Free Republic

Inequity is a problem minorities in Detroit face on several fronts, attendees of the Michigan Roundtable Equity Action Summit Saturday at Detroit's Cobo Center said. The all-day event involved the sharing of stories from people who said they are victims of the unfair systems that punish blacks and other minorities related to public transportation, housing and the criminal justice system. Groups talked about the issues and developed strategies to resolve them. Rev. Jeremiah Wright, President Baack Obama's Chicago pastor whose known for controversial sermons damning America and saying the government brought 9/11 upon itself, was the keynote speaker. Monica Lewis...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Caterpillar Inc. executives defended a tax strategy Tuesday that has saved the manufacturing giant billions in U.S. taxes. They got support from Republican senators, including one who said the company deserves an award. Caterpillar has avoided paying $2.4 billion in U.S. taxes since 2000 by shifting profits to a wholly-controlled affiliate in Switzerland, according to a report released by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. Levin chairs the Senate investigations subcommittee. On Tuesday, Levin grilled Caterpillar executives and their accountants at a hearing on the company's tax strategy. "Caterpillar is an American success story that produces iconic industrial machines,"...

Earlier this week the Arizona Republic editorial board published an opinion piece titled, “Dennis Burke should've been celebrated, not sanctioned.” The board portrays the former U.S. Attorney and Operation Fast and Furious ring-leader as a whistleblower and victim rather than holding him accountable for his extensive and reckless actions during his time in office. Consider the following a direct response. Between 2009 and 2011 when Operation Fast and Furious was active, Dennis Burke and his Assistant U.S. Attorney Emory Hurley refused to prosecute nearly every straw purchaser case handed to them citing “no probable cause.” One of those straw purchasers...

MIDLAND, MI — Less than 24 hours after U.S. Rep. Dave Camp, R-Midland, announced he will not seek re-election in November, Midland's state senator announced he will run for Camp's seat. State Sen. John Moolenaar, R-Midland, issued a press release Tuesday afternoon, April 1, stating he will seek election to represent Michigan's 4th Congressional District. "I will be a strong conservative voice for the hard working families of mid and northern Michigan," Moolenaar said. "In Michigan I have fought against overreaching government policies that are killing jobs and overburdening individuals." Camp announced late in the day Monday, March 31, that...

Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma is battling cancer and will retire at the end of his term.... When Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., pointed out that the majority of cancer centers in the country aren´t covered under Obamacare while arguing that the law´s problems go beyond early website issues, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., dismissed the critique as too "in the weeds." Coburn, a medical doctor battling cancer, panned the coverage offered to cancer patients. "Nineteen of the cancer centers in this country, only five are covered under Obamacare," he told the Washington Examiner Tuesday, a data point he

April 1, 2014 3:54 PM Democratic Senator Tells GM Car Owners to Stop Driving Immediately By Jim Geraghty A reader sends this in and quips, “Blumenthal to Michigan: Drop Dead!” CBS Connecticut: “Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal is among those calling for GM to make a stronger statement and tell owners to stop driving their cars immediately. Blumenthal believes GM made a decision to hide the defect of ignition switches.” Considering the risk from the switches, Blumenthal’s advice isn’t the most outlandish conclusion in the world. If an owner of one of the recalled cars wants to drive it at all,...

Hydrogen-powered cars are coming to U.S. dealerships. But will Americans buy them? Toyota (NYSE: TM ) is betting that at least a few Americans will be willing to pay for a car that runs on hydrogen. The company is expected to launch a production version of its FCV Concept vehicle in Japan, the U.S., and Europe next year. The FCV Concept is powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. Essentially, it's an electric car that extracts its energy from compressed hydrogen, instead of a battery. Advocates of fuel-cell-powered cars say they're just as clean as battery-electrics -- their only "exhaust" is...

Long before the Chevrolet Cobalt became known for having a deadly ignition defect, it was already seen as a lemon. Owners complained about power steering failures, locks inexplicably opening and closing, doors jamming shut in the rain — even windows falling out. Long before the Chevrolet Cobalt became known for having a deadly ignition defect, it was already seen as a lemon. Owners complained about power steering failures, locks inexplicably opening and closing, doors jamming shut in the rain — even windows falling out.

WASHINGTON – Years late, the Transportation Department issued a rule Monday that will require rearview technology in many new vehicles -- an effort to reduce deaths and serious injuries caused by backup accidents. The final rule issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will require new vehicles under 10,000 pounds and built beginning May 1, 2018, to meet the new rear-visibility standards. The rule includes buses and trucks; motorcycles and trailers are exempt. The rearview cameras must give drivers a field of vision measuring at least 10 by 20 feet directly behind the vehicle. The system must also meet...

The city of Detroit went into bankruptcy last summer, citing a whole slew of financial and municipal problems including the Detroit police’s average response time to calls for the highest-priority crimes coming in at an absurd 58 minutes — but that didn’t stop the firestorm of criticism in store for Detroit Police Chief James Craig when he started vocally advocating for more responsible citizens to take up the task of self defense by arming themselves.After an incident last week, however, in which a northwest Detroit homeowner fatally shot two men he said were trying to break home, the number of...

Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), chairman of the powerful tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, plans to retire after his current term, he announced Monday. Camp said in a statement that his decision "was reached after much consideration and discussion with my family. Serving in Congress is the great honor of my professional life. I am deeply grateful to the people of the 4th Congressional District for placing their trust in me. Over the years, their unwavering support has been a source of strength, purpose and inspiration. During the next nine months, I will redouble my efforts to grow our economy...

In February, Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) was asked during a panel what he thought about Washington Post conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin saying negative things about him. Amash dismissed it and suggested people should go look at how often Rubin criticizes Rand Paul instead. So I did. Jennifer Rubin mentioned Senator Rand Paul’s name 143 times in the first three weeks of March (March 1-21) on her Right Turn blog. The only other political figure mentioned more often than Paul was President Obama at 206 times (not including “Obamacare,” but just President Obama specifically). The most frequently mentioned named after Sen....

On March 18, an immigration forum, “Free Market Approaches to Immigration Reform,” was held in Lansing. The three speakers– Helen Krieble, Alex Nowrasteh, and Bing Goei — embraced an ‘open borders’ mindset and the debunked notion that immigrants are two times more entrepreneurial than Americans. The forum not only pushed Republican Gov. Rick Snyder’s plan to import more foreign workers (which would lower the wages of American workers), it seemed to be part of a national effort to promote comprehensive immigration reform (vs. immigration enforcement) on a state-by-state basis. Helen Krieble, founder of the Vernon K. Krieble Foundation and amnesty...

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.