The Michigan community of Green Charter Township on Friday lost a court battle to block Chinese-linked electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturer Gotion Inc. from building a factory near the town.
Michigan is generally friendly to Chinese investments and the Gotion project in Green Charter Township was specifically endorsed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), who called it “the biggest ever economic development project in Northern Michigan.”
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) delivers remarks at the SelectUSA Investment Summit on May 04, 2023, in National Harbor, Maryland. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Gotion pledged to spend $2.36 billion on the factory, which is supposed to create 2,350 jobs. The company settled on Green Charter Township, a rural community northwest of Detroit that acts as a self-governing district of Big Rapids, as the location for its battery plant. The township signed a development agreement with Gotion in August 2023.
Sentiment among the township’s residents soon turned against the factory project, in part because Gotion Inc. is a U.S. company that is wholly owned and controlled by a Chinese firm called Hefei Gotion High-Tech Power Energy Co. Ltd.
Gotion Inc. was obliged to describe this relationship in detail in its filings under the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA). In those filings, and in subsequent statements by Vice President of North American Manufacturing Chuck Thelen, the company has denied being controlled by agents of the Chinese government and insisted the Chinese Communist Party will not have offices in its proposed Michigan factory.
Gotion Inc.’s planned $2.4 billion EV battery plant is to be built near Big Rapids. (Gotion, Inc.)
However, skeptical politicians and reporters in Michigan uncovered Gotion corporate documents that said the company is required to “set up a Communist Party of China organization” and ensure the implementation of Communist Party guidelines within all corporate operations. Investigative journalists discovered Hefei Gotion High-Tech employs hundreds of Chinese Communist Party members, and its CEO is a high-ranking Party official.
Thelen insisted these company documents were misunderstood or misrepresented by critics and their practical meaning was simply that the American subsidiary of Gotion was not allowed to do business in China. Somewhat awkwardly for the American branch and its CEO, Chinese state media enthusiastically celebrated the Gotion plant as a major step toward the Communist regime’s worldwide domination of the EV industry.
A controversy erupted over whether Gotion had misrepresented its relationship with the Chinese government or not, especially since the new factory would be located within a hundred miles of Camp Grayling, the largest U.S. National Guard training facility. Concerns were also raised about the plant’s compliance with wetlands regulations, and the heavy water use anticipated for large-scale battery manufacturing.
The Gotion project received the blessing of the U.S. Treasury Department Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), but that only added fuel to the controversy, as critics claimed CFIUS was derelict in its oversight duties, allowing the Gotion project to pass without full transparency by declaring the company was operating outside of its jurisdiction.
So now out of the blue, the Biden Administration is again hitting the oil reserves because we are going in to the summer months where his policy on gas will effect Americans the most. When was the last time this was done by Biden?
During the 2022 election, President Joe Biden drew considerable scrutiny for repeated tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in a bid to drive down prices. U.S. Oil and Gas Association President Tim Stewart, at the time, accused him of using the reserve “as a campaign credit card to buy down political risk for the midterms.”
So here’s a small sample of what the crazy’s are looking to pass. You tell me if this is not out of some reality tv show.
1. AB 1825 – Protect Inappropriate Books Law
So called Freedom to Read Act. The bill seeks to remove the authority of public libraries to remove or deny access to certain books. (b) (1) The governing board of a public library shall not proscribe or prohibit the circulation or procurement of any book, audio, film, instructional material, or other resource in a public library because of the topic addressed by the materials or because of the views, ideas, or opinions contained in those materials.
(2) The discretion to determine the content of materials in public libraries shall not be exercised in a manner that discriminates against or excludes materials based on race, nationality, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, disability, political affiliation, or socioeconomic status, on the basis that the materials under consideration contain inclusive and diverse perspectives, or on the basis that the materials may include sexual content, unless that content qualifies as obscene under United States Supreme Court precedent. Provides a cause of action by patrons.
2. AB 1840 – Home Subsidies for Illegal Immigrants
Extends the California Dream for All program eligibility to illegal aliens. This program provides for an interest free loan for first-time homebuyers for the down payment.
3. AB 2216 – Force Landlords to Take Pets
This legislation will prohibit landlords from deciding how many pets to allow, what the pet deposit should be, and how much extra monies to charge for pet rent. Violates Limited Government and Free Enterprise. Does not promote a free market system, does not protect private property, and interferes with the terms of voluntary contracts.
4. AB 2319 Men Can Give Birth Law
The bill would require hospitals that provide perinatal or prenatal care to conduct initial training for all current and new health care providers on implicit bias that includes recognition of nonbinary persons and persons of transgender experience, i.e., all birthing people. Administrative penalties assessed by the department for non-compliance.
5. AB 2498 Illegal Immigrant Rental Subsidies
This bill would create a pilot grant program to provide rental subsidies for qualifying low-income individuals in six counties to reduce housing insecurity. The bill’s definition of “eligible population” include low-income individuals (who may be undocumented) with any of the following characteristics:
A former foster youth who qualifies for the Independent Living Program; an older adult, 55 years of age or older; an adult with disabilities; a person experiencing unemployment; an incarcerated person with a scheduled release date within 60 to 180 days and who is likely to experience homelessness upon release; a person experiencing homelessness; or a veteran.
The program would allow for counties or grantees to provide a subsidy to any eligible individuals in an amount necessary to cover the portion of the person’s rent to prevent them from falling into homelessness, not to exceed either $2,000 as a one-time subsidy or $2,000 per month for the duration of the pilot, or two years, whichever is longer.
6. ACA 10 – Socialized Housing for All
Right to housing. ”The state hereby recognizes the fundamental human right to adequate housing for everyone in California. It is the shared obligation of state and local jurisdictions to respect, protect, and fulfill this right, on a non-discriminatory and equitable basis, with a view to progressively achieve the full realization of the right, by all appropriate means, including the adoption and amendment of legislative measures, to the maximum of available resources.”
7. SB 1174 – Voter ID Ban
Prohibits local governments from enacting voter identification laws.
8. SB 957 – Who Are You Sleeping With Law
This bill REQUIRES the California State Department of Public Health to collect from health care providers, state agencies, schools and third parties information that was provided regarding voluntary self-identification of sexual orientation and gender identity.
9. SB 961 – Government as Your Backseat Driver Law
By 2029, 50% of vehicles must be equipped with a passive intelligent speed assistance system and mandatory for all vehicles by 2032. The system would give a brief, one-time, visual and audio signal to alert the driver each time the speed of the vehicle is more than 10 miles per hour over the speed limit.
This measure would repeal Prop 209 and would therefore reinstate affirmative action. Californians for Equal Rights Foundation wrote in opposition that “advocating for race/sex-based preferences distorts the principle of equal opportunity into an illiberal, social-engineering tool of equal outcome. Instead of focusing on tribal divisions and political favoritism, we should help all disadvantaged individuals regardless of race or gender. We should also make sure that every individual has equal access to public resources, and that our government provide institutional support that encourages American virtues of hard-work, initiative, self-discipline, and individual merit.
11. ACA 8 – Don’t Put Prisoners to Work
The California Constitution currently states “Involuntary servitude is prohibited except to punish crime.” This amendment would remove the phrase “except to punish crime”. This is the second time around for this amendment as it did not pass in the 2021-2023 session.
The Anti-Recidivism Coalition, a co-sponsor of this bill, wrote in support that, “Despite the Thirteenth Amendment outlawing slavery and involuntary servitude…” That letter deceptively left off in the actual Thirteenth Amendment’s phrase “except for the punishment of a crime”, which is the crux of the matter. By removing that same phrase from the California Constitution, inmates confined in any in-state institution could not be required to perform daily chores without falling under the state’s labor laws.
According to “the Assembly Appropriations Committee, the ongoing costs to the state in increased wages for inmate labor. In 2021, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation…reported it had nearly 65,000 work assignments for incarcerated persons…. If required to pay a minimum wage for inmate work, costs to pay inmates a minimum wage could be in the billions of dollars annually.” Cost to counties would also run in the millions of dollars.
The ultimate goal of propositions such as this was posted on the Communist Party USA website (since removed). It is to form labor unions within prisons, and as we see in ACA 4, for convicted felons to be given the right to vote. Also, labor unions are formed to negotiate for working conditions and wages. How much do we want to pay inmates to make their beds, cook, clean their rooms, and do their laundry?
12. SCA 2 – Create More Orphan Ballots Law
In addition to expanding their voter base by allowing incarcerated felons to vote via ACA 4, which is likely dead, this bill which is very much alive and would extend the right to vote to 17-year-olds. Now that the public education system has indoctrinated most students to a Marxist agenda, the Democratic Party wants to make certain they vote earlier than the current age 18.
HONORABLE MENTION
13. SCA 1 – Protect Politicians from Recalls Law
This bill would redefine a recall election of statewide officials to NOT include alternative candidates. Lt. Gov would serve until the next election.
No doubt polling has shown that Democrats being recalled would fare better if the voting public were not given the option of a more desirable Republican opponent.
The Progressive Fury at the Public’s Preference for Trump’s Economy Over Bidenomics
American progressives are in a state of high dudgeon, gnashing their teeth at the realization that the American people favor Donald Trump’s economy over Joe Biden’s. This strikes them as utterly irrational, and they’ve spent months concocting elaborate theories to explain why Americans just can’t see that we supposedly live in an economic utopia under Biden. But the reality is much simpler: we were better off under Trump.
In the annals of economic blunders, Biden’s presidency is fast securing a prominent spot. Despite the administration’s self-congratulatory rhetoric on job creation and recovery, the average American remains unimpressed.
A recent Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll reveals that 51 percent of respondents felt better off financially under Trump, compared to a meager 32 percent under Biden.
The issue at the forefront? The relentless surge in the cost of living, a direct consequence of Biden’s inflationary policies.
Inflation: A Biden-Made Crisis
Let’s be clear: inflation is Biden’s albatross. The president inherited an economy already on the mend, yet he pushed through a $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, ignoring clear warnings about its inflationary risks.
The Wall Street Journal’s James Freeman recently pointed out that Biden’s initial economic plan was based on serial deceptions:
His inauguration occurred during a stretch of fast growth and low inflation. Real GDP was growing at an annual rate of better than 5% during the quarter he took office. It has grown more slowly in the years since and of course with the additional plague of rising prices.
This is not just an issue of deceptive rhetoric. The deceptions of 2021 actually helped cause the resulting inflation. That’s because Mr. Biden’s false portrayal of an economy in distress was the justification for the spending spree he initiated despite warnings from prominent Democratic economists. The bogus claims have had highly destructive consequences.
In other words, Biden falsely claimed that Trump’s policies had left the economy in ruins during the campaign, and then he exaggerated the economic peril when he took office to justify a spending spree designed to placate his leftwing base and claim credit for a recovery already in motion. The Democrats feared that if the economy were allowed to recover without a big Biden bill, people might actually credit Trump with the rebound.
President Joe Biden gives a speech on Build Back Better agenda on October 25, 2021, in Kearny, New Jersey. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
It’s almost like a children’s fairytale aimed at teaching the dangerous consequences of dissembling. Biden’s first lie about the state of the economy at the time of the election more or less required his second lie about the necessity of a huge stimulus bill in 2021, which in turn required him to claim that inflation wasn’t a danger as it got started and then flip to claiming it would quickly fade once it was undeniable. And then, every time inflation dipped, Biden claimed inflation was defeated—only to see it re-emerge, forcing Biden into concocting fictions about “Putin’s price hikes” and “greedflation.”
More recently, Biden has repeatedly and falsely claimed that inflation was nine percent when he took office. In reality, the consumer price index was up just 1.4 percent year-over-year in January 2021. When the White House was confronted with this lie, it just fabricated another blameshifting tale about the “factors” of inflation being in place when Biden took office.
The Job Growth Mirage and the Income Dearth Reality
Biden’s cheerleaders love to tout the creation of 15 million jobs and a low unemployment rate. Most of those jobs, however, were not created so much as recovered due to the re-opening of the economy. We were always going to hire back millions of people into jobs once the shackles—in some cases, literally—came off the doors of American businesses.
Biden’s record looks less impressive when it is remembered that at the end of the third year of his presidency, the unemployment rate was 3.7 percent; and it was actually a bit lower (at 3.6 percent) in the third year of the Trump presidency. And while Biden’s supporters love to claim that Trump’s record on jobs is terrible because of the lockdown job losses, most Americans see this as the partisan hackery it is.
Americans know the 2020 spike in unemployment was not a result of Trump’s economic policies but because of the pandemic lockdowns. They probably suspect—correctly—that these pandemic job losses would have been even higher if a Democrat had been in the White House because the left was eager to close down the economy while Trump was somewhat reluctant to do so. Would we have been better off if Trump’s reluctance had instead been resistance to lockdowns? Probably. But that’s not a policy Biden can plausibly claim he would have supported.
Signs in the window of a business on Main Street in Walnut Creek, California, on March 24, 2020, announcing the store’s closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown orders. (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)
More importantly, Americans understand that their real incomes—that is, incomes after inflation—were far more improved under Trump than Biden. According to a devastating analysis by Bloomberg News running under the headline “Voters Prefer Trump Over Biden on Economy. This Data Shows Why,” real disposable personal income per capita under Biden has improved at only about a quarter of the pace set during the Trump years.
In the first three years of Trump’s presidency, real disposable income rose seven percent, compared to just two percent under Biden. Looking at all four years of Trump’s presidency, income rose 12.4 percent, whereas during Biden’s term, it’s expected to rise just 2.9 percent, assuming continued economic growth this year.
“Real disposable personal income per capita — money available to spend after taxes and adjusted for inflation — is a clear measure of standard of living. Under Biden, it’s improved, but on average only at about a quarter the pace set during the Trump years,” Bloomberg reports.
And then there is Biden’s inflation record. Consumer prices are cumulatively up 19.5 percent since Biden took office. At this point in Trump’s presidency, Americans had experienced cumulative inflation of just 5.6 percent. In short, we’ve had 350 percent more inflation under Biden than under Trump.
President Joe Biden speaks about the economy on January 12, 2023, in Washington, DC. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
Both presidents ran up huge deficits to finance COVID relief spending. Trump backed the $1.8 trillion CARES Act in March 2020, while Biden backed the $1.9 trillion American Relief Plan in March 2021. But the timing mattered. When Trump’s stimulus spending was passed, the economy was in free fall due to the lockdowns and social distancing. As a result, it didn’t pump up inflation much but did dramatically reduce unemployment and ignite growth. When Biden’s was passed, the economy was already growing rapidly—so the payoff in terms of growth and jobs was smaller while the inflation cost was enormous.
According to a survey from ABC News and IPSOS, Biden’s approval rating languishes at 35 percent, with 57 percent disapproving. Forty-three percent of Americans report being financially worse off under his administration, and a staggering 81 percent believe he is too old for another term.
On critical economic issues, Trump holds a commanding lead: a 14-point advantage on the economy and inflation. This preference isn’t irrational; it’s a straightforward assessment of who has delivered better economic results.
The Future of Interest Rates and Economic Growth
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, recently sidelined by COVID-19, has repeatedly said that bringing inflation down to the Fed’s two percent target will require patience. And he’s confident that inflation will fall to the Fed’s target—and that it will not require a serious economic downturn or outright recession.
Yet the root causes of our inflation woes—Biden’s early spending spree and his insistence at keeping deficits at levels unseen outside of wars, natural disasters, or serious recessions—remains unaddressed. Without a fundamental policy shift, inflation will persist, and interest rates are unlikely to fall, prolonging economic pain for everyday Americans.
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally on May 11, 2024, in Wildwood, New Jersey. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Progressives may continue to rationalize Biden’s economic policies, but the facts are indisputable. Under Trump, Americans enjoyed faster income growth, lower inflation, and a more robust economic environment. The preference for Trump’s economic stewardship is not nostalgia but a clear-eyed recognition of superior economic outcomes.
As we approach the 2024 election, voters are signaling a desire for a return to policies that prioritize economic growth and stability. The numbers and personal experiences of Americans underline the failures of the current administration and the urgent need for a change in direction.
What Trumps rally in NJ means to the political landscape. On to Maryland, Virginia, and yes Delaware. So what happens next? I have to believe that this Beach rally has the left scared big time.
Trump needs to hit Virginia Beach, Ocean City Maryland, and even Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Rallies in those areas would bring in folks from border states like NY, and PA. in the east, plus your southern states. It forces Biden to spend money in areas where he normally would not.
The 45th president added that New Jersey and Virginia are also in play as he looks to defeat Democrat President Joe Biden in a highly anticipated rematch of the 2020 general election.
“No president has had the run we’ve had in terms of creating jobs and bringing down inflation. It was 9% when I came to office — 9%,” the 81-year-old president said on Wednesday, when inflation was just 1.4% when he came into office in Jan. 2021.
Sacramento resident pumps gas at the Shell station on Del Paso Road. Sacramento Bee photo.
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Why is the state with the largest oil reserves have the highest gasoline prices? First it’s the taxes. Second it’s the lack of drilling off shore where they have a goldmine of reserves. And of course horizontal drilling (fracking ) is mostly non existent.
“From a demand perspective, we have entered the pre-Memorial Day funk,” said Andrew Gross, AAA spokesperson. “And the cost of a barrel of oil is nearly $10 less than two weeks ago, as oil prices have fallen into the upper $70s. This may keep pump prices somewhat flat for the immediate future.”
According to new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), gas demand rose slightly from 8.42 million b/d to 8.62 last week. Meanwhile, total domestic gasoline stocks increased by .4 million bbl to 227.1 million bbl. Tepid demand, increasing supply, and falling oil prices could lower pump prices.
Today’s national average is $3.67, 14 cents more than a month ago and 8 cents more than a year ago. Below is California as of May 3rd. I paid $3.09 yesterday here in Ohio.
Biden asks MSM to not report his asinine, lying, fake news, and mental lapses. Oh those weren’t his words, but that’s what he meant. Below are his words.
So he’s asking the media to not cover the truth or show his mental miscues and the weaponization of the justice department.
More of Biden’s lies.
“He said he wants to be a dictator on day one,” Biden told the crowd of journalists, lawmakers, celebrities and others, characterizing remarks Trump repeatedly made about the southern border and drilling efforts. “He promised a bloodbath when he loses again. We have to take this seriously. Eight years ago we could’ve written it off as just Trump talk but no longer.”
Here is Biden's message for the press corps: "I'm sincerely not asking you to take sides, but asking you to rise up to the seriousness of the moment." pic.twitter.com/9zyShUFbPk
Technicians check equipment installed at the Clearway Solar Power and Battery Energy Storage System in Daggett, Calif., in October. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
California has enough fossil fuel to power the whole country for who knows how long. But they continue to put their faith in wind and solar. Where are they today?
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday that while the state is continuing to add to its battery storage, it is not enough to avoid blackouts during heat waves, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Newsom said the state had battery storage systems with the capacity of 10,000 megawatts, 20% of the 52,000 megawatts California said is needed to meet climate goals, the Times reported. Newsom said California aims to have 100% clean energy by 2045.
Does my heart good to see our friends to the north will invest $300 million to a company that is drilling for oil and natural gas in my backyard. Encino Acquisition Partners LLC has secured a $300 million equity investment commitment from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to support the energy firm’s accelerated development of the oil play in Ohio’s Utica/Point Pleasant shale region, the company said.
The energy company has emerged as the largest oil producer in Ohio – its 78 wells across the state in 2023 produced 13.8 million barrels in 2023, or approximately half of total production.
Last year witnessed a dramatic leap in overall oil production statewide, according to ODNR. In 2023, horizontal wells across Ohio produced 27.7 million barrels of oil, a 41% increase from the 19.6 million barrels produced in 2022 and a nearly 70% increase from the 16.4 million barrels produced in 2021.
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