Are We On a Death Watch? Medicare Cuts Are Coming; Noem Gets a Payout and Keeps It a Secret; Plus, a Movie Tribute
Sitting On a Powder Keg
“This is the police, open the door.”
That’s what Vance Boelter, the man charged with killing Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, and shooting state Senator John Hoffman and his wife, said on surveillance footage at one of the crime scenes, federal authorities said.
Boelter was wearing what looked like a police uniform, a mask, and a tactical vest, and was driving what looked like a police vehicle, officials said.
Don’t think this type of crime – where individuals pretend to be police or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents – is a one-off. It’s happened on other occasions, and together they lead to this prediction:
Someday, as government thugs ramp up their efforts to arrest undocumented immigrants and others who may look like them but are here legally, and manhandle people who get in their way, someone is going to get killed. In this case I’m talking about the men and women who either are or purport to be agents of the government.
This is in no way a call for violence. It’s a prediction based on the aggressive nature of the government agents and the incidents where people are pretending to be ICE agents or the police.
The American Prospect gave these examples in a story titled, “Ice Impersonations Proliferate Amid the Agency’s Undercover Tactics”:
*In June, a man wearing what looked like a tactical vest and carrying a handgun was stopped by police at a No Kings rally in West Chester, PA. Kevin Krebs is facing multiple felony charges after police found an AR-15 style rifle in his vehicle and several explosive devices at his home.
*Also in June, a Philadelphia man impersonating an ICE agent robbed a store and tied up a female employee, getting away with $1,000 in cash.
*In April, in Indiantown, Fla., a man was caught on video threatening to deport two Latino men. He was eventually arrested and charged with impersonating a federal law enforcement officer.
*In February, three men attempted to enter a Temple University residence hall in North Philadelphia, claiming to be ICE.
*In January, a man in South Carolina was charged with impersonating an ICE officer and kidnapping after detaining a group of Latino men in their car.
ICE officers wear masks. They claim they need to have their identities protected, although we see this isn’t done by police at various levels throughout the country. They’re also very aggressive in their tactics.
Is it so hard to believe there could be a scenario where masked men attempt to grab someone or force their way into a home, and the person they’re going after or a bystander has a gun and shoots one or more of them because he legitimately doesn’t know if these men are really from the government or are impersonators?
I’m surprised it hasn’t happened already.
“ICE tactics make impersonation much easier in a chilling landscape where it has become difficult to distinguish who is an agent of the state and who is not,” the American Prospect story said.
How hard would it be to pretend to be an ICE agent? A dark blue jacket with “ICE Immigration” printed on the back was a best-seller on Amazon, although it’s no longer available, and other websites are continuing to sell similar clothing, the story said.
Buying law enforcement gear online is also a relatively simple process, with retailers not requiring identification from their customers. You can purchase a police vehicle on used car websites, and other companies sell new cars online that can be customized with police graphics and sirens, the story said.
You can read the American Prospect story here.
In some ways our country is a time bomb, and the jack-booted government thugs are a big part of the problem. Heaven help this country if one of them is killed. Their rath could be historically violent and cruel.
This is the America a plurality of voters selected in last year’s election. We continue to pay for the greatest electoral mistake in our history.
Let’s hope the number that pay for that mistake with their lives is kept to a minimum.
Don’t Forget: Medicare Is Going To Be Cut, Too
While critics of the recently passed Big Beautiful Bill have rightly focused on its cuts to Medicaid and food stamps to help pay for giant tax cuts for the rich, a piece by the American Prospect points out something else we need to remember: Medicare is facing cuts, too.
That’s because of mandatory sequestration, which by law automatically imposes budget cuts when legislation increases the deficit – as this one will to the tune of about $3.3 trillion over 10 years, the American Prospect reported.
This means Medicare will be cut by $490 billion over a 10-year period, according to the Congressional Budget Office. These cuts must be implemented beginning next year.
The story also noted that the bill changes the enrollment process for the Medicare Savings Program, which helps poor seniors to afford their prescriptions. This could lead to more than 1.3 million poor seniors losing access to the program. They’d incur thousands of dollars in new costs as a result.
You can read the American Prospect story here.
This would be a good time to remind you that the GOP budget bill is projected to cause an additional 16 million people to be without health insurance in a decade, according to the CBO, the New York Times reported.
Here’s the breakdown:
*The bill’s many changes to Medicaid would cause about 7.8 million more people to be uninsured.
*Technical changes to the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) would leave an additional 4 million uninsured.
*The Republicans not extending additional funding now being used for subsidies to keep ACA premiums down would cause about 4.2 million to be added to the uninsured rolls.
You can read the Times story here.
The bill’s effect on rural hospitals is also expected to be devastating. A Center for American Progress report said that 190 rural hospitals in 34 Medicaid expansion states are at immediate risk of closure, and Medicaid cuts could push them into shutting down, the American Prospect reported.
The Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina said 213 rural hospitals serve a disproportionately high share of Medicaid patients.
You can read that American Prospect story here.
Oh Look, More Possible Grifting From the Most Corrupt Administration in History
Dog killer/stone-cold bitch/Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was in the news for something other than the horrific job she’s done in executing her governmental duties.
ProPublica reported that a dark money group paid $80,000 to her personal company when she was governor of South Dakota, and she failed to include it on her federal disclosure forms, which is “a likely violation of federal ethics requirements.”
The money from a nonprofit called the American Resolve Policy Fund was paid to Noem’s company, Applewood Strategies, in 2023. Both Noem’s company and the nonprofit were registered in the state of Delaware just four minutes apart on June 22, 2023, ProPublica reported.
Four minutes apart? Coincidence? I don’t know, but it doesn’t look good.
The money is allegedly a 10 percent cut of $800,000 Noem raised for the nonprofit, which promotes her political career. A professional fundraiser who also raised money for the group was paid a lower rate of 7 percent, ProPublica reported.
Experts described this as a “highly unusual arrangement.”
“There is nothing remarkable about a politician raising money for nonprofits and other groups that promote their campaigns or agendas. What’s unusual, experts said, is for a politician to keep some of the money for themselves,” the ProPublica story said.
Noem’s yearly salary as governor was $130,000.
Because American Resolve is classified as a dark money group, it doesn’t have to disclose the names of its donors. So, we may never know where the money going to Noem came from. The payment was found in the annual tax form of American Resolve.
You can read the ProPublica story here.
Noem’s lawyer said she “fully complied with the letter and the spirit of the law.”
It really doesn’t matter whether she did something wrong or not. Under the current administration she’ll never be held accountable if she did. There’s a good chance she never will.
Sadly, this pales in comparison to her cruel and destructive actions against human beings that she’s committee as DHS secretary. Her dark legacy just keeps growing.
I guess we shouldn’t expect more from a dog killer.
MUST* READS FROM OUR BLOG: MUSINGS OF A NOBODY
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For our video we offer a tribute to the science fiction movies of the 50s and 60s with 3 Dog Productions presentation of “Bobbleheads From Outer Space.”
*In this case the term “must” doesn’t take on the usual meaning of something important or urgent to do. It means please click on our stuff because if you don’t, we don’t know if anyone else will.