IRS Scandal explodes. "no evidence that would support a criminal prosecution."

[shira]

The righties are back for more? This ought to be good!

Kind of like Benghazi. If the first 7 investigations don't find anything, obviously Republicans will call for an 8th, and continue to insist that Hilary lied.

And if the latest investigation finds no wrongdoing, what do Republicans do? Hmmmm.

It was a classic Friday night news dump, and then some. Last Friday, which happened to be the Friday before the Thanksgiving holiday week, the Republican-controlled House Intelligence Committee released the findings of its investigation into the 2012 attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. This was the seventh congressional investigation into the Benghazi attacks, by most counts — there have also been investigations by the FBI, the State Department and others. There is an eighth investigation underway in the House, and there will likely be more to come as Republicans take control of the Senate next year.

The Republicans’ motive for suppressing news coverage of the report is that, like the previous reports, it exonerates Pres. Obama and his administration, including then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, of anything remotely criminal — which is to say actionable or, more to the point, impeachable:


The CIA and the military acted properly in responding to the 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, a Republican-controlled House committee has found. Its report concluded that there was no wrongdoing by Obama administration officials.

Debunking a series of persistent allegations hinting at dark conspiracies, the two-year investigation of the politically charged incident determined that there was no intelligence failure, no delay in sending a CIA rescue team, no missed opportunity for a military rescue, and no evidence the CIA was covertly shipping arms from Libya to Syria.

Immediately after the attack, intelligence about who carried it out and why was contradictory, the report found. That led Susan Rice, then U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to inaccurately assert that the attack had evolved from a protest, when in fact there had been no protest.

But it was intelligence analysts, not political appointees, who made the wrong call, the committee found. The report did not conclude that Rice or any other government official acted in bad faith or intentionally misled the American people.

As for IRS-gate, Republicans couldn't possibly have an ulterior motive for continuing to insist that righties were targeted, could they? Even if all of the evidence indicates otherwise. Gotta keep those mouth-breathing true believers riled up.

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

I'm a complete idiot with zero reading comprehension skills.

Thank you.

 

[First]

I herp a derp.

Indeed.

 

[PokerGuy]

As for IRS-gate, Republicans couldn't possibly have an ulterior motive for continuing to insist that righties were targeted, could they?

Lets clear something up: that conservative groups were targeted / delayed etc is NOT even a matter of debate. It's a fact, and has been acknowledged. The debate is about the intent, and about who might have known. Some say the conservative groups got targeted because of an incorrectly applied measure to try and weed out the political from non political (ie, innocent mistake), and others think the conservatives were deliberately targeted as an effort to suppress conservative activities. Regardless of your perspective on the intent, there is no doubt conservative groups were inappropriately targeted.

 

[Moonbeam]

Shira, surely you can see that the mere fact of the number of investigations proves there is guilt. Cops, for example wouldn't arrest people if they didn't break the law.

 

[ivwshane]

Lets clear something up: that conservative groups were targeted / delayed etc is NOT even a matter of debate. It's a fact, and has been acknowledged. The debate is about the intent, and about who might have known. Some say the conservative groups got targeted because of an incorrectly applied measure to try and weed out the political from non political (ie, innocent mistake), and others think the conservatives were deliberately targeted as an effort to suppress conservative activities. Regardless of your perspective on the intent, there is no doubt conservative groups were inappropriately targeted.

You forgot to add that liberal groups were also targeted. You can't forget that part otherwise you just look like all the other hacks.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

You forgot to add that liberal groups were also targeted. You can't forget that part otherwise you just look like all the other hacks.

If I remember correctly it was like a 2 to 1 ratio. Again I don't see any grand conspiracy here but it sure would be nice to have a regular investigation and have some kind of resolution. Too much partisan crap going on with this.

 

[brycejones]

2432 posts, still waiting for the explosion and proof that individual taxpayers were targeted as alleged in the thread title.

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

Shira, surely you can see that the mere fact of the number of investigations proves there is guilt. Cops, for example wouldn't arrest people if they didn't break the law.

Yeah, we should have taken the IRS at their word that this was all just an isolated incident traced to 2 rogue employees in a remote office. I'm sure the IRS had no reason to lie...unless possibly, they actually had reasons to lie. Meanwhile this rabbit hole just keeps getting deeper and deeper.

 

[ivwshane]

If I remember correctly it was like a 2 to 1 ratio. Again I don't see any grand conspiracy here but it sure would be nice to have a regular investigation and have some kind of resolution. Too much partisan crap going on with this.

The ratio is irrelevant as the ratio of submitted apps from right or left leaning groups was not the same.

The only partisan crap going on is happening from the right. Congress created a law that required the IRS to do a job it's not equipped to handle and the IRS for whatever reason complicated the law by interpreting it differently than was written and as a result we have the IRS attempting to adhere to the law the most efficient way they can.

 

[PokerGuy]

You forgot to add that liberal groups were also targeted. You can't forget that part otherwise you just look like all the other hacks.

No. Specific key words were used as part of the filtering/screening process that obviously resulted in disparate impact on conservative groups. The fact that some other groups were also scrutinized does not change the fact that conservative groups were inappropriately targeted. Again, there is no disputing that fact. The only valid discussions center around intent, who knew, why it was done and so forth.

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

If I remember correctly it was like a 2 to 1 ratio. Again I don't see any grand conspiracy here but it sure would be nice to have a regular investigation and have some kind of resolution. Too much partisan crap going on with this.

I thought it was much more lop-sided. Bowfinger probably has this memorized...what say you Bowfinger?

 

[xBiffx]

The IRS already admitted to and apologized for inappropriate targeting. If it wasn't inappropriate or it didn't happen why did they admit to and apologize for it?

 

[ivwshane]

No. Specific key words were used as part of the filtering/screening process that obviously resulted in disparate impact on conservative groups. The fact that some other groups were also scrutinized does not change the fact that conservative groups were inappropriately targeted. Again, there is no disputing that fact. The only valid discussions center around intent, who knew, why it was done and so forth.

Yes key words were indeed used and they included both left and right leaning groups. You either admit that fact or you are just another fucking hack. If you can't admit that then your findings on intent will be wrong.

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

More like 15 to 1.

http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallp...0/report-irs-scrutiny-worse-for-conservatives

 

[ivwshane]

The IRS already apologized for inappropriate targeting. If it wasn't inappropriate or it didn't happen why did they apologize?

It was inappropriate because it they targeted certain groups as opposed to looking at all groups. It's not that hard to understand when you remove the partisan hackery from the equation.

 

[PokerGuy]

The IRS already apologized for inappropriate targeting. If it wasn't inappropriate or it didn't happen why did they apologize?

Yep, they already acknowledged that their actions were inappropriate. Idiot lefties still want to pretend that it's all a big right wing conspiracy theory, that no abuse took place. The bottom line is, the abuse took place and has already been acknowledged.

 

[PokerGuy]

More like 15 to 1.

http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallp...0/report-irs-scrutiny-worse-for-conservatives

That chart pretty much says it all. Anyone who doesn't look at that information and see the obvious inappropriate targeting and abuse of certain groups is simply delusional and/or stupid.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Yep, they already acknowledged that their actions were inappropriate. Idiot lefties still want to pretend that it's all a big right wing conspiracy theory, that no abuse took place. The bottom line is, the abuse took place and has already been acknowledged.

The point is already in the thread title. Did Obama order the IRS to do this. Do you believe the President ordered this?

 

[PokerGuy]

It was inappropriate because it they targeted certain groups as opposed to looking at all groups. It's not that hard to understand when you remove the partisan hackery from the equation.

You also seem to conveniently ignore that even among groups selected for additional scrutiny, conservative groups were subjected to 3 times as many (often abusive) questions, and only just over 50% were approved (as opposed to 100% for the leftist groups). That would indicate that it's not simply the selection criteria that was bad --- it goes beyond the selection criteria they admitted to incorrectly using.

 

[PokerGuy]

The point is already in the thread title. Did Obama order the IRS to do this. Do you believe the President ordered this?

Nope, I absolutely do not believe he did.

I do, however, believe that some of his devoted followers -- from low level employees all the way up to Lerner and some people in the DoJ and possibly even in the administration decided to "help" the cause. Not at his direction IMO.

Also, the title doesn't say obummer ordered it. As the head of the executive branch he's responsible for what the IRS does.

 

[ivwshane]

You also seem to conveniently ignore that even among groups selected for additional scrutiny, conservative groups were subjected to 3 times as many (often abusive) questions, and only just over 50% were approved (as opposed to 100% for the leftist groups). That would indicate that it's not simply the selection criteria that was bad --- it goes beyond the selection criteria they admitted to incorrectly using.

Hack it is!

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2014/04/23/3429722/irs-records-tea-party/

Crazy I know! I mean it's not like Issa only asked for a list of conservative names to be targeted and then released that list. Naw, no partisan intent there!

 

[Fanatical Meat]

It strongly implies the Presudent had some involvement. Like the classic "people have said" or "I once saw someone do" or "there are rumors of"

**do you believe OP would say "Obama's Military tracked & killed Bin Laden"?**

 

[xBiffx]

It strongly implies the Presudent had some involvement. Like the classic "people have said" or "I once saw someone do" or "there are rumors of"

**do you believe OP would say "Obama's Military tracked & killed Bin Laden"?**

It implies nothing regarding his involvement. His team appear to have done something in what they thought were his best interests. Whether or not he directed them to do it or not does not change the fact that he owns this as it was done under his watch and by part of his administration.

 

[ivwshane]

That chart pretty much says it all. Anyone who doesn't look at that information and see the obvious inappropriate targeting and abuse of certain groups is simply delusional and/or stupid.

Or duped. Congrats hack!

You guys continue to be duped over and over and over again!

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/307813-irs-ig-says-audit-limited-to-tea-party-groups

Fucking morons!