Category: News & Comment

Ron DeSantis Steals $10 Million from Florida Taxpayers to Fund Casey’s Bogus Charity

Buck Banks

HERNDON/Tampa Bay Times

From a Tampa Bay Times investigative report:

The $10 million that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration diverted to a state-created charity last year consisted of Medicaid dollars owed to state and federal taxpayers, contrary to what the governor and other officials have publicly asserted.

Three years ago, lawyers working with the state drew up a settlement agreement that said Florida’s largest Medicaid contractor, Centene, overbilled taxpayers $67,048,611 for medications, according to a copy of a draft agreement obtained by the Times/Herald.

That’s the exact amount DeSantis officials settled on with Centene last year. But instead of returning all $67 million to state and federal coffers, they sent $10 million of it to the Hope Florida Foundation, a charity overseen by first lady Casey DeSantis.

The money was then sent to two nonprofit organizations that aren’t required to report how they spend their funds. Those “dark money” groups later gave $8.5 million to a political committee overseen by DeSantis’ chief of staff in a series of transactions that some Republican lawmakers believe were illegal. How Medicaid is allocated, which pays for health care services for the poor, is highly regulated.

The document contradicts statements by DeSantis and state officials that the $10 million was a charitable contribution by Centene separate from what it owed to the state.

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U.S. State Department Likely Violated Human Rights Law with $6 Million Payment for El Salvador Prison

Buck Banks

megavision.com
The U.S. State Department is paying El Salvador $6 million to house hundreds of immigrants deported from the United States in an immense and brutal prison there, Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, or CECOT, reports Florida Phoenix.

But a U.S. law bars State’s financial support of “units of foreign security forces” — which can include military and law enforcement staff in prisons — facing credible allegations of gross human rights violations. That has led those who wrote what’s known as the Leahy Law and enforced it for years to question the legality of the $6 million payment made as President Donald Trump carries out his campaign of mass deportation.

The Trump administration on March 15 sent 261 men to CECOT, after invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to apply to Venezuelan nationals 14 and older who are suspected members of the gang Tren de Aragua.

On March 30, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said another 17 nationals from El Salvador were sent to CECOT, again alleging gang ties. On Sunday, Rubio said 10 more men were sent to the prison in El Salvador, and noted how “the alliance between” the U.S. and El Salvador “has become an example for security and prosperity in our hemisphere.”

Another Reason Championship Teams Shouldn’t Visit the White House

Buck Banks

JD Vance is rumblin’, bumblin’, fumblin’.

The Ohio State Buckeyes won the first title in the first year of the 12-team playoff, defeating Tennessee, Oregon, Texas and Notre Dame in the final. So, like many championship teams do, they visited the White House for a photo op with the president and vice president.

Then Vance — the farthest thing from a championship athlete (or effective vice president) — fumbled the national trophy.