☕️ TAKING ROOT ☙ Monday, December 1, 2025 ☙ C&C NEWS 🦠

Long knives for Hegseth; Obama double-taps; Dem hypocrisy; Mexico cash flow crunch; Treasury targets illicit transfers; spike protein found in tumors; and the Times Times exposes Somali fraud.

Good morning, C&C, it’s Monday! It is now, officially, the Christmas holiday period; as Andy Williams once sang, it is the hap-happiest time of the year. In today’s roundup: the long knives slip out for Pete Hegseth, for double-tapping terrorists (his job) on narco speedboats to make sure; Obama’s double-tapping adventures exposed; Democrat hypocrisy; cash flow to Mexico drying up as decade-long record low is met; Treasury crushes tax credits incomprehensibly paid to illegal immigrants; Treasury amps focus on money transfer firms; top cancer researchers claims spike protein found in biopsied tumors; and Times actually breaks a sinister Minnesota story about “staggering” charity fraud rooted in the state’s Somali immigrant community.

🌍 WORLD NEWS AND COMMENTARY 🌍

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Yesterday, the New York Times ran a widely covered story under the dramatic headline, “Lawmakers Suggest Follow-Up Boat Strike Could Be a War Crime.” War crimes! Already! The sub-headline sneered, “Top Republicans have joined Democrats in demanding answers about the escalating military campaign the Trump administration says is aimed at targeting drug traffickers.”

The ‘controversy’ —if there is any— arose after an anonymous whistleblower (sound familiar?) told the Washington Post that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had ordered a “double strike” on a narco-terrorist boat. A first strike had disabled the decidedly non-fishing boat, and the second strike made sure that the boat and the terrorists on board were completely destroyed.

“Kill them all!” Hegseth allegedly howled. “Order the code red!” he shouted maniacally. Or words to that effect. (We could discuss how the Trump Impeachment fiasco also started with a dramatic whistleblower claim about something he said, too, but let’s move along.)

Hegseth denied it. He calls the claim “fake news.” The Washington Post reported the DOD officially explained that the secondary strikes are intended to remove “navigation hazards:”

(You can easily imagine the other timeline’s headlines, right? Trump Mission Leaves Deadly Marine Traps Floating for Unwary Caribbean Fishermen. They’d complain if they were hung with a new rope. But never mind.)

They won’t shut up about it. “Democrats have repeatedly criticized the boat strikes as illegal,” the Times said, “likening them to extrajudicial killings.” (But not labeling them extrajudicial killings.) The Times then moved directly to defending last month’s Seditious Six video, wherein a half-dozen poorly advised Democrats published a somber, earnest TikTok encouraging U.S. soldiers to defy orders.

Democrats are headed for choppy waters.

🚀 First, politically speaking, it was daring to take the position that we are being too tough on terrorists. Democrats are defending people who rape women and carve captives up with chainsaws. Good luck with that 80/20 issue.

I wish Democrats were as sympathetic toward cartel victims as they are toward narcoterrorists. But never mind.

But second —oh my— there is much to discuss. Democrats (and a few wobbly Republicans) are howling like wolves whose zookeeper has missed two consecutive feedings in a row. But how quickly they forget. Behold this headline from twelve years ago in 2013, under Obama, from the BBC:

Or this one, from the UK Sunday Times’ Bureau of Investigations in 2012 (also Obama):

Here’s what sneaky Obama was getting up to: The military (or CIA) would launch a missile at a wedding or funeral where a terrorist was suspected of showing up. Then they would wait ten or fifteen minutes, and send a second missile, to kill all the rescuers and first responders who rushed in, hoping to capture a few more bad guys.

Needless to say, all this double-tapping caused an unpleasant degree of collateral damage. And I will give you one guess what Democrats said about Obama’s double-tapping at the time.

Nothing, that’s what. They were fine with it. They never demanded evidence, called for hearings, or threatened any war crimes investigations.

“President Obama,” the UK Times reported at the time, “claimed that the drone campaign in Pakistan was a ‘targeted, focused effort’ that ‘has not caused a huge number of civilian casualties.’” You can’t make an omelet without breaking a few Pakistani firemen.

Plus, it all depends on what you mean by huge numbers of casualties. “Research by the Bureau,” the UK Times continued, “has found that since Obama took office three years ago, between 282 and 535 civilians have been credibly reported as killed— including more than 60 children.” Remember, those figures were only as of April, 2012. Obama kept it up for years longer.

That’s not even counting double-tapped terrorists. Those figures just reflect the bloody tally of peaceable civilians. Now —I’m just saying— but under Trump, we’ve killed zero civilians and even fewer children. So.

🚀 We wonder whether, in 2012, Democrats demanded investigations into Obama for war crimes? Nope. No, they didn’t. Democrats defended Obama’s strikes and double taps. No less a rotten apple than John Brennan, then Obama’s ‘counterterrorism advisor’, claimed that killing terrorists was legal anywhere, anytime:

As his legal authority, Brennan referenced Congress’ 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force, or “AUMF,” which kicked off the post-9/11 War on Terror. As the turbans of the 9/11 terrorists receded in the rearview mirror, President B. Hussein Obama shifted to relying on the AUMF to establish legal authority for military or paramilitary action pretty much anywhere in the world where terrorists hung out.

Which is basically everywhere.

The Constitution delegates to Congress the power to declare war. But Congress has only formally declared war five times since the founding. All the other times, they’ve sneakily re-delegated their war-declaring power —and the blame if things go sideways— to the Executive Branch, through laws like the AUMF.

Trump similarly relies on the AUMF for his Venezuelan mission. Why wouldn’t he? He has an arguably stronger claim to it; after all, South American terrorist groups are acting inside the US, slaying citizens, co-opting entire apartment complexes, shipping cocaine and fentanyl like packages in December, bribing wobbly judges, threatening local officials, generally making everyone’s life miserable and ruining Christmas.

Here’s the real kick in the teeth. Congress —the same morons now crying about illegal boat strikes— could have ended the AUMF any time over the last 25 years. In fact, various bills have been filed from time to time seeking to put an end to it. But AUMF-ending bills have never even made it out of committee, much less gotten to any floor vote where lawmakers would have to go on record.

Congress could end it right now. Short of that, they could even amend the AUMF, making it specific to Venezuela, and including whatever guardrails they wanted, including whether or not the Navy can use narco-submarines for target practice.

In other words, to the extent any legal ambiguity actually exists, that ambiguity was created by Congress. And Congress lets it continue, on purpose. Nor did they get particularly wound up when Obama was killing hundreds of kids and first responders as unfortunate collateral damage in double-taps.

So I really don’t care what they think about whatever Pete Hegseth said or didn’t say.

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In other important updates that you won’t find in the corporate media, about two weeks ago, Courthouse News ran a story headlined, “Mexico feels the squeeze as remittances from US plunge to lowest level in over a decade.”

You would think media would at least run the “Trump is mean to Mexicans” story about this; but the absence of coverage tells you the media is starting to catch on. They aren’t running 80/20 stories anymore, not if they can help it.

‘Remittances’ are anonymous funds transfers from the U.S. to Central and South America, used for funding abuelos and abuelas, migration journeys for family members, tortilla chips, tacos, sombreros, and other colorful sundries. Needless to say, the dollars only flow in one direction. But this year, a decade of increasing remittances to Mexico has been reversed, “largely due to President Donald Trump’s renewed crackdown on immigration and the ripple effects,” the story explained.

Remittances from California, the single largest source in the U.S., fell by -9% between January and September. Colorado remittances have seen an eye-watering -36% drop.

But wait, it gets better.

🔥 On Saturday, Newsweek ran a story headlined, “Scott Bessent looks to cut off tax benefits for illegal migrants.” In the wake of the DC shootings, President Trump published a fiery Thanksgiving post that, among other things, promised to crack down on taxpayer money flowing to illegal aliens.

On Friday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tweeted that his agency was already acting.

Illegal aliens unauthorized to work in the U.S. can still file federal tax returns using ITINs, which the IRS issues “regardless of immigration status” so that non‑citizens can report income and pay tax. But because they are often in low or mid-income levels, illegals don’t pay taxes.

Instead, illegals with ITINs qualify for various “tax credits.” You aren’t going to believe this next part, but I swear it is true.

Some of these tax credits are “refundable,” meaning that if the credit exceeds any tax owed, the IRS cuts a check or a direct deposit for the difference, turning the credit into a rebate instead of just reducing tax liability to zero.

In other words, we’re basically paying the illegals to be here. Using federal tax money collected from citizens. And “charitable” NGOs busily teach them how to get ITINs and apply.

Unsurprisingly, no one has ever studied the scope of this massive, unbelievable problem. But estimates suggest the total amount of “tax credits” “refunded” to illegal aliens is billions and billions per year. As far back as 2010, one Inspector General report found $4.2 billion in Child Care tax credits alone flowing to illegals, having rocketed up from $924 million just five years earlier. A 2023 FAIR estimate calculated $8.4 billion “refunded” to illegals from the Child Care and Earned Income credits alone.

Scott Bessent is now working with the DOJ to issue a new legal opinion, which will reclassify refundable portions of the Earned Income Tax Credit, Additional Child Tax Credit, American Opportunity Tax Credit, Premium Tax Credit, and Saver’s Match Credit as “federal public benefits” that cannot lawfully be paid to “non‑qualified aliens,” including those here illegally.

In a single stroke, this will gut a massive “free money” incentive for illegals to remain in America.

That’s not all! Also on Friday, Treasury posted a press release threatening banks and financial institutions that facilitate remittance payments:

“Money services businesses” like Western Union, MoneyGram, check‑cashers, and similar companies handle the anonymous funds transfers from people in the US to foreigners. These businesses are regulated by the Treasury, and are required to report “suspicious transfers” on penalty of civil penalties and criminal prosecution.

Bessent’s press release signals to money servicers that Treasury intends to enforce those rules more aggressively. And, although the rule isn’t new, and while it doesn’t shut down remittances altogether, the additional scrutiny will further cut them back in practice. It’s like a slowly tightening noose.

And remember, this is just the first move; Treasury’s immediate response to Trump’s Thanksgiving tweet. More is presumably coming. We’ve never before seen an Administration move as fast and as coordinated as Trump 2.0.

💉💉💉

Over the weekend, Chris Cuomo —now at NewsNation— interviewed cancer researcher, oncologist, billionaire, drugmaker, and LA Times owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong. He dropped a spike bomb.

CLIP: Soon-Shiong says his labs are finding spike protein in tumor biopsies (0:59).

For background, Soon-Shiong is currently in clinical trials for a ‘revolutionary’ new cancer drug, Anktiva, which primes a patient’s own immune system to attack cancer cells. Dilbert cartoonist and stage 4 pancreatic cancer sufferer Scott Adams is now taking Anktiva on an experimental basis, for instance.

Since Soon-Shiong’s new drug isn’t built on the preferred mRNA platform, its FDA review is moving at a careful and measured pace comparable to the speed of California building permits, whose diligent public servants are this year rapidly approving applications submitted as recently as 1736.

In the clip, Dr. Soon-Shiong marveled at the explosion of cancers in children that, until very recently, were universally the domain of senior citizens. But never mind; it’s probably that 4-year-olds aren’t taking care of themselves like they used to. Chillingly, the researcher said that tumor biopsies in these patients have tested positive for covid spike protein. This announcement caused the Scientific Establishment™ to suddenly remember an appointment with its hairdresser and vanish. (No comment.)

The doctor did not go so far as to drop the “v” word, but it is reasonable to draw that conclusion. Soon-Shiong could have said his team was detecting “covid virus” in the biopsies, but he said “spike protein.” We can assume he is speaking carefully and precisely. After all, only the vaccines deliver bare spike protein, which is just a part of the complete virus.

But, probably because he has a nice newspaper and a research company and doesn’t want anything bad to happen to them, he did not mention the needles. Either way, though, whether delivered by the virus or the vaccine, he was saying the spike is no bueno.

Slow, but steady, progress.

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They say even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Although you could get a brand-new one from Amazon on overnight delivery. And, does anybody even use clocks anymore? Whatever. It’s just a saying. Speaking of which, even a broken newspaper is right twice a year, too. So yesterday, the New York Times ran a tremendous bit of real journalism headlined, “How Fraud Swamped Minnesota’s Social Services System on Tim Walz’s Watch.”

Don’t get too excited. The article was a laborious effort to surmount an undeniable scandal of epic proportions and simultaneously excuse Tim “The Coach” Walz from any personal errors. It was under his watch, but he just couldn’t help it. It was those darned kids Somalians.

“The scandal,” the Times began, “was staggering in its scale and brazenness.” Last week, federal prosecutors charged a whopping 86 people with felonies, for stealing over a billion dollars from various government welfare programs aimed at covid, autism, Medicaid, homelessness, low-income housing, you name it. Pretty much anything “charitable.”

Only eight of the 86 charged weren’t Somali immigrants.

Just like weeds, “fraud took root in pockets of Minnesota’s Somali diaspora, as scores of individuals made small fortunes by setting up companies that billed state agencies for millions of dollars of social services that were never provided.” Most of the assisted people didn’t exist, and charitable Somalian business owners lavished taxpayers’ money on luxury cars, houses, and foreign real estate projects.

The biggest problem for Democrats and their media allies is that Minnesota state government officials knew about the fraud but kept the money moving anyway. “Red flags in the meals program,” the Times reported, “surfaced in the early months of the pandemic, but the money kept flowing.”

In one vexing example, when state officials asked one of the Somali groups, Feeding our Future, for backup documentation, the group threatened to accuse the state agency of racism. That was all it took. According to the Times, “The agency continued reimbursing claims and approving new sites in the months that followed.”

The only reason we’re hearing about it is because “Minnesota’s nonpartisan Office of the Legislative Auditor reported about the lapses that enabled the meals fraud, and found that the threat of litigation and of negative press affected how state officials used their regulatory power.”

“Elected officials in the state — particularly those who were part of the state’s Democratic-led administration,” the Times reported, “were reluctant to take more assertive action in response to allegations in the Somali community.” The Somali community is a core voting bloc for Democrats, it admitted.

In another made-for-TV moment, as one of the trials was concluding this summer, prosecutors learned that Somali fraudsters attempted to bribe one of the jurors with a bag filled with $120,000 in cash. A note in the bag read, “Why, why, why is it always people of color and immigrants are prosecuted for the fault of other people?”

Around this point in the story, the Times turned to burnishing Governor Walz’s stained credentials. “Mr. Walz has said that his administration may have erred on the side of generosity,” the Times reported, “ seeking to keep Minnesotans housed, fed and healthy.” He was too generous, and bad actors took advantage of his good nature.

“The programs are set up to improve people’s lives,” Walz said, “but in many cases, the criminals find the loopholes.” A billion-dollar loophole spanning a dozen state and federal programs. A loophole whose name rhymes with schmaltz.

Just like ever-shrinking Martial Law Administrator Zelensky, Mr. Walz has also vowed to crack down on corruption. Brother-marrying Representative Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said, “We do not blame the lawlessness of an individual on a whole community.” Dr. Samatar, a professor at Macalaster College, who is Somali American, said, “American society and the denizens of the state of Minnesota have been extremely good to Somalis.”

It’s a cultural problem. “Somali refugees who came to the United States after their country’s civil war,” the Times explained, “were raised in a culture in which stealing from the country’s dysfunctional and corrupt government was widespread.” It’s not their fault!

Meanwhile, saying they were “ripping off our country,” President Trump revoked temporary legal status for Somalis, which unfortunately only affects a small part of Minnesota’s Somali population. But it was a start. “Mr. Trump’s remarks,” the Times said, “deeply unsettled Somalis.” Abdi Mohamed, a filmmaker in Minneapolis, complained, “The actions of a small group have made it easier for people already inclined to reject us to double down.”

A billion dollars. Maybe more. Last week, Chris Rufo published a story in City Journal, claiming that American welfare dollars flowed directly to Somali terrorists and other no-good-niks:

The Minnesota Somalis are just one relatively small immigrant group in one modest-sized state. How much more fraud has been going on? An April 2024 GAO estimatesuggested the total federal fraud —not even counting state fraud!— is over $540 billion per year— around $5,000 per taxpaying taxpayer.

The good news is that this story shows the two-tiered justice system is crumbling. These prosecutions prove that, unlike previous Democrat administrations, Trump’s DOJ was unafraid to arrest a gigantic group of Somali immigrants known for threatening to cry ‘racism.’

The scale of the problem is massive. It will take a massive effort to undo. But the effort is underway. Our job is to make sure it continues.

Have a marvelous Monday! Then get back here in the morning tomorrow for even more delicious and intellectually nutritious Coffee & Covid— the only news that makes you smarter.

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