The DOJ having the authority to do warrantless wiretaps without presenting justification to a judge is alarming. The DOJ having the authority to do such wiretapping against reporters in the media, who provide the fourth estate to protect -and check- the balance of power, is well beyond alarming.

It was only fair that Associated Press reporter Jim Kuhnhenn got the first question to White House Press Secretary Jay Carney at Tuesday’s press briefing. Coming just one day after news broke that the Department Of Justice had secretly seized two months worth of phone records from AP reporters, Kuhnhenn used his question to tie the AP scandal together with the other troubling news stories of the week for the Obama administration.

“For fear of stating the obvious,” Kuhnhenn began, “the White House right now is confronting a confluence of issues: Benghazi talking points, IRS reviews of political groups, Justice Department’s review of journalists’ phone records, and in every instance either the president or you have placed the burden of responsibility someplace else… But it is the president’s administration, so I wonder, doesn’t responsibility for setting tone, for setting direction ultimately rest with the president on these matters?” (more…)

Listen to what Jay Carney is stating here in regard to the White House knowledge of the issues surrounding the targeting of Tea Party and Conservative groups.

Last Friday the same original media sources (the reporters on the phone conference with the IRS official who apologized) said the report was to be released within the next day.  As a result of the admission the media story quickly took off.

Now The White House is saying:  We’ll defer comment, and “wait for the report” etc.

You know this “report” has not only been scrutinized at length by the protectors, but has been re-written more than a few times as the points are critiqued by all the concentric circles that compromise the White House and Cabinet political machine. Revisions, revisions, revisions…..

WASHINGTON DC – Republicans are training their attacks on acting IRS Commissioner Steve Miller amid new revelations that he and the agency’s former top official knew employees were targeting conservative groups but failed to notify Congress despite repeated requests.

Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, the top Republican on the Finance Committee, and 10 other GOP lawmakers wrote to then-IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman on June 18, 2012 demanding answers about why the agency requested donor information from groups seeking nonprofit status.

By the time this letter was sent, Shulman and Miller, who was the deputy IRS commissioner at the time, were aware of the extent of the targeting program for about a month. (more…)

First “his” point:

Then “her” counter point: (more…)

In addition to the prior motion filed by Bernie De La Rionda to avoid having any key witness testimony absence presented as evidence of poor case construct; BDLR has also filed motions to keep the jury from hearing evidence about the background of Trayvon Martin.

Specifically, the State has filed a protective order to exclude the Trayvon Martin toxicology report;

[scribd id=141333069 key=key-1k8pqyajj1v33w9qjh8c mode=scroll]

And another motion to stop the introduction of information about the known background of 17-year-old Trayvon. (more…)

WASHINGTON DC – Senator Ted Cruz says the IRS scandal “harkens back to the days of Richard Nixon,” and proves that President Obama keeps an “enemies list.”

“This is part of a distressing pattern of the Obama administration of being less than honest with the American people and using the machinery of government to target their political opponents,” Cruz tells National Review in an interview.

“It harkens back to the days of Richard Nixon and maintaining a political enemies list and treating the federal government as a tool to exact the administration’s retribution,” he adds. (more…)

Update 2:  The White House Reponds –  (Politico) — The White House has “no knowledge” of the Justice Department’s efforts to obtain phone records of Associated Press reporters and editors, press secretary Jay Carney said Monday.

“Other than press reports, we have no knowledge of any attempt by the Justice Department to seek phone records of the AP,” he said in a statement.  (link)

Update 1 :  Eric Holder personally approved of wiretapping reporters – On Monday afternoon, the Associated Press reported that the U.S. Department of Justice had “secretly obtained two months of telephone records” from 20 phone lines assigned to reporters and editors from the global news organization. The shocking revelation comes on top of news that the IRS targeted conservative groups for special scrutiny. It will be harder for President Obama to pin the DOJ’s action on lower level bureaucrats, however, because requests to subpoena news organization records require the approval of Attorney General Eric Holder.  (link)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in what the news cooperative’s top executive called a “massive and unprecedented intrusion” into how news organizations gather the news. (more…)

Multiple motions filed by the State of Florida last week are coming to light today.   One of the more interesting motions is the “State Motion Regarding The Calling Of A Witness“.

In essence BDLR is filing a motion, in advance of the case even starting, asking the judge to deliver an order, to stop the defense from using the absence of witness testimony to show the weakness in the State’s case.

The motion itself is predictive in nature – meaning the State is predicting the Defense will use a non-called witness against them.    Which begs the following question:

What witnesses are optically so valuable to the State’s case that their absence would prejudice a jury?   (more…)

The jury has reached a verdict….. we are awaiting information – Update information coming through:  PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Abortion provider Kermit Gosnell was convicted Monday of three counts of first-degree murder for severing the spinal cords of infants born during abortions at his West Philadelphia clinic.

The trial now moves into a sentencing phase to decide whether Gosnell should receive the death penalty or face life in prison.  The verdicts were announced hours after the jurors informed the judge in the case that they were hung on two charges.  (link with more information)

Murder 1st degree baby A – Guilty

Murder 1st degree baby E – Guilty

Murder 1st degree baby C – Guilty 

Fox News reporting that Kermit Gosnell and his defense attorney were totally shocked to hear THREE 1st Degree Murder Guilty Counts.   Guilty also of 1st degree manslaughter in death of adult patient. (more…)

Given the fact the media huddled with the White House prior to the Carney press briefing this should not be a surprise.   Nah, probably just another one of those now famous NBC production mistakes….  move along, move along…. nothing to see here folks….  Look, over there, shiny things.

(Via Newsbusters)  If you were a journalist reporting on Benghazi whistleblower Gregory Hicks, wouldn’t you find it interesting that he was a Democrat who voted for Barack Obama twice?

Someone at NBC News didn’t according to Hicks’s attorney Victoria Toensing who disclosed the spike job to NewsMax host Steve Malzberg on WMAL radio Saturday

VICTORIA TOENSING: By the way, Mr. Hicks is a Democrat. He voted for Hillary – I’ve yet to announce this – he voted for Hillary in the primary and Obama twice. You know what? NBC spiked the story where I told it before the hearings. It’s just amazing what the press is still trying to do to cover this up…So they try to make this partisan because of the lawyer. Well I’m not the messenger, he’s the messenger…The modus operandi, you know, to find anything they can do to just attack. So why wouldn’t NBC News report this? (more…)