Progress Michigan blog posts.
By Sean Tobin There has been a debate in this country, nearly from its inception, on whether or not governments should or even can outsource services related to keeping people locked away for various wrongdoings. In side-stepping the debate between whether rehabilitation or retaliation works best to prevent future acts against society and civilization, we…
Hugh Madden, Communications Director Michigan lost a great man last week. Ken Brock was a giant in progressive political circles, a well-respected man across the political spectrum, and an accomplished Democratic operative. I didn’t know Ken well, but we worked on the same issues and often crossed paths in late Octobers on various campaign trails.…
Your mother’s, sister’s, aunt’s, coworkers’, neighbors’, and friends’ ability to make their own reproductive decisions are under attack – again. An anti-choice group called the Center for Medical Progress has released a series of secretly recorded videos seeking to attack Planned Parenthood and eliminate the organization’s national funding. A third graphic video was just released…
I was in Phoenix, Arizona last week for Netroots Nation. Netroots is one of the biggest progressive conferences in the country. Every year, thousands of activists come together to make new connections and build relationships with others to make progress on the issues we care about most. We also stand together in solidarity when the…
By Denzel McCampbell Over the weekend, Netroots Nation, a conference that hosts thousands of progressives, hosted a Presidential Town Hall featuring two presidential candidates. During the beginning of the town hall, the discussion with candidate and former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley was paused when activists and supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement stood up…
Last Friday was a historic day for America. With the Supreme Court’s Obergefell decision, marriage equality became the law of land. For some, this ruling was the culmination of a decades-long fight for equal rights. For others, it was bittersweet as the decision came too late for them to enjoy the freedom that has just…
It’s been a banner week for Michigan utility companies. First, with the help of our Attorney General, Bill Schuette, utilities got a free pass to continue polluting our air and water from the Supreme Court. In a 5-to-4 decision, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote: “It is not rational, never mind ‘appropriate,’ to impose billions of dollars…
In case you missed it, Governor Snyder signed the 2016 state budget on Wednesday. Naturally, the governor touted all of the decent things about the new budget but failed to mention the hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts being made to critical public services like environmental quality, community health, human services, and transportation. To…
James Madison would be embarrassed by a vote taken by 20 Michigan Republican State Senators last week. During a debate over Senator Patrick Colbeck’s Senate Bill 209, a bill that would mandate instruction of certain United States historical information, an amendment was offered by State Senator David Knezek to simply require that students are taught…
Until white America renounces police brutality, the violence will continue unabated By Matthew Kovac Police in McKinney, Texas are facing national outrage after one of their officers was caught on video assaulting and threatening to shoot unarmed black teenagers at a pool party. But the video does not simply show another case of excessive force,…