Monday, February 17, 2014
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Sunday, June 23, 2013
What Does a Casino have to do with Immigration? Nothing
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) have inserted a provision that amounts to little more than a handout to Las Vegas casinos into the repackaged immigration reform bill, Breitbart News has learned. This provision, a brazen example of crony capitalism, was inserted into the immigration law enforcement section of the bill despite the fact that it has nothing whatsoever to do with "immigration" or "law enforcement."
Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.10
New scandal surrounding New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez
NYPOST: New scandal surrounding New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez...
Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.10
Friday, February 22, 2013
Is Obama overplaying sequester hand?
Source: Politico:
President Barack Obama’s greatest adversary in the latest budget battle isn’t the Republican leadership in Congress — it’s his confidence in his own ability to force a win.
He has been so certain of his campaign skills that he didn’t open a line of communication with House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell until Thursday, a week before the spending ax hits. And when they did finally hear from Obama, the calls were perfunctory, with no request to step up negotiations or invitations to the White House.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Flu shot doing poor job of protecting older people
Source:
It turns out this year’s flu shot is doing a startlingly dismal job of protecting older people, the most vulnerable age group.
The vaccine is proving only 9 percent effective in those 65 and older against the harsh strain of the flu that is predominant this season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.
Health officials are baffled as to why this is so. But the findings help explain why so many older people have been hospitalized with the flu this year.
Despite the findings, the CDC stood by its recommendation that everyone over 6 months get flu shots, the elderly included, because some protection is better than none, and because those who are vaccinated and still get sick may suffer less severe symptoms.
Mexico security forces accused of abducting, murdering civilians
Source:
Dozens of people were abducted and murdered by Mexican security forces over the past six years during a gruesome war with drug cartels, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday, urging President Enrique Pena Nieto to overhaul the military justice system.
The rights group said that since 2007 it has documented 149 cases of people who were never seen again after falling into the hands of security forces, and that the government failed to properly investigate the "disappearances."
Israel gives OK for oil drilling in Golan Heights
Source:
Israel says it has given the go-ahead for a gas exploration project in the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau it captured from Syria in the 1967 war.
Israel's Energy and Water Resources Ministry said Wednesday it has issued a permit for the American-Israeli company Genie Energy to drill for oil on the plateau. The company is headed by Effi Eitam, a hawkish former Israeli Cabinet minister.
Israel annexed the Golan Heights in 1981 but the world still considers it occupied territory.
Oil permits for the area were stopped 20 years ago during Israel-Syria talks, which were to include a potential return of the Golan. The talks never produced a peace deal.
The drilling permit raises concerns it could draw international condemnation, especially ahead of President Barack Obama's visit to Israel.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Florida governor outrages conservatives with call to expand Medicaid
Source:
Florida governor Rick Scott, one of the sharpest critics of President Obama’s healthcare law, announced late Wednesday that he wanted the state to participate in an optional portion of the law after all.
Florida should accept federal funds to expand Medicaid coverage in the state, Scott said at a news conference, in a stunning reversal.
“While the federal government is committed to paying 100% of the cost of new people in Medicaid, I cannot, in good conscience, deny the uninsured access to care,” Scott said. The Republican-led legislature must approve the measure for it to take effect.
Almost $50 billion left Russia illegally in 2012, bank chief says
Source:
Nearly $50 billion was transferred out of Russia illegally in 2012 and more than half this sum may have been controlled by a single group of people, the country's central bank said on Wednesday.
Sergei Ignatyev, chairman of the Bank of Russia, was citing the findings of a study that the bank said it would publish later on Wednesday.
"You get the impression that they (half the transfers) are all controlled by one well-organized group of people," Sergei Ignatyev, chairman of the Bank of Russia, told the Vedomosti daily in an interview.
Ignatyev, who is due to retire in June, declined to identify the group in response to a reporter's question at the Federation Council, the upper house of parliament, where he was due to deliver an address.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Aaron Swartz files reveal how FBI tracked internet activist
Source:
A blogger has published once-classified FBI files that show how the agency tracked and collected information on internet activist Aaron Swartz.
Swartz, who killed himself in January aged 26, had previously requested his files and posted them on his blog, but some new documents and redactions are included in the files published by Firedoglake blogger Daniel Wright.
Wright was given 21 of 23 declassified documents, thanks to a rule that declassifies FBI files on the deceased. Wright said that he was told the other two pages of documents were not provided because of freedom of information subsections concerning privacy, "sources and methods," and that can "put someone's life in danger."
How One 75-Year-Old Soybean Farmer Could Deal A Blow To Monsanto’s Empire Today
Source: ThinkProgress:
On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a 75-year-old soybean farmer’s appeal against biotech giant Monsanto, in a case that could permanently reshape the genetically modified (GM) crop industry. Victor “Hugh” Bowman has been battling the corporation since 2007, when Monsanto sued him for violating their patent protection by purchasing second-generation GM seeds from a grain elevator. An appeals court ruled in favor of Monsanto, and despite the Obama administration’s urging to let the decision stand, the nine justices will hear Bowman make his case today.
Monsanto is notorious among farmers for the company’s aggressive investigations and pursuit of farmers they believe have infringed on Monsanto’s patents. In the past 13 years, Monsanto has sued 410 farmers and 56 small farm businesses, almost always settling out of court (the few farmers that can afford to go to trial are always defeated). These farmers were usually sued for saving second-generation seeds for the next harvest — a basic farming practice rendered illegal because seeds generated by GM crops contain Monsanto’s patented genes.
Remember when President Obama supported the sequester cuts?
This is typical of Washington politicians, and of Obama. They take completely opposite positions on issues even within a year or two:
President Obama on the sequester cuts
November 21, 2011:
Already, some in Congress are trying to undo these automatic spending cuts. My message to them is simple: No. I will veto any effort to get rid of those automatic spending cuts to domestic and defense spending. There will be no easy off ramps on this one.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Prison inmates collect unemployment
Columnists - philly.com
DID YOU KNOW that Philadelphia prison inmates collected unemployment benefits while sitting in their cells?
They did: 1,162 of them got an average of $344 a week for, on average, 18 weeks. That's more than $7 million.
And many of the 25,500 inmates in other county jails in Pennsylvania did the same.
We're talking cash for cons - tens of millions of tax dollars paid by employers and employees fraudulently scammed by incarcerated crooks.
Makes you want to get up every day, go to work and pay your taxes, right?
Dissident blogger leaves Cuba
Dissident blogger leaves Cuba: Yoani Sanchez, a Cuban blogger and fierce critic of the governments of Raul and Fidel Castro, embarked on a long-denied trip abroad Sunday.
Study: Better TV might improve kids' behavior
And we wouldn't be as violent a society:
Teaching parents to switch channels from violent shows to educational TV can improve preschoolers' behavior, even without getting them to watch less, a study found.
The results were modest and faded over time, but may hold promise for finding ways to help young children avoid aggressive, violent behavior, the study authors and other doctors said.
"It's not just about turning off the television. It's about changing the channel. What children watch is as important as how much they watch," said lead author Dr. Dimitri Christakis, a pediatrician and researcher at Seattle Children's Research Institute.
The research was to be published online Monday by the journal Pediatrics.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)