by Leonard N. Fleming, The Detroit News/Associated Press Sept. 15, 2017 The researcher who helped confirm the Flint water crisis said Friday the city’s quality of water is testing at federally acceptable levels but residents still distrust the once-contaminated water supply. Researchers from the Virginia Tech College of Engineering led by professor Marc Edwards showed […]
Ex-U.S. Army Secretary Doesn’t Like Trump’s Transgender Ban
Former U.S. Army Secretary calls Trump’s military transgender ban ‘unprecedented’ Eric Fanning, who served as U.S. Secretary of the Army under President Barack Obama, speaks to attendees Thursday, Sept. 14 at a speaking event in East Lansing featuring Fanning and Elissa Slotkin, Democratic Congressional candidate for the 8th District. (Lauren Gibbons | MLive.com) By Lauren Gibbons […]
NEW POLL: Majority of Americans Say Confederate Monuments Should Remain in Place
by UVA Center for Politics Sept. 14, 2017 Some Americans express troubling racial attitudes even as a majority oppose white supremacists, according to a new poll published by Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics in conjunction with Reuters/Ipsos. The survey found that while there is little national endorsement of neo-Nazis […]
NEW REPUBLIC: Demographics Don’t Favor Democrats
BY JOHN B. JUDIS The New Republic September 14, 2017 I argued that demographics favored the Democrats. I was wrong. So let’s re-do the math. If any force on Earth could be powerful enough to unite the Democratic Party, you’d have thought the words “President Donald Trump” would do the trick. Instead, Hillary Clinton’s defeat last […]
POLITICO: Teflon Don Confounds Democrats
by EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE Politico Sept. 13, 2017 Democrats have attacked the president every which way, but polling and focus groups show none of it is working. Democrats tried attacking Donald Trump as unfit for the presidency. They’ve made the case that he’s ineffective, pointing to his failure to sign a single major piece of legislation […]
The Empty Shell of America’s Two-Party System
by Edward Luce U.S. Politics & Policy Sept. 13, 2017 Both the Democrats and the Republicans are riven by internal schisms. Politicians rise and fall but some cannot quit the stage. “There were plenty of people hoping that I, too, would disappear,” writes Hillary Clinton. “But here I am.” Mrs Clinton’s three-month global book tour […]
Florida: Is This Really Paradise?
As Hurricane Irma prepares to strike, it’s worth remembering that Mother Nature never intended us to live here. By MICHAEL GRUNWALD Politico September 8, 2017 ORLANDO, Fla.—The first Americans to spend much time in South Florida were the U.S. Army men who chased the Seminole Indians around the peninsula in the 1830s. And they hated it. […]
NY TIMES Trashes Michigan Charter Schools
Cover Photo The Academy of Warren in Warren, Mich., and Timbuktu Academy in Detroit.CreditJonno Rattman for The New York Times. Michigan Gambled on Charter Schools.Its Children Lost. by MARK BINELLI New York Times Magazine Sept. 5, 2017 Free-market boosters, including Betsy DeVos, promised that a radical expansion of charter schools would fix the stark inequalities […]
TODAY’S TAKES: McCain Intercedes Against GOP in Redistricting Court Case/”Last of the Mohicans” Dies/Fallback Plan for Flint Councilman Scott Kincaid
Here are Three Overlooked or Ignored Stories Every Political Junkie Should be Aware of: U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) hasn’t stopped damaging his own party, even after he cast the deciding vote against “Skinny Repeal” of Obamacare last month. He has now joined with his fellow senator, Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), in a brief in the […]
Nation Follows Michigan in Spurning Odd-Year Ballot Proposals
The United States of America has caught up with Michigan in deciding it’s not a good idea to put proposals on the statewide ballot for a “vote of the people” in odd-numbered years, like this one. This year, there have been only 27 different measures certified for ballots in nine different states (Michigan not among […]