Three years after lawmakers created the Strategic Outreach Attraction Reserve Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said would “create tens of thousands of good paying jobs,” not a single one has materialized.
Michigan taxpayers have shelled out more than $670 million to five multibillion companies to prop up the electric vehicle and renewable energy industries in Michigan with a promise to create a total of 8,812 jobs, but a report from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation that oversees the spending shows zero “actual qualified jobs created.”
“The program was poorly designed from the start,” said James Hohman, director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. “It allows companies to cash in on taxpayer subsidies without having to create jobs. Lawmakers must wait years to ask for taxpayer money back if deals fail to deliver. It’s good that House lawmakers are working to redirect this money to roads.”
Liberal protestors have upped their game since the days of now quaint-seeming sit-ins on college campuses. There’s a furore over whether the Trump administration is right to deport green-card-holding non-citizen Mahmoud Khalil for what it says is his support for terrorist organizations like Hamas. The controversy shows how far we’ve traveled from what anyone would call peaceful protest to, today, students taking over campus buildings, breaking windows, and preventing other students from walking freely on campuses like Columbia where Khalil was active.
When did “protest” become synonymous with criminal vandalism and threats and intimidation aimed at fellow students? It’s been at least since 2020, when Black Lives Matter “protestors” rioted in cities across the U.S., burning public and private buildings, cars, and more. The “protests” caused more than $1 billion in damage (that’s just counting the insurance claims), the most in U.S. history. The leftist media showed its naked contempt for reality and viewers, of course, by labeling the violence as “mostly peaceful.” CNN was widely ridiculed for showing live images of a burning city while the on-screen label called the violence “fiery but mostly peaceful protests”.
For modern protestors who don’t want to go all the to violence, but who instead want to appear to be “victims,” we have a melodramatist’s delight: the “die-in.” This is where demonstrators lie on the ground pretending to be dead in the mistaken belief that such a histrionic display will convince onlookers that their cause is righteous.
A group of Democrat theater kids just held a die-in in front of the New York Stock Exchange. They were “dying” in protest of what they claim were acts of harm done to them by President Trump, and especially by Elon Musk as he slashes through wasteful government spending.
Let’s take a look at the “gravestones” and see what they indicate about the protestors’ frame of mind.
“Fatal infection-abortion ban”—It was abortion bans that drove them to it, see? The woman had no responsibility for getting pregnant.
“Elon fired bird flu monitoring”—You got that? There weren’t enough monitors for bird flu, so humans are dying of a bird flu that doesn’t affect humans.
“SNAP cuts killed me”— “SNAP” (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) is the new word so no one has to say “food stamps.” Apparently changes to the program killed the protestor despite the fact that he or she does not appear to be starving in the video.
Let’s see what X/Twitter thought of this latest set piece. We’ve got a few comedians:
Michigan’s critical manufacturing industry shed 20,000 jobs over the last year, including at least 4,000 so far in 2025, as unemployment continued to tick up to 5.3% in January.
“The number of unemployed people in Michigan is going up. It has been going up for the past year or so. That’s not unexpected with the news we’ve been hearing with the weakness in manufacturing and retail trade,” Michigan Labor Market Information Director Wayne Rourke told WEMU. “Those are particularly weak industries for Michigan right now.”
Compared to the year prior, there were 67,000 more residents without a job in January, marking a 33.3% jump from the same month in 2024. The continued job losses in Michigan come despite a national decline in unemployment of one tenth of a percentage point in January to 4%.
Read the full article at The Midwesterner for more stories like this.
President Donald Trump threatened the European Union (EU) with crushing tariffs if it does not lift “a nasty 50% Tariff on Whisky.”
The president, who described the EU as “one of the most hostile and abusive taxing and tariffing authorities in the World,” said he would place a 200% tariff if the globalist Union did not remove theirs.
“If this Tariff is not removed immediately, the U.S. will shortly place a 200% Tariff on all WINES, CHAMPAGNES, & ALCOHOLIC PRODUCTS COMING OUT OF FRANCE AND OTHER E.U. REPRESENTED COUNTRIES,” Trump warned.
🚨 BREAKING: Trump threatens a 200% tariff on French wine and champagne unless the 50% EU tariff on American whiskey is removed.
The EU implemented tariffs on $28 billion worth of U.S. goods as a countermeasure to President Trump’s increased tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum imports. The EU targeted bourbon, jeans, and motorcycles, which appeared to be designed to harm globally popular American brands. However, tariffs on metal imports to the U.S. were not targeted at the EU but took effect globally, imposing a 25 percent levy on various metal items.
Tariffs in several areas have often been unbalanced in the EU’s favor. For example, the EU imposed 0 percent tariffs on American cars while the U.S. imposed only 2.5 percent tariffs on European cars.
A trade war with Europe was escalated Wednesday when Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum took effect, leading the EU to swiftly retaliate with a two-step approach.
The European trading bloc, which is made up of 27 nations, said it will allow the suspension of existing 2018 and 2020 countermeasures against the U.S. to expire April 1. That would allow for 50 percent tariffs on American whiskey, which were suspended, to automatically go into effect.
Second, the commission is proposing a new package of countermeasures on goods coming from the U.S. that will go into effect in mid-April, covering some $28 billion in imports in total.
Chris Swonger, CEO of the Distilled Spirits Council, urged Trump to make a deal with the EU to prevent escalation.
“The U.S.-EU spirits sector is the model for fair and reciprocal trade, having zero-for-zero tariffs since 1997,” he said.
“We urge President Trump to secure a spirits agreement with the EU to get us back to zero-for-zero tariffs, which will create U.S. jobs and increase manufacturing and exports for the American hospitality sector. We want toasts not tariffs.”
On Wednesday, Swonger warned that a European whiskey tariff would be “very, very devastating.”
“We’ve just gotten the news early, early this morning, that the [EU] is poised to put a 50 percent tariff on American whiskey,” Swonger told NewsNation’s Nichole Berlie.
Ranked in bottom half of states for education, crime, and infrastructure
U.S. News & World Report recently released its annual Best States analysis, and not much has changed for the Great Lakes State. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Michigan remains among the bottom 10 in the nation, well behind all states in the Midwest.
“Some states shine in health care. Some soar in education. Some excel in both – or in much more,” according to the news site. “The Best States rankings by U.S. News draw on thousands of data points to measure how well states perform for their citizens.” The rankings include a breakdown by categories: health care, crime, economy, education, fiscal stability, infrastructure, natural environment and opportunity. Michigan did not “shine,” “soar,” or “excel” in any of them.
Overall, the state ranked 42nd in the U.S. for the second consecutive year, making no progress after slipping one spot from 41st in 2023. For the second consecutive year, Michigan ranked in the bottom half of states for all categories, with its top-ranked category of opportunity in 27th place. The news site ranked Michigan 28th for the economy, 29th for health care, 30th for the natural environment, 32nd for fiscal stability, 38th for crime and corrections, and 41st for education and infrastructure.
Republican strategist Scott Jennings pressed Rep. Marilyn Strickland (D-WA) on Thursday, challenging her on why Americans should trust Democrats to address inflation after prices surged under the Biden-Harris administration. The exchange took place during a segment on CNN NewsNight, where Strickland attempted to defend her party’s economic record while Jennings pushed back on claims that Democrats could bring down the cost of living. During the discussion, Strickland faced criticism over rising consumer costs, particularly the cost of eggs, which has doubled since November 2023, according to the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank.
The price surge was fueled by a bird flu outbreak that led to the culling of tens of millions of chickens.
Jennings dismissed Strickland’s claims that Democrats had a plan to reduce costs, challenging her on why voters should trust the party after four years of economic strain.
“Why would or should the American people trust Democrats to lower the cost of living after the last four years?” Jennings asked.
Strickland began to respond by touting job creation under the Biden administration, saying, “We have created more jobs—” before being cut off.
Jennings pushed back, redirecting the conversation to inflation: “No, no, cost of living. You brought it up. You said Trump‘s not delivering. I just want to know why we should trust Democrats who skyrocketed inflation for the last—what—why would I trust you? Why would I trust you?”
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) reached a four-decade high of 9% in June 2022, after then-President Joe Biden signed several massive spending bills into law, including the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, despite warnings that it could fuel inflation. Under Biden, overall prices rose by more than 20%.
Strickland and former Biden campaign staffer Ashley Allison attempted to shift the discussion to the Trump administration’s policies. Strickland criticized the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which was established by President Trump in a January 20 executive order to reduce government waste and streamline federal agencies.
The department, a rebranding of the United States Digital Service, has been working to cut bureaucratic inefficiencies.
“Donald Trump is the president. He promised to lower cost of living. He is cutting jobs across the board from civil servants who have to support their families—” Strickland argued.
Jennings countered, questioning Strickland’s stance on expanding government employment. “So you believe in government jobs? You want more government jobs?” he asked.
Strickland responded, “No, actually, I want jobs that actually help people. Do you know what civil servants do? They keep our air clean. They keep our water clean. They keep our food safe—don’t interrupt me.”
Jennings quickly replied, “They take taxpayer money to fund the whole thing.”
As the discussion became more heated, CNN NewsNight host Abby Phillip and Allison joined Strickland in defending government employees. While the three spoke over him, Jennings managed to land his final critique of the Democratic platform.
“This is the Democratic plan: More government jobs,” he concluded.
The exchange highlighted the ongoing battle between Republicans and Democrats over economic policy, government spending, and inflation, with Democrats defending a larger federal workforce while Republicans push for reducing bureaucracy and cutting costs.
The White House is set to hold its first cryptocurrency summit on Friday, with key figures in the digital asset space gathering to discuss the future of the industry under President Donald Trump’s administration.
JUST IN: 🇺🇸 White House announces its first ever crypto summit on March 7th
The event comes as recent tariff threats from the president have contributed to a $400 billion loss in the crypto market over the past week.
The summit will be chaired by White House A.I. and Crypto Czar David Sacks and hosted by Bo Hines, executive director of the President’s Working Group on Digital Assets.
President Trump will host the first White House Crypto Summit on Friday March 7. Attendees will include prominent founders, CEOs, and investors from the crypto industry. Look forward to seeing everyone there! pic.twitter.com/PEynzDuAOt
Georgia perennial candidate and Democratic organizer Stacey Abrams has found herself at the center of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) into how much her “community investment group” received from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Abrams’s liberal organization, Power Forward Communities, was slated to receive at least $2 billion in community grants from the Biden-Harris administration.
However, those payments won’t be happening, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement.
“I made a commitment to members of Congress and to the American people to be a good steward of tax dollars, and I’ve wasted no time in keeping my word,” Zeldin told the Washington Free Beacon.
“When we learned about the Biden administration’s scheme to quickly park $20 billion outside the agency, we suspected that some organizations were created out of thin air just to take advantage of this.”
“As we continue to learn more about where some of this money went, it is even more apparent how far-reaching and widely accepted this waste and abuse has been,” the EPA administrator continued.
“It’s extremely concerning that an organization that reported just $100 in revenue in 2023 was chosen to receive $2 billion. That’s 20 million times the organization’s reported revenue.”
Power Forward Communities was founded in October 2023 following Abrams’s failed bid for office against Gov. Brian Kemp.
Abrams is credited with helping Democrats flip Georgia’s two U.S. Senate seats during the December 2020 elections.
In January, the Georgia Ethics Commission imposed a record-breaking $300,000 fine on a voter registration group founded by Abrams for breaches of state campaign finance regulations during the 2018 elections.
In 2022, Stacy Abrams said her climate fight was about putting money "back into the pockets of Americans."
This week, we found out Abrams attempted to extort $2 billion from American taxpayers.
During the same month, a legal entity founded by Abrams intended to oppose efforts to limit voter fraud in the 2020 elections lost a three-year court battle, resulting in a loss and an order to pay the state back $231,000 in legal costs.
Abrams’s latest pet project told the Biden EPA that it intended to dole out $2 billion to help install heat pumps, water heaters, solar panels, home battery systems, EV chargers, and weatherization upgrades.
It was the only press statement the group ever released, while Power Forward Communities reported receiving just $100 in revenue in 2023.
“For an organization that has no experience in this, that was literally just established, and had $100 in the bank to receive a $2 billion grant—it doesn’t just fly in the face of common sense, it’s out-and-out fraud,” Daniel Turner, the executive director of energy advocacy group Power the Future, alleged in an interview with the Free Beacon.
“President Trump was elected with a mandate from the American people to stop the fraud and abuse by leaders who irresponsibly shoveled boatloads of cash to far-left activist groups in the name of environmental justice and climate equity, instead of serving the American people,” Zeldin said.
Elon Musk‘s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has exposed an eye-watering level of federal spending abuse, revealing that over 4.6 million active government credit cards were used for 90 million transactions totaling nearly $40 billion in Fiscal Year 2024 alone.
DOGE broke down the figures in an X post on Tuesday:
“The US government currently has ~4.6M active credit cards/accounts, which processed ~90M unique transactions for ~$40B of spend in FY24. DOGE is working with/ the agencies to simplify the program and reduce admin costs – we will report back in 1 week,” the account wrote.
The US government currently has ~4.6M active credit cards/accounts, which processed ~90M unique transactions for ~$40B of spend in FY24.
“The United States Government spends too much money on programs, contracts, and grants that do not promote the interests of the American people.
For too long, taxpayers have subsidized ideological projects overseas and domestic organizations engaged in actions that undermine the national interest.
The American people have seen their tax dollars used to fund the passion projects of unelected bureaucrats rather than to advance the national interest. The American people have a right to see how the Federal Government has wasted their hard-earned wages.
I therefore direct the heads of executive departments and agencies (agencies) to take all appropriate actions to make public, to the maximum extent permitted by law and as the heads of agencies deem appropriate to promote the policies of my Administration, the complete details of every terminated program, cancelled contract, terminated grant, or any other discontinued obligation of Federal funds.
Agencies shall ensure that such publication occurs in accordance with all applicable laws, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the underlying contract, grant, or other award.”
These revelations, shocking as they are, may be just the tip of the iceberg as the Trump administration continues investigating corruption among Washington elites.
However, government officials have yet to respond to the findings, with sources indicating that an internal probe may soon follow.
Without immediate and significant reforms, public trust in the government may never recover.
As the Trump administration reverses America’s economic decline, the coming weeks will reveal just how deep this corruption runs.
Bud Light is still reeling from the Dylan Mulvaney blunder, a former Anheuser-Busch executive has disclosed. To date, the company continues to hemorrhage customers since the unfortunate campaign nearly two years ago.
In April 2023, Bud Light partnered with transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney to celebrate “365 Days of Girlhood,” a slap in the face of women who are actually women.
A widespread consumer boycott resulted in the loss of billions in stock prices and sales. The company also lost its market leadership to Michelob Ultra and Modelo Especial. Eight months down the line, Bud Light sales were still down 32% in 32% in Q4 2023. The company also laid hundreds of workers in the same year.
Nearly two years later the company continues to suffer the consequences of embracing wokeism.
“They haven’t [recovered] at all,” former Anheuser-Busch President of Operations Anson Frericks told FOX Business, adding that “they continue to shed customers.”
“I think that’s one of the most interesting parts about this story is that they lost 30% of their customers,” Frericks said. “Millions of customers, billions of dollars of shareholder value over the last couple of years.”
However, the former executive noted that Bud Light was working to reverse the damage, which was proving to be a monumental task.
“They are advertising Bud Light. And candidly, the commercials are actually pretty good,” he said. “They have Shane Gillis who’s about the opposite of Dylan Mulvaney. You couldn’t have maybe someone more opposite. They have Post Malone, but the problem is they’ve lost a lot of their customers.”
The executive also noted that customers were confused if the company would continue to partner with “Shane Gillis and fun in football, or is it Dylan Mulvaney?’” He suggested that the company must come clean to win people’s trust. “Until the company really comes back and says clearly what Bud Light is going to be? I don’t know if any of their loyal customers are going to come back,” he added.
Instead of acknowledging the overwhelming negative customer feedback and apologizing, Bud Light parent company Anheuser-Busch beat around the bush saying, it “never intended to be part of a divisive conversation.”
Subsequently, customers likely suspect that the company still coddles transgenderism and could pull another “Mulvaney” in the future, and the Shane Gillis and Post Malone partnership are an attempt to pull the wool over their eyes.
Thus, even customers who wish to move past the Mulvaney fiasco might feel reluctant, afraid of potential future embarrassment if the company reverts to trans promotion.
Meanwhile, Bud Light may serve as a lasting reminder that embracing wokeism ruins businesses, especially when companies stubbornly refuse to acknowledge their mistakes. Others such as Meta, Walmart, Target, Ford, and Toyota have rolled back on woke policies without much backlash.
For example, Meta recently removed tampons from men’s bathrooms, angering transgender employees who started restocking the company’s supplies with their own.
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