History for June 24

History for June 24 - On-This-Day.com:

National Columnists’ Day

http://www.libertyreview76.blogspot.com/

700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn in which Robert the Bruce led the Scots to victory over the English under King Edward II in 1314.

175th birth anniversary of American industrialist Gustavus Swift (1839-1903).

Birth anniversary of Jack Dempsey, the “Manassa Mauler” (1895-1983).

Happy Birthday! Mick Fleetwood, Phyllis George, Peter Weller

1509 - Henry VIII was crowned King of England. 


1675 - King Philip's War began when Indians massacre colonists at Swansee, Plymouth colony. 


1844 - Charles Goodyear was granted U.S. patent #3,633 for vulcanized rubber. 



1910 - The Japanese army invaded Korea. 


1948 - The Soviet Union began the Berlin Blockade. 


1953 - John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier announced their engagement. 


1964 - The Federal Trade Commission announced that starting in 1965, cigarette manufactures would be required to include warnings on their packaging about the harmful effects of smoking. 


1982 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that no president could be sued for damages connected with actions taken while serving as President of the United States. 


2002 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that juries, not judges, must make the decision to give a convicted killer the death penalty. 

‘It Almost Seems Like You’re Accusing the President of Treason’ | TheBlaze.com

‘It Almost Seems Like You’re Accusing the President of Treason’ | TheBlaze.com:
"The former vice president appeared on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” Sunday morning, where the host asked about Cheney’s Obama-slamming op-ed published last week in the Wall Street Journal.
“It almost seems like you’re accusing the president of treason here,” said ABC News Chief White House correspondent Jon Karl."

Obama golfs, Biden and press play with squirt guns – who the hell is running the country?

Obama golfs, Biden and press play with squirt guns – who the hell is running the country? - BizPac Review

The Internal Revenue Service scandal has reached a fever pitch and the Middle East is on fire, but that doesn’t stop the two top executives who run the country from taking the day off.

President Obama golfed Saturday at Fort Belvoir, for what veteran White House reporter Keth Koffler said was Obama’s 21st round this year and the 178th since taking office.

Meanwhile, Vice President Joe Biden hosted his annual media event at his U.S. Naval Observatory residence. Biden’s family and reporters with their families attended, with part of the fun involving super soaker water guns, according to Business Insider.

Much fun was had by all, as evidenced by these photos posted on Twitter. But not all the responses were funny:

Like tax increases? Vote to re-elect "republican" Sen. Goeff Hansen!-----Senate Roll Call 524 - Michigan Votes

Senate Roll Call 524 - Michigan Votes

The IRS Totally Had a Contract with an Email Archiving Company, But Still Somehow Lost Lois Lerner’s Emails | TheBlaze.com

The IRS Totally Had a Contract with an Email Archiving Company, But Still Somehow Lost Lois Lerner’s Emails | TheBlaze.com:
"The precise details of Sonasoft’s arrangement with the IRS are unclear, but it seems likely that the company could have saved all those lost emails — if the IRS really wanted those emails to be saved.
A white paper on the company’s website notes the importance of email archiving and touts its system as “archiv[ing] all email content and so reduc[ing] the risk of non-compliance with legal, regulatory and other obligations to preserve critical business content.”

Demo Senator Bennet's Strategy to Keep Democrats in Control-Threaten them if they fail to vote.

Senator Bennet's Strategy to Keep Democrats in Control - Bloomberg View:
"They have databases to identify prospects with all their demographic essentials and possess the techniques to contact and influence them.
A small example:
Research shows that in a mailing or direct contact, the suggestion that there may be a follow-up on whether the contacted person actually votes -- "we may contact you on your experience" -- markedly increases the prospect of a target turning out."

Imagine if he was an airline pilot------'We did not know': 9 times the Obama administration was blindsided

'We did not know': 9 times the Obama administration was blindsided | Fox News:
"The unfolding sectarian violence in Iraq is just the latest crisis where the Obama administration seemingly has been caught off guard.
From the Veterans Affairs scandal to Russia's swift annexation of Crimea, news of the world somehow keeps taking the commander-in-chief and his team by surprise.
The following is a refresher of major domestic and foreign policy developments that, apparently, were news to the White House. "
Read 'em all and weep.....

'Not A Smidgen of Corruption' in IRS Scandal - And If You Think Otherwise You're A Conspiracy Nut

'Not A Smidgen of Corruption' in IRS Scandal - And If You Think Otherwise You're A Conspiracy Nut

There's not a "smidgen of corruption" in the IRS scandal, and if you believe otherwise, you're a paranoid winger who believes in wacky conspiracy theories. That's the narrative being pushed by the Obama White House, Democrat congressmen and Dem strategists in the wake of the latest highly suspicious developments in the scandal. 

Let's review for a moment what we're being asked to believe: 

In May 2013, ahead of a damning IG report on their malfeasance, the IRS admitted to and apologized for politically targeting and, subjecting to undue scrutiny 501(c)4s that were flagged for containing words like “conservative, Christian, tea party, patriot, and Constitution.”

Lois Lerner, the head of the tax exempt organizations division, said at the time, “We made some mistakes. Some people didn’t use good judgment… For that we’re apologetic.”

The president and Attorney General were outraged and vowed to get to the bottom of it. Holder put one of his best attorneys on the case - Barbara Bosserman, who maxed out in donations to both of Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns. 

At first, we were asked to believe it was just a few rogue agents in Cincinnati. 

That turned out to be a lie.

As the scandal heated up, the Regime and its acolytes tried another tack - they claimed progressive groups were targeted just as much as conservative groups. Nothing to see, here. 

That too was a lie.

Lois Lerner would go on to plead the Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate oneself at a Congressional hearing, last year. 

But we're being asked to believe she has nothing to hide.

Now,  after months of stonewalling congressional inquiries,  the IRS is asking us to believe that for the period of January 2009 to April 2011, all e-mails between Lerner,  and anyone outside the IRS were wiped out by a “computer crash.” Coincidentally, the same darn thing happened to six other IRS employees' emails - one of whom was a frequent White House visitor, and was in discussions with Lerner about helping the DOJ prosecute conservative non-profit groups. Huh!

Computer experts are coming out of the woodwork to say that the IRS's story strains credulity.

Norman Cillo, a former program manager at Microsoft, told The Blaze: “I don’t know of any e-mail administrator [who] doesn’t have at least three ways of getting that mail back. It’s either on the disks or it’s on a TAPE backup someplace on an archive server.” 

Bruce Webster, an IT expert with 30 years of experience consulting with dozens of private companies, seconds this opinion: “It would take a catastrophic mechanical failure for Lerner’s drive to suffer actual physical damage, but in any case, the FBI should be able to recover something. And the FBI and the Justice Department know it.”

As House Ways and Means chairman Dave Camp put it - this loss means that “we are conveniently left to believe that Lois Lerner acted alone.” 

But according to the White House and its loyal praetorians, if you're suspicious of any of this, you're a right-wing conspiracy nut.

On Friday, soon-to-be White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest repeatedly stressed to credulous reporters that “Republican conspiracy theories” were behind any and all questions involving the scandal.

Rep. Stockman Introduces ‘The Dog Ate My Tax Receipts Act!’

Rep. Stockman Introduces ‘The Dog Ate My Tax Receipts Act!’:
“Taxpayers should be allowed to offer the same flimsy, obviously made-up excuses the Obama administration uses,” Stockman said about the bill.
The bill states that taxpayers “shall be given the benefit of the doubt when not producing critical documentation, so long as the taxpayer’s excuse therefore falls into one of the following categories.”  
Each of these categories is a humorous dig at several other Obama regime scandals. The ten categories that are allowable excuses by taxpayers according to the bill are:"

People, wake up! This is simply a scam to funnel your money to greedy democrat politicians--------Admit it, greens, renewables can't power U.S. economy

Examiner Editorial: Admit it, greens --- renewables can't power U.S. economy | WashingtonExaminer.com

The little discussed reality is that renewable energy cannot function without heavy subsidies in the form of producer and consumer tax credits, purchase mandates, and large loan guarantees to companies like the now-bankrupt Solyndra.

But this is only part of the problem. 

Not only are renewables (other than hydro-electric) already more costly than other energy sources, but there is also no serious chance they can expand sufficiently to produce the energy the economy needs now or for years to come.

Take electrical generation, the main source of U.S. carbon emissions now and bound to become more important in a green technology-driven future if electric cars ever catch on. Like ethanol, whose production falls far short of federal mandates, renewable electricity sources have limits.

As data compiled earlier this year by the U.S. Energy Information Administration demonstrate, even with an aggressive, economy-damaging program of carbon reduction -- far more disruptive than anything currently in place -- renewable power production will fall far short of what America needs to function.

President Obama loves to point out that solar, wind, and biomass have increased their share of the U.S. electricity market under his watch, and that is true. What he is less likely to mention is that despite robust mandates for renewable use, the share remains less than 6 percent of all production.

The EIA, taking into account current policies, projects that non-hydropower renewables will make up only 8.6 percent of world electricity generation and 10.6 percent of U.S. generation by 2040. Even under the most optimistic domestic scenario, which requires "a $25/metric ton fee on carbon dioxide emissions that increases 5 percent each year until the end of the projection period," renewables will produce only 1.1 trillion annual kilowatt hours in the U.S. by 2040, or just over 20 percent of anticipated generation.

We know they're lying. They know we know. They also know the MSM will provide cover---The Good News Democrats

Articles: The Good News Democrats

By week’s end, perhaps recognizing that the story was not finding willing buyers, IRS Commissioner Koskinen, tried another tack, claiming that the emails were not “records’” and therefore could be destroyed without consequence. John Hinderaker, the ace litigation lawyer who is one of the authors of Powerline found this argument unpersuasive, citing federal law and the agency’s own operating manual and concluding:

As the IRS investigation continues, Koskinen and others at the Agency should not be allowed to get away with the facile suggestion that Lerner’s emails -- all of them! -- were not “records” and therefore could be destroyed with impunity. It would be interesting to know what documents the IRS didpreserve as “records” during the relevant time period. Unless the IRS was simply thumbing its nose at its statutory duty to maintain records of its actions and deliberations, a large number of emails should have been preserved in some fashion.

A final point: the IRS whines that it has 90,000 employees and that managing its internal documents is therefore difficult. But take a look at the IRS’s budget. In fiscal years 2012 and 2013, the IRS’s budget for “Information Services” was in excess of $1.8 billion annually! Nearly two billion dollars in “information services,” and the agency can’t keep track of emails? And that doesn’t count another $330 million, annually, for “Business Systems Modernization.”

If the IRS can’t preserve its senior managers’ email accounts on an information systems budget of $1.8 billion a year, the federal government is even more inefficient and incompetent than we thought.

Yes. You can guess who's dead last---------2014′s Best & Worst Cities for Families

2014′s Best & Worst Cities for Families | WalletHub®

Our Sen. Hansen dead last. Tied with a bunch of other RINOs-------Michigan Tea Party Scorecard -2014 Q1

Michigan Tea Party Scorecard -2014 Q1 - Michigan Votes:

Mitch Rapp lives!

Seacoastonline.com | Latest News from the Associated Press:
"MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Best-selling author Vince Flynn died just over a year ago, but his terrorist-fighting protagonist Mitch Rapp will live on in new books written by someone else, Flynn's publisher says.
Simon & Schuster and Flynn's estate have commissioned thriller writer Kyle Mills to complete Flynn's unfinished novel, "The Survivor," and to write two more books in the Rapp series.
"The Survivor" is tentatively scheduled to hit shelves next year."

Wow! Walmart shows the FACTS!---------Fact Check: The New York Times "The Corporate Daddy"

Walmart Corporate - Fact Check: The New York Times "The Corporate Daddy"

Obama’s Quiet Crusade for Transgender Rights | TheBlaze.com

Obama’s Quiet Crusade for Transgender Rights | TheBlaze.com:

"The leader of the Traditional Values Coalition says there is little recourse because the changes come through executive orders and federal agencies rather than Congress.

The latest wins came this month, when the Office of Personnel Management announced that government-contracted health insurers could start covering the cost of gender reassignment surgeries for federal employees, retirees and their survivors, ending a 40-year prohibition. Two weeks earlier, a decades-old rule preventing Medicare from financing such procedures was overturned within the Department of Health and Human Services."

Creeping totalitarianism. One baby step at a time. Worked for Hitler!----------The patent office goes out of bounds in Redskins trademark case

The patent office goes out of bounds in Redskins trademark case - The Washington Post:
The problem is that the Redskins case is just the latest example of a federal agency going beyond its brief to inappropriately insert itself in social or political debates.

Few people would have expected the future of the Redskins to be determined by an obscure panel in a relatively small government agency.
Yet the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board showed little restraint in launching itself into this heated argument — issuing an opinion that supports calls for change from powerful politicians, including President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).
The board had at its disposal a ridiculously ambiguous standard that allows the denial of a trademark if it “may disparage” a “substantial composite” of a group at the time the trademark is registered.

As federal agencies have grown in size and scope, they have increasingly viewed their regulatory functions as powers to reward or punish citizens and groups.
The Internal Revenue Service offers another good example. 
Like the patent office, it was created for a relatively narrow function: tax collection. 
Yet the agency also determines which groups don’t have to pay taxes. 
Historically, the IRS adopted a neutral rule that avoided not-for-profit determinations based on the content of organizations’ beliefs and practices.
Then, in 1970, came the Bob Jones University case.
The IRS withdrew the tax-exempt status from the religious institution because of its rule against interracial dating on campus.
The Supreme Court affirmed in 1983 that the IRS could yank tax exemption whenever it decided that an organization is behaving “contrary to established public policy” — whatever that public policy may be. Bob Jones had to choose between financial ruin and conforming its religious practices. It did the latter.

How are Obama and the IRS getting away with a blatant coverup?

How are Obama and the IRS getting away with a blatant coverup? | New York Post:
"To understand the latest outrage in the IRS scandal, mull over what might happen if regulators found significant evidence to implicate Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein in an insider trading scheme.
Let’s say Blankfein asserted his Fifth Amendment right not to answer any questions.
Say Goldman was subpoenaed to provide all of Blankfein’s e-mails.
Goldman replied that, instead of complying with the subpoena, it was itself reviewing the e-mails in question and was considering which ones to release.
Now imagine that, nearly a year later, Goldman admitted that it had not, in fact, reviewed the e-mails in question, because they had been lost in a computer crash two months before it claimed to be reviewing them.
Imagine Goldman also said copies of the e-mails were lost, because while under subpoena it had destroyed the “backup tapes” (whatever those are) that held them and that it had also thrown away Blankfein’s actual hard drive.

History for June 23

History for June 23 - On-This-Day.com:

Baby Boomers Recognition Day

England: Lawn Tennis Championship at Wimbledon begin (June 23-July 6). See www.wimbledon.org

Birth anniversary of British mathematician, logician and cryptographer Alan Turing—father of modern computer science and artificial intelligence (1912-54).

Birth anniversaries of June Carter Cash (1929-2004), Alfred Kinsey (1894-1956), and Wilma Rudolph (1940-94).

Happy Birthday! Bryan Brown, Frances McDormand, Clarence Thomas

1683 - William Penn signed a friendship treaty with Lenni Lenape Indians in Pennsylvania. 



1836 - The U.S. Congress approved the Deposit Act, which contained a provision for turning over surplus federal revenue to the states. 


1868 - Christopher Latham Sholes received a patent for an invention that he called a "Type-Writer." 


1884 - A Chinese Army defeated the French at Bacle, Indochina. 


1902 - Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy renewed the Triple Alliance for a 12 year duration. 






1947 - The U.S. Senate joined the House in overriding President Truman's veto of the Taft-Hartley Act. 


1956 - Gamal Abdel Nasser was elected president of Egypt. 


1972 - U.S. President Nixon and White House chief of staff H.R. Haldeman discussed a plan to use the CIA to obstruct the FBI's Watergate investigation. 


2004 - The U.S. proposed that North Korea agree to a series of nuclear disarmament measures over a three-month period in exchange for economic benefits. 

The Feds Wanted to Turn This Hotel into a Refugee Camp…But They Made a Major Error | TheBlaze.com

The Feds Wanted to Turn This Hotel into a Refugee Camp…But They Made a Major Error | TheBlaze.com:
"Byblos Niagara Resort and Spa isn’t exactly kid-friendly: the hotel is an upscale place, and in its previous life as a Holiday Inn the hotel hosted the 2009 “Entice the Falls” swingers convention, the Buffalo News reported.
A simple Google search could have saved the agents the trip the the hotel.
What is clear is that the feds were moving quickly, without giving local authorities much notice."

My God, they've been lying the whole time!-----The scandal of fiddled global warming data

The scandal of fiddled global warming data - Telegraph:
"....But now another damning example has been uncovered by Steven Goddard’s US blog Real Science, showing how shamelessly manipulated has been one of the world’s most influential climate records, the graph of US surface temperature records published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Goddard shows how, in recent years, NOAA’s US Historical Climatology Network (USHCN) has been “adjusting” its record by replacing real temperatures with data “fabricated” by computer models. 
The effect of this has been to downgrade earlier temperatures and to exaggerate those from recent decades, to give the impression that the Earth has been warming up much more than is justified by the actual data.
In several posts headed “Data tampering at USHCN/GISS”, Goddard compares the currently published temperature graphs with those based only on temperatures measured at the time. 

These show that the US has actually been cooling since the Thirties, the hottest decade on record; whereas the latest graph, nearly half of it based on “fabricated” data, shows it to have been warming at a rate equivalent to more than 3 degrees centigrade per century."

I watch army of hooded suicide bombers march in to save Iraq: BARBARA JONES on the frontline as radical cleric who was UK's most feared and hated enemy takes control of Baghdad to repel rampaging jihadists

I watch army of hooded suicide bombers march in to save Iraq: BARBARA JONES on the frontline as radical cleric who was UK's most feared and hated enemy takes control of Baghdad to repel rampaging jihadists | Mail Online:
I watch army of hooded suicide bombers march in to save Iraq: BARBARA JONES on the frontline as radical cleric who was UK's most feared and hated enemy takes control of Baghdad to repel rampaging jihadists 

• Hordes of suicide bombers, holding Kalashnikovs, paraded the streets
• Some were wearing white shrouds to denote their readiness to die
• They were part of the private army of powerful cleric Moqtada al-Sadr