IRS paid private debt collectors $20 million to recoup $6.7 million from low-income Americans

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) spent millions of dollars over the past financial year to contract private debt collectors that targeted some of Americas poorest citizens for unpaid taxes and only recovered a small fraction of the funds they were supposed to return to the agency, a new report released on Wednesday found.

The report, by the independent Taxpayer Advocate Service, found that the debt collectors had cost the IRS $20 million but had only brought in $6.7 million — less than one percent of the total amount targeted for collection. In some cases, the private agencies received commissions for work they hadn’t actually carried out.

Philip Hammond Tells Andrew Marr 'There Are No Unemployed People'

Philip Hammond has provoked a backlash after telling the BBC’s Andrew Marr that “there are no unemployed people” in the UK.

The Chancellor made the gaffe while asserting the country was on the up following a long economic downturn.

“Where are all these unemployed people?  There are no unemployed people,” he said, prompting a flurry of incredulous responses on Twitter.

Ottawa racks up $110,000 in legal bills to avoid paying for Indigenous teen’s braces

OTTAWA—Ottawa says health programs for Indigenous peoples have “room for review” but is making no promises to halt a court case that has cost taxpayers $110,000 and counting — all to avoid paying a $6,000 bill for a teen’s braces.

Jane Philpott, the former health minister recently appointed minister of Indigenous services, said through a spokesperson that “unacceptable” social and economic gaps facing Indigenous peoples, including health care, were the motivations in the establishment of her department.

Guns And KKK Members At Gettysburg Confederate Rally, But No Foes To Fight

GETTYSBURG, Pa. ― A few hundred armed militia group members, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Ku Klux Klaners, supporters of President Donald Trump, and other self-described patriots descended upon the Gettysburg battlefield Saturday to defend the site’s Confederate symbols from phantom activists with the violent far-left group Antifa.

Some carried semi-automatic rifles ― permitted in Pennsylvania ― as they peered out across the battlefield with binoculars, on the lookout for the black-clad, face-masked anti-fascists, anarchists and socialists they said they had heard were traveling to the national park to dishonor Confederate graves, monuments and flags.

Gun Rights Group Takes a Shot at Elizabeth Warren — Over Effort to Make Hearing Aids Cheaper

A small-time K Street battle between hearing aid manufacturers on one side and electronics firms who want to make cheaper ones on the other has attracted the attention of a radical gun rights group, looking to take a shot at one of the bill’s backers.

A bipartisan group in in the Senate introduced a bill in March to make hearing aids more affordable by allowing them to be sold-over-the counter. Only a handful of manufacturers make hearing aids, and most state laws restrict the selling of hearing aids to licensed audiologists, giving them an effective monopoly.

The North Carolina House Has Passed a Bill Protecting Drivers Who Hit Protesters

The North Carolina House of Representatives just passed a bill that could protect drivers who hit pedestrians with their vehicles during street demonstrations. State representatives approved legislation April 27 that removes civil liability from drivers if they hit pedestrians who are, "participating in a protest or demonstration." The legislation passed in a 67-48 vote.

North Carolina became an epicenter of Black Lives Matter protests, which erupted in Charlotte after police shootings of unarmed black men.

House Republican lashes out at constituent for saying his salary was paid by taxpayers

As a U.S. representative, Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) earns a salary of $174,000 per year. He seems to be confused about where that money comes from, however.

During a town hall event earlier this week, the third term congressman said the notion taxpayers pay his salary is “bullcrap.”

“You said you pay for me to do this — bullcrap, I pay for myself,” Mullin, who reportedly owns multiple companies under the umbrella of Mullin Plumbing, said. “I pay enough taxes where before I ever got there, and continue to for my company and pay my own salary.”

Trudeau greenlights Energy East on condition it's built using recycled materials

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has rubber-stamped the controversial Energy East pipeline project on the condition it is built using only recycled materials, rabble.ca has learned.

"This government has said time and time again that pipelines are an intrinsic part of Canada's sustainable energy policy," Trudeau announced in a press conference Thursday in Montreal's historic Old Port. "But we campaigned on a promise to halt climate change."

If You Catch And Use Rainwater In Colorado, You Are A Criminal

In a state where recreational marijuana was legalized two years ago and extreme weather has caused serious concerns, one mundane drought-fighting tool remains illegal: using rain barrels to catch rainwater from roofs for use in gardens.

Despite the fact that the American West is facing serious water shortages — Lake Mead, for example, is at its lowest recorded levels since the 1930s — recent proposals to legalize rain barrels in Colorado have been stalled or defeated.

Ted Cruz Praises Repressive Egyptian Leader

Three of the four Republican presidential candidates went up to bat (relatively anyway) for Muslims last night following frontrunner Donald Trump’s assertion that “Islam hates us.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) used the opportunity to cite a Muslim leader as a shining example of someone the United States should be supporting — and not alienating, a la Trump.

The Gun Industry's Plan To Make It Easier To Buy A Silencer - The product is being rebranded as a hearing-protection device.

FAIRFAX, Va. (Reuters) - The U.S. gun industry is trying to shake off the Hollywood hitman image of the gun silencer and rebrand it as a hearing-protection device in a campaign to roll back regulations that date to the 1930s.

Industry lobbying has led to more than a dozen states legalizing silencers for hunting since 2011. Now gun advocates are pressing Congress to repeal a Depression-era law that requires a months-long screening process for silencer buyers - far more scrutiny than gun buyers face.

West Virginia Overrides Governor’s Veto To Pass Radical NRA-Backed Gun Law

Gun owners in West Virginia will no longer need to get a permit to have a concealed weapon, putting it among the most far-reaching states for gun rights. The House voted on the measure Friday and officially overrode a gubernatorial veto on Saturday.

The law, which does away with the permit and training program for people 21 and older who want to carry a concealed weapon, was supported by the National Rifle Association, but opposed by law enforcement across the state.

A Kentucky Lawmaker’s Hilariously Stupid Attack On Marriage Equality

The U.S. Supreme Court ended the debate on whether same-sex couples can marry, but one Kentucky lawmaker has a new plan to circumvent this decision. State Rep. Joseph M. Fischer (R) is happy to let same-sex couples marry, but only different-sex couples will be able to enter “matrimony.”

Fischer has introduced HB 572, the “Matrimonial Freedom Act” — an epic 454-page bill that creates the new status of “matrimony.” Declaring that the Supreme Court has established an “absolute Tyranny over these States,” the bill asserts, “we have full power to define marriage and to establish a new institution of matrimony in this Commonwealth,” adding, “with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”

Iowa Lawmakers Approve Bill That Would Let Kids Have Handguns

Children of all ages in Iowa would be able to lay down their toy guns and pick up the real thing under a bill that passed the state House of Representatives.

The measure approved Tuesday by 62-36 vote would allow children 14 or younger to possess “a pistol, revolver or the ammunition” under parental supervision. It now heads for the state Senate.

Obama’s Russian Rationale for $1 Trillion Nuke Plan Signals New Arms Race

The Obama administration has historically insisted that its massive $1 trillion nuclear weapons modernization program does not represent a return to Cold War-era nuclear rivalry between Russia and the United States.

The hugely expensive undertaking, which calls for a slew of new cruise missiles, ICBMs, nuclear submarines, and long-range bombers over the next three decades, has been widely panned by critics as “wasteful,” “unsustainable,” “unaffordable,” and “a fantasy.”

People Have A 'Fundamental Right' To Own Assault Weapons, Court Rules

In a major victory for gun rights advocates, a federal appeals court on Thursday sided with a broad coalition of gun owners, businesses and organizations that challenged the constitutionality of a Maryland ban on assault weapons and other laws aimed at curbing gun violence.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit said the state's prohibition on what the court called "the vast majority of semi-automatic rifles commonly kept by several million American citizens" amounted to a violation of their rights under the Constitution.

Initial Anti-Communism Monument Design Slammed By Federal Advisory Panel

OTTAWA — A federal advisory panel lambasted an early, sombre design for a national memorial to the victims of communism as potentially "detrimental to the dignity" of nearby Parliament Hill, newly released documents show.

The National Capital Commission's advisory committee on planning, design and realty also had concerns last year about the project's price tag, "negative symbolism" and structural safety, particularly in the slippery Ottawa winters, the internal records reveal.

Anger after Saudi Arabia 'chosen to head key UN human rights panel'

The United Nations is coming under fire for handing Saudi Arabia a key human rights role even though the Kingdom has “arguably the worst record in the world” on freedoms for women, minorities and dissidents.

Critics, including the wife of imprisoned pro-democracy blogger Raif Badawi – sentenced to 1000 lashes for blogging about free speech – say that the appointment is “scandalous” and means that “oil trumps human rights”.

Fossil-Fuel Executives Are Making Obscene Amounts of Money for Wrecking the Planet—and Their Own Companies

Last month, one of the largest coal companies in the United States filed for bankruptcy, citing an “unprecedented period of distress” in the industry. The demise of Alpha Natural Resources wasn’t exactly a surprise. Twenty-six other coal companies folded in the previous three years, and in the six months before the bankruptcy announcement, Alpha’s own stock fell by 36 percent. By August, a share in Peabody, the nation’s largest producer, was worth just 99 cents. Up against a market flooded with cheap natural gas, depleted reserves, and the prospect of new limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, coal is doomed.

New Monsanto Spray Kills Bugs by Messing With Their Genes

In a fascinating long piece in MIT Technology Review, Antonio Regalado examines the genetically modified seed industry's latest blockbuster app in development—one that has nothing to do with seeds. Instead, it involves the industry's other bread-and-butter product: pesticide sprays. But we're not talking about the poisonous chemicals you convinced your dad to stop dousing the lawn with. The novel sprays in question are powered by a genetic technology called RNA interference, which promises to kill specific insects and weeds by silencing genes crucial to their survival, while leaving nontarget species unscathed.