Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, May 14, 2014


Happy Birthday to me...

Happy Birthday to me...

Happy Birthday, dear... er... me...

Happy Birthday to me...!

And Many More...

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5 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/may/12/feds-released-hundreds-immigrant-murderers-drunken/

Immigration officials knowingly released dozens of murderers and thousands of drunken drivers back into the U.S. in 2013, according to Obama administration statistics that could undercut the president’s argument that he is trying to focus on the most serious criminals in his immigration enforcement.

* "COULD" UNDERCUT...?!?!

* COULD...?!?!

Among the 36,000 immigrants whom U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement released from custody last year there were 116 with convictions for homicide, 43 for negligent manslaughter, 14 for voluntary manslaughter and one with a conviction classified by ICE as “homicide-willful kill-public official-gun.”

“This would be considered the worst prison break in American history, except it was sanctioned by the president and perpetrated by our own immigration officials,” said Rep. Lamar Smith, Texas Republican. “The administration’s actions are outrageous. They willfully and knowingly put the interests of criminal immigrants before the safety and security of the American people.”

* YEP. THAT ABOUT COVERS IT.

Jessica Vaughan, policy studies director at the Center for Immigration Studies, said, “We keep hearing from the administration that they are focused like a laser on enforcement against the worst of the worst, convicted criminals, as their top priority. On the other hand, they are releasing, at a rate of about 100 a day, aliens from their custody with criminal convictions, and many of them are serious criminal convictions."

In a statement, ICE said many of those it released were subject to electronic monitoring, posting bond or having to check in with officers.

(*SNORT*) (*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

In other cases, the agency was required to release immigrants because of court decisions, including a 2001 Supreme Court ruling that found immigrants whose home countries refused to take them back could not be held for more than six months.

* WE MAKE FOREIGN COUNTRIES TAKE THEIR SCUM BACK! EITHER THAT OR WE EXECUTE THEM! I DON'T HAVE THE SPECIFICS ON THIS 2001 RULING, BUT OBVIOUSLY THERE ARE WAYS TO GET AROUND IT.

ICE said 75% of the convicted murderers released in 2013 were considered “mandatory releases” in compliance with court decisions.

* FOLKS... COM'ON... DO YOU BELIEVE SUCH NONSENSE? I DON'T. NOT FOR A MINUTE.

ICE has told Congress it doesn’t need to hold as many immigrants in detention. In its budget request this year, ICE asked that Congress fund slightly more than 30,500 detention beds a day, down from the 34,000 set in current law. “This funding level of beds will allow ICE to detain the current mandatory population, as well as the higher-risk, non-mandatory detainees,” ICE Deputy Director Daniel Ragsdale testified in March.

Ms. Vaughan said that rings hollow if the administration is releasing murderers and other serious criminals even with 34,000 detention beds.

* EXACTLY! THE OBAMA POLITICAL APPOINTEES AT ICE ARE CLEARLY PLAYING GAMES HERE. THEIR STATED POSITIONS DEFY ALL LOGIC!

The 36,007 criminal aliens counted in the data had more than 87,000 convictions among them: 15,635 for drunken driving, 9,187 for what ICE labeled “dangerous drugs,” 2,691 for assault, 1,724 for weapons offenses and 303 for “flight escape” — a category that would seem to make them bad candidates for release.

* YA THINK...?!?!

The immigrants are in addition to the 68,000 other immigrants that ICE officers came across but didn’t put into deportation proceedings.

(*SNORT*)

ICE came under fire last year for releasing thousands of immigrants and blaming it on the sequester budget cuts. Among those released were 622 criminals, including 24 with repeated felony convictions so bad that the administration had to go recapture them.

Officials later said it wasn’t the sequester, but rather the regular budget process that caused them to have to release the immigrants.

* OBAMA OFFICIALS. LIARS. PERIOD. (AND THIS LYING IS SOP ACROSS THE BOARD!)

May 14, 2014 at 12:07 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/federal-tax-revenues-set-record-through-april

Federal tax revenues continue to run at a record pace in fiscal 2014, as the federal government’s total receipts for the fiscal year closed April at $1,735,030,000,000, according to the Monthly Treasury Statement.

* ONE TRILLION, SEVEN-HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIVE BILLION, THIRTY MILLION... AND IT'S NOT ENOUGH.

Despite this record revenue, the federal government still ran a deficit of $306.411 billion in the first seven months of the fiscal year, which began on Oct. 1, 2013 and will end on Sept. 30, 2014.

* GEEZUS...

Through all of fiscal 2013, the federal government ended up running a deficit of $680.229 billion according to the Treasury.

* OVER HALF A TRILLION FUCKING DOLLARS... AND THAT'S ON TOP OF THE LARGER DEFICITS OF PRIOR OBAMA YEARS!

The White House Office of Management and Budget has estimated that in the full fiscal 2014, the federal government will collect $3.001721 trillion in taxes, spend $3.650526 trillion, and run a deficit of $648.805 billion.

* I... WANT... THEM... DEAD...! OBAMA... THE DEMS... THE RINOs...

* DEAD... DEAD... DEAD...

The OMB has also estimated that, while running that deficit, the federal government will collect a record amount in inflation-adjusted tax revenues.

* IT'S NEVER ENOUGH, FOLKS; IT'LL NEVER BE ENOUGH; THEY WON'T STOP TILL THEY'RE DEAD!

The single largest source for the federal government’s record tax receipts in the first seven months of FY 2014 was the individual income tax, which brought the Treasury $823.079 billion. The second largest source was what the Treasury calls “Social Insurance and Retirement Receipts,” which includes the Social Security payroll tax, the unemployment insurance tax and other retirement taxes. This accounted for $602.698 billion in tax revenue.

* SO... IN ENGLISH... WHAT YOU'VE JUST READ SAYS THAT IN ADDITION TO THE $680.229 BILLION DEFICIT ADDED TO THE DEBT...

* PAY ATTENTION... KEEP READING...

* IN ADDITION... THE GOVERNMENT STOLE THE $602.698 BILLION IN SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE "CONTRIBUTIONS" AND SPENT THAT!

May 14, 2014 at 12:08 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2014/05/13/Over-5-Billion-and-Counting-Obamacare-Websites

You thought Healthcare.gov "had" problems? A handful of state-run exchange websites — which cost nearly half a billion dollars to build — still don’t work, nearly seven months after they first went live.

Largely inoperable state exchange websites in Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon and Nevada have racked up $474 million federal tax dollars so far, Politico first reported. The costs will continue to climb as states scramble to salvage the flailing websites or transition onto the federal exchange.

* HMM... WHAT DO THOSE STATES HAVE IN COMMON...?

(*SMIRK*)

Maryland will spend an additional $40 million to save its website, which has already cost $90 million. Nevada has spent $50 million to date and will decide in the coming weeks how much more it will spend on repair efforts. Massachusetts will pour an additional $121 million into fixing its severely troubled state portal, while also using the federal portal as a back-up plan.

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

Now that the enrollment period has ended, the board that runs Maryland's troubled online insurance marketplace has opted to start over with a system that worked well in Connecticut...

* WORKED "WELL" OR WORKED... er... SLIGHTLY BETTER...? IN ANY CASE...

“Taxpayers will have to pay whether their state-based exchange fails or not,” said Josh Archambault, a senior fellow at the conservative Foundation for Government Accountability.

Meanwhile, Oregon’s website, which already cost $259 million, is so troubled that the state has opted to scrap the site entirely and spend an extra $5 million to use Healthcare.gov instead.

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

The Obama administration had intended for states using the federal portal to gradually transition away from HealthCare.gov and onto their own exchanges. However, since so many states had issues with their websites, it appears that the opposite is happening. Minnesota, Nevada and Rhode Island are all considering following Oregon and switching to HealthCare.gov. Not one of the 36 states using the federal exchange intends to set up their own exchanges.

The switch from state-based exchanges to Healthcare.gov essentially means dumping millions of dollars down the drain to start over.

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

As of November 2013, the federal exchange healthcare.gov. is estimated to have cost $677 million according to former HHS, Kathleen Sebelius.

Since 2011, the federal government has spent nearly $4.7 billion to help implement the exchanges, the Kaiser Family Foundation estimates.

May 14, 2014 at 12:08 AM
William R. Barker said...

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

http://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-new-documents-show-irs-hq-control-tea-party-targeting/

Judicial Watch today released a new batch of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) documents revealing that its handling of Tea Party applications was directed out of the agency’s headquarters in Washington, DC.

The documents also show extensive pressure on the IRS by Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) to shut down conservative-leaning tax-exempt organizations.

The IRS’ emails by Lois Lerner detail her misleading explanations to investigators about the targeting of Tea Party organizations.

The documents came in response to an October 2013 Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed after the agency refused to respond to four FOIA requests dating back to May 2013 (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. Internal Revenue Service (No. 1:13-cv-01559)).

One key email string from July 2012 confirms that IRS Tea Party scrutiny was directed from Washington, DC.

On July 6, 2010, Holly Paz (the former Director of the IRS Rulings and Agreements Division and current Manager of Exempt Organizations Guidance) asks IRS lawyer Steven Grodnitzky “to let Cindy and Sharon know how we have been handling Tea Party applications in the last few months.”

(Cindy Thomas is the former director of the IRS Exempt Organizations office in Cincinnati and Sharon Camarillo was a Senior Manager in their Los Angeles office.)

Grodnitzky, a top lawyer in the Exempt Organization Technical unit (EOT) in Washington, DC, responds: EOT is working the Tea party applications in coordination with Cincy. We are developing a few applications here in DC and providing copies of our development letters with the agent to use as examples in the development of their cases. Chip Hull [another lawyer in IRS headquarters] is working these cases in EOT and working with the agent in Cincy, so any communication should include him as well. Because the Tea party applications are the subject of an SCR [Sensitive Case Report], we cannot resolve any of the cases without coordinating with Rob.

(The reference to Rob is believed to be Rob Choi, then-Director of Rulings and Agreements in IRS’s Washington, DC, headquarters.)

Another email string from February – March 2010 includes a message from a California EO Determinations manager discussing a Tea Party application “currently being held in the Screening group.” The manager urges, “Please let ‘Washington’ know about this potentially embarrassing political case involving a ‘Tea Party’ organization. Recent media attention to this type of organization indicates to me that this is a ‘high profile’ case.” A co-worker responds: “I think sending it up here [DC] is a good idea given the potential for media interest.”

As with Ben Rhodes’ Benghazi-related talking points email, Judicial Watch obtained a more complete version of this IRS email chain than was provided to a congressional committee.

* FOLKS... DO YOU SEE WHAT WE'RE DEALING WITH?

* TO BE CONTINUED...

May 14, 2014 at 11:53 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)

A series of letters between Senator Levin (D-MI), chairman of the Subcommittee on Investigations, and top IRS officials throughout 2012 discuss how to target conservative groups the senator claimed were “engaged in political activities.” In response to a Levin March 30 letter citing the “urgency of the issue,” then-Deputy Commissioner Steven Miller assured the senator that IRS regulations were flexible enough to allow IRS agents to “prepare individualized questions and requests” for select 501(c)(4) organizations.

* WOW...

The newly released IRS documents contain several letters and emails revealing an intense effort by Levin and IRS officials to determine what, if any, existing IRS policies could be used to revoke the non-profit exemptions of active conservative groups and deny exemptions to new applicants. In a July 30, 2012, letter, Levin singles out 12 groups he wants investigated for “political activity.” Of the groups – which include the Club for Growth, Americans for Tax Reform, the 60 Plus Association, and the Susan B. Anthony List – only one, Priorities USA, is notably left-leaning.

* WELL THEY'RE NOT TOTAL IDIOTS... OBVIOUSLY PROVIDING THEMSELVES SOME SORT OF "MINIMUM COVER" HAD TO HAVE BEEN PART OF THE PLAN!

In perhaps the most revealing letter from the IRS to Levin, Miller on June 4, 2012, takes 16 pages to explain to the senator what IRS regulations and policies may and may not be used to evaluate political groups and assures him that the agency has considerable leeway in picking and choosing which groups would be subject to additional scrutiny:

There is no standard questionnaire used to obtain information about political activities. Although there is a template development letter that describes the general information on the case development process, the letter does not specify the information to be requested from any particular organization … consequently, revenue agents prepare individualized questions and requests for documents relevant to the application. . .

A May 14, 2013, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) report revealed that the IRS had singled out groups with conservative-sounding terms such as “patriot” and “Tea Party” in their titles when applying for tax-exempt status. The TIGTA probe determined that “Early in Calendar Year 2010, the IRS began using inappropriate criteria to identify organizations applying for tax-exempt status (e.g., lists of past and future donors).” The illegal IRS reviews continued for more than 18 months and “delayed processing of targeted groups applications” preparing for the 2012 presidential election.

(*SHRUG*)

“These new documents show that officials in the IRS headquarters were responsible for the illegal delays of Tea Party applications,” stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “It is disturbing to see Lois Lerner mislead the IRS’ internal investigators about her office’s Tea Party targeting. These documents also confirm the unprecedented pressure from congressional Democrats to go after President Obama’s political opponents. The IRS scandal has now ensnared Congress.”

In mid-April, Judicial Watch released a batch of IRS documents (produced earlier in this litigation) revealing that Lerner had communicated with the Department of Justice about whether it was possible to criminally prosecute certain tax-exempt entities.

May 14, 2014 at 11:54 PM

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