travesty of this because the united ruling the i rest target now i'm profit who are unhappy with the government so whether you're a tea party that the guys are or think they're crazy whether you're a liberal or conservative it doesn't matter as long as you are an american you should be outraged tonight to talk about that by following me and twitter as the resident. all right well that's going to do it for now for more on the stories we covered go to youtube dot com slash r t america and for the latest and greatest information on all of the stories we cover today and a few that we just did not have time to get to check out our website r.t. dot com slash usa don't forget to follow me on twitter at my going underscore lopez and don't forget to leave me your story suggestions comments and feedback i want to know what you want to see covered here on r.t. . is it possible to navigate the economy with all the details such as text and misinformation and media hype keep you up to date by decoding the mainstream hat by stating it's in your right.

. >> reporter: since the supreme court citizens united ruling that allowed unlimited campaign contributions, hundreds of political groups have applied to be tax-exempt organizations called 501(c)(4)s. that designation allows them not to disclose their donors but requires that politics cannot be the group's primary activity. despite that, last year groups opposed to the president and groups favoring the president both used the 501(c)(4) status to air t.v. ads. the i.r.s. apologized for targeting the tea party but says it has to ensure tax-exempt organizations are limited. the i.r.s. faces serious allegations how it came to choose these groups, why did it target these groups for investigations? we know the agents used computerized search terms that included the tea party but scott some other terms they used included "the education of the public" and any group that criticized how the country was being run. wyatt andrews, thank you, wyatt. congress started asking the i.r.s. about targeting two years ago and it was assured repeatedly that it wasn't happening. congress does not like being misled,

thomas and scalia but surely that could have had anything to do with the outcome of the citizens united ruling aka the best damn thing that ever happened to the brothers who can now donate as much as their coal to heart's desire while the tribune company deal is not set in stone yet the coax aren't wasting any time getting their hands dirty on other projects one of which is already having a detrimental impact on the environment see they're sponsoring a little known project known as the keystone pipeline which would transport canadian tar sands oil through the u.s. to texas oil refineries already the process is producing a high sulfur high carbon muck that's ironically called cocaine in this waste byproduct is already covering an entire city block in detroit. i know my no i know why am i picking on these poor or should i say filthy rich entrepreneurs look i don't have a problem with success or money or pursuit of the american dream what i do have a problem with however is using that wealth to influence some of the most damaging policies of our time so as the koch to push his tentacles reach eve

the tea party, the application for tax exempt group was a big point in the wake of the citizens united ruling by the supreme court, a big issue for democrats. in september of 2010, max baucus, the democrat chair of senate finance called on the irs to investigate groups applying for tax exempt status. in 2007, senators urged the irs to beef up scrutiny. dan, weren't the marching orders pretty clear? you had a number of democrats, groups applying for tax exempt status, and you -- >> look at what the independent general said in the report, to congress on friday. there was no outside influences, other than this came directly from the irs. two, that was not necessarily based on political motivation. that's what the independent inspector general said. >> chris: you say "not necessarily based on." >> he said this was a management issue, not political motivation. >> chris: except the irs said something different. the man in charge of the irs tax exempt joseph grant, until he recently announced he's stepping down, said part of the reason for the increased scrutiny for certain groups -- this was his di

citizens united, i can tell you how was back then the other day with citizens united ruling, we have a situation today where a super pac comes along and we can take on karl rove or george bush. and so the average member, in order to counter that ,-com,-com ma needs to spend $10,000 a day. they take their staffers, they go across the street and this includes the nrc see and many political parties. many members of congress would like us to change course. many members of congress do not find it delightful to be in elections. jack eber mine i jack abramoff and i helped people to feel more comfortable but it did not change anything. to paraphrase this, i had a substance addiction. today, there is another addiction. and they need an intervention. i am not a better person. i spent time with my granddaughter today, i get to do radio and a lot of great people to the right or the left or the middle, they get their voice out there and they tell people a story of their government. so i am very happy. i am not a person that is unhappy or angry and i want to get everybody. as my grandmother always

that's because of the citizens united ruling, which allows r corporations to just dump millions of dollarsnto these race, so now, members of congress pander to the extreme because they're afraid of one of these groups coming in and getting involved in their primary election. or you're not to the right enough, we're going to come and primary you and take you out. >> first that comes to mind, i'm talking personally, speaker of the house john boehner. the speaker has made efforts to try and work with democrats. >> seemed that way. >> what he seems to be hindered by is what i think is a radical part of his caucus. this is a part of his party. seem to within the to disrupt everything in washington. like the dog that chases the car, then once it catches it, doesn't know what it's going to do with it. >> it wasn't that long ago you were on campus. >> i do. i'm in this job because i was inspired by a dublin high school teacher. my teacher, the mayor of dublin now, when i was back in college and law school back east, i was considering stayinging in the washington area after i finished law school. i

senators trying to draw attention to the rise of nonprofits for some time in the wake of the itizens united ruling -- these are both democratic activists embrace the vehicle which had been freed today corporate money, union money, take unlimited funds from individuals to run political ads. they were trying to draw attention to some of these big groups on the left. we have seen priority usa and patriot majority usa, which was started by a strategist who has read about harry reid. on the right, we have ross rhodes gps, which stands for grassroots policy strategy. it was by karl rove. these are big fish that were out there. the buzzwords that were being used were patriots, tea party, 912 project, referring back to glenn beck's organization. we have seen this may the irs has not focused on some big political spenders but instead got wrapped up in these smaller organizations across the nation. host: we have got a timeline from the national journal.com ocus on the irs timeline -- host: the decision held the government could not stop unions from spending money to back or denounce political candidates. a

it tells the story of a landmark citizens united ruling by the supreme court that opened the door to unlimited campaign contributions from corporations. it focuses on the role the koch brothers-funded group americans for prosperity played in backing wisconsin governor scott walker, who was pushed to -- who pushed to slash union rights of the same time supporting tax breaks for large corporations. "citizen koch" was to air on pbs next fall until its agreement with the independent television service fell through. >> the story of how this happened is detailed in a piece published last week in the new yorker magazine. written by jane mayer, it is headlined "a word from our sponsor: public television's attempts to placate david koch." it describes another film critical of the koch brothers that did air on pbs, academy award winning director alex gibney's documentary, "park avenue: money, power and the american dream," which contrasts the lives of residents who live a lot of the most expensive apartment buildings in manhattan -- 740 park avenue -- with those of poor people living at the ot

ira story well that's not a scandal of big government either it's a byproduct of the citizens united ruling that opened our elections to unlimited spending by shadow we were decisions yes some i.r.s. employees did dumb things but they've been left hanging by congress which has failed to regulate these new political groups that are buying our elections and when it comes to the d.o.j. that's not a scandal of big government either it's merely the latest disturbing action taken by an overzealous justice department that places a higher priority in cracking down on whistleblowers and truth tellers than on bank stores and war criminals you see it doesn't matter the size of the government if it's the justice department is misguided well then there's going to be big problems but it shouldn't surprise us that conservatives are exploiting these stories to push for a libertarian paradise of you know zero government. the point is we shouldn't listen to the democratic government has been and will continue to be the best thing working people have to balance the influence of organized wealth and corporate

may not need tougher workplace safety rules but it is entirely appropriate for bangladesh to have different, and indeed lower, workplace safety standards than the unitednited states would be unnecessary in much poorer bangladesh. i grew up read being a factory that collapsed. they went to the mills and labor activism began and mills moved away. i read about bangladesh where these are women that would have been married off and extremely young ages and are going to work at these factories and it is actually -- in a way a form of empowerment for them. >> it is. there is no question that the garment industry that's been existing -- abolished since the insense in the '80s had been a boon for the work force. what we are saying is not to boycott that industry or to have the industry leave bangladesh but to accept human rights standards and norms. we cannot accept in 2013 that certain people and certain countries are entitled to different human rights and labor standards than those of us in the united states. and the one point i want to make is oftentimes we make this analsy, you know in terms of turn of the century, 20th century, american economy, and now, w

these had more than doubled since the citizens united ruling in 2010 which deregulated political spending and which to some degree invited these groups to play a bigger political role. so at the same time, the i.r.s. had cuts in i,ts initstaff. so tere osn'tverwhe take fromacthat ben criticized for having subjective and vague criteria for how to regulate. >> brown: juliet eilperin, one thing we do know from your story is that this did go beyond -- the original reports, beyond the office in cincinnati. so where's the focus that you see for all of these questions right now? >> well, i think still ultimately these are questions that people like steven miller will have to answer, the acting commissioner. it's obvious that while, again, cincinnati played thecentral le bausehatas the division charged with considering these applications for tax-exempt organizations, you had other field offices as well as headquarters involved in it and really they're going to have to answer some key questions about to what extent did people beyond lois lerner make decisions about what was the approach that i.r.s

but the real boon came after the supreme court's citizen united ruling in 20 10, as the group's campaign spending soared beyond the 300 million in 2012. much more is believed to have been spent of the groups are only required to restore it on spending in the 60 days leading up to the general election in 30 prior to a primary. 4 nonprofit social welfare organizations are simply friends for political operations that provide anonymity to donors and with anonymity comes a lack of accountability. so, the irs, in my opinion, whether an exemption for this or some other kind of exemption, has the responsibility on behalf of the taxpayers to look at these things. do it him partially, obviously. that has been much of what the conversation has been about. but this typically here, when it talks about civic leagues or organizations operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare. not for political purposes. so, despite all of this tempest we are in right now, sir, i would ask the irs continue in an impartial way to look at these particular exemptions. point onis just my that. i think one of

but the real boon came after the supreme court's citizen united ruling in 2010, as the group's campaign spending soared beyond the 300 million in 2012. much more is believed to have been spent of the groups are only required to restore it on spending in the 60 days leading up to the general election in 30 prior to a primary. many 501(c)(4) nonprofit social welfare organizations are simply friends for political operations that provide anonymity to donors and with anonymity comes a lack of accountability. so, the irs, in my opinion, whether an exemption for this or some other kind of exemption, has the responsibility on behalf of the taxpayers to look at these things. do it impartially, obviously. that has been much of what the conversation has been about. but this typically here, when it talks about civic leagues or organizations operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare. not for political purposes. so, despite all of this tempest we are in right now, sir, i would ask the irs continue in an impartial way to look at these particular exemptions. so, that is just my point on

move if you will to try to move with the big spike in political groups at the citizens united supreme court ruling were asking for tax exempt status. i want to go to the inspector general report on that. he said that 298 groups received special scrutiny. of those, 96 were tea party type groups. that means then congressman that two thirds of the groups that received special scrutiny were not tea party type groups. >> chris from just this one hearing is that groups with the word progressives or organizing, groups with liberal persuasion did not have this targeting. they went through. they were approved. so we know that they specifically targeted people based on their political beliefs. based on people who had suspicion of the size and direction of government. based on tea party and 9 h-12 and the word patriots. we know they targeted people based on political beliefs. allegations based on religious beliefs contrary to the president's positions. credible allegations that donners to the groups were targeted. we know that the irs leaked private confidential information to the public which served politic

symbolic resolution urging the california lawmakers to overturn the two thousand and ten citizens united ruling hundred seventy five other cities and towns of approve similar measures los angeles is by far the largest could work l.a. voters everywhere are waking up to the damaging effect of corporate money and politics which is hope congress gets the message oh in a way also has d. which allowed for medical marijuana dispensers are good with the bad bill keller and his tuesday column new york times columnist bill keller proposed bringing back kenneth starr who spearheaded the investigations of the clinton era handles to investigate the obama administration's trio of controversies he wrote republicans are hollow for president obama to name a special prosecutor to invest the investigate the internal revenue service is targeting of tea party groups the president should announce that he has told the justice department to appoint an independent investigator with the old audience things and bipartisan credibility a list of candidates could start with kenneth starr. ken starr everyone he went on to ad

worth less as it was back then he made a loopholes and 527 but at the end of the day with citizens united ruling with lack of true campaign finance reform bill you have a situation today where the super pac comes along we can pick on karl rove for george soros for but they go after people that means $3 million to counter so they take this effort and they get on the telephone and they do that. they are victims of the system many members would like this to change many do not find it delightful some like it but a lot of them don't. there is a lot of good members. but that comes to the conclusion of jack abrams of going away, people with felonies that did not change anything. it may make them feel more comfortable but it did not change things. so i put that conclusion there and i ended with a'' federally like to paraphrase says i had an addiction and today there is another edition of campaign contribution they need an intervention matt to make it a beautiful place and make it better so i address a lot of issues in the book and i hope it is not just one issue or attacking one person i am not bitter i

rule. and the building inspection department says 3 units twice in the last six months. therefore this board should uphold a ruling that this is a three unit count building. thank you. i have a question. can you walk me through chronology that your client has based it's understanding that it's owning three unit. 1997, i know it's the time they purchased. so where are the points you believe the city department has errored where they relied on the chronology. >> as a lawyer i can tell you that what a client looks at in buying the property is the title report. it was pure speculation for him to say the title was only looked back for ten years. >> you understand my question? >> can you get to this part? >> the title report showed no special restriction. >> so tie it please to the candid admission by dbi that there were mistakes made, the reliance that you are arguing right now. i would like to understand that. >> the mistake was putting a wrong legal description so it never came up on a title report. >> subsequent to that? >> i can't comment on that. i wasn't there. >> okay.

loopholes and 527 that you could drive mack truck through but at the end of the day will citizens united rulingand a lack of truth in the campaign finance reform bill that time you have a situation today where the super pac comes along, we can pick on carl row four pic on george soros whichever side of the aisle you want to skewer. the average member in order to counter that needs $3 million which is $10,000 a day they have to raise. they take their staffer and they go across the street on federal time and they get on the telephone. .. i had an addiction, and today there is another addiction as to the campaign contributions and they need an intervention and it is the public intervention. a beautiful place they can make it even better so i address a lot of issues in the

and whether we agree with the citizens united ruling or not should not be justification for this agency, which is charged with upholding the rule of law and for all people in all groups, regardless of party affiliation or motive. specifically, mr. miller, i was troubled by your comment that you found this grouping, mr. george, with the inspector general's office called it targeting, to be inappropriate but not illegal. i'm wondering if you can give me examples of other targeting within the irs that you're aware of that would be inappropriate but not illegal. >> sir, i should tell you that i don't know -- it's my belief that what happened here wasn't illegal but i suppose there are some facts that might come out that would indicate otherwise. but it's not my area. i don't know. but it certainly was inappropriate, no question about that. i'm unaware. we have used listings elsewhere. >> can you give me an example? >> credit counseling would be one of those.where username to work in them -- where we use a name to work in a consistent and fair manner. >> time has expired. ms. jenkins is reco

bush the presidency and a more recent history we can point to the most controversial ruling of all citizens united the federal elections commission which granted corporations the same rights as individuals essentially equating money with speech now. while we may not have a say in who is chosen to the supreme court it's at least worth noting who these people are and what interests may be motivating some of those decisions that define this country so who are the kings and queens of the court well i'm going to go over a few of the most controversial first as mr lehrer instalments was appointed by george bush sr and nine hundred ninety this man's been referred to as our rock but no not first step does terminations but rather because he spent a full five years on the court saying nothing at all literally nothing two thousand and eleven shortly before he ruled in favor of citizens united thomas attended a four day retreat with the wealthiest corporate barons in the country hosted by none other than the good old koch brothers then there's an scalia who was appointed by president reagan in one thousand ni

the citizens united ruling handed down in january of 2010, remember that moment during the state of therred to that. martha: sure do. bill: and justice alito sat there shaking his head in disagreement. the argument that some are making, steve miller included, is that the number of applications that flooded this i.r.s. office was so overwhelming for the employees there that they had to winnow out the applications in order to be more efficient. there are those suggesting already that 2010 was not the year that the applications went higher. that was more like 2011, 2012. it does appear to be a fact, though, between that three-year period the number of applications for tax exempt nonprofit organizations doubled, but did that happen in 2010 when these orders were given down? or did that come later in 2011 and 2012 during the heat of the national election? martha: bill, you take sort of the bigger picture, bird bird's-eye view of all of this. and you point to the fact that a number of these groups, tea party groups, different organizations that had a similar kind of mantra have been saying, w

and whether we agree with the citizens united ruling or not should not be justification for this agency, which is charged with upholding the rule of law eektably for all people in all groups regardless of party affiliation or motive. specifically, mr. miller, i was troubled by your comment that you found this grouping, mr. george, with the inspector general's office called it targeting, to be inappropriate but not illegal. i'm wondering if you can give me examples of other targeting within the i.r.s. that you're aware of that would be inappropriate but not illegal. >> sir, i should tell you that i don't know -- it's my belief that what happened here wasn't illegal but i suppose there are some facts that might come out that would indicate otherwise. but it's not my area. i don't know. but it certainly was inappropriate no question. i'm unaware. we have used listings elsewhere. >> can you give me an example? >> credit counseling would be one of those. >> time has expired. ms. jenkins is recognized. >> thank you, mr. president. we've heard a lot of outrage, a lot of anger and disappointmen

units? >> yes. >>> no, our rules after 10:00 it's quiet. you call the security -- >> so, you do have restrictionses regarding noise between residential units. >>> we do, yes, we do. >>> uh-huh. >> i'm very familiar with your building. >> i actually have a question as well. so, when you purchased this evidently because it's a condominium, there's hoa, ccnrs. >>> yes. >> that govern, that govern the building, correct? >>> right, yes. >> so, when you purchased it, were you aware that there was going to be a commercial space downstairs? >>> yes. i mean, there was a market there for years and that, though, has been vacant now for 12 years. >> and even though that is vacant when you purchased it, you were aware that there was going to be a commercial -- >>> it is a storage for the residents. that room is all storage and it was quiet. it was all for everyone to have a storage locker for suitcases and things like that. it was -- >> so, the residents decided to sell it and use it -- >>> no, there are three parcels. we have three parcel garage, commer

- >> that's -- that gets me to the point with the supreme court setting the rules they set for -- >> even beforesy sense united, nonprofits, could spend money on politics and they did. that gets lost in the fold because it is so complicate. >> which brings me to another proposal i want to put on the table that -- that will ever happen -- doubt it will happen but i want to put it out there after this. when you're carrying forda lot of weight, c-max has a nice little trait,

whether we agree with the citizens united ruling or not should not be a justification for this agency which is charged with upholding the rule will fall equitably for all people with all groups regardless of party affiliation or motive. specifically mr. miller i was troubled by your comment that you found this group of the inspector general's office calls at targeting to the inappropriate but not illegal to get i'm wondering if you can give me examples of other targeting that you are aware of that would be inappropriate but not illegal. sestak probably the congressman i should tell you that i don't know. it's my belief that what happened here wasn't illegal but i suppose that there are some factors that might come out that would indicate otherwise. but that's not my area. i don't know but it was inappropriate there is no question of that. we have used listings elsewhere of credit counseling organizations would be one of those that were used to pull the cases together to work in a consistent and fair manner. >> time is expired. ms. chin ginza's recognized. >> thank you mr. chairman. we

since the supreme court of the united states ruled the death penalty in america in state and federalrts may only be imposed by juries, not judges, we've decided to use a jury that knows the case rather than a new jury. >> neil: i want to say the only thing live you're looking at is the seal in the courtroom from -- earlier of jodi arias on trial. we're waiting the jury's decision but none of the honchos have arrived so it might be behind schedule. dan springer is outside in a circles like atmosphere. how is it looking now? >> the crowd has grown on the steps of the courthouse here in maricopa county. they have crime tape on either side of the main aisle that leads people in and out but on either side, you have a crowd that's getting big. there are well over 300 people outside gathering around, waiting for the verdict. we just got word from our producer who has been inside during the trial and has been held outside the courtroom while the jury has been dib deliberating and she said they've not been allowed in, so it's being delayed a few minutes while they get the party inside. we und

senators trying to draw attention to the rise of nonprofits for some time in the wake of the citizens united ruling -- these are both democratic activists embrace the vehicle which had been freed today corporate money, union money, take unlimited funds from individuals to run political ads. they were trying to draw attention to some of these big groups on the left. andave seen priority usa patriot majority usa, which was started by a strategist who has .ead about harry reid on the right, we have ross rhodes gps, which stands for grassroots policy strategy. it was carl -- confided by karl rove. these are big fish that were out there. the buzzwords that were being used were patriots, tea party, 912 project, referring back to glenn beck's organization. we have seen this may the irs has not focused on some big political spenders but instead got wrapped up in these smaller organizations across the nation. host: we have got a timeline .com the national journal focus on the irs timeline -- host: the decision held the government could not stop unions from spending money to back or denounce political candid

but the real thing came after the supreme court citizens united ruling in 2010, is the group's campaign spending soared beyond 300 million. these are funds for political operations that provide anonymity to their owners. with that comes a lack of accountability. the irs, in my opinion, whether it's this or some other kind of exemption has the responsibility on behalf of the taxpayers look at these things. doing it impartially come, that is much of what the conversation was about. but specifically here, when it talks about civic leagues were organizations, operated exclusively for the politicization of social welfare. despite all of this is that we are in right now, sir, i would ask the irs continue to look at these particular exemptions. so that is my point on. i think one of the reasons we are so off on the subject is because barack obama took office in the stock market bubble, unemployment has dropped. >> a bill that republicans are pushing prioritizes the deck. it is something that we have equally. now they want to start prioritizing, which it, which means that we are not going to pa

. >> the united states is no longer ruling out army rebels in syria. the defense secretary says washington is reassessing its position, but that any decision has to be made together with international allies. >> president obama says he is considering all options in response to the apparent use of chemical weapons inside syria. stay with us. we'll be right back after a short break. >> welcome back. germany is preparing for its biggest turret -- terrorism trial since the 1970's. this time, the far right is in the dock, a group called the nsu. >> one woman and four men go on trial on monday accused of involvement in a series of murders targeting immigrants that left 10 people dead. >> authorities have been criticized for failing to solve those crimes. >> the killings have also caused much soul-searching among ordinary people. for example, in one town where one of the victims were shot dead. >> camille does not like coming here. the head of the foreigners council is still haunted by the memory of what played out at the site seven years ago. on april 6, 200