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DEMOCRATS, SWAMP-DWELLERS, INDIGNANT AND ANGRY AT THE THOUGHT OF ACCOUNTABILITY
By Eric Utter, February 15, 2025

According to commentators who say they are bureaucrats in Reddit's increasingly popular r/fednews, an online gathering place for America’s public servants (aka federal workers), the Trump administration’s efforts to greatly curtail graft, fraud, and wasteful spending in the national government is a bad thing.

Not just a bad thing, mind you, but on par with the Holocaust.

Yes, some of the r/fednews community’s 375,000+ members seem to think DOGE’s efforts to bring transparency, accountability, and restraint to the federal government is a more dastardly and damaging attack on the United States than Pearl Harbor, 9/11, and Gettysburg combined.

The sick fact is that, to these self-centered ‘public servants,’ it is.

Because auditing taxpayers’ largesse threatens their ill-gotten, bloated, incomes as well as their agenda-driven pet projects around the world.

They think, “Can Musk be right? Who are these uppity citizens upset that I have two vacation homes -- and that I spend their money on promoting abortion and transgenderism in Botswana and Zimbabwe? Who the hell do they think they are? The nerve!”

One Reddit r/fednews commenter stated that DOGE’s actions were akin to a “coup.” Another remarked, "We're at war."

These Democrats can’t stand the thought of scrutiny. They will not tolerate any attempt to rein in their abuse of power and position. They will do anything to keep their gravy trains running -- and themselves from being held accountable for their actions, despite the wishes of American citizens.

They are scared. Maxine Waters spoke for many when she said, “We don’t know what they have on us.”

Which is why they have increasingly used profanity, spouted violent rhetoric and espoused violent actions when referring to those who would simply audit them. It is also why they wish to abolish the very First Amendment, and take away Americans’ God-given right to free speech.

So, I ask you: Is there anyone more entitled than a Democrat in ‘public service?’ Is there a less accurate term?

Thomas Jefferson said, “To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical.”

Just so. And he was — supposedly — a Democrat!

Reprinted with permission from the American Thinker: https://www.americanthinker.com

MICHIGAN ELECTRIC VEHICLE MAKER TO CLOSE TWO LOCATIONS AFTER POCKETING $900,000 SUBSIDY
Company returning production to South Carolina
By Scott McClallen, February 24, 2025

Receiving $900,000 of taxpayer money won’t stop a Michigan electric vehicle maker from shuttering two locations and taking 188 jobs out of state.

Auburn Hills-based automotive supplier BorgWarner will close two plants of its subsidiary Akasol Inc., in Hazel Park and Warren. Layoffs will run from April 14 through July, according to a notice issued to the state under the federal WARN Act.

The factories test products for electric vehicles, including battery modules and packs, direct current fast charging equipment, and microgrid control and operations, according to a 2023 news release.

In 2019, the Michigan Strategic Fund awarded the company $2.24 million in taxpayer money for its Hazel Park plant, with the expectation it would create 224 jobs. The money would be paid out over five years as the company met milestones for creating jobs.

But the state and the company amended the deal in 2022. Instead of being promised $2.4 million over five years, the company received $900,000, according to a Michigan Strategic Fund annual report. The company created 66 jobs, according to the MSF report.

BorgWarner will close the plants as it pursues growth, the company told Michigan Capitol Confidential.

“Consistent with those efforts, we have decided to shift all battery production from our Hazel Park and Warren, Michigan, locations to our existing plant in Seneca, South Carolina,” the company said in an email. “We believe in our battery product portfolio and the opportunity for continued growth as customers increasingly require innovative eMobility solutions."

Michigan officials have given various companies billions in taxpayer money in return for jobs, but over a two-decade period, only one of every 11 jobs promised actually got created, according to a new study by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. The study reviewed front-page news stories about government grants to private businesses from 2000 to 2020, revealing that these deals rarely meet job-creation goals.

When job deals made by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation fail, the agency redefines success and declares victory, John Mozena, president of the Center for Economic Accountability, told CapCon in an email.

“The MEDC is supposed to be guarding the interests of Michigan’s taxpayers and holding companies accountable, but they act like their real allegiance is to the companies that are getting the free money,” Mozena wrote. “That’s not surprising, given that the MEDC’s board is made up of people who benefit from these deals rather than anyone who might be a skeptic or whistleblower.”

Michigan can’t subsidize the auto industry to prosperity, according to Mozena.

“Whether it’s traditional cars and trucks, electric vehicles, so-called ‘mobility’ or whatever’s next, Michigan needs to tell the industry to stand on its own feet, pay for its own factories and stop expecting Michigan’s taxpayers to artificially inflate their balance sheets,” he wrote.

In 2023, Michigan lawmakers gave select private companies $4.6 billion in subsidies.

“This deal is another reason lawmakers, taxpayers and voters should exercise skepticism about corporate handouts,” Michael LaFaive, the Mackinac Center’s senior director of fiscal policy, told CapCon in an email.

“State government confiscates taxpayer money to subsidize a company it thinks is a real winner,” LaFaive wrote. “Then it issues a celebratory and self-aggrandizing press release announcing alleged jobs that will be created. The announcement is dutifully reported if not cheered in the press, only to see that big corporate winner become a big loser in the marketplace.”

The company received a $900,000 MBDP grant. It was originally for $2.4 million, however, through an amendment approved by the Michigan Strategic Fund Board, it was reduced to $900,000, according to Otie McKinley, the media and communications manager of the MEDC.

Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.

MAGA MOON OVER GREENLAND?
By Silvio Canto, Jr., March 13, 2025

Well, the Greenlanders had an election and voters want change. Where have we heard that before? Here is the story:

Four of the five main parties on the ballot, including the ones that won first and second place, Demokraatit Party and Naleraq, favor independence from Denmark, but disagree on the pace. Greenland, whose population is approximately 57,000 people, currently operates as a semi-autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. However, Trump’s renewed interest in the island sparked conversations about breaking away from the Danish crown.

So what happens now? How long before we add them as a 51st state? Or maybe turn them into a frozen Puerto Rico? How long before the NFL plays the Super Bowl there? Or what about the NHL and that annual hockey game outdoors? Lots of places to play hockey outdoors in Greenland.

Time will tell, but the people in Greenland probably understand a couple of important things. First, they’ve got a lot of minerals plus a very strategic location in the North Atlantic. Second, they probably heard that China is building a big blue navy and it’s not for tourism.

No matter what, they’re probably happy with these results in The White House. I’m sure that President Trump will remind us that he still has the endorsement touch.

P.S. Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.

Reprinted with permission from the American Thinker: https://www.americanthinker.com

IOSCO COUNTY FAMILY FUN FAIR

On Saturday, April 12, 2025, the Annual Iosco County Family Fun Fair will be held at the Oscoda High School from 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM.  In recent years this event has attracted over 1,000 participants.  The event is entirely free and includes a free lunch. 

In the last several years we have participated and have provided activities and games that people can take home and do, that provide information about the government and have distributed Constitutions to the families that have attended.  We would like to have 2 people manning the table as volunteers.

LINCOLN/REAGAN DINNER

The Lincoln/Reagan Dinner will be held at the American Legion Hall located at the corner of Lincoln and Grant in East Tawas on June 14, 2025.  The cocktail hour (BYOB) will start at 6:00 p.m. with the dinner to follow at about 7:00 p.m.  More details will follow, including the speakers who will attend. 

There will be a Silent Auction held after the speakers.