For the last week, I’ve been trying to process the election, both as a political analyst who got a lot wrong, and a human being who believes this was a potentially disastrous outcome. Donald Trump’s move to install the owner of a white nationalist website as one of his chief advisers does not assuage the dread. But much of my […]

As religious groups across the nation lobby to have new laws passed to ensure their right to discriminate against the LGBT community, Democrats and even some Republicans are moving to ensure the LGBT kids, at least, are protected from bullying and violence. The only new Democrat in the U.S. Senate after the 2014 election is Michigan’s own Gary Peters. Peters […]

Well, that didn’t go as planned…

The Romney campaign, smarting from a devastating piece by the Boston Globe this week, decided to pushback and sent them a letter demanding a retraction.

The Globe told them to stuff it.

The emails from the Romney campaign and the Globe after the jump.

Look out world, here comes Katy Butler. Again. Last November, I wrote about an amazing teenager from Ann Arbor named Katy Butler (HERE and HERE.) She and her friend Carson Borbely put a petition on Change.org to try to force legislative change on what became known as the “License to Bully Bill”. Well, Katy is back at it. Because she […]

Last week, I wrote about Carson Borbely & Katy Butler, two inspiring Ann Arbor teens who have done something tangible and important to combat bullying in Michigan. Fighting back against a Senate-passed “License to Bully” bill that claims to be “anti-bullying”, the created a petition at Change.org. When I wrote my piece last Thursday, the petition had a bit over […]

Last week, I wrote about the so-called “anti”-bullying bill passed by the Michigan Senate a couple of weeks ago that is not only not anti-bullying but, in fact, is generally known as “The License to Bully Bill”. In my article, I mentioned two Ann Arbor teenagers who stepped up to respond in a powerful way. Two Ann Arbor-area students, Katy […]

State Senate Democratic Leader Gretchen Whitmer is on a tear lately. After dressing down Republicans for their passage of an anti-bullying bill that was anything but last week, today she read them the riot act for going on a two-week deer hunting season vacation when they have so much left undone. To my colleagues: we are poised today to leave […]

In one of the sickest and most vile acts of irony yet seen in Michigan under the current Republican regime, Michigan Republicans yesterday passed a bill that lays out specific pathways for legalized bullying in our schools. It is effectively a “Blueprint for Bullying”. The bill passed 26-11 along party lines. It now goes to the House of Representatives. Legislation […]

Cross-posted at Angry Black Lady Chronicles. My ranty screed thing the other day about Jane Hamsher (“Why I will never post another word at My.Firedoglake.com”) brought out a series of quite interesting responses. The version at Daily Kos drew almost 1,000 comments and earned me five donuts in the Tip Jar. Apparently it’s okay to call the hundreds of thousands […]

Several weeks ago, Howell teacher and teachers’ union president Jay McDowell got into a verbal altercation with two of his economics class students. It happened on the nationwide Spirit Day (October 20th), a day in which awareness of anti-gay bullying issues is raised by supporters wearing purple t-shirts. McDowell wore a purple shirt himself. In the classroom, one of McDowell’s […]