Eclectablog

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The deceptive corporatist rewriting of the history of the #FlintWaterCrisis is in full swing

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Cross-posted from Eclectablog.com During the time when the Flint water crisis was unfolding, right wing conservatives spent a lot of time trying to convince the country and the world that it was all the fault of the local government. They portrayed these local leaders as incompetent buffoons who poisoned themselves,...

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  • August 16, 2019
Ballot / businesses / Census / Cut / Data / effort / Food / Labor / Law / Legislation / Michigan / PaidSickLeave / Republicans / Sick / Snyder / Workers

Republicans move to exempt 93.5% of Michigan companies from paid sick leave law.

I’ll keep this short and (not so) sweet. You can read the rest HERE.  Most of you know that the group Michigan Time to Care gathered and submitted more than 380,000 signatures to put a solid paid sick leave law on the ballot in Michigan in November. The legislature took up...

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  • December 5, 2018
Ann / Black / Christmas / Community / communityquilt / CommunityQuiltProject / Donation / Eclectablog / Fine / give / Gratitude / Health / Hell / infection / Michigan / Pain / Party / Primary / reading / Recovery / Rescued / semi / Surgery / Updated / Winter

UPDATED: THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! My Community Quilt has arrived!

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Late last winter I came down with a pretty bad case of diverticulitis that landed me in the hospital for a few days with some of the worse pain I’ve ever experienced. I got out and made it back to work for all of two days before I was back...

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  • November 25, 2018
2018 / Agriculture / America / bargaining / BigBusiness / Business / Campaign / Citizens / Citizenship / Community / Corporations / Corporatism / Corporatocracy / Cut / Dog / Donation / Eclectablog / Education / Energy / Environment / Food / Future / Government / Hate / Hope / Independent / Infrastructure / Integrity / Labor / Leaders / LOL / Manufacturing / members / Michigan / MikeNofs / Privatize / Republican / Republicans / Resolution / Right To Work / Senate / Service / State / Tax / Taxes / Technology / Women / Workers / World

Mich Republican grovels before his puppetmasters w/ resolution creating “Corporate Citizenship Day”

Cross-posted from Eclectablog. It’s no secret that Michigan Republicans are deeply in the pocket of corporations in our state. One of their first orders of business after taking control of our state government in 2010 was to pass a massive tax cut for corporations paid for by raising the taxes...

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  • April 14, 2018
Activism / Ann / appearance / Blogging / books / Change / Contributions / Conversation / Debt / Donald / Donald Trump / Eclectablog / Education / Election / Facebook / Failure / Food / Gratitude / Grief / Justice / Labor / Love / Michigan / Minneapolis / Netroots Nation / News / Politics / Progressive / Radio / Rally / Restaurants / SAD / September / Shock / Sick / State / Stop / TonyTrupiano / Trump / World

A true social justice warrior has passed. Godspeed, Tony Trupiano.

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Yesterday morning I got a text from my friend Stephanie White that said, simply, “Sad news about Tony.” I hadn’t heard any news but I knew which “Tony” she meant. I know several Tonys but THE Tony is and has always been Tony Trupiano. I went to Facebook and quickly...

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  • April 10, 2018
2016 / Bail / bars / Children / Cities / contract / Donald / Eclectablog / effort / Emergency / EmergencyManagers / Environment / Funding / Future / GoFundMe / Humiliation / Kids / King / Leaders / legislators / Local / Love / Michigan / MLK / Money / Muskegon / MuskegonHeights / Public / Reality / Republican / safe / School / Schools / Shame / Shock / Snyder / State / Students / takeover / Teacher / Teachers / Transition / UN

Poor folk still paying the costs of Mich Emergency Mgrs. One sold off the school playground equip.

Crossposted from Eclectablog.com. In April of 2012, control over Muskegon Heights schools was handed over to an un-elected Emergency Manager, appointed by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder. By July, Emergency Manager Donald Weatherspoon had signed a contract to turn the entire public school system over to the for-profit charter school operator...

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  • April 3, 2018
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My County Dem Party asked our GOP counterparts to join us in condemning Nazis. Answer: CRICKETS

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I’m the Chair of the Washtenaw County Democratic Party in Michigan. We’re a liberal bubble where the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University are. Yesterday, following Donald Trump’s egregious “Both Sides” defense of fascists, we composed a press release and then reached out to our Republican counterparts in the...

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  • August 17, 2017
Advocacy / Beer / Congressman / Crisis / DanKildee / Donald / Donald Trump / Eclectablog / Election / Flint / FlintWaterCrisis / Fundraising / LOLGOP / Mayor / melissamays / Michigan / NayyirahShariff / Party / Podcast / Spin / Trump / Water

LOLGOP and I are going to Flint to do some interviews. What should we ask about?

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LOLGOP and I have a weekly podcast called “The Sit and Spin Room with LOLGOP & Eclectablog”.  For next week’s episode, we are traveling to Flint, Michigan to do some reporting on the ongoing Flint Water Crisis. While we’re there, we’ll be interviewing activists Melissa Mays and Nayyirah Shariff about their...

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  • April 4, 2017
Affordable Care Act / appearance / Beer / Change / Climate / Climate Change / Coffee / Congressional / Congressman / Ct / Democracy / Eclectablog / Enforcement / Faith / Food / GOP / History / Indivisible / Information / Law / March / Men / Message / Mi / Michigan / Parking / Party / Protest / Public / Questions / Republican / Response / TimWalberg / townhall / Trump / Updates / Women / Writing

GOP Rep. Tim Walberg (MI-07) makes public “men-only” appearance during Women’s History Month

Cross-posted from Eclectablog.com For weeks and weeks now the Indivisible group in Dexter, Michigan (“Indivisible Dexter”) and other residents of Michigan's 7th Congressional District have been asking Republican Congressman Tim Walberg to meet with them to answer questions and clarify his positions on repealing the Affordable Care Act, climate change,...

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  • March 10, 2017
Access / BetsyDeVos / billionaire / Blackwater / CharterSchools / Children / Confirmation / corporatist / DeVos / Donald / Donald Trump / DonaldTrump / Donations / Education / Family / Koch Brothers / LOLGOP / Michigan / Podcast / Public / Republicans / School / Schools / Senators / Spin / takeover / Teacher / Teaching / Trump / Vote

[PODCAST] Trump’s pick for Sec. of Education Betsy DeVos UNVEILED & REVEALED

Donald Trump

LOLGOP and I started a podcast a few months ago and this week’s episode is solely dedicated to Michigander Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of Education. Not only is Betsy DeVos completely unqualified for the job (she’s not a teacher, has not background in teaching, went to private...

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  • December 5, 2016
Agriculture / Alaska / Asia / Becoming / BS / Carbon / Change / Climate / Climate Change / ClimateChange / Coal / Commerce / counted / Deforestation / Drought / Election / Electricity / Emissions / Energy / Europe / Fast Track / Federal / Fire / Forests / Fuel / General / Germany / Heat / House / IDEA / International / Jobs / Law / Legislation / letter / LisaMurkowski / McConnell / modernization / Murkowski / Obama / Plants / policies / Power / President / Republicans / Senate / Senators / Service / Solar / State / Union / Veto / White House / Writing

Republicans set to pass law defining the burning of wood for energy as “carbon neutral”

A new law called the Energy Policy Modernization Act​ is on the fast track to being sent to President Obama to sign into law. Inside this bill is a small provision that could have wide ranging impacts. An amendment introduced by Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski would designate the burning of...

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  • October 14, 2016
2016 / Access / Advocacy / Ann / anniversary / Awareness / Belief / Change / Children / Citizens / Community / Congress / Congressman / Conservative / Crisis / Democrats / Eclectablog / Election / email / Emergency / Facebook / Fear / Federal / Financial / FL / Flint / Flintwater / FlintWaterCrisis / Football / Funding / GOP / Government / Help / Helping / House / Immigrants / Infrastructure / Lansing / McConnell / Michigan / Money / Nurses / October / p / person / policies / Politics / Positive / problem / PTSD / Reality / Republican / Republicans / RickSnyder / safe / Senators / Service / Snyder / State / Stress / symptoms / Texas / Trust / Twitter / Undocumented / Updates / Water / Wife / Women

One year since Gov. Snyder admitted the #FlintWaterCrisis, only 0.7% of lead service lines replaced

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Cross posted from​ Eclectablog.com. At the Michigan Nurses Association conference taking place in Lansing this week, residents of Flint got up to talk about the ongoing catastrophe happening in their city – the so-called “Flint Water Crisis”. Calling this situation a “crisis” is, in fact, understating the problem. The women who...

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  • September 30, 2016
2016 / Americans / Anonymous / Border / Campaign / Donald / Donald Trump / DonaldTrump / Eclectablog / Evidence / Immigration / Jobs / King / LOLGOP / Mexicans / Mexico / President / problem / Racism / Racist / supporters / Trump / Undocumented / Undocumentedworkers / Video / Voters / Wall / Workers / YouTube

FLASHBACK VIDEO – Trump on undocumented Mexicans: “They're great workers… great, wonderful people”

Originally posted at​ Eclectablog. An anonymous Eclectablog reader pointed me to this video from 2010 of Donald Trump talking to Larry King about undocumented Mexican workers working in this country. In a sharp contrast to his more odious 2016 campaign trail rhetoric about Mexicans being murderers and rapists and the...

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  • July 6, 2016
2016 / Administration / Aging / Answers / Baltimore / Benghazi / Caucus / Children / Congress / Crisis / cummings / Eclectablog / ElijahCummings / email / emails / Federal / FL / Flint / Flintwater / FlintWaterCrisis / Funding / Government / Governor / hanging / Hearing / Hearings / House / Housing / Income / Information / Investigation / Justice / Maryland / Mayor / members / Michigan / October / Oversight / Party / policies / President / problem / Progressive / Public / Questions / Reform / RepElijahCummings / Republican / Republicans / Response / Responsibility / RickSnyder / risks / Service / Snyder / Solutions / Speaker / Testimony / Values / Washington / Water

Rep. Cummings: “Mich Gov Snyder now appears to be openly defying Congress” re: the #FlintWaterCrisis

Originally posted Eclectablog.com. The Ranking Member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in Washington, D.C. is Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland. He has been a fierce progressive advocate during his tenure as Ranking Member, standing up to Republican absurdity and malfeasance during the Benghazi Inquisition, the Planned Parenthood...

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  • June 24, 2016
2008 / Alexander / Ann / BernieSanders / Campaign / Candidate / Cities / Clinton / Court / Delegates / Democrats / DNC / Donald / Donald Trump / Donate / Facebook / gatherings / General / HillaryClinton / Liberal / Michelle / Michigan / Midwest / Moving / Nominee / Party / Polls / Presidential / Primary / Progressive / Progressives / REAL / Republic / sanders / State / supporters / Timeline / Trump / unified / Unity / World

A reminder about Democratic unity: there's a whole world out there beyond dKos and it's happening

The bitter primary rancor at Daily Kos might, if you didn’t venture out into meatspace, make you think that Democrats are as divided now as they were in 2008. Facebook, at least my timeline, would probably lead you to the same conclusion. However, the real world looks a lot different....

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  • June 17, 2016
America / Americans / Bullies / BuzzFeed / Campaign / Canada / Candidate / Clinton / CNN / Cut / Donald / Donald Trump / Eclectablog / Election / Embarrassment / Ethics / Evil / Exercise / Exposure / Fail / Fascist / Fascists / foreign / Fox / Hearing / Hillary / Hillary Clinton / Hitler / Ireland / Journalists / Love / MainStreamMedia / Media / Mother / Mother Jones / MSM / MSNBC / Party / person / Politico / Politics / President / Press / Public / Rally / Ratings / REAL / Stalin / Stop / Threat / Trump / UN / Union / Values / War / Washington / Washington Post / World

It’s time for the nat'l media to show solidarity with the WashPo & other outlets banned by Trump

Originally posted at Eclectablog. On Monday of this week, Donald Trump revoked the media credentials of journalists working for the Washington Post covering his events. This follows on the heels of his blacklisting of multiple other national media outlets including Gawker, BuzzFeed, Foreign Policy, Politico, Fusion, Univision, Mother Jones, the...

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  • June 16, 2016
2008 / 2016 / 2016primary / America / Attacks / Barack Obama / Becoming / Bernie / Bernie Sanders / BernieSanders / Bullying / Campaign / Candidate / Change / Choice / Clinton / CNN / complicit / Congressional / Conservatives / Convention / Corrupt / Courage / Decision / Delegates / Democracy / Democrat / Democrats / Disabilities / Donald / Donald Trump / DonaldTrump / Eclectablog / Election / Extreme / Fight / friends / Future / Gender / General / Government / Grassroots / Help / Helping / Hillary / Hillary Clinton / HillaryClinton / History / Hope / IDEA / Leaders / LGBTQ / Local / members / Message / Michigan / Muslims / Nominee / Obama / Party / person / POTUS / Presidency / President / Primary / Progressive / Race / REAL / Republican / Republicans / Respect / Revolution / sanders / Speech / State / supporters / Thinking / Threats / Trump / Values / Victories / Vote / Voters / Wealthy / Wife / Women

Reflections on Clinton’s historic achievement, superdelegates, and the fight against demagogue Trump

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Originally posted at​ Eclectablog. On May 21st of this year, I was elected to be the male delegate pledged to Hillary Clinton for Michigan’s 7th Congressional District. To say I’m proud to be supporting the first woman to receive the Democratic Party’s nomination for president is a bit of an...

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  • June 8, 2016
2007 / Accountability / Administration / BetsyDeVos / Caucus / Change / CharterSchools / Children / Christmas / classrooms / Community / corporatist / Corporatists / Criminals / Crooks / Democrat / Destroy / Detroit / Detroitpublicschools / DeVos / DeVosfamily / Eclectablog / Education / effort / give / GLEP / GOP / Heat / House / Jesus / Kids / Law / Legislation / Mi / Michigan / Oversight / person / Policing / problem / Public / Reform / Republicans / Response / School / Schools / Senate / Speech / State / Students / Tax / Tweet / unlawful / Video / Washington / YouTube

Mich Dem Zemke excoriates GOP who put the profit statements of for-profit charters over Detroit kids

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“This package [of legislation] is a handout to criminals.” – Rep. Adam Zemke Originally posted at Eclectablog.com​. Gary Naeyaert is a “member of Team Jesus” and the Executive Director of the Great Lakes Education Project (GLEP). GLEP is Betsy DeVos's project to destroy public schools in Michigan to make way...

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  • June 6, 2016
2016 / appearance / Asimov / books / Candidate / Character / Collapse / Democrats / Donald / Donald Trump / DonaldTrump / Eclectablog / Economist / Evil / Fiction / Future / General / isaacasimov / Justice / Paul / person / Predictions / Presidential / problem / Race / Republicans / Science / ScienceFiction / scifi / Space / Thinking / Threat / Triumph / Trump / Truth

Donald Trump is playing the role of The Mule from Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy

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Originally posted at​ Eclectablog.com. Anyone making predictions about the outcome of the 2016 presidential race is on a fool's errand. The existence of a Donald Trump candidacy is a disruptor. It creates such chaos and uncertainty that nothing about the race is predictable. Lately I've been thinking about the parallels...

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  • May 13, 2016
Bigotry / Black / BS / Candidate / Christian / Community / Conservative / Detroit / Donald / Donald Trump / Eclectablog / Fire / GOP / Holiday / Instagram / Islamophobia / Media / Michigan / Party / Paul / Presidential / RAND / Religious / Republican / Republican Party / Republicans / Scott / Shame / State / stereotypes / Terrorism / Trump / Twitter / Violence / waynebradley

Mich. GOP State Dir. of African American Engagement posts hideous Islamophobic meme on social media

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Originally posted at Eclectablog.com. That guy up there is Wayne Bradley (or “Wayne WB Bradley as he calls himself), the Michigan Republicans' State Director of African American Engagement. He runs the GOP office in Detroit that opened two years ago with a special visit by Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul. You would...

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  • December 22, 2015
Abuse / America / Americans / ashamed / Bigotry / Bigots / Book / Business / Children / Christmas / damn / Daughters / Donald / Donald Trump / Eclectablog / Facebook / Family / Fine / give / God / Homophobia / Humor / International / irrelevant / Local / Louisiana / Misogyny / Mother / negative / Opinions / Peace / Presidential / Public / Racism / REAL / Refuse / Service / sessions / Sexism / Shameful / supporters / Ted Cruz / Thinking / Trump / Victims / Violence / Wife / Women / worry / Xenophobia

Female photographer on Facebook proves that everyday misogyny is a real thing

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Originally posted at Eclectablog. There are two things that worry me most about Donald Trump's presidential candidacy and the national, even international, megaphone it gives him. The first is that he's so outrageous that he makes a zealot like Ted Cruz seem “reasonable”, a terrifying prospect. Second, and equally worrisome,...

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  • December 15, 2015
Abortion / ACLU / alone / Catholic / catholichealthsystems / Christianity / Emergency / Failure / Federal / Health / HealthCare / Help / Hospitals / Labor / Law / Legal / Medical / Michigan / Public / Refuse / Religious / Response / Responsibility / State / trinityhealthcorporation / Women

Catholic hospital argues that religious exemption allows them to deny emergency care to women

Christianity Redefined Eclectablogger Amy Lynn Smith has been following the story of a lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Michigan against Michigan-based Trinity Health Corporation, a Catholic Church-affiliated healthcare system. The suit challenges Trinity’s practice of denying emergency healthcare services to women — in this case life-saving abortions — based...

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  • November 21, 2015
ConcealedPistolLicense / cpl / Fire / friends / Google / Holder / jail / Michigan / Parking / Police / Security / Shooting

Mich woman who shot at alleged Home Depot shoplifter “was not being threatened” when she fired gun

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By now you've probably heard about the Michigan woman who pulled out a gun in the parking lot of the Home Depot in Auburn Hills and fired shots at someone running from the store with a security guard chasing them (details HERE.) The store is part of a retail district...

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  • October 8, 2015
2007 / Authority / BillSchuette / Bombshell / Eclectablog / Education / FOIA / Freedom / General / Government / Hurricane / Information / Louisiana / Michigan / News / Paul / ProgressMichigan / Response / Schools / Snyder / State / Transparency / Wolf

Proof emerges that Michigan AG wields FOIA fees like a weapon against transparency & open govt

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Originally posted at Eclectablog.com. Bombshell news coming via Progress Michigan this morning detailing how Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette is using fees for Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to interfere with government transparency. Earlier this year, Progress Michigan asked the state government for copies of all communications between Paul...

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  • October 8, 2015
Auto Industry / AutoIndustry / automotiveindustry / Detroit / Donald / Donald Trump / DonaldTrump / Eclectablog / Interview / Jobs / Mexico / Michigan / Money / Moving / News / Plants / Trump

Donald Trump to Detroit autoworkers: you make too much money

Originally posted at Eclectablog. Donald Trump's “Let Detroit go bankrupt” moment? Donald Trump has something to say to Detroit autoworkers: you make too much money. Talking about U.S. vehicle manufacturers moving production to Mexico in an interview with The Detroit News, Trump said this: He said U.S. automakers could shift...

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  • August 14, 2015
Access / Affordable Care Act / AffordableCareAct / appointments / Busted / Collapse / Environment / expansion / Fear / Health / Health Care / Insurance / Law / Medicaid / MedicaidExpansion / Medical / Michigan / Obama / Primary / Snyder / Wall

Myth busted: Access to doctor appts after Medicaid expansion in Michigan unchanged (or improved!)

In the run up to the expansion of Medicaid by states, some of the fecal matter flung at the wall by anti-Obama types was that, if Medicaid expansion took hold, the system would be overwhelmed and collapse under the burden of all those new people actually getting access to affordable...

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  • July 23, 2015
Anger / Bernie / Bernie Sanders / BernieSanders / Black / Black Lives Matter / BlackLivesMatter / Candidate / Eclectablog / Frustration / Michigan / negative / Netroots Nation / NetrootsNation / NN15 / person / Politics / Presidential / Progressive / Progressives / Protest / Racism / sanders / townhall / Wife

A black woman's negative encounter with a Sanders supporter after #NN15 #BlackLivesMatter protest

This morning at Eclectablog, I published a Guest Post from my friend Sommer Foster. Foster is an African American woman from Michigan who, like me, was at the #BlackLivesMatter protest during the Netroots Nation presidential candidate townhall meeting. I have written about my transformation during that event from white-privileged, irritated...

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  • July 22, 2015
Commentary / Congressman / DebbieDingell / Eclectablog / EXTRA / Fundraiser / House / John / JohnDingell / Orange / Style / tweets / Twitter / Video

VIDEO: John Dingell crowned “Dean of Twitter”, reads his tweets LIVE at Eclectablog fundraiser

This past Saturday, Eclectablog held its 2nd Annual Eclectafundraiser. At the event, we crowned former Congressman and Dean of the House John Dingell “The Dean of Twitter”. As a special treat, “Private Citizen” Dingell read a selection of his “greatest hits” tweets before a very appreciative crowd. Not only did...

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  • July 14, 2015
Congress / DebbieDingell / Eclectablog / Fathers / Fundraiser / History / Honor / House / John / JohnDingell / Michigan / Party / Twitter

Former Dean of the House John Dingell to be named “The Dean of Twitter”

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After last year's successful Eclectaversary Fundraiser party featuring Friend of the Blog Lizz Winstead, we decided amp it up a notch this year by inviting newly-minted Congresswoman Debbie Dingell and her husband, former Dean of the House John Dingell. In honor of his legendarily hilarious Twitter feed, the longest-serving member...

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  • July 6, 2015
Attack / Commerce / Corporatism / corporatist / Eclectablog / Labor / MargaretOBrien / Michigan / MinimumWage / problem / Republicans / Senate / Workers

Another attack on Michigan workers: Republicans move to slash minimum wage for under-20 workers

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Originally posted at Eclectablog. In their neverending quest to screw over workers to benefit employers, Republicans in Michigan are now turning their attention to those making minimum wage. A bill that would lower the minimum wage by 15% for those under 20 years old was passed out of the Senate...

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  • June 17, 2015
Congress / DebbieDingell / Fast Track / FastTrack / House / Interview / Michigan / Pacific / Speech / TPP / Trans / Trans-PacificPartnership

Congresswoman Debbie Dingell gives a fiery floor speech slamming Fast Track and TPP

Since I live in Michigan's 7th District which is “represented” by the odious tea partier Tim Walberg, I have adopted neighboring 12th District Congresswoman Debbie Dingell as my true Representative in Congress. Congresswoman Dingell has been an outspoken critic of Fast Track and the Trans Pacific Partnership. You can read...

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  • June 12, 2015
Adoption / Children / Christian / Civil Rights / Court / Equality / Freedom / Gender / Housing / Irony / Law / Legislation / LGBT / Marriage Equality / Michigan / Religion / Religious / Republicans / RFRA / Sex / Snyder / State / Theocracy

BREAKING: Michigan Gov. Snyder signs “RFRA for Adoption” bills into law

This will be short but bitter. Despite claims that he doesn't support the “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” (RFRA) for Michigan, this afternoon, Gov. Snyder signed a package of three bills into law that are accurately described as “RFRA for Adoptions”. By signing the legislation into law, Gov. Snyder is joining...

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  • June 11, 2015
AmericanCommitment / Americans For Prosperity / AmericansforProsperity / Book / Corporatism / Corporatists / Eclectablog / Economy / Fake / Grassroots / Internet / Interview / Koch Brothers / KochBrothers / Media / News

A glimpse behind the curtain of how Koch-funded corporate front groups manipulate the news you read

Originally posted at Eclectablog. Over the past several years, I have written about how corporate front groups, largely funded by corporatists like the Koch brothers and their network of fake grassroots (“astroturf”) groups, manipulate the media to serve their corporate bottom lines. They use this network to amplify their corporate...

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  • June 5, 2015
Affordable Care Act / Civil Rights / Community / Eclectablog / Environment / Federal / GOP / GOPocrisy / Government / homerule / Hypocrisy / IDEA / LGBT / LGBTQ / Local / LocalGovernment / Michigan / Municipalities / Party / Power / Republican / Republicans / Rules / Sick / State / Workers

Michigan GOP moves to strip power of local governments to protect workers and the LGBT community

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Originally posted at Eclectablog.com. Republicans have successfully branded themselves as the party that worships “local governmental control”. They want federal regulations repealed and the power given to the states on all sorts of things from the environment to the Affordable Care Act. But, when it comes to actual local control,...

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  • May 13, 2015
Baltimore / Detroit / Eclectablog / Facebook / Michigan / News / Police / PoliceViolence / Protesters / Protestors / Updated / waynecounty

UPDATED: Asst Wayne Cty prosecutor re: Baltimore protesters: “Shoot em. Period. End of discussion.”

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Originally posted at Eclectablog.com. Shoot 'em? Teana Walsh, an assistant Wayne County, Michigan prosecutor posted this on her Facebook page after watching images of protesters and rioters in Baltimore following the homicide of Freddie Gray: So I am watching the news in Baltimore and see large swarms of people throwing...

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  • May 1, 2015
Arrest / Black / BlackLivesMatter / Dead / Death / Detroit / Eclectablog / Enforcement / History / ICE / Immigration / Killed / Law / Michigan / MitchellQuinn / Pizza / Police / Public / TerranceKellom / Youth

Father of black Detroit youth shot by ICE agent: “They brought my son downstairs and executed him”

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Originally posted at Eclectablog. On Monday of this week U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officer Mitchell Quinn shot and killed 20-year old Detroiter Terrance Kellom. The killing took place during a raid conducted by a multi-jurisdictional task force with Detroit police called the Detroit Fugitive Apprehension Team to serve an...

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  • April 29, 2015
BillSchuette / Children / Court / Eclectablog / Gay / General / John / JohnBursch / Justice / Kennedy / LGBT / Marriage Equality / MarriageEquality / Michigan / Obergefell / Questions / Rules / SameSexMarriage / SCOTUS / Sex / State / Vote

Michigan AG Schuette's hired gun paid $50K to tell SCOTUS gay marriage creates unwed mothers

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Originally posted at Eclectablog.com. There is a great deal of speculation on how the Supreme Court will decide the case of Obergefell v. Hodges, the case that will likely decide once and for all whether or not same-sex marriage bans at the state level are constitutional or not. Yesterday, they...

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  • April 29, 2015
Bigotry / Bigots / Cameras / Eclectablog / Fox / Fundraiser / GoFundMe / Idiots / Indiana / Michigan / News / Racism / Racists / Sex

DERP ALERT: Michigan bigots now trying to out-bigot each other

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Originally posted at Eclectablog. After the owner of Indiana pizzeria Memories publicly declared she wouldn't make her pies for same-sex weddings, she raked in well over $800,000 from a GoFundMe.com fundraiser. Eager to get in on the action, or at least to share the limelight and maybe be interviewed on...

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  • April 21, 2015
Bigotry / Challenge / Court / Eclectablog / Equality / Facebook / Faith / Financial / Fundraiser / Gay / GoFundMe / Hatred / Indiana / Legal / Lesbian / Marriage Equality / MarriageEquality / Michigan / Pizza / Refuse / Response / SameSexMarriage / supporters / Viral / Wife

GoFundMe: Michigan couple seeks to prove that pizza lovers support marriage equality, not bigotry

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Originally posted at Eclectablog. When the owner of Memories Pizza in Indiana recently told reporters that she would refuse to bake pies for wedding receptions if the couple were gay or lesbian, the story went viral. Lawrence Billy Jones III set up a GoFundMe page to “relieve the financial loss...

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  • April 7, 2015
BillSchuette / Children / Constitution / Court / Eclectablog / Equality / General / LGBT / Marriage Equality / MarriageEquality / Michigan / News / Opinions / Orange / SameSexMarriage / Sex / State / Voters

Michigan AG: We must continue to ban marriage equality to protect the dignity of same-sex couples

Originally posted at Eclectablog. Michigan's Bigot-in-Chief, Attorney General Bill Schuette, has put forth some pretty remarkable excuses for his crusade to ensure that same-sex couples cannot marry or adopt children together. For example, he suggested that marriage in our state is for regulating sexual relationships to make babies, news that...

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  • March 30, 2015
Christian / Civil Rights / Eclectablog / EllisWashington / Hypocrites / Michigan / Orange / Religion / ReligiousZealots / Response / Trans / Transgender / Washington

My Planet Fitness post provokes a “rebuttal” from extremist right-wing “Christian” hypocrites

Originally posted at Eclectablog. My Eclectablog post yesterday (“Anti-trans* woman uses Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to sue Planet Fitness for terminating her membership“) which I cross-posted here at Daily Kos, provoked a response from the so-called “Christians” at RenewAmerica.com today. The piece is written by Ellis Washington, a founding...

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  • March 25, 2015
Christian / Civil Rights / contract / Eclectablog / Guilty / Harassment / Invasion / Legal / LGBT / Michigan / PlanetFitness / Theocracy / Toilet / Trans / Transgender / Warning / Women

Anti-trans* woman uses Michigan civil rights act to sue Planet Fitness for cancelling her membership

Originally posted at Eclectablog. Earlier this month I wrote about a woman in Midland who had her Planet Fitness membership cancelled because she spent her days in their gym warning anyone who would listen that Planet Fitness had a “No Judgment Zone” policy that permitted a transgender woman to enter...

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  • March 24, 2015
anniversary / Counties / Court / Federal / Gay / History / Interview / Judge / LGBT / LGBTQ / Marriage Equality / MarriageEquality / Michigan / Oakland / SameSexMarriage / Sex / State / Wife

INTERVIEW & photos with one of Michigan's rare married same-sex couples on their 1-year anniversary

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One year ago today, my wife Anne and I spent an extraordinary day at the County Clerk's offices in Washtenaw and Oakland counties in Michigan, watching as some of the 300+ same-sex couples were legally married for the first time in our state's history. You can revisit that day with...

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  • March 22, 2015
Barack Obama / BarackObama / Dictator / Eclectablog / Elections / Exercise / Facebook / Freedom / House / Liberty / MandatoryVoting / Media / media fail / mediafail / Men / Money / Nuts / Obama / Orange / President / Transcript / Viral / Vote / VoterSuppression / War / Washington / Washington Post / White House / Women

No, Washington Post, President Obama did NOT “suggest requiring everyone to vote”

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Originally posted at Eclectablog. Ya gotta admit, it's terrific clickbait, though, right? Yesterday, the Washington Post ran a piece titled “Obama suggests requiring everyone to vote”. It was total clickbait that went nuts on Facebook. Other media outlets followed suit but it was the WashPo piece that went viral. And...

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  • March 20, 2015
Adoption / Assault / Becoming / businesses / Death / Detroit / Discrimination / Eclectablog / Freedom / Health / Health Care / Humiliation / Legislation / Michigan / Petition / policies / problem / Religious / ReligiousFreedomRestorationAct / religiousintolerance / RFRA / SatanicTempleofDetroit / Service / State / Warning / World

Satanic Temple of Detroit demands groups who discriminate on religious grounds post warning signs

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Originally posted at Eclectablog. Amy has been doing a terrific job of letting the world know how regressive our state is becoming with regard to the use of religious beliefs to deny health care, adoption, and other services based on the so-called Religious Freedom Restoration Act in Michigan. What's not...

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  • March 17, 2015
Cops / Eclectablog / Gun Laws / GunLaws / lockdown / Madison / Michigan / OpenCarry / Orange / Police / School / Video / White Privilege / WhitePrivilege

VIDEO: White Michigan man on “open carry walk” prompts school lockdown, taunts cops, and lives

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Originally posted at Eclectablog. A man who bravely goes by the name of Nunya Beeswax online went for an “open carry walk” in southeastern Michigan and prompted a lockdown of the Lamphere High School in Madison Heights. Police are aware of the guy who is known for doing provocative things...

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  • March 12, 2015
AllenPark / Dictator / Eclectablog / Emergency / EmergencyManagerLaw / EmergencyManagers / Financial / Fire / karen / Mi / Michigan / RickSnyder

Allen Park, MI, where “City Admin.”, “Emergency Mgr”, & “Dictator” all mean the same

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Originally posted at Eclectablog. This past week, the City Council of Allen Park voted to fire their City Administrator Karen Folks. Why? Because she has essentially made herself the dictator of the city that recently saw their Emergency Manager leave because their financial emergency was declared over.

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  • January 30, 2015
Administration / Atlantic / AtlanticCity / ChrisChristie / Collapse / Detroit / Eclectablog / Emergency / EmergencyManager / Financial / KevynOrr / Michigan / New Jersey / new york / NewJersey / Style

BREAKING: Chris Christie appoints “Detroit-style” Emergency Manager for Atlantic City

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Originally posted at Eclectablog. Back in November, I wrote about New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie considering the possibility of appointing an Emergency Manager for Atlantic City which has faced a critical financial emergency due to the near collapse of its gaming industry. This morning Gov. Christie announced that he will...

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  • January 22, 2015
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