If he didn’t have health insurance, Jason isn’t sure how he would have paid for gallbladder surgery. Changing careers is never easy, but Jason Cole knew it was the right decision for him. He left his job as a correctional officer to return to school to fulfill his dream of becoming a high school history teacher, because he wanted to […]

“There’s definitely going to be changes in the health care delivery system. We can’t just continue to squeeze providers to say this is how we are going to save money. It’s forcing health care providers … into some very different actions that in most people’s opinion is unhealthy … At some point or another we have to be responsible or […]

Like Barry Goldwater’s campaign to “Save America” in 1964, Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign unearthed a marginally suppressed anger rooted in white supremacist racism, fear, and capitalism. Goldwater’s opposition to big government and civil rights had come at a time when the country was wounded and struggling to move forward. It came at a time after a presidential assassination, […]

A recent “article” featured in a post from the Great Lakes Education Project told the story of Denisha Meriweather, “an intelligent, dynamic and motivating individual whose life was changed by the school choice policies promoted by Betsy DeVos.” The title of the article on The Hill is, “Why we must give Betsy DeVos and school choice a chance.” Let me explain why […]

As I wrote about earlier this week, rather than stepping up and doing the right thing in the Flint Water Crisis, Gov. Snyder is spending taxpayer dollars in court trying to get out of distributing water in Flint, Michigan as its residents continue to struggle with the poisoning of their drinking water with the powerful neurotoxin lead. Despite knowing about […]

The news yesterday that Bay City, MI charter school operator Dr. Steve Ingersoll had been sentenced to 41 months in federal prison after being convicted on three counts of tax evasion and conspiracy should be sending shivers up Betsy DeVos’ spine today. Because while Dr. Ingersoll and Ms. DeVos may not know one another, the connections between them are numerous, significant, and […]

It takes a special person to teach in Detroit, Michigan. Although this has been the case for many, many years, it’s never been so true as it is right now. Not only are teachers dealing with a kids who are largely coming from families in deep poverty and working in schools that are falling down around them, for the past […]

How to Tea Party like it’s 2009 If you’re not a member of the electoral college, you’re probably wondering what you can do to resist the coming of the least qualified, most unpopular president of our — or likely any American’s — lifetime. Since most of us aren’t professional pundits but play them on the internet, we spend much of […]

A new state computer program used between October 2013 and October 2015 determined that tens of thousands of unemployed Michiganders were attempting to defraud the state with bogus unemployment insurance claims. The penalties that were assessed created a huge surplus in the unemployment insurance fund so Republicans yesterday tapped that money to fill the budget hole created by years of […]

Donald Trump’s choice for Secretary of Education, the anti-public schools billionaire Betsy DeVos, has gotten the attention of an important coalition of Democratic U.S. Senators. They are asking that DeVos pay the $5.3 million in fines and fees that she owes to the state of Ohio going back to 2008 when her All Children Matter Political Action Committee (PAC) was […]

The Snyder administration was recently ordered to resume bottled water delivery in Flint by a federal judge. In his order, U.S. District Judge David Lawson said that Gov. Snyder’s contention that “the current method of ‘delivery,’ whereby Flint residents must find a way to retrieve their own drinking water, and can use water filters that may or may not be installed […]