Boulder is a Stoopid Place

TaxProf Blog: The IRS Scandal, Day 335.

As Instapundit says, “It’s a big one today”.  From the commenter Brewing Frog…

The letter drafted by the House “leadership” recommends the Holder (in)Justice Department prosecute this horrible woman. I mean, really? Do they honestly think that the thoroughly politicized horde down at (in)Justice will do anything but roar with laughter upon delivery of such a letter? Post selfies of themselves pointing and laughing at it?

What a farce…

All too believable I’m afraid. Cue outraged Democrats lead by Elijah Cummings and The Five’s Bob Beckel.

Glenn Reynolds: Silicon Valley scares Americans.

“A level of suspicion and confusion we haven’t had before.” That’s right. And it’s made worse by the increasing politicization of Silicon Valley, and the transformation of its leaders from rebels into what Joel Kotkin calls “the new oligarchs,” people who once talked about technology as liberation, but who now seem more interested in using technology as an instrument of control. It’s not just NSA spying; it’s that the companies gather data on everyone, with comparatively little legal oversight.

You might have been OK with that a decade or two ago, when Silicon Valley seemed full of people who would stand up to the Man. Now, they are The Man (or The Woman) in many ways, or in cahoots with them. Might the information you gave to OKCupid be used against you someday? Your only protection, really, is their good nature. And how good is that?

After all, OKCupid dug out political donation data to get a CEO fired. If they’re willing to do that sort of thing, how elevated can their standards be, really?

If you aren’t scared, you should be.

Committee report: No progressive groups were targeted by IRS | The Daily Caller.

 IRS agents testified before Congress that the agency’s political targeting did not apply to progressive groups as Democrats and the media have claimed, according to a bombshell new staff report prepared by the House Oversight Committee chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa.

IRS agents testified before Oversight that ACORN groups were scrutinized because the agency thought they were old organizations applying as new ones. Emerge America was scrutinized for potential “improper private benefit.” No evidence exists that the IRS requested additional information from any Occupy Wall Street group.

“Only seven applications in the IRS backlog contained the word ‘progressive,’ all of which were then approved by the IRS, while Tea Party groups received unprecedented review and experienced years-long delays. While some liberal-oriented groups were singled out for scrutiny, evidence shows it was due to non-political reasons,” according to the Oversight staff report, which was obtained by The Daily Caller.

“[T]he Administration and congressional Democrats have seized upon the notion that the IRS’s targeting was not just limited to conservative applicants,” the report states. “These Democratic claims are flat-out wrong and have no basis in any thorough examination of the facts. Yet, the Administration’s chief defenders continue to make these assertions in a concerted effort to deflect and distract from the truth about the IRS’s targeting of tax-exempt applicants.”

“[T]here is simply no evidence that any liberal or progressive group received enhanced scrutiny because its application reflected the organization’s political views,” the report stated.

Oh and just in case you were wondering, today is Day 333 of the IRS scandal. Bet you didn’t hear that from the MSM, CNN, MSNBC or the Boulder Daily Camera.

Marijuana black market still thrives in Colorado, where pot is legal – Washington Times.

“[Legalization] has done nothing more than enhance the opportunity for the black market,” said Lt. Mark Comte of the Colorado Springs police vice and narcotics unit, in The Associated Press. “If you can get it tax-free on the corner, you’re going to get it on the corner.”

The article goes on to debate if this is the case or not. Time will tell… and probably not much more time is needed.

No worries, government has all the answers. Government Knew about GM Ignition Issue – News – Road & Track.

Perhaps, then, the answer to America’s latest auto safety crisis does not lie in simply throwing more money at the NHTSA, which clearly needs a better monitoring mandate before it can even hope to efficiently spend more tax money protecting consumers. In fact, the answer may not lie in regulation at all, but in a strong criminal law enforcement regime that targets the individuals responsible for defects that lead to injury and death. By creating new criminal penalties for auto safety malfeasance, along with strong incentives for whistleblowing, lawmakers could force individual employees to hold their companies responsible for design defects—or face the consequences. After all, the problem at GM seems to have stemmed from a lack of individual responsibility within a broader deficit in corporate responsibility.

The first line of responsibility for the public’s safety lies with the engineers and executives who design and build the cars … just as individual motorists are the first line in terms of their personal safety. Only when they individually face penalties that are nearly as harsh as those consumers face at the hands of their defects will they truly take safety as seriously as we do.

Ethics and responsibility.