Many people have been wondering exactly what was the reason the Eric Holder DOJ used their power to peer into the Associated Press.    Some water-carrying progressives have been claiming the “danger” to national security was so great, the overreaching self-approved subpoena to track 20 phone lines of 100+ reporters was excusable.

Not.Even.Close.  As it turns out, the issue was one of the DOJ retaliating against the AP over the AP decision to ignore a White House request to withhold information for 24 hours just to benefit their ongoing narrative.

AP’s story about the foiled plot was at odds with the calming message the White House had been conveying on the eve of the first anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden.  (link)

As the Washington Post outlines;  The DOJ tracking was retaliation for the AP not holding their story for an additional DAY: (more…)

“As if” there was any doubt the liberal media consider themselves fully ideologically aligned with President Obama, and insufferably reflects a favorable bias in all things Obama, just watch what Lisa Myers says:

Then comes the IRS which offended the right, the middle, and even some Democrats and members of the press. But when they did this [the AP spying], they turned one of the President’s most important constituencies, the press and the left against him. So politically, it’s hard to imagine –and this is a very calculating White House– it’s hard to imagine that they would have green-lighted this kind of thing. I think it’s more likely that this was something that was handled within the Justice Department and that if the White House was notified, it was after the fact and not before the action was taken. (more…)

This has all the indicators of reaching the West Wing. Prior Democrats in Congress had espoused the IRS *should* take this approach. With such blatant admissions in 2010, and even 2011 after they lost the House they continued the approach, this is going to be VERY difficult for the administration to firewall.

GOOD GRIEF – Unbelievable stuff from that questioning session today in congress.

Attorney General, Eric Holder, claims he recused himself from the decision making surrounding the wiretapping of more than 100 Associated Press reporters and 20+ phone lines.   However, he states we need to take his word for it because there is nothing documented which provides support for his self-recusal claim.

Not only that, he claims he doesn’t even know “WHEN” he recused himself, and further states he never notified anyone of the recusal itself – nor did he notify the White House. (more…)

UPDATE: No Questions, will hold press conference tomorrow (with Turkish delegation) and take questions then.   IRS Commissioner Steven Steven Miller (pictured below) resigned effective TODAY.   Three main points emphasized:

“the IRS has to operate with absolute integrity” – Barack Obama

1.  We are going to hold the responsible parties accountable.  –  The acting commissioner of the IRS, Steven Miller, has resigned effective today.

2.  We will put in place new safeguards to insure it doesn’t happen again.  – I told Jack Lew to make that happen and implement the IG recommendations.  Also, Lew will work with Holder who will launch an internal DOJ investigation.

3.  We will work with congress as it performs its oversight control.   I’ll do all I can to insure this does not happen again.   We need to look at the laws to insure that no ambiguity exists.

“That’s what we’ll do, that’s what I’ll do, and that’s what the American people can expect”. (more…)

House Speaker John A. Boehner said Wednesday that it’ll take more than firings to clear up the IRS scandal — it’ll take someone ending up serving jail time.

“My question is, who’s going to jail over this scandal?”  the Ohio Republican said at a press conference with Republicans Wednesday morning. (link)

(more…)

PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia abortion doctor was sentenced Wednesday to a third life term for killing an aborted baby that he described as so big it could “walk to the bus.”

Dr. Kermit Gosnell was convicted this week of first-degree murder in the deaths of three babies born alive, then stabbed with scissors. He was given two life sentences Tuesday in a deal with prosecutors that spared him a potential death sentence, and the third sentence was handed down Wednesday.

Gosnell was also sentenced to 2  1/2 to five years in prison for the 2009 overdose death of a patient. The sentences are consecutive, meaning Gosnell, 72, will spend the rest of his life in prison.  (read more)

PHILADELPHIA, PA – Former Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell has been spared the death sentence by choosing to forego an appeal.

In exchange for giving up that appeal, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office agreed to two life sentences without the possibility of parole.

Gosnell was found guilty of first-degree murder on Monday in the deaths of three babies. He was also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the overdose death of former patient Karnamaya Mongar and 229 counts of violating Pennsylvania abortion laws.

The 72-year-old owner of the Women’s Medical Society, the West Philadelphia clinic where the crimes happened, was set to be sentenced next Tuesday.  (continue reading)

……Obama said this:  “Unfortunately, you’ve grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that’s at the root of all our problems.  Some of these same voices also do their best to gum up the works; they’ll warn that tyranny is always lurking just around the corner. You should reject these voices.”

Now Consider: (more…)

You know when the President sends out an official announcement at 8:30pm that a  general sense of the pending sh!tstorm is looming far closer than the horizon.

So close in fact it is quite possible the nucleus of the scandal will be tracked to the West Wing of 1600.

Earlier yesterday, prior to the official Inspector General report release,  ABC Newser Trey Hardin directly asked White House Spokesman Jay Carney:

Trey Hardin: “I will tell you this on the IRS front. I’ve worked in this town for over 20 years in the White House and on Capitol Hill and I can say with a very strong sense of certainty that there are people very close to this president that not only knew what the IRS were doing but authorized it. It simply just does not happen at an agency level like that without political advisers likely in the West Wing certainly connected to the president’s ongoing campaign organization.”  (link)

Notably, Jay Carney never disputed this assertion.   Bad sign. (more…)