Tag: corruption

ICE Releases Illegal-alien School Superintendent’s Record

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has released the full criminal and immigration record of Ian Roberts, the illegal alien who somehow became the school superintendent in Des Moines, Iowa.

It’s a long record. The New York Post called his past a “sordid” one of “sex, lies and DEI payouts.” 

ICE arrested Roberts last week, and he resigned his nearly $300,000-a-year post shortly thereafter.

For its part, the Des Moines public school system is suing the company that was supposed to vet Roberts before he was hired.

Criminal Record

Roberts’ education career ended after ICE arrested the illegal alien from Guyana on September 26. The arrest cost him a $270,000-per-year salary plus generous fringe benefits.

Roberts was arrested with a loaded gun, a hunting knife, and $3,000 in cash, and tried to flee ICE when he was stopped. It turned out that he lied to the school board about his citizenship, and was registered to vote in Maryland. He falsely claimed to have earned a doctorate.

Now, ICE has revealed the details about his lengthy criminal career, aside from the charge of being an illegal alien in possession of a gun.

On July 3, 1996, in New York, he faced “charges for criminal possession of narcotics with intent to sell, criminal possession of narcotics, criminal possession of a forgery instrument and possession of a forged instrument,” ICE reported.

In November 1998, he faced a charge of unauthorized use of a vehicle in Queens, New York. The charge was later dismissed.

Fourteen years later, in Maryland, he was convicted of speeding, reckless driving, and unsafe operation.

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‘Epstein bomb set to drop — nobody wants to defend Trump’: 100 GOP Reps to mutiny, congressman warns

A Democratic congressman claimed that a staggering number of his GOP colleagues are ready to defy Donald Trump over the release of the Epstein files because they don’t want ‘to defend a pedo-protector.’

California Rep. Eric Swalwell said on Wednesday he had discussed the issue with ‘a lot of House Republicans’ and that their efforts to stop a vote to release the full documents are ‘fading.’

‘It’s coming to an end guys. I’ve spoken to a lot of House Republicans this week and they’ve confided that Trump’s movement/support is fading,’ Swalwell wrote on X.

‘As one told me, “this Epstein bomb is about to drop and no want [sic] wants to defend a pedo-protector. It’s just a matter of time.”‘

Swalwell then claimed in a follow-up post: ‘One Republican just texted me that if there’s a discharge vote on Epstein they expect a “jail break” of over 100 members. Trump will go nuts!’

Republican Rep. Thomas Massie said on Sunday that he has the 218 signatures required for the vote. A discharge petition allows lawmakers to circumvent party leaders to force a vote.

Some of Swalwell’s critics were quick to seize on the fact that congressman did not specify which Republicans he claimed to have spoken to and accused him of making the whole thing up.

The Democrat’s statement came as the government shutdown stretched into an eighth day Wednesday, with Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson keeping the chamber in recess during the funding the stalemate.

The break has prevented the House from moving forward with the petition, leading Swalwell, Massie and others to accuse Johnson of stalling to avoid a vote.

Arizona Democratic Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, whose signature on the petition would tip the scales in favor of releasing the files, is waiting to be sworn into office as the recess drags on.

On Tuesday, Johnson denied that he is holding up Grijalva’s swearing-in to keep her from casting the decisive vote.

‘It has nothing to do with that at all,’ he said. ‘We will swear her in when everybody gets back.’

MAGA loyalist Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of four House Republicans to join Democrats in signing the petition, said she has never felt more heat on an issue. 

‘My signature is on that discharge petition, and there has not been another issue where I have ever received more pressure than that one, and I’m pretty much shocked by it,’ Greene told NewsNation.  

‘I can’t imagine — I’ve never understood how this is an issue.’ 

She added: ‘I think when it comes to women being raped, especially when they were 14 years old, that’s pretty black and white.’  

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The country is healing: A company that provided car loans to illegals just went belly up…

A Dallas-based auto lender built on giving car loans to illegals has just gone belly up, and it’s dragging Wall Street down with it.

Tricolor Holdings was once hailed by the US Treasury as a “community development” success story. Now, they’ve just filed for bankruptcy as fraud allegations and a full-blown federal investigation overtake them. The company, which sold overpriced used cars to illegals and wrapped the scheme in a feel-good “social lending” label, is leaving major US banks like JPMorgan, Barclays, and Fifth Third staring at massive losses.

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Grassley calls out judges for using AI to draft error-filled rulings

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) wrote to two federal judges regarding their alleged use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) to draft court orders with little to no human verification. Grassley’s oversight inquiry follows public  that U.S. District of Mississippi Judge Henry T. Wingate and U.S. District of New Jersey Judge Julien Xavier Neals issued court orders containing serious factual inaccuracies, prompting allegations of AI use.

“As Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I am committed to safeguarding litigants’ rights and ensuring that every party in federal court receives fair treatment and careful review by the Article III judges confirmed by the Senate,” Grassley wrote.

“No less than the attorneys who appear before them, judges must be held to the highest standards of integrity, candor, and factual accuracy. Indeed, Article III judges should be held to a higher standard, given the binding force of their rulings on the rights and obligations of litigants before them,” Grassley continued.

Grassley is asking Wingate and Neals to explain whether they, their law clerks, or any court staff used generative AI – or entered non-public case information into generative AI tools – in preparing their decisions. Further, Grassley called on the district judges to re-docket their original orders to preserve a transparent history of the courts’ actions.

Read Grassley’s letter to Wingate HERE and letter to Neals HERE.

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Fired Eastern District of Virginia Prosecutor Michael Ben’Ary Denies Alleged Texts Claiming He Dreams of Trump’s Death

The Justice Department last Wednesday fired the top national security prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia.

Michael Ben’Ary was fired after investigative reporter Julie Kelly publicly called him out as a top advisor to Lisa Monaco.

Lisa Monaco was an Obama-Biden partisan hack who targeted Trump and threatened to indict top Republicans for January 6.

Monaco was part of Obama’s secret team that met in the White House basement in 2016 to discuss how to set up Donald Trump in their Trump-Russia collusion sham.

Last week Michael Ben’Ary whined in a letter to colleagues after he was fired and encouraged them to continue to defy Trump appointees.

“I am even more disappointed to see what has happened to this office and the Department of Justice in just a few short months. The decisions to remove experienced career officials from US Attorneys Offices, the FBI, and other critical parts of DOJ undermines our country’s ability to counter terrorist organizations, malign nation-state actors, and countless others that seek to harm our nation and its citizens.”

“While I am no longer your colleague, I ask that each of you continue to do the right thing, in the right way, for the right reasons. Follow the fact and the law. Stand up for what we all believe in – our Constitution and the rule of law. Our country depends on you,” he wrote.

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Indonesian Government Restores TikTok’s License After Platform Shares User Data

TikTok has handed over a broad collection of user data to Indonesian authorities, a move that cleared the way for the platform’s operations to resume in the country after a brief suspension.

The company acted under pressure from regulators following its failure to cooperate during a volatile stretch of anti-government demonstrations in late August.

According to government officials, the data shared included analytics on traffic behavior and signs of potential online gambling.

The request was triggered by a surge in livestream activity tied to the protests, which erupted after public anger over political perks collided with the fatal police killing of a motorcycle delivery driver.

Currently owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, TikTok is deeply embedded in Indonesia’s digital life, with over 100 million users and a rapidly growing e-commerce arm.

Authorities revoked its license last week after the platform did not supply information about user activity during the period from August 25 to 30. Police reported that some TikTok users live-streamed protest scenes and used the broadcasts to solicit digital gifts or payments from viewers.

On Monday, officials confirmed that TikTok submitted data showing the number of such livestreams and how much money they generated.

Alexander Sabar, a director general at the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs, said in a written message, and as reported by Bloomberg: “The summary data provided is aggregate data, not specific to a particular user, and therefore cannot be used to track or monitor individuals — including accounts broadcasting demonstrations.”

He said the ministry’s primary interest was in activity tied to online gambling and other prohibited uses of the platform.

Technology companies around the world are often cautious when responding to government data requests.

Firms such as Meta and Google typically weigh these demands against potential backlash from users and the risk of exposing proprietary systems.

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Eric Holder Says Democrats Should Make Packing And Rigging Supreme Court Part Of 2028 Platform

Former Attorney General Eric Holder said the next Democratic nominee for President should make “reform” of the Supreme Court a major item in their 2028 platform.

Then-President Joe Biden proposed reforms to the Supreme Court in a July 2024 op-ed in the Washington Post, citing the court’s ruling in United States v. Trump that granted immunity from prosecution for a president’s official acts and claiming the reforms, including 18-year terms for Supreme Court justices, were necessary to “strengthen the guardrails of democracy.” Holder said the conservative jurisprudence of the Supreme Court had to be stopped when former Democratic National Committee Chairman Jamie Harrison asked if Democrats should target the court in the next presidential race.

“I think the Supreme Court has to be reformed, potentially, you know, expanded. We cannot simply allow this court to continue to do that which it has done,” Holder responded.

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Former FDA Vaccine Chief Peter Marks Joins Pharmaceutical Company

Dr. Peter Marks, who formerly led the Food and Drug Administration’s oversight of vaccines, has joined the pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly, the company told The Epoch Times on Oct. 7.

“Lilly continually evaluates breakthrough science which could benefit patients. Peter’s expertise strengthens our abilities across multiple areas, both in our existing portfolio and in our work in emerging areas,” a spokesperson for the company told The Epoch Times via email.

Marks is the senior vice president of molecule discovery for Lilly, and the head of its infectious disease unit.

Lilly does not currently make any vaccines for the U.S. market.

Marks, who has a medical degree and a graduate degree in cell and molecular biology, was director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, which oversees vaccines, for years before resigning in April. Marks cited disagreements with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Marks sped up the first COVID-19 vaccine approval because he wanted to enable vaccine mandates and have more people vaccinated, according to internal documents, prompting two other FDA vaccine officials to resign. Marks has said the officials were not moving fast enough in light of the pandemic situation.

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CIA Director Ratcliffe declassifies intelligence on Biden’s 2015 visit to Ukraine

On Tuesday morning, CIA Director John Ratcliffe shared “intelligence regarding Ukraine after determining it is in the public interest.” The 8-page redacted document, dated Dec. 2015, regards the visit from then-Vice President Joe Biden to Ukraine from Dec. 7-8 of that year.

Ukrainian officials in then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s administration “expressed bewilderment and disappointment” at Biden’s visit to Kiev.

“After the visit, these officials assessed that the Vice President of the United States has come to Kiev almost exclusively to give a generic public speech and has no intention of discussing substantive matters with Poroshenko or other officials within the Ukrainian government,” the document reads.

It goes on to say that ahead of the visit, Ukrainian officials “expected the U.S. Vice President to discuss personnel matters with Poroshenko” while he was on the ground and “had assumed that the U.S. Vice President would advocate in support or against specific officials within the Ukrainian government.”

Following the visit, which did not go as expected, “officials within the Poroshenko administration privately mused as the U.S. media scrutiny of the alleged ties of the U.S. Vice President’s family to corrupt business practices in Ukraine.”

This, the officials believed, was “evidence of a double-standard,” as Biden spoke out against corruption in Ukraine but was accused of being guilty of similar practices himself.

The speech given by Biden to the Ukrainian Rada, or Parliament, while in Kiev during that state visit, included a call for the firing of a prosecutor who was investigating Ukrainian energy giant Burisma, on whose board his son Hunter sat. Hunter Biden was paid $80,000 per month for his service.

“As the Prime Minister and the President heard me often say,” Biden told gathered officials, “I never tell another man or another nation or another woman what’s in their interest. But I can tell you, you cannot name me a single democracy in the world where the cancer of corruption is prevalent. You cannot name me one. They are thoroughly inconsistent. And it’s not enough to set up a new anti-corruption bureau and establish a special prosecutor fighting corruption.” 

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Licensing Boards Are Legalized Cartels

Occupational licensing laws—those mandates that workers in hundreds of professions obtain a license before earning a living—lock people out of jobs while failing to make services any better. The problem isn’t just the laws, though; it’s the cartels running them. Industry-controlled licensing boards operate less like neutral public watchdogs and more like gatekeepers protecting their turf.

More than 75 percent of licensing boards in the U.S. have rulemaking authority, allowing them to interpret licensing statutes, set fees, design and grade licensing exams, and investigate or penalize practitioners, sometimes imposing civil or criminal charges. Of the roughly 1,700 boards nationwide, about 85 percent reserve most seats for active license holders; some even include owners of training schools that profit from license requirements. State governors are technically responsible for appointing board members, but in 23 states they must choose from lists supplied by industry associations. That ensures that reform-minded candidates rarely make it past the gatekeepers.

The boards aren’t bashful about exercising their power to protect people from competition. Records of enforcement actions confirm this: Boards frequently pursue unlicensed entrepreneurs—sometimes through sting operations designed to shake down businesses and contractors to ensure they have the right paperwork—while ignoring actual threats to public safety. 

One notorious example is the North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners, which was at the center of a U.S. Supreme Court case 10 years ago. Beginning in 2003, the North Carolina board waged a campaign against non-dentist teeth-whitening providers, sending dozens of cease-and-desist letters and pressuring mall owners to evict the vendors.

In the board’s view, the whiteners were practicing dentistry without a license, even though they were simply providing assistance to customers who could have done the same thing at home. Not surprisingly, most people on the board were active dentists who offered the same services at a steeper cost. Because the group was stacked that way, the Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that it was acting anti-competitively and didn’t warrant the same protections that normal government enforcement agencies are entitled to.

The ruling should have prompted nationwide reforms. Instead, most states have allowed insiders to keep board control. Georgia, Michigan, and North Dakota actually increased the number of dentists on their state dental boards. 

The obvious solution is to eliminate the licensing laws that give the government power—delegated to boards or otherwise—to block workers and entrepreneurs from the labor force. This has proven difficult when tried, and at best it has resulted in eliminating a requirement for a select occupation or two. The biggest opponents, unsurprisingly, are the boards themselves, some of which use the fees paid by the licensing applicants to pay lobbyists to defeat reforms. 

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