[WashingtonTimes] Former IRS executive Lois G. Lerner told a federal court last week that members of her family, including "young children," face death threats and a real risk of physical harm if her explanation of the tea party targeting scandal becomes public.
Ms. Lerner and Holly Paz, her deputy at the IRS, filed documents in court Thursday saying tapes and transcripts of depositions they gave in a court case this year must remain sealed in perpetuity, or else they could spur an enraged public to retaliate.
"Whenever Mss. Lerner and Paz have been in the media spotlight, they have faced death threats and harassment," attorneys for the two women argued.
Ms. Lerner and Ms. Paz gave taped depositions in a class-action lawsuit brought by tea party groups demanding answers and compensation for having been subjected to illegal targeting for their political beliefs.
The government settled the class-action lawsuit in Ohio and another tea party challenge in the District of Columbia in two agreements last month, admitting to the illegal behavior. The Ohio settlement also called for the government to pay $3.5 million to the tea party groups, according to one of the plaintiffs.
Ms. Lerner came in for particular criticism, with the government admitting she not only didn’t stop the targeting ‐ contradicting the Obama administration’s claims ‐ but also hid it from her superiors in Washington.
During the course of the Ohio case, the tea party groups filed thousands of pages of documents, but testimony from Ms. Lerner and Ms. Paz was left out of the public record because of their earlier request for privacy.
Now Ms. Lerner and Ms. Paz say that since the case has been settled, there is no reason for their testimony to ever become public.
"The voluminous record of harassment and physical threats to Mss. Lerner and Paz and their families during the pendency of this litigation provides a compelling reason to seal the materials," the women’s attorneys said.
They particularly blamed Mark Meckler, a tea party leader whose organization helped fund the class-action lawsuit, saying he helped stoke the threats against them by calling IRS agents "criminal thugs."
"These words matter. They have created a fertile environment where threats and harassment against Mss. Lerner and Paz have flourished," the lawyers said.
Mr. Meckler laughed when he learned about the filing.
"Four years of harassing innocent American citizens for their political beliefs, and she’s scared of a guy in a cowboy hat talking to a bunch of little old ladies at a tea party event?" he said, recounting the speech where he called IRS agents "thugs."
He said if the depositions didn’t show any bad action on her part, then Ms. Lerner should have nothing to fear from their release to the public.
"The reality is because she knows she is guilty as the day is long and she doesn’t want people to know what she actually did," he said.
"It’s hard to have any sympathy for the women. And frankly, I don’t believe she’s genuinely scared," Mr. Meckler said.
The Trump administration backs making the documents public, according to court documents, which leaves Ms. Lerner and Ms. Paz fighting a rearguard action.
So far, they have had Judge Michael R. Barrett on their side. As the case was proceeding, he kept the two IRS employees’ testimony secret at their request, allowing only the lawyers involved to see the information.
Papers filed by the tea party groups’ attorneys repeatedly made reference to their testimony in documents, but it was always redacted.
The Cincinnati Enquirer, a newspaper that covers the Cincinnati office of the IRS that initially handled tea party groups’ applications and that Ms. Lerner initially blamed for the targeting, has been fighting to make her version of events public.
The paper renewed that request last month, the day the government and the tea party groups announced their settlement. The paper has argued that there is no "clear and imminent danger" to Ms. Lerner or Ms. Paz.
Ms. Lerner has refused to talk publicly about her handling of the tea party cases, even being held in contempt of Congress when she botched her assertion of Fifth Amendment rights during testimony.
But the Obama Justice Department refused to prosecute the case, saying it concluded Ms. Lerner’s assertion of Fifth Amendment rights was correct.
Under President Obama, the department, in its own investigation into the IRS handling of tea party cases, also credited Ms. Lerner with being one of the bright spots, saying she attempted to curtail the targeting when she learned of it.
But the government now says that is not true. In its settlement last month, the government says Ms. Lerner not only didn’t stop the targeting, but also hid the behavior from superiors.
#2
still difficult to believe this was done without White House initiating it
Posted by: lord garth ||
11/20/2017 8:26 Comments ||
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Many of these sordid events track back to Soetoro, if not him personally, his lieutenants. That is precisely why nothing will be done about them.
The boldness and panache of both Lerner and the (unfortunately still serving) IRS Directer John Koskinen, point to a high level of political backstopping.
[DCWHISPERS] What a disgusting cesspool of self-serving corruption is the nation’s capital and no better example of that can be found today than Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell who, according to longtime political activist, Ned Ryun, was a primary source of the anti-Roy Moore stories that are now attempting to sway the upcoming Alabama special election and help clear the path for a Trump impeachment attempt in 2018.
"...I strongly suspect it’s a very short list of people, all who are associated with Mitch McConnell ‐ whether it’s Josh Holmes, whether it’s Karl Rove, might even be Steven Law ‐ I don’t know, but I strongly, strongly suspect
So he does not actually know with the certainty expressed in the headline. Got it.
somebody out of the McConnell camp planted the story. It was planted. This came with the blessing of Mitch McConnell at some point, that he was going to take a political shot at Roy Moore."
According to whispers, it wasn’t just taking "political shot" at Moore that motivating the McConnell camp. They want Roy Moore out of the way and replaced with someone of McConnell’s choosing, or even Moore’s Democrat opponent, Doug Jones, a man whose career is linked to the Bill Clinton ...former Democratic president of the U.S. Bill was the second U.S. president to be impeached, the first to deny that oral sex was sex, the first to have difficulty with the definition of is... administration. Moore would be a vehement defender of POTUS Trump and his policies. If McConnell is to succeed in laying the groundwork for an impeachment trial and vote in the Senate, he will need fewer senators like Roy Moore to contend with.
McConnell is said to know actual impeachment proceedings remain a distant possibility, (the Paul Ryan ...Speaker of the House, U.S. Representative for Wisconsin's 1st congressional district, serving since 1999. He is a member of the Republican Party. He proposed an alternative to President Obama's 2011 budget and made himself the target of both Democrat and Republican verbal pies... -led House would first have to vote to impeach) but he is more determined than ever to be ready should that opportunity present itself. For those who might scoff at the notion of a Republican Congress actually pursuing articles of impeachment against Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... , simply recall the failed votes to repeal and replace Obamacare ... aka the Affordable Care Act, an ineptly designed and worse executed piece of legislation designed to bring 17 percent of the U.S. economy under the direct control of the government. The previous iteration, known as Hillarycare, was laughed out of Washington. This stinker was passed on a party-line vote without being read... , the ongoing troubles to pass tax cuts, and the number of Republican senators who continue to openly speak out against the President.
The motivation to go after Trump is there. What is left is a simple matter of numbers. Getting rid of a Roy Moore and replacing him with an anti-Trump senator would give McConnell that much more leverage to make his desire to eliminate Trump and restore Establishment control a reality.
Iblis also submitted this article, and commented:
Take with grain of salt. Tragically, it might be true.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
Mitch McConnell may be a lot of things but not this.
Posted by: S. Those9453 ||
11/20/2017 0:11 Comments ||
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Impeach on what grounds?
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
11/20/2017 7:36 Comments ||
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#3
Impeachment is a political action; not a legal one. Amazing that the Senators who didn't have the backbone to impeach someone who deserved it (Bill Clinton) are now thinking about making up impeachable offences!
#4
Why would McConnell plant this story? After all, his wife is Elaine Chou, Trump's Secretary of Transportation? Unless Washington is more screwed up and Byzantine than anyone can imagine.
#9
Impeachment is just red meat for the zealots. It didn't remove Clinton from office and it wouldn't remove Trump from office. In fact it made Clinton's favorables go up so the left should consider that before they make a martyr of a fairly popular president despite constant attacks.
[DailyMail, Where America Gets Its News] Sen. Al Franken, the Minnesota Democrat accused of kissing and groping a radio personality in 2006, won't resign, a spokesperson said Precedent's been set. Clinton didn't, and al-Franken isn't even accused of emitting bodily fluids.
Instead the embattled senator will spend his Thanksgiving holiday in Washington, D.C., where he'll be 'doing a lot of reflecting'
On Thursday radio talk host Leeann Tweeden came forward and shared how Franken grabbed her breasts without her permission while she was asleep
He also said he stuck his tongue down her throat as he tried to kiss her as part of a USO show
Franken apologized Thursday and Tweeden accepted the apology, saying she didn't wish for him to step down
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2017 00:00 ||
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What - does he have home movies of his heroics assulting women he watches on the weekends? Kind of like John Kerry made (and staged) home movies of his Vietnam days?
[TheAmericanMirror] Hillary Clinton really wants to be president ‐ even if that means blasting off from Earth to do so. If she needs help packing, I'm up for it.
The failed Democratic candidate recently talked with Now This, a liberal online news outlet, where she pined for a presidency.
While discussing a variety of topics, Clinton envisioned leaving Earth and venturing Earth 2, where that planet faces the same issues as the actual Earth.
"We went to another planet with Hillary," the caption reads as Clinton and Now This’s Nico Pitney fired off a series of topics.
"People joke about Earth 2, where you are president," he told a giggling Hillary.
On Earth 2’s North Korea, Clinton said she would have "full on diplomatic pressure" to solve the crisis with the portly dictator Kim Jong-un.
Clinton said if she was in charge, she would be "putting as much money as it took into enforcing the laws we already have," and added she would want "universal background checks." Any limits regarding the background checks?
After answering a question about the opioid crisis, a handler attempted to cut off the interview.
"I fear we have to end it here," a voice off camera said.
"Okay," Pitney responded.
"You want one more? I’ll be short ‐ one more. Because I like being on Earth 2," Hillary said.
Pitney then asked Clinton what she would do about Russia.
"If I had been president, or on Earth 2, where I am," Hillary said she would have an "independent commission" look into the alleged Russian "hacking" of the presidential election. You mean like Ukraine?
"I worry about ’18. I worry about 2020 because this is the first time we’ve even been attacked and not imposed any real consequences on our adversary," Clinton asserted, ignoring moves by Congressional Republicans and the Trump administration to impose new sanctions on Russia since the election.
The L.A. Times reported in late October:
The Russian government on Friday accused the United States of displaying "hostility" as the Trump administration belatedly took the first steps toward imposing new sanctions to punish Moscow for interfering in the 2016 presidential election.
In early August, after considerable delay and with minimal fanfare, President Trump signed into law a measure that required the new sanctions, which target individuals and firms with ties to Russian defense and intelligence agencies.
Under the law, companies that "knowingly engage in a significant transaction" with people or firms on the list could be subject to U.S. sanctions after Jan. 28. Waiting with giddy anticipation for the "Go Fund Me" page.
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy ||
11/20/2017 09:52 ||
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You could send her to one of your unfavorite relatives this year as a Christmas present because she's nuttier than a fruitcake.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
11/20/2017 14:11 Comments ||
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We would be at war with Russia, with the first Russian winter approaching, and everyone would be up in Hillary's ass about starting an unwinnable war and why don't our troops have proper cold weather gear. The Deep State believes itself to be at war with Russia and Hillary would have taken it hot.
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309 ||
11/20/2017 14:16 Comments ||
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On Earth 2’s North Korea, Clinton said she would have "full on diplomatic pressure" to solve the crisis with the portly dictator Kim Jong-un.
'Earth 2' is called 1994. Then another President Clinton temporarily yielded his presidential powers to Jimmy Carter who resolved a North Korean nuclear crisis diplomatically.
As a result North Korea can now credibly threaten the US with hydrogen bombs.
#7
Don’t we have something that can place her and a small capsule in orbit? A nice slow decaying one would do. We can even name the capsule ‘Earth 2’.
OTOH wasn’t there a show called Earth 2? I beleave the planet used to be a penal colony. Suppose we rename a supermax prison Earth Two and make her a permanent resident.
[DAILYCALLER] Democrats certainly don’t appear to have an issue with using fear to fundraise.
A Senate Majority PAC mailer with an enclosed letter from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer Senator-for-life from New York, renowned for his love of standing in front of cameras. Schumer has been a professional politician since 1975, when disco was in flower. Senate minority leader as of 2017. tied together the Kremlin and neo-Nazis with corporate tax cuts.
"This Must Stop," the mailer says above the words, "Corporate Tax Cuts. Discrimination. Kremlin. Medicaid Cuts. Bribes. Repealing Health Care. Neo-Nazis."
The previously unreported letter was obtained by TheDC on Friday. Schumer claimed in it that Trump is turning his back on America in order to help Russia and "billionaire backers."
"Well, the president wasn’t elected to represent Moscow; he was elected to represent the American people. And anyone who puts America in danger in order to serve another nation’s interests, especially one that has been one of our greatest political adversaries over the last century, should face a whole lot more than ’great pressure,'" Schumer wrote.
The New York senator went on to write: "President Trump and his Republican ’yes men’ are dangerous to the people they are supposed to serve and the values America represents. But they are not unstoppable. Donate to Senate Majority PAC to end this power grab."
The letter was sent out after Steve Bannon left the White House in August, however, it is unclear exactly when it was mailed. Both a Senate Majority PAC front man and a Schumer front man did not respond to a press inquiry.
The Senate Majority PAC is controlled by allies of Schumer, according to Politico, and its goal is to elect Democrats to the Senate.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2017 00:00 ||
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Posted by: S. Those9453 ||
11/20/2017 0:09 Comments ||
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"This Must Stop," the mailer says above the words, "Corporate Tax Cuts. Discrimination. Kremlin. Medicaid Cuts. Bribes. Repealing Health Care. Neo-Nazis."
Only Chuck Schumer could tie in Nazism with the Kremlin and then toss is corporate tax cuts bribes, discrimination, Medicaid cuts, repealing health care cuts.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[WashingtonTimes] Former IRS executive Lois G. Lerner told a federal court last week that members of her family, including "young children," face death threats and a real risk of physical harm if her explanation of the tea party targeting scandal becomes public.
Sen. Al Franken, the Minnesota Democrat accused of kissing and groping a radio personality in 2006, won't resign, a spokesperson said
Senator-for-life from New York, renowned for his love of standing in front of cameras. Schumer has been a professional politician since 1975, when disco was in flower. Senate minority leader as of 2017.
