Progress Michigan blog posts.
To all of our fellow progressives attending Netroots Nation: Welcome to Detroit and to the Great Lakes State! I’ll make this quick so we can all get back to building a stronger progressive movement. We need your help while you’re here. Our right-wing governor, Rick Snyder, privatized the prison food services in our state-run prisons.…
Despite residing in a state that is completely controlled by conservative politicians who favor their corporate donors over middle class Michiganders, living in Michigan does have some perks. This Thursday through Sunday, the ninth annual Netroots Nation conference comes to Detroit. Netroots Nation is the largest gathering of progressive activists in the country. And guess…
For TWIP I want to make one thing clear: Kids are kids. And they deserve compassion. This Week in PM Blogging: Get registered! If you’re planning on voting in the August primary and you’re not registered, you’re SOL. But fear not! You can still register to vote for the big kahuna — the November General…
I didn’t imagine when I started working at Progress Michigan last year that I’d be sitting down every week to write my weekly blog and end up more often than not chronicling the attacks on women’s freedom and reproductive rights that should have ended with the women’s movement in 1960s. I hope there will come…
My phone rang yesterday. I answered and on the other end was my Republican uncle. “I’ve got a pretty loaded political question for you,” he said without any of the usual talk about family. I prepared myself for a question about unions, or President Obama or maybe even a historical question about why progressives didn’t…
As a young woman, Michigan has recently been a disheartening place to call home. A few months ago, we watched the conservative Michigan legislature deny women basic health care rights – forcing us to buy an abortion insurance rider, equating it to car insurance. That so-called rider does not exist. And then we have Terri…
I’ll keep this short: Today is the deadline to register to vote for the August primary. Once upon a time, Mark Twain famously said, “If voting made any difference they wouldn’t let us do it.” I vote Mark Twain is wrong (in this instance.) Sorry, Mark. In reality, voting is one of our most fundamental…
It’s been a short workweek, but a hell of a lot has happened. SCOTUS, maggots, and more SCOTUS! Happy 4th, everyone! This Week in PM Blogging: Liberty and Justice for Some Religious liberty now means having your boss’s beliefs shoved down your throat, thanks to the Supreme Court. But those religious values only apply when you’re…
When maggots were found in a food preparation area in a Michigan prison, Governor Rick Snyder told reporters: “The most recent problems are not acceptable.” He was talking about Aramark, the private, out-of-state corporation he awarded a $145 million, 3-year contract to run our state’s prison food services last year. Apparently, maggots near the meatloaf…
Imagine if the United States Supreme Court ruled that certain people were “partial” employees, therefore not entitled to the full menu of worker rights, and then on the same day ruled that corporations – you know pieces of paper – had religious views that could be used to deny medical care to human beings that…