Category Archives: Taxes

The U.S Is Facing Enormous Problems Most Politicians Are Afraid To Address.

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When WWII ended, it was thought that are problems were mostly over. We were paying down the wartime debt through income taxes on the wealthy of as much as 94 percent. Manufacturing was thriving. The middle class was growing with more Americans able to afford a home, a car and a good education for their children. And we had begun turning our attention toward eliminating persistent racism and sexism.

Then, beginning in the 1950s, our government and large corporations began meddling in the politics of other countries based on the fear of communism and the so-called Domino Theory. That led to the Korean and Vietnam Wars, the overthrow of democratically elected leaders in Iran, Chile, and elsewhere. And, as our nation’s power and influence spread, so did the power and greed of our corporations.

As a consequence of their globalization, industry consolidation and tax inequity, we have seen our nation change dramatically. The Citizens United decision permitted corporations and billionaires to quite literally purchase our government through campaign donations and influence. That led to growing wealth disparity, a weakened democracy, growing executive power, weakening international influence, increasing threats both domestically and abroad, the threat of environmental and climate disasters, a failure to transition to renewable energy, the threat of corporate and government controlled AI, the threat of corporations and billionaires controlling our food chain, massively increasing deficits and debt, competing ideologies with little hope of compromise, and a growing segment of the population that wants to tear everything down.

There are no easy and quick fixes to these problems. No answers that can be articulated in a sound bite. Few politicians are willing to risk losing their office by speaking out. Very few billionaires are willing to finance those who would address the issues at the risk of losing part of their fortunes. And even worse, few middle-class voters are willing to sacrifice their resource-depleting, energy-consuming, material-based lifestyle.

As I’ve written before, there will come a reckoning – perhaps the kind of collapse my grandparents faced when the banks and stock markets collapsed turning the Roaring 20s into the Great Depression. When many lost everything and an entire hard day’s work paid 50 cents to a dollar. Maybe less.

That may seem like ancient history not worth considering. Yes, it happened nearly 100 years ago. But there’s a lesson to be learned. Those generations thought it couldn’t happen to them, either. Yet it did, because then, like now, voters kept electing shortsighted politicians who refused to make hard decisions.

We can prevent such a calamity from repeating itself. We can overturn Citizens United and place severe limits on campaign contributions. We can create more jobs and reduce consumer costs by transitioning to renewable fuels. That will also benefit the environment and help head off the coming climate crisis and mass extinction. We can break up the 3 or 4 corporations that control almost every industry. We can address the federal debt by charging corporations for the infrastructure they use; by charging extraction industries for the natural resources they take; by making corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes; and by reducing our bloated military budget. We can make healthcare accessible and affordable for all Americans by implementing Medicare for all.

Unfortunately, those ideas are unpopular right now, especially among elected MAGA Republicans and their rightwing propaganda machine. And why not? They all profit handsomely from their obedience to the Felon and his billionaire friends who naturally oppose change. But there are a few politicians who understand that the future of our nation, and perhaps our planet, is at stake. People like Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and most of the Democratic progressive caucus. People who understand the real issues and are willing to fight for ordinary Americans.

It’s long past time that we listen to them.

The World’s Most Powerful Crime Network.

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Who could have imagined the FBI and DOJ becoming part of a crime syndicate in support of a narcissistic crime boss? But that’s exactly what has happened. Even the MAGA-dominated Supreme Court has participated in the ongoing crime spree by granting the Felon immunity while sitting in the Oval Office, and by gutting the Voting Rights Act allowing MAGA to gerrymander districts in his favor.

And, of course, all of the MAGA Republicans in Congress should be considered co-conspirators and accessories after the fact.

The Felon-in-Chief once bragged that he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and people would still vote for him. Turns out he has done far worse. The first weeks in his 2nd term he froze spending for USAID. That single action is estimated to have led to the deaths of millions. Since then, he has engineered budget cuts making healthcare unaffordable for millions of Americans. He and his ICEstapo have incarcerated thousands of immigrants, most of whom were here legally. He has overseen the executions of dozens of men operating boats in international waters. He has sent billions to Israel to help them continue their genocide in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon. He allowed Israel to drag us into a war against Iran resulting in the deaths of 13 American service members and hundreds Iranian civilians, including 120 school children and their teachers. And he cut funding for the institutions responsible for preventing the next pandemic which could again lead to the deaths of millions.

It’s clear that his actions have killed many times the number of people as all the rest of the world’s organized crime families combined. And, with the power of the U.S. military and its stockpile of nuclear weapons, there is literally no limit to the harm the Teflon Don can inflict.

Moreover, there seems to be no limit to the amount of taxpayer funds the Felon and his charlatan family and friends plan to steal. It began with his $3.4 million weekend golf trips. Then there’s his family’s crypto schemes, his billion-dollar ballroom and other vanity projects, his $1.776 billion slush fund intended to pay off his criminal supporters, the blatant insider trading of he and his gang, Kristi Noem’s $250 million vanity ad campaign, Sean Duffy’s year-long all-expenses paid family vacation…the full extent of the corruption is much too long to cover here. (For a comprehensive list, I recommend checking the linked website: Tracking the Trump Administration’s Most Corrupt Transactions | Campaign Legal Center.) On top of all that, if the DOJ “settlement” of the Felon’s lawsuit is allowed to stand, he and his family will be able to defraud the government out of many more billions in taxes for the rest of their lives.

It’s enough to make Mafia families, Mexican drug cartels, and all the rest of the world’s organized crime families green with envy.

Adding To Our $39 Trillion Debt: What Happens When You Trust The Economy To A Felon.

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When President Reagan took office in 1981, the national debt was under $1 trillion. By the time he left office, it had ballooned to nearly $3 trillion. President Clinton was able to slow the growth and eliminate annual deficits. Then George W. Bush oversaw three wars and a stock market crash that sent the debt soaring. By the time he left office the debt had climbed to more than $10 trillion. And, by the time President Obama was able to correct the economy, the debt had nearly doubled to more than $19 trillion.

Then the debt really started climbing. In his first term alone, despite inheriting a booming economy, the Felon-in-Chief added $7.8 trillion to the debt. Of course, that doesn’t count the trillions President Biden needed to resurrect the economy from the Felon’s failed response to the pandemic. Already in the Felon’s second term, the debt has increased another $2.7 trillion to more than $39 trillion, 133 percent of our GDP. And it’s expected that his tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy will add yet another $3.4 trillion over the next 10 years.

That means that the Felon is on track to add more than $14 trillion to the debt even as he cuts federal services for average Americans and safety nets for the needy!

And that doesn’t include the likely $2 trillion cost of his war of choice with Iran, the $1.776 billion slush fund for his criminal supporters, the tens of millions it cost for his many golf trips, the billions he wants to build a lavish ballroom and his Arch d’ Trump, and the billions his family will skim from the federal budget for their personal use.

Of course, you also have to consider the impact his war and illegal tariffs have had on the cost of living and the cost of health insurance, which have forced American families to spend many additional billions. And the growing possibility that, like W, he and his MAGA party will again crater the economy.

So, if you’re looking for a reason to elect Democrats in the 2026 and 2028 elections, I can give you trillions of them.

Rewarding Criminals, Seditionists And Traitors.

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Following the corrupt presidency of Richard Nixon and V.P. Spiro Agnew, every president willingly released their tax returns…until Donald J. Trump. Unlike previous presidents and Joe Biden, he not only refused to release his tax returns. He refused to place his investments into a blind trust and refused to divest from his businesses.

So, it seems only right that his tax returns were leaked along with thousands of others by an independent contractor working for the IRS. But Trump decided to file a $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS. It’s easy to see why he was furious: Two Trump-controlled entities were each convicted on 17 counts of criminal tax fraud and falsifying business records, making Trump a 34-count felon.

According to most legal experts, the Felon had virtually no chance of winning his $10 billion lawsuit. But his personal attorney acting as the U.S. Attorney General decided to settle the lawsuit for $1.776 billion to be used to pay those who claim to have been victims of the “weaponization” of the DOJ under Biden. Those “victims” include the roughly 1,600 violent thugs and would-be murderers who violently beat police officers as they attacked the nation’s Capitol building on January 6, 2021.

It’s bad enough that the family of Ashli Babbit, the Jan. 6 attacker who was shot as she climbed through a shattered window into the barricaded Speaker’s Lobby, is reported to have negotiated a wrongful death lawsuit with the DOJ for $5 million.  But this!!? This is a bridge way too far!

Todd Blanche calls the $1.776 billion a settlement. Others have called it a slush fund, a payoff to the Felon’s MAGA supporters. But I suggest we call it what it really is: A heist. The extortion of $1,776 billion in taxpayer funds. And that’s only a portion of the fraud committed by the Felon-in-Chief who is blatantly using his office to enrich himself, his family and his friends.

Even worse, this so-called settlement also gives the Felon, his family, and his companies full and permanent immunity from IRS audits and charges of tax fraud – quite literally a license to continue to steal.

As a result, it seems appropriate that banners with the Felon’s image now adorn the Department of Justice building. It’s clear that the DOJ is wholly owned by the criminal occupying the Oval Office.

The Real Costs Of Corporate Welfare.

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Increasingly, living wages and employee benefits are being replaced by shrinking government assistance and private donations. Walmart’s wages have long been so low that the corporation almost automatically helps new employees sign up for government programs. The narrative is that it helps assure low consumer prices. And that may be true. But the unavoidable reality is that it ensures higher compensation for executives and massive profits for America’s wealthiest family – the Waltons.

The same is true for the many multinational corporations that have offshored manufacturing jobs to avoid paying living wages along with health and retirement benefits to American employees. Corporations benefit from using public infrastructure and resources often without contributing to their cost. They also often pollute our air, land and water without consequence and when they are brought to account, the officers often declare bankruptcy and simply walk away. At the same time, those corporations lobby for more incentives, lower taxes, and ever-decreasing government assistance for the very people they have helped to impoverish.

Another of their legacies is to have bought up their competition and consolidated industries to the point that they can fix prices. This process has also turned small and medium-size cities into relative ghost towns. The inevitable outcome is that they have created vast wealth disparity and a government run by corporate-fueled oligarchs. At the same time, they are funding, developing and utilizing Artificial Intelligence to replace even more human employees.

Both political parties have responsibility for the conundrum we face. But one in particular – the Republican/MAGA Party – has embraced and enabled it. In return, the politicians have benefited from millions in campaign donations and golden parachutes waiting for their retirement from government.

For many reasons, this pattern cannot continue. Corporations cannot exist without customers who can afford to purchase their products and services. And a government cannot long exist if it ignores the needs of its citizens.

However, this sort of corporate greed has existed for so long, any changes will be extraordinarily painful.

With our national debt now exceeding our GDP, even with massive increases in corporate taxes and a substantial wealth tax, positive change will demand difficult decisions. Using antitrust laws to break up the 3 or 4 corporations that now control entire industries will likely lead to precipitous drops in the stock markets affecting our individual retirement accounts. Encouraging entrepreneurship that leads to more small businesses – the heart of our economy – will require more affordable loans along with increased funding for research and technology, as well as student loan forgiveness.

Since a healthy population is more productive and less costly than an unhealthy one, universal healthcare will have to replace our for-profit insurance system. By most estimates that will save $313.5 billion per year. But it will also make the nearly $2 trillion health insurance industry largely unnecessary putting nearly 3 million people out of work. Of course, many of those workers could be employed by the federal government to regulate suppliers and prevent fraud.

Likewise, creating a fairer and simpler tax system would decimate the $16.2 billion tax preparation industry. And, as with the previous example, some of those workers could be hired by the government to review tax returns and prevent fraud.

Effectively taking on the climate crisis will inevitably eliminate jobs by reducing our reliance on fossil fuels. But it could create even more jobs in what will necessarily become a more robust sustainable energy sector. It will also result in cleaner air and water and perhaps save our planet as we know it.

Addressing the decline of rural areas is equally complicated. It requires restoring locally owned and operated farms and ending the corporate takeover of land and resources. It requires new and more sustainable farming practices along with more crop diversity and more reliable commodity prices. It requires the rebuilding of manufacturing facilities in mid-sized towns. Failing that, it requires the subsidy and relocation of those rural citizens who no longer have reasonable prospects of employment to earn a living wage.

Though difficult, the transformation of our economy would yield great benefits. Creating a universal healthcare system would mean that corporations would no longer have to foot the bill for health insurance which is often the equivalent of employee’s salaries. Given the increased costs of international shipping, that alone might be incentive enough to cause corporations to bring back manufacturing jobs. That could increase competition for employees leading to higher, more livable wages. That, in turn, would likely reduce crime and allow typical American families to exist on a single household salary which could negate the need for expensive daycare. Savings that could be put toward retirement.

In addition, by requiring corporations and their officers to pay their fair share in taxes and by eliminating corporate welfare, there would more money to offset the cost of the transition and leading to programs that could further benefit society, such as free public education for all, including university tuition.

Transitioning to a more fair and sustainable economy will be challenging. But continuing along the path we are currently on will be worse. Much worse.

The Coming Reckoning.

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In the 1930s and late 1960s, the U.S. experienced unparalleled social progress under Democratic leadership that made life better for the vast majority of Americans. In the 1930s, we saw the official end of the Gilded Age along with the economic rescue of millions of Americans after the Great Depression thanks to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. FDR also created Social Security which meant that after a lifetime of work most Americans could finally experience a comfortable retirement.

Though he is most known for a war he did not start, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Civil Rights Act of 1968. He also created Medicare and Medicaid as part of his war on poverty.

Though he never served as president, Ralph Nader had an enormous impact on our quality of life in the 1970s. As a result of his efforts, the Freedom of Information Act, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the Clean Water Act, the Consumer Product Safety Act, and the Whistleblower Protection Act were born. He also influenced the creation of the EPA to help clean up our environment and OSHA to improve the safety of workers.

In 1998, 1999, 2000 and part of 2001, after digging us out of a recession, President Bill Clinton oversaw federal budget surpluses for the first time in decades. This despite the fact that he invested heavily in education and technology, in additional police to lower crime, and in health initiatives such as the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Earned Income Tax Credit to help low-income families.

President Barack Obama continued the tradition of Democratic presidents repairing the economy after Republican shortcomings by digging us out of the Great Recession. He also created the Affordable Care Act to give tens of millions of Americans access to affordable health insurance. In addition, he pushed for initiatives to mitigate climate change.

And, like Democratic presidents before him, President Joe Biden rescued the economy following the botched pandemic response. He succeeded in getting an infrastructure bill passed after many before him had failed. And he oversaw historic investments in clean energy.

For their part, Republicans have almost universally fought all of these accomplishments along the way. Beginning with President Nixon, we have seen increased attacks on voting rights. And beginning with President Reagan, we have experienced the growth of corporate consolidation and wealth disparity until, in 2014, the U.S. was officially recognized as an oligarchy, which Wikipedia defines as “a type of political system in which the wealthiest citizens deploy unique and concentrated power to defend their unique minority interests.”

In other words, for decades politicians and their benefactors have rigged our government for their personal gain to the point that a significant percentage of our population feels so helpless they want to tear it all down. We’ve watched politics become a profession. We’ve witnessed unparalleled corruption by politicians and corporate leaders as they mortgage our nation’s future.

For example, the national debt now exceeds our GDP as a result of too many wars of choice which have led to uncontrolled military spending. Adding to the problem is the loss of revenue from continuous tax cuts for the wealthy and large corporations. Former high-paying jobs have been shipped overseas so corporations can avoid paying worker benefits in their never-ending quest for increased corporate profits. Most industries have been captured by a few corporations that too often collude with one another to fix prices and flex their lobbying muscle for special treatment. This corporate consolidation has led to the collapse of many communities, especially in rural areas. Meanwhile multinationals and foreign corporations have set about controlling agriculture by swallowing up farmland and groundwater sources.

Americans’ overall health and lifespan have been diminished as a result of food scarcity, poor nutrition and lack of access to healthcare. Despite overpowering evidence of the causes and consequences of climate change, the oligarchs and many politicians have buried their heads in the sand refusing to acknowledge that it will devastate our planet with mass extinctions of species (maybe our own) along with extreme weather events, increased wildfires, sea level rise and weakening ocean currents. In addition, climate change is leading to mass migration which places stress on host nations often ending with human rights violations as we’ve seen in the U.S.

The extraction of commodities such as lumber, fossil fuels and minerals is given priority over our more important natural resources such as clean air and water, healthy forests, the diversity of wildlife and even human lives.

Moreover, our Constitution is under attack as never before. Billionaire oligarchs have taken control of our media turning long-standing news organizations into propaganda outlets that ignore reality and spew misinformation to advance their interests. Religion, race, gender and sexual preference are again being used as weapons to distract and divide us.

We are finally reaching the point where our democracy and our corrupted economy can no longer coexist. It is time for a reckoning.

It is time for congressional term limits and accountability for corruption. It is time for an effective FEC, election transparency, and limits on campaign financing. It is time to eliminate all forms of voter suppression and to make Election Day a national holiday. It is time for a strong FCC and the restoration of the Fairness Doctrine. It is time for a truly independent judiciary and Department of Justice. It is time for a wealth tax and real tax fairness. It is time for the application of antitrust laws, the reversal of Buckley v Valeo and the overturning of Citizens United.

It is time for universal healthcare and effective gun laws. It is time to fully fund and restore our public education system that was once the envy of the world. It is time to restore our international standing and strengthen relationships with allies.

And perhaps most important of all, it is time to address climate change with the urgency it requires as if the future of our planet depends on it. Because it does.

The Surest Way To Make America Great Again.

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For 2025-2026, the U.S. military budget is $921 billion, 35.5 percent of all global military spending and 63 percent more than China’s and Russia’s military budgets combined (our largest global adversaries). And 11 of the remaining top 15 are U.S. allies!

Given the fearsomeness of our military power, U.S. citizens have a greater likelihood of starving to death or dying for lack of access to healthcare than being killed by a military attack on our homeland. And a far greater chance of being gunned down in a church, theater, school, nightclub or shopping mall by a Second Amendment nutjob!

Yet the Trump regime is planning to ask Congress to increase our already bloated military budget to $1.5 trillion for next year.

That started me thinking: What if we cut our military spending to a more reasonable amount? Let’s say that we cut it to $502.6 billion – double that of China, the next largest spender and our greatest perceived global rival. That would save U.S. taxpayers a whopping $669.7 billion. Or, when compared to the regime’s planned 2027 military budget, nearly $1 trillion!

Assuming the Trump regime hasn’t completely alienated all of our longtime allies, we would still have a combined military budget of $1.14 trillion.

So, what if our government really did come to its senses? What could we do with that $669.7 billion or $1 trillion in annual savings? And what if we made U.S. billionaires pay a tax rate of 13 percent, the same as the average U.S. taxpayer? We would gain an estimated $224 billion annually in additional tax revenues. In addition, we would gain billions more if we closed tax shelters and forced multinational corporations to pay a tax burden equal to that of other advanced economies.

With the many billions in savings and the additional tax revenue, we could all but eliminate our annual $1.78 trillion federal deficit. That would save even more money that would otherwise be spent on additional interest for our national debt. Or we could take part of the savings and do some real good for our citizens.

For example, we could feed every hungry American for $33.1 billion a year – just 3 percent of our current military budget. And for an estimated $19.9 billion – roughly 2 percent of our military budget – we could house all of our homeless, many of them military veterans.

We could further cut costs and save lives by committing to some form of universal healthcare. Some estimates show that by replacing private insurance with Medicare for All we could cut our total annual healthcare expenditure by up to $313.5 billion per year.

Reimagining our federal budget would certainly be better than following our military-industrial complex further down the rabbit hole, especially when you consider that the Department of Defense has never passed an audit. Indeed, between 1998 and 2015, the DoD can’t account for $21 trillion in spending! $21 trillion – nearly 54 percent of our national debt!!!

Moreover, by cutting our military budget to a more sensible level, the politicians in Washington might feel more constrained in committing to a war of choice.

Measuring The Trump Regime 2.0.

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When Trump campaigned for a second term, he promised to cut costs, lower inflation, reduce taxes, close the borders, and deport “the worst of the worst”. He also promised to bring peace to Ukraine and the Middle East, and to avoid any more “forever” wars.

So, what has his regime actually done?

  • Dismantled, or attempted to dismantle, much of the federal government.
  • Fired thousands of government employees replacing expertise and experience with loyalty.
  • Pardoned 1,600 criminals, including seditionists and drug traffickers.
  • Shuttered USAID leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of foreigners living in abject poverty.
  • Proclaimed the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.
  • Threatened to make Canada the 51st state.
  • Threatened to invade Greenland.
  • Threatened to invade Cuba.
  • Threatened to invade Mexico.
  • Violated the Constitution by accepting a $400 million aircraft from Qatar.
  • Forced the Smithsonian and National Parks to remove references to slavery and our genocide of Native Americans.
  • Removed high-ranking black and female officers from the military.
  • Cut ACA subsidies making healthcare unaffordable for millions of Americans.
  • Illegally withheld funds from Planned Parenthood clinics.
  • Forced law firms and universities to kowtow by withholding federal funds.
  • Attacked freedom of the press by filing frivolous lawsuits against media for publishing unflattering stories, helping engineer the takeover of CBS and CNN by a MAGA friendly billionaire, and threatening to revoke media broadcast licenses unless they behave as more regime friendly.
  • Attacked freedom of speech by pressuring networks to remove Colbert and Kimmel, deporting international students for standing up for Palestine, and arresting peaceful demonstrators.
  • Increased inflation through illegal tariffs and his war on Iran.
  • Paved over Jackie Kennedy’s Rose Garden.
  • Uglified the Oval Office with hundreds of golden trinkets and doodads.
  • Destroyed the East Wing of America’s House (the White House) without permission or prior notice.
  • Placed Trump’s name on the JFK Center for the Arts before closing it for 2 years.
  • Released the Epstein files after redacting the names of predators while revealing the names of victims.
  • Removed the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accords and set about further destroying the environment by returning to coal-fired power plants and permitting oil drilling on environmentally sensitive lands, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
  • Illegally executed small boat operators in international waters claiming they were carrying drugs.
  • Weaponized the DOJ to falsely charge Trump’s political enemies with crimes.
  • Expanded ICE and CBP into a large, heavily armed police force answering only to Trump with the intent of arresting and deporting 1 million residents per year.
  • Sent masked, armed thugs into Democratic-led cities where they arrested and terrorized lawful residents and ignored the constitutional right to due process. Operation Metro Surge resulted in $200 million in economic damages to the City of Minneapolis and the murders of 2 U.S. citizens.
  • Weakened alliances with longtime allies and threatened to leave NATO.
  • Against international law, illegally sent troops into Venezuela to capture its president and his wife.
  • Along with Israel, began an illegal, and likely unwinnable, war against Iran committing numerous war crimes, including the bombing of an elementary school, universities and civilian residences.
  • Violated at least 19 provisions of the U.S. Constitution.
  • Spent $100 million of taxpayer money on golf outings with the expectation it will exceed $300 million by the end of Trump’s term.
  • Used the presidency to unconstitutionally enrich the Trump family by at least $4 billion.
  • Increased the national debt by $2.7 trillion thus far by cutting taxes on billionaires and multinational corporations.

When you elect a criminal convicted of 34 felonies you shouldn’t be surprised when he does criminal things. It’s not America first. It’s Trump first.

The Political Division That’s Most Concerning.

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It’s not left versus right. It’s left versus left. Those who believe in democracy, human rights and a safe environment versus those who believe in democracy, human rights and a safe environment.

What do I mean by that?

By now it should be abundantly clear that the Felon-in-Chief and his MAGA followers are leading our nation down a path toward oligarchy and dictatorship. They’re succeeding in great part because the resistance has been fragmented and largely rudderless.

For many years, involved and caring voters have been split amongst a wide variety of single-issue organizations focused on guns, homelessness, hunger, wildlife, animal rights, air and water quality, climate change, sustainable energy, racial and gender equity, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, indigenous rights, immigrant rights, organized labor, religious freedom, Palestinian rights, Ukraine, healthcare, public education, reining in military spending, tax fairness, voting rights, breaking up corporate monopolies, etc., etc.

All of these issues are important, and I have personally supported most of them. But we are now facing an ideological movement that vehemently opposes progress toward each of these goals. Indeed, those in control of MAGA have pushed policies that are directly counter to them. And they now control all three branches of government, as well as much of the media.

If patriotic and caring people are to interrupt our nation’s slide into tyranny, we must set aside any inclination to base our votes on single or self-serving issues. We must come together and focus on what really matters. That doesn’t mean we have to abandon the goals we care about most. It means we have to ensure that we have a government that will allow us to pursue those goals.

There is only one issue that is important now: Saving our democracy. Period.

How Bad Is The Minnesota Fraud?

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The Trump regime would have you believe that Somali immigrants in Minnesota committed $19 billion in fraud, which was the alleged reason behind Operation Metro Surge (the ICE invasion that brutalized both citizens and noncitizens and left two people dead). But according to an exhaustive study by the Minnesota StarTribune, the figure is actually $217.7 million.

That, of course, is deplorable, but it pales in comparison to the regime’s raids on taxpayer funds. Indeed, it falls short of the expected $300 million taxpayer cost of Trump’s golf outings for his second term. And it’s dwarfed by the $1 billion cost of retrofitting Trump’s mansion in the air that was illegally gifted to him by Qatar.

Trump’s pardons of white-collar criminals have resulted in the forgiveness of more than $1.5 billion in criminal debt owed to victims and the federal government.

Add to that ICE Barbie’s $225 million ad scam and her $270 DHS purchase of luxury jets used for personal travel. There’s also Patel’s personal use of FBI jets for a trip to the Milan Olympics and outings with his girlfriend. There’s the DHS penchant for grossly overpaying for warehouses intended to be used as immigrant concentration camps. And there’s the $660 billion in Trump’s unconstitutional tariffs paid by American consumers.

Even worse is Trump’s illegal and unnecessary war on Iran that’s costing roughly $1 billion per day and could very well drag on for years.

Moreover, it’s estimated that Medicare and Medicaid lose roughly $100 billion annually to fraud, largely because MAGA refuses to hire enough federal auditors to ferret out the abuses. The same is true for the IRS, which is estimated to lose as much as $1 trillion in revenue each year to tax fraud. (Ordinary people are often audited. But billionaires and multinational corporations escape audits because their tax filings are so complex.)

Of course, all of that is a mere fraction of the more than $21 trillion in funding from 1998 to 2015 that the Department of Defense couldn’t account for. The Pentagon has not passed a single audit in its entire history! And despite its $1 trillion budget for this fiscal year, the regime is asking for a $50 billion supplemental budget to replace the munitions expended in just one week of Trump’s assault on Iran, his incursion into Venezuela, and his targeting of alleged drug trafficking boats in international waters.

None of this should come as a surprise. After all, what else should we expect from a regime run by a felon convicted on 34 counts of fraud?