Number 4. Reuters. Albania appoints AI bot as minister to tackle corruption.
Albania has long been the Balkan nation most associated with big-money corruption, as international organizations committed to both drug dealing and gun-running have found a warm and receptive business climate. Money laundering is a lucrative past time.
Government ministers are regularly convicted of bribery, their principal violation being that they actually got caught.
But now, says Prime Minister Edi Rama, set to begin an unprecedented fourth term in office, all that is behind us. From now on, proclaims Mr. Rama, we have a new minister of public procurement said to be “impervious to bribes, threats, or attempts to curry favor.”
Her name is Diella, and one name suffices, because Diella is an artificial intelligence bot. She will manage all the contracts the government issues to private entities, and thus ensure they are 100% pure and aboveboard.
Diella made her debut earlier this year in a position where she granted access to government documents citizens required. She executed those tasks quickly and efficiently.
The article attributes some human-like characteristics to the AI creation. Maybe it’s just how the translation comes across, but the text indicates that Diella is usually “dressed in traditional Albanian attire.”
I have no idea what that means, nor am I remotely aware of what traditional Albanian attire for a chunk of coded software might look like.
Whatever the wardrobe, Albania sees a bright, corruption-free future. This should go a long ways toward paving entry into the European Union, which Prime Minister Rama says is targeted for the year 2030.
Diella is not without her detractors, of course. Questions about the potential risk of an unethical programmer manipulating Diella’s algorithms went unanswered. The government was similarly silent on the degree of human oversight that would be in place.
Admittedly, it is hard to find lots of news out of Albania in the western press, but I really look forward to seeing the op-eds this time next year. Assuming that any of the journalists with honest revelations survive to get them into print.
This is a story sure to stir the patriotism of every American. Our professional, de-centralized and capitalistic health care system not only provides the best medical care the world has ever seen, but is enormously profitable. Just ask the 324 individuals who have pocketed an average of $45 million each in various Medicare scams this year.
Not since Trump 45 have we seen the level of success by federal law enforcement in finding and prosecuting medical fraud. Nine months into Trump’s second administration, the Department of Justice has uncovered fraud schemes that would have bilked the public out of $14 billion. In Trump’s first term, the annual fraud figure was less than half that..
Most of the current illicit activity involves transnational criminal enterprises submitting fraudulent insurance claims, but there is also a strong trend of foreign investors purchasing U.S. medical supply companies and then being reimbursed by Medicare for non-existent investments. It’s just paperwork, after all, and Medicare is really good at paperwork.
A more minor, but perhaps more concerning, scam is using AI to create fake voice prints of Medicare beneficiaries consenting to medical services.
(When you answer the phone from a number you do not recognize — and you really should not answer those calls at all — and the caller asks if they are speaking to you, DO NOT say, “Yes.” That brief utterance in your voice can be used to document a fake acknowledgment of a purchase you do not intend to authorize.)
Health care fraud seems to be rife in this new presidential administration. During the Biden years, the total fraud identified by the DOJ was in the range of $2 billion a year. During the first Trump administration, as has been noted, it was three times that. Now, it’s well over $14 billion.
So either the control the Biden administration had over medical fraud was much tighter... or maybe it was much looser. In any event, fraud now identified has grown by 130% from 2020 and 2025… and it was relatively unknown for the years in between.
Interesting.
Number 2. Military Times. Troops with medical shaving waivers to face separation.
Channeling his inner George Patton, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has now decreed that all military men shall be clean shaven. It is part of the warrior ethos, he claims, and makes the service member stand out from the crowd.
I have no doubt. There are many stories from World War II and earlier of commanding officers who insisted their men shave daily. There were exceptions, of course, as rough living in combat conditions is generally not conducive to personal grooming. But military discipline seems to correlate strongly with military appearance.
One of the perks of Special Operations has been that hair styles are more relaxed, befitting the frequent need to fit in with a local foreign populace. It is not yet clear how that subset of the military will be addressed.
Now that Pete Hegseth has gone on record with the new requirement, I am awaiting the howls of protest. A quick review of headlines shows the beard lines being drawn:
Shaving policy is racist and outdated, AOL.com
Troops with shaving waivers face separation, Yahoo News
Restrictions spark backlash, WTNH dot com
Policy targets Black service members, The Hill
Discriminates against Blacks, Change dot org
I am sympathetic with those who have legitimate medical issues with the beard thing. But I also really like the idea of a military that looks formidable. I would like to think America’s enemies view our service members and say, “I’d be nuts to go up against men like that.”
Number 1. Mental Floss dot com. LEGO’s New Death Star Set Comes With a Record-Breaking Price Tag.
Here is the perfect Christmas present for those of you who have exhausted all your good ideas in years past. The Star Wars Death Star is now available as a LEGO set.
Intricately detailed and huge — over 2 feet tall — it comes with 38 action figures including Luke, Obi-Wan Kenobi, unnamed stormtroopers and (I hope) Han Solo, Princess Leia and the Wookie. Surely R2D2 and C3prio will be there.
This can be yours for only $1000. Add this to the $800 Millennium Falcon you bought (or should have bought) eight years ago.
With 9,023 pieces in the Death Star, that’s about 11 cents per component.
The Death Star will be available in October. Don’t wait to get yours! Imagine the disappointment in your home if backorders set in before Christmas.
Think of the lifetime message it sends to your child, to know that his parents value him so highly as to give him an enduring piece of… of science fiction turned into popular entertainment, built on nothing but investor-sponsored dreams of huge quantities of disposable income available for the taking from audiences seeking a few hours of raw escapism in a darkened movie theatre.
Now THAT is a legacy.
And thanks for joining The Alligator News Roundup for Friday, September 26, 2025. This year is rapidly drawing to a close. Autumnal equinox is past and we are headed for the solstice. Reflect on the year: Trump 47, tariffs, DOGE, immigration, deportation, lawfare, Ukraine, Iranian nuke facility bombed, China-on-the-move, artificial intelligence, Charlie Kirk.
Turning Point USA, with 900 college chapters, has at last count received 120,000 new applications for high school and college chapters. Don’t miss this sign of the times; it may be as big or bigger than the Promise Keepers movement from a generation ago. Consider: Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
Have a good weekend!
