Trump Administration Withholds $260 Million In Medicaid Funds for Minnesotans
https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/trump-administration-withholds-260-million-in-medicaid-funds-for-minnesotans/Open linkView original on lemmy.ca584
Comments138https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/trump-administration-withholds-260-million-in-medicaid-funds-for-minnesotans/Open linkView original on lemmy.ca
Causing harm to civilians in order to coerce the submission of a government is the very definition of terrorism
Technically it's worse:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_terrorism
I know people hate being pedantic, but we can't afford to be lazy. Because that makes it harder to sort thru historical records to see how our ancestors overcame it.
MAGA uses old playbooks so much, we'd be idiots not to treat it like an open book test and see why it failed last time.
If words still had meaning
they do for most, it's just words from fascists that hold no meaning or value.
A couch fucker and some fraudulent shill who was made famous by Oprah. These are the people making this decision which will literally kill people.
I’m sure they think that’s fine. It’s just poor people. They absolutely loathe the poor.
They won't if you make them pick their own cotton.
A couch fucker and some fraudulent shill who was made famous by a lying talk show host.
https://web.archive.org/web/20260226060028/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/oprah-lied-about-childhood-poverty-abuse/articleshow/5805473.cms
The circle of fraud
https://lr.ptr.moe/r/SaintMeghanMarkle/comments/xr5q1d/oprah_is_the_perfect_mentor_for_the_former/
They might think this kind of thing makes them look strong. But they are incorrect.
Anyone with more than a couple of braincells in their skull knows this the sign of an administration that got humiliated and is furiously trying to retaliate out of pure spite.
You are vastly overestimating the average braincells-per-capita in the red states.
These people are seriously fucked in the head.
And their feigned concern for "fraud" is so ridiculous. They don't give a shit about what Pedonald did to make 1.4+ billion, they don't give a shit about Noem's bang plane, they do nothing about Patel flying all over the fucking place for his (and his girlfriend's) personal pleasure.
The only thing any of them consume that’s close to actual journalism and not propaganda is ESPN and the year to year cycles of so many Americans in general are governed by the seasonal ups and downs of the NFL/NBA/MLB/NCAA. Everything is a sport and winning is all that matters because competition is the faux foundational philosophy
This little tidbit was buried:
So good luck if Grandma needs oxygen, tell her to breathe deeper.
Also how do they block these services, and then say "it's not going to touch the people who need these services?" Unless, y'know, they need these services.
Blocking new enrollments.
So if Grandma is already on oxygen, she's fine. But if Grandma's doctor decides she needs to START supplemental O2, well, too bad, your grandma is clearly trying to scam the system and will need to wait 6 months (at least).
Some for prosthesis. Terrible time for people to be losing limbs. Clearly there must be a significant black market for prosthetic legs, funded entirely by our tax dollars. (/s in case not obvious).
Like I said, Grandma can just breathe deeper, and I guess we'll start seeing YouTube videos on "how to carve your very own pirate-style wooden peg leg, using common household items!"
Thereby guaranteeing that no Republican will hold statewide or federal office in Minnesota for the foreseeable future.
They’ll just blame the protesters/liberals. “Look what you made him do!”
I think they’re planning to cheat or ignore the election. It’s the only way that doing all this abhorrent and wildly unpopular shit could make any political sense.
It’ll be a huge relief if it turns out that they really are this stupid, but it’s impossible not to worry that they aren’t.
They will be deploying multiple strategies, including Pre-election voter roll purges, gerrymandering, new Federal ID laws, closing voting places in Democratic districts, etc.
Then they will deploy strategies on Election Day itself, like posting ICE at polling places for security, and then have them do preliminary ID checks of people in the line,.followed by beatings of anyone who talks back, especially first thing in the morning. Widely broadcast video on Election Day morning of active polling places ICE beatings across the country should sufficiently intimidate people from exercising their right to vote for the rest of the day (although there is a good chance that a LOT of people would react just the opposite, and flood the polling places in defiance).
And they even have a POST-Election Day strategy. The biggest thing that has made MAGAs claim election fraud, are the write in ballots that arrive AFTER election day. They don't like a MAGA win on election day, only to have that win evaporate as the write-in ballots arrive and get counted. So they want to stop the count on Election Day.
So they'll take a couple of days for the initial count to settle, and if they spot potential trouble from write-ins, they'll raid the states election HQ, and confiscate all the ballots, machines, data, etc. then declare the winner themselves.
They have Pre-, During, And Post- Election Day strategies, and probably a lot more than I outlined. You have to watch these scumbag MAGAs, they've cheated at everything in their entire lives, that's where most of their expertise lies.
It would be funny if every registered voter were to open carry at the polls.
Looking forward to my poll beating.
Only way to lose is to be afraid.
If ICE Apes start physically abusing people in line, the rest of the line needs to defend every citizen's right to vote, and jump on the ICE Apes. I don't care how many weapons they have, a carful of Apes is going to go down fast against an angry mob of true Patriots.
Don't forget that Trump wants to claw back mail in ballots. He's spewing a lot of the same old rhetoric he's always been.
Not looking forward to having to wait in line with my kids jumping up and down going on and on about how bored they are, then probably running off and getting into trouble and forcing me to leave line and chase after them.
Not to mention the voter intimidation that will absolutely happen.
It's unlikely they would have the ability to completely cheat the election at the level Putin does. They'll simply thumb the scale in battleground states
Minnesota will be a fucking landslide. Republicans are going to get slaughtered
I’m more worried about invaliding results or simply ignoring them.
Or a coup by the Republican Congress refusing to cede power.
That is definitely a concern for me too. MAGA Republicans have learned they can just ignore any laws or court orders that are inconvenient for them. I don't know how effective it will be, but I expect them to try as a last ditch effort
Idk man I honestly doubt that's true.
These people that support trump and friends are fucking feeble minded idiots.
You will show them graphs and even replay this exact speech straight from Jizz Dicks mouth and they will hear something on Fox news about how a school is letting a furry kid use a litter box for the bathroom and they're coming for your children next!!
And then they will straight up, 100% vote for this shit again. Seriously. It would be a fascinating case study if I didn't have to be directly affected by the absurd stupidity of it all day to day.
My apathy and cynicism grows exponentially every single day.
The Republicans lost control of Minnesota back in the 1980s for state wide offices. The Twin Cites metro area holds the majority of votes and therefore most of the power in this state.
Politically, the DFL has long abandoned the outstate.
Until they rig the elections.
Fucking MAGA losers are going to murder more Americans. Minnesota is a contributor state and should withhold payment to the federal government. In fact, all the Blue States should do the same.
It's a great idea, but the problem is people file their federal taxes as individuals and pay the IRS directly, so how are the blue states supposed to withhold the money?
Most people don't pay their taxes directly; they are withheld from their paycheck by their employer. State and local governments are employers; they withhold taxes from their employees. They can report that they have withheld those taxes from the taxpayers, but transfer those taxes to the state treasury instead of the IRS.
The state could create a jobs placement program that operates like a temp agency. Workers participating in the program are employees of the state, not the business they are contracted to.
See my answer to glitch1985. I meant to put it here but accidentally clicked reply on their post instead.
You're not quite right, but I'll reply there instead of here.
Wouldn't be all of it but the state could instruct any businesses in the state to not submit any federal tax it collects
The federal government will hold the taxpayer responsible for not paying their federal taxes. The employers withholding federal taxes from paychecks and not forwarding that on to the IRS would be committing a federal crime, but the IRS would still demand their tax payment from each taxpayer, just like how it happens if the employer didn't withhold enough--the taxpayer has to send in a check.
That's just how the system and law works. Federal law supersedes State law. You pay federal taxes to the federal government under federal tax laws, and the State has no power to say you don't owe them.
The taxpayer is paying their federal taxes. The money is being withheld on their behalf. They are receiving a W2 stating their earnings and withholding. Their employer is properly filing, but they are not sending the money they claim to owe.
If your employer does all this, the IRS can't blame you for not paying your taxes. You have proof that you did. The IRS can't sue all of the company's employees for the company's failure to pay. They have to go after the company, not you.
They could even do it legally. If the state won a case saying the federal government illegally withheld Medicaid funds from the state and its citizens, the state could get an order to seize federal assets, including employee withholding from state workers.
Thanks, it's good to know that it wouldn't fall on the employee. I looked it up[1] and you're right -- if your employer withheld the money and you can prove it (either via the W2, or by producing your paycheck stubs showing the amounts withheld if there's no W2), then the Feds will go after the employer, not the employee.
I also learned that if your employer didn't pay the feds and/or give you or the Feds a W2, then it falls on you to prove they withheld money by showing the IRS your paycheck stubs (or by managing to get that info from the employer), otherwise you will still have to pay the taxes. So the lesson there is to save your paycheck stubs (or electronic copies thereof), especially the last one of the year showing the totals, just in case!
So, back on the topic of States trying to keep that money from going to the Feds, my previous argument would still apply, except that the employers would be held liable by the Feds instead of the individual employees, under current laws (AFAIK!). So if the State passed a law saying the companies have to give that money to them instead of the IRS, the companies would be in a catch-22 situation of Fed law saying Feds get it and State law saying the State gets it. So again, Fed law would supersede the State law and companies would have to give the money to the Feds.
Do you know a way the States could get around that issue? It would be great if they could but I don't see how.
[1] https://www.taxaudit.com/tax-audit-blog/2025/what-happens-if-my-employer-doesn-t-pay-my-payroll-taxes
They can't get around it for private employers, but state and local governments are employers and perform withholding.
The state could also enact a job placement program, and function as a temp agency: the worker is the employee of the temp agency, not the client company they are contracted to.
Those are good ideas, though the court costs of fighting Fed lawsuits might outweigh the amount garnered. And/or the Feds would retaliate by withholding other fed money owed to the state (like it's already doing in some cases! Like the medicaid money for Minnesota, etc).
Face it, this is a fascist nation. They're going to starve us into obedience.
Jesus, it's murder. They're murdering them.
Something non-Minnesotans might have missed: Prosecutors from the Minnesota US attorney's office have been quitting en masse, thanks to political pressure from Pam Bondi and others
This has certainly hampered fraud investigations, in addition to harming other prosecutorial efforts
In short, the federal government is hampering fraud prosecutions while punishing Minnesotans for the fraud
Kind of a shit article. Just parrots the Trump administration's claims, with no fact-checking or comments from anyone with actual knowledge of the Medicaid system.
The truth is, the courts will obviously reverse this punitive action. The fact they are doing it anyway shows they care more about hurting Americans who resist Trump than focusing on the economy, world relations, housing prices, etc...
Well Minnesota is a donor state in taxes, sounds like Minnesota could you know…not pay federal taxes this year
May all these monsters in this administration hang from their necks soon.
That's going way too easy on them, they don't deserve such a quick painless death.
Very true, it needs to be painful, it’s needs to be embarrassing for them, and it needs to be public.
Give em the old William Wallace
Deep fry 'em.
‘Just, please, someone from the outside come and do it so we don’t lose our jobs’
Why would the VP be telling us that?
We need to get them out of office and into prison as fast as possible. A government bound by no laws will start murdering thousands of us just to make a point. ICE has already murdered almost a dozen americans, and ZERO of them have even been investigated.
They are sanctioning the state of Minnesota like it’s a foreign narco or terrorist state
Oh this is just murder, isnt it
With extra steps
Not in the US. How are people from Minnesota fighting back against this??
There's been massive protests. ICE responded by murdering peaceful protestors
Yeah I know about the murders but what are Americans doing about THAT? And the fascism problem?! Why there isn’t a general strike happening right now - baffles the mind.
It takes time to build parallel systems of support. Asking "WhY hAsN'T sOmEoNe DoNe SoMeThIng‽" From behind your keyboard is not helping those systems that are being built.
On that note: https://generalstrike2026.com/
Says on there that was for the last day of the last month (January).
Look more closely. There’s another planned in April.
How did the first one go?
Another US American just tried to kill trump like last week
Should be more
They are currently planning the 2nd general strike... Minneapolis was nominated for the nobel prize precisely because of how effective their resistance has been and continues to be. There are thousands of private signal chats all over the state constantly organizing and responding directly to action on the ground. Your comment just seems like defeatist barely veiled concern trolling.
Let’s see. He’s still president despite blatantly defying court orders, mocking and firing anyone who doesn’t blindly support him, he destroyed a section of the WH, his private gestapo are murdering people in the streets, he’s all over the Epstein files, he’s earning money hand over foot in bribes, and operating concentration camps. And yet he remains in power Americans can’t muster a feasible resistance to the above. That’s hardly concern trolling.
The Republicans have all 3 branches of government. You're acting like because no one has a magic wand to waive this all away, that this means they have failed. Public opinion has swung heavily against Trump. 90% of ICE action seems to have ended in Minnesota. The resistance is winning in every way that it can. But defeatists will always point out what hasn't been accomplished, instead of what has. Factions of the left are more organized than at any point since Civil Rights. Millions of people across the country are mobilized and active in their communities. Every single day Trump is in office his opposition grows. This isn't nothing, stop acting like it is.
Hopefully with trebuchets, oxygen containers, and a lighter.
Need some sort of wick as well. Maybe John.
So, I guess we're now doing embargos inside the country as well. Fascism really is just colonialism turned inward.
This is what you voted for protest-non-voters.
The number of people who leap up to blame anyone except the people that voted for Trump is fascinating to me. Objectively the people that voted him in, and somehow entirely blameless.
Nobody says Trump voters are blameless. That’s a straw man.
But Trump voters lack some of the moral culpability of those who knew better and still didn’t vote, or threw their vote away on Jill Stein or whatever.
There is no point in trying to shame MAGA voters for bringing about what is happening now, because they like it. What can you say to that?
On the other hand, leftists who didn’t vote against him feel that shame deeply, as evidenced by the fact that they cry like little bitches whenever you remind them.
Oh, like me!
Imagine being proud of this. Pathetic.
Imagine having an issue with 3rd party voters and yet, election cycle after election cycle, refusing to replace First-past-the-post voting in your state. You dont get to complain about a problem you refuse to fix.
Yeah dude that's what I did.
Some of you really need to lighten up about voting third party.
Pfft. The ones who are still proud of themselves at this point I lump in with the Trumpers. Most of ya’ll are just reflexive contrarians who would never vote for anyone who might win. We didn’t lose your vote, because you aren’t possible to win over.
And those of you who speak this way about individuals who protested their votes seem incapable of seeing the bigger picture; that the reality is that people want to vote for a principled leader who believes in something, and the Democratic leadership failed us in 2024, just like they failed us in 2016. And even after winning in 2020, they still a managed to fail us by failing to uphold international law and failing to jail an insurrectionist pig that's now in the white house.
They failed us because they believe in nothing, and that's why people protested their vote. Wake the fuck up and focus on primaries in 2026, then the general, and so on, and prevent this from happening again.
Everyone wants to vote for a principled leader, but there are those of us who aren’t willing to give up the tiny bit of power we have just to try and prove a point.
This is a 2 party system, regardless of lip service. Kamala wasn’t my first choice for president but she was the only one. It was her or the other fucker full stop. So, I did everything I could to elect the one who we had some hope of controlling. The dems showed they ultimately listen to their voters with enough pressure when they ditched Biden, the other guy we all knew what was going to happen.
So, to all those protest voters, I’m super happy for you and your maga companions, feeling so proud of yourselves while the country burns.
First, as someone who voted for Kamala despite the noise of protest, and as someone who shared your same petty sentiment during the initial shock of the loss (the longer you hold it, the more pathetic because of how little it matters now), I wonder if that's really the best you can come up with in defense of Democrats during 2024? After failing to admit it was their fault and not the voters? Yeah, they got rid of Biden, but not because of their constituency, but because it was threatening their positions of power as career politicians. They squandered the momentum and revitalization of the party when putting in Kamala after they had her mimic Biden's campaign and failing to admit that the Gaza Genocide was a major proponent for her loss after the fact, to the point that they hid it officially from the public.
Besides blaming it on individual protest voters, and thinking that was enough to really make a difference, especially after knowing this information now (some real dummy shit if you do), you're going to discount the number of disaffected, cynical part of the population who didn't vote because they don't believe in our system anymore? Since the 90's or 80's even? How do you explain the record numbers for showing up for someone like Mamdani to vote, who had explicit beliefs and prpgressive, populist policies, who's approval rating is going up because he's implementing those policies? Showing the world what he left flank of politics is really capable of?
You fail to understand the real sociological implications of the failure of Democrats, and you're delusional if you think the voting for the lesser evil is enough of a standard to motivate people to vote.
We aren't going to get to have any elections that count because of protest votes. Meanwhile the number of current and upcoming dead kids from loss of usaid alone is well into 6 figures. We killed both children and democracy in America because we are stupid.
Well, I could be convinced to vote Democrat in the general if the Democrat candidate is themselves a reflexive contrarian. Or a gasp socialist!
But with the current slurry the DNC is producing, I suppose you're right that I'm nigh impossible to win over, yes.
Why would you vote for a party which has never and will never hold federal office?
Voting third parties don't put any butts in seats and therefore do nothing. For example green has literally NEVER put someone in a federal office iin their 40 year existence.
If likeliness of victory mattered, absolutely no one would vote Democrat in Oklahoma.
Nailed it.
Most of them are a lost cause. I don't think anyone is saying they are blameless.
Who's blaming? I am informing protest-non-voters what they voted for.
Thankfully we know how to solve the issue: give into the voters demands and stop supporting Israel/ a genocide.
You did it, you saved Gaza! (The war was going to time out regardless, it wasn't Trump that ended it.)
No one believes you any more. And history will remember you for what you are.
In the end, I guess you got what you wanted. The genocide supporting candidate won.
That doesn't even make any sense.
You insisted the the US needed to support genocide. You got your way. It cost the Democrats the presidency, because a Democrat could never win being pro genocide.
You won. You got your way. This was the outcome you insisted on.
You are arguing there was a candidate that wasent progenocide. Could you provide for the class who this person was?
Jill Stein?
Honestly I don't actually know for sure, just guessing.
No I'm not. I'm making the point that neither candidate was anti-genocide, and that Democrats lost because they thought they could bully their voters into voting for a genocide. Someguy3 things voters are like a horse you can just buggy whip into doing what you want, and I don't agree with that.
I'm probably the most vocal, most persistent, and most consistent voice on lemmy who has been saying exactly what the recent news around the DNC 2024 post-mortem is also saying: Democrats could not win as a pro genocide party.
You can go through this comment thread and find my main points: https://lemmy.world/post/43468718?sort=Top
Here's me making that argument 2 years ago: https://lemmy.world/post/18568674?scrollToComments=true
I mean look at this banger:
I argue, and have argued, and will continue to argue, that you can-not move electorates over the course of an election cycle. Elections are 4-12 month cycles. That's not enough time to change the hearts and minds of millions of individual people. I think its electorally illiterate to blame voters for how they voted. Your job in politics is to understand what voters think and feel, and why they think and feel what they do, and adjust your campaign and strategy to operate with in the real conditions of an electorate.
Any one trying to paint the election as a binary, or trying to operate their rhetoric on individual commenters or voters, instead of the actual person who could make the necessary changes (eg, Biden or Harris), they are apologists for genocide, and at this point, I consider them to be as pro-fascist as MAGA.
Still no sense. Ciao.
I don't expect strong reading comprehension from pro-genocide apologists who did the work to get fascists elected. If a scrape a penny and go look at your comment history out, help cuz out, what will I find?
This is what Kamala Harris preferred to saying "genocide is bad".
Exactly, without question. Bitterness against non voters really is as simple as barking up the wrong tree.
I voted Kamala but seriously, fuck off with this sourbitch garbage. Protest voters aren't why you lost, you lost because your candidate sucked shit.
I am informing protest-non-voters what they voted for.
Bu...but...Palestine!
My baby is losing healthcare because of this. Edit: This was a bit reactionary. Based on what I’ve learned, this will not directly affect us. Still, it affects millions others for political motives
I'm very sorry to hear that. Hope things work out for you and your baby.
Trump and all the other ghouls in congress are monsters.
Evil
Again? Did they forget their last court slap down?
I don't think they really care. See response to the tariffs ruling.
That sounds like taxation without representation to me I guess Minnesota is EXEMPT
Every two posts. Can we just vote tomorrow? Let's all promise to never vote Republican ever.
Guess the GOP can forget about ever getting major votes in Minnesota again.
You reckon? They’ll still have at least 30-40%
I guess they have voted Dem for president since the 70’s
…and live from New York it’s SATURDAY NIGHT LIIIIIIVE!!!!!
Do you think there are people out there who really think that Dr. Oz is a genuine expert in medicine and health & medical policy? Or would they be happy with any bootlicker who has a doctorate running the CMS?
Time to break free and form two countries
We can't do that
Why not
Well the civil war pretty clearly established this and if we try we would absolutely have to fight and win a multi year war during which in addition to millions or tens of millions of deaths there would be ample pretext to not count our votes. We would seem folks herded into death camps which nukes would insure nobody would liberate.
Our military would be firmly on the side of compliance with the law which they voted for 2 to 1 and we would lose.
What if we banned the republican and democratic parties, along with all those involved, and redid our elections. Wouldn't that be a better outcome for the nation? I bet we could get a real bipartisan movement going.
Yeah that, Start from scratch would be good and make it illegal for companies to sway politicians with their money, goods and flavors
No
The country has never been more divided
That doesn't mean segregating all the violent fascists from the rest of humanity is a good idea, in fact it's probably the opposite of what is needed & screws over their empathetic neighbors who are stuck by circumstance. Socialization with people from a diversity of backgrounds and views and education to show how it directly affects people like them is better at de-culting people.