Tag Archives: The New York Post

About That New York City Budget Deficit…

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New York City Mayor Mamdani has claimed that he has solved New York City’s budget problem without raising taxes. Great! But let’s look at the small print.

On May 15th, Townhall reported:

Being a socialist means never having to understand how things in the real world work. That includes math, apparently, as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani demonstrated yesterday. He announced he’d managed to miraculously close the city’s gaping budget deficit simply by “taxing the rich” and not cutting services.

That’s a lie, of course. The deficit was closed by delaying city contributions to the pension fun (good luck in retirement, city workers!) and a massive taxpayer bailout from Albany. That means Mamdani got the money from working class New Yorkers, and not “the rich.”

But his socialist supporters fell for it, hook, line, and sinker.

On May 12th, The New York Post posted a list of the increased charges to average New Yorkers to help balance the budget:

As every parent of a teenager has stated at least once, “Money does not grow on trees.” Socialism is expensive.

The New York Post notes:

The Department of Veterans’ Services is also ready to slash unspecified veteran events to save a measly $60,000, and Sanitation is expecting to cancel a battery disposal program to the tune of $353,000.

Under the “savings” plan, officials merely re-estimated revenue they believed would be more accurate, including counting on millions of dollars more for handgun licenses, permit applications to the Landmark Preservation Commission and Taxi and Limousine Commission license renewal fees.

The lion’s share of savings stems from the Department of Education, leaning heavily on vaguely defined “cost containment.”

About $149.5 million this fiscal year is expected to be saved from “improved financial controls,” while an eye-popping $922 million would be saved next year, which would be driven by “improved financial control,” including $30.3 million in procurement “reform.”

Mamdani, during a Tuesday press conference announcing his first budget, insisted his team searched “for every efficiency and savings we can find.”

“It is evidence of a new era of government in our city, one that can balance both ambition and fiscal responsibility, one that can invest in housing, child care, libraries, parks, schools and climate resiliency, while also cutting waste and finding efficiencies,” he said.

I just hope that when Mayor Mamdani goes to President Trump for a bailout, President Trump reacts the same way President Ford did when New York City asked for a bailout in 1975. President Ford said that while there might be risk and some temporary fluctuations in the financial markets, the greater risk to the American people was “provid[ing] a Federal blank check for the leaders of New York City” and not pushing for a “long-run solution to the city’s problems.”

I guess New York City is still looking for that long-run solution.

What An Incredible Coincidence

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On Thursday, The New York Post posted an article about the cancellation of a ‘Muslim only’ event at a taxpayer funded waterpark in Texas.

The article reports:

The head of a Texas Islamic group that rented out a taxpayer-funded waterpark for an event that was advertised as “Muslim only” runs a childhood education center with the exact same unfortunate ‘Learing Center’ typo first seen at an infamous daycare in Minneapolis.

The “Excellence Early Learing Center,” as its misspelled website header reads — located in the Fort Worth suburb of Hurst — offers a variety of programs for youngsters from infants to pre-K, and promises to provide children with “the loving, personal care that they need to thrive and feel confident.”

The center boasts “multiculturalism, small classroom sizes, healthy eating and a warm, loving environment that feels like home” and staff with degrees in “education, accounting, biology, pharmacology, science, nursing and mathematics from their home countries.”

Its owner, head operator and curriculum designer is Aminah Knight, who boasts a master’s degree fro the University of Southern California and a doctorate from Vanderbilt University.

Earlier this week, Knight and her DFW Epic Eid organization drew massive criticism for a flyer advertising an event at Epic Waters in Grand Prairie billed as “Muslim only” and requiring modest swimsuits for all attendees.

Epic Waters, a sprawling, 80,000-square-feet indoor waterpark opened in 2017 at a cost of $88 million — funded by a 0.25% sales tax hike residents approved at the ballot box in 2014.

The FAQ for the third-annual event, which was being held to celebrate the Muslim holiday Eid, initially proclaimed “the entire waterpark has been exclusively reserved for Muslims.”

After the backlash, Knight modified the advert to omit the exclusionary language, and acknowledged to The Post in an email that the original messaging wasn’t intended to bar non-Muslims.

When asked, Knight stated that her goal was simply to provide an atmosphere where “individuals and families who value modest dress and a modest environment can come together and feel comfortable enjoying a recreational space.” I can agree with the idea of requiring modest dress, but you can’t restrict the use of a publicly-funded waterpark to a specific religious group. I’m sure you could rent a private waterpark and limit the people allowed to use it on a specific day, but that wouldn’t be pushing the envelope, which is what I suspect was originally happening  here.

Actions Have Consequences

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The attacks (verbal and physical) on conservative politicians and conservative journalist have been going on for a while. One Representative told people during the first Trump administration that if someone sees a person from that administration they should ‘get in their face.’ That is not good advice.

On Wednesday, The New York Post posted an article about an attack on a conservative journalist in Minnesota.

The article reports:

A Minnesota couple — including a dad who fancied himself “the voice of a generation” — and their daughter were hit with federal charges for allegedly assaulting a Turning Point USA reporter at an anti-ICE protest earlier this month.

Christopher Ostroushko, 51, Deyanna Ostroushko, 46, and daughter Paige Ostroushko, 20, were indicted for the assault of TPUSA reporter Savanah Hernandez outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Fort Snelling, the US Department of Justice announced Wednesday.

Horrifying video from the April 11 anti-ICE rally outside the Whipple building captured Christopher Ostroushko suddenly shoving Hernandez, 29, to the ground with both hands, while yelling, “Don’t f–king touch my daughter!”

The enraged dad’s assault came after a female protester was seen punching Hernandez in the face, knocking her clean off her feet and into a fence behind her, and before another woman tackled her to the pavement once again, according to the footage.

Hernandez previously told The Post that she was tasked with filming protest activity — and did so untouched until she was identified by “a mob” of “left-wingers” for her work with the organization co-founded by assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

On Thursday, Hot Air reported:

Deyanna Ostroushko is probably not looking at actual federal prison time, unless she has a previous conviction on her record. However, Christopher and Paige are looking at the potential for serious time inside a Club Fed or worse if convicted of the top charge in the indictment. Their attorney may argue that Hernandez’ injuries are not serious enough to warrant a felony conviction under that statute, but that’s not how the statute is written. They may not get the full ten years, but it sounds like US Attorney David Rosen plans to make the Ostroushkos an example pour encourager les autres and to establish consequences for the “national scourge” that the Ostroushkos represent. 

That’s certainly the message Harmeet Dhillon intends to send, loudly and clearly. She was “on it” from the beginning, and in terms of grand-jury proceedings, practically sprinted across the finish line to file this indictment against the family that preys together to stay together. We need much more of this tough approach to political violence across the board. It will take more than a prison sentence for the Ostroushkos to re-set the incentive structure around the near-riots around federal immigration facilities and attacks on conservative observers to them.

This is unacceptable behavior. Fortunately, it was caught on firm, so the defendants will have a hard time proving their innocence.

Food Stamps And Luxury Cars

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The concept of helping Americans with grocery bills was introduced in the 1930’s. It was made possible by the introduction of the Federal Income Tax in 1913. It should be noted that Americans were told in 1913 that the Income Tax would only affect the top 1 to 3 percent of Americans. The program that began in the 1930’s ended in 1943 as the American economy recovered from the Depression because of World War II. Then in 1964 President Johnson supported a permanent Food Stamp program as part of the War on Poverty. So what has been the result of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (S.N.A.P.) ?

On April 22nd, The New York Post reported:

What do a university professor, a celebrity barber and a professional football player have in common?

All three bought new, six-figure luxury sports cars and lived lavish lifestyles — while collecting food stamps.

How on earth can these “welfare recipients” purchase high-end vehicles while remaining on the dole?

Thanks to a federal loophole known as Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility.

The Clinton administration manufactured this loophole, and the Obama administration supercharged it.

Currently, 43 states and Washington, DC, use BBCE to bypass federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program eligibility limits on income, assets or both.

The mechanism, based on a federal law that was meant to minimize states’ administrative costs, is simple.

State welfare agencies print up a brochure about welfare programs, or set up an informational hotline, and deem it a “benefit” under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.

Anyone who touches that pamphlet or receives the phone number is then treated as being “categorically eligible” for food stamps — even millionaires.

It’s fraud by design that distributes benefits intended for the truly needy to otherwise ineligible individuals, under the insidious goal of maximizing enrollment and dependency — and it works in almost every state.

Researchers from the Foundation for Government Accountability examined de-identified data on food-stamp enrollment in a single representative state.

The article lists some of the fraud that has been found so far. They have found IP addresses traced to foreign countries, including China, Mexico and Canada. More than 5,000 applicants in this state used foreign-based email addresses to apply,

The article notes:

Under 2025’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, states with high food-stamp error rates will for the first time face steep federal penalties for their inaction.

Ending the BBCE loophole will move millions of ineligible enrollees off the program and save taxpayers more than $100 billion over the next decade.

Rebuilding verification infrastructure like data cross-matches, identity checks and residency confirmation will finally give caseworkers the ability to catch EBT fraud before the benefits ever go out the door.

I am beginning to believe that we could balance the federal budge if we simply eliminate the fraud.

This is the list posted on X of the cars owned by people receiving S.N.A.P. benefits in one state:

Is The Covid Thread Unraveling?

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I don’t think we have any idea how many lies we were told during the Covid epidemic or how many of our basic civil rights were violated. However, we may be about to find out.

On Tuesday, Breitbart reported:

A former senior adviser to Dr. Anthony Fauci was indicted Tuesday regarding his alleged efforts to hide records about the origins of the Chinese coronavirus.

Seventy-eight-year-old Dr. David Morens is facing multiple charges in the case, the New York Post reported.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) detailed the indictment against the former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) staffer, saying he was allegedly involved in evading Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests linked to COVID-19 research grants:

According to the indictment, Morens, Co-Conspirator 1, Co-Conspirator 2, and others conspired during the COVID-19 pandemic to defraud and commit several offenses against the United States after NIH terminated Co-Conspirator 1’s grant. NIH terminated the grant, Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence (bat coronavirus grant), based on allegations that COVID-19 emerged from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in Wuhan, China. NIAID awarded the grant to Company #1 and Co-Conspirator 1, who made a subaward to the WIV.

Following the termination, Morens and Co-Conspirator 2 pledged to help Co-Conspirator 1 restore the termination of the bat coronavirus grant and counter the narrative that COVID-19 leaked from a lab. In anticipation that their communications would be requested through a FOIA Request, Morens, Co-Conspirator 1, and Co-Conspirator 2 agreed in writing to intentionally hide from public view their communications by corresponding using Morens’s personal Gmail account, rather than his official NIH email account.

Another secret server?

The article notes:

In 2024, emails obtained by a congressional subpoena showed Morens had once bragged about “how to make emails disappear,” Breitbart News reported at the time.

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Rand Paul (R-KY) said in September that there is email evidence allegedly showing Fauci may have deleted public records, which contradicted his previous testimony.

“In a letter addressed to Fauci, which Breitbart News viewed, Paul revealed that the committee was conducting an ‘investigation into the origins’ of the coronavirus,” the outlet continued. “Paul added that the committee had ‘obtained records’ revealing that Fauci allegedly directed employees at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to destroy federal records.”

Morens has been charged with “conspiracy against the United States; destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations; concealment, removal, or mutilation of records; and aiding and abetting,” the DOJ’s news release said.

It is definitely time for orange jump suits!

The Department Of Justice Is Doing Its Work

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During the Obama and Biden administrations, the Department of Justice put a lot of its focus on domestic terrorism threats such as pro-life protesters and parents attending school board meetings. That seems to be changing. One example of that change is the arrest of Shamim Mafi, 44, of Woodland Hills, California, who was arrested at Los Angeles Airport on her way to Turkey.

On Sunday, The New York Post reported:

A glamorous Iranian businesswoman with a US green card was arrested at the Los Angeles International Airport for allegedly trafficking arms on behalf of Tehran.

Shamim Mafi, 44, of Woodland Hills, was taken into custody on Saturday night and charged with brokering deals for Iranian drones, bombs, and millions of rounds of ammunition bound for Sudan, according to the office of the US Attorney for the Central District of California.

Mafi had allegedly conducted the arms deals while in close contact with Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, which provided instruction and funds for her to open a business in the US to operate out of, according to court records.  

“She is charged with a violation of 50 U.S.C. § 1705 for brokering the sale of drones, bombs, bomb fuses, and millions of rounds of ammunition manufactured by Iran and sold to Sudan,” First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli said Sunday, announcing the arrest.

…Mafi, who left Iran in 2013 and became a permanent resident of the US in 2016 under the Obama administration, allegedly used an Oman-registered company, Atlas International Business, to broker weapons deals as recently as 2025, according to court records.

Among the sales was a contract for more than $70 million for Iranian-made Mohajer-6 armed drones from Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics.

The drones, along with 55,000 bomb fuses, were transferred in deals with the Sudanese Ministry of Defense, which has been fighting in a bloody civil war since 2023.

The article concludes:

Mafi is ultimately accused of violating the Conspiracy to Violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which if convicted of, would lead to a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.

The suspect is scheduled to appear at the US District Court in downtown LA on Monday, prosecutors said.

A representative for Mafi could not be immediately reached for comment.

It is interesting to me that she was headed for Turkey.

Making Our Roads Safer

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On Friday, American Greatness posted an article about Commercial Drivers Licenses (CDL’s) being issued to people who are here illegally or who do not speak English well enough to read road signs or follow verbal directions.

The article reports:

Over $73 million in federal highway funds are being withheld from New York state after an audit found more than half the state’s commercial drivers licenses (CDL) were issued to foreigners illegally.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced yesterday that the state failed to revoke “illegally issued nondomiciled commercial learner’s permits and commercial driver’s licenses.”

According to a December press release from the U.S. Dept. of Transportation, a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) nationwide audit of non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) uncovered a shocking 53 percent failure rate in the records sampled, indicating serious problems in New York’s CDL program.

Among the failures documented were New York DMV systems defaulting to issuing eight-year licenses to foreign drivers for non-REAL ID licenses, regardless of when their legal status expired, and the state issuing commercial licenses to foreign drivers without providing any evidence that it had verified their current lawful presence in the United States.

Just the News reports that Derek Barrs, administrator of the motor carrier administration, stated, “FMCSA’s mission is safety. That means ensuring that every commercial driver on the road is properly vetted and qualified. New York’s continued refusal to fix these failures undermines that mission, and we will not allow federal dollars to support a system that falls short of the law.”

The article concludes:

Just the News reports that with the forfeiture of nearly $74 million in funding, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration is losing 4 percent of its National Highway Performance Program and Surface Transportation Program Block Grant Funds.

Duffy, in a post on X, posed the question of whether pulling federal funding from non-compliant states worked before responding, “Just ask Gavin Newsom,” referring to how California revoked more than 17,000 licenses issued to undocumented people after the DOT pulled over $160 million in federal funding from the state.

We don’t need people who cannot read road signs driving multi-ton trucks.

What Are The Exact Numbers?

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We are awaiting the decision of the Supreme Court on birthright citizenship. The decision will have a major impact no matter what the ruling is. If the Court supports it, birth tourism will continue and the number of children born here to parents who were not here legally will continue to grow. If the Court shuts down birthright citizenship, there will be some serious obstacles to ending birth tourism. We will also have to put a stop date of when children born here can no longer instantly become citizens.

On Saturday, The New York Post reported:

Nearly 10% of US births in 2023 came from illegal immigrant mothers, according to newly published research.

Pew Research Center revealed that 320,000 of the 3.6 million babies born in the US that year were anchor babies who would not qualify for birthright citizenship if President Trump’s executive order is upheld by the Supreme Court.

“Under the current erroneous birthright citizenship interpretation, these children automatically become citizens and unlock food stamps, welfare, specialized schooling for English education, and eventually college aid,” Brandy Perez Carbaugh of the Heritage Foundation told The Post.

The article concludes:

“High volumes of illegal and temporary aliens are having children in the US because they are exploiting the decades-old erroneous interpretation that such children are US citizens,” said Carbaugh.

“Emergency Medicaid loopholes allow illegal aliens to qualify for free labor, delivery, and often prenatal care in some states, so taxpayers pay for these ‘anchor babies,’” said the expert.

“This has brought alien parents both a claimed shield against deportation and financial benefits through the eligible child. Americans cover the cost as they struggle to provide for their own families,” she said.

The Supreme Court began hearing oral arguments April 1 in Trump v. Barbara, a landmark challenge to the president’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship, which has been a right enshrined in the 14th Amendment since 1868.

To quote Milton Friedman, “It’s just obvious you can’t have free immigration and a welfare state.” (source here) Birthright citizenship is an economic problem as well as a national security issue.

The Staggering Cost Of Free Stuff

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On Monday, The New York Post posted an article about New York City’s first city-owned grocery store.

The article reports:

Zo’s cheap groceries will cost taxpayers a pretty penny.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s first-unveiled city-owned grocery store will cost a staggering $30 million to build from the ground up at East Harlem’s longstanding La Marqueta, officials confirmed – as local grocers worried it’d gobble up their business.

The new grocery at the  longstanding city-owned La Marqueta marketplace will run with a yet-to-be-picked operator reaping the benefits of a rent- and tax-free deal, City Hall officials told The Post on Monday.

Mamdani envisions that the low-cost deal — which he anounced during a Sunday celebration of his first 100 days in office -– will allow the grocery’s operator to pass on savings to hardscrabble New Yorkers reeling from foodstuff sticker shock, but neighboring grocer Abdul Shaher had doubts about its efficiency based on the exorbitant $30 million upfront cost.

“How can they manage something like that? A small supermarket?” said Shaher, who owns and manages Healthy Choice near La Marqueta, laughing with disbelief.

The article notes:

Opening five city-owned grocery stores in each borough was one of Mamdani’s marquee affordability promises during his successful run for mayor.

His proposal drew dire warnings of “Soviet”-style markets forcing private businesses to shutter, with billionaire owner John Catsimatidis threatening to close or sell his Gristedes chain if Mamdani was elected.

Other critics argued that municipal markets in other places – notably a barren city-owned grocery in Kansas City, Missouri – had struggled and closed.

An undaunted Mamdani pointed to toward several successful government-owned groceries, such as one in St. Paul, Kansas, a community of roughly 600 people.

New York City arguably has a similar effort already in effect: six public retail markets, including La Marqueta.

When the privately-owned grocery stores and markets leave New York City because they can’t compete with the city-owned grocery, that will be one more section of the tax base that New York City loses. At one point all businesses will leave the city due to the cost of doing business. How long will it take for the voters to wake up? Will they wake up before the city fails?

Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied

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Most Americans have seen the video of Decarlos Brown Jr. stabbing Iryna Zarutska to death on the Charlotte, North Carolina, subway. Unfortunately, Brown has been found “incapable to proceed” on state murder charges.

On Wednesday, PJ Media reported:

The serial criminal who murdered Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte subway just for being white just received another break, as a hospital claimed he was incapable of standing trial and prosecutors have delayed his competency hearing by six months.

In an apparent effort to delay and thus perhaps permanently undermine justice for Iryna Zarutska’s killer, prosecutors have accepted the assessment from Central Regional Hospital, leaving a judge to decide whether to reject the assessment and proceed with the April 30 hearing to delay 180 days as the hospital and prosecutors recommend. The new claim that Decarlos Brown is “incapable to proceed” on state murder charges became public in a motion filed April 7, according to the New York Post.

Decarlos Dejuan Brown Jr. already had 14 arrests on his record when he boarded a Charlotte subway train in August 2025 with violence on his mind. Brown did not know Iryna, who was also riding the subway and quietly minding her own business. But Brown suddenly and randomly approached Iryna and stabbed the young woman to death while most of the other passengers looked another way, refusing to intervene. Just before he got off the train, video of Brown shows him gloating to himself, “Got that white girl.” 

The article notes:

The new assessment that Brown is incompetent to stand trial could prevent trying him for the death penalty. From the New York Post:

Brown is also facing federal charges — and will remain in custody on that case, his lawyer Daniel Roberts said.

A judge must now determine whether to accept the report’s findings, and the case against him will likely be delayed until his capacity is determined to be “restored” by the court, the station reported…If a judge agrees Brown is incompetent to stand trial, state law mandates the charges be dismissed. However, if the judge issues the ruling without prejudice, state murder charges could be refiled if he ever regains his capacity to be tried.

It will be a serious miscarriage of justice if Brown is not put on trial for his crime. I understand the concept of innocent until proven guilty, but the video of the incident is pretty clear evidence of what happened. At any rate, he should never be able to walk the streets freely again.

The Reward For Whistleblowers

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On Sunday, The New York Post posted an article about  Treasury Secretary Scott Besent’s idea for encouraging whistleblowers to report fraud.

The article reports:

Uncle Sam needs you to help crush the billion-dollar financial fraud gangs.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is launching a new program on Monday that will reward tipsters with up to 30% of the fines imposed on criminals who are trying to bleed US taxpayers dry, The Post has learned.

The program includes tips for Medicaid and Medicare rip-offs — and given that fraud in those two programs tops some $70 billion per year according to one estimate, whistleblowers could be in for some big payouts.

Other forms of financial crimes are also included.

The payments will come directly from fines, rather than having the American taxpayers foot the bill, according to confidential Treasury documents obtained by The Post.

“Individuals located in the United States or abroad who provide information may be eligible for awards if the information they provide leads to a successful enforcement action that results in monetary penalties exceeding $1,000,000,” one of the documents reads.

It would mirror a similar scheme run by the Internal Revenue Service, which is also overseen by the Treasury Department.

The article notes:

Medicaid and Medicare fraud costs at least an estimated $68.7 billion each year, according to a 2022 study conducted by the Colorado State University Global White Collar Crime Task Force.

Illustration of the "Operation Gold Rush" scheme showing a transnational criminal organization defrauding Medicare in the US and laundering money through Russia and other countries.
The Justice Department has alleged that $10 billion in fraudulent claims were filed while transnational criminal organizations received $941 million from Medicare and Medicaid supplemental insurers. DOJ

The confidential Treasury warning to banks raises as many as 24 “red flags” for financial institutions to watch for, including claims logged by someone without permanent residence in the US, sudden spikes in billing from newly established medical companies, or making huge transfers to companies overseas just after a direct deposit from the government clears.

The article concludes:

Treasury hit New York-based investment bank Canaccord Genuity with a record $80 million civil fine just three weeks ago for failing to monitor suspicious trading.

Investigators said that between 2019 and ⁠2022, Canaccord failed to file at least 160 suspicious activity reports covering thousands of ​questionable transactions, with some activity that deserved “red flags” going unreviewed for months or years.

The allegations were unrelated to healthcare fraud, but focused on a Cyprus-based firm that spent years helping Russian oligarchs move money out of Russia.

The corruption is deep, and it is on both sides of the aisle.

Sharing The Pain

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On March 19th, I posted an article about the Democrat plan for the partial government shutdown. The idea was to cause so much pain for the voters that they would put pressure on the Republicans to cave to the Democrats. In the process of doing this, they also exempted themselves from the pain. I am still  not convinced this was a wise move. Even if it was successful, they might win the battle and lose the war.  However, not everyone is willing to play along with their game.

On Tuesday, The New York Post reported:

Delta Air Lines is punishing Congress for failing to fund the Department of Homeland Security.

The airline company has temporarily yanked its special congressional desk service to lawmakers and staffers on Capitol Hill until Congress finally funds the DHS, which has been in a partial shutdown since Feb. 28.

“Due to the impact on resources from the longstanding government shutdown, Delta will temporarily suspend specialty services to members of Congress flying Delta,” the company said in a statement first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

…“Next to safety, Delta’s No. 1 priority is taking care of our people and customers, which has become increasingly difficult in the current environment.”

Delta’s perks to members of Congress included benefits such as airport escorts and red coat services. Its Capitol Desk reservation line is still open, but lawmakers will be “treated as any passenger based on their respective SkyMiles status” for the time being.

Last week, Delta CEO Ed Bastian delivered a fierce rebuke of Congress for allowing funding for DHS to lapse, which has resulted in Transportation Security Administration employees going without full pay for over a month.

Bastian called the situation “inexcusable” and railed against lawmakers for using TSA workers as “political chips.”

As everyone is aware, United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) employees have been sent to airports to help keep the waiting lines moving. That is helping with the lines, but it also gives people a chance to see ICE as a positive force helping people. 

Restoring Our Heritage

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I am aware that Christopher Columbus was not actually the first person to discover America, but tradition gives him the credit and the holiday. That credit and holiday is being restored under the Trump administration.

On Sunday, The New York Post reported:

A new statue of Christopher Columbus went up on the White House grounds Sunday that was built using pieces from a monument to the Italian explorer that protesters destroyed six years ago. 

The 13-foot, one-ton replica of a Columbus statue toppled in Baltimore in 2020 – then dumped into the city’s inner harbor – was commissioned by the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations and is part of the White House’s celebration of America’s 250th anniversary. 

The 13-foot replica was placed Sunday outside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building after Baltimore officials refused to install it.

The article notes:

“Columbus statues have long stood as symbols of pride and cultural identity for more than 18 million Americans of Italian descent,” Basil M. Russo, the conference’s president, said in a statement. “For over a century, Columbus’s legacy helped Italian immigrants navigate prejudice and hardship, serving as a source of unity and belonging as they built new lives in this country. 

“Columbus Day itself emerged in the aftermath of the 1891 New Orleans lynching, when 11 Italian immigrants were killed by a mob of thousands, an event that prompted a national effort to promote the acceptance and assimilation of Italian Americans,” Russo continued. “This history remains central to why these monuments matter.”

This is the picture of the new statue:

A nation should never deny its own history.

Voting With Your Feet

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On Saturday, The New York Post posted an article about Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick. He has announced that he is leaving California for Texas.

Our Founding Fathers envisioned a nation where each state would be an individual laboratory to find the best ways to do things–provide services, create budgets, levy taxes, etc. The idea was that the unsuccessful states would learn from the successful states. Unfortunately, some of our less successful states seem to have a very slow learning curve and rather than learn from what is successful are doubling down on what doesn’t work. California, a beautiful state with beautiful beaches, and beautiful weather is one example of that slow learning curve. The state’s tax plans are driving successful people out of the state.

The article reports:

Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick says he has traded California for Texas, joining a growing list of billionaires abandoning the state as lefty lawmakers push for a one-off tax on their wealth.

Appearing on TPBN to discuss his robotics startup Atoms, Kalanick told hosts John Coogan and Jordi Hays he relocated to Austin at the end of 2025.

“Just to be clear, on December 18, I moved to Texas. I don’t know what’s so specific about December 18, but let’s just say it’s prior to January,” said Kalanick, pointedly.

That means the 49-year-old’s estimated $3.6 billion fortune will not be subjected to the tax should it be introduced.

Kalanick joked he felt a twinge of FOMO when he hears about other wealthy Americans relocating to Florida.

“Why so much Florida action?! Like, come on homies,” he said.

Those ”homies” would be billionaire tech figures to leave California for Florida., including Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, PayPal and Palantir investor Peter Thiel, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg.

The article notes:

While California still boasts the largest billionaire population in the United States, an increasing number have relocated to places such as Reno, Austin and Miami.

As long as people are free to move around the country, they will gravitate to the states with lower taxes and a lower cost of living. Businesses and corporations will also move to states with a better business climate. Note that Cape Cod Potato Chips are being moved out of Massachusetts.

The Act And The Attitude

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On Saturday, The New York Post reported that two homemade explosive devices were tossed outside Gracie Mansion Saturday. There were two competing protests going on there at the time–one against the war in Iran and one supporting the Iranian regime.

The article reports:

Counter protester Emir Balat, 18, lit and threw the first device into the crosswalk of East 87th Street and East End Avenue, where it struck a barrier and later extinguished itself, police said.

The second person, who has been tentatively identified as 19-year-old Ibrahim Nikk, allegedly handed the device to Balat, authorities said.

Balat is alleged to have lit a second improvised explosive which he dropped on while running on East End Avenue between East 86th and East 87th Street.

…Mayor Mamdani’s Press Secretary, Joe Calvello, put out a statement late Saturday that said: “The ‘Crusade Against Islamification’ gathering held outside Gracie Mansion today by Jake Lang, a vile white supremacist, was despicable and Islamophobic.  

“Thankfully, the Mayor and the First Lady are both safe, though the events are a stark reminder of the threats they both face regularly. 

“The Mayor has spoken with Police Commissioner Tisch, and the NYPD is actively investigating the protest, counter-protest, and suspicious devices discovered outside Gracie Mansion.”

The NYPD, meanwhile, said the devices did not explode or detonate.

Video circulating on X showed the moment one device was thrown towards Lang.

Lang said he fled New York City for Long Island after the incident.

Wait a minute. Regardless of what you think of Lang, he does have the right to protest, and he was protesting in a non-violent manner. The people who threw the explosive devices were not protesting legally as soon as they threw the bombs. Notice that the Mayor is quick to condemn Lang–not mentioning who threw the devices.

On March 9th, The New York Post posted an article about the people who threw the explosive devices.

The article reports:

One of the accused terrorists busted for lobbing explosive devices near Gracie Mansion flashed a sick salute honoring ISIS as he was led in shackles from a police precinct Monday.

Emir Balat, 18, was seen holding up his right index finger — a universal salute for the terror group — and grinning at the press while being led by a cop and an FBI agent.

How many people have we allowed into America who believe it is justified to murder innocent civilians?

Quietly Working Against The Cartels

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Mexico right now is a place you do not want to be. After the killing of Nemesio “El Mencho” Osequera Cervantes, the country has descended into what looks like a nationwide gang war. However, before El Mencho was killed, the Trump administration was able to accomplish something that will at least slow down the activities of the cartels in Mexico.

On Monday, The New York Post reported:

Mexico has quietly shipped nearly 100 suspected cartel drug traffickers to the US to stand trial after President Trump branded the groups foreign terrorist organizations last year — and pressured the Mexican government to cooperate.

The suspects include the brother of Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes — the brutal Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) leader who was killed by the Mexican army on Sunday.

The Justice Department said many of the 92 defendants released to the Americans had US extradition requests that were not honored during the Biden administration.

“As President Trump has made clear, cartels are terrorist groups, and this Department of Justice is devoted to destroying cartels and transnational gangs,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said of the first round of transfers, which kicked off last February.

“We will prosecute these criminals to the fullest extent of the law in honor of the brave law enforcement agents who have dedicated their careers — and in some cases, given their lives — to protect innocent people from the scourge of violent cartels.”

The article concludes:

The US Marshals Service, which usually handles retrieval of cross-border crime suspects, praised Trump and Bondi for their efforts in getting Mexico to turn over the fugitives.

“Leadership like President Trump’s and Attorney General Bondi’s to work diligently to bring all of these wanted criminals back to the United States reinforces their commitment to getting justice for their victims,” said USMS Director Gadyaces S. Serralta.

“This sends a very clear message; justice does not stop at borders.”

I have been told by a local law enforcement officer that the price of illegal drugs on the street has skyrocketed since President Trump began securing America’s borders. That is good news for all Americans.

It’s Hard To Spin Actual Facts

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February 25th, Fox News posted a full transcript of Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger’s response to President Trump’s State of the Union Speech.

This was her opening salvo against President Trump:

Tonight, as we watched our nation’s lawmakers gather for a joint session of Congress, we did not hear the truth from our President.

So, let’s speak plainly and honestly, and let me ask you three questions:

Is the President working to make life more affordable for you and your family?

Is the President working to keep Americans safe — both at home and abroad?

Is the President working for YOU?

To answer the first question, I am sharing this chart from The New York Post:

I think $6,000 makes life more affordable for most families.

To answer the second question, on February 5th, Fox News reported:

According to the CCJ’s report, nationwide homicide data released later this year could show killings in 2025 falling to roughly 4.0 per 100,000 residents – the lowest rate ever recorded in law enforcement or public health data dating back to 1900 and the largest single-year percentage drop on record.

The report found homicides fell 21% from 2024 to 2025 in the 35 cities that reported data, amounting to 922 fewer killings. Thirty-one of those cities saw declines, with Denver, Washington, D.C., and Omaha, Nebraska, each posting drops of around 40%.

Other major crimes also fell sharply in the cities studied. 

Is the President working for me? Well, let’s see. Billions of dollars of fraudulent government spending is being investigated. Hopefully the people responsible will go to jail regardless of their political connections. Government jobs are decreasing while private sector jobs are increasing. My taxes have gone down. The cost of gasoline has gone down significantly. Our borders are secure. Criminals are being arrested and deported. The censorship on social media has decreased significantly. Parents at school board meetings are no longer viewed as possible terrorists. Confused teenagers are no longer being told they are in the wrong body and they need surgery and drugs. The Christian religion is being acknowledged for the part it played in the founding of America.

Yes, I think the President is working for me! We heard the truth from President Trump. Did we hear the truth from you?

Just Say “No”

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On January 16th, Red State posted an article about the ongoing negotiations between the U.S. and Iran. Iran is feeling the impact of the sanctions imposed by the Trump administration and is looking for relief.

The article reports:

Iran is now signaling a desire to play “Let’s Make a Deal” with the United States, acknowledging that they will “discuss” their nuclear ambitions of the United States eases back on sanctions. Bear in mind, this is the largest state sponsor of Islamic terrorism in the world, here, trying to get America to back off.

The New York Post reports:

Iran is prepared to “discuss” its nuclear program if the US is ready to lift some of its crippling sanctions on the regime in exchange, the country’s deputy foreign minister said over the weekend.

Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Tehran’s deputy foreign minister, argued that the ball is “in America’s court to prove that they want to do a deal” and predicted the two sides will make progress if the US is sincere.

“We are ready to discuss this and other issues related to our program if they are ready to talk about sanctions,” Takht-Ravanchi told the BBC Sunday.

Takht-Ravanchi didn’t specify how much relief Iran would expect in order to make concessions on its atomic program.

The article concludes:

These people cannot be trusted. Any deal they agree to isn’t worth the paper it is printed on. Iran has been a blight on the planet for far too long, and the Iranian people, the ones who have been in the streets demanding change, protesting the mullahs even at the cost of their own lives, deserve better. Over 7,000 Iranians have died in these protests. That loss can’t be for nothing. The mullahs have to go. Iran has to rejoin the community of civilized nations.

We can’t do it for the Iranian people. But we sure can put a steel umbrella over their heads while they get the job done, and President Trump looks to be moving resources to the region to do just that.

If we loosen the sanctions, the Iranian people will never be free. They have to fight for their freedom, but our sanctions can help them in that fight.

Why We Need ICE

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The mission of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) is to protect America from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration that threaten national security and public safety. Many of the people who crossed the border during the Biden administration were gang members, people with criminal backgrounds, and people with ties to terrorist countries. Most Americans do not want these people as their neighbors. The article below is an example of the reason for ICE.

On Saturday, The New York Post reported:

An alleged crack-smoking, sexual-predator migrant wanted by ICE was allowed to flee through a back door of a Manhattan courthouse — infuriating federal agents, The Post has learned.

Gerardo Miguel Mora, 45, was arrested Thursday for shoplifting and possession of stolen property after allegedly snatching $130 in items from an H&M display case in Midtown that day, court records show.

Mora, whose country of origin was not disclosed, was collared on the Upper West Side on Jan. 7 for possession of alleged crack cocaine, according to a criminal complaint. That case is pending in court.

In 2011, Mora was busted for attempted rape and strangulation after he allegedly followed a 21-year-old woman home in Midtown, choked her and tried to remove her clothes, police sources said.

He was stopped by a bystander who heard the woman’s cries and came to her aid, holding Mora down until cops arrived, the sources said. 

He was presumably deported after that, and was off the radar for 12 years. But in 2023 he was back in the US and arrested for showing a false ID.

Federal authorities had been looking for Mora on a criminal arrest warrant under a section of the US code that concerns “reentry of removed aliens,” law enforcement sources said.

But on Thursday in a court hearing on desk appearance tickets, the judge let Mora waltz out of the courtroom, sources said.

The shoplifting charge itself was not bail eligible, but Judge Sheridan Jack-Browne, a Democrat who won a special election last year in Brooklyn, would have had the federal arrest warrant, two sources told The Post.

The warrant is actually put in a folder for the judge to peruse on the bench.

“Everything was sent over” to the courthouse by ICE, a federal law enforcement source said.

But instead of handing him over to waiting ICE agents, Mora was allowed to simply slip out the back door of Manhattan Criminal Court, law enforcement sources said.

“They refused to hand him over,” the irate fed said. “They let him out the back to avoid ICE.”

ICE agents realized Mora had been released, and chased him down outside, a source said.

Mora’s now in federal custody. The Department of Justice could prosecute Mora, deport him or both.

It’s a pretty safe bet that this criminal is not going to show up in the judge’s well-guarded neighborhood or living quarters, so it’s no skin off her back to let him loose. Where is the regard for the safety of her fellow New York City residents. If he attempts to rape someone, is she responsible?

Don’t Expect Your Laws To Be Obeyed When You Ignore Other Laws

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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.

A Book We Might All Want To Read

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On Monday, The New York Post posted an article about a new book written by Peter Schweizer. The title of the book is “The Invisible Coup: How American Elites and Foreign Powers Use Immigration as a Weapon.”

The article notes:

Ismail Selim Elbarasse, an accountant by training, seemed to be living a quiet life in Annandale, Virginia. But in 2004, when police officers noticed him driving with his wife across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and filming its critical structural elements, they decided to act, then detained him and notified federal agents.

He was already a suspect in a scheme to provide funding to Islamist terrorist groups, and now agents were searching through his home for further evidence of his possible involvement.

They discovered far more than a terrorism funding scheme.

Buried among the stacks of paperwork in his home was a document written in Arabic titled “An Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Brotherhood in North America,” written by a US-based Islamist leader from the Muslim Brotherhood.

The strategic goals memo specifically addressed the “Civilization-Jihadist Process” for using migration as a weapon of subversion.

Members “must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated, and God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.”

This is the link to “An Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Brotherhood in North America.” I have mentioned this document before in articles about the Holy Land Foundation Trial. If you would like to read those articles, use the search engine at the top of the page.

The article concludes:

During a 2015 speech at the famed Al-Aqsa Mosque, which sits atop the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Sheikh Muhammad Ayed declared that Muslims in the Western world should be patient. “This dark night will be over,” he declared, “and soon, we will trample them underfoot, Allah willing.”

He gives the West no credit for accepting Muslim migrants out of compassion.

“They wish that we were dead. But they have lost their fertility, so they look for fertility in their midst. We will give them fertility! We will breed children with them, because we shall conquer their countries — whether you like it or not, oh Germans, oh Americans, oh French, oh Italians, and all those like you. Take the refugees! We shall soon collect them in the name of the coming Caliphate.”

American progressives are either not aware of these sorts of state- ments or ignore them out of strategic convenience: the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Both are engaged at some level in viewing migrants as catalysts for radical social change. Migration can be “instrumental in forging social transformations,” they argue.

Why do stable, prosperous, free societies like the United States need “social transformation?” They never say.

The New York Post article is rather long, but it is well worth reading. Please follow the link above to read the entire article.

Greenland Does Not Necessarily Love Denmark

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On Friday, The New York Post posted an article about how some of the residents of Greenland feel about Denmark.

The article reports:

Native Greenlander Amarok Petersen was 27 years old when she learned the gut-wrenching truth about why she couldn’t have children — and that Denmark was to blame. 

Suffering from severe uterine problems, a medical doctor discovered an IUD birth control device in her body that she didn’t know she had. 

Danish doctors had implanted it when she was just 13 as part of a population control program for thousands of native Greenlandic girls and women. 

“I will never have children,” Petersen told The Post, with tears of anger and sorrow welling in her eyes. “That choice was taken from me.”

While the government of Denmark officially apologized last year for decades of forced sterilization of Indigenous women and girls, the horrific mistreatment has cast a long shadow on the island that has become the center of an international ownership fight.

…“The Danes don’t see us as humans,” Petersen said at a local Inuit restaurant overlooking Nuuk’s famous fjords. “They think we’re too expensive, too small a population. But they take our land, our children, our lives and expect thanks.”

Even in adulthood, medical decisions were made without Petersen’s consent. Plagued with problems after the IUD, she had repeated surgeries for unexplained pain. It wasn’t until years later that doctors informed her that her fallopian tubes had been removed in one of the operations in the early 2000s.

Her family also suffered under Denmark’s so-called “Little Danes experiment,” in which Greenlandic children were forcibly sent to Denmark for adoption or institutional care — often permanently separated from their families, she said.

The program, which ran from the 1950s through the 1970s, was part of Denmark’s broader effort to assimilate Greenlandic children, often without parental consent.

It happened to her mother’s brother, Petersen said. Other relatives were subjected to medical experimentation, she added.

…Denmark announced in December compensation for victims of forced sterilization, but Petersen called the payments another insult. The women are being offered about $46,000 in reparations.

The article concludes:

While Greenlanders are divided on the timing and logistics of independence, many agree on one thing: the current system is unsustainable.

Petersen does not see Trump as a savior — but she does see his interest as an opportunity.

“At least he challenges Denmark’s control,” she said. “That conversation was never allowed before.”

For her, independence is not about choosing between Denmark and the US — it is about finally being treated as human beings with the right to decide.

“We are only 55,000 people,” Petersen said. “If someone truly cared, this would already be fixed.”

Instead, she said, Greenland remains spoken for — but rarely listened to.

“They talk about our land,” she said. “They just never talk to us.”

The current situation in Greenland is a disgrace. The humane thing to do would be for America to come in and introduce the free market, stabilize the security, help the citizens get back on their feet economically, and leave a substantial security force there, but let the people be free.

Stopping Corruption At Its Root

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On Thursday, The Gateway Pundit posted an article that provides one example of how the fraud in Minnesota got started and is continuing.

The article reports:

Another Minnesota money pipeline just got shut down, and this one leads straight back to Rep. Ilhan Omar.

The funding, which was tucked into a federal spending bill, was purportedly destined for a “substance abuse clinic” in Omar’s home state of Minnesota.

However, a shocking investigation led by Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) revealed that the “clinic” was anything but legitimate.

During an interview on Fox Business, Senator Ernst detailed the absolute absurdity of the proposal, describing a trail of red flags that would make any honest taxpayer’s blood boil.

“What I uncovered the other day, in one of our spending bills making its way through Congress, was a $1 million earmark from Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.

“This earmark was supposedly going to a substance abuse clinic, which actually happened to be housed in a restaurant and run by three individuals who share the same residential address, according to their IRS paperwork. Tons of red flags.

“So this is what we saw with the fraud involving the daycare centers. Now we see other earmarks coming directly from members of Congress where it seems fraud is being perpetrated as well.

It’s very easy to tuck earmarks into thousand-page bills that no one has time to read. It’s time that Congress passed bills that were less than five pages long and were limited to one topic.

The article notes:

As scrutiny intensified over Rep. Ilhan Omar’s role in directing taxpayer funds to questionable Minnesota entities, attention also focused on her family’s abrupt and dramatic rise in wealth.

According to a bombshell report from the New York Post, Rose Lake Capital, founded by Mynett in 2022, scrubbed the details of nine key figures between September and October 2025.

The list included high-profile Democrats like former Obama Ambassador to Bahrain Adam Ereli, ex-Senator and Obama Ambassador to China Max Baucus, DNC Finance Chair associate Alex Hoffman, former DNC treasurer William Derrough, and Keith Mestrich, the ex-CEO of Amalgamated Bank, which he once called “the institutional bank of the Democratic Party.”

None of these individuals has been charged with any fraud. However, the timing coincides with federal prosecutors announcing charges against eight more suspects in the massive Minnesota welfare scam, six of whom are of Somali descent.

Omar, a prominent member of the far-left “Squad,” entered Congress in 2019 with a net worth between negative $25,000 and negative $65,000, burdened by student loans and car debt with no assets to her name.

Ilhan Omar will continue to be elected because of the voter fraud in her district. I think it is time that the Justice Department spent some time with her.

There Is Rampant Fraud In Government Programs

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We have all been hearing about the fraud in Minnesota–food stamp fraud, college loan fraud, etc., but Minnesota is not an isolated example.

On Thursday, Red State reported (quoting a New York Post article):

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is investigating whether Colorado providers helped nearly 3,000 people swindle taxpayer money from Uncle Sam, The Post has learned.

The investigation comes after an internal HUD audit found that benefits were granted to 221 dead people, while another 87 were otherwise ineligible.

The department also said that another 2,519 beneficiaries will need to undergo additional verification.

“From deceased tenants to individuals receiving HUD housing benefits who were never supposed to, the Department has questions for HUD-supported housing providers in Colorado, and we expect prompt answers and enforcement action,” a HUD spokesperson told The Post.

The apparent fraud took place in most of the Rocky Mountain State’s 59 public housing agencies (PHAs) and was particularly pronounced in the Denver Housing Authority, a source said.

HUD officials are set to demand PHAs perform additional verification of beneficiaries and remove both deceased tenants and ineligible beneficiaries from their rolls.

The New York Post article states:

HUD has also been scrutinizing other states.

Earlier this week, the Washington Examiner reported that the department plans to dispatch investigators to Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn., to assess the state of housing programs there.

While the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority spends about $108 million a year on housing assistance, St. Paul only spends $46 million.

HUD’s plans to send staff to Minnesota comes against the backdrop of the $1 billion Feeding Our Future fraud scandal that has roiled the state and follows Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations focused on the Twin Cities.

The article at Red State concludes:

What is it with these blue cities? Something in the water?

It’s more likely that these kinds of things are going on because the fraudsters have gotten away with it doing it for so long. In Colorado, so the housing providers have to pay back any benefits wrongly received. Fine, fine. But what about the people who lied? Who cheated the taxpayers out of billions?

Until there are some publicized trials and prison sentences, this kind of fraud will just keep happening. It looks like some people in Minnesota may be going to jail; that, at least, is a start.

Until we start putting people in orange jumpsuits, the fraud will continue.

When Our Justice System Is Perverted

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On Wednesday, The New York Post posted an article about Charles Foehner, a former resident of Kew Gardens, who is now facing four years in jail for saving his own life.

The article reports:

Foehner is a retired doorman with the gift of gab, a devoted wife, and a habit of saying “groovy.” He spends his time watching naval history videos on YouTube.

While there are many violent criminals with rap sheets the length of a CVS receipt walking our streets, Queens DA Melinda Katz decided to throw the book at this senior citizen, after he pleaded guilty to owning unlicensed guns.

…Foehner first collided with our criminal justice system in May 2023, when he went out for a pack of cigarettes in the early hours of the morning. Crime in his Kew Gardens neighborhood became a problem after a now-shuttered seedy hotel had opened in 2017, so Foehner took a revolver with him for protection.

In an eerie twist, Foehner had complained to this very paper about the disorder in 2020.

“This isn’t our nice little neighborhood anymore,” he told The Post at that time, noting the brazen drug deals taking place.

But on that fateful night, he returned from buying smokes and saw an unhinged man banging on the door of his building. It was Cody Gonzalez, who then menacingly approached Foehner, demanding a cigarette and his phone.

“He kept coming closer and clearly he was going to attack me.” Foehner said he pulled out his gun and pointed it at the ground. But Gonzalez didn’t stop. He motioned toward Foehner’s neck with an object and the senior’s instincts kicked in. Foehner shot the man dead. The ordeal was caught on security camera.

“I didn’t want to hurt anyone. He left me no choice,” said Foehner.

He called 911 and cooperated with authorities.

Gonzalez had at least 15 priors dating back to 2004 and a history of mental illness. Conversely, Foehner had no criminal history. But he is a lifelong gun enthusiast and a doomsday prepper, who had amassed a stockpile of approximately 26 weapons that the police found. Only a few were licensed.

It seems to me that a suspended sentence or household arrest would have been a lot more appropriate. How much money die Foehner save the State of New York by killing this person who already had 15 prior arrests? Doesn’t the Second Amendment grant Americans the right to bear arms?