The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office (HCAO) has charged the operator of a local non-profit with felonies related to wage theft in connection to his violence prevention contract with the county.
Bishop Harding Smith, who is the president and founder of non-profit Minnesota Acts Now (MAN), was charged by summons Thursday and is scheduled to appear in court on charges of theft by swindle and wage theft on June 16, 2025.
The criminal complaint details that Smith, 56, failed to pay his employees the required wage under the terms of his contract with Hennepin County. Smith stated in a proposal to the county that his workers would be paid $35 per hour, and later submitted a proposal stating that he and his workers should be paid $40 per hour by the county.
A blurb from the county attorney’s office stated that the contract between Hennepin County and Minnesota Acts Now was effective August — December 2021 to provide violence intervention services. HCAO also alleges Smith made false claims to Hennepin County that he was paying employees the wage required by the contract.
Based on a review of payroll records and timesheets, Sherlocks calculated that Minnesota Acts Now reported total payroll expenses of $495,547.90 to Hennepin County but actually incurred total payroll expenses of only $346,209.31; a difference of nearly $150,000.
Documents showed that Harding was not paying his workers the initially proposed $35 per hour, except for his spouse, and that $100,000 was used by MAN to purchase a building in Brooklyn Park.
"Bishop Harding Smith failed to pay his employees what he agreed to as part of the contract with Hennepin County and then lied about it when seeking payroll expense reimbursements," Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said. "As I said when our office secured the state’s first wage theft conviction, this behavior will not be tolerated."
Smith, who lives in Edina, has been the subject of controversy in the past when he stood by the father of 10-year-old Barway Collins who had gone missing under suspicious circumstances in Crystal, Minn., in 2015. Barway’s father, Pierre Collins, later confessed to killing Barway and stashing his duct taped body in the Mississippi river.
[US Attorney's Office - Southern District of NY] Perry Carbone, Attorney for the United States, Acting under Authority Conferred by 28 U.S.C. § 515; Charmeka Parker, the Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General ("USDA-OIG"); and Christopher G. Raia, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"), announced the unsealing of a Superseding Indictment charging six individuals in connection with a sprawling fraud and bribery scheme that generated over $66 million in unauthorized transactions
…that’s an awful lot of money — where did it go? To buy fancy houses, cars, and vacations, or to finance jihad somewhere exotic?
under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ("SNAP")—colloquially known as food stamps.
This is one of the largest food stamp frauds in U.S. history. The defendants—MICHAEL KEHOE, MOHAMAD NAWAFLEH, OMAR ALRAWASHDEH, GAMAL OBAID, EMAD ALRAWASHDEH, and ARLASA DAVIS—are charged with conspiracy to steal government funds and to misappropriate U.S. Department of Agriculture ("USDA") benefits, among other charges.
DAVIS, a USDA employee, is additionally charged with bribery and honest services fraud. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff.
Starting in 2019,
…interesting that they started during Trump 45, then were unnoticed until just now — were they caught when DOGE walked through the files, looking to see what could be found there?
KEHOE orchestrated a network that supplied approximately 160 unauthorized EBT terminals to stores across the New York area to illegally process more than $30 million in EBT transactions. Working with his codefendants NAWAFLEH, OMAR ALRAWASHDEH, OBAID, and EMAD ALRAWASHDEH, KEHOE submitted approximately 200 fraudulent USDA applications, misappropriating USDA license numbers and, in some cases, doctoring application documents, to obtain EBT terminals for unauthorized stores—including smoke shops and other ineligible businesses.
Critical to the scheme was ARLASA DAVIS, a longtime USDA employee who worked within the very division of the USDA responsible for identifying SNAP fraud. DAVIS abused her privileged access to federal systems to sell hundreds of EBT license numbers enabling over $36 million in fraudulent SNAP redemptions at unauthorized stores. DAVIS photographed handwritten lists of license numbers intended for qualifying stores with her personal cellphone and funneled them to an intermediary who sold them to co-conspirators, including NAWAFLEH, OMAR ALRAWASHDEH, EMAD ALRAWASHDEH, and OBAID, who then used those license numbers to fraudulently obtain EBT terminals for stores that were not authorized by the USDA to process SNAP transactions. In return, DAVIS received substantial bribes that were disguised in communications as, among other things, “birthday gifts” and “flowers.”
#3
There is a good reason why the US government did away with larger denomination currency. It makes large scale transfers of cash impossible to conceal and relegates the transactions to a limited number of banking institutions capable of dealing with the mass, and easier to monitor for criminal behavior.
Return to paper food stamps, not EBT cards, and welfare fraud schemes are much harder to do at scale. The idea that "shame" was a disincentive to public assistance and EBT/SNAP cards were less mean-spirited was just libtard soft-headedness. Shame should be a motivational tool to help people regain pride and dignity through work and self-sufficiency!
[ABC] Manuel Pinzon, a 77-year-old outdoorsman, father, and grandfather is now being described as a "hero through and through" after sacrificing his life to save his twin granddaughters from a fallen tree limb, his son-in-law told ABC News.
The incident occurred on Wednesday, when Pinzon's 8-year-old twin granddaughters were spending time at his home in Dacula, Georgia, according to Pinzon's son-in-law, Jason Krause.
The granddaughters, Isa and Gabi, were exploring the one acre of forest behind the yard of Pinzon's home when they discovered a baby deer, Krause said. The twins ran back to tell Pinzon about the deer, to which he said they should eat lunch and then return back to the deer to see if it was hurt or needed water, Krause said.
At approximately 12 p.m., Pinzon, the twins and Pinzon's sister returned outside to check on the deer when the girls heard a "loud, crashing sound above them," Krause said.
"As soon as they heard that sound, they got pushed really hard from the side by him to the ground," Krause told ABC News.
When they turned back to their grandfather, the girls saw him "laying on the ground [and] that he had gotten hit by this big tree limb," which Krause estimates weighs around 65 to 75 pounds.
The limb, which fell from at least 60 feet in the air, struck Pinzon and he "took the full brunt of that branch on his head," Krause said.
Pinzon began to bleed out of his head and his nose, with one of the twins calling 911 and the other rushing inside the home to get their grandmother, Krause said. One of the granddaughters followed the instructions of the 911 operator to put a rag on the back of Pinzon's head and attempt to keep his head stable, but he continued to bleed and cough up blood, Krause said.
Once Krause and his wife, Andrea Pinzon Krause, were alerted to the incident, she headed to the hospital to be with her father, and Krause went to the house to be with his daughters.
Continued on Page 47
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] At the Tiger Kingdom zoo on the island of Phuket, a tiger attacked a tourist who wanted to take a photo with it.
Visitors are allowed to pet the cats and take photos with them. The animal is walked on a chain. A zoo employee is present.
One of the visitors wanted to take a photo with the predator during the walk. At first, the tiger calmly walked with him along the path. People stopped to take a photo. The tourist sat down next to the tiger. At that moment, the trainer gently touched the tiger with a special stick so that it also sat on its hind legs.
The animal, apparently reacting to this gesture, pounced on the tourist who was crouching nearby. The frightened man screamed loudly. As reported by the Economic Times, the victim was a tourist from India. The tiger did not cause him serious injuries.
Fools go where angels fear to tread. But clearly the training of this tiger was superb — that it resisted the instinct to swipe with claws and bite down on the fool is amazing.
[IsraelTimes] Billionaire Elon Musk bade farewell to Donald Trump in an extraordinary Oval Office appearance today in which he sported a black eye, brushed aside drug abuse claims and vowed to stay a “friend and advisor” to the US president.
As the world’s richest person bowed out of his role as Trump’s cost-cutter-in-chief, the Republican hailed Musk’s “incredible service” and handed him a golden key to the White House.
But Trump insisted that Musk was “really not leaving” after a turbulent four months in which his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cut tens of thousands of jobs, shuttered whole agencies, and slashed foreign aid.
“He’s going to be back and forth,” said Trump, showering praise on the tech tycoon for what he called the “most sweeping and consequential government reform program in generations.”
South African-born Musk, wearing a black T-shirt with the word “Dogefather” in white lettering and a black DOGE baseball cap, said many of the $1 trillion savings he promised would take time to bear fruit.
“I look forward to continuing to be a friend and advisor to the president,” he said.
#3
He made the most out of his time. He will be quite frustrated about how hard the blob has resisted necessary improvements. At some point, I think he will do another stint, but , like Trump, he will be better prepared for the second round of the fight.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
05/31/2025 11:28 Comments ||
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#4
His man will be in communication with Trump's man. You can bet on it.
[NYP] The United States should stockpile guns, ammunition and drones instead of bitcoin, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said Friday at the inaugural Reagan National Economic Forum in California.
"We shouldn’t be stockpiling bitcoins," Dimon said when asked about how industrial policy is entwined with national security policies during a panel.
"We should stockpiling guns, bullets, tanks, planes, drones, you know, rare earths. We know we need to do it. It’s not a mystery."
Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency that operates outside of banking or government authority.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March establishing a Bitcoin reserve, which he described as "a virtual Fort Knox for digital gold."
"We should be stockpiling bullets," he continued.
"Like, you know, the military guys tell you that, you know, if there’s a war in the South China Sea, we have missiles for seven days. Okay, come on. I mean, we can’t say that with a straight face and think that’s okay. So we know what to do. We just got to now go about doing it. Get the people together, roll up our sleeves, you know, have the debates."
Dimon joined a fireside chat during the Reagan National Economic Forum in Simi Valley, California, at the Reagan Presidential Library Friday for a sweeping discussion on the economy and how the world’s "tectonic plates are shifting" in geopolitics in the form of wars, proxy terrorists and the potential proliferation of nuclear weapons.
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[The Daily Signal] The Supreme Court has allowed the Trump administration to revoke temporary protected status for 500,000 illegal aliens living in the U.S.
In a 7-2 ruling on Friday, the justices lifted a lower court’s order that barred the Trump administration from deporting illegal aliens from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela who entered the U.S. under the Biden administration parole program.
The court’s decision comes in response to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s efforts to end the Biden-era parole policy that allowed migrants from the four countries to fly directly into the U.S. and be transported into the interior of the county.
On his first day back in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing DHS to "terminate all categorical parole programs," including the "processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans."
In March, the Department of Homeland Security issued a notice announcing the official termination of the program, effective on April 24, but a federal judge blocked DHS from revoking legal status for the illegal aliens in the U.S. under the parole program.
#1
Delay, delay and more delay. This is the for corners offense that used to be legal in college hoops.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
05/31/2025 11:35 Comments ||
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#2
^^Dean Smith loved the four corners. I was at the game (UNC vs Duke) where the halftime score was Duke 7 UNC 0. On the one hand an interesting strategy and on the other an incredibly boring game to watch.
#3
I may have watched that game on television and asked my dad why anyone would practice that. John Thompson was supposedly another aficionado of four corners.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
05/31/2025 14:02 Comments ||
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[GEO.TV] Two days after the latest in a string of test-flight setbacks for his big new Mars spacecraft, Starship, Elon Musk said on Thursday he foresees the futuristic vehicle making its first uncrewed voyage to the red planet at the end of next year.
Musk presented a detailed Starship development timeline in a video posted online by his Los Angeles area-based rocket company, SpaceX, a day after saying he was departing the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump ...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party... as head of a tumultuous campaign to slash government bureaucracy.
The billionaire entrepreneur had said earlier that he was planning to scale back his role in government to focus greater attention on his various businesses, including SpaceX and electric car and battery maker Tesla Inc TSLA.O.
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Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2025 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[66 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Are there nominations for the passengers on the 2026 flight?
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/31/2025 8:17 Comments ||
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#2
I think the gals from the Blue Origin flight should go for the ride.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
05/31/2025 8:29 Comments ||
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] A magnetic storm was registered on Earth on the night of May 29 and has been going on without interruption for 17 hours. This was announced bySolar Astronomy Laboratory of IKI and ISISP RAS.
“Unfortunately, despite the fact that there were several decreases in activity during the day, and despite the associated expectations of global stabilization of the situation, in fact, the magnetic storm that began today at 3 a.m. Moscow time has not been interrupted once and continues without stopping at the moment,” the publication notes. "If your magnetic storm lasts more than 15 hours, see a Doctor"
Experts specified that as of 20:20 Moscow time on May 29, the storm had lasted for more than 17 hours in a row, reaching G3 (strong storm). It is noted that there is no trend towards a decrease in the storm's intensity, but at the moment the indicators are holding around the average level.
Earlier, Regnum News Agency reported that a strong magnetic storm of a level close to G3 began on Earth on the morning of Thursday, May 29. The storm was registered against the background of a noticeable increase in geomagnetic activity, which became known the day before after the formation of new large coronal holes in the Sun's atmosphere.
Scientists have clarified that the Earth will remain in a zone of increased solar wind speed until the end of this week, and during this time the risks of storms and geomagnetic disturbances will be increased.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[ABC] Manuel Pinzon, a 77-year-old outdoorsman, father, and grandfather is now being described as a "hero through and through" after sacrificing his life to save his twin granddaughters from a fallen tree limb, his son-in-law told ABC News.
...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party...
