Tag: taxes

Feeding Our Future Fraudster Gets 10 Years for Brazen $120,000 Juror-Bribery Plot That Triggered Arrest of All Seven Trial Defendants

A ringleader in Minnesota’s massive Feeding Our Future scandal has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for attempting to purchase a not-guilty verdict with a staggering $120,000 cash bribe.

Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, 37, was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Eric Tostrud for his role in the brazen plot to bribe a federal juror during his 2024 fraud trial, the Justice Department announced Friday.

Farah had already been sentenced to 28 years in prison for helping steal tens of millions of dollars from a taxpayer-funded program intended to feed needy children during the COVID pandemic.

But stealing from hungry children apparently was not enough.

When Farah and six co-defendants went on trial in April 2024, prosecutors said Farah and his associates researched Juror 52 online, obtained her address, surveilled her home, and tracked her movements.

On the night of June 2, 2024, a woman identified by prosecutors as Ladan Mohamed Ali arrived at the juror’s home carrying a white Hallmark gift bag stuffed with rolls of $100, $50, and $20 bills.

Inside was $120,000 in cash.

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Sesame Street accelerates white kids’ racism, University of Illinois professor says

Could “Doc McStuffins” and “Dora the Explorer” be turning white kids into racists? 

A professor from the University of Illinois thinks so. 

“White children in the United States begin developing racial biases in early childhood that threaten the well-being of children of color and serve as the developmental roots for racial prejudices that persist into adulthood,” a new Psycnet study from Professor Michael Rizzo says.

The study reviewed the TV watching patterns of white kids as young as four and asked them about their willingness to play with a hypothetical person who was white, black, Asian, or Hispanic. 

“With age, children whose favorite media portrayed fewer Black characters—and especially in high-status contexts and roles—were less likely to choose to play with a Black child, held less positive attitudes toward Black children, and were more likely to attribute Black–White racial inequalities to intrinsic racial differences,” the study found.

Watching “Sesame Street” or “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” may accelerate the latent racism brewing with white children.

“By their 4th birthday, many White children in the United States have already begun developing racial biases that privilege their White peers, threaten the health and well-being of children of color, and serve as the developmental roots for racial prejudices that persist into adulthood,” the researchers allege. (Lead author Michael Rizzo cites one of his other studies to back up this claim).

The study’s authors explain why they focused on white kids, presupposing that they are already growing up in racist homes.

The paper states:

We focused on White, U.S. children because White children are the dominant and majority group in the United States and are the most likely to develop racial biases…Moreover, White children often live in racially segregated neighborhoods with parents who take color-evasive (i.e., ignoring or denying the importance of racial group membership) and power-evasive (i.e., ignoring or denying the reality of structural racism) approaches to racial socialization, leaving these children with little guidance on how to interpret the segregation and inequality they observe in the world.

The handpicked TV and movies curiously show that black characters are actually overrepresented by what children watch.

While the study sought to understand how children’s TV watching influenced their racial behaviors, the researchers did not similarly look at how black children might be influenced.

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‘Free Stuff’ in Norway Still Costs Half of Average Pay

Every few years, Americans rediscover Scandinavia. 

Someone visits Norway or Denmark, returns dazzled and envious of parental leave and universal childcare and asks why America refuses to copy what obviously works. On the day dedicated to celebrating America, Nicholas Kristof, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, wrote for The New York Times that America is so great that, in fact, it should be more like Norway. If American companies can pay high wages and generous benefits to workers there, Kristof observed, they could do so in New York, too.

If only America were willing to embrace a little more social democracy and bigger government, this popular and recurring story goes, perhaps it could enjoy the same prosperity and flourishing that Norway does – and have its population also routinely rank among the happiest on the planet.

I was born and raised in one Nordic country, have worked in another and for the last six years have lived in a third, so I’m fairly familiar with our way of life. I’ve also spent much time in America, stunned and enamoured of the way things are in the vast, diverse and unruly union of states. Europeans are simultaneously fascinated and bewildered by America. 

Plenty of things are amazing about these United States, and quite a few things awful about the Nordics; I suspect American intellectuals, dreaming about Norway without understanding its nature and trade-offs, overlook both.

“You Want Security, Health Care and the American Dream? Look to Scandinavia”

Norwegian workers certainly have higher wages than those in many European countries, including those of its fellow Scandinavians. Hotel cleaners, retail clerks and construction workers often earn salaries that surprise visiting Americans. Thanks to Baumol’s cost disease, decades of well-managed petroleum wealth have pushed up industrial and service wages. 

The first thing an American professional moving to Norway would notice isn’t the generous parental leave, but the great loss of disposable income and material well-being. Norwegian households average 30 percent less disposable income than those the US, and the cost of everyday items is much higher. 

The Scandinavian bargain might look like free services, but it as trade-off: more public goods, fewer private goods. 

When American politicians or intellectuals promise Nordic welfare states, most people imagine this happening automatically or by taxing the rich and everybody benefits. That’s not the case. The real Nordic model taxes earners more (45 per cent in Denmark, 40 in Norway, 41 in Sweden, compared to 25 per cent in the United States) and charging flat value added tax (“VAT”). Broad welfare states require broad tax bases; Nordic welfare states are financed not by billionaires but by ordinary workers. The “free” benefits are bought with invasive and regressive consumption taxes (up to 25 percent), payroll taxes and income taxes that reach well and that begin after just $10,000 (the first $16,000 is tax free in the US). 

An American professional, pocketing the median earnings of about $65,000, would pay over $17,000 in Norwegian income taxes (compared to about $5,000 per the IRS calculator, naturally subject to state taxes and various deductions), with the employer forced to chip in another $9,200 for the privilege of merely hiring him/her. From what’s left over, he/she faces a high cost of living and sales taxes between 11 per cent and 25 per cent. 

Were she/he in Sweden, a much poorer country with wages well below Norway’s, our middle-of-the-road American professional would land himself/herself in the top 20 per cent of earners – though not yet triggering the top 53 per cent (or 64 per cent) marginal tax rates.

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Waste of the Day: Education Fraud Sweeps Nation

At Broward County Public Schools in Florida, information officer Anthony Hunter allegedly used district funds to buy $17 million worth of school supplies from a friend’s business, ignoring the competitive bidding process. In return, the friend hired Hunter and his son to work a security job and sold Hunter a house for $150,000 below market value, state prosecutors claim

Chicago Public Schools received $1 million of federal grants meant for Native American students, using an application that included more than 1,000 students of South Asian descent. The district was unable to verify how many students were actually in the program, and agreed to repay the money.

Search all federal, state and local salaries and vendor spending with the world’s largest government spending database at OpenTheBooks.com.

Fraud arguably hits small school districts the hardest because they have fewer budgetary resources to begin with. When Janis Bucknor, former head of Community Preparatory Academy in California, admitted to stealing $3 million from the school over five years, it amounted to one-third of all the school’s state and federal funding.

Bucknor spent $220,600 of the money on Disney vacations and also funded her internet shopping and private school tuition for her kids. She was sentenced to three years of home detention and ordered to repay the money.

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HUGE WIN FOR AMERICANS: Federal Judge Strikes Down Illinois Laws Giving Illegal Aliens In-State Tuition, Financial Aid, and Scholarships — Deals Major Blow to Pritzker’s Sanctuary-State Agenda

A federal judge just delivered a crushing blow to Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and the state’s radical open-borders agenda.

U.S. District Judge David W. Dugan ruled Friday that multiple Illinois laws granting illegal aliens preferential access to in-state tuition, financial aid, and scholarship programs violate federal law and the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution.

The ruling marks a major victory for President Trump’s Justice Department, Illinois taxpayers, and American students forced to compete for limited educational resources while Springfield Democrats rolled out the red carpet for people living in the country illegally.

In his 27-page memorandum and order, Judge Dugan denied Illinois’ motion to dismiss the case and granted the federal government’s cross-motion for summary judgment in part.

The court declared the following provisions unconstitutional and invalid as applied to aliens who are not lawfully present in the United States:

  • Current in-state tuition provisions covering Illinois public universities
  • The Acevedo Act provision governing public community colleges
  • The Retention of Illinois Students and Equity Act, or RISE Act, including its 2025 amendments
  • The Illinois DREAM Act and its scholarship program

The judge permanently barred Illinois, Pritzker, Attorney General Kwame Raoul, state education agencies, and the named university and community-college boards from enforcing the challenged provisions for illegal aliens.

“Put simply, U.S. citizens or nationals must be treated no worse than illegal aliens,” Judge Dugan wrote.

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US government loses up to $521B annually to fraud as key GAO recommendations still not implemented

he federal government continues to lose an estimated $233 billion to $521 billion each year to fraud, while most agencies overseeing the nation’s largest federally funded programs have yet to implement one of the Government Accountability Office’s top recommendations for preventing those losses, according to a new GAO report.

The report, Managing Risks in Federally Funded, State-Administered Programs, reviewed the 20 largest federally funded, state-administered programs, which accounted for approximately $1.1 trillion in federal obligations in fiscal year 2025.

The GAO found in the report released Thursday that most agencies have not completed documented fraud risk assessments. The assessments are instrumental in identifying where fraud is most likely to occur and how to prevent it.

“Federal and state agencies can better manage fraud risks and prevent fraud by applying GAO frameworks for managing fraud risks and improper payments, as well as other leading practices; leveraging available federal analytic resources, such as Do Not Pay, to verify recipient identity and eligibility before issuing federal funds; and implementing recommendations from GAO and other oversight entities that would address existing program vulnerabilities,” the report read.

The watchdog said there are currently 22 open recommendations that are focused on enhancing fraud prevention practices across the programs covered in the report.

The watchdog urged federal agencies to implement them to better safeguard taxpayer funds, particularly in state-administered programs.

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BACKFIRE: X Users Bury Marxist NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani with This Brutal Reminder After He Mocks Rich New Yorkers About Paying Their “Fair Share”

Communist New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani probably did not anticipate being humiliated online after dunking on rich New Yorkers about paying their “fair share” in taxes earlier this week.

As Fox News reported, Mamdani and New York Governor Kathy Hochul unveiled a joint legislative proposal in April that went after luxury second homes worth $5 million or more. This is known as a pied-à-terre tax.

On Thursday, Mamdani took to X to brag that his office had sent notification letters reminding these homeowners that the tax would be implemented soon and to “check your mailbox.”

Mamdani added that only when the rich pay their “fair share” can the Big Apple afford the “best parks, libraries, and schools in the world.”

“If you have a second home in New York City worth more than $5M, check your mailbox when you’re back in the five boroughs — because you’ve got mail,” Mamdani wrote.

“Today, we sent notification letters to property owners, letting them know that our new pied-à-terre tax is coming soon,” he continued. “The best city in the world deserves the best parks, libraries, and schools in the world. That’s only possible when we all pay our fair share.”

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Getting Away with Murder: Under Trump, the Buck Stops Nowhere

Having burned through billions of dollars and depleted critical munitions stockpiles, the Pentagon is running out of money.

Our money.

According to the Washington Post, the Pentagon is facing an urgent budget shortfall caused largely by the Iran war, with some critical funding accounts expected to run dry within weeks. Training, maintenance and other military priorities are reportedly being squeezed as the government struggles to sustain Trump’s escalating conflict.

Once again, the government is looking to the American people for a taxpayer-funded bailout—this time to the tune of $67 billion.

Nor is the $67 billion emergency infusion the end of it.

Trump’s fiscal year 2027 budget calls for an unprecedented $1.5 trillion in national-defense spending—a staggering increase that would pour still more money into a military apparatus that cannot account honestly for the costs of its current war, maintain its existing priorities, or keep from returning to taxpayers for another bailout.

The problem is not simply how much the war machine consumes. It is how little accountability accompanies that spending.

The government can launch a war, exhaust military resources, conceal its full costs, and return to Congress for billions more without anyone responsible being required to admit error, change course, or answer for the lives lost.

That is becoming a familiar pattern under Donald Trump.

He makes the decisions—others absorb the consequences.

He launches the war—the troops make the sacrifices, and taxpayers inherit the bill.

The Iran war is not merely another example of government waste, although the cost is already staggering. The war has already cost an estimated $80 to $100 billion, not counting its long-term economic impact, future veteran expenses, or the cost of repairing damaged military bases. Analysts estimate that the broader toll on American households could eventually reach as much as $1,000 per household.

Yet the true cost cannot be measured in dollars alone.

American service members are dying in a war Trump started without meaningful congressional authorization, without a credible plan for ending it, and without an honest accounting of what it will cost.

The Pentagon is draining resources from training, maintenance and weapons programs to keep the conflict going. Congress is being asked to supply billions more. And the American people—already struggling under the weight of debt, inflation and economic uncertainty—are expected to pay without question.

This is government without accountability.

When Trump’s decisions cost American lives, deplete military stockpiles and burn through billions of taxpayer dollars, the bill never finds its way to him. It finds its way to us, while Trump remains conspicuously insulated from the human and financial consequences of his own decisions.

That insulation from consequence is matched by a swaggering display of bluster and bravado that passes for leadership within the Trump administration.

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“USA Isn’t A PiggyBank For Europe”: Trump Launches Section 301 Probe Into EU Over Big Tech Fines

Trump Says US Begins Section 301 Investigation on Europe 

President Trump wrote on Truth Social that the US will launch a Section 301 investigation into the European Union for “robbing American companies, in turn, the American Taxpayer.” 

Trump said Brussels is using America as a “PIGGYBANK” by fining Big Tech companies billions and billions of dollars.

Trump listed the technology companies that have been fined a combined billions of dollars:

After having fined Apple, for no reason at all, 15 Billion Dollars, Meta, 3 Billion Dollars, Amazon 2.5 Billion Dollars, and many others, we have just been informed that Google, a truly advanced and amazing group, has been fined yet another 1 Billion Dollars, without explanation. This brings the Google total to over 18 Billion Dollars!

Trump continued:

This illegal and highly discriminatory practice started at these high levels during the first year of the Sleepy Joe Biden Administration, but it’s not going to continue during the Trump Administration.

He added:

The United States of America is not a “PIGGYBANK” for Europe, nor will we allow it to be!

Please let this TRUTH serve to represent that we will immediately initiate a 301 Investigation into the practice of “ROBBING” American Companies and, in turn, the American Taxpayer.

The European Union will pay a very big price for this illegal and highly unethical conduct, which I have consistently warned them about.

The penalties will be entirely reversed and, we anticipate, a substantial TARIFF to be placed on them at the earliest possible moment.

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DHS used anti-China funds on World Cup security

Congressional Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act included $170 million for efforts to counter the national security threats posed by China’s illegal fishing operations worldwide.

But the Trump administration didn’t spend the money on that.

Instead, the Department of Homeland Security diverted the vast majority of that funding to security measures for FIFA World Cup matches, America250 celebrations and other major sporting events, according to a senior congressional official and an administration official who were briefed on how the money was allocated.

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) secured the $170 million as part of the OBBB for “maritime domain awareness” technology that helps track the Chinese vessels.

Cruz told us he has “sought to provide resources for those programs, but unfortunately the bulk of the funding has not gone where it needed to go.” But Cruz didn’t say where the money went.

The funding diversion occurred under then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. The department, now led by Secretary Markwayne Mullin, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Approximately $155 million of the $170 million funding pot was spent on counter-drone technology for events like World Cup matches and America250 tributes, including sensors that monitor and track drones in their vicinity, the officials said. The rest was used for Coast Guard communications technology and a Merchant Marine credentialing system.

In a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday, a bipartisan group of senators led by Cruz called on the Trump administration to impose sanctions on 29 supply vessels that facilitate Beijing’s illicit fishing activities.

The letter reads in part:

“Anyone linked to the vessels, including through beneficial ownership, will be exposed to reputational and financial crime risks. The vessels would switch from being assets to liabilities, greatly complicating the ability of the CCP to continue their IUU fishing activities.”

Cruz’s committee handles the annual Coast Guard authorization bill. Cruz said he intends to continue pushing the issue so that the Coast Guard has enough resources to counter China’s illegal fishing.

The nine senators who signed the letter to Bessent said China is carrying out these activities “at a scale that constitutes ecocide conducted via gross human rights abuses.”

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