Tag: taxes

The Financial Decline Of Miami Beach: When Pride Becomes Debt

Every time Miami Beach wants residents to accept another tax increase, another utility hike, another bond, or another excuse for why basic infrastructure still has not been fixed, the same pattern begins. First comes the whisper campaign. Then comes the friendly media narrative. Then come the professional politicians telling you there is no other choice. They want you to believe that more borrowing on your back is the only responsible path forward and that if you question them, you are somehow against progress, resiliency, public safety, or the future.

That is dishonest.

Miami Beach is not broke because the people have failed to pay. Miami Beach is in trouble because the political establishment has failed to lead.

For years, residents have paid more in taxes, more in fees, more in utility bills, and more through debt. The city has approved luxury development, expanded its budget, increased administrative costs, hired more staff, funded consultants, celebrated ribbon cuttings, and marketed itself as a global success story. Yet now we are told the city faces more than one billion dollars in infrastructure needs.

How?

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Judge Blocks DOJ Victim Restitution After Leftists Complained The Victims Were Conservatives

Afederal judge blocked the Trump administration’s $1.776 billion anti-weaponization restitution fund Friday after plaintiffs claimed the fund was politically discriminatory because it helped victims of Democrat administrations. The Department of Justice created the fund earlier this month to provide restitution for targets of federal political persecution regardless of political affiliation.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, an appointee of President Bill Clinton with a history of ruling against the Trump administration, temporarily blocked the Justice Department from establishing the fund while Brinkema hears legal arguments.

Andrew Floyd, a fired assistant U.S. attorney and Jan. 6 prosecutor, John Caravello, a professor who was accused and acquitted of assaulting a federal agent, the National Abortion Federation, and far-left nonprofit Common Cause sued the Department of Justice last week to stop the fund.

With seemingly no sense of irony, the plaintiffs’ primary claim is that the fund is politically discriminatory against Democrats, apparently because the lion’s share of potential victims seeking restitution would be conservatives targeted by the Biden and Obama administrations. The plaintiffs’ argument implies that, because Democrat administrations decided to conduct large-scale political persecutions of normal Americans they perceived as their enemies — and there is a much larger number in that victim pool — restitution should not be allowed.

“By its own terms, the Anti-Weaponization Fund is available only to claimants who assert that they were targeted by ‘Democrat’ administrations, even though the current administration has weaponized the awesome power of the federal government against its perceived political opponents like no other administration before it,” the lawsuit states. The suit declines to acknowledge how the Biden administration sent its federal thugs after Americans peacefully praying outside abortion facilities, or parents concerned about their children’s public schools, or Catholics who attend Latin Mass, or Jan. 6 protesters who were wildly overcharged and over-sentenced, and much more. It also does not meaningfully mention the Obama administration’s targeting of the Trump campaign, the Russia collusion hoax, or any other abuse that effectively stripped the American people of proper representation in the White House by kneecapping Trump’s first term.

Vice President J.D. Vance has said that the fund is open to anyone who believes he was unfairly targeted by the federal government, explicitly stating it was open to Democrats as well. Each claim, he said, would be decided on a case-by-case basis. A DOJ overview of the fund explicitly states that “Democrats can submit claims, too.” It also notes that the fund is for victims of “use of government power to target them for ‘improper and unlawful’ reasons,” without mentioning a requirement that a particular party have wielded the power.

Floyd, through public statements, may be inadvertently making the case for the fund, as he has been displaying the zeal with which prosecutors like himself wanted to punish Jan. 6 protesters.

“First, hundreds of people attacked the foundation of an ordered society by trying to stop the results of a free and fair election — committing serious assaults on law enforcement and other crimes as they did so,” he said. “Then, this administration pardoned them — removing the accountability that had been hard earned by victims, witnesses, law enforcement, and prosecutors and imposed by impartial jurors and judges. Now they are asking taxpayers to illegally reward them for their crimes.”

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Seattle’s New Socialist Mayor Flatly Refuses to Investigate Fraud at Somali Daycare Centers

Given the massive amount of fraud that has been uncovered at Somali daycare centers in Minneapolis alone, you would think that every American city would be looking into this rather seriously.

That is not going to happen in Seattle, however.

Katie Wilson, the city’s new socialist mayor was recently asked if she is doing any investigation into this and responded with a simple “no.”

The Post Millennial reported:

Seattle socialist mayor will NOT investigate fraud at Somali-run daycare centers, calls it attack on immigrants

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson said the city has no intention of investigating fraud claims in taxpayer-funded social programs, claiming the concerns are an effort to target immigrant communities rather than address legitimate financial irregularities.

In an interview with KOMO News, Wilson was asked if she had authorized the Seattle Police Department or the city’s Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs to investigate fraud charges involving daycare providers, particularly those in Somali and other immigrant communities. The mayor responded: “No.”

“This whole issue is not really about fraud,” said Wilson. “It’s about dividing and conquering. It’s about making an immigrant community a target. There’s no reason to assume based on the identity of a daycare operator that their small business is doing anything wrong.”

She added that “it’s problematic to have random people showing up to daycares” and emphasized that “the fear in the Somali community is real” and “the fear in immigrant communities are real,” saying her administration is “taking that very seriously.”

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Bessent Signals Crackdown On Dark-Money Funded NGOs In “Weeks, Months Ahead”

Last year, readers were briefed on what was then the investigative phase into dark-money-funded NGOs and alleged foreign influence operations routed through far-left activist networks. These NGOs and activist networks advance anti-capitalist agendas, mobilize protests and riots to fuel unrest under the banner of toxic social justice, and have also served as a permanent protest-industrial complex designed to delay, deny, and destroy President Trump’s pro-America agenda.

Fast forward to late spring, and there now appears to be a clear transition inside parts of the Trump administration from the investigative phase to the action phase.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent signaled just that during a Thursday press briefing.

Here, the exchange between a reporter and Bessent suggests the potential enforcement phase has already begun:

Reporter: “I want to ask you about Antifa. In October, the Treasury Department started working with the FBI to investigate who’s funding Antifa. Can you give us an update on that investigation? How close are you guys finding out who is funding it?”

Scott Bessent: “It is ongoing. We made substantial progress, and I think in the weeks and months ahead, we are going to have a lot to report“”

(Bessent continues on IRS guidance for nonprofits): “The IRS is now giving guidance on the Form 990, which nonprofits they have to file. We are going to demand that nonprofits know their grant recipients. So if a grant recipient is violent, if they are suppressing people’s rights, then YOU are responsible for that. And I think that’s a very good first step.”

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Not Satire: Newsom Took Money That Could Have Helped Stop Palisades Fires and Spent It Teaching American Indians to Start Fires

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California continues to light his constituents’ tax dollars on fire.

Moreover, he has done it in the name of cultural pandering and with dubious constitutionality.

According to the urban policy-focused City Journal, the state’s “Tribal Wildfire Resilience” program, overseen by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or CAL FIRE, has distributed $24 million to “tribal groups and other nonprofits” to teach American Indians, identified as “cultural fire practitioners,” how to clear brush from forests in ways their ancestors would have found familiar.

Meanwhile, taxpayers have seen no appreciable return on that expenditure. How much brush have the tribes cleared? California has released no data.

Of course, this is not meant as an attack on the tribes — far from it. After all, one could probably find $24 million between the couch cushions at the Pentagon.

What makes this expenditure maddening is that it, like most things in California, is dripping with wokeness.

For instance, Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot, who effectively oversees the program, justified it not on fire management grounds but as a remedy for historical injustices. California, he said, originated in a “state-sanctioned policy of genocide.” Thus, Crowfoot made it sound as if the governor had a plan to return the land to the “leadership of California Native American tribes.”

Newsom, of course, has no such plan. But saying that he has one sounds good in upscale places like the French Laundry.

Worse yet, the “Tribal Wildfire Resilience” program engages in discrimination by allocating resources based on race.

“As part of this commitment to ‘cultural burning,’” the City Journal wrote, “California has created separate fire-certification processes for nontribal and tribal populations. White, black, Latino, and Asian fire bosses must receive technical certifications, including a 40-hour burn-boss course and, in some cases, a federal certificate. ‘Cultural fire practitioners,’ by contrast, are certified through simple tribal recognition that a person has ‘substantial experience’ burning for cultural purposes.”

Should anyone ever make a case of it, the U.S. Supreme Court almost certainly would find those race-based provisions unconstitutional.

Again, none of this reflects in any way on the tribes themselves. Perhaps some “cultural fire practitioners” really do have “substantial experience” in clearing brush via controlled fires. After all, early American history is filled with stories of Indians skilled in that practice.

In that case, however, why do they require public funding? Why must the privileged Newsom, one of the whitest of white men who ever lived, teach them traditional cultural techniques?

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Congress quietly moves to integrate US and Israeli militaries

At a time when the American public is expressing unprecedented levels of distrust in the Israeli government, Congress just proposed tying the U.S. to the Israeli military more than ever before.

Buried in the House’s version of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) released on Tuesday, is section 224, entitled “United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative.” The provision would arguably do more to intertwine the U.S. military with the Israeli military than the more than $200 billion (inflation adjusted) in military assistance Israel has received from the U.S. since its founding in 1948.

Section 224 lays the groundwork for bilateral research and development, co-production of weapons, joint ventures, licensing agreements, and seemingly every manner of U.S.-Israeli military-industrial complex cooperation. The U.S. and Israel already work together heavily on missile defense, but this provision would greatly expand coordination to seemingly every area of defense tech, including AI, quantum, autonomous systems, directed energy, cyber, biotech, and many more. It also proposes “network integration” and “data fusion.” In other words, the U.S. military’s data could soon be the Israeli military’s data.

If fully enacted, this proposal would provide a higher level of military-industrial integration than the U.S. has with any other country in the world. To be sure, the U.S. has worked closely with its NATO partners on co-production and shared supply chains, most notably via the Defence Production Action Plan. And, as the number one arms dealer in the world, the U.S. provides weapons to militaries across the globe. But that is mostly a one-way street, with the U.S. providing weapons to foreign buyers who only occasionally make parts for those weapons themselves, as in the case of the F-35’s global supply chain.

Section 224 would be a different beast entirely. It would fuse the U.S. and Israeli defense sectors in multiple areas vital to the battlefields of the future, like autonomous systems and cyber. It would also bring extraordinary Israeli influence to the U.S. beyond what it already has through the Israel lobby and its robust network of social media influencers. It would give the Israeli government the opportunity to greatly expand one of the most powerful levers of influence in U.S. politics: jobs in the U.S. By expanding or starting new co-production facilities like it already has in Mississippi and Arkansas, the Israeli government could boast of providing jobs on U.S. soil, thereby securing allies among members of Congress who represent the districts where those jobs lie.

The result could well be a U.S. political system even more susceptible to the whims of an Israeli government that seemingly has no qualms about drawing the U.S. into military conflicts in the Middle East.

This unprecedented level of U.S.-Israeli military integration stands in stark contrast to the traditional aid model of defense cooperation, in which Israel already stood out as the top recipient of U.S. military assistance. As laid out in a recent Quincy Institute brief, authored by Steven Simon, this shift from an aid model to a military integration model has troubling implications, namely:

The shift will strip away the political and diplomatic oversight mechanisms that make the relationship publicly accountable, moving it from a visible annual aid vote into the opaque machinery of defense acquisition, where oversight is limited and political accountability is minimal. The result would be a defense relationship that is simultaneously deeper and less transparent.

This all comes at a time when the Israeli military has repeatedly used U.S. weapons in strikes that have violated international humanitarian laws in Gaza, and as Israel has repeatedly violated ceasefires (as has the U.S. itself) in the Trump administration’s unnecessary war with Iran.

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US Plans Sharp Cuts To Bombers, Warships And Other Assets Available To NATO In Crisis, Report Says

The United States intends to significantly reduce the military forces it would make available to European allies during a potential crisis, including strategic bombers, fighter jets, warships and refueling aircraft, according to a report by German news magazine Der Spiegel.

The planned reductions come as the NATO alliance faces growing strain amid transatlantic tensions. European officials have expressed concern that Washington could scale back its commitments or even withdraw support entirely.

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized European NATO members for insufficient defense spending and has pledged to withdraw thousands of American troops from Germany. His interest in acquiring Greenland, a Danish territory, has further heightened tensions. Trump has also lambasted allies for limited support in efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz amid conflict with Iran, while questioning the U.S. obligation to honor NATO’s mutual defense pact.

According to Spiegel, a senior U.S. envoy briefed NATO officials on the changes during a closed-door meeting at alliance headquarters in Brussels late last week. The envoy was identified as Alexander Velez-Green, representing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

The U.S. would cut the number of strategic bombers available to NATO by half, the report said. The number of fighter jets would decrease by one-third, while the U.S. Navy would provide fewer destroyers and no longer contribute submarines to alliance operations.

Europe would also need to supply its own reconnaissance drones, as the U.S. plans to significantly reduce support for both reconnaissance and armed drone operations. Mid-air refueling aircraft would also see cuts, the report added.

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Sen. Bob Duff Pushes 100% Tax on Trump’s $1.776 Billion Anti-Weaponization Fund

Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-Norwalk) announced Thursday that he wants to explore ways for Connecticut to seize any payouts Connecticut residents receive from President Donald Trump’s $1.776 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund.

Duff said he plans to introduce legislation in the 2027 legislative session — after a legal review — that would impose a 100% state tax on any such payments, effectively confiscating every dollar.

The fund, created by the Department of Justice earlier this month as part of a settlement resolving Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS for illegally leaking his tax returns, aims to provide compensation and formal apologies to Americans who claim they were targeted by government weaponization and lawfare.

Claims are voluntary, with no explicit partisan restrictions. The $1.776 billion comes from the federal Judgment Fund.

While Democrats have blasted the fund as a “corrupt slush fund,” supporters view it as a long-overdue effort to hold the federal government accountable for years of political persecution.

It’s sparked lawsuits, GOP internal debate, and reactions like Connecticut’s proposed 100% state tax on any local payouts.

“The Trump regime just handed $1.8 billion in taxpayer money to the same people who beat police officers and stormed the United States Capitol,” said Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-Norwalk). “Connecticut is not going to let a single one of our residents profit from that corruption. If you filed a claim with Trump’s slush fund and collected a check, we are going to explore every legal option available to take every penny of it back. We will not allow this state to be a safe harbor for insurrectionist windfalls.”

“We are living in unprecedented times,” he continued. “This regime acts in ways that were previously unthinkable, and their lapdogs on the Supreme Court and in Congress hand them a stamp of approval every single time. Connecticut is going to fight back with every tool we have. We are doing the legal work now so that when the 2027 session begins, we are ready to act.”

Duff’s hysterical meltdown is nothing more than rank partisan hackery and deliberate misinformation.

Far from a “slush fund for insurrectionists,” Trump’s $1.776 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund is open to any American who can demonstrate they were targeted by the federal government’s weaponized bureaucracy — including parents labeled “domestic terrorists” for speaking at school board meetings, pro-life activists raided by the FBI, and conservative organizations harassed by the IRS.

Instead of addressing Connecticut’s real problems, Duff is wasting time and political capital on a spiteful symbolic tax that will likely never survive legal scrutiny. His blind hatred for President Trump has once again exposed him as a petty, small-minded obstructionist more interested in grandstanding against Trump than serving the people of Connecticut.

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TOTAL CORRUPTION: Two Minnesota Muslim Women Arrested In Massive $21 Million Autism Program Scam — Taxpayer Cash Sent Overseas!

The Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) has arrested two Muslim women in Minnesota for defrauding American taxpayers of more than $21 million through a brazen scheme targeting the state’s autism services program.

Shamso Ahmed Hassan, 55, and Hanaan Mursal Yusuf, 25, both of Brooklyn Park, were taken into custody by HSI agents. Federal prosecutors say the pair submitted $46.6 million in fraudulent claims to Minnesota’s Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention (EIDBI) program — a Medicaid-funded service for children with autism — and pocketed approximately $21.1 million in taxpayer money for services that were never provided.

According to the DHS statement and indictment:

  • Hassan was a beneficial owner of Smart Therapy Center LLC and Star Autism Center LLC but hid her ownership interests from Minnesota regulators as required.
  • Yusuf worked as a provider and was heavily involved in operations and submitting claims.
  • They paid illegal kickbacks to parents to enroll children.
  • They billed for services that were never rendered, for children who didn’t qualify, and disguised the kickbacks by routing money through family members and employees — with some funds sent overseas.
  • The scheme ran from at least May 2020 through December 2024.

“These Minnesota residents have been accused of stealing more than $21 million from the American taxpayer,” said Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis.

“They now face charges of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, EIGHT counts of health care fraud, and TWO counts of money laundering. Their Medicaid fraud scheme started during the COVID pandemic and lasted for four years. ICE continues to zero in on the rampant fraud in Minnesota. Under Secretary Mullin, we will end the defrauding of the American people.”

Both women are U.S. citizens (Hassan naturalized). They have pleaded not guilty and remain in federal custody.

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Five years after the ‘unmarked graves’ claim, Canada still has no bodies — but plenty of demands for silence

The fifth anniversary of the claim that the remains of 215 Indian residential school students had been discovered at Kamloops, BC, has come and gone. Despite the fact that millions of dollars have been spent, and not one body has been found, there have been no apologies from those who made the claim. Quite the contrary, Canada’s Indian chiefs are now demanding the criminal prosecution of anyone who even questions the claim. As they see it, anyone disputing their claim — or even claiming that former residential school students had positive experiences at the schools — should be found guilty of “residential school denialism,” and severely sanctioned — even jailed.

Ottawa appears to be ready to oblige. Bill C-413 would make me a criminal for writing this article — and perhaps you for reading it and passing it on.

But if they get their way, they had better build a very big jail. And they will have to be prepared to throw many former residential school students in that jail. Because it is not hard to find positive residential school experiences described by former students.

Here is an example of a man heaping praise on his residential school and the dedicated people there who gave him a first-class education. According to him, if not for the years he spent at his residential school, he would have died as a drunk on skid row, like so many of his reserve friends. Instead, he went on to become a successful lawyer. He credited the 14 years he spent at a residential school for making that success possible. 

That fellow is Wilton Littlechild, who happens to be one of the three Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Commissioners. He certainly changed his tune later, but for most of his life, he and his family considered themselves very fortunate for his education at the school. Every year, the family and community held a picnic at their rural home, with the chiefs in attendance, to honour the teachers and staff who gave their son and friends the education so many Indians didn’t receive.

Littleton shared this revelation during a 2011 interview with University of New Brunswick students and at a TRC hearing. You can read the full interview at Speak Truth to Power Canada. 

Will Mr. Littlechild be jailed for making these comments about his overwhelmingly positive experience at his residential school?

And while we are on the subject of TRC commissioners, here is what the late Commissioner Murray Sinclair had to say about residential schools.

“While the TRC heard many experiences of unspeakable abuse, we have been heartened by testimonies which affirm the dedication and compassion of committed educators who sought to nurture the children in their care. These experiences must also be heard.”

Would Sinclair have been prosecuted for that?

Sinclair’s grandmother — the grandmother who raised him, and who Sinclair credited for his success — received her education at a residential school. Would the chiefs have her jailed for repeatedly declaring how lucky she had been to have had a residential school education?

Then there is the famous Indian playwright and musician, Tomson Highway, who wrote a book about his experiences at the Guy Hill Residential School near The Pas, Manitoba. He described his experience there as overwhelmingly positive.

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