“Political tags—such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal conservative, and so forth—are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire. The former are idealists acting from highest motives for the greatest good of the greatest number. The latter are surly curmudgeons, suspicious and lacking in altruism. But they are more comfortable neighbors than the other sort.”
-- Heinlein
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Obama math: under new Common Core, 3 x 4 = 11
Quick: what’s 3 x 4?
If you said 11 — or, hell, if you said 7, pi, or infinity squared — that’s just fine under the Common Core, the new national curriculum that the Obama administration will impose on American public school students this fall.
In a pretty amazing YouTube video, Amanda August, a curriculum coordinator in a suburb of Chicago called Grayslake, explains that getting the right answer in math just doesn’t matter as long as kids can explain the necessarily faulty reasoning they used to get to that wrong answer.
“Even if they said, ’3 x 4 was 11,’ if they were able to explain their reasoning and explain how they came up with their answer really in, umm, words and oral explanation, and they showed it in the picture but they just got the final number wrong, we’re really more focused on the how,” August says in the video....
Quick: what’s 3 x 4?
If you said 11 — or, hell, if you said 7, pi, or infinity squared — that’s just fine under the Common Core, the new national curriculum that the Obama administration will impose on American public school students this fall.
In a pretty amazing YouTube video, Amanda August, a curriculum coordinator in a suburb of Chicago called Grayslake, explains that getting the right answer in math just doesn’t matter as long as kids can explain the necessarily faulty reasoning they used to get to that wrong answer.
“Even if they said, ’3 x 4 was 11,’ if they were able to explain their reasoning and explain how they came up with their answer really in, umm, words and oral explanation, and they showed it in the picture but they just got the final number wrong, we’re really more focused on the how,” August says in the video....
Email Provider Threatened By Feds for Closing Rather Than Snooping
The owner of an encrypted email service used by ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden said he has been threatened with criminal charges for refusing to comply with a secret surveillance order to turn over information about his customers.
"I could be arrested for this action," Ladar Levison told NBC News about his decision to shut down his company, Lavabit LLC, in protest over a secret court order he had received from a federal court that is overseeing the investigation into Snowden....
The owner of an encrypted email service used by ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden said he has been threatened with criminal charges for refusing to comply with a secret surveillance order to turn over information about his customers.
"I could be arrested for this action," Ladar Levison told NBC News about his decision to shut down his company, Lavabit LLC, in protest over a secret court order he had received from a federal court that is overseeing the investigation into Snowden....
Shale gas is Rearden Metal
For my summer holidays I have been mostly reading Atlas Shrugged. Ayn Rand has her faults but, boy, was she prescient.
One of the things she foresaw was the current nonsensical, dishonest, canting campaign against shale gas. In Atlas Shrugged it takes the form of Rearden Metal, the miracle technology which is going to transform the US economy if only the progressives will let it. But of course, Rand’s fictional progressives don’t want Reardon Metal to succeed any more than their modern, real-life equivalents want shale gas to succeed.
Why not? For the same rag-bag of made-up, disingenuous reasons which progressives have used to justify their war on progress since time immemorial: it’s unfair, it uses up scarce resources, it might be dangerous. Rand doesn’t actually use the phrase “the precautionary principle.” But this is exactly what she is describing in the book when various vested interests – the corporatists in bed with big government, the politicised junk-scientists at the Institute of Science (aka, in our world, the National Academy of Sciences or the Royal Society), the unions – try to close down the nascent technology using the flimsiest of excuses....
For my summer holidays I have been mostly reading Atlas Shrugged. Ayn Rand has her faults but, boy, was she prescient.
One of the things she foresaw was the current nonsensical, dishonest, canting campaign against shale gas. In Atlas Shrugged it takes the form of Rearden Metal, the miracle technology which is going to transform the US economy if only the progressives will let it. But of course, Rand’s fictional progressives don’t want Reardon Metal to succeed any more than their modern, real-life equivalents want shale gas to succeed.
Why not? For the same rag-bag of made-up, disingenuous reasons which progressives have used to justify their war on progress since time immemorial: it’s unfair, it uses up scarce resources, it might be dangerous. Rand doesn’t actually use the phrase “the precautionary principle.” But this is exactly what she is describing in the book when various vested interests – the corporatists in bed with big government, the politicised junk-scientists at the Institute of Science (aka, in our world, the National Academy of Sciences or the Royal Society), the unions – try to close down the nascent technology using the flimsiest of excuses....
Did IRS Help Other Agencies Target Conservatives?
...Email exchanges between Lois Lerner, the Democrat at the center of the probe into abuses at the IRS, and a lawyer at the Federal Elections Commission show Lerner and the lawyer teaming up to try to block a conservative group from winning a case before the commission.
The pixel trail obtained by the House Ways and Means Committee leaves a strong suggestion that Lerner passed confidential information to the lawyer in a bid to squeeze a Minnesota conservative group under fire from state Democrats. The way it’s supposed to work is that the commission doesn’t investigate until its members find probable cause, but here we have a still-unnamed attorney doing a stealth investigation with Lerner’s help in an apparent bid to sway commissioners ahead of their vote.
The chances for collusion are helped by the fact that prior to coming to the IRS, Lerner was the longtime head of the elections board’s enforcement office. That’s where she first earned the ire of conservatives for targeting religious groups, especially the demand from her office to know about the content of prayers tendered for the sake of Lt. Col. Oliver North....
IRS' Lois Lerner Used Personal Email Accounts for Official Government Business The Obama administration is notorious for using personal e-mail accounts, and even fake alias accounts, to conduct official government business as a way to avoid Freedom of Information Act laws and congressional investigations. This practice was used thousands of times by former EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, DOJ Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer during Operation Fast and Furious and by recently confirmed Labor Secretary Tom Perez during his time as a DOJ Civil Rights Attorney to leak information about private businesses.
Now, we can add the IRS' Lois Lerner to the list. As a reminder, Lerner is in charge of tax exempt organizations and has been put on paid administrative leave after admitting the IRS inappropriately targeted conservative groups. Today, Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Darrell Issa and Subcommittee Chairman Jim Jordan sent a letter to Lerner asking for emails related to official government business in her personal or non-governmental e-mail account.
"Through the course of the investigation, we have learned that you sent documents related to your official dendrites from your official IRS e-mail account to an msn.com e-mail account labeled 'Lois Home.' This raises some serious questions concerning your use of a non-official e-mail account to conduct official business. ...
...Email exchanges between Lois Lerner, the Democrat at the center of the probe into abuses at the IRS, and a lawyer at the Federal Elections Commission show Lerner and the lawyer teaming up to try to block a conservative group from winning a case before the commission.
The pixel trail obtained by the House Ways and Means Committee leaves a strong suggestion that Lerner passed confidential information to the lawyer in a bid to squeeze a Minnesota conservative group under fire from state Democrats. The way it’s supposed to work is that the commission doesn’t investigate until its members find probable cause, but here we have a still-unnamed attorney doing a stealth investigation with Lerner’s help in an apparent bid to sway commissioners ahead of their vote.
The chances for collusion are helped by the fact that prior to coming to the IRS, Lerner was the longtime head of the elections board’s enforcement office. That’s where she first earned the ire of conservatives for targeting religious groups, especially the demand from her office to know about the content of prayers tendered for the sake of Lt. Col. Oliver North....
IRS' Lois Lerner Used Personal Email Accounts for Official Government Business The Obama administration is notorious for using personal e-mail accounts, and even fake alias accounts, to conduct official government business as a way to avoid Freedom of Information Act laws and congressional investigations. This practice was used thousands of times by former EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, DOJ Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer during Operation Fast and Furious and by recently confirmed Labor Secretary Tom Perez during his time as a DOJ Civil Rights Attorney to leak information about private businesses.
Now, we can add the IRS' Lois Lerner to the list. As a reminder, Lerner is in charge of tax exempt organizations and has been put on paid administrative leave after admitting the IRS inappropriately targeted conservative groups. Today, Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Darrell Issa and Subcommittee Chairman Jim Jordan sent a letter to Lerner asking for emails related to official government business in her personal or non-governmental e-mail account.
"Through the course of the investigation, we have learned that you sent documents related to your official dendrites from your official IRS e-mail account to an msn.com e-mail account labeled 'Lois Home.' This raises some serious questions concerning your use of a non-official e-mail account to conduct official business. ...
Column: The New York Times fails its readers—and the country
...Just then, though, one of the Times reporters, Michael D. Shear, interrupts the president and says what has to be one of the most beautiful and revealing sentences ever to appear on Nytimes.com: “He was my professor actually at Harvard.” Almost every word of this sentence is an act of social positioning worthy of Castiglione. “My” conveys ownership, possession, and intimacy; the “actually” is a subtle exercise in one-upmanship, implying a correction of fact or status, and suggesting that Shear, who seems to have taken a course with Putnam while pursuing a graduate degree at the Kennedy School, is on closer terms with him than the president of the United States of America; and of course the big H, “Harvard,” before whose authority all must bow down....
...Just then, though, one of the Times reporters, Michael D. Shear, interrupts the president and says what has to be one of the most beautiful and revealing sentences ever to appear on Nytimes.com: “He was my professor actually at Harvard.” Almost every word of this sentence is an act of social positioning worthy of Castiglione. “My” conveys ownership, possession, and intimacy; the “actually” is a subtle exercise in one-upmanship, implying a correction of fact or status, and suggesting that Shear, who seems to have taken a course with Putnam while pursuing a graduate degree at the Kennedy School, is on closer terms with him than the president of the United States of America; and of course the big H, “Harvard,” before whose authority all must bow down....
Journalism in the 21st Century: Just Be Quiet, And You’ll Be OK
...The opinion page editor at the Chattanooga Times Free Press says he has been fired for writing an editorial that was highly critical of President Barack Obama’s new “jobs plan.”
“Take your jobs plan and shove it, Mr. President: Your policies have harmed Chattanooga enough,” the headline reads.
Drew Johnson, the now apparently former opinion page editor at the Free Press, announced his firing on Twitter Thursday.
“I just became the first person in the history of newspapers to be fired for writing a paper’s most-read article,” Johnson wrote....
...The opinion page editor at the Chattanooga Times Free Press says he has been fired for writing an editorial that was highly critical of President Barack Obama’s new “jobs plan.”
“Take your jobs plan and shove it, Mr. President: Your policies have harmed Chattanooga enough,” the headline reads.
Drew Johnson, the now apparently former opinion page editor at the Free Press, announced his firing on Twitter Thursday.
“I just became the first person in the history of newspapers to be fired for writing a paper’s most-read article,” Johnson wrote....
Obamacare hurts parents of special-needs children
President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, known as “Obamacare,” will make it more difficult for parents of special-needs children to pay for tuition at special schools and to purchase medical equipment, according to a new report.
More than 30 million Americans place money into a pre-tax Flexible Spending Account (FSA) through their employers to help save emergency funds to pay for their families’ medical costs. Obamacare institutes a brand new $2,500 cap for FSAs, which will make more money taxable and could raise $13 billion in taxes for the federal government over the next decade.
“Before Obamacare passed, there was no limit to how much money you could put into your FSA at work,” Ryan Ellis, tax policy director at Americans for Tax Reform, told The Daily Caller. Ellis was inspired to perform research on the issue after hearing the complaints of a friend with a special-needs child.
“Most people don’t, but the one group that does put a lot of money into their FSAs is parents of kids with Down Syndrome, and parents of kids with physical disabilities,” Ellis said...
President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, known as “Obamacare,” will make it more difficult for parents of special-needs children to pay for tuition at special schools and to purchase medical equipment, according to a new report.
More than 30 million Americans place money into a pre-tax Flexible Spending Account (FSA) through their employers to help save emergency funds to pay for their families’ medical costs. Obamacare institutes a brand new $2,500 cap for FSAs, which will make more money taxable and could raise $13 billion in taxes for the federal government over the next decade.
“Before Obamacare passed, there was no limit to how much money you could put into your FSA at work,” Ryan Ellis, tax policy director at Americans for Tax Reform, told The Daily Caller. Ellis was inspired to perform research on the issue after hearing the complaints of a friend with a special-needs child.
“Most people don’t, but the one group that does put a lot of money into their FSAs is parents of kids with Down Syndrome, and parents of kids with physical disabilities,” Ellis said...
Millikin U. permits a murderer who changed his identity to chair their psychology department
...Jim Wolcott is an admitted murderer. He shot his parents and sister to death in 1967. When questioned by police, he confessed to the crime, but was later found not guilty by reason of insanity. Six years later, authorities considered him cured, and authorized his release from a mental health facility. After that, he disappeared.
The psychology professor and the deranged murderer are the same person, according to a two-year investigation by the Georgetown Advocate, a weekly newspaper circulated in the region of Texas where the killings took place....
...Jim Wolcott is an admitted murderer. He shot his parents and sister to death in 1967. When questioned by police, he confessed to the crime, but was later found not guilty by reason of insanity. Six years later, authorities considered him cured, and authorized his release from a mental health facility. After that, he disappeared.
The psychology professor and the deranged murderer are the same person, according to a two-year investigation by the Georgetown Advocate, a weekly newspaper circulated in the region of Texas where the killings took place....
Thursday, August 01, 2013
Pure Evil: Obama’s Union Goons Picket Child’s Funeral, Harass Mourners, Unleash Dog on Family of Dead Woman
...The company testified in its filing that union members blocked grieving family members from leaving its parking lot, used bullhorns to shout obscenities at workers and mourners, and unleashed a German Shepard on a dead woman’s daughter and husband....
...The funeral home was eventually forced to call the police when picketers allegedly disrupted a child’s funeral with laughter. The officer asked the Teamsters to leave, but protesters returned when he drove away. “We will be here for the visitation; we will be here for your funeral,” Teamster driver Lester Plewa allegedly shouted into a bullhorn as a funeral director met with a dying man planning his arrangements with family members....
...The company testified in its filing that union members blocked grieving family members from leaving its parking lot, used bullhorns to shout obscenities at workers and mourners, and unleashed a German Shepard on a dead woman’s daughter and husband....
...The funeral home was eventually forced to call the police when picketers allegedly disrupted a child’s funeral with laughter. The officer asked the Teamsters to leave, but protesters returned when he drove away. “We will be here for the visitation; we will be here for your funeral,” Teamster driver Lester Plewa allegedly shouted into a bullhorn as a funeral director met with a dying man planning his arrangements with family members....
NSA Chief Challenges Hackers To Build Better Surveillance Program
...“Freedom!” one man shouted from the middle of the standing-room crowd.
“Exactly. We stand for freedom,” Alexander said.
“Bulls–t,” the heckler said....
...“Freedom!” one man shouted from the middle of the standing-room crowd.
“Exactly. We stand for freedom,” Alexander said.
“Bulls–t,” the heckler said....
Report: Obama appointees using secret email accounts
Several of President Obama’s political appointees are using secret government email accounts, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.
The administration officials contend the separate addresses used by the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency and other departments are necessary to keep their primary inboxes from overflowing.
But the practice invites concerns that federal agencies are conducting official business through accounts that go undetected in public records requests. It brings worries that government officials are hiding information and decisions.
"What happens when that person doesn't work there anymore? He leaves and someone makes a request (to review emails) in two years," Kel McClanahan, executive director of National Security Counselors, an open government group, told AP. "Who's going to know to search the other accounts? You would hope that agencies doing this would keep a list of aliases in a desk drawer, but you know that isn't happening."
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, former EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and several other federal officials have maintained secret email accounts.
Jackson’s use of a “Richard Windsor” alias in a separate email account was the genesis for AP requests at other agencies. The EPA’s internal watchdog is currently investigating the environmental regulator’s email practices. ...
Several of President Obama’s political appointees are using secret government email accounts, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.
The administration officials contend the separate addresses used by the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency and other departments are necessary to keep their primary inboxes from overflowing.
But the practice invites concerns that federal agencies are conducting official business through accounts that go undetected in public records requests. It brings worries that government officials are hiding information and decisions.
"What happens when that person doesn't work there anymore? He leaves and someone makes a request (to review emails) in two years," Kel McClanahan, executive director of National Security Counselors, an open government group, told AP. "Who's going to know to search the other accounts? You would hope that agencies doing this would keep a list of aliases in a desk drawer, but you know that isn't happening."
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, former EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and several other federal officials have maintained secret email accounts.
Jackson’s use of a “Richard Windsor” alias in a separate email account was the genesis for AP requests at other agencies. The EPA’s internal watchdog is currently investigating the environmental regulator’s email practices. ...
Obamacare nonprofit educates Democrats only
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ favorite pro-Obamacare nonprofit held a Democrats-only congressional briefing earlier this year, according to emails obtained by nonprofit watchdog Judicial Watch.
Enroll America president Anne Filipic, a former Obama White House aide, exchanged emails with Debra Curtis, a Democratic staffer on the House Ways and Means Committee.
“They [House Democrat leadership] want to do another one next week while Congress is in recess that would be open [to] all House Democratic Staff to start getting folks up to speed,” Curtis wrote to Filipic in a Feb. 11, 2013, email.
“We’ll check IDs to be sure we’ve got all Dems coming as well,” Curtis added the next day while projecting that a 100 people would attend....
...“That the Secretary of Health and Human Services has now admitted to having pressured the very companies her agency regulates to get behind a non-government group in support of Obamacare raises even more ethical and legal questions,” Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said in a June 4 statement....
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ favorite pro-Obamacare nonprofit held a Democrats-only congressional briefing earlier this year, according to emails obtained by nonprofit watchdog Judicial Watch.
Enroll America president Anne Filipic, a former Obama White House aide, exchanged emails with Debra Curtis, a Democratic staffer on the House Ways and Means Committee.
“They [House Democrat leadership] want to do another one next week while Congress is in recess that would be open [to] all House Democratic Staff to start getting folks up to speed,” Curtis wrote to Filipic in a Feb. 11, 2013, email.
“We’ll check IDs to be sure we’ve got all Dems coming as well,” Curtis added the next day while projecting that a 100 people would attend....
...“That the Secretary of Health and Human Services has now admitted to having pressured the very companies her agency regulates to get behind a non-government group in support of Obamacare raises even more ethical and legal questions,” Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said in a June 4 statement....
UK 'Porn' Filter Will Also Block Violence, Alcohol, Terrorism, Smoking And 'Esoteric Material'
...The United Kingdom's new internet filters promise to block much more than just pornography, according to a report by the digital advocacy organization Open Rights Group.
Last week, Prime Minister David Cameron announced online porn would soon become automatically blocked in order to "protect children and their innocence." The filters will be implemented by the UK's major internet service providers, which encompass 95% of British web users.
Based on conversations with several ISPs, Open Rights Group says the new "parental controls" will reach far beyond pornography. By default, the controls will block access to "violent material," "extremist and terrorist related content," "anorexia and eating disorder websites," and "suicide related websites."
In addition, the new settings will censor websites that mention alcohol or smoking. The filter will even block "web forums" and "esoteric material," though Open Rights Group does not specify what these categories would include. ...
...The United Kingdom's new internet filters promise to block much more than just pornography, according to a report by the digital advocacy organization Open Rights Group.
Last week, Prime Minister David Cameron announced online porn would soon become automatically blocked in order to "protect children and their innocence." The filters will be implemented by the UK's major internet service providers, which encompass 95% of British web users.
Based on conversations with several ISPs, Open Rights Group says the new "parental controls" will reach far beyond pornography. By default, the controls will block access to "violent material," "extremist and terrorist related content," "anorexia and eating disorder websites," and "suicide related websites."
In addition, the new settings will censor websites that mention alcohol or smoking. The filter will even block "web forums" and "esoteric material," though Open Rights Group does not specify what these categories would include. ...
Gov't Knows Best? White House creates 'nudge squad' to shape behavior
...The federal government is hiring what it calls a "Behavioral Insights Team" that will look for ways to subtly influence people's behavior, according to a document describing the program obtained by FoxNews.com. Critics warn there could be unintended consequences to such policies, while supporters say the team could make government and society more efficient.
While the program is still in its early stages, the document shows the White House is already working on such projects with almost a dozen federal departments and agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture.
"Behavioral sciences can be used to help design public policies that work better, cost less, and help people to achieve their goals," reads the government document describing the program, which goes on to call for applicants to apply for positions on the team.
The document was emailed by Maya Shankar, a White House senior adviser on social and behavioral sciences, to a university professor with the request that it be distributed to people interested in joining the team. The idea is that the team would "experiment" with various techniques, with the goal of tweaking behavior so people do everything from saving more for retirement to saving more in energy costs....
...The federal government is hiring what it calls a "Behavioral Insights Team" that will look for ways to subtly influence people's behavior, according to a document describing the program obtained by FoxNews.com. Critics warn there could be unintended consequences to such policies, while supporters say the team could make government and society more efficient.
While the program is still in its early stages, the document shows the White House is already working on such projects with almost a dozen federal departments and agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture.
"Behavioral sciences can be used to help design public policies that work better, cost less, and help people to achieve their goals," reads the government document describing the program, which goes on to call for applicants to apply for positions on the team.
The document was emailed by Maya Shankar, a White House senior adviser on social and behavioral sciences, to a university professor with the request that it be distributed to people interested in joining the team. The idea is that the team would "experiment" with various techniques, with the goal of tweaking behavior so people do everything from saving more for retirement to saving more in energy costs....
War on Women: Democrats Covered Up For Filner For Years, Permitting Him Fresh Victims, and Now They're Doing It Again
...The local Democratic Party has known for a long time about sexual harassment allegations against Bob Filner, a former Democratic assemblywoman said in a Thursday interview.
“I blew the whistle on this two years ago to the Democratic Party leadership,” former Assemblywoman Lori Saldaña said.
Saldaña said that in summer 2011 six prominent women in local politics, business and education told her that Filner had physically or verbally harassed them. Saldaña had been exploring what turned out to be an unsuccessful bid for Congress and the conversations came in the context of the 2012 elections.
Saldaña said she contacted former party Chairman Jess Durfee with the allegations and Durfee was among a group of Democratic leaders who met with Filner to discuss them that summer. She said nothing happened.
“As disgraceful as Bob’s behavior has been, it’s been tolerated by our Democratic Party leadership,” she said....
...Stampp Corbin, a close Filner ally and publisher of the LGBT weekly in San Diego, has filed a recall notice to recall Mayor Filthy Filner. Corbin was the first to mount a recall effort when he published a notice in the San Diego Union Tribune on Friday.
Publishing a notice for a recall starts a 60 day clock for the process...
San Diego Gay and Lesbian News reports:
By triggering the recall process on July 25, and without much fanfare, Corbin appears to be taking time away from organizers to mount a proper campaign. And it calls into question whether another recall effort led by land-use consultant Michael Pallamary, who has given Filner until today, July 29, to resign or face a recall petition, can now go forward.
Corbin has also stated he will not run a paid campaign with staff to collect signatures. If the effort fails, the recall effort would be set back as the rules dictate that there is a six month waiting period if a petition has failed....
Filner Lawyer: City Owes Legal Bills Because of Training Failure
San Diego Mayor Bob Filner’s lawyer argues the city should pay his legal fees in the sexual harassment lawsuit because Filner never received sexual harassment training required under the law.
California law requires all new managers to receive sexual harassment training within six months of being hired.
“The city failed to provide such training to Mayor Filner,” Filner’s lawyer Harvey Berger wrote in a July 29 letter to City Attorney Jan Goldsmith. “In fact, it is my understanding that such training was scheduled, but the trainer for the city unilaterally cancelled, and never re-scheduled such training for the Mayor (and others.) Therefore, if there is any liability at all, the city will almost certainly be liable for ‘failing to prevent harassment’ under Government Code Section 12940(k).”...
...The local Democratic Party has known for a long time about sexual harassment allegations against Bob Filner, a former Democratic assemblywoman said in a Thursday interview.
“I blew the whistle on this two years ago to the Democratic Party leadership,” former Assemblywoman Lori Saldaña said.
Saldaña said that in summer 2011 six prominent women in local politics, business and education told her that Filner had physically or verbally harassed them. Saldaña had been exploring what turned out to be an unsuccessful bid for Congress and the conversations came in the context of the 2012 elections.
Saldaña said she contacted former party Chairman Jess Durfee with the allegations and Durfee was among a group of Democratic leaders who met with Filner to discuss them that summer. She said nothing happened.
“As disgraceful as Bob’s behavior has been, it’s been tolerated by our Democratic Party leadership,” she said....
...Stampp Corbin, a close Filner ally and publisher of the LGBT weekly in San Diego, has filed a recall notice to recall Mayor Filthy Filner. Corbin was the first to mount a recall effort when he published a notice in the San Diego Union Tribune on Friday.
Publishing a notice for a recall starts a 60 day clock for the process...
San Diego Gay and Lesbian News reports:
By triggering the recall process on July 25, and without much fanfare, Corbin appears to be taking time away from organizers to mount a proper campaign. And it calls into question whether another recall effort led by land-use consultant Michael Pallamary, who has given Filner until today, July 29, to resign or face a recall petition, can now go forward.
Corbin has also stated he will not run a paid campaign with staff to collect signatures. If the effort fails, the recall effort would be set back as the rules dictate that there is a six month waiting period if a petition has failed....
Filner Lawyer: City Owes Legal Bills Because of Training Failure
San Diego Mayor Bob Filner’s lawyer argues the city should pay his legal fees in the sexual harassment lawsuit because Filner never received sexual harassment training required under the law.
California law requires all new managers to receive sexual harassment training within six months of being hired.
“The city failed to provide such training to Mayor Filner,” Filner’s lawyer Harvey Berger wrote in a July 29 letter to City Attorney Jan Goldsmith. “In fact, it is my understanding that such training was scheduled, but the trainer for the city unilaterally cancelled, and never re-scheduled such training for the Mayor (and others.) Therefore, if there is any liability at all, the city will almost certainly be liable for ‘failing to prevent harassment’ under Government Code Section 12940(k).”...
Tax-exempt groups were IRS targets
The IRS subjected conservative groups already granted tax-exempt status to additional scrutiny during the 2012 election cycle, House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) charged on Monday....
...He said the Virginia-based Leadership Institute was audited in 2011 and 2012 for activities it engaged in during the 2008 election year, even though it had functioned as a tax-exempt organization since 1979.
It faced “invasive questions” — including about its interns and where they went on to work — and ended up turning over to the IRS more than 23,000 pages of documents at a cost of roughly $50,000 to comply with the inquiry, Issa said.
“It has come to the attention of the committee that in addition to inappropriate treatment given to some applicants for tax-exempt status, existing organizations already recognized as tax-exempt by the IRS, appear to have faced questionable treatment by the IRS,” Issa wrote Monday in a letter to the Treasury inspector general (IG) for tax administration....
The IRS subjected conservative groups already granted tax-exempt status to additional scrutiny during the 2012 election cycle, House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) charged on Monday....
...He said the Virginia-based Leadership Institute was audited in 2011 and 2012 for activities it engaged in during the 2008 election year, even though it had functioned as a tax-exempt organization since 1979.
It faced “invasive questions” — including about its interns and where they went on to work — and ended up turning over to the IRS more than 23,000 pages of documents at a cost of roughly $50,000 to comply with the inquiry, Issa said.
“It has come to the attention of the committee that in addition to inappropriate treatment given to some applicants for tax-exempt status, existing organizations already recognized as tax-exempt by the IRS, appear to have faced questionable treatment by the IRS,” Issa wrote Monday in a letter to the Treasury inspector general (IG) for tax administration....
Obama: I Didn't Bother Asking a Lawyer If I Could Unilaterally Suspend the Law;
All I've Done Is Merely Seize Plenary Power on Behalf of the People
... MR. OBAMA: — but where Congress is unwilling to act, I will take whatever administrative steps that I can in order to do right by the American people.
And if Congress thinks that what I’ve done is inappropriate or wrong in some fashion, they’re free to make that case. But there’s not an action that I take that you don’t have some folks in Congress who say that I’m usurping my authority. Some of those folks think I usurp my authority by having the gall to win the presidency. And I don’t think that’s a secret. But ultimately, I’m not concerned about their opinions — very few of them, by the way, are lawyers, much less constitutional lawyers.
I am concerned about the folks who I spoke to today who are working really hard, are trying to figure out how they can send their kids to college, are trying to make sure that they can save for their retirement. And if I can take steps on their behalf, then I’m going to do so. And I would hope that more and more of Congress will say, you know what, since that’s our primary focus, we’re willing to work with you to advance those ideals. But I’m not just going to sit back if the only message from some of these folks is no on everything, and sit around and twiddle my thumbs for the next 1,200 days....
... MR. OBAMA: — but where Congress is unwilling to act, I will take whatever administrative steps that I can in order to do right by the American people.
And if Congress thinks that what I’ve done is inappropriate or wrong in some fashion, they’re free to make that case. But there’s not an action that I take that you don’t have some folks in Congress who say that I’m usurping my authority. Some of those folks think I usurp my authority by having the gall to win the presidency. And I don’t think that’s a secret. But ultimately, I’m not concerned about their opinions — very few of them, by the way, are lawyers, much less constitutional lawyers.
I am concerned about the folks who I spoke to today who are working really hard, are trying to figure out how they can send their kids to college, are trying to make sure that they can save for their retirement. And if I can take steps on their behalf, then I’m going to do so. And I would hope that more and more of Congress will say, you know what, since that’s our primary focus, we’re willing to work with you to advance those ideals. But I’m not just going to sit back if the only message from some of these folks is no on everything, and sit around and twiddle my thumbs for the next 1,200 days....
E-mails Suggest Collusion Between FEC, IRS to Target Conservative Groups
Embattled Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner and an attorney in the Federal Election Commission’s general counsel’s office appear to have twice colluded to influence the record before the FEC’s vote in the case of a conservative non-profit organization, according to e-mails unearthed by the House Ways and Means Committee and obtained exclusively by National Review Online. The correspondence suggests the discrimination of conservative groups extended beyond the IRS and into the FEC, where an attorney from the agency’s enforcement division in at least one case sought and received tax information about the status of a conservative group, the American Future Fund, before recommending that the commission prosecute it for violations of campaign-finance law. Lerner, the former head of the IRS’s exempt-organizations division, worked at the FEC from 1986 to 1995, and was known for aggressive investigation of conservative groups during her tenure there, too.
“Several months ago . . . I spoke with you about the American Future Fund, a 501(c)(4) organization that had submitted an exemption application the IRS [sic],” the FEC attorney wrote Lerner in February 2009. The FEC, which polices violations of campaign-finance laws, is not exempted under Rule 6103, which prohibits the IRS from sharing confidential taxpayer information, but the e-mail indicates Lerner may have provided that information nonetheless: “When we spoke last July, you had told us that the American Future Fund had not received an exemption letter from the IRS,” the FEC attorney wrote.
The timing of the correspondence between Lerner and the FEC suggests the FEC attorney sought information from the IRS in order to influence an upcoming vote by the six FEC commissioners....
Report: IRS Scrutiny Worse For Conservatives
...A House Ways and Means Committee staff analysis of the applications of 111 conservative and progressive groups applying for tax exempt status found conservative applicants faced "more questions, more denials, more delays," says committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich.
That is, when the IRS sent groups letters asking for further information, conservative groups were asked more questions — on average, three times more. All of the groups with "progressive" in their name were ultimately approved, while only 46 percent of conservative groups won approval. Others are still waiting for an answer or gave up....
IRS Targeted Existing Conservative Organizations, Too?!
Leaders from existing conservative organizations The Leadership Institute and the Clare Booth Luce Policy Institute have made credible claims that they, too, were targeted by the IRS.
The former has been in existence since 1979, yet the IRS chose to investigate its compliance with tax laws in June 2011, costing it $50,000 in legal fees and requiring it to locate and hand over 23,000 pages of paperwork. The latter group learned in January 2011 that the IRS had selected 2008 to audit -- the year one of its leaders went off the payroll temporarily to work for (gasp!) Sarah Palin....
Embattled Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner and an attorney in the Federal Election Commission’s general counsel’s office appear to have twice colluded to influence the record before the FEC’s vote in the case of a conservative non-profit organization, according to e-mails unearthed by the House Ways and Means Committee and obtained exclusively by National Review Online. The correspondence suggests the discrimination of conservative groups extended beyond the IRS and into the FEC, where an attorney from the agency’s enforcement division in at least one case sought and received tax information about the status of a conservative group, the American Future Fund, before recommending that the commission prosecute it for violations of campaign-finance law. Lerner, the former head of the IRS’s exempt-organizations division, worked at the FEC from 1986 to 1995, and was known for aggressive investigation of conservative groups during her tenure there, too.
“Several months ago . . . I spoke with you about the American Future Fund, a 501(c)(4) organization that had submitted an exemption application the IRS [sic],” the FEC attorney wrote Lerner in February 2009. The FEC, which polices violations of campaign-finance laws, is not exempted under Rule 6103, which prohibits the IRS from sharing confidential taxpayer information, but the e-mail indicates Lerner may have provided that information nonetheless: “When we spoke last July, you had told us that the American Future Fund had not received an exemption letter from the IRS,” the FEC attorney wrote.
The timing of the correspondence between Lerner and the FEC suggests the FEC attorney sought information from the IRS in order to influence an upcoming vote by the six FEC commissioners....
Report: IRS Scrutiny Worse For Conservatives
...A House Ways and Means Committee staff analysis of the applications of 111 conservative and progressive groups applying for tax exempt status found conservative applicants faced "more questions, more denials, more delays," says committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich.
That is, when the IRS sent groups letters asking for further information, conservative groups were asked more questions — on average, three times more. All of the groups with "progressive" in their name were ultimately approved, while only 46 percent of conservative groups won approval. Others are still waiting for an answer or gave up....
IRS Targeted Existing Conservative Organizations, Too?!
Leaders from existing conservative organizations The Leadership Institute and the Clare Booth Luce Policy Institute have made credible claims that they, too, were targeted by the IRS.
The former has been in existence since 1979, yet the IRS chose to investigate its compliance with tax laws in June 2011, costing it $50,000 in legal fees and requiring it to locate and hand over 23,000 pages of paperwork. The latter group learned in January 2011 that the IRS had selected 2008 to audit -- the year one of its leaders went off the payroll temporarily to work for (gasp!) Sarah Palin....
Leader of ATF During ‘Fast and Furious’ Fallout Confirmed as New Director
...House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) noted after Jones’ nomination that the U.S. attorney hasn’t held key personnel accountable for Operation Fast and Furious and never publicly defended the whistleblowers in the scandal who faced retaliation for their actions.
Jones even taped a video for ATF employees to discourage whistleblowing, gave special treatment to a supervisor cited for negligence in Fast and Furious, and hasn’t been willing to engage with Congress in the Fast and Furious investigation, Issa said.
“Jones was first brought into the job of ATF Acting Director in the middle of the Fast and Furious scandal after Justice Department officials had falsely denied reckless conduct and allegations by his predecessor that there was an effort underway to shield the Department’s senior political appointees from the scandal,” he said. “Because of the numerous ATF mistakes during his tenure as Acting Director pertaining to Fast and Furious, his nomination is a slap in the face to the family of fallen Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, Mexican citizens whose murder has been linked to Fast and Furious weapons, and ATF whistleblowers whom he failed to support.”
...House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) noted after Jones’ nomination that the U.S. attorney hasn’t held key personnel accountable for Operation Fast and Furious and never publicly defended the whistleblowers in the scandal who faced retaliation for their actions.
Jones even taped a video for ATF employees to discourage whistleblowing, gave special treatment to a supervisor cited for negligence in Fast and Furious, and hasn’t been willing to engage with Congress in the Fast and Furious investigation, Issa said.
“Jones was first brought into the job of ATF Acting Director in the middle of the Fast and Furious scandal after Justice Department officials had falsely denied reckless conduct and allegations by his predecessor that there was an effort underway to shield the Department’s senior political appointees from the scandal,” he said. “Because of the numerous ATF mistakes during his tenure as Acting Director pertaining to Fast and Furious, his nomination is a slap in the face to the family of fallen Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, Mexican citizens whose murder has been linked to Fast and Furious weapons, and ATF whistleblowers whom he failed to support.”
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