Leading Homeless Agency in Los Angeles Bows Out of Federal Role

After decades of poor reporting, porous accounting and squirming under the watchful eye of federal oversight from new leadership in D.C, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority is stepping back. Aaron Schrank at LAist reports: The Los Angeles region’s lead homelessness agency is effectively forfeiting the federal administrative roles it has held for decades, including applying for millions of dollars in funding for the region and leading the annual homeless count, the agency announced Tuesday. The decision comes as the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority faces mounting criticism from both the Trump administration and local leaders who accuse the agency of mismanaging homeless services. It reverses a monthslong legal battle LAHSA had been waging with the federal government to continue in these duties…. At a county meeting Tuesday, Supervisor Lindsey Horvath called it “a fundamental change that reflects the significant performance, contracting and financial concerns that have plagued LAHSA for too long.” “ Officials avoiding accountability will no longer have LAHSA to hide behind, and the county and city must be accountable to each other and to our entire Los Angeles region,” Horvath continued (LAist). In June, the HUD announced an end to federal funding in the “fraud-filled” agency (HUD).

HUD Secretary Accuses Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority of $75 Million in Fraud

HUD Sec. Scott Turner yesterday made clear that incompetence alone does not account for what we’re seeing: [they have] stolen over 14 million from you, the taxpayers of America. And make no mistake, HUD and the Trump administration will not tolerate the theft and the abuse of taxpayer dollars in our country. These fraudsters received over $130 million. More than $75 million of those were funneled through the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, also known as LAHSA. That is nearly the same amount LAHSA received from HUD every year until the Trump administration put an end to the California corruption. LAHSA has continually funded a homeless industrial complex on the backs of American taxpayers while fraud has continually run rampant. No wonder their track record at LAHSA is a failing record. While homelessness funding tripled in LA over the past decade, homelessness has doubled. And when you dig deeper, we found out why. LAHSA, the largest recipient of homeless funding in the nation, is riddled with fraud, waste, and abuse. And those days of blank checks are, indeed, over. Today, those who broke the law are facing the ultimate consequence: law and order (Pratt). On Wednesday last week, Karen Bass stepped down from the board (Los Angeles Times).

Dem Fundraising Behemoth ActBlue Accused of Coverup in House Report

ActBlue has been the cash cow for Democrats in recent years. They’ve raised $19 billion for the left since they were founded in 2004 (ActBlue). They raised $3 billion last election cycle alone (2023-24) (ProPub). They have long been suspected of serving as a pass-through for foreign funds. The House Oversight Committee is out with a report:  Our investigation found that ActBlue weakened fraud safeguards despite detecting significant fraud campaigns, including several from foreign sources. Internal training even told staff to “look for reasons to accept contributions” (Oversight). Amy Curtis at Townhall: In its report, the Committees found that not only did ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones may have misled Congress about ActBlue’s review process for foreign contributions and that it appeared to be “knowing and willful” in accepting those contributions, but that the organization also engaged in whistleblower retaliation…. This report should send shockwaves through the Democrat Party, because the issue here is bigger than a handful of suspicious donations or a few questionable decisions by fraud analysts. Federal law prohibits foreign nationals from contributing to American elections, and ActBlue, as it moved billions of dollars into political campaigns, had a responsibility to take signs of foreign or fraudulent activity seriously and to follow federal law (Townhall).

El-Sayed Doubles Down on Medicare for All

Voters ought to waking up to how bad a policy proposal socialized insurance is—and how disappointed they would be with their choices for care and access to care if, indeed, we were to pass it. The Democrats’ nominee for the Senate seat in Michigan: We are being nickeled and dimed by corporations who exist specifically to hold our healthcare dollars and pay out as little as possible. We can do so much better than that. And so, the amount of money that you end up paying for healthcare under Medicare for All is substantially lower (El-Sayed). Hugh Hewitt: Tell me you have never spoken with Brits about NHS without saying it. Also, tell me the unions haven’t been consulted much less bought in without saying so. Finally, tell me math isn’t your superpower (Hewitt). Meanwhile: Washington state leftist Rep. Pramila Jayapal is circulating a poll that purports to argue in favor of pressing the radical proposal that is masked by the Medicare label. Politico: Jayapal and her allies in the House and Senate plan to capitalize on the proposal’s popularity. When Congress returns in October, she intends to buttonhole her colleagues, especially party leaders who’ve been skeptical of the idea in the past, to push for the first-ever markup of a Medicare for All bill (Politico).

Fed Raises Interest Rates Quarter Point; Trump Responds

This is the first cycle with the new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh. The committee decision was unanimous. Financial Times: The Federal Open Market Committee voted unanimously to increase the benchmark federal funds rate by a quarter point to a 3.75 per cent to 4 per cent range in line with Wall Street’s expectations. The FOMC said the rise “will support a timelier return” of inflation to the Fed’s 2 per cent target — a goal it has missed for five and a half years. “The committee will deliver price stability,” it added (Financial Times). Trump responds: Interest Rates in the United States should be 1%, or less, because we are the Best Credit in the World — BY FAR. Our Country is BOOMING with new Investment! If we stopped Trading with every country that we have a Deficit with, which is most of them, we would make, at least, 1.5 Trillion Dollars a year. The word “Deficit” is nothing more than a fancy word for LOSS. We are “carrying” almost every country in the World, and that cannot go on any longer. LOWER THE INTEREST RATES FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND FAST! (Truth). Washington Times: Mr. Warsh said the economy appears to be strengthening overall, but he said inflation “remains elevated” and that geopolitical developments — an allusion to the Iran war — forced the Fed to focus on the price side of its mandate (Washington Times).

Paramount Studios Renews Threat to Leave California

The overlapping dynamic to whether or not Paramount remains in California is the lawsuit from California Attorney General Rob Bonta and 11 other state AGs challenging the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger. Deadline reports: Paramount CEO David Ellison has let it be known that he is willing to take his Paramount ball and leave California if the state doesn’t ditch its effort to block the company’s pending merger with Warner Bros Discovery. And now it looks like the ball really is in play. Paramount brass have told key officials and stakeholders the company is “deadly serious” about leaving California and the home of Hollywood after over 100 years, sources tell Deadline. Among those told a deposit has been put down on the moving trucks is L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and state Attorney General Rob Bonta…. The economic devastation of a move would be real, a recent report from L.A. County warned. “At a minimum, relocating Paramount’s headquarters and other operations out of California would result in losses of 2,750 and 5,550 job-years in California across all industries and losses of between $1.01 billion and $2.03 billion in economic output between October 1, 2026, and September 30, 2031,” the county’s Economic Development Corporation wrote in a September 10 document. (Deadline).

House Passes AM Radio Bill on Voice Vote

The effort to secure the presence of AM radio in new cars is a huge win for radio continued place in our dynamic media environment. Inside Radio: The House passage of the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act is drawing praise from radio industry leaders and advocacy groups, who say the vote represents an important step toward maintaining AM radio’s availability in new vehicles. The House approved H.R. 979 by voice vote on Tuesday, Sept. 15, sending the legislation to the Senate. The bill would require automakers to include AM radio in new vehicles (Inside Radio). Nic Anderson of Salem: “Today’s vote affirms that free, local, over-the-air radio still matters and must remain available in every vehicle for the next generation of listeners. We are grateful to the bipartisan coalition in Congress that brought us to this moment, and we look forward to working with the Senate to get this important legislation across the finish line and onto President Trump’s desk for his signature” (NRB).

Who Will Stop the Houthis?

The recent aggression of the Iran-supported terror group in the Red Sea has rattled the surrounding nations in the Arab world. Saudi Arabia is particularly alarmed. Trump seems to want those in the region to step up, collaborate and defend themselves. The Hill: President Trump is taking a notably hands-off approach as Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen rapidly gain ground in their bid to secure a Red Sea choke point that could further roil global energy markets and box in Saudi Arabia. Trump has reportedly rebuffed a request from Saudi Arabia to launch strikes on the Houthis, though the U.S. has sent advisers to support the kingdom, which also saw key energy pipelines attacked in recent days (The Hill). Wall Street Journal: All of this argues for a regional military response to the Houthis, but who will lead it? Saudi Arabia spends $70 billion a year on defense and has a capable air force. But it can’t defeat the Houthis alone or merely from the air. Retaking the strategic islands and ports will require ground troops. A combined Israel-Saudi operation would be more formidable, and such cooperation might further Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s longtime goal of having Saudi Arabia join the Abraham Accords. It also might help his chances in Israel’s late-October elections (Wall Street Journal).

New York Times: ‘Israelis still largely view themselves as the victims of Oct. 7’

Scott Jennings responds: No words for this abomination (Jennings). The parallel would be: New Yorkers still largely view themselves as the victims of 9/11. The line comes from an article on a new documentary from hard-left filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor entitled “NAZA.” Amit Segal describes the film: The critically acclaimed libel is the Israeli far left’s contribution to a steadily growing genre: anti-Israel propaganda, what might be called Hague bait. From the people who applauded the historical revisionist epic Palestine 36 and the directors behind the false frontier western No Other Land comes the sci-fi dystopia NAZA (Segal). Notably: After withering criticism, The New York Times removed that line in the updated version of the story on their site. They write it off as an “editing error”: Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this article included a statement that was intended to convey Israelis’ perception of the government’s military response to the Oct. 7 terror attack in relation to the attacks, but inadvertently suggested that Israelis’ experience as terror victims was a matter of perception. It has been removed from the article (New York Times).

October 7 Gets Gripping Treatment in New Season of ‘Fauda’; ‘Top 10 in several Arab states’

Season five of the Israeli program that follows a counterterrorism unit in Israel was released in the U.S. on September 8. It’s the first release since the horrific events of October 7—and the program captures both the horror and the surprise of that dark day. The program is number one in both Israel and Lebanon. JNS: While the series unsurprisingly placed No. 1 in Israel, it entered the Netflix Top 10 in several Arab states, ranking fourth in Jordan and Qatar, fifth in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, seventh in Oman and ninth in Kuwait (JNS). The series is co-created by Avi Issacharoff and Lior Raz, who has also played a lead role in the program: Raz says, “I hope that people will watch it and will understand the price of war, how hard it is. And [it’s] for people who don’t know exactly what happened, but have a hard opinion about what happened. I also think it’s important for them to see and then to take a side, to make an opinion. It doesn’t matter what kind of opinion, but first embrace it, see it, and then talk about it. I hope we’re going to have a conversation much more than anything else” (Netflix) The program: (Netflix).