Golly Gee, IRS Failed To Follow Law On Archiving Email

By William Teach June 25, 2014 – 6:43 am

Who would have thought it?

(NY Times) The Internal Revenue Service did not follow the law when it failed to report a hard drive crash that destroyed emails belonging to a senior official at the center of a scandal over the agency’s treatment of conservative-leaning political groups, the nation’s top archivist said Tuesday.

“In accordance with the Federal Records Act, when an agency becomes aware of an incident of unauthorized destruction, they must report the incident to us,” said David S. Ferriero, the chief archivist at the National Archives.

Mr. Ferriero made his remarks at a congressional hearing examining the 2011 disappearance of emails sent and received by Lois Lerner, the former I.R.S. official who is accused of politically motivated mistreatment of Tea Party-aligned groups seeking tax exemptions.

Hey, NY Times, they also lost the records for six other IRS employees implicated in the targeting scheme.

Mr. Ferriero would not say that anyone at the I.R.S. committed a crime, only that the agency “did not follow the law.” He said he learned of the missing emails on June 13, when the agency made the disclosure in a filing to Congress.

Oops, looks like the Times forgot something else

Ferriero: “That’s right.”

(Rep David) Walberg: “Did they break the law?”

Ferrerio: “I’m not a lawyer.”

Walberg: “But you administer the Federal Records Act.”

Ferriero: “I do.”

Walberg: “If they didn’t follow it, can we safely assume they broke the law?”

Ferriero: “They did not follow the law.”

He wouldn’t say because he’s not a lawyer. Typical weaselly government speak. If they did not follow the law, they broke it. See what would happen if you used the “dog ate my tax returns” excuse to the IRS. See what would happen if an agency like the SEC came calling to your business and you lost emails that were involved in securities fraud.

Fortunately, this very important news is buried on page A15.

Then there’s this

White House attorney Jennifer O’Connor testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Tuesday that she couldn’t recall who she worked with during her six months at the IRS.

Darrell Issa was not amused by Rep. Jason Chavez’ line of questioning on this

During Chaffetz’s exchange, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) interrupted: “Mr. Chairman, I think you might be unfair to the witness. The fact is that last night, the commissioner could not remember 60 days ago who told him about the importance of losing those documents.

“Last night, he could not narrow less than 60 days within 30 days when he was told. I think that in fact the ability to remember at the IRS is simply limited,” Issa concluded.

Not amused, snarky.

Finally, the IRS without a “smidgen of corruption” has settled a lawsuit

The Daily Signal has learned that, under a consent judgment today, the IRS agreed to pay $50,000 in damages to the National Organization for Marriage as a result of the unlawful release of the confidential information to a gay rights group, the Human Rights Campaign, that is NOM’s chief political rival.

No, no corruption.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Obama Admin Won’t Say How Many Illegals Were Released

By William Teach June 24, 2014 – 2:41 pm

Most transparent administration ever?

(AP) The Obama administration has released into the U.S. an untold number of immigrant families caught traveling illegally from Central America in recent months — and although the government knows how many it’s released, it won’t say publicly.

Senior U.S. officials directly familiar with the issue, including at the Homeland Security Department and White House, have so far dodged the answer on at least seven occasions over two weeks, alternately saying that they did not know the figure or didn’t have it immediately at hand. “We will get back to you,” the Homeland Security deputy secretary said Friday.

The figure is widely believed to exceed 40,000 since October. It’s believed to be slightly below the roughly 52,000 children caught traveling illegally from Central America over the same period, an extraordinary increase since last year that is driving a humanitarian crisis at the border. (snip)

The administration did not immediately respond Monday to renewed questions about why it won’t reveal the figure.

When the narrative shifts from “what are the numbers?” to “why won’t you release the numbers?”, there is a big, big problem with government transparency, and it certainly makes a citizen wonder what the government is hiding. Of course, it could simply be that those in the Obama admin just don’t feel like doing the job in getting the numbers. Pure laziness. Or, they just might be so used to being secretive and stonewalling that there is nothing nefarious, just business as usual for Team O.

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If All You See…

By William Teach June 24, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…is a horrible fossil fueled vehicle causing palm trees to grow in New Hampshire, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The First Street Journal, with a post on the brutal choices for Iraq.

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Bummer: Climate Friendly Noisemaker Banned From World Cup

By William Teach June 24, 2014 – 11:37 am

Why, you ask?

Brazil’s winning on the soccer field — and in battling climate change

At this year’s World Cup Soccer tournament, Brazil introduced a new noisemaker for the home crowds — the caxirola, an environmentally friendly shaker that evoked Brazil’s Afro-Caribbean roots.

Unfortunately, the caxirola also turned out to be an effective missile for angry fans, and it has been banned from the matches. Now the caxirola, like the massive stadiums built for the event, serves as a symbol of the wasteful, excessive spending that has angered so many Brazilians.

Wait, soccer fans getting violent? The hell you say!

Fortunately, there is good news out of Brazil that runs counter to the ‘waste’ narrative.

A new paper in Science says that since 2005, the rate of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has dropped 70 percent, and Brazil now leads the world in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Dan Nepstad, the executive director and founder of Earth Innovation Institute and one of the authors of the paper, says he is “fascinated” by how little the Brazilian government has made of this.

“Brazil really could very legitimately say to the world, ‘We’re not just the best in soccer, we’re the best in agricultural growth, and we’re also doing our part to keep forests standing, protect indigenous lands and greatly lower greenhouse gas emissions,’” Nepstad adds.

Sigh. Once again, a real environmental issue is rolled under the banner of “climate change”.

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New Report Breathlessly Prognosticates Economic Doom From Global Warming

By William Teach June 24, 2014 – 7:26 am

Here’s Justin Gillis, one of the journalistic world’s biggest Warmists and climahysterics

Bipartisan Report Tallies High Toll on Economy From Global Warming

More than a million homes and businesses along the nation’s coasts could flood repeatedly before ultimately being destroyed. Entire states in the Southeast and the Corn Belt may lose much of their agriculture as farming shifts northward in a warming world. Heat and humidity will probably grow so intense that spending time outside will become physically dangerous, throwing industries like construction and tourism into turmoil.

That is the picture of what may happen to the United States economy in a world of unchecked global warming, according to a major new report being put forward Tuesday by a coalition of senior political and economic figures from the left, right and center, including three Treasury secretaries stretching back to the Nixon administration.

You simply have to love the carnival palm reader certainty of the report.

“I actually do believe that we’re at a tipping point with the planet,” Mr. Paulson said in an interview at his home in Chicago. “A lot of things are going to happen that none of us are going to like to see.”

So far, virtually every prognostication from Warmists has failed. Meanwhile, none of this is news, since previous Holocene warm periods were warmer than the current one.

“Here we have this existential threat that I really do think has the possibility of being catastrophic, and I don’t think people have any sense of that,” Mr. Rubin said.

Uh huh. Apparently, humans saw catastrophe during previous warm periods and virtually died out. What? No? Human society thrived during warm periods? And saw massive hardship during the cool ones? Goodness!

The campaign behind the new report, called Risky Business, is funded largely by three wealthy financiers who are strong advocates of action on global warming: Mr. Paulson, who with his wife, Wendy, has helped finance conservation efforts for decades; Thomas F. Steyer, a billionaire former hedge fund executive and Democrat who is pushing to make global warming a central issue in political races around the country; and Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York, who now urges cities to confront the threat of climate change.

The players should tell you all you need to know about the issue.

Mr. Houser called the analysis “the most detailed modeling ever done on the impact of climate change on specific sectors of the U.S. economy.”

Hooray, more models! Because they’ve worked so well so far.

If greenhouse gas emissions continue at a rapid pace, the report said, the global sea level could increase roughly a foot by 2050, and double or triple that by century’s end. A rise of as much as six or eight feet cannot be entirely ruled out, but that is more likely in the next century.

Pull my finger.

If emissions continue apace, the combination of heat and humidity projected for some regions, particularly the Southeast, at century’s end means that anyone working outside at certain times will face a high risk of life-threatening heat stroke. And in the 22nd century, much of the eastern half of the country could face these conditions for weeks on end, the researchers predicted.

Funny, “emissions” have been rising, yet there has been an almost 18 year pause, over half the satellite record. Oh, sorry, these things “could” happen in the far flung future. It’s such an existential threat that Warmists like Paulson, Bloomberg, and Steyer have completely changed their lives to be carbon neutral, and are exhorting fellow Warmists to do the same. What’s that? They haven’t? Who woulda thunk it?

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Great Optics: Democrats Protecting IRS

By William Teach June 24, 2014 – 7:07 am

It’s not the first time House Democrats have been caught protecting the IRS and high ranking employees as the IRS targeting scandal rolls on, and it surely won’t be the last (video is available at each link)

(Mediaite) Democratic Congresswoman Jackie Speier followed up a Republican grilling IRS Commissioner John Koskinen by scolding fellow Republicans for “badgering” him. Speier spoke up after Jim Jordan got rather confrontational with Koskinen about how long he knew about the missing IRS emails before they informed Congress. Jordan was practically fuming at Koskinen for how he kept Congress in the dark, and after his time was up, Speier jumped in with some criticisms for her Republican colleagues.

She said “badgering witnesses is inappropriate and shameful for this committee to conduct itself in that matter” and told Darrell Issa he needs to do a better job of enforcing the rules on House decorum.

She even threatened to walk out.

(Mediaite) Democratic Congressman Elijah Cummings took a few minutes during Monday night’s IRS hearing to apologize to IRS Commissioner John Koskinen for putting him through “hell” by subjecting him to a politically-motivated hearing instead of one concerned with the facts. He opened by saying, “I thank you from the depths of my heart.”

Cummings scolded his fellow committee members and got angrier as he continued.

“I appreciate you coming into this institution, giving it the best you’ve got, and then having to come in here and go through this hell!”

Think about that one. The IRS has been playing games and stonewalling for well over a year now, even “losing” relevant emails for not just Lois Lerner, but other employees involved in the targeting scheme, and Democrats are praising the IRS as well as protecting the agency. The words of these Democrats should end up in opposition campaign commercials, because the IRS is certainly the most despised federal agency of all. When it comes calling, every US citizen immediately believes they will be put through hell, and many are. The IRS scares the living hell out of citizens. They put Tea Party groups through hell with their targeting schemes.

Meanwhile, Darrell Issa has subpoenaed Jennifer O’Connor, a White House lawyer, who had worked for the IRS, to testify Tuesday, after the White House declined to make her available. The WH is supposedly complying with the subpoena.

Finally, check out Trey Goudy grilling the IRS head

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Surprise: Greenpeace Senior Exec Takes 250 Mile Fossil Fueled Flight

By William Teach June 23, 2014 – 5:05 pm

What’s the big deal about that? This

One of Greenpeace’s most senior executives commutes 250 miles to work by plane, despite the environmental group’s campaign to curb air travel, it has emerged.

Pascal Husting, Greenpeace International’s international programme director, said he began “commuting between Luxembourg and Amsterdam” when he took the job in 2012 and currently made the round trip about twice a month. (snip)

But Mr Husting defended the arrangement, telling the Telegraph that while he would “rather not take” the journey it was necessary as it would otherwise be “a twelve hour round trip by train”.

“I spend half my life on skype and video conference calls,” he said. “But as a senior manager, the people who work in my team sometimes need to meet me in the flesh, that’s why I’ve been going to Amsterdam twice a month while my team was being restructured.”

Or, he could just move to Amsterdam. Of course, there’s an excuse for that

Kumi Naidoo, Greenpeace’s top executive director, told the Guardian that while Mr Husting “wishes there was an express train between his home and his office… it would currently be a 12-hour round trip by train”.

“Pascal has a young family in Luxembourg. When he was offered the new role he couldn’t move his family to Amsterdam straight away. He’d be the first to say he hates the commute, hates having to fly, but right now he hasn’t got much of an option until he can move.”

Lord knows, we wouldn’t want him to have to take the same type of travel all the plebeians take, am I right? As mick_collins points out in the comments

He could catch a train and get there in 4.48hrs for €61 if he really wanted to. It would mean him travelling 2nd class first thing with the ordinarys though.
He could use one of those nice hybrid cars that the Greens are always banging on about. AA route finder suggests that it’s only 225 mile or so which is about 3 gallons in a VW Diesel. He could probably knock that sort of distance off in 3-4 hrs tops.
Let’s face it, he catches the plane because it makes him feel good.
And he can get away with it.

He could also purchase an all electric vehicle.

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Rep Jackie Speiers (D) To Introduce Whiny E-Cigarette Bill

By William Teach June 23, 2014 – 2:01 pm

But, hey, it’s for the kids or something!

(AP) U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier is proposing legislation that would regulate electronic cigarettes in the same way that tobacco products are currently regulated.

Speier, D-Hillsborough, announced the proposed law — called the Stop Selling and Marketing to Our Kids E-Cigarettes Act, or SMOKE — on Friday morning in front of the San Francisco General Hospital emergency room.

Speier says the e-cigarette industry is targeting children and teenagers by offering products flavored like gummy bears, cotton candy and chocolate cake.

Parts of the legislation would prohibit the use of flavorings in the products and require the Food and Drug Administration to establish childproof packaging standards and dosage limits.

This is simply using kids to enforce the Nanny State, because You just can’t be trusted to make your own decisions. I have a post sitting in the hopper from around a month ago that I never got around to posting, featuring Tom Harkin (D) whining in the same manner.

I have to wonder: if Dems are so concerned about children being marketed to with flavors, then why aren’t they doing anything about all the flavored alcohol? How many flavors of vodka are there? How about rum? Tequila?Schnapps? Beers? Cider drinks?

Then there’s the constant legalization of pot. How about drinks infused with THC? I see watermelon, peach, and blueberry, among others. How about all sorts of treats, like chocolate bars, chocolate drops, brownies, cookies, “jolly drops”, and so many others, available in a wide variety of flavors? Where is the concern about that being marketed to kids?

In fact, this is a completely ginned up issue. Practically the only advertising you will see for e-cigs are for ones that taste like cigarettes, such as the TV commercials for Blue e-cigs. You’ll hear some for others, like Njoy, on the radio. The ones that are marketed are primarily the type where you purchase replacement cartridges to attach to the replacement batteries, what are commonly referred to as disposables, rather than ones where you are purchasing e-juice, used to fill a clearomizer, which is attached to a battery. This is what I’ve been using.

Of course the tobacco companies support these regulations, because the regs won’t affect them. They aren’t really the ones offering all the different flavors.

Perhaps Ms. Speiers can explain why she is doing the dirty business of Big Tobacco, as well as not going after THC/Marijuana and alcohol.

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If All You See…

By William Teach June 23, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…is a wonderful Gaia friendly bike, you might be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Jammie Wearing Fools, with a post noting a crazy place a student got stuck.

Read: If All You See… »

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Mika Brzezinski To Obama: “Say, Wasn’t Al Qaeda Decimated?”

By William Teach June 23, 2014 – 11:00 am

Obviously, MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski was heavily intoxicated, or perhaps was hanging with Maureen Dowd in Colorado, when she decided to ask Obama a tough question. Well, more than likely, she was attempting to give Obama a way to hit some talking points

(Mediaite) In an interview pre-taped Friday but aired on Morning Joe Monday morning, MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski pressed President Barack Obama on the deteriorating situation in Iraq, charging, “You said that the war was ended in Iraq. You said al-Qaeda was decimated. You said it was stable.”

“It was,” Obama replied. “But just because something is stable two years ago or four years ago doesn’t mean it’s stable right now.”

OK, so, He Fixed Everything, but then something happened to cause it to go boom. Gotcha. That said, if it was stable 4 years ago, that would be more a consequence of the Bush policies, yes?

Obama emphasized that the U.S. needed to work with other forces in the region to contain ISIS, but that it couldn’t go playing “whack-a-mole,” occupying a country every time an Islamic militant group popped up in the Middle East. He also denied that there was some magic U.S. action that could have been taken in Syria to prevent ISIS’ rise, and also maintained that the situation did not change his calculus for troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“We’re prepared to have a residual force that helps to continue to train [Afghan] forces, to continue to help stabilize the situation as you have a new government coming in,” Obama said. “But keep in mind that our goal in Afghanistan was to decapitate al-Qaeda, which had carried out 9/11. That has been accomplished.”

I’ll give Obama credit for taking out Osama Bin Laden. He was president at the time. Let’s also not forget that much of al Qaeda’s leadership was decapitated during the Bush years. Let’s also not forget that many remain, such as Ayman al-Zawahiri, Nasser Abdul Karim al-Wuhayshi, Khalid al-Habib, and many others are still out there. Obama has done a good job in playing wack-a-mole to al Qaeda and other terrorist group leaders. That cannot be taken away from him.

The problem is that there are always Islamists willing to step up to the plate as high end leaders. And more than enough others willing to be followers in the jihad. And more than enough Madrasas, mosques, Islamic religious leaders, rich Islamic leaders, and Islamic countries willing to perpetuate radical Islam. And more than enough 1st World Citizens willing to cover their eyes to the problem of radical Islam.

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