ACHTUNG: The following is not a “fair and balanced” article. It is an editorial by the editor.
The deadline for candidates for local, county and state offices in the Aug. 6 primary election has been set at 4 p.m. Tuesday, April 23.
Some candidates already have filed, either by $100 fee or by presenting petitions with the required number of signatures.
Though there will be more filings later in April, the three incumbent state representatives in this area, Rachelle Smit in the 43rd, Angela Riggs in the 79th and Matt Hall in the 42nd, all Republicans, have filed for another two-year term.
Smit (R-Shelbyville) thus far will be opposed by Democrat Danene Shumaker of Plainwell. Hall (R-Richland) is facing a primary challenge from Rick Cutshaw of Scotts and Democrat Austin Marsman of Plainwell. Rigas (R-Caledonia) will be challenged by Democrat Jason Rubin of Grand Rapids.
All of the state representative districts were redrawn in 2023 by a special committee at the behest of a majority of voters in a 2022 statewide referendum.
It should be of interest that all three incumbent state representatives from the 42nd, 43rd and 79th districts, have indicated they believe Donald Trump won the presidential election of 2020. All have expressed the opinion that the election was rigged against Trump. All three GOP officials are fervently Pro-Life on the abortion issue.
Smit went even one step further by honoring the Null brothers of Shelbyville and Plainwell in a ceremony after they were acquitted of charges they took part in a plot to kidnap and kill Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Allegan County, just like neighboring Ottawa and Barry counties, has been proven time and time again to have a one-party political system in which Republicans nearly always win elections over Democrats.
If that trend holds, our representatives we send to Lansing to make laws all will march in lockstep to the commands of Donald Trump. None of them has questioned the results of all other electoral races, particularly in those they were declared the winners.
Evil lurks among us!
100% correct. Democrats who now identify as Communists.
Mr. Young,
You are most disingenuous with your comments. In every election that a Democrat lost from Al Gore, John Kerry, and Hillary Clinton (the smartest woman in the world, just not smart enough to campaign in person in Wisconsin!) was contested. Gore vs. Bush was determined by court action, Kerry never believed he lost to “that idiot” Bush, and Hillary still insists she won in 2016. Russia, Russia, Russia was a hoax drummed up by Clinton to smear Trump. It was investigated and deemed a hoax.
In 2020, there were many incidents to question the validity of the presidential election. Many questions about the Dominion electronic vote machines and reports of irregularities such as what happened in Emmet County.
Also the vote counting stopping at many locations at 11:30-12:00. At Cobo Hall they papered the glass so the vote counters could not be viewed. Why? No good explanation ever was produced.
Who was in the majority at that time in Congress? Democrats in both House and Senate. They knew any irregularities would not be investigated as long as Biden led in the count.
The drop boxes for ballots were another contentious area for corruption. Ballot stuffing is always a concern. Democrats don’t ever investigate, since they are the purveyors of corruption from the President and his cocaine addled son flying with V.P. daddy on Air Force II making deals with Russia and China. To Senator Menendez with enormous amounts of cash found in his possession. Nothing to see here!
All the people you cite as perpetrators to Washington D.C. “insurrection” have been jailed but not charged for days, weeks, or months. Those found guilty are serving time. Some were doing nothing more than entering the building, walking around the “People’s House”.
As for the Null brothers, they were acquitted of all charges. There is no reason to besmirch their name than has already happened. It is rumored the FBI was involved and even encouraged all participants. Can you say coercion?
You say the Republicans have a stranglehold on local state politics. Maybe because there are good family, country loving people that hold the majority in this area. If you prefer total Democrat rule, the other side of the state might suit you.
Your perspective is clouded by President Trump hate. His 4 years were the best we ever had in our lifetime.
Not so with the dementia President Biden! He is unsound physically and mentally to lead this country. Can’t wait for November!
Once again the confusion and delusions from DTOM AKA BM.Top psychiatrist are sounding the alarm that Donald Trump is suffering from dementia, a leading psychiatrist has claimed, amid speculation about the state of the former president’s mental health.
Dr. Lance Dodes, a supervising analyst emeritus of the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute and retired Harvard Medical School professor, was among those recently quoted by Duty To Warn, which describes itself as an association of mental health professionals concerned about Trump.
And what does the brilliant doctor say about President Biden? If Trump is afflicted, what is his assessment of Joey???
You see it every day.. stumbling, bumbling, forgetting, and can’t find his way off a stage!
This is the idiot you want leading the country?
Classic whataboutism.
Evidently you have no concerns over what is obvious to anyone with a pulse.
President Biden is a compromised both physically and mentally.
Forget allegiances to either party. We are observing the leader of the Free World.
Please comment and let TB know if you agree or disagree. This affects the nation “biggly”.
What everybody knows is that Donald Trump also has shown alarming signs dementia, but you conveniently ignore them. I personally believe both of them more than flawed candidates, but one of them also is facing 91 charges..
“Whataboutism”, which you and your band use to extreme. But I expect nothing else since you are Democrats and feel instead of think. I still see no response about accomplishments of dementia President Biden and his merry band of know-nothings.
I expected better from the great thinkers of the extreme Left Wing!
Well, thanks for confirming DTOM, here’s what the good doctor said about that. I had to speak out now because the 2024 election might turn on this issue of who is cognitively capable: Biden or Trump?
It’s a major issue that will affect some peoples’ votes. Not enough people are sounding the alarm, that based on his behavior, and in my opinion, Donald Trump is dangerously demented. In fact, we are seeing the opposite among too many in the news media, the political leaders and among the public.
There is also this focus on Biden’s gaffes or other things that are well within the normal limits of aging. By comparison, Trump appears to be showing gross signs of dementia.
This is a tale of two brains. Biden’s brain is aging. Trump’s brain is dementing. I think the doctor would love to examine your brain but then again he would probably already know something is definitely wrong after reading your comments.
Personal attacks are not allowed by the editor. Your assertions about my brain because I don’t agree with you or many others on this rag might be viewed by the editor as personal. But I ain’t holding my breath.
I watch NBC News with Lester Holt every night and must have missed the report on Trump’s alleged dementia. If it were proven, it would be on every channel for days, possibly even weeks, over and over and over. I know how you liberals love to stick it to Trump. So please, enlighten me on what day and channel it was broadcast.
Bass Man who seems to have a mind meld with former commenter Don’t Tread on Me along with other Trump voters never had their collective shorts in knots when Trump won MI in 2016.
To review those results 4,798,284 votes were cast for President in 2016.
Of that total 250,902 votes were for candidates other than the Democratic and Republican nominees. Trump got 2,279,243 votes while Clinton got 2,268,839.
A margin of 0.23% and the same election deniers since 2020 were firmly true believers in the electoral system because Trump won.
Roll forward 7 years and Bass Man is still complaining that Trump lost although he got 2,649,852 votes / 47.84% of votes cast and Biden 2,804,404 votes / 50.62% of votes cast.
So we have Trump and his followers like Bass Man crying and denying although Trump lost in MI by 155,552 votes. 14.95 times Trumps thin margin in 2016 but in Bass Man’s world that’s vote fraud. Why? Trump lost.
Trump supporters are zealots. Representatives Rigas and Smit are zealots. If you believe they support elections that encourage voter participation for all eligible voters ask them why they the oppose expanded voting hours, early voting and availability of absentee ballots. Ask them why they think the only valid state wide elections results that are to be trusted are those where GOP candidates win.
And so it goes
Mr Couchman, I am an unabashed supporter of our former president, whom you and others of your stripe abhorr.
Please enlighten me and the readers of this on-line rag (Mr. Young’s description, not mine) what you like about President Biden and all his accomplishments. I’m sure you and others could lend your strong support of our leader.
I await your response with baited breath!
Anonymous “bassman,” I like that Joe Biden defeated trump by 8 million votes in 2020 and will likely double that margin of victory in November. I also like that Joe Biden is a decent human. Great accomplishments that trump will never come close to touching.
So no accomplishments? Just he is a “decent human”?
Mr. Gless, I expect more from someone of your level of education and knowledge.
Surely you can provide accomplishments of President Biden and his administration?
DTOM, all you have to do is look up this administration’s accomplishments. I can’t believe you haven’t seen or heard of any. They’ve been listed before in comments from others whom you must have ignored because your jealousy of a party that has accomplished many things to help Americans.
Fox media and News Max and all the other hate America stations and podcasts aren’t going to list anything. Their job is to spread misinformation and lies to the MAGA cult.
And about the brain comment, isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black?
I asked the liberal contributors/ commentators (FRWF, Couchman, Mr. Gless, Mr. Longstreet, Mr. Young, Tony Baloney) and I presume Joe Biden voters and supporters, to list the accomplishments of their hero.
Nothing. Nada. Big fat 0.
So I have investigated Joey.
The list of accomplishments are as follows:
10,000+ illegal aliens allowed into the country and unknown numbers of “got-aways”.
Drugs infiltrating into the country from Mexico by illegal aliens coerced by cartels to deliver drugs across the border resulting in 75,000+ deaths per year.
Huge rise in inflation during the last 3.5 years affecting all Americans. This averages eating
$11,200 per year from your paycheck.
Housing prices and accompanying financing have exploded, making buying a home out of reach for many people. Those owning homes see their associated expenses rise dramatically (heating, insurance, upkeep and improvements).
Fuel prices for any transportation doubling or more because of Joe’s war on energy.
Joe’s unrelenting war on “fossil fuels”, and support for electric vehicles, despite their severe limitations in Northern climates. Manufacturers are pulling back on their plans for going full EV only.
Wars in Ukraine and Israel, helped by the U.S. and aided by weakness in the president and his actions or inaction.
Joe’s son Hunter is under investigation for lying on a firearms permit and disposing of the weapon illegally. He accompanied his father on Air Force II to Russia and China where he made deals with companies for billions of dollars.
He doesn’t deny the allegations.
Crime accelerating in major sanctuary cities. Those arrested for crimes are let go without bail.
Law enforcement is hamstrung in executing their duties.
The district attorneys and lawyers in New York and Georgia going after Trump have met with Department of Justice and FBI to strategize how to stop Trump. It appears some members in Joe’s cabinet are weaponizing against his political opponent.
So you see, Joe has been busy. Busy destroying our country.
And so the world turns.
Correction; 10,000 000 + illegal aliens allowed into this country with unknown numbers of “got- aways”.
More Delusional opinions from DTOM. It’s pretty obvious someone’s not happy camper with the real facts. Don’t tell me you bought stocks in Truth Social? And I think your fingers must have hit the wrong letters on the keyboard, your orange god is a crook, a wannabe dictator and the worst president of the 46 we’ve had! And if Joe is suffering from dementia, as you claim, how can be so competent to be the leader of a masterful crime network?
We are experiencing collusion, obfuscation, and outright lawlessness by Joey and his son. We all know who the “Big Guy” is in the emails that have been unearthed in the investigation into Hunter’s shakedown influence scheme with overseas oligarchs and crooked businessmen.
If you are honest, which is doubtful, you know Joe could not own three mansions on a government salary without “help”.
Where is your proof Trump was any of those things you accuse him of? The whole country benefitted from his leadership and policies.
If there are any terrorist activities by illegal aliens allowed in by Biden’s unlawful presidential executive orders allowing invaders, he should be tried for treason.
Anyone stupid enough to allow that to happen needs to be voted out of office.
Today offered yet more evidence that Biden’s rejection of the Republicans’ supply-side economics in favor of investing in ordinary Americans is paying off with high growth, low unemployment, and strong wages.
Today’s jobs report from the U.S. Department of Labor for the month of March showed higher job growth than analysts anticipated. Instead of the 214,000 jobs expected, the U.S. added 303,000. The government also revised its estimate of job growth in January and February upward by a combined number of 22,000. President Joe Biden noted that this report meant that the administration had created more than 15 million jobs since he took office.
The unemployment rate was also good, dropping slightly to 3.8% in March. According to economist Steven Rattner of Morning Joe, the United States has now had 26 consecutive months—more than two years—of unemployment under 4%, the longest stretch of unemployment that low since the late 1960s.
Rattner pointed out that immigrants have helped to push U.S. growth since the pandemic by adding millions of new workers to the labor market. As native-born workers have aged into retirement, immigrants have taken their places and “been essential to America’s post-COVID labor market recovery.”
Heather Long of the Washington Post added that wage growth has been 4.1% in the past year, which is well above the 3.2% inflation rate.
“My plan is growing the economy from the middle out and the bottom up, investing in all Americans, and giving the middle class a fair shot,” Biden said in response to the new jobs report. That system, which resurrects the economy the United States enjoyed between 1933 and 1981, has been a roaring success.
Biden was in Baltimore, Maryland, today, where he flew over the remains of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge, spoke with the response teams there, and met with the families of those who died when the bridge fell. Apparently trying to demonstrate that government can be both efficient and effective, the administration has emphasized speed and competence in its response to the bridge collapse of March 26, 2024.
Kayla Tausche of CNN reported today that the U.S. Coast Guard was onsite within minutes of the collapse, and that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was working the phone as soon as he heard. He had spoken with Maryland governor Wes Moore, Baltimore mayor Brandon Scott, and White House chief of staff Jeff Zients by 5:00 a.m. Biden was briefed early that morning, before he began to reach out to state and local leaders.
Baltimore County executive Johnny Olszewski told Tausche: “[Biden] demonstrated a clear understanding of the importance of the port, had a real empathy for myself and all the individuals impacted…. And he was unequivocal that he was going to do whatever he can, legally and within his power to expedite a response.”
The collapse of the bridge not only affected traffic around Baltimore, but also shut the Port of Baltimore. For 13 years, that port has led the nation in carrying cars and light trucks, as well as tractors and cranes, handling more than 847,000 vehicles in 2023. In that same year, the port handled more than 444,000 passengers and $80 billion worth of foreign cargo. The damage to the port is of national significance.
Less than four hours after it received an official request for funding for repairs on March 29, the Department of Transportation authorized funds to begin to address immediate needs, which officials say is a record. The Army Corps of Engineers says it expects to restore a narrow navigation channel for use by the end of April and to have the port reopened fully by the end of May. Until then, the federal government is improving the infrastructure at nearby Sparrows Point to enable it to handle more ships.
But the Republican Party remains committed to the idea that the government must be kept small and that private enterprise must be privileged over public investments. Today, the far-right House Freedom Caucus announced that it would not consider funding the bridge repairs until foreign shipping companies had paid in all they owe (Biden has called for funding the bridge immediately rather than waiting for insurance funds, which will come much later).
They also say that they want the repairs to come out of money Congress has appropriated for other initiatives they dislike, that any new funds must be fully offset by other cuts, and that “burdensome regulations” such as labor agreements must be waived “to avoid all unnecessary delays and costs.”
They are also demanding that Biden reverse the administration’s “pause on approvals of liquified natural gas export terminals” before Congress will consider any funding for the bridge reconstruction. In January, under pressure from climate activists, Biden paused the construction of such terminals. Liquid natural gas is a valuable export, but it is also made up primarily of methane, a greenhouse gas significantly worse for the planet than carbon dioxide. Oil and gas interests are strongly in favor of developing the liquid natural gas industry while ignoring its effects on climate change.
One of the proposed plants affected by the pause would have been the largest in the U.S. It is planned for Louisiana, the home state of House speaker Mike Johnson. Johnson has already tried to tie funding for Ukraine to lifting the pause on liquid natural gas export terminals, and the White House refused. Now, apparently, extremist Republicans are trying the same gambit with repairs to the Francis Scott Key Bridge and access to one of the nation’s most important ports, although slowing repairs at that key juncture will directly affect many of their constituents.
Indeed, despite the solid demonstration that government support for ordinary Americans is the best way to build the economy, Republicans continue to maintain that the way to promote economic growth is to concentrate money among a few men at the top of the economic ladder. The idea is that those few people will invest their money more efficiently than the government can, and that the businesses they create will employ more and more workers. To that end, Republicans since 1981 have focused on tax cuts and deregulation in order to give those they see as job creators a free hand.
That system, so-called “supply-side economics,” has never actually worked, but it has become an article of faith for Republicans. It is a system that is popular with the very wealthy, and Biden called that out today in a video he recorded with Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
In the video, the two men comment on a video clip in which former president Trump, speaking at a private event, promises wealthy donors another tax cut. Biden says: “That’s everything you need to know about Donald Trump. When he thinks the cameras aren’t on, he tells his rich friends, ‘We’re gonna give you tax cuts.’”
Sanders chimes in: “Can anybody in America imagine that at a time of massive income and wealth inequality—billionaires are doing phenomenally well—that he’s going to give them huge tax breaks? And then at the same time, he’s going to cut Social Security, Medicare, and programs that our kids need….”
“That makes me mad as hell, quite frankly,” Biden says. “There are 1,000 billionaires in…this country. They pay an average of 8.2% [in] federal taxes. So…we have a plan: Asking his good buddies to begin to pay their fair share.”
From Prof. Heather Cox Richardson.
The job numbers you cite are as follows: 1/3 are added government jobs, 1/3 are medical related, the remainder are all other types of jobs. Do you see a problem here? Of course not, not by Democrats!
How many Americans feel we need more government workers, bigger government, more regulations, more control?
We need to come to the realization the country is BROKE!
We need less government, not more. Every state has duplicate departments of the federal government: Agriculture, Health, Education, etc. The only thing the federal government has responsibility over is interstate commerce and Department of Defense.
Why all the federal departments when the state does the same job? Why not share federal tax dollars with states equitably to serve the citizens?
The people closest to problems and needed improvements are in each state, not a bureaucrat in Washington. We could cut thousands of jobs at the federal level and save those tax dollars for improvements instead of fat cats in D.C.
We can do better as a nation and expanding government is not the answer. Providing job opportunities to all Americans should always be the goal.
Democrats love government. They need government. Americans believe in themselves, not what government can do FOR them, and eventually what they DO to you.
You vote for a Democrat, you are voting for your demise. They care about power and growing government., NOT YOU !!!
What we are experiencing is that the team sports mentality has morphed into a “call” belief of the vote tally.
Sore loser sports fanatics often blame a loss on a call from an official referee. When their favored combatant(s) win due to the same subjectivity of a fallible individual that is unable to see everything at once, they disregard this reality, look the other way and accept the “call.” Blatant bias in action, sounds familiar doesn’t it?
This potential for human error influence has been incorrectly inserted into the minds of the rabid sports fans/political zealots. It has created a false equivalency and improper analogy into the culture of false beliefs and and lack of critical thinking ability.
The big lie of 2020 has been proven time and again to be lacking of any substance. Even in our own state, during related court proceedings, the fanatics had no actual evidence, and were laughed out of court.
This should not be surprising, considering the cult of narcissism has the hallmark trait of blaming others for anything and everything, while actually being guilty of said offenses themselves. Transgressions are deemed acceptable for them, because they are on the blessed side, and are righteously self indignant.
FRWF, please list the accomplishments of President Joe Biden. I seem to have missed those and I watch NBC most nights and occasionally CNN to keep up with the lies the Clinton News Network is spewing.
I’m sure you and Jake Gless could list them without even trying too hard!
Election denying and making voting more difficult go hand in hand.
There is opposition to expanding voting to more than one day from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm; making it more difficult to register to vote by requiring a driver’s license though there are about 21 million people of voting age who don’t have them; making receiving an absentee ballot more difficult; support of culling voter rolls without a requirement to notify affected voters, reducing the number of polling locations; moving voting locations; reducing the number of voting machines at polling places that result in longer lines and even prohibiting distributing water to voters standing in line in hot climates.
The late Paul Weyrich was an important GOP adviser. He founded the Heritage Foundation, the American Legislative Exchange Council and the Free Congress Foundation (which became American Opportunity after his death in 2008). Weyrich also co-founded the Moral Majority with Rev. Jerry Falwell.
Weyrich in 1980 spoke to a conservative conference in Dallas and said:
“Now many of our Christians have what I call the ‘goo-goo syndrome.’ Good government. They want everybody to vote. I don’t want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of people. They never have been from the beginning of our country, and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”
I’m very aware that Allegan County is a solidly Republican county but I’m troubled when our federal, state and county elected officials deny election results and support reducing the number of people who have the opportunity to cast votes in free elections. They are very aware of what Weyrich said. Now election denying is part of the GOP Election engineering playbook.
GOP elected officials, especially at the county level, have been doing these things to increase their odds of winning for over a decade.
Go to a meet the candidate event and ask Representatives Hall, Rigas and Smit why they support measures to reduce the number of voters if they truly support democracy.
And so it goes
What proof can you provide to back up your assertions? Who do you know as a citizen has been denied the right to vote?
BM,
When votes are thrown out, disqualified, purged, or otherwise negated there is no notification given to the denied voter.
Therefore, those who have had their right to vote stripped are unaware of it.
What is self evident, is the way in which a particular facet has always pushed for restrictions and denying the right to participate.
A particular real estate developer in Florida has taken credit for being pivotal in the “hanging chad” debacle from decades ago, which negated votes. He brags about being responsible for getting Junior into the oval office.
Back in 2016, in our state, when gerrymandering was still in effect, voters were turned away in Kent county who had to wait in impossible lines at GVSU. This was a known demographic, and had a strong directional lean.
One could extrapolate that this and a few other likely planned situational outcomes could have placed a finger on the scale considering how close the race was, in effect rigging it for the candidate who selected the Secretary of Education who may have had sway in that situation.
Again, narcissistic behavior is primarily evidenced by accusations of behavior that they are actually guilty of.
My opinion is that DJT cried so hard about a rigged situation in 2020, because he was guilty of that exact thing in 2016.
History is full of examples of efforts to deny the freedom of representation by ballot. Roughly half of the population was denied until the success of the Women’s Suffrage movement just over a century ago. I won’t even get into the innumerable examples on the racial front.
You may do well to study the reality of history a bit.
Mr. Baloney, you and Hillary are still angry because Trump outsmarted the smartest woman in the world to sweep all the battleground states to win the electoral college votes. With half the money and less volunteers, he BEAT Hillary.like a borrowed horse!
Any time I need a great laugh I replay the election night returns with Wolf Blitzer saying “Trump is declared the winner in Florida”; “Trump is declared the winner in Ohio”; “Trump is declared the winner of Michigan”, etc. Brings tears of joy to my eyes!
Come on November!
BM,
Spoken like a true sports fan. I suppose you have bought all the branded merchandise as well.
Do you dress up in the red hat, slogan T-shirt(s), and perhaps even the guilded shoes when you perform this ritual? Do you fill your Trump cup with a mind numbing substance and wave your flags when you reinforce and relive this glory day?
Thank you for enlightening about the reality of your mindset. It shows that in your view it is about the self gratification of being associated with the winning team. It is also revealing in the way that you seem to derive pleasure from the misfortune or suffering of others. Some would view this particularly as a red flag.
I answered your question regarding individuals being denied the vote. Would you like to discuss that further, or will you continue to ignore the history and reality of the “rigged game”?
Ultimately, you have proven the point I made earlier with a stellar example. All the cult is concerned with is winning at all costs. They ignore the methodology of their chosen one, create imagined fouls for the opposition, and wave their flags.
The thing that should be most concerning is that there is no understanding of what to do with the position after it has been obtained, no care for the way our system functions. For them it is only about the trophy.
Mr. Baloney,
You certainly live up your name. You’re like most Democrats who always feel (notice the word “feel”) they are the smartest people in the room. They usually are not great thinkers, but their feelings guide them instead of their brains. And their feelers are always hurting.
Mr. Baloney, I hope your love of country is stronger than your alliance and support for a senator, vice president, and now president, a person who has never been out of politics almost his entire adult life and has been observed by others around him as never been right in any major decision in his life. His physical appearance and mental acuity is poor and getting worse every day. This is undeniable when observed by anyone with a pulse and is honest with themselves.
But honesty has never been a Biden or Democrat attribute.
And so it goes.