Prof. Jacobsen at Legal Insurrection:

So having invoked the privilege against self-incrimination, Lerner [IRS executive Lois Lerner] nonetheless gave testimony as to her previous answers that were part of the hearing record and which covered the very issues the Committee was considering, and the underlying facts regarding her claimed innocence. That, to me, is very significant.

So those are the issues I’ve spotted. But I don’t have the answer to whether that was a waiver.

For the answer I’ll defer to Alan Dershowitz. — More….

The video is 11+ mins but the operative part (germane to Lerner taking the 5th) is in the first 4 mins. However, Dershowitz goes on to comment on the rights (or lack thereof) of news outlets to publish classified material:

.

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and Tumblr CEO David Karp after announcing Yahoo’s $1.1b purchase

Daily Mail:

Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer said that the company does not ‘intend’ to take down any of the porn-heavy sites that are run on Tumblr after the tech giant acquired the blogging platform for $1.1billion.

The sale created a great deal of uproar from Tumblr purists who fear that Yahoo’s involvement will dramatically alter the platform that they know and love, but Mayer has done her best to tone down those concerns.

Asked whether she was planning to address the X-rated sites hosted on Tumblr – like ‘Red Hot Porn’, ‘Secretary Sex’ and ‘Porn and Weed’ – since they are less ‘brand safe’ she said no.

More….

Update: At about 11:00am news sources report the good news that the number of deaths was revised down to about 50 total and the number of children from 20 to 9.

The mile wide tornado stayed on the ground for 20 miles. It was one of several twisters spawned by a storm system that swept through the Oklahoma City area over the past 36 hours.

Worst hit was Moore, on the south side of Oklahoma City, where neighbourhoods were flattened and two elementary schools were destroyed. The ‘Moore tornado’, over a mile wide, ripped through the area yesterday with winds estimated at more than 200 mph which, if confirmed, would classify the storm as a category EF5.

Washington Post:

Rescue crews were searching Tuesday for survivors and victims of a massive tornado that had devastated a suburb of Oklahoma City, grinding up entire neighborhoods and pulverizing two elementary schools.

The swath of destruction in Moore, Okla., was up to a mile wide and 20 miles long. The state medical examiner’s office told the Associated Press early Tuesday that at least 40 more bodies were expected, in addition to the 51 people already confirmed dead as a result of Monday afternoon’s storm.

More….

The Right Scoop:

You definitely want to watch this one all the way to the end. Judge Jeanine doesn’t leave anyone guessing as to how she feels about statements that have been made by the mother of the Boston jihadid bombers:

Judge Jeanine on Obama: ‘I’m Convinced My Mom Could Do a Better Job…’

My mom knew everything. She knew when I was down the street arguing with my sister Lulu about whose turn it was to walk the new dog or ride the new bike.

And when I listen to the Obama White House, I give her even more credit.

No one in this administration knows anything.

More….

Obama met with the NTEU’s leader in the WH the day before the NTEU’s employees started targeting the Tea Party.

Jeffrey Lord at American Spectator:

According to the White House Visitors Log, provided here in searchable form by U.S. News and World Report, the president of the anti-Tea Party National Treasury Employees Union, Colleen Kelley [an ex-IRS agent], visited the White House at 12:30pm that Wednesday noon time of March 31st.

The White House lists the IRS union leader’s visit this way:

Kelley, Colleen Potus 03/31/2010 12:30

In White House language, “POTUS” stands for “President of the United States.”

The very next day after her White House meeting with the President, according to the Treasury Department’s Inspector General’s Report, IRS employees — the same employees who belong to the NTEU — set to work in earnest targeting the Tea Party and conservative groups around America. The IG report wrote it up this way:

April 1-2, 2010: The new Acting Manager, Technical Unit, suggested the need for a Sensitive Case Report on the Tea Party cases. The Determinations Unit Program Manager Agreed.

In short: the very day after the president of the quite publicly anti-Tea Party labor union — the union for IRS employees — met with President Obama, the manager of the IRS “Determinations Unit Program agreed” to open a “Sensitive Case report on the Tea party cases.” As stated by the IG report.

More….

Related:
The IRS And The NTEU

Workers Say: IRS Targeting ‘Came From The Top’

Woman is too pretty to hold a job:

She also claims she has been ostracised by other women in the workplace who are jealous of her beauty.

Now her wealthy parents pay for her £2,000 a month in rent and bills for her flat in Notting Hill, credit cards, and designer clothes and handbags.

Whatever….

The commission created by the 844 page bill would have no power other than to create another plan.

The “immigration reform bill” currently working its way through Congress is similar to the amnesty that was granted in 1986 with one HUGE difference: Amnesty 2013 is far more generous to illegals, whether they’re already here or will flood across the borders when the monstrosity goes into effect.

NumbersUSA:

Sen. Flake Called Out for Overstating Role of Border Security Commission

Last week, Sen. Marco Rubio sprinted to the airwaves to defend the Gang of Eight’s legislation after it had been attacked during the first round of committee markup, but his description of the bill wasn’t exactly accurate. Continuing that trend, A Gang of Eight member who also sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Jeff Flake, wasn’t exactly accurate himself in his description of the bill’s “triggers” when they came under attack from Senators John Cornyn and Jeff Sessions on Thursday.

Shortly after the markup began, Sen. Sessions introduced an amendment that would require an electronic monitoring system for temporary guest-workers. The amendment led to a broader discussion over the electronic exit-entry system that’s one of the four “triggers” in the Gang’s legislation. Sen. Flake took the opportunity to explain the the “triggers”:

I think there may be just a little misunderstanding about what constitutes an actual trigger, submittal of a plan or substantial completion. With this legislation, what we’re saying before RPI status (amnesty) can start for anyone, there has to be a plan submitted, but keep in mind that plan has to be substantially deployed.

We’re off to a pretty good start, and actually, Sen. Flake even quoted the legislation directly in describing the first “trigger.” On page 11 of the bill, it says, “the Comprehensive Southern Border Security Strategy has been submitted to Congress and is substantially deployed and substantially operational.”

This all sounds fine and dandy, but Sen. Flake is making the trigger sound stronger than it really is. There’s no Congressional oversight, so the requirements to be “substantially deployed and substantially operational” only have to be certified by the Secretary of Homeland Security. In optimistic anticipation of the bill’s passage, it’s likely that Sec. Janet Napolitano is already working on the Southern Border Security Strategy because she’s the last person that would slow down the amnesty should the bill actually pass. – [Bold added]

More….

The last paragraph (in bold) describes the problem with the whole bill: there are no effective triggers in it anywhere. Border security as well as qualifications for Obamacare; Medicaid; Social Security; disability payments; food stamps; welfare and other benefits designed for citizens and legal residents are all frittered away as both sides fight to see who can buy the most Hispanic votes.

Why don’t we just annex ALL of Latin America as well as Africa, Asia and Muslim countries to vote in our elections? Al least that would simplify the ‘change’ process.

Related:
Six House Reps. Denounce Gang of Eight Amnesty Bill

NTEU 2012 campaign donations: $547,812 to Dems; $24,000 to Rep. That’s 95.8% of total to Dems. – Still wonder who gave orders to target Tea Party?

Jeffrey Lord at American Spectator:

It’s about a union: the National Treasury Employees Union. The NTEU. A left-wing union representing 150,000 employees in 31 separate government agencies, including the IRS. A union that not only endorsed President Obama for election and re-election, but a union whose current president, Colleen Kelly, was a 14-year IRS agent and now is both union president and Obama administration appointee (of which more in a moment).

It’s about 94% of NTEU union contributions going to Democrats in the Senate and House in 2012 — candidates who campaigned as vociferous opponents of the Tea Party.

And the recently released report from the Treasury Inspector General? You will not find a single reference to the NTEU. Whose members are both player and referee in the exploding controversy over the IRS targeting of conservative groups.

Which raises the obvious question: how many NTEU members were involved in the writing of the Inspector General’s report?

Even more to the point, what contact — what coordination — has the Obama White House had with their allies in the NTEU leadership as both the White House and the NTEU race to get on top of a scandal that is rapidly engulfing both?

Did I mention that the NTEU has no comment on all of this? And that when President Obama went in front of cameras to make his statement on the IRS scandal — he never once mentioned his very powerful union buddies that have the run of the IRS? Right down to the control of who gets a Blackberry? Literally.

More….

Highly related:
Heritage’s New Flat Tax Proposal