Wake up America

Pew: Plurality Believe Obama Administration Involved In IRS Decision To Target Conservatives

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Duclos) — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:20:00 +0000

By Susan Duclos

Pew Research polled the different controversies rocking the Obama administration, including the AP phone record seizure and the Benghazi investigation, but the numbers on the IRS scandal where IRS officials deliberately and systematically targeted conservatives groups like the Tea Party, Patriot groups and 9/12 groups, among others, show that a plurality of those paying attention to the scandal, believe the Obama administration was "involved in the decision to target conservative groups."

Overall, 42% say the Obama administration was involved in the decision to target conservative groups. Fewer (31%) say that the decision to target conservative groups was made by IRS employees without administration involvement, while 27% offer no opinion.

Not surprisingly, opinions about this are highly partisan. Nearly seven-in-ten Republicans (69%) say the administration was involved in the IRS’s decision to target conservative groups, compared with just 12% who say the decision was made by IRS employees. By contrast, just 21% of Democrats say the administration was involved, while 54% say IRS employees made the decision to target conservative groups. By a 44% to 28% margin, more independents say the administration was involved in the IRS decision than say it was not.

Those who followed the IRS story at least fairly closely (50% of the public) express similar views about the administration’s involvement: 49% say the administration was involved while 35% say it was not. But partisan differences are wider among this attentive segment of the population; fully 78% of Republicans who have followed the story believe the administration was involved in the decision to target conservative groups, while 63% of attentive Democrats say the decision came from IRS employees.

One would expect the level of distrust for the Obama administration by Republicans to be as high as it is, as they would also expect the level to be as low from Obama's own party, the Democrats.

The level of distrust by Independents who believe the Obama administration was involved in the decision to target conservatives, 44 percent overall and 48 percent among Independents following the story very or fairly closely, is quite high.

While some recent polls show the same type of distrust, they assert that Obama's overall approval rating hasn't suffered, but since the IRS and AP scandals were brought to light just a couple weeks ago and there have been continuous new revelations each week, sometimes daily revelations, that approval will undoubtedly start dwindling when the public becomes more aware of those newly revealed details.

Was CBS News Reporter Sharyl Attkisson Targeted By Obama's DOJ Too?

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Duclos) — Tue, 21 May 2013 16:52:00 +0000

By Susan Duclos

Considering what has been revealed so far with the Obama Department of Justice (DOJ) seizing the Associated Press' (AP) phone records and their secret subpoena of 21 phone lines, covering five offices where 100 reporters work and the recent news that a Fox News reporter was tracked and his personal email account obtained by the DOJ, the timing of the computer breaches of Emmy-award winning CBS News investigative reporter, Sharyl Attkisson, is suspicious, to say the least.

Attkisson told WPHT that irregular activity on her computer was first identified in Feb. 2011, when she was reporting on the Fast and Furious gun-walking scandal and on the Obama administration's green energy spending, which she said "the administration was very sensitive about." Attkisson has also been a persistent investigator of the events surrounding last year's attack in Benghazi, and its aftermath.

Attkisson, nor CBS News, is accusing the DOJ of this breach of her personal and work computers, but are diligently investigating to determine who is behind them.

"I can confirm that an intrusion of my computers has been under some investigation on my end for some months but I'm not prepared to make an allegation against a specific entity today as I've been patient and methodical about this matter," Attkisson told POLITICO on Tuesday. "I need to check with my attorney and CBS to get their recommendations on info we make public."

In an earlier interview with WPHT Philadelphia, Attkisson said that though she did not know the full details of the intrustion, "there could be some relationship between these things and what's happened to James [Rosen]," the Fox News reporter who became the subject of a Justice Dept. investigation after reporting on CIA intelligence about North Korea in 2009.

The timing of her Fast and furious reports, along with White House officials screaming and cursing at her for exclusive, damning reports about the gun-walking operation, along with the recent attack on the freedom of press by the Obama administration, makes the headlined question valid and appropriate.

"Was CBS News Reporter Sharyl Attkisson Targeted By Obama's DOJ Too?"

Benghazi Updates: Whistleblower Testimony Ignored, New Whistleblowers And A 'Scapegoat' Speaks Out

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Duclos) — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:53:00 +0000

By Susan Duclos

With the IRS targeting conservatives scandal and the AP phone records scandal, joined with the newly reported scandal of the Department of Justice tracking reporters and obtaining their personal emails, the Benghazi congressional investigation has largely been forced to share center stage.

The other scandals are bad, no doubt, and suggest a level of Obama administration tyranny that demands further investigation, but with that said, in Benghazi, Libya, in a terrorist attack on 9/11/12, four Americans died, so it is appropriate to keep track of the updates carefully.

WHISTLEBLOWER TESTIMONY IGNORED

One of the whistleblowers who already testified before congress, Gregory Hicks who was the second-ranking U.S. diplomat in Libya, at the time of the 9/11 terror attack, highlights a segment of his testimony that has not received the attention it so richly deserves.

Hicks’s attorney has been drawing attention to that section of his testimony, which was overshadowed by revelations that no one at the U.S. embassy in Libya believed the terrorist attack was preceded by a peaceful protest, and that the Pentagon told a special operations team to stand down.

“According to Stevens, Secretary Clinton wanted Benghazi converted into a permanent constituent post,” Hicks testified.

“Timing for this decision [to visit the region on Sept. 11] was important. Chris needed to report before Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year, on the … political and security environment in Benghazi.”

He said Pickering appeared “surprised.”

“I did tell the Accountability Review Board that Secretary Clinton wanted the post made permanent,” Hicks testified.

“Ambassador Pickering looked surprised. He looked both ways … to the members of the board, saying, ‘Does the seventh floor [the secretary of State’s office] know about this?’ ”

The ARB appears to have ignored Hicks’s statement in its public report. Instead, the board appeared to place responsibility on Stevens.

“The Ambassador chose to travel to Benghazi that week, independent of Washington, as per standard practice,” the ARB concluded in its three pages of findings.

“His status as the leading U.S. government advocate on Libya policy, and his expertise on Benghazi in particular, caused Washington to give unusual deference to his judgments.”

Ignoring what the second-in-command says in order to reach conclusions that fit a protect-the-top agenda, is why the fox should never guard the hen house. The "official" investigation into any agency's wrongdoings should never be an internal investigation. An independent board or commission should have conducted it.

NEW WHISTLEBLOWERS ON THE HORIZON

In mid-May, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said "I do think we're going to see more whistleblowers. Certainly my committee has been contacted, I think other committees as well." He stated "We have had people come forward because of the [Oversight] testimony and say we would also like to talk." (Video here)

That is relevant because according to a PJM exclusive, who spoketo two former U.S. diplomats, there is testimony on the horizon that could be devastating to former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

These whistleblowers, colleagues of the former diplomats, are currently securing legal counsel because they work in areas not fully protected by the Whistleblower law.

According to the diplomats, what these whistleblowers will say will be at least as explosive as what we have already learned about the scandal, including details about what really transpired in Benghazi that are potentially devastating to both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

The former diplomats inform PJM the new revelations concentrate in two areas — what Ambassador Chris Stevens was actually doing in Benghazi and the pressure put on General Carter Ham, then in command of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and therefore responsible for Libya, not to act to protect jeopardized U.S. personnel.

Stevens’ mission in Benghazi, they will say, was to buy back Stinger missiles from al-Qaeda groups issued to them by the State Department, not by the CIA. Such a mission would usually be a CIA effort, but the intelligence agency had opposed the idea because of the high risk involved in arming “insurgents” with powerful weapons that endanger civilian aircraft.

Hillary Clinton still wanted to proceed because, in part, as one of the diplomats said, she wanted “to overthrow Gaddafi on the cheap.”

This left Stevens in the position of having to clean up the scandalous enterprise when it became clear that the “insurgents” actually were al-Qaeda – indeed, in the view of one of the diplomats, the same group that attacked the consulate and ended up killing Stevens.

if accurate, this would confirm previous testimony that the failures that occurred in Benghazi, came from the top, not lower level employees, such as the scapegoat stuck in limbo, discussed below.

SCAPEGOAT SPEAKS OUT

The Daily Beast has an exclusive from a man that believes he was scapegoated after the "internal investigation" was concluded, which as you saw above, ignored testimony from the second-in command in Libya, Gregory Hicks.

Following the attack in Benghazi, Libya, senior State Department officials close to Hillary Clinton ordered the removal of a midlevel official who had no role in security decisions and has never been told the charges against him. He is now accusing Clinton’s team of scapegoating him for the failures that led to the death of four Americans last year.

Raymond Maxwell was placed on forced “administrative leave” after the State Department’s own internal investigation, conducted by an Administrative Review Board (ARB) led by former State Department official Tom Pickering. Five months after he was told to clean out his desk and leave the building, Maxwell remains in professional and legal limbo, having been associated publicly with the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other American for reasons that remain unclear.

Maxwell, who served as deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs from August 2011 until his removal last December, following tours in Iraq and Syria, spoke publicly for the first time in an exclusive interview with The Daily Beast.

“The overall goal is to restore my honor,” said Maxwell, who has filed grievances regarding his treatment with the State Department’s Human Resources Bureau and the American Foreign Service Association, which represents the interests of foreign-service officers. The other three officials placed on leave were in the Diplomatic Security Bureau, leaving Maxwell as the only official in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (NEA), which had responsibility for Libya, to lose his job.

“I had no involvement to any degree with decisions on security and the funding of security at our diplomatic mission in Benghazi,” he said.

Hot Air's Ed Morrissey points out:

Pickering will appear for a transcribed deposition on Thursday to answer questions about the conduct of the ARB. Pickering at first vociferously defended the report, which focused blame for Benghazi on lower-level staffers, but the White House undermined it last week in leaks to CBS News’ Sharyl Attkisson that pointed fingers of their own at Undersecretary of State Patrick Kennedy. Another whistleblower, Eric Nordstrom, testified two weeks ago that the ARB deliberately ignored Kennedy’s role in preventing security requests from being approved.

It is becoming a pattern with the Obama administration to lay blame on "lower level" employees, as they attempted to do with the IRS targeting conservatives scandal, with those lower level employees immediately contradicting those assertions by saying their orders "came from the top."

Four brave Americans died in Benghazi, Libya and blaming lower level employees to avoid responsibility for the systematic failures is not only dishonest, it is cowardly.

Liberals and Barack Obama can claim all they want that the congressional investigation is "political" but there is no doubt that the families of those four Americans would like the truth of why their family members died and who is to blame. As would the rest of America.

Related:

Full Wake up America coverage of the 9/11/12 attack in Libya and the subsequent coverup can be found here.

NorCal Tea Party Patriots Sues IRS for Violation of 1st and 5th Amendments and Privacy- Complaint Embedded

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Duclos) — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:25:00 +0000

By Susan Duclos

The first lawsuit has been filed by a Northern California tea party group against the Internal Revenue Service, the United States Department of the Treasury, and current and former employees of the Internal Revenue Service, identified as John Does 1-100, for the deliberate targeting by the IRS of conservatives groups associated with the Tea Party.

(Lawsuit complaint will be embedded below the post.)

"The IRS and its agents singled out groups like NorCal Tea Party Patriots for intensive and intrusive scrutiny, probing their members' associates, speech, activities and beliefs," the suit contends.

This contention is supported by the official Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration Report, released recently, and which the lawsuit references on page 5, item 15, of the embedded complaint below the post.

The group is seeking unspecified damages for "suffering years of delay and expense while awaiting the exemption and spending valuable time and money answering the IRS' questions. The result was a muffling and muzzling of free expression.," according to the lawsuit.

It took two years for the IRS to finally approve their tax-exempt status after applying in March of 2010.

The lawsuit asserts two violations: (1) violation of the Privacy Act of 1974; and (2) violation of the First and Fifth Amendments under Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971)(“Bivens”)

Norcal v IRS.pdf uploaded by Susan Duclos

Related:

Full Wake up America coverage on the IRS scandal can be found here.

IRS and AP Phone Scandals: Video - Piers Morgan Admits Obama Admin Showing Tyrannical Behavior

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Duclos) — Tue, 21 May 2013 13:34:00 +0000

By Susan Duclos

I am a little late posting this video but after watching the 3:12 minute clip there are a few points made that are noteworthy.

First Morgan admits that despite his laughing at Second Amendment supporters when they say the right to bear arms is inherent to the ability to protect against governmental tyranny, because he used to think that was a "ridiculous" argument, the IRS scandal where the agency deliberately targeted conservatives (the list is still growing) and the AP phone scandal where the DOJ seized reporters' phone records, is "vaguely" and "bordering" on tyranny.

There is more, like the discussion on how liberals say "the Republicans are going to be all over this," then admitting they should be as should every Democrat.

[WATCH]

Makes you wonder if Morgan has the integrity to call each and every one of those people he "laughed at" and called "ridiculous" when they spoke of protection against tyranny, and apologize for his arrogant dismissal of their very real points.

Maybe making a public apology for comparing Tea Party supporters to "Hitler and Mussolini" followers?

Heh, yeah, those were rhetorical questions because that would take some kind of honor.

Devastation As Dozens Die After Tornado Rips Through Oklahoma: Resources To Help

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Duclos) — Tue, 21 May 2013 01:09:00 +0000

By Susan Duclos

[Update] NYT is reporting at least 90 are believe to have lost their lives in this horrendous tragedy.

Original post below

According to television news reports, 51 people have lost their lives after a devastating tornado ripped through parts of Oklahoma.

24 so far are children from an elementary school that was leveled. Reports say over 80 are injured and receiving hospital care, 65 of them children, 20 adults.

Those numbers will be updated as information becomes available.

ABC:

A mammoth tornado carved a trail of destruction through the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, killing at least 51 people and ripping apart two elementary schools today, local authorities said.

David Barnes, the director of Oklahoma Emergency Management in Oklahoma County, told ABC News that a single twister tore through homes from Newcastle to Moore, a path of 12 miles. The damage was "widespread" and people's homes were completely destroyed, all the way to their foundations, he said.

At least 51 people have been confirmed dead in the storm's aftermath, according to the Oklahoma chief medical examiner's office.

"It is absolutely devastating, this is horrific," Oklahoma Lt. Gov Todd Lamb said. "We're going to have fatalities. ... We're going to have significant injuries. ... We just don't know what those numbers are. Schools have been hit, a hospital has been hit, businesses have been flattened, neighborhoods have been wiped away -- we don't have the numbers in yet but it is going to be significant and it is going to be horrific."

Search and rescue teams to work through the night.

Resources To Help Survivors Moore, Oklahoma Tornado

Keep your eye on the Red Cross site with updated news of shelters opening.

If you would like information on how to donate to the American Red Cross click here

If you would like to donate to the Salvation Army's relieve efforts Do this:click here

For those who may be looking for lost loved ones, click here to register their names or to check to see if they have registered.

If you have a friend or family member in need of shelter in the area, :click here for a list of Red Cross Shelters.

The University of Oklahoma has also opened up residence halls to displaced families. Call 405-325-2511 for more information.

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Developing.....

Targeted Enough Already – IRS protests set for May 21, Find Your Local IRS Office

noreply@blogger.com (Albert Milliron) — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:04:00 +0000

The Teaparty Patriots, 9/12 project and Pro-life groups have set nationwide protests at Local IRS Offices

By Albert N. Milliron

The Teaparty Patriots, 9/12 project, Pro-life groups has designated May 21 as the “Targeted Enough Already” protest at local Internal Revenue Service offices nationwide at 12:00 pm local time across the country.

These protests are the result of the IRS targeting conservative nonprofits for outrageous scrutiny that has kept conservative groups from getting its tax exempt status in a timely manner.

Politisite we will be covering the protest at South Carolina IRS Offices. We recommend other political websites list the IRS offices in the states where they are located and provide coverage.

Find Your Local IRS Office

Tea Party to Protest IRS Offices Nationwide May 21st

On behalf of Tea Party, Patriot groups, 9/12, liberty activists, and the American people, we are calling for anyone and everyone to protest the IRS’ complete abuse of power on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at noon local time.

Right now we are determining the best locations to host these rallies, so please let us know if you are available to go and where you are located. We will use the information to identify the closest IRS offices so that we get the most patriots to each location.

IRS Protests
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is out of control and we need to stand up and let them know that we will not take their intimidation tactics!

Cross Posted at Politisite

AP Phone Record Seizure Scandal: DOJ Subpoena Covered Phone Lines Where 100 Reporters Worked

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Duclos) — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:02:00 +0000

By Susan Duclos

You know journalists are outraged when you see liberal media outlets rallying around Fox News as evidenced in my previous piece and they were already annoyed, to put it mildly, before that, when the mainstream media became aware that the DOJ had secretly seized some Associated Press phone records.

Well these next two little tidbits should make their heads explode.

First, Open Channel at NBC News reports that the initial reports of the DOJ seizing the phone records of a few reporters, severely understated the scope of the DOJ seizure and in reality 21 phone lines, in five different offices were covered by the overly broad Department of Justice subpoenas. Four of those offices held a total of 100 reporters.

The Justice Department’s secret subpoena for AP phone records included the seizure of records for five reporters' cellphones and three home phones as well as two fax lines, a lawyer for the news organization tells NBC News.

David Schulz, the chief lawyer for the AP, said the subpoenas also covered the records for 21 phone lines in five AP office lines -- including one for a dead phone line at office in Washington that had been shut down six years ago. The phone lines at four other offices – where 100 reporters worked — were also covered by the subpoenas, Schulz said.

Although AP had given general information about the subpoenas last week, it provided new details Monday about the number of cell and home phone records as it considers possible legal action against the Justice Department.

The next tidbit updates the news that set journalists off this morning about the DOJ tracking the movements of a FOX News reporter, James Rosen as well as obtaining his personal email account, with a breaking report that in reality, three news staffers, two reporters and one producer all had their emails show up in a IG report regarding Fast and Furious.

Fox News reports that three Fox staffers, two reporters and one producer, were targeted by Barack Obama's Justice Department. Fox doesn't have all the details yet on reporter William La Jeunesse and producer Mike Levine, but their emails showed up in a IG report regarding Fast and Furious. Either their emails were leaked by the Justice Department officials they were sent to, or the email accounts of both were subpoenaed and invaded by government investigators.

The IG report does say that subpoenas were issued to obtain emails. Whose email was targeted is not yet known.

Fox News and Associated Press...... reporters from every news outlet have to wondering about now if any of their sources are safe, if their privacy was invaded and if they too will become a target of the Obama administration.

Hell of a thanks for all they have done for Obama, huh?

Obama's DOJ Tracks Reporters Movements, Obtains Personal Emails; Journalists Unite Against DOJ

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Duclos) — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:50:00 +0000

By Susan Duclos

Journalists that took exception to the Department of Justice's unprecedented seizure of the Associated Press phone records are even more outraged as information is revealed about the Obama administration's other constitutional violations, including tracking reporters' movements and obtaining a Fox News reporter's personal emails.

The case of Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, the government adviser, and James Rosen, the chief Washington correspondent for Fox News, bears striking similarities to a sweeping leaks investigation disclosed last week in which federal investigators obtained records over two months of more than 20 telephone lines assigned to the Associated Press.

At a time when President Obama’s administration is under renewed scrutiny for an unprecedented number of leak investigations, the Kim case provides a rare glimpse into the inner workings of one such probe.

Court documents in the Kim case reveal how deeply investigators explored the private communications of a working journalist — and raise the question of how often journalists have been investigated as closely as Rosen was in 2010. The case also raises new concerns among critics of government secrecy about the possible stifling effect of these investigations on a critical element of press freedom: the exchange of information between reporters and their sources.

“Search warrants like these have a severe chilling effect on the free flow of important information to the public,” said First Amendment lawyer Charles Tobin, who has represented the Associated Press, but not in the current case. “That’s a very dangerous road to go down.”

In response to these explosive details, other reporters and journalists are speaking out, some via Twitter.

The first is a sentence from a source that literally makes me think pigs are flying and it is awfully cold down in hell at the moment.

HuffPost Media:

Dear many of our commenters: this is one time when you should be siding with Fox News huff.to/10IM6mT
— HuffPost Media (@HuffPostMedia) May 20, 2013

Ryan Lizza,Washington Correspondent for The New Yorker and contributor for CNN, has added to his public profile "aider, abettor and/or co-conspirator," and posted the following tweets.

Case against Fox's Rosen, in which O admin is criminalizing reporting, makes all of the other "scandals" look like giant nothing burgers.
— Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) May 20, 2013

According to search warrant, DOJ went after Rosen's personal gmail account.
— Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) May 20, 2013

[UPDATE] Another tweet from Lizza:

If James Rosen's "clandestine communications plan" were illegal, every journalist in Washington would be locked up. Unreal.
— Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) May 20, 2013

[End Update]

Far left liberal Glenn Greenwald, Columnist and blogger for the Guardian:

Accusing James Rosen of committing crimes - for basic reporting - may be the most dangerous thing the Obama DOJ has done yet
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 20, 2013

Spencer Ackerman, Incoming national security editor at the Guardian

LOL a "covert communications plan" between journalist & source. Like basic reportorial opsec? washingtonpost.com/local/a-rare-p… Disgusting.
— Spencer Ackerman (@attackerman) May 20, 2013

@noahpollak You should take that up with Fox News for reporting it. I have a problem with DOJ surveillance of a reporter doing his job.
— Spencer Ackerman (@attackerman) May 20, 2013

Eli Lake, Senior national security reporter for Newsweek/Daily Beast

Serious idea. Instead of calling it Obama's war on whistleblowers, let's just call it what it is: Obama's war on journalism.
— Eli Lake (@EliLake) May 20, 2013

Karen Tumulty, National political correspondent for the Washington Post

The alternative to "conspiring" with leakers to get information: Just writing what the government tells you. @jamesrosenfnc
— Karen Tumulty(@ktumulty) May 20, 2013

Howard Fineman, Editorial Director, Huffington Post Media Group. Analyst, NBC/MSNBC

#Fox Rosen probe as bad/worse than #AP: in unprecedented move, govt says he "conspired" with leaker to get info; that's what reporters do!
— Howard Fineman (@howardfineman) May 20, 2013

Ben Smith, Editor-in-Chief of http://BuzzFeed.com

Justice accuses @jamesrosenfnc, a v good reporter, of being "an aider, abettor and/or co-conspirator" for reporting?? washingtonpost.com/local/a-rare-p…
— Ben Smith (@BuzzFeedBen) May 20, 2013

This is just a small sample of the outrage from journalists to the left, right and in the center, over the Obama administration's direct attack against the freedom of the press.

On the bright side, Obama and his DOJ have managed to unite those journalists from the left, right and center.... unfortunately for Obama, they are all uniting against him.

Let us now see how fast Obama gets past the latest IRS, AP Phone record seizure and Benghazi scandals without members of the press willing to carry his water.

[Update] Here is the 44-page PDF of the warrant for Rosen's Gmail account.

IRS Scandal Grows: WH Logs Smoking Gun; Bushel Of Pinocchios; IRS Protects Lib Group From Investigation & More

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Duclos) — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:47:00 +0000

By Susan Duclos

When Democratic Senator Max Baucus said he believes there is "a lot more" that is going to be revealed in the next weeks, regarding the IRS scandal, it seems his hunch was correct.

Morning headlines show:

• Obama met with the anti-Tea Party IRS union chief the day before agency targeted Tea Party

• The White House's chief lawyer learned weeks ago that an audit of the Internal Revenue Service likely would show that agency employees inappropriately targeted conservative groups

• The IRS actively protected a liberal group, the Humane Society from being investigated

• Washington Post's The Fact Checker has given the woman at the center of the IRS scandal a "bushel of Pinocchios."

The American Spectaor and the smoking gun:

“For me, it’s about collaboration.” — National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley on the relationship between the anti-Tea Party IRS union and the Obama White House

Is President Obama directly implicated in the IRS scandal?

Is the White House Visitors Log the trail to the smoking gun?

The stunning questions are raised by the following set of new facts.

March 31, 2010.

According to the White House Visitors Log, provided here in searchable form by U.S. News and World Report, the president of the anti-Tea Party National Treasury Employees Union, Colleen Kelley, visited the White House at 12:30pm that Wednesday noon time of March 31st.
The White House lists the IRS union leader’s visit this way:

Kelley, Colleen Potus 03/31/2010 12:30
In White House language, “POTUS” stands for “President of the United States.”
The very next day after her White House meeting with the President, according to the Treasury Department’s Inspector General’s Report, IRS employees — the same employees who belong to the NTEU — set to work in earnest targeting the Tea Party and conservative groups around America. The IG report wrote it up this way:

April 1-2, 2010: The new Acting Manager, Technical Unit, suggested the need for a Sensitive Case Report on the Tea Party cases. The Determinations Unit Program Manager Agreed.
In short: the very day after the president of the quite publicly anti-Tea Party labor union — the union for IRS employees — met with President Obama, the manager of the IRS “Determinations Unit Program agreed” to open a “Sensitive Case report on the Tea party cases.” As stated by the IG report.

The NTEU is the 150,000 member union that represents IRS employees along with 30 other separate government agencies. Kelley herself is a 14-year IRS veteran agent. The union’s PAC endorsed President Obama in both 2008 and 2012, and gave hundreds of thousands of dollars in the 2010 and 2012 election cycles to anti-Tea Party candidates.

Read the Spectator's multi-page detailed report.

The Wall Street Journal "Obama's Counsel Was Told of IRS Audit Findings Weeks Ago":

In the week of April 22, the Office of the White House Counsel and its head, Kathryn Ruemmler, were told by Treasury Department attorneys that an inspector general's report was nearing completion, the White House official said. In that conversation, Ms. Ruemmler learned that "a small number of line IRS employees had improperly scrutinized certain…organizations by using words like 'tea party' and 'patriot,' " the official said.

President Barack Obama said last week he learned about the controversy at the same time as the public, on May 10, when an IRS official revealed it to a conference of lawyers. The president's statement drew criticism, focusing attention on his management style and whether he has kept himself sufficiently informed about the agencies under his authority.

The Washington Post's The Fact Checker provides multiple examples of key statements made by Lois G. Lerner, the IRS’s director of the exempt organizations division, being outright lies and gives her "A bushel of Pinocchios."

In some ways, this is just scratching the surface of Lerner’s misstatements and weasely wording when the revelations about the IRS’s activities first came to light on May 10. But, taken together, it’s certainly enough to earn her four Pinocchios.

Then, via video which will be show below, it is reported that Lois Lerner, is an active member of the Humane Society, and prevented a 2010 investigation from being conducted into their political activities.

Meaning, the IRS did not just target conservatives but protected liberal groups, specifically a liberal group Lerner was closely associated with.

Tell me again why Lerner is still employed and being paid by taxpayers?

Full Wake up America coverage on the IRS scandal can be found here.

The Battle Of Athens

noreply@blogger.com (Findalis) — Mon, 20 May 2013 13:56:00 +0000

By Findalis
Monkey in the Middle

Or How Common Citizens Removed A Corrupt Government From Their County.

The Battle of Athens (sometimes called the McMinn County War) was a rebellion led by citizens in Athens and Etowah, Tennessee, United States, against the local government in August 1946. The citizens, including some World War II veterans, accused the local officials of political corruption and voter intimidation.

Here is what happened:

Following World War II in 1946, violence erupted when returning American soldiers discovered their Tennessee county had been taken over by political corruption. Their plan to take it back involved bullets—lots of bullets—and dynamite.

Why Athens in McMinn County, Tennessee became a battleground was due to Paul Cantrell, a Democrat running for sheriff in the 1936 election. He won over his Republican opponent, although the victory was tainted by rumors of fraud. Cantrell was a corrupt sheriff—for example, since state law allowed his office to collect fees for each person booked, jailed, and released, deputies boarded buses passing through the city and arrested passengers on bogus charges of drunkenness, forcing them to pay fines. Prostitution, gambling, and kickbacks from illegal drinking establishments were commonplace.

The tide began to turn in 1945 when GIs returning to Athens were subjected to arrest on the flimsiest excuses and heavily fined. When the fed up soldiers attempted to support their choice for sheriff against Pat Mansfield (by then, Cantrell had been elected to the state Senate and backed Mansfield’s bid), matters boiled over into direct conflict on Election Day 1946.

Mansfield hired several hundred armed “deputies” to patrol the voting precincts in Athens—and no doubt to assist in the typical ballot stuffing and voter intimidation. The volatile situation escalated when Walter Ellis, an ex-GI and volunteer poll watcher, was arrested by Mansfield’s deputies and held without charge. A black resident, Tom Gillespie, was refused the right to vote, beaten, and shot. More GIs were arrested and threatened with violence. By the end of the day, the former soldiers had enough.

They broke into the town armory for weapons and besieged the jail, where Mansfield and his deputies had taken the ballet boxes. Battle continued sporadically throughout the night, resulting in wounded on both sides. When the GIs ran out of bullets around dawn, they began throwing dynamite. The deputies inside the jail surrendered.

The highly publicized Battle of Athens not only ousted corruption from one county in Tennessee, the lesson learned would ultimately lead to great reforms in Southern politics.

**************************************************************************

This is a part of American history that all elected official should learn and remember. When the government forgets whom they serve and dictates to the American People what to think, do, say, read, and how to vote, it is incumbent upon the citizens of that town, city, county, state or nation to rise up and remove (By force if necessary.) the dictator.

What happened in Athens, Tennessee was the most extreme example of citizen action. The last resort of a desperate people.

In such desperation the American people will do anything to return their rights to them. Something every politician in this nation should remember.

Gang Of Eight's Amnesty Bill Opposed By Two Immigration Enforcement Unions

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Duclos) — Mon, 20 May 2013 13:43:00 +0000

By Susan Duclos

Two unions, representing 20,000 Department of Homeland Security immigration enforcement employees, are opposed to the immigration bill proposed by the so-called "gang of 8," which critics have labeled an amnesty bill.

On April 23, 2013, I wrote about the President of the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council Chris Crane testifying before Congress Monday, harshly criticizing the process the so-called "Gang of 8" used in writing their immigration bill, including special interest groups in favor of amnesty for illegal aliens and "purposely excluding" law enforcement officers.

(The video of his testimony is embedded in the link above.)

Crane told the Judiciary Committee:

Lawmaking in our nation has indeed taken a strange twist. Senators invite illegal aliens to testify before Congress…but American citizens working as law enforcement officers within our nation’s broken immigration system are purposely excluded from the process and prohibited from providing input.

Suffice it to say, following the Boston terrorist attack, I was appalled to hear the Gang of Eight telling America that its legislation was what American law enforcement needs.

Today the National Citizenship and Immigration Services Council officially joins with the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council in opposing the Senate's version of immigration reform.

According to Kenneth Palinkas, president of the National Citizenship and Immigration Services Council, the bill would create an "insurmountable bureaucracy" within the NCISC, and argues that the proposed legislation would interfere with the jobs of officers who were already “"pressured to rubber stamp applications instead of conducting diligent case review and investigation."

The press release states, "Yet, like the ICE Council,the USC IS Council was not consulted in the crafting of the Gang of Eight's legislation. Instead, the legislation was written with special interests-producing a bill that makes the current system worse, not better. S. 744 will damage public safety and national security and should be opposed by lawmaker."

The full press release will be embedded below the post.

One has to wonder who the "gang of 8" did consult, if not the organizations and law enforcement officers on the front line.

The men and women responsible for upholding the law are the very people deliberately excluded by the politicians who sit behind their desks and decide what those law enforcement officials need, yet do not consult them about their true needs.

There is something very wrong with this picture.

National Citizenship and Immigration Services Council letter by Susan Duclos

Video- CBS’s Bob Schieffer: Obama Quick To Take Credit But Sends Talking Heads Out To Avoid Blame

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Duclos) — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:09:00 +0000

By Susan Duclos

NewsBusters highlights CBS’s Bob Schieffer making excellent points to Obama talking head, WH senior advisor Dan Pfeiffer, who made the rounds on Sunday talk shows to attempt to mitigate the damage of the recent scandals rocking the White House.

Schieffer takes Pfeiffer to the woodshed, so to speak, as well as pointing out that Obama is quick to take credit when things go well and just as quick to send out talking heads who "who don't even seem to know what has happened," in order to avoid blame when things don't go well.

[WATCH]

Transcript via NewsBusters:

DAN PFEIFFER, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE ADVISOR: The point that our Chief of Staff is making is that this is the Republican playbook here which is try, when they don't have a positive agenda, try to drag Washington into a swamp of partisan fishing expeditions, trumped up hearings and false allegations. We're not going to let that distract us and the President from actually doing the people's work and fighting for the middle class.

BOB SCHIEFFER, HOST: You know, I don’t want to compare this in any way to Watergate. I do not think this is Watergate by any stretch. But you weren't born then I would guess, but I have to tell you that is exactly the approach that the Nixon administration took. They said, “These are all second-rate things. We don't have time for this. We have to devote our time to the people's business.” You’re taking exactly the same line they did.
After Pfeiffer continued with evasive talking points, Schieffer again scolded:

SCHIEFFER: But Mr. Pfeiffer, and I don't mean to be argumentative here, but the President is in charge of the executive branch of the government. It’s my, I'll just make this as an assertion: when the executive branch does things right, there doesn't seem to be any hesitancy of the White House to take credit for that. When Osama bin Laden was killed, the President didn't waste any time getting out there and telling people about it.

But with all of these things, when these things happen, you seem to send out officials many times who don't even seem to know what has happened. And I use as an example of that Susan Rice who had no connection whatsoever to the events that took place in Benghazi, and yet she was sent out, appeared on this broadcast, and other Sunday broadcasts, five days after it happens, and I'm not here to get in an argument with you about who changed which word in the talking points and all that. The bottom line is what she told the American people that day bore no resemblance to what had happened on the ground in an incident where four Americans were killed.

Pfeiffer once again stuck with the Administration line leading Schieffer to further push back:

But what I'm saying to you is that was just PR. That was just a PR plan to send out somebody who didn't know anything about what had happened. Why did you do that? Why didn't the Secretary of State come and tell us what they knew and if he knew nothing say, “We don't know yet?” Why didn't the White House Chief of Staff come out? I mean I would, and I mean this as no disrespect to you, why are you here today? Why isn't the White House Chief of Staff here to tell us what happened?

Schieffer is the latest in media personalities to remember that journalists are not there to repeat White House talking points, but to challenge false narratives and hold the White House accountable.

Related:

Video- White House Senior Adviser Dan Pfeiffer On IRS Scandal: 'The Law Is Irrelevant'

Democratic Senator Baucus: A Lot More Coming Out In IRS Scandal Soon

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Duclos) — Mon, 20 May 2013 01:07:00 +0000

By Susan Duclos

Democratic Senator Max Baucus states that he believes there is "a lot more" that is going to be revealed in the next weeks, regarding the scandal of the IRS targeting conservatives and religious groups.

[WATCH]

Full Wake up America coverage on the IRS scandal can be found here.

Ignorance Is Bliss / Death And Dumb

noreply@blogger.com (J.D. Nail) — Sun, 19 May 2013 23:22:00 +0000

By Skeez

Hello readers. It's been awhile since I was here, but I have been reading and sharing WUA. A lot has happened since my last post, and not much of it good. I've lost some of my "snarkiness" mainly due to personal issues. But that is personal...

I came back to put forth my opinion on the reasons behind what I feel will be the end of our Norman Rockwell life that I so loved. I have watched many get so involved with the fastness of life nowadays, that they have become indifferent to the future of the United States. It has been put forth that the life span of free thinking world powers is about 200 years. That is a sad thought, but just look around. We have major corruption in our government, reaching into the highest levels. And the majority do not know about it. (Personally I feel if they did, we wouldn't be here, we would be blogging about gardens and such.) I'm not that great at writing, but every now and then, I find an article that says what I want to. This is the one..

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/05/will_the_scandals_hurt_obama_and_the_democrats.html

Ed Lasky took the words out of my head and copied them here. The best, and scariest line of the article is the last.
"And the rest of us will be paying the price for many years to come."... or maybe forever.
(last 3 words added by me.)

Obama is not the Devil, but merely a pawn in the game of chess that has been going on for years. Playing on the ignorance of the masses is not a new concept. I seems that ignorance is bliss. Keep them alive with a minimal amount of effort, offer them any comforts at all without giving them the true ramifications, (Obamcare) and hope. Always give them hope, even till the end. That word got Obama elected, and even today, as the house burns down around them, American Idol is more important than four Americans killed at the hand that feeds them. Because they didn't know.

We know, but we are the choir so often preached to. We see, we read, we know and preach the truth to each other, and few that so desperately need this information, will ever get to see it. Therefore, the change so much talked up in 2008, was merely business as usual. The sign at the edge of the cliff still reads "Hope".

In Liberty,
Skeez

Magpul Gun Manufacturer Joins 54 Colorado Sheriffs Suing State Over Gun Control Bills

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Duclos) — Sun, 19 May 2013 16:59:00 +0000

By Susan Duclos

Gun manufacturer Magpul Industries, has joined with 54 Colorado sheriffs in a lawsuit filed against the state’s recently signed gun-control bills.

Win or lose, Magul is still continuing with their relocation out of the state, bringing their 200 direct jobs, 400 supply-chain jobs and the $85 million annually, to another state's economy.

Via Washington Times:

“Just to clarify, we are still moving, regardless of the outcome of this legal action,” said a Friday post on the company’s Facebook page. “That train has left the station, and we are well into the selection and negotiation process as well as arranging many elements to be prepared to launch and already moving some production out of state.”

The lawsuit challenges two bills signed in March by Gov. John Hickenlooper: House Bill 1224, which restricts ammunition-magazine capacity to 15 rounds or fewer, and House Bill 1229, which requires background checks on all gun sales and transfers, including temporary transfers.

“This isn’t good public policy. These are really awful bills,” said Weld County Sheriff John Cooke at a Friday press conference. “They are unenforceable and encourage disrespect for the law, which puts both law enforcement and the public in greater danger.”

The Democratic state legislature approved the bills, along with a third bill requiring gun owners to pay for their own background checks, with no Republican votes. Democratic state Sen. Mary Hodge issued a statement Friday accusing the sheriffs of “playing politics.”

“We can’t just sit by and do nothing while first-graders and moviegoers are being mowed down in one fell swoop with weapons equipped with large-capacity magazines,” said Ms. Hodge. “It’s time to stop playing politics and start protecting Coloradans from massacres and unnecessary gun violence.”

Mr. Cooke denied the charge. “We’re not the ones playing politics with this,” said Cooke. “We believe the [legislators] are the ones playing politics. We’re standing up for our constituents and the Constitution,” he said.

It is noteworthy that Colorado politicians accuse law enforcement of "playing politics", when the politicians are the ones ignoring the experts, being the law enforcement officials, that maintain the law, deal with the criminals and would know more about what would and would not work in reducing violence.

The politicians are pushing an ideological anti-gun, anti-Second Amendment, gun control agenda while the sheriffs are standing up for their constituents and committed to upholding their oath of office to defend the Constitution.

Politicians play politics, law enforcement are the ones that risk their lives every single day to keep their residents safe.

Video- White House Senior Adviser Dan Pfeiffer On IRS Scandal: 'The Law Is Irrelevant'

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Duclos) — Sun, 19 May 2013 16:20:00 +0000

By Susan Duclos

White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer made the rounds on Sunday talk shows and tells ABC’s “This Week," that Obama will act on the IRS scandal even before receiving a legal determination from the Justice Department.

"I can’t speak to the law here. The law is irrelevant,” said Pfeiffer on ABC’s “This Week.” “The activity was outrageous and inexcusable, and it was stopped and it needs to be fixed so we ensure it never happens again.”

Video below: (H/T TWS)

There are a couple of points here about the statement "The law is irrelevant," because it is something that we have seen throughout the Obama administration time after time.

Just a few examples listed below.

When the Fast and Furious scandal broke and Congress demanded answers from the Justice Department, Barack Obama decided to use "executive privilege" powers to prevent Congress from obtaining the investigative documents they were demanding, via a letter sent to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

"As I noted at the outset, the President, in light of the Committee's decision to hold the contempt vote, has exerted the executive privilege over the relevant post-February 4 documents."

When the Senate held pro-forma sessions to prevent Barack Obama from making recess appointments, something Harry Reid did during Bush's presidency in 2007, Obama arbitrarily decided he didn't have to obey the law and made recess appointments anyway, despite the fact that the Senate was officially not in recess.

Two appeals court have ruled those appointments illegal and unconstitutional and decisions made by those appointees, invalid.

There are more examples but the gist of it is that to Barack Obama the law has always been "irrelevant" when it gets in the way of his agenda.

Then we have Pfeiffer's assertion that the Obama administration is going to "ensure it never happens again."

From Saturday's post, the timeline, here are the "acts" Obama has taken:

• The first resignation supposedly insisted on by the Obama administration, in response to this scandal, was the acting commissioner of the IRS, Steve Miller, but by the next day ABC News reported that according to the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, his 210-day term would have set his last day in that post as June 8, 2013, anyway.

• The second resignation "demanded" was from Joseph Grant, commissioner of the agency's tax exempt and government entities division, but Grant was only appointed to that position on May 8, 2013 and was not running that division at the time of the targeting from 2010 to 2012.

• The woman running the agency's tax exempt and government entities division from 2009 to 2012, when the targeting was happening, was Sarah Hall Ingram, and ABC News reports she is now the director of the IRS’ Affordable Care Act office.

This makes every "action" taken by the Obama administration in response to the IRS targeting of conservatives, nothing but a farce and political theater to convince the American people that the administration is doing something about it.

Both Lois Lerner and Sarah Hall Ingram are still working for the administration being paid by the very people they have lied to, lied about and targeted.

Not only has Obama shown no respect for the law on multiple occasions, but his responses to the illegal abuses against his political enemies by the IRS, has been nothing but a fictional show.

To Barack Obama "The law is irrelevant."

Full Wake up America coverage on the IRS scandal can be found here.

Dr Like Kermit Gosnell:New Stunning Photos, Testimony Show Texas Abortionist Kills Babies Born Alive

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Duclos) — Sat, 18 May 2013 22:19:00 +0000

By Susan Duclos

With the conviction of Kermit Gosnell for murdering babies born alive after botched abortions, the spotlight turns to other abortionists performing late-term abortions and accused by former workers of killing babies after they are born alive.

Operation Rescue and Life Dynamics have released videos, witness accounts and photos, of Texas abortionist Douglas Karpen, showing practices similar and as gruesome as those Gosnell was convicted of.

The informants also say they witnessed Karpen routinely kill babies after they were born by puncturing the soft spot or impaling the stomach with a sharp instrument, twisting the head off, or puncturing the throat with his finger.

H/T Jill Stanek

Video below - Abortion Clinic Employees -- "Babies born alive daily."

[WATCH]

WARNING- GRAPHIC PHOTOS below:

Photos of Babies 1 ; 2 by cherylsullenger

Follow up with Deborah Edge- " I worked at an abortion clinic like Dr. Gosnell's 'house of horrors'

Timeline- IRS Official Lois Lerner Arranged The Planted Question That Set Off Whole IRS Scandal

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Duclos) — Sat, 18 May 2013 17:11:00 +0000

By Susan Duclos

On May 10, 2013, Lois G. Lerner, the IRS official who oversees tax-exempt groups, apologized for inappropriately targeting conservative groups with “tea party” or “patriot” in their names, validating claims by conservatives, dating back to 2010, yet the IRS had denied doing so. They had also denied the targeting to Congress, when asked about it.

Washington Post reported Lerner's apology:

It was not clear whether the IRS had anticipated the firestorm that it would ignite with its disclosure. Indeed, it appeared to have happened by chance when Lerner, appearing Friday at a conference held by the American Bar Association, responded to a question about the allegations by conservative groups.

In the last eight days since that apology was publicly made, information has been coming out so fast, each piece so explosive, that keeping up in just trying to report it all has become a challenge.

One week after the Washington Post wrote that the firestorm "appeared to have happened by chance when Lerner, appearing Friday at a conference held by the American Bar Association," and responded to a question, it is reported, then confirmed, that "chance" wasn't involved at all, Lerner had the question planted in the audience to attempt to manage the timing of the revelation.

“On May 9, I received a call from Lois Lerner, who told me that she wanted to address an issue after her prepared remarks at the ABA Tax Section’s Exempt Organizations Committee Meeting, and asked if I would pose a question to her after her remarks," Roady said in the statement, obtained by TPM. "I agreed to do so, and she then gave me the question that I asked at the meeting the next day. We had no discussion thereafter on the topic of the question, nor had we spoken about any of this before I received her call. She did not tell me, and I did not know, how she would answer the question.”

Speaking of timing the release, it was also revealed yesterday by NBC's Lisa Myers, then confirmed while Congress was grilling IRS commissioner Steven Miller, that he knew what was going on for at least a year prior.

They withheld the information from Congress, from the American people and made a deliberate choice to come clean, after the 2012 presidential election.

According to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration Report Showing Inappropriate Targeting of Conservatives, said targeting of conservatives had been part of the process since 2010.

Not only did the IRS deliberately hide what they were systematically doing, but they also took deliberate action to cover it up when they responded to a Freedom of Information Act request (FOIA) in 2010 through investigative journalist Lynn K. Walsh seeking all IRS documents related to the agencies tax-exempt division specifically mentioning the Tea Party.

In January 2011, Marie A. Twarog, Disclosure Manager, Headquarters (HQ) Disclosure Ofiice, sent a response which read "I found no documents specifically responsive to your request."

Letter embedded below:

IRS Response Letter Jan 2011 by Susan Duclos

As Washington Free Beacon points out, the IG report, linked above, found that the “first Sensitive Case Report [identifying Tea Party groups] was prepared by the Technical Unit” in April of 2010.

As I myself pointed out on May 11, 2013, and others are also pointing out, it was not just Tea Party and Patriot groups that were targeted. Romney donors who were publicly listed on Barack Obama's website and pro-Israel groups, were also being targeted. Pro-Life organizations were also being targeted, subsequent reports show.

Other information that has come out since that May 10, 2013, answer to a planted question, includes but is not limited to;

• The White House counsel was reportedly informed back in April, yet Barack Obama claimed he "first learned about it from the same news reports that I think most people learned about this. I think it was on Friday [May 10].

• The IRS was not the Obama administration agency showing systematic bias against conservatives, the EPA was making decisions on whether to waive FOIA fees based on a groups politics, with groups matching Obama's politics having their fees waived and groups with opposing views being charged those fees.

• Despite claims that the targeting of conservatives was blamed on “front-line people” working in Cincinnati, Washington Post reported on May 13, 2013, that "Internal Revenue Service officials in Washington and at least two other offices were involved with investigating conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, making clear that the effort reached well beyond the branch in Cincinnati that was initially blamed."

• The IRS also tried to claim, and still insists, that the whole situation was caused by two "rogue" workers in the Cincinnati who were "off the reservation," but reports show that at least four have been identified and according to sources, these four IRS workers claim "they simply did what their bosses ordered." [Update] Washington Post confirms- "Everything comes from the top. We don’t have any authority to make those decisions without someone signing off on them. There has to be a directive." [End Update]

• The initial IRS claims that the targeting occurred because of a "surge" in applications after the Supreme Court's Citizen United decision, has also been shown as a direct lie, since applications actually decreased at that time.

• Liberal billionaire George Soros has reportedly given $6.1 million to groups and organizations that pressured IRS to target conservatives non-profits.

• The first resignation supposedly insisted on by the Obama administration, in response to this scandal, was the acting commissioner of the IRS, Steve Miller, but by the next day ABC News reported that according to the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, his 210-day term would have set his last day in that post as June 8, 2013, anyway.

• The second resignation "demanded" was from Joseph Grant, commissioner of the agency's tax exempt and government entities division, but Grant was only appointed to that position on May 8, 2013 and was not running that division at the time of the targeting from 2010 to 2012.

• The woman running the agency's tax exempt and government entities division from 2009 to 2012, when the targeting was happening, was Sarah Hall Ingram, and ABC News reports she is now the director of the IRS’ Affordable Care Act office.

This makes every "action" taken by the Obama administration in response to the IRS targeting of conservatives, nothing but a farce and political theater to convince the American people that the administration is doing something about it.

Both Lois Lerner and Sarah Hall Ingram are still working for the administration being paid by the very people they have lied to, lied about and targeted.

Full Wake up America coverage on the IRS scandal can be found here.

Audio- Criminal Butt-Dials 911 While Committing A Crime

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Duclos) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:35:00 +0000

By Susan Duclos

An amusing tale to end the day as reports and audio of an accidental butt-dialing call to 911, which allowed the 911 operator to record the men on the other end, committing a crime.

[WATCH]

'Rogue' IRS Worker Claims 'they simply did what their bosses ordered'

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Duclos) — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:00:00 +0000

By Susan Duclos

Some of the IRS workers being accused of targeting conservatives are being referred to as "rogue," and "off the reservation," but according to a Fox19 report from two days ago, those workers "simply did what their bosses ordered."

Prior to his resignation, Steven Miller called the two Cincinnati employees 'rogue' and 'off the reservation,' adding that they were 'overly aggressive' in handling the requests from those conservative groups over the past two years.

Miller also added that those two employees have already been 'disciplined' by the agency.
However, despite the claim of just two employees being involved, FOX19 has exclusively learned from two separate sources that there could be at least four Cincinnati employees involved.

Those four employees, whose names we have chosen to withhold until they have been officially confirmed, have each worked in the IRS Exempt Organizations Department.

According to the report: One of FOX19's two sources went on say that these four IRS workers claim "they simply did what their bosses ordered." FOX19 reported on Tuesday that the report by the Office of Inspector General states that senior IRS officials knew agents were targeting Tea Party groups as early as 2011.

Sounds as if these workers are being tossed under the bus but were not "rogue" at all, nor "off the reservation," but instead the targeting was systematic and the orders to do so, came straight from the top.

Related

Video- IRS Commissioner Steve Miller: 'Absolutely Not Illegal' for IRS to Target Americans

Video- IRS Deliberately Hid Scandal Until After 2012 Presidential Election; UPDATE- Confirmed

Obama's Actions Against IRS Officials For Targeting Conservatives, All A Farce

IRS Official in Charge During Tea Party Targeting Now Runs Obamacare Office

Full Wake up America coverage on the IRS scandal can be found here.

Video- Rep. Mike Kelly Receives Standing Ovation at Ways & Means Hearing on IRS Scandal

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Duclos) — Fri, 17 May 2013 18:46:00 +0000

By Susan Duclos

The video below concludes with Rep. Mike Kelly receiving a standing ovation at the Ways & Means hearing on IRS scandal after five minutes of hard hitting questions and points made about the illegal targeting of conservatives by the IRS.

[WATCH]

Kelly deserved every second of those applause for adequately communicating the outrage.

Related

Video- IRS Commissioner Steve Miller: 'Absolutely Not Illegal' for IRS to Target Americans

Video- IRS Deliberately Hid Scandal Until After 2012 Presidential Election; UPDATE- Confirmed

Obama's Actions Against IRS Officials For Targeting Conservatives, All A Farce

IRS Official in Charge During Tea Party Targeting Now Runs Obamacare Office

Full Wake up America coverage on the IRS scandal can be found here.

Benghazi- Obama Administration Official 'It's actually closer to us being idiots.'

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Duclos) — Fri, 17 May 2013 18:27:00 +0000

By Susan Duclos

CBS News reports that Obama administration officials admit to "incompetence rather than malice or cover up," in regards to the Benghazi response but the quote of the day is the next tidbit from CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson:

"We're portrayed by Republicans as either being lying or idiots," said one Obama administration official who was part of the Benghazi response. "It's actually closer to us being idiots."

That about sums it up.

Read the entire two-page CBS News report.

Related

Full Wake up America coverage on the 9/11/12 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya and the subsequent cover-up by the Obama administration can be found here.

Video- IRS Commissioner Steve Miller: 'Absolutely Not Illegal' for IRS to Target Americans

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Duclos) — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:39:00 +0000

By Susan Duclos

At the House Committee on Ways and Means hearing today, in regards to the IRS targeting conservative groups, the IRS Commissioner Steve Miller, states that he believes it is "absolutely not illegal" for the IRS to target specific groups of Americans.

When Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), clarifies the question for Miller, specifically asking if it was "illegal for employees of the IRS to create lists to target individual citizens and groups in this country," Miller states he believes the "Treasury Inspector General indicated that it might not be."

The Treasury Inspector General was responsible for the internal investigation into the targeting of conservatives by the IRS and was the person to determine that "ineffective management" was responsible for targeting of Tea Party groups and other conservatives.

(Read- Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration Report Showing Inappropriate Targeting of Conservatives)

[WATCH]

H/T Todd Starnes

Related

Video- IRS Deliberately Hid Scandal Until After 2012 Presidential Election; UPDATE- Confirmed

Obama's Actions Against IRS Officials For Targeting Conservatives, All A Farce

Full Wake up America coverage on the IRS scandal can be found here.

Video- IRS Deliberately Hid Scandal Until After 2012 Presidential Election; UPDATE- Confirmed

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Duclos) — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:01:00 +0000

By Susan Duclos

[Update] Confirmed by IRS commissioner Steven Miller as he admits to Congress that the the IRS planned when it would reveal that it wrongly targeted conservative groups. (H/T TWS)

[WATCH]

Original post below

NBC's Lisa Myers reports the IRS deliberately hid the scandal rocking Washington this week, where the agency was deliberately targeting conservative groups, until after the 2012 presidential election.

[WATCH]

Via TWS:

The IRS commissioner "has known for at least a year that this was going on," said Myers, "and that this had happened. And did he share any of that information with the White House? But even more importantly, Congress is going to ask him, why did you mislead us for an entire year? Members of Congress were saying conservatives are being targeted. What's going on here? The IRS denied it. Then when -- after these officials are briefed by the IG that this is going on, they don't disclose it. In fact, the commissioner sent a letter to Congress in September on this subject and did not reveal this. Imagine if we -- if you can -- what would have happened if this fact came out in September 2012, in the middle of a presidential election? The terrain would have looked very different."

Related

Obama's Actions Against IRS Officials For Targeting Conservatives, All A Farce

Full Wake up America coverage on the IRS scandal can be found here.

More headlines on the Congressional hearing into the IRS targeting

House panel opens hearing on IRS targeting of conservative groups

IRS: 'We Provided Horrible Customer Service'

Republicans blast IRS for keeping scandal quiet, seek names of those responsible