Tax Scofflaws Get Millions In Contract Awards From IRS

Corporations that owed back taxes illegally received nearly $19 million from contracts with the Internal Revenue Service in 2012 and 2013, a government watchdog reported Wednesday.

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The IRS is prohibited from contracting with corporations that owe the government taxes, but that didn’t stop the agency from awarding 17 delinquent companies $18.8 million for 57 contracts, according to a Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration report.

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“Federal contractors who abuse the tax system cause significant loss of tax revenue, while at the same time benefitting from taxes paid by compliant individuals and corporations,” the report said. “When the IRS conducts business with contractors that do not pay their federal taxes, it conveys a conflicting message in relation to its mission to ensure compliance with tax laws.”

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One corporation also received three contracts worth more than $67,000 even though it had a felony conviction.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2012 “prohibited the IRS from using appropriated funds to enter into a contract with a corporation that has certain federal tax debt and/or felony convictions,” the report said.

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IRS officials told the inspector general they either didn’t remember receiving the guidance the Department of the Treasury issued on Feb. 2, 2012, regarding the new law, or they didn’t understand it “because they received no training on these new requirements.”

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In any case, “TIGTA found that the IRS did not have effective controls in place to prevent the award of contracts to corporations with certain federal tax debt and/or felony convictions,” the report said.

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Investigators estimated that the IRS didn’t require corporations to report tax debt or felony convictions for 94 percent of all awarded contracts. In fact, the IRS doesn’t have a definition for federal tax debt and doesn’t proactively check to ensure prospective contractors are in compliance with appropriation law, investigators found.

Via: Daily Caller

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Guns, race remain Obama’s biggest missed opportunities

President Barack Obama, with Vice President Biden, leaves after making a statement at the White House regarding the church shootings in Charleston, S.C., on June 18, the day after the massacre. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The killing of nine black worshipers at a church in South Carolina has compelled President Obama to look back with anger, then melancholy and finally some distance at the two most in­trac­table issues he has faced as president: guns and race.

In the White House briefing room, at a fundraiser at the home of a movie star, before a roomful of the country’s mayors and in a garage in Pasadena, Calif., Obama has reflected not only on the Charleston shootings but also on the missed opportunities and unfinished business of his presidency.

“Increasingly, I’ve spent my time thinking about how do I try to break out of these old patterns that our politics have fallen into,” Obama said in Pasadena, where he recorded a podcast interview that was released Monday. He wondered how to have a normal conversation that’s “not this battle in a steel cage between one side and another.”

The pain laid bare by Charleston has led Obama to an unusually frank assessment of his presidency and an acknowledgment that he hasn’t been the unifying, transformational figure that many hoped he would be.

On Friday, he will travel to Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston to deliver another eulogy, this time for a pastor who was one of the earliest supporters of the movement that in 2008 propelled Obama to the White House. That campaign’s most enthusiastic backers believed that a newly mobilized and enthusiastic citizenry could radically improve the nature of the political debate in Washington.

Just hours after the June 17 shootings in Charleston, Obama stood before the cameras in the White House briefing room and spoke mournfully of the Rev. Clementa Pinckney and the eight other parishioners killed during an evening Bible study.

Obama was thinking about the dead. But his frustration and disgust in that moment sprang just as much from the killing of 20 elementary school students in Connecticut three years earlier, his aides said.

Obama has described the Newtown massacre as the “worst day” of his presidency and Congress’s inability to pass gun control legislation as his most stinging defeat.

Via; Washington Post

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Obama can't pass buck on health insurance

(CNN)The Obama administration has had plenty of advance notice about the King v. Burwell decision and the potential outcomes, but it seems the President's only plan is to continue pointing his finger at the states for a problem he created. In fact, when testifying recently about Obamacare implementation and the upcoming court decision, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell refused to give concrete answers to basic questions about the administration's contingency plan or willingness to work with Congress on a fix.  

Just last week, Secretary Burwell was in Wisconsin. She could have used the opportunity to tell Wisconsin residents how the federal government is going to solve its Obamacare mess, but instead she promoted the use of "free" Obamacare services. Free for who? According to data gathered by the Manhattan Institute, individual insurance premiums in Wisconsin for a 40-year-old male climbed 83% compared with pre-Obamacare numbers, and 38% for a 40-year-old woman. For a 27 year-old, the hike was even greater. It seems that P.J. O'Rourke was frighteningly accurate when he said: "If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free."

When the federal government pushed Wisconsin to expand Medicaid, holding out the promise of millions in federal funds in 2013, we said "No thank you." We knew trusting the federal government to follow through on its promises would end with Wisconsin taxpayers on the hook.  Forced to accept the confines of Obamacare, our goal was to chart a path to protect those in Wisconsin who needed Medicaid the most, while moving people toward true independence.  

Wisconsin is the only state that didn't accept the Medicaid expansion funds and that has no gap in coverage, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. For the first time in state history, everyone living in poverty has access to coverage.  But despite our best efforts to mitigate the damage of Obamacare, the consequences of the law have been profound as employers have cut hours, while some workers lost their insurance altogether and are struggling to pay the dramatic premium increases. Meanwhile, even many families that have Obamacare coverage can't afford the deductible and doctor fees, while others can no longer see trusted doctors. 

It's clear Obamacare must be repealed and replaced with a plan that puts patients and their families back in charge. 

From the beginning, the President's implementation of Obamacare has been called into question, and in the next week, the Supreme Court is expected to rule on King v. Burwell, deciding a central component of Obamacare's structure: Can the federal government subsidize healthcare plans purchased on the federal exchange?  

If the high court rules in favor of the administration, Obamacare will continue, unchanged.  And that means the Republican House and Senate must redouble the fight to repeal and replace Obamacare. 

Via: CNN

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[VIDEO] OPM HEAD UNSURE OF FILES IT MAINTAINS, HOW MANY PEOPLE’S INFORMATION EXPOSED

Office of Personnel Management Director (OPM) Katherine Archuleta was unsure of how many employees and retirees’ information her agency oversees and might have been breached in testimony before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday.

Archuleta was asked by Chairman 

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT)

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 how many federal employees and retirees her agency has personally identifiable information for. She responded, “We have 2.7 individuals who are full-time employees, and 2.4 who are –” before Chaffetz cut her off to say, “No, I asked you — you have personal, identifiable information for how many employees and retirees?”

Archuleta continued, “The number I just gave you includes the number of employees and retirees, and personally identifiable information within those files depends on whether they’ve had a background investigation or whether their personnel file –” Chaffetz again cut in, asking, “How many records do you have?”

Archuleta then told Chaffetz she will ask someone else, he told Archuleta that as the head of the agency, she should know. He then read a letter she wrote the Appropriations chairs in the House and the Senate that said her agency had the personal, identifiable information for 32 million federal employees and retirees. Chaffetz then asked, “Are you here to tell me that that information is all safe or is it potentially 32 million records that are at play here?”

She answered, “As I mentioned to you earlier in my testimony, Mr. Chairman, we’re reviewing the number, and the scope of the breach and the impact to all of the records.” Chaffetz asked, “So, it could be as high as 32 million? Is that right?” He was told that Archuleta “will not give a number that is not completely accurate.”

Chaffetz continued to press the issue, stating he was only asking for a range, not an exact number and wondering if 32 million people’s information could be exposed. “I’m not going to give you a number that I am not sure of.”

Chaffetz then asked, “And when they fill out the SF86, that would include other people that identified within those forms, correct?” Archuleta answered that this was correct. He then asked if there was an average number of people who are identified on an SF86, to which he was told that there is no average that Archuleta knows of.

The questioning concluded with Chaffetz asking, “When you asked for $32 million more in your budget request, it was because you had 32 million federal employees identified, and former employees, correct?” Archuleta answered, “That — the number of employees that we have, yes, we’re asking for support for our cybersecurity –

Via: Breitbart

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Regulatory Taking on an Unprecedented Scale

The Fifth Amendment’s “takings clause” stipulates that “private property [shall not] be taken for public use, without just compensation.”  Many state constitutions provide additional limitations on eminent domain, such as California’s, which stipulates that such compensation must be “ascertained by a jury unless waived.”

The courts recognize that takings extend beyond the physical seizure of property.  Takings also occur when government regulations restrict the use or alter the value of property.  Yet such regulatory takings have become increasingly common as federal agencies turn a blind eye to the Constitution.

Now the Obama administration has announced a diversity policy that constitutes regulatory taking on an unprecedented scale.  With HUD’s Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, the administration plans to fund the construction of low-income housing within middle-class neighborhoods across the country.  This placement of subsidized housing projects within affluent neighborhoods constitutes a taking, because the property values and usefulness of existing homes will be reduced and curtailed.

The damage will include but not be limited to financial loss.  HUD’s rule change undermines the fundamental right of homeowners to live in a safe, quiet, well-maintained neighborhood.

It is hard to underestimate the insidiousness of HUD’s unconstitutional expansion of the Fair Housing Act of 1968.  The new initiative employs a taxpayer’s own money to fund the reduction of his property values and to strip him of his rights as a homeowner.  And it does so in order to provide subsidized or no-cost housing to welfare clients of the state who in many cases have never worked. 

Once HUD’s low-income housing has been built, suburban families will find their crime rates increasing – not just the number of burglaries and thefts, but drug sales, gang activity, and murders as well.  Every survey of crime statistics has revealed the same fact: criminal activity, and violent activity in particular, occurs at a much higher rates in proximity to public housing.

Via: American Thinker

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USA Sovereignty Ends?

In 2008, we warned you about Obama.  Over and over again, we presented material documents showing that Obama had worked with and still worked with the enemies—many like Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn who did so with extreme violence—of the USA, its people…and, ultimately, every area where liberty lived.  However, not willing to bother with any and/or all facts but, preferring the super-charged emotion of the dictator-to-be moment, too many Americans voted for him anyway.  Besides, many US citizens had to prove they weren’t racist—so they voted for a Democrat-advertised half-black man who had only recently begun a career in politics.  But, he had a winning way about him, a great smile and could give a rousing speech.  Hmmm.  Seems there was at least one other leader in the 1930s who fit that description.  But…I digress.

By 2012, the ObamaGov had already shown many of its stripes.  Only a few of its attacks against Americans include the following.  It passed ObamaCare—which was designed to destroy the US Healthcare System and has been effecting a terrific job in doing so—behind closed doors by Democrats alone and without the American people and their Republican “leaders” knowing what was in it.  He also began bringing illegals—some of them Islamist terrorist-“sympathizers”—into the country during his first 4-year reign.

Obama began his wide-open Southern border policy during the first four years…an extension of his “let all Muslims in without questioning them” policy that followed the ultimate course of replacing US citizens with illegal voters.  These were and remain tyrannical acts against America and its people (Article III the Constitution states: “Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.”).  Obama, also, began his amnesty for illegals programs in his attempt to speed up the replacement of current US voters with his—and Democrats’—voters.  But, still, Americans voted him in for a second time…this time with the help of between 3-4 million conservative voters who stayed home because they wouldn’t vote for Romney.

Via: Canada Free Press

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[VIDEO] Stone-Faced During Trial, Boston Bomber Tsarnaev Invokes Allah, Says He's 'Sorry' As He's Sentenced to Death

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was sentenced to death for his role in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, told a federal court Wednesday that he is sorry for those he killed in the attack and the suffering he caused.

Though Tsarnaev, who sat stone-faced during his trial, was given the option to address the court at the formal sentencing, legal experts initially did not expect him to because he had little to gain since the judge was required to impose the jury's death sentence.

Tsarnaev admitted that he was guilty in the bombing and told the court that he prays to Allah about the victims and that they are able to heal. He also told the court that he asks Allah to have mercy on him and his brother.

"All those who got up on that witness stand and that podium relayed to us, to me — I was listening — the suffering that was and the hardship that still is, with strength, with patience, with dignity," he 

Via Fox News

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Rhode Island Hikes Minimum Wage for the Fourth Time in Four Years

Rhode Island lawmakers have approved legislation that will raise the state’s minimum wage.

The Ocean State will increase its hourly wage from $9 to $9.60 starting on Jan. 1, 2016. According to NECN, the increase will be Rhode Island’s fourth minimum wage hike in four years.

Gov. Gina Raimondo, D-R.I., signed the bill into law on Monday.

“We’re going to give a chance to Rhode Islanders who work hard and it’s just a start, you know. Just even at $9.60, you know, it’s very challenging working full-time at $9.60, it’s still a huge challenge but it’s a start. It’s a step in the right direction,” Raimondo said during the bill signing ceremony.

In a statement, President Obama praised Rhode Island’s decision. “Since I first called on Congress to increase the federal minimum wage in 2013, 17 states have acted on their own, which will grow the paychecks of millions of American workers,” he said.

“This year, more than half of our states guarantee their workers a wage higher than the federal minimum, but despite this progress we still have work to do,” Obama added. “I continue to encourage states, cities, counties and companies to lift their workers’ wages, and I urge Congress to finally do the right thing and give America a raise.”

Opponents say that a minimum wage hike places an additional burden on employers, particularly small businesses, and that it will reduce the number of available jobs.

“What we should be doing is lowering the burden, lowering the regulations on employers in the state and that’s the only way we’re ever going to see rapid growth,” Mike Stenhouse, the CEO of the Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity, told WPRI.

Via: The Daily Signal

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DHS to free illegal immigrant families

Homeland Security will begin releasing more illegal immigrant families from detention, Secretary Jeh Johnson announced Wednesday as he bowed to political pressure from activists and members of Congress who’d called the conditions inhumane for families.

Despite offering amenities for the illegal immigrants ranging from flat-screen televisions in every suite, classrooms and ball fields at their disposal and 24-hour access to snacks and sodas, Mr. Johnson said he’s concluded things are still too harsh.

He said illegal immigrant parents and children who claim they fear for their lives back home will now have the chance to post a “reasonable and realistic” bond that will earn them the right to be released into the U.S., with the hope that they eventually return for their deportation hearings.

“In substance — the detention of families will be short-term in most cases,” he said in a statement announcing the changes.

It’s a major reversal for Mr. Johnson, who just a year ago pointed to detaining families as one of the key steps he was taking to push back against the surge of illegal immigrant children and families from Central America.

It also comes as new data shows those released from detention almost never show up for their court hearings or to be deported, meaning that any of those families later deemed deportable will likely be difficult to round up.

Mr. Johnson’s move met with praise from immigrant-rights advocates, who called it a “first step” but said they still want to see the detention centers shut down altogether, and all families released out into the community.

Top congressional Republicans, meanwhile, said Mr. Obama is only making illegal immigration worse.

“By refusing to detain unlawful immigrants until their claims are proven legitimate, the Obama administration is practically guaranteeing that they will disappear into our communities and never be removed from the United States,” said Rep. Robert W. Goodlatte, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

Via: Washington Times

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Study: Less than 5 percent of colleges uphold the First Amendment

A new study says that less than 5 percent of colleges and universities surveyed have policies in place that respect the First Amendment right to free speech, while more than half are violating either the First Amendment or free speech promises made by these schools.

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education is an educational nonprofit that reviews 437 college and university speech codes every year in an effort to "defend the individual rights of students and faculty members at colleges across the country," said Azhar Majeed, director of FIRE's Individual Rights Education Program.

FIRE puts schools into three categories: red light, yellow light and green light. Red light ratings are for schools that have at least one policy that violates student and faculty freedom of expression, and in the group's 2015 poll, 55.2 percent of these schools got the red light. That's a slight improvement from the 58.6 percent of schools that got a red light rating in the prior survey,according to FIRE's website.

Green light ratings are for schools whose policies uphold the First Amendment, but only 21 of the 437 schools evaluated this past year received a green light, Majeed said. That's just shy of 5 percent.

"Red light policies are clearly unconstitutional," Majeed said. "Yellow light speech codes are a little bit more ambiguous, often times they are vague in the way they are worded, and so they do encompass some protective speech, but it's not as clearly restrictive as a red light speech code."

FIRE works with schools to be sure their policies do not infringe on faculty members' or students' rights. While public schools are bound by the First Amendment, private institutions are not. However, FIRE examines the promises private schools make in their handbooks on free speech, and then evaluates the supporting policies to make sure they uphold those promises, Majeed said.

Todd Zywicki, foundation professor of law at George Mason University, spent five years trying to improve GMU's speech code rating before finally receiving a green light rating.

Via: Washington Examiner

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Elise Stefanik: The Millennial Whisperer Rep chairs first GOP taskforce hearing on millennials

She’s been mistaken for an intern, teased by Paul Ryan for not knowing what “Magnavox” is, and she was a fan of ’90s pop: Rep. Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.), 30, is the voice of Republican millennials.

Stefanik on Tuesday began her duty as chairwoman for the first hearing of the Republican Policy Committee’s Taskforce on Millennials.

“This first chair meeting is all about getting to know the Millennial generation, their political demographic, and cultural attributes,” Republican policy chairman Rep. Luke Messer (R., Ind.) said to the taskforce. “We want to know what makes them tick. They want their voices heard, and their ideas to be taken seriously.”

Stefanik is the only female millennial and the youngest woman to serve in Congress. In an effort to educate the public on this demographic, she brought together a panel of pollsters, researchers, and authors to identify the issues that matter the most to millennials.

Data submitted to the committee by the Pew Research Center polled samples from all generations to see what political issues are top priorities. While baby boomers focused on terrorism, the economy, and social security, millennials focused on education, the economy, and jobs.

“Millennials have surpassed Gen Xers as the largest labor force in America,” Stefanik said in an interview with the Washington Free Beacon. “They are concerned about the economy, massive student loan debt, and finding a high-quality job in their skill set. Hierarchal business practices don’t appeal to millennials anymore, and many resonate with bottom down growth and entrepreneurship.”

In addition to concerns about employment and debt, millennials also show a general distrust of government. A poll submitted to the taskforce by the Harvard University Institute of Politics showed that only 17 percent of millennials trust Congress to do the right thing. They are skeptical of government and desire transparency.

“Millennials, unfortunately, are losing interest in public service to bring change to government,” Stefanik said during the hearing. “A recent Time magazine poll found that 89 percent of millennials are not interested in running for office in the future. As members of Congress begin to retire from previous generations, it is imperative that a new generation of leaders step up to the plate.”

Stefanik wants to be a role model for this generation. The 30-year-old Albany native confessed to theFree Beacon that she is a true ’90s kid: in her youth, she enjoyed shows such as Saved by the Belland Full House, and listened to the Swedish pop group Ace Of Base. She also is active on social media and thinks it is key in gaining millennials’ trust.+

Via: WFB

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State Omitted Clinton’s Chief of Staff From ‘Special Government Employee’ Disclosure List

The State Department did not disclose that Hillary Clinton’s chief of staff Cheryl Mills had a special arrangement in 2009 that allowed her to hold outside positions with the William J. Clinton Foundation, New York University, and an Abu Dhabi-funded group.

The agency came under scrutiny in 2013, after it was reported that Clinton’s close aide Huma Abedin had been granted “special government employee” status under Clinton, which allowed her to work as a part-time consultant for the State Department while also taking private clients that had financial ties to the former First Family.

The State Department said on Wednesday that Mills was also granted special government employee status between Jan. 22 and May 24, 2009. That contradicts previous reports that Mills first became an SGE in 2013, after Clinton left the agency.

Mills was not included on a list of all special government employees for the year 2009, which the State Department released last year in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from ProPublica. She is only included for the year 2013. According to ProPublica, the agency repeatedlydelayed the release of the list, which included about 100 employees.

When asked on Wednesday why the information about Mills was omitted from the disclosure, a State Department spokesperson declined to comment.

The Free Beacon first reported on Wednesday that Mills continued to serve as general counsel for NYU and as a board member for the school’s UAE-funded Abu Dhabi campus for four months after she joined the State Department. She was also on the board of the William J. Clinton Foundation until March 2009.

While the board positions were unpaid, Mills received $198,000 from NYU, according to her financial disclosure. The NYU Abu Dhabi campus has drawn criticism from human rights groups for alleged labor abuses.

During this time, Mills was identified as Clinton’s “Chief of Staff and Counsel” in internal State Department memos and cables. She was also involved in discussions with State Department ethics counselors about vetting and approving Bill Clinton’s paid speech requests. Clinton has given numerous paid speeches in the UAE since 2009, and the Clinton Foundation has received between $1 million and $5 million from the UAE government.

Via: WFB

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Marilyn Mosby Urges Young People To Use Freddie Gray Case To Form A ‘Movement’

So as the Baltimore State's Attorney where doe it say she is also electing herself to be a community activist??

Baltimore City state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby issued a call to action for young people, urging them to take advantage of the spotlight provided by the Freddie Gray case to form a “movement” to reform the criminal justice system.

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“As young people, we need to utilize this moment and make it into a movement, to address some of the structural, socioeconomic, and systemic issues that plague our communities all across the country, not just in Baltimore,” Mosby told Cosmopolitan magazine in an interview published on Tuesday.

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Mosby’s clarion call comes on the same day her case against the six Baltimore cops charged in the case suffered an apparent blow. The medical examiner who performed the autopsy on the 25-year-old Gray ruled that the injuries he sustained while in the back of a police van following his April 12 arrest met the legal and medical definition of an accident. While Gray’s April 19 death was ruled a homicide, the autopsy casts further doubt on the charges leveled against the cops. (RELATED: Autopsy: Freddie Gray Likely Got To His Own Feet Before Suffering Head Injury In Baltimore Police Van Ride)

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The autopsy, which was leaked to The Baltimore Sun by unknown sources, also found that Gray had opiates and cannabis in his system when he was taken to the hospital following his arrest.

Mosby’s call for a new “movement,” despite the case against the officers being far from settled, highlights just how polarizing of a figure the 35-year-old rookie prosecutor has become.

What do you think?

Mosby became a national hero to some when she announced charges against the officers. “To the people of Baltimore and the demonstrators across America, I heard your call for ‘No justice, no peace,'” she said during a May 1 press conference to announce those charges.

What do you think?

But others have slammed Mosby, saying that her rhetoric showed she was biased against the cops, that she had overcharged them and that she was making extrajudicial statements that could taint the jury pool.

What do you think?

Mosby’s call for a movement is not the first time she’s used such fiery language.

What do you think?

Via: Daily Caller

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