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VIDEO Our campaign to draft Sen. Elizabeth Warren to run for President in 2016 is gaining huge momentum. Warren came to Netroots Nation in Detroit and #ReadyForWarren was there to greet her in style alongside thousands of grassroots progressives. Americans of all stripes are calling for a leader who will fight for an America that works for all of us, not only the wealthy and the well-connected. Join us. http://ready4warren.com. Filmed at Netroots Nation 2014 in Detroit, MI. Song written and performed by Jessie Murphy & friends. Video produced, directed, and edited by The Self Agency.

The Daily Kos has come a long way since the days when  they merely rejoiced in being easily bribed at their YearlyKos conventions (now renamed Netroots Nation) by presidential aspirants such as Mark Warner who plied the Kossacks with free sushi and expensive liquor at the Stratosphere in Las Vegas in 2006. Yes, they have moved up in the world to the point where they perceive themselves as king, or rather queen, makers. Not only have they basically endorsed the presidential candidacy of Elizabeth Warren, they have even provided her with a campaign song, Run Liz Run. Oddly enough, even...

Should the Democrats nominate Elizabeth Warren for President in 2016, as a draft-Warren movement, some liberal pundits and enthusiasts at this week’s Netroots Nation convention believe? Should Republicans nominate Ted Cruz, who has kept his options open with frequent trips to Iowa and New Hampshire? In some ways, Cruz and Warren are mirror images, and the cases for and against them are surprisingly similar. But there are also some critical differences.Before 2008, the idea of a presidential contest between two first-term Senators in their (by then) fourth year in Washington would have seemed ridiculous; in 1988, Dan Quayle was roundly...

On the second day at Netroots, which was held in Detroit, Michigan, about 300 attendees at this liberal conference took to the streets to protest the proposed water-shut-offs. The city has begun cracking down on residents who haven’t been paying their water bills; 42,000 have seen their water turned off since July of 2013. The Atlantic reported on July 17 that residents are paying plumbers $30 to turn their water back on illegally. Although, while Netroots participants were there to be the voices for these people, the folks affected are remaining quiet: Residents targeted by the shut-off campaign have been...

The bankrupt city of Detroit has a water problem. The city is trying to collect over $90 million dollars in unpaid water bills. As part of that effort, thousands of residents have had their service cut off. On Friday, in conjunction with the Netroots Nation conference, a rally and march were held to protest the service interruptions and demand the water be turned back on regardless of any money owed. Congressman John Conyers spoke to the crowd at the march, demanding that corporations pay up what they owe so that residents who owe can have their bills covered.  "We're gonna fight...

DETROIT — A young man who participated in a mob attack on a Detroit-area motorist needed a father to "beat the hell" out of him as a kid to discourage him from committing such a crime, a judge said Thursday. The stunning remarks by Wayne County Judge James Callahan came as he sentenced Latrez Cummings to six months in jail. In response to the judge's question, Cummings, 19, said his father wasn't around when he was growing up. Callahan said Cummings needed a dad, "someone to discipline you. Someone to beat the hell out of you when you made a...

DETROIT – A young man who participated in a mob attack on a Detroit-area motorist needed a father to "beat the hell" out of him as a kid to discourage him from committing such a crime, a judge said Thursday. The stunning remarks by Wayne County Judge James Callahan came as he sentenced Latrez Cummings to six months in jail. In response to the judge's question, Cummings, 19, said his father wasn't around when he was growing up.

With robberies in Detroit down 37 percent compared to figures from this same time last year, Detroit Police Chief James Craig says the increasing number of armed citizens is making criminals think twice before attacking. In other words, more guns are equaling less crime. According to The Detroit News, in addition to the reduction in robberies there has been a 22 percent drop in "break-ins of businesses and homes" and a 30 percent decline in carjackings. Craig says these across-the-board reductions in crime are at least partly attributable to "criminals being reluctant to prey on citizens who may be armed."...

Retired city workers in the Liberal Utopia of Detroit are being asked whether or not they want the city to exit bankruptcy, by slashing retirement pensions and cost of living adjustments. Officials are urging retirees to agree to a 4.5 percent cut in pension payouts, and an end to COLA. Unsurprisingly, some former city workers are less than thrilled by the idea of taking a pay-cut in an attempt to lessen the city’s debt obligation. Now, I understand the retirement pension of an average city worker is not amazingly lush in the city of Detroit; but (and this is...

Why spend so much time commenting on Detroit? Because the city of more than 700,000 people is bankrupt, turning the water off on over one hundred thousand water customers, and now axing the contracts of nonprofit human service groups that have been providing safety net services for Detroit’s legions of poor people residing in devastated neighborhoods. Is there any hope? Inell Byrd, a 41-year-old home health aide still living in Detroit’s North End, told New York Times writer James Eligon, “I know the city is coming back.” That was the concluding sentence of Eligon’s moving portrait of residents of the...

Want to buy an American car? Better get one while they last. Only 10 vehicles qualified this year for the annual American-Made Index from Cars.com, and just three of them are from domestic brands. The Ford F-150 pickup took the top spot for the second year in a row, while the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray came in seventh and the Detroit-built Dodge SRT Viper rounded out the list in tenth. …

A Michigan referee of an adult-league soccer match died Tuesday, two days after being punched in the head by a player, authorities said. John Bieniewicz, 44, died at Detroit Receiving Hospital from injuries suffered in what police said was an unprovoked attack. The blow left the victim unconscious and not breathing on the field, Livonia Police Chief Curtis Caid said. After the attack, the player fled the field and waved his middle finger at the crowd. Bieniewicz was in critical condition when he reached the hospital and was pronounced dead Tuesday morning.

Ratings company Moody's on Tuesday slashed Puerto Rico's debt rating by three notches into even deeper junk status after the US territory passed a debt-restructuring law. Moody's Investors Service cut the rating to "B2" from "Ba2" and said the outlook was negative, indicating further downgrades were possible. Now dubbed the "Greece of the Caribbean," the archipelago is, like Greece, reeling under massive debt. Over the past decade, the commonwealth's debt has doubled to nearly $70 billion and investors are growing increasingly worried the government is running out of cash. In a bid for debt relief, the Puerto Rican authorities recently...

As Detroit prepares for a sweltering summer, thousands of residents are having their water shut off by the city because they cannot afford it. At a rate of 3,000 households per week since March, Detroit has made the executive decision to shut off the tap of some 150,000 of its residents for as little as being behind by two payments. On the ground, groups like Detroit Water Brigade have popped up with emergency plans to stockpile donated drinkable water, implement affordable rainwater collection systems for potable and sanitary use, and strategies to create networks for distribution. Detroit is a struggling...

Several people protested outside the Detroit Water And Sewerage Department building Thursday, saying customers are having service cut off at an alarming rate and the practice is inhumane. Organizer David Bullock with the Change Agent Consortium says the water department is going after customers that may be as little as $150 delinquent and says the department ignores large corporations which are behind. “People always want to attack the poor … why are we attacking poor people?” he asked. But when asked which large companies are behind in their payments, Bullock would only say that WWJ should research the issue. “I...

Residents of Detroit, Michigan who are $150 or two months past-due on their water bills are having their water shut off by the bankrupt city. Now, even the United Nations has stepped in, saying Detroit is in violation of the human right to water.

Nicole Hill holds up her past-due water bill at her home in Detroit. Her water has been off for about six weeks. It has been six weeks since the city turned off Nicole Hill's water. Dirty dishes are piled in the sink of her crowded kitchen, where the yellow-and-green linoleum floor is soiled and sticky. A small garbage can is filled with water from a neighbor, while a bigger one sits outside in the yard, where she hopes it will collect some rain. She's developed an intricate recycling system of washing the dishes, cleaning the floor and flushing the...

Residents of Detroit, Michigan who are $150 or two months past-due on their water bills are having their water shut off by the bankrupt city. Now, even the United Nations has stepped in, saying Detroit is in violation of the human right to water. The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) is facing $5 billion in bad debt, and is scrambling to recoup its losses. The city, which filed the largest municipal bankruptcy in history last year, argues that the financial burden of paying water bills has been put on the back burner by many families who didn’t believe services...

Every week, as some 3,000 additional families’ water is shut off by their “public” utility, Detroiters protest on Freedom Friday. “We are hiding out in our own house with no water,” Shelah, a 15-year-old youth and poverty skola whispered on the phone to me. She went on to tell me she and her mama and 9-year-old brother were among thousands of poor families who have had their water service cut off in the last few months by the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department. Since spring, up to 3,000 Detroit households per week have been getting their water shut off –...

FULL TITLE: 'Don't come out, whatever you hear': 12-year-old Detroit boy missing nearly two weeks claims stepmother hid him in the basement of his family's condo The stepmother of the 12-year-old Detroit boy missing for 11 days until being found in the basement of his father's home knew he was down there, police have revealed. Monique Dillard-Bothuell barricaded young Charlie Bothuell V behind boxes and told him 'not to come out, no matter what he hears,' the boy told police, according to court documents filed after she was arrested Thursday. Prosecutors also revealed the boy's body is covered in scars...