Friday, November 6, 2026

November, 2026, Political Class Insanity, Part 1 - A Virginia Politician's Alleged Marijuana Empire, Conflict of Interest In New York City and Biden NGOs Get Wealthy While Immigrant Kids Go Missing

 The incompetence and mismanagement of taxpayer dollars and government programs, be it Covid, voting, or over staffing continue to waste taxpayer dollars while never resolving any major issue facing the country. We call it political class insanity  so here is  today's dose of  recent insanity:


1)We have often talked about two realities:


  • The Biden  administration was overwhelmed when  it allowed millions  and millions of illegal immigrants into the  country, so much so that they lost track of over 300,000 illegal immigrant kids, many of whom  probably ended up being sex trafficked,  working in sweatshops, and who knows what else.

  • Nick Shirley, a 24 year old independent journalist  has done a great job exposing the  fraud and ineptness of the Federal government when it comes to  wasting money through fraud and inefficiencies in the Medicare, Medicaid,  Social Security, and Covid programs.


And Mr. Shirley continues to expose the fraud and  disgustingly poor performance of  the Federal government:


  • In a recent documentary, Shirley accused the Biden  administration of running the largest  human trafficking  operation in the  country's history.

  • This accusation was a result  of  the massive amount of illegal immigration Biden  allowed during  his term.

  • Shirley accused a network of non-governmental organizations (NCOs) using taxpayer money to  profit in managing  the illegal  immigrant kids:  "Your tax dollars trafficked over 300,000 children across the United States while NGOs enriched themselves with millions of dollars.”

  • One NGO got $895 million while  numerous other NGOs  got over $100,000 each.

  • And despite spending over a  billion dollars, 300,000 kids went missing.

  • The documentary interviewed Border Patrol  agents and  airline flight attendants who saw the NGOs funneling kids around the country.

  • The Office  of the  Inspector General  has officially warned  that children that were lost  had  a high risk of trafficking  exploitation  and forced labor.

  • In June,  the Director of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, stated that nearly “300,000”  kids were still missing.


Another day, another billion  dollars of taxpayer wealth  wasted. And that is not the biggest tragedy: hundreds of thousands  of kids lost because Biden opened  the  border  to millions  of illegal immigrants and  those kids  got  lost in the bureaucracy  while NGOs got  rich.


2)Letitia James is the New York Attorney General. As a result, she is responsible for enforcing  the laws of the land. But she  recently  got herself  into a potentially  very serious  conflict of interest  situation:


  • She  is being accused of ignoring alleged abuses that were  possibly incurred by three scandal-plagued  homeless shelter operators, shelters that were all funded by taxpayer dollars.

  • But she  also received tens of thousands  of dollars in political donations from these  three  shelter-operators.

  • Since James took office in 2019,  the three operators have been flagged for  serious operating problems by the state Comptroller's  Office, the state Inspector General, the NYC  Department of  Investigation (DOI), and the Federal government.

  • Thus, there was a lot of suspicion  from a lot of  different  sources regarding questionable spending and  weak oversight  of taxpayer funds.

  • The DOI documented widespread “nepotism, lack of competitive bidding and exorbitant salaries” and the Attorney General could “bring action to enjoin, void or rescind” misdeeds.

  • The State Comptroller's office found  that one  of the shelters overbilled the  city by over $566,556 dollars over a two year period.

  • In 2019, a manager of one shelter was  arrested for  raping a woman under his  supervision.

  • Many of the executives running rewarded themselves with extremely,  out of the ordinary salaries  and perks at taxpayer expense.

  • And  despite all  of  the  findings of multiple organizations,  James and  her forces apparently have done nothing to prosecute  whatever law  breaking that may have happened by these shelter operators that have  donated  to James’ political  campaigns.


The appearance  of the conflict of interest is just as  bad as actual conflict of interest. And this is a classic case where conflict of interest is in  play, either perceived or real or both.


3)Louise  Lucas is a long time state senator in the Virginia  state legislature. But according to the Federal government, she has been involved  in a lot more  than legislating:


  • She was recently arrested  on Federal charges  of being a member of  a  wide ranging marijuana  trafficking  and money laundering operation.

  • The operation  allegedly included herself, family members, and  associates.

  • She faces five charges in the Federal indictment: racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to distribute marijuana, money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit honest-services fraud through bribery, and maintaining a drug-involved premises.

  • She is also accused  of using her  position and power in  the legislature to shape marijuana  government policy.

  • An FBI wiretap  allegedly caught the real greedy reason why she was peddling  marijuna:  “This is our last chance at generational wealth. I’ve got too old not to be greedy.”

  • Of course, in  typical Democratic manner, her attorney blamed Trump even though the investigation  started during Biden's term in office.


Nice work if you can get  it. Let the  taxpayers pay your salary to enforce the laws of the  state while you are allegedly getting richer by breaking  the laws of the state, a classic double dipping scheme. Lucas had been in the legislature since the early 1990s so  she obviously should have known she was  breaking the law if the indictment and accusations are true. 


Enough  insanity for  today: a Virginia politician running an illegal marijuana  operation, a New  York  Attorney General  allegedly booking  the other way from  the obvious abuse of taxpayer wealth, and Biden's broken immigration  policies made  several NGOs  and their operators  quite wealthy.


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If you agree that we need to deseat every member of Congress for their lack of success and accomplishment, then please consider going to the following petition link to help the cause:


https://www.change.org/p/deseat-congress-reset-freedom



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Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

Sunday, November 1, 2026

The Race To Bankruptcy Court: Hey, California, When Stuck In A Hole, Stop Digging

 Let’s check in with our discussion on which city or state government is going to get to bankruptcy court first. Our primary cities in the race to bankruptcy include New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and newcomer, Seattle. The state governments that we think are soon heading into bankruptcy include New York, New Jersey, Illinois, and California with Washington state a newcomer to the race.


The reason for returning to this topic in the midst of our corruption series is because there have been some significant developments in the race to bankruptcy court. However, before reviewing the latest news and seeing which state or city is making the best progress towards government bankruptcy, let’s review how these cities and states got themselves into this financial death spiral position to begin with:


  • A government entity keeps expanding its budget, eventually putting pressure on the tax revenue stream it receives.

  • At some point, rather than cut government spending or make its programs more efficient financially, the politicians in charge raise taxes to meet the ever growing government expenditures.

  • The raising of taxes causes some residents and businesses to leave the city or state for less tax burdensome areas, reducing the tax base and reducing the revenue stream.

  • Rather than cut expenses and become more efficient to match the reduced tax revenue stream, politicians in the above cities or states raise the tax burden even more.

  • This causes more residents and businesses to flee the city or state, further reducing the tax base and tax revenue stream.

  • At some point politicians panic and raise taxes more and start cutting vital government services (e.g. police, fire, education) in order to try and balance government spending against the shrinking tax base and revenue stream.

  • The reduction in quality of government services in particular and quality of life in general drives more residents and businesses out of the area.

  • Eventually, the expenses, costs and financial liabilities outstrip the reduced tax stream and bankruptcy occurs.

Okay that’s the process. Let’s see what is going on with the top candidates in the race to bankruptcy court.


1)We have  often discussed the reality that California has one of  the highest taxation burdens in the  country for both residents and businesses: high state income taxes, sales taxes, property taxes,  business taxes, etc. In fact, according to  the Tax Foundation, the state has the  third highest state tax burden in the  country. 


And depending on  what happens in a few days after the elections, the state may impose the so-called  “wealth tax” on its billionaires. Or at least on the billionaires still living in the state since many billionaires have already fled  to avoid the  wealth  tax if passed by voters.


But the rush for more taxes  by the state politicians may not stop there:


  • Xavier Becerra is  running for the governorship  of California.

  • According to reporting by the NewYork Post, Becerra has voiced his  support for a potential new tax on mail driven by state drivers.

  • Theoretically, this new tax revenue would be  used to fix the collapsing road infrastructure in the state.

  • According to Becerra, “Everything should be on the table,”  which is politicians’ code for it will happen.

  • Workers that commute  long distances to get to work because they cannot  afford to live close to their  jobs and those that drive  for  their careers, e.g. home visiting  nurses, florists, Uber drivers, etc. would probably be the hardest hit and least able to afford the  mileage tax.

  • Republican  politician, Carl  De Maio, is leading the opposition to the  mileage tax.

  • He  claims  that the mileage charge would likely be  between  6 and 9 cents  a mile.

  • Thus, a driver that travels  a moderate 15,000 miles a year would see a mileage tax charge  of between $900 and $1,350:  “Because of the extreme policies of Democrats in Sacramento, California has the highest cost of living in the nation – and now the Democrats want to make it worse by imposing a crazy new Mileage Tax on all drivers.” 


There  is an old saying:  “When  stuck in a hole, stop digging.” Good advice for any  politician  in the state: you have one of the  highest tax  burdens in the country and you want  to  add possibly two new  taxes on top  of  the  current burden? You already know that residents and businesses are fleeing  the state because of high taxes  so why feed the out migration with  new taxes?! Stop digging.


Also, one  of the reasons for their perceived lack of enough tax funds is that the state politicians have presided over one of the most corrupt and inept government  operations in the  country. The high  speed  rail line effort wasted  tens of billions of dollars with nothing  to show for it. The  Federal government came in  and  shut down almost 500 bogus, criminal, tax revenue sucking Medicaid operations in the state and  not one of  those operations complained  that they were  legitimate.  Remember,  one of those bogus Medicaid criminal enterprises had a burrito stand as its  business address  while another had a tire store as its  Medicaid  address.


Maybe if the state politicians had a  little  gumption, brain power, and initiative they would clean  up  the  misuse and  criminality of current government  programs. That would free up existing tax revenue to fix what needs to be fixed  without adding  more  taxes.


But brainpower and gumption has never been a trait  of  these politicians, much easier to just raise taxes than  fixing what is broken. And continue digging the financial hole  deeper and  deeper until the sides of that hole collapse into bankruptcy.


2)As stated above, the traits of a  city or state going bankrupt  is the inability of that government entity to protect the lives of those that they serve, a basic tenet of any government entity. And of course, Chicago, a prime candidate to go bankrupt,  fails not only along the lines of  high taxation and the impending  financial collapse, but the city also continues the inability to protect its  citizens:


  • As of mid-October, 319 residents of Chicago had been shot and  killed by the rampant violence in the city.

  • This comes out  to about  one murder a day in the city this year.

  • Another 47 residents had been killed by non-shooting means.

  • An additional 1,292 residents had  been shot and wounded, about four  wounded every day.

  • These murder and wounded numbers are about the same as  the same  period in  2025.


Just a reminder that Chicago is not just financially suffering but also suffering from a quality of life perspective. Thus, there is no reason to think that Chicago is not still headed towards bankruptcy as businesses and residents not only flee because  of financial stress but also because  of safety stress.


3)Let’s finish today with some more stats that continue to show why people  are leaving some states and heading for other states, leaving the original states in a  financial bind of a shrinking tax base:


  • According to the Tax Foundation’s latest analysis, Florida, Texas and Tennessee, three prime states where tax weary residents and businesses are heading towards, rank as the 5th, 7th, and  8th best states from a tax burden  perspective,i.e. lesser taxation  burdens.

  • However, the four states that we believe are hurtling towards bankruptcy court, Illinois, California, New Jersey, and New York, rank  as the 38th, 48th, 49th,  and  50th worst states from a  taxation perspective.

  • These rankings are based on four broad tax categories: corporate taxes,  individual income tax, sales tax, property tax, and unemployment  insurance tax  so it  is a  comprehensive picture of the  overall taxation picture.


So it is no surprise that tech companies and talent  are fleeing  California and financial types are fleeing New York, the tax burden in these states are high and not  likely to  ease anytime soon. But given that the political class in these states are addicted to taxation as a way to  resolve inept government and  unnecessary government  programs,  that addiction  will eventually drag  their state governments into  bankruptcy court.


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If you agree that we need to deseat every member of Congress for their lack of success and accomplishment, then please consider going to the following petition link to help the cause:


https://www.change.org/p/deseat-congress-reset-freedom



**********************


Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:


Saturday, October 31, 2026

The Race To Bankruptcy Court: Seattle Still Hemorrhaging Businesses, The Freest States In the Country and The Wealth Tax Disaster In California

Let’s check in with our discussion on which city or state government is going to get to bankruptcy court first. Our primary cities in the race to bankruptcy include New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and newcomer, Seattle. The state governments that we think are soon heading into bankruptcy include New York, New Jersey, Illinois, and California with Washington state a newcomer to the race.

The reason for returning to this topic in the midst of our corruption series is because there have been some significant developments in the race to bankruptcy court. However, before reviewing the latest news and seeing which state or city is making the best progress towards government bankruptcy, let’s review how these cities and states got themselves into this financial death spiral position to begin with:

  • A government entity keeps expanding its budget, eventually putting pressure on the tax revenue stream it receives.
  • At some point, rather than cut government spending or make its programs more efficient financially, the politicians in charge raise taxes to meet the ever growing government expenditures.
  • The raising of taxes causes some residents and businesses to leave the city or state for less tax burdensome areas, reducing the tax base and reducing the revenue stream.
  • Rather than cut expenses and become more efficient to match the reduced tax revenue stream, politicians in the above cities or states raise the tax burden even more.
  • This causes more residents and businesses to flee the city or state, further reducing the tax base and tax revenue stream.
  • At some point politicians panic and raise taxes more and start cutting vital government services (e.g. police, fire, education) in order to try and balance government spending against the shrinking tax base and revenue stream.
  • The reduction in quality of government services in particular and quality of life in general drives more residents and businesses out of the area.
  • Eventually, the expenses, costs and financial liabilities outstrip the reduced tax stream and bankruptcy occurs.
Okay that’s the process. Let’s see what is going on with the top candidates in the race to bankruptcy court.

1)We have previously often discussed the many businesses that have moved and businesses out of Seattle, diminishing the tax base with each move. As we discussed above, this out migration is a very serious symptom of a city or state heading down a financial death spiral.

And it appears that the outward movement of city businesses in Seattle is not going to abate anytime soon:
  • According to a recent survey conducted by the Downtown Seattle Association and the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, about half of the businesses in Seattle are considering moving or downsizing their business.
  • 56% of those surveyed say the city business climate has gotten worse, 61% are pessimistic about the next 12 months, 47% considering moving jobs out of Seattle.
  • 72% say the city’s taxes, fees, and business regulation burden are not competitive.
  • Jamila Conley is the owner of WeRise Wine Bar in the city: “Now I understand why people go to Bellevue. You travel five miles over the water and your minimum wage drops, your insurance drops, your taxes drop and it’s just like, ‘oh I get it.’ I am Seattle ride or die, but it sure does look appealing.”
  • She points out that wages due to one of the highest minimum wages in the country are going to rise again next year making it even harder for a small business to be profitable.
  • Conley points out a reality that we have discussed many times before when politicians keep irrationally raising the minimum wage: the good news is you just got a raise, the bad news is that you no longer have a job since we cannot afford the higher wage rate: “I support all of that, but you can’t do that in a vacuum because all you’re doing is like, yeah, this person used to be able to have this job, but if the place they’re working can’t afford them anymore, how is this helping?”
  • Conley went on to explain that she had to put up a security gate in front of her business to keep her employees safe.
  • She often found homeless folks, drug addicts, and other shady characters hanging out at her front door.
  • 64% of those polled said that taxes and public safety.crime were the main challenges to doing business in the city.
None of this is a surprise: high taxes, high homeless rates, high crime rates, out migration of residents, businesses and tax revenue, and before you know it, bankruptcy.

2)The Cato Institute recently completed a large study and analysis where they ranked states from an economic freedom perspective. They scored each state across a series of economic indicators and then compiled those indicators into a final rating.

The final comprehensive rating was interesting:
  • States that we have discussed that are receiving many of the businesses and residents fleeing the bankruptcy trending cities and states are Texas and Florida, ranked as the 3rd and 9th best states from a freedom perspective.
  • This isn't a surprise as people flee to places where they can keep as much of their hard earned wealth as possible since the more financial freedom you have the more personal freedom you have.
  • Also, businesses and residents are fleeing Seattle and the state of Washington and moving to Idaho and Montana which ranked as the 2nd and 8th freest states in the country.
  • However, the least free states, as analyzed by Cato, tell the best part of the story.
  • We have long maintained that New Jersey, New York, California, and Illinois are the most likely state governments to go bankrupt.
  • And they just happen to rank as the 46th, 47th, 48th, and 42nd worst states from a freedom perspective.
Not a surprise: why stay in a city or state that has high taxes, high business regulations, and bad quality of life situations (high crime, high homelessness, etc.)? And it is doubtful that the politicians in cities and states that have the lowest amount of freedom are going to give up that control anytime soon. All of which just accelerates their decline into a financial death spiral as Americans and businesses head for the freest states.

3)We have often talked about the inane tax proposal in California where state billionaires would face a one time 5% tax on their wealth, not their income. This would require many state billionaires to each fork over billions of dollars to a state government that has proven time and again that it is not a good steward of taxpayer wealth, wasting it on projects that never get completed, fraud schemes that rob government programs, or kickbacks to their political allies.

And no sane person believes that this is a “one time” tax.Once politicians get their hands on any new tax source they will almost always exploit it and expand it.

As a result, state billionaires are not stupid, many of them have already left the state, taking their wealth and current and future tax liabilities with them:

  • Google co-founder, Larry Page, has moved to Florida to avoid an estimated $11 billion tax hit.
  • Google co-founder, Sergey Brin, has moved to Florida to avoid an estimated $11 billion tax hit.
  • Meta/Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, has purchased a home in Florida and is threatening to move out of California.
  • Paypal/Palantir founder, Peter Thiel, has moved to Florida to avoid the wealth tax estimated to be about $1.7 billion for him.
  • Former Uber CEO, Travis Kalanick, has moved to Texas to avoid the wealth tax.
  • Tech investor of Craft Ventures, David Sacks, has moved to Texas to avoid the wealth tax.
  • Auto Finance billionaire, Don Hankey, has moved to Nevada to avoid the wealth tax estimated to be about $180 million.
As we have discussed many times, not only will the state government lose out on the potential wealth tax revenue that has now left the state, but these billionaires will no longer be paying high state income tax rates, high property tax rates and other government taxes for years and years to come. Thus, the state will lose tax revenue from these other tax streams.

Up to this point in time, we didn't have the data to estimate how much these other tax streams would be negatively affected. But a recent study and analysis from the Hoover Institute did just that:

This paper examines the revenue and migration impact of the 2026 California Billionaire Tax Act, a one-time 5 percent tax on the worldwide net worth of individuals exceeding $1 billion. Using data from the Forbes Billionaire List, news reports detailing the residential real estate holdings of California billionaires, and public announcements of billionaire departures from the state, we estimate the behavioral response and associated revenue loss to this new tax using several different methodologies. Even before accounting for reductions in other tax bases such as the income tax, we estimate that the Act will collect approximately $30 billion (range $28 to 36 billion), less than a third of the $100 billion projected by Galle et al. (2025). This range accounts for the publicly confirmed taxpayer migration that has already eliminated nearly 30 percent of the Act's wealth tax base, applies a litigation-survival discount to the remaining base, and is validated by the wealth tax base elasticity literature. We estimate that California's billionaires contribute $3.3–5.8 billion annually in state income taxes. The present value of permanently lost income tax collections from departures more than offsets the one-time wealth tax revenue, yielding a net present value of negative $38.9 billion. Across 100,000 simulated revenue and discount rate combinations, 85 percent of plausible outcomes produce a negative net present value of state revenues.

Thus, according to his extensive, professional and thorough analysis:
  • This potential wealth tax will not deliver an extra $100 billion in tax revenue.
  • In fact, the analysis estimates that only about one third of the expected $100 billion will be generated by the tax since many billionaires have already left the state, taking their potential wealth tax revenue with them.
  • Given fewer billionaires to tax, the bottom line is that the wealth tax, if enacted, will not generate an additional $100 billion in tax revenue but will suppress the entire state government tax revenue stream by almost $39 billion.
So a state with serious financial difficulties already, and a prime candidate of ours to go bankrupt, will dig a deeper financial hole if the wealth tax is enacted. And even if not enacted, the fear of the tax drove out high paying tax residents already, suppressing future tax revenue even if the wealth tax is not enacted.

Thus, as discussed above Seattle, New York, New Jersey, California, and Illinois still appear to still be in the running to become the next major city or first state government to go bankrupt as politicians in those government entities do not understand the relationship between freedom, over taxation and regulation, and elementary economic principles

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If you agree that we need to deseat every member of Congress for their lack of success and accomplishment, then please consider going to the following petition link to help the cause:


https://www.change.org/p/deseat-congress-reset-freedom



**********************


Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

Wednesday, October 28, 2026

More Stupidity From Ocasio-Cortez But A Millennial Who Gets It

 WE HAVE A PROBLEM: This is a well written and thought out article written by a 26 yr old college student by the name of Alyssa Ahlgren, who's in grad school for her MBA. What a GREAT perspective...


My Generation Is Blind to the Prosperity Around Us!


I'm sitting in a small coffee shop near Nokomis (Florida) trying to think of what to write about. I scroll through my newsfeed on my phone looking at the latest headlines of presidential candidates calling for policies to "fix" the so-called injustices of capitalism. I put my phone down and continue to look around.


I see people talking freely, working on their MacBook's, ordering food they get in an instant, seeing cars go by outside, and it dawned on me. We live in the most privileged time in the most prosperous nation and we've become completely blind to it.


Vehicles, food, technology, freedom to associate with whom we choose.These things are so ingrained in our American way of life we don't give them a second thought.


We are so well off here in the United States that our poverty line begins 31 times above the global average. Thirty One Times!!!


Virtually no one in the United States is considered poor by global standards. Yet, in a time where we can order a product off Amazon with one click and have it at our doorstep the next day, we are unappreciative, unsatisfied, and ungrateful. ??


Our unappreciation is evident as the popularity of socialist policies among my generation continues to grow. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently said to Newsweek talking about the millennial generation, "An entire generation, which is now becoming one of the largest electorates in America, came of age and never saw American prosperity."


Never saw American prosperity! Let that sink in.


When I first read that statement, I thought to myself, that was quite literally the most entitled and factually illiterate thing I've ever heard in my 26 years on this earth. Many young people agree with her, which is entirely misguided.


My generation is being indoctrinated by a mainstream narrative to actually believe we have never seen prosperity. I know this first hand, I went to college, let's just say I didn't have the popular opinion, but I digress.


Why then, with all of the overwhelming evidence around us, evidence that I can even see sitting at a coffee shop, do we not view this as prosperity? We have people who are dying to get into our country.


People around the world are destitute and truly impoverished. Yet, we have a young generation convinced they've never seen prosperity, and as a result, we elect some politicians who are dead set on taking steps towards abolishing capitalism.


Why? The answer is this:  my generation has only seen prosperity. We have no contrast. We didn't live in the great depression, or live through two world wars, the Korean War, The Vietnam War or we didn't see the rise and fall of socialism and communism.


We don't know what it's like to live without the internet, without cars, without smartphones. We don't have a lack of prosperity problem. We have an entitlement problem, an ungratefulness problem, and it's spreading like a plague.


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If you agree that we need to deseat every member of Congress for their lack of success and accomplishment, then please consider going to the following petition link to help the cause:


https://www.change.org/p/deseat-congress-reset-freedom



**********************


Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at: