THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERNET

AFTERBURNER: THE END OF THE BEGINNING

TRIFECTA: TRAMPLING THE FOURTH AMENDMENT

ORWELLIAN: "SHARED RESPONSIBILITY PAYMENTS"

Once upon a time, Dear Leader promoted his health care plan by insisting that the individual mandate wasn't a tax.  Then, his minions argued before the Supreme Court that it was a tax.  But guess what?  The regime doesn't want you to think about all that.  So instead of calling the penalty a tax (the Supreme Court decided that ObamaCare is constitutional because the mandate is a tax) it is to be referred to only as the "shared responsibility payment."

The Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) final rule on Obamacare's individual mandate, released this week, uses the term "Shared Responsibility Payments" 63 times to describe the mandate's non-compliance penalty, which the Supreme Court in 2012 defined as a tax.

The 75-page rule published by the IRS, which is tasked with enforcing Obamacare as the law is fully implemented in 2014, is entitled "Shared Responsibility Payment for Not Maintaining Minimum Essential Coverage."

While the Obama administration originally pitched the individual mandate as a penalty, not a tax, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts ruled in June 2012 that Obamacare is only constitutional because the individual mandate is technically a tax.

Using the term "shared responsibility payment" to refer to what was legally defined as a tax might constitute an act of dishonesty on the part of the Obama administration, according to one expert.

THE OBAMACARE DATABASE HORROR

Obamacare's Branch of the NSA
Community organizers will use a Federal Data Hub to sign up people for subsidies — and even ballots.

The Department of Health and Human Services is about to hire an army of "patient navigators" to inform Americans about the subsidized insurance promised by Obamacare and assist them in enrolling. These organizers will be guided by the new Federal Data Hub, which will give them access to reams of personal information compiled by federal agencies ranging from the IRS to the Department of Defense and the Veterans Administration.

"The federal government is planning to quietly enact what could be the largest consolidation of personal data in the history of the republic," Paul Howard of the Manhattan Institute and Stephen T. Parente, a University of Minnesota finance professor, wrote in USA Today. No wonder that there are concerns about everything from identity theft to the ability of navigators to use the system to register Obamacare participants to vote.

CLAPPER IS ANOTHER OF THE REGIME'S LIARS

Via New York Magazine:

As we now know, the NSA has been collecting data on millions of domestic and international phone calls for some time now — since 2006, according to Dianne Feinstein. Maybe this bothers you; maybe it doesn't. Feinstein insists the program is an essential part of "protecting America"; Congressman Mike Rogers says it has already been "used to stop a terrorist attack in the United States."

But one person who doesn't like the idea of the NSA spying on Americans is Oregon senator Ron Wyden. And at a hearing in March, he asked James Clapper, the director of National Intelligence, a straightforward question: "Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?"

Clapper's answer? "No, sir ... not wittingly."

Update, 5:13 p.m.: Clapper tells the National Journal, "What I said was, the NSA does not voyeuristically pore through U.S. citizens' e-mails. I stand by that." Except ... that's not what he said.

James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence

DEAR LEADER HATES WHAT HE CAN'T CONTROL

Noel Sheppard points out a statement made by Chuck Todd on Meet the Press: "The rise of the internet media and social media and all that stuff - he hates it."

CHUCK TODD: What I wonder how many people realized at the end [of Saturday's White House Correspondents' Dinner] when he did his, you know, there's always this part at the end where they get serious for a minute. And it’s usually the part where presidents say, "You know, I think the press has a good job to do and I understand what they have to do." He didn't say that. He wasn't very complimentary of the press. You know, we all can do better.

It did seem, I thought his pot shots joke wise and then the serious stuff about the internet, the rise of the internet media and social media and all that stuff - he hates it. Okay? He hates this part of the media. He really thinks that the sort of buzzification - this isn't just about Buzzfeed or Politico and all this stuff - he thinks that sort of coverage of political media has hurt political discourse. He hates it. And I think he was trying to make that clear last night.

But does he really hate it?  Or does he simply hate the fact that he can't control it the way he does the Establishment Media?  What he really hates is that new media, social media, the blogosphere, etc. allows groups and even individuals (including your humble blogger) the opportunity to disrupt The Narrative.

But as Ed Driscoll points out, Obama loves new media when it's his own supporters who are waging war.

While the JournoList was busy defending Obama from attacks, it was a member of Obama's campaign in 2007 who mashed up the viral video that launched Obama’s presidential bid via social media, by accusing Hillary Clinton of being the reincarnation of Big Brother from George Orwell’s 1984.

The terrorist attack on Benghazi on September 11th 2012, and the eventual feckless "What difference does it make?" response to the Senate by Obama's Secretary of State — the same Hillary Clinton his election campaign repeatedly denigrated would eventually turn the message of Obama's earlier Orwell-inspired video in on itself. Not the least of which because the man responsible for the piece of social media that the Obama administration initially tried to pin the attack on, during their initial modified limited hangout, is still rotting in jail.

So yes, we know "the rise of the internet media and social media and all that stuff — [President Obama] hates it. Okay? He hates this part of the media." Every day that YouTube user Nakoula Basseley Nakoula remains incarcerated is proof enough.