Free Republic

FLASHBACK STORY FROM BEFORE DETROIT'S BANKRUPTCY Imagine a city where all the major economic planks of the statist or "progressive" platform have been enacted: A "living wage" ordinance, far above the federal minimum wage, for all public employees and private contractors. A school system that spends significantly more per pupil than the national average. A powerful school employee union that militantly defends the exceptional pay, benefits and job security it has won for its members. Other government employee unions that do the same for their members. A tax system that aggressively redistributes income from businesses and the wealthy to the...

Judge of the Millennium Wade McCree has a special place in the hearts of ATL’s writers. The former Wayne County circuit judge had a penchant for disrobing for shirtless selfies and sex in his chambers, and was consequently disrobed by the Michigan Supreme Court. On Monday, the Sixth Circuit correctly (if you mean “applying the law as it currently exists,” and “incorrectly” if you mean “adopting the better policy”) held that Judge McCree is immune from a civil suit brought by a man McCree slapped with a tether and high child support payments. The man’s complaint is that while Judge...

The notorious underwear bomber's plot in 2009 to blow up a plane on Christmas Day failed because the explosives became 'degraded' after he wore the same pair of underpants for two weeks, according to a U.S. official. Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was on a suicide mission when he attempted to detonate a bomb in his underpants as the plane, en route from Amsterdam, approached Detroit.

A judge is sticking to light sentences for two men who participated in a mob attack on a Detroit-area motorist in April. Prosecutors lost their bid Friday to get James Davis and Latrez Cummings sent to prison for the attack on Steve Utash. The suburban tree trimmer was severely beaten when he got out of his pickup truck to help a boy who had darted in front of the vehicle. Utash was in a coma after the beating. Five people pleaded guilty to assault.

A $137 million three-mile train is coming to a nearly deserted avenue in a bankrupt city. Growing up in the 1940s, Robert Fogelson remembers banging on the typewriter and peering out the window at his father’s office in a Manhattan skyscraper. Then "[my dad] would take us for lunch to a nearby Schraft’s, a chain of restaurants that was popular with housewives like my mother, who regularly went downtown to shop…to socialize ...or to meet my father for a play or a movie." Fogelson hadn’t decided yet what he would do with his life, "[b]ut I took it for granted,"...

METAMORA TWP, MI – A Livonia man died after he was attacked by two large dogs while he was out for an evening run Wednesday evening, July 23, .. Metamora Township Police Chief David Mallett. ... Mallett said the dogs responsible for the attack are two 3-year-old Cane Corsos. A Cane Corso is described by the American Kennel Club as a "mastiff type" dog that ranges in size from 23 1/2 to 27 1/2 inches tall at the shoulder. ... Mallett said there was a report of a dog bite in May 2012 where the animal did come back to...

There’s nothing in the United States Constitution stating Americans have the right not to pay their bills. In fact, the Declaration of Independence, which gave birth to our nation, notes the only unalienable rights we have are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Yet thousands of Detroit residents think they have the right not to pay their water bills and demand their water remain on. About 80,000 residential water accounts are past due to the tune of $43 million. The audacity of freeloaders! Detroit is an $18 billion bankrupt mess, struggling quite literally to keep the lights on and...

A year after filing for bankruptcy, Detroit is building momentum to get out, especially after workers and retirees voted in favor of major pension changes just a few weeks before a judge holds a crucial trial that could end the largest public filing in U.S. history. Pension cuts were approved in a landslide, according to results filed shortly before midnight Monday. The tally from 60 days of voting gives the city a boost as Judge Steven Rhodes determines whether Detroit’s overall strategy to eliminate or reduce $18 billion in long-term debt is fair and feasible to all creditors. Trial starts...

Link only:http://www.clickondetroit.com/consumer/detroit-retirees-vote-in-favor-of-pension-cuts/27081476Many covering this Story at this early Stage can't be posted on FR.

Detroit neighbourhoods are being relit, its vacant homes are being sold off or torn down, its public transportation is cleaner and more often on schedule and the city has renegotiated some burdensome union contracts. In the little more than a year since the state-appointed emergency manager, Kevyn Orr, made Detroit the largest US city to seek bankruptcy protection, it has experienced a wide range of improvements that will factor into Judge Steven Rhodes's decisions during next month's bankruptcy trial. A major piece of the bankruptcy puzzle could fall into place on Monday, with the expected release of the results of...

Don’t blame me, Blonde Gator started this last week with her pig poster:But that got me wondering: Do we all have super powers? Clearly BO does; sometimes he deploys them with nothing more than his phone. Other times, it’s just his pen. It’s awesome. Still, I remember not so long ago when he lamented being burdened with his super power: "It is a vital national security interest of the United States to reduce these conflicts because whether we like it or not, we remain a dominant military superpower, and when conflicts break out, one way or another we get pulled...

A prominent sign at the Detroit water protest..."Where do you expect us to sh**?"Detroit liberals marched to demand free water on Friday. The leftists don’t believe they should have to pay for it. It’s not their responsibility.Hollywood liberal Mark Ruffalo joined the protesters to demand free water as did many attendees from Netroots Nation. Mark Ruffalo is in Detroit fighting water shutoffs. The Avengers actor leading the march downtown. pic.twitter.com/HRik6VWxdn

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."...