What’s interesting in the news today?
1. We finally have some judges requiring under-oath testimony from the IRS. They’re not as easy to ignore, impede, and lie to as Congress is.
From FoxNews “A federal judge has ordered the IRS to explain “under oath” how the agency lost a trove of emails from the official at the heart of the Tea Party targeting scandal.
U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan gave the tax agency 30 days to file a declaration by an “appropriate official” to address the computer issues with ex-official Lois Lerner.
The decision came Thursday as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch, which along with GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill has questioned how the IRS lost the emails and, in some cases, had no apparent way to retrieve them.”
And a second.
Also from FoxNews “A second federal judge has now ordered the IRS to explain under oath how the agency lost emails from former division director Lois Lerner, the woman at the heart of the Tea Party targeting scandal.
U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton told Obama administration lawyers on Friday he wants to see an affidavit explaining what happened with Lerner’s hard drive. The IRS claims her computer suffered a crash in 2011 that wiped her email records at the time clean.
But at a hearing examining a lawsuit against the IRS by conservative group True the Vote, Walton said he wants to know what happened to Lerner’s hard drive, which allegedly was recycled. He asked for an affidavit from those involved in handling the crashed drive.
Among other things, he said he wanted to know the serial number, if any, assigned to the hard drive and if that number is known, “why the computer hard drive cannot be identified and preserved.””
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2. This is getting interesting too.
From TheHill “A conservative election-watching organization has filed a motion for a restraining order against the Mississippi Republican Party, declaring it has evidence of tampering in runoff records.
True the Vote, which filed the motion with the Jackson Division of the U.S. District Court on Wednesday, claims it has “dozens of full detailed affidavit reports” detailing incidences of vote tampering. The alleged misconduct includes “destruction of voters’ absentee ballot applications and mandatory envelopes, illegal alteration of poll books, cross-over and double voting, absentee ballots marked ‘Accepted’ but unopened.”
“Defendant county commissioners have continued to violate federal law by preventing access to election records. Now, we think we know why,” True the Vote founder Catherine Engelbrecht said in a statement.
“If the affidavits we now have regarding the destruction of election documents and other similarly stunning findings are true, then no Mississippian, no American, can trust the results of this election.”
The McDaniel camp is getting in on it too, with allegations of their own.
From NortheastMiss.DailyJournal “State Sen. Chris McDaniel, still refusing to give up his challenge to incumbent U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, said Friday via e-mail his campaign had found 8,300 questionable ballots across the state from the June 24 Republican primary runoff.
He said many of those “were unquestionably cast by voters ineligible to participate in the June 24th runoff election” that McDaniel lost to Cochran
McDaniel promised a Wednesday news conference “to discuss the evidence we have documented and our next steps.”
McDaniel has said before he intends to file a legal challenge to the June 24 election where Cochran defeated him by 194,932 votes to 187,265 votes.
This past week the McDaniel campaign sent supporters into each county to look for possible voter irregularities. The Cochran campaign, which has had representatives in each courthouse to observe the actions of the McDaniel campaign, has said only a few hundred irregularities were found.”
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3. The next scandal?
From TheDailyMail “House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chair Rep. Darrell Issa sent his latest subpoena to the Obama administration on Friday, demanding testimony from the director of a controversial White House office reportedly tasked with political work on taxpayers’ dime.
David Simas, the director of the White House Office of Political Strategy and Outreach, has refused to testify voluntarily but will be required to answer questions in a July 16 hearing on Capitol Hill.
President Barack Obama closed the White House Office of Political Affairs in 2011, just days before an Office of Special Counsel report warned that it risked ‘transforming from an official government office into a partisan political operation.’
But the president reopened the office six months ago under a new name as Democrats began to gear up for a contentious midterm election fight.”
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4. Looks like the plan may be backfiring.
From The WashingtonPost “Until now, the politics of immigration have been seen as a no-lose proposition for President Obama and the Democrats. If they could get a comprehensive overhaul passed, they would win. And if Republicans blocked it, the GOP would further alienate crucial Hispanic and moderate voters.
But with the current crisis on the Southwest border, where authorities have apprehended tens of thousands of unaccompanied Central American children since October, that calculus may be shifting.
Republicans and even some Democrats have accused Obama of being insufficiently engaged in a calamity that many say he should have seen coming.”
“The emergency has also renewed questions about the administration’s competence, reminiscent of those raised during the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, last year’s botched rollout of the health-care law and more recent revelations of mismanagement that jeopardized care of patients at veterans hospitals. “
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Wandering Views 
A nitpick on The Hill article: it’s “instances” or “incidents.” There is no “incidences.”
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re: yesterday
solar — Hey I thought both had cute smiles — its been a lonely summer, I’d probably date either girl if I had a chance mind you religion and politics would have to be taboo subjects.
bob– as I stated in theory you are right as you demonstrate. but in reality, its never been proven. And in reality labor is not the only cost that affects price.
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hwesseli,
How does it have to be proven? Isn’t it self-evident? If the studies don’t prove it, then the studies must be wrong. (Computer climate models)
No, raising the minimum wage isn’t the only thing that causes prices to go up, but it is one thing.
Raising the minimum wage is one thing that is only done by government! All those who feel sorry for the poor people only making minimum wage who want to raise the minimum wage don’t take into account those on fixed income or those who actually save money.
I do not think that government should be picking and choosing winners in the lottery of life. Let people make their own way in life. Don’t let politics and politicians choose one over the other.
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I’m not sure the real terrorist woman is alive, hwesseli. May have blown herself and a bunch of other folks up already. But you’re right, the smiles are just fine. You do have a leg up on your fellow would-be liberal suitors, though, as apparently you don’t harbor enough animosity toward sane-woman to want to kill her. So you’ve got that going for you.
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Bob — I still fail to see how savings are affected by a raise in min wage. Inflation affects savings and inflation and min wage raises are tied in theory only but not data. If theories are not backed up by data,then the theory is useless.
The gov’t picks winners everyday — when it builds a highway, a bridge, favors mass transit over cars or vice versa, funds public health, zones property commercial or residential, and the list goes on.
The gov’t can also affect inflation in a multitude of way — to print or not print money, to raise or lower taxes, to favor one fuel source over an other, to subsidize agriculture or not, etc.
The fact is min wage means little in terms of inflation and savings but means alot to those who work at min wage. And as an added benefit to the rest of us; it takes people off social assistance.
Solarpancake — I don’t normally go out with women who insist on selfies on social media; reveals something about their need for approval and other character weakness but … (but all speculative as apparently she’s married and a mother of two)
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hwesseli,
The “Adjusted wage share” of the US economy in 2012 was somewhere near 63%.
For the sake of discussion let us assume it is 60% today. A rise of $1 an hour would be just under a 14% raise.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_wage_in_the_United_States
How could a 14% raise of wages not cause inflation? Maybe minor but still some inflation.
If the models and studies you use have not shown any relationship between a raise of the minimum wage of 14% on 60% of the economy (The “Adjusted wage share…”) then there is some thing very wrong with them.
A raise in the minimum wage of just $1 would over a short time would be an inflation of at least 8%. Of the entire US economy.
So yes, a raise of the minimum wage would affect the purchasing power of both my fixed income and my savings.
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Well of course, hwesseli. I know that’s the liberal MO–to jump to hasty conclusions based on a narrow perception of anyone with whose views you differ. That’s been my point here all along! It’s all good.
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