Iran violated, so they had to be violated, and Bruce Pearl gets that

THE CENTER SQUARE—Prior to President Donald Trump authorizing targeted strikes against Iranian nuclear sites on Saturday, federal agents and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers have been arresting Iranian nationals, nearly all men, in the U.S. illegally. In the last few months, federal prosecutors have also brought terrorism charges against Iranians, including those in the U.S. working for the Iranian government. Iran is a designated state sponsor of terrorism. Iranian nationals illegally in the country are considered “special interest aliens” under federal law. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Sunday issued a warning to all Americans to be on a heightened threat alert. “The ongoing Iran conflict is causing a heightened threat environment in the United States,” DHS warned. “Low-level cyber attacks against US networks by pro-Iranian hacktivists are likely, and cyber actors affiliated with the Iranian government may conduct attacks against US networks. “Iran also has a long-standing commitment to target US Government officials it views as responsible for the death of an Iranian military commander killed in January 2020.” U.S. officials have no idea how many Iranians are in the U.S. illegally because at least two million “gotaways” were recorded entering the U.S. during the Biden administration. Gotaways are those who illegally entered the U.S. between ports of entry who were not apprehended. Key arrests include an Iranian living in the sanctuary jurisdiction of Natick, Mass., who is charged “with conspiring to export sophisticated electronic components from the United States to Iran in violation of U.S. export control and sanctions laws,” The Center Square reported. Authorities accuse the Iranian of illegally exporting the technological equipment to a company in Iran that contracts with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a US-designated foreign terrorist organization. The company allegedly manufactured drones used by the IRGC that killed U.S. soldiers stationed in Jordan. Texas DPS troopers have arrested dozens of Iranian special interest aliens. Last October, DPS troopers questioned Iranians who illegally entered the U.S. near Eagle Pass, Texas, who said they came through Mexico and were headed to Florida, Las Vegas and San Francisco, The Center Square reported. Last November and December, DPS troopers arrested Iranians in Maverick County after sounding the alarm about an increase of SIAs they were apprehending, The Center Square reported. U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers also apprehended an Iranian with terrorist ties who illegally entered the U.S. near Buffalo, New York, The Center Square reported. More recently, in April, two Iranians were charged in New York with conspiring to procure U.S. parts for Iranian drones, conspiring to provide material support to the Revolutionary Guard and conspiring to commit money laundering. They remain at large. The charges “lay bare how U.S.-made technology ended up in the hands of the Iranian military to build attack drones,” DOJ National Security Division chief Sue Bai said. Also in April, two Iranians and one Pakistani, were indicted in Virginia “for conspiring to provide and providing material support to Iran’s weapons of mass destruction program resulting in death and conspiring to commit violence against maritime navigation and maritime transport involving weapons of mass destruction resulting in death.” The Pakistani is awaiting trial; the Iranians remain at large. Their involvement in maritime smuggling off the coast of Somalia led to the death of two Navy SEALs, according to the charges. Also in April, a naturalized citizen working for the Federal Aviation Administration as a contractor pleaded guilty to charges of “acting and conspiring to act as an illegal agent of the Iranian government in the United States” for a period of five years. He was indicted last December in the District of Columbia for “infiltrating a U.S. agency with the intent of providing Iran with sensitive information,” including exfiltrating sensitive FAA documents to Iranian intelligence. “The brazen acts of this defendant—acting against the United States while on U.S. soil—is a clear example of how our enemies are willing to take risks in order to do us harm,” U.S. Attorney Edward Martin said. “We want to remind anyone with access to our critical infrastructure about the importance of keeping that information out of the hands of our adversaries. I want to commend our prosecutors and law enforcement partners who secured a guilty plea that will keep our country safer.” Also in April, an Iranian national was indicted in Ohio for operating a dark web marketplace selling methamphetamine, cocaine, fentanyl, heroin and oxycodone and other drugs; and for stealing financial information, using fraudulent identification documents, counterfeit currencies, and computer malware. Working with German and Lithuanian partners, he was charged, servers and other infrastructure were seized, and drugs and other contraband were stopped from entering the U.S., DOJ Criminal Division head Matthew Galeotti said. Also in April, ICE Homeland Security Investigations in New York announced a civil forfeiture action halting an Iranian oil sale scheme that went on for years under the Biden administration. The scheme involved facilitating the shipment, storage and sale of Iranian petroleum product owned by the National Iranian Oil Company for the benefit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and their designated FTOs. The facilitators allegedly claimed the Iranian oil was from Malaysia, manipulated tanker identification information, falsified documents, paid storage fees in U.S. dollars and conducted transactions with U.S. financial institutions. The federal government seized $47 million in proceeds from the sale. The complaint alleges they provided material support to the Revolutionary Guard and Quds Forces because profits support “proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery, support for terrorism, and both domestic and international human rights abuses.” Last December, a federal court in the District of Columbia ordered the forfeiture of nearly $12 million connected with Iran’s illicit petroleum industry, involving Triliance Petrochemical Company, the Revolutionary Guard and Quds Forces. FBI Tampa and Minneapolis were involved in the investigation. Examples also exist of Iranians making false statements when applying for naturalization, including an Iranian in Tampa indicted last year. Originally published at The Center Square. The post Heightened Alert: Iranians in US Previously Charged With Support for Terrorism appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Trump Had TACOs for Saturday Dinner

Republicans are in a fix. Medicaid costs have exploded over the past six years, and the system is rife with waste, fraud, and abuse. Democrats don’t want to do anything meaningful about it, but large majorities of voters support most of the Republicans’ proposed tweaks. Well ... all except one, which pits old-guard Republicans against the populist insurgents.But a solution exists.As a body, the Senate is reliably more than a decade behind the rest of the country, politically. But political realities still do have an impact.Medicaid — federally subsidized health care for the poor — is out of control. Since 2019 (or during COVID and President Joe Biden’s time in office), the federal expense has ballooned 56.5%. There are currently 72 million people on the rolls, or about a quarter of the American population. Republicans want to do something about it, and they’re right to.Some of the GOP’s proposals are remarkably popular with the American public. Cutting the deceased from the rolls, for example, polls at 86% approval — about as close as you’re going to get to everybody these days. Similarly, cutting illegal immigrants from the rolls polls at 82%.Democrats say it isn’t happening — but they sure seem angry about it.Take work requirements. A new rule would make able-bodied adults without dependents do something — anything — to qualify for benefits. Work. Volunteer. Train. Whatever. And Americans overwhelmingly support the idea.As it turns out, so do most people collecting benefits.Then there’s this: thousands of working-age adults who self-report spending four or more hours a day watching TV or playing video games. Requiring those folks to work polls lower, but still polls at 72% approval.Now comes a less popular idea — but no less important.Some states are dodging their share of Medicaid spending by gaming the system. A convoluted scheme lets state governments shuffle money back and forth with hospitals, inflating how much they appear to spend. That trick boosts their federal match and lowers what they actually have to pay.Here’s how it works. States are supposed to split Medicaid costs 50-50 with the federal government. But instead of paying a hospital $100 for a procedure and getting $50 back, a state will pay $106, then slap the hospital with a $6 tax — so the state’s net cost is still $100. But because the state “spent” $106, Washington reimburses the state $53 instead of $50. Congratulations: The federal taxpayer just got fleeced for an extra three bucks.That example comes from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget — a nonpartisan watchdog group that wants the loophole closed.It’s a classic shell game. It undermines the spirit of federal aid and violates basic fairness. Yet it persists — partly because it’s buried in bureaucracy and partly because few politicians want to pick a fight with hospital lobbyists or state budget directors.The scam may be obvious. Fixing it won’t be.That’s because nearly every state south of Alaska plays this game to some degree — but rural, low-tax states depend on it the most.Rural hospitals operate on thinner margins. Fewer beds. Older, poorer patients. Less insulation from federal policy swings. Obamacare made a bad situation worse.In the past 15 years, 139 rural hospitals have either shut down completely or converted to outpatient-only facilities. A third blamed Obamacare directly. That’s more than three times the annual closure rate of urban or suburban hospitals.Bigger hospitals typically collect the lion’s share of the kickback under the provider tax scam. But rural hospitals live on the edge — which makes them more dependent on that extra funding and more exposed if it goes away.And that’s where the GOP’s internal conflict begins.Rural states tend to lean Republican. So do rural voters more broadly. Cities and suburbs go blue; the countryside votes red. That means this fight pits two factions within the party against each other: fiscal conservatives who want to end the grift vs. populist conservatives more concerned with shielding vulnerable Americans — the “forgotten men and women” Trump made central to his coalition.For one group, it’s about principle. For the other, survival.The fight also feeds into Democrats’ hoped-for battle, which ignores all the pesky details about illegal aliens, dead recipients, and able-bodied men and instead focuses on any threats to rural hospitals and the poor. They’d much prefer to say Republicans cut your health care — a talking point that polls strongly in their favor — and run on that in the midterm election.The White House is well aware of this reality, so it wants a fix. Republican Sens. Josh Hawley (Mo.), Susan Collins (Maine), and Jim Justice (W.V.) all represent just the sorts of states a provider tax crackdown would impact hardest and have proposed a separate Rural Hospital Stabilization Program to soften the blow and protect the 700 or so hospitals already on the margins. It’s a long-needed fix, but the kind of thing previously ignored by a Republican Senate that leans toward traditional supply-side economics.As a body, the Senate is reliably more than a decade behind the rest of the country, politically. But political realities still do have an impact, and this is just the type to push senators to action. The rest of their cuts are important and poll very well. Instead of cracking down on a faulty system that has already just slowed the problem down, there’s a chance here to come up with a better solution. It’s worth taking seriously.Glenn Beck: No, Mike Lee isn’t paving over Yellowstone for condosThe Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, 2016: Provider tax limits should be on the table for Medicaid reformSign up for Bedford’s newsletterSign up to get Blaze Media senior politics editor Christopher Bedford’s newsletter.

She Gets a 10 For the Dismount: Simone Biles Deletes Her X Account

Malcolm's Memories: Trains, Streetcars, and Grandma

I wouldn’t blame you if you spent the weekend watching the news and scrolling through social media to see whether World War 3 had started. Along the way, you might have noticed people tweeting about a puzzling move from OpenAI. The company removed any mention of Jony Ive’s io startup, which OpenAI recently acquired for $6.5 billion to manufacture ChatGPT hardware. The announcement video featuring Jony Ive and Sam Altman disappeared. That was the clip where both executives confirmed OpenAI is developing its own AI hardware and shared the first teaser of the device. Some people might have wondered if OpenAI suddenly scrapped plans to make ChatGPT hardware despite the massive investment. But the answer is much simpler. The ChatGPT io hardware is still happening, though OpenAI removed the information following a court order prompted by a trademark complaint from a company called iyO. Continue reading... The post OpenAI just took down its page about io’s ChatGPT hardware, but it’s not canceled appeared first on BGR.

Senate Republicans cannot force the U.S. Postal Service to scrap thousands of electric vehicles and charging equipment in a massive tax and budget bill, the Senate parliamentarian said late on Sunday. The U.S. Postal Service currently has 7,200 electric vehicles, made up of...

The number of abortions in the U.S. rose again in 2024, with women continuing to find ways to get them despite bans and restrictions in many states, according to a report out Monday.

Texas Gov. Abbott Vetoes Bill That Would Ban All THC Products