Tag: michigan

Holton Township, Michigan establishes its own MILITIA to protect second amendment and declares it will not enforce new red-flag laws restricting gun ownership

A Michigan township has established its own militia to protect the Second Amendment rights of its 2,500 citizens.

Holton Township, in Muskegon County, passed a Second Amendment Resolution on Tuesday night establishing itself as a ‘Second Amendment Sanctuary’. 

The resolution included an addendum establishing their very own militia. 

Under the changes, all legal residents with primary residence within Holton now have the opportunity to join the militia but must adhere to federal firearm checks. 

The town said they are adopting policies ‘necessary for the security and rights of Holton Township residents.’

‘The people of Holton Township, through their duly elected members of the Holton Township Board, hereby designate Holton Township as a Second Amendment Sanctuary in order to preserve for the people of, on and in Holton Township, the inalienable rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States of America,’ the resolution reads. 

‘The Holton Township Board hereby declares its intent to oppose any infringement on the right of law abiding citizens to keep and bear arms. 

‘We, the people of Holton Township, hereby declare our inalienable rights, our freedom and our Liberty as guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States of America.’ 

The addendum laid out conditions for residents wishing to join the militia. 

Residents must be over the age of 18, have passed a federal firearms background check and state on open social media or by letter that they wish to join the militia. 

The addendum also says that the township will not acknowledge any new laws that are associated with red flag laws. 

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Michigan Lawmakers Signed Nondisclosure Agreements, Can’t Discuss Corporate Welfare Scheme

When a state gives away tax money to a private company in an attempt to sway its business decisions, the least that a taxpayer can hope for is some openness in the process.

Unfortunately, the state of Michigan’s economic development agency is actively preventing transparency, leaving questions on how the state plans to spend billions of taxpayer dollars unanswered.

In December 2021, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, signed legislation establishing the Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve (SOAR) program, intended “to ensure the state can compete for billions of dollars in investment and attract tens of thousands of jobs to bolster our economy.” SOAR funds would be disbursed with approval from the state Senate Appropriations Committee and would benefit companies that chose to do business in the Great Lake State.

As Reason reported in May, SOAR disbursed $1.4 billion in its first 18 months, all to benefit companies making electric vehicles, batteries, or battery components.

This week, Beth LeBlanc of The Detroit News reported that since its founding, “at least 163 individuals or entities have signed non-disclosure agreements” (NDAs) related to SOAR projects. The agreements were required by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), which manages the SOAR program.

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Suspect arrested in murder of Jewish synagogue leader Samantha Woll in Detroit was released because cops FAILED to file paperwork – including warrant for arrest

A suspect arrested in connection with the stabbing death of a prominent Jewish community leader was released after cops did not file the necessary paperwork, prosecutors have confirmed.

The revelation, offered this week by the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, comes almost a month after 40-year-old Samantha Woll was found stabbed to death outside her Detroit home, spurring an investigation that led to the suspect’s arrest.

On Friday, after being held for 72 hours, the suspect was released – days after the city’s police chief announced to reporters they had taken in a person of interest, without specifying what led to their arrest.

A dayslong interrogation ensued, culminating with the suspect being cut loose. The decision was reportedly made after the suspect made an ‘ambiguous’ statement to cops – one that sources told The Detroit News was not enough to warrant charges.

A warrant was never filed, and the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office’s hands were tied. A spokesperson for the office confirmed the situation in a brief statement.

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Michigan Marijuana Tax Revenue Grew By 49% Over The Past Year, Surpassing Alcohol Earnings

Sales of legal marijuana in Michigan contributed $266.2 million in tax revenue to the government during the most recent fiscal year, according to a new report from the legislature’s nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency. That’s more than the state made from the sale of beer, wine and liquor combined.

Tax from sales of adult-use cannabis were up 49.1 percent in fiscal year 2022–23, which ended in October, compared to $178.6 million collected the year before. That amounted to an additional $87.6 million in state revenue from cannabis sales compared to the prior 12 months.

Of all the major tax revenues itemized in the House Fiscal Agency report published last week, none grew at a faster rate than cannabis revenue.

Adult-use marijuana products are subject to a 10 percent state excise tax, which accounts for the $266.2 million. Products also incur the state’s standard 6 percent sales tax, which works out to an additional $159.7 million in revenue from legal marijuana transactions.

Looking at the cannabis excise tax alone, marijuana was responsible for nearly 0.8 percent of total state revenue recorded in the annual report. Including sales tax, the share works out to about 1.3 percent of total revenue.

The marijuana excise tax brought in more money for the state last fiscal year than alcohol taxes, which contributed about $192.6 million total—$46.6 million from beer and wine and $146 million from liquor That’s a shift from fiscal 2021–22, when combined alcohol taxes brought in roughly $12.9 million more revenue than cannabis.

By contrast, marijuana revenue amounted to less than half of the $722.2 million Michigan made from tobacco taxes in the most recent fiscal year.

In October 2023 alone, the marijuana excise tax produced $52.4 million in tax revenue—more than any other single source aside from sales and use taxes, income taxes, insurance taxes and tobacco taxes.

Michigan voters approved adult-use marijuana legalization in 2018, with legal sales beginning the next year.

The state has set sales records even as the average cost of marijuana has remained at record lows, with the price of an ounce for adult-use cannabis now hovering around $98 just a few months ago. In December 2021, by contrast, the cost of an ounce was about $180.

Last month, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) signed a pair of bills into law to allow state-licensed marijuana businesses to conduct trade with tribal cannabis entities. Both took effect immediately.

“The bills are intended to allow for the sale of product between the two types of businesses while maintaining a level playing field by requiring tribal businesses to pay the same tax rate as other businesses,” according to an analysis prepared by House staff.

Michigan is one of several states where cannabis tax has earned more revenue than taxes on alcohol.

During the most recent fiscal year in Illinois, for example, legal cannabis brought in $451.9 million—about $135.6 million more than alcohol.

Colorado last year state generated more income from marijuana than alcohol or cigarettes—and nearly as much as alcohol and tobacco combined.

Similar milestones have been seen in Arizona and Washington State.

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City council candidate doubles down on saying Holocaust was Israel’s ‘advance punishment’

A Michigan candidate for city council is doubling down on comments he made about Jews and the Holocaust as well as child marriage and homosexuality, the Detroit Metro Times reported.

Nasr Hussain, who is running for a seat on the Hamtramck City Council, made posts on Facebook where he said the Holocaust was “advance punishment” for Israel’s “savagery” against Palestinians in the wake of the Oct. 7 terror attacks by Hamas.

“A heinous act proving that they’re as savage and cruel as the Nazis themselves who tormented them, or maybe even worse,” Hussain posted in a Facebook group.

He also defended child marriage.

“She was betrothed at six, marriage consummated at nine after reaching puberty and giving her consent,” Hussain wrote in response to a news story about a child getting married to an adult man. “Women reach puberty between 8 and 12. If she was ok with it and her parents were ok with it why does it bother you.”

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Should Governments Need a Warrant To Spy on You With a Drone?

A Michigan township sued a local family over a minor zoning violation, but the case could determine whether governments can spy on citizens without warrants. Today, the Michigan Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments on the case.

Todd and Heather Maxon live in Long Lake Township, on five acres of land with two garages. Todd likes to work on cars, so he keeps some on the property. In 2008, the township sued, accusing them of storing “junk,” a zoning violation. In exchange for dropping the charges, the couple agreed not to expand their collection. Neighbors later complained that the Maxons had indeed acquired more cars, but the collection was not visible from the road.

Instead of getting a warrant—or, since nothing was visible from the road, dropping the issue altogether—the township hired a private drone company to fly over the property and take pictures several times between 2010 and 2018. Citing the pictures, the township sued the Maxons for violating the agreement.

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Michigan Lawmaker Renews Push To Legalize Certain Psychedelic Plants And Fungi

A bill recently introduced in Michigan would legalize psychedelic plants and fungi so long as activities like cultivating and distributing the substances are done “without receiving money or other valuable consideration.”

Senate Bill 449, sponsored by Sen. Jeff Irwin (D), would apply to five substances—psilocybin, psilocyn, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), ibogaine and mescaline—along with the plants and fungi known to produce them. If approved, it would exempt individuals from penalties for possession and use of the substances as well as noncommercial manufacturing, processing and delivery.

Simple possession of any of the covered substances is currently a misdemeanor in the state.

Irwin, who introduced a similar bill in 2021, told Marijuana Moment in an interview Thursday that it’s urgent lawmakers revisit the proposal, noting the potential of psychedelics to treat PTSD, depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions, especially in veterans. He called the prospective policy change “just simply good public policy.”

“This is a reintroduction of an important policy that hasn’t gotten its due consideration in Michigan or most other states,” he said. “These are substances that have a long history of use by humans in medicinal, religious and cultural practices. Furthermore, these substances do not have a high propensity for abuse, nor are they physiologically very damaging.”

Irwin acknowledged there’s “a long road ahead of us in terms of passing this bill,” but he said he’s optimistic that, over time, advocates will win over hesitant lawmakers.

At the local level, several municipal governments in Michigan have moved to decriminalize psychedelics, including Detroit, Ann Arbor, Ferndale and Hazel Park. Only Massachusetts has seen more local jurisdictions pass the reform.

Last year, a group of activists failed to qualify a psychedelics legalization initiative for the ballot, saying they will refocus their efforts on the 2024 election.

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Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer received email in Greek from consultant to shield it from the public: lawsuit

Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer received a coded email related to her administration’s response to a local water crisis in an apparent attempt to hide the sensitive communication from the public, a lawsuit alleges. 

The email was disguised in Greek alphabet font and sent by Andrew Leavitt, a consultant to Michigan’s energy department, to Whitmer’s senior energy adviser Kara Cook in September of 2021, according to a class action lawsuit filed.

“Hot off the presses. As I warned there are some major red flags. It seems like we are back at square one having not learned from Flint,” reads Leavitt’s decoded email, which was first reported by the Washington Free Beacon on Wednesday after a June court filing in the case. 

Leavitt served as a consultant for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy.

The use of the Greek language and alphabet “appears to be calculated to conceal the statements,” the court filing states, noting that Leavitt “prefaced his grave concerns about the water crises with a reference back to his prior warnings and the State and City Defendants’ failure to learn from the Flint tragedy.“

Since the email was written in Greek, it would not have been included in public records requests for government communications containing words such as “Flint” or “red flags.”

Michigan’s public records department cannot electronically search for material written using the Greek alphabet, the Washington Free Beacon reported. 

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Michigan residents could be charged with a felony, face up to five years in prison and get a $10,000 fine for using the wrong pronouns under ‘unconstitutional’ new bill

Michigan‘s House of Representatives has passed a hate speech bill, known as HB 4474, which criminalizes causing someone to feel threatened by words, including the misusing of their pronouns, with the possibility of a hefty fine or even jail time.

The bill introduces hate crime penalties for causing someone to ‘feel terrorized, frightened, or threatened,’ with ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity or expression’ included as protected classes. 

Offenders could face up to five years in prison for such a felony offense or a $10,000 fine.

It is part of a continues effort by Democrats in the state to advance a pro-LGBTQ+ agenda in their first months in power. 

The proposed legislation aims to replace the existing Ethnic Intimidation Act and extends protection against intimidation.

Critics argue that the bill poses a threat to First Amendment rights and lacks clarity in defining ‘harassment’, leaving it open to subjective interpretation. 

The bill reads as follows: ‘Intimidate’ means a willful course of conduct involving repeated or continuing harassment of another individual that would cause a reasonable individual to feel terrorized, frightened, or threatened, and that actually causes the victim to feel terrorized, frightened, or threatened.’

If passed, penalties would be based on how the supposed victim and court ‘feel’ about a particular matter. 

What constitutes as being deemed ‘intimidation and harassment’ would be up to the interpretation of the listener and a local prosecutor.

Critics argue that the legislation could infringe on free speech rights and undermine the principles of due process. 

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Michigan Democrats’ ‘Hate Speech’ Law Could Imprison People For Saying ‘Frightening’ Words

In an unprecedented move, Michigan Democrats have passed a new law, House Bill 4474, which seeks to enforce prison sentences for those found guilty of uttering words deemed to be ‘frightening’ or ‘intimidating’.

The bill expands the definition of hate crimes to include intimidation or harassment based on a wide range of individual characteristics, including race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, physical or mental disability, age, ethnicity, and national origin.

Under the terms of the proposed law, a person can be found guilty of a hate crime if they are found to have intentionally intimidated or harassed another person based on any of the above-listed characteristics. Intimidation and harassment under this law can take many forms, including causing physical contact, damaging property, or making threats that could cause another individual to feel frightened, threatened, or harassed.

According to critics, the bill’s broad definition of hate crimes, including the use of ‘frightening’ words, raises concerns about potential infringement on free speech. The law could have far-reaching implications, potentially criminalizing harsh words or expressions of opinion if they are perceived as intimidating or harassing, particularly if they are based on the characteristics listed in the bill.

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