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Authored by T.J. Muscaro via The Epoch Times,

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told members of the Air Force and Space Force that communist China will land on the moon, and it's imperative that the United States return to the lunar surface first.

"You are witnessing a very energized NASA, and we will need to be, as we are in the midst of a very real second space race," he said during his keynote address to the Air and Space Forces Association's annual conference on Sept. 15. "China will accomplish what the Soviets never could."

He told the Airmen and Guardians that communist China has demonstrated rocket reusability and developed a plan to land their astronauts - called taikonauts - with just two rocket launches, while NASA will need at least four to do the same. China also seeks to build a nuclear-powered moon base on the lunar south pole with the Russians.

"History has shown they could even be early, and we could easily be late," he said.

"Success in this endeavor will be measured in months, not years."

The China National Space Administration has announced plans to land taikonauts on the moon by 2030, while NASA aims to return its astronauts to the lunar surface before the end of 2028.

But Isaacman made it clear that this race is about far more than just bragging rights.

"Our allies and adversaries are watching," he said. "So is every nation deciding whose technology to buy, whose standards to adopt, whose security relationships to deepen, and whose vision of the future to follow, and, perhaps most importantly, our children will be watching, and the hopes and dreams of a generation inspired by these kinds of Apollo 11-like moments [are] really on the line."

One advantage he said that the United States did have over its communist adversaries was the booming commercial space industry pioneering reusable heavy-lift capabilities. But he added that NASA was not on a path to win this new space race until recently.

"I'm thankful for the reality that the Chinese have a plan to potentially, you know, to likely deny that critical area on the lunar south pole because it's given us the latitude to fix what is broken, to stop all the external impositions, the self-inflicted wounds that we had in our strategy, and bring extreme focus and mission," he said.

Some of those self-inflicted wounds included an inefficient launch cadence of both the Space Launch System moon rocket and robotic missions to the lunar surface, the decision to prioritize a lunar space station over a surface base, and a general lack of sufficient focus on winning the race.

Now, thanks to President Donald Trump's space policy, Isaacman said that moon rocket production was becoming standardized to increase launch capabilities, robotic missions will be flying to the moon at a cadence of almost once a month starting in 2027, and an unapologetic focus was put back on establishing a permanent human presence on the surface.

"Fortunately, we have a president who understands that great nations remain great by continuously undertaking and achieving the kind of big, bold endeavors that define American exceptionalism," he said. "These are no longer just stories in history books. This is what you've been waiting for, and this is our time.

"This is the golden age. We are going back. We are going back to stay, to build the base. We are doing it together to show the world once again what America is capable of achieving and inspire the next generation to pick up the fire of exploration and carry it farther than we ever could."

Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times,

A dozen operators of allegedly fake daycare sites in Southern California were arrested last week on suspicion of stealing an estimated $10 million in funding, Justice Department officials announced on Sept. 15.

On Sept. 10, federal agents swarmed the San Diego-area homes listed as daycares by the operators and arrested the suspects, six males and six females.

Nine of the defendants entered the United States as refugees or asylum seekers from Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Iraq, according to court records. Eleven have since become naturalized citizens, according to Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald of the Justice Department's National Fraud Enforcement Division.

"There were no children. There were no daycares. These daycares were fake and the taxpayers were paying for all of it," McDonald said during a news conference.

Each defendant was charged with one federal count of wire fraud in Operation Cradle to Grift. If convicted, they face a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison and a $500,000 fine.

Some defendants are also charged with money laundering, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ), which carries the same maximum prison term and fine.

"Fraud against these programs is an attack on vulnerable families, and law enforcement will continue to dismantle schemes that exploit them," McDonald said.

Criminal investigators followed a money train, uncovering more than $10 million in fraudulent billing, according to Chief Jarod Koopman of the IRS's criminal investigations division.

"This is not a victimless crime," Koopman said. "It deprived working parents of critical support and eroded trust in programs meant to protect the most vulnerable in our communities."

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services sends federal funds to California to help low-income families pay for childcare. In San Diego County, childcare subsidy programs are administered by the county, the nonprofit Child Development Associates, and the YMCA.

When a family qualifies for funding, the childcare providers are paid directly after the provider submits monthly attendance records. The records are signed by the provider and the parents.

California laws prevent schools and childcare centers from collecting or sharing immigration information, allowing all parents to apply for the state's subsidized and free daycare assistance, which is paid in part by federal grant funding.

State law requires licensed childcare providers to be on site and ensure that children are supervised at all times. The 12 cases investigated in the San Diego area are unrelated, but they allegedly used the same formula, according to the DOJ.

The defendants allegedly were granted a childcare operating license by a California state agency and registered with the local programs.

Investigators accused the defendants of submitting fake attendance records and signing affidavits saying that they were accurate. Using the false records, the programs paid the operators with government funds, according to the allegations.

In one case, Abdulrahman Ayman Alawad, 25, a Syrian who lives in El Cajon, allegedly claimed that he provided childcare to 23 kids in March and 25 in April. He eventually received more than $300,000 in payments from San Diego County, the nonprofit Child Development Associates, and the YMCA in 2025, according to court records.

Alawad allegedly said he provided childcare every day of those two months. Investigators claimed that surveillance footage showed children entering or exiting the facility on just one day during those two months, which was the day a state inspector showed up for an unannounced visit.

Prosecutors also accused Alawad and several other defendants of submitting records claiming to have provided childcare at their homes when border crossing records showed that they were not in the United States.

Each defendant earned $538,000 to $1.2 million during their alleged schemes, which lasted from months to years, prosecutors said.

"Today is a bad day for home daycare fraud," said Adam Gordon, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California.

Besides Alawad, the defendants are Fosiya Mohamoud, 50, of El Cajon, from Somalia; Zetun Abdi, 43, of San Diego, from Somalia; Ikramullah Mohmmand, 25, of El Cajon, from Afghanistan; Khetam Haouash, 37, of El Cajon, from Syria; Khatera Hashimi, 39, of El Cajon, from Afghanistan; Mariam Khamis, 42, of San Diego, from Sudan; Mohamad Alawad, 29, of San Diego, from Syria; Mazin Alawad, 22, of San Diego, from Syria; Turkiya Alawad, 63, of San Diego, from Syria; Zaryab Daudzai, 25, of El Cajon, from Afghanistan; and Cezar Yaqoob, 36, of El Cajon, from Iraq.

The operation was the work of the DOJ's National Fraud Enforcement Division, a task force to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in federal benefit programs chaired by Vice President JD Vance.

It was unclear whether the defendants had legal representation. They could not be contacted for comment.

Authored by Jeremy Portnoy via RealClearInvestigations,

Medicare spent an estimated $380 million acquiring human organs that were either transplanted into patients without Medicare or never transplanted at all, according to a new Department of Health and Human Services inspector general audit.

Key facts: Medicare reimburses hospitals for removing kidneys, hearts, lungs and other organs from donors after they die. Federal law says Medicare should only bear those costs when the organ is used in a Medicare-covered transplant.

But decades-old Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services guidance tells hospitals to assume that any organ they send to a transplant center will eventually go to a Medicare patient - without checking whether that actually happens.

Auditors sampled 180 cases of organs that hospitals reported as Medicare-eligible from 2017 to 2022. Fifty-five were not used in Medicare-covered transplants, even though Medicare paid $2.8 million for them.

Of those, 43 went to patients whose transplants were not covered by Medicare. Another 11 were discarded or used for research. One supposed organ donor was still alive.

Based on the sample, the inspector general estimated Medicare spent $379.9 million on organs not used for Medicare patients during the six-year period.

CMS already identified the loophole in 2021 and proposed changing its rules. It abandoned the change after hospitals warned they could lose revenue.

Auditors are not recommending that Medicare recover the $380 million because hospitals generally followed CMS guidance. They did recommend recovering another $154,210 from two hospitals that could not document five organs they claimed were Medicare-eligible.

Background: Medicare's organ-acquisition costs increased 160% over 12 years, from $1.3 billion in 2011 to $3.3 billion in 2023. The number of organs rose only 77%.

Summary: Medicare knew its rules were making taxpayers subsidize transplants for other patients. Five years later, the costly loophole is still on life support.

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.

Authored by College Fix Staff via The College Fix,

Even if they're relocated it 'can still carry serious consequences'...

According to a recent study by researchers at USC and UCLA, Los Angeles' hosting of the 2028 Summer Olympics could result in the "displacement" of thousands of "unhoused" individuals.

As reported by the Daily Trojan, Los Angeles county estimates that security perimeters established by the U.S. Secret Service will lead to approximately 1,600 "unsheltered" people not having access to where they currently reside.

The study from the two southern California universities puts the figure closer to almost four times that number.

Benjamin Henwood, a USC social policy and health professor and director of its Center for Homelessness, Housing and Health Equity Research, said "It's closer to 6,000 people. I don't know how [county officials] came up with their numbers, so they might be looking at something a little different or more specific."

Henwood also is a curator at Home 2028, an "independent research hub" which studies how the homeless will be affected by the Olympics, according to the Trojan.

During the last Summer Olympics held in the city (1984), law enforcement utilized "large-scale and aggressive sweeps" to get the homeless away from "highly visible tourist areas."

From the article:

LA28, the independent nonprofit organization responsible for planning and delivering the Games, is deferring to city officials for managing the relocation. Under an agreement with the city council, LA28 is expected to fund game-related services that go above "normal and customary."

County officials said they intend to offer at least temporary housing for the unhoused population and have applied for nearly $93 million from the state to support the process. A portion of these funds would also be directed toward the county's Pathway Home model, which moves people into interim housing.

Beyond the final headcount, a critical question lies in exactly how these individuals will be cleared from the secured areas.

Henwood said even if the homeless are relocated it "can still carry serious consequences" such as "poor health outcomes."

USC Public Policy and Management professor David Brady, who researches poverty, social policy, racial inequality, and immigration according to his faculty page, said the upcoming Olympics "should not be the only reason the city invests in and provides housing for unhoused residents."

"If we can [provide housing] during COVID, or we [are hoping to] do it during the Olympics, why can't we do it otherwise?" Brady said. "We have the resources to do it otherwise. And so I would argue we should."

Henwood added "We all know that there's a homelessness crisis [...] it's like, well, what is the plan in general?"

Authored by Savannah Hulsey Pointer via The Epoch Times,

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced nearly $6 billion in total savings tied to efforts to eliminate fraud in the government's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Rollins outlined the wins in a Sept. 15 post to X, saying that $5.8 billion in taxpayer losses have been prevented by the anti-fraud initiatives implemented during President Donald Trump's second term.

This was done through the shutdown of nearly 1,840 illegal SNAP devices that processed Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards and the disqualification of 5,335 fraudulent retailers.

"Those who defraud SNAP are stealing from taxpayers and taking resources away from Americans who genuinely need assistance," Rollins said. "We have zero tolerance for this abuse, and we will continue pursuing bad actors and protecting the integrity of the program."

There are several ways an ineligible person can be counted in SNAP, including illegal immigrants being certified in error or by fraud, and deceased household members continuing to receive benefits.

This comes just over three months after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released a report in early June about their discovery that 185,986 deceased people in 29 states were receiving food stamps.

Trump issued an executive order in March 2025 directing federal agencies to obtain lawful and "unfettered access" to data from federally-funded programs such as SNAP to facilitate an audit of government spending.

The SNAP integrity team was created in May 2025 to review state SNAP data against federal databases to identify potential fraud.

The maximum monthly food assistance offered through SNAP is set for its annual increase in line with the cost-of-living adjustment in October.

The benefit ceiling for a family of four will reach $1,023 for most of the nation, which is an increase from the current maximum of $994. Total benefits vary based on family size and income. In May 2026, the average monthly benefit received by U.S. households was $344.51.

The overall cost of the monthly SNAP benefits have fallen in recent years, from $13.4 billion in October 2022 to $6.8 billion in May 2026, largely because pandemic emergency allotments largely ended in 2023 and fewer people on the program.

Separate state cost-sharing penalties for high payment-error rates, enacted by the Republican-led Congress in the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act, are scheduled to begin in October 2027. More than 40 states and territories recorded SNAP payment-error rates above 6 percent in fiscal year 2025, the level that triggers the penalty.

Tom Gantert contributed to this report.