Federal Government to Seize NYC Skyscraper Tied to Iran

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

It was once known as the Piaget Building because the Swiss jeweler used to have offices in the skyscraper near Rockefeller Center.

In the near future, it will be known as property of the federal government.

U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest has granted a summary judgment that clears the way for the government to seize the 36-story office building owned by a corporation and foundation with ties to the Iranian government. The move is the latest chapter in a short but storied history that includes design by John Carl Warnecke, the same architect who drew up the John F. Kennedy Eternal Flame gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, Logan International Airport in Boston and the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

A statement by the U.S. Justice Department says the ruling “paves the way for the largest-ever terrorism-related forfeiture.”

The building at 650 Fifth Ave. in Manhattan is owned by the Alavi Foundation and Assa Corp., which took part in money laundering, the statement says. Assa is a front for Bank Melli, which is a “a front for the government of Iran,” according to the statement.

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Layoffs Coming to Cleveland Clinic in Plan to Reduce Budget by $330 Million (+video)

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Photo Credit: tlillis4

Photo Credit: tlillis4

The Cleveland Clinic has told workers they will be laying off an unspecified number of employees as part of an overall, sweeping cost-reduction plan.

Clinic CEO Dr. Toby Cosgrove discussed the looming cuts and changes in a Wednesday morning all-employee meeting.

Clinic spokeswoman Eileen Sheil denied circulating rumors that employees were told there would be 3,000 jobs cut.

She said any layoffs will be part of a multi-year plan to cut $330 million from the Clinic’s budget.

The Clinic is the region’s largest employer with roughly 42,000 workers.

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Woman Suing Hospital, Doctors over Prank During Surgery

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Photo Credit: Los Angeles County Superior Court

Photo Credit: Los Angeles County Superior Court

A Los Angeles woman is suing an area hospital after one of its surgeons affixed a fake mustache to her upper lip and fake tears and then photographed her – all while she was still under anesthesia.

ABC News reports the unnamed patient, who also worked at Torrance Memorial Medical Center, where the procedure was performed October 2011, also hit her unidentified anesthesiologist with a raft of incendiary legal claims.

The patient says she learned of the bizarre photos from co-workers who had seen them after returning to work as a surgical supply purchaser at the hospital.

“Perhaps the most vulnerable position any human being will ever endure in their life is a time when they are placed under full anesthesia,” reportedly reads the lawsuit, filed Aug. 15 in Los Angeles Superior Court.

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With the End of Fed’s QE in Sight, U.S. Public Says ‘Huh?’

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Photo Credit: Reuters

Photo Credit: Reuters

The Federal Reserve this week is expected to start winding down an epic economic stimulus that is credited with helping the United States claw back from the deepest slump since the Great Depression.

The Fed’s $2.8 trillion “quantitative easing” program has, among other things, lifted stock prices to record highs, driven interest rates to record lows and put a floor under what had been a reeling housing market.

Yet barely a quarter of Americans even know what it is.

A poll leading up to the Fed’s pivotal decision, expected Wednesday afternoon, found just 27 percent of U.S. adults could pick the correct definition of quantitative easing from among five possible answers.

Quantitative easing, or QE for short, is when the Fed buys bonds in order to push down interest rates and boost the economy.

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Walgreens Changes Health Care Plan for 160,000 Workers Because of Obamacare (+video)

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Photo Credit: YouTube

Photo Credit: YouTube

CBS reports this morning that Walgreens is altering its health care plan for 160,000 workers due to Obamacare:

The plan, as CBS explains, is to protect the company from rising health care costs. Now who will cover the costs? The employees.

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Census Data on Obama Presidency: Record Number in Poverty

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

During the four years that marked President Barack Obama’s first term in office, the real median income of American households dropped by $2,627 and the number of people in poverty increased by approximately 6,667,000, according to data released today by the Census Bureau.

The record total of approximately 46,496,000 people in the United States who are now in poverty, according to the Census Bureau, is more than twice the population of Syria, which, according to the CIA, has 22,457,336 people.

In 2008, the year Obama was elected, real median household income in the United States was $53,644 according to the Census Bureau. In 2012, the last full year of Obama’s first term, median household income was $51,017. Thus, real median household income dropped $2,627—or 4.89 percent—from 2008 to 2012.

In fact, real median household income dropped in every year of Obama’s first term. In 2008, when he was elected, it was $53,644. In 2009, the year he was inaugurated, it dropped to 53,285. In 2010, his second year in office, it dropped to $51,892. In 2011, his third year in office, it dropped to $51,100. And, in 2012, his fourth year in office, it dropped to $51,017.

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Sebelius Goes from ‘Will Get Covered’ to ‘Can’ to ‘May’

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Kathleen SebeliusTuesday morning, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Kathleen Sebelius announced on Twitter:

Big news! Nearly 6 in 10 uninsured Americans will #GetCovered for less than $100/month starting Jan 1 #Obamacare #ACA pic.twitter.com/RimQkFIuPJ

— Kathleen Sebelius (@Sebelius) September 17, 2013

However, while Sebelius’s claim sounds like a sure thing (“will” get covered,) the accompanying graphic is somewhat less unequivocal, employing the phrase “can”get covered. But the truth is even one additional step removed…

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Franchise Owners Come to Washington to Plead for ObamaCare Relief (+video)

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obamacare_freedomFranchise restaurant owners have come to Washington seeking a change to ObamaCare that they say could prevent them from having to cut their employees’ hours.

The healthcare law requires large employers to provide insurance to employees who work at least 30 hours per week.

Franchise owners say the employer mandate threatens to erase their narrow profit margins and are telling lawmakers they need to overhaul the law before it’s too late.

“Employees won’t have the hours they need, and they won’t get employer-sponsored healthcare, either,” said Steve Caldeira, president and CEO of the International Franchise Association (IFA).

“[Franchisees] are dealing with high commodity costs, high energy prices, higher taxes from the ‘fiscal-cliff’ deal, and now they are trying to work through ObamaCare,” he said.

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Report: CIA Employee who Refused to Sign Non-Disclosure Agreement on Benghazi Suspended

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Photo Credit: Getty Images

Photo Credit: Getty Images

A CIA employee who refused to sign a non-disclosure agreement prohibiting him from speaking out about last year’s deadly terror attack in Benghazi, Libya has been suspended and forced to hire an attorney, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) said Monday that his office received an anonymous call about the employee’s suspension, the Free Beacon reported. Wolf previously revealed that Benghazi survivors had been forced to sign non-disclosures in a speech on the House floor in July.

“The reports on the NDA are accurate. We’re getting people who call,” Wolf said at an event launching the new Citizens’ Commission on Benghazi…

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Undocumented LA County Parents On Pace To Receive $650M In Welfare Benefits

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Photo Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty

Photo Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty

A projected $650 million in welfare benefits will be distributed to illegal alien parents in 2013, county officials said Monday.

Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich announced the latest figures from the Department of Public Social Services, which showed more than $376 million in CalWORKs benefits and food stamps combined have been distributed through July to illegal alien parents for their native-born children.

Approximately $54 million in welfare payments are issued each month…

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