Tag: taxes

NANNY STATE: Zohran Mamdani Launching City Government Babysitting Service so Parents Can Have a Date Night

Conservatives used to joke that the left was trying to turn the government into a nanny state. Now, Zohran Mamdani is taking it literally.

The New York City mayor is launching a service where people in the city can drop their kids off at the park to be looked after by government officials while the parents can have a date night. What could possibly go wrong?

Would you be comfortable dropping your kids off at a New York City park and then going out to dinner?

ABC News in New York reports:

Date night, anyone? NYC launching free babysitting program for parents

New York City is giving parents a chance for a night off through a new pilot program that will provide free child care for hundreds of families next month.

Mayor Mamdani announced the launch of “Parents’ Night Out,” a city-sponsored program that will offer free babysitting for up to 500 children on Aug. 16 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Registration opens at 8 a.m. Monday and will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

“Every parent knows that a few hours to yourself can feel like a luxury,” said Mayor Mamdani in prepared remarks. “It shouldn’t be. That’s why we’re launching New York City’s first-ever Parents’ Night Out, so that parents can get a little time on their own to catch a movie, run errands or go on a date without worrying about who will take care of the kids – or how much it will cost.”

The program is open to families with children ages 6 to 13 and will provide free child care at designated city recreation centers.

City officials say the initiative is designed to give parents and caregivers a break while children participate in supervised activities.

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Justice Watch: Justice Timothy Keene gives community sentence to immigration fraudster who charged migrants up to $40K

A Saskatchewan man who charged foreign nationals as much as $40,000 for immigration sponsorship while using fake businesses and forged documents to obtain work and residency permits will serve his sentence in the community.

Balvir Singh, 58, pleaded guilty in April to counselling misrepresentation under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. Last month, Saskatchewan Court of King’s Bench Justice Timothy Keene sentenced him to a conditional sentence of two years less a day and imposed a $10,000 fine.

The conditional sentence allows Singh to avoid serving his custodial sentence behind bars. He must instead live at an approved residence, obey a curfew and cannot leave Saskatchewan without permission.

According to the sentencing decision, Singh submitted false documents to the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program (SINP) and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, including forged corporate tax documents and payroll records connected to businesses that did not actually exist.

The SINP allows eligible Saskatchewan employers to nominate foreign nationals for jobs where workers are needed, potentially providing those workers with a pathway to permanent residency.

The Canada Border Services Agency began investigating Singh in 2018 after authorities noticed an unusually large number of immigration applications connected to entities associated with him. Search warrants were executed at Singh’s home and a Saskatoon restaurant in June 2021.

Investigators determined Singh was charging foreign nationals up to $40,000 for immigration sponsorship.

One victim identified in the court decision met Singh through a gurdwara and was offered employment. After Singh provided him with a work permit, Singh demanded $10,000, forcing the worker to borrow the money.

Singh later told the man he would have to pay more to obtain permanent residency. The worker paid another $16,000, followed by additional payments that ultimately brought the total to approximately $40,000.

“[The victim] was a vulnerable person victimized both financially and emotionally by the actions of the accused,” the court found, noting the victim was also required to perform unpaid work.

The decision further stated that anyone who worked for, or had a permanent residency application connected to, one of Singh’s companies had paid him money.

The victim worked at two restaurants Singh actually operated, Taste of Indian and Broadway Pizza. Although both operated from the same kitchen, they were represented as separate businesses for SINP purposes.

The worker also helped Singh erect a sign advertising a purported construction company so Singh could photograph it.

“The sign was only up to take the photos, then it came down. Balvir made the company up for SINP,” the sentencing decision states.

Singh’s defence sought either a conditional discharge or a suspended sentence, but Keene rejected those options.

The judge said a custodial sentence was required to meet the objectives of “denunciation and deterrence,” finding those goals would not be “satisfied by probation.”

However, Keene allowed that custodial sentence to be served in the community, concluding Singh “does not pose a risk and can be managed by the terms of a conditional sentence order.”

A pre-sentence report found Singh had no previous criminal convictions, had a stable home and employment history and presented a “medium” risk of reoffending.

The report also found Singh minimized his responsibility, suggesting his primary failing was not paying enough attention to how others were operating businesses he owned.

Keene agreed with that assessment and wrote that Singh appeared to retain “a degree of resentment” toward immigration authorities.

Singh came to Canada in 1993 and has four children.

The case follows a CBSA investigation that began roughly eight years before Singh was ultimately sentenced.

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The Fourth Turning Global War Has Already Bankrupted America — And Nobody’s Counting the Bodies

The numbers came in just after dawn on the East Coast, and they told a story that no amount of White House spin could obscure. Oil futures had stabilized at $86 per barrel overnight—a figure that would have seemed catastrophic eighteen months ago but now represented a temporary reprieve from the $119 spike that had crippled global markets in April. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve, that emergency backstop established after the 1973 crisis, had fallen to 305 million barrels, its lowest level since 1983. The Congressional Budget Office quietly released its revised deficit projections: $2.3 trillion for fiscal year 2026, with another $1.8 trillion locked in for 2027 before accounting for the war’s accelerating costs, currently running at $1 billion per day with no exit strategy visible on any horizon.

This is not a recession. This is not a “period of heightened geopolitical tension.” This is the systematic dismantling of the global economic architecture that has sustained Western prosperity for eighty years, compressed into a timeframe too brief for institutional adaptation. We are witnessing, in real-time, the transition from a unipolar American-led order to a fragmented multipolar system, and the violence of that transition is being measured not just in body counts—though those are mounting in ways the Pentagon refuses to fully disclose—but in the erosion of strategic leverage that cannot be recovered once spent.

The Fourth Turning Global War has entered its terminal phase, and the metrics suggest we are only beginning to comprehend the depth of the strategic trap into which American policy has walked.

To understand the present crisis, one must first abandon the comforting narrative of accidental drift—the notion that policy errors and miscalculation have led to the current impasse. The data suggests something more troubling: a decoupling of strategic decision-making from national interest calculation, producing outcomes that serve no identifiable American objective while advancing the interests of regional actors with disproportionate influence over U.S. policy formation.

Consider the timeline with the precision of a military after-action report. On February 27, 2026, the United States initiated a surprise decapitation strike against Iranian leadership while Israeli envoys maintained ostensible negotiations in Geneva. The strike eliminated Iran’s military command structure and political leadership in a forty-eight-hour bombardment that the White House initially projected would conclude within “four to five weeks.” That projection, made on March 1, has now stretched to month five with no conclusion visible. The Strait of Hormuz, through which twenty percent of global petroleum flows, has been effectively closed since mid-March. Iranian ballistic missile strikes, utilizing Chinese targeting data and Russian satellite intelligence, have damaged or destroyed every major U.S. installation in the Persian Gulf, including Al Udeid in Qatar, Prince Sultan in Saudi Arabia, and the naval facilities at Bahrain.

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The Countries That Will Pay for the UN Tax Experiment

A United Nations proposal would replace the current system of taxing each multinational subsidiary separately with a global unitary tax system. A corporation’s worldwide profits would first be combined into one total and then divided among countries according to a formula measuring where it employs workers and where its customers purchase goods and services. Each country would apply its own corporate tax rate to the portion assigned to it, regardless of where the company legally reported the profit.

Tax Justice Network estimates that this reallocation would produce an additional $500 billion in annual corporate tax revenue worldwide. It would be redistributed among governments, creating major winners while stripping revenue from countries whose economies currently benefit from corporate headquarters, intellectual property, financial services, or low-tax structures.

Ireland would suffer one of the largest losses, surrendering an estimated $11.15 billion annually, or 81.9% of the multinational corporate tax revenue measured by the study. Hong Kong would lose $9.37 billion, or 75.7%; Singapore $8 billion, or 69.2%; Switzerland $5.43 billion, or 42%; the Netherlands $3.16 billion, or 28.4%; and Malta $3.04 billion. Bermuda would lose $489 million, the British Virgin Islands $496 million, Puerto Rico $547 million, Jersey $510 million, and Mauritius $152 million.

These jurisdictions currently tax profits that multinational corporations book within their borders despite having relatively little employment or customer activity there. The UN formula would disregard where those profits are legally reported and redistribute them toward countries where the company’s workers and customers are located.

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Public Restroom in Los Angeles That Cost $1 MILLION to Build, Still Not Open Six Months After Completion

The city of Los Angeles spent a million dollars building a public restroom and six months after its completion, it’s still not open to the public.

This is a perfect example of government mismanagement. It also explains why it has been so difficult to rebuild there after the wildfires that happened over a year and a half ago. The city and state are drowning in red tape that comes in the form of permits and inspections.

To add irony to the situation, this restroom is in the district of Nithya Raman, the DSA candidate running for mayor of the city.

The New York Post reports:

Six months after completion, $1M Runyon Canyon restroom in Nithya Raman’s district still closed

Los Angeles hikers are fuming over a nearly $1 million public restroom that remains locked and fenced off six months after it was installed at Runyon Canyon.

The two-stall prefabricated facility was delivered by crane in February near the popular park’s Fuller Avenue entrance following months of controversy over its eye-popping price tag.

But despite the stalls, sinks, sidewalks and lighting appearing to be in place, visitors still can’t use it.

“I’ve had some close calls. I had to improvise, but that’s all I’ll say. I don’t want to incriminate myself,” frequent Runyon Canyon visitor Josh told FOX 11.

Construction began in January and was expected to take about 15 weeks, according to the Council District 4 website, which would have put completion around April or May.

The city later said the restroom was expected to open sometime this summer.

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How Often Does Congress Show Up To Work? Will August Recess Be Cancelled? – Lawmakers Weigh-In

As the midterm elections loom and Republicans are at risk of losing at least one chamber, President Trump is pushing hard to pass his legislative agenda these next few months. Most notably the SAVE America Act.

Every single year, both the House and the Senate leave for the month of August for this yearly tradition known as “August Recess.” The House left at the end of July and the Senate is set to leave at the end of the week.

Given that Members of Congress will typically arrive in Washington DC around Monday afternoon the earliest and they usually fly back to their respective states by Thursday afternoon, they come to work an average of three days a week.

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Why The Trump Administration Was Right To End The Medicare Part D Insurer Bailout

he Trump administration’s recent decision to end a temporary Part D subsidy program in 2027 attracted much press attention, and some criticism. The California Democratic Party claimed on  X that “25 million people, mainly seniors, count on Medicare Part D to afford their prescriptions. Donald Trump is putting their health on the line by ending the program.”

This is  absurd—and false. The Trump administration is not  ending the Part D program (established by Congress in 2003) and couldn’t do so even if it wanted to. However, it is ending a temporary and extralegal bailout program that provided billions of dollars in subsidies to insurers. That’s because Democrats made changes to the program that have cost far more than they claimed.

The Bailout, Explained

In summer 2024, the Biden administration announced a unilateral  “premium stabilization demonstration.” The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) noted the new program would start at the2025 plan year. This was just in time for premium announcements to land in seniors’ mailboxes just prior to the November 2024 election.

The program came into effect largely due to Democrats’ Inflation (Reduction) Act. That law shifted and restructured costs Part D insurers had to pay. It also reduced seniors’ out-of-pocket expenses on prescription drugs. The latter change will, all else equal, result in higher spending, because seniors will consume more and more costly drugs if they  have to pay for fewer or none of their own costs.

The IRA already included one “stabilization” mechanism in a statute running through 2029, intending to minimize any premium increases. But, after seeing preliminary plan bids for 2025, CMS effectively admitted this lone bailout would be insufficient to prevent large spikes in premiums or insurer exits. 

So it conjured a second, unilateral bailout to minimize any potential disruptions. Of course, as I noted at the time, this also amounted to using taxpayer funds to prevent Kamala Harris from suffering a big political controversy in the days leading up to the presidential election.

Unsustainable Costs

As the Washington Post wrote in a recent editorial, these “subsidies have helped keep premiums down but simply by shifting more of the cost on to the federal government,” rather than lowering costs. Indeed, while seniors traditionally paid 25.5 percent  of Part D benefit costs via premiums, this year seniors are paying only about half that amount, or 13 percent.  Taxpayers foot the bill for roughly seven in eight dollars of program spending (87 percent).

The IRA bailouts resulted in $40 billion in additional taxpayer spending in 2025 and 2026, and the costs will add up even more in coming years. I noted recently that this year’s Medicare trustees report increased the long-term cost of the Part D program by roughly one-third, or $5 trillion, compared to the 2025 trustees report.

Justifiable Action

Given these skyrocketing costs, it makes perfect sense to end the Biden administration’s unilateral bailout. Because the IRA’s major changes took effect in January 2025, insurers now have enough actuarial information (i.e., plan claims) to price their products without uncertainty leading to major variations in premiums. 

Eliminating one bailout—remember, the statutory bailout remains in effect through 2029—may increase Part D premiums slightly. But CMS noted that the majority of enrollees will either face no change or a decline in premiums (25 percent), or an increase of under $10 per month (30 percent). Given that taxpayers will still pay a greater share of Part D costs than before the IRA and premiums have fallen by more than one-third in inflation-adjusted terms over the past 15 years, Part D still represents a good value for seniors.

By ending the Biden administration’s unilateral insurer bailout, the Trump administration served as a smart steward of scarce taxpayer dollars, while restoring more of a competitive balance to Part D. False scaremongering by the left aside, the action will help to preserve a Medicare program that faces significant solvency concerns.

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White House Moves to Accelerate AI Data Center Development on Federal Lands

The Trump administration has issued executive orders intended to accelerate the development of artificial intelligence data centers, including on federal lands, according to administration officials. The orders are designed to address rising electricity demand from AI computing and to strengthen U.S. competitiveness, the White House said. Data centers currently consume about 4.4 percent of total U.S. electricity, a figure projected to reach 12 percent by 2030, according to industry estimates cited by the White House. [11]

Executive Orders Direct Agencies to Open Federal Lands

The executive orders direct the Departments of Energy and the Interior to identify federal parcels for data center leases and to designate projects as priority infrastructure, according to the administration. Agencies have been instructed to expedite permitting and coordinate transmission connections, officials said. The Bureau of Land Management has already approved the Townsite Data Center project to construct, operate, and maintain a data center on 88.5 acres of public land, Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA) said on Facebook, accusing the administration of approving the “first private data center on public land using a permit meant for a solar project.” [10]

A report by Children’s Health Defense, “Cheating the System,” details how developers have exploited legal loopholes following a May 2023 Supreme Court ruling that limited Clean Water Act jurisdiction, leaving many data centers outside Environmental Protection Agency oversight or eligible for streamlined nationwide permits that require minimal review. [12]

Power Demand Drives Energy Infrastructure Plans

Officials said the data centers will require electricity from natural gas, nuclear, and geothermal sources, along with expanded high-voltage transmission capacity. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum warned the Senate that the U.S. risks losing the global AI race to China unless it prioritizes reliable, baseload electricity generation, primarily from fossil fuels, to meet the energy demands of AI and data centers. [5] In its quest for more electric power, AI data centers are forming partnerships with nuclear power providers, with utilities owning about a third of U.S. nuclear power plants in discussions with AI centers about long-term electricity supply, according to the Trends Journal. [6]

The rapid buildout raises questions about grid reliability, water consumption, and environmental impacts on previously undisturbed federal lands. Local officials across the United States say rapid construction of data centers is creating environmental and infrastructure concerns, according to NaturalNews.com. [4] The backlash against AI data centers is intensifying across America, driven by growing awareness that these facilities are escalating electricity costs and displacing resources essential for human life, including water, farmland, and energy, according to BrightVideos.com. [14] According to U.S. Labor Department data cited in the Trends Journal, electricity bills are up more than 10 percent and homeowners’ insurance is up 13 percent over the past two years. [7]

Supporters Cite Competition; Critics Raise Concerns

Administration officials and industry representatives said the buildout is necessary for U.S. leadership in AI and for national security. State lawmakers and big tech are pushing back against what they call misinformation surrounding data centers, arguing that the facilities are vital for American jobs and technological leadership, according to Just the News. [9] Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in Senate testimony that without reliable baseload power, the United States risks falling behind China in the AI race. [5]

Opposition has also organized. More than 300 cities, towns, and counties have enacted bans or moratoriums on hyperscale construction, according to a count by The Information, and a poll cited by NBC News found 58 percent oppose local data centers. [8] Environmental groups and local residents have objected to land use and emissions, while public health advocates have cited concerns about noise and light pollution, according to BrightVideos.com. [14]

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Mamdani: Nah, No IDs at City Grocery Stores — Illegals Welcome to Shop on the Taxpayer Dime

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) is now promising that his taxpayer-funded, socialist grocery stores will require zero identification — meaning non-New Yorkers, including illegals and tourists, can stroll right in and load up on discounted food while actual residents foot the bill.

This comes after one of his own officials floated a “library-card-esque” system to make sure only city residents could take advantage of the 30 percent markdowns, sparking immediate outrage.

While critics may portray this as a ‘damned if you do’ trap for Mamdani, it’s not. The criticism yesterday was in the irony of requiring ID, which leftists, in opposition to the vast majority of Americans, believe is racist.

The reality, however, is worse.

“We’re talking about a city-run grocery store, one in each borough, which, by the way, you do not need an ID to shop at, no matter what you’ve just heard in the news of today,” the mayor told Joy Reid.

The implication is clear here. The outrage was a construct of the right. A fiction. And of course, Mediaite helped spread that idiotic narrative, with their angle that Mamdani “laugh(ed) off” the “MAGA uproar.”

The “uproar” was over the hypocrisy. And the concerns were not made up. 

Jeanny Pak, the interim president and CEO of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, said: “We are looking to make sure that we target New Yorkers, whether it be a sort of library card-esque thing, and also we manage who’s buying and that it is focused on everyday New Yorkers.”

Pretty clear-cut statement there.

Now that the mayor has pivoted and done a 180, it’s safe to assume they are not, in fact, “focused on everyday New Yorkers.”

Non-New Yorkers, including illegal aliens and out-of-towners, will be able to shop at the taxpayer-funded stores.

“NYC Grocery stores will be open to everyone. There will be no system to verify identity, residency, or income, and no one will be asked to show ID to shop,” a City Hall representative told the New York Post.

Funded on the backs of New Yorkers. But anybody can reap the benefits. This move continues the trend of Mamdani being a weapons-grade economic illiterate. He likes to discuss fairness for all but implements a government program that is inarguably unfair to actual residents of the city.

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Spain’s Socialist Government Allocates €25 Million to Immigrant Minors Who Invaded Ceuta as One in Three Spanish Children Lives at Risk of Poverty

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist government has announced an extraordinary €25 million package of public funds to care for the unaccompanied migrant minors (commonly known in Spain as MENAs) who arrived in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta during last week’s invasion.

The announcement comes as official figures show that between 28% and 33% of Spanish children live in poverty or are at risk of social exclusion—the highest child poverty rate in the European Union. That means roughly 2.6 million Spanish children are living in economically vulnerable conditions while the central government approves emergency funding for foreign minors who entered Spain during the recent border crisis.

The funding was announced Tuesday by Spain’s Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Immigration, Elma Saiz, who said the money will be used to provide urgent assistance to the approximately 860 to 1,000 immigrant minors who remain under Ceuta’s custody following the illegal mass entry of tens of thousands of Moroccan nationals, most of them young men. The new funding comes on top of a previous €5.5 million allocation.

Saiz said the measure demonstrates the government’s “commitment” to protecting vulnerable people. Critics, however, argue that it effectively rewards what they describe as a mass illegal border incursion that challenged Spain’s sovereignty while thousands of Spanish children continue to face severe economic hardship.

Madrid Received Warnings—But Responded Too Late

The controversy intensified after reports emerged that Spain’s National Intelligence Center (CNI) had issued several warnings to the Interior Ministry in the days leading up to the border invasion about the risk of a mass crossing.

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