◼ Public Rapes Outrage Brazil, Testing Ideas of Image and Class - NY Times
A recent wave of rapes in Rio — some captured on video cameras — have cast a spotlight on the unresolved contradictions of a nation that is coming of age as a world power. Brazil has a woman as president, a woman as a powerful police commander and a woman as the head of its national oil company — and yet, it was not until an American was raped that the authorities got fully involved and arrested suspects in the case.
In some ways, Brazil’s experience echoes recent events in India and Egypt, where horrific attacks have prompted outrage and soul searching, revealing deep fissures in each society. In Brazil, it has unleashed a debate about whether the authorities are more concerned about defending the privileged and Rio’s international image than about protecting women at large.
In India, the recent death of a student, who was gang-raped as her male companion was beaten on a bus under similar circumstances, has highlighted a prevailing view that women, no matter how much progress they make, are still fair game, unprotected by an ineffectual government.
And in Egypt, where the collapse of the old police state has led to an outbreak of sexual assaults in Tahrir Square in Cairo, some newly emboldened conservative Islamists publicly blame the women, saying they put themselves in harm’s way.
It is perhaps paradoxical that the issue has popped up so forcefully in Brazil, a country that has gone to great lengths to protect and promote women’s rights. There are special cars for women to ride on trains to avoid being groped, as in parts of India. There are special police stations here staffed largely by women. And there is a general view that holds women as equal, fully capable of excelling in even the most powerful posts.
“We’re living a schizophrenic situation, in which important advances have been made in women reaching positions of influence in our society,” said Rogéria Peixinho, a director of the Brazilian Women’s Network, a rights group here. “At the same time, the situation for many women who are poor remains atrocious.”
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Humboldt Bay Harbor Working Group Luncheon Wednesday, May 29 - RSVP by Monday May 27
◼ Wednesday, May 29th 12-1:30 at the Samoa Cookhouse.To RSVP, Email: Susana Munzell: S.munzell@Yahoo.com or call 497-6137
May's Guest Speaker, Jack Crider on Projects and Priorities
12:00 p.m. Sign in
12:30 p.m. Introductions/Lunch
12:45 p.m. Powerpoint Presentation
1:15 p.m. Comments/questions
1:30 p.m. Close
Labels:
Business,
Get Involved,
HBHWG,
Humboldt County
Jon Stewart Blasts IRS Testimony
After a day of testimony from IRS officials on how Tea Party groups were unfairly scrutinized for tax exempt status, Jon Stewart was left with one basic question: “Does anyone here know what the hell happened?”
Labels:
Conservatives,
Investigations,
IRS,
Jon Stewart,
Scandals,
Tea Party
GOP on rise in CA?
◼ A Farmers' Rebellion Lifts the California GOP - Alyssia Finley/Wall St. Journal ◼ Via Drudge
An election upset could send a pro-business Republican to Sacramento and give hope to the moribund state party.
Democrats were writing obituaries for California's GOP after winning a supermajority in the state legislature last November, thus gaining veto-proof power to raise taxes. But their legislative lock may have slipped after this week's special election in which Republican farmer Andy Vidak appears to have defeated a Democrat—in a heavily Democratic senate district—who had championed high-speed rail and a higher minimum wage.
If Mr. Vidak wins an outright majority—late Friday, he led with 49.8% of the vote and provisional ballots were still being counted—his victory would put Republicans two senate seats short of reclaiming their veto on tax hikes. But more important, the election has exposed the Democrats' soft underbelly in California's Central Valley—a no man's land in state politics—and given Republicans a rallying point.
An election upset could send a pro-business Republican to Sacramento and give hope to the moribund state party.
Democrats were writing obituaries for California's GOP after winning a supermajority in the state legislature last November, thus gaining veto-proof power to raise taxes. But their legislative lock may have slipped after this week's special election in which Republican farmer Andy Vidak appears to have defeated a Democrat—in a heavily Democratic senate district—who had championed high-speed rail and a higher minimum wage.
If Mr. Vidak wins an outright majority—late Friday, he led with 49.8% of the vote and provisional ballots were still being counted—his victory would put Republicans two senate seats short of reclaiming their veto on tax hikes. But more important, the election has exposed the Democrats' soft underbelly in California's Central Valley—a no man's land in state politics—and given Republicans a rallying point.
Labels:
California,
CRP
Lawmakers zero in on IRS meetings at White House
◼ Top IRS officials, whose agency was under investigation for targeting conservative groups, visited the Obama White House more than 100 times over two years while the probe was going on, far more often than in previous administrations and frequently enough that Republicans suspect White House officials knew about the targeting. - Susan Ferrechio/Washington Examiner
Labels:
Investigations,
IRS,
Scandals
Jerry Brown disguises fear of CTA with pretentious babble
President Barack Obama on Thursday defended his administration’s use of drone strikes to kill terrorists as effective, lawful and “heavily constrained,” but he also appeared to be laying groundwork for an expansion of the controversial targeted killings
◼ Obama drone oversight proposal prompts concern over 'kill courts' - Guardian
Human rights groups wary after president asks Congress to establish special court or board to authorise legal drone action
Happy Memorial Day weekend! Hope you're kicking off the summer with friends, family, and of course, the Kinetic Sculpture Race!
We love this image from the official race site.
Labels:
Holidays
As Stockholm Riots Move Into Fifth Day, Press's Aversion to the M-Word ('Muslim') to Describe Those Involved Is Nearly Unanimous
◼ A Google News search on "Sweden riots" done tonight at 10 PM ET (not in quotes, sorted by date, with duplicates) returned 314 items. Adding the word "Muslim" to the search reduced the number of results to nine. Fewer than a handful are from establishment press outlets, and one of those only appeared in the search results because a commenter and not the story's writer used the M-word. - Tom Blumer/Newsbusters
That pretty much tells you all you need to know about the determined denial of reality in which the worldwide press is engaged in reporting riots in the suburbs of Stockholm, which have entered their fifth day....
As long as I've been blogging (examples from 2005 are here and here), the worldwide press's refusal to report the truth about who participates in Europe's riots when they occur has consistently avoided reality, and worse, has tagged people who dare tell the truth about what's happening as "far-right," as the AP's Rising did to the Swedeish Democrats in an unexcerpted paragraph. A December 2011 AP report called the Swedish Democrats "the radical right."
When Sweden crumbles -- and make no mistake, it is heading in that direction -- we'll see who was really "radical."
◼ ‘They don’t want to integrate’: Fifth night of youth rioting rocks Stockholm - RT
Youth gang riots in the Swedish capital Stockholm have entered fifth straight night. Hundreds of mostly immigrant teenagers tore through the suburbs, smashing windows and burning cars in the country’s worst outbreak of violence in years.
At least six vehicles were torched throughout the city late on Thursday while the police called for reinforcements from other Swedish cities bracing for further unrest.
Firefighters were putting out flames that engulfed several cars and a school in immigrant-dominated areas of Stockholm....
Stockholm firefighters were busy throughout the night, saying they had “never before seen so many fires raging at the same time.” Some 90 blazes were reported in total, most of them reportedly caused by the rioters....
That pretty much tells you all you need to know about the determined denial of reality in which the worldwide press is engaged in reporting riots in the suburbs of Stockholm, which have entered their fifth day....
As long as I've been blogging (examples from 2005 are here and here), the worldwide press's refusal to report the truth about who participates in Europe's riots when they occur has consistently avoided reality, and worse, has tagged people who dare tell the truth about what's happening as "far-right," as the AP's Rising did to the Swedeish Democrats in an unexcerpted paragraph. A December 2011 AP report called the Swedish Democrats "the radical right."
When Sweden crumbles -- and make no mistake, it is heading in that direction -- we'll see who was really "radical."
◼ ‘They don’t want to integrate’: Fifth night of youth rioting rocks Stockholm - RT
Youth gang riots in the Swedish capital Stockholm have entered fifth straight night. Hundreds of mostly immigrant teenagers tore through the suburbs, smashing windows and burning cars in the country’s worst outbreak of violence in years.
At least six vehicles were torched throughout the city late on Thursday while the police called for reinforcements from other Swedish cities bracing for further unrest.
Firefighters were putting out flames that engulfed several cars and a school in immigrant-dominated areas of Stockholm....
Stockholm firefighters were busy throughout the night, saying they had “never before seen so many fires raging at the same time.” Some 90 blazes were reported in total, most of them reportedly caused by the rioters....
After a week of car-burning immigrant riots, Stockholm police take action, put parking tickets on cars expressen.se/nyheter/polise… h/t @darnell
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) May 25, 2013
Labels:
International News,
Islam/Muslim,
riots,
Sweden,
Violence
CFRW Capitol Update: Saturday, May 25, 2013
President’s Message
If these words were ever meaningful it has to be at this time in our history. Each day we read in the newspaper and hear from the media of the scandals emanating from our leaders. We need guidance from above. We need leaders who have faith in our country and are not afraid to ask for help from a higher power.
We saw what power we possess this past week as CFRW Members throughout the state joined in force to elect Andy Videk to the California Senate. When he first announced he was running, the odds were not in his favor, but pulling together we did it.
This weekend we honor those who have served our country not only in the military, but just by living. Memorial Day or as I knew it as a child "Decoration Day" was anticipated with great excitement. First we look forward to the parade, standing proud as our great flag was carried past, by the American Legion. Next, we were off to the cemetery to put flowers or flags on the graves of our ancestors. I remember my mom and dad sharing stories about those who were no longer here. Picnics filled out the remainder of the day and topping off the celebration were the fireworks at the park.
This year many of our Federation members and Clubs will be putting flowers or flags on the graves of those who served us to keep us free.
Sad thing is many parades have been eliminated and huge celebrations have gone to SALES, SALES AND MORE SALES. Do our youth even know what this holiday stands for? Do you share the contributions made by their ancestors to allow them to live in this beautiful country? I am so thankful for the freedoms I have. I am thankful for those who have served this wonderful, beautiful country past and present.
Yes, God Bless America this day and every day. God bless each and every one of you as you work to preserve this land we love and live in.
YOU ARE THE BEST OF THE BEST
ONE TEAM, ONE PURPOSE, ONE GOAL
Thank you for allowing me to serve you,
Carol Hadley
◼ CFRW President
Deadlines Fast Approaching
Next Friday is the House of Origin deadline, meaning that bills introduced in either the Assembly or the Senate must be passed out of their respective houses in order to survive and move along their bill journey. That means that this week the bills that were holed up in the Senate and Assembly Appropriations Committees needed to pass out of that committee to be heard on the floors of their house of origin next week. Yesterday and today the Senate and Assembly Appropriations Committees heard the bills stuck in the “Suspense File.” The Suspense File holds bills “that would have a fiscal impact in any single fiscal year from the General Fund or from private funds of $50,000 or more. Bills that establish a pilot project or program shall be referred to the Suspense File if the statewide implementation of the project or program would result in a fiscal impact of $50,000 or more in any single fiscal year from the General Fund or private funds.” The Senate had a slate of 257 suspense file bills while the Assembly had 328. The Sacramento Bee reported that all of the Assembly members with 5 or more bills in the suspense file are Democrats. The Senate Appropriations Committee killed 72 bills, many of them tax increases. Luckily these bills will not move forward this session, saving the state $5 billion in new taxes. Next week will be the final judgment place for many bills if they fail to pass the Assembly or Senate floors. Stay tuned!
CFRW Bills on the Floor
Several CFRW supported bills met their demise in their first committees. Those killed silently by Democrats were AB 67 (Olsen, R), AB 70 (Morell, R), and AB 181 (Logue, R). As you will recall, AB 67 would have used Prop 30 funds as they were intended by holding tuition for UC and CSU students at its current rate and not increasing it until 2017. AB 67 was held in the Assembly Appropriations Suspense File, effectively killing it without a vote. AB 70 would have established a 72 hour public notification period on the final budget bill before the legislature could vote on it. Every session Republicans sponsor this bill hoping Democrats will vote for governmental transparency and every session the Democrats kill it in committee. Finally, AB 181 would have established a very valuable pilot program for college students that would create a baccalaureate degree program for $10,000 in 18 months in the science, technology, math or engineering fields. Democrats didn’t like this idea either and killed it in committee.
Now there are several harmful bills on the Senate and Assembly floors waiting for their vote. Please contact YOUR ASSEMBLY MEMBER or SENATOR and let them know we OPPOSE the following bills:
SB 1 (Steinberg, D): This bill would allow regional governments to create “Sustainable Community Investment Authorities,” an unelected governing body with no voter oversight or approval. These “SCIAs” will be ruled under Community Redevelopment Law, essentially recreating Redevelopment Agencies with the ability to use tax increment funds and eminent domain without voter approval.
SB 11 (Pavely, D): SB 11 would establish a hydrogen fuel network to the tune of $20 million per year with new fee increases on tires, smog abatement, and vehicle registration. It would also mandate that the state use a certain number of hydrogen fuel vehicles in its fleet.
SB 47 (Yee, D): SB 47 expands the definition of an “assault weapon” to include all weapons without a “fixed magazine.” If you own such a weapon that falls within the new definition, you must register your weapon with the Department of Justice with a registration fee of $20 per weapon.
AB 48 (Skinner, D): This bill expands the definition of a “large capacity magazine” to include any ammunition feeding device with the capacity to hold 10 rounds or more, “including a disassembled large-capacity magazine that is readily restorable, as defined, to accommodate more than 10 rounds of ammunition, and an oversize magazine body that appears to hold in excess of 10 rounds but has not been permanently altered to only accommodate 10 rounds of ammunition or less.” It would make it a misdemeanor to own, sell, manufacture or lend such devices.
AB 154 (Atkins, D): This bill would allow mid-level healthcare professionals- nurse practitioners, physician’s assistants and midwives- to perform abortions by aspiration techniques, given they have the proper training.
CALL YOUR SENATOR AND ASSEMBLY MEMBER TODAY AND TELL THEM TO VOTE NO!! ◼ Find your representatives HERE.
__________________
We are proud to be part of the California Federation of Republican Women (CFRW), and the National Federation of Republican Women (NFRW), the largest women’s political volunteer organization in the nation.
When you join Humboldt Republican Women, Federated, you're joining forces with women throughout the state and across the nation, women who share your ideals and your goals for our country.
“While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,-Words and Music by Irving Berlin
Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free,
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer.
God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Through the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home.”
If these words were ever meaningful it has to be at this time in our history. Each day we read in the newspaper and hear from the media of the scandals emanating from our leaders. We need guidance from above. We need leaders who have faith in our country and are not afraid to ask for help from a higher power.
We saw what power we possess this past week as CFRW Members throughout the state joined in force to elect Andy Videk to the California Senate. When he first announced he was running, the odds were not in his favor, but pulling together we did it.
This weekend we honor those who have served our country not only in the military, but just by living. Memorial Day or as I knew it as a child "Decoration Day" was anticipated with great excitement. First we look forward to the parade, standing proud as our great flag was carried past, by the American Legion. Next, we were off to the cemetery to put flowers or flags on the graves of our ancestors. I remember my mom and dad sharing stories about those who were no longer here. Picnics filled out the remainder of the day and topping off the celebration were the fireworks at the park.
This year many of our Federation members and Clubs will be putting flowers or flags on the graves of those who served us to keep us free.
Sad thing is many parades have been eliminated and huge celebrations have gone to SALES, SALES AND MORE SALES. Do our youth even know what this holiday stands for? Do you share the contributions made by their ancestors to allow them to live in this beautiful country? I am so thankful for the freedoms I have. I am thankful for those who have served this wonderful, beautiful country past and present.
Yes, God Bless America this day and every day. God bless each and every one of you as you work to preserve this land we love and live in.
YOU ARE THE BEST OF THE BEST
ONE TEAM, ONE PURPOSE, ONE GOAL
Thank you for allowing me to serve you,
Carol Hadley
◼ CFRW President
Deadlines Fast Approaching
Next Friday is the House of Origin deadline, meaning that bills introduced in either the Assembly or the Senate must be passed out of their respective houses in order to survive and move along their bill journey. That means that this week the bills that were holed up in the Senate and Assembly Appropriations Committees needed to pass out of that committee to be heard on the floors of their house of origin next week. Yesterday and today the Senate and Assembly Appropriations Committees heard the bills stuck in the “Suspense File.” The Suspense File holds bills “that would have a fiscal impact in any single fiscal year from the General Fund or from private funds of $50,000 or more. Bills that establish a pilot project or program shall be referred to the Suspense File if the statewide implementation of the project or program would result in a fiscal impact of $50,000 or more in any single fiscal year from the General Fund or private funds.” The Senate had a slate of 257 suspense file bills while the Assembly had 328. The Sacramento Bee reported that all of the Assembly members with 5 or more bills in the suspense file are Democrats. The Senate Appropriations Committee killed 72 bills, many of them tax increases. Luckily these bills will not move forward this session, saving the state $5 billion in new taxes. Next week will be the final judgment place for many bills if they fail to pass the Assembly or Senate floors. Stay tuned!
CFRW Bills on the Floor
Several CFRW supported bills met their demise in their first committees. Those killed silently by Democrats were AB 67 (Olsen, R), AB 70 (Morell, R), and AB 181 (Logue, R). As you will recall, AB 67 would have used Prop 30 funds as they were intended by holding tuition for UC and CSU students at its current rate and not increasing it until 2017. AB 67 was held in the Assembly Appropriations Suspense File, effectively killing it without a vote. AB 70 would have established a 72 hour public notification period on the final budget bill before the legislature could vote on it. Every session Republicans sponsor this bill hoping Democrats will vote for governmental transparency and every session the Democrats kill it in committee. Finally, AB 181 would have established a very valuable pilot program for college students that would create a baccalaureate degree program for $10,000 in 18 months in the science, technology, math or engineering fields. Democrats didn’t like this idea either and killed it in committee.
Now there are several harmful bills on the Senate and Assembly floors waiting for their vote. Please contact YOUR ASSEMBLY MEMBER or SENATOR and let them know we OPPOSE the following bills:
SB 1 (Steinberg, D): This bill would allow regional governments to create “Sustainable Community Investment Authorities,” an unelected governing body with no voter oversight or approval. These “SCIAs” will be ruled under Community Redevelopment Law, essentially recreating Redevelopment Agencies with the ability to use tax increment funds and eminent domain without voter approval.
SB 11 (Pavely, D): SB 11 would establish a hydrogen fuel network to the tune of $20 million per year with new fee increases on tires, smog abatement, and vehicle registration. It would also mandate that the state use a certain number of hydrogen fuel vehicles in its fleet.
SB 47 (Yee, D): SB 47 expands the definition of an “assault weapon” to include all weapons without a “fixed magazine.” If you own such a weapon that falls within the new definition, you must register your weapon with the Department of Justice with a registration fee of $20 per weapon.
AB 48 (Skinner, D): This bill expands the definition of a “large capacity magazine” to include any ammunition feeding device with the capacity to hold 10 rounds or more, “including a disassembled large-capacity magazine that is readily restorable, as defined, to accommodate more than 10 rounds of ammunition, and an oversize magazine body that appears to hold in excess of 10 rounds but has not been permanently altered to only accommodate 10 rounds of ammunition or less.” It would make it a misdemeanor to own, sell, manufacture or lend such devices.
AB 154 (Atkins, D): This bill would allow mid-level healthcare professionals- nurse practitioners, physician’s assistants and midwives- to perform abortions by aspiration techniques, given they have the proper training.
CALL YOUR SENATOR AND ASSEMBLY MEMBER TODAY AND TELL THEM TO VOTE NO!! ◼ Find your representatives HERE.
We are proud to be part of the California Federation of Republican Women (CFRW), and the National Federation of Republican Women (NFRW), the largest women’s political volunteer organization in the nation.
When you join Humboldt Republican Women, Federated, you're joining forces with women throughout the state and across the nation, women who share your ideals and your goals for our country.
Labels:
California Legislation,
Capitol Update,
CFRW
The grilling of Apple is best understood as a shakedown by politicians upset with Apple for not playing the Washington game that yields contributions, power, and personal wealth for congressmen and their aides.
◼ Apple becomes latest target of the Beltway Shakedown - Timothy P. Carney/Washington Examiner @TPCarney
Apple doesn't have a political action committee to fund incumbents' re-elections. Apple doesn't hire many congressional staff or any former congressmen as lobbyists. Apple mostly minds its own business -- and how does that help the political class?
...The thing to watch now: Does Apple make peace with Washington? Does it start a PAC? Does it hire the Podesta Group and employ Levin's aides?
Or will Apple try to stand up to the Beltway Shakedown.
◼ Rand Paul blasts Congress for attacking Apple over taxes - RT
Sen. Rand Paul is outraged that Congress held a hearing to “bully one of America’s greatest success stories.” The Kentucky lawmaker believes Apple was unfairly targeted for trying to minimize its taxes, and that the company is owed an apology.
“It’s absurd for Congress to vilify businesses like Apply for wanting to minimize their tax code just like every other American rightly does,” Paul wrote on his Twitter account after the hearing.
“If you want to chase companies like Apple away, continue to vilify them,” he wrote in a separate Tweet. “Congress should be giving Apple an award today.”
...“Tell me one of these politicians up here who doesn’t minimize their taxes,” Paul told the committee. “Tell me what Apple’s done that’s illegal… I’m offended by the spectacle of dragging in American companies for doing something that isn’t illegal.”
Paul also said that “if anyone should be on trial, it should be Congress.”
...Paul continued to stand by his beliefs, blaming Congress for creating a “bizarre and byzantine” tax code that created the mess and going after an American job provider that employs 600,000 people.
◼ Rand Paul Goes Nuclear on "Spectacle" Hearing on Apple's Taxes - Kevin Glass/Townhall
Apple doesn't have a political action committee to fund incumbents' re-elections. Apple doesn't hire many congressional staff or any former congressmen as lobbyists. Apple mostly minds its own business -- and how does that help the political class?
...The thing to watch now: Does Apple make peace with Washington? Does it start a PAC? Does it hire the Podesta Group and employ Levin's aides?
Or will Apple try to stand up to the Beltway Shakedown.
◼ Rand Paul blasts Congress for attacking Apple over taxes - RT
Sen. Rand Paul is outraged that Congress held a hearing to “bully one of America’s greatest success stories.” The Kentucky lawmaker believes Apple was unfairly targeted for trying to minimize its taxes, and that the company is owed an apology.
“It’s absurd for Congress to vilify businesses like Apply for wanting to minimize their tax code just like every other American rightly does,” Paul wrote on his Twitter account after the hearing.
“If you want to chase companies like Apple away, continue to vilify them,” he wrote in a separate Tweet. “Congress should be giving Apple an award today.”
...“Tell me one of these politicians up here who doesn’t minimize their taxes,” Paul told the committee. “Tell me what Apple’s done that’s illegal… I’m offended by the spectacle of dragging in American companies for doing something that isn’t illegal.”
Paul also said that “if anyone should be on trial, it should be Congress.”
...Paul continued to stand by his beliefs, blaming Congress for creating a “bizarre and byzantine” tax code that created the mess and going after an American job provider that employs 600,000 people.
◼ Rand Paul Goes Nuclear on "Spectacle" Hearing on Apple's Taxes - Kevin Glass/Townhall
Labels:
Apple,
Rand Paul,
Washington D.C.
"I don't know." "I don't remember." "I'm not familiar with that detail." "It's not my precise area." "I'm not familiar with that letter."
◼ A Battering Ram Becomes a Stonewall - Peggy Noonan/Wall St. Journal
These are quotes from the Internal Revenue Service officials who testified this week before the House and Senate. That is the authentic sound of stonewalling, and from the kind of people who run Washington in the modern age—smooth, highly credentialed and unaccountable. They're surrounded by legal and employment protections, they know how to parse a careful response, they know how to blur the essential point of a question in a blizzard of unconnected factoids. They came across as people arrogant enough to target Americans for abuse and harassment and think they'd get away with it.
So what did we learn the past week, and what are the essentials to keep in mind?
We learned the people who ran and run the IRS are not going to help Congress find out what happened in the IRS.... We have learned that Lois Lerner lied when she claimed she had spontaneously admitted the targeting in a Q-and-A at a Washington meeting. It was part of a spin operation in which she'd planted the question with a friend....
We know that Lois Lerner this week announced she'd done nothing wrong, and then took the Fifth.
And we know Jay Leno, grown interestingly fearless, said of the new IRS commissioner, "They're called 'acting commissioner' because you have to act like the scandal doesn't involve the White House."
...An independent counsel, with all the powers of that office, is what we need.
Again, if what happened at the IRS is not stopped now—if the internal corruption within it is not broken—it will never stop, and never be broken. The American people will never again be able to have the slightest confidence in the revenue-gathering arm of their government. And that, actually, would be tragic.
These are quotes from the Internal Revenue Service officials who testified this week before the House and Senate. That is the authentic sound of stonewalling, and from the kind of people who run Washington in the modern age—smooth, highly credentialed and unaccountable. They're surrounded by legal and employment protections, they know how to parse a careful response, they know how to blur the essential point of a question in a blizzard of unconnected factoids. They came across as people arrogant enough to target Americans for abuse and harassment and think they'd get away with it.
So what did we learn the past week, and what are the essentials to keep in mind?
We learned the people who ran and run the IRS are not going to help Congress find out what happened in the IRS.... We have learned that Lois Lerner lied when she claimed she had spontaneously admitted the targeting in a Q-and-A at a Washington meeting. It was part of a spin operation in which she'd planted the question with a friend....
We know that Lois Lerner this week announced she'd done nothing wrong, and then took the Fifth.
And we know Jay Leno, grown interestingly fearless, said of the new IRS commissioner, "They're called 'acting commissioner' because you have to act like the scandal doesn't involve the White House."
...An independent counsel, with all the powers of that office, is what we need.
Again, if what happened at the IRS is not stopped now—if the internal corruption within it is not broken—it will never stop, and never be broken. The American people will never again be able to have the slightest confidence in the revenue-gathering arm of their government. And that, actually, would be tragic.
Labels:
ABUSE OF POWER,
Investigations,
IRS,
Jay Leno,
Lois Lerner,
Missing emails,
Peggy Noonan,
Scandals,
TrueTheVote
Friday, May 24, 2013
True the Vote is suing IRS employees personally, including Lois Lerner
◼ Lois Lerner, Slapped With Lawsuit Papers at Home - J. Christian Adams/PJMedia
Labels:
Campaign tactics,
Conservatives,
Investigations,
IRS,
Lawsuits,
Lois Lerner,
Missing emails,
Scandals,
Tea Party
REVEALED: OBAMA DONOR SAT IN ON IG INTERVIEWS WITH IRS EMPLOYEES
◼ On Wednesday, House hearings on the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) political targeting of conservative groups uncovered a startling revelation about the interview process used to construct the Inspector General’s report: Obama donor-turned-IRS director of tax exempt organizations Holly Paz sat in on 36 of 41 interviews with IRS employees. - Wynton Hall/Breitbart
“Why was Holly Paz... in almost all of the interviews you conducted?” asked Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC). “Why would you have someone from the IRS in those meetings? Is that proper protocol?”
“I am unaware of it,” said Inspector General J. Russell George. “This is the first I’ve heard this.”
George then requested time to research the revelation. “This is the first time that I was made aware of this,” said George.
George then clarified he and his agency performed an audit, not an investigation.
“The operative word, Mr. Chairman, is audit,” said George. “It was not conducted as an investigation.”
Still, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) seemed unsettled that Paz was allowed to sit in on the IG’s interviews of IRS employees.
“Usually when you are conducting an investigation—I know this was an audit, I got that—you want to keep your witnesses separate because you’re in search of the truth and you are trying to make sure there’s no advantage of a person hearing what somebody else said,” said Cummings. “That’s pretty standard procedure.”
◼ Documents: Lois Lerner Was Directly Involved in Targeting Program - Guy Benson/Townhall
“Why was Holly Paz... in almost all of the interviews you conducted?” asked Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC). “Why would you have someone from the IRS in those meetings? Is that proper protocol?”
“I am unaware of it,” said Inspector General J. Russell George. “This is the first I’ve heard this.”
George then requested time to research the revelation. “This is the first time that I was made aware of this,” said George.
George then clarified he and his agency performed an audit, not an investigation.
“The operative word, Mr. Chairman, is audit,” said George. “It was not conducted as an investigation.”
Still, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) seemed unsettled that Paz was allowed to sit in on the IG’s interviews of IRS employees.
“Usually when you are conducting an investigation—I know this was an audit, I got that—you want to keep your witnesses separate because you’re in search of the truth and you are trying to make sure there’s no advantage of a person hearing what somebody else said,” said Cummings. “That’s pretty standard procedure.”
◼ Documents: Lois Lerner Was Directly Involved in Targeting Program - Guy Benson/Townhall
Benghazi Investigation Deepens:
Lawmakers Seek Interviews of 13 Officials Involved
◼ Benghazi Investigation Deepens: Lawmakers Seek Interviews of 13 Officials Involved - Stephen F. Hayes/Weekly Standard
◼ Who Outed the CIA Annex in Benghazi? - Eli Lake/Daily Beast
In a classified hearing, a House panel is trying to figure out how the attack transpired. Did the attackers know that secret location, or did they learn it that night?
◼ White House Spins Obama’s Role in Benghazi: From Competence to Irrelevance (VIDEO) - Helle Dale/Heritage Foundry
◼ Obama nominates Nuland for assistant secretary of state - Politico
President Obama on Thursday nominated Victoria Nuland, a State Department official involved in the editing of the administration's talking points on Benghazi, to be the next assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs.
Nuland, a career foreign service officer who was until recently State's top spokesperson, had long been expected to be nominated the post to replace Philip Gordon, who Obama picked to serve as Middle East coordinator for the National Security Council.
Nuland's nomination -- which requires Senate confirmation -- could come under scrutiny from Republicans who see her as playing a central role in shaping the talking points that U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice used when she appeared on Sunday shows several days after the attack on a U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, that left four Americans dead.
◼ Who Outed the CIA Annex in Benghazi? - Eli Lake/Daily Beast
In a classified hearing, a House panel is trying to figure out how the attack transpired. Did the attackers know that secret location, or did they learn it that night?
◼ White House Spins Obama’s Role in Benghazi: From Competence to Irrelevance (VIDEO) - Helle Dale/Heritage Foundry
◼ Obama nominates Nuland for assistant secretary of state - Politico
President Obama on Thursday nominated Victoria Nuland, a State Department official involved in the editing of the administration's talking points on Benghazi, to be the next assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs.
Nuland, a career foreign service officer who was until recently State's top spokesperson, had long been expected to be nominated the post to replace Philip Gordon, who Obama picked to serve as Middle East coordinator for the National Security Council.
Nuland's nomination -- which requires Senate confirmation -- could come under scrutiny from Republicans who see her as playing a central role in shaping the talking points that U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice used when she appeared on Sunday shows several days after the attack on a U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, that left four Americans dead.
“Fox News has changed its slogan from
‘Fair and Balanced’ to ‘See, I told you so!’”
Says Jay Leno
Labels:
FOX,
Investigations,
Jay Leno,
Scandals
What does ICYMI mean?
ICYMI is "In Case You Missed It" TAFN (That's All For Now)
Labels:
Facebook/Twitter,
Internet
Dean Boyd, a Justice Department spokesperson, told POLITICO, “To our knowledge, the Justice Department has never ‘compromised’ Ms. Atkisson’s computers, or otherwise sought any information from or concerning any telephone, computer or other media device she may own or use.”
◼ The Sharyl Attkisson approach - Politico
“...You ask what makes Sharyl tick: It’s that she’s highly skeptical of people in power, and right now the people in power are Democrats,” one source said. “I don’t see her as an agenda-driven reporter.”
“[Attkisson believes] that public officials and federal officials work for us, and that it’s gotten to the point where they don’t believe that they should be held accountable,” another source said. “That’s not partisan.”
Labels:
AP,
Benghazi,
CBS,
FastandFurious,
Investigations,
Media bias,
Media Matters,
Scandals,
Sharyl Attkisson,
Solyndra
BREAKING: DOJ Confirms Holder Personally "Vetted" Rosen Warrant
◼ A damaging Friday news dump before a holiday weekend? Who could have seen that coming? Dump away, Justice Department: - Guy Benson/Townhall
The Justice Department said on Friday that officials up to Attorney General Eric Holder vetted a decision to search an email account belonging to a Fox News reporter whose report on North Korea prompted a leak investigation. In a statement emailed to Reuters, the department said the search warrant for the reporter's email account followed all laws and policies and won the independent approval of a federal magistrate judge.We're apparently supposed to feel better about everything because the DOJ "followed all laws and policies" and secured their warrant from a judge. That would be the same warrant that designated journalist James Rosen as a potential "criminal co-conspirator" in order to keep it secret. Details about the breadth of the investigation continue to emerge. Via The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza, another eye-opening scoop:
The Obama Administration fought to keep a search warrant for James Rosen’s private e-mail account secret, arguing to a federal judge that the government might need to monitor the account for a lengthy period of time...Ronald C. Machen, Jr., the U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, a former State Department adviser who allegedly leaked classified information to Rosen, insisted that the reporter should not be notified of the search and seizure of his e-mails, even after a lengthy delay...He argued that disclosure of the search warrant would preclude the government from monitoring the account, should such a step become necessary in the investigation. Machen added that “some investigations are continued for many years because, while the evidence is not yet sufficient to bring charges, it is sufficient to have identified criminal subjects and/or criminal activity serious enough to justify continuation of the investigation.” The new details indicate that the government wanted the option to search Rosen’s e-mails repeatedly if the F.B.I. found further evidence implicating the reporter in what prosecutors argued was a conspiracy to commit espionage...In addition to Rosen’s correspondence with Kim, the government wanted to know about Rosen’s contacts with other government officials, including “records or information relating to the Author’s communication with any other source or potential source of the information disclosed in the Article.”One stunner after the next. The Justice Department wanted to "repeatedly" monitor Rosen's personal emails for a "lengthy period of time" -- years possibly -- in order to track his "contacts with other government officials" beyond the source at the center of the North Korea leak investigation.
◼ We already knew that he signed the warrant for Rosen’s e-mails. Now we know for sure that it wasn’t pro forma. President Good Government announced yesterday that he’s ordered the Attorney General to review the DOJ’s guidelines for snooping on reporters. Imagine how dismayed Eric Holder will be when he finds out what Eric Holder’s done. - Allahpundit/HotAir
That’s not all. Per Ryan Lizza, the DOJ appealed and won in 2010 after a district court judge ruled that they couldn’t keep their e-mail snooping a secret from Rosen. Why was the DOJ so worried about Rosen finding out? Because: They wanted to maintain access to his e-mail accounts, indefinitely if necessary, to flush out more evidence of leaking. And that’s why Rosen didn’t find out until a few days ago that he was being spied on.
◼ HOW PROSECUTORS FOUGHT TO KEEP ROSEN’S WARRANT SECRET - Ryan Lizza/The New Yorker
◼ Yup. Eric Holder Perjured Himself. - The Right Sphere
◼ Bombshell: News Corp. says it has no record of DOJ notification of Rosen subpoena - Twitchy
Wow, tonight's news dramatically escalates the war between DOJ and Fox. Somebody is not telling the whole truth.
— Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) May 27, 2013
The “tonight’s news” referred to by The New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza comes via the New York Times:
News Corporation said on Sunday that it had no record of being notified by the Justice Department nearly three years ago of a subpoena for the telephone records of a reporter at its Fox News cable channel [James Rosen].
The company’s chief legal counsel at the time also said that he had never seen material from the government related to the subpoena.
…
Lawrence A. Jacobs, who was News Corporation’s chief legal officer until he left in June 2011, said he never saw a notification about the phone records.
“I would have remembered getting a fax from the Justice Department,” Mr. Jacobs said in an interview Sunday. “These are not the kinds of things that happen every day.”
Previous media reports indicated that DOJ had notified News Corp.
Labels:
ABUSE OF POWER,
AP,
Dishonesty,
DOJ,
Eric Holder,
FOX,
Freedom of The Press
None of these can be viewed in isolation. For 5 years we have endured wide-ranging attempts to suppress conservative political speech. The IRS scandal is just one part of it.
◼ Team Obama’s dirty war against conservatives - Le-gal In-sur-rec-tion
◼ Conservatives Became Targets in 2008: The Obama campaign played a big role in a liberal onslaught that far pre-dated Citizens United. - Kimberley Strassel/Wall St. Journal
The White House insists President Obama is "outraged" by the "inappropriate" targeting and harassment of conservative groups. If true, it's a remarkable turnaround for a man who helped pioneer those tactics.
On Aug. 21, 2008, the conservative American Issues Project ran an ad highlighting ties between candidate Obama and Bill Ayers, formerly of the Weather Underground. The Obama campaign and supporters were furious, and they pressured TV stations to pull the ad—a common-enough tactic in such ad spats.
What came next was not common. Bob Bauer, general counsel for the campaign (and later general counsel for the White House), on the same day wrote to the criminal division of the Justice Department, demanding an investigation into AIP, "its officers and directors," and its "anonymous donors." Mr. Bauer claimed that the nonprofit, as a 501(c)(4), was committing a "knowing and willful violation" of election law, and wanted "action to enforce against criminal violations."
◼ A Culture of Hooliganism… Obama Goons Threatened 10,000 GOP Donors With Legal Trouble for Donating to Republicans - Jim Hoft/Gateway Pundit
The IRS scandal should surprise no one.
◼ Conservatives Became Targets in 2008: The Obama campaign played a big role in a liberal onslaught that far pre-dated Citizens United. - Kimberley Strassel/Wall St. Journal
The White House insists President Obama is "outraged" by the "inappropriate" targeting and harassment of conservative groups. If true, it's a remarkable turnaround for a man who helped pioneer those tactics.
On Aug. 21, 2008, the conservative American Issues Project ran an ad highlighting ties between candidate Obama and Bill Ayers, formerly of the Weather Underground. The Obama campaign and supporters were furious, and they pressured TV stations to pull the ad—a common-enough tactic in such ad spats.
What came next was not common. Bob Bauer, general counsel for the campaign (and later general counsel for the White House), on the same day wrote to the criminal division of the Justice Department, demanding an investigation into AIP, "its officers and directors," and its "anonymous donors." Mr. Bauer claimed that the nonprofit, as a 501(c)(4), was committing a "knowing and willful violation" of election law, and wanted "action to enforce against criminal violations."
◼ A Culture of Hooliganism… Obama Goons Threatened 10,000 GOP Donors With Legal Trouble for Donating to Republicans - Jim Hoft/Gateway Pundit
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.”Obama has a history of threatening and harassing political opponents.
The IRS scandal should surprise no one.
Did Eric Holder lie in Congressional testimony last week?
◼ That’s the question asked by Katie Pavlich and Jim Hoft after the revelation that Attorney General Eric Holder personally approved the application for a warrant on Fox News’ James Rosen as a potential co-conspirator in espionage. - HotAir
Last week, under relatively friendly questioning from Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) about the Department of Justice seizure of Associated Press phone records, Johnson asked about the potential to prosecute reporters under the Espionage Act of 1917. ”You’ve got a long way to go to try to prosecute the press for publication of material,” Holder responded. Later, though, he returned to the topic unbidden, ...(at the 5-minute mark): "In regard to potential prosecution of the press for the disclosure of material. This is not something I’ve ever been involved in, heard of, or would think would be wise policy."
As it turns out, Holder not only heard of it, he personally approved it. The warrant in the Rosen case specified that he was considered a potential suspect in the leak of classified material, the reason that the DoJ didn’t bother to follow the existing Watergate-era statute in coordinating the records request with Fox News. And note that Holder’s testimony in this case wasn’t produced by some sophisticated perjury trap sprung by a Republican, but as a freely-offered representation to no particular question during the question period of a Democrat.
There is no other way to view this except as a lie. Even if Holder wasn’t under oath, that would constitute a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. It certainly should produce at least a resignation, and almost assuredly would require the appointment of a special prosecutor, especially since the next person down in the organization, James Cole, is suspected of doing the same thing with reporters.
◼ Did Eric Holder Lie Under Oath? - Katie Pavlich/Townhall
◼ HOLDER LIED TO CONGRESS On His Role in Investigating News Reporters (Video) - Jim Hoft/Gateway Pundit
◼ BREAKING: DOJ Confirms Holder Personally "Vetted" Rosen Warrant - Guy Benson/Townhall
A damaging Friday news dump before a holiday weekend? Who could have seen that coming? Dump away, Justice Department:
Last week, under relatively friendly questioning from Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) about the Department of Justice seizure of Associated Press phone records, Johnson asked about the potential to prosecute reporters under the Espionage Act of 1917. ”You’ve got a long way to go to try to prosecute the press for publication of material,” Holder responded. Later, though, he returned to the topic unbidden, ...(at the 5-minute mark): "In regard to potential prosecution of the press for the disclosure of material. This is not something I’ve ever been involved in, heard of, or would think would be wise policy."
As it turns out, Holder not only heard of it, he personally approved it. The warrant in the Rosen case specified that he was considered a potential suspect in the leak of classified material, the reason that the DoJ didn’t bother to follow the existing Watergate-era statute in coordinating the records request with Fox News. And note that Holder’s testimony in this case wasn’t produced by some sophisticated perjury trap sprung by a Republican, but as a freely-offered representation to no particular question during the question period of a Democrat.
There is no other way to view this except as a lie. Even if Holder wasn’t under oath, that would constitute a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. It certainly should produce at least a resignation, and almost assuredly would require the appointment of a special prosecutor, especially since the next person down in the organization, James Cole, is suspected of doing the same thing with reporters.
◼ Did Eric Holder Lie Under Oath? - Katie Pavlich/Townhall
◼ HOLDER LIED TO CONGRESS On His Role in Investigating News Reporters (Video) - Jim Hoft/Gateway Pundit
◼ BREAKING: DOJ Confirms Holder Personally "Vetted" Rosen Warrant - Guy Benson/Townhall
A damaging Friday news dump before a holiday weekend? Who could have seen that coming? Dump away, Justice Department:
The Justice Department said on Friday that officials up to Attorney General Eric Holder vetted a decision to search an email account belonging to a Fox News reporter whose report on North Korea prompted a leak investigation. In a statement emailed to Reuters, the department said the search warrant for the reporter's email account followed all laws and policies and won the independent approval of a federal magistrate judge.We're apparently supposed to feel better about everything because the DOJ "followed all laws and policies" and secured their warrant from a judge. That would be the same warrant that designated journalist James Rosen as a potential "criminal co-conspirator" in order to keep it secret. Details about the breadth of the investigation continue to emerge. Via The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza, another eye-opening scoop:
The Obama Administration fought to keep a search warrant for James Rosen’s private e-mail account secret, arguing to a federal judge that the government might need to monitor the account for a lengthy period of time...Ronald C. Machen, Jr., the U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, a former State Department adviser who allegedly leaked classified information to Rosen, insisted that the reporter should not be notified of the search and seizure of his e-mails, even after a lengthy delay...He argued that disclosure of the search warrant would preclude the government from monitoring the account, should such a step become necessary in the investigation. Machen added that “some investigations are continued for many years because, while the evidence is not yet sufficient to bring charges, it is sufficient to have identified criminal subjects and/or criminal activity serious enough to justify continuation of the investigation.” The new details indicate that the government wanted the option to search Rosen’s e-mails repeatedly if the F.B.I. found further evidence implicating the reporter in what prosecutors argued was a conspiracy to commit espionage...In addition to Rosen’s correspondence with Kim, the government wanted to know about Rosen’s contacts with other government officials, including “records or information relating to the Author’s communication with any other source or potential source of the information disclosed in the Article.”◼ Yup. Eric Holder Perjured Himself. - The Right Sphere
Labels:
ABUSE OF POWER,
AP,
Eric Holder,
FOX,
Investigations,
Scandals
Now, a majority of Americans are saying that they’d rather go back to life under that crappy 2009 system than be forced to live under Obamacare.
◼ Obamacare poll is even worse than it looks - Philip Klein/Washington Examiner @philipklein
Guy Benson ◼ points to a new Fox poll with findings that he describes as “brutal” for President Obama’s health care law. Specifically, Benson highlights this question:
22. Do you think it would be better to leave the new health care law in place, or would it be better to go back to the health care system that was in place in 2009?
Better to keep law: 34 percent
Better to go back to previous system: 56 percent
Those numbers are bad enough on the surface, but they’re even worse when compared with polling data from 2009, which shows that Americans weren’t exactly thrilled with the status quo. In a Pew survey taken in June 2009, in the early stages of Obama’s health care push, 30 percent of Americans said they thought the health care system required “fundamental changes” and 41 percent responded that it needed to be “completely rebuilt.”
◼ The unwelcome role of the IRS in Obamacare - Michael Gerson/Washington Post
...the IRS is not merely implementing Obamacare. It engaged in a regulatory power grab to ensure that it could implement Obamacare....
As the implementation of health care reform moves forward, Congress may need to take another look at the law anyway. The unintended effects of Obamacare now seem unavoidable: higher premiums in employer plans; additional burdens on a Medicaid system already struggling with quality issues; cost controls in Medicare that will drive out providers; a perverse incentive structure that encourages businesses to dump employees on the exchanges while discouraging the young and healthy from signing up, eventually raising costs.
But the IRS power grab is a reminder of how shoddy the law really is. The whole enterprise is precariously perched atop a flimsy bureaucratic excuse. And the agency providing that excuse is a discredited mess.
Guy Benson ◼ points to a new Fox poll with findings that he describes as “brutal” for President Obama’s health care law. Specifically, Benson highlights this question:
22. Do you think it would be better to leave the new health care law in place, or would it be better to go back to the health care system that was in place in 2009?
Better to keep law: 34 percent
Better to go back to previous system: 56 percent
Those numbers are bad enough on the surface, but they’re even worse when compared with polling data from 2009, which shows that Americans weren’t exactly thrilled with the status quo. In a Pew survey taken in June 2009, in the early stages of Obama’s health care push, 30 percent of Americans said they thought the health care system required “fundamental changes” and 41 percent responded that it needed to be “completely rebuilt.”
◼ The unwelcome role of the IRS in Obamacare - Michael Gerson/Washington Post
...the IRS is not merely implementing Obamacare. It engaged in a regulatory power grab to ensure that it could implement Obamacare....
As the implementation of health care reform moves forward, Congress may need to take another look at the law anyway. The unintended effects of Obamacare now seem unavoidable: higher premiums in employer plans; additional burdens on a Medicaid system already struggling with quality issues; cost controls in Medicare that will drive out providers; a perverse incentive structure that encourages businesses to dump employees on the exchanges while discouraging the young and healthy from signing up, eventually raising costs.
But the IRS power grab is a reminder of how shoddy the law really is. The whole enterprise is precariously perched atop a flimsy bureaucratic excuse. And the agency providing that excuse is a discredited mess.
Jon Stewart skewers Obama over DOJ spying, press freedom
◼ In case you missed it last night, The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart played a medley of clips of President Obama giving lip service to the freedom of the press…then squashing it. - conservativeintel.com
Labels:
AP,
DOJ,
Eric Holder,
FOX,
Freedom of The Press,
Jon Stewart,
President/Candidate Obama
Thursday, May 23, 2013
The London Terror Attack Was More Than 'Unforgivable' (Warning: Video Content may Be Disturbing)
◼ Britain has been in denial about the Islamist threat. Time to face it down. - Douglas Murray/Wall St. Journal
How many ignored warnings does it take? That is one question that should hang over Britain after the horror of the daytime murder of a British soldier on the streets of south London. On Wednesday afternoon, Drummer Lee Rigby was killed in Woolwich by two men wielding large knives and shouting "Allahu akbar"—God is great.
Islamists have been saying for years they would do this. They have planned to do it. And now they have done it.
The attack itself is not surprising. What is surprising is that British society remains so utterly unwilling not just to deal with this threat, but even to admit its existence. Politicians have called the Woolwich killing "unforgivable" and "barbarous." But expressions of anger should not really be enough....
Now comes the attack in Woolwich, which the perpetrators—as with the earlier cell—wished to be observed and even filmed. Reports suggest that they invited people to capture their actions on video. The perpetrators gave interviews, machetes in hand, to bystanders with cameras. This horrific scene is something that will stick in the memory.
But it should also have been foreseen. Instead we entered the stage of denial. For there is already, in the reaction to events, more than a hint of what I have previously termed "Toulouse syndrome." The term is named after the attacks last year carried out by a jihadist called Mohammed Merah, who killed three French soldiers in a rampage that concluded with the murders of four French Jews at a school in Toulouse.
In the early stages of the attacks, when little was known, there was significant speculation that the culprit was a far-right extremist. At that stage everybody knew what they were going to say. But once the culprit turned out to be an Islamist, the gaze nearly fell away completely. "Nothing to see here, please move on" was the order of the day.
◼ MI5 admit they KNEW about fanatics who 'slaughtered soldier': Police raid house in Lincolnshire village as friends say British-born suspect became 'obsessed with radical Islam as schoolboy' - Daily Mail
Two men who allegedly slaughtered a soldier in a Woolwich street were known to security services, it emerged today.
David Cameron revealed that authorities were looking into what was already known about Drummer Lee Rigby's alleged killers, but it is not thought they were considered to be an immediate threat.
One of the men, believed to be Michael Adebolajo, is believed to have been arrested after he went to Somalia to join banned Islamist group al Ahabaab.
Eyewitness Jamie France, 29, said that his mother had seen Adebolajo preaching as recently as last week.
He said: 'She said she'd seen him last week preaching in Woolwich town centre. She said she remembers him because he'd been really angry and was saying all this political stuff.'
In an extraordinary day of events, Scotland Yard announced that another 1,200 police officers were being put onto the streets and several houses were raided as part of the investigation.
◼ RAW VIDEO: MUSLIM BUTCHERS CHARGE LONDON POLICE WITH A GUN AND BLOODY CLEAVERS - Atlas Shrugs
◼ Woolwich Attack: British soldier Lee Rigby died 'in the most horrific way possible,' says relative - NY Daily News
◼ ‘Better me than a child’: Cub Scout leader and mom of 2 says she was ‘never scared’ while standing up to cleaver-wielding terrorists who beheaded British soldier - NY Daily News
◼ A Question About The Woolwich Killings - The Scratching Post
Labels:
Great Britain,
International Issues,
Islam/Muslim,
murders
IRS Official Lois Lerner Refused to resign, Placed on Administrative Leave as Scandal Grows
◼ Lois Lerner, one of the officials at the center of the IRS scandal, has been placed on administrative leave (with pay) - Le-gal In-sur-rec-tion
◼ IRS Source: Lerner Placed On Administrative Leave - Eliana Johnson/National Review
◼ Convenient! IRS’ Lois Lerner placed on paid ‘administrative leave’; Ace smells a ‘pivot’ - Twitchy
◼ Criminality Appears To Lie at the Heart of the IRS Scandal - Larry Kudlow/New York Sun
When you get right down to it, the political targeting and stalling of tax-exempt applications by the IRS was an effort to defund the Tea Party. Rick Santelli, one of the Tea Party founders and my CNBC colleague, was the first to make this point. I’ve taken it a step further: The IRS was taking the Tea Party out of play for the 2012 election, as it looked to avoid a repeat of 2010 and another Tea Party landslide.
There are a lot of numbers out there. Some say Tea Party applications for tax-exempt status averaged 27 months for approval, while applications from liberal groups averaged nine. In one extreme case, according to the Washington Post, the IRS granted the Barack H. Obama Foundation tax-exempt status in a speedy one-month timeframe. Yet some conservative groups waited up to three years, and some still haven’t received approval.
But there can be only one reason for the stalled-out approval process for conservative groups. The IRS was trying to put them out of business. Thus far, there’s not one wit of contradictory evidence.
◼ The IRS scandal and Obama’s culture of intimidation - Mitch McConnell/Washington Post
◼ IRS Source: Lerner Placed On Administrative Leave - Eliana Johnson/National Review
◼ Convenient! IRS’ Lois Lerner placed on paid ‘administrative leave’; Ace smells a ‘pivot’ - Twitchy
Wow Lois Lerner placed on admin leave right after @ezraklein and @joshmarshall suggested something like that, right after WH visit.
— DepressiveBlogger69 (@AceofSpadesHQ) May 23, 2013
.@aceofspadeshq @ezraklein @joshmarshallO had the "Pundits" over to lay out the talking points/strategy to try to disappear the scandal!
— Matt Harrison (@MathewSHarrison) May 23, 2013
I was such a conspirasaurus to ask whether the WH had tipped them this was their next gambit, and asked them to "call for it"
— DepressiveBlogger69 (@AceofSpadesHQ) May 23, 2013
◼ Criminality Appears To Lie at the Heart of the IRS Scandal - Larry Kudlow/New York Sun
When you get right down to it, the political targeting and stalling of tax-exempt applications by the IRS was an effort to defund the Tea Party. Rick Santelli, one of the Tea Party founders and my CNBC colleague, was the first to make this point. I’ve taken it a step further: The IRS was taking the Tea Party out of play for the 2012 election, as it looked to avoid a repeat of 2010 and another Tea Party landslide.
There are a lot of numbers out there. Some say Tea Party applications for tax-exempt status averaged 27 months for approval, while applications from liberal groups averaged nine. In one extreme case, according to the Washington Post, the IRS granted the Barack H. Obama Foundation tax-exempt status in a speedy one-month timeframe. Yet some conservative groups waited up to three years, and some still haven’t received approval.
But there can be only one reason for the stalled-out approval process for conservative groups. The IRS was trying to put them out of business. Thus far, there’s not one wit of contradictory evidence.
◼ The IRS scandal and Obama’s culture of intimidation - Mitch McConnell/Washington Post
Labels:
5th Amendment,
Investigations,
IRS,
JournO-list,
Lois Lerner,
Missing emails,
Propaganda,
Scandals
The Real Voter Suppression of 2012
◼ Voter ID didn’t reduce turnout, but the IRS may have. - John Fund/National Review
...Jim Bopp, the election-law attorney, hopes some good will come out of the IRS scandal. “What’s clear is that bureaucrats and regulators can abuse the system when there aren’t bright lines. This should teach us we have to nail down exactly what the permissible level of political activity for a non-profit is. That will make it harder for arbitrary and capricious bureaucrats who might want to misuse their power.”
It won’t be easy to discover whether the “voter suppression” engaged in by the IRS was malicious and political. But we have to make every effort to find out before the American people start losing confidence in the integrity of our elections.
__________________
SAVE THE DATE: John Fund will be Keynote Speaker at Humboldt GOP's fundraiser, June 20th at Blue Lake Casino's Sapphire Room. Tickets are $45/person
...Jim Bopp, the election-law attorney, hopes some good will come out of the IRS scandal. “What’s clear is that bureaucrats and regulators can abuse the system when there aren’t bright lines. This should teach us we have to nail down exactly what the permissible level of political activity for a non-profit is. That will make it harder for arbitrary and capricious bureaucrats who might want to misuse their power.”
It won’t be easy to discover whether the “voter suppression” engaged in by the IRS was malicious and political. But we have to make every effort to find out before the American people start losing confidence in the integrity of our elections.
SAVE THE DATE: John Fund will be Keynote Speaker at Humboldt GOP's fundraiser, June 20th at Blue Lake Casino's Sapphire Room. Tickets are $45/person
Obama’s Squirrel Speech flops: ‘Distraction fails utterly to distract’
◼ Distract! Distract like the wind! That was the point of Obama’s speech today. - Twitchy
Did the Squirrel Speech deliver? Well, it delivered some hilarious mockery: The big take-away to Twitter users was “tolly me banana.” Plus, there was the added comedy gold of a Code Pink heckler.
But did it deliver on its goal of distracting from the multiple Obama administration scandals? Heck no, says Hot Air’s Allahpundit.
◼ OBAMA PROMISES TO DRONE LESS - Tom Curry, National Affairs Writer, NBC News
◼ HECKLED OVER GITMO (By fellow ideologue Medea Benjamin - Daniel Halper/Weekly Standard
◼ 'Sit Down. You should let me finish my sentence' - Real Clear Politics
◼ 'Force alone cannot make us safe' - USA Today
◼ Declares increase in domestic terrorism fueled by Internet - Charlie Spiering/Washington Examiner @charlesspiering
◼ Ba-dum-tsh! Mark Knoller’s punny preview of Obama’s drone speech - Twitchy
Did the Squirrel Speech deliver? Well, it delivered some hilarious mockery: The big take-away to Twitter users was “tolly me banana.” Plus, there was the added comedy gold of a Code Pink heckler.
But did it deliver on its goal of distracting from the multiple Obama administration scandals? Heck no, says Hot Air’s Allahpundit.
How can the speech be designed to “distract” from scandal when there’s nothing new in it? What’s the “distraction”?
— Allahpundit (@allahpundit) May 23, 2013
If this squirrel speech doesn't work on scandals, next week Obama will opine on energy policy or something else he doesn’t understand. #tcot
— Angie (D) (@TheAngieNC2) May 23, 2013
◼ OBAMA PROMISES TO DRONE LESS - Tom Curry, National Affairs Writer, NBC News
◼ HECKLED OVER GITMO (By fellow ideologue Medea Benjamin - Daniel Halper/Weekly Standard
◼ 'Sit Down. You should let me finish my sentence' - Real Clear Politics
◼ 'Force alone cannot make us safe' - USA Today
◼ Declares increase in domestic terrorism fueled by Internet - Charlie Spiering/Washington Examiner @charlesspiering
◼ Ba-dum-tsh! Mark Knoller’s punny preview of Obama’s drone speech - Twitchy
Labels:
Al Qaeda,
Gitmo,
President/Candidate Obama,
Terrorism
Holder OK'd search warrant for Fox News reporter's private emails, official says
◼ Attorney General Eric Holder signed off on a controversial search warrant that identified Fox News reporter James Rosen as a “possible co-conspirator” in violations of the Espionage Act and authorized seizure of his private emails, a law enforcement official told NBC News on Thursday. - Michael Isikoff, National Investigative Correspondent/NBC News
Holder previously said he recused himself from the AP subpoena because he had been questioned as a witness in the underlying investigation into a leak about a foiled bomb plot in Yemen. His role in personally approving the Rosen search warrant had not been previously reported.
◼ AG HOLDER PERSONALLY AUTHORIZED FOX NEWS SURVEILLANCE - John Hayward/Human Events @Doc_o
It’s going to be hard for Attorney General Eric Holder to deploy his standard-issue Incompetence Defense to get out of this one. He can’t claim he never saw the paperwork when he’s signature is all over it. Unless maybe he’s going to drop the Sergeant Schultz routine and go for the Colonel Henry Blake gambit, and claim some Radar O’Reilly type at the Justice Department slipped the papers under his pen without telling him what he was signing.
How long would it have taken Eric Holder’s exhaustive review of the Fox News surveillance outrage to discover that Eric Holder was behind it, if a source hadn’t spilled the beans to NBC News? Does NBC News get bugged now?
Maybe Holder will put himself on paid administrative leave, just like key IRS scandal figure Lois Lerner, who was reportedly given that brutal punishment after refusing to resign today. He recused himself from the Associated Press investigation, without filling out the legally required paperwork. But he didn’t want to recuse himself from going after Fox News, eh?
After a bit of embarrassed silence, the Justice Department declared that everybody from the Attorney General on down thinks that freedom of the press is just gosh-darn wonderful, and they wouldn’t dream of doing anything to stifle it...
◼ NBC: Eric Holder signed off on criminal investigation of Fox News’ James Rosen - Twitchy
Remember when Obama said he's troubled by Rosen story and asked Holder to review agency's guidelines? Turns out Holder was responsible.
— Sunny (@sunnyright) May 23, 2013
◼ Huffington Post: Time for Eric Holder to go - Charlie Spiering/Washington Examiner @charlesspiering
◼ Huffington Post joins the wingnuts, turns on Eric Holder - Le-gal In-sur-rec-tion
◼ BREAKING: DOJ Confirms Holder Personally "Vetted" Rosen Warrant - Guy Benson/Townhall
One stunner after the next. The Justice Department wanted to "repeatedly" monitor Rosen's personal emails for a "lengthy period of time" -- years possibly -- in order to track his "contacts with other government officials" beyond the source at the center of the North Korea leak investigation. In other words, they wanted to troll Rosen's contacts and news-gathering methods indefinitely. And the Attorney General of the United States didn't just sign off of it. He personally "vetted" it. That would seem to preclude relying on the "I don't read my own memos" excuse of which Holder is so fond. Good thing the president has put Eric Holder in charge of investigating the alarming things Eric Holder has done.
◼ Yup. Eric Holder Perjured Himself. - The Right Sphere
Labels:
AP,
DOJ,
Eric Holder,
FOX,
Freedom of The Press,
Investigations,
President/Candidate Obama,
Scandals
'Shame On Us' If We Erect Him...
◼ PREMATURE ELECTION: CUOMO SLAPS WEINER - NY Daily News
◼ 'Shame On Us' If We Erect Him - John Nolte/Breitbart
◼ First campaign stop: Harlem - AP
◼ Press frenzy - Politicker
◼ More Lewd Photos Might Come Out - Daniel Halper/Weekly Standard
◼ Hillary Clinton strives to steer clear of yet another sex scandal - ABC News
◼ Hard news: Journo Rick Klein whines about Weiner junk jokes; Gets a rise out of Twitter - Twitchy
Labels:
New York,
Weinergate
“His friends are so concerned because he’s lived so flamboyantly and spent basically so much of other people’s money on a very, very costly lifestyle"
◼ REPORT: LA Mayor broke... - CBS Los Angeles
With just over a month left in his second and final term, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will leave office in June reportedly without a place to live or a car of his own to drive, according to a report published Thursday....
“He didn’t save any money…we got his required economic interest reports where you see all their stocks and bondsand property,” Stewart said. “Nada.”
Outside of a rental property in Moreno Valley which brings in about $600 a month, Stewart said that Villarigosa has no major assets despite having been paid over $1.6 million during his time as mayor. Public pensioninformation for Villaraigosa was not available, L.A. Weekly reported.
◼ DNC Chairman's 'Quest for Wall Street, Washington and Wealth'... - LA Weekly
With just over a month left in his second and final term, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will leave office in June reportedly without a place to live or a car of his own to drive, according to a report published Thursday....
“He didn’t save any money…we got his required economic interest reports where you see all their stocks and bondsand property,” Stewart said. “Nada.”
Outside of a rental property in Moreno Valley which brings in about $600 a month, Stewart said that Villarigosa has no major assets despite having been paid over $1.6 million during his time as mayor. Public pensioninformation for Villaraigosa was not available, L.A. Weekly reported.
◼ DNC Chairman's 'Quest for Wall Street, Washington and Wealth'... - LA Weekly
Labels:
Democrats,
Fiscal Responsibility,
Spending,
Villaraigosa
‘Ready to ride!’: George W. Bush hosts third annual W100K bike ride for Wounded Warriors [pics, vine]
◼ President George W. Bush hosts 3rd Annual W100k Mountain Bike Ride - Dallas Morning News
◼ George W. Bush is hosting, and participating in, the third annual W100K bike ride for Wounded Warriors. President George W. Bush had this to say about the event: “I’ll be riding across the deserts of Texas with wounded warriors to show the unbelievable character of our men and women in uniform…it’s a ride to herald people who were dealt a severe blow and said, ‘I’m not going to let it tear me down’.” - Twitchy
◼ Inspiring: George Bush, Wounded Warriors complete W100K bike ride - Twitchy
◼ W100K - Bush Center
◼ TREK Bikes for the warriors
◼ George W. Bush is hosting, and participating in, the third annual W100K bike ride for Wounded Warriors. President George W. Bush had this to say about the event: “I’ll be riding across the deserts of Texas with wounded warriors to show the unbelievable character of our men and women in uniform…it’s a ride to herald people who were dealt a severe blow and said, ‘I’m not going to let it tear me down’.” - Twitchy
◼ Inspiring: George Bush, Wounded Warriors complete W100K bike ride - Twitchy
◼ W100K - Bush Center
◼ TREK Bikes for the warriors
Three major health insurers flee California’s ObamaCare exchange
◼ Remember the claim that “if you like your plan, you can keep your plan” under ObamaCare? - Ed Morrissey/HotAir
That was never actually true, as many who had low-cost catastrophic coverage married with HSAs will have to abandon them for more-costly comprehensive plans under the ACA’s coverage mandates. In California, it’s even less true as three insurers with millions of subscribers opt out of the state-run ObamaCare exchange...
The three companies that control 87% of the individual market now will soon control nearly 100% of it. Thanks to the terms of the exchanges, the kind of plans they can offer also have to be restricted to comply with ObamaCare mandates, and the price controls placed on the entry to the market will limit choices even more. One of the biggest problems in the pre-ObamaCare environment was a lack of choices thanks to barriers to interstate sales of insurance plans, and at least in California, the “solution” has made that problem even worse.
◼ Fox News Poll: 56 percent want to go back to pre-ObamaCare system - FOX
Majorities of American voters say their family will be worse off under the Affordable Care Act, and think it would be better to go back to the pre-ObamaCare health care system.
A Fox News poll released Wednesday finds that while 26 percent of voters say their health care situation will be better under the new law, twice as many -- 53 percent -- say it will be worse. Another 13 percent say it won’t make a difference....
Young voters and seniors are pessimistic about ObamaCare. Majorities of those under age 35 and those 65+ think things will be worse under the 2010 health care law.
That helps explains why a 56-percent majority wants to go back to the health care system that was in place in 2009. Some 34 percent would stick with the new law.
Three in ten Democrats would rather go back to the pre-ObamaCare system (30 percent). That view climbs to 55 percent among independents and 85 percent among Republicans.
The desire to go back to the 2009 system is widespread. Majorities of higher and lower income groups feel that way, as do men, women, voters with and without college degrees, and voters across all age groups.
That was never actually true, as many who had low-cost catastrophic coverage married with HSAs will have to abandon them for more-costly comprehensive plans under the ACA’s coverage mandates. In California, it’s even less true as three insurers with millions of subscribers opt out of the state-run ObamaCare exchange...
The three companies that control 87% of the individual market now will soon control nearly 100% of it. Thanks to the terms of the exchanges, the kind of plans they can offer also have to be restricted to comply with ObamaCare mandates, and the price controls placed on the entry to the market will limit choices even more. One of the biggest problems in the pre-ObamaCare environment was a lack of choices thanks to barriers to interstate sales of insurance plans, and at least in California, the “solution” has made that problem even worse.
◼ Fox News Poll: 56 percent want to go back to pre-ObamaCare system - FOX
Majorities of American voters say their family will be worse off under the Affordable Care Act, and think it would be better to go back to the pre-ObamaCare health care system.
A Fox News poll released Wednesday finds that while 26 percent of voters say their health care situation will be better under the new law, twice as many -- 53 percent -- say it will be worse. Another 13 percent say it won’t make a difference....
Young voters and seniors are pessimistic about ObamaCare. Majorities of those under age 35 and those 65+ think things will be worse under the 2010 health care law.
That helps explains why a 56-percent majority wants to go back to the health care system that was in place in 2009. Some 34 percent would stick with the new law.
Three in ten Democrats would rather go back to the pre-ObamaCare system (30 percent). That view climbs to 55 percent among independents and 85 percent among Republicans.
The desire to go back to the 2009 system is widespread. Majorities of higher and lower income groups feel that way, as do men, women, voters with and without college degrees, and voters across all age groups.
Labels:
California,
Insurance,
Obamacare,
ObamaTAX,
Skyrocketing Costs
Oversight from Washington, All Along
◼ Reality Check Exclusive: Cincinnati agent giving orders in IRS scandal? - Ben Swann/FOX 19
◼ Why the IRS ‘Low-Level Employee’ Defense Is Looking Unlikely - Sam L. Clemens/Viral Read
◼ IRS specialists in Washington were closely involved in the Cincinnati office’s scandalous behavior. - Eliana Johnson/National Review
Officials in the Technical Unit of the IRS’s Rulings and Agreements office played an integral role in determining how the targeted applications were treated, provided general guidelines to Cincinnati case workers, briefed other agency employees on the status of the special cases, and reviewed all those intrusive requests demanding “more information” from tea-party groups. At times, the Technical Unit lawyers seemed to exercise tight control over these applications, creating both a backlog in application processing and frustration among Cincinnati agents waiting for direction.
An IRS employee who asked not to be identified tells National Review Online that all members of the agency’s Technical Unit are based in Washington, D.C. A current list of Technical Unit managers provided by another IRS employee shows that all such managers are based at the agency’s headquarters on Constitution Avenue in the District of Columbia, and the IRS confirmed, in a testy exchange with National Review Online, that the Technical Unit is “based in Washington.”
◼ Rogue? Fox 19 has identified 6 people involved in IRS scandal and they all have DIFFERENT managers - The Right Scoop
◼ TREY GOWDY SPRINGS A TRAP: Did former IRS commissioner Doug Shulman commit perjury today? - Doug Ross
After nearly seven minutes, an exasperated Gowdy finally got to the bottom of it with this exchange:
Gowdy: Did you lift a finger to investigate the facts?So the record shows that Shulman said "no", he instigated no internal investigation of these criminal actions.
Shulman: Uh, I felt quite comfortable the Inspector General would run down the facts and...
And once he had it it would be recorded out.
Gowdy: Let the record reflect that's a 'no'.
And I believe Trey Gowdy just trapped Mr. Shulman.
Because... it was revealed today that, indeed, the IRS did conduct an internal investigation and its results were withheld until after the election.
When the history books are written, Richard Nixon will look like a guy who stole a few boxes of Girl Scout cookies compared to Barack Obama.
Labels:
Congress,
Investigations,
IRS,
Scandals,
Trey Gowdy
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
RNC requests IRS documents
◼ The Republican National Committee filed a Freedom of Information Act request Wednesday seeking documents related to the IRS’ targeting of conservative groups. - Kevin Robillard/Politico
The broad request seeks any documents involving the words “tea party,” “patriot” or “9/12 project” and nonprofit groups between January 1, 2010 and May 20 of this year. The request specifically covers communications between the White House or Treasury Department and IRS and also seeks communication with Celia Rhody, the tax lawyer who asked a planted question about the scandal and with Sarah Hall Ingram, the former IRS tax-exempt division head who now heads up a unit charged with implementing the Affordable Care Act.
The broad request seeks any documents involving the words “tea party,” “patriot” or “9/12 project” and nonprofit groups between January 1, 2010 and May 20 of this year. The request specifically covers communications between the White House or Treasury Department and IRS and also seeks communication with Celia Rhody, the tax lawyer who asked a planted question about the scandal and with Sarah Hall Ingram, the former IRS tax-exempt division head who now heads up a unit charged with implementing the Affordable Care Act.
.@woodhouseb A FOIA request is partisan the same way journalism is espionage.
— Razor (@hale_razor) May 22, 2013
Labels:
Celia Rhody,
FOIA,
Investigations,
IRS,
Lois Lerner,
Missing emails,
RNC,
Sarah Hall Ingram,
Scandals
The IRS scandal and Obama’s culture of intimidation
◼ link - Mitch McConnell/Washington Post
Revelations about the Internal Revenue Service targeting conservative groups have raised important questions about the Obama administration’s commitment to the First Amendment. Yet there is ample evidence to suggest that the culture of intimidation in which these tactics were allowed to flourish goes well beyond one agency or a few rogue employees.
For years, administration officials have used the power of the federal government to isolate their opponents. Meanwhile, the unionized employees who populate the IRS and other agencies across the country routinely take their cues from union bosses, whose political donations and speeches show their support for the White House. When it comes to rewarding friends and punishing enemies, the IRS is not alone.
In fact, recent efforts to revive the so-called Disclose Act suggest that these tactics are alive and well in Washington. This bill, which would force grass-roots groups to make their member and donor lists public, may seem benign to some. But as a longtime defender of the First Amendment, I have always seen it for what it is: a backdoor effort to discourage those who disagree with the Obama administration from participating in the political process.
The abuses at the IRS — which include selective sharing with left-wing journalists of confidential information about conservative groups — is just the kind of thing the Disclose Act was designed to enable.
The spread of the speech police under the Obama administration has long been apparent. We all saw the president’s reelection team using the politics of intimidation, with old-school “enemies lists” and explicit attacks on groups and other private citizens. At the same time, the administration has been extremely creative in employing throughout the federal government the sorts of intimidation tactics that were used at the IRS.
Democratic commissioners at the Federal Election Commission, for instance, have pushed for more than two years for a rule that would compel third-party groups to reveal their donors. Democratic commissioners at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) support a similar rule for disclosing the donors to groups airing advertisements on issues of concern to the public. This is on the heels of the FCC approving a rule last year that requires broadcasters to list the names of groups that pay for, or want to pay for, ads online. And the Securities and Exchange Commission is considering requiring publicly held companies to disclose political activities.
White House staffers have gotten in on the act. The president’s lawyers circulated a draft executive order in 2011 that would have required anyone bidding for a government contract to disclose political donations. The message was clear: If you want a government contract, be careful which causes or candidates you support because the White House will know.
These tactics are straight out of the left-wing playbook: Expose your opponents to public view, release the liberal thugs and hope the public pressure or unwanted attention scares them from supporting causes you oppose. This is what the administration has done through federal agencies such as the FCC and the FEC, and it’s what proponents of the Disclose Act plan to do with donor and member lists.
Oddly, some on the left are now arguing that the IRS scandal is reason to revive the Disclose Act. But if this scandal has taught us anything, it is that Washington’s ability to target individuals and groups is already too expansive. We should be looking at ways to limit, not expand, the government’s ability to target people because of their beliefs and the causes they support. And we should take a serious look at the culture that enabled this scandal.
Before the recent revelations, it may have seemed fanciful to some that government officials would use donor and member lists as a political weapon. Yet that’s precisely why the FEC has exempted the Socialist Workers Party from public disclosure since 1974. It’s also why the Supreme Court told Alabama in 1958 that it couldn’t compel the NAACP to disclose the names and addresses of its members: Compelling disclosure of such information infringes upon one’s freedom to associate and thus violates their First Amendment rights.
The First Amendment was not written to protect popular speech. It was written to protect speech that was not popular. The moment we lose sight of that, we betray the principle of equal justice that lies at the heart of our system. We can hope the president and all who do the work of government have relearned that lesson in recent days, but we can’t count on that. The American people need to remain vigilant against any effort by the powerful to stifle speech — and do everything they can to prevent it.
◼ Flashback: Mitch McConnell was mocked for warning about IRS targeting - Matt K. Lewis/Daily Caller
Revelations about the Internal Revenue Service targeting conservative groups have raised important questions about the Obama administration’s commitment to the First Amendment. Yet there is ample evidence to suggest that the culture of intimidation in which these tactics were allowed to flourish goes well beyond one agency or a few rogue employees.
For years, administration officials have used the power of the federal government to isolate their opponents. Meanwhile, the unionized employees who populate the IRS and other agencies across the country routinely take their cues from union bosses, whose political donations and speeches show their support for the White House. When it comes to rewarding friends and punishing enemies, the IRS is not alone.
In fact, recent efforts to revive the so-called Disclose Act suggest that these tactics are alive and well in Washington. This bill, which would force grass-roots groups to make their member and donor lists public, may seem benign to some. But as a longtime defender of the First Amendment, I have always seen it for what it is: a backdoor effort to discourage those who disagree with the Obama administration from participating in the political process.
The abuses at the IRS — which include selective sharing with left-wing journalists of confidential information about conservative groups — is just the kind of thing the Disclose Act was designed to enable.
The spread of the speech police under the Obama administration has long been apparent. We all saw the president’s reelection team using the politics of intimidation, with old-school “enemies lists” and explicit attacks on groups and other private citizens. At the same time, the administration has been extremely creative in employing throughout the federal government the sorts of intimidation tactics that were used at the IRS.
Democratic commissioners at the Federal Election Commission, for instance, have pushed for more than two years for a rule that would compel third-party groups to reveal their donors. Democratic commissioners at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) support a similar rule for disclosing the donors to groups airing advertisements on issues of concern to the public. This is on the heels of the FCC approving a rule last year that requires broadcasters to list the names of groups that pay for, or want to pay for, ads online. And the Securities and Exchange Commission is considering requiring publicly held companies to disclose political activities.
White House staffers have gotten in on the act. The president’s lawyers circulated a draft executive order in 2011 that would have required anyone bidding for a government contract to disclose political donations. The message was clear: If you want a government contract, be careful which causes or candidates you support because the White House will know.
These tactics are straight out of the left-wing playbook: Expose your opponents to public view, release the liberal thugs and hope the public pressure or unwanted attention scares them from supporting causes you oppose. This is what the administration has done through federal agencies such as the FCC and the FEC, and it’s what proponents of the Disclose Act plan to do with donor and member lists.
Oddly, some on the left are now arguing that the IRS scandal is reason to revive the Disclose Act. But if this scandal has taught us anything, it is that Washington’s ability to target individuals and groups is already too expansive. We should be looking at ways to limit, not expand, the government’s ability to target people because of their beliefs and the causes they support. And we should take a serious look at the culture that enabled this scandal.
Before the recent revelations, it may have seemed fanciful to some that government officials would use donor and member lists as a political weapon. Yet that’s precisely why the FEC has exempted the Socialist Workers Party from public disclosure since 1974. It’s also why the Supreme Court told Alabama in 1958 that it couldn’t compel the NAACP to disclose the names and addresses of its members: Compelling disclosure of such information infringes upon one’s freedom to associate and thus violates their First Amendment rights.
The First Amendment was not written to protect popular speech. It was written to protect speech that was not popular. The moment we lose sight of that, we betray the principle of equal justice that lies at the heart of our system. We can hope the president and all who do the work of government have relearned that lesson in recent days, but we can’t count on that. The American people need to remain vigilant against any effort by the powerful to stifle speech — and do everything they can to prevent it.
◼ Flashback: Mitch McConnell was mocked for warning about IRS targeting - Matt K. Lewis/Daily Caller
The Front Pages Of Tomorrow's UK Newspapers Are Chilling
◼ UK newspapers are covering the stunning beheading of a UK soldier - businessinsider.com
◼ London Shock - Daily Mail ◼ Via Drudge
A dramatic video tonight emerged of a man with bloodied hands, carrying knives and ranting 'We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you', after a serving soldier was hacked to death by two men just 200 yards from an Army barracks.
The man can be seen and heard talking to the camera. The video came as terrified eyewitnesses saw two men shot by police marksmen after the machete attack in Woolwich, south-east London.
The two men are thought to have waited around for 20 minutes until Metropolitan Police officers arrived and then tried to attack them - but were swiftly shot by armed policemen, including a woman.
They apparently shouted 'Allahu Akbar', which means 'God is great' in Arabic, and tried to film the attack, the BBC's political editor Nick Robinson said.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe tonight confirmed two men had been arrested and officers from the counter-terrorist unit were leading the investigation into the killing.
◼ FULL VIDEO AND TRANSCRIPT OF UK JIHADIST SAVAGE: "WE ARE FORCED BY THE QUR'AN" - Atlas Shrugs
The media edited out all references to Islam, quran, sura and ayats. Why? Why are they disarming the people? Why are they disarming the very targets of the savages?
Video from The Sun. (trnscript thanks to Robert Spencer)
The only reason we have killed this man today is because Muslims are dying daily by British soldiers. And this British soldier is one. It is an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. By Allah, we swear by the almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone. So what if we want to live by the Shari'a in Muslim lands? Why does that mean you must follow us and chase us and call us extremists and kill us? Rather you lot are extreme. You are the ones that when you drop a bomb you think it hits one person? Or rather your bomb wipes out a whole family? This is the reality. By Allah if I saw your mother today with a buggy I would help her up the stairs. This is my nature. But we are forced by the Qur'an, in Sura At-Tawba, through many ayah in the Qu'ran, we must fight them as they fight us. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. I apologise that women had to witness this today but in our lands women have to see the same. You people will never be safe. Remove your governments, they don’t care about you. You think David Cameron is going to get caught in the street when we start busting our guns? You think politicians are going to die? No, it’s going to be the average guy, like you and your children. So get rid of them. Tell them to bring our troops back so can all live in peace. So leave our lands and we can all live in peace. That’s all I have to say. [in Arabic:] Allah’s peace and blessings be upon you.
◼ Was the Woolwich Attack Because of a Protest or Was It Because of Guys Out For a Walk One Day Decided to Go Kill Some Brits? What Difference At This Point Does It Make? - Bryan Preston/PJMedia
None at all, to the head-in-the-sand (or elsewhere) US media. According to Newsbusters, the US media are bending themselves into pretzels to keep from having to connect two killers who brutally murdered a British soldier while they shouted “Allahu Ackbar!” to Islamism, jihad or anything else that might illuminate their motives....
The murdered soldier was Lee Rigby, by the way. Twenty-five years old, husband and father of two. RIP.
Labels:
Great Britain,
International News,
Islam/Muslim,
murders,
Terrorism
The New York Times baldly says why “One day before President Obama is due to deliver a major speech on national security, his administration on Wednesday formally acknowledged that the United States had killed four American citizens in drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistan.”
◼ Barack Obama finally cops to ordering a drone strike on an American citizen… - Moe Lane
◼ In a First, U.S. Admits Drones Have Killed 4 Americans - Charlie Savage/New York Times
...The American responsibility for Mr. Awlaki’s death has been widely reported, but the administration had until now refused to confirm or deny it.
The letter also said that the United States had killed three other Americans: Samir Khan, who was killed in the same strike; Mr. Awlaki’s son Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, who was also killed in Yemen; and Jude Mohammed, who was killed in a strike in Pakistan....
◼ ATTORNEY GENERAL HOLDER: 4 Americans killed by drones since 2009 - gretawire
(Who was killed? where? why? when?)
◼ In a First, U.S. Admits Drones Have Killed 4 Americans - Charlie Savage/New York Times
...The American responsibility for Mr. Awlaki’s death has been widely reported, but the administration had until now refused to confirm or deny it.
The letter also said that the United States had killed three other Americans: Samir Khan, who was killed in the same strike; Mr. Awlaki’s son Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, who was also killed in Yemen; and Jude Mohammed, who was killed in a strike in Pakistan....
◼ ATTORNEY GENERAL HOLDER: 4 Americans killed by drones since 2009 - gretawire
(Who was killed? where? why? when?)
RT @rbpundit: OMG! Obama waterboarded four American citizens! nyti.ms/16OYeXR #tcot #p2
— Melissa Clouthier (@MelissaTweets) May 22, 2013
Labels:
DOJ,
drones,
Eric Holder,
President/Candidate Obama,
Scandals,
Targeting Americans
Plan Ahead: Pony Express Days are just around the corner
Wednesday May 29th - Clam Chowder Cook-off in the Activity Center in Pierson Park - We are looking for amateur and professional competitors.Thursday May 30th - Fireman's Muster at the Ray's Food Place Parking Lot - Cheer for your local fire departments as they compete in Fireman games.
Friday May 31st - Pony Express Dance at the Sapphire Palace at Blue Lake Casino. Dance to Dr. Squid and wear your best looking boots to enter the boot contest.
Saturday June 1st - Parade & Festival - parade runs along Central Ave at 11am. Then head over to Pierson Park for a family festival from 12-4pm. Craft booths, food, beer garden, St. John & the Sinners, kid activities, horseshoe tournament and more!
Sunday June 2nd - Gymkhana at the McKinleyville Rodeo Grounds at the Kjer Road arena
If you would like a form or application please contact the office at 707-839-2449 or email
mckinleyvillechamber@gmail.com ◼ mckinleyvillechamber.com/pony-express-days
Labels:
Events,
Humboldt County,
Local News,
McKinleyville,
Pony Express Days
Video: Lerner takes the Fifth — or did she?
Lerner’s Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination was voided when she gave an opening statement
◼ House IRS hearings live streaming — Lois Lerner to plead 5th - Le-gal In-sur-rec-tion
◼ link - Ed Morrissey/HotAir
Via ◼ Andrew Johnson at NRO, Lois Lerner’s decision to take the Fifth came as no surprise. What did come as a surprise was that Lerner actually started off by, er, testifying on her own behalf. Surprisingly, Lerner accepted Darrell Issa’s invitation to deliver an opening statement under oath, and then testified to the provenance of a transcript of her deposition to the Inspector General. Only at that point did Lerner plead the Fifth...
That poses a big question as to whether Lerner waived her Fifth Amendment rights to avoid self-incrimination. Rep. Trey Gowdy argued that the law does not allow a witness to testify on her behalf and then refuse to answer any other questions:
After Lerner’s statements, Representative Trey Gowdy (R., S.C.) argued she “waved her right to Fifth Amendment privilege” by making those statements and urged that she stay and answer questions: ”You don’t get to tell your side of the story and then not be subjected to cross-examination.” Lerner was ultimately allowed to invoke her Fifth Amendment rights and leave the hearing.Issa did allow Lerner to leave the hearing after asking her twice whether she’d be willing to answer questions on narrower grounds, to which Lerner twice refused. However, Issa warned her she’d be subject to recall — and that the committee would be consulting counsel about her use of the Fifth Amendment.
◼ Issa: Lerner Waived her 5th Amendment Rights - Stephen Green/PJMedia
◼ Darrell Issa: Lois Lerner lost her rights - Rachael Bade/Politico
Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), a former federal prosecutor, said Lerner lost her rights the minute she started proclaiming her innocence, and that lawmakers therefore were entitled to question her. But Ranking Democrat Elijah Cummings of Maryland said hearing rules were not like those of a courtroom.
"You don't get to tell your side of the story" and then refuse to answer questions. -Rep Gowdy (R-SC), a former prosecutor
— David M. Drucker (@DavidMDrucker) May 22, 2013
...Lerner’s Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination was voided when she gave an opening statement this morning denying any wrongdoing and professing pride in her government service.
◼ Why Did Lois Lerner Take the Fifth? Perhaps to protect herself from Obama. - James Taranto/Wall St. Journal
...Marshall writes that he "was chatting with people yesterday" who said civil service rules may make it "extremely difficult or even impossible" to fire Lerner. Doing so because she exercised her rights under the Fifth Amendment would be unconstitutional.
Now, who were these "people" with whom Marshall was "chatting" yesterday? Might they have had an interest in the case? The Weekly Standard takes note of a tweet from NPR's Ari Shapiro at 3:25 ET yesterday afternoon: "Spotted: @joshtpm @CapehartJ @ezraklein & other lefty columnists headed into the West Wing as a group. POTUS coffee? Carney meeting? Anyone?"
Those Twitter IDs belong, respectively, to Marshall, Jonathan Capehart of the Washington Post and Journolist founder Ezra Klein, also of the Post. Marshall's post calling for Lerner's defenestration appeared at 10:15 this morning. Exactly half an hour, Klein had a post along similar lines: "Yes, Heads Should Roll at the IRS." Capehart is busy with another topic, "Gay Inclusion." But the similarity between Marshall's and Klein's posts suggests that they may be acting in the capacity of unofficial White House spokesmen.
The White House seems to have an inkling it can't fire Lerner: Klein as well as Marshall emphasized the stringency of civil-service rules. But encouraging the public to draw adverse conclusions from her assertion of her rights under the Fifth Amendment would have a similar effect of turning her into a scapegoat.
The American people have a right to know both how deep and how high the corruption of our government runs. The White House has an interest in minimizing the scandal, and surely that is Obama's objective if he is trying to throw Lerner under the bus. Let's reserve judgment on her and make sure not to let off the hook the man whose re-election the IRS's abuse of power helped to advance....
◼ IRS official (Douglas Shulman) says he’s ‘incredibly sad’ about what happened to the Tea Party - Charlie Spiering/Washington Examiner @charlesspiering
◼ Is Kathryn Ruemmler the next one under the bus? - Ed Morrissey/HotAir
Until a few weeks ago, only the most die-hard political geeks would have known the name Kathryn Ruemmler or her position as White House counsel. These days, she’s becoming more and more famous, and that might be by design. ◼ The Washington Post highlights her role in the IRS scandal, in which the top lawyer in the West Wing is purported to have played goalie with information in order to ensure plausible deniability... We only have a few posts before this month that mention Ruemmler, but almost all of them have to do with blocking transparency — on Operation Fast and Furious and on Solyndra, mainly...
◼ REPORT: 'ROGUE' IRS AGENT CLAIM UNRAVELING - Wynton Hall/Breitbart
An investigation by Cincinnati Fox 19 reporter Ben Swann finds that Obama Administration claims that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) targeting of conservative groups was the work of two “rogue” low-level employees in Cincinnati, Ohio, strain credulity and are "falling apart."
Swann reports that so far six IRS agents working out of the Cincinnati office—which is the central hub for processing tax-exempt applications—have been identified as sending scrutinizing letters to conservative groups. These include:
Mitchel Steele-IRS AgentThese agents report to different managers, with a territory manager overseeing those managers.
Carly Young-IRS Agent
Joseph Herr-IRS Agent
Stephen Seok-IRS Supervisor
Liz Hofacre-IRS Agent
Ms. Richards (full name unknown)-IRS Agent
◼ Cracks Widen In The IRS Scandal Stonewall - IBD
MSNBC host says they all knew about the IRS scandal "long before the election" soa.li/uTAbA2l
— Right Scoop (@trscoop) May 23, 2013
Labels:
Investigations,
IRS,
Lois Lerner,
Missing emails,
Scandals
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