Thursday, April 24, 2014

Thinking Sexy Thoughts Is Prohibited. Women Killing Men Over Conversation

  "Top Gun" Pilot Shot Down For Allowing Sexy Talk. 

Thinking a Congresswoman is attractive leads to disciplinary action if reduced to writing in an E-mail.

Loose Lips Sink Ships (In this case air ships). Sexually Explicit Speech Can Not Be Tolerated In This New Openly Gay Military.

Navy reassigns ex-Blue Angels commander after complaint he allowed sexual harassment.


SSgt Ryan Crane/US Air Force - Capt. Greg McWherter, right, then the Blue Angels flight leader, speaks with Col. Mike Hornitschek.


The Navy has reassigned a former commander of the Blue Angels, its acrobatic fighter squadron, and is investigating allegations that the elite team of pilots was a hotbed of hazing, sexual harassment and other forms of discrimination, documents show.
The Navy announced Friday that it had relieved Capt. Gregory McWherter, a two-time commander of the Blue Angels, of duty for alleged misconduct. At the time, the Navy did not describe the nature of the accusations or provide other details except to say that the case remained under investigation.

But an internal military document that a Navy official inadvertently e-mailed to a Washington Post editor states that a former member of the Blue Angels filed a complaint last month accusing McWherter of promoting a hostile work environment and tolerating sexual harassment. The complaint described an atmosphere rife with sexually explicit speech, the open display of pornography and jokes about sexual orientation.
The Navy officer is the latest in a string of senior military commanders to come under investigation for sexual misconduct or other misbehavior. Congress and the White House have grown especially frustrated at the Pentagon’s struggles to police sex crimes and harassment in the ranks.
The Navy appeared to move swiftly after the former Blue Angels member filed the complaint March 24 with the Navy inspector general. The complaint alleged that McWherter encouraged or allowed sexual harassment and lewd activity to occur when he commanded the Blue Angels during two stints between 2008 and 2012.
McWherter did not respond to e-mails seeking comment. The Navy confirmed the circumstances that led to the probe. The Navy also released a statement from Vice Adm. David H. Buss, the commander of Naval Air Forces, who said, “We remain fully committed to accountability, transparency, and protecting the integrity of ongoing investigations.”
According to McWherter’s biography, which the Navy has removed from a public Web site, he is an alumnus of the Citadel and graduated from the Navy’s famous “Top Gun” fighter pilot school in 1995.
The Blue Angels are a flight demonstration team that performs daring maneuvers at air shows and before large crowds at other public events. It is a major honor for pilots selected to join; the Navy treats the squadron as a valuable recruitment tool and a vivid symbol of its aviation firepower.
The commander of the unit is chosen by a panel of admirals and serves as the Blue Angels’ lead pilot.
Although the investigation has not been completed, Navy officials decided that the preliminary findings warranted taking action. McWherter was fired from his new job as executive officer of Naval Base Coronado near San Diego. He has been temporarily reassigned to other duties.
Summaries of the complaint and investigation are contained in a five-page internal document, labeled “official use only,” that was drafted by Navy public affairs officers in anticipation of media coverage.
The document included talking points and prepared quotes attributed to Navy admirals, expressing concern about the gravity of the case. The material was being assembled in the event that further details of the investigation became public.
McWherter was a commander highly regarded by many in the Navy. He was brought back to lead the Blue Angels for a second stint in 2011 after the unit was temporarily grounded that year for performing a dangerous barrel roll too close to the ground during a show in Lynchburg, Va.
Upon leaving the team in November 2012, he told the Pensacola (Fla.) News Journal that he had no regrets.
“If being with the Blue Angels was the last time I fly a Navy plane, that’s a pretty good way to go out,” he said.
In the face of several ethics scandals over the past 18 months, the Pentagon has repeatedly pledged to hold commanders accountable for their actions. At the same time, however, the military has tried to suppress details about many embarrassing episodes.
For example, the Army announced in June, without elaboration, that it had suspended its top general in Japan for allegedly mishandling a sexual assault case. On Tuesday, after obtaining a copy of the investigative report under the Freedom of Information Act, The Post disclosed that the general was given a plum job at the Pentagon even though he had violated regulations by failing to refer the sexual assault complaint to criminal investigators.
In January, after obtaining another batch of investigative documents, it was reported that the Pentagon had disciplined three other generals for personal misconduct.
One was found guilty of assaulting his mistress. A second joked in e-mails that he sexually gratified himself after meeting a member of Congress whom he described as “smoking hot.” The third kept a bottle of vodka in his desk and was investigated for having an affair, according to the documents.
At the same time, it appears that some military leaders have become highly sensitive to the issue and are quick to launch investigations at any hint of sexual impropriety or ethical misbehavior in the ranks.
In February, the Army announced it had suspended a brigade commander at Fort Carson, Colo., and in a highly unusual move, would not allow him to deploy with his soldiers to Afghanistan. Again, Army officials did not divulge what had prompted the decision.
A copy of the investigative report in that case, however, shows that the commander was suspended after three female soldiers alleged that he had made insensitive comments during a meeting to discuss sexual assault policies.
The commander, Col. Brian Pearl, was later cleared of wrongdoing and allowed to join his troops in Afghanistan. A copy of the investigative report was first obtained and published Tuesday by the Gazette newspaper of Colorado Springs.

(By )

Friday, April 11, 2014

Social Security Uses IRS To Seize Poor Peoples' Tax Refunds To Pay Debts Incurred By Their Parents

Social Security, Treasury target taxpayers for their parents’ decades-old debts.


Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post - Mary Grice of Takoma Park, MD, talks with her attorney Robert Vogel, at Vogel's home in Rockville Maryland, April 5, 2014.





A few weeks ago, with no notice, the U.S. government intercepted Mary Grice’s tax refunds from both the IRS and the state of Maryland. Grice had no idea that Uncle Sam had seized her money until some days later, when she got a letter saying that her refund had gone to satisfy an old debt to the government — a very old debt.
When Grice was 4, back in 1960, her father died, leaving her mother with five children to raise. Until the kids turned 18, Sadie Grice got survivor benefits from Social Security to help feed and clothe them.
Now, Social Security claims it overpaid someone in the Grice family — it’s not sure who — in 1977. After 37 years of silence, four years after Sadie Grice died, the government is coming after her daughter. Why the feds chose to take Mary’s money, rather than her surviving siblings’, is a mystery.
Across the nation, hundreds of thousands of taxpayers who are expecting refunds this month are instead getting letters like the one Grice got, informing them that because of a debt they never knew about — often a debt incurred by their parents — the government has confiscated their check.
The Treasury Department has intercepted $1.9 billion in tax refunds already this year — $75 million of that on debts delinquent for more than 10 years, said Jeffrey Schramek, assistant commissioner of the department’s debt management service. The aggressive effort to collect old debts started three years ago — the result of a single sentence tucked into the farm bill lifting the 10-year statute of limitations on old debts to Uncle Sam.
No one seems eager to take credit for reopening all these long-closed cases. A Social Security spokeswoman says the agency didn’t seek the change; ask Treasury. Treasury says it wasn’t us; try Congress. Congressional staffers say the request probably came from the bureaucracy.
The only explanation the government provides for suddenly going after decades-old debts comes from Social Security spokeswoman Dorothy Clark: “We have an obligation to current and future Social Security beneficiaries to attempt to recoup money that people received when it was not due.”
Since the drive to collect on very old debts began in 2011, the Treasury Department has collected $424 million in debts that were more than 10 years old. Those debts were owed to many federal agencies, but the one that has many Americans howling this tax season is the Social Security Administration, which has found 400,000 taxpayers who collectively owe $714 million on debts more than 10 years old. The SSA expects to have begun proceedings against all of those people by this summer.
“It was a shock,” said Grice, 58. “What incenses me is the way they went about this. They gave me no notice, they can’t prove that I received any overpayment, and they use intimidation tactics, threatening to report this to the credit bureaus.”
Grice filed suit against the Social Security Administration in federal court in Greenbelt,MD., alleging that the government violated her right to due process by holding her responsible for a $2,996 debt supposedly incurred under her father’s Social Security number.
Social Security officials told Grice that six people — Grice, her four siblings and her father’s first wife, whom she never knew — had received benefits under her father’s account. The government doesn’t look into exactly who got the overpayment; the policy is to seek compensation from the oldest sibling and work down through the family until the debt is paid.
The Federal Trade Commission, on its Web site, advises Americans that “family members typically are not obligated to pay the debts of a deceased relative from their own assets.” But Social Security officials say that if children indirectly received assistance from public dollars paid to a parent, the children’s money can be taken, no matter how long ago any overpayment occurred.
“While we are responsible for collecting delinquent debts owed to taxpayers, we understand the importance of ensuring that debtors are treated fairly,” Treasury’s Schramek said in a statement. He said Treasury requires that debtors be given due process.
Social Security spokeswoman Clark, who declined to discuss Grice’s or any other case, even with the taxpayer’s permission, said the agency is “sensitive to concerns about our attempts to arrange repayment of overpayments.” She said that before taking any money, Social Security makes “multiple attempts to contact debtors via the U.S. Mail and by phone.”
Grice, who works for the Food and Drug Administration and lives in Takoma Park, in the same apartment she’s resided in since 1984, never got any notice about a debt.
Social Security officials told her they had sent their notice to her post office box in Roxboro, N.C. Grice rented that box from 1977 to 1979 and never since. And Social Security has Grice’s current address: Every year, it sends her a statement about her benefits.
Their record-keeping seems to be very spotty,” she said.
Treasury officials say that before they will take someone’s refund, the agency owed the money must certify the debt, meaning there must be evidence of the overpayment. But Social Security officials told Grice they had no records explaining the debt.
“The craziest part of this whole thing is the way the government seizes a child’s money to satisfy a debt that child never even knew about,” says Robert Vogel, Grice’s attorney. “They’ll say that somebody got paid for that child’s benefit, but the child had no control over the money and there’s no way to know if the parent ever used the money for the benefit of that kid.”
Grice, the middle of five children, said neither of her surviving siblings — one older, one younger — has had any money taken by the government. When Grice asked why she had been selected to pay the debt, she was told it was because she had an income and her address popped up — the correct one this time.
Grice found a lawyer willing to take her case without charge. Vogel is exercised about the constitutional violations he sees in the retroactive lifting of the 10-year limit on debt collection. “Can the government really bring back to life a case that was long dead?” the lawyer asked. “Can it really be right to seize a child’s money to satisfy a parent’s debt?”
But many other taxpayers whose refunds have been taken say they’ve been unable to contest the confiscations because of the cost, because Social Security cannot provide records detailing the original overpayment, and because the citizens, following advice from the IRS to keep financial documents for just three years, had long since trashed their own records.
In Glenarm, Ill., Brenda and Mike Samonds have spent the past year trying to figure out how to get back the $189.10 tax refund the government seized, claiming that Mike’s mother, who died 33 years ago, had been overpaid on survivor’s benefits after Mike’s father died in 1969.
“It was never Mike’s money, it was his mother’s,” Brenda Samonds said. “The government took the money first and then they sent us the letter. We could never get one sentence from them explaining why the money was taken.” The government mailed its notice about the debt to the house Mike’s mother lived in 40 years ago.
The Social Security spokeswoman said the agency uses a private contractor to seek current addresses and is supposed to halt collections if notices are returned as undeliverable.
After hours on the phone trying and failing to get information about the debt Mike’s mother was said to owe, the Samondses gave up.
After waiting on hold for two hours with Social Security last week, Ted Verbich also concluded it wasn’t worth the time or money to fight for the $172 the government intercepted last month.
In 1977, Verbich, now 57, was in college at the University of Maryland when he took a full-time job in an accountant’s office. Because he was earning income, he knew he had to give up the survivor’s benefits his mother had received since his father died, when Verbich was 4. But his $70 monthly checks — “They helped with the car payment,” he said — kept coming for a short time after he started work, and Verbich was notified in 1978 that he had to repay about $600. He did.
Thirty-six years later, with no notice, “they snatched my Maryland tax refund,” said Verbich, a federal worker who has lived at the same address in Glendale, Md,. for 30 years and regularly receives Social Security statements there. The feds insisted that he owed $172 but could provide no documents to back up the claim.
Verbich has given up on getting his refund, but he wants a receipt stating that his debt to his country is resolved.
“I’ll put in the request,” a Social Security clerk told Verbich, “but in reality, you’ll never get anything.”
Grice was also told there was little point in seeking a waiver of her debt. Collections can only be halted if the person passes two tests, Clark said: The taxpayer must prove that he “is without fault, and [that] repayment of the overpayment would deprive the person of income needed for ordinary living expenses.”
More than 1,200 appeals have been filed on the old cases, Clark said; taxpayers have won about 10 percent of those appeals.
The Treasury initially held the full amount of Grice’s federal and state refunds, a total of $4,462. Last week, after The Washington Post inquired about Grice’s case, the government returned the portion of her refund above the $2,996 owed on her father’s account.
But unless the feds can prove that she ever received any of the overpayment, Grice wants all of her money back.
“Look, I love a good fight, especially for principle,” she said. “My mom used to say, ‘This country is carried on the backs of the little people,’ and now I see what she meant. This is really sad.”
(Fisher, Mard, The Washington Post, April 11, 2014, p. A1)

FORT THOMAS, Ky. – Cathy Frost opened her mail last week expecting to receive her tax refund. Instead, the Treasury Department sent her a notice that Uncle Sam was keeping her $344.
"I was taken aback. I had already allocated the funds. I couldn't believe it," the Fort Thomas woman said Friday.
"I didn't know the government could just keep your refund. I felt like I was being robbed."
Thousands of Americans had the same feeling when they got the same letter.
Most of them didn't know that the Treasury Department has been confiscating tax refunds to recover government over-payments - mainly in Social Security benefits -  from beneficiaries or their survivors.
Some of the debts, as in Frost's case, are their parents' and are decades old.
There was such an outcry from taxpayers and politicians that the Social Security Administration announced this week that it was going to stop seizing tax refunds pending an SSA review.
But that doesn't help Frost, a 55-year-old single woman who just lost her job due to downsizing.
She found out she might not get her money back, even though the SSA overpaid her father – and not her - some  40 years ago, when Frost was a minor.
The whole episode has left her shaking her head, frustrated with her government.
Frost said she called the 800 number on the letter last week and talked with an SSA office worker in Chicago.
"They were unable to give me any details, only that there was an overpayment of $869.20 that may have been dispersed to myself or any family member," she said.
Frost said she told the SSA rep that her father had died when she was 18.
"I wasn't eligible for benefits, but my younger brother was 17 and my sister was 15, so they would have received benefits for a short period of time," she said.
"It could even have been my father, because my mother died when I was 9, so he might have received benefits from her.
"They said, 'Well, that must have been it.' But they couldn't tell me for sure. They said they didn't have any details.
"They said all they could do is take a request to have somebody contact me and send me more information.
"I thought, 'This is insane! How could people do that? And this is our government!' "
When the SSA announced that it was suspending the seizure program, the agency directed Frost and other taxpayers to visit a field office and request a waiver for the overpayment.
Frost said she went to the SSA office in Florence on Good Friday, April 18th.
"They checked the records and told me it was an overpayment to my father when I was a minor, so I'm eligible for a waiver," she said.  "They gave me a list of things I'm supposed to turn in, and if they determine I'm not able to afford the overpayment, they will waive it."
Talk about government red tape.
The SSA wants to see Frost's rent or mortgage payments, utilities, loans and credit card payments, medical and dental payments, insurance, property taxes and other fees and obligations, she said.
Before she left the office, the staffer gave her a list of local attorneys, she said.
She said she's thinking about calling one.
"We're not talking about that much money, and they'd probably decide I'm able to afford it. But I don't make that much and I just got downsized from Avon after 17 years," Frost said.
"It doesn't seem fair for the government to penalize me for something that happened when I was a minor, that I was not a part of."
She said the government did not seize her brother's or sister's tax refunds - only hers.
The Social Security Administration says it has identified about 400,000 people with old debts. They owe a total of $714 million.
So far, the agency says it has collected $55 million.
There used to be a 10-year limit on collecting old debts, but thanks to an unidentified legislator who slipped a rider into the 2008 farm bill, the government can legally recover any overpayment, even from 40 years ago.
"It's totally nuts," Frost said.

CNBC (Apr 11, 2014)

US seizing tax refunds of children over parents' debt?!

Friday, 11 Apr 2014
The government is now going through old records to see if it overpaid people on Social Security. If it thinks it did, it can now seize the IRS tax refund checks of the CHILDREN of those people it thinks it overpaid.
This isn't a proposal—it's already happening. For the past three years, the government has been confiscating hundreds of thousands of Americans' tax refunds, according to the Washington Post. It has already confiscated $1.9 billion in tax refunds this year alone.

Peter Zander | Workbook Stock | Getty Images
The amazing thing is that the government is doing this even if it has little or no proof and no exact details. And the letters the government sends to unsuspecting taxpayers are frightening, use accusatory language, and include other financial threats.
"They gave me no notice, they can't prove that I received any overpayment, and they use intimidation tactics, threatening to report this to the credit bureaus," Mary Grice, who had her tax refunds seized a few weeks ago, is quoted as saying.

As usual, no one in the government is willing to take the responsibility for this new policy—Social Security said it didn't do it, ask the Treasury Department. Treasury said—ask Congress.
If you think this is some kind of unprecedented outrage, you're right. But here's some advice: get used to it.
Tax refunds are clearly becoming the new promised land for government regulators and bureaucrats desperate for more revenues. We already know that confiscating tax refunds are the only real way the IRS will be able to impose Obamacare non-compliance penalties, and now it seems like the Social Security Administration is jumping on that bandwagon.
But there's a more powerful and disturbing message here. Remember that the people who benefited from these alleged Social Security payments have not committed any crime—that's why the government doesn't need to provide any proof or real documentation. It's more likely that the SSA simply screwed up and expects the descendants of its accidental beneficiaries to pay up. And again, the money comes out first before you can protest and find out why.

So, now we have yet another very good reason to make sure you don't get a tax refund. First, getting a tax refund means you've given the government a free loan for 12 months.
Second, tax refunds are the only way you can be punished—rightly or wrongly—for any ObamaCare (Affordable Care Act) individual mandate non-compliance. And third, your tax refund is now a possible target for government bureaucrats who screwed up in the past and want to come after your money to make it right. If the SSA can do it, what's to stop the other agencies?
After hearing this story, you wouldn't think anyone would have to remind the public that Washington already controls too much of their money and has trampled on too much of our financial rights. But I will anyway since so many politicians and other elites don't seem to be backing down on their incessant calls for more regulations, oversight and of course, more taxes.

Once again, we have a case of the government saying: "When you screw up, you pay. When we screw up, you also pay."
If only our elected leaders would be so honest with us at election time.
This is commentary from Jake Novak, the supervising producer of "Street Signs."



House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Charles Boustany, and Social Security Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Sam Johnson seek answers on Treasury debt recovery program

TreasuryHouse Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Charles Boustany (R-La.) and Social Security Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Texas) recently sought answers about the Treasury Department’s Offset Program and its effects on children who once received Social Security benefits.
Boustany and Johnson wrote to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and acting Social Security Administration Commissioner Carolyn Colvin about recent reports that adults who may have once received Social Security benefits as children had their tax refunds withheld for overpayments made decades ago to their parents.
The parents of some of the affected citizens are deceased and many of the taxpayers never received notice that they owed a debt as provided under law.
Colvin announced last week that the SSA would stop additional referrals of debts to the Treasury Department owed to Social Security that are 10 years or older for collection under the Treasury Offset Program.
“SSA’s decision to stop referrals was the right thing to do,” Boustany and Johnson said. “However, Treasury and Social Security still owe an explanation to the American people. While the government must protect taxpayer dollars, it is difficult to justify the practice of seizing innocent Americans’ tax refunds to pay debts resulting from benefits they may or may not have received when they were children, with little or no notice or evidence documenting the overpayment. The sooner we have those answers the sooner we can work to protect Americans from agency actions that are harsh and unfair.”
The Washington Post reported on April 10 that the Treasury has intercepted $1.9 billion in tax refunds this year, including $75 million of delinquent debts 10 years of age or older. Additionally, 400,000 taxpayers who owe a total of $714 million in debts more than 10 years old have been identified by SSA.


Mary Grice has gotten accustomed to receiving surprises in the mail from the federal government. A few weeks ago, Uncle Sam seized her state and federal tax refunds to satisfy a debt it says she owes because someone in her family got an overpayment from Social Security 37 years ago.
Then, on Saturday afternoon, she got another envelope from the U.S. government, this time a check for the $2,996 that Social Security had said she owed.


The Treasury has intercepted millions in tax refunds, often without notice or proof that money is owed.
“I was, like, wow, they’ve given back everything they took from me,” said Grice, who lives in Takoma Park. “But I wonder, does this mean they just want me to quiet down or does it mean they are returning everyone’s money?”
Hundreds of thousands of Americans have that same question now, after Social Security’s acting commissioner last week ordered the agency to cease collecting on debts that are more than 10 years old. That order followed a Washington Post report detailing how the government is confiscating tax refunds to pay off old debts that, in many cases, the taxpayer never knew existed.
But a week after Commissioner Carolyn Colvin froze collections to give the agency time for “a thorough review of our responsibility and discretion,” many taxpayers say the government is still seizing refunds.
Clifton Bowie, a civilian employee of the Navy who lives in St. Mary’s County in southern Maryland, also received a letter on Saturday, but his was the opposite of Grice’s: “They took $33, saying there was an overpayment to my father,” Bowie said. “But he died in 1985 and we never got any notice of any overpayment.”
Bowie said he wouldn’t object to paying if the government could show how and when an error was made, but he said Social Security was unable to provide evidence of the debt.
“If you’re going to take money that I owe society, fine,” Bowie said, “but it reeks of underhandedness when they reach into your tax refund and they can’t explain what you owe the money for.”
For taxpayers whose refunds already have been seized, the agency said Monday, “no decision has been made regarding whether those individuals . . . would be refunded the payment” unless they can prove they did not receive any notice of the debt.
LaVenia LaVelle, a Social Security spokeswoman, said in a written statement that letters like the one Bowie received went out before Colvin’s order to stop them last week.
“We believe that the overpayments of the individuals receiving notices in the last few days had already been referred to Treasury, were already in the pipeline for processing, and the processing of those cases could not be stopped,” LaVelle wrote.
Social Security officials say they are not holding taxpayers accountable for their parents’ debts, but in many of the cases, the adult children of deceased parents are losing refunds even though they never received benefits of their own.
Bowie, for example, said he never received direct benefits; rather, his mother, who died in 1996, got survivor’s benefits after his father died. Why the government is now collecting from Bowie, rather than any of his nine siblings, is a mystery to him.
Social Security, which refuses to discuss individual cases even with the taxpayer’s permission, said it seeks payment from surviving children in birth order. Many of the cases The Post has examined involve taxpayers whose refunds were taken even though older siblings were untouched by the collection effort.
In Alan Friedgood’s case, the government last week seized $350 from his tax refund — and from his twin sister’s as well — because the pair’s mother, who died in October, had received a one-month overpayment of benefits in 1975.
“They say they sent her one too many checks” after the death of his father, said Friedgood, who lives in San Rafael, Calif. “They’re just figuring this out 40 years later? It sounds like they’re broke and looking to find money whatever way they can.”
Friedgood’s father died when he was 12, and he said the twins never received direct benefits. “If she owed it, she owed it,” he said, “but for them to come after this out of the blue after 40 years is crazy.
The enforcement effort on old debts stems from a change slipped into the 2008 farm bill, lifting the statute of limitations that prohibited the government from going after debts that were more than 10 years old. Social Security says it has 400,000 old debts to collect, totalling about $714 million.
Although Grice was pleased to get her money back, she said the matter will not be resolved until the government reinstates the statute of limitations on old debts.
The statement from Social Security said that “while referral of cases to Treasury have been halted, there has been no change in policy pending the agency’s review.”
Grice’s attorney, Robert Vogel, who filed suit in federal court in Greenbelt two weeks ago arguing that the government denied Grice due process by taking her refund without notice, said he has not yet determined how the return of her refund will affect the lawsuit.
We’re very gratified they reacted so quickly and we hope they act as quickly with respect to the thousands of other Americans who are in Mary’s position,” Vogel said. “It’s really very sad: The class of people affected by this policy can be defined as people who lost a parent at an early age.
Christina Edwards of Los Angeles was 15 when her father died. Her family received survivors’ benefits until Edwards and her three siblings turned 18 or finished college. On Saturday, Edwards got a notice saying her $1,760 tax refund had been sent to Social Security to cover an overpayment made 28 years ago. None of her siblings’ refunds have been confiscated, she said.
Edwards, 52, said she needed the refund “to buy my mother her insulin this month, which is $600.”
Social Security officials said people whose refunds are still being taken may appeal their cases. Edwards, whose refund was also intercepted last year, did appeal, and like 90 percent of those who do, she was denied.

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House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Charles Boustany, and Social Security Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Sam Johnson seek answers on Treasury debt recovery program

TreasuryHouse Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Charles Boustany (R-La.) and Social Security Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Texas) recently sought answers about the Treasury Department’s Offset Program and its effects on children who once received Social Security benefits.
Boustany and Johnson wrote to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and acting Social Security Administration Commissioner Carolyn Colvin about recent reports that adults who may have once received Social Security benefits as children had their tax refunds withheld for overpayments made decades ago to their parents.
The parents of some of the affected citizens are deceased and many of the taxpayers never received notice that they owed a debt as provided under law.
Colvin announced last week that the SSA would stop additional referrals of debts to the Treasury Department owed to Social Security that are 10 years or older for collection under the Treasury Offset Program.
“SSA’s decision to stop referrals was the right thing to do,” Boustany and Johnson said. “However, Treasury and Social Security still owe an explanation to the American people. While the government must protect taxpayer dollars, it is difficult to justify the practice of seizing innocent Americans’ tax refunds to pay debts resulting from benefits they may or may not have received when they were children, with little or no notice or evidence documenting the overpayment. The sooner we have those answers the sooner we can work to protect Americans from agency actions that are harsh and unfair.”
The Washington Post reported on April 10 that the Treasury has intercepted $1.9 billion in tax refunds this year, including $75 million of delinquent debts 10 years of age or older. Additionally, 400,000 taxpayers who owe a total of $714 million in debts more than 10 years old have been identified by SSA.

]

Can IRS Grab Your Tax Refund to Pay Mom or Dad’s Debt?

The Washington Post today reported on thousands of taxpayers being deprived of tax refunds to repay debts incurred by their parents decades ago. It cites the experience of Mary Grice of Takoma Park, Md., who is suing the Internal Revenue Service for laying claim to her refund without any record to substantiate her benefiting from a survivor benefit overpayment on her father's social security account in 1977. Grice was one of five children who along with her father's first wife received survivor benefits on the account. The other surviving children have not been targeted by IRS.
In recent years, the news has included stories of taxpayers whose refunds were offset to pay child support, or delinquent student loan debtors whose refunds were applied to their outstanding balances. Only since 2011 has IRS reached even further, grabbing up tax refunds to pay debts that were once considered time-barred and debts incurred by the taxpayer's parents.
Are you at risk of receiving a dreaded IRS offset letter instead of a refund check based on a family member's debt? Here's what you need to know:
*In 2008, Congress included language removing the statute of limitations on debts owed the government in a farm bill. Under the authority of section 14219 of P.L. 100-246, IRS is authorized to enforce any debt outstanding on or after the passage of the law, provided the offset is not otherwise barred by statute for the particular type of debt.
*IRS began an aggressive campaign to collect on old debts in about 2011, according to the Washington Post.
*The farm bill does not grant IRS authority to offset refunds for debts owed by family members; the cases that have made the news involved social security survivor's benefits, at least putatively paid in part for the benefit of the taxpayer whose refund was offset.
*Social Security Administration record-keeping deficiencies have frustrated some alleged debtors into foregoing any challenge to the confiscation, the Post explained.
*Taxpayers who challenge the IRS offset may be able to get their money back. The absence of records proving the debts actually belong to the party subject to offset can lead to reversal, as happened with Alice Palatnick. NBC 4 New York described how Alice Palatnick, originally dinged for a 44-year-old debt ultimately got her $3,764 returned to her when its I-Team investigated.
*Grice's attorney, Robert Vogel, questions the legality of the underlying legislation being interpreted to reinstate debts already time-barred when the legislation passed.
Manhattan tax attorney John Genova told NBC4 New York regardless of the statute of limitations issue, a taxpayer is entitled to notice, an opportunity to dispute a debt, and the opportunity to pay a debt over time.
Published by Carol Bengle Gilbert

 

Can IRS Grab Your Tax Refund to Pay Mom or Dad’s Debt?

The Washington Post today reported on thousands of taxpayers being deprived of tax refunds to repay debts incurred by their parents decades ago. It cites the experience of Mary Grice of Takoma Park, Md., who is suing the Internal Revenue Service for laying claim to her refund without any record to substantiate her benefiting from a survivor benefit overpayment on her father's social security account in 1977. Grice was one of five children who along with her father's first wife received survivor benefits on the account. The other surviving children have not been targeted by IRS.
In recent years, the news has included stories of taxpayers whose refunds were offset to pay child support, or delinquent student loan debtors whose refunds were applied to their outstanding balances. Only since 2011 has IRS reached even further, grabbing up tax refunds to pay debts that were once considered time-barred and debts incurred by the taxpayer's parents.
Are you at risk of receiving a dreaded IRS offset letter instead of a refund check based on a family member's debt? Here's what you need to know:
*In 2008, Congress included language removing the statute of limitations on debts owed the government in a farm bill. Under the authority of section 14219 of P.L. 100-246, IRS is authorized to enforce any debt outstanding on or after the passage of the law, provided the offset is not otherwise barred by statute for the particular type of debt.
*IRS began an aggressive campaign to collect on old debts in about 2011, according to the Washington Post.
*The farm bill does not grant IRS authority to offset refunds for debts owed by family members; the cases that have made the news involved social security survivor's benefits, at least putatively paid in part for the benefit of the taxpayer whose refund was offset.
*Social Security Administration record-keeping deficiencies have frustrated some alleged debtors into foregoing any challenge to the confiscation, the Post explained.
*Taxpayers who challenge the IRS offset may be able to get their money back. The absence of records proving the debts actually belong to the party subject to offset can lead to reversal, as happened with Alice Palatnick. NBC 4 New York described how Alice Palatnick, originally dinged for a 44-year-old debt ultimately got her $3,764 returned to her when its I-Team investigated.
*Grice's attorney, Robert Vogel, questions the legality of the underlying legislation being interpreted to reinstate debts already time-barred when the legislation passed.
Manhattan tax attorney John Genova told NBC4 New York regardless of the statute of limitations issue, a taxpayer is entitled to notice, an opportunity to dispute a debt, and the opportunity to pay a debt over time.
Published by Carol Bengle Gilbert

Read more at http://wonkette.com/546287/social-security-administration-just-stealing-tax-refunds-at-random-basically#EEjjSRYiL6ybxfER.99

Brandon Ivey Has Reclaimed The World Heavyweight Black Belt Taekwondo Crown For The USA


 (Here is Brandon Ivey with his coach, Master Dennis Kim)
Meet Brandon Ivey the first Heavyweight Black Belt Taekwondo Champion from America since 1986. He is a junior at Briar Woods High School in Ashburn, Virginia.
Champions are made, not born. It takes a family to produce a potential champion; and an old Chinese Proverb says that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. When Brandon was ready, his master teacher appeared. That teacher is Master Dennis Kim from the USTigers WTF School of Taekwondo, Haymarket, VA.
 On March 23 Brando Ivey represented the USA in the World WTF Taekwondo Championship Tournament in Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China. He defeated FIVE heavy weight black belt fighters from various countries around the World. It was a single elimination tournament and Brandon went undefeated. All of his fights were razor-edge close. The final match was a sudden death overtime match against Hamza Kattan of Jordan. Brandon won the match 5-4. His opponents were champions from the republic of the Philippines, Azerbaijzan, Spain, Russia, and Jordan. CONGRATULATIONs to Brandon. He is only 16 years old and a "master of his game".
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4VsQFy7en4
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2R4i05t0T8
 https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152043623422671&set=vb.91230807670&type=2&theater
 http://vimeo.com/89990145
The number one athlete in the world has always been recognized as the Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World. Every other major sport is a team sport. In basketball there are five men on a team who can play at one time. Baseball has nine players, football has eleven players, and soccer has eleven players on the field competing at one time. In boxing there is only one. It is one against one, head to head and toe to toe; and may the best man win. Boxers fight with their fists, but Taekwondo fighters use both their hands and feet. Full contact Taekwondo fighting is closer to boxing than any other sport in the world. Taekwondo tournament fighters are amateurs and do not get paid, whereas professional boxers are professionals and make large sums of money. Beyond that they are similar in many respects.
Brandon was successful because of his mental approach to his sport, Taekwondo. He is a fierce competitor and has mastered a winner's mindset, which he began to develop at a very young age with the help of his long time coach, Master Dennis Kim.
Brandon had a compelling reason for continuously working hard and sacrificing on a daily basis. When Brandon was only 07 years old, Master Dennis taught him to set and write down his specific goals. He said he wanted to be the Champion of the World.
Master Dennis tells all of his fighters at the USTigers Taekwondo School that there is absolutely no substitute for consistent, daily, hard work! You can't just work hard whenever you feel like it. It can't be a sometimes thing! It has to be an every day thing. This is true in all sports, but especially so in combative sports, like Taekwondo. To become a champion you  have to train yourself to continuously step outside of your comfort zone, physically, mentally and emotionally. Brandon Ivey was able to do this. Whenever he trained, he didn't just mindlessly go through the motions. He focused on making sure his kicking and punching techniques were precise. Master Dennis believes that one must perform a technique ,at least, one thousand times to learn it, and ten thousand times to perfect it. Only then can you say that you have mastered it.
Master Dennis says that part of the reason for Brandon's success is that he has ice water in his veins and he thoroughly believes in himself.  One thing that separates really great athletes from everyone else is that no matter what happens and no matter how many failures or setbacks they suffer, they never stop believing in themselves.
It is impossible for a fighter to fight his best when it counts the most if he or she gets too nervous before the fight. Anything more than a case of minor butterflies in the stomach is not good. One can be the best coached, the best conditioned, the strongest, fastest and most talented fighter in the match, but if you cannot control the pre-fight nervousness, you are not going to win. Brandon has never suffered from pre-fight juitters. He has learned to maintain his composure under pressure. In a few of his fights when he was behind on points and the time clock was running out, Brandon remained as cool as a cucumber, and he managed to win the fight.


The 10th WTF World Junior Taekwondo Championships kicked off in Taipei City, Chinese Taipei on March 23, 2014 for a four-day run.
 The biennial World Junior Championships, which took place at the Taipei Arena in downtown Taipei City, attracted a total of 793 athletes and 472 officials from a record 107 countries. A total of 90 international referees officiated at the championships.
All the matches were conducted on octagon-shaped mats, and a protector and scoring system and an instant video replay system were used.
 On the opening day, Azerbaijan took one gold and one bronze to top others in the overall medal tally, followed by the United States (Brandon Ivey, representing the USA), Serbia Ukraine and China with one gold each. Italy came next with one silver and one bronze, while host Chinese Taipei clinched two bronzes.
 On the opening day in the junior male +78kg weight category, the United States' Brandon Ivey needed a fourth golden-point (sudden death) round to win the gold medal against Jordan's Hamza Kattan. In that division, the bronze was shared by Russia's Emil Khadeev and Korea's Jun-sik An.
  WTF President Chungwon Choue and WTF Council members were present for the Opening Ceremonies of the 10th World Junior Taekwondo Championships.
WTF President Choue said in his speech at the opening ceremony. "We have already witnessed great performances of our junior athletes and fantastic support of the organizing committee for the past two days of the WTF Qualification Tournament for the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games. Congratulations on the qualifiers and appreciations to all athletes who came here after years of hard training and tough competitions".
He continued to say, "Chinese Taipei is one of the front runners in global taekwondo and has produced numerous medal winners at the Olympic Games, World Championships and international taekwondo tournaments. I am sure the people of Chinese Taipei are proud of their taekwondo sons and daughters."
"Since its inauguration in 1996, the WTF World Junior Taekwondo Championships have served as a stepping-stone for youth to elevate themselves into heroes and heroines," he said. "Sports give youth something to aim for, something to hope for and something to dream about. It does not favor or discriminate against any age, physical condition, gender or culture. Sports inspire and empower those who practice them, and taekwondo is a sport for all."
"A recent decision by the International Paralympic Committee to shortlist taekwondo for the official program of Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games reflects the value of taekwondo as a true sport for all," Choue said.


At the 2014  World Championships In Taiwan, China these were the points Brandon scored in the Finals.

+78 youth
1/16-FinaleIVEY, Brandon6:5ALEJANDRO, Joel Felipe
1/08-FinaleIVEY, Brandon4:2KANAMATOV, Magomedrasul
1/04-FinaleIVEY, Brandon1:0GARCIA VAZQUEZ, Victor
1/02-FinaleIVEY, Brandon6:5KHADEEV, Emil
1/01-FinaleIVEY, Brandon1:0KATTAN, Hamza

Brandon Ivey's fighting history.

USA Taekwondo

Height: 6-0
Weight: 168 lbs.
High School: Briar Woods High School (Ashburn, Va.)
Year of Graduation: 2015
Coach: Dennis Kim

AWARDS:
2013 USAT Junior Male Athlete of the Year

Other Sports Played in High School:
football

Hobbies:
computers
MAJOR COMPETITION RESULTS:
2014  USA Taekwondo Junior National Team Trials (men’s heavy): FIRST
2014  U.S. Junior National Team member (Heavy)

2013  USAT National Championships (Jr. Heavy): GOLD
2013  USAT Junior National Team Member (Heavy)

2012 
World Junior Championships (Jr. Lt. Heavy): Round of 16
            -lost to Nikos Karamangiolis (GER), 5-2, in Round of 16
2012  U.S. Open (Jr. Lt. Heavy): SILVER
          -def. Zeph Putnam (USA), 3-2, in quarterfinals
          -def. Jacob Bolanos (USA), 9-4, in semifinals
          -lost to Misael Lopez Jaramillo (MEX), 7-4, in finals

2012  Junior World Championships Team Member (Jr. Lt. Heavy)
2012 
Junior World Championships Open Team Trials (Jr. Lt. Heavy): 1st

IVEY,
Brandon

United States of America
TaekwondoData Person-ID: 23755N
United States of America

FIGHTER

Stats*

  • 14 registered fights, fighter won 11 out of them. That's a rate of 78.6%
  • 80 hitpoints distributed and 51 collected during fights.
  • Won 2 golden point(s) and lost 0.
  • Participated at 6 tournaments, 6 with international and 0 with national valuation.
* These data may not be used to assessing an athlete, as the level of the tournament (national / international, etc.) is not considered. Calculated on the basis of all available data.

Career Ranking

livetime ranking of all international fighters
Brandon is on place 1.625 with 74 points.

Saison Ranking

Ranking calculated: 10.04.2014 21:57:38
Categorie Weightclass Ranking Points
youth male -73 1.188
youth male -78 29.344
youth male +78 55.126

Results

Results international


result year tournament city weight category


bronze 3. 2011 US Open Austin +78 youth international 1.50 0
silver 2. 2012 US Open Las Vegas -78 youth international 2.50 0

PAR 2012 World Championships Sharm El-Sheikh -78 youth international 5.00 2
gold 1. 2013 US Open Las Vegas +78 youth international 3.50 0
silver 2. 2013 Pan American Championships Queretaro +78 youth international 10.00 4
gold 1. 2014 World Championships Taipai City +78 youth international 35.00 10

Rivals and results

Rivals and results international




winner points looser

2012

US Open,
-78 youth
1/02-Finale IVEY, Brandon 9 : 4 BOLANOS, Jacob
1/01-Finale LOPEZ JARAMILLO, Misael 7 : 4 IVEY, Brandon
World Championships,
-78 youth
Trainer / Coches:
MORENO, Juan Miguel
1/16-Finale IVEY, Brandon 5 : 2 KATTAN, Ahmad
1/08-Finale KARAMANGIOLIS, Nikos 5 : 2 IVEY, Brandon

In 2013 at the US Open these were the fight results

+78 youth
1/02-Finale IVEY, Brandon 12 : 10 STEWART, Jordan
1/01-Finale IVEY, Brandon 5 : 3 LI, Yanfeng
Pan American Championships,
+78 youth
1/04-Finale IVEY, Brandon 8 : 6 POGONZA, Javier
1/02-Finale IVEY, Brandon 17 : 1 SENA DENICOLA, Cesar Augusto
1/01-Finale LOPEZ JARAMILLO, Misael 1 : 0 IVEY, Brandon

At the 2014  World Championships In Taiwan, China these were the points scored in the Finals

+78 youth
1/16-Finale IVEY, Brandon 6 : 5 ALEJANDRO, Joel Felipe
1/08-Finale IVEY, Brandon 4 : 2 KANAMATOV, Magomedrasul
1/04-Finale IVEY, Brandon 1 : 0 GARCIA VAZQUEZ, Victor
1/02-Finale IVEY, Brandon 6 : 5 KHADEEV, Emil
1/01-Finale IVEY, Brandon 1 : 0 KATTAN, Hamza