“the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups”? You mean looking for anonymous Koch bucks in Tea Party 501(c)4′s? Take a gander at this, kiddies, and tell me that C4′s aren’t being abused by long-time Koch associates … Continue reading
by Walter Brasch Judges who wish to assure that a jury has no outside influence will sequester them. Legally, a sequestered jury is seized by authority and isolated from all outside influences. The jurors are escorted into and out of the courtroom. They aren’t allowed to read newspapers, listen to radio news, or watch TV news, ’lest they could be influenced by the media. They are escorted to and from meals, and isolated from other customers. They can’t discuss the case with family or friends. They can’t even go home at the end of the day; they’re housed in hotel rooms. In the summer of 2011, a bipartisan “super-committee” was supposed to come up with a reasonable budget to … Continue reading
There isn’t much on which Harry Reid and Rand Paul can agree, but after tea party Republican Paul spent 12 hours on the Senate floor filibustering President Obama’s nominee to head the CIA, the chamber’s top Democrat appreciates Paul’s willingness to step up to actually engage in a talking filibuster. Too often, Republican senators filibuster only by threat of cloture vote, or the procedural need to reach 60 votes just to put a bill to a final vote, says Reid, Senate majority leader. On the same day that Paul, Kentucky’s junior senator, chattered away hour after hour to filibuster Obama’s nominee to lead the CIA, Reid complained other Republicans “hid behind a cloture vote – a filibuster by another term … Continue reading
While GOP House Speaker John Boehner was complaining that the newly inaugurated President Obama was set to “annihilate the Republican Party,” Senate Majority Leader was praising Boehner for passing a bill to raise the federal debt limit which “surrenders” the Republican extremism of the past. Unlike 2011 in which congressional Republicans turned an increase in the federal debt ceiling into a partisan battle over steep federal budget cuts, the House Wednesday approved a bill which decouples an increase in the debt ceiling from spending cuts. “This bill surrenders the hostage Republicans have taken in the past by decoupling the full faith and credit of the United States from cuts to Social Security and Medicare, or anything else. In substance, this … Continue reading
Add Sen. Rand Paul to a growing list of even conservative Republicans who appear to be giving into the idea that taxes soon will rise on the wealthiest Americans as part of a deal to avert the so-called fiscal cliff. Paul, may have been elected in 2010 as one of the most fervent heroes of the tea party, but even he seems to see the writing on the wall as President Obama has public opinion on his side in calling for an end to the tax cuts for the top 2 percent of taxpayers. Appearing this week on Fox News, the junior senator from Kentucky gamed out a scenario in which congressional Republicans would give Obama and the Democrats a … Continue reading
President Obama had lunch yesterday with Mitt Romney and one of the topics they discussed was Romney’s plan for making “government more efficient.” Obama has praised Romney for his work in running the Olympics and for his skills that could lend themselves to making the government work better, said Jay Carney, White House spokesman. Certainly Romney has great passion and experience for restructuring and downsizing inefficient companies. If any organization is dysfunctional and outrageously expensive for what we get in return, it is the Department of Defense… a Mitt Romney, when not catering to right-wing Tea Party zealots, surely recognizes that. Maybe Romney could outsource some of these defensive duties to our erstwhile allies overseas. Does the Pentagon really need … Continue reading
Robert Stacey McCain doesn’t particular care for my reporting. McCain, who runs the blog “The Other McCain”, is one of the increasingly decreasing number of outspoken supporters of Ali A. Akbar, president of a group called the National Bloggers Club. I’ve written a handful of articles on the topic, and he took issue with one in particular – Romney Staffer Committing Charitable Fraud. First of all, he credits other people for my work. Then he apparently feels it’s relevant to include 750 words on Brett Kimberlin, the boogiest of boogie-men to the conservative blogosphere – not to mention someone I’ve never knowingly worked with, talked to, seen or even known much about. When he finally gets back to me, he … Continue reading
Bill Murphy, Mitt Romney’s Social Media Director, and his colleague Ali Akbar have ripped off a lot of people. They ripped off the Tea Party with the American Liberty Alliance. They ripped off movement Conservatives with the National Bloggers Club. They even ripped off Andrew Breitbart. But their days of making it rain misbegotten right-wing dollars may be numbered. In 2009 Murphy and Akbar worked together at American Liberty Alliance, an organization which collected “donations” throughout the summer while claiming they were just waiting for their 501(c)3 application to go through. It never did. Then they worked together at National Bloggers Club, a group which solicited “donations” for the past six months while actually calling itself a non-profit (status pending). … Continue reading
