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CitizenLink Report: Conservatives Sue the IRS - YouTube
Channel: Family Policy Alliance
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this is the citizenlink report if you
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on donate thanks from all of us
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conservative groups that were improperly
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targeted by the irs are going to court
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against the government this is the
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citizenlink report i'm stuart shepard
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along with bruce house connect who
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follows the courts for us hi bruce hi
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stuart what's coming out of the hearing
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so far should have every american
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sitting on the edge of their seat
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concerned about what's happening in
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washington yeah this is an agency of the
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executive branch of government that has
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run amok
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we have found out since
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earlier this year that
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over 300 conservative groups
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have been essentially slow walked
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through the irs application process for
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tax exemption
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the irs has been audited by its own
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inspector general uh that works for the
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treasury department and what he has
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found and has what he has reported
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through his audit and through testimony
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is that this is an unprecedented action
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by the irs against conservative groups
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he says he hasn't seen anything like
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this since the nixon era now one
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interesting aspect of this which you've
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been pointing out is the groups were not
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denied their status
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they were just slowed down tell us why
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that's important well if someone had
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been rejected
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they
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they would have a reason to sue the the
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rejected parties but of the 300
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approximately 300 organization
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applications that he audited
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he said
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that
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108 had been approved
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and that 28 were withdrawn mostly
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because they were tired of going through
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the process and that left 160
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applications open none had been denied
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because once you deny something you give
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someone a cause of action to file a
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complaint go to congress
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and cause a ruckus something that will
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show up something that might make it
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into the papers that's right now if you
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keep promising that you can get your tax
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exemption if you give us 1200 more
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documents or promise
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this
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then we'll look at it so here fill out
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another form send it to us and we'll get
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back to you and part of the reason this
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worked i think is because most
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non-profit groups don't want to put in
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their newsletter don't want to send out
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to the folks who follow them hey we're
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being audited hey we're trying to get
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our tax exempt status but it's dragging
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on and on because it it gives the
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impression that you might be doing
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something wrong
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now we've seen an interesting dynamic
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groups all over coming out saying hey
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look we're on the list too and now it's
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actually become in a weird sense a bit
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of a positive for non-profits well
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that's that is true and once you realize
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that you're part of a larger group that
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is being targeted by the federal
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government there is this sort of coming
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together and that's what essentially
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caused the tea party movement to come up
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to you know prominence in 2010 anyway
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and that's what most of these groups are
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one of the groups that has been getting
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some attention is called true the vote
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they started in houston texas but then
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became more of a national movement they
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have a very simple goal in mind they
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just want to make sure that when people
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vote they're actually citizens actually
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have a pulse actually that the address
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they put on the registration is a house
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not a vacant lot you know that sort of
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thing well katherine engelbreit who's
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the president and founder of that
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organization says the 2012 election was
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an eye-opening experience
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it was really the first time that we
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took the national stage in politics and
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our goal was to make an impact on the
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debate of an election that would go on
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to become one of the most expensive and
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most polarizing that we've had in the
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history of our country
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it was amazing to see how quickly this
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organic movement spread as our effort
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grew and our research made national
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headlines it was encouraging to see that
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the country was on our side
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now
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with november behind us
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what we are seeing is that the effort to
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derail citizen engagement is more
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organized than it has ever been now it's
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worth pointing out that not only was her
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organization hit with an audit but she
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personally was as well yes that's right
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she and her husband own a business
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and it manufactures things and suddenly
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besides the trouble with the irs she was
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getting phone calls from the fbi they
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had an investigation going on one of her
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employees
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and then osha showed up wanted to uh
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investigate whether her
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facilities were safe and gave her a huge
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fine to some twenty five thousand
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dollars
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who else showed up um the texas version
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of the environmental protection agency
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showed up and and said hey you're not in
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compliance you need to spend another
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forty thousand dollars building some
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storage sheds for your for your process
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so she had the full weight of government
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come down on her in the two years
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following coincidentally it just all
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sort of happened in that window of time
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you know i can see lightning hitting
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hitting a house once but hitting the
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house five times
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for five different storms in the same
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two-year period no that doesn't happen
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and as we mentioned the organization was
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audited their business was audited i
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mean the irs showed up on their doorstep
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as well that's kind of a rough year for
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anybody and but that's apparently been
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echoed over and over again around the
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country now one interesting aspect of
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this the articles i've been reading in
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the mainstream media i've been reading
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more than i ought to well go so far as
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to say well the actions of the irs to
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slow down the process of getting your
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proper non-profit status work to
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hurt these groups as far as raising
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money but they kind of stopped there but
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but the real impact of this was all
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about the 2012 election it had to do
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with keeping conservative voices out of
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the conversation during an election
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season well yes and it even goes back to
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the 2010 uh interim elections too
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because a lot of these tea party groups
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came
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to being in that year prior to the 2010
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elections which proved to be a big sweep
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of congress for republican candidates so
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yes it has definitely impacted the
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election process let's talk a bit about
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the breadth of the groups that have been
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hit by this
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many now as we just have talked about a
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couple of minutes ago are coming forward
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saying we were hit too we were hit too i
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know since since this came to light
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we've
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heard from billy graham evangelistic
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association and franklin graham's
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organization samaritan's purse
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and another newspaper in north carolina
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called the biblical recorder that's been
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around for 133 years
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those organizations were audited for the
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very first time by the irs following
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some ads that they ran in the newspaper
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supporting north carolina's marriage
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amendment that was approved by the
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voters a year ago and
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it's just amazing that the coincidence
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of a three-organization audit would
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happen just following
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some newspaper ads that those
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organizations put in the paper saying
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vote your values and we can't say too
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many times only conservative
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organizations were hit
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liberal groups appeared to have a quick
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path through the irs and got all the
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paperwork done and were out there doing
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probably far more political activity
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than they should be doing under their
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non-profit status meanwhile conservative
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groups are being hit over and over again
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and by that ask yourself this do you
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believe that marriage is the union of a
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man and a woman do you believe that life
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is sacred and that babies in the womb
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should be protected do you believe in
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all the things that conservativism
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stands for in the broader sense
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including the that we should be a nation
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founded upon the constitution a lot of
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folks support gun rights and are very
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active on on that particular issue those
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are the groups that were targeted
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exclusively right in fact there's a
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there's a story being reported out there
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that obama's half-brother president
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obama's half-brother from kenya
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filed an application for a 501c3
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tax-exempt foundation
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his uh application was approved in one
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month
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and it was backdated two and a half
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years so that donors to his foundation
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could get
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a tax exempt
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uh receipt
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going back two and a half years which i
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understand exceeds the power of the eye
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of the irs to even grant yeah so yes
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what needs to happen
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well there's a new commissioner uh danny
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werfel is is the new irs commissioner
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who acting commissioner acting
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commissioner appointed after uh doug
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shulman resigned
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and uh he has promised to get to the
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bottom of this he he is not with the irs
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previous to this so
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hopefully his promise to clean up the
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irs
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bring it to light find out who is
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violating the law because it appears
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some federal laws have been violated
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fire people we need to find out who's
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broken the laws and send some send a few
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people to jail over this thing it's that
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serious all right bruce thank you for
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your insights appreciate it sure and we
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appreciate hearing from you you may
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always write to us at mail at
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citizenlink.com we appreciate your
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comments your questions your criticisms
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are welcome as well we do read every
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note that comes in even though we don't
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always get to respond to all of them we
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do read everyone personally when it gets
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here we encourage you to pray for the
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members of congress who are heading up
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these hearings that are going on pray
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that they would have the ability to ask
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the insightful question the incisive
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question that will help cut to the heart
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of this so that we can get some truth
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about what actually went on and what
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needs to happen next and remember stand
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tall and be heard
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you
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