Last summer, I asked a very simple question: “Why is Virgil Smith still in the state Senate? Is it because he’s the Republicans’ useful Democratic idiot?” Democratic state Senator Virgil Smith was convicted of shooting up his wife’s car in a domestic dispute and is now behind bars. Until he resigned this past week, he continued to receive his state […]

Fortune magazine recently chose the “World’s 19 Most Disappointing Leaders“. Now they want to know who is the MOST disappointing leader in the world and you can cast your vote HERE.

At the moment, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is in first place and, as I type this, he’s leading New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie 455 votes to 104. He’s even beating out Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli.

You know what to do.

Last October I penned a piece titled “Michigan’s Emergency Managers were supposed to fix corruption and ineptitude. They haven’t.” That could just as easily be the title of this post as U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade today unveiled federal charges against twelve current and former principals, an administrator and a vendor with Detroit Public Schools: Twelve current and former principals, an […]

The following guest post was written by Nate Breznau of Mannheim Centre for European Social Research. He is the co-author of a new study that looked at the disparate racial impact of Michigan’s Emergency Manager law, Public Act 436. The academic study proves that the elements involved in the imposition of an Emergency Manager in a city go beyond simple […]

The headlines tell the tale: The Detroit News: Task force: EM decisions led to Flint crisis Detroit Free Press: Task force slams Flint crisis, demands review of emergency manager law The Wall Street Journal: Michigan Officials Responsible for Flint Water Crisis, Panel Finds The Guardian: Flint water crisis was ‘environmental injustice’, governor’s taskforce finds The Washington Post: Scathing independent report […]

The term “Emergency Manager” was not invented by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and his corporatist Republican colleagues. In fact, Emergency Managers existed before that crew got around to passing what is perhaps the most anti-democratic legislation ever seen in the United States. According to the U.S. Council of the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM), Emergency Managers are professionals whose […]

With Emergency Managers now a four-letter word in Michigan, the Snyder administration has come up with a new way to take over public schools without having to invoke the epithet. In their on-going effort to “run government like a business”, they have appointed a “School District Chief Executive Officer (CEO)” for East Detroit Public Schools: A chief executive officer will […]

“Michigan Governor Rick Snyder Political Suicide” by DonkeyHotey Gov. Snyder knew about Flint’s water issues nine full months before going public Time after time after time, Gov. Rick Snyder’s response to questions about his administration’s lackadaisical response to the poisoning of Flint’s drinking water with the powerful, odorless, invisible neurotoxin lead has been “I never knew about it”. He has […]

Yesterday on the Michigan’s Big Show, MI-07 Republican Congressman Tim “I was a tea partier before there was a tea party” Walberg was asked about the Flint water crisis. His takeaway message from the poisoning of Flint’s drinking water with the powerful odorless, tasteless, invisible neurotoxin lead is that “government can’t protect us against everything”: “This shows that government can’t […]

The following guest post was written by Nick Krieger, an attorney and former clerk in the Court of Appeals. Follow him on Twitter at @nckrieger. His essay is published here with permission. Enjoy. “Republican senators have dishonored the original meaning of the United States Constitution” We hear it almost every day. Like a broken record, the Republicans in the United […]

If Michigan actually WAS a corporation with Rick Snyder as its CEO, it would have gone bankrupt years ago… Rick Snyder sold voters on the idea that (a) government should be run like a business and (b) that he’s the perfect CEO to do that. We now have ample evidence that government should NOT be run like a business. And, […]