December 18, 2025 • 42 mins
Jon continues the show, playing clips and breaking down the recent fraud hearing and discussing whether or not to dress up on flights.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
Yeah, does Daffy fi coach class at all, because you
pretty much need workout gear.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Just to be able to fit in those seats.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
With all the contortions you gotta go through to fit
in those little, tiny little seats that you're lucky if
they fit your hips much less your shoulders.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
So yeah, maybe he just try flying coach.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
The revival of dressing up for planes is stupid. You
can't wear belts or shoes. Nobody can dress up without
belts and shoes when you gotta put them on that
dumb tsa conveyor belt.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Good morning, John Scott from larth Bridge. A leader can
never not lead.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
It's always important to dress well.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Hey, good morning guys, John.
Speaker 5 (00:58):
I actually had this conversation with my wife when Sean
Duffy came out and said, let's let's take flying a
little more serious. I explained it to my wife and
the same way that I want a conservative governor of Minnesota.
You're not going to get the greatest, most conservative individual.
You got to start somewhere in the middle first, for.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
So far left.
Speaker 5 (01:19):
Yeah, so yeah, you don't have to go straight to
the three piece suit when you're flying. Let's just start
with not wearing pajama.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yeah, I can get on board. I can get on
board with that. I can get I can get on
board with that.
Speaker 6 (01:30):
But my question remains, why, what what are we solving
by not?
Speaker 2 (01:37):
I don't want to look at an incredibly slovenly individual.
I would rather not be seated next to a slav.
I think that there's a board. I think that there
are Well, why is wearing sweatpants slavin? No, I don't think.
I don't think in and of itself, sweatpants are slovenly.
I also think that there's varying definitions of what that
(01:58):
can entail. Like some but he could actually look at
what I'm wearing today and say like these are sweatpants
when technically you call them it's like more like joggers. Right, yeah,
they're in the sweatpants family. No, but there are individuals
that do they literally go and they dress in their pjs,
like me going to the airport wearing my you know,
Mandalorian and Grogu pjs and hopping on a flight. Do
(02:19):
you want to sit you want to sit next to me? Wan,
I'm bring Mando and Grogu.
Speaker 6 (02:22):
Do you have deodoran on? If yes, then I'll be fine.
If no, then it probably wouldn't matter either way whatever
you were wearing.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Ah, let's go try to look at the top. Oh man,
we got a lot of talkbacks. All right, we need
to reset the reset the stage here. We have other
things to get to us. I rifle through the talkbacks
this morning, so we'll continue to take your comments here
on Twin Cities News Talk Am eleven thirty one oh
three five FM from the six five to one Carpet
Next Day install and studios. Let's go here.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
I'd like to point out a very important fact that
Sean dup If he was selected to be the Secretary
of Transportation because of his time on MTV's Road Rules,
and so we shouldn't be downgrading his understanding of what
travel is supposed to look like and how you're supposed
to look when you're traveling, and so we should be
listening to exactly what he's saying.
Speaker 7 (03:17):
Hey, John David from Shorewood, first time talkbacker here, enjoy
the show. Thank you so much. Hey. On the topic
of travel, I think that at leisurewear is the way
to go. Give with the times people. Yeah, I'm still
agree be presentable and have a crisp look yeah, but
also be comfortable at leisure. Wearers might go to traveling. Thanks,
(03:39):
enjoy the show, have a great holidays, and Merry Christmas, Hoby.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
I think we all have varying definitions of an individual
who you would say is dressed like a slob. And
I've been on flights dressed next two slobs. I just
would rather not be on a flight dress next to
a slob. And typically what comes with that is bad
hijiing too.
Speaker 6 (03:56):
So well, that's the key distinction is if there is
bad higien involved, then I get that. But it's not
like if a person wears the odor and brust their teeth,
but is wearing say, socks and sandals, socks and slides.
It's not like going to infect you with the slovenly
like by sitting next to them, all of a sudden,
you're infected, and now you're gonna be, you know, wearing
(04:17):
pajamas all of a sudden.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
It's just like, okay, they were not good morning, John.
Speaker 8 (04:24):
Former neighbor Mike here, I can directly tell you when
casualness started nineteen ninety two. Oh and the progenitor of
it was Jack Welch, then chairman of General Electric. I
wore a suit to work every day for the ten
years prior to that, and I worked in.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
An aluminum boundary with molten metal coming at me.
Speaker 8 (04:44):
Jack Welch casual everything out and that's when attitudes changed.
And he's the guy that wanted everything to go to China.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Have a good day for now. Let's go ahead and
let this comment from a friend of the show be
the final word on this topic as we move on
to other issues. I just appreciate his candidness and laying
down his feelings on the matter. What the real I do.
Speaker 9 (05:04):
Think being implemented. I doubt that I'm gonna be flying anytime, Shillman.
I don't like flying in the first place. As far
as the TFA crap, and I'm not gonna address all
fancy while I have to go through tsay crap. I'm
gonna wear the easiest clothes possible.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
I gotta ask Logan, he's my pilot son. I gotta
see what his thoughts on I mean, he wants to
be a commercial hairline pilot, so I'd be curious with
his thoughts. And friend of the show Ben if he
happens to be listening, but usually he gets caught up
on the podcast, he's a Delta pilot.
Speaker 6 (05:38):
Past one more question? Sure, why are we turning on TSA?
That was the second talk fact that is turning on TSA.
I feel like they serve an important purpose.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Yeah, they get the brunt, They get the brunt of
a lot of people's ire, even though a lot of
times they're just following directions. I think it's I think
it's tough because that's gotta be one pretty thankless job
to not really a fun job. Correct, Sorry, you're dealing
with the public all day long. Yes, for because of
all that, generally speaking, your attitude is not going to
be the best. So I don't think a lot of
people consider that when they go flying and it just
(06:09):
comes down to, ugh, I'm going through security. TSA looks miserable.
Now I'm miserable. And I think this plays into the
entire conversation in and of itself, and part of what
Duffy was saying though, if we can kind of elevate
the experience in any way, shape or form, and I
liked the comment of well that degrades the experience if
we're wearing a suit. Let me tell you, well, it doesn't.
(06:31):
I mean, for me, if I've got an individual seated
next to me on a flight in a suit, I'm going,
you know, I think that's nice. That's I think that's good.
But what I'm saying is I like the talk back
that was laying out how Duffy's not saying everybody wear suits,
but maybe just reconsider dressing a little bit nicer when
you go on a flight, start off with little tiny steps.
But the TSA thing, I think it's just because it's
(06:53):
a miserable experience from the time you arrive at the
airport until you actually get on the flight. And let's
be honest, the flights aren't really all that much fun
unless you're my son and he just likes to go
and travel on airliners. So the whole experience is kind
of kind of miserable. No, it's it's not fun dealing
with them. And I can understand I could put myself
in their shoes and be you know, pissy as well,
but I feel like they're we can't just throw out
(07:14):
the baby with the bathwater, because I'd rather have them
do that than not. Okay, I'm gonna let this one
be the last comment on this for now.
Speaker 10 (07:22):
Yeah, I think We can sum this conversation up by
basically saying, dress for the role that you want in life.
Dress for where you want to be in life. If
you want to be in sweatpants and if you want
to be in pajamas and that's how you want to
be portrayed in life, then that's great. But if you
want to get somewhere, and if you want to be professional,
(07:44):
and if you want to meet great people and be
treated with respect, then dress like it.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
That's all right. I'm gonna stop you there. I know
I can see it on your face. We got to
move on. I know, I know you want to Leah,
I got you. If you want, you can. If you want,
you can turn if your mic and go leave a
talkback and then I can go and play that if
you'd like. You gotta go that wrap. Well, you gotta
get those numbers up. Let's go here. This may have
listened a few phone calls. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty
(08:12):
yesterday announced a brand new policy aimed at preventing false
confessions and protecting children's constitutional rights. Okay, prosecutors will now
now stop using statements from children thirteen and under Under
(08:35):
the new policy, prosecutors will no longer use as evidence
in court statements from those who are thirteen and under.
In addition, they will only use statements from children who
are between fourteen and seventeen if certain conditions are met.
I guess immediately, why, I just go, why don't you
just use that policy on all students? I mean, on
(08:56):
all children. Now I'll get to their rationale why. But
that's the part of this that I don't like, is
that you having conditions for fourteen and seventeen if certain
conditions are met, why limit yourself and why not just
apply that same rule to those thirteen and under. The
(09:17):
policy will not apply in situations where officers questions are
to prevent the child or someone else from being injured.
Morey already said her office has been working on the
policy for months. Okay, well, that's what they've been doing
in not prosecuting criminals. Pointed out a high profile murder
case in which she said it would have been useful.
(09:38):
There was an individual who was sixteen arrested in charge
with a murder in North Minneapolis, never confessed, was convicted,
spent time in prison, but he did not apparently commit
the crime was exonerated after a judge rule that his
conviction hinged on an unconstitutional eyewitness testimony. There's no details
in the story from Fox nine about what or not
(10:00):
the age I had anything to do with that, but
that does it may false confessions, they say in the story,
are a nationwide problem. According to the data released by
the Hennipen County Attorney's Office, thirty five percent of exonerated
people who were charged as children gave false confessions. The
office said the number nearly doubles to sixty percent when
the children are charged under fourteen. According to the data,
(10:20):
I'd be curious to know what exactly they're looking at
in terms of this data and what the criteria is
as well. Let me back up a little bit. I
just don't trust anything coming out of the Hennepin County
Attorney's Office at all. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, it's
such such damaged goods. Mariarty said there could be at
(10:48):
least one downside to the policy, though she said it
would be rare. I suppose there could be a scenario
where a child confesses to some type of crime and
that's the only evidence that we have so we may
not be able to charge it more already said her
office worked with the Hennepen County Chiefs of Police Association
when they formulated the policy. When reached for comment via
(11:09):
email on Wednesday, the organization said it would not have
a response until today, So keep an eye on what
exactly they say. And as I mentioned before, why not
just use discretion. Why have a planket policy wherein you're
taking away any possibility of an under thirteen year old's testimony.
The other aspect of this too, and I'd be curious
(11:30):
to know if you have any thoughts on this. We
have another example of liberal hypocrisy. Though miners can drag
their parents to court, legally go and disassociate with them
if the parent doesn't support their gender identity, children can
choose their own gender identity and then get life time
damage health work. I'm not calling it care because it's
(11:51):
not care to go and do anything relating to gender
reassignment surgery or drugs to any child who was under
the age of eighteen. That's not healthcare, that's just health work.
But they can be but they can't be trusted to
be a witness to a crime. I mean, which way
are we going to go on this whole thing. We'll
get to your talkbacks coming up from the iHeartRadio app
in just a moment here on Twin City's News Talk,
(12:13):
and then we will dive into yesterday's House Fraud Committee meeting.
Rather interesting commentary and pushback coming from Governor Tim Walls.
We have a lot of audio to share on the
way as well, and as I mentioned, we'll get to
your comments from the iHeartRadio app talkbacks brought to you
by Lyndahl Realty next here on Twin City's News Talk
AM eleven thirty and one oh three five FM.
Speaker 11 (12:44):
Good morning, John, addressed for the job I want.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
So now I'm sitting in my Batman T shirt and
hr yay, great Christmas.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
For dressing for the job that we want. I'm wearing
an Alex Bowman NASCAR shirt.
Speaker 8 (12:58):
So on.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Mary Moriarty and her uh no longer taking any witness
testimony from those under the age of thirteen. Again, it
just makes me shake my head at how democrats just
pick and choose when a child is intelligent enough to
make certain decisions. So in this case, a minor Nope,
(13:24):
can't take their testimony. Were relating to crime Oh, but
they can go and choose whether or not they're a
boy or a girl. Yeah, make it make sense.
Speaker 12 (13:32):
All you had to do was say the word moriarty
and I immediately turned off anything.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
She's come up with absolutely nothing.
Speaker 12 (13:40):
The woman has zero.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yeah, no, I know you got cut off there. But
she's dangerous, especially since she's not running for reelection. She's
absolutely dangerous. She's completely un hinged from having to worry
about what the public thinks about her. She is a
true religious zealot when it comes to her social justice disbeliefs,
since she continues to implement them to the detriment of
(14:04):
the people in Hennepin County. Speaking of detriments Hennepin County,
but also State of Minnesota, Governor Tim Walls yesterday posted outrageous.
He wrote, he wrote, or whoever runs his account, maybe
it's Hope Walls. I expect my Republican colleagues to attack
me in an election year, but to actively cover up
(14:27):
fraud in an attempt to further a political agenda is
beyond the pale. This needs to be resolved immediately. So
what is Governor Tim Walls going on about? The buffoon
is commenting on how the House Fraud Committee was withholding
whistleblower tips from DHS investigations. Now that should immediately click
(14:49):
for you, going, wait, what the whistleblowers wouldn't be needed
if their concerns over fraud red flags weren't ignored by
the Walls administration. It's that very point as to why
there are whistleblowers in the first place, because there are
individuals within DHS, within the Walls Administration that we're looking
(15:11):
at the data, the requests coming from these various programs
that have turned out to be investigated for fraud or
have become fraudulent, and when they brought those concerns to
the upper chains of command within the Walls administration, they
were either ignored or sometimes individuals were threatened to keep
their mouths shut. And now Walls wants to sit back
(15:32):
and act like, oh, it's just they're actively trying to
cover things up just the absolute worse. It's getting tiresome
at this point, but it doesn't mean it's not true.
It's pure gas lighting by Governor Tim Walls. So let
me keep jump to speed on what took place last night,
(15:52):
and I'm going to refer to a friend of the
show and Representative Walter Hudson who posted this clip after
the Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and Stay to oversight a
policy committee meeting that took place yesterday.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
So we just saw in our most recent fraud committee
hearing that took place here today, more theater of the absurd.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Here's the top line. One of our.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Legislative staff, single handedly, using nothing but publicly available information,
was able to piece together a web of concerning red
flags regarding multiple individuals, multiple businesses, and of course agencies
that are providing payments for these Medicare services. The response
(16:39):
to that research from Democrats was to jump on us
and accuse it of being a partisan political operation. Why
because we didn't share the information with them ahead of time.
Where we didn't share the information with the department, the
information is readily available for literally anybody. All you gotta
(17:01):
do is take a look. So what you're telling me
is that one guy, one legislative staffer can put in
the work to connect these dots, but a state agency
with hundreds of employees needs us to hand that over
them in order for them to know what's going on.
Thanks for proving our point, all right, Thanks for proving
(17:24):
the point that one guy who doesn't have access to
all of their behind the scenes systems tracking payments and whatnot,
can put together a concerning web of red flags.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
But you can't. It's astounding.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Another one of the great comments from the hearing today
was that we need to just trust our providers for
these medicaid services. We need to do a better job
upfront of vetting them so that we can make sure
that we trust them, because by god, we don't have
the capacity to actually make sure that they're doing what
they're supposed to be doing after the fact, even when
there's twenty some odd businesses running out of the same
(18:03):
building in downtown Saint Paul's astounding.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
To Walter's point, I had a listener that reached out
to me this week, and it wasn't in a negative.
They genuinely wanted to know I've been sharing on the show.
How if you go back to the Biden years, the
time when Biden was in office in the midst of
all these ice circumstances wherein they're serving warrants, arresting criminal,
(18:29):
illegal aliens, and the protesters are showing up, and then
you get Brian O'Hara out there comparing immigrants that are
being arrested for being here illegally and also committing other crimes,
to marrying Joseph and the Madinger and the birth of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ right, and how none
of them cared because in the years of Biden was
in office, you had almost approximately four thousand arrests by
(18:53):
ICE of illegal aliens here in the state, and they
never said anything. I had a listener that reached out
and was like, where are you getting your data from?
What's what's what's the source? And I went, well, it's easy,
it's the Department of Homeland Security. But I just hit
a Google search and it comes right up. And again
it wasn't a negative on the on the on the listener,
(19:13):
they genuinely wanted to share it with other people, Like
what I'm talking about is what Walter is saying. It's
that simple. Any news media outlet could go and do
what I did and make the point of if you
guys are all up in arms about what's happening now,
why don't you go and look and see how many
times immigrants here in Minnesota were arrested by ICE in
the years prior, and you guys didn't say anything, and
(19:35):
the same thing rings true with what's taking place here
and this idea that Walls is, you know, apoplectic about
actively covering up the fraud. They're not sharing this with us.
The data is readily available. All you have to do
is go look. And apparently we've uncovered the real issue here,
and it is the complete lack of curiosity coming from
(19:55):
Governor Tim Walls in this administration. They simply don't They
are not curious, they don't care. You apply whatever rationale
you would like to apply as to why they wouldn't
want to look and why they don't care. We'll get
into more of this coming up in just a moment.
I have audio to share from that committee meeting, including
the chair of the Fraud Prevention Estate Oversight Policy Committee
(20:18):
and gubernatorial candidate, Representative Kristen Robbins, and we'll get some
more of your thoughts from the iHeartRadio app here on
twin City's News Talk from at am eleven thirty and
one oh three five FM.
Speaker 13 (20:33):
John, I've been working with the government for over ten years.
They get dumber by the day. Ninety plus percent of
them do absolutely nothing. We could fire three quarters of
the government tomorrow, and the only people who had noticed
are the three quarters of the government aren't getting a paycheck.
Everyone else would see the system as drastically.
Speaker 14 (20:55):
Good morning, John and Brett. Over the past several years,
you have played many of my talkbacks, to which I
can only say thank you. I am grateful and I
am humbled to have been able to have an opportunity
to have my voice heard on what I consider one
of the best talk show programs in the country. And
(21:17):
I just want to tell you guys, I appreciate you
for the sacrifices you make by the early hours you
keep and I hope you have a great Christmas.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Thank you for that, Scott, I appreciate it.
Speaker 15 (21:27):
Hey, John Mick calling in from Arizona. What drives me
crazy and makes me want to just give up and
not care anymore is people like Walls and people on
the left in general can just say anything and it
doesn't matter. There's no consequences.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
They can say one.
Speaker 15 (21:47):
Thing today and another thing tomorrow and it doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
I completely agree. I completely agree, it really really is.
It's I don't know how else to describe it other
than just unfor fortunate, and I can share I'm not
going to waste time on the show, but I could.
I can share instances within conservative circles, even even recently,
(22:12):
wherein individuals are out there spouting nonsense and fellow conservatives
just don't stand for it. They don't let it, they
don't let it slide. There are standards that are held
on the right that the left just simply does not have.
Right now, Walls continuing to go out and perpetuate this
(22:34):
lie about a special session and how the Republicans just
won't take a vote, and prominent individuals buy into this garbage.
They accept the excuses that Walls puts forward. They make
excuses for him, saying, well, right, he can't call a
special He's the only one that can call a special session.
(22:56):
Nobody else can. But why would he call a special
session if it's just going to be that they're going
to go and vote it down. Okay, but you can't
go and say that Republicans aren't willing to take a vote,
if you're not going to give Republicans the opportunity to
go and take a vote. And we all know the
reason why is because he doesn't have the votes in
the Senate in order to get he's going to reform
(23:18):
measures past.
Speaker 16 (23:24):
You know, Walls may not be wrong, they may be
truly stunned that they were able to come up with
this information, because you know, if there's no accountability for
any of these programs, is there any accountability for the
employees in the state. A lot of them are still
working remotely. Are they held accountable for the amount of
work that they get done? Chances are they really don't
(23:47):
know how to get anything done. I mean, look at
how they run the state. So it doesn't surprise me
too much.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
So Walls wrote yesterday this is what caught my attention,
saying it's outrageous. I expect Republican colleagues to attack me
in an election year, but to actively cover up an
attempt to further a political agenda is really beyond the pale.
This needs to be resolved immediately, and he was responding
to the fact that Representative Christian Robbins, chair of the
Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Oversight Policy Committee, shared
(24:18):
Wednesday that whistleblower tips that had come to the GOP
leadership have not been forwarded to the Department of Human Services. Instead,
robin said they were being sent to other investigators, including
the US Attorney's Office.
Speaker 17 (24:32):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
I'd like to respond to that.
Speaker 18 (24:33):
So, we did receive your letter, Inspector General, asking us
to share information with you on credible whistleblower reports, and
to date we have not because there is no trust.
As you might understand, this fraud has been perpetuated on
your watch, and the whistleblowers who reach out to us
within the department are terrified and they feel that they've
(24:54):
been retaliated against already.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
They feel that they are very afraid.
Speaker 18 (24:58):
They're afraid to reach out to us, and if they thought.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
We were then turning around.
Speaker 18 (25:03):
And giving it to you, we would not have whistleblowers.
So we initiated a whistleblower portal last spring in response
to people who were afraid to come to you, and
that has received hundreds of tips.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
Belatedly, you all also.
Speaker 18 (25:17):
Put out a whistleblower report portal this fall, which I
think hopefully is also generating tips. But when I get
credible allegations of fraud from whistleblowers, we meet with them,
we interview them. We ferreted out as much as possible,
but as you know, legislators do not have access to
bank records, health records, subpoena power the swift payment system
(25:38):
that the state uses to pay things. So I can
only get an investigation so far, but when we get it,
we go to the US Attorney, the FBI, and the
Office of Legislative Auditor, who have access to all those records.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
So our whistleblowers are.
Speaker 18 (25:51):
Being protected and they are also being reviewed for further investigation.
And I would like to have a more collaborative relationship
with you. But I have to say, if whistle flowers
thought we were turning everything over to you, it would
stop again.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
The whistleblowers wouldn't be needed if their concerns over fraud
and red flags weren't ignored by the Walls administration. So
I sat down for my lunch yesterday steak salad left
over from the day before. It was quite nice. We
got these, uh, we got a container of these mozzarella
(26:26):
balls in oil from Costco recently. I know, Brett, you're
looking at me like, what in the world are you
talking about? They're so tasty. So yeah, they're they're months
there's just balls of mozzarella. You know, I don't know
what you would, you know, like Hershey's kiss sized, but
you know, globes and they're just in oil.
Speaker 9 (26:45):
So good.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
I threw some of those in there with my steak
and some lettuce. And did you take the sample from
behind the desk or in front of the desk?
Speaker 16 (26:52):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (26:52):
From from in front? Originally? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I saw
somebody almost. Melinda pointed out a Costco recently that a
guy almost did that, and she still becomes like, don't
do it, dude. For those that don't recall, I was
a castle one go back. Yeah, yeah, it was a
while ago now, but I reached in to get a sample.
But I came in from behind the woman who was
cooking the food at the at the isle sample spot,
(27:16):
and she slapped my hand. I still haven't gotten over that,
by the way. So I sit down for my lunch yesterday,
the whole point of why I'm bringing this up. I
sit down for my lunch, I turn on YouTube, and
sure enough, it was right as the Fraud Committee hearing that.
You're hearing the clips from what's going on, and thankfully
I was able to listen to and watch it live.
That clip that you just heard from Representative Kristin Robbins,
(27:37):
goubernatorial candidate. What preceded it was commentary from DFLER Representative
Emma Greenman. Second time this week, she makes an appearance
on the show, and it was laughable. She was droning
on and on about how frustrating it was that this
was partisan. You guys aren't working together in a bipartisan
(27:59):
fashion and sharing this information with us, And I'm just laughing,
like I can't even get to my salad because I'm
laughing at the television. I'm laughing at this ridiculous Democrat
who's out there talking like they ever ever want to
negotiate or be bipartisan with Republicans. Ever, during the time
when they had the trifecta, they could not ignore Republicans
(28:22):
harder if they tried. And yet during all of this,
because they're being exposed for the horrible party that they are,
and she's sitting back going, oh, I just can't you know,
he's just so partisan. You're not sharing this information with us,
How can it be trusted? The House Prevention Committee Fraud
(28:42):
Prevention Committee, which has a Republican majority, set up a
new whistleblower hotline earlier this year. Robin said that there
are hundreds of tips that have been received through the hotline.
Speaker 18 (28:53):
Privately in my office over the months, and we have
a good dialogue. I also think what would build trust
is responses to my inquiry. So after every hearing since June,
I've sent letters to the department asking for additional data.
I've had one response and it was after a press inquiry.
So I have six outstanding data requests to the Department
(29:17):
that I'm still waiting for information on. So would help
build trust if you would respond to me. So we
will continue to work on building trust. And I really
mean that, but it has to be a two way street.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
After the committee meeting on Wednesday, Channel five had asked
the Minnesota DHS Inspector General James Clark, who is tasked
with stopping fraud and taxpayer funded safety net programs, about
the tips not being shared with his office. He says,
I want to work in partnership with anybody that is
serious in tackling these issues. Clark said, if you have
(29:52):
evidence I can use to stop payments going to frosters,
I would much like that information.
Speaker 9 (30:00):
Now.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
A part of what was exposed during this committee meeting
yesterday was this idea of trust and never verify. This
has basically been the Governor Tim walls administrative policy position
until right now, trust but never verify. This is the
excuse that they're using as to why there was no
(30:24):
alarm bells going off. Why DHS employees raising red flags
about the dramatic increase in funding requests to these programs
basically went completely ignored. It was this idea of trust
but never verify. I have another clip I want to
share with you here in just a moment, and a
portion of this is from James Clark from DHS. Let's
(30:46):
go here really quick to the iHeartRadio app. Your talkback's
brought to you by Lyndall Realty.
Speaker 9 (30:50):
Fresh Malad, Thabrella and oil and State Salad. Mean, Oh
my god, God, I'm tellings and I'm kind of a
boon s nab.
Speaker 7 (30:59):
Yep.
Speaker 19 (31:00):
There's absolutely no trust whatsoever there. And you know, the
hole in the boat is getting bigger, and the more
that the Democrats bail to try to cover this up,
the more the whole is getting bigger. So I would
encourage those who have knowledge to come forward and save yourselves. Otherwise,
here going down with the boat.
Speaker 12 (31:22):
Have a good day.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Here's here's a portion James Clark from DHS and the
Minnesota House and Fraud Oversight Committee. Again he's asked about
this trust and never verify. And here is the exchange
back and forth yesterday in Saint Paul.
Speaker 17 (31:36):
What have we done about looking at attendance records? Because
we saw what for example, feed in their future it
was all fake names. And you know in this case
they have to they have to have something authorized to medicaid,
which I appreciate. We've heard from numerous county officials about
the pressure that they get to approve socially senior care
(32:00):
and accept the sentence. So it's all fraudulent. But what
have we done about the attendance records? Because if we're
only going out in every two years and you know,
peaking to see if they have, you know, something going out,
we don't know that they're actually spending twelve hours a
day or eight hours a day at what used to
be a senior center, you know, years ago in some cases.
Speaker 13 (32:23):
So what are we doing about that?
Speaker 12 (32:28):
Thank you?
Speaker 20 (32:28):
Representative Anderson. So reviewing attendance records is a part of
our licensing site visits, right, But like you said, those
don't happen every year, right, we have limited capacity. We
have not only adult day but thousands and thousands and
thousands right of license medicaid programs in the state. So
license periodic licensing reviews would be one way that we're
(32:48):
looking at attendance records. Another way we would be looking
at attendance records would be if we are receiving tips
of fraud or attendance falsification. If we're receiving those tips
that investigate like fraud investigators would go out and investigate providers.
(33:09):
But I think what you're getting at is we I
mean medicaid also is it's a trust based system, right,
Like we do not have the staff at DHS. We
do not have the technology to be looking over everyone's
shoulder verifying every attendance record making sure that every bill
that submit to us is appropriate.
Speaker 7 (33:29):
Right.
Speaker 20 (33:29):
We need to be able to trust the providers that
they are doing the right thing. So what can we
do on the front end to make sure that we
weed out as many untrustworthy providers as possible. That's where
I think we need to be focusing as a state
because what you're getting at, right is like we're only
doing licensing reviews every couple of years, right, and then
we're only responding to tips like when we get them,
(33:51):
So what are what are we missing? And a part
of that is we just need to be able to
trust these providers that are entering our programs. So what
can we do to vet to verify that these are
trustworthy businesses and individuals that we're doing business with? SS
State so happy to partner with you on solutions too,
but provider vetting on the front end is where we
(34:15):
need to be focusing our efforts if we want to
get ahead of fraud in our state.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Here's the thought, because I've heard this excuse, because that's
what it is, it's an excuse. I've heard this excuse
coming from individuals in the Walls administration that they don't
have enough manpower to do the necessary reviews. They only
(34:40):
go out and audit these various social servicing programs on
rare occasions because they simply don't have the manpower to
go and review all these different services. Well, then stop
issuing and approving app Stop approving applications and issuing license
is for individuals to provide these services. If you don't
(35:03):
have the man power to go and check on those services,
how is this? How is this this hard? You shouldn't
be going and giving licenses to daycare centers and autism centers.
You shouldn't be going and giving these licenses wherein Medicaid
(35:26):
dollars are requested if you don't have the man power
in order to go and inspect these different services that
are being provided, unless you just want the fraud it.
This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, and
more than likely, more than likely, this is a circumstance
(35:47):
where this just never happens. This probably happens all over
the place. It doesn't make it right, though, I'm just
tired of hearing this excuse. If you don't have the
manpower to inspect these places, then you should only be
authorizing enough different applications and handing out licenses for the
places you can actually go and inspect.
Speaker 21 (36:04):
John.
Speaker 13 (36:05):
This is the blueprint that DFL.
Speaker 21 (36:07):
Is using across the country to turn our country into
a third world nation where they have a strong go.
Speaker 13 (36:13):
Hold on power indefinitely.
Speaker 21 (36:15):
Let illegals come in here, vote for them, get free benefits,
get all kinds of stuff for free off the backs
of people working, and if they'll keep voting for them,
Walls is just the one dumb enough to buy it all.
Speaker 13 (36:27):
Get exposed so yeah, our work fits for him.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
Yeah, well he got away with it for a long time.
This is a lengthier clip. I'll see how much I'll
get in here. But to my point, the Walls administration
could not even answer during this Fraud Committee hearing that
took place yesterday. They couldn't even answer Representative Schultz and
one simple question, what do you ask for from providers
(36:53):
to prove that they have any level of expertise in
providing the care? Or are there no qualifications? They couldn't
even answer this question.
Speaker 12 (37:02):
Thank you, Adam Chair. I am struck a little bit
by some of the things shared today, but just following
this train of thought of the last couple questions here
from an agency perspective, as you're looking at the licensing
of these providers, what do you ask for from providers
to prove that they have any level of expertise in
(37:26):
providing this care? Or are there no qualifications that they
need to have? Can they just be some individual right
off the street that starts a new business in this space?
What additional background are you seeking that has resulted in
this large increase in number of providers?
Speaker 20 (37:45):
Thanks for the question, Representative Schultz. So unfortunately I don't
have all of the statutes in front of me, but
each license service has statutes and rules which lays out
the requirements for obtaining licensure. I don't know if it's
across the board, but some of those statues do require
an evaluation of competency to be made by the department.
(38:09):
So to the extent we as a state want to
look at that, and I think it's it's we should
be looking at potentially raising the qualifications, raising the competency levels,
raising what we expect from providers, so that that's my opinion,
might not be the department's opinion, but I think anything
we can do to vet on the front end to
(38:30):
make sure that providers that are getting licenses are competent
and qualified to provide these services, I am one hundred
percent on board for that and examining where those gaps
may exist. But to answer your question, each of these
services have different licensing requirements and different requirements about what
showings need to be made in order to get licensed,
and so that's another thing. So we have an incredibly
(38:52):
complicated system with different rules across these license services. So
thinking about how we can make it more uniform also
is something I think we work on as a state representations.
Speaker 12 (39:03):
Well, thank you, Adam Chair and Inspector General. I'm glad
to hear you share a lot of that, and I
think that you know, whether it's what we hear from
whistleblowers or from Minnesotan's I think if we followed the
precept that you outlined, we might see a higher level
of care for those people too, for the people who
actually need it.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
Right, But Inspector.
Speaker 12 (39:24):
General, I think that that then brings me to something
you said earlier and something I want to kind of
follow down the line of and we talked about following
billing patterns. You spent a moment of the day talking
about the role that counties play in collecting this information,
that it's a social service individual who ultimately grants this
(39:50):
ability for this care. What do you think, Inspector General,
do we need to do. Do we need to add
to statute so that there is a greater level of
scrutin me that a county employee places over whether or
not that individual receives care spector channel' Clark.
Speaker 20 (40:12):
I guess I would be opened right to that, you know,
looking at solutions. I mean I've heard anecdotally right that
we are seeing serious troubles with our county case management system.
Folks are over work, they're underpaid, there's high turnover. So
a lot of the stuff that case managers should be
seeing on the front end, correcting, reporting to the department,
(40:36):
a lot of that stuff is falling through the cracks.
So I don't know if it's a statute change or
rule change.
Speaker 2 (40:41):
It just sounds like they're making excuses. It's just too hard.
It's just hard. I don't know. It sounds like a
lot of work. They have to go and follow up
and actually make sure that these dollars are that are
being requested are actually legitimate and not fraudulent.
Speaker 11 (40:57):
Hey, John pat friend of the show. I worked for
the federal government for twenty five years in the finance area.
Granted we didn't have the number of people to check
every single thing done, but I knew that I would
get audited by two different entities, one internal and one external,
(41:19):
and they would spot check and just give me things
for them to.
Speaker 15 (41:25):
Let me translate what the dude just said, come steal
from us because we're not looking yep.
Speaker 2 (41:31):
Pretty much. None of this would fly in the private sector.
That's what's so disgusting about all of it. None of
this would end up flying at all, this lack of oversight,
this level of fraud, So many people would have lost
their jobs, Companies would have been destroyed if they had
(41:51):
a fraction of the fraud and controversies that have occurred
under the watch of Governor Tim Walls. Well, keep a
bit with the theme. I got a couple of more
fraud related stories. Bill Glon's got a great piece I
want to share with you coming up about how fraud
is actually baked into the state budget. Louver Goose from
Caro Levin has a brand new clip that he's put
(42:13):
up regarding fraud in daycare centers. We'll share that with
you and we'll continue to work through the stack. Things
I haven't had a chance to get to on the
show this year, including from both overseas and here in America,
the Words of the Year and this year's most mispronounced words.
I have a very special clip from Zohran Mamdani who's
(42:33):
on that list, that I'll share with you coming up
in hour three here on Twin City's News Talk Am
eleven thirty and one oh three five FM.
Yeah, does Daffy fi coach class at all, because you
pretty much need workout gear.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Just to be able to fit in those seats.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
With all the contortions you gotta go through to fit
in those little, tiny little seats that you're lucky if
they fit your hips much less your shoulders.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
So yeah, maybe he just try flying coach.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
The revival of dressing up for planes is stupid. You
can't wear belts or shoes. Nobody can dress up without
belts and shoes when you gotta put them on that
dumb tsa conveyor belt.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Good morning, John Scott from larth Bridge. A leader can
never not lead.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
It's always important to dress well.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Hey, good morning guys, John.
Speaker 5 (00:58):
I actually had this conversation with my wife when Sean
Duffy came out and said, let's let's take flying a
little more serious. I explained it to my wife and
the same way that I want a conservative governor of Minnesota.
You're not going to get the greatest, most conservative individual.
You got to start somewhere in the middle first, for.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
So far left.
Speaker 5 (01:19):
Yeah, so yeah, you don't have to go straight to
the three piece suit when you're flying. Let's just start
with not wearing pajama.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yeah, I can get on board. I can get on
board with that. I can get I can get on
board with that.
Speaker 6 (01:30):
But my question remains, why, what what are we solving
by not?
Speaker 2 (01:37):
I don't want to look at an incredibly slovenly individual.
I would rather not be seated next to a slav.
I think that there's a board. I think that there
are Well, why is wearing sweatpants slavin? No, I don't think.
I don't think in and of itself, sweatpants are slovenly.
I also think that there's varying definitions of what that
(01:58):
can entail. Like some but he could actually look at
what I'm wearing today and say like these are sweatpants
when technically you call them it's like more like joggers. Right, yeah,
they're in the sweatpants family. No, but there are individuals
that do they literally go and they dress in their pjs,
like me going to the airport wearing my you know,
Mandalorian and Grogu pjs and hopping on a flight. Do
(02:19):
you want to sit you want to sit next to me? Wan,
I'm bring Mando and Grogu.
Speaker 6 (02:22):
Do you have deodoran on? If yes, then I'll be fine.
If no, then it probably wouldn't matter either way whatever
you were wearing.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Ah, let's go try to look at the top. Oh man,
we got a lot of talkbacks. All right, we need
to reset the reset the stage here. We have other
things to get to us. I rifle through the talkbacks
this morning, so we'll continue to take your comments here
on Twin Cities News Talk Am eleven thirty one oh
three five FM from the six five to one Carpet
Next Day install and studios. Let's go here.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
I'd like to point out a very important fact that
Sean dup If he was selected to be the Secretary
of Transportation because of his time on MTV's Road Rules,
and so we shouldn't be downgrading his understanding of what
travel is supposed to look like and how you're supposed
to look when you're traveling, and so we should be
listening to exactly what he's saying.
Speaker 7 (03:17):
Hey, John David from Shorewood, first time talkbacker here, enjoy
the show. Thank you so much. Hey. On the topic
of travel, I think that at leisurewear is the way
to go. Give with the times people. Yeah, I'm still
agree be presentable and have a crisp look yeah, but
also be comfortable at leisure. Wearers might go to traveling. Thanks,
(03:39):
enjoy the show, have a great holidays, and Merry Christmas, Hoby.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
I think we all have varying definitions of an individual
who you would say is dressed like a slob. And
I've been on flights dressed next two slobs. I just
would rather not be on a flight dress next to
a slob. And typically what comes with that is bad
hijiing too.
Speaker 6 (03:56):
So well, that's the key distinction is if there is
bad higien involved, then I get that. But it's not
like if a person wears the odor and brust their teeth,
but is wearing say, socks and sandals, socks and slides.
It's not like going to infect you with the slovenly
like by sitting next to them, all of a sudden,
you're infected, and now you're gonna be, you know, wearing
(04:17):
pajamas all of a sudden.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
It's just like, okay, they were not good morning, John.
Speaker 8 (04:24):
Former neighbor Mike here, I can directly tell you when
casualness started nineteen ninety two. Oh and the progenitor of
it was Jack Welch, then chairman of General Electric. I
wore a suit to work every day for the ten
years prior to that, and I worked in.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
An aluminum boundary with molten metal coming at me.
Speaker 8 (04:44):
Jack Welch casual everything out and that's when attitudes changed.
And he's the guy that wanted everything to go to China.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Have a good day for now. Let's go ahead and
let this comment from a friend of the show be
the final word on this topic as we move on
to other issues. I just appreciate his candidness and laying
down his feelings on the matter. What the real I do.
Speaker 9 (05:04):
Think being implemented. I doubt that I'm gonna be flying anytime, Shillman.
I don't like flying in the first place. As far
as the TFA crap, and I'm not gonna address all
fancy while I have to go through tsay crap. I'm
gonna wear the easiest clothes possible.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
I gotta ask Logan, he's my pilot son. I gotta
see what his thoughts on I mean, he wants to
be a commercial hairline pilot, so I'd be curious with
his thoughts. And friend of the show Ben if he
happens to be listening, but usually he gets caught up
on the podcast, he's a Delta pilot.
Speaker 6 (05:38):
Past one more question? Sure, why are we turning on TSA?
That was the second talk fact that is turning on TSA.
I feel like they serve an important purpose.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Yeah, they get the brunt, They get the brunt of
a lot of people's ire, even though a lot of
times they're just following directions. I think it's I think
it's tough because that's gotta be one pretty thankless job
to not really a fun job. Correct, Sorry, you're dealing
with the public all day long. Yes, for because of
all that, generally speaking, your attitude is not going to
be the best. So I don't think a lot of
people consider that when they go flying and it just
(06:09):
comes down to, ugh, I'm going through security. TSA looks miserable.
Now I'm miserable. And I think this plays into the
entire conversation in and of itself, and part of what
Duffy was saying though, if we can kind of elevate
the experience in any way, shape or form, and I
liked the comment of well that degrades the experience if
we're wearing a suit. Let me tell you, well, it doesn't.
(06:31):
I mean, for me, if I've got an individual seated
next to me on a flight in a suit, I'm going,
you know, I think that's nice. That's I think that's good.
But what I'm saying is I like the talk back
that was laying out how Duffy's not saying everybody wear suits,
but maybe just reconsider dressing a little bit nicer when
you go on a flight, start off with little tiny steps.
But the TSA thing, I think it's just because it's
(06:53):
a miserable experience from the time you arrive at the
airport until you actually get on the flight. And let's
be honest, the flights aren't really all that much fun
unless you're my son and he just likes to go
and travel on airliners. So the whole experience is kind
of kind of miserable. No, it's it's not fun dealing
with them. And I can understand I could put myself
in their shoes and be you know, pissy as well,
but I feel like they're we can't just throw out
(07:14):
the baby with the bathwater, because I'd rather have them
do that than not. Okay, I'm gonna let this one
be the last comment on this for now.
Speaker 10 (07:22):
Yeah, I think We can sum this conversation up by
basically saying, dress for the role that you want in life.
Dress for where you want to be in life. If
you want to be in sweatpants and if you want
to be in pajamas and that's how you want to
be portrayed in life, then that's great. But if you
want to get somewhere, and if you want to be professional,
(07:44):
and if you want to meet great people and be
treated with respect, then dress like it.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
That's all right. I'm gonna stop you there. I know
I can see it on your face. We got to
move on. I know, I know you want to Leah,
I got you. If you want, you can. If you want,
you can turn if your mic and go leave a
talkback and then I can go and play that if
you'd like. You gotta go that wrap. Well, you gotta
get those numbers up. Let's go here. This may have
listened a few phone calls. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty
(08:12):
yesterday announced a brand new policy aimed at preventing false
confessions and protecting children's constitutional rights. Okay, prosecutors will now
now stop using statements from children thirteen and under Under
(08:35):
the new policy, prosecutors will no longer use as evidence
in court statements from those who are thirteen and under.
In addition, they will only use statements from children who
are between fourteen and seventeen if certain conditions are met.
I guess immediately, why, I just go, why don't you
just use that policy on all students? I mean, on
(08:56):
all children. Now I'll get to their rationale why. But
that's the part of this that I don't like, is
that you having conditions for fourteen and seventeen if certain
conditions are met, why limit yourself and why not just
apply that same rule to those thirteen and under. The
(09:17):
policy will not apply in situations where officers questions are
to prevent the child or someone else from being injured.
Morey already said her office has been working on the
policy for months. Okay, well, that's what they've been doing
in not prosecuting criminals. Pointed out a high profile murder
case in which she said it would have been useful.
(09:38):
There was an individual who was sixteen arrested in charge
with a murder in North Minneapolis, never confessed, was convicted,
spent time in prison, but he did not apparently commit
the crime was exonerated after a judge rule that his
conviction hinged on an unconstitutional eyewitness testimony. There's no details
in the story from Fox nine about what or not
(10:00):
the age I had anything to do with that, but
that does it may false confessions, they say in the story,
are a nationwide problem. According to the data released by
the Hennipen County Attorney's Office, thirty five percent of exonerated
people who were charged as children gave false confessions. The
office said the number nearly doubles to sixty percent when
the children are charged under fourteen. According to the data,
(10:20):
I'd be curious to know what exactly they're looking at
in terms of this data and what the criteria is
as well. Let me back up a little bit. I
just don't trust anything coming out of the Hennepin County
Attorney's Office at all. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, it's
such such damaged goods. Mariarty said there could be at
(10:48):
least one downside to the policy, though she said it
would be rare. I suppose there could be a scenario
where a child confesses to some type of crime and
that's the only evidence that we have so we may
not be able to charge it more already said her
office worked with the Hennepen County Chiefs of Police Association
when they formulated the policy. When reached for comment via
(11:09):
email on Wednesday, the organization said it would not have
a response until today, So keep an eye on what
exactly they say. And as I mentioned before, why not
just use discretion. Why have a planket policy wherein you're
taking away any possibility of an under thirteen year old's testimony.
The other aspect of this too, and I'd be curious
(11:30):
to know if you have any thoughts on this. We
have another example of liberal hypocrisy. Though miners can drag
their parents to court, legally go and disassociate with them
if the parent doesn't support their gender identity, children can
choose their own gender identity and then get life time
damage health work. I'm not calling it care because it's
(11:51):
not care to go and do anything relating to gender
reassignment surgery or drugs to any child who was under
the age of eighteen. That's not healthcare, that's just health work.
But they can be but they can't be trusted to
be a witness to a crime. I mean, which way
are we going to go on this whole thing. We'll
get to your talkbacks coming up from the iHeartRadio app
in just a moment here on Twin City's News Talk,
(12:13):
and then we will dive into yesterday's House Fraud Committee meeting.
Rather interesting commentary and pushback coming from Governor Tim Walls.
We have a lot of audio to share on the
way as well, and as I mentioned, we'll get to
your comments from the iHeartRadio app talkbacks brought to you
by Lyndahl Realty next here on Twin City's News Talk
AM eleven thirty and one oh three five FM.
Speaker 11 (12:44):
Good morning, John, addressed for the job I want.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
So now I'm sitting in my Batman T shirt and
hr yay, great Christmas.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
For dressing for the job that we want. I'm wearing
an Alex Bowman NASCAR shirt.
Speaker 8 (12:58):
So on.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Mary Moriarty and her uh no longer taking any witness
testimony from those under the age of thirteen. Again, it
just makes me shake my head at how democrats just
pick and choose when a child is intelligent enough to
make certain decisions. So in this case, a minor Nope,
(13:24):
can't take their testimony. Were relating to crime Oh, but
they can go and choose whether or not they're a
boy or a girl. Yeah, make it make sense.
Speaker 12 (13:32):
All you had to do was say the word moriarty
and I immediately turned off anything.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
She's come up with absolutely nothing.
Speaker 12 (13:40):
The woman has zero.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yeah, no, I know you got cut off there. But
she's dangerous, especially since she's not running for reelection. She's
absolutely dangerous. She's completely un hinged from having to worry
about what the public thinks about her. She is a
true religious zealot when it comes to her social justice disbeliefs,
since she continues to implement them to the detriment of
(14:04):
the people in Hennepin County. Speaking of detriments Hennepin County,
but also State of Minnesota, Governor Tim Walls yesterday posted outrageous.
He wrote, he wrote, or whoever runs his account, maybe
it's Hope Walls. I expect my Republican colleagues to attack
me in an election year, but to actively cover up
(14:27):
fraud in an attempt to further a political agenda is
beyond the pale. This needs to be resolved immediately. So
what is Governor Tim Walls going on about? The buffoon
is commenting on how the House Fraud Committee was withholding
whistleblower tips from DHS investigations. Now that should immediately click
(14:49):
for you, going, wait, what the whistleblowers wouldn't be needed
if their concerns over fraud red flags weren't ignored by
the Walls administration. It's that very point as to why
there are whistleblowers in the first place, because there are
individuals within DHS, within the Walls Administration that we're looking
(15:11):
at the data, the requests coming from these various programs
that have turned out to be investigated for fraud or
have become fraudulent, and when they brought those concerns to
the upper chains of command within the Walls administration, they
were either ignored or sometimes individuals were threatened to keep
their mouths shut. And now Walls wants to sit back
(15:32):
and act like, oh, it's just they're actively trying to
cover things up just the absolute worse. It's getting tiresome
at this point, but it doesn't mean it's not true.
It's pure gas lighting by Governor Tim Walls. So let
me keep jump to speed on what took place last night,
(15:52):
and I'm going to refer to a friend of the
show and Representative Walter Hudson who posted this clip after
the Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and Stay to oversight a
policy committee meeting that took place yesterday.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
So we just saw in our most recent fraud committee
hearing that took place here today, more theater of the absurd.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Here's the top line. One of our.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Legislative staff, single handedly, using nothing but publicly available information,
was able to piece together a web of concerning red
flags regarding multiple individuals, multiple businesses, and of course agencies
that are providing payments for these Medicare services. The response
(16:39):
to that research from Democrats was to jump on us
and accuse it of being a partisan political operation. Why
because we didn't share the information with them ahead of time.
Where we didn't share the information with the department, the
information is readily available for literally anybody. All you gotta
(17:01):
do is take a look. So what you're telling me
is that one guy, one legislative staffer can put in
the work to connect these dots, but a state agency
with hundreds of employees needs us to hand that over
them in order for them to know what's going on.
Thanks for proving our point, all right, Thanks for proving
(17:24):
the point that one guy who doesn't have access to
all of their behind the scenes systems tracking payments and whatnot,
can put together a concerning web of red flags.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
But you can't. It's astounding.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Another one of the great comments from the hearing today
was that we need to just trust our providers for
these medicaid services. We need to do a better job
upfront of vetting them so that we can make sure
that we trust them, because by god, we don't have
the capacity to actually make sure that they're doing what
they're supposed to be doing after the fact, even when
there's twenty some odd businesses running out of the same
(18:03):
building in downtown Saint Paul's astounding.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
To Walter's point, I had a listener that reached out
to me this week, and it wasn't in a negative.
They genuinely wanted to know I've been sharing on the show.
How if you go back to the Biden years, the
time when Biden was in office in the midst of
all these ice circumstances wherein they're serving warrants, arresting criminal,
(18:29):
illegal aliens, and the protesters are showing up, and then
you get Brian O'Hara out there comparing immigrants that are
being arrested for being here illegally and also committing other crimes,
to marrying Joseph and the Madinger and the birth of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ right, and how none
of them cared because in the years of Biden was
in office, you had almost approximately four thousand arrests by
(18:53):
ICE of illegal aliens here in the state, and they
never said anything. I had a listener that reached out
and was like, where are you getting your data from?
What's what's what's the source? And I went, well, it's easy,
it's the Department of Homeland Security. But I just hit
a Google search and it comes right up. And again
it wasn't a negative on the on the on the listener,
(19:13):
they genuinely wanted to share it with other people, Like
what I'm talking about is what Walter is saying. It's
that simple. Any news media outlet could go and do
what I did and make the point of if you
guys are all up in arms about what's happening now,
why don't you go and look and see how many
times immigrants here in Minnesota were arrested by ICE in
the years prior, and you guys didn't say anything, and
(19:35):
the same thing rings true with what's taking place here
and this idea that Walls is, you know, apoplectic about
actively covering up the fraud. They're not sharing this with us.
The data is readily available. All you have to do
is go look. And apparently we've uncovered the real issue here,
and it is the complete lack of curiosity coming from
(19:55):
Governor Tim Walls in this administration. They simply don't They
are not curious, they don't care. You apply whatever rationale
you would like to apply as to why they wouldn't
want to look and why they don't care. We'll get
into more of this coming up in just a moment.
I have audio to share from that committee meeting, including
the chair of the Fraud Prevention Estate Oversight Policy Committee
(20:18):
and gubernatorial candidate, Representative Kristen Robbins, and we'll get some
more of your thoughts from the iHeartRadio app here on
twin City's News Talk from at am eleven thirty and
one oh three five FM.
Speaker 13 (20:33):
John, I've been working with the government for over ten years.
They get dumber by the day. Ninety plus percent of
them do absolutely nothing. We could fire three quarters of
the government tomorrow, and the only people who had noticed
are the three quarters of the government aren't getting a paycheck.
Everyone else would see the system as drastically.
Speaker 14 (20:55):
Good morning, John and Brett. Over the past several years,
you have played many of my talkbacks, to which I
can only say thank you. I am grateful and I
am humbled to have been able to have an opportunity
to have my voice heard on what I consider one
of the best talk show programs in the country. And
(21:17):
I just want to tell you guys, I appreciate you
for the sacrifices you make by the early hours you
keep and I hope you have a great Christmas.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Thank you for that, Scott, I appreciate it.
Speaker 15 (21:27):
Hey, John Mick calling in from Arizona. What drives me
crazy and makes me want to just give up and
not care anymore is people like Walls and people on
the left in general can just say anything and it
doesn't matter. There's no consequences.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
They can say one.
Speaker 15 (21:47):
Thing today and another thing tomorrow and it doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
I completely agree. I completely agree, it really really is.
It's I don't know how else to describe it other
than just unfor fortunate, and I can share I'm not
going to waste time on the show, but I could.
I can share instances within conservative circles, even even recently,
(22:12):
wherein individuals are out there spouting nonsense and fellow conservatives
just don't stand for it. They don't let it, they
don't let it slide. There are standards that are held
on the right that the left just simply does not have.
Right now, Walls continuing to go out and perpetuate this
(22:34):
lie about a special session and how the Republicans just
won't take a vote, and prominent individuals buy into this garbage.
They accept the excuses that Walls puts forward. They make
excuses for him, saying, well, right, he can't call a
special He's the only one that can call a special session.
(22:56):
Nobody else can. But why would he call a special
session if it's just going to be that they're going
to go and vote it down. Okay, but you can't
go and say that Republicans aren't willing to take a vote,
if you're not going to give Republicans the opportunity to
go and take a vote. And we all know the
reason why is because he doesn't have the votes in
the Senate in order to get he's going to reform
(23:18):
measures past.
Speaker 16 (23:24):
You know, Walls may not be wrong, they may be
truly stunned that they were able to come up with
this information, because you know, if there's no accountability for
any of these programs, is there any accountability for the
employees in the state. A lot of them are still
working remotely. Are they held accountable for the amount of
work that they get done? Chances are they really don't
(23:47):
know how to get anything done. I mean, look at
how they run the state. So it doesn't surprise me
too much.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
So Walls wrote yesterday this is what caught my attention,
saying it's outrageous. I expect Republican colleagues to attack me
in an election year, but to actively cover up an
attempt to further a political agenda is really beyond the pale.
This needs to be resolved immediately, and he was responding
to the fact that Representative Christian Robbins, chair of the
Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Oversight Policy Committee, shared
(24:18):
Wednesday that whistleblower tips that had come to the GOP
leadership have not been forwarded to the Department of Human Services. Instead,
robin said they were being sent to other investigators, including
the US Attorney's Office.
Speaker 17 (24:32):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
I'd like to respond to that.
Speaker 18 (24:33):
So, we did receive your letter, Inspector General, asking us
to share information with you on credible whistleblower reports, and
to date we have not because there is no trust.
As you might understand, this fraud has been perpetuated on
your watch, and the whistleblowers who reach out to us
within the department are terrified and they feel that they've
(24:54):
been retaliated against already.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
They feel that they are very afraid.
Speaker 18 (24:58):
They're afraid to reach out to us, and if they thought.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
We were then turning around.
Speaker 18 (25:03):
And giving it to you, we would not have whistleblowers.
So we initiated a whistleblower portal last spring in response
to people who were afraid to come to you, and
that has received hundreds of tips.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
Belatedly, you all also.
Speaker 18 (25:17):
Put out a whistleblower report portal this fall, which I
think hopefully is also generating tips. But when I get
credible allegations of fraud from whistleblowers, we meet with them,
we interview them. We ferreted out as much as possible,
but as you know, legislators do not have access to
bank records, health records, subpoena power the swift payment system
(25:38):
that the state uses to pay things. So I can
only get an investigation so far, but when we get it,
we go to the US Attorney, the FBI, and the
Office of Legislative Auditor, who have access to all those records.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
So our whistleblowers are.
Speaker 18 (25:51):
Being protected and they are also being reviewed for further investigation.
And I would like to have a more collaborative relationship
with you. But I have to say, if whistle flowers
thought we were turning everything over to you, it would
stop again.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
The whistleblowers wouldn't be needed if their concerns over fraud
and red flags weren't ignored by the Walls administration. So
I sat down for my lunch yesterday steak salad left
over from the day before. It was quite nice. We
got these, uh, we got a container of these mozzarella
(26:26):
balls in oil from Costco recently. I know, Brett, you're
looking at me like, what in the world are you
talking about? They're so tasty. So yeah, they're they're months
there's just balls of mozzarella. You know, I don't know
what you would, you know, like Hershey's kiss sized, but
you know, globes and they're just in oil.
Speaker 9 (26:45):
So good.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
I threw some of those in there with my steak
and some lettuce. And did you take the sample from
behind the desk or in front of the desk?
Speaker 16 (26:52):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (26:52):
From from in front? Originally? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I saw
somebody almost. Melinda pointed out a Costco recently that a
guy almost did that, and she still becomes like, don't
do it, dude. For those that don't recall, I was
a castle one go back. Yeah, yeah, it was a
while ago now, but I reached in to get a sample.
But I came in from behind the woman who was
cooking the food at the at the isle sample spot,
(27:16):
and she slapped my hand. I still haven't gotten over that,
by the way. So I sit down for my lunch yesterday,
the whole point of why I'm bringing this up. I
sit down for my lunch, I turn on YouTube, and
sure enough, it was right as the Fraud Committee hearing that.
You're hearing the clips from what's going on, and thankfully
I was able to listen to and watch it live.
That clip that you just heard from Representative Kristin Robbins,
(27:37):
goubernatorial candidate. What preceded it was commentary from DFLER Representative
Emma Greenman. Second time this week, she makes an appearance
on the show, and it was laughable. She was droning
on and on about how frustrating it was that this
was partisan. You guys aren't working together in a bipartisan
(27:59):
fashion and sharing this information with us, And I'm just laughing,
like I can't even get to my salad because I'm
laughing at the television. I'm laughing at this ridiculous Democrat
who's out there talking like they ever ever want to
negotiate or be bipartisan with Republicans. Ever, during the time
when they had the trifecta, they could not ignore Republicans
(28:22):
harder if they tried. And yet during all of this,
because they're being exposed for the horrible party that they are,
and she's sitting back going, oh, I just can't you know,
he's just so partisan. You're not sharing this information with us,
How can it be trusted? The House Prevention Committee Fraud
(28:42):
Prevention Committee, which has a Republican majority, set up a
new whistleblower hotline earlier this year. Robin said that there
are hundreds of tips that have been received through the hotline.
Speaker 18 (28:53):
Privately in my office over the months, and we have
a good dialogue. I also think what would build trust
is responses to my inquiry. So after every hearing since June,
I've sent letters to the department asking for additional data.
I've had one response and it was after a press inquiry.
So I have six outstanding data requests to the Department
(29:17):
that I'm still waiting for information on. So would help
build trust if you would respond to me. So we
will continue to work on building trust. And I really
mean that, but it has to be a two way street.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
After the committee meeting on Wednesday, Channel five had asked
the Minnesota DHS Inspector General James Clark, who is tasked
with stopping fraud and taxpayer funded safety net programs, about
the tips not being shared with his office. He says,
I want to work in partnership with anybody that is
serious in tackling these issues. Clark said, if you have
(29:52):
evidence I can use to stop payments going to frosters,
I would much like that information.
Speaker 9 (30:00):
Now.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
A part of what was exposed during this committee meeting
yesterday was this idea of trust and never verify. This
has basically been the Governor Tim walls administrative policy position
until right now, trust but never verify. This is the
excuse that they're using as to why there was no
(30:24):
alarm bells going off. Why DHS employees raising red flags
about the dramatic increase in funding requests to these programs
basically went completely ignored. It was this idea of trust
but never verify. I have another clip I want to
share with you here in just a moment, and a
portion of this is from James Clark from DHS. Let's
(30:46):
go here really quick to the iHeartRadio app. Your talkback's
brought to you by Lyndall Realty.
Speaker 9 (30:50):
Fresh Malad, Thabrella and oil and State Salad. Mean, Oh
my god, God, I'm tellings and I'm kind of a
boon s nab.
Speaker 7 (30:59):
Yep.
Speaker 19 (31:00):
There's absolutely no trust whatsoever there. And you know, the
hole in the boat is getting bigger, and the more
that the Democrats bail to try to cover this up,
the more the whole is getting bigger. So I would
encourage those who have knowledge to come forward and save yourselves. Otherwise,
here going down with the boat.
Speaker 12 (31:22):
Have a good day.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Here's here's a portion James Clark from DHS and the
Minnesota House and Fraud Oversight Committee. Again he's asked about
this trust and never verify. And here is the exchange
back and forth yesterday in Saint Paul.
Speaker 17 (31:36):
What have we done about looking at attendance records? Because
we saw what for example, feed in their future it
was all fake names. And you know in this case
they have to they have to have something authorized to medicaid,
which I appreciate. We've heard from numerous county officials about
the pressure that they get to approve socially senior care
(32:00):
and accept the sentence. So it's all fraudulent. But what
have we done about the attendance records? Because if we're
only going out in every two years and you know,
peaking to see if they have, you know, something going out,
we don't know that they're actually spending twelve hours a
day or eight hours a day at what used to
be a senior center, you know, years ago in some cases.
Speaker 13 (32:23):
So what are we doing about that?
Speaker 12 (32:28):
Thank you?
Speaker 20 (32:28):
Representative Anderson. So reviewing attendance records is a part of
our licensing site visits, right, But like you said, those
don't happen every year, right, we have limited capacity. We
have not only adult day but thousands and thousands and
thousands right of license medicaid programs in the state. So
license periodic licensing reviews would be one way that we're
(32:48):
looking at attendance records. Another way we would be looking
at attendance records would be if we are receiving tips
of fraud or attendance falsification. If we're receiving those tips
that investigate like fraud investigators would go out and investigate providers.
(33:09):
But I think what you're getting at is we I
mean medicaid also is it's a trust based system, right,
Like we do not have the staff at DHS. We
do not have the technology to be looking over everyone's
shoulder verifying every attendance record making sure that every bill
that submit to us is appropriate.
Speaker 7 (33:29):
Right.
Speaker 20 (33:29):
We need to be able to trust the providers that
they are doing the right thing. So what can we
do on the front end to make sure that we
weed out as many untrustworthy providers as possible. That's where
I think we need to be focusing as a state
because what you're getting at, right is like we're only
doing licensing reviews every couple of years, right, and then
we're only responding to tips like when we get them,
(33:51):
So what are what are we missing? And a part
of that is we just need to be able to
trust these providers that are entering our programs. So what
can we do to vet to verify that these are
trustworthy businesses and individuals that we're doing business with? SS
State so happy to partner with you on solutions too,
but provider vetting on the front end is where we
(34:15):
need to be focusing our efforts if we want to
get ahead of fraud in our state.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Here's the thought, because I've heard this excuse, because that's
what it is, it's an excuse. I've heard this excuse
coming from individuals in the Walls administration that they don't
have enough manpower to do the necessary reviews. They only
(34:40):
go out and audit these various social servicing programs on
rare occasions because they simply don't have the manpower to
go and review all these different services. Well, then stop
issuing and approving app Stop approving applications and issuing license
is for individuals to provide these services. If you don't
(35:03):
have the man power to go and check on those services,
how is this? How is this this hard? You shouldn't
be going and giving licenses to daycare centers and autism centers.
You shouldn't be going and giving these licenses wherein Medicaid
(35:26):
dollars are requested if you don't have the man power
in order to go and inspect these different services that
are being provided, unless you just want the fraud it.
This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, and
more than likely, more than likely, this is a circumstance
(35:47):
where this just never happens. This probably happens all over
the place. It doesn't make it right, though, I'm just
tired of hearing this excuse. If you don't have the
manpower to inspect these places, then you should only be
authorizing enough different applications and handing out licenses for the
places you can actually go and inspect.
Speaker 21 (36:04):
John.
Speaker 13 (36:05):
This is the blueprint that DFL.
Speaker 21 (36:07):
Is using across the country to turn our country into
a third world nation where they have a strong go.
Speaker 13 (36:13):
Hold on power indefinitely.
Speaker 21 (36:15):
Let illegals come in here, vote for them, get free benefits,
get all kinds of stuff for free off the backs
of people working, and if they'll keep voting for them,
Walls is just the one dumb enough to buy it all.
Speaker 13 (36:27):
Get exposed so yeah, our work fits for him.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
Yeah, well he got away with it for a long time.
This is a lengthier clip. I'll see how much I'll
get in here. But to my point, the Walls administration
could not even answer during this Fraud Committee hearing that
took place yesterday. They couldn't even answer Representative Schultz and
one simple question, what do you ask for from providers
(36:53):
to prove that they have any level of expertise in
providing the care? Or are there no qualifications? They couldn't
even answer this question.
Speaker 12 (37:02):
Thank you, Adam Chair. I am struck a little bit
by some of the things shared today, but just following
this train of thought of the last couple questions here
from an agency perspective, as you're looking at the licensing
of these providers, what do you ask for from providers
to prove that they have any level of expertise in
(37:26):
providing this care? Or are there no qualifications that they
need to have? Can they just be some individual right
off the street that starts a new business in this space?
What additional background are you seeking that has resulted in
this large increase in number of providers?
Speaker 20 (37:45):
Thanks for the question, Representative Schultz. So unfortunately I don't
have all of the statutes in front of me, but
each license service has statutes and rules which lays out
the requirements for obtaining licensure. I don't know if it's
across the board, but some of those statues do require
an evaluation of competency to be made by the department.
(38:09):
So to the extent we as a state want to
look at that, and I think it's it's we should
be looking at potentially raising the qualifications, raising the competency levels,
raising what we expect from providers, so that that's my opinion,
might not be the department's opinion, but I think anything
we can do to vet on the front end to
(38:30):
make sure that providers that are getting licenses are competent
and qualified to provide these services, I am one hundred
percent on board for that and examining where those gaps
may exist. But to answer your question, each of these
services have different licensing requirements and different requirements about what
showings need to be made in order to get licensed,
and so that's another thing. So we have an incredibly
(38:52):
complicated system with different rules across these license services. So
thinking about how we can make it more uniform also
is something I think we work on as a state representations.
Speaker 12 (39:03):
Well, thank you, Adam Chair and Inspector General. I'm glad
to hear you share a lot of that, and I
think that you know, whether it's what we hear from
whistleblowers or from Minnesotan's I think if we followed the
precept that you outlined, we might see a higher level
of care for those people too, for the people who
actually need it.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
Right, But Inspector.
Speaker 12 (39:24):
General, I think that that then brings me to something
you said earlier and something I want to kind of
follow down the line of and we talked about following
billing patterns. You spent a moment of the day talking
about the role that counties play in collecting this information,
that it's a social service individual who ultimately grants this
(39:50):
ability for this care. What do you think, Inspector General,
do we need to do. Do we need to add
to statute so that there is a greater level of
scrutin me that a county employee places over whether or
not that individual receives care spector channel' Clark.
Speaker 20 (40:12):
I guess I would be opened right to that, you know,
looking at solutions. I mean I've heard anecdotally right that
we are seeing serious troubles with our county case management system.
Folks are over work, they're underpaid, there's high turnover. So
a lot of the stuff that case managers should be
seeing on the front end, correcting, reporting to the department,
(40:36):
a lot of that stuff is falling through the cracks.
So I don't know if it's a statute change or
rule change.
Speaker 2 (40:41):
It just sounds like they're making excuses. It's just too hard.
It's just hard. I don't know. It sounds like a
lot of work. They have to go and follow up
and actually make sure that these dollars are that are
being requested are actually legitimate and not fraudulent.
Speaker 11 (40:57):
Hey, John pat friend of the show. I worked for
the federal government for twenty five years in the finance area.
Granted we didn't have the number of people to check
every single thing done, but I knew that I would
get audited by two different entities, one internal and one external,
(41:19):
and they would spot check and just give me things
for them to.
Speaker 15 (41:25):
Let me translate what the dude just said, come steal
from us because we're not looking yep.
Speaker 2 (41:31):
Pretty much. None of this would fly in the private sector.
That's what's so disgusting about all of it. None of
this would end up flying at all, this lack of oversight,
this level of fraud, So many people would have lost
their jobs, Companies would have been destroyed if they had
(41:51):
a fraction of the fraud and controversies that have occurred
under the watch of Governor Tim Walls. Well, keep a
bit with the theme. I got a couple of more
fraud related stories. Bill Glon's got a great piece I
want to share with you coming up about how fraud
is actually baked into the state budget. Louver Goose from
Caro Levin has a brand new clip that he's put
(42:13):
up regarding fraud in daycare centers. We'll share that with
you and we'll continue to work through the stack. Things
I haven't had a chance to get to on the
show this year, including from both overseas and here in America,
the Words of the Year and this year's most mispronounced words.
I have a very special clip from Zohran Mamdani who's
(42:33):
on that list, that I'll share with you coming up
in hour three here on Twin City's News Talk Am
eleven thirty and one oh three five FM.
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The Burden
The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.