Men allegedly plotted to bomb Gateway Arch, kill Ferguson officials, report says

Two St. Louis men reportedly planned to blow up the city’s iconic Gateway Arch and kill two prominent figures in the Michael Brown shooting case in Ferguson, which has sparked protests nationwide.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Wednesday that Brandon Orlando Baldwin and Olajuwon Ali Davis were indicted last week on federal weapons charges but authorities expect more charges to be filed against the duo relating to the alleged plot.
According to the newspaper, police sources said it was unclear if the men had the capacity to actually carry out their plan. The two allegedly bought what they believed was a pipe bomb in an undercover operation and had planned to buy more.
The men also allegedly had planned to kill St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch and Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson, both officials involved in the Michael Brown shooting case.
The newspaper reported that it was unclear whether the men planned to use the bombs to kill McCulloch and Jackson.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the men had wanted to buy more of the “bombs,” but had to wait until one of their girlfriends’ Electronic Benefit Transfer card had more money.
The men were arrested three days before a grand jury declined to indict Ferguson officer Darren Wilson on charges for killing 18-year-old Michael Brown in an August shooting.

Agitators planned to disrupt Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, report says

Agitators planned Wednesday to disrupt the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade after Ferguson protesters were able to shut down major New York City roadways Tuesday, the New York Post reports.
An organizer told the fellow protesters that the cops would arrest anyone as they planned their actions Wednesday night at Union Square.
The protesters used social media to garner interest in the planned chaos using #StopTheParade to fuel the fire.
“Yes, they’re planning on crashing the parade,” a law-enforcement source told the New York Post. “With this hands-off approach, it gives them free rein to do anything they want. It’s a free pass to act like a fool.”
The official does not think the demonstrators will stomp through kids to stop the floats, but one Twitter user said to keep the protests going and to, “stomp right over Macy’s thanksgiving parade.”
Other uses said they feel rejuvenated and are ready to make a huge statement by stopping the parade.
Thousands of people marched for a second night in Manhattan, gathering in Union Square before splitting into several smaller groups, chanting "No justice, No peace." Some held signs saying "Jail killer cops" and "Justice for Mike Brown."
One group marched uptown to Times Square, meandering between lanes of traffic as police followed. The protesters, who seemed to grow in number as the night wore on, disrupted traffic on the FDR Drive and congregated at the entrances to the Williamsburg and Manhattan bridges and the Queens Midtown Tunnel.
Commissioner William Bratton said police were giving protesters "breathing room."
"As long as they remain nonviolent, and as long as they don't engage in issues that cause fear or create vandalism, we will work with them to allow them to demonstrate," he said.
The New York Post reported only 10 of the 3,000 protests were arrested as they were allowed to stroll in the streets of Manhattan.

Illegal immigrants will be eligible for Social Security, Medicare

Illegal immigrants who apply for work permits in the U.S. under President Obama’s new executive actions will be eligible for Social Security and Medicare, the White House says.
Under the sweeping actions, immigrants who are spared deportation could obtain work permits and a Social Security number, which would allow them to pay into the Social Security system through payroll taxes.
No such "lawfully present" immigrant, however, would be immediately entitled to the benefits because like all Social Security and Medicare recipients they would have to work 10 years to become eligible for retirement payments and health care. To remain qualified, either Congress or future administrations would have to extend Obama's actions so that those immigrants would still be considered lawfully present in the country.
None of the immigrants who would be spared deportation under Obama's executive actions would be able to receive federal assistance such as welfare or food stamps, or other income-based aid. They also would not be eligible to purchase health insurance in federal exchanges set up by the new health care law and they would not be able to apply for tax credits that would lower the cost of their health insurance.
Benefits for illegal immigrants steps into murky waters. The White House has said it will not grant federal assistance to the 5 million affected by Obama’s executive actions. The Obama administration first denied younger immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally as children access to health care exchanges and tax credits in 2012, especially disappointing immigrant advocates.
"They were specifically carved out of that, which is deeply unfortunate because it cuts directly against the spirit" of the health care law, said Avideh Moussavian, an attorney at the National Immigration Law Center. "They should have had the opportunity to buy health insurance just like anybody else."
Any immigrant who is lawfully present in the country with a Social Security number would be entitled to Social Security and Medicare upon retirement because they would have paid into the system, one official said.
Stephen Miller, a spokesman for Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, a leading Republican opponent of Obama's executive actions, said making immigrants illegally in the U.S. eligible for Social Security and Medicare "is an attack on working families."
"The amnestied illegal immigrants are largely older, lower-wage and lower-skilled and will draw billions more in benefits than they will pay in," he said.
Those seeking benefits would have needed to work for at least 10 years and be of retirement age. Immigrants would also be eligible for survivor benefits if the deceased worker had worked for 10 years and disability insurance if they had worked 5-20 years.
A report by the White House Council of Economic Advisers this week concluded that Obama's executive actions would expand the U.S. tax base because about two-thirds of immigrants illegally working in the United States don't pay taxes.
But many immigrants currently working illegally still pay into the Social Security system because they have obtained an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number. Moussavian said the number has declined because the Internal Revenue Service has made it harder to apply for the identification number.
The Social Security Administration estimates that out of about 11 immigrants who either entered the U.S. illegally or have overstayed their visas slightly more than 3 million paid payroll taxes of about $6.5 billion in 2010, with their employers contributing another $6.5 billion.
"It's one of many reasons why they would want to come forward," Moussavian said. "Many immigrants have contributed enormously through payroll taxes and income taxes and they go to programs that they can't currently access."

Reckless move: The NY Times publishes Darren Wilson’s address

Bailey comment:"This so called business should be shut down and everyone working there that was responsible for putting Darren Wilson and his family's life in danger need to be brought up on charges of attempted murder."  

The New York Times, whether consciously or not, has just endangered Darren Wilson’s life.
With tensions running high in Ferguson over the lack of an indictment for Wilson’s killing of Michael Brown, the paper has published the officer’s approximate address -- the street and town where he lives with his new wife, who also is named.
Given the racial animosity unleashed by Brown’s death, given the rioting and the looting and the stores that were set afire, how can a news organization make it easier for some crazy zealot to track down Wilson?
But there it is in the paper:
“Officer Wilson and [blank] own a home together on [blank] Lane in [blank], Mo., a St. Louis suburb about a half-hour drive from Ferguson.”
I mean, why not add a locator map?
The piece was a seemingly innocuous scooplet about Wilson, who had dropped out of sight before the grand jury decision, getting married.
As Mediaite columnist Joe Concha puts it, “Regardless of your thoughts on Wilson’s guilt or innocence, how can anyone believe providing his street and name of his wife be anything but irresponsible?”
The Times has published a correction -- but not the kind you would expect:
“An earlier version of this post included a photograph that contained information that should not have been made public. The image has been removed.”
But that was not a reference to Wilson’s address, which was in the text of the story. Rather, the paper deleted a photo of Wilson’s marriage license.
Journalism is full of close calls. This is not one of them. The Times should apologize.

Gas Price Cartoon

Businesses to receive incentive for hiring illegal immigrants, report says

Businesses will have a $3,000-per-employee incentive to hire illegal immigrants or native-born workers under President Obama’s sweeping action on illegal immigration.
Because of a kink in ObamaCare, businesses will not face a penalty for not providing illegal immigrants health care, The Washington Times reports. Illegal immigrants are ineligible for public benefits such as buying insurance on ObamaCare’s health exchanges.
Congressional aides condemned the loophole saying it puts illegal immigrants ahead of Americans in the job hunt.
“If it is true that the president’s actions give employers a $3,000 incentive to hire those who came here illegally, he has added insult to injury,” Rep. Lamar Smith, Texas Republican told The Washington Times. “The president’s actions would have just moved those who came here illegally to the front of the line, ahead of unemployed and underemployed Americans.”
Fighting hecklers in Chicago Tuesday, Obama praised the contributions to the U.S. by a broad patchwork of immigrants, saying it is imperative that the U.S. act now to change its broken immigration policy. He cited studies showing that immigrants open one-fourth of all new U.S. businesses and that 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or their children.
"Being a nation of immigrants gives us this huge entrepreneurial advantage over other nations," he said.
Obama’s executive action could make nearly 5 million immigrants eligible to avoid deportation.
At issue is the extent of Obama's executive actions. The measures would apply to parents of U.S. citizens or of legal permanent residents. The parents would have to have lived in the U.S. for at least five years. Obama also expanded a program designed to extend deportation protections to immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally as children.
But in a blow to some immigrant activists, Obama did not provide protections for parents of such young immigrants who are known as Dreamers.

Parents offended by "Nutcracker" Christmas tree

War On Christmas.

We haven’t even had time to hang the mistletoe and would you believe there are already skirmishes breaking out in the war on Christmas?
The latest yuletide battleground is Butler Elementary School in Belmont, Mass.
Over the years I’ve covered my fair share of anti-Christmas school house shenanigans. There was the dimwit who confiscated a child’s candy canes and the dunderheads who banned the colors red and green. And how can we forget about the simpletons who outlawed classroom poinsettias or the Junior League communists who rewrote the lyrics to "Silent Night"?
But those are junior varsity skirmishes compared to what happened at Butler Elementary School – where the PTA canceled a field trip to see “The Nutcracker” because there was a Christmas tree on the stage.
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I’m not making this up, folks.
Television station WHDH did a stellar job reporting this act of lunacy. They report that a group of parents were alarmed at the “questionable content” of the popular ballet.
The questionable content had nothing to do with men in tights. The parents got their tutus in a twist over "O Tannenbaum."
“In the past years, there were parent complaints as "The Nutcracker" has a religious content,” PTA co-president Barbara Bulfoni told the television station.
Well, smoke some holly and call me jolly! Heaven help the unfortunate children who gaze upon a tree decorated with ornaments and sparkly lights and tinsel.
According to the reporting of WHDH, the issue came to a boiling point during a recent PTA meeting. Parents who supported the ballet were told accused of being discriminatory.
And to make matters worse, the PTA secretly canceled the trip.
Once the parents learned the trip had been canceled – they raised a ruckus and faster than you could say “Sugar Plum Fairy” – the PTA reversed its decision.
For the record - there are no reported instances of a child spontaneously converting to the Christian faith while attending a performance of “The Nutcracker.”
I commend the PTA for coming to their senses and I raise a cup of egg nog in their honor. I may need a double.

White House veto threat ices plans to renew tax breaks

A plan to renew a handful of tax breaks for business and individuals looks to have been quenched by the White House after a veto threat.
The threat came before any plan was revealed to renew that tax breaks, which have said to have favored individuals over the working class.
Speculation on Capitol Hill on Tuesday focused on a potential agreement to permanently enact tax breaks on business investments in new equipment and research and development as part of a plan that would renew dozens of expired tax breaks for businesses and individuals both.
The White House immediately weighed in with a veto threat, saying Congress should also make permanent a top Obama administration priority: extending more generous tax credits for the working poor and people with children. They were left out of the potential pact and expire at the end of 2017. Democrats fear they won't be renewed if Republicans control Congress or retake the White House.
"The president would veto the proposed deal because it would provide permanent tax breaks to help well-connected corporations while neglecting working families," deputy White House press secretary Jennifer Friedman said. A senior White House official said the president was personally working the phones to try to kill the plan.
Negotiations no renewing the expired tax breaks are expected to continue.
The breaks are usually renewed annually and have a widespread political backing between Republicans and Democrats. The emerging pact would also have made permanent tax breaks for college tuition, parking and transit subsidies, and a deduction for state and local sales taxes.
"The president has consistently stated his opposition to giving hundreds of billions of dollars of tax cuts primarily geared toward corporations while leaving middle-class families and those struggling to get into the middle class behind," said Jason Furman, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.
The possible agreement, Democratic aides said, was being negotiated between House Republicans and top Senate Democrats like outgoing Majority Leader Harry Reid, whose state of Nevada benefits from the state and local sales tax deduction. Senate Democrats were seeking the best deal they could while retaining leverage, but the emerging outline infuriated the White House because it was so favorable to businesses.
The plan would have reached $450 million and would have been added to the $17.9 trillion national debt.
"The price tag is a result of irresponsible horse trading whereby each side got to claim its favorite tax break without paying for it," said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, which advocates for lower deficits.

Ferguson protesters rally across US for second day

Get a Job!

Protests took place across the nation for the second straight day in wake of a grand jury declining to indict Ferguson officer Darren Wilson on charges for killing 18-year-old Michael Brown in an August shooting.
Demonstrations in Ferguson quieted down Tuesday night into early Wednesday evening. There was not as much chaos in the town as there was Monday night after the announcement.
In California, Oakland protesters vandalized police cars, smashed windows at car dealerships, restaurants and convenience stores as well as setting fire to trash in the middle of city streets.
The crowd also shut down two major freeways before police forced the crowds to disperse.
Protesters in Los Angeles crowded U.S. 101 freeway barricading lanes stopping traffic. Police cornered the protesters on an overpass, but one protester managed to toss a barricade off the overpass onto the freeway.
Thousands of people marched in Manhattan gathering in Union Square and holding up traffic on FDR Drive, Williamsburg and Manhattan bridges and the Queens Midtown Tunnel.
Commissioner William Bratton said police were giving protesters "breathing room."
"As long as they remain nonviolent, and as long as they don't engage in issues that cause fear or create vandalism, we will work with them to allow them to demonstrate," he said.
A car struck a pedestrian early Tuesday afternoon at a rally. The car then continued to burst through the pack of demonstrators. The driver called the police immediately after the incident. The woman suffered minor injuries.
Several hundred people marched down a Cleveland freeway ramp to block rush-hour traffic while protesting the Missouri developments and Saturday's fatal shooting by an officer of 12-year-old Tamir Rice of Cleveland, who had a pellet gun that looked like a real firearm.
"The system wasn't made to protect us," said one of the protesters, 17-year-old Naesha Pierce. "To get justice, the people themselves have to be justice."
Riot police arrested several demonstrators in St. Louis on Interstate 44 near the Edward Jones Dome. Protesters disrupted traffic for several hours before they were dispersed by police with pepper spray.
Several hundred people from historically black schools Morehouse College and Clark Atlanta University in Georgia held peaceful demonstrations. But as the night wore on, some groups split off and tried to block a freeway, and police said some windows were broken.
Police said 21 people were arrested, mostly for failure to disperse when asked, but one person faces a weapons charge.
In Portland, Oregon, a rally drew about 1,000 people who listened to speeches then marched through downtown. A splinter group of about 300 people kept going, marching across a Willamette River bridge. Bus and light rail traffic was disrupted, and police used pepper spray and made several arrests.

13 Facts About Ferguson the Media Will Never Tell You

According to protesters who erupted in violence after a grand jury declined to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., this was the case of a white policeman shooting an unarmed black teenager with his hands in the air in a community plagued by racial tension
That's an account promoted by many in the mainstream media as well. But here are several facts about the case that are harder to find:

1. Surveillance video showed that shortly before the confrontation, 18-year-old Brown stole cigarillos from a convenience store and shoved a clerk who tried to stop him.

2. The autopsy report showed that Brown had marijuana in his system when he died.

3. Officer Wilson, driving to the call of a medical emergency, first encountered Brown walking in the middle of a street and told Brown and his friend to walk on the sidewalk. Brown responded with an expletive.

4. Wilson chose to confront Brown only after he saw the cigarillos in his hand and recalled the radio report of a robbery at the convenience store.

5. Wilson said when he tried to open his car door, Brown slammed it back shut, then punched Wilson in the face.

6. Fearing another punch could knock him out, Wilson drew his gun, he told the grand jury, and Brown grabbed the gun, saying "you are too much of a pussy to shoot me."

7. An African-American witness confirmed that Brown and Wilson appeared to be "arm-wrestling" by the car.

8. Another witness saw Brown leaning through the car's window and said "some sort of confrontation was taking place."

9. After Wilson fired a shot that struck Brown's hand, Brown fled and Wilson gave chase. Brown suddenly stopped. An unidentified witness told the grand jury that 6-foot-4, 292-pound Brown charged at Wilson with his head down. Wilson said Brown put his hand under the waistband of his pants as he continued toward Wilson. That's when Wilson fired.

10. A witness testified that Brown never raised his hands.

11. Gunpowder found on the wound on Brown's hand indicated his hand was close to the gun when it fired. According to a report, the hand wound showed foreign matter "consistent with products that are discharged from the barrel of a firearm."

12. Judy Melinek, a forensic pathologist who reviewed the autopsy for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, said the gunpowder "supports the fact that this guy is reaching for the gun, if he has particulate matter in the wound."

13. Wilson said Brown was physically uncontrollable and "for lack of a better word, crazy." He said that during the confrontation, he was thinking: "He's gonna kill me. How do I survive?" Legal experts say police officers typically have wide latitude to use deadly force when they feel their safety is threatened.

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Ferguson Agitators Cartoon

Dreamers pushed the boundaries on immigration reform – and now seem to control the narrative

They were criticized for being too provocative and too critical in demanding immigration reform.
When some of them arranged for youths who had been deported to try to come back across the Mexican border, setting up a showdown with the Obama administration over whether they would be allowed to return to the U.S., even the most enthusiastic immigration activists balked at their strategy.
And when these group of young activists, undocumented youths who had grown up in the United States and are known as Dreamers, locked horns with even some Democrats who were leading the push for immigration reform – particularly President Barack Obama himself – immigration activists grew frustrated, claiming it was wrong to direct criticism at the president, someone who sympathized with their cause.
The so-called Dreamers, however, did not back down – in fact, they pushed back harder when immigration reform failed to materialize.
And so when Obama delivered his prime-time speech last Thursday, announcing that he was issuing an executive order that would suspend deportation for up to 5 million undocumented immigrants, the Dreamers felt vindicated.
It was their single biggest victory so far – the largest change in immigration in many years. And with that, they recaptured the driver’s seat in the fight for comprehensive immigration reform.
“We got a lot of backlash for going after Obama,” said Erika Andiola, one of the most prominent Dreamers pushing for immigration reform, to Fox News Latino. “But he is the president of the United States, he said he supported immigrants, but Dreamers were saying he was getting them and their families deported.”
“At the end of the day, it was that pressure that created a moral crisis” and played a part in pushing the president to issue the executive order.

“[President Obama]’s leaving in two years, and he’d done nothing [about immigration]. This is historic, and it’s the result of our lobbying, going to Congress, holding vigils, civil disobedience. We took risks to make sure our stories were heard, we tried to put them in our shoes.

- Lucy Allain, immigrant activist

Since 2009, the Dreamers have taken a fledgling campaign that was focused on getting a law that would provide young undocumented immigrants with a chance to live and work in the United States, and turned it into the engine of immigration advocacy that has broadened to include legalization for many groups of people who are here illegally.
Obama’s executive action in large part echoes what the Dreamers – often to the chagrin of older, long-established immigration activists and advocacy groups who had preferred a more cautious, diplomatic approach – have been demanding to one degree or another for years.
Obama said he was expanding a 2012 initiative, which originally gave a two-year reprieve from deportation to immigrants who had come to the United States illegally before they were 16, who were no older than 31, had no criminal record, and met other criteria. The new executive order lifts the age cap of 31, and extends the deportation relief, as well as the accompanying eligibility to get a work permit, to many other undocumented immigrants, including parents of U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents.
“When I heard the announcement, I was watching TV, and many people were saying ‘Thank God Obama finally did this, he finally realized it needed to be done,’” said Lucy Allain, a leader in the Dreamer movement who gained national attention when she confronted then-presidential candidate Mitt Romney at a campaign event in New York City about his hard-line stance on immigration.
“It wasn’t that he finally realized it on his own. The [Dreamer] community doesn’t get appreciated. The whole executive action would not have been possible if there had not been a big push [by activists] for him to do it,” she said. “…This is historic, and it’s the result of our lobbying, going to Congress, holding vigils, civil disobedience. We took risks to make sure our stories were heard, we tried to put them in our shoes.”
The Dreamers are named after a congressional measure – the Dream Act – that calls for providing undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children a path to legal status. It has been introduced several times, but has failed to pass.
To be sure, many advocates of all ages have worked diligently to push for an overhaul of immigration laws that would give opportunities to many of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States to legalize their status.
“Let's be clear,” wrote immigration attorney Marty Rosenbluth wrote on a Facebook page for human rights activists, “We shouldn't just be thanking Obama. We should be thanking the tens of thousands of immigrants and others who picketed, protested, laid down in the streets, wrote letters, and drove time and time again to D.C. and to other cities to get their voices heard.”
“Yup, he finally did it,” Rosenbluth said. “But this is a victory for mass organizing, not for politics as usual.”
In an interview with Fox News Latino, Rosenbluth said Obama responded to pressure. He said the executive order – which Obama had threatened to issue multiple times over the last several years, citing a lack of will by Republicans in the House to move forward an immigration reform bill – capped a sweeping and persistent grassroots effort by undocumented immigrants, their U.S. citizen and legal permanent resident relatives, and other supporters.
Obama, after all, he said, presided over the largest number of deportations – more than 2 million people since he’s been in office – of any administration.
“We have to see this as not that Obama kept his promise” to reform immigration, Rosenbluth said, “but that the immigrant community kept him to his promise. They made him keep his promise.”
But the Dreamers, arguably, maintained an energy and remained vocal and visible, even when many other activists seemed to grow weary. Often, when hope for immigration reform or executive action dimmed, and activists grew exasperated and stopped to evaluate their strategies, the Dreamers got bolder, and pushed boundaries.
In one case that drew criticism from some of the older immigrant advocates, one group of dreamers even coordinated with deported immigrants in Mexico to try to cross back into the United States; they did, approaching Border Patrol agents, who arrested and detained them. Some got released and are awaiting hearings on their political asylum claims, others were deported.
Andiola, a 27-year-old from Arizona who got a two-year reprieve from Obama’s 2012 initiative, has frequently pushed the boundaries to bring attention to the plight of undocumented immigrants.
This summer, she and Cesar Vargas, another undocumented immigrant and activist, went up to Republican lawmakers Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Rep. Steve King of Iowa at a fundraiser in Iowa and introduced themselves as beneficiaries of the 2012 program, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.
King, who has one of the most hardline views on immigration in Congress, has been a vocal opponent of DACA and any other kind of break given to undocumented immigrants.
Andiola reminded King of a notorious comment he had made about how Dreamers smuggle drugs.
King suggested that perhaps Andiola had not understood his comment.
“I spoke of drug smugglers,” he said in the encounter, which was videotaped. “Now, you’re not going to tell me you’re one of them are you?”
Andiola didn’t miss a beat and responded: “Do I look like a drug smuggler to you?”
“For many years, others spoke for us,” Andiola said. “The big non-profits spoke for us. We decided to come out of the shadows, to speak for ourselves, to tell our story directly, to come out of the shadows.”
The Dreamers made it part of their modus operandi to publicize and humanize the story of people facing deportation. They put faces in front of cameras, they gave their full names, they wore shirts that said “Undocumented and Unafraid.”
“We were called all kinds of things,” she recalled. “But the more we spoke out, the more we controlled the narrative, and the more we saw people were connecting with us. We also started seeing we could stop deportations, publicizing someone’s story actually protected them rather than hurt them.”
Adds Allain, “We took risks to get our point across. Our story is powerful, people can relate to it.”
The Dreamers say they are glad the president finally fulfilled a part of his promise to take action on immigration unilaterally because Congress has failed to bring a reform bill for a vote.
But they say they want deportations suspended for more people, they say too many people are still being left in the shadows, too many families are being separated after an undocumented relative is put in deportation after a traffic stop, or a raid by immigration officials.
“We need to move forward, we need to keep fighting, for the people who have been left out of this executive action,” said Andiola, whose home immigration agents raided. “We celebrate wins like DACA and the executive order, but we also know that our Mom or Dad didn’t qualify.”

Veterans Affairs Department fires Phoenix hospital director

The head of the troubled Phoenix veterans' hospital was fired Monday as the Veterans Affairs Department continued its crackdown on wrongdoing in the wake of a nationwide scandal over long wait times for veterans seeking medical care and falsified records covering up the delays.
Sharon Helman, director of the Phoenix VA Health Care System, was ousted nearly seven months after she and two high-ranking officials were placed on administrative leave amid an investigation into allegations that 40 veterans died while awaiting treatment at the hospital. Helman had led the giant Phoenix facility, which treats more than 80,000 veterans a year, since February 2012.
The Phoenix hospital was at the center of the wait-time scandal, which led to the ouster of former VA Secretary Eric Shinseki and a new, $16 billion law overhauling the labyrinthine veterans' health care system.
VA Secretary Robert McDonald said Helman's dismissal underscores the agency's commitment to hold leaders accountable and ensure that veterans have access to high-quality, timely care.
An investigation by the VA's office of inspector general found that workers at the Phoenix VA hospital falsified waiting lists while their supervisors looked the other way or even directed it, resulting in chronic delays for veterans seeking care. At least 40 patients died while awaiting appointments in Phoenix, the report said, but officials could not "conclusively assert" that delays in care caused the deaths.
About 1,700 veterans in need of care were "at risk of being lost or forgotten" after being kept off the official waiting list at the troubled Phoenix hospital, the IG's office said.
"Lack of oversight and misconduct by VA leaders runs counter to our mission of serving veterans, and VA will not tolerate it," McDonald said in a statement late Monday. "We depend on VA employees and leaders to put the needs of veterans first."
Helman is the fifth senior executive fired or forced to resign in recent weeks in response to the wait-time scandal.
Helman did not immediately respond to telephone messages Monday from The Associated Press.
Helman, who has worked at the VA since 1990, has been on paid leave since May 1, shortly after a former clinic director at the Phoenix site alleged that up to 40 patients may have died because of delays in care and that the hospital kept a secret list of patients waiting for appointments to hide the treatment delays.
Dr. Samuel Foote, who had worked for the Phoenix VA for more than 20 years before retiring last December, brought the allegations to light and says supervisors ignored his complaints for months.
In an interview with the AP in May, hours before being placed on administrative leave, Helman denied any knowledge of a secret list and said she had found no evidence of patient deaths due to delayed care.
Helman told the AP that she takes her job seriously and was personally offended by the claims of misconduct.
"I have given over 20 years of service to this mission. I am proud to lead this hospital," Helman said. "I have never wavered from the ethical standards that I have held my entire career, and I will continue to give these veterans what they deserve, which is the best health care."

Labor union work by federal employees on ‘official time’ costs taxpayers millions

Unionized federal employees spent 2.48 million hours working for their labor unions while getting paid by taxpayers during 2013, and more than 360 workers who are on the federal payroll spent 100 percent of their time working for their union.
Under federal rules, employees who are members of a labor union are entitled to so-called “official time,” where they are dismissed from their duties as a government employee to engage in labor union organizing activities. A new report from the Government Accountability Office shows the use of official time has increased over the past several years as the size of the federal workforce has grown.
And it’s costing taxpayers plenty. According to the Office of Personnel Management, which tracks federal employees’ time, federal employees were paid more than $157 million during 2012 while doing work for labor unions.
The GAO says the price tag may be even higher, since some federal agencies are not adequately tracking their employees’ official time.
“Since agencies are most often managing the use of official time using an approach that has no specified number of hours, they could be at greater risk for abuse,” auditors warned in the report, released last week.

Grand jury in Ferguson case does not indict officer in Michael Brown shooting

There were 29 arrests made after protesters fired more than 100 gunshots, burned dozens buildings, looted stores and vandalized police cars in Ferguson, Mo. after a grand jury did not indict a police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black teenager in August, St. Louis Unified Command said in a press conference Tuesday morning.
Heavily armed police fired pepper spray and smoke canisters to disperse the crowds of protesters. Police seized a .45 mm automatic handgun as well.
"We have no loss of life, but I am disappointed the night turned out this way," St. Louis Police Department Chief Jon Belmar said.
Belmar said he heard more than 150 shots ring off in the night. 
"What I've seen tonight is probably worse than the worst night we had in August," Belmar said.
Gov. Jay Nixon ordered more Missouri National Guardsmen to provide security at the Ferguson Police Department.
St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch announced the decision not to indict Darren Wilson on Monday evening. A grand jury of nine whites and three blacks had been meeting weekly since Aug. 20 to consider evidence in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, 18. The panel met for 70 hours and heard from 60 witnesses.
McCulloch stressed that the grand jurors were "the only people who heard every witness ... and every piece of evidence." He said many witness presented conflicting statements that ultimately were inconsistent with the physical evidence.
"These grand jurors poured their hearts and soul into this process," he said.
Brown's family immediately issued a statement following McCulloch's announcement.
"We are profoundly disappointed that the killer of our child will not face the consequence of his actions," the family said. "While we understand that many others share our pain, we ask that you channel your frustration in ways that will make a positive change. We need to work together to fix the system that allowed this to happen."  
Brown's mother, Lesley McSpadden, was sitting atop a vehicle when the decision was announced, and burst into tears and began screaming before being whisked away by supporters.
President Obama addressed the nation less than an hour after the decision was announced, pleading with protesters to remain peaceful.
"I join Michael's parents to ask anyone who protests this decision to do so peacefully," Obama said. "Let me repeat Michael's father's words: 'Hurting others and destroying property is not answer. I do not want my son's death to be in vain.'"
But soon after McCulloch's statement, a crowd gathered in Ferguson erupted in anger, throwing things at police and knocking down a barricade after McCulloch's announcement. Several gunshots were heard on the streets.
The St. Louis County Police Department announced that shots were fired across from the Ferguson Police Department, though it was not immediately clear if anyone was injured.
The crowd converged on a barricade where police in riot gear stood along the street. They pushed the barricade down and began pelting police with items, including a bullhorn. Officers in armored vehicles lobbed canisters of irritants that made people's eyes and lungs burn, dispersing crowds after a police car was vandalized, business windows shattered and gunshots rang in the streets.
Protesters hugged a barricade and taunted police, sometimes with expletives. Some chanted "murderer." Gunshots were heard down the street and somebody threw a water bottle that bounced off a police shield.
Some in the crowd reportedly tried to stop others from taking part in vandalism and other violent reactions.
Early Tuesday, the FAA activated a temporary flight restriction over Ferguson for safety reasons. Only police aircraft would be allowed to fly over the area, the FAA said in a statement.
Wilson, 28, shot and killed Brown on a Ferguson, Mo. street following a scuffle on Aug. 9 as the teenager and a friend walked back from a convenience store. Brown's body lay in the street for four hours in the summer heat, and neighbors later lashed out at authorities, saying they mistreated the body.
According to testimony released by McCulloch's office Monday night, Wilson said Brown hit him in the face after. Wilson drew his gun in fear that Brown would knock him out. Wilson said Brown nearly dared him to shoot Brown.
Wilson said he managed to pull the trigger, and the gun "clicked" twice without firing before a shot went through the window. Wilson said Brown stepped back and then looked at him with the "most intense, aggressive face."
"The only way I can describe it, it looks like a demon, that's how angry he looked. He comes back towards me again with his hands up."
Brown took off running and Wilson followed him. Wilson said Brown eventually stopped and approached him. Wilson yelled to Brown to get on the ground. Wilson alleges Brown kept coming toward him and put his hand under his waistband of his pants.
Wilson said Brown was looking like he was going to tackle him. Wilson then fired shots toward Brown's head, killing him.
The grand jury testimony includes the accounts of many witnesses whose names are not listed in the transcripts.
One testified that he was working in a nearby building and saw Brown leaning through the police vehicle window and "some sort of confrontation was taking place." He said a shot rang out and Brown fled as the officer chased him with his gun drawn. The witness said Brown stopped and turned but never raised his hands. He said Brown "ran towards the officer full charge." The officer then fired several shots, but Brown kept rushing toward him, the witness said.
The shooting triggered riots and looting in and around the Ferguson area, and police responded to protesters with armored vehicles and tear gas. Protests continued for weeks -- often peacefully, but sometimes turning violent, with demonstrators throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails and police firing smoke canisters, tear gas and rubber bullets.
At times, the debate surrounding the shooting has focused as much on authorities' response -- which also featured officers equipped with military style gear, including armored vehicles, body armor and assault rifles -- as the shooting itself.

Grand jury in Ferguson case reaches decision, prosecutor's office says

A grand jury reached a decision Monday in the case against the Ferguson police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black teenager in August, touching off nationwide protests and cries of police brutality.
The Office of the Prosecuting Attorney in St. Louis County, Mo., made the announcement shortly before 3 p.m. CT, but did not say when the decision would be revealed and gave no indication whether Darren Wilson would be charged in the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown.
Wilson, 28, shot and killed Brown on a Ferguson, Mo. street following a scuffle on Aug. 9 as the teenager and a friend walked back from a convenience store. Brown's body lay in the street for four hours in the summer heat, and neighbors later lashed out at authorities, saying they mistreated the body.
Witnesses later said that Brown had his hands raised and was trying to surrender when Wilson approached with his gun and fired repeatedly. Several media organizations, citing sources they didn't identify, have reported Wilson told grand jurors Brown was coming at him aggressively.
The shooting triggered riots and looting in and around the Ferguson area, and police responded to protesters with armored vehicles and tear gas. At times, much of the debate surrounding the shooting has focused as much on authorities' response -- which also featured officers equipped with military style gear, including armored vehicles, body armor and assault rifles -- as the shooting itself.
Officials had expressed concern that the widespread and sometimes violent protests would occur again, and authorities had stepped up security in the St. Louis area in anticipation of renewed protests leading up to the grand jury's decision.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel stepping down, Fox News confirms

WASHINGTON –  President Obama will announce Monday that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is resigning, in a development that seemed abrupt yet came amid growing pressure from the White House over his handling of several international issues, Fox News has confirmed.

The Vietnam veteran and former Republican senator took office less than two years ago, and was charged with overseeing the winding down of decade-long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Hagel, 68, also steered the military during sweeping changes involving gays and women in the military. But in recent months, the Pentagon has taken on new challenges, including fighting Islamic State in Syria and Iraq and deploying military personnel to Africa to fight Ebola.

Sources told FoxNews.com that Obama's dissatisfaction with Hagel, as well as a desire to shake up the cabinet following the devastating midterm elections, played a role in the president seeking Hagel's ouster.  

“Make no mistake, Secretary Hagel was fired,” a senior U.S. official with close knowledge of the situation told Fox News.

“Make no mistake, Secretary Hagel was fired.”

- Senior U.S. official

This same official discounted Pentagon claims it was a mutual decision claiming President Obama has lost confidence in Hagel and that the White House had been planning to announce his exit for weeks.

“The president felt he had to fire someone. He fired the only Republican in his cabinet. Who is that going to piss off that he cares about?"

In a swipe at the resume of Hagel, who served as U.S. Army sergeant in Vietnam and received two Purple Hearts, the official added, “This is why you don’t send a sergeant to do a secretary’s job.”

Hagel took office Feb. 27, 2013, five years after retiring from the Senate. Prior to his political career, Hagel co-founded Vanguard Cellular, worked for an investment banking firm and ran American Information Systems, a company that makes computerized voting machines. He also taught at Georgetown University after stepping down frm the Senate.

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President Obama meets with Chuck Hagel, then co-chairman of the president's Intelligence Advisory Board, in this 2009 file photo. (AP) (Reuters)

A senior defense official said that Hagel submitted his resignation letter to Obama Monday morning and that the president accepted it. Hagel agreed to remain in office until his successor is confirmed by the Senate, the official said.

The president is not expected to nominate a new Pentagon chief Monday, according to one official.

The officials insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter by name ahead of Obama's official announcement.

Hagel, the only Republican on Obama’s cabinet, served as senator from Nebraska for two terms, beginning in 1996, and became a critic of U.S. involvement in Iraq. Obama nominated him to succeed Leon Panetta as Defense Secretary in his second term.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.,  a fellow Vietnam veteran who sometimes clashed with Hagel while the two served in the Senate, praised his former colleague's character and dedication.

“Secretary Chuck Hagel and I have had our differences over many years, but I have always considered him a friend, a patriot, and a dedicated public servant who has always put our country first and the needs of our men and women in uniform above his own," McCain said.

McCain said the real problems at the Pentagon are due to what he called Obama's "misguided policies." 

"... ultimately, the President needs to realize that the real source of his current failures on national security more often lie with his Administration's misguided policies and the role played by his White House in devising and implementing them," McCain said. "That is the real change we need right now.”

Recent questions about Hagel's future at the Pentagon were prompted in part by his decision to postpone a long-planned trip this month to Vietnam. At the time, officials said he needed to remain in Washington for congressional consultations, but that did not stop speculation that the White House might be looking for a replacement for the final two years of Obama's term.

Just last week, Hagel was asked about the speculation during an interview on the Charlie Rose show. He was asked whether he's concerned by the speculation.

"No. First of all, I serve at the pleasure of the president," Hagel said. "I`m immensely grateful for the opportunity I`ve had the last two years to work every day for the country and for the men and women who serve this country. I don`t get up in the morning and worry about my job. It`s not unusual by the way, to change teams at different times."

King Obama Cartoon

Fools of the Week: Brian Williams, NBC Nightly News

A full two weeks have passed since the accidental whistleblower MIT Professor Jonathan Gruber outed the Obama administration’s underhanded way of getting ObamaCare past the American people.
The lying and cheating that it took to pass was deplorable.
Well, you know about the Gruber tapes (all seven and counting) ... because we, here at Fox News, told you about them. 
We showed you the tapes because ObamaCare was a game-changer. It changed the way we interpret the Constitution’s Commerce Clause. And gave the federal government new powers over what they can impose on Americans and you needed to understand how the administration perpetrated the Big Hoax.
In the very prescient words of Vice President Joe Biden: “This is a big F***ing deal!”
But if you’re one of the remaining  few viewers to watch mainstream media, you probably never heard of Jon Gruber or his comment that are lighting up the news world.
Because Brian Williams and his NBC Nightly News has NEVER once mentioned Gruber…
They had time for things like Hello Kitty lollipops at McDonalds...
The dress code for Kate and Prince William’s U.S. visit...
And drones carrying mistletoe!
But no Gruber.
Because you are showing your media bias -- like Madonna shows her lingerie --Brian Williams and the NBC Nightly News, you are the Fools of the Week!

GOP, Democrats spar over legality of executive orders, as lawsuits begin

Democrats and Republicans sparred Sunday over whether President Obama violated the Constitution by using his executive power to change U.S. immigration law, with Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz calling the president’s actions “stunning and sad.”
Obama on Thursday announced that he would suspend deportation for roughly 5 million illegal immigrants, garnering support from much of his base and outrage from critics -- including two elected officials who are mounting separate legal challenges to the president’s executive actions.
Cruz  told “Fox News Sunday” that Obama refuses to accept that only Congress has the authority to establish federal immigration laws and that members should block the president’s nominees and some funding until he rescinds his executive actions.
“This is a stunning and sad display by the president,” Cruz said. “We need to impose real consequence.”
He was joined on the show by Greg Abbott, the governor-elect of Texas, which borders Mexico and deals with many illegal immigration issues.
Abbott, the state’s attorney general, intends to sue, arguing the executive actions create the same financial hardships for Texas as those in 2012 that now shield from deportation more than 1 million young people brought to the United States illegally through no fault of their own.
“We think we have standing better than any other state to be able to assert this claim against the president,” Abbott told Fox. “We have a president who feels completely unrestrained by the Constitution of America.”
Sheriff Joe Arpaio, of Arizona’s Maricopa County, has already filed a similar suit and called Obama’s moves “unconstitutional.”
California Democratic Rep. Xavier Becerra on Sunday defended Obama’s executive orders, saying they are no different than what Presidents Reagan and Bush Sr. did.
“He cannot change a law,” Becerra told Fox. “He can only secure them. The Supreme Court as recently as two years ago said the president has broad discretion to execute the laws.”
New Jersey Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he was “absolutely” sure the executive actions will pass constitutional muster.
“As a result of the president's actions more felons will be deported, more border patrol would be at the southern border, more people will pay taxes and more families will be able to stay together,” he added. “I think those are the goals that are worthy of being achieved.
Cruz also suggested, as he has since Obama announced the executive action, that Congress should take action next year when Republicans, who already control the House, will also have the majority in the Senate.
He said Congress, which confirms or votes down presidential nominees for judgeships and top administrative posts, should block all of Obama’s judicial and executive nominations for two years, except for those of “vital, national” importance.
The outspoken, first-term senator would not directly say whether Congress should try to block the nomination of Loretta Lynch, Obama’s pick to be the next U.S. attorney general.

Obama: Americans want 'new car smell' in 2016

HENDERSON, Nev. –  President Barack Obama says voters want a "new car smell" in the 2016 White House race and that Hillary Rodham Clinton would be "a great president."
But would Clinton pass that particular smell test?
In a nationally televised interview broadcast Sunday, Obama seemed to suggest that any Democrat other than him would provide the turn of the page that he says voters are interested in. He acknowledged the "dings" to his own political standing during nearly six years of sometimes bruising battles with Congress and said Americans will want something new.
"They want to drive something off the lot that doesn't have as much mileage as me," Obama said in the interview with ABC's "This Week," which was taped Friday in Las Vegas following a public appearance there by the president.
He said a number of possible Democratic candidates would make "terrific presidents," but Hillary Clinton is the only one he mentioned by name. He said she would be a "formidable candidate" and make "a great president" if she decides to run a second time.
But if she does run -- which she is considering, with a decision expected to be announced early next year -- would she have that "new car" scent for voters?
Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill declined to comment on the ABC interview.
Hillary Clinton has been a powerful force in Democratic politics for many years, beginning as Arkansas' first lady before she became America's first lady after her husband, Bill Clinton, was elected president in 1992. When his two terms were up, she ran for and won a U.S. Senate seat from New York.
She later sought and lost the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination to Obama, then cemented her worldwide profile by serving Obama as secretary of state in his first term. The Democratic political establishment is now awaiting word on whether she will take on the challenge of another national political campaign.
New car smell or not, Democratic voters hold her in such high regard that she outdistances anyone else in polling of possible Democratic candidates for 2016. One of them is Vice President Joe Biden, who has not ruled out a third run for the White House.
Eight in 10 Democrats held positive views of Clinton in an Associated Press-GfK poll conducted in late July. Biden had a 71 percent favorable rating in the survey.
Obama acknowledged that Hillary Clinton won't agree with him on everything, suggesting that such a stance would be a welcome break for voters after eight years of Obama. A benefit of running for president, he said, "is you can stake out your own positions."
The 2016 presidential race could feature a repeat face-off between a Clinton and a member of another leading American political family: former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who is considering entering the 2016 race. His father and brother both were elected president.
Three of the past four presidents dating to the 1988 election have been named Bush or Clinton.
Jeb Bush's father, George H. W. Bush, was elected president in 1988. He lost re-election in 1992 to Bill Clinton, who served two terms. Jeb Bush's brother, George W., then defeated Clinton's vice president, Al Gore, in 2000 and was re-elected in 2004. The elder Bush also served two terms as vice president to Ronald Reagan.
In the AP-GfK survey, Jeb Bush was most popular among potential 2016 GOP presidential candidates, with 56 percent of Republicans viewing him favorably. Majorities also held positive views of outgoing Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.

Obamaland Cartoon

Al-Shabab militants hijack bus in Kenya, kill 28 non-Muslims on board, police say

NAIROBI, Kenya –  One gunman shot from the right, one from the left, each killing the non-Muslims lying in a line on the ground, growing closer and closer to Douglas Ochwodho, who was in the middle.
And then the shooting stopped. Apparently each gunman thought the other shot Ochwodho. He lay perfectly still until the 20 Islamic extremists left, and he appears to be the only survivor of those who had been selected for death.
Somalia's Islamic extremist rebels, al-Shabab, attacked a bus in northern Kenya at dawn Saturday, singling out and killing 28 passengers who could not recite an Islamic creed and were assumed to be non-Muslims, Kenyan police said.
Those who could not say the Shahada, a tenet of the Muslim faith, were shot at close range, Ochwodho told The Associated Press.
Nineteen men and nine women were killed in the bus attack, said Kenyan police chief David Kimaiyo.
Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the killings through its radio station in Somalia, saying it was in retaliation for raids by Kenyan security forces carried out earlier this week on four mosques at the Kenyan coast.
Kenya's military said it responded to the killings with airstrikes later Saturday that destroyed the attackers' camp in Somalia and killed 45 rebels.
"The United States condemns in the strongest terms today's horrific attack in Kenya by the terrorist group al-Shabab against innocent civilians," said Bernadette Meehan, the spokeswoman for the National Security Council in Washington.
"The United States stands with our Kenyan partners in the effort to counter the threat of terrorism and affirms our ongoing commitment to working with all Kenyans to combat these atrocities," her statement said.
The bus traveling to the capital Nairobi with 60 passengers was hijacked about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the town of Mandera near Kenya's border with Somalia, said two police officers who insisted on anonymity because they were ordered not to speak to the press.
The attackers first tried to wave the bus down but it didn't stop so the gunmen sprayed it with bullets, said the police. When that didn't work they shot a rocket propelled grenade at it, the officers said.
The gunmen took control of the vehicle and forced it off the road where they ordered all the passengers out of the vehicle and separated those who appeared to be non-Muslims-- mostly non-Somalis-- from the rest.
The survivor, Douglas Ochwodho, a non-Muslim head teacher of a private primary school in Mandera, said was travelling home for the Christmas vacation since school had closed.
Ochwodho told AP that the passengers who did not look Somali were separated from the others. The non-Somali passengers were then asked to recite the Shahada, an Islamic creed declaring oneness with God.  Those who couldn't recite the creed were ordered to lie down. Ochwodho was among those who had to lie on the ground.
Two gunmen started shooting those on the ground; one gunman started from the left and other from the right, Ochwodho said. When they reached him they were confused on whether either had shot him, he said.
Ochwodho lay still until the gunmen left, he said.  He then ran back to the road and got a lift from a pick-up truck back to Mandera. He spoke from a hospital bed where he was being treated for shock.
Seventeen of the 28 dead were teachers, according to the police commander in Mandera County.
A shortage of personnel and lack of equipment led to a slow response by police when the information was received, said two police officers who insisted on anonymity because they were ordered not to speak to the press. They said the attackers have more sophisticated weaponry than the police who waited for military reinforcements before responding.
Kenya has been hit by a series of gun and bomb attacks blamed on al-Shabab, who are linked to al-Qaida, since it sent troops into Somalia in October 2011. Authorities say there have been at least 135 attacks by al-Shabab since then, including the assault on Nairobi's upscale Westgate Mall in September 2013 in which 67 people were killed.  Al-Shabab said it was responsible for other attacks on Kenya's coast earlier this year which killed at least 90 people.
Al-Shabab is becoming "more entrenched and a graver threat to Kenya," warned the International Crisis Group in a September report to mark the  anniversary of the Westgate attack. The report said that the Islamic extremists are taking advantage of longstanding grievances of Kenya's Muslim community, such as official discrimination and marginalization.
Kenya has been struggling to contain growing extremism in the country. Earlier this week the authorities shut down four mosques at the Kenyan coast after police alleged they found explosives and a gun when they raided the places of worship.
Some Muslims believe the police planted the weapons to justify closing the mosques, Kheled Khalifa, a human rights official said Friday warning that methods being used to tackle extremism by government will increase support for radicals.
One person was killed during the raid on two of the mosques on Monday. Police said they shot dead a young man trying to hurl a grenade at them.
The government had previously said the four mosques were recruitment centers for al-Shabab.

Federal watchdogs uncover thousands of lost Lerner emails, decoding to take weeks

As many as 30,000 lost emails from Lois Lerner -- the ex-IRS official at the center of the agency's targeting scandal -- have been recovered by federal investigators.
The IRS has already turned over thousands of Lerner emails to congressional investigators but has said the remainder are gone forever because Lerner’s hard-drive crashed in 2011. And in June, agency Commissioner John Koskinen told Congress that back-up tapes containing the missing emails have been destroyed.  
“The IRS has continually dragged its feet, changed its story, and been less than forthcoming with information related to its egregious violation of Americans’ First Amendment rights,” said Ohio GOP Rep. Jim Jordan, a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which has spearheaded congressional probes on the issue.
“These e-mails are long overdue, and underscore again why we need a special prosecutor to conduct an unhindered investigation. Hopefully these e-mails will help us get to the truth,” he continued.
Lerner led the IRS division that targeted Tea Party and other conservative groups for excessive scrutiny during the 2012 presidential election cycle when they applied for tax-exempt status.
Lerner in March refused to testify before the GOP-led House investigative committee, saying she was protected under the Fifth Amendment, and has since retired.
VIDEO: Did IRS bother to look for emails?
Some of the recovered emails might be duplicates. And it could take weeks to learn their content because they are encoded, said Frederick Hill, a spokesman for Republicans on the Oversight committee.
In addition, the IRS would also have to delete information about taxpayers that is considered private before it can be released to the committee, which is headed by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif.
The federal investigators are from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, which audits the IRS. A spokeswoman for the inspector general, Karen Kraushaar, declined to comment, saying the investigation was continuing.
The investigators ignited a political firestorm in May 2013 with the initial report about the exceptionally close scrutiny.
The IRS said Saturday that it remains "committed to fully cooperating with all of the pending investigations."
The agency also said that it learned after the June report that the TIGTA had began an investigation of the hard-drive crash and a search for additional emails. 
Senate Finance Committee aides said the investigators will assess if the newly recovered data can be made readable before it can be turned over to the committee.
They said their committee, which has been conducting a bipartisan investigation of the IRS's treatment of groups, including liberal ones, expects to complete its work early next year.

Ferguson grand jury decision unlikely this weekend, sources say

The grand jury considering whether to indict the Ferguson police officer who shot and killed teenager Michael Brown is unlikely to meet and render a decision this weekend, sources told Fox News on Saturday.
Those same sources say it is likely the grand jury will wait until Monday to reconvene.
The 12-member grand jury has been considering whether charges are warranted against Officer Darren Wilson, who shot and killed the 18-year-old Brown on Aug. 9 during a confrontation on a street in Ferguson. Wilson is white and Brown, who was unarmed, is black.
There have been many demonstrations in the months since Brown's death, including some that were violent. Police arrested three protesters on Friday night -- the third straight night of unrest in the St. Louis area.
The FBI confirmed Saturday that they had arrested two men accused of buying explosives, that they reportedly planned to use in protests in the area.
On Saturday, the authorities set up barricades around the Buzz Westfall Justice Center in Clayton, which is where the grand jury has been meeting.
Barricades also went up in the shopping center parking lot on West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson, which was where police set up a makeshift command center in the immediate aftermath of Brown's death.
Several businesses in both Ferguson and Clayton have put boards on their windows.
Residents were on edge, too.
Jamie Freeman of Ferguson, 38, a registered nurse and mother of four, said she was especially concerned since her 20-year-old son lives in the neighborhood where Brown was shot.
"I just hope it stays peaceful," Freeman said of protests that will follow the grand jury decision. "We all have human emotions, bit there's a way to do things, and violence, you can't get peace from violence."
Crump, the Brown family attorney, seemed doubtful that Wilson would be charged, saying the grand jury process is weighted against those shot by police officers.
"Ninety-nine percent of the time the police officer is not held accountable for killing a young black boy," Crump said. "The police officer gets all the consideration."
The FBI has sent nearly 100 additional agents to Ferguson to help law enforcement agencies, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the FBI plans.