IRS unfairly targeting Conservatives (Tea Party groups)

[American Patriot]

Election results..... well, they aren't what you thought they were.







Michele Bachmann: IRS admission means credibility of 2012 election in doubt

• Government Topics
• May 13, 2013
• By: Joe Newby
• Subscribe

Michele Bachmann
Credits:
Getty Images










"But why would an administration ever confess to such a flagrant misuse of politics and power?" Bob Unruh asked.


According to Bachmann, it's all about Benghazi, which she called the “soft underbelly” of the Obama administration.


“I was in that Benghazi hearing,” she said. “I think the Obama administration is desperate to spin Benghazi, and they can’t. I think they saved this story up for a day like today so that conservatives would focus on this admission.”


But Bachmann says the plan won't work.


“Conservatives can handle two shocking stories at the same time,” she told WND. “Both are equally unconstitutional and call into question the very president.”


"Bachmann told WND it’s stunning that the Obama administration used 'the federal agency feared most by Americans to intimidate conservative and tea party organizations during an election year,'” Unruh wrote.


She also said it's "reasonable" to ask if the IRS "will deny or delay access to health care” for conservatives, given its enforcement role in Obamacare.


In its apology, the IRS said the groups were targeted by "low-level workers," but Bachmann questioned that explanation.


“A low-level functionary in Ohio would have zero jurisdictional authority to intimidate an applicant from New Mexico, or California or Georgia,” she said.
That would have to come from the highest level of government, she explained.


“The Obama administration wants us to believe low-level functionaries are the ones responsible for making this decision,” she said. “That is impossible, laughable. I can tell you within the IRS, the agency is very sensitive of jurisdictional authority.


And if Obama is willing to use the IRS for political reasons, she wondered, what agency would he not use?


“We learned that during an election, [Obama] interfered with the First Amendment rights of conservatives and tea party members by intimidating and harassing these organizations,” she said.


Bachmann called for congressional hearings to determine what Unruh described as the "exact level of rot" within the administration. On Sunday, The Blaze reported that the pro-Israel organization Z Street claims that it was also targeted by the IRS, which, according to one agent, was “carefully scrutinizing organizations that are in any way connected with Israel.”


“Once again, it appears the Obama administration is blatantly lying to the American people,” she said. “People can rightly ask questions [about] the credibility of the elections."

[American Patriot]

Obozo getting grilled this morning it sounds like. Presser with President. Questions expected about Benghazi and IRS scandal

[American Patriot]

Top IRS Officials Knew of Tea Party Spying Months Before Denial

Andrew Zajac, ©2013 Bloomberg News
Published 6:45 am, Monday, May 13, 2013

May 12 (Bloomberg) -- Top U.S. Internal Revenue Service officials knew as early as June 2011 that agents were singling out groups promoting limited government for special attention, nine months before the agency’s head told lawmakers that such targeting wasn’t occurring, according to an inspector general’s report to be released later this week.

A timeline of written criteria for identifying political cases noted that the standards were changed in July 2011, “based on the concerns” the director of Exempt Organizations “raised in June 2011,” according to the report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

In March 2012, then-IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman told Louisiana Republican Representative Charles Boustany, chairman of a Ways and Means oversight subcommittee, that “there’s absolutely no targeting” of groups based on their political leanings.

The director of exempt organizations referred to in the inspector general’s timeline, Lois Lerner, acknowledged May 10 that the IRS had given extra scrutiny to groups that applied for nonprofit status if they had “tea party” or “patriot” in their name. In comments at a conference of tax lawyers in Washington, she said the actions were taken by career employees at the agency and that, “We would like to apologize for that.”

Details of the inspector general’s report were earlier reported by the Associated Press. Bloomberg News obtained a copy of the report’s timeline from a congressional staff member who asked not to be identified.

IRS Response

“The timeline supports what the IRS acknowledged on Friday that mistakes were made,” Michelle Eldridge, an IRS spokeswoman, said in an e-mailed statement. “There were not partisan reasons behind this.”

“IRS senior leadership was not aware of this level of specific details at the time of the March 2012 hearing. The timeline does not contradict the Commissioner’s testimony,” IRS spokeswoman Michelle Eldridge said.

Anti-tax Tea Party groups, some of which include the word patriot in their names, formed shortly after President Barack Obama took office in January 2009 and helped fuel gains by Republicans in the 2010 midterm election that gave the party control of the U.S. House.

While White House spokesman Jay Carney has called the IRS’s actions “inappropriate” and said the matter should be “thoroughly investigated,” Republican lawmakers today reacted sharply to Lerner’s revelation and called for a more aggressive response from the administration.

“This is truly outrageous and it contributes to the profound distrust that the American people have in government,” Senator Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Apology Sought

Collins called on Obama to personally condemn the IRS action and apologize for it.

“It’s evident that some senior officials knew about it” for some time, Collins said.

Michigan Republican Representative Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said the IRS targeting “should send a chill up your spine,” regardless of one’s political affiliation.

A leader of a Tea Party group rejected the apology Lerner offered.

“This deliberate targeting and harassment of Tea Party groups reaches a new low in illegal activity and overreach,” Jenny Beth Martin, national coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots, said in an e-mailed statement on May 10.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/business/bloom...#ixzz2TBSsrMrp

[Malsua]

“This is truly outrageous and it contributes to the profound distrust that the American people have in government,”

Exactly.

[Malsua]

They were digging for political dirt to hang people.
-----------
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013...sive-scrutiny/

A leading Tea Party organization says it will consider demanding the IRS repay the group for expenses associated with answering the agency's "intrusive" questions, in the latest fallout from what the IRS now admits was an inappropriate campaign to scrutinize conservative groups.
Jenny Beth Martin, national coordinator for Tea Party Patriots, said her group and its affiliates were among those hassled by the IRS as they applied for tax-exempt status.
She said, among the questions asked by the IRS, were requests to see "every single post on Facebook" and "every comment that any person who's a fan of ours on Facebook had ever made."

Responding to the extensive inquiries cost money and took time, and Beth Martin said her organization is weighing how to get reimbursed.
"We're looking into that right now with our attorneys, because it's taken a lot of time, it cost a lot of money. And we've also had to help other groups around the country to do what we can to help them," she said. "A simple apology on a conference call is not enough by a long shot."
The Tea Party leader was referring to a Friday conference call where a senior IRS official apologized but said the targeting was not partisan in nature. Lois Lerner, who leads the division overseeing tax-exempt groups, said the effort was started by low-level workers.
But as the inspector general who oversees the IRS investigates, Republican lawmakers are calling for hearings and Tea Party leaders say they want to know more.
Beth Martin, in a written statement over the weekend, claimed "the IRS lied." She was referring to new documents that show senior officials knew of the additional scrutiny being applied as early as 2011.
Documents from the IG investigation also show the targeting went beyond looking at "Tea Party" and "patriot" groups. The criteria also included organizations focused on government spending, the Constitution and education on "ways to "make America a better place to live."
In a statement over the weekend, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said President Obama is "concerned that the conduct of a small number of Internal Revenue Service employees may have fallen short" of the administration's integrity standards.
"If the Inspector General finds that there were any rules broken or that conduct of government officials did not meet the standards required of them, the President expects that swift and appropriate steps will be taken to address any misconduct," he said.

[Ryan Ruck]

I wish I could say I was surprised by all of this but I am not.

It was suspected this was going on during the Clinton years but never able to be proven as it has here. I wouldn't be surprised if they figured it would be less likely to be noticed starting in some place like Cincinnati as opposed to a more major metro area. Unfortunately for them they got caught.

I hope this is used to bury Obama. I'd gladly take Joe "The Clown" Biden over him as no one takes Joe Seriously and nothing would get done under him.

[vector7]

Obama says he learned of IRS focus on conservative groups when news reports broke Friday

AP / May 13, 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) — Obama says he learned of IRS focus on conservative groups when news reports broke Friday.


OBAMA: The IRS' Targeting Of Conservative Groups Is 'Outrageous'

Brett LoGiurato | 4 minutes ago | 72 |


AP

In his first public comments on the IRS' targeting of conservative groups, President Barack Obama called the situation "outrageous" and said he would not tolerate the IRS working in anything less than a non-partisan manner.

"I've got no patience for it. I will not tolerate it, and I will make sure we find out exactly what happened on this," Obama said at a joint press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday.

Obama was asked by Associated Press reporter Julie Pace about the IRS situation and his administration's talking points on last September's terrorist attack in Benghazi, the focus on which he dismissed a "sideshow."

The Obama administration has faced intense criticism since Friday, after the IRS apologized for inappropriately targeting groups containing the words "tea party" or "patriot" for additional scrutiny. Obama said that he didn't learn about the IRS' focus on conservative groups until Friday.

On Friday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said that if such actions occurred, Obama would expect swift action to be taken.

"This is something that I think people are properly concerned about," Obama said Monday. " ...I can tell you that if you’ve got the IRS operating in anything less than a neutral and bipartisan way, then it is outrageous."

[Malsua]

I don't think for a second that Obama had anything to do with this one.

It's just that his lackeys and democrats in general feel that anything to get and keep the statists in power is worth doing.

[Ryan Ruck]

I agree, probably just wishful thinking.

[vector7]

Why Obama released embarrassing IRS bombshell

Michele Bachmann explains White House's willingness to take heat

Published: 23 hours ago Bob Unruh

Bob Unruh joined WND in 2006 after nearly three decades with the Associated Press, as well as several Upper Midwest newspapers, where he covered everything from legislative battles and sports to tornadoes and homicidal survivalists. He is also a photographer whose scenic work has been used commercially.



The Internal Revenue Service under the Obama administration – described by Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., as the “most feared government agency” – admitted Friday it targeted conservative and tea-party groups during last year’s election because of their politics.

Bachmann, a former tax attorney, told WND in an interview the IRS admission means the credibility of the 2012 election is in doubt.

Americans, she said, should be wondering whether Obamacare, which is to be enforced by the IRS, will target conservative voices opposed to President Obama with delays or denials of medical care.

But why would an administration ever confess to such a flagrant misuse of politics and power?

Bachmann, who chairs the House Tea Party caucus, said it’s the Benghazi scandal.

“There’s no doubt this was not a coincidence that they dumped this story today, a Friday dump day,” Bachmann told WND. “This is when they put their negative stories out.”

But she said the looming storm cloud called Benghazi is the “soft underbelly” of the Obama administration and likely will keep Hillary Clinton from fulfilling her dream of occupying the Oval Office.

That would make it logical to release an IRS story that, while embarrassing, also could be cubbyholed as another “conservative” dispute with the White House.
She was referring to the ongoing hearings on the administration’s handling of the Sept. 11, 2012, attack by al-Qaida-linked terrorists on a U.S. foreign service post in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, including the ambassador.

House Republicans allege the U.S. government knew of a terrorist threat but ignored it. After the attack, critics charge, the administration blamed the deaths on reaction to an obscure anti-Muslim video, despite evidence from the beginning that it was a premeditated terrorist attack.

Locked in a tight presidential race, a deliberate assault on American assets and the murder of Americans by al-Qaida on a date as significant as 9/11 would have damaged Obama’s campaign claim that his administration had al-Qaida under control.

Bachmann said the IRS announcement of misbehavior was intended to provoke conservatives and draw their anger and attention.

“I was in that Benghazi hearing,” she told WND. “I think the Obama administration is desperate to spin Benghazi, and they can’t. I think they saved this story up for a day like today so that conservatives would focus on this admission.”

It won’t work, she insisted.

“Conservatives can handle two shocking stories at the same time,” she said. “Both are equally unconstitutional and call into question the very president.”

The Benghazi investigation has been getting worse for Obama, with witnesses testifying to a House panel Wednesday that military troops were prepared to come to Benghazi but were told to stand down. Today, the White House was grilled about the elimination of references to terrorism in the talking points officials used in the aftermath of the attack.



The IRS confirmation that it misbehaved came from Lois Lerner, chief of the unit that oversees tax-exempt organizations. She confirmed the claim of people dismissed as “conspiracy nuts” that groups that include the words “tea party” or “patriot” in their applications were put in a political bull’s-eye.

The American Center for Law and Justice under Jay Sekulow’s leadership already has been fighting the battle.

“We knew from the very start that this intimidation tactic was coordinated and focused directly on specific organizations,” said Sekulow, chief counsel of the ACLJ.



“This admission by the IRS represents a significant victory for free speech and freedom of association. There was never any doubt that these organizations complied with the law and applied for tax exempt status for their activities as Americans have done for decades. And for the many tax-exempt groups we represent, this is an important day – and underscores the need to stand-up and defend your constitutional freedoms.”

The ACLJ has been representing nearly 30 tea party organizations that had been the target of intimidation tactics by the IRS under the Obama administration.

The federal government demanded information that was outside the scope of legitimate inquiry and violated the First Amendment, the ACLJ explained.

The Obama IRS demanded that groups reveal the internal workings of their organizations, he said,”including the identification of members, how they are selected, who they associate with, and even what they discuss.”

The agency also demanded the names and contact information of relatives.

Sekulow said it took the threat of legal action from his organization “to get the IRS to make this admission.”

“And while many of the organizations we represent have finally been granted tax-exempt status, we demand the IRS immediately approve the pending applications for the remainder of our clients,” he said.

Sekulow, who served as a trial lawyer with the office of the chief counsel for the IRS earlier in his career, said many questions were inappropriate and well outside the scope of legitimate IRS inquiry.

For example, IRS agents demanded:

• “Have you attempted or will you attempt to influence the outcome of specific legislation? If so, provide the following … all communications, pamphlets, advertisements, and other materials.”
• “Have you conducted or will you conduct candidate forums? If so, provide the following details… The issues that were discussed. Copies of all handouts provided.”
• “The names of persons from your organization and the amount of time they will spend on the event. Indicate the name and amount of compensation that will be paid to each person.”
• “All copies of your corporate minutes from inception.”
• “Please identify your volunteers.”
• “The names of donors, contributors, and grantors.”
• “Do you encourage eligible voters to educate themselves, register to vote, and vote? Explain in detail how you do this.”
• “You were formed 12/28/10. Provide actual financial information for 2010 & 2011, and a budget for 2012. Provide details regarding each item listed.”

The ACLJ also has called for congressional hearings on the problem, and more than 50,000 Americans have joined in that call. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said the White House should do a review to assure “the American people that these thuggish practices are not under way at the IRS or elsewhere in the administration against anyone, regardless of their political views.”



Bachmann told WND it’s stunning that the Obama administration used “the federal agency feared most by Americans to intimidate conservative and tea party organizations during an election year.”

Since the IRS also is the chief enforcer of Obamacare requirements, she asked whether the IRS’s admission means it “will deny or delay access to health care” for conservatives.

At this point, she said, that “is a reasonable question to ask.”

She said her proposal to repeal Obamacare in its entirety will be introduced in the House next week. She said given the circumstances of the IRS admission, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., a longtime advocate for the Obamacare plan, should hold a Senate vote on the same repeal plan.

And she said Obama should sign the law to repeal Obamacare.

Bachman said, as a former tax attorney, the government’s explanation that some “low-level” workers in the IRS targeted for invasive questioning conservative groups is unreal.

“A low-level functionary in Ohio would have zero jurisdictional authority to intimidate an applicant from New Mexico, or California or Georgia,” Bachmann told WND.
The move, she said, had to come from the highest levels of the government.

“We learned to our horror in Benghazi it appears that every move that was made was based on politics,” she said. “Now it appears the president was willing to use the most feared agency in the U.S. for his own political purposes.”

Regarding the 2012 election, she wondered, if Obama is willing to use the IRS for political purposes, what agency would he not use?

“We learned that during an election, [Obama] interfered with the First Amendment rights of conservatives and tea party members by intimidating and harassing these organizations,” she said.

That not only is shocking, it will require congressional hearings to determine the exact level of rot, she said.

“The Obama administration wants us to believe low-level functionaries are the ones responsible for making this decision,” she said. “That is impossible, laughable. I can tell you within the IRS, the agency is very sensitive of jurisdictional authority.

“Once again, it appears the Obama administration is blatantly lying to the American people,” she said. “People can right ask questions [about[ the credibility of the elections."

And regarding Obamacare, should Americans fear their government may try to harm them if they are conservative?

"It now is an entirely reasonable question for the American people to ask," she said. "Will Obamacare be so politicized and misused?"

Richard Nixon threatened to send the IRS after his political opponents, and Bill Clinton actually did.

Among Clinton's targets was WND founder and CEO Joseph Farah.

"As someone whose organization was a victim of this kind of illegal harassment and intimidation and political retribution during the Clinton administration – and who blew the whistle on it – my question is, 'Who is going to be fired and prosecuted as a result of this admission?'" he said.

"Apologies are nice. But they don't excuse people of crimes. When government officials abuse their power and break laws, they need to be punished as certainly and severely as ordinary citizens. In fact, to maintain trust in government, we need to ensure they are held to a higher standard. So what happens now? Who's going to take the rap? Which law-enforcement agency is going to investigate? It would seem that an independent prosecutor is necessary unless the Congress is willing to take the lead."

U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said: "Although I am happy that it has finally admitted to placing politics over policy, the IRS owes conservative groups far more than a mere apology for their unfair treatment. It is crystal clear that additional safeguards are in order to prevent this obtrusive behavior in the future. This overt and excessive harassment of groups targeted for their political beliefs is despicable, and many questions remain. How were 'low-level workers in Cincinnati' able to initiate practices that completely undermine the IRS's promise to treat all groups with an even hand? Even more, what were they hoping to do with the copious personal information they obtained from these groups?"

Portman last year, along with Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, urge the IRS to stop politics from interfering in its activities.
"It is critical that the public have confidence that federal tax compliance efforts are pursued in a fair, even-handed, and transparent manner – without regard to politics of any kind," the senators said at the time. "It is imperative that organizations applying for tax-exempt status are able to rely on a consistent and foreseeable review structure from the IRS. Any significant changes to the IRS review process should be implemented only after appropriate notice and opportunity for comment from the public and affected parties."

Hatch said: "While I’m glad to see the IRS apologize for unfairly targeting conservative groups, this frankly isn't enough. We need to have ironclad guarantees from the IRS that it will adopt significant protocols to ensure this kind of harassment of groups that have a constitutional right to express their own views never happens again. "

He continued: "There can be no tolerance for the IRS being turned into a political weapon; it has a chilling and, frankly, Nixonian effect on those who wish to speak their mind. I will be discussing this further with the head of the IRS and expect a full briefing and report as to how this happened. The American people deserve to know who at the IRS learned about this unlawful activity, when they learned about it, and what they did, or did not, do when they did learned about it."

One year ago, as WND reported, the ACLJ represented tea party organizations when the IRS was making "unconstitutional" demands of tea party organizations.

Stephanie Scruggs, who works with The912Project and United in Action, said, for example the IRS demanded copies of every single post to every single organization website page, Twitter feed and Facebook feed.

The IRS also requested contact information for family members of each board member. And yet another demand was for the name and contact for every person who ever had attended one of the group's meetings.

The ACLJ said the intimidating letters violated both free speech and free association rights.

IRS officials earlier defended their demands, telling Fox News: "When determining whether an organization is eligible for tax-exempt status, including 501(c)4 social welfare organizations, all the facts and circumstances of that specific organization must be considered to determine whether it is eligible. … To be tax-exempt … they must be primarily engaged in the promotion of social welfare."

The spokesman continued, "Career civil servants make all decisions on exemption applications in a fair, impartial manner and do so without regard to political party affiliation or ideology."

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Subcommittee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio., had cited the possibility of political retaliation against conservatives last summer.

"The fact that Americans were targeted by the IRS because of their political beliefs is unconscionable," he said.

The IRS said it singled out groups that referenced "tea party" or "patriot."

The IRS did not explain how "low-level workers" were able to single out and target 300 groups the IRS admitted were involved.

Jenny Beth Martin, of Tea Party Patriots, didn't buy the government's latest story.

"It is suspicious that the activity of these 'low-level workers' was unknown to IRS leadership at the time it occurred," she told AP. "President Obama must also apologize for his administration ignoring repeated complaints by these broad grassroots organizations of harassment by the IRS in 2012, and make concrete and transparent steps today to ensure this never happens again."

[Ryan Ruck]

Listening to Rush's show, I completely forgot about some other IRS/tax related shenanigans that had gone one previously under Obama.

Recall the tax issue with Romney during the election as well as the Koch brothers information being leaked?

[American Patriot]

Back-peddling, lying, making crap up, covering their asses.... this has it all.

By Lucy Madison /
CBS News/ May 14, 2013, 9:54 AM
IRS chief: We should have done "better"

Days after the revelation that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) targeted conservative groups for tougher scrutiny in their applications for tax-exempt status, acting IRS commissioner Steven Miller said Tuesday "mistakes were made" within the agency - but that the practice was "in no way due to any political or partisan motivation."


In an op-ed Tuesday in USA Today, Miller argued that the IRS targeted groups affiliated with the tea party because at the time, in 2010, there was a "sharp increase" in the number of applications coming from those types of organizations.

• Obama: IRS targeting "outrageous" if true
• Benghazi, IRS hearings: Political grandstanding, or has Congress found its legs?

"We sought to centralize work in this area in 2010 because our office of Exempt Organizations observed a sharp increase in the number of section 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) applications coming from groups potentially engaged in political campaign intervention," Miller wrote. "Between 2010 and 2012, the number of applications for 501(c)(4) status more than doubled, from 1,591 to 3,398."


It was important for the IRS to carefully review those organizations' applications, Miller argued, because "the law limits and in some cases prohibits political intervention by exempt organizations." Still, he said, the "way we initially centralized" those cases for review "did not" make sense.


"The Internal Revenue Service recognizes that we should have done a better job of handling the influx of applications by advocacy organizations," he said. "We fixed the situation last year, and have made significant progress in moving the centralized cases through our system... The new procedures we have implemented ensure the mistakes we made won't be repeated."


CBS News has confirmed that Miller, who replaced former IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman who resigned last year, was informed of the IRS's targeting policy in May 2012.

On July 25, 2012, Miller testified before a House Ways and Means Oversight subcommittee, but did not mention the agency's heightened scrutiny for the applications of conservative groups. After learning of the controversial IRS practice, he also wrote at least two letters to Congress explaining the process for reviewing tax-exempt status applications; in neither of those letters did he mention the targeting.


When asked during the July hearing about complaints of being "harassed" from politically active groups, Miller said the IRS "did group those organizations together to ensure consistency, to ensure quality," but did not state that they had been specifically targeted by political affiliation for higher scrutiny.

[American Patriot]

I am the face of Team Obama's IRS attacks

By Wayne Allyn Root

Published May 13, 2013

FoxNews.com

We are dealing with a modern-day Nixon.

The IRS admitted Friday to targeting and intimidating conservative and Tea Party groups. But why? The answer: the IRS thought a quick apology and throwing a few “low level employees” under the bus could nip it in the bud and make it all go away.

They’re wrong. This will be one of the biggest scandals in U.S. political history -- if the media does their job.

This IRS scandal is a threat to everything America stands for. It’s why we fought a revolution against King George. It's one of the main ways the left brought down Richard Nixon -- they accused Nixon of targeting political opponents with IRS attacks to intimidate and silence them.

If you think it was just myself or a few Tea Party groups targeted, I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

These attacks were prominently included in Nixon’s “Articles of Impeachment” and should be in Obama’s too -- if the media does their job.

How do I know?

Because I am the face of Obama’s IRS attacks. I am proof of how bad it is, when it started, that it was directed at individuals as well as groups, and that it did not involve only “low level IRS employees.”

It did not involve only “low level IRS employees.” It did not happen in only one year (2012). It does not involve one office in Cincinnati. It was a widespread attack (mine emanated from the Las Vegas IRS office). It goes to the top of the IRS, it started early in Obama’s presidency, and you can bet your last dollar that it was all conducted upon direct orders of the Obama White House.

Most importantly, I'm living proof it was directed at individuals -- with the intent of ruining our lives. It almost ruined mine. This is important because the American public needs to see the faces of the targets. I have a wife and 4 children. I didn’t deserve this.

Here is my personal story. I’m a small businessman, but also a national media personality with a megaphone. I’m an outspoken critic of Obama. My views are seen by millions on Fox News Channel, and read at web sites like The Blaze and FoxNews.com. And in almost every media appearance its pointed out that I’m Obama’s Columbia Class of ‘83 classmate. You don’t think Obama noticed?

The result? In January, 2011 an unprecedented IRS attack was launched against me. My personal story of IRS attack was covered extensively by conservative media.

In 30 years of doing business, I’ve had a spotless tax record. And I had never heard a peep from the IRS. The attack was so over-zealous and out of bounds, I was forced to hire one of this nation’s top tax attorneys, who took my case to court where we won a 100% victory.

My relief at being vindicated lasted five days! Then the IRS announced a new tax audit against me.

My attorney had never heard of such a thing and, before me, assumed it wasn’t possible.

The many legal and accounting experts (who drained my savings) all agreed this could only happen if I was on “Obama Enemies List.”

The attack was chilling and intimidating, affecting every aspect of my life. It was meant to bleed me dry, and teach me a lesson -- if you dare to criticize Obama, get ready to lose everything.

If you think it was just myself or a few Tea Party groups targeted, I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

This IRS scandal gets bigger by the day. The latest development is that top IRS officials and lawyers were in fact aware of this scandal since 2011 (the very year I was targeted).

It gets worse. It turns out the IRS was also targeting pro-Israel Jewish groups. It’s now gone from political targeting to racism and anti-Semitism.

“Enough is Enough.” It’s time our elected representatives in Congress find the courage to face up to Obama’s culture of lies, cover-ups and criminal intimidation. Nixon’s presidency ended because of the synergy of two scandals -- Watergate (a third rate burglary) and the sickening scandal of using IRS attacks to intimidate and silence his liberal opponents.

Obama now has two major scandals reminiscent of Nixon. Benghazi (the cover-up not of a third rate burglary, but of four murders of American heroes just 8 weeks before a presidential election) and the sickening scandal of using the IRS to intimidate and silence not only conservatives like me, and Tea Party groups, but also Jewish pro-Israel groups and anyone focused on protecting the Constitution.

If Nixon had used the IRS to attack one race or religion, he’d have been burned at the stake by the liberal media. This time even Obama has gone too far.

One more thing that needs to be pointed out. I wrote my new book “The Ultimate Obama Survival Guide” while being intimidated by the IRS. Sorry Mr. Obama, but your plans backfired. You can’t keep a good conservative down!

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/...#ixzz2TI939gVr

[American Patriot]

White House in damage control mode as potential scandals pile up

Published May 14, 2013

FoxNews.com

The White House was in damage control mode Tuesday as an escalating series of potential scandals raised questions about whether officials abused their authority -- all while threatening to undermine President Obama's second-term ambitions.

The latest controversy to hit the headlines was the allegation that the Justice Department secretly obtained two months of phone records from Associated Press journalists. The AP went public with the charge Monday, and quickly earned sympathy from lawmakers on both sides who widely agreed that the record grab appeared to be unnecessarily intrusive.

This came on top of acknowledgement by the IRS that its agents had singled out conservative groups for additional scrutiny. In response, the administration made a series of announcements on Tuesday.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Justice Department was launching an investigation into the IRS activity.

Holder claimed that he had recused himself from the leak probe which led to the AP phone records seizure last year, and that the deputy attorney general has handled that investigation.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney reiterated that Obama has "confidence" in Holder and his team, and remains concerned about the separate IRS issue.

The AP records were obtained by the Justice Department as part of an investigation into sensitive intelligence leaks.

House Speaker John Boehner's office said "they better have a damned good explanation" for obtaining the records.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Democrat, said he's "very troubled" by the allegations.

Holder is sure to come under heavy questioning on the matter when he appears on Capitol Hill for a hearing Wednesday.

The AP allegations amounted to the second controversy that raised concerns from members of both parties and could not be easily dismissed by the administration as a partisan attack. The other was the acknowledgement Friday by the IRS that it inappropriately singled out Tea Party and other conservative groups for scrutiny.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., a Tea Party-aligned lawmaker, said those responsible should be fired.

"Anybody who was aware of, and approved of targeting people for their political beliefs and speech, needs to be fired, never in this position again, and made an example of," he told Fox News on Tuesday.

Carney on Tuesday called the heat on the administration a product, in part, of the "rapid politicization of everything." But he said Obama has "serious concerns" about the IRS allegations.

Those two controversies came on top of a revived clamor in Washington over the Benghazi terror attack. Three whistle-blowers brought the issue back to the fore with their dramatic testimony last week. Further, newly published email excerpts show that a top State Department official pressed the intelligence community to water down its initial story line on the attack in the days before a top diplomat went on television to explain the attack to the public.

And amid that controversy, FoxNews.com and other news organizations reported that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has been reaching out to private-sector executives seeking donations for nonprofit organizations that help enroll people in ObamaCare.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee has already launched a probe into the solicitations. Republicans on the committee voiced concern that the department could be soliciting donations from firms that are also doing business with HHS.

Together, the scandals threaten to distract from Obama's second-term agenda. He recently suffered a defeat on gun control, but was hoping to align with influential Capitol Hill Republicans to push for an immigration overhaul in the coming weeks.

Obama, in a press conference on Monday, downplayed the scandals. He called Benghazi a political "sideshow" driven by partisan motives. As for the IRS, he made clear that he found the alleged conduct to be unacceptable and would not tolerate it.

But the administration has distanced itself from that controversy, attributing it to the actions of low-level staffers. The White House also distanced itself from the AP phone record grab, referring questions to the Justice Department.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013...#ixzz2TIcTrOm5

[American Patriot]

Will government probe of AP phone records cost Eric Holder his job?

Attorney General Eric Holder has alienated Republicans before. But the Justice Department's seizure of AP phone records is generating bipartisan concern.


By David T. Cook, Staff writer / May 14, 2013

• 

Attorney General Eric Holder testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington last month on the Justice Department's fiscal 2014 budget.
Molly Riley/AP/File

Enlarge

Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on stumbleupon Share on email

Washington

Speculation has begun in Washington over whether a massive Justice Department investigation of Associated Press phone records will end up costing Attorney General Eric Holder his job.


Mr. Holder is “a battered survivor of many controversies and this could be the one that finally convinces him or Obama that it is time to go,” the National Journal’s Jill Lawrence writes.


Esquire blogger Charles Pierce adds: “He should be gone. This moment. Not only is this constitutionally abhorrent, it is politically moronic.”
RECOMMENDED: How much do you know about the US Constitution? A quiz.




And Northeastern University journalism professor Dan Kennedy tweeted, “It is 8:42. The AP phone story broke at 7:50. Why is Eric Holder still attorney general.”
Of course, only the president knows for sure whether Holder will be forced to step down to help quiet the multiple controversies engulfing the administration, which also include its handling of the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi and the IRS’s investigation of conservative political organizations. But the political stakes for the White House are high.


“The rule of three … means the president’s credibility is truly on the line right now,” NBC’s First Read observes.
Want your top political issues explained? Get customized DC Decoder updates.




Sacrificing Holder might be personally painful to the president. In his book “Kill or Capture” about President Obama’s national security team, Daniel Klaidman notes that Mr. Obama and Holder have become good friends since they met at a dinner party in 2004. And Holder’s wife, obstetrician Sharon Malone, is reportedly very close with first lady Michelle Obama.


Holder has long been controversial, especially with Republicans who voted in June 2012 to hold him in contempt of Congress, the first time a sitting attorney general has been in that position. The issue was Holder’s refusal to turn over certain documents in "Fast and Furious," a botched federal gun sting operation that allowed hundreds of weapons to flow to Mexico, and which resulted in the death of a US federal agent.


The nation’s top lawyer also has drawn fire for arguing that the US court system is the right place to try terrorists (as opposed to military tribunals at Guantánamo) and for stating in recent congressional testimony that some banks have become “so large that it does become difficult for us to prosecute them.”
What is different about the controversy over the seizure of the AP’s phone records is the bipartisan nature of the outcry. On Monday the AP, a highly influential news cooperative that serves print, broadcast, and online news outlets, announced that the Justice Department had secretly obtained two months of phone records for reporters and editors in New York, Washington, and Hartford, Conn. The government seized records for more than 20 separate phone lines that were used by more than 100 reporters in April and May 2012.


AP President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Pruitt wrote to Holder calling the the Justice Department operation a “massive and unprecedented intrusion” into how news organizations do their work. “There can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of telephone communications,” Mr. Pruitt said.
At a press conference Tuesday afternoon Holder said he recused himself from the decision to subpoena the AP's phone records, and that the decision had been made by Deputy Attorney General Jim Cole, who is handling the case. Holder said he stepped aside because he had been interviewed in the investigation into who provided information for a May 7, 2012, AP story about a foiled terror plot that targeted the US. The attorney general said the leak his department was investigating "put the American people at risk."


The Justice Department released a statement defending its actions, saying, “We take seriously our obligations to follow all applicable laws, federal regulations, and Department of Justice policies when issuing subpoenas for phone records of media organizations.… Because we value the freedom of the press, we are always careful and deliberative in seeking to strike the right balance between the public interest in the free flow of information and the public interest in the fair and effective administration of our criminal laws.”


Sen. Patrick Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued a statement, saying, "I am very troubled by these allegations and want to hear the government's explanation."


On Monday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney issued a statement distancing the White House from the investigation. “We are not involved in decisions made in connection with criminal investigations, as those matters are handled independently by the Justice Department.”


On Tuesday, however, he offered Holder some support: "The president has confidence in the attorney general."


Meanwhile, when Holder was asked about his future last month on the Tom Joyner Morning Show, he responded: “I don’t know,” when asked if he would stay the full four years of Obama’s second term. He added, “I’m happy. I’m still enjoying what I’m doing and still want to be done. I’m still the president’s wing man, and I’m here with my boy.”

[American Patriot]

Judge Napolitano Tears Apart Eric Holder And DOJ For ‘Profound And Direct Assault On First Amendment’

by Andrew Kirell | 2:39 pm, May 14th, 2013 video » 26 comments






Reacting to Attorney General Eric Holder‘s Tuesday afternoon press briefing on the Department of Justice’s secret seizing of Associated Press phone records, Fox senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano tore into the agency for its “direct assault” on the Constitution that he says circumvented the proper channels laid out by the law.

On Monday afternoon it was revealed that the DOJ had obtained the private phone records of Associated Press reporters and editors. In response, Holder explained today that the seizure was part of an investigation into one of the worst leaks he has ever seen in his legal career, one he believes could have compromised national security.
Napolitano was not convinced, calling Justice’s actions a “profound and direct assault on the First Amendment.” He explained to Fox host Megyn Kelly that the feds have three different methods to legally seize documents from an outlet like the Associated Press: 1. “Grand jury subpoena, in which case the U.S. attorney has to tell the person, ‘We are going for your records.’” 2. “Go to a judge and present evidence of probable cause of crime to get a search warrant.” 3. “Obtain a national security letter, in which a federal agent writes a search warrant authorizing another federal agent to get the documents under the PATRIOT Act.”
The third option, Napolitano added, “is unconstitutional, but it is the law.” But as the judge sees it, the only crime that’s been identified by Holder thus far was the “crime of leaking,” which does not constitute a national security threat.
And so without following any of the three steps to legally obtaining documents under federal law, Napolitano told Kelly, the seizure “was absolutely done improperly and it violated most the core protected rights under the Constitution: freedom of speech.”

[vector7]

Progressive Group: IRS Gave Us Conservative Groups' Confidential Docs



by Wynton Hall 14 May 2013 1769 post a comment

The progressive-leaning investigative journalism group ProPublica says the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) office that targeted and harassed conservative tax-exempt groups during the 2012 election cycle gave the progressive group nine confidential applications of conservative groups whose tax-exempt status was pending.

The commendable admission lends further evidence to the lengths the IRS went during an election cycle to silence tea party and limited government voices.

ProPublica says the documents the IRS gave them were “not supposed to be made public”:

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.)

The group says that "no unapproved applications from liberal groups were sent to ProPublica.”

According to Media Research Center Vice President for Business and Culture Dan Gainor, ProPublica’s financial backers include top progressive donors:

ProPublica, which recently won its second Pulitzer Prize, initially was given millions of dollars from the Sandler Foundation to “strengthen the progressive infrastructure”–“progressive” being the code word for very liberal. In 2010, it also received a two-year contribution of $125,000 each year from the Open Society Foundations. In case you wonder where that money comes from, the OSF website is www.soros.org. It is a network of more than 30 international foundations, mostly funded by Soros, who has contributed more than $8 billion to those efforts.

On Friday, the House Ways and Means Committee is scheduled to hold a formal hearing on the IRS conservative targeting scandal. IRS Commissioner Steve Miller and Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George are slated to testify.

VIDEO

[American Patriot]

And they ADMITTED IT?

Hmmmm

[American Patriot]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA No one you ass.


May 15th, 2013
10:30 AM ET



5 minutes ago Boehner on IRS Scandal: 'Who is going to jail?'

Posted by
CNN Political Unit (CNN) – The admitted targeting of conservative groups applying for tax exempt status is grounds for some Internal Revenue Service employees to lose their jobs, House Speaker John Boehner said Wednesday.


"The IRS has admitted to targeting conservatives, even if the White House continues to be stuck on the word 'if,'" Boehner said at a press conference on Capitol Hill. "Now, my question isn't about who's going to resign. My question is who's going to jail over this scandal?"

"There are laws in place to prevent this type of abuse," Boehner continued. "Someone made a conscious decision to harass and hold up these requests for tax exempt status. I think we need to know who they are, whether they violated the law. Clearly someone violated the law."


On Tuesday a report from the inspector general responsible for the IRS stated that lax oversight at the tax agency led to the targeting of tea party and other conservative groups who were applying for federal tax exempt status.


Obama first spoke on the controversy Monday, saying reports the IRS targeted the groups were "outrageous" and that there was "no place for it" in his administration. But he said he would wait for the official IG report to be released before demanding any action be taken by the Treasury Department.


After the report was released Tuesday, Obama released a statement saying the findings are "intolerable and inexcusable."


"The federal government must conduct itself in a way that's worthy of the public's trust, and that's especially true for the IRS. The IRS must apply the law in a fair and impartial way, and its employees must act with utmost integrity," he said. "This report shows that some of its employees failed that test."


Obama ordered Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to ensure that each of the inspector general's recommendations are implemented soon, "so that such conduct never happens again."

[American Patriot]

Well, I can't WAIT until whomever it was that got the go ahead from the highest office in the land through his bosses to say, "Wait just a f---ing MINUTE, I was FOLLOWING ORDERS! It was ________(insert name here)!"