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Appeals Court Blocks Hawaii’s Climate Change Tourist Tax on Cruise Ships

A federal appeals court on New Year’s Eve blocked Hawaii from enforcing a new tax on cruise ship passengers, one day before it was set to go into effect.

Two judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit imposed an injunction on the law, reversing a lower court ruling.

The injunction against Hawaii’s tax is in place pending resolution of appeals, Circuit Judges Andrew Hurwitz and Daniel Bress stated in an order.

Cruise Lines International Association, which challenged the tax, did not respond to a request for comment.

“We remain confident that Act 96 is lawful and will be vindicated when the expedited appeal is heard on the merits,” a spokesperson for Hawaii’s attorney general told The Epoch Times via email.

Hawaii had taxed short-term accommodations such as hotels. With Act 96, scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, the state increased the tax to 14 percent and extended it to cruise ships.

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Russia Hands US Evidence That It Says Confirms Ukraine Targeted Putin’s Residence in Drone Attack

A senior Russian military official on Thursday handed over to a US official what he said was evidence that Ukrainian drones targeted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residence in the Novgorod region.

Ukraine has denied the allegations that it was trying to target Putin’s home, and US officials speaking to US media outlets said the CIA assessed that Ukraine was targeting a military facility in the same region that wasn’t close by. But Russian officials insist they have the evidence that Ukraine was attempting to hit the Russian president’s residence.

A video posted by the Russian Defense Ministry on Thursday shows Igor Kostykov, the chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian General Staff, meeting with the US defense attache based in Moscow and handing over what he said was a “navigation unit” from one of the drones downed in the Novgorod region.

“The decryption of the content of the memory of the navigation controller of the drones carried out by specialists of Russia’s special services confirms without question that the target of the attack was the complex of buildings of the Russian president’s residence in the Novgorod region,” Kostykov said.

President Trump was informed about the alleged attack by Putin the day it happened, and initially appeared to believe Russia’s account, saying that he “wasn’t happy about it.” But he later shared a New York Post article on Truth Social that cast doubt on the Russian claim and said Moscow “is the one standing in the way of peace.”

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Who Is Helping Low IQ Migrants Defraud American Taxpayers?

I’ve been writing about the inherent fraud behind third-world immigration for many years now, including the rarely addressed issue of remittances flowing from migrants in the US back to their countries of origin. Third worlders tend to act like a nest of vampires, bleeding the US and giving indirect sustenance to their failing home economies. This process is heavily enabled by foreign governments that rely on this river of dollars to stay afloat.  This is why political leaders in countries like Mexico and India lobby so hard to keep US borders open. They need that cash.

One problem I have consistently seen with mainstream coverage of this issue is that it often overlooks the fact that migrants who steal from American taxpayers almost always have help from people within our government.

To be sure, most Americans understand that the Biden Administration, for example, widely supported open borders and the mass invasion of foreigners. What they might not understand (until recently) is how deeply blue states and blue city governments have been involved in the scams. Minnesota is a prime test case.

The question needs to be asked: Who taught these third world migrants how to set up false business fronts to defraud taxpayer subsidies? Who has been hiding their blatantly illegal activities? How have they been getting away with the scam for so long despite incidents of high level whistleblowers calling out their criminality?

I often hear the argument (largely from migrants and leftists) that because these people are so clever in their racketeering they deserve to stay in the US. In other words, why would we want to kick out hundreds of thousand of people who are “so resourceful.”

First I would point out that it’s a common misconception that conmen are highly intelligent. You don’t have to be a polymath to rip innocent people off, you just have to be evil. Evil is often mistaken for genius because high trust societies have a hard time comprehending predatory behavior. They don’t catch it because they don’t expect it. Midwestern states like Minnesota used to be high trust, but that is quickly changing.

That said, a fraudster would at least need to have a comprehensive understanding of the system he intends to scam, not to mention the basic intelligence needed to enact the scam.  

The majority of migrants from countries like Somalia are generally low IQ – They are not very smart, which means the only explanation for their success in fraud so far is that they have help from the very system they are defrauding.

This is not hyperbole meant to insult Somalis, it’s simply a statistical fact. Somalia has one of the lowest IQ populations in the world, with the average IQ of Somali refugees and migrants sitting at 67. The country also flounders near the bottom of every list of average IQ measurements among hundreds of nations.

To put this in perspective, the average IQ score of the US population is 100, along with around 34% of the global population. Less than 9% of the global populace has an IQ over 120. Less than 1% have an IQ over 135 (considered “gifted” level intelligence). But what about the low end of the spectrum? The number of people within the global population with an IQ lower than 70 is 2% – Meaning the average IQ in Somalia is rare because it’s so minuscule.

These people are not criminal masterminds; they are useful pawns in a bigger scheme.

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Obama’s Trojan Horse: How His Refugee Machine Engineered The Billion-Dollar Looting Of US Treasury

The Heist You Paid For

Imagine waking up tomorrow to find your bank account empty. Every dollar you saved for your children’s tuition, your retirement, your security—gone. Now imagine looking out the window and seeing the thief driving a Porsche bought with your money, laughing as he waves a government-issued thank you note. This is not a hypothetical scenario. It is the reality of the American taxpayer in the wake of the single largest COVID-era fraud scheme in the nation’s history. While you were locked down, masked up, and worrying about the price of eggs, a sophisticated network of fraudsters in Minnesota was siphoning off a quarter of a billion dollars—likely far more—from programs meant to feed hungry children.

The “Feeding Our Future” scandal is not just a story about greed. It is the smoking gun of a much darker political operation. Federal prosecutors have charged 70 people in a $250 million conspiracy, and the FBI is reportedly eyeing fraud that could total over $2 billion across multiple sectors including autism therapy, housing, and daycare. The vast majority of these defendants come from the Somali community in Minnesota. But do not be distracted by the foot soldiers. To understand how a fraud of this magnitude happens, you have to look past the people cashing the checks and look at the architect who built the bank. This industrial-scale theft traces directly back to Barack Obama. It was his administration that deliberately flooded Minnesota with tens of thousands of refugees, creating a dependent, insular enclave primed for exploitation. It was his policy of “equity” that paralyzed oversight. And it is his political heirs who are now frantically trying to bury the evidence.

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Ethics Questions Swirl Around Somalia’s UN Ambassador Tied To Ohio Healthcare Company

Somalia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Abukar Dahir Osman, is facing growing scrutiny over his connections to the Ohio healthcare company Progressive Health Care Services Inc. This comes as federal investigations into suspected Somali-linked welfare fraud, stretching from Minnesota to Washington, Ohio, and Maine, continue to intensify, with allegations that some entities (daycares, healthcare, or transportation service companies) were merely front operations to extract taxpayer funds.

The story surrounding Osman is certainly a strange one, with the news and analysis outlet Horn Diplomat publishing a report titled “Ethics Questions Surround Somalia’s UN Envoy, as U.S. Healthcare Fraud Scandals Heighten Scrutiny.”

Here’s the report:

Public corporate filings and professional records have raised questions about transparency and potential conflicts of interest involving Abukar Dahir Osman, Somalia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

The scrutiny comes as Somalia prepares to assume the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council on January 1, 2026, a role that places the country at the center of global diplomatic decision-making on peace, security and sanctions.

Ohio state corporate records show that Osman was listed as the statutory agent for Progressive Health Care Services Inc, a Cincinnati-based home healthcare company, while simultaneously serving as Somalia’s top diplomat at the United Nations.

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American Legal Sovereignty Threatened By Greenpeace’s Retaliatory EU Lawsuit

The strength of the American civil legal system rests on a simple principle: those who break the law on U.S. soil answer to U.S. plaintiffs in U.S. courts. Our constitutional order depends on juries empowered to weigh evidence, judges and plaintiffs entrusted to enforce verdicts, and a system insulated from foreign interference. However, that foundation is now being tested by an activist organization determined to escape domestic accountability for domestic acts, by turning abroad and using a foreign country’s laws and courts to take another bite at the legal apple, so to speak.

In March 2025, a North Dakota jury delivered a decisive $670 million verdict against Greenpeace and its affiliates, finding them liable for extreme torts against Energy Transfer LP in the form of defamation, trespass, and conspiracy. The jurors rejected the claim that the Greenpeace activity—supporting violent demonstrations that disrupted construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016 and 2017—was protected speech, finding instead that Greenpeace orchestrated a campaign of unlawful disruption and reputational harm against Energy Transfer.

While the award has since been reduced to $345 million, the fact remains: the jury verdict was well founded.

During the trial, Energy Transfer’s lawyers presented compelling evidence showing Greenpeace’s role in orchestrating the protests. The group spent $55,000 training activists in direct action and violent protest tactics, supplied them with power tools, tents, propane, cold-weather gear, and lockboxes to chain themselves to heavy equipment, and encouraged confrontations with law enforcement. Meanwhile, its former executive director was found to have used an official Greenpeace email account to raise another $90,000 to fuel the effort.

On top of that, the jury found that Greenpeace knowingly defamed Energy Transfer by falsely accusing the company of knowingly desecrating Native American burial grounds during pipeline construction. In reality, Energy Transfer took extensive precautions to protect cultural and historical sites. Such fabricated and highly incendiary claims were found to have inflicted serious harm on Energy Transfer’s public reputation and its standing with financial institutions.

But rather than accept the ruling of the court, Greenpeace is attempting an end-run around it. Just weeks before the trial concluded, Greenpeace and Greenpeace International filed a retaliatory lawsuit against Energy Transfer in the Netherlands, invoking the European Union’s new anti-Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation (anti-SLAPP) directive. Importantly, the EU directive allows EU-based entities, such as Greenpeace International, to pursue damages against non-EU actors for cases originally brought outside the EU—expanding its reach far beyond Europe’s borders.

The Dutch lawsuit marks the first test of the new EU directive, and it appears that Greenpeace’s goal is to reframe its adjudicated misconduct as “free speech,” sprinkle in its own claims, which could and should have been raised and litigated in the North Dakota forum, and ask a foreign tribunal to essentially re-litigate, where a North Dakota court had already ruled following a full jury trial. Such tactics are abusive, costly, extra-jurisdictional, and very concerning for any company dealing with EU-based entities as no U.S. company could anticipate being hauled into an EU Court by or through its activities in the United States.

Fortunately, at least for now, Recital 29 of the directive only applies to untruthful allegations, meaning that if the claims in the original suit are proven true, anti-SLAPP protections do not apply. On that basis alone, the Dutch court should dismiss the case.

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Minnesota daycare worker accused of wearing $2,500 glasses at press conference announcing theft of enrollment documents… as Somali mom speaks through INTERPRETER to request continued funding

A Minnesota daycare worker who said enrollment documents were stolen from his facility was accused of wearing $2,500 glasses at a press conference announcing the burglary.  

Nasrulah Mohamed, a manager at Nokomis Daycare Center in Minneapolis, seemed to be wearing a pair of Chrome Hearts Cox Ucker Black frames at a press conference Wednesday discussing the break-in. 

Mohamed said Nokomis was broken into after YouTube star Nick Shirley claimed Somali-run daycare centers across the city were fronts for fraud. 

He said that enrollment documents, staff paperwork and checkbooks had been taken. 

Minnesota has been engulfed by a huge scandal after more than 80 Somali residents were charged with defrauding taxpayer-funded state programs. 

Mohamed suggested Nokomis had been targeted as a result. Shirley did not visit Nokomis for his video and there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing or impropriety on the part of the facility or Mohamed himself. 

At the same press conference, a Somali mother took to the podium and urged the government to provide more support for the state’s underfire childcare centers – speaking through an interpreter while making the plea.

‘I request that our government supports our childcare centers and stop this heinous crime and this hate that’s happening around our state,’ Sacdiya Aden said in her native language. 

Aden also faced backlash for speaking through an interpreter, identified as Amina Adin, with some critics mocking her for not speaking English directly.

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Former FBI agent Nicole Parker explains how DEI split the agency and led to disaster: ‘They were hiring idiots’

President Trump’s heralded decision to make DEI DOA couldn’t come a moment too soon for Nicole Parker.

The so-called diversity, equity and inclusion initiative was a boondoggle that wrought incalculable damage across every sphere of employment in the country.

No one knows that better than Parker, a former FBI special agent of 12 years who described how a civil war brewed inside the once-venerable agency, with “lines drawn” between two clashing factions she termed “FBI 1 versus FBI 2.”

One side represents “integrity, meritocracy and protecting the American people” while the other force pushes “personal agendas and identity politics, DEI and politically motivated cases” in lieu of serious crime investigations and “the upholding of law and order replaced by performative posturing.”

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Karoline Leavitt says Minnesota Somali fraud scandal will leave people ‘in handcuffs’

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt warned Wednesday that “people will be in handcuffs” as fallout grows from expansive fraud allegations under Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s watch.

“President Trump is not going to let Governor Walz off the hook,” Leavitt told “Fox & Friends,” echoing arguments that responsibility lies with the governor as the alleged fraud occurred under his administration.

Leavitt said the Trump administration has surged federal resources into Minnesota, with multiple agencies conducting investigations tied to the alleged fraud.

Among them, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is conducting door-to-door operations at alleged fraud sites, a key federal effort ICE Director Todd Lyons discussed Tuesday on the Fox News Channel.

“This is a top priority for the administration,” Leavitt reiterated.

“The Department of Justice, as we speak, is continuing to execute search warrants and subpoenas… The Department of Homeland Security is conducting door-to-door investigations on the ground at potential fraud sites, and they’re also conducting continued deportations of illegal aliens in Minnesota’s communities.”

“We’re also not afraid to use denaturalization,” she continued.

“That’s a tool at the president and the Secretary of State’s disposal, and it’s one this administration has previously used before.”

The Health and Human Services, Agriculture and Labor Departments are also involved, with one cutting off childcare funding to Minnesota until the investigation is fully explored, another digging into the unemployment insurance program and the third writing a letter demanding Walz hand over the name of every SNAP recipient in the state.

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Ireland’s Simon Harris to Push EU-Wide Ban on Social Media Anonymity

Ireland’s next term leading the European Union will be used to promote a new agenda: an effort to end online anonymity and make verified identity the standard across social media platforms.

Tánaiste Simon Harris said the government plans to use Ireland’s presidency to push for EU-wide rules that would require users to confirm their identities before posting or interacting online.

Speaking to Extra.ie, Harris described the plan as part of a broader attempt to defend what he called “democracy” from anonymous abuse and digital manipulation.

He said the initiative will coincide with another policy being developed by Media Minister Patrick O’Donovan, aimed at preventing children from accessing social media.

O’Donovan’s proposal, modeled on Australian restrictions, is expected to be introduced while Ireland holds the EU presidency next year.

Both ideas would involve rewriting parts of the EU’s Digital Services Act, which already governs how online platforms operate within the bloc.

Expanding it to require verified identities would mark a major shift toward government involvement in online identity systems, a move that many privacy advocates believe could expose citizens to new forms of monitoring and limit open speech.

Harris said his motivation comes from concerns about the health of public life, not personal grievance.

Harris said he believes Ireland will find allies across Europe for the initiative.

He pointed to recent statements from French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who he said have shown interest in following Australia’s lead. “If you look at the comments of Emmanuel Macron…of Keir Starmer…recently, in terms of being open to considering what Australia have done…You know this is a global conversation Ireland will and should be a part of,” he said.

Technology companies based in Ireland, many of which already face scrutiny under existing EU rules, are likely to resist further regulation.

The United States government has also expressed growing hostility toward European efforts to regulate speech on its major tech firms, recently imposing visa bans on several EU officials connected to such laws.

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