Tag: taxes

Trump Admin’s $20 Billion ‘Bail Out’ for Argentina’s Milei Raises Eyebrows

The Trump administration says it is working to provide tens of billions of dollars to Argentina’s President Javier Milei, in a financial bailout that many critics say clashes with President Donald Trump’s “America First” platform.

The U.S. State Department told Newsweek Thursday that the America First Foreign Assistance programs must align with administration policies and advance concrete U.S. national interests.

Why It Matters

On Wednesday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed the United States is in talks to provide $20 billion to Milei. The announcement comes months after the Trump administration dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in an effort to instead support programs aligned with Trump’s “America First” agenda.

Argentina is one of the largest South American economies and has notable natural resources, including oil, gas, uranium, and lithium, which are often used in batteries.

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Joy Reid Thinks Freedom is Dangerous — Warns Conservatives Want No Income Tax, No Regulations, Unlimited Wealth, and Generational Prosperity Without Taxes

Race-baiter Joy Reid sat down with BET Networks’ Miabelle and unleashed a tirade against what she calls the “dangerous” plans of conservatives and MAGA Republicans.

According to Reid, the real threat to America isn’t skyrocketing crime, open borders, or inflation, it’s the horrifying prospect of… freedom?

During the interview, the two discussed “Project Esther,” a Heritage Foundation initiative.

According to Reid, the project isn’t about protecting free speech or academic integrity, it’s a “conservative scheme” to suppress pro-Palestinian protests, silence dissent, and, somehow, force women back into the home.

Joy Reid: “And so Project Esther has those twin goals—protecting Israel from protests and criticism by making that criticism basically illegal, shutting down those protests on college campuses, and forcing women back into the home.”

According to Reid, conservatives want to enslave Black Americans all over again.

Reid went on to claim that Republicans are “desperately” trying to restore a “hierarchical past” from the 1890s or earlier, where there were no taxes, no regulations, and no “natural rights” for working Americans.

Of course, she left out the fact that it was Democrats who ran Jim Crow, Democrats who enforced segregation, and Democrats who blocked civil rights bills for decades.

Miabelle: Wow. And what does this mean for Black people?

Joy Reid: Well, what we always have to remember is that when they say they want women back home, they don’t mean us, because they do want us in the home cooking for the white family.

Miabelle: Yes.

Joy Reid: They want back the kind of world in the 1950s, where the only time you saw a Black woman, she had a maid’s uniform on, and she was taking care of your children. And the only time they saw a Black man was when he was their butler or their driver.

They really miss the hierarchical past that we tried to leave behind, but that’s not that old — we’re talking about the 1950s.

They desperately want that world back, if not the ’40s, ’30s, or the 1890s. So, the goal of trying to force the country backwards to that late 19th century or early 20th century — they’re very serious about it.

And one of the reasons they’re so serious about it is that if you go back before the 20th century, there were no income taxes, there were no regulations on business. You could earn as much money as you wanted, and leave 100% of it to your children with no taxes.

That’s the world they want back. And to get it back, they need society to change. They need people to be less modern. They need people to want fewer things. They need people to be satisfied just being workers.

And they don’t really believe that any of us have natural rights. They believe only the super rich, only the billionaires have real, true rights, and everyone else are just workers.

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‘Our taxpayers will now foot the bill’: Utah County hires attorney to represent Tyler Robinson, accused in Charlie Kirk killing

Utah County officials announced Wednesday afternoon that the county has contracted with a prominent public defender to represent Tyler James Robinson, the 22-year-old man accused of fatally shooting conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

The Utah County Commission on Wednesday approved the contract for defense attorney Kathryn Nester to represent Robinson. He is accused of shooting Kirk, the controversial Turning Point USA founder, on Sept. 10 while Kirk was speaking in front of thousands at Utah Valley University.

Robinson faces a potential death penalty if he is convicted. Utah County prosecutors charged him with seven counts, including aggravated murder. He also faces charges accusing him of illegally discharging a firearm, obstructing justice, witness tampering and committing violence in the presence of children.

During his first court appearance last week, a judge found that Robinson could not afford his own attorney — so Utah County is now constitutionally required to foot the bill.

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Report: PA Dem House Candidate Funneled Money Meant to Help Recovering Opioid Addicts to Bring Kids ‘LGBTQ+ Youth’ Center Offering ‘Medical Transition’ Seminars

According to a disturbing report from the Washington Free Beacon,  Democratic House candidate in Pennsylvania, Bob Harvie, funneled money away meant to help recovering opioid addicts and instead sent them to push an LGBTQ agenda.

According to the report, the funds went to transport minors to an “LGBTQ-youth” center that offers “medical transition” seminars for kids as young as 14.

The Washington Free Beacon reports:

The Bucks County, Pa., Board of Commissioners, which Harvie chairs, approved a $13,500-grant in December to Planned Parenthood Keystone for “Expanding Services and Transportation” to the Rainbow Room, a local center that caters to gay and trans youth. The grant was used to transport high school students to Rainbow Room functions, the Delaware Valley Journal reported earlier this year. Its funding came from the county’s Opioid Settlement Fund, which is due to receive $70 million from drug distributors and pharmacy chains over the next 18 years.

Rainbow Room functions include seminars like “SEX ED NIGHT / M*STURB*TION,” which the center held in May 2024. A pamphlet advertising the event shows a photo of a woman’s hand massaging a watermelon designed to represent the female anatomy. In 2023, the Rainbow Room hosted a “Queer Prom,” where attendees as young as 13 were given goody bags with condoms, lubricant, and dental dams, used to prevent the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases during oral sex.

Earlier this week, meanwhile, the center held a “translating transition” seminar meant to teach kids as young as 14 “the basics of transgender identities, social transition, medical transition, and more!” In 2020, it hosted representatives of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Gender Clinic to discuss “transition issues for trans kids.” The hospital has faced intense scrutiny for providing hormone treatments like puberty blockers to young trans children, and for performing “gender-reassignment” procedures, more commonly known as sex-change operations.

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“We’re Going to See An Astronaut Death”: Government Report Issues Dire Warning Over Trump’s Budget Cuts to NASA

With the US Federal government nearing a possible shutdown, the future of NASA hangs in the balance, and Senate investigators say the space agency’s legendary safety culture, born out of the Challenger and Columbia tragedies, is being systematically dismantled.

This is being achieved, officials warn, by a political campaign to impose unapproved budget cuts, leaving engineers afraid to speak and astronauts at heightened risk.

Under the Trump administration, budget proposals saw a 25% slash in NASA’s funding, dropping the space agency’s overall budget to $18.8 billion, down from just over $24 billion in 2020. Experts and NASA employees are concerned that this could mean not only the demise of several projects but also the loss of hard-learned safety protocols.

“The new culture of fear at NASA jeopardizes safety and security,” the 21-page report, written by members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, warns. The report cites whistleblowers who have “already seen safety impacts” from orders to enact President Trump’s fiscal-2026 spending plan, even though Congress has not agreed to it. 

The report states that these new internal budget shifts are part of an “illegal plot” that would ignore congressional funding levels. However, the courts have already established some precedent concerning their political swing towards the White House. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to temporarily withhold nearly $4 billion in previously appropriated foreign aid while the justices consider the constitutional issues. 

According to testimony collected over the summer, managers repeatedly told employees to shift their focus to do what was in the “PBR,” slang for the President’s Budget Request, and to disregard work that “is not in the PBR” because “it does not count.”

With everyone focused on shifting to the PBR, the report states that NASA employees are “keeping their heads down,” with one veteran engineer noting that workers fear bringing safety concerns forward, fearing retaliation.

The most alarming prediction came from a senior project leader who flatly warned that “we’re going to see an astronaut death within a few years” if the new directives persist. Internal accounts describe staff members avoiding written memos to prevent creating records that could later be used against them.

The President’s plan would eliminate nearly a quarter of NASA’s workforce and slash research lines ranging from Earth-science satellites to student internships that feed the agency’s talent pipeline. Committee analysts project those cuts would erase $46 billion in economic output over the next decade and shrink the supply of U.S. researchers by more than 10,000. Simply put, these numbers translate directly into fewer eyes checking designs, running simulations, and staffing mission control consoles. 

Yet whistle-blowers insist that the harm is not theoretical but is happening now, as managers have begun canceling projects funded in the current fiscal year appropriation. Leaked internal documents and emails show that NASA’s departments have all been told by the agency’s administration to pivot to the new Presidential budget, and “not any budget approved by Congress.” One message, dated June 27th, 2025, states, “We have to begin preparing to align our workforce and resources now to meet the mission priorities it outlines.”

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Trump Admin Seeks to Block Harvard From Federal Funding Through HHS

The Trump administration said on Sept. 29 that it was referring Harvard University for proceedings that could end with the university losing federal funding over alleged civil rights violations.

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act generally prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin. According to the Health and Human Services (HHS) Department, Harvard violated Title VI through “deliberate indifference” to anti-Semitic discrimination and harassment on campus after the Hamas-led terrorist attack of Oct. 7, 2023, on Israel.

HHS Office of Civil Rights (OCR) Director Paula Stannard said in the press release that “OCR’s referral of Harvard for formal administrative proceedings reflects OCR’s commitment to safeguard both taxpayer investments and the broader public interest.”

“Congress has empowered Federal agencies to pursue Title VI compliance through formal enforcement mechanisms, including the termination of funding or denial of future Federal financial assistance, when voluntary compliance cannot be achieved,” she continued.

The university is expected to undergo a proceeding where an administrative law judge within HHS determines whether Harvard in fact violated Title VI. It’s also being referred for proceedings under a program that could result in suspension or debarment–both of which entail government-wide blocks on participation in federal procurement for periods of time.

HHS’s announcement comes alongside multiple actions that the Trump administration has taken against Harvard and other universities over alleged civil rights violations, including a separate HHS investigation into suspected race-based discrimination in the Harvard Law Review.

Harvard did not respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment before publishing time.

Harvard sued the Trump administration earlier this year after the administration announced it would freeze billions of dollars in funding for the university. After months of litigation, a federal judge in Massachusetts ruled that the administration was violating the First Amendment.

“The government-initiated onslaught against Harvard was much more about promoting a governmental orthodoxy in violation of the First Amendment than about anything else, including fighting antisemitism,” U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs said.

The administration made several demands that Burroughs said included changes to activities protected by the First Amendment. These protected rights include a school’s ability to manage its academic community and evaluate teaching without government interference.

Burroughs also said that the university was taking steps to combat anti-Semitism. “Harvard is currently, even if belatedly, taking steps it needs to take to combat antisemitism and seems willing to do even more if need be,” she said.

Harvard President Alan Garber similarly said that the university has implemented a series of campus measures designed to fight anti-Semitism.

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Government Education Is Unconstitutional, Says Top US Law Professor

Government education of children funded by taxes represents an unconstitutional establishment of religion and as such, it violates the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment and protections for religious liberty, warns Liberty University Law Professor Jeffrey Tuomala in a powerful new paper. Tuomala’s unequivocal conclusion that state “education” must go joins a growing chorus of legal arguments seeking to fundamentally re-think American education. Indeed, more and more prominent legal minds are now openly arguing that government schools violate the Constitution and must be shut down.   

Writing in Volume 18, Issue 4, of the Liberty University Law Review under the headline “Is Tax-Funded Education Unconstitutional?,” Tuomala takes aim at what he describes as government schools’ efforts to exert illegitimate control over the minds of students. He concludes that government schools must give way to privately funded Christian education.

The explosive paper, published last year, argues that the worldview underpinning public education falsely divides reality between “secular” and “religious.” And yet, a proper definition of religion such as those offered by some of America’s founders in the late 1700s would blow up the whole system.

“The present critique is not simply based on an originalist theory of constitutional interpretation, but rather it reflects a law-of-nature principle that civil government has no jurisdiction over the mind,” argues Tuomala in the abstract of his paper, which runs well over 100 pages.  

Part of the problem is longstanding public and judicial confusion about the meaning of the term “religion” itself. As Tuomala explains in his paper, the U.S. Supreme Court has never made a serious effort to define it, other than mentioning past sources. And so, he goes to great lengths to help properly define the term by citing legendary legal minds of the past.

Two of America’s most important Founding Fathers — Thomas Jefferson and James Madison — put a great deal of thought into the meaning of religion. Tuomala cites their views in his paper, describing in depth how Virginia, under their guidance, disestablished the official Anglican church and instituted religious freedom.

The principles articulated by those towering Founding Fathers during the critical battle in Virginia laid the foundation for the Constitution’s First Amendment. That provision, which prohibits federal laws respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, cannot be understood without the historical context.

In the Virginia Declaration of Rights, Madison and George Mason defined religion succinctly: “The duty which we owe to our Creator and the manner of discharging it.” Jefferson, meanwhile, blasted state efforts to interfere with one’s views. “Almighty God hath created the mind free,” he wrote in the “Statute for Establishing Religious Freedom.”

And yet, today, government is shaping the minds of over 60 million American children by “educating” them for at least five days a week for 12 years with ideas that are profoundly religious. “Public schools have become the chief means by which all levels of civil government have established religion in the United States,” explains Tuomala’s paper.

Ironically, even John Dewey, widely recognized as the architect of America’s modern government-school regime, acknowledged that his humanistic views were deeply religious. More and more, values, morals, and modes of thinking that are outright pagan are taught to children in government schools as if they were the only possible truth.  

Despite the godlessness and even pagan nature of modern government-controlled education, there are powerful similarities with what the Constitution prohibits in terms of religion. “The parallels between the forms of state-church relationships and state-school relationships — as establishments of religion — are striking,” Tuomala continues.

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States forgave billions in fraudulent pandemic benefits

It was bad enough that fraudsters stole tens of billions of dollars in bogus pandemic-era unemployment benefits — now it turns out states forgave much of that money without even trying to claw it back.

The exact amount won’t ever be known, though it could stretch into billions. The Labor Department’s inspector general blamed poor decision-making and antiquated systems in the states, which administer the unemployment program with federal backstop funds during the pandemic.

Investigators did a deep dive into Michigan and Massachusetts, which they identified as particular offenders, and found the states forgave people who were using clearly stolen Social Security numbers or suspicious emails or physical addresses that kept popping up in other fraud cases.

Among the claims paid out by Michigan — and later forgiven — was one where the person used an out-of-state Social Security number, gave an address in Alabama, and hadn’t reported any earnings before the pandemic. The state had confirmed that it was a fraudulent application, yet still forgave the money, meaning the fraudster wasn’t asked to pay it back.

In another case, Michigan determined a claim was the result of identity theft. A year later, it still forgave that money.

The inspector general said Michigan waived recovery for nearly 18,000 cases of confirmed fraud.

Massachusetts, meanwhile, set up an “honor system” for some people to ask to be excused from sending back overpayments in pandemic unemployment benefits.

It turned out to be a mistake, the new audit said Monday.

Investigators sampled 121 claims that used the state’s “one-click” waiver request program and found none of them had any documentation to prove they met the hardship standards for keeping taxpayers’ money.

What documentation existed in the files showed the people were “at fault” and shouldn’t have qualified anyway. That included some people who voluntarily quit, some who actually had jobs even as they were collecting unemployment and others who were fired for deliberate misconduct.

Like Michigan, Massachusetts also paid out money — and then waived repayment requirements — to applications that reeked of fraud.

That included one claim, paid $6,804, that used a Social Security number and physical address that were also used in three other states. One of those was Michigan.

“Massachusetts waived the recovery of overpayments that had a high probability of fraud,” the inspector general concluded.

Investigators took a sample of 14 probably fraudulent claims and ran them by Massachusetts authorities. The state said it hadn’t flagged any of them for fraud, though it had determined they were ineligible — after first paying out weeks’ worth of benefits.

Five of them were actually on a list the feds provided to Massachusetts in 2022 as potentially fraudulent. Massachusetts said it didn’t follow up because it had already ended the claims and listed them as overpayments.

It forgave the money.

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Canadian city spends $33k of taxpayer cash giving street woke new name that NO ONE can pronounce

The City of Vancouver has been exposed for spending more than $30,000 of taxpayer cash to rename a street.

MLA Dallas Brodie slammed the city in a recent X post, leaking documents that show Vancouver paid $33,500 to rename Trutch Street.

The new name is šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmasəm Street (sh-MUS-kwee-uhm-AWH-sum), which translates to Musqueamview Street in English.

Trutch Street was named after British Columbia’s first governor general Joseph Trutch, a British colonizer who took swathes of land from First Nations people.

The previous city council voted on the rebrand in July 2021 after a request from the Musqueam Nation. It was followed through in June 2025.

Mayor Ken Sim green-lighted the project to ‘address a historic injustice and take another step forward on the path towards reconciliation.’ 

‘We recognize and honor the Musqueam people and their longstanding connection to this land,’ he wrote on X.

Brodie shamed the city for wasting hard working taxpayer dollars on the name change.

The revealed documents showed the cost breakdown that went into the rename: $10,000 on reimbursement for expenses completed, $6,000 on meetings, $7,500 on collaborative work, and another $10,000 on the event. The various costs amount to a total of $33,500.

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$400 Inflation Refund Checks Now Being Mailed Out to 8.2 Million NY Households

The state of New York will be mailing “inflation refund checks” to 8.2 million households, the governor’s office announced Friday.

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office said that up to $400 checks “will be mailed directly to eligible New Yorkers, with deliveries to continue throughout October and November” and that households do not need to apply, sign up, or take any other action to receive the checks.

According to Hochul’s office, joint tax filers with income up to $150,000 will receive a $400 payment, and joint tax filers with income between $150,001 and $300,000 will receive $300.

Single tax filers who have an income up to $75,000 will get $200, and single tax filers with incomes between $75,000 and $150,000 will get $150, the announcement said.

“Starting today, we’re sending inflation refund checks to over 8 million New Yorkers because it’s simple—this is your money and we’re putting it back in your pockets,” Hochul said in a statement about the checks.

But the check will only be sent if the person filed a New York state resident income tax return, or Form IT-201, reported income within qualifying thresholds, and was not claimed as a dependent for the tax year 2023, the New York Department of Taxation and Finance said.

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