(Via The Hill) An inspector general investigating the IRS’s improper scrutiny of Tea Party groups has found thousands of emails from Lois Lerner, the agency official at the center of that controversy, according to committees involved in the probe.
Treasury’s inspector general for tax administration (TIGTA) said it found roughly 6,400 emails either to or from Lerner from between 2004 and 2013 that it didn’t think the IRS had turned over to lawmakers, the congressional committees said. The committees have yet to examine the emails, aides on Capitol Hill said. (more…)

A Potemkin Village is a best described as: “an impressive façade or show designed to hide an undesirable fact or condition“.
The media narrative surrounding the Baltimore Riots is one such construct.
These undesirable facts and conditions the progressives desperately need to avoid are  being brutally spotlighted in Baltimore Maryland. A cultural petri dish of necessary avoidance to hide the reality of progressive racial failure.

One easy to identify example of their efforts therein has recently surfaced.  It surrounds the media’s desperate desire to hide the violence within Baltimore.

The staff of the City Paper of Baltimore was challenged in their reporting. City Paper editors and writers framing the rioting masses as “peaceful protestors“, while the public at large sees “violent antagonists“.

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Today President Obama addressed the state of emergency in Baltimore Maryland, calling the violent reactions “counter-productive.”

Question:  How many is a “handful”?
 

As Baltimore Burns the media begins the blame game. Last night pressing the Maryland Governor on why it took so long for the Maryland National Guard to be activated Governor Larry Hogan cuts right to the chase: “Within 30 seconds of receiving the call, I activated the National Guard”.
The delay stems from Baltimore Mayor Rawlings-Blake refusing to ask for assistance, and refusing to return phone calls from the Governors office. Start watching the video at 09:00 to see delivery:

Governor Hogan is a Republican, Mayor Rawlings is a far-left liberal Democrat.
After Governor Hogan arrived in Baltimore, CNN pundit Don Lemon tried to pin the blame on him in an effort to protect the more liberal Mayor Rawlings from her own ineptitude. Again Governor Hogan was having none of it. (more…)

The Media Won’t Discuss The Nine CFIUS Signatories – Why Not? 

Clinton Cash author Peter Schweizer appeared on This Week and faced a very skeptical George Stephanopoulos, who argued that his accusations that Hillary Clinton exchanged favorable treatment from the U.S. State Department for multimillion dollar donations to the Clinton Foundation were unsubstantiated.
However, what ABC doesn’t tell YOU is that Stephanopoulos has a SEVERE conflict of interest about this story as it relates to its 2005 origin and his former Boss Bill Clinton.

It’s interesting that Stephanopoulos weighs his Clintonian defense so heavily on “CFIUS“, The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, and the “nine signatories” required for approval of the lucrative and coincidental Russian uranium deal. (more…)

Education Secretary Arnie Duncan is reminding parents in America “that all your children belong to them”. In a not-so-very veiled threat Secretary Duncan states the Federal Government will step in if parents continue to opt their children out of Common Core testing.

(Via Doug Ross Journal) Secretary of Education Arne Duncan issued a veiled threat to the parents and students who choose to opt out of Common Core testing – The Feds “have an obligation to step in.”
Federal law, under No Child Left Behind, requires 95 percent of students in a state to take the annual standardized tests in reading and math from grades 3-8. It is a requirement which until now has never needed enforcement or consideration.
With as many as 184,000 students in New York choosing to opt out, the 95 percent threshold will not only be in jeopardy, it will be an easily missed mark.
When asked what would happen in states with such a high opt out rate, whether they would have to force consequences upon schools, parents, and students, Duncan responded “We think most states will do that.”
He added, “If states don’t do that, then we have an obligation to step in.” (more…)

Because the Freddie Gray story advances a specific narrative right in the sweet spot for check-box progressives who deliver liberal punditry on the network and try to convince America that it’s the majority view.

If a commercial airliner disappeared over Baltimore CNN would climax.

— TheLastRefuge (@TheLastRefuge2) April 24, 2015

And the local liberal media in/around Baltimore Maryland are just giddy with praise.

Baltimore Sun: “When it comes to television, CNN has been in a league by itself in covering the Freddie Gray story“…

The professionally aggrieved have once again found a friend in CNN.

President Obama said today the drone strike that killed one U.S. and one Italian hostage was “a mistake”. No it wasn’t. The drone strike was ordered; the drone strike was purposeful; the drone strike hit the exact intended target; there was nothing remotely a “mistake” about the operation.
Everything this White House does first and foremost passes through the political prism. Everything, every.single.pro-and-con, is weighed against the political cost vs. benefit considerations, period. So too is this story, and the aftermath of this story from January to the public release of the information today.
WASHINGTON DC – President Obama on Thursday acknowledged that the U.S. killed two innocent hostages in counterterrorism operations against al Qaeda.
Obama expressed his “deepest apologies” to the families of the two hostages, one American and one Italian.

“It is a cruel and bitter truth that in the fog of war generally, and our fight against terrorists specifically, mistakes, sometimes deadly mistakes can occur,” Obama said at a press conference at the White House Thursday morning. (read more)

Marco Rubio is the strategic plow for a Jeb Bush GOP primary win.  The Decepticon machine in general, and Tom Donohue specifically, is using the EXACT SAME strategy successfully used in Virginia against Ken Cuccinelli to give the VA Governor’s race to Democrats. 
In Kentucky it was used to push McConnell back into office.  In Mississippi it was used to push Thad Cochran back into office (despite his dementia).   In 2015/16 primary it is being used to push Jeb Bush to victory in the GOP primary.  Alas, just like 2012 through 2014, few can see it and even fewer accept it.

(Via Hot Air) As the 2016 presidential cycle looms larger in the minds of political reporters, the “invisible primary” is becoming less and less opaque.
The hawkish casino magnate, notable establishmentarian, and prolific GOP donor Sheldon Adelson is reportedly beginning to turn a favorable eye toward Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). According to Politico, Adelson sees Rubio as “the future of the Republican Party.”
“He has also said that Rubio’s Cuban heritage and youth would give the party a strong opportunity to expand its brand and win the White House,” Politico reported. (more…)

Trey Gowdy, Chairman of The House Select Committee on Benghazi, has requested former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appear before the panel next month.
In a letter to Clinton attorney David Kendall (below) Gowdy asks that Hillary testify before the committee “the week of May 18” to discuss email issues; and again before June 18 to talk about the deadly Benghazi attack (9/11/2012)

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