Tag: taxes

Curbing Global Censorship: House Republicans Take Aim at US-Funded Speech Crackdowns Abroad

A new bill introduced by House Republicans, the No Funding or Enforcement of Censorship Abroad Act (HR 9850), aims to prevent the US government from bankrolling censorship in other countries of content that is legal under US laws.

Chris Smith, Jim Jordan, and Maria Elvira Salazar are behind this draft that they say would protect and promote American values abroad – and those include free speech.

The bill’s authors hope to stop the use of foreign assistance funds to support censorship abroad, as well as US law enforcement from cooperating with authorities abroad conducting such policies.

We obtained a copy of the bill for you here.

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Biden Regime Gives $157 Million to Lebanon as Flood Victims Continue to Suffer in Southeast US – They Really Don’t Care About You

On Friday evening Secretary of State Antony Blinken broke the news on X that the Biden regime is sending $157 million to the people of Lebanon.

In his announcement on Twitter Blinken bragged that the Biden regime is “committed to supporting those in need and delivering essential aid to displaced civilians, refugees and the communities hosting them.”

Earlier today Alejandro Mayorkas warned that there would be a FEMA funding shortfall for the rest of the hurricane season this year.

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First look inside Maine apartments where migrants are getting free rent for up to 2 years

The Brunswick Landing apartments in Maine sparked controversy earlier this year when it was discovered that homeless migrants in the area were getting the opportunity to live in the units rent-free for up to two years. Migrants living in the apartments shared that not only is the rent-free, the utilities are paid and we got an inside look at the furnished apartments that would run the average American about $2,300 dollars. 

An inside look at the units at Brunswick Landing revealed that the apartments, which are currently set to house 60 migrant families, come fully furnished with migrants receiving a couch, table and chair, a flat-screen TV, and even photo frames on the walls for ambiance. “We don’t pay anything,” one woman from the Congo stated, “but after two years we have to pay the rent,” she finished. 

The city of Brunswick has allocated $3.5 million dollars toward paying the migrant’s rent and opened it back in February of 2024. The project, which was initially created for Maine residents, sparked outrage as the Maine residents deal with a housing crisis that according to the MaineHousing’s “Affordability Index,” left “79.1 percent of Maine families unable to afford a home in 2023,” according to the Maine Wire. 

While 60 migrant families are living across 5 buildings, it has been reported that Americans can rent out the units, which are marketed as “premiere apartments.” However, the average rent for a one-bedroom starts at $1,800 and a two-bedroom starts at $2,300.

The migrants living in the area shared that they were from places such as Angola, Haiti and the Congo expressing that living in the apartments is like “living in a palace.” 

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Female, black applicants who failed Maryland State Police tests likely to receive $2.75M in back pay from discrimination suit

The Maryland Department of State Police agreed to settle a Department of Justice lawsuit to the tune of $2.75 million, which will provide back pay to female and black applicants who failed the physical fitness and written tests.

The physical fitness exam, called the Functional Fitness Assessment Test, required applicants to complete 18 push-ups in one minute, 27 sit-ups in one minute, run 1.5 miles within 15 minutes and 20 seconds, and reach approximately 1.5 inches past their toes while seated. Candidates were allowed to take the test up to three times in one year.

“The rate at which female applicants passed the FFAT at least once is statistically significantly lower than the rate at which male applicants passed the FFAT at least once; and the female applicant pass rate is less than 80% of the male applicant pass rate,” the complaint read.

The written exam, the Police Officer Selection Test, included four components: mathematics, reading comprehension, grammar, and report writing skills. To pass, candidates had to achieve an aggregate score of at least 70% on all sections combined and minimally 70% on reading comprehension, grammar, and report writing skills. There was no minimum required score for the math component. Candidates could take the test four times within a year.

The lawsuit said that roughly 91% of white and 71% of black applicants passed at least once.

The lawsuit claimed that both the FFAT and the POST, which are used by MDSP to screen trooper applicants, are “not job related or consistent with business necessity.”

The DOJ argued that MDSP’s screening “results in a disparate impact” on female and black candidates.

“MDSP’s use of the POST has disproportionately excluded African-American applicants, and its use of the FFAT has disproportionately excluded female applicants, from employment as troopers,” the lawsuit stated.

MDSP was accused of violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.

On Wednesday, the DOJ announced that the MDSP has agreed to settle the lawsuit.

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Biden’s Border Crisis Costs How Much?

Earlier this week, Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a Senior Fellow with the American Immigration Council (AIC), claimed in an article titled New Report Shows the Devastating Costs of Mass Deportation that “an effort to arrest, detain, process, and remove one million undocumented immigrants per year would cost the U.S. government at least $88 billion per year, ultimately adding up to nearly one trillion dollars in taxpayer costs.”

Since the AIC chose to delve into the costs, let’s indulge them with a cost-benefit analysis focusing on the dollar amounts and then ask you, dear reader, to make a judgement as to whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the economic and societal costs of outrageous administration policy or to take action and deport and, by doing so, mitigate the harm being done to the country’s productive classes.

The Biden-Harris administration has allowed, at a minimum, 8.7 million illegal border crossers into the United States, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Although the administration touts these illegal immigrants as future workers, consumers, and taxpayers, contributing financially to America’s coffers, new research shows that illegal immigrants, the vast majority of whom have limited education and English proficiency, will be a financial drain on the United States. The Manhattan Institute study found that if the educational background of new illegal immigrants is the same as the educational background of illegals from last decade, then 46% would have less than a high school diploma while another 40% would have just a high school diploma.

But wait, Mr. Reichlin-Melnick would say that “beyond fiscal costs, the report details how the U.S. economy would suffer if 4% of the workforce was deported.” Sure. But the question to ask is this: qui bono or who actually benefits? In his 2016 book, We Wanted Workers, Professor George Borjas informs us who the true beneficiaries of mass immigration, are stating, “The current level of immigration in the United States generated a $2.1 trillion increase in GDP. But the immigrants themselves get paid about 98 percent of the increase; very little gets trickled down to the natives.” The remaining 2% surplus for the United States comes from reducing wages for Americans, who are competing now with immigrants for jobs, and increasing immigrant incomes and firm profits.

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Minnesota food pantry bans white people, says ‘resources’ are only for ‘Black & Indigenous Folx’

A Minneapolis, Minn. food pantry is only giving food to “Black and Indigenous” people, those who are hungry and white are told not to take the “resources” available. Mykelo ‘Keiko’ Jackson, who runs the food pantry, was awarded a Minnesota State grant to open the food pantry.

The sign on the pantry reads: “The resources found in here are intended for Black & Indigenous Folx. Please refrain from taking anything if you’re not.” An August post emphasized the mission, saying “With the help of our community and MDH: African American Health Office we’ve distributed 2,249 lbs of food to Black & Indigenous Folx in North Minneapolis. This is what liberation looks like on a small scale. We’d like to say THANK YOU to everyone that has supported this initiative, donated their time or resources to be in aid of commUNITY.”

Jackson’s policy forced the food pantry to close down and open in another location. After opening on July 27 on the north side of the city, near the Sanctuary Covenant Church, Jackson let it be known that white people were not welcome to the food for the poor. Local chaplain Howard Dotson, 54, said that he went to the food pantry but was denied entry due to his race. He’s white.

“This is not building community, it’s destroying it,” he told Alpha News. “I went over there and confronted her. I told her that I saw the sign and I asked if she really thought she could take grant money from the state and discriminate against poor white people.” He filed a complaint, which Jackson said was an exhibition of his “white privilege.”

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Held Hostage Overseas? The IRS Wants Your Back Taxes.

Many Americans who return home after being illegally detained overseas arrive to find they’ve been billed thousands of dollars by the IRS—including late fees for unpaid taxes.

That’s the bizarre situation in which hostages Evan Gerskovich, Paul Whelan, and Vladimir Kara-Murza found themselves after they were released from detention in Russia last month. All three men say they faced a battery of surprise financial issues after returning home, including tax charges and hits to the credit stemming from bills they were unable to pay while behind bars.

“I got one of those bills from the IRS saying, you owe this much on this year, you owe this much on this year because of failure to pay on time—here’s the interest that’s accrued,” Washington Post reporter and former hostage Jason Rezaian told NPR. He faced more than $6,000 in fees for unpaid taxes after his release, following 544 days of detention in Iran. “This is an oversight that nobody really thought about.”

And they’re not alone. Right now, between 40 and 60 American nationals are being illegally detained by other nations, according to NPR. Many of these Americans will return home to face startling financial penalties stemming from their unjust imprisonment.

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Biden-Kamala Regime Burns $1 BILLION in FEMA Funds to Resettle Illegal Immigrants — FEMA Now Lacks Resources for Disaster Response!

As Hurricane Helene tears through the eastern seaboard, leaving devastation in its wake, the mismanagement of FEMA under the Biden-Harris regime is hitting home with deadly consequences.

The storm’s ferocious winds and torrential rains have claimed at least 190 lives, left millions without power, and trapped countless families in floodwaters across North Carolina and beyond. Entire communities have been cut off from vital resources, with citizens scrambling for help.

Yet, in the face of this national disaster, the Biden-Harris administration’s FEMA appears woefully unprepared.

Why? Because over the past two years, they have funneled more than $1 billion in taxpayer dollars away from American disaster relief efforts — and into the pockets of illegal immigrants.

For the second consecutive year, FEMA has implemented Immediate Needs Funding, putting long-term recovery projects on hold due to a severe shortage in the Disaster Relief Funds (DRF), according to a report from NRDC last month.

With over 614 major disaster declarations still open, some dating back nearly two decades, the agency’s decision to prioritize illegal immigration over American disaster victims has sparked outrage across the country.

FEMA estimates it will fall $7 billion short of the funds needed to manage new disasters, thanks to reckless financial decisions. Instead of rebuilding communities, repairing public infrastructure, or mitigating future disasters, FEMA is sinking taxpayer dollars into programs for illegal immigrants while disaster-stricken Americans wait for help that may never come.

FEMA is blaming the Congress for not appropriating new funding to the agency.

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Florida Migrants Receiving Full Medical Care – Gratis

While traveling in an Uber from Hallendale Beach to the Fort Lauderdale airport this week, I was fascinated by a series of phone conversations my driver had during the ride.

The man did not speak much English, but was fluent in Spanish.

I asked him where he was from – he said recently from Venezuela. He was listening to Spanish radio. He was young, late twenties, and in shape, very dark skinned, in good health.

The phone attached to ‘hands free’ mode rang in the car and the man answered. On the other end of the line, was what I would call an adult female, white, and highly educated. She was acting very ‘compassionate’, and you could tell she believed she was virtuous and ‘doing the right thing’.

She obviously worked for some progressive NGO and had been doing what she was doing for this NGO for some time – she seemed ‘experienced’.

She was calling to confirm the man for an appointment in south Florida for magnetic resonance imaging, otherwise known as an MRI.

This is an expensive medical procedure to scan a portion of a body and obtain internal images, to look for medical problems.

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The military showers universities with hundreds of millions of dollars

The divestment campaigns launched last spring by students protesting Israel’s mass slaughter in Gaza brought the issue of the militarization of American higher education back into the spotlight.

Of course, financial ties between the Pentagon and American universities are nothing new. As Stuart Leslie has pointed out in his seminal book on the topic, The Cold War and American Science, “In the decade following World War II, the Department of Defense (DOD) became the biggest patron of American science.” Admittedly, as civilian institutions like the National Institutes of Health grew larger, the Pentagon’s share of federal research and development did decline, but it still remained a source of billions of dollars in funding for university research.

And now, Pentagon-funded research is once again on the rise, driven by the DOD’s recent focus on developing new technologies like weapons driven by artificial intelligence (AI). Combine that with an intensifying drive to recruit engineering graduates and the forging of partnerships between professors and weapons firms and you have a situation in which many talented technical types could spend their entire careers serving the needs of the warfare state. The only way to head off such a Brave New World would be greater public pushback against the military conquest (so to speak) of America’s research and security agendas, in part through resistance by scientists and engineers whose skills are so essential to building the next generation of high-tech weaponry.

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