Left of Lansing

Here's episode 71 of Michigan's premier progressive podcast! Please vote on this week's LoL Twitter Poll : What is the biggest winning issue for Michigan Democrats heading into the November election? If you have others, leave them in replies Susan Demas, Editor-in-Chief of Michigan Advance , joins Pat this week. Michigan Advance is a progressive, nonprofit news site dedicated to covering policy an...

Thanks for listening to this week's LoL Friday Short! The Justice Department released a damning report citing " cascading failures " in the way authorities handled the Uvaldi school shooting massacre in 2022. Like other school shootings, this was another example where "good guys with guns," didn't stop the bad guy with a gun.  The common denominator with many mass shootings is military-style weapo...

Here's episode 70 of Michigan's premier progressive podcast! Please vote on this week's poll question : Polls show President Biden's losing to Donald Trump in Michigan. How do you feel about these numbers less than 10 months from Election Day? On this week's episode, I cover how Democrats across the country have been given a beautiful chance to show why they're on the side of workers, and how and...

Here's this week's LoL Friday Short. Michigan Democrats are hoping to make the new and popular free public school breakfast and lunch program a permanent fixture in the education budget. But that's making the right wing furious, not because of their daily abject cruelty, but because they know the program is a big hit with voting age parents. Also, they know a successful programs such as this hurts...

Here's Episode 69 of Michigan's premier progressive podcast! I'm thrilled to have Democratic State Representative, and Speaker Pro Tempore, Laurie Pohutsky back on the show this week! We cover a range of topics including abortion rights, clean energy and climate change, if the Michigan Democratic Party's messaging machine is improving, the establishment and progressive factions of the party, and h...

My first Left of Lansing "Friday Short" for 2024 deals with GOP Presidential candidate Nikki Haley's failure to flat-out say the American Civil War was fought over the right for Southern states to continue the practice of slavery.  But there's a reason why Haley couldn't give a straight answer to that simple question. She, like all of her Republican cohorts, are afraid of angering and losing their...

Happy New Year, and here's Episode 68 of Michigan's premier progressive podcast! This week, I have lots to say after taking some time-off for the holidays.  We have to cover the hypocrisy of Michigan's right wing, in particular the Christian Nationalist Moms For Liberty chapters throughout the state. As you'll hear, while they've been busy banning books, intimidating teachers, and trying to disman...

Here's the final LoL "Friday Short" for 2023! To close-out the year, I talk about a story in Michigan Advance which details how business lobbyists formed a coalition in the hopes of stifling bills proposed by Michigan Democrats. These business lobbyists fail to understand that Michigan Democrats are simply passing pro-worker and pro-growth policies that are popular with Michiganders. Have a Happy...

Here's the 67th, and the final episode for 2023, on Michigan's premier progressive podcast! Livingston County progressive activist Kasey Helton returns to the podcast this week as we discuss how "dirt road" Democrats are trying to move the political needle towards the progressive side in rural Michigan. And we've seen some of that hard work pay-off with Democrats winning some key races in Livingst...

Listen to this week's Left of Lansing "Friday Short." Right after its inexplicable decision to build a tunnel around the Line 5 oil pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac, the Michigan Public Service Commission granted DTE Energy's rate hike request totalling over $360 million.  Despite DTE being part of the reason why Michigan has the most expensive energy in the Midwest, and is also one of the leas...

It's Episode 66 of Michigan's Premier Progressive Podcast! This week, I can't hold back my disdain for the Michigan Public Service Commission's decision to green-light an expensive, and short-sighted, tunnel project for the stretch of the 70-year old Line 5 oil pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac. Despite studies showing why the pipeline must stop operating, and that shutting-down the pipeline wou...

Listen to this week's Left of Lansing "Friday Short," where I highlight a major UAW organizational push to attract thousands of non-union workers with other automakers.  Also, notice again how Republicans across the board are AWOL when it comes to standing up for workers' rights. Please, subscribe to the podcast, download each episode, and give it a good review if you can! –Pat leftoflansing@gmail...

Here's episode 65 of Michigan's premier progressive podcast! Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed some long overdue, albeit imperfect, clean energy legislation into law this week. I've covered the path The Clean Energy and Jobs Act had to take in Lansing throughout the year on the podcast. And while I believe Democrats missed an opportunity to pass some meaningful, and stronger, progressive...

Here's episode 64 of Michigan's premier progressive podcast! It's great to have author and Pro-Publica  reporter Anna Clark back on Left of Lansing this week. Anna's written an insightful article on Michigan's Emergency Manager Law, which allows state government to erase democracy by completely taking-over financially-strapped cities. Anna highlights how despite Michiganders voting to eliminate th...

Listen to my "Monday Musing," in which I agree with a Detroit Free Press column by Michael Griffie, who serves as Detroit Metro Leader for AECOM--an American multinational consulting firm.  Mr. Griffie is pressing the need for a massive reinvestment in Michigan's lacking mass transit system, particularly in the entire Metro Detroit region.  If we're going to stop Michigan's brain and population dr...

Listen to my LoL "Friday Short" on while the Michigan Democrats' clean energy bills are indeed imperfect, they mark an important step towards much-needed changes in the state's energy and economic future.  Yes, the bills fall short in many areas, like considering natural gas "clean energy," and ignoring environmental justice provisions to help those in low-income areas affected the most by years o...

Here's Episode 63 of Michigan's Premier Progressive Podcast! Michigan Democrats passed a package of clean energy and affordable energy bills last week. While these bills are for sure a step in the right direction in revamping our antiquated energy grid, these bills still fall far short of the aggressive push many progressives were hoping would happen. Joining me this week to talk more about these...

The Left of Lansing Friday Short this week applauds a trio of state Senate Democrats ( Mary Cavenagh of Redford Twp. , Kevin Hertel of St. Clair Shores , and Veronica Klinefelt of Eastpoint ) for introducing the Death with Dignity Act .  If passed, Michigan would become the 11th state to grant terminally ill patients the power to make their own end-of-life decisions. Since the legislative calendar...

It's episode 62 of Michigan's Premier Progressive Podcast! MAGA Republicans suffered another beatdown at the polls this past Election Day, and once again, abortion rights proved to be the key reason. Abortion rights scored a major victory in Ohio, and played a major role in Democrats retaining the Virginia state legislature. Yet, MAGA is doubling-down on putting government in-between a woman and h...

In this week's "Monday Musing," I discuss an amendment introduced by Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor-Green would block the removal of monuments.  MTG and her MAGA allies are outraged Charlottesville, Virginia decided to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. That statue was the focus of what led to the killing of a protester by a right wing terrorist in Charlottesville back...

My Left of Lansing "Friday Short" covers a sad ending to the Flint Water Crisis, in which not one public official will face prosecution for their role in one of the greatest man-made disasters the state of Michigan, and the country, has ever experienced.  Former Michigan Republican Gov. Rick Snyder won't have to face any kind of punishment for the crisis he and his administration caused. Meanwhile...

Welcome to Episode 61 of Michigan's Premier Progressive Politics! This week, I breakdown how the right wing Republican Party has always worked on behalf of the elite class to eliminate government assistance for working Americans. They've done it by whittling-down the New Deal and Great Society programs through the years, and they've done it using racist tropes, like the mythic "welfare queen."  Bu...

The Left of Lansing Friday Short this week celebrates a judge's ruling in which he dismissed a lawsuit over so-called "pornographic" books in Kent County's Rockford Public Schools District. A right-wing Christian Nationalist group wanted to ban 14 books, most of which dealt with LGBTQ+ stories. The judge ruled the books as a whole have literary value. It was a harsh defeat for those seeking to sil...

It's episode #60 of Michigan's premier progressive podcast! Michigan Democrats continue working on clean and affordable energy bills in the state legislature. They must get some of these bills passed before the November adjournment date, or else everything will get pushed back until next year. The main goals of these bills are to make Michigan caborn-free by 2035 or 2040, pushing for strong energy...

Listen to my inaugural Left of Lansing "Monday Musings!" I talk about how local Maga governments throughout Michigan are fighting against solar and wind farms in their areas. Democrats have proposed one solution to remedy this problem: put the state in control of large scale clean energy projects, which overrides a local government's powers.  Democrats want to put the power of allowing farmers and...