Dan Pfeiffer Admits White House Knew About IRS Scandal Before It Was News (Videos)

Dan Pfeiffer fudges the facts, May 19, 2013

May 19, 2013 - Sometimes even a liar tells the truth, albeit accidentally. On CBS's Face The Nation today, White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer inadvertently admitted that the Obama Administration knew about the IRS scandal well before it hit the news. Surprisingly, this admission was missed by many.

First, we saw yet another example of the "mainstream media" expressing displeasure (and distrust, even) of the Obama Administration.

Second, host Bob Schieffer, who for decades has thrown softball questions at Democrats with little or no follow up, actually asked tough questions about the ongoing IRS scandal. Not only that, Schieffer ripped into the Obama Administration with scathing criticism.

Third, and best of all, we heard an admission by Pfeiffer the Parrot that the Obama Administration really did know about the IRS scandal before the public did, contrary to what the White House has been saying for days.

Schieffer expressed disbelief that the White House knew nothing about IRS harassment of Tea Party and conservative non-profit groups before it became publicly known through news reports recently.

Pfeiffer said that "what happened at the IRS was inexcusable and we have to do something about it....We gotta make sure this never happens again. It was an incredible breach of the public's trust and we have to repair that breach, no question about that."

Bob Schieffer: "What the....?"

"Well, if it is so important," said Schieffer, "the President, as I understand it, says he didn't find out about it til a couple of weeks ago. It is very difficult for me, Washington being Washington, to understand how the White House wouldn't have known something was up. The Treasury Department was informed there was an investigation. Capital Hill committees were informed there was an investigation."

"Are you trying to tell me that a wisp of this didn't get over to the White House during an election year, that there may be something going on over there at the IRS that we ought to find out about?" Schieffer asked.

"Yes, I'm telling you that," Pfeiffer said. "The first that the White House was made aware of it was from the Treasury Department a few weeks ago. And not the details of what happened, not the the results of the investigation, but that an independent investigation was about to conclude. And here's how we handled this, and this is how, I think, every administration tries to handle this. You have a cardinal rule, which is you do nothing to interfere with an independent investigation and you do nothing to offer the appearance of interfering in an investigation. So I feel like we handled this in the appropriate way."

"Well," said a visibly exasperated Schieffer, "if the President was so upset about this when he found out about it, why did he wait three days to say anything?"

"What we waited for were the facts," said Pfeiffer. Trouble is, the facts were already available to the White House.

What Pfeiffer said on Face The Nation today does not fit the timeline of events. Indeed, it contained the gem of unintended admission. He said the White House first learned that there was trouble at the IRS "a few weeks ago." He said the White House did not know about it until it was reported in the news. However, the scandal did not become news until May 11, 2013 with the first leaks of the report from the U.S. Treasury inspector general (IG). That report was the result of a March 8, 2012 meeting with the House Committee On Oversight & Government Reform, which started a review by the IG. 

THE ACCIDENTAL ADMISSION: May 11 was only eight days ago, not "a few weeks ago" as Pfeiffer said. In other word, Pfeiffer admitted that the White House knew about the IRS scandal weeks before it became public news.

On February 14, 2012 The Blaze reported that they "received emails from various Tea Party groups around the country alerting us to the oppressive demands being sent to them from the IRS." But the story did not become public news, really, as a full-blown mainstream media topic until May 11 of this year.

The Committe on Oversight's members has 17 Democrats, including Obama apologist Elijah Cummings (MD-7), the committee's ranking member. It is hard to believe that Cummings -- or any of his fellow Democrats -- would not have made a call to someone in the White House about the potential scandal.

Far worse than Pfeiffer's clumsy tripping over himself was this inconvient fact: On March 30, 2012, confidential IRS documents were leaked to an Obama campaign co-chairman’s group. Those documents were used to attack Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Is it believable that the White House was (a) not aware of those campaign attacks or that (b) they had no idea that they were based on Romney's tax documents? And is it (c) believable that Pfeiffer was not also aware of this?

Not even the liberal New York Times believes it. In a report last Friday, the Times noted that "The inspector general gave Republicans some fodder [today] when he divulged that he informed the Treasury’s general counsel he was auditing the I.R.S.’s screening of politically active groups seeking tax exemptions on June 4, 2012. He told Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin 'shortly after,' he said. That meant Obama administration officials were aware of the matter during the presidential campaign year."

That means that Dan Pfeiffer lied, and he lied on orders from the White House.

Also See:

• White House insists Obama was not involved in IRS Boston.com
• Dan Pfeiffer: IRS Behavior ‘Inexcusable’ Whether or Not Illegal ABC News
• White House Senior Adviser Pfeiffer On IRS Scandal: ‘The Law Is Irrelevant’ Before It's News
• Schieffer Blasts Obama: ‘Spare Me The Talking Points And Excuses’ CBS DC
• Schieffer Grills Pfeiffer: 'Why Are You Here?' NewsMax
• White House word of the day – 'Irrelevant' Hot Air
• Dan Pfeiffer Explains the IRS Scandal Atlantic Wire
• Timeline of the IRS Scandal Boston Herald
• BUSTED: The Complete IRS Scandal Timeline in Spreadsheet Format Doug Ross
• IRS official: “Everything comes from the top” Washington Examiner
• Pfeiffer: "Not Unusual" That Obama Unaware Of Investigations.... Real Clear Politics
• Pfeiffer: 'Offensive' to Suggest Obama Let Americans Die in Benghazi Crooks & Liars

Uh Oh: Massive Sunspot Spewing at Earth

X1.2 class solar flare on May 14, 2013 - NASA/SDO

May 17, 2013 - Okay, this might be bad. There's a big, very active sunspot called "Region AR1748" that's been spitting some very big solar flares over the past week. "A huge explosion on the sun will deal Earth a glancing blow today (May 17)," says Space.com. (See video below.)

"The sun storm erupted late Tuesday during a powerful solar flare -- the fourth unleashed by a single sunspot in just 48 hours -- and hurled a massive cloud of charged particles out into space at millions of miles an hour."

AR1748 produced four X-class flares within 48 hours

Busy, very busy. Region AR1748 produced the first four X-class solar flares of 2013 in less than 48 hours. That's no small feat (see image, left).

The big blob of particles and stuff is called a coronal mass ejection (CME), and it's really a lot -- a lot -- of stuff.

In fact, it was "billions of tons of solar particles" worth of stuff, reports UPI. And it's traveling at extreme speeds. "The CME which erupted at 5:24 a.m EDT left the sun at speeds of around 745 miles per second, and could cause a space weather phenomenon called a geomagnetic storm when it connects with the outside of the Earth's magnetic envelope known as the magnetosphere."

But should we be afraid? Space.com says that "this one isn't aimed directly at us," says Space.com, "so there's no cause for alarm, experts say." Whew. That's better, but.... what about next time?

Also See:

• Busy, unruly sun NewsTimes
• AR 11748 Lets Go Another X-class Flare! Solar Dynamics Observatory blog
• Increased Solar Flares Disrupt Communications AccuWeather
• Solar Map of Active Regions Raben Systems
• Solar Flares Explained (video below)

VIDEO, Report: Tornado Nips Athens, Alabama

Sarah Cole | scole@al.com  (from video below)

May 17, 2013 - A tornado touched down briefly near Athens, Alabama today (see video below). CNN reports that "Law enforcement officials reported a funnel cloud -- indicative of a tornado -- at 2:15 p.m. (3:15 p.m. ET), the National Weather Service noted."

Athens got off easy: Injuries and damage seems to be minimal. The CNN report said that two homes in Athens "suffered minor damage as the storm rolled through," citing  a spokeswoman for Limestone County's emergency management agency. Power lines and trees are down.

Severe weather is predicted for much of the Midwest through Monday.

"One person was slightly injured running for shelter near the Walmart on U.S. 72 in Athens," reports AL.com. "The storm lasted from 2:04 p.m. until 3 p.m."  The severe weather caused the Limestone County Sheriff's Rodeo to be cancelled for tonight. But fear not: The rodeo will resume on Saturday.

Non-Partisan Group Says Obama is a War Criminal

Obama's death drones

May 17, 2013 - Closing Guantanamo and ending torture of detainees was one of his campaign promises in 2008. In 2013, of his former supporters on the Left say Obama is worse than  President George W. Bush in the way he has continued to detain Guantanamo inmates.

In fact, Obama has authorized, condoned and/or covered up torture, drone killing of civilians and other crimes -- and should be indicted. That's the conclusion of The Constitution Project, a legal research and advocacy group, in its "Report on Detainee Treatment."

Petitioning Obama (change.org)

The charges are detailed in a report and video from The Western Center for Journalism (watch the video below). The New York Times reported the story on its front page on April 16, but it received secondary attention because of the massive coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing.

A NY Times opinion piece on April 16 said that the Constitution Project's report "is also rightly critical of the Obama administration’s use of expansive claims of secrecy to keep the details of rendition and torture from becoming public and to block victims’ lawsuits."

"A nonpartisan group, The Constitution Project, in their mammoth 600-page report, has concluded that Barack Hussein Obama, the 44th President of the United States, should be indicted for war crimes in the authorization or coverup of the use of torture during interrogation on detainees at Guantánamo and CIA 'black sites'," according The Western Center for Journalism today.

The report is also critical of the administrations of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

Stalag Guantanamo

Hope and Change? "Obama originally said when he ran for office that he would close the Guantanamo Bay prison," wrote Rachel Alexander for Town Hall on May 13, "and after being elected in 2009, publicly instructed  the military to shut it down within one year. It is now over four years later, into his second term, and the prison is still open. Most of the prisoners have been there for over 11 years without a trial. Nine have died since it opened in 2002. The scrutiny has intensified in recent months as a majority of the 166 inmates, down from a high of 684 in 2003, have gone on hunger strikes, and at least 21 of the men are being force-fed twice daily. The administration has approved 86 detainees for release, but curiously none have been released so far this year."

Also See:

• U.S. Torture of Detainees 'Indisputable' World Net Daily
• Is Obama continuing Bush-Cheney torture? The Star Democrat (newspaper)
• Transcript: What’s Going on at Gitmo? ProPublica
• A ‘terrorist’ is no ‘enemy combatant’ Reuters
• President Obama: Close Detention Facility at Guantanamo Bay Change.org
• Nader: Obama’s Drone Warfare Violates U.S. and International Law Between The Lines
• Nader: Reining In Obama and His Drones The Nader Page
• The Left Turning on Obama Over Military Policy Town Hall

Growing Chicago Food Service "Fetch" Preparing to Hire Delivery People

May 16, 2016 - How can hungry Chicagoans on the city's north side want Big Macs, Whoppers, Sliders or Supreme Burritos delivered to them?

They can call "Fetch Foods," a new delivery service in the Windy City. They've been operating since mid-April, but are already seeing a steady stream of orders. Fetch tells us that they will soon need more delivery people with cars, scooters and bikes.

Fetch picks up from McDonald's, Wendy's, Taco Bell, Five Guys, White Castle and Five Guys, then deliver it quickly to a customer's home or office. With warmer weather, they are also delivering to beaches along the Chicago lakefront.

Unlike most food delivery services, Fetch does not work for any restaurant. "We work for the customer," a Fetch spokesman tell Chicago News Bench. Fetch delivers the fast food that, until now, was not being delivered at all: Grub from those big chain fast food restaurants that don't traditionally deliver. Ordering is easily done via the Fetch website, and people can follow updates at the Fetch Facebook page.

Fetch wants to hear from people who are interested in doing delivery work. If you would like to get on their list of folks looking for delivery work, contact them here. They are not actually hiring at this time, they "expect a big increase" in demand "very soon," and want to have a roster of eager people ready to go quickly. Fetch serves the following Chicago zip codes: 60613, 60614, 60618, 60622, 60625, 60626, 60640, 60645, 60647, 60657, 60659, 60660.

Also See:

• Local Delivery Service 'Fetch' Brings Fast Food To You Chicagoist 
• Service Delivers Fast Food Burgers and Tacos To Chicago Chicago News Bench

UPDATED: HEAVY INJURIES, DAMAGE AS DALLAS AREA POUNDED BY TORNADOES - VIDEOS

UPDATE, MAY 16 - Ten tornadoes smashed into the Dallas-Fort Worth area last night as powerful storms swept across northern Texas. At least six people are now known to have died. A number are still missing, probably buried under crushed houses. More than 100 were injured and hundreds more are homeless today. Especially hard-hit were the communities of Granbury, Cleburne and Millsap, each struck by separate tornadoes. The National Weather Service says a tornado in the small town of Granbury was an EF-4 with wind speeds over 200 mph.

Helping Neighbors: Another AP story reports that a large nonprofit group, Mission Granbury, Inc., is organizing donations to help those in need. Mission Granbury will work with local churches. You can donate supplies or money by calling Mission Granbury at 817-579-6866. The American Red Cross is operating shelters at two churches in Granbury.  BELOW: Video of an aerial view of the tornado damage in Cleburne, TX. Earlier reports follow this video.


EARLIER REPORTS: 

ADVISORY: MUTE VOLUME on video below (loud wind!)
ADVISORY: MUTE VOLUME on video above (loud wind!)

May 15, 2013 - Powerful storms are spawning tornadoes in northern Texas tonight.  Hail as large as grapefruit was driven by high winds. "Mass casualties" are being reported. CNN reports at least 100 injuries. On the Hood County Sheriff radio frequency, sheriff's deputies and other first responders called out reports of bodies and injured people found among "flattened" houses.

"Dozens of ambulances and other emergency responders had mobilized, with agencies from many cities standing by to help," says a late report from Dallas Morning News. Firefighters and police officers were going home to home in search of casualties. Many of the injured were being treated at Lake Granbury Medical Center, McKethan said. Medstar officials said its crews had taken 17 people to Fort Worth hospitals. Granbury’s hard-hit Rancho Brazos subdivision was evacuated, and natural gas was leaking there, officials said. About an hour after Granbury was hit, a mile-wide tornado was reported on the ground in the Cleburne area in Johnson County."

Granbury, TX (pop. 8,000) seems especially hard hit, with at least one confirmed tornado causing damage and injuring a number of people. Granbury is about 40 miles southwest of Fort Worth. (Map)

Hood County Sheriff units reported  downed power lines ("hot wires") and roads blocked with debris. CNN reports that Granbury city officials "were sending school buses to affected neighborhoods to help with evacuations. Granbury is about 40 miles southwest of Fort Worth."

"Multiple fatalities" were reported by the Hood County sheriff’s office said there were "multiple injuries" in the wake of the storm, according to KTLA.

School buses and sheriff's deputies are taking injured people to VFW posts and school cafeterias, which are being used tonight as makeshift triage units.

Houses and building have been flattened. It is too early to know the number of people injured and structures damaged. Granbury authorities say that the hardest hit area was the Rancho Brazos subdivision and neighboring areas along Lake Granbury, according to NBC5 in Dallas Fort Worth.

media.star-telegram.com

Updates as they were breaking on May 15:

KHOU Houston:
9:33p Tornado sirens are sounding in Granbury, in Hood County, where damage has already been reported.

9:32p A new tornado warning is issued for Dallas County until 10:15 p.m., with circulation reported just south of Cockrell Hill. Take shelter if you are in the vicinity of this storm, which is heading to the northeast at 15 mph. - Chief Meteorologist Pete Delkus

9:30p Heavy storm damage is reported at a subdivision in the vicinity of Chaucer Drive and Browning Lane, about 2.7 miles southwest of downtown Cleburne [map]. - Chief Meteorologist Pete Delkus  More at KHOU...

Houston Chronicle:
The [Granbury] tornado was part of a system of severe thunderstorms that spawned several tornadoes across North Texas, dropping large hail in some areas. The extent of the damage and injuries was not immediately clear. However, police reported the hardest hit area was the Rancho Brazos subdivision [map] and adjoining areas along Lake Granbury.

Another tornado hit the small town of Millsap [map] about 40 miles west of Fort Worth. Parker County Judge Mark Kelley said roof damage was reported to several houses and a barn was destroyed, but no injuries were reported.

MORE:

Multiple fatalities, 100 injuries in severe Texas storm CNN

Texas severe weather, May 15, 2013 Breaking News

Tornadoes spotted near Granbury, Decatur Star-Telegram

Mission Granbury Organizing Tornado Donations NBC Dallas-Fort Worth