http://www.independentsentinel.com Tue, 21 May 2013 02:33:19 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 http://www.independentsentinel.com/2013/05/abc-news-reporters-followed-by-armed-guards-at-cincinnati-irs-office/ http://www.independentsentinel.com/2013/05/abc-news-reporters-followed-by-armed-guards-at-cincinnati-irs-office/#comments Tue, 21 May 2013 01:27:12 +0000 Sara Noble http://www.independentsentinel.com/?p=73503
Armed uniformed guards followed ABC News reporters around at the Cincinnati IRS office as they attempted to get answers to the targeting scandal. The reporters were planning to speak with someone in particular who “would not want to be seen talking to reporters” and decided to pass that office by because of their armed babysitter. When reporters asked why they were being escorted in a public building, the officer said he was only making certain that newsmen did not make a “nuisance” of themselves. The reporters couldn’t find people to talk to them three days into the scandal – May 14. Washington headquarters denied there was a no-talk policy and when they were asked whether employees were reminded of the official media policy the spokesman said “no.” In Ohio, the IRS folks told a different story. One who asked to remain anonymous told ABC News that security guards reminded employees of the official policy to not talk with the press or “risk losing our jobs.” The IRS is still not much on customer service! I hope the reporters are bulletproof on their audits and their personal emails and phone records. So much for transparency.]]> http://www.independentsentinel.com/2013/05/abc-news-reporters-followed-by-armed-guards-at-cincinnati-irs-office/feed/ 0 http://www.independentsentinel.com/2013/05/barack-obamas-curious-case-against-james-rosen/ http://www.independentsentinel.com/2013/05/barack-obamas-curious-case-against-james-rosen/#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 22:38:39 +0000 Sara Noble http://www.independentsentinel.com/?p=73476
photo of James Rosen The case against James Rosen, Fox News reporter, endangers our First Amendment right to freedom of the press. It risks criminalizing journalism. James Rosen is a Fox News reporter, not always right or left. He is now the target of the Obama DOJ for doing what reporters do. Rosen finds sources to report what is happening in the government. He did that in 2009 when he reported leaked information on North Korea. He is accused of using charm and guile to entice the leaker to reveal secret information to him. The White House went after the leaker and the reporter, Mr. Rosen, but did not limit themselves to the usual telephone records search to find out who was responsible for the leaks, they went for James Rosen’s personal emails. It’s like rape. They traced the reporter’s security badge access records to trace Rosen’s comings and goings from the State Department. They checked the timing of calls with a security adviser (who leaked the information) and then obtained a search warrant for his personal e-mails. Google turned them over. The government adviser in this case was Stephen Jin-Woo Kim and the reporter, James Rosen, is chief Washington [...]]]> http://www.independentsentinel.com/2013/05/barack-obamas-curious-case-against-james-rosen/feed/ 0 http://www.independentsentinel.com/2013/05/lies-manipulation-the-irs-2014/ http://www.independentsentinel.com/2013/05/lies-manipulation-the-irs-2014/#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 18:07:03 +0000 Sara Noble http://www.independentsentinel.com/?p=73463
The IRS administrators Lois Lerner and Steven Miller did not tell the truth to Congress about the IRS targeting of right-leaning groups. They knew it was going on but did not reveal that to Congress. Miller doubled-down on the lies by claiming there was no targeting, just efficient organizing efforts on the part of some rogue employees, as if that were even possible. They eventually decided to release the information about the targeting in an unusual venue. In their arrogance, instead of telling Congress, they decided to release the information publicly at an American Bar Association meeting that had nothing to do with the targeting. Miller and Lerner, according to Miller in his testimony on Friday, decided they would release the information with a planted question to which Lerner would respond by apologizing for the IRS activity. Lerner called a tax lawyer, Celia Rhoady, whose office is across from Pennsylvania Avenue, and asked her to pose the question about the IRS targeting. Lerner then used that question to apologize for the IRS targeting of Tea Party groups. Rhoady claims there was no other discussion about it before or after. The attendees were very confused about the admission since the forum was not [...]]]> http://www.independentsentinel.com/2013/05/lies-manipulation-the-irs-2014/feed/ 0 http://www.independentsentinel.com/2013/05/federal-employees-must-verbally-accept-lgbts/ http://www.independentsentinel.com/2013/05/federal-employees-must-verbally-accept-lgbts/#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 14:29:46 +0000 Sara Noble http://www.independentsentinel.com/?p=73450
Liberty Counsel is in possession of an internal DOJ document titled: “LGBT Inclusion at Work: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Managers.” It was emailed to DOJ managers in advance of the “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Pride Month.” The memo crosses the line into serious First Amendment violations and a tyrannical abuse of power. The federal government is ordering their employees to not remain silent if an LGB or T comes out, but rather to show and express approval. The government is now mandating thought police! They are ordering employees to respond “with interest and curiosity.  They are telling employees to respond “without missing a beat.” In other words, they must pretend that all is normal even if it is not. Government employees must NOT use words like “gay lifestyle, sexual preferences” or “tyranny” so as not to offend.  [I am not certain what tyranny has to do with LGBT's] Managers were told not use words like “sissy” or joke around about the issue. Finally, they are telling managers that they must acknowledge all LGBT occasions. Don’t say Merry Christmas but do say Happy Gay Pride Day. LGBT was not my issue but once they go into First Amendment rights, it [...]]]> http://www.independentsentinel.com/2013/05/federal-employees-must-verbally-accept-lgbts/feed/ 0 http://www.independentsentinel.com/2013/05/employers-can-provide-bare-bones-healthcare-plans/ http://www.independentsentinel.com/2013/05/employers-can-provide-bare-bones-healthcare-plans/#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 12:50:57 +0000 Sara Noble http://www.independentsentinel.com/?p=73432
Bare Bones healthcare for all! When I say bare bones, I do mean that. Employers who are trying to survive under the weight of Obama-mandated healthcare coverage, might choose the most minimal plans. These plans might include birth control but NOT HOSPITAL COVERAGE. Health insurance advisors and brokers are traveling around the country offering plans that provide preventive services and little else. Some plans don’t cover surgery, X-rays or prenatal care. Some offer $100 a day hospital stays which would hardly cover much. It is not known how many companies will go for this but Tex-Mex is looking into it. Federal officials say these plans would qualify and it would keep employers from having to pay the $2000-per-worker penalty. These plans would cost employers about $100 a month. Under Obamacare, large employers need only cover preventive services. This would affect 60 million people. Expect HHS to write more rules to cover the exception making this possible since they have no qualms about legislating from the HHS agency. Read more at finance.yahoo.com    ]]> http://www.independentsentinel.com/2013/05/employers-can-provide-bare-bones-healthcare-plans/feed/ 0 http://www.independentsentinel.com/2013/05/irs-reads-your-e-mails-documents-online-postings/ http://www.independentsentinel.com/2013/05/irs-reads-your-e-mails-documents-online-postings/#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 12:02:09 +0000 Sara Noble http://www.independentsentinel.com/?p=73415
If the IRS gets you in their sights, they will mine all your personal data. This does not bode well for our future healthcare  (throw HIPPA out the window).  All electronic transactions from credit cards to Facebook are watched by the IRS. The ACLU has warned that – from IRS documents – they can determine the IRS believes it has the legal authority to open private emails without people’s knowledge and without a warrant. The IRS has the latest technology to exploit what they believe is their right. The IRS invested about $1 billion in data mining alone. The IRS won the right, without any fanfare, to house all credit card and digital payments for future audits. The IRS is looking for frauds and cheats (and religious people, Tea Party members, Conservative Jews, people who want to teach about the Constitution, and those who want to make America a better place to live) but once they track digital footprints, they can easily snare innocents in their wide digital dragnet. That would prove expensive in the least. Anything at all unusual or not the norm could show up as untoward. Private browsing and anonymous postings can also be gotten without much [...]]]> http://www.independentsentinel.com/2013/05/irs-reads-your-e-mails-documents-online-postings/feed/ 4 http://www.independentsentinel.com/2013/05/white-house-addresses-three-scandals-on-fox-news-sunday/ http://www.independentsentinel.com/2013/05/white-house-addresses-three-scandals-on-fox-news-sunday/#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 02:32:05 +0000 Sara Noble http://www.independentsentinel.com/?p=73391
photo of Dan Pfeiffer tiptoeing through the tulips Dan Pfeiffer, President Obama’s senior adviser, appeared on Fox News Sunday to discuss the IRS scandal and Benghazi. If you were expecting something profound and informative, fuggettaboutit. The IRS scandal is not a scandal according to Pfeiffer. The White House knew nothing and the little they knew was found out by reading the morning newspaper. Fine, they didn’t know, they are merely incredibly incompetent. Meanwhile the IG report says that top Treasury officials were told in June 2012. I knew about the allegations of targeting in 2010, and in 2011 and again in 2012. How could President Obama not have known? Is he so insulated that he has no clue? In fact, Pfeiffer admitted Sunday they knew weeks ago but only in the most general way. Even though it was an election year, they weren’t the least bit curious to find out details that could affect Obama’s re-election because they didn’t want to interfere with the IRS. If that’s true, I’m Miss Universe. Benghazi is a Republican conspiracy and where the president was that night is a totally irrelevant fact according to Pfeiffer. Irrelevant!!! The State Department demanded the references to al [...]]]> http://www.independentsentinel.com/2013/05/white-house-addresses-three-scandals-on-fox-news-sunday/feed/ 0 http://www.independentsentinel.com/2013/05/everything-comes-from-the-top-at-the-irs/ http://www.independentsentinel.com/2013/05/everything-comes-from-the-top-at-the-irs/#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 00:17:35 +0000 Sara Noble http://www.independentsentinel.com/?p=73381
photo via legal insurrection The Washington Post carried a story yesterday with a quote from a low-level employee at the IRS  who said “everything comes from the top.” The staffer also said the low-level employees are not political. That is not what I hear. They are all union after all, but I agree that it is highly unlikely low-level employees would take it upon themselves to make decisions as serious as filtering out right-leaning and religious groups for audits and investigations. In fact they wouldn’t get away with it. “We’re not political,’’ said one determinations staffer in khakis as he left work late Tuesday afternoon. “We people on the local level are doing what we are supposed to do. . . . That’s why there are so many people here who are flustered. Everything comes from the top. We don’t have any authority to make those decisions without someone signing off on them. There has to be a directive.” The staff member, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of losing his job, said that the determinations unit is competent and without bias, that it grouped together conservative applications “for consistency’s sake” — so one application did not sail through while a similar one was held up in review. This [...]]]> http://www.independentsentinel.com/2013/05/everything-comes-from-the-top-at-the-irs/feed/ 0 http://www.independentsentinel.com/2013/05/ap-says-doj-records-grab-was-unconstitutional/ http://www.independentsentinel.com/2013/05/ap-says-doj-records-grab-was-unconstitutional/#comments Sun, 19 May 2013 23:47:12 +0000 Sara Noble http://www.independentsentinel.com/?p=73370
I’d like to welcome the AP to our world – to the world of those of us who are on the right-leaning side of things. The AP has discovered what it is like being on the wrong end of Obama’s lawless administration. The AP President and Chief Gary Pruitt said the DOJ records grab was unconstitutional and they have not ruled out a lawsuit.  [I hope they're bulletproof on their audits] Pruitt was speaking on Face the Nation Sunday. “It’s too early to know if we’ll take legal action but I can tell you we are positively displeased and we do feel that our constitutional rights have been violated,” Pruitt said. “They’ve been secretive, they’ve been overbroad and abusive – so much so that taken together, they are unconstitutional because they violate our First Amendment rights,” he added. Pruitt said that the DOJ is out of control. He added that the records grab has had a chilling effect on their sources and on journalism. Pruitt said that the government has no business monitoring their newsgathering activities. “And if they restrict that apparatus … the people of the United States will only know what the government wants them to know and that’s [...]]]> http://www.independentsentinel.com/2013/05/ap-says-doj-records-grab-was-unconstitutional/feed/ 0 http://www.independentsentinel.com/2013/05/unbelievable-story-of-irs-victimization/ http://www.independentsentinel.com/2013/05/unbelievable-story-of-irs-victimization/#comments Sun, 19 May 2013 21:28:22 +0000 Sara Noble http://www.independentsentinel.com/?p=73324
Photo of the real Steven Miller and it’s not pretty President Obama was infuriated by the SCOTUS Citizens United decision. He railed against it before the full Congress with the SCOTUS present. At the time, he gave listeners the false impression that foreign corporations and nationals would be allowed to contribute to elections. That was not true. Citizens United came up at the IRS hearing last Friday: It was around the time of the Citizens United case that the IRS began their targeting. If President Obama did not authorize it, he certainly created the atmosphere for it. There were two issues at the IRS hearings on Friday – the process used and the target list.  Miller claimed neither were the result of targeting but merely the result of overzealous and efficient low-level employees who were overworked. Miller admitted that this was going on at the height of the election season when both he, former Commissioner Shulman, and Lois Lerner claimed it was not going on. During the testimony, Miller admitted that the release of the targeting information was slyly planned for an American Bar Association meeting. Instead of telling Congress, to whom they had previously lied, they decided to haver [...]]]> http://www.independentsentinel.com/2013/05/unbelievable-story-of-irs-victimization/feed/ 0