Free Republic

Local 412 of the United Auto Workers has placed a spotlight on employees who have chosen to exercise their right to not support the union financially under Michigan’s right-to-work law. In a recent newsletter, the local urges co-workers not to share “tools, knowledge or support” with individuals who chose not to pay union dues. It then lists the names of the employees to be shunned. “I hope there is one thing we can all take from this,” the newsletter reads. “Please do not share any tools, knowledge or support for any of these employees who choose not to pay their...

David Bowie has died after a battle with cancer, his rep confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. "David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18 month battle with cancer. While many of you will share in this loss, we ask that you respect the family’s privacy during their time of grief," read a statement posted on the artist's official social media accounts.

He says it started when a young woman began yelling at a flight attendant and ripped off her necklace. A criminal complaint names Breanna Farquharson as the woman, and says the flight attendant got a small scratch on her lip when that happened. The criminal complaint says Farquharson also assaulted a passenger by grabbing the passenger's shirt collar and necklace, and broke the necklace. Fitzsimmons and the criminal complaint state that he and a few other passengers then ran to Farquharson and helped hold her down, while she kept yelling and rambling on about various things.

~~~~This is how they'll gut American democracy: Scott Walker and the Kochs want to [expletive] America as bad as they did Wisconsin~~~ The third week in December brought two startling stories highlighting the ongoing Dixiefication of the Midwest, a key ingredient in how the GOP, with its aging white male demographic base, is nonetheless strategically outmaneuvering the Democratic Party on multiple fronts. They are sharp reminders of how our politics are being reshaped in state legislatures and on the ground-and how inattentive to basics the Democrats have become since the demise of the 50-state strategy.The story from Wisconsin concerns the...

WASHINGTON, DC – Jerry Hood, former Special Assistant on Energy, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, today issued the following statement: “John Kerry and John Edwards have forgotten their records of supporting job-killing extreme environmental regulations, but the union workers whose jobs he put on the line won’t be as forgiving. Kerry’s 2002 proposal to raise CAFE standards would have destroyed as many as 100,000 jobs and was opposed by both the UAW and the AFL-CIO for facilitating outsourcing. Their Senatorial and Presidential policies are endangering the welfare of the American Worker, and the impact of those policies would be felt nowhere...

Montel Williams, Sarah Hekmati, Ramy Kurdi and Rep. Dan Kilee (D-Mich.) speak beforea June hearing on U.S. hostages in Iran.Last year, Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) kept his guest seat open at the State of the Union address to represent his constituent held prisoner by Iran.This year, with Amir Hekmati today marking Day 1,592 in Iranian custody, Kildee announced that his guest seat for next week's address will be filled by Amir's sister, Sarah Hekmati.Amir, born in Flagstaff, Ariz., was visiting extended family for the first time in August 2011 when he was seized and sentenced on trumped-up espionage charges. Kildee...

BAY CITY, MI Shortly after a Bay City man proposed to his girlfriend at Walmart, the pair shoplifted jewelry and sex toys, police say, leading the newly engaged couple to spend their New Year's Eve in jail. About 6:14 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 30, Bay County sheriff's deputies responded to the Spencer's Gifts store inside the Bay City Mall at 4101 E. Wilder Road in Bangor Township for a shoplifting complaint involving a man and a woman. Both suspects fled the area prior to deputies' arrival, but deputies found the woman walking between Bob Evans and Taco Bell, followed by a...

Central Academy, a charter school in Ann Arbor, was rated by The Center for Michigan’s Bridge magazine as the top school in the state. Ashley Community Schools, a district some 40 miles north of Lansing, placed fourth. Yet, in 2014-15, neither Central Academy nor Ashley Community schools rated any of their teachers as “highly effective,” the highest rating available to teachers. In fact, both the public charter school and the school district grouped all their teachers (30 and 26, respectively) in the same category — “effective” — which is only the second-highest rating. “Several of our teachers have received ‘Highly...

Donald Trump is looking strong in Michigan, with a 15 point lead over Marco Rubio. Not far behind Rubio is Ted Cruz with 17% of the vote. The Cruz/Rubio dynamic is going to be interesting over the next couple of months, and I suspect it will come to a head on March 1st. Unless something wild happens, either Cruz, or Rubio, will probably drop out of the race in mid-March. While Rubio may be shut out of receiving any delegates due to not reaching Texas’ proportionality threshold of 20%, there is a decent chance he would win Florida outright on...

Agema said he has asked the Republican National Committee to pass a resolution at its winter meetings later this month in Charleston, South Carolina, urging Congress to act on about 50 articles of impeachment drafted by the North American Law Center. The articles accuse Obama of criminal identity fraud, helping U.S. enemies, for example, by not enforcing immigration law and overstepping the bounds of his authority, for example, by ordering military action without congressional support. Click here to see the full list.

Though the Michigan primaries are still about 2 months away, Hillary Clinton holds a significant 7 point lead in the state over Bernie Sanders. This is the first Overtime Politics poll where demographic questions were presented to all of the poll respondents, and it turned out to be a fairly smooth process. It also gives us a lot of new information to look at, and it helps determine who is doing best among different groups of people. From a cursory glance of the overall numbers, it seems as though this race may be a little closer than it looks.

GENESEE COUNTY, MI – Nearly four years ago, Quin Shumpert said, 10 percent of his students were women. In less than five years the number of female students wanting to take his concealed pistol class has more than doubled. "More and more women are coming in to take the class," said Shumpert, certified to teach CPL classes in Michigan. "They want their independence. They want to be able to protect themselves." Now, about 60 percent of the students are women, he said. The trend of more women purchasing firearms is continuing to grow in Genesee County.

The 11th edition of the highly respected report Economic Freedom of North America has been released and it has good news for Michigan. In the index Michigan ranks 27th among the 50 states. The 2015 freedom index — this year’s data runs through 2013 — attempts to measure the degree to which governments across Canada, the United States and Mexico restrict (or permit) economic liberty. It is produced by the Fraser Institute, a Canadian research organization, based in Vancouver, British Columbia. At 27th, Michigan is tied with Iowa and Utah. The top-ranked state for economic freedom was New Hampshire, followed...

The headline atop a press release from the Michigan League for Public Policy is clear enough: “Michigan still lags significantly behind nation in per pupil funding.” But easily accessible data proves the headline wrong. According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau figures, Michigan’s ranking among the 50 states (plus the District of Columbia) for per pupil spending is 23rd. There are 28 states that spend less per pupil than Michigan and, when adjusted for per capita income, Michigan ranks in the top ten for per pupil spending. Claiming that funding of K-12 education in Michigan is somehow singularly deficient has...

Among Michigan's 10 million residents, almost a half-million had a concealed pistol license as of Dec. 1, according to data collected by the Michigan State Police. This database provides the number of active permits for all 83 counties, as well as the percentage of permits in relation to the adult population, age 21 and older. Under Michigan law, 21 is the minimum age for a concealed pistol license. Click on "details" for the number of permits issued annually over a five-year period between 2009-10 to 2013-14. (The annual numbers are based on reports that each cover a 12-month period from...

immediately after the regular season ends. Browns owner Jimmy Haslam has already made the decision to fire coach Mike Pettine, multiple sources say, and it is likely general manager Ray Farmer will be shown the door, as well. Pettine leaves after just two seasons full of quarterback movement and a woeful defense. Farmer likely will leave despite never hiring his own head coach. Haslam has already laid the groundwork for the move, doing work on potential candidates and seeing who will be available to him. It ends a tumultuous tenure for Cleveland, filled with dysfunction, in-fighting, failed player acquisitions and...

New York real-estate developer Donald Trump has dominated the Republican nomination campaign for months -- but his strongest support doesn't come from any of the organized blocs in the Republican party. He polls well among conservative and evangelical voters, to be sure, running competitively against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) with these voters. He draws considerable support, also, from self-identified "liberal"or "moderate" Republicans. In fact, in the latest Quinnipiac poll, his biggest polling margin against his GOP rivals was among moderate and liberal Republicans. But his strongest support comes from Republicans who used to be Democrats, according to new polling analysis...

A newly formed group, the Students for Fair Representation, has filed suit challenging racial and other affirmative action preferences at Harvard and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The lawsuits are brought by the same law firm that represented Fisher in Fisher v. Texas, in which the Supreme Court ruled that affirmative action plans were subject to strict scrutiny in applying the Equal Protection Clause: The parties asked the Court to review whether the judgment below was consistent with “this Court’s decisions interpreting the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, including Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U. S....

A Trump Conservative/Populist "Reagan Democrat" Candidacy Could Win In The Electoral College Here is an analysis of the Electoral College victory possibilities for Donald Trump as the Republican nominee. With a truly conservative/populist candidate such as Trump, there appears the ability to add to core base of Electoral College support which the Romney election of 2012 represents (Map 2). Should the current economic, military (possible terrorist) and political situation continue as it is now President Obama, as did President Carter in 1980, will own the prevailing climate in November 2016 as will "Obama's third term" Clinton.The Republican base will be...