THE WOMEN BEHIND AMERICA'S GREATEST GARDENS

◼ A new interactive exhibit at the New York Botanical Garden shines a spotlight on female landscape designers. - Veranda

Armed Forces Day

"It is fitting and proper that we devote one day each year to paying special tribute to those whose constancy and courage constitute one of the bulwarks guarding the freedom of this nation and the peace of the free world." -President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953

DEPT OF AGRICULTURE ORDERS SUBMACHINE GUNS WITH 30 ROUND MAGAZINES - WHY?

◼ A May 7th solicitation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture seeks "the commercial acquisition of submachine guns [in] .40 Cal. S&W." - Breitbart

According to the solicitation, ◼ the Dept. of Agriculture wants the guns to have an "ambidextrous safety, semiautomatic or 2 round [bursts] trigger group, Tritium night sights front and rear, rails for attachment of flashlight (front under fore group) and scope (top rear), stock collapsible or folding," and a "30 rd. capacity" magazine.

They also want the submachine guns to have a "sling," be "lightweight," and have an "oversized trigger guard for gloved operation."

◼ Solicitation Number: USDAOIGWEA-5-7-14 - fbo.gov/

◼ Why Would The USDA Need Submachine Guns? Rogue Cows? - Terresa Monroe-Hamilton/New Zeal
__________________

◼ Why Is the Post Office Buying Bullets? - Bloomberg Business Week 4/21/14

On April 14, Newsmax.com reported that the USPS was seeking to buy a large amount of ammunition on the heels of similar purchases by the Social Security Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This alarmed some people whom Newsmax described as “second amendment advocates.”

One was Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League. “The problem is, all these agencies have their own SWAT teams, their own police departments, which is crazy,” he told the website. “Do we really need this? That was something our Founding Fathers did not like and we should all be concerned about.” ...

◼ This Is Why NOAA Supposedly Ordered 46,000 Rounds Of Ammunition - Business Insider 8/14/12

◼ National Weather Service Follows DHS In Huge Ammo Purchase - Infowars 8/14/12

ICE ORDERED TO STAY SILENT ON RELEASE OF 36,000 CRIMINAL ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

◼ Breitbart Texas recently reported on the release of 36,000 convicted criminal illegal immigrants, including almost 200 murderers, who were released back into the U.S. by immigration officials in 2013. - Kristin Tate/Breitbart

The figures were outlined in a report by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). Breitbart Texas subsequently reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) offices around the country, in an attempt to learn more about release policies.

Each ICE representative that Breitbart Texas came in contact with was familiar with the CIS report, but would not comment on it. They additionally refused to answer general questions regarding detention and release policies.

"We were given specific instructions not to comment on that report," said Greg Palmore, a Texas-based ICE spokesman, during a phone interview with Breitbart Texas.

Rather than comment, they all provided the same press release that was apparently drawn up by a press secretary in Washington, D.C.

...The CIS report claimed that the 36,000 released criminals were collectively convicted of 88,000 crimes. These convictions include 426 sexual assaults, 303 kidnappings, 193 homicides, 1,317 domestic violence assaults, and 1,724 weapon offenses.

The immigrants were apparently being processed for deportation at the time they were let go. ICE could have held these individuals in detention, "but released them anyway," according to a report by the Washington Times....

Jessica Vaughan, the director of policy studies at the CIS said, "We keep hearing from the administration that they are focused like a laser on enforcement against the worst of the worst, convicted criminals, as their top priority. On the other hand, they are releasing, at a rate of about 100 a day, aliens from their custody with criminal convictions, and many of them are serious criminal convictions."

Judicial Watch: New Documents Show IRS HQ Control of Tea Party Targeting

◼ Judicial Watch today released a new batch of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) documents revealing that its handling of Tea Party applications was directed out of the agency’s headquarters in Washington, DC.

The documents also show extensive pressure on the IRS by Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) to shut down conservative-leaning tax-exempt organizations. The IRS’ emails by Lois Lerner detail her misleading explanations to investigators about the targeting of Tea Party organizations....

One key email string from July 2012 confirms that IRS Tea Party scrutiny was directed from Washington, DC. On July 6, 2010, Holly Paz (the former Director of the IRS Rulings and Agreements Division and current Manager of Exempt Organizations Guidance) asks IRS lawyer Steven Grodnitzky “to let Cindy and Sharon know how we have been handling Tea Party applications in the last few months.” Cindy Thomas is the former director of the IRS Exempt Organizations office in Cincinnati and Sharon Camarillo was a Senior Manager in their Los Angeles office. Grodnitzky, a top lawyer in the Exempt Organization Technical unit (EOT) in Washington, DC, responds:

EOT is working the Tea party applications in coordination with Cincy. We are developing a few applications here in DC and providing copies of our development letters with the agent to use as examples in the development of their cases. Chip Hull [another lawyer in IRS headquarters] is working these cases in EOT and working with the agent in Cincy, so any communication should include him as well. Because the Tea party applications are the subject of an SCR [Sensitive Case Report], we cannot resolve any of the cases without coordinating with Rob.

The reference to Rob is believed to be Rob Choi, then-Director of Rulings and Agreements in IRS’s Washington, DC, headquarters.

Another email string from February – March 2010 includes a message from a California EO Determinations manager discussing a Tea Party application “currently being held in the Screening group.” The manager urges, “Please let ‘Washington’ know about this potentially embarrassing political case involving a ‘Tea Party’ organization. Recent media attention to this type of organization indicates to me that this is a ‘high profile’ case.” A co-worker responds: “I think sending it up here [DC] is a good idea given the potential for media interest.” As with Ben Rhodes’ Benghazi-related talking points email, Judicial Watch obtained a more complete version of this IRS email chain than was provided to a congressional committee.

◼ Judicial Watch Obtains New Documents Showing IRS Targeting Came Directly From Washington D.C. - Katie Pavlich/Townhall

Emails released by Judicial Watch last month show former head of taxpayer groups Lois Lerner was in contact with the Department of Justice about the potential criminal prosecution of conservative groups. In her emails about DOJ, Lerner noted that putting one person from a conservative organization in jail would create an example and "shut the whole thing down."

◼ Judicial Watch Bombshell Email Proves that the Weaponization of the IRS Came From Washington - Ed Driscoll/PJMedia
 - Bryan Preston/PJMedia

Someone in Washington is responsible for forging the IRS into a political weapon.

"Some military veterans are being forced to leave their nursing home. It’s an unintended consequence of President Obama’s executive order in February to raise the minimum wage for new federal contract workers from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour."

◼ Vets Forced From Nursing Home by Obama Exec. Order - DML Daily

...Sandy Franks, public affairs officer at Shreveport’s Overton Brooks V. A. Medical Center, explains that nursing homes that have contracts for subsidized care from the Veterans Administration become federal contractors. If they cannot afford to raise their wages, their contracts will not be renewed....

In a statement, Gamble COO Matt Machen said, in part, “The additional labor expenses are simply unaffordable. As such, long term care providers have indicated that they will no longer seek or renew V.A. contracts.”

The V.A. agrees that this has the potential to be a national problem as more V.A. contracts with nursing homes expire.

ONCE AGAIN… Obama Dusts Off His “Crumbling Roads & Bridges” Speech, Today in New York

◼ A trillion dollars and five years later, Barack Obama is still pushing to fix America’s “crumbling roads and bridges” once again. - Jim Hoft/Gateway Pundit

In November 2008 after the presidential election Barack Obama promised to fix America’s “crumbling roads and bridges” with his trillion dollar Keynesian stimulus plan.



Obama pitched his roads and bridges plan in Miami, Florida in 2013.

This Common Core Math Problem Is So Absurdly Difficult It Stumps College Students and Teachers

◼ College students at George Mason University were recently shown the Common Core method — being taught to many of America’s elementary school students — for solving this basic math problem: 32 – 12 = ? - IJ Review via Campus Reform

Confirmed: Many of Obamacare's 'Eight Million Enrollments' are Duplicates

◼ We've been throwing cold water on the administration's so-called exchange "enrollment" figures for months, and for good reason: They're incomplete to the point of deception. - Guy Benson/Townhall

The Washington Post reported back in November that official tabulations were including anyone who's "selected a plan," which is the equivalent of placing an item in a virtual shopping cart online, regardless of whether the check-out and payment steps ever took place....

The existence of some significant number of duplicate enrollments isn't a surprise to anyone who's been following Obamacare's implementation process. While Healthcare.gov's front end was collapsing over the first few months, many would-be enrollees' sign-ups were sucked into the website's black hole. Unsure about whether any of their information had been transmitted, consumers were encouraged to go though the process again. Some did so multiple times. The screenshot in that tweet comes from a report prepared by America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) for Congress. It confirms that "many" of the sign-ups being celebrated as "enrollments" are in fact various iterations of the same person's enrollment efforts. Phil asks "how do you not even [de-duplicate]?" The answer is pretty straightforward: The online "reconciliation" system that would perform this Herculean task through automation is still under construction -- and may not be ready for months (beyond the eight months that have already elapsed). That's why the administration's enrollment statistics are useless in the aggregate. They just manufactured the largest-sounding number possible and heralded it as exciting proof that the "law is working" and the "debate is over."

...We've seen fresh warning signs of the bad news yet to come: Additional cancellation notices and major premium increases, disproportionately impacting consumers in the small group market. The Las Vegas Review-Journal story offered a stark reminder of what's on tap, but again, none of it is a surprise.

CALIFORNIA OBAMACARE COSTS $1.2 BILLION MORE THAN EXPECTED

◼ Democratic California Gov. Jerry Brown warned on Tuesday that his state's Obamacare program will cost California taxpayers $1.2 billion more than the state originally budgeted for. - Wynton Hall/Breitbart

"I'm proud we did it," said Brown. "But we also have to take into account this thing is growing."
Brown said the state's Obamacare exchange, known officially as Covered California, and the state's Medi-Cal expansion represent "a huge social commitment on the part of the taxpayers of California." ...

Last week, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office reported that California faces $340 billion in debts, or more than $8,500 for each of the 38 million people who live in the state.

FROM THE COMMENTS: A government run program costing more than originally expected? Impossible! Wait I know what must have happened... Obviously this is the fault of the racist Tea Party who must have sold faulty, racist calculators (financed by the Koch brothers of course) to unsuspecting Democrats who's only wish was to provide healthcare to the underprivileged. Next thing you're going to tell me is the bullet train will cost more than originally expected! D @mn the Tea Party! D @mn them!

◼ Governor’s Budget Update: Health Costs Explode, Reserve Requirements Clamp Down - Loren Kaye/Fox&Hounds

While the Governor choked off requests for programmatic spending with one hand, by the other hand he doled out more than a billion dollars to cover rapid growth in the state’s health care program for the poor.

I Checked My Privilege, And It’s Doing Just Fine

◼ Liberals have a new word for what normal people call “success.” They call it “privilege,” as if a happy, prosperous life is the result of some magic process related to where your great-great-great-grandfather came from. - Kurt Schlichter/Townhall

It’s the latest leftist argument tactic, which means it is a tactic designed to prevent any argument and to beat you into rhetorical submission. Conservatives, don’t play their game.

It’s easy to see that this notion that accomplishment comes not from hard work but from some mysterious force, operating out there in the ether, is essential to liberal thought. To excuse the dole-devouring layabouts who form so much of the Democrat voting base, it is critical that they undermine the achievements of those who support themselves. We can’t have the American people thinking that hard work leads to success; people might start asking why liberal constituencies don’t just work harder instead of demanding more money from those who actually produce something.

This “Check your privilege” meme is the newest trump card du jour on college campuses and in other domains of progressive tyranny. It morphed into existence from the “You racist!” wolf-cry that is now so discredited that it produces little but snickers even among liberal fellow travelers. After all, if everyone is racist – and to the progressives, everyone is except themselves – then no one is really racist. And it’s kind of hard to take seriously being called “racist” by adherents of a political party that made a KKK kleagle its Senate majority leader.

So how do we deal with this idiocy?

And Here’s Another Time When The White House Asked Someone to Lie on Sunday News Shows

◼ Geithner claims Obama adviser suggested he mislead public - Megyn Kelly/FOX With: Judge Andrew Napolitano

KELLY: Yes, Geithner said I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it.

NAPOLITANO: Geithner said I'm not going to do it. And Pfeiffer said, you have to do it. It will be a dog whistle to the left. Meaning, it will send a signal to our left wing base that we're still with them, a signal in the form of a lie. Now this could not have come out at the worst time for this administration.

KELLY: So now, Mr. Geithner testifies in his book that he refused to do it, however, lest you have any doubt about what the democratic talking points were on this issue, listen to who would do it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

SEN. DICK DURBIN, D-ILL., "MEET THE PRESS"/NBC, FEB. 20, 2011: Social Security does not add one penny to the deficit.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER, D-N.Y., "MORNING JOE"/MSNBC, NOV. 9, 2012: I think on Social Security, you'll find more resistance for one reason, it's not part of the deficit.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, I-VT., "ED SHOW"/MSNBC, NOV. 8, 2012 : We're not going to cut Social Security, which by the way, as Harry Reid just reminded us, has nothing to do with the deficit.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

NAPOLITANO: Wow.

KELLY: Right? So, they got the memo.

NAPOLITANO: Those are great gets. They obviously got the memo and they didn't have the sense of integrity or fear of lying that Tim Geithner had.

◼ Many on the left are outraged, outraged I tell you, that conservatives would have the audacity to actually accuse the White House of sending out a representative to lie on Sunday talk shows in order to push their political agenda. Oh wait, here’s former Treasury Secretary Timmy Geithner saying that’s exactly what they tried to make him do: - IJ Review

“I remember during one Roosevelt Room prep session before I appeared on the Sunday shows, I objected when Dan Pfeiffer wanted me to say Social Security didn’t contribute to the deficit. It wasn’t a main driver of our future deficits, but it did contribute. Pfeiffer said the line was a ‘dog whistle’ to the left, a phrase I had never heard before. He had to explain that the phrase was code to the Democratic base, signaling that we intended to protect Social Security.” (p. 458-9, 467)

◼ Tim Geithner: The White House Asked Me to Mislead the Public - FOX

The White House wanted Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to lie on Sunday talk shows to downplay the part Social Security played in driving the deficit, it was revealed today.

Geithner writes in his memoir Stress Test, out today, that the White House communications director asked him to downplay the long term cost of Social Security spending to mollify the Democratic Party's base.

◼ White House wanted Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to LIE to the public about social security being behind the deficit - Daily Mail

Geithner's anecdote about White House communications staff trying pressure him into misleading Americans about the country's ability to meet its future financial obligations once again casts a shadow on the Obama administration's willingness to tell the truth when the truth is politically unappealing.

He writes that Pfeiffer, who is now Obama's senior communications adviser, often let party politics come into play when discussing how the administration should respond to fiscal issues.
During a discussion on spending cuts, Geithner says that Pfieffer argued that 'we couldn't afford to alienate our base and split a weakened Democratic Party in pursuit of an imaginary compromise with Republicans who didn't want to compromise.'

BEYOND THE HASHTAG: BOKO HARAM AND THE FAILURE OF OBAMA'S COUNTER-TERRORISM STRATEGY

No mention of Islam in Michelle Obama’s radio address about the Armed African Girl-Rapers of Unknown Motive

◼ Boko Haram and the Jihad in Africa - The Other McCain
◼ 'In these girls, Barack and I see our own daughters': Michelle Obama demands justice for Boko Haram kidnap girls in White House's weekly radio address - Daily Mail [UK]
◼ All Tweet, No Action - William Kristol/Weekly Standard
◼ Stop making excuses for Islamist extremist monsters - New York Post

◼ Paraded by a blood-crazed fanatic, the terrified schoolgirl captives: Boko Haram release chilling videos of missing Nigerian girls as they reveal they have all been forced to convert to Islam - Daily Mail [UK]

◼ Some of the schoolgirls captured by extremist group Boko Haram on April 14 have been paraded on video
◼ More than 200 girls were abducted by the Islamist militants from a village in the north-east of Nigeria
◼ Boko Harum leader has said that he will release the captured girls in return for militant prisoners being freed
◼ The Nigerian government has reportedly rejected this offer and has two army divisions hunting for the seized girls
◼ Governor of state where they were seized - Borno - claims to know where they are
◼ Kashim Shettima said he'd received reports of sightings of the girls and had passed this information to the military
◼ Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, calls for negotiations with the terrorist group, which he says is 'merciless'

◼ VIDEO: Nigerian captors convert hostage girls to Islam - CNN

The girls sit quietly on the ground, dressed in traditional Islamic garb, barely moving, clearly scared.
"Praise be to Allah, the lord of the world," they chant.
The video, released by French news agency Agence France-Presse, purports to show about 100 of the 276 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram fighters nearly a month ago. It's the first time they've been seen since their abduction April 14.

In separate shots included in the 27-minute video, a man says he will release the girls only after imprisoned members of Boko Haram are freed, according to AFP.

The man identifies himself as Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau. Nigerian officials disputed that claim on Monday, arguing that Shekau is dead. Other experts say the notorious terror group leader is still alive.

◼ Boko Haram offers swap

◼ George Will, Brit Hume Blast #BringBackOurGirls: ‘Exercise in Self-Esteem’ - Mediaite

On Fox News Sunday this morning, Fox News contributors George Will and Brit Hume mocked the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, a piece of Twitter activism intended to increase pressure on the Nigerian government and international community to more actively seek the return of over 200 kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls, arguing the campaign was intended solely to soothe the consciouses of those tweeting.

◼ Boko Haram’s Bin Laden Connection - Eli Lake/Daily Beast

Some intelligence analysts believe that Osama bin Laden provided everything from seed money to strategic direction to the now-infamous Nigerian terror group.

◼ Nigeria abducted girls: More heartbreak and tears, but little progress - CNN
◼ U.S. needs tougher foreign policy than ‘hashtags and selfies’ - Washington Times
◼ Thousands of women and girls flee Boko Haram zealots in Nigeria - Sunday Express [UK]
◼ Don't forget that Boko Haram targets boys as well as girls - BBC News [UK]
◼ Beyond the hashtag - New York Post/Editorial

It’s now been four weeks since nearly 300 schoolgirls in the Nigerian village of Chibok were kidnapped from their school by the radical jihadist group Boko Haram.

Precious time was lost almost from the start. The Nigerian military was slow to respond to warnings from Boko Haram that it was planning an attack because girls were trying to get an education. Even after the April 14 kidnapping, it took more than two weeks for the world at large to wake to the horror of this incident.

◼ BOKO HARAM AND THE FAILURE OF OBAMA'S COUNTER-TERRORISM STRATEGY - Breitbart´s Big Peace

During Hillary Clinton’s tenure, the State Department failed to designate Boko Haram a terrorist organization, in spite of the fact that Boko Haram had become second only to the Taliban as the deadliest terrorist organization. Clinton will rightly have to bear blame for that, but the lack of a designation also reflects the much deeper problem of the Obama administration’s overall approach to Islamic extremism. It is an approach that has led to bad policies, not only with regard to Boko Haram, but also to Iran, the Syrian rebels, Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Benghazi.

The heart of the problem is that President Barack Obama and many of his top counter-terrorism advisers see Islamic extremism from the leftist perspective of social movement theory....

◼ Hillary Clinton failed Nigerian girls - Boston Herald
◼ State Department compared Nigeria's Boko Haram crisis to religious minorities in United States - Joel Gehrke/Washington Examiner @joelmentum

@MarkSteynOnline I thought you would like this Mark: pic.twitter.com/GX9zg80uvK

— Papa Giorgio (@papagiorgio200) May 10, 2014

◼ #BringBackOurBalls - MARK STEYN (image: Pamela Gellar)

@Ranger_Up's got a point y'know... #BringBackOurGirls #HashtagsDontDoShit pic.twitter.com/k3PHeuyhhA

— Nate Anderson (@N_J_Anderson) May 9, 2014

◼ ‘Reality slap’ photo puts first lady’s hashtag activism in brutal perspective [pic] - Twitchy

#hashtagswillnotbringyourgirlsback #highlytrainedoperatorswill #rangerup

"You are supposed to provide oversight. That's why you have special liberties and that's why you have special protections."

◼ Trey Gowdy gives the media a dressing down of epic proportions. You will enjoy this. - Best Of Cain

Gowdy understand at the outset that he first had to undercut the media narrative that this is a non-story, and he did that by quoting Obama's own words. If it's not really a serious issue, then Obama wouldn't have said the things he said. But he did, and because he did, you can't argue that Gowdy's questions are just a bunch of partisan noise.

Again and again, Gowdy illustrates the absurdity of the nonsense that has come from the administration on this, and ever-present is the message that the media have been derelict in their duties by accepting this line of crap instead of really looking for answers. If this is the way he's going to conduct the investigation, he's going to make it awfully difficult for the media to ignore the story. That's what they want to do, but they will only do it if they can get away with it without too many people noticing the hit their credibility is taking.

They want to protect Obama (and Hillary), but they want to protect themselves first.

Reminder: Benghazi Survivors Given Aliases, Moved Around, Monthly Polygraphs

◼ Here’s another reminder from Trey Gowdy and Greta Van Susteren of the lengths the Obama administration has gone to, to hide what happened on September 11, 2012. - Maggie's Notebook

◼ The First Amendment Also Died at Benghazi - American Thinker

Even Letterman was in on the lie. Film maker never had a chance.

I Was an Israeli Spy — just as Newsweek was, once, a news magazine.

◼ In case you missed it, Newsweek has attempted to take itself off life support the last few days by publishing two articles alleging Israel has engaged in “rampant” spying on the United States. This is a grave matter with drastic international consequences that has touched my conscience deeply.

...to clear the record, and perhaps to avoid a lifetime in prison, allow me to reveal some of the important information I passed on to my handlers in Tel Aviv. (See: I know Mossad headquarters are in Tel Aviv, not Jerusalem. You have to believe me.)

1. That the United States has a secretary of State who thinks Israel will become an “apartheid state” even though Arabs have vastly more civil rights in Israel than they have in any Arab country. Go figure....

Bloomberg on Benghazi, What’d You Expect Hillary To Do?' (Since You Asked, Here's List)

◼ What'd I expect her to do? I don't know, perhaps on day one when everybody knew it was a terrorist attack, perhaps she could have told the truth instead of bringing up a cockamamie story about a you tube video.... - Yid With Lid

What Bloomberg doesn't understand, and what the Democrats and Mainstream media doesn't understand either, is the families of the victims do deserve the truth....but even more so the American people deserve to know if they were lied to by their leaders. Progressives seem to believe that Americans should learn the government's talking points and believe every single character of every single word. That is not what America is about. We have a tradition of a healthy mistrust of government because our omnipresent fear of tyranny. We have never followed government talking points like a line of lemmings walking off the cliff...and that's part of what keeps us free.

Harvard Scientists May Have Just Solved One of the Biggest Environmental Issues of Our Time

◼ For years, researchers have been attempting to find a viable, biodegradable alternative to plastic. - Policy Mic

For years, researchers have been attempting to find a viable, biodegradable alternative to plastic.

...On Monday, researchers at Harvard University's Wyss Institute announced they have created a new bioplastic based off a novel source: shrimp shells.

How it works: The main component is chitosan, a form of chitin, the second most abundant organic compound in the world. It is found in everything from crustacean shells to insect cuticles and butterfly wings.

Usually, shrimp shells would be discarded or used in fertilizers or makeup. But the Harvard researchers have been able to process these shrimp shells to create a material that is strong, transparent and renewable. They've named it "shrilk."

"There is an urgent need in many industries for sustainable materials that can be mass produced," said Wyss director Donald E. Ingber. "Our scalable manufacturing method shows that chitosan, which is readily available and inexpensive, can serve as a viable bioplastic that could potentially be used instead of conventional plastics for numerous industrial applications."

The best part is that not only does shrilk biodegrade in a matter of weeks once it's discarded, it actually releases nutrients into the environment as it breaks down. Researchers have been able to grow a plant in soil that is enriched with chitosan, demonstrating how man-made garbage can actually contribute to the environment.

Federal Judge Brings An End To Political Witch Hunt in Wisconsin, But Who Will Be Next?

The use of the tremendous power given to law enforcement officials to target political speech they do not like is one of the greatest threats to our liberty and freedom of speech.

◼ U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Randa has put an end to a political witch hunt by local Wisconsin prosecutors that featured a secret investigation more reminiscent of a banana republic than the world’s foremost democracy. In two orders—one of which termed the prosecutors’ appeal of his decision as “frivolous”—Randa ordered local prosecutors to “cease all activities related to the investigation” and to return all of the records and documents they had seized from dozens of conservative advocacy organizations. - Hans von Spakovsky/Heritage

Judge Randa concluded that local prosecutors, led by Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, a Democrat, were attempting to criminalize the political speech of about 30 conservative organizations, including Wisconsin Club for Growth. These prosecutors had instigated “a secret John Doe investigation replete with armed raids on homes to collect evidence.” The prosecutors were upset apparently over the organizations’ support of legislation pushed by Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, to limit the collective bargaining rights of public employees. They claimed it was a criminal violation for independent organizations to engage in political speech and political advocacy in support of Gov. Walker’s proposed legislation. Judge Randa ruled the prosecutors had a “long-running investigation of all things Walker-related.”

Judge Randa’s description of the appalling tactics used by the prosecutors is shocking. The head of WCG, Eric O’Keefe, as well as his advisors and employees, were treated like members of a drug cartel. Armed officers conducted raids in the early morning hours, with sheriff deputy vehicles using “bright floodlights to illuminate” the activists’ homes. Deputies executed search warrants “seizing business papers, computer equipment, phones, and other devices, while their targets were restrained under police supervision and denied the ability to contact their attorneys,” the judge wrote. Just as bad, O’Keefe and the other targets of the investigation also were served with subpoenas that included a “Secrecy Order” telling them they could not reveal anything about the investigation or the seizure of their property and records “under penalty of perjury.”.... more at the link.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

◼ Meet the Mothers of these five Presidents - Heritage