Blog

What The Top 1% Richest Americans Pay In Taxes Across The US

This graphic, via Visual Capitalist’s Bruno Venditti, uses IRS data from 2022 analyzed by SmartAsset to show how much the richest people contribute to income tax revenue.

The table below includes each state’s share of income taxes paid by the top 1% and the total amount of income tax they paid.

Wyoming leads the nation, with the top 1% paying 54.67% of all state income taxes.

Florida and Nevada follow closely, both surpassing the 50% threshold.

These states attract high-income individuals in part due to tax-friendly policies and large concentrations of wealthy households.

Keep reading

Trump: Strikes on Venezuelan land could begin ‘pretty soon’

President Donald Trump indicated on Thursday that U.S. military strikes on Venezuelan soil could come “pretty soon,” following a recent seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker.

On Thursday, President Trump was asked by a reporter whether the military campaign against Venezuela is still about stopping drugs from entering the United States, or if the administration is motivated by the nation’s oil resources after the interdiction of a Venezuelan oil tanker.

“Well, it’s about a lot of things, but one of the things it’s about is the fact that they’ve allowed millions of people to come into our country from their prisons, from gangs, from drug dealers, and from mental institutions, probably proportionately more than anybody else,” Trump responded.

“We had 11,888 murderers come into our country, many of them are from Venezuela. We had thousands of Tren de Aragua – the gang – come in from [Venezuela], which they say is the most violent gang,” he continued. “So it has to do with a lot of things, they’ve treated us badly, and I guess now we’re not treating them so good. If you look at the drug traffic, drug traffic by sea is down 92%… anybody getting involved in that right now is not doing well.”

“… And we’ll start that on land too, it’s gonna be starting on land pretty soon,” Trump added without providing further detail.

Keep reading

Lefty ‘Consumer’ Watchdog Group Bought & Paid For By Big Pharma

The National Consumers League is America’s oldest consumer advocacy organization and a group trusted by the left, especially, to stand up for consumers’ interests.

But according to a review of its tax filings by the Washington Examiner, it has also become part of a web of astroturf groups shilling for the corporate interests of PhRMA, the massive drugmaker trade association that operates in Washington, DC, which donated close to $1 million to it just last year.

The organization’s 2024 tax form, which became available a few days ago, shows that the non-profit spent close to $600 million last year advocating for Big Pharma’s financial interests and policy agenda in Washington, DC, and state capitals across the country.

And a key way in which that advocacy was accomplished was through the National Consumers League, also known as NCL.

The Examiner reports that “PhRMA donated roughly $2 million to NCL between 2020 and 2024, including $875,000 in 2024 alone.”

During that time, NCL has hewed closely to PhRMA issue positions on matters including regulation of insurers that negotiate for lower drug prices for Americans (also known as PBMs), and the 340B drug discount program that disproportionately benefits red, rural America.

But a review of content historically featured on NCL’s website indicates that prior to taking PhRMA money, the group never criticized PBMs or 340B.

When asked for comment by the Examiner, NCL did not deny that their criticism of PBMs and 340B was related to the PhRMA funding, and they confirmed “that contributions from PhRMA support [the group’s] ‘healthcare work.’”

The Examiner has previously reported on apparent astroturf, “pay-to-play” advocacy efforts undertaken by PhRMA.

The Wall Street Journal also ran an exposé about PhRMA’s tactics in the nation’s capital, including what critics say looks like a “buying off” of supposed progressive “identity” groups like Black, Gifted & Whole– a group focused on “Black Queer men”– and MANA, A National Latina Organization.

Keep reading

DOJ Sues Four States for Violating Federal Election Law

The Department of Justice announced Friday it has filed federal lawsuits against four states, which were all accused of election law violations.

According to a press release from the DOJ Office of Public Affairs, the suits target Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Nevada.

The department says the states failed to produce their statewide voter registration lists upon request.

The filings bring the Justice Department’s nationwide total of such lawsuits to 18, the release said.

In addition to the four states, the Civil Rights Division is suing officials in Fulton County, Georgia.

The lawsuit against Fulton County seeks records related to the 2020 election.

The DOJ said the actions are being handled by its Civil Rights Division.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon addressed the lawsuits in a statement.

Keep reading

Newsom’s ‘National Model’ For Homeless Wracked By Fraud

Gov. Gavin Newsom has made reducing the homelessness crisis in California a top priority, saying the scale of the state’s efforts is “unprecedented” and calling for the continued expansion of his signature effort – Project Homekey – that has already cost $3.75 billion. 

But in a state with more than 181,000 homeless individuals, or about one-third of the U.S. total, Homekey has been marred by failures and scandals, including a lack of government oversight and accountability as well as a federal investigation into allegations of fraud in Los Angeles. 

Newsom, who appears to be preparing for a presidential bid in 2028, could make Homekey, which he calls a “national model,” a talking point in his campaign. The state claims the program has created almost 16,000 permanent housing units that will serve over 175,000 people. But since the state doesn’t track outcomes – whether people placed in housing saw their lives improve or if they returned to the streets – the program’s effectiveness is unclear, according to a critical 2024 state auditor’s report. 

“[Our budget] is bloated with homeless spending, a bottomless pit and taxpayer boondoggle that doubles down on failure year after year,” the Republican-turned-Democrat Los Angeles Councilwoman Traci Park said at a meeting in May. “Hundreds of millions of dollars on bridge homes and Homekeys and interim housing sites, and no one can even tell us which ones are operational.”

What is clear is that homelessness in California has skyrocketed in the five years Homekey has been in place, growing by more than 20%, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. That’s an increase of some 36,000 people between 2019 and 2024.

Homekey has been touted by officials as a more cost-effective way to house the homeless. By hiring developers to convert excess motel and hotel rooms and other existing structures into permanent housing, the costs are two to three times lower than building new units, according to the auditor’s report.

Keep reading

Tim Walz Blames White Men For Widespread Fraud in Somali Community

Minnesota Governor and failed Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz blamed white men for the widespread fraud in the Somali community.

It was recently revealed that Walz and the Democrats allowed a $1 billion heist to take place largely through the Somali community in Minnesota.

The massive scandal happened on Tim Walz’s watch. The GOP-led Oversight Committee is conducting an investigation into the Somali fraud ring.

Some reports suggest the fraud may have exceeded $8 billion.

A reporter asked Walz about the rampant fraud in the Somali community.

“Do you want to hear more from the members – the leaders of the Somali community to say we need to look at ourselves and hold ourselves accountable..” the reporter said.

Walz shifted the blame to white men and said the Somalians are the secondary victims.

“It’s not law abiding citizens. If that were the case, there’s a lot of white men who should be holding a lot of white men accountable for the crimes they have committed,” Walz said.

“I think what you’re seeing here is they’re secondary victims in this…by signing them up and they say well I had no idea I was in this program,” Walz said.

“Each community’s got this in their own midst, but to blame them and say that they should have been responsible for stopping it, I think that’s a pretty hard reach,” he said.

“But no, I think this idea that the Somali community is to blame for this because they didn’t do more. I think that’s how we got into this,” he said.

The Somalians are the victims here.

Keep reading

Russia hoaxer Marc Elias just humiliated himself in front of Clarence Thomas…

Marc Elias has spent years masquerading as a serious legal mind, even though everyone who actually practices law knows the truth: he’s a clown. If it wasn’t for the Clintons, he’d be chasing ambulances in some podunk town. Instead, Elias is a political fixer. A Clinton-world errand boy. The kind of guy who speaks loudly to cover the fact that his arguments collapse the moment any competent person pushes back.

Also, remember, this is the same Marc Elias who helped inject the Russia hoax into the bloodstream of American media. The same Marc Elias who turned opposition research into a national mental illness. Cable news loves him because he talks fast, says scary things about Trump, and never has to face cross-examination.

So naturally, for reasons known only to the left’s most overconfident strategists, everybody decided that Marc Elias was the guy to take his act to the Supreme Court of The United States.

That decision didn’t go well…

Instead of friendly fake news anchors nodding along, Elias ran straight into a brick wall called Clarence Thomas. Elias had no script to fall back on. He wasn’t getting those lovely, gentle softball lobs. This guy went into the lion’s den with zero protection. So, when Marc had to face a competent Justice, quietly asking him to explain what the heck he was arguing and why any of it made constitutional sense, Marc crumbled.

It was painful.

And Elias wasn’t arguing some random fringe case. He was trying to sell the Court on this convoluted theory that coordinated political spending was some “First Amendment” speech issue. Basically, he wanted the justices to believe that paying campaign bills and coordinating expenses somehow magically transforms into “protected expression.”

Justice Thomas was not buying it.

As you listen to the audio, pay attention to what keeps happening. Thomas asks a simple question. Elias responds with a fog machine of confusion. Thomas asks again. Elias keeps circling the drain, repeating phrases like “symbolic speech” and “the act of giving,” without ever landing a coherent answer. Eventually, Thomas flat-out says he does not understand what Elias is even arguing.

Keep reading

DNI Tulsi Gabbard Shreds Democrat Rep. Bennie Thompson for Calling Deadly Terror Attack on National Guard an ‘Unfortunate Accident’

During a Friday appearance on Fox & Friends, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard tore into Democrat Congressman Bennie Thompson for downplaying a recent terrorist attack on U.S. National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., as an “unfortunate accident.”

The incident, which left one Guardsman dead and another critically wounded, highlights the ongoing fallout from the Biden administration’s chaotic 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal and lax vetting of evacuees.

The attack unfolded on November 26, when 29-year-old Afghan evacuee Rahmanullah Lakanwal opened fire on West Virginia National Guard members near the White House.

Lakanwal, who entered the U.S. during the Kabul evacuation, shouted “Allahu Akbar” as he fired a revolver, killing 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom and severely injuring SSgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24.

The troops were deployed to combat rising crime in the nation’s capital.

Lakanwal now faces charges including first-degree murder while armed and is being held without bond.

During a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on Thursday, Thompson, the former chair of the committee, referred to the shooting as an “unfortunate accident” and an “unfortunate situation” while grilling Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

Thompson blamed Noem for pinning the blame on Joe Biden, ignoring the broader context of inadequate vetting that allowed suspected terrorists into the country.

Secretary Noem pushed back immediately, stating, “Unfortunate accident? It was a terrorist attack. He shot our Guardsmen in the head.”

Keep reading

Democrat Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker Signs Bill Legalizing Assisted Suicide for Terminally Ill

Democrat Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker expanded his state’s culture of death on Friday by signing a bill into law legalizing assisted suicide for terminally ill people. 

Illinois is now the 12th state, plus Washington, DC, that allows physicians to assist terminally ill people in killing themselves — all in the name of “choice,” compassion, and easing end-of-life suffering. Pritzker signed the bill despite concerns from opponents that such a law could be a slippery slope (look no further than Canada) and could be used to coerce people with disabilities and financial hardships to choose death. 

“I have been deeply impacted by the stories of Illinoisans or their loved ones who have suffered from a devastating terminal illness — and I have been moved by their dedication to standing up for freedom and choice at the end of life in the midst of personal heartbreak,” Pritzker said in a statement. 

“Today, Illinois honors their strength and courage by enacting legislation that enables patients faced with debilitating terminal illnesses to make a decision, in consultation with a doctor, that helps them avoid unnecessary pain and suffering at the end of their lives,” he continued. 

Keep reading

Whistleblower Sounds Alarm on Somali Scam in Another State

A whistleblower is sounding the alarm on alleged fraud perpetrated by some in Ohio’s Somali community.

During an appearance on Fox News, attorney Mehek Cooke suggested that there is “massive fraud” in Ohio’s Medicaid home care system tied to a small group of scammers in the Somali community in Columbus. 

Cooke explained, “the problem today is not the community…it’s actually the criminals within the Somalian community that have exploited Ohio’s Medicaid program because we have a system rigth now.”

She pointed out how the perpetrators target elderly people, coaching them to claim they have serious health or memory problems. They collaborate with medical professionals to get them approved for in-home care services — funded by taxpayers. Some doctors are allegedly “getting kickbacks, which means that if they rubber-stamp this, once that individual or that provider starts getting funding throught hes tate of Ohio, they get a kickback.”

Cooke detailed an entire organized operation built around the scheme. The group uses “door knockers” who canvas neighborhoods to recruit seniors and families into the program. Once these individuals are signed up, the perpetrators bill the state for unnecessary services, or services that are never providded at all. This is a practice known as “ghost billing.”

Even further, many of those involved in the scam are not going along with it willingly, according to Cooke. She said those who refuse “have been excommunicated from a lot of these activities and a lot of even patient care.” However, these individuals feel a duty “to expose this” because the scammers are stealing money meant for those who genuinely need it. 

Keep reading