines in Flint is estimated to be north of $50 million. Governor Rick Snyder estimates that it will take $2 billion a year to fix and maintain Michigan’s roads and bridges. Disinvestment in education and our cities has schools being closed and cities on the brink of insolvency. When you add it up, […]

Up until three years, the progressive watchdog group Progress Michigan, held an annual conference called “The Michigan Summit”. However, due a lack of participation and a lack of funding, they were discontinued. This year, thanks to the new progressive energy sparked by the ascension of Donald Trump to the Oval Office, the Michigan Summit is back. “Donald Trump has created […]

This is a serious ‘people should be in the streets with their flaming pitchforks of rage’ moment Here’s where we are at on repeal of the Affordable Care Act: It was supposed to happen on January 20. It didn’t. That’s good. Some Republicans in the Senate are demanding a replacement be passed along with repeal. Republicans can only lose 2 […]