☕️ THUNDER ☙ Monday, August 17, 2026 ☙ C&C NEWS 🦠

Louisiana finally hangs the Ten Commandments in public schools; then seven states in one month of Democrat indictments; 31 felony counts; 524 years of exposure; a $94M contract nobody canceled; more.

Good morning, C&C, it’s Monday! We are officially over the August hump and sliding down the back side of the month. Your roundup includes: how Louisiana became the first state in forty-six years to put the Ten Commandments back on public-school walls — the moral code our own legal system was built on, restored by parents and legislators who refused to quit after three years in federal court; and then the reason that timing lands so hard, because in a single month the people who break those rules have been marched into courtrooms across seven states — a former New Mexico House Majority Leader convicted on 31 felony counts for taking $1,152,506 out of $3.25 million in federal money meant for kids learning a trade; a Georgia legislator, the third one, who lied about a layoff to collect $17,811 while drawing a state salary; a Kansas City executive accused of selling a rival a government job to clear his own path; a New Jersey committeewoman accused of forging the signatures of neighbors who would not sign for her; a former Mississippi vice mayor accused of taking kickbacks on the flooring and the air conditioning in his own city's buildings; a thirty-year-old county family law attorney charged with twenty-six felonies for allegedly trafficking thirteen young women, one of whom died at twenty-one and will not be reading any of this; and a Brooklyn nonprofit that allegedly stole $800,000 earmarked for affordable housing and got its $94 million contract renewed three months after the indictment; and why the ladder prosecutors climb — contractor to deputy to department head — has finally reached sitting Lt. Governors and governors, which is the sound a lot of decent people have been waiting a very long time to hear.

🌍🇺🇸 ESSENTIAL NEWS AND COMMENTARY 🇺🇸🌍

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From the nation’s founding until 1960, U.S. public school students had to memorize the Ten Commandments. They also had to read from the Bible and pray. In 1960 —seven years before I was born— a secular group sued and a liberal Supreme Court ended the practice. I will leave it to you to opine whether schools have improved. Last week, after years of litigation, Louisiana finally returned the tiniest sliver of our Judeo-Christian heritage to its public schools. Nola.com reported, “Ten Commandments now up in Louisiana classrooms as school year begins. Students, educators react.”

Louisiana just became the first U.S. state to run the legal gauntlet and require its public schools to mount the moral code our legal and political system was founded upon. (Texas and Arkansas passed similar laws, but are still slogging through the courts.) This marks the reversal of a 46-year interregnum, since the Supreme Court ruled the displays unconstitutional in Stone v. Graham (1980). (Ruled from a bench, I might add, sitting below a granite relief of Moses and the two tablets. But whatever.)

The new law was originally passed in 2024 by Louisiana’s brand-new Republican-supermajority legislature— that state’s first in history, delivered thanks largely to pandemic overreach. A group of parents sued, a federal judge struck the law down (of course), but in February, the Fifth Circuit reversed that ruling. Now the law is finally in full effect, and the posters are now fluttering onto the walls where they will hang alongside the fire-evacuation route, the allergen advisory, and the eleven separate posters instructing students how to “Be Kind.”

Anyway, parents and students had three years to acclimate to the idea while the law stalled in the courts. But now, according to media, the posters are surprising some people. “Some kids have noticed, and they’re not happy about it,” said Sadeel Abed, a totally randomly selected senior from West Jefferson High School. One wonders which high-schoolers are looking up from their devices at an 11x17” poster on the wall somewhere with a tiny Ten Commandments on it. Young activists?

Louisiana students need not memorize the world’s most famous moral rules (although they’d be better off if they did.) They don’t even have to look at them. But still, pockets of defiance remain. “A few teachers said they covered up the posters or took them down,” Nola reported. Defiance! Progressives believe defying a court order is a threat to democracy itself. Or brave civil disobedience. (Depends on who appointed the judge.)

According to the article, “one charter school leader said their school had not put up the displays because it had not received tape or other mounting materials.” They probably don’t even have walls. Imagine Moses reporting back to his Creator, look, Lord, I got the stone tablets, okay, but nobody has any tape. Learned incompetence.

Following the Ten Commandments improves your life, the lives of everyone around you, and several people you aren’t going to carjack. Which is one reason they are not called “the ten voluntary initiatives.” In that sense, the Ten Commandments are the world’s first proven self-improvement program. And if you don’t think this fantastic old world was just a cosmic accident, the rules came not from some guy with a podcast, but directly from the one who wired up the system. Literally “handed down from the mountain.”

The posters are historically oriented and unobtrusive. The history they depict is true. The moral rules themselves are salutary. Although bans on the 10 Commandments have existed for most of our lives, they are quite recent on the US timeline. So one wonders about where all the outrage and defiance are coming from. (They probably blame it on Trump somehow, though he has an alibi; he was getting his mugshot taken at the time.)

Finally, which commandments did progressives fear would be most corrosive to our tender youth and their “impressionable brains?” (Which, to be fair, have been somewhat shielded by years of TikTok scrolling and whatever happens on Discord.) You’d think they would object most strongly to number two, “You shall have no other gods before Me,” or possibly even number four, “thou shalt not take the Lord’s name in vain.”

But no.

Teachers,” Nola explained, “will have to navigate student questions about the commandments, including the prohibition on adultery and coveting a neighbor’s ‘manservant’ or ‘maidservant.’” I can understand why sex-crazed elites would prefer to avoid clarifying moral attention on adultery. But coveting servants? Progressives interpret that as a reference to ‘slavery.’ But has slavery suddenly become a controversial subject?

They teach kids about slavery twice a day and three times on Sunday. The practice existed for most of human history in nearly every culture and on every continent. Nearly every people group on earth has been on both ends of it. Even the peace-loving Indians kept slaves— the Haida and Tlingit tribes ran hereditary slave economies up the Northwest coast.

“White people were still being bought and sold as slaves in the Ottoman Empire,” historian Thomas Sowell wrote, “decades after American blacks were freed.” He added, “At least a million Europeans were enslaved by North African pirates alone from 1500 to 1800.”

Back in 2024, we celebrated the passage of Louisiana’s law as solid evidence of a conservative counter-revolution. Now, this year, none less than Victor Davis Hanson has published a book with that title: “The Counterrevolution: The Fall and Rise of Donald Trump and the MAGA Movement.”

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How spicy is the counter-revolution getting? Thai hot spicy. Here is the roundup corporate media is trying its hardest to bury. It started yesterday, when I covered this Massachusetts story, reported on Friday: “Lawrence Mayor Brian DePeña arrested by FBI on wire fraud, money laundering charges.” It turns out that DePeña’s case —based on covid loan fraud— was just the tip of a fraud iceberg into which the midterms are crashing.

In roughly one month, a nationwide storm of Democrat officials and Democrat-adjacent insiders were whipsawed on the wrong end of a docket. In candor, it’s hard to imagine how this could be a coordinated operation. I’ve looked at it ten different ways. Criminal investigations run on different clocks, and the clocks vary wildly. The New Mexico case took five years. The Georgia plea came from a scheme prosecutors have been unwinding since 2024. Grand juries meet when grand juries meet. So.

But still. Look at the month.

🔥 New Mexico. On Friday, a federal jury convicted former state House Majority Leader Sheryl Williams Stapleton on 31 felony counts — conspiracy, bribery, mail fraud, money laundering— the works. A busy beaver. Two days ago, NBC affiliate KCBD-11 reported, “Former high-ranking Democratic legislator in New Mexico convicted in federal fraud case.”

Under Stapleton’s direction, Albuquerque Public Schools paid roughly $3.25 million to a friend’s company, mostly federal vocational-education money earmarked for kids learning trades. Stapleton’s personal cut, per the article, was $1,152,506. Nothing for the children. She abruptly resigned in 2021, days after investigators rummaged through her office.

Stapleton now faces a theoretical maximum of 524 years. Even by convoluted federal sentencing math, that is a long stretch in the pokey.

🔥 Georgia. State Rep. Sharon Henderson pleaded guilty on July 30th to pandemic unemployment fraud— more covid shenanigans. She claimed a covid layoff from a school job she’d actually quit in 2018 —two years before covid existed (unless she was time-traveling, of course). She kept filing false weekly certifications even after being sworn into the Georgia legislature, which, despite appearances, is, technically, a job. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported, “Third Democratic state lawmaker pleads guilty to COVID unemployment fraud.” Third.

The take was only $17,811, which was the least ambitious fraud on this list of deplorables. But it’s enough.

The detail the corporate media skated past was right in the headline: Henderson was the third Georgia state representative convicted in the same scheme. The other two were Democrat Karen L. Bennett, who pleaded guilty in January for collecting $13,940, and Democrat Dexter L. Sharper, who pleaded guilty in March after collecting $13,825.

They didn’t sell out for a fortune— they sold out for a used Camry. Consequences.

🔥 Missouri. Philip LeVota, the sitting Democrat interim Jackson County Executive —Kansas City— was indicted on five federal counts unsealed August 6th, including honest services fraud, federal program bribery, and lying to the feds. Local KSHB reported, “Feds indict interim Jackson County Executive Phil LeVota for bribery.”

LeVota previously chaired the Jackson County Democratic Party, describes himself as a “Harry Truman Democrat,” and is a longtime elected member of the Missouri State Democratic Party.

Prosecutors said he convinced a rival candidate to drop out of the county executive race in exchange for a lucrative government job. He pleaded not guilty and, despite being only an interim hire, has asked the judge to push his trial until after his term ends. Which would at least give him time to finish handing out the jobs.

🔥 New Jersey. Lumberton Township Committeewoman Gina LaPlaca and her husband were charged August 11th with faking signatures on her own nominating petition, apparently having run short of neighbors and relatives willing to sign it for free. The New Jersey Globe reported, “LaPlaca, Carty charged with petition fraud.”

“Without the allegedly fraudulent signatures, LaPlaca would not have had enough valid signatures to qualify for the June Democratic primary ballot,” prosecutors said. LaPlaca signed a sworn affidavit saying she had personally circulated the petition and personally watched each voter sign in their own handwriting.

But when investigators went to ask the people on the petition, they said they had never signed it. Whoops.

LaPlaca had earlier pleaded guilty to child endangerment arising from a 2025 drunk-driving incident involving her young son, while Carty had separately faced a domestic-incident (strangulation) case that LaPlaca later recanted. Sounds like a lively household.

For his part, LaPlaca’s husband, Jason Carty, was described as a “longtime Democratic operative.” Of course.

The part you can’t script is that she finished third in that primary anyway, a hilarious outcome nearly every report lingered on. She also couldn’t get people to vote for her. Democrats in red states can’t get on the ballot; this one forged her way onto a blue-state ballot and then lost in the primary. I’m old enough to remember the good old days when forged signatures would appear on losing candidates’ petitions, and everybody just shrugged and moved on.

Not anymore.

🔥 Mississippi. Former Columbus Vice Mayor Joseph Mickens was indicted and arrested August 13th on money laundering and offering inducements to influence contract awards— an alleged kickback scheme involving city flooring and HVAC work, which in August in Mississippi is not just a minor line item. The Mississippi Daily Journal reported, “Former Columbus councilman indicted for money laundering, rigging bids.”

Though you can’t tell from the article, Mickens is a lifelong Democrat. He most recently ran in the 2025 Democrat primary for Columbus city council (he lost). He seems to have considered “Vice Mayor” less of a title than a job description. Wherever Mickens is headed next, the climate control will not be to his specifications.

🔥 Minnesota. Andrea Leigh Sampson, an assistant Anoka County family law attorney until March, was charged August 13th in Hennepin County with 26 felony counts — 13 for promoting prostitution and 13 for receiving profits, one count per victim. On Saturday, CBS reported, “Former assistant Anoka County attorney helped operate sex trafficking organization, charges say.”

Since 2020, at least thirteen women were ages 18 to 21 when they were brought in and provided with Sampson’s help. In December 2020, one of them died of an overdose at 21. Bail was set at $1 million. Prosecutors alleged she supplied two Minneapolis rental buildings she owned and formed shell LLCs to launder the money.

While a sitting family law county attorney, Sampson, 30, operated a website called Minnesota Erotica Personals. (I decided not to post the website image. You’re welcome.)

In fairness, I couldn’t find reliable information on Sampson’s party affiliation. The office is “nonpartisan.” But none of the reporting mentioned her party, which usually means one thing. Governor Tim Walz could not be reached for comment.

🔥 New York. Not this month, but in this news cycle and still a running investigation: in March, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn indicted the former board chairman and executive director of BHRAGS Home Care —a taxpayer-funded NGO turned migrant-shelter operator— for embezzling over $1.3 million, including $800,000 earmarked for Brooklyn affordable housing. In April, Gothamist reported, “Nonprofit at the center of federal corruption probe still has a $94M city contract.”

So far, two contractors have been charged with paying kickbacks. Two more remain under investigation. New York City’s response to a federal indictment of its shelter vendor? It declined to cancel the contract. The $94 million annual contract took effect July 1st —three months after the indictments— running to 2031, renewable to 2035. The state Comptroller is now auditing $243 million of it.

But— to whom did the New York contractors pay the kickbacks? Democrat Councilmember Farah Louis, who steered $450,000 in discretionary funds to BHRAGS, remains under federal investigation. Her sister, Debbie Louis, a top aide to Governor Kathy Hochul, is also being investigated. Tick, tock.

🔥 Add today’s roundup to the recent news of the indictment of Hawaii’s sitting Lt. Governor and to the rapidly metastasizing bribery scandal facing Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs. Not to mention the very public investigation into California Governor Gavin Newsom’s wife that he publicized himself, along with the raft of last year’s arrests of top California operatives linked to the Governor and gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra (Biden’s former HHS Secretary during covid).

In case you missed it, in Arizona, Attorney General Kris Mayes has had Governor Katie Hobbs under criminal investigation since June 2024 over a foster-care contractor that gave roughly $400,000 to her campaign and then got a rate increase worth about $4 million a year. The NGO was authorized to increase its billing rates from $140 per bed per day to eventually $234, while other providers asking for the same thing were told no.

Hobbs says she knew nothing about it, and she has not yet been charged with anything. But state child-safety officials were less circumspect in their own emails. One wrote, “We are weak, no leadership, perfect time to get what they want.” A deputy director replied: “But when simon gives money to the gov...it can make magic happen.”

Those are just the ones I could find. There could be (probably are) more.

Prosecutors build corruption cases from the bottom up. You flip the contractor to get the deputy, the deputy to get the department head, the department head to get the guy whose name is on the letterhead. It is slow, it is unglamorous, and it means the people at the top who most deserve accountability are always the last ones charged— if they’re ever charged at all.

That’s why a list like today’s is heavy with council members and interim executives and assistant attorneys. That’s the bottom of the ladder. It’s the pipeline. Readers who want to see somebody important held to account are, understandably, tired of watching the ladder get climbed one rung a year. But the ladder is now stretching toward blue-state Lt. Governors and sitting governors themselves. The pipeline is gushing faster and faster.

🔥 Like I said, I looked everywhere for dots to connect this nationwide flood to an organizer. There are some dots, but they remain distant. One of the first things former Attorney General Pam Bondi did when she arrived at DOJ was pull the plug on its DC-based Public Integrity Unit, which “supervised” all federal political prosecutions the way an assassin supervises a strangling cord. One assumes political indictments would surge with the PIU out of the way.

A more complete connection is plausible, though, and tantalizingly there, just out of reach. The federal cases could easily be pushed from Main Justice. It rhymes with the aggressive prosecutions we see in other domains, like cartel prosecutions and fentanyl crackdowns. And even the state prosecutions could easily be assisted by DOJ HQ, which could provide evidence and encouragement to local Attorneys General. We’ve seen that kind of behind-the-scenes support by Trump 2.0 agencies in other cases, too.

Hey— you might want to look into this. Here are a few emails and text messages to help you get started.

In one case we covered, DHS was disclosed as being the main impetus behind a criminal investigation of Spain’s former prime minister in Madrid. “Homeland Security Investigations assisted the Spanish National Police in an investigation into the laundering of international public funds,” the agency press release quietly admitted. So they know how to do it.

And of course, we have the newly stood-up White House Fraud Task Force, chaired by the Vice President, advised by Steven Miller, aided by nearly every federal agency, with its own special Attorney General who communicates directly with the White House and was confirmed by the Senate in March. And the DOJ created a brand-new National Fraud Enforcement Division.

In March, the Administration happily named six states whose benefit programs it considered fraud-ridden, and every one of them is Democrat-run. Then it built a permanent prosecutor-led data-analytics center to go find the fraud, staffed a new DOJ division, and put the Vice President in personal charge. One step from the Commander in Chief.

In 2022, Congress extended the statute of limitations on covid-era PPP and EIDL fraud from five years to ten. So crimes from 2020 will remain chargeable until 2030. Nobody who touched that money is in the clear yet. Sharon Henderson just set the floor at $17,811. That’s a number that gives the rest the vapors. If federal prosecutors will take out a state legislator over less than eighteen thousand dollars, there is no amount small enough to feel safe about.

That is a lot of dots. But the public evidence connecting this fraud-investigations behemoth to particular state prosecutions is thin. One could understand why the feds might want to stay out of the limelight, with the easily triggered corporate media primed to wail about weaponized justice. They constantly hector Attorney General Todd Blanche about it.

But multiply all that —the parts we can see and the parts we can’t see— by a party whose brand its own strategists just described to the Washington Post as toxic, in a cycle where four red-state nominees for federal office have already quit their races rather than run under the label.

That WaPo story was about Democrats who can’t field candidates in red states. Ask yourself why a person declines to run. It’s rarely ideology. It’s that running means opposition researchers pull every record with your name on it. Anyone who owned a business in 2020 now has a federal loan file, permanently searchable, with a clock that doesn’t expire until 2030. That’s more than a scandal. It’s a deterrent— and it lands hardest on exactly the small-business owners, party insiders, and part-time legislators a party needs to recruit to fuel its funnel.

Kamala, for instance, worked her way up from local California offices.

It’s true that corruption cases don’t usually decide elections. Voters have re-elected indicted scofflaws since forever. But it still stings. And when it becomes this public, it freezes the ice in the veins of anyone who played fast and loose with the pandemic-era rules and sold the government Chinese face masks.

And does it matter whether this flood of Democrat prosecutions was unleashed consciously or coincidentally? The result is the same. Consider the effect when it is ubiquitous, everywhere, all at once. Democrats especially love to remind everyone that all politics is local. Democrat Speaker Tip O’Neill said it first.

These cases, which typically show up only in local media, are a whole lot of local bad press. Right before the midterm elections.

Have a magnificent Monday! We’ll pull the threads together again tomorrow morning with a whole new roundup of essential news and commentary. The news cycle is picking up again. Don’t miss anything.

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