Dave Bondy
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Tuesday January 28, 2025
January 28, 2025

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A Lenawee County Democrat who posted an unhinged rant denying the 2024 election results and labeling immigration officials as “Nazi collaborators” is doubling down.

Lenawee County Democratic Party Chairman Bill Swift called in to Talk Back Radio with Doug Spade and Mike Clement on Saturday to discuss the post, which was deleted from the party’s Facebook page shortly after it was posted last week.

Swift on Saturday also called for the death penalty for the president’s supporters.

A Lenawee County Democrat who posted an unhinged rant denying the 2024 election results and labeling immigration officials as “Nazi collaborators” is doubling down.

Lenawee County Democratic Party Chairman Bill Swift called in to Talk Back Radio with Doug Spade and Mike Clement on Saturday to discuss the post, which was deleted from the party’s Facebook page shortly after it was posted last week.

Swift on Saturday also called for the death penalty for the president’s supporters.

Swift alleged the party removed the post over concerns supporters of President Donald Trump “might do violence to people in our community,” but made it clear “we as a party and I as an individual absolutely 100% support the statements that we made.”

He described the post as “outlining a very rational argument” about Trump’s inauguration and the president’s immediate move to crack down on illegal immigration.

Swift alleged Trump-supporter and the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, “performed two Hitler salutes, two Nazi salutes” during the Jan. 20 inauguration.

“This is a deliberate, very clear, unambiguous Nazi salute,” he said. Click here to read more.


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President Donald Trump is reportedly set to reinstate service members discharged from the military under the Biden administration’s COVID vaccine mandate.

Fox News reported Monday morning that Trump plans to sign an executive order allowing those pushed out the door to return to the military at their previous rank with back pay and benefits. Under President Joe Biden, more than 8,000 service members were booted because they chose not to get the COVID jab.

“The Executive Order directs the Secretary of Defense to reinstate all members of the military (active and reserve) who were discharged for refusing the COVID vaccine and who request to be reinstated,” a White House fact sheet obtained by Fox News says.

“From 2021 to 2023, the Biden Administration and former Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin discharged over 8,000 troops solely due to their COVID-19 vaccination status,” it adds. “After the vaccine mandate was repealed in 2023, only 43 of the more than the 8,000 troops dismissed elected to return to service under the Biden Administration and Secretary Austin.” Click here to read more.

 

NEW YORK, NY - Walking into a bank feels like walking into any other business. Sure, there are a few extra cameras and an armed guard or two, but otherwise, it's a typical experience. What you don't see is the flood of reports—tens of thousands every day—that banks and other financial institutions file with the government, logging what Americans are doing with their money.

Banks may look like private businesses on the outside, but they have long been deputized on the inside as undercover agents for federal law enforcement.

Finance is among the most private aspects of our lives—we cover the keypad at ATMs, shred financial statements, and use multifactor authentication for online accounts. Yet what we really have is the illusion of financial privacy. Our information might be shielded from much of the general public, but not from the government.

The problem stems from a series of laws now known as the "Bank Secrecy Act regime." Beginning in 1970, the Bank Secrecy Act made two major changes to the financial system. First, the law requires banks to maintain records on customers "where such records have a high degree of usefulness in criminal, tax, or regulatory investigations or proceedings." Click here to read more.

 

WASHINGTON D.C. - Upon Joe Biden’s exit from the White House, he threw in a series of questionable pardons and commutations including one that commuted the sentence of a “drug lord who murdered an eight-year old boy and his mother.” According to RedState, Adrian Peeler, who is said to have murdered the child and his mother to stop them from testifying, was among those whose sentences were commuted at the ACLU’s request to pardon “non-violent drug offenders.” Peeler is reportedly set to be released in July.

Biden said in a statement upon the release of 2,500 people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses, that pardoning them is “an important step toward righting historic wrongs, correcting sentencing disparities, and providing deserving individuals the opportunity to return to their families and communities after spending far too much time behind bars,” according to the AP. Click here to read more.

 

LOS ANGELES — When Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass gave pay raises to the city’s rank-and-file police officers last year, she sold it as a sensible investment toward regrowing the LAPD to the 9,500-member force it was before her election in 2022.

In the months since, Bass and leaders in the Los Angeles Police Department have continued to project optimism about reaching that goal.

Behind the scenes, though, officials are starting to confront the reality that the LAPD buildup won’t happen anytime soon — while acknowledging that the country’s third-largest police department may even continue to shrink.

New projections included in the department’s fiscal year 2026 budget proposal show that between recruiting shortfalls and attrition, leaders expect to lose more than 150 cops, leaving a force of about 8,620 by June 30, 2026 . That would mark the lowest deployment in roughly 30 years, records show.

During public appearances, Bass, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell and other top leaders are still making the case that the department needs to grow, arguing more manpower is required to maintain public safety. The Palisades fire recently showed the department can be stretched thin during a major disaster. Meanwhile, the upcoming World Cup and Olympic Games loom as massive security challenges. Click here to read more.

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Who Is Lady Budgetdown? The Mystery Account Raising Eyebrows and Uncovering School Finances
The anonymous figure behind a growing school transparency website says the project is run by one person, has faced threats of legal action and is expanding its reach across Michigan.

MICHIGAN — Who is Lady Budgetdown?

It’s a question that has circulated among Michigan educators, school administrators, taxpayers and social media users as a mysterious online watchdog continues digging into school district finances, superintendent salaries, bond proposals and public spending.

Now, the person behind the increasingly visible project is revealing new details about its origins, operations and future — while refusing to disclose their identity.

In an exclusive written interview, Lady Budgetdown confirmed the operation is run by a single individual, not a larger organization or political group.

 

“It started with just me, and it currently is only me,” Lady Budgetdown said.

The anonymous researcher said the project receives technical assistance with website development but independently oversees the research, reviews public records, creates content and determines what information gets published.

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October 22, 2026
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Michigan school funding tops inflation since before the pandemic

Funding for public schools in Michigan has grown faster than inflation since before the pandemic.

Yet some school teachers, like Amanda Walker of Bay City Schools, have said that schools are being defunded. Walker is vice president of her district’s chapter of the Michigan Education Association.

“I do think there’s been a concerted effort to dismantle public education by defunding, by diverting funds to private schools, by tearing down teachers and accusing them of all sorts of nonsense. People see it, and they feel it, and they don’t like it,” Walker told an MEA news publication recently.

It can feel that way at school districts such as Bay City, where the student count dropped 16% between 2018-19 and 2025-26, according to MiSchoolData.org. Fewer students means less in per-pupil funding. Click here to read more.


 

Data centers become midterm minefield as candidates scramble to answer voter backlash

President Donald Trump has made no secret of his support for building new data centers across the country, but candidates in both parties are trying to show voters they are listening to growing concerns about the technology. With the midterms two weeks away, the issue could help decide who voters ultimately choose.

The debate is playing out in city halls nationwide. In Memphis, Tennessee, the city council voted down a proposal Tuesday that would have halted new data center development for a year, following a heated meeting. “We demand a healthy environment, clean air, clean water, which we have a human right to. We also demand representation that chooses us, the people, over the profits of a billionaire’s experiment,” said KeShaun Pearson, who attended the meeting. Click here to read more.

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Cops Release Woman Who Plowed Through Soccer Field: No Charges, No Explanation

The debate is playing out in city halls nationwide. In Memphis, Tennessee, the city council voted down a proposal Tuesday that would have halted new data center development for a year, following a heated meeting. “We demand a healthy environment, clean air, clean water, which we have a human right to. We also demand representation that chooses us, the people, over the profits of a billionaire’s experiment,” said KeShaun Pearson, who attended the meeting.

In Hermantown, Minnesota, a rural community of about 10,000 people in the northeastern part of the state, the city council moved closer to approving a new Google data center. Some residents said officials haven’t pushed hard enough. Click here to read more.

 

Consumers Energy’s rate hike request comes days after $139M increase approved

Consumers Energy is looking for a rate hike on natural gas prices less than a week after the public service commission approved a $139 million increase.

The utility provider filed its notice of intent with regulators on Monday, which is required before it can submit its rate request.

The previous rate hike came out to about a 4.3% bump in monthly payments for natural gas.

Big picture view:

Consumers Energy has not said how much more it is asking for it its latest failing, but did say the new rate would last 12 months, ending Oct. 31, 2028.

Utility companies cannot set rates themselves. Instead, they submit a request to increase rates for either natural gas or electricity with the Michigan Public Service Commission.

After making the request, both parties and any other stakeholders weigh in on the case.

The Michigan Attorney General frequently intervenes in these cases. Click here to read more.

 

Trump and Vance announce $25M whistleblower program to encourage public to report alleged fraud

President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday announced a $25 million program to encourage the public to blow the whistle on suspected fraud in the U.S. government as they ramp up efforts to end the abuse of federal programs and dollars.

The White House said that under the Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program, anyone who submits a tip that leads to a fraud conviction or a significant federal enforcement action is eligible to receive up to $30,000, and that the Justice Department will administer the program.

During the announcement, Trump said payments will amount to a 1% commission on the amount of fraud the tip helps uncover. Trump also said he will decide who gets reward money in cases where more than one person claims to have provided the tip.

“I will be the arbitrator of all of these decisions,” Trump in the Oval Office with Vance and other administration officials standing behind him. “It’ll be a binding arbitration.”

Trump said journalists could participate in the program. Click here to read more.

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October 20, 2026
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Michigan Audit Raises Questions About Medical Procedures Performed on Children in State Care
State auditors also identified problems with adoption approvals, oversight of children under state guardianship and security of confidential records.

LANSING, Mich. — Children under Michigan's guardianship underwent medical procedures without required consent or documentation, while thousands of others were not being consistently tracked by the state agency responsible for them, according to a new audit.

The Michigan Office of the Auditor General released a 40-page report Oct. 15 identifying significant deficiencies within the Michigan Children's Institute, which operates under the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

The institute serves as the legal guardian for children whose parental rights have been terminated.

Auditors concluded that the institute's selected guardianship activities were not sufficient, identifying problems with

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