Tag: taxes

Maryland governor vetoes reparations bill

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) says he has vetoed a state-approved bill to create a commission to study and recommend reparations for slavery and racial discrimination. 

In his veto letter sent Friday, Moore pointed to several commissions the state has already approved, including the Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the State Commission to Coordinate the Study, Commemoration, and Impact of the History and Legacy of Slavery in Maryland. 

“I will always protect and defend the full history of African Americans in our state and country,” Moore wrote in his letter. “But in light of the many important studies that have taken place on this issue over nearly three decades, now is the time to focus on the work itself: Narrowing the racial wealth gap, expanding homeownership, uplifting entrepreneurs of color, and closing the foundational disparities that lead to inequality — from food insecurity to education.”

Moore, the state’s first Black governor and the nation’s only sitting Black governor, also pointed to the rise of Black politicians in recent years, including Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D), who is Maryland’s first Black female senator, and noted the state has a Black attorney general, Black state House Speaker and Black treasurer.

“We have moved in partnership with leaders across the state to uplift Black families and address racial disparities in our communities,” Moore said. “That is the context in which I’ve made this difficult decision. Because while I appreciate the work that went into this legislation, I strongly believe now is not the time for another study. Now is the time for continued action that delivers results for the people we serve.”

The bill, a top priority of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland, detailed a host of potential reparations, including official statements of apology, financial compensation, assistance with making a down payment on a home, debt forgiveness and tuition payment waivers for higher education.

The bill passed last month with a 101-36 vote in the state’s House.  

The Legislative Black Caucus condemned Moore’s veto Friday.

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US to Spend $1 Trillion on Nuclear Weapons Over Next Decade

According to the Congressional Budget Office, Washington will spend $1 trillion from 2025 to 2034 on modernizing and operating America’s strategic arsenal.

“If carried out, DoD’s and DOE’s plans to operate, sustain, and modernize current nuclear forces and purchase new forces would cost a total of $946 billion over the 2025–2034 period, or an average of about $95 billion a year, CBO estimates,” the report says.

The spending includes $357 billion on operating nuclear weapons and delivery systems, $460 billion on modernization projects, and $130 billion in expected cost overruns. The CBO report notes that Pentagon plans often cost significantly more than projected.

The forecast in this year’s CBO report is $93 billion higher than the estimate produced last year.

“Weapons programs frequently cost more than originally budgeted amounts for a variety of reasons.” It continues, “If nuclear force programs exceeded planned amounts at roughly the same rates that costs for similar programs have grown in the past, they would cost an additional $129 billion over the next decade, $33 billion more over 10 years than CBO estimated in 2023.”

Washington is in the process of a major nuclear weapons upgrade. The US is developing a new bomber, an intercontinental ballistic missile, and a submarine capable of firing nuclear weapons.

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National Guard helicopter crew landed on Montana ranch and trespassed to take antlers, citations say

Three Montana Army National Guard members face trespassing charges after authorities said they landed a Black Hawk helicopter in a mountain pasture on a private ranch to take several elk antlers before flying away.

A witness saw the May 4 landing and the person who owns the property reported it to officials, who tracked down the three guard members, Sweet Grass County Sheriff Alan Ronneberg said Thursday.

The guardsmen had been on a training flight from the city of Billings to Helena, the state capital, said Major Ryan Finnegan with the Montana National Guard. The helicopter landed briefly in the pasture located in the foothills of the Crazy Mountains, where the crew members picked up two individual antlers and an old elk skull with antlers still attached, the sheriff said.

Elk antlers — which grow and drop off male animals annually — are highly prized and can be sold by the pound. They also are collected from the wild as keepsakes.

The antlers and skull taken by the guardsmen were worth a combined $300 to $400, according to Ronneberg. They were later turned over to a state game warden.

Trespassers taking antlers from private land is not uncommon in Montana and other western states.

“This an odd one,” Ronneberg said. “Usually somebody parks on the side of the road and crosses into private ground and picks up a shed,” he said, referring to an antler that’s been shed by an elk.

Citations issued to two of the guardsmen said they “entered posted private property that was posted as trespassing for the purpose of elk antler removal.” The citation for the third again mentioned trespassing and also that “subject landed military helicopter on private property.”

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Members Of Congress Want Federal Investigation Into Use Of Florida Medicaid Funds To Oppose Marijuana Legalization By Group Tied To DeSantis

Two Democratic members of Congress representing Florida are asking the federal government to investigate what they describe as “potentially unlawful diversion” of millions in state Medicaid funds via a group with ties to Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). The money was used to fight against a citizen ballot initiative, vehemently opposed by DeSantis, that would have legalized marijuana for adults.

Reps. Kathy Castor and Darren Soto sent a letter on Thursday to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) inspector general as well as Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, formally requesting they initiate a Medicaid fraud investigation.

“The diversion of Medicaid dollars requires immediate investigation,” the two lawmakers wrote. “These are proceeds that rightfully belong to state taxpayers to serve the citizens who rely on Medicaid, including children, pregnant women, neighbors with disabilities and those served by long-term care.”

The two lawmakers, members of a House committee with oversight of Medicaid, emphasized that Congress is “very focused on waste, fraud and abuse of Medicaid dollars.”

“Any unlawful diversion of Medicaid dollars in Florida,” they wrote, “means that the state is less able to provide services to our neighbors who rely on Medicaid and the providers who serve them.”

The letter follows allegations that a $10 million donation from a state legal settlement was improperly made to the Hope Florida Foundation, which later sent the money to two political nonprofits, which in turn sent $8.5 million to a campaign opposing the proposed marijuana legalization ballot measure, Amendment 3.

Notably, the Hope Florida Foundation was founded by Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis, the governor’s wife.

“On October 17, Secure Florida’s Future donated $2 million to Keep Florida Clean Inc., a Political Action Committee (PAC) controlled by Governor DeSantis’s then-chief of staff James Uthmeier that was created to campaign against Amendment 3,” the lawmakers’ new letter says. “Governor DeSantis strongly opposed Amendment 3. Days later, Secure Florida’s Future sent Keep Florida Clean Inc. an additional $1.75 million.”

“On October 22, the Hope Florida Foundation wired $5 million to the 501(c)4 nonprofit Save Our Society from Drugs that proposed spending the ‘grant’ on ‘developing and implementing strategies that directly address the substance use crisis facing our communities,’” it continues, detailing the alleged impropriety. “On October 23, the next day, Save Our Society from Drugs donated $1.6 million to Keep Florida Clean Inc. Over the coming days, Save Our Society from Drugs donated an additional $3.15 million to Keep Florida Clean Inc.”

“While there are limited financial disclosure requirements associated with 501(c)4 organizations,” the lawmakers said, “records appear to show that a total of $8.5 million from the Centene settlement with AHCA went from the Hope Florida Foundation to the Amendment 3-focused Keep Florida Clean, Inc. PAC, the same PAC that also donated funding to the Republican Party of Florida and the Florida Freedom Fund. ”

“Hope Florida had raised only about $2 million during its three years of existence,” they pointed out, “but in one fell swoop, received $10 million from a Medicaid settlement, which was immediately funneled through other nonprofits to a PAC directed by the Governor’s Chief of Staff.”

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USAID: Hungary Claims U.S. and EU Gave over $63 Million to Anti-Orbán Media in Bid to Topple Government

The head of Budapest’s Office for the Protection of Sovereignty claimed that tens of millions of dollars from the United States and the European Union have funded left-leaning media institutions over the past three years, with the intent of overthrowing the conservative government of Viktor Orbán in Hungary.

Supposedly independent media outlets in Hungary have been propped up by money from the now-axed United States Agency for International Development (USAID), other State Department programmes, as well as from the European Commission, Tamás Lánczi said this week.

The top man at the Office for the Protection of Sovereignty said that the globalist influence schemes were intended fund “propaganda” in the hopes of toppling the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, one of the leading opponents of the neo-liberal open borders and socially far-left agendas favoured by elites in Brussels and Washington.

According to Lánczi, the American government and the European Commission — the executive arm of the EU — gave over HUF 23 billion ($63.5 million) to media outlets, which he claimed were in fact political pressure groups, over the past three years, alone.

“It’s not micro-donations, it’s not reader support, it’s not a voluntary offering, it’s money from foreign powers… It’s not charity, it’s a HUF 23 billion foreign intervention. This money was used to buy media workers, activists and politicians,” he said per the Magyar Nemzet newspaper.

The watchdog said the majority of the funding came from the European Commission, accounting for HUF 19.5 billion ($54 million) of the total. However, Lánczi said that USAID — under the Biden administration — directed HUF 3.5 billion ($9.7 million) to fund anti-Orbán media.

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Gov. Abbott Requests Waiver to Ban Unhealthy SNAP Purchases in Texas

Gov. Greg Abbott has formally requested a waiver from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to prohibit the use of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for the purchase of unhealthy foods, such as soda and candy. 

The move, announced in a letter sent to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, marks a significant push to reshape the nutritional standards of SNAP purchases in Texas.

SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, is the largest federal nutrition assistance program, helping over 41 million Americans afford groceries each year. While the program’s stated goal is to increase access to nutritious food, critics argue that a substantial portion of SNAP benefits are currently spent on items with little or no nutritional value.

USDA data cited by Texas lawmakers indicates that about 20 percent of SNAP dollars go toward sugary drinks and snack foods, with sweetened beverages alone accounting for 9.3 percent of expenditures.

Abbott’s letter emphasizes that SNAP was created to promote nutrition and health, but instead “many SNAP purchases are for food with little to no nutritious value.” He wrote that the waiver would ensure “taxpayer dollars are used only to purchase healthy, nutritious food.”

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President Trump’s “Big, Beautiful” Bill FAILS in Committee After Five House Republicans Vote NO – Largest Tax Increase in American History Looms

The Trump agenda suffered a major setback today after a handful of Republicans voted a key bill delivering it down in committee. Now, the largest tax increase in American history looms unless the GOP does an about-face.

As The Gateway Pundit reported, the House Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee—led by Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO)—previously released the text of a monumental new tax reform package titled “The One, Big, Beautiful Bill.”

The bill, strongly backed by President Donald Trump, is aimed at delivering historic cuts to American families, workers, and small businesses.

The 389-page bill includes a long list of pro-growth, America-First provisions that echo many of the successful features of the 2017 Trump Tax Cuts—this time with added firepower. This includes no taxes on tips and overtime.

But five GOPers in the House Budget Committee shot it down primarily over cost concerns. One particular gripe was the Medicaid “cuts” and the expiration of several wasteful ‘green’ energy tax credits were pushed back several years, while most of the “goodies” were delivered up front.

The final vote was 16-21 against. Here were the Republicans who voted against the President’s agenda:

Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia

Rep. Chip Roy of Texas

Rep. Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma

Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina

Rep. Lloyd Smucker of Pennsylvania

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Trump administration fires almost 600 Voice of America employees

President Trump has fired hundreds of employees at Voice of America (VOA) as his government aims to trim down the size of the federal broadcaster and retool its editorial strategy.

The nearly 600 employees who were first from VOA this week include mostly contractors, The New York Times reported, noting that figure represents about a third of the broadcaster’s staff.

A copy of a notification to effected employees, which was reviewed by The Hill, informed the staffers they will be terminated as of May 30 and instructs them to return badges, credentials and other VOA property by that time.

The news comes just days after Kari Lake, who serves as the senior adviser at the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), said VOA would partner with conservative media outlet One America News to provide news feed services to USAGM networks.

Lake, a longtime supporter of Trump, has vowed to ensure the agency “chronicles America’s achievements worldwide.”

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FEMA’s Woke Disaster: $2 Billion Fraud, Reverse Discrimination, and Retaliation Buried for Six Years

For six years, FEMA has quietly buried one of the worst scandals in federal disaster response—a toxic mix of reverse discrimination, fraud, and whistleblower retaliation tied to the Hurricane Maria recovery in Puerto Rico. I led the contractor team that uncovered it firsthand.

In 2018, I deployed as the technical lead of a Lean Six Sigma team made up of straight, older, white veterans and executives.

Our mission was to bring order, transparency, and efficiency to a FEMA operation crippled by dysfunction. What we found was not just inefficiency—it was corruption: theft, favoritism, and rot embedded deep in FEMA’s culture.

We documented widespread violations of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and the Anti-Deficiency Act.

FEMA leadership stole contractor-developed intellectual property and inflated performance metrics in a $1.5 billion scheme to mislead Congress.

Unqualified personnel were promoted—not for merit, but for checking the right identity boxes. This was not mismanagement. It was deliberate.

FEMA’s culture was dominated by DEI politics—identity trumped merit, and promotions were rigged. One insider told us: “Straight white men are at the bottom here.” That was not just talk. It was policy.

At the heart of it was a tight-knit special interest group dubbed internally by FEMA insiders the “LGBTQ Mafia.”

They wielded outsized influence, shielded by management and FEMA’s Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and FOIA offices, which buried complaints and blocked accountability.

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