Tag: taxes

Celebrity Piggy Bank Scandal: How Taxpayer-Funded Pandemic Relief Programs Became a Cash Grab for Hollywood Musicians

In a jaw-dropping exposé, new details reveal how the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG)—a taxpayer-funded pandemic relief program established to save businesses and independent arts organizations—allegedly turned into a financial free-for-all for Hollywood celebrities.

Signed into law by then-President Donald Trump in 2020 and championed by figures like Senator Chuck Schumer, the program aimed to support struggling venues during the pandemic.

But according to a Business Insider report, it has now become synonymous with wasteful spending by high-profile stars.

Lil Wayne, whose real name is Dwayne Carter Jr., received an $8.9 million grant. Instead of directing these funds toward sustaining his music operations, he reportedly spent over $1.3 million on private jet flights and more than $460,000 on designer clothing from brands like Gucci and Balenciaga.

Additionally, he billed taxpayers nearly $88,000 for a New Year’s Eve concert in Coachella, California, which he ultimately canceled, and $14,900 for “mystery women” hotel stays.

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Real Truth About Maryland’s Blueprint: Expensive Ineffective Reform Designed By Bureaucrats

It’s the same old song and dance from the education establishment. Design a ridiculously expensive, cumbersome reform to save public education, the same public education they ruined. Invite politicians, elite college professors, corporate CEO’s and other big name policy makers to draft the reform. Sprinkle in a token few “educators” and tell them all to “shoot for the moon” when writing the reform. Pretend that funding is unlimited. Throw in every unproven pet educational program du jour. Then, convince lawmakers that the reform as written is the only way to assure the successful futures of our children.

Never ONCE during the entire process think about nuts and bolts of the reform and whether it will actually work or not. When the reform fails, write articles on how it’s not that the reform itself that is flawed, but the “unrealistic goals, insufficient management, and inadequate funding” of the program that are lacking, with strong emphasis on funding being the blame.

And so here Maryland is in year five of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education leviathan spending bill and local governments and the state are discovering that, surprise, it’s not working and it’s not sustainable. What do the creators of the bill do?

They shift the blame off the people who created the mess and on to those who need to implement and pay for the mess.

In his article in MARYLAND MATTERS, December 16, 2024, Kalman Hettleman, one of the members of the Kirwan Commission who developed the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, bemoans the fact that the Blueprint has become a huge problem for state and local educators and education agencies as they fight to fund the full implementation.

Hettleman is a renowned “expert in education” and has a resume that includes being a past member of the Maryland Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education (Kirwan Commission), member of Baltimore City school board, deputy mayor of Baltimore City, Maryland secretary of human resources, and Baltimore City director of social services. He had many other government positions in his career*. He is also the author of two books and numerous articles on public education. He was never a teacher. However, he has written several education books including this one:

It’s the Classroom, Stupid: A Plan to Save America’s Schoolchildren (New Frontiers in Education): Hettleman, Kalman: 9781607095491: Amazon.com: Books

From the summary of this book on Amazon:

In this book, Hettleman presents a bold, unconventional plan to rescue our nation’s schoolchildren from a failing public education system. The plan reflects the author’s rare fusion of on-the-ground experience as school board member, public administrator and political activist and exhaustive policy research. The causes of failure, Hettleman shows, lie in obsolete ideas and false certainties that are ingrained in a trinity of dominant misbeliefs. First, that educators can be entrusted on their own to do what it takes to reform our schools. Second, that we need to retreat from the landmark federal No Child Left Behind Act and restore more local control. And third, that politics must be kept out of public education.

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States Collected More Than $9.7 Billion In Marijuana Tax Revenue Since Mid-2021, Federal Census Bureau Reports

U.S. states where cannabis is legal have raked in more than $9.7 billion in marijuana tax revenue since the middle of 2021, according to newly updated federal data from the Census Bureau—that’s up nearly $1 billion since the agency last updated its cannabis revenue tracker in September.

During the third quarter of 2024—the most recent period for which data is available—states reported about $734.8 million in total marijuana tax revenue to the federal agency.

The new data, however, also revises upward figures from other recent quarters, adding up to a billion-dollar growth in reported state revenue in the last three months. The second quarter of this year, for example, saw an update from $609.9 million to $840.4 million—a new quarterly record, according to the agency’s tracking.

Individual states reporting the highest dollar amounts during Q3 of 2024 were adult-use jurisdictions with more established markets and larger populations: California ($159.6 million), Michigan ($79.3 million), Washington State ($77.3 million) and Illinois ($72.8 million).

Among the lowest were more restrictive states like Louisiana ($284,000) and Mississippi ($385,000) as well as Washington, D.C., where marijuana is legal for adults but sales of non-medical cannabis remain illegal.

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NATO Head Says “Wartime Mindset” Needed; Redirect “Pensions, Health, Social Security” To Military Spending

Former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who was this year selected as the Secretary General of NATO, has stated that Europeans need to “shift to a wartime mindset” and that military spending must be increased, likely at the expense of things like health care.

Rutte made the remarks at, ironically, a meeting of The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Brussels, declaring that Russia is trying to “crush our freedom and way of life.”

“Hostile actions against Allied countries are real and accelerating… These attacks are not just isolated incidents. They are the result of a coordinated campaign to destabilise our societies and discourage us from supporting Ukraine,” he added.

Rutte further asserted that Russia is using unconventional “hybrid warfare” attacks against Europe, circumventing NATO’s traditional defence and bringing “the front line to our front doors. Even into our homes”.

“Ukrainians are fighting against Russian swarms of drones. That’s what we need to be prepared for”, Rutte told the conference.

“I know spending more on defence means spending less on other priorities. But it is only a little less,” he continued, adding that “On average, European countries easily spend up to a quarter of their national income on pensions, health and social security systems.”

“We need a small fraction of that money to make our defences much stronger, and to preserve our way of life,” he proclaimed, reasoning that “freedom does not come for free.”

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Biden’s Education Dept Spent Over $1 Billion On DEI Grants; Report

A new report claims that the Biden Administration’s Department of Education has spent over $1 billion on grants that force the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) agenda in hiring practices, programming, and mental health training in public schools.

According to Fox News, the report from the watchdog group Parents Defending Education (PDE) claims that this DEI spending has been ongoing since 2021. PDE researchers found a total of 229 such grants across 42 states, plus Washington D.C., during the roughly four-year time period.

With the spending broken down along specific criteria, nearly $490 million was spent for grants that demanded more racial bias in hiring practices, while $343 million was spent on general DEI programs, and another $170 million was spent on mandating DEI-based mental health training. This amounts to just over $1 billion, at approximately $1,002,522,304.

This spending “incorporates both awarded (committed) and disbursed dollars, as most of the grant money is distributed [a] period of several years,” the report reads.

One of the researchers who worked on the report, Rhyen Staley, said it was likely that the report does not even account for every single grant that may be considered pro-DEI, as the report narrowed down their search to a handful of criteria. This led to the researchers ignoring many other grants that they determined to be simply using “buzzwords” rather than actively promoting DEI.

“The only people or groups to benefit from the enormous amount of grant funding are the universities, administrators, and DEI consultants, at the expense of children’s education,” said Staley.

“This needs to change by placing children’s learning at the forefront of education, instead of prioritizing race-based policies and DEI.”

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‘Fabrications’: FBI informant who lied about Biden family Ukraine bribery scheme takes plea deal for false records and tax evasion, faces up to 35 years in federal prison

A longtime FBI informant will soon be an admitted federal criminal.

Nearly 10 months passed between the first and second time Alexander Smirnov was indicted by special counsel David Weiss — for two different suites of federal crimes. Just over two weeks passed between the second indictment and the agreed upon plea deal.

The storyline here implicates a yearslong narrative about the alleged perfidy of President Joe Biden and his adult son Hunter Biden — as well as several million dollars hidden from the government.

In a 24-page Thursday filing, the defendant and the government made short work of those two cases. In sum, Smirnov was charged with 12 federal counts for a combination of misleading investigators and tax-related crimes. To cap things off, Smirnov will accept legal culpability for one count of causing the creation of a false and fictitious record in a federal investigation and three counts of tax evasion.

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The Fight for Economic Freedom and the Lessons of Roger Ver

The system thrives on coercion, fear, and the risk of choice. At its core, this structure relies on convincing you that compliance is your only option. This is why I refuse to pay income taxes—not just because they are theft and robbery, but because allowing the state to take what is rightfully mine means actively participating in their destruction. Income taxes are the lifeblood of war, systemic violence, and the machinery that suppresses individual freedom. Every dollar taken from you funds the gears of oppression, ensuring the system thrives while your autonomy withers.

When you truly understand what your income tax dollars fund—bombs dropped on innocent civilians, campaigns of violence masquerading as diplomacy, and the erosion of basic liberties—it becomes impossible to remain moral and complicit. You cannot claim to value freedom while funding its destruction. The state counts on your obedience, not just through physical coercion but through psychological manipulation. By paying taxes, you’re not just a victim; you’re an enabler.

People like to argue that they have no choice. But there is always a choice, even if it comes with risks. This is where the state’s true coercion lies—not in the absence of options, but in the consequences of defiance. Fear of punishment keeps people compliant, locked in a cycle of obedience that prioritizes survival over ethics. Choosing to opt out means accepting those risks and reclaiming your autonomy. It’s not easy, but it’s necessary. The alternative is to remain shackled, perpetuating the system that thrives on violence, control, and exploitation.

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#1 Weakness Of US Defense Is Its Own General Officers

Decades from now, historians and academics will analyze our current US military. Likely, the analysis will not be kind. Facts:

1. The US has the largest military budget of any country in the world. Currently, the US spends over $831B on defense. This is how this financial outlay compares to other countries in the world as of 2024:

  US   $831 Billion

  China   $227 Billion

  Russia   $109 Billion

  India   $74 Billion

  Saudi Arabia  $71 Billion

  United Kingdom $62 Billion

  Germany  $55 Billion

  Japan   $53 Billion

  Australia  $52 Billion

  France   $49 Billion1

2. The US enjoys the most technologically advanced military in the world. Systems like the F-35 fighter, Ford Class aircraft carrier, UAVs, and cyberwarfare equipment have no equal currently in the world.

 Historians of the future will then ask the obvious question – “Why can’t the US of the early 2000s win long wars?” Many variables need to be considered when explaining success or victory on the battlefield. Technology, quantities of equipment/vehicles, numbers of troops, training of troops, leadership, geography, and weather are among the factors involved. Even luck/misfortune is a variable when the ‘fog of war’ is considered. Wars that last years require immense resources. Long wars also usually exclude luck as an isolated variable because a single ‘lucky’ attack outcome is unlikely to substantially change the outcome of a long, larger war. The obvious conclusion is that the military leadership failed.

 Generals neither start wars nor resource them. These actions belong to politicians and elected civilian officials. However, once the decision to go to war is made, the outcome in the “sandbox” that is the battlefield is dependent on the military leadership in charge of the troops, resources, tactics, and strategy employed.

 Our military looks pretty in videos with its modern equipment and sleek aircraft, ships, and vehicles. Our troops look crisp and smart in their uniforms. US generals brief often their optimistic appraisals they do of the military to describe its state of readiness. This is no different than any other field of endeavor – sports, business, etc. Sports teams can have beautiful stadiums and muscular athletes in smart uniforms, but still have losing records. Businesses can have gorgeous, modern buildings and very stylistic logos but still lose money.

 The critical and tragic difference is that in almost all other professions, failure results in analysis of leadership and likely turnover of leaders that fail to perform to satisfaction. In 2023, 8 of the 32 teams in the NFL fired their head coaches for failing to perform. In the American corporate world, 2024 saw the most CEOs ousted since analyst firm Challenger, Gray, and Christmas began tracking the date in 2002 – over 1,800!2

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A Sweetheart Union Deal Underlines the Fact That Only Six Percent of Federal Workers Work Full Time

In the fading hours of arguably the worst administration since Herbert Hoover, Joe Biden’s Social Security Commissioner, former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley signed a five-year contract with the American Federation of Government Employees guaranteeing continued work-from-home, or telework, for up to four days per week for the agency’s workers.

“This deal will secure not just telework for SSA employees, but will secure staffing levels through prevention of higher attrition, which in turn will secure the ability of the agency to serve the public,” he said. “This is a win for employees and for the American public.”

Not everyone was quite as enthusiastic.

The news was less celebrated among congressional Republicans and a co-leader of President-elect Donald Trump’s planned government efficiency commission, Vivek Ramaswamy. Elon Musk and Ramaswamy have repeatedly said they would seek to roll back telework usage at federal agencies, if not end it entirely, and have suggested the move as a tool to shed federal jobs.

“Thousands of federal employees just landed a work from home deal ahead of [President-elect Trump] taking office,” said House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., on X.

“These midnight-hour maneuvers by the Biden administration are illegitimate and will be scrutinized,” Ramaswamy posted on Twitter. “All new proclamations made by executive fiat can be reversed by executive fiat.”

Outside of some finding of malfeasance that could lead to a court voiding it, the Trump administration is stuck with this stinker of a deal. It was just the kind of chicken-poo move that wouldn’t surprise anyone who lived through O’Malley’s two terms in Maryland’s statehouse. 

This points to two major problems in the federal workforce. First, the idea that a union should represent federal employees is ridiculous. The whole thing is a gift. That’s a subject for a different day. The second problem is that telework and its abuse are the norm, and there is no doubt it cheats taxpayers out of money and services.

A new report by Iowa Senator Joni Ernst details just how the system is abused.

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Canadian doctor ordered to pay back $600k she earned through mass COVID vaccination

The province of Ontario paid doctors for every experimental COVID shot they administered, with one physician now being told to repay the $600,000 she earned by using medical students to mass vaccinate residents. 

In a November 26 ruling, the Ontario Health Services Board ordered Kingston-based Dr. Elaine Ma to pay back over $600,000 which she had claimed after having undergraduate medical student volunteers mass vaccinate Ontario residents in 2021. 

“The Appeal Board orders the Respondent to reimburse OHIP the amount of $600,962.16,” the board wrote in their decision. 

Beginning in January 2021, Ma had organized drive-in vaccination clinics in several parking lots in the Kingston region to vaccinate thousands of Canadians. She recruited undergraduate medical student volunteers to administer the shots.  

Under Ma’s program, which lasted until January 2022, 27,250 doses of the experimental COVID shot were administered, earning her a total of $606,657.60, according to the General Manager of the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP).  

According to OHIP, Ontario doctors were paid $13 for administrating COVID vaccines, and an additional $5.60 if the patient’s sole reason for their appointment was receiving the shot. 

However, OHIP argued that Ma’s claims did not meet their requirements as she used volunteers to administer the vaccines, explaining, “the persons who administered vaccines at the clinics organized by Dr. Ma during the Review Period were not her employees.”  

As a result, she was ordered to repay the money. However, Ma is arguing that she was acting in Ontario’s best interest, considering the alleged danger of the COVID “pandemic.”

“It’s really still just disbelief that we’ve completely forgotten about COVID,” she told CTV News Ottawa. “We’ve completely forgotten what we were asked to do. We’ve completely forgotten the fact that we were asked to do it in new and different ways, and quickly, and as fast as possible.”

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