It's Memorial Day weekend

Mark Alexander at Patriot Post has a beautiful tribute to our fallen heroes.  Here’s a paragraph:

Fellow Patriots, on Memorial Day, we honor those who have died in the service of our nation’s Armed Services — those who have abided by their solemn oaths “to support and defend” the American Liberty too many take for granted. Memorial Day provides a stark contrast between the best of our nation’s selfless Patriot sons and daughters versus the worst of our nation’s selfish culture and consumerism. Astoundingly, some businesses disgracefully promote a “Memorial Day Sale.” But Memorial Day is NOT for sale — 1,354,664 Patriots have already paid the full price.

Read the rest here.  Cartoon by Gary Varvel at Liberty Loft. 

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Million MAGA March For Trump: A Report from DC

photograph at American Mind

Last Saturday, the Million MAGA March For Trump drew hundreds of thousands of Americans to DC.  A report was published at the American Mind blogsite.  Our household was not able to attend, but this report by Mrs. Chris Flannery brought back vivid memories of our trip in 2009 for the Taxpayer March on DC.  Same sense of shared experiences and love of country.  It was orderly, patriotic, and fun.  Here’s a short extract.

Everyone was cheerful: smiling, laughing, and nodding to each other, giving one another thumbs up. All walks of life. All Americans that love their country. Hats were taken off and hands placed on hearts for the Pledge of Allegiance followed by the National Anthem. On the periphery some bad actors were always lurking (largely restrained by police presence), but here in Freedom Plaza the growing thousands became carefree, children ran and played, the elderly were given seats to rest, and everyone did his best to make those around him feel at home. All kinds of people from all over the country were gathered for what resembled a community Independence Day celebration. Maybe most striking, next to the shared love of country, was how kind, polite, and respectful the crowd of (what I am sure became I don’t know how many) hundreds of thousands was—all day long. “Excuse me.” “Pardon me.” “Mam, you dropped this.” “Please, go ahead.” “Can I help you with that?” “I see you are a veteran; thank you for serving our country.” 

Read the full report here.  I wish we could have been there.

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Super Bowl, competition, and politics

Ira Stoll's "Patriots Ignite Political Debate On Success" at The NY Sun on the Super Bowl:

American politics at the moment can pretty much be explained by what you make of the record sixth Super Bowl victory by New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, coach Bill Belichick, and owner Robert Kraft.

One view of it is to marvel at, and celebrate, the hard work, risk-taking, and skill that produced the achievement. That’s the more conservative view of it.

Another is to complain about it and wish the winning were more evenly distributed. That’s the more left-leaning view of it. . . .

There is more with which to agree and disagree here.

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IRS “apologizes” for targeting Tea Party and liberty groups

cartoon credit: Christopher Weyant [The Hill] via Pinterest

  

The media is reporting that the lawsuits filed against the IRS by various Tea Party and liberty organizations have been settled. This extract is from the report in The Washington Post: 

The Justice Department has reached settlement agreements with groups that alleged their constitutional rights were violated when their applications for tax-exempt status received extra scrutiny because their names contained words such as “tea party” or “patriots,” court filings show.

In one agreement, which still must be approved by a judge, the Internal Revenue Service admitted that its treatment of the organizations was “wrong” and expressed a “sincere apology” for what happened.

. . .

The targeting of tea party organizations that applied for tax-exempt status was a major controversy of the Obama administration, as hundreds of conservative-leaning groups received scrutiny. In some cases, it delayed the processing of applications for years.

Many felt the conduct was an example of the president punishing his political enemies.

. . .

The Justice Department, too, conducted a criminal investigation but ultimately decided not to bring charges, including against Lois Lerner, the IRS official who oversaw tax-exempt groups.

“Our investigation uncovered substantial evidence of mismanagement, poor judgment and institutional inertia, leading to the belief by many tax-exempt applicants that the IRS targeted them based on their political viewpoints,” Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs Peter J. Kadzik wrote in 2015.

“But poor management is not a crime,” Kadzik wrote. “We found no evidence that any IRS official acted on political, discriminatory, corrupt, or other inappropriate motives that would support a criminal prosecution.”

"Poor management"? Weaponizing the IRS is “poor management”? And of course, nobody is going to jail, losing their job, or losing their pension. Read the rest of the WaPo story here. There’s also a report at cleveland.com.

UPDATE at 6:21pm from Rick Moran at American Thinker blog:

The settlement, as unsatisfactory to many as it is, at least closes the book on this sordid chapter in the history of the IRS.  Will it curtail the IRS from using politics to enforce tax law again?  Since no one was punished after this blatant example of political use of the tax agency, I doubt it.

Full blog post is here.

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