Hi friends,
Coffee & Covid is one of the best Substacks out there. I highly recommend it. Jeff Childers provides actual news with great insight and wonderful wit.
Below are some excerpts from two of his posts this week. I do recommend you read the complete stories - and subscribe. (I have no connection to him.)
Links to the full articles are included.
Excerpts from Oct 23:
The whirlwind of arrests continues spinning and climbing the Democrat ladder. You know about Ilhan Omar (or whatever her real name is). Yesterday, Democrats took another big hit. The Washington Post reported, “Virginia state Sen. L. Louise Lucas indicted in connection with marijuana business.” Louise isn’t just any old state senator. The subheadline explained, “Lucas, the 82-year-old president pro tempore of the Virginia Senate, is one of the state’s most powerful Democrats.” At least a dozen current or former Democrat officials have been charged, indicted, or arrested so far this month.
Louise Lucas is practically an institution unto herself. After a career in local politics, she was first elected to the state Senate in 1991, has been its president since 2020, and is currently the Chairman of the powerful Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee, which handles the state budget, tax policy, and state expenditures— the money. She personally led Virginia’s mad-dash redistricting legislation earlier this year (which Virginia’s Supreme Court later struck down, thankfully).
In other words, she’s one of Virginia’s most politically connected Democrats, as WaPo repeatedly pointed out. The state’s top Democrat, a high-school dropout, is a “longtime community activist” who is “known for her stylish dress and sharp tongue,” the WaPo enthused.
She stylishly thought she was untouchable. On a wiretapped March 11, 2026 conference call with another Virginia legislator and her daughter Lisa Lucas-Burke, Louise said, “The whole police department protected us.” She had good reason to say that. In June, 2020, Portsmouth’s chief of police charged Louise with drug-related crimes during a Summer of Love monument-tearing-down protest. She was fired the next day. The charges were dropped. Message received.
The Post described her as a “sharp-tongued, brash-talking grandmother,” which is a nice way of saying Louise has a potty mouth and is known neither for her wit nor her command of basic English grammar. The paper called her arrest “a staggering turn” for Democrats, among whom she “has amassed considerable influence.”
When it noted that Louise “frequently uses social media to taunt and lambaste Republicans,” I suspect WaPo was hinting that Louise’s drug trafficking and money laundering prosecution is somehow political payback; an ugly insinuation that she would have gotten away with it if only she’d been a little less critical of President Trump on X.
If that was WaPo’s implication, it backfired. It came across as irony bordering on hilarity.
The 45-page indictment includes plenty of salty color. One of Louise’s shell companies involved in the scheme was named Mama’s Chicken, LLC. She once sold a state pot-growing license to an FBI informant for $100,000. “Yes, we can make a lot of money,” she told him, “but how about we begin with you sending at least a good faith payment of the money you owe me.”
The state’s most powerful Democrat and her family made illegal pot deals out of her legislative offices on County Street in Portsmouth.
Publicly, Democrats are mostly whining that the DOJ broke its “norms and customs” of not prosecuting public officials within 60 days of an election. A DOJ spokesperson drily reminded reporters that Louise is not currently running for anything and is not on the November ballot. Narrative fail.
And —just saying— back in March, 2023, after the former president’s arrest, Louise triumphantly tweeted, “Donald Trump just learned no one is above the law!” I think a honky grandma just learned no one is above the law, too.
“During her time as Virginia state senator, she was actually using her position of power and public trust to deflect and defend against her own criminal enterprise,” Patel said. Brash! “Truly the epitome of hypocrisy for a public official.”
🔥 A few more Democrat officials who appeared in this month’s true crime roundup include:
Jackie Espinosa (D), the mayor of Kissimmee, FL (pop. 86,500). She was arrested for grand theft and an organized scheme to defraud— over covid-era emergency grants. On Wednesday, Florida law enforcement arrested Mayor Espinosa and she appeared in court for first appearance. Orange is the new black!
Nick Mimms (D), the former Fort Pierce, FL city manager. On October 8th, Mimms was convicted by a Florida jury of a felony count of official misconduct in office related to a $500,000 grant that went to a nonprofit for a community center that was never built.
Ari Espinal (D), former NY Assembly member (Queens). Grand larceny, for charging $33,245 in personal purchases to her union employer’s American Express card. She was arraigned on October 7th.
Elijah Manley (D), a congressional candidate from Broward, Florida. He surrendered to authorities on October 16 for threatening to “cut the heads off” anyone who didn’t vote Democrat. Referring to Democrat DSA Senate candidate Angie Nixon, Manley posted, “I swear to god, take me to war over this black woman, and I promise y’all I will burn y’all (expletive) castle to the ground and anyone else in my way.”
LaMar Cook (D), 46, is the former Governor Healey-appointed Western Massachusetts deputy director. Clearly, a Democrat. He was arrested on October 14 for SNAP and wire fraud, even while under a separate prosecution for crack cocaine trafficking —18 pounds of it, delivered to his Springfield offices— and firearm violations. His state salary: $137,000 a year, not including SNAP benefits.
Reuben Taylor (D), the Boston Municipal Protective Services director (obviously a Democrat). He was charged with pandemic loan wire fraud —the gift that keeps on giving— and agreed to plead guilty on October 8th. ✅ IRS-CI
Dennis Bradley (D), 42, former CT state senator. This was the guy who was videotaped by a woman’s kitchen cam going around browbeating people into changing their mail-in ballots. He was charged on October 6th.
Michael Rivers (D), 67, a South Carolina state representative. He was charged with pointing and presenting a firearm at his political opponent on October 9th.
Brian DePeña (D), Lawrence, Massachusetts mayor (D). He faces up to 150 years for various federal covid loan fraud charges, wiretapping, and witness intimidation under an August indictment. DePeña needed a translator at his arraignment this month, since he does not speak English.
Francisco Paulino (D), Massachusetts state representative. His district included Lawrence, Mass., where Mayor DePeña is also being prosecuted. He was indicted in August for pandemic-era covid relief fraud and money laundering— he got over $700K in small-business loans for fake companies.
Sylvia Luke (D), Hawaii’s Lt. Governor, and the highest-ranking official in the DOJ’s fall lineup. It’s part of a large and complicated bribery conspiracy tied to millions in covid-testing money that I’ve reported on before, and that prosecution involves even more current and former Hawaii state officials. All dems.
It is tempting to conclude that this Fall 2026 crackdown evidences a dramatic new crime wave. But the data demonstrates an uglier truth. Many of these crimes go back years. Some were even under slow-motion investigation during the Autopen era. But it is only now that they are being aggressively prosecuted.
So the truth is that the Fall 2026 crackdown evidences a dramatic new willingness to prosecute political officials.
In other words, this country has suffered badly, for a long time, from a permissive blue culture that allowed a cesspool of political corruption to flourish due to lack of enforcement, in the same way bacteria flourish due to lack of cleaning. Think of the most horrible gas-station bathroom you’ve ever seen, one where a bright yellow hazmat suit is mandatory equipment for entry. Now multiply that by 1,000.
The above list does not omit Republicans due to favoritism. I honestly couldn’t find one dated this month. That is not to say criminals never sneak into the Republican fold. But it’s Democrats who have a permissive culture that demands strict compliance with ideological rules— but is much more flexible when it comes to following actual laws.
It travels far beyond irony. It borders on the miraculous. The real fruit of President Trump’s long-suffering sacrifices has become evident only now, in hindsight.
For the last eighteen months, black-pillers have polluted social media with their memes demanding to know where are the arrests? Well? Where are the black pillers?
Read more at:
Excerpts from Oct 24:
Yesterday I promised more October arrest stories, and I intend to deliver. We’ll shift to arrests of mostly (but not all) Democrats who, unlike yesterday’s crop, are not elected officials. We’ll start with what was arguably the best news: the deep staters. Yesterday, the Washington Post reported, “Former FBI officials charged with lying to Congress about Hunter Biden laptop inquiry.”
Yesterday, the DOJ “charged two former FBI officials with making false statements to Congress,” WaPo reported, “that allegedly hindered a House committee as it was investigating President Biden’s son Hunter.” The pair aren’t just any old random FBI officials. Nikki Floris led the intelligence division in the FBI’s Washington field office. Bradley Benavides was the deputy assistant director for counterintelligence.
Deep state termites.
Floris and Benavides were released on Friday morning after self-surrendering in lieu of arrest and making their initial appearance before a federal magistrate. They each face up to five years for lying to Congress.
The DOJ has been doing a lot of work, a surprising new development that many of us believed was only possible when tracking down January 6th tourists. It filed a 27-page statement of facts against the two former FBI officials. It was damning. It carefully listed statements from their sworn congressional testimony right next to source documents where they said the exact opposite.
For instance, Floris told House investigators in 2023 she’d never seen a Grassley-Johnson report about Hunter’s laptop. But over two years earlier, she’d emailed that report to Benavides under the subject “Ukraine report,” with the note “Just dropped this am.” She also attached a summary of the alleged $7 million Burisma bribe she later said she knew nothing about.
In a separate declassified September 2020 chat, Floris wrote, “I’m basically running a shadow government across the FBI at this point.” Around then, she helped kill an FBI Albany report about China making fake driver’s licenses for Biden mail-in votes. Her reason for squashing the report: it “will contradict Director Wray’s testimony.” Ruh roh.
In 2023, Benavides told House investigators that the first time he’d heard about the laptop was two days earlier when preparing to testify, from Wikipedia. But on October 22, 2020, Benavides sent a calendar invite titled “To Discuss Laptop” to the Justice Department’s Hunter Biden point man, and then met him in person at FBI headquarters.
His FBI successor, Laura Dehmlow, said she “would certainly say that Brad Benavides was aware” the laptop was real. His Clintonesque 2023 reply: “I don’t know what ‘real’ means.”
Both were promoted after Biden’s election. Benavides became deputy assistant director for counterintelligence, and later left for a “Senior Risk Manager” job at Amazon.
Prosecutors had until 2028, so charging them 10 days before the midterms was obviously a choice. I would call it a good choice, for the sake of irony if for no other reason. Corporate media headlines framed the pair as victims of retaliation. NBC called them “frequent targets of Trump allies.” The AP called the charges the latest “splashy and politically charged” actions. Politico’s lede swerved into the 2020 election, “which Trump has falsely claimed was stolen.”
If you’ve been trying to follow the RussiaGate scandal, both Floris and Benavides were front and center in the FBI’s scandalous skunkworks. Floris and Benavides, for example, were among the eight officials who approved the “Round River” report that collected informant reports on Hunter Biden and labeled them Russian disinformation. Round River was the FBI operation that compiled a giant spreadsheet of Republicans it labeled “conduits of disinformation.”
One of the group’s planning emails suggested using the Hunter informants “to send information of our choosing back upstream.” It’s not disinformation when we do it. Floris enthusiastically replied, “Looking forward to the conversation!”
I’ll bet she’s not looking forward to these conversations. The hunters have become the hunted.
🔥 Just in October, DOJ arrested or charged around a half-dozen more government employees and insiders. Here’s what I found:
🔥 DOJ did an even wider sweep from just October —roughly three weeks— of healthcare and covid fraudsters. This is where a few Republican donors popped up, a fact I note for perfect fairness, and which eliminates the media’s “revenge” narrative. These, by the way, are only a sample. The DOJ said it charged over 40 in its SNAP sweep, and 15 in its Southern California healthcare roundup.
I suspect that most of the “unknown” party affiliations were Democrats, but I lacked time to run them all down. For fairness, I left them ambiguous.
🔥 But the biggest group of DOJ (and state) charges and arrests were of illegal alien voters and election fraudsters. According to NPR, DOJ charged 113 noncitizens this month. Here’s the partial table:
To give you an idea, here are the six names charged on Thursday in Ocala, Florida, which is a short drive south on I-75 from where I live. All are green-card holders:
Jamie Sosa Sardina, Cuba
Luis Manuel Perez, Cuba
Martha Haydee Desantis, 81, Ecuador (no relation to the governor)
Lise Marie Johnson, Canada
Diane Curley, Canada
Pedro Franco, Brazil
A few of the names from yesterday’s charges in Pennsylvania:
Artur Kopacz, Poland
Osmal Loy, Cuba
Yehuda Peer, Israel
Alfredo Santiesteban, Cuba
Joyce Donovan, Kenya
Inna Henry, Russia
Nourten Kuruju, Greece
Nina Nyawara, 21, Kenya
Joyce Pitts, 80, Netherlands
🔥 The Massachusetts case earned a little more description. On Thursday, the Times of India reported, “$38,000 to $40,000 per fake marriage: Massive fraud ring for facilitating Green Card busted in Massachusetts. US citizen was selling ‘American Dream’ and investing money in Dominican Republic.”
In Fall River, Massachusetts, romance never died. It was just billed by the half-hour. Federal prosecutors said 43-year-old Jennifer Gonzalez ran a matrimonial assembly line for more than a decade, cranking out 18 to 20 sham marriages a year at about $40,000 a pop, for a total of more than $6 million.
Call it a destination wedding. Brides and grooms who had never met walked into a Massachusetts courthouse as strangers and walked out with a fast lane to a green card. (Ms. Gonzalez kept the gift registry.) On October 21st, as part of a nationwide marriage-fraud sting, the DOJ charged six people and arrested five. (The sixth, Jaylin Hill, was easy to find, since he’s already in state prison on an unrelated gun charge.)
Since her multi-million romantic hustle wasn’t quite good enough, prosecutors said Gonzalez also collected more than $120,000 in food stamps. Isn’t our American charitable impulse nice? She invested all the money into real estate in the Dominican Republic, which the DOJ’s press release called “her country,” even though the Times of India called her a “US citizen.” I’ll leave that discrepancy up to you.
The best part was the FBI’s wiretapped recording, in which Gonzalez explained her business model better than any economist could. She said she “stopped doing weddings at the end of 2024… that’s when Trump was becoming a president.” Whoops!
So for ten years the fraud ran as smoothly as a Dominican cigar factory. Then one man won an election, and the industry temporarily closed for renovations. What can I tell you? Elections have consequences.
When an FBI informant offered that “Massachusetts is the best place,” Ms. Gonzalez agreed, explaining, “this state is a sanctuary, you get health insurance, you get a lot of help as an immigrant here.” Thanks, suckers! I mean taxpayers!
“Trump doesn’t like this state,” she added, unnecessarily.
Democrats have spent decades insisting that border enforcement doesn’t deter anybody. It turns out they never asked the people being deterred, and one of them just explained the whole scheme to the FBI on a wiretap.
So what do you think? Yesterday I said the “where are the arrests” black pillers owed the class an apology. Or at least a statement of regret. Well? We’re still waiting.
Read more at:
As always, do your own research and make up your own mind.
White paper on land and water rights: Property Rights and Freedom: A White Paper on America’s Disappearing Land (8/13/2025)
United we stand. Divided we fall. We must not let America fall.
VoteTexas.gov, https://www.votetexas.gov/get-involved/index.html
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