Friday, May 17, 2013

Barker's Newsbites: Friday, May 17, 2013


Tis Friday...!

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10 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/irs-stalled-conservative-groups-but-gave-speedy-approval-to-obama-foundation/2013/05/16/90c53e8a-be57-11e2-89c9-3be8095fe767_story.html

When the Barack H. Obama Foundation sought tax-exempt status to raise money for good works in Kenya...

* KENYA...??? HOW'BOUT DETROIT?!

(*SNORT*)

...the Internal Revenue Service provided quick help.

* I BET THEY DID!

The IRS approved charitable status for the foundation, which was run by President Obama’s brother...

* ...WHICH WAS RUN BY PRESIDENT OBAMA'S BROTHER...

...and named after his father, in about a month’s time.

The IRS also agreed to give the group this important financial status retroactively, back to 2009, when it had begun its fundraising.

(*CLAP...CLAP...CLAP*)

The IRS handling of the Obama-named group was revealed this week by a conservative watchdog group, the National Legal and Policy Center, and reported by the Daily Caller on Thursday. The Washington Post confirmed reports through public records of the group’s application and the IRS approval letter, signed by the unit director Lois Lerner.

* FOLKS... LET ME ASK YOU A QUESTION: WOULDN'T YOU SUPPOSE THAT MAJOR NEWS ORGANIZATIONS SUCH AS THE WASHINGTON POST (WHERE THIS STORY APPEARS), NEW YORK TIMES, THE WIRE SERVICES, THE TV NETWORKS, ETC., REGULARLY SCAN FOR "NEWS" INVOLVING A PRESIDENT'S (ANY PRESIDENT'S) FAMILY MEMBERS? PARTICULARLY SIBLINGS? KINDA STRANGE WE'RE JUST FINDING OUT ABOUT THIS CHARITY... er... NOW.

In 2009, the Barack H. Obama Foundation was accused by the National Legal and Policy Center of being a scofflaw. The group had been promoting itself as a charity and seeking donations that it said would be tax-deductible, but it lacked the required tax-exempt status.

(*PURSED LIPS*)

Ken Boehm, executive director of the National Legal and Policy Center, said he found it “highly suspicious” — given that the average application took five to six months to approve — that [this] foundation received a speedy nod and retroactive cover.

“They were a sham charity,” he said. “You would think that would be a reason for more questions and scrutiny, and not a fast pass to go through the speedy line. All of that together just didn’t smell right. They were getting much faster service than average 501(c)(3) applicant.”

* NICE THAT WE'RE LEARNING ABOUT THIS... er... NOW...

May 17, 2013 at 12:35 PM
William R. Barker said...

* THREE-PARTER... (Part 1 of 3)

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/17/nyregion/weiners-wife-huma-abedin-failed-to-disclose-consulting-work-done-while-a-state-dept-aide.html?_r=0

The State Department, under Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, created an arrangement for her longtime aide and confidante Huma Abedin to work for private clients as a consultant while serving as a top adviser in the department.

* WHEN...???

Ms. Abedin did not disclose the arrangement — or how much income she earned — on her financial report. An adviser to Mrs. Clinton, Philippe Reines, said that Ms. Abedin was not obligated to do so.

* AND THE LAW SAYS...???

It requires officials to make public any significant sources of income.

(*SILENCE*)

Ms. Abedin declined a request for an interview, but the picture that emerges from interviews and records suggests a situation where the lines were blurred between Ms. Abedin’s work in the high echelons of one of the government’s most sensitive executive departments and her role as a Clinton family insider.

* TO BE CONTINUED...

May 17, 2013 at 2:08 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONTINUING... (Part 2 of 3)

While continuing her work at the State Department, in the latter half of 2012, she also worked for Teneo, a strategic consulting firm, which was founded by Doug Band, a former adviser to President Bill Clinton.

* YOU'RE READING WHAT I'M READING - RIGHT, FOLKS?

Teneo has advised corporate clients like Coca-Cola and MF Global, the collapsed brokerage firm run by Jon S. Corzine, a former governor of New Jersey.

* CLINTON... CORZINE... (IS CHARLIE RANGEL ON THE BOARD?!)

At the same time, Ms. Abedin served as a consultant to the William Jefferson Clinton Foundation and worked in a personal capacity for Mrs. Clinton as she prepared to transition out of her job as secretary of state.

* SO... SHE'S EMPLOYED FULL TIME BY THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT - AT A HEFTY SALARY - YET ALSO MOONLIGHTING (I'M SURE ALSO AT A HEFTY SALARY) FOR TENEO.

* SO... ONE FULL-TIME JOB... ONE PART-TIME JOBS... AND ON TOP OF THIS SHE WORKS (AGAIN... I'M SURE AT A HEFTY SALARY) FOR THE WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON FOUNDATION...

* AND... IN A "PERSONAL CAPACITY" FOR MRS. CLINTON - WHATEVER THAT MEANS!

The disclosure of the agreement that Ms. Abedin made with the State Department comes as her husband, former Representative Anthony D. Weiner, a Democrat, prepares for a mayoral run in New York City.

* YEP. ABEDIN'S MARRIED TO THAT SCUMBAG WEINER. AND TO SHOW YOU HOW ABSOLUTELY CORRUPT THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS, THIS DISGRACED PERVERT IS A SERIOUS DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE FOR MAYOR OF NEW YORK!

Politico reported the arrangement on Thursday afternoon.

* SO... THE NYT DIDN'T BREAK THE STORY. (WHY...???) THIS IS MY FIRST CONTACT WITH THE STORY - HOW'BOUT THE REST OF YOU?

It is not clear what role Mrs. Clinton played in approving the arrangement.

(*SMIRK*)

* THEY'VE GOTTA BE FUCKING KIDDING! I CAN'T BELIEVE EVEN THE NYT HAS THE BALLS TO GO WITH THAT LAST STATEMENT! ABEDIN AND CLINTON ARE BEST GAL-PALS!

* TO BE CONTINUED...

May 17, 2013 at 2:09 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 3 of 3)

Some good-government groups have been critical of such situations...

* OH! I WONDER WHY!

...saying public employees’ loyalty should be solely to the public and their government work, rather than private firms and figures.

* DUH!

Ms. Abedin reached her new working arrangement in June 2012, when she returned from maternity leave, quietly leaving her position as deputy chief of staff and becoming a special government employee, which is essentially a consultant. A State Department official said that change freed her from the requirement that she disclose her private earnings for the rest of the year on her financial disclosure forms. Still, during that period, she continued to be identified publicly in news reports as Mrs. Clinton’s deputy chief of staff.

* FOLKS... GEEZUS... HILLARY CLINTON IS CORRUPT!

* AS FOR ABEDIN... WHO THE HELL IS WATCHING HER BABY WHILE SHE'S OFF WORKING FOUR SEPARATE JOBS...?!?! (ANSWER: SHE IS. NONE OF THESE ARE "REAL" JOBS, I'M GUESSING. THEY'RE ALL PAY-OFF POSITIONS!)

An associate of Ms. Abedin’s said on Thursday that the arrangement allowed her to work from her home in New York, rather than at the State Department’s headquarters in Washington, and to spend more time with her child and husband. She earned approximately $135,000 from the department during 2012.

* SO... CLINTON AND ABEDIN ARE USING TAXPAYER RESOURCES TO ENRICH ABEDIN. NICE!

It is not clear how much Ms. Abedin was paid by Mrs. Clinton privately, or from the Clinton Foundation and Teneo. The Clintons have described Ms. Abedin as a surrogate daughter to them.

* IMAGINE THE MILLIONS FLOWING TO THEIR REAL DAUGHTER, CHELSEA!

Melanie Sloane, executive director of CREW, an ethics watchdog group, said the arrangement that Ms. Abedin had seemed unusual. “If she was being held out as a deputy chief of staff, it would be highly unusual for her to be a part-time employee or a consultant,” she said. “Being a deputy chief of staff at the State Department is generally considered more than a full-time job.”

* FOLKS... THE CLINTONS ARE CORRUPT. ALWAYS HAVE BEEN. ALWAYS WILL BE. THEY'RE A DISGRACE!

* P.S. - ALL THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON SINCE AT LEAST JUNE OF 2012... FIVE MONTHS PRIOR TO THE 2012 ELECTION... 11 MONTHS PRIOR TO NOW... AND ONLY NOW ARE THE MSM REPORTING ON IT... "DISCOVERING" IT. (COINCIDENCE, I'M SURE...)

May 17, 2013 at 2:09 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.freep.com/article/20130517/NEWS01/305170014/pension-funds-travel-General-Retirement-System-and-the-Police-and-Fire-Retirement-System-Hilton-Hawaiian-Village-Waikiki-Beach-Resort-Honolulu

Four trustees of Detroit’s two public pension funds are heading to a Hawaiian beach resort this weekend with their $22,000 tab paid for by the funds...

(*DRUM ROLL*)

...which are mired in claims of mismanagement and said to be at least $600 million underfunded.

(*CLAP...CLAP...CLAP*)

Records obtained by the Free Press under the Freedom of Information Act show the expenses cover airfare — including a first-class flight for one trustee — lodging at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort in Honolulu, registration fees, meals and a per diem for "miscellaneous expenses."

* FOLKS... THE INSIDERS ARE ROBBING THE REST OF US BLIND!

May 17, 2013 at 2:19 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/05/irs-official-in-charge-during-tea-party-targeting-now-runs-health-care-office/

The IRS official in charge of the tax-exempt organizations at the time when the unit targeted tea party groups now runs the IRS office responsible for the health care legislation.

* FOLKS... YA CAN'T MAKE THIS SHIT UP!

Sarah Hall Ingram served as commissioner of the office responsible for tax-exempt organizations between 2009 and 2012. But Ingram has since left that part of the IRS and is now the director of the IRS’ Affordable Care Act office, the IRS confirmed to ABC News today.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

Her successor, Joseph Grant, is taking the fall for misdeeds at the scandal-plagued unit between 2010 and 2012. During at least part of that time, Grant served as deputy commissioner of the tax-exempt unit. Grant announced today that he would retire June 3, despite being appointed as commissioner of the tax-exempt office May 8, a week ago.

* NICE...

(*CLAP...CLAP...CLAP*)

As the House voted to fully repeal the Affordable Care Act Thursday evening, House Speaker John Boehner expressed “serious concerns” that the IRS is empowered as the law’s chief enforcer. “ObamaCare empowers the agency that just violated the public’s trust by secretly targeting conservative groups,” Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., added. “Even by Washington’s standards, that’s unacceptable.”

Sen. John Cornyn even introduced a bill, the “Keep the IRS Off Your Health Care Act of 2013,” which would prohibit the Secretary of the Treasury, or any delegate, including the IRS, from enforcing the Affordable Care Act.

“Now more than ever, we need to prevent the IRS from having any role in Americans’ health care,” Cornyn, R-Texas, stated. “I do not support ObamaCare, and after the events of last week, I cannot support giving the IRS any more responsibility or taxpayer dollars to implement a broken law.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell also reacted to the revelation late Thursday, stating the news was “stunning, just stunning.”

May 17, 2013 at 2:33 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://washingtonexaminer.com/irs-tax-exemptionobamacare-exec-got-100390-in-bonuses/article/2529899

Sarah Hall Ingram, the IRS executive in charge of the tax exempt division in 2010 when it began targeting conservative Tea Party, evangelical and pro-Israel groups for harassment, got more than $100,000 in bonuses between 2009 and 2012.

More recently, Ingram was promoted to serve as director of the tax agency's ObamaCare program office, a position that put her in charge of the vast expansion of the IRS' regulatory power and staffing in connection with federal health care, ABC reported earlier today.

Ingram received a $7,000 bonus in 2009, according to data obtained by The Washington Examiner from the IRS, then a $34,440 bonus in 2010, $35,400 in 2011 and $26,550 last year, for a total of $103,390. Her annual salary went from $172,500 to $177,000 during the same period.

The 2010, 2011 and 2012 bonuses were awarded during the period when IRS harassment of the conservative groups was most intense. The newspaper obtained the data via a Freedom of Information Act request.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., described the Ingram awards as "stunning, just stunning."

High-ranking career federal civil servants like Ingram are eligible for recognition through citations known as Distinguished and Merit Service awards that can carry with them cash bonuses of anywhere from five to 35% of their base salary.

The largest of such awards...require presidential approval, according to the Office of Personnel Management, which oversees the federal civil service workforce. “If the recommended award is over $25,000, the Director of OPM reviews the nomination and forwards his/her recommendation to the President for approval,” according to the OPM guidance.

* THE PLOT THICKENS...

A key point on OPM’s “checklist” for federal bosses considering an employee for such a bonus is making sure that “the proposed award recipient has not been involved in any action or activity that could cause the President embarrassment …”

* HUH...?!?! CAUSE "THE PRESIDENT" EMBARRASSMENT...?!?!" HOW ABOUT CAUSING THE COUNTRY EMBARRASSMENT?! HOW ABOUT NOT ABUSING ONE'S POWER FOR PARTISAN ENDS...?!?! GEEZUS... WE'RE LIVING IN WONDERLAND, FOLKS!

Ingram has some history as a government lawyer receiving controversial bonuses. According to The Washington Post, she received a $47,900 bonus for distinguished service in 2004 from President George W. Bush.

* WHO THE FUCK IS THIS WOMAN...?!?!

May 17, 2013 at 2:41 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/18/us/politics/irs-scandal-congressional-hearings.html?hp&_r=3&

Obama administration officials knew of efforts to single out conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status for additional scrutiny, but did not reveal that knowledge during President Obama’s re-election campaign.

The Treasury Department’s inspector general told senior Treasury officials in June 2012 he was investigating the Internal Revenue Service’s screening of politically active organizations seeking tax exemptions, disclosing for the first time on Friday that Obama administration officials were aware of the matter during the presidential campaign year.

At the first Congressional hearing into the IRS scandal, J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration, told members of the House Ways and Means Committee that he informed the Treasury’s general counsel of his investigation on June 4, and Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin “shortly thereafter.”

* WHAT DO YOU MEAN "SHORTLY THEREAFTER?" GIVE ME A FRIGGIN' BREAK! AS IF THAT "NOTIFICATION" WASN'T RECORDED!

Mr. George told Treasury officials about the allegation as part of a routine briefing about ongoing investigations he would be conducting in the coming year, and he did not tell the officials of his conclusions that the targeting had been improper, he said.

* AND HE DID NOT TELL THE OFFICIALS OF HIS CONCLUSIONS THAT THE TARGETING HAD BEEN IMPROPER...

(*SMIRK*)

* UH-HUH...

* FOLKS... IF THAT'S THE CASE... THIS J. RUSSELL GEORGE SHOULD BE FACING CRIMINAL PROSECUTION OF SOME SORT... AT LEAST PROFESSIONAL SANCTION... AND NO DOUBT HE SHOULD BE HELD CIVILY LIABLE!

Steven T. Miller, the acting I.R.S. commissioner,...did not divulge the targeting efforts of a Cincinnati unit examining 70,000 applications for tax exemption. According to the inspector general’s report, Mr. Miller was aware of the political targeting in March 2012, sending a team from IRS headquarters in Washington to discuss it with the program’s leaders in Cincinnati. Yet a month later, Mr. Miller, then the deputy IRS commissioner for enforcement, wrote a letter to Republican senators saying there was no targeting of conservative groups.

* FOLKS... THIS MILLER SHOULD BE SITTING IN A JAIL CELL AWAITING TRIAL! EITHER THAT OR OUT ON BAIL AWAITING TRAIL!

Representative Dave Camp of Michigan, the House Ways and Means chairman, said in opening the hearing, “This appears to be just the latest example of a culture of cover-ups — and political intimidation — in this administration. It seems like the truth is hidden from the American people just long enough to make it through an election.”

Mr. Camp pressed Mr. Miller and Mr. George on the releasing of tax information on Koch Industries, the giant family business of the conservative benefactors Charles and David Koch, by a former White House economist, Austan Goolsbee. He also hit on the publication of donor lists for the National Organization for Marriage, which opposes same-sex unions, and the release of confidential applications for tax-exempt status to the investigative reporting outfit ProPublica.

The incidents of releases of confidential tax information were referred to the inspector general for investigation, but were found to be inadvertent, the witnesses said.

* BUT THE WHOLE CONTEXT OF THIS ARTICLE IS HOW IRS INSPECTOR GENERALS CAN'T BE TRUSTED! (SCROLL BACK UP AND RE-READ ABOUT MR. GEORGE'S BEHAVIOR!)

* FOLKS... THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION IS OUT OF CONTROL.

May 17, 2013 at 7:36 PM
William R. Barker said...

* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)

http://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/terrorism/300491-issa-subpoenas-benghazi-auditor-pickering

The lawmaker leading the charge to investigate the Benghazi, Libya, terror attack on Friday subpoenaed the co-author of a report that slammed the State Department but didn't interview Hillary Clinton.

House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) formally demanded that retired Ambassador Thomas Pickering submit to being deposed by the committee next Thursday.

* GOOD! PICKERING HAS SAID - WHILE NOT UNDER OATH - THAT HE HAD ASKED TO APPEAR BEFORE THE COMMITTEE. NOW HE GETS HIS WISH... WITH NO CHOICE IN THE MATTER!

The subpoena comes in the wake of a series of acrimonious public exchanges this week between the two men.

Issa didn't issue a subpoena to former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen, who co-authored the Benghazi report with Pickering.

* WHY NOT? IS ISSA A MORON...?!?! I WANT TO HEAR FROM MULLEN TOO!

Pickering has said he would testify before Issa's panel about last year's Accountability Review Board (ARB) report on the attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens. Pickering and Mullen have refused, however, to submit to a transcribed interview with Issa and his staff, calling the closed-door proceeding an “inappropriate precondition” to their testimony.

* HMM... I'M AGNOSTIC ON THIS ONE. FRANKLY I'M NOT THRILLED WITH "CLOSED DOOR" PROCEEDINGS. SO PERHAPS PICKERING AND MULLEN HAVE A POINT.

“Your refusal to allow staff investigators to interview you is inconsistent with your commitment to be 'tough and transparent',” Issa wrote to Pickering. “In light of your continuing refusal to appear voluntarily for a transcribed interview … I have found it necessary to issue a subpoena to compel your appearance at a deposition.”

* THEN AGAIN... DEPOSITIONS ARE THE NORM...

(*SHRUG*)

* PERHAPS PICKERING AND MULLENS ARE SIMPLY TRYING TO HIDE SOMETHING.

* TO BE CONTINUED...

May 17, 2013 at 7:55 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)

The subpoena comes after Issa held a hearing last week with three State Department whistle-blowers who said Pickering's board “let people off the hook.”

* WHICH OBVIOUSLY IT DID!

Issa said the deposition is the only way to find out who exactly the ARB interviewed when investigating the security failures and missed warnings the preceded the attack.

* SOUNDS REASONABLE...

Pickering and Mullen did not interview Clinton, then secretary of State, when they conducted the audit of Benghazi.

* THIS IS "THE HILL" REPORTING THIS. THIS ISN'T A REPUBLICAN "ACCUSATION." THIS IS FACT!

At a State Department briefing last year, Pickering defended the ARB's approach. He said the panel fixed responsibility “at the Assistant Secretary level, which is in our view the appropriate place to look, where the decision-making in fact takes place — where, if you like, the rubber hits the road.”

* BULLSHIT! SOMETHING LIKE THIS IS HANDLED AT THE PRINCIPLE LEVEL - AT THE LEVEL OF OBAMA, HILLARY, PANETTA, AND OUR NATION'S TOP MILITARY AND INTELLIGENCE AGENCY HEADS! (AND THAT'S THE IMPRESSION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION FIRST TRIED TO GIVE! THAT THEY WERE ON TOP OF IT! THAT THE PRESIDENT HAD "GIVEN THE ORDERS" TO DO WHATEVER WAS NECESSARY... WHATEVER THAT ACTUALLY MEANT - WHICH TURNED OUT TO BE NOTHING! WE WERE TOLD PANETTA WAS UP ALL NIGHT "RUNNING" THE SITUATION! AS TO HILLARY... PERHAPS LIKE OBAMA SHE SIMPLY WENT TO BED. WE JUST DON'T KNOW! EIGHT MONTHS AFTER THE FACT WE JUST DON'T KNOW!)

The top Democrat on Issa's panel called the subpoena of Pickering a “stark example of extreme Republican overreach and the shameful politicization of this tragedy.”

* BUT... BUT... BUT... PICKERING SAID HE WANTS TO TESTIFY!

“Chairman Issa’s accusations keep getting shot down one by one, but he simply resorts to even more extreme measures,” Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) said in a statement.

* CUMMINGS IS A LIAR.

“After falsely accusing former Secretary Clinton of lying to Congress, falsely accusing the White House of deliberately misleading the American people, and falsely accusing the military of withholding critical assistance on the night of the attacks, the Chairman is now accusing Admiral Mullen, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Ambassador Pickering, a seven-time U.S. ambassador, of being complicit in a cover-up.”

* AGAIN... CUMMINGS IS SHOUTING OUT OF HIS ASS. CUMMINGS IS AN ASS! FOLKS... THERE WAS A COVER-UP... THE COVER-UP IS ONGOING... PICKERING AND MULLENS ARE BY ALL APPEARANCES PART OF THE COVER UP... AND OBAMA HAS BLOOD ON HIS HANDS. AND THEN THERE'S HILLARY...

(*PURSED LIPS*)

May 17, 2013 at 7:55 PM

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