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WILLIAM BENNETT: California’s welfare state is a fraud machine. It could make all Americans into victims
It’s a difficult time to be an honest Californian.
The state faces the highest cost of living in America and some of the highest taxes, levied to fund a massive welfare state. For that investment, taxpayers do not get less poverty or a better quality of life, but rather an epidemic of fraud — with an estimated $180 billion or more stolen under Gov. Gavin Newsom alone.
Consider this a warning for America as Democrats look to export the state’s model nationwide. Fraud is not merely an enforcement problem, as the Left wishes to believe. It is the inevitable result of policies that ignore human nature and expand government beyond its constitutional and moral bounds.
America’s Founders understood an essential truth: People are not angels. They are shaped by human nature and by incentives. Government can only influence the latter, and California’s handout economy is incentivizing joblessness, fraud and the breakdown of social order.
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Take the state’s unemployment insurance program, among the most expansive in the country. With no time limit on benefits, no work requirements and minimal oversight, it has turned joblessness into a vocation and the program into a magnet for opportunistic criminals. At one point, there were more applications for jobless benefits than Californians over the age of 18. One rapper bragged in verse, “You gotta sell cocaine, I can just file a claim.”
The pattern repeats across programs. In the state’s hospice system, hundreds of sham facilities — some with addresses at burrito stands and auto body shops — have received millions for nonexistent dying patients. Medi-Cal’s budget has ballooned following Newsom’s push for “guaranteed health care” for all, only to lose around a quarter of its spending to fraud each year.
This is a moral collapse, and not just on the part of the fraudsters. California’s government is betraying the fundamental duty of any government, which is to protect law-abiding citizens and the fruits of their labor. By transferring those fruits to the unscrupulous, it forces middle-class taxpayers to pay twice — first through punishing taxes, and again through degraded services and a worsening quality of life.
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Our Founders also understood another truth on display in California: The bigger a government grows, the more self-serving it becomes.
Consider how San Francisco spends more than $100,000 per homeless person per year on “eradicating homelessness,” with few improvements to show for it. It’s because the funds go to a shady network of nonprofits with a clear and perverse incentive. Why would these groups solve homelessness when it would mean the money stops flowing?
It is equally unsurprising that dozens of California public employees have been charged with fraud or embezzlement since 2024. Even the governor’s own chief of staff faced corruption and fraud charges, only to receive a $50,000 payout for unused vacation time after she resigned.
Most revealing of all is the state’s response. Instead of combating the fraud, Democrats in the state Assembly want to make it harder to expose and prosecute.
One proposal, the “Stop Nick Shirley Act,” named after the journalist who exposed the Somali day care fraud in Minnesota, would allow fraudsters to conceal their identities while criminalizing efforts to expose them online. Another would lower penalties by raising the threshold for felony welfare fraud from $950 to $25,000.
Whose side are these lawmakers on? Certainly not the taxpayer, but not the needy either. Even in a world with zero fraud, their welfare schemes would only subsidize poverty and homelessness, not lift people out of them.
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Wisconsin faced a similar problem in 1996. The state was spending enormously on anti-poverty programs with few results. So it began requiring recipients to search for work and created new incentives for the welfare bureaucracy: Counties would be allocated funds not based on the number of recipients, but on the number of recipients placed in jobs and taken off benefits.
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This led to a swift reduction in poverty and a cascade of welfare reforms across dozens of states. These policies succeed today because they acknowledge human nature and incentivize the values of hard work, honesty and self-reliance. They understand that government is not a parent — that its capacity to help is limited but its capacity to harm is not.
Thomas Jefferson once warned about a government intent on “wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”
That’s the California system — but it’s never too late to improve it, nor is it particularly difficult. The state can do more by doing less: shrinking its welfare programs, allowing taxpayers to keep more of their money, and fostering the virtues that sustain a republic.
We won’t hold our breath. But for the rest of America, California’s predicament is our choice. We will either learn from its example or repeat it nationwide.
Rob Noel is a speechwriter who serves as president of Washington Writers Network.
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Interrogation video shows trans killer’s calm confession to ambushing parents over gender transition battle
Newly released interrogation video shows the moment a transgender killer confessed to fatally shooting both her parents for intervening with sex reassignment surgery.
Gail and Joseph Bailey were found shot to death inside their Washington City, Utah, home in June 2024; their child, Mia Bailey, confessed to shooting and killing them.
Nearly two years later, the convicted killer’s own words were revealed in interrogation video showing the shooter’s confession to investigators.
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“I don’t regret it. I hate them,” Bailey said when speaking with police in the interrogation room.
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Bailey’s demeanor appears calm and celebratory at times when discussing how the killer shot multiple rounds at the couple.
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Court documents say Bailey’s brother was also shot at through a door; he was able to escape and call for help that evening.
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Bailey is also heard on video blaming mental health struggles for the vicious attack. Bailey told investigators that Gail tried to “sabotage” the gender transition surgery.
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Bailey was born male but had undergone a name change and had been identifying as female before the attack.
This past December, Bailey was sentenced to two consecutive sentences of 25 years to life in prison after pleading guilty and mentally ill to aggravated murder and aggravated assault, according to KUTV.
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Maitland Ward says she was ‘set up’ and ‘betrayed’ by ‘Boy Meets World’ co-stars in toxic fallout
It’s been over a year since Maitland Ward found herself in a heated exchange with “Boy Meets World” co-stars Danielle Fishel, Ryder Strong and Will Friedle. While the adult film star — who first found fame as Jessica Forrester in “The Bold and the Beautiful,” and later Rachel McQuire in the beloved ‘90s Disney TV show — has since moved on, she still feels “betrayed” by her former colleagues.
In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Ward, who recently exposed the dark truths behind child stardom in an episode of Investigation Discovery’s “Hollywood Demons,” opened up about that fiery interaction on the “Pod Meets World” podcast in February 2025 and gave an update on where she stands with her former co-stars today.
“We have not spoken at all. There’s been no contact, except when I offered my support [for Fishel during her ‘Dancing with the Stars’ run] and everything. But there’s been no ill will either,” said Ward. “There’s been no fighting or anything. It’s just, we have not spoken, those three. [We’re] in a place where we are not connected right now, and it’s sad.”
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“I still feel betrayed by the situation because I do think I was set up for reasons that only they can explain,” she continued. “But, and I was taken very much off guard in that situation. And it makes me sad. I just wish that there was a way that we could all come together and not be in this bad place. But it’s just, we’re in no place right now. I guess that’s what it is.”
WATCH: MAITLAND WARD STILL FEELS ‘BETRAYED’ BY ‘BOY MEETS WORLD’ CO-STARS IN TOXIC FALLOUT
During an episode of the “Pod Meets World” podcast last year, hosts and former co-stars Fishel, Strong and Friedle welcomed Ward to discuss their shared experiences on the show. However, when Fishel asked Ward if she hated them, things took a turn for the worse.
“No, I do not hate you,” said Ward. “I think that you hate me because you wouldn’t speak to me on ‘Girl Meets World’ (the Disney Channel spin-off of ‘Boy Meets World’), and that was hurtful.”
“You had an attitude about it. There was some beef between us, and I didn’t get it,” she later added. “I didn’t know if you thought I was trying to steal attention… I was genuinely confused why we wouldn’t be good.”
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Fishel admitted that “Girl Meets World” — which she starred in alongside Ben Savage (who played her longtime love, Cory Matthews, in “Boy Meets World”), Sabrina Carpenter and Rowan Blanchard — was a “very difficult set” to be on.
“Let’s put it this way, the memories we have of the fun set of ‘Boy Meets World’ were not the memories of the fun set of ‘Girl Meets World,'” she said. “I went into it expecting it to be, and it wasn’t. It was a rather tumultuous place. I felt very ostracized. I felt very criticized. I felt a lot of different things being on that set… I am sorry that you thought I had something personally against you.”
After some more heated back and forth, Ward said, “Let’s be honest about this. You’re trying to go at me now to get the ratings because you know that people will be interested. I just wanted to remember the good times.”
“I’m not the one who wanted to go for ratings… This is what you asked for,” Fishel responded.
After saying their goodbyes, Fishel said Ward’s decision to come on the podcast seemed like “an opportunity for her to get press by having conflict.”
“Similarly to the way she decided when ‘Girl Meets World’ and all that stuff was in the press, that was an opportunity for her to make a name for herself in cosplay play and in role-playing, she felt like this was an opportunity for her to get press by having conflict, which I am just not your girl to do that,” Fishel said of the heated exchange. “And she thought it was disingenuous for me to reach out to her. I think wanting to do it for stats is disingenuous.”
‘BOY MEETS WORLD’ STAR DANIELLE FISHEL ADMITS BODY-SHAMING NEARLY ENDED HER ON-CAMERA CAREER
Shortly after that appearance, Ward told Fox News Digital that she felt “bullied” by her former friends, and claimed it was a “very toxic” situation.
“I felt [bullied] because it was three against one, really four because [Fishel’s] husband is the producer,” she said. “So it was like I was surrounded by — I really felt surrounded, and it’s weird because they were my friends in the past, and just imagine stepping back into a high school situation or college or whatever, and you see old friends, and then all of a sudden every single grievance you ever had with them is fresh on their minds, and they want to just come at you. So it felt like a very toxic situation.”
“I did not create the conflict on that show,” she continued. “I was not trying to create conflict. And I think it’s funny that she says I tried to create the conflict from it, to get press when she tried to create the conflict for this show to get press and views and listens and everything for the podcast.”
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“I wasn’t going to benefit financially from that show,” she added. “So I think she’s very two-faced in that situation. I think she doesn’t enjoy that I have had success from ‘Boy Meets World’ like that. And I think she should be reminded that I get attention for other things that I do too.”
WATCH: ‘BOY MEETS WORLD’ STAR MAITLAND WARD SAYS DANIELLE FISHEL CREATED ‘TOXIC’ ENVIRONMENT DURING HEATED PODCAST EXCHANGE
Though Ward hasn’t had any interaction with the trio, she did offer Fishel an olive branch of sorts when she publicly supported her during her “DWTS” stint last year.
“It really was a genuine moment,” Ward told Fox News Digital of her words of encouragement to Fishel shortly after she was eliminated. “And when [TMZ] asked me, I’m like, ‘Yes, of course I support her. I love people stepping outside of their comfort zone, and especially women doing something that they’re excited about and love. I have nothing but love for her and for the experience that we had together on the show.”
Ward said the feud between her costars resulted in a “very strange year.”
“We had a lot of conflict last year, of course, but that doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t support her and support her in anything that she does,” she said. “And that was actually genuine from my heart … I don’t wish her ill or anything. It’s sad that we are in a place where we’re not friends or not able to come together on that level, but I’m still going to support her.”
“No matter what, we are always going to be connected in this way that can never split us apart,” she added. “And it’s kind of, it’s like a family where, you know, maybe you don’t get along all the time with your cousin or something or, you know, but you’re always connected as this family. And I think that’s really important. And it’s important for the audience to know that, yeah, we’ll always be together on some level. But I definitely want to support women in anything they do. And I wish her nothing but love.”
One of Europe’s most crowded tourist cities is cracking down on cruises and their passengers, with the mayor of the city pushing to fast-track a tax hike on short-stay passengers.
Barcelona mayor Jaume Collboni on Wednesday said he wants cruise passengers to pay up to $9.30 (8 euros) per night, a 100% increase from the current $4.65 rate (4 euros).
The news was reported by El País, Spain’s paper of record, after Collboni appeared on Betevé, the local network.
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The tax would apply to cruise passengers docking in Barcelona.
Barcelona’s City Council agreed last July to gradually increase the tax to $9.30 (8 euros), El País reported — and while the council agreed to raise it over the next four years, Collboni is advocating for an immediate daily increase.
“In the coming months, we will raise the tourist tax … so that it comes into force in the next few months and not in four years as we had agreed,” the mayor said, according to El País.
“I want to discourage the arrival of cruise passengers,” he also said.
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Collboni said he hopes to reduce the number of cruise passengers who stop over in the city — as opposed to starting or finishing journeys in the city — to zero.
“Tourism must serve the city, not the other way around,” he said.
“We want quality tourism, which is why we are renewing the Fira de Barcelona. We are interested in business visitors,” Collboni added.
“What we do not want is mass tourism — and that is why we will eliminate tourist apartments in 2028.”
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Collboni also said he plans to run for re-election, which will be held in May 2027, El País reported.
“My intention is to govern with a left-wing majority,” said Collboni.
“I want to turn Barcelona into the grave of the far right.”
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Fox News Digital reached out to Collboni’s office for comment.
The move is one of several steps Barcelona has taken in its struggle with overtourism.
In 2024, Barcelona’s city council agreed to reduce cruise terminals from seven to five in the interest of limiting cruise arrivals.
In March, Barcelona nearly doubled its visitor tax to among the highest in Europe to combat mass tourism.
The city’s hotel guest tax increased to between $10 and $17 per person per night, while taxes on holiday rentals rose to about $14 per night.
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