http://newmediajournal.us/ NewMediaJournal en-us contact@newmediajournal.us Copyright 2013 webZine 2013-05-17T10:00:37+00:00 http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/9370 http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/9370#When:10:00:37Z The outgoing commissioner of the IRS is in the hot seat Friday, scheduled to testify for the first time on his agency's scandalous practice of targeting conservative groups -- after it was revealed that another implicated official is now in charge of an Obamacare unit. Steven Miller, the acting commissioner who was ousted by the administration earlier this week, will testify before the House Ways and Means Committee Friday morning. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are sure to have plenty of questions for Miller, as they search for who was responsible for the program. Outrage mounted after lawmakers learned that the IRS official who led the tax-exempt organizations unit when the targeting took place -- Sarah Hall Ingram -- has since moved over to the IRS office responsible for Obamacare. "Stunning. Just stunning," Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said in reaction to the latest development. President Obama, meanwhile, maintained Thursday that he didn't know about the investigation into the IRS program until it was made public. Headline 2013-05-17T10:00:37+00:00 http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/9365 http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/9365#When:22:13:15Z The recent “scandals” plaguing the Obama Administration serve to illustrate that nothing lasts forever. The honeymoon with the mainstream media has ended after a record run and their steamroller approach to Washington politics has hit a “bump in the road,” and one they cannot circumvent. This moment in time presents some golden opportunities for those of us who identify it as one of vulnerability for those who quest to “fundamentally transform the United States of America.” But in every golden opportunity exists some danger. And while we of the constitutional and conservative bent never cease to protest this truth, it is a truth nevertheless. We could be winning a baseball game by 15 runs in the bottom of the ninth inning and find a way to lose by 3. While all the so-called “Republican strategists” and conservative pundits debate the depth of the Obama Administration’s “evil deeds,” and while everyone in the conservative blogosphere is screeching “impeachment” at the top of their cyber-lungs, we who possess level heads; who deal in facts and realism instead of emotion and appearance, understand that the probability of impeachment is next to zero. Editorials 2013-05-16T22:13:15+00:00 http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/9377 http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/9377#When:09:59:54Z The Internal Revenue Service asked tea party groups to see donor rolls. It asked for printouts of Facebook posts. And it asked what books people were reading. A Politico.com review of documents from 11 TEA Party and conservative groups that the IRS scrutinized in 2012 shows the agency wanted to know everything -- in some cases, it even seemed curious what members were thinking. The review included interviews with groups or their representatives from Hawaii, New Mexico, Ohio, Texas and elsewhere. The long-awaited Treasury Department inspector general report released Tuesday says the agency itself decided some of its questions to conservative groups were way over the line -- especially the one about donors. "They were asking for a U-Haul truck's worth of information," said Toby Marie Walker, the president of the Waco TEA Party. Government and Politics 2013-05-17T09:59:54+00:00 http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/9376 http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/9376#When:09:58:07Z The Republican-controlled House voted Thursday to repeal the Affordable Care Act in its entirety. With implementation of Obamacare set to begin later this year, the vote is largely symbolic. The Senate is highly unlikely to even take up a vote on repeal. The House voted for repeal 229-195, with votes cast almost entirely down party lines. Two Democrats voted with Republicans in favor of repeal: Rep. Jim Matheson of Utah and Rep. Mike McIntyre of North Carolina. This is the third time the House has voted to fully repeal Obamacare, and there have been a number of other votes to repeal parts of it -- 37 votes in total. Boehner explained last week that he was holding the vote again because new members had been asking for the opportunity to vote on repeal. In the days leading up to the vote, Democrats dismissed the effort as wasteful and unproductive. Government and Politics 2013-05-17T09:58:07+00:00 http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/9374 http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/9374#When:09:57:18Z A second appeals court has joined the DC Circuit in ruling that President Barack Obama's recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board were unconstitutional, concluding that some board actions taken in the wake of those appointments were also invalid. The issue has far-reaching implications for both the NLRB and other boards, including Obama's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has been a frequent target of conservatives and whose director was a recess appointment. The 2-1 decision Thursday from the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit found that the presidential recess appointment power is limited to breaks between sessions of Congress, not breaks within sessions or other adjournments during which the Senate might meet in pro forma sessions. The reasoning mirrors that in a ruling of the DC Circuit Court in January. The Fifth Column 2013-05-17T09:57:18+00:00 http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/9373 http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/9373#When:09:56:38Z An Uzbek national living in Idaho has been arrested on federal charges that he gave support, cash and other resources to help a terrorist group in his home country plan a terrorist attack. Fazliddin Kurbanov, 30, will appear in US District Court Friday morning, one day after federal agents arrested him during a raid of his small Boise apartment. Kurbanov was arrested after an extensive investigation into his activities in Idaho and Utah late last year and this year. A federal grand jury indictment charges Kurbanov with one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, and one count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and possession of an unregistered explosive device. A separate federal grand jury in Utah also returned an indictment charging the distribution of information about weapons of mass destruction. Islamist Terrorism 2013-05-17T09:56:38+00:00 http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/9379 http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/9379#When:09:55:52Z China has tested a long-range missile capable of intercepting satellites, US intelligence sources have claimed. On Monday night local time a rocket was sent into space from a launch center in Sichuan province, southwest China. Beijing said the launch was part of a scientific data-collecting mission. But that version has now been called into question, with one anonymous US defense source telling Reuters: "It was a ground-based missile that we believe would be their first test of an interceptor that would be designed to go after a satellite that's actually on orbit." Mike Rogers, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, declined to comment on the claim at a cybersecurity conference organized by Reuters but hinted at US anxiety over the launch. "Any time you have a nation-state looking to have a more aggressive posture in space, it's very concerning," he said. International 2013-05-17T09:55:52+00:00 http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/9375 http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/9375#When:09:54:05Z A constitutional body in Iran has ruled that women cannot run in presidential elections scheduled for 14 June. Mohammad Yazdi, a clerical member of the Guardian Council, said the constitution ruled out the participation of women. Thirty women registered as candidates but there had been little expectation they would be allowed to stand. The Guardian Council is charged with vetting election candidates according to their Islamic credentials. Observers say there is ambiguity in the constitution about the participation of women in presidential elections in Iran. However, the latest interpretation appears to put an end to the debate. The Mehr news agency quoted Mr. Yazdi as saying that the "law does not approve" of a woman in the presidency and a woman on the ballot is "not allowed." Women are able to stand for election to the Iranian parliament and have served as lawmakers.. International 2013-05-17T09:54:05+00:00 http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/9371 http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/9371#When:09:53:15Z Three of al Qaeda's major websites for recruiting terrorists and communicating propaganda were shut down recently in an apparent case of counterterrorism hacking or possibly as a result of internal disputes among terrorists. US officials familiar with intelligence reports said the websites of Ansar al-Mujahidin, Shumukh al-Islam and Al Fida -- all accredited as official outlets of the terrorist group once led by Osama bin Laden -- were knocked off the Internet by cyberattacks in early May. Two of the sites -- Ansar al-Mujahidin (as-ansar.com) and Shumukh al-Islam (shamikh1.info) -- came back up Monday and Tuesday. The site Al Fida remains down. Although the origin of the attack is not known, some online jihadists claimed that the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas was behind the cyberattack. A hacker group Qassam HackeRs, which supports Hamas, claimed credit. Islamist Terrorism 2013-05-17T09:53:15+00:00 http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/9378 http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/9378#When:09:52:28Z Disgraced former presidential candidate and North Carolina senator John Edwards is plotting his own comeback. The wealthy lawyer has reactivated his law license and also is hitting the speaking circuit. Mr. Edwards is scheduled to speak at a private retreat in Orlando, FL, on June 6, where he'll address fellow attorneys and marketing gurus. An itinerary for the event says the highly successful trial lawyer will speak as part of a program titled "Historic Trials of the Century." Meanwhile, his law license, dormant for more than a decade, has been resuscitated, AP reported. It's unclear whether he plans to return to the courtroom. Mr. Edwards has remained in the shadows for the past year following his acquittal on one charge of campaign finance fraud in May 2012. Other criminal counts were dismissed after a federal judge declared a mistrial in the case. Culture Wars 2013-05-17T09:52:28+00:00 http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/9359 http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/9359#When:10:00:28Z The IRS is facing allegations that it illegally stole medical records from more than ten million Americans during a raid on a Southern California healthcare facility this year. IRS agents "stole more than 60,000,000 medical records of more than 10,000,000 Americans, including at least 1,000,000 Californians," according to a lawsuit filed in March by an unnamed company in California superior court. "This is an action involving the corruption and abuse of power by several Internal Revenue Service agents," the plaintiffs claim. The lawsuit could fuel public outrage at the IRS, which is already under fire for targeting Tea Party groups for increased legal scrutiny while allowing liberal groups to operate relatively unimpeded. The IRS is also the chief enforcement agency for the Affordable Care Act, making concerns about their handling of healthcare records of particular note. The Fifth Column 2013-05-16T10:00:28+00:00 http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/9356 http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/9356#When:09:59:54Z Lie No. 1: Lois Lerner's apology last Friday was a spontaneous reaction to an unexpected question from an unknown audience member. In fact, the question came from tax lawyer and lobbyist Celia Roady. Ms. Roady has some interesting career highlights: She was part of the 1997 ethics investigation of Newt Gingrich, but, more to the point, she was appointed to the IRS's Advisory Council on Tax-Exempt & Government Entities by IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman. She is a longtime colleague of Lerner, who is director of tax-exempt organizations. Ms. Roady has declined to comment on whether her question was planted, but it obviously was. The IRS had contacted reporters and encouraged them beforehand to attend the otherwise un-newsworthy event, and it had an entire team of press handlers on hand. So what we have is the staged rollout of what turns out to be -- given the rest of this list -- a disinformation campaign. Lie No. 2: Lerner said about 280 organizations were given extra scrutiny, about 75 of them TEA-party groups or similar organizations. The actual number is closer to 500. The Fifth Column 2013-05-16T09:59:54+00:00 http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/9366 http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/9366#When:09:00:51Z On September 12, 2012, the American public awakened to news about the attack on the diplomatic post in Benghazi, which included the Obama administration's carefully calculated lie it was incited by a video that vilified Islam. Despite that lie about an act of terrorism which resulted in the death of four Americans, every person except the irredeemable sycophants who comprise a huge part of the president's flock immediately understood two fundamental realities. First, that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had irresponsibly continued to operate an undefended diplomatic post in the extremely dangerous city of Benghazi in the utterly shattered nation of Libya. Second, that under the charge of Commander-in-Chief Barack Obama, the administration had not even attempted to save American lives during the many hours of the attack. Having come to those understandings alone, millions reacted in a manner that recalls the following outcry of long ago: "This is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the moment of birth and there is no strength to deliver them." (NIV) Analysis 2013-05-17T09:00:51+00:00 http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/9367 http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/9367#When:08:59:43Z From World War II onward, the US Sixth Fleet stabilized the Mediterranean region and protected American interests there with the standard deployment, continued through 2008, of a carrier battle group, three hunter killer submarines, and an amphibious ready group with its MEU or equivalent. But in the first year of the Obama presidency this was reduced to one almost entirely unarmed command ship. No MEU could respond to Benghazi because none was assigned to, or by chance in, the Mediterranean. Whereas during most of the Obama years the United States has kept one ship in the Mediterranean, during World War I no less than Japan deployed 14 destroyers and a cruiser there. But today--with the Muslim Brotherhood watching over the Egyptian powder keg, terrorist warlords murdering our diplomats in Libya, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb reaching up from the Sahel into the Mediterranean littoral, instability in Tunisia, Bedouin kidnappers in the Sinai, Hamas rockets streaming from Gaza, Lebanon riding the Hezbollah tiger, Jordan imperiled, and a civil war raging in Syria --what possible reason could there be for a powerful Sixth Fleet? Analysis 2013-05-17T08:59:43+00:00 http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/9368 http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/9368#When:08:58:05Z Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her senior staff conducted a conference call with Gregory Hicks, deputy chief of the US mission in Libya, in the early morning hours of Sept. 12, 2012. Hicks was overseeing a chaotic scene in Tripoli, where his staff was busy destroying classified material with axes and whatever else was at hand and as the few security people left in Tripoli were preparing to evacuate to a safer location at dawn. (Think the opening scenes of the movie "Argo.") The US Consulate in Benghazi had been stormed and the ambassador was missing. In his testimony Wednesday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the inspiring and obviously fearless Hicks recounted that, at the end of the 2 a.m. call, Hillary concurred with his decision to evacuate, and the call ended. An hour later, having received "the saddest phone call of his life," Hicks then relayed to the State Department in Washington that Ambassador Christopher Stevens was dead. Hillary never called back. Analysis 2013-05-17T08:58:05+00:00 http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/9369 http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/9369#When:08:57:57Z How is it that, time and again, the most powerful man on the planet doesn't seem to have a clue what is happening in his own government? Famed for never accepting blame for anything, the more I see President Obama these days, the more I am reminded of Sergeant Hans Schultz of the TV sitcom, "Hogan's Heroes", that ran from 1965 to 1971. The wonderful John Banner, born Johann Banner, the actor who played the prisoner of war guard left an indelible legacy with his repeated denials, "I know nothing. I hear nothing, and I see nothing"; often all three at the same time to avoid being implicated in Col. Robert E. Hogan's manipulation of Werner Klemperer's Col. Wilhelm Klink, the camp commandant of Luftwaffe Stalag 13. Obama's way of dealing with everything has been to talk it to death and he has been responding to questions from the press, claiming that the accusations are all "a sideshow" or that "there's no there, there." It is not working. In the case of Benghazi-Gate, his lies are so blatant that it has gone from an embarrassment to a full-fledged cover-up. Analysis 2013-05-17T08:57:57+00:00 http://www.newmediajournal.us/mobile/nmjradio.htm