Free Republic

Republicans are jumping in quickly to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, who announced Friday he’ll be leaving Congress at the end of the year to be a talk radio host. Mike Bishop, former majority leader in the Michigan Senate, confirmed Monday he’ll be in the running. And Rochester Hills Mayor Bryan K. Barnett has set up a page on the social media site Facebook to push his own candidacy. Bishop, an attorney and Rochester Republican, said via the social media platform Twitter that he’ll seek the seat. “Yes sir,” Bishop tweeted in response to a direct message Monday morning....

With "fatal self-defense shootings on the rise in Detroit," law-abiding citizens know one thing--Detroit police have their back.According to The Detroit News, "justified" self-defense shootings in Detroit are hovering around 10 since January 1st. This is up considerably from 2013, in which "there were 15 justifiable [self-defense shootings] in the city" during the entire year. And far from criticizing the fact that more and more homeowners are standing up for their lives and property, Detroit Police Chief James Craig said he views this rebirth of self-defense as proof that"more and more Detroiters are becoming empowered."

The Talk Shows March 30th, 2014 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Sens. Angus King, I-Maine; John Barrasso, R-Wyo.; Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; Michael Leiter, former White House adviser on counterterrorism.FACE THE NATION (CBS): NCAA President Mark Emmert; Michael Hayden, former head of the CIA and the National Security Agency; Michael Morrell, former deputy CIA director and member of NSA Surveillance Review Group; Cmdr. William J. Marks, U.S. Navy 7th Fleet, which is involved in the search for the missing Malaysian Airlines jet.THIS WEEK...

Update 1145am EST. Many of you are asking for the list of the anti-drilling Republicans. The group who succeeded in pressuring the GOP to cave in calls itself the "Republican Main Street Partnership." They're holding a press conference at 130pm EST in Washington, D.C. to bray about their "victory." Here's some more info: Main Street Leaders who helped broker the deal to eliminate ANWR from budget cuts: Rep. Charlie Bass (R-NH), Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL), Rep. Jim Walsh (R-NY), Rep. Joe Schwarz (R-MI), RMSP Executive Director Sarah Chamberlain ResnicHere's the complete list of "Main Street" members in Congress. 1pm EST....

The U.S. Department of Justice determined that a Michigan high school broke federal civil rights law by allowing its boys’ baseball team to fix up its athletic field, making it nicer than the field belonging to the girls’ softball team–even though the improvements were paid for privately. To avoid a fine, Plymouth Canton Community Schools had no choice but to take down the new bleachers and scoreboard, which had been paid for through a private fundraising drive. According to DOJ OCR, it was illegal to provide unequal resources for boys and girls. The bleachers also ran afoul of disability law,...

The U.S Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights has forced a school in Michigan to tear down a brand-new set of bleachers for its boys’ varsity baseball team because the new seating is nicer than the girls’ softball bleachers. The raised seating deck for the boys’ baseball team, which was paid for with money raised by parents, was put in place because fans who’d come to watch games at Plymouth High School in Canton, Mich., were having a hard time seeing the game through the chain-link fence WJBK-TV reported. The parents installed the new bleachers themselves and even added a new...

ttorney General Eric Holder said Friday that the federal government will recognize about 300 same-sex marriages performed in Michigan before a federal appeals court halted them, despite a decision by Michigan's governor not to recognize those unions. The decision means federal benefits will be extended to those couples -- including the ability to file taxes jointly, get Social Security benefits for spouses and request legal immigration status for partners. "These families will be eligible for all relevant federal benefits on the same terms as other same-sex marriages," Holder said in a statement.

Attorney General Eric Holder on Friday extended federal recognition to the marriages of about 300 same-sex couples that took place in Michigan before a federal appeals court put those unions on hold. Holder's action will enable the government to extend eligibility for federal benefits to the Michigan couples who married Saturday, which means they can file federal taxes jointly, get Social Security benefits for spouses and request legal immigration status for partners, among other benefits. The attorney general said the families should not be asked to endure uncertainty regarding their benefits while courts decide the issue of same-sex marriage in...

DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers of Michigan, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee who has been a prominent voice as President Barack Obama attempts to overhaul U.S. surveillance, said Friday that he won’t seek re-election after his term ends this year.

LANSING (WKZO) -- Michigan is now the 23rd state to call for a constitutional convention for a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The state Senate on Wednesday passed a resolution to petition Congress for a convention of the states, following action earlier by the House. Eleven more states need to do so in order for the action to be taken on a national level. Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer dismissed the move as election year politics.

EAST LANSING – The Associated Builders and Contractors of Michigan is demanding that Michigan State University cancel its Building Trades Academy program on the grounds that it encourages "organizing in non-union construction companies," while a state legislative committee has struck funds from the university's budget for 2014-2015. "Such activities lack legitimacy when performed by an academic institution," Chris Fisher, president of Michigan chapter of ABC, said in a statement. "Would the university support a similar program geared toward union busting?" But MSU spokesman Kent Cassella said that the program, which began in May 2013, is not paid for by taxpayer...

Abortion – the “life-sustaining act” of the ages. That’s the theme behind an exhibit currently on display at the University of Michigan dedicated to defending and glamorizing the history of abortion. “4000 Years for Choice is an exhibition of posters about the age-old practices of abortion and contraception as a means to reclaim reproductive freedom as a deeply personal and life-sustaining act existing throughout all of human history,” states a university webpage describing the exhibit. The exhibit will be showcased through May 29 in the main lobby of the Lane Hall women’s studies building on campus. The exhibit consists of...

Michigan's governor has refused to recognize the gay marriage licenses issued after a judge declared the state's ban on same-sex unions unconstitutional. Gov. Rick Snyder stated that the approximately 300 gay marriages performed last weekend after the decision but before the stay on the decision will not be legally recognized. Snyder made the announcement Wednesday after an appeals court put a stay on the implementation of the recent ruling by federal Judge Bernard Friedman of Detroit. "Snyder's announcement Wednesday closes the door to certain benefits granted to Michigan married couples," reported the Associated Press. "Snyder says the marriages were legal...

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan won't recognize more than 300 same-sex marriages performed last weekend before a court halted a decision that opened the door to gay nuptials, Gov. Rick Snyder said Wednesday. The announcement came a day after an appeals court indefinitely stopped any additional same-sex marriages. It will likely take months for the court to make its own judgment about whether a Michigan constitutional amendment that says marriage only is between a man and a woman violates the U.S. Constitution. U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman struck down the gay marriage ban Friday. Four counties took the extraordinary step...

Gov. Rick Snyder says Michigan won't recognize more than 300 same-sex marriages performed last weekend. The marriages were performed Saturday before a federal appeals court suspended a decision that overturned the state's ban on gay marriage. Snyder's announcement Wednesday closes the door to certain benefits granted to Michigan married couples. The move comes after a day after an appeals court indefinitely stopped any additional same-sex marriages.

A pro-Palestinian activist on the University of Michigan’s campus recently posted what experts described as “an overtly threatening” photo of himself wearing a traditional Arab headscarf and jamming a knife into a pineapple. The emergence of the photo comes just days after Palestinian activists on the University of Michigan’s campus leveled death threats and racial epithets at pro-Israel students who opposed a resolution to divest from Israel. Pro-Palestinian campus activists, angered by the student government’s recent decision to reject their divestment measure, leveled death threats at one student and have reportedly called other pro-Israel students “dirty Jew” and “kike.” The...

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said he will follow however a federal judge rules on the legality of same-sex marriages in his state, and insisted he has never taken a public position on the issue.Snyder made the comments at a Bloomberg View forum with reporters in Manhattan on Monday, as gay couples who married in the last few days awaited clarity after a federal judge put a temporary hold on a ruling overturning Michigan’s ban on gay marriage.

The University of Michigan would not explain how it is responding to death threats and racial epithets that were reportedly issued by pro-Palestinian activists at students who oppose a resolution to divest from Israel. University of Michigan police were first contacted last week after two pro-Palestinian activists shouted “threats of violence” at a student who refused to support their boycott initiative during a “sit-in” at the student government’s headquarters. The Washington Free Beacon has further learned that the pro-Israel student received death threats and that others have allegedly been called “kikes” and “dirty Jews” by backers of the virulently anti-Israel...

The Grand Valley State University student who found racist graffiti on her dorm room door’s whiteboard in mid-February is the same person who put it there, police have determined. The racist message had included a stick figure in a hangman noose and the words “black b*tch die” and “f**k black history month.” (Image shown is edited) “When the incident was initially brought to the campus’s attention, several organizations and groups were highly alarmed, prompting assemblies, discussions in the classroom and a university-wide alert to the situation,” according to the Michigan-based college’s student newspaper, the Grand Valley Lanthorn. Turns out, the...

PONTIAC, MI -- It was fun while it lasted for hundreds of gay Michigan couples who got married Saturday. With a voter-approved ban against same-sex nuptials out of the way for about 24 hours, couples rushed to tie the knot in four Michigan counties where clerks held special weekend hours to issue marriage licenses. But an appeals court put a stop to the immediate wedding planning, issuing a temporary stay of U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman's Friday ruling that called the Michigan Marriage Act unconstitutional. Friedman issued a decision that rejected all of the state's arguments that voters made a...