Category Archives: Michigan

Democratic leaders across US work to lead resistance against Trump’s agenda

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Democrats from California to Illinois prepare to ‘Trump-proof’ and ‘fight to death’ against his extreme proposals

After the November elections ushered in a new era of unified Republican governance in Washington, Democratic leaders across the country are once again preparing to lead the resistance to Donald Trump’s second-term agenda.

California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, said he would convene a special legislative session next month to “safeguard California values and fundamental rights”.

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US elections 2024: 10 key House races to watch

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Democrats only need to flip a handful of seats to get back control of the lower chamber – here’s what to keep an eye on

Much attention has been paid to the historic race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, but the results of down-ballot elections will determine whether the new president will actually be able to implement a legislative agenda next year.

With Republicans defending a narrow majority in the House of Representatives, Democrats only need to flip a handful of seats to wrest back control of the lower chamber, and both parties are going all out to win.

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US election offices increase security measures amid ongoing threats

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Arizona official notes that hardened tactics, including active shooter drills, offer ‘sad commentary’ on country

Elections offices in the US have hardened their security measures this year, anticipating potential violence based on experience since 2020 and during an ongoing rise in threats and harassment focused on election workers.

Many offices have now trained their workers on de-escalation tactics. They’ve run drills for active shooters or other disturbances. They have a process for flagging the threats that could be criminal and seeking law enforcement help when needed.

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Michigan congresswoman Rashida Tlaib declines to endorse Kamala Harris

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The Palestinian American ‘squad’ member has been critical of Harris and the Democratic party’s inaction on Gaza

Michigan congresswoman Rashida Tlaib declined to endorse Kamala Harris at a union rally in Detroit, where the war in Gaza is the top issue for the largest block of Arab American voters in the country.

Tlaib, the first Palestinian American woman to serve in Congress, is the only one of the so-called leftist “Squad” that has not endorsed the Democrat candidate. The other three members – Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York – endorsed Harris in July.

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Trump repeats attack on Liz Cheney and laments bad hair day at Michigan rally

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Ex-president’s speech comes as race enters final stretch, amid battle with Kamala Harris to woo Michigan voters

Donald Trump on Friday tried to energize his voters during a rally in Warren, Michigan, delivering an address replete with his characteristic fear-mongering about immigrants and tangents including musings about his hair.

The former president also repeated his aggressive attack on former Republican representative Liz Cheney, one day after he said she should be under fire with rifles “shooting at her”.

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Supreme court rejects RFK Jr plea to remove name from battleground ballots

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Kennedy, who suspended campaign and endorsed Donald Trump, will remain on ballot in Michigan and Wisconsin

The supreme court on Tuesday rejected an emergency appeal to remove Robert F Kennedy Jr from presidential ballots in Wisconsin and Michigan.

Kennedy wanted to remove himself from the ballot in the two crucial swing states after dropping his independent bid and endorsing Donald Trump. He argued that keeping him on violated his first amendment rights by wrongly implying he still wanted to be elected president.

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Michelle Obama blasts Trump for ‘gross incompetence’ at Harris’s Michigan rally

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At Kalamazoo event, former first lady and vice-president argue Trump has no credibility on women’s issues

Michelle Obama laced into Donald Trump in a searing speech in Michigan on Saturday, accusing the former president of “gross incompetence” and having an “amoral character” while challenging hesitant Americans to choose Kamala Harris for US president.

“By every measure, she has demonstrated that she’s ready,” the former first lady told a rapt audience in Kalamazoo. “The real question is, as a country, are we ready for this moment?”

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Arab Americans slightly favor Trump over Harris, says new poll

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Poll shows a deadlock in Michigan, a key state on the path to the White House with a large Arab American population

Arab Americans are slightly more likely to vote for Donald Trump than Kamala Harris, according to a new poll, in a worrying sign for the Democratic nominee’s chances of carrying the battleground state of Michigan, which is home to a large Arab American population.

The survey, conducted by the Arab News Research and Studies Unit along with YouGov, shows 43% supporting Trump compared with 41% for Harris, and 4% backing the Green Party candidate, Jill Stein.

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Liz Cheney urges conservatives to back Kamala Harris over abortion

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Ex-Republican congresswoman, longtime abortion rights opponent, campaigns with vice-president in swing states

Liz Cheney, a former Republican congresswoman and longtime opponent of abortion rights, on Monday condemned Republican-imposed bans on the procedure and urged conservatives to support Democrat Kamala Harris for US president.

Cheney was speaking during three joint events with the vice-president in three swing states aimed at prising suburban Republican voters away from party nominee Donald Trump. She has become the Democrat’s most prominent conservative surrogate and is rumoured to be in contention for a seat in a potential Harris cabinet.

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Kamala Harris questions Trump’s stamina: ‘Is he fit to do the job?’

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Democratic nominee suggests at Michigan rally that rival does not have stamina to handle another presidential term

Kamala Harris used a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Friday to seize on reports that Donald Trump had been canceling media interviews to question whether he has the stamina for a second presidency if voters choose him over her in November’s election.

“If he can’t handle the rigors of the campaign trail, is he fit to do the job?” the Democratic vice-president, 59, told rallygoers about the 78-year-old Trump.

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NRA chief involved in gruesome cat killing as college fraternity member

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Doug Hamlin pleaded no contest to animal cruelty over 1979 incident in which fraternity cat was tortured and killed

Douglas Hamlin, who was appointed to lead the NRA this summer in the wake of a long-running corruption scandal at the gun rights group, was involved decades ago in the sadistic killing of a fraternity house cat named BK, according to several local media reports at the time.

Hamlin pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of animal cruelty brought against him and four of his fraternity brothers in 1980, when he was an undergraduate student at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. The charge was brought against Hamlin under a local Ann Arbor ordinance. All five members of Alpha Delta Phi were later expelled from the fraternity.

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Gretchen Whitmer apologizes for feeding chip to podcaster after Catholic backlash

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Michigan governor accused of mocking communion, while she says stunt was meant to promote Biden’s Chips Act

Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer has apologized for feeding a Dorito chip to a social media influencer who dropped to her knees after Roman Catholic organizations accused the Democratic politician of insulting their religion by mocking the sacrament of communion.

“I would never do something to denigrate someone’s faith,” Whitmer said in a statement that her office provided to the Michigan television news station WJBK on Friday.

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Gretchen Whitmer calls Trump ‘deranged’ after comments on abortion

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Michigan governor responds to ex-president saying women will no longer be thinking about abortion if he wins election

Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan, called Donald Trump “just deranged” on Sunday after he said women would no longer be thinking about abortion if he is elected as president in November.

“This guy just doesn’t understand what the average woman is confronting in her life in this country, and how could he? He’s not lived a normal life,” Whitmer said in an interview on CNN’s State of the Union.

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‘It is OK to stand out’: US teen’s hands and feet are world record-setting

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Eric Kilburn, 16, says those who put others down over differences ‘are usually the most unhappy people out there’

Eric Kilburn Jr’s mother knew his feet were exceptionally big when, in his teens, she began needing to spend thousands of dollars to have his shoes specially made. But it turned out they were bigger than anyone else’s in the world who was his age – and so were his hands.

Sixteen-year-old Eric fits his 13.5in (34cm) feet in American size 23 shoes (UK size 22) – more than double the average of adult men, which is about 9 in the US. His hands, at 9.13in, easily surpass the 7.14in average for his age.

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Trump praises Secret Service in first event since thwarted assassination plot

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Former president talks up tariffs in Flint, Michigan, and warns attendees of dangers of nuclear ‘obliteration’

Trump held his first campaign event on Tuesday since the thwarted assassination attempt over the weekend, telling a packed 6,000-seat arena in Flint, Michigan that the assassin “couldn’t even get a shot off” while describing the Secret Service’s “great” response to the threat.

During a town hall moderated by former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump took audience questions about manufacturing and the economy, among other issues. Like his first appearance after the attempt on his life in July – also a rally in Michigan – Trump appeared ready to return to business as usual on the campaign trail, and his supporters were eager to see him in action.

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Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ lawyers move to overturn $100m award over assault case

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Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith, incarcerated in Michigan, accused the music mogul of sexual assault 27 years ago

Lawyers for Sean “Diddy” Combs have moved to overturn a $100m judgment awarded this week to a Michigan prison inmate who accused the music mogul of sexual assault 27 years ago.

Two emergency motions filed at Lenawee county’s circuit court accuse Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith of launching a “frivolous” lawsuit against the entertainer, who they insist he never met.

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‘Democrats are losing’: a battle on EVs could cost Kamala Harris votes in Michigan

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Trump promises to end electric vehicle mandate. Harris has been silent, risking swing state autoworkers’ critical votes

As the critical swing state of Michigan hangs in the balance, experts warn that Democrats’ poor messaging over the shift to electric vehicles could lose them the state in November’s election.

“I will end the electric vehicle mandate on day one, thereby saving the US auto industry from complete obliteration, which is happening right now,” Donald Trump told the Republican national convention in a speech this summer that would reach tens of millions of people.

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Michigan couple arrested after groom allegedly kills groomsman hours after wedding

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James Shirah, 22, allegedly ran over groomsman with SUV, mortally wounding him, following argument on 30 August

A newly married couple from Michigan were arrested only hours after their wedding because the groom allegedly used a car to intentionally run over and kill one of his groomsmen, according to local police.

The groom, 22-year-old James Shirah of Flint, allegedly ran over his groomsman with an SUV, mortally wounding him, following an argument on 30 August, the Flint police department said on Facebook.

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‘I’m a new racist’: Michigan judge suspended after insulting gay and Black people on recordings

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Court worker secretly recorded calls in which Kathleen Ryan made homophobic slur and called Black people lazy

A suburban Detroit judge is no longer handling cases after a court official turned over recordings of her making anti-gay insults and referring to Black people as lazy.

Oakland county probate judge Kathleen Ryan was removed from her docket on 27 August for unspecified misconduct. Now the court’s administrator has stepped forward to say he blew the whistle on her, secretly recording their phone calls.

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RFK Jr’s name must be taken off ballots, Michigan and North Carolina courts rule

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Rulings upend plans in battleground as nation’s first absentee ballots in presidential contest were set for mailing

Robert F Kennedy Jr’s campaign for president failed – but his campaign to avoid being a spoiler in North Carolina and Michigan appears for the moment to be more successful.

The North Carolina court of appeals made a last-minute decision on Friday to remove Kennedy’s name from presidential ballots, creating a scramble to reprint ballots and begin sending them to voters.

Harris campaign raised $361m in August, triple the amount of Trump campaign

If Trump wins the election, it will doom our efforts to slow climate disaster

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