Dave Bondy
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Friday February 27, 2025
February 27, 2025

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WASHINGTON D.C. - Here’s a scary prospect: an unelected shadow government operating beyond the limits of the Constitution and the separation of powers, and doing so with no accountability.

Many are portraying President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, this way. Tasked with modernizing technology, increasing efficiency, and rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse throughout the executive branch, the Elon Musk-led team has even been accused of “conducting a hostile takeover of the federal government.”

The truth is that all these characterizations just as accurately, if not more accurately, describe the unelected bureaucrats running the administrative state.

For decades, the Constitution’s limited government of enumerated and separated powers has been undermined by a bloated bureaucracy that rules over practically every aspect of Americans’ lives with impunity.

But the same people maligning DOGE for operating outside the three branches of government with little accountability have rarely, if ever, applied the same standards to this federal Leviathan. Not a peep about what has become an unconstitutional fourth branch of government filled with career bureaucrats that write rules with the force of law, enforce those same rules against individuals, interpret the provisions of those rules however they see fit, and often try defendants in house for violating those rules. Click here to read more.

 

A Mexican national, who has already been deported once, was arrested and charged with murder in a multiple shooting incident in Michigan, according to reports.

Police in Alpine Township, a northern suburb of Grand Rapids, charged Gilberto Hernandez-Mendez, 42, with eleven charges including murder, attempted murder, and a slew of weapons offenses stemming from a February 22 incident that left one dead and two more wounded, WWMT-TV reported.

Investigators allege that Hernandez-Mendez shot three women at an Alpine Township residence at around 2:30 a.m. after a “domestic dispute.”

Upon arriving at the scene, officers found Norma Ramirez-Martinez, 56, dead. The deceased was the mother of the suspect’s ex-girlfriend. The girlfriend and another woman were both wounded in the shooting. The girlfriend’s two daughters were also injured, police said. Click here to read more.

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – America First Legal (AFL), supported by Cooper & Kirk PLLC and Ard Law Group, is taking action to defend Adams County, Washington, against the unlawful and abusive effort by Washington state officials to enforce illegal and dangerous sanctuary laws and policies and compel Adams County to violate federal immigration laws.

Last year, Washington state officials threatened to sue Adams County for refusing to comply with the harmful, dangerous, and illegal sanctuary jurisdiction law fraudulently titled the “Keep Washington Working Act.” Now, these officials are unlawfully attempting to force Adams County to sign a “consent decree” that will compel it to violate federal law for the next four years.

To protect American citizens and our Constitution, Adams County is standing up in opposition to this egregious abuse of state power. AFL is defending Adams County so that state officials and their anti-American open-border allies may not bully, coerce, or compel pro-American communities with dangerous sanctuary laws and policies that shield criminal illegal aliens and endanger law-abiding citizens. Click here to read more.

 

Declining student enrollment is forcing Michigan school districts to consolidate and close schools, despite record spending in recent years.

On Monday, Grand Haven Public Schools unveiled plans to consolidate elementary schools after a decade of declining enrollment that’s expected to continue with the loss of 650 students over the next five years.

“If we do nothing we will not be able to keep our doors open in two years,” Superintendent Kristin Perkowski told WOOD. “That’s the current state with 10 years of loss in students.”

Declining student enrollment is forcing Michigan school districts to consolidate and close schools, despite record spending in recent years.

On Monday, Grand Haven Public Schools unveiled plans to consolidate elementary schools after a decade of declining enrollment that’s expected to continue with the loss of 650 students over the next five years.

“If we do nothing we will not be able to keep our doors open in two years,” Superintendent Kristin Perkowski told WOOD. “That’s the current state with 10 years of loss in students.” Click here to read more.

 

The now-shuttered U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) paid Ukrainian models and designers to go to Paris Fashion Week and other frivolous luxuries, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) said Wednesday.

Ernst revealed that USAID did not report the expenditures in public databases and tried to block her staff from seeing them, claiming they were classified. In reality, she said, they were not classified, merely embarrassing for how wasteful they were.

Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky has demanded billions from American taxpayers, raising the specter of gruesome deaths and suffering. But “staff learned that the aid intended to alleviate economic distress in the war-torn nation was spent on such frivolous activities as sending Ukrainian models and designers on junkets to New York City, London Fashion Week, Paris Fashion Week, and South by Southwest in Austin, Texas,” a memo obtained by The Daily Wire said.

Ukrainian recipients of “Competitive Economy Program (CEP)” funds included, the memo said:

• A modern women’s attire company ($150,000)
• A trade mission for a fashion design house ($128,000)
• A photographer for fashion design publications ($126,000)
• A purveyor of contemporary knitwear ($161,000)
• A luxury bridal brand ($84,000)
• Marketplace for designer artisanal pieces inspired by folk crafts ($84,000)

Click here to read more.

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October 22, 2026
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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.

Stay in contact with family with push to talk nationwide waterproof walkie talkies. Click here to learn more and get an extra 10% off.

 

Click here to learn more and get an extra 10% off.

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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
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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.

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