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Report: California Benefits for Illegal Families Can Reach $100,000 a Year
A City Journal investigation says a California family of five, with two parents in the country illegally, two U.S.-born children and one illegal grandparent, can qualify for public benefits worth more than $100,000 a year. Christopher Rufo, Kenneth Schrupp and Austen Hufford call the stack a shadow welfare system. It includes health care, rental aid, college grants, tax credits, low-cost car insurance and phones. They estimate the annual taxpayer cost at nearly $11 billion. Staff at four Southern California offices said illegal immigrants can enroll or collect on a childâs behalf. In Glendale, an officer said the Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants is for noncitizens and that citizens cannot get it. Medi-Calâs expansion to illegal residents enrolled about 1.7 million people at an estimated $10 billion a year, more than twice the legislative analystâs first projection. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has touted the coverage. His wife has promoted the state earned-income credit with the line that no Social Security number is no problem.
Editorâs Note: Meanwhile, U.S. citizens diagnosed with terminal diseases canât get disability if they havenât worked in 10 years. Think about that, divorced womenâŚ
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Registration Deadlines Hit Today in Several States Ahead of Nov. 3
Voters still have time to register for the Nov. 3 midterms, but the window has already closed in Alaska and closes today in Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana and Kentucky. Most states require U.S. citizenship, state residency, age 18 by Election Day and registration by the state deadline. Noncitizens cannot vote. Some felony convictions and court findings of mental incapacity also bar voting. You can register by mail, in person, or online. Eight states do not offer online registration, including Arkansas and Mississippi. Deadlines run from 30 days before Election Day to same-day registration. Californiaâs mail and online deadline is Oct. 19, with conditional in-person registration through Nov. 3. Colorado allows in-person registration through Election Day. Texasâs deadline is Oct. 5; forms are available at Vote.gov and through state election offices.
Pentagon Says Golden Dome Covers Every American. CBO Prices It at $1.2 Trillion
The Pentagon said Golden Dome will protect the entire homeland, including Alaska, Hawaii and Guam, for $185 billion through 2035. A program official said the shield is meant to defend all of America, not part of it. The Congressional Budget Office put a notional system matching the administrationâs goals at about $1.2 trillion over 20 years, about $9,300 per household. Space-based interceptors account for about $743 billion of that. CBO has a record of inflated program estimates, and program director Gen. Michael Guetlein called the $1.2 trillion figure a projection built on legacy technology and outdated cost models. He said an early version using hardware the military already owns could be online in 2028, and that 95 percent of $22.5 billion already allocated has gone to contracts. Without the space layer, CBOâs own total falls to $448 billion, which it said would not meet President Donald Trumpâs January 2025 order. The 2027 request seeks $17.5 billion, most of it tied to a reconciliation bill that has not passed.
Pentagon Funds Beacon to Aim Space Solar at Ground Arrays
The Defense Department signed a contract with Overview Energy to design, build, and test a homing beacon that lets satellites lock onto ground receivers and beam power from orbit. The company plans to collect sunlight in space and send it down as near-infrared light to solar arrays, including at remote or contested bases. A low-Earth demonstration is set for 2028. A geosynchronous constellation is planned to start in 2030. Co-CEO Darko Filipi said the space-to-ground link is the critical piece for warfighters who need power at a precise spot. The award runs through the Operational Energy Capability Improvement Fund. No full orbit-to-ground system has been shown yet. Overview also agreed this year to give Meta early access to as much as 1 gigawatt, about the output of a reactor. Stanford physicist Amory Lovins said the technology may work and the economics may not.
FBI Says Operation Blackout Seized $17 Billion From Scam Compounds
FBI Director Kash Patel said U.S. authorities seized about $17 billion and arrested hundreds in Operation Blackout, aimed at overseas networks that defraud Americans. He said the operation freed thousands of trafficked workers, warned more than 10,000 Americans before they sent money, and prevented about $660 million in losses. Patel said the groups built scam cities and are moving from Southeast Asia to the Middle East and Africa. An August search at Cambodiaâs OâSmach Resort compound covered 28 buildings and took 113 hard drives, 15 computers and 35 boxes of evidence. In Madagascar, a Justice Department strike force helped dismantle 13 centers tied to Chinese organized crime and processed more than 3,200 devices. The FBI also reported seizing 584 scam websites and referring 7,670 fraudulent accounts.
Portland Teen Charged With Terrorism After Cafeteria Chemical Scare
A 15-year-old Benson Polytechnic High School student faces 19 counts after police said he brought chemicals from home and mixed them in the Portland cafeteria on Sept. 8, releasing toxic gas. Initial tests indicated hydrogen sulfide. The FBI is still testing samples. He faces 10 counts of attempted aggravated murder, attempted first- and second-degree murder, and first- and second-degree domestic terrorism, plus charges for making and possessing a destructive device and carrying a weapon in a public building. The incident began just before 8:30 a.m. Staff moved students away, and a nurse treated him. He was hospitalized in critical condition and survived. More than 100 people were checked, and at least seven needed care. Police said they found prior interest in hazardous chemicals, explosives, and violence. His lawyers denied the allegations and said he is in inpatient mental health care. District Attorney Nathan Vasquez said he will seek an adult trial and criticized a juvenile system that ends oversight at 25.
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Polls Put Democrats Ahead or Tied in Five GOP Senate States
A New York Times/Siena poll of likely voters, taken Sept. 21 to Oct. 1, found Democrats ahead by 6 points in Texas, 7 in Alaska and 3 in Ohio, down 1 in Iowa and tied in Kansas. Ohio, Iowa, and Kansas sit within the margin of error: 4.5 points in Ohio and 4.6 in Iowa and Kansas. The full sample was 2,946 voters, with a 2.1-point margin. State samples ran from 504 in Alaska to 616 in Ohio. President Donald Trumpâs approval in the five states ranged from 38 percent to 41 percent, while disapproval ranged from 55 percent to 60 percent. In Ohio, he was at 38 percent approval and 60 percent disapproval. Independents approved at 27 percent and disapproved at 71 percent. Democrats need four Republican seats, and to hold their own, to take the Senate. Republicans hold 53 seats to 47.
Editorâs Note: This is, of course, the NYT, which is jaded to the Left. You will see a lot more Dem-positive polling in the coming weeks. Itâs a propaganda campaign to depress the conservative vote.
Education Secretary Asks Colleges to Post Diversity and Openness Rules. Unions Call It Galling
Education Secretary Linda McMahon issued a âNational Call to Actionâ asking university presidents and boards to publish how they will widen intellectual diversity and openness in admissions and hiring. The American Federation of Teachers and the American Association of University Professors responded in a joint letter, calling the request galling. The AAUP, led by Todd Wolfson, merged with the AFT and issued its first political endorsement for Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan this year. Wolfson has said the group should be a fighting organization. It has backed an anti-Israel boycott and attacked Trump supporters as fascists. The AAUP has about 50,000 members. The country has about 1.5 million college faculty. Gallup has recorded new lows in public trust in higher education as enrollments and revenues fall.
Editorâs Note: Iâve known quite a few educators across the spectrum over my lifetime, and I can attest to the fact that most do not sign on to this radical bullshit but canât quit the union for fear of being RIFed.
Hamilton Let Accused Camp Abuser Return After Church Kept Police Out
Adam Hamilton, the Democrat nominee for Senate in Kansas and lead pastor of Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, is facing a charge that his church shielded volunteer Scott Moore. In November 2005, two teenage boys told church leaders that Moore had touched them at a retreat. A youth minister accused them of slander. Two church officials investigated, couldn't identify the culprit, and didn't call police or social services. Hamilton did not attend the parentsâ meeting. He did meet with one boy and his parents. Moore was cleared and returned as a counselor in 2006. The church fired him after another allegation that year and referred him to the Linn County sheriff. Prosecutors declined to charge him, writing that the teenagers could not positively identify him at the time. Moore was convicted in 2013 of misdemeanor sexual battery for touching a boy at a 2010 sleepover. Camp victims testified. Hamilton denied a cover-up and said he âabsolutelyâ would have gone to law enforcement in 2005. Sen. Roger Marshallâs $1.2 million ad says Hamilton protected a pedophile.
Cambridge College Orders Students Into Training That Says Speech Can Be Limited
Gonville and Caius College is requiring undergraduates to attend 90-minute âinclusivityâ sessions run by Stop Hate UK, starting the week of Oct. 5. An email from the education and tutorial office said attendance is mandatory and called for a collective and unified response. The sessions cover inclusive behavior and how to recognize a hate incident. Stop Hate UKâs syllabus says free speech should be restricted by other duties and legal and contractual obligations, and tells students to use language that will not cause harm or offense. Its glossary treats facial expressions, tone and word choice as possible microaggressions. A college spokesman said student representatives consulted on the sessions. The Committee for Academic Freedom said the materials drop age as a protected characteristic and swap âgender reassignmentâ for âgender identity,â which is not in the Equality Act. The Office for Students allows required training. It does not allow training that forces a person to endorse a viewpoint.
UK Police Lock Down Gosport as 149 Migrants Come Ashore
Hampshire police put a Section 34 dispersal order over all of Gosport on Sunday, running until 7 a.m. Tuesday, so officers could order people to leave and not return. Refusal is a criminal offense. Protesters were confined to Walpole car park. Face coverings were banned in Gosport and Portsmouth. Haslar Bridge was closed. Two RNLI lifeboats brought 149 people ashore late Sunday after picking them up mid-Channel with a French vessel. Coaches then took them to Kent for processing, health, security and biometric checks. About 150 to 350 demonstrators gathered. Flares were set off. Twelve people were arrested on suspicion of assaulting officers, affray and racially aggravated public order. Officers treated a few at the scene. None were seriously hurt. It was the second known large landing this far west in recent years. Conservative MP Caroline Dinenage said Gosport is not a safe place to land small boats and that intercepts should go to Dover by water. Police and crime commissioner Donna Jones said each protest costs about 150,000 pounds from the police budget.
ON THIS DAY IN 1892:
In an ambitious bid to outdo the James-Younger Gang, the infamous Dalton Gang tried to rob two banks at once in Coffeyville, Kansas. Townspeople quickly armed themselves, trapping the gang in a shootout that left four outlaws (including three Dalton brothers) and four citizens dead.
đ International
White House Watches Suspected Plague Death at Russian Lab
The White House said it is aware of a suspected plague case in Russiaâs Irkutsk region and is monitoring it after lab worker Daria Shipilova, 28, died. She worked at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute, fell ill on an expedition near the Mongolia border, was hospitalized in Shelekhov on Sept. 29 with severe pneumonia, put on a ventilator, and died Oct. 2. Local reports said she told staff she broke a test tube holding live bacteria. Russian health officials called it pneumonia of unknown origin and said tests found no work-related organisms. Contacts tested negative. Officials placed about 200 people under observation, quarantined a hospital, and canceled public events. Gov. Igor Kobzev called it a dangerous infectious disease and did not name it. Anna Popova, head of the public-health watchdog, traveled from Moscow. Epidemiologist Mikhail Favorov called the broken-tube account unlikely for a worker in protective gear. The CDC, State Department, and other agencies are seeking more detail. Officials said they have not confirmed any spread among Irkutsk residents.
Officials Say Flydubai Co-Pilot Planned to Crash Plane Into Ben Gurion
Israeli officials say Omani co-pilot Hamam al-Hammami intended to crash a flydubai flight into Ben Gurion Airport and cause mass casualties. They say he waited until Jordanian airspace so the flight would look like a normal approach, then planned to seize the Boeing 737 and dive it into the airport. If he could not reach Israel, investigators believe he planned a backup strike on a U.S. base in Jordan. He told interrogators he sought an airline that flew to Tel Aviv and planned the attack before he was hired. He had landed in Israel in June and delayed a July attempt because of a personal tie to a crew member. On the Sept. 30 flight, he attacked Indian captain Smit Machchhar with the cockpit emergency axe. Passengers and the captain stopped him, and the plane landed safely. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered National Security Council chief Shmuel Ben Ezra to appoint an examiner to review security for foreign civil aviation. A 2024 state comptroller report had already flagged gaps in oversight of foreign aircrews. The new review will be internal and will not have enforcement powers.
Iran Security Chief Calls Economy One of the Hardest Periods Yet
Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iranâs Supreme National Security Council and a former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander, told a Saturday meeting on economic stabilization that the country is in one of its most difficult periods. Iranâs IRNA carried the remarks in paraphrase. President Masoud Pezeshkian attended and said the government had adopted a new posture in response. He did not say what that means. The rial has fallen to about 2.5 million to 2.7 million per dollar on free-market trackers, down about 59 percent in a year and about 30 percent since Aug. 20, after President Donald Trump announced Operation Outcast. The Statistical Center of Iran said the economy contracted 10.1 percent in the Persian quarter from March 21 to June 20. Oil and gas fell 26.4 percent. The central bank put September inflation at 83.8 percent. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Iran loaded no crude onto tankers in September. Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad resigned Sunday after saying exports would continue around the blockade.
Houthis Take Speakerâs House as Government Claims Mocha
Iran-aligned Houthi fighters entered the home of Parliament Speaker Sultan al-Barakani in Wadi al-Barakani, south of Taiz, and set up positions inside, Yemeni and regional outlets reported Sunday. Xinhua quoted a government official who confirmed the capture of the area where the house stands. The advance also cut the Taiz-Aden road, the last main supply line into government-held Taiz. The Critical Threats Project said Houthis took al-Turbah, the junction of the two roads linking Taiz to Aden. A Houthi agency said the group drove government forces from al-Mawasit and reached the area of presidential council head Rashad al-Alimiâs home. On Monday, Saudi-backed forces claimed they retook Mocha with coalition air cover. Coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki said 100 jets flew at dawn and destroyed 324 targets. Houthis denied losing Mocha and Bab el-Mandeb. Alimi launched the offensive Sunday and said it would continue until the militia is pushed out.
Conservative Flavio Bolsonaro Leads Lula Into Oct. 25 Brazil Runoff
Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro, 45, finished first in Brazilâs presidential vote Sunday with 47.3 percent, ahead of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at 44.8 percent with nearly all ballots counted. Neither reached the 50 percent needed to win outright. The eldest son of imprisoned former President Jair Bolsonaro received about 56.1 million votes, while Lula received 53.8 million. Other right-wing candidates took at least 5 percent combined. The 80-year-old incumbent, seeking a fourth nonconsecutive term, called the result unexpected and said he had expected to win in the first round. Bolsonaro said Brazil wants change and saluted the end of the Workersâ Party era. Jair Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup after losing in 2022. No first-round runner-up has won a runoff since democracy returned in 1985.
