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Saturday, April 19, 2025

Dr. Oz Declares All-Out War On America's Corrupt Healthcare System

 Via The Vigilant Fox,

This week, Dr. Mehmet Oz was sworn in as the new Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) during a high-stakes ceremony at the White House.

Wasting no time, Dr. Oz laid out the brutal truth: America is sick—and it’s bankrupting us. “70% of the healthcare expenditures of this country are driven by chronic disease,” he said. His message wasn’t about throwing more money at the problem or prescribing more pills. It was about fixing the root cause—our collapsing health.

He didn’t mince words. “It is your patriotic duty—I’ll say it again—the patriotic duty of all Americans to take care of themselves because it’s important for serving in the military, but it’s also important because healthy people don’t consume healthcare resources.

The payoff, he said, is both personal and national: “The best way to reduce drug spend is use less drugs—because you don’t need them—because you’re healthy.”

Dr. Oz is calling on Americans to rise up and take charge of their health—not just for themselves, but for the future of the country.

After diagnosing the problem, Dr. Oz explained that he wanted to overhaul Medicare and Medicaid from top to bottom—ripping off the mask and exposing the dysfunction that’s held the system back for decades. Transparency, he said, is the key to everything.

“The president is showing that he actually does love and cherish Medicare, with all of these executive orders—like the one on transparency—that really helps us.”

By pulling back the curtain, he believes we can finally tackle the rot that’s been festering behind closed doors. “You shine a light in the dark shadows where so much of the problems happen with the healthcare system,” he said. Because, as he put it plainly, “The most expensive care is bad quality care.”

This isn’t about more red tape. It’s about trust—and results.

Then came the fire. Dr. Oz declared war on the fraudsters looting the system. And he meant it.

We want to crush fraud, waste, abuse,” he said. But the gloves were off now. “I’ve got a message for all the bad guys from me, the secretary and the president: we are going to stop people from stealing from our most vulnerable, from stealing with the taxpayers of America, who are honestly trying to support these programs and we’re going to be able to do in quite a few ways.”

Then came the warning shot: “We are coming for you!

Dr. Oz made it clear this wasn’t just tough talk. It’s a full-scale overhaul of a broken system—and the fraudsters have officially been put on notice.

And that’s when the bombs started to fall. Dr. Oz didn’t just talk about corruption—he brought the receipts. And what he revealed is outrageous.

“Almost a quarter million people, American citizens were fraudulently enrolled, without their knowledge, in exchange programs by brokers.”

“Tens of millions of dollars… are being spent on illegal immigrants receiving Medicaid in California and pushing the bill to us.”

“We are spending about a billion dollars on Medicaid programs for dual state eligible patients… we’re paying all three states for services you’re not getting because you don’t live in three states all at once.”

But it gets worse. Medicaid is being drained for perks that have nothing to do with medicine.

“Public labor unions are getting childcare through some of this money—Housekeeping! I wish I could get that for my home.”

“There’s a big problem with student loan repayments taking place with Medicaid dollars. That’s not where it should be used,” Dr. Oz stressed. “And we are paying for DEI programs.”

Enough was enough.

“We have created a war room at CMS to go after, to catch the fraud in real time before the money leaves the federal coffers,” Dr. Oz said.

But before stepping away, Dr. Oz ended with a vision.

After exposing the rot, he looked forward—with hope and resolve. He turned to President Trump, shook his hand, and made a promise.

“Together we’re going to make the care better, we’re going to make the outcomes improve, and we are going to make sure America can actually be the healthiest country that could have possibly be.”

And then he ended with this important line: “We will ‘Make America Healthy Again.’ God bless you both, sir.”

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/dr-oz-declares-all-out-war-americas-corrupt-healthcare-system

For Democrats, how to frame the Abrego Garcia case?

 by Byron York

A number of perceptive observers have detected some internal tension in the Democrats’ handling of the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case. At first the party, and its affiliated groups and media allies, portrayed Abrego Garcia as a great husband and father who had been cruelly abducted by the Trump deportation machine. Then came revelations that Abrego Garcia was credibly accused of membership in the violent transnational gang MS-13, that his wife had filed a domestic violence complaint seeking protection against him, and that he was involved in an odd traffic stop in Tennessee in which authorities suspected he was involved in transporting illegal migrants.

Faced with all that, some in the Democratic world began to argue that the Abrego Garcia controversy wasn’t about any one man. It was instead about the Constitution and the right of all Americans not to be deprived of due process and whisked out of their country to a foreign gulag. 

So which is it? Is the Abrego Garcia matter about Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the alleged gang member, wife-beater, and human trafficker? Or is it about the Constitution and all of us? Politically, it would seem best for Democrats to stress the latter. But they’re having a hard time doing it.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) got the beat on the rest of his fellow Democrats by flying to El Salvador with no guarantee he would get to see Abrego Garcia. Van Hollen’s strategy paid off late Thursday when authorities allowed him to spend an hour with Abrego Garcia. Van Hollen announced his big score in a tweet showing a photo of himself sitting at a cafe table with Abrego Garcia, leaning toward Abrego Garcia and appearing to look deep into his eyes. “I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar,” Van Hollen wrote. “Tonight I had that chance. I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love.”

Speaking with reporters after his return to Washington on Friday, Van Hollen appeared to choke up a little when he described passing along the message of love to Jennifer. “I told her what he said to me,” Van Hollen said, “that he missed her and his family. As he said that, you could see a tear.” With that, some in the Democratic world perhaps shed a tear of their own. “When I told him that his wife and family sent their love and were fighting for Kilmar to return home every day, he said he was worried about all of you. He said that thinking of you, members of his family, is what gave him the strength to persevere,” Van Hollen said.

Friday also saw the appearance of more information about Abrego Garcia’s past, specifically previously unseen documents about the 2022 Tennessee traffic stop. “On December 1, 2022, subject was observed speeding and unable to maintain its lane and was subsequently pulled over,” the documents said. “Upon approach to the vehicle, encountering officer noted that there were eight other individuals in the vehicle with the subject, who was identified as the driver. Subject stated he was driving ‘three days ago’ from Houston, TX to Temple Hills, MD to bring in people to perform construction work. There was no luggage in the vehicle, leading the encountering officer to suspect this was a human trafficking incident. All the passengers gave the same home address as the subject’s home address. During the interview, subject pretended to speak less English than he was capable of and attempted to put encountering officer off-track by responding to questions with questions.”

Something odd was going on there. This was at the height of the Biden rush of illegal border crossers into the United States, and it is not clear whether those in the car with Abrego Garcia were in the country legally or not. There is still more to find out.

What did Van Hollen have to say about that? Here’s the thing about Van Hollen’s news conference late Friday afternoon. Nobody asked him anything about the basics of Abrego Garcia’s resume — the gang accusation, the domestic issue, the Tennessee stop. Here Van Hollen was, having just had the first chance of anyone to talk to Abrego Garcia, and no journalist asked him a single question about those issues. Of course, Van Hollen might not have questioned Abrego Garcia about them either, but it would be good to know that.

Despite the fact that Abrego Garcia entered the country illegally, was ruled deportable by an immigration court, and was credibly accused of membership in a violent transnational gang, Van Hollen did his best to convince all Americans that Abrego Garcia’s fate could befall them, too, in the Age of Trump. Over and over, Van Hollen called the case an “illegal abduction.” “This case is not just about one man,” he said, catching up to his party’s talking points. “It’s about protecting the constitutional rights of everybody who resides in the United States of America. … This case is about upholding constitutional rights for Kilmar Abrego Garcia and every American.”

Two final notes. One, Van Hollen revealed that Abrego Garcia is no longer being held at the Salvadoran “megaprison” known as CECOT. The prison and the alleged brutality of its staff have been a regular feature of coverage of the Abrego Garcia story. Now he is somewhere else and, at least at first glance, appears to be healthy. 

The other note is that when Salvadoran officials took some photos of Abrego Garcia meeting Van Hollen, the pictures included a glimpse of Abrego Garcia’s left hand. He appeared to have tattoos across his knuckles. President Donald Trump immediately characterized them as MS-13 tattoos, and Abrego Garcia’s knuckles became internet sensations. Look for plenty of pushback, and in the end, we will know more about gang tattoos than we did before.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/daily-memo/3385290/democrats-framing-abrego-garcia-case-van-hollen/

'You Could Prosecute Thousands': Thiel on How DOGE Is Exposing 'Left-Wing NGOs'

Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel detailed that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) exposed rampant federal spending tied to certain left-leaning NGOs, which he described as potential fronts for "borderline criminal activity."

Thiel, founding partner of the venture capital firm Founders Fund, made the explosive claims during an interview with his Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale.

I think there were scams. I think the nonprofit stuff is out of control. It’s sort of like virtue signaling is a sign that you’re doing something evil,” Thiel told Lonsdale on his American Optimist podcast. “So much of this left-wing philanthropy nonprofit world was just a cover for borderline criminal activity."

That’s how you shield yourself—you put a virtue signal up while you’re stealing money from everyone,” Lonsdale replied.

Thiel pulled back the curtain on the murky world of government spending, exposing how vague budget descriptions can mask the true destination of taxpayer dollars.

“There’s all the stuff you’d have to really go into the weeds of how it works, but the way it was explained to me, there’s a level five description, which is a line item description of what the actual dollars are going to. Then there are ways these things get summarized. The way they got summarized for a lot of the political appointees was a level four description, where you summarize a bunch of level five descriptions in a level four way,” Thiel explained. “You can have 20 groups providing food to different African countries, and you can summarize that as food to Africa. That’s maybe an accurate description. But if they’re actually all working on the Biden re-election, that’s an inaccurate description. At some point, the descriptions are so inaccurate that the people in the government could be prosecuted for fraud.”

Thiel then argued that fraud in government spending could warrant criminal prosecution for countless officials, drawing a stark parallel to the Iran-Contra scandal that ensnared Oliver North in the 1980s.

One of the people who looked at this a lot thinks you could just prosecute these people for fraud. This is something like what Oliver North was prosecuted for in the Iran-Contra scandal in the 80s,” Thiel said. “He mischaracterized the money, mislabeled it, and was accused of defrauding the government. I think you could prosecute thousands of these people criminally for the thing they wanted to prosecute Oliver North for in the 80s.”

Thiel joins President Donald Trump and DOGE leader Elon Musk as the latest prominent voice warning about rampant fraud inside the government. In recent weeks, Trump teased to reporters aboard Air Force One, "They found something today that's horrible,” adding. “You'll find out very soon. What they found is incredible."

Recently, Elon Musk and DOGE volunteer Antonio Gracias revealed that millions of noncitizens were issued Social Security numbers during the Biden administration. Their data, presented in a chart during a Wisconsin rally aimed at boosting voter turnout, showed a steady annual increase, peaking at over 2 million in FY 2024, which ended on September 30. In both FY 2023 and FY 2025—the latter beginning in October and running through September of this year—roughly 1 million noncitizens received Social Security numbers.

"None of this would have happened without President Trump," Gracias told Fox News. "President Trump had the courage to allow us to go across databases. He signed an executive order. It's never been done before, where agencies could talk to each other and databases could talk with each other."

"That allowed us to connect all this data, to find these people across the system, across the benefit system, all the way to the voting records. It really took a lot of courage," he added.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/you-could-prosecute-thousands-peter-thiel-explains-how-doge-exposing-left-wing-ngos

House of slain teen Texas Austin Metcalf swatted with bogus shooting report

 Cops rushed to the home of Austin Metcalf after trolls reported a fake shooting at his house on Thursday, police said.


The sick prank came hours after Austin Metcalf’s father crashed a press conference by the family of his son’s alleged killer Karmelo Anthony, 17, accused of stabbing Metcalf, also 17, an athletic event in Frisco, Texas.

Police in Frisco, Texas, described the incident as “swatting,” a prank in which someone reports a fake crime to get cops to swarm the victims’ home, according to WFAA.

The prank is the latest skirmish in a racially-charged culture war that has enmeshed the Dallas suburb since the April 2 killing.

Jeff Metcalf, whose son Austin was killed at a track meet on April 2.NBC 5 DFW
Karmelo Anthony, 17, leaves jail on a $250,000 bond.CBS News Texas
Austin Metcalf, 17, was killed at a high school track meet.@Jeff Metcalf/Facebook


Anthony, who is black and from a rival school, allegedly knifed Metcalf, a white football star, during a fight over a seat in the bleachers at a track meet — leaving him to die in his twin brother’s arms.

Witnesses said Mecalf tried to shove Anthony out of his school’s tent during a rain delay when Anthony pulled a blade from his backpack and stabbed him in the heart, according to a police report.

Anthony faces a first-degree murder murder charge, but he returned home under house-arrest this week when his family posted his $250,000 bond — after raising nearly twice that amount in an online fundraiser for his legal fees.

Anthony’s family insists he acted in self-defense.

His mother Kala Hayes said during the Thursday press conference that her family is “under attack.”

Austin and father Jeff Metcalf.Family Handout
A portrait of Austin Metcalf, a junior at Memorial High School in Frisco, Texas.Meghan Prall Metcalf/Facebook

“Whatever you think that happened between Karmelo and the Metcalf boys, my three younger children, my husband and I didn’t do anything to deserve to be threatened, harassed and lied about,” she said through tears with her husband by her side.

The speech had been delayed when the victim’s dad Jeff Metcalf showed up out of the blue.

Although Jeff reportedly didn’t say anything, his appearance caused a stir and prompted Dallas police to escort him from the premises.

“That was disrespectful and just shows you all the character — he was not invited, he knows that it’s inappropriate to be near this family, but he did it,” the Next Generation Action Network president added once the press conference began.

https://nypost.com/2025/04/18/us-news/sick-pranksters-swat-the-house-of-slain-teen-austin-metcalf-with-bogus-shooting-report/

US Supreme Court temporarily halts deportations of Venezuelan migrants under wartime law

 The U.S. Supreme Court early on Saturday paused President Donald Trump's administration from deporting Venezuelan men in immigration custody after their lawyers said they were at imminent risk of removal without the judicial review previously mandated by the justices.

"The Government is directed not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order of this Court," the justices said in a brief, unsigned decision.

Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito publicly dissented from the decision, issued around 12:55 a.m. (0455 GMT).

Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union filed urgent requests on Friday in multiple courts, including the Supreme Court, urging immediate action after reporting that some of the men had already been loaded onto buses and were told they were to be deported.

The ACLU said the rapid developments meant the administration was poised to deport the men using a 1798 law that historically has been employed only in wartime without affording them a realistic opportunity to contest their removal - as the Supreme Court had required.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Supreme Court decision.

The case raises questions about the Trump administration's adherence to limits set by the Supreme Court. It carries the risk of a significant clash between the two coequal branches of government and potentially a full-blown constitutional crisis.

Elected last year on a promise to crack down on migrants, Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act in an attempt to swiftly deport accused members of Tren de Aragua, a criminal gang originating from Venezuelan prisons that his administration labels a terrorist group.

The president and his senior aides have asserted their executive power grants them wide authority on immigration matters, testing the balance of power between branches of government.

BATTLE IN SEVERAL COURTS

During a hearing on Friday, a government lawyer said in a related case that he was unaware of plans by the Department of Homeland Security to deport the men on Friday but there could be deportations on Saturday.

Trump scored one victory on Friday when an appeals court put on hold a threat by District Judge James Boasberg of contempt charges.

Boasberg also denied an ACLU request to block Trump from deporting suspected members of Tren de Aragua, citing an April 7 Supreme Court ruling that allowed Trump to use the Alien Enemies Act, albeit with certain limits.

Boasberg said he was concerned the government would deport additional people as soon as Saturday but that, "At this point I just don't think I have the power to do anything about it."

Trump previously called for Boasberg's impeachment following an adverse ruling, prompting a rare rebuke from U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts.

While one hearing played out in Boasberg's court, the ACLU worked on a separate track to halt the deportations of Venezuelans held in Texas.

ACLU lawyers filed with the Supreme Court after failing to get a rapid response from earlier filings on Friday before U.S. District Judge James Hendrix in Abilene, Texas, and the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans to block any such deportations.

In Saturday's order, the Supreme Court invited the administration to file a response to the ACLU's request after the 5th Circuit acts.

The ACLU said the men had been handed forms indicating they were classified as members of Tren de Aragua.

At issue is whether the Trump administration has met the Supreme Court's standard for providing the detainees due process before sending them to another country - possibly to the notorious prison in El Salvador where others are jailed.

It was unclear on Friday how many people were potentially to be deported, and where they might be taken.

HOW MUCH NOTICE IS ENOUGH?

Their deportation would be the first since the Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling that allowed removals under the 1798 law while specifying that "the notice must be afforded within a reasonable time and in such a manner as will allow them to actually seek habeas relief in the proper venue before such removal occurs."

Habeas corpus relief refers to the right of detainees to challenge the legality of their detention. It is considered a bedrock right under U.S. law.

The Supreme Court did not indicate how much notice should be provided. Lawyers around the country have asked that the migrants be given 30 days' notice to allow them to contest their deportations. The Trump administration has not said publicly how much notice it intends to give the migrants.

The ACLU filed a photo of one of the notices with the court.

"You have been determined to be an Alien Enemy subject to apprehension, restraint, and removal," read the notice. The recipient's name was obscured, and it was noted that the migrant refused to sign it on Friday.

Asked about the planned deportations on Friday, Trump said he was unfamiliar with the particular case but added: "If they're bad people, I would certainly authorize it."

"That's why I was elected. A judge wasn't elected," he told reporters at the White House.

Defense lawyers and Democrats in Congress have pressed the administration to demonstrate how it knows the Venezuelans are members of the gang, which is active in human trafficking and other crimes in South America but has a smaller U.S. presence.

"We are not going to reveal the details of counter terrorism operations, but we are complying with the Supreme Court's ruling," Assistant Secretary for U.S. Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement on Friday.

On March 15, the Trump administration deported more than 130 alleged Tren de Aragua members to El Salvador. Many of the migrants' lawyers and family members say they were not gang members and had no chance to dispute the government's assertion that they were.

https://www.marketscreener.com/news/latest/US-Supreme-Court-temporarily-halts-deportations-of-Venezuelan-migrants-under-wartime-law-49657194/

'Cyborg 1.0': World's First Robocop Debuts With Facial Recognition And 360° Camera Vision

 Thailand has debuted the world's first 'Robocop' designed to detect and prevent crime with advanced AI.

Royal Thai Police/Facebook

Equipped with 360-degree cameras for eyes, the cutting-edge cyborg maintains constant surveillance with real-time monitoring. The robocop, named Police Colonel Nakhonpathom Plod Phai, meaning "Nakhonpathom is safe," was unveiled during the Songkran festival in Nakhon Pathom province on Wednesday. The debut was announced via a Facebook post by the Royal Thai Police, according to a report by The Sun.

The robocop is also able to detect weapons, such as knives and wooden batons. In neighboring China, humanoid robots have started supporting police patrols.

Interesting Engineering reports:

In Shenzhen, PM01 model robots developed by EngineAI have been deployed alongside officers, wearing high-visibility police vests. These robots have been seen engaging with pedestrians—waving, shaking hands, and responding to voice commands—according to local media reports. A recent video shows a PM01 robot waving to a crowd, sparking curiosity about its purpose in law enforcement.

First launched in December 2024, the PM01 features agile mobility, an interactive touchscreen, and an open-source platform. This design allows developers worldwide to contribute to its evolution by adding new features and capabilities through secondary development.

Last year, Logon Technology, a Chinese robotics company, unveiled the RT-G autonomous spherical robot, described as a "technological breakthrough," with an army of these spherical robocops spotted rolling through cities across China, The Sun said. The robocop’s debut underscores the growing importance of robot technology. During Tesla’s Q1 2025 All-Hands meeting, CEO Elon Musk revealed the the company is preparing aiming to begin the production of its own humanoid, Optimus, this year.

This year, we hopefully will be able to make about 5,000 Optimus robots,” Musk said. “We’re technically aiming for enough parts to make 10,000, maybe 12,000, but since it’s a totally new product with a totally new, like everything is totally new, I’ll say we’re succeeding if we get to half go the 10,000.”

“But even 5,000 robots, that’s the size of a Roman legion, FYI, which is like a little scary thought. Like a whole legion of robots, I’ll be like ‘whoa.’ But I think we will literally build a legion, at least one legion of robots this year, and then probably 10 legions next year. I think it’s kind of a cool unit, you know? Units of legion. So probably 50,000-ish next year,” the world’s richest man added.


Ukraine's Extension Of Martial Law Exposes Zelensky's Fear Of Losing Re-Election

 by Andrew Korybko via substack,

The US might pressure him to assemble a government of national unity on pain of once again suspending military and intelligence aid if he refuses to dilute his power in lieu of holding elections...

Ukraine extended martial law until 6 August following Zelensky’s request earlier this week, which will prevent elections from being held over the summer like The Economist claimed late last month was a scenario that he was considering in an attempt to give himself an edge over his rivals. This move therefore exposes his fear of losing re-election. It’s not just that he’s very unpopular, but he likely also fears that the US wants to replace him after his infamous fight in the White House.

To that end, the Trump Administration might not turn a blind eye to whatever electoral fraud he could be planning to commit in order to hold onto power, instead refusing to recognize the outcome unless one of his rivals wins.

As for who could realistically replace him, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service claimed last May that the US had reportedly entered into talks with Petro Poroshenko, Vitaly Klitschko, Andrey Yermak, Valery Zaluzhny, and Dmytro Razumkov.

The New York Times (NYT) just ran a feature article on Poroshenko, who took the opportunity to propose a government of national unity (GNU) almost 18 months after this idea was first floated by Politico in December 2023, but even the article’s author felt obligated to inform readers that he’s unlikely to return to power. 

Citing unnamed political analysts, they assessed that “Mr. Poroshenko may be angling for an electoral alliance with General Zaluzhny…[who] has remained mostly silent about politics” till now.

Nevertheless, Poroshenko’s NYT feature article succeeded in raising wider awareness of the GNU scenario, which the Trump Administration might seek to advance over the summer. 

Zelensky continues to irritate Trump, most recently by alleging that Russia has “enormous influence” over the White House and accusing his envoy Steve Witkoff of overstepping his authority in talks with Putin. 

This comes as Ukraine continues dragging its heels on agreeing to the latest proposed mineral deal with the US.

From the US’ perspective, since the increasingly troublesome Zelensky can’t be democratically replaced through summertime elections, the next best course of action could be to pressure him into forming a GNU that would be filled with figures like Poroshenko who’d be easier for the US to work with. 

This could also serve to dilute Zelensky’s power in a reversal of the Biden Administration’s policy that saw the US turning a blind eye to his anti-democratic consolidation of power on national security pretexts.

The pretext could be that any Russian-US breakthrough on resolving the Ukrainian Conflict requires the approval of a politically inclusive Ukrainian government given Zelensky’s questionable legitimacy after remaining in power following the expiry of his term last May and the enormity of what’s being proposed.

In pursuit of this goal, the US could threaten to once again suspend its military and intelligence aid to Ukraine unless Zelensky speedily assembles a GNU that’s acceptable to the Trump Administration.

The purpose would be to push through a ceasefire for lifting martial law, finally holding elections, and ultimately replacing Zelensky. 

The GNU could also help prevent the fraud that he might be planning to commit if he decides to run again under these much more politically difficult circumstances, especially if they invite the US to supervise their efforts, both before and during the vote. 

Through these means, the US could therefore still get rid of Zelensky, who might think that extending martial law will prevent this.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ukraines-extension-martial-law-exposes-zelenskys-fear-losing-re-election