Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Dr. Mehmet Oz announced this week the launch of a nationwide audit of Medicaid providers ahead of their revalidation.

The move marks the latest effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to crack down on waste, fraud, and abuse in federal programs, and it’s being welcomed by state auditors, fraud experts, and congressional leaders.

“This is a great initiative from the Trump administration, and every single state should comply. Medicaid fraud is happening across the country,” Mississippi State Auditor Shad White told The Daily Signal.

“Even in smaller red states, like here in Mississippi, my office has found Medicaid payments going to dead people, rich people, and illegal immigrants—tens of millions of Medicaid dollars going to people who shouldn’t even be on the program.”

On Monday, White announced that his office uncovered at least $10.5 million in taxpayer dollars administered by Medicaid providers to illegal aliens in the state.

“There’s no doubt this is happening nationwide,” White added. “The Trump administration is making sure that only American citizens who qualify for the program actually get the benefits. If states can’t control their Medicaid programs, I think the Trump administration could stop payments to the states and return the savings to hardworking taxpayers via tax cuts.”

OJ Oleka, CEO of the State Financial Officers Foundation, a nonprofit focused on uncovering taxpayer fraud, told The Daily Signal that White’s findings are “not [an] isolated” incident.

“In our 2025 Oversight Report, state financial officers documented protecting more than $28 billion in taxpayer funds,” Oleka said. “Nearly $6 billion of that involved waste, fraud, and abuse, with a significant portion coming directly from Medicaid programs.”

Oleka also pointed to Kentucky Auditor Allison Ball’s discovery of “nearly $1 billion in improper Medicaid payments in a single review,” citing eligibility failures, overpayments, and coding abuses.

Some members of Congress, however, expressed concern to The Daily Signal that certain states will comply with the Trump administration’s audit, while others may resist out of fear of being held accountable for their failure to protect Americans’ tax dollars.

“Gavin Newsom, like other Democrat governors, has overseen what appears to be billions of dollars of fraud in California, while he and other leaders in his state have not been held accountable,” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., told The Daily Signal. “As a governor, you’re responsible for preventing fraud and rebuilding trust following a failure. I was governor of Florida—I know the stakes.”

“When you’re trusted with the American people’s money, you need to account for every red cent. Newsom should face the music for his failures,” Scott added.

California has recently come under scrutiny over alleged efforts to cover up widespread Medicaid and hospice fraud, including legislation that would prevent independent journalists from investigating potential abuse—such as reporting by Nick Shirley in Minnesota.

The bill has been dubbed as the Stop Nick Shirley Act by critics.

“The rampant fraud in Minneapolis was just the tip of the iceberg, which is exactly why Americans deserve a nationwide audit of Medicaid,” Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., told The Daily Signal. “I expect blue states will fight critical oversight efforts aimed at protecting the American people’s hard‑earned tax dollars and uncovering the Democrat Party’s corruption at every turn.”

Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., echoed Clyde’s remarks and told The Daily Signal that “every state should be put under the microscope and held fully accountable.”

“Just last month right here in North Carolina, fraudsters operating a fake substance abuse facility were sentenced to more than 14 years in prison for a $12.7 million Medicaid fraud scheme that preyed on drug-addicted patients,” Harris added. “These massive schemes are not limited to Minnesota—they expose a systemic failure that has lasted far too long.”

Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, said such “crimes” amount to schemes that “rob vulnerable patients of the care and services on which they depend.”

“We have seen firsthand in Maryland why cracking down on waste, fraud, and abuse matters, including a $3.6 million Medicaid fraud scheme in Baltimore County,” Harris said in a statement to The Daily Signal. “Every dollar lost to fraud is a dollar diverted from children, seniors, and individuals with disabilities who rely on Medicaid’s critical services. Dr. Oz is right to demand stronger oversight to protect patients and taxpayers alike.”

Despite skepticism from some lawmakers over potential state resistance, Clyde said he remains confident the Trump administration “will expose and prosecute fraudsters—delivering much‑needed accountability to the American people.”

“I expect to hear the click of handcuffs as the audit ends,” Clyde added.

The Federal Reserve is reported to be historically apolitical, meaning all considerations are absent of politics.  However, no individual Federal Reserve Chairman has been more overtly political than Jerome Powell. Today, after announcing yet again the Fed will not lower interest rates, Chairman Jerome Powell announced he will not leave the board of the federal […]

The post Consciousness of Guilt – Fed Chairman Powell Refuses to Leave Fed Board After Term Expires, “I will leave when I think it’s appropriate to do so” appeared first on The Last Refuge.

UNITED STATES — After seeing Ben Sasse's incredible faith in God and upstanding moral character, the nation now understands why the former senator had to leave politics behind.

Over 300 people marched against mass migration and undocumented immigrants in Pretoria, South Africa, on Tuesday.

The post Hundreds March Against Mass Migration in Pretoria, South Africa appeared first on Breitbart.

Every single day that the Strait of Hormuz is closed, the damage that is being done to the global economy is getting even worse. But the full consequences of the global oil crisis that we are facing will not be felt for a while because nations all over the globe are still running through their strategic oil reserves. And the full consequences of the global fertilizer crisis that we are facing will not be felt until harvest season. So don’t judge the severity of this emergency by what we are experiencing at this moment, because the truth is that what we are experiencing at this moment is just the very small tip of a very large iceberg.

This week, it appears that more people out there are starting to understand that the Strait of Hormuz is not going to be reopened any time soon.

On Wednesday, President Trump explained that he is not going to lift the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports until Iran agrees to give up their nuclear program…

US President Donald Trump told Axios that he would keep Iran under a naval blockade until Tehran agreed to a deal addressing US concerns over its nuclear program.

“The blockade is somewhat more effective than the bombing,” Trump was quoted as saying. “They are choking like a stuffed pig. And it is going to be worse for them. They can’t have a nuclear weapon.”

Trump said Iran wanted a deal to lift the blockade, but added he did not want to do so unless Tehran was prevented from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“They want to settle. They don’t want me to keep the blockade. I don’t want to [lift the blockade], because I don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon,” he said.

But Iran is not going to give up their nuclear program.

In fact, a member of Iran’s Supreme Council of Experts has stated that it is “forbidden to hold any negotiation on the right to enrich uranium”…

Ahmad Kaveibi, member of Iran’s Supreme Council of Experts:

“It is forbidden to hold any negotiation on the right to enrich uranium. This issue falls outside the negotiation’s framework. This contradicts the position of the Supreme Leader and is forbidden from a jurisprudential standpoint.”

Over and over again, Iran has steadfastly refused to even negotiate about their “right” to enrich uranium.

But Trump seems to be convinced that if he just puts enough pressure on the Iranians they will eventually change their minds.

We shall see.

The Iranians know that midterm elections are looming in the United States, and so the clock is ticking for Trump.

If the Democrats take control of both houses of Congress, they would likely force Trump to end the blockade and leave Iran alone.

So from an Iranian point of view, all they have to do is hold out until the end of the year and they win.

Meanwhile, the global economy just continues to suffer.

Even if the Strait of Hormuz reopened tomorrow, it would still take up to 6 months to fully clear all of the mines that have been laid…

It could take six months to fully clear the Strait of Hormuz of mines deployed by the Iranian military, and any such operation is unlikely to be carried out until the U.S. war with Iran ends, the Pentagon has informed Congress — an assessment that means the conflict’s economic impact could extend late into this year or beyond.

A senior Defense Department official shared the estimate, which has not been previously reported, during a classified briefing Tuesday for members of the House Armed Services Committee, said three officials familiar with the discussion. The timeline — met with frustration by Democrats and Republicans alike, two of these people said — is perhaps the clearest sign that gasoline and oil prices could remain elevated long after any peace deal is reached.

And it isn’t just a matter of restoring the flow of traffic through the Strait.

Oil production in the Persian Gulf region is down 57 percent from pre-war levels.

Thanks to damage that has already been done during this war, it will literally take years for production to return to 100 percent.

The head of the International Energy Agency is warning that we are facing “the greatest energy security crisis in history”…

Fatih Birol, chief executive of the International Energy Agency, has called the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz “the greatest energy security crisis in history”, insisting it is “more serious” than the previous energy shocks in 1973 (when some Arab states imposed an oil embargo on the West), 1979 (caused by the Iranian revolution) and 2022 (Ukraine) “put together”.

In a book that I authored during the early part of 2025, I discussed the fact that a great conflict in the Middle East would cause oil prices to rise dramatically.

And that is precisely what has occurred.

On Wednesday, oil prices rose to the highest levels that we have seen during this war so far…

Oil prices jumped more than 6% on Wednesday, after President Donald Trump said he will maintain the U.S. naval blockade against Iran until they agreed to a nuclear deal.

International benchmark Brent crude futures rose more than 6% to $118.33 per barrel by 12:10 p.m. ET, U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures also advanced more than 6% to $106.37 per barrel.

If the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, this will only be just the beginning.

A lot of people are freaking out because the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States is now well above 4 dollars a gallon…

U.S. gas prices have hit a fresh record since the start of the war with Iran, rising to an average nationwide of $4.23 per gallon Wednesday, according to the motor club AAA.

The grim milestone comes as oil prices have surged higher over the past week amid a dual blockade by the U.S. and Iran of the Strait of Hormuz, the key chokepoint in the region for transiting crude and petroleum-based products out of the Persian Gulf.

If people are freaking out now, what will they do when the price of gasoline goes much higher?

Meanwhile, we are also facing the worst global fertilizer crisis in history by a very wide margin…

More than half of the Middle East’s urea output may have been lost since the start of the Iran conflict, which is continuing to disrupt fertilizer flows from the region and threatening global food inflation.

The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has choked shipments of urea, a key component in nitrogen fertilizers, leaving large volumes stranded in the Gulf and tightening supplies for farmers around the world. At the same time, Iranian drone attacks on nations including Qatar and Bahrain have damaged energy and industrial infrastructure, hindering production of the chemical itself.

That has forced urea manufacturers in the region to curb operations, with 55% to 60% of output potentially halted, according to consultancy CRU Group.

Without sufficient supplies of nitrogen fertilizer, we can’t even come close to growing enough food to feed everyone on this planet.

In other words, we really are facing a scenario in which large numbers of people in impoverished nations could end up starving.

At the same time, U.S. wheat farmers are facing the worst drought in the heartland of America since the Dust Bowl days of the 1930s…

U.S. wheat futures rallied to the highest in nearly two years Tuesday, as drought in U.S. Plains wheat fields pressures yields while soaring fertilizer costs have caused farmers to trim planting of nutrient-intensive crops such as grains.

CBOT wheat futures surged after the latest Crop Progress report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture said only 30% of the winter wheat crop is in good or excellent condition as of April 26.

The amount of winter wheat that gets harvested this year is going to be very disappointing.

Looking ahead, it is being projected that the number of acres of wheat that U.S. farmers are planting in the spring will be the fewest “since record keeping began in 1919”…

U.S. growers were poised to plant the fewest acres of wheat since record keeping began in 1919, as high costs for fertilizer, seeds, and equipment have made it difficult to turn a profit.

Yes, this is really happening.

If you think that the price of cookies is high now, you should brace yourself, because you haven’t seen anything yet.

In some areas of the country, conditions are so exceedingly dry that it just doesn’t make sense for farmers to try to grow anything.

Dane Wigington is warning that we are heading into a “summer from hell”…

What is going to happen when summer starts? Wigington says, “This is the summer from Hell that we are approaching right now. This will be like no other. The snow pack in the Colorado River watershed is almost nonexistent. The snowpack in the Sierra Nevada averages about 20%. In the Northern Sierra, it is about 5%. That’s 5% of normal. Why isn’t that headline everywhere? People have no idea what is coming. . .. What will happen in the Southwest? We are going to find out soon. Right now, they are frantically discussing desalination facilities in the Gulf of California. . .. That is idiocy and not going to save anything. It can’t be done in any time frame that matters.”

This isn’t a coincidence.

Most of my regular readers already understand this.

If you look at the latest U.S. Drought Monitor map, it looks like a horror show.

There is no easy way out of this.

It will take some time for the full consequences of this nightmare to arrive, but when they do our society will experience immense pain.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

The post The Global Oil Crisis Just Escalated To A New Level And U.S. Farmers Are Planting The Fewest Acres Of Wheat Since Records Began In 1919 appeared first on The Economic Collapse.

Jokes that implicitly call for violence aren’t calling for violence, to hear Jake Tapper tell it. At least, not if they’re told by Jimmy Kimmel. If they’re told about Jimmy […]

The post Flashback: Jake Tapper Defends Kimmel's 'Jokes,' but Melted Down When Aaron Rodgers Linked ABC Host to Epstein appeared first on The Western Journal.

The Supreme Court’s conservative-leaning majority seemed favorable to the Trump administration during Wednesday’s arguments about terminating Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for Syrian and Haitian immigrants.

After President Donald Trump’s second term began, the Department of Homeland Security ended the status for 13 countries. The high court is weighing whether Trump can legally end the temporary protections, opening them up to deportation proceedings. Advocates for the Syrian and Haitian immigrants say they were fleeing war, rampant crime, and natural disasters, and could face those problems if they return.

Justices on Wednesday questioned whether the lower court erred in even taking up the case.

At one point, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson became fiery as she brought up Trump’s past comments that she said could suggest a race-based attitude toward the termination policy.

“What about bad genes and poisoning the blood of Americans?” Jackson asked Solicitor General John Sauer, quoting Trump.

“If you look at those statements in context again, they’re clearly talking about problems,” Sauer replied. “You look at each one of those statements. problems in crime, poverty, welfare, dependency, again, problems that have been emphasized again and again by not just President Trump, not just the secretary, but many others who favor a tough immigration policy.”

Jackson followed, “The president’s insistence that immigrants from certain countries—largely, if not almost exclusively, countries with African immigrants, black African immigrants—are not allowed, and calling these sorts of names. types of things he said about Haiti.”

During his arguments, Geoffrey Pipoly, lawyer for the Haitian plaintiffs, brought up Trump’s past rhetoric about “s——– countries.”

Justice Elena Kagan pressed Sauer about whether the Department of Homeland Security adequately consulted with the State Department before terminating the status.

The law requires consultation between the two departments, which occurred in this case. But plaintiffs contend it was not specific enough.

However, Justice Samuel Alito was skeptical about allowing courts to review the level of consultation.

“Some consultation, all right, it was very brief, and maybe it’s not what one would hope for,” Alito said. “But still, once you say, well, it’s permissible to review the adequacy of the consultation, it’s always going to be possible to pick, to raise objections about the adequacy of the consultation and the words that the State Department comes back with,” Alito said.

Ahilan Arulanantham, representing the Syrian plaintiffs, responded, “Our consultation claim in this sense is extremely narrow.”

“We don’t argue about the levels. We don’t argue about the amount,” Arulanantham said. “All we say is it has to be about a subject. Deliberation about a subject, so they have to talk about country conditions.”

Justice Amy Coney Barrett later asked, “Is this going to get you very much? If it’s just a box-checking exercise, why would Congress permit review of the procedural aspect when really what everybody cares about much more is the substance?”

Arulanantham replied that procedures are important for the public and lawmakers.

“Congress, and us too, and the millions of people who live with TPS holders have some faith in government.”

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton responded today to the Supreme Court 6-3 decision to effectively prohibit the use of racial preferences to create “majority-minority” congressional districts:

This is a great decision for democracy that affirms that the U.S. Constitution requires the government to be color-blind in its decision-making. The decision effectively ends the egregious racial segregation of voters. Judicial Watch is prepared to enforce this decision to try to end any racial gerrymandering that treats voters as cogs in a racial spoils system.

Most Americans would agree with the court’s conclusion that “allowing race to play any part in government decision-making represents a departure from the constitutional rule that applies in almost every other context.”

In January 2025, Judicial Watch and AEF filed an initial amici brief (friends of the court) in this case, asking the court to affirm a lower court ruling that Louisiana violated the constitution when it crowded minority voters into congressional districts. Judicial Watch and AEF filed a supplemental amici curiae brief in September 2025.  

Judicial Watch and AEF argued:

This Court has compared race-based districting to segregation of “public parks, … buses, … and schools,” and warned that we “should not be carving electorates into racial blocs.” … That is because “[c]lassifications of citizens solely on the basis of race ‘are by their very nature odious to a free people whose institutions are founded upon the doctrine of equality.’” … Racial gerrymandering, like all “[r]acial classifications of any sort” cause “lasting harm to our society” because “[t]hey reinforce the belief, held by too many for too much of our history, that individuals should be judged by the color of their skin.” …

There should be no question that race-based division of citizens for purposes of compliance with § 2 and Gingles is a violation of the Equal Protection Clause, the “central purpose” of which “is to prevent the States from purposefully discriminating between individuals on the basis of race.”… The same may be said of the Voting Rights Act.

In his concurring opinion, Justice Thomas agreed, denouncing the practice where:

“Blacks [we]re drawn into ‘black districts’ and given ‘black representatives’; Hispanics [we]re drawn into Hispanic districts and given ‘Hispanic representatives’; and so on.” . . . That interpretation rendered §2 “repugnant to any nation that strives for the ideal of a color-blind Constitution.” . . . Today’s decision should largely put an end to this “disastrous misadventure” in voting-rights jurisprudence.

AEF is a charitable and educational foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life through education. In furtherance of that goal, the Foundation has engaged in a number of projects, which include, but are not limited to, educational and health conferences domestically and abroad. AEF has partnered frequently with Judicial Watch to fight government and judicial corruption and to promote a return to ethics and morality in the nation’s public life.

Judicial Watch is a national leader in election integrity and voting rights litigation, with a record of successful lawsuits enforcing constitutional redistricting standards and cleaning voter rolls nationwide. 

Judicial Watch pointed out earlier this year that Maryland’s Democrat-proposed 2026 congressional redistricting plan is in key respects identical to the unconstitutional gerrymander struck down in a prior Judicial Watch lawsuit—but is even more partisan and less compact than the invalidated 2021 map.

Judicial Watch’s lawsuits and legal actions have caused the removal of six million ineligible names from voter lists nationwide.

A recent settlement with Oregon in a federal lawsuit confirms 800,000 ineligible voter names are slated for review and removal from voter registration lists. The settlement requires state officials to produce detailed data and enforce federal voter roll clean-up procedures under the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA). Under NVRA, states must take reasonable steps to remove ineligible voters—such as those who have died, moved, or become otherwise inactive.

In March 2026, the Supreme Court of the United States held oral argument in a landmark election integrity case over whether the federal Election Day laws prohibit the counting of mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day. Judicial Watch brought the underlying lawsuit on behalf of the Libertarian Party of Mississippi.

In January 2026, in a historic case filed by Judicial Watch, the Supreme Court decided 7-2 in favor of Congressman Mike Bost and two presidential electors who were before the court to vindicate their standing to challenge an Illinois law allowing the counting of ballots received up to 14 days after Election Day.

###

The post Judicial Watch Statement Supreme Court Decision to Restrict Race-Based Gerrymandering appeared first on Judicial Watch.

On Virginia’s gubernatorial campaign trail, Abigail Spanberger showed real acting chops.

The former CIA spook and congresswoman made a great show of how moderate she was in the face of withering attacks from Republican Winsome Earle-Sears. Spanberger trotted out her cop dad to tout her law-and-order credentials, claimed she would be a bipartisan governor for all Virginians, and (mostly) avoided stepping into electoral landmines like transgenderism and illegal immigration.

But the second Spanberger took office, the mask fell off. The true extent of her liberal views immediately became clear.

One of Spanberger’s first official acts as governor was to enmesh the state in a blatantly unconstitutional Electoral College runaround. By joining the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, Spanberger proved immediately her disdain for the Founding Fathers and the electoral system that has helped keep this country together for two and a half centuries.

Not content to simply trample the Constitution, Spanberger then attempted to end political representation for her rural residents by endorsing a gerrymandered congressional map that would remove all but one of the state’s Republican national representatives. Despite explicitly stating on the campaign trail she had “no plans” to redistrict Virginia were she to become governor, she was quick to approve and then campaign for a hyper-partisan map.

Spanberger isn’t much better when it comes to domestic affairs, deciding that authoritarian gun control bills from the Virginia House of Delegates weren’t tyrannical enough. The bills contained the normal Democratic priorities: “assault weapons” bans, magazine limits, and raising the age to buy a handgun from 18 to 21. But those weren’t enough for Spanberger, who sent the bills back to the House with several stricter amendments.

How about Spanberger’s decision to cut state ties with federal immigration enforcement? Was that the action of a moderate?

But then again, Spanberger has always been a radical. During her three terms in Congress, she consistently aligned with the most far-left elements of the Democratic Party. Heritage Action for America consistently placed her with progressives on its annual Congressional Scorecard.

She’s against any limits on abortion; called climate change “one of the greatest and most imminent threats to our economy, our national security, and our way of life”; and supports men in women’s locker rooms and sports.

Yet, she was able to coast to victory in the gubernatorial election by hiding her radical views behind a smokescreen of centrist language.

In Spanberger, Democrats see a clear strategy going forward: play moderate, rule progressive.

Americans hate the leftist policies popular with Democrat activists. Indeed, following the litany of radical policies enacted by Spanberger, her popularity with Virginia voters tanked. She currently sits at a measly +1 approval rating, making her the Old Dominion’s least popular governor in nearly three decades. 45% of voters think her views are too liberal.

But it doesn’t really matter; Spanberger already has what she wants. She’s in the governor’s mansion until 2030, giving her plenty of time to shove through radical legislation. It will be difficult to decouple Virginia from the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, rescind the draconian gun control laws, and un-gerrymander the congressional map.

The new Democrat strategy is to pretend to be a moderate, then make as many radical changes as possible before the pendulum swings back to give Republicans power. They’re not particularly subtle about this plan, either.

Infamous Democrat consultant James Carville said as much on his podcast earlier this month, arguing that if Democrats take power in 2028, they should make Puerto Rico and D.C. states as well as pack the court. But rather than openly campaign on that plan, Carville advised, “Don’t run on it. Don’t talk about it. Just do it.”

The American public cannot trust the Democratic Party when its members claim to be moderates. They have proven time and again that, regardless of the promises made on the campaign trail, it is radical activists who dictate the policy when they take power. Unconstitutional power grabs, trampling civil rights, wildly degenerate social policy. These are the fruits of Democrat governance.

Virginia was the testing ground. Now the strategy goes national.

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.

Shocking developments have emerged in the case of late NASCAR legend Greg Biffle, with reports that detectives are looking into a possible insider role in the home burglary and alleged bank fraud of accounts in the weeks following the fatal plane crash that killed him and his family in North Carolina last year.

The post Detectives Investigate Possible Insider Role in Greg Biffle Home Burglary, Alleged Bank Fraud appeared first on Breitbart.