Señor Jehuda, aka "El Blogo de Liberto", is an attorney and media professional with a background in TV marketing and production, copywriting, independent filmmaking, and spontaneously speaking perfect Spanish. A proud Texan who recently escaped from Los Angeles to Albuquerque, he spends far too much time thinking about movies - especially since his job requires it. Jehuda is also a contributor at YesButHowever.com and PJ Lifestyle.
BOMBSHELL: CBS News: Evidence emerges that Obama administration official knew of IRS targeting during 2012 campaign.
I put ‘Bombshell’ in there just for effect, really. I’m not too surprised by any of this. What does surprise is that CBS News is actually using the sentence above as a headline.
Don’t Be Evil Get Caught: Google insider exposes ‘immoral’ tax scam.
Related: How a Career Con Man Led a Federal Sting That Cost Google $500 Million.
David Freddoso: Why you can’t blame Citizens United for the IRS Scandal.
Excellent analysis. Give it a read.
My own, shorter (plus admittedly conclusory and analysis-free) explanation is that the IRS didn’t seem to harass any leftist groups over their non-profit status applications like it did to conservative groups.
If this abusive level of scrutiny from the IRS is an unintended consequence of a Supreme Court decision, wouldn’t every organization have been treated equally badly?
Via reason‘s Hit & Run blog.
Legends of the Windfall: What could happen to you: tales of big lottery winners.
RAAAAACISM: Conservative Hispanic Groups Targeted In IRS Scandal.
WSJ: Top Moments From the IRS Hearing.
UPDATE: Related: NYT: “Obama administration officials were aware of the matter during the presidential campaign year”.
Tech Meets Politics Meets Economics: We Need to Talk about the Burgeoning Robot Middle Class.
Enter the ‘worst-case scenario’: IRS Official in Charge During Tea Party Targeting Now Runs Health Care Office.
Crappy policies, crappy results: So, Venezuela Has a Toilet-Paper Shortage (Don’t Laugh. Seriously.).
No surprise there. Venezuela went to crap ever since Hugo Chavez decided to turn it into the oil-rich version of Cuba. What ever happened to “To each according to his needs”? Doesn’t quite work that way, does it?
We’re living in interesting times: Chris Matthews sours on Obama.
That explains everything: Obama: “I have complete confidence in Eric Holder as attorney general.”
Epistemic Closure Vortex: Lawrence O’Donnell: ‘IRS Agents Did Nothing Wrong’.
Hard to believe this guy used to write for The West Wing. But then again, that’s a work of fiction. This is who he really is…
Frontiers of Chutzpah: Attorney General Eric Holder scolds Issa for ‘shameful’ demeanor.
He did so fast and furiously, I suppose. Or maybe it was even worse than that…
The plot thickens: Senate Democrats Pushed for IRS Tea Party Snooping.
So an agency under the Executive – namely, the IRS – and members of the Legislative branch, Dem Senators, are all part of the same push to intimidate and discriminate against people who disagree with them.
This is using government as a weapon. It’s all so banana republic – and I’m not talking about clothing here…
David Axelrod for smaller government? Axelrod: Government ‘So Vast,‘ Obama Can’t Know About Wrongdoing.
No one expects the president to know everything that goes on with the US Government, but he should be able to keep tabs on the one branch of government he is responsible for: the Executive Branch.
Frontiers of Bacon: Oscar Mayer Fires Up Bacon Wieners in Battle for Top Dog.
Jon Stewart Again Tears Apart Obama: You Can’t Keep Saying You Found Out About News At The Same Time As Us!
Word. Are Pigs Flying Yet? Never thought I’d see Stewart slam Obama twice in one week.
UPDATE: Related: Keith Olbermann and RNC Chairman in agreement over DOJ phone records abuse.
Wow. What’s next? Michael Moore becoming a libertarian?
Frontiers of Technology: Synthetic Burger Patty Grown in Test Tubes Only Cost $325,000 to Make.
That’s a funny term for ‘viewpoint discrimination’: Report: ‘Ineffective management’ led to IRS scandal.
But is it better than Starfleet’s translator? Bing Translator Adds Klingon.
Ingenuity: Wealthy Manhattan moms hire handicapped tour guides to bypass lines at Disney World.
Not sure I find this all that objectionable, assuming there is no coercion or any services provided under duress. Not a bad payday, it seems.
But then again, I don’t work for the Disney Company.
One Nation, Under Viewpoint Discrimination: IRS unites nation with shoddy treatment of tea party groups.
The tea party groups have gone from the MSM’s favorite pariahs to popular, scrappy underdogs. Who knew?
Many days late, many dollars short: AP blasts feds for phone records search.
Whatever. Where was the AP when Senator Obama voted for this measure almost 5 years ago? I don’t remember them crying foul back then…
The Death of Movies: Medieval Times restaurant headed for movie screen.
I would have gone with ‘Red Lobster’ instead. Sounds more exciting.
Anyway, this is just another step in a long process.
Can’t wait to see the press defend the administration on this one: Govt obtains wide AP phone records in probe.
It’s a valid expectation. I don’t refer to it as the ‘Supine Press’ for nothing.
So, does this make the Obama White House as evil as Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp? And if not, why not? Is it because it’s OK when government does it.
Bonus question: is May, ‘Make Conspiracy Theorists Feel Better About Themselves’ Month, but nobody bothered to announce it?
Mass Murder: Abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell found guilty of murdering three babies.
Never thought I’d read a headline like that in a major newspaper…
I hope he’s right! Rick Santelli predicts IRS scandal will affect Obamacare implementation:
It’s one thing to have all your receipts and be called on the carpet to hassle, and prove you’re innocent. It’s another thing like…when you need that stent and they say, no stent for you because you back this group, you have these thoughts, you live in this area.
Audits on account of your political views are bad, but missing out on that MRI that could have told you whether you have a tumor or not – just because of your political donations – is something else.
Santelli’s implied concern here is legitimate. Government-provided healthcare has always been about control. You can argue it’s about helping people – and that may be true. But that doesn’t mean control is not part of the formula. Helping people out and controlling them is not mutually exclusive – in fact, it’s the bare bones premise of progressivism: let’s make the world a better place by regulating ‘better’ into existence (the elite’s definition of ‘better’, that is).
Bombshell: IRS targeted conservatives as early as 2010: WSJ; ABC corroborates.
So is this what the Leftie media means when they say all this stuff is ‘old news’?
I guess IRS hacks just couldn’t wait to make the boss happy.
Criminal Injustice: TOM on The Fate of Basseley Nakoula, aka The Benghazi Fall Guy of Our Fairness President.
A Man and His Fox:
Of course it does: Kevin Williamson: New York Times Endorses IRS Harassment of Tea Party groups.
Dog bites man, etc. But remember, it’s Bush’s fault. If so, this marks the first time in recorded history that the NYT endorses anything carried out by the G.W. Bush Administration.
UDPATE: BOMBSHELL: IRS Senior Officials new of IRS harassment since 2011. Just trying to keep the boss happy, I’m sure…
Frontiers of Technology: Experimental Flying Car Crashes Near Canadian School.
Nowhere near Blade Runner level, but at least someone’s trying…
Paging Jon Stewart! The Benghazi hearings were a witch hunt, until now. What changed?
When the congressional hearings on Benghazi convened on Wednesday, it was largely regarded by much of the media as a political witch hunt. Less than 24-hours later, Jonathan Karl of ABC News has revealed that he has obtained the redacted CIA talking points which prove without doubt that the White House and State Department knew the attack in Libya was led by al-Qaeda from the beginning.
Welcome to the party, but Karl’s epiphany is hardly breaking news. Two questions arise. Why did it take so long for the media to discover what average Americans have known for eight months? And, what happened in less than two days to suddenly open the media’s eyes?
I’m not sure the media’s eyes are open. You’d need a GOP administration for that to happen…
Gangster Government: IRS bureaucrat goes ‘Full Fredo’ on Obama! IRS apologizes for targeting conservative groups:
The Internal Revenue Service is apologizing for inappropriately flagging conservative political groups for additional reviews during the 2012 election to see if they were violating their tax-exempt status.
Lois Lerner, who heads the IRS unit that oversees tax-exempt groups, said organizations that included the words “tea party” or “patriot” in their applications for tax-exempt status were singled out for additional reviews.
Is Ms. Lerner heading down a dangerous path here, taking sides against the family?
Maybe instead of apologizing she should have just said her subordinates were merely following [perceived] orders. Plus, thuggery has been the M.O. at this White House right from the start. It’s just how things are done (with apologies to Mario Puzo and Francis Coppola).
Signs Point to Yes: Is intimidating whistleblowers the Administration’s standard operating procedure?
The watchdog who tracks the billions of taxpayer dollars spent to rebuild Afghanistan says government officials have tried to silence him because they think he’s embarrassing the White House and Afghan President Hamid Karzai by pointing out the waste and fraud.
