Liberty & Prosperity Blog

Fox9 News rana report showing just how dysfunctional Minnesota state government is. According to this Fox9 news report , Minnesota is the slowest Midwestern state in issuing RealDs. In bullet points at the top of Fox9's report, it says: Real IDs in Minnesota are still backlogged by 90 days. Neighboring Midwest states take at most 30 days. The Minnesota Department of Public Safety says it’s looking at options to lower the wait time. Here's a report card on neighboring states. Iowa: In Iowa, it’s about a week's wait to get an appointment to apply for a Real ID, then it takes up to a month to receive it in the mail. North Dakota/South Dakota: In South Dakota, the person taking the paperwork will hand the customer their Real IDs. It's the same process in North Dakota, and when they got an influx of applications, the thing that changed the most was the wait time to get an appointment. Wisconsin: In Wisconsin, they get their new real ID in the mail within 10 business days....

Zohran Mamdani is a smooth-sounding liar who likely won't protect New York from criminal aliens. CBS New York is reporting that "In the aftermath of the tragic shooting that killed Officer Islam and three other people on Park Avenue, Mamdani took great pains to wrap himself in NYPD blue and explain his views on policing and how to keep New Yorkers safe. He put a special focus on an old tweet in which he called for disbanding the Strategic Response Group, the NYPD's special operations unit that responded to the Park Avenue shooting." There are just 2 things wrong with that report. First, unlike the 2020 tweet in which he first said that he wanted to defund the police, which was quite a while ago, the tweet where he called for disbanding "the Strategic Response Group, the NYPD's special operations unit that responded to the Park Avenue shooting," that tweet only happened in December 2024. That's just 7 months ago as opposed to his 'defund-the-pol...

Tim Walz has a different definition for solving Minnesota's pervasive Medicaid fraud crisis. Gov. Walz's definition of solving Medicaid fraud apparently includes admitting failure. That's the signal he's sending by halting "payments to dozens of providers in a state program that is now at the center of another federal fraud investigation ." This time, the taxpayers' money is getting stolen from "50 Housing Stabilization Services (HSS) providers flagged for suspicious billing activity." I'd love to hear Gov. Walz's explanation for why this wasn't detected months ago. Further, I'd love to hear how much of the taxpayers' money has been ripped off this time. Remember that it's estimated that Feeding Our Futures fraud cost taxpayers $300,000,000. (That's what's been proven in federal prosecutions of Feeding Our Futures.) The federal government has led this investigation. According to this report, "Alpha News was on...

It's become obvious that Democrats don't care about preventing crime or stopping illegal aliens from entering our nation. Katie Pavlich's article proves that beyond a shadow of a doubt. Katie reports that "As the Department of Homeland Security continues to carry out President Donald Trump's mass deportation of criminal illegal aliens in cities across the country, the number of sex offenders being taken off the streets is astonishing. In Houston alone, more than 200 child sex offenders have been arrested since January." That's totally believable, especially after reading this article . In the article from San Antonio, it reports that Rep. Tony Gonzales "confirmed on Friday more than 662,000 undocumented immigrants with criminal histories have been released into U.S. communities. " The article continues, saying "According to a press release by Rep. Tony Gonzales' office, on March, 13, 2024, Congressman Tony Gonzales (TX-23) wrote a lette...

Vice President J.D. Vance has a warning for Democrats who voted no on the One Big Beautiful Law, aka the OBBL. That message is participate in the law-making process or be seen as part of the problem . Democrats sat on the sideline, criticizing the bill without offering any amendments, then voting no on the bill before returning to their criticism of the OBBL. That isn't governing. That's just whining. If you aren't part of the solution, you're part of the problem. Right now, thanks to the Biden administration's lengthy list of problems that it caused, this nation needs problem solvers. Right now, Democrats are just pathetic whiners. Vance said "The craziest thing is if you’re a Democrat and you don’t like this legislation, then come and talk to us. Make some proposed changes. Tell us 'You know, this provision isn’t so good. We’d like to change it a little bit, and if we change it, then I can get to yes.' This is the process of government. And these guys...

Tim Walz, Minnesota's ultraliberal DFL governor, lectured Minnesotans about civility after the assassination of Melissa Hortman, Minnesota's Speaker Emerita. At a press availability, Gov. Walz said "A moment in this country where we watch violence erupt, this cannot be the norm. It cannot be the way that we deal with our political differences. Now is the time for us to recommit to the core values of this country. And each and every one of us can do it. Talk to a neighbor rather than arguing. Debate an issue. Shake hands. Find common ground." That's good advice. It's just delivered by the worst messenger possible. To those of us who've known Gov. Walz, it isn't surprising. Gov. Walz's sound nice but they're meaningless. Alpha News reports that "Gov. Tim Walz sent a fundraising pitch via text message Friday urging his supporters to 'raise some hell' because President 'Donald Trump and his MAGA henchmen aren’t going to go away w...

Saying that the Minnesota Department of Human Services either isn't interested in preventing Medicaid Fraud or is worthless at it is understatement. This CBS article is a disgrace to Minnesota's Department of Human Services. It isn't surprising to find out that the U.S. federal government is investigating. DHS Temporary Commissioner Shireen Gandhi issued a statement on the federal investigation which said "The search warrants executed today at several Housing Stabilization Services providers are the result of the critical partnerships between the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS), the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), the Office of Attorney General and federal offices and is an important example of our shared commitment to work together to ensure Medicaid program integrity. The DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) regularly provides investigative data and information about Medicaid provider targets to our law enfo...

Not that it'll matter to Democrats or the Wall Street Journal, but President Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agreed to the biggest trade deal in history . According to Alpha News's reporting, "President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a trade deal between the U.S. and European Union while meeting at Trump’s luxury resort in Turnberry, Scotland, Sunday afternoon." Further, "von der Leyen said Europe will buy $150 billion of American energy and also make other investments worth $600 billion in the U.S as part of the deal." At the press conference announcing the deal, President Trump said that the EU had agreed to purchase $750,000,000,000 worth of U.S. energy. As I said in this article , that won't make Putin happy. That the EU has agreed to buy an unspecified amount of lethal U.S. weaponry won't make Putin happy, either. In this video where van der Leyen and Trump announced the...

If Democrats want to remain in the minority in the House, they're making all the right decisions. According to the Hill's reporting , "House Democrats are ramping up their town-hall blitz in GOP-held districts over the long summer recess. The strategy is not new, but this time they’re armed with a powerful new talking point: President Trump’s refusal to release the federal files related to Jeffrey Epstein." Epstein is mostly an inside-the-Beltway story. If Democrats think that Epstein trumps the Trump Boom, low inflation and the safest U.S. borders ever, then I hope they keep campaigning on this. The author who wrote this op-ed then said "It’s not that Democrats will abandon their central message under Trump’s second term, which accuses the president and congressional Republicans of breaking promises to lower costs for working class consumers. But they want the Epstein case to complement that theme, arguing that Republicans — whether through tax cuts for the weal...

John Brennan apparently has decided that his best defense is a strong offense. Brennan's reputation is likely shattered thanks to his allegedly dishonest statements. It appears as though he sold his soul for thirty pieces of silver. Jonathan Turley's op-ed criticized Brennan, saying "On May 23, 2017, Brennan testified that the infamous Steele dossier 'wasn't part of the corpus of intelligence information that we had. It was not in any way used as a basis for the Intelligence Community Assessment that was done.' However, the new material shows that Brennan was the key figure insisting on the inclusion of the Steele dossier in an intelligence assessment, suggesting that the Russians did influence the election in favor of Trump." Not surprisingly, Trey Gowdy knew that Brennan couldn't be trusted. Then-Congressman Gowdy questioned Brennan about the Russia Hoax. Last week he was interviewed by Martha MacCallum. When he was interviewed, Gowdy didn’t pull hi...

It's getting exceptionally annoying watching U.S. district court judge after U.S. district court judge turn themselves into Legal laughingstocks just so they can maintain their standing with their fellow Democrats. That's what Judge Lindsey Jenkins did when she creatively manufactured a right that didn't exist before. Politico is reporting that "A federal judge has thrown out the Trump administration’s bid to force Illinois and Chicago to aid its mass deportation agenda, saying it would encroach on autonomy guaranteed to states under the Constitution." First, the Trump administration isn't requesting Illinois's or Chicago's help. They just want Brandon Johnson and J.B. Pritzker to stay out of ICE's way when they're making their deportation raids. Next, the Tenth Amendment doesn't have anything to do with immigration. If ICE wants to deputize local police to help, that's fine. Otherwise, deportations have nothing to do with the Tenth Am...

Full disclosure: I rarely watch Morning Joe. It's just too painful for thinking people. It's fine for Democrats, Marxists and other leftists. According to this article , Scarborough is quoted as saying "Here on Morning Joe, we ring the bell when Tulsi Gabbard meets her low expectations. So we're going to be ringing it a lot." What a condescending little elitist. He's actually acting like he's part of the upper echelon of newscasters. HINT TO JOE: you're a legend in your own mind. Otherwise, you're a failure. But I digress. In his diatribe, Morning Joe said "Marco Rubio, when he was the head of the Intelligence Committee in the United States Senate, run by Republicans, had every Republican sign on to very, very explicit language saying that Donald Trump's own campaign caused, what was the exact language, a grave counterintelligence threat. And they went on and on talking about how Russia was trying to influence the outcome of the election....

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that outbound flights have started from Alligator Alcatraz. Though the U.S. Department of Homeland Security hasn't disclosed where the flights have traveled to, the flights have started. On a visit to south Florida, Gov. DeSantis announced "I'm pleased to report that those flights out of Alligator Alcatraz by DHS have begun. The cadence is increasing. We've already had a number of flights, in the last few days, we've had hundreds of illegals [that] have been removed from here. This provides an ability to enhance the mission, to increase the number and frequency of deportations. And so what's been done here has really been remarkable." It's important to remember that Alligator Alcatraz is a one-stop deportation center. According to Wikipedia , the facility "holds [up to] 5,000 detained immigrants." Further, this AP article reports "DeSantis is offering up members of the state’s National Guard to be ...

Thus far this year, the biggest storyline in Minnesota has been the Medicaid fraud cases. Thus far, the DFL hasn't lifted a finger to prevent Medicaid fraud. All they've done is issue this statement . Temporary DHS Commissioner Shireen Gandhi's statement said "The Minnesota Department of Human Services is focused on rooting out fraud and abuse to protect taxpayer dollars and the people we serve. We have investigated thousands of Medicaid providers in recent years. DHS regularly provides critical data and information to law enforcement that assists with their actions. " The first time I read that boilerplate statement, I missed the part about how "DHS regularly provides critical data and information to law enforcement that assists with their actions." Fat lotta good that does. Law enforcement doesn't get involved until a crime is potentially committed. Taxpayers want fraud prevented rather than fraudsters getting prosecuted. Fraud prevention means tha...

I've solved the Democrats' identity crisis and the Democrats' competitiveness crisis. It took me all of a few seconds. It just took a few seconds of reading Mark Penn's tweet . In Penn's tweet, he said "There is no question that the first two years of Trump 45 were disrupted on the basis of a completely phony investigation of Trump, his associates and family. The allegations were fake and based upon Clinton oppo research anyone could see was complete junk." Jim Comey's FBI knew that the Steele Dossier was falsified. The subsource was discredited almost immediately. A crew of people whose only interest was in finding the truth discredited the Comey literature in a New York split second. While legacy media won Pulitzers for lying to the American people, Sean Hannity, John Solomon, Sarah Carter, Gregg Jarrett, Jim Jordan and Devin Nunes cracked the mystery. Meanwhile, Adam Schiff, Chuck Todd and Lesley Stahl made idiots of themselves. Schiff told Todd tha...

The Washington Free Beacon often covers some stories that get overlooked. If this article gets overlooked, then that's my fault. The article should write itself. The Washington Free Beacon article is about how the NEA, the nation's largest teachers union, is diversifying this year. First, the NEA "represents nearly three million public school teachers and education workers." Next, its job is to represent teachers and to get the best contract possible for their teachers. It isn't their job to teach kids. That's down the list of the NEA's priorities.Apparently, the NEA thinks that teaching antisemitism is one of their responsibilities. According to the NEA's 2025 handbook instructs teachers that the Holocaust was about "victims ... from different faiths" without mentioning Jews. According to "its most recent guide for members," it also teaches that "Israel was founded through 'forced, violent displacement and dispossession....

Taxpaying Minnesotans owe Minneapolis GOP Chair Diane Napper a thank you for waking them up to who the Democrst Socialists of America are and what they're fighting for. This sarticle is today's must reading. If you want some additional reading on DSA, check out DSA's website . When people tell you who they are, believe them . Diane Napper appeared on Liz Collin's podcast to explain what's at stake. In talking about last Saturday's endorsing convention, Ms. Napper is quoted as saying "It sounds like there were quite a few shenanigans going on. I’ve heard different stories, but I think the biggest problem is that perhaps they didn’t follow their own rules … The rules of the convention matter. And it sounds like the rules were not followed." Seeing that this is a DFL/DSA convention, I'd expect nothing less. The DFL/DSA is as good at following the rules as vampires are good at handling wooden stakes. Who is Omar Fateh? Omar Fateh is a racist and a po...

Matt Dean is on a hot streak lately. Matt is the former House Majority Leader. He's also the former chairman of the House Health and Human Services Finance Division. These days, Matt writes about health care-related issues for the Center for the American Experiment. Saying that he's overqualified for the job is understatement. This morning, I noticed that Matt had written another article on Medicaid in Minnesota. If you're a Minnesota taxpayer, be forewarned that this article might upset you. The article opens by saying "The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently completed a study of 2024 enrollment data and found $14 billion wasted on Medicaid enrollees who were already covered by another public plan. 2.8 million Americans are enrolled in the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in multiple states or simultaneously enrolled in both Medicaid/CHIP and a subsidized Affordable Care Act (ACA) Exchange plan. In other words, Medicaid/CHIP is likel...

When Hunter Biden went on his profanity-filled diatribe, I doubt he considered what type of pushback he'd receive. This morning, Hunter doesn't have to imagine what type of pushback he'd receive. That's because he's getting plenty of pushback. That being said, I've been surprised where the pushback has come from. For instance, this pushback came from Zeeshan Aleem of MSNBC. He wrote in his op-ed "Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden, went on a series of expletive-laden rants about the 2024 election in a recent interview with YouTuber Andrew Callaghan. According to the former president's son, it seems that everyone in the world can be blamed for Donald Trump's victory last November. Everyone, that is, except his father. " Spoken like a true Biden. When Laura Ingraham interviewed Border Czar Tom Homan, she asked Homan what he thought of Hunter's profanity-filled diatribe. Predictably, Homan wasn't shy. In fact, Homan let H...

Democrats picked the term sanctuary cities to portray those cities as quiet, peaceful cities where the quality of life is improving and their peeople live in harmony. That myth is quickly getting shattered. Tom Homan has a message for sanctuary city mayors. Homan's message is that Your cities are our new priority . Homan is essentially telling Karen Bass and Zohran Mamdani that he desn't care if you're upset with a heightened ICE/Border Patrol presence. That's because your cities have gotten increasingly more dangerous. Over the weekend, 2 illegal aliens shot a Customs and Border Protection agent in New York City. Homan responded Monday morning by saying "Sanctuary cities are now our priority. We're going to flood the zone. You don't want to let us into jail to arrest a bad guy in the safety and security of a jail. You want to release him into the street. So, what we're going to do, we'll have more agents in New York City to look for that bad guy....

Now that Scott Bessent is looking over the Fed's shoulder, it's time for Jay Powell (and the CBO?) to start worrying. Yes, I know that the Fed is theoretically an independent agency. Yes, I know that the CBO is part of the Legislative Branch. That's why it's called the Congressional Budget Office. Reuters is reporting that "we should examine whether the institution of the Federal Reserve has been a success overall." You'll have President Trump's votes along with the votes of E.J. Antoni, John Carney, Larry Kudlow, Steve Moore and Steve Forbes. Secretary Bessent sat down for an interview on CNBC's Squawk Box Monday. Secretary Bessent is quoted as saying " What we need to do is examine the entire Federal Reserve institution and whether they have been successful. I'm speaking, actually. I'm going to be in the building this evening. There is a regulatory conference that begins tomorrow. I'm the keynote speaker tonight, talking about...

It'll soon be official. Recently convicted State Sen. Nicole Mitchell announced today that she's resigning effective August 4th at 5:00 pm CDT. According to a statement released by her legal team, "Mitchell will use the time leading up to Aug. 4 to get her legislative projects ready to hand off to a successor, resolve ongoing constituent service cases, help her legislative staff transition to new employment, and obtain health insurance for one of her sons who is insured through Mitchell’s legislative employment. Once these tasks are completed, Senator Mitchell will tender her resignation,' says the press release. 'It was the honor of her lifetime to serve her District and the State of Minnesota.'" This statement isn't sitting well with State Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson. After he received notice of Sen. Mitchell's resignation letter, he's quoted as saying "Senator Mitchell was convicted of two felonies; she doesn’t get to give the ...

Eric Pratt, the 4-term Republican state senator representing Prior Lake, just announced that he's running for the open House seat being vacated by Rep. Angie Craig. This isa the biggest news for Minnesota's congressional delegation this cycle. A loyal reader of this blog told me that Sen. Pratt's district has turned a little more purple, which isn't difficult to picture. This reader said that this will likely be the hottest congressional race in Minnesota this year. Since I started voting in 1974, Minnesota's congressional delegation has either been evenly divided or had a DFL majority. If Pratt can flip the CD-2 seat, that'd likely mean a GOP majority in Minnesota's congressional delegation for the first time in literally a couple generations. I'd think that this race will have lots of money thrown at it from the NRCC and DCCC. That's before starting the conversation on PACs and dark money. This should guarantee high voter turnout statewide and in ...

Minnesota's Odd Couple isn't much like Tony Randall and Jack Klugman. Still, it's appropriate to call Tim 'Knucklehead' Walz and Omar Fateh, aka the Socialist, Minnesota's Odd Couple. It's appropriate because Gov. Walz is a socialist even though he won't admit it and because Sen. Fateh is a proud socialist who thinks that we should dramatically downsize the Minneapolis Police Department, aka the MPD. First, the proof that Gov. Walz is a socialist is found in this article .In the article, Gov. Walz told former DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison that "We, as Democrats, we want people to pay their fair share, but why are we against people being successful like that? We can't be. Why are we against? We should talk about businesses. Not all businesses exploit their workers and we get ourselves stuck in that. And I think we lose them." The reason why people think Democrats oppose businesses is because a) Democrats haven't defined what people's ...

If you aren't following Dustin Grage's timeline on X , you're missing out on some of the best independent journalism. This article is testimony to Grage's insights. Enjoy. One of Grage's first tweets from the DSA Endorsing Convention in Minneapolis offered a frightening possibility. Grage said "Imagine Omar Fateh and Mary Moriarty having total control over your police department and prosecuting authority. Talk about a gift to Republicans in future election cycles." Here's another stellar Grage observation : The Minneapolis City Council was already studying how to tax the rich and launch government-run grocery stores. Tonight, Democrats endorsed Omar Fateh. A self-proclaimed Socialist backed by the DSA. Get out of Minneapolis while you still can. The DFL doesn't exist anymore. The DFL, aka Democrat-Farmer-Laborer Party, has been taken over by the DSA, aka Democrat Socialists of America. Don't believe me? Ask DFL Party Chair Richard Carlbom: 🚨 ...

Minnesota isn't just where fraudsters go to thrive. Apparently, it's also where drug cartels thrive . According to Fox9, "Federal prosecutors have indicted two men in connection with one of the largest methamphetamine busts in the history of Minnesota. Joel Casas-Santiago, 46, and Guillermo Mercado-Charparro, 44, are charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine." Further, Dustin Grage is reporting "Guillermo Mercado-Chaparro, 46, is also charged with illegal reentry after previously being deported as an illegal alien." In this tweet , Grage reports that "Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said in a statement: "A 900-pound haul like this doesn’t just show intent to distribute, it shows intent to poison entire communities. We will not let Minnesota become a distribution hub for cartel-scale operations. This prosecution is just the beginning." Then there's this: This comes just weeks after another major drug bust in Minnesota that...

This morning, the DFL will attempt to prevent the DSA, aka the Democrat Socialists of America, from getting the DSA candidate endorsed for the mayor's position. Will Omar Fateh, the DSA candidate, get endorsed? Or will Jacob Frey, the DFL candidate, get endorsed to run for a third term? This might be a battle for the ages, the political equivalent of a cage match in wrestling. Ultimately, though, it won't matter that much because Fateh and Frey are both radicals. There are some differences but they're more nuanced than major distinctions -- with one exception. Frey fought to keep the police, though he's hardly a law-and-order guy. Fateh is anti-police. That's part of why Fateh has been nicknamed 'the Minneapolis Mamdani.' That's why Fateh will likely be Minneapolis's next mayor. Fateh and Frey, though, are both socialists through-and-through. They both believe in rent control, which will raise rental prices and lead to more displacement of people fr...

DFL State Sen. Nicole Mitchell, DFL-Woodbury, was found guilty of first-degree burglary on Friday. The guilty verdict was stunning though predictable. According to the article, "Mitchell was arrested and charged with first-degree burglary after allegedly breaking into her stepmother’s Detroit Lakes home with the intent to take items that once belonged to her late father. A second felony charge, possession of burglary or theft tools, was later added by prosecutors." The verdicts were predictable because Mitchell's trial included body-camera footage and several witnesses.It also included "statements she made on the morning she was arrested by police." Some of those statements included "I have never done anything like this," "There were just a couple things of my dad’s I wanted to come get" "I’m clearly not good at this," " I know I did something bad " and "I just wanted to get a couple of my dad’s mementos." It...