Free Republic

The Canadian Trucker protest has spread outside of Ottawa and has now traveled to the largest border crossing in North America, which carries a tad bit more than a quarter of all trade between the two countries. For the past three or four days, the Ambassador Bridge which connects Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario, has experienced bottlenecks and even closed due to the trucker protests. The protests have also slowed traffic at Port Huron. Michigan, and Sarnia, Windsor, crossing at the Blue Water Bridge, a bit up the road (about 70 miles) on I-94 East.Simply put, it is marvelous to...

Ford Motor Co. plans to suspend or cut production at eight assembly plants in the U.S., Mexico and Canada throughout next week because of microchip supply constraints, a spokeswoman said. The plants produce some of Ford's biggest sellers and most popular vehicles, including the Ford-150, Ranger, Bronco, Explorer and Mustang Mach-E. The changes come a day after the automaker warned the ongoing chip shortage would lead to a decline in first-quarter vehicle production. ...

(The Center Square) – A defense attorney for one of the five men accused of plotting to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer asked in a new filing that the court require the government to obtain orders of use immunity of the FBI agents and confidential human sources. Scott Graham, the attorney for alleged extremist Kaleb Franks, wrote that the “illegal and unethical” use of confidential informants complicates the case. The request follows three lead sting FBI agents who won’t be testifying in the March 8 trial in Grand Rapids. Former lead FBI agent Richard Trask was arrested on a domestic violence...

A defendant in the Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping case has moved to introduce evidence related to the use of federal informants in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill breach, arguing that the FBI’s refusal to answer basic questions about such activities demonstrates a “consciousness of guilt” by the government. The Jan. 14 motion from Kaleb Franks comes as he and four other defendants seek to have their charges dismissed on entrapment grounds. With their trial set for March 8, an attorney for Franks has made numerous motions related to the FBI’s use of at least 12 informants in the...

The media went wild last week after Joe Biden’s Justice Department finally produced a criminal indictment to support the claim that January 6 was an “insurrection” planned by militiamen loyal to Donald Trump: Eleven members of the Oath Keepers, including its founder, Stewart Rhodes, face the rarely used charge of seditious conspiracy for their brief and nonviolent involvement at the Capitol protest that day. Journalists luxuriated in the news, jeering those of us who had correctly noted that the Justice Department had failed to charge anyone with insurrection or sedition for more than a year. But the press does not...

The Flint, MI lead water crisis caught the attention of Americans to a degree that is rarely seen these days on local issues. The media picked up on it because it had everything that makes for a compelling story: vulnerable children, racial injustice, corrupt bureaucrats and city officials, lawsuits, and outraged citizens. But few people know that a failure to understand basic chemistry is at the heart of the water crisis that unfolded in Flint.

Oakland County sheriff officials blamed the county prosecutor Friday for the parents of the suspect in the Oxford High School mass shooting being on the lam."In my entire 44-year career, I have never, ever seen a prosecutor announce charges in a major case without the suspect being in custody first," Oakland Undersheriff Mike McCabe told the Free Press.Oakland County Undersheriff Michael McCabe and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer speak to the media about the Oxford High School shooting."We don't let people turn themselves in," he said. "When a warrant is authorized by a judge, we go and get them."The tragic and deadly...

Sheriff’s Office says 4-6 wounded after shooting at Oxford, Michigan High School Shooter in custody Multiple people were injured in a shooting Tuesday at Oxford High School in Michigan. The shooter is in custody, according to Michael McCabe, undersheriff with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office. A handgun was also located, he said. The shooting happened just before 1 p.m. McCabe said between four to six people have been injured and there are no confirmed fatalities at this time. The conditions of those who were injured are not known. The scene remains active with multiple police, ambulances and SWAT at the...

Several people have been wounded and a suspected gunman is in custody following a shooting at a Michigan high school on Tuesday. Authorities responded to reports of an active shooting at Oxford High School at 12:55 p.m., according to local media reports. The shooter was detained at the scene in Oxford, about 30 miles north of Detroit, the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said. Between four and six people were injured in the shooting. It is unclear if the victims were shot or suffered other injuries in the ordeal.

The Biden administration is sending 44 medical personnel from the U.S. military to support two hospital systems in the state of Michigan, state officials said Wednesday.The U.S. Department of Defense will send two medical teams, each comprising 22 doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists, who are expected to arrive next week, according to a Michigan Department of Health and Human Services news release.The teams will assist health care workers at Beaumont Hospital in Dearborn and Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids in dealing with the growing number of COVID-19 cases in the state, as hospitals across Michigan suffer from a lack of...

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) faces a statewide hospital crowding crisis as roughly 85 percent of both Michigan’s inpatient and intensive care unit (ICU) hospital beds were occupied at the time of the state’s latest PPE and Bed Tracking data release. Of the states 22,745 inpatient hospital beds, 19,233 were occupied, accounting for 84.5 percent of Michigan’s total inpatient beds. The data, released on November 24, shows just 3,512 inpatient hospital beds were available statewide. Moreover, 2,651 of Michigan’s 3,114 ICU beds were occupied, accounting for 85.1 percent of intensive care beds statewide.

Florida's Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis may be vindicated for his refusal to impose pandemic lockdowns, as well as vaccine and mask mandates, after the Sunshine State posted the lowest number of new COVID-19 cases and deaths per capita in the nation. On Friday, the Sunshine State reported 1,393 new cases of COVID-19, roughly six cases per every 100,000 residents. The state also reported just one death in the past week. By contrast, Michigan leads the nation in daily coronavirus cases per capita - with a 7-day rolling average of 560 per 100,000 residents - despite Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer imposing...

The federal government plans to send 44 military medical workers to Michigan to assist hospitals treating coronavirus patients during a fourth surge that has become the worst in the nation, according to state health officials. “It also will open beds at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Detroit for transfers. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer sought the assistance at the request of the Michigan Health & Hospital Association,” the Associated Press (AP) reported Wednesday.

A federal judge ruled against Michigan's request to remand its lawsuit against the Line 5 pipeline back to a state court, delivering a win for Canadian operator Enbridge Energy. U.S. District Judge Janet Neff on Tuesday ruled the case was properly within federal court jurisdiction, rejecting Michigan's arguments that because its suit was brought on the basis of state laws that it belongs in state court...

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has vetoed a bill that aimed to forgive state-issued COVID-19 fines if the employer corrected the violation. The bill would have also required the state to refund companies that already paid fines. Whitmer vetoed House Bill 4501 on Veteran’s Day, saying it would violate the minimum requirements set by the federal government. "When a state fails to maintain the minimum standard, it loses control over enforcement of workplace standards," the Democratic governor wrote.

New motion for discovery filed in the Governor Whitmer Kidnapping Plot case against Brandon Caserta reveals serious wrongdoing by FBI agents.

The White House has no plans to shut down a disputed Great Lakes pipeline that brings some 500,000 barrels of crude oil from Canada into the U.S. each day, a spokeswoman said Nov. 9.Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ordered the Line 5 pipeline to be shut down last year.She said the Calgary-based company that operates it, Enbridge, violated an easement granted decades ago to run a section along state-owned land below the straits of Mackinac.Enbridge sued claiming the pipeline is a federal matter.On Oct. 4, Canada backed Enbridge by invoking a 1977 transit pipelines treaty to stall the litigation.White House deputy...

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) vetoed Republican-sponsored school choice bills passed by both the state House and Senate that would have helped low-income families obtain scholarships they could use to leave failing neighborhood public schools. In her veto letter Friday, Whitmer called the legislation a “catastrophic failure,” according to a report at mlive.com:

administration has produced a clownish energy policy. It is simultaneously suppressing petroleum production in the U.S. and begging Saudi Arabia and Russia to produce more. This is idiotic, but Jennifer Granholm apparently thinks it’s funny. You might think the administration’s energy policies couldn’t possibly get worse. But now the New York Times reports: “Biden Administration Plans Wind Farms Along Nearly the Entire U.S. Coastline.” The Biden administration announced on Wednesday a plan to develop large-scale wind farms along nearly the entire coastline of the United States, the first long-term strategy from the government to produce electricity from offshore turbines. Speaking...

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration has reportedly burned notes and destroyed emails from a coronavirus probe targeting the City of Port Huron for violating state rules. According to the Detroit News, state Inspector Matthew Hartman of the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA) fined the City of Port Huron $6,300 after visiting on July 21 due to a complaint. The complaint reportedly alleged the city violated the state’s coronavirus rules.