While hardworking Americans juggle grocery bills and sky-high property taxes, Ohio’s Medicaid money machine was apparently having a pretty great run. Now Republican Ohio gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy says it is time to slam the brakes. After Daily Wire investigative reporter Luke Rosiak exposed what critics are calling a sprawling Medicaid cash pipeline operating across Ohio, Ramaswamy is now calling for prosecutions, taxpayer savings, and a crackdown on abuse inside the system. “Common sense policies to say we’re respecting the rule of law,” Ramaswamy said on ‘Saturday in America with Kayleigh McEnany.’ “Lawbreakers ought to be prosecuted. We should not apologize for that.” The comments come after Rosiak uncovered a bizarre web of Medicaid-linked companies across Ohio, including one Columbus address tied to 94 separate businesses that reportedly billed taxpayers more than $66 million. The taxpayer is not a piggy bank to be bilked. We will comprehensively review Ohio’s $40BN+ Medicaid expenditures and aggressively prosecute illegal abuses of the program. That starts in early 2027 & we won’t hold back. pic.twitter.com/MFRAU4B69z — Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) May 9, 2026 The investigation blew the lid off some of the offices appearing practically deserted, with covered windows, generic “Home Health LLC” names, and little visible evidence that actual operations were taking place inside. The reporting zeroed in on Ohio’s exploding Medicaid-funded home healthcare system, where loosely defined “homemaking” services like cooking and cleaning can generate massive taxpayer-funded payouts with limited oversight. Rosiak’s investigation also highlighted how Columbus, home to one of the nation’s largest Somali immigrant populations, has seen entire neighborhoods flooded with Medicaid-billing home healthcare businesses as operators realized the government would pay people to provide “companionship” and care services to family members inside private homes. Ramaswamy argued the issue goes far beyond bureaucratic waste. To him, it is directly connected to why taxpayers feel squeezed in the first place. “But these are taxpayer dollars that belong in the hands of citizens,” he said. “Property taxes in the state have gotten too high.” The Ohio Republican also connected the Medicaid controversy to his broader push to slash taxes across the state if elected governor this November. “Income taxes in certain states are zero income tax,” Ramaswamy said. “I want Ohio to be such a zero income tax state as well, but that means we’re going to have to take a look at every other area of savings for the taxpayer.” Rosiak’s reporting painted a picture not just of isolated fraud, but of an entire taxpayer-funded ecosystem where oversight appears weak, accountability appears scarce, and huge amounts of public money are flowing through companies that investigators say often raise obvious red flags. One especially eye-popping detail involved a landlord whose buildings reportedly housed hundreds of Medicaid-related businesses billing the federal government hundreds of millions of dollars. The investigation also highlighted how difficult the system can be to verify in practice. In some cases, family members are reportedly paid through Medicaid programs to “care” for relatives at home, with little meaningful oversight over whether services are actually being rendered.

Former reality TV star Spencer Pratt says the only people standing against his surging Los Angeles mayoral campaign are “socialists and communists” — while insisting Democrats across the city are actually rallying behind him. Pratt’s latest viral comments come just days after he dominated a televised debate against Democratic opponents Karen Bass and Councilmember Nithya Raman, where clips of the former “Hills” star torching city leadership over crime, homelessness, and public safety exploded online. During a new interview circulating across social media, Pratt pushed back on the idea that he can’t win in deep-blue Los Angeles because he identifies as a Republican. “It’s just the socialists and the communists that don’t back me,” Pratt said. “My supporters in L.A. are Democrats. Everyone I know, my family, are all Democrats. I grew up in L.A.!” Pratt went on to claim that many of the people congratulating him after the debate were lifelong Democrats impressed by his message. “Everybody that texted me last night, amazing, congratulations, are all Democrats,” he said. “So what people are confused on, the Democrats all are behind me.” “Reality TV villain” turned potential mayor of Los Angeles, Spencer Pratt, told CBS News’ Adam Yamaguchi he is confident he is “probably going to win with 51% on June 2nd because I don’t do a political message.” @adamyamaguchi pic.twitter.com/YgIxnmGEGg — CBS News (@CBSNews) May 7, 2026 The reality star-turned-political firebrand has increasingly positioned himself less as a traditional Republican candidate and more as an anti-establishment outsider focused on hyper-local issues impacting everyday Angelenos. “I don’t do a political message. I don’t do national politics,” Pratt explained. “I don’t do tribal politics. I don’t talk about other states. I’m localized.” Instead, Pratt says his campaign is centered around cleaning up Los Angeles streets, restoring public safety, and stopping taxpayer money from flowing to organizations he claims are profiting off the homelessness crisis. “I just want to fix our streets, get the lights on. I want people to feel safe,” Pratt said. “I want to get our tax money to not be robbed by these literal criminal NGOs stealing from our tax to increase the homelessness!” Pratt has become one of the internet’s most unexpected political stars in recent weeks thanks to a string of viral campaign videos, including ads attacking Bass and Raman over homelessness, drug addiction, and the city’s response to the devastating Palisades fires that destroyed Pratt’s home earlier this year. Primary election day in Los Angeles is June 2.

The Biden blob is apparently trying to make a comeback and even Democrats sound exhausted by it. A growing fight is breaking out inside Democratic foreign policy circles as some of the same officials tied to President Joe Biden’s most controversial global decisions quietly begin regrouping for 2028. And according to a lengthy new report from Puck News, plenty of Democrats are openly asking the same question: seriously, these guys again? At the center of the drama is former Biden National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and the network of Obama-Biden foreign policy operatives often referred to inside Washington as the “Biden bros.” That circle includes familiar names like Antony Blinken, Jon Finer, Brett McGurk, and others who helped shape Biden-era policy on Afghanistan, Ukraine, Gaza, and Iran. Now many of them are reemerging through a revived Democratic foreign policy group called National Security Action, which reportedly gathered party insiders in Manhattan recently to begin plotting what Democratic foreign policy could look like in 2028. The reaction inside parts of the Democratic Party has not exactly been enthusiastic. “This is the Jake and Jon Show: Redux, and nobody I know is happy about it,” one former senior State Department official told Puck. That pretty much sums up the vibe. The frustration appears to go far beyond Republicans criticizing Biden’s foreign policy record. According to the report, Democrats themselves are increasingly furious over everything from the Afghanistan withdrawal to the administration’s handling of Gaza, while others remain angry over what they describe as efforts to cover up Biden’s decline while still clinging to power politically. One Democrat quoted in the piece bluntly said the old Biden foreign policy crowd is “canceled and they don’t realize it.” Ouch. The article paints a picture of a Democratic Party quietly tearing itself apart behind closed doors over whether the same establishment figures who dominated the Obama and Biden years should continue controlling foreign policy heading into the next presidential cycle. And the backlash is not just ideological. Some Democrats reportedly view the group as arrogant, insulated, and unwilling to let a younger generation take over. The timing also matters. President Donald Trump is back in office, global tensions continue escalating, and Democrats are now trying to figure out what exactly their foreign policy identity even is after years of internal fighting over Israel, Ukraine, interventionism, and progressive activism. That is where the anxiety around Sullivan seems to hit hardest. For progressives, Sullivan became closely tied to Biden’s support for Israel during the Gaza war. For hawks, critics say the administration looked weak and indecisive abroad. For others, the issue is simpler: they believe the same people who helped run the last administration are already trying to reclaim influence before voters have even fully processed what happened. Still, the old guard does not appear interested in quietly disappearing. The revived organization recently brought in Maher Bitar, a Palestinian-American foreign policy official tied to Adam Schiff and Biden’s National Security Council, as part of an effort to present a newer face for the group. But even that move reportedly sparked skepticism from Democrats who saw it as little more than a rebrand of the same old network. For now, one thing seems clear. The Biden era may technically be over, but the people behind it are not ready to let go of power just yet.

Britain’s political establishment woke up this morning in a state of shock. Across England in the local council elections — the rough equivalent of a “midterm” on that side of the Atlantic — voters abandoned both Labour and the Conservatives in droves, handing huge gains to Reform U.K. in what commentators are already calling a political earthquake. The Westminster class will spend days analyzing swing percentages, demographic shifts, and campaign strategies. But the reason ordinary Britons revolted is much simpler than the experts would like to admit. Whether in rural towns or urban centers, people are sick of a political elite obsessed with policing speech, policing thought, and policing “offense” while failing to police actual crime. The message was clear: “Enough.” Enough of watching violent crime spiral in major cities while police forces spend their time monitoring tweets and recording “non-crime hate incidents.” Enough of hearing endless lectures about “harmful language” while grooming gang scandals continue to haunt communities across the North of England, with victims still waiting for justice and accountability. Enough of watching peaceful Christians being dragged through the courts for expressing their faith, while ordinary citizens increasingly feel unsafe in their own streets. And nowhere is that national frustration more vividly embodied than in the conviction this week of retired Northern Irish pastor Clive Johnston — on the very same day that Brits took to the polls. A 78-year-old grandfather now has a criminal record because he preached from the Bible outdoors. Not for harassment. Not for violence. Not for obstruction. Not even for mentioning abortion. His crime? Preaching a message from John 3:16 at a small outdoor Sunday service held near a hospital, where a large “buffer zone” is in place covering several streets, banning anything the police interpret to be “influence.” That is modern Britain in a nutshell. The authorities insist these buffer zone laws are designed to prevent intimidation outside abortion facilities. Of course, nobody should be harassed anywhere on British streets, and legislation already exists to prevent that. But Johnston’s case revealed something much bigger — and much darker. Police bodycam footage shown in court captured officers telling the pastor he should share the Gospel only inside a “safe area” like a chaplaincy, not on the public street where passers-by might hear him, and potentially take offense. Think carefully about what that means. Britain now has areas of public space where peaceful Christian expression can effectively become criminal if somebody decides it might “influence” another person. Christianity, apparently, is acceptable only when carefully confined to approved spaces. Meanwhile, in city after city, police forces that somehow lack the resources to tackle shoplifting epidemics, anti-social behavior, knife crime, or organized exploitation networks can apparently still find the time and manpower to prosecute elderly pastors quoting Scripture, or individual women stopping to pray in their own heads. It is difficult to imagine a clearer example of institutional priorities gone mad. This is precisely why voters are abandoning both establishment parties. The Conservatives spent years talking tough on culture war issues while presiding over the steady erosion of free speech and public order alike. Labour, meanwhile, has abysmally failed to restore confidence in basic law enforcement. Ordinary people look around their communities and see disorder tolerated, borders abused by criminal traffickers, anti-social behavior normalized, and public institutions increasingly hostile to traditional values — especially Christian ones. Then they watch a pensioner being prosecuted for preaching the Gospel. They conclude, quite rationally, that the people running the country no longer share their instincts about right and wrong. The revolt we witnessed in the elections was not simply economic, but moral and cultural. Across Britain, there is a growing sense that the authorities have become harsher toward the decent than toward the dangerous. They certainly seem more comfortable targeting peaceful Christians than confronting genuinely difficult social problems. A nation cannot function when millions of ordinary citizens begin to believe there are effectively two systems of policing: one lenient toward chaos, and another aggressively punitive toward citizens who hold unfashionable beliefs. Britain birthed America with all her understandings of liberty and democracy. This parental nation was not built on the idea that faith belongs hidden away in private rooms while the public square is handed over entirely to secular bureaucracies and activist-approved ideology. Britain was shaped by Christianity — culturally, morally, legally, and politically. From the abolition of slavery to the creation of charitable institutions, Christian belief has always shaped public life openly and unapologetically. What voters increasingly reject is not merely “wokeness” as a slogan. They reject a governing philosophy that treats traditional values and Christian beliefs as suspect while excusing failure everywhere else. The election results show that the old political consensus is breaking apart. People want order restored. They want police focused on violent criminals, traffickers, gangs, and repeat offenders — not elderly pastors preaching John 3:16. *** Lois McLatchie Miller (@loismclatch) is a writer and social commentator from Great Britain, focusing on the state of free speech, faith, and family across the globe.

This article is part of Upstream, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you. *** Mother’s Day exalts womankind’s top job: motherhood. Roughly 86% of women qualify as mothers on this day of ‘grammable glory, but the celebration leaves 4 million women out in the cold. Casting a wide net, the price of admission into this 24-hour hall of fame is simple: your child. Your human child, not the furry kind with four legs and a tail — at least, if you hope to keep your dignity intact. Though Moms deserve their special moment, the cultural rush to get all types of “moms” in on the action raises the question: Why can’t we have another holiday to celebrate all the great ladies in our lives? National Dog Mom’s Day on the same weekend doesn’t quite do it. There should be another day to honor the women and mother figures we love, and, technically, there is: International Women’s Day. But here in the U.S., the day is synonymous with celebrating every leftist policy you can imagine. What started as a day meant to elevate all girls and women was largely co-opted by those insisting on wrestling it into something like a “Day for Women’s Rights” or “Feminist New Year’s Eve.” It was riddled with stats about women and girls who were murdered by male family members, alleged gender pay gaps, and lax laws against rape and domestic abuse.   This, according to the rules of fun parties, is the complete opposite of something a person outside the group would ever be inclined to celebrate. No offense to the tattooed girl with the fuzzy pink hair and cheek piercings working behind the counter of my local bookstore. Girl, Women’s Day is for xe/xem/you. Have the best time at the next protest for the current thing. My first encounter with the Women’s Day concept was enlightening. At the time, I was working a side job as a food delivery driver in Los Angeles (while I hustled on becoming a famous actor, naturally). A prolific blogger for my five subscribers, I happily detailed my life as a fun SoCal gal, totally buying into the message about not needing children in order to validate my existence. Hello, women were editors of high fashion magazines, famous actresses, and inventors of Spanx! I didn’t need to know if these boss babes had kids or could pay for nannies and IVF. The point was that their careers defined them, not their families. A killer shoe closet or a cute loft apartment was just as good. At least, that’s what I thought. I arrived at the Bel Air home of a woman who greeted me with a smile as she emerged from an entryway that was overflowing with flowers. I assumed her sunny glow meant no one had died.  “Ooo, is it someone’s birthday?” I couldn’t think of any other occasions on March 8 and was trying to attach a story to the $400 Sugarfish sushi order I had ferried to her door.  “We’re celebrating Women’s Day!” she said. “It’s like your Mother’s Day here, but in Sweden we honor all women. These are from my husband to me,” she explained, gesturing toward an obscene arrangement of luscious white roses. Pointing to two more, she added, “And these are for our daughters.” It included all the women in the home. The pure, loving gesture of appreciation seemed nice. I walked back to my car, wondering why the heck we didn’t do Women’s Day in the U.S. I found out later that Women’s Day was launched internationally by Marxist Clara Zetkin in early-1900s Denmark (stay with me!), spreading to millions of women worldwide who put their own spin on it. Italy’s practically covered with mimosa blossoms for La Festa della Donna. And in Russia, the national public holiday is marked by special meals, gifts, and champagne. Even in China, working women get half a day off for “self-care.” Without the heavy yoke of politics, it’s a day where every woman, young and old, blossoms into her own. Maybe the problem is that all holidays eventually become avenues for propaganda or corporate profit. The whole Mother’s Day idea started in 1908 as an initiative by Philadelphia teacher Anna Jarvis to celebrate moms with a modest white carnation and a visit to the local church. Once President Woodrow Wilson put it on the calendar, things went off the rails. Jarvis formally disowned the holiday before she died in 1948, lamenting its commercialization. These days, greeting cards and flower bouquets have turned Mother’s Day into a $38 billion industry.  Women make up more than half the population but control 85% of purchasing power in the U.S., and they drop more than $31 trillion worldwide. As L’Oréal drilled into generations of women’s heads, “If I pay more, I feel I get more. And I’m worth it.” Sold. On top of this relentless commercialization, Mother’s Day presents its own conundrum. The tragic loss of a child, a long struggle with infertility, or the estrangement of a family member can add stress to a day that’s marketed as being full of love and chocolate truffles. Maybe it’s an impossible task, getting it right for everyone. I was lucky enough to get the best mom in the biz. And I enjoy participating in motherhood and raising children in a supporting role as an aunt, daughter, and sister. I also recognize the incredible dedication and hard work it takes to be a parent. You don’t hear too many stories about someone’s last words being about a compelling corporate presentation. It’s family. Full stop.  Maybe someday we’ll find a real way to recognize the value in all women and girls, just as they are. Protect Mother’s Day for mothers, and let Women’s Day celebrate women without all the corporate feminist politics. There’s got to be a way to honor our sisters, aunts, girlfriends, daughters, nurturers, neighbors, and friends, no strings attached.