Up North Progressive
Politics and commentary for Northern MichiganUp North Progressive at the Michigan Rural Democratic Summit
Saturday , 8, April 2023 Community, Upper Peninsula Leave a comment
The first Michigan Rural Democratic Summit is taking place April 13 through 15, 2023, at the Kewadin Hotel in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, and Up North Progressive will be there!
The Summit is the first of its kind.
The Purpose of the Summit is to bring together all stakeholders working to turn rural Michigan blue/bluer to coordinate and collaborate on their work for the 2023-2024 cycle and beyond.
If you didn’t register for the event yet, it’s already full! For more information, contact the Rural Caucus of the Michigan Democratic Party.
Michigan’s Constitutional Sheriff Problem
Tuesday , 4, April 2023 Constitutional Sheriffs, COVID_19, Gun Reform, MAGA 1 Comment
As of this writing, our new ungerrymandered democratically elected state legislature is working hard to pass common-sense firearm legislation that will help keep people safe. The final bill package still needing the Governor’s signature is the extreme risk protection order or “red flag” law. This law would allow local law enforcement to remove firearms from a person’s home and express a desire to harm others using their guns.
Red flag laws are effective and have the approval of the United States Supreme Court. Unfortunately, these laws may not be enforced in some parts of the state. Many county sheriffs in the United States call themselves “constitutional” sheriffs, which they claim gives them the authority to ignore common sense gun legislation.
Constitutional sheriffs belong to the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, and this nationwide group has thousands of members. The CSPOA was founded by an Oath Keeper named Richard Mack, and Mack has affiliations with Posse Comitatus, The Christian Identity Movement, and the militia movement.
How do you know if your sheriff belongs to this club? The CSPOA does not publish a public list of members, but there are ways to find out. Some proudly announce they are members, and some like to wear CSPOA swag. Some of them even list their membership on their LinkedIn profile. Another way to find out is to check and see if your county adopted an unenforceable, legally nonbinding 2A sanctuary county resolution with the endorsement of the local county sheriff. Finally, did your county sheriff refuse to enforce state COVID guidelines during the pandemic? They are likely a member of the “posse.” There are even sheriff candidates who are already members of the CSPOA.
The fundamental belief of CSPOA posse members is that they are the highest law enforcement authority in the United States. Richard Mack borrowed this concept from Henry Lamont Beach. Beach was a white supremacist going back to the Silver Shirts days. He wrote a pamphlet known as the “Blue Book.” This book falsely claims the county sheriff has the authority to ignore any law he doesn’t want to enforce. The Blue Book also describes a posse of armed county citizens who can work in place of the sheriff and even make arrests. This is where the idea of “citizen militias” comes from. All “constitutional” sheriffs have a group of armed citizens working with them.
Richard Mack hasn’t been doing much with the CSPOA lately, focusing more on stealing money from the ivermectin pushers.
Michigan will have laws that effectively work to prevent mass shootings. However, those laws are only effective when enforced by state and local law enforcement. Constitutional sheriffs have had decades to entrench themselves into communities and convince local Democratic Parties to vote for them. The Democratic Party-controlled state government will need to address this problem if they want the new laws to be enforced everywhere in Michigan.
Ron DeSantis is Coming to Michigan on April 6: Help Women of Michigan Action Network Welcome Him
Monday , 27, March 2023 Community Leave a comment
Suppose you find your calendar accessible on the morning of April 6, 2023, or you can clear your calendar. In that case, you might consider heading to Midland and helping the Women of Michigan Action Network welcome Governor Ron DeSantis (R – Hates books, kids, women, drag queens, Disney, etc.) to the state or, as the excellent Distill Social calls Michigan, AntiFla.
Meatball Ron (of all the stupid names Trump tried out to bully DeSantis, this one is the best) is the guest of honor at a private breakfast in Midland on Thursday morning, April 6. WOMAN wants to give him the welcome he deserves.
Click HERE to sign up. Once registered, you will receive the event’s location and where to park. WOMAN asks participants to bring cleverly worded signs, drag queens, rainbow-themed things, and a positive attitude.
To learn more about Women of Michigan Action Network, visit their website and Facebook page, where they list more events or email WomanActionNetwork98@gmail.com.
Mason County’s CSPOA Member Kim Cole Will Attend the State Of the Union Address
Monday , 6, February 2023 COVID_19, Election 2020, MAGA, Punk Prison, Sad!, Trumpenreich 1 Comment
The world will watch as President Biden gives his State of the Union Address tonight. This requirement is stated in Article II of the United States Constitution. It is customary for members of Congress to invite a guest to sit in the mezzanine gallery and watch the event. Tonight, John Moolenaar (R – Wants to reopen GEO’s Punk Prison) will have “constitutional” Sheriff Kim Cole from Mason County attend as his guest.
Kim Cole is a far-right conservative who believes he has the constitutional authority to ignore state and federal laws he doesn’t like. This includes firearms laws that keep people safe, 2020 COVID-19 restrictions that kept people safe, and even election interference.
Cole is a “posse” Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association member. Oath Keeper Richard Mack of Arizona founded the nazi cop club. CSPOA members believe the county is the only absolute government jurisdiction in the United States. Therefore, the county sheriff has the authority not to enforce any laws they don’t want to. This is pure sovereign citizen crap.
Kim Cole was recently inducted into the conservative think tank Claremont Institute’s Sheriffs Fellowship. This new sheriff club recognizes the CSPOA ideal that county sheriffs have special powers given to them by their posse membership. These fellowship members are receiving training and support to interfere in future elections. Disbarment candidate John Eastman is a founding member of the Claremont Institute. “Founding Director of the Claremont Institute’s Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence” indeed.
As you watch the State of the Union Address tonight, remember who is sitting in the gallery, who invited them, and what they represent.
Rick Johnson and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Michigan Marijuana Licensing Board
Saturday , 4, February 2023 Medical Marijuana, Nerd Problems, Recreational Marijuana Leave a comment
Former State House Rep and one of Osceola County’s finest Rick Johnson (R – Lobbyists giving me money to get a spot on the next MMLB’s agenda isn’t a bribe, it’s a place-holder) has found himself in a spot of bother over his tenure as president of the disbanded Michigan Marijuana Licensing Board.
In 2008 the people of Michigan voted to legalize marijuana for medical use. Dispensaries popped up around the state, patients received their medical marijuana prescription cards, and things were fine.
Then Rick Snyder (R – Poisoned Flint with lead and got off scott-free!) was elected Governor. Suddenly, medical marijuana dispensaries were all operating illegally, and the Michigan State Police raided shops all over the state. The medical marijuana law was overhauled in 2016, and the new law created the Michigan Marijuana Licensing Board. Snyder’s appointments to this board included an MSP sergeant from Traverse City who loved busting people for weed, a former CEO, a pharmacist from Mattawan, an executive board member of the right-wing Police Officers’ Association of Michigan, and a former Speaker of the State House turned lobbyist Rick Johnson of Leroy. Johnson became the first, last, and only chair of the MMLB.
Right away, there were problems with the new board. Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof (R – taking a lobbying job right after holding office is the sweetest gig in the state!), who nominated Johnson, was caught emailing the chair with a list of people he wanted fast-tracked onto the agenda in 2019. This was in direct violation of the 2016 law. Indeed, a former lobbyist wouldn’t help people and companies he worked for get preferential treatment.
He did more than that. Rick Johnson’s under investigation for using his seat on the MMLB to take bribes from businesses wanting medical marijuana licenses. This is not a recent development either, and it appears the investigation started while Johnson still chaired the board. The FBI raided the home of another lobbyist, Brian Pierce, in 2020, and Pierce lobbied for companies wanting medical marijuana licenses.
Thanks to a related lawsuit, this story has hit the news again. In 2021, Johnson hired a law firm, Secrest Wardle, and neglected to pay his legal fees.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer put the crime-ridden MMLB out of business and restored medical marijuana regulation to the state in 2019, where it should have been all along.
It seems as though the 2016 overhaul of the medical marijuana law was an excuse to help businesses get an inside track to obtaining licenses. Michigan ranks dead last in the country for government transparency, which is why scandals like this continue to surface in our state. Rick should have stuck with growing trees.
Over 50 Organizations Say No in Reopening Michigan For-Profit GEO Group Prison as an ICE Detention Center
Monday , 26, September 2022 COVID_19, GEO Group, Punk Prison 1 Comment
In four days, GEO Group’s North Lake Correctional Facility once again will close. The for-profit prison in search of a prison population lost its contract through President Biden’s January 2021 executive order to not use private prisons for federal detainees. US Congressmen John Moolenar and Bill Huizenga, in June of 2022, proposed to convert the prison into an ICE detention center.
In response to this proposal, No Detention Centers in Michigan drafted an open letter seeking signatures from other organizations asking that NLCF not be reopened as an ICE detention center. President Biden, Secretary of Homeland Security Mayorkas, Governor Whitmer, and Senator Peters received copies of the letter. Over 50 organizations – more than 20 from Michigan and 30 from other national organizations (Full disclosure, Up North Progressive signed this letter).
“We are deeply troubled by this proposal because it follows a recent pattern of actions from the Biden administration contravening its stated goal of ending the use of private facilities for detention because we know that ICE operates a system of abusive and inhumane detention centers across the country and because the presence of this prison in Baldwin has been disastrous for decades.”
The letter details the tragic history of NLCF in Lake County, Michigan, the false promise of hundreds of local jobs, and the numerous reports of abuse of detainees at the prison, especially the inhumane confinement and medical treatment of detainees during the COVID-19 pandemic.
GEO Group already petitioned Lake County to have the prison property devalued to get a break on their tax bill. Reopening the facility would require another prison activation, more job fairs offering the lowest paying jobs, and importing people from other GEO Group prisons around the country to put more strain on the housing crisis that is part of the northern Michigan landscape.
The letter calls for President Biden to extend his executive order to include ICE detention centers operating in for-profit prisons. Oscar Castañeda, a member of No Detention Centers in Michigan, had this to add to the letter:
“This prison has already caused enormous suffering and has never fulfilled GEO’s promises to the people of Lake County. Now the federal prison contract is finally ending, but we’ve seen that GEO will exploit any opportunity to make a profit. When it comes to the immigrant detention system, the Biden administration has not kept its word. We’re not going to let ICE expand here without a fight. We want to make sure that the loopholes allowing for the expansion of detention are closed and that this time, North Lake stays shut down for good.”
Wackenhut/ GEO Group should have never built North Lake Correctional Facility. May this be the last time it closes and stays closed for good.
Tomorrow Michigan goes to the polls to vote in the state primary election. Many Michiganders already voted, thanks to no-reason absentee voting.
Donations, endorsements, and campaign events showing support for candidates are critical in informing voters who are running for office. Candidates need this support to win enough votes at the polls. Now that we are less than a day away from the primary election, it’s time to participate in that election’s most critical, essential stage.
YOU MUST VOTE.
And you’re wondering why even bring this up?
Because midterm elections are habitually low turnout events and the primary even more, the midterms are crucial, and the 2022 midterms are critical. Who gets elected in November will have sway in the presidential race of 2024. And we already know who will be back for another chance to sit in the White House and grift billions out of the federal government at taxpayer expense.
And now you’re thinking, “We already know this.”
Do we?
People listen to the media and think, “They say my candidate is doing great; I can stay home on election night.”
People read a poll and think, “Look, my candidate is ahead +5. They’re going to win whether I vote or not.”
People drive through the neighborhood and see campaign signs in people’s yards supporting their candidate. “Everyone is voting for the same candidate as me!”
And then, the day after the election, the candidate loses despite the media hype and promising polls and campaign swag.
People don’t realize the talking heads, polls within the margin of error, and campaign signs don’t elect candidates. Votes do.
One more thing about voting: If you have a candidate running for office as a candidate for your party and you financially support them and endorse them, please make sure you vote for them too. Nothing makes you look more like a person with an I D ten T problem than bragging to a United States Senator staff member that you think the candidate that ran against your candidate is the most incredible person ever, and they got more votes than Trump! Yet you neglect to mention that you had a candidate running for that same office, and they were a member of your party. Keep your brain with you at all times.
Please make the time during your day tomorrow, August 2, 2022, and vote.
