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Speaking of investigations, here's one that actually
Posted on: August 30, 2017 at 08:44:29 CT
GA Tiger MU
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means something. Right demlibs? You corrupt clowns. And, what the hell has DOJ been doing about this - besides nothing. I'm not impressed.
Will Justice Come For IRS Lawbreakers At Last?
Abuse Of Power: The IRS scandal seemingly has lain dormant now for months, all but forgotten amid the spate of recent anti-Trump media spasms, the ongoing violent antics of the antifa leftists and, now, Hurricane Harvey's devastation. But even if much of Washington has forgotten about it, a Washington judge hasn't.
As reported by the Washington Examiner, Judge Reggie B. Walton of the Washington, D.C., District Court last week revived legal attention to the scandal, telling the IRS it has to reveal the names of IRS employees who targeted conservative, libertarian and Tea Party groups.
But Walton didn't stop there. He also gave the IRS until Oct. 16 to find all the records in IRS databases from May 2009 to March 2015 that are relevant to the case and to explain just why these groups were targeted.
All of this is the result of a suit against the IRS brought in 2013 by True the Vote and 38 other groups. The groups have doggedly pursued the IRS for four years after the tax agency held up their tax-exempt status before and during the 2012 election year for what appear to be blatantly political reasons. In their search for justice, the groups have had little help from the mostly apathetic, left-leaning media that wish conservative groups would just go away.
Now, with Walton's order to the IRS, PJ Media's Rick Moran asks the provocative question: "Is the IRS Scandal about break wide open?"
The answer seems to be yes. And it's about time.
This is one of the most serious abuses of power by a federal agency in decades. That no one really lost a job and no one has been prosecuted for abusing the powers of the federal government to harass groups for their political beliefs — the kind of thing routinely done in places such as Russia and Venezuela, not in the U.S. — is nothing less than shocking.
For those who need a reminder and without getting too deep in the weeds, the scandal involves IRS bureaucrats denying tax-exempt status to groups apparently solely due to their conservative political beliefs. This is clearly highly illegal.
Paul Caron, dean of the Pepperdine University School of Law and himself a tax lawyer, has kept a lonely vigil at his blog on the IRS' questionable actions in all this, running a virtually day-by-day account of the news behind the scandal, which as of Monday by his count was in its 1,572nd day (and counting).
With so little action, on Monday Caron wondered plaintively, "Why did it go away?" Well, we've wondered that too.
Caron quotes a piece from the Nonprofit Quarterly that notes that since May 2013 there have been "several congressional and other investigations but no criminal indictments or known personnel actions against anyone involved in the targeting. ... The U.S. Justice Department launched an investigation, but in the midst of that investigation, they announced there would be no indictments."
The NPQ goes on: "Various congressional committees attempted to ferret out what happened and who did it but were stymied by the IRS' slow responses to records requests and, in some cases, destruction of computer media (that) might have contained important information."
In short, it looks like a classic case of a gross violation of federal law followed by a possibly criminal cover-up.
Truth be told, we're a little surprised and disappointed that President Trump's Justice Department hasn't been more aggressive with the IRS. And we're not alone. The Heritage Foundation's Senior Legal Fellow Hans von Spakovsky, while applauding Judge Walton's move, wonders "why the Justice Department, which is now supposedly under the control and authority of the new administration, hasn't reversed its obstinate, inflexible, and stubborn defense of the IRS."
A very good question. For not only did the IRS target conservative groups, as von Spakovsky notes, but an internal memo shows it went after any organization "involved in limiting/expanding government (and) educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights."
This is unconscionable behavior by a federal agency that is governed by that very same Constitution.
By seeking maximum disclosure, Walton is doing yeoman's duty in making the IRS accountable. We wish him success in prying open the IRS' chest of dirty secrets.
But that's not enough. At the very least, it's time the U.S. Department of Justice stopped defending the indefensible, and started forcing the rogue tax-collection agency and its former executives to answer for its politically motivated crimes. As the old saying goes, justice delayed is justice denied.
Will Justice Come For IRS Lawbreakers At Last?
Abuse Of Power: The IRS scandal seemingly has lain dormant now for months, all but forgotten amid the spate of recent anti-Trump media spasms, the ongoing violent antics of the antifa leftists and, now, Hurricane Harvey's devastation. But even if much of Washington has forgotten about it, a Washington judge hasn't.
As reported by the Washington Examiner, Judge Reggie B. Walton of the Washington, D.C., District Court last week revived legal attention to the scandal, telling the IRS it has to reveal the names of IRS employees who targeted conservative, libertarian and Tea Party groups.
But Walton didn't stop there. He also gave the IRS until Oct. 16 to find all the records in IRS databases from May 2009 to March 2015 that are relevant to the case and to explain just why these groups were targeted.
All of this is the result of a suit against the IRS brought in 2013 by True the Vote and 38 other groups. The groups have doggedly pursued the IRS for four years after the tax agency held up their tax-exempt status before and during the 2012 election year for what appear to be blatantly political reasons. In their search for justice, the groups have had little help from the mostly apathetic, left-leaning media that wish conservative groups would just go away.
Now, with Walton's order to the IRS, PJ Media's Rick Moran asks the provocative question: "Is the IRS Scandal about break wide open?"
The answer seems to be yes. And it's about time.
This is one of the most serious abuses of power by a federal agency in decades. That no one really lost a job and no one has been prosecuted for abusing the powers of the federal government to harass groups for their political beliefs — the kind of thing routinely done in places such as Russia and Venezuela, not in the U.S. — is nothing less than shocking.
For those who need a reminder and without getting too deep in the weeds, the scandal involves IRS bureaucrats denying tax-exempt status to groups apparently solely due to their conservative political beliefs. This is clearly highly illegal.
Paul Caron, dean of the Pepperdine University School of Law and himself a tax lawyer, has kept a lonely vigil at his blog on the IRS' questionable actions in all this, running a virtually day-by-day account of the news behind the scandal, which as of Monday by his count was in its 1,572nd day (and counting).
With so little action, on Monday Caron wondered plaintively, "Why did it go away?" Well, we've wondered that too.
Caron quotes a piece from the Nonprofit Quarterly that notes that since May 2013 there have been "several congressional and other investigations but no criminal indictments or known personnel actions against anyone involved in the targeting. ... The U.S. Justice Department launched an investigation, but in the midst of that investigation, they announced there would be no indictments."
The NPQ goes on: "Various congressional committees attempted to ferret out what happened and who did it but were stymied by the IRS' slow responses to records requests and, in some cases, destruction of computer media (that) might have contained important information."
In short, it looks like a classic case of a gross violation of federal law followed by a possibly criminal cover-up.
Truth be told, we're a little surprised and disappointed that President Trump's Justice Department hasn't been more aggressive with the IRS. And we're not alone. The Heritage Foundation's Senior Legal Fellow Hans von Spakovsky, while applauding Judge Walton's move, wonders "why the Justice Department, which is now supposedly under the control and authority of the new administration, hasn't reversed its obstinate, inflexible, and stubborn defense of the IRS."
A very good question. For not only did the IRS target conservative groups, as von Spakovsky notes, but an internal memo shows it went after any organization "involved in limiting/expanding government (and) educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights."
This is unconscionable behavior by a federal agency that is governed by that very same Constitution.
By seeking maximum disclosure, Walton is doing yeoman's duty in making the IRS accountable. We wish him success in prying open the IRS' chest of dirty secrets.
But that's not enough. At the very least, it's time the U.S. Department of Justice stopped defending the indefensible, and started forcing the rogue tax-collection agency and its former executives to answer for its politically motivated crimes. As the old saying goes, justice delayed is justice denied.
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Speaking of investigations, here's one that actually - GA Tiger MU - 8/30 08:44:29