Page 1356 – Texas Weekly Online

Biden-Harris administration using taxpayer money to mask Medicare premium hikes before election: critics

In a move critics say is designed to shield the Biden-Harris administration from election fallout, the administration has leveraged taxpayer funds to mask upcoming increases in Medicare premiums. Under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which was intended to cap out-of-pocket drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries, insurers are poised to significantly hike monthly premiums, with average bids for Part D plans expected to triple by 2025. In response to potential voter backlash, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) rolled out a three-year “demonstration project” to subsidize these premiums, aiming to keep them artificially low. However, despite the appearance of relief, some critics are saying that taxpayers will fund a dramatic increase in subsidies — from $30 per recipient per month in 2024 to $142.70 in 2025 — raising concerns about the long-term impact on government spending and debt. HEALTH CARE IS ‘OVERWHELMINGLY COMPLEX’ FOR OLDER ADULTS, EXPERTS SAY: ‘EVER-INCREASING HURDLE’ Former President Trump advisor Joe Grogan has criticized the maneuver, arguing that it merely shifts costs rather than providing real relief. “They’ve destroyed part D premiums,” Grogan told Fox News Digital in an interview. “I’m not sure it’ll survive legal scrutiny if someone were to sue. Objectively, it shouldn’t be done. It’s just interjecting $5-10 billion of taxpayer dollars, while the taxpayers are paying the price 85 days before an election. It’s sickening.” “This is only going to get worse in 2025, 2026,” Grogan continued. “The program is in a death spiral. They announced a three-year demo. It’s already broken. The demo is going to fail. Premiums are still going to go up.” Paragon Health Institute, a health care research group, called the CMS demo plan a “fake, costly demonstration,” in a recent analysis. 5 STEPS TOWARD A FRESH APPROACH TO HEALTH CARE REFORM “Fearing the premium increases that the IRA redesign will impose on Part D plans, CMS has now launched a new voluntary, nationwide demonstration program that is neither a demonstration nor voluntary. Unlike this massive subsidization scheme, demonstrations are supposed to be limited in nature and test alternative features of program design,” the institute wrote. “As a result of the IRA changes, insurers that don’t participate are expected to either be uncompetitive from a price perspective or face significant losses – hardly a choice for insurers.” Research published by Fidelity, an investment research group, shows that a 65-year-old retiring today can expect to spend $165,000 on health care in retirement, a 5% increase from last year and more than double the estimate from 2002. Yet, there appears to be a disconnect for many Americans between the actual projected cost of health care in retirement and how much they expect to spend on those expenses. The average American thinks they will spend about $75,000 on health care and other medical expenses, less than half of Fidelity’s calculation, according to the research. HEALTH CARE COSTS UP TO 300% HIGHER FOR PRIVATELY INSURED PATIENTS THAN THOSE WITH MEDICARE The estimate assumes that an individual is enrolled in Medicare – including Part A and Part B, which cover most hospital care and doctor’s visits – and Part D, which covers prescription drugs. Other expenses such as Medicare premiums, over-the-counter medications, dental and vision care and other costs typically not covered by Medicare are “left to retirees to manage on their own,” the report said. As of April 2024, about 67.3 million Americans were enrolled in Medicare, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Of those, about half were enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, while about 80% were covered by Medicare Part D. “They just want to get through the election,” Grogan said. “They’re hoping after the election they can face it, but its gonna need to be dealt with in the next 12–18 months. They did not believe it would be this bad and its only gonna get worse.” Americans are also dealing with a spike in the cost of prescription drugs, which has surged nearly 40% over the past decade, easily outstripping the pace of inflation. Fox News Digital has reached out to CMS for comment. Fox Business’ Megan Henney contributed to this report.

Homicides are plunging in Biden’s last year compared to Trump’s: report

The number of homicides in major American cities through the first six months of Biden’s last year in office is plunging compared to the same time period during former President Trump’s administration, a report says. Data from the Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA) is showing a 13% drop in homicides among 66 cities from January 1 to June 30, 2024, compared to those dates in 2020, according to Axios. The website reports that Boston recorded an 80% drop in homicides in the first six months of 2024, followed by Philadelphia with 70%, Baltimore with 45% and Miami with 29%. However, it added that Portland, Oregon saw an increase of 278%, while Seattle’s homicide count increased by 59% and Las Vegas’ by 55%. COLORADO POLICE DEPARTMENT SHOWS NEW WAYS TO USE DRONES FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT Overall, the MCCA data shows that 3,451 homicides were reported by 66 agencies in the first half of 2020. For this year’s report, three more agencies submitted data, but the overall number of homicides fell to 3,124. TRUMP CAMPAIGN PICKS UP THE PACE, EYES COUNTER-PROGRAMMING DURING DEMOCRATS’ CONVENTION The Trump campaign is pushing back on the Axios analysis. “It may be true that in *some* cities, some categories of violent crime are lower for the first 6 months of 2024 than in 2023 — but violent crime is still WAY UP compared to 2019 under President Trump,” a spokesperson said. “When you compare data from the report Axios profiled to the MCCA’s 2019 report, it paints an entirely different picture — a picture the liberal media refuses to show because they are all-in for Kamala: Cities in battleground states were safer under President Trump,” they added. The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday from Fox News Digital. The MCCA describes itself as a “professional organization of police executives representing the largest cities in the United States and Canada” with a mission to “provide a forum for police executives from large population centers to address the challenges and issues of policing, to influence national and international policy that affects police services, to enhance the development of current and future police leaders, and to encourage and sponsor research that advances this mission.”

Ex-federal prosecutor who charged George Floyd rioters rips ‘radical’ Gov Walz for ‘letting our city burn’

MINNEAPOLIS – A former federal prosecutor in Minneapolis who prosecuted George Floyd rioters told Fox News Digital that Gov. Tim Walz’s record as governor on that issue, and several others, including fraud, makes him “unfit” for a promotion to vice president of the United States. “Kamala Harris is trying to change Minnesota and our country into San Francisco and California, and we definitely don’t want that, and she just doubled down and made the most radical leftist presidential ticket in American history,” former Assistant U.S. Attorney and the GOP nominee in Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District Joe Teirab told Fox News Digital. Teirab, who served in the Marines and whose father is an immigrant from Sudan, told Fox News Digital that Walz’s handling of the devastating 2020 riots that destroyed hundreds of buildings and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage shows he is not suited to become vice president. “I was a federal prosecutor for four years where I tried to put bad guys behind bars all across the state of Minnesota and you had Tim Walz, who couldn’t lift a finger during the George Floyd riots for multiple days, letting our city burn, literally,” Teirab said. “And then you had at the same time, Kamala Harris getting people to donate to this Minnesota Freedom Fund that bailed out criminals who then weeks later, committed murder and my job during that time was to actually put these arsonists behind bars.” FLASHBACK: GOV WALZ AMPLIFIED COMMENT COMPARING ICE RAIDS TO ‘TERRORISM’ IN AMERICA Teirab continued, “I actually charged two criminals who threw Molotov cocktails in a courthouse right here in the district that I’m running in. I charged two people who tried to burn down a small business. And so it’s just unfathomable to me that happened, and we can’t let that happen to our country if Tim Walz and Kamala Harris are in control.” Teirab explained that “everyone in Minnesota” was affected by the 2020 riots. “Day after day of rioting and people on the news and everyone sitting at home watching the news were just like, where’s our leaders?” Teirab said. “Where’s our government officials? Where’s Tim Walz? Just nowhere to be found.” Teirab rejected the popular media narrative that Walz is a “moderate” and told Fox News Digital that his inability to crack down on fraud in Minnesota is cause for concern. SHOP OWNER REVEALS HEART-WRENCHING EXPERIENCE AFTER BLM RIOTS ‘DESTROYED’ HIS STORE ON GOV WALZ’S WATCH “I think he’s kind of like a caricature of what people on the coast think of is this kind of gruffy middle of the road guy when that couldn’t be further from the truth,” Teirab said. “The way we know that is because of his record in Minnesota, he was a terrible manager of our government resources,” Teirab continued. “I mean, sadly, he let so much fraud happen and my job as a federal prosecutor also was to root out waste, fraud and abuse and I had the honor of working on the Feeding Our Future case, where these fraudsters stole over $250 million of hard-earned taxpayer money and Tim Walz was asleep at the switch and so that was unacceptable, and he clearly is not fit to be the vice president.” Walz is facing renewed scrutiny for a $250 million COVID-19 fraud scandal in Minnesota that critics say falls on his shoulders as governor. MINNESOTA GOP LEADER SOUNDS ALARM ON WALZ TRYING TO ‘BAMBOOZLE’ RURAL VOTERS: ‘BERNIE SANDERS IN FLANNEL’ Between 2022 and 2024, 70 people have been charged in connection with the fraud scheme that resulted in a quarter-billion-dollar loss from the Minnesota Department of Education’s Feeding Our Future program — a federally funded meal assistance plan meant to help give free meals to eligible children and adults. Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris-Walz campaign for comment but did not receive a response. Teirab will square off against Democratic Rep. Angie Craig, who Teirab told Fox News Digital has been a “rubber stamp” for the Biden administration, in MN-02 this November. Teirab elaborated on what issues are most important to voters in his district. “The big issues are for sure the economy and prices,” Teirab said. “I mean, everyone has to go to the grocery store, pay for groceries, pay your energy bills, going to the gas pump and that’s issue number one. And sadly, right now, I mean, you have terrible Bidenomics and you have Angie Craig, who I’m running against, who was for Bidenomics every step of the way.” In a statement to Fox News Digital, a Craig campaign spokesperson said, “Here are the facts: Angie Craig voted against the Biden Administration 30% of the time last year and ranks in the top 3% most bipartisan Members of Congress. Her record speaks for itself.” Fox News Digital’s Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.

Who is Dr Ashok Sinha? The Man Behind Viral Video Exposing Adivasi Hair Oil Scam

Dr Sinha’s recent video exposing the alleged “Adivasi Hair Oil” scam has gone viral, sparking widespread public anger and concern.

Why Sunny Nehra is considered the best ethical hacker in India?

He was also one of the first experts to delve into the intricacies of Pegasus Spyware, providing a comprehensive understanding of its evolution and various versions.

Vulnerable Democrat Tammy Baldwin’s support of sanctuary cities highlighted in Wisconsin ad

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and her past support of federal funding for sanctuary cities is being used against her ahead of her critical re-election battle in November. “Senator Tammy Baldwin voted nine times to support federal funding for sanctuary cities,” the ad from Minority Leader Mitch McConnell-aligned group One Nation. The group cited several occasions when the Democratic senator voted against measures that would have prevented federal funds from going to cities that institute sanctuary policies. CASEY TIED TO CHINESE FIRM HE CLAIMED MCCORMICK-LED COMPANY INVESTED IN TO ‘PROFIT’ OFF FENTANYL CRISIS One Nation’s new ad marks the launch of its $7.5 million statewide advocacy advertising effort in Wisconsin, a pivotal swing state that could determine both the presidential election and which party will be in the majority in the Senate. The multi-million dollar Wisconsin effort is part of the group’s $88 million buy that began in April. The video additionally hits Baldwin for voting in favor of amnesty for “11 million illegal immigrants.” The ad notes that this vast group includes criminals. BALANCE OF POWER: TRUMP CAMPAIGN SLAMS SEN TESTER AS ‘RADICALLY OUT OF TOUCH’ AFTER ABORTION AD ROLLOUT Further, the ad refers to a man, reportedly an illegal immigrant, who was arrested in 2019 for several assaults, including the groping of a 13-year-old girl. “Tell Senator Tammy Baldwin to stop protecting illegal immigrants and start protecting Wisconsin,” it tells viewers. Baldwin’s campaign did not provide comment to Fox News Digital in time for publication. ‘FEEL BETRAYED’: TOP CONSERVATIVE GROUP BLASTS VULNERABLE DEMS ON INFLATION IN MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR AD BLITZ’: “Senator Tammy Baldwin had nine opportunities to make Wisconsin safer by opposing federal funding for sanctuary cities” said One Nation President and CEO Steven Law. “Instead, Senator Baldwin voted to make Wisconsin communities less safe.” Earlier this year, Baldwin voted with Senate Democrats not to continue with an impeachment trial for Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. “Impeachment is a sacred and solemn duty of Congress that is solely reserved to hold those accountable for high crimes and misdemeanors. This is a responsibility that I do not take lightly. Unfortunately, what we had in front of us today entirely failed to meet that high standard, lacked evidence, and was just an attempt to score cheap political points, while moving us no closer to fixing the real issues we face at our Southern border,” Baldwin said in a statement following her vote in favor of dismissing the articles of impeachment. The Democratic senator has expressed her support for a border security bill that was negotiated between a Republican, Democratic, and independent senator, but ultimately failed to garner any support from Republicans. Many even claimed the measure would have exacerbated the existing border crisis. Since Republican senators’ rejection of the border bill touted by Democrats, Baldwin and others in her caucus have accused the GOP of being the ones unwilling to take action on the southern border. In a July Fox News Poll, Baldwin led Republican businessman Eric Hovde 54-43%. However, the Republican primary had yet to occur when the poll was taken. Hovde officially won the GOP nod for Senate in Wisconsin on Tuesday night, fending off any challengers. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub

Police ally of scandal-ridden Mayor Tiffany Henyard indicted on bankruptcy fraud charges

A top police officer and ally of controversial Dolton, Illinois, Mayor Tiffany Henyard was indicted Monday by a federal grand jury on bankruptcy fraud charges. Lewis A. Lacey, 61, the former deputy chief of police of Dolton, Illinois, is accused of concealing assets and income to avoid paying creditors and settling a lawsuit, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Illinois. The nine-count indictment charges Lacey with bankruptcy fraud, making false statements in a bankruptcy case and perjury. Lacey has been an outspoken supporter of the embattled Henyard, who has been dogged in scandal for months after being accused of misdeeds ranging from weaponizing police raids to spending taxpayer money on luxuries in Las Vegas. CONTROVERSIAL MAYOR POSTS VIDEO WITH BIDEN JUST DAYS AFTER RIPPING COLLEAGUES FOR ‘ATTACKING ON A BLACK WOMAN’ According to the indictment, Lacey filed a 2019 bankruptcy petition shortly after a plaintiff moved to enforce a settlement agreement, accusing Lacey of still owing $43,000 of the $55,000 settlement. He also filed a bankruptcy petition in 2020. He made several false and fraudulent representations in oral statements and documents submitted in the bankruptcy cases, including underreporting his monthly income and concealing bank accounts that he controlled, the indictment states. Among other things, Lacey falsely represented that he was separated from his spouse and that she did not reside with him or contribute to his monthly income and mortgage. The false representations allowed Lacey to fraudulently calculate his monthly income for purposes of repayment of his creditors as substantially less than it should have been if his spouse’s contributions were included, the indictment states. The indictment is part of an ongoing federal investigation. During the charged fraud scheme, Lacey served as a police officer with the Dolton Police Department. He was fired last week as the town’s deputy police chief to save costs during a contentious village board meeting involving Henyard, Fox 32 Chicago reports. Lacey’s lawyer, Gal Pissetzky, told the New York Post that the indictment is part of a “bigger plan by the government to try to indict the mayor of Dolton.” Pissetzky told the outlet that his client was innocent of the charges and that the feds only wanted to use Lacey to help build up a criminal case against Henyard. Lacey faces up to 45 years in prison if found guilty on all charges. “They’re going after certain people in the village to see who’s gonna turn on the mayor,” Pissetzky said. Fox News Digital reached out to Henyard’s office but did not immediately receive a response. Last week’s meeting featured a presentation by former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot about her investigation into Dolton’s “dire” financial situation. The Village of Dolton hired Lightfoot as a “special investigator” to look into Henyard’s alleged misdeeds. Lightfoot stated that in April 2022, Dolton’s general fund balance was $5.61 million, but by May 2024, the balance had dropped to a deficit of $3.65 million. Lightfoot also disclosed that Henyard used the village credit card to make purchases at Amazon, Target, Walgreens, Wayfair and other retailers. One jaw-dropping statement revealed that the embattled mayor had dropped $33,000 on Jan. 5, 2023 on Amazon. FORMER CHICAGO MAYOR LORI LIGHTFOOT HIRED TO INVESTIGATE SO-CALLED ‘WORST MAYOR IN AMERICA’ AT $400 AN HOUR “These are somebody using the credit card and charging these amounts using your tax dollars,” Lightfoot told residents. Lightfoot said that the preliminary investigation also revealed that two police officers had received overtime pay exceeding their annual salaries. One officer’s salary for fiscal year 2024 was $87,295, yet the officer received $114,800 in overtime pay. The second officer, with a salary of $73,515, received $102,077 in overtime pay for fiscal year 2024. The reports have been a pressure point for the city, which has a population of slightly more than 20,000, according to a July 2023 estimate from the U.S. Census Bureau. The accusations of financial misdeeds have prompted an ongoing FBI investigation. Henyard, who typically speaks into a golden microphone at meetings, has also come under fire for an alleged sexual assault by one of her allies during a Las Vegas trip, where the alleged victim claims to have been fired after speaking out. Henyard’s cancer charity is also facing scrutiny. Fox News Digital previously reported that Henyard has been living like a royal with a combined salary of nearly $300,000 — more than the state’s governor — despite the 23,000 residents of the Illinois town having a median income of $24,000. In February, it was reported that the FBI was investigating Henyard after six people had reportedly spoken to the agency about her alleged misconduct, including “business owners, a former village employee and one or more public officials.” In April, the FBI served two federal subpoenas as part of an investigation. Henyard was not served. The first one was for employment records, personnel files and disciplinary reports for 25 Dolton employees, including three police officers and Keith Freeman, who is the village administrator and Henyard’s top aide. Freeman was charged with bankruptcy fraud. The second subpoena was served specifically on Freeman, asking for records of all companies associated with him and possible ties to the village. Fox News’ Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.

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