IRS Scandal even brings Jon Stewart out to defend liberty...Wow!

[BaiHu]

http://www.businessinsider.com/jon-stewart-obama-irs-scandal-benghazi-daily-show-may-13-2013-5

[TGS]

Too bad he didn't include Obama's recent speech about fearing tyranny.

[BaiHu]

Too bad he didn't include Obama's recent speech about fearing tyranny.

Or the fact that the IRS targeted Jewish groups as well....

At this point, the Obama administration has proven to all the 'radical, we-the-people, tea-party type' folks, who feared a tyrannical gov't, to be 100% right.

[TCinVA]

http://www.businessinsider.com/jon-stewart-obama-irs-scandal-benghazi-daily-show-may-13-2013-5

Yeah...what a self-indulgent pant-load that was.

Getting torqued primarily because the IRS gave ammunition to "conspiracy theorists" is ridiculous. He's expressing anger over the fact that it's making it harder to make the rosy happy argument he and his ilk would like to make...missing entirely the real point, which is the inevitability of human nature. It is precisely that inevitability which our system of government was designed to deal with, and the continual effort to dismantle the bits that protect against this sort of malfeasance by Stewart and his ilk and continual efforts to marginalize concerns about government overreach as the resort of the lunatic work in absolute opposition to keeping the excesses of human nature in check. Stewart posts a clip of Cruise saying that registration is a concern as if it sounds silly, and neglects to show clips of various luminaries who support gun control who have gone on record stating that they hope to one day achieve total confiscation. Or of the people in the NY assembly who were actually positing confiscation as a policy proposal in the aftermath of Newtown. Stewart has access to google and a staff of researchers. It's not like this information is unobtainable...so we're left with the conclusion that ignoring the vast swaths of information about the ultimate aim of these efforts is deliberate. Which means that Stewart is just another propagandist.

The people investigating Benghazi are not paranoid conspiracy theorists. There are legitimate questions about that event that need to be answered. You don't just shrug your shoulders and go "Oh well!" when an ambassador gets killed.

The IRS problem is indicative of a larger issue with the operation of government function in our society that is hostile to the very ideas that are supposed to form our foundation. The Supreme Court recently had to rule that a government agency at least had to allow someone to have an internal appeals process to contest a regulatory decision that cost them thousands of dollars and a large chunk of their property. Prior to that decision the government's position was that not only could they lay burdensome and costly regulation on the land owner, but that the land owner couldn't even appeal the decision. That's not what Lexington and Concorde were about, folks.

Now, does it say something when even your propagandist cheerleaders are forced to admit that the actions of your administration are plainly indefensible? Sure...but that's all this is. It's telling that he expresses consternation with the idea that government screws up "good" initiatives designed to help people and yet operates with ruthless efficiency when performing indefensible acts...as if anything else is a realistic possibility. Newsflash: That's why we have a constitution and amendments, and why the people who wrote that constitution and those amendments filled every bit of their writing with skepticism about government as an enterprise and what human beings do with power.

Perhaps if he'd bothered to read the writings of the founders in his formative years he wouldn't be surprised by any of this, and maybe would have been paying attention to similarly disturbing issues that have been ongoing for decades. Instead he's throwing a tantrum because the IRS is making his argument look bad. Well gee whiz, pal...deeply sorry for your loss. :rolleyes:


Or the fact that the IRS targeted Jewish groups as well....

At this point, the Obama administration has proven to all the 'radical, we-the-people, tea-party type' folks, who feared a tyrannical gov't, to be 100% right.

History has proven those who are skeptical of government power to be wise. These revelations are not novel or unprecedented. LBJ manipulated government regulatory power to get kickbacks from interested parties and to try and squash criticism or exposure of his many illegal shenanigans in the press. FDR used taxing authority and budgets to reward and punish his political enemies when he wasn't busy marching unarmed civilians into concentration camps at gunpoint without due process.

This stuff ain't new. Anyone who finds themselves shocked by this hasn't been paying attention.

...and remember that this is just the stuff that's been uncovered. If what you see of the iceburg is this nasty, I assure you the picture gets no more pleasant below the surface of the water.

The regulatory state INVITES this sort of phenomenon...which is why the founders constructed a government of limited scope and authority. A government that can do anything is capable of anything.

[BaiHu]

This thread might have to be labeled all of Obama's scandals...it's hard to keep up:


Conservative groups seeking information from the Environmental Protection Agency have been routinely hindered by fees normally waived for media and watchdog groups, while fees for more than 90 percent of requests from green groups were waived, according to requests reviewed by the Conservative Enterprise Institute.

CEI reviewed Freedom of Information Act requests sent between January 2012 and this spring from several environmental groups friendly to the EPA’s mission, and several conservative groups, to see how equally the agency applies its fee waiver policy for media and watchdog groups. Government agencies are supposed to waive fees for groups disseminating information for public benefit.

“This is as clear an example of disparate treatment as the IRS’ hurdles selectively imposed upon groups with names ominously reflecting an interest in, say, a less intrusive or biased federal government,” said CEI fellow Chris Horner.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/article/2529609#.UZIq1hQ69Ts.twitter

ETA: TC, I agree with you wholeheartedly, but it is truly sad that only a guy like Stewart is 'reporting' this on a comedy show in the MSM. That and I hope you understood that my quotes around 'radical, we-the-people, tea-party type' was referring to how they view the likes of people like us.

[SecondsCount]

That was hilarious and hurt at the same time.

TCinVA- very good points!

[BaiHu]

Another mini scandal that will get no play. Typical double standard here:


Wind power, a pollution-free energy intended to ease global warming, is a cornerstone of President Barack Obama’s energy plan. His administration has championed a $1 billion-a-year tax break to the industry that has nearly doubled the amount of wind power in his first term.

But like the oil industry under President George W. Bush, lobbyists and executives have used their favored status to help steer U.S. energy policy.

The result is a green industry that’s allowed to do not-so-green things. It kills protected species with impunity and conceals the environmental consequences of sprawling wind farms.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/20100141-418/story.html

[BaiHu]

Holy crap, I can't keep up with all of this:


The American Civil Liberties Union was curious about warrantless government snooping on citizens' text messages. So the group filed a Freedom of Information Act request to the Justice Department. Here's what they got back:

Totally Redacted FOIA response

http://reason.com/blog/2013/05/13/most-transparent-administration-in-histo

[BaiHu]

Sure, why not throw one more on the bbq. I know it's a bit old, but I didn't realize how deep this 'executive order' went.


The aim is to affect future legislation by giving lawmakers empirical data on an area that has been largely bereft for nearly two decades. Without government research, gun control advocates say they are forced to rely on private studies, which do not hold the same clout on Capitol Hill.

“You can’t make good policy without good data, and for a generation the NRA has been throwing dirt in the eyes of Congress so they can’t actually see what’s going on around them," said Glaze.
As part of the agency’s preliminary research, the CDC and IOM will host an all-day conference on April 23 in Washington, D.C., to hear from firearm and gun violence experts; researchers; and advocates on both sides of the issue, according to Richard Feldman, a former NRA lobbyist who now leads the Independent Firearm Owners Association.
Feldman said he questions whether the CDC can lawfully spend money on studies that Congress has barred, but he plans to attend and noted that the NRA’s former research director, Paul Blackman, has been invited to the event as well.

Vee can't make zie polizy vithout zie goot data!!!

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/290885-obama-uses-executive-power-to-move-gun-control-forward

[NickA]

Holy crap, I can't keep up with all of this:



http://reason.com/blog/2013/05/13/most-transparent-administration-in-histo

While you're at it don't forget the AP phone records thing:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/05/14/lawmakers-rip-justice-department-over-ap-phone-record-grab/

[BaiHu]

That was in the original post in video format ;)

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

[NickA]

That was in the original post in video format ;)

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

Hey I can't be bothered to actually watch before I comment:p

[fixer]

...and remember that this is just the stuff that's been uncovered. If what you see of the iceburg is this nasty, I assure you the picture gets no more pleasant below the surface of the water.

The regulatory state INVITES this sort of phenomenon...which is why the founders constructed a government of limited scope and authority. A government that can do anything is capable of anything.

This is what truly bothers me the most. The ability of recent administrations to escape accountability is blood boilingly easy.

It is not just about the IRS scandal or the AP scandal or the Fast and Furious scandal...how many iceburg tips do we as a citizenry have to face before we realize we are out in the cold?

[BaiHu]

some more details:


According to a report by Courthousenews.com, an unnamed HIPAA-covered entity in California is suing the IRS, alleging that some 60 million medical records from 10 million patients were stolen by 15 IRS agents. The personal health information seized on March 11, 2011, included psychological counseling, gynecological counseling, sexual/drug treatment and other medical treatment data.

http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/irs-face-lawsuit-over-theft-60-million-patient-health-records

[Kyle Reese]

some more details:



http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/irs-face-lawsuit-over-theft-60-million-patient-health-records

Sounds like a War on Women to me!

[hufnagel]

what the kittens is 'gynecological counseling'

[SeriousStudent]

what the kittens is 'gynecological counseling'

It's what you did just before the pepper spray and restraining order.

[hufnagel]

slander.

they never pinned it on me.

http://www.sotsyndicate.com/images/smilies/avatar45_12.gif

[BaiHu]

Longer video on Issa/Holder. It is worth watching the whole thing. Sheila Jackson Lee and Holder are amazing to watch-they really do not get how this whole thing works:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqGRdzX31ZI

[BaiHu]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPgqx51lgVc&feature=player_embedded

and this:

http://m.weeklystandard.com/blogs/report-irs-deliberately-chose-not-fess-scandal-election_724711.html

ETA: An op-ed that nails it, IMO.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324767004578487332636180800.html?m od=wsj_share_tweet%22


Was the White House involved in the IRS's targeting of conservatives? No investigation needed to answer that one. Of course it was.

President Obama and Co. are in full deniability mode, noting that the IRS is an "independent" agency and that they knew nothing about its abuse. The media and Congress are sleuthing for some hint that Mr. Obama picked up the phone and sicced the tax dogs on his enemies.

But that's not how things work in post-Watergate Washington. Mr. Obama didn't need to pick up the phone. All he needed to do was exactly what he did do, in full view, for three years: Publicly suggest that conservative political groups were engaged in nefarious deeds; publicly call out by name political opponents whom he'd like to see harassed; and publicly have his party pressure the IRS to take action.

[Bigguy]

http://imageshack.us/a/img20/1992/administration.jpg

[RoyGBiv]

This President is without a scintilla of honor or integrity.
The man went to sleep while his personal emissary and 3 others were being murdered in Benghazi, allowed someone (?) to tell the military to stand down, then bold-faced lied about it, flew off to Vegas the next day, allowed Hillary to tell the families of those lost that they would punish the filmmaker, and he continues to lie about it to this day.

Of all the ongoing scandals, the IRS will likely be the one to result in jail time for the involved parties, but Benghazi is far-and-away the most damning.
Any iota of respect I might have had for that man was incinerated along with our consulate that day.

I can't find the words to describe how much this image sickens me.

http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/marine-umbrella_3-620x436.jpg

[RoyGBiv]

And then there's THIS (http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/irs-face-lawsuit-over-theft-60-million-patient-health-records)


According to a report by Courthousenews.com, an unnamed HIPAA-covered entity in California is suing the IRS, alleging that some 60 million medical records from 10 million patients were stolen by 15 IRS agents. The personal health information seized on March 11, 2011, included psychological counseling, gynecological counseling, sexual/drug treatment and other medical treatment data.

"This is an action involving the corruption and abuse of power by several Internal Revenue Service agents," wrote Robert E. Barnes, attorney representing the John Doe Company, in the official complaint. "No search warrant authorized the seizure of these records; no subpoena authorized the seizure of these records; none of the 10,000,000 Americans were under any kind of known criminal or civil investigation and their medical records had no relevance whatsoever to the IRS search. IT personnel at the scene, a HIPPA facility warning on the building and the IT portion of the searched premises, and the company executives each warned the IRS agents of these privileged records," the complaint continued.

[BaiHu]

and more and I'll predict that more will come:


The 1851 Center for Constitutional Law, a conservative nonprofit group, filed a FOIA request in 2010 through investigative journalist Lynn K. Walsh seeking all IRS documents related to the agencies tax-exempt division specifically mentioning the Tea Party.

IRS headquarters responded in 2011 that it “found no documents specifically responsive to your request.”

http://freebeacon.com/cover-up/?utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer&utm_content=buffer84fcc

and....


"[W]e saw a big increase in these kind of applications, many of which indicated that they were going to be involved in advocacy work," Lerner said.

But Todd Young, a Republican congressman from Indiana, pointed out at Friday's House Ways and Means Committee hearing with former acting IRS commissioner Steve Miller and Treasury Inspector General J. Russell George that this was not the case, according to the very data the IRS provided to the Treasury IG's office.

There were, he noted, actually fewer applications for tax-exempt status by groups seeking to be recognized as social-welfare organizations that year than the previous one, according to this IRS data.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/05/there-was-no-surge-in-irs-tax-exempt-applications-in-2010/275985/

[RoyGBiv]

I was not a fan of the "Fair Tax" until today.
I wouldn't trust the IRS to collect a flat tire, fugghedabout a flat tax.

[BenEnglish]

And then there's THIS (http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/irs-face-lawsuit-over-theft-60-million-patient-health-records)That one doesn't bug me. First, the complaint cites actions by "Internal Revenue Service Agents". Agents don't do seizures. In fact, that job title doesn't exist in the IRS. Revenue Agents can do summonses. Revenue Officers can do seizures. Special Agents are the folks with badges and guns.

Later in the article that was the source of all this (click through from the link you provided), the report specifically says the seizures were done pursuant to a search warrant. OK, then, it was Special Agents since they're the only ones who get warrants.

The description of the data, despite the huge numbers being quoted, pretty much means the Special Agents carted away a computer where those records were kept. One PC could have contained all the data being discussed. The text of the complaint boils down to "The IRS didn't believe us when we told them what their warrant did and didn't cover." Well, duh. Of course they didn't listen and took it all. That's their job.

LEAs are not prohibited from seizing HIPAA-protected data; they are simply supposed to extract the data they need then return all HIPAA-protected data asap. They have failed to do that for over 2 years when it should have been done in, at most, a few months. It also seems like they overreached in grabbing all the cell phones in the place but that has become SOP among pretty much all LEAs in this modern era.

None of this is good. It's a violation of policy and good practice. However, it's just sloppy, not nefarious.

This particular IRS scandal is nothing.

But those pictures of Marines holding umbrellas? Those are a kick in the stomach and made me retch.

[RoyGBiv]

Worth reading.... Interview with T. Coleman Andrews, former IRS Commissioner, US News & World Report, May 25, 1956

Legible copy of full article here: http://www.hearliberty.com/usnews2.html

Excerpts:


"Congress went beyond merely enacting an income tax law and repealed Article IV of the Bill of Rights, by empowering the tax collector to do the very things from which that article says we were to be secure. It opened up our homes, our papers and our effects to the prying eyes of government agents and set the stage for searches of our books and vaults and for inquiries into our private affairs whenever the tax men might decide, even though there might not be any justification beyond mere cynical suspicion."

"The income tax is bad because it has robbed you and me of the guarantee of privacy and the respect for our property that were given to us in Article IV of the Bill of Rights. This invasion is absolute and complete as far as the amount of tax that can be assessed is concerned. Please remember that under the Sixteenth Amendment, Congress can take 100% of our income anytime it wants to. As a matter of fact, right now it is imposing a tax as high as 91%. This is downright confiscation and cannot be defended on any other grounds."

"The income tax is bad because it was conceived in class hatred, is an instrument of vengeance and plays right into the hands of the communists. It employs the vicious communist principle of taking from each according to his accumulation of the fruits of his labor and giving to others according to their needs, regardless of whether those needs are the result of indolence or lack of pride, self-respect, personal dignity or other attributes of men."

"The income tax is fulfilling the Marxist prophecy that the surest way to destroy a capitalist society is by steeply graduated taxes on income and heavy levies upon the estates of people when they die."

"As matters now stand, if our children make the most of their capabilities and training, they will have to give most of it to the tax collector and so become slaves of the government. People cannot pull themselves up by the bootstraps anymore because the tax collector gets the boots and the straps as well."

"The income tax is bad because it is oppressive to all and discriminates particularly against those people who prove themselves most adept at keeping the wheels of business turning and creating maximum employment and a high standard of living for their fellow men."

"I believe that a better way to raise revenue not only can be found but must be found because I am convinced that the present system is leading us right back to the very tyranny from which those, who established this land of freedom, risked their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to forever free themselves..."

[BaiHu]

Nice video:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCjssK-i4Mg&feature=player_embedded

[ford.304]

This President is without a scintilla of honor or integrity.
The man went to sleep while his personal emissary and 3 others were being murdered in Benghazi, allowed someone (?) to tell the military to stand down, then bold-faced lied about it, flew off to Vegas the next day, allowed Hillary to tell the families of those lost that they would punish the filmmaker, and he continues to lie about it to this day.

Of all the ongoing scandals, the IRS will likely be the one to result in jail time for the involved parties, but Benghazi is far-and-away the most damning.
Any iota of respect I might have had for that man was incinerated along with our consulate that day.

I can't find the words to describe how much this image sickens me.

http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/marine-umbrella_3-620x436.jpg

Is it that unusable for members of the services to hold umbrellas for the president? I've seen pictures posted on liberal blogs of pretty much every president of the last half century with someone from the armed forces holding their umbrella...

[hufnagel]

it disturbs and offends me that it's considered an "honor" for that marine to hold that umbrella. I'm sorry but my understanding is that for him to obtain that "posting" he has to have supposedly done some extra ordinary things in he career. So your reward for being the best of the best or exceling at your job... is to hold a ****ing umbrella or door for the president. To me that seems like something that in intern should be doing. For those of you who watched and remember The West Wing, he needs a Charlie.

[TGS]

I'm sorry but my understanding is that for him to obtain that "posting" he has to have supposedly done some extra ordinary things in he career.

This is not true. Nothing against those Marines.......hey, my dad did it.....but that's simply not true. Anyone who is the least bit knowledgeable about the military should able to understand such just from the picture.

[RoyGBiv]

And now even Piers Morgan is calling the IRS and AP scandals "Tyrannical".

See Penn Gillette video, second/bottom on page.. 1:40 mark.


"I've had some of the pro-gun lobbyists on here saying to me, 'well, the reason we need to be armed is because of tyranny from our own government.' And I've always laughed at them. And I've always said, 'don't be so ridiculous. Your own government won't turn itself on you.' But, actually, when you look at this — it's nothing to do with guns. But actually, this is vaguely tyrannical behavior by the American government. I think what the IRS did is bordering on tyrannical behavior. I think what the Department of Justice has done, actually, to the AP is bordering on tyrannical behavior."

http://piersmorgan.blogs.cnn.com/2013/05/17/piers-morgan-live-rewind-carney-backs-obama-sanford-says-government-consistently-overextends-penn-jillette-broken-hearted/

[TGS]

And now even Piers Morgan is calling the IRS and AP scandals "Tyrannical".

See Penn Gillette video, second/bottom on page.. 1:40 mark.



http://piersmorgan.blogs.cnn.com/2013/05/17/piers-morgan-live-rewind-carney-backs-obama-sanford-says-government-consistently-overextends-penn-jillette-broken-hearted/

My head just a'sploded.

It appears even lizards are capable of evolving.

[RoyGBiv]

Speaking of Tyranny...

Worth watching Britt Hume talk it through..


The (Justice) department in this case, though, went a step further, as an FBI agent reportedly claimed there's evidence the journalist in question -- Fox News' James Rosen -- broke the law "at the very least, either as an aider, abettor and/or co-conspirator."

That detail would potentially send the case into unprecedented territory. No reporter has been prosecuted for seeking information.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/05/20/justice-department-obtained-records-fox-news-journalist/

[Mitchell, Esq.]

And now even Piers Morgan is calling the IRS and AP scandals "Tyrannical".

See Penn Gillette video, second/bottom on page.. 1:40 mark.



http://piersmorgan.blogs.cnn.com/2013/05/17/piers-morgan-live-rewind-carney-backs-obama-sanford-says-government-consistently-overextends-penn-jillette-broken-hearted/

Boo Hoo.

Morgan's Ox got gored. He's pissed now, but I do not believe him, like him or trust him.

As he's been against us from day one, and isn't likely to change...I'm OK with the AP and other news media getting harassed.

Turnabout is fair play.

Second amendment doesn't apply in today's world? We should trust our government? The right to bear arms only applies to arms in existence at the time the bill of rights was ratified?

OK!

Same rules for the First amendment's protection of the press.

The Constitution either applies - or it does not. You do not get to make any other choice.

He chose. He gets to live with it.

No tears for talking heads. As for a reporter getting prosecuted for seeking information?

Good. Go after all of them as hard as can be, and hopefully with a political bias.

Tyranny - bare your fangs and bite deep!

It may engender some actual media oversight and investigation into the government instead of people towing the party line. Lawsuits too...that way we get to go to court with the worst possible government behavior as an example for the judiciary to hammer the executive.

The media would slit our throats without hesitation. When it happens to them, well. I'll have a coke.

[ford.304]

Exactly. Press only cares about freedoms that impact their ability to be the press. Everyone else can get kittened.

[Suvorov]

Boo Hoo.

Morgan's Ox got gored. He's pissed now, but I do not believe him, like him or trust him.

As he's been against us from day one, and isn't likely to change...I'm OK with the AP and other news media getting harassed.

Turnabout is fair play.

Second amendment doesn't apply in today's world? We should trust our government? The right to bear arms only applies to arms in existence at the time the bill of rights was ratified?

OK!

Same rules for the First amendment's protection of the press.

The Constitution either applies - or it does not. You do not get to make any other choice.

He chose. He gets to live with it.

No tears for talking heads. As for a reporter getting prosecuted for seeking information?

Good. Go after all of them as hard as can be, and hopefully with a political bias.

Tyranny - bare your fangs and bite deep!

It may engender some actual media oversight and investigation into the government instead of people towing the party line. Lawsuits too...that way we get to go to court with the worst possible government behavior as an example for the judiciary to hammer the executive.

The media would slit our throats without hesitation. When it happens to them, well. I'll have a coke.

Watching that slime ball Ashley Banfield holding up a copy of the Constitution and quoting it after her and her news corps unabashed assault on the 2A made me so mad I'm now forced to buy a new TV.

[TCinVA]

Watching that slime ball Ashley Banfield holding up a copy of the Constitution and quoting it after her and her news corps unabashed assault on the 2A made me so mad I'm now forced to buy a new TV.

I would laugh my butt off at that. I mean, we just saw all those people with a smirk on their face asking each other what kind of inbred cro-magnon throwback actually holds up the Constitution as a legitimate argument in a public policy debate...and yet just a couple of short months later they're actually holding up copies of the Constitution and claiming it means something?

What those of us who haven't taken complete leave of our senses need is someone to compile all these nicely packaged examples of their myopic idiocy coming back to bite them and putting them in a publicly accessible place for easy reference.

[Mr. Goodtimes]

I would laugh my butt off at that. I mean, we just saw all those people with a smirk on their face asking each other what kind of inbred cro-magnon throwback actually holds up the Constitution as a legitimate argument in a public policy debate...and yet just a couple of short months later they're actually holding up copies of the Constitution and claiming it means something?

What those of us who haven't taken complete leave of our senses need is someone to compile all these nicely packaged examples of their myopic idiocy coming back to bite them and putting them in a publicly accessible place for easy reference.

I noticed this the other day, some CNBC reporter was fervently defending the first Amendment and how important freedom of speech and freedom of the press is, how the government cant be allowed to scare the press into submission, only reporting what the government wants it to. I almost fell out of my chair... If we defended the second amendment as fervently as we defend the first we wouldn't have the NFA.

[TCinVA]

...and right on cue, people from the Cincinnati office decline to be scapegoats for this IRS cluster:

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/348983/oversight-washington-all-along-eliana-johnson

Short version:

IRS employees in Cincinnati elevated questions about tax exempt status for tea-party groups to a legal technical unit in DC...and claim that the invasive and inappropriate questions were generated by said technical unit.

[BaiHu]

Gasp!
Heavens to murgatroyd, even! It's as if they had no choice and no one to report this abuse of power to :rolleyes:
If only there was some type of outlet to get this sinister plot uncovered and into the light so they could let the American people know :banghead:

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

[BaiHu]

She just keeps digging the hole deeper:


A series of letters suggests that senior IRS official Lois Lerner was directly involved in the agency’s targeting of conservative groups as recently as April 2012, more than nine months after she first learned of the activity.

Lerner, the director of the IRS exempt organizations office in Washington, D.C., signed cover letters to 15 conservative organizations currently represented by the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) between in March and April of 2012. The letters, such as this one sent to the Ohio Liberty Council on March 16, 2012, informed the groups applying for tax-exempt status that the IRS was “unable to make a final determination on your exempt status without additional information,” and included a list of detailed questions of the kind that a Treasury inspector general’s audit found to be inappropriate. Some of the groups to which Lerner sent letters are still awaiting approval.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/349212/%5Btitle-raw%5D

While I'm at the scandal list, here's some good Holder/Rosen entanglement:


Attorney General Eric Holder signed off on the search warrant that led to the seizure of Fox News reporter James Rosen's private emails, according to a new report from Michael Isikoff of NBC News.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2013/05/report-holder-signed-off-on-rosen-search-warrant-164699.html

ETA: IRS targeted adoptive parents :confused:


During the 2012 filing season, 90 percent of returns claiming the refundable adoption credit were subject to additional review to determine if an examination was necessary. The most common reasons were income and a lack of documentation.

■ Sixty-nine percent of all adoption credit claims during the 2012 filing season were selected for audit.

■ Of the completed adoption tax credit audits, over 55 percent ended with no change in the tax owed or refund due in fiscal year 2012. The median refund amount involved in these audits is over $15,000 and the median adjusted gross income (AGI) of the taxpayers involved is about 64,000. The average adoption credit correspondence audit currently takes 126 days, causing a lengthy delay for taxpayers waiting for refunds

http://www.jammiewf.com/2013/evil-irs-targeted-adoptive-parents/

[BaiHu]

So let's get this straight:
1. IRS targets conservatives.
2. IRS denies/harangues conservative groups so they can't get tax exempt status.
3. IRS allows tax exempt status to a group whose express purpose is to limit free speech of GOP donors and that's fine by them??


The Bauer onslaught was a big part of a new liberal strategy to thwart the rise of conservative groups. In early August 2008, the New York Times trumpeted the creation of a left-wing group (a 501(c)4) called Accountable America. Founded by Obama supporter and liberal activist Tom Mattzie, the group—as the story explained—would start by sending "warning" letters to 10,000 GOP donors, "hoping to create a chilling effect that will dry up contributions." The letters would alert "right-wing groups to a variety of potential dangers, including legal trouble, public exposure and watchdog groups digging through their lives." As Mr. Mattzie told Mother Jones: "We're going to put them at risk."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324659404578501411510635312.html?m od=opinion_newsreel

[RoyGBiv]

So let's get this straight:
1. IRS targets conservatives.
2. IRS denies/harangues conservative groups so they can't get tax exempt status.
3. IRS allows tax exempt status to a group whose express purpose is to limit free speech of GOP donors and that's fine by them??

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324659404578501411510635312.html?m od=opinion_newsreel
Was just reading about 501(c)4's and came across this related article
http://www.thenation.com/blog/174458/five-501c4-groups-might-have-broken-law#

[BaiHu]

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2013/05/breaking-holder-doj-went-judge-shopping-to-three-different-judges-armed-with-criminal-warrants-for-james-rosen/?ModPagespeed=noscript


Two separate judges refused to offer DOJ the ability to secretly search the contents of Rosen’s e-mail account. A third judge, Royce C. Lamberth, appealed the decision and overturned the order of the two judges.

[RoyGBiv]

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2013/05/breaking-holder-doj-went-judge-shopping-to-three-different-judges-armed-with-criminal-warrants-for-james-rosen/?ModPagespeed=noscript

Holder's on it... he'll do a great job investigating himself... I trust him implicitly.

[BaiHu]

http://washingtonexaminer.com/irs-refuses-to-turn-over-documents-on-targeting-to-senate/article/2531142


The Internal Revenue Service has failed to turn over documents requested by the powerful Senate tax-writing panel, which is investigating the tax agency's practice of targeting conservative organizations.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the panel's top Republican, gave the IRS a May 31 deadline to answer dozens of questions related to the special scrutiny the agency was giving to right-leaning groups seeking tax-exempt status.

But the troubled IRS let the deadline go by.

"We want a response," Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, a top Democrat on the panel told The Washington Examiner. "I thought the request was a reasonable request."

[SecondsCount]

You know the IRS is in deep doo-doo when they get the Democrat Party and the Republican Party to join hands and go after them.

They have been running wild for too long, time to rein them in.

[RoyGBiv]

They have been running wild for too long, time to________________
_______________ replace them with a flat tax or the "Fair Tax"

[BaiHu]

More fuel to flame the insanity:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/06/06/nsa-collecting-phone-records-for-millions-verizon-customers-report-says/


The Obama administration has been collecting the phone records of millions of U.S. customers of Verizon under a top secret court order, according to a British newspaper report which raised new and troubling privacy questions.
A senior law enforcement official pushed back on the report early Thursday morning, telling Fox News that the Justice Department has not yet received a referral from the intelligence community, meaning "the process has not started yet."
But the administration has not denied the existence of the order. While the administration defended its authority to seize phone records -- and stressed that it does not monitor calls -- one civil liberties group called this the "broadest surveillance order to ever have been issued."
"It requires no level of suspicion and applies to all Verizon subscribers anywhere in the U.S.," the Center for Constitutional Rights said in a statement.

[BaiHu]

http://www.jammiewf.com/2013/cincinnati-irs-staffers-say-dc-officials-directed-tea-party-targeting/


Two Internal Revenue Service employees in the agency’s Cincinnati office told congressional investigators that IRS officials in Washington helped direct the probe of tea-party groups that began in 2010.

[Tamara]

More fuel to flame the insanity:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/06/06/nsa-collecting-phone-records-for-millions-verizon-customers-report-says/

They told me that if I voted for Romney that an unaccountable secret intel organization would Hoover up the phone records of innocent Americans, and they were right!

[NickA]

Saw one report that some of the expenses for those lavish IRS meetings can't really be proved, because the kittening IRS didn't keep the receipts.
I'm sure they'd let me slide on something like that:mad:

[BaiHu]

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-impact-of-nsa-domestic-spying-2013-6


It is not known whether Verizon is the only cell-phone provider to be targeted with such an order, although previous reporting has suggested the NSA has collected cell records from all major mobile networks.

[TCinVA]

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-impact-of-nsa-domestic-spying-2013-6

I think it's a safe bet that everybody has been handing over those records for quite a while.

It struck me today that The Matrix wasn't a movie. It was a prophecy.

[RoyGBiv]

The plot thickens....


A misfired email from an Internal Revenue Service employee in Ohio alerted officials in Washington that conservative groups were being targeted a full year earlier than previously acknowledged, Fox News confirms.

Transcripts from interviews held with IRS employees in Cincinnati show that managers in Washington knew about the heightened scrutiny put on Tea Party groups applying for tax-exempt status in July 2010.

...................

According to the report, Hofacre was asked to summarize her initial findings and send it via email to a small group of IRS workers, including a few in the D.C. tax-exempt unit. Mistakenly, she sent the email to everybody in the Washington IRS Exempt Organizations Rulings and Agreements unit.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/06/07/irs-email-shows-dc-officials-knew-about-tea-party-scandal-in-2010-not-2011/#ixzz2VYa0lHkD

[NickA]

This IRS thing is so weird it even has Alec Baldwin making some sense for once:
http://popwatch.ew.com/2013/06/07/alec-baldwin-nsa-security/?hpt=hp_t2
Though he does get in the obligatory shot at Bush.

[BaiHu]

Keeping the scandals flowing.....

I knew this already, but now I have confirmation:


Hundreds of federal employees were given advance word of a Medicare decision worth billions of dollars to private insurers in the weeks before the official announcement, a period when trading in the shares of those firms spiked.

The surge of trading in Humana’s and other private health insurers’ stock before the April 1 announcement already has prompted the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether Wall Street investors had advance access to inside information about the then-confidential Medicare funding plan.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/hundreds-in-government-had-advance-word-of-medicare-action-at-heart-of-trading-spike-probe/2013/06/09/044944d0-cec7-11e2-8845-d970ccb04497_story.html

[BaiHu]

The WH knows how to keep the scandal-a-day alive:

http://www.jammiewf.com/2013/not-shocking-at-all-obamas-snooping-excludes-mosques-missed-boston-bombers/


The White House assures that tracking our every phone call and keystroke is to stop terrorists, and yet it won’t snoop in mosques, where the terrorists are.

That’s right, the government’s sweeping surveillance of our most private communications excludes the jihad factories where homegrown terrorists are radicalized.

Since October 2011, mosques have been off-limits to FBI agents. No more surveillance or undercover string operations without high-level approval from a special oversight body at the Justice Department dubbed the Sensitive Operations Review Committee.

Who makes up this body, and how do they decide requests? Nobody knows; the names of the chairman, members and staff are kept secret.

[Tamara]

The WH knows how to keep the scandal-a-day alive:

http://www.jammiewf.com/2013/not-shocking-at-all-obamas-snooping-excludes-mosques-missed-boston-bombers/

My reaction to this depends entirely on whether it applies to all houses of worship, or just Muslim ones.

Because if it's the former? Gosh, doesn't the rule of law just suck sometimes. But if it's the latter? That I take issue with.

[TCinVA]

My reaction to this depends entirely on whether it applies to all houses of worship, or just Muslim ones.

Because if it's the former? Gosh, doesn't the rule of law just suck sometimes. But if it's the latter? That I take issue with.

I doubt the FBI has much call for surveillance of the local Methodist congregation.

I do know the feds haven't been terribly shy about going after various televangelist-style operations on tax and fraud charges.

[RoyGBiv]

I doubt the FBI has much call for surveillance of the local Methodist congregation.
Went to a Tea Party event on Monday night. It was held in a Baptist church. Motive?

[Tamara]

I doubt the FBI has much call for surveillance of the local Methodist congregation.

Either everybody's religious clubhouse is exempt from snooping without special approval from the head snooper or nobody's is. Pesky Bill of Rights!

[TCinVA]

Either everybody's religious clubhouse is exempt from snooping without special approval from the head snooper or nobody's is. Pesky Bill of Rights!

I'm stating it as a practical matter. The FBI has probably had the need to conduct surveillance on a Methodist congregation maybe a handful of times in the last 100 years if that much. If it has occurred, it probably had little to do with national security. Mosques, well, that's another story and for obvious reasons.

I don't think that the federal government as a whole is inclined to give much deference to a "house of worship" if they suspect illegal stuff is going on in there. Ask the Branch Dividians.

This seems like a policy based in political correctness rather than larger principle.

In reality it's difficult to tell because of the disparity in the problems posed by radical Islamists versus those posed by radical Presbyterians, assuming such a thing actually exists.

[BaiHu]

IIRC, haven't we all read about CAIR 'encouraging' the CIA, etc to 'not be so ignorant about Islam'?

If anything, we are the most sensitive/PC country in the developed world. Just watch a soccer game in Europe: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/13/mario-balotelli-racist-chants-roma-blatter_n_3267787.html

[Tamara]

This seems like a policy based in political correctness rather than larger principle.

I'm not worried what it's based in as long as every religion is treated the same way, but if the Muslims are getting special protections to keep their little fee-fees from getting hurt, then I have an issue.


In reality it's difficult to tell because of the disparity in the problems posed by radical Islamists versus those posed by radical Presbyterians, assuming such a thing actually exists.

It's not the Presbyterians (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Identity) you need to worry about. 'Course, those guys haven't caused much really BIG trouble since the '80s, although I'd expect them to be getting wound up again here. I mean, given the political and economic situation and the constant chest-thumping in certain corners of the internet (IYKWIMAITYD) since '08, I'm actually kinda surprised we haven't seen a modern J.J. Abrams-esque reboot of Bruder Schweigen or the like, with 21st Century CGI and lots of lens flare...

[ToddG]

It's got nothing to do with which group has been doing what the last few years.

Religious institutions have protections in this country that come from the same document we all embrace when we talk about owning our guns. Like Tam, I understand that there are times when the government has to investigate churches or the people in them. I'm ok with that. I'm not ok with them making special rules for or against one particular church or religion.

[TCinVA]

I'm not worried what it's based in as long as every religion is treated the same way

...but we all know that in our system as it exists right now that's not going to be the case. Some groups are very effective at lobbying for "sensitivity" and have ready-made sympathy for their complaints in the halls of government.

Others do not.

The whacko fringe "Christian" groups don't really have much traffic or fellowship with larger denominations. The "Christian Identity" strain of idiots tends to isolate themselves quite nicely meaning that if the FeeBees are putting them under surveillance it's not happening to the Presbyterians and so nobody is there to make a fuss.

Mosques, unfortunately, don't seem to have the same protection. Radicalization seems to happen among small groups within what can be a relatively benign mosque where the majority have no appetite for terrorism but a small group does and uses that place as their base for recruiting. Rarely will you find closet Christian Identity types in the local First Baptist pot-luck talking about the need to start blowing stuff up for Jesus and getting any traction.

So it's difficult to really gauge what the policy does because we all know where the bulk of the attention is going and why. It's probably not being applied much against any Christian groups people would actually care about.

[BaiHu]

Super on top of this scandal:

http://dailycaller.com/2013/06/13/fbi-hasnt-contacted-a-single-tea-party-group-in-irs-probe-groups-say/#ixzz2WDZyAZwy


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br_sGQICz8Y&feature=player_embedded

[RoyGBiv]

Super on top of this scandal:

http://dailycaller.com/2013/06/13/fbi-hasnt-contacted-a-single-tea-party-group-in-irs-probe-groups-say/#ixzz2WDZyAZwy
I had a chat yesterday with an older gent (just one of those "how are you" moments with someone you've never met before that turned into a 40 minute conversation on the sidewalk) that related this story to me... He was a high level manager at American Airlines when Bob Crandall first joined the Airline in '73. In his first meeting with Crandall, first time they ever met, Crandall walked into his office and without even shaking his hand said (paraphrasing) "if you don't have this department squared away and profitable by this time next year you'll be out of here". And Crandall followed his progress closely, provided support when needed and never let him forget what was said that first day.

Maybe we need a few Bob Crandalls over at Justice, instead of this clown.

[Suvorov]

Maybe we need a few Bob Crandalls over at Justice, instead of this clown.

Sadly, the country is suffering from a severe shortage of Bob Crandalls, not just the airline industry. :(

[MDS]

Sadly, the country is suffering from a severe shortage of Bob Crandalls, not just the airline industry. :(

What's sad is that we in this country have spent the last few decades systematically rooting the Bob Crandalls out of power and replacing them with Hope and Change.

Sweet thread drift, guys. It's not yet 7am and I need a stiff drink.

[BaiHu]

http://www.jammiewf.com/2013/shocker-irs-supervisor-in-dc-was-obama-donor-scrutinized-tea-party-cases/

[RoyGBiv]

http://www.jammiewf.com/2013/shocker-irs-supervisor-in-dc-was-obama-donor-scrutinized-tea-party-cases/

SHOCKING!!! (/sarcasm)

[Mitchell, Esq.]

http://www.jammiewf.com/2013/shocker-irs-supervisor-in-dc-was-obama-donor-scrutinized-tea-party-cases/

NO!!!

Please tell me no...that it's not true...

But...but...it can't be...

[BaiHu]

Firm that represents DOJ whistle blowers gets broken into--conveniently only computers were stolen. Not silver coins, bars, etc....


http://www.myfoxdfw.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=9056670

[ToddG]

I hope G. Gordon has a good alibi!

[BaiHu]

http://weaselzippers.us/2013/07/17/irs-conservative-targeting-scandal-reaches-the-white-house-obama-appointed-irs-chief-counsel-behind-singling-out-tea-party-groups/


The chief counsel’s office for the Internal Revenue Service, headed by a political appointee of President Obama, helped develop the agency’s problematic guidelines for reviewing “tea party” cases, according to a top IRS attorney.

I know, I know, you're all shocked and dismayed :rolleyes:

[Tamara]

http://weaselzippers.us/2013/07/17/irs-conservative-targeting-scandal-reaches-the-white-house-obama-appointed-irs-chief-counsel-behind-singling-out-tea-party-groups/



I know, I know, you're all shocked and dismayed :rolleyes:

As was pointed out back in November of '08: Brace yourselves for Chicago politics writ large. We're all in the 312 now, my friend. :eek:

[RoyGBiv]

http://weaselzippers.us/2013/07/17/irs-conservative-targeting-scandal-reaches-the-white-house-obama-appointed-irs-chief-counsel-behind-singling-out-tea-party-groups/



I know, I know, you're all shocked and dismayed :rolleyes:
Borrowing from another topic....

http://livinginpp.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/012413.jpg

Good doG, we need to skin Zimmerman before we can worry about the IRS any more... Sheesh Dude.

[Sunday]

This President is without a scintilla of honor or integrity.
The man went to sleep while his personal emissary and 3 others were being murdered in Benghazi, allowed someone (?) to tell the military to stand down, then bold-faced lied about it, flew off to Vegas the next day, allowed Hillary to tell the families of those lost that they would punish the filmmaker, and he continues to lie about it to this day.

Of all the ongoing scandals, the IRS will likely be the one to result in jail time for the involved parties, but Benghazi is far-and-away the most damning.
Any iota of respect I might have had for that man was incinerated along with our consulate that day.

I can't find the words to describe how much this image sickens me.

http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/marine-umbrella_3-620x436.jpg
Go Marines!

[BaiHu]

IRS chief counsel William Wilkins, who was named in House Oversight testimony by retiring IRS agent Carter Hull as one of his supervisors in the improper targeting of conservative groups, met with Obama in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on April 23, 2012. Wilkins’ boss, then-IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman, visited the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on April 24, 2012, according to White House visitor logs.

On April 25, 2012, Wilkins’ office sent the exempt organizations determinations unit “additional comments on the draft guidance” for approving or denying tea party tax-exempt applications, according to the IRS inspector general’s report.

Between 2010 and 2012, the IRS sent letters demanding groups’ training materials, personal information on groups’ donors and college interns, and even the content of a religious group’s prayers.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/07/22/embattled-irs-chief-counsel-met-with-obama-2-days-before-writing-new-targeting-criteria/#ixzz2ZngbE3Xe

[RoyGBiv]

^^^^ And there is the there... right there.

[fixer]

Time for another distracting speech about race relations...er something.

[Drang]

Time for another pivot to the economy.
FIFY

[BaiHu]

I can't be bothered to start another thread because this is still relevant:

IRS union wants no part of Obamacare...

http://feedly.com/k/19m9HiP

And more spying? Say it ain't so!

http://feedly.com/k/1c9cNpK

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

[BaiHu]

I know we already spoke of this, but it's great to see it on video....

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/irs-chief-i-want-keep-my-health-care-plan-not-switch-obamacare_742429.html


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8jmy1eSwbP0

[Shellback]

Nothing to see here... Just a scratch. (http://waysandmeans.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=388731)

Washington, DC – Despite early refusals to make available IT professionals who worked on Lois Lerner’s computer, Ways and Means Committee investigators have now learned from interviews that the hard drive of former IRS Exempt Organizations Director Lois Lerner was “scratched,” but data was recoverable. In fact, in-house professionals at the IRS recommended the Agency seek outside assistance in recovering the data. That information conflicts with a July 18, 2014 court filing by the Agency, which stated the data on the hard drive was unrecoverable – including multiple years’ worth of missing emails.

“It is unbelievable that we cannot get a simple, straight answer from the IRS about this hard drive,” said Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI). “The Committee was told no data was recoverable and the physical drive was recycled and potentially shredded. To now learn that the hard drive was only scratched, yet the IRS refused to utilize outside experts to recover the data, raises more questions about potential criminal wrong doing at the IRS.”

It is also unknown whether the scratch was accidental or deliberate, but former federal law enforcement and Department of Defense forensic experts consulted by the Committee say that most of the data on a scratched drive, such as Lerner’s, should have been recoverable. However, in a declaration filed last Friday by the IRS, the agency said it tried but failed to recover the data, but is not sure what happened to the hard drive afterwards other than saying they believe it was recycled, which, according to the court filing means “shredded.”

Further complicating the situation, the Committee’s investigation has revealed evidence that this declaration may not be accurate. A review of internal IRS IT tracking system documents revealed that Lerner’s computer was actually once described as “recovered.” In a transcribed interview on July 18, IRS IT employees were unable to confirm the accuracy of the documents or the meaning of the entry “recovered.”

“It is these constant delays and late revelations that have forced this investigation to go on so long,” Camp added. “If the IRS would just come clean and tell Congress and the American people what really happened, we could put an end to this. Our investigators will not stop until we find the full truth.”...

[RoyGBiv]

More Domestic Enemies.
Cast from the same mold as their CinC.

[RoyGBiv]

IRS finally reveals list of tea party groups targeted for extra scrutiny (http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jun/5/irs-reveals-list-of-tea-party-groups-targeted-for-/)


the list also could have ballooned toward the end of the targeting as the IRS, once it knew it was being investigated, snagged more liberal groups in its operations to try to soften perceptions of political bias.

“As we have identified in our filings in this case, important questions still exist regarding changes to the IRS‘ case listings that occurred after the IRS learned that the [inspector general] and congressional investigations had begun,” he said. “Based on these changes, which to date remain unexplained, a very real possibility — if not probability — exists that the IRS modified its targeting in light of the investigations, packing its own internal lists of targeted groups to support its preferred narrative, including by adding ideologically diverse groups.”

He said if that did happen, it would have “tainted” the list the IRS has now released.

[BaiHu]

IRS finally reveals list of tea party groups targeted for extra scrutiny (http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jun/5/irs-reveals-list-of-tea-party-groups-targeted-for-/)
What? Was there a problem? Lol!

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[Drang]

Necro-thread revival, to share this: Judicial Watch Obtains IRS Documents Revealing McCain’s Subcommittee Staff Director Urged IRS to Engage in "Financially Ruinous" Targeting - Judicial Watch (https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-obtains-irs-documents-revealing-mccains-subcommittee-staff-director-urged-irs-to-engage-in-financially-ruinous-targeting/)
(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch today released newly obtained internal IRS documents, including material revealing that Sen. John McCain’s former staff director and chief counsel on the Senate Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee, Henry Kerner, urged top IRS officials, including then-director of exempt organizations Lois Lerner, to “audit so many that it becomes financially ruinous.” Kerner was appointed by President Trump as Special Counsel for the United States Office of Special Counsel.

The explosive exchange was contained in notes taken by IRS employees at an April 30, 2013, meeting between Kerner, Lerner, and other high-ranking IRS officials. Just ten days following the meeting, former IRS director of exempt organizations Lois Lerner admitted that the IRS had a policy of improperly and deliberately delaying applications for tax-exempt status from conservative non-profit groups.

[Suvorov]

Necro-thread revival, to share this: Judicial Watch Obtains IRS Documents Revealing McCain’s Subcommittee Staff Director Urged IRS to Engage in "Financially Ruinous" Targeting - Judicial Watch (https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-obtains-irs-documents-revealing-mccains-subcommittee-staff-director-urged-irs-to-engage-in-financially-ruinous-targeting/)

Wow..........

I was no fan of President Obama and did not vote for him either time - but I often wonder if liberty didn't dodge the bigger bullet in McCain (who I also didn't vote for).

[Drang]

Wow..........

I was no fan of President Obama and did not vote for him either time - but I often wonder if liberty didn't dodge the bigger bullet in McCain (who I also didn't vote for).

McCain's office is now denying these reports, but I have been thinking the same thing. I guess the ones who called him "The Manchurian Candidate"' were more accurate than the ones calling him "Col. Tigh"...

[blues]

The most unfortunate thing, from my own point of view, is not that some politician or his staff might look to influence the activity of a federal agency. I sort of expect these things from pols. That is unfortunate in its own right. No doubt.

What disturbs me more, however, is that any federal employee would follow what is tantamount to an unlawful order under the circumstances...and / or not take steps to try to put an end to it. (They all take an oath to defend the Constitution.)

I'm no hero but I've stood up to agency management, bureaucrats as well as the DOJ, both as an LEO and earlier in my federal service and lived to tell the tale. (And it feels good to do the right thing...employment worries notwithstanding.)

I'm sure there are many good people who stand up to the abuse of authority. Unfortunately, we don't hear about them enough. (And sometimes when we do, they have been savaged by the powers that be in order to protect themselves from further scrutiny.)


“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men should do nothing.”

[OnionsAndDragons]

The most unfortunate thing, from my own point of view, is not that some politician or his staff might look to influence the activity of a federal agency. I sort of expect these things from pols. That is unfortunate in its own right. No doubt.

What disturbs me more, however, is that any federal employee would follow what is tantamount to an unlawful order under the circumstances...and / or not take steps to try to put an end to it. (They all take an oath to defend the Constitution.)

I'm no hero but I've stood up to agency management, bureaucrats as well as the DOJ, both as an LEO and earlier in my federal service and lived to tell the tale. (And it feels good to do the right thing...employment worries notwithstanding.)

I'm sure there are many good people who stand up to the abuse of authority. Unfortunately, we don't hear about them enough. (And sometimes when we do, they have been savaged by the powers that be in order to protect themselves from further scrutiny.)

Exactly.

The previous administration was particularly hostile to whistleblowers, and it highly doubt the current to be much better.


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