Free Republic

A Michigan state lawmaker who has faced months of legal woes is now facing two additional charges after authorities say he snuck a handcuff key into a county jail. Rep. Jewell Jones, 26, a Democrat from Inkster, was caught literally with his pants down during an alleged drunk driving spree on April 6th. That fiasco was said by authorities to have involved an unknown woman and a vehicle which ended up off the road. During that incident, a belligerent Jones was caught on video arguing with state troopers and at times hurling racial slurs toward them when the authorities showed...

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) is more than 30 points ahead of her closest Republican challengers following the shake-up of the GOP candidate field, according to a new poll. The poll, conducted by Target Insyght and published by Deadline Detroit, showed Whitmer with a 34-point lead over businessman Kevin Rinke and real estate broker Ryan Kelley, a 36-point lead over chiropractor Garrett Soldano, a 37-point lead over conservative media personality Tudor Dixon, and a 39-point lead over pastor Ralph Rebandt.

The following exclusive drop box footage from the Balduck satellite voting center in Detroit, MI, was obtained by the Gateway Pundit and 100 Percent Fed Up: On October 28, 2020, at 4:35, a female driving a blue Toyota with a red air freshener hanging from her rear-view mirror drove up to an absentee ballot drop box at the Balduck satellite voting center in Detroit, MI. A female passenger emerges from her vehicle with a large stack of what appears to be absentee ballots. The female passenger struggles to deposit multiple ballots at one time into the drop box slot and...

The 22-year-old suspect who recorded himself repeatedly striking a 75-year-old vet in the head will not face criminal charges in connection with the attack. What are the details? Authorities say Jadon Hayden pummeled Norman Bledsoe while the two shared a room at the Westwood Nursing Center in Detroit, Michigan, in 2020. Hayden also reportedly recorded the attack. According to a report from WXYZ-TV, Hayden — who is said to have diagnoses of both autism and schizophrenia — pummeled Bledsoe, beating him until he bled from his head. In the graphic video, Hayden said, "See this b**** a** n**** here? Get...

Two of Michigan’s top Democrats are neck-and-neck with Republican opponents in their races for reelection this year, according to a new GOP internal polling memo. The poll was conducted by ARW Strategies from April 18 to 20, and the results were released Thursday by Republican Matthew DePerno, who is hoping to unseat Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) in November.

It appears Jayson Chambers, one of the key FBI Agents involved in the entrapment effort, did just that. Why? n 2017, Steven Crowder, a conservative activist and host of a popular YouTube channel, infiltrated Antifa with his producer. Weeks before a speaking engagement by Ben Shapiro at the University of Utah—an event Antifa planned to disrupt violently—Crowder worked his way into the group through the use of burner phones and encrypted chats. Crowder secretly recorded discussions between Antifa thugs promising to use “plain clothes and hard tactics” to shut down Shapiro’s speech on September 28, 2017. This included distributing weapons...

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – A federal prosecutor withdrew Tuesday from the case of a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, days after two men were acquitted and the jury couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict for two more. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Roth notified the judge in a brief court filing. He's not required to give a reason. ... Roth was one of two prosecutors at the high-profile trial of Adam Fox, Barry Croft Jr., Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta. He gave the opening statement, saying the men wanted to kidnap Whitmer and create a “war zone here in Michigan,”...

In a shocking defeat for prosecutors, the Whitmer trial in Michigan ends with zero convictions. Was the plot a legitimate plan or FBI entrapment

The Democratic governor has called on the Republican-led state legislature to repeal the abortion ban.After the Michigan governor sued Thursday asking a court to find that the state constitution includes the right to abortion, the state’s Catholic conference urged that the state’s laws, and judicial precedence, be respected. “It is unfortunate that the judicial branch is being used to try to invalidate a long-standing policy approved by elected representatives and left untouched by the legislature for nearly a century since,” Rebecca Mastee, a policy advocate at the Michigan Catholic Conference, said April 7. “Let us also recall that the people...

The only people pushing to do something big before Election Day resided in the J. Edgar Hoover Building in Washington, D.C. On October 8, 2020, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced shocking news: federal authorities had arrested several men for conspiring to kidnap and possibly kill her before Election Day. After indulging in a moment of self-pity, Whitmer quickly pinned the blame on President Trump, a man with whom Whitmer had engaged in a very public feud throughout 2020 over pandemic-related lockdowns. Trump, Whitmer claimed, fueled the rage of alleged white supremacists and right-wing militias responsible for the dastardly abduction plot....

In a shocking twist, a gaggle of white men accused of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in the weeks before the 2020 presidential election dodged convictions on Friday. After five days of deliberations, a Michigan jury acquitted Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta of several charges, including conspiracy, for what prosecutors said was a depraved scheme born out of anti-government anger at the Democratic leader’s COVID-19 restrictions. The jury, however, could not come to a consensus on the other two defendants and alleged ring leaders of the plot—Adam Fox and Barry Croft—and thus their cases may end in a...

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich (WOOD)--A federal jury continued its deliberations Friday in the trial of four men accused of plotting to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer over handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. The jury said Friday morning that it has come to a decision on some counts but was so far locked on others. The jury asked the judge how it should proceeed. U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker asked the jury to keep deliberating...

Grand Rapids. Mich. (WOOD)--While the jury in the governor kidnapping conspiracy trial has deliberated in room in downtown Grand Rapids for four days, the nearby federal courtroom has been mostly empty, except for relatives of the suspects. Families of Daniel Harris, Brandon Caserta and Adam Fox have sat on the wooden benches on the "defense" side of the sixth-floor courtroom of Chief U.S. District Court Judge Robert J. Jonker, some working on word puzzles, all waiting for any word, brought together by the alleged deeds of their sons or brothers. Barry Croft Jr, who is from Delaware, is the only...

The move comes as Democratic governors across the nation brace for decisions about abortion access to be left to states for the first time in more than 50 years, a potentially critical issue that is likely to resonate in the midterm elections. Whitmer is preemptively suing 13 elected county prosecutors in Michigan who have an abortion clinic within their jurisdiction, a move intended to circumvent a 1931 Michigan abortion law that would ban abortion even in cases of rape or incest. The law, which is still on the books, is currently not in effect because the federal 1973 ruling in...

ANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Friday vetoed Republicans' proposal to permanently cut the state income tax, make more seniors eligible for deductions and restore a child tax credit, saying it would reduce funding for basic government services. The veto, which was expected, may prompt negotiations between GOP legislative leaders and the Democratic governor, who has called for more targeted tax breaks for retirees and lower-wage workers....... While Michigan has a $7 billion budget surplus, her administration says it is largely one-time revenue that cannot be counted on in future years..... “This plan would have cut taxes for...

The University of Michigan has apologized for sending an email calling for “the advancement” of “anti-Semitism.” “If we are to become a more diverse, equitable and inclusive University, we must continue our journey and renew our commitment to this work, which includes the advancement of anti-racism, anti-ableism, anti-Semitism, gender equity and building a climate resistant to sexual misconduct,” the email read, in part. The school apologized for the email, and a second email was sent out which added the word “dismantling” in front of “anti-Semitism:” “Earlier today an e-mail was sent to our campus community outlining our commitment to the...

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signaled Friday she will veto Republican-sponsored legislation that would freeze Michigan's 27-cents-per-gallon gasoline and diesel taxes for six months amid high prices at the pump.

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — They railed against politicians, conducted military-style exercises and spoke darkly of confronting tyrants scheming to seize their guns and enslave them. Yet historian JoEllen Vinyard says the “citizen militia” activists she got to know in the 1990s didn’t seem like the types who would abduct a governor or stage a coup. “I don’t think they were dangerous,” said Vinyard, an Eastern Michigan University professor emeritus and author of a book about far-right movements in the state. “They reminded me of the good old boys I knew growing up in Nebraska.” But as four men charged...

Bloomberg News co-founder Matthew Winkler is twisting numbers again to try to make leftists look like economic wizards. This time, he went to bat for Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) who imposed tyrannical COVID-19 shutdown policies on her constituents. Winkler’s blog celebrating Whitmer Feb. 16 was headlined, “‘Woman in Michigan’ Governs the No. 1 Economy.” Winkler fawned, in part, about how Whitmer’s economic policies“outperformed the U.S. when Trump was in the White House and continues to do so 15 months after voters rejected his bid for a second term.” He claimed that “Among 37 states with a population greater than...

In a recent Detroit News opinion piece, Governor Gretchen Whitmer opined that she released her Fiscal Year 2023 budget - a budget bolstered by nearly $5 billion in federal funds left over from prior COVID relief. Despite her political talking points, Governor Whitmer’s budget isn’t a reflection of savvy negotiations or sound business principles - she’s merely playing Santa Claus with federal giveaway dollars in an attempt to salvage Michigan’s economy after her policies devastated our small businesses and workers. As she touts her spending spree, it is important to remember what Governor Whitmer has done before and during the...