Cornel West: ‘Ferguson Signifies the End of the Age of Barack Obama’

Mediaite.com:

Professor Cornel West appeared on CNN International this afternoon to give his take on Ferguson, and said right at the outset, “Ferguson signifies the end of the age of Obama. It’s a very sad end. We began with tremendous hope and we end with great despair.”

He went on to cite a “Jim Crow criminal justice system” that doesn’t seek justice for young black and brown people, and said adamantly there is both a race and a class war going on against that group in America right now.

CNNI anchor Hala Gorani asked West why he’s “so harsh” on the president over these issues when, she put forth, he’s launched initiatives to help young black men. West said that Obama chose a “Wall Street presidency” and a “drone presidency,” but never gave even “one speech that focuses on the Jim Crow criminal justice system that’s been targeting poor black and brown youth.”

Barack Obama, a man who as POTUS has gone out of his way time and time again to help the gays and illegal immigrants, while ignoring the base that continues to give him unwavering support (and assisted him the most to become Pres.)--Black people, will get a pass on the Ferguson verdict. And that's because black people in this country in this are too ignorant to understand the irony of electing a Godless, half-black, corny, narcissist, white-liberal ass kisser to be in charge on the deal that one day he might actually do them a favor one day. But instead, for black folks in America under the leadership of Obama, things have just gotten worse and worse...with no end in sight.

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Top Barack Obama Advisor Al Sharpton Owes More than $4 Million in Taxes

Mediaite.com:

Al Sharpton owes millions in state and federal liens, according to a New York Times report out today about the activist and MSNBC host’s finances.

Sharpton owes more than $4.5 million and has “regularly sidestepped” his financial obligations, the report finds. His advocacy group National Action Network has not paid federal payroll taxes for years, and has “repeatedly failed” to pay money owed for travel and living arrangements.

The report tracks not just Sharpton’s financial history, but its relationship to Sharpton’s rise from outsider activist to influential insider. And it also notes that the revenue from Sharpton’s group has spiked in recent years, coming in from plenty of corporate sponsors.

The Times report even goes so far as to note that what Sharpton did is characterized by the Treasury inspector general as “‘abusive,’ or ‘potentially criminal’ if the failure to turn over or collect taxes is willful.’”

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Lawlessness Is Now the Dominant Theme in the Obama Saga

WashingtonExaminer.com:

For years, critics of President Obama and his administration have complained about a rising disregard for the rule of law.

The rule of law means that the public can expect the executive branch to honor the laws passed by the people's representatives in Congress, as well as the limitations placed on government in the Constitution, as amended.

It is a fundamental founding principle that the executive branch, while it has substantial power, is not to be a law unto itself.

In the context of implementation of legislation, the executive branch historically has been allowed some discretion as to the timing and manner of enforcement.

Yet, this discretion itself may be subject to abuse when flexibility as to implementation gives way to political considerations.

In May 2014, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tx., released a list of 76 Obama administration actions or failures to act that Cruz termed lawless.

Figuring prominently on Cruz' list were Obama administration unilateral actions on immigration, including implementing “portions of the DREAM, which Congress rejected, by executive action.”

The administration has once again signaled an intention of unilateral action, with Obama declaring that he would implement immigration reform "on my own, without Congress."

On Obamacare, in June 2012, the individual mandate was upheld as constitutional by the Supreme Court on sharply divided lines, based on the congressional power to tax.

Yet, the Obama administration has treated the Obamacare legislation itself as at most a guideline, altering the terms as needed.

The Galen Institute lists 23 changes to Obamacare imposed by Obama administration fiat, without congressional approval, including: Delaying the individual mandate, the small business exchanges, and employer mandate reporting; implementing a Medicare Advantage patch using funds allocated to other purposes; and allowing subsidies to flow through federal exchanges even though not authorized.

A unifying feature of the Obamacare unilateral administrative changes was to postpone negative effects of Obamacare until after the 2014 election.

In so doing, the administration was not acting within allowable discretion to implement the law, but rather, using political criteria to dictate which parts of the law would be enforced and which parts ignored for political reasons.

The decisions of the current Supreme Court term reflect the extent to which the Obama administration has disregarded the rule of law.

There have been at least 12 cases involving administration action in which the justices have ruled unanimously against the administration.

This from a court notoriously divided along “liberal” versus “conservative” lines on a slew of important decisions. Yet when it comes to administration overreach, the justices found a measure of unanimity.

The court's recent decision involving Obama's “recess appointments” to the National Labor Relations Board is instructive.

The case involved appointments during a brief 3-day period when the Senate was in “pro forma” business sessions, yet Obama decided on his own that the Senate was in recess.

The administration thus helped itself to determine for the Senate when the Senate was in session, contrary to the Senate’s inherent power to determine its own rules.

While the justices were not unanimous on the scope of executive branch recess appointment powers, they were unanimous that the administration’s attempt to utilize recess appointment powers during this 3-day break between pro forma business sessions was an improper power grab.

Overall, the Obama administration is having a miserable term at the Supreme Court, even aside from these unanimous rejections of its positions.

While the government typically wins 70 percent of the cases at the Supreme Court, this term its win percentage is only 39 percent of the cases in which it was a party.

The Supreme Court's decision in the Hobby Lobby case, finding that the Obamacare contraception mandate was invalid in some circumstances, was a fitting end to a term in which the high court handed the administration one high profile loss after another.

There always is an uneasy balance between the executive branch and the Congress. That balance is upset when the executive branch treats legislation as a mere enabler and not as binding law, and when the executive branch engages in power grabs at the expense of the Congress and citizens.

It is that disregard for the rule of law that has become the central narrative of the Obama administration.

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IRS Has 'Lost' Two Years of Lois Lerner's Emails

Townhall.com:

According to the House Ways and Means Committee, the IRS has "lost" two years of emails belonging to former head of tax exempt organizations Lois Lerner. The IRS doesn't have a record of her emails to outside groups or government agencies from January 2009 through April 2011, conveniently encompassing some of the same time when tea party groups were being targeted for extra scrutiny and possible criminal prosecution. The IRS says the loss of emails is due to a "computer crash" and claims emails from or to Lerner from the White House, Democratic members of Congress, the Treasury Department, FEC and Department of Justice cannot be located. They do however have emails belonging to Lerner that she sent to other IRS employees. 

“The fact that I am just learning about this, over a year into the investigation, is completely unacceptable and now calls into question the credibility of the IRS’s response to Congressional inquiries. There needs to be an immediate investigation and forensic audit by Department of Justice as well as the Inspector General," Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp said in a statement. “Just a short time ago, Commissioner Koskinen promised to produce all Lerner documents. It appears now that was an empty promise. Frankly, these are the critical years of the targeting of conservative groups that could explain who knew what when, and what, if any, coordination there was between agencies. Instead, because of this loss of documents, we are conveniently left to believe that Lois Lerner acted alone. This failure of the IRS requires the White House, which promised to get to the bottom of this, to do an Administration-wide search and production of any emails to or from Lois Lerner. The Administration has repeatedly referred us back to the IRS for production of materials. It is clear that is wholly insufficient when it comes to determining the full scope of the violation of taxpayer rights.” 

Emails belonging to Lerner that were not "lost" have shown that she was in contact with Democratic members of Congress and the Department of Justice about prosecuting tea party groups. Just this week, emails surfaced showing Lerner sent confidential tax information belonging to conservative groups to the FBI for investigation just before the 2010 midterm elections. 

According to Camp, this is the first time the IRS has disclosed the loss of emails since the investigation into IRS targeting of conservatives started more than a year ago. 

UPDATE: Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Darrell Issa responds:

“Isn’t it convenient for the Obama Administration that the IRS now says it has suddenly realized it lost Lois Lerner’s emails requested by Congress and promised by Commissioner John Koskinen? Do they really expect the American people to believe that, after having withheld these emails for a year, they're just now realizing the most critical time period is missing? Congressional oversight has revealed that the IRS has –potentially illegally– shared confidential taxpayer information with the FBI and lost crucial email records even as the agency continues to withhold information by not fully complying with the Committee’s subpoena. Left to the IRS’ own preferences, the White House would still be retelling the lie that this was all about mismanagement confined to a local office. The supposed loss of Lerner’s emails further blows a hole in the credibility of claims that the IRS is complying with Congressional requests and their repeated assurances that they’re working to get to the truth. If there wasn't nefarious conduct that went much higher than Lois Lerner in the IRS targeting scandal, why are they playing these games?"

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