Senators Ask IRS to Audit Political Foes
It is the Chicago Way to use government regulations against your political opponents. It is the biased media who minimizes the scandal. The election is over by the time the courts decide the case and impose a minor fine. Now we have the Chicago Way on the national stage as US Senators asked the IRS to audit their political opponents, while at the same time ignoring the partisan political organizations who helped elect them. Several Democrat Senators Carl Levin, Max Baucus, Charles E. Schumer, Michael Bennet, Sheldon Whitehouse, Jeff Merkley, Tom Udall, Jeanne Shaheen and Al Franken wrote such letters to the IRS. The asked that organizations promoting smaller government be audited and their tax status be examined by the IRS. They targeted pro-life organizations before the 2012 election.
- You can websearch yourself, or read about it here.=>>
- http://www.policymic.com/articles/42673/irs-scandal-democrats-who-encouraged-irs-to-target-conservatives-now-feign-outrage
- http://netrightdaily.com/2013/05/sen-max-baucus-asked-irs-in-2010-to-investigate-501c-groups-letter-shows/
- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324767004578484783289409270.html
- http://freebeacon.com/under-pressure-2/
The EPA, Labor Department and Department of Justice are powerful political weapons. I bet Senators made similar communications targeting companies who failed to make requested political contributions. That is the Chicago Way.
And the partisan media ignores the scandal until the election is over.
It is the Chicago Way, so have your “donations” ready.
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Rob we are all Chicagoans now.
In a simple experiment you change one variable and look for a different result.
I wrote about social engineering by politicians and the media. Private citizens perform experiments in social engineering as well. In this case some private citizens will give peace a chance, one free shotgun at a time. They think firearms will reduce crime.
The debate about violent crime is long running. To find out if guns will make us safer, we have to go talk to likely victims, and crime is anything but uniform. There are dangerous cities and violent areas within those cities. The Armed Citizen Project reaches out to the needy in our violent and crime ridden neighborhoods. They teach single moms in high crime areas about self-defense. Like all proper experiments, the potential victims, training and firearms are mixed under carefully controlled conditions. The recipients in the Armed Citizen Project are vetted. They are screened for criminal convictions, drug use, and must also pass a firearms background check. They are given instruction on home security, firearms storage and the legal and ethical use of deadly force. All this happens before they receive firearms instruction, including hands-on time at the range. They must pass each class before they are given a free gun and gun lock. Applicants are selected and trained in a several block area at one time. The first class from Houston, Texas graduated a few weeks ago. Classes are being organized in Tucson, Chicago and Detroit.
Those several blocks near Jester Park on Houston’s north side are posted and publicized as armed self-defense zones. What do you think will happen to the crime rate in those areas? Few criminals want to die in a stranger’s hallway. I think criminals will think twice about a burglary when the apartment could be occupied and the occupant might be armed and trained. Burglars will spend more time making sure the house is empty, and that takes time. Maybe a burglar will decide to rob apartments in some other part of town. We will see, because the Armed Citizen Project is collecting crime statistics in these areas and comparing the results against pre-selected control areas. Experiments have a control group.
The armed citizen project predicts that the infrequent incidence of crime will drop. I think they’re right. Time will tell, and soon we will have another enduring truth to add to our SlowFacts. I met Kyle Coplen and the Armed Citizen’s Project in Houston. They have instructors lined up, but their rate of growth is limited by donations.
They have my money. You can donate here.
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Rob the giver
Unemployment line in Greece
Two out of three young Greeks can’t find a job. That alone is bad news. More bad news is that the statistic ignores the young men and women gave up on Greece and took jobs in other countries. It ignores that the future of Greece is now permanently smaller as young Greeks start new lives somewhere else.
An economic contraction of this magnitude is not a statistical fluke. It is not an unexplained accident. It is caused by Greek politicians playing political games with their special interests to remain in power. They play while the Greek economy collapses. These politicians are not alone. We can see the same political dynamic in the US with the economic failure of Detroit. In fact, I don’t expect better policy choices from the politicians in Illinois, California and New Jersey. Their future is permanently smaller as the bleed away their vibrant young people.
Speaking of stuck on stupid, I keep hearing that the US economy is depressed simply because taxes are too low and the government has not inflated the money supply and paid its special interests enough.
Nah, I’m not buying that either. It shows our moral failure that we tolerate these foolish politicians.
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Rob unstuck
Intimidation Didn’t Stop with the IRS
Catherine Engelbrecht
True the Vote is a non-partisan organization working nationally to ensure election integrity. That bothers some politicians. Making each vote count isn’t the Chicago Way, and using government agencies to attack your political opponents didn’t starte and end with the recent IRS scandal. Several government agencies harassed True the Vote.
The IRS and DOJ asked for a copy of every speech and every tweet from True the Vote. Government agencies wanted a list of every speaker and every attendee at every meeting. The IRS audited the founder of True the Vote, Catherine Engelbrecht. They audited both her family business and her personal finances. The ATF and OSHA also began unscheduled audits of her business. All this government attention started after True the Vote applied for 501(c)3 non-profit tax status.
If this sounds like the behavior of a police state, then rest easy. It is simply the New Way Forward, and the old Chicago Way.
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“Our records show you did not donate to the State Employees Union fund. Let me see your papers.”
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Link to truethevote.org
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Rob
Revenge is Bitter
Revenge is bitter. It is also the Chicago Way of politics, so I’m not surprised by scandal.
The IRS priority list;
- Tea party- check.
- Libertarian- check
- Conservative- check
- Pro-Israel- check
President Obama is effectively immune from prosecution since he owns the Senate and the press. That means public outrage is the only thing limiting bad political behavior. A related news article about leaked IRS documents is here. A related SlowFacts post is here.
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Rob the refugee from Chicago
Miller Announces Book on D.C. Guns and Governance
Link to Video
Thank you, Emily Miller and David Workman. I saw them both at the NRA convention, but didn’t speak to either. Both write about gun rights and gun legislation, and I’ve read them for years.
Miller is now writing a book documenting her journey through DC’s gun laws as she bought firearms and confronted DC politicians. She faced the dual challenges of learning to protect herself with a gun and protecting herself from arcane and outrageous DC laws. I look forward to a political writer’s perspective in her book. Describing Washington D.C., Emily Miller said the District’s complex and expensive gun regulations are beyond the means of most residents.
I think DC laws are complex and confusing by design rather than by accident. Buying a gun is difficult, while defending yourself from DC government is impossible for most citizens. DC laws are so convoluted and so unclear that you’d need a financial fortune to defend yourself from false charges. That uncertainty brings more than DC’s gun laws into question; it challenges the entire web of regulation in D.C. It questions the District’s legitimacy to govern. An innocent gun owner is supposed to accept a guilty plea because the district won’t write simple and reasonable laws.
According to Workman, Miller’s book is due out in late August to early September. I hope she will autograph a copy at the next gun convention. Until then, thank you, and go get ‘m, Emily Miller!
Dave Workman is the senior editor of the Gun Mag, the author of many books, and posts at the Seattle Gun Rights Examiner. I read him regularly.
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Rob
The Obama administration lies about the terrorist attacks in Benghazi.. and the news media yawns.
Abortionists commit murder while the media sighs and looks the other way.
The IRS again (!) uses punitive audits, and leaks donor lists of political opponents during an election year. The media snores at political corruption.
The EPA violates its own regulations in order to favor political groups who support the Obama administration. I didn’t read about that in the main stream press.
Now, a few days after World Press Freedom Day, the Feds announce they’ve seized months of phone records from more than 20 phone lines used by the Associated Press. and here. Besides providing me with a full day’s dose of sarcasm, I wonder if the press will finally wake up to the erosion of liberty.
I bet the press will forget this in a month. Me, I’ve had enough corruption to last a lifetime.
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Rob
