Tag: government

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced that it has filed charges against former Democratic Governor/Senator Jon Corzine for his part in the embezzlement of customer funds at MF Global.

5:12 pm

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced that it has filed charges against former Democratic Governor/Senator Jon Corzine for his part in the embezzlement of customer funds at MF Global.

The article says that most of the embezzled funds have been recovered, but that’s not only news to me, I don’t see how it’s possible. We are talking about the misuse and loss of one billion dollars.

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The prosecutors trying to put a high school teenager in jail for a year because he refused to take off his NRA t-shirt have tried to put a gag order on the teenager and his parents.

8:51 pm

The new America: The prosecutors trying to put a high school teenager in jail for a year because he refused to take off his NRA t-shirt have tried to put a gag order on the teenager and his parents.

Prosecutors said they wanted to stop White, Marcum, and Marcum’s fathern Allen Lardieri, from sharing their story with the press, claiming the gag order would serve Marcum’s better interest. “These are the same individuals that are trying to prosecute him, so as far as them knowing what is in his better interest, I have a lot of questions about that,” Lardieri said.

A petition to intervene in the gag order hearing on behalf of WOWK-TV and the free press was prepared. Before WOWK reporter Charlo Greene could deliver the petition to the court clerk, she was asked twice to leave the courthouse by a bailiff who told her Judge Eric O’Briant, who presided over Marcum’s case, had requested she be removed from the courthouse. Greene then was told she would be arrested and charged with obstructing an officer if she did not comply with the bailiff’s orders.

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The toxic combination of Obamacare and the proposed Senate immigration bill would create a big financial incentive for employers to hire non-citizens.

5:52 pm

Congress passes a law: The toxic combination of Obamacare and the proposed Senate immigration bill would create a big financial incentive for employers to hire non-citizens.

Under Obamacare, businesses with over 50 workers that employ American citizens without offering them qualifying health insurance could be subject to fines of up to $3,000 per worker. But because newly legalized immigrants wouldn’t be eligible for subsidies on the Obamacare exchanges until after they become citizens – at least 13 years under the Senate bill – businesses could avoid such fines by hiring the new immigrants instead.

Not surprisingly, the idiots who voted for this immigration bill haven’t read it and have no idea this problem exists.

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Liberal groups were not targeted by the IRS.

9:46 am

Despite some recent reports, liberal groups were not targeted by the IRS.

It appears these recent reports, that “progressives” were also targeted, are merely spin, an effort to defuse the scandal. A closer look reveals two facts about this so-called leftwing targeting: One, the liberal organizations were not “targeted,” merely “flagged.” Nothing was done to them at all, which is why none has come forward to complain. Second, the liberal organizations were 501c3 non-profits, not 501c4. The former get a greater tax exemption in exchange for not engaging in any political activity. Thus, such non-profits are normally subjected to greater scrutiny by the IRS.

It didn’t take much research to note these two details. That several major news organizations, including the Chicago Tribuine above and CNN, didn’t bother to check and simply regurgitated the spin, tells us a great deal about them.

Update: in related news, it appears that twelve different units at the IRS were involved in the targeting of conservatives.

That’s a far cry from one or two rogue agents in a single IRS office, as Lois Lerner claimed.

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The Chinese astronauts have undocked from the Tiengong-1 space station and will return to Earth tomorrow.

9:03 am

The Chinese astronauts have undocked from the Tiengong-1 space station and will return to Earth tomorrow.

Following a separation from the Tiangong-1 at 7:05 a.m. Beijing Time, the manned Shenzhou-10 moved back to a point from where the spacecraft changed its orbit and flew around the target module. Under the command of ground-based professionals, Shenzhou-10 adjusted its flight gesture at a point behind Tiangong-1, and approached and rendezvoused with the target module.

The fly-around and rendezvous was apparently controlled by ground controllers, not the astronauts on board.

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Want to complain about your water quality? You’re a terrorist, according to a Tennessee government official.

8:58 am

Want to complain about your water quality? You’re a terrorist, according to one Tennessee government official.

“We take water quality very seriously. Very, very seriously,” deputy director of TDEC’s Division of Water Resources Sherwin Smith told a baffled and outraged audience in Maury County, Tennessee. “But you need to make sure that when you make water quality complaints you have a basis, because federally, if there’s no water quality issues, that can be considered under Homeland Security an act of terrorism.”

The worst part of this is that this bureaucrat might actually be quoting the law correctly. When Congress created the Department of Homeland Security they created an American version of the KGB, something we don’t need, don’t want, and contradicts every principle this country was founded on.

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Two reports issued today have concluded that implementation of Obamacare by the federal government is behind schedule.

9:17 am

Two reports issued today have concluded that implementation of Obamacare by the federal government is behind schedule.

I’m not surprised, considering the opposition to the law combined with its draconian complexity. Even angels — with to cooperation of God and everyone else — would have trouble implementing this mess. Without that cooperation is will be next to impossible.

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It appears that the IRS targeted a Homeland Security whistleblower.

1:01 pm

It appears that the IRS targeted a Homeland Security whistleblower.

They slapped a lien on his home after investigating him for a year. They hassled him, determined that the government owed him money, and then poof! they were gone. The government still owes Black money.

It’s not just the tea party the IRS goes after, it’s anyone who causes trouble for those in power.

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A recap of the broken promises of Obamacare.

9:58 am

A recap of the broken promises of Obamacare.

Most of these will be familiar to regular readers of Behind the Black, though the article lays them out very clearly. However, this one is a new one to me:

If your state ran a program to help the uninsured, that’s also a violation, because Insurance is what the ACA is all about. It’s a mandate that you purchase insurance. Any unique solutions generated in one of our 50 incubators must stop even if they have served people well, because they will be in violation of the Affordable Care Act. One of the most successful state Medicaid systems was denied a waiver by the Obama administration despite its proven track record. The worst part of one-size-fits-all solutions is that they are tailored for no one. [emphasis in original]

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A Virginia school board has voted unanimously to revise their zero tolerance policy in connection to guns after two boys were suspended for “using pencils like guns”.

10:21 pm

A Virginia school board has voted unanimously to revise their zero tolerance policy in connection to guns after two boys were suspended for “using pencils like guns”.

Under the revised policy, school administrators can look at factors such as intentions of harm and whether the object is listed as a weapon to determine the punishment. Ordinary objects will not be considered weapons.

Well, duh. Sounds like common sense, doesn’t it?

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NASA picks 8 new public relations figureheads, calls them astronauts.

10:43 am

NASA picks 8 new public relations figureheads, calls them astronauts.

To put it bluntly, NASA presently can’t put any astronauts into orbit, and might not be able to do ever again. Any astronauts on NASA’s payroll will thus likely have to beg a seat on a spacecraft built by others. Eventually, that begging won’t get them anywhere, which means that the work these new astronauts will mostly do will be to sell NASA to the public.

In the past, the PR work of astronauts only consumed a significant part of their time. For the present and probably in the future, it will be the only work they do.

Which makes me question the need to hire these astronauts in the first place. If I had my druthers and ran NASA, I’d rather wait until I actually need some astronauts and then hire the pilots who are flying SpaceShipTwo.

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In interviews to Congress, a Washington IRS supervisor admitted to scrutinizing tea party applications.

7:43 pm

In interviews to Congress, Washington IRS supervisor Holly Paz admitted to scrutinizing tea party applications.

So, very clearly this harassment wasn’t limited to low level employees in Cincinnati. Lois Lerner lied.

Still, this article appears to me to be a leak specifically designed to exonerate the Obama administration and to make it seem that the harassment of conservatives was merely bad management. To me, it reads like hogwash. I suspect when we get to see the entire transcripts of her interviews and when Paz is finally forced to answer some questions publicly things won’t look so innocent. For one thing, it seems impossible that only conservative organizations were picked for harassment without someone making a conscious political decision. For another, the following claim doesn’t meet the smell test for me:

Paz said an IRS supervisor in Cincinnati had commonly referred to the applications as “tea party” cases. But, Paz said, she thought that was simply shorthand for any application that included political activity.

Yeah, right. Anyone could see plainly that “tea party” could also be shorthand for radical leftwing organizations or Democratic Party front groups.

Finally, note that the IRS has admitted to replacing Paz, though they haven’t yet said whether she was actually fired. If she was so innocent, why did they do this?

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Even as the IRS was harassing any nonprofit using the word “patriot” in its name, it was rubberstamping exemptions for “Islamic” groups, even those that have violated laws and are thought to have links to terrorist organizations.

7:23 pm

The world upside down: Even as the IRS was harassing any nonprofit using the word “patriot” in its name, it was rubberstamping exemptions for “Islamic” groups, even those that have violated laws and are thought to have links to terrorist organizations.

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