Free Republic

The IRS has discovered more than 1 million Americans whose Social Security numbers were stolen by illegal immigrants, but officials never bothered to tell the taxpayers themselves, the agency’s inspector general said in a withering new report released Tuesday. Investigators first alerted the IRS to the problem five years ago, but it’s still not fixed, the inspector general said, and a pilot program meant to test a solution was canceled, and fell woefully short anyway. As a result most taxpayers don’t learn that their identities have been stolen and their Social Security files may be screwed up. “Taxpayers identified as...

The Social Security Administration is relaxing a recent security directive requiring beneficiaries to use two-factor authentication to log into personal accounts after complaints that the new restrictions hindered user access. ...SSA has not come up with a new two-factor verification method. The agency is strongly recommending that users take advantage of the text-message security option, but beneficiaries are able once again to use a simple username and password to access their accounts....

The U.S. Social Security Administration announced last week that it will now require a cell phone number from all Americans who wish to manage their retirement benefits at ssa.gov. Unfortunately, the new security measure does little to prevent identity thieves from fraudulently creating online accounts to siphon benefits from Americans who haven’t yet created accounts for themselves. ... “People will not be able to access their personal my Social Security account if they do not have a cell phone or do not wish to provide the cell phone number,” the agency said. ... Also, as one reader already pointed out...

The FDA is stockpiling military weapons — and it’s not alone AMERICA’S GUN CULTURE has been a subject of intense interest and controversy for years, with concerns frequently raised about shadowy militias, paramilitary extremists, and unstable zealots in possession of alarming quantities of explosives and firearms. Amid the current din over assault weapons and body armor, consider one domestic organization’s fearsome arsenal of military-style equipment. In the space of eight years, the group amassed a stockpile of pistols, shotguns, and semiautomatic rifles, along with ample supplies of ammunition, liquid explosives, gun scopes, and suppressors. In its cache as well are...

The Social Security Administration has announced the details of a new rule that would bar many receiving federal disability payments from owning firearms. The proposed rule is part of President Obama’s push to tighten gun laws while bypassing Congress. News of the plan to add some Social Security recipients to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, was first uncovered by the Los Angeles Times last summer and has faced fierce opposition from gun rights groups ever since. President Obama announced in January that he was officially ordering the Social Security Administration to start the process for implementing...

Late last week President Obama announced a new push for additional federal "smart" gun technology funding. After grabbing headlines and much attention, the move received praise from gun control groups like Michael Bloomberg's Everytown and criticism from law enforcement, the NRA and the National Shooting Sports Foundation. But an issue flying under the radar in Obama's announcement is the Administration's decision to move forward with gun control measures through the Social Security system. Late last year it became clear if an individuals needs financial help managing Social Security benefits, the agency can deem that person mentally unfit to purchase a...

A retired judge, lawyer and psychologist have been charged in a plot to scam the federal government of $600 million through false disability claims. Various federal agencies, including the Justice Department, Social Security Administration, Health and Human Services, Internal Revenue Services, and FBI, announced late Tuesday the indicment of David Daugherty of Myrtle Beach, S.C., Eric Conn and Alfred Adkins, both of Pikeville, Ky., on 18 charges. "While Social Security disability programs are designed to support the disabled, the defendants allegedly used it to enrich themselves. Today's arrests demonstrate, however, that the Criminal Division will root out greed and corruption...

Two Senate Republicans are trying to find out why 260,000 vets have been stripped of their gun rights. The Veterans Affairs office has made it a practice to report veterans to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check system. If veterans need help doing paper work, they lose their rights. It’s clearly a violation of the Second Amendment. Any veteran who is assigned a fiduciary trustee to act on their behalf is automatically declared “mentally defective” and is reported to NICS, the database Federal Firearms Licensees use to determine whether a prospective buyer is eligible to buy guns.

While engaging in the mundane task of gathering financial statements for a “secure retirement” meeting with my husband’s and my adviser, this Baby Boomer stumbled upon documented proof that our nation does not have the guts to confront one of its most serious economic problems. The realization came when I pulled from my files a document statement innocently titled, “Your Social Security Statement.”

The Social Security Administration (SSA) spends more money than it collects when trying to recover payments to individuals who received benefits for which they were not eligible. According to the Office of Inspector General (OIG), the SSA issued $128.3 million in “low-dollar” overpayments between 2008 and 2013, and then spent $323 million to collect them. The agency ultimately recovered only $109.4 million. “This resulted in SSA spending over $213.6 million more than it collected,” the OIG said, in an audit released Wednesday. […] The overpayments were distributed through the SSA’s Retirement and Survivors Insurance (RSI), Disability Insurance (DI), and Supplemental...

Been looking for an internet forum to ask a few questions and interface with others in the know. My wife has an employee/employer job. I am self employed. I am on her employer's health insurance. They deduct premiums every two weeks from her paycheck. Example: 800-200, net 600 There has been lawful pre-tax med calculations being done meaning ss tax is paid on the 600 not 800. Now we find this is directly impacting her benefits when she retires, 3 years hence. Can this be changed going back a few years and tax returns amended to reflect this? Has the...

The Social Security Administration (SSA) paid individuals acting as representatives for disabled beneficiaries nearly $50 million even though they were dead.An audit from the Office of Inspector General (OIG) is just the latest example of the SSA’s inability to figure out who on their rolls is still alive.The audit focused on “representative payees,” or a person who manages another’s finances due to mental or physical limitations. The OIG found that many payees acting on behalf of disability beneficiaries had died.“SSA did not ensure new representative payees were selected when current payees died,” the OIG said. “Based on our sample results,...

Equal in Dignity and Responsibility: Ministering to Those With Same-Sex Attraction By: Msgr. Charles PopeA conference is being planned in August to ponder an authentic pastoral response in ministering to those with same-sex attraction. Dr. Janet Smith is the organizer; Courage International and the Archdiocese of Detroit are the sponsors. It looks to be a  fine gathering of solid speakers. Though I am clearly a “back-bencher” among the fine speakers being lined up, I was asked to submit a paper for possible inclusion in the book that will likely be published by Ignatius Press just prior to the conference.As a...

Some with Same-Sex Attraction Choose Celibacy – A Reflection on an Article in the Washington Post By: Msgr. Charles PopeA little over a year ago, I wrote an article asking and answering this question: What Does the Catholic Church Offer for those with Same-Sex Attraction? And the answer is, “the truth.” It is the same gift we offer anyone who will give us the gift of attention and presence. The truth, as revealed by God, is what we offer and celebrate along with the Sacraments, the communal life, and prayer.Of course the truth we offer in terms of human sexuality...

Two U.S. Senators have introduced the Retirement and Income Security (RAISE) Act. The bill would increase Social Security payments for divorced spouses, enhance benefits for widows and widowers, and extend eligibility for children of retired, disabled or deceased workers. The additional benefits included in the RAISE Act would be offset by the application of a 2% payroll tax rate on annual earnings over $400,000—an offset that means Social Security will continue to be fully funded, according to a news release by Senator Mark Begich (D-Arkansas), who introduced the bill along with Senator Patty Murray (D-Washington). “The RAISE Act would ensure...

Even as millions of baby boomers approach retirement, the Social Security Administration has been closing dozens of field offices, forcing more and more seniors to seek help online instead of in person, according to a congressional report being released Wednesday. The agency blames budget constraints. As a result, seniors seeking information and help from the agency are facing increasingly long waits, in person and on the phone, the report said. Social Security has closed 64 field offices since 2010, the largest number of closures in a five-year period in the agency’s history, according to a report by the bipartisan staff...

The most efficient way to destroy a society is to fragment it and turn the pieces against each other. Language plays a big part in getting America out of the way so that a liberal utopia can be constructed in its place. Here is one way our rulers are using our money to encourage foreign colonists not to learn English: The inability to speak English is now considered a determining factor to receive federal disability benefits. Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.) sent a letter obtained exclusively by the Free Beacon to Acting Commissioner of...

Does the Environmental Protection Agency really need armed agents? Outside of law enforcement, federal agencies now employ over 25,000 people as armed agents. They are more than guards. They’ve become like private armies that can push around private citizens. Over 70 non-military federal agencies now have their own armed agents. You expect armed agents with the FBI, the U.S. Marshal Service and the Border Patrol. But the EPA? The Fish & Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, even the Social Security Administration and the National Institutes of Health? Even the Department of Education and the Department of Housing and Urban...

The Social Security Administration announced Monday it is suspending a controversial program that goes after adult children of deceased taxpayers who the government claims were recipients of overpayments more than a decade ago. Acting Social Security Commissioner Carolyn W. Colvin said she has directed an immediate halt to the three-year-old program while the agency does a review. The controversial program seized tax refunds in an effort to recoup the funds. The move to stop the program came after many of the recipients and members of Congress complained to the federal agency.

The Washington Post reports that hundreds of thousands of taxpayers who are expecting refunds this month are instead getting letters informing them that because of a debt they never knew about — often a debt incurred by their parents — the government has confiscated their check. http://m.washingtonpost.com/politics/social-security-treasury-target-hundreds-of-thousands-of-taxpayers-for-parents-old-debts/2014/04/10/74ac8eae-bf4d-11e3-bcec-b71ee10e9bc3_story.html?tid=HP_more