Free Republic

PONTIAC (WWJ) – An Oakland County judge has sent three children to a juvenile detention facility for failing to have a relationship with their father, saying it’s one of the worst cases of parental alienation she’s ever seen — even comparing the children to the Charles Manson cult. Circuit Judge Lisa Gorcyca declared the children — ages 9, 10 and 15 — in civil contempt of court during a hearing on June 24. The children were taken into custody and hauled off to Children’s Village after declining to have lunch with their father. “It’s a very troubling case, no doubt,”...

Three Bloomfield Hills kids who refused an order by a judge to go to lunch with their father have been ordered to a juvenile detention facility. "I felt like I was watching them be executed," said Maya Tsimhoni. The Tsimhoni family was in Oakland County's family court for a hearing on supervised parenting time when Judge Lisa Gorcyca took matters into her own hands. Read the court transcript as the judge as she sent the three kids to Children's Village June 24 court transcripts showed how upset the judge was. She ordered the Tsimhoni kids ages 14,10 and 9 to...

DaJuawn Wallace said he didn't stop immediately when prompted by police at 2 a.m. Feb. 19 because he was taught to pull into a well-lit and safe area before doing so. The Detroit native who is a commuter student pursuing a master's degree at Saginaw Valley State University believes he did not commit a crime, since he pulled over in a Sam's Club parking lot about 1.5 miles up the road from where police activated their lights. The Saginaw County prosecutor's office disagrees, however. Wallace faces one felony count of fleeing and eluding. "I live in Detroit, and I know...

Almost every option facing debt-drenched Greece is bad, but there is only one that will end this Greek tragedy for good. Let Greece go bankrupt. Then let this once-rich nation, hit the restart button to rebuild its economy. What I’m suggesting for Greece is what might be called the Detroit option. Put Greece under receivership and let these new authorities figure out how to manage the debt and decide who will take a haircut and how big. Pensioners, bondholders, welfare recipients, government workers, the International Monetary Fund, all will have to settle for less — maybe a lot less. It’s...

A University of Michigan history professor is blaming the Charleston church shooting on “Islamophobia” being spread by “right wing Jews” such as Pamela Geller and Daniel Pipes. Professor Juan Cole argues in his blog, Informed Comment, that “far right wing Jews” like Daniel Pipes and Pamela Geller, French politician Marine LePen and Dutch politician Geert Wilders, and “the whole Islamophobic Network” were “a key influence” in Dylann Roof’s shooting of nine people in a black church in Charleston, South Carolina, on June 17, reported Campus Reform. Cole cites Roof’s comments against European immigrants in a manifesto published in the wake...

Even as Mayor Rahm Emanuel warns about a property tax hike of up to $250 million for the cash-strapped Chicago Public Schools, another big wave of increases likely is coming to rescue the pensions of police officers and firefighters. A massive payment due to those retirement plans next year could drive up Chicago property taxes by more than 30 percent, according to a Crain's analysis. And if the current logjam in Springfield continues, it could be a lot worse. Taxes on a $250,000 home would jump $224, assuming the city continues its current practice of using property taxes to fund...

MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich. (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz plans to speak at a GOP leadership gathering in Michigan in September.The Michigan Republican Party announced Wednesday that the U.S. senator from Texas will attend the 31st Biennial Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.In a statement, Michigan Republican Party Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel says she is glad to “add another fresh and positive Republican perspective” to a “great lineup” at the meeting.The party last week announced that another GOP presidential candidate, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, will speak at the conference scheduled for Sept. 18-20.Other...

Speaking to a room full of Republicans, Ted Cruz told them his presidential campaign would target Democrats — Reagan Democrats."We're going to rebuild the old Reagan coalition," the Texas senator said Wednesday during an appearance in Howell.But Cruz also served up plenty of modern day red meat for Republicans during his appearance during the Livingston County GOP's Lincoln Day dinner.He vowed to "repeal every word" of both Obamacare and Common Core and pledged to "always, always, always" defend religious freedom.Drawing two clear targets, Cruz also criticized what he called the "failed Obama/Clinton foreign policy."Those positions aren't much different from many...

The West’s Islamic future has already been happening in the Muslim colony Dearbornistan. This 2012 story is worth another look...By now, close to 270,000 viewers [make that nearly 2 million now] have seen the video (see below) of the Christian street preachers being assaulted on the streets of Dearborn, Michigan. They were walking in public areas of the annual Dearborn Arab Festival on Sunday 17 June 2012 (Father’s Day), carrying placards and wearing T-shirts bearing mild statements expressing their Christian beliefs.

<p>DETROIT A utility says three line crews have been robbed at gunpoint of cash and cellphones while trying to restore power in Detroit after weekend storms.</p> <p>Michael Lynch, chief security officer for DTE Energy Co., tells the Detroit Free Press each robbery involved two or three suspects and it's possible the robberies are related. The Detroit News reports one happened Saturday and the others were Monday.</p>

The presidents of America’s two largest unions have vowed to fight tooth and nail against a lawsuit now in front of the U.S. Supreme Court which, if successful, could strike down a California law permitting mandatory union membership. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit assert that the mandatory-dues law forces teachers to finance union political positions. Thus, the plaintiffs say, the law violates the First Amendment rights of teachers who disagree with the union’s politics. The Supreme Court granted certiorari for the suit, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, on Tuesday. “We are disappointed that at a time when big corporations and...

NASHVILLE -- Nearly half of Tennessee's House Republican Caucus met "in a state of shock" Tuesday to discuss whether to hold a special legislative session in response to last week's U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage. They discussed topics such as what, if anything, state lawmakers can or should do in areas like protecting clergy who refuse to perform same-sex ceremonies because it would violate their religious beliefs. At least 33 of the most conservative members of the 73-member GOP Caucus packed into a conference room in Republican House Speaker Beth Harwell's office for more than an hour. They...

WASHINGTON (June 30, 2015) — The Supreme Court will consider limiting the power of government employee unions to collect fees from non-members in a case that labor officials say could threaten membership and further weaken union clout. The justices said Tuesday they will hear an appeal from a group of California teachers who say it violates their First Amendment rights to have to pay any fees if they disagree with a union's positions and don't want to join it.

A Michigan man died when a firework he was holding to his head exploded, police said. The blast of the mortar shell happened Sunday night in front of the family of the 47-year-old man, who was not identified. Walled Lake Police Chief Paul Shakinas told the Free Press that alcohol was a factor in the death. WXYZ in Detroit said the man may not have realized the firework was lit when he put it up to his head.

To keep conservative rebels in check, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his allies have been doling out punishments at an aggressive clip in the 114th Congress. From kicking unruly members off the Rules Committee and GOP whip team to stripping a lawmaker of his subcommittee gavel, leadership has been growing more comfortable with taking retaliatory measures to try to enforce party discipline. But several Tea Party targets haven’t gone quietly. They’ve been fighting back with help from Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan’s conservative House Freedom Caucus, which successfully pressured leaders this week to return a subcommittee gavel to one of their...

Michigan Same-Sex Couples Celebrate As They Wed Among Activists And Lawyers Amanda Holpuch and Ryan Felton 27 June 2015 Shortly after 10am on Friday, Chris Berghuis was barraged by texts from his partner, Derek Davis, asking: “Are you here yet?” The destination was the Washtenaw County Clerk’s office in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where marriage licenses were being issued to both same-sex and heterosexual couples after the state’s marriage ban had been struck down in a pivotal supreme court ruling that brought marriage equality to the entire United States. Davis filled out the forms while his soon-to-be-husband drove from work, ecstatic...

LANSING, MI — Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Lon Johnson is stepping down from his post to run for Congress, setting up a potential showdown with incumbent Republican Rep. Dan Benishek. Johnson, who has submitted a letter of resignation to the MDP effective July 11, is expected to formally announce his candidacy for the 1st Congressional District this evening in the Upper Peninsula. State Rep. Brandon Dillon, D-Grand Rapids, is considered a likely candidate to succeed Johnson as party chair when the State Central Committee votes next month. Reports have also placed Oakland County Deputy Clerk Lavora Barnes in the mix....

DETROIT (WDIV) -- The Detroit fire commissioner has fired an EMT who refused to help a baby when she was just minutes away from the home. Commissioner Edsel Jenkins said Ann Marie Thomas's employment with the Detroit Fire Department has been terminated. "Today, we conducted an appeals hearing, which Ms. Thomas requested. After reviewing all of the facts of this incident, I have determined that the appropriate course of action is to terminate Ms. Thomas' employment with the Detroit Fire Department effective immediately," said Jenkins in a statement released Wednesday. A frantic supervisor ordered the veteran medic to get to...

The street artist who created the “Hope” poster that came to symbolize President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign faces felony charges in Detroit for allegedly tagging properties that he did not have permission to graffiti. According to the Detroit Free Press, street artist Shepard Fairey has a warrant out for his arrest on two counts of malicious destruction of property and faces up to five years in jail and possibly more than $10,000 in fines. The warrant for Fairey’s arrest was filed last Friday and first reported on Wednesday.

NCBA will engage EPA in lawsuit alleging overreach in Waters of the U.S. rule, group says. Concerns of cattlemen regarding the U.S. EPA and Army Corps of Engineers Waters of the U.S. rule released last month are coming true, National Cattlemen's Beef Association Vice President of Government Affairs Colin Woodall said Tuesday, but that's actually generating more support for repeal efforts. We just got some more feedback this last weekend that it's the determination of the EPA that any stock tank or pond that runs around in a flooding type event would be considered a 'water of the United States,'"...