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Minnesota: Land of "Industrial-Scale Fraud"

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During Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson's Thursday press availability, he coined a phrase that might be written on Tim Walz's tombstone. During his press availability, Thompson said that Minnesota had become home of "industrial-scale fraud." I've credited KARE11's Lou Raguse and A.J. Lagoe for their reporting on the fraud story. Frankly, they've earned it. Bill Glahn of both Powerlineblog and the Center for the American Experiment has done exemplary work, too. After examining their work on the fraud issue, I need to add Minnesota Reformer to the list, too. After reading this article , I realize more scrutiny needs to be paid to the work independent journalists have done on the Minnesota fraud issue. The thikg I enjoy about blogs (I mean this sincerely) is that they aren't bashful about shameless self-promotion. That's what Minnesota Reformer did when they wrote "As is so often the case, the dark clouds were visible during Walz’s 15-month h...

How to deal with Vladimir Putin, timeless truths edition

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Recently, several pieces have been written on whether we should change our strategy towards Russia. By now, it's apparent that President Trump's efforts have run into the brick wall known as Vladimir Putin. Further, it's apparent that President Trump needs to change his strategy. Tinkering around the edges isn't productive. Bold, decisive moves are required . What's required is a strong shot of Ronald Reagan . Specifically, I'm referring to President Reagan being asked what his strategy was towards the Soviets. Reagan confidently replied "Here's my strategy on the Cold War: we win, they lose." President Trump's strategy isn't geared towards winning. President Trump's strategy appears to be to work on a strategy where both sides 'win'. President Putin has played that like a Stradivarius. The turning point in the Cold War, in my estimation, came when President Reagan installed Pershing II missiles into western Europe. Ted Kennedy...

What is Larry Jacobs talking about?

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Each week, I watch Almanac and @Issue so you don't have to (said with more than a little sarcasm.) This week, one of the opening guests on Almanac was U of M Professor Larry Jacobs. Here's that interview: I still don't know what Jacobs meant when he said "this is the speech he usually gives to the base of his party." Most of President Trump's rally speeches are long, rambling speeches that usually are stream-of-consciousness speeches. I'm betting that Prof. Jacobs doesn't watch many of President Trump's speeches. President Trump's speech, which I watched live from beginning-to-end, was short, to-the-point and filled wtih statistics to bolster his arguments: This transcript will bear that out. For instance, his claim that prices are coming down fast was strengthened when he said "The price of a Thanksgiving turkey was down 33% compared to the Biden last year." Democrats' only argument is that the people aren't feeling like it...

With Minnesota's Medicaid fraud, the sky's the limit

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For months, it seemed like the total amount of fraud committed in Minnesota was $1,000,000,000. To say that I was skeptical is understatement. Earlier this morning, I wrote this article questioning Rep. Angie Craig's statement that Gov. Tim Walz had aggressively pursued fraudsters. I remained skeptical. Then I spotted this article . That's when I said that, in terms of Minnesota fraud, the sky's the limit. According to Alpha News's article, "Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said he thinks a 'significant portion' of $18 billion spent on 14 state-run Medicaid programs could be fraudulent. Asked to elaborate on what a 'significant portion' meant, Thompson said 'half or more.'" Like I said, I knew that $1,000,000,000 figure was definitely low. While I don't have proof of the $9,000,000,000, I'm willing to trust "Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson." If anyone's gonna know, he's my go-to guy. Further, like wi...

Angie Craig: Tim Walz is putting fraudsters in prison

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It's still early in the primary season but Angie Craig is praising Tim Walz for his handling of Minnesota's fraud scandals. Recently, Rep. Craig said "I think the governor is taking and his team are taking an aggressive approach to crack down on fraud in Minnesota. They’re prosecuting and putting the folks who are perpetrating the crime in jail." That's pretty stunning stuff to hear about Tim Walz's fraud prevention efforts. First, the vast majority of fraudstersare being dealt with by the federal government. Most of the grifters don't deal with the state government. So much for the governor's administration "taking an aggressive approach" in cracking down against the grifters. Next, if Gov. Walz's administration is taking an aggressive approach to fraud, why didn't we hear about it until 5 years after the grift started? Angie Craig is a cookie-cutter progressive. Trusting her is foolish. Craig's political courage isn't exact...

Donald Trump delivered Larry Kudlow's dream speech

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Last night, President Trump delivered one of the best speeches of his presidency. It was a speech that's likely got Larry Kudlow smiling ear-to-ear . In Kudlow's pre-speech riff yesterday, Kudlow implored President Trump to "look forward more than backward." Then Kudlow explained what he wanted to see by saying "What do I mean by that? He has a fabulous list of achievements in his first year. Most notably, closing the border and stopping illegal immigration. Passage of the one big, beautiful bill, with its pro-growth supply side tax cuts, deregulation, drill, baby, drill, as well as other elements. This was a major achievement." Obviously, that's more of a backward glance since they're a list of accomplishments. What was Kudlow hoping to hear last night? Kudlow explained, saying "predicting a fabulously optimistic economic outlook. And leave just one quarter for the first year achievements. If people disagree with me on this, including major Tru...

Apparently, Keith Ellison wants a constitutional bitch-slapping

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Apparently, Keith Ellison wants to get slapped around by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. Ellison either didn't understand the part about the U.S. Constitution's Supremacy Clause or he's attempting to intimidate Sheriff Kyle Burton. It isn't likely he'll do either. According to this Alpha News article , "A local sheriff is pushing back after Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison published a formal legal opinion which says Minnesota sheriffs do not have unilateral authority to enter into 287(g) agreements with the federal government." Actually, Keith, they do have that authority. That's because the authority comes from the U.S. Constitution. State attorneys general have no say in the matter because of this thing called Separation of Powers. That's in the U.S. Constitution, too. That's why this official-sounding opinion is just another example of DFL lawfare. It isn't anchored in the right constitution. Since immigration and naturaliza...