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Obama's Corruption Chronicles:

Military Intel Confirms JW Reporting: Muslim Terrorists Entering U.S. Via Mexico
AUGUST 25, 2016

Corroborating what Judicial Watch uncovered years ago, a U.S. military intelligence report discloses that Muslim terrorists are being smuggled into the country through Mexico. The government calls them Special Interest Aliens (SIA) and Latin American smuggling networks are helping them cross the border, according to information obtained from a U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) Intelligence dispatch.

Located in Miami, Florida SOUTHCOM is one of nine unified combat commands in the Department of Defense (DOD). It’s responsible for providing contingency planning operations and security cooperation in Central and South America as well as the Caribbean. The internal assessment on SIA smuggling has not been made public, but a conservative Washington D.C. online newspaper obtained key points from the command’s J-2 intelligence directorate. A SOUTHCOM Army colonel told the paper that in 2015 more than 30,000 migrants who entered the U.S. through the southwestern border were from countries of “terrorist concern.”

The new SOUTHCOM report specifically mentions Sunni extremists, the news article states. The terrorists are using a known alien smuggling network in Latin America to reach the U.S. but the network has not been identified by military officials. “Networks that specialize in smuggling individuals from regions of terrorist concern, mainly from the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, the Middle East, and East Africa, are indeed a concern for SOUTHCOM and other interagency security partners who support our country’s national security,” a SOUTHCOM Army Colonel, Lisa A. Garcia, says in the story. “There are major hubs that serve as entry points into the region for migrants from those areas of concern attempting to enter the U.S. along our border with Mexico.”

Judicial Watch has reported for years on the critical national security threats created on the southern border by Islamic terrorists teaming up with Mexican drug cartels to infiltrate and attack the U.S. As part of an ongoing investigation Judicial Watch has interviewed local, state and federal law enforcement officials as well as military sources on both sides of the border. Our reporting confirmed that ISIS has a training cell just a few miles from El Paso, Texas in an area known as “Anapra” situated just west of Ciudad Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. We also verified that Mexican drug cartels are smuggling foreigners from countries with terrorist links to stash areas in a rural Texas town called Acala. Once in the U.S., the SIAs wait for pick-up in the area’s sand hills just across a state road several dozen miles from El Paso.

Earlier this year Judicial Watch uncovered State Department records confirming that “Arab extremists” are entering the U.S. through Mexico with the assistance of smuggling network “cells.” Among them is a top Al Qaeda operative wanted by the FBI. The government documents also reveal that some Mexican smuggling networks actually specialize in providing logistical support for Arab individuals attempting to enter the United States. The top Al Qaeda leader in Mexico was identified in the State Department records, via a September 2004 cable from the American consulate in Ciudad Juárez, as Adnan G. El Shurkrjumah. In December, 2014 Shukrijumah was killed by the Pakistan Army in an intelligence-borne operation in South Waziristan. But before he died Shukrijumah helped plan several U.S. attacks, including plots to bomb Oprah Winfrey’s studio and detonate nuclear devices in multiple American cities. For years Shukrijumah appeared on the FBI’s most wanted list and, despite being sought by the agency, he crossed back and forth into the U.S. from Mexico to meet fellow militant Islamists in Texas. Back in 2014 Judicial Watch reported that, as one of the world’s most wanted terrorists, Shukrijumah piloted an aircraft into the Cielo Dorado airfield in Anthony, New Mexico.

In 2014 Judicial Watch also exposed a plot by Islamic terrorist groups operating in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juárez. Judicial Watch’s high-level law enforcement and intelligence sources specifically identified ISIS in the plot and confirmed that a warning bulletin for an imminent terrorist attack on the border had been issued. Agents across a number of Homeland Security, Justice and Defense agencies were placed on alert and Ft. Bliss, the U.S. Army post in El Paso, increased security measures. Military experts contacted by Judicial Watch said the increased security at a key Army base near the Mexican border indicates the facility was a target. Military installations in the U.S. only make changes to security measures when there are clear and present threats, according to the senior military officials.
 
Leftist Latino Group Crowns USDA “Federal Agency of the Year” for Cultural Transformation
AUGUST 26, 2016

A key government agency with a $148 billion budget has been honored by a radical leftist Latino group for undergoing a “cultural transformation” that includes a “remarkable increase” in workforce diversity and spending huge sums of taxpayer dollars to correct past mistakes against minorities. Under Obama the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has shattered records for spending mammoth amounts to give an unprecedented number of people—including illegal aliens—food stamps, make fresh fruits and vegetables available in inner-city “food deserts” and expand farm loans for underserved communities.

The agency has also conducted a minority cash giveaway for “discriminated” farmers that initially targeted blacks but then expanded dramatically to benefit Hispanics. The idea behind that was to make amends to those who suffered discrimination when seeking farm loans from the USDA. Black farmers got a $1.25 billion settlement and women and Hispanics received $195 million “to ensure inclusivity for all who seek justice.” All Hispanics who felt they were victims of USDA discrimination got up to $50,000 for their suffering after filling out a form. To get the word out the feds launched a costly bilingual advertising and public relations campaign that included national outreach tours by top USDA official as well as Justice Department brass. The agency also hired a controversial diversity trainer to make it more Latino friendly and spent millions of dollars to prepare “underserved” Hispanic students to someday work for it.

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack brags that the agency’s “cultural transformation” has seen a remarkable increase in the diversity of people working in it. “Since 2009 we have transformed the culture within USDA to ensure employees are met with support, sensitivity and care they need to thrive,” the agency’s website states. Vilsack claims when he took over the USDA it had a “reputation marred by decades of systematic discrimination.” That’s why he made it his mission to change the culture and root out exclusivity. The result is a new era of civil rights at USDA. “To level the playing field and make sure every American has a chance to succeed regardless of race, gender or sexual identity, ethnicity or zip code, we created new bridges to economic opportunity to help make the American dream a reality.”

The overhaul earned the accolades of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), an open borders group that proudly celebrates its socialist mission of all for one and one for all. LULAC actually crowned the USDA “federal agency of the year.” To get a clearer idea of LULAC’s radical agenda back in the 1990s one its officials accused a Mexican fast-food eatery of a hate crime for using a Chihuahua in a commercial. LULAC claimed that “Mexican Americans are treated like dogs, they have to work like dogs, and now they’re being portrayed as dogs.” Nevertheless, Obama’s first attorney general, Eric Holder, professed solidarity with LULAC and publicly chanted the group’s socialist mission statement—in both English and Spanish—at a LULAC powwow in which he bragged about the DOJ filing more civil rights cases than in any previous period in the nation’s history.

Vilsack is just as enamored with LULAC and refers to the award as an honor. “While it’s always encouraging to receive praise on behalf of the Department, I am exceptionally proud of this award in recognition of the hardworking people at USDA and the improvements we’ve made since the start of the Obama Administration,” Vilsack said. “Together, we have come a long way.” Vilsack received the award at LULAC’s annual convention in Washington D.C. Former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, a self-described socialist, also attended. A LULAC statement quotes Vilsack saying this: “USDA has made access to opportunity a top priority, bringing more Hispanic-Americans to the agricultural sector than ever before. Since 2009, USDA has significantly expanded access to farm and business loans for underserved and minority business owners, more than doubling the credit opportunities available to socially disadvantaged Americans. USDA is committed to building a culture of inclusivity and accessibility.”
 
Mexican Drugs Enter U.S. at Record Rates, Western States “Heroin Transit Zone”
AUGUST 30, 2016

The Obama administration’s failure to protect the southern border has allowed Mexican cartels to smuggle record amounts of drugs into the United States, especially heroin, which is increasingly popular in the U.S. Once the drugs get smuggled north Mexican traffickers use street, prison and outlaw motorcycle gangs to distribute them throughout the country much like a legitimate business enterprise.This has been going on for years and there seems to be no end in sight, according to a disturbing new report published by the Congressional Research Service (CRS), the nonpartisan agency that provides Congress with policy and legal analysis. “Mexican transnational criminal organizations are the major suppliers and key producers of most illegal drugs smuggled into the United States,” the CRS states in its new report. “They have been increasing their share of the U.S. drug market—particularly with respect to heroin.” The bulk of the heroin smuggled into the United States transits across the Southwest border, the CRS writes, revealing that “from 2010 to 2015 heroin seizures in this area more than doubled from 1,016 kg to 2,524 kg.”

The trend mirrors the increase in overall seizures throughout the U.S., the CRS figures show. For instance, federal arrests and prosecutions of heroin traffickers have skyrocketed with 6,353 heroin-related arrests in 2015. Additionally, the number of individuals sentenced for heroin trafficking offenses in federal courts has increased by almost 50%, the report says. There are at least eight major Mexican drug trafficking organizations operating in the United States with the Sinaloa Cartel being the most active, the CRS reveals. “Mexican transnational criminal organizations (MTCOs) remain the greatest criminal drug threat to the United States; no other group can challenge them in the near term.” They operate sophisticated enterprises, using nearly 100 U.S. gangs in their cross-border crimes, government figures show.

Because the Mexican cartels move their drugs through the Southwest border, western states have become part of what’s known as the “heroin transit zone,” the CRS report says. “In addition, as the Mexican traffickers take on a larger role in the U.S. heroin market, and expand their operations to the East Coast, authorities have seen black tar heroin emerge in the Northeastern United States, where it had rarely been seen,” the report states. Large quantities of a synthetic opioid known as Fentanyl are also entering the U.S. primarily via the Mexican border, though the drug also comes from China. Fentanyl is 25-40 times more potent than heroin and 50-100 times more potent than morphine.

Undoubtedly, there’s an epidemic of drug abuse in the U.S. but cutting off the source would obviously improve the crisis. This may seem like common sense, but the CRS gently reminds legislators to consider it. “Policymakers may examine U.S. efforts to combat heroin trafficking as a means of combatting opioid abuse in the United States,” the CRS writes in its report. “Policymakers may also look at existing federal strategies on drug control, transnational crime, and Southwest border crime to evaluate whether they are able to target the current heroin trafficking threat.” Among the common-sense suggestions listed in the document is “securing U.S. borders.” It comes from the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), which has made disrupting drug trafficking and production a priority.

The impact of Mexican drug cartels has been well documented for some time in a number of government audits, even as the Obama administration insists the southern border is secure. Less than a year ago the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued a report confirming that the majority of illegal drugs in the United States come from Mexico and Mexican traffickers remain the greatest criminal threat to the United States. They’re classified as Transitional Criminal Organizations (TCOs) by the government and for years they’ve smuggled in enormous quantities of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana.
 
Droves of African Migrants in Mexico Awaiting U.S. Asylum Under Secret Pact
SEPTEMBER 01, 2016

Herds of African immigrants are being housed in shelters in the Mexican border town of Tijuana while they await entry into the United States under what appears to be a secret accord between the Obama administration, Mexico and the Central American countries the Africans transited on their journey north. A backlog of African migrants is overwhelming limited shelter space in Tijuana and Mexican officials blame the slow pace of U.S. immigration authorities in the San Isidro port of entry for granting only 50 asylum solicitations daily.

Details about this disturbing program come from Mexico’s immigration agency, Instituto Nacional de Migracion (INM), and appear this week in an article published by the country’s largest newspaper. “Mexico is living through a wave of undocumented Africans, due to a humanitarian crisis on that continent, that has saturated shelters in Tapachula, Chiapas, and generated pressure on shelters in Tijuana, Baja California,” the news article states. The African migrants’ journey begins in Brazil under a South American policy that allows the “free transit” of immigrants throughout the continent. Ecuador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama facilitate the process by transferring the concentration of foreigners towards Mexico based on an agreement that Mexico will help them gain entry into the U.S. so they can solicit asylum.

The Africans are mostly entering Mexico through the southern state of Chiapas, which borders Guatemala. This week alone 424 Africans arrived at the Chiapas immigration station, which is situated in Tapachula. Shelters in Tijuana currently have 154 migrants from African countries waiting on their U.S. asylum solicitations, according to figures provided by the INM. “The undocumented don’t want to stay in Mexico,” the news article clarifies. “They want to make it to U.S. territory to solicit asylum based on the life conditions that prevail in the continent.” Authorities in Tijuana are offering support to migrants from El Congo, Somalia, Ghana and Pakistan to facilitate entering the U.S. through the San Isidro crossing, according to the news story. San Isidro is the largest land border crossing between San Diego, California and Tijuana.

The Obama administration has done a great job of promoting its various back-door amnesty programs, which include perpetually extending a humanitarian measure designed to temporarily shield illegal immigrants from deportation during emergencies. It’s known as Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and in the last few years migrants from several African countries have received it so the new influx is not all surprising. Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone got TPS back in 2014 over the lingering effects of the Ebola Virus and earlier this year Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson extended it. The administration cited the “continued recovery challenges” the African countries face for the extension.

Last summer Johnson extended a TPS for Somalians until March 17, 2017, which could have served as a driving force behind the sudden surge via Latin America. A notice in the Federal Register says the extension was warranted because the conditions in Somalia that prompted the TPS designation continue to be met. “There continues to be a substantial, but temporary, disruption of living conditions in Somalia due to ongoing armed conflict that would pose a serious threat to the personal safety of returning Somali nationals, as well as extraordinary and temporary conditions in the country that prevent Somali nationals from returning to Somalia in safety,” the notice states. “The Secretary has also determined that permitting eligible Somali nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is not contrary to the national interest of the United States.”
 
NO PROBLEM SHOWING HIS TRUE COLORS NOW...

Obama Nominates Possible First Muslim-American Judge to Federal Court...

Muslim-American groups are applauding President Barack Obama's nomination of a Washington lawyer to serve in U.S. District Court — a move that could make him the first ever Muslim-American federal judge, according to advocates.

If confirmed, Abid Riaz Qureshi would sit on the District of Columbia's federal bench, the White House announced Tuesday. Qureshi, who graduated Harvard Law School in 1997, is a partner in the D.C. office of Latham & Watkins LLP, specializing in healthcare fraud, securities violations, and cases involving the False Claims Act, according to a White House statement.

"I am confident he will serve the American people with integrity and a steadfast commitment to justice," Obama said.

Muslim-American organizations hailed the historic announcement.

"The nomination of Abid Qureshi to fill a seat on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia sends a message of inclusion that is welcomed by the American Muslim community and by all Americans who value diversity and mutual respect at a time when some seek division and discord," Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil rights group, said in a statement.

While Muslim Americans have filled roles as state judges, none have served at the federal trial or appellate levels, according to Muslim Advocates, a national legal advocacy organization.

"A judiciary that reflects the rich diversity of our nation helps ensure the fair and just administration of the law, and it is vital for American Muslims to be included," Farhana Khera, former counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and executive director of Muslim Advocates, said in a statement. "Mr. Qureshi's profound commitment to the rule of law and justice for people of all backgrounds makes him an exceptional nominee."

News of Qureshi's nomination comes amid a heated presidential race in which Muslims have found themselves the subject of much debate, including GOP nominee Donald Trump's proposal of a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country.

With a few months left before Obama's term ends, it remains unclear whether Quershi's nomination will make it out of Congress. Quershi did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News Wednesday morning.
 
U.S. Spends Another $10 Mil to Register New Immigrant Voters
SEPTEMBER 06, 2016

Months after the Obama administration spent $19 million to register new immigrant voters that will likely support Democrats in November, it’s dedicating an additional $10 million in a final push as the presidential election approaches. The money is distributed by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the Homeland Security agency that oversees lawful immigration, to organizations that help enhance pathways to naturalization by offering immigrants free citizenship instruction, English, U.S. history and civics courses. Officially, they’re known as “citizenship integration grants.”

Since 2009 USCIS has doled out $63 million in these grants to prepare more than 156,000 resident immigrants in dozens of states for U.S. citizenship, according to the agency’s figures. Besides the free classes, Uncle Sam also offers immigrants free “naturalization legal services,” the latest USCIS grant announcement states. “Recipient organizations serve both traditional immigrant destinations and new immigrant getaway cities in 21 states,” the USCIS document reads.
The latest $10 million investment will prepare approximately 25,000 residents from more than 50 countries, according to the agency. More than a dozen states—including California, New York, Florida, Washington and Ohio—with large resident immigrant populations are being targeted as well as cities with huge immigrant populations such as Miami, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington D.C.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been aggressive in promoting its citizen integration grant program this year, offering large sums to recruit new groups that can offer immigrants the services they need to become citizens. Clearly, the ultimate goal is qualifying as many immigrants as possible to vote since they tend to cast ballots for Democrats. “We intend to award about $1 million to first-time recipients in the Citizenship and Integration Grant Program for fiscal year 2016,” the agency’s grant announcement states. “If you represent one of these organizations, or know of an interested organization, we strongly encourage that organization to consider applying. Additionally, another $9 million will fund programs that provide both citizenship instruction and instruction and naturalization application services.”

Some might consider this a cash giveaway.

This is part of a broader, government-wide initiative launched by the president to “strengthen federal immigrant and refugee integration infrastructure.” The mission is to facilitate life in the U.S. for immigrants and refugees by enhancing pathways to naturalization, building welcoming communities and providing “mobile immigration services in underserved communities.” To carry out this important mission Obama created a special Task Force on New Americans chaired by his Domestic Policy Director, Cecilia Muñoz, the former vice president of the powerful open borders group National Council of La Raza (NCLR).

Millions of taxpayer dollars have funded the task force’s various enterprises, including multilingual media campaigns promoting immigrant rights. The goal is to “strengthen civic, economic and linguistic integration and to build strong and welcoming communities,” according to a report issued by the task force. In the end communities will be strengthened by welcoming all residents, the administration assures.

Practically every federal agency is participating in the effort by contributing resources and creating programs to help immigrants. For example the Department of Labor (DOL) is implementing “new workforce programs” for the “new Americans” and the Department of Education is promoting “funding opportunities” to assure that the immigrants “are provided the tools they need to succeed.”

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is collaborating with other agencies to release a career and credentialing toolkit on “immigrant-focused career-pathways programs.” The Department of Justice (DOJ) and USCIS are making sure the new Americans have worker rights and protections and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is launching a two-year pilot to assure that non English speakers have “meaningful access to housing programs” subsidized by American taxpayers.
 
Records Show Obama Hired Behavioral Experts to Expand Use of Govt. Programs
SEPTEMBER 09, 2016

The Obama administration quietly hired 20 social and behavioral research experts to help expand the use of government programs at dozens of agencies by, among other things, simplifying federal forms, according to records obtained by Judicial Watch. The controversial group of experts is collectively known as the Social and Behavioral Sciences Team (SBST) and it functions under the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).

In 2015 Obama signed an executive order directing federal agencies to use behavioral science to sell their programs to the public, the records obtained by Judicial Watch reveal. By then the government had contracted “20 leading social and behavioral research experts” that at that point had already been involved in “more than 75 agency collaborations,” the records state. A memo sent from SBST chair Maya Shankar, a neuroscientist, to OSTP Director John Holdren offers agencies guidance and information about available government support for using behavioral insights to improve federal forms. Sent electronically, the memo is titled “Behavioral Science Insights and Federal Forms.”

The records, obtained from the OSTP under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), also include a delivery by Holdren in which he insists that the social and behavioral sciences “are real science, with immensely valuable practical applications—the views of a few members of Congress to the contrary notwithstanding—and that these sciences abundantly warrant continuing support in the Federal science and technology budget.” Holdren, a Stanford and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate is a peculiar character who worked as an environmental professor at Harvard and the University of California Berkeley before becoming Obama’s science advisor. In the late 70s he co-authored a book with doomsayer Paul Ehrlich advocating for mandatory sterilization of the American people and forced abortions in order to depopulate the country. A head of the OSTP Holdren technically oversees the SBST.

Information about this absurd behavioral team remains sketchy because the administration, which claims to be the most transparent in history, withheld nearly 100 pages of records that could have shed light on the taxpayer-funded group’s secret operations. The Obama administration cited an exemption—officially known as B5—that applies to deliberative process, which allows government officials to discuss policy without the discussions being made public, or attorney client privilege. In this case it appears that the administration used the deliberative process exemption to withhold the records since it’s unlikely that attorney client privilege applies. B5 is the most abused of the FOIA exemptions and is regularly used to hide material that may embarrass the government.

That appears to be the case in this instance, though we’ll never know for certain because it’s unlikely the SBST records will ever be released since it’s very difficult to challenge B5 exemptions. Americans should be concerned that the government is employing behavioral experts to use psychological techniques in order to manipulate the behavior of its citizens. This makes it all the more imperative that the discussions between these government officials be exposed to the public and not shielded through a specious claim of “deliberative process.”

In its first annual report to the president last year, the SBST writes that it works to identify how behavioral insights can be integrated into federal agency programs in order to help agencies achieve their missions and objectives. This, it claims, will better serve the nation. The new group’s projects “are designed to address only the behavioral barriers that affect how people engage with programs,” the report says. It includes a list of federal agencies that have worked with SBST to coordinate the application of social and behavioral research to “advance policy and program goals.” They include the departments of Agriculture, Defense, Education, Treasury, Justice and Labor as well as the Social Security Administration and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). “When behavioral insights—research findings from behavioral economics and psychology about how people make decisions and act on them—are brought into policy, the returns are significant,” according to the SBST report.
 
Democratic Senator Sought Justice Department and IRS Criminal Prosecutions of Conservatives in 2013
SEPTEMBER 13, 2016

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch today released 72 pages of Department of Justice documents revealing email conversations between Department of Justice officials and the staff of Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) regarding the criminal prosecution of Tea Party groups for alleged violation of IRS rules.
The conversations were in preparation for a briefing by Justice Department officials for Sen. Whitehouse’s staff and for a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism hearing on April 9, 2013. One internal agency email exchange indicates Sen. Whitehouse’s interest in seeking criminal prosecution of groups targeted by the IRS:

From: Erb, William (OLA)
Sent: Monday, April 08, 2013 4:54 PM
To: Raman, Mythill (CRM) [REDACTED] (CRM);Wroblewski, Jonathan (CRM); Hulser, Raymond (CRM); Smith, Jack (CRM); Burton, Faith (OLA); Levine, Doug (OLA); Suleiman, Daniel (CRM); Lenerz, Daniel J. (CRM); Shatz, Eileen M. (TAX); OBrien, Paul (CRM); [REDACTED] (CRM); [REDACTED] (CRM); Cimino, Ronald A. (TAX)
Cc: Buretta, John (CRM): Agrast, Mark D. (OLA); [REDACTED] (CRM)

Subject: RE: New Whitehouse question regarding Campaign Finance Investigation and Prosecution

Importance: High

All: New question from Sen. Whitehouse. Sen. Whitehouse is likely to ask AAAG Raman whether the Department of Justice is too deferential to IRS in deciding to prosecute 501(c) organizations that make false statements regarding their political activities in their IRS filings. Sen. Whitehouse is curious why, for example. if a 501(c) tax organization files were leaked, and they clearly showed that make false statements, why the Department of Justice wouldn’t prosecute the case by itself and not wait for the IRS. Looping in the Tax Division who also can help CRIM come up with a quick response. Thanks, Bill.

Judicial Watch obtained the documents through a federal court order in a Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit (Judicial Watch v Department of Justice(No. 1:14-cv-01239)).

Later, at the Judiciary Subcommittee hearing, Sen. Whitehouse asked why the Department of Justice wasn’t prosecuting political groups on its own, independently of the IRS.

“I would urge that the Department and the Service get together and rethink whether in these two specific areas, which I think bear little resemblance to traditional tax violations and are in fact very plain-vanilla criminal cases, whether or not that deference to the IRS is actually serving the public interest at this point, or whether the Department could not proceed to… put together a criminal case showing a fairly straightforward false statement or a fairly [straightforward] shell corporation disclosure violation.”

The newly released emails show that following the hearing, at the request of Justice Department lawyers, Sen. Whitehouse’s staff sent over examples of the organizations Whitehouse had in mind for prosecution. They included American Future Fund, Crossroads GPS, Americans for Responsible Leadership, Freedom Path, American is Not Stupid, Inc., RightChange.com II, and A Better America Now. All of these are conservative organizations.

The new emails also show collaboration in the Department of Justice with officials in the IRS in preparing for the hearing. The IRS sent a draft of its planned testimony for the hearing to the Justice Department. Judicial Watch previously exposed a plan by the Obama IRS and Justice Department prosecutors to pursue criminal charges against the very Tea Party and anti-Obama groups that the IRS was targeting.

The Obama administration prosecution effort seemingly ended with the exposure of the IRS targeting in a May 2013 report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). IRS official Lois Lerner did not reveal the targeting until just before the report’s release, in response to a planted question at an American Bar Association conference.

“The Obama IRS scandal includes abuse of power by Democrats in Congress who wanted to jail Obama’s political opponents to help secure Obama’s reelection,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “And Americans should know that the courts have recently concluded the Obama IRS abuses haven’t stopped – even as we approach another presidential election.”

A 2013 study by scholars from the American Enterprise Institute and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University found that, “had the Tea Party groups continued to grow at the pace seen in 2009 and 2010, and had their effect on the 2012 vote been similar to that seen in 2010, they would have brought the Republican Party as many as 5 – 8.5 million votes compared to Obama’s victory margin of 5 million.

In March 2010, the IRS decided to single Tea Party groups out for special treatment when applying for tax-exempt status by flagging organizations with names containing “Tea Party,” “patriot,” or “9/12.” For the next two years, the IRS approved the applications of only four such groups, delaying all others while subjecting the applicants to highly intrusive, intimidating requests for information regarding their activities, membership, contacts, Facebook posts, and private thoughts.
 
White House plans to accept at least 110,000 refugees in 2017

IS this damn liberal nuts or what...!?

The Obama administration plans to accept at least 110,000 refugees from around the world in fiscal year 2017.

Secretary of State John F. Kerry briefed lawmakers Tuesday on the new goal, which is an increase from 85,000 in fiscal year 2016, and 70,000 in the previous three years. It represents a 57 percent increase in refugee arrivals since 2015, as ongoing conflicts in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere have spurred an exodus of migrants seeking asylum in Europe, Canada and other regions.

A senior administration official, who asked for anonymity because the policy is not yet officially announced, "is consistent with our belief that all countries should do more to help the world's most vulnerable people."

The official added that Kerry told lawmakers "that if it is possible to do more" in terms of accepting refugees, "we would."

The increase comes even as the question of refugees has emerged as an issue in this year's presidential campaign. GOP nominee Donald Trump initially called for a halt to Muslims seeking to entering the United States, and later modified this goal to say the ban should apply to any applicants coming from a country with a history of terrorism. Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has called for the United States to accept more refugees from Syria, which has been embroiled in conflict for more than five years.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) criticized the decision, saying policymakers should focus on reforming the nation's system for admitting refugees rather than having the White House alter it on its own.

"For generations, the United States has been a safe haven for people fleeing persecution. We must remain compassionate toward refugees but we also need to make sure that we use commonsense," Goodlatte said in a statement. "Unfortunately, President Obama unilaterally increases the number of refugees resettled in the United States each year and gives little thought as to how it will impact local communities. The president also continues to ignore warnings from his own national security officials and plans to bring in even more Syrian refugees over the next year."

CNN first reported the new refugee goal Wednesday morning.

The administration has launched a new effort to reach a political solution to the Syrian conflict by brokering a still-fragile cease-fire with Russia that took effect Monday.

 
John A. said:
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/america-to-hand-off-internet-in-under-two-months/article/2599521

America to hand off the internet in less than 2 months

The Department of Commerce is set to hand off the final vestiges of American control over the Internet to international authorities in less than two months, officials have confirmed.

The department will finalize the transition effective Oct. 1, Assistant Secretary Lawrence Strickling wrote on Tuesday, barring what he called "any significant impediment."

The move means the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, which is responsible for interpreting numerical addresses on the Web to a readable language, will move from U.S. control to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a multistakeholder body based in Los Angeles that includes countries such as China and Russia.

Critics of the move, most prominently Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, have pointed out the agency could be used by totalitarian governments to shut down the Web around the globe, either in whole or in part.

The proposal will significantly increase the power of foreign governments over the Internet, expand ICANN's historical core mission by creating a gateway to content regulation, and embolden [its] leadership to act without any real accountability," Cruz wrote in a letter sent to Commerce and signed by two fellow Republicans, Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma and Sen. Mike Lee of Utah.

In the event any facilities are relocated to China, senators noted, they could go in the same building as the agency responsible for censoring that country's Internet. "We have uncovered that ICANN's Beijing office is actually located within the same building as the Cyberspace Administration of China, which is the central agency within the Chinese government's censorship regime," they wrote, noting that some of the American companies involved with the transition process have already "shown a willingness to acquiesce" to Chinese demands to aid with censorship.

"While this is certainly not illegal, it does raise significant concerns as to the increased influence that governments … as well as the culture of cronyism," they added.

Related story:
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2591826

Senators warn against plan to let China, Iran in on Internet governance

The Obama administration's plan to hand off control of an agency responsible for administering critical functions of the Internet is likely to result in human rights abuses by countries like Iran and China, senators are warning.

The administration has been working for several years to hand authority over the body that controls Internet domain naming function, which interprets code into words, off to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, an international agency based in California. It has met with delays in the face of congressional objections, but hopes to finish the transfer before President Obama leaves office. Senators warned against that move in a letter addressed to Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker on Thursday.

"The proposal will significantly increase the power of foreign governments over the Internet, expand ICANN's historical core mission by creating a gateway to content regulation, and embolden [its] leadership to act without any real accountability," said the letter, which was signed by Republican senators Ted Cruz of Texas, James Lankford of Oklahoma, and Mike Lee of Utah.

They pointed out that Iran had already voiced support for moving the physical regulatory facilities outside of the U.S. once the deal is inked, and that representatives from Argentina and Brazil said they were ready to back that move. In the event anything is relocated to China, senators suggested, it could go in the same building as the agency responsible for censoring that country's Internet.

"We have uncovered that ICANN's Beijing office is actually located within the same building as the Cyberspace Administration of China, which is the central agency within the Chinese government's censorship regime," the trio wrote, noting that some of the American companies involved with the transition process had already "shown a willingness to acquiesce" to Chinese demands that they assist with blocking content in the country.

"While this is certainly not illegal, it does raise significant concerns as to the increased influence that governments … as well as the culture of cronyism," they added.

ICANN voted to finalize the transition plan during a March meeting in Morocco. The next step is for officials at the U.S. Commerce Department to approve the plan, a process that is expected to conclude within the next month.
Click to expand...

Absolutely nothing positive will come from this.
 
Obama is so set on "Globalization"...he can't see past his own agenda !!

The hand off of control over the Internet will surely be problematic...at best !!
 
I am going to put this here because Obama is not only allowing this, but encouraging it.
--------------------------------------------

Twice Arrested Illegal Alien Kills Sheriff’s Deputy In DUI

A twice-arrested illegal immigrant killed a Kansas sheriff’s deputy on Sunday, a source with knowledge of the case told The Daily Caller.

Adrian Espinosa-Flores, 38, was charged Monday with involuntary manslaughter after he allegedly was driving drunk and crashed his pickup truck into a patrol car stopped on the side of the road. The crash killed Johnson County (Kansas) Sheriff’s Department Master Deputy Brandon Collins, 45.

The Kansas City Star reported Tuesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement had placed an immigration detainer on Espinosa-Flores. Immigration detainers request that an individual be transferred to ICE custody, detainers are written for immigration violations but not necessarily for being in the country illegally.

A source at the Johnson County Sheriff’s Department with knowledge of the investigation told TheDC that the detainer was because Espinosa-Flores is in the United States illegally. The Johnson County District Attorney’s Office told The Daily Caller they couldn’t comment on the detainer as the investigation is on going.


Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2016/09/16/exclusive-twice-arrested-illegal-alien-kills-sheriffs-deputy-in-dui/#ixzz4KZBFwKv8
 
Chalk up yet another senseless death for illegal immigration...and the liberal agenda under Obama, Kerry, & Clinton.
 
This is diversity in action:

"Vang last appeared in court in 1998, on charges related to the abduction, forced confinement and rape of three girls aged between 12 and 14. The girls were taken to a Motel 6 motel and held for two days, forced to have sex with multiple men and boys. Vang was then 22 and a member of a Hmong gang known as the Mongolian Boys Society."

http://abc30.com/news/suspect-in-fr...ing-was-convicted-for-1998-gang-rape/1497802/

We had two local officers shot in the head by this paroled gang child-rapist.
37 year old Thong Vang was released after 16 years, and was evidently a model paroled gang child-rapist right up to the time he stepped into the jail and started spraying bullets.

Now I don't know what idiots would EVER parole a gang child-rapist in ANY circumstances WHATSOEVER.

But I'll bet the ones who paroled this scumbag aren't feeling the love!

This guy was supposed to be deported, but no country will take him, and Obama won't press these issues, so instead of locking Vang up again they let him go right here in town where he committed the original crime.
 
Days Before 9/11 DHS Secretary Tells Radical Muslim Group Islam is Religion of Peace, ISIS Isn’t Islamic
SEPTEMBER 13, 2016

HAVE ANOTHER DRINK OF KOOL-AID JEH !!

Days before the anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history Obama’s Homeland Security secretary became the highest ranking government official—and first sitting cabinet member—to highlight a convention held annually by a radical Muslim group with extremist origins. The Indiana-based nonprofit is called Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and it was founded by members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the parent organization of Hamas and Al Qaeda. ISNA was an unindicted co-conspirator in a huge case involving an Islamic charity (Holy Land Foundation) that provided support to a foreign terrorist organization, mainly Hamas.

ISNA conferences often feature contentious speakers, including renowned Islamists and advocates of terrorism. Among them is Imam Warth Deen Umar, who referred to the 9/11 hijackers as martyrs that were secretly admired by Muslims and has called for violent jihad. At one ISNA convention Umar portrayed the Holocaust as punishment of Jews for being “serially disobedient to Allah,” according to a research conglomerate recognized as the world’s most comprehensive data center on radical Islamic terrorist groups. The nonprofit, Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT), published a disturbing report on ISNA that documents its radical ideology and conference speakers throughout the years that include “some of the world famous Islamists and advocates of Jihad.”

About a week before the 15th anniversary of 9/11, Obama deployed Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to ISNA’s annual powwow in Chicago. The appearance likely amounted to a slap in the face to many Americans, especially survivors of the 2001 attacks. Johnson’s speech lasted about 22 minutes and he basically said ISIS/ISIL isn’t Islamic, that Islam is a religion of peace and that Islamophobia is the same as McCarthyism. In a press release announcing the appearance, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) writes that Johnson will discuss the Obama administration’s “continued commitment to build bridges to Muslim American communities, and encourage Muslim Americans—particularly youth—to continue to fully participate in American society.”

Johnson didn’t exactly receive a warm reception and was booed repeatedly, especially as he exited the stage. He told the crowd that a group of terrorists is attempting to hijack their religion and that he and Obama “refuse to bend to the political pressure to call terrorism Islamic extremism.” He went on to say that “we know that ISIL, though it claims the banner of Islam, occupies no part of your religion, a religion founded on peace.” Then Johnson proceeded to compare the discrimination and vilification suffered by Muslims to the plight of African Americans, in particular to “tar you with a broad brush of suspicion.” Johnson proclaimed that the bullying and physical attacks experienced by Muslims nationwide are familiar to him as a black man. “I look out at this room of American Muslims and I see myself,” he said, adding that theirs is a similar struggle to the one his African American ancestors fought to win acceptance in the U.S.
 
Sanctuary Jurisdictions Protect Nearly 12,000 Criminal Illegal Immigrants in 19 Months
SEPTEMBER 15, 2016

IF HILLARY WINS IN NOVEMBER...I'M GOING TO GO SOUTH OF THE BORDER...WHERE IT'S SAFE !!

The recent murder committed by a twice-deported illegal immigrant gangbanger in a Maryland sanctuary county makes the following information both enraging and unbelievable; nearly 12,000 illegal immigrants with criminal histories were protected from federal authorities by sanctuary jurisdictions in the U.S. during a 19-month period, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) figures obtained by the Washington D.C.-based Center for Immigration Studies (CIS).

A few weeks ago CIS published a map identifying about 300 jurisdictions that have official policies shielding illegal aliens from federal authorities. During a 19-month stretch from January 1, 2014, to September 30, 2015, more than 17,000 federal detainers were rejected by these sanctuary jurisdictions, CIS found. Around 11,800 of the detainers, or 68%, were issued for individuals with a prior criminal history. “According to ICE statistics, since the Obama administration implemented the new Priority Enforcement Program in July 2015 restricting ICE use of detainers, the number of rejected detainers has declined,” CIS writes in a report accompanying the map. “However, the number of detainers issued by ICE also has declined in 2016, so it is not clear if the new policies are a factor.”

The bottom line is that hundreds of local governments across the nation shield illegal immigrants from the feds, even when they have engaged in criminal activity. In some cases they go on to commit heinous crimes that receive widespread media attention. Judicial Watch has reported many of them and launched investigations, obtaining public records from the jurisdictions that protected the criminal aliens. Back in 2008 Judicial Watch obtained records from the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department—an agency long renowned for offering sanctuary—related to Edwin Ramos, an illegal alien from El Salvador who murdered three innocent American citizens. Ramos was a member of a famously violent street gang and had been convicted of two felonies as a juvenile (a gang-related assault on a bus passenger and the attempted robbery of a pregnant woman) yet he was allowed to remain in the country.

Judicial Watch also investigated the 2010 case of a drunken illegal alien who killed a nun in Virginia and we sued the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to obtain records. The Bolivian national, Carlos Montano, had a substantial criminal history but federal authorities released him on his own recognizance after two previous arrests. Virginia doesn’t have a statewide sanctuary policy, but Arlington and Chesterfield County do, according to the CIS database. Judicial Watch’s probe determined that Montano had a revoked license and had previously been arrested on drunk-driving charges when his car crossed a median and slammed into a vehicle carrying three nuns. The two survivors were critically injured. The number of serious crimes committed by illegal aliens who have benefitted from sanctuary policies is undoubtedly on the rise.

Just last summer a case in a small sanctuary town of 40,000 received global media attention over the gruesome nature of the crime. A Haitian illegal immigrant who had spent 17 years in prison for attempted murder, savagely stabbed a young woman in Norwich, Connecticut then stuffed her body in a closet. At least three deportation orders had been issued for the killer, Jean Jacques, dating back to 2002. Connecticut has long protected illegal immigrants with sanctuary policies and even offers them special drivers’ licenses, known as Drive Only. The state also gives illegal aliens discounted tuition at public colleges and universities and authorities work hard to restrict the feds from deporting illegal immigrants. In fact, despite President Obama’s amnesty and open-borders policies, Connecticut is always a step ahead when it comes to protecting illegal immigrants and granting them rights. Undoubtedly, this attracts a large population of undocumented aliens like the murderer in this case.

Last week an illegal immigrant member of the notoriously violent MS-13 street gang murdered a teenager in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The 28-year-old gangbanger from El Salvador, Oscar Delgado-Perez, had been deported twice in the last two years, according to a mainstream newspaper. Nevertheless Delgado-Perez was never removed and, along with two fellow gangbangers, he brutally stabbed an 18-year-old more than 40 times in a Gaithersburg park as the teen begged for his life. Gaithersburg is in Montgomery County, which proudly offers illegal aliens sanctuary. In fact, earlier this year Montgomery County officials publicly reassured illegal aliens that police would play no role in a federal government operation to deport recent undocumented aliens from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico.
 
DHS Gives Deported Illegal Aliens from “Special Interest Countries” U.S. Citizenship
SEPTEMBER 20, 2016

NICE JOB DHS...WHAT A BUNCH OF IDIOTS !!

In the latest of many gaffes at the mammoth agency created after 9/11 to keep the nation safe, at least 858 illegal immigrants with deportation orders were mistakenly granted U.S. citizenship. It gets better; the foreigners are from “special interest countries” of concern to national security, according to a federal audit that blasts the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Even for DHS, which is charged with preventing terrorist attacks but is well known for a multitude of security lapses, this seems like a bit much. The illegal immigrants fooled our nation’s Homeland Security agency by using different names or birthdates to apply for citizenship. It was that simple, which makes it even more frightening. “This happened because neither the digital fingerprint repository at DHS nor the repository at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) contains all old fingerprint records of individuals previously deported,” according to an announcement released by the DHS Inspector General along with the scathing report. That means this could be the tip of the iceberg because there’s about 148,000 old fingerprint records of illegal aliens from special interest countries who had deportation orders or who are criminals or fugitives that are not available. This is because they have yet to be digitized so their fingerprints are missing from government databases.

That means a government adjudication officer doesn’t have access to all pertinent information when determining if certain foreigners with criminal histories qualify for citizenship. It’s as if the three stooges are in charge of national security. Worse yet, federal authorities have known about this security gap for years, the agency watchdog reveals, but little has been done to correct the problem. Back in 2008 Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which operates under DHS, identified 206 immigrants who used a different name or other biographical information to gain citizenship. This didn’t seem to rattle the government enough to take action or at least pretend to investigate the illegal aliens, strip them of citizenship or prosecute them. Under the Immigration and Naturalization Act a federal court may revoke naturalization through a civil or criminal proceeding if the citizenship was obtained through fraud or misrepresentation. “However, few of these individuals have been investigated and subsequently denaturalized,” according to the DHS IG.

The consequences of this negligence could be dramatic. At least three of the immigrants who fraudulently gained citizenship obtained credentials to work in secure areas of commercial airports or seaports, the DHS watchdog writes in its report. A fourth person is actually a law enforcement officer, though the report fails to identify where. “This situation created opportunities for individuals to gain the rights and privileges of U.S. citizenship through fraud,” DHS Inspector General John Roth said. “To prevent fraud and ensure thorough review of naturalization applications, USCIS needs access to these fingerprint records.” DHS has “plans” to digitize and upload all available fingerprint records and review the eligibility of naturalized citizens whose fingerprint records reveal a deportation order under a different identity, the watchdog says, though no timeline is offered.

Judicial Watch has reported on DHS’s transgressions over the years, including its failure to deport a number of illegal immigrants with criminal records who ended up committing heinous crimes. Among them is a drunken illegal alien from Bolivia who killed a nun in Virginia despite having a substantial criminal history. Last summer a Haitian illegal immigrant who had spent 17 years in prison for attempted murder, savagely stabbed a young woman in Norwich, Connecticut because DHS didn’t follow through with removing him from the country. Just this month an illegal immigrant member of the notoriously violent MS-13 street gang murdered a teenager in Gaithersburg, Maryland even though he had been deported twice in the last two years. Clearly, DHS didn’t follow through with the order. Last year Judicial Watch sued the DHS IG for records regarding a terrorist “hands off” list used by the Obama administration to allow individuals to enter the U.S. who had previously been barred because of suspected terrorist ties.
 
What does the citizenry do when the government won't enforce the law?

This is exactly the case with Thong Vang the mass child-rapist and kidnapper. He Slipped through the massive unbelievable inconceivable undefendable cracks in our immigration enforcement. Our government failed us and two of our Law Enforcement Officers paid the price. Our government failed us then three little girls and their families paid the price.

In the jungles of Cambodia this monster would have been castrated and hung up to be eaten alive by the local wildlife.

We however, we the civilized, are still giving him a bed and three meals a day. His life should have ended in Fresno jail, when he went in and shot the place up.

Two brave officers now barely cling to life, eating glucose through a tube while this bastard eats our food with a fork.

It's very difficult to contain myself in the face of this monstrosity our legal system has allowed. It's very difficult not to want vengeance.
 
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Intel Report Confirms More “Transferred” Gitmo Captives Return to Terrorism
SEPTEMBER 22, 2016

YET MORE PROOF THAT OBAMA'S LEGACY IS OFF THE RAILS WHEN IT COMES TO PROTECTING US FROM ISLAMIC RADICAL TERRORISM

As President Obama scrambles to release captives from the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba his own intelligence advisers reveal that a growing number of inmates freed from the compound reengage in terrorism. This is nothing new and in fact, has been documented over the years in various government assessments but this latest information comes in the midst of a frenzy to clear out the maximum security facility in order to realize the president’s longtime dream of closing it.

A new report released this month by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) shows that of the 161 Gitmo detainees released by the Obama administration, nine are confirmed to be “directly involved in terrorist or insurgent activities.” The ODNI, the broad agency that serve as an umbrella for the intelligence community and advises the president, also writes that 113 of the 532 Gitmo captives released during the George W. Bush administration have engaged in terrorist activities. This demonstrates that recidivism among this demographic is hardly earth-shattering news yet the administration keeps releasing more and more captives from the facility at the U.S. Naval base in southeast Cuba.

The ODNI further reveals that at least two prisoners released from Gitmo by Obama and two others released by Bush have returned to “terrorist activities” during the first half of this year alone. “Based on trends identified during the past eleven years, we assess that some detainees currently at GTMO will seek to reengage in terrorist or insurgent activities after they are transferred,” according to the ODNI, which is composed of more than a dozen spy agencies, including Air Force, Army, Navy, Treasury and Coast Guard intelligence as well as the Federal Bureau of Intelligence (FBI) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The agency also stated in its report that “former GTMO detainees routinely communicate with each other, families of other former detainees, and previous associates who are members of terrorist organizations. The reasons for communication span from the mundane (reminiscing about shared experiences) to the nefarious (planning terrorist operations). We assess that some GTMO detainees transferred in the future also will communicate with other former GTMO detainees and persons in terrorist organizations.”

Various government agencies have been documenting this for years. Back in 2009 the Department of Defense (DOD) reported a rise in the number of Gitmo detainees who rejoined terrorist missions after being released. At the time the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency, which gathers foreign military intelligence, disclosed that the number of Gitmo prisoners that returned to “the fight” since their release from custody nearly doubled in a short time from 37 to 61. The agency used data such as fingerprints, pictures and other intelligence reports to confirm the high rate of recidivism among released prisoners. By then around 500 had been transferred to other countries though defense officials maintained that most should never have been released because they pose a serious threat to the United States.

A perfect example is an Al Qaeda operative who was put on a global terrorist list a few years after the U.S. released him from Gitmo. Embarrassingly enough, the U.S. government even offered a $5 million reward for information on his whereabouts. The Saudi national, Ibrahim al-Rubaysh, was repatriated back home under a Saudi Arabian “rehabilitation” program that supposedly reformed Guantanamo Bay jihadists but instead has served as a training camp for future terrorists. In fact, in 2008 counterterrorism officials confirmed that many of the terrorists who return to “the fight” after being released from U.S. custody actually graduated from the laughable Saudi rehab program, which started under Bush and continued under Obama.

In an effort to stop Obama from releasing more terrorists, a congresswoman from Indiana recently introduced legislation that would temporarily halt the transfer of Gitmo detainees. The House passed the measure last week by a 244-174 vote but it’s highly unlikely to get approved by the Senate, and even if it does, Obama will most certainly veto it. The lawmaker behind the bill, Jackie Walorski, said the president’s plan to close Gitmo is “reckless” and “puts American lives at risk.”
 
Dreadlock Ban Isn’t Discrimination; Court Rejects Govt. Claim of “Racial Distinctions in the Natural Texture of Black and Non-Black Hair”
SEPTEMBER 28, 2016

YOU CAN FILE THIS UNDER THE HEADER: WHO THE HELL CARES WHEN WE ARE FACED WITH BIGGER PROBLEMS...

A federal appellate court has ruled against the Obama administration’s claims that firing a black woman for wearing dreadlocks constitutes racial discrimination and the government agency representing the employee poses an interesting question: Would a woman wearing a hijab face the same fate? The answer is no. Muslims have more rights in the U.S. workplace than African Americans, it seems.

In the aftermath of several rulings protecting Muslim rights to wear religious head covers on the job, a black woman is being prohibited from sporting a hairstyle that is physiologically and culturally associated with people of African descent. That constitutes racial discrimination, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency that enforces the nation’s workplace discrimination laws. The agency filed the case in 2013 on behalf of an Alabama woman, Chastity Jones, who was told by an insurance claims processing company to cut her dreadlocks—long clumps of ungroomed hair, symbolizing the mane of the Lion of Judah—as part of its grooming policy. The EEOC argued that the company, Catastrophe Management Solutions, committed racial discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In announcing the lawsuit, the agency’s regional attorney in Birmingham said the litigation didn’t seek to attack policies requiring employees to maintain hair in a professional, neat or conservative manner but rather focus “on the racial bias that may occur when specific hair constructs and styles are singled out for different treatment because they do not conform to normative standers for other races.” The EEOC’s district director pointed out that “generally, there are racial distinctions in the natural texture of black and non-black hair. The EEOC will not tolerate employment discrimination against African-American employees because they choose to wear and display the natural texture of their hair, manage and style their hair in a manner amenable to it, or manage and style their hair in a manner differently from non-blacks.”

A federal judge in Alabama didn’t buy the government’s seemingly far-fetched argument and in 2014 dismissed the race discrimination suit, finding that the company’s hairstyle policy did not violate federal anti-discrimination law. In his ruling the judge, Charles R. Butler, wrote that since Title VII of the Civil Rights Act only prohibits discrimination based on unchangeable characteristics, like sex and race, the company didn’t violate the law by banning the hairstyle. The Obama administration appealed and this month the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Alabama judge’s decision, rejecting Jones’s right to keep the dreadlocks. The appellate court found that Catastrophe Management Solutions has a “race-neutral grooming policy” and that hairstyles are not “immutable physical characteristics,” though the court acknowledged they could be “culturally associated with race.”

On the EEOC’s twitter account, which is embedded in the agency’s official website, an official comments on the Jones case: “I wonder if a woman who wore a hijab would have been asked to not wear that when coming to work?” The EEOC post was written by a black official named Michelle Adams, who also includes a clip from a 1990s television comedy sitcom because it reminds her of Jones’s “choice to fight” the dreadlock ban (the reality is that taxpayers funded the fight because a federal agency represented Jones). In the TV clip a black male employee tells white managers that his hair is not just for fashion. “It’s part of my heritage,” the actor says. “It’s a statement of pride.”

The question comparing dreadlocks to hijabs was rhetorical because the EEOC employee knows Muslims have a legal right to wear religious head covers at work thanks to litigation initiated by her agency. Judicial Watch has reported on some of the cases, including a 2013 federal court ruling that a Muslim woman’s civil rights were violated by an American clothing retailer that didn’t allow her to wear a hijab at work. As it has in other instances, the EEOC accused the retailer of religious discrimination under the Civil Rights Act and a federal judge agreed. In the ruling the judge wrote that the retailer acted with malice and reckless indifference by forcing the Muslim woman to remove her hijab, even though it had a company-wide policy prohibiting all types head cover.

The religious rights argument has also been used by the EEOC on behalf of dreadlocks. Over the summer the EEOC sued a private business for religious discrimination after it ordered a male employee to cut his dreadlocks. The man, a prep cook in central Florida, is Rastafari and the “Afrocentric” religion born in the slums of Jamaica requires followers to have long, matted and knotted hair. Judicial Watch will monitor the outcome of the case, which was filed in July.

There is no formal, organized leadership in Rastafarianism which makes it difficult to accept as an official religion protected by federal law. Rastafarians believe Haile Selassie, the former emperor of Ethiopia, is God and that he’ll help blacks living in exile as a result of the slave trade return to Africa. Jamaican reggae singer Bob Marley, who died in Miami in 1981, was among the best known Rastafarians and more recently a famous rapper known as Snoop Dogg became Rastafari and changed his name to Snoop Lion, according to a mainstream news report. “A key belief for Rastas is the notion of death to all white and black oppressors,” the story says, adding that “the most common outward expressions of Rastafari are Rastas’ dreadlocks, penchant for smoking marijuana and vegetarian diets.”
 
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