IRS Fake Scandal *UPDATE*

[Ozymandius]

That means most of the applications pulled aside for further scrutiny in those years had nothing to do with politics, conservative or liberal, just as most of the red flags thrown up by the I.R.S.’s lookout lists were not overtly political.

I have no idea how you reach that conclusion when most of the applications pulled aside for further scrutiny were almost entirely conservative groups.

[Recondition]

As liberals, you guys probably either ignored or chose not to remember that only about a week ago it was announced that conservative groups were unfairly targeted by the IRS while liberal groups were not...

http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/14/politi...tive-targeting
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...n_3510455.html
http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-mone...like-tea-party
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...ls-w/?page=all
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/06/2...l#.UdrR9m2Dn-A
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2013...organizations/

But it was only announced on like a HUNDRED different news agencies spanning the gamut of leftist liberal rags to conservative blogs to major news outlets. No reason anyone paying even the remotest amount of attention could possibly have seen it. :P

You know that liberals are closer to being conservatives than they are to being leftists, right?
Liberals by and large aren't anticapitalist which is the major tenet of leftism.

[Maleficus]

Which, the auditor's conclusion was that the IRS was using improper methods to select groups for additional scrutiny. Period. Nothing else.

Never mind the coinky-dink that the "improper methods" just happened to be applied to barry and the dem party's political opponents. I agree, this is all much ado about nothing. No, seriously. I mean that.

Also, does anyone know if TurboTax 2013 will have a section covering prayers? I figure if it was important enough to ask the conservative groups, it should be important enough for everyone.

[Daelak]

I have no idea how you reach that conclusion when most of the applications pulled aside for further scrutiny were almost entirely conservative groups.

It's not just my conclusion; but the IG reports and the data collected by the NY Times. This is almost a exercise in futility. Conservative groups, liberal groups, Palestinian Immigration groups, open source software groups, internet musician groups, and tens of thousands of other groups received the same queries, the same delay, and in some cases, the same rejection letters.

[Maleficus]

I have no idea how you reach that conclusion when most of the applications pulled aside for further scrutiny were almost entirely conservative groups.

Kool Aid. The only question that remains is what flavor.

[Daelak]

Never mind the coinky-dink that the "improper methods" just happened to be applied to barry and the dem party's political opponents. I agree, this is all much ado about nothing. No, seriously. I mean that.

Also, does anyone know if TurboTax 2013 will have a section covering prayers? I figure if it was important enough to ask the conservative groups, it should be important enough for everyone.

Hey, you left out the Soetoro, it's improper to call the president without giving his last name.

Try reading the article.

[braeldiil]

I'll take the IRS Inspector General's word for it over the NYTimes. You can believe what you want to believe if it makes you feel better.

The IRS Inspector General has admitted other groups were targeted, directly contradicting his testimony to Congress. His excuse was that he was originally asked to investigate the targetting of Tea Party groups, and was therefore unable to mention all the other targetting going on in his testimony. He knew about it, of course, it just hadn't been directly inquired about, and he didn't feel it was relevant information. He's a Bush political appointee who burrowed in to a non-political position, btw.

As to the IRS official pleading the Fifth - first, it's her constitutional right. Not sure why Republicans only care about the second, but whatever. Second, as soon as congress started talking about criminal charges, she needed to shut up. If Congress wants her testimony, they can give her immunity. If they want her to face (at this point, imaginary) criminal charges, they don't get her testimony. That's a simple choice. It's also worth noting that this official is also the one that started the story by planting her lawyer in a panel discussion to ask her a question about the activities, so she's not exactly running a cover-up here.

At the end of the day, what we have is the group responsible for screening "social welfare" groups to make sure they're not actually political activist groups doing it's job. They did their job badly by picking out a set of terms all across the political spectrum - liberal, conservative, open-source? - and pulling anything containing those terms. When management first became aware, they told their team to stop and write new rules, while running it up the chain. When the second set of rules was also bad, they made them write a third set.

The goal was good - make sure people aren't scamming the charity rules to run political action committees. That was actually a request of the Republican House leadership, btw. The execution was bad - not politically biased, but ineffectual.

[Maleficus]

Hey, you left out the Soetoro, it's improper to call the president without giving his last name.

Try reading the article.

Me and barry are cool like dat. Know wut i mean dawg?

Re: NYT - Hardly a reliable source, but I'll play along. Did i miss in the article where the Palestinian group was quizzed about the content of their prayers? Maybe they did and just forgot to mention it.

[Daelak]

Me and barry are cool like dat. Know wut i mean dawg?

Re: NYT - Hardly a reliable source, but I'll play along. Did i miss in the article where the Palestinian group was quizzed about the content of their prayers? Maybe they did and just forgot to mention it.

No, they did, they got the exact set of questions that the tea party, and pretty much tens of thousands of groups got in some form. Please keep whining.

[Maleficus]

As to the IRS official pleading the Fifth - first, it's her constitutional right. Not sure why Republicans only care about the second, but whatever.

Aww, so cute.

What is the fifth amendment for anyway?

- - - Updated - - -

No, they did, they got the exact set of questions that the tea party, and pretty much tens of thousands of groups got in some form. Please keep whining.

You may want to contact the NYT editor and get this straightened out. I mean, i'm kinda slow and stuff...but does EXACT = ALMOST IDENTICAL now? Thanks homey.

the I.R.S. sent the group’s leaders a series of questions and requests almost identical to the ones it was sending to Tea Party groups at the time.

[lockedout]

Wow so it has been a couple months since the conservative fake outrage machine has turned its head on this one. But let's see where we are.

Any damming new information that ties the Administration to widespread political suppression?

Tangible evidence of a new multi-level government-wide corruption ring?

Oh what's that? There's nothing? Because it wasn't anything to begin with?

It was more of the same; conservative calling themselves victims, because we all know they are being persecuted so hard.

Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/05/us...ical.html?_r=0

I think the real outrage is that the IRS even exists.
How shady are they that they have to operate out of Puerto Rico?

[Daelak]

Aww, so cute.

What is the fifth amendment for anyway?

- - - Updated - - -

You may want to contact the NYT editor and get this straightened out. I mean, i'm kinda slow and stuff...but does EXACT = ALMOST IDENTICAL now? Thanks homey.

My bad bro. Let's get some more outrage.

- - - Updated - - -

I think the real outrage is that the IRS even exists.
How shady are they that they have to operate out of Puerto Rico?

This is why republicans and conservatives cannot govern a first world nation.

[Maleficus]

I think the real outrage is that the IRS even exists.

Don't worry, things will get better once the additional power of barry care enforcement kicks in. And by "better" i mean "a shit ton worse."

I'm also a bit curious if this little snafu has created precedent that saying "Sorry" fixes everything. I might have some improper procedures on my taxes next year and when the IRS comes knocking, give them the ol' "Sorry dude, my bad."

[lockedout]

My bad bro. Let's get some more outrage.

- - - Updated - - -



This is why republicans and conservatives cannot govern a first world nation.

Banks govern this nation.

[Maleficus]

My bad bro. Let's get some more outrage.

Not a problem friendo, i'm just glad you were man enough to admit you were wrong. *high five*

[Cthulhu 2020]

The IRS scandal was nothing more than a bunch of manufactured outrage for a party that's quickly adopting the victim complex as they realize their relevance is quickly dwindling in this country.

[Maleficus]

The IRS scandal was nothing more than a bunch of manufactured outrage for a party that's quickly adopting the victim complex as they realize their relevance is quickly dwindling in this country.

Translation: Fighting fire with fire.

[Cthulhu 2020]

Translation: Fighting fire with fire.

So Republicans have officially abandoned the "Take it like a man and do something about it" stance in favor of crying about being oppressed?

[Maleficus]

So Republicans have officially abandoned the "Take it like a man and do something about it" stance in favor of crying about being oppressed?

It's called evolving. Bolded has worked awfully well for the dems, why not get on board?

[Rukentuts]

It's called evolving. Bolded has worked awfully well for the dems, why not get on board?

Evolution's all fine and dandy, just keep it out of our schools.