51–60 of 86 posts
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Between signing off on warrants against journalists, signing off on the CIA murdering American citizens abroad (via OLC), and giving de facto immunity to banks and bank employees, Holder has been a terrible Attorney General. It's time for him to go.
Not to mention selling guns to Mexican cartels.
I supported Obama and worked for the campaign in 2008. I'm sad to see that this administration has been more aggressive in leak persecution than GWB. I don't think there is anything wrong in pursuing illegal leaks of classified information. I DO think it's wrong to target bona fide journalists for criminal prosecution based on their reporting. The optics of this kind of thing are bad no matter how you look at it. As…
This statement seems self-contradictory. If a person leaking classified information does not warrant protection, then it is in fact legitimate to subpoena the private emails of a journalist who is known to be in contact with said person. They are using their ability to access private information under extraordinary circumstances to find someone who is breaking the law. This seems perfectly legitimate. The fact that the information belongs to a journalist doesn't necessitate extra levels of protection against wiretapping warrants--if whatever information was sensitive enough to justify a wiretap on an arbitrary (uninvolved) person, that person being a journalist shouldn't matter. The journalist isn't being targeted, so him being a journalist is irrelevant.
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Slashdot is right wing? Bahahaha. That's funny. Did you know CmdrTaco actually works for the Washington Post now? Not exactly the fortress of the right wing. In fact, quite liberal. Some would say very liberal. Anywho, this topic is about government abuse, regardless of party.
Washington Post isn't liberal or conservative. It's beltway. If one party says that the sky is yellow, and the other party says it's red, the Washington Post will be there in all their wisdom to inform you that it's actually a shade of orange, and they're the mature adults who can rise above partisanship and see the truth.
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DOJ regulations require that the AG approve ('sign off' on) the request for a warrant targeting a journalist, but you are right that only a judge (well at least a magistrate) can actually authorize one.
I fail to see how it is newsworthy that the AG requested a warrant unless there's some kind of a trend that AG approved requests are disproportionately granted.
So even the DOJ acknowledges it's something of a big deal, they just argue it was justified in this instance.
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Yeah, I hate that circular logic. Americans drink more coke than pepsi, look at the advertising budgets. You hammer something on prime time every night for 6 months and people will think it's a bigger deal than the story you don't. There's not an actual scandal behind Benghazi. Literally none. They're alleging a cover-up, "of what?", "they're covering it up!". That's the whole story and somehow it's 6 months of airti…
Lying to everyone about Benghazi to maintain a narrative about terrorism prior to the election satisfies most people's definition of a scandal. And for some reason the people on the ground, even in the country, were told to stand down rather than attempt to help, something that no one can remember ever happening before. Really now, this is the first Ambassador killed in the line of duty in 33 years (previously under…
But I'm actually concerned as an American about real issues, even real criticisms of Obama that get no attention while this idiocy goes on.
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Between signing off on warrants against journalists, signing off on the CIA murdering American citizens abroad (via OLC), and giving de facto immunity to banks and bank employees, Holder has been a terrible Attorney General. It's time for him to go.
Not to mention selling guns to Mexican cartels.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, I hate that circular logic. Americans drink more coke than pepsi, look at the advertising budgets. You hammer something on prime time every night for 6 months and people will think it's a bigger deal than the story you don't. There's not an actual scandal behind Benghazi. Literally none. They're alleging a cover-up, "of what?", "they're covering it up!". That's the whole story and somehow it's 6 months of airti…
Lying to everyone about Benghazi to maintain a narrative about terrorism prior to the election satisfies most people's definition of a scandal. And for some reason the people on the ground, even in the country, were told to stand down rather than attempt to help, something that no one can remember ever happening before. Really now, this is the first Ambassador killed in the line of duty in 33 years (previously under…
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Washington Post isn't liberal or conservative. It's beltway. If one party says that the sky is yellow, and the other party says it's red, the Washington Post will be there in all their wisdom to inform you that it's actually a shade of orange, and they're the mature adults who can rise above partisanship and see the truth.
I wish that was still true, it was when I was living in the area 1991-2004. But to me at least they've abandoned that position; that they still employ Ezra Klein after his JournoList was exposed tells you all you need to know. Heck, he and Josh Marshall were just observed going into the White House for a private meeting and now they're saying the same things.
Take a look at their front-page right now. Or tomorrow. The whole op/ed section is filled with the same crap that every politician is talking about. Strategically balanced so that they're acting as stenographer for both side's media consultant.
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I wonder if you oughtn't reconsider how important the IRS+ scandal is (for some targets, it went way past the IRS, even audits by them, e.g for Truth the Vote the FBI, OSHA and BATF all piled on). This systematic suppression by the ruling class* of their opposition implicates the 1st Amendment freedoms of religion†, speech, assembly and petition (e.g. unruly "Town Hall" events). There's a lot of maxims out there that…
You're not contradicting my contention: Lots of political groups were applying for charitable status, they're not allowed to have it, and it's the IRS's job to flag those groups, filter them out and inform them that their donations are not tax-deductible. Any political group asking for charity status was not being persecuted -- they were being very properly informed that they're not a charity. If any actual charity w…
501(c)(4) organizations are mostly not charities, e.g. the NRA's lobbying arm, the Institute for Legislative Action, and the current version of Obama's Organizing for America (Organizing for Action) are examples that passed IRS muster, and the vast majority of the ones maltreated by the IRS were going for that status.
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You're not contradicting my contention: Lots of political groups were applying for charitable status, they're not allowed to have it, and it's the IRS's job to flag those groups, filter them out and inform them that their donations are not tax-deductible. Any political group asking for charity status was not being persecuted -- they were being very properly informed that they're not a charity. If any actual charity w…
You are very confused. 501(c) status is about being a non-profit, not necessarily a "charity". Only a few of the current 27 categories of 501(c) organizations can reasonably be called charities, look at the list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/501(c)_organization#Types , e.g. see 501(c)(16) for farmer's coops. 501(c)(4) organizations are mostly not charities, e.g. the NRA's lobbying arm, the Institute for Legislative A…