Tag: Judicial Watch

Contributor Post Created with Sketch. A Disgrace

 

Judicial Watch has obtained a memo that shows that John McCain and his Senate staff sought to collude with the Obama Administration to target conservative advocacy groups.

In the full notes of an April 30 meeting, McCain’s high-ranking staffer (Henry) Kerner recommends harassing non-profit groups until they are unable to continue operating. Kerner tells (Lois) Lerner, Steve Miller, then chief of staff to IRS commissioner, Nikole Flax, and other IRS officials, “Maybe the solution is to audit so many that it is financially ruinous.” In response, Lerner responded that “it is her job to oversee it all.”

Contributor Post Created with Sketch. The Fox Is Guarding the Hen House

 

Remember the good ol’ days when agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice were admired and held in high esteem? It does seem to be a very long time ago, especially when we are living in times when lies, redactions, exemptions, and distortions are the terms that now describe the work of these agencies, as well as other agencies. Why should we trust any of them? Based on my research, we have even less reason currently to rely on their information than any time in my lifetime. To understand these circumstances, it’s helpful first to see how redactions are supposed to be made.

Redaction is a term that is often used for editing documents to protect national security and the privacy of citizens. There is a Redaction Code that describes which portions of a given document must be hidden from the general public. At first glance, the code seems to be clear and practical. I discovered, however, that the Code is nearly meaningless.

For instance, the Redaction Code is applied to documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act. Established in 1967, FOIA allows the public to request records from any federal agency, except for nine exemptions which are “specified.” The Electronic Frontier Foundation, founded in 1990, discovered how corrupted and misused the redaction process is, based on its own FOIA requests: