Cincinnati IRS Office: The Tea Party Directive Came ‘from the Top’

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The fog of scandal hangs over a boxy, modernist, 10-story building that looks like a monument to paperwork. Shrubs and chain smokers flank its front entrance here on Main Street, in the heart of downtown. Every day, 2,000 employees go to work at various federal agencies in this John F. Kennedy-era structure, whose chief tenant is the Internal Revenue Service — which is having just about the worst week an agency can have…

People in this Cincinnati unit have been accused of using “inappropriate” and “politically sensitive” criteria to scrutinize conservative groups that applied for tax-exempt status.

As could be expected, the folks in the determinations unit on Main Street have had trouble concentrating this week. Number crunchers, whose work is nonpolitical, don’t necessarily enjoy the spotlight, especially when the media and the public assume they’re engaged in partisan villainy.

“We’re not political,’’ said one determinations staffer in khakis as he left work late Tuesday afternoon. “We people on the local level are doing what we are supposed to do. . . . That’s why there are so many people here who are flustered. 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.”

The staff member, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of losing his job, said that the determinations unit is competent and without bias…

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Admin. Apparently has Another National Security Leak

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Photo Credit: Channel 2 NewsThe Justice Department’s seizure of Associated Press reporters’ phone records was reportedly one element of a “sweeping” federal investigation to find out who leaked classified information about a failed Al-Qaeda plot to bomb an American airliner.

Now, the Obama administration has reportedly apologized to Israel for another leak of classified information to the media, one that occurred earlier this month and which Israeli officials are concerned could place Israeli lives at risk.

Israel Radio’s diplomatic correspondent Chico Menashe reported Sunday morning (via the Jerusalem Post):

American officials apologized to their Israeli counterparts for confirming that Israel was behind the airstrikes on the Damascus airport earlier this month, Israel Radio reported on Sunday.

The confirmation reportedly came from the lower ranks at the Pentagon, and the reasons for the leak are being investigated.

Read more from this story HERE.

D.C. Man Won’t Face Gun Charges for Shooting Pit Bull Attacking Boy

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Photo Credit: washington timesAuthorities last week made an agreement not to prosecute a Northwest D.C. man who used his unregistered handgun to kill a pit bull in order to stop it from mauling a child in his neighborhood.

As part of the agreement, Benjamin Srigley, 39, was required to pay a $1,000 fine but will not have criminal charges filed against him for the three unregistered firearms and the ammunition that investigators found in his possession, said Ted Gest, a spokesman for the office of the attorney general.

“We took it into account that he saved this boy’s life,” Mr. Gest said.

Possession of an unregistered firearm or ammunition in the District is punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine, and prosecutors said Mr. Srigley could have faced up to seven criminal charges in the case.

“In our recent memory this is a unique charge because of the unusual circumstances of this case,” said Mr. Gest, whose office generally prosecutes low-level crime in the District.

Read more from this story HERE.

True the Vote Founder Hounded by Obama’s IRS, OSHA and ATF (+video)

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Photo Credit: YouTubeCatherine Engelbrecht of True the Vote has been harassed by seventeen separate visits from federal agencies since her efforts to start a national vote integrity organization, based in Texas.

She told Governor Huckabee this weekend that the the federal persecution included not just information requests from the IRS but also visits from OSHA, the FBI, and the ATF.

The IRS wanted to see very Facebook post, every tweet, and every place she’d spoken.

The FBI wanted to know the identity of those who were coming to the True the Vote meetings.

Even more outrageous, the ATF actually inspected her gun safe:

Michelle Obama Expands Anti-Obesity Campaign to Museums

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Photo Credit: CNSNews.com/Penny StarrBy Elizabeth Harrington. First Lady Michelle Obama has expanded her anti-obesity campaign to museums, enlisting them to offer “healthy food options,” and change their menus.

Mrs. Obama’s “Let’s Move!” initiative is now calling for museums, zoos, gardens, science and technology centers to “join the call to action,” to decrease obesity among children.

The first lady is recruiting these institutions to join the “Let’s Move! Museums and Gardens” project because of their power to “influence real and sustained behavior change” on the eating habits of kids.

“With their impressive reach and great potential for impact, museums and gardens can launch community efforts to create a healthier generation using interactive exhibits, outdoor spaces, gardens and programs that encourage families to eat healthy foods and increase physical activity,” the program said. Read more from this story HERE.

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HHS:’Telework’ Gives Gov’t Employees More Time for ‘Planning and Preparing Healthy Meals’

By Terence P. Jeffrey. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says it wants as many as 20 percent of its workers to “telework,” use an “alternative work schedule,” or do both, in order to “reduce green house gas emissions,” decrease “employee stress,” and give these government workers more time for “planning and preparing healthy meals.”

So says one of the HHS “performance measures” detailed in an appendix to the department’s latest strategic plan.

HHS’s performance measure “4.D.05” says: “Increase the percent employees on telework or on Alternative Work Schedule.”

Telework means working from home via phone and computer. An “alternative work schedule,” according to the federal Office of Personnel Management means having “flexible work schedules and compressed work schedules.” A compressed work schedule means putting the 80 hours of work required in a two-week government pay period into less than 10 work days. Read more from this story HERE.

We Must “Politicize the Hell” out of Benghazi, Obamacare Shakedowns, AP Records Grab and IRS Abuses

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Photo Credit: TownHallBy Kurt Schlichter. Some establishment types are shaking their heads as they warn conservatives that we must not politicize the Administration’s Benghazi bungling, its Obamacare shakedowns, its AP records grab or its IRS abuses.

Like hell we mustn’t. We must. Big time.

The last couple weeks’ revelations of fresh and compelling examples of the kind of duplicity and petty tyranny we conservatives have been screaming about for five years have presented us with what military folks call a “seam.” A “seam” is the border where two different units meet, and it is generally the kind of weak point you want to drive your forces into in order to split your opponent’s front and rout him. These latest scandals have revealed a seam between two elements of the liberal coalition, the liberals who actually believe some of what they say and the cynical leftists who merely crave power.

Let’s split that seam.

But to do so, conservatives must ignore the voices of the fussy and the fainthearted and ruthlessly exploit it. We can and should – and must – politicize the hell out of these shameful imbroglios. Read more from this story HERE.

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AP president rips ‘unconstitutional’ Obama administration investigation

By Jeff Poor. On this weekend’s broadcast of CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Associated Press President and CEO Gary Pruitt ripped the Obama’s administration’s Justice Department for the tactics it used in its investigation into leaks about a foiled terror plot in Yemen and the use of the Stuxnet virus against Iran’s nuclear program.

According to Pruitt, the government investigation overstepped by casting such a broad net under a veil of secrecy.

“Under their own rules, they are required to narrow this request as narrowly as possible so as to not tread upon the First Amendment,” Pruitt said. “And yet they had a broad, sweeping collection, and they did it secretly. Their rules require them to come to us first, but in this case they didn’t, claiming an exception, saying that if they had it would have posed a substantial threat to their investigation. But they have not explained why it would and we can’t understand why it would.” Read more from this story HERE.

DOJ Subpoenas are ‘Unconstitutional,’ Hurt Press, AP President Says

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Photo Credit: APAssociated Press President Gary Pruitt said Sunday the Justice Department sent a strong – and negative — message to future sources that the government would go after them if they spoke to the press. It’s a move Pruitt called not only unconstitutional, but damaging to the ideal of a free press in the country.

“It will hurt,” he said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “We’re already seeing some impact. Officials are saying they’re reluctant to talk.”

The Justice Department sought phone records for a two-month period from more than 20 phone lines in four bureaus,including Washington and New York.

Read more from this story HERE.

Romney Hammers Obama on Tonight Show (+video)

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Photo Credit: YouTubeMitt Romney was in good form on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Leno covered the current Obama Administration scandals including the Department of Justice subpoenaing the Associated Press’s phone records. Romney criticized this apparent attack the First Amendment.

Leno and Romney also discuss the “Benghazi Cover-up”.

Romney refused to take the bait as to whether any of these scandals would have made the difference in his campaign.

He did say, however, that he would never “lose another election” because he would never run again:

Benghazi ‘Cover-Up to Protect Hillary’

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Photo Credit: WNDAmbassador Christopher Stevens was in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012, the day he died in a terrorist attack, because Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ordered him there, according to an exclusive statement given to WND by the attorney representing Gregory Hicks, the former State Department deputy chief of mission and chargé d’affairs who was in Libya at the time of the attack.

Victoria Toensing, legal counsel to Hicks, told WND that Hillary Clinton had given Stevens direct instructions to prepare the CIA compound in Benghazi to be upgraded to the status of a U.S. diplomatic mission and Stevens, in complying with Clinton’s wishes, was in Benghazi the first time he had the opportunity to do so, cognizant of the need to visit the site before the end of the fiscal year, on Sept. 30, 2012.

“Stevens was in Benghazi because Clinton told him to go there,” Toensing explained.

Hicks’ attorney also charged the Accountability Review Board, or ARB, headed by Ambassador Thomas Pickering and Admiral Michael Mullen, was a cover-up designed to contain blame for the Benghazi terror attack at a level below Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the State Department.

On page 34 of its unclassified final report, the ARB stated: “The Ambassador chose to travel to Benghazi that week, independent of Washington, as per standard practice.”

Read more from this story HERE.

CBS’ Bob Schieffer Unleashes on White House Official: ‘Why Are You Here Today?’

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Photo Credit: APVeteran CBS newsman Bob Schieffer on Sunday morning unloaded on a top White House official, comparing the Obama administration’s handling of the ongoing Internal Revenue Service scandal to former President Richard Nixon’s initial strategy for dealing with Watergate.

The assertion came after White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer said the president will continue with his objectives and will not become bogged down by the IRS debacle, the Benghazi affair or other missteps.

“I don’t want to compare this in any way to Watergate … but I have to tell you, that is exactly the approach the Nixon administration took. You’re taking exactly the same line,” Mr. Schieffer said.

Read more from this story HERE.