Minnesota, Fraud, Murder?

Last week after returning from Minnesota to AZ, I was visiting with a business friend of mine. I like him, he’s a good guy. After retiring he begin building a small business in the service community. Years ago when he found out what I had done for a living including building a small business, he begin asking me business questions.

Knowing I had just returned from Minnesota he asked me what Minnesotans thought about all the fraud in state. He was talking about recent allegations and indictments for fraud in Minnesota. I said anyone who committed fraud should be serve prison time.

Then I said fraud is common and I read off some names individuals convicted of fraud: Trevor Milton-securities fraud, Judith Negron-health care fraud, Lawrence Duran-health-care kickbacks, Philip Esformes-Medicare/Medicaid fraud, Daniela Gozes-Wagner-health care fraud, Todd Farha-Medicaid fraud. He said he was not aware of any of them.

I then asked, “do you know what they all had in common”? He said no. I said they were all pardoned by Trump. It got very quiet quickly and he changed the subject. I should have mentioned that Esformes was convicted of $1.3 Billion dollar Medicare fraud scheme.

Trump and Republicans do not care about fraud. It seems to me the mistake the Minnesota fraudsters made was not giving a couple of million to Trump. If they would have done so, they could probably expect to receive a pardon from Trump. Keep in mind, Trump has been convicted of committing fraud. A fact that Republicans often ignore.

[Note: Here is the link for Trump’s pardons in 2025, its impressive.].

For the record, Minnesota is not a donor state. Donor states are states that receive more federal benefits than they pay in in taxes. Minnesota is one of 19 states that pay more into the federal government than they receive.

Money Geeks analyzed and ranks states by their dependence on the federal government. Seven of the top ten states are red states. Including the District of Columbia, Minnesota was ranked as the 49th least dependent states slightly ahead of New York and California and just behind Washington [50th] and New Jersey [51st].

US News, using 71 metrics, ranked Minnesota 4th best of all states. Governor Waltz is often criticized for being a poor Governor. Waltz is not a perfect governor, but if you look at the quality of life in Minnesota, he is a very good one.

Note: If you criticize Waltz on the fraud charges in Minnesota, then you must also acknowledge that Trump is convicted of fraud and should be in jail. You must also acknowledge Trump has continually pardoned wealthy people who gave him money. And for my business friend, he said he is active in his church. That may be so, but it seems to me he has never read Matthew 7:3-5 which says “do not look for a spect in someone else’s eye and ignore the log in your own”.

And that brings us to why ICE was is in Minnesota and in my estimation murdered Renee Good, a 37 year old women. I’ve watch the reel multiple times and listened to local witnesses. In my estimation, there was absolutely no legitimate reason for an ICE agent to shoot her in her car. She was a 37 year old mother of three who was by all accounts a kind compassionate woman.

If the mission of ICE was to make the USA safer and economically stronger, it has failed spectacularly. 70% of those arrested ICE have no criminal record and the vast majority of those that did were for misdemeanors. The negative economic affects of Trump’s immigration policy has been well documented and it is a topic on which I have previously written.

ICE was in Minnesota as they have been in other states to intimidate US citizens who protest Trump’s policy and Trump’s objective of turning the US into an autocratic society ruled by him and his supporters. With Trump’s approval, ICE has continually violated US laws.

Again, the reels and testimony completely contradict Trump and his supporters political spin on the event. Of course Trump lying is pretty much SOP at this point.

Governor Waltz has issued a warning that if necessary he will call up the Minnesota National Guard to protect Minnesotans from illegal activities by ICE agents. By the way, if you wonder how a country likes ours can end up in a civil war, this is exactly how. A wannabe dictator becomes President and then he and his supporters use the government agencies to threaten, criminalize and kill citizens who protest his actions. The citizens resist and that leads to civil war.

What can each of us can do today is vote against every Trump supporter at the state and federal level so they are no longer in office. For the record, I have never belonged to a political party and never will. The current Republican party is the perfect reason why. The party of Eisenhower which brought freedom to Europe and stopped an evil dictator now supports an evil wannabe dictator whose goal is to end freedom in the US.

One last thought, for every individual who voted for Trump in the last election, you are complicit in this murder. Trump said he was going to do this before the election and now its happening. I believe the only way you can recommit your allegiance to the US is to help vote every Trump supporter out office. Then if wish to rebuild the Republican party, start with Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger who are both true Republicans and Americans.

Renee Good is gone, but her memory must live on in all of us as a reminder of the personal and local consequences of evil.