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US Deploys Aircraft Carrier To Caribbean As Trump Admin Pressures Cuba

Zero Rss
2 months 4 weeks ago
US Deploys Aircraft Carrier To Caribbean As Trump Admin Pressures Cuba Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The U.S. military command operating in the Western Hemisphere said on May 20 that an aircraft carrier strike group entered the Caribbean Sea, as the Trump administration heaps pressure on the Cuban communist regime.

In a post on X, U.S. Southern Command said that the USS Nimitz is now in the Caribbean and released video footage of the carrier group. Southern Command did not provide more details about why the carrier group traveled to the region.

The Nimitz, it said, "has proven its combat prowess across the globe, ensuring stability and defending democracy from the Taiwan Strait to the Arabian Gulf."

The Nimitz, commissioned in 1975, carried out joint naval exercises with the Brazilian Navy off the coast of Rio de Janeiro last week, the U.S. Embassy in Brazil said in a May 14 statement.

On May 20, the Department of Justice (DOJ) unsealed a criminal indictment against former Cuban leader Raul Castro, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio released a video in Spanish urging Cubans to reject the country's communist leadership.

According to the DOJ indictment, Castro was indicted in connection with the 1996 downing of civilian planes operated by Miami-based exiles. Castro, now 94, was Cuba's defense minister when the planes were shot down, killing four people.

The charges against Castro, the brother of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, drew pushback from the country's current leader, Miguel Diaz-Canel, in a post on X.

"This is a political maneuver, devoid of any legal foundation, aimed solely at padding the fabricated dossier they use to justify the folly of a military aggression against Cuba," Diaz-Canel wrote.

This year, U.S. President Donald Trump has been ratcheting up talk of regime change in Cuba and said he would potentially initiate a "friendly takeover" of the country if its leadership did not open up its economy to American investment and kick out U.S. adversaries.

When asked what will happen next for the U.S. embargo on Cuba on Wednesday, Trump said, "We're going to see." He added that the U.S. government is ready to provide humanitarian assistance to what he described as a failing country.

Trump said that "there won't be escalation" between the United States and Cuba, adding, "I don't think there needs to be."

"Look, the place is falling apart. It's a mess," Trump added. "They've really lost control of Cuba."

In Cuba, there is no food, electricity, or energy, Trump said, adding that the U.S. government will have to act to assist the country.

Earlier this month, CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Cuba to meet with the country's top officials, a visit that came as the country's energy minister said the island has completely run out of fuel and that its power grid is in a critical state.

In January, the U.S. military launched an operation in Venezuela that captured its president, Nicolas Maduro, an ally of the Cuban regime, and took him to the United States to face drug-trafficking charges.

Since September 2025, the U.S. military has been launching strikes against suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean in what the military calls Operation Southern Spear.

Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) sails in the Arabian Sea, on May 3, 2026. Courtesy of the U.S. Navy Tyler Durden Thu, 05/21/2026 - 17:00
Tyler Durden

DOJ Probe Widens: Minnesota Daycare Owner Charged, While Convicted Fraudster Gets Nearly 42 Years

Zero Rss
2 months 4 weeks ago
DOJ Probe Widens: Minnesota Daycare Owner Charged, While Convicted Fraudster Gets Nearly 42 Years

A Minneapolis daycare owner has been charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, adding another case to Minnesota's widening public-benefits fraud scandal.

Fahima Egeh Mahamud, 50, CEO of Future Leaders Early Learning Center, allegedly submitted more than 13,000 false claims to Minnesota's Child Care Assistance Program between 2022 and 2025, according to prosecutors. Thousands of those claims required families to make co-payments before the daycare could receive federal reimbursements.

BREAKING: Minneapolis daycare owner featured in Nick Shirley’s video Fahima Egeh Mahamud, CHARGED with wire fraud and conspiracy for allegedly stealing over $4.6 million through false claims to federal and state programs pic.twitter.com/OJ6plcQ7lq

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) May 21, 2026

Prosecutors say Mahamud falsely certified that those family co-payments had been collected, allowing her daycare business to receive roughly $4.6 million in improper reimbursements.

The case is not Mahamud's first encounter with federal fraud investigators. She was separately charged in February with wire fraud over her alleged role in the Feeding Our Future meal-fraud scheme, the sprawling Minnesota case in which federal prosecutors say taxpayer money meant to feed children during the pandemic was diverted through sham meal sites, inflated meal counts, rosters, invoices, and kickback arrangements.

In that earlier case, prosecutors alleged that from December 2020 to July 2021, Mahamud claimed to serve tens of thousands of meals to children each month at the Future Leaders site, when the site allegedly served only a fraction of those meals.

An attorney for Mahamud could not be reached for comment. Mahamud and all other defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.

A Wider Minnesota Fraud Crackdown

The daycare charge comes as Minnesota faces a widening federal crackdown on alleged fraud across multiple state-administered programs. AP reported that, after former Feeding Our Future leader Aimee Bock was sentenced to nearly 42 years in prison, federal authorities announced a new batch of charges against 15 people accused of stealing from social-service programs administered through Minnesota's state government.

AP said the new cases involve roughly $90 million across seven state-managed Medicaid programs. Those cases include Mahamud, whom AP identified as the former CEO of Future Leaders Early Learning Center. Prosecutors allege her organization was reimbursed about $4.6 million for services tied to people who did not make required co-payments.

🚨 HOLY CRAP! The Trump DOJ has just announced a MASSIVE $90M FRAUD BUST in Tim Walz's Minnesota, with criminal charges being slapped on 15 defendants

This involves 7 STATE-MANAGED MEDICAID PROGRAMS totally plundered by fraudsters — one program has $0 LEFT! 🤯

Tim Walz knew!… pic.twitter.com/KottcIOU2K

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) May 21, 2026

The New York Post reported that Justice Department officials described the latest Minnesota charges as involving the two largest Medicaid fraud cases ever brought in the district, including what officials called the "largest autism fraud scheme ever." According to the Post's account of the DOJ announcement, prosecutors said the schemes involved fake diagnoses, billing for services that were not provided, and the exploitation of programs intended for vulnerable people.

Autism Program Targeted In Alleged $40 Million Scheme

One of the most explosive allegations involves Minnesota's Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention program, known as EIDBI, a Medicaid-funded autism services program for children and young people.

FBI Director Kash Patel said in a post on X that one alleged scheme was worth more than $40 million and involved kickbacks to parents who fraudulently used autism centers to obtain autism diagnoses for children regardless of medical necessity, followed by billing for services that were not actually provided.

That's nice and all Kash, but...

Still in congress

Still free

Still has millions of hard earned TAXPAYERS money stolen from our children and grandchildren pic.twitter.com/vR26CqcW2n

— Roger Sunderlin (@RogerSunderlin) May 21, 2026

That allegation shifts the Minnesota story from ordinary benefits fraud into something much darker: children, disabled patients, and struggling families allegedly being treated as billing instruments inside programs that were supposed to help them.

The Justice Department had already been building toward this moment. In December, federal prosecutors announced additional charges in autism and housing fraud cases, including allegations that a Minnesota autism provider paid cash kickbacks to parents, submitted inflated Medicaid claims, billed for services not actually provided, and obtained millions of dollars from Minnesota's Department of Human Services and related payors.

Housing And Home-Care Programs Under Scrutiny

Federal prosecutors have also zeroed in on Minnesota's Housing Stabilization Services program, a Medicaid benefit designed to help people with disabilities, seniors, people with mental illness, and people with substance-use disorders find and maintain housing.

According to the Justice Department, the program had low barriers to entry and minimal records requirements, making it vulnerable to fraud. The program's costs exploded from an expected $2.6 million annually to more than $21 million in 2021, $42 million in 2022, $74 million in 2023, and $104 million in 2024.

In one housing case, two Pennsylvania men pleaded guilty to traveling repeatedly to Minneapolis to defraud the Housing Stabilization Services program, according to the DOJ. Prosecutors said they stole about $3.5 million for services they falsely claimed to have provided to roughly 230 Medicaid beneficiaries and even used ChatGPT to generate fake client notes when insurers asked for documentation.

Feeding Our Future Casts A Long Shadow

The overlap among these cases is what has made the Minnesota scandal so politically explosive. What began with Feeding Our Future has expanded into child care, housing services, autism therapy, home supports, and other Medicaid-funded programs.

According to AP, Bock's Feeding Our Future network involved phony distribution sites, fake lists of children supposedly being fed, kickbacks, and lavish spending on international travel, real estate, and luxury vehicles. Bock was convicted last year of conspiracy, fraud, and bribery and sentenced this week to nearly 42 years in prison.

Bock blames Minnesota officials for not catching the fraud, telling CBS: "We relied on the state," adding that local officials, including Rep. Ilhan Omar, would often visit the meal sites. "We told the state, this site is going to operate at this address, this time, and this number of children. The state would then tell us that's approved."

👂🏻👂🏻👂🏻👂🏻👂🏻👂🏻👂🏻👂🏻👂🏻👂🏻
WORTH A LISTEN
Aimee Bock from behind prison is naming names in the Minnesota fraud scandal… which she believes was no surprise to local Democratic leaders. pic.twitter.com/UfrKsvJNjV

— Andrew C ™️ (@Sheckyi) January 23, 2026

The Justice Department has described Feeding Our Future as the single largest COVID-19 fraud scheme in the country. Prosecutors said the scheme stole roughly $250 million from a federal child nutrition program that was supposed to feed children during the pandemic.

Future Leaders Early Learning Center was also one of the Minneapolis daycares referenced or featured in YouTuber Nick Shirley's viral December video examining possible fraud in the system. The video helped push the issue into national politics and drew attention from federal officials already scrutinizing Minnesota-administered benefits programs.

Washington Freezes Funding And Demands Answers

The fallout has reached Washington. The Department of Health and Human Services announced on Jan. 6 that it had frozen access to certain child care and family-assistance funds for California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York, citing concerns about widespread fraud and misuse of taxpayer dollars in state-administered programs.

According to the HHS announcement, the freeze applied to three programs: the Child Care and Development Fund, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and the Social Services Block Grant.

Minnesota has also faced specific Medicaid funding pressure. AP reported that the Trump administration notified the state it was deferring an additional $91 million in Medicaid funding because of concerns about fraud vulnerabilities in state-run but federally funded social-service programs. That came on top of hundreds of millions of dollars the administration had already withheld earlier this year.

CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said the additional deferral was tied partly to high-risk service categories and partly to concerns about payments for ineligible recipients. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called the move political retaliation, while state officials said they have been taking aggressive action to stop fraud and recover improper payments.

The Oversight Question

The numbers explain why the issue is not going away. Minnesota receives about $185 million in child care funds each year from the Administration for Children and Families, according to HHS officials cited in earlier reporting. The latest cases raise basic questions about how federal money was monitored, how providers were verified, why warning signs were missed, and how alleged fraud was able to spread across so many programs before federal investigators stepped in.

The scandal now appears to be less about one daycare, one nonprofit, or one program than about a broader failure of oversight. Prosecutors are no longer describing isolated cases of paperwork abuse. They are alleging networks of providers, recruiters, shell companies, fake records, kickbacks, inflated claims, and programs designed for children, disabled people, and low-income families being turned into taxpayer-funded revenue streams.

For Minnesota, the political problem is obvious. For taxpayers, the question is simpler: how many more programs were treated this way, and how much money is gone?

    Tyler Durden Thu, 05/21/2026 - 16:40
    Tyler Durden

    Sea, hear: Virgin Voyages taps into rich music legacy with nostalgic acts onboard

    NY Post
    2 months 4 weeks ago
    How do you entice new customers onto a cruise ship? That often-maligned holiday experience of tiny crowded pools, average entertainment, long buffet lines, smoky casinos and bingo (not to mention bingo wings)? How about with a bit of rock ’n’ roll? Or rap? Or disco?  Virgin Voyages, a cruise line with a unique music heritage, is...
    Carole Sovocool

    Exit Taxes Won't Save Failing States

    Zero Rss
    2 months 4 weeks ago
    Exit Taxes Won't Save Failing States

    Authored by Vance Ginn via TheDailyEconomy.org,

    When a state starts floating an exit tax, it is telling you something more important than any campaign slogan: the people running the place know their model is not working. 

    They may not say it that way. They will call it fairness, responsibility, or making the wealthy “pay what they owe.” But the meaning is the same. 

    If families, entrepreneurs, and investors are leaving, the state can either ask why its policies are pushing them out, or it can try to tax them for escaping. An exit tax chooses punishment over reform. 

    I understand why these proposals resonate with some people. If you are watching wealthy residents relocate while governments still face bills for schools, roads, pensions, and other commitments, it is easy to feel like the people with the most mobility are ducking the tab. 

    That frustration is real. It deserves a serious answer. But an exit tax is not a serious answer. It is a confession that lawmakers would rather cling to a failing fiscal model than fix the spending, regulation, and tax policies that made people want to leave in the first place. 

    That is why the current trend is so revealing.

    In California, proposals have centered on taxing billionaire net worth, including wealth that often exists on paper rather than in cash. In New York, the push has extended to a new surcharge on high-value second homes in New York City.

    In Washington, lawmakers have already enacted a “millionaires’ tax.” These policies differ in form, but not in spirit. They all send the same message: if government has made your state too expensive, too hostile, or too unpredictable, it may still try to claim part of your future anyway. 

    The economics are worse than the politics. Supporters talk as if wealth is a pile of idle cash sitting in a vault, just waiting to be skimmed. It is not. Wealth is usually tied up in businesses, shares, property, and future earnings. 

    Taxing net worth or unrealized gains means taxing value that often has not been sold, realized, or converted into cash. That can force asset sales, dilute business ownership, weaken investment, and change behavior long before the tax collector ever gets a check.

     A Hoover Institution analysis of California’s proposal found that once likely migration responses are considered, the measure could leave the state with a negative net present value of about $25 billion. That is the real lesson: politicians score the tax statically, but the economy does not sit still. 

    And that is before you get to the broader evidence. The OECD has noted that recurring net wealth taxes have become much less common across advanced economies because they tend to raise less revenue than promised while creating large compliance costs, avoidance incentives, and economic distortions. Countries tried them. Many backed away. 

    A recent NBER study on Scandinavian wealth taxation found that higher top wealth-tax rates reduced the number of wealthy taxpayers and that many of those taxpayers were business owners whose departure reduced investment, employment, and value-added. 

    That is the part too often ignored in political talking points. When a state drives out a founder, investor, or employer, it is not just losing one tax return. It is losing future jobs, future capital formation, and future opportunity for everybody else too. 

    Defenders of exit taxes still fall back on one argument that sounds morally satisfying: these taxpayers benefited from state infrastructure, legal protections, and markets while they lived there, so the state deserves one final cut

    But that argument quietly rewrites the relationship between citizen and government. It turns moving into a taxable offense. It says the state retains a lingering claim on your success because you once lived under its jurisdiction. That is a dangerous principle in a federal system built on mobility and competition.

     Even in the international arena, exit taxes are controversial, complex, and tied to specific movements of assets or functions across borders. Importing that logic into state tax policy is not modernization. It is escalation. 

    The problem is not just that these taxes are bad economics. It is that they usually do not stay narrow. Politicians sell them as a tool aimed only at billionaires or luxury homeowners — policy aimed at an applause line. But when the revenue falls short, the scope expands. 

    One-time wealth taxes become annual property surcharges. “Billionaire” thresholds are expanded to target millionaires and eventually the middle class. “Temporary” taxes become permanent fiscal architecture. New York’s pied-à-terre proposal is a good example of how quickly the logic expands once the principle is accepted. 

    Frédéric Bastiat warned us to look not just at what is seen, but at what is unseen. We see the tax revenues. That’s a small, visible victory compared to the investment that never happens, the entrepreneur who builds elsewhere, jobs that never arrive — the unseen costs compound. 

    Exit taxes are built on ignoring all of that. 

    Claiming an exit tax frames mobility as theft, when it is often a rational response to bad governance. They do not restore prosperity. They steal the opportunity to prosper by doubling down on the very policies that made growth harder in the first place. 

    If lawmakers want to deter departures, the answer is not a fiscal trap door. It is better policy: lower taxes, lighter regulation, spending restraint, and a serious effort to make their states places where productive people want to stay.

    Real economic renewal is more difficult than yet more taxation, but it is also the only approach that works. Exit taxes will not save failing states. They only confirm why people wanted to leave. 

    Tyler Durden Thu, 05/21/2026 - 16:20
    Tyler Durden

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