Florida Governor Calls For Special Session To Eliminate Property Tax For Homeowners

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on May 27 called for a special legislative session to pass his plan to exempt homeowners from paying property taxes on their permanent residence.

The Republican governor revealed his plans to sign a proclamation that would require state lawmakers to convene in Tallahassee and discuss his “Save Our Homes” proposal starting on June 1.

“Taxing something that you own repeatedly, which is a property tax, is the worst way to do taxation,” DeSantis said in a news conference on May 27.

DeSantis said he hopes that eliminating taxes from Florida homesteads could be a bipartisan effort.

“You pay all these taxes to acquire that property, and then year after year, you’re just having to write a check just for the privilege of being able to maintain ownership of something that is supposedly yours,” he said.

The proposal contemplates phasing in the exemption and creating a state trust fund to compensate local governments for lost revenue. Because the measure would involve a change to the Florida Constitution, if it passes the state Senate and state House, which are both Republican-controlled, it would need to be approved by voters in November.

Property tax revenue collected by local governments in the Sunshine State has nearly doubled in seven years, to $60 billion from $32 billion, according to the governor’s office.

DeSantis wants to make local governments use property taxes only for core public needs such as public safety, education, infrastructure, and natural resources.

The proposal would require new Florida residents to maintain residency for up to five years before they can receive the homestead exemption.

The proclamation comes as the term-limited Republican nears the end of his term as governor, set for Jan. 5, 2027.

“I want to make sure people can go and vote for something, and then see something that’s going to be very, very meaningful in their lives, and the way to do that is to focus on the homestead property owners,” he said.

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Louisiana House Approves New Congressional Map that Eliminates Racially Gerrymandered District

The Louisiana House on Thursday approved a new Congressional map that eliminates a racially gerrymandered district, sending the bill to the Senate.

Louisiana delayed its House primaries late last month after a blockbuster Supreme Court ruling on a key Voting Rights Act provision.

The Supreme Court recently declared Louisiana’s previous Congressional map an unconstitutional gerrymander.

The high court issued the ruling 6-3.

Liberal justices Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson dissented.

The case, State of Louisiana v. Phillip Callais (and the related Press Robinson v. Phillip Callais), stems from Louisiana’s woke lawmakers caving to left-wing judges and creating a second “majority-minority” congressional district.

The Louisiana House voted 66-35 to approve the new map.

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Next Drone War: Hidden Shipping Containers Launching Kamikaze Swarms

Continuing our theme that the endgame in drone warfare is nowhere near complete, and in many ways is only just beginning, a U.S. company called DZYNE Technologies has developed a containerized mass-launch system for kamikaze drones.

Under the guise of a regular shipping container, DZYNE‘s BlitzBox signals the next phase of drone wars: not just cheaper drones, but the ability to launch them at scale from concealed, mobile, and rapidly deployable platforms. 

The battlefield is shifting from individual launches to containerized swarm warfare, where dozens or even hundreds of low-cost suicide drones can be launched in waves to overwhelm some of the most advanced air defense systems, strike high-value assets, or generate mass effects at relatively low cost.

DZYNE’s Connor Toler told defense tech outlet TWZ that BlitzBox can be operated with as much human control or automated functionality as the mission requires.

Toler noted that DZYNE is working on a 40-foot shipping container capable of launching upwards of 100 one-way attack drones.

He added that DZYNE has already “worked with several customers across the DOW [Department of War]” regarding the BlitzBox.

The drone playbook with BlitzBox appears similar to Ukraine’s move about a year ago, where a box truck full of attack drones was deployed deep within Russia to strike several long-range bombers on the tarmac of a military base.

Asymmetric and irregular warfare is shifting into hyperdrive. As we’ve noted, Ukraine has become the world’s AI weapons laboratory, and the drone wars are still only in their opening chapters

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Oklahoma Homeowner Charged with MANSLAUGHTER After Gunning Down Squatter Who Took Over One of His Houses

An Oklahoma homeowner earlier this month took deadly action against a lazy squatter and now faces a serious threat to his freedom.

As KOCO reported, 59-year-old Timothy Smith was arrested by police and charged with first-degree manslaughter after fatally shooting 42-year-old Justin King, who had taken over one of his homes in Oklahoma City.

KOCO revealed that Smith discovered King was living on the property and went to confront him on May 1. When Smith arrived, he stumbled upon the squatter having carnal relations with a female in one of the home’s bedrooms.

Smith claims he shot King in self-defense after the squatter took a step toward him.

The squatter died one week later.

From KOCO:

Smith, who was not living in the home at the time, said he entered with a gun and confronted King when he found him in the back bedroom with a woman.

When he ordered King to leave, Smith claimed that King stepped toward him, so he aimed at the area of the squatter and pulled the trigger, per court records cited by KOCO.

He hit King in the neck, and he was taken to the hospital. He died a week later on May 8.

Smith was initially arrested on charges of assault and battery with a deadly weapon. He was then charged with first-degree manslaughter after King died in the hospital.

Criminal defense attorney Ed Blau told KOCO that the self-defense claim in this case may not apply because Smith was not living in the home at the time of the shooting.

“There’s no death penalty for squatting in the state of Oklahoma. You can’t just take a gun in and shoot somebody,” Blau explained.

Blau added that while Oklahoma’s Castle Doctrine allows homeowners to defend their primary residence against intruders, the law is different for a vacant home.

“If a trespasser or a burglar breaks in or comes into the home that you live in and you’re there, you can pretty much shoot them or do whatever you want to with them,” Blau told KOCO. “And because of the Castle Doctrine here in Oklahoma, in a situation like this, an abandoned house, it’s much different.”

“You can’t go in, put yourself in a situation and say, ‘This is my house, so I felt I had the right to shoot him.’”

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“I’m just a number to them”: Garden Grove residents demand closure of GKN plant after toxic emergency

On Tuesday evening, California officials lifted the remaining mandatory evacuation orders for some 16,000 residents in Garden Grove, California, who live near an overheated chemical tank at a GKN Aerospace facility. Evacuation orders for some 50,000 residents were initially issued last Thursday, rescinded later that same evening, and then reissued Friday morning.

A 34,000-gallon storage tank at the facility containing methyl methacrylate (MMA), a volatile and flammable chemical, was found to be leaking. The chemical is not only dangerous when inhaled, but also posed the risk of causing a massive toxic explosion.

While the evacuation orders were lifted Tuesday night, police and emergency personnel are maintaining a several-block closure around the facility as chemicals continue to leak from the ruptured tank.

In addition to thousands of residences, several schools are also located close to the facility.

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Blue States Starting to Curb ‘Free’ Healthcare to Migrants as Budgets Spin Out of Control

A host of deep blue states are quietly pulling back from their generous programs of “free” healthcare to migrants as federal dollars dry up and their budgets continue to spiral into the red.

With the Trump administration beginning to close the spigot of billions in federal aid that many states lavishly spent caring for illegal migrants, sates including California, Colorado, Illinois, New York, Oregon Washington, and the District of Columbia are finding that they cannot afford to replace the chocked off federal dollars with their own state budget dollars. This reality setting in has caused state officials to begin scaling back their freebies to illegals, which all come at the expense of American citizens.

According to the Washington Examiner, 14 states have had been devoting untold millions to migrants, for their children, and for pregnant, non-citizen women.

But after President Donald Trump signed his “Big Beautiful” spending bill, cutting billions in federal aid with cuts to Medicaid, CHIP, Medicare, and Obamacare insurance subsidies, many states have been forced to make decisions about their migrant programs.

The cutbacks also reflect the Democrats’ difficulty in funding their hugely expensive urban political machines. Those “Sanctuary City Ponzi scheme” political machines need poor migrants to help conduit federal funds back to local city and state politicians, partly because many productive Americans move away to low-migration cities and states that have lower taxes, less diversity, better schools, higher wages, and cheaper housing.

Thus far, California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and Washington the District of Columbia have already begun cutting free migrant healthcare budgets. And several others are in the process of evaluating similar measures.

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Hegseth outlines record-breaking defense budget featuring largest military pay raise in decades

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has unveiled a historic, generational investment aimed at modernizing America’s warfighters, transforming the Pentagon’s business model and revitalizing the domestic defense manufacturing sector.

On Thursday, Hegseth highlighted that of the proposed $1.5 trillion military investment for Fiscal Year 2027, $90 billion would be allocated toward revitalizing barracks and facilities. In the video, Hegseth said the funding “will get rid of all substandard and failing barracks.”

Under the proposed framework, military personnel would also receive a targeted, tiered pay increase: a 7% raise for those in grades E-5 and below, a 6% increase for grades E-6 to O-3, and a 5% bump for O-4 and above.

Beyond direct compensation, the budget channels $35 million into robust family support systems. This includes fully funding military healthcare — with the strategic goal of making Tricare a more desirable option than Medicare — while simultaneously investing in base childcare, youth programs, upgraded commissaries, and enhanced military schools. Additionally, permanent change of station (PCS) task forces and spousal employment initiatives will receive dedicated capital to ensure smoother transitions during relocations.

“Taking care of our troops isn’t just about doing the right thing; it’s about military readiness,” Hegseth asserted. “When our warfighters know their families are safe, secure, and provided for, they can maintain total focus on the mission.”

According to Hegseth, the massive funding injection is designed to simultaneously address service member quality of life, remediate substandard military barracks, and rapidly put the defense industrial base back onto a wartime footing. The secretary framed the historic top-line request as the definitive execution of President Donald Trump’s America First agenda.

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MASSIVE FRAUD PROBE: HHS Auditing All 50 States Following Shocking, Nationwide Explosion in Medicaid Autism Billing — Taxpayer Dollars Drained by ‘Bad Actors’

In a massive, long-overdue crackdown on government waste and rampant abuse, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has officially put all 50 states on notice.

As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, a federal HHS Office of Inspector General audit found Colorado made at least $77.8 million in improper fee-for-service Medicaid payments for Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy for children diagnosed with autism in 2022-2023 alone.

Every single one of the 100 sampled enrollee-months contained at least one improper or potentially improper claim. Auditors flagged another $207+ million in potentially improper payments.

Similar horror shows hit Wisconsin ($18.5 million improper), Indiana, and Maine, with confirmed improper payments across audited states totaling around $198 million (roughly 31% of the spending reviewed in those samples).

The Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) has arrested two Muslim women in Minnesota for defrauding American taxpayers of more than $21 million through a brazen scheme targeting the state’s autism services program.

Now the feds are going nationwide.

CMS has issued a direct call to all 50 states to re-evaluate high-risk ABA providers, remove illegitimate ones, and report back with plans to clean house. States have tight deadlines — 10 business days to respond and 30 days for a full strategy.

This comes alongside the new AERO initiative (Audit Enforcement and Risk Oversight), which is using AI and aggressive follow-up to finally hold states accountable for years of ignored audit failures and chronic noncompliance across HHS programs.

The spending numbers are insane and demand scrutiny:

  • In North Carolina, Medicaid ABA spending surged from roughly $1.9 million just five years ago to over $505 million in 2025 — with projections blasting past $1 billion soon. Some reports flag increases in the thousands of percent.
  • Across eight states with available data, combined Medicaid autism therapy spending exploded from $347 million to over $2.2 billion in recent years — a 561% increase.
  • Minnesota saw one of the most grotesque spikes: from under $700,000 in 2018 to $342+ million by 2024 in its EIDBI autism program.

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Socialist Candidate for Mayor of Los Angeles Complains After Activists Set Up a Homeless Encampment Outside of HER HOUSE

Nithya Raman is a member of the Los Angeles city council who is running for mayor on the far left. She wants to be the Zohran Mamdani of LA.

That’s not even an exaggeration, by the way. She has the same political philosophy as Mamdani, is supported by all the same types of people, and like Mamdani, she was born outside of the United States but feels completely entitled to run one of our biggest cities.

Recently, some activists set up a homeless encampment outside of her house. They were trying to make a point about her support for occupy-style tent encampments. She had the nerve to be offended by this.

The New York Post reports:

Brutal karma for Nithya Raman as she goes ballistic over staged homeless encampment outside her home

Socialist LA mayoral candidate Nithya Raman is getting hammered online after appearing visibly rattled by a staged homeless encampment protest outside her own home.

“I’m glad my kids didn’t have to see that,” Raman told comedian Adam Conover on his podcast released Wednesday before adding, “I thought this campaign was going to be about bike lanes and transportation.”

Raman was referring to a staged Memorial Day protest outside Raman’s Silver Lake-area home.

Footage from the stunt shows homeless people climbing out of tents, staging an open-air barbecue and one individual walking around carrying a bucket as neighbors recorded the scene.

The podcast was quickly shared on online with comment exploding because Raman has spent years defending homeless encampments near schools, parks and neighborhoods across Los Angeles while opposing tougher enforcement restrictions.

Critics immediately accused the Democratic Socialist councilmember of showing a stunning lack of self-awareness as families across Los Angeles continue dealing with encampments outside homes, playgrounds and schools.

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Gavin Newsom Vows To ‘Seize’ Money From California Republicans

Gov. Gavin Newsom is calling for California to slap a 100% tax on anyone in the state who collects money from President Donald Trump’s new Anti-Weaponization Fund, framing it as a way to block what Democrats say could become a payday for Trump allies.

“Anyone from California that receives any of those funds,” Newsom said at a Wednesday news conference. “We want to tax 100% of those proceeds and that’s an action the state of California can take. It’s an action we look forward to taking.”

Newsom’s move targets the $1.776 billion fund the Justice Department announced as part of a settlement tied to Trump and the Internal Revenue Service. Supporters say it is open to any claimant who can show the government unfairly targeted them. Critics call it a boondoggle and warn it could be used to compensate people convicted or indicted in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

Newsom leaned into that argument in a post on X, tying the fund to Trump’s sweeping pardons and commutations.

“He pardoned all of those folks that were beating up cops and absolved them, providing them 1.776 billion dollars. So not only do you get a pardon, you get rewarded,” Newsom wrote. “That’s why this is needed.”

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