Tag: Obama

Obama’s nominee to manage contracting and budget at the Energy Department had serious problems doing the same job while she was at NASA.

9:42 am

The merry-go-round: Obama’s nominee to manage contracting and budget at the Energy Department had serious problems doing the same job while she was at NASA.

A Washington Times review of NASA inspector general reports finds the space agency struggled to achieve austerity under Ms. Robinson’s financial leadership, as cost overruns grew sixfold from $50 million in 2009 to $315 million in 2012. … Audits conducted during Ms. Robinson’s tenure as CFO uncovered that NASA spent an average of $66 per person per day for light refreshments at conferences, shelled out $1.5 million to develop a video game to replicate astronauts’ experiences and reimbursed employees $1.4 million for tuition dating to 2006 for degrees unrelated to their NASA jobs.

But no matter. Her resume lists all these important past jobs, so she must be qualified!

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The family that George Zimmerman rescued from a car crash this week is terrified they will become targets of hate mobs if they say anything positive about him.

3:28 pm

Leftwing civility works its magic: The family that George Zimmerman rescued from a car crash this week is terrified they will become targets of hate mobs if they say anything positive about him.

Thugs. The left and its minions are no different than jack-booted thugs, and the aftermath of the George Zimmerman trial has proven this quite clearly. Say or do something they don’t like, no matter whether it is legal, and they will come after you with threats of violence. And their leaders in the political world, led by President Obama, will just look the other way.

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According to a new poll, only 11% of doctors believe that the Obamacare health exchanges will be open for business on October 1, as mandated by the law.

11:24 am

Finding out what’s in it: According to a new poll, only 11% of doctors believe that the Obamacare health exchanges will be open for business on October 1, as mandated by the law.

I found this tidbit from the article, however, far more disturbing, as it describes a detail of the Obamacare exchanges that will surely cause doctors incredible financial pain, and will likely cause them to demand all payments up front:

Jackson said that doctors who don’t have an understanding of those coverage terms could be in for a nasty surprise once the new plans go into effect. That’s because under the rules of the exchange, a patient can go up to three months without paying premiums and still not get their coverage formally dropped by an insurers—but the insurer isn’t obligated to pay claims incurred during the second and third month if that person isn’t paying their premiums for that time, Jackson said. Those rules could mean that doctors end up eating the cost of the care they have already provided, or have their receivables stay unpaid for longer stretches of time. [emphasis mine]

In other words, the law is tilted to allow patients to stiff both their doctors and their insurance companies. How precious.

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Two days before IRS White House appointee William Wilkins established the guidelines for reviewing IRS applications of conservatives, he met with Obama.

9:02 am

Working for the Democratic Party: Two days before IRS White House appointee William Wilkins established the guidelines for reviewing IRS applications of conservatives, he met with Obama.

IRS chief counsel William Wilkins, who was named in House Oversight testimony by retiring IRS agent Carter Hull as one of his supervisors in the improper targeting of conservative groups, met with Obama in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on April 23, 2012. Wilkins’ boss, then-IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman, met with Obama on April 24, 2012, according to White House visitor logs.

On April 25, 2012, Wilkins sent Hull and fellow Washington-based IRS official Lois Lerner “additional comments on the draft guidance” for approving or denying tea party tax-exempt applications, according to the IRS’ inspector general’s report.

It is quite possible that the two events are unrelated. This also could be the smoking gun linking Obama to the IRS scandal. Fortunately, the story notes that thirteen people attended this meeting, which means it should be possible to find out what actually happened there.

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The IRS chief counsel, now implicated in the IRS scandal to harass conservatives, is one of only two Obama political appointees in the entire IRS.

9:43 am

William Wilkins, the IRS chief counsel, now implicated in the IRS scandal to harass conservatives, is one of only two Obama political appointees in the entire IRS.

Noonan’s review and analysis of yesterday’s testimony in the House is right on the money. The IRS scandal now points directly to the White House. Or as she notes,

It’s almost as if—my words—the conservative organizations in question were, during two major election cycles, deliberately held in a holding pattern.

And this was done deliberately, by Wilkins, Obama’s political appointee, using the IRS for political purposes.

Moreover, the testimony yesterday also proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Lois Lerner lied when she claimed the harassment was merely the actions of some rogue agents in Cincinnati. The obvious question then is this: Who was Lois Lerner trying to protect by these lies? The obvious answer: her bosses, in the White House.

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The New Black Panther Party is offering a $10,000 bounty for the capture and kidnapping of George Zimmerman.

11:22 am

The new brownshirts: The New Black Panther Party is offering a $10,000 bounty for the capture and kidnapping of George Zimmerman.

Watch the video at the link. (I was especially struck by the uniforms, which strongly reminded me of Nazi uniforms in the 1930s.) They are holding themselves above the law, with the right to kidnap and imprison anyone they happen to dislike or disagree with.

Update: A commenter has noted that this is not a new story. The Panthers offered this bounty back in March 2012, before Zimmerman was charged. I should note however that this really doesn’t change anything, as these thugs were still making themselves judge, jury, and executioners, and above the law.

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A third federal court has ruled that Obama’s fake recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Broad violated the Constitution.

9:23 am

The law is such an inconvenient thing: A third federal court has ruled that Obama’s fake recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Broad violated the Constitution.

The worst part of this violation by Obama and his cohorts is that, even after these rulings, the illegally appointed board has continued to issue regulations, ignoring the decisions of all the courts.

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The harassment of conservative groups by the IRS was planned and run by officials in Washington, D.C., according to a retiring IRS lawyer who will testify Thursday in the House.

10:09 pm

Working for the Democratic Party: The harassment of conservative groups by the IRS was planned and run by officials in Washington, D.C., according to a retiring IRS lawyer who will testify Thursday in the House.

Retiring IRS lawyer Carter C. Hull implicated the IRS Chief Counsel’s office, headed by Obama appointee William J. Wilkins, and Lois Lerner, the embattled head of the IRS’ exempt organizations office, in the IRS targeting scandal and made clear that the targeting started in Washington, according to leaked interviews that Hull granted to the Oversight Committee in advance of Thursday’s hearing.

It appears he is naming names. Thursday’s hearing should be quite interesting.

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A survey shows that three quarters of all small businesses still plan to fire workers and cut hours in 2014 to avoid Obamacare, even though the Obama administration says it will not enforce the law unitl 2015.

2:39 pm

A survey shows that three quarters of all small businesses still plan to fire workers and cut hours in 2014 to avoid Obamacare, even though the Obama administration says it will not enforce the law unitl 2015.

This makes sense. The law is still the law, even if the Obama administration won’t enforce it. If a business doesn’t cut the hours or the number of its workers to avoid the Obamacare mandates, but then does not provide those mandates, its employees can then sue the business and likely win.

The result: Expect the economy to tank next year as this turkey of a law takes hold and chokes the life out of American enterprise.

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Treasury admitted today that the IRS tax records of several political candidates and campaign donors were illegally disclosed to unnamed government officials.

8:43 pm

The law is such an inconvenient thing: The Obama Treasury Department admitted today that the IRS tax records of several political candidates and campaign donors were illegally disclosed to unnamed government officials.

[O]f the four instances in which tax records were improperly accessed, three cases were determined to be “inadvertent.” “In the fourth case, we presented evidence of a willful unauthorized access to the Department of Justice, but the case was declined for prosecution,” Mr. George wrote. Of the three cases that the inspector general called “inadvertent” disclosures, Mr. George said his office referred one to Justice with a recommendation that no prosecution be brought. He said Justice officials agreed with his office’s assessment. No reason was given for Justice’s rejections of prosecutions.

I wonder why the Obama Justice Department declined to prosecute that fourth case, which was “willful” and thus very illegal.

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Among many other valid points, the Wall Street Journal notes the “lawless” nature of the Obama administration’s announcement yesterday that it will not enforce one legal requirement of Obamacare in 2013.

7:49 pm

The law is such an inconvenient thing: Among many other valid points about the disaster that is Obamacare, the Wall Street Journal notes the “lawless” nature of the Obama administration’s announcement yesterday that it will not enforce one legal requirement of Obamacare in 2013.

This selective enforcement of laws has become an Administration habit. From immigration (the Dream Act by fiat) to easing welfare reform’s work requirements to selective waivers for No Child Left Behind, the Obama Administration routinely suspends enforcement of or unilaterally rewrites via regulation the laws it dislikes. Now it is doing it again on health care, without any consultation from, much less the approval of, Congress.

Sadly, this contempt for the law is becoming rampant. Worse, though the Democrats have generally been the worst offenders, this contempt has not been a partisan affair. Republican politicians have participated as well.

And who will suffer? Not the politicians. It will be the ordinary innocent citizens, who merely want to live their lives freely without hindrance, who will pay the cost.

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The FBI has still not contacted any conservative group that was harassed by the IRS.

10:11 am

The FBI has still not contacted any conservative group that was harassed by the IRS.

And we still don’t know who the lead investigator of the FBI investigation is.

This “FBI investigation” is a fraud. Obama might have expressed public outrage over the IRS scandal, but in private it appears he instead ordered that nothing be done and that FBI act as a shield for the guilty parties.

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The lawyer for IRS official Lois Lerner is pushing to get her full immunity in exchange for her full testimony to Congress.

9:57 am

The lawyer for IRS official Lois Lerner is pushing to get her full immunity in exchange for her full testimony to Congress.

The article makes two very good points: One, it will be difficult to prosecute anyone at the IRS for its harassment of conservatives, and two, Lerner’s full testimony is likely not going to have any earthshaking bombshells. She will state that the White House had nothing to do with the harassment (whether that is true or not), and that the harassment was merely the result of some bad management decisions.

And thus, the government’s power over us will rise, and freedom will experience another cut in its continuing death of a thousand cuts.

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NASA has revised their plans for the 2017 and 2021 flights of its Orion capsule, making both flights more ambitious.

9:33 am

The competition heats up? NASA has revised their plans for the 2017 and 2021 flights of its Orion capsule, making both flights more ambitious.

[M]anifests have always pointed towards the first SLS/Orion launch being an uncrewed Exploration Mission (EM-1), which was baselined a validation flight that would send Orion on a 7-10 day mission around the Moon.

SLS and Orion would then endure a four year gap – again, mainly due to the advanced 2017 debut relating to ISS crew back up – before repeating a version of EM-1, this time as a CLO (Crewed Lunar Orbit) flight, with four astronauts spending three to four days orbiting our nearest neighbor, as opposed to heading directly home after passing around the Moon – a flight known as Exploration Mission -2 (EM-2).

Much to the surprise of some people deeply involved with SLS and Orion, the order came down from NASA HQ to realign EM-2, based around a 2019 mission tasked with hunting down and capturing an asteroid that would then be placed in the vicinity of the Moon within one to two years. EM-2 is also known as the Asteroid Redirect Crewed Mission (ARCM). [emphasis mine]

It has been my understanding that the plans for the 2017 unmanned test flight have previously described it as sending the Orion capsule into a high several thousand mile orbit, not to the Moon, in order to simulate a re-entry from lunar distances. Making that unmanned mission a lunar orbital mission makes it far more challenging. Similarly, it is incredibly risky to turn the next flight, the first manned flight for Orion, into a duplicate of this mission, or a flight to an asteroid. This will be the first time humans will have ever flown on Orion, and only the second time the capsule has been used. To then send those humans to the Moon or an asteroid seems downright foolish. Even the 1960s NASA, which was quite willing to run risks, would not have attempted such a plan.

It is my guess that the White House has recognized that SLS can’t survive politically with a launch rate once every four years and planned test flights that aren’t very exciting. They are therefore pushing NASA to accelerate the second mission (and first manned flight) from 2021 to 2019, while also making both flights more ambitious and therefore more salable to the public.

Whether this is possible, given NASA’s bloated bureaucracy, is the main question. Moreover, even at this accelerated pace SLS will be competing directly against the private sector, which I expect will continue to do things far faster and, more importantly, far cheaper. Against that competition SLS will be hard put to survive.

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The White House today announced that it is delaying until 2015 the requirement in Obamacare that companies with more than 50 employees offer health insurance.

4:27 pm

The Obama administration finds out what’s in it: The White House today announced that it is delaying until 2015 the requirement in Obamacare that companies with more than 50 employees offer health insurance.

The law requires companies that employ 50 or more workers to offer coverage or face fines. The Treasury Department and the White House said that, based on complaints by employers that the system for reporting the coverage was too onerous, they would simplify that system and give employers an additional year to comply. “We have heard concerns about the complexity of the requirements and the need for more time to implement them effectively,” Mark J. Mazur, the assistant secretary for tax policy at the Treasury Department, said in a statement posted online. “We have listened to your feedback. And we are taking action.”

The mandate was originally set to kick in for 2014, but will now start in 2015. The decision effectively means that penalties that would have been assessed against non-compliant businesses will be delayed until 2015. The administration encouraged employers to provide insurance anyway.

In other words, they are finally discovering what everyone on the right has been saying for three years: Obamacare is an unworkable law that is also killing business and industry. Look for increasing numbers of Democrats willing to join with the Republicans to repeal is incredibly stupid law.

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The Washington Post admits that most of the Democratic claims that sequestration would cause disaster were either outright lies or a gross exaggeration.

10:43 am

The Washington Post admits that most of the Democratic claims that sequestration would cause disaster were either outright lies or a gross exaggeration.

I said it then that they were lying about the consequence of sequestration. I say now that they will be lying again when the the next sequestration cuts arrive in October.

I suspect you could cut the federal budget by at least one third, bringing the numbers back to what they were about ten years ago, and not notice any loss of service.

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The House committee has ruled that Lois Lerner waived her fifth amendment rights when she claimed she did “nothing wrong” before invoking the fifth in testimony last month.

11:24 am

The House committee investigating the IRS scandal has ruled that Lois Lerner waived her fifth amendment rights when she claimed she did “nothing wrong” before invoking the fifth in testimony last month.

“That is the not the way the Fifth Amendment works. You don’t get to tell your side of the story,” and then avoid cross examination, said Republican Trey Gowdy. “She sat there and could have said nothing.”

The vote could clear the way for Republicans to haul Lerner back before the committee, where she would likely again invoke her Fifth Amendment rights. That would likely lead to a vote to hold her in contempt of Congress, Republican aides said.

What I don’t understand is why the focus here is holding her in contempt. I would think the Republicans on this committee are negotiating to give her immunity so she can tell all. Then again, the track record of the left when comes to testimony is not good. Even with immunity I would expect Lerner to lie to protect Obama. Consider for example the absurd claims Holly Paz has made about the IRS harassment of conservatives.

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The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced that it has filed charges against former Democratic Governor/Senator Jon Corzine for his part in the embezzlement of customer funds at MF Global.

5:12 pm

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced that it has filed charges against former Democratic Governor/Senator Jon Corzine for his part in the embezzlement of customer funds at MF Global.

The article says that most of the embezzled funds have been recovered, but that’s not only news to me, I don’t see how it’s possible. We are talking about the misuse and loss of one billion dollars.

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The toxic combination of Obamacare and the proposed Senate immigration bill would create a big financial incentive for employers to hire non-citizens.

5:52 pm

Congress passes a law: The toxic combination of Obamacare and the proposed Senate immigration bill would create a big financial incentive for employers to hire non-citizens.

Under Obamacare, businesses with over 50 workers that employ American citizens without offering them qualifying health insurance could be subject to fines of up to $3,000 per worker. But because newly legalized immigrants wouldn’t be eligible for subsidies on the Obamacare exchanges until after they become citizens – at least 13 years under the Senate bill – businesses could avoid such fines by hiring the new immigrants instead.

Not surprisingly, the idiots who voted for this immigration bill haven’t read it and have no idea this problem exists.

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Liberal groups were not targeted by the IRS.

9:46 am

Despite some recent reports, liberal groups were not targeted by the IRS.

It appears these recent reports, that “progressives” were also targeted, are merely spin, an effort to defuse the scandal. A closer look reveals two facts about this so-called leftwing targeting: One, the liberal organizations were not “targeted,” merely “flagged.” Nothing was done to them at all, which is why none has come forward to complain. Second, the liberal organizations were 501c3 non-profits, not 501c4. The former get a greater tax exemption in exchange for not engaging in any political activity. Thus, such non-profits are normally subjected to greater scrutiny by the IRS.

It didn’t take much research to note these two details. That several major news organizations, including the Chicago Tribuine above and CNN, didn’t bother to check and simply regurgitated the spin, tells us a great deal about them.

Update: in related news, it appears that twelve different units at the IRS were involved in the targeting of conservatives.

That’s a far cry from one or two rogue agents in a single IRS office, as Lois Lerner claimed.

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Two reports issued today have concluded that implementation of Obamacare by the federal government is behind schedule.

9:17 am

Two reports issued today have concluded that implementation of Obamacare by the federal government is behind schedule.

I’m not surprised, considering the opposition to the law combined with its draconian complexity. Even angels — with to cooperation of God and everyone else — would have trouble implementing this mess. Without that cooperation is will be next to impossible.

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A recap of the broken promises of Obamacare.

9:58 am

A recap of the broken promises of Obamacare.

Most of these will be familiar to regular readers of Behind the Black, though the article lays them out very clearly. However, this one is a new one to me:

If your state ran a program to help the uninsured, that’s also a violation, because Insurance is what the ACA is all about. It’s a mandate that you purchase insurance. Any unique solutions generated in one of our 50 incubators must stop even if they have served people well, because they will be in violation of the Affordable Care Act. One of the most successful state Medicaid systems was denied a waiver by the Obama administration despite its proven track record. The worst part of one-size-fits-all solutions is that they are tailored for no one. [emphasis in original]

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In interviews to Congress, a Washington IRS supervisor admitted to scrutinizing tea party applications.

7:43 pm

In interviews to Congress, Washington IRS supervisor Holly Paz admitted to scrutinizing tea party applications.

So, very clearly this harassment wasn’t limited to low level employees in Cincinnati. Lois Lerner lied.

Still, this article appears to me to be a leak specifically designed to exonerate the Obama administration and to make it seem that the harassment of conservatives was merely bad management. To me, it reads like hogwash. I suspect when we get to see the entire transcripts of her interviews and when Paz is finally forced to answer some questions publicly things won’t look so innocent. For one thing, it seems impossible that only conservative organizations were picked for harassment without someone making a conscious political decision. For another, the following claim doesn’t meet the smell test for me:

Paz said an IRS supervisor in Cincinnati had commonly referred to the applications as “tea party” cases. But, Paz said, she thought that was simply shorthand for any application that included political activity.

Yeah, right. Anyone could see plainly that “tea party” could also be shorthand for radical leftwing organizations or Democratic Party front groups.

Finally, note that the IRS has admitted to replacing Paz, though they haven’t yet said whether she was actually fired. If she was so innocent, why did they do this?

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