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Lois “Lame” Lerner: ‘I have not done anything wrong,’ then pleads Fifth

[DailyCaller.com]

WASHINGTON – Lois Lerner, head of the IRS tax exempt organizations division, told the House Oversight Committee that she had done nothing wrong before invoking her Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and not testify.

“I have not done anything wrong,” Lerner said in a brief opening statement. “I have not broken any laws, I have not violated any IRS rules and regulations, and I have not provided false information to this or any other congressional committee.”

Lerner said she “would very much like to answer the committees questions today,” but that her counsel had advised her not to testify, in light of the Department of Justice criminal investigation into the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups for extra scrutiny.

Because she was taking the Fifth, Lerner said, “I know that some people will assume I’ve done something wrong. I have not.”

Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the committee, subsequently dismissed Lerner from the hearing.

WATCH VIDEO:

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Gov’t Official Put on Leave After Benghazi Finally Breaks His Silence and Levels Big Charges

[TheBlaze.com]

May. 21, 2013 10:26am – by  Becket Adams

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. (Getty Images)

Raymond Maxwell, one of four State Department employees recently disciplined by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, made headlines this month for penning slightly cryptic verses critical of the agency’s handling of the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi.

And now Maxwell, who was placed on forced “administrative leave” despite his claim had no role in consulate-related security issues, is back in the news for ditching the poetry and outright accusing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of making him the Benghazi scapegoat.

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Tornado Churns through Oklahoma City Suburbs

[Newsmax.com]

Monday, May 20, 2013

Thomson/Reuters

Image: Tornado Churns through Oklahoma City Suburbs

Mile-wide Tornado Churns Across Oklahoma City Suburbs

A huge tornado touched down on Monday near Oklahoma City, and the National Weather Service urged residents to immediately take cover as a massive storm system in the middle of the country threatened to pummel as many as 10 states. “The tornado on the ground right now is huge and has hit through populated areas,” Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin said on CNN. She said it was too early to know the extent of the damage, but live television showed extensive destruction in the area.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or deaths from the tornado, which was near Moore, Oklahoma, in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area.

National Weather Service meteorologist Brynn Kerr said a tornado warning had been issued for two counties in central Oklahoma. A warning means that residents should immediately find shelter.

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Will U.S. Designate Egypt, Pakistan, Iraq and Nigeria As Religious Freedom Violators?

[CNSNews.com]

May 20, 2013 By Patrick Goodenough

Pakistan-christiansPakistani Christians protest against the country’s blasphemy laws and violence targeting their minority community. An independent U.S. watchdog has urged the executive branch every year since 2002 to designate Pakistan as a “country of particular concern” over religious freedom violations. (AP Photo)

(CNSNews.com) – As the State Department prepares to release its annual report on international religious freedom Monday, a key issue for many Americans concerned about religious persecution is whether it will blacklist a handful of particularly egregious violators – or, as in previous years, ignore the recommendations of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

The question is especially sensitive in the case of countries where the plight of minority Christians has worsened, even as their governments benefit significantly at the cost of U.S. taxpayers.

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Charles Krauthammer: IRS Scandal Could Be a ‘Fatal Problem’ for Obama

[TheBlaze.com]

Charles Krauthammer: IRS Scandal Could Be Fatal for Obama

Fox News

Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer on Friday said the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative organizations could be “fatal” for the Obama administration if it turns out that anyone in the White House was aware of it.

Appearing on Fox News’ “Hannity,” Krauthammer called the IRS situation “the one scandal that people have a visceral sense about” — it’s the one U.S. institution, besides the military, that can do very serious harm.

Going after conservative groups based on their politics is “a violation that everybody — left or right– understands,” he added.

Krauthammer urged that there’s no suggestion that Obama knew what was happening, “but if there’s any indication that there were people in the White House who knew, who orchestrated, who encouraged or whatever, then it can be a fatal problem.”

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Wait Until You Hear Who the Turkish Prime Minister Reportedly Invited to Join His Entourage During U.S. Visit

[TheBlaze.com]

Turkish Prime Minister Invited Father of Radical Islamist Killed in Gaza Flotilla to Join His Entourage on US Visit

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and President Barack Obama hold press conference at the White House May 16, 2013 (Photo: Saul Loeb / AFP / Getty Images)

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan allegedly invited a special personal guest to accompany him on his visit to the U.S. this week.

According to Turkish media, the father of one of the radical Islamist activists killed in Israel’s raid on the Mavi Marmara in 2010 (the Gaza flotilla) was included as an invited guest in the prime minister’s delegation in the hopes he might be able to meet President Barack Obama.

Furkan Dogan, a 19-year-old with both Turkish and U.S. citizenship, joined the Gaza flotilla where he expressed his desire for “martyrdom.” His father now wants the U.S. government to sue Israel over the raid in which the IDF says its forces were defending themselves from what appeared to them to be an organized attack launched by passengers armed with knives and metal bars as the commandos boarded the ship.

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Roskam: Why Did You Tell the ABA About IRS Scandal Before Congress?

[Breitbart.com]

May 17, 2013

Live Updates


Former Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Acting Commissioner Steven Miller, who only took over in November and resigned this week at President Barack Obama’s behest, will testify before the House Ways and Means Committee Friday on his role in targeting Tea Party and conservative groups for audit or excessive review. 

Miller was the first senior IRS official to be disciplined in the scandal, though the problems began before he took over the IRS, and other senior officials were aware of the problem and appear to have misled Congress.

Though Miller’s resignation was reported as a decisive step by the president, his term had been due to expire in early June. Joseph Grant, had been appointed only several days before as Acting Commissioner of the IRS’s tax exempt and government entities division, has also resigned.

Other current and former IRS and Treasury officials have yet to be held accountable, including Lois Lerner, who first acknowledged the scandal on May 10, and former IRS Douglas Shulman, who told Congress in 2012 that Tea Party groups were not being targeted.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced earlier this week that the Department of Justice (DOJ) would begin a criminal investigation of the IRS. Congressional Republicans have indicated that they will not be satisfied with a DOJ probe or the internal Treasury investigation released earlier this week, but will seek answers independently as they attempt to uncover who was responsible for the abuse and how widespread it has become. There are suspicions that the problem extends beyond the IRS alone and includes other federal agencies.

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ICE admits hundreds of illegal immigrants with criminal records released

[FoxNews.com]

Published May 16, 2013
Posted CWN: May 17, 2013

March 29, 2013: People are taken into custody by U.S. Border Patrol near Falfurrias, Texas. (Reuters)

Hundreds of illegal immigrants with criminal records were released earlier this year as the Obama administration prepared for budget cuts, according to newly released data that challenged claims the program involved “low-risk” individuals.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement released the figures to two top senators, after a three-month delay and under the threat of congressional subpoenas.

Of the 2,226 detainees that were released in February, the department revealed, “622 have been identified as having some type of criminal conviction.”

A statement from Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Carl Levin, D-Mich., who received the stats, said 32 of them had multiple felony convictions. The department then “re-apprehended” 24 of those, the senators said, after realizing the “seriousness” of their crimes.

McCain called for those responsible to be punished.

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Obama evades question on White House knowledge of IRS targeting

[DailyCaller.com]

May 16, 2013

Neil Munro, White House Correspondent

barack-obama-turkey_marines-umbrellas-ap-400President Barack Obama dismissed calls for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the IRS scandal, and evaded a question asking if White House officials knew of the IRS targeting of conservative political groups.

“I can assure that I certainly did not know anything about the [inspector general] report before the IG report had been leaked through the press,” he told reporters during a Thursday lunchtime press conference held in the White House Rose Garden.

Obama’s evasion will likely spur public suspicions that White House officials knew about, or even supported, the IRS targeting.

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CBS: Police Found Note Claiming Responsiblity Inside Boat Where Boston Bombing Suspect Was Hiding

[TheBlaze.com]

Dzhokhar-Tsarnaev-270x157Police found a note inside the boat where Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found hiding and eventually captured — a note written by the suspect and claiming responsibility for the destruction, CBS News is reporting.

The note said the bombing was retribution for the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the actions that have killed Muslims.

“When you attack one Muslim, you attack all Muslims,” the note — which CBS reports was scrawled with a pen on an interior wall — apparently said.

According to CBS, the note is significant because it is an admission of guilt outside of the questioning administered to Tsarnaev before he was read his Miranda rights. Any admissions made during that questioning would not be admissible in court.

CBSNews VIDEO

Backfire: ABC, CNN, NBC Call for White House to Release Libya Emails

[Breitbart.com]

by John Nolte 15 May 2013, 4:34 AM PDT



***UPDATE: NBC’s senior White House correspondent joined the chorus Wednesday. On his MSNBC show, “The Daily Rundown,” Chuck Todd looked into the camera and said, “Attention White House: Release all the emails.” The headline has been updated to add NBC.

Assuming they are the ones who leaked to CNN an email written by Ben Rhoades (a Deputy National Security Advisor close to the President), the White House might have been too clever by half Tuesday. An act that was obviously meant to pour water on the Benghazi fire started by an ABC News report, has only ended up being gasoline. Now both CNN and ABC have joined conservative media in calling for the White House to release all the emails surrounding the editing of the CIA talking points.

Friday, in a bombshell report that blew the long-simmering Libya scandal wide open and right into the arms of the mainstream media, ABC’s Jonathan Karl reported that an email written by Rhoades specifically mentioned the State Department’s concerns about the CIA talking points. Here is how Karl transcribed the Rhoades’ email:

We must make sure that the talking points reflect all agency equities, including those of the State Department, and we don’t want to undermine the FBI investigation.  We thus will work through the talking points tomorrow morning at the Deputies Committee meeting.

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