Tag: corruption

FBI Raids 22 Minnesota Child Care Centers and Businesses, Including the Infamous ‘Quality Learing Center,’ as Part of Fraud Investigation Linked to the Somali Community

The FBI, along with federal, state, and local law enforcement, executed 22 search warrants across the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area in Minnesota early Tuesday morning.

The targets included multiple childcare centers and other businesses, most reportedly tied to the Somali community, as part of the ongoing investigation into social services fraud that has allegedly cost American taxpayers hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars.

A Justice Department spokesperson confirmed the operation in a statement to NBC News.

“Today the FBI with federal, state and local law enforcement is involved in court-authorized law enforcement activity as part of an ongoing fraud investigation,” the spokesperson said.

The raids were not related to immigration enforcement, officials stressed repeatedly.

Instead, they focused on alleged fraud in programs such as childcare assistance, Medicaid-funded services including autism support, and pandemic-era initiatives.

One high-profile location hit was the “Quality Learing Center” in Minneapolis, a day care that gained national attention after a viral video by conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley showed no children present despite receiving millions in public funds.

The center was later reported to be closed.

Minnesota has been the center of repeated, large-scale fraud schemes involving federally funded social services.

The Feeding Our Future case alone involved over $250 million in fraudulent claims for meals that were never served.

The Department of Justice charged 47 defendants in that scheme in 2022, with dozens pleading guilty and additional convictions continuing to be secured.

Separate investigations have targeted fake autism services that allegedly defrauded taxpayers of $14 million, with multiple defendants indicted since September and at least one guilty plea.

The Trump administration has estimated total fraud losses in Minnesota social services programs at up to $19 billion.

The raids come just months after President Donald Trump declared a “war on fraud” and appointed Vice President JD Vance to lead a dedicated task force to root out waste in federal programs.

Vance commented on the raids in a post on X.

“The task force and the DOJ will be relentless in exposing these fraudsters wherever they may be hiding,” Vance wrote.

Keep reading

Former Senior NIAID Official Indicted for Concealing Federal Records During COVID-19 Pandemic

A former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) employee is facing indictment for his role in a scheme to evade Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests in connection with COVID-19 research grants.

David M. Morens, 78, of Chester, Maryland, is 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. Morens served as a senior advisor in NIAID’s Office of the Director from 2006 through 2022.

“These allegations represent a profound abuse of trust at a time when the American people needed it most — during the height of a global pandemic,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “As alleged in the indictment, Dr. Morens and his co-conspirators deliberately concealed information and falsified records in an effort to suppress alternative theories regarding the origins of COVID-19. Government officials have a solemn duty to provide honest, well-grounded facts and advice in service of the public interest — not to advance their own personal or ideological agendas.”

“Circumventing records protocols with the intention of avoiding transparency is something that will not be tolerated by this FBI,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “Not only did Morens allegedly engage in the illegal obfuscation of his communications, but he received kickbacks for doing so. If you have engaged in activity conspiring against the United States, we will not stop until you face justice.”

“When public officials deliberately circumvent the law to hide their communications from the public, they undermine the public’s trust and the integrity of our institutions. This was especially true during the COVID-19 pandemic when transparency was needed most,” said U.S. Attorney Kelly O. Hayes for the District of Maryland. “Our office will continue to hold accountable those who seek to evade their legal obligations for their own gain.”

“Public officials who disregard their legal obligations undermine the transparency that keeps our federal programs strong. The deliberate mishandling and concealment of records in a federal investigation is not just a breach of duty, it is a betrayal of public trust,” said Special Agent in Charge Marcus L. Sykes, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “HHS-OIG remains committed to working with our law enforcement partners to ensure that anyone who seeks to evade the law is held fully accountable.”

Keep reading

USC historian defends Southern Poverty Law Center funneling payments to KKK leaders 

The Southern Poverty Law Center’s payments to the handful of remaining white supremacist groups in the country are just like how Jewish groups took down extremists, according to a University of Southern California historian.

Professor Steven Ross made the comments during an interview last week with National Public Radio. He has a book coming out about “racist” and “antisemitic groups” in the 20th century. 

Last week, the Trump administration announced federal charges against the Southern Poverty Law Center, accusing it of defrauding donors. The 14-page complaint says the SPLC paid informants within the Ku Klux Klan and other white hate groups. At the same time, the group was fundraising off the alleged resurgence and influence of those same organizations.

But Professor Ross rushed to defend the payments to white supremacist groups, linking that activity back to the work of Jewish groups in the 1940s and onward to infiltrate hate groups.

He told NPR:

I’m not sure if the indictment is true or not, but the idea that there are paid informants is not illegal. These people are simply monitoring what was going on. And when they’re accused of being – stealing records, those records were sent, I’m sure, to government forces like the FBI, the Justice Department, because they weren’t doing their job.

To be clear, the informants were not simply accused of “stealing records,” like the surely dwindling check register of a random “Klan” group.

In one horrifying example, the Southern Poverty Law Center paid an organizer of the deadly 2017 Charlottesville rally. 

The unidentified perpetrator “attended the event at the direction of the SPLC,” according to the indictment. The person “made racist postings under the supervision of the SPLC and helped coordinate transportation to the event for several attendees.”

Furthermore, the group continued to pay the organizer after the deadly violence, making payments throughout 2023. In total, the left-wing group paid $270,000 to the perpetrator.

NPR host Terry Gross interjected to clarify the accusations about inciting violence, before pivoting and suggesting FBI agents do the same thing. (I mean, likely true).

“I’m [sure] the SPLC is doing the same thing because they know their informants would get in trouble, otherwise,” Ross said. “That they could be prosecuted by the government.”

Keep reading

Shutdowns Persist Because Congress Pays No Price

Federal workers missed paychecks for over 60 days. Congress missed none.

TSA officers screened 3 million passengers a day this spring. They did it without paychecks. Some sold plasma to pay their bills. Others slept in their cars. Some just quit. Sixty days into the longest partial shutdown in American history, Congress returned from its two-week recess and still has not fixed it.

The Senate did try – passing a funding bill by unanimous consent before recess even began. The House went home anyway. Congress eventually returned, and DHS is now recalling furloughed workers on redirected funds that have no congressional appropriation behind them. The executive branch is essentially running a federal agency on financial improvisation because the legislative branch will not do its job. If that does not alarm you, it should.

This is not a partisan problem. A November NBC News poll found that 52% of voters blamed Trump and congressional Republicans for the 2025 shutdown, while 42% blamed congressional Democrats – the highest share of Democratic blame in NBC polling in over 30 years. Both sides have blocked proposals. Both sides have pointed fingers. Both sides have taken a recess while government employees were working without pay. This is a modern Congress problem, and the pattern predates any single party or president.

To understand why it keeps happening, consider how rare it once was. Between 1995 and 2013, the government did not shut down once. An 18-year stretch of Congress doing the bare minimum. Then came the 16-day shutdown in 2013, the 35-day shutdown in 2018 to 2019, the 43-day shutdown in the fall of 2025, and now this. Each one was treated as an extraordinary crisis. Each one became a template for the next. What was once a last resort is now a governing strategy, and a remarkably consequence-free one at that.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated the 2018 to 2019 shutdown shaved 11 billion dollars off the GDP, 3 billion of which was never recovered. The 2013 shutdown cost taxpayers an estimated $2.5 billion dollars in pay for work that never got done. Shutdowns do not save money – they burn it. The bill lands on everyone except the people who caused it: Congress.

Keep reading

The Moral Malaise: The New York Times Makes The Case For “Microlooting” To Murder

“It is so hard to live ethically in an unethical society.” That lament heard this week from New York Times opinion culture editor Nadja Spiegelman could well be the Democratic Party’s epitaph.

Spiegelman was interviewing two left-wing influencers about how everything from shoplifting to murder may be excusable today in light of the unfairness they see in society.

The podcast, a product of the nation’s newspaper of record, reveled in the moral relativism that has taken over the American left. It featured the ravings of the antisemitic Marxist streamer Hasan Piker, who calmly explained how the murder of United Healthcare executive Brian Thompson was perfectly understandable. His rationalization came from Marxist revolutionary Friedrich Engels, who had called capitalism “social murder.” If capitalists are “social murderers,” then why not kill them? The logic is liberating and lethal for some on the left looking for a license for violence.

Mind you, this same newspaper had once condemned and effectively banned a U.S. senator for writing an op-ed advocating the use of the military to quell violent protests during the summer of George Floyd’s death. The Times even forced out its own opinion editor for having the temerity to publish such an opinion.

But glorifying murder? The suggestion of open hunting season on corporate executives did not appear to shock or repel Spiegelman. After all, we are living in “an unethical society.” She explained that many felt that the murder of Thompson, the father of two, meant that “finally, someone can actually do something about health care.”

Even liberal comedians are practicing a literal version of slapstick. Margaret Cho this week declared that “we need a feral, bloodthirsty, violent Democrat.”

To be fair, Spiegelman did concede that it might seem a bit “scary” for some to start murdering our way to social justice.

She also explained that shoplifting can be justifiable because people are “stealing from Whole Foods — not just for the thrill of it, but out of a feeling of anger and moral justification.”

New Yorker writer Jia Tolentino also contributed to the podcast, titled “The Rich Don’t Play by the Rules. So Why Should I?” She immediately threw in her own experience with “microlooting” and explained why it is arguably moral: “I have, under very specific circumstances. I will say, I think that stealing from a big-box store [isn’t] significant as a moral wrong, nor is it significant in any way as protest.”

She detailed her own past thefts and added, “I didn’t feel bad about it at all, in part because the store was a corporation. And it certainly felt, in a utilitarian sense, I was like, this is not a big deal. Right, guys?”

Not in the confines of the New York Times, where apparently you are entitled to all goods that are fit to pilfer.

The bizarre exchange highlighted the moral chasm that is opening its maw on today’s political left. In my book “Rage and the Republic,” I write about how rage helps people excuse any offense or attack. It dismisses the humanity of others and provides a license to hate completely and without reservation.

It is not really murder or theft if there are no real humans on the other side, is it?

Other columnists have defended such property crimes. Washington Post writer Maura Judkis ran a column mocking shoplifting stories as the “moral panic” of a nation built on “stolen land.” It is reminiscent of those who excused rioting in past summers “as an expression of power” and demanded that the media refer to looters as “protesters.”

Former New York Times writer (and now Howard University Journalism Professor) Nikole Hannah-Jones went so far as to call on journalists not to cover shoplifting crimes.

Keep reading

‘The View’ Relish Trump and His Cabinet ‘Felt the Fear’ for Their Lives During WHCD, in Push for Gun Control

During Monday’s airing of ABC’s The View, host Ana Navarro led her co-hosts in relishing that President Donald Trump and his Cabinet “felt the fear” of death during Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting, and might now be more open to gun control.

Newsbusters managing editor Curtis Houck posted an excerpt from the Disney-owned talk show, in which Navarro expressed bewilderment that Congress did not pass gun control after the December 14, 2012, Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. She then added, “But maybe now, that they have felt the fear themselves, they will do something.”

Navarro talked about the “important political leaders” who were at the White House Correspondents dinner and said, “Now they know, they’ve lived it in their own flesh, the fear that our school children go through.”

As Navarro talked, viewers could hear other hosts saying “yes” in agreement.

Breitbart News noted that Pennsylvania state Rep. and former Democratic Party Vice Chair Malcolm Kenyatta pushed a ban on “military-grade weapons” on Sunday, which was the day after the WHCD attack.

Kenyatta did not mention that the alleged WHCD attacker used a shotgun and pistol, neither of which were “military-grade weapons.” Therefore, the ban he proposed would not have prevented or even hindered the attack.

Keep reading

“The Democrats Have To Cheat To Win”: Voter Fraud Is Legion In America

The next big battle in elections is the 2026 Midterms in November. Dr. Jerome Corsi has a Harvard PhD in political science. He has written more than 30 books with many of them becoming best-sellers.

Dr. Corsi says the Democrats have been stealing elections nationwide for years.  This November, the Dems will try again, but team Trump is trying to stop the biggest ever voter and election fraud that robs the voice and will of “We the People.” 

Dr. Corsi contends:

“I think this is probably one of the biggest stories in America.  The vote cheating by Democrats is legion.  I mean it’s rampant.  You’ve got 29 states that refuse to turn over to the Department of Justice (DOJ) their state voter registration data bases because they know they are packed with people that don’t exist, illegal immigrants and dead people.  These voter rolls are a disgrace.”

Assistant DOJ AG Harmeet Dhillon recently found 350,000 dead people and 25,000 foreign citizens on the voter rolls in the states that complied with the DOJ request.  These were red states.  So, what are the odds the amount of dead, non-existent and illegals go way up in the blue state voter rolls?

How is the cheating done with inaccurate and fraudulent voter rolls?  Dr. Corsi explains, “The voter rolls have algorithms in them that we have shown allow the creation of all these records that are false records…”

”  The records can be hidden in the data base and pulled out and used in mail-in ballot schemes.  That’s what’s been happening, and it just happened in Virginia.  The ballot was being taken on the redistricting, and when you watch it very carefully, the vote against redistricting was leading.  Then, there were two bumps.  Those bumps were the registration of mail-in ballots, and the vote favoring redistricting are ahead, and they stay ahead.  Well, that’s not accidental.  That is the voting of false records, and this is a pattern in order to cheat on the election, on the side of the Democrats’ favor.”

Dr. Corsi goes on to say, “They can go into the computer, and they vote the non-citizen and the non-existing voters…”

”  They suddenly ask for mail-in ballots, which are not mailed anywhere.  They are printed and tabulated, and since the number of the non-existing voters matches the number of the ballots, it’s counted.  The trick is to create voters that don’t exist, voters that shouldn’t be on the rolls and give them legitimate state ID’s and vote them through the machine and get away with it as cheating.  This is done in virtually every state in the country. . .. Study after study has been done that show these techniques are used and done.”

It does not look like the “Save America” voting legislation is going to get past the Democrats and RINOs in Congress.  This means it will all come down to the President’s executive powers to stop voter and election fraud.  This will be a huge violent fight because Dr. Corsi says:

Keep reading

One Very Good Reason Michigan’s Lawless AG Dana Nessel Should Not Be Able to Prevent Asst AG Harmeet Dhillon From Obtaining Wayne County’s 2024 Election Docs

On April 17, Michigan’s lawless Attorney General, Dana Nessel, responded to Asst. AG Dhillon’s demand, in a letter, in which she arrogantly claimed that the state would not comply with the DOJ’s request, which, according to Harmeet Dhillon, they are entitled to gain access to under several federal statutes, including a specific transparency statute from the 1960 Civil Rights Act.

In Attorney General Nessel’s response to Assistant Attorney General Dhillon, she cites the Gateway Pundit’s research into documents from Detroit’s November 2020 election, but in true fashion, AG Nessel doesn’t cite a link to either of the two updates Gateway Pundit has published on our research in her letter, but instead, cites a Michigan News Source report on our investigation.

It’s worth noting that the November 2024 election documents, which MI AG Dana Nessel told Assistant Attorney General Dhillon she has no right to obtain from Wayne County, are the same documents that Yehuda Miller has already obtained from Detroit and Wayne County from the November 2020 election.

In case you haven’t already heard, New Jersey resident Yehuda Miller, Check My Vote founder Phani Mantravadi, Patty McMurray of the Gateway Pundit, and the Michigan Fair Election Institute (MFE) are working with over 100 incredibly dedicated and conscientious volunteers to review over 1 million documents from Detroit and Wayne County’s November 2020 election.

Several months ago, Yehuda Miller reached out to me only moments before he loaded his U-Haul with almost 1 million 2020 Detroit and Wayne County election documents from the November 2020 election. Mr. Millier successfully obtained the documents after suing Detroit and Wayne County for refusing to turn them over to him via his original FOIA request before they were destroyed.

After working for over 4 years to expose the fraud in Michigan’s 2020 election, I was stunned to see firsthand the potentially incriminating documents he had obtained: boxes and boxes of Detroit’s 2020 election documents, all neatly stored inside a U-Haul. Mr. Miller had also obtained the electronic files of the same documents.

Keep reading

Did Biden Send the Bahamas Straight to Beijing?

Let’s take a little trip to the Bahamas and explore what a little Joe Biden-era neglect will get you.  

A little over a week ago, officials from the island nation broke ground for a new speciality hospital, calling it a “new era for healthcare.”  It’s supposed to take 30 to 36 months to complete. 

The project will sit on 50 acres on New Providence Highway in Nassau. The hospital will have 200 beds with “emergency and intensive care services, modern diagnostic labs, and even the country’s first national reference morgue,” which will ease pressure on nearby overcrowded facilities. It will also have have access to state-of-the-art technology and equipment that Health Minister Dr. Michael Darville says “will reduce the need for patients to seek care abroad, and it will allow our healthcare professionals to operate in an environment that supports the level of care that they’re trained to deliver.” 

Sounds like a good thing for the Bahamas, right?  

Maybe it would be if China wasn’t footing most of the bill. Because when China foots the bill, there are always more strings attached than last year’s tangled Christmas tree lights. The reality is that it’s more of the textbook debt-trap Chicom diplomacy that plagues the Western Hemisphere, only this time it’s happening in a nation that’s closest point is literally just 50 miles from Florida. Oh, and the Biden administration apparently just handed it over on a silver platter.   

The healthcare system in the Bahamas isn’t awful compared to some other similar nations, but it is no longer adequate enough for the aging population, and there is plenty of room to improve it. It’s overcrowded, people are often faced with long wait times, and it’s outdated with crumbling infrastructure and various equipment shortages. The Princess Margaret Hospital, which is currently the main facility in Nassau, was built in the 1950s. Patients often come to the United States for specific procedures, and nurses and other trained medical staff often move abroad to take better-paying jobs. 

So, back to this New Providence Specialty Hospital. The framework for a deal between the Bahamas and China was signed last summer, and in January of this year the loan was locked in. But, as China does, this wasn’t just a loan. 

It was a concessional loan, meaning the terms were soft: a 2% interest rate over a 20-year period, after a 5-year grace period with no interest. Often managed by the Export–Import Bank of China, these loans are handed out as an act of “goodwill” and diplomacy, but the reality is that China uses them to build its own infrastructure, exploit natural resources, and expand its geopolitical influence.   

And the Bahamas had to agree to more than just cash. First, the loan and any other financing is governed by Chinese law. That means any disputes must go to Beijing, not the Bahamas and not an international court. The country is essentially welcoming Chinese law onto its own soil, which could end up having a negative effect on its sovereignty down the line. 

Second, there’s a clause that says the state-owned China Railway Construction Corporation Ltd. must be the main contractor on the project. That company is currently on the United States Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)’s restricted investment list due its links to China’s military-industrial complex.    

Third, there’s a 50-50 labor clause, meaning that half of the workers on the project must be Chinese. 

Keep reading

Recording of Phone Call Reveals Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass Was Warned About Danger of Wildfires Before Her Trip to Ghana

A newly resurfaced recording of a damning phone call has revealed that Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was warned about the potential for the dangerous and destructive wildfires that swept through southern California more than a year ago.

She had all of this information before she left the country for a trip to Ghana. She went anyway.

It’s just another reminder of how incompetent Bass is as a mayor. The people of Los Angles were doomed before the fires even began.

PJ Media reports:

In the leaked audio, Bass was reportedly talking to John Alle, a local resident and property manager in the Santa Monica and Westlake areas. Alle himself confirmed this here.

Reports are that Elle called Bass on Jan. 4, 2025, warning her about the risks tied to the weather, the wind, and dry conditions. In the call, Alle said he tried to convince Bass not to leave for Africa, but in the secretly recorded audio, she told Elle she had no intention of canceling her trip in spite of all his warnings.

To be sure, we have not been able to verify with 100% certainty the validity of this leaked audio, but it is worth noting that neither Bass nor her office has disputed the call’s authenticity and the content of the audio.

This is the transcript of the call:

Bass says, “The situation is very dangerous, and I would never do… I will take the criticism before I do a publicity stunt, and frankly a press conference at this point in time would just be publicity.”

Elle interrupts with, “I think my neighbors, property owners, and the residents – 41,000 people live within a square mile here. Two families share a one-bedroom apartment…”

Bass then says, “But they wanna hear that something is gonna be done.”

Elle replies, “They want to know it’s recognized.”

Bass then gets creepily cryptic, “Exactly, but if I have a choice between that and compromising something, I just have to go along with it. It’s not my area of expertise. I wanna make sure that you are safe. And hopefully you can read in between the lines. But I would just appreciate… and it’s hard for me to tell you this, but um, hold tight. You will understand soon.”

The two then indicate they now understand each other, and Bass then adds, “And when I am able to talk, I will be happy to go into great detail.”

Elle reminds Bass, “You’ve got me on the street, and you’re welcome to call me at any time, I’ll call you right back.”

On the matter of her plans to travel to Ghana in the midst of this crisis, Bass tells Elle, “Just in terms of my trip, just so you know I’m missing two work days. That’s it. And if President Biden extends an invitation, I took it.”

Keep reading