Netanyahu Jabs Obama on Iran (+video)

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Photo Credit: Yonatan SindelIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised French President Francois Hollande’s “courageous stance” against Iran on Sunday, an indirect jab at President Obama’s push for diplomatic talks.

Netanyahu called France a “true friend” of Israel as he greeted Hollande on his first official trip to the country. France demanded last week that a preliminary deal on Iran’s nuclear program be toughened, causing it to be rejected by Iran.

“Zionism was influenced by the values of the French Revolution,” Netanyahu told Hollande, according to Haaretz. “Israel sees France as a true friend. France, like Israel, aspires for a stable Middle East that lives in peace and security.”

He told members of his Cabinet that he hoped Hollande’s visit could stiffen the resolve of other countries negotiating with Iran. Talks with Iran are being led by the permanent members of the Security Council – the U.S., France, Great Britain, China and Russia – plus Germany.

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If You Like Your Insurance, You Can Rent It… Maybe

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Photo Credit: Reuters/Jonathan BachmanThe main reason I left the insurance industry years ago was the fatigue of marketing a product that is misunderstood by the vast majority of its customer base, not to mention the majority of functionaries inside the industry. I was a lousy agent frankly, but for some reason, the concepts were very intuitive to me. I was the high scorer in of all of those licensing and continuing-ed type classes, but those don’t pay the bills, so for reasons of money and sanity, I left.

Alas, this escape was only temporary, as we all now live in a country where the industry is being seized by a president who remains totally oblivious to its realities. Yet he insists on occupying the position as grand poobah CEO of all of it, and ruling by edict. And his epic “fix” can be translated this way:

If you like your coverage, you can rent it. Maybe.

There are so many problems with what he said, it’s hard to know where to start — so let’s start with the absurdity of a one-year fix. That’s no fix. Even terminal cancer caregivers score being “fixed” in terms of a five-year survival. Besides, Obama’s 29 public pronouncements that you can “keep your insurance” were never mitigated with a “sell by” date. He hasn’t fixed Obamacare, and in fact, he hasn’t even fixed his “incorrect promise” by this. That promise depends, I guess, on what the meaning of “period” is.

And let’s consider this startling confession from the smartest man, the man with the sharpest pant crease — the most brilliant man to ever sit in the Oval Office — or for that matter, trod the soil of this humble planet: “What we’re also discovering is that insurance is complicated to buy.”

Shazam! Who knew?

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Deadly Storms Hit Midwest; Tornadoes Slam Illinois, Indiana

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Photo Credit: mccun934/flickrDozens of tornadoes and intense thunderstorms swept across the Midwest on Sunday, unleashing powerful winds that flattened entire neighborhoods, flipping over cars, uprooting trees and leaving at least five people dead.

Illinois took the brunt of the fury as the string of unusually powerful late-season tornadoes tore across the state, injuring dozens and even prompting officials at Chicago’s Soldier Field to evacuate the stands and delay the Bears game.

“The whole neighborhood’s gone. The wall of my fireplace is all that is left of my house,” said Michael Perdun, speaking by cellphone from the hard-hit town of Washington, where he said his neighborhood was wiped out in a matter of seconds.

“I stepped outside and I heard it coming. My daughter was already in the basement, so I ran downstairs and grabbed her, crouched in the laundry room and all of a sudden I could see daylight up the stairway and my house was gone.”

An elderly man and his sister were killed when a tornado hit their home around noon in the rural community of New Minden, said coroner Mark Styninger. A third person died in Washington, while two others perished in Massac county in the far southern part of the state, said Patti Thompson of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency. She did not provide details..

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French President In Joint Press Conf with Israeli PM Netanyahu Vows Tough Iran Stance

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Photo Credit: AP/Ariel SchalitVisiting French President Francois Hollande vowed to maintain his country’s tough stance in upcoming nuclear talks with Iran this week, earning praise from his Israeli hosts Sunday as he began a three-day visit to the Jewish state.

Israel has repeatedly voiced concern that the emerging deal global powers are negotiating with Iran gives it too much, without guaranteeing that the Islamic Republic’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon is eliminated.

Hollande vowed to keep up pressure on Iran and not make any concessions regarding nuclear proliferation.

“If there hadn’t been sanctions, if they hadn’t been enforced, it’s clear that we would never even have had the words from Iran — and I don’t yet speak of actions — that we had in the last few weeks,” he said In a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “We have a duty to resolve this problem that has been under discussions for too many years because Iran for too long has participated in discussions without taking actions.”

Netanyahu has been outspoken in his opposition to a potential deal in which the international community would ease some sanctions on Iran in exchange for some curbs on Iran’s nuclear program. The countries fear that Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon, a charge Iran denies.

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Massachusetts Politician Calls For Law Allowing Police To Enter Private Homes, Ensure Guns Are Stored Safely

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Photo Credit: Opposing Views Swampscott, Mass., Selectman Barry Greenfield recently announced that state law should allow local law enforcement to enter private homes and inspect the safeguarding of guns.

Greenfield reportedly expressed concern over the Newtown, Conn., school massacre and other instances where young students have brought firearms to school. The politician reasoned that school shootings often involve children taking guns from parents who did not properly lock away their firearms.

Greenfield stated that the problem lies in the law enforcement. Police are not legally authorized to inspect the homes of gun owners to ensure that guns are being stored safely, he noted.

“We need the ability to enforce the state law,” Greenfield told Swampscott Patch. The selectman has reportedly already spoken to Swampscott Police Chief Ron Madigan about the issue.

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Oprah: Racists Have to Die for Racism to End (+video)

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Photo Credit: BBC Screenshot Oprah Winfrey, one of the wealthiest people in the world, is throwing the race card again.

During an interview with the BBC Friday, she not only said that President Obama is treated with disrespect because he’s black, but also that entire generations of racists are going to have to die for racism to end (video follows with transcript and commentary):

WILL GOMPERTZ, BBC: The issue of the civil rights movement, and the way that black people around the world are treated, particularly I suppose in, around the world…

OPRAH WINFREY: Around the world.

GOMPERTZ: Around the world. Look at place like Russia, it’s, you know…

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A Constitutional Strategy to Stop NSA Spying

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Photo Credit: APThe National Security Agency looks at literally millions of phone records. It captures millions of e-mails. It sifts through millions of megabytes of private data.

And it does this all without following the requirements of the Fourth Amendment.

It can be stopped. How that can be done in a moment — but first, a closer look at current strategies and roadblocks.

Defending Itself

In a recent press release, one spokesperson went so far as to call criticism of the NSA a “disservice to the nation.”

NSA conducts all of its activities in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, and policies – and assertions to the contrary do a grave disservice to the nation, its allies and partners, and the men and women who make up the National Security Agency.

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Google Block on Child Porn: At last! Internet Giant Axes Links to Vile Sex-Abuse Websites

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Photo Credit: Alamy Internet search results linked to child abuse are to be blocked across the world in a stunning U-turn by Google.

The world’s biggest media firm has agreed to introduce changes which will prevent depraved images and videos from appearing for more than 100,000 different searches.

The company’s chairman Eric Schmidt, writing in today’s Daily Mail ahead of a Downing Street summit on internet pornography, says: ‘We’ve listened.

‘We’ve fine-tuned Google Search to prevent links to child sexual abuse material from appearing in our results.’

The restrictions, which have been designed to apply in English-speaking countries, will be expanded to cover the rest of the world and 158 other languages in the next six months.

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Obama Wants the Volcker Rule on Wall St. Oversight Completed by End of Year – Part of Dodd-Frank

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Photo Credit: Mark Wilson/GettyThe Obama administration, currently stumbling through the health care overhaul, has reached a critical stage in its other signature effort: reining in Wall Street.

The push to reshape financial oversight hinges on negotiations in the coming weeks over the so-called Volcker Rule, a regulation that strikes at the heart of Wall Street risk-taking. The rule, which bans banks from trading for their own gain, has become synonymous with the Dodd-Frank overhaul law that Congress adopted after the financial crisis.

Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew has strongly urged federal agencies to finish writing the Volcker Rule by the end of the year — more than a year after they had been expected to do so — and President Obama recently stressed the importance of the deadline.

While regulators are optimistic they will complete the rule soon, even after facing a lobbying onslaught from Wall Street, they have little time to overcome the internal wrangling that has stymied them for years.

The tension among regulators — five agencies are writing the rule — has centered on just how stringent to make it.

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Creepy Google Glass Pics Without Anyone Knowing? Yes, You Can

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Photo Credit: Chris Barrett/PRserve Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNETI have come to terms with the notion that we will all soon be wearing glasses in order to surf the Web, check messages, and pretend we work at Google.

Some, though, are still concerned that the glasses offer too much opportunity to photograph or film people surreptitiously.

Defenders of the Google faith point out that no, no, you can tell when the glasses are in use. There’s a light that beams to the world.

A twisted few find this unfortunate. They want to be cleverer than thou and more creepy than thou.

May I present, therefore, the very fine Google Glass 3D Printed Sunshade?

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