Obama DHS Purchases 2,700 Light-Armored Tanks to Go With Their 1.6 Billion Bullet Sto

[jeninflorida]

what is there to understand?

the obama is going to war ..... obama told us his war plans in his book
Now the boama is going to declare war on America!

welcome to AmeriKKa

Originally Posted by BUSYBODY-II

Obama DHS Purchases 2,700 Light-Armored Tanks to Go With Their 1.6 Billion Bullet Stockpile


This is getting a little creepy.

According to one estimate, since last year the Department of Homeland Security has stockpiled more than 1.6 billion bullets, mainly .40 caliber and 9mm.

DHS also purchased 2,700 Mine Resistant Armor Protected Vehicles (MRAP).
homeland security mrap

Modern Survival Blog reported:


The Department of Homeland Security (through the U.S. Army Forces Command) recently retrofitted 2,717 of these ‘Mine Resistant Protected’ vehicles for service on the streets of the United States.

Although I’ve seen and read several online blurbs about this vehicle of late, I decided to dig slightly deeper and discover more about the vehicle itself.

The new DHS sanctioned ‘Street Sweeper’ (my own slang due to the gun ports) is built by Navistar Defense (NavistarDefense.com), a division within the Navistar organization. Under the Navistar umbrella are several other companies including International Trucks, IC Bus (they make school buses), Monaco RV (recreational vehicles), WorkHorse (they make chassis), MaxxForce (diesel engines), and Navistar Financial (the money arm of the company).

[Anquan Jihad]

The Truth About the DHS’s MRAPs




There’s been a lot of internet buzz about the Department of Homeland Security’s “new” MRAPs (a.k.a., tanks). I’ve been holding off posting about the story; there’s a lot of bad intel out there about government gun grabbers. Just because gun owners are paranoid doesn’t mean Uncle Sam is as bad as they think it is. Sometimes, of course, it’s worse. But it appears that the report that the DHS has purchased 2700 new MRAPs is wrong. Here’s the 411 from the official spokesman for Das Vaterland. I mean, Homeland . . .




The MRAPs were transferred to DHS from the Department of Defense, free of charge. But despite recent reports, they have actually been in service since at least 2008.

“The MRAPs we have are not new,” Ross Feinstein, a spokesman for DHS, told Business Insider. “We have been using them for years.”


“[The vehicle] is used in the execution of high-risk warrants — including drug trafficking, smuggling, and contraband,” Feinstein told Business Insider. “We have 16 MRAPs nationwide.”

Sixteen is a lot less than 1700. But still . . . drug trafficking? Isn’t that the DEA’s deal? Or the ATF if it’s guns. Or the CIA if it’s foreign terrorists. Or is that the FBI? They do explosives too, right?

You know in all this excitement I lost track of all the federal agents with SWAT and SRT teams ready to enforce federal gun control laws of one sort or another. But I do remember that the DHS recently raided a New Mexico gun dealer, confiscated his guns and charged him with . . . nada.

So the DH is out there, grabbing guns. But they only have 16 heavily armored troop vehicles with which do it. Feel better now?

[Ishmael]

This is one of those 'tip of the iceberg' instances.

DHS has effectively flunked their independent external audit for every year of their existence. The independent auditor, KPMG, has essentially said that the departments procedures are so fucked up that they, the auditor, cannot render an opinion one way or another as to how effectively the department is spending the taxpayers money. In the most recent audit, 2012, there are 29 pages of "Material Weaknesses" and "Significant Deficiencies." These weaknesses and deficiencies are not of the specific nit picking variety, they itemize quite broad and general areas, so broad and general in fact that if the DHS were a private organization they would be paralyzed by the hoards of IRS agents and auditors crawling through their offices.

This problem has persisted since their becoming a cabinet level department in 2003. I can readily understand how it might take some time for an organization of such a size to get it's financial act together, but 10 years is a hell of a long time for there to be no significant progress.

Profligate spending without any formal controls, is it any wonder that they can't effectively manage to do with a mere 4% increase in their annual allowance?

They say the MRAP's were free............fine. How about the costs of moving those bitches around and the maintenance? No driver training is required either I suppose. And speaking of moving them around, if they have but 17 active at this time just how do they get them to where they need them? HercyBirds, C-177's??? Are all of those niggling little items free as well?

This is the 3rd largest department in the US gov't. and they have no accountability for their spending, but the gov't. doesn't have a "spending problem." How do we know?

Ishmael

[mercury14]

Here's the audit you're referring to. There were a couple major issues that couldn't be properly audited because they involved "legacy agencies" which were transferred into DHS over time. Auditing them would have required auditing departments that weren't being audited.

Your claim that DHS has no accountability for their spending doesn't make sense though. Aside from internal government audits they hire KPMG out of the private sector to conduct audits and assure accountability.


http://www.oig.dhs.gov/assets/Mgmt/F...ttal_02121.pdf
http://www.hstoday.us/briefings/gran...407197543.html

[Anquan Jihad]

Originally Posted by Ishmael

This is the 3rd largest department in the US gov't. and they have no accountability for their spending, but the gov't. doesn't have a "spending problem." How do we know?

Ishmael

This has gotten out of hand

As have all Departments that have been created

They have their own LOBBIES, $$ can never ever be cut, only increased

A Temporary tax is never that

A new Dept never gets downsized, and always OVER REACHES its mandate

[Ishmael]

Originally Posted by mercury14

Here's the audit you're referring to. There were a couple major issues that couldn't be properly audited because they involved "legacy agencies" which were transferred into DHS over time. Auditing them would have required auditing departments that weren't being audited.

Your claim that DHS has no accountability for their spending doesn't make sense though. Aside from internal government audits they hire KPMG out of the private sector to conduct audits and assure accountability.


http://www.oig.dhs.gov/assets/Mgmt/F...ttal_02121.pdf
http://www.hstoday.us/briefings/gran...407197543.html

No it isn't moron, I'm referring to the 2012 audit. Further moron, I specifically referred to KPMG as the independent auditor in my post.

Ishmael

[mercury14]

Originally Posted by Ishmael

No it isn't moron, I'm referring to the 2012 audit. Further moron, I specifically referred to KPMG as the independent auditor in my post.

Ishmael

Okay well here's the 2011 audit which was apparently very good.

Here's the 2012 audit which says it improved upon 2011 in a couple areas but not in others.

Summary
Except as discussed in our Opinion on the Financial Statements, we concluded that DHS’s FY 2012 and 2011
financial statements are presented fairly, in all material respects, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted
accounting principles

There's budgetary and accounting work they need to address but nothing in the audit sounds anything like the abject failure you're saying it is. And the main "we can't even audit this" problem is from a Coast Guard accounting mess that DHS inherited when congress stuck it in their department,

[sigh]

Originally Posted by BUSYBODY-II

This has gotten out of hand

As have all Departments that have been created

They have their own LOBBIES, $$ can never ever be cut, only increased

A Temporary tax is never that

A new Dept never gets downsized, and always OVER REACHES its mandate

Then you guys should have raised all sorts of hell back in 2003 when your party (who held ALL the cards at that time) gleefully pushed it through congress and right across GW's desk without stopping to pass Go. But no, it only became evil under Obama.

Foresight anyone? No, why bother.

Idiots all.

[4est_4est_Gump]

No, it became good under Obama.

He cleansed all of the Bush doctrine of original sin and adopted it as his own, he even expanded upon it.

He sure as hell did not dismantle it when he held all the cards.

[Ishmael]

Originally Posted by mercury14

Okay well here's the 2011 audit which was apparently very good.

Here's the 2012 audit which says it improved upon 2011 in a couple areas but not in others.


There's budgetary and accounting work they need to address but nothing in the audit sounds anything like the abject failure you're saying it is. And the main "we can't even audit this" problem is from a Coast Guard accounting mess that DHS inherited when congress stuck it in their department,

They should provide classes in how to read audits.

KPMG is sitting on a hugely lucrative contract. They have to walk a fine line by NOT offending the customer (DHS), while at the same time NOT factually misrepresenting the overall data. You quoted out of the obligatory salutation portion of the audit, then it get's down to business.

"As stated in the Internal Control over Financial Reporting section of this report:

We were unable to perform procedures necessary to form an opinion on DHS's internal control over financial reporting."

Followed by 38 pages of how fucked up DHS's financial reporting and controls are. Or to put it in other words, they are unable, and are not going to, certify the audit.

Ishmael

[Ishmael]

Originally Posted by sigh

Then you guys should have raised all sorts of hell back in 2003 when your party (who held ALL the cards at that time) gleefully pushed it through congress and right across GW's desk without stopping to pass Go. But no, it only became evil under Obama.

Foresight anyone? No, why bother.

Idiots all.

Many of us did over certain sections of the enactment.

Ishmael

[Anquan Jihad]

Originally Posted by Ishmael

No it isn't moron, I'm referring to the 2012 audit. Further moron, I specifically referred to KPMG as the independent auditor in my post.

Ishmael

He isn't a MORON

Its the MO of that side

Distort and distract and when needed, DERIDE and LIE

When you talk apples, he will talk oranges, when you SAY....LETS TALK APPLES to APPLES, you will talk gala apples, he will talk granny smith apples....ITS THE MO

When the PRESS cant find the time to talk FAST and FURIOUS and cant ask questions on BENGHAZI or find survivors to question, they can fin 12 people who went to HS with Romney 50 years and talk HAIRCUTS

BUT

They do know their people......Their people are interested in FREE PHONE and FREE BIRTH CONTROL and BLING and NOT interested

WHO WILL PAY FOR IT

He isn't a MORON

WE ARE

WE DONT KNOW HOW TO REACH HIS SIDE

[mercury14]

Originally Posted by Ishmael

They should provide classes in how to read audits.

KPMG is sitting on a hugely lucrative contract. They have to walk a fine line by NOT offending the customer (DHS), while at the same time NOT factually misrepresenting the overall data. You quoted out of the obligatory salutation portion of the audit, then it get's down to business.

"As stated in the Internal Control over Financial Reporting section of this report:

We were unable to perform procedures necessary to form an opinion on DHS's internal control over financial reporting."

Followed by 38 pages of how fucked up DHS's financial reporting and controls are. Or to put it in other words, they are unable, and are not going to, certify the audit.

Ishmael

Hey bro, I've run government agencies during both internal and external audits. Reading these things is second nature. I also have experience in performing audits.

The Dept of Homeland security is a sprawling $55 billion dollar entity that's a mish-mash of agencies formerly from other departments as well as completely new ones. When it was thrown together in 2003 is was the a clusterfuck of epic proportions and their early audits showed it. Since then they've made a ton of improvement but there's still work to do.

I just read the audits from 2010, 2011, and 2012 and each one shows significant progress on their action plans. I think it's a fair question to ask why everything isn't fixed by now and why a few items on the 2011 action plan weren't satisfactorily resolved by 2012.

The auditors stated that the primary problem is that the Coast Guard apparently can't account for statements for years of material goods and spare parts it apparently purchased. Coast Guard mismanagement has been a thorn in DHS's side ever since it was packed into DHS almost ten years ago. The auditors acknowledged that the Coast Guard is engaged in fixing the problem.

In FY 2012, Coast Guard continued an extensive project to reconcile its financial statement accounts, obtain sufficient evidence to support historical transactions, and prepare auditable financial statements. While substantial
progress was made in FY 2012, Coast Guard was unable to complete certain reconciliations or provide evidence
supporting certain components of general property, plant, and equipment (PP&E), and heritage and stewardship
assets, as presented in the accompanying FY 2012 financial statements and notes. Accordingly, we were unable to
complete our audit procedures over these components of the PP&E balance. The unaudited PP&E balances, as
reported in the accompanying balance sheet are $8.3 billion or approximately 40 percent of total PP&E net book
value at September 30, 2012.

So the Coast Guard is still trying to account for $8 billion dollars. The rest of DHS came out in the audit pretty well - they have to fix a few things and probably will. Either way, your statement about DHS having no accountability has been thoroughly proven to be false.

[vetteman]

Originally Posted by BUSYBODY-II

He isn't a MORON

Its the MO of that side

Distort and distract and when needed, DERIDE and LIE

When you talk apples, he will talk oranges, when you SAY....LETS TALK APPLES to APPLES, you will talk gala apples, he will talk granny smith apples....ITS THE MO

When the PRESS cant find the time to talk FAST and FURIOUS and cant ask questions on BENGHAZI or find survivors to question, they can fin 12 people who went to HS with Romney 50 years and talk HAIRCUTS

BUT

They do know their people......Their people are interested in FREE PHONE and FREE BIRTH CONTROL and BLING and NOT interested

WHO WILL PAY FOR IT

He isn't a MORON

WE ARE

WE DONT KNOW HOW TO REACH HIS SIDE

This...is how...you reach his side:

[Anquan Jihad]

Originally Posted by sigh

Then you guys should have raised all sorts of hell back in 2003 when your party (who held ALL the cards at that time) gleefully pushed it through congress and right across GW's desk without stopping to pass Go. But no, it only became evil under Obama.

Foresight anyone? No, why bother.

Idiots all.

I am going to ASSUME that you are in LIT mode......and not REALITY mode

What you in effect are saying is that......How can we have armed Saddam Hussein and then gone to war against him? DIFFERENT TIME, DIFFERENT SPACE and DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCE......Just as we were at WAR with Japan and Germany and 7 minutes later we were aliies

Yes, Many of us were against it....we, (especially me), said it would be abused....as all new depts. are abused.....But the TIMES demanded SOMETHING

Sad to say, the something was DUMB, STUPID and INEFFECTUAL

As we also said it would be back then

[sigh]

Originally Posted by 4est_4est_Gump

No, it became good under Obama.

He cleansed all of the Bush doctrine of original sin and adopted it as his own, he even expanded upon it.

He sure as hell did not dismantle it when he held all the cards.

Has any cabinet post been dismantled by any administration ever? As BB admitted, they all just grow and become more expensive and redundant over time. So sure, let's hold Obama to a standard that no other president has met.

The time to stop cabinet posts is at the time they're being created, and that didn't happen because your boys were so busy selling fear that they couldn't imagine how such a good idea might become bad. Well they missed the biggest fear of all, didn't they?

Different times and different circumstances don't make bad ideas good.

[4est_4est_Gump]

We get it sigh. We've gotten this reply so many times that I even use a shortcut:

A_J's corollary #9, “When a Republican does it, it is a high crime and misdemeanor, when a Democrat does it, then it is, *shrug*, they ALL do it...”

Obama even took the Czar position to a new level of ridiculousness, but I do not see a single one or their staff getting SEE-QUESTORED! they must be so much more essential than high school students from KANSAS touring the White House...

[Anquan Jihad]

Originally Posted by sigh

Has any cabinet post been dismantled by any administration ever? As BB admitted, they all just grow and become more expensive and redundant over time. So sure, let's hold Obama to a standard that no other president has met.

The time to stop cabinet posts is at the time they're being created, and that didn't happen because your boys were so busy selling fear that they couldn't imagine how such a good idea might become bad. Well they missed the biggest fear of all, didn't they?

Different times and different circumstances don't make bad ideas good.

selling fear?

really?

SELLING FEAR

[Anquan Jihad]

Originally Posted by sigh

Has any cabinet post been dismantled by any administration ever? As BB admitted, they all just grow and become more expensive and redundant over time. So sure, let's hold Obama to a standard that no other president has met.

The time to stop cabinet posts is at the time they're being created, and that didn't happen because your boys were so busy selling fear that they couldn't imagine how such a good idea might become bad. Well they missed the biggest fear of all, didn't they?

Different times and different circumstances don't make bad ideas good.

Didn't Nixon disband one or 2?

I don't recall

[4est_4est_Gump]

busybonzo, at least change your sig when you change alts...





__________________

Aquado Fendy Bobby...

[Anquan Jihad]

Originally Posted by 4est_4est_Gump

busybonzo, at least change your sig when you change alts...





__________________

Aquado Fendy Bobby...

NEVAH!

[4est_4est_Gump]

Michelle sure as hell is not Sea-Quested!

Having picked up an Oscar, Adele might have thought her incredible US adventure couldn’t get much better.

But now I can reveal the Skyfall singer has landed the biggest gig of next year – singing for Michelle Obama during her 50th birthday party at the White House.

The 24-year-old star will join Beyonce at the bash on January 17 – proof she has been given the ultimate seal of approval in the US.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz...day-party.html

We need to show the world how powerful and rich our country is!

[Anquan Jihad]

One dress

Can pay for TWO military tuitions

The Death of Tuition Assistance, Redux




We called it almost eighteen months ago, and it looks like our prediction is coming true. This week, both the Marine Corps and the Army announced an immediate halt to the tuition assistance (TA) program for active duty personnel, members of the Army National Guard and reservists. The cessation of benefits--which was blamed on sequestration--eliminates tuition payments for off-duty education programs.

Under the now-halted program, Marines and soldiers received up to $4,500 a year for voluntary education programs. Tuition assistance paid 100% of tuition costs, up to $750 a course, with benefits being capped at the annual limit. As of this writing, members of the U.S. Coast Guard and the Air Force are still receiving $4,500 annually in tuition assistance, while sailors receive $4,000 a year. There has been wide speculation that the other services will also halt their TA programs in the coming days, in an effort to save money.

[Anquan Jihad]

Hey yo, COLOREDCUNT


You know what you look like in a $9k dress?

A GO RILLA is a $9K dress!!!!!!!!!



Do these posts

UN MASK MY NEW IDENTITY?

[Ishmael]

Originally Posted by mercury14

Hey bro, I've run government agencies during both internal and external audits. Reading these things is second nature. I also have experience in performing audits.

The Dept of Homeland security is a sprawling $55 billion dollar entity that's a mish-mash of agencies formerly from other departments as well as completely new ones. When it was thrown together in 2003 is was the a clusterfuck of epic proportions and their early audits showed it. Since then they've made a ton of improvement but there's still work to do.

I just read the audits from 2010, 2011, and 2012 and each one shows significant progress on their action plans. I think it's a fair question to ask why everything isn't fixed by now and why a few items on the 2011 action plan weren't satisfactorily resolved by 2012.

The auditors stated that the primary problem is that the Coast Guard apparently can't account for statements for years of material goods and spare parts it apparently purchased. Coast Guard mismanagement has been a thorn in DHS's side ever since it was packed into DHS almost ten years ago. The auditors acknowledged that the Coast Guard is engaged in fixing the problem.



So the Coast Guard is still trying to account for $8 billion dollars. The rest of DHS came out in the audit pretty well - they have to fix a few things and probably will. Either way, your statement about DHS having no accountability has been thoroughly proven to be false.

You haven't run shit. You wouldn't have a clue as to how to organize, or provide oversight for a top to bottom audit.

My statement has not been "proven" false at all, just in your estimation LT, and most of us know what that's worth.

You bring up the Coast Guard in detail, and then blow off the fact that the auditor's (KPMG) refer to a systemic failure in accountability by DHS, not just the Coast Guard. As vette would say, you're trying to pick the fly shit out of the pepper while ignoring what the auditors have said in the overview.

How far down this path do you want to wander? Are you prepared to say that DHS is 100% efficient while Medicare/Medicaid is still 10%+ wasteful? Just how far are you prepared to go to defend a bloated, wasteful, entity?

So "Bro", blow that whole audit trip out your ass. No one's buying that line.

Ishmael