Senate Report Claims Caterpillar Avoided $2.4bn in US Taxes

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Photo Credit: Eric Vidal /Reuters

Photo Credit: Eric Vidal /Reuters

One of the world’s biggest manufacturing companies diverted more than $8bn in profits to Switzerland in order to avoid US taxes, according to investigators working for the Senate.

Caterpillar, the world’s largest maker of construction and mining equipment, allegedly avoided paying more than $2.4bn in US taxes over a decade by striking a deal with Swiss tax authorities to pay as little as 4% on the profits from its lucrative international spare parts business through a Geneva-based subsidiary.

Though the practice of basing such subsidiaries offshore is widespread among multinationals, and Senate investigators refused to say whether they believe the company broke US tax law, the elaborate accounting strategy appears to take so-called ‘transfer pricing’ practices to new extremes.

The report, which was produced by the Senate subcommittee on investigations under chairman Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, claims that 85% of Caterpillar’s international profits from selling parts – its most profitable activity – were routed through its Swiss subsidiary, even though the vast majority of associated manufacturing, research and employment remained in the US.

“Caterpillar is an American success story that produces phenomenal industrial machines, but it is also a member of the corporate profit-shifting club that has shifted billions of dollars in profits offshore to avoid paying US taxes,” Levin told reporters in a briefing on Capitol Hill.

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Professors as Petty Tyrants

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Photo Credit: National Review

Photo Credit: National Review

The mother of the 16-year-old pro-life demonstrator who suffered a rough confrontation with a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has shown a rare civility — the spirit liberals are forever bemoaning the lack of but rarely exhibit themselves.

The event: A small group of pro-life activists visited UCSB to demonstrate against abortion. They bore posters and leaflets and set up their display on the campus’s “free speech zone.” Professor Mireille Miller-Young was offended, no, “triggered,” by the photo of an aborted baby on Thrin Short’s poster. Together with two or three students, the professor grabbed a large sign, and then pushed and scratched the girl who attempted to take it back. This was captured on video by the pro-lifers. “I was stronger, so I took the sign,” Miller-Young explained later.

Miller-Young has since been charged with misdemeanor theft, battery (Short’s arms bore scratches, also photographed), and vandalism (Miller-Young and her students cut the sign to pieces).

Throughout the unpleasant encounter, the professor and her students let fly with profanity and insults.

The civility: Catherine Short, mother of Thrin, issued a statement reading in part: “Unfortunately, along with the expressions of support we have received, we have become aware of individuals engaging in ad hominem attacks against Miller-Young. We do not condone this, and we ask that such attacks stop.”

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NRA Board Member Criticizes Angry Rhetoric at Pro-Gun Rallies

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Photo Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Photo Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The president of one of the National Rifle Association’s largest state affiliates has criticised the increasingly angry and inflammatory pro-gun advocates who “scream obscenities” and “pound their chest and tell the attendees to prepare for war” at large rallies.

In a letter, Tom King, the head of the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, said that holding such rallies was like “preaching to the choir”, and that “rabidly” anti-gun types would never be converted. Advocates of gun rights must instead concentrate on “the soccer moms, the guys who say: ‘I’ve never shot a gun but would like to try it,’ and the people worried about their safety,” King said. King is also a national board member of the NRA.

King initially announced he would not attend a rally on Tuesday in the state capital, Albany, to protest the New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement (Safe) Act of 2013. He has since said he will attend, but not in any official capacity.

The New York gun control laws were passed in the aftermath of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school in Connecticut in December 2012. The rally on Tuesday and others like it are aimed at persuading state lawmakers to repeal the restrictions.

In February, King revealed that the NYSRPA’s membership had grown from 22,000 to 41,000 since the Safe Act was passed a year ago. The act requires universal background checks on gun purchases and contains the toughest assault weapons ban in the US.

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Megyn Kelly Exposes CAIR Trying to Suppress Documentary on Muslim Honor Violence…(+video)

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Tonight Megyn Kelly used her opening segment to expose CAIR’s efforts to suppress a documentary on Muslim Honor Violence. She played a portion of the trailer on-air and said the documentary involves women of different faith, some of whom are Muslim and have been at the physical end of this type of violence.

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Massive Quake Off Chile Triggers Tsunami Warning

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Photo Credit: alobos Life / Creative Commons

Photo Credit: alobos Life / Creative Commons

A massive 8.2 earthquake struck just off the coast of Iquique in northern Chile Tuesday night, triggering a tsunami warning.

The United States Geological Survey said the epicenter was about 62 miles northwest of Iquique.

Chile’s Office of National Emergencies ordered an evacuation of all its coastal areas, saying that kind of earthquake carries a risk of a tsunami.

This is a breaking news story; we’ll update as we get more.

Update at 11:09 p.m. ET. Two Dead, Three Injured

Chilean authorities are reporting two dead three seriously injured in Iquique, the city closest to the offshore quake. Reuters said Iquique Mayor Gonzalo Prieto reported the casualties to local radio station Cooperativa.

Read more from this story HERE.

Army Recruit Suspected of Plotting ‘Ft. Hood-Inspired Jihad Against US Soldiers’

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Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

The FBI is searching for a recent Army recruit believed to be planning a “Fort Hood-inspired jihad against U.S. soldiers,” FoxNews.com has learned.

The alert, whose legitimacy was confirmed by military and law enforcement officials, stated that a man identified as Booker had told friends of his “intention to commit jihad.” Booker, who is also known as Muhammad Abdullah Hassan, was recruited by the U.S. Army in Kansas City, Mo., in February 2014 and was scheduled to report for basic training on April 7. But he was discharged last week, apparently after law enforcement authorities learned of his alleged plan.

Both the FBI and the 902d Military Intelligence Group at Fort Leavenworth are involved in the hunt.

The alert, a copy of which was obtained by FoxNews.com, was sent out by the FBI’s Kansas City Division on Friday and distributed through the U.S. Marine Corps. The portion obtained by FoxNews.com did not include Hassan’s photo or age. It was also sent to the Kansas City Police Department, which could indicate authorities believe he may have remained in the area where he was recruited.

The alert is titled, “Planned Fort Hood-inspired Jihad against US Soldiers by Army Recruit” and was issued “to inform and protect officers who may encounter this individual or others exhibiting the same aspirations.” The source of the information contained in the alert was listed as “An FBI agent.”

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OkCupid Wants Users to Reject Web Browser Over Gay Marriage

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Photo Credit: REUTERS

Photo Credit: REUTERS

By Chuck Ross.

The online dating site OkCupid is blocking users of a popular web browser because the company’s new CEO once made a contribution to a ballot initiative against gay marriage.

“Mozilla’s new CEO, Brendan Eich, is an opponent of equal rights for gay couples,” reads the message which immediately greets visitors using Firefox, the web’s second most popular browser. “We would therefore prefer that our users not use Mozilla software to access OkCupid.”

Eich’s appointment as CEO generated outrage when it was announced last week.

In 2008, Eich donated $1,000 in support of California’s Prop 8, a ballot initiative defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Several members of Mozilla’s board resigned after Eich’s appointment, though it was reported that the exodus may have been unrelated to his stance on gay marriage.

Eich’s backing of the gay marriage ban also caused controversy in 2012 when it first came to light.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: CNN

Photo Credit: CNN

OkCupid protests Firefox over CEO’s anti-same-sex marriage donation

By Heather Kelly.

Dating site OkCupid is calling for its members to ditch Firefox and use another browser to search for love. The company is protesting Mozilla’s new CEO, Brendan Eich, who supported an anti-same-sex marriage campaign. Firefox is owned by Mozilla.

When OkCupid members navigate to the site on a Firefox browser, they are met with a message encouraging them to use an alternative browser to access the site, including Google Chrome, Opera, Safari and the amusingly misspelled Internet Exploder.

“Those who seek to deny love and instead enforce misery, shame and frustration are our enemies, and we wish them nothing but failure,” reads the message.

The page points out that 8% of the matches made on OkCupid are between same-sex couples.

Last week, Mozilla promoted Eich, a longtime employee who was previously the company’s chief technology officer, to the position of CEO. The move prompted renewed outrage by third-party developers and employees. Eich donated $1,000 to support Propostion 8 in 2008. The California ballot initiative sought to ban same-sex marriage in the state. The donation was made public in 2012 but Eich held onto his job.

Read more from this story HERE.

North Korea Sending Message to U.S. with Missile Barrage

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Photo Credit: Jung Yeon-Je, AFP/Getty

Photo Credit: Jung Yeon-Je, AFP/Getty

By Donna Leinwand Leger.

A barrage of artillery fire between North and South Korea across disputed maritime borders on Monday marked an annual show of force by North Korea intent on sending a message to the U.S. as it conducts military exercises nearby.

North Korea’s missile launches into the Yellow (West) Sea followed by a threat of live-fire drills along the border “was really aimed at our policymakers, Republic of Korea policymakers and Japan,” said Bruce Bechtol, a Korea specialist and professor of political science at Angelo State University in Texas.

“North Korea is saying, ‘You can do all the exercises you want and we have the ability to hit you at a moment’s notice,'” Bechtol said.

The U.S. and South Korea routinely conduct joint military exercises in the border areas, usually each year in February and March. The most recent exercise began March 27.

The North Koreans said they believe the exercises are meant to intimidate them and often react with some show of force, Bechtol said.

Read more from this story HERE.

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N. Korea fires on South during North’s military drills; South responds

By Euan McKirdy and Stella Kim.

North and South Korean artillery batteries exchanged hundreds of shells across their western sea border Monday, a day after North Korea warned it was preparing to test another nuclear device.

About 100 of the 500 shells North Korea fired into the Yellow Sea strayed across the line separating the two rivals’ territorial waters, the semiofficial South Korean news agency Yonhap reported. Yonhap quoted the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff as saying the South responded by firing about 300 shells into North Korean waters and dispatching fighter jets to the boundary, known as the Northern Limit Line.

North Korean offshore firing appeared to have resumed after a lull, Yonhap reported, citing a resident of Baekryong Island, which is close to the Northern Limit Line.

“Some (North Korean) artillery fire landed in (the) southern part of Northern Limit Line but in the water,” a South Korean Ministry of Defense spokesman said. “We counter-fired over the Northern Limit Line.”

When asked what South Korea fired back at, the defense spokesman said, “We are not shooting at North Korea, just shooting into the sea.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Obamacare Website Crashes on Final Day of Enrollment

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Photo Credit: REUTERS/MIKE SEGAR

Photo Credit: REUTERS/MIKE SEGAR

By Rick Moran.

Enrollment on the healthcare.gov website is ending the way it began – very badly.

The site crashed this morning and although it has been somewhat revived, visitors are being put into a queue where an email will tell them when they can register.

NBCNews:

Healthcare.gov, the online marketplace bedeviled by bugs since its launch last fall, went down for several hours Monday morning, a statement from the Department of Health and Human Services said. The “tech team is working now to bring the system online as soon as possible,” HHS said in a statement.

The site later appeared to be operating, but it was putting customers in a “queue”, meaning they’d be notified by email when they could proceed with enrollment,

“Consumers may also complete their application by calling the call center at 1-800-318-2596. The federal data services hub is working normally,” HHS said.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Charges Likely To Be Dropped Against Volunteers Signing People Up For Obamacare

By STMW.

Chicago Police detained and later charged two men last week after receiving a report that they were going door-to-door, possibly scamming elderly residents of the Garfield Ridge neighborhood.

As it turned out, the two likely weren’t trying to scam anyone, Chicago Police acknowledged Sunday.

The men, who were volunteers for the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, were distributing registration information about President Barack Obama’s signature health insurance program, the men told reporters on Sunday at a news conference outside the council’s headquarters.

“I never would have thought informing people about Obamacare would get me in handcuffs,” said Felipe Hernandez, 20. “I was doing something positive for my community. . . . I wasn’t doing anything wrong.”

Hernandez and Kevin Tapia, 19, said they were near 55th and Archer about 4 p.m. on March 25 when they were detained by officers.

Read more from this story HERE.

Darrell Issa: Reprimand of ‘Fast and Furious’ Official Justifies Eric Holder Contempt Lawsuit

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Photo Credit: AP / J. Scott Applewhite

Photo Credit: AP / J. Scott Applewhite

House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa believes new disciplinary action against a government operative in the “Fast and Furious” gun running scandal reinforces a Congressional contempt charge against Attorney General Eric Holder.

Issa, R-Calif., said former Arizona U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke “undoubtedly deserved” the reprimand he received from the Arizona State Bar for leaking information to the press about the gun-running operation. Issa said it also justifies the GOP-led lawsuit against Holder for information relating to the matter.

“Dennis Burke’s disciplinary agreement with the Arizona State Bar makes clear his belief that Eric Holder’s Justice Department was more interested in politically protecting itself than giving Congress full information about what happened in Operation Fast and Furious,” Issa said on Monday.

Burke was reprimanded last week by the Arizona Bar for leaking classified Fast and Furious documents to two media outlets.

Republican lawmakers are entangled with Holder in a court case stemming from a June 2012 House vote to hold him in contempt of Congress for failing to turn over documents and emails related to the gun-trafficking case.

Read more from this story HERE.