Tag: taxes

CA Mayor Drops a Bombshell On the NGO Scheme Defrauding Americans

El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells appeared in an interview with Real America’s Voice host Dan Ball to criticize California’s homeless funding structure, arguing that billions of dollars intended to address homelessness are being allocated without input from local governments most affected by the crisis.

Wells said cities like El Cajon, which he said have absorbed a disproportionate share of San Diego County’s homeless population, are excluded from decisions about how homelessness funds are distributed.

He placed blame on the California Homeless Task Force and county leadership, saying elected local officials are sidelined while non-governmental organizations control the money.

“The County board says we have no idea how much is spent. To make matters worse. They’re in conjunction with a homeless Task Force, that they’re the people who are on that homeless Task Force decide where all the money goes,” Wells said.

“Well, guess who serves on that homeless Task Force. All the heads of the NGOs. So the NGO’s get to make the decisions about where the money is spent and guess where they spend it?”

Ball interrupted Wells to clarify his point, comparing the structure to allowing those who benefit from the funds to control their distribution.

“I’m sorry to interrupt you, but are you telling me that’s like letting the inmates run a prison, so the people that get to say where the money goes. Are the people that are getting the money in the nonprofit groups,” Ball asked.

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Democrats Who Let Covid-Era Child Tax Credits Expire Now Cry ‘Crisis’ Over Lapsing Obamacare Giveaway

ontrary to the media’s blaring headlines about “the health care crisis,” there’s another question the press should answer but won’t. To wit: Why is it only a “crisis” when a Covid-era entitlement expires on Republicans’ watch?

While Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., eggs on the press by pontificating about a “health care crisis” caused by the recent expiration of enhanced Obamacare subsidies, he and his colleagues selectively and cynically ignore the recent past. The same Senate Democrats who now call the lapse of enhanced Obamacare subsidies a “crisis” let a far larger Covid-era program expire on their own party’s watch with barely a peep of objection.

Covid-era Child Tax Credit

In 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act, enacted in the Biden administration’s opening months, significantly expanded the child tax credit. The law increased the maximum available credit from $2,000 per child to $3,600 per child under age 6, and $3,000 for other kids under age 18. It also made the credit fully refundable for families with no income tax liability and provided for periodic monthly disbursements to beneficiaries. But fiscal and political constraints meant that the legislation enhanced the child tax credit for 2021 only.

House Democrats included a one-year extension of the enhanced child tax credit in their so-called Build Back Better legislation, which they passed in November 2021. But objections from Sen. Joe Manchin to the costly House bill meant Schumer spent months negotiating a slimmed-down package with the West Virginia Democrat.

Senate Democrats Oppose an Extension

When that smaller package came to the Senate floor in August 2022 without an extension of the enhanced child tax credit, Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont offered an amendment extending the program for four years, funded by a corporate tax hike. All of Sanders’ Senate colleagues present that day, including all Senate Democrats, voted against his amendment, with two not voting.

On the Senate floor, Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Michael Bennet, D-Colo., both claimed they supported an extension but could not vote for Sanders’ amendment for fear it would kill the entire bill. Sanders responded with a reasonable enough question: Even if Manchin opposed his amendment, “Why would … getting 48 votes on this amendment bring the overall bill down?” He received no substantive reply.

The enhanced child tax credit that expired on Democrats’ watch had a far bigger effect than the enhanced Obamacare subsidies. Internal Revenue Service data shows that in 2021, just under 62 million children received child tax credit payments, nearly triple the roughly 21 million Americans with subsidized Obamacare coverage. The child tax credit also had a larger fiscal consequence; a permanent extension would have cost nearly $1.6 trillion over ten years, or more than four times as much as a $350 billion permanent revival of the enhanced Obamacare subsidies.

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If Fraud In Minnesota Looks Bad, Wait Till You See Gavin Newsom’s California 

As a former California state assemblyman who spent four years on the Budget Committee, I had a front-row seat to Sacramento’s obsession with “pulling down” federal dollars, turning welfare programs into a free-for-all.

Then-state Auditor Elaine Howle ran a lean operation, issuing spot-on reports about waste and vulnerabilities — and getting ignored time and again. California maximized payments for SNAP, Medi-Cal, and unemployment insurance with little regard for fraud controls.

That same reckless mindset has fueled scandals across blue states, with Minnesota serving as the appetizer to California’s main course of fiscal disaster.

Minnesota’s Feeding Our Future fraud — where crooks were convicted last March of pocketing $250-300 million in federal child nutrition funds by claiming phantom meals for kids — was a mere fraction of what was to come.

Today, Minnesota’s likely fraud toll has ballooned, with nearly $9 billion in suspected Medicaid scams since 2018, involving fake providers, ghost services, and out-of-state hustlers. Despite 80 charged, 50-plus guilty pleas, and assets like luxury cars forfeited in the Feeding Our Future scam, recoveries are a drop in the bucket. State agencies have ignored red flags, paralyzed by fears of discrimination lawsuits — or even just being labeled “racists.” And that allowed fraudsters to run wild.

But if Minnesota’s the starter, California’s the feast.

The Golden State’s Covid-19 unemployment insurance debacle at the Employment Development Department (EDD) was a masterclass in negligence: $177 billion paid out, with fraud hitting $20 billion by official counts and up to $32.6 billion by independent estimates. Scammers exploited lax ID checks, using stolen Social Security numbers for bogus claims while the real workers who owned those SSNs labored for their daily bread.

The financial recoveries? Pathetic.

And now, in an effort to repay $20-23 billion in federal loans, businesses have been slapped with their fifth year of Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) surcharges — $84 per employee extra in 2025, rising yearly. In other words, Gavin Newsom’s California punishes job creators for his government’s failure. Interest could soon top $1 billion annually, with ongoing unemployment insurance shortfalls piling on.

Then there’s the expansion of Medi-Cal to cover illegal aliens, fully implemented in 2024. Promised costs: $3 billion or more a year. Actual costs: $9.5 billion, with $8.4 million coming from the General Fund in 2024-25, enrollment nearing 2 million, and per-person expenses soaring.

California isn’t legally allowed to spend federal money on covering illegal aliens. But through the magic of financial fungibility, California has figured out how to force taxpayers in Texas and Florida to pick up the tab. This must stop.

Facing a big budget blowout, Sacramento froze new adult enrollments from January 2026, axed dental benefits for this group, and slapped on $30 monthly premiums starting in 2027. All of this is projected to save roughly $80 million short-term but billions over time.

Yet it still drains resources from citizens, pulling in indirect federal funds while exposing taxpayers to runaway costs.

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‘No one is above the law.’ Former New Haven police chief admitted to stealing at least $10,000, city officials say

The city of New Haven is freezing a police bank account used to fund its confidential informant program after former police chief Karl Jacobson admitted to stealing thousands of dollars from it.

City officials shared new details about the investigation Wednesday.

The scandal began on Monday, when a group of assistant chiefs questioned Jacobson about discrepancies in withdrawals from the city’s confidential informant fund.

Mayor Justin Elicker says the former police chief admitted to stealing $10,000 from the city, but the amount could actually be more.

“Everything I’ve heard from everyone is just how shocked they are,” Mayor Elicker says. “I want to make it clear: we do not know how much money was taken.”

Jacobsen oversaw the account as assistant chief.

Despite calls for him to relinquish control when he was promoted to chief, city officials say Jacobson continued to make authorized routine withdrawals of $5,000 each month from the account to pay confidential informants.

“What the chief had done was basically make it where he would be the sole holder of the money,” acting police chief David Zannelli says, “and what he would say to us commonly is that he was doing that to protect us from any kind of liability.”

The preliminary investigation uncovered two extra $5,000 withdrawals were made by Jacobson at the end of 2025: one in November, and another in December.

Mayor Elicker was originally going to place him on administrative leave, but Jacobson said he was retiring instead.

The confidential informant program has been paused as state investigators work to find out if any other city bank accounts were affected and if any other police officers were involved.

“No one is above the law, and we are all held accountable,” acting police chief David Zannelli says. “We will move forward as a police department.”

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James Comer Says Ilhan Omar Is “At the Top of the Suspect List” in Massive Minnesota Fraud Scandal — Ethics Complaints Incoming, Claims Her Husband Profited

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer dropped a bombshell this week, suggesting that far-left Rep. Ilhan Omar sits “at the top of the suspect list” in the sprawling Minnesota fraud scandals involving taxpayer-funded daycare and healthcare programs.

The comments came during a pointed exchange with journalist Alison Steinberg, who raised serious concerns about whether members of Congress themselves may have benefited from money funneled through political action committees tied to fraudulent daycare and healthcare schemes.

The Gateway Pundit previously reported that retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn has leveled explosive allegations against Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, claiming that a lack of accountability regarding massive taxpayer fraud in Minnesota is linked to the Speaker’s own financial networks.

Minnesota has become ground zero for some of the largest pandemic-era fraud cases in U.S. history, involving the alleged theft of hundreds of millions of dollars intended to feed children and provide healthcare services.

Many of these cases have centered on networks tied to Somali-run nonprofits and daycare operations, fraud that went unchecked for years under Democrat leadership.

When asked how Americans can trust Congress to police fraud if lawmakers themselves are implicated, Comer made it clear that there is a formal mechanism to deal with corruption on Capitol Hill.

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Why Netanyahu says it’s time to cut US aid to Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a wide‑ranging interview with “The Economist,” published Friday, that he intends to completely end Israel’s reliance on U.S. security assistance within the next 10 years — and that “the move is already underway.”

In the interview, conducted during Netanyahu’s visit to Mar‑a‑Lago about two weeks ago, the prime minister publicly revealed for the first time that he will not seek a full renewal of the annual $3.8 billion security aid package set to expire in 2028. “I want to reduce military aid within the next 10 years,” he said, answering “yes” when asked if his intention was to zero out dependence. In discussions between Netanyahu and Trump at Mar‑a‑Lago, teams were agreed on to negotiate future aid.

Netanyahu explained that Israel has “matured” and developed impressive economic capabilities, with the economy expected to reach $1 trillion within the coming decade. “We want to be as independent as possible,” Netanyahu stressed, adding that he will continue “to fight for the loyalty and support of the American people” — but greater independence could also help in the battle against the “propaganda war” against Israel.

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ICE Resistance Groups Growing, Some Funded by Soros, U.S. Government, and Linked to Terrorism

Anti-ICE activism has evolved into coordinated resistance networks that employ surveillance, harassment, and interference tactics. Organizations train activists in resistance methods, track ICE agents’ movements through mobile apps and crowdsourced databases, and conduct campaigns designed to obstruct immigration enforcement operations.

These efforts include doxing ICE agents, issuing threats against their homes and families, and running coordinated online propaganda campaigns that rely on altered or misleading videos. Posts may show ICE breaking a window while omitting that the occupant refused to open it, or claim agents “chased” someone without noting the individual was fleeing to evade arrest. Videos of agents wrestling with arrestees are circulated without acknowledging that the person resisted arrest, and outrage is expressed when a U.S. citizen is arrested while omitting that the citizen assaulted or interfered with federal officers.

Activists also claim there is no due process, despite the fact that a large percentage of deportees have outstanding final orders of deportation that were never enforced. They argue people are being denied access to courts when, in reality, many individuals are already in the country illegally and are arrested after attempting to legalize their status through a green card application or marriage to a citizen. Activists then claim the individual “showed up for a regular immigration hearing” or was “trying to do it the right way,” even though once someone is in the country illegally, there is generally no legal path to adjust status.

To further vilify ICE and encourage resistance, media figures, activists, and public officials in sanctuary jurisdictions use loaded language such as “abducted” instead of arrested and “whisked away” instead of detained. Officials vow to protect constituents from ICE, despite the fact that ICE arrests and deports illegal aliens, not lawful residents or citizens. There would be no violence at all if people stopped interfering with lawful enforcement actions.

Against this backdrop of negative framing and propaganda, several activist organizations are actively coordinating interference with ICE operations, escalating tensions and increasing the risk of unnecessary violence.

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DOJ to investigate ‘anti-white’ taxpayer-funded ‘BIPOC youth’ swimming program in Oregon over civil rights violations

The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division said it will investigate a taxpayer-funded program in Eugene, Oregon, that limits participation to “BIPOC youth.”

The social media account Libs of TikTok posted a flyer on X for the “BIPOC Water Safety and Lifeguard Cohort” in Eugene. The flyer states, “We invite BIPOC youth to join us where they are at being comfortable in the water. Whether working on increasing water safety skills or pursuing lifeguard certification, this cohort is here to support your goals. Funded by the community safety payroll tax in partnership with the Youth Empowerment Program.”

BIPOC is an acronym for “black, indigenous, people of color,” meaning the program is restricted to participants of those racial backgrounds. According to the City of Eugene’s website, the class is offered for free, unlike other youth programs, and is funded through the community safety payroll tax in partnership with the Youth Empowerment Program.

Libs of TikTok criticized the program, writing on X, “Your tax dollars are being spent on anti-White discrimination,” while tagging Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon. “This is illegal.”

Dhillon responded on X, confirming that the DOJ would look into the matter. “Racially discriminatory government programs are presumptively illegal,” she wrote.

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Fraud ignored: Former Homeland Security investigator reveals how fraud cases weren’t prosecuted

Jeremy Christenson, a former Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agent, joined Liz Collin on her podcast and explained how cases of cash smuggling and fraudulent day care centers were ignored by prosecutors.

Christenson, who worked as a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agent for 16 years, is also a former air marshal and police officer in Minnesota.

Christensen said many of the cases he investigated “went away into thin air.” He had concerns ever since he started investigating cases of fraud in Minnesota some 10 years ago. But with Somali fraud making national headlines, he had to bring what he witnessed as an investigator to light.

Fraudulent day care investigations, back in 2015

Christenson told Collin that “around 2015, a case landed on my desk from my supervisor. He advised me that the state was running a fraud case regarding daycare fraud in Minneapolis through Health and Human Services or Department of Human Services.”

“Over the next several weeks and months, I attended … planning meetings with this task force of about 20 personnel of various law enforcement agencies, the Health and Human Services, BCA, St. Paul PD, Minneapolis PD and it was all revolving around fraudulent daycares,” Christenson said.

“They were setting up sham daycares, fake bills, fake students, or just enrolling students that never came,” he added.

Christenson also pointed out a suspicious detail: “Never — not one of the daycares I served warrants on, not one person was ever present.”

As for evidence, he explained how investigators found “empty buildings, stacks of invoices, and student records of people that our surveillance showed never went there.”

But what happened next has bothered Christenson ever since. He said the investigative task force “all of sudden, it just evaporated — just went away into thin air.”

As for the investigation into the fraudulent day care centers in the Twin Cities, Christenson said he had “no idea whatever happened with the case.”

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Prosecutor Calls Newsom ‘King Of Fraud’ For Oversight Failures

U.S. First Assistant Attorney Bill Essayli Thursday called California Gov. Gavin Newsom “the king of fraud,” accusing him of a lack of oversight on spending to address homelessness.

Essayli made the comments on the “Fox and Friends” telecast, during which he discussed the federal fraud charges that were filed in October against real estate executives Steven Taylor and Cody Holmes for allegedly misusing grant money meant for homeless housing.

Holmes, 31, of Beverly Hills was charged with mail fraud charge that was allegedly linked to millions of dollars in grant money that the state paid Shangri-La Industries to purchase, build and operate homeless housing in Thousand Oaks, just north of Los Angeles. Holmes was Shangri-La’s chief financial officer.

Taylor, 44, of Brentwood, was charged with seven counts of bank fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft and one count of money laundering.

Essayli Thursday said the charges are the “tip of the iceberg” in an investigation he launched with a task force in April. He said more charges would be coming, probably later this month.

The state spent $24 billion in the last five years to address homelessness and can’t account for where the money went, Essayli said on “Fox and Friends.”

President Donald Trump on Tuesday on X said,  “California, under Governor Gavin Newscum, is more corrupt than Minnesota, if that’s possible??? The Fraud investigation of California has begun.”

Newsom’s press office fired back on X. It called Trump a liar and noted Newsom has “BLOCKED $125 billion in fraud, arrested criminal parasites leaching off of taxpayers, and protected taxpayers from the exact kind of scam artists Trump celebrates, excuses, and pardons.”

The Center Square reached out Thursday afternoon to the governor’s office, but did not get a response.

When The Center Square asked the White House Thursday about Newsom, the press office pointed to Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s comments during a press briefing on Wednesday. Leavitt told reporters that Trump has directed all agencies to look at federal spending programs “in not just Minnesota, but also in the state of California, to identify fraud and to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law, all those who have committed it.”

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