Tag: politics

A detailed analysis of the IRS’s chain of command in Cincinnati, proving the harassment of conservatives came from high up the chain.

9:48 pm

A detailed analysis of the IRS’s chain of command in Cincinnati, proving the harassment of conservatives came from high up the chain.

The article names names, and places them in the chain of command both in Cincinnati and in relation to Washington. The new key person in that chain is Cindy Thomas, who appears to have been at the top of the chain in Cincinnati, reported directly to Washington, and also was the person who signed off on the illegal release of data to ProPublica.

All of it makes the claims of the White House and the IRS that this was done by a few low-level rogue agents look absurd and dishonest.

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The journal Science struggles to find the harm done from NIH’s 5% cuts from sequestration.

9:35 pm

The journal Science struggles to find the harm done to NIH from sequestration’s 5% cut.

Given that sequestration lopped off a staggering $1.55 billion from the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH’s) budget this year, it shouldn’t be hard to find examples of how the cut is harming research labs. Although sequestration “has already dealt a devastating blow,” said NIH Director Francis Collins at a Senate hearing last week, it turns out it’s not that easy to spell out the damage.

First of all, this cut was hardly “staggering.” All it did was bring NIH’s budget down to $29.15 billion, which is almost exactly the budget the agency had in 2008. Somehow, NIH managed quite well with this amount of money in 2008, and in fact probably wasted quite a bit of cash even then.

Second, this fact — that the cut wasn’t really that “devastating” — might explain why Science can’t find any obvious damage to any program. In its budget articles the journal routinely makes it a point to lobby for more money for scientists. Thus, we shouldn’t be surprised when it tries to spin any cut — or even a small reduction in the rate of growth — as a disaster. The fact that Science still has trouble making that spin seem believable in this case is solid evidence that sequestration was a good idea, and that there was a great deal of fat that could be trimmed from the budget.

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Photos from various tea party protests across the nation today.

5:21 pm

Photos from various tea party protests across the nation today.

The protesters wearing targets on their backs were especially clever, considering the vicious attacks after the Tucson shootings two years ago against Sarah Palin for using tiny target graphics in some of her literature. Back then, Palin and conservatives got slimed for this irrelevant act, something they had nothing to do with the Tucson murders. Now, the IRS has made them real targets. And it both cases, they are innocent, doing nothing more than expressing their beliefs and ideas.

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IRS official Lois Lerner will invoke the Fifth Amendment when she testifies to Congress.

1:13 pm

IRS official Lois Lerner will invoke the Fifth Amendment when she testifies to Congress about the IRS’s harassment of conservatives.

She has the right to do this, but this action puts the lie to the Obama administration claim that no laws were broken in the IRS scandal. Her lawyer very clearly knows that she risks prosecution for breaking the law, and that is why he is advising her to invoke the Fifth.

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More labor unions balk at the consequences of Obamacare.

9:22 am

Finding out what’s in it: More labor unions balk at the consequences of Obamacare.

Many UFCW members have what are known as multi-employer or Taft-Hartley plans. According to the administration’s analysis of the Affordable Care Act, the law does not provide tax subsidies for the roughly 20 million people covered by the plans. Union officials argue that interpretation could force their members to change their insurance and accept more expensive and perhaps worse coverage in the state-run exchanges.

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Why the IRS scandal is the ugliest in U.S. history.

8:26 pm

Why the IRS scandal is the ugliest in U.S. history.

Why? Because you, the People, became the targets of a comprehensive federal government effort to stifle dissent, one made using the government’s overwhelming and disproportionate policing and taxing powers.

All of the other scandals, going back to Andrew Johnson’s post-Civil War scandals, Warren G. Harding’s 1920s Teapot Dome scandal, Nixon’s Watergate, Reagan’s Iran-Contra, and Clinton’s Oval Office sexcapades have actually been narrowly focused acts of cronyism, garden-variety political chicanery, or personal failings. It’s been insider stuff.

The IRS scandal, by contrast, is a direct attack on the American people. … Once a government gets the bit between its teeth and starts targeting special interest groups, that is the end of freedom, not just for those first groups targeted, but for everyone. [emphasis in original]

Such a misuse of government power must be dealt with. If we don’t do it, it will happen again, more forcefully, more violently, more viciously, and more effectively. Freedom will die.

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The White House defends the woman who was in charge of the IRS office when it harassed conservatives organizations and now runs the IRS Obamacare office.

5:15 pm

The White House defends Sarah Hall Ingram, the person who had been in charge of the IRS office when it harassed conservatives organizations from 2009 to 2012 and now runs the IRS Obamacare office.

If President Obama was so outraged about this scandal, as he claims, you would think he’d tell his minions that it ain’t appropriate to defend this person. Instead, you’d think he’d be doing what he can to get her removed from a position of power.

Instead, Ingram received a promotion and the largest amount of bonuses of any IRS employee. Moreover, the bonuses from 2010 to 2012 were all greater than $25K per year and thus required Obama’s approval to be issued. And she is still in charge of the IRS Obamacare office.

Sounds to me that, to Obama, her harassment of conservatives at the IRS was a job well done.

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AP’s CEO calls the Obama administrations seizure of their phone records “unconstitutional” and says they are considering legal action.

2:59 pm

In other news: The CEO of the Associated Press today called the Obama administration’s seizure of their journalists’ phone records “unconstitutional,” noting that they are considering legal action.

What is most disturbing to me is that, despite the clear pattern of abuse of power by this administration — from using the IRS for political purposes to making illegal appointments to smuggling guns illegally to Mexico — too many of its supporters are still willing to make excuses for it.

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“Simply a brute-force bullying effort in order to sideline grassroots opposition to the current administration.”

5:13 pm

“Simply a brute-force bullying effort in order to sideline grassroots opposition to the current administration.”

The article describes how the IRS focused on harassing small organizations that could not defend themselves while leaving untouched the big organizations with the punch to fight back, the typical behavior of a bully. More important, the IRS did not simply focus on harassing all small organizations, only those whose political philosophies differed from that of the President and the Democratic Party.

In other words, as I like to say, they were working for the Democratic Party, using the tax code to harass and destroy its opponents. Truly corrupt, tyrannical, and vile.

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Sarah Hall Ingram, the woman who ran the IRS office which harassed conservative organizations and now runs the IRS Obamacare office, received more than $100K in bonuses for her work, three of which were large enough that they requred Presidential approval.

10:15 am

Sarah Hall Ingram, the woman who ran the IRS office which harassed conservative organizations and now runs the IRS Obamacare office, received more than $100K in bonuses for her work, three of which were large enough that they requred Presidential approval.

Her bonuses for 2010, 2011, and 2012, the years in which the harassment policy was established and put into effect, were all higher than $25K, a bonus which cannot issued without the President’s okay.

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The woman who had been in charge of the IRS office when targeted conservatives beginning in 2010 now heads the IRS office that will enforce Obamacare.

3:52 pm

O goody: The woman who had been in charge of the IRS office when it targeted conservatives beginning in 2010 now heads the IRS office that will enforce Obamacare.

Her name is Sarah Hall Ingram. Remember it, you will hear that name again. Meanwhile, the man who announced his resignation from the IRS today, Joseph Grant, had been her deputy until 2012. He only took over her office after that date, which means most of the scandal occurred during her tenure.

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In order to enforce Obamacare, the IRS and HHS are creating the largest federal database ever of the personal tax, income, and health records of American citizens.

10:15 am

What could go wrong? In order to enforce Obamacare, the federal government, led by the IRS, is creating the largest federal database ever of the personal tax, income, and health records of American citizens.

Known as the Federal Data Services Hub, the project is taking the IRS’s own records (for income and employment status) and centralizing them with information from Social Security (identity), Homeland Security (citizenship), Justice (criminal history), HHS (enrollment in entitlement programs and certain medical claims data) and state governments (residency).

The data hub will be used as the verification system for ObamaCare’s complex subsidy formula. All insurers, self-insured businesses and government health programs must submit reports to the IRS about the individuals they cover, which the IRS will cross-check against tax returns.

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Two pro-life groups were told by the IRS that they had to change their position on abortion in order to get their tax exemption request approved.

9:58 am

Working for the Democratic Party: Two pro-life groups were told by the IRS that they had to change their position on abortion in order to get their tax exemption request approved.

In one case, the IRS specifically told them they had to guarantee in writing that their organization would not protest against Planned Parenthood.

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The IRS is deeply political — and very Democratic

9:03 pm

The IRS is deeply political — and very Democratic.

The analysis explains how President Obama doesn’t have to give an order to get what he wants. Instead, the partisan nature of the people who gravitate to these government jobs gives the Democrats an advantage, naturally.

In other words, you want freedom you don’t give power to the government, for it will eventually abuse that power, no matter what.

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Did the IRS audit two long-established well-known Christian ministries because of their opposition to Democratic policies?

1:59 pm

Did the IRS audit two long-established well-known Christian ministries because of their opposition to Democratic policies?

The timing of both audits is quite intriguing, especially considering that both organizations have existed for many decades without ever getting an audit. Note too that while the audits cost the organizations money, neither found anything wrong.

Sounds like harassment to me.

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After waiting fifteen months for IRS approval of its tax-exempt status and getting to response, a conservative group reapplied using a liberal-sounding name and got its approval in three weeks.

1:53 pm

Working for the Democratic Party: After waiting fifteen months for IRS approval of its tax-exempt status and getting no response, a conservative group reapplied using a liberal-sounding name and got its approval in three weeks.

There are certainly a lot of caveats to this story, but the circumstances are quite interesting, considering all we now know about the IRS’s efforts to harass conservatives.

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