US: Michigan (News/Activism)
-
“From L.A. to Rafah, there is one common oppressor — Death to the colonial empire,” warned Isra Hirsi, daughter of Minnesota “Squad” member Rep. Ilhan Omar, in a viral Instagram post praising anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles while linking U.S. immigration enforcement with the Gaza conflict, and casting both the U.S. and Israel as colonial powers to be violently dismantled.
-
A Detroit high school student who was detained by federal agents last month was denied a request to pause his deportation, according to his attorney. The Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, which represents 18-year-old Maykol Bogoya-Duarte, said it received a notice from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Wednesday. "While we are angry and sad about this decision, we are heartened by the overwhelming support for Maykol shown by so many of you — fellow students, educators, neighbors, friends, faith leaders, community members, elected officials, and the DPSCD Board of Education. In the words of Maykol's mother, 'mil mil gracias,'" the...
-
A possible mass shooting plot at a Michigan graduation ceremony was thwarted, authorities said, and police are searching for one of the suspects who remains at large. The apparent plot was revealed after authorities responded to a fight that broke out during the Arts and Technology Academy of Pontiac graduation, which was held Tuesday at a business in Pontiac, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said. "A person approached our deputies and gave them information that a family member had told them that they had seen on Snapchat a threat to shoot up this graduation ceremony," Bouchard said at a news...
-
Maine could be the first state to withdraw from the compact aimed at abolishing the Electoral College. In a stunning reversal of last year's misguided attempt to overthrow the Electoral College, Maine’s House of Representatives recently voted to withdraw the state from the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC). Three Democrats and two Independents joined Republicans in the vote for withdrawal. The NPVIC is an agreement among member states and the District of Columbia to award their electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the national popular vote once states with a majority of electoral votes join. Democrats created...
-
Yunqing Jian, 33, first entered the country on a fraudulently obtained F1 student visa, the FBI says One of the two Chinese nationals arrested for allegedly smuggling a toxic crop-killing pathogen, which also has devastating health effects on humans, stuffed the noxious fungus into her boots while entering the United States in 2022, documents show. According to an arrest affidavit for University of Michigan post-doctoral research fellow Yunqing Jian and her boyfriend, Zunyong Liu, Jian first brought Fusarium graminearum, described as a "potential agroterrorism weapon" in scientific literature, in August 2022. A transcribed WeChat conversation between Jian and Liu shows...
-
A Chinese national couple was hit with criminal charges Tuesday for allegedly smuggling a dangerous fungus into the US capable of destroying crops and poisoning humans and livestock. Zunyong Liu, 34, was caught by US Customs and Border Protection officers attempting to smuggle Fusarium graminearum – a biological pathogen considered to be “a potential agroterrorism weapon” – into the US via the Detroit Metropolitan Airport last July, according to a criminal complaint filed in a federal court in the Eastern District of Michigan. Liu initially made false statements about his visit to the US and his knowledge of the pathogen...
-
The Justice Department on Tuesday charged two Chinese researchers with attempting to smuggle a fungus dubbed "Fusarium graminearum," into the U.S. which it claimed scientific research "classifies as a potential agroterrorism weapon." The two researchers, identified as 33-year-old Yunqing Jian and 34-year-old Zunyong Liu, were allegedly receiving funding from the Chinese government for their research, and were allegedly citizens of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The pair, who were supposedly dating, allegedly lied to U.S. officials about the fungus in Detroit last year, with Liu stating he did not know how the material ended up in his luggage. He...
-
DETROIT — Federal agents have arrested a University of Michigan scholar from China on charges she tried to smuggle a biological pathogen into the U.S. characterized as a potential agricultural terrorism weapon that can be used for targeting food crops. The FBI counterintelligence case against UM scholar Yunqing Jian, 33, and her boyfriend, 34-year-old Zunyong Liu, was unsealed in federal court in Detroit on Tuesday and marks the second time in less than a week a Chinese national with ties to the university has been charged with federal crimes. On Friday, prosecutors unsealed a criminal case against a former University...
-
On Jan. 19, Haoxiang Gao boarded a Delta flight from Detroit International Airport to Shanghai, China, using a different Chinese passport than the one he surrendered. A Chinese student at the University of Michigan fled to China after being charged with illegal voting in the 2024 election, according to the FBI.In October, while attending the university as a foreign national student, Haoxiang Gao turned himself in after allegedly being registered to vote and casting a ballot in the general election in Michigan. Gao was charged with two felonies: false swearing to register to vote and trying to vote as an...
-
MI State Rep. James DeSana (R-Carleton) today held a press conference to announce the introduction of House Resolution 118, which contains three Articles of Impeachment against Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. “As a legislator and lifelong Michigan resident, it is my belief that we are dealing with the most lawless Secretary of State in Michigan history,” said Rep. DeSana. “Not only has she flaunted numerous Michigan laws, but Michigan courts have ruled against her on seven separate occasions.” The Articles cite numerous instances in which DeSana alleges Secretary Benson violated state and federal election laws, abused her authority, and...
-
*** Here’s an early look at the five Senate seats most likely to flip next year.Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff (Ga.) is considered the most vulnerable Democrat on the Senate map …. But ... Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) decided against a Senate bid, depriving the GOP of its top choice across the entire 2026 map. *** ... Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) is in, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) is out, and operatives believe Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) may follow Carter into the primary. ***NorthCarolina If Democrats are going to make any headway toward winning back the majority, toppling Sen. Thom...
-
…In the days since special counsel Robert Hur released a report that described Biden’s memory as “significantly limited,” presidential appointees and friendly lawmakers have been stepping forward one by one to attest to his acuity. Biden asks “pertinent questions” and cares about “minute details,” they’ve told news outlets. He is “very engaging” and detail-oriented. The White House went so far as to put out a memo name-checking senior officials from both parties who’ve said they found Biden to be mentally sharp. For all the people vouching for Biden, some prominent Democrats aren’t persuaded that the approach will ease concerns about...
-
Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, citizens of the People’s Republic of China, were allegedly receiving Chinese government funding for their research, some of which at the University of Michigan, officials said. "The complaint also alleges that Jian’s electronics contain information describing her membership in and loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party. It is further alleged that Jian’s boyfriend, Liu, works at a Chinese university where he conducts research on the same pathogen and that he first lied but then admitted to smuggling Fusarium graminearum into America -- through the Detroit Metropolitan Airport -- so that he could conduct...
-
Two Chinese nationals have been charged with allegedly smuggling into the U.S. a fungus called "Fusarium graminearum, which scientific literature classifies as a potential agroterrorism weapon," the Justice Department said Tuesday. Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, citizens of the People’s Republic of China, were allegedly receiving Chinese government funding for their research, some of which at the University of Michigan, the Justice Department said.
-
A man has been acquitted of murder in a deadly shooting near downtown Grand Rapids a year ago. Xavier Ramos of Grand Rapids stood trial last week on charges of open murder and felony firearms in the death of Eliot Flores. Late Friday afternoon, jurors returned a verdict of not guilty. Ramos has since been released from jail. Flores was shot in the early hours of June 2, 2024, near the intersection of Cesar E. Chavez Avenue and Cherry Street SW and died at the scene. Ramos claimed self-defense. ...
-
The Supreme Court unanimously decided on Thursday to limit environmental reviews for major infrastructure projects in a case that will have sweeping impacts on President Donald Trump’s energy agenda. In a move that will restrict power of federal judges, Thursday’s decision reduces the scope of reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to focus solely on immediate impacts. Under NEPA, federal agencies are required to study any potentially significant environmental consequences of federal permits for infrastructure projects. “NEPA does not allow courts, ‘under the guise of judicial review’ of agency compliance with NEPA, to delay or block agency projects...
-
"I am horrified by last night's horrific attack in Boulder. My heart is with the victims and our Jewish communities across the country. Antisemitism is on the rise here at home, and we have a moral responsibility to confront and stop it everywhere it exists," she posted. Other members of the "Squad," a coalition of progressive House Democrats, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, had not issued a statement about the attack in Boulder as of 11:30 a.m. Newsweek reached out to spokespersons for Ocasio-Cortez, Omar and Tlaib for comment via email.
-
Thanks to a recent tip from an anonymous source, STOPP was able to view grant contracts between Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services and Planned Parenthood of Michigan for 2024-2025, confirming just how much this Planned Parenthood affiliate received from DHHS for its “services” and programs. These contracts also show that through Michigan’s DHHS, Michigan residents are the ones actually funding Planned Parenthood, whether they would consent to it or not. But what did these grants go to exactly? STOPP examined each document, so you don’t have to, and provided our summaries below: Grant #1: Michigan DHHS granted PPMI...
-
President Donald Trump said Wednesday he would look at pardoning the men convicted in a scheme to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and swiped at the legitimacy of the case, which was brought during his first term. “I will take a look at it. It’s been brought to my attention,” Trump said while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office during the swearing-in of Jeanine Pirro, the new U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C. He said that he had watched the trial and that “it looked to me like somewhat of a railroad job.” "You know, they were drinking, and I...
-
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal brought by 11 Michigan lawmakers seeking to challenge controversial changes to state election law pushed through by progressive groups in 2018 and 2022. Left-wing groups took millions in ‘dark money’ to run statewide referendums to eliminate all voter integrity laws and make challenging elections extremely difficult. The funds could have come from anywhere, and well-known loopholes in campaign finance law allow ‘layering’ so that foreign governments and left-wing billionaires can donate funds to non-profits and then have those funds eventually transferred to 501(c)4 entities that can engage in ballot...
|
|
|