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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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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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.

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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.

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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.

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Rush Limbaugh Mocks NPR for Blaming Stephen Colbert’s Racist Tweet on HIM

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Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh taunted a National Public Radio host for defending liberal comedian Stephen Colbert’s racist tweet, accusing NPR of “circling the wagons” for Colbert by excusing the tweet as a parody of Limbaugh and other “ethnically stupid” conservatives.

Last week, Colbert courted controversy for a tweet sent out on his show’s official Twitter account, which many viewed as racist towards Asian-Americans:

fake_racism_wink_wink

The comedian distanced himself last week, blaming the Comedy Central staff of The Colbert Report (even though he said that exact line on his show). But a #CancelColbert hashtag quickly cropped up, forcing Colbert and the network into damage control mode.

“There was apparently this negative reaction the likes of which liberals are not used to,” Limbaugh described. “Apparently there was a huge blowback on this, and it caught them off guard, because they’re really not used to this kind of reaction of them being racist or sexist or bigoted or homophobic or what have you.”

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Nancy Pelosi Calls Pro-Lifers ‘Dumb’ at Planned Parenthood Gala

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Photo Credit: LifeNews

Photo Credit: LifeNews

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., received Planned Parenthood’s Margaret Sanger award at the organization’s annual gala, and managed a few choice words for pro-lifers in her acceptance speech.

“When you see how closed their minds are, or oblivious, or whatever it is—dumb—then you know what the fight is about,” Pelosi said Thursday, according to Christian News. “Whatever happens with the court …we must remember these battles will not be the end of the fight.”

Pelosi took to Twitter to brag about the award:

Honored to receive the Margaret Sanger Award from @PPFAQ last night and to join them in championing women’s health: pic.twitter.com/xlgMVsr8S0

— Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) March 28, 2014

The Margaret Sanger Award was presented to Pelosi for “her leadership, excellence, and outstanding contributions to the reproductive health and rights movement over the course of her career.”

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Jeff Sessions: ‘DHS Is a Department in Crisis’

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Photo credit: Gage Skidmore

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore

U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, reacted today to a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) document showing that tens of thousands of convicted criminal aliens were freed by ICE last year into the U.S., as well as the presence of nearly one million individuals in the U.S. ordered removed by authorities who remain unlawfully in the country.

Sen. Sessions says that DHS Sec. Johnson should stand up to Pres. Obama’s pro-amnesty policies and tell the president that immigration laws must be enforced:

“The preponderance of the evidence demonstrates that immigration enforcement in America has collapsed. Even those with criminal convictions are being released. DHS is a department in crisis. Secretary Johnson must reject the President’s demands to weaken enforcement further and tell him that his duty, and his officers’ duty, is to enforce the law-not break it. As Homeland Secretary, Mr. Johnson is tasked with ensuring the public safety and the rule of law. But Secretary Johnson is not meeting these duties.”

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White House Sidesteps Questions About Releasing Spy Jonathan Pollard

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Photo Credit: AP/Ayala Bar

Photo Credit: AP/Ayala Bar

White House spokesman Jay Carney sidestepped a question about whether the U.S. is weighing the possibility of an early release for Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard in exchange for concessions in the Mideast peace talks.

Carney did not respond directly when asked Monday afternoon if he would break with previous administrations, which have emphatically stressed that Pollard not be considered a bargaining chip in any negotiations with the Israelis.

“What I’ll say is that I have nothing new about Jonathan Pollard that I haven’t said in the past, which is that he was convicted of espionage and he is serving his sentence,” Carney told reporters Monday during his daily press briefing.

“When it comes to the Middle East peace process and the work being done with both parties to try to move the process forward, there’s a lot of complicated moving parts,” he added.

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Frightened Dem: ‘We Could Lose’ Congress To More Candidates Like Ted Cruz

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

In another sign that Democrats are worried that the 2014 midterm elections may resemble the 2010 midterms in which the Tea Party movement gave the GOP historic gains, Vice President Joe Biden sent out a fundraising email Sunday imploring Democrats to donate to prevent more conservatives like Ted Cruz from getting elected.

Biden and Cruz (R-TX) may be rivals for the presidency in 2016, and Biden’s email on behalf of the Democratic National Committee a day before the end of the fundraising quarter warned supporters, “We could lose.”

“Losing will mean more senators like Ted Cruz, and more Tea Party Republicans in the House,” he writes in the email.

Claiming that he is not engaging in hyperbole, Biden urges supporters to chip in $3 before the fundraising deadline to help Democrats because “the deadline tomorrow is among the most important.”

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