Walbridge, John Rakolta, Detroit Land Bank Authority & Life Remodeled - How To Get An UAE Ambassadorship By Stealin' The Child, Land & Votes Of Detroit

UPDATE: http://www.walbridge.com is in error status.

John Rakolta, Jr. is going to be UAE ambassador.

John has Walbridge.

Walbridge partners with Life Remodeled rehabbing blighted buildings.

Life Remodeled got properties from the Detroit Bankruptcy.

During the SIGTARP investigation, the questions of Walbridge contracts with the Detroit Land Bank Authority have been called into question because the Detroit Land Bank Authority never incorporated, which makes it difficult to enter into a contractual relationship.

This is called gerrymandering.

CPS snatched the kids, closed the schools stole the school buildings and kept all the money. 

Project Name: Skillman Good Neighborhoods Description: The Skillman Foundation began a neighborhood-based children’s change effort in 2006 called Good Neighborhoods. The neighborhoods – Brightmoor (NRSA 5), Chadsey Condon(NRSA 3), Cody Rouge, Northend Central Woodward (NRSA 4), Osborn (NRSA2) and Southwest Detroit (NRSA 3) -- were selected because of the large numbers of children living there. The purpose is to ensure that children have clear pathways to graduating from high school and leading successful lives as adults. The imitative focuses on four areas: high-quality education, youth development, safety, and community leadership. Focus areas are identified on the Philanthropic Boundaries Map in Attachment D. Resources Involved $100 million from Skillman Foundation Timeline 2006-2016 

Source: http://www.skillman.org/.../Investment-Areas/Neighborhoods

Yes, it is correct the link takes you to a 404.

This is their Public Private Partnership redistricting map creating conditions like fake property tax foreclosures, fake water shutoffs, to steal the homes.

Then, people like Walbridge make fake ass contracts through Mayor Mike Duggan with the fake ass Detroit Land Bank Authority that SIGTARP ran up in the Building and Planning Department with a team of 8 auditors to look at the contracts, like Walbridge, got based on this fake ass report because they stole all the money.

https://detroitmi.gov/sites/detroitmi.localhost/files/2018-06/City%20of%20Detroit%20NRSA%20Application%202015%2001%2005_1_0.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2dVnnGKhvMMPBriIbbn5-SON1g5HvFBwuDlz8ciTQHxXG61TLIWjjrqnE

Effects of jail project dog Walbridge; civil lawsuit filed against joint venture

Study finds half-built Wayne County jail structurally sound

So, how do you get out of a SIGTARP investigation?

Donate to a political campaign and get an ambassadorship.

Senate approves Rakolta to become UAE ambassador

John Rakolta Jr

Washington — The U.S. Senate on Tuesday approved the nomination of Michigan businessman John Rakolta Jr. to be U.S. ambassador to the United Arab Emirates.

With the 63-30 vote, Rakolta is set to become the first political appointee to serve in the post, which has traditionally been filled by career foreign-service officers.

Michigan U.S. Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters voted in favor of Rakolta's selection, along with nine other Democratic senators plus Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine.

Rakolta is CEO and chairman of the Detroit-based Walbridge, an international construction and engineering company that has done major projects in the UAE.

At his confirmation hearing this summer, he pledged not to do any more business in the Middle East going forward. "We will not be going back to doing business there," he said.

Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, a Michigan native, on Tuesday praised Rakolta's business success but also his service to the Detroit community, which includes co-chairing a coalition of business, civic, education and faith leaders addressed the city's public school system ills.

Rakolta served as finance chairman of Romney’s two presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012.

"Of course, my friends on the other side of the aisle are dutiful in their examination of any possible flaw," said Romney, who has known Rakolta personally for 30 years.

"I'm convinced that the concerns they may have raised are not well-founded, and he is in fact entirely qualified and appropriately nominated to this important position."

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President Donald Trump nominated Rakolta in March 2018 for the position, which has been vacant for 18 months.

Rakolta was a top donor to Trump's 2017 inauguration, giving $250,000. His family members contributed over $275,000‬ to Trump's 2016 campaign funds.

Rakolta is also related by marriage to Ronna Romney McDaniel, who chairs the Republican National Committee and who chaired the Michigan GOP when Trump was elected. Rakolta’s wife and McDaniel's mother are sisters.

The UAE is a major trading partner with the United States and hosts three American military bases including Al Dhafra Air Base from which the American military conducts surveillance flights.

The Senate has not taken up two other Michigan nominees to serve as ambassadors, including the pick of Suburban Collection Chairman and CEO David T. Fischer for Morocco — whose selection has been pending since December 2017.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee in April approved the nomination of Joe Cella to serve as ambassador to Fiji and four other Pacific island nations, but Cella's nomination has not been taken up by the full Senate.

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Happy Foster Care Propaganda Month - Transporting Humans Across State Lines For Money Is Called Human Trafficking - Michigan Privatization Solution To Separating Families At The Border - Human Plantations

Stephanie Jezowski Hmm, transporting people across state lines for the purpose of making money is human trafficking.....

What better way to solve the border crisis of separating children from parents at the border than to build a brand new, human asset management system, or what I prefer to call human plantations.

I told you they were coming.

I told you they started in Detroit.

I told you they were Israeli think tank models.

This is going to be a DeVos operation, because they were the pioneers in acquiring land for the purposes of trafficking tiny humans, it is just this time, they found a profitable way of maximizing revenue from the parents, too.

How compassionate!  Corporate parental rights are opening their arms to non-U.S. citizens.

Private firm set to open immigrant prison in Michigan

North Lake Correctional Facility in
 Baldwin, Michigan

Lansing — A private prison company that owns a vacant facility in Baldwin announced Thursday it has won a 10-year federal contract to house non-citizens sentenced for immigration offenses or other federal crimes.

The Geo Group Inc. said it plans to “reactivate” its 1,800-bed North Lake Correctional Facility under a contract with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The Florida-based firm said it expects to generate roughly $37 million a year in incremental annualized revenues from the deal.

The contract and two others it manages in Texas were awarded “under a long-standing procurement, for the housing of non-U.S. citizen criminal aliens, commonly referred to as Criminal Alien Requirement,” the company said in a press release.

Most non-citizens held in similar federal facilities are serving sentences for non-violent drug offenses or for re-entering the country after deportation, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which has raised concerns about the safety of private prisons in other states.

Geo Group's announcement comes less than three months after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer blocked the sale for another former state prison to a different company that wanted to open an immigration detention center in Ionia.

Whitmer rejected the planned sale because the company — Immigration Centers of America — could not meet her demands that the facility only be used to house single adults, and none separated from other family members after they arrived in the United States.

A Whitmer spokeswoman declined comment on announced plans for the private prison, which the state does not control.

The Michigan Department of Corrections “has no jurisdiction or supervision over such an arrangement between” between the federal bureau and Geo Group, said spokesman Chris Gautz.

Corrections Director Heidi Washington “opposes the idea of privatizing state prisons as she believes incarceration is a core function of government,” Gautz added.

Howard Lodholtz, chairman of the Lake County Board of Commissioners, said he was just learning about the project Thursday afternoon but thinks it is a “super” turn of events that could create hundreds of jobs in the region.

“We’re in bad shape,” Lodholtz said about the local economy, noting recent flooding that destroyed roads and two tornadoes that ripped through the county in August. “We’re not the richest county in the state, so anything will help us.”

An October 2018 environmental site assessment prepared for the Bureau of Prisons indicated the federal government was seeking new facilities to house up to 9,540 “low-security, adult male, non-US citizen, federal inmates.”

Consultants said the North Lake Correctional Facility would not require additional construction or repurposing of interior space to house a portion of those inmates. It is located between Big Rapids and Ludington in northwest Michigan.

The federal contract could create 320 permanent jobs in the village of Baldwin, population 1,497, and Lake County, population 11,426, according to the assessment.

The Michigan and Texas facilities “will play an important role in helping the agency meet its long-term need for high quality, cost-effective services that comply” with federal standards," GEO Chairman and CEO George Zoley said in a statement.

The ACLU has criticized conditions for non-citizen inmates inside “Criminal Alien Requirement” prisons in Texas, saying private facilities tend to have higher levels of violence than public prisons.

“Private prisons are in the business of making money, not ensuring the safety of those who are locked up,” said ACLU of Michigan policy counsel Kim Buddin, who voiced “serious concerns about the safety and wellbeing of the people who would be detained in this facility.”

Immigrants are also entitled to due process, Buddin said.“Opening this facility fuels mass incarceration, and the continual drumbeat to target and scapegoat immigrants nationwide."

In its release, Geo Group said its facilities are "highly rated by independent accreditation entities, including the American Correctional Association, and provide high-quality services in safe, secure, and humane residential environments."

The Baldwin prison "will have the same visitation policies as all similar Federal Bureau of Prisons facilities," said Pablo Paez, executive vice president of corporate relations for The Geo Group.

The federal prison bureau began contracting with private companies in 1997 to help alleviate overcrowding and respond to congressional mandates, according to the U.S. Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Justice.

“Many of the inmates incarcerated in these contract prisons are Mexican nationals with convictions for immigration offenses who have 90 months or less remaining to serve on their sentences,” the inspector general said in a 2016 report.

Operating by a different name at the time, Geo Group built the Baldwin prison in 1999. It initially operated as the Michigan Youth Correctional Facility and housed inmates for the state under a contract that ended in 2005.

Former Gov. Rick Snyder signed a 2015 law allowing Geo Group to operate the facility as a maximum security prison, paving the way for the company to contract with Vermont to house prisoners from that state. That contract reportedly expired in 2017 and the facility has sat empty.

Some Republican state lawmakers pushed the Michigan Department of Corrections to purchase the Baldwin prison “a few years ago,” but the state did not need the facility at the time, Gautz said.

“GEO’s ‘last and best offer’ for it was for $100M and we kindly said ‘no thank you’ on behalf of the taxpayers.”

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Cocktails & Popcorn: What Do Donuts, Weed, Land & Public Corruption Have In Common?

Q: What do donuts, weed, land & public corruption have in common?

"Greed let a good thing go to waste."

A: Detroit.
Now, you know darn well they were smoked the hell out when they came up with this one.

The sad part about this story is that they actually had a really good, legal, business model, but just had to show off the fact that they are a front.

When I saw an ATM business and real estate in the same sentence, I automatically knew there is probably some form of mortgage fraud going on, and dare I say through the Detroit Land Bank Authority grow houses.

I do not believe I would be very far off if I were to allege there was a bit of political, foreign financial shenanigans when it came to being able to operate, so boldly, in the City of Detroit.

All I can say is that the Michigan Eastern District Attorneys Office is going to be busy, busy, busy because I see Corporate Shape Shifters!

"The men used other people to conceal the true identities of certain real estate and bank accounts, prosecutors said."

Holy Moly Donut Shop laundered drug cash, feds say

Detroit — The Holy Moly Donut Shop lured cops, but for all the wrong reasons.

The popular shop, where people can customize doughnuts with candy toppings, was a front for a multi-state marijuana ring, which laundered drug money through the doughnut shop, a sham marijuana dispensary next door and a business that fills ATM machines with cash, according to federal prosecutors.

The unusual drug investigation emerged Friday when Holy Moly owner Victor Attisha and two others were indicted in federal court on drug conspiracy, money laundering and other charges.

Court records and interviews chronicle more than $700,000 seized by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and reveal a colorful criminal investigation that illustrates the potential for criminality as Detroit's nascent medical marijuana ordinance takes effect with 75 licensed pot shops across the city.

The indictment was filed one month before Michigan voters will decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana.

Attisha, 40, of Sterling Heights was charged alongside business partners Junior Asmar, 45, of Sterling Heights, and James Shammas, 38, of Shelby Township.

The drug conspiracy started in 2016 when the three men devised a scheme to make and distribute hundreds of pounds of marijuana under the guise of operating a sham marijuana dispensary that purportedly would comply with state drug laws, prosecutors said.

That sham dispensary was Unified Collective, next door to Holy Moly Donut Shop on Eight Mile, prosecutors said.

The trio had various roles manufacturing, possessing and distributing the marijuana and laundering the drug money, according to the indictment.

The marijuana was grown and cultivated in commercial and residential locations across Metro Detroit and sold throughout the region.

The men also bought hundreds of pounds of marijuana worth more than $1 million from suppliers in California and other locations to sell in Metro Detroit, according to the government.

The drug ring's operations included operations in Farmington Hills, Roseville, Shelby Township and Asmar's bedroom in Sterling Heights, the doughnut shop and Unified Collective, prosecutors said.

The 24-hour doughnut chain has four locations in Detroit: on Eight Mile east of Woodward and on Seven Mile, Telegraph Road and Grand Boulevard, according to the Holy Moly website.

Government documents obtained by The News indicate investigators seized more than $39,000 from Holy Moly and Unified Collective on Feb. 14.

The doughnut shop and dispensary were used to conceal drug proceeds and hide the source of the income, prosecutors said.

So were ATM businesses, according to the indictment.

Asmar, an employee of A&S ATM on the 24000 block of John R. Road in Hazel Park, periodically filled the machines with cash, including illegal marijuana proceeds, prosecutors said. Attisha is the company's resident agent.

From April 2016 to September 2017, more than $2.3 million was deposited into the ATM company's bank account. A nearly equal amount was withdrawn, prosecutors said.

The bank account was controlled by Asmar and Attisha, according to the government. Shammas, meanwhile, listed his profession as "ATM Consulting."

The men used other people to conceal the true identities of certain real estate and bank accounts, prosecutors said.

The real estate included commercial marijuana operations on Research Drive in Farmington Hills and in Oak Park. And a safety deposit box that held $197,140 was registered under the name of a Shammas relative.

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Cocktails & Popcorn: Is Ben Carson Getting In On The Detroit Land Bank Authority School Play?

This almost slipped past me.

Ben Carson makes his HUD announcement at Life Remodeled, the same Life Remodeled that has some Detroit Bankruptcy - Detroit Land Bank Authority issues on property ownership.

Here is the backgrounder, and for those who do not click the link, I have provided the documents of the property acquisition, below.

Time To Audit God: Detroit World Outreach, Child Welfare Fraud & Detroit Land Bank Authority

Learn more: BEVERLY TRAN: Time To Audit God: Detroit World Outreach, Child Welfare Fraud & Detroit Land Bank Authority http://beverlytran.blogspot.com/2017/06/time-to-audit-god-detroit-world.html#ixzz5ItwiHJmc
Stop Medicaid Fraud in Child Welfare 

I just find Ben's choice of venue to make such an announcement to be extremely interesting, even more interesting than the face of Mike Duggan.

Ben Carson backs off HUD plan that would raise rents

Detroit — U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson on Thursday backed off aspects of a controversial proposal this spring that would have led to higher rents for low-income households in the United States.

Carson, during a news conference in Detroit, said the plan was considered in April as officials were faced with budget restrictions. Since then, he said, more funding has come through, eliminating the need to impose the rent increases, as proposed, in favor of other options.

"The original rent increases were to make sure we didn't have to raise rents on elderly and disabled people and now we have some increased funding and we're not going to have to do that," Carson told reporters in Detroit after a news conference unveiling plans for the first of what will be more than a dozen hubs across the country to aid low-income households in the path to "self-sufficiency."

"The key thing to remember is that everything we're doing is aimed at elevating people and giving people an opportunity of removing some of the perverse incentives that have kept people in dependent positions," he said.

Carson on Thursday referenced a Detroit News/Associated Press article, "saying how horrible we were for raising all these rents on people." Carson said he's told the media that the consideration to raise rents was tied to HUD's budget restrictions. At that time, he said, it had been "the only option."

The “Make Affordable Housing Work Act,” announced on April 25, would allow housing authorities to impose work requirements, would increase the percentage of income poor tenants are required to pay from 30 percent to 35 percent, and would raise the minimum rent from $50 to $150 per month. For Metro Detroit, the move would boost housing costs by 21 percent on average, according to the new analysis.

"As far as the rents are concerned, they’re going to be simplified," Carson said Thursday, adding the numbers used for gross, rather than adjusted income, will depend on negotiations with Congress. 

"But again bear in mind: We would only raise rents if we have to raise rents. If we don’t have to raise them, that’s not part of the proposal. That has nothing to do with self-sufficiency, raising the rents. That has to do with practicality and making sure that we didn’t have to raise rents on the elderly, disabled or displaced people who are already in the program.”

Carson said rents will only need to be raised if they have to be, and he's confident he'll be able to work with Congress.

“Congress will work with us," he said. "We’re already in negotiations with them.”

Carson made the remarks as he stood alongside Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan to announce a Detroit-based "Envision Center," one of what will be 17 around the nation.

Carson touted the plan as one of his signature initiatives to offer HUD-assisted families access to support services and expand use of the limited federal dollars for assistance to more people who need them.

The federal government is not putting money, only support, into the program that is leveraged by dollars from local public-private partnerships, Carson said.

"We're talking about our people, not Democrats or Republicans," Carson said. "The road to self-sufficiency is not an easy one. We must all come together and try."

Carson said the EnVision Centers will provide more solutions to help move families out of poverty and federal assistance to a "much more rewarding lifestyle."

In response to Carson's proposal for higher rents for those receiving HUD assistance, Duggan said he was "concerned for one hour" until Carson informed him Thursday that the proposal was first made when Carson thought the federal budget was being cut.

"Now the money has been reinstated, and there won't be any rent increase," Duggan told reporters. 

Earlier, the mayor told a crowd gathered at the Life Remodeled EnVision Center on Collingwood Street that the facility will bring services to people in the neighborhoods.

"This is about creating opportunity," Duggan said, adding that Carson is starting in Detroit with a place that can help individuals who need it most. "I think this is going to be great progress."

The center, officials said Thursday, will be a tenant in the Durfee Innovation Society. The facility features a gymnasium and will offer a makers space, educational and literacy programs for young children as well as neighborhood job training services. Life Remodeled is a city-based nonprofit that invests in Detroit neighborhoods and has been working for more than a year on renovations inside the former Detroit Public Schools building it's leasing from the district.

The EnVision Centers, to be located near public housing developments, will serve as incubators to support what Carson says are "four key pillars of self-sufficiency," including economic empowerment, educational advancement, health and wellness, and character and leadership.

The effort is driven by federal agencies, state and local governments, nonprofits, faith-based leaders, public housing authorities and others. The centers, officials said, will leverage public-private partnerships to connect HUD-assisted households with services that offer pathways to self-sufficiency.

"All of us together, we are the answer," said Chris Lambert, Life Remodeled founder.

In Michigan, there will be two centers in Detroit and a third in Inkster, according to a HUD news release.

Other centers will be located in states from California to Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington.

Detroit City Councilman Gabe Leland said after the event that he's excited about the center and that Carson was in Detroit to announce it. But Carson's focus forward has to be on negotiations in Washington, D.C., he said.

"Mr. Carson needs to be in Washington, negotiating the principles that he talked about today and spending more time with Congress," Leland said. "I'm not sure he accurately explained the rough and tumble relationship that Congress has with this president. Carson should be in Washington to boost up those relationships and get to work."

Detroit Public Schools and Life Remodeled Lease of 12-30-2016 for Property of 1945 Webb, Detroit, Michigan by Beverly Tran on Scribd

1945 Webb - Detroit, Michigan Deed and Taxes by Beverly Tran on Scribd

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Time To Audit God: Detroit World Outreach, Child Welfare Fraud & Detroit Land Bank Authority

To begin, I would like to honor the Redford Police Department for executing an extremely delicate, social arrest, with a professional grace.

Now, on to why this is an issue of child welfare fraud.

This is the quote from the article that made me take pause:

"The church has more than $15 million worth of assets, including its main campus in Redford Township, the parsonage, additional real estate and a “sizable discretionary fund” for the senior pastor, according to Harmon."

Additional real estate?

Why and how does a church, a non-profit, tax exempt organization hold more that $15 million worth of assets?

1945 Webb, Detroit, Michigan

So, what I did was a take a simple visit to its website and, voila, I found a questionable relationship of a real estate transaction in conjunction with the glorious Detroit Land Bank Authority.

Detroit World Outreach is in partnership with Life Remodeled, another non-profit with a plan to take over Detroit Public Schools.

Through the Detroit Bankruptcy case, overseen by presiding Judge Steven Rhodes, who was subsequently appointed by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder as the Emergency Manager for Detroit Public Schools, "blighted' properties were "transferred" via the Hardest Hit Funds, devoid of any due process or any opportunity for legal remedial challenge, to the private, non-profit Life Remodeled.

In the particular case of 1945 Webb, below, Wayne County had previously transferred the property to
Andre McCoullough of Quality Solutions, with payment arrangements and payments of past due taxes, where the legitimacy of these so-called past due taxes may be even called into question.

1945 Webb - Detroit, Michigan Deed and Taxes by Beverly Tran on Scribd

Without any notification, the property of 1945 Webb, I guess the best superlative would be, was "miraculously" transferred with lease to Life Remodeled, a tax exempt, non-profit, without any notification to the...current owner (?), signed between Steven Rhodes and Chris Lambert.

Detroit Public Schools and Life Remodeled Lease of 12-30-2016 for Property of 1945 Webb, Detroit, Michigan by Beverly Tran on Scribd

In allegation only, at this particular point in time, this is the agenda of Betsy DeVos, U.S. Department of Education Secretary of Privatization (my lil mismomer), in charter schools to religious, tax exempt, corporations for purposes of private investments through questionable billing to child welfare programs, like, um.....Medicaid.

Of course, I provide my disclaimer that I have not fully vetted this transaction, but the purpose of this publication is for my #Superfans.

To my precious, most delicious ones in the Michigan Eastern District U.S. Attorney's Office, go forth, and make Mommy proud...

#Time2AuditGod

Widow, megachurch battle for control of mansion, millions

Redford Township — Local religious leaders are warring with a bishop’s widow over a $3 million mansion and control of the soul and mega bank accounts of one of Metro Detroit’s megachurches.

The war is 4 months old, triggered by the death of Bishop Benjamin Gibert, the charismatic, leather-clad leader of Detroit World Outreach in Redford Township, a megachurch whose leaders believe wealth is God’s reward.

Within days of the bishop’s death, church leaders fired his widow, Charisse Gibert, from her church post and announced plans to sell her home, an 11,000-square-foot parsonage in Northville Township that was controversially removed from the tax rolls 10 years ago.

 Church leaders also are trying to block Charisse Gibert from collecting on her late husband’s $2 million life-insurance policy.

 State and federal court records and interviews chronicle a power struggle over who should succeed Benjamin Gibert, a legal battle filled with palace intrigue, police and claims that the church has financial problems, an ironic twist that could end up benefiting Wayne County taxpayers.

 “The dispute is about control and the future of the church, though money and power is always in the background,” church vice president and treasurer Marvin Wilder said. The power struggle is not unusual.

 “Megachurches that are built around the personalities of their leaders most of the time do suffer when there is an unexpected death or loss of that pastor, as do smaller churches,” said Scott Thumma of the Connecticut-based Hartford Seminary, who studies megachurches.

 It is somewhat rare for a clergy’s spouse to become the new leader of a church, but that typically happens when the spouse is viewed as an equal, Thumma said.

 “This does not sound like it was the case at (Detroit World Outreach),” Thumma said. Charisse Gibert’s lawyer did not respond to a message seeking comment.

 After Benjamin Gibert, 54, died of a heart attack Feb. 28, his widow tried to take control of the church from Detroit World Outreach’s board of elders, leaders allege.

 Charisse Gibert tried firing church elders and stocking the board with family and friends, church lawyer Henri Harmon wrote in a Wayne County Circuit Court filing. Gibert’s handpicked board includes her 23-year-old daughter and a brother-in-law. Gibert claimed her late husband, before he died, named her first vice president.

The move was an attempt to leapfrog her past Wilder and put her first in line to become the church’s new senior pastor, the lawyer alleges.

 “The ‘first vice president’ position does not exist, and never existed,” Harmon wrote in the court filing.

 The move was designed to grab control of church finances and assets, including the $3 million mansion in Northville Township, the lawyer alleges.

The church has more than $15 million worth of assets, including its main campus in Redford Township, the parsonage, additional real estate and a “sizable discretionary fund” for the senior pastor, according to Harmon.

The dispute turned ugly at the church’s main campus March 19, according to court records.

 Charisse Gibert and others arrived at the facility and seized control of the church’s live web feed, according to Harmon.

 A week later, during Sunday services, Gibert returned and insisted she be allowed to speak to parishioners. Someone called law enforcement and Gibert agreed not to take the pulpit, according to Harmon.

 “Gibert did not keep her word,” the lawyer alleged.

 The church says Gibert twice interrupted Sunday services before law enforcement intervened, handcuffed her and led her off the stage.

 Video of the incident was posted on YouTube. On March 21, Charisse Gibert unsuccessfully tried to have the church bank accounts put in her name, according to a court filing.

 The next day, the church sued her in Wayne County Circuit Court.

 The church wanted an order declaring Charisse Gibert is not senior pastor and has no right to control the church’s assets. The church also wanted an order preventing her from entering the church and kicking her out of the mansion.

 Charisse Gibert countersued, arguing she and her late husband were both senior pastors.

 Gibert asked the Wayne County judge to declare her senior pastor, temporarily block Wilder and others from interrupting church finances and remove him from bank and credit card accounts.

 Wayne County Circuit Judge Annette Berry refused to decide who is the church’s rightful leader.

 “The question of who should perform as a pastor is an ecclesiastical question, which the court is not authorized to decide,” Berry ruled.

 Berry also refused Charisse Gibert’s request to have a representative attend church services to collect and count money given to the church.

 The case is pending and the judge has ordered both sides to participate in mediation June 29.

 Apostle Ellis Smith is handling senior pastor duties while a church search committee hunts for a new leader. Charisse Gibert, meanwhile, is holding her own church services at Metro Detroit hotels.

 While the court case lingers, the church is struggling financially.

 The church had 4,000 members a decade ago.

In January, there were half as many members, which Wilder attributes to changing church demographics and a natural decline as members move from church to church.

 The Sunday after Gibert died, the church lost 900 members, Wilder said.

 “When a pastor dies, some people in a congregation don’t know how a church is going to go on, so they find a new spiritual home or go looking at other churches,” Wilder said.

 The drop in membership has turned the mansion from a symbol of prosperity into a millstone.

 The church spends $380,000 a year on mortgage and maintenance costs.

Detroit World Outreach can no longer afford the expense because church revenue has fallen by approximately $2 million since 2010 “and our weekly attendance has dropped significantly,” Wilder wrote in a court filing.

 “Selling the property would cut the debt of the church by close to 50 percent,” Wilder wrote.

 Selling the property could benefit Wayne County and Northville Township by putting the home back on the tax rolls.

 The county, township, schools and others would split more than $54,000 a year, township assessor Holly Cozza said. For now, Charisse Gibert continues to live in the mansion, Wilder said.

 “I suspect she will leave and we’ll be able to sell the property,” he said.

 The fight between Gibert and the church intensified June 6.

 That’s when American General Life Insurance Co. sued Charisse Gibert and the church in federal court in Detroit.

 American General insured Benjamin Gibert’s life and wants a judge to decide who collects on the insurance policy.

 Benjamin Gibert set up the policy so that the church and his wife would split the money. On March 28, a month after her husband died, Charisse Gibert tried to collect her $950,000 share.

 She also demanded that the insurance company pay no benefits to the church, citing the ongoing lawsuit.

 “I am quite concerned about possible fraud and mismanagement of church properties and funds,” Charisse Gibert wrote in a letter to American General.

 On May 25, the church told American General not to pay any benefits to Charisse Gibert, according to the federal court lawsuit.

 American General wants to deposit the $1.9 million in an interest-bearing account until a federal judge can determine the proper beneficiary.

 Wilder, the church vice president and treasurer, laments the ongoing disputes and effects on the congregation of a church that is 82 years old.

 “It’s unfortunate that this has happened and that the congregation did not get to properly mourn Bishop Gibert,” he said.

“It’s a shame that this has marred his legacy.

 “He made significant contributions — I don’t want to belittle them — but they pale in comparison to 82 years,” Wilder said.

“The church doesn’t belong to you.”

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On Detroit Public Schools Closures: "Every Corporation Should Hire A Child"

If anyone would like to hold my 2 cents on why Michigan is on the fast track to shutter its Detroit schools, wait no longer!

The answer is quite simple, well, it will be if I am able to bite my microecnomic tongue for the duration of this post.

It is called privatization, or, in this instance, Life Remodeled and it even has a spokesperson, Chris Lambert, who is politically campaigning with these public dollars and public lands.

\

"It takes a village, then pillages the resources."

Yes, this seems like a great idea, until you look into the complex financial schemes of NGOs capitalizing on tax exempt, public dollars and public land, to maximize revenues for their social impact investors.

In return, the community supports the business center, which trains students through federal cost reimbursements for free, lifetime supply of child labor, who will stay loyal to the product and community model for generations.

There is no transparency as we all know, you cannot audit God, or, in this instance, a 501c3, which will own the land, the businesses, the homes, the food supplies, the workers and all other local opportunities.

This is nothing new, because I have documented the exploits of privatization with such fervor, for many, many years, that I guess I will continue to call it out until someone listens.

Every corporation should hire a child, and that is exactly what the future of public education is.

“The law is clear: Michigan parents and their children do not have to be stuck indefinitely in a failing school,” Schuette said in a news release. “Detroit students and parents deserve accountability and high-performing schools. If a child can’t spell opportunity, they won’t have opportunity.”

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette

Please, keep in mind, that I am only calling out the issues of privatization and how individuals are profiting from the ills of the sardonic policies to generate poverty for the purposes of prosperity for profitable returns on corporate social investments with tax dollars to fund political campaigns.

Oh, and I am calling out "The Elected Ones" for doing absolutely nothing in presenting alternative plans to improve the educational and life opportunities for the children in their respective districts, because, audible hallucinations of religous locutions on the floor of the Michigan Legislature or in other political campaign venues do not qualify as a substitution for a policy initiative.

#Time2AuditGod

Detroit schools file suit against Michigan to stop potential closures

The Detroit Public Schools Community District formally filed a lawsuit aimed at preventing the state from forcing the closure of failing schools in the district.

The lawsuit was filed in the Michigan Court of Claims against the state School Reform Office, the State of Michigan and Natasha Baker, the state school reform officer.

"Papers will be served today," Alycia Meriweather, the interim superintendent for the district, said during a meeting Monday morning with parents and community members at Central Collegiate Academy.

"Just know, we're standing with you against closure by the" School Reform Office, Meriweather said. "If any school closures are to happen, it should be at the behest of the elected school board. That's our position."

The state school reform office in January identified 38 schools for potential closure because the schools have ranked in the bottom 5% academically for the three straight years. The list included 16 schools in the Detroit district.

The Detroit board of education voted last week to take legal action, more than a month after giving the district administration the authority to pursue a possible suit. The 147-page lawsuit was formally filed Friday.

The lawsuit comes despite a deal made two weeks ago by the Michigan Department of Education, which operates independently of the reform office. The MDE told districts with schools on the list that they could avoid closure if they enter into a partnership agreement with the state to turn around the schools.

The lawsuit makes a number of arguments against closing schools. One is familiar: That the legislation approved in June that created  the district, and left the Detroit Public Schools district intact solely to pay off debt and collect taxes, gave the district a fresh start.

"Not only do defendants lack authority to do so, their actions are based on flawed data, violations and misinterpretations," of the state school code, the lawsuit argues.

"Because the DPSCD — a brand new school district  — did not operate any of the schools on any bottom 5% list for the three immediately preceding school years, the SRO cannot close them ... before July 1, 2019."

That date would be three years after the Detroit district was created.

If Baker is allowed to close schools in the district during or immediately after the current school year, "the DPSCD will never be given a proper opportunity to fulfill its intended purpose, which is to turn around its lowest achieving schools."

The argument was first made in a memo last summer by the Miller Canfield law firm, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the district. Gov. Rick Snyder supported the argument.

But in September, Attorney General Bill Schuette issued an opinion that contradicted the idea that lawmakers intended to give the district a fresh start as it relates to school closures.

“The law is clear: Michigan parents and their children do not have to be stuck indefinitely in a failing school,” Schuette said in a news release. “Detroit students and parents deserve accountability and high-performing schools. If a child can’t spell opportunity, they won’t have opportunity.”

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©