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User: rickb928

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  1. The 501(c)4 process is a long-standing and ordinarily well defined process. In March 2010 it is alleged that IRS staffers began flagging applications that included text such as "We the People" and "Take Back the Country." Staffers also targeted groups whose names included the words "tea party" and "patriots." Those flagged applications were then sent to specialists for a more rigorous review than is typical." The IRS gave extra scrutiny to 298 groups applying for tax-exempt status, the Washington Post reported. Seventy-two of those groups had "tea party" in their title, 13 had "patriots," and 11 had "9/12," shorthand for the 9/12 movement started by conservative TV host Glen Beck. But IRS officials not only singled out tea party and liberty groups. They also looked for "political action type organizations involved in limiting/expanding government, educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights, social economic reform/movement," according to the leaked timeline. This included groups that planned to focus on government debt and spending, taxes, or those trying to "make America a better place to live." In June 2011, Lerner reportedly became aware of what was going on and directed staffers to change to how they vetted nonprofit applications."

    "What did tea partiers mean when they said they were being "harassed?" The Waco Tea Party was one such group targeted by the IRS. The agency asked for information about the group's members, donors, and any "close relationship" with candidates for elected office. The IRS also requested transcripts of radio interviews done by Waco Tea Party staffers and print copies of news clips mentioning the group. Conservatives who received these special requests complained that the IRS's requests were unwieldy and impossible to fulfill, and a veiled attempt to intimidate them during the run-up to the 2012 elections.

    That said, the IRS hasn't shied away from punishing liberal groups that flout the law. Last year, the IRS revoked the tax-exempt status of Emerge America, a San Francisco-based group that trains female Democratic candidates. Emerge was too political and too focused on benefiting the Democratic Party, the IRS ruled, to qualify for 501(c)(4) status.
    (From Mother Jones)

    96 groups targeted intentionally with key words in their applications, applications delayed during the 2010 campaigns, with the effect in most cases of both delaying their activities and preventing donations... One liberal group denied... In historical context, this is what Democrats consider 'fair'. It does seem that the IRS did, back then, focus on a particular political alignment, which is more chilling and damaging than anything else this administration has done than killing innocents on the 'battlefields' of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

  2. Insofar as corporations serve their stockholders, employees, and customers, who are real people, they may claim a right to speech on any number of issues that impact them or their constituents.

    We can probably re-write the law to survive constitutional review, but neither major party actually wants that unless one gains an advantage over the other.

  3. You do realize that charity groups are just fronts for monied groups, relatively speaking... Their clients, beneficiaries, whatever, are often by definition much poorer and less 'well off' then those who found, support, even work for these charitable groups.

    Doh.

  4. Re:Yawn on After Non-Profit Application Furor, IRS Says It's Lost 2 Years Of Lerner's Email · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Not merely the majority of investigations and delays were targeted against politically conservative groups, but the nature of the investigations, is an issue.

    If you think some progressive, liberal, or activist groups were also discriminated against, give Issa's office a call. He's probably happy to investigate even more accusations.

  5. "The focus was on the type of applicant and the status applied,"

    That, AC, is precisely the complaint. They were a certain type of applicant. Politically Conservative

  6. Re:Yawn on After Non-Profit Application Furor, IRS Says It's Lost 2 Years Of Lerner's Email · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I would settle for this Administration following the rule of law.

  7. Re: hahaha! on House Majority Leader Defeated In Primary · · Score: 1

    1. You're obviously not a Christian. Extremism does not define the movement.

    2. The "he'd totally be OK with using the power and tax money of the government to snuff out anything it feels is un-religious" claim is an old canard. The religion of Socialism is every bit as dangerous, in fact more so, as it is not assumed to be unconstitutional.

    3. But back to the beginning.

    "The Republican Party leadership is Republican all the way through."

    Oh my. The current Republican Party leadership acts indistiguishiably from the Democratic Party leadership. I cannot think of an example to the contrary. Offer one, please. Oh, wait, they tried to fight the debt ceiling increase, if that counts as a fight. So forgive me, in that instance they were inept.

    "Your problem is that you have awoken to the realization that Republicans aren't truly Conservative"

    Hmmm. I'm awakened to the reality that the Republican leadership isn't truly Conservative. The membership I'm not so sure of, but the Party is indeed a big tent.

    "and that it's impossible to be both an authoritarian theocrat social "conservative" and Conservative at the same time."

    Which is why I am only one - as many, no most Republicans are. You both overestimate the theocratic minority, and focus on them as if they are actually in power. From here, it seems you have quite a fear of them. You'll get over that, I fear.

    Point #3 stands out. The complaints of much of the rank-and-file Republicans I have a chance to talk with focuses on the apparent cooperation the Republican leadership seems bent on achieving with the Democratic leadership in policies that would focus Conservatives in opposition to the current republican leadership.

    You are, sadly, deluded. Go back to MSNBC and keep studying. It works to my benefit.

     

  8. Re: hahaha! on House Majority Leader Defeated In Primary · · Score: 1

    "anti-illegal-immigration feeling on the right is far stronger than the GOP seems to realize."

    Oh, they realize it, and did before Cantor got his walking papers. The beltway is infuriated that we. The people, dare intervene in their management of this issue. And they are managing it. To their advantage, not ours.

    The Republican Party leadership is Republican in name only, to a man.

    The outsiders are poised to overthrow them.

  9. Re: Fine ... on NSA's Novel Claim: Our Systems Are Too Complex To Obey the Law · · Score: 1

    I disagree. War is either:
    - a failure of diplomacy
    - the only response to an implacable foe, no matter their motivation.

    WWI may be the former.
    WWII was clearly the latter, on both frints

  10. Re: Fine ... on NSA's Novel Claim: Our Systems Are Too Complex To Obey the Law · · Score: 1

    Since we would not be putting the NSA in jail, we can assume it would be the people who run it.

    They have inconvenient rights.

  11. Re:Fine ... on NSA's Novel Claim: Our Systems Are Too Complex To Obey the Law · · Score: 1

    Intelligence gathering did not start with the CIA or NSA. The agencies may be failing, but the process is not merely mandatory, we would be worse off if we did not collect and analyze data at all.

    And if you're assigning failure in Vietnam in any way to intelligence efforts, I would argue that with you. The Vietnam War was a political failure.

  12. Re:Fine ... on NSA's Novel Claim: Our Systems Are Too Complex To Obey the Law · · Score: 1

    "what you are doing cannot be proven lawful."

    "Therefore, the program is not lawful, and you need to stop."

    Fine. You've just declared the NSA outside the protections and requirements of the Fourth and possibly Fifth Amendments.

    Is that were you wanted to go? Seems like a quick trip to do this to citizens, starting with those working at the NSA, but not ending there.

  13. Re:Too Big to Be Indicted... on NSA's Novel Claim: Our Systems Are Too Complex To Obey the Law · · Score: 1

    SOX requires me to respond to multiple requests for access justification yearly for each system I use. It requires me to submit as if new continuing requests for access. SOX drives a default 'deny' action, requiring me to repeatedly justify access, even when it is invoked mid-term. SOX imposes significant overhead in IT management at all levels to provide the detailed and responsive justifications for systems, data, and access needed to run operate a bank.

    And I only work for the holding company, not the actual 'bank'.

    SOX is a burden, and not an inconsequential one, if your organization is actually a bank.

  14. Re:Too Big to Be Indicted... on NSA's Novel Claim: Our Systems Are Too Complex To Obey the Law · · Score: 1

    " try to explain the intricacies of Java garbage-collection to an equity-options trader..."

    Um, you;'re doing it wrong. At least explain this to the trading manager. Preferably their compliance officer.

  15. Re:This is surprising... on Kids With Operators Manual Alert Bank Officials: "We Hacked Your ATM" · · Score: 1

    Let's they don't read any more Slender Man stories.

  16. Almost the perfect non-crime on Kids With Operators Manual Alert Bank Officials: "We Hacked Your ATM" · · Score: 1

    Right up to the "I found a way to change the surcharge amount" part.

    Darn.

  17. Re:In the US they'd have been charged on Kids With Operators Manual Alert Bank Officials: "We Hacked Your ATM" · · Score: 1

    Damn. I got kicked off a timesharing system because I disagreed with the sysadmins over politics. They booted an entire state off the system until I promised to go away and never come back.

    I came back 12 years later. They had been sold off.

  18. Re:Hacked? on Kids With Operators Manual Alert Bank Officials: "We Hacked Your ATM" · · Score: 1

    1. The solution is cost effective if it costs substantially less than the losses, both immediate and cumulative.

    2. How many times would I be anticipating replacing that $30k item? More than 17 times a year, I lose. That's more than once a month. Indeed, if I take just 2 weeks to replace the item, I may come out ahead, but I don;'t have the item for almost 50% of the time, so why do I bother replacing it? Oh, actually, I lock the door the second time the item is taken. My effort replacing items is worth it.

    3. That was a stupid analogy. Lax security due to cost is an argument to discontinue the service and shut down the business.

  19. Re:haha. they call if "charging the battery" on Group Demonstrates 3,000 Km Electric Car Battery · · Score: 1

    And *THAT* is one good reason this technology would succeed, changing the auto industry rapidly. There are others:

    - Regular servicing preserves the maintenance business, albeit potentially smaller, getting the dealerships on your side. the EV-1 proved a threat to dealer revenue.

    - Aluminum, among other things, is readily recycled, lowering costs. Li-Ion recycling is anything but easy.

    - Dual-battery implementations, using Li-Ion packs for short trips and kicking in the Al pack for longer run or to supplement, give plug in EVs a new range option.

    - Swapping the exhausted pack seems not much more complicated than typical brake work. And until it gets standardized and the aftermarket gets involved, this is a dealer dream - better than scheduled maintenance today, it's almost a desirable feature - get a new pack when needed, overcoming the presumably much higher cost of replacing Li-Ion packs (as in Prius replacements).

    Could work.

  20. Re:Hm.... on Group Demonstrates 3,000 Km Electric Car Battery · · Score: 1

    Perhaps you should have told Ford this.

  21. Rodgers is not writing his geek manifesto on Misogyny, Entitlement, and Nerds · · Score: 1

    He is writing the diary of a schizophrenic.

    Geeks aren't sick, just a bid different than most.

    Schizophrenics are sick. For whatever reason.

  22. Re:Open-source tool to read PIN and Chip on Book Review: Hacking Point of Sale · · Score: 1

    EMV doesn't require NFC. I'm unaware of any EMV implemented using NFC, in fact. EMV uses a chip that requires physical contacts.

    And EMV terminals can be circumvented with a shim, fooling the acquirer into treating the transaction as genuine while faking the chip into offline mode. Overly simplified, but the result is the same.

    And as is pointed out elsewhere on this thread, EMV solved nothing for internet transactions, all card -not-present environments. And once the data is on the merchant or acquirer system, it's fair game.

    EMV solves most frauds at the terminal. Most.

  23. Re:And according to the EULA ... on Cox Promises National Gigabit Rollout; Starting With Phoenix, Las Vegas, Omaha · · Score: 1

    Never did for me.

  24. Re:You don't have Cox, do you? on Cox Promises National Gigabit Rollout; Starting With Phoenix, Las Vegas, Omaha · · Score: 1

    You're welcome to disbelieve the poster, but I was getting all 25mb I was promised. 'Was' because Cox finally guessed the magic number, and i canceled it all. Doing Prism now, but if Cox brings this to my neighborhood in the PHX valley, I'll sign back up. Just for internet tho. By then we will be ready to go cable free.

  25. Re:1Gb with conditions... on Cox Promises National Gigabit Rollout; Starting With Phoenix, Las Vegas, Omaha · · Score: 0

    It doesn't actually work like that. Plenty of spam being sent on port 110.