What’s interesting out there in the news today?
Open Thread, feel free to share. 🙂
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The more we know, the worse it gets. Their stories have more holes than swiss cheese. The claim that it was just the Cincinnati IRS office has already been proven false.
Internal Revenue Service officials in Washington and at least two other offices were involved with investigating conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, making clear that the effort reached well beyond the branch in Cincinnati that was initially blamed, according to documents obtained by TheWashingtonPost.
Carney: W.H. ‘People Were Aware’ of IRS Targeting Conservatives, But Didn’t Do Anything About It. From TheWeeklyStandard
President Obama will do what he always does. Throw somebody else under the bus. From TheGretaWire
“I’ve directed Secretary Lew to hold those responsible for these failures accountable, and to make sure that each of the Inspector General’s recommendations are implemented quickly, so that such conduct never happens again. But regardless of how this conduct was allowed to take place, the bottom line is, it was wrong. Public service is a solemn privilege. I expect everyone who serves in the federal government to hold themselves to the highest ethical and moral standards. So do the American people. And as President, I intend to make sure our public servants live up to those standards every day.”
It’s gonna be fun when these low-level scapegoats are under oath. I’d like to hear where they say the orders came from.
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Franklin Graham says they were targeted by the IRS too. From Politico
“While these audits not only wasted taxpayer money, they wasted money contributed by donors for ministry purposes as we had to spend precious resources servicing the IRS agents in our offices,” Graham wrote in the letter, which was shared with POLITICO. “I believe that someone in the administration was targeting and attempting to intimidate us. This is morally wrong and unethical – indeed some would call it ‘un-American.”
Graham said that “in light” of the IRS admission that it targeted tea party groups for added scrutiny, “I do not believe that the IRS audit of our two organizations last year is a coincidence – or justifiable.”
Looks like there may have been other victims as well. Someone seems to be using the IRS to harrass perceived “enemies” of the President.
Reporter Claims IRS Harassment After Tough Obama Interview *UPDATE: Conners Muzzled from TheDanaShow
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At least one group had a sense of humor about it, though I doubt the IRS found it funny. 🙂
IRS Asks for Reading List, Tea Party Group Sends Constitution. From ABCNews
“The Ohio woman also did not expect that providing information about the books her group read would be part of the application process.
“I was trying to be very cordial, but they wanted copies of unbelievable things,” Bower told ABC News today. “They wanted to know what materials we had discussed at any of our book studies.”
Now can someone tell me what the books they read have to do with granting tax exempt status?
Here’s some more of the questions asked of conservative groups. They even wanted info on family members of conservative organization members. From PJMedia
Much of that information would allow the IRS to identify individual members of the targeted groups. Not just staff and donors, but members.”
And then the IRS makes it all public, thereby fulfilling the liberal dream of finding, publicly naming, and attempting to publicly shame conservative donors. Like the Koch Brothers.
And yes, it turns out the IRS did leak info on conservative groups for just that purpose. From ProPublica
“The same IRS office that deliberately targeted conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status in the run-up to the 2012 election released nine pending confidential applications of conservative groups to ProPublica late last year .”
“In response to a request for the applications for 67 different nonprofits last November, the Cincinnati office of the IRS sent ProPublica applications or documentation for 31 groups. Nine of those applications had not yet been approved—meaning they were not supposed to be made public. (We made six of those public, after redacting their financial information, deeming that they were newsworthy.)”
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Meanwhile, certain shady groups got expedited service. You just have to know the right people. Or be the President’s brother.
IRS official Lerner speedily approved exemption for Obama brother’s ‘charity’. From TheDailyCaller
“Lois Lerner, the senior IRS official at the center of the decision to target tea party groups for burdensome tax scrutiny, signed paperwork granting tax-exempt status to the Barack H. Obama Foundation, a shady charity headed by the president’s half-brother that operated illegally for years.
According to the organization’s filings, Lerner approved the foundation’s tax status within a month of filing, an unprecedented timeline that stands in stark contrast to conservative organizations that have been waiting for more than three years, in some cases, for approval.
Lerner also appears to have broken with the norms of tax-exemption approval by granting retroactive tax-exempt status to Malik Obama’s organization.
Wait let me guess, low-level employees again?
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And is the EPA unfairly assigning fees based on political ideology?
EPA waives fee requests for friendly groups, denies conservative groups. From TheWashingtonExaminer
“Conservative groups seeking information from the Environmental Protection Agency have been routinely hindered by fees normally waived for media and watchdog groups, while fees for more than 90 percent of requests from green groups were waived, according to requests reviewed by the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
CEI reviewed Freedom of Information Act requests sent between January 2012 and this spring from several environmental groups friendly to the EPA’s mission, and several conservative groups, to see how equally the agency applies its fee waiver policy for media and watchdog groups. Government agencies are supposed to waive fees for groups disseminating information for public benefit.
“This is as clear an example of disparate treatment as the IRS’ hurdles selectively imposed upon groups with names ominously reflecting an interest in, say, a less intrusive or biased federal government,” said CEI fellow Chris Horner.”
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Here’s more on the AP story.
Even Liberals Call DOJ’s AP Spying “Unacceptable Abuse of Power” From JudicialWatch
Holder is defending the phone record seizure. From TheWashingtonExaminer
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In other news……
Looks like ICE leadership finally found an immigrant they don’t want amnesty for. Or even asylum. They even overturned a judge’s order to protect America from these dangerous individuals. 🙄 From TheBlaze
“The Romeike family has for years been battling for the right to educate their children as they see fit. Today, the United States government has denied their request.
Originally from Germany, Evangelical Christians Uwe and Hannelore Romeike wanted to homeschool their six children, but it is against the law in Germany. They faced threats of legal action from the government and crippling fines before choosing to immigrate to the United States in 2010, seeking political asylum.
U.S. Immigration Judge Lawrence Burman granted the Romeike’s request, but it was overturned in 2012 by the Board of Immigration Appeals, after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement challenged the decision.”
Yet ICE leadership is releasing criminal illegals to wander the country, and hundreds of violent offenders directly from prisons. What’s wrong with this picture?
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Next, new info in the Gosnell case.
Gosnell Gives Up Appeal, Prosecutors Agree to Life in Prison, No Death Penalty
This next one has upset some people.
Steve Stockman: ‘Democrats Worship Abortion,’ Don’t Care About Women’s Safety. From TheHuffingtonPost
“Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas) on Monday attempted to tie Democrats to Philadelphia abortion doctor and recently convicted murderer Kermit Gosnell.
In a statement released shortly after Gosnell was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of three infants born alive at his medical clinic, Stockman said the crimes had “exposed the horrors and inhumanity of legalized abortion.”
“Despite the blood-soaked horror of Gosnell’s clinic, Democrats refuse to loosen their embrace of unrestricted, unregulated, taxpayer-funded abortion on demand,” he continued. “Democrats do not want abortion to be safe or rare. Democrats oppose even the most basic of health and safety standards for abortion mills. Democrats don’t care how many women are maimed, infected with diseases or die on the routinely filthy abortion mills. Democrats worship abortion with same fervor the Canaanites worshipped Molech.””
As you can imagine, HuffPo readers are not happy with Steve.
And sadly it appears we have another story breaking that’s similar to the Gosnell story. 3 employees have come forward to allege infanticide of born alive babies.
With A VERY STRONG CONTENT WARNING!!!
It’s graphic, and the details are horrible.
More here from LifeSiteNews
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Wandering Views 