FRAUD ALL THE WAY DOWN: Ed Morrissey: Obamacare OK’s Fake Accounts and Fake Promises.

JOHN FUND: Moment Of Truth On Corporate Welfare: By choosing to end the Export-Import Bank, the GOP can zero out a destructive government program. “It seems like decades since Republicans have been able to permanently zero out a government program of any size. The tea-party base often doesn’t take seriously the GOP’s commitment to shrinking government and has accused the GOP of ladling out benefits to the elite and well connected. If Republicans in Congress simply do nothing, the New Deal–era Export-Import Bank, which guarantees loans so that American multinationals can sell products overseas, will vanish at the end of September. Last year, the bank backed $37.4 billion in loans, loan guarantees, working-capital guarantees, and export-credit insurance, the vast majority of which went to mega-companies such as Boeing, General Electric, and Caterpillar. . . . Democratic champions of Ex-Im include such self-proclaimed tribunes of the poor as Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Sherrod Brown of Ohio.”

ADD? Megan McArdle: Add Fraud to the List of Obamacare Disasters.

It sounds like the systems that are supposed to check identity, immigration status and income simply aren’t working at all; the system just assumes that you are who you say you are.

This isn’t the only major part of the system that’s still missing; as the Official Blog Spouse reported last week, the system that pays insurers still seems to be MIA. Presumably, the emergency team called in to fix the exchanges prioritized the bits that the public could see, leaving everything else for later. Compared to what was described by the Barack Obama administration (and the law), the system still seems to be half-built.

How much does this matter? Obviously, all the GAO can say is that this is possible; we don’t know whether, or how often, such fraud has actually occurred. Even if you get an insurance card fraudulently, how easy would it be to use without ever being asked for picture ID? How many people would go to the trouble of faking or altering documents? And might the subsidies be taken away after review? We simply don’t know.

Still, it’s obviously troubling that people could so easily fraudulently obtain government subsidies, because the incentive to do so is obvious: free money from the government. It’s also troubling because it makes one wonder what other major parts of the system simply aren’t working.

Here’s a hint: All of them, except for those with political angles.

INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY: More Lying By The IRS Before Congress And The Courts.

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: The Gaza War: When Strategies Collide. It’s telling that Hamas is “elated” by . . . getting Obama to shut down flights.

SERVING SOMEONE’S PURPOSES, OBVIOUSLY: What Is Hezbollah Doing Still In Europe?

AT AMAZON, browse the Kindle Daily Deals.

Also, 50% off on Pet Supplies.

NOW ON YOUTUBE: My InstaVision interview with Michael Barone about the 2014 midterms.

UPDATE: One thing we talked about is whether Andrew Cuomo should be worried about Zephyr Teachout’s primary challenge. Apparently, he is worried: Why Is A Mysterious Group Of Protesters Chasing A Longshot Candidate Around New York? “Our attempt to discover the origins of the anti-Teachout movement ended with one of the protesters screaming, cursing, and threatening us.”

Cuomo obviously thinks her shot isn’t as long as all that.

POLITICO: Blue Crush: How The Left Took Over The Democratic Party.

THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION’S FECKLESSNESS WITH IRAQ: We Saw The Islamic State Coming, Did Nothing. “The testimony raises an obvious question: If the Obama administration had such early warning of the Islamic State’s ambitions, why, nearly two months after the fall of Mosul, is it still assessing what steps, if any, to take to halt the advance of Islamist extremists who threaten U.S. allies in the region and have vowed to attack Americans?” It’s like they wanted Iraq and Syria to go this way.

BYRON YORK: Could Arizona fiasco lead to firing squads for death penalty?

So, I’m skeptical of the death penalty’s administration because the criminal justice system is a disaster. But, assuming guilt, I don’t really care much about the morality of killing people. The nation-state is all about killing people. Its sole reason for existing is that it’s better at killing people in large numbers than any other form of human organization. If you don’t like the idea of the state killing people, you don’t like the idea of the state. If you don’t realize this, it’s because your thinking is confused.

STAND BY FOR MORE HARD DRIVE CRASHES: Issa asks Holder to turn over docs on mortgage fraud settlements.

The chairman of the House Oversight Committee asked Attorney General Eric Holder Thursday to turn over documents related to the Justice Department’s decisions to settle mortgage fraud accusations against two of the nation’s biggest banks.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) wants to see documents and internal communications relating to November’s record $13 billion settlement with JPMorgan Chase and this month’s $7 billion agreement with Citigroup.

Both cases involved allegations that the banks helped precipitate the 2008 economic crisis by selling risky mortgage securities to investors who were led to believe the underlying loans were solid.

Holder touted the settlements, announcing that billions of dollars would be directed to programs to help homeowners hurt by the downturn — and stressing that the banks admitted wrongdoing.

But Issa notes that the agency’s handling of the cases was different from others, in which formal charges were filed. In a letter to Holder, Issa cited cases involving the firms Credit Suisse AG and BNP Paribas SA, which each netted billions in penalties.

“The Department’s inclination to enter into settlement agreements with respect to mortgage securities fraud stands in marked contrast to the Department’s litigation strategy in other contexts,” Issa wrote to Holder.

Issa’s review of the DOJ’s litigation policies follows criticism from some Democrats, who say the department should more aggressively pursue criminal cases against bad actors in the financial industry.

Issa spokesman Frederick Hill cited “bipartisan frustration” with the department’s strategy. Among Republicans, he said, that frustration centers on the decision to resolve cases during pre-lawsuit settlement negotiations, before the administration is made to put all its cards on the table.

I’d be shocked, shocked to find there was political favoritism here.

DIDN’T MARION ZIMMER BRADLEY HAVE A BOOK ABOUT THIS? Feds Spending $10 Million to Build Robot Companions for Children. “Just like a good personal trainer, we want the robots to be able to guide the child toward a behavior that we desire.”

RUTH WEDGWOOD TO VLADIMIR PUTIN: J’ACCUSE! “Russia’s operatives could be taken to the International Criminal Court for their role in the downing of flight MH17 over Ukraine. Even ICC skeptics in America ought to be open to this approach.”

HALBIG: Watch Obamacare Architect Jonathan Gruber Admit in 2012 That Subsidies Were Limited to State-Run Exchanges.

DON’T BE RIDICULOUS: CLINTONS AND THEIR HANGERS-ON CAN DO WHATEVER THEY WANT TO WOMEN. War on Women, Clinton Style: Democrats must disavow a Clinton operative’s anti-woman remark.

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: The Hill: Regulator assailed for quick ‘spin through the revolving door.’

Still waiting for someone to introduce my revolving-door surtax. Rand Paul? Ted Cruz? Mike Lee? Marco Rubio?

Hey, how about you, Elizabeth Warren? You’re supposed to be against regulators who are in bed with industry, right?

K.C. JOHNSON: HuffPost Gets It Wrong on a Campus Rape Case. Well, where “gets it wrong” means “engages in a nasty smear.”

THE LAWFARE GAP: Pro bono law morphs into left-wing lawfare. It would not take many blue-chip clients objecting to these political cases to make the big firms think twice. The law biz is under pressure.

MAN EXONERATED BY DNA — AND HE DIDN’T EVEN REQUEST IT.

Michael Phillips had long ago given up trying to clear his name. At 57, he was a registered sex offender, living in a nursing home, wheelchair-bound from severe sickle cell anemia.

Then in May, two police officers delivered news that Phillips says only God could have ordained: Dallas County, Texas, prosecutors had proved through DNA testing that he had spent 12 years in prison for a rape he hadn’t committed.

Hundreds of people have been exonerated through DNA testing. But on Friday, Phillips will become the first exonerated by DNA through systematic testing by a prosecutor’s office even though he hadn’t requested the testing, according to the National Registry of Exonerations, a project of the University of Michigan Law School and the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law.

“I’m in awe,” Phillips of Dallas told USA TODAY. “At first, I thought I was like, kind of in another time zone or a twilight zone.”

As the news sank in, he says, the Holy Spirit confirmed to him that it was all part of his life’s plan.

The exoneration comes thanks to the Dallas County District Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit, which is testing DNA evidence on decades-old cases even when convicted defendants aren’t proclaiming their innocence.

It’s great that they’re doing this. It’s terrible that a man spent 12 years in prison, and was forced to register as a sex offender, for a crime that he didn’t commit. Let’s not forget about that part.

LIFE ON THE EVE OF WAR.

SOME HOPEFUL NEWS: Anti-Semitic NYC Cupcake Crew Tweets May Be Fraudulent. That would be nice.

NATIONAL JOURNAL: The Odds Of A GOP Wave Are Increasing. Don’t get cocky kids.

NOT SO MUCH “LOSING” AS “DELIBERATELY THROWING AWAY.” Top Marine Speaks Out About Obama Losing the Iraq War: ‘It Breaks Our Hearts.’

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“It’s reminiscent of what we saw in Europe in the build-up to the Second World War or the ethnic cleansing witnessed during the Balkans in the early 1990s,” said former British ambassador to the Holy See, Francis Campbell. “It’s as if the world is asleep and doesn’t care.”

The world will be forced to care. And it won’t like it. As usual.