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https://twitter.com/JohnJamesMI/status/1057036124210774016

John James' campaign for US Senate in Michighan has caught fire at just the right time. He needs our help. Last month John James was “just another” Republican running against an incumbent Democrat who was on his way to be road kill. James was down 23 points to Democrat Debbie Stabenow with no hope of catching her. Nevertheless, a new EPIC-MRA poll from Michigan shows that for the first time since July Stabenow is below 50% support. In fact, over the last four weeks, Stabenow has dropped 7 points and James has picked up 9 points which is something the...

Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D) now holds just a single-digit lead over her GOP challenger in a poll released Thursday that just last month showed her ahead by more than 20 points. An EPIC-MRA survey commissioned by the Detroit Free Press found that Stabenow now leads John James (R), an Army veteran and first-time political candidate, by 7 points. James previously trailed by 23 points in the poll, which was in line with others from the race that mostly show Stabenow with a double-digit lead. Just two polls recorded by RealClearPolitics over the course of the Michigan campaign show a...

Time to take another Senate seat out of the safe column for Democrats? A month ago, incumbent Democrat Sen. Debbie Stabenow had a massive 23-point lead over Republican challenger John James in the EPIC-MRA Poll. RealClearPolitics wrote that “there is little evidence that [James] poses a threat to Debbie Stabenow, who holds double-digit leads and is at about 50 percent in the polls.” Today, the Detroit Free Press finds much more evidence of that threat — and perhaps for an across-the-board collapse for Democrats in Michigan: [I]n the U.S. Senate race, where the Democratic incumbent, U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, has...

Pinkney earlier convicted by all-white jury of five felony counts of “forgery under the Michigan election law” Judge Schrock cites election honesty, while over 51 percent of Michigan’s Black residents have no real election rights. Rev. Edward Pinkney listens as his wife Dorothy Pinkney thanks a crowd in Detroit Nov. 17 for their support of her husband. She told VOD she will not waver in her love and support for him as well. Pro-Pinkney organizer Marcina Cole is at left.Benton Harbor/St. Joseph, Michigan – As the world rises up against the acquittal of killer cops Darren Wilson and Daniel Pantaleo...

Shortly after Barack Obama won reelection in November, New Jersey governor Chris Christie pointed out that Republicans’ cloudy political prospects had a bright silver lining. “One of the reasons you have 30 Republican governors in America, and why we’re the only organization to add Republican strength,” Christie said, “is because people see us getting things done.” Christie’s stance countered most of the elite postelection commentary, which gleefully pronounced the Republican Party’s political irrelevance. But the governor was right. Since Obama first took office in 2008, Republicans have picked up a net nine governorships, bringing their total to 30 states,...

Gerald McEntee had Michigan on his mind in June when he delivered his final address as president of the nation’s largest public employee union. “Our sisters and brothers in Michigan are on the front lines in the next critical battle,” McEntee told the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. He declared that the imperative was “defeating Governor Rick Snyder's anti-worker and anti-American emergency manager’s bill. These managers are local dictators who rip up union contracts.” Focusing on an emergency manager bill in one state might seem an unlikely valedictory for a legendary labor leader who has served his...

I watched Off The Record this weekend, a half-hour political talk show in Michigan, hosted by Michigan political reporter, Tim Skubic. Usually liberal and fast-paced, Off The Record deals with the downstate politics that rule the rest of us. Part of the discussion was with Representative Al Pscholka, the new Republican representative of Benton Harbor, who took some grilling about the emergency financial manager that has now turned Benton Harbor around in 6 short months. A controversial law was passed in April, criticized by liberals and libertarians alike, that allowed for the State to take over local control of municipalities...

In defiance of an order that prohibits them from taking any action, the Benton Harbor City Commission passed a resolution last night declaring the appointment of Emergency Manager Joe Harris unconstitutional and calling for his removal. With a vote of 6-2 the commission approved the following: Whereas, The City of Benton Harbor declares the appointment of an Emergency Manager a violation of Article I §1, which states that all political power is inherent in the people and that government is instituted for their equal benefit, security and protection. Whereas, The City of Benton Harbor declares the appointment of an Emergency...

The Emergency Financial Manager of the city of Benton Harbor has issued an order striping all city boards and commissions of all their authority to take any action. The order, signed Thursday, limits the actions available to such bodies to calling a meeting to order, approving the minutes of meetings and adjourning a meeting. The bodies are prohibited under the act from taking any other action without the express authority of the Emergency Financial Manager, Joseph Harris. Actions such as Harris’ are explicitly allowed under a newly approved law which granted sweeping new powers to emergency financial managers. That legislation...

Benton Harbor, MI - A Benton Harbor father is charged with murdering his own daughter. Friends say there had been on-going friction between 60-year-old Albert Ellington and his 12-year-old daughter, Albertnisha for some time. Sunday night, an apparent argument ended with Albertnisha being stabbed to death. Shocking tragedy Albert Ellington just got custody of his two pre-teen daughters late last year. Friends say the meek, mild-mannered man apparently snapped after, what they say, was physical and mental abuse by his daughter. As Albert was arraigned for killing his 12-year-old daughter, those who knew of the situation inside their Hurd Street...

Benton Harbor, MI - Between 8 and 9 PM Sunday night, Benton Harbor police received calls of shots fired in a neighbor near the corner of McAllister and May Streets. Officers responded and found several hundred people who threw bottles and bricks at them. Police pulled out of the area for their own safety. Officials say they believe the calls of shot fired were false and were used to draw them into the crowded streets. They also say they now have a plan to deal with such situations. Benton Harbor Police Chief Samuel Harris says, "We believe this is an...

Benton Harbor lifts `Louie Louie' ban for middle school band 5/5/2005, 8:03 p.m. ET The Associated Press BENTON HARBOR, Mich. (AP) — "Louie Louie," the center of a decades-long pop culture controversy, is back on a middle school band's program for a weekend parade. Benton Harbor schools Superintendent Paula Dawning had cited what she said were the song's raunchy lyrics in ordering the McCord Middle School band not to perform it in Saturday's Grand Floral Parade, held as part of the Blossomtime Festival. "Louie Louie," written by Richard Berry in 1956, is one of the most recorded songs in history....

School board bans band from performing 'Louie Louie' 5/5/2005, 7:20 a.m. ET The Associated Press BENTON HARBOR, Mich. (AP) — A pop culture controversy that has simmered for decades came to a head when a middle school marching band was told not to perform "Louie Louie." Benton Harbor Superintendent Paula Dawning cited the song's allegedly raunchy lyrics in ordering the McCord Middle School band not to perform it in Saturday's Grand Floral Parade, held as part of the Blossomtime Festival. In a letter sent home with McCord students, Dawning said "Louie Louie" was not appropriate for Benton Harbor students to...

Leader of quashed recall arrested, criminally charged 4/18/2005, 7:11 p.m. ET The Associated Press ST. JOSEPH, Mich. (AP) — The leader of an effort to recall a Benton Harbor city commissioner was arrested and charged with election fraud Monday, three days after a judge voided the commissioner's ouster. Berrien County Prosecutor James Cherry said Edward Pinkney offered cash payments to sway unsuspecting voters, attempted to influence absent voters and improperly possessed absentee ballots. Pinkney, 56, of Benton Harbor was being held on a $100,000 bond pending arraignment by video Tuesday afternoon, Sheriff Paul Bailey said. If convicted of the single...

BENTON HARBOR -- Former President Jimmy Carter told a cheering crowd in downtown Benton Harbor the city can change its image, which was marred by fiery riots last summer. "When I come back next year, I would like to see every lot cleared of trash and gardens planted," the Noble Peace Prize winner said of his planned visit to Benton Harbor in June 2005 for Habitat for Humanity. "This could be a beautiful town. "How much does it cost to pick up trash? How much does it cost to clean up a vacant part of a lot and pick up...

Gov.-appointed Benton Harbor task force makes final report The Associated Press 10/15/2003, 12:46 a.m. ET BENTON HARBOR, Mich. (AP) — A 21-member task force appointed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm to identify and defuse the causes of riots that struck the city in June has met for the final time. Members say it now will be up to the community to implement the recommendations in its final 150-page report to the governor, which will be available Thursday. "Some thought the state would pour tons and tons of money to eradicate problems here," task force co-chairman Greg Roberts told the South Bend...

This morning Jackson, Michigan's talk radio announced that Jesse Jackson will be invading Michigan starting this weekend. He'll be in Jackson (a much wrongly-maligned city, imho) on Sunday.Somehow I don't think he'll be an exhibit at the Jackson County Fair (which starts Sunday too)...This really bugs me. I'm going to send an email to Hannity's website. Maybe he can say something -- ANYTHING -- about it tomorrow!

Report clears police in death that sparked rioting The Associated Press 7/8/2003, 3:13 p.m. ET BENTON HARBOR, Mich. (AP) — The Berrien County prosecutor has cleared police of any wrongdoing in the death of a motorcyclist whose fatal crash during a high-speed police chase led to two nights of rioting. In his report released Tuesday, Prosecutor James Cherry also concluded that the nighttime pursuit was not motivated by race because it "would have been impossible" for pursuing officers to determine that the motorcyclist, Terrance Devon Shurn, was black.

Residents in Benton Harbor, Michigan have been terrorizing their own community by rioting and looting to demonstrate their dismay with what they say is an on going racial profiling problem in their Police Department. It all started with one idiot, who had an extensive criminal record I might add, who decided he was above the law and took the police on a high-speed chase that ended with him crashing and burning. Obviously, this was the fault of the police…NOT! Whether the community has a problem with their Police Department or not, running through the streets in anarchy, destroying and setting...