Monday, February 9, 2015
From: Gary L. Bauer
Justice Comes To Gitmo Con
Mullah Abdul Rauf, a former Taliban commander who recently joined the Islamic State, was killed in a drone strike today. Rauf was captured in 2004 and sent to the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Unfortunately, he was released a few years later.
Like a significant portion of his comrades, Rauf did not join the Kabul Rotary Club upon his return to Afghanistan. Nor did he enroll in “JA” or Jihadis Anonymous, where jihadists try to overcome their addiction to murder and mayhem.
Our catch and release policy with illegal immigrants is frustrating enough. But when it comes to radical Islamic terrorists, it is a matter of life and death. We spend a lot of money to capture men like Rauf, provide with them with health care and new Korans, only to release them and spend more money trying to take them out. What’s not to like?!
Dissatisfied With Abortion
One of the most frustrating aspects of the abortion debate in America is how our laws and media coverage do not reflect public opinion. Due to broad rulings by the Supreme Court, abortion on demand through all nine months of pregnancy is the de facto policy in America. But that extreme view is held by a very small percentage of the American people.
This disconnect is highlighted once again by a new Gallup polling finding that only 34% of Americans say they are satisfied with current abortion polices, while 48% are dissatisfied. The survey finds significant movement away from the pro-abortion position since 2013, when the nation was essentially tied (46% dissatisfied to 44% satisfied.) There has been 12-point swing in two years.
What could explain that dramatic movement? I suspect it could be efforts by the pro-life community at the state and federal level to draw attention to the reality of late-term abortions.
Just as the debate over partial-birth abortion in the 1990s helped to expose the cruel reality of “choice,” more recent discussions of legislation to ban late-term abortions has once again put the extremism of the pro-abortion camp front and center in the court of public opinion.
Speaking of courts, Kermit Gosnell’s trial in 2013 helped to galvanize public opinion regarding the need for regulations of the abortion industry like little else.
Taxpayer Outrage
Few Americans enjoy tax season. Root canals can seem preferable to the complicated forms and large checks some taxpayers have to write to Uncle Sam and state governments every year. But this year could be especially frustrating for millions of Americans.
The Daily Caller highlights a study by researchers at the University of California that found that nearly 40% of Obamacare subsidy recipients may be subject to “clawback” provisions requiring them to pay back part or all of their Obamacare subsidies. The government giveth, the government taketh away.
Repayment totals are capped so long as an individual or family falls below 400% of the poverty level. “But,” the Daily Caller warns, “if individuals or families earned more than 400 percent of the federal poverty line, they will be required to pay back the full amount of the subsidies, which were as high as $13,000.” For families on the 400% threshold, an unexpected small bonus could prove very costly.
Here’s a tax tip. (Just kidding!) If you haven’t filed your taxes yet, you might consider trying to file as an illegal immigrant. A Senate hearing last week exposed so-called “amnesty bonuses” in the tax code. IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told senators that the millions of illegal immigrants covered by President Obama’s latest executive amnesty will be eligible to claim the Earned Income Tax Credit.
This well-meaning program to help low-income families is rife with fraud, much of it due to claims by illegal immigrants. The IRS estimated that nearly a quarter of EITC payments made in 2013 were issued improperly and may have cost taxpayers as much as $15 billion that year alone.
But here’s the bigger issue: Once illegal immigrants are processed under Obama’s amnesty, they get a work permit and a Social Security number. As Commissioner Koskinen acknowledged last week, having a valid Social Security number would enable illegal immigrants to file amended returns for the past three years, claiming even more benefits — perhaps as much as $24,000 in additional tax credits.
Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska sent a letter to the inspector general of the Treasury Department, which oversees the IRS, blasting these “amnesty bonuses.”
Conservatives in Congress have repeatedly tried to rein in this fraud, waste and abuse, and they have been repeatedly frustrated by left-wing politicians pandering to their pro-amnesty allies. Even when it came to choosing between cuts to military pensions or closing this loophole for illegal immigrants, liberals defended this loophole. Meanwhile, taxpayers are left picking up the tab.
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