Michigan EV plant’s work retreat features Red Army outfits, pledges to ‘fight for communism’

 A Chinese company developing a taxpayer-funded electric vehicle battery facility in Michigan published reports and video footage of its employees wearing what appears to be Red Army uniforms and pledging fealty to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Gotion High-Tech — the Hefei, China-based parent company of Gotion Inc. — hosted multiple company trips in 2021 to CCP revolutionary memorials in Anhui Province, China, according to records first reported by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

During the trips, Gotion High-Tech workers wore Red Army outfits and pledged to “fight for communism to the end of my life.”

“I volunteer to join the CCP, uphold the Party’s platform, observe the provisions of the Party’s by-laws, carry out a member’s duties, carry out the Party’s decisions, strictly observe the Party’s discipline, be loyal to the Party, work hard, to fight for communism as long as I live, be ready at all times to sacrifice everything for the Party and people and never betray the Party,” the employees chanted during a trip to China’s Revolutionary Memorial Hall in July 2021, footage translated by the DCNF showed.

One month later, the company held a trip to Dabie Mountain to commemorate the CCP’s Long March, an historic march that led to the emergence of Chinese dictator Mao Zedong in early 1935.

The revelation that Gotion’s parent company hosted CCP trips for its employees and conducted party pledges comes as its Michigan project continues to face heightened scrutiny from locals, national security experts and Republican lawmakers.

Opponents of the project have noted the company’s allegiance to the Chinese government and often pointed to Gotion High-Tech’s corporate bylaws, which state that the company is required to “carry out Party activities in accordance with the Constitution of the Communist Party of China.” 

The company’s 2022 ESG report states Gotion High-Tech “carried out thematic education activities such as the study of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, red theme education, and love for students,” The Midwesterner reported.

During Gotion company trips, Gotion High-Tech workers wore Red Army outfits and pledged to “fight for communism to the end of my life.”

Gotion High-Tech

And earlier this year Gotion quietly registered as a Chinese foreign principal, according to FARA filings reviewed by Fox News Digital.

“Subnational incursions are afoot,” former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Cella, the co-founder of the Michigan-China Economic and Security Review Group, previously told Fox News Digital. 

“China is on the hunt,” he continued. “The Chinese Communist Party is on the hunt. They are looking for these open doors to kick in, in states. And they have carried great sway. You just need to look at Gotion or CATL — textbook examples of this influence operation.”

During these retreats, Gotion High-Tech hosted themed events that aligned with communist ideas.

LinkedIn

In April, Cella and fellow former U.S. Ambassador Peter Hoekstra, who helped found the Michigan-China Economic and Security Review Group, asked the Department of Justice to open a federal investigation into potential violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act related to five-year hush agreements signed by state officials as part of the Gotion negotiations.

Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced that Gotion would invest $2.4 billion to construct two 550,000 square-foot production plants along with other supporting facilities spanning 260 acres in northern Michigan. She applauded the proposal in her late 2022 announcement, saying it would shore up Michigan’s status as the “global hub of mobility and electrification.”

Then, earlier this year, the Michigan state Senate Appropriations Committee gave the final stamp of approval for granting Gotion $175 million in direct taxpayer funding to help build the facility.

In a 10-9 vote, some Democrats joined every Republican on the panel in voting against the funding, while only Democrats, including the committee’s chairwoman, voted in favor.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced that Gotion is planning to invest $2.4 billion to construct production plants in Northern Michigan.

AP

“I’m angry. I’m angry that this vote was slipped into the agenda today with as little information as possible so that people like me wouldn’t know it was happening,” Marjorie Steele, a local resident, said during the hearing. “I’m angry that you, our elected officials, have ignored my community’s pleas to table this vote until some small semblance of due diligence can be performed.”

“I can promise you that we will not stop at the local level,” she added. “We are tired of being abused, and we are not alone. This is not just a Mecosta County issue. Townships and counties across the state are uniting, sharing resources, manpower and grassroots activism. Your votes today, senators, are lines drawn in the sand.”

Gotion announced in August that it had scooped up 270 acres of land in Green Charter Township, Michigan, for the project.

Some of the purchased land is zoned for agriculture or residential use, while the majority is zoned for industrial use.

Neither Gotion nor Whitmer’s office responded to request for comment by time of publication. 

https://nypost.com/2023/09/01/gotion-high-tech-hosts-communist-workers-retreat/

U.S. to send its first depleted uranium rounds to Ukraine

The Biden administration will for the first time send controversial armor-piercing munitions containing depleted uranium to Ukraine, according to a document seen by Reuters and separately confirmed by two U.S. officials.

The rounds, which could help destroy Russian tanks, are part of a new military aid package for Ukraine set to be unveiled in the next week. The munitions can be fired from U.S. Abrams tanks that, according to a person familiar with the matter, are expected be delivered to Ukraine in the coming weeks.

One of the officials said that the coming aid package will be worth between $240 million and $375 million depending on what is included.

The value and contents of the package were still being finalized, the officials said. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Although Britain sent depleted uranium munitions to Ukraine earlier this year, this would be the first U.S. shipment of the ammunition and will likely stir controversy. It follows an earlier decision by the Biden administration to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine, despite concerns over the dangers such weapons pose to civilians.

The use of depleted uranium munitions has been fiercely debated, with opponents like the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons saying there are dangerous health risks from ingesting or inhaling depleted uranium dust, including cancers and birth defects.

A by-product of uranium enrichment, depleted uranium is used for ammunition because its extreme density gives rounds the ability to easily penetrate armor plating and self-ignite in a searing cloud of dust and metal.

While depleted uranium is radioactive, it is considerably less so than naturally occurring uranium, although particles can linger for a considerable time.

The United States used depleted uranium munitions in massive quantities in the 1990 and 2003 Gulf Wars and the NATO bombing of former Yugoslavia in 1999.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, says that studies in former Yugoslavia, Kuwait, Iraq and Lebanon "indicated that the existence of depleted uranium residues dispersed in the environment does not pose a radiological hazard to the population of the affected regions."

Still, the radioactive material could add to Ukraine's massive post-war clean-up challenge. Parts of the country are already strewn with unexploded ordnance from cluster bombs and other munitions and hundreds of thousands of anti-personnel mines.

The Wall Street Journal reported in mid-June the U.S. was considering sending depleted uranium rounds to Ukraine.

Recent weapons aid packages for Ukraine have included artillery, air defense missiles and ground vehicles as Ukraine's counteroffensive grinds on. Reuters was unable to determine what else the package contained besides the depleted uranium rounds.

Funding authorization for the aid package comes through the Presidential Drawdown Authority, which authorizes the president to transfer articles and services from U.S. stocks without congressional approval during an emergency. The material will come from U.S. excess inventory.

The security assistance for Ukraine since the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022 has been more than $43 billion.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-u-send-first-depleted-202507503.html

Carisma: Data from Phase 1 Clinical Trial of CT-0508 at 8th Annual CAR-TCR Summit

Group 2 data available to date support primary safety and feasibility endpoints of single-day bolus dosing of CT-0508  

New translational analyses combining group 1 & group 2 continue to support CAR-M mechanism of action, demonstrating a correlation between biomarkers and best overall response

Carisma Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: CARM) ("Carisma" or the "Company"), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing innovative immunotherapies, will present findings today at the 8^th Annual CAR-TCR Summit from its Phase 1 clinical trial of the Company's lead product candidate, CT-0508, a human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 ("HER2") targeted chimeric antigen receptor macrophage ("CAR-M") for the treatment of advanced/metastatic HER2 overexpressing cancers.

The presentation includes data from group 1 (n=9) and group 2 (n=5). Patients in both groups received the same total dose (up to 5x10⁹ CT-0508) either via a fractionated, multi-day infusion regimen (group 1) or via a single-day bolus infusion (group 2). The data are drawn from the ongoing clinical trial led by Kim A. Reiss, MD, principal investigator of the Phase 1 clinical trial and an associate professor of Hematology-Oncology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

In the presentation, Michael Klichinsky, PharmD, PhD, Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Carisma, will present data demonstrating that, in both groups, CT-0508 was successfully manufactured for patients and that the administration of CT-0508 was well-tolerated after infusion with no dose-limiting toxicities reported to date.

"As the CT-0508 trial progresses, it is promising to see consistent results supporting the safety profile, feasibility, and mechanism of action of this first-in-class CAR-M investigational therapy," commented Dr. Klichinsky. "We look forward to results from the CT-0508 combination sub-study with pembrolizumab and continued development of CAR-M and CAR-Monocyte therapies."

Previously, Carisma presented findings from group 1 showing that CT-0508 remodeled and activated the tumor microenvironment ("TME") and initiated anti-tumor T cell immunity. Translational analyses combining group 1 and group 2 show that various biomarkers including metrics of TME activation, T cell activation, and HER2 status correlate with best overall response ("BOR") of stable disease, providing further evidence of the CT-0508 mechanism of action.

https://www.biospace.com/article/releases/carisma-announces-latest-data-from-phase-1-clinical-trial-of-ct-0508-at-8th-annual-car-tcr-summit/

NYC’s disgusting pot stench is keeping tourists away

 It’s not just prissy European tennis players who can’t stand it. Every single person who visits New York City is disgusted by our unofficial new scent: marijuana.

And the truth is, so are most sane New Yorkers.

As The Post reported on Friday’s front page, everywhere you go in the five boroughs now reeks of pot. Expense-account restaurants such as Nobu 57 and ritzy stores like Saks Fifth Avenue have the musty whiff of a college dorm room. Puffing stoners are turning the subway’s 123 into CBD.

Even the US Open in Flushing Meadows is practically an open-air drug market.

Greek tennis player Maria Sakkari, who lost in the first round of the grand slam this week, told reporters she was distracted by something she sniffed during the match.

“It was weed,” the No. 8 player in the world said. “The smell, oh, my gosh.”

German ace Alexander Zverev spoke of blunts more bluntly: “Court 17 definitely smells like Snoop Dogg’s living room.”

Greece’s Maria Sakkari was distracted by the smell of marijuana during her round one US Open loss.

AP

These are Europeans we’re talking about! Most Americans think of that party-hardy continent as far more freewheeling and permissive than the US when it comes to sex, drugs and booze consumption. Well, we’ve shocked ‘em all this time.

Ever since NYC reopened to international tourists, put-off visitors have commented on our putrid fragrance. They’d grown accustomed to our summers of roasting garbage, but it’s the pot smoke that makes them dry heave. 

Recently, a friend visiting from London succinctly summarized his trip to me.

“The magic is gone,” he said.

His problems? As a theater industry professional, he was dismayed to find that Times Square, which was an urban Disneyland just a few years ago, has gone back to being a seedy and uncomfortable mosh pit that’s littered with drugs.

And, like everybody else, he was appalled by the constant smell of cannabis that hovers over NYC like the fog from “Scooby-Doo.”

“It’s an aroma that keeps me absent from the city,” he said.

Most New Yorkers are fed up with the inescapable stench of lawlessness, too, but refrain from saying so for fear of being shouted at by progressive friends. We are, after all, a city that hates common sense.

Kathy Hochul and Eric Adams, Gov. Cheech and Mayor Chong, did not help matters by all but cutting the ribbons for the ubiquitous illegal pot shops with their shrugs and look-the-other-way attitude. Early on Adams told High Times, “Enjoy yourself, light up, but most importantly — spend some money.” 

Mayor Harold and Gov. Kumar have changed their tune in the past several months, saying they’re cracking down on illicit activity by threatening landlords with at least $10,000 fines.

It doesn’t seem to be working, you guys. 

Another Brit who was in town last month said he “was confused by how so many of these new shops and ‘delis’ were able to so brazenly operate in full view of the public.” 

So am I! So is everybody! 

Come to the East Village, where I live. It’s easier to buy a joint than a bagel.

New York’s lefty politicians love nothing more than to be emptily self-righteous — smoke all the marijuana ya want, come all ye migrants, congestion pricing — and then take zero responsibility for the obvious consequences. 

But as our city gets higher and higher, it will descend ever lower on tourists’ lists of places to go.

https://nypost.com/2023/09/01/nycs-disgusting-pot-stench-is-keeping-tourists-away/

Novo Integrated: Compliance Review Affirmed for Completion of Debt Funding Transaction

 Novo Integrated Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVOS) (the "Company" or "Novo"), today announced the Company received an Underwriting Clearance Notice from RC Consulting Group LLC informing Novo that the underwriting analysis process and compliance review for the transaction between Novo and RC Consulting LLC in favor of SCP Tourbillion Monaco (the "Buyer"), dated April 26, 2023, has been affirmed and approved for completion resulting in the recommendation to proceed with the transaction as contemplated.

The affirming position has resulted in a "Clear to Close" status for the transaction of an unsecured 15-year $70,000,000 promissory note with the Buyer for debt funding of $57,000,000. The note provides for a yield (non-compounding) of 1.52% (zero coupon) per annum and a maturity date 15 years from the date of issuance. The Note is unsecured and there is no provision for the conversion of debt, issuance of any class of shares, or the grant of any warrants by the Company to the Buyer.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/novo-integrated-sciences-receives-underwriter-200500259.html

BioLineRx Reports Significant Decrease in Losses and Promising Financial Stability

 BioLineRx (NASDAQ:BLRX) recently announced its financial results for the second quarter of 2022, revealing a significant decrease in losses compared to the same period last year. The company reported a quarterly loss of $(0.30) per ADS, marking a 1400% decrease from the $(0.02) per ADS loss reported in the previous year. This improvement is undoubtedly a positive sign for BioLineRx.

Looking at the company’s net loss for the six months ended June 30, 2022, we can see a noteworthy reduction. The net loss amounted to $12.4 million, a considerable improvement compared to the net loss of $17.0 million for the same period in the previous year. This indicates that BioLineRx has been successful in managing its expenses and narrowing its losses.

In terms of financial stability, BioLineRx seems to be in a favorable position. The company currently holds $32.8 million in cash and equivalents. With this amount, BioLineRx is projected to have sufficient funds to sustain its operations until the first half of 2024. This financial stability provides a promising outlook for the company’s future endeavors.

https://beststocks.com/biolinerx-reports-significant-decrease-in-los/

Wedbush adds Geron to Best Ideas List, joining Ascendis, MoonLake

Wedbush has added Geron (GERN) to its Best Ideas List, citing a recent sell-off in shares and its high acquisition potential.

https://seekingalpha.com/news/4008538-wedbush-adds-geron-to-best-ideas-list-joining-ascendis-moonlake