Tonight’s testimony and questioning of IRS commissioner John Koskinen concerning the destruction of Lois Lerner’s emails in connection with the IRS’s harassment of opponents of Barack Obama and the Democratic Party..
Cover-up: Tonight’s testimony and questioning of IRS commissioner John Koskinen concerning the destruction of Lois Lerner’s emails in connection with the IRS’s harassment of opponents of Barack Obama and the Democratic Party..
An outraged Issa insisted that Americans should be able to know “they’re being honestly treated by your employees, especially somebody at such a high level. Isn’t that in fact a priority that should have allowed for full retention?”
“If we had the right resources, there would be a lot of priorities,” Koskinen shot back.
“So the American people should believe that if they don’t have the resources to pay their taxes, they shouldn’t pay their taxes,” Issa jabbed, “because if the IRS doesn’t have the resources, it won’t keep records? That’s pretty much what you’re telling us here tonight, is that resources are a question of whether or not you retain key documents.”
When Tennessee Republican Rep Scott DesJarlais asked Koskinen how much money it would take to replace the IRS’s computer systems in order to prevent another major data loss, he answered that it would cost between $10 and $30 million. In a tense moment, DesJarlais then reminded him that the IRS paid $89 million in bonuses last year, including $1 million to agency employees who owed back taxes.
Be sure the watch all the videos at the link. If you do and you still believe John Koskinen is telling the truth and is not a political thug who is doing the bidding of the White House to cover-up its use of the IRS to harass its political opponents, then you are probably so naive you believe Nigerian emails.
More information about tonight’s hearing here.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either. IMPORTANT! If you donate enough to get a book, please email me separately to tell me which book you want and the address to mail it to.
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Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
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Cover-up: Tonight’s testimony and questioning of IRS commissioner John Koskinen concerning the destruction of Lois Lerner’s emails in connection with the IRS’s harassment of opponents of Barack Obama and the Democratic Party..
An outraged Issa insisted that Americans should be able to know “they’re being honestly treated by your employees, especially somebody at such a high level. Isn’t that in fact a priority that should have allowed for full retention?”
“If we had the right resources, there would be a lot of priorities,” Koskinen shot back.
“So the American people should believe that if they don’t have the resources to pay their taxes, they shouldn’t pay their taxes,” Issa jabbed, “because if the IRS doesn’t have the resources, it won’t keep records? That’s pretty much what you’re telling us here tonight, is that resources are a question of whether or not you retain key documents.”
When Tennessee Republican Rep Scott DesJarlais asked Koskinen how much money it would take to replace the IRS’s computer systems in order to prevent another major data loss, he answered that it would cost between $10 and $30 million. In a tense moment, DesJarlais then reminded him that the IRS paid $89 million in bonuses last year, including $1 million to agency employees who owed back taxes.
Be sure the watch all the videos at the link. If you do and you still believe John Koskinen is telling the truth and is not a political thug who is doing the bidding of the White House to cover-up its use of the IRS to harass its political opponents, then you are probably so naive you believe Nigerian emails.
More information about tonight’s hearing here.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either. IMPORTANT! If you donate enough to get a book, please email me separately to tell me which book you want and the address to mail it to.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Why in the hell is a publicly-funded agency paying bonuses? Many public employees enjoy benefits not generally available to the private sector. Leave bonuses to organizations that make a profit.
Im listening to the Brian Leher radio show, Mr. Leher is plainly a liberally minded person who has very good and generally balanced, intellectual and in-depth talk show with a plainly liberal slant. He is interviewing Todd Zwillig. Mr. Leher is asking questions of Mr. Zwillig questions about the IRS issue and taking comments and questions from the public.
The public overwhelmingly does not for one moment believe any explanation offered by the testimony of anyone at the IRS. Mr. Leher is a highly practiced and professional interviewer and that liberal slant is always present, sometimes overt and most times subvert.
The take away is although the questions were slanted and Mr. Zwillig was generally objective and informative the public is having none of it! And that in the end is the game played in Washington which the liberals at this point in time are loosing.
Know the game, play the game, win the game.
It’s funny, but with Rep. Gowdy, Mr. Koskinen was saying that it was years since he was in the legal profession (he gave it up for lent), but with Rep. Chaffetz, he knows what a judge would enforce. Which is it: is Koskinen a legal expert or not?
And I love that “six month” excuse. His attitude makes it seem that when Koskinen gets a subpoena for emails, all he does is delay getting them for six months, then they will all be gone, and he comes back empty handed because they don’t keep records that far back. This probably is his strategy for FOIA requests, too.
“I did not say I would provide you emails that disappeared.” Of course Koskinen didn’t say that: he didn’t admit that any emails had disappeared until this month, not in March. From the montage, he promised to provide *all* of the subpoenaed emails, adding an ‘Obama asterisk’ (to coin a phrase, meaning that he says one thing now, but will tell you later that he said something else) that he would provide just the ones he could find (though he didn’t look through backup tapes or Sonasoft’s records, I guess it was only those that he found in his desk drawer). Rep. Collins took him at his word, but he broke his word and now complains that people don’t believe him. If Koskinen knew in March that the IRS does not keep records beyond 6 months, then what was he doing promising emails that he knew were not kept, and why didn’t he tell the committee that he could only provide emails as far back as 6 months prior to the subpoena?
I especially love the excuse that essentially said, ‘you cut our budget for this year, so we didn’t have enough money three years earlier to recover emails from our backup tapes.’
No wonder government activities are compared with making sausage. They take what no one in their right mind would buy and try to sell it to us as something [cr]edible.