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As I noted in July, the support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.

 

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Why did the IRS wipe clean Lois Lerner’s Blackberry?

An excellent question. The answer? The IRS refuses to say.

Among the most pressing is the fact that a Blackberry belonging to Lois Lerner, a former official at the center of the scandal, was wiped clean shortly after investigators started asking questions about her alleged role in the targeting of conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.

Despite the fact that this revelation first came to light in August, the IRS has yet explain why this was done.

Considering her former role as chief of the IRS’ tax exempt division, and its proximity to the targeting scandal, the decision to wipe her phone after investigators started asking questions is both suspicious and troubling.

I have to admit I missed this minor detail. In previous examples where the IRS destroyed a hard drive, it was because the hard drive had had problems. The destruction was still illegal, but in at least in that case there was a somewhat reasonable if unlikely reason to do it. With Lerner’s Blackberry they haven’t given us any reason, other than it was done shortly after the investigation had begun.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 

The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

5 comments

  • Cotour

    We will find out where this all goes after the November election if, as is hoped, the Republicans take control of both the Senate in addition to the Congress. What is going on right now is just the stretching of time. And in the end the Republicans may compromise on the issue for some other gain in another area. And we may have to wait until 2017 when Obama and Holder are no longer holding power anyway because no matter what he Congress comes up with related to the breaking of law, the president and Holder will certainly not agree with the findings.

  • Joe

    She’s guilty as hell, that is the only reason for all of her electronics to be swept.

  • wodun

    People have been focusing a lot on emails but she could have had documents on her phone.

  • Edward

    That is what “spoliation of evidence” is all about:
    http://definitions.uslegal.com/s/spoliation-of-evidence/

    “it is inferred that a person who destroys such evidence does it with consciousness of guilt.”

    Meaning, of course, that not only is it correct to infer that Lerner is guilty, but that the IRS is, too, as it is doing the hiding or destroying of these items of evidence. We can even infer that the other IRS employees whose emails have been “lost” are also guilty.

    Although many compare this scandal to Watergate, in this case the cover-up is not worse than the original crime of denying people their constitutional rights, which the tax code had been painstakingly written to protect, but they also were obviously influencing a federal (presidential) election. There may also be targeting of people for tax-audit harassment based upon their political activity. As bad as it is (and it *is* bad, especially since the Justice Department is aiding and abetting rather than protecting the rights of We the People), the cover-up is minor in comparison. It is just that we have to get past the cover-up in order to find out how deeply this scandal is rooted within the IRS, Justice Department, and perhaps other agencies.

    The appalling nature and amount of corruption seen in this scandal is also found in other events that have occurred, such as (but hardly limited to) the “Fast and Furious” fiasco, and the Benghazi terrorist attack. Have we ever seen this much corruption in any other administration in US history?

  • Chris Kirkendall

    Yeah – good point ! ! Hadn’t considered that ! !

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