Contempt Warning: Federal Judge Threatens to Hold IRS Chief in Contempt

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A federal judge threatened to hold IRS Commissioner John Koskinen in contempt Wednesday after the IRS failed to produce, as ordered, newly recovered emails of former IRS official Lois Lerner.

U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan had ordered the IRS on July 1 to turn over Lerner emails on a weekly basis in response to a lawsuit by the watchdog group Judicial Watch.

The lawsuit focused on the 2013 scandal in which the IRS acknowledged agents had improperly singled out Tea Party and other conservative groups for extra scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status during the 2010 and 2012 elections.

However at a U.S. District Court hearing in Washington Wednesday, Sullivan threatened to hold officials, including Koskinen, in contempt for not producing the documents as ordered every Monday.

“If there is further noncompliance, I will haul into court the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service to show cause why that person should not be personally held in contempt of court. I can’t make that any clearer,” the judge told Geoffrey Klimas, the Justice Department attorney representing the IRS, according to the minutes published on Judicial Watch’s website. (Read more from “Contempt Warning: Federal Judge Threatens to Hold IRS Chief in Contempt” HERE)

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This University Advises Campus to Avoid Using Word ‘American’

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Campus officials across the nation have labeled the phrase “America is the land of opportunity” offensive, but the madness does not stop there. Even the word “American” is a problem to some campus officials now.

A “Bias-Free Language Guide” posted by the University of New Hampshire declares the word American “problematic.”

“North Americans often use ‘American’ which usually, depending on the context, fails to recognize South America,” the guide states. “American assumes the U.S. is the only country inside these two continents.”

The guide recommends terms such as “U.S. citizen,” “resident of the U.S.” and “North American or South American” as “preferred.”

Many other innocuous words are also listed on the guide as “problematic,” notes Campus Reform, which first reported on the guide. (Read more from “This University Advises Campus to Avoid Using Word ‘American'” HERE)

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Kerry: We Can’t Reveal Contents of Secret Side Deals to American People [+video]

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By Daniel Halper. Secretary of State John Kerry testified on Capitol Hill [yesterday] the U.S. government will not be revealing the contents of secret side deals with Iran to the American people. Senator Tom Cotton wanted to know why it can’t be made public.

Watch the exchange:

“I’d like to stick with you, Secretary Kerry,” Cotton said. “Why can’t we confirm or deny the content of these agreements in public? Why is this classified? It’s not a sensitive U.S. government document.” (Read more from “Kerry: We Can’t Reveal Contents of Secret Side Deals to American People” HERE)

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Congress: Nuke Deal Loopholes Bolster Illicit Iranian-N. Korean Alliance

By Adam Kredo. Iran’s nuclear relationship with North Korea is likely to grow due to a recent nuclear accord, according to experts and members of Congress, who warned in a hearing that loopholes in the deal would facilitate illicit trade between the rogue countries.

Iran and North Korea have long cooperated on the nuclear front, sharing nuclear technology and ballistic missile construction plans. Reports over the years have indicated that Iranian officials were present for missile launchings in North Korea and that officials from both countries remain in close contact.

Other reports have indicated that Iran houses parts of its nuclear infrastructure within North Korea in order to hide progress and perform testing away from Western inspectors.

While the nuclear deal is meant to dampen such ties, lawmakers and experts warned Tuesday that the deal contains a range of loopholes that will help Tehran and Pyongyang race forward with their nuclear cooperation.

The nuclear accord “creates conditions and incentives that are highly likely to result in the expansion of what is already an extensive and profoundly dangerous Iran-North Korea partnership in proliferation,” Claudia Rosett, journalist-in-residence for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), testified before lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. (Read more from “Congress: Nuke Deal Loopholes Bolster Illicit Iranian-N. Korean Alliance” HERE)

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Pastor Shoots Intruder At Texas Church

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KTRK Photo

BAYTOWN, TX (KTRK) – A would-be burglar messed with the wrong church and pastor Tuesday. Baytown police say the man kicked in the door of the Church of New Beginnings early and attempted to rob it.

“We have church break-ins here in the city of Baytown,” said Pat Holmes. “But ours had never been broken into. Unfortunately today was the day.”

Around 6:15, police say a man broke into the Church of New Beginnings on North Alexander. Surveillance video shows the man breaking through the door. Little did he know that Pastor Benny Holmes was sleeping inside, and that he was strapped.

“I just want the public to know that this was a robbery,” Pastor Holmes told Eyewitness News exclusively. “He broke in the door, had laptops in his hand.”

Pastor Holmes said he woke up when he heard someone moving around in the church and grabbed his gun.

“I commanded him to stop twice, and he didn’t. So fearing for my life, I did what I had to do.”

And that was shoot. Baytown Police say Holmes shot the man in the right shoulder. Full story.

Nine More Undercover Videos Ready To Drop On Planned Parenthood

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WASHINGTON — David Daleiden, founder of the Center For Medical Progress (CMP), told conservative talk radio host Sean Hannity Tuesday there are nine more sting-operation videos that reveal Planned Parenthood’s operations.

“We have close to 300 hours total of undercover video that was gathered during a 30 month long in depth investigative journalism study of how Planned Parenthood sells the body parts of the babies they abort,” Daleiden said, noting that each highlight video released will have the full footage posted on their website without any edits.

CMP has already released three videos showing Planned Parenthood officials, personnel, and doctors discussing the harvesting of aborted baby parts. Congress proposed legislation Wednesday to defund Planned Parenthood’s abortion activity and moving the money to community health centers and hospitals instead.

Planned Parenthood has hired a Washington D.C. based crisis management firm to deal with the fallout. Full story.

Former Clinton Staffer Just Came Forward With a BOMBSHELL About Hillary’s Past

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It would seem that, for Hillary and Bill and the Democrats who want another Clinton in the Oval Office, the chickens are coming home to roost…and quite possibly creating a messy panic in the coop.

Just one day after Western Journalism told you about the new scandal-hunting website launched by Kathleen Willey — who famously claimed the former president sexually assaulted her in the White House — another key figure from the Clintons’ questionable past has leveled her own scathing charges against Hillary.

In a Daily Mail exclusive, the British newspaper reveals that the woman who outed Monica Lewinsky for her affair with President Clinton is now on the warpath against Hillary. Citing the then-first lady as a “destroyer” who ruthlessly attacked and ruined the reputations of many women linked sexually to her husband, Linda Tripp is quoted in the Daily Mail as saying that Hillary Clinton “must never become president” because she’s a devious and manipulative liar.

Because, according to Linda Tripp, it was Hillary who manipulated and stage managed the story [of the Lewinsky affair], converting herself from a lackluster First Lady with unimpressive approval ratings to admirable First Victim – the blindsided wife standing by her man.

She made him forgivable. She ‘orchestrated the cover up’ and she made damn sure that she moved on. Nothing, and no-one, was going to stand in her way.

(Read more from “Former Clinton Staffer Just Came Forward With a BOMBSHELL About Hillary’s Past She Wanted Buried” HERE)

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IRS Used Instant Messaging System to Hide Internal Communications

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The IRS used a “wholly separate” instant messaging system that automatically deleted office communications, according to documentation released by the House Oversight Committee on Monday. The system appears to have been purposefully used by agency officials responsible for the targeting of conservative non-profits, in order to evade public scrutiny.

The system, known as “Office Communication Server” or OCS was used by IRS officials, including many in the Exempt Organizations (EO) Unit, which was headed by Lois Lerner.

As the Oversight Committee report states, the instant messaging system did not archive any communications, so it is not possible to know what employees of the EO unit discussed on it.

However, in an email uncovered by the Committee Lerner warns her colleagues about evading Congressional oversight:

“I was cautioning folks about email and how we have had several occasions where Congress has asked for emails and there has been an electronic search for responsive emails – so we need to be cautious about what we say in emails.”

(Read more from “IRS Used Instant Messaging System to Hide Internal Communications” HERE)

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From Rents to Haircuts, Americans Feeling Price Hikes

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Apartment rents are up. So are prices for restaurant meals, haircuts, gym memberships and a cup of coffee.

For American consumers who have become used to flat or even falling prices for several years, an unfamiliar sight has emerged in many corners of the economy: Inflation is ticking up.

The price increases remain modest. And in many cases, they’re canceled out by price declines for other items that are keeping overall inflation historically low.

Yet the stepped-up price tags for a range of consumer items are the largest since the Great Recession ended six years ago. They actually reflect a healthier economy: Many businesses have finally grown confident enough to pass their own higher costs on to consumers without fear of losing customers. Employers have added nearly 5.6 million jobs the past two years, allowing more people to absorb higher prices.

Signs of emergent inflation are a key reason the Federal Reserve, which is meeting this week, will likely raise interest rates from record lows later this year. Inflation has long trailed the Fed’s 2 percent target rate but is on track to return to that level in coming months. (Read more from “From Rents to Haircuts, Americans Start are Feeling Price Hikes” HERE)

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Judge Orders Recovery, Release of Emails Proving Close Monitoring by Top IRS Officials of Tea Party Groups

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Judicial Watch released 906 pages of newly recovered Lois Lerner emails from the IRS that are believed to recently have been recovered by the IRS’ internal watchdog – the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). The IRS released the emails under a court order by U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan. The new documents show that Lois Lerner and other top officials in the Exempt Organizations Unit of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), including soon-to-be Acting IRS Commissioner Steve Miller, closely monitored and approved the controversial handling of tax-exempt applications by Tea Party organizations. The documents also show that at least one group received an inquiry from the IRS in order to buy time and keep the organization from contacting Congress.

At July 1, 2015, status conference, Judge Sullivan ordered the IRS to begin producing, every week, the nearly 1,800 newly recovered Lois Lerner emails responsive to Judicial Watch’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Despite the court order, the IRS did not produce any Lois Lerner emails until July 15. The IRS also failed to provide Judicial Watch a status report of the Lois Lerner email production issues, as also ordered by Judge Sullivan. Last week, Judge Sullivan ordered sua sponte the parties to appear for a status hearing for tomorrow (July 29) shortly after Judicial Watch raised concerns about the IRS’ failure to comply with his orders to release the newly discovered Lerner emails and status updates on its production of previously “missing” documents.

The developments come in Judicial Watch’s FOIA lawsuit seeking documents about the Obama IRS’ targeting and harassment of Tea Party and conservative opponents of President Obama (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. Internal Revenue Service (No. 1:13-cv-01559)). Judicial Watch’s litigation forced the IRS first to admit that Lerner’s emails were supposedly missing and, then, that the emails were on IRS’ back-up systems. . .

IRS Program Manager Cindy Thomas of the Cincinnati Exempt Organization [emailed] Lerner . . . detailing the pressure caused by the IRS’ Washington headquarters failure to move on the “advocacy cases.” Thomas warned of litigation and admitted that she authorized a letter for more information that was sent to one of the complaining groups to keep it from contacting Congress:

The backlog of work involves advocacy organizations. As of about a month ago, there were 161 of these cases sitting idle and we probably have more by now. The control dates for these cases go back to the end of 2009 and all through 2010. We’ve been waiting for EO in D.C. to get us a guidance/reference document with lessons learned from the c4 and c3 cases they worked and coordinated with Judy Kindell and Counsel. We’re getting calls from POAs wanting to know who has put the halt on working these cases and threatening to contact their Congressional offices. Just today, I instructed one of my managers to get an additional information letter out to one of these organizations — if nothing else to buy time so he didn’t contact his Congressional Office. Soon, we’re going to start getting TAO’s [Taxpayer Assistance Orders] from TAS [Taxpayer Advocate Service] or declaratory judgment cases filed —- then, I guess everyone will decide its time to start moving the cases when we have mounds of additional paperwork to process along with the cases (adding even more work for us to do).

(Read more from “Court Order Forces Recovery, Release of Emails Proving Close Monitoring by Top IRS Officials of Tea Party Groups” HERE)

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8 Illegal Alien Sex Criminals Arrested Near Texas Border

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Eight illegal aliens with criminal convictions for sexual crimes were caught this past weekend near the Texas border.

The arrests took place in McAllen, Rio Grande City, and Kingsville, according information provided to Breitbart Texas by the U.S. Border Patrol.

”All eight men had previously been charged with sexual crimes to include lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14, sexual assault, lewd and lascivious behavior against a child—fondling, and first degree sexual abuse by forcible compulsion,” the information provided by USBP revealed. (Read more from “8 Illegal Alien Sex Criminals Arrested Near Texas Border” HERE)

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