MMN Editor

An old tweet from Texas Senate Democratic Nominee James Talarico has come to light, where he idolized the mass murderer Dr. Anthony Fauci with an action figure on Christmas morning.
It’s almost satanic. This, of course, is the same guy who says he loves trans children and thinks God is nonbinary. Talarico has even said he “hates Christianity.”
“I got the coolest action figure for Christmas!” Talarico wrote on X on Christmas in 2021. “Thank you to all the health care superheroes working today. Let’s help by getting vaxxed and boosted!”

I got the coolest action figure for Christmas!
Thank you to all the health care superheroes working today. Let’s help by getting vaxxed and boosted! pic.twitter.com/tVWUrE5lyV
— James Talarico (@jamestalarico) December 25, 2021

The post resurfaced after Fauci refused to answer questions before the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday, invoking his Fifth Amendment right more than 100 times as Senate Republicans grilled him over the COVID pandemic and his many lies over the years.
After years of spreading COVID and vaccine disinformation, he couldn’t answer for any of it despite having a sweeping preemptive pardon from Biden.
Senator Rand Paul announced that the committee will vote next week to hold Fauci in contempt for refusing to answer questions and suggested that his invocation of the Fifth Amendment was unlawful.
Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) nuked the trans-kid-loving man-child on X, writing, “Do you think James Talarico still plays with his Fauci action figure?”

Do you think James Talarico still plays with his Fauci action figure? https://t.co/ZdTxxzoktN
— Brandon Gill (@realBrandonGill) July 29, 2026

Senator Ted Cruz also trolled Talarico, writing on X,
James Talarico called Fauci a superhero.
Today, Fauci took the Fifth 111 times.
Apparently accountability was sold separately.

James Talarico called Fauci a superhero.
Today, Fauci took the Fifth 111 times.
Apparently accountability was sold separately. https://t.co/Mm4UYgaNPy
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) July 29, 2026

The post BACKFIRE: James Talarico’s Fauci Action Figure Tweet Resurfaces After Damning Fauci Senate Hearing – “Let’s Help by Getting Vaxxed and Boosted!” appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

A Dozen Red States Join Trump’s SCOTUS Vote-By-Mail Shadow-Docket Push

The Supreme Court fight over President Trump’s mail-in voting order picked up reinforcements this week: twelve Republican-led states, with Alabama at the front, filed Tuesday in support of the administration’s emergency application, and the procedural clock now compresses the whole dispute into roughly the next two weeks – with the midterms 96 days out.

As we detailed Tuesday, the administration went to the high court Monday seeking to lift the injunction blocking Executive Order 14399 – the March directive ordering DHS and the Social Security Administration to compile citizenship-verified voter lists and instructing the Postal Service to restrict delivery of mail ballots to people on them – after the 1st Circuit upheld the block on Saturday in a 2-1 decision declaring that “state and local officials are responsible for administering federal elections.” The new development, per SCOTUSblog’s Amy Howe, is the twelve-state filing urging the justices to pause the 1st Circuit’s order while litigation continues – and the argument it leads with is the one most likely to get a stay granted: a live circuit split. The states point to two recent D.C. Circuit rulings on the very same executive order, one of which, they say, “held that it is too early to challenge the EO,” and the other of which reinstated the order on that same basis.

Courts Split

The 1st Circuit blocked the order across the 23 Democratic-led states (plus DC) that sued in Massachusetts, reasoning that election officials there are already diverting resources and buying ballot envelopes to comply with a directive that may be unlawful. The D.C. Circuit, looking at the same order, lifted a broader injunction against the Postal Service rule – leaving open, as CNBC noted, the possibility that USPS could implement the restrictions in the 27 states that never sued. Two appellate courts, one executive order, opposite bottom lines, an election on the calendar: that is the fact pattern emergency relief was invented for, and the red states are making sure the justices cannot miss it.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer called it “an intra-branch directive from the president to his subordinates” that of its own force changes nothing in any state, per CNN – while simultaneously warning, per The Hill’s account of the application, that agencies would need to begin implementation as soon as early-to-mid August for anything to take effect by November, given state timelines for voter-roll verification and absentee ballot processing. Both things can be true, but the second one sets the real deadline: if the Court has not acted within days of receiving the states’ response, the order is functionally dead for this cycle no matter who eventually wins the merits.

Looking Forward

The challengers – the California-led coalition of 23 states and DC – must respond by 4 pm Monday, August 3, to both the government’s application and the twelve states’ supporting request. The application lands first with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who handles emergency matters from the 1st Circuit, though the full Court customarily votes when an administration brings the request. This is, per CNN, only the administration’s third emergency appeal of the year after filing nearly 30 last year – the administration’s 35th overall, by The Hill’s count – a slowed cadence that makes the ones it does file read as the priorities.

Whether a president can direct federal agencies to build a national eligible-voter list and condition mail-ballot delivery on it, or whether that intrudes on election machinery the Constitution leaves to the states – will not be resolved on this timeline. What gets resolved in the next two weeks is simply whether the order operates in November, and in which states, and the answer may well arrive via a one-paragraph shadow-docket order with no reasoning attached. Ninety-six days out, with 23 states running one set of mail-ballot rules and 27 potentially running another, the map itself is becoming the story…

Tyler Durden
Thu, 07/30/2026 – 21:20

A Rhode Island man whose remarkable survival at birth was officially recognized as a miracle by Pope Leo XIV has been arrested in Virginia in connection with a double shooting.
Tyquan Johnson, 19, was captured Wednesday morning at a residence in Newport News, Virginia, by members of the U.S. Marshals Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force.
Johnson was wanted on charges of felony assault with a firearm and discharging a firearm in a compact area following a July 19 shooting in Newport’s Park Holm neighborhood, according to the Newport RI Police Department.
Two men, ages 22 and 25, were found with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds to their lower extremities. Both were treated and released. Investigators identified Johnson as a suspect; he fled the state. A second individual remains wanted for questioning. Police described both as armed and dangerous.
Investigators obtained an arrest warrant for Johnson on July 23 and warned that he should be considered armed and dangerous. Authorities believed he had fled Rhode Island for Virginia and contacted the Rhode Island Violent Fugitive Task Force.
Johnson was ultimately tracked to a residence on Chestnut Avenue in Newport News and taken into custody approximately ten days after the shooting, according to local reports.
The arrest warrant listing Johnson’s name, January 14, 2007 date of birth, and last known Virginia address immediately raised eyebrows.
Those details matched the young man whose premature birth at the former Memorial Hospital in Pawtucket had been investigated for years and ultimately approved as a miracle by Pope Leo XIV in June 2025.
Born via emergency cesarean after his mother’s complications, the newborn showed no detectable heartbeat and no improvement after roughly 65 minutes of resuscitation efforts.
Doctors expected catastrophic neurological damage or death. The attending physician, a Spanish native, prayed for the intercession of 19th-century Spanish priest Salvador Valera Parra. Moments later, the infant’s heart restarted without further medical intervention.
He recovered fully, speaking at 18 months and walking at age 2 with no apparent lasting effects from the prolonged oxygen deprivation.
The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints reviewed the case extensively. Pope Leo XIV, the first U.S.-born pope, approved the miracle, advancing Valera Parra’s cause toward sainthood.
The Diocese of Providence called it a powerful reminder of the efficacy of prayer. Johnson himself, interviewed last year after the declaration, said the recognition strengthened his faith and that he felt destined for a second chance at life. He had expressed interest in “paying it forward” and possibly joining the military.
Less than a year later, that same young man is facing serious gun charges after allegedly opening fire on two people in Newport and fleeing across state lines.

The post Rhode Island Man Whose Birth Was Declared a Catholic Miracle by Pope Leo XIV Wanted in Violent Double Shooting appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Call it pleading the thrift.
Hunter Biden claimed under oath earlier this year that he’s so broke he doesn’t even own a car or a cellphone, and said his family is too strapped for cash to help him pay off millions in unpaid legal bills.
The former first son painted a bleak picture of his own and of Biden family finances during a Feb. 9 deposition in his legal battle with powerhouse law firm Winston Taylor, which sued Biden in June 2025 for allegedly stiffing the firm out of $17 million accrued from representing Biden in federal criminal cases, congressional investigations, and defamation lawsuits Biden brought against his enemies.
“I don’t have any assets. I don’t own a car. I don’t own a phone,” Biden said in the deposition, according to a transcript released this week.
“I don’t own anything of any value other than—and I don’t know the value of it—my paintings which I painted myself,” Biden testified. “So that’s it. And I don’t even have any other assets at all, stocks, bonds, anything like that, savings accounts.”
Biden, who recently landed a job at a luxury Los Angeles addiction treatment center, also claimed his father and other relatives are unable to bail him out.
“My family doesn’t have any money, and it’s not their debt anyway,” he said.
It’s a stunning fall from grace for a Yale-trained attorney who made millions of dollars a year trading off the Biden name when his father was vice president. Biden famously blew the money on a raging crack cocaine and alcohol addiction, luxury hotels for days-long sex and drug sessions with prostitutes, and jewels for his then-girlfriend, the widow of his late brother Beau.
Biden’s deposition also raises questions about the status of his extended family’s finances.
Former president Joe Biden reportedly received a $10 million advance for a book scheduled for release in November, and former first lady Jill Biden likely got a hefty book advance from her memoir, published in June. The book peaked at #1 on the New York Times best-seller list, though juiced by “bulk” sales.
But Biden family observers say the book advance—whittled away by taxes and agents’ fees and paid out in chunks over several years—may be the last big check the Bidens will ever see. Joe Biden, who has stage IV cancer, has struggled to pull in large speaking fees—usually a font of easy money for ex-presidents—and has also struggled to raise money for his presidential library. The Joe Biden gravy train—which provided income opportunities for Hunter Biden and his uncle and aunt—has dried up. The larger brood of Biden grandchildren have racked up enormous tuition bills at private boarding schools and the University of Pennsylvania.
Hunter Biden’s current lawyers released his deposition and that of his former attorney, Abbe Lowell, as part of a rebuttal to Winston Taylor’s request that Biden turn over emails and encrypted text messages as part of the discovery portion of the lawsuit. Biden has fought the discovery request, saying he has turned over all relevant documents related to the lawsuit.
While Biden does not dispute that Winston Taylor is still owed millions of dollars on paper, he claims the firm knew when it agreed to represent him in late 2022 that he would be unable to pay all of his bills.
Biden says that Lowell, the D.C. superlawyer who left Winston & Strawn (as Winston Taylor was formerly known) last year, told him not to worry about paying his legal bills.
According to Biden, Lowell, who represents multiple Democratic figures in legal battles with the Trump administration, approached him after the 2022 midterm elections about providing legal representation.
“Abbe had reached out to one of my other lawyers offering his help,” said Biden. And, according to Biden, Lowell downplayed concerns about paying legal bills.
“He absolutely at the beginning said, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll work it out, we’ll work something out,'” Biden testified.
And according to Biden, it was Lowell’s idea to sue IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, both of whom revealed information that led to Biden’s federal indictment on tax evasion charges. Lowell also proposed litigation against former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and former Trump White House aide Garrett Ziegler (no relation to Joseph Ziegler), both of whom led the charge to publish information from Biden’s abandoned laptop.
“It was all part of a whole strategy that was instituted by Abbe, Winston,” said Biden.
Lowell, who was also deposed for the lawsuit, said he tried to help the younger Biden raise money through third-party donors and within the “Democratic ecosystem” to cover his legal bills. Lowell said he had discussions with Bob Bauer, a former Obama White House counsel and a personal attorney to Joe Biden, about raising money for Hunter Biden and about setting up a legal defense fund and a 501(c)(4) political nonprofit to help cover the costs.
Lowell said in the deposition that his friends were confused and “bewildered” why Winston Taylor would sue Biden for money they knew he didn’t have. Asked if he thought his former firm was suing in order to get in good standing with the Trump administration, Lowell replied that “I don’t have any evidence, but I can say that it is something that people have raised the question about.”
In addition to scoring the job with the rehab firm, Biden also won a $1.7 million default defamation judgment earlier this month from former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne regarding accusations Byrne made about Biden and Iran. Winston Taylor immediately sought to place a lien on the judgment, which Byrne, who is believed to be overseas, may never pay anyway.
Biden is also facing legal action from former stripper Lunden Roberts, the mother of his daughter Navy, who claims Biden is a deadbeat dad and is not meeting his child support obligations.
Biden’s lawyers have described him as “impecunious” and living abroad, though Biden’s regular appearances in various U.S. podcast studios in recent months suggest he is living in the United States. On Thursday he appeared on the Barstool Sports Macrodosing podcast, which was taped at its Chicago studios.
The post ‘My Family Doesn’t Have Any Money’: Hunter Biden Says He’s Too Broke To Own a Car or Phone in Deposition Over Unpaid Legal Fees appeared first on .

TheStreet aims to feature only the best products and services. If you buy something via one of our links, we may earn a commission.Why we love these dealsThe changing of the seasons is the perfect time to spruce up your home. During the spring and summer, you can crack open the windows and clean to your heart’s content, letting in the fresh breeze and airing out all the dust that accumulated over the months. But in addition to cleaning, there’s also organizing, which is just as important. If that’s also on your to-do list, a storage cabinet can help. Walmart has a variety of storage cabinets that are a dream for organizing. And if you like the classic look and versatility of farmhouse design, even better. Walmart is selling stylish farmhouse storage cabinets that are great for a storage upgrade, with prices as low as $70.Homfa 4-Drawer Storage Cabinet, $70 (was $96) at Walmart

Courtesy of Walmart

Shop at WalmartNeed a piece of furniture that can declutter a small area? This storage cabinet has a narrow design, measuring 11.8 inches long, 11.8 inches wide, and 32.5 inches high. It has four drawers with cut-out pulls and slatted front panels that have a classic farmhouse look. It comes in four colors, including neutral hues like white and gray. However, it also comes in light green and blue shades that still lean into farmhouse design while adding a charming pop of color to any room. “This little cabinet is exactly what I wanted,” a shopper said. “It fits by my bathroom sink perfectly!”Ktaxon Freestanding 2-Door 1 Drawer Storage Cabinet, $70 (was $87) at Walmart

Courtesy of Walmart

Shop at WalmartThis farmhouse storage cabinet is a major space saver, and it’s only $60. It has a drawer on top that’s perfect for smaller items, and a two-door cabinet below with one adjustable shelf and two compartments. At 23.63 inches long, 11.82 inches wide, and 31.5 inches high, it’s a great pick for small spaces. It’s ideal for stylish bathroom storage, but can also work well in kitchens, laundry rooms, and entryways. The cabinet is available in five colors, but two have already sold out.”I love this cabinet. It is freestanding in my bathroom, and I keep my cleaning products in it. The drawer at the top is perfect for keeping my cleaning cloths,” a shopper said. “The cabinet itself holds up very well for keeping my detergents, bleach, etc. It is sturdy, it opens and closes with no issues, and it just looks nice.”Related: Target has a highly rated $530 buffet cabinet with 7 shelves and 2 drawers for 68% offA farmhouse storage cabinet is a fantastic way to upgrade your home this season, offering a rustic feel with clean, modern lines that make it both stylish and functional. And with any of these farmhouse cabinets at Walmart, you’ll be able to snag one for under $100.Shop more dealsKtaxon Floor Cabinet with 4 Drawers, $65 (was $112) at WalmartKtaxon Floor 2-Door Storage Cabinet, $57 (was $65) at Walmart

Should you stick around after the credits roll on ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’? The answer is . . . complicated.

Cristina Ulbrich, the wife of Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, passed away on Sunday after a battle with cancer, the team announced.”The Atlanta Falcons are heartbroken by the passing of Cristina Ulbrich, beloved wife of defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, after her courageous battle with cancer,” the Falcons wrote in a statement.”Cristina was a devote wife, mother, and friend whose strength, grace and resilience touched all who knew her. She was a constant source of love and support to Jeff, their family and the broader Falcons community.CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM”On behalf of the entire organization, we extend our deepest condolences to Jeff, their children, and all who loved Cristina. During this incredibly difficult time, our thoughts and prayers are with the Ulbrich family. We ask that their privacy be respected as they grieve this profound loss, and we stand with them in support and remembrance of Cristina’s life.”Ulbrich had not been spotted at Falcons training camp during Tuesday and Wednesday practices, according to multiple reports.Jeff and Cristina share three children together — Samantha, Jax and Jace.ANDY REID PROVIDES UPDATE ON WIFE OF ERIC BIENIEMY, WHO WAS ALLEGEDLY SHOT BY OWN SONThe couple had met during the former linebacker’s recruiting visit to Hawaii in 1997, per The Athletic.Ulbrich became the Falcons’ defensive coordinator this past season after serving in the same role with the New York Jets since 2021.It’s his second stint with the Falcons, the team he joined in 2015 to become a linebackers coach. He was a part of the infamous 28-3 loss in Super Bowl LI, where the New England Patriots came back to defeat the Falcons in overtime to win the Vince Lombardi Trophy during the 2016 season.In 2020, Ulbrich was promoted to assistant head coach and linebackers coach, and in October of that year, he was named defensive coordinator under interim head coach Raheem Morris.Ulbrich eventually joined Robert Saleh in New York in 2021, and in 2024, he was named interim head coach after the Jets fired Saleh. Ulbrich finished 3-9 as interim head coach that year before re-joining Morris, who was named full-time head coach, last season to serve as his defensive coordinator.Morris was fired after one season, but the Falcons kept Ulbrich in his role while hiring Kevin Stefanski as their next head coach for the 2026 season.Before coaching, Ulbrich spent 10 years in the NFL as a linebacker with the San Francisco 49ers from 2000-09.He got his first coaching job with the Seattle Seahawks after retirement and also spent time as the linebackers coach and special teams coordinator with the UCLA Bruins.Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

Former CBS News journalist Brittney Hopper claimed Thursday that she got into trouble after questioning Dr. Anthony Fauci, former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) director, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.Hopper appeared on News24 in Australia to discuss Fauci’s decision to invoke his Fifth Amendment right more than 100 times during his congressional hearing Wednesday, refusing to answer any questions.Before reacting to Fauci’s hearing, the independent journalist, who previously worked for CBS News Los Angeles until 2022, gave her own history reporting on Fauci and how he was deified by the mainstream media.TOP 5 MOMENTS FROM FAUCI’S HEARING: PAUL BOOTS LAWYER, MORENO ERUPTS AS CONTEMPT VOTE LOOMS”I have so much to say because this was during the time when I was on CBS News, I was reporting extensively on COVID,” Hopper said. “I was out there on the front lines. And I remember after a couple of years of dealing with hearing this man and interviewing this man, and having to wear masks and having our kids out of school for years, I remember questioning what he was doing. And I got in trouble and pulled off-air for a couple of days because I started questioning him.”She later added, “You weren’t supposed to question the agenda and the narrative at that point. And I apologized and I went back on air covering what I was supposed to do as I’ve mentioned before on here. I was their puppet on mainstream media for so many years. Hopefully, more and more people are waking up to, you know, really, the lack of journalistic integrity that we’re seeing.”ANTHONY FAUCI’S PRIVATE DIARY AND EMAILS SHOW HE KNEW LOCKDOWNS FAILED AND PUSHED MASKS WITHOUT EVIDENCEHopper said that she was not shocked by Fauci’s response during his hearing but hoped that the “insanity” of him refusing to answer questions opens people’s eyes to his lack of knowledge during the pandemic.”I hope that this is somewhat of a wake-up call for news organizations around the world,” Hopper said. “The six feet apart thing that he made up, wearing masks outside with not a single soul around us, you know, there were so many questions that were left unanswered and… let me give him the benefit of the doubt. That first year, many of us – we had no idea what was going on, but then when we started to learn more and more and started to really use journalistic integrity, which maybe that’s just been thrown out the window… news agencies jumped on the bandwagon with him and just feared so many Americans.”FAUCI HAUNTED BY 2022 ‘NOTHING TO HIDE’ VOW AFTER INVOKING THE FIFTH AMENDMENT 111 TIMESWhen reached by Fox News Digital, CBS News clarified that Hopper had left the network prior to editor-in-chief Bari Weiss taking over in 2025.In addition to facing criticism from GOP lawmakers over his hearing performance, Fauci faced renewed scrutiny over excerpts from his private diary, which revealed comments that contradicted his public statements.For example, despite repeatedly claiming in 2022 that he did not endorse COVID lockdowns, Fauci wrote in several 2020 diary entries about how he recommended lockdowns to city, state and federal officials, including President Donald Trump.

TUCSON, Ariz. — Investigators couldn’t obtain a DNA profile from a hair sample recovered from within Nancy Guthrie’s home, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told Fox News Digital in a new interview Thursday, as the case nears the six-month mark.”Yes, there was a hair. We had it and thought, ‘Okay, well, we’ll do the DNA first,’ right? You’re going to do DNA before something else,” he explained.Working with the FBI, investigators sent the sample to a California laboratory for additional DNA testing.NANCY GUTHRIE’S SUSPECTED ABDUCTION: TIMELINE OF EVENTS IN DISAPPEARANCE OF ‘TODAY’ HOST’S MOM”It came back…there’s no DNA,” Nanos said. “But does that mean the hair isn’t that of the suspect? We won’t know that till we have the suspect’s hair. You don’t just destroy it.”Investigators have preserved the sample and it still may be of use later, he added.GOT A TIP?”There’s other things that hair may prove valuable for, but right now it was just about, ‘Is there any DNA there?’ And the answer was no,” the sheriff said. “That was just a matter of weeks ago.”Guthrie is the 84-year-old mother of “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie. She will have been missing for six months on Saturday.Nanos indicated that the hair was only one part of the broader DNA work underway, though he did not specify how many other samples are being tested.DNA testing remains a priority in the case, and Nanos said investigators continue working with multiple crime labs to analyze evidence collected from the scene.FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME TEAM ON XSIGN UP TO GET THE LATEST TRUE CRIME NEWS”Anything we can grasp onto with DNA is a part of this investigation,” he said.That includes investigative genetic genealogy research, which is used to generate leads from a family tree. He noted rapid advances in DNA technology.NANCY GUTHRIE CASE COULD HINGE ON MYSTERY TIPSTER WHO EMAILED TMZLISTEN TO THE NEW ‘CRIME & JUSTICE WITH DONNA ROTUNNO’ PODCAST”That’s really where some of my optimism is, that I just know that we’re gonna get this thing resolved,” Nanos said.Meanwhile, there is a combined reward of more than $1.2 million that remains unclaimed.”We believe, just as the family does, just as Savannah does, somebody knows something. We need that person to call us.”At least one suspect was recorded by Guthrie’s Nest doorbell camera. According to the FBI, he is between 5 feet, 9 inches and 5 feet, 10 inches tall with a medium build. He was wearing a mask, long sleeves and gloves, and the backpack he carried has been identified as a black Ozark Trail brand bag.The family is urging anyone with information to dial 1-800-CALL-FBI.An anonymous reward can be claimed by calling 520-88-CRIME with information that leads to an arrest.

EXCLUSIVE: While Massachusetts boasts some of the premier hospitals in the world, it also suffers from some of the highest healthcare costs in America. GOP gubernatorial candidate Mike Minogue believes that is no coincidence. In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, the former longtime medical devices CEO says the commonwealth can boost access, cut costs and reduce regulation through innovation as opposed to government mandates.MIKE MINOGUE HEADS TO MASS GOP CONVENTION READY TO TAKE ON MAURA HEALEY: ‘SHE’S BANKRUPTING OUR STATE'”I think the most important thing that can help health care is to have a ‘patients first mindset.’ When I was the CEO of Abiomed, everyone rallied around the patients-first culture, commitment and every action.”Every decision that we took really was focused on, ‘Does this improve the patient outcome? Does this help the physicians and the nurses make it easier to use? Does it help us save money for the system?’”He cited the weighty regulatory burden imposed on nurses and doctors as part of the problem.”We [must] have a focus that we’re really going through areas that allow for patients to get access to their physicians, their nurses, and also utilize innovation, things that are breakthrough and things that can minimize the burden on the physicians and the nurses with regulations and documentation.”I’m optimistic because I’ve seen it firsthand. I’ve worked with healthcare systems all over the world. I specifically know how hard physicians and nurses work, and they’re the heart of that system. So, what we’re going to focus on is a patients-first health care plan that brings access to quality, affordable care.”Healthcare is a top concern for Bay State voters, and Minogue hopes to use the issue to his advantage in a tough battle to challenge incumbent Democrat Gov. Maura Healey.He notes that the often stark disparity between healthcare access and quality between the metro Boston area and the rest of the state is a perpetual problem that needs a remedy.”Right now, if you look at what’s happening around Massachusetts, we’re losing innovation and treatment in areas that do not now have opportunity for high-risk procedures, whether it’s maternity, cardiac or stroke.”We have areas now in communities that might have a 50-plus minute drive to get to the nearest area. An example is Norwood. The hospital closed. So, if you have a cardiac event in Norwood, you’re looking at a 55-minute-plus drive at best to get to Boston.”Minogue promises that, during his tenure, he will work to improve coverage and care statewide.”This is the role of the governor — to provide hub-and-spoke innovation in healthcare for the whole commonwealth, not just Boston.”COMBAT VETERAN TURNED CEO HAS A NEW MISSION: FLIP GOVERNOR’S OFFICE IN BLUE STATEYet, Minogue argues, the current system poses not merely a geographic problem, but a fiscal one.”Our regulations strangle the rest of the commonwealth and almost mandate that all procedures are being done in Boston in the highest-cost environment. If you go to outpatient centers and surgery centers, you reduce the cost of procedures, you lower the overhead and it’s a much easier process than driving all the way into Boston. We have incredible hospitals here, but we also have some of the lowest numbers of outpatient clinics and surgery centers as a state. We need to improve that.”Given his business background, Minogue is intimately familiar with the economics of providing healthcare coverage for thousands of families.”As a CEO, I bought health insurance for 19 years for my employees. I never saw an increase that wasn’t double-digit every year. … We need to lower the costs.”We also have to minimize mandating every single treatment and procedure onto every healthcare plan. We need to allow people to have the ability to select what care they want.”FOX NEWS POLL: GOP DIVISIONS SHAPE TEXAS SENATE RACEMinogue believes patients should have more flexibility in choosing their coverage while ensuring families are protected from financially devastating medical emergencies.”We do need to cap the catastrophic. … At Abiomed, what we did every year is we paid the extra amount so that we would always cap what it would cost the patient. We combined that with a health savings account, which is a great way for people to take more control over their own healthcare plan. Everything that you do in a patient’s first mindset solves a lot of problems.”With a mental health crisis surging across the state, Minogue has a solution for matching patients and therapists.”We do have an extensive amount of counselors, but most of them are on private pay. … We don’t allow general practitioners or counselors to get paid outside of private pay, so that’s why most of these patients are going to the emergency rooms.”It would be simple and more efficient if we also allowed the subsidized government pay to allow those patients to see the same people in the clinics that private-pay people have access to.”Minogue’s plan has specific provisions for addressing an area where the mental health crisis has been particularly acute.”One of the areas that I’m most focused on for mental health or PTSD is our correctional facility officers in Massachusetts have some of the highest suicide rates in America.”We know veterans with PTSD also have high suicide rates. These people are all ending up in emergency rooms, and that’s not a very good solution.”Hands-on experience with frontline healthcare workers is what Minogue believes gives his plan the credibility to set the Bay State on the right track again.”I’ve been very fortunate because I have a network of physicians and nurses and counselors that have been working with me for months.”We’ve collaborated so that we can come up with this patients-first plan.”If you put the patient at the center of that, the treatment plans can be very specialized for better outcomes at lower cost.”Finally, Minogue has a specific plan to root out waste and fraud, a particularly timely topic following investigations across the nation that have unveiled a costly web of corruption in social services at the taxpayer’s expense.”The most important thing is to recognize that better outcomes and a patients-first mindset actually can reduce costs. … But we have an additional area of cost savings. It’s called inefficiency, waste and fraud.”We’ll identify inefficiency, excess and fraud, and I believe we’re going to find hundreds of millions of dollars in savings at a minimum.”I’d like to use some of that money as an incentive on outcomes and make sure physicians and nurses can share in the success of improving outcomes. Great quality will lower our costs.”Minogue won the Massachusetts GOP endorsement at the party’s state convention in Worcester and is widely expected to win the Republican primary Sept. 1 to face off against incumbent Gov. Maura Healey.