Yes, Pure Michigan, one of the lamest state sponsored ad campaigns ever produced to “attract” tourists to the state, has take a page from Seinfeld and is launching a fragrance that smells like the beach. Cosmo Kramer will be contacting his attorneys very.
Morning Mission returns with this story as well as the collapse of the Whitefish population due to the lake mussels that Dana Darth Nessel protected, yet another CCP operative apprehended in Flint, and an update on the CCP company Gotion flagrantly violating state laws.
Latest On Cultural Courage
The Beach: Pure Michigan Nonsense
We have suffered from the ads from Pure Michigan as the they are the most insipid, mind numbing incantations to go to sleep while we waste millions of the entity that creates the dumb content. But just when you thought government was dumb, it just gets dumber.
The smell of Michigan summer is in the air, and apparently it’s now in a bottle, too.
Pure Michigan, the state’s tourism brand, announced Friday it’s teamed up with a custom perfumery to launch a new fragrance called FRESH, which promises to evoke “beachy vacation days in the Great Lakes State.”
It’s a partnership with Aroma Labs, which is selling a 4 oz spray that’s made in Michigan and available for purchase online or at the company’s stores in Detroit, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo and Chicago.
The collaboration is expected to continue with future fragrances like HARVEST, FIRST SNOW and AWAKENING (think spring tulip blooms). A soy candle is in the works too, according to the company’s website.
“Our sense of smell has a unique ability to transport us in time and space,” Vice President of Pure Michigan Kelly Wolgamott said in a statement.
Michigan lawmakers last year approved $40 million in spending on the tourism campaign through September. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s executive budget proposes $26 million for Pure Michigan in the next fiscal year, while a separate Senate-approved plan proposes $21 million.
Amazingly It’s The Republicans Wanted to Increase the Budget
Damoose amendment seeks to boost Pure Michigan funding in state budget
“Pure Michigan represents the single greatest marketing effort of any state in the union. The message perfectly encapsulates what Michigan stands for and what we can offer to those who wish to experience our great state,” said Damoose, R-Harbor Springs. “From unmatched outdoor opportunities like camping, skiing, boating, golfing, hiking, fishing and so much more, Michigan is home to incredible natural resources that appeal to all types of travel enthusiasts.”
Is It Just Me Or Are the Rs Unable To Operate A Phone?
Kristi Noem is headed to Michigan to fearmonger about border security with...Canada.
— Mallory McMorrow (@MalloryMcMorrow) June 19, 2025
The Trump administration's mass deportation boondoggle is nothing but security theater that actually make us LESS safe.
All to the tune of an additional $1 TRILLION in your taxpayer dollars. pic.twitter.com/WNsSeiNQM0
https://www.themidwesterner.news/2025/06/mcmorrow-to-trump-leave-those-illegal-migrants-alone/
“Kristi Noem is headed to Michigan to fearmonger about border security with … Canada,” McMorrow wrote. “The Trump administration’s mass deportation boondoggle is nothing but security theater that actually make us LESS safe. All to the tune of an additional $1 TRILLION in your taxpayer dollars.”
“Right now, the Trump administration is going after people who have not committed any egregious crimes,” she said. “Like an 18-year-old student just three credits away from high school graduation here in Michigan.”
She contends “we need a commitment to public safety that’s rooted in reality, not political theater.”
“We should absolutely be focusing all of our efforts on keeping violent criminals off of the streets so that we can keep our communities safe,” McMorrow said. “But rounding up parents dropping their kids off at school, or workers waiting in the parking lot at a Home Depot, none of that is actually keeping us safe.”
Antim County, MI. FYI. pic.twitter.com/SNclQDHvfk
— Izzy Lyman (@IzzyLyman) June 23, 2025
Zohran Mamdani has announced he wants to implement government-owned supermarkets in NYC.
— Rose R. Harris (@AbdullaalY61898) June 24, 2025
He is literally trying to implement communism in New York. New Yorkers need to get out to vote.
News link:https://t.co/qws8JWkbsV#usa #ZohranMamdani pic.twitter.com/tyyiIZCPek
Uganda-born, East Asian Indian Muslim, who is an open Marxist. If elected, he promises to implement a full roster of socialist-style policies, some of which are as follows:
- A full freeze on rents, plus building more public housing (presumably to offset the inevitable diminution in available units)
- “Free” public transportation (a charge on taxpayers)
- Universal public childcare
- A $30 minimum wage by 2030 (which will destroy small businesses and increase reliance on AI and robotics)
- Wealth taxes to fund all his socialist policies (reminding me of the old saying, often attributed to Margaret Thatcher, that “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money”)
- City-owned grocery stores (imagine buying your food from the DMV)
- The usual “defund the police in favor of social workers” crime policy (the kind of stuff that caused Democrat cities’ homicide rates to soar)
- $65 million for “gender-affirming care” (don’t get me started)
- Fund illegal aliens and provide them with sanctuary (something that ought to stop all federal funds to NYC)
Zohran Mamdani announces he'll launch government-run supermarkets in NYC if elected mayor.pic.twitter.com/GTUel49zKR
— Thomas Sowell Quotes (@ThomasSowell) June 23, 2025
Another Socialist From Michigan Wants To Allow Riots
The Stop Trump’s Abuse of Power Act, revealed first to The Hill, comes after the Trump administration deployed hundreds of Marines and more than 2,000 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles earlier this month amid unrest over the president’s immigration agenda.
“President Trump has shown a disturbing pattern of disregard for the Constitution and due process. This month, he made it harder for local law enforcement to do their jobs in California by unlawfully deploying our military on U.S. soil — further escalating tension and violence,” Stevens said in a statement.
“We must stand up to Donald Trump’s chaos and destruction, which is why I am introducing this legislation to limit his powers and make sure he cannot deploy troops on U.S. soil for his political gain. We are a nation of laws and it’s about time the President begins to follow them.”
According to Stevens’s office, the legislation would add the language into the Insurrection Act of 1807 and only apply to duties connected to peaceful demonstrations.
Election Fraud In Michigan
This should be interesting...who's up for some 9am popcorn?
— Patrick Colbeck✝️ (@pjcolbeck) June 24, 2025
The very fact that she is finally appearing before the MI House Oversight Committee indicates that her campaign for Governor is not going well and she is feeling the heat from her attempted election-related cover-ups.… https://t.co/HURedsoKlD
More China Issues In Michigan
What Is A Special Interest Alien?
As the criminal cases involving multiple Chinese nationals continue through Michigan courts, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents nabbed another in Flint on Tuesday.
“Marysville agents, with law enforcement partners, arrested seven illegal aliens from Mexico, Guatemala and one Special Interest Alien from China Tuesday,” Chief Patrol Agent John Morris posted to X. “The Chinese SIA had a prior conviction for disorderly conduct. All will be processed for removal.”
Another Special Interest Alien from China was arrested in Tawas City on May 29, while three others were arrested by Detroit Sector agents in Westlake, Ohio on May 25, according to Morris’ posts.
In 2023 We Turn To China To Teach Us About Manufacturing
When you read the headlines from media based in Michigan you would think that a revolution in manufacturing is occurring, and that the World Economic Forum’s prediction that Michigan as a central focal point for the Fourth Industrial Revolution is coming to fruition. So far over 2 billion dollars has been funneled from the state legislature via the Michigan Economic Development Corporation to the emerging Electronic Vehicle manufacturing sector.
Along with misconstruing tax funds for prosperity and actual industrial production, there has been a reboot of the 1980’s comedy Gung Ho in the form of a documentary named American Factory that is now on streaming services with a message of hope for the American Midwest. Yes, China is depicted as savior. While the new jobs are indeed welcomed, notice that this trailer highlights that the US workers are clumsy, they need to be retrained, they are a burden. Despite the triumphant music playing throughout that swells your heart with hope, what is not included in the trailer is how manufacturing was outsourced overseas by our own auto industry and that practice has been encouraged by our legislators. Whether due to increased labor costs, union travails or burdensome regulation, the manufacturing know-how and opportunities were brought by the Big Three automakers to mainland China. Indeed, I have a neighbor who as an engineer for Ford spent years in China training his counterparts.
We have not only lost these opportunities to maintain a strong economy, we became accustomed to the predictive programming the Friedman and Krugman chanted that the rise of China was inevitable as our government at state and local levels created environments that gave the Big Three auto makers an excuse to move off shore. This is not the trend of economics alone at work, as Toyota has run successful manufacturing facilities in Tennessee for years. Yet with American Factory, the premise in the trailer is certainly biased against our work force retaining qualified knowledge. Yes, as Governor Whitmer and others from Michigan, including Ford, have stated “we need Chinese expertise.”
But The CCP Really Wants To Be Our Partner, Especially Gotion
Just over a year ago, Gotion Vice President Chuck Thelen promised the company would be “giving people that live here first shot at a job” at a planned battery component plant near Big Rapids.
Fourteen months later, Gotion is facing a lawsuit targeting its headquarters in Fremont, Calif., with allegations of illegal employment involving Chinese citizens, retaliation against legal workers who raised concerns, and racist comments toward workers legally employed by the company linked to the Chinese Communist Party.
In a lawsuit filed June 13, three workers – one U.S. citizen and two with work permits – accused Gotion, its parent company, China-based Gotion High-Tech, and Gotion Supervisor Chen Li of racial discrimination and unlawful termination, according to The Mercury News.
The lawsuit, filed in Alameda County Superior Court, claims Gotion maintained a “revolving door” of Chinese citizens coming into the country on B-1 visas to work at the battery plant, where Li allegedly referred to non-Chinese workers as “foreigners.
Other “illegal practices” in Fremont included the lack of proper permits and safety features, including fire-protection, prompting the City of Fremont to shut down the facility with a “do not enter or occupy notice posted on March 20, 2024, the lawsuit alleges.
Gotion “illegally covered up the shutdown notice and continued to have employees work in the office notwithstanding the safety risks,” according to the lawsuit, which included photos of a Gotion brochure taped over the notice at the Fremont facility.
Gotion Operates By The Rules, Or Just With No Oversight From The State
Watchdog alleges CCP Gotion contract violations, demands lawmakers force default proceedings
Notes Chinese battery company’s reduced scope by more than 50%, a failure to create jobs, missing wetland data, ‘materially misrepresented’ community support
The grant is part of a broader economic development package secretly negotiated by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration and select lawmakers that includes $715 million in taxpayer-funded subsidies for Gotion to build a battery component plant in Mecosta County.
Gotion is a “wholly owned and controlled” subsidiary of Gotion High-Tech, a Chinese-based battery company whose by-laws require employees to “carry out Party activities in accordance with the Constitution of the [Chinese Communist Party].” A 2024 investigation by the House Select Committee on the CCP found the company is reliant on the CCP’s use of forced labor in its supply chain, while an amended Foreign Agents Registration Act filing admits the company is subsidized by the Chinese government.
Letter to Michigan Legislators From Economic Development Responsibility Alliance
https://edraofmi.org/blog/f/medc-responds-with-gotion-docs-which-confirm-contract-violation
Dear Michigan state legislators and Mecosta County Commissioners,
As we informed you, last month we sent a letter of demand to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) regarding the taxpayer-subsidized development of Gotion, Inc. near Big Rapids. On June 11th, the MEDC responded to some of these demands. We’ve compiled a summary of our findings here, for your review, consideration, and action.
In our May 21st letter of demand, we expressed concern that Gotion and The Right Place are in breach of contract with their state taxpayer-subsidized SOAR grants and Renaissance Zone, specifically due to:
- missing compliance & due diligence documentation
- material adverse effects
- material misrepresentation, and perhaps most noticeably:
- abandonment (due to inactivity for over 120 consecutive days)
The MEDC has responded to our letter by providing the following, according to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA):
- Gotion’s 2024 Compliance Certificate
- Gotion’s Baseline Environmental Assessment
- Documentation on Gotion’s Milestone 1 and 2, and
- Documentation showing $50M of taxpayer funding being disbursed to The Right Place for Gotion
This response was missing a great deal of information, but it did provide confirmation of many of the concerns we raised in our original letter of demand. Specifically: it confirmed that The Right Place and Gotion are in default of the terms of their SSRP grant, on a number of fronts.
Key highlights from FOIA documents
- There are no Compliance Certificates for 2023. These are required by state law (MCL 125.2009). The Right Place and MEDC completed Progress Reporting for 2023 two and three months after its October 10th due date had passed.
- In 2024, although Compliance Certificates were provided, the Right Place was over two weeks late in submitting one of its Annual Progress Reports to the MEDC.
- Jobs have not been created; a total of three jobs are reported for 2023 and 2024 combined.
- In his 2024 progress report on capital investments, the Right Place’s Ken Rizzio admits that “for the last 6 months of FY24, project planning and implementation activities have slowed due to the lawsuit filed by the company”. The terms of the SSRP grant define terms for abandonment as “infrastructure improvements for the Project have ceased for a period of 120 consecutive days”.
- For Milestones 1 and 2, no proof of Certification is provided, and the fields for the date of certification and the name of the certifier are blank.
- The Baseline Environmental Assessment (BEA) is dated July 27th, 2023–yet the Right Place stated in their SSRP and CIP grant considerations which were approved by the MEDC’s MSF board on October 22nd, 2022, that “an environmental assessment of the site has been completed”. This is clear material misrepresentation by the Right Place to the MEDC, and subsequently to legislators.
- Perhaps most concerningly of all: the Right Place appears to have received its second $25M disbursement two days BEFORE it submitted its required Milestone 2 report to the MEDC. This disbursement was supposed to be contingent upon meeting the requirements outlined in Milestone 2, yet the Right Place received its second sum of $25M on March 26th 2024, while Milestone 2 reporting was submitted to the MEDC on March 28th.
Feel free to review the documents for yourself here.
The lack of 2023 Compliance Certificates, and the admission of six months of inactivity are alone grounds for the initiation of default proceedings on Gotion’s SSRP grant.
But these are not the only grounds for default. Many of the concerns we raised in our letter of demand, which were not addressed in any way by the MEDC, remain. This includes:
- change in project scope from the agreed 528 acres down to 270 acres
- failure to create jobs, as is required in the terms of the Renaissance Zone contract
- critical environmental data is missing from SSRP and CIP grant considerations–specifically that Gotion’s 270 acres contain 60+ acres of wetlands and lie within a floodplain
- local community support has been materially misrepresented
- Gotion’s lawsuit against Green Charter Township constitutes a material adverse effect on the project
To the County Commission: we urge you to contact your legislators, and to ask them to enforce the terms of Gotion’s SOAR grant contracts by initiating default proceedings.
To legislators: it’s clear that these grants are not being executed in good faith. The Right Place and Gotion’s flagrant violation of the terms of their contract undermine the integrity of our state’s democracy. The MEDC works for Michigan taxpayers, and they answer to you. We ask that you insist the MEDC uphold the contract terms by initiating default proceedings.
Sincerely,
Marjorie Steele
Founder, EDRA of MI
Grant Township Resident
Tech Bros Keep Lying Regarding Training Content
That’s a tiny fraction of the 42 percent figure for Harry Potter.
This could be a headache for law firms that have filed class-action lawsuits against AI companies. Kadrey is the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against Meta. To certify a class of plaintiffs, a court must find that the plaintiffs are in largely similar legal and factual situations.
Divergent results like these could cast doubt on whether it makes sense to lump J.K. Rowling, Kadrey, and thousands of other authors together in a single mass lawsuit. And that could work in Meta’s favor, since most authors lack the resources to file individual lawsuits.
The broader lesson of this study is that the details will matter in these copyright cases. Too often, online discussions have treated “do generative models copy their training data or merely learn from it?” as a theoretical or even philosophical question. But it’s a question that can be tested empirically—and the answer might differ across models and across copyrighted works.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was one of dozens of books tested by the researchers. They found that Llama 3.1 70B was far more likely to reproduce popular books—such as The Hobbit and George Orwell’s 1984—than obscure ones. And for most books, Llama 3.1 70B memorized more than any of the other models.
“There are really striking differences among models in terms of how much verbatim text they have memorized,” said James Grimmelmann, a Cornell law professor who has collaborated with several of the paper’s authors.
We will use Grok 3.5 (maybe we should call it 4), which has advanced reasoning, to rewrite the entire corpus of human knowledge, adding missing information and deleting errors.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 21, 2025
Then retrain on that.
Far too much garbage in any foundation model trained on uncorrected data.
Ted Cruz Bill Moratorium on States Ability to Legislate AI
In early June, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) proposed enforcing a 10-year moratorium on AI regulation by making states ineligible for broadband funding if they try to impose any limits on development of artificial intelligence. While the House previously approved a version of the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” with an outright 10-year ban on state AI regulation, Cruz took a different approach because of the Senate rule that limits inclusion of “extraneous matter” in budget reconciliation legislation.
Under the Senate’s Byrd rule, a senator can object to a potentially extraneous budget provision. A motion to waive the Byrd rule requires a vote of 60 percent of the Senate.
As originally drafted, Cruz’s backdoor ban on state AI laws would have made it impossible for states to receive money from the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program if they try to regulate AI. He tied the provision into the budget bill by proposing an extra $500 million for the broadband-deployment grant program and expanding its purpose to also subsidize construction and deployment of infrastructure for artificial intelligence systems.
Republicans have a 53–47 edge in the Senate. Cantwell and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) teamed up for a press conference last week in which they spoke out against the proposed moratorium on state regulation.
Cantwell said that 24 states last year started “regulating AI in some way, and they have adopted these laws that fill a gap while we are waiting for federal action. Now Congress is threatening these laws, which will leave hundreds of millions of Americans vulnerable to AI harm by abolishing those state law protections.”
The Cantwell/Blackburn press conference also included Washington Attorney General Nick Brown, a Democrat; and Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, a Republican. Brown said that “Washington has a law that prohibits deep fakes being used against political candidates by mimicking their appearance and their speech,” another “that prohibits sharing fabricated sexual images without consent and provides for penalties for those who possess and distribute such images,” and a third “that prohibits the knowing distribution of forged digital likenesses that can be used to harm or defraud people.”
“All of those laws, in my reading, would be invalid if this was to pass through Congress, and each of those laws are prohibiting and protecting people here in our state,” Brown said.
Judges Will Tell You What Is and Is Not Mass Surveillance
But Wang disagreed with Hunt that she exceeded her authority in enforcing the order, emphasizing in a footnote that her order cannot be construed as enabling mass surveillance.
“Proposed Intervenor does not explain how a court’s document retention order that directs the preservation, segregation, and retention of certain privately held data by a private company for the limited purposes of litigation is, or could be, a ‘nationwide mass surveillance program,'” Wang wrote. “It is not. The judiciary is not a law enforcement agency.”
However, McSherry warned that “it’s only a matter of time before law enforcement and private litigants start going to OpenAI to try to get chat histories/records about users for all sorts of purposes, just as they do already for search histories, social media posts, etc.” Wang’s order could become a gateway to that future, she said.
Wang rejected Hunt’s motion primarily because “whether the temporary preservation of certain chat output log data that was routinely being deleted by OpenAI throughout the course of this litigation may infringe on purported constitutional and contractual privacy rights of individual consumers that use ChatGPT” was deemed a “collateral issue” that does not directly pertain to the central question of copyright infringement.