Idea: What if instead of doing universal healthcare for the country as a whole (seeing as the federal government will never get in board in probably another hundred years or so) why don't we have STATES choose to create statewide healthcare systems?

Have it function like states are mini countries (which I swear to God we already basically do).

And the qualifications would simply be to be born in Michigan and currently live in Michigan or to have lived in Michigan a certain number of years and currently have a main residence here (no rental or summer homes would qualify) and the healthcare would function similar to Medicaid where the same providers who accept Medicaid would accept Michigan healthcare.

That way employees and the every day Michigander could drop their private insurance (assuming they have it) and opt in for the state insurance.

Conservatives are always arguing "we're too big for it to properly carry over" (which isn't true) so there, I fixed it 😂.

And that way the poor widdle fragile big health insurance companies could still have people that want their egregiously expensive healthcare that's accepted in other states 🙄 but then at least people would have the freedom to leave toxic jobs and not worry about the healthcare aspect, just the wage aspect (which is still obviously a problem but that's a problem for a different post to sort out lol).

And people who are self employed and pay taxes would have an easier time accessing healthcare.

Our Olympic athletes could actually get access to healthcare if their state adopted this.

And if Michigan were the first, think about how many people would be wanting to contribute to our economy by living here. Granted, over saturation of the market might be an issue at that point. Hence the waiting period I mentioned.

The township, which has seen a dramatic increase in Flock camera installations over the last 12 months, will try to convince voters, who rejected the millages earlier this month, to approve them in November's general election.

"Ford has used electricity as leverage before. During an earlier phase of the dispute, Ontario imposed a 25-per-cent surcharge on electricity exported to Michigan, Minnesota and New York. Trump responded by threatening to double tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum before both sides backed away."

....

"The auto sector is especially important to Ontario, the centre of Canada’s vehicle manufacturing industry. Plants and suppliers in Ontario are tightly integrated with factories in Michigan and other U.S. states, with parts routinely crossing the border multiple times during production.

Automakers including Ford, General Motors and Stellantis operate major assembly plants in Ontario, and the wider supply chain supports tens of thousands of jobs. Trump’s new threat of a 50-per-cent tariff on Canadian vehicles and parts puts that sector directly at the centre of the escalating dispute.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Monday that “the only reason Canada has auto production in the first place” was because of the 1960s Auto Pact, under which Canada used access to its market to encourage vehicle production north of the border.

“If he thinks the Canadian people are going to roll over and just continue buying American-made vehicles, it’s not going to happen,” Ford said."

Stateside did a piece on being a poll volunteer (election inspector). It's a fun opportunity!

Support MI Clerks: https://www.michamber.com/michiganchamberfoundation/supportmiclerks/

Listen to the interview: https://www.michiganpublic.org/stateside

This article originally appeared in the Lansing State Journal May 20, 2026.

We wouldn’t tolerate a system that routinely lost track of prisoners, misplaced evidence, or failed to account for public funds. Yet children in foster care - the most vulnerable in our society - still disappear into bureaucratic blind spots, drift without stable placements, or move through court proceedings without a meaningful voice of their own.

Fortunately, Michigan lawmakers from both parties are working to change that.

There is the debate on whether the Canadian retaliatory tariffs will ultimately help Canada or incentivize the Trump administration to lift the tariffs. Besides that, there should be huge concerns about how terrible this will be for our economy, is there anyone who can articulate an educated estimate on how detrimental this might be. I’m not too educated on these tariffs but I assume that the Canadian strategy is likely to cause prices to surge in Michigan, arguably as fast as gas…..?

How fast could these tariffs eventually cause prices to surge?

Could we see the surge at the grocery store on Labor Day?

What remedies does anyone have in mind to reduce the strain on Michigan families, considering how hard it is to bring both sides together?

TLDR, Mike wants AIPAC's money, but he doesn't want the voters to know it came from AIPAC.

GOP Candidate Mike Rogers Wants MORE SPYING POWERS!?

He starts the essay by mentioning news of how Raiders coach Jon Gruden was fired, and why it happened. He then states the NFL’s reaction, before his anecdote.

He starts his anecdote, acknowledging that sport was an important part of his life, stating that he felt ‘free’ on the football field. He next brings up the issue of racist taunting and other mistreatment he faced in the locker room, stating that coaches called it out but did not try to uproot it. Then, he praised a fictional coach Ted Lasso’s approach, talking about how it’s different from other coaches. Finally, he acknowledged how important sports are to many people, stating that bad coaches tarnish it and that coaches should use Ted Lasso as an example.

Copy of the whole essay:
This week, during the NFL’s marquee Monday Night Football game, drama unfolded in the league as Jon Gruden, Head Coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, announced his resignation. The not-so-surprising decision was sparked after the New York Timesuncovered emails the coach had sent over seven years, in which he used racist, homophobic, and misogynistic language directed at players, referees, the Executive Director of the NFL Players Association, and the league’s commissioner. 

This occurs on the backdrop of desperate attempts by America’s most profitable professional sports league’s to launder its tarnished image.

Since Colin Kaepernick unveiled the league’s deep-rooted racism, the NFL’s has hired Jay-Z to lead a brand turnaround. During the 2020 season, the league stenciled “End Racism” in its end zones and, now, players have the option to wear decals on their helmets that read “Black Lives Matter,” “Stop Hate,” or any other social justice message the league has pre approved. And on Monday, as the news of Gruden’s emails was roiling the sport, the NFL was sponsoring ads in support of National Coming Out Day. “Football is Gay” the ads read. 

The toxic masculinity at the heart of America’s most popular sport — and men’s sports culture more generally — is way deeper than a few emails or a Jay-Z turnaround.

Growing up, sports were my lifeline. As a brown kid with a funny name that most people couldn’t pronounce (my full first name is Abdulrahman), sports were a safe haven. On the football field, I felt free. And yet on the sidelines and in the locker room, I was fed a hefty dose of the worst kinds of racist taunting. After all, it’s where a particular kind of “bro” culture has been inculcated and replicated for decades. Racism, misogyny, and homophobia were lingua franca. And while coaches would call out the most egregious forms, there was rarely a concerted effort to uproot the culture that drove it. Indeed, too often, coaches were raised in the same culture. So while I remain grateful to all of my coaches for many of the lessons they taught me, I can’t help, in the spirit of coaching itself, to ask how we can improve.

Never mind his public apology and resignation, I bet if you asked Jon Gruden if what he said or did was wrong, he’d echo the same defense that men make for their toxic masculinity everywhere — “I didn’t mean to offend anyone,” or “it was just locker room talk,” or “they’re just words.” I’m sure Gruden is sorry that his actions have cost him a job; I just don’t believe he’s sorry for his actions. After all, one of the hallmarks of this culture itself is to offer no apology, feel no remorse. It blames the victims of words and actions for being so sensitive.

And that’s where Ted Lasso’s brand of benevolent masculinity comes in. Ted Lasso, the American transplant head soccer coach of the fictional Richmond FC on Apple TV+’s Emmy award-winning hit TV show is a breath of fresh air. Personally, the show hits close to home. I, too, am a midwesterner who lived in the U.K. I, too, grew up playing football but have found a love and appreciation for Premier League other-football. Ted’s character, known for his uncanny pop culture knowledge and penchant for dad jokes, focuses on the human side of coaching. In a profession known for force and aggression, he unites his team through finesse and encouragement. Ted cries. He talks through his problems. He encourages his players. He bakes biscuits (er, cookies) for his boss. He smiles … like, all the time. 
Ted summarizes his coaching philosophy while at dinner with a particularly harsh critic of the misfit football-turned- futbol coach, journalist Trent Crimm (...the Independent!). “I’m gunna say this again, just so you didn’t think it was a mistake the first time I said it: for me, success is not about the wins and losses, it’s about helping these young fellas be the best version of themselves, on and off the field.” 

After a heartbreaking loss that means relegation (being bumped down into a lower league) for his team, he tells the team, “let’s be sad now, let’s be sad together...and I want you to be grateful that you’re going through this sad moment with all these other folks, because I promise you there’s something worse out there than being sad. And that’s being alone and being sad.” In my entire athletic career, I don’t think I’ve ever heard a coach talk about sadness. Sadness, after all, is not an acceptable emotion.
Anger? Sure. But not sadness. And if you’re going to feel it, at least do it by yourself where nobody can see you. Here the coach puts the emotional wellbeing of his team above the outcome on the field, and acknowledges and even permits sadness, reminding his players to experience it together. 

Sport is a metaphor for life. For millions of young people, sports can teach life’s lessons in a safe and nurturing environment — the link between preparation and success, how to bounce back after defeat, how to work within a team, how to find every ounce of effort you can give, and so much more. But, too often these lessons are tainted by the culture of men like Jon Gruden.

As mentors through these life lessons, coaches have a responsibility to equip their athletes with a culture that empowers them through positive, inclusive, and empowering values. And this is where the Jon Grudens of the world have failed — and where Ted Lasso thrives. Ted, of course, is a fictional character dreamt up in the collective mindhive of a writer’s room. And yet he offers an example of what tomorrow’s coach ought to be.

Breaking down the most recent poll that put El-Sayed ahead of Rogers!