Tag: taxes

Green Slush Fund won’t seek return of $34 million paid to ineligible projects

Sustainable Development Technology Canada will not try to recover approximately $34 million paid to five projects its own review found were ineligible for funding, according to a written response to Parliament.

The response, signed by Industry Minister Mélanie Joly, says the review examined 173 projects with help from three independent third parties. It found five projects ineligible under SDTC’s agreement with the Crown and a sixth that received funding for some ineligible costs. The five projects received about $34 million since 2017.

SDTC’s board decided against pursuing repayment after consulting legal counsel. It said the recipients had negotiated and carried out their funding agreements in good faith, and that recovery was unlikely to succeed or serve the public interest.

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada issued SDTC a notice of breach over the ineligible projects, then sent a letter accepting the board’s approach.

Conservative MP Luc Berthold had asked how much of the $400 million in funding cited in his question had been recovered, who repaid it and what further recovery efforts were underway. The department’s answer provides no total recovered, no list of repayments and no recovery timetable. It also does not say that the entire $400 million was paid to projects later found ineligible.

The Auditor General’s 2024 audit found serious failures in SDTC’s handling of public money, including $59 million awarded to 10 ineligible projects among the 58 it examined.

Keep reading

US Pledges $267 Million More In Ebola Aid To Congo

The United States is sending another $267 million to fight the Ebola outbreak in Congo, bringing total U.S. aid for the outbreak to $887 million, the State Department announced Wednesday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

The outbreak, first detected in Congo’s Ituri province in May before spreading to Uganda, has killed at least 3,700 people as of the U.N.’s Sept. 22 count. That makes it the second-deadliest Ebola outbreak on record, behind the 2014-2016 epidemic in West Africa.

The new money fulfills a G7 pledge of up to an additional $500 million, and it came with a message for everyone else. The State Department urged other “capable nations to increase burden sharing to meet the urgency of the moment.” The U.N.’s $2.13 billion response plan is only 48 percent funded, leaving a gap of roughly $1.1 billion.

As The Epoch Times notes further, the $887 million in direct aid for the Ebola outbreak is on top of existing U.S. contributions to international aid through the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Since the start of the second Trump administration, U.S. contributions to OCHA’s aid programs across 21 key countries have reached $3.8 billion.

A $2 million first tranche contribution was agreed to in December 2025 when the Trump administration outlined its “Humanitarian Reset” framework agreement following the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) and cuts to its funding.

A second tranche of $1.8 billion was made to OCHA on May 14. Part of this includes $350 million in aid to Congo, Uganda, and South Sudan, the department said.

In addition to aid contributions to the United Nations, the United States, under the Trump administration’s America First Global Health Strategy, has been outlining bilateral global health agreements with partner countries. In February, Washington and Congo signed a five-year health memorandum of understanding under that strategy, with the United States intending to provide up to $900 million to support HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, maternal and child health, and disease surveillance.

The current Ebola outbreak began in Ituri province in northeastern Congo. It quickly spread to Uganda. On May 17, the World Health Organization declared the spread of the virus a public health emergency of international concern.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a press conference on Sept. 16 that transmission is declining in the most affected areas of the outbreak epicenter, with the epidemic mostly contained to northeastern Congo.

But he warned that more work was needed. He said the situation wasn’t a single epidemic to manage, but rather “many outbreaks in many places.”

According to the CDC’s situation page, no Ebola cases associated with this outbreak have been reported in the United States, and the overall risk to the U.S. public and travelers remains low.

Keep reading

Illinois Taxpayers Appear to Be Footing the Bill for Billionaire Pritzker’s Weight Loss Drug

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker revealed to “CBS Mornings” that for the last two years he has been using a GLP-1 medication to lose weight.

In a CBS News interview broadcast Monday, Pritzker said he’s lost 80 pounds so far and he feels “a whole lot different and a whole lot better.”

“I’ve been overweight most of my life, really, since I was probably 7 or 8 years old,” Pritzker said.

Pritzker told the network a diabetes diagnosis two years ago pushed the change. A doctor recommended a GLP-1 and warned he might need treatment for life. Pritzker said he injects weekly, walks about four miles most mornings, and is off insulin.

Keep reading

Report Exposes California’s $11B ‘Shadow Welfare System’ for Illegals

The State of California has spent more than $11 billion tax dollars to give illegal migrants free healthcare, free food, housing, legal assistance, education, smart phones, and even free car insurance, a report finds.

It’s all more evidence of the Democrat Ponzi scheme of subsidizing illegals to give the party more power and more money to spread around to maintain that power.

The state’s generous welfare system is, of course, intended to give California citizens a helping hand when they come on hard times, but the state’s far-left Democrat establishment has warped the programs to support criminal illegals, according to City Journal’s Christopher Rufo.

Rufo calls the abuse a “a shadow welfare system” that hands tax dollars over to noncitizens. And during his reseearch into his article he visited four state offices in Southern California each of them said that illegal aliens are permitted to sign up for California’s public assistance programs. Rufo adds that the state has spent more than $11 billion for illegals.

Keep reading

Seattle’s Mayor Would Rather Hire Private Security to Prevent Crime Than Help Her Police Force

Once again, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson just doesn’t “get it” when it comes to giving law enforcement the traditional funding it needs – and deserves, for that matter.

She’s still seeing a lot of fallout from the controversial dismissal of Police Chief Shon Barnes, and no doubt she’s getting pressure from all sides with the increase in criminal activity within the city itself. But she announced a recent decision that has me questioning her actions even more – such as why she doesn’t feel the need to support her local police.

According to Fox News, Wilson has introduced a new initiative for local grocery stores, using taxpayer money to fund security officers to help prevent criminal activity, including thefts and break-ins. The $1.7 million initiative has been penciled in as part of the city’s 2026 budget.

With her decision, Wilson explained, “Keeping our neighborhood grocery stores safe and supported is essential to making every Seattleite has a reliable, affordable grocery store near them.”

While I can get behind the idea of supporting businesses and making sure there’s security, I’m not a fan of the path she’s taken when it comes to funding.

When you look at the finer details, do you have any idea what good a $1.7 million boost would do for a police department? They could fund more necessary gear to keep officers safe. Not to mention putting funding into mental health, a very crucial ingredient to the success of police officers. After all, if they don’t get the support they require for mental stability, there’s a very good chance they could leave their job due to duress and stress.

Keep reading

Trump Adds $174 Million to Black Colleges, ‘Engines’

The Trump administration is directing more than $174 million in additional funding to historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced on Tuesday the one-time investment at the HBCU Summit at the White House, which brought together administration leaders, university presidents, and others.

“For nearly 200 years, HBCUs have been engines of opportunity in communities, advancing critical innovations and uplifting local industries across the nation,” McMahon said.

“This new investment will help ensure these vital institutions have the resources they need to continue delivering world-class education and to prepare students for success in a rapidly evolving economy.”

The award follows a one-time investment last year, bringing the combined total to more than $612 million in new funding to the schools in fiscal years 2025 and 2026.

Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent said the institutions remain central to higher education in the United States.

“HBCUs have helped shape the story of American education, and they will undoubtedly shape the future,” Kent said.

“These institutions of higher education remain central to our nation’s higher education ecosystem, fueling workforce development, driving economic growth in their communities, and cultivating leaders across sectors including STEM, education, public service, and business,” Kent said.

The department did not release a national breakdown of individual awards.

Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., released figures for her state, which she said received $21,259,618, the largest share.

Alabama is home to more historically Black colleges and universities, and historically Black community colleges, than any other state.

Among the Alabama schools, Alabama State University received $2,873,624, Alabama A&M University $2,831,147, Lawson State Community College $2,120,333, Tuskegee University $1,767,981, and Talladega College $1,516,171, according to Britt’s office.

“Alabama is home to some of the finest HBCUs and HBCCs in the nation, and the standard of excellence they produce makes these investments well-deserved,” Britt said.

The administration will also make a one-time award of more than $61 million in additional funding to Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs).

Keep reading

Rep. Nancy Mace Moves to Ban Lab Puppy Mills After White Coat Waste Tracks 1,500 Dogs Sent into Taxpayer-Funded Experiments

The animal testing watchdog organization White Coat Waste has published a new report showing that Oak Hill Genetics, an Ewing, Illinois, breeder and the nation’s second-largest lab-dog supplier, shipped 1,518 hound-mix dogs to 44 laboratories between January 1, 2025, and June 30, 2026.

Some of the animals were only about three months old.

Recipients included universities and contract labs that hold National Institutes of Health money.

Earlier this month, White Coat Waste’s spending review found more than $225 million in NIH awards for dog and cat experiments since mid-February 2025, including more than $98 million in new dog-testing money at pharmaceutical companies and $11.7 million in new cat work.

The lab list WCW obtained is specific.

The University of Utah took dogs for heart work that WCW says includes tied-off arteries, pacemakers, and electric shock before the animals are killed; Utah has drawn nearly $12 million for those studies and received 50 Oak Hill dogs in the 18-month window. Washington University in St. Louis, with more than $1.2 million for laryngeal-nerve work, took 32. Vanderbilt has taken more than $109 million over decades for obesity, diabetes, and liver studies. The University of Washington implants tumor cells in prostates. The University of Chicago induces severe strokes. The University of Cincinnati kills dogs to harvest larynxes.

Keep reading

Ottawa spent $1.9 billion housing asylum claimants since 2017, but cannot say how many are currently housed

The federal government has allocated approximately $1.9 billion to help provinces and municipalities house asylum claimants since 2017, but Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada cannot say how many people are currently living in facilities supported by the program.

The figures were disclosed in a response to an order paper question submitted by Conservative MP Fred Davies.

The Interim Housing Assistance Program pays provinces and municipalities to provide temporary accommodations and other housing support for asylum claimants. Eligible expenses include temporary housing, coordination, support services and the construction or acquisition of housing facilities.

Despite the program’s $1.9-billion price tag, IRCC said it does not have access to operational or client-specific information showing how asylum claimants move from hotels into municipally owned or controlled housing.

The department also said it cannot confirm how many people are presently housed, how many have left the system or the real-time capacity of facilities receiving federal funding.

Since January 2025, recipients have been required to report the number of asylum claimants supported twice per year.

As of May 2026, IRCC estimated that approximately 15,000 claimants received housing support between January and September 2025. Municipalities and provinces projected they would support roughly 40,000 claimants between January 2025 and March 2027.

Those plans include more than 1,500 bed spaces and 350 transitional-housing or reception-centre units.

Toronto reported supporting 7,030 asylum claimants, followed by Ottawa with 3,490 and Peel Region with 3,170. Other recipients included Durham Region, Hamilton, York Region, Waterloo Region, London, Halton Region, Simcoe County, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador.

IRCC said jurisdictions must report twice annually on expenditures and outcomes. The department acknowledged, however, that it has no real-time information about how many people are occupying the federally funded spaces.

Keep reading

Bibi: Send More Bombs

As we approach the three-year mark of the start of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Israel has signaled that it has every intention of continuing its massive bombing campaigns against Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, and possibly other countries. And Donald Trump has signaled that he is ready to help. On September 15, the Washington Post reported a decision by the Trump administration to provide Israel with some 40,000 of the US Air Force’s massive 2,000-pound bombs, the largest such transfer to any country in many years.

Bombs Away for Zion

Specifically, the administration announced that it was prepared to “sell” to Israel a $2.8 billion package of US Air Force 2000-pound bombs, consisting of 20,000 MK-84 bombs and another 20,000 BLU-117 bombs. The two versions are similar in size, weight, and functionality. Although both models are considered “general purpose” and “dumb” bombs, they can be configured with various guidance kits into precision guided munitions, aka “smart bombs.” Presumably, Israel will use its own guidance kits which it produces domestically. The administration’s package for Israel also includes 20,000 of the USAF’s I-2000 penetrator warheads, which function as a heavy-duty bomb body for the MK-84 or the BLU-117, effectively converting the munition into a hard target penetrator or “bunker buster.”

Israel’s profligate use of massive munitions on civilian populations has drawn international criticism since the opening weeks of the Gaza conflict. According to CNN, “In the first month of its war in Gaza, Israel dropped hundreds of massive bombs, many of them capable of killing or wounding people more than 1,000 feet away…. Satellite imagery from those early days of the war reveals more than 500 impact craters over 12 meters (40 feet) in diameter, consistent with those left behind by 2,000-pound bombs. Those are four times heavier than the largest bombs the United States dropped on ISIS in Mosul, Iraq, during the war against the extremist group there. Weapons and warfare experts blame the extensive use of heavy munitions such as the 2,000-pound bomb for the soaring death toll. The population of Gaza is packed together much more tightly than almost anywhere else on earth, so the use of such heavy munitions has a profound effect.”

“The use of 2,000-pound bombs in an area as densely populated as Gaza means it will take decades for communities to recover,” said John Chappell, advocacy and legal fellow at CIVIC, a DC-based group focused on minimizing civilian harm in conflict. Such massive bombs are “normally used sparingly by Western militaries, experts say, because of their potential impact on densely populated areas like Gaza. International humanitarian law prohibits indiscriminate bombing.”

Separately, a writer for the Concord Monitor has described the catastrophic effects of a MK-84 2000-pound bomb being dropped on a crowded residential area such as Gaza: “The detonation will create an instantaneous fireball that will lash out at temperatures exceeding 8,500 degrees Fahrenheit. The explosion will carve a crater 50 feet wide and 35 feet deep and hurl 10,000 pounds of rock and dirt debris at supersonic speed. The lethal radius will be a quarter-mile wide and will kill all the people within that area. But the destruction will not stop there. The bomb will rip through thick concrete and metal, creating a wider blast radius. The blast waves will be felt up to half a mile away, rupturing lungs and tearing off limbs. A single bomb will destroy entire city blocks.”

Israel regularly boasts about the professionalism of its military and likes to call the IDF the “most moral army in the world.” Its record in action tells a vastly different story. One curious decision by the IDF that apparently has never been challenged by the US is why it has opted for 2000-pound bombs against “soft” civilian targets, when 250-pound, 500-pound and 1000-pound munitions, which are readily available from the US, are far cheaper and cause far less collateral damage. Could it be that Israel’s real goal is simply genocide, a charge that it has claimed is unfounded

Keep reading

Minnesota Dem Candidate Peggy Flanagan  Claims She’s ‘Appalled’ by Massive Welfare Theft — But ‘25-Year Friend’ Standing Next To Her In Viral Hijab Video Now Under Medicaid Fraud Investigation

Minnesota’s Democrat Senate nominee keeps telling voters she is “appalled” by the state’s historic welfare theft. The problem is the woman standing next to her in that viral hijab video, the one Flanagan called a friend of nearly 25 years, is now running an autism center the state has kicked off Medicaid and placed under investigation.

Nimco Ahmed, CEO of Minneapolis-based Milestone Development Center, appeared beside then-Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan at Karmel Mall in December 2025.

Flanagan, a Catholic, wrapped herself in a hijab for Somali TV and declared the Somali community “part of the fabric of the state of Minnesota.” Then she gestured to Ahmed and talked about their friendship of “almost 25 years.”

That same Ahmed is a longtime DFL activist, a former DFL state director, and president of the Somali American Coalition.

She is also listed as CEO of Milestone. Minnesota Department of Human Services officials have now confirmed open investigations into Milestone and a second provider, Spectrum Therapy Center.

Both were terminated from the Medicaid program months ago during the state’s Revalidate 2026 review. Both providers have appealed the decision, Fox News reported.

Keep reading