RedState⁠91%

LA SNAP Raid Exposes the Welfare Mess Newsom Doesn’t Want to Own ⁠58%

By Ben Smith⁠54%

7/8/2026, 7:45:34 AM

BS Summary: This article contains 26 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Emotion, Availability Heuristic, and Anchoring Bias, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 35.1% saturation with 221 hits. Analysis detected 1,497 faulty-reasoning hits from 629 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 54.5% and a BS Rank of ⁠58% (9,052 of 21,176 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 57.30% of the article peer group.

While California officials keep fighting the Trump administration over federal funding, federal agents in Los Angeles were working an alleged food-stamp kickback case out of a Skid Row storefront. 
Agents with the U.S. 
Department of Agriculture’s Office of Inspector General and Homeland Security Investigations, backed by LAPD, raided Escamex Party Supplies on Towne Avenue last Thursday. 
Jesse Cervantes-Gomez, 30, a cashier at the store, was arrested and accused of paying cash kickbacks on fake SNAP transactions. 
Investigators said Escamex processed $732,608.26 in SNAP purchases from April 2025 to April 2026. 
That was nearly twice as much as its closest nearby competitor, even though the store was described as a low-volume grocery business. 
Court papers cited in the report also pointed to unusually large average purchases and more than $1 million in suspected fraud tied to the location. 
Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, put the responsibility on the state. 
"These programs are administered by the state, and the state have not done a good enough job to weed out the fraudsters." 
Essayli also warned that welfare fraud defendants are now looking at federal prison exposure. 
On May 18, an undercover agent allegedly asked Cervantes-Gomez for cash back on SNAP benefits. 
Cervantes-Gomez allegedly had a clerk run $2,900 in SNAP sales and then handed the agent $1,450 in cash, along with his cell number for future deals. 
Investigators say the agent returned a month later. 
That time, the alleged fake purchases totaled $3,240, and the cash kickback allegedly came to $1,740. 
On July 2, officers showed up instead of another buyer. 
The Skid Row arrest was part of a broader federal action in Los Angeles. 
USDA issued violation notices to 33 SNAP-authorized retailers after the raids. 
Six stores were accused of exchanging benefits for cash. 
Twenty-seven were accused of exchanging benefits for prohibited items, including alcohol, tobacco, and vapes. 
Read More: Report Shows CA Took 81 Percent of Welfare Spending in the US Tied to Illegal Immigrant Households 
Feds Investigating Los Angeles Homeless Industrial Complex Spending - Here's How We Got Here 
California’s SNAP program totals $12.5 billion and serves roughly 5.5 million people, making it the largest in the country. 
About 11 percent of payments go out in error, often because of false or incomplete household information or administrative mistakes, California’s nonpartisan fiscal adviser found. 
Gov. 
Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta have spent months suing the Trump administration over federal funding fights. 
That same state government oversaw an Employment Development Department that acknowledged $31 billion in unemployment benefits may have been stolen during COVID-era claims. 
The Justice Department also announced a guilty plea in a separate case involving nearly $270 million in fraudulent Medi-Cal claims. 
The Administration for Children and Families (TANF) released numbers on immigration-related child-only welfare cases. 
The report found that roughly $617.5 million in cash assistance went to California households through those cases in fiscal year 2024. 
That was more than 81 percent of nationwide spending under the program’s immigration-related, child-only category. 
The report states: 
Although the benefit is formally paid on behalf of the child, it still supports a household that includes an immigration-status-ineligible parent. 
Nearly 60,000 California households fell into this category in fiscal year 2024. 
Nationwide, there were about 85,000 such households. 
California accounted for roughly seven out of every 10 immigration-related child-only TANF cases in America. 
The Los Angeles raid leaves California with the largest SNAP program in the country, dozens of retailer violations in one city, and a Skid Row store accused of turning food-stamp benefits into cash. 
Editor’s Note: Help us continue to report the truth about corrupt politicians. 
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Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 9.1%Ben Smith: 2.6%RedState: 7.1%Confirmation Bias9.1%This article: 17.2%Ben Smith: 2.5%RedState: 0.7%Anchoring Bias17.2%This article: 20.8%Ben Smith: 2.8%RedState: 3.4%Availability Heuristic20.8%This article: 7.6%Ben Smith: 0.6%RedState: 1.0%Representativeness Heuristic7.6%This article: 0.0%Ben Smith: 0.4%RedState: 0.9%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 4.0%Ben Smith: 0.8%RedState: 1.8%Overconfidence Bias4.0%This article: 16.2%Ben Smith: 13.4%RedState: 9.3%Framing Effect16.2%This article: 0.0%Ben Smith: 1.0%RedState: 0.5%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 0.0%Ben Smith: 0.5%RedState: 0.4%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Ben Smith: 0.4%RedState: 0.1%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Ben Smith: 0.7%RedState: 1.7%Optimism Bias0.0%This article: 2.2%Ben Smith: 0.7%RedState: 1.7%Pessimism Bias2.2%This article: 35.1%Ben Smith: 10.0%RedState: 14.1%Negativity Bias35.1%This article: 0.0%Ben Smith: 1.9%RedState: 1.7%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 2.4%Ben Smith: 1.4%RedState: 2.0%Fundamental Attribution Error2.4%This article: 6.0%Ben Smith: 0.2%RedState: 0.3%Actor-Observer Bias6.0%This article: 0.0%Ben Smith: 1.8%RedState: 4.7%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Ben Smith: 1.1%RedState: 3.1%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Ben Smith: 0.8%RedState: 2.0%Halo Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Ben Smith: 0.2%RedState: 0.8%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Ben Smith: 0.0%RedState: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 5.7%Ben Smith: 1.1%RedState: 1.2%Recency Bias5.7%This article: 0.0%Ben Smith: 0.1%RedState: 0.5%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Ben Smith: 0.0%RedState: 0.1%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Ben Smith: 4.9%RedState: 7.0%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 3.0%Ben Smith: 1.4%RedState: 2.7%Straw Man3.0%This article: 9.7%Ben Smith: 3.1%RedState: 3.3%Appeal to Authority9.7%This article: 0.0%Ben Smith: 1.5%RedState: 2.4%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%Ben Smith: 0.5%RedState: 1.4%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Ben Smith: 0.1%RedState: 0.2%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 9.7%Ben Smith: 4.7%RedState: 10.2%Hasty Generalization9.7%This article: 0.0%Ben Smith: 0.5%RedState: 0.7%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%Ben Smith: 0.6%RedState: 0.9%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 24.5%Ben Smith: 4.6%RedState: 8.7%Appeal to Emotion24.5%This article: 1.9%Ben Smith: 1.0%RedState: 1.8%Begging the Question1.9%This article: 4.6%Ben Smith: 2.7%RedState: 2.5%Post Hoc (False Cause)4.6%This article: 0.0%Ben Smith: 0.4%RedState: 0.9%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 2.4%Ben Smith: 0.6%RedState: 1.2%Burden of Proof2.4%This article: 0.0%Ben Smith: 0.0%RedState: 0.1%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 4.1%Ben Smith: 0.4%RedState: 0.4%Composition/Division4.1%This article: 8.3%Ben Smith: 1.7%RedState: 2.6%Anecdotal8.3%This article: 0.0%Ben Smith: 0.1%RedState: 0.3%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 6.8%Ben Smith: 1.6%RedState: 1.6%Ambiguity (Equivocation)6.8%This article: 0.0%Ben Smith: 0.0%RedState: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Ben Smith: 0.0%RedState: 0.0%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Ben Smith: 0.1%RedState: 0.2%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Ben Smith: 0.0%RedState: 0.2%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Ben Smith: 0.2%RedState: 0.3%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 3.5%Ben Smith: 2.2%RedState: 2.5%Unattributed Quote3.5%This article: 0.0%Ben Smith: 1.3%RedState: 1.8%Quote-first Misdirection0.0%This article: 11.8%Ben Smith: 11.8%RedState: 22.0%Biased Writer Voice11.8%This article: 1.9%Ben Smith: 2.6%RedState: 4.8%Indoctrination1.9%This article: 0.0%Ben Smith: 0.6%RedState: 0.4%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 14.1%Ben Smith: 11.0%RedState: 15.8%Politically Right Leaning Bias14.1%This article: 5.2%Ben Smith: 2.2%RedState: 3.6%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…5.2%

629 words analyzed.

Speakers

10speakers40%attributed speech380writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 12 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 29 words • 100.0% coverageU.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of Inspector General and Homeland Security Investigations • 4 words • 0.0% coverageU.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of Inspector General and Homeland Security Investigations • 23 words • 0.0% coverageJesse Cervantes-Gomez • 20 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 14 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 22 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 25 words • 0.0% coverageBill Essayli • 15 words • 0.0% coverageBill Essayli • 22 words • 100.0% coverageBill Essayli • 14 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 15 words • 0.0% coverageJesse Cervantes-Gomez • 26 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 8 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 16 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 10 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 14 words • 0.0% coverageUSDA • 11 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 9 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 14 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 19 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 14 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 19 words • 0.0% coverageCalifornia’s nonpartisan fiscal adviser • 25 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 1 words • 0.0% coverageGavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta • 18 words • 0.0% coverageEmployment Development Department • 23 words • 0.0% coverageJustice Department • 20 words • 0.0% coverageAdministration for Children and Families (TANF) • 14 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 21 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 15 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 3 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 21 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 12 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 7 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 15 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 33 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 12 words • 100.0% coverageRedState • 14 words • 100.0% coverage
Selected voice

Bill Essayli

100%flagged-word coverage
51 attributed words20% of attributed speech94% writer coverage
0%22.5%45.0%Unattributed Quote+43.1 ptsWriter: 0.0%Bill Essayli: 43.1%43.1%Politically Right Leaning -23.4 ptsWriter: 23.4%Bill Essayli: 0.0%0.0%Biased Writer Voice-19.5 ptsWriter: 19.5%Bill Essayli: 0.0%0.0%Attempt to Sell a Product -5.0 ptsWriter: 5.0%Bill Essayli: 0.0%0.0%Indoctrination-3.2 ptsWriter: 3.2%Bill Essayli: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.