Free Republic

In the end, the most appalling thing about the ballooning US social-services fraud scandals is the eager collusion of state officials in robbing the public by the billions — with Minnesota the early prime example. Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday asked the Justice Department to investigate and perhaps prosecute Gov. Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison and other high officials over the evidence laid out in a devastating House Oversight Committee report on benefit fraud in Minnesota. The committee documented how more than 30 whistleblowers tried to sound the alarm on fraud, only to be silenced by the Democrats...

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison knew about widespread taxpayer fraud in the state's welfare programs as early as spring 2019, but took no action and instead the state retaliated against workers who tried to expose the abuses, a bombshell congressional report released Monday concluded. The House Oversight and Accountability Committee referred its findings from a months-long probe into $9 billion-plus in fraud schemes in Minnesota to Vice President JD Vance, raising serious concerns Democrats in the state turned a blind eye to the taxpayer losses because they feared "political retribution from the politically active Somali community,"...

This week, the House Committee on Homeland Security held a hearing detailing how non-governmental organizations (NGOs) helped facilitate and benefited from the historic Biden-Harris border crisis, as well as how far-left NGOs are still working to help inadmissible aliens undermine federal immigration law under the Trump administration. In the hearing, witnesses laid out in detail how NGOs received more than $6 billion from the Biden-Harris administration, including through grants from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and others. They also testified about how the Biden-Harris administration handed over unaccompanied alien children (UACs)...

While Alan Milburn was busy insisting that Britain's youth worklessness crisis has nothing to do with immigration, a think tank quietly published figures that told a very different story. According to the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), which was set up by former work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith, 27 young non-EU migrants have been hired for every one young British worker since 2020. In other words, while the number of non-EU under-25s on UK payrolls has risen by 290,000 since the start of the decade, the number of young Britons employed increased by just 11,000 over the same...

Last week, the FBI raided 22 shady day-care businesses in Minneapolis, Minn., as the federal government expanded its investigation of social-services fraud there. On Monday, Vice President JD Vance added Columbus, Ohio, to his fraud task force’s agenda in the wake of a new report alleging a billion-dollar Medicaid scam. Both investigations were spurred by the dogged work of citizen and independent journalists like Nick Shirley in Minneapolis and Luke Rosiak in Columbus, who knocked on doors and interviewed dozens of supposed service providers to uncover the truth about fraudsters who may have bilked the federal government of billions. And...

How easy is it for illegal votes to be cast in California? Consider the absurd example of Laura Yourex. After receiving six voter registration cards at her home of two residents, Yourex, as a lark, and to prove a point, successfully registered her dog Maya to vote –– and then submitted ballots on her canine’s behalf. The real scandal is not that a woman was able to get her dog to vote, however. The actual threat to California’s democracy lies in the response of state officials when presented with evidence or allegations of serious problems in the state’s elections. Rather...

... The effectiveness of the blockade is already apparent; the propaganda bots on social media are scrambling to find a narrative to counter it, but they are failing. Why? Because Iran already tried to lock down the strait (which is an international waterway), and any government cheering (or secretly cheering) for Iran’s actions is now unable to make a rational argument against the US doing the same thing to Iran. ...I think it’s vitally important to address some lies and disinformation being spread by propagandists and foreign agents online about the US blockade, so let’s quickly go down the list…Lie...

It’s not exactly a surprise. California has become the single most corrupt state in the country and the one that is most blatant about walling its corruption around with laws. California’s legislature hid FBI investigations and costs for politicians “in the public interest”. It passed a law hiding corruption. Its capitol annex project had everyone involved signing non-disclosure agreements to hide costs. And of course it was the one place that prosecuted a man for exposing the Planned Parenthood baby parts business. The moment Somali fraud became a national story, California politicians began issuing warnings. Not to the fraudsters, but...

When intrepid young journalist Nick Shirley made his way to Minneapolis’s now notorious “Quality Learing Center,” he found not just a local scam, but also a too perfect metaphor for today’s Democratic Party. Operating behind the false front of a legitimate political party, Democrats have fashioned nothing more than a money laundering operation that exploits the anxieties of its base to empower and enrich its friends and allies. Although the seeds were planted long ago, those seeds have borne their dark fruit thanks to at least three helpful federal interventions and a major shift in newsroom zeitgeist. Exploiting migrants,...

Republican House Oversight Committee members announced that the committee had launched an investigation into claims of hospice fraud in California. “Despite clear red flags, it appears California leaders have enabled hospice providers to DEFRAUD hardworking American taxpayers,” Chairman James Comer wrote on X. “The House Oversight Committee is moving to protect taxpayer funds from waste, fraud, and abuse.” The outrage started in January when Dr. Mehmet Oz, the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), said California owed over $1 billion in Medicaid funds improperly used for health care for illegal aliens.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Minnesota officials sued the Trump administration on Tuesday for access to evidence they say they need to independently investigate three shootings by federal officers, including the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.The lawsuit claims that the federal government reneged on its promise to cooperate with state investigations after the surge of federal law enforcement in Minneapolis, and are seeking a court order demanding that the Trump administration comply. “We are prepared to fight for transparency and accountability that the federal government is desperate to avoid,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty told reporters. The lawsuit marks an...

Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio Dominguez on Friday sought to convince Canada to prop up the fading Communist regime in Havana, arguing that Canadian companies could lose billions from nullified contracts if the regime falls. De Cossio praised Cuba’s “important trade relations” with Canada and the hefty investments Canadian companies have made in Cuba. “Despite the fact that we do not have a coincidence in all the political and international positions, we have always known how to solve our problems, our differences, and work with them based on dialogue and based on mutual respect,” he said. The...

Democrats have kept the Department of Homeland Security shuttered since mid-February because they were outraged that two Americans were killed by ICE agents while interfering with their work. Since then, terrorists have claimed four American lives – a number that could have been significantly higher had fortune not prevailed. So, where are the protests over these deaths? “What’s happening in Minnesota is appalling — and unacceptable in any American city,” is how Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer justified his party’s decision to force the DHS closure. Democrats are insisting on a raft of ICE “reforms,” but their goal is simply...

The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation Wednesday to crack down on illegal immigrants participating in welfare fraud despite fierce objections from most Democrats. Lawmakers voted 231-186 to approve the Deporting Fraudsters Act, with 186 Democrats opposing the measure. The bill, sponsored by Rep. David Taylor, R-Ohio, would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to explicitly define fraud as a deportable offense. Republicans said the legislation is necessary to ensure that noncitizens who steal taxpayer dollars are no longer eligible for immigration relief services or legal protections.

John Solomon is reporting on previously suppressed information indicating that, as early as 2020, we knew the Chinese were trying to interfere in our elections and that this intelligence was covered up. The burning question is, of course, why that happened. [Youtube video at source link] Solomon’s report is based on a 7 April 2020 National Intelligence Council Assessment. That report reads in part: “We assess that China and Russia are increasing their ability to analyze and manipulate large quantities of personal information in ways that will allow them to more effectively target and influence, or coerce, individuals and groups...

Dozens of Democrats have voted against a nonbinding resolution in the House that reaffirms Iran as the "largest state sponsor of terrorism." The resolution, put forward by Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., passed by a 372-53 vote on Thursday, with all those voting no being Democrats. Two Democrats also voted present. Among those who voted against the measure were all the members of the "Squad," such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.

California officials who turned a blind eye to unemployment scams — potentially worth tens of billions of dollars during the pandemic — will now be put directly under the microscope of the federal government. The US Department of Labor is set to send a letter to the state’s Employment Development Department announcing a “strike team” will soon be touching down in the Golden State to root out theft and abuse, The California Post has learned. The investigation will be similar to efforts currently underway in Minnesota. “Financial issues and potential fraud in California’s unemployment insurance program will be fully examined,”...

January 14 , 2026 was the day Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed death warrants for Rene Good and Alex Pretti. Google AI: On January 14, 2026, Governor Tim Walz delivered a formal public address calling on Minnesota authorities to resist cooperation with federal immigration operations and urging the public to "peacefully resist" the presence of ICE agents. His statements and actions during this period include: Refusal to Cooperate: On January 14, 2026, Walz explicitly demanded that the Trump administration end its "occupation" of the state and stated that Minnesota would not facilitate federal immigration surges.Call for Public Resistance: During the...

00:30:30 AMNA NAWAZ: I also want to put to you another piece of news today. We heard from the Border Patrol, Bovino, who said on FOX the Department of Justice is also sending additional prosecutors to Minnesota to process those immigration cases. What's your reaction to that? KEITH ELLISON: Well, I mean, quite honestly, I mean, it -- I'm not shocked, 00:31:09 because the -- President Trump is making sure that he is targeting our state, which is odd because we are not a state that has the most immigration in America. Many other states have dramatically higher rates of...

The Somali-dominated Democratic political machine in Minnesota successfully silenced hundreds of government experts who tracked the huge flow of taxpayer funds through Somali-run businesses, a top Minnesota Republican told a House hearing on Wednesday. Up to 1,000 government auditors, accountants, and program managers were silenced by Democratic threats, Minnesota House Rep. Marion Rarick told a House hearing: The most severe ones was that they would be fired with cause so they couldn’t have unemployment insurance, that they would be blacklisted from all state agencies… [including] Hennepin County, Ramsey County. As you know, those are Democrat-run. Many government experts, non-government professionals,...