If you find the title to this post offensive, you should. Then you should also find it offensive that Donald Trump, the candidate for president from the Republican party ran around the country for four years yelling fraud when he was told by his own people it was not true and knew that significant fraud had not occurred in the 2020 election.
Republicans were prepared to once again proclaim fraud if he did not win this time around. Now that he has won … what, no fraud? Suddenly we now trust the elections to be correct.
How gullible are the American people?
Arab Americans in Michigan’s Dearborn and Dearborn Heights voted predominantly Trump. Why? Because the US is pro-Israel and Democrats did not pay enough attention to them. According to the Detroit News, There are a number of voters who felt betrayed and ignored by this administration. And there was a price to pay for that.
Biden and others from his administration visited Dearborn in February and were told We are not interested in conversations with this campaign and this administration – Amer Zahr an activist and organizer of the rally. Careful what you ask for.
Now the crazy part. It was the so called liberal university students who held pro-Palestinian demonstrations and occupied campuses. Republicans threatened to punish colleges that allowed pro-Palestinian demonstrations. The Republican majority House planned to pull billions of dollars of federal funding. There is no one more pro-Israel than Trump and the Republican party.
You’re going to have peace in the Middle East, Trump campaigned. Trump was in office for four years, did he broker peace in the middle east? The last serious agreement was The Camp David Accords signed by President Jimmy Carter (Democrat) and President Anwar Sadat.
They don’t want to hear what we have to say, but President Trump wanted to know our thoughts. Really? What he wanted is your vote and he got it. As citizens are we so starved for attention that the last huckster who travels through town can sway us to their cause?
Ottawa Impact 2.0
Board Chair Joe Moss admitted to News 8, We made mistakes along the way. I think as a whole, the current board and moving into next year will be able to learn from everything that’s happened and continue to govern in a way that’s pro-American, pro-freedom and make Ottawa County a place where freedom rings.
This is the excuse for carpeting the county with lawsuits and legal fees? The last two years have been most noted for back room deals, lack of transparency, the good old boy’s (and women’s) church club, revenge, and strong arming anyone who does not share their extremist views. These are not strategic policy changes, it is good old MAGA mania politicking.
When we came in, we had very progressive policies that had been implemented over decades into the county, so part of the transition period was a little more tumultuous because we were coming in and having to do quite a hard shift back to Republican principles. I think a lot of the heat we’ve taken has been simply because we were early on those issues and recognizing what they were. I think a lot of that is just going to naturally settle down because those things have become understood now, Board Vice Chair Rhodea said.
Excuse me, I thought Republican principles included small government, fiscal responsibility, integrity and character. Ottawa Impact commissioners have failed on all of those principles.
- Hundreds of thousands of wasted dollars on legal fees and lawsuit settlements
- Increases in county government including a propaganda department expansion, veterans, additional positions such as a ‘personal assistant for the county administrator’.
- An attempt to turn the parttime commissioner salary to fulltime with a 60% pay raise and a $1,000 stipend each month. There are still questions about texting that occurred during the supposed independent committee that recommends raises and a freedom of information request lawsuit. Some members to the independent committee were appointed by the OI majority board.
Vice Chair Rhodea must be referring to MAGA principles which is another matter entirely. Those include massive amounts of lying, deception, and the end justifies the means.
I hope we can move forward and break some of these narratives the left keeps putting on us: extremists, deplorable, dangerous, things like that. Republicans are not extremists, especially in Ottawa County, just everyday Americans wanting to live our lives. – Joe Moss
Interesting, since I believe most Ottawa County citizens just want to live their lives without interference from YOU. Do not be fooled by these innocuous sound bites. It is difficult to not call Ottawa Impact extremist when we have resolutions on the county website such as Constitutional County Resolution that assumes county officials may pick and choose which state or federal laws are constitutional. The Resolution to Protect Life that promotes fetus personhood in contradiction to the state law that allows women to make their own medical decisions. Cutting the budget and restricting grants for the Health Department as well as the ongoing contentious war with the Health Department director.
The promotion of religious and MAGA ideology is not and should not be the focus of the Board of Commissioners. Ottawa Impact has done so for the last two years and intends to escalate the practice.
Emboldened by the Trump win they blatantly cheer MAGA extremism such as placing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in charge of public health, a vaccine and anti-fluoride conspiracist, calling fluoride treatment industrial waste. Kennedy has been a successful activist and politician but is not a medical doctor and his biography does not list any formal medical training. Have we learned nothing from Nate Kelly, the unqualified safety manager of a HVAC company Ottawa Impact commissioners tried to put in charge of the county’s health department.
My hope is simply that we have a board that reflects Ottawa County. I’d hoped for Chris Kleinjans to maintain a seat and maybe add a couple more Democrats because I think that diversity would have represented Ottawa County better but looking at the folks who won last night, I think we’ll have a diverse board that will hopefully work to represent and give voice to all 300,000 residents of Ottawa County – Commissioner Doug Zylstra
While it is clear that Republicans rule in Ottawa County and have for a very long time. Can we not expect better than tyranny of the majority? In rejecting equity did we also reject equality? In those 300,000 citizens of Ottawa County can we not respect and serve all? The job description of commissioner does not include morality police or MAGA activist.
Message for New Commissioners
Please commissioners, let’s work smarter and do a better job of governing the county the next four years. Do not listen to the dog whistles of the Ottawa Impact commissioners who would lure you in with righteous and patriot talk about freedom (while restricting it) or constitutional rights (while violating them). We need to be smarter than that.