The Internal Revenue Service improperly withheld information requested by taxpayers 12.3 percent of the time, according to a new government audit.
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TITGA) reviewed the IRS’ compliance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and discovered that disclosure specialists at the agency failed to properly respond to all requests, actions that the watchdog said may have violated taxpayer rights.
TITGA looked at a statistically valid sample of 65 FOIA requests for their review and found eight cases—or 12.3 percent—in which the IRS improperly withheld requested information. Under the Freedom of Information Act, federal government agencies must make records requested by the public available unless a specific exemption is given while providing an initial response to the request within 20 business days.
The eight instances discovered by the watchdog were found to improperly withhold “information of examination and collection activity and other tax return information that the taxpayer or authorized Power of Attorney should have received.” When this number is projected to the entire population of 2,809 FOIA requests that the agency closed between Oct. 1, 2013, through Sept. 30, 2014, it equates to 346 FOIA requests that may have been erroneously withheld from the requester.
Additionally, the audit found that the agency withheld four (7.3 percent) of the 55 Internal Revenue Code (IRC) information requests that were reviewed. (Read more from “This Is How Often the IRS Improperly Held Information From Taxpayers” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-10-01 21:11:542016-04-11 10:57:49This Is How Often the IRS Improperly Held Information From Taxpayers
The Treasury Department said Thursday it would reach the debt limit a bit earlier than was expected by many on Capitol Hill.
Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew told Congress in a new letter that thanks in part to lower-than-expected quarterly tax receipts, the extraordinary measures to forestall breaching the debt limit, combined with the new revenues, will run their course just a week after the resignation of Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, takes effect . . .
“Based on this new information, we now estimate that Treasury is likely to exhaust its extraordinary measures on or about Thursday, November 5,” Lew wrote in a letter to Boehner.
“At that point, we could be left to fund the government with only the cash we have on hand, which we currently forecast to be below $30 billion. This amount would be far short of net expenditures on certain days, which can be as high as $60 billion.” (Read more from “Debt Limit Coming a Month Earlier Than Expected” HERE)
Flooding from Hurricane Joaquin will impact areas from South Carolina to Massachusetts even though the hurricane is unlikely to make landfall in the United States.
People should not let their guard down due to a shifting track of the hurricane as the risk to lives and property in this complex situation remains high.
A copious amount of moisture will unload very heavy rainfall along parts of the Atlantic Seaboard and the Appalachians into early next week. Strong winds, coastal flooding and beach erosion will occur and could be very damaging even in the absence of a landfall.
Hurricane Joaquin strengthened rapidly Wednesday into Thursday. Joaquin reached Category 3 status late Wednesday evening and Category 4 status on Thursday afternoon.
The storm will bring pounding surf, dangerous seas, strong winds, drenching squalls and flash flooding to the central Bahamas. Wind gusts could reach between 75 and 120 mph on some of the east-central islands. (Read more from “Major Hurricane to Impact Over 65 Million From South Carolina to Massachusetts” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-10-01 21:04:512016-04-11 10:57:49Major Hurricane to Impact Over 65 Million From South Carolina to Massachusetts
It’s hard to overstate the impact on national security of what is commonly known as “The OPM Hack”. The secret files of 22 million individuals who have applied for security clearances — maintained by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) — was ripped off as cleanly as Michael Moore stealing cookies from a Girl Scout.
WHAT WAS THE ‘OPM HACK’?
Every person who applies for a security clearance fills out an electronic application called an EQIP or EPSQ, which are questionnaires of applicants.
Those applying for a Top Secret clearance must answer an extremely detailed questionnaire delving into every aspect of their personal life: marital affairs, drug use, criminal activity, and any other bit of information that foreign intelligence services might use to blackmail or compromise a cleared individual.
The OPM hack has been so devastating to clandestine operations, including NOCs (agents operating under non-official cover), that the CIA just pulled its agents from Beijing “for their safety”.
Virtually every current and future military and intelligence operation was put at risk by the OPM hack.
100% CERTAIN THAT HILLARY’S SERVER WAS COMPROMISED BY CHINA
Today the FBI has admitted they are investigating what other cyber security experts had already acknowledged: it is virtually certain that Hillary Clinton’s bathroom email server had been compromised by foreign entities.
“In my opinion there is a 100% chance that all emails sent and received by her, including all the electronic correspondence stored on her server in her Chappaqua residence, were targeted and collected by the Russian equivalent of NSA,” said former CIA case officer Jason Matthews, an expert in Russian intelligence.
A top intelligence official under Barack Obama — Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn — noted that China was one likely attacker.
Kelly asked, “What do you think the odds are that the Chinese, the Russians hacked into that server and her e-mail account?”
“Very high,” Flynn said without hesitation. “Likely.”
“Really?”
“Yep. Likely. They’re very good at it. China, Russia, Iran, potentially the North Koreans. And other countries who may be ‘our allies’ because they can.”
HILLARY AND HER OPERATIVES KNEW HER BATHROOM EMAIL SERVER WAS INSECURE
In the most recent email dump, today we discovered that Clinton consigliere Cheryl Mills warned Hillary that use of her bathroom server was unprecedented and dangerous.
On a June 4, 2011 email chain between Hillary Clinton, her Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills and senior aides Huma Abedin and Jake Sullivan, all of whom used private email accounts, and in Clinton and Abedin’s case, Clinton’s secret server, Mills admits she was “someone who attempted to be hacked,” and warned against telegraphing the use of private email, as it “may encourage others who are out there.”
It is clear that everyone involved with the Clintons knew that they were violating the law and endangering U.S. national security.
NUMBER OF EMAILS DEEMED CLASSIFIED ON HILLARY’S SERVER DOUBLED TODAY
Even with the limited number of emails we’ve seen, the State Department revealed that over 400 messages on Hillary’s personal email server were classified.
Each violation constitutes a felony subject to imprisonment for up to 10 years.
As Democrat operative James Carville admitted earlier this year, Hillary employed a personal email server in order to avoid public scrutiny of her actions, be they her cash-for-favors deals, mishandling of classified data, or other illegal activities.
I BELIEVE THAT HILLARY CLINTON’S BATHROOM SERVER LED TO THE OPM HACK
My contention is that Hillary Clinton’s use of a bathroom server led directly to the OPM hack, which cyber experts have called “a digital Pearl Harbor.”
Here’s how the attack chain worked from the perspective of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
1. PLA operative compromises HRC’s email server.
2. PLA operative sends emails to various government officials using the accounts of HRC, Huma Abedin, Cheryl Mills or another senior official. Nothing gets the attention of a government apparatchik like an email from the likes of Hillary.
3. The emails contained a spear-phishing link with instructions to click on the link (e.g., “please check out these travel plans and see if they sync up with your schedule”) that installed malware on the targeted device. Predicted click-through rate: 70%+.
4. Targeted device is infected and then used to launch attacks inside applicable government network. These attacks take the form of reconnoitering on the compromised device (reading documents, emails, network drives, etc.); performing reconnaissance on the government network, and launching additional attacks.
In short, compromising Hillary’s email server was a gold mine for foreign intelligence agencies.
I can assure you we haven’t heard the last of tragic, needless compromises of America’s national security due to Hillary Clinton’s voracious lust for power and money. (For more from the author of “ATTACK SCENARIO: How Hillary Clinton’s Lust for Money and Power Led to America’s ‘Digital Pearl Harbor'” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-30 21:37:192016-04-11 10:57:50ATTACK SCENARIO: How Hillary Clinton’s Lust for Money and Power Led to America’s ‘Digital Pearl Harbor’
Democrats on Wednesday accused House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of having admitted the Benghazi investigation committee was created to politically damage Hillary Clinton, after he seemed to link her dropping poll numbers to the committee’s work.
McCarthy, considered the front-runner to replace retiring Speaker John Boehner, made the remarks in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity Tuesday night. Describing how he would be different as speaker, McCarthy, R-Calif., said he’d be a “conservative speaker that takes a conservative Congress that puts a strategy to fight and win.”
He added: “And let me give you one example. Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she’s un-trustable. But no one would have known any of that had happened had we not …”
Democrats suggested his comments undermine claims by the committee’s leader and other Republicans that the panel is only seeking the truth about the deadly 2012 attacks at a U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya.
“I appreciate Rep. McCarthy finally coming clean and admitting what we have all known all along: that the Benghazi Select Committee was designed and created as a political attack tool to damage a potential Democratic presidential nominee,” Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., a Benghazi committee member and top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement. (Read more from “Dems Accuse GOP Leader McCarthy of Admitting This About the Benghazi Panel” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-30 21:36:082016-04-11 10:57:50Dems Accuse GOP Leader McCarthy of Admitting This About the Benghazi Panel
One illegal immigrant has been formally charged with capital murder and another is expected to be charged soon in connection with the execution of two men and the burning of the victims’ corpses in Texas. The two jailed illegal immigrants are said to be members of a fearsome gang called the Tri-City Bombers which has been tied to multiple massacres and high profile murders in the past.
This week, investigators with the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office arrested 22-year-old Edwin Adrian Salinas for his suspected role in the case. Authorities had initially arrested him on unrelated drug charges, but once in custody, homicide detectives were able to link him to the double murder.
Sheriff’s office spokesman JP Rodriguez told Breitbart Texas that once in custody Salinas admitted to investigators his role in the murder. Salinas also had scar tissue on his body from healed injuries that are consistent with him helping set a car on fire.
On Monday afternoon, Salinas went before a local justice of the peace who formally charged him with two counts of capital murder and set his bond at $2 million.
Also on Monday authorities arrested a second suspect who is expected to be formally charged later this week. (Read more from “Illegal Alien Accused of These Horrific Crimes in Texas Has NOT Been Deported” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-30 21:33:502016-04-11 10:57:51Illegal Alien Accused of These Horrific Crimes in Texas Has NOT Been Deported
Dozens of emails in the State Department’s latest release of Hillary Clinton emails contain information now deemed classified by the department.
The release includes nearly 3,900 new emails. Of them, more than 200 have a “B1” marking, which means they contain classified information – though some may be duplicates. . .
Almost all of the emails were “confidential,” the lowest level of classification, while three emails were declared “secret,” a mid-tier level for information that could still cause serious damage to national security if made public . . .
Anne-Marie Slaughter, director of State’s Office of Policy Planning, lamented in an email conversation that included Clinton on the antiquated nature of the agency’s IT infrastructure, writing “NO ONE uses a State-issued laptop and even high officials routinely end up using their home email accounts to be able to get their work done quickly and effectively.”
Former State Department chief of staff Cheryl Mills replied, ““[A]s someone who attempted to be hacked (yes I was one), I am not sure we want to telegraph how much folks do or don’t do off state mail b/c it may encourage others who are out there.” (Read more from “Dozens of Clinton Emails in Latest Release Contain This Classified Info” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-30 21:32:422016-04-11 10:57:51Dozens of Clinton Emails in Latest Release Contain This Classified Info
Hundreds of irate parents are planning to attend the Walton County, Georgia, school board meeting Oct. 10 to convey their outrage over their children being taught the religious beliefs of Islam in middle-school social studies.
The outrage erupted over a quiz handed out to students asking them to answer questions related to the five pillars of Islam, the Quran as the “holy” book of Muslims, and the conversion prayer known as the “shahada,” which states, “There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger.” Perhaps most disturbing to Christian parents was the “correct” answer that the Muslim god Allah is the “same god” that is worshiped by Christians and Jews.
At the same time Islam is being studied in detail, the beliefs of Christianity are glossed over, parents say. They now have more than 2,300 parents and concerned citizens who have joined a Facebook group dedicated to opposing the school system’s methods of teaching comparative religions.
“I believe my children are my responsibility, and I believe I need to be the one teaching them what we believe instead of the school,” Bill Green told News 95.5.
Parent Michelle King told WSB-TV she’s upset because students seem to spend a lot more time learning about Islam than any other religion. (Read more from “Islam Quiz Has Parents Outraged” HERE)
A police officer responding to a report of a suspicious person was fatally shot at a suburban South Carolina mall on Wednesday, and police say a suspect is in custody.
The incident began when the report came in just before 8 a.m., Forest Acres police Chief Gene Sealy told reporters. Two officers responded and attempted to talk to the person, who fled on foot and ran through parts of Richland Mall, including the Barnes and Noble bookstore, officials said . . .
Sealy said a suspect is in custody and is being questioned. Sealy described the man as being armed with a handgun and a knife at the mall. Police did not detail any charges against the man and did not take questions at their news conference. (Read more from “Police Officer Dies in Random South Carolina Mall Shooting” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-30 21:21:412016-04-11 10:57:52Police Officer Dies in Random South Carolina Mall Shooting
A number of Middle Tennessee school districts haven’t complied with an open records request for content that concerns Islamic curriculum being taught in public schools.
But the American Center for Law & Justice says its records request of all 146 Tennessee school districts earlier this month is valid and that it “isn’t uncommon for a government entity to delay compliance.”
Metro Nashville, Rutherford, Williamson and Wilson counties are among districts that haven’t complied with the records request after receiving a sample letter from an attorney saying they don’t have to the way the request is presented.
Attorney Chuck Cagle of the Lewis Thomason law firm, which represents more than 70 school districts and picked up several more for the open records request, wrote the sample letter for school systems to send to the ACLJ if they desired. The ACLJ’s request can’t be honored the same way as it would be for a Tennessee resident, Cagle said . . .
The ACLJ, a nonprofit that advocates and litigates legal, legislative and cultural issues regarding freedom of religion and free speech, confirmed it has received the sample letter from some districts. (Read more from “Schools Deny Islamic Curriculum Records Request” HERE)