Yup, the U.S. DOJ has sent a member of it’s Community Relations Service team to investigate the float which depicted a zombie looking figure, dressed in overalls, standing outside an outhouse with a sign that said “Obama Presidential Library” on it. Neither the float or the truck pulling it identified a sponsor, according to the Omaha World-Herald.
The Nebraska Democratic Party called it the “worst show of racism and disrespect” for the president in state history.
“There is a level of respect for the office of the Presidency which should not be crossed,” said NDP Executive Director Dan Marvin. “It’s beyond disappointing the City of Norfolk, its officials and citizens would allow such a thing.”
This appears to have started after Glory Kathurima, a native of Kenya, expressed concern about the float. “I’m angry and I’m scared,” she told a reporter from the Lincoln Journal Star. “This float was not just political; this was absolutely a racial statement.” She said in an interview with Action 3 News that the depiction was equating the President with what you do in an outhouse.
I’m guessing she never saw the cartoon which shows an outhouse with a wooden sign in front of it with the words “Bush Presidential Library.” Well maybe she saw it, but, because she has been so blinded by the media and this Administration, and slammed over the head by them with the fact that anyone who disagrees with Obama is “racist,” hundreds, if not thousands, of times, decided that wasn’t “a thing.” Not like anything negative about Obama would be.
Many are claiming that the mannequin in overalls depicted Obama (really, I don’t think I have ever seen Obama in overalls), but Dale Remmich, who created the controversial float, claims that the figure in the float was himself, not President Obama, and that representation was meant to reveal his frustration with the president’s handling of the Veterans Affairs Department. The NAACP disputed this assertion. What, on top of being the ultimate purveyors of justice for keeping black voters in Mississippi safe from those mean old “tea party” poll watchers, they can read minds now too?
But, at the same time, even if it was a depiction of the President. How is that racist? And even it if was disrespectful, as some are claiming, is showing disrespect for the President a crime worthy of an “investigation?” Saying it is “racist” is really far fetched. What happened to freedom of speech? In the words of the great George Washington, “If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”
So, Holder sends a Community Relations Service team member, who deals with discrimination disputes, to attend a meeting in Norfolk to investigate this incident. At the same meeting were the NAACP, as well as Norfolk mayor Sue Fuchtman, and the Norfolk Odd Fellows, coordinators of the parade.
Over the past couple of weeks, I have noticed what seems to be an uptake in the propaganda from the left about “racists” and “racism.” They have to call just about everyone that disagrees with them, on anything, racist or disrespectful of the “Office of the President.”
Of course they had no problem with disrespect of the Presidential office when President George W. Bush was portrayed as a Nazi, parallels between him and Hilter were made, when the political “Bush outhouse” cartoon was published, or when scores of other unflattering images, including those calling for Bush’s death, went viral. Did they say anything then? Nope, it was considered “freedom of speech” then. And, I would venture to guess that many were happily cheering along.
But, I can’t say I’m surprised Holder has found this incident to take priority over all the other “minor” issues we are faced with, like the IRS targeting scandal, spying on American citizens, and whatnot.
It’s just so nice that our Attorney General sits back and lets all the real atrocities go unchecked, deems them “not important” enough to waste his time on, and instead decides to spend that precious time, his staff’s time, and our taxpayer dollars on investigating a parade float. A FREAKIN’ PARADE FLOAT, Y’ALL.
I guess a man’s got to have his priorities.
]]>The contents of the emails in question have Lerner asking if conversations that took place within the OCS system were regularly saved and if they could be part of a subpoena for by congressional investigators.
These emails were sent on April 9, 2013, just days after she learned that Congress would be looking into whether the IRS targeted conservative groups for denial of tax exempt status.
In the initial email, sent at 1:50 PM, Lerner asks Maria Hooke, an IRS technology employee, and Nanette Downing, the manager of the unit that evaluated the applications:
I had a question today about OCS. I was cautioning folks about email and how we have had several occasions where Congress has asked for emails and there has been an electronic search for responsive emails – so we need to be cautions about what we say in emails. Someone asked if OCS conversations were also searchable – I don’t know, but told them I would get back to them. Do you know?
A response by Hooke, at 2:45 PM, she states:
OCS messages are not set to automatically save as the standard; however the functionality exists within the software. That being said the parties involved in an OCS conversation can copy and save the contents of the conversation to an email or file.
To date OCS conversation are not specifically identified as part of the Electronic Data Request (EDR) for information, however, if one of the parties saved the conversation as an email or file they would become part of the electronic search.
My general recommendation is to treat the conversations as if it could/is begin saved somewhere, as it is possible for either party of the conversation to retain the information and have it turn up as part of an electronic search.
Make sense?
Lerner’s one word response, sent at 2:51 PM was:
Perfect
The House Oversight Committee has made copies of these emails available to the public.
This is an interesting revelation in the case, given that over two years of Lerner’s actual emails may have gone missing due to a “hard drive crash,” as claimed by IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. Some Republicans have questioned whether the IRS exhausted all efforts to try to recover the emails from the hard drive in 2011.
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