Recently released tax documents reveal how billionaire “philanthropist” George Soros expanded his U.S.-based empire by using funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the Obama stimulus.

Soros and Obama worked hand-in-glove through the stimulus, which has
been called the largest single partisan wealth transfer in American
history. 

In 2010, tax records show that Soros, a convicted inside trader with extensive knowledge of the American financial system and government policies under Obama, deployed grantees from his Open Society Foundations1 to lobby for and acquire federal contracts for job training, green energy, and community redevelopment programs.  By gaining control over those resources, Soros advanced his agenda for “green economics,” open borders, and increased government handouts. In short, he grew his empire, which includes much of the “progressive” movement in the U.S., as the federal government and Obama’s political constituencies grew in power and influence.
 
This report analyzes George Soros’s grants to organizations in 2010.  The records show massive coordination of non-profit networks in the states and nationally.  Four powerful organizations and coalitions — The STAR Coalition, The Gamaliel Foundation, the Apollo Alliance, and Green for All — are given detailed scrutiny in this regard, with the involvement of Van Jones getting special mention. Jones is the former Obama “Green Jobs Czar” fired after information about his communist past surfaced through the work of anti-communist blogger Trevor Loudon and then-Fox News personality Glenn Beck.  The lobbying power of such efforts ensured that stimulus funds flowed from taxpayers into union coffers and into the hands of other activists who had been instrumental in putting President Obama into office.
 
The report, “Obama Stimulus Dollars Funded Soros Empire,” includes an analysis of how Soros-funded organizations and networks operate, the strategies used to steer stimulus money to special interest lobbies, and an explanation of how taxpayers were forced to subsidize the “progressive” movement in the U.S. However, only Congress, with its investigative powers, can get to the bottom of how this money was spent and into whose coffers it ultimately ended up.

Click here to read more: Obama Stimulus Dollars Funded Soros Empire. 

The Washington Times today is reporting a stunning backtrack that virtually guarantees Congress for the third year will be unable to produce a budget.

Senate Democrats’ top budget writer Tuesday canceled this week’s expected votes on a 2013 fiscal blueprint.

Instead, Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, North Dakota
Democrat, said he will use the next few months to try to breathe life
into the shelved 2-year-old Bowles-Simpson deficit commission proposal. 
Mr. Conrad said he wasn’t able to get enough Democrats to back a fiscal 2013 budget, much less reach a bipartisan agreement, and that he decided instead to try to kick-start a longer-term debate.

“This is the wrong time to vote in the committee. This is the wrong time to vote on the floor,” Mr. Conrad told reporters as he announced his strategy. “We do need to try to maximize the chance as we get closer to all the tax cuts expiring and the sequester being imposed that we’re ready to act.”

He said he will still convene the Budget Committee this week and introduce his plan, but won’t hold any votes or debate any amendments.

His move stunned Senate Republicans, who had been preparing amendments for Wednesday and Thursday.

“It’s hard to negotiate with somebody who won’t tell you where they are,” said Sen. Jeff Sessions, the ranking Republican on the Budget Committee, who said Mr. Conrad was breaking a promise he made to debate and vote on a budget.

Click here to read more from the Washington Times.

U.S. Senators Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK), John Barrasso (R-WY) and House Representatives Phil Gingrey (R-GA) and Phil Roe (R-TN) released a report today warning that Medicare may not be able to pay health care providers as early as 2016 when the Medicare Trustee’s estimate the Hospital Insurance could become insolvent. 

As the Congressional Research Service notes, “[T]here are no provisions in the Social Security Act that govern what would happen if that [insolvency] were to occur. For example, there is no authority in law for the program to use general revenue to fund Part A services in the event of such a shortfall.”

“As a physician, I have seen time and time again that access to a government program does not equal access to health care.  We are already seeing providers refuse to accept Medicare patients because the reimbursement process is broken.  We can expect more providers to drop coverage if Congress and the administration do not take steps to shore up the program,” said Dr. Coburn, who has authored a Medicare reform plan, the Seniors’ Choice Act, with Senator Richard Burr (R-NC). “Congress and the administration’s refusal to reform Medicare are putting our patients, providers and economy at grave risk.”  

“We can expect further credit downgrades if Washington continues to pretend there is not a crisis.  As this report makes clear, insolvency would end Medicare as we know it since there is no legal means for the program to continue to pay all of its bills.  The status quo, not reform, is the biggest threat to seniors’ health care,” Dr. Coburn added.

“It’s clear now that the President’s health care reform was not the entitlement reform that the White House promised. Instead, it raided over $500 billion from Medicare in order to create a brand new entitlement program for people who aren’t seniors.  This bad law put Medicare one step closer to bankruptcy under President Obama’s watch,” said Barrasso.  “If Washington doesn’t act, seniors will have a much harder time finding a doctor. It’s time for President Obama and Congress to put politics aside and work with us on a solution to save Medicare.”

“This is a looming crisis that many in Washington are choosing either to ignore or politicize,” said Congressman Gingrey. “The longer politicians block efforts to reform Medicare, the higher the stakes for our seniors. They deserve more, and so do America’s future generations. Simply put, the time to act is now.”      

“The demand for Medicare services is expanding at a very high rate, making the program insolvent and future costs unaffordable, which is putting our health care security at risk.  As a physician and a lawmaker, I believe our common goal should be to save, protect and preserve Medicare,” said Congressman Roe. “Instead of dramatically cutting Medicare dollars through programs such as the IPAB, which will lead to decreased quality and access to care, we should be looking at ways to save the program and improve the quality of care we are providing our seniors.”

The report can be found HERE. 

Daniel Halper in a post on the Weekly Standard notes Democratic National Committee chief Debbie Wasserman Schultz has been called on to release her personal income tax returns – which she has never done. 

The request was made by her congressional opponent, Republican Karen Harrington of Florida.

“This week millions of taxpaying Americans will fulfill their requirement of filing their tax returns by paying any and all taxes due to the federal government,” Harrington’s campaign writes. “Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz has been asking Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney to release his 2011 tax return even after Governor Romney released his 2010 tax return.”

    “Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz’s request of Governor Romney to release his tax returns screams of hypocrisy, because to the best of our knowledge, Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz has never released a single tax return of her own. As a member of Congress, she is required to release a yearly ‘financial disclosure,’ this yearly disclosure is not a tax return.

    “While asking for Governor Romney to release his past tax returns, and in keeping with the spirit of President Obama’s call for ‘full transparency,’ we ask Congressman Wasserman Schultz to release her own tax returns.”

There are no records of Wasserman Schultz having ever released her personal income tax returns, though, as the Harrington campaign states, members of Congress are required to disclose assets, holdings, and various other financial information.

Wasserman Schultz has an annual salary of $174,000, which is the standard rate for members of Congress. As newsbusters.org notes, “her Congressional salary is more than three times greater than the median salary for individuals in her own district (FL-20) which is $54,194.”

Harrington’s request comes at a time when Democrats, Wasserman Schultz included, have been waging a war on taxes, trying to get Romney to release his financial records from years back. And at a time when Democrats, including the president of the United States, are pushing for increased taxes through the so-called Buffett Rule.

Click here to read more on the Weekly Standard.

Brietbart.com is reporting that according to a court affidavit revealed today, the state of Florida’s case against George Zimmerman hinges in part on whether the screams for help heard on the 911 call were coming from Trayvon Martin, as well as evidence–possibly inadmissible–about what Martin told a friend on the phone.
 
Multiple eyewitnesses have claimed that they saw Martin on top of defendant George Zimmerman as Zimmerman was on the ground and one eyewitnesses claimed that Zimmerman was yelling for help.

Initially, Trayvon Martin’s father said that the screams heard were not from his son, but later recanted. Now, as the Orlando Sentinel reports, the state of Florida makes a number of claims in their affidavit that contradict Zimmerman’s story.
 
The document says Trayvon’s mother identified the screams for help heard in a 911 call as those of her son. It also reveals that investigators interviewed a "friend" of Trayvon’s who was talking to him in the leadup to the shooting.
 
Based on the description, it appears the friend was the girl described by Martin family attorneys as his girlfriend.
 
"During this time, Martin was on the phone with a friend and described to her what was happening," the affidavit said. "The witness advised that Martin was scared because he was being followed through the complex by an unknown male and didn’t know why."
 
The decision by the prosecution to include the information about the alleged cell phone conversation between Martin and his friend is an interesting one, because that conversation might not be allowed into court. Any attempt to introduce evidence about what Trayvon saidwould liklely be ruled inadmissible under the hearsay rule, unless it fit within one of several exceptions, such as one that applies when the defendant has made a witness unavailable.

Click here for more from Breitbart.com.