Yogi got it right..."It's deja vu all over again"

Senior IRS manager invokes Fifth Amendment right before House committee

This is a joke. Plead the 5th, give the committee a smirk, and say adios. Issa and the rest of his incompetents ought to be investigated for their investigation which has no bark let alone bite.

This is the world of (PC) in which we live. Sad to say his actions won't bring him down, but using the terms "Paging Dr. Faggot." and "Queerbait" may get him fired instead of going to jail for awarding the largest IRS contract in history to a friend that is prohibited under government contracting regulations.

People who work for the government and pleading the 5th just ain't getting it.

They are crooks and should be held accountable.

For the second time in as many months, a senior IRS manager on Wednesday invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination, fueling perceptions of an agency in crisis.

Greg Roseman, a Deputy IRS Director, spearheaded the awarding of the IRS's largest contract in history to a company owned by a close friend of his, an action that is prohibited under government contracting regulations.

The company is Strong Castle, Inc., owned by Braulio Castillo. Castillo won several contracts totaling almost $500 million for IRS IT services in part on the basis of his friendship with Roseman and by qualifying for two minority programs that allow disadvantaged applicants a better chance of winning lucrative government contracts.

Castillo qualified for one minority set-aside program by setting up his business in a disadvantaged area of northeast Washington D.C. The Small Business Administration program requires applicants to hire from within the economically disadvantaged community, but a House Oversight Committee report found that Castillo manipulated that requirement by hiring students from Catholic University. The school's campus lies within the designated boundary, but its students are, on balance, far from disadvantaged.

He won entrance into another minority set-aside program run by the Veterans Administration that gives disabled vets certain advantages in federal contracting. His disability? An ankle twisted during football at the US Military Academy Prep School 27 years ago.

That prompted a sarcastic reaction at Wednesday's House Oversight Committee hearing from a double amputee, Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq war vet. "I'm so glad that you would be willing to play football in prep school again to protect this great country. Shame on you, Mr. Castillo, shame on you," she said.

As evidence of their close friendship, the committee published text messages between Roseman and Castillo. The two men apparently found kinship in using homophobic slurs. One exchange reads, "Paging Dr. Faggot." The response reads, "Queerbait. How come u haven't called back? Ain't got all day. Lol."

Roseman is still employed by the IRS. That fact prompted a testy exchange between Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., and Beth Tucker, the IRS's Deputy Commissioner for Operations Support.

"Can you issue a statement by five o'clock today as to how someone who used this language in their official capacity as a government employee is still employed and drawing a paycheck?" Gowdy asked. "We are having discussions with our general counsel," Tucker responded.

On Friday, there will be more IRS focus on the Hill. The committee will vote whether it believes Lois Lerner waived her fifth amendment rights against self-incrimination when she invoked that right, then abruptly proclaimed her innocence. It was a maneuver that some on the panel say amounted to waiving the right.

Yogi got it right..."It's deja vu all over again"

Another can of worms

Now they are using drones for additional surveillance creating an even bigger invasion on our privacy. Mueller said the agency uses them "in a very, very minimal way, very seldom." That's what they said about the Patriot Act. Now look where we are.

Next they'll be knocking on your door wanting your finger prints and a DNA sample under the pretense "its for your own good". Forget about cameras inside your home… They are inside your head! In real time they track your emails as you type, which means they literally have become a partner in your thought process.

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4th Amendment

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

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They listen to your phone calls. Don't believe that court order crap.

They track your emails in real time.

Now they're flying overhead with drones.

And for added peace of mind and tranquility the IRS will be in charge of your medical records when Obamacare is fully implemented.

"secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects" In my opinion we're not "secure" anywhere....…anymore.

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FBI Chief: Surveillance Drones Used in U.S.

By Devlin Barrett

Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Mueller testifies during a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee June 13, 2013 on Capitol Hill in Washington.

The head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation acknowledged Wednesday that his agency uses drones to conduct surveillance in the United States, but said it does so rarely.

Asked about drones at a Senate hearing, FBI director Robert Mueller said the agency uses them "in a very, very minimal way, very seldom."

Federal agencies have been using drones for years to monitor the northern and southern borders of the U.S., and those drones have occasionally been deployed to help domestic law-enforcement agencies like the FBI.

The use of such drones is politically charged and civil-rights advocates say there are no clear privacy rules governing their use.

FBI hostage negotiators used surveillance drones during a standoff earlier this year with an Alabama man who had taken a boy hostage inside a makeshift underground bunker.

Asked by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) about what privacy protections are used in deploying drones and storing the images they collect, Mr. Mueller said their use was narrowly focused on specific incidents.

"It's very seldom used and generally used in a particular incident when you need the capability,'' said Mr. Mueller, who said he wasn't sure what becomes of the images recorded by such drones. "It is very narrowly focused on particularized cases and particularized needs.''

He added: "There are a number of issues related to drones that are going to have to be debated." One area that needs to be explored, he said, was how long-established guidelines on helicopter surveillance should be adopted or altered to cover unmanned drone surveillance. "It's worthy of debate and perhaps legislation down the road,'' said Mr. Mueller.

Mr. Mueller spent Wednesday morning testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee for what is likely to be his last time as FBI director. His term expires in September, and President Barack Obama is expected to nominate former Bush administration official James Comey to succeed him.

Another can of worms

Don't be scared I only do it because I care

She kind of grows on you.

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Video 35

Don't be scared I only do it because I care

Sequestration...that's for the little guy

When Barry was asked where the money was coming from for his $100 million 1 week African trip he said, "From the money Janet saved when she released the illegals from jail."

So you see its really not costing us a dime, its like only 1,350 weeks of WH tours. Besides what's more important, America... or the bliss and contentment of Barry and his brood? 

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Costly Obama family trip to Africa under fire amid sequester cuts

President Obama's trip this month to Africa, with the first family tagging along, is projected to cost taxpayers as much as $100 million, sparking criticism as the federal government scrimps along during sequester-related budget cuts.

(This is staggering)

Among the related costs will be fighter jets; hundreds of Secret Service agents; a Navy ship with a full trauma center; and military cargo planes to bring 56 vehicles including 14 limousines and three trucks loaded with sheets of bullet­proof glass to cover the windows of the hotels where the first family will stay. The details were reported by The Washington Post, based on a confidential planning document.

The trip to sub-Sahara Africa runs from June 26 to July 3.

(All this for a weeks vacation? He couldn't have went to Kennebunkport!)

The president and first lady have cancelled plans to go on a safari that would have included the additional expense of a sharp-shooting team, responsible for putting down a cheetah, lion or any other wild animal that became a threat.

That's a shame

Figuring out the exact cost of the overall trip is difficult because the information is classified for the purpose of national security.

(Although if you call 1-800-Snowden he can give you the cost right down to the penny)

However, a Government Accountability Office report shows President Clinton's 1998 trip to six African nations cost at least $42.7 million – not including Secret Service expenses.

(The other expenses were a room for Monica, Jennifer, and Paula)

Obama's trip could cost the federal government $60 million to $100 million based on the costs of similar African trips in recent years, a person familiar with the Obama journey but not authorized to speak for attribution told The Post.

The trip comes as agencies across the federal government try to find cost-saving measures to deal with the massive, across-the-board budget cuts known as sequester, which kicked in this year after Washington lawmakers failed to agree on a more measured approach. The Secret Service, for example, pushed to cancel public White House tours to save thousands in weekly overtime expenses.

"For the cost of this trip to Africa, you could have 1,350 weeks of White House tours," Rep. George Holding, a North Carolina Republican, said last week. "It is no secret that we need to rein in government spending, and the Obama administration has regularly and repeatedly shown a lack of judgment for when and where to make cuts. … The American people have had enough of the frivolous and careless spending."

The White House had defended the trip cost saying the Secret Service plan determines the security cost and that first family's trip will result in long-term goodwill. 

"The infrastructure that accompanies the president's travels is beyond our control," said Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser for strategic communications. "When you travel to regions like Africa that don't get a lot of presidential attention, you tend to have very long-standing and long-running impact from the visit."

(Right...that's why the American taxpayer has to pay for bullet­proof glass to cover the windows of the hotels)

Sequestration...that's for the little guy

OJ and the Obama Scandals...I mean Sandals

In the recent groundswell of scandals Issa and his crew do not seem to being doing a very good job of prosecuting the criminals. Their smart-ass condescending answers don't seem to piss off Issa like they do me. The only true test of achievement is result and so far I haven’t seen any. Lois Lerner and now Holly Paz among others are on “ paid administrated leave”. It seems the SOP for this administration is if you are found guilty of a crime, or about to be, the punitive action is a paid vacation. Maybe they got Scandals mixed up with Sandals. In fact there are so many IRS agents on "vacation"  Sandals had to whip out the no vacancy sign.

You name the scandal, and I don’t care which one, and there are many, no one has paid a price. Barry's solution is to simply ignore the plethora of scandals (you can do that if you're a Democratic president). Worked out fine in the past like the Fast & Furious case... lying and stonewalling it to death. The ace in the hole for him and his administration is the go to catch phrase “I don’t know anything”, and sooner or later it goes away like a puff of cigarette smoke. 

Issa better get on the stick if really wants to get to the bottom of this. If we employed his questioning tactics and resolve and applied it to the OJ murder trial it would have went down something like this: 

OJ and the Obama Scandals...I mean Sandals

Check this out!

We have got to be the biggest f-ing assholes in the world!!! 

Didn't we just send these bastards F-16's and Abrams tanks at a cost of $1.3 billion?

HOT MIC CATCHES EGYPTIAN POLITICIAN DISCUSSING 'WAR' WITH 'ENEMIES' ISRAEL AND AMERICA

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Video 34

Check this out!

Prying Eyes

This is scary.

The optimizer gave me a case of the creeps.

But that NSA data…its just being used to track terrorists..


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Video 33

They probably used this same data as the basis to allow 4 Americans to die in Benghazi because the indication was it would hinder his chances of getting reelected.


Obama voters... feel the least bit manipulated?

Prying Eyes

The word hypocrisy doesn't even begin to cover this

My ears almost blew a circuit when I heard this! You won't believe what you're about to see and hear.

This WH is composed of nothing but pathological liars  from the top down.

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Video 32

Don't count him in on that...WTF!!!



This is right on par with Barry calling Bush "unpatriotic" and "irresponsible" for  raising the debt to $10.6 trillion "all by his lonesome"...  then wasted no time  jacking it up to almost $17 trillion... all by HIS lonesome.   

The word hypocrisy doesn't even begin to cover this

Sandra Fluke is reportedly doing cartwheels

The WH has now taken over for the parents. This comes on the heels of unprecedented scandals swirling around the WH. The Obama administration on Monday abandoned its fight to keep age restrictions on sales of a widely used morning-after contraceptive pill. In actuality I bet they're tickled pink. Either that or they're to busy tracking Rosen and what the Teaparty is up to.  A young girl (aka child) say 13 or 14 or even younger can now walk into a drugstore and buy the "morning- after pill" right off the shelf.

This is just flat out wrong.

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Plan B One-Step contraceptive pills available to women and girls of any age without a prescription

The Obama administration on Monday abandoned its fight to keep age restrictions on sales of a widely used morning-after contraceptive pill, a stark legal reversal that ended years of court battles but did little to extinguish political passions on both sides of the issue. 

In a letter Monday to U.S. District Judge Edward R. Korman in New York, who has called the age restrictions "politically motivated" and "scientifically unjustified," the administration said it would drop its appeal in the case and abide by Korman's order to make Plan B One-Step contraceptive pills available to women and girls of any age without a prescription. 

President Obama has not changed his position and still opposes over-the-counter access to emergency contraceptives for young girls, said a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity Monday to describe the White House's reasoning. But the Justice Department decided to drop the case after multiple setbacks in federal courts in recent months. 

Advocates for birth control cheered Monday's decision as a victory for women's rights and a boon to public health. 

"This is a huge breakthrough for access to birth control and a historic moment for women's health and equity," Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement Monday, adding that the decision "will make emergency contraception available on store shelves, just like condoms, and women of all ages will be able to get it quickly in order to prevent unintended pregnancy."

Antiabortion groups criticized the administration's decision, restating their long-held view that giving young girls access to the contraceptive without requiring the notification of a doctor or parent could lead to reckless behavior. 

"Parents all across the country ought to be really, really concerned that we're seeing the Obama administration completely surrender any principle of defending women's health to the politics of big abortion," said Americans United for Life President Charmaine Yoest. "There are so many reasons to maintain some measure of control over the distribution of such a strong drug, particularly to young women. I see this as a really, really terrible development. . . . I just think it's very troubling and sets a really bad standard."

The Food and Drug Administration said Monday evening that it had asked the drug's manufacturer, Teva Branded Pharmaceutical Products, to submit an application to make Plan B One-Step available over the counter without restrictions.

"Once FDA receives that supplemental application, the FDA intends to approve it promptly," the agency said. Teva Pharmaceuticals declined to comment Monday on the decision and could not say how soon the pill would be available on pharmacy shelves.

Plan B is classified by the FDA as an emergency contraceptive and greatly reduces the chance of pregnancy if taken within 72 hours after intercourse. It differs from abortion drugs such as RU486, which is intended to terminate a pregnancy that already has been established.

Sandra Fluke is reportedly doing cartwheels

PRISM---Is not a high tech SFI-FY Thriller

Totalitarianism (or totalitarian rule) is a political system in which the state holds total authority over the society and seeks to control all aspects of public and private life whenever necessary.

As I'm typing this... in real time the NSA is recording it. To infuriate me further the IRS is used by Obama and his brigade to attack conservatives and probably played some role in the outcome of the election. Perish the thought these same thugs will be entrusted with your medical records once Obamacare is fully implemented. How does that sit with you? Now we learn our phone calls, emails, blogs, etc are all being monitored. From what we now know does anyone seriously believe the information gathered by the NSA will be used SOLEY "for tracking terrorists". 

My ass!

And the caveat to add to my anxiety, Susan Rice has just been appointed the head of the NSA! 

PRISM — the program that collects massive quantities of Internet user data through providers and database holders like Google — has been defined as constitutional. Obamacare was ruled constitutional by one judge... and of all people it was John Roberts. Wonder who was reading his emails? 

The word Prism alone makes me think of a high tech SFI-FY Thriller but now it's the new reality and we are the principle players.

BTW... I love this recent comment by Barry after the NSA scandal broke. 

 “I welcome this debate and I think it’s healthy for our Democracy. I think it’s a sign of maturity because probably five years ago, six years ago, we might not have been having this debate.”

This is classic Barry.

 First "this debate that is healthy for our Democracy" we wouldn't even be having unless someone blew the whistle.

Secondly, if you read between the lines subliminally he's blaming Bush without saying his favorite line "the problems he inherited."

They lie about everything. Do you really think they're not going to listen in on  your phone calls if they really wanted to? 

What's the next shoe to drop? Believe it or not, they are now talking about installing "black boxes" in new cars so they know where you are at all times.

 Ed Snowden, for me anyway, is closer to Daniel Ellsberg than Bradley Manning.

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NSA WHISTLE-BLOWER: DATA GRABS 'EXISTENTIAL THREAT TO DEMOCRACY'

The Guardian revealed on Sunday the identity of the NSA whistle-blower who gave the publication information about the NSA's data surveillance programs. 

Edward Snowden, who is reportedly hiding out in Hong Kong, leaked information about the PRISM program and presumably gave the publication documents about how the federal government has obtained court orders to force Verizon to turn over the private and international phone records of all of its customers on an ongoing basis. 

Snowden is described as "a 29-year-old former technical assistant for the CIA and current employee of the defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton," who has been "working at the National Security Agency for the last four years as an employee of various outside contractors, including Booz Allen and Dell."

After the Washington Post broke the story about the NSA's PRISM program, the Guardian revealed more details, including the three billion pieces of intelligence the NSA reportedly collected from American computer networks over a 30-day period ending in March of 2013. The article, though, is not clear about what specific pieces of information Snowden leaked. 

Snowden said he leaked the the various NSA documents because he felt the agency was "intent on making every conversation and every form of behavior in the world known to them," and he believed this posed an "existential threat" to democracy.

He is currently hiding in Hong Kong and may try to get asylum in Iceland because of its "reputation of a champion of internet freedom."

According to the report, Snowden left for Hong Kong three weeks ago from Hawaii after copying the "last set of documents he intended to disclose" from the NSA facility there. He told his supervisor and girlfriend that he had to be away from work "for a couple of weeks" to receive treatment for his epilepsy.

The Guardian reports Snowden boarded a flight on May 20 to Hong Kong because the city has "a spirited commitment to free speech and the right of political dissent," and he believed "that it was one of the few places in the world that both could and would resist the dictates of the US."

He now "lines the door of his hotel room with pillows to prevent eavesdropping" and "puts a large red hood over his head and laptop when entering his passwords to prevent any hidden cameras from detecting them." He has left his hotel room a total of three times and is concerned the CIA, the Chinese government, or Triad gangs could come after him.

The Guardian says Snowden never asked for anonymity, saying, "I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong." He reportedly wrote in a note accompanying the first set of documents that he understood he would be "made to suffer for my actions," but "I will be satisfied if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant."

He said he did not see himself as a "hero" but as someone who just leaked the information because he did not "want to live in a world where there's no privacy and therefore no room for intellectual exploration and creativity."

Snowden also claims to have "carefully evaluated every single document I disclosed to ensure that each was legitimately in the public interest." He chose to disclose them because he said the NSA programs posed an "existential threat to democracy." He said he did not turn over documents that would have made a big impact because those documents could have harmed people. He said he once viewed the Internet as "the most important intervention in all of human history" before realizing how it could be used to undermine everyone's privacy. 

According to the Guardian, he was living a "very comfortable life" that "included a salary of roughly $200,000, a girlfriend with whom he shared a home in Hawaii, a stable career, and a family he loves." The publication also reported that the "NSA police and other law enforcement officers have twice visited his home in Hawaii and already contacted his girlfriend, though he believes that may have been prompted by his absence from work, and not because of suspicions of any connection to the leaks." 

He said he regrets that he will no longer be able to help his family but was satisfied and had "no regrets."

Snowden reportedly got a job with the NSA shortly after 2003, then moved to the CIA and was stationed in Geneva in 2007. He reportedly left the CIA in 2009 "in order to take his first job working for a private contractor that assigned him to a functioning NSA facility."

PRISM---Is not a high tech SFI-FY Thriller

Cincinnati IRS employee: Washington 'throwing us under bus’

"Low level rouge agents in Cincinnati"

"It was the video" 

"You can keep your doctor"

"Workplace violence"

"I heard about it when you did"

 And this is just a smattering.

The common thread. They're all lies.

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In interviews with House Oversight Committee investigators, Cincinnati IRS employees said that they believed that targeting of conservative groups came from Washington, not from a couple of "rogue agents. "

Sunday the House Oversight Committee released partial transcripts of Oversight Committee investigators' interviews with unnamed Cincinnati IRS employees, which contradicts the line coming from the White House.

"It's impossible," an IRS employee responded to an investigator's question about the allegations that the targeting of conservative groups was due to "two 'rogue agents." "As an agent we are controlled by many, many people. We have to submit many, many reports. So the chance of two agents being rogue and doing things like that could never happen."

Answering a question about the employee's reaction to news reports that the targeting was contained in Cincinnati and the fault of the Cincinnati office, the employee said that Washington has been throwing them under the bus.

"Well, it's hard to answer the question because in my mind I still hear people saying we were low‑level employees, so we were lower than dirt, according to people in D.C. So, take it for what it is," a Cincinnati IRS employee said. "They were basically throwing us underneath the bus."

The employee further noted that it was a supervisor who requested they do a search for tea party and similar applications in March of 2010.

"Did [your supervisor] give you any indication of the need for the search, any more context?" an investigator asked.

"He told me that Washington, D.C., wanted some cases," the employee responded, going on to answer that by April 2010 the group was handling fewer than 40 cases and had sent seven cases to Washington, D.C.

When asked for the reason behind the request that cases be sent to Washington, D.C. the employee responded, "He said Washington, D.C. wanted seven. Because at one point I believe I heard they were thinking 10, but it came down to seven. I said okay, seven."

The employee explained that the Cincinnati office sent the first seven cases that had come into the system.

The employee further noted that Washington, D.C. had additionally requested the applications or parts of the applications for two specific groups.

Investigator: "But just to be clear, she told you the specific names of these applicants."

IRS employee: "Yes." 

Investigator: "And she told you that Washington, D.C. had requested these two specific applications be sent to D.C." 

IRS employee: "Yes, or parts of them."

According to the partial transcript, the employee noted that this was an unusual request.
The employee added that the Cincinnati IRS employees were just following orders and that the employee believed those instructions came from Washington, D.C. 

Investigator: "So is it your perspective that ultimately the responsible parties for the decisions that were reported by the IG are not in the Cincinnati office?" 

IRS employee: "I don't know how to answer that question. I mean, from an agent standpoint, we didn't do anything wrong. We followed directions based on other people telling us what to do."

 Investigator: "And you ultimately followed directions from Washington; is that correct?" 

IRS employee: "If direction had come down from Washington, yes." 

Investigator: "But with respect to the particular scrutiny that was given to Tea Party applications, those directions emanated from Washington; is that right?" 

IRS employee: "I believe so."

Another interviewee, described by the Oversight Committee as a more senior IRS employee, complained about micromanagement from Washington, D.C. that ultimately led the employee to apply for another job in July 2010.

"It was the whole Tea Party. It was the whole picture. I mean, it was the micromanagement. The fact that the subject area was extremely sensitive and it was something that I didn't want to be associated with," the more senior IRS employee told an investigator who was asking about his decision to find another job.

The more senior employee added that what was going on was "inappropriate."

Investigator: "Why didn't you want to be associated with it?"

IRS employee: "For what happened now. I mean, rogue agent? Even though I was taking all my direction from EO Technical [Washington, D.C], I didn't want my name in the paper for being this rogue agent for a project I had no control over."

Investigator: "Did you think there was something inappropriate about what was happening in 2010?"

IRS employee: "Yes. The inappropriateness was not processing these applications fairly and timely."

Sunday, Committee Chairman Darrell Issa unveiled that committee's findings on CNN, promised that the full transcripts will come out, and called White House spokesman Jay Carney a "paid liar."

Cincinnati IRS employee: Washington 'throwing us under bus’