Free Republic

In 2011 and 2012, I researched and wrote — along with Case Western Reserve University law professor Jonathan H. Adler — a law-journal article that explains why the IRS’s actions are illegal. Our work laid the foundation for King and three similar cases. To our knowledge, we have done more research on the question of what Congress really meant than anyone. When we began, we knew Congress routinely conditions benefits to individuals on states implementing federal programs. The Supreme Court has held that Congress cannot compel states to implement such programs, but it can create incentives for states to do...

Judicial Watch announced Monday that a U.S. federal judge has ordered the IRS to provide an answer for the missing Lois Lerner emails — by this Friday, June 12. This is another positive step to have the IRS and the Obama Administration finally answer to the American people. Judge Emmet Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted the watchdog group’s request to issue an order requiring the IRS to answer for the status of the likely damaging Lois Lerner emails by June 12, 2015. “The Obama IRS obstructed and lied to a federal judge and...

  I heard a man speak on Tony Brown’s Journal in the 1980s, on the thesis that the Federal Reserve System is a tax-farming system, creating monies out of nothing, loaning them to the United States, charging interest that must be repaid with taxes. It sounds paranoiac, until you learn that the Federal Reserve Act was closely associated with the ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment to the US Constitution establishing the Federal Income Tax. Now that Texas is close to pushing us over the top of the number of states required to ask Congress to call a Constitutional convention, what might happen...

The Obama administration is scrambling to assess the impact of a massive data breach involving the agency that handles security clearances and employee records, U.S. officials said Thursday. A congressional aide familiar with the situation, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to discuss it, said the Office of Personnel Management and the Interior Department were hacked.

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — The Associated Press has learned that the Obama administration is scrambling to assess the impact of a massive data breach involving the agency that handles security clearances and employee records.</p> <p>A congressional aide familiar with the situation, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to discuss it, says the Office of Personnel Management and the Interior Department were hacked. A second U.S. official who also declined to be identified said the data breach could potentially affect every federal agency.</p>

The Obama administration is scrambling to assess the impact of an unprecedented data breach involving the agency that handles security clearances and employee records. According to the Washington Post, Chinese hackers breached the Office of Personnel Management in December and gained access to personal information of up to 4 million current and former employees. A congressional aide familiar with the situation, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to discuss it, says the OPM and the Interior Department were hacked. A second U.S. official who also declined to be identified said the data breach could potentially affect...

Chinese hackers breached the computer system of the Office of Personnel Management in December, officials said Thursday, and the agency will notify some 4 million current and former federal employees that their personal data may have been compromised. The hack was the second major intrusion of the agency by China in less than a year. OPM, using new tools, discovered the breach in April, said officials at the agency who declined to comment on who was behind the hack. Other U.S. officials, who spoke on conditions of anonymity because it is an ongoing investigation, identified the hackers as being from...

Hackers broke into the U.S. government personnel office and stole identifying information of at least 4 million federal workers. The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement Thursday that at the beginning of May, data from the Office of Personnel Management and the Interior Department was compromised.

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen was in the hot seat on Capitol Hill yesterday over a massive data breach and hacking of highly sensitive taxpayer information, including social security numbers. A number of taxpayers whose information was stolen have also lost their identities. Information and testimony given by Inspector General Russell George revealed the IRS was given multiple warnings and recommendations about how to prevent an attack or breach. The IRS failed to implement all of the recommendations given. More from Americans For Tax Reform (bolding is mine): Over the last decade the IRS has failed to implement numerous recommendations that...

<p>Despite 6-1/2 years of horrid governance and dozens of acknowledged scandals, several of which a few of the credible remaining outposts of liberal thought have actually agreed are scandals, David Brooks, the New York Times's resident fake conservative, asserted on Friday's PBS NewsHour, as if it's an indisputable fact, that "President Obama has run an amazingly scandal-free administration, not only he himself, but the people around him."</p>

Insisting Lois G. Lerner is still a target, congressional Republicans sent a letter to new Attorney General Loretta Lynch Thursday asking her to follow through on their official request last year for a criminal investigation into Ms. Lerner’s behavior at the IRS. Led by Rep. Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, the Republicans said it’s been more than a year and the Justice Department has yet to respond to the referral the committee approved on April 9, 2014, listing three areas where lawmakers believe Ms. Lerner may have broken the law. “The committee continues to...

The IRS "believes" that a major cyber breach that allowed criminals to steal the tax returns of more than 100,000 people originated in Russia, two sources briefed on the data theft tell CNN. On Tuesday, the Internal Revenue Service announced that organized crime syndicates used personal data obtained elsewhere to access tax information, which they then used to file $50 million in fraudulent tax refunds.

Thieves used an online service provided by the IRS to gain access to information from more than 100,000 taxpayers, the agency said Tuesday. The information included tax returns and other tax information on file with the IRS. The IRS said the thieves accessed a system called "Get Transcript." In order to access the information, the thieves cleared a security screen that required knowledge about the taxpayer, including Social Security number, date of birth, tax filing status and street address. "The IRS notes this issue does not involve its main computer system that handles tax filing submission; that system remains secure,"...

First he comes for the banks and health care, uses the IRS to go after critics, politicizes the Justice Department, spies on journalists, tries to curb religious freedom, slashes the military, throws open the borders, doubles the debt and nationalizes the Internet. He lies to the public, ignores the Constitution, inflames race relations and urges Latinos to punish Republican “enemies.” He abandons our ­allies, appeases tyrants, coddles ­adversaries and uses the Crusades as an excuse for inaction as Islamist terrorists slaughter their way across the Mideast. Now he’s coming for Israel. Barack Obama’s promise to transform America was too modest....

First he comes for the banks and health care, uses the IRS to go after critics, politicizes the Justice Department, spies on journalists, tries to curb religious freedom, slashes the military, throws open the borders, doubles the debt and nationalizes the Internet. He lies to the public, ignores the Constitution, inflames race relations and urges Latinos to punish Republican “enemies.” He abandons our ­allies, appeases tyrants, coddles ­adversaries and uses the Crusades as an excuse for inaction as Islamist terrorists slaughter their way across the Mideast. Now he's coming for Israel. {snip} Whatever form the punishment takes, it will aim...

First he comes for the banks and health care, uses the IRS to go after critics, politicizes the Justice Department, spies on journalists, tries to curb religious freedom, slashes the military, throws open the borders, doubles the debt and nationalizes the Internet. He lies to the public, ignores the Constitution, inflames race relations and urges Latinos to punish Republican “enemies.” He abandons our ­allies, appeases tyrants, coddles ­adversaries and uses the Crusades as an excuse for inaction as Islamist terrorists slaughter their way across the Mideast. Now he’s coming for Israel. Already paving the way for an Iranian nuke, he...

Israel: Beware of Obama By Michael Goodwin First he comes for the banks and health care, uses the IRS to go after critics, politicizes the Justice Department, spies on journalists, tries to curb religious freedom, slashes the military, throws open the borders, doubles the debt and nationalizes the Internet. He lies to the public, ignores the Constitution, inflames race relations and urges Latinos to punish Republican “enemies.” He abandons our ­allies, appeases tyrants, coddles ­adversaries and uses the Crusades as an excuse for inaction as Islamist terrorists slaughter their way across the Mideast. Now he’s coming for Israel.

Judicial Watch announced today that it "obtained more than 100 pages of previously classified "Secret" documents from the Department of Defense (DOD)and the Department of State, revealing that DOD almost immediately reported that the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi was committed by the al Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood-linked "Brigades of the Captive Omar Abdul Rahman" (BCOAR), and had been planned at least 10 days in advance." Judicial Watch added what has been proven and obvious for years—that "Benghazi attack" was "not about a response to an anti-Muhammad video" or was it "the protests at the U.S. Embassy in...

President Obama sought to reassure American Jews that he fully supports the state of Israel while reiterating the need for a two-state solution at a Northwest Washington synagogue on Friday. Obama spoke at the Adas Israel Synagogue on the inaugural “solidarity sabbath,” a holiday meant to consolidate support for Jews amid rising anti-Semitism that falls toward the end of Jewish Heritage Month. On Friday, lawmakers were slated to appear in congregations across the country to mark the day. ......................... “When we allow anti-Semitism to take root, our souls are destroyed,” Obama said. “It will spread.” The statements follow a wide-ranging...

And quite a bit more, including the potential for ISIS to rise to seize ground and declare a caliphate. In a memo from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) to the National Security Council, the CIA, and the White House five days after the attack on the consulate in Benghazi, the DIA concluded that the attack had been planned for more than a week and was retribution for an American drone strike that had killed a senior al-Qaeda leader in June 2012. Moreover, the attack had been planned for the anniversary of 9/11 as a propaganda coup for AQ and...