Tag Archives: Just The News

Where Did The Money Go?

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On Sunday, Just the News posted an article about as much as $400 billion in COVID-19 unemployment relief that was probably lost due to fraud.

The article reports:

Reports indicate as much as $400 billion in COVID-19 unemployment relief were likely lost to waste and fraudsters. Lawmakers want answers.

Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Labor demanding documents and information related to the unemployment fraud.

“Since the Summer of 2020, repeated alerts from federal law enforcement agencies warned of targeted efforts involving organized cybercrime, foreign actors, and international crime rings using stolen identities of American citizens to obtain fraudulent unemployment benefits,” the letter said. “Fraud estimates range from $80 billion to as much as $400 billion, which is nearly half of all the COVID-19 unemployment aid.”

The Department of Labor’s Inspector General released a report in October showing that fraud varied by state but was significant nationwide.

“We found ETA and states did not ensure pandemic-related UI funds were paid only to eligible individuals promptly. Of the 4 states we tested, from March 28, 2020, through September 30, 2020, we estimated $30.4 billion of the $71.7 billion in PUA and FPUC benefits were paid improperly (42.4 percent),” the report said. “We estimated $9.9 billion of that was paid to likely fraudsters (13.8 percent). Notably, in the 4 states, 1 in 5 dollars initially paid in PUA benefits went to likely fraudsters.”

The article concludes:

The IG did lay out some reasons this waste and fraud occurred.

“ETA and states made significant efforts; however, they did not protect pandemic-related UI funds from historic levels of improper payments,” the report said. “We attribute this to four causes: states did not perform eligibility testing, ETA’s oversight was not timely enough, PUA initially allowed claimants to self-certify their eligibility, and ETA suspended 1 of their primary oversight tools for the first 3 months of the CARES Act. Furthermore, ETA’s interpretation of its regulations hindered the OIG’s timely and complete access to state UI claims data to assist in detecting and deterring fraud.”

There is no excuse for this.

Politicizing Law Enforcement

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I suppose politicizing law enforcement is nothing new. There are some cities in American where who you know is more important than what you did. However, some of our federal law enforcement agencies are acting on the advice of Lavrentiv Beria, the longest-serving secret police chief in Joseph Stalin’s term of office, who said, “Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime.”

On Thursday, Just the News reported:

Governments worldwide are voicing threats against Twitter’s new owner if he doesn’t censor narratives they dislike, as financially struggling Facebook gets even cozier with global authorities.

President Biden, who has been trashing Twitter since Elon Musk’s takeover and warning about the dangers of unfettered communication, even floated a national security review into Musk’s purchase.

The ire of the unpopular incumbent, whose approval ratings lagged far behind exit polls for Democratic Senate candidates in the midterms, may have been stoked by Twitter’s Birdwatch program adding a reader note about inflation to a since-deleted White House claim that President Biden is responsible for “the biggest increase in their Social Security checks in 10 years.”

Twitter also “froze” content moderation and policy enforcement tools for several Trust and Safety team employees ahead of the midterm elections, letting them penalize only “the most high-impact violations that would involve real-world harm,” Bloomberg reported Nov. 1.

I don’t mean to be difficult, but unfettered communication is called The
First Amendment.

The article reports:

One might believe Musk is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t with Germany’s ruling Social Democratic Party, based on members’ comments to the German business newspaper Handelsblatt.

Party leader Lars Klingbeil called on authorities to “take consistent action” to stop Twitter’s attack on “diversity of opinion,” while MP Jens Zimmermann called on the Federal Office of Justice to hold Musk himself financially responsible if Twitter can’t meet German moderation requirements due to staff cuts.

Stay tuned. There are those in America who appreciate free speech.

Getting Things Done In Florida

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I am not totally sold on Governor DeSantis of Florida. I think he has done a good job for the state, but I question some of his endorsements and some of the people supporting him. He has serious ties to people I do not trust.

On Wednesday, Just the News reported the following:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ new election crimes unit has recommended state police open a full criminal investigation into a Democrat whistleblower’s detailed complaint of a long-running, widespread ballot harvesting operation in the African-American communities in politically important central Florida.

Former Orange County Commissioner candidate Cynthia Harris filed a sworn affidavit in late August with the Secretary of State’s office alleging that illegal operations to collect third-party ballots have been going on for years in the Orlando area where voting activists are paid $10 for each ballot they collect.

She described an intricate system funded by liberal leaning organizations that dispatch ballot brokers into black communities to pressure voters to turn over their ballots. The $10 fee per ballot is divvied up among the parties who help complete the harvesting.

The collection and delivery of ballots by third parties is illegal in Florida.

The newly created Office of Election Crimes and Security did a preliminary inquiry on Harris’ allegations and concluded there was sufficient evidence to warrant a full criminal probe by the state police, the Florida State Department told Just the News on Wednesday.

Ballot harvesting has been a problem in numerous states. It is a serious threat to our representative republic.

In October 2021, Rice University posted an article titled, “The Carter-Baker Commission: 16 Years Later.”

The article lists the steps to election integrity suggested by the Commission:

In response to these concerns, former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James A. Baker, III, agreed to co-chair a bipartisan commission, housed at Washington D.C.’s American University, to examine these and other outstanding election reform issues. The final report, titled “Building Confidence in U.S. Elections,” stressed the important role of elections in the nation’s democracy and made a series of recommendations, including:

    • A national system to connect state and local voter registration lists
       
    • Voter identification based on a universally available REAL ID card
       
    • Policies to improve voter access for all communities, as well as innovations like vote centers and voter information lookup sites
       
    • Stronger efforts to combat fraud, especially in absentee voting
       
    • Auditable paper backups for all voting technology

Maybe we need to follow the suggestions of the Commission.

 

Federalism Works

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On Thursday, Just the News posted an article about Arizona’s efforts to secure its border.

The article reports:

Arizona GOP Gov. Doug Ducey reportedly will not comply with a Biden administration request to remove rail containers put along its southern border to fill gaps in the U.S.-Mexico wall and stop the flow of illegal migration.

The Interior Department in a letter last week asked that the double-stacked containers be removed and that no new ones be added. It also stated some are on the edge of an American Indian reservation and that the federal government either has a contract to fill the gaps or plans to do so, and that the containers are in the way of those projects.

“The unauthorized placement of those containers constitutes a violation of federal law and is a trespass against the United States,” reads the letter from the agency’s Bureau of Reclamation. “That trespass is harming federal lands and resources and impeding Reclamation’s ability to perform its mission.”

In response, Ducey spokesman C.J. Karamargin said Wednesday: “They want us to take down shipping containers and leave gaps open for who knows how long so they can put up what sounds like a chain link fence.”

The article concludes:

“Arizona has had enough,” Ducey said at the time, amid calls for the administration to stop the flow of illegal border crossings. “We can’t wait any longer.

“For the last two years, Arizona has made every attempt to work with Washington to address the crisis on our border,” the statement continued. “Time and time again we’ve stepped in to clean up their mess. Arizonans can’t wait any longer for the federal government to deliver on their delayed promises.”

It is quite possible that considering the people presently in control in Washington, states may have to take action individually to avoid the crisis of illegal immigration that has come to our southern border. The federal government is supposed to secure our borders, but when they fail, the states have no choice but to take action.

What Parents’ Rights?

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On Sunday, Just the News posted an article about a law Governor Newsom of California signed on Thursday.

The article reports:

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation Thursday allowing California to take “temporary emergency jurisdiction” over a child that traveled to the state for transgender drugs or operations, stripping parents of their authority over their kids.

“States across the country are passing laws to demonize the transgender community, especially transgender youth and their parents,” Newsom wrote to the California State Senate upon signing the bill, adding that “82% of transgender individuals have considered killing themselves, and 40% have attempted suicide, with suicidality highest among transgender youth. This is unacceptable – we must fight for our youth and their parents.”

The law has been a major source of controversy. Parental rights groups around the country raised the alarm about then-bill SB 107, arguing it violates the Constitution by wrongly claiming jurisdiction over families from other states.

This is totally insane. The statistics the Governor cites regarding suicide are related to the mental problems these children are having–thinking they are trans and wanted to surgically altar their bodies is part of mental illness. Children who believe they are trans should be strongly encouraged to hold off on any permanent body changes until they are over 25. Science tells us that their brains are not developed enough to make that decision before the age of 25.

The article concludes:

“SB 107 makes California akin to the Pied Piper, enticing minor children nationwide to leave their families and run away in pursuit of harmful drugs and sterilizing surgeries, all of which cause irreversible harm to the minds, bodies, and family relationships of America’s precious children,” the letter said. “According to the American College of Pediatricians, 80 to 95 percent of children who experience gender confusion will ultimately embrace their biological sex if they are not encouraged to pursue gender identity treatments. Children experiencing gender confusion need the love, support, and guidance of their parents.”

Newsom, though, signed the legislation, which passed along party lines and will take effect at the beginning of the year.

“With the signing of this bill, California will ensure these kids and their families can seek and obtain the medical and mental health care they need,” Newsom said.

This is not the medical and mental health care they need! First of all, children who believe they are trans need to be taken off of social media where it is ‘cool’ to be trans. Then, objective mental health professionals need to spend time with them helping them sort out the reasons they are feeling this way. At one point, a therapist who was dealing with a young boy who wanted to be a girl learned that the boy had a younger sister who was handicapped and the boy simply wanted his parents to pay as much attention to him as they did to his sister. It would have been a horrible mistake to encourage that child to undergo medical procedures that would forever alter his life.

Is This Now A Hostile Work Environment?

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On Sunday, Just the News posted an article about FBI Special Agent Stephen M. Friend, who serves as a SWAT team member, who has been suspended in recent days because of his status as a whistleblower.

The article reports:

An FBI whistleblower has reported to the Office of Special Counsel that he believes the bureau and Justice Department are violating the constitutional rights of Jan. 6 defendants, falsifying statistics on domestic extremism and misusing SWAT teams to make misdemeanor arrests, according to a copy of the complaint reviewed by Just the News.

Special Agent Stephen M. Friend, who works for the FBI in Florida and serves as a SWAT team member, told the main federal whistleblower office in Washington he had an “exemplary” work record since he joined the bureau in 2014 and even won awards but was suspended in recent days after he began raising concerns about the FBI’s and DOJ’s conduct in the Jan. 6 investigation

“I believed the investigations were inconsistent with FBI procedure and resulted in the violation of citizens’ Sixth and Eighth Amendment rights,” Friend wrote. “I added that many of my colleagues expressed similar concerns to me but had not vocalized their objections to FBI Executive Management.”

The FBI national press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent on Friday.

Although I have very little doubt that what Agent Friend is saying is true, I am not optimistic that the problems he points out will be dealt with. Although there are Congressional committees charged with overseeing various aspects of the FBI, the Director, Christoper Wray, is accountable to the Attorney General, Merrick Garland. Both the Director and the Attorney General are known for the politicization of their organizations. Since the prosecutions relating to January 6th are purely political, I suspect the civil rights of those accused will continue to be violated. As for the SWAT teams, there have be a number of incidents when SWAT teams and other tactics were used to intimidate political enemies of the Democrat party.

I don’t mean to be negative, but I am beginning to wonder if anyone can put right our totally corrupt FBI and Department of Justice.

Some Notes On The Most Secure Election Ever

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On Thursday, The Gateway Pundit posted an article noting that former Attorney General William Barr had stated in the past that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, defying President Donald Trump’s ongoing efforts to reverse the results. Well, that statement didn’t really report the actual truth.

The article notes:

On Thursday former Trump adviser Jeffrey Clark, the Director of Litigation at the Center for Renewing America, joined Steve Bannon on The War Room.

Jeffrey Clark told Steve the Center for Renewing America sent out FOIA requests to 12 US Attorney districts from the 2020 battleground states.

Bill Barr sent out a memo on November 9, 2020, saying there should be investigations of the elections.

Jeff Clark told Steve Bannon the FOIA requests have come back from every district but one with NO DOCUMENTS.

No investigations were done as a result of that memo. There is only one of the 12 districts that has not yet come in and that’s the eastern district of Pennsylvania.

The US Attorney of the Eastern District asked to investigate issues in his district. Barr denied the request!

Bill Barr lied to the American public. Now he got caught.

It’s important to investigate the 2020 election before the mid-terms so that we don’t have questionable results in the mid-terms.

In July 2022, Just the News posted an article titled, “Bombshells undercut the ‘Big Lie:’ 21 confirmed illegalities, irregularities from 2020 election.” Please follow the link to the article for the details, but here is the list:

1. Illegal ballot drop boxes.

2. A Foreign Intrusion.

3. The Laptop Lie:

4. Alleged Bribery.

5. Illegal ballot harvesting in Wisconsin.

6. Ballot harvesting probe in the Peach State.

7. Bad voter signatures?

8. 50,000 Arizona ballots called into question. 

9. Foreign voters found on Texas rolls

10. Foreign voters found on Georgia  rolls.

11. More noncitizen voters.

12. Election Machine Vulnerabilities:

13. Ballot chain of custody issues.

14. Fulton County irregularities.

15. Errant vote counting

16. Dirty voter rolls.

17. Illegal exemptions from voter ID.

18. Uneven enforcement of election laws.

19. More illegal harvesting.

20. Voter fraud in Michigan.

21. Still more nursing home fraud.

These issues need to be resolved before we move forward.

Securing A Good Education For Our Children

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On Saturday, Just the News posted an article about Moms for Liberty’s idea to help parents gain more input into their children’s curriculum.

The article reports:

“We’re launching something on Monday called ‘The Parent Pledge,’ and that’s something that elected officials and candidates can take,” Moms for Liberty founder Tiffany Justice announced during a wide-ranging interview Saturday on the John Solomon Reports podcast.

“It just says that they recognize parental rights are fundamental rights, that parents have that fundamental right to direct the education, the medical care, the moral and religious upbringing of their children in their character development,” Justice explained. “And that the government needs to know their place and that they will stand against government overreach.”

The article concludes:

Moms for Liberty has been starting chapters across the country and establishing political action committees to challenge the stranglehold teachers unions have long maintained on public education.

“These unions realize that they’re losing their grip and their hold on public education,” said Justice, citing Florida Democratic nominee for governor Charlie Crist’s selection of a “union boss” as his running mate. “And now they’re looking to assert themselves and really show their real true political colors at higher levels of government so that they can strongarm people into doing what they want. But parents aren’t going to let that happen.”

The voices of parents were loudly heard in the recent Virginia election for governor. When one candidate essentially stated that parents should not have input into what is being taught in schools, he lost the race. Since taking office, Governor Youngkin has respected the rights of parents and has undone some of the more radical legislation signed into law by his predecessor. Since the advent of the U.S. Department of Education, student test scores have fallen consistently. It’s time to decentralize education, abolish the Department of Education, and give parents a voice in their children’s education. Education should be local–all localities have different needs. When we tried to standardize the teaching of mathematics and language arts, the scores trended downward. It’s time to go back to the time when our students were learning the skills they needed to become useful citizens of America.

 

Being Investigated For Protecting Children

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On Thursday, Just the News posted an article about a Justice Department subpoena requesting over five years of information from the Eagle Forum of Alabama about its legislative activities.

The article reports:

The Eagle Forum of Alabama, a conservative nonprofit, has worked since 2017 on the “Alabama Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act,” which went into effect as law in May 2022.

The legislation made it a felony for physicians to perform sex-change surgeries, to administer or prescribe puberty blockers or hormones to minors.

The law also prohibits school personnel from withholding information from parents about their child’s sexual identity.

The group, which filed a motion Wednesday to quash the subpoena, said the Justice Department’s request “is broad, intrusive, and meant to harass.”

The article concludes:

Eagle Forum President Kristen Ullman said the subpoena has much larger implications.

“If the DOJ can weaponize a subpoena, any American can be unduly burdened and prevented from engaging in our democratic republic form of government. Freedom of speech and freedom of association will be squelched,” she said. “If the Department of Justice doesn’t like your viewpoint it may target you next.”

Would the Department of Justice be investigating the group if they were working in support of abortion? That is the question that needs to be answered.

Repaving Parking Lots Is Climate Change?

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Just the News is reporting today that of the $740,000 the U.S. Department of Agriculture is sending to Pennsylvania for “critical infrastructure to combat climate change,” $500,000 will be a given as a grant to repave four parking lots in the Town of Bloomsburg in Columbia County.

The article reports:

The USDA Rural Development program provides taxpayer money for all sorts of programs, from infrastructure to health care to environmental and economic concerns in the rural parts of America. In fiscal year 2022, it provided almost $1.5 billion for local projects.

Its latest announcement noted 16 projects in Pennsylvania, but the lion’s share of the funding will go to four parking lots in Bloomsburg.

“These 16 projects represent Pennsylvania’s diverse rural economy and will strengthen its resilience,” USDA State Director Bob Morgan said in a news release. “The Biden-Harris Administration has created a roadmap for how we can tackle the climate crisis and expand access to renewable energy infrastructure.”

That roadmap has a strong emphasis on cars.

The article concludes:

While a federal program, Pennsylvania also provides agricultural grants and subsidies. Critics have called the spending corporate welfare that does not produce economic growth or jobs, as The Center Square previously reported, but supporters argue the spending is necessary.

Energy-related projects are at most 33% of the USDA’s latest funding announcement. The majority of funds “to combat climate change” in Pennsylvania went, instead, to a car-related infrastructure project.

Corporate welfare has become a way of life in Washington. It’s time Americans voted out the big spenders and elected some people who at least have a basic respect for the pocketbooks of the voters.

 

Creating A Police State

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John Solomon at Just the News is one of the few investigative reporters left. On Tuesday he posted an article about the decisions that led up to the raid on Mar-a-Lago. One of the things he reports on was the role that the Biden White House played in the raid.

The article reports:

Long before it professed no prior knowledge of the raid on Donald Trump’s estate, the Biden White House worked directly with the Justice Department and National Archives to instigate the criminal probe into alleged mishandling of documents, allowing the FBI to review evidence retrieved from Mar-a-Lago this spring and eliminating the 45th president’s claims to executive privilege, according to contemporaneous government documents reviewed by Just the News.

The memos show then-White House Deputy Counsel Jonathan Su was engaged in conversations with the FBI, DOJ and National Archives as early as April, shortly after 15 boxes of classified and other materials were voluntarily returned to the federal historical agency from Trump’s Florida home.

By May, Su conveyed to the Archives that President Joe Biden would not object to waiving his predecessor’s claims to executive privilege, a decision that opened the door for DOJ to get a grand jury to issue a subpoena compelling Trump to turn over any remaining materials he possessed from his presidency.

The article contains information about the decision to waive executive privilege in the case of President Trump. I still believe this is about the deep state’s concern that President Trump has documents that will incriminate the FBI and DOJ in the Russia probe.

The article includes some comments by Alan Dershowitz, the famed Harvard law professor emeritus and lifelong Democrat, about the waiving of executive privilege:

“I was very surprised,” Dershowitz said after reading the text of Wall’s letter. “The current president should not be able to waive the executive privilege of a predecessor, without the consent of the former president. Otherwise, [privilege] means nothing. What president will ever discuss anything in private if he knows the man who beat him can and will disclose it.”

While some courts have upheld the notion of a successor president waiving privilege for a predecessor, Dershowitz said the matter remains to be decided definitively by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Please follow the link to read the entire article. The evidence is there that the Biden White House used the Department of Justice and the FBI as political weapons. The question is, “Is there anyone in Congress with the integrity to do anything about it?”

Will We Ever Get The Blindfold Back On Lady Justice?

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On Monday, Just the News posted an article with the following headline, “Biden White House facilitated DOJ’s criminal probe against Trump, scuttled privilege claims: memos.:

The article reports:

“I have therefore decided not to honor the former President’s ‘protective’ claim of privilege,” acting National Archivist Debra Steidel Wall wrote Trump’s team in May.

Long before it professed no prior knowledge of the raid on Donald Trump’s estate, the Biden White House worked directly with the Justice Department and National Archives to instigate the criminal probe into alleged mishandling of documents, allowing the FBI to review evidence retrieved from Mar-a-Lago this spring and eliminating the 45th president’s claims to executive privilege, according to contemporaneous government documents reviewed by Just the News.

Where was the FBI when it came to dealing with the illegal server and email account Hillary Clinton was using? Hillary Clinton was not President and did not have the authority to declassify documents. President Trump did have that authority at the time the documents were removed from the White House.

The article notes:

The memos show then-White House Deputy Counsel Jonathan Su was engaged in conversations with the FBI, DOJ and National Archives as early as April, shortly after 15 boxes of classified and other materials were voluntarily returned to the federal historical agency from Trump’s Florida home.

By May, Su conveyed to the Archives that President Joe Biden would not object to waiving his predecessor’s claims to executive privilege, a decision that opened the door for DOJ to get a grand jury to issue a subpoena compelling Trump to turn over any remaining materials he possessed from his presidency.

The machinations are summarized in several memos and emails exchanged between the various agencies in spring 2022, months before the FBI took the added unprecedented step of raiding Trump’s Florida compound with a court-issued search warrant.

The most complete summary was contained in a lengthy letter dated May 10 that acting National Archivist Debra Steidel Wall sent Trump’s lawyers summarizing the White House’s involvement.

The article reports:

“We have requested the ability to review the documents,” Corcoran wrote National Archives General Counsel Gary Stern on April 29, copying Su on the letter. “That review is necessary in order to ascertain whether any specific document is subject to privilege. We would respectfully request that you restrict access to the documents until we have had the opportunity to review the documents and to consult with President Donald J. Trump so that he may personally make any decision to assert a claim of constitutionally based privilege.”

But a dozen days later, Wall informed Corcoran that she had the blessing of Biden to overrule those privilege claims and share all materials requested by the DOJ and FBI.

Please follow the link above to read the entire article. This is a breathtaking abuse of power on the part of the Biden administration.

Interesting, But Don’t Expect Anything Earthshaking

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On Thursday, Just the News reported that U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart has given he Justice Department one week to deliver a redacted copy of the affidavit used to justify the FBI’s unprecedented search of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.

The article reports:

U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart also said at the hearing on that matter that he will decide after the department has completed its redactions whether he wants to make his own.

Reinhart, who approved the warrant for the FBI’s raid last week, also said that if the media or the government object to his proposed redactions, they can file an appeal and that the affidavit will remain sealed during any appeals.

The government argued that unsealing the affidavit would “provide a roadmap” of the ongoing investigation. Prosecutor Jay Bratt said the country is in a “volatile” state and releasing the names of those involved in the probe may “chill” other witnesses. 

“This is not a precedent we want to set,” he said.

Reinhart at the hearing also unsealed more minor documents containing general information, according to NPR.

The Justice Department also argued that redacting the affidavit would leave no substantive information to release and pointed out the search and release of the warrant last week had already resulted in death threats against FBI agents.

I admit that this sounds as if some people might actually be held accountable for using the FBI and Department of Justice for political purposes. However, don’t get your hopes up. We believed in Mueller (for a while), we believed in Barr (for a while), and we believed in Durham (for a while). The deep state has many ways of protecting itself, and there is no reason to believe that protection is weakened. I suspect that when we see the affideavit it will have many redactions (or at least enough to hide what actually happened).

Changing The Language To Fit The Situation

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In discussing the book 1984, a website called bookanalysis.com posts the following definition of Newspeak:

The purpose of the language is to reduce “unnecessary” words and those that might lead the citizens of Oceania into thought patterns the Party wants to avoid. They believe if they can rid the English language of troubling words, then there will be no way that anyone can conceive of the concepts without them.

It is a language that is still under construction as the novel’s plot is playing out. There are various iterations of the Newspeak dictionary, and one of Winston Smith’s associates, Syme, is working on the text. The language reduces words to syllables and combines them together to create new, unusual words.

On Tuesday, Just the News posted an article titled, “6 terms Biden has redefined to further agenda, stigmatize opponents.”

Here is the list of the six terms:

1. Recession

2. Disinformation

3. Domestic terrorist

4. Insurrectionist

5. Voter suppression

6. Illegal alien

The redefining of all these terms has to do with keeping the Democrats in power. The chances of a Democrat victory in the mid-terms will be negatively impacted if America is declared in a recession so the administration will simply change the definition of recession. Disinformation has come to mean anything the Biden administration does not like or anything that paints the administration in a bad light. The Facebook fact-checkers have this concept down pat. A domestic terrorists is anyone who questions the far left agenda the Biden administration is attempting to impose on Americans–anything from school curriculum to men in women’s sports. An insurrectionist is anyone who questions the legitimacy of the 2020 election. Voter suppression is anything that will insure a more secure and honest election. Illegal aliens are now called undocumented citizens or simply non-citizens.

The Biden administration’s ‘Newspeak’ has been somewhat successful in limiting some of the complaints about election fraud in 2020. Many politicians are afraid to bring up the subject out of fear of being labeled insurrectionists. It has also become obvious that the Biden administration is not above sending the law after any citizen that consistently opposes their agenda. The FBI has used excessive force on Americans accused of minor crimes on numerous occasions. In some states the banning of drop boxes is being called voter suppression even as it becomes evident that drop boxes are easily used by those who want to engage in ballot harvesting, an illegal activity in many states. And finally, as we watch our totally open southern border, the term illegal alien has somehow disappeared from any document or speech connected to the Biden administration.

If the trend of redefining words for political purposes continues in the Biden administration, we will one day in the very near future wake up and wonder what has happened to our country.

The Other Side Of The Story

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Anyone who has bothered to watch the committee hearings in the House of Representatives designed to prevent President Trump from running for office again might have noticed that only one side of the story regarding January 6th is being told. There is no mention of the January 6th prisoners who have been denied their constitutional rights. There is no mention of the role FBI undercover agents played in stirring up the crowd. There is no mention of the circumstances surrounding the murder of Ashley Babbitt. There is no mention of the fact that no one seems to know who was actually responsible for security at the Capitol that day. There is no mention of the arrest of people who did not enter the Capitol building; and finally, there is no mention of the extreme intimidation tactics being used against anyone who was anywhere near the Capitol that day.

On Sunday, BizPacReview posted an article that paints a very different picture than the one being painted by the committee.

The article reports:

Despite the hyper-partisan efforts of the Jan. 6 committee hearings and their predetermined objective of recommending criminal charges against former President Donald Trump, evidence has continued to mount on the side of reality leading Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume to drop the hammer on Reps. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL).

Following Thursday’s primetime edition of the Jan. 6 show trial, investigative journalist and founder of Just the News, John Solomon, called out the committee for deliberately ignoring concrete evidence that destroys their narrative while referencing a specific Pentagon memo. Hume shared that post and included a scathing indictment of his own on the Republican committee members said to be participating in the name of being fair.

“This is the sort of information, while not excusing Trump, that the 1/6 committee’s Republicans would have insisted be part of the hearings, if they were trying to be fair,” he captioned the article before slamming Cheney and Kinzinger, “They are not.”

This is the information you are not being told:

As Solomon laid out, “the most compelling piece of evidence that Trump wanted to thwart — rather than incite — violence is contained in a lengthy memo written by the Pentagon inspector general that chronicled the assistance the Defense Department offered Congress both ahead of and during the riot.”

“In it, the IG recounts a fateful meeting on Jan. 3, 2021 in the White House when then-acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met with Trump on national security matters,” he explained after referencing the president’s initial offer for National Guard troops on Jan. 2, 2021. “The complete passage — hardly mentioned by Democrats at the hearings of the news media covering them — is worth absorbing in its entirety.”

“‘Mr. Miller and GEN Milley met with the President at the White House at 5:30 p.m.,’ the IG reported. ‘The primary topic they discussed was unrelated to the scheduled rally. GEN Milley told us that at the end of the meeting, the President told Mr. Miller that there would be a large number of protestors on January 6, 2021, and Mr. Miller should ensure sufficient National Guard or Soldiers would be there to make sure it was a safe event. Gen. Milley told us that Mr. Miller responded, “We’ve got a plan and we’ve got it covered.”‘”

I don’t like to sound paranoid, but I firmly believe that the deep state did have a plan and that they did have it covered.

 

What Insider Trading?

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Oh to have the stock trading success of Paul Pelosi. On Tuesday, Just the News reported that Paul Pelosi (husband of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi) just made a really smart stock purchase.

The article reports:

Paul Pelosi, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, purchased between $1 million and $5 million of stock in a semiconductor company ahead of an upcoming vote on legislation containing $52 billion for chipmakers — the latest in a long history of similar purchases.

…Pelosi’s husband made headlines when he purchased a substantial amount of tech stock last year under his wife’s speakership. Pelosi made millions on “timely” bets with Big Tech stock buys in advance of an antitrust bill that was moving through the House, according to a Fortune report from July 2021. 

The antitrust legislation ultimately stalled, but Pelosi tech stock buys have continued throughout this year. In March, the speaker disclosed that her husband bought Apple as well as Disney and PayPal shares. 

Retail traders track Pelosi’s trades to “find winners,” Yahoo reported.

The article notes:

There are several bills still pending in Congress that impose some form of a ban on lawmakers making individual stock purchases, but some would not cover spouses. 

Peter Schweizer, author of the 2011 book “Throw Them All Out,” was instrumental in educating the public about the lack of stock trading laws applicable to members of Congress. After his book was published, Congress passed the STOCK Act, and former President Obama signed it into law. The bill is designed to prevent insider trading, but it doesn’t ban members of Congress or their spouses from buying individual stocks. Under the bill, lawmakers are required to file financial disclosure reports that show the purchases made. 

Schweizer has long called on Congress to prohibit lawmakers and their spruces [sic] from trading individual stocks. 

The article concludes:

Pelosi’s office has said she had “no prior knowledge” of her husband’s stock purchase.

“The speaker does not own any stocks,” said Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill, according to FOX Business. “As you can see from the required disclosures, with which the Speaker fully cooperates, these transactions are marked ‘SP’ for Spouse. The Speaker has no prior knowledge or subsequent involvement in any transactions.” 

The legislation with the funding for chipmakers is designed to shore up America’s semiconductor supply chain to better compete with China. The House passed its version of the America COMPETES Act earlier this year. The Senate passed their own version last June. A conference committee is preparing the final legislation, which could be voted on as early as this week.

The article notes:

Retail traders track Pelosi’s trades to “find winners,” Yahoo reported.

I think Martha Steward should ask for her jail time back.

 

There Seems To Be Something Of A Double Standard Here

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On Monday, The American Thinker reported the following:

An account was published Sunday in the San Marcos Record of a massive late June raid on a couple in rural Hays County, Texas that resulted in no arrest. The scale of forces deployed and the tactics used seem designed to intimidate and punish, especially considering the fact that the couple never entered the US Capitol on June 6, and were guilty only of being Trump supporters who were peacefully demonstrating.  

The article recounts the event:

Lora DeWolfe and Darrel Kennemer were startled when FBI agents, during the pre-dawn hours on June 22, broke through their gate leading up to their home which sits on seven acres in rural Hays County. (snip)

Kennemer, concerned, sprung out of bed, grabbed his AR-15 and stepped onto the porch wearing only his briefs.

The couple watched as several other vehicles, estimated between 20-30, poured onto the property, including one armored vehicle with a battering ram.

FBI agents demanded Kennemer “drop his rifle” as they exited the approaching vehicle. Kennemer responded asking if officials had a warrant, and to show him.

Agents instead began tossing a series of flashbang grenades at the 67-year-old after which Kennemer realized a group of targeting lasers on him that forced him to lay down his weapon.

The couple was placed into handcuffs, taken away from their house, and questioned while their home was being searched.

Kennemer said it wasn’t only members of the FBI present, but ATF and SWAT, too.

“All present I would say upwards of 100 agents, at an astronomical cost to the taxpayer, were on site,” Kennemer said. “The warrant wasn’t even a ‘no knock’ warrant. It could have been served with a simple knock on our door during daylight hours.”

This is abuse of power by the federal government. At the present moment, the Department of Justice is so out of control that they are willing to do this to anyone who is a Trump supporter. That is not America.

Meanwhile, Just the News reported the following on Monday:

The same U.S. Attorney’s office that has prosecuted scores of Jan. 6 protesters for trespassing and other crimes has declined to prosecute nine members of TV comedian Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show production team for unlawful entry into a congressional office building, Capitol Police announced Monday evening.

“The United States Capitol Police (USCP) has been working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia on the June 16, 2022, Unlawful Entry case that involved a group of nine people associated with The Late Show,” the department said in a press release.

“The United States Capitol Police was just informed the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia is declining to prosecute the case,” they added.

Capitol Police said they arrested the nine producers on unlawful entry charges, saying “members of the group had been told several times before they entered the Congressional buildings that they had to remain with a staff escort inside the buildings and they failed to do so.”

So a couple that did not enter the Capitol building on January 6th has their house invaded by the FBI with a SWAT team, and a group that entered the Capitol unlawfully is not charged. Meanwhile, some prisoners who were arrested in connection with January 6th are still sitting in jail with no bail and no trial.

If we don’t begin to undo this in the November election, we will no longer have a country.

Fighting For Children’s Education

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Just the News is reporting today that Arizona Governor Doug Ducey has signed a bill allowing school choice for all Arizona school children.

The article reports:

In signing House Bill 2853 into law, all Arizona’s school-age children will be eligible for the Empowerment Scholarship Account. It’s a state-funded account that allows parents to spend money on tuition and other education expenses. Previously, the program was limited to disabled students, those in failing schools, and other specific circumstances.

…The program will now be available to more than 1.1 million students across the state. The average ESA spends $6,400, legislative analysts have previously estimated.

The bill also gives the Arizona Department of Education $2.2 million and allows for the hiring of 26 new workers to aid in administering the expanded program. The report also found that school choice programs nationwide saved taxpayers an average of $7,500 per student that participated.

House Majority Leader Ben Toma, R-Peoria, said education dollars shouldn’t be tied to one building.

“It was my privilege to sponsor the most expansive school choice law in the nation, opening Empowerment Scholarship Account eligibility to all school-age children without restriction,” Toma said. “In Arizona, we fund students, not systems, because we know one size does not fit all students.”

Goldwater Institute President and CEO Victor Riches said the program will benefit children with varying educational needs.

Obviously there is some pushback from those who like the indoctrination centers our public schools have become.

The article reports:

Save Our Schools Arizona announced on Wednesday that it would lead a push to get a veto initiative on the 2024 ballot that would scale back the program if successful.

“Stopping the privatization of Arizona’s public schools has been our mission for 5 years. Now, lawmakers have defied the will of AZ voters by attempting once more to pass universal ESA vouchers & dismantle public education – but we won’t let them win,” the organization said.

The nonprofit and others argue that school choice saps funding from public schools that receive tax dollars based on attendance.

If public schools were doing their job of successfully educating our children, there would be no flight from public schools. I believe that the flight from public schools is the result of parents seeing what their children were being taught during the Covid lockdowns. Because of what they saw being taught in the classroom, parents are looking for other educational options. Arizona is providing one.

You Know You Are Toxic When…

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On Wednesday, Just the News reported that Ohio Senate Democratic nominee Representative Tim Ryan will not be appearing with President Biden next Wednesday when the President visits Ohio to discuss a program benefiting union workers. That is an indication of how low the President is in the polls.

The article reports:

Ryan’s campaign says the candidate will be a no-show due to an unavoidable scheduling conflict – the same explanation given by Democratic gubernatorial nominee Nan Whaley’s campaign.

The absences from candidates in tough elections at the Biden event suggests some hesitancy to appear on stage with a president whose has low poll numbers – amid record inflation.

In addition, Biden in 2020 lost to incumbent GOP President Trump roughly 53-to-45% in Ohio, a traditional labor union state.

Biden will, however, on Wednesday be joined by Ohio lawmakers and fellow Democrats Sen. Sherrod Brown, Reps. Shantel Brown and Marcy Kaptur and Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, as well as Labor Secretary Marty Walsh.

The address will primarily be aimed at appealing to blue collar voters.

The article concludes:

On Wednesday, Ohio GOP Senate nominee J.D. Vance tried to tie Ryan to Biden and his policies.

“Ryan has worked in lockstep with Biden to destroy our economy and Ohio’s middle class is suffering today because of it,” he said “But now, for the second time in two months, Ryan is refusing to be seen in public with his own party’s president.”

If the blue collar workers cannot see the difference in the impact of President Biden’s policies and the impact of President Trump’s policies, they are not paying attention. Under President Biden, the middle-class is struggling with high gasoline prices, high food prices, high energy prices, and no end in sight. Under President Trump, the middle class prospered.

On January 28, 2022, The Wall Street Journal posted the following:

Part of what made the Trump boom unique, however, is who benefited the most. The economy grew in ways that mostly benefited low-income and middle-class households, categories that cover a disproportionate number of blacks. In 2016 the percentage of blacks who hadn’t completed high school was nearly double that of whites—15% vs. 8%—and the percentage of adults with a bachelor’s degree was 35% for whites and only 21% for blacks.

These education gaps are reflected in work patterns. Blacks are overrepresented in the retail, healthcare and transportation industries, which provide tens of millions of working- and middle-class jobs. In 2019, 54% of black households earned less than $50,000 a year, versus 33% of white households. At the other end of the income distribution, slightly more than half of all white households (50.7%) earned at least $75,000, compared with less than a third (29.4%) of black households. What this means is that reductions in income inequality can translate into reductions in racial inequality, which is what the country experienced in the pre-pandemic Trump economy.

Between 2017 and 2019, median household incomes grew by 15.4% among blacks and only 11.5% among whites. The investment bank Goldman Sachs released a paper in March 2019 that showed pay for those at the lower end of the wage distribution rising at nearly double the rate of pay for those at the upper end. Average hourly earnings were growing at rates that hadn’t been seen in almost a decade, but what “has set this rise apart is that it’s the first time during the economic recovery that began in mid-2009 that the bottom half of earners are benefiting more than the top half—in fact, about twice as much,” CNBC reported.

Citing a graph included in Goldman’s analysis, CNBC added that the “trend began in 2018”—the first year that the corporate tax cuts were in effect—“and has continued into this year and could be signaling a stronger economy than many experts think.”

Unfortunately, the Biden administration’s policies have erased all of those gains in eighteen months. Electing a Republican Congress may help put back some policies that will be beneficial to the middle class, but we won’t see any upward mobility to and within the middle class until we vote Democrats and liberal Republicans out of office.

The Beat Goes On…

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Anyone who has been paying attention for the last few years knows that there are some politicians who would love to take the guns away from law-abiding American citizens. I won’t speculate on their specific motives, but I am cynical enough to believe not all of them actually believe that separating Americans from their guns will make anyone safer.

On Friday, Just the News posted an article about a new law proposed in California that would make owning a gun an expensive proposition in California.

The article reports:

A California state senator introduced legislation that would require gun owners to obtain liability insurance for the “negligent or accidental use” of their firearms, according to a press release from her office.

State Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, introduced SB 505 in hopes that California would become the first state in the country with this kind of law in place.

“Guns kill more people than cars. Yet gun owners are not required to carry liability insurance like car owners must,” Sen. Skinner said in a press release Thursday. “Why should taxpayers, survivors, families, employers, and communities bear the $280 billion annual cost of gun violence? It’s time for gun owners to shoulder their fair share.”

Skinner’s office describes the gun insurance required by SB 505 as “similar to car insurance.” Her office says that under the bill, gun owners would:

Be held civilly liable for property damage, injury, or death resulting from the use of their firearms Have to obtain liability insurance that covers losses or damages resulting from negligent or accidental use of their firearm, including property, damage, injury or death Have to obtain proof of gun insurance, keep that proof with their firearm, and produce it when asked by a peace officer during the course of a lawful detainment.

In other words, let’s make gun ownership so expensive and so inconvenient that no one will own a gun (except for criminals who don’t follow laws). That makes absolutely no sense and would probably increase the crime rate astronomically (see Chicago, Washington, D.C., and New York City for examples of cities with strict gun control laws).

Now is the time to fight to keep our Second Amendment strong. Those who would separate law-abiding citizens from their guns do not have our best interests at heart.

Things To Consider

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If you watch the well-produced televised January 6th hearings, there are a few things that you should keep in mind. I am writing this Thursday afternoon, so I have no idea what we are in for. However, there are a few facts that I doubt will be mentioned in the hearings.

On Wednesday, Just the News reported that the Pentagon had requested National Guard troops for Washington before the January 6th riots. These requests were turned down by the Capitol Police and the Democrats. So who wanted things to get out of hand on January 6th?

The article reports:

An official timeline of the Jan. 6 tragedy assembled by Capitol Police shows that a Defense Department official reached out to a Capitol Police deputy chief, Sean Gallagher, on Jan. 2, 2021 to see if a request for troops was forthcoming, but the offer was quickly rejected after a consultation with then-Chief Steve Sund.

“Carol Corbin (DOD) texts USCP Deputy Chief Sean Gallagher, Protective Service Bureau, to determine whether USCP is considering a request for National Guard soldiers for January 6, 2021 event,” the timeline reads in the lone entry listed for Saturday, Jan. 2, 2021.

The following morning, the timeline states, “Gallagher replies to DOD via text that a request for National Guard support not forthcoming at this time after consultation with COP Sund.”

The assessment of what the Trump rally would be changed as the event drew closer:

“Due to the tense political environment following the 2020 election, the threat of disruptive actions or violence cannot be ruled out,” the new assessment declared. “Supporters of the current president see January 6, 2021 as the last opportunity to overturn the results of the presidential election. This sense of desperation and disappointment may lead to more of an incentive to become violent.”

Within 24 hours, Sund had changed his mind and began seeking permission from the political powers surrounding House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer to deploy the National Guard as a preventive measure on Monday, Jan. 4, 2021.

The Capitol Police official timeline provides the most succinct summary of a series of events around Sund’s request, some of which have been disputed and at times misreported in the news media.

“COP Sund asks Senate Sergeant at Arms (SSAA) Michael Stenger and House Sergeant at Arms (HSAA) Paul Irving for authority to have National Guard to assist with security for the January 6, 2021 event based on briefing with law enforcement partner and revised intelligence Assessment,” the timeline recorded. “COP Sund’s request is denied. SSAA and HSAA tell COP Sund to contact General Walker at DC National Guard to discuss the guard’s ability to support a request if needed.”

The article notes:

“We went to the Capitol Police and the Secret Service and law enforcement agencies and Mayor Bowser days before January 6, and asked them, ‘Do you want thousands of National Guardsmen and women for January 6?'” Patel (Kash Patel) said in a detailed interview earlier this year. “They all said no. Why did we do that? The law requires them to request it before we can deploy them. And the DOD IG found we did not delay, we actually prepared in a preemptive fashion, which is what we do at DOD.”

Please follow the link to read the entire article. January 6th was a planned attack, but not by the people currently being blamed for it.

Spying On Congress

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On Thursday, Just the News reported that the charges against the U.S. Capitol Police for illegally spying on a Congressman have been proven valid.

The article reports:

An internal investigation has confirmed Capitol Police entered Texas Republican Rep. Troy Nehls’ office and photographed a whiteboard containing his sensitive legislative plans, concluding the officer who took the picture exercised “questionable judgment” and the department lacked policies and training to avoid an unnecessary intrusion on lawmakers’ constitutionally protected work.

…Nehls told Just the News on Thursday night he was “a little disappointed” the internal probe did not resolve a key factual question about the officer’s claim of why he entered the congressman’s office over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

He said the failure to resolve that key question and the surfacing of other unusual facts turned up during the internal probe only heightened his fears that Capitol Police targeted him for investigation for political reasons related to his criticism of the Democrat-led Jan. 6 committee investigation.

“I personally believe that Nancy Pelosi has weaponized the U.S. Capitol Police as her own investigations unit,” Nehls said in an interview with the “Just the News, Not Noise” television show. “She goes after anybody that has dissenting point of views. I obviously have been a very vocal critic of the January 6th committee and the events of January 6.”

The Capitol Police provided a statement to Just the News that did not address the IG’s criticisms of the officer or the department but strongly insisted Nehls was never under criminal investigation and that any suggestion to the contrary only undermined the police force.

The article concludes:

The internal probe determined it was the only time the officer had ever used his department-issued smart phone to take a picture for investigative purposes, and it interviewed a supervisory sergeant who explained the department “does not investigate Members of Congress so he does not understand what” the officer “was thinking when he took the photograph of the whiteboard.”

The officer “exercised questionable judgment in concluding it was his duty or mission to read and photograph the written product of a congressman or the congressman’s staff contained on a whiteboard in a private congressional office,” the inspector general concluded.

“His actions are mitigated by the fact that in its review, OIG found no evidence of where this type of scenario was discussed or relevant guidance was provided by the Department,” the report added.

Nehls told Just the News he hoped a new Congress next year could find consensus to ensure Capitol Police have better policies and procedures to protect the privacy and work of lawmakers.

“I think that it is very incumbent upon whoever the Speaker of the House, the Sergeant at Arms are in the next Congress that we protect the limited amount of integrity that that institution has, and that is making sure that members can feel safe and secure in their offices,” he said

“This, Democrats and Republicans alike should support the idea of saying this should never happen to anybody,” Nehls added. “You cannot go in and start taking pictures of legislative materials or things that you find suspicious.”

There are a lot of indications that the swamp that is Washington, D.C., needs to be filled in and ended.

There Are Always Strings Attached

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On Monday, Just the News reported that there will be a rule change in federal education funding that will require schools to have certain LGBT policies in order to receive federal funding.

The article reports:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said this month it will change how it interprets Title IX prohibitions on discrimination based on sex “to include discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”

That change means that schools that accept any kind of funding, including students receiving FAFSA or Pell grants or students who receive federally subsidized school lunch funding, will be subject to the new Title IX LGBT interpretation.

“As a result, state and local agencies, program operators and sponsors that receive funds from FNS must investigate allegations of discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation,” USDA said in a statement. “Those organizations must also update their non-discrimination policies and signage to include prohibitions against discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.”

This means that schools around the country will be forced to comply with a range of pro-transgender policies in things like sports, housing, locker rooms and bathrooms if they want to continue receiving federal funds. The effort began when President Joe Biden issued an executive order almost immediately upon taking office.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view), federal money always comes with strings attached.

Remember, the Teacher Unions control the Democrat party through their donations.

Open Secrets posted the following charts illustrating how money talks:

Again, the strings attached to federal funding could be used to hold up a suspension bridge. Many school districts need to take a look at what it costs to jump through the  hoops to receive federal funding versus the money received.

Is There Anyone In Government Who Cares About The Taxpayers’ Money?

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On Saturday, Just the News posted an article about the Internal Revenue Service’s issuance of improper pandemic tax credits.

The article reports:

This week’s Golden Horseshoe is awarded to the IRS for issuing almost $1 billion in improper pandemic tax credits — and rebuffing an inspector general’s recommendations to recover the erroneous payments.

The tax collectors issued potentially $898 million in improper Recovery Rebate Credits (RRCs) to ineligible individuals, including potential nonresident aliens, according to a final audit report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA).

The CARES Act authorized Economic Impact Payments in varying amounts depending on income and filing status. Any eligible individual who did not receive the stimulus payment could claim the missing amount on their tax return as an RRC on their taxes in 2020 and 2021.

“As of May 27, 2021, the IRS had processed 26.3 million tax returns with RRC claims totaling $39.2 billion,” according to the TIGTA final audit report. “Of these, the IRS issued potentially improper RRC payments totaling $898 million. These include $79.8 million in the RRC that should have been paid to eligible individuals and $818.5 million in the RRC that was paid to ineligible individuals.”   

The IRS declined to review or take steps to recover approximately two-thirds of the erroneously disbursed amounts, the inspector general revealed.

…Declining to review such ineligible claims processed after May 27, 2021, Corbin said the recovery effort “would require the IRS to divert limited resources to review these returns when such a small percentage, five one-hundredths of one percent, are projected to be affected by the issue.”

Democrats increased the IRS budget by 6% in the recent omnibus spending legislation, and an additional 10,000 agents were expected to be hired. 

How much money would taxpayers save if the additional agents were put to work tracking down erroneous pandemic payments rather than harassing ordinary Americans who might have made an honest mistake on their tax returns?