Liberty & Prosperity Blog

The Truth in Funding Minnesota Schools/Learners, Plus a Proposal for $7K for Parents to Invest...at NO Cost to Taxpayers, Part Two by Ramblin’ Rose Minnesotans are understandably concerned about the potential for fraud, especially with adding another level of bureaucracy to the behemoth in St. Paul that has allowed yet-to-be-determined billions of taxpayer dollars in yet-to-be-determined number of fraud cases. Each state (of the 26 listed in Part One) determines its own protocols and policies. Catrin Wigfall, former educator and current Policy Fellow at Center of the American Experiment, addressed those concerns and Minnesota’s proposal to eradicate them. The key SAFEGAURDS that Minnesota is initiating to secure the program are: Program overseen by the Department of Revenue (not the Department of Education) Eligible students receive ESA debit card, pre-approved for educational expenses Commissioner required to use merchant category classification (MCC) codes or a similar system to iden...

The Truth in Funding Minnesota Schools/Learners, Plus a Proposal for $7K for Parents to Invest...at NO Cost to Taxpayers, Part I by Ramblin’ Rose This post is about Minnesota’s ESA (Education Savings Plan), not the federal program of ECCA (Educational Choice for Children Act). While both advocate for education and fund special ways for parents and children to make better choices for learning, they are very different. This article focuses on an approximate $7,000 savings account for students who are NOT enrolled in traditionally funded public schools. ESAs are NOT vouchers, even if some politicians misuse the term. Educated citizens were vital for our fledgling nation. Consequently, education was a priority as the USA began. The first public school opened in 1635 in Boston. Support for education and an educated citizenry continues. For decades, Minnesota was championed as a leader in education, but now half of our students cannot read nor do math at grade level, dropping Minnesota to ...

Unfortunately, Donald Trump is no President Reagan or Lady Thatcher. While I agree with his economic and homeland security policies, I've never been a fan of his national security policies. For instance, Russia's war with Ukraine continues with no end in sight. Our was with Iran continues with no end in sight. In both instances, all I see are endless negotiations. I get it that we don't want endless wars. Still, what's the upside of endless negotiations? High gas prices for longer times isn't an upside. No certainty in the world's most volatile region isn't an upside, either. When asked by a reporter what his strategy was towards the Soviets, President Reagan replied "Simple. We win. They lose." President Reagan understood that there'd be a time for negotiations. President Reagan also understood that he wouldn't negotiate with Gorbachev until he'd scared the daylights out of Gorbachev. You can't scare the daylights out of the IRGC. ...

Abou Amara is a frequent panelist on TPT Almanac's Political Roundtable, serving as one of the DFL's spinmeisters. Friday night, the topic came up about the gun bill that the House didn't vote on and the activist sit-in at the Capitol. Amara mentioned the parents of the students affected by the Annunciation Church shooting in Minneapolis last August. Specifically, Amara mentioned how much the parents protested for the assault weapons ban. My first thought was 'I won't advocate for anything that's unconstitutional.' Banning assault weapons is a ban of a weapon 'in common use' that's used for self-defense. The most relevant U.S. Supreme Court ruling is New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Brouen . According to Brouen, "It is undisputed that petitioners Koch and Nash—two ordinary, law-abiding, adult citizens—are part of 'the people' whom the Second Amendment protects. See Heller, 554 U. S., at 580. And no party disputes that...

Thursday morning, Aimee Bock got a new home. The mastermind behind the Feeding Our Future grift was sentenced to 41+ years in federal prison . Which prison she's heading to is anyone's guess. Still, it's guaranteed to feature striped sunlight windows. Barring a presidential pardon or commutation, she'll have a few decades to get used to the new sunlight feature. One thing she won't get used to is the $243,000,000 in restitution she's been ordered to pay as part of her sentence. When given the opportunity to address the court, Bock is quoted as saying "I just want to tell everyone how sorry I am that this happened. I understand the situation I’m in. I understand the jury’s verdict. I understand that I failed. It was not something I ever set out to do." That's a pile of malarkey. You just accidentally steal $250,000,000 by giving the federal government thousands of fictitious names of kids you're supposedly feeding? Why would I buy that BS? Speak...

If it's Thursday in Minnesota, it's Exposing Fraud in Minnesota Day. It's Thursday so the DOJ, CMS, Assistant U.S. Attorney Collin McDonald, U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen and a cast of dozens were on hand by 11:45 am CDT for a scheduled 11:00 am CDT news conference. It was worth the wait as it was one of the most substantive news conferences I've ever watched. First off, McDonald announced 15 new Minnesota Medicaid fraud cases totalling an additional $90,000,000 in fraud. Further, McDonald said that the nationwide task force would aggressively investigate potential fraudsters in the weeks and months ahead. If Tim Walz, Ilhan Omar and Keith Ellison aren't drinking Maalox by the jug, they should be. Quoting Attorney McDonald, This Alpha News article opens by saying "This is not the end of our work in Minnesota, this is not the end of the beginning of our work in Minnesota, this is the beginning of our work in Minnesota." This isn't shaping up to be a trad...