Free Republic

The debate over the future of Detroit’s public schools took a nasty turn over the weekend when the editorial page editor of the Detroit Free Press called for Republican state legislators to be murdered for disagreeing with him. “We really ought to round up the lawmakers who took money to protect and perpetuate the failing charter-school experiment in Detroit, sew them into burlap sacks with rabid animals, and toss them into the Straits of Mackinac,” wrote Stephen Henderson. The crime the lawmakers were guilty of? Supporting expanded choice for Detroit’s failing school system. “A sack. An animal. A lake. No...

Two weeks ago 42 Republicans voted to endorse President Barack Obama’s transgender agenda. They did it by voting for the Maloney amendment, which affirmed Obama’s 2014 executive order barring “discrimination” on the basis of “sexual orientation and gender identity” in the private employment policies of federal contractors. Over the weekend, Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., posted a characteristically thoughtful Facebook post defending his vote for the Maloney amendment. The overarching policy concern is whether the government should elevate “sexual orientation and gender identity” for special legal privileges, especially in terms of laws barring “discrimination.”

ANN ARBOR, MI — If you don't bring your own reusable bags when you go grocery shopping, it could cost you. Washtenaw County commissioners voted 6-2 Wednesday night to approve a new carryout bag ordinance that imposes a 10-cent fee on consumers for every disposable bag they receive at retail grocery stores in the county. That includes both paper and plastic. The ordinance is intended to eliminate unnecessary waste and incentivize people to be more environmentally conscious. However, there's pending state legislation that could take away the county's ability to impose such regulations. Senate Bill 853 passed through the state...

Under Michigan law, the Michigan State Police (MSP) are required to publish a list of the firearms that they intend to dispose of each month.  Agencies in Michigan are required to turn over to the State Police firearms that have been forfeited or confiscated from prohibited possessors.The firearms are checked to see if they have been reported stolen.  If they have not been reported stolen, the MSP are required to dispose of them.  Before they are disposed of, the list of firearms has to be published each month.  Owners of the firearms are given 30 days to contact the...

While teachers at Michigan’s largest school district were living under a wage freeze, and more recently hearing rumors of possible payless paydays, one school employee who is also president of the local teachers union got a huge raise. That district is the insolvent and academically challenged Detroit Public Schools, and the union president is Ivy Bailey of the Detroit Federation of Teachers. Bailey was listed as a teacher in 2013-14 and earned $70,176. Her salary shot up 31 percent to $91,877 in 2014-15. Bailey’s compensation is listed in a state salary database of employees enrolled in the school employee pension...

A lobbyist organization funded by local governments held a press conference in the state Capitol this week to urge lawmakers to send its members more in state taxpayer dollars. The event took place as legislators are preparing to pass a state budget for next year, and was cast as an invitation to discuss how local government funding is “broken.” Given that message, it may seem ironic that the host city of Lansing collected more tax dollars than it expected for a third straight year and had a surplus. The group is called the Michigan Municipal League, and its members want...

Likely Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton holds about a 4-point lead over presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump in Michigan, according to a poll unveiled Wednesday. Mrs. Clinton had a 43 percent to 38.5 percent edge over Mr. Trump, according to the poll of 600 likely voters in the state released to the Detroit News and WDIV-TV.

Right-thinking Americans will be relieved to know that conservatives in the House joined the Democrat minority to kill the entire Water and Energy appropriations bill rather than allow it to pass with Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney’s transgender amendment attached to it. However, here are the 43 Republicans who voted in favor of this dastardly amendment… Remember their names. According to the American Family Association: “The amendment would legitimize President Barack Obama’s radical agenda to punish those who don’t follow his pro-LGBT agenda. “This amendment requires the federal government to follow Obama’s executive order 13672. This executive order instructs the federal...

On Wednesday, 43 Republican members of Congress joined the Democrats to vote for President Barack Obama’s transgender agenda. Now they’re trying to spin their vote. These 43 Republicans voted for the Maloney amendment, which ratified Obama’s 2014 executive order barring private businesses who do contract work for the government from engaging in what the government considers to be “discrimination” on the basis of “sexual orientation and gender identity” in their private employment policies. As I pointed out in an earlier Daily Signal article, “discrimination” on the basis of “gender identity” can be something as simple as having a bathroom policy...

On Wednesday night, 43 Republican members of Congress joined the Democrats to vote for President Barack Obama’s transgender agenda. Whereas last week Congress voted to reject this proposal—known as the Maloney Amendment—last night they voted to ratify Obama’s 2014 executive order barring federal contractors from what it describes as “discrimination” on the basis of “sexual orientation and gender identity” in their private employment policies. And, of course, “discrimination” on the basis of “gender identity” can be something as simple as having a bathroom policy based on biological sex, not gender identity, as we learned last week from Obama’s transgender directives....

We’ve asked this question before: Is there any group in the conservative coalition that Speaker Paul Ryan and the Republican establishment have not betrayed? After last night’s vote to codify Obama’s extra-constitutional “guidance” mandating that men must be allowed into the showers, dressing rooms and public toilets used by women, the answer would have to be "NO," there’s no issue left upon which Ryan and his servile underlings have not betrayed America’s conservative majority.  About now someone is going to say “hold it” you’re being unfair, because Paul Ryan didn’t vote for the amendment from Democratic Rep. Sean Maloney (NY-18), that codified Obama’s executive order...

To the casual observer, it would seem that gay rights falls neatly on the political spectrum. Democrats champion bills that aim to protect LGBT people from discrimination, and Republicans increasingly propose and pass ones aimed to protect the religiously devout. But there's growing evidence that Republicans in Congress and across the country are sidestepping the more controversial religious protection and bathroom bills and, in some cases, embracing LGBT non-discrimination laws instead.... And more broadly, Republicans in Congress, Southern-state governors and a business community that usually aligns with the GOP seem to be eschewing some of the more controversial religious freedom...

Under current law, auto repair shops can use replacement parts made by a vehicle’s maker or an aftermarket supplier. But under a bill now working its way through the Michigan Legislature, customers’ freedom to save money by choosing the less expensive aftermarket parts would be replaced by a mandate on shops to install only original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts for repairs on newer vehicles. "This bill will make our inventory null and void. It will cause people to be laid off. It will raise prices for consumers by taking away their choices, and it will drive up insurance rates," said...

A Friday piece in Politico Magazine warns that a Hillary Clinton “fumble on trade” could give Donald Trump wins in Ohio, Wisconsin, and Michigan in a general election contest. In a piece entitled, “How Hillary Loses,” David S. Bernstein writes that the new polls showing Trump ahead of Clinton represent a “terrifying moment for Democrats.” While Bernstein says one should not read too much into the early polls, he argues that the polling numbers reveal that “there is now a clear path for her to lose” the election. In particular, Bernstein explains that trade could win Trump Ohio, Wisconsin, and...

Donald Trump announced this weekend he puts 15 states potentially into play in the general election this year. The states include: — Ohio — Florida — Virginia — Minnesota — Michigan — Pennsylvania — Wisconsin — New York — Maine — California ** Plus Donald Trump is beating Hillary Clinton in the latest Oregon poll and is essentially tied with Hillary in New Hampshire -two more traditional blue states. And Hillary Clinton hasn’t even been indicted yet!

Just a few months ago, mothers in Flint, Michigan prohibited their kids from taking baths after actor Mark Ruffalo claimed the city's water contained dangerous levels of chloroform. Virginia Tech Professor Marc Edwards, who initially blew the whistle on the Flint water lead-poisoning, compared the incident to "someone shouting fire in a crowded movie theater." "Mr. Ruffalo became an opportunist, a pseudo-scientist, and he started telling people outrageous things," said Marc Edwards. "He claimed that you could breathe lead through the water in the showers… and that they found dangerous chemicals in Flint water heaters." Although at first the Professor...

It is a story that started when one dad asked his three sons who attend Southwest Elementary School in Howell a routine question: How was school today?“My son informed me there was a girl in the bathroom with him and the other kids in his class,” said Matt Stewart.He called the school. He asked why he wasn’t given warning that there was a transgender child in the school, why parents didn’t have a say on school policy, and what the options were to protect the privacy of his son.Stewart didn’t like the answers. He and his wife then decided to...

“If you’re a graduate, you [should] want to go to college,” Lisa Mulholland, a Harrison resident said according to TV5. “Children fresh out of high school shouldn’t be taking their clothes off for money. I think it’s sickening,” said local resident Lisa Dickerson said. “They’re good people, but I still don’t think it’s right. I don’t think it’s right at all,” Mulholland said. The billboard is gaining traction and responses on social media. The sign also features the club’s hours and a telephone number. Facebook user Jason Swejkowski posted a picture of the strip club’s advertisement, with the caption, “Miceli’s...

A leaked memo revealed how the state’s largest teachers union planned to get around Michigan’s new right-to-work law soon after it was enacted. The law repeals the power previously enjoyed by the union to get a school employee fired for not paying it dues or fees. In the memo from December 2012, Michigan Education Association President Steve Cook laid out the union’s strategy: “We will use any legal means at our disposal to collect the dues owed under signed membership forms from any members who withhold dues prior to terminating their membership in August for the following fiscal year. Same...

LANSING — The federal government’s involvement in health care policy has grown dramatically over recent decades. But when it comes to how and where health care services are delivered, and who may or may not provide care, state governments still play a major role — one Michigan is performing badly. That's the message from a panel of experts from Michigan and elsewhere recently assembled in Lansing, who offered some specific reforms that would make care more accessible and affordable in this state. The panel of four experts assembled for a Mackinac Center event called “Free Market Solutions to Problems in...