A crucial Democratic voting bloc in Michigan is leading the charge for a protest vote in Tuesday’s primary election against President Joe Biden for his support of Israel in its war against Hamas.
Listen to Michigan, which describes itself as a multiracial and multifaith anti-war campaign, is spearheading the “Vote Uncommitted” effort, which encourages voters to show up to the polls and check off “uncommitted” on the ballot instead of Biden.
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Michigan is home to the country’s second-largest Middle Eastern and North African population, according to US census data, with Wayne County having the highest percentage in any US county. Wayne County is home to the cities of Detroit and Dearborn, where much of the “Vote Uncommitted” effort is taking place.
“In recent months, a critical question has plagued residents of Michigan: how to make our voices heard when President Biden officials ignore our pleas. This sentiment is deeply felt in the Detroit and Dearborn area, where the community is acutely aware of the devastation in Gaza – a crisis we feel intimately connected to, as it impacts our friends, families, and broader communities,” according to Listen to Michigan’s website.
“Michigan voters are sending Biden a clear message in the February 27 Democratic primary that he can count us out. We are filling out the UNCOMMITTED bubble because we strongly reject Biden’s funding war and genocide in Gaza,” according to the website. “Uncommitted Michigan Democrats opposed to Biden’s policy in Gaza can demonstrate that we hold his margin of victory for re-election.”
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FTX Group CEO John J. Ray III listens while U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) speaks, at a U.S. House Financial Services Committee hearing investigating the collapse of the now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX after the arrest of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. (credit: SARAH SILBIGER/REUTERS)
Biden must earn their votes through a dramatic policy change, according to the website.
“President Biden has been a successful candidate in the past by representing a broad coalition, but right now he’s not representing the vast majority of Democrats who want a ceasefire and an end to his funding of Israel’s war in Gaza. He’s not representing the young people who put him in office and turned out in the midterms — and are now out protesting his policies in the streets,” the website said.
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Family ties in Michigan’s political scape
Listen To Michigan’s campaign manager, Layla Elabed, is Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s sister.
Tlaib (D-MI) represents part of Dearborn and the majority of Dearborn Heights. Tlaib is the only Palestinian-American member of Congress and a leading voice in the ceasefire movement. Both Tlaib and Elabed did not return The Post’s request for comment.
Tlaib encouraged Michiganders to vote uncommitted in a video posted on Listen to Michigan’s Instagram.
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“It is important as you all know, to not only march against the genocide, not only make sure that we’re calling our members of Congress and local elected officals and passing city resolutions all throughout our country, it’s also important to create a voting bloc, something that has a bullhorn to say, enough is enough,” Tlaib said in the video. “We don’t want a country that supports bombs and destruction. We want to support life. We want to stand up for every single life killed in Gaza.”
“I want you to think of all of the amazing young children and the people whose lives were lost, and this is the way you can raise our voices don’t make us even more invisible. Right now we feel completely neglected, neglected and just unseen by our government,” Tlaib said. “If you want us to be louder, then come here and vote uncommitted.”
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Listen to Michigan and supporting organizations are driving their message on social media and through phone banking.
Dearborn’s Mayor, Abdullah H. Hammoud, published an op-ed in the New York Times on Tuesday explaining why he’s voting uncommitted.
“I, like many of my fellow Americans, cannot in good conscience support the continuation of a genocide. This has weighed heavy on my heart, particularly as the presidential primary election in Michigan has drawn near. It is for that reason that I will be checking the box for “uncommitted” on my presidential primary ballot next Tuesday. In doing so, I am choosing hope,” Hammoud wrote.
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However, Jewish Democrats expressed confidence in Michigan’s Arab voters showing up to the polls in November in support of Biden regardless of how they vote in the primary, banking on the shared threat of another Trump presidency as the driving factor.
The Post spoke to a Biden campaign official in Michigan who declined to provide a comment on the matter.
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Jewish Democratic Council of America CEO Halie Soifer told The Post that voting “uncommitted” is playing with fire.
JDCA endorsed Biden early on in the campaign and is leading efforts to galvanize Jewish Democratic support for him.
Soifer adamantly said that any effort to deflect or divert Democratic support for Biden is effectively electing Trump. Those who want Biden to win in November should absolutely support him in the primary, she said.
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With Rashida Tlaib leading this effort, it’s almost guaranteed that Jewish voters in Michigan will not be listening, Soifer said.
“Jewish voters are overwhelmingly not just supportive of Joe Biden, but very happy with his strong support of Israel in the aftermath of Oct. 7. His approval of the way he’s handling this war transcends partisan divides,” Soifer said “Not only will Jewish voters, whether they be in Michigan, or frankly any other state, be strongly supportive of Joe Biden in their primary, but they will also support him in the general.”
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“We’ve seen it happen in 2016 in Michigan and we don’t want to see it happen again,” Soifer said, referencing Bernie Sanders who won the primary. Trump won Michigan in 2016 by just over 10,000 votes, Soifer said, which was due to turnout. Biden won Michigan in 2020 by over 150,000 votes.
Soifer described Trump as a threat to the shared values, security and freedoms of the Jewish and Arab communities in Michigan
While Soifer thinks the “Vote Uncommitted” movement isn’t going to gain much traction, she said the aftermath of the movement is dangerous for Democrats.
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“For those who have voted uncommitted as perhaps a protest vote, what will they do in the general? Are they going to do it again in the general?” Soifer said. “Because as I said, either a non-vote, or a vote for a third party candidate or position, in this case, is a vote for Donald Trump. And we’ve seen it happen before in Michigan.”
Soifer said Democrats can bring protest voters back to support Biden in November by talking about shared policy priorities and shared threats emanating from MAGA extremism.
A 58-year-old woman is accused of driving a vehicle at the bottom of a ski hill near skiers and snowboarders in White Lake Township, Michigan, the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office said Saturday.
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Prosecutors allege the Bingham Farms, Michigan, woman drove near guests of Alpine Valley Ski Area, including children, on Tuesday.
According to the prosecutor’s office, witnesses said they saw the woman smoking what appeared to be marijuana before the incident and wearing ski boots while driving. Officers attempting to perform sobriety tests reported that she “exhibited poor balance, slurred speech, and open hostility.”
Online court records show the woman is charged with operating while impaired for the third time. If convicted, she faces up to five years in prison, a maximum fine of $5,000 and “mandatory vehicle immobilization” for one to three years, the prosecutor’s office said.
“This defendant endangered children with her irresponsible actions,” Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said in a written statement. “There is no excuse to drive impaired, even once. If you’ve had too much to drink or are under the influence of marijuana or other drugs, call a friend, call an Uber, just don’t drive.”
The woman is scheduled to appear at a probable cause conference on March 12.
A long-lost silent film that’s believed to be the first depiction of a robot in motion pictures was rediscovered in Michigan. And it’s a great reminder for film history fans that you shouldn’t give up hope just because a film has been deemed lost.
The film, titled “Gugusse and the Automaton,” is just 45 seconds long and was created in 1897 by French film pioneer Georges Méliès. It shows a magician named Gugusse turning a large crank to control Pierrot Automate, a child-sized robot. The robot grows bigger and bigger until it’s an adult.
Once full size, the robot does a little dance before hitting Gugusse over the head with a stick. Gugusse brings the robot down from his pedestal and then shows him what’s what.
Gugusse hits the robot over the head with a gigantic mallet, each swing making the mechanical man a little smaller until he’s back to his child-like size. Another swing makes the robot a small doll and then it’s just one more mallet slap before the robot disappears completely.
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With that, the film is over.
It’s a short film with a goofy, slapstick premise. But it’s also an artifact that can be interpreted similarly to so much robot-focused media that would come later in the 20th century. The robot harms a human, the human needs to destroy the robot.
We see anti-robot stories pop up especially during difficult economic times, like the 1930s and 1970s, something I’ve written about before at length. And if you’re wondering whether there were hard economic times in France during the 1890s, there certainly were—in the form of a double dip recession, no less.
But putting aside the potential message of the film (and the risk of taking it too seriously as a sign of broader social frustrations), the story of how this film was rediscovered is fascinating.
Bill McFarland of Grand Rapids, Michigan, drove a box of films that belonged to his great-grandfather to the Library of Congress’s National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, Virginia so that experts could take a look at what he had.
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McFarland’s great-grandfather was a man named William Delisle Frisbee who had worked jobs as a school teacher and a potato farmer in Pennsylvania, according to a blog post from the Library of Congress. But he also worked nights as a “traveling showman,” according to the Library.
“He drove his horse and buggy from town to town to dazzle the locals with a projector and some of the world’s first moving pictures,” the Library explains. “He set up shop in a local schoolroom, church, lodge or civic auditorium and showed magic lantern slides and short films with music from a newfangled phonograph. It was shocking.”
Frisbee died in 1937 and two trunks of his possessions were passed on through generations until they made their way to McFarland, who was unable to screen the movies from himself because of their condition.
The Library posted a video to Instagram talking about their acquisition of the film and how remarkable it is that such an old film was found. It’s estimated that as much as 90% of films made before 1930 are lost to history.
Other films in the trunks included another Méliès film from 1900 titled “The Fat and Lean Wrestling Match,” fragments of a Thomas Edison movie called “The Burning Stable.” Library technicians scanned the films in 4K to preserve them for future generations.
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The word “robot” wasn’t coined until 1920 for the Czech play R.U.R. by Karel Capek. But visions of artificial men date back centuries. And it’s incredible to see a robot from the 1890s depicted on film for the first time. Even if it’s just 45 seconds long.
Don’t give up hope if you’re longing to watch some movie that’s believed to be completely lost. You never know what someone may have in a dusty old trunk in Michigan.
Kylan Boswell (4) scored 15 points for the Illini but Yaxel Lendeborg (23) scored 16 in Michigan’s win. Geoff Stellfox / Getty Images
Michigan has left no doubt about Big Ten superiority — the No. 3 Wolverines’ 84-70 romp Friday at No. 10 Illinois gives them an outright conference championship with two regular-season games remaining.
The win gives Michigan its first outright title since 2021, and it’s another top-shelf win that gives Michigan (27-2, 17-1 Big Ten) a boost in its pursuit of the NCAA Tournament’s No. 1 seed. This matters for the Wolverines because they would be lined up for a potential Final Four matchup with the No. 4 seed rather than either of the two teams that are also in contention for No. 1 — Duke, which beat Michigan last week to gain the inside track, and Arizona.
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Friday’s lone meeting of the regular season between two purported national contenders left Michigan looking much the part, and Illinois looking a tier lower. This was domination, a comfortable second half for a Michigan team that led by as many as 21.
Michigan sophomore big man Morez Johnson Jr., who transferred from Illinois in the offseason, heard a lot of jeers from fans at State Farm Center and responded with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Big man Aday Mara also scored 19. Yaxel Lendeborg, the star of Michigan’s jumbo frontcourt, had 16 points and seven rebounds.
That interior helped the Wolverines to a 42-32 edge in points in the paint and 22 second-chance points. Keaton Wagler had 23 points to lead Illinois (22-7, 13-5), which projected as a No. 2 seed in Tuesday’s Bracket Watch but has lost two straight games and four of six. The Illini are trending in the wrong direction and potentially heading to the three-line.
The No. 1 seed also gets to choose its tournament path, and Michigan has requested Philadelphia as its first-weekend site. Otherwise, the Wolverines will likely be placed in Buffalo, which is closer to Ann Arbor.
