Free Republic

Last week, Lindy Li, a Democrat megadonor who served on the DNC finance committee, said that no one from the Kamala Harris campaign is taking responsibility for the absolutely massive amount of campaign cash that vanished into thin air in a matter of weeks. Now, she is calling for a formal accounting of where the money went. She claims that certain individuals involved in the Harris campaign became millionaires overnight. She suggests that it was basically a case of friends taking care of other friends. James Carville also recently called for an audit of the Harris campaign. They are both...

One of the most intriguing developments following Donald Trump’s election victory has been the announcement of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. The initiative, which hopes to cut up to $2 trillion from the federal budget, has generated notable excitement, momentum, and memes. The world’s richest man and a successful biotech entrepreneur, Ramaswamy, have revitalized what seemed to be a mostly dormant libertarianism, drawing on the inspiration of Milton Friedman and promising to slash the bureaucracy to the bone. But what are its prospects for real-world success? Elon Musk is our era’s most gifted entrepreneur,...

Democratic political strategist James Carville called for an audit of Vice President Kamala Harris' 2024 campaign spending on his podcast Politics War Room on Thursday. The Harris campaign, with the help of the Democratic Party, raised over $1 billion, during this year's election cycle, according to the Associated Press. Despite her remarkable financial backing, which was accumulated in a few short months after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, Harris lost the November 5 election to President-elect Donald Trump. Groups affiliated with Trump and the Republican National Committee (RNC), meanwhile, raised just over $1.8 billion, according to the...

@elonmusk Gonna happen 😂 RE: @ajtourville The IRS getting audited by the @DOGE

President-elect Donald Trump’s big plan to have Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy shape federal cost cutting has a new partnership with the Senate. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) will take charge of a new Senate DOGE Caucus, which will work with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Musk and Ramaswamy. The DOGE group will be eyeing massive cuts to federal spending and the government workforce. The commission has been tasked with coordinating with and advising the White House and Office of Management and Budget. “The tables are finally turning, the knives are out, and waste is on the...

As RedState reported on November 12, President-elect Donald Trump announced that Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy will lead his newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Trump said at the time:These two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies - Essential to the 'Save America' movement.If there's a better example of the urgent need for the Department of Government Efficiency -- headed by Musk and Ramaswamy, no less -- than the one that follows...

The Pentagon on Friday failed its seventh audit in a row, with the nation’s largest government agency still unable to fully account for its more than $824 billion budget, though officials stress they are making good progress toward a clean audit in 2028. The Department of Defense technically earned a disclaimer of opinion, meaning it failed to provide sufficient information to auditors to form an accurate opinion.

During a major economic speech on Thursday, former President Donald Trump pledged to create a “government efficiency commission” spearheaded by X owner Elon Musk if elected this November.

Donald Trump is outlining his economic platform during a speech in New York City on Thursday. The former president's policies will include billionaire Elon Musk's recommendation to create a government efficiency commission to conduct 'a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government.' The remarks are meant to more specifically detail Trump's plans for the future of the economy as the issue is often cited by voters as their No. 1 issue this election cycle. And Trump holds an advantage over Vice President Kamala Harris among voters who think he would better handle the economy and inflation crisis....

When a hurricane is coming, you board up the windows. When the IRS is planning a storm of audits of people who look just like you, you need an audit response plan. The IRS has been dropping a new press release with an explicit threat to the bank accounts of successful Americans every other month or so. Their messaging sounds increasingly political, and high-income taxpayers would be foolish to ignore what they’re saying: the IRS plans more audits of successful Americans to force them to pay more taxes. When a hurricane is coming, you board up the windows and stock...

Would you support or oppose your state government doing an audit of voter registration and removing all non-citizens from the rolls?" Support- DEM: 66% 👈. IND: 83% 👈. GOP: 86% 👈. All Voters: 78%. Any state official blocking any election audit is a cheater

In Venezuela, the streets pulse with the dissent following a hotly contested election that saw President Nicolás Maduro claim victory amidst accusations of fraud. Across the nation, protesters have taken to the streets, with their voices becoming a chorus of defiance against a backdrop of electoral uncertainty. The opposition cries foul, alleging manipulation and daring to claim their own triumph in the face of adversity. President Maduro, feeling the pressure mounting from the swelling tide of discontent, has bowed to demands for a Supreme Court audit of the election process. Internationally, patience wears thin as the United States and other...

[Catholic Caucus] Unhinged Miscreants Desecrated the Body of Cardinal PellIt was appalling to learn that a person or persons unknown desecrated the body of Cardinal George Pell before it was returned to Australia. We are told that this happened after the autopsy, that his body was inadequately embalmed, that he was left undressed and that his nose had been broken. This indicates a level of vindictiveness that is hard to fathom, and shows how little regard the perpetrators had for Pell’s family: the ones most affected by this sad event. One can only wonder at the motive: a true Christian...

Santa Monica city officials last week approved a multimillion-dollar apartment unit for the homeless just days after the release of an audit which found California could not account for the $24 billion it spent on the state’s burgeoning homeless crisis. The 122-unit building for the homeless will include a mix of studio, one, two and three-bedroom apartments, along with ground floor retail and residential and commercial parking spaces. A design concept available on the city's website shows that the multi-apartment unit will cost more than $123 million, for a cost of just over $1 million each for the 122 apartments....

City urged to work harder to assess cost, impactOver the past three years, San Jose has failed to consistently track the more than $300 million spent to fight homelessness and cannot adequately ensure that the money is helping to alleviate the crisis, according to a much-anticipated state audit. The financial audit, released this week by the California State Auditor, also found that San Jose lacks clear goals for its homelessness programs and has no cohesive plan for building the affordable housing needed for its estimated 6,340 homeless residents. “The biggest conclusion that the auditors came back with is that there’s...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) administration lost track of the $24 billion in taxpayer funds it spent over the past five years in an attempt to curb the state’s homelessness crisis, an audit has found. The California State Auditor’s report, released on April 9, detailed multiple “gaps” in accountability in regards to how the money was allocated during the 2018-2023 fiscal years. Lead auditor Grant Parks said the state “has not collected sufficient data” to prove that the billions of dollars improved the situation.

"Never trust a man who lays his hand on his heart when he assures you of anything," goes the old axiom. That's why I never trust a Democrat who makes any promise ever about a federal agency or program. Take Medicare. In 1966 when Medicare began, it cost $3 billion. The House Ways and Means Committee estimated that Medicare would cost about $12 billion by 1990. Instead, it cost $107 billion and today costs the government close to a trillion dollars.So when Joe Biden and the Democrats assured Americans and Republicans in Congress that the $80 billion the president wanted...

Clark County violated Nevada and federal law by prematurely deleting communication records related to its voter registration lists, an audit published on Thursday claims. In a litigation notice sent to Clark County Registrar Lorena Portillo on Tuesday, Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections (RITE) asserted that Nevada’s most populous county violated the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and several state laws by deleting most of its election-related communications after six months. The NVRA requires states to “maintain for at least 2 years” and “make available for public inspection … all records concerning the implementation of programs and activities conducted for...

Politicians and law enforcement figures in Houston are dealing with the massive blowback after an audit revealed that for at least eight years, authorities had “suspended” and not investigated more than 260,000 criminal cases. Officials say a lack of manpower led to the suspension of about 10 percent of the crimes reported. The revelations led to various groups calling for the firing of Houston Police Chief Troy Finner. The issue first began earlier this month when information from an internal audit revealed that thousands of sexual assault cases had been suspended from investigations and simply filed as not enough manpower....

As Americans file returns this season, some worry about IRS audits amid agency efforts to ramp up service, technology and enforcement. Recent IRS enforcement has targeted high-income individuals, large corporations and complex partnerships. But everyday filers could still face an audit — and certain issues are more prone to IRS scrutiny, experts say. You don’t want to face the “audit lottery,” warned Ryan Losi, a certified public accountant and executive vice president of CPA firm Piascik. Audit rates of individual income tax returns decreased for all income levels from tax years 2010 to 2019, largely due to lower IRS funding,...