It’s a pretty easy thing to research. Pull all the applications, have them bracketed politically by a bipartisan panel, and then look the application date along with the acceptance date. If the IRS was on a witch hunt that will be a quick marker for additional inquiries. After that you can pull all the IRS data requests from the various groups. If they are asking for additional and unwarranted information from various groups at the exclusion of others then there is legal grounds to prosecute those involved.
Have you ruled out the death penalty?
How do you go from liberal group denied application to NOT a scandal? The scandal is about targeting groups, releasing information illegally, and asking questions unrelated to the process.
I didn’t say it was “NOT a scandal” I said that it was “not only a stupid scandal, but a stupid and counterproductive scandal.”
What legal grounds are those? Not that I think this is appropriate, but I’m having a hard time time seeing what crime was committed.
If I were an ASUA, I’d start with 5 C.F.R. § 2634 Subpart E.
And it looks like that’s what the actual AUSA is doing.
Thanks.
This is getting worse and worse. Not only were conservative groups targeted at an unusual rate as compared to progressive/liberal groups, but administratin members knew in June. And who suggested the IRS should heavily scrutinize conservative groups? Democratic congress members, including Schumer and Franken.
Thus is ridiculous. Look, I know that members on the left will say this was done to prevent potential abuse of money and power but it was perverted. This information was known prior to the election but not divulged.
Aren’t there any left leaning members of this board that are concerned about this? This is like the abuses of power from the Patriot Act being used to investigate mosques and Sierra Club meetings.
Not really. From what I gather, there was a sudden upsurge in filings, primarily from nascent right wing groups. All of them claiming to be social welfare organizations. The job is to vett them, check their bony fidos. There was, apparently, no such surge of new groups forming anywhere else on the political spectrum. So, first off, by sheer numbers alone their work is going to skew towards the right, yes?
And the harm done? Were they crushed beneath the nail studded Birkenstocks of the lefty juggernaut? Not that I’ve heard. Couple of liberal groups, and a church, lost their status. But the rules specifically say that as long as the matter is in doubt, the organization can proceed on their desired course!
Shouldn’t you be able to produce a Death List of crushed Tea Partys? Got it handy?
And no, I’m not fretting much about the Sierra Club, they seem to be going along fairly well. But a mosque is a religious institution, and that is a whole different kettle of piranha.
It’s hard to hear an ill wind blowing with sand in your ears.
Even harder with a bunch of crap between them.
If you think that every “left leaning member” of the board has supported the IRS action, then you have not bothered to read the thread in which a number of “left leaning members” have condemned it.
But inadequately! At the very least, BrainGlutton should commit seppuku, and post the video. You know, to encourage the others.
Well that’s true and worth pointing out. I would expect knee-jerk support of this at first. That’s natural. But the revelations keep pouring out. This involved multiple groups and the common denominator appears to be opposition to the current administration. The information about this was known well before the election and kept quiet. The information about this was a deliberately timed release.
It’s not natural at this point to hand wave it away.
Still waiting on that list of tighty righty groups crushed beneath the hobnailed Birkenstocks. Anybody got that yet? Check Blightbart?
my point made in one.
I’m curious–if it turns out that groups who supported the current administration received similar scrutiny in 2012, will you withdraw your claims of partisanship, or will you drop this angle and switch to a new one?
So, that would be “no”, then?
I will admit that I did not read every post but as I went through I kept running across people who minimized the actions or said something to the effect that conservatives had to be kept in line.
The problem I have is not just that the IRS did this but that congress members even suggested that it should be done. They might have been doing it with good intentions :dubious: but it looks a little off. They should be doing everything in their power to avoid any semblance to impropriety. Our current political environment is a continuous game of “gotcha”. Find a sound bite where the speaker looks insensitive or stupid, search for any actions that seem out of line, focus on minutiae. If you don’t want your opponent to have an advantage, don’t give them an opportunity. Always be honest and above board. Possible scandal? Be straightforward. Don’t hide anything, be transparent.
Look, if your spouse catches you in a situation that appears inappropriate you have to make sure that you never allow yourself to get in that position again and never give them a reason to doubt you. Our politicians (both parties) forget this and allow themselves to be seen walking out of hotel rooms with strippers.
And this changes the abuse how?
It’s as if the apology from the IRS never happened and the acting director didn’t just resign over it.