Scandal

If you're a big fan, you already knew what was coming in the season finale. But it didn't make it any easier -- or less heartbreaking -- to watch. The majority of the Season 3 "Downton" finale, or the "Christmas special" as its called in the U.K., took place in Scotland, where the whole family (minus Branson) visits the Highlands home of the Dowager's niece, Susan, and her husband, Shrimpy. Most of the trip included bagpipes, hunting, more bagpipes and Scottish reel dancing. But more on that later (and more on O'Brien meeting her Scottish lady's maid doppelganger)

Well, that didn't take long. Just as several genuine scandals cast the Obama administration in an unfavorable light, Republicans in Congress are already overreaching - with hyperbolic comparisons to Watergate, calls for special prosecutors, outrageous claims about President Barack Obama's involvement, possible impeachment and assorted hyper-partisan rhetoric. Just this weekend, there was Sen. Rand Paul on TV claiming there was a "written policy" at the Internal Revenue Service to target people opposed to President Obama.

President Barack Obama told several hundred people gathered at a Baltimore manufacturing plant on Friday that he would keep his administration focused on the economic recovery -- despite a series of political scandals that have rocked the administration in recent days. Obama spoke at Ellicott Dredges in broad terms about lifting the middle class by investing in infrastructure. He pressed lawmakers on Capitol Hill to work together despite partisan gridlock that has stymied progress on economic initiatives proposed by either party, but he offered little in the way of new ideas to address unemployment.  The president spoke to about 800 people at Ellicott Dredges at an event that drew most of the state's elected leaders, including Gov. Martin O'Malley, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and most of the state's congressional delegation.

As the White House spin doctors find it more and more difficult to cook up acceptable "talking points" for Benghazi and the IRS and Department of Justice situations, the new term "Trigate" seems to take over where "Watergate" once served. The morning paper gets more and more interesting as we read each day to see the new developments in Washington and peruse the administration's attempts at damage control. Dick Huffman, Timonium

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Rite Aid Corp.'s former chief executive Martin L. Grass pleaded guilty yesterday to two counts of conspiracy - to defraud shareholders and to obstruct justice - in one of the nation's biggest corporate accounting scandals in recent history. Grass, the son of Rite Aid's founder, agreed in a deal with federal prosecutors to serve up to eight years in prison and pay the government $3.5 million in fines and forfeitures. If approved by U.S. District Judge Sylvia H. Rambo, the sentence would be the stiffest punishment handed a former CEO for accounting fraud since corporate scandals at Enron, WorldCom and Adelphia began undermining investors' confidence, prosecutors said.

The cause of peaceful change in South Africa has taken a drubbing. While the government was preparing to negotiate the nation's future with the then-outlawed African National Congress, it was also subsidizing the rival Inkatha movement. The $700,000 in subsidies to which Law and Order Minister Adriaan Vlok admits is the smoking gun of South Africa's biggest scandal. A great deal of purposeful resolve will be needed from President F. W. De Klerk and ANC president Nelson Mandela to keep their relationship constructive.

The real scandal is why the IRS approved for tax-exempt status organizations that were plainly political and not "social welfare" organizations, as section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code requires ("Taxing the tea party," May 14). The GOP's phony outrage obscures the fact that not a single application from the tea party-affiliated organizations for tax exempt status was denied. They probably should have been. Mark Davis, Baltimore

So, an elderly man, well-known in his community, heads a charitable organization to serve young boys. Through that organization, he picks out certain boys to serve his sexual interests. His modus operandi is to give special attention to the boys he has chosen, get them alone and contrive a way to get them in a shower. A few people know of his disgraceful activities but don't have the moral backbone to speak up. Sounds exactly like a certain local judge and the Lancers boys club here in Baltimore about a decade ago. In that case, apparently, the elderly man satisfied himself just looking at the naked little boys.

One of the biggest aspects of the Penn State tragedy that has been overlooked is the courage and tenacity of the Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pa. While many details remain unclear, one thing that is apparent is that Penn State was a dominating and intimidating force in the community. No one went against them, even when there was strong, even overwhelming, evidence of significant wrongdoing. In comes 24-year-old Sara Ganim, a writer for the paper, who uncovers this story. And at her side was the editorial staff of the Patriot-News.

The scandal revealed by news reports of "Operation Fast and Furious," during which the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms allowed more than 2,000 automatic weapons and other guns to fall into the hands of Mexican drug cartel members, is a disgrace to the department and a gross violation of our border security. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder should resign his post as head of theJustice Department. What needs to be investigated now is what did President Obama know about this operation and when did he know it?

As it must come to all American presidents, it seems, Barack Obama's policy agenda is being crowded out of the headlines by the imperative of damage control against administration scandal. The allegations of incompetence or worse in the IRS' targeting of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, the Justice Department snooping on Associated Press reporters, and the State-CIA dispute over the origins of the Benghazi terrorist attacks comprise a three-pronged firestorm demanding swift smothering.

Amid the unfolding jail scandal in Baltimore right now, there are two things relevant to the gay community that I want to bring up. I'm not sure if there are any connections between the two, or if one affects the other. But viewed together, they do present some interesting questions. First: Non-heterosexual inmates in jails and prisons across the country reported a far greater degree of sexual victimization in the last two years than their straight counterparts, according to a study released by the U.S. Department of Justice last week.

Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland used a rare opportunity to speak on behalf of the Republican Party on Saturday to tie the unfolding IRS scandal to President Barack Obama's 2010 overhaul of the nation's health care system. Noting that the Internal Revenue Service will be responsible with taxing individuals who fail to obtain health insurance, Harris argued that, "if we've learned anything this week, it's that the IRS needs less power, not more. " Harris, an anesthesiologist, was chosen by Republican leaders to offer the weekly address days after the House of Representatives voted to repeal the health care law, much of which takes effect next year.

The real scandal is why the IRS approved for tax-exempt status organizations that were plainly political and not "social welfare" organizations, as section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code requires ("Taxing the tea party," May 14). The GOP's phony outrage obscures the fact that not a single application from the tea party-affiliated organizations for tax exempt status was denied. They probably should have been. Mark Davis, Baltimore

When the storm of administration scandals first hit President Barack Obama, he offered a good impersonation of Claude Raines in "Casablanca," expressing shock that gambling was going on in Rick's saloon. His verbal outrage at the snooping of the IRS and his Justice Department was intense, but not very reassuring. That's why the next day he announced the dismissal of the acting IRS director as a quick response to the disclosure of the tax agency's intrusion, which was reminiscent of the Watergate era. But on Thursday, Mr. Obama declined to apologize for his administration's reactions to the Benghazi terrorist attacks and for the secret scrutinizing of Associated Press reporters' phone calls.

President Barack Obama told several hundred people gathered at a Baltimore manufacturing plant on Friday that he would keep his administration focused on the economic recovery -- despite a series of political scandals that have rocked the administration in recent days. Obama spoke at Ellicott Dredges in broad terms about lifting the middle class by investing in infrastructure. He pressed lawmakers on Capitol Hill to work together despite partisan gridlock that has stymied progress on economic initiatives proposed by either party, but he offered little in the way of new ideas to address unemployment.  The president spoke to about 800 people at Ellicott Dredges at an event that drew most of the state's elected leaders, including Gov. Martin O'Malley, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and most of the state's congressional delegation.

It's a sad state of affairs when Baltimore police officers have to resort to this type of activity ("Dishonoring the badge," Feb. 25) because they do not get paid a decent salary. The police had to take a pay cut. I suggest, as a show of good faith, that politicians get an epiphany and take a pay cut or furlough days as well. Judy Berlin, Baltimore

The U.S. Naval Academy badly wants to put behind it the worst cheating scandal in its history and polish up a tarnished image. Contrary to what it had hoped, however, the panel of officers that ruled on misconduct charges against more than 100 midshipmen has not restored confidence that honor and fairness govern what goes on in Annapolis.The 1992 cheating scandal became a scandal in the first place because of suspicions that the academy didn't try to get to the bottom of the problem and didn't mete out punishments equitably.

Well, this is a fine mess. After years of moaning about various "conspiracies" against them, conservative activists finally have a real (i.e., not manufactured by Fox or inflated by Rush Limbaugh) piece of evidence to take before the court of public opinion. Meaning, of course, last week's revelation that the Internal Revenue Service has been giving extra scrutiny to groups with the words "tea party" or "patriot" in their names. Extra scrutiny from the IRS is about as welcome as extra scrutiny from the proctologist, so one can hardly blame conservative groups for complaining, as they've done since last year.

Fox News is not backing off on the Baltimore prison story scandal despite a bunch of big national stories that have conservatives salivating over the damage they see the Obama administration suffering. Take a look at this video (below) from Bill O'Reilly that features Jesse Watters bird-dogging Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and Gary Maynard, the chief of Maryland prisons. Check out O'Reilly saying that Maynard "sounds like a moron. " I asked O'Malley about it Tuesday morning in Joppa during a set visit he paid to the soundstages where "House of Cards" is filmed.