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Michigan’s Bridge card system was hacked, police say

An Oakland County law enforcement officer reported in 2024 that Michigan’s Bridge Card system had been hacked. The report, which Michigan Capitol Confidential obtained through a records request, was included in the county’s investigation of food-stamp theft reported by a 66-year-old resident.

“I forwarded the report to (Michigan Department of Health and Human Services) Investigator (Joseph) Adcock for follow up,” Officer Matt McPherson wrote in a May 13, 2024 comment on a police report of alleged SNAP fraud. “This has been an ongoing issue for sometime where the Bridge card system was hacked and multiple users numbers/pins were discovered.”

The investigation centered on a claim by Alfred Audry Dendy II that $248 worth of his food stamps benefits were stolen and spent at a Sam’s Club in Georgia. Dendy canceled the card after his balance was depleted. Click here to read more.

 

Nick Shirley And Medicaid Czar Dr. Oz Report Billions In Senior “Adult Daycare” Fraud in Queens: “Korean And Chinese Mafias”

Nick Shirley's latest video claims to have uncovered millions in fraudulent "adult daycares" for the elderly, getting state funding for adult and personal home care in New York City. Medicaid czar Dr. Mehmet Oz joined Shirley and claimed senior services centers in the borough of Queens have generated $2.1 billion in the last three years.

At one point, Shirley asks to see one of the places under the pretense of enrolling his grandmother and is told, "No Americans here."

"Only Koreans here, so I think she can not get along with the other people because they cannot speak English," the man says. Click here to read more.

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GOP governors, utilities join Trump data center pledge

President Donald Trump is expanding his data center pledge to include some Republican governors and several large utilities, according to state officials and industry executives.

Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon and Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe have all signed the White House’s so-called Ratepayer Protection Pledge, a set of principles committing data center developers to pay for their fair share of energy and water use, along with electric grid improvements and maintenance, according to officials in each state. Electric utilities are also expected to sign the pledge, according to seven people familiar with the plans.

The White House declined to confirm the signatories, but said the pledge was drawing new support. Click here to read more.

 

Coalition of Anti-Trump Prosecutors—Bankrolled By Secret Donors—Raises ‘Stunning’ Constitutional Concerns, Legal Experts Say

A coalition of progressive prosecutors promising to target federal immigration agents has amassed a war chest funded by secret donors with the help of left-wing networks. Legal experts said the arrangement is “terribly corrupt” and blurs the lines between legitimate law enforcement and politically motivated prosecutions.

The Project for the Fight Against Federal Overreach—or FAFO, an acronym that also stands for “fuck around and find out” in internet lingo—was formed by two George Soros-funded prosecutors, Philadelphia’s Larry Krasner and Mary Moriarty of Hennepin County, Minn., after federal officials shot and killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti as they interfered with immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis. Several elected district attorneys have said Krasner, who pledged to target ICE agents “the way they hunted down Nazis for decades,” personally recruited them. Click here to read more.

 

Consumer prices fall more than expected in June as gas prices tumble

WASHINGTON — Consumer prices fell sharply in June, driven by a steep drop in gasoline costs, marking the largest monthly decline in more than six years as inflation continued to moderate.

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers dropped 0.4% in June on a seasonally adjusted basis after rising 0.5% in May, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday. It was the biggest one-month decrease since April 2020, when the index fell 0.8%.

Over the 12 months through June, the all-items index rose 3.5%, down from a 4.2% increase for the 12 months ending in May.

The energy index plunged 5.7% in June, the largest one-month decline since April 2020, with gasoline prices falling 9.7%. Electricity costs also eased 1.0%, though natural gas prices rose 0.5%. Energy prices were up 15.7% over the past year, driven largely by a 26.7% surge in gasoline. Click here to read more.

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The nest isn’t so empty: Affordability crunch has 49% of young adults living with parents

WASHINGTON D.C. — Nearly half of young adults lived with a parent last year, illustrating the struggles of a generation trying to gain a financial foothold.

A report from the Federal Reserve in May showed 49% of adults under age 30 lived with a parent, up 12 percentage points since 2019.

“Everything is just out of reach,” a 28-year-old woman who lives with her mother in the Atlanta suburbs told The Wall Street Journal.

That woman said a young adult could live on their own if they wanted, but they’d be “dead broke at the end of the month.”

Another young woman told the Journal that the COVID-19 pandemic “flipped the script” on young adults moving back in with their parents. Click here to read more.

 

Michigan Business Development Program’s deals are plentiful; its results are not

The workhorse of the state’s business subsidy programs is not the one that gives out deals for hundreds of millions of dollars. Instead, it’s the program where assistance is limited to $10 million payouts, the Michigan Business Development Program. This program has made 875 deals since it began in 2012. But while it makes a lot of deals, it also falls short. It’s just not an effective use of taxpayer money.

One of the basic problems is that it gives taxpayer money to companies and doesn’t ask for anything in return. All businesses that have a project where they expect to create enough jobs — 25 to 50 of them — are eligible, regardless of whether they would do anything differently without money. The only nod to accomplishing anything is that preference may be given to businesses “that need additional assistance for deal-closing and for second stage company gap financing.” Click here to read more.

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Trump announces Walmart to lower prices for thousands of products at his administration’s request

resident Donald Trump said Monday that Walmart has confirmed it will be lowering its prices for thousands of products this summer at his administration’s request in celebration of the United States’ 250th birthday.

Walmart said it will be lowering prices through its signature Rollbacks and Sam’s Club programs, and customers can expect savings on groceries, household and everyday essentials, outdoor living, toys and apparel.

Trump noted that one grocery price that the savings include is a reduction in the cost of beef, which he said will be lowered by almost 15% per pound. Walmart said a pound of beef will now cost $5.94 instead of $6.74. Click here to read more.

 

Joy Reid Guest Rooting for Team USA to Lose So Victory Won’t be ‘Exploited’ by Trump

If you feel like you might not dislike the left enough, keep reading.

On July 1, the same day that U.S. soccer star Folarin Balogun was hit with a red card in the U.S. Men’s National Team (USMNT) 2-0 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina, former MSNBC host Joy Reid welcomed Dave Zirin, sports editor for The Nation, onto her podcast.

During the interview, Zirin made it clear that he was not rooting for America and wanted to see the U.S. “knocked down a peg,” at least in part, for fear of its victories being “exploited” by President Trump.

“I find myself really wishing the United States was actually playing a team from the Global South so I could truly root with even more fervor to see them get knocked down a peg, because we know how it’s going to be exploited if they go forward in the Cup,” Zirin said. “Let’s just be real about that.” Click here to read more.

 

America learned long ago that air-conditioning saves lives. Why does Europe remain so stubborn about it?

During his inaugural speech on Jan. 1, Mayor Zohran Mamdani declared, “We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.”

It certainly feels warm these days.

As temperatures climbed during the heat wave that blanketed much of the eastern United States, the mayor took to social media with a familiar message from the government. “New York: it’s hot out there, and the power grid is working overtime to keep us cool,” he tweeted. “Set your AC to 78 degrees, turn off lights/electronics you’re not using, and unplug what you can.”

This is the real face of the political left: Individual comfort and convenience should be subordinated to collective priorities, with government officials deciding how much energy ordinary people ought to consume. Click here to read more.