Time to kick back and enjoy the summer. Let’s hope we have a summer of low humidity and zero mosquitoes. Who knows how to cut down on the mosquito population? Any good tricks?
I found a couple of good brews to help make me less tasty to mosquitoes. Notice the moonhowler to the left. Then there is Raging Bitch. I have a few of those in the refrigerator, just waiting for a summer Christening. Then there is the old reliable, Blue Moon.
This weekend is supposed to be another great weekend. Let’s use the open thread to share events and good recipes for the grill.
No one is discussing the dire situation in Iraq. As predicted after Obama failed to complete a status of forces agreement, the insurgents are now on the verge of taking Iraq. The war was not over in Iraq just because the U.S. said so. We are seeing the consequences of the Administration’s focus on short-term political gain rather than on long-term strategic interest.
So too will the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan leave a power vacuum that will surely be filled by the Taliban.
Essentially this instability has reversed all the strategic gains made by the U.S. since 9/11.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/iraq-brink-islamists-surge/story?id=24073178
The USA has a bad habit of getting involved in wars it doesn’t finish. No unconditional surrender since what? WWII?
This one reminds me of Vietnam. At least we are out of it and we should have never ever been there to start with. The return of insurgents was very predictable.
Quite so, Kelly. ISIS took Mosul and then Tikrit. They are now on the way down to Baghdad with their polyglot assortment of pickup trucks and captured Iraq Army vehicles. Not many places for a large army to hide on that route. Does anyone remember the end of the First Gulf War? The Iraq Army abandoned Kuwait and fled up the road toward Baghdad. When our air power had taken care of business on that road, it became known as the Highway to Hell. Why are we not seeing Highway to Hell II?
@Kelly_3406
You blame Obama for not securing a SOFA, pulling US forces out, and giving up Iraq to the insurgents. You neglect to mention the agreement between the U.S. and Iraq that required all U.S. forces be out of Iraq by December 31, 2011. Here’s a link to the agreement: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CCsQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.state.gov%2Fdocuments%2Forganization%2F122074.pdf&ei=RGOaU4jeIYasyAT_oIDoAw&usg=AFQjCNHXEqmufXY_sE54S7Gf13yce_KuJA&sig2=9WMAMWNt2Xja9GZ71sUjNQ&bvm=bv.68911936,d.aWw Note in particular Article 24 (on pages 19-20) entitled “Removal of United States Forces From Iraq.” The agreement was signed on November 17, 2008 by the Bush administration. So what you’re blaming on Obama is that he fulfilled the terms of the agreement Bush made with Iraq.
Boom! Fist pump!
Looks to me like a big failure by us was not doing enough to restore some kind of effective combat air power for the Iraqi armed forces. We may have to step in ourselves now to fill that gap. Let us hope the Shi’ites get some gonads as Baghdad is threatened and that the Kurds in the North turn out to be tough in protecting their own territory. Otherwise Jordan, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia are seriously on the hook.
Why the fist pump? There’s a chance that neither GWB nor Obama will come out smelling like a rose on this one. Two goofs do not merit a cheer.
Just because Moe had a good response. Sorry. I was acting like a man or a teenager. Not sure which.
Actually I was imitating Jon Stewart.
Heh, heh, Hillary, born, raised and educated in Illinois, graduate of Wellesley and Yale Law, was apparently telling her audience how history repeats itself. In 2008, she said, a US Senator from Illinois fought against a US Senator from New York for the Dem Presidential nod. Just as, a long time ago, a US Senator from Illinois (Lincoln) ran for the White House against a US Senator from New York (Seward)………..Ayup!! Pass that likker jug, Abe. Ya got promoted!
She misspoke. Palin misspoke. We will give each a few misspeaks, along with Dan Quayle. Just call them brain typos.
I wonder if Dan Quayle will be sending a thank you note?
@Morris Davis
I am well aware of what was in the agreement that you linked, but your interpretation is all wrong, Moe. The SOFA enacted by the Bush Administration was a big accomplishment that represented the agreement between the United States and the duly elected government of Iraq to station US troops in Iraq for three years. Mandatory troop withdrawal after three years was included to provide the political capital needed to allow the Iraqi government to sign the deal. However it was understood by both nations that the SOFA would be extended three years later, which is why Iraq and the US were negotiating a new SOFA in 2011.
Those talks failed obviously. As US troops were being withdrawn, the Administration claimed that ending the war would be seen as its biggest foreign achievement. Whether this statement was putting a positive spin on a failure or it deliberately undercut the negotiations, who can say?
Negotiations were no doubt difficult, but the ground work had been laid to keep troops there. The Administration dropped the ball.
Oh there may be hope for the Republican Party yet!! Happy Days may be here again….
Sarah Palins Facebook page yesterday- “As a Christian I find it unforgivable to ignore this issue of overrunning border security into these conditions in southern states, and this one issue is just about driving me to renounce my Republican ties because, see, even leaders on the RIGHT side of the aisle haven’t exerted all Constitutional power to stop the madness,” she wrote.
Oxymoron! Christian and unforgiveness.
Just out of curiosit, what is she talking about?
The children coming over the border…she want to fly them back to Mexico even though thay are from Central America and Hondouras. She wants Obama to be impeached and is ready to renounce her affiliation.
I am at a loss for words. I really wish she hadn’t tied it to her Christian principles or lack thereof.
@Lyssa
We don’t need to fly them back to their countries of origin.
We can merely ask them what countries they came from and drop them off at their embassies.
Tell Sarah. She just picked Mexico. Geography has never been a strong area for her. I’m just delighted she might leave and let republicans get their party back.
Im with you Moon – most of the Middle East is wrapped around religion and politics. Youd think we would not want that here. Using religion doesnt have a good outcome. We have a moral responsibility to be kind, polite and charitable. Or live off the grid. Doesnt mean we have to be martyers –
Border Patrol union officers in Texas and Arizona are stating that amongst the stream of kids being let through into the States are teens 16 and 17 with beaucoup gang tatoos, including MS-13. These tatooed kids believe they have a right to be reunited with their families in the US. Apparently, the BP agents think they have to treat them just like all the others.
Funny we haven’t seen them entering the country. Weren’t some of the border patrol folks accused of child abuse? Who are we to believe?
The current chief prosecutor at Guantanamo, BG Martins, confirmed today what I have said since the Bergdahl trade was originally announced … the 5 detainees that were sent to Qatar could not be prosecuted.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/06/15/4180760/pentagon-prosecutor-says-traded.html
It looks like Moe called it right from the start.
Child abuse. That’s a laugh. I hear the agents are being obliged to change diapers and prepare bottles for baby feeding. Sounds like agent abuse to me!
No reason not to believe the agent union guys. Apparently the agents have been told that, if they talk to the media without authorization, they will be fired. But it looks like the agents are talking to their union leaders. Can’t fire them for that.
Didn’t you hear something about child abuse on the news? Mistreatment or something? I can’t remember what I heard. This is an international crisis. We sure don’t want to get to the point of having child refuge cities along our borders. I just haven’t heard anything about gang bangers. Aren’t there ways of checking on deportees? Why are we deporting kids and not their parents? Why aren’t underage gang bangers in jail? Who is carrying the children in diapers?
There are just too many unanswered questions about this pilgrimage of children at our borders for me to form any solutions in my head. It looks like it is well underway for a humanitarian crisis.
Figured as much. You hit it right on the nose, Moe.
Iraq wanted us out of Iraq. There was no extension to the SOFA because Iraq (and Iran) wanted us out of the region. Sometimes you need to let the other side suffer in order to get them to invite us back in and have a SOFA that will mean something other than our people getting shot at with no way to fight back. The only thing we have accomplished by going after Saddam is letting Iran get stronger without its biggest adversary in the region keeping them fighting on their border.
@Morris Davis
Moe – thanks for the link.
Just shows that some Cable Pundits and Congress men will go to any length for political gain – when they know more facts than the average American.
We are lucky. We have Moe as the go-to person on these things. if Moe says it about Gitmo, I tend to believe him.
Apparently the Sheriff didn’t like my post. Let’s see if the liberal ladies like it any better.
“Is everyone who disagrees with you clowns either Corey or Donna? Man are you all going to be surprised at the polls when your hero crashes and burns in a blaze of glory.”
@Alan
I am not sure what liberal ladies you are referring to.
Blog owners may censor anything they want. Its their blog. However, what you said doesn’t bother me at all so have at it.
ps Corey and Donna don’t post here and I doubt if they make a habit of posting on the Sheriff’s blog either. I think both of them have better ways to spend their time than listening to the amen chorus.
That entire set up is very transparent and has been ever since back in the good old days of Gainesville Truth Squad.
@Alan-a-Dale
Dont bother. The same “thank goodness you’re uncovering evil in PWC” appears in every new drama post. Its all fake. Except for the wannabe board members. And they’re sad.
Stay here – more fun. Most yell at each other and then get over it.
Yesterday’s Washington Times: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jun/16/virginia-county-renews-push-for-deportation-data-o/?page=all#pagebreak
“Heritage’s Benghazi panel gets ugly – and personal”
Page 2 in today’s WashPost’s A section.
Talk show host, Chris Plante, was moderator. He is one of the nastiest of
the nasties I’ve heard on the radio. Please, read this and be aghast at
what took place yesterday!
Too funny… ‘read this and be aghast at what took place’? Why not just watch the unedited video of what took place and be aghast at what Milbank wrote ‘took place’.
Don’t believe everything you read, especially if it comes from fake journalists such as Milbank. Heck, even his fellow journalists think he’s a joke and don’t believe a word he says/writes, he is a hack and most everyone knows it.
If you don’t feel like watching the video then maybe read this article from the Politico and be ‘aghast at what ‘ passes as journalism at the Washington Post these days: http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2014/06/dana-milbanks-heritage-disaster-190551.html?hp=l18
So where is the unedited version?
About the IRS losing Lois Lerner’s email as well as 6 other people under investigation in the IRS scandal. Just curious…. is there a single person here who honestly believes that if your PC crashes you lose ALL of your email?
Who is that stupid? Even if you barely ever use a computer, you know that if you were on vacation or just not at home you can sign onto your email account from just about any PC and pull up all of your email, right?
Also, working in the IT field for a fairly large company it’s common knowledge that just about any credible shop runs nightly back-ups of everything, including email. However, for arguments sake, lets assume that not only did her desktop crash but the email server that her email were on crashed at the same time (just happens to be around when the IRS targeting started, go figure). So what, there are not only backups but backups of backups.
Every large IT shop has annual DR testing, it’s a real pain in the ass but we are required to do it by federal law due to the nature of data we deal with. In doing so we not only do nightly backups to backup servers but also periodically refresh our DR severs with all of the same exact data.
DR stands for Disaster Recovery, it’s an industry standard in most/if not all medium to large companies. I’m 99.9% sure that an entity as large and as important as the United States IRS has the same. If her email, and 6 others, are truly missing for a 2 year period there can only be ONE explanation, manual intervention. Someone deliberately scrubbed them… what say you?
Lost also might mean they can’t find them. I can’t find a lot of my email. I am not an IT person though.
@Jackson Bills
And then, of course, there’s Milbank’s rebuttal in the WaPo:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2014/06/18/politicos-reporting-disaster/?hpid=z5
The ONLY thing that I can understand being ‘missing’ is possibly some email attachments, but not the actual email. Some shops, including my own, typically don’t retain attachments after a predefined retention period. That retention period could be a little as 90 days and as much an several years depending on the user pool size.
Email in general don’t take up much disk space but attachments do, however, they are not saying email attachments are missing. They are saying YEARS worth of email are missing… for the 7 main people in the IRS involved in this investigation… for the exact years under scrutiny.
Their other argument, email is backed up on tape and written over every 6 months. BS. Tape mounted backups be it reel-to-reel or cartridge are NOT used for email server backups. At least nowhere I’ve ever heard of, this would be the absolute first time I have 1.) heard of email servers being backed up on ‘tape’ and 2.) heard of anyone using tape mounted backup systems these days. They went the way of the dodo bird a decade ago.
Sure, it’s used for mass data collection storage, i.e. a vast CIS systems (Customer Information) but not email within a cooperation. Hell, even with a few THOUSAND employees you could just about save a daily backup of email on most modern pocket flash drives.
Someone is covering up something huge here and in my opinion when it breaks it’s going to knock the socks off of the Presidents claim that “there isn’t a smidgen of evidence of corruption in the IRS scandal”.
Then, of course, there is the actual unedited video. Blows Milbank’s rebuttal out of the water and exposes him for the hack he is.
@Jackson Bills
He claims the unedited video is but a nine minute snip out of a sixty-five minute panel.
@Jackson Bills
jackson – me thinks you have not worked in a large data center or understand how a data retention policy works in a large enterprise. And Yes, email servers are still backed up onto tape – as well as every other large application out there. Ooh, look – google uses tape to back up gmail – http://www.tested.com/tech/1926-why-google-uses-tape-to-back-up-all-your-emails/
@Pat.Herve
Mr. Herve – me thinks you either didn’t read what I had said or simply do not comprehend what I said. Ill break it down for you either way…
I stated: Sure, it’s used for mass data collection storage, i.e. a vast CIS systems (Customer Information) but not email within a cooperation.
You then insulted me with: jackson – me thinks you have not worked in a large data center or understand how a data retention policy works in a large enterprise. And Yes, email servers are still backed up onto tape – as well as every other large application out there. Ooh, look – google uses tape to back up gmail
My response: Google processes over 20 petabytes of email data a day (re: mass data collection from my comment). That translates into the following:
1 petabyte = 1,000,000,000,000,000 bytes
20 petabytes = 20,000,000,000,000,000 bytes…. A…. DAY…. EVERY DAY…..
Call me crazy Pat but in the biz, so-to-speak, that’s what we refer to as ‘mass data storage’ per my statement about ‘mass data storage’. Following along? So, your ‘example’ makes zero sense as far as a comparison goes.
My company is required by federal law to retain vasts amounts of data. If we were to ever get caught NOT retaining that data we would be subject to untold amounts of fines. So, yes, I do know a bit about data retention policy even though my expertise are in program development of massive batch data processing systems.
Then you simply state: that email server are still backed up onto tape.
My response: Okay, sure, some are… most aren’t depending on the company size, what kind of data restrictions are in place, spam filters, attachment rules, encryption, compression, etc… Like I said earlier in case you missed it, if attachments are part of the retention policy then sure, that data is probably backed up on tape. But that is not common practice. Attachments have a hard retention period, which everyone in the corporation either knows or should know and if it doesn’t then that isn’t normal.
Okay, enough with that…. Mr. Pat Herve, if your brave enough answer me these questions:
1.) Do you think if a users desktop (and/or laptop) crashes you lose ALL email for that user?
2.) Playing the devils advocate… let’s just say that ALL of the IRS email are stored on tape and that tape is overwritten every 6 months (which is against federal law and has been for over a decade or so) do you think that there is NO D.R. system?
3.) Do you think that the IRS has ZERO “disaster recovery” procedures, nor any annual DR testing schedules?
4.) Ignore this one if you really believe the IRS has no DR procedures in place… Do you believe that email data retrieval is NOT within their DR processes?
5.) If ALL of that checks out then why is there no ‘hard copy’ of the email required by law?
6.) How long would it take you, or the IT group you work with, to go thru a users distribution list and look up their email history and then retrieve the missing email from the target sender for the time period in question?
Lerner’s emails…..email…..
If those are emails….then those emails are on someone ELSE’S servers and computers. She had to send and receive them.
Thus, they are not lost.
It is a very common practice for an enterprise of any size to backup their email system onto tape.
You were referencing an email system being backed up onto tape – Google does generate 24 petabytes of data per day – but not Gmail – i.e. Youtube, Gmail, etc. And they backup GMail onto tape (but not 24 petabytes of gmail). You stated that tape was not used for email systems – you said BS. I say BS – that email systems are very commonly use tape as a back up method. You said tape went the way of the dodo bird – but it has not. It remains a reliable backup method.
I am not here to defend the IRS – but one needs to look at the Data Retention policy to find out some of the facts around the data loss. They seem to have a very poor policy – one that would not pass muster with any other corporate enterprise. I think Congress will be funding a project – for data retention and backup. If my company went into a legal proceeding with the IRS – saying what they are saying – the IRS would find our story unbelievable.
Does the IRS have an email archiving solution in place? They have talked about backups – which is for the online email system – but do they have an actual archive system in place – a long life solution that allows them to search for emails?
1.) Do you think if a users desktop (and/or laptop) crashes you lose ALL email for that user?
No, it should not happen. I do not think that is whey they have said – did they lose all of her email? It seems that if data was marked as Official – it was backed separately.
2.) Playing the devils advocate… let’s just say that ALL of the IRS email are stored on tape and that tape is overwritten every 6 months (which is against federal law and has been for over a decade or so) do you think that there is NO D.R. system?
They rely on the tape backups for their DR.
3.) Do you think that the IRS has ZERO “disaster recovery” procedures, nor any annual DR testing schedules?
This is the IRS after all – I am not sure what their DR procedures are. Do they have any?
4.) Ignore this one if you really believe the IRS has no DR procedures in place… Do you believe that email data retrieval is NOT within their DR processes?
One needs to view their DR processes – they may think Email is a secondary, non essential system. That would not fly in any real enterprise. What is the IRS’s SLA for their email system in DR?
5.) If ALL of that checks out then why is there no ‘hard copy’ of the email required by law?
Hard copies are required for agency business – I am not sure if hard copies are required for all email received. It is up to the individual to make this hard copy and place it with other paper work. Is normal email conversations part of the federal record?
6.) How long would it take you, or the IT group you work with, to go thru a users distribution list and look up their email history and then retrieve the missing email from the target sender for the time period in question?
For 24,000 emails – a very very long time.
Missing emails seem to be a recurring theme – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_White_House_email_controversy The Bush whitehouse used non governmental email systems to do official business, and allowed the end users to delete the email. Seems like a major overhaul is needed.