Tag: politics

The harassment of conservative groups by the IRS was planned and run by officials in Washington, D.C., according to a retiring IRS lawyer who will testify Thursday in the House.

10:09 pm

Working for the Democratic Party: The harassment of conservative groups by the IRS was planned and run by officials in Washington, D.C., according to a retiring IRS lawyer who will testify Thursday in the House.

Retiring IRS lawyer Carter C. Hull implicated the IRS Chief Counsel’s office, headed by Obama appointee William J. Wilkins, and Lois Lerner, the embattled head of the IRS’ exempt organizations office, in the IRS targeting scandal and made clear that the targeting started in Washington, according to leaked interviews that Hull granted to the Oversight Committee in advance of Thursday’s hearing.

It appears he is naming names. Thursday’s hearing should be quite interesting.

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Treasury admitted today that the IRS tax records of several political candidates and campaign donors were illegally disclosed to unnamed government officials.

8:43 pm

The law is such an inconvenient thing: The Obama Treasury Department admitted today that the IRS tax records of several political candidates and campaign donors were illegally disclosed to unnamed government officials.

[O]f the four instances in which tax records were improperly accessed, three cases were determined to be “inadvertent.” “In the fourth case, we presented evidence of a willful unauthorized access to the Department of Justice, but the case was declined for prosecution,” Mr. George wrote. Of the three cases that the inspector general called “inadvertent” disclosures, Mr. George said his office referred one to Justice with a recommendation that no prosecution be brought. He said Justice officials agreed with his office’s assessment. No reason was given for Justice’s rejections of prosecutions.

I wonder why the Obama Justice Department declined to prosecute that fourth case, which was “willful” and thus very illegal.

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Nevada police arrested a family for refusing to let officers use their homes as lookouts for a domestic violence investigation of their neighbors.

9:10 am

Violating the third amendment: Nevada police arrested a family for refusing to let officers use their homes as lookouts for a domestic violence investigation of their neighbors.

The Mitchell family’s claim includes Third Amendment violations, a rare claim in the United States. The Third Amendment prohibits quartering soldiers in citizens’ homes in times of peace without the consent of the owner.

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Among many other valid points, the Wall Street Journal notes the “lawless” nature of the Obama administration’s announcement yesterday that it will not enforce one legal requirement of Obamacare in 2013.

7:49 pm

The law is such an inconvenient thing: Among many other valid points about the disaster that is Obamacare, the Wall Street Journal notes the “lawless” nature of the Obama administration’s announcement yesterday that it will not enforce one legal requirement of Obamacare in 2013.

This selective enforcement of laws has become an Administration habit. From immigration (the Dream Act by fiat) to easing welfare reform’s work requirements to selective waivers for No Child Left Behind, the Obama Administration routinely suspends enforcement of or unilaterally rewrites via regulation the laws it dislikes. Now it is doing it again on health care, without any consultation from, much less the approval of, Congress.

Sadly, this contempt for the law is becoming rampant. Worse, though the Democrats have generally been the worst offenders, this contempt has not been a partisan affair. Republican politicians have participated as well.

And who will suffer? Not the politicians. It will be the ordinary innocent citizens, who merely want to live their lives freely without hindrance, who will pay the cost.

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The FBI has still not contacted any conservative group that was harassed by the IRS.

10:11 am

The FBI has still not contacted any conservative group that was harassed by the IRS.

And we still don’t know who the lead investigator of the FBI investigation is.

This “FBI investigation” is a fraud. Obama might have expressed public outrage over the IRS scandal, but in private it appears he instead ordered that nothing be done and that FBI act as a shield for the guilty parties.

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The lawyer for IRS official Lois Lerner is pushing to get her full immunity in exchange for her full testimony to Congress.

9:57 am

The lawyer for IRS official Lois Lerner is pushing to get her full immunity in exchange for her full testimony to Congress.

The article makes two very good points: One, it will be difficult to prosecute anyone at the IRS for its harassment of conservatives, and two, Lerner’s full testimony is likely not going to have any earthshaking bombshells. She will state that the White House had nothing to do with the harassment (whether that is true or not), and that the harassment was merely the result of some bad management decisions.

And thus, the government’s power over us will rise, and freedom will experience another cut in its continuing death of a thousand cuts.

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The White House today announced that it is delaying until 2015 the requirement in Obamacare that companies with more than 50 employees offer health insurance.

4:27 pm

The Obama administration finds out what’s in it: The White House today announced that it is delaying until 2015 the requirement in Obamacare that companies with more than 50 employees offer health insurance.

The law requires companies that employ 50 or more workers to offer coverage or face fines. The Treasury Department and the White House said that, based on complaints by employers that the system for reporting the coverage was too onerous, they would simplify that system and give employers an additional year to comply. “We have heard concerns about the complexity of the requirements and the need for more time to implement them effectively,” Mark J. Mazur, the assistant secretary for tax policy at the Treasury Department, said in a statement posted online. “We have listened to your feedback. And we are taking action.”

The mandate was originally set to kick in for 2014, but will now start in 2015. The decision effectively means that penalties that would have been assessed against non-compliant businesses will be delayed until 2015. The administration encouraged employers to provide insurance anyway.

In other words, they are finally discovering what everyone on the right has been saying for three years: Obamacare is an unworkable law that is also killing business and industry. Look for increasing numbers of Democrats willing to join with the Republicans to repeal is incredibly stupid law.

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A university supervisor orders a student at Sonoma State University in California to remove her cross necklace because “it might offend others.”

10:31 am

A university supervisor orders a student at Sonoma State University in California to remove her cross necklace because “it might offend others.”

The university has responded properly, apologizing and stating that the supervisor was “completely wrong.” However, it remains horrifying that there are individuals in power in a university that somehow don’t understand the very basics of religious liberty.

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The International Astronomical Union has rejected the first choice of voters for naming Pluto’s fourth and fifth moons.

10:03 am

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has picked names for Pluto’s fourth and fifth moons, rejecting Vulcan, the first choice of the public.

After the discovery [of the moons], the leader of the research team, Mark Showalter (SETI Institute), decided to call for a public vote to suggest names for the two objects. To be consistent with the names of the other Pluto satellites, the names had to be picked from classical mythology, in particular with reference to the underworld — the realm where the souls of the deceased go in the afterlife. The contest concluded with the proposed names Vulcan, Cerberus and Styx ranking first, second and third respectively. Showalter submitted Vulcan and Cerberus to the IAU where the Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN) and the Committee on Small Body Nomenclature (WGSBN) discussed the names for approval.

However, the name Vulcan had already been used for a hypothetical planet between Mercury and the Sun. Although this planet was found not to exist, the term “vulcanoid” remains attached to any asteroid existing inside the orbit of Mercury, and the name Vulcan could not be accepted for one of Pluto’s satellites (also, Vulcan does not fit into the underworld mythological scheme). Instead the third most popular name was chosen — Styx, the name of the goddess who ruled over the underworld river, also called the Styx.

I just can’t wait until there really is a robust population of space-faring colonists, if only because those colonists will then tell the IAU to go to hell when it tries to tell them what to name things.

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NASA’s Space Launch System, costing billions per year, will only make its second manned flight in 2025.

8:50 am

The competition cools off! NASA’s Space Launch System, costing billions per year, will only make its second manned flight in 2025.

SLS is to make its maiden flight in 2017, when it will carry an empty Orion crew capsule to near-Moon space and back. Another flight would follow in 2021 and, depending on factors both technical and political, could see a crew of astronauts travel to a captured asteroid NASA wants to redirect to a high lunar orbit using a yet-to-be-built robotic spacecraft.

Notionally, SLS would next fly in 2025, giving the rocket a launch rate of once every four years. NASA has been spending about $1.8 billion a year on SLS development, including construction of a rocket test stand in Mississippi, and associated launch infrastructure at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Add in the cost of the rocket’s companion crew capsule, the Lockheed Martin-built Orion, and the tab rises to nearly $3 billion a year. [emphasis mine]

At that launch rate, the NASA’s space effort is slower than China’s, which has a pace that I consider extremely tortoise-like.

But don’t worry, buckos! NASA will be keeping the seats warm in its thousands of government facilities, employing thousands of government workers doing little or nothing.

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