~ US Taxpayers have lost about $3T to fraud since 2003, currently losing about $500B annually: Report

Del Beccaro: That $500 Billion yearly loss represents 1/3rd of Social Security outlays for a year. Yet, if you ask most people what should be done about the looming cuts to Social Security benefits, almost everyone says you have to raise taxes.  Endless taxation, however, kills jobs and there aren’t enough people working to pay taxes to fund Social Security. In that reality, going after government fraud becomes a necessity.

~ GOP Binds Senate Hopes to New Hampshire’s Sununu Dynasty

~ Latin American Left Losing Since USAID Dismantled

~  Four takeaways from high-stakes Maine Senate debate

~ Jack Smith’s Senate testimony faces new questions after records reveal who his team turned to for Trump trial~ 

Economic Update

~ Markets WrapUS Stocks Slip as Bond Yields Start Rising Again

~ California Latinos turn on Xavier Becerra over family origins as Steve Hilton prepares to unload: ‘Immigrant stolen valor’

~ California secretary of state candidates disagree on voter ID, election security – Leading the orchestra is Secretary of State Shirley Weber, who thinks California’s elections are secure. Hoping to take her baton in the Nov. 3 general election is Don Wagner, who supports requiring voters to show identification before they cast ballots.

~ Gavin Newsom targets ICE agents with shock-glove ban, job blacklist — but feds tell them to ignore him