IRS Manual Described Use of Hidden DEA Evidence
Tax agency employees were told to remove any reference to tips provided by DEA group
Details of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration program that feeds tips to federal agents and then instructs them to alter the investigative trail were published in a manual used by agents of the Internal Revenue Service for two years.
The practice of recreating the investigative trail, highly criticized by former prosecutors and defense lawyers after Reuters reported it this week, is now under review by the Justice Department. Two high-profile Republicans have also raised questions about the procedure.
A 350-word entry in the Internal Revenue Manual instructed agents of the U.S. tax agency to omit any reference to tips supplied by the DEA's Special Operations Division, especially from affidavits, court proceedings or investigative files. The entry was published and posted online in 2005 and 2006, and was removed in early 2007. The IRS is among two dozen arms of the government working with the Special Operations Division, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency.
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shocked, shocked, etc.
“Whatever you say, don’t mention the War.”
I suppose this is as good a time as any to call attention to Thomas Jefferson’s most famous, yet tragically, under-appreciated writing — the anniversary of which has been reduced to what I sadly refer to as “National Picnic, Barbecue, and Fireworks Day” but most call it simply “the fourth of July” because MOST U.S. Americans haven’t the slightest clue as to what it said beyond “all men are created equal” and “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
It is my contention that the (white Christian) people of British America did not have it as bad as people of all races and faiths –as well as atheists such as myself– do in the USA today.
part 1 of 3
part 2 of 3
In Stephen E. Lucas’ essay [featured on the National Archives web site: http://www.archives.gov/exhibi…..style.html ], he notes grievance 10: “He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.” … The “multitude of New Offices” referred to the customs posts that had been created in the 1760s to control colonial smuggling. The “swarms of Officers” that were purportedly eating out the substance of the colonies’ three million people numbered about fifty in the entire continent. But Congress could hardly assail George III as a tyrant for appointing a few dozen men to enforce the laws against smuggling, so it clothed the charge in vague, evocative imagery that gave significance and emotional resonance to what otherwise might have seemed a rather paltry grievance.”
So, a little basic arithmetic here:
3 million people then, 300 million people now = growth factor multiple: 100
part 3a of 3
If the “swarms of officers that harassed our people, and ate out their substance” grew at a rate equal to that of our population then that would amount to about 5000 customs agents (50 x 100). The issue was smuggling and more than likely to avoid import duties. So, I’ll begin with everybody’s favorite federal agency:
# of Employees
IRS: 106,000 (2010 — MORE ON THE WAY WITH OBAMACARE)
Department of Homeland Security: 240,000
Department of Justice: 111,993 (2010)
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement: 19,330+ (2013)
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms: 5,101
(sources: wikipedia)
Shall I list more? The above add up to just under a HALF MILLION and there are many, MANY more not to mention state and local police and regulators. And, since the Posse Comitatus Act has essentially been nullified, you might as well factor in the Department of Defense and National Guard as well.
part 3b of 3
So, in conclusion, and even low-balling the numbers to keep them simple, whereas our population has grown by a factor of 100, the SWARMS OF OFFICERS brought on by MULTITUDES OF NEW OFFICES —INCONCEIVABLE EVEN IN MR. JEFFERSON’S WORST NIGHTMARES— have grown by a factor of NO LESS THAN TEN THOUSAND. What was it, again, that Mr. Jefferson said in his letter to Edward Carrington dated May 27, 1788?
“The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, & government to gain ground.”
Just how much ground was he thinking of?
In his farewell address President Washington warned the American people that; “…cunning, ambitious and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the Power of the People, & to usurp for themselves the reins of Government; destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”
http://gwpapers.virginia.edu/d…..t.html#p14
p.s. and, to think, I’m ONLY discussing grievance 10 here. There are many, MANY more “abuses and usurpations” that are going on that dwarf those suffered by the colonists in 18th Century British America.