WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court says corporations can hold religious objections that allow them to opt out of the new health law requirement that they cover contraceptives for women.
The justices’ 5-4 decision Monday is the first time that the high court has ruled that profit-seeking businesses can hold religious views under federal law. And it means the Obama administration must search for a different way of providing free contraception to women who are covered under objecting companies’ health insurance plans. (more…)

Note – The original question of “constitutional authority” is never answered.

Put forth without comment. What do you think about this ?

Maybe they should pass some strict gun control laws or something.   No, wha… wait.

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – It was a violent night in New York City after at least 13 people were shot in incidents spanning each of the five boroughs.
As CBS 2′s Janelle Burrell reported, one of the shootings happened on Staten Island, where a man is fighting for his life after being shot in the face.
The incident happened at around 3:30 a.m. on Amboy Road in the New Dorp section of Staten Island.  Police were still on the scene Sunday morning collecting and processing evidence, including a backpack that belonged to the 42-year-old victim.
[…] Neighbors also said the victim only moved to the area a few months ago with his wife and son. (more…)

Yesterday we shared a potentially explosive new aspect to the IRS targeting of groups antithetical to the White House.   In essence Lerner’s attorney, William Taylor III, told a politico reporter that his client was responding to the DOJ’s request for information, not soliciting them.
Yes, there is good reason for people who have followed this story to feel as if it really wouldn’t, or couldn’t, or won’t make a difference.   Given the current state of political affairs a great deal of righteous frustration that nothing shall be done regardless of who initiated the illegal machination is not misplaced…..
Also, Yes, against the recent Cochran V McDaniel outcome in Mississippi this frustrated sentiment is justified, very justified.    And yes, the establishment GOP is just as opposed to the Tea Party as the establishment Democrats in this regard.   Yes to all of this…
However, it really does make a difference.

If the DOJ initiated the inquiry to the IRS under the auspices of FBI investigation of 501(c)(4) group investigation -as the claim by attorney Taylor apparently makes clear- many of the outcomes toward the groups in question reconcile.
Take the example of “True The Vote”, and “Gibson Guitar”.  When both groups were under scrutiny they were visited by various federal agencies like:  the EPA, ATF, OSHA as well as IRS.
However, if the Department of Justice is the internal hub for all the various agencies to assemble their marching orders, then a very specific trail of known evidence is also possible based on outcomes.
(more…)

WASHINGTON DC – Internal Revenue Service officials will have to explain to a federal judge July 10 why the tax agency didn’t inform the court that Lois Lerner’s emails had been lost.
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Emmett G. Sullivan quickly granted a motion filed earlier today by attorneys for Judicial Watch seeking a courtroom status conference “as soon as possible to discuss the IRS’s failure to fulfill its duties to this court under the law, as well as other ramifications of this lawsuit.”

(more…)

Source

WOAH – BOMBSHELL !!
The plot thickens.  We might just have found a biggie….
In a recent Politico interview  (publish date 6/27/14) with the Lois Lerner’s attorney William Taylor III an interesting aspect is buried midway through page #2.
During part of the interview Politico author Rachel Bade inquires about the 1.1 million pages of documents Lerner sent to the Department of Justice that became an issue when discovered by the House Oversight Committee on June 9th 2014.   BACKSTORY HERE.
The documents were sent from IRS to DOJ on a series of 21 discs (CD ROMS) and, according to the admission from the DOJ, “contained legally protected taxpayer information that should not have ever been sent to the FBI“.
Some of the 501(c)(4) documentation included confidential tax records “Schedule B” of IRS filings.   These Schedule B’s outline parties who contribute to, affiliate with, or people who support the 501 organization.   Those tax filing schedules are illegal to distribute.
Why the DOJ waited to inform congress, and why they only did so after Daryl Issa found out about their existence, was a matter congressional consternation but no-one made a big deal about it.
Indeed all prior details and media reports of the interaction have been framed around the substance of legality, and illegality,  for the IRS to actually send the confidential taxpayer data.  This is indeed a concerning aspect – but we think we’ve uncovered something considerably more alarming about both the timing, and the substance.
Inside the Politico article is an explosively revealing defensively framed answer from attorney Taylor.   He is specifically and directly stating it was NOT Lerner who initiated the inquiry:

…” […]  Taylor said Lerner didn’t know [about the unlawful confidential aspect] and sent them because Justice requested the documents”…

.

(more…)

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – A U.N. expert panel has concluded that a shipment of rockets and other weapons that was seized by Israel came from Iran and represents a violation of the U.N. arms embargo on Tehran, according to a confidential report obtained by Reuters on Friday.
The finding comes just days ahead of the next round of negotiations in Vienna between Iran and six world powers aimed at securing a deal that would gradually lift international sanctions on Tehran — including the arms embargo — in exchange for curbs on the controversial Iranian nuclear program.
Despite Israel’s public statements that the seized arms were destined for Gaza — an allegation that Gaza’s governing Islamist militant group Hamas dismissed as a fabrication — the experts said the weapons were being sent to Sudan.
The experts do not speculate in the report about why the arms were being sent to Sudan, a country which Western diplomatic and intelligence sources have told Reuters has in the past been a conduit for Iranian arms shipments to other locations in Africa, as well as the Gaza Strip. (more…)

Remember the “Bathtub Principle”?   The same strategy applies to outward “messaging”.
Part of this Administration’s strategy has been continual use of cover to avoid sunlight.  In a larger sense it’s part of the liberal/progressive strategy to cover the moment when they begin to lose an argument.   But for this administration adjectives become action words.
So long as President Obama doubles, triples, and double-dog quadruples, his use of the words ‘phony scandals’ – all those who are dependent upon his success are forced to maintain the rigor of their defense.
Whether it be the Obama media complex or the outer circles of protectionism around the official office of the presidency, there is no more concrete way to reinforce their directives than to continue standing firm on a singular position. (more…)