Weekend Reader: The Price Of Justice: A True Story Of Greed And Corruption

National Memo Staff

This week, Weekend Reader brings you an excerpt from The Price Of Justice: A True Story Of Greed And Corruption, by Laurence Leamer. A real-life drama, The Price Of Justice details a court case in West Virginia in which Don Blankenship, CEO of Massey Energy, one of the top coal-producing companies in the U.S.

Read more...

Washington Circus Steals The Spotlight From Where It Belongs

Cynthia Tucker

Can President Barack Obama put out the brush fires that are sucking the air out of his second-term agenda? Can he stop the spread of mini-scandals that are consuming Washington?
No, he cannot. The president could (unconstitutionally) shutter every Internal Revenue Service office and fire every staffer, from top-ranking executives to lowly administrative aides, and it would hardly matter.

Read more...

Outgoing IRS Chief Blames Underfunding For ‘Foolish’ Mistakes

Jason Sattler

Testifying in front of the House Ways and Means Committee, acting IRS commissioner Steve Miller apologized for his agency Friday.
“I want to apologize on behalf of the Internal Revenue Service for the mistakes that we made and the poor service that we provided,” Miller said. “The affected organizations and the American public deserve better.

Read more...

MORE NEWS

Outgoing IRS Chief Blames Underfunding For ‘Foolish’ Mistakes

Testifying in front of the House Ways and Means Committee, acting IRS commissioner Steve Miller apologized for his agency Friday.
“I want to apologize on behalf of the Internal Revenue Service for the mistakes that we made and the poor service that we provided,” Miller said. “The affected organizations and the American public deserve better.

Read more...

WATCH: In New Ad, Mother Of Mass-Shooting Victim Rips Senator Who Betrayed Her

Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) probably should have seen this coming when he decided to lie to the mother of a heroic mass-shooting victim.
Mayors Against Illegal Guns has released a new ad attacking Flake for his double-talk on expanding gun sale background checks.

Read more...

Poll: Mostly Republicans Care About Obama’s ‘Scandals,’ And That’s Bad News For The GOP

A new Gallup poll finds that Americans are paying less attention to the Benghazi and IRS “scandals” than they typically do to major news stories.
Republicans are more likely than Independents or Democrats to be following both stories.

They are also more inclined to believe both stories merit serious investigation.

Read more...

This Week In Crazy — May 17th Edition

Welcome to “This Week In Crazy,” The National Memo’s weekly update on the wildest attacks, conspiracy theories, and other loony behavior from the increasingly unhinged right wing.

Read more...

The Real Scandal At The IRS Is That The Agency Is Underfunded To Protect The Rich

The National Memo’s David Cay Johnston explained the real scandal at the Internal Revenue Service on Thursday’s Democracy Now.

Read more...

GOP Obamacare Repeal Mania Hits Peak Crazy

House Republicans have voted to move forward on their 37th repeal of Obamacare and it probably won’t be their last, though they have no plan to actually replace the law.
Rep.

Read more...

North Carolina GOP Takes On Tesla By Trampling Free Market

After North Carolina introduced legislation that would make it illegal to predict rising sea levels on its coast, the state’s Republicans are now moving to make in-state business difficult for an electric-car manufacturer.

Read more...

The IRS, Non-Profits, And The Challenge Of ‘Electoral Exceptionalism’

What the IRS scandal really shows us is that it’s getting harder and harder to draw a line between electioneering and political speech.

Read more...

5 Other ‘Scandals’ That Were Supposed To Destroy Obama

AP Photo/Susan Walsh
Throughout the past week, revelations regarding the IRS’ targeting of Tea Party groups, the Department of Justice’s decision to subpoena the phone records of over 100 Associated Press journalists, and the Republican Party’s continued obsession with a supposed cover-up in Benghazi have left President Barack Obama on the defensive.

Read more...

Obama Demands Congress Fully Fund Embassy Security, Vows To Fix IRS Problems

President Obama said Thursday that he did not know that agents in the IRS had been targeting Tea Party groups until the Inspector General’s report leaked last week.
Speaking at a press conference with Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the White House Rose Garden, the president said that he first heard of the IRS misconduct through reports in the media.

Read more...

Already, Some Whistleblowers Have Lost Their Nerve

Two weeks after the press partied hearty with President Barack Obama at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, the administration admitted that federal authorities had secretly combed through phone records for dozens of Associated Press journalists.

Read more...

 

The News at a Glance