TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 189.

UPDATE: The One Question to Be Asked at EVERY Round of the IRS Scandal Hearings.

LIKE PEELING AN ONION OF FAIL: New security issues emerge for ACA site.

ZEKE EMANUEL REVEALS OBAMACARE’S ORIGINAL SIN: “We needed a CEO who understood.” Yeah, but we elected a community organizer.

Takeaway phrase on this whole debacle, from the WaPo sum-up: “They were running the biggest start-up in the world, and they didn’t have anyone who had run a start-up, or even run a business.”

THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED REPUBLICAN, THE GOVERNMENT WOULD PERSECUTE PEOPLE BASED ON WHAT BOOKS THEY READ IN SOME SORT OF MCCARTHYITE WITCH-HUNT. AND THEY WERE RIGHT!

U.S. agencies collected and shared the personal information of thousands of Americans in an attempt to root out untrustworthy federal workers that ended up scrutinizing people who had no direct ties to the U.S. government and simply had purchased certain books. . . .

It turned out, however, that many people on the list worked outside the federal government and lived across the country. Among the people whose personal details were collected were nurses, firefighters, police officers and private attorneys, McClatchy learned. Also included: a psychologist, a cancer researcher and employees of Rite Aid, Paramount Pictures, the American Red Cross and Georgetown University. . . . The unprecedented creation of such a list and decision to disseminate it widely demonstrate the ease with which the federal government can collect and share Americans’ personal information, even when there’s no clear reason for doing so.

There should be a lot of firings. But in this administration, how likely is that?

SHOCKER: Europe Increasingly Skeptical Of Obama.

One of the allies’ problems in dealing with the president, according to the official, is that Mr. Obama “does not do consultation, and he doesn’t do discussion with allies. He reports, and he describes his analytical process.”

Yeah, that’s a problem here at home, too.

DISASTER BROTHERS. So Zeke Emanuel was behind ObamaCare, and meanwhile in the city that Rahm Emanuel is running: Chicago Bond Yields Soar As City Pension Costs Mount.

ED DRISCOLL: Walking In A Weimar Wonderland.

AT AMAZON, pre-Black Friday deals in GPS and Navigation.

Also, this week only, up to 50% off on slippers, boots and more.

Plus, today only: Fujifilm X-S1 12 MP Digital Camera with 26x Zoom, $379.00 (46% off).

Also today only: 67% Off The Mel Brooks Complete Collection on DVD and Blu-ray. I have that collection. It rocks.

NOW, A MESSAGE FROM VIRTUAL PRESIDENT BILL WHITTLE, ON LEGISLATION. I think we’d be better off if he were our real President.

THAT’S OKAY, HE FEELS THE SAME WAY ABOUT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE: Locked In The Cabinet:

“We are completely marginalized … until the shit hits the fan,” says one former Cabinet deputy secretary, summing up the view of many officials I interviewed. “If your question is: Did the president rely a lot on his Cabinet as a group of advisers? No, he didn’t,” says former Obama Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Management.

HOPEY-CHANGEY: Kansas town’s employees lose health care coverage due to Obamacare.

JONAH GOLDBERG: Obamacare Schadenfreudarama: It feels pretty good to watch the whole thing fail.

This very magazine has been downright funereal about the brazen and unconstitutional seizure of one-sixth of the economy, and rightly so.

But come on, people.

If you can’t take some joy, some modicum of relief and mirth, in the unprecedentedly spectacular beclowning of the president, his administration, its enablers, and, to no small degree, liberalism itself, then you need to ask yourself why you’re following politics in the first place. Because, frankly, this has been one of the most enjoyable political moments of my lifetime. I wake up in the morning and rush to find my just-delivered newspaper with a joyful expectation of worsening news so intense, I feel like Morgan Freeman should be narrating my trek to the front lawn. Indeed, not since Dan Rather handcuffed himself to a fraudulent typewriter, hurled it into the abyss, and saw his career plummet like Ted Kennedy was behind the wheel have I enjoyed a story more.

There is a certain pleasure in seeing fools and liars get their comeuppance, especially when that comeuppance is self-administered. Me, I just keep repeating: IT’S THE LAW OF THE LAND!!!

HMM: Court: Homeland Security Must Disclose ‘Internet Kill Switch.’

NATIONAL JOURNAL: The Emerging Democratic Divide Over Obamacare: President Obama is facing the reality that longtime allies are now looking out for their own survival, not taking one for the team.

IRS SCANDAL UPDATE: IRS Releases Tax Exempt Organizations Training Materials Following Tax Analysts Lawsuit.

JAMES TARANTO: A Noble Lie? Why ObamaCare is worse than just a case of pathological altruism.

That evaluation seems increasingly delusional with every passing hour, but let’s stipulate for the sake of argument that ObamaCare was a well-intended policy: that Obama pushed for it out of a sincere desire to help people. That would make its failure an example of what the scholar Barbara Oakley calls pathological altruism.

That seems to us, however, to give Obama too much credit. For one thing, it takes more than altruistic motives to justify lying. Suppose one could establish that Bernie Madoff sincerely wanted to make his clients wealthier. Would that mitigate his guilt for defrauding them?

Further, good intentions are not the same as pure intentions. People often have altruistic and selfish motives for the same action. Even if we assume Obama honestly wanted to help people and made his fraudulent promise in pursuit of that goal, it would be silly to deny he also made it in pursuit of his own aggrandizement–of the approbation that comes with a “legacy” of substantial “achievement.”

Of course, that’s not working out so well for him now. Whether or not this is a case of pathological altruism, it definitely is pathological narcissism.

Emphasis on the pathological part.

MEDIA MATTERS IS JUST THERE TO HELP LEFTY JOURNOS FEEL OKAY ABOUT THEIR BIAS: “Meagan Hatcher-Mays of Media Matters doesn’t like my column on the fight over Obama’s three nominations to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. I figured I’d read the post and see if there’s any good point in it I missed. Spoiler: There wasn’t.”

HOPEY-CHANGEY: Number of Taxpayers Who Renounced U.S. Citizenship Skyrockets to All-Time Record High.

USA TODAY EDITORIAL: Obamacare credibility going up in smoke.

MORE BAD NUMBERS: In Just Six Weeks, GOP Erase Democrats’ 9-Point Generic Congressional Ballot Lead.

THE COUNTRY’S IN THE VERY BEST OF HANDS: Two Secret Service agents cut from Obama’s detail after alleged misconduct. “The disruption at the Hay-Adams in May involved Ignacio Zamora Jr., a senior supervisor who oversaw about two dozen agents in the Secret Service’s most elite assignment — the president’s security detail. Zamora was allegedly discovered attempting to reenter a woman’s room after accidentally leaving behind a bullet from his service weapon. The incident has not been previously reported.”

How, exactly, do you leave behind a bullet from your service weapon? Like this: “The review found that Zamora had removed ammunition from the chamber of his government-issued handgun during his stay in the room and then left behind a single bullet. He returned to the room when he realized his mistake. The guest refused to let him back in.” But why? Shouldn’t it have just stayed in the holster, whatever hanky-panky went on?

BAD NUMBERS: Health-Site Tallies Deal Hard Blow to White House. “The Obama administration said Wednesday that 26,794 Americans selected a private insurance plan sold through the troubled federally run health exchange in its first month, falling far short of initial expectations.” Ya think?

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: WebMD pockets millions from feds to promote Obamacare. Kinda makes me trust ’em less. Who else are they taking money from?

LIFE IN THE ERA OF HOPE AND CHANGE: Brooklyn Rabbi: Gang Of Teens Playing Disturbing Game Of ‘Knock Out The Jew.’ “Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind said the attacks are not muggings. It’s not about money. He said the victims are being attacked because they are Jews. Behrman said he believes the assaults are part of a disturbing game by some African-American teens.”

THIS WON’T WIN FRIENDS, BUT IT’LL PROBABLY INFLUENCE SOME PEOPLE. SEIU Prepares Airport Protests to Snag Holiday Travel. Someone should go to major airports and hand out cards with the home address and telephone numbers of SEIU officials to stranded flyers.

I also don’t understand why unions shouldn’t be liable for the costs and damage they inflict on third parties in situations like this. If they go ahead, some enterprising House Republican should introduce the Air Travelers’ Protection Act to cover such events . . . .