Up North Progressive
Politics and commentary for Northern MichiganMeet the Candidates: Michigan State Legislature District 103 Jordan Stancil
Sunday , 23, October 2016 Candidates, Elections, Meet the Candidates 2016 Leave a comment
The 103rd State District is made up of five counties in the northern lower peninsula of Michigan: Crawford, Kalkaska, Missaukee, Ogemaw and Roscommon. The Democratic candidate to represent the people of this district is Jordan Stancil of Grayling.
Jordan Stancil’s family has lived in the Grayling area for over 100 years. After graduating fron Grayling High School, Stancil attended The University of Michigan and Georgetown University. From 2002 to 2006, he served in the U.S. State Department in Jerusalem and Berlin. Stancil also taught overseas before returning to the United States and taking over the family business – The Rialto Theater in Grayling. The theater has been open since 1915.
Issues important to Stancil that he will work for in Lansing include paid family leave. His time overseas allowed him to see the benefits to families and the economy when people have the assurance they can take time off from work to care for a new baby or a sick relative and know their job is waiting for them when they are ready to return to work. As a business owner, Jordan Stancil understands providing his employees with paid family leave would be a nominal cost to his business, so any employer can afford it.
Jordan Stancil also wants to work toward ending income inequality and passing laws to even the playing field for everyone in his district, not just the rich and powerful. He recognizes that the problem with economic inequality contributes to politics being unbalanced and favoring the rich over the poor, especially the working poor who have full time jobs but still need public assistance to make ends meet.
To f ind out more about Jordan Stancil, contact him or volunteer, you can check out his website, Facebook page, twitter or Instagram accounts. Vote for Jordan Stancil, 103rd State Legislature on November 8, 2016.
AAAAAAAANNNNNNNDDD It’s GONE: Gateway To Success For-Profit Charter School Learns Plagiarism is NOT Successful
Monday , 17, October 2016 Gateway To Success Academy, Section 16 Leave a comment
That didn’t take long at all!
Yesterday Up North Progressive reported on discovering Gateway To Success by Plagiarism’s budget and salary report contained 90% of Holland Public Schools’ budget and salary report, right down to the HEA/MEA contract agreement!
John Wilson just loves to rant and rave about how only 80% of high school students graduating is failing, despite that number being higher than the high school graduation rate when he went to high school. John Wilson’s charter school already shows to the public they have no clue what they’re doing, just that they’re going to somehow do it better, even if that means they steal data from another school district.
Gateway To Success has already failed.
Transparency Clear As Mud: Gateway To Success Academy Plagiarizes Holland Public Schools Salary and Budget Data
Sunday , 16, October 2016 Gateway To Success Academy, Section 16 3 Comments
Schools take plagiarism very seriously. Every public school has strict consequences for plagiarism, and all colleges and universities expel students for submitting someone else’s work without citation. There are tools available on the internet such as Copyscape or Grammerly that students, or anyone for that matter, can use to check and make sure their content is original.
A new school like for-profit charter school Gateway To Success Academy in Scottville has to know how important it is to set a good example for their students when it comes to avoiding plagiarism – especially when it comes to providing accurate financial data to the community – because it is required by law.
So when Gateway To Success announces on Facebook they’re updating their website and invite readers to check it out, what else is there to do on a quiet, rainy Sunday morning in October?
The coffee-fueled adventure started out rather disappointing. No new blog entries, no new links to Ludington Daily News singing the praises of this charter school that is only ahead of the curve because they actually managed to open their doors. The board minutes are available through July of 2016. There’s some good reading there, including one mention of continuing to pump stories to the Ludington Daily News to gin up interest.
And there is the transparency portal to the schools’ financial records. Every school website has one because as stated earlier, it’s required by law to fully disclose all salary and budget information to the public. Since the school is new, there won’t be much to look at … or will there.
The first link looks fine: A PDF file of the charter school’s budget for the year. Looking down, something peculiar caught the Up North Progressive’s eye, because this is something you never see on a charter school website:
- Collective Bargaining Agreements
- HEA Master Agreement
- HESPA Contract
- HMMAA Agreement
- Policy Manual for Instructional Assistants
- Interpreter Agreement
HEA in case you’re wondering is the acronym for Holland Education Association, the local union for the teachers who are members of the MEA at Holland Public Schools. Why is HEA negotiating teacher contracts for Gateway To Success? Trick question, they’re not. That’s right, Gateway To Success Academy linked to the transparency documents hosted on the website for Holland Public Schools. Every single link, other than the first one, is a budget or salary document from Holland Public Schools transparency report.
It’s important to point out that not only is Gateway To Success Academy plagiarizing a large chunk of Holland Public Schools transparency report, but they’re leaching from the HPS website by directly linking those PDF files to Gateway To Success Academy’s website. Both of these things are very bad and very wrong to do.
Upon discovering this bizarre anomaly, the Up North Progressive emailed the contact for Holland Public Schools to see if they know what’s going on. What a pleasant surprise, they responded almost right away!
It appears the contact from Holland Public Schools is just as puzzled as the Up North Progressive.
How wonderful it must be to be a for-profit charter school like Gateway To Success Academy and use another school’s transparency report and pass it off as their own. John Wilson and Jamie Bandstra opened this charter school’s doors in September of 2016 with the promise of 100% graduation rate or triple your money back … Okay, that last part is made up, but the surprises never end when it comes to the malignant cancer that is charter schools in Michigan. A real public school has to provide the financials for their own school. Gateway To Success gets to use the data from a school district a hundred miles away and hope nobody notices.
And the lesson for today kids: Plagiarism is NEVER cool.
Meet the Candidates: Michigan State Legislature District 102 Doug Gabert
Tuesday , 11, October 2016 Candidates, Elections 2 Comments
The 102nd State District is made up of Mecosta, Wexford, and the western portion of Osceola Counties. The Democratic Party candidate for this district is Reed City resident Doug Gabert.
Gabert studied history and philosophy at Central Michigan University, earning a Master’s Degree in history. He worked as a counselor for the State Department of Mental Health and the Department of Social Services in Detroit. Gabert opened a bookstore in Reed City that fell to the big box stores and Internet booksellers. Doug Gabert has first-hand knowledge of working with people and being a business owner. He currently lives with his wife, Jodi, in Reed City.
Issues Doug Gabert wants to address include eliminating Right to Work and other labor-crippling plans such as the Republican Party’s Prevailing Wage Law. Laws like this weaken the economy for workers and enable the wealthy to lower wages while making workers pay for the corporate tax cuts they enjoy.
Education is vitally important to Michigan, and Doug Gabert knows the budget cuts the Republicans made and continue to make hurt our public schools. Gabert wants to change that, including the high cost of attending post-secondary education. Public education should be about raising future generations of American citizens, not a cash cow for corporate interests.
Doug Gabert has been falsely accused by his Republican opponent that he wants to take away guns from Americans. This is not true. Doug Gabert is a gun owner and supporter of the 2nd Amendment. He also supports common-sense reforms to our gun laws that would keep assault weapons out of the hands of people who want to do others harm, and put a stop to the cowardly practice of carrying assault weapons in public to intimidate others.
Women’s reproductive freedom belongs to women. The right to choose is necessary as long as Republicans continue to make raising a child today difficult. Supporting mothers and education that will teach people how to effectively stop unwanted pregnancies should be the focus of people who truly support life. Until then, Doug Gabert knows abortion must remain legal for all women.
Doug Gabert’s endorsements include the UAW, SEIU, Planned Parenthood of Michigan, and the Michigan Professional Firefighters Union. To learn more about Doug Gabert, you can visit his website, and his Facebook Page.
The November 8, 2016 general election is weeks away. The people of the 102nd district have a real choice who will make a difference in Lansing with Doug Gabert.
Want To Vote in the November 8, 2016 Election? Michigan Residents Need To Register TODAY!
Tuesday , 11, October 2016 Candidates, Elections Leave a comment
On November 8, 2016, we will elect a new President of the United States. Although all of the polls at this time show Hillary Clinton as the overall favorite to win, that doesn’t mean anyone can stay home on election day. Everyone needs to vote, and in Michigan, you have to be registered to vote by today, October 11, 2016 to vote in this very important election.
The person we choose for president will have the ultimately important task of appointing as many as four new Supreme Court Justices. Currently, the high court only has eight justices, a seat has been empty since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia on February 13, 2016. The Republican Party refuses to approve President Obama’s appointee, Merrick Garland, insisting the next president should be the one to appoint new justices. This of course means the Republican Party is banking on a Republican being the next president. It’s not going to happen if you take the time tomorrow to register to vote, and vote on November 8, 2016.
This is why this election is important. Supreme Court justices hold their position for life. The people appointed by the future president will sit on the bench until today’s millennials are retirees. The next three to four generations of Supreme Court decisions will profoundly shape the direction of the United States.
Michigan needs every single eligible voter to get out there and vote on November 8 to select state and local candidates too. Your county Democratic Party has a list of candidates they support for the upcoming election, and are more than happy to share that list with you. Michigan needs a major sweep of legislators in Lansing to remove ineffective politicians and people too eager to do the bidding of deep pockets like Betsy and Dick DeVos. Anything they support enough to give politicians money is guaranteed to be bad for the state of Michigan. You can do something about this by registering to vote today.
Check to see if you are registered to vote by visiting vote.michigan.gov. If you’re not registered, please take the time to register to vote today, and be ready to vote on November 8, 2016. For more information you can call the Secretary of State’s toll free number at 888-SOS-MICH (767-6424).
The Magic School Bus It Ain’t: Bay City Academy Providing Transportation for Students
Saturday , 1, October 2016 Section 16 3 CommentsOn September 12, 2016 Bay City Academy’s Facebook page jubilantly proclaimed they now own a school bus:
We officially have a bus! Mr. Bennett, our BCA bus driver is ready to safely transport students to and from school. We are so excited!
The flyer containing the rules, list of hubs (mostly the parking lots of busy shopping centers) where students can be picked up and dropped off, as well as monthly fees required to ride shows a shiny new yellow school bus in the upper right hand corner of the page. This is a photo of the actual bus BCA students will have the privilege to pay $20 a month to ride:
Most states require school districts to replace older buses after 12 to 15 years of use and for good reason: School buses take a real beating over the years and become unsafe to operate and ride. School districts purchase new buses to replace old ones, and hang on to the old buses for another year or two as reserve fleet until they are too old to even be used for that; then they are sold to whoever wants a bus. The bus in the picture is clearly a retired reserve bus that the school district unloaded at an auto auction or sale, and Bay City Academy purchased on the cheap.
BCA parents, a word of advice. Make sure the school provides documentation that this bus has gone through a thorough safety inspection before paying Brian Lynch to put your precious cargo on it and drive them to school. It may also be why BCA is holding walk to school events – an incentive to keep your kids safe on their way to school.
Bill Schuette’s Schuette Connections with the DeVos Crime Family
Thursday , 29, September 2016 Bill Schuette Leave a comment
Remember who owns Bill Schuette when he runs for Governor in 2018.
RT (Russia Today) is a cable news channel out of Russia. They broadcast nothing unless the Kremlin approves it.
At a recent RT dinner, two prominent Americans in politics sat at Vladimir Putin’s table. One of them is Jill Stein, Green Party candidate for president, the man with a red circle around him is Michael Flynn, a member of Trump’s campaign staff. You can see Putin just leaving the table in the screen grab.
Some people who refuse to vote for Hillary Clinton, but don’t want to vote for Trump plan on voting for Jill Stein. Yet there she is sitting at a table with a member of Trump’s staff in Russia.
The current Russian government is extreme right wing. The Russian Orthodox Church dictates a good deal of policy with the Russian government these days. Putin is the moderate one. Seriously and carefully consider who you plan to vote for this fall and who they keep company with.
Why Trump is Losing (and Bernie Sanders Lost)
Sunday , 25, September 2016 Candidates, Elections, Presidential Primary 2016, Sad! Leave a commentThis graph published by ABC News demonstrates perfectly why Donald Trump will most likely lose the presidential election in November.
Trump has done an excellent job campaigning for only one segment of the total American electorate while alienating every other demographic. It can’t be stressed enough that when your message is full of racism, bigotry, xenophobia and delivered with the vocabulary and attention span of a 3rd grader, you’re going to appeal to the people who think being white and male are the only people who are real Americans and have just enough education to work a blue collar job.
Combine that with the fact that many of those blue collar jobs have gone overseas or into our prisons where people work for 19th century wages and you have a aging shrinking pissed off demographic living in parts of the country where most people left decades ago to find jobs in the cities; that is your Trump electorate: Mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore, so wear the red hat and scream obscenities at the media pit at one of Trump’s rallies. How many of those blue collar, high school graduate (maybe) white guys actually bother to vote is entirely another matter. I hope someone does a study on that so we can compare.
As for Bernie Sanders supporters still raging over the reality that Hillary won the nomination in July, he lost for the same reason Trump is losing: He focused and locked in on one segment of the voter electorate – millennials – while alienating every other demographic. There was no corruption, no voter fraud. Most Bernie fans were younger and better educated, but there was no outreach to other people who voted in the Democratic primary and it’s a fact that much of the people working behind the scenes with that campaign were Republicans doing their part to try and weaken Hillary Clinton. That fact that members of Karl Rove’s family were managing the Sanders campaign and Rove’s superpac bought ads for Sanders is proof of that. The hate-filled misogynist rhetoric Sanders supporters used sounded exactly like Trump supporter hate speech against Clinton. It was hard to tell the difference between Sanders supporters and Trump supporters during the Primary.
Unless Trump drastically changes his message in the few days of this election campaign that are left to appeal to all of the people he has intentionally alienated and excluded from his campaign, he will lose the election on November 8. He doesn’t have the numbers, and by this point has no chance of getting them to swing in his favor.