LOL, Government. SOURCE
President Obama has had a no good, rotten week so far.
Image by Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
It all started when the IRS was found to be unfairly singling out certain groups for review.
Groups with “Tea-Party”, “Patriot” and “9/12” in their names were being targeted and vetted with far more scrutiny than others.
Image by Evan Vucci / AP
Singling out groups because of their political orientation is not allowed.
The IRS went as far as asking some groups who their donors were, whether their top officers ever planned on running for office and for print outs of their tweets and Facebook postings.
Via: politico.com
On multiple occasions, IRS director Steven T. Miller denied targeting groups to Congress, even though he had been previously briefed that the IRS was doing so.
Congress and Britney both say:
In the wake of this report, two Billy Graham organizations and one pro-Israel group have claimed that they were also unfairly targeted.
This IRS targeting has drawn bi-partisan outrage.
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer told reporters “The IRS activity was inappropriate, inconsistent with our policies and practices as a country, very concerning.”
Source: Brendan Smialowski / via: news.yahoo.com
“My question is, who’s going to jail over this scandal?” House Leader John Boehner asked Wednesday morning.
Source: J. Scott Applewhite / via: washingtontimes.com
And House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa plans to hold a hearing next Wednesday where he will grill former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman.
Via: politico.com
Meanwhile, multiple targeted groups are threatening to sue the IRS over the discriminatory practice.
Via: politico.com
But if you think thats the end of it take a seat.
On Monday, the Associated Press discovered that the Department of Justice had obtained two months of private telephone records of AP reporters and editors.
The DOJ seized AP records from “Work and personal phone numbers of individual reporters, for general AP office numbers in New York, Washington and Hartford, Conn., and for the main number for the AP in the House of Representatives press gallery.”
And the collective media world said:
In a press conference Tuesday, Attorney General Eric Holder justified the seizure as part of a DOJ investigation into information that was leaked to the AP about a foiled terror plot.
Holder said: “trying to determine who was responsible for that, I think, required very aggressive action.”
But this DOJ seizure also drew widespread bi-partisan condemnation.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the actions were “inexcusable.. All I know is it’s wrong.”
Image by Mark Wilson / Getty Images
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky compared the action to a violation of both the First and Fourth amendments.
“The Fourth Amendment is not just a protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, it is a fundamental protection for the First Amendment and all other Constitutional rights. It sets a high bar — a warrant — for the government to take actions that could chill exercise of any of those rights. We must guard it with all the vigor that we guard other constitutional protections.”
Source: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call / via: bigstory.ap.org
But that’s not all!
Both of the above scandals come just a week after a woeful hearing on the administrations culpability in the Benghazi terror attacks.
Political journalists right now are just like:
Obama has said that the targeting of conservative groups by the IRS was ‘intolerable and inexcusable.’
But the White House is staying far away from the AP scandal.
Press Secretary Jay Carney said: “We are not involved in decisions made in connection with criminal investigations, as those matters are handled independently by the Justice Department.”
Image by Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
Administration policy:
Hill sources tell BuzzFeed that we can expect “months of congressional hearings on these matters.”
Image by Alex Wong / Getty Images