Tag: politics

The Public Safety Machine: How Miami-Dade Built A Six-Figure Pipeline That Keeps Recycling The Same Names

If you want to understand how power actually moves inside Miami-Dade government, stop focusing on titles.

Watch the pattern. Watch the nonprofit galas, the communication’s glitz. Then you’ll know who’s being promoted by miami Dade tax payers dollars.

Because the pattern doesn’t change. The names don’t change. Only the positions do.

Mayor Daniella Levine Cava didn’t just inherit a public safety structure. She built the modern version of it in 2022, creating the role of Chief Public Safety Officer and appointing J.D. Patterson to lead it.

Patterson wasn’t just another administrator. He came out of a network of nonprofits and community organizations deeply embedded in the same civic ecosystem that overlaps with the administration’s leadership base.

That’s the model: government leadership, nonprofit ecosystem, and internal alignment.

From there, the system didn’t stabilize. It started rotating.

First J.D. Patterson. Then James Reyes, elevated into a sweeping public safety role overseeing multiple departments. Then Arnold Palmer, now heading the Office of Public Safety. And now, quietly positioned inside that same structure, Stephanie V. Daniels, Director of Security and Compliance within the Office of the Chief of Public Safety. A position created for her to come back from “retirement” so as to make the public safety appointment an internal hire.

Same structure. Same network. Same pipeline.

Keep reading

SHAMELESS: CNN’s Brian Stelter Credits Journalists With Ending Eric Swalwell’s Bid for California Governor 

Like many people in media, Brian Stelter has an inflated sense of the worth of mainstream journalists. We are used to this fact about him, but sometimes, even we are surprised by the lengths he will go to heap praise on his broken industry.

Today on the air, Stelter gave journalists the credit for ending Eric Swlawell’s bid for governor of California.

This is amazing when you consider the fact that people are coming out of the woodwork now, claiming that Swalwell’s behavior has been an open secret among Democrats and the media for years.

And by the way, don’t his victims who have come forward deserve more credit than the media?

The Blaze reported on this:

CNN’s chief media analyst is applauding the mainstream media for exposing sexual misconduct allegations against the top Democratic candidate for California governor, including an alleged rape, and now faces the wrath of online critics.

California Rep. Eric Swalwell had a tenuous lead above the other Democrats, but he has suspended his campaign in the wake of allegations of sexual assault from a former staffer and accusations from others about sexual misconduct. He has denied the claims.

On Monday, Brian Stelter of CNN said the report was a victory for journalism while ignoring that many had looked the other way for a decade about rumors of the allegations.

Stelter said it was a “testament to the power of investigative reporting” and credited CNN and the Chronicle for ending Swalwell’s gubernatorial hopes.

Keep reading

Political pressure from Somali community hampered Minnesota fraud probes, whistleblower says

A key whistle-blower, and one of the first to draw attention to what he believed was widespread fraud in the Minnesota welfare system, says that state officials hampered probes into the allegations over concerns about pressure from the state’s Somali immigrant community. 

That community has been at the center of recent welfare fraud accusations, including the Feeding Our Future fraud case, in which prosecutors say more than 70 defendants — most of them part of Minneapolis’ Somali community — were charged in connection to a $250 million pandemic-era fraud on a state-funded meals program for children. 

Last year, new charges in the Feeding Our Future case sparked renewed interest in the state’s federally-funded daycare program. Independent journalists flocked to Minneapolis and recorded videos of empty daycare centers that had received millions in state grants. 

“It was obvious that they were committing fraud”: DHS investigator

But, concerns about Minneapolis daycare centers go back at least a decade, according to the whistle-blower, Scott Dexter, who worked as an investigator at the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) from 2013 to 2019. He told Just the News that his team uncovered evidence of fraud in the state’s taxpayer-funded daycare system almost immediately after he started his work. 

“The very first [daycare] that we investigated […] had received about $3.75 million in one year, and so it was obvious that they were committing fraud,” Dexter told the Just the News, No Noise TV show on Tuesday.  

“And the number of these childcare centers would be owned by the same owners, or there’d be, you know, intertwined people involved in it. So one daycare center was involved with another daycare center, so it was obvious that it was a coordinated fraud scheme,” said Dexter. 

In his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee earlier this year, Dexter said that he was hired after a 28-year law enforcement career to be part of a new investigative unit in the Office of the Inspector General at the Minnesota DHS tasked with identifying fraud in the state’s Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP). 

Dexter testified that what his team uncovered was “deeply concerning” regarding daycare centers operating out of commercial spaces “with windows covered, no visible play areas, and very few children ever present.” After reviewing records and surveilling locations, they found “documented patterns of overbilling, nonexistent attendance, and in some cases, children being signed in for hours they were never actually at the center.” 

Keep reading

Embattled Rep Tony Gonzales announces plans to resign amid sexual misconduct allegations

Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, abruptly announced his decision to resign from Congress Monday evening amid calls for him to step aside after admitting to sexual misconduct with a staffer earlier this year.

The embattled lawmaker is facing an anticipated expulsion vote that could occur as early as this week. 

“There is a season for everything and God has a plan for us all. When Congress returns tomorrow, I will file my retirement from office,” Gonzales wrote on social media. “It has been my privilege to serve the great people of Texas.”

It is currently unclear when Gonzales will formally resign. A spokesperson for Gonzales did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Gonzales has come under bipartisan pressure to immediately step aside or face expulsion following his acknowledgment of an affair with his former staffer, Regina Santos-Aviles, who later died by setting herself on fire.

Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, D-N.M., has vowed to move forward with her expulsion resolution if Gonzales does not quickly resign.

“He has until 2PM tomorrow—when we will file his expulsion. He better write that resignation “effective immediately,” Leger Fernandez wrote on social media.

He first admitted to an affair with Santos-Aviles during a radio interview in March after repeatedly denying the existence of a sexual relationship.

“I made a mistake, and I had a lapse in judgment, and there was a lack of faith, and I take full responsibility for those actions,” Gonzales told conservative radio host Joe Pags during the interview. “Since then, I’ve reconciled with my wife, Angel. I’ve asked God to forgive me, which he has, and my faith is as strong as ever.” 

Gonzales, who is married and has six children, has not acknowledged a second accusation of sexual misconduct with a former aide reported by The San Antonio-Express News.

Lawmakers are prohibited from engaging in sexual relationships with staffers, per House rules. 

His announcement came just an hour after Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., said he planned to resign from the lower chamber amid serious allegations of sexual misconduct and rape. The California Democrat has not specified the particular day he plans to leave office.

Keep reading

Democrats Are the Freak Show of Politics

The Democratic Party has become an insane asylum, and no one can distinguish the inmates from the orderlies.  

Today’s liberals parade against “fascism” by dressing as frogs, waving timeworn marital aids in the air, and, during moments where impulse control is harder to find than Bigfoot, launching mashed potatoes at their pitiful spouses.

Now that Eric Swalwell has debauched his way out of the race for California governor, fury-girl Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), who is really chummy with one of Swalwell’s timely accusers, finds herself one step closer to running the largest state in the union deeper into the outhouse history. But Porter has some anger-prone skeletons herself.

Keep reading

Spanish Prime Minister’s Wife Begoña Gómez Formally Charged with Influence Peddling and Bribery

Begoña Gómez, the wife of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, has been formally charged with influence peddling and bribery.

Judge Juan Carlos Peinado of Madrid’s Investigative Court issued the indictment today. Gómez will now stand trial, marking the latest chapter in a high-profile investigation that began in April 2024 and has repeatedly rocked Spanish politics.

The case centers on allegations that Gómez leveraged her position as the wife of Spain’s leader to benefit private companies and her own professional activities while co-directing master’s programs at Madrid’s Complutense University.

Investigators have examined whether she used her influence to help secure public contracts and funding — most notably through recommendation letters for businessman Juan Carlos Barrabés, whose firm won millions in government tenders.

The probe has since expanded to include claims of embezzlement of public funds involving a government-paid aide who allegedly assisted with her university work, along with misappropriation and professional intrusion.

The investigation was initially triggered by complaints from anti-corruption groups, including Manos Limpias (“Clean Hands”), and has been closely watched across Spain.

Sánchez’s leftist coalition government has repeatedly dismissed the case as a politically motivated “witch hunt” by right-wing forces. Gómez has denied any wrongdoing in prior court appearances and invoked her right not to testify in some instances.

Keep reading

Staggering 8-figure sum NYC taxpayers will pay to fund Mamdani’s first city-owned grocery revealed

Zo’s cheap groceries will cost taxpayers a pretty penny.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s first-unveiled city-owned grocery store will cost a staggering $30 million to build from the ground up at East Harlem’s longstanding La Marqueta, officials confirmed – as local grocers worried it’d gobble up their business.

The new grocery at the  longstanding city-owned La Marqueta marketplace will run with a yet-to-be-picked operator reaping the benefits of a rent- and tax-free deal, City Hall officials told The Post on Monday.

Mamdani envisions that the low-cost deal — which he anounced during a Sunday celebration of his first 100 days in office -– will allow the grocery’s operator to pass on savings to hardscrabble New Yorkers reeling from foodstuff sticker shock, but neighboring grocer Abdul Shaher had doubts about its efficiency based on the exorbitant $30 million upfront cost.

“How can they manage something like that? A small supermarket?” said Shaher, who owns and manages Healthy Choice near La Marqueta, laughing with disbelief. 

Keep reading

Eric Swalwell to RESIGN from Congress after scathing sexual assault allegations as he admits ‘mistakes’

California Congressman Eric Swalwell has announced his intent to resign from Congress.

‘I am deeply sorry to my family, staff, and constituents for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past. I will fight the serious, false allegation made against me. However, I must take responsibility and ownership for the mistakes I did make,’ Swalwell wrote in a statement released Monday afternoon.

‘I am aware of efforts to bring an immediate expulsion vote against me and other members. Expelling anyone in Congress without due process, within days of an allegation being made, is wrong. But it’s also wrong for my constituents to have me distracted from my duties. Therefore, I plan to resign my seat in Congress,’ he added.

‘I will work with my staff in the coming days to ensure they are able, in my absence, to serve the needs of the good people of the 14th congressional district,’ he concluded.

Swalwell was set to face a new fight on Capitol Hill after being slapped with a fresh investigation following bombshell ‘sexual misconduct’ allegations.

The Ethics Committee opened an investigation into the top Democrat earlier on Monday, and pledged to ‘gather additional information regarding the allegations that Representative Eric Swalwell violated the Code of Official Conduct.’ 

The complaint states the investigation covers ‘allegations that he may have engaged in sexual misconduct, including towards an employee working under his supervision.’

The Committee also added ‘that the mere fact that it is investigating these allegations, and publicly disclosing its review, does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred.’

Keep reading

Mamdani Just Took His Commie Jihad Against New Yorkers One Step Further

Numerous reports have revealed that New York City’s race-communist mayor Zohran Mamdani will be blocking patriotic Americans from attending the ball dropping to celebrate the United States’ upcoming 250th birthday. The reactions to the news have been rather predictable.

Keep reading

Faith Facade: Democrat Talarico Targets Texas Believers

In the wake of President Trump’s decisive second-term victory, the Democratic Party finds itself in full retreat mode. The old playbook, full of shoving Woke extremism, drag queen story hours, and open borders down America’s throat, backfired spectacularly.

So now they’re trying a new tactic: pretending to be one of us. No more rainbow flags and “defund the police” chants in public.

Instead, they’re courting centrists, independents, and – most brazenly – the very heart of the MAGA base: churchgoing white Christians, Baptists, Evangelicals, and everyday folks who still believe in the God of the Bible.

Nowhere is this deception more obvious than in the 2026 Texas U.S. Senate race. Texas hasn’t sent a Democrat to statewide office since 1994, yet the party is all-in on James Talarico, their freshly minted nominee for the Class II seat currently held by Sen. John Cornyn.

Talarico, a 36-year-old state representative and Presbyterian seminarian, is being sold as a “man of deep faith” – a Lord-begging, Scripture-quoting Texan who supposedly shares the values of Sunday-morning pew-sitters across the Lone Star State. Don’t buy it. This is classic wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing territory, straight out of Matthew 7:15.

Talarico doesn’t hide his church membership. He’s been at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian in Austin since he was a toddler, and he frames every policy through a distorted Christian lens.

“Love thy neighbor” becomes his justification for open borders and taxpayer-funded abortion. He preaches that Jesus was a “feminist” and twists the Annunciation story to claim Mary’s consent somehow endorses abortion rights.

Keep reading