In order to ensure that this thread continues to meet TL standards and follows the proper guidelines, we will be enforcing the rules in the OP more strictly. Be sure to give them a re-read to refresh your memory! The vast majority of you are contributing in a healthy way, keep it up!
NOTE: When providing a source, explain why you feel it is relevant and what purpose it adds to the discussion if it's not obvious. Also take note that unsubstantiated tweets/posts meant only to rekindle old arguments can result in a mod action.
On May 15 2013 01:03 KwarK wrote: Immediately after the incident Beck went on a rant about how the only reason someone would be talking about his day with online people he'd never met but who he played a mmorpg with is if he and they were all CIA and he was trying to get a message to them. That is the root of the CIA aspect of this story. Basically Glenn Beck doesn't understand social gaming, is a moron and should be ridiculed. It's comparable to suggesting that ESPORTS are a front for smuggling white boys into Korea. At first it doesn't make sense, then, as you consider it more deeply, it makes less sense.
That's not the root of the CIA aspect at all: it is merely Glenn Beck's deranged take on it. Why are we discussing him at all? Glenn Beck is not a reliable source.
On May 15 2013 01:03 KwarK wrote: Immediately after the incident Beck went on a rant about how the only reason someone would be talking about his day with online people he'd never met but who he played a mmorpg with is if he and they were all CIA and he was trying to get a message to them. That is the root of the CIA aspect of this story. Basically Glenn Beck doesn't understand social gaming, is a moron and should be ridiculed. It's comparable to suggesting that ESPORTS are a front for smuggling white boys into Korea. At first it doesn't make sense, then, as you consider it more deeply, it makes less sense.
That's not the root of the CIA aspect at all: it is merely Glenn Beck's deranged take on it. Why are we discussing him at all? Glenn Beck is not a reliable source.
it is a pretty clever jab at wcs and no region lock though.
On May 15 2013 01:24 KwarK wrote: You think the narrative would still be about the CIA without his immediate uninformed rant? The first guy to the podium shapes the story.
The narrative mostly isn't about the CIA for Republicans, because it doesn't fit well into their narrative of Obama's failure on the issue.
On May 15 2013 01:24 KwarK wrote: You think the narrative would still be about the CIA without his immediate uninformed rant? The first guy to the podium shapes the story.
The narrative mostly isn't about the CIA for Republicans, because it doesn't fit well into their narrative of Obama's failure on the issue.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc is mostly what the narrative is for republicanism, or obamas use of it in this situation. specifically of Obama wanting to cover up that Bengazi was a terrorist strike on an undefended CIA outpost and he did nothing to stop the attack, despite repeated warnings from the CIA, and then did nothing afterword to defend the CIA outpost with his ambassador or to prepare for the situation that he was repeatedly warned by the CIA to prepare for.
On May 14 2013 13:48 aksfjh wrote: Not quoting all of your nonsense babbling. By definition, delaying is not the same as denying. You (and conservative outlets it seems) are making a mountain out of a molehill. This is the "Benghazi coverup" all over again, where mistakes were made on some level, but are made out as some sort of grand conspiracy by right wing nutjobs.
Everything you wrote after the first sentence, an insulting dismissal, is superfluous ad hominem. You are not arguing with me about the mountainy or molehilly quality of the kerfuffle, you are arguing with the Washington Post, several Democratic congressmen, etc.
Internal Revenue Service officials in Washington and at least two other offices were involved with investigating conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, making clear that the effort reached well beyond the branch in Cincinnati that was initially blamed, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.
IRS officials at the agency’s Washington headquarters sent queries to conservative groups asking about their donors and other aspects of their operations, while officials in the El Monte and Laguna Niguel offices in California sent similar questionnaires to tea-party-affiliated groups, the documents show.
IRS employees in Cincinnati told conservatives seeking the status of “social welfare” groups that a task force in Washington was overseeing their applications, according to interviews with the activists.
Lois G. Lerner, who oversees tax-exempt groups for the IRS, told reporters Friday that the “absolutely inappropriate” actions were undertaken by “front-line people” working in Cincinnati to target groups with “tea party,” “patriot” or “9/12” in their names.
In one instance, however, Ron Bell, an IRS employee, informed a lawyer representing a conservative group focused on voter fraud that the application was under review in Washington. On several other occasions, IRS officials in Washington and California sent conservative groups detailed questionnaires about their voter outreach and other activities, according to the documents.
“For the IRS to say it was some low-level group in Cincinnati is simply false,” said Cleta Mitchell, a partner in the law firm Foley & Lardner who sought to communicate with IRS headquarters about the delay in granting tax-exempt status to True the Vote.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When tax agents started singling out non-profit groups for extra scrutiny in 2010, they looked at first only for key words such as 'Tea Party,' but later they focused on criticisms by groups of "how the country is being run," according to investigative findings reviewed by Reuters on Sunday.
Gee, I wonder if certain events in November 2010 and November 2012 had anything to do with this IRS practice.
Looks like the "it's Cincinnati's fault" excuse is right out the window too. More lies from this Administration.
Other than subject the Tea Party groups to a larger scrutinizing glance, is there any evidence they were denied status or fined because of their political affiliations?
Delaying status by asking lengthy, involved and inappropriate questions is denying status. When this happens in an election year it may not exactly be worse, but the reason why is a lot more transparent.
Was the IRS targeting audits as well, based on the Obama campaign's already shameful personal attack on Romney donors?
Thug government. Brought to you by Hope 'n Change "Hit back twice as hard!" Chicago Thug-in-Chief Obama. Oops, calling someone a gangster when he acts like a gangster is racist if his skin is brown. I'm sorry Barack, don't audit me or ask for a list of all my friends bro.
I'm sorry, has anyone here accused you of racism or something? Or are you that defensive about it solely due to some small sense of self-awareness?
I won't accuse you of racism for calling Obama a "thug", but I will accuse you of obscene sensationalism and making gross assumptions. There is absolutely nothing in anything you've posted, that suggested that Obama, the "Thug-in-Chief", had anything to do with procuring confidential information.
No, calling a gangster a gangster isn't itself racist. Calling Obama a "thug" (I thought he was a weak-willed apologist, or was that last year?) because of a conspiracy theory you concocted in your head on the other hand, is at the very least moronic, as is deflecting accusations of racism before ever being called a racist.
As for the right-wing hyperbole regarding Benghazi and the IRS: campaign staffs are large organizations. Our military and intelligence agencies are large organizations.
Mistakes happen on all levels. And let's be honest, none of this is anywhere near as disastrous, blunderous, or stupid as the 9/11 hijackings or our subsequent invasion of a country that had nothing to do with it.
If you want to accuse Obama of something specific, substantial and corroborative, that'd be great.
Otherwise I really think this forum doesn't need to be subjected to conspiracy-theories over how every bad thing to happen at a federal level is somehow due to Obama's personal machinations.
Reading one WSJ article, which talks about a website making these lists of Romney donors. I'm sorry, do you really think Obama is in the business of creating websites? How fucking dumb can you be? Even if we think there is wrongdoing here, there is absolutely nothing in anything you've linked, that ties anything to the White House, let alone the President himself. It isn't just sensationalism to post some links and then talk about what a thug it makes our President out to be -- it's just pure bullshit.
Haven't you heard the joke that any criticism of Obama is racist, and any negative adjective attached to him is actually a racist dog whistle?
You haven't been watching your Chris Matthews, have you
Oh yes, Obama isn't responsible for the actions of his Administration because the buck stopped at George W. Bush, or something.
I'm wondering if you can make a post that doesn't include "moronic," "retarded," or something similar.
I blame George W. Bush. Now there's a classic. Now, what exactly do September 11th and Iraq have to do with the IRS? Zippidee-doo-dah. Hey, look, a squirrel! With George W. Bush's face! Bush! Bush!
If you want to admit that presidents bear responsibility for what their administrations do even if they're Democrats, that'd be great!
Otherwise I think you're just throwing a temper tantrum.
I'm sorry, Obama is not responsible for what his campaign did?
Barack Obama: responsible for nothing done in his name or by his underlings. Also, you're dumb. You heard it first, from Leporello.
Hey, Richard Nixon didn't personally break into the Watergate annex. He also didn't know anything about it until Bob H.R. Haldeman told Nixon what had been done on his behalf. So... Nixon impeachment, unfair? Right?
Legal filings show that the problems for Z Street — and apparently for other Israel-related groups — stemmed from an obscure unit in the Cincinnati IRS office: the “Touch and Go Group.” One of the so-called TAG Group’s duties was to weed out applications that might be coming from organizations which might be used to fund terrorism.
In response to Z Street’s lawsuit, an IRS manager acknowledged that applications mentioning Israel were getting special attention.
“Israel is one of many Middle Eastern countries that have a ‘higher risk of terrorism,’” wrote Jon Waddell, manager of the IRS’s Exempt Organizations Determinations Group. “A referral to TAG is appropriate whenever an application mentions providing resources to organizations in a country with a higher risk of terrorism.”
However, Z Street and other groups reported getting unusual inquiries from the IRS. A Z Street lawyer was contacted by a Jewish religious group, which detailed inquiries from the IRS that the group’s leaders thought had treaded too far.
“Does your organization support the existence of the land of Israel? Describe your organization’s religious belief system towards the land of Israel,” the IRS asked in a letter sent to the religious group, which asked not to be named.
“If they’re asking that of that group, what else are they asking?” Lowenthal Marcus asked.
...
Other Muslim leaders said the latest headlines struck a familiar chord with them. “When the story came out [about the tea party groups], a lot of us said this is the same thing that has been happening to us over the past decade,” said Abed Ayoub of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
Ayoub said he was unaware of any significant change since Obama’s remarks in 2009. “There hasn’t been a visible change to the guidelines and the processes within the Department of the Treasury and the IRS. It has been an ongoing battle it’s a constant struggle for us,” he said. “The Tea Party is kind of in the same boat with many Muslim organizations on this issue now.”
Except, of course, that multiple Muslim charities have been exposed as being fronts for terrorist fundraising. Like the Global Relief Foundation (Taliban) and the Holy Land Foundation (Hamas).
When Jennifer Stefano of suburban Philadelphia tried to start a tea party group, the IRS sent her so many questions that she figured it was easier to quit.
"In the documents that were sent to me, if you did not tell the whole truth by not putting all your personal information out there by Facebook, by Twitter, of your personal relationship with candidates and parties ... it could be considered perjury and perjury carried jail time," Stefano, 39, told ABC News.
"That was frightening and that's why I shut it down. I shut my group down."
Ain't that America, the home of the free? Hey, adsfagahfahha, how much of a molehill do you think that was to Jennifer Stefano? She's obviously just some right-wing nutjob though, right? Let's just dismiss her because, you know, who cares about those right-wing nutjobs?
Several things were apparently happening. Each of the different players had their hands on a different piece of the elephant. If there was any piece of the talking points that everybody couldn’t agree upon, it got cut. Second, the administration proceeded with extreme caution about drawing conclusions, possibly overlearning the lessons from the Bush years. Third, as the memos moved up the C.I.A. management chain, the higher officials made them more tepid (this is apparently typical). Finally, in the absence of a clear narrative, the talking points gravitated toward the least politically problematic story, blaming the anti-Muslim video and the Cairo demonstrations.
I'm less concerned with the supposed "cover-ups" and mis-handlings of the situation as I am with the quickness of throwing free speech under the bus for a simple political solution to their complex problem. How this author can defend Nuland for backing her department at the expense of someone's freedom is beyond me.
Vermont’s legislature on Monday voted to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, making the New England state the 17th to relax restrictions on the drug.
The House of Representatives followed an earlier vote in the state Senate in favor of the measure and Governor Peter Shumlin, a strong supporter, was expected to sign it into law.
The law would decriminalize possession of up to one ounce (28.3 grams) of marijuana and also small quantities of hashish, although a civil penalty similar to a traffic fine would still be imposed.
Springfield farmer Ryan Loflin on Monday planted the nation's first industrial hemp crop in almost 60 years.
Loflin's plans to grow hemp already have been chronicled, and Monday's planting attracted the attention of more media in southeastern Colorado and a documentary film crew.
Hemp is genetically related to marijuana but contains little or no THC, the psychoactive substance in marijuana. Hemp has dozens of uses in food, cosmetics, clothing and industrial materials.
Its cultivation in small test plots became legal last year under a Colorado law. The passage of Amendment 64 in November allowed commercial growing, even though hemp, like marijuana, is illegal under federal law.
Loflin is planting 60 acres on acreage previously used to grow alfalfa. He and business partner Chris Thompson also are installing a seed press to produce hemp oil.
Collaborators in the documentary include the Colorado-based advocacy group Hemp Cleans and hemp-products company Hemp Inc.
Vermont’s legislature on Monday voted to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, making the New England state the 17th to relax restrictions on the drug.
The House of Representatives followed an earlier vote in the state Senate in favor of the measure and Governor Peter Shumlin, a strong supporter, was expected to sign it into law.
The law would decriminalize possession of up to one ounce (28.3 grams) of marijuana and also small quantities of hashish, although a civil penalty similar to a traffic fine would still be imposed.
Springfield farmer Ryan Loflin on Monday planted the nation's first industrial hemp crop in almost 60 years.
Loflin's plans to grow hemp already have been chronicled, and Monday's planting attracted the attention of more media in southeastern Colorado and a documentary film crew.
Hemp is genetically related to marijuana but contains little or no THC, the psychoactive substance in marijuana. Hemp has dozens of uses in food, cosmetics, clothing and industrial materials.
Its cultivation in small test plots became legal last year under a Colorado law. The passage of Amendment 64 in November allowed commercial growing, even though hemp, like marijuana, is illegal under federal law.
Loflin is planting 60 acres on acreage previously used to grow alfalfa. He and business partner Chris Thompson also are installing a seed press to produce hemp oil.
Collaborators in the documentary include the Colorado-based advocacy group Hemp Cleans and hemp-products company Hemp Inc.
The town is turning on President Obama – and this is very bad news for this White House.
Republicans have waited five years for the moment to put the screws to Obama – and they have one-third of all congressional committees on the case now. Establishment Democrats, never big fans of this president to begin with, are starting to speak out. And reporters are tripping over themselves to condemn lies, bullying and shadiness in the Obama administration.
Buy-in from all three D.C. stakeholders is an essential ingredient for a good old fashioned Washington pile-on — so get ready for bad stories and public scolding to pile-up.
Vernon Jordan, a close adviser to President Bill Clinton through his darkest days, told us: “It’s never all right if you’re the president. There is no smooth sailing. So now he has the turbulence, and this is the ultimate test of his leadership.” Jordan says Obama needs to do something dramatic on the IRS, and quick: “He needs to fire somebody. He needs action, not conversation.”
Obama’s aloof mien and holier-than-thou rhetoric have left him with little reservoir of good will, even among Democrats. And the press, after years of being accused of being soft on Obama while being berated by West Wing aides on matters big and small, now has every incentive to be as ruthless as can be.
This White House’s instinctive petulance, arrogance and defensiveness have all worked together to isolate Obama at a time when he most needs a support system. “It feel like they don’t know what they’re here to do,” a former senior Obama administration official said. “When there’s no narrative, stuff like this consumes you.”
Someone should tell those right-wing nutjobs in the Democratic party and the press and particularly at Politico (holier-than-thou rhetoric? Instinctive petulance, arrogance, and defensiveness? Wow did Democrat-friendly Politico really say that?) to stop making mountains out of molehills.
WASHINGTON — A soldier assigned to coordinate a sexual assault prevention program in Texas is under investigation for "abusive sexual contact" and other alleged misconduct and has been suspended from his duties, the Army announced Tuesday.
Just last week an Air Force officer who headed a sexual assault prevention office was himself arrested on charges of groping a woman in a parking lot.
The Army said a sergeant first class, whose name was not released, is accused of pandering, abusive sexual contact, assault and maltreatment of subordinates. He is being investigated by the Army Criminal Investigation Command. No charges have been filed.
He had been assigned as an equal opportunity adviser and coordinator of a sexual harassment-assault prevention program at the Army's 3rd Corps headquarters at Fort Hood, Texas, when the allegation arose, the Army said.
On May 15 2013 10:40 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: It's an issue of debate in regards that the "town" hates Obama, Eric Holder is another matter entirely. He is not liked by anybody right or left.
Evidently, he's liked enough by Obama to keep him on after Fast and Furious, New Black Panthers voter intimidation, and there's no indication that he's gone after this AP story mess. There's been chances in the past for a resignation, but none have been seized. Even in his post-Boston Massacre speech, the only fire I saw out of him was vigorously defending counter-violence against Muslims. I'd kinda miss him for all the stories he generates, and what caliber of attorney general Obama would appoint next.
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) raised the stakes of her quest to find out why a single Wall Street bank has not been prosecuted in the aftermath of the financial crisis Tuesday, sending a letter to the heads of three federal agencies.
Warren, a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs asked Attorney General Eric Holder, current Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary Jo White and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke whether they had done any cost-benefit research into prosecuting a bank versus settling with one, which is equivalent to a slap on the wrist for a profitable financial institution.
"Have you conducted any internal research or analysis on trade-offs to the public between settling an enforcement action without admission of guilt and going forward with litigation as necessary to obtain such admission and, if so, can you provide that analysis to my office?" Warren said in the letter.
On Feb. 14, Warren came to her first banking committee hearing and asked federal agencies tasked with bank regulation a related, straightforward question: When was the last time you took a Wall Street bank to trial?
"We do not have to bring people to trial," said Thomas Curry, the head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the independent bank regulator within the Treasury Department.
Warren then put the question to Elisse Walter, the former SEC chairwoman. Her response: "I will have to get back to you with specific information."
"There are district attorneys and United States attorneys out there every day squeezing ordinary citizens on sometimes very thin grounds and taking them to trial in order to make an example, as they put it. I'm really concerned that 'too big to fail' has become 'too big for trial,'" Warren said.
Vermont’s legislature on Monday voted to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, making the New England state the 17th to relax restrictions on the drug.
The House of Representatives followed an earlier vote in the state Senate in favor of the measure and Governor Peter Shumlin, a strong supporter, was expected to sign it into law.
The law would decriminalize possession of up to one ounce (28.3 grams) of marijuana and also small quantities of hashish, although a civil penalty similar to a traffic fine would still be imposed.
Springfield farmer Ryan Loflin on Monday planted the nation's first industrial hemp crop in almost 60 years.
Loflin's plans to grow hemp already have been chronicled, and Monday's planting attracted the attention of more media in southeastern Colorado and a documentary film crew.
Hemp is genetically related to marijuana but contains little or no THC, the psychoactive substance in marijuana. Hemp has dozens of uses in food, cosmetics, clothing and industrial materials.
Its cultivation in small test plots became legal last year under a Colorado law. The passage of Amendment 64 in November allowed commercial growing, even though hemp, like marijuana, is illegal under federal law.
Loflin is planting 60 acres on acreage previously used to grow alfalfa. He and business partner Chris Thompson also are installing a seed press to produce hemp oil.
Collaborators in the documentary include the Colorado-based advocacy group Hemp Cleans and hemp-products company Hemp Inc.
The town is turning on President Obama – and this is very bad news for this White House.
Republicans have waited five years for the moment to put the screws to Obama – and they have one-third of all congressional committees on the case now. Establishment Democrats, never big fans of this president to begin with, are starting to speak out. And reporters are tripping over themselves to condemn lies, bullying and shadiness in the Obama administration.
Buy-in from all three D.C. stakeholders is an essential ingredient for a good old fashioned Washington pile-on — so get ready for bad stories and public scolding to pile-up.
Vernon Jordan, a close adviser to President Bill Clinton through his darkest days, told us: “It’s never all right if you’re the president. There is no smooth sailing. So now he has the turbulence, and this is the ultimate test of his leadership.” Jordan says Obama needs to do something dramatic on the IRS, and quick: “He needs to fire somebody. He needs action, not conversation.”
Obama’s aloof mien and holier-than-thou rhetoric have left him with little reservoir of good will, even among Democrats. And the press, after years of being accused of being soft on Obama while being berated by West Wing aides on matters big and small, now has every incentive to be as ruthless as can be.
This White House’s instinctive petulance, arrogance and defensiveness have all worked together to isolate Obama at a time when he most needs a support system. “It feel like they don’t know what they’re here to do,” a former senior Obama administration official said. “When there’s no narrative, stuff like this consumes you.”
Someone should tell those right-wing nutjobs in the Democratic party and the press and particularly at Politico (holier-than-thou rhetoric? Instinctive petulance, arrogance, and defensiveness? Wow did Democrat-friendly Politico really say that?) to stop making mountains out of molehills.
You can blame the IRS for the tea party controversy or the Justice Department for obtaining the phone calls of AP reporters (although it seems that the verdict is still out on whether this was done illegally or within the law), but no one has any evidence linking Obama to these stuff ups. Obama doesn't manage what people within the IRS and Justice Department does. Also, Jared Bernstein writes about the IRS controversy, arguing that the tax-free status of groups that promote "social welfare" is so vague as to be impossible to objectively categorize.
It's also quite hypocritical for Republicans to be blasting Obama for investigating the leaks when they were accusing the White House of being behind the leaks to bolster Obama's foreign policy record.
In normal times, an arithmetic mistake in an economics paper would be a complete nonevent as far as the wider world was concerned. But in April 2013, the discovery of such a mistake—actually, a coding error in a spreadsheet, coupled with several other flaws in the analysis—not only became the talk of the economics profession, but made headlines. Looking back, we might even conclude that it changed the course of policy.
Was reading an 'alleged' AP story timeline and thought I would share.
It turns out Fahd al-Quso, whom the government alleged was Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s external operations director when he was killed in a drone strike May 6 of last year, never lived to see the AP’s UndieBomb 2.0 story, which presumably described a plot he masterminded. That’s because he died during the time period AP was delaying publication at the government’s request.
As part of its effort to show how ridiculous it is for the Administration to seize 20 phone lines of call records to investigate a story on which the AP ceded to White House requests, the AP released this timeline of Administration statements surrounding their UndieBomb 2.0 plot.
Most of the dates were previously known (and have appeared in my posts on the subject). But I believe this one–the date AP first went to the White House with the UndieBomb story–is new.
May 2, 2012: Federal government officials ask the AP to delay publishing a story about a foiled plot by al-Qaida’s affiliate in Yemen to destroy a U.S.-bound airliner, which the AP had recently discovered. They cite national security concerns. The AP agrees to temporarily delay publishing until national security concerns are allayed.
Which makes the timeline from that period look like this:
April 18: Greg Miller first reports on debate over signature strikes
Around April 20: UndieBomb 2.0 device recovered
Around April 22: John Brennan takes over drone targeting from JSOC
April 22: Drone strike that–WSJ reports, “Intelligence analysts [worked] to identify those killed” after the fact, suggesting possible signature strike
April 24: Robert Mueller in Yemen for 45 minute meeting, presumably to pick up UndieBomb
April 25: WSJ reports that Obama approved use of signature strikes
April 30: John Brennan gives speech, purportedly bringing new transparency to drone program, without addressing signature strikes
May 2: Government asks AP to delay reporting the UndieBomb 2.0 story, citing national security
May 6: Fahd al-Quso killed
May 7: Government tells AP the national security concerns have been allayed; AP reports on UndieBomb 2.0
May 8: ABC reports UndieBomb 2.0 was Saudi-run infiltrator
May 15: Drone strike in Jaar kills a number of civilians
While it was fairly clear in any case (and reporting had linked the UndieBomb 2.0 plot with Quso’s death), this timeline makes it crystal clear.
The delay was about killing Fahd al-Quso.
And yet, even after the AP waited 5 days to break the story, allowing the government to drone kill a human being in the interim, the Administration still launched a witch hunt against the AP for a story that became damaging only after John Brennan ran his blabby mouth.
On May 15 2013 10:40 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: It's an issue of debate in regards that the "town" hates Obama, Eric Holder is another matter entirely. He is not liked by anybody right or left.
Evidently, he's liked enough by Obama to keep him on after Fast and Furious, New Black Panthers voter intimidation, and there's no indication that he's gone after this AP story mess. There's been chances in the past for a resignation, but none have been seized. Even in his post-Boston Massacre speech, the only fire I saw out of him was vigorously defending counter-violence against Muslims. I'd kinda miss him for all the stories he generates, and what caliber of attorney general Obama would appoint next.
Eric Holder will never surprise me. The first time I ever heard his name was controversial(Okla City Bombing). The man that was thought to be John Doe 2, but wasn't, and died in FBI custody. His brother(lawyer) is still filing suits. Jesse Trentadue is his name. Replace Holder with Trentadue .
“You need to know that Eric Holder…played a key role in covering up the torture-murder death of my brother, Kenneth Michael Trentadue.”
This is what Salt Lake City attorney Jesse Trentadue wrote in December of 2008 to prospective incoming chairman of the Senate Justice Committee, Patrick Leahy. The newly-elected Barack Obama had made Holder his choice for Attorney General, and Trentadue was going to do everything in his power to stop this shameful appointment going forward.
Kenneth Trentadue was killed in Oklahoma City on August 21st of 1995, four months after the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building. He had been taken into custody by the FBI and placed in an isolation cell at a federal facility in El Reno, Oklahoma.
The official government report on the cause of death presented to Trentadue’s family stated that Kenneth hanged himself in his cell. But massive bruises and lacerations from head to toe compelled even the Oklahoma City medical examiner to state “very likely he was murdered.”
Using emails and handwritten notes acquired in a 1997 wrongful death lawsuit against the DOJ, Trentadue demonstrated quite conclusively in his correspondence to Patrick Leahy that then-Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder had engineered a scheme to sidetrack any investigation into his brother’s death in order to “…deflect congressional oversight and media attention…”
A fifteen-year investigation by Jesse Trentadue revealed that Eric Holder had covered up the murder of his brother in order to prevent congressional investigators linking the death, and eventually the Clinton Administration itself, to the Oklahoma City bombing. And Holder’s efforts to derail the Fast and Furious probe have made it clear that 20 years have not changed the Attorney General’s propensity for corruption and deceit. For from the aftermath of Oklahoma City to the smuggling of guns across the Mexican border, Eric Holder has callously concealed murders for which two administrations have been responsible.
It’s hardly surprising that Holder’s DOJ minions have decided to not prosecute the Attorney General for the comparatively minor offense of refusing to provide Congress with subpoenaed documents. After all, Eric Holder has gotten away with murder—or at least with being an accessory after the fact—for nearly 2 decades.
Vermont’s legislature on Monday voted to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, making the New England state the 17th to relax restrictions on the drug.
The House of Representatives followed an earlier vote in the state Senate in favor of the measure and Governor Peter Shumlin, a strong supporter, was expected to sign it into law.
The law would decriminalize possession of up to one ounce (28.3 grams) of marijuana and also small quantities of hashish, although a civil penalty similar to a traffic fine would still be imposed.
Springfield farmer Ryan Loflin on Monday planted the nation's first industrial hemp crop in almost 60 years.
Loflin's plans to grow hemp already have been chronicled, and Monday's planting attracted the attention of more media in southeastern Colorado and a documentary film crew.
Hemp is genetically related to marijuana but contains little or no THC, the psychoactive substance in marijuana. Hemp has dozens of uses in food, cosmetics, clothing and industrial materials.
Its cultivation in small test plots became legal last year under a Colorado law. The passage of Amendment 64 in November allowed commercial growing, even though hemp, like marijuana, is illegal under federal law.
Loflin is planting 60 acres on acreage previously used to grow alfalfa. He and business partner Chris Thompson also are installing a seed press to produce hemp oil.
Collaborators in the documentary include the Colorado-based advocacy group Hemp Cleans and hemp-products company Hemp Inc.
The town is turning on President Obama – and this is very bad news for this White House.
Republicans have waited five years for the moment to put the screws to Obama – and they have one-third of all congressional committees on the case now. Establishment Democrats, never big fans of this president to begin with, are starting to speak out. And reporters are tripping over themselves to condemn lies, bullying and shadiness in the Obama administration.
Buy-in from all three D.C. stakeholders is an essential ingredient for a good old fashioned Washington pile-on — so get ready for bad stories and public scolding to pile-up.
Vernon Jordan, a close adviser to President Bill Clinton through his darkest days, told us: “It’s never all right if you’re the president. There is no smooth sailing. So now he has the turbulence, and this is the ultimate test of his leadership.” Jordan says Obama needs to do something dramatic on the IRS, and quick: “He needs to fire somebody. He needs action, not conversation.”
Obama’s aloof mien and holier-than-thou rhetoric have left him with little reservoir of good will, even among Democrats. And the press, after years of being accused of being soft on Obama while being berated by West Wing aides on matters big and small, now has every incentive to be as ruthless as can be.
This White House’s instinctive petulance, arrogance and defensiveness have all worked together to isolate Obama at a time when he most needs a support system. “It feel like they don’t know what they’re here to do,” a former senior Obama administration official said. “When there’s no narrative, stuff like this consumes you.”
Someone should tell those right-wing nutjobs in the Democratic party and the press and particularly at Politico (holier-than-thou rhetoric? Instinctive petulance, arrogance, and defensiveness? Wow did Democrat-friendly Politico really say that?) to stop making mountains out of molehills.
But they are. All those issues are nearly irrelevant issues that are used to distract from real issues that US faces and both parties do not want to deal with the real issues.
Especially the IRS issue. Fuckups by governmental agencies are so common and mostly have nothing to do with specific government that is in power at that time. This specific one is also one of the most benign that I ever heard of. Tax-exemption is nonsense in itself, some unfairness in getting that status is nothing compared to 1000+ fuckups that every administration in past 100 years had on its watch. Should it be dealt with, of course. Is it some big issue that justifies the whole PR campaign that was created around it ? No.
Creating artificial PR issues is what politicians do nowadays, especially in US. Seems it works very well for them.
And one notch at a time, [...] American civilization, American culture, Western civilization, Western Judeo-Christiandom, are eroded, and they're carrying out a plan that has been put in place, and thought out and advocated for almost, now, about 90 years ago.
I don't think I've ever been so sure of my party affiliation after watching this. But then again, I'm just part of the piece, part of the machine that erodes Western Judeo-Christiandom.
EPT
