Minnesota Proves that Politics is a Spoils System

 

By Christopher Chantrill

Everyone is shocked, shocked, that there is corruption going on in Minnesota, what with Feeding Our Future and Somali immigrants plundering various welfare programs for fun and profit, and top Minnesota politicians posing for photos with an illegal immigrant fraudster from Somalia.

Experts agree that it would be racist not to rename the Minnesota Vikings as the Minnesota Somali Pirates.

You and I, because we are so wise, are not surprised. We understand that, not later than the Roman Empire and its “bread and circuses,” corruption has been the very soul of a government program.

Even philosophers agree. Eric Hoffer opined that every mass movement ends up as a racket.

But what intrigues me is that most every corrupt government program began as a moral crusade. Case in point, the Progressives and the “spoils system.”

Back at the Dawn of the Progressive Age in 1883 our representatives in Congress passed the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act and promised a Golden Age with a civil service hired on merit instead of the corruption of the Spoils System.

With the average federal worker now earning benefits and a pension far higher than the average private sector worker, does anyone still think that the civil service system is anything other than a corrupt spoils system? Only now the jobs in the spoils system are lifetime jobs for Democrats, and Republicans need not apply, whereas in the bad old days the spoils were switched from one party in a fair and equitable manner after each election.

And so it goes, right down to the present.

Back in the day, our rulers regaled us with the moral horror of racism, and passed a Civil Right Act to end it. But even before the Act was passed our Democrat president Kennedy issued a racist executive order mandating Affirmative Action in the federal government and requiring agencies to hire on the basis of race. Later on, Affirmative Action became quotas and then Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. So the moral crusade of civil rights became an anti-racist, anti-sexist, homophilic spoils system.

Back in the day, our rulers regaled us with the moral horror of poverty. So let’s help the poor with temporary assistance and food stamps! That has developed into the SNAP and Medicaid spoils system in the late great state of Minnesota.

Shall I go on?

Back in the day, government science prophets foretold the end of the world and the existential peril of climate change and the moral necessity of lowering carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere. Now we are faced with spiraling energy costs because of corrupt renewable energy projects that do nothing except kill eagles and whales and shovel federal dollars at the Climate Industrial Complex.

Back in the day, President Nixon declared a War on Drugs, in 1971, so we could defeat the drug epidemic then rampant among educated-class hippies. But in 2011 Chicago magazine wrote about how politicians and drug cartels in the Windy City were joined at the hip. My take is here. Now we have Democrat politicians outraged that ICE is conducting raids on drug cartels in sanctuary cities. Of course: an Obama functionary was recently indicted for laundering money for the drug Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion. Meanwhile, everyone is horrified at the carnage among speedboat helmsmen in the seas off the U.S. Experts agree that if a boat speeding through the Caribbean does not sport at least four 200HP outboard motors affixed to its stern it is not a drug boat.

And whatabout USAID? Back in the day, our heroic CIA was busy in Eastern Europe fighting for democracy. And there was no more noble agency in this Holy Quest than USAID, where highly credentialed members of the educated class could do their bit for democracy. But the DOGE moment seems to suggest that, at some point after the end of the Cold War, USAID became a spoils system for activists-in-training, so they could get some revolutionary experience by assisting in various Color Revolutions undertaken in eastern Europe and the Middle East. Then they could return to the U.S. and get a job with an NGO funding Antifa.

But let me be clear. You’d better not touch my Social Security, and you better not mess with my Medicare, and you better not touch Obamacare subsidies, and you better not mess with government-guaranteed 30-year fixed rate home mortgages, and…

I just picked up The Fourth Political Theory by President Putin’s favorite philosopher, Alexandr Dugin. He writes that the 20th century was the century of ideology, but now it’s time for a rebirth of Tradition -- religion, hierarchy, and family. I expect that Alexandr and Vladimir have deep philosophical discussions about all that.

But my dream is a society that regards loot and plunder distributed by politicians to voters and drug gangs as shameful. I know my dream is impossible. But I still Have a Dream.

Christopher Chantrill @chrischantrill blogs at The Commoner Manifesto and runs the go-to site on US government finances, usgovernmentspending.com. Also get his American Manifesto and his Road to the Middle Class.

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2025/12/minnesota_proves_that_politics_is_a_spoils_system.html

Senate Republicans float competing health care plans

 Separate Senate Republican contingents are floating competing proposals on health care, as the party struggles to unify behind a plan to stop looming premium hikes.

GOP leaders are faced with a political dilemma: Either they extend the subsidies and endorse ObamaCare, which Republicans have long opposed, or they let the subsidies expire ahead of next year’s midterms and deal with the fallout.

Some Republicans want a deal to preserve the enhanced subsidies, heading off voter ire and preventing an election-year nightmare scenario for the GOP. Others want the enhanced subsidies to expire and be replaced by direct cash to Americans, convinced they can blame Democrats for high costs.

On Monday, GOP Sens. Bernie Moreno (Ohio) and Susan Collins (Maine) introduced the Consumer Affordability and Responsibility Enhancement (CARE) Act that would create a two-year extension of expiring Affordable Care Act enhanced subsidies, along with a slate of reforms intended to appease conservatives.

Like other plans that have been floated, the bill would include an income cap — for households earning $200,000 or more — along with ending $0 premiums by requiring a $25 minimum monthly payment.

Moreno and Collins in a statement said the goal is “to shut down the fraud and abuse that zero-premium plans invite.”

A handful of bipartisan plans floated in the House offer similar ideas, as did a leaked proposal from the White House that was quickly withdrawn amid GOP pushback.

The Senate is expected to vote later this week on a Democratic plan to extend the expiring enhanced subsidies for three years. It is not expected to get the 60 votes needed to pass. But Republicans haven’t decided which plan, if any, they are going to put up as a counterproposal.

Separately, a proposal being circulated by Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) doesn’t extend the subsidies at all. Instead, it would redirect that money into Health Savings Accounts paired with bronze or catastrophic plans on the ACA exchanges.

Certain ACA enrollees earning less than 700 percent of the federal poverty level would receive $1,000 in an HSA if they’re 18 to 49 years old, and $1,500 if they’re 50 to 64, according to an outline viewed by The Hill.

It explicitly states that the HSAs wouldn’t be used to buy abortion coverage, a key sticking point among Republicans opposed to the subsidies.

If Congress doesn’t act by the end of the year, the enhanced ACA subsidies will expire, returning to their original 2010 levels.

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5638878-senate-republicans-health-care-proposals/

NJ Gov Murphy Us Laesst Months In Office To Free 31 Convicted Killers, Promises Even More

 New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is using his last months in office to release dozens of inmates convicted of homicide — and says many more are coming, according to NJ 101.5.

Since December 2024, Murphy has granted clemency to 283 offenders, including 31 people convicted of murder, felony murder, or aggravated manslaughter, according to NJ 101.5. Some had been serving life sentences or faced decades before being eligible for parole. All will now walk free with five years of supervision.

The governor fast-tracked the releases after creating a new Clemency Advisory Board. In November alone, he freed 23 convicted killers. Murphy has defended the move by highlighting a few cases involving women he says were victims of abuse and “received excessive sentences.”

The glasses are always the tell

NJ 101.5 reported that many of the other newly freed inmates were convicted of brutal crimes unrelated to domestic violence. For example:

• Sammy Moore received life with 40 years before parole for murder, attempted murder and armed robbery.

• Anthony Leahey was convicted of three murders in a fatal stabbing case.

• Lamar Alford was sentenced to at least 63 years for shooting a drug dealer over money.

• Jamal Muhammad helped plan multiple shootings and was convicted of felony murder.

All are now out early due to Murphy’s clemency.

Tieheen Fletcher, Convicted of murder and weapons offenses.

Advocacy groups tied to the governor’s decisions are applauding the releases. Several of the offenders were clients of the ACLU of New Jersey, whose executive director Amol Sinha called Murphy’s actions “historic” and praised “the power of compassion.” The relationship with advocacy groups has raised questions about who has access to the governor’s clemency pipeline — and who does not.

Families of victims and public-safety critics argue the state is freeing violent offenders without transparency, uniform standards, or a public safety review process. Murphy has not responded to broader concerns about risk to communities or why dozens of homicide offenders — not just a handful — were chosen.

Even so, the outgoing governor has made clear he’s not done. He says more pardons and sentence commutations will be issued before he leaves office on Jan. 20, 2026 — meaning additional convicted killers could soon walk free with no legislative oversight and little public input.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/nj-governor-murphy-using-last-months-office-free-31-convicted-killersand-promises-even-more

Genentech releases Lunsumio data in earlier treatment lines for lymphomas

 – Lunsumio in combination with lenalidomide may offer an effective treatment in relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma based on first data from single-arm cohort of Phase III CELESTIMO study –

– Data from subcutaneous Lunsumio plus Polivy reinforce its outpatient, chemotherapy-free potential in people with R/R large B-cell lymphoma –

– Results highlight the potential of innovative Lunsumio combination regimens to offer improved outcomes for more people with lymphoma earlier in their disease –

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251208047623/en/Genentech-Presents-Lunsumio-Data-Showing-Potential-Across-Earlier-Treatment-Lines-in-Indolent-and-Aggressive-Lymphomas

Recursion rises on new data for asset for polyps

 

• Recursion Pharmaceuticals (RXRX) is up ~3% Monday after reporting phase 1b/2 data on REC-4881 for familial adenomatous polyposis.
• Participants in the placebo-controlled study who took the allosteric MEK1/2 inhibitor saw a 43% median reduction in polyps following 12 weeks of treatment and 75% experienced reductions in total polyp burden.
• In these patients, there was a 53% median reduction in polyps from baseline.
• Also, 40% of patients (4 out of 10) achieved a ≥1-point improvement in a measure of upper gastrointestinal disease severity.
• Familial adenomatous polyposis is an inherited genetic condition leading to the development of hundreds of thousands of noncancerous polyps in the colon and rectum.
• Recursion said that it expects to discuss a registration pathway for REC-4881 in H1 2026.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/recursion-rises-on-new-data-for-asset-for-polyps/ar-AA1RX9Ir

Trump Says He Has 'Other Methods' To Impose Tariffs If Supreme Court Limits Powers

 by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times,

President Donald Trump on Dec. 7 urged the Supreme Court to uphold his tariff program, saying a ruling against his use of emergency economic powers would weaken national security, while also saying there are alternative legal tools to keep the duties in place.

Trump said in a Dec. 7 post on Truth Social that the tariff regime currently before the Supreme Court is “far more direct, less cumbersome, and much faster” than other methods available under U.S. law.

“Speed, power, and certainty are, at all times, important factors in getting the job done in a lasting and victorious manner,” he wrote. “I have settled 8 Wars in 10 months because of the rights clearly given to the President of the United States.”

Trump noted “other methods of charging tariffs” exist but said that the approach challenged in the courts delivers a “strong and decisive national security result,” adding that “if countries didn’t think these rights existed, they would have said so, loud and clear!”

Speaking to reporters later that evening at the Kennedy Center in Washington, Trump again said that the case goes beyond trade policy.

“We have tremendous flexibility with the current system. It’s unbelievable for national security. I’ve ended eight wars largely because of trade, because of tariffs,” he said. “If we go the other tariff route—and there are other routes we can go—but it won’t give you the same pure national security as this one. This one is swift and very powerful.”

The Supreme Court heard arguments last month on whether Trump exceeded his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), a 1977 law that allows presidents to regulate imports after declaring a national emergency. A ruling is expected in the coming months.

Several lower courts have already found that Trump misapplied IEEPA when he imposed tariffs on nearly every country this year, prompting more than a dozen companies to sue.

Costco filed a complaint late last month seeking repayment of duties it says were illegally collected.

While Trump has been publicly urging the Supreme Court to uphold the program, senior administration officials have been working to reassure allies and markets that the tariff architecture will stay intact in one form or another regardless of the ruling.

Officials Say Tariffs Will Stand Regardless of Ruling

In a Dec. 5 appearance on Politico’s “The Conversation” podcast, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the administration has spent years preparing fallback options.

“We’ve been thinking about this plan for five years or longer,” Greer said, adding that “tariffs are going to be a part of the policy landscape going forward.”

When asked whether the White House has alternate authorities ready if IEEPA is narrowed, he replied: “Of course.”

Greer also pushed back on claims that litigation threatens the overall strategy.

“First of all, you don’t change 70 years of trade policy overnight,” he said.

“And second of all, when some people say, ‘Oh, well, this is chaos. What’s your strategy?’, what they really want to know is, can we go back to how it was before? And that’s not going to happen.”

A cargo ship full of shipping containers is seen at the port of Oakland, California, on Aug. 4, 2025. Carlos Barria/Reuters

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent delivered a similar message days earlier. In a Dec. 3 interview with The New York Times, Bessent said the government could “recreate the exact tariff structure with [sections] 301, with 232, with 122,” referring to authorities under the 1962 Trade Expansion Act and the 1974 Trade Act. He said the administration can also impose tariffs permanently and urged countries that negotiated tariff-reduction deals with Trump to “stick with it.”

Broader Toolkit for Tariffs

The administration has already deployed multiple legal pathways for recent duties, including Section 232 tariffs on strategic industries such as autos, copper, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, and aircraft, and Section 301 tariffs following investigations into unfair trade practices.

Bessent also cited Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, which allows tariffs up to 50 percent against countries that discriminate against U.S. commerce, and Section 122 of the 1974 Act, which allows temporary tariffs of up to 15 percent for 150 days in response to perceived trade imbalances.

Greer said the tariff system now functions as a tiered map of U.S. strategic priorities, with China facing the highest rates, Southeast Asia and India next, allies in the middle, and the lowest duties in the Western Hemisphere, “almost like concentric rings,” he said.

Trump has repeatedly touted tariff revenue in recent days and weeks, saying it could reduce the need for federal income taxes, help pay down the national debt, and fund $2,000 payments to some Americans.

Speaking to reporters at the Kennedy Center on Dec. 7, Trump was asked about his thoughts on tariff revenues being used to pay down the national debt rather than funding dividends.

Trump agreed in principle but said extra income from the duties could still be used for payments to households.

“We will. I agree with them on that,” Trump said. “But I also think that we’re making so much money with tariffs that we'll also be able to make a nice dividend to middle-income people ... and lower-income people.”

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trump-says-he-has-other-methods-impose-tariffs-if-supreme-court-limits-powers

Steam to Kill Prostate Cancer

 The FDA has approved the Vanquish Water Vapor Ablation System, which uses steam to destroy prostate tumors. However, the efficacy of the device in eliminating cancer has yet to be established, according to the manufacturer, Francis Medical, Inc. 

The FDA granted the device 510(k) clearance based on early data from the VAPOR 2 study showing the therapy eradicated localized prostate cancer in an initial cohort of patients. The approval enables the company to launch the technology while it collects two more years of data to support a premarket approval application for management of prostate cancer. 

Men treated in VAPOR 2 will be followed to see if the treatment prevents the development of lethal cancers, Gleason Grade Group 7 or higher, anywhere within the prostate, and to better define the extent of adverse events (including incontinence and erectile dysfunction) associated with therapy.

The prospective, single-arm study enrolled 235 patients with intermediate-risk prostate cancer at 26 clinical sites in the United States. The FDA approval was based on 12-month follow-up data on the first 110 patients. The 6-month biopsy data on these patients showed that a single treatment with the Vanquish system eradicated clinically significant (defined as at least Gleason Grade Group 2) prostate cancers in 91% of these patients. The treatment eliminated 70% of cancerous tissue in the targeted area, Francis Medical said. 

The researchers reported no device-related serious adverse events in the study. However, 16.4% of men had ongoing erectile dysfunction events and 2.7% had Grade 2 urinary leakage. In response to a questionnaire, 94% of men in the study agreed with the statement that their decision to receive the treatment was a wise one, and 93% said they were satisfied with the treatment. 

“As urologists, our goal is to be able to manage prostate cancer by eliminating any prostate cancers that have lethal potential while being able to maintain preservation of the prostate, and also, as a result, preservation of quality of life with respect to urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction,” said Arvin George, MD, director of prostate cancer programs at the Brady Urological Institute of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, and co-principle investigator of the VAPOR 2 study. 

The results of the study have not yet been published. A summary of the findings was presented at the FOCAL+ conference in October. 

Limited Data

Other experts in the field say the data look promising but more is needed to show that the device is effective in eliminating prostate cancer.

“That roughly 90% freedom from clinically significant disease at the 6-month endpoint I think is encouraging. I think it’s in line with what we see with competing technologies,” said George Schade, MD, an associate professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, and a physician at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. “And obviously 6 months is a really short endpoint, so it’ll be important to see how that data evolves.” 

Adam Weiner, MD, an assistant professor of urology at Cedars-Sinai Center in Los Angeles and adjunct assistant professor of urology at the University of California, Los Angeles, said the elimination of lesions detected with MRI is not a proven oncologic outcome. “It’s a surrogate outcome that they’ve done for this early study that is based on imaging. It does show us that the technology works to remove prostate tissue. It doesn’t tell us really does it treat prostate cancer well,” he said.

Weiner said more details are needed about the patients whose tumors disappeared on imaging, where the prostate cancer was located, and what the biopsies showed. 

Potential Advantages and Disadvantages

The Vanquish system consists of a transurethral delivery device that is inserted through the urethra into the prostate. A catheter needle at the end extends into the treatment area and delivers water vapor directly into the tumor. The thermal energy stored in a few drops of water is released into the cancerous cells as the vapor condenses back to its liquid state and the steam destroys them. 

The device is similar to Boston Scientific’s Rezum water vapor therapy, which was FDA-approved in 2015 to relieve symptoms, obstructions, and reduce prostate tissue associated with benign prostatic hyperplasia. The Vanquish system received FDA 510(k) clearance using Rezum as a predicate device. 

It will be competing with many other prostate cancer focal therapies, which target a part of the prostate to try to reduce the risk for urinary leakage and sexual dysfunction, common side effects with surgery and radiation. Focal therapies include high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), cryotherapy, irreversible electroporation, transurethral ultrasound ablation, and laser ablation. 

Schade said a potential advantage of using steam is that it does not typically penetrate through the capsule of the prostate, which helps minimize the risk for damage of other tissues. It may also be able to target tumors in the front of the prostate, which are hard to reach with transrectal HIFU.

“What we see from this data is a really strong signal,” George said. But a year studying 110 patients is not sufficient “to be able to understand its full potential and even limitations in the setting of management of prostate cancer,” he added.

The Vapor 2 study was funded by Francis Medical. George reported being a paid speaker/consultant/principal investigator for Angiodynamics, Francis Medical, Wasatch Medical, and Sonablate. Schade reported being a consultant for Focal One and Petal Surgical, and to have an intellectual property license to Petal Surgical. Weiner reported no relevant financial conflicts of interest. 

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/new-device-uses-steam-kill-prostate-cancer-2025a1000yeb