This clown show of a government gets more ridonculous every day. I’ve never understood why so many comics never found Obama funny. In his own special way, he can be a laugh riot:
The Fox News revelation followed the news that the Justice Department had investigated the phone records of reporters working for The Associated Press.
On May 24, however, Obama reacted to growing alarm in the media by asking Holder to review the Justice Department’s procedures for investigating the media.
“We must keep information secret that protects our operations and our people in the field,” the president said at a speech in Washington D.C.
“But a free press is also essential for our democracy [and] I am troubled by the possibility that leak investigations may chill the investigative journalism that holds government accountable,” he said.
“Journalists should not be at legal risk for doing their jobs … [and] I have raised these issues with the Attorney General, who shares my concern. So he has agreed to review existing Department of Justice guidelines governing investigations that involve reporters, and will convene a group of media organizations to hear their concerns as part of that review,” he said.
Friday it was revealed that the Atty. Gen. personally signed off on the Rosen probe, but he testified at a House Judiciary hearing, last week otherwise. Now, it looks like Holder lied under oath to congress.
The Five reacted to the news that Holder lied about his involvement with the James Rosen probe, and found Obama’s decision to put Eric Holder in charge of reviewing the Justice Department’s policies for investigating reporters “incredibly inappropriate.” As Greg Gutfeld put it, “essentially it’s like having a kid grade his own paper.”
He’s already been held in contempt of Congress.
On Friday’s Special Report, Charles Krauthammer said that Holder’s days are numbered. But the man’s crimes require more than his being allowed to resign with his head high. He should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Obama was telling the truth when he said that Holder “shares his concerns,” I’ll grant him that.
And as the drip drip drip of Regime scandal revelations come to the fore, they both have good reason to be concerned.
Greta Van Susteren had Karl Rove on her show, Friday night, to discuss the Holder/AP/Fox News scandal in the wake of reports that Eric Holder approved the search warrant for James Rosen’s private emails.
Attorney General Eric Holder signed off on a controversial search warrant that identified Fox News reporter James Rosen as a “possible co-conspirator” in violations of the Espionage Act and authorized seizure of his private emails, a law enforcement official told NBC News on Thursday.
Rove was probably chomping at the bit to get on the show, knowing what Holder recently testified before Congress:
“First of all you’ve got a long way to go to try to prosecute the press for publication of material. This has not fared well in American history… In regard to potential prosecution of the press for the disclosure of material.This is not something I’ve ever been involved in, heard of, or would think would be wise policy.“
That was a direct lie. Did Holder take an oath? Probably not, weasel that he is.
The “conventional wisdom” has been that Eric Holder’s days are numbered, but the Regime would wait until the scandals died down before Holder would be asked to step down (so he could leave with his head high.) But methinks this thing is going to happen sooner rather than later. The a spot under the bus with Holder’s name on it waiting for him.
UPDATE:
Confirmed, he did take an oath. Holder has a perjury problem.
@edmorrissey @guypbenson The committee specifically said it was suspending the “no oath” courtesy.
Debt Ceiling, Immigration And Tax Reform – Hannity Radio 5/23/2013:
Some great points from Paul, including his contention that Lois Lerner shouldn’t still have a job at the IRS, and certainly shouldn’t be trusted near peoples’ tax records.
Krauthammer on Miller’s IRS Testimony:
“Here’s a guy who says that the IRS openly discriminated against groups on the basis of their politics, but the action was not a political action. It was instead an attempt at efficiency.’You’ve Got to be a Knave or a Fool to Say That and an Idiot to Believe it. It’s simply a contradiction in terms.”
PJ Media: TRIFECTA: IRS, AP, Fox & Benghazi Scandals Prove the Extreme Corruption of the Obama Administration:
Trifecta told you so. The AP, Fox News, IRS, Fast & Furious and Benghazi scandals prove that the Obama Administration has brought Chicago style politics to the nation’s capital. If the culpable parties in the Obama Administration escape prosecution, will the intimidation of President Obama’s enemies continue unabated?
Glenn Beck: How did the President not know about the IRS?:
Mediaite: Mark Levin Call Obama A LIAR Says He Knew About IRS Scandal:
Let’s put law and atmospherics aside and try to be completely practical. The imperative in the IRS scandal is not criminal prosecution. It is political accountability: to lay bare what corrupt officials have done, for the purpose of swiftly determining whether they are unfit to hold offices of public trust and whether the system in which they operate tends to corruption. The appointment of a special counsel would undermine that goal.
The moment a prosecutor — special or otherwise — takes over, the public flow of information stops. All witnesses will claim that the pendency of a criminal investigation means they cannot discuss the matter “on advice of counsel.” They will cease cooperating with congressional investigators. The prosecutor will claim that grand-jury secrecy rules bar comment about the expansive investigation (a claim the government routinely makes, even though the rules actually bar comment only by the prosecutor, investigative agents, and grand jurors — not the witnesses).
Public disclosure should be the goal here. It is the one thing that has driven the IRS story to this point. Public disclosure of the shockingly intrusive harassment of the president’s political opponents, the prohibitive legal and regulatory expenses imposed on ordinary people for merely exercising their right to participate in the political process, is what has broken through the administration’s Obamedia fortress. Yet public disclosure is precisely what would be lost if Congress were to punt its oversight responsibilities to a special counsel.
Read the whole thing – McCarthy makes some very good points. Counter-intuitive, but I think he may be right.
I’ve reported for years on Attorney General Eric Holder’s old law firm,Covington and Burling, which has represented at least 17 Yemeni Gitmo detainees.
And I’ve repeatedly noted the bloody Gitmo recidivism under both the Bush and Obama administrations, especially through the Yemen/Gitmo jihad revolving door.
Obama’s posture in the war on terror is clear: Retreat, retreat, retreat.
In a speech on national security today, President Barack Obama made a bizarre reference to an incident that occurred in Austin, TX on February 18, 2010 when a pilot deliberately crashed a small aircraft into an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) building, killing himself as well as an IRS employee, and injuring many others.
At the time, the media blamed the attack on the Tea Party–the first of many false accusations. The New York Times, among other mainstream outlets, wondered whether the pilot was “the first Tea Party terrorist.”
Fox News host Bill O’Reilly joked with reporter James Rosen at the end of his segment Wednesday on the O’Reilly Factor:
BILL O’REILLY: Okay. Now I have got to get back to Rosen. So Rosen when are you going to jail, because we are taking up the collection for the bail now. When are you going to jail?
JAMES ROSEN: Well I’m touched by your sentiments. [ laughter ]: But that’s about all I would say.
BILL O’REILLY: Okay. I know that Fox News and your attorneys have told you that, you know, not to talk about it. But this has got to be harrowing. Your parents are involved now. And their phone lines and stuff like this. So anyway. We just want to tell the audience that Rosen is okay, we are protecting him. Getting all the support you need, right?
In the 1990′s, Lerner also served as chief of enforcement at the Federal Elections Commission.
Under her direction, the FEC undertook the largest enforcement action in its history — suing the Christian Coalition for violating campaign laws. The Christian Coalition won, but in one deposition, FEC lawyers asked a defendant if televangelist Pat Robertson prayed for him.
James Bopp, the Christian Coalition’s lawyer, said he was “shocked and appalled” by that.
“Both political activity and religious activity are specifically protected by the First Amendment,” he said.
When Bopp learned years later that Lerner had been promoted to an IRS position, he became concerned.
“She was in effect being promoted for what she had done at the Federal Election Commission and now was going to be expected … to replicate that at the IRS and now we know that’s exactly what happened,” he said.
In the very month that ObamaCare passed, March 2010, the groups of Americans that were organizing to fight against ObamaCare were targeted by the agency that will implement ObamaCare. That’s the essence of the scandal. But it is not the full extent of it.
IRS workers union chief Colleen Kelley had access to President Obama and, according to White House logs, met with him on March 31, 2010. The abuse of Tea Party, conservative, Hispanic, pro-life, Christian, and Jewish groups, which must have been in the works for weeks or even months prior, formally began the following day. Americans became April Fools for continuing to believe that we had a government of the people, by the people and for the people. As of April 1, 2010, we had a government arraying itself against the people, or at least against some of the people. According to polls taken at the time, a majority opposed ObamaCare. So it could be said that the IRS was arrayed against a majority of American voters who were organizing to protest the government’s expansion under Obama.
The abuse continued through 2010 and 2011, right into 2012 and to the present. True the Vote, for instance, still has not been granted its tax-exempt status to this day. It filed suit against the IRS yesterday. Its founder, Catherine Engelbrecht, was subjected to Kafka-esque abuses not just by the IRS, but by an alphabet soup of executive branch agencies: the FBI, OSHA, and ATF joined in.
If you think about it, Washington Democrats are a lot like the Bluth family. They’re a bunch of out-of-touch, elite big spenders ensnared in scandal who have no concept of fiscal responsibility. To illustrate that, we give you IRS’ted Development: a collection of 15 quotes from Arrested Development that could have come from Democrats:
WASHINGTON, D.C. –U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor today regarding what he termed a ‘culture of intimidation’ that exists in the Executive Branch and among Senate Democrats and the threat to use the nuclear option if they don’t get their way every time:
“Recently, we’ve seen troubling signs that there are some in the Executive Branch who would use the power of the federal government to intimidate political opponents.
“For instance, reports that the IRS targeted conservative citizens’ groups for harassing and discriminatory treatment simply because they sought to exercise their First Amendment rights of association and speech.
“Or during the debate on Obamacare, when the Department of Health and Human Services issued a gag order on insurance plans in an attempt to prevent them from telling their customers about problems with the bill. Now, there are published reports that the same Department is trying to shake down some of those same companies for money so it can try to convince Americans to finally like Obamacare. And over at the FCC, the President’s allies are trying to shut down or make it difficult for people who want to buy advertising to exercise their First Amendment rights to criticize the Administration.
“It all points to a culture of political intimidation. But, unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that the culture of intimidation is simply confined to the Executive Branch.
“The Administration’s allies in the Senate are trying to intimidate their political opponents as well. What I’m talking about, is the persistent threat by the Majority to break the rules of the Senate in order to change the Rules of the Senate—in other words, to use the nuclear option—if they don’t get their way.
“For example, Senate Democrats were incensed that Republicans had the temerity to exercise their Advice and Consent responsibility to block a grand total of one — that’s right, one — nominee to the D.C. Circuit.
“What did our Democrat colleagues do in response? They consulted with the White House and pledged to pack the D.C. Circuit with appointees, quote, ‘one way or the other’ — meaning using the nuclear option.
“They are not doing this because the D.C. Circuit is burdened with cases. Far from it. The D.C. Circuit is one of the least busy courts in the country. No, they want to use the nuclear option to pack the D.C. Circuit so it can rubberstamp the President’s big government agenda—the same big government we’ve seen at the IRS and elsewhere. But that’s not the limit of the culture of intimidation here in the Senate. Let’s look at the NLRB situation.
“Despite the story that the Administration and Senate Democrats want to spin, Senate Republicans did not block the President’s nominees to the National Labor Relations Board; rather, it was the President who blocked the nominees to the Republican slots on the NLRB so he could—again—pack a powerful branch of government, in this case the NLRB.
“The Administration sat on one of two Democrat vacancies at the NLRB for four months. It then waited until the middle of December in 2011 to send up both nominees for the Democrat seats on the NLRB, while refusing to send up any of the nominees for the Republican seats. In fact, the Administration sat on the Republican nominees to the NLRB for nine months. Then, with no Republican nominees to the NLRB before the Senate, the President purported to ‘recess appoint’ the two Democrat nominees to the Board when their nominations had been before the Senate for less than three weeks. It was so fast, the Democrat Majority didn’t even have time to schedule a hearing. (keep reading at the link.)
From the Chicago Tribune:Pritzker, 54, a member of Chicago’s wealthiest family, is a business executive whose family founded Hyatt Hotels. She is a Democratic mega-donor and was nominated by longtime friend President Barack Obama, whom she helped get elected.
When a devastating tornado touched down in Moore, Okla., on Monday afternoon, Shayla Taylor was on the upper floor of the local hospital, in active labor with her second child.
As the floor shook “like an earthquake” beneath her and ceiling tiles and insulation fell overhead, the 25-year-old huddled with four nurses, braving both the peak contractions of childbirth and the wrath of the worst twister the veteran Oklahoman had ever endured.
“We were all just sitting there holding each other’s hands and praying,” Taylor told NBC News.
I can go after your beliefs, and your traditions. Nothing will be sacred to me. I will make you to “see it my way” because “it’s for you own good” oh, and if you don’t, I will attack you, belittle you, shame you. You are in the way.
You can speak out about me if you want, however, be careful, because I can hear everything you say. I am everywhere. Don’t think for a moment that my true believers wont root you out. Don’t speak against me.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing, Wednesday on the IRS political targeting scandal.
“The IG report indicts IRS for a colossal management failure, but leaves many questions unanswered,” said Chairman Issa.
Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) started off by asking former IRS Commissioner, Doug Shulman to give himself a grade on how he performed as the head of the IRS, and Shulman declined.
Chaffetz asked Shulman when he first heard that the IRS was targeting conservative groups, and Shulman answered Feb or March of 2012.
Chaffetz reminded him that on June 3rd of 2011, the Chairman of the Ways and Means Cmte sent him a letter regarding the selective targeting of taxpayers. “How is it that the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee writes to you, the head of the IRS, a letter like this, and you can say you don’t know about it?” Chaffetz demanded.
“So….I that’s where I was going to go….” Shulman began.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing, Wednesday on the IRS political targeting scandal.
Rep Trey Gowdy (R-SC) grilled the former IRS Commissioner but didn’t get much in the way of answers. Rep. Gowdy focused his time on why Mr. Shulman did not take any corrective actions when he learned of the IRS targeting certain groups.
“Can you give me the name of a single person who was involved in the original decision to target conservative groups for disparate treatment?” he asked. Shulman had no clue.
His line today was that when he learned of the inappropriate behavior, he was told that it had stopped. When asked if he did anything to make sure “the insidious, discriminatory practice was stopped”, Shulman stammered that the Inspector General was looking into it.
“If there’s someone wielding a knife in the parking lot, are you going to call the Inspector General? Are you going to wait until the IG report is out before you stop it?” Gowdy thundered.
Shulman just stared at him blankly.
Gowdy asked him why the culture under his watch allowed conservative groups to be targeted.
Shulman answered that he wasn’t sure that the targeting was political, causing Gowdy to explode: “You STILL DON”T KNOW THAT THIS WAS POLITICALl?!”
From Benghazi to Fast and Furious to the Associated Press, keeping track of Obama scandals requires sharp focus. The IRS scandal involves government employees deliberately targeting politically conservative and other organizations that Obama dislikes, as well as targeting individuals who have irritated the Obama machine.
California Congressman Darrell Issa’s committee wants one major question answered: Who decided to use the IRS to target political opponents? Lerner may know. She decided to invoke her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. She refused to answer questions. Yet she badly miscalculated.
She began with a self-righteous opening statement claiming she did nothing wrong. Only after defending herself did she invoke her Fifth Amendment rights.
Republicans on the committee thought they had been defeated, but Gowdy knew better. Once a person issues a statement, Fifth Amendment privilege is waived on the substance of the statement. By issuing an opening statement, Ms. Lerner was testifying. Her right to stay silent on that testimony was gone forever.
A panicked liberal Elijah Cummings of Maryland pointed out that while congressional hearings are “like” a court of law, they are not in actuality a court of law. Even Congressman Issa, normally a very sharp and prepared operator, had to check on whether Gowdy’s interpretation applied.
It absolutely does. So what do Republicans do next?
Long ago, Obama took the gloves off because he rightly concluded that Republicans did not have the stomach for a protracted fight. They would back down because they always do. They are so scared of being seen as “mean” and “partisan” that they would rather just say they tried their best and roll over.
Gowdy does not roll over, but he is not in charge. Issa has a major decision to make.
Since Lerner waived Fifth Amendment privileges, Issa must compel her testimony. If she refuses, then she must be arrested and held in contempt of Congress. She can sit in a cell until she agrees to testify.
This might not end the matter. Susan McDougal spent eighteen months in jail to protect the Clintons. Maybe Lerner is willing to remain in jail to protect President Obama.
Maybe she is not.
Her defenders would portray her as a victim, a poor helpless woman being attacked by mean men on the committee.
This woman is no victim. There is a criminal element in our government. Using the IRS to target political opponents is a crime. Lerner is suppressing information on who may have been in charge of ordering those crimes. She blundered on the stand, which is her fault.
Like many Obama employees, she has used the legal system to keep the truth at bay. Unlike her colleagues, she was less clever about it. She turned out to be the weak link.
Tempers flared in a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing Wednesday, with members on both sides of the aisle castigating the Internal Revenue Service for targeting conservative groups with special scrutiny, and then hiding the practice from Congress.
Rep. Darrel Issa, the committee’s chairman, said that the committee learned just yesterday that the IRS completed its own investigation a year before a Treasury Department Inspector General report was completed.
But despite the IRS recognizing in May 2012 that its employees were treating right-wing groups differently from other organizations, Issa said, IRS personnel withheld those conclusions from legislators.
‘Just yesterday the committee interviewed Holly Paz, the director of exempt organizations, rulings and agreements, division of the IRS,’ Issa said. ‘While a tremendous amount of attention is centered about the Inspector General’s report, or investigation, the committee has learned from Ms. Paz that she in fact participated in an IRS internal investigation that concluded in May of 2012 – May 3 of 2012 – and found essentially the same thing that Mr. George found more than a year later.’
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is holding a hearing on the IRS political targeting scandal, this morning at 9:30 am. Eastern.
“The IG report indicts IRS for a colossal management failure, but leaves many questions unanswered,” said Chairman Issa.
You can watch the hearing streamed live at http://oversight.house.gov or on CSPAN.
The Committee has invited the following witnesses to testify:
Neal S. Wolin, Deputy Secretary, Department of the Treasury
J. Russell George, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration
Lois Lerner, Director of Exempt Organizations, Internal Revenue Service (Pleading the 5th.)
Douglas Shulman, Former Commissioner, Internal Revenue Service
The Regime and its sycophants have proven over and over again, they’re not serious about leveling with the American people about Benghazi. After sending out Susan Rice to all the Sunday talk shows five days after the attack to spin a not believable yarn about what happened, and then again, eight months later, make the same mistake by sending out yet another stooge, to spin wildly and unconvincingly for the Regime, they havs proven once and for all, that they really have no interest at all in telling the truth and frankly little respect for the intelligence of the American people..
In this excellent video by Ben Howe for Heritage, their never-ending mendacity is laid bare for all to see. Benghazi: Demand the Truth:
Contrary to the election-time narrative that “al-Qaeda is on the run,” defeated by the Obama Administration, President Obama and his staff are now pleading ignorance across the board. Pfeiffer’s problematic media appearance could fit into an emerging narrative that the Obama Administration may have been more incompetent, than Machiavellian in its handling of the Benghazi terrorist attack. Administration officials spoke to CBS News on condition of anonymity, proffering the line that bungling, ignorance, and inexperience may have been at the root of the debacle that left four Americans dead in Benghazi.
