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This is written by Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker:

“….At least five other numbers targeted by the government include the area code 202 and the exchange 824. The phone number for the Fox News Washington bureau, which is publicly available, is (202) 824-0001….”

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

CLICK HERE to see more.

RUBIO FILES AMENDMENT TO FARM BILL TO PUNISH IRS OFFICIALS WHO VIOLATE 1ST AMENDMENT RIGHTS OF AMERICANS

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) today filed an amendment to the 2013 Farm Bill that would punish Internal Revenue Service (IRS) officials who abuse their power by violating the First Amendment rights of the American people. The amendment is based on similar legislation, the “Taxpayer Nondiscrimination & Protection Act of 2013”, introduced by Rubio last week in the Senate and by Congressman Mike Turner (R-OH) in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The amendment provides for mandatory termination and criminal liability for IRS employees who knowingly violate the constitutional rights of a taxpayer. The need for the legislation is demonstrated by current reports of the IRS deliberately targeting conservative organizations, and the amendment expressly states that political speech and political expression are protected rights.

“This IRS scandal has destroyed the American people’s confidence in this government institution and exposed the dangers of a large, unaccountable government operating under a President and administration that routinely intimidate and harass their political opponents,” said Rubio. “With every new twist and turn in this IRS scandal, one can’t help but think that this is the type of thing that only occurs in third world countries, not in the United States of America.

“Those responsible for this political targeting at the IRS should face all appropriate punishment available under current law, and all organizations and individuals who engage in political speech and expression should be protected against this kind of discriminatory behavior in the future,” added Rubio.

By Adam Housley

U.S. military sources serving in North Africa are challenging the latest White House claim that the administration is applying “all the resources” at its disposal to bring the Benghazi attackers to justice, charging instead that the Obama administration knows who is responsible but is not acting.

“They have let it slip by because of politics, and now we’ve taken all the correlation we had and dropped the ball because of risk (aversion) — and now the security in Libya is more fragile than ever,” one U.S. special operator told Fox News. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirms that U.S. forces have tracked the alleged attackers since October but have since lost the trail of some of them, as no one up the chain of command would authorize them to capture or kill the targeted militia members.

Sources who have worked in and around Benghazi since last October spoke out after White House Press Secretary Jay Carney repeatedly said at a briefing more than a week ago that the administration was going after the suspects in the Sept. 11 terror attack. “From the beginning, the president has committed all the resources of this administration, of this government, to finding out who was responsible and to bringing them to justice,” Carney said, as he faced a barrage of critical questions from the press on the heels of reports that challenged the administration’s Benghazi narrative.

“Carney just said they want to bring those responsible to justice — that’s a big ole negative,” said one special operator who watched the press conference with part of his team and disputed Carney’s characterization of the administration’s efforts in the wake of the attack.

According to well-placed sources, the administration has known where some of the perpetrators are, based on information given to the Pentagon back in January, but no action has been taken to capture or kill them.

CLICK HERE to read the rest of Adam’s story on FoxNews.com

From a well-placed military source that Adam Housley spoke to who has recently been on the ground in North Africa (in response to the AP story):

“On the military side we have the evidence to enact a military strike for the head guy right now. We have voice, visual pid, talk traffic, etc. The FBI guys can’t go out without escort and it’s limited in what they can collect since the State Department has them basically held in Tripoli. They do investigations in Tripoli and haven’t been to the east (Benghazi) since the SSE Sensitive Site Exploitation…Evidence gathering.

Any operation now requires a military strike, because we will never get enough evidence to prosecute as the Administration wants.”

Per Jennifer Griffin:

Further, a separate well-placed US official source tells me that there are at least 18 confirmed suspects who are believed to have taken part in the attack. The US has been monitoring these suspects for months – some since October.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. has identified five men who might be responsible for the attack on the diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, last year, and has enough evidence to justify seizing them by military force as suspected terrorists, officials say. But there isn’t enough proof to try them in a U.S. civilian court as the Obama administration prefers.

The men remain at large while the FBI gathers evidence. But the investigation has been slowed by the reduced U.S. intelligence presence in the region since the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks, and by the limited ability to assist by Libya’s post-revolutionary law enforcement and intelligence agencies, which are still in their infancy since the overthrow of dictator Col. Moammar Gadhafi.

The decision not to seize the men militarily underscores the White House aim to move away from hunting terrorists as enemy combatants and holding them at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The preference is toward a process in which most are apprehended and tried by the countries where they are living or arrested by the U.S. with the host country’s cooperation and tried in the U.S. criminal justice system. Using military force to detain the men might also harm fledgling relations with Libya and other post-Arab-Spring governments with whom the U.S. is trying to build partnerships to hunt al-Qaida as the organization expands throughout the region.

A senior administration official said the FBI has identified a number of individuals that it believes have information or may have been involved, and is considering options to bring those responsible to justice. But taking action in remote eastern Libya would be difficult. America’s relationship with Libya would be weighed as part of those options, the official said, speaking only on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the effort publicly.

CLICK HERE to read the rest of this story

HENRY/CARNEY EXCHANGE

HENRY QUESTION: 13:46:33 At the risk of being petulant, on April 24, why did Ms. Ruemmler inform some White House staff? I realize you might not want to name everyone? Did she inform you? Were you one of the people–

CARNEY: 13:46:41 I was not informed.

HENRY QUESTION: 13:46:42 Are you disappointed in that since this…(LAUGHTER) well not just from a — from your standpoint here, but in terms of — 13:46:48 you’re the press secretary, and this was going to have to be conveyed to the public at some point. And now the White House counsel has an inkling officially that there’s a report that maybe a bunch of conservative groups were targeted, an it might create a political firestorm. 13:47:02 Shouldn’t the press secretary have been brought in?

CARNEY: 13:47:03 I think — I found out, or would have found out the way that, you know — let’s back up. 13:47:12 The inspector general was completing a report. 13:47:15 If that report contained the information that was indicated, it would be something that we would want to respond to. 13:47:22 And as you saw, the president responded very firmly to it. 13:47:26 I was perfectly capable of assisting in that response upon learning the information. 13:47:31 It was not — again the suggestion that I should have known, or that the president should have known earlier so that I could have said something, or done something, again suggests…(CROSSTALK)

Here is what is so curious….the White House Counsel learns April 24 and does not tell the White House Press Secretary??  Should he not be put ‘in the loop’ right away since he likely to get asked about it and does not want to be ambushed when he knows less than the press on a topic!

HENRY QUESTION: 13:47:43 …in order to prepare your response?

CARNEY: 13:47:45…it suggests that — all — all of these questions suggest that somehow the president should have done something in the midst of an independent…(HENRY: Who suggests that?) …or I. What if I had come out and started…

HENRY QUESTION: 13:47:54 Because you have to come to the podium and deal with these questions for 10 days

CARNEY: 13:47:58 Right, and I think that we — the response that we had upon the release of that report was very clear. 13:48:02 The president spoke firmly about how outraged he was about the behavior. He made clear that we would hold — that he expected people to be held accountable, and that changes ought to be made. In…(CROSSTALK)

HENRY QUESTION: 13:48:12 What day did you learn it?

CARNEY: 13:48:12 The same day the president did.

HENRY QUESTION: 13:48:14 From news reports?

CARNEY: 13:48:15 Correct.

HENRY QUESTION: 13:48:16 So no one in this building told you?

CARNEY: 13:48:17 That’s correct.

Fox News Poll: Obama Ratings Dip, Voters Say Government “Out of Control”

After a week of revelations about government spying on reporters and the Internal Revenue Service targeting conservatives, most voters feel “like the federal government has gotten out of control and is threatening the basic civil liberties of Americans.”

At the same time, a new Fox News poll finds disapproval of President Obama’s job performance is above 50 percent for the first time in a year, his honesty rating is at a new low and half of voters already think he’s a lame-duck.

More than two-thirds of voters — 68 percent — feel the government is out of control and threatening their civil liberties.   About one quarter disagree (26 percent).

Fox News Poll

Feel Government Is Out Of Control And

Threatening Your Basic Civil Liberties?

Yes, Govt. Is Out Of Control             68%

No, Don’t Feel That Way                   26%

May 18-20, 2013

Registered Voters ± 3% Pts.

Nearly half of Democrats (47 percent), as well as large numbers of independents (76 percent) and Republicans (87 percent) feel Uncle Sam is taking liberties with their liberties.

Those who identify with the Tea Party movement, one of the groups targeted by the IRS, are among those most likely to say things are out of control and civil liberties are being threatened:  92 percent of Tea Partiers feel that way.

CLICK HERE to read more Fox News Poll results

Fox News Poll: Majority Thinks White House Knew about IRS Actions

Voters are concerned about the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative political groups for unfair treatment, and over half think the White House either knew it was happening or — worse yet — was actually behind the operation.

That’s according to a Fox News poll released Tuesday.

The IRS recently admitted it targeted tea party and other conservative groups for extra scrutiny when the groups sought tax-exempt status.

Most voters think the White House was involved in the IRS scandal in some way:  37 percent think the administration knew it was going on but didn’t initiate the policy, while another 29 percent believe the White House directed the IRS to go after those groups.

About a quarter (24 percent) says the White House had absolutely nothing to do with what the IRS was doing.

Fox News Poll

Obama Administration Involvement

In IRS Targeting Of Conservative Groups

Knew About, But Didn’t Initiate       37%

Behind The Operation                        29%

Not Involved At All                           24%

May 18-20, 2013

Registered Voters ± 3% Pts.

Almost all of those who identify with the Tea Party movement think the White House was involved:  58 percent think the administration intentionally had them targeted, and 31 percent believe that while the White House knew about the unfair treatment, it wasn’t behind it.

CLICK HERE for more poll results from Fox News

I would tell the Obama Administration to find someone else at the IRS to handle Obamacare.   It looks really bad that the person chosen to handle the Obamacare at the IRS, even if innocent and she is presumed innocent, is under a cloud.

Correspondents’ association concerned government ‘too aggressive’ in tracking journalists

By FoxNews.com

The White House Correspondents’ Association said Tuesday that two recent cases in which the Obama administration went after reporters’ phone and email records show the government may be getting “far too aggressive” in tracking journalists.

The association’s board spoke out after the Justice Department secretly obtained two months of phone records from the Associated Press and obtained a search warrant for the personal emails of Fox News’ James Rosen.

In the latter case, an FBI agent also claimed in an affidavit that Rosen was possibly a criminal “co-conspirator.”

Though no charges were brought against Rosen, the White House Correspondents’ Association said no journalist should even face that threat for doing their jobs.

“Reporters should never be threatened with prosecution for the simple act of doing their jobs,” the WHCA said in a statement Tuesday. “The problem is that in two recent cases, one involving Fox News’ James Rosen and the other focused on the Associated Press, serious questions have been raised about whether our government has gotten far too aggressive in its monitoring of reporters’ movements, phone records, and even personal email.”

CLICK HERE to read the rest of this article from FoxNews.com

* He said the only changes that White House made to the Benghazi talking points was style.  Not true.  The changes were substantive and significant.

* I just read the Washington Post time line on IRS mess in today’s paper.  According to the Washington Post, Jay Carney first said (last week) the White House counsel was told in April only that the I/G report was almost finished and no one else was told. Period.  No details were disclosed and no one else knew but White House counsel.

Then yesterday, Jay had a new version about the IRS story and it was very different.  The Washington Post reporting that this week  (yesterday) Carney then said that White House counsel, in April,  told White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and other senior White House staff about the report and “…briefed …[them] on the findings.”  That means – contrary to what Carney first said, he now admitted others knew and, yes,  findings were disclosed.  But the plot thickens…

* And now THIS AFTERNOON I read on Politico (Reid Epstein) that “White House IRS timeline shifts again” today.  “Just a day after telling reporters that Chief of Staff Denis McDonough had learned of the situation about a month ago, press secretary Jay Carney revealed that the White Officials has consulted with the IRS on how to initially present to the public the story that the agency had targeted conservative tax exempt groups for extra scrutiny.”

(So the White House was in cahoots with the IRS to cook up a strategy to sugar coat what was going on! Transparent? not exactly…)

So what about Jay Carney?  What is going on with him?

We all make mistakes.  Is Jay just making mistakes?

We all risk being uninformed.  Is Jay uninformed, being kept out of the loop by others? and deliberately kept out of the loop for strategic reasons?

Or…something else?

Here is what is really rotten.  Do you know what Jay Carney is saying today as to why he didn’t ‘fess up’ to this involvement between the White House and Treasury before today? “[Carney] said he didn’t inform reporters about the discussions [between IRS and White House] earlier because he hadn’t been asked “precise” enough questions.” [from Politico]

And then today, Jay Carney took a unusual defensive swipe.  According to that same Politico article, “Carney also compared the continued questions about what the White House did before and after the news of the Inspector General’s probe leaked May 10 to the debunked inquiries about Obama’s birth certificate.”

Why does it matter? Because he has the very important job of being the person communicating with the American people on behalf of President Obama.  If he is getting thrown under the bus, and being set up by others senior to him, I suggest it is time he throw them under the bus – let us know what is going on and why the evolving stories – because his credibility is tarnished.  And if he is not being thrown under the bus?