USA Today – by Aamer Madhani and Gregory Korte

WASHINGTON — President Obama said Thursday he is naming a trusted White House budget official, Daniel Werfel, to serve as his new acting IRS commissioner.

The appointment of Werfel comes as a second top IRS official announced Thursday that he is stepping down in the aftermath of revelations that the agency targeted conservative groups for extra scrutiny.   Continue reading “Second IRS official resigns after scandal”

Baltimore Sun – by Erin Cox

Gov. Martin O’Malley on Thursday signed a gun-control bill that is among the country’s most sweeping legislative responses to the December mass shooting in Newtown, Conn.

The law bans the sale of assault-style rifles, including the AR-15 used in the Newtown killing of six educators and 20 first- and second-graders. The law limits gun ownership for people with mental illness, outlaws the sale of high-capacity magazines and establishes the nation’s first new handgun licensing scheme in two decades.   Continue reading “Maryland Governor O’Malley signs gun bill”

The Weekly Standard – by DANIEL HALPER

California congressman Devin Nunes made the claim yesterday that the Justice Department wiretapped telephones in the House of Representative’s Cloak Room, an exclusive part of the Capitol where members are able to privately interact with one another. Nunes made the claim on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show.   Continue reading “Congressman: Justice Dept. Wiretapped the House of Representative’s Cloak Room”

KGW News

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Agriculture Committee has approved a sweeping farm bill that would trim the $80 billion-a-year food stamp program.

The panel approved the bill 46-10 late Wednesday after rebuffing Democratic efforts to keep the food stamp program whole.   Continue reading “House panel OKs farm bill with food stamp cuts”

Breaking: Acting commissioner of IRS resigns, Obama saysCNN

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew requested – and has accepted – the resignation of the acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service in the wake of its handling of requests by conservative groups for tax-exempt status, President Barack Obama said Wednesday.

The “misconduct” detailed in a report about the IRS response to those requests is “inexcusable,” he said.   Continue reading “Acting commissioner of IRS resigns, Obama says”

irs happyGateway Pundit – by Jim Hoft

The IRS is facing a lawsuit after stealing 60 million medical records from 10 million patients.
Healthcare IT News reported:

The Internal Revenue Service is now facing a class action lawsuit over allegations that it improperly accessed and stole the health records of some 10 million Americans, including medical records of all California state judges.   Continue reading “IRS Faces Lawsuit After Stealing 60 Million Medical Records”

Godfather Politics – by Philip Hodges

Public figures are more honest when they think no one is watching or listening.

The New Jersey legislature archives their sessions and uploads them to their website for all to listen to. What some of these legislators didn’t realize was that the mic was still on and could pick up what they were saying.   Continue reading ““Hot Mic” Picks Up Dem Lawmakers: “Confiscate, Confiscate, Confiscate””

U.S. Troops in Afghanistan (Photo: Senior Airman Sean Martin, U.S. Air Force)Long Island Press – by Jed Morey

U.S. Military ‘Power Grab’ Goes Into Effect

The manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombing suspects offered the nation a window into the stunning military-style capabilities of our local law enforcement agencies. For the past 30 years, police departments throughout the United States have benefitted from the government’s largesse in the form of military weaponry and training, incentives offered in the ongoing “War on Drugs.” For the average citizen watching events such as the intense pursuit of the Tsarnaev brothers on television, it would be difficult to discern between fully outfitted police SWAT teams and the military.   Continue reading “Pentagon Unilaterally Grants Itself Authority Over ‘Civil Disturbances’”

A man who ran away on foot during a car stop on Aug. 9, 2012, in West Philadelphia was eventually shot to death by police after the pursuit.Philly.com – by Sam Wood

The number of violent crimes fell last year in Philadelphia, as did assaults on police officers.

But the number of people shot by police is up.

Way up.

The number of shootings by police in 2012 resulting in death or injury climbed to the highest level it’s been in 10 years. Philadelphia police shot 52 suspects last year while responding to calls for reported crimes. Of those shot, 15 people died.   Continue reading “Shootings by Philly police soar as violent crime plummets”

Zero Hedge – by Tyler Durden

Following the just concluded recent visit by John Kerry to Russia, one may have been left with the impression that the tensions of the Cold War are dead and buried. Just the opposite it appears. In what may be a well-timed and orchestrated announcement, moments ago Russia announced that it had caught an American, Ryan Fogle, a third-secretary at the US Embassy in Moscow, “red-handed” as he tried to recruit a Russian intelligence officer to work for the CIA.   Continue reading “Russia Captures US Embassy Worker In Act Of CIA Recruitment; CIA’s “Dropbox” Gmail Address Revealed”

All Gov – by Matt Bewig

President Barack Obama is currently blocking the release—or allowing the CIA to block the release—of a comprehensive Senate report on the use of torture by the George W. Bush administration CIA that is said to conclude that torture was not an effective or reliable method of interrogation and that the agency repeatedly misled the White House, the Justice Department, and Congress about its interrogation efforts.   Continue reading “Why is Obama Hiding 6,000-Page Report on Bush-Era Torture and Why is Torture Still Allowed?”

Wired – by KIM ZETTER

There’s so much data available on the internet that even government cyberspies need a little help now and then to sift through it all. So to assist them, the National Security Agency produced a book to help its spies uncover intelligence hiding on the web.

The 643-page tome, called Untangling the Web: A Guide to Internet Research (.pdf), was just released by the NSA following a FOIA request filed in April by MuckRock, a site that charges fees to process public records for activists and others.   Continue reading “Use These Secret NSA Google Search Tips to Become Your Own Spy Agency”

The Hill – by Brendan Sasso and Jordy Yager

Federal prosecutors secretly obtained two months’ worth of telephone records of Associated Press journalists in what the news agency described Monday as a “massive and unprecedented intrusion.”

The Justice Department notified the AP on Friday that it had subpoenaed the records, which included more than 20 office, cellphone and home phone lines. The lines include the general AP office numbers in New York, Washington and Hartford, Conn., and the number for AP reporters in the House of Representatives press gallery.   Continue reading “Justice Department secretly seized AP reporters’ phone records”

Question: Just where would a fellow be going that he couldn’t buy him a pressure cooker when he got there?  Think about it.

You can’t make this stuff up.

NBC News – by M. Alex Johnson

A man traveling with an altered Saudi Arabian passport was in federal court Monday after a pressure cooker was discovered in his luggage at the Detroit airport over the weekend.   Continue reading “Man with altered Saudi passport arrested with pressure cooker at Detroit airport”