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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Please Note: Daybreak Insider will take a short break in honor of the Easter holiday. Look for the next edition of Daybreak to land on April 1, 2024.

Government Report Reveals $236 Billion Worth of Improper Payments Made Last Year

National Review: The Government Accountability Office’s report on improper payments by the federal government, released on Tuesday, showed $236 billion worth of errors made by federal agencies last year. Improper payments are defined as “those that should not have been made or were made in the incorrect amount.” The GAO’s findings are an underestimate since not all federal agencies provided information on improper payments. Improper payments have increased over time. In 2003 there were $35 billion in improper payments. The number first broke $100 billion in 2009. It increased each year from 2017 to 2021, rising from $141 billion to the peak of $281 billion. It has declined in the past two years but remains much higher than it was before the Covid pandemic (National Review). GAO: Since fiscal year 2003, cumulative improper payment estimates by executive branch agencies have totaled about $2.7 trillion (GAO).

Chicago’s Brandon Johnson Refuses to Say Where All $300 Million Meant for Illegal Care Has Gone

Daily Mail: Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has been criticized for refusing to be completely transparent on where hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars have gotten to the city’s homeless shelters amid a migrant crisis. The Windy City has struggled to care for more than 34,000 asylum-seekers bussed in from the border by Texas Governor Greg Abbott over the past 18 months. It has spent $300 million on the crisis and has been fighting with the state of Illinois about where to build more shelters and is currently fighting a measles outbreak at one of the shelters. The state attempted to quell fears on how taxpayer money would be spent on the crisis by launching a page on the state comptroller’s website that would track it. However, the city has refused to reveal where all of the funds are going, with the Democrat Johnson being evasive when questioned by the press. The city has only provided full transparency on funding for a third of the city’s 27 shelters. However, the ones that they did are getting as much as $344,000 a week in taxpayer cash, which is the price tag for The Inn in Chicago. It has 1,500 beds. That would make out to $17 million over the course of a year (Daily Mail).

BlackRock Given Cease and Desist Warning By Mississippi Over ESG Investment Approach

New York Post: BlackRock was issued a legal warning by Mississippi over “false and misleading statements to Mississippi investors” tied to its environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment strategies, according to a 33-page document released on Wednesday. The Mississippi secretary of state Michael Watson and the state’s Securities Division issued a ‘summary cease and desist order’ and served a warning to impose a multimillion-dollar administrative penalty on the New York-based money manager. Mississippi’s legal warning comes after Florida, Louisiana and Missouri have previously said they plan to pull investment mandates from the company, citing concerns that include impact on investor returns due to BlackRock’s ESG efforts (New York Post). Townhall: It alleges that BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager noted for its commitments to advance ESG standards, has been and is making “untrue statements of material fact” as well as “omitting material facts to make its statements not misleading” to Mississippians about its “investment services, especially its involvement in pushing ESG factors on portfolio companies.” The cease and desist also states that “many of BlackRock’s acts, practices, and courses of business operate or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon investors and potential investors in Mississippi” (Townhall).

NYC Police Union Tells City Council Members to Stay Away From Funeral for Officer, Accuses Them of Being Complicit in Murder

New York Post: The New York City Sergeants Benevolent Association has warned city council members to skip slain Officer Jonathan Diller’s funeral this weekend – and accused them of being complicit in his death through their “twisted ideology” on policing. SBA President Vincent J. Vallelong wrote Wednesday that city council members who show up to the Saturday morning service would “shed a few crocodile tears” and use the event as a “good photo opportunity.” Diller, 31, was allegedly shot in the stomach by career criminal Guy Rivera, 34, during a traffic stop in Queens on Monday evening. “Despite their admonitions to the contrary, the ‘leadership’ in the Council has failed city residents, workers, and visitors at every turn. They are blinded by their own hatred and twisted ideology,” he claimed (New York Post).

Governor Ron DeSantis Wins Legal Battle Against Disney

Spencer Brown: For those who’ve followed the Walt Disney Company’s botched attempts to sink Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Republican state legislators’ agenda, it’s been a long string of missteps, flawed strategies, and outright lies by the House of Mouse. On Wednesday, Disney (again) lost a legal battle to DeSantis. A settlement reached between the parties and announced on Wednesday puts to rest — in a favorable way for Florida and DeSantis — Disney’s last-ditch attempt to foil the successful takeover and elimination of the Disney-controlled district that allowed the company significant autonomy in and around its Walt Disney World resort. In short, Disney admitted its efforts to thwart DeSantis were “null,” “void,” and “unenforceable” (Townhall). Florida’s Voice: DeSantis defeats Disney in court again, lawsuits to be dropped under settlement. The last-minute, far-reaching agreements that gave Disney broad power over their previous self-governing district are declared “null and void” under the agreement (X). Christina Pushaw: Disney drops lawsuits. Another W for Florida. Of course the media would rather lie about it or ignore it than admit their hysterical proclamations were wrong (X). Jeremy Redfern: The real story here is the media malpractice surrounding the Disney narrative. They were so sure of themselves (X).

Russia Blames Ukraine, The West for Terror Attack on Concert Hall

Townhall: The director of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) accused Ukraine, the U.S., and Britain of being behind the concern hall attack, which killed at least 139 people. “We believe that the action was prepared by both the Islamist radicals themselves and was facilitated by Western special services,” said FSB head Alexander Bortnikov (Townhall). David Cameron: Russia’s claims about the West and Ukraine on the Crocus City Hall attack are utter nonsense. We support US statements which make clear that Daesh bears sole responsibility for this attack (X).

Russia Executed 32 Ukrainian POWs

Newsmax: A United Nations report released Tuesday detailed allegations of Russia having executed 32 Ukrainian prisoners of war and using them as human shields to hunt mines, while the POWs who lived to tell about their time detained by Russia allege torture, including rape and castrations (Newsmax). Politico: Over the winter Russia also released 60 Ukrainian POWs. 39 of the 60 POWs also “disclosed that they had been subjected to sexual violence during their internment, including attempted rape, threats of rape and castration, beatings or the administration of electric shocks to genitals, and repeated forced nudity, including during interrogations and to check for tattoos” (Politico).

Tennessee Music Venue to Host “Trans Day of Vengeance”

Daily Wire: A Tennessee music venue is hosting a “Trans Day of Vengeance” concert just days after the one-year anniversary of the deadly shooting at The Covenant School, in which a transgender-identifying woman killed three children and three adults, apparently out of ideological fury. A flyer promoted by several bands says that the Graveyard Gallery in Murfreesboro is hosting the concert on March 31, and using it to raise money for a group that provides gender reassignment surgery. The shooting occurred on March 27, 2023, at the Christian school in Nashville, less than an hour away. The party comes with Nashville schools in high alert because of the potential for violence on the anniversary of the shooting. The shooting last year came as radical transgender activists rallied for a “Trans Day of Vengeance” on the same day that year, with the Trans Radical Activist Network (TRAN) saying, “The time is now, enough is enough” (Daily Wire). David Burke: This is known as tone deafness (X).

Sacramento, CA Becomes Transgender “Sanctuary”

Townhall: On Tuesday, the city council in Sacramento, California voted to make it a sanctuary city for people who think they are “transgender.” According to multiple reports, the resolution passed on Tuesday would ensure that no city resources would be used to detain people who think they’re transgender from receiving experimental so-called “gender-affirming” care. This kind of care is outlawed for children in many states (Townhall). Hill: Including California, 14 states and Washington, D.C., have passed “shield” laws protecting access to gender-affirming health care for transgender youth (Hill).

10.

South Dakota Passes Law to Educate Medical Practitioners on Abortions

Christian Post: South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem signed a first-in-the-nation law designed to educate medical professionals about the treatments available to pregnant women facing life-threatening or health-threatening conditions under the state’s abortion restrictions to push back against what supporters are calling “confusion” and “misinformation.” The bill instructs the state’s Department of Health to create an informational video and other materials outlining “acts that do and do not constitute an abortion” under “the state’s abortion law” (Christian Post). Fox News: South Dakota became the first state in the nation to end the confusion about the ability of doctors to provide emergency care to pregnant women, which is allowed under every pro-life bill in the country. Gov. Kristi Noem signed the nation’s first so-called “Med Ed” bill that proponents say will protect the health and safety of pregnant women and push back against abortion misinformation confusing some doctors about when they can perform an emergency abortion to save a life. The bipartisan bill aims to educate medical professionals in South Dakota about the state’s life at conception law, including the ability of doctors to provide emergency care to pregnant women, which is protected under every pro-life law in the country (Fox News).