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Jocelyn Benson’s husband is VP of company forcing data center on Saline Township

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration is fast-tracking approvals for a massive AI datacenter in Saline Township.

Locals oppose the project, but few are more excited about it than Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s husband, Ryan Friedrichs.

Friedrichs, vice president for billionaire Stephen Ross’ Related Companies, celebrated the project on LinkedIn.

“Thank you again to all our community, state, regional, and national partners who worked tirelessly with us this year, and will into the future,” Friedrichs wrote in the post, which linked to another from Related Companies CEO Jeff Blau. Click here to read more.

 

50-Year Mortgages Won’t Fix the Affordability Crisis

Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, recently floated the idea of offering people a 50-year mortgage instead of the more conventional 30-year financing option. It sounds attractive at first because stretching out repaying of a mortgage would lower the borrower’s monthly payment, but this wouldn’t fix the homeownership affordability crisis.

It’s no exaggeration to name the current situation as a crisis. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, the percentage of a household’s income needed to afford just a median price home is near a record high today, and affordability is near a record low. An entire generation of young Americans has largely given up on the dream of homeownership. Click here to read more.

 

Can the Government Mandate a Vaccine for Your Own Good? This Federal Court Says Yes.

Defending COVID-19 policies against legal challenges, government officials relied heavily on Jacobson v Massachusetts, a 1905 case in which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a smallpox vaccine mandate imposed by the Cambridge Board of Health. But the breadth of the license granted by that decision is a matter of dispute, even as applied to superficially similar COVID-19 vaccination requirements.

Critics of those mandates argued that COVID-19 shots, unlike smallpox vaccination, do not prevent disease transmission, so requiring them amounts to paternalistic intervention rather than protection of the general public. Last summer in Health Freedom Fund v Carvalho, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit dismissed that distinction as constitutionally irrelevant. Click here to read more.

 

The FBI Wants AI Surveillance Drones With Facial Recognition

The FBI is looking for ways to incorporate artificial intelligence into drones, according to federal procurement documents.

On Thursday, the FBI put out the call to potential vendors of AI and machine learning technology to be used in unmanned aerial systems in a so-called “request for information,” where government agencies request companies submit initial information for a forthcoming contract opportunity.

“It’s essentially technology tailor-made for political retribution and harassment.”

The FBI is in search of technology that could enable drones to conduct facial recognition, license plate recognition, and detection of weapons, among other uses, according to the document.

The pitch from the FBI immediately raised concerns among civil libertarians, who warned that enabling FBI drones with artificial intelligence could exacerbate the chilling effect of surveillance of activities protected by the First Amendment. Click here to read more.

 

UK Study to Give Puberty Blocking Drugs to Children as Young as Ten

More than a hundred children as young as ten years old will be subjected to clinical trials of transgender drugs in Britain, despite the government blocking puberty blockers for general use.

Last year, a review from leading paediatrician Dr Hilary Cass found that transgender medical practices were “built on shaky foundations” and that Britain’s socialised healthcare system should not hand out puberty-blocking drugs to minors over safety concerns. The left-wing Labour Party government agreed and barred the practice for children. Click here to read more.

 

 

‘We’re gonna fight like hell’: Local opposition kills hyperscale data center in Kalkaska

A proposal to build a massive data center on state-owned land in Kalkaska County is dead, thanks to locals who flooded recent community meetings to voice their strong opposition.

“We sought public input because we want to be partners with the community we live and work in. And we heard you. That is why my company and Kalkaska Go will end its pursuit of a data center,” Traverse City geologist Matt Rine, with Rocklocker LLC, wrote in a statement posted to Facebook by state Rep. Cam Cavett, R-Cheboygan.

“We are grateful we had the opportunity to engage in public discourse – it is important to work together as a community when making decisions about the future, even when there is disagreement,” Rine wrote. Click here to read more.

 

Public will be ‘disappointed’ when it comes to Epstein files, says former US Attorney

What will come next now that the Epstein files bill has been signed into law by President Donald Trump?

Former U.S. Attorney John P. Fishwick Jr. said the public will be “disappointed” in what the Department of Justice decides to release of the files.

There’s not going to be a huge unveiling of all the Epstein files.” Fishwick told The National News Desk.

The recent Epstein files saga all began with a discharge petition led by members of Congress. This eventually led to the bill swiftly moving through the House and the Senate and being signed into law by Trump.

Despite the bill stating the files must be released by Trump within 30 days, Fishwick expects only some files to be released. Click here to read more.

 

Do Vaccines Cause Autism? CDC Moves From Denial to Doubt

The CDC has updated its information on the potential link between autism and vaccines, no longer ruling out the possibility of causation.

“We (the Department of Health and Human Services) are updating the CDC’s website to reflect gold standard, evidence-based science,” HHS press secretary Emily Hilliard told The Daily Signal.

On Wednesday, the CDC updated its page titled “Autism and Vaccines.” The website now includes three key points:

• The claim “vaccines do not cause autism” is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism.

• Studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities.

• HHS has launched a comprehensive assessment of the causes of autism, including investigations on plausible biologic mechanisms and potential causal links. Click here to read more.

 

High School Principal Arrested For Allegedly Plotting To Attack ICE Agents

Authorities arrested a high school assistant principal in Virginia on Wednesday after he and his brother allegedly made detailed plans to attack federal immigration agents and other law enforcement officers, according to local reports.

Kempsville High School assistant principal John W. Bennett, 54, is accused of plotting the violence alongside his brother Mark B. Bennett, 59. An off-duty Norfolk police officer overheard the pair discussing their plans as they dined at a local pho restaurant on November 15, according to ABC13, citing court documents.

The brothers were allegedly heard saying Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were “kidnapping individuals,” while Mark Bennett mentioned plans to fly to Las Vegas to meet with “like-minded individuals” and return with “enforcement ideas and plans.” Click here to read more.

 

Michigan taxpayers foot $1 million bill for an imaginary job threat

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation gave $1 million to OVD Insurance, a Kent County firm, to keep it from doing more business out-of-state, according to documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

More than 100 pages of documents obtained by Michigan Capitol Confidential show that 80% of OVD’s clients are in Michigan. The documents did not include evidence that other states or economic development agencies were actively courting the company with incentives to expand elsewhere.

The $1 million taxpayer subsidy will help OVD but hurt competitors who are also based in Michigan, Robert L. Hughes, founder and president of Grand Rapids-based Advantage Benefits Group, told CapCon. Click here to read more.

 

 

Your Financial Data Now Has a Cost — Courtesy of JPMorgan Chase

JPMorgan Chase has secured deals ensuring it will get paid by the fintech firms responsible for nearly all the data requests made by third-party apps connected to customer bank accounts.

The bank has signed updated contracts with the fintech middlemen that make up more than 95 percent of the data pulls on its systems, including Plaid, Yodlee, Morningstar and Akoya, according to JPMorgan spokesman Drew Pusateri.

“We’ve come to agreements that will make the open banking ecosystem safer and more sustainable and allow customers to continue reliably and securely accessing their favorite financial products,” Pusateri said in a statement. “The free market worked.” Click here to read more.

 

Michigan Poverty Task Force Rolls Out the Red Carpet…for Foreigners

Michigan’s Poverty Task Force has a new webinar available, and it appears to have less to do with helping struggling Michiganders and more to do with hosting a job recruitment drive for people who are noncitizens.

Today’s big event? A state-promoted Zoom webinar offered by the Michigan Dept. of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO) and spotlighting “employment opportunities for immigrants and refugees.” Yes, Michigan tax dollars are sponsoring a statewide job- search pep rally and information session for who the Democrats in Michigan government often call “newcomers.” Click here to read more.

 

Biden-era executive order harms business owners, forcing them into union agreements

The Trump administration recently enforced a Biden-era executive order, harming contractors and subcontractors that provide services to federal entities, and Bill Slayden is one of the many contractors who have been harmed by this rule. If Bill wants to continue providing construction services to the federal government, which is a major source of his company’s revenue, the company must enter into a forced agreement with labor unions—something that neither Bill nor his employees wants to do.

Bill Slayden started his plumbing business in 1979, performing residential and light commercial jobs. His small start-up eventually grew into a leading mechanical engineering company, which provides vital contracting services to the federal government—and what once was as a garage business has scaled to a company that employs over 60 people. Click here to read more.

 

Who is Clay Higgins, the only House member to vote against releasing the Epstein files?

Both Democrats and Republicans alike readied for a unanimous House vote Tuesday to pass a bill to force the release of the case files on the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. But in the end, one lawmaker stood alone in opposition: Republican Rep. Clay Higgins.

Higgins, who is in his fifth term representing a congressional district in southwest Louisiana, explained in a lengthy statement that he was “a principled ‘NO’ on this bill from the beginning.” He raised some of the same objections that House Speaker Mike Johnson, another Louisiana Republican, had with the bill, yet even Johnson said Tuesday he would vote for it because, “None of us want to go on record and in any way be accused of not being for maximum transparency.” Click here for more.

 

K-12 moving to Labor as Trump administration accelerates bid to dismantle Education Department

The U.S. Education Department is moving management of K-12 and higher education to the Department of Labor and parceling out other job duties to other federal agencies in the most sweeping effort so far to dismantle the agency.

The Education Department announced the changes Tuesday, describing them as fulfilling President Donald Trump’s promise to “return education to the states.”

Management of both the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Office of Postsecondary Education will be moved to the Department of Labor, which oversees workforce development programs and protects workers’ rights, among other responsibilities. Click here to read more.