Monthly Meeting Tomorrow

Monthly Meeting Tomorrow

Our next General Meeting will be tomorrow at 7 PM. You do not need to be a member to attend our monthly meetings, and we would welcome your attendance.

IN PERSON: The meeting will be held in-person at the Super 8 Motel in Houghton.

REMOTE ATTENDANCE: Remote attendance is via Zoom. Subscribers to our emailed newsletter will find an image below to click on to connect to Zoom. The link is available via email only.

Highway Clean Up: Thank You Volunteers!

We had perfect weather this past Tuesday evening for our second highway clean up of the season. Sunshine and pleasant fall temperatures greeted the nine volunteers who came to clean.

Once again our eager volunteers jumped into action too quickly for us to capture a group photo! But we did manage to get a few “action photos” to share.

Thanks to everyone who came up to clean, we collected twenty-three bags of garbage that won’t end up in the Canal.

Thinking of Running for a Local Office?

Are you thinking of running for local school board, city/town or county office, but don’t know where to start? Well, this Thursday at 8 PM the group Run for Something is hosting a webinar to help you get started.

Run For Something's mission is to recruit and support diverse, progressive Democrats age 40 and under, running for the first or second time in local and state races.

During the webinar this Thursday, the RFS team will talk about running for office, how you can prepare to run, and how RFS supports and endorses candidates. There will be time for Q&A at the end of the call, and within 1-2 days after the webinar, you will receive links to online resources to help you plan your run.

RFS is also currently accepting Endorsement Applications. Once endorsed, candidates will:

• be assigned to a RFS Regional Director who will advise your campaign team;

• be matched with a RFS Alumni Advisor — a previous RFS candidate who has walked in your shoes;

• be promoted on RFS social media and, as available, to media contacts;

• have access to trainings, written guides, and templates available only to RFS endorsed candidates

To review the criteria for RFS endorsement and apply to be endorsed, click the button below:

 The success of our county party relies on the participation of people just like you. Join the HCDP today and help us put Democrats on the ballot who’ll make a difference.

“We are Democrats because we believe that good government must rely upon and strengthen the bonds that make us a society: recognizing the richness of our diverse heritage, preserving what we have been given, and leaving to posterity a legacy greater than that which we received.” - HCDP Platform Preamble

President Biden’s Speech on Democracy at the McCain Institute

President Biden gave an important speech on Democracy on Friday at the McCain Institute at Arizona State University. This is at least the fourth time in his presidency that Mr. Biden has spoken out on the threats to our democracy from the extremists on the right. Below is a brief excerpt from the speech. The full transcript has been posted on the White House website, and the White House video of the full speech is below.

This is an important speech. Please give it a listen.

“Let me begin with the core principles. Democracy means rule of the people, not rule of monarchs, not rule of the monied, not rule of the mighty. Regardless of party, that means respecting free and fair elections; accepting the outcome, win or lose. It means you can’t love your country only when you win.

Democracy means rejecting and repudiating political violence. Regardless of party, such violence is never, never, never acceptable in America. It’s undemocratic, and it must never be normalized to advance political power.

And democracy means respecting the institutions that govern a free society. That means adhering to the timeless words of the Declaration of Independence: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident.’ A mission statement embodied in our Constitution, our system of separation of powers and checks and balances…”

Back From the Brink (for 45 Days)

It took a last minute Hail Mary pitch across the aisle to Democrats by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. And with that, the US House on Saturday avoided a Federal government shutdown by adopting a stopgap measure to fund the government at 2023 levels for the next 45 days. The Senate approved the bill and the President signed it later that evening, just ahead of the midnight deadline.

The House vote began just minutes after the bill was introduced, giving Democrats little time to review it. The House bill did not contain any funding for Ukraine, which had been included in the Senate’s short-term funding bill passed on Thursday. It appears to have included a raise for House and Senate members, also not included the earlier Senate version.

The removal of Ukraine funding frustrated Democratic lawmakers, but they remain resolved to pursue it separately. Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg made this point on social media: “ Appears [the] big thing Rs fought for to the end was cutting funding for Ukraine. That’s it. A very dramatic gesture to help Putin.”

It continues to be true that the House Republicans remain divided within their party, and also not aligned with their fellow Republicans in the Senate. The Speaker’s leadership ability will be sorely tested over the next 45 days, and he may well be challenged for the role. It remains unclear how or when House Republicans will get their act together and be able to do their jobs.

Senator Dianne Feinstein Passes

Senator Dianne Feinstein passed away at the age of 90 on Thursday. Sen. Feinstein was the first woman president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the first woman mayor of San Francisco, the first woman elected Senator of California, the first woman member and first woman ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the first woman to chair the Senate Rules and Administration Committee and the first woman to chair the Senate Intelligence Committee. In November 2022, she became the longest-serving female senator in history, surpassing Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), having served for 30 years.

Her leadership will be missed.

Meme of the Week

In a stark contrast of priorities and styles this past week President Biden became the first sitting President to walk a picket line, appearing with striking members of the UAW at General Motors' Willow Run Redistribution Center in Van Buren Township. The next day the twice-impeached and four-time-indicted former President Donald Trump spoke at the invitation of the management at a non-union shop in Clinton Township.

President Biden was surrounded by union workers. He shook hands and encouraged them to keep up the fight, saying they deserved higher wages.

Trump spoke down from a podium to people carrying signs saying “Union Member” and “Auto Worker” who, when interviewed by the press, admitted they were not union members nor auto workers. His speech demanded that the union support him.

President Biden’s historic picket line walk animated numerous social media posts. We’ve chosen the President’s own post to highlight as this week’s Meme of the Week. The post contains a short video of Biden’s words for the striking workers. Click below to listen to what he had to say.

If you have an Instagram account why not give POTUS some ❤️ while you’re there.

More Good Things Happening in Lansing

The Michigan legislature continues their fall session, with Democrats still advancing their agenda. But a lot of this week’s news revolves around actions in the courts.

• House Democrats passed three bills last week in their effort to continue to ease voting restrictions. The bills allow registered voters to apply online for absentee ballots, lift a ban on paying for rides to get people to the polls, and provide for alternate forms of ID for those registering to vote who do not have a state ID. Meanwhile a group of eleven Republican state lawmakers have brought suit seeking to invalidate last year’s Proposal 2 and 2018’s Proposal 3 (the Promote the Vote initiatives). The legislators claim in their suit that ability to change voting rules belongs to the legislature alone and cannot be done by ballot measure. The group behind the successful initiatives has called the lawsuit “bizarre”. MORE: Michigan Radio and MLive

• Speaking of lawsuits, a suit was filed on Friday in the Michigan Court of Claims on behalf of four Michigan voters. The suit seeks a ruling that former President Trump is ineligible under the 14th Amendment to appear on either of Michigan’s 2024 ballots due to his involvement with the Jan. 6 attack on the United States Capitol. The group behind the lawsuit, Free Speech for People, assisted a group of Minnesota voters to file a similar suit in their state. Another similar lawsuit was earlier filed in Colorado by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and voters in that state. More: Common Dreams

• A coalition of 60 tribal groups, led by the Bay Mills Indian Community near Chippewa County, has filed an amicus brief in Attorney General Dana Nessel’s lawsuit to remove Line 5. The brief asks the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit to remand Nessel v. Enbridge to state court. President Whitney Gravelle of the Bay Mills Indian Community said, “We stand behind Attorney General Nessel because we know that shutting down Line 5 is the only way to protect everyone who depends on the land, water, and natural resources within the Great Lakes, including Anishinaabe people exercising our treaty rights.” MORE: Earth Justice

• Former Republican House Speaker Rick Johnson was sentenced to nearly five years in Federal prison for bribery charges related to his time as head of the Michigan medical marijuana licensing board. Johnson admitted accepting at least $110,000 when he led the board from 2017 to 2019. A businessman involved in the scandal has been sentenced to 28 months and fined $25,000. More: Associated Press and 9 and 10 News

On a topic we’ve discussed before, but this time with Kari Lake and Vivek Ramaswamy on Mackinac Island, the dysfunction within the Michigan GOP is yet again making headlines.

 Save the Date - Upcoming HCDP Events

Date TBD: Fall Virtual Fundraiser

Community Events

Thur 10/5

• The South Range Village Council meets Thursday at 6 PM in the South Range Community Building. For more information contact the Village at [email protected] or (906) 482-8833.

Mon 10/9

• October 9th, the second Monday of October, is Columbus Day as declared by joint resolution by Congress in 1934, and proclaimed by every President since. The proclamations of the Biden administration have acknowledged the painful history of wrongs and atrocities that many European explorers inflicted on Tribal Nations and Indigenous communities, but continued the tradition of recognizing Columbus’s voyage of discovery and the many contributions of Italian Americans.

  For the last two years (2021 and 2022) the Biden administration has also proclaimed October 9th as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, honoring the sovereignty, resilience, and immense contributions that Native Americans have made to the world.

Is there a community commemoration or event we should recognize that's of particular importance to you? Just send an email to [email protected].