Free Republic

As we’ve reported, federal prosecutors have uncovered massive fraud in Minnesota’s federally funded food child nutrition programs, where scammers – many of them of Somalian descent – allegedly ripped off over a billion dollars from taxpayers. Some are predicting the end of Gov. Tim Walz’s political career, as this went down under his watch, and it’s been revealed that Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN-05) held her campaign victory party in 2018 at a restaurant owned by a man who was convicted in March on 21 counts related to the scandal, including wire fraud, federal programs bribery and money laundering. Not a...

Repaired cracks cover the walls of every large New York Thruway rest stop near Rochester, according to a recent News10NBC investigation. The damage is visible at sites like Clarence, Pembroke, and Clifton Springs — all finished in 2023. The walls were built by Nexii, a Canadian company promoting eco-friendly materials. Applegreen, the Irish firm that rebuilt 27 rest stops with private funding, says the cracks aren’t a safety concern and repairs are ongoing. No toll or tax money funded the construction, officials confirmed.

HONG KONG — The inferno that tore through a high-rise housing estate in Hong Kong has killed at least 128 people, authorities said Friday, with some 200 people still missing and eight more arrested. Firefighters combing each apartment in the Wang Fuk Court tower complex found dozens more bodies, officials said at a news conference Friday as smoke from the blaze was still drifting in the air well over 48 hours since it broke out. Hong Kong’s Secretary for Security Chris Tang told reporters Friday that 89 bodies could not yet be identified. Seventy-nine people were injured, he said. Tang...

The Globe is willing to bet that the project will balloon to $4 to $5 billion… place your bets! By Katy Grimes, November 18, 2025 2:55 am In September 2020, while California was still suffering under Governor Gavin Newsom’s oppressive COVID restrictions, lockdowns of healthy Californians, and business and school closures, the Joint Legislative Committee on Rules held a hearing on the plans for the $543.2 million renovation of the State Capitol while ignoring actual state business urgencies. Notably, the project has ballooned to $1.5 billion – that we know of. The Globe is willing to bet that the project...

While Farghali noted that it is typical of the Muslim Brotherhood to “exploit Gaza and Palestine for money.” The Muslim Brotherhood allegedly stole half a billion dollars from donations for the Gaza Strip in a single campaign, Egyptian researcher Maher Farghali reported on Sunday. While Farghali noted that it is typical of the Muslim Brotherhood to “exploit Gaza and Palestine for money,” the difference with this incident is that Hamas condemned the theft. The association Waqf al-Ummah/Ummet Vakfı, founded by the Muslim Brotherhood, is said to have been responsible for taking half a billion, which it raised in a single...

The rebuilding cost of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge has more than doubled, and has a new expected opening of late 2030. The Key Bridge, which collapsed in March 2024 after being hit by a cargo ship, is now projected to cost $4.3 billion to $5.2 billion to rebuild, up from the previous cost estimate of $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion, CNN reported. The bridge was also originally expected to be completed by 2028. “Preliminary cost and project time estimates were made less than two weeks after the initial crash and before any engineering or design studies were conducted,” Maryland...

The U.S. Energy Department under President Donald Trump and Secretary Chris Wright is committed to saving taxpayers' money. In an Oct. 1 press release, the Energy Department announced that it had axed 321 awards which were to fund 223 different projects. The sheer scope and size of our federal government is mind-blowing. And with the national debt nearing $38 trillion, it has never been so important to cut federal spending, which is why the work of the Trump administration to reduce federal bloat is a massive win. Altogether, the Department of Energy (DOE) clarified, ending those projects saved American taxpayers...

The Obama library is a massive money laundering operation designed to funnel tax free funds to the worst terrorist elements here and abroad. Tides has also handled donations for Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, which sued the group in California Superior Court last year. It alleged “egregious mismanagement” of more than $33 million in their funds, according to court documents. That lawsuit is ongoing. And what a money laundering operation it is. Obama’s ‘presidential’ library is almost a billion over budget and three years late. It has been in the works for eight years and only half done. Originally,...

When the Obama Foundation snagged a sweetheart deal to build its beleaguered Obama Presidential Center on a Chicago public park, it pledged to create a $470 million reserve fund to spare taxpayers should the project ever go belly up. But new tax filings show the foundation has only deposited $1 million into the fund and has not added to it in years, with critics saying the empty promise could potentially leave Chicagoans on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars. Under its agreement with the city, the foundation was required to create the fund, known as an endowment, in...

An appeals court has overturned a federal judge’s ruling blocking the Environmental Protection Agency from terminating $20 billion in grants for several climate groups. A three-judge U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Tuesday issued a 2-1 ruling in favor of the Trump EPA’s efforts to slash billions of dollars in grant money to green groups obligated during former President Joe Biden‘s administration. The District of Columbia Circuit Court judges were Gregory Katsas, Neomi Rao, and Cornelia Pillard, who dissented. The district court “abused its discretion” by issuing the injunction preventing the EPA from rescinding the funds, the judges wrote. They...

The Biden Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hastily shoveled billions in taxpayer dollars to Democrat-aligned green groups without having concrete agreements in place, according to documents obtained by watchdog group Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT). The documents indicate that the Biden EPA awarded grants under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) — a program that shelled out $20 billion to nonprofits linked to Democrat donors and insiders — on a timeline that allowed changes to the terms even after the money was awarded. The Biden EPA had until September 2024 to award the taxpayer funds, and staff were advised to delay...

A United States Agency of International Development (USAID) official as well as three corporate executives have pleaded guilty in a decades-long bribery scheme connected to over $550 million in contracts. According to a press release from the Department of Justice, four men pleaded guilty to the charges of being part of the bribery scheme. The USAID official in the case was Roderick Watson, 57, of Maryland, who was a contracting officer and pleaded guilty to bribery of a public official. Walter Barnes, 46, of Maryland; Darryl Britt, 64, of Florida; and Paul Young, 62, of Maryland all pleaded guilty to...

In what may be the most valuable gift ever extended to the United States from a foreign government, the Trump administration is preparing to accept a super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from the royal family of Qatar -- a gift that is to be available for use by President Donald Trump as the new Air Force One until shortly before he leaves office, at which time ownership of the plane will be transferred to the Trump presidential library foundation, sources familiar with the proposed arrangement told ABC News. The gift is expected to be announced next week, when Trump...

A Republican lawmaker shocked Florida’s political world when he accused representatives of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration of committing federal crimes by diverting $10 million from a Medicaid settlement to political activities last year. No one has been charged, and DeSantis administration officials have denied wrongdoing. But four former federal prosecutors told the Herald/Times that Rep. Alex Andrade could be on strong legal ground. At least eight different federal charges, from theft of government funds to money laundering, could be investigated related to the dollars that passed through the Hope Florida Foundation, they said. Those statutes could carry sentences of decades...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday defended a state agency’s involvement with a $10 million donation to a charity founded by his wife as a “cherry on top” deal using funds from a settlement between the agency and the state’s largest Medicaid contractor. State law mandates that money from the settlement be put in a trust fund or a general fund under legislative oversight. DeSantis called the settlement “100% appropriate”

Elon Musk is right that some of our wealthy “public servants” need to have their puzzling finances scrutinized. An old saw says that whatever is sauce for the goose is also sauce for the gander. Of course, in D.C., that has never been true. If you are in the seat of power, you are untouchable. This explains the revulsion that middle earth (flyover country) has for Mordor on the Hudson. “Why can they get away with things we would go to jail for?” One of those things is getting rich in a job that shouldn’t generate that kind of wealth....

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After President Trump’s first month in office, border encounters are down. Way down. Ninety-six percent down. From around 300,000 in December 2023 under President Joe Biden, to just 8,300 in February 2025. The number averaged just under 300 a day last month, constituting “the lowest month in recorded history,” according to the chief of the Border Patrol. Some of this is the sheer deterrent effect of having a loud and proud border hawk in the White House — the so-called “Trump effect” starkly reduced border crossings at the outset of the president’s first term, as well. But, this time, the...

When trillions of dollars routinely go missing under the government’s stewardship, the money doesn’t just disappear into a nebula or black hole. The unaccounted-for money goes into people’s bank accounts. That’s why anodyne terms like “waste, fraud, and abuse” are wholly inadequate descriptors. It would be one thing if the U.S. government made the trains run on time. Or if highly questionable government agencies and programs were just superfluous but inexpensive oddities like a human appendix. Yet, look at the performance metrics and finances of the DMV, Amtrak, the Social Security Administration, FEMA, the Department of Education, Medicaid, USAID, on...