$20 Billion In Recent Federal “Secret” Expenditures Bought $30K In Starbucks Coffee , Gym Memberships & JC Penny Clothes

Federal Government Made $20 Billion In Secret Purchases In Recent Months

 

 

 

” The federal government has spent at least $20 billion in taxpayer money this year on items and services that it is permitted to keep secret from the public, according to an investigation by the News4 I-Team.

  The purchases, known among federal employees as “micropurchases,” are made by some of the thousands of agency employees who are issued taxpayer-funded purchase cards. The purchases, in most cases, remain confidential and are not publicly disclosed by the agencies. A sampling of those purchases, obtained by the I-Team via the Freedom of Information Act, reveals at least one agency used those cards to buy $30,000 in Starbucks Coffee drinks and products in one year without having to disclose or detail the purchases to the public.

  A series of other recent purchases, reviewed by internal government auditors, include wasteful and inappropriate purchases by government employees — including a gym membership and JC Penney clothing — that were not detected or stopped until after the purchase was completed.”

Read more

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Recapture Of Simulated Terrorist Takeover Of Missile Silo Failed By Air Force Security

AP Exclusive: Botched Nuclear Silo Drill Revealed

 

 

 

 

 

 

” An Air Force security team’s botched response to a simulated assault on a nuclear missile silo has prompted a blistering review followed by expanded training to deal with the nightmare scenario of a real attack.

  The Air Force recognized the possibility of such an intrusion as more worrisome after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. But an internal review of the exercise held last summer at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana said the security forces were unable to speedily regain control of the captured silo, and called this a “critical deficiency.”

  The Associated Press obtained a copy of the report through a Freedom of Information Act request.

  The previously unreported misstep was the reason the 341st Missile Wing flunked a broader safety and security inspection. The unit, which has been beset with other problems in recent months, including an exam-cheating scandal that led its commander to resign in March, passed a do-over of the security portion of the inspection last October.

  The failure was one of a string of nuclear missile corps setbacks revealed by the AP over the past year. The force has suffered embarrassing security, leadership and training lapses, discipline breakdowns and morale problems. Earlier this year, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered two reviews, still underway, to address his concern that the lapses could erode public trust in the security of the nation’s nuclear weapons.”

 

More here , here , here and here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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About That “Most Transparent Administration” … Nevermind

Obama Denies Freedom Of Information Requests At Record Rates

 

 

 

” President Obama was swept to office amidst his pledge that he’d run the “most transparent administration in history.” A new report out finds that he hasn’t even run the most transparent administration since the previous one.

  The Associated Press analyzed the federal government’s own Freedom of Information Act data and found that federal agencies under President Obama have been as uncooperative as ever:

  The government’s own figures from 99 federal agencies covering six years show that halfway through its second term, the administration has made few meaningful improvements in the way it releases records. In category after category — except for reducing numbers of old requests and a slight increase in how often it waived copying fees — the government’s efforts to be more open about its activities last year were their worst since President Barack Obama took office.”

Townhall has more

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Happy 100th Birthday To The Crossword Puzzle … Here’s An NSA Version To Mark The Day

Crossword Puzzle: What Did We Learn About The NSA This Year?

 

 

 

” We’ve certainly learned a lot this year about the surveillance state. Thanks to the cache of intelligence documents leaked by Edward Snowden, as well as the hoards of legal records we liberated through our Freedom of Information Act lawsuits, we’ve had immense amounts of new information to consume and process. But how many of the details do you remember? It’s time for a pop quiz.

  And Dec. 21 just happens to be the 100th anniversary of the crossword puzzle.

  We’ve written about the word games top US officials play when defending the NSA’s massive electronic surveillance system, so it felt especially appropriate to round-up the highlights in one big crossword puzzle. You can click the puzzle above for a larger image to print, or just download this PDF. “

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Another Slap At Obama And Statism … Judge Rules Against Executive Privilege Claims

Court Rejects Obama Admin Executive Privilege Arguments

 

 

 

” A federal judge Tuesday rejected the Obama administration’s sweeping claims of executive privilege and ordered the disclosure of a foreign aid directive signed by President Barack Obama in 2010 but never publicly released.

  U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Huvelle ruled the presidential order is not within the bounds of executive privilege and called the government’s arguments in favor of secrecy “troubling.”

“The government appears to adopt the cavalier attitude that the President should be permitted to convey orders throughout the Executive Branch without public oversight … to engage in what is in effect governance by ‘secret law,’” Huvelle said. “

 

 

     This ruling goes nicely with the previous finding by Judge Richard Leon earlier in the week regarding the unconstitutionality of the NSA spying program . Finally our resident “Constitutional Scholar” is getting a well-deserved lesson on the Constitution .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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IRS Refuses To Release Tea Party Records

The IRS Stonewall

 

 

 

 

” Judicial Watch recently sued the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to force it to hand over “any and all” records related to the agency’s now-notorious witch hunt against conservative 501c4 nonprofit organizations in the nearly two years leading up to the 2012 presidential election. While the records are likely to provide some stunning revelations, the fact is that the IRS’ refusal to willingly hand over the records as required by law is equally revealing. As the late 60 Minutes producer George Crile sagely observed, “It’s not just the crime, it’s the cover-up that gets you in trouble.”

  In the case of the current IRS cover-up, the stonewalling began nearly six months ago when Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information (FOIA) request on the heels of an explosive May 14 Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) report revealing that the IRS had singled out groups with such conservative-sounding terms as “patriot” and “Tea Party” in their titles for special scrutiny when applying for tax-exempt status. The TIGTA probe determined: “Early in Calendar Year 2010, the IRS began using inappropriate criteria to identify organizations applying for tax-exempt status to (e.g., lists of past and future donors).” According to the report, the illegal IRS reviews continued for more than 18 months and “delayed processing of targeted groups’ applications” preparing for the 2012 presidential election.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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FBI Knew Of Plots To Assassinate Occupy Leaders

FBI Document—“[DELETED]” Plots To Kill Occupy Leaders “If Deemed Necessary”

 

 

 

” Would you be surprised to learn that this intelligence comes not from a shadowy whistle-blower but from the FBI itself – specifically, from a document obtained from Houston FBI office last December, as part of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by the Washington, DC-based Partnership for Civil Justice Fund?

To repeat: this comes from the FBI itself. The question, then, is: What did the FBI do about it?

Remember the Occupy Movement? The peaceful crowds that camped out in the center of a number of cities in the fall of 2011, calling for some recognition by local, state and federal authorities that our democratic system was out of whack, controlled by corporate interests, and in need of immediate repair?

 

This story dates back a few months but if you are like us you probably never heard about it . 

 

” That movement swept the US beginning in mid-September 2011. When, in early October, the movement came to Houston, Texas, law enforcement officials and the city’s banking and oil industry executives freaked out  perhaps even more so than they did in some other cities. The push-back took the form of violent assaults by police on Occupy activists, federal and local surveillance of people seen as organizers, infiltration by police provocateurs—and, as crazy as it sounds, some kind of plot to assassinate the “leaders” of this non-violent and leaderless movement.

But don’t take our word for it. Here’s what the document obtained from the Houston FBI, said:

 An identified [DELETED] as of October planned to engage in sniper attacks against protestors (sic) in Houston, Texas if deemed necessary. An identified [DELETED] had received intelligence that indicated the protesters in New York and Seattle planned similar protests in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin, Texas. [DELETED] planned to gather intelligence against the leaders of the protest groups and obtain photographs, then formulate a plan to kill the leadership via suppressed sniper rifles. (Note: protests continued throughout the weekend with approximately 6000 persons in NYC. ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protests have spread to about half of all states in the US, over a dozen European and Asian cities, including protests in Cleveland (10/6-8/11) at Willard Park which was initially attended by hundreds of protesters.) “

   Read the whole thing . Shades of the Sixties and FBI involvement with political dissident groups . The Obama – Nixon comparisons grow stronger with the passage of time .

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Two New Developments Have Severe Implications For The IRS Scandal

IRS SCANDAL DEEPENS AS LEAKS IDENTIFIED

 

 

 

 

” The watchdog group Judicial Watch announced Thursday that it had obtained emails showing that former IRS official Lois Lerner gave protected information to the Federal Elections Commission. 

Meanwhile, the House Ways and Means Committee said it had identified the IRS agent who leaked National Organization for Marriage donors to gay rights activists.

Judicial Watch obtained the emails in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on Aug. 9. They purport to show Lerner, who led the IRS Exempt Organizations division, promising full cooperation with an FEC attorney who was seeking information about the tax-exempt applications of two conservative groups, the American Future Fund (AFF) and the American Issues Project (AIP), as well as AIP’s predecessor groups.

Lerner then sent “detailed, confidential information about the organizations” to the FEC, according to Judicial Watch, including tax returns and requests for exempt recognition forms. “

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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EFF Wins Court Victory vs Secrecy Of FOIA

FISA Court Rejects Catch-22 Secrecy Argument In FOIA Case

 

 

” In the first publicly known victory by a non-government party before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), the secret court today granted a motion filed by EFF related to an ongoing Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.

The victory today was a modest one. The Court didn’t order disclosure of its opinion; it just made clear, as EFF had argued, that the FISC’s own rules don’t serve as an obstacle to disclosure of the opinion. The FISC also clarified that the executive branch cannot rely on the judiciary to hide its surveillance: the only thing obstructing the opinion from the public’s review is the executive branch’s own claims that it can hide its unconstitutional action behind a veil of classification.”

 

 

Here are the proceedings : U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Public Filings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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“It’s All About Keeping You Safe” … Sure

Government Says Secret Court Opinion on Law Underlying PRISM Program Needs to Stay Secret

 

 

 

” In a rare public filing in the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), the Justice Department today urged continued secrecy for a 2011 FISC opinion finding government surveillance to be unconstitutional.  Significantly, the activities at issue were carried out under the controversial legal authority that underlies the National Security Agency’s recently-revealed PRISM program.

EFF filed a suit under the Freedom of Information Act in August 2012, seeking disclosure of the FISC ruling.  Sens. Ron Wyden and Mark Udall revealed the existence of the opinion, which found that collection activities under FISA Section 702  “circumvented the spirit of the law” and violated the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures. But, at the time, the Senators were not permitted to discuss the details publicly. Section 702 has taken on new importance this week, as it appears to form the basis for the extensive PRISM surveillance program reported recently in the Guardian and the Washington Post.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Related articles

• How the NSA Spies on Americans; DOJ Fights Release of Secret Court Opinion on Law that Underpins PRISM Program (pumabydesign001.com)
• Government Says Secret Court Opinion on Law Underlying PRISM Program Needs to Stay Secret (eff.org)
• Justice Department Fights Release of Secret Court Opinion Finding Unconstitutional Surveillance (motherjones.com)
• Secret Court Document Details Unconstitutional Surveillance Of American Citizens, Justice Department Fights To Keep It Hidden (infiniteunknown.net)
• Justice Department Asks Secret Court To Keep Secret Surveillance Ruling Secret (huffingtonpost.com)
• In Secret Court, DOJ Fights Access to Surveillance Ruling (legaltimes.typepad.com)

 

 

 

 

 

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Apparently “Richard Windsor” Has Lots Of Company … Secret Government Email Accounts Abound

 

Emails Of Top Obama Appointees Remain A Mystery

 

 

 

” Some of President Barack Obama’s political appointees, including the Cabinet secretary for the Health and Human Services Department, are using secret government email accounts they say are necessary to prevent their inboxes from being overwhelmed with unwanted messages, according to a review by The Associated Press.

The scope of using the secret accounts across government remains a mystery: Most U.S. agencies have failed to turn over lists of political appointees’ email addresses, which the AP sought under the Freedom of Information Act more than three months ago. The Labor Department initially asked the AP to pay more than $1 million for its email addresses.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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DHS , IRS , DoJ … They’re All Corrupt And They Are All Spying On Us

Editor’s Note : This story first appeared a year ago but we missed it . However , in light of recent revelations regarding what seems to be normal procedure for various agencies of the federal government we thought it would be of interest to our readers .

 

 

Dept. of Homeland Security Forced To Release List Of Keywords Used To Monitor Social Networking Sites

 

 

 

 

” In a story appearing earlier today on the U.K’s Daily Mail website, it was reported that the DHS has been forced to release a list of keywords and phrases it uses to monitor various social networking sites. The list provides a glimpse into what DHS describes as “signs of terrorist or other threats against the U.S.”

The list was posted by the Electronic Privacy Information Center who filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act, before suing to obtain the release of the documents. The documents were part of the department’s 2011 ’Analyst’s Desktop Binder‘ used by workers at their National Operations Center which instructs workers to identify ‘media reports that reflect adversely on DHS and response activities’.”

 

 

” (Update 1: Reading through the Desktop Binder, I discovered the DHS Twitter account is @dhsnocmmc1 and DHS appears to be using tweetdeck to monitor the various keywords. See Page 38 – Also interesting to note they seem to be using a Mac Mini as a server, and no password vaults. All Passwords appear to be shared in a plain text word document.)

(Update 2: On page 37, DHS instructs analysts to accept invalid SSL certificates forever without verification. Although invalid SSL warnings often appear in benign situations, they can also signal a man-in-the-middle attack.Not a good practice for the security conscience. Thanks to @obra on twitter for the tip.)”

 

 

    Here are some of the keywords DHS is monitoring . Go here to see the whole list and read the DHS Desktop Binder.

 

 

 

 

Read up on how your government is reading your stuff 

                You can read the original article at the DailyMail.co.uk

 

 

 

 

 

 

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More Denial Of Justice From Holder’s Dept Of Justice

HOLDER BEGS COURT TO STOP DOCUMENT RELEASE ON FAST AND FURIOUS

 

 

” Attorney General Eric Holder and his Department of Justice have asked a federal court to indefinitely delay a lawsuit brought by watchdog group Judicial Watch. The lawsuit seeks the enforcement of open records requests relating to Operation Fast and Furious, as required by law.

Judicial Watch had filed, on June 22, 2012, a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking all documents relating to Operation Fast and Furious and “specifically [a]ll records subject to the claim of executive privilege invoked by President Barack Obama on or about June 20, 2012.” 

The only justification Holder uses to ask the court to indefinitely delay Judicial Watch’s suit is that there’s another lawsuit ongoing for the same documents – one filed by the U.S. House of Representatives. Judicial Watch has filed a brief opposing the DOJ’s motion to stay.”

 

 

 

 

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Related articles

• Documents ‘Damning’ for Holder (itmakessenseblog.com)

 

 

 

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IRS Claims Warrantless Right To Read Your Emails

IRS: We Can Read Emails Without Warrant

 

 

 

” The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has claimed that agents do not need warrants to read people’s emails, text messages and other private electronic communications, according to internal agency documents.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which obtained the documents through a Freedom of Information Act request, released the information on Wednesday.

In a 2009 handbook, the IRS said the Fourth Amendment does not protect emails because Internet users “do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in such communications.” A 2010 presentation by the IRS Office of General Counsel reiterated the policy. 

Under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986, government officials only need a subpoena, issued without a judge’s approval, to read emails that have been opened or that are more than 180 days old.”

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Related articles

• IRS: We can read emails without warrant (12160.info)
• The IRS may take your emails without obtaining a warrant first (venturebeat.com)
• ACLU accuses the IRS of reading Americans’ private email without a search warrant (nydailynews.com)
• Like rest of the feds, the IRS can get your e-mails with no problem (arstechnica.com)
• New Documents Suggest IRS Reads Emails Without a Warrant (alethonews.wordpress.com)
• IRS claims it can read your e-mail without a warrant (secretsofthefed.com)
• IRS Can Read Your Email Without Warrant (yro.slashdot.org)

 

 

 

 

 

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A Climate Change Bill Of Goods

 

Climategate Leaker: Civilization Is Being Destroyed By Lying ‘Science’ Elitists

 

 

 

” “What if climate change appears to be just mainly a multi-decadal natural fluctuation? They’ll kill us probably.”

This private musing between two climate scientist colleagues first surfaced along with a whole raft of embarrassing material in 2011, when the anonymous Climategate leaker who calls himself “Mr. FOIA” leaked his second set of emails from Britain’s disgraced Climate Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia. Now, Mr. FOIA has emerged for a third time, sharing with the world not only his entire batch of 220,000 encrypted emails and documents but also, for the first time, his thoughts.

Mr. FOIA had previously released two batches of 5,000 files each in 2009 and 2011. This enormous third batch went to a network of friends for decoding, sorting and publication.”

 

 

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District Of Corruption Takes In $92 Million In Parking Tickets Alone In 2012 … Still Can’t Make Ends Meet

In 2012, Nearly 2M D.C. Parking Tickets Issued

 

 

” Those 1.8 million tickets break down to about 7.3 tickets issued per minute and 436 parking tickets per hour, accounting for federal holidays and Sundays, when parking is free. It’s also about a 6 percent drop in parking tickets from the previous year.

AAA obtained the parking ticket data through a Freedom of Information Act request.

 

Here’s how the revenue compared from fiscal year 2011 and 2012:

Total Number of Parking Tickets Issued	Total Amount Of Parking Ticket Revenue Collected
FY 2012: 1,884,367	FY 2012: $92,554,646
FY 2011: 2,012,131	FY 2011: $92, 579, 971

 

“This is pure unadulterated exploitation of motorists. D.C. couldn’t get the commuter tax it wanted. So it makes it exceedingly hard to find parking, then you fine them for overstayed at the meter,” says Townsend.”

 

 

   While we ordinarily find this type of government sanctioned theft abhorrent , we must admit that there is a sort of delicious irony in the fact that the bulk of those ticketed are fellow bureaucrats that vote to keep these statists in power . LOL … Don’t like it ? stop leeching off the taxpayers and get a real job outside of the beltway .

 

 

Related articles

• 400 parking tickets issued PER HOUR in DC (12160.info)
• Parasite Economy: District rakes in $92 million from parking tickets (blacklistednews.com)
• D.C. Made Big Bucks From Parking Tickets in 2012 (washington.cbslocal.com)
• Fark: Officer leaving parking ticket on windshield fails to notice dead body in the driver’s seat. DumbAsFark: Twice [Dumbass] (fark.com)

 

 

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Your Tax Dollars At Work …” The Pilgrims Were Illegal Aliens ”

Confidential, Expensive USDA Sensitivity Training: ‘The Pilgrims Were Illegal Aliens’ [VIDEOS]

 

 

” Footage of the United States Department of Agriculture’s compulsory “Cultural Sensitivity Training” program reveals USDA employees being instructed to refer to the Pilgrims as “illegal aliens” and minorities as “emerging majorities” — at “a huge expense” to taxpayers.

The video clips were made public Thursday evening by the conservative government accountability group Judicial Watch, which obtained them through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request made on May 18, 2012.

The clips star Samuel Betances — a diversity instructor with Souder, Betances and Associates — who says in the video that he got his diversity training start under former Chicago Mayor Richard Daley. In the clips, Betances instructed USDA employees on the proper thinking about diversity and minorities — or, as he called them, “emerging majorities.”

 

Judicial Watch Report Here

 

“Judicial Watch today released previously unseen USDA videos revealing a compulsory “Cultural Sensitivity Training” program requiring USDA employees to bang on tables, chanting in unison “The pilgrims were illegal aliens” while being instructed to no longer use the word “minorities,” but to replace it with “emerging majorities.” Judicial Watch received the videos pursuant to a May 18, 2012, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

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The sensitivity training sessions, described as “a huge expense” by diversity awareness trainer and self-described “citizen of the world” Samuel Betances, were held on USDA premises. The diversity event is apparently part of what USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack described in a memo sent to all agency employees as a “new era of Civil Rights” and “a broader effort towards cultural transformation at USDA.”  In 2011 and 2012, the USDA paid Betances and his firm nearly $200,000 for their part in the “cultural transformation” program.”

Be proud of how your tax dollars are spent … Despicable

Related articles

• GOVERNMENT: Confidential, expensive USDA sensitivity training: ‘The Pilgrims were illegal aliens…. (pjmedia.com)
• Exclusive: Judicial Watch Breaks USDA Training Video Labeling Pilgrims ‘Illegal Aliens’ (breitbart.com)
• Judicial Watch Releases Confidential USDA Internal Videos Revealing Compulsory “Cultural Sensitivity Training” Program (sys-con.com)
• Exclusive: Judicial Watch Announces Ambitious 2013 Investigative Agenda (breitbart.com)
• Getting their minds right at the USDA (powerlineblog.com)
• Sanctioning Discrimination (grumpyelder.com)
• The Pilgrims as Illegal Aliens (volokh.com)
• Union Leader: ‘ICE Crumbling from Within’ Because Obama Won’t Let Agents Arrest Illegals (patdollard.com)