Anti-Obama Street Art Hits Oscars: ‘Oczars’

/3 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Breitbart A rogue street artist has ambushed the 86th Academy Awards with a slew of street art posters poking fun at President Barack Obama and the Oscars. The posters, of unknown origin, feature the Oscar statue with Vladimir Lenin’s head and the title “OCZARS,” referring to the proliferation of “czars”–powerful officials with no congressional oversight–in the Obama administration. The “O” is the Obama campaign’s familiar symbol.

Read more this story HERE.

Movement to End Solitary Confinement Gains Force

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: NBCIn the small, dark world of solitary confinement, an inmate’s basic needs can go neglected for months — and many are starting to wonder for what purpose.

For Jan Green, 52, who spent eight months sleeping on a thin mat on the floor of a New Mexico jail cell about 7 feet wide and 7 feet long, being in isolation meant no access to basic necessities like sanitary napkins. It meant no exercise, no human contact, no medicine, and barely any running water.

“I had a metal toilet and sink, and couldn’t get the water to work properly, so I rarely could wash my hands or get a drink of water or brush my teeth,” said Green, who landed behind bars on domestic violence charges — charges that were ultimately dismissed.

Green was in solitary confinement at the Valencia County Detention Center in Los Lunas, N.M., where she says a nurse failed to report her psychiatric problems and corrections officers refused to give her any time out of her single-window cement block, day after day. (Standard treatment for solitary inmates includes one to two hours each day outside of their cells.)

Last month, Green, who has been out of jail since February 2012, settled a lawsuit with Valencia County for $1.6 million. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder before her arrest, she said her time in solitary pushed her into a state of psychosis that still haunts her from time to time, despite receiving treatment after getting out.

Read more this story HERE.

Almost Half a Billion Worth of Bitcoins Vanish

/5 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: APMt. Gox, once the dominant exchange for bitcoin trading, on Friday said more than $470 million of the virtual currency vanished from its digital coffers, kicking into high gear a search for the missing money by victims and cybersleuths.

Acting alone and in groups, the people stepped up their efforts after Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy protection in Japan and confirmed rumors it had lost almost 750,000 of its customers’ bitcoins, as well as roughly 100,000 of its own.

Mt. Gox Chief Executive Mark Karpelès said technical issues had opened the way for fraudulent withdrawals, though he didn’t provide details.

“There was some weakness in the system, and the bitcoins have disappeared. I apologize for causing trouble,” Mr. Karpelès said at a packed news conference at a Tokyo courthouse after the bankruptcy filing.

The disappearance underscores the risks of currencies that exist only online and aren’t backed by a central bank. Mt. Gox wasn’t overseen by national regulators, so there is no entity to step in and back investors’ deposits.

Read more this story HERE.

The Next Shoe To Drop: Obamacare Will Increase The Cost Of Employer-Sponsored Insurance

/1 Comment/in , /by

Photo Credit: TownhallYesterday, the Obama Administration’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released a six-page report predicting that Obamacare could cause premiums to increase for nearly two-thirds of small-to- medium-sized businesses. “This results in roughly 11 million individuals whose premiums are estimated to be higher as a result of the ACA and about 6 million individuals who are estimated to have lower premiums,” CMS writes. But CMS’ projections almost certainly understate the problem, one that will begin to affect millions of workers in the second half of 2014.

CMS: 11 million will see increased premiums

The CMS premium report was a requirement imposed by Congress on the administration under the Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act of 2011. That law mandated that CMS “provide an estimate of the number individuals and families who will experience a premium increase and the number who will see a decrease” as a result of the Affordable Care Act.

But CMS only looked at one cost-increasing Obamacare provision: community rating. And they only looked at it for individuals employed by businesses with fewer than 100 employees: what’s called the “small group market.”

Here’s the background. Under Obamacare, all regulated insurance plans are required to charge people the same premium, regardless of health status. Insurers can charge different rates based on age (but only within a narrow range); tobacco use (smokers can be charged 50 percent more than non-smokers); geographic area (insurers can charge people different rates based on regional demographic variation); and whether the plan is for a single individual or a family.

Read more this story HERE.

Ukraine, China, Iran – America Isn’t Leading From Behind, It’s Being Left Behind

/2 Comments/in , /by

By K.T. McFarland.

Russia, flush with new-found wealth from oil exports, expands its military reach and political influence abroad. A war-weary America slashes defense spending and retreats from the world. The president embarks on a massive government-subsidized program to develop alternative energy to replace fossil fuels.

Pundits cluck about America in retreat, and point to the rise of an Asian economic superpower. That’s the world circa 1976, but it sounds like quotes ripped from today’s headlines.

History has a way of repeating itself, or to quote the great Yogi Bera, it’s déjà vu all over again. The Obama administration is looking a lot like the Carter administration. Only worse.

President Obama may think the Cold War is over, as dated as yesteryear’s fashions. But President Putin thinks it’s game on, and Russia is winning. And there is ample evidence to support his claim.

I can’t wait for the pictures from the next Obama-Putin meet-up. It will be in June in Sochi, where President Obama would NOT go for the Olympics, but has to go for the G-8 summit.

Read more this story HERE.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Photo Credit: CNNUkraine Forces on High Alert After Putin Gets Permission to Use Military

By Fox News.

Ukraine’s acting president announced that he has put the country’s armed forces on high alert after the Russian parliament unanimously voted to grant President Vladimir Putin permission to mobilize the country’s military in Ukraine.

Oleksandr Turchynov said Saturday he had also ordered increased security at nuclear power plants, airports and other strategic infrastructure, because of the threat of “potential aggression.”

The Russian parliament unanimously voted Saturday to grant President Vladimir Putin permission to mobilize the country’s military in Ukraine and asked that the country’s ambassador in Washington be recalled after earlier statements by President Obama.

Putin said that the mobilization is needed to protect ethnic Russians and the personnel of a Russian military base in Ukraine’s strategic region of Crimea. But the request came a day after Obama warned Moscow that “there will be costs” if it intervenes militarily in Ukraine.

“I’m submitting a request for using the armed forces of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine pending the normalization of the socio-political situation in that country,” Putin said before the vote.

Read more this story HERE.

Rand Paul: Surgeon General Nominee a ‘Basher’ of the 2nd Amendment

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Fox News Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) sat down with Shannon Bream on The Kelly File Thursday night to outline why he’s placing a procedural hold on President Obama’s nominee for Surgeon General. It’s a reason you might not think for a position that is usually not subject to political disputes.

But Paul says he worries that Dr. Vivek Murthy may try to use the position as a “bully pulpit” to push for stricter gun control laws “under the guise of a public health and safety campaign.” Murthy, a doctor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, has been an outspoken advocate of ObamaCare, founding the national organizing group Doctors for America.

Paul highlighted tweets Murthy has sent backing assault weapons bans and stricter laws on ammo purchases.

Read more this story HERE.

Vet Who Lost Job Over Tattered American Flag Receives Help From FBN’s Cheryl Casone

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Fox News Last week, we told you about a veteran who lost his job after replacing a tattered American flag outside his workplace.

Now, with the help of Fox Business Network’s Cheryl Casone, Ret. Navy Chief Petty Officer Rick Heilman is hopeful he’ll find a new job soon.

Heilman and his boss at Yearwood Equipment Company in Tennessee engaged in a confrontation after the vet properly removed a ripped flag.

He was offered his job back, and his former boss acknowledged that the flag should have been replaced sooner. But Heilman, who doesn’t regret taking the flag down, refused to go back.

In less than a week since his first Fox and Friends appearance, Heilman has already interviewed for new jobs.

Read more this story HERE.

Malkin: When Will American End Cash-For-Visas Racket?

/1 Comment/in , /by

Photo Credit: Human EventsThis may be the first and last time I ever write these words: America, follow Canada.

Our neighbors to the north finally have wised up to the international cash-for-visas scam. Last week, the country ended its foreign investor program that put residency up for sale to the highest bidder. We should have done the same a long time ago.

Canada’s Immigrant Investor Program granted permanent residency to wealthy foreigners who forked over 800,000 Canadian dollars for a five-year, zero-interest loan to one of the country’s provinces. The scheme turned out to be a magnet for tens of thousands of millionaires from Hong Kong and China. But as the Canadian Ministry of Finance concluded in its annual budget report this year, the program “undervalued Canadian permanent residence” and showed “little evidence that immigrant investors as a class are maintaining ties to Canada or making a positive economic contribution to the country.”

In several provinces, the foreign investor racket was riddled from top to bottom with fraud. Whistleblowers in the Prince Edward Island immigration office exposed rampant bribery among bureaucrats and consultants, who helped their clients jump the queue. The government failed to monitor immigrant investors or verify the promised economic benefits of the “investments.” The program didn’t just fast-track supposed business people with dubious business backgrounds, but also their entire extended families, who walled themselves in segregated neighborhoods.

Ads in Dubai bragged that investors didn’t even need to live in the country to take advantage of the citizenship-for-sale deal — and that their dependents could avail themselves of full health care and education benefits.

Read more this story HERE.

GOP Lawmakers Introducing “Preserving Welfare for Needs Not Weed Act”

/3 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Ed AndrieskiRepublican lawmakers plan to introduce legislation next week aimed at preventing the misuse of the food stamp funds amid reports that welfare debit cards have been used to withdraw cash at ATMs at marijuana dispensaries in Colorado.

The “Preserving Welfare for Needs Not Weed Act,” is expected to be introduced on Monday by Colorado Republican Reps. Dave Reichert, Scott Tipton and Cory Gardner, KDVR.com reported.

The bill would add pot dispensaries to the current list of locations where states must block welfare electronic benefits transfer (EBT) cards from being used for purchases or ATM withdrawals, Reichert’s office told the station.

KDVR.com reported last week that at least 19 different dispensaries allowed electronic benefits transfer withdrawals inside their pot shops in January. Public records obtained by the station showed 56 transactions, totaling nearly $4,000.

Read more this story HERE.

First of its Kind California ‘Erase’ Law Allows Minors to Delete Social Media Posts

/1 Comment/in , /by

Photo Credit: REUTERSThe Mean Girl tweets, the Spring Break selfie that probably tanked a summer internship or Ivy League application … . California is now requiring social media companies to give young users the opportunity to deletes such Internet postings.

The first-in-the-country law is being hailed as good step — especially in the absence of a federal law — toward giving under-18 Internet users a chance to remove regrettable postings and preserve their reputation.

“This puts privacy in the hands of kids, teenagers and the parents, not under the control of an anonymous tech company,” James Steyer, founder and chief executive of Common Sense Media, told FoxNews.com.

However, not everybody agrees, arguing Facebook, Twitter and other big, social media sites already allow users of all ages to remove posts. They also argue the law could become burdensome for companies because they would have to figure out who lives in California.

Steyer, whose San Francisco-based group advocates for safe and responsible online use, said critics make a “reasonable point” on that issue. But California had to act in hopes a dysfunctional Washington will take notice and pass a federal law to solve the potential problem of a patchwork of state statues, he said.

Read more this story HERE.