A viral video released by independent journalist Nick Shirely has drawn national attention to potential daycare and healthcare center fraud in Minnesota.
Since the video came out, the Trump administration has halted federal funding from flowing into the state, including resources from the Department of Health and Human Services as well as the Small Business Administration.
Now, however, the media seems more intent on stopping the messenger, as evidenced by a Politico reporter appearing to advocate for violence against those who dare to knock on doors to ask questions.
Shirley is a young 20-something journalist who went door-to-door with a local Minneapolis investigator to expose alleged fraud among dozens of “businesses” that are receiving state and federal funding to operate.
He visited several free-standing enterprises that appeared to be businesses in name only, as well as larger buildings that housed more than a dozen healthcare or daycare centers, all in the same facility.
Shirley claimed to be visiting the businesses during normal operating hours, but almost every door was locked, and few, if any, of the daycare centers had children present. Neighbors in the vicinity also reported that they had not seen activity in many of these supposed businesses for years.
The day after Shirley’s report emerged, one of the daycare centers at issue was suddenly bustling with business, having also corrected misspelled signage. The mainstream media also jumped in to try to discredit Shirley’s account.
Yesterday, we reported that the Small Business Administration (SBA) was going to freeze funding until the fraud situation was rectified.
Now, Health and Human Services (HHS) has also announced that it will be freezing funding due to the fraud allegations.
Deputy HHS Secretary Jim O'Neill announced, "We have turned off the money spigot, and we are finding the fraud.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz responded by saying that the closure of Somali businesses was always Donald Trump’s endgame, but that is ludicrous. If reports are accurate, there has been as much as $9 billion in fraud committed in Minnesota alone. We simply cannot continue to pour money into a system that is handing virtually every penny of that money over to criminals.
The most ridiculous response I saw in regard to the investigation was that offered by Politico reporter Josh Gerstein, who suggested that, "at some point, the amateur effort to knock on doors" should be met with "robust stand-your-ground laws."
As someone else noted on X, the statement appears to advocate for violence against journalists without explicitly saying so.
Author Daniel Friedman responded to the post, "'It’s legal to shoot journalists' is certainly an interesting take from Politico.” I also responded, but my words are not fit for these pages, so I won’t tell you exactly what I said to Gerstein.
I cannot help but wonder why everyone is more upset with Shirley and his reporting than they are about millions of dollars in alleged fraud he uncovered in a single day. This would appear to be another case of TDS running rampant, only now it has extended to journalists working hard to expose something negative about a blue state.
