Desk Notes | Hard Truths, Lazy Smears & Highlighters

What Minnesota won't admit, what X got wrong about Tucker's "Qatari investor," and the reading system I'm finally committing to

As you read this, I am on the road—which is one of the reasons this newsletter is days late. My weekend was consumed with travel prep, gift wrapping, a sick cat, and some chores at camp.

It’s that time of year when routine flies out the window, and Christmas cheer (and obligations) take its place. One of my favorite annual obligations is gathering with my long-time best girlfriends for a week. It’s the one time each year we carve out to be together and do my personal favorite gift exchange: “Favorite Things.” We gift each other our favorite discovery from the year. Think Oprah’s Favorite Things, but a hundred times better—because it’s with your best friends instead of a marketing ploy.

I’d share what’s on my list, but that’ll have to wait until next week. My friends read this newsletter, and I refuse to ruin the surprise.

There’s something irreplaceable about friendships like these—the ones where you can completely let your guard down and just be. These are the girls who will celebrate the smallest wins with me, who I’d call if I needed to get bailed out of jail (assuming they’re not in there with me), and who always deliver both moments of deep sharing and hard belly laughs. It’s one of the weeks I look forward to most every year.

Everyone needs friends like these. If you have them, hold onto them tight.

So that’s where my head is this week—grateful, a little scattered, and very much looking forward to doing nothing productive for a few days. But before I fully check out, I’ve got some things to say. And this week’s edition has a range: government fraud, lazy conspiracy theories, and my confession that I’ve never been able to write in a book. You know, the usual.

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In Desk Notes

Feature:

Hard Truths From Minnesota’s Fraud Scandal - What happens when a Scandinavian welfare state collides with clan politics, cultural friction, and political cowards? The Feeding Our Future scheme, the autism therapy fraud, the housing program so broken they shut it down entirely—this is a story about two failures colliding. And I’m naming both of them.

Also Featuring:

• The Lazy Omeed Malik Smear That Irritated Me - A screenshot, a stereotype, and zero research created a Qatar conspiracy that, if you follow the logic, implicates the President’s son. The timeline destroys the narrative the moment anyone bothers to check it.

• My Grand Plan to Actually Read More - I buy books like they’re going to read themselves. My nightstand is a monument to optimism and poor follow-through. So I built a system. And I’m committing a small crime against my instincts by finally picking up a highlighter.

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IKYMI

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Hard Truths From Minnesota’s Fraud Scandal

What happens when a Scandinavian welfare state collides with clan politics, cultural friction, and political cowards?

Let’s talk about a story with long legs that much of the media is ducking and dodging to avoid. While outlets obsess over “boat strike gate,” which is slowly appearing to fall apart, they’re giving only passing mentions to the Minnesota fraud scandal. And the uncomfortable truths at its center? They’d rather not touch them.

I will.

What is being revealed as one of the largest frauds against the American taxpayer involves Feeding Our Future, a nonprofit that supposedly fed hungry children during COVID but was actually a $250 million money-laundering operation. Then there are the autism therapy centers billing for services they never provided. And the housing assistance program so riddled with fraud the state just shut it down entirely.

What you may not have heard, what legacy outlets are tiptoeing around, is who committed this fraud, why it was allowed to metastasize, and what it reveals about Minnesota’s political leadership.

This is a story about two failures colliding. On one side, members of a community exploited the cultural and racial dynamics of the moment—weaponizing accusations of bigotry to shut down oversight and shield criminal behavior. On the other, state officials so paralyzed by the fear of being called racist, and so eager to protect a key Democratic voting bloc, that they watched fraud balloon across multiple programs, received warning after warning, and chose political safety over their duty.

Neither side gets a pass here.

But to understand how this happened, we have to talk about things most people would rather avoid.