Free Republic

War On Terror: The feds finally nailed Al Capone — not for murder or racketeering, but for tax evasion. The same technicality may bring down the terror-tied Council on American-Islamic Relations. Last month, the IRS quietly stripped the shady nonprofit group of its tax-exempt status for failing to file three consecutive years of financial reports. This means CAIR can no longer accept tax-free donations. It does not mean, however, that the IRS has put CAIR under audit. But it's a good first step. The missing filings — Form 990s — disclose CAIR's donors and other sources of funding, among other...

Two Sandra Day O'Connors have served as Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court. It makes a world of difference which one President Bush chooses to replace. First, we look at the late O'Connor, the one who is retiring. The L.A. Times asserted this week that O'Connor “alone was in the majority of every one of the court’s 13 5-4 decisions this last term.” There are two tiny problems with this assertion. There were 24 such decisions this Term. And, Justices Souter and Scalia were in the majority in them more often than Justice O’Connor. See SCOTUSBlog for the facts....

Money. Money is to the Tides Foundation and Center what water is to the tide. You can’t be sure from what source any part comes. You can’t be sure where any part goes. But it can knock you off your feet and pull you down. And there is an ocean of it.  The Tides Foundation and its offspring, the Tides Center, effectively “launder” donor dollars when they give to other nonprofits. The San Francisco-based Foundation receives donations from individuals and foundations and then channels them to activist groups. The result is that the original donor can’t be linked to...

<p>WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The final report on the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990 will blame copilot Gameel el Batouti for crashing the plane into the sea, National Transportation Safety Board sources confirmed to CNN on Thursday.</p> <p>They also said the report could be issued as early as next week.</p>