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IRS Flags $100 Billion in Suspected COVID Loan Tax Fraud
The Small Business Administration said the IRS found tax discrepancies tied to about $100 billion in Paycheck Protection Program and COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loans after the SBA referred more than $200 billion in suspected fraud. The IRS compared loan applications with tax filings and opened examinations that may result in additional taxes and fraud penalties. Administrator Kelly Loeffler said borrowers who inflated payroll or falsified records will face both SBA action and IRS scrutiny. The effort follows earlier referrals of delinquent loans to the Treasury and the suspension of hundreds of thousands of suspected fraudsters.
đď¸ News & Politics
Judge Orders White House to Restore Banned Outletsâ Press Passes
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee, ordered the administration to immediately restore press credentials for CNN, Politico and MS NOW and barred enforcement of President Trumpâs ban for 14 days. Kelly said the outlets were likely to succeed on due process claims and that the record lacked support for a national security rationale. Trump had cited negativity and alleged falsehoods. Some reporters were still turned away at a Secret Service checkpoint Thursday morning before access was later restored. There was no immediate White House comment. The outlets sued Monday after the Sept. 18 ban.
Editorâs Note: Rulings that secure access for the press in any vein are a dangerous precedent. Confusing access with the ability to report is the bastardization of the âdifference without a distinctionâ argument. There certainly is a difference, and it is stark.
Iowa Judge Tosses Trump Suit Over 2024 Register Poll
Iowa District Judge Scott J. Beattie dismissed President Trumpâs lawsuit against The Des Moines Register, its parent company and pollster J. Ann Selzer. Trump claimed a late 2024 Iowa Poll that showed Kamala Harris ahead was consumer fraud and election interference. He won Iowa by a wide margin. Beattie said the case sought to turn First Amendment-protected political speech into liability and dismissed it with prejudice. US Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA) and former state Sen. Brad Zaun (R) were co-plaintiffs.
Sixth Circuit Restores Ohio Citizenship Proof for Motor-Voter Signups
A split Sixth Circuit panel stayed a lower-court injunction and restored Ohioâs 2025 law requiring documentary proof of citizenship before Bureau of Motor Vehicles clerks offer voter registration. Trump-appointed Judges John Nalbandian and Whitney Hermandorfer said plaintiffs identified no eligible voter blocked by the statute. They said license denials cited in the suit stemmed from paperwork defects, not the citizenship rule. Clinton-appointed U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. had blocked the law in August, ruling it exceeded the National Voter Registration Act. Biden-appointed Judge Kevin Ritz dissented. Secretary of State Frank LaRose called the stay a victory for election integrity.
New York Leads Nation in Taxes, Trails Only Alaska in Spending
The Citizens Budget Commission found New York state and local governments collected the most taxes per resident in fiscal 2024, 71 percent above the national average and 22 percent above California. The state also collected the most personal income tax per $1,000 of income and the most corporate taxes relative to GDP. Spending per capita was second only to Alaska and 44 percent above the national average. New York spends the most per public school student and the most on Medicaid. The group said the burden weakens the stateâs ability to keep residents and businesses and urged holding the line on taxes.
Chinese Photographers Clash With Secret Service at Xi Arrival
Chinese photographers shoved for position and argued with Secret Service agents before President Xi Jinpingâs arrival at the White House on Thursday. Video showed raised voices at the South Portico and an agent escorting one photographer away. A Chinese photographer later shoved an American female reporter while rushing through the briefing room toward the Oval Office. Pool reporters described a loud dispute over camera spots. Trump and Xi delivered remarks after a military review and flyover. Trump later joked that China had the friendliest press corps.
FEATURED ARTICLE:
âââ White House Access Remains a Privilege, Not a Press Entitlement
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đ˘ The American Fifth Column
Watchdog Warns of Rising Doxing Aimed at Immigration Judges
The Justice Departmentâs inspector general warned that immigration judges face growing doxing, with sensitive personal data compiled from public sources and posted in ways that could intimidate them. The report said officials are struggling to keep up and that a privacy-removal service is being used to scrub judgesâ information from the internet. The finding adds immigration judges to the list of other officials targeted amid mass deportation operations. DOJ leadership was described as unprepared for ubiquitous technical surveillance of government personnel.
Florida Pension Fund Sues NY Times Over Israel Coverage Records
Floridaâs State Board of Administration and the National Center for Public Policy Research sued The New York Times Co. in Manhattan, seeking books and records on whether the board oversees editorial standards. The petition cites reporting errors and an unnamed former newsroom employee who said complaints of anti-Israel bias dating to 2019 were brushed off. Both petitioners are shareholders. A Times spokesman called the suit meritless and an attempt to pressure an independent newsroom. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said the company refused to produce a page after being asked if the board oversees its own standards.
California High Court Orders Sheriff to Return Seized Ballots
The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Riverside County Sheriff Chad Biancoâs seizure of about 650,000 ballots from the November 2025 special election was unlawful. Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero wrote that voted ballots must remain in the elections officialâs custody even during a criminal investigation. The court ordered Bianco to return the ballots to the registrar forthwith. In a companion case, justices said Attorney General Rob Bonta may issue binding directives to the sheriff and that Bianco must comply. Bianco had obtained warrants after activists alleged a vote-count discrepancy in the Proposition 50 contest.
N.H. Libertarian Account Posts Call to Kill Elected Democrats
The Libertarian Party of New Hampshireâs X account posted Tuesday that it âopenly support[s] the assassination of basically every elected Democratâ in the state, adding that those unwilling should vote GOP. The post drew condemnation from Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte (R), who called it dangerous and said it should be investigated. The state attorney generalâs office said it is aware of the posts and declined to comment further. The national Libertarian Party said the New Hampshire group is not affiliated and does not condone political violence. The state party, chaired by Jeremy Kauffman, lost national affiliation in May.
Philadelphia Teacher Admits Faking Palestinian and Black Identity
Hannah Gann, a Philadelphia public school teacher and anti-Israel activist, admitted she lied for years about being Palestinian, Tunisian and Black. She said on Instagram she is a white woman of significant privilege and wealth. The Racial Justice Organizing Committee and Philly Educators for Palestine confronted her and cut ties. They said she is of Jewish heritage with family in Israel. A classmate recalled her as a white Jewish woman at Penn who later darkened her appearance. She teaches at the Workshop School. The district said it was aware of the matter.
ON THIS DAY IN 1906:
President Theodore Roosevelt (R) signed a proclamation declaring Wyoming's Devils Tower as the nation's very first National Monument under the Antiquities Act.
đ International
Milei Calls U.N. a Useless Caste of Parasites
Argentine President Javier Milei told the U.N. General Assembly the body has become a âuseless organizationâ that feeds âfatally arrogant parasitesâ posing as bureaucrats. He said it failed to guarantee security and human rights and allowed chaos, violence and terrorism. He accused it of looking the other way on Argentinaâs Falklands claim, sheltering dictatorships, voting against Israel and promoting pandemic lockdowns he called genocide. He urged Britain to resume sovereignty talks and said Argentina would not wait on the U.N. He also opposed state control of artificial intelligence.
Editorâs Note: How can you not love this man?
Satellite Photos Show Buildout at Seven Chinese Nuclear Sites
Satellite imagery shows major construction at seven Chinese facilities tied to the nuclear weapons program: Pingtong, Zitong, Lop Nur, Jiuquan, Mianyang, Jinta and Guangyuan. Work includes new buildings, tunnels, a support town at a suspected pit-production site, and a fusion research center after villages were cleared. Images cannot prove what is happening inside or confirm an undeclared test. The United States has accused China of a 2020 test at Lop Nur. Beijing denies it and cites a no-first-use policy. New START expired in February.
Ceuta Residents March as Migrant Camps Strain the Enclave
More than 1,000 Ceuta residents marched Sept. 20 toward the Moroccan border demanding that remaining migrants be sent back. About 72,000 people crossed from Morocco on July 30-31. Spanish authorities say most returned within three days, while the city government puts those still in the 83,000-resident enclave at least at 13,000. Emergency incidents rose 532.6 percent after the crossings, with assaults and home invasions among the cases. Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska called residentsâ insecurity subjective. A Sept. 18 transfer to a 1,700-place port camp left thousands without a spot after a scramble and rubber bullets fired in the air.
Haitians Head for Canada After U.S. Temporary Status Ends
Haitians who lost Temporary Protected Status are moving from the United States into Canada at legal crossings and through woods along the New York border, according to border residents and Canadian officials. Work permits lapsed after the administration ended Haitiâs TPS designation following a Supreme Court ruling. Some travelers lack cold-weather gear and are abandoned by smugglers. Canada tightened rules even as it keeps limited special measures for Haitian nationals already in the country. Trump has offered paid self-deportation flights. Haiti has also lost police and other professionals who left under the prior parole expansion.
Spain Moves Cox Heir Closer to U.S. Extradition Hearing
Spainâs Cabinet allowed a U.S. extradition request for James âFergieâ Chambers, a Cox family heir and self-described communist, to proceed to Spanish courts. Chambers has been held since his July 10 arrest in Ibiza. The United States seeks him on money laundering, riot, and conspiracy charges tied to 2023 pro-Palestinian protests and transfers to a company in Tunisia. Government spokeswoman Elma Saiz called the step procedural. If judges approve, the Cabinet would make the final call. Defense lawyers say the case is political. A hearing date is expected in the coming weeks.
