From my friends at Townhall:
Monthly Archives: January 2026
Don’t Expect Your Laws To Be Obeyed When You Ignore Other Laws
There is an old adage that says ‘you reap what you sow.’ I think some of our politicians who depend on law enforcement to keep the peace in their cities and states might want to think about that. On Friday, The New York Post posted an article about New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill setting up an internet site to track and take videos of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE). That seems to be interfering with the enforcement of the law, and I believe that is a crime.
The article reports:
Lefty New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill urged residents to film ICE agents operating in their neighborhoods and upload the videos to a state “portal” she vowed to launch.
“If you see an ICE agent in the street, get your phone out,” the Democrat, just eight days into her first term as governor of the Garden State, said in a sit-down interview with The Daily Show host Desi Lydic Wednesday night.
Sherill’s administration will soon be launching a “portal,” she said, so New Jerseyans “can upload all their cell phone videos and alert people” about local immigration operations.
It was unclear how much this portal would cost Garden State taxpayers to launch.
…“Keeping New Jerseyans safe is Governor Sherrill’s top priority and, in the coming days, she and Acting Attorney General Davenport will announce additional actions to protect New Jerseyans from federal overreach,” spokesperson Sean Higgins said in a statement.
If you are truly interesting in keeping the residents of New Jersey safe, you might consider taking murders and rapists who are here illegally off the streeets.
The article concludes:
Homan ( border czar, Tom Homan) also denounced the harsh rhetoric directed at ICE and other immigration law enforcement officers from Minnesota and across the country.
“I begged for the last two months on TV for the rhetoric to stop. I said in March — if the rhetoric doesn’t stop, there is gonna be bloodshed. And there has been. I wish I wasn’t right. I don’t want to see anybody die,” Homan said.
Sherrill, meanwhile, compared ICE to secret police forces she saw in other countries when she served in the Navy.
“We saw people in the street with masks and no insignia. So not accountable at all, hiding from the population – and we saw again and again an undermining of what law enforcement should do to keep people safe,” she said on the Daily Show.
The message from the Democrats is simple–when you elect someone we don’t like, we will create chaos; when you elect someone we like, we will sit down and be quiet. I think the correct answer to that is to arrest those encouraging the chaos as well as those causing it. This is not acceptable.
Actions Have Consequences
On Friday, Breitbart posted an article about the arrest of Don Lemon for his actions inside a Minnesota Church last weekend.
The article includes a statement by Don Lemon’s lawyer:
Don Lemon was taken into custody by federal agents last night in Los Angeles, where he was covering the Grammy award. Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done. The First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable.
Instead of investigating the federal agents who killed two peaceful Minnesota protesters, the Trump Justice Department is devoting its time, attention and resources to this arrest, and that is the real indictment of wrongdoing in this case. This unprecedented attack on the First Amendment and transparent attempt to distract attention from the many crises facing this administration will not stand. Don will fight these charges vigorously and thoroughly in court.
What about Don Lemon’s attack on the First Amendment rights of the people in the church? It has been reported that the rioters prevented the church members from getting to their children to remove them from the chaos. That is not a protest–that is terrorizing children.
The article concludes:
A Department of Justice attempt to arrest Lemon last week was foiled by an appellate court in the U.S. District Court in Minnesota that refused to sign off on the arrest warrant. Per CBS, this arrest warrant was the result of a grand jury indictment.
Do you want ‘protesters’ coming into your church and creating havoc? There are laws against that, and Don Lemon broke those laws.
The Need To Get To The Source
The protests in Minnesota are getting old. It is pretty common knowledge that these are paid protesters. They may be sincere, but they are paid. I am not going to mention the insanity of protesting in Minnesota during the winter. I guess they are getting paid well. Obviously, the way to end the protests (which long ago passed the point of peaceful protest) is to find the source of the funds that are paying them. That seems to be happening.
On Monday, The Epoch Times reported:
FBI Director Kash Patel said more arrests are coming in Minnesota in the midst of a federal operation and local protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, and said the bureau has made progress in its investigation of groups who are allegedly funding the demonstrations.
Speaking to podcaster Benny Johnson on Monday, the FBI director said the bureau is investigating alleged group funding of ongoing protests against ICE officials in Minneapolis, coming in the wake of two shootings this month that left protesters dead.
“We’ve got also investigations ongoing into the funding of this. We’ve made substantial progress,“ he said. ”We’ve actually found groups and individuals responsible for funding it ‘cause it’s not happening organically.”
Also in the interview, Patel said four people were arrested earlier this month after a federal vehicle was broken into in Minneapolis. He said that another person was arrested on Sunday.
“In a vehicle, we discovered not just [FBI] firearms, which thankfully we recovered, but also personal information about law enforcement,” Patel told Johnson. “That personal information was being used on the ground to issue threats of life to FBI agents, along with their wives and their children. There are going to be more arrests on that same matter, today and tomorrow. We’re not done.”
There is nothing wrong with peaceful protests, but peaceful protest does not include damaging private property, hampering law enforcement, or harassing law enforcement personnel. It is time for the people in charge of enforcing the law in Minnesota to start cooperating with federal law enforcement.
Some Perspective
The loss of any life is a serious matter. However, we need to keep a rational perspective on who is in danger of losing their life because of the illegal immigrant invasion.
On Wednesday, The Washington Examiner posted an article reminding us that many more Americans have lost their lives due to illegal immigration than due to the actions of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE). All lives are important, and the death of the two protesters is tragic, but what about the Americans killed by illegal immigrants? Are they important?
The article reports:
The fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti have led to increased calls to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other illegal immigration enforcement operations. Liberals, Democrats, and others on the Left, combined with the socialist and communist organizations organizing and funding anti-ICE protests nationwide, have escalated their attacks on ICE — verbally and physically, calling them murderers, among other insults. And while criticism continues to mount, it is important to recognize truth and fact because while Good’s and Pretti’s deaths were unfortunate, Democrats’ immigration policies have caused more violence and murders than anything ICE has done.
The Biden administration allowed a record number of illegal immigrants to enter the country. With this increase in illegal immigration came a significant rise in those entering the country with criminal records, many of whom had a history of violent crime. Former President Joe Biden and his Democratic accomplices in Congress opened the floodgates to a litany of problems and violent crime due to the refusal to enforce immigration law. And, unfortunately, many Americans paid the price for it, with illegal immigrants murdering innocent women such as Laken Riley and Rachel Morin, among others.
The article includes a chart illustrating the criminal arrests by ICE since 2017:
Do you honestly want criminals loose in your cities and towns?
The article concludes:
Consider the case of Laken Riley, who was murdered by illegal immigrant Jose Antonio Ibarra in February 2024. According to a report by the House Judiciary Committee in August 2024, Ibarra illegally entered the U.S. in 2022. Border Patrol initially arrested him but later released him because the Biden administration believed it was “warranted due to ‘urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.’” This “benefit” cost Riley her life.
He was also arrested in September 2023 in New York City for “acting in a manner to injure a child,” but he was released again. No further actions were taken by law enforcement, and Ibarra’s arrest was “expunged.” A month later, in Georgia, he was caught shoplifting, another crime that should have resulted in jail or his deportation. However, again, nothing happened, and Ibarra remained free, which ultimately allowed him to murder Riley.
Perhaps even more egregious was the rape and murder of Rachel Morin in Aug. 2023 by the illegal immigrant Victor Martinez Hernandez. An illegal immigrant from El Salvador, he had an existing arrest warrant from El Salvador after being accused of murdering a woman. While in the U.S., he also allegedly assaulted a woman and a 9-year-old in Los Angeles, according to reports. Hernandez was actually deported three times before he murdered Morin, but ineffective border security policies allowed him to re-enter. This negligence resulted in Morin’s murder.
There are numerous other examples over the years from various parts of the country. Democrats implement radical immigration policies, and Americans pay the price. Whether it’s rape, murder, assaults, or drug trafficking, the damage from Democrats’ immigration policies and decisions has endangered too many innocent people, resulting in the unnecessary loss of life. The entire country would have been significantly safer and much better off if Democrats’ radical immigration policies had never seen the light of day.
These illegal immigrants who are criminals are the people the protesters are trying to protect.
More Government Fraud
On Tuesday, Breitbart posted an article about a government program that has provided phone and internet services for more than 116,000 dead people. Why has it taken this long to uncover massive fraud in many areas of government spending? What have Congress and the Inspectors General been doing with their time?
The article reports:
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr announced Tuesday that the agency will vote next month on proposals to remove fraud from the Lifeline program, which provided taxpayer dollars to pay for phone and internet services for more than 116,000 dead people.
“If the government is going to spend your hard earned dollars, it must ensure that they go only to living and lawful Americans,” Carr wrote on X.
Carr’s announcement followed a report from the Federal Communications Commission Office of Inspector General (FCC OIG), which found startling levels of fraud in the program. Congress and the FCC established the Lifeline program to help low-income Americans receive affordable communications service, which may include voice and broadband services and is paid out of the Universal Service Fund (USF).
The fraud includes “at least 16,774, and potentially as many as 39,362, deceased people, [who] were first enrolled and then claimed by a provider after they died (i.e. they were deceased at the time of enrollment.)”
Carr wrote that it may seem “obvious” to ensure that taxpayer dollars go to lawful Americans; however, he cautioned that the inspector general report found startling fraud within the Lifeline program:
1. A new Inspector General advisory found that providers took nearly $5 million in federal dollars to provide phone and Internet service to over 116,000 dead people. And this IG advisory looked at just three states.
2. Gavin Newsom’s California was by far the worst offender of these opt-out states. On Governor Newsom’s watch, California allowed over 94,000 dead people to be used to obtain federal dollars for phone and Internet service. The FCC recently revoked California’s authority to run its own verification process.
3. The FCC’s federal Lifeline program, which spends nearly $1 billion every year, does not have adequate checks in place to ensure that only lawful beneficiaries obtain those subsidies. There has been a recent rise in non-citizens fraudulently obtaining social security numbers. And the current verification process does not do a good enough job at preventing duplicative subscriptions and similar abuse.
The article concludes:
Carr warned that current agency regulations do not ensure that these federal dollars only go to American citizens, noting there has been a rise in non-citizens fraudulently obtaining social security numbers.
“So the FCC will be voting on a plan to address all of these issues. Your hard-earned dollars should only be going to those households that Congress intended to benefit,” Carr said in a statement.
Dead people and non-citizens should not be receiving tax dollars!
Know Your News Source
It is amazing how differently two news sources can cover the same story. On Wednesday, Fox News and Just the News both reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was seen scouring the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center in Georgia. Evidently someone is finally looking into voting irregularities at the city. Despite what you may have heard, Fox News is no longer the conservative bastion of objective news it once was.
Just the News reports:
Post-2020 election investigations and reports have confirmed irregularities in the election process in Georgia’s most populous county. Just the News, for instance, found in 2021 that the tally sheets the county used for audits and recounts did not match totals from ballot images, appearing to duplicate counts.
Gob. Brian Kemp, in 2021, issued an official complaint about “sloppy” processes in the county and later referred the 2020 election results to the State Election Board after separate reviews confirmed errors in the absentee ballot counting process.
Fox News reports:
President Donald Trump lost the election in Georgia in 2020 by a wafer-thin margin and claimed various instances of fraud had tainted the results. Those claims did not survive court scrutiny. Fulton, which includes Atlanta and is the state’s most populous county, drew significant attention at the time.
A machine count and two recounts confirmed that former President Joe Biden had won the state, leading Trump to feud with Georgia’s leaders for years.
The DOJ sued Fulton County last month seeking access to ballots related to the 2020 election. The county is fighting the lawsuit, saying the DOJ has not made a valid argument for accessing them.
Fox News is ignoring the fact that Fulton County officials admitted they did not properly sign tabulator tapes after the 2020 election, a violation of state regulations. They are also ignoring the fact that the county says approximately 315,000 votes cast during early voting were certified without the required signatures on tabulator tapes from poll workers. No, the record does not confirm the fact that Biden won the state. We can’t change the past, but we need to make sure all future elections include accurate and valid vote counts. Meanwhile, could someone please be held accountable for the fraud.
Migration Within America
As I stated in another article posted today, one of the reasons for the Democrat party’s wanting to keep illegal aliens here is that they see them as future voters. As Americans are becoming disillusioned with the radical shift of the Democrat party, the party needs a new voting base.
On Tuesday, a website called ResiClub posted an article detailing some of the recent shifts in population within America.
The article reports:
The article includes the following map:
The article concludes:
Looking ahead, Texas and Florida will continue to be among the top destinations for domestic movers. They’re simply moving through a softer window right now, in part because of the migration pull-forward that occurred in 2021–2022 (many of those households likely would have moved in 2023–2025 anyway), and because switching costs remain exceptionally high in the current housing cycle. For example, some homeowners in states like Illinois who might have otherwise sold in 2023-2026 and relocated to Florida are staying put, as taking on a materially higher mortgage rate/monthly payment is simply too difficult to justify right now. That churn will slowly unlock overtime.
People are looking for warmth, but they are also looking for lower taxes and a lower cost of living. Businesses are looking for lower taxes and less regulation. Elections have consequences, and if the blue states continue in the direction they are currently going, they are going to lose significant population.
Why The Democrats Want Illegal Immigrants To Stay In America
On Wednesday, Legal Insurrection posted an article with an explanation as to why the Democrat party is so against deporting people who are here illegally.
The article reports:
In a recent interview with Fox News, former ICE Acting Director Jonathan Fahey said that “Democrats fight each deportation as if it’s a Democratic vote.” Rarely have truer words been uttered.
The American Redistricting Project, a nonprofit group focused on “constitutional redistricting, and election transparency,” published its 2030 Apportionment Forecast on Tuesday — and what it revealed was remarkable.
Based on the Census Bureau’s July 1, 2025, population estimate — released Tuesday morning — the ARP apportionment map shows California losing four congressional seats. Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin would each lose one seat, for a total of 11 seats lost among blue states.
Meanwhile, the map shows red and purple states gaining those same 11 seats. Texas would pick up four new districts, Florida would gain two, and Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, North Carolina, and Utah would each gain one.
…Independent journalist Greg Price attached the ARP map to a post on X and noted:
Under this forecast, President Trump would have won the 2024 Electoral College 322-216. And even if Kamala had won PA, WI, and MI — President Trump still would have won 280-258.
This [is] the one and only reason Democrats are fighting so hard to stop illegals from being deported.
Their ability to continue winning elections is at stake without them and they’ll burn down the country to keep them here.
The average America does not share the goals of today’s Democrat party. A large number of Americans share the values of yesterday’s Democrat party. Many of the values of yesterday’s Democrat party have become the values of today’s Republican party–support the working man, equality (not equity), etc. President Kennedy lowered taxes, saying, “A rising tide lifts all boats.” I can’t picture a Democrat saying that today, and I doubt that JFK would be welcome in today’s Democrat party.
The article concludes:
Perhaps Americans also looking for some sanity and honesty from their public servants.
If I were a Minnesota resident right now, I’d be strongly considering selling my home — and it’s hard to believe many others aren’t doing the same.
State and local leaders are currently locked in a desperate fight with the federal government to stop them from deporting illegal aliens — even those who have committed serious crimes. Although any reasonable person would celebrate the removal of criminals from their city or state, Democrats in Minnesota, as well as the outside agitators who have converged upon the state in the last month, are fighting tooth and nail to keep them there.
Why? Because Jonathan Fahey was right when he said, “Democrats fight each deportation as if it’s a Democratic vote.” Because, at least in the blue states that don’t require photo identification at the ballot box, that’s a true statement.
The Chats Tell The Story
On Monday, Townhall posted an article about some Signal Chats among the people causing the disruptions in Minneapolis. There are a lot of angles to this story, so please follow the link and read the entire article.
The article reports:
They got exposed, but that doesn’t mean they’ve gone away or stopped. They’re a roach infestation. These leftists in Minneapolis, causing mayhem for our law enforcement, had their secret Anti-ICE chat on Signal exposed, but new ones have been established, and the older ones nuked from existence.
…Still, the chats revealed a coordinated system from which these psychopaths could engage in targeted harassment and assault of federal law enforcement. Reporter Cam Higby dropped this nuke over the weekend, and now they’re scattering. Some said they’re fleeing the country and going to Cuba, which was amusing:
The article also notes:
Here are some of the contents from the initial story Higby dropped over the weekend. RedState broke down the mayhem even further, diving into the funding and who was on it. We know that ‘Flan,’ the alleged codename for Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, was part of this chat, along with Alex Pretti, the latest leftist shot and killed by immigration officers, which led to the second wave of lefty mayhem in the city. Pretti was carrying a firearm, though he didn’t have his proper ID with him*, at this protest, but things went awry, and he was killed. Again, interfering with federal law enforcement operations will lead to dire consequences for the agitator. The Left claims this was another execution. The bodycams from the Border Patrol agents involved are being analyzed.
You can read the various messages in the article, but the article includes an X post by Cam Higby that is disturbing:
This is not a grassroots operation. This is politicians caught with their hands in the cookie jar trying to distract from their crimes.
Not Even Remotely Surprising
California has increased taxes many times to try to balance its budget. If the people who live there are willing to put up with that, that’s fine. However, trying to collect taxes from people who no longer live there is questionable at best.
On Monday, Just The News reported:
According to documents posted online by a family who formerly lived in California, the Golden State is trying to collect income taxes years after the family moved to Florida.
The documents, sent on Jan. 6, 2026, asked for receipts, invoices, canceled checks and other documentation showing that the family moved from California to Florida nearly four years ago. The California Franchise Tax Board, which sent the letter, also asked the family for a “narrative of the circumstances” surrounding the family’s move out of state.
Hari Raghavan, who with his wife, Mitali Gala, was the subject of the investigation by the California Franchise Tax Board, said he and Gala moved from California to Florida in 2021. They tried to sell the home they owned in California when they moved, but weren’t able to do so immediately, Raghavan told The Center Square.
“That spilled into 2022, but it was by no definition a primary residence anymore,” Raghavan said about the California home. “We moved to Florida to establish residency in 2021.”
New Jersey actually does have an Exit Tax. For example, if you sell a house in New Jersey for $800,000 (that you bought years ago for $200,000), you could owe as much as $15,000 in Exit Tax. I think this is taxation without representation, but as far as I know, it has not been challenged in court.
The article at Just The News notes:
In an emailed statement to The Center Square, the Franchise Tax Board said individual tax records are confidential and information about one individual or family’s tax records can’t be shared. Investigations that determine if someone owes taxes can be lengthy, officials said.
“FTB’s audit program serves as the compliance mechanism for administering California’s tax code,” Andrew LePage, an official with the Franchise Tax Board, wrote to The Center Square via email. “A residency audit determines if an individual is a resident, non-resident, or part-year resident for tax purposes. Residency audits take about 18 – 24 months to complete, depending on a wide range of variables.”
Those who live in and receive income in California for at least nine months out of the year owe personal income taxes to the state, LePage told The Center Square via email. Officials also told The Center Square that the board doesn’t share its criteria for when to conduct a residency audit.
Officials with the Franchise Tax Board would not make anyone from the agency available for an interview with The Center Square.
Moving forward, Raghavan and Gala are assembling a response with their accountant, Raghavan said.
While he believes in everyone paying their fair share of taxes, he’s found much of the experience with the agency off-putting, Raghavan told The Center Square.
“My issue is with how they go about it,” Raghavan said. “I can’t truly say they have been unreasonable with us, with one exception. I can’t believe they would ask someone for their moving inventory list. Who maintains that?”
It is easy to understand why people are leaving some of our blue states.
Student Loans For Dead People
If the government continues to give away millions of dollars to dead people, some of us are going to start declaring ourselves dead!
On Monday, The Daily Signal posted an article about the number of student loans being given to dead people.
The article reports:
The Trump administration is fixing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid program after uncovering around $1 billion in fraud, according to Education Secretary Linda McMahon.
“We have identified and saved about a billion dollars for FAFSA loans that would’ve been fraudulent,” McMahon told The Daily Signal in an exclusive interview.
The Biden administration only required identity verification for less than 1% of students applying for student loans, McMahon claimed.
“There were dead people who were applying for loans and receiving them, bots who were receiving, and we identified in Minnesota several thousands of these bots,” she said.
The Trump administration found about $90 million in federal student aid was fraudulently disbursed.
This includes more than $30 million given to deceased individuals and more than $40 million distributed to companies using bots disguised as fake students.
McMahon said the agency has “totally revamped” FAFSA.
The article concludes:
While improving the FAFSA portal, the Education Department discovered the widespread fraud.
The agency launched an identity verification effort in June, and it found about 150,000 suspect identities in current FAFSA forms just within the first week.
The department announced in December it is hiring a new fraud detection team.
“We already have the team in place,” McMahon said. “We are working—it’s been amazing what we have discovered.”
“I’m very pleased with the results,” she continued, “so I think they’ve got a good team in place, and I think they’re doing a really good job.”
I am glad that this is being cleaned up, but I am tired of constantly hearing about fraud in government programs and having no one held accountable. Who received the money, and why are they not in jail?
Things That Make Me Furious
We elected President Trump and a Republican Congress to cut government spending. The Department of Government Efficiency showed us much of the wasteful spending. Congress just passed a bunch of spending bills loaded with earmarks. Is Congress listening to the people who elected them?
On Monday, Open The Books reported:
Most universities dream of wealthy alumni who will send massive donations to their alma maters. The kind who contribute millions of dollars year after year, funding libraries, laboratories and more.
A select few universities have found such a wealthy, if unwitting, donor for 2026: the U.S. taxpayer, by way of pork-hungry senators.
Twenty-four senators requested $636 million of earmarks for the universities they attended as students. That’s more than 20% of the $3.7 billion of earmarks requested for universities in the 2026 federal budget, according to Open the Books’ review of congressional disclosures.
The list includes 13 Democrats and 11 Republicans. However, it was Republicans who requested $470 million (74%) of the cash.
The average alma mater earmark request is worth $4.9 million this year. Earmark requests for universities that are not affiliated with a senator were worth only $3 million on average.
This is a partial list:
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
University of Kentucky, University of Louisville
7 earmark requests worth $164.9 million
Sen. Jim Justice (R-WV)
Marshall University
9 earmark requests worth $57.5 million
Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA)
Washington State University
2 earmark requests worth $50.9 million
Sen. John Boozman (R-AR)
University of Arkansas-Fayetteville
2 earmark requests worth $4.3 million
The article concludes:
The government will shut down on Jan. 31 if Congress cannot agree on a 2026 federal budget. Unfortunately for taxpayers, alma mater earmarks appear to be one of the few items that lawmakers from both parties support.
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) introduced an amendment on Jan. 22 to strike all earmarks from the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies bill, calling them “partisan pet projects” that are “outside the core mission” of the bill.
He was unsuccessful. Seventy-six House Republicans joined 215 Democrats in voting to keep the earmarks intact. Another eight Republicans and one Democrat abstained. The results were unsurprising, given that 31 House members secured $131 million for their own alma maters last year.
Each one gets an “F” for fiscal sanity.
This is unacceptable.
This is the link to download the full list of donations to alma maters.
Do These Children Actually Exist?
On Sunday, Just the News posted an article about a 725 percent increase in Medicaid bills in Illinois for children under 18 without Social Security Numbers.
The article reports:
A candidate for the Illinois Statehouse worries there could be a dark side to the 725% increase in Medicaid payments for children without Social Security numbers.
After more than a year of digging, Statehouse candidate Bailey Templeton’s most public records collection shows 1,085 Illinois children under 18 without SSNs had Medicaid bills of $66 million in 2025. That’s up 725% from $8 million for 450 children in 2021.
“It’s roughly $40 million spent on inpatient treatment, that’s a lot of time for children to be in hospitals,” Templeton told The Center Square Friday.
The data only generates more questions for Templeton.
“It raises questions about what would be called medical trafficking, where things are conducted on to children when they’re too young to be able to consent to these things,” she said.
Templeton said she has further FOIA requests pending.
The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services didn’t immediately respond to questions on why there was a 725% spike in such payments.
The article concludes:
Other Freedom of Information Act requests Templeton has filed include determining how many children on the radar of the Department of Children and Family Services are missing. A follow up FOIA by The Center Square found 193 youth in care missing in 2025.
Another FOIA response Templeton collected showed there are 20,000 children getting taxpayer funded Medicaid without having SSNs. She said her latest FOIA showing the costs doesn’t square with previous information she’s gathered.
“When I found out that only 1,085 of them are in Illinois DCF’s care, it raises questions about the other 19,000 children in whose care that they are in, and who is overseeing the hospital treatments,” Templeton said.
I think it’s time to suspend temporarily all state money coming from the federal government until accurate audits can be provided as to exactly how the federal money is being spent.
A Refusal To Admit The Obvious
On Wednesday, The Federalist posted an article about the ongoing discussion of the integrity of the 2020 election in Fulton County, Georgia.
The article reports:
At the center of that effort in Georgia was Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. He repeatedly assured voters there were no problems — no violations, no misconduct, nothing to see — publicly stating there was “no sign of widespread fraud” during Georgia’s election process, refuting claims of irregularities in a letter to Congress, and again asserting that officials had not found systemic fraud.
…But just last month, Fulton County — Georgia’s most populous county — admitted that approximately 315,000 early ballots in the 2020 election were counted without the required poll worker signatures, a clear and direct violation of state regulations. County officials have further acknowledged they do not dispute that those ballots were improperly certified.
The article notes that Secretary of State Raffensperger has not cooperated with the investigation:
In December, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Georgia, seeking access to voter registration records amid concerns about whether the state is complying with federal election laws meant to prevent voter fraud and ensure only lawful votes are counted. According to the Justice Department, those records are necessary to evaluate compliance with the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1960.
Raffensperger has refused to provide the records, arguing that doing so would require releasing sensitive personal information — a claim the Justice Department disputes, noting that federal law permits review of voter rolls with appropriate safeguards in place.
The article concludes:
Federal officials have been explicit about the consequences of refusing transparency. “At this Department of Justice, we will not permit states to jeopardize the integrity and effectiveness of elections by refusing to abide by our federal election laws. If states will not fulfill their duty to protect the integrity of the ballot, we will,” said Dhillon.
President Trump was right to demand answers. The American people were right to ask questions. And Georgia deserves accountability — which Raffensperger must finally face.
It seems like almost a give that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. We can’t undo that. The question is whether or not anyone will ever be held accountable.
Moving From Accepting Benefits To Theft
On Thursday, Issues & Insights posted an article wondering how easy it is to steal from the American government.
The article reports:
Some of us are old enough to remember Matthew Lesko, the lanky, fast-talking late-night TV pitchman who promised people free government money to those who bought his books.
There are, Lesko said in one of his countless ads decades ago, “15,000 programs you can use to get a better job, get an education, or start your own business. Those who know about the programs are the ones who get the money!”
The article notes:
But Minnesota is hardly the only place where scammers have gone way beyond what Matthew Lesko promised in his books.
As Charles Silver and David Hyman note in the City Journal,
Frauds against government health-care programs are both common and costly. Fraudsters routinely scam (Medicare and Medicaid) for billions of dollars. States themselves run schemes of their own. COVID-related frauds, for example, exceeded $280 billion, with another $123 billion wasted or misspent. Obamacare enrollment fraud is pervasive, likely costing taxpayers $27 billion in 2025 and $21 billion in 2024.
California is under federal criminal investigation for wasting $37 billion to fight homelessness. It lost $20 billion in COVID-19-related federal unemployment money — the most of any state. Nearly half of the state’s increase in Medicaid spending went to pay for health care for illegal aliens. And it’s under investigation to see where the $4 billion in federal money for California’s never-ending bullet train project ended up.
Fox News reports that the Education Department found that “during a 12-month period between 2024 and 2025, scammers stole at least $10 million in federal financial aid from community colleges in California.”
The article concludes:
Why is it so easy to steal from the federal government? Because, unlike a private business, nobody in government really cares if money is wasted. Who has lost their job after some major scam was uncovered?
Plus, as we pointed out in this space, fraud is good for big-government types because it creates new constituents and new sources of campaign cash.
The answer to this problem isn’t just to unleash armies of auditors and federal police. It’s to close the spigot entirely.
The federal government spends more than $3.6 trillion on what it calls “direct payments for individuals” and another $833 billion in grants to states that are supposed to end up in individual pockets.
That’s about two-thirds of the entire federal budget!
As long as there’s that much money flying around, fraudsters will flourish. And taxpayers will be bilked.
It’s time to act on the waste and fraud that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) found. People are never as careful with other people’s money as they are with their own money.
Encouraging Lawlessness
Many of the people currently in office from one particular political party seem to be encouraging lawlessness. Recent statements by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes are disturbing.
On Friday, American Greatness reported:
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) spurred outrage this week after suggesting during an interview that residents may use lethal force against masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents using the state’s “Stand Your Ground” law.
Arizona’s largest police organization blasted her comments on Friday, calling them “reckless, irresponsible and dangerous to the safety of all law enforcement professionals in this state.”
During an interview with 12 News anchor Brahm Resnik earlier this week, Mayes stated that the law allows individuals to defend themselves with lethal force if they reasonably believe their life is in danger, particularly when facing unidentifiable individuals in plain clothes wearing masks.
“It’s kind of a recipe for disaster because you have these masked federal officers with very little identification, sometimes no identification, wearing plain clothes and masks and we have a Stand Your Ground law that says that if you reasonably believe that your life is in danger and you’re in your house or your car or on your property, that you can defend yourself with lethal force,” she said.
How are these statements in keeping with her oath as an elected official to uphold the law?
The article concludes:
The Arizona Police Association (APA) issued a statement Friday calling Mayes’ comments regarding ICE operations and Arizona’s Stand Your Ground Laws “deeply troubling and dangerous.”
The APA represents over 12,000 law enforcement professionals across the state.
“Law enforcement officers at every level, including state, local, and federal agencies, do not always wear traditional uniforms,” explained APA Executive Director Joe Clure. “Officers across Arizona, including the attorney general’s own investigative teams, routinely operate in plain clothes, or wear protective face coverings when circumstances require it. This does not diminish their legal authority or status as law enforcement.”
Words from elected officials matter. It takes only one individual to interpret such commentary as permission or encouragement to use deadly force against police officers.
As Arizona’s chief law enforcement officer, the Attorney General has a responsibility to de-escalate, not inflame. We find these comments reckless, irresponsible and dangerous to the safety of all law enforcement professionals in this state.
The APA urged all elected officials in Arizona to stop politicizing law enforcement and immigration enforcement and instead work toward finding lawful solutions to areas of disagreement.
Removing people from the country who have no legal right to be here should not be a political issue. Where was the outcry when these people were illegally entering the country?
We’ve Seen This Show Before
Remember the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP), in Portland, Oregon, in 2020? Well, the protesters in Minneapolis are doing the same thing.
On Saturday, The Daily Caller reported:
Left-wing rioters erected barricades in the streets of Minneapolis after Border Patrol agents fatally shot a man in possession of a gun Saturday.
Alex Pretti, 37, was killed during what a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) statement described as a “targeted” enforcement operation at 9:05 a.m. local time, triggering riots. Jorge Ventura, reporting for the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF), posted video of one such barricade made with dumpsters and trash cans Saturday afternoon.
“Protesters have blocked and barricaded multiple streets near the shooting, many people from out of town are starting to arrive here in Minneapolis and despite the massive amounts of tear gas used by authorities, the crowd is only getting bigger,” Ventura says.
Ventura told the DCNF that Minneapolis police and the Minnesota State Patrol “are letting them take to the streets” and not making any effort to remove the barricades. The Minneapolis Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.
The article concludes:
ICE deployed hundreds of agents into the Minneapolis area to target illegal immigrants from Somalia following reports of welfare fraud in Minnesota by City Journal in November. Some of the proceeds from the scams reportedly went to the Somalia-based radical Islamic terrorist group, al-Shabaab.
President Donald Trump declared an end to Temporary Protected Status for Somalis in the state Nov. 22. Democratic Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey was then moved to announce during a Dec. 7.on Minneapolis-area TV station WCCO that Minneapolis police would not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement operations.
It is time for this to stop. It is no longer a peaceful protest when protesters are carrying guns, attacking federal law enforcement, and blocking streets. Just as the federal government used force to segregate southern schools, they need to use force now. Officials who refuse to enforce the law need to be removed.
Just a note–notice that we are not currently hearing anything about the Somali fraud. Do you believe that is just a coincidence?
Beware The False Narrative
On Saturday, Hot Air posted an article about the narrative the media (and the Democrats) have put forth about the shooting in Minneapolis on Saturday. The narrative somehow does not acknowledge that resisting arrest when having a gun is a really bad idea.
The article reports:
Few people really know what exactly happened this morning in Minneapolis, and that certainly includes the governor and Mayor of Minneapolis.
Yet both of them started making statements blaming ICE for the shooting of an armed man who was resisting arrest, and seemed to be encouraging the citizens of Minneapolis to attack ICE because they are part of an “invasion” of the state.
Enforcing federal law is not an invasion of the state. In this case it is the federal government doing the job the state is supposed to do.
The article notes:
Democrats have already settled on a narrative, which amounts to a claim that ICE and the Border Patrol are not legitimate law enforcement officers, that they are kidnapping children and peaceful American citizens, and that everybody being arrested is a “neighbor” who was just minding their business and making our communities stronger.
…Senate Democrats, who haven’t a clue about conditions in Minneapolis, are attacking ICE as a violent version of the Keystone Cops. They are untrained, incompetent, but also Gestapo agents who are arresting innocent rapists and murderers who are, through adding their diversity, increasing the strength of our community.
…The reality is that the streets are being taken over by Black Bloc rioters who are assaulting federal agents every day, and that death threats against ICE agents are a fact of life here in Minneapolis. Random people are being stopped in the streets by anti-ICE “protesters” and harassing them.
…Frey and Walz have all the tools to keep the peace, and could, at any time, tone down the temperature and the rhetoric. All they need to do is assist in the peaceful apprehension of known criminals and turn over the criminal illegal aleins in jail.
…But the media and the Democrats think they have a winning issue on their hands, and want to make Trump back down. They have chosen a more violent version of the same strategy used in the shutdown. They hold the power to end the problem, but milk it for political reasons and blame the president for not doing what they, themselves, have the power to do.
When was the last time you saw a Democrat do something good for his country rather than something he thought was good for his party?
If you want peace in your city, elect someone who will uphold the law!
It Will Be Interesting To See The Consequences Of This
On Friday, The Washington Free Beacon posted an article about one aspect of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s affordability agenda.
The article reports:
The “affordability” agenda of New York City’s new mayor apparently includes nurses getting paid more than $200,000 a year.
Mamdani showed up this week at an event to support striking members of the New York State Nurses Association, who are participating in what the union characterizes as “the largest nurse strike” in the history of New York City. The union says nearly 15,000 nurses have gone out at Mount Sinai, NewYork-Presbyterian, and Montefiore hospitals. Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), a frequent Mamdani wingman, also turned up; the Associated Press quoted Sanders as saying, “The people of this country are sick and tired of the greed in this health care industry.”
This is what happens when you elect someone with no business experience or knowledge of economics. The greed in the health care industry is not going to be helped by paying nurses $200,000 a year. In fact, paying nurses $200,000 a year is only going to make healthcare more expensive. If you want to bring down the cost of healthcare, the first think you need to do is get the government out of it. Other than licensing hospitals and health care workers, they need to stay away. It has been government subsides to health insurance companies and frivolous lawsuits that have caused to price of healthcare and health insurance to skyrocket.
According to health system tracker:
Since 2000, the price of medical care, including services provided as well as insurance, drugs, and medical equipment, has increased by 121.3%. In contrast, prices for all consumer goods and services rose by 86.1% in the same period.
The article at The Washington Free Beacon concludes:
One irony is that if the nurses get what they are asking for, they eventually may qualify as “rich” for the purposes of New York taxing them to oblivion. The New York City top marginal income tax rate of 3.876 percent kicks in for married-filing-jointly filers at $90,000, and the New York State individual income tax rate for single filers in 2025 has an increase at the $215,400 a year mark to 6.85% from 6 percent. As Hammond drily observed, eventually nurses, or two-nurse households, might find themselves hit by New York’s millionaires tax. That is, if they don’t join some of the hospital trustees and decamp to lower-tax, lower-health-care-cost destinations, such as Florida.
New York City is going to have an interesting year.
An Incredible Coincidence?
On Saturday, The Daily Signal posted an article about the problems with the 2020 Census. It seems that many blue states were overcounted and many red states were undercounted. It’s possible that was accidental, but a look at the campaign donations of the people doing the counting makes you wonder. The article notes that the political donations of the Census Bureau employees were overwhelmingly to Democrats.
The article reports:
“In 2020, the Census Bureau undercounted in primarily deep-red states like Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas, all red, while overcounting in radical blue states like Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, and Rhode Island,” Hunt (Representative Wesley Hunt, R-Texas)told a Nov. 19, 2025, hearing of the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government.
“This egregious error led to many states being denied proper representation in Congress and the Electoral College. So much so that these errors costs Republicans … six seats in the House. In addition to the 2020 miscounting, including illegal immigrants in the census has improperly granted radical Left blue states 12 additional seats in the United States House of Representatives. That is a total of 18 seats gain and that is a huge problem. And those are the facts,” Hunt told the hearing.
The fact that this is being looked at may be one of many reasons a number of blue states have redrawn their voting districts. It is interesting that most of the blue states already have districts drawn in a way that blocks out Republicans. They really can’t do much more. For example, Massachusetts is currently represented by two senators and nine representatives, all of whom are Democrats. Massachusetts has 11% Republican voters, 50% independent voters and 34% Democrat voters. Where do the Republicans go to get represented?
The article concludes:
Apprised of the Census Bureau employee contribution bias, Hunt provided the following statement to The Washington Stand:
“The inaccuracies and deliberate manipulations embedded in Democrat-led Census reporting expose a level of corruption that plagued the previous administration and continues today under radical Left leadership. Despite these efforts, the American people saw through the deception and delivered a decisive victory for Donald Trump in the last election.
“Now, with Republicans holding all three chambers of government, we have both the responsibility and the obligation to correct these abuses immediately and restore integrity to the process by ensuring that Census data reflects only United States citizens.
“The irony is unmistakable. For years, Democrats have warned of a supposed threat to democracy, while actively engaging in the very practices that undermine it—manipulating systems designed to distort representation and influence elections. Democracy is not endangered by transparency and lawful governance. It is endangered by those who abuse institutions for political gain.”
Hunt will not be in the House of Representatives in 2027, as he is seeking the Republican nomination for the Senate in a hotly contested primary that also includes Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and the Lone Star State’s long-serving incumbent, Sen. John Cornyn. The primary election is March 3, 2026.
From my friends at Power Line Blog:
Three Things The Republicans Need To Do
The North Carolina primary election voting starts in about two weeks. The results of that election will determine who represents the state in Washington. There are a number of significant races–one U.S. Senate seat and one U.S. House seat among them. It is quite possible that the results will hinge on turnout. In both cases, the Republicans are up against a formidable opponent with political experience. In the Senate race, the choice is between a Washington insider and a grass roots candidate. In the House race, there are a number of good candidates, some with better name recognition. It is an important primary, and the results will tell us a lot about who is paying attention.
On January 24th, The American Thinker posted an article about some things the Republicans need to do if they intend to remain in control of Congress.
This is the list:
- Why fixing the integrity of U.S. elections is imperative
The fundamental reason why election integrity is of paramount importance is that the whole basis of the United States is the sovereignty of the people. It is the DNA of America. The legitimacy and moral authority of the country come only from the people who express their preferences for their local, state, and national government officials through free and fair elections. When there is vote fraud and election irregularities, the moral authority of government is compromised, causing the people to disrespect and distrust their own government…
2. Why Prosecuting felony crimes committed by private sector and public officials is imperative
One function of our law enforcement and justice system is to punish lawbreakers. However, the more important function of law enforcement is the deterrence and prevention of other lawbreakers and to prevent the continuation, broadening and escalation of crime.
What has most greased the skids of America’s decline toward the status of a banana republic is the emergence and acceptance of two-tiered justice and attendant cronyism and political corruption…
3. Why Restoring Law and Order in American Cities is imperative
The term “sanctuary city” was first used in 1971 in Berkeley, California for the purpose of giving safe haven to U.S. soldiers resisting the Vietnam War. The modern sanctuary city movement to provide safe haven to illegal immigrants began in the 1980s during the surge of Central American refugees into the U.S.
According to radical left training manuals from the Conference on Alternative State and Local Policies in the late 1970s and 1980s, there was an agenda to radicalize city and state government to transform America. The radicalization of targeted “blue” cities and states dovetailed with the sanctuary city movement. And today there are about twenty large cities and thirteen states that have adopted sanctuary status with policies, laws, and regulations that impede enforcement of federal law and federal immigration laws in particular.
Unless these problems are dealt with, I see no future for the Republican party. They were elected to support the President and deal with the corruption. We have had hearings and hearings and hearings, but the Justice Department has not sent anyone to jail. That needs to change.
They Must Have Really Little Offices
On Friday, The Conservative Treehouse reported:
Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) Director Dr. Mehmet Oz and Deputy Director for Health and Human Services, Jim O’Neill, just released a stunning video from Minnesota. They discuss a former linen factory that was transformed into 400 Medicaid businesses that generated almost $380 million in billing to CMS.
It doesn’t make sense. One industrial building housing almost 400 individual Medicaid businesses that cost taxpayers $380 million in payments for services that are now under investigation. It is almost guaranteed these complex houses fraudulent fake businesses. Director Oz dropped the video on his X account.
The video is interesting in that Director Oz notes that while they are walking around filming, they are being watched. I believe the fraud in Minnesota is very well protected by those in power who profit from it.
The article concludes:
“They generated about $380 million of billing that you, the taxpayer, were putting up. That means roughly each business had a million dollars of billing.” … “It’s an industrial area. There’s no reason that you have a mother bring her child.”
“You can’t imagine getting extra business support. An autistic child probably wouldn’t want to come here. You hear the noise. It’s just not a hospitable place.”
“The question is, how is it possible 400 businesses billing almost $400 million were able to thrive here?!”
“I think it’s because they weren’t looking. They didn’t want to know that this problem was happening here.”
“We’re here to figure out why these folks are being defrauded. Why the people who live in Minnesota aren’t getting access to the care they deserve because it’s been stolen.”
This is a disgrace. It’s time to discontinue all federal funds to Minnesota until a complete audit of where those funds are going can be completed.