This Week’s “Party on the Peninsulas” ✹ Chairperson Barnes: A national celebration and state nominations after that ✹ Impressions of a First-time National Delegate, Susan Skidmore ✹ This week’s Trump/GOP Outrage: Lying about Healthcare In the News Harris – Walz Campaign Kamala Harris unveils 2024 policy agenda, including $6,000 child tax credit for baby’s first year – The Washington Post Where do Trump and Harris stand on key issues? Abortion, immigration, taxes – AP News Kamala Harris holds slight national lead over Donald Trump, Post-ABC-Ipsos poll finds – The Washington Post Kamala Harris Puts Four Sun Belt States Back in Play, Times/Siena Polls Find – The New York Times Harris Leads Trump in Three Key States, Times/Siena Polls Find – The New York Times Americans see Kamala Harris as more honest than Trump: AP-NORC poll – AP News Playbook: How Harris is remaking the 2024 election – POLITICO Vibe Check: Voter Enthusiasm and Harris’ Favorability Have Surged Since Biden’s Exit – Data for Progress Americans’ first impressions of Walz are positive, negative for Vance – The Washington Post Michigan Politics Bankrolled by pharmaceuticals, Mike Rogers helped block Medicare price negotiation – The Michigan Independent Republican candidates go full MAGA at Michigan[...]

This Week’s “Party on the Peninsulas” ✹ Chairperson Barnes: 15,000 smiles at Detroit Metro Airport! ✹ The Winning Coalition: Michigan Republicans for Harris/Walz co-chair Bill Nowling     Harris launches ‘Republicans for Harris’ to win over GOP voters – AP News ✹ This week’s Trump/GOP Outrage: The smear campaign has already begun In the News Harris – Walz Campaign Kamala Harris, Tim Walz in Michigan: ‘We’re not going back’ to Donald Trump – Bridge Michigan FULL SPEECH: Kamala Harris, Tim Walz Michigan rally – YouTube Harris Leads Trump in Three Key States, Times/Siena Polls Find – The New York Times We Polled The Rust Belt. Here’s What We Found. – Split Ticket Tim Walz defends military record against Team Trump stolen valor smears Kamala Harris rallies with UAW in Michigan: ‘We believe in the collective’ – Bridge Michigan Tim Walz: From Small-Town Minnesota to the Campaign Trail – The American Prospect Details you should know about Minnesota Governor Tim Walz – Minneapolis Star Tribune Michigan Politics Michigan primary 2024 results live: U.S. House – Bridge Michigan Michigan primary 2024 results live: U.S. Senate – Bridge Michigan Michigan primary 2024 results live: State House – Bridge Michigan Video: Chair Lavora Barnes on[...]

This Week’s “Party on the Peninsulas” ✹ Chairperson Barnes: A Week to Celebrate ✹ Democratic Voices: Mike Rogers has sold out Michiganders to get rich ✹ This week’s Trump/GOP Outrage:    Overt Racism and Sexism This Week in the News Harris for President Harris has secured enough Democratic delegate votes to become their party’s nominee, chair says – AP News UAW endorses Harris, giving her blue-collar firepower in industrial states |- AP News Election 2024: Harris dares Trump to ‘say it to my face’ and debate her – AP News Kamala Harris Erases Trump’s Swing-State Lead in 2024 Election: Poll – Bloomberg Opinion | Hillary Clinton: How Kamala Harris Can Win and Make History – The New York Times Michigan VIDEO – Paul Whelan Thanks Government, Supporters – Wall Street Journal Michigan Supreme Court rules against Legislature in adopt, amend case – Detroit Free Press What to know about Michigan’s pending minimum wage changes – Bridge Michigan Michigan bills would expand insurance contraception coverage – Detroit Free Press Deep in conspiracy country, a Michigan election clerk reconsiders retirement – Bridge Michigan Detroit lawyer: My friend, JD Vance, ditched beliefs for ‘money and power’ – Bridge Michigan Chair Lavora Barnes MSNBC[...]

This Week’s “Party on the Peninsulas” ✹ Chairperson Barnes: Energized, excited and enthused! ✹ Ingham Clerk Barb Byrum: Protecting elections from Republic attacks ✹This week’s Trump/GOP Outrage:    GOP Incompetence This Week in the News Harris for President Kamala Harris’s life, career and firsts from AG to the vice presidency – The Washington Post Biden’s Michigan delegates vote ‘overwhelmingly’ to endorse VP Harris – Detroit Free Press Election 2024: Harris raised $200M in first week of White House campaign – AP News Harris Unlikely to Face Obstacles in Using Biden’s Campaign Funds – Michigan Campaign Finance Network Kamala Harris Gets a Potentially Game-Changing Youth Vote Endorsement – Daily Beast Barack and Michelle Obama Endorse Kamala Harris for President – Harris 2024 – YouTube Fed’s preferred inflation gauge cools, adding to likelihood of a September rate cut – AP News Opinion | Biden legacy will show U.S. economy, foreign policy improved – Fareed Zakaria/The Washington Post Opinion | Three Writers on the Promise of Kamala Harris – The New York Times Michigan Politics Audio – Lavora Barnes on NPR’s “1-A” Why Democrats feel confident about holding the Senate in November – Senator Gary Peters/MSNBC New Michigan poll shows[...]

This Week’s “Party on the Peninsulas” ✹President Joe Biden: Patriot ✹Senator Dayna Pokehanki: the GOP’s war on women ✹This week’s Trump/GOP Outrage:    Running away from Project 2025 Kamala Harris’s life, career and firsts from AG to the vice presidency – The Washington Post Gretchen Whitmer endorses Kamala Harris for president – Detroit Free Press Kamala Harris Gets a Potentially Game-Changing Youth Vote Endorsement – Daily Beast This Week in the (Other) News Michigan Politics Trump, Fain trade barbs over UAW, state of auto industry – Detroit Free Press Lansing Mayor Andy Schor responds to Tom Barrett viewpoint on crime – Lansing State Journal Public Policy Poll: Michigan & Pennsylvania Donald Trump sues Gretchen Whitmer over Michigan voter registration efforts – Bridge Michigan Jeff Timmer: Republicans threaten the ‘Chimes of Freedom’ • Michigan Advance The Republican National Convention Fact-checking Day 1 of the 2024 RNC – The Washington Post Fact-checking Day 2 of the 2024 RNC – The Washington Post Fact-checking Day 3 of the 2024 RNC – The Washington Post Fact-checking Trump on RNC’s Day 4 – The Washington Post The Republican National Convention Was a “Man’s World” – Mother Jones A Party of Precarious Manhood, Led by a Blithering[...]

This Week’s “Party on the Peninsulas” ✹Condemning political violence ✹President Joe Biden’s  address to the nation ✹State Representative Kristian Grant on Democrats’ work to expand affordable housing in Michigan This Week in the (Other) News Editorial: Donald Trump Is Unfit for a Second Term – The New York Times ‘Unfit’ to serve, ‘con artist’: How Trump’s VP finalists once bashed him – The Washington Post Michigan Politics President Joe Biden impassioned, invigorated in Detroit speech – Detroit Free Press Biden goes on attack against Trump, media in Detroit – Detroit News “True Gretch” – Simon and Schuster March 2020 Biden rally looked like ‘superspreader,’ Whitmer says in new book – Detroit News VIDEO: “He’s Up For This” – Gov. Whitmer On President Biden’s Ability To Serve A Second Term – Late Show with Stephen Colbert Gov. Whitmer shuts down 2024 presidential talk but doesn’t hide her ambitions in timely book launch – AP News Once solidly red, northwest Michigan offers fighting chance for Democrats – Bridge Michigan Michigan Policy Michigan House Approves Critical Housing Legislation – housedems.com Gov. Whitmer Celebrates Record Construction Jobs in Michigan – Governor’s Office GM investment into Lansing Grand River plant expected to save 650 UAW[...]

This Week’s “Party on the Peninsulas” ✹MDP Chair Lavora Barnes on a return, after 248 years, of having a King preside over America ✹This week’s Trump/GOP Outrages The double-standard of Republicans and the media for judging Joe Biden and Donald Trump ✹Michigan political legend Mark Grebner on the quiet-but-critical role of county commissions, strategies for GOTV and the amazing career of Debbie Stabenow This Week in the News Michigan Politics Whitmer Disavows ‘Draft Gretch’ Movement — and Delivers A Warning to Biden – POLITICO Whitmer Slams Rival’s Leak That She Said Biden will Lose Michigan – The Daily Beast Michigan GOP Senate candidate Mike Rogers connected to Saudi companies, including one with nuclear ambitions – Heartland Signal Republican rivals attack Rogers as Senate favorite and allies counter criticism – Detroit News Michigan Policy Michigan lawmakers want to outlaw deepfake sexual content: What it is – Detroit Free Press Macomb Prosecutor Peter Lucido sues county’s top attorney, ethics board Michigan HOAs can’t ban solar panels under newly passed bill – Bridge Michigan GOP/Trump Outrages Jobs report June 2024 – CNBC (From January 2021) Trump will have the worst jobs record in modern U.S. history – The Washington Post Sotomayor’s scathing Trump[...]

This Week’s “Party on the Peninsulas” ✹MDP Chair Lavora Barnes on the presidential debate: Joe Biden’s performance gets the headlines, totally obscuring the barrage of lies and outrageous statements from the increasingly unhinged Donald Trump ✹This week’s Trump/GOP Outrages The unconscionable partisanship of the U.S. Supreme Court, led by its delay of the ruling on Trump’s ridiculous claim of total presidential immunity from criminal accountability. And Oklahoma’s new mandate adding Bible study to public classroom. ✹Joe Biden bounces back with a fiery post-debate speech in North Carolina, labeling Trump for what he is: a convicted felon who lies at every opportunity. We have highlights from the speech. This Week in the News Michigan Politics Ex-Michigan GOP chair asks Court of Appeals to overturn her ouster – Detroit News Michigan GOP went to war with itself. Can it rebuild to win for Donald Trump? – Bridge Michigan Michigan Policy Judge blocks Michigan’s 24-hour mandatory waiting period for abortions – Detroit Free Press Michigan lawmakers approve $82.5B state spending plan for 2025 – Detroit Free Press Bill barrage: Michigan lawmakers pass ‘Taylor Swift’ bot ban in summer rush – Bridge Michigan Michigan’s $23B education deal: Free community college for all, pre-K for[...]

This Week’s “Party on the Peninsulas” ✹MDP Chair Lavora Barnes on the new GOP Campaign Tactic: “Cheap Fakes” that amount to video lies about Joe Biden. ✹This week’s Trump/GOP Outrage The U.S. Supreme Court’s six-month delay in deciding whether Trump had presidential immunity, i.e., the right to ignore the law whenever he felt like it. ✹Michigan Democrats versus “Deep Fake” A.I. generated X-rated videos. We’re joined by the chief sponsor of legislation reigning in A.I. deep fakes, East Lansing Representative Penelope Tsernoglou. Her bill requiring identification of political deep fakes is now law; her bill attacking X-rated A.I. generated images and videos has just passed in the House. In the News This Week The Ten Commandments as Practice by the GOP — Jimmy Kimmel Live — Michigan Politics ‘The Interview’: Gretchen Whitmer Wants a Gen X President — in 2028 – The New York Times Neil Friske arrest: Michigan state representative held after chasing adult dancer with a gun. – Slate Freep endorsements in Dem primary: Scholten, Dingell, Stevens, Tlaib – Detroit Free Press Black voters say Trump’s indictments don’t rally their support – Detroit Free Press Michigan Policy ‘Deepfake’ sexual content targeted by bills passed by Michigan House – Detroit Free[...]

From Chairperson Lavora Barnes To listen to Republicans, we’re in the middle of an apocalyptic crime wave. The reality: the crime rates have dropped dramatically since they peaked in 2020 during the Trump administration.  In his “Popular Information” newsletter, investigative journalist Judd Legum reports: ‘In a speech earlier this year at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump said that under Biden, the United States is “plagued by bloodshed, chaos and violent crime.” A March press release by the Republican National Committee claimed that “crime [is] spiking” as a result of Biden’s policies. Trump’s claims are being repeated by other Republicans running for office.’ It’s all another Big Lie, ironically being promoted by a convicted criminal. New data released this last week by the FBI reveals that both violent crime and property crime have dropped dramatically this year. The data compares crime in the first quarter of 2024 with crime in the first quarter of 2023. It shows substantial drops in every category, including murder ( down 26.4%), rape (down 25.7%), robbery (down 17.8%), and property crime (down 15.1%). The only crime rate going up: indictments and convictions of the leaders of efforts to overturn the 2020 election, including indictments of[...]