Tag: taxes

Tim Walz Attacks President Trump After HHS Department Freezes Childcare Payments to Minnesota Amid Widespread Somali Fraud

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz attacked President Trump in his latest statement in response to allegations of rampant fraud in the Somali community.

Somali healthcare and daycare scammers may have stolen more than $9 billion in taxpayer money in Minnesota.

Walz lashed out at President Trump and accused him of letting fraudsters out of prison.

“We’ve spent years cracking down on fraud – referring cases to law enforcement, shutting down and auditing high-risk programs,” Walz said.

“Trump keeps letting fraudsters out of prison,” Walz said.

Later Tuesday, the Health and Human Services Department announced it is freezing all childcare payments to Minnesota amid allegations of widespread fraud.

“We have turned off the money spigot,” HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill said.

The HHS took three actions against the rampant fraud in Minnesota: All payments across the country will require justification and photo evidence before money is sent to a state.

All individuals in Nick Shirley’s video have been identified and audits have been demanded.

The HHS has also launched a fraud reporting hotline.

Walz lashed out at President Trump again.

“This is Trump’s long game,” Walz.

“We’ve spent years cracking down on fraudsters. It’s a serious issue – but this has been his plan all along,” Walz said.

“He’s politicizing the issue to defund programs that help Minnesotans,” Walz added.

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The EU imposes a €3 fee per package: more control, more revenue, and more bureaucracy at the consumer’s expense

The European Union has decided to impose a flat fee of 3 euros on small packages sent within the bloc, a measure that will come into force next year and will directly affect millions of consumers and small businesses. Under the pretext of strengthening tax collection and ensuring resources for Member States, Brussels is taking yet another step in its policy of growing control over trade and the daily lives of citizens.

According to European lawmakers, the measure aims to curb the boom in low-value online commerce, especially frequent purchases of inexpensive products. However, in practice, the fee punishes everyday consumption, makes basic goods more expensive, and reinforces the European bureaucratic apparatus, which needs to justify its constant expansion with new sources of revenue.

The fee will apply to shipments whose value does not exceed a threshold set by each country, affecting both domestic and imported products. Brussels insists that the goal is to ensure “tax fairness,” but the outcome is clear: every package will be registered, monitored, and taxed, expanding state oversight and the administrative burden on citizens and businesses.

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Walz turned ‘blind eye’ to fraud warnings in Minnesota: GOP state committee chair

Minnesota state Rep. Kristin Robbins (R) says she warned Gov. Tim Walz (D) about alleged fraud within the state’s social services programs, but to no avail.

“He has turned a blind eye for so long that he cannot deny there were so many whistleblower reports, so many media reports,” Robbins told the New York Post on Tuesday. “For them to say ‘We did not know’ is just not true.”

Robbins, chair of the Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy committee, also reposted on the social platform X a letter she sent in February to Shireen Gandhi, commissioner of the state’s Department of Human Services. In the letter, Robbins detailed allegations that multiple day care facilities fraudulently billed Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program. 

Robbins, who is running for the GOP gubernatorial nomination to take on Walz next November, added on X that she gave Walz’s administration “a roadmap to the childcare fraud” outlined by independent journalist Nick Shirley on Friday.

Shirley’s video detailing his investigation into the growing fraud scandal renewed federal scrutiny into the matter. The Department of Homeland Security has dispatched agents to Minneapolis as part of its probe, while the Small Business Administration halted grants to the state Monday. 

Asked for comment, Walz’s office pointed The Hill to an op-ed in which he denounced that “our state’s generosity has been taken advantage of by an organized group of fraudsters who’ve put their greed and self-dealing above the needs of children, seniors and people with disabilities.”

The governor’s office also noted that he has appointed a new director of program integrity to help investigate the problem, and it pointed to reporting that Robbins had failed to communicate with state agencies over whistleblower information related to the fraud.

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SAY WHAT? Liberal Politico Reporter Suggests Somali Daycare Owners Could Justifiably Shoot People for Asking Questions

Josh Gerstein, a journalist who works at the liberal outlet Politico, tweeted something on Monday night that is raising a lot of eyebrows.

In response to the explosive report from independent journalist Nick Shirley about Somali fraud at daycare centers in Minnesota, Gerstein tweeted:

“At some point, the amateur effort to knock on doors of home daycares intersects with robust stand-your-ground laws”

Who knew that liberal journos support ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws? Of course, Minnesota, being controlled by Democrats, has no such laws, but still.

Isn’t it amazing how journalists always rush to attack the person reporting the wrongdoing in a situation like this rather than calling out, you know, the wrongdoing itself?

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Jessica Tarlov of FOX News Ends the Year on a Dumb Note About Nick Shirley’s Report on Somali Fraud in Minnesota

Jessica Tarlov, the liberal panelist on The Five on FOX News, had a predictably dumb take on Nick Shirley and his explosive video report on fraud at Somali daycare centers in Minnesota.

You all know she would have a bad take on this, didn’t you? If so, Tarlov does not disappoint.

She suggests that there is ‘no way’ that Shirley actually uncovered all the fraud that he claims in his report.

Transcript via Real Clear Politics:

JESSICA TARLOV: It’s going to get incredibly complicated for [Gov. Tim Walz] and I’m sure that he and his team are talking about whether he could mount another, you know, I don’t want to say challenge because Donald Trump won’t be running again, but obviously he’s been considering 2028.

I think that that will be more difficult when something like this has gone on in your state while you are in office, even if you’re not personally involved in it. The program that he was talking about that you reference Kellyanne’s school lunches, which I’ve seen no fraud about that, that kids go to school and they get lunch and they should. Yes, school lunch is a good thing.

Sometimes breakfast too, even. Nick Shirley’s reporting there’s no way that this kid walking around uncovered $100 million worth of fraud on his own. There have been tons of people working behind the scenes quietly, including independent local journalists that have been exposing this.

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Shocking unearthed footage shows parents pretending to drop kids off at a Minnesota day care center

Shocking unearthed video from a 2018 state fraud case shows Minnesota parents dropping their children off at a day care center and then leaving with the kids moments later — as authorities probe a rampant billion-dollar fraud scheme in Minneapolis.

In the surveillance footage, dated 2015 and obtained by Fox 9, parents are seen signing their kids into the facility so providers could bill the state for full days of care for children who didn’t actually attend.

On some days, no families would even show up at all, but the day cares would still claim reimbursements from the government, the outlet reported at the time.

The alleged phony day care centers also gave kickbacks to parents involved.

Another video obtained by Fox 9 shows a man handing an envelope to a parent with an alleged kickback payment for participating in the scheme.

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San Francisco mayor sneaks through reparations bill just before Christmas that could give each black resident $5MILLION

The mayor of San Francisco discreetly approved a bill to create a fund that may eventually grant each of the city’s eligible black residents $5 million in reparations. 

Mayor Daniel Lurie quietly signed the incredibly divisive Reparations Bill just two days before Christmas. 

The ordinance establishes a Reparations Fund, as recommended by the city’s African American Reparations Advisory Committee (AARAC) in its 2023 report. 

The legislation merely establishes the fund but does not allocate any money to it – setting up the framework for any future contributions, whether they be through the city or privately donated.

The AARAC is tasked with developing ‘recommendations for repairing harm in our black communities,’ according to its website. 

Per the 2023 report, every African American adult in San Francisco should be handed a $5 million lump sum to ‘compensate the affected population for the decades of harms that they have experienced.’

While this effort has captured the most attention – and sparked the most controversy – the AARAC rattled off more than 100 suggestions, including debt relief, guaranteed annual income of $97,000, debt forgiveness and city-funded homes for black people. 

In 2023, the conservative public policy think tank Hoover Institution said the plan would cost each non-African American household in the city about $600,000 in tax dollars. 

However, Lurie told the Daily Mail that this is not the case, citing the city’s struggling finances. 

‘For several years, communities across the city have been working with the government to acknowledge the decades of harm done to San Francisco’s black community,’ Lurie wrote. 

‘While that process largely predates my administration, I am signing the legislation to create this fund in recognition of the work of so many San Franciscans and the unanimous support of the Board of Supervisors.’

But Lurie said the city is bracing for a $1 billion budget deficit next year.

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All child care payments to Minnesota are FROZEN amid daycare ‘fraud’ scandal as Tim Walz is targeted in huge crackdown

The federal government has ceased all child care payments to Minnesota amid the Democratic state’s ongoing daycare fraud scandal. 

Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Jim O’Neill announced on Thursday that funding has been frozen and demanded that Governor Tim Walz audit the centers allegedly involved. 

‘We have turned off the money spigot and we are finding the fraud,’ O’Neill declared in his statement. 

The move from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), the division of the HHS that handles child care, comes after independent journalist Nick Shirley shared footage of an apparently empty Minnesota daycare.

The facility has reportedly received millions in taxpayer funds, leading Shirley to claim that Minnesota has allowed for the ‘largest fraud in US history’ to go unchecked.

‘You have probably read the serious allegations that the state of Minnesota has funneled millions of taxpayer dollars to fraudulent daycares across Minnesota over the past decade,’ O’Neill wrote. 

O’Neill said he has activated the ‘spend defend system for all ACF payments,’ meaning that all payments going forward across the country will require proof and reasoning before the money is allocated. 

He added that he and ACF Assistant Secretary Alex Adams have identified the people involved in the scheme that Shirley allegedly unveiled. 

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US Improperly Tracked Over Half of US Military Aid for Israel

As Israel conducted a brutal onslaught in Gaza over the past two years, the Department of War did not adequately monitor most of the arms sent to Tel Aviv. 

“Before October 2023, the DoD conducted enhanced end‑use monitoring (EEUM) of defense articles the US Government provided to Israel,” a report released by the Pentagon’s Inspector General explained. “However, after October 2023, the DoD only partially complied with the requirements for conducting EEUM of defense articles provided to Israel.”

Prior to the Hamas attack in southern Israel, about 70% of weapons sent to Israel were properly monitored by the Department of War. After Israel began its genocidal military campaign, oversight dropped to 44% according to the IG. The report audited $13.4 billion in security assistance that Washington gave to Tel Aviv from October 2023 to April 2024. 

The IG warned that the lack of oversight meant the Pentagon could “not ensure accountability of sensitive US defense articles provided to Israel.

After the October 7, 2023, attack, the US rushed additional military aid to Israel. The arms fueled Israel’s onslaught in Gaza that has likely killed over 100,000 Palestinians and destroyed most of the Strip. 

The Department of War has also failed to properly track billions of dollars in weapons the US sent to Ukraine. Weapons from Ukraine turned up in the hands of African militants and European criminals. 

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Biden-era rental assistance included payments to dead tenants and noncitizens, new HUD report reveals

A report by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently revealed billions in taxpayer funds that went to “questionable” rental assistance recipients under former President Joe Biden.

The recipients included approximately 30,000 deceased tenants and thousands of potential non-citizens, according to a copy of HUD’s “Agency Financial Report” for fiscal year 2025 obtained by the New York Post.

HUD officials told the Post that a “large concentration” of the funds went to New York, California and Washington, D.C., with deceased recipients getting funds in all 50 states.

The department conducted an automation that compared a U.S. Treasury database to HUD’s records. The process uncovered 30,054 deceased tenants who were either actively enrolled in rental assistance programs or had received assistance after they passed, according to HUD’s report. The department found the possibly problematic payments through its own internal financial review and analytics, according to the report.

“A massive abuse of taxpayer dollars not only occurred under President Biden’s watch, but was effectively incentivized by his administration’s failure to implement strong financial controls resulting in billions worth of potential improper payments,” HUD Secretary Scott Turner said in a statement provided to the Post.

“HUD will continue investigating the shocking results and will take appropriate action to hold bad actors accountable,” he said. “Additionally, the Department is advancing efforts made under President Trump’s first administration to strengthen program integrity and ensure taxpayer-funded assistance serves the vulnerable communities it was intended for.”

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