Free Republic

My tax return is being held so the IRS can review it. The letter says they want to verify several things including “Itemized Deductions”! I use the standard deduction. I’m guessing it has to do with my voter registration as a republican. Anyone else experiencing this? Cheers!

The White House on Thursday announced that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will soon be "forced" to reduce operations at the southern border due to lack of funds.Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that because Republicans have not passed the bipartisan border security agreement with funding for Israel and Ukraine, the administration is left with no choice but to pull back from the border."Because congressional Republicans are choosing partisan politics over our national security and refusing to pass the bipartisan national security agreement that includes significant border reforms and funding, over the coming weeks, ICE will be forced to reduce...

The Supreme Court has indicated it will expedite consideration of a petition by special counsel Jack Smith on whether former President Donald Trump can be prosecuted on charges he plotted to overturn the 2020 election results. The Court has asked Trump’s lawyers to respond to the special counsel's motion by next Wednesday, December 20

Former national security adviser John Bolton said Thursday during CNN’s special coverage of the indictment of Donald Trump that it was “false” the Department of Justice is weaponized against the former president. Anchor Jake Tapper said, “There are a lot of Republicans in Congress railing about two standards of justice. They say when you look at the conduct that Donald Trump has been accused of. Is there any part of you that thinks that it’s true that the Justice Department is being weaponized against Donald Trump for political reasons?”

There’s a growing divide between the rank-and-file officers of the FBI and upper management, according to FBI agent-turned-whistleblower Steve Friend, and it’s those at the top who are pushing a political agenda.“I spent close to nine years in the FBI, spent a good chunk of my time just keeping my head down and working the cases in front of me,” Friend noted in a March 14 interview with NTD News, The Epoch Times’ sister outlet.“There are a lot of agents that sort of share that sentiment and just want to drive the mission forward. Unfortunately, there’s a big disconnect between...

"Highly credible" whistleblowers have come forward to a senior Senate Republican alleging a widespread effort within the FBI to downplay or discredit negative information about President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, according to letters reviewed by CBS News. "The information provided to my office involves concerns about the FBI's receipt and use of derogatory information relating to Hunter Biden, and the FBI's false portrayal of acquired evidence as disinformation," GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley wrote FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland on July 25. "The volume and consistency of these allegations substantiate their credibility and necessitate this letter."...

British supporters of Israel reacted with outrage this week after Amnesty International’s general secretary said that anyone who criticizes its report accusing Israel of “apartheid” is “weaponizing antisemitism.” The UK government’s antisemitism adviser, Lord Mann, blasted Amnesty for “looking obsessional” and “undermining all its other work.” “Amnesty International is losing its influence by ruining its credibility,” Man told the Jewish Chronicle. At the meeting, Callamard allegedly said that critics of the report were attempting to manufacture claims of antisemitism in order to silence free speech. “They are calling names and refusing to engage,” she said. “[This is] a form of...

"“Speaker Pelosi failed to appoint members consistent with the authorizing resolution of the Select Committee… Thus, the Select Committee as it currently stands—and stood at the time it issued the subpoenas in question—has no authority to conduct business because it is not a duly constituted Select Committee. Chairman Thompson’s subpoenas are invalid and unenforceable.” The “Select Committee” of Democrats and two “Republicans” to investigate the January 6 riot is an abuse of power but typical for how efficient Democrats are at weaponizing their congressional power. Mark Meadows, former Trump Chief of Staff, has been held in contempt by the Democrat-controlled...

Before the Coronavirus Panic was instigated in the U.S., Torsten Engelbrecht and Claus Köhnlein, M.D., Kiel, Germany, wrote a book in 2007, “Virus Mania: How the Medical Industry Invents Epidemics Making Billion Dollar Profits at our Expense.” This book will make most people mad who have lost businesses and jobs due to the overkill governmental response in California to the so-called virus epidemic. Dr. Kohnlein scientifically debunks the popular notions that SARS Coronavirus, AIDS, Asian Flu, Hepatitis, Polio and Cervical Cancer are caused by a virus. According to his research viruses are blamed for many epidemics manufactured by the pharmaceutical...

As the novel coronavirus causing COVID-19 spreads across the globe, with cases surpassing 284,000 worldwide today (March 20), misinformation is spreading almost as fast. One persistent myth is that this virus, called SARS-CoV-2, was made by scientists and escaped from a lab in Wuhan, China, where the outbreak began. A new analysis of SARS-CoV-2 may finally put that latter idea to bed. A group of researchers compared the genome of this novel coronavirus with the seven other coronaviruses known to infect humans: SARS, MERS and SARS-CoV-2, which can cause severe disease; along with HKU1, NL63, OC43 and 229E, which typically...

They found that all four of these spike protein inserts appear as matches to at least one sequence in at least one variant of the HIV virus. The sequences come from the gp120 and Gag proteins in HIV, the former of which is also a viral envelope recognition protein. This has led many to credulously assume that this is evidence, or even a strong indication, that 2019-nCoV was engineered from its bat ancestor by humans inserting HIV sequences. But they’re wrong; it’s still not engineered. An analysis of the paper clearly reveals that: 1. There is nothing remarkable about the...

Scientists blasted pigs with explosives, infected monkeys with biological weapons and poisoned guinea pigs with nerve gas at the government’s top secret Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down in Wiltshire.

The chair of the House Intelligence Committee accused the FBI and Department of Justice of stonewalling a sprawling investigation into claims the Trump campaign colluded with Russia with the hope of running out the clock until the November elections, when they anticipate Democrats will regain control of the House and dissolve an ongoing probe that has uncovered evidence U.S. officials sought to cripple Trump's campaign. Rep. Devin Nunes (R., Calif.), in a wide-ranging audio interview with his House colleague Rep. Sean Duffy (R., Wis.), accused top officials at the FBI and DOJ of "putting all their chips on the Republicans...

The White House does not have to approve the release of a currently classified memo assembled within the House of representatives which purports to display extensive abuse of FISA authority within the FBI, deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley told WMAL Wednesday morning. “We don’t have to approve it. They have the right to de-classify the document,” Gidley told Daily Caller editorial director Vince Coglianese and WMAL host, citing “legal minds” consulted by the executive branch.

The most obnoxious spin of the 2016 campaign came this week, as Democrats, their media allies and even President Obama accused the FBI of stacking the election. It’s an extraordinary claim, coming as it does from the same crew that has—we now know—been stacking the election all along in the corridors of the Justice Department. This is the true November surprise. For four months, FBI Director James Comey has been the public face of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email server. He played that role so well, putting the FBI so front and center, that the country forgot about Mr....

Attorney General Lynch abdicated her duty in the Clinton probes. Fewer than three of 10 Americans trust government to do the right thing always or most of the time, Gallup reports, and the years since 2007 are “the longest period of low trust in government in more than 50 years.” The details emerging about the multiple investigations into Hillary Clinton explain a lot about this ebbing public confidence in institutions such as the Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation. *** Start with Attorney General Loretta Lynch. A cavalcade of former Justice heavyweights are now assailing FBI director James Comey...

The Comey-Lynch confrontation unfolded on Thursday, some time after Comey was fully briefed on the existence of the trove of emails uncovered by agents investigating Anthony Weiner's sexting of a 15-year-old girl. Lynch made it known that she thought his decision violated department policy, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday. As Comey and Lynch aides debated last Thursday whether alerting Congress about the emails would comply with longstanding Justice Department policy against announcing overt investigative steps that would influence an upcoming election, Comey asked whether he was being explicitly directed not to do so. Lynch never...

Those federal bureaucrats who can’t be fired want to be able to defend themselves from angry taxpayers.  Or something.  AWR Hawkins reports for Breitbart: A May 7th solicitation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture seeks "the commercial acquisition of submachine guns [in] .40 Cal. S&W." According to the solicitation, the Dept. of Agriculture wants the guns to have an "ambidextrous safety, semiautomatic or 2 round [bursts] trigger group, Tritium night sights front and rear, rails for attachment of flashlight (front under fore group) and scope (top rear), stock collapsible or folding," and a "30 rd. capacity" magazine. They also want...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General, located in Washington, DC, pursuant to the authority of FAR Part 13, has a requirement for the commerical acquisition of submachine guns, .40 Cal. S&W, ambidextrous safety, semi-automatic or 2 shot burts trigger group, Tritium night sights for front and rear, rails for attachment of flashlight (front under fore grip) and scope (top rear), stock-collapsilbe or folding, magazine - 30 rd. capacity, sling, light weight, and oversized trigger guard for gloved operation.

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1152AP_Military_Antrax.html Thursday, December 1, 2005 · Last updated 10:01 a.m. PT _Anthrax shots may be required in military_ By PETE YOST ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER * WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration asked a federal appeals court Thursday to reinstate mandatory anthrax inoculations for many military personnel, while a lawyer for soldiers who refused the shots said anti-anthrax vaccine was never intended for the purpose the Pentagon is using it. * The government is appealing a decision by U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, who suspended anthrax vaccinations after he found fault in the Food and Drug Administration's process for...