Judicial Watch Obtains New Documents Showing IRS Targeting Came Directly From Washington D.C. 

Katie Pavlich / Townhall Columnist

 

New documents obtained and released through a Judicial Watch lawsuit show the targeting of tea party and conservative groups came directly out of Washington D.C., not a rogue IRS office in Cincinnati.

On July 6, 2012, former Director of the IRS Rulings and Agreements Division and current Manager of Exempt Organizations Guidance Holly Paz sent an email to IRS Attorney Steven Grodnitzky asking for an explanation of how tea party group applications were being handled. Grodnitzky responded by confirming the cases were being handled in Washington.

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

When the IRS targeting scandal broke last year, officials in Washington immediately pinned the blame on the Cincinnati office. This documentation proves not only that direction was coming out of Washington, but that Washington instructed Cincinnati about how to handle tea party applications.

A new email from Lois Lerner also details how BOLO lists (be on the look out) were specifically created for tea party groups or groups with issues related to government spending, debt, taxes and "how the country is being run."

"Because the BOLO only contained a brief reference to "Organizations involved with the Tea Party movement applying for exemption under 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4)" in June 2011, the EO Determinations manager asked the manager of the screening group, John Shafer [IRS Cincinnati field office manager], what criteria were being used to label cases as "tea party " cases. ("Do the applications specify/state ' tea party'? If not, how do we know applicant is involved with the tea party movement?") The screening group manager asked his employees how they were applying the BOLO's short –hand reference to "tea party." His employees responded that they were including organizations meeting any of the following criteria as falling within the BOLO's reference to "tea party" organizations: "1. 'Tea Party', 'Patriots' or '9/12 Project' is referenced in the case file. 2. Issues include government spending, government debt and taxes. 3. Educate the public through advocacy/legislative activities to make America a better place to live. 4. Statements in the case file that are critical of the how the country is being run. . . " Lerner wrote on April 2, 2013. "So, we believe we have provided information that shows that no one in EO "developed" the criteria. Rather, staff used their own interpretations of the brief reference to "organizations involved with the Tea Party movement," which was what was on the BOLO list."

Judicial Watch also found the IRS put red and orange alert symbols on tea party issues for heightened awareness. Here are two slides from a "Heightened Awareness Presentation" used at the IRS.

Further, documents show the IRS responded to "intense" requests from Democrat Senator Carl Levin to come down on conservative tax exempt groups in an effort to get rid of them, specifically the groups working against his reelection campaign.

Emails released by Judicial Watch last month show former head of taxpayer groups Lois Lerner was in contact with the Department of Justice about the potential criminal prosecution of conservative groups. In her emails about DOJ, Lerner noted that putting one person from a conservative organization in jail would create and example and "shut the whole thing down."

Chuck Todd: C'mon, Every Benghazi Question Has Already Been Answered  

Guy Benson / Townhall Columnist

 

NBC's Chief White House Correspondent and MSNBC anchor Chuck Todd doesn't see any rationale for the formation of a select committee on Benghazi. The inquiry is pointless, Todd asserts, because "all" questions pertaining to the 2012 terrorist attacks have already been asked and answered:

"I'll hear from Republicans who will say, 'but there are unanswered questions.' Well no, all the questions have been answered. There's just some people who don't like the answers -- that wishes [sic] the answers were somehow more conspiratorial."

Yes, there have been a number of investigations into the deadly raid, including revelatory House hearings, a Senate report, and a State Department-mandated review. The House proceedings answered some questions, but raised others. The Senate Intelligence panel's report concluded that the attacks were preventable, and rebuked the Obama administration for "unnecessarily hamper[ing] the committee's review." The State Department's "Accountability Review Board" declined to interview key players, including Secretary Clinton. None of the Benghazi survivors have testified publicly.

Furthermore, new information and perspectives have come to light within the last few weeks. A court-ordered document release turned up a relevant, previously-withheld email that further undermines the White House's official version of events regarding their post-attack talking points, and an Air Force General who was on duty at AFRICOM that night said the military never received a request for help from the State Department during the eight-hour ordeal. He went on to suggest that the US government should have attempted a rescue mission, which other military officers have testified wouldn't have been logistically feasible. A majority of the House of Representatives -- including a handful of Democrats -- clearly believes that unanswered questions remain. A large majority of the American public is skeptical of the White House's veracity and supports keeping the investigation open and ongoing. Two former top CIA officials have endorsed the proceedings. Most Beltway Democrats, and apparently Chuck Todd, dissent. Todd is a journalist. It's therefore a bit jarring to hear him declare that "all" questions pertaining to a controversial matter have been answered, thus intimating that the issue is settled -- particularly after previously-unseen evidence has just recently emerged. What follows is a sampling of questions that have yet to be adequately resolved:

(1) Why were multiple requests for additional security assets denied by the State Department in the lead-up to the Benghazi attacks? Indeed, why was a security team removed from Libya, over the objections of our security personnel on the ground?

(2) Why did the State Department renew its inadequately-protected diplomatic mission's lease with special security waivers in the summer of 2012 -- following previous attempted attacks against the compound, and as other Western nations and organizations began to withdraw from the rapidly-deteriorating city?

(3) At what point was it determined that the US could not have deployed a rescue mission in time to save American lives in Benghazi. How could this determination have been made when the duration of the attack was unknown? (Nobody could have forecast in advance that the siege would "only" last eight hours). Was the Commander-in-Chief consulted on this decision? Is Gen. Lovell misguided in his insistence that the military should have launched a mission that night? And even if we accept the premise that a rescue would have been impossible within the established time frame, how was it that our government was so egregiously unprepared to defend its people against a hostile action in an extremely dangerous city, in an unstable country, on the symbolic anniversary of a major terrorist attack?

(4) Where was the president during the hours-long raid? A former administration official recently revealed that Obama was not in the White House situation room. With an ambassador missing, a consulate under attack, and American lives hanging in the balance, why wasn't he actively managing the US response?

(5) During the attack, a rapid-response, investigative "FEST" team was reportedly told to stand down. Is that true, and if so, why? After the attack, why did it take American investigators weeks to access the burned-out compound? How could it be that the media first discovered Amb. Stevens' personal journal -- again, weeks after the event?

(6) When the administration's post-attack talking points were being formulated, who within the State Department's "building leadership" objected to references to Al Qaeda and previous attempted attacks on the facility? Who was "very upset" about initial (accurate) versions of the talking points, and why? Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland fretted in an email that including certain elements might lead to members of Congress criticizing the State Department for "not paying attention to warnings." Is that not an overtly political concern?

(7) Since the CIA never linked the Benghazi bloodshed to an internet video, how and why was that false linkage repeatedly cited by top administration officials days, and even weeks, later? As the attacks were definitively determined to have been a coordinated terrorist operation within hours, why did top officials continue to invoke the video, and hedge on the terrorism angle? Why was the creator of that video arrested and jailed? Does the administration stand by its claim that the White House and State Department only requested a single cosmetic change to the talking points, even after its been proven to be false?

(8) Why was there such a heavy CIA presence in Benghazi (as reported by CNN), and why has the agency taken "unprecedented" action to maintain radio silence about it? Might it have anything to do with the US government quietly trying to clean up this mess?

(9) More than 20 months have elapsed since the fatal event, in response to which the president vowed that justice would be served. Why have zero arrests been made? How is it that news organizations have managed to track down and interview suspected Benghazi terrorists, yet the US government's pursuit has reportedly "stalled"? Is this a result of evidentiary concerns relating to potential civilian trials for the terrorists?

(10) Nobody in the federal bureaucracy lost his or her job over the self-evident failures in Benghazi, which cost American lives. This includes individuals such as State Department official Charlene Lamb, who astonishingly testified that the United States had the "correct" number of security assets in Benghazi. Is that an acceptable level of accountability?

If Chuck Todd has detailed answers to "all" of those questions -- I count more than two dozen within the ten bullet points -- let's hear them. If not, perhaps he ought to be seeking them rather than dismissing them.

26 Percent of World’s Adults Are Antisemitic, Survey Finds: Muslim countries top list

Pamela Geller / Atlas Shrugs

I disagree with the idea that the “intense anti-Jewish sentiment” has to do “with region, more than religion.” The results of the survey show that the 10 most anti-Semitic countries and territories, according to the survey, are the West Bank and Gaza, Iraq, Yemen, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan and Morocco. All Muslim countries.

Islamic anti-semitism is fueling the epidemic of Jew-hatred.

Anti-Semitic Sentiments Are Harbored By One-Fourth Of Global Population, According To ADL Survey
Religion News Service | by Lauren Markoe, 05/13/2014

(RNS) The first-ever global study of anti-Semitic attitudes shows that more than a quarter of the world’s population harbors intense anti-Jewish sentiment, with region, more than religion, shaping people’s view of Jews and Judaism.

The poll, released Tuesday (May 13) by the New York-based Anti-Defamation League, also finds that a large proportion of the world has never heard of the Holocaust or denies historical accounts of it.

Of those polled, 46 percent have either not heard of the Holocaust that killed 6 million Jews or think it is a myth or exaggerated.

“For the first time we have a real sense of how pervasive and persistent anti-Semitism is today around the world,” said Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League.

He called the results of the Global 100 Index “sobering but not surprising” and said it would serve as a baseline for the ADL to understand where anti-Semitism is most prevalent and where education is most necessary. The results of the survey of 102 nations and territories revealed stark regional differences, and hotspots of anti-Semitism around the globe.

The survey found that the least anti-Semitic place in the world is Laos, where anti-Semitic beliefs are held by just 0.2 percent of the population. The most anti-Semitic place is in Israel’s backyard, the West Bank and Gaza, where 93 percent of people held anti-Semitic beliefs.

The 10 most anti-Semitic countries and territories, according to the survey, are the West Bank and Gaza, Iraq, Yemen, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan and Morocco.

The 10 least anti-Semitic countries, surveyors found, are Laos, the Philippines, Sweden, the Netherlands, Vietnam, the United Kingdom, the United States, Denmark, Tanzania and Thailand.

In the U.S., 9 percent of those surveyed revealed anti-Semitic views.

The poll is based on 11 questions that refer to common stereotypes about Jews, such as “Jews have too much power in international financial markets” and “Jews are responsible for most of the world’s wars.” Those who answered “probably true” to six or more questions were deemed to be anti-Semitic.

Overall, 28 percent of respondents answered “no” to all 11 stereotypes presented of Jews when asked if they were true.

Asked if a person could still be considered anti-Semitic for affirming only three anti-Semitic stereotypes, Foxman said the ADL purposely set the bar for anti-Semitism very high, so as to make its results conservative.

The ADL found that much of the world greatly overestimates the global Jewish population: Nearly half the respondents (48 percent) believe that Jews account for more than 1 percent of the population, and nearly one in five (18 percent) believe they make up 10 percent. In reality, Jews account for 0.19 percent of the world’s people.

Though the survey found Muslims to harbor more anti-Semitic views than Christians, Hindus and Buddhists — and Protestants fared better in the survey than Catholics — a person’s region seemed to correlate more strongly with views on Jews than did a person’s religion.

Among Muslims, nearly half (49 percent) were found to hold anti-Semitic views. But across the Muslim-majority Middle East and North Africa, 75 percent of Muslims held anti-Semitic views. Muslims outside of the Middle East and North Africa showed lower levels of anti-Semitic attitudes; 64 percent of Christians in the Middle East and North Africa held anti-Semitic views, compared with 24 percent of Christians overall.

Regionally, 74 percent of all respondents in the Middle East and North Africa held anti-Semitic attitudes. That compares with 23 percent of all people in sub-Saharan Africa, 22 percent in Asia, 19 percent in the Americas and 14 percent in Oceania, the region with the lowest anti-Semitic scores in the world.

The survey shows that Greece, at 69 percent, has the highest levels of anti-Semitic attitudes of any country outside the Middle East, a proportion far higher than the Western European average of 24 percent. Already, Foxman said, “the prime minister of Greece had learned of our findings and requested that we come and visit.”

A surprisingly large majority of respondents (74 percent) said they had never met a Jew, and of those, one in four displayed anti-Semitic attitudes. Of the 26 percent of people worldwide who harbor anti-Semitic attitudes, 70 percent said they had never met a Jewish person, the survey showed.

Survey researchers polled more than 53,000 adults in 96 languages. The study has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points for most countries.

The survey was funded by a grant from New York philanthropist Leonard Stern. Foxman said the survey cost “a lot” but declined to disclose the exact cost.

The post 26 Percent of World’s Adults Are Antisemitic, Survey Finds: Muslim countries top list appeared first on Pamela Geller, Atlas Shrugs.

U.S. Becomes Chief Enabler of Christian Persecution: Muslim Persecution of Christians, January 2014

Raymond Ibrahim  / From Jihad Watch

 

 

[Originally published on Gatestone Institute, via RaymondIbrahim.com]

Human rights organization Open Doors published its 2014 World Watch List in January, highlighting and ranking the top 50 nations that persecute Christians.  The overwhelming majority of countries making the list—and nine of the top ten worst offenders—are Muslim, and include nations from among America’s allies (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait) and its contenders (Iran); from among economically rich nations (Qatar) and poor nations (Somalia and Yemen); from among “Islamic republic” nations (Afghanistan), “democracies” (Iraq), and “moderate” nations (Malaysia and Indonesia).

The report also indicates that every Muslim nation that the U.S. has helped “liberate,” including in the context of the “Arab Spring,” has become significantly worse for Christians and other minorities. Previously moderate Syria is now ranked the third worst nation in the world to be Christian, Iraq fourth, Afghanistan fifth, and Libya 13th. All four receive the worst designation in the ranking process: “extreme persecution.”

Three of these countries—Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya—were “liberated” in part thanks to U.S. forces, while in the fourth, Syria, the U.S. is actively sponsoring “freedom fighters” against the regime, many of whom have been responsible for any number of atrocities—including massacres, beheadings, and the crucifixion of Christians and others.

Despite this track record of interfering in Islamic nations only for the human rights of minorities to plummet, and despite the fact that Syria has gotten dramatically worse for Christian minorities, Secretary of State John Kerry declared in January that, if only Bashar Assad goes away, “I believe that a peace can protect all of the minorities: Druze, Christian, Isma‘ilis, Alawites—all of them can be protected, and you can have a pluralistic Syria, in which minority rights of all people are protected.”

The same was predicted of Iraq over a decade ago, yet today, well more than half of the Christians are either dead or fled, after years of constant attacks on their churches and persons once Arab dictator Saddam Hussein was ousted.

Libya offers a more recent precedent.  Since U.S.-backed “rebels” overthrew Qaddafi, Christians—including Americans—have been tortured and killed (some for refusing to convert), their churches bombed, and their nuns threatened.

January’s roundup of Muslim persecution of Christians around the world includes (but is not limited to) the following accounts, listed by theme and country in alphabetical order, not necessarily according to severity.

Attacks on Christian Churches 

Egypt: Christian churches were severely targeted during the first month of 2014.  Among other incidents, during New Year Eve church services, Muslim Brotherhood supporters attacked St. George Church in Ain Shams; one young Coptic man died from a bullet wound to the head.  International Christian Concern reports that on Friday, January 3, Muslim Brotherhood supporters also attacked an Evangelical Church in the Gesr El Suez area of Cairo, “pelt[ing] stones on the church and chanting slogans against Christians,” in the words of a local.  Reports indicate that “there was no security for the church building and that the attackers operated with impunity.”  On Sunday, January 5, security forces in Suez disrupted a terrorist cell belonging to the “Supporters of Jerusalem,” which was plotting to attack a nearby church during January 7 Orthodox Christmas celebrations.  Among other things, a bomb was found in the bathroom of the Three Saints Church in Beni Suef city, which was diffused by police. On January 10, security forces “arrested a bearded person in possession of four hand grenades in a handbag next to the Church of two Saints,” according to a local Christian. (In 2011, a suicide attack on the same church on New Year’s Eve resulted in the killing of over 20 Christian worshippers). 

On January 24, authorities found explosives inside a car parked behind the Al Malak church, which was targeted, “to be exploded,” sources told International Christian Concern.  On Saturday, January 25, Security forces in Ismailia Security directorate found 26 Molotov Cocktails inside a bag next to the church of St. Bishoy in Ismailia city. Witnesses say that the person in possession of the bag of explosives was sitting in a car next to the church and that “he fled when he saw the policemen.”  On January 28, “A group of armed men,” reported Asia News, “attacked the Coptic Orthodox Church of the Virgin Mary in the governorate of Giza. Police responded to gunfire and one officer died in the shootout, while two others were injured.”… Click for complete report

YES! Pamela Geller’s new ‘Islamic Jew Hatred’ ads are rolling along the streets of Washington DC

Bare Naked Islam

FREE SPEECH REIGNS after a long hard-fought battle with the DC Metro Transit Authority.

According to PamelaGeller, these new bus ads are in response to the vicious Jew-hating ads that American Muslims for Palestine unleashed on  Washington, DC Metro buses last month. Had we not sued and won in NYC and DC for violating our First Amendment rights when they tried to refuse our previous ads, our ads might never have gone up. 

 

DC Metro transit authority made multiple demands for the substantiation of every claim in our ads before they would accept the ad, and we did.. The libelous American Muslims for Palestine antisemitic ad (see below) did not have to provide substantiation. The MTA had no problem with their antisemitism. These ad campaigns are critical to informing the public of the truth. The disinformation and Islamic propaganda is piled so high and so thick from the media, academia, and the entertainment industry, there is a blacklist on truth tellers. This is how we leapfrog over the leftist/islamic machine.  (BRAVO, Pamela!)

 

Op-ed:
Diversion after diversion after diversion....
By: Diane Sori

Diversion: the act of turning aside, as from a course of action, a purpose, or serious occupation

And diversionary plays by the media have served Obama well, including the diversion of all diversions that simply does NOT go away...'da' plane. Notice how 'breaking news' about 'da' plane always seems to surface when anything Benghazi gets too close for comfort. But whether it's 'da' plane, the kidnapped girls in Nigeria, stupid comments by a racist old man, it's any and everything to keep our eyes and ears off Benghazi.

Diversion number one...now don't get me wrong as the loss of the 239 lives on Flight 370...that is if they are indeed lost and NOT being held hostage somewhere...is a serious matter but after two months of searching NOT one bit of that plane has been found. Nothing has washed ashore anywhere... nothing has floated to the surface...and the pings once heard have proven to NOT have emanated from 'da' plane. NO satellite pictures have found it...NO radar devices have found it...NO manned searches have found it...so come on guys logic dictates 'da plane' just is NOT in the water NO matter how much the truth is glossed over or out-and-out avoided.

In the meantime, more time and money is being wasted searching the ocean. And now there's another four or five day delay in starting yet another ocean search...this time because of a malfunctioning part on the Bluefin-21 submersible along with a broken transponder on the Bluefin's so-called 'mother ship'...a transponder that was damaged when a vehicle being hoisted onto the deck of the Australian search vessel 'Ocean Shield' struck the navigation transponder that extends over the side of the ship.

It's always something hampering the search it seems, so here's a bit of advice... STOP looking in the ocean and concentrate the search over land before 'da' plane is found sticking out of a building in Tel-Aviv. But hey, all this plane news does help keep the focus of Benghazi...conniving media that we all so love continues to take the focus off Benghazi.

Diversion number two...the kidnapped girls in Nigeria...a very sad situation indeed as these girls... some mere children...have been taken against their will to be sold as chattel either as wives or as sex slaves. There's islam for you...peaceful religion that it is...NOT. But the thing with the kidnappings is that it happened weeks ago...in fact young boys were kidnapped and killed previously without a certain president saying a word...and suddenly now our ever-loving Barack HUSSEIN Obama steps up to the plate to offer U.S. help in finding the girls just as the Benghazi e-mail story breaks. And then into the mix comes Michele who poses with a hashtag sign...like that will free the girls. Ludicrousness personified...but what a great diversion from Benghazi. So as Obama rushes in to save these muslim girls, remember he left four Christian Americans behind to die.

Diversion number three...Benghazi has been sidetracked yet again by the most fabricated of stories that really was NOT a story, and had NO business being a story, let alone a story shoved down our throats 24/7 for days. And I'm talking about the story of a private conversation between an aged bigot and his bought-and-paid- for mistress who used it against him after the bigot's wife and family sued said mistress. And these words did NOTHING but prove the aged bigot of being what the aged bigot freely admits to having always been...a bigot. So the bigot who admits he's a bigot and has been a bigot for years now has had his basketball team taken away from him, was fined millions of dollars, and has become a public pariah. But folks, being a bigot is NOT a crime...disgusting YES but a crime NO. And while the aged bigot spoke in a non-threatening manner about blacks...blacks he paid very well for playing a game...one cannot help but wonder about all the blacks that perpetrate racial remarks against whites...nary a word is said by the media...nary a punishment is doled out.

But this story gained a life of its own taking the attention off Benghazi...again.

The media...the in-the-pocket of Obama media...has decided that Benghazi...the truth about Benghazi...must be hidden at all costs and what better way to do so than to force us to focus our attention on anything but Benghazi, and doing so by NOT actually fabricating stories but by taking stories that really have limited interest and blowing them up into major crisis's deserving of our focused attention...focused attention for days...for weeks...on end.

Even the constant reporting on Obama's many golf outings and Michelle's many, many, many ad-nauseum vacations taken on our taxpayer dime helps to keep our attention off Benghazi. And it helps to take attention away from a man obsessed with his narcissistic self...obsessed with public opinion while he turns his back on 'We the People' as he works to implode our country from within. And as this Obama obsessed, overly devoted media circles its protective wagons around their self-anointed 'savior' of us all, it's once again 'We the People' who are being deliberately led astray so as to keep Obama's missteps...Obama's acts of treason...barely heard above a whisper.

Unquestionably believing what they’re told by the Obama administration...by Obama mouthpiece Jay Carney...and blindly believing that Barack HUSSEIN Obama is above the rest of us and thus untouchable...the media does their job of divert and deflect very well or at least they did for now the tiring myth of America's first black president...a president who spewed the line of hope and change has been found to have an Achilles heel and that Achilles heel goes by the name Benghazi.

So to the media I say, bring on your diversions...bring it on...for America has started to wake up and will NO longer accept your diversions except to give them a mere token look...for leaving four brave Americans behind to die has now become the Obama's Achilles heel that will NOT go away.