Tag: taxes

Defense giants cash in as Iran conflict escalates

Defense contractors are winning on Wall Street, as the uncertainty of a war with Iran and increased tension in the Middle East continue to fuel substantial gains in the stock market. 

While oil prices surged the highest Monday, jumping more than 6% over fears of a global supply shortage, companies that build military equipment weren’t far behind — Lockheed Martin and RTX, formerly known as Raytheon, gained 3.3% and 4.7% respectively.

Shares of Northrop Grumman jumped the highest, ending the day up about 6%. 

As the DOW Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2% and the S&P 500 finished flat, all three of the world’s largest defense contractors hit new 52-week highs, according to Barron’s. 

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Joe Biden’s DOJ Caught Wiring $2 Million ‘Gift Grant’ Straight to Fani Willis While She Persecuted Trump

Investigative journalist John Solomon said newly obtained documents indicate that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis coordinated with federal officials while pursuing charges against President Donald Trump and his allies in Georgia.

“Today we told you that new documents we got showed that Fannie Willis was recording, was working secretly behind the scenes with the Biden Justice Department, the Biden White House and the j6 Democrats to create a double jeopardy, double drain on Donald Trump’s supporters by creating a similar indictment to Jack Smith, but in Georgia to move resources and lawyers and attention span and divide it,” Solomon said.

He argued that the collaboration resulted in parallel prosecutions that placed additional legal and financial strain on Trump and those charged alongside him.

“We have we’re supposed to have a justice system that avoids double jeopardy,” Solomon said. “But in this case, you can see the plot being created by these lawyers and by the collaboration.”

Solomon also referenced concerns previously raised by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan regarding funding tied to Willis’ office.

“Today, we raise a question, or we provide some evidence to a question that Jim Jordan raised about a year ago, the House Judiciary Committee chairman, he believed that Fani Willis’s prosecution of Trump was being underwritten by the Justice Department because he saw a stream of funding,” Solomon said.

According to Solomon, documents show that the Justice Department offered Willis a grant during the period when she was building her case against Trump and 18 co-defendants in Georgia on conspiracy and racketeering charges.

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Snow Shovelers Answered the Mayor’s Call, But Payday May Not Arrive Until Spring

New Yorkers flocked to sanitation garages this week to answer the call for emergency snow shovelers. But those winter laborers may not have realized that they likely won’t get paid for that work until spring.

Several emergency snow shovelers who worked during January’s big storm have not been paid a month afterwards, they told THE CITY. And others who worked this week said payment information was unclear or not discussed.

Dan Bennette, a 38-year-old lifelong Queens resident from South Ozone Park who began working as a snow shoveler on Jan. 26, told THE CITY that he has not yet been paid.

“They just informed us that at the end of the season, when everything is finished, that’s when they’ll cut us a check,” Benette said. “Some people have the assumption that we would be paid weekly or bi-weekly.”

Joshua Goodman, a spokesperson for the sanitation department, said people who responded to the call for shovelers and worked this week may be paid in two weeks, but this is not guaranteed. Last year, it took between four and six weeks to pay workers, he said. On the city’s 311’s website, information about emergency snow shoveling work says payment could take up to 12 weeks. 

For Bennette, he’s staying patient. The newlywed and aviation operations worker has been unemployed for about eight months — the longest he’s ever gone without a paycheck. So he welcomed the opportunity to work in the snow.

“This will get me up out of the house, off the couch and going out and being a productive person in society,” he said. 

Others he worked with were not as easy-going about the pay wait. Bennett recalled that when a fellow shoveler this week learned DSNY would not pay until March, he stood up and walked out of the garage.

Yasmine, who spoke to THE CITY this week, said her son shoveled for the city after snowfall on Dec. 14 and had to wait until the beginning of February to get paid. When DSNY called him in January and again this week asking if he wanted to work, he said no both times. Instead, he shovelled private houses and driveways and got paid the same day. 

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California bill seeks to restore Medi‑Cal coverage for undocumented adults in 2027

A proposed California bill could pave the way for undocumented Californians ages 19 and older to once again receive Medi-Cal coverage, beginning Jan. 1, 2027.

State Sen. María Elena Durazo and Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula, both Democrats, introduced the Medi‑Cal Access Restoration Act to end the freeze and reinstate full‑scope Medi‑Cal benefits for undocumented adults.

As of Thursday afternoon, the bill states that it would “make an individual who is 19 years of age or older, who does not have satisfactory immigration status, eligible for the full scope of Medi-Cal benefits subject to certain limitations, such as the payment of premiums and certain dental benefits.”

According to the Fresno Bee, California faced a deficit of more than $10 billion last year before rolling back health insurance access for undocumented adults, a benefit the state had been expanding for several years, to help balance the 2025‑26 budget.

The state is again projecting a nearly $3 billion deficit as lawmakers prepare next year’s spending plan.

Lawmakers say the freeze does not eliminate health needs and instead shifts costs to counties, hospitals and emergency rooms.

“Undocumented Californians pick our crops, build our homes, and care for our families – and they pay billions in taxes to do it,” said Senator Durazo. “Denying them basic health coverage isn’t saving money, it’s borrowing trouble. We pay more when people end up in the emergency room. SB 1422 is the fiscally responsible thing to do, and it’s the right thing to do.”

According to officials, undocumented Californians contribute $8.5 billion annually in state and local taxes and make up roughly one-tenth of the state’s workforce.

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DOE Announces $171 Million For Geothermal Expansion

The DOE released a Notice of Funding Opportunity offering up to $171.5 million for next-generation geothermal field tests and resource exploration.

The program targets field-scale demonstrations of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) for electricity generation, along with drilling to characterize and confirm hydrothermal and next-gen prospects nationwide.

The funding splits into two initial open topics: up to $100 million for EGS field tests and $71.5 million for exploratory drilling. Letters of intent are due March 27, with full applications due April 30. The move directly supports President Trump’s Executive Order “Unleashing American Energy,” according to the agency.

Geothermal currently supplies roughly 4 GW of U.S. capacity, but represents only about 0.3% of total power generation. DOE estimates the resource base could support 300 GW or more by 2050 with technology improvements, delivering firm, 24/7 baseload power that complements intermittent renewables and meets rising demand from data centers and AI infrastructure.

Recent studies show that some of the best locations in the United States for new geothermal sites are in the western part of the country and some of the southern states.

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AOC And Mamdani Push FREE DAYCARE For Illegal Aliens In SPANISH Language Ad

Radical Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has joined forces with NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani to hawk free childcare to illegal immigrants in a cringeworthy Spanish-only video, right as the city is flat broke and floats massive tax increases on hardworking New Yorkers.

This shameless handout underscores the left’s playbook: shower foreign invaders with taxpayer dollars while Trump’s America First deportation machine gears up to clear out criminal elements.

In the video, Mamdani kicks things off by admitting his Spanish is rusty, and essentially admitting he’s there to smile and nod along.

Ocasio-Cortez jumps in, assuring him, “Don’t worry, Mayor.”

She then lays out the pitch in Spanish: “If your child is turning three or age four in 2026, you can enroll them in free 3-K or Pre-K in New York City.”

She adds, “Any New York City parent, regardless of your occupation, income or immigration status is eligible to sign their child up.”

Ocasio-Cortez adds that the application comes in over 200 languages, making it crystal clear this is aimed at non-English speakers, many of whom crossed the border illegally.

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LA schools superintendent raided by FBI illegally overstayed visa before gaining legal status

As attention has turned to Los Angeles Unified School District superintendent Albert Carvalho in the wake of an FBI raid at his residence and the school district’s headquarters, a clip has resurfaced showing Carvalho admitting that he was an “undocumented migrant” in the United States.

In April 2025, Carvalho said in a speech, “I would be a hypocrite if I did not fight for those who today are facing conditions that over 40 years I faced as an undocumented migrant to this country.”

He later added that he came to the US at the age of 17, saying, “Education made me and saved me. I became a teacher, a principal, a superintendent leading the nation’s largest districts, four times selected as national superintendent of the year. Do not underestimate the power of the immigrant child who may very well become an adult who does well and good by America.”

Per the New York Times, Carvalho grew up in Portugal, and described growing up in a “poor environment,” being raised alongside his five siblings, two of whom died young, by parents with education that did not extend past the third grade.

After graduating from high school in the country, Carvalho came to the US on a visitor visa, which he overstayed and became illegally present in the country. He first worked as a dishwasher in Manhattan and eventually ended up in Miami, where he worked at restaurants, farms, and construction sites.

“Back in the mid-’80s, it was not difficult to find a job without documents,” Carvalho said. “They worked you more hours for less pay.”

He spent two years in the country illegally but eventually secured a student visa. He also obtained a Social Security number and legal work authorization. Per Governing, he eventually became a US citizen.

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RFK Jr. Blows the Whistle on $400M Autism Fraud Scheme in Minnesota

Acting HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. just appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience for the first time since taking his new role, and he did not shy away from detailing the fraud he says he uncovered after finally stepping into a position of power.

With Medicaid and Medicare alone, Kennedy said, “We lose just on Medicaid and Medicare, $100 billion a year. And it’s all just this, really, ya know, shocking, blatant fraud.”

As HHS Secretary, Kennedy described an industrialized scheme operating out of Florida, where P.O. boxes were set up for companies claiming to sell durable medical equipment like knee braces and wheelchairs.

But there’s one small problem: “They don’t have any knee braces or wheelchairs.”

However, they do have patient identification numbers.

Those ID numbers are used to bill the government for equipment that never ships. Kennedy said many of these schemes are operating out of countries like Cuba or Russia.

He then pointed to another staggering example: Los Angeles has more hospice care providers than the entire rest of the country COMBINED.

How is that possible? That’s because “it’s all fraudulent,” Kennedy said.

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Tim Walz Caught Red-Handed: Taxpayers Now Funding 12-Week Vacations for Leftist Rioters

An exchange between Cedrick Frazier and Evan Rowe focused on whether applications for a state program providing up to 12 weeks off work due to injury or harm have been connected to the use of chemical munitions during recent federal law enforcement activity.

Frazier raised concerns about reports and video footage involving federal agents operating in the state and asked whether individuals injured in those incidents had sought assistance through the program.

“It’s one question I do have,” Frazier said.

“We’ve had some federal agents in the state recently. We’ve seen video, we’ve we’ve seen video, we’ve seen We’ve seen statements and interviews, but we’ve seen how there’s been chemical munitions used on some folks that have been out exercising their First Amendment rights, and we know that those cause harm and damage.”

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CORPORATE EXODUS: Woke Target Pays Staggering $110 Million Fee to Terminate Minneapolis Lease

Woke retail giant Target Corp. has reportedly shelled out a jaw-dropping $110 million just to walk away from its massive office space in downtown Minneapolis.

The move marks a final, desperate retreat from the 51-story City Center tower, where the company once occupied nearly one million square feet of prime real estate.

Rather than waiting out a lease set to expire in 2031, Target chose to cut a massive check to wash its hands of the property.

The Star Tribune reported:

After moving out of nearly a million square feet of office space in downtown Minneapolis’ City Center building five years ago, Target paid almost $110 million last month to officially break its lease that ran through 2031.

Now the owner of the 51-story tower at 33 S. 6th St. — an entity tied to South Korean conglomerate Samsung — is preparing to list the property for sale, according to a Feb. 2 loan servicer report.

[…]

The Minneapolis-based retailer has continued to pay rent for the offices as they sat dark, making City Center a symbol of the challenges and uncertainties facing a downtown that relied heavily on its white-collar commuter crowds.

Target did try to sublet the space but didn’t have much luck beyond law firm Fox Rothschild moving into about 40,000 square feet of offices in 2022.

A spokesman for Target declined to comment on the lease-ending agreement but emphasized the company’s commitment to downtown Minneapolis as its second-largest employer. The retailer had been the biggest employer in the area for years until Hennepin Healthcare took the spot in 2024. Last summer, Target called its largest corporate unit back to the office three days a week and consolidated employees into other downtown properties near its Nicollet Mall headquarters.

Several other downtown office towers have sold in recent years, many at deep discounts as they grappled with high vacancies, maturing loans, rising borrowing costs and leery lenders.

Minneapolis, which became the national epicenter of radical “Defund the Police” rhetoric and unrest following the 2020 riots, has struggled to regain its footing.

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