Tag: corruption

NY Times Editorial Board Member Has Possibly the Dumbest Take of All on Somali Fraud in Minnesota

Mara Gay of the New York Times is a special kind of stupid. Whenever she is brought on to cable news to comment on an issue, you know you’re in for a hot take.

In this case, she was on Morning Joe, offering her opinion on the Somali fraud scandal that is still unfolding in Minnesota.

She suggested that this was the result of the ‘weaponization’ of government, which doesn’t even make any sense.

Transcript via Real Clear Politics:

JONATHAN LEMIRE: And, Mara, this is a story that’s really gained a lot of traction among conservative media members, among MAGA folks online, including members of the Trump administration. Vice President JD Vance was posting about it the other day. There’s a lot we don’t know here just yet, but it does give off at least a sense—and we’ll see where the facts take us—but at least we can safely say this: it seems like Republicans are eager to be talking about something else amid a lot of the bad news surrounding the president right now.

MARA GAY, NEW YORK TIMES COLUMNIST: Right. Well, sure. These were funds that were meant to help feed hungry people during the COVID pandemic, to help keep people in their homes who were at risk of homelessness. So, first of all, if there is fraud there, that should be fully investigated—no matter where it is, whether it’s in a Democratic-led state or a Republican-led state. Absolutely, it should be investigated.

The question is, why is this a priority in a different kind of way? The politicization of the DOJ and the FBI is undeniable. So whether they are reliable narrators is the big question. This is what happens when you weaponize and politicize federal agencies that are not meant to be politicized.

I think the American people are right to ask the question: can we trust you? And that’s a sad thing to say as an American.

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Bombshell Resurfaced Video Shows Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz Admitting He Knew About Somali Fraud Scandal But Failed to Keep Taxpayers Informed

Earlier this month, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz openly confessed that his administration should have been more transparent with taxpayers about the massive Somali-linked fraud schemes that have plagued state programs, potentially costing billions in federal funds.

The video, which has gone viral on social media in the wake of Nick Shirley’s bombshell reporting on Somali daycare centers, shows Walz admitting to knowing about the ongoing fraud during a press conference on December 12.

Standing before the American and Minnesota flags in the Capitol rotunda, Walz addressed the media about ongoing investigations into fraud in multiple state-run programs, including child nutrition initiatives like Feeding Our Future, autism services, and other social welfare programs.

In the clip, Walz states:

“I think what the president did was elevate it. Uh, I do believe and I will fully own this we should have been keeping Minnesotans more up to speed on what was happening.”

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The Dumbest Year by Far (Until the Next One)

Merry Christmas and all that. We’ve just a few days left in what has been by far the dumbest year on record. Don’t worry—the next one will be even dumber, and 2028 is going to reach forbidding heights of stupidity for which none of us are adequately prepared. Enjoy this while it lasts.

Come, friends and haters. Join us on a journey through time and space. Take a moment to reflect on some of the dumbest (and not so dumb) moments of 2025, most of which you’ve probably forgotten by now.

JANUARY — Corpse Removed from White House

• Sleepy Joe Biden was finally evicted from his taxpayer-funded care facility. Kamala Harris was also forced to leave, but not before humiliating herself one last time by pledging allegiance to “the United States of the United States of America” and certifying her own defeat, to joyous applause from members of Congress. Jeff Bezos’s wife-to-be, Lauren Sánchez, flaunted her tits at President Donald Trump’s second inauguration.

• Former senator Bob Menendez (D., N.J.), a.k.a. “Bullion Bob,” was sentenced to 11 years in prison following his conviction on corruption charges. His daughter continues to host a show on MSNBC.

• As wildfires ravaged California, ABC News anchor David Muir leapt at the chance to show off his chiseled bod on national television. In one of the most egregious acts of journalistic narcissism, Muir used a clothespin to achieve a form-fitting silhouette on his network-branded safety jacket while reporting live from the smoldering wreckage.

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Tim Walz Lashes Out Blaming “White Supremacy” After Massive Minnesota Somali Fraud Exposed

A viral investigation into alleged misuse of Minnesota state funds has ignited a fierce public feud between Governor Tim Walz and independent journalist Nick Shirley, culminating in a heated exchange of accusations over the weekend.

Shirley’s 42-minute video report, which garnered over 100 million views on X, purportedly showed multiple state-funded daycare centers — receiving millions in taxpayer dollars — appearing closed or inactive during business hours.

In the wake of the report’s release, Governor Walz faced intense backlash after appearing to dismiss the findings on X, writing, “This is what happens when they scapegoat and this is what happens when they no longer hide the idea of white supremacy.”

Critics immediately seized on the Governor’s comment, accusing him of using racially charged language to deflect from legitimate questions regarding the stewardship of public funds.

On Sunday, Shirley appeared on Fox News to directly address the Governor’s characterization, rejecting the “white supremacist” label as a political tactic used to silence dissent.

“If you have 100,000 people that will vote for you because you’re going to enable this stuff… and you’re going to call a white person racist for calling out facts, this is what’s going to happen,” Shirley told the host.

He further ridiculed the state’s oversight during the segment, remarking that the alleged fraud was “so obvious a kindergartner could figure it out.”

Meanwhile, Governor Walz’s office issued a formal statement responding to the allegations, asserting that his administration has “worked for years to crack down on fraud” and has already launched investigations into the specific facilities highlighted in the video.

The spokesperson emphasized that the administration has strengthened oversight mechanisms and previously closed one of the centers featured in Shirley’s report.

Despite the administration’s defense, the controversy continues to escalate, with federal authorities now signaling they are deploying additional resources to investigate the scope of the alleged fraud.

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Burma Election Phase 1: No Hope for Federal Democracy With Opposition Banned

The Burma (Myanmar) election leaves observers asking whether it can truly be called a legitimate election when opposition parties and much of the population are prohibited from participating.

Burma’s military junta held the first round of its 2025 election on December 28, marking the first vote since overthrowing the country’s democratically elected government in 2021. Participation was sharply limited, with only about one-third of eligible voters casting ballots. Voting took place only in areas under military control, effectively disenfranchising large segments of the population living in conflict zones that comprise roughly 70 percent of the country’s territory.

As voting began, the Union Election Commission announced that nine additional townships had been added to the list where voting could not take place due to ongoing armed conflict. The newly excluded areas included three townships in Chin State, two in Sagaing Division, and four in Rakhine State, bringing the total number of townships entirely excluded from elections to 65, up from 56.

The UEC also confirmed that Phases 1 and 2 could not be held in 51 village tracts in Karenni State, and that Phase 3 elections scheduled for January 25 would not take place in 10 village tracts in Pekhon Township. In total, 134 townships are now affected either fully or partially, setting a record for the highest number of areas where elections could not be conducted in Burma’s history.

The election is being held in three phases across 265 of 330 townships, with the second round on January 11 and third round on January 25. Final results are expected to be announced by the end of January 2026.

One Yangon polling station recorded turnout of just under 37 percent, well below participation levels in the 2020 election won by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy. In Karenni State and other areas controlled by revolutionary forces, residents rejected the process, saying the election is neither free nor fair and excludes large portions of the population displaced by war.

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Recognizing Media Malfunctions With the Heckler Awards – Part 1: The Industry Technical Trophies

With the year coming to a close, it is time to haul the news from the media to the curb, but we first need to dig through the pile and sort the refuse. We need to separate the worst from getting into the recycling bins, because the last thing we need to see is some of this behavior circulating once again. So, in the futile effort of improving the journalism landscape, we need to highlight the lowlights of 2025.

Here at “Riffed From the Headlines,” it has been another year of compiling the worst and misbegotten in the media landscape. We began the year with the hope that improvements would be experienced. Our hopes were, not surprisingly, dashed. Thus, we are left with the task of delivering notice of the worst from the journalism industry, and for that, we have developed The Heckler Awards.

This will be a four-part series in which we will (dis)honor the events reported in the press this year, based on the evidence compiled in our daily column. We begin with technical awards, and that will then give way to specific honors in the various categories we use to organize the lapses in journalism ethics. Part One will honor industry-wide activity, while Part Two will recognize achievements by individuals and specific outlets, and then Parts Three and Four will entail the category “winners.”

Now, with that pageantry aside, let us delve into the recognition and begin handing out the recognition of the news industry foibles for 2025, in this, the first round of The Hecklers!

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Fulton County’s 315,000 Admission Goes Well Beyond Just “Unsigned Poll Tapes” – Including Illegal Tabulation, Rule Violations and Open Records Deception

During a December 9 hearing before the State Election Board (SEB), the attorney for Fulton County’s Board of Registration and Elections (BRE), Ann Brumbaugh, “did not dispute” the fact that over 315,000 ballots in Fulton County were missing signatures on the poll tapes, as required by Ga. Comp. R & Regs. 183-1-14-.02(15) and O.C.G.A. § 21-2-483(h).

This was in response to a complaint submitted to the SEB in March 2022, 33 months prior to the SEB hearing.

In addition to the poll tapes being unsigned, another egregious and concerning discovery was made: the poll tapes were altered to make it appear as if the machines they came from were the ones from the precincts where the ballots were scanned at.

Concerning Response to Open Records Requests

Prior to the December 9th, 2025 admission, and even the March 2022 complaint, Fulton County had a different response.

In an Open Records Request submitted by the Election Oversight Group for the poll tape records that were subject to the March 2022 complaint, Fulton County Attorney Steve Rosenberg responded in writing so there was “a record of our response.”

In the response, Rosenberg states that “the zero tapes are printed on paper that resembles old-style receipts” and that “they fade and they fade even more when handled.”

He then states that they’ve received “a number of requests for these and other poll tapes” and that “over time, the zero tapes have become almost completely faded” and then says that he provided what they maintain and can locate “that still has some printing on it.”

Then he claims that the “consolation is that the Secretary of State’s office maintains the originals” and says that a request should be sent to their office.

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Surveillance Footage Reveals Somali Daycare Fraud Playbook — Scheme Dates Back to 2013!

Newly resurfaced surveillance footage and investigative reporting confirm that the now-exploding Somali daycare fraud scandal in Minnesota follows a well-documented playbook that state officials were warned about as early as 2013, and repeatedly thereafter.

Yet year after year, the fraud was allowed to metastasize, draining hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars from programs meant to help poor children, while far-left Governor Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and radical Rep. Ilhan Omar looked the other way.

The scandal exploded into the national spotlight this week after a viral video by YouTuber Nick Shirley went mega-viral, accusing Somali-owned daycare centers of blatant fraud.

Shirley knocked on doors, demanding answers, and what he uncovered has prompted the FBI and Department of Homeland Security to “surge” into Minnesota for a massive investigation.

Let’s rewind to 2013, when a team of Ramsey County forensic auditors uncovered the scam’s early roots. A KSTP 5 Eyewitness News report from October 2025 reveals a whistleblower from Ramsey County who, in 2013, uncovered four daycare centers exploiting CCAP, with dozens more suspicious cases totaling over $100 million in fraud.

The whistleblower alerted the Department of Human Services (DHS) and lawmakers, but nothing happened for years.

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Western intelligence lawfare op plotted illegal sting on EU fraud office, leaks reveal

After The Grayzone exposed CIJA – the Western gov’t-funded regime change outfit – for collaborating with al-Qaeda and its allies in Syria, files show the group sought to penetrate and “intimidate” European financial regulators who charged them with corruption.

Leaked documents reviewed by The Grayzone reveal the intelligence-linked Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA) launched a malicious effort to infiltrate and subvert the European Commission and EU anti-fraud office after it accused them of corruption. In order to carry out these attacks, its director solicited the services of at least one longtime MI6 operative, Ian Baharie.

The group, which came to prominence in the early stages of the Western-backed dirty war on Syria, describes itself as a “non-governmental organisation dedicated to collecting evidence… for the express purpose of furthering criminal justice efforts” across the world.” CIJA’s work in gathering supposed evidence of the abuses of the Syrian government of deposed President Bashar Al-Assad earned it gushing praise from Hillary Clinton and puff profiles from The New Yorker, New York Times and The Guardian.

As The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal revealed in a 2019 profile on CIJA – one of the first critical investigative reports on a group touted by mainstream media as “independent” – one of the NGO’s top funders was the US State Department, which granted it over $500,000 in a short period. Today, CIJA boasts that it “currently works to support prosecutions in 16 countries” and is “assisting 52 law enforcement and counter-terrorism agencies and 14 prosecutorial offices globally.” 

Unmentioned there, and entirely ignored by English-language legacy media outlets, is the fact that the European Union’s Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) placed CIJA on an EU blacklist as punishment for unethical activities including cooking accounting books, forging documents, and graft. The group has been on EU regulators’ radar since at least 2015, when OLAF conducted a raid of CIJA’s registered headquarters only to find no trace of the organization actually operating there.

Now, leaked documents and emails reviewed by The Grayzone indicate CIJA’s founder and executive director William “Bill” Wiley undertook a retaliatory campaign of dirty tricks aimed at removing his organization from the EU blacklist. His grand scheme included a ruthless sting operation on a former staffer he accused of whistleblowing, as well as plans to gather dirt on OLAF officials which European Commission officials would be “intimidated by.” 

With a career skirting the line between the world of NGOs, multinational corporations and Western intelligence, Wiley sought out a veteran British MI6 operative to assist his dirty tricks campaign. Though CIJA promotes universal jurisdiction for purported crimes committed by rogue foreign governments, the leaked files show the group is more than willing to circumvent the law to advance its own objectives.

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‘Disclosure is required now’: DOJ stalling case against 2020 election denier accused of planting bombs ‘outside the RNC and DNC’ day before Jan. 6, lawyers say

Newly released court documents accused a Virginia man of confessing to planting pipe bombs “outside” the headquarters of the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C., just one day before the Jan. 6 Capitol Attack. Federal prosecutors who say the man told investigators he did this because he wanted to “speak up” for 2020 election deniers are now choosing to stall the case, according to his lawyers.

“Disclosure is required now, not later,” Brian Cole Jr.’s attorneys write in a 15-page motion for discovery filed Monday, which seeks an order that directs the government to cough up all copies of evidence against him, including “any and all statements, confessions, or admissions.”

Cole’s lawyers say the Justice Department has “asked to push” his preliminary hearing to either Jan. 7 or 8 — but prosecutors have no concrete reason why, the attorneys say, other than “ordinary scheduling matters and the possibility of a forthcoming indictment,” according to court documents.

“That request comes too late,” Cole’s team says in a motion to confirm his preliminary hearing filed late Sunday. “In its email to defense counsel, the government has identified no extraordinary circumstances.”

Cole’s lawyers want the court to direct the government to be “prepared to present its evidence in support of probable cause” on Tuesday, should the preliminary hearing happen. They say Cole has already consented to an extension that moved his hearing to Tuesday, “but he has not consented to any further delay,” according to their motion.

“Dec. 30 is the proper, timely date for the preliminary hearing,” Cole’s team says. “The government’s desire to accommodate ordinary scheduling or the pace of a grand jury is not a lawful basis to continue the hearing for which it has had more than three weeks to prepare.”

Cole, 30, of Woodbridge, was arrested and charged in the District of Columbia earlier this month with transporting an explosive device in interstate commerce with the intent to kill, injure, or intimidate any individual or unlawfully to damage or destroy any building, vehicle, or other real or personal property. He was also charged with attempted malicious destruction by means of fire and explosive materials.

According to federal prosecutors, Cole drove his Nissan Sentra to Washington, D.C., by himself on Jan. 5, 2021, to plant at least two pipe bombs downtown “in the immediate vicinity” of the RNC and DNC headquarters. The improvised explosive devices had 60-minute timers, but failed to detonate. Cole allegedly said he planted them at night “because he did not want to kill people,” according to the DOJ.

Federal prosecutors say Cole learned how to make the bombs by playing video games. He allegedly admitted that he is a Trump supporter but does not like “either party” and wanted to go after the RNC and DNC because he was sick of election deniers being called “conspiracy theorists” and other “bad” things.

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