Ways & Means Committee: We've Learned From Interviews that Lois Lerner's Hard Drive Was "Scratched," But Internal IRS IT Experts Thought The Data Was Recoverable

Koksukinen: "Heh. Didn't I Tell You That?"

From Ace:

Despite early refusals to make available IT professionals who worked on Lois Lerner’s computer, Ways and Means Committee investigators have now learned from interviews that the hard drive of former IRS Exempt Organizations Director Lois Lerner was "scratched," but data was recoverable. 

In fact, in-house professionals at the IRS recommended the Agency seek outside assistance in recovering the data. That information conflicts with a July 18, 2014 court filing by the Agency, which stated the data on the hard drive was unrecoverable -- including multiple years' worth of missing emails. 

"It is unbelievable that we cannot get a simple, straight answer from the IRS about this hard drive," said Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI). "The Committee was told no data was recoverable and the physical drive was recycled and potentially shredded. To now learn that the hard drive was only scratched, yet the IRS refused to utilize outside experts to recover the data, raises more questions about potential criminal wrong doing at the IRS."

Washington Post collected six questions from IT professionals they'd like to ask about this "crashed" hard drive.

1.) What happened to the IRS’s IT asset managers who appear to have disappeared at a key juncture? 

Ordering the destruction of a hard drive and documenting that process would be handled by trained, certified IT asset managers, according to IAITAM. But the group's records show that at least three IRS IT asset managers were shuffled out of their positions around the time of the May 2013 inspector general's report that detailed the agency’s targeting practices. 

IAITAM said investigators need to "determine if these in-house IT asset managers were removed from the picture as the IRS email investigation heated up." 

2.) Where is the documentation to prove that the IRS wiped or destroyed Lois Lerner’s hard drive? 

So far, we only have the word of IRS officials. IAITAM said its standards call for clear proof and records of destruction when drives are wiped or eliminated."“Until that documentation is provided, the hard drives should be considered lost, not destroyed," Rembiesa said. 

3.) Were the drives destroyed by an outside vendor or firm? If so, by who, and can they verify the destruction? 

Hiring a specialized firm to destroy IT assets is not unusual for federal agencies, according to IAITAM. If the IRS used this method to destroy Lerner’s hard drive, there would be an additional layer of documentation to show that the action took place, the group said.
...
6.) Where are Lois Lerner’s Blackberry e-mails? 

IAITAM said investigators need to determine whether the IRS’s Blackberry communications are secure and what is on the "enterprise server." 

"It is difficult to imagine that none of the emails in question were done on a mobile basis," Rembiesa said. "If so, there may be a freestanding stream of email records that would not be impacted by the Lerner hard drive loss."

GO READ THE WHOLE THING.

Feds: 96% Of The 45,157 Illegal Immigrant Children Processed So Far Have Been Released Inside The United States

From CNS:

A spokesperson for the Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Administration of Children and Families (ACF) said 96 percent of the 45,157 unaccompanied alien children who were in the custody of HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) have been “discharged” to a “sponsor” in the United States. 

Kenneth Wolfe, deputy director for the Office of Public Affairs at ACF, told CNSNews.com on Friday that in 2014 (through the month of June), 96 percent of the 45,157 children — or 43,341 of them — who were transferred from the custody of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to the ORR have been placed with sponsors inside the United States, including with family members. 

“Over half of the sponsors are parents of the child,” Wolfe said, citing the percentage of children with this placement status at 55 percent. As reported earlier by CNSNews.com, some of the families that are receiving these children aliens are themselves in the country illegally.

Pat Condell: "Why Do You Think There Are No Bomb Shelters in Gaza?"

FAA Says No More US Flights To Israel

I Will Use The Power of Federal Agencies 

To Grind Them Into Dust

Another victory for Allah the Totally Gay:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Aviation Administration told U.S. airlines Tuesday they are prohibited from flying to the Tel Aviv airport in Israel for 24 hours following a Hamas rocket explosion nearby. 

The ban began 12:15 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, the agency said in a statement. 

"Due to the potentially hazardous situation created by the armed conflict in Israel and Gaza, all flight operations to/from Ben Gurion International Airport by U.S. operators are prohibited until further advised," the FAA said in its notice to airlines. 

The rocket strike landed about 1 mile from the airport, the agency said. 

The notice applies only to U.S. airlines since the FAA has no authority over carriers from other nations.

German Police Order Protesters To Stop Chanting “Gas The Jews” At Anti-Israel Rallies

From the International Business Times:

Berlin authorities have ordered pro-Gaza demonstrators to stop chanting anti-semitic messages, after protesters were reportedly heard shouting ‘Gas the Jews’. 

Sizeable anti-Israel rallies have been held in the German capital, with people taking to the streets allegedly chanting anti-semitic slogans. 

Some of the demonstrations are said to be organised by Muslim immigrants and neo-Nazi groups. 

The Berlin authorities are also investigating anti-semitic behaviour by a radical Imam in the city, after a video uploaded by Israeli daily Haaretz showed an Imam calling for the obliteration of Jews, telling his followers to “kill them to the very last one”. 

Condemning the anti-semitism, Dieter Graumann, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, was quoted by AFP as saying: 

“We are currently experiencing in this country an explosion of evil and violent hatred of Jews, which shocks and dismays all of us. 

“We would never in our lives have thought it possible anymore [that] those anti-Semitic views of the nastiest and most primitive kind can be chanted on German streets.

WAIT, WTF?, Part 2

Now The 4th Circuit Court Of Appeals Upholds IRS ObamaCare Rule That DC Court Struck Down This Morning

Dem Sen. Chris Murphy Attacks Israel For Endangering U.S. National Security With Civilian Deaths In Gaza

From Politico:

Sen. Chris Murphy on Tuesday said the substantial number of Palestinian civilians killed in Gaza could endanger U.S. national security. Appearing on MSNBC, the Connecticut Democrat cited a United Nations report that an estimated 75 percent of Palestinian casualties have been civilians, saying the statistic could be used as a recruiting tool for America’s enemies. 

“That is a problem for Israel,” he said. “But it’s a problem for the United States, as well, which is why we have to be so concerned about this. This is bulletin board material, stuff for people that are recruiting folks to the fight against Israel but also against the West in general.” 

The senator also appeared to take a jab at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Murphy expressed pessimism in a long-term peace deal, saying that anything “more substantial” would not come under Israel and Palestine’s current leaders. 

“It’s been clear for a long time that you don’t have the leadership right now — either on the Israeli side or on the Palestinian side — in order to do anything more than that,” he said, referred to an immediate, short-term ceasefire. 

“I think we are in a position of essentially waiting for new leadership on both sides in order to do anything more substantial on the peace process.”

IBA Friend (Of Ours) Charles Martel Has Trouble Re-Entering the United States

Here is Charles' story:

Due to my considerable stupidity, I recently managed to lock myself out of the US. I went to Florida, and as part of the vacation I planned to travel to Puerto Rico, but then changed to the Dominican Republic. 

Maybe because of that, I left my green card locked in my safety box at home (although I did manage to take my national passport - don't ask why I took one and not the other.) 

Thanks to automatic check-in, nobody noticed I had no way to come back into the country. 

When time came to leave Punta Cana to come back home, I could not board because the airline would not let me do it without the card ... 

After more than a thousand dollars later, which I did not have, and had to borrow, I am back in my beloved US. 

I've lived in this country for 40+ years, on an official visa first, and as a resident later. 

While I was sitting at the hotel in Santo Domingo watching the World Cup and the indescribable mess in the US Southern border, the irony of the situation did not escape me.  

But when I finally managed to get back in the country, legally, I had another surprise. At the annex of hell on earth commonly known as Miami airport, I had another unpleasant surprise. 

Now "residents" are lumped up with all other "visitors." 

In the past citizens and residents were channeled through the same "route," while visitors followed a different procedure. No longer so. 

When close to an hour and a half later I reached the window, I asked the agent about this change. He informed me that about a year ago this change was implemented to guarantee "more efficiency." I chose wise silence over indignation. 

And the new procedure is different indeed. 

First I had to plaster my four right fingers on a screen, then my left thumb, followed by my four left fingers, and then my left thumb. After this they took my picture, and after some rubber stamps on my passport, I was allowed to leave. 

I stopped short of reminding the agent that one of the Boston bombers was a citizen, but again, wisdom and maturity prevailed, as well as my desire go get home. 

love this country, but how far it is from what it was in 1967 ... This is just another Third World country.

Wait? WTF?

Obama Contemplates His Place Among The Pantheon

Court rules Obamacare subsidies illegal...

'Potentially crippling blow'...

'Massive setback'...

Premiums poised to spike for millions...

PAPER: 'Wording glitch'...

OBAMA LAW PROF: 'I wouldn't bet' on law's survival...

A federal appeals court panel in the District struck down a major part of the 2010 health-care law Tuesday, ruling that the tax subsidies that are central to the program may not be provided in at least half of the states. 

The ruling, if upheld, could potentially be more damaging to the law than last month’s Supreme Court decision on contraceptives. 

The three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with plaintiffs who argued that the language of the law barred the government from giving subsidies to people in states that chose not to set up their own insurance marketplaces. 

Twenty-seven states, most with Republican leaders who oppose the law, decided against setting up marketplaces, and another nine states partially opted out. 

The government could request an “en banc” hearing, putting the case before the entire appeals court, and the question ultimately may end up at the Supreme Court. 

But if subsidies for half the states are barred, it represents a potentially crippling blow to the health-care law, which relies on the subsidies to make insurance affordable for millions of low- and middle-income Americans.

DOD Resumes Transferring Military Vehicles To Law Enforcement, Retains Titles To Get Around EPA Regulations

From the Military Times:

The Defense Department has resumed transferring excess military vehicles to civilian emergency personnel after reaching an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency, said Jeffrey Curtis, executive director, logistics operations support for the Defense Logistics Agency. 

The 2.5- and 5-ton trucks, Humvees and Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles run on diesel engines that do not meet EPA requirements, but the Defense Department has a national security exemption allowing it to use the vehicles, Curtis said. 

The DLA temporarily halted transfer of the vehicles to first responders on June 19 after becoming aware that the exemption did not carry over once the vehicles were given to first responders. 

This prompted a group of 25 lawmakers led by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to write a July 10 letter to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel saying that the equipment was badly needed by firefighters and other emergency personnel. 

“While we understand that DoD and EPA may be close to resolving this issue, we respectfully request that you provide us with your specific course of action for rescinding the restrictions placed on both the FEPP and FPP programs and clarify any vehicle title concerns raised by state foresters and law enforcement agencies,” the letter says. 

Curtis said the EPA has allowed the flow of vehicles to emergency personnel to resume because the Defense Logistics Agency agreed to keep the titles indefinitely. 

Thus, the vehicles retain their exemption from EPA standards after they are given away. 

The agreement should not delay when the vehicles can be provided to emergency personnel, nor should it limit what types of vehicles can be transferred, Curtis said.

Islamic State (ISIS) Details “Jizyah” Payments Christians Must Make

ISLAM IS A PROTECTION RACKET

Speaking of the 2nd amendment: CHICAGO JEWS THREATENED BY LEAFLETS

Breitbart:

The Times of Israel reports that a day after hundreds of anti-Israel protesters demonstrated in downtown Chicago, leaflets threatening Jews with violence were found on a half-dozen cars. The hate crime unit of the Chicago Police has already opened an investigation.

The demonstration and the threatening leaflets are in reaction to Israel’s recent push into Gaza. Israel’s move was one of self-defense after dealing with countless rocket bombardments fired by Hamas terrorists determined to murder innocent Israeli civilians. The Gaza terrorists are dug in intentionally in civilian areas and civilians are being used as human shields to up the casualties and sway moral illiterates in the media.

The threatening letters promised violence against Jews in the Pulaski Park neighborhood if Israel doesn’t end its work of self defense against a group of barbaric terrorists determined to destroy the small Jewish country.
Follow  John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC        

Here’s how this works.. if the tools of a civilized society cannot deal with this stuff, QUICKLY - PEOPLE START GETTING KILLED
This is America - NOT the middle east.
KEEP IT THAT EFFING WAY.
Protest all you want. WHENEVER YOUR PERMIT ALLOWS. But don’t be expecting many with this excrement going on

Rick Perry .. grandstand or dragged into it?

Personally, amid the Democrats (yes Bob  we know the stats) claiming everything from Obama has doubled the number of border patrol agents, and exported more illegals than any other pres, and that Perry is simply (as was his OP-ED) laying the ground work and bona fides for 2016 it’s IMPOSSIBLE to guess what is in his heart on this one.

WHy did he say he is doing this?

Texas under siege? Well if you live anywhere near the border that COULD be true every day.

Illegal immigrant children living in squalor? CHECK. The USA has failed UTTERLY on this one. ‘WE’ in the person of the guy elected to be RESPONSIBLE for our INTERNATIONAL BORDERS, knew about this a year ago, and were warned. Excuses are simply ridiculous. Take the kids. Put them someplace nice. Find out who they are. Find out if any are TRULY in danger at home. Find out if they have ANY RESPONSIBLE CITIZEN HERE, WILLING AND ABLE to assume 100% financial responsibility for them for 5 years, and or otherwise SEND THEM HOME.

The troops could detain people if asked, Texas Adjutant General John Nichols said at the press conference with Perry, but they are planning to play a “referring and deterring” role by deterring cartels with their visible presence and referring any immigrants suspected of being in the country illegally to DPS.

THAT sounds good. Yesterday, a waterborne patrol of the Border Patrol was attacked with automatic weapons, and a Univision host recently crossed illegally in EIGHT FRICKIN SECONDS. I’m glad he did that as it illustrates the issue (but we shoul dhave been able to nail him and trade him for a certain US SERVICE PERSON who also IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY. Of course, the lesson is that we could not nail this guy, and did not.

A state memo obtained by the McAllen Monitor, which first reported Perry’s plan to deploy the National Guard, indicated the new efforts will cost the state of Texas $12 million per month.

Perry said he expects the federal government to eventually reimburse the state of Texas for the costs it has incurred protecting the southern border.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said prior to Perry’s announcement that the administration has not yet received the formal request from Perry to activate the troops, but he downplayed it as a merely a symbolic measure.

That will be interesting when they send that invoice over, won’t it?

Well we know there are more Border Patrol people, but the effort is ineffective. I believe Obama HAS deported more than any other prez, but WAY MORE have arrived, and WAY MORE have stayed.

So I think Perry executed this (TEMPORARY) solution for real. 1,000 National Guardsmen are not sealing the border, but they MAY be a deterrent to organized invasion if the people tactically in charge are smart.

It may help him in 2016, IF he runs IF this is effective.

Those are BIG IF’s and if this IS a grandstand Perry is REALLY rolling some big dice.

But that’s NOT true if in his heart he is really worried about Texas.

ACORN For Illegal Aliens – Meet The Southwest Key Programs

From Noisy Room:

Are you curious who has been facilitating the transport of illegal alien children throughout the country? Look no more… meet La Raza connected Southwest Key Programs. This organization is the pipeline for the children into US refugee camps and homes across the nation. They provide immigrant youth shelters. It is a well-oiled machine that was set up to educate and reintegrate youth into American society. They also provide training for jobs. And baby, they are hiring.

Southwest Key Programs is funded by government and state programs. Here is an overview of what they do:

Southwest Key Programs is a national nonprofit organization providing transformative education, innovative safe shelters and alternatives to incarceration for over 200,000 youth and their families annually, while creating opportunities for their families to become self-sufficient. The inspiring youth and parents we work with are seeking the American dream: equality, education, and a higher quality of life. At Southwest Key, we simply open the doors to opportunity so they can achieve these dreams.

Southwest Key Programs ranks 5th among the Top Hispanic Nonprofits in America, employing a creative and diverse staff of over 2,200 employees. Because of Southwest Key’s work, thousands of youth have beendiverted from prisons, jails, and institutions, enabling them to stay at home with their families and out of trouble. Southwest Key has reunified thousands of immigrant children with their families and provided these unaccompanied minors with 24-hour care and education. Southwest Key is one of only three nonprofits in Austin to be accredited by the Council on Accreditation, the nation’s leading human service accrediting body.

From the start, a cornerstone of all of our programs has been culturally-relevant education. Since 1999 we have refined our model by operating leading alternative schools throughout Texas, preventing hundreds of youth from dropping out of school by providing them with individualized education in a therapeutic setting. In 2009, East Austin College Prep opened at Southwest Key’s El Centro de Familia campus.

University of Illinois Professor Blames Jews For Anti-Semitism