On Friday afternoon, Marcos at dKos posted up a great analysis of how the new gun safety groups — Mayor Bloomberg’s and the one headed up by Gabby Giffords — are changing the state of play over gun safety legislation. Kos’ piece focuses entirely on the money in the game, not on any of the organizing that might be done by either group, but if Bloomberg can keep this up, I’m hopeful:
The Michael Bloomberg-backed gun control group is spending $500,000 to attack Ayotte’s vote against expanded background checks on Boston TV and another $150,000 on WMUR in Manchester, N.H. Ayotte has emerged as a top target for gun control groups after she declined to support expanded background checks. It comes on the heels of a $25,000 ad buy in defense of Ayotte by the National Rifle Association.
And while we live through the IRS giving tea-party groups extra scrutiny, Balloon Juice reminds us of Bush-era genuine targeting of liberal groups by the IRS put together by David Waldman:
Remember the outrage over IRS targeting of Emerge America, seeking nonprofit status to train women Dem candidates? nytimes.com/2011/07/21/bus…
— David Waldman (@KagroX) May 12, 2013
Remember the outrage over Bush-era IRS auditing of the NAACP? articles.baltimoresun.com/2004-10-29/new…
— David Waldman (@KagroX) May 12, 2013
And I remember President Obama’s then church being investigated by the IRS when he was running for President in 2008. Anyone remember when the wingnuts were upset about this? Right, I thought so. Personally, I think that the IRS should be looking pretty closely at all 501(c)4s. All of them.
Lots of amendments are being filed to attach to the Immigration Bill, but have you heard about the “Downton Abbey Amendment”? This one is being offered by Rep. Mike Lee (R-UT) in order to:
exempt “cooks, waiters, butlers, housekeepers, governessess, maids, valets, baby sitters, janitors, laundresses, furnacemen, caretakers, handymen, gardeners, footmen, grooms, and chauffeurs of automobiles for family use” from E-Verify
.
Right? You need to check potential employees in E-Verify if you are hiring a busboy in your restaurant, but not if you are hiring a housekeeper for your manse.
What interests you today?