Lansing is Michigan’s capital city, with a population of about 113,000. Michigan has been a battleground state for several election cycles and this part of the nation is seen as a must-win for the next President. President Trump visited Potterville, a small town 15 miles southwest of Lansing, yesterday to win over the residents of the area.

Lansing itself votes reliably Democrat, yet its residents are highly discontent with the Biden-Harris economy and also the far-left green radicalism of many of its policies. Specifically, Lansing residents are up in arms about news this week of their sixth utility hike since 2018, a victim of both the never-ending Biden-Harris inflation affecting Americans nationwide but also far-left renewable mandates.

The local utility’s Director of Finance Scott Taylor blames ‘increases in operating costs’ to the City Council but residents digging through the budget notice major spending on various renewable energy scams in order to comply with a new Democrat law that requires irrational and unrealistic renewable energy goals.

State Democrats have required that utilities get 50% of their power from renewables by 2030, a decision that has already cost just the Lansing-area municipal utility $260 million to get their number to 21%, not even halfway. The renewable requirement was part of Public Act 235 passed in 2023, a law passed entirely with Democrat votes.

The bill requires 100% renewable energy production by 2040, 16 years from now.

Far-left Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed this mandate on December 29, 2023, the Democrat-controlled Senate passed it on a party-line vote 20-18, and the Democrat-controlled House passed it on a party-line vote 56-51 on November 3, 2023.

Compliance with the law is causing the state’s already high utility rates to soar even higher. 

Within eight months its far-left irrational and unscientific mandates are already bankrupting the municipal utilities of the capital city generating major rate hikes and causing residents to consider moving away.

Yet Democrats somehow find a way to blame ‘greedy corporations‘ and Trump for the rate hikes.

One of the legislators who voted against the bill and tried to sound the alarm on the topic, Rep. Steve Carra (R), spoke to the Gateway Pundit: “The issue is corporate greed, but in this case it’s the greed of renewable energy green elitists who want to be constantly funded with more taxpayer dollars. Their only way to compete is to outlaw their competitors. These are the closest friends and allies of Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer and other globalist Democrats.”

“The people of Michigan should be furious about what Gretchen Whitmer and her green allies have done to our state’s economy,” continued Rep. Carra. “When these bills passed, it was no secret in Lansing that the utilities were in favor of it, and supporting the globalists. Only the poor will pay the real price of these policies.” 

Many local residents were angry, attending the public hearings, calling local media outlets, and expressing themselves online. “Thats what we get with the Democratic’s For the past 3.5 years everything has went up. Can we really afford 4 more years with this party in office. Gas, food,rent, and utilities the list goes on and on,” said Marshall Gurd, in an online comment.

Democrats want half of all the state’s power to come from wind and solar by 2030, for a state that is in the nation’s higher latitudes, is the 7th cloudiest in the country according to the Farmer’s Almanac, and is middle-ranked among U.S. states at 23rd for wind energy.

Lansing’s residents are served by the municipal utility company the Lansing Board of Water and Light, more commonly known as “BWL.” BWL serves more than 135,000 people in the Lansing area with water, power, gas, and steam. The entity is overseen by a board of eight who are appointed by the Democrat Mayor Andy Schor and confirmed by the eight-member City Council. 

The utility currently charges $0.1445 per kWh during on-peak hours year-round. Given that the average Michigan household uses 652 kWh of electricity, that means the monthly electrical bill should be $94.22.

Yet other averages online indicate the average BWL power bill is nearly twice that amount, at The average water bill is around $150 for a typical household per month. While the official statistics claim that the average resident’s total monthly utility bill is around $300, anecdotally many residents say it’s often double that amount.

Now the utility wants to increase the electrical 6.95% this year and 6% next year, and raise water rates by 9.23% this year, and another 9.15% next year, and residents are up in arms. Steam is going up 9.75% and chilled water is going up 2%, this year and roughly the same next year.

Many of the commenters and residents easily point the finger at inflation. And Biden-Harris inflation is causing the value of the dollar to decline. The government claims the inflation rate is only 2.9%, while nationwide many note that home prices have inexplicably gone up nearly double that rate, and food prices have gone up 25% since COVID. 

Many online were blaming “corporate greed” and “price gouging” even though this municipal utility is not operated to run for a profit. Some attempted to blame Donald Trump for the rate increase.  

Michigan’s two largest utility companies, DTE Energy and Consumers Energy, are both busy shutting down coal generating power plants and financing renewable generation. One such plant being shuttered is the Campbell power plant in west Michigan which currently serves a million residents and is due to go offline next May. It is being shut down 15 years early in order to comply with state and federal green mandates. Its cheap energy has served the state for 60 years.

A group of residents is petitioning to “Save the Campbell” but the odds of their success seem limited. The ability to save a coal-fired power plant is limited in a state intent on outlawing them entirely. The input and opinions of the general public as it relates to energy prices and energy production, seems irrelevant.

Despite the protests, comments, and general public anger expressed this week about the Lansing rate hikes, BWL’s 6-member commission Wednesday approved the proposed two years of rate hikes on a vote of 5-1.

The post Green Mandates Cause Michigan’s Liberal Capital Utility Rates to Rise, Citizens Irate, More Leftist Economic Destruction appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Guest post by Larry Johnson at Sonar 21

A new development that merits attention. A complaint was filed on Friday before the U.S. District Court in Maryland presenting evidence that the USPS acted illegally in shipping at least one million mail-in ballots from a facility in Bethpage, New York to Pennsylvania on October 21, 2020. The suit was brought by attorney Brian Della Rocca, but the critical evidence was collected by two friends of mine — John Moynihan and Larry Doyle. Full disclosure, I have known John since 1998 and we were partners in BERG Associates, LLC. John, in my opinion, is one of the best financial and forensic investigators in the world. Hands down.

Here is the bottom-line — the truck driver, Jesse Morgan, picked up a container filled with 20 Gaylord boxes. There were mail-in ballots in each of the Gaylords. A Gaylord can hold from 50,000 up to 100,000 ballots. Do the math — Mr. Morgan was transporting at least one million mail-in ballots (already filled in with signatures on the envelopes). So, what you say? The mail-in ballots are First Class mail. Every piece of First Class mail is supposed to be imaged per USPS regulations. The facility where Morgan picked up the load of ballots is ONLY certified for handling packages and Express Mail. There is no legal justification to account for those ballots to have passed through that warehouse.

Let me give you the highlights of the complaint and John’s affidavit.

Let me give you the highlights of the complaint and John’s affidavit.

4. As a result, allegations of problems with the delivery of mail-in ballots by the USPS
   were rampant and continue, to this day, to be challenged. As time passes, the allegations are not
   being disproven but, in fact, many of the allegations have turned out to be true.
5. These allegations include, but are not limited to, lost mail-in ballots (which were
   subsequently found after the elections), late delivery of mail-in ballots, improperly post-markedmail-in ballots that were still allowed to proceed to their destination despite post-marks beingprovided on valid mail-in ballots, and fraudulent mail-in ballots being sent via USPS.

John’s affidavit gets to the heart of the matter:

3. On November 21, 2020, Doyle and I participated in a phone call with a contact
   (“NC”) who notified us of allegations that the United States Postal Service (“USPS”)
   experienced certain “failures” involving mail-in ballots during the 2020 Presidential Election and
   wondered if we would assist with the investigation.
4. On November 24, 2020, Doyle and I met with NC and others in Arlington, VA to
   discuss the investigation and learn about the whistleblower, Jesse Richard Morgan, a truck driver
   employed by a contractor for the USPS who alleged he carried mail-in ballots among USPS
   facilities in Bethpage, NY, Harrisburg, PA, and Lancaster, PA (“Affiant Morgan”).
5. On November 25, 2020, Doyle and I began our investigation in earnest and
   identified a few companies of interest and, within those companies, employees who may have
   information.
6. As a result of Affiant Morgan, Doyle and I focused our investigation on the USPS
   facility on Grumman Road in Bethpage, NY (“Grumman Road Facility”).
7. On November 27, 2020, I enlisted the assistance of former colleagues from the
   DEA who are retired and live near the Grumman Road Facility.
8. On November 30, 2020, after learning the identities of several USPS employees
   within the Grumman Road Facility with whom Affiant Morgan had contact, Doyle and I
   conducted an interview with one such USPS employee (“CI-1”).
9. CI-1 stated the following facts:
   a. CI-1 is involved with loading trucks at the Grumman Road Facility –
   known as an expeditor.
   b. CI-1 told us that the Grumman Road Facility has never processed firstclass
   mail and still does not process mail because the facility does not have the proper
   equipment to do so (allegedly known as an “Oregon Machine”).
   c. CI-1 stated that mail-in ballots were in the gaylords with signatures on the
   outside envelope at the facility on numerous occasions and asked a supervisor about what
   to do with them.
   d. CI-1 was told to just get them loaded onto the trailers for delivery and to
   get them to their destination.
   e. CI-1 told us that the Grumman Road Facility is only equipped to process
   packages and express mail, not first-class mail.
   f. Doyle and I asked a few more times if CI-1 was sure that ballots were seen
   at the Grumman Road Facility and CI-1 confirmed each time.
10. On December 2, 2020, after having spoken with a Postal Inspector with
    knowledge of the Grumman Road Facility (“CI-2”), I asked if the Grumman Road Facility would
    receive and process first-class mail. CI-2 told me the following:
11. a. The Grumman Road Facility only handles parcel post.
12. b. Mail-in ballots should not have been delivered to the Grumman Road
13. Facility because the facility does not have the processing machines (the Oregon Machine)
14. required to handle the processing of first-class mail or bulk mail.

The goal of this lawsuit is to prevent the USPS from interfering in the upcoming election. It is important to note that the shipment picked up by Mr. Morgan was not the only one. It is the only one where John Moynihan and Larry Doyle obtained corroborating evidence.

The lawsuit seeks the following remedies:

124. Declaring that Maryland’s reliance on the United States Postal Service to deliver
     the ballots of its citizens is unconstitutional in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments
     of the United States Constitution and a violation of the Maryland Constitution;
125. Enjoining Defendants Lee and Summers and their respective agents, officers,
     employees, and successors, and all persons acting in concert with them, from allowing no-excuse
     mail-in voting until it can be shown that the United States Postal Service can adequately delivers
     all mail-in ballots to the boards of elections around the state;
126. Enjoining Defendant USPS from participating in the collection and delivery of
     mail-in ballots;

It has taken four years for this to come to light. There was fraud in the 2020 Presidential election and the USPS played a critical role in making that happen. We will see where this goes.

You can find the complaint here — Case 1:24-cv-02442-ADC Document 1 Filed 08/22/24 Page 1 of 21. I will post a link once I find one.

The post New Complaint Filed Alleging that US Postal Service (USPS) Committed Electoral Fraud in the 2020 Presidential Election appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

On Friday, President Trump held another massive MAGA rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

Thousands of supporters turned out early to see the popular Republican presidential nominee at his afternoon rally in PA.

Before President Trump took the stage his attorney Alina Habba came out to speak with the crowd.

Habba tore into Kamala Harris for her failed record and the disgusting lies she continues to hurl at the American public.

In the last two weeks, Kamala has lied about:

• Supporting fracking since 2020.
• Supporting freedom and individual rights (the Biden regime has jailed their political oppositions and crushed free speech rights).
• Pretending she does not support an electric vehicle mandate.
• Supporting a border wall.
• Working at a McDonalds in her youth.
• Alina Habba went after the chosen Democrat candidate and “puppet” of the left.

Below is the transcript:

Alina Habba: God, what a good crowd. Patriots. Patriots. Kamala Harris had a chance to be a role model for young girls and women across America to show us what real leadership looks like. Instead, she has shown me and the rest of America what a puppet has looked like for a failing administration. She is not the best that we can do, America. She has been there for three and a half years, and we, as America, deserve better than this.

Let’s talk about our border, or for what I would call, lack of a border, because while Kamala sits comfortably in her ivory tower, our borders remain a serious American danger zone. Women and children are trafficked, abused, and left vulnerable because of her administration’s with reckless open border policies.

Now all of a sudden, she’s a MAGA Republican, and she wants to build a border wall – Well, where the hell has my wall been for three and a half years? If that is what empowerment looks like to Kamala, I want nothing to do with it because to me, it looks a whole hell of a lot like betrayal.

Kamala preaches about lifting women up, breaking glass ceilings. But let’s look at the facts. Under her and Biden’s administration, inflation is skyrocketing. Who feels it the most? We do. We do.

Real Americans, moms, single mothers struggling to put food on the table. Women entrepreneurs who can’t afford, like me, to keep their businesses open, forcing working moms like me to make tough choices because they don’t care.

Kamala may talk a big game, but her policies are crushing us. Let me be clear, when you say Biden, it’s the same damn thing. I’m not buying her headline-grabbing stunts. I’m over it. She’s not on the ground. She can’t answer questions. She is in the Washington Elite Club with Nancy Pelosi, and they turn on their own.

Alina Habba was on FIRE!

Here is her full speech via Forbes:

The post “All of the Sudden She’s a MAGA Republican – Well Where the Hell Has My Border Wall Been for 3 1/2 Years!?” – Trump Attorney Alina Habba GOES OFF on Failed “Puppet” Kamala Harris appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court has issued a 4-1 ruling that blocks the enforcement of a crucial law requiring election officials to reject mail-in ballots with missing or incorrect handwritten dates on their outer return envelopes.

The case, brought forward by a coalition of organizations including the Black Political Empowerment Project, the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, and Common Cause Pennsylvania, challenged the legality of rejecting mail-in ballots solely based on the absence or inaccuracy of the handwritten date on the return envelope.

Judge Ellen Ceisler, writing for the court, said that the right to vote is a fundamental constitutional guarantee, and any restrictions placed upon this right must withstand strict scrutiny.

“The date on the outer mail-in ballot envelopes is not used to determine the timeliness of a ballot, a voter’s qualifications/eligibility to vote, or fraud. Therefore, the dating provisions serve no compelling government interest,” the court stated in its opinion.

“The refusal to count undated or incorrectly dated but timely mail ballots submitted by otherwise eligible voters because of meaningless and inconsequential paperwork errors violates the fundamental right to vote recognized in the free and equal elections clause.”

The ruling effectively nullifies the practice of disqualifying ballots due to these dating errors.

“Based on our reasoning set forth above, we declare that strict enforcement of the dating provisions to reject timely submitted but undated or incorrectly dated absentee and mail-in ballots is unconstitutional under the free and equal elections clause and enjoin their strict enforcement to prevent against further disenfranchisement.”

The Republican National Committee (RNC) has rightly condemned this decision as an example of “the worst kind of judicial activism.”

Claire Zunk, RNC Election Integrity Communications Director, emphasized that courts should not undermine election confidence and integrity by striking down laws designed to protect voters.

“Mail ballot safeguards help make sure votes are cast and counted properly for all legal voters,” Zunk said in a statement.

“The Pennsylvania Supreme Court and US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit have both upheld Pennsylvania’s dated ballot requirement. But Democrats have nevertheless continued their effort to strike down this law by filing yet another lawsuit.

“Today’s decision striking down the dated ballot requirement was an example of the worst kind of judicial activism. Courts should not undermine election confidence and integrity by striking down commonsense election laws enacted by the people’s representatives. We will continue to defend the law and Pennsylvania voters, and intend to appeal this decision immediately.”

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s recent announcement to expedite appeals for 2024 election cases leaves the RNC with just three days to file a notice of appeal.

The post OUTRAGEOUS! Pennsylvania Court Forces Counties to Validate Ballots Despite Missing or Incorrect Dates on Their Outer Return Envelopes appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Joe Biden and Kamala’s America.

Texas DPS Brush team arrested two illegal aliens in Maverick County, Texas late last week for criminal Trespass. One of the illegals, Jose Ramon Barberena Bustos, 56, had an outstanding warrant in Bexar County for kidnapping.

Watch:

TX Trooper Arrests Illegal Immigrant Wanted for Kidnapping

8/24: The @TxDPS Brush Team arrested two illegal immigrants from Nicaragua for criminal trespass in Maverick County. One of the males, identified as Jose Ramon Barberena Bustos, 55, had an active warrant out of Bexar… pic.twitter.com/vGpC3tAA4K

— Chris Olivarez (@LtChrisOlivarez) August 27, 2024

Texas DPS has been very active in pursuing illegal aliens in many counties throughout Texas including Starr County.

Drone footage released on Thursday shows a group of illegal aliens last week near the Rio Grande with a smuggler guiding them. DPS arrested Juan Macias-Mayorga, who himself is also an illegal alien, for smuggling of persons.

Watch:

WATCH: @TxDPS Drone captures a smuggling foot guide guiding a group of illegal immigrants across the Rio Grande in Starr County. DPS Troopers arrested the smuggling guide, Juan Macias-Mayorga, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, for human smuggling. #OperationLoneStar pic.twitter.com/QUJhvApNJA

— Chris Olivarez (@LtChrisOlivarez) August 29, 2024

Texas has been very successful under Operation Lone Star in deterring illegal immigration as well as slowing the flood of drugs like fentanyl from pouring into our country. Republican Governor Greg Abbott launched the operation in 2021 which involves the Texas DPS and the Texas National Guard in protecting the state which the Federal Government has grossly neglected under Biden and Kamala.

Article IV, Section 4 of the US Constitution gives the Federal Government the power to stop an invasion.

“The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence,” Article IV, Section 4 of the US Constitution.

An estimated 15 million illegal aliens have entered the US in the last three and a half years under Biden and “Border Czar” Kamala Harris. The mainstream press rarely reports or under reports these statistics.

The post Kamala’s Border Crisis: Texas DPS Brush Team Arrest Illegal Alien Wanted for Kidnapping (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.