North Korea Rescinds Invitation for U.S. Official to Discuss Kenneth Bae’s Release

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Photo Credit: Fox News The North Korean government has rescinded an invitation for a senior State Department official to visit the isolated nation to discuss the release of American and Christian missionary Kenneth Bae, a State Department source told Fox News on Sunday.

North Korea apparently made the decision to prevent a visit from Robert R. King, the special envoy for North Korean Human Rights issues, in light of military exercises planned for later this month between the United States and South Korea, with which North Korea technically remains in a state of war following the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War.

“We are deeply disappointed by the (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s) decision – for a second time – to rescind its invitation for Ambassador King to travel to Pyongyang to discuss Kenneth Bae’s release,” the State Department official said. “We again call on the DPRK to grant Bae special amnesty and immediate release as a humanitarian gesture so he may reunite with his family and seek medical care. We will continue to work actively to secure Mr. Bae’s release. Per our long-standing offer, we remain prepared to send Ambassador King to North Korea in support of Mr. Bae’s release.”

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All American Credit Cards Will Disappear In 2015 And Be Replaced With This New Tech

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Photo Credit: instagram/ericabibi_These credit cards are dinosaurs.

Every credit card in the U.S. will be replaced by October 2015 with new cards that contain the chip-and-PIN technology that the rest of the world has had for years, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Both Visa and MasterCard are committed to the switch, which will render extinct the plastic in your wallets and purses right now.

No more black magnetic stripes; no more signing on the dotted line.

Americans who have traveled to Europe in recent years will know that the U.S.’s credit card system is embarrassingly old-fashioned by comparison. It’s often difficult to use American credit cards abroad because the Europeans abandoned magnetic stripes and signatures years ago — they were too easily hacked. Credit and debit cards in the U.S. are about 10 years behind the rest of the world.

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Tech Fears Shadow Campaign to Seize Global Control of Internet

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Photo Credit: Getty ImagesFearing a power grab for control of the Internet, members of the tech industry are pleading with Congress to pay attention to the domain name expansion that is underway at a little-known nonprofit.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), led by its CEO Fadi Chehade, last year began rolling out thousands of alternatives to the traditional .com ending used by most websites. New endings using the Latin alphabet, such as .clothing and .singles, became available in January, and hundreds of others are on the way.

ICANN says it is focused on making the Internet more broadly available and has prioritized creating domain names in languages such as Chinese, Arabic and Cyrillic.

But critics say the nonprofit betrayed broader ambitions last year when it endorsed a statement calling for the globalization of ICANN and other domain name technical work that is currently managed by the United States.

By signing the statement, Chehade put “a target on ICANN’s back,” said Steve DelBianco, executive director of NetChoice.

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Guess Who’s Calling for Taxpayer-Financed Campaigns

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Photo Credit: AP/Susan WalshJonathan Soros, son of progressive billionaire investor George Soros, is among a group of 60 wealthy Democratic donors who signed a letter to members of Congress calling for taxpayer-financed political campaigns.

“We urge you to fix today’s broken campaign finance laws. Nothing less than our democracy is at stake,” the letter said. “We who sign this letter raise and give substantial sums for elections. The influence that people like us have will be curtailed by the changes we seek, but our democracy must return to the First Amendment principle that all Americans, not just the wealthy, must have their voices heard.”

Some of the other signatories include Craigslist founder Craig Newmark; Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen; Democratic mega-bundler Naomi Aberly, who raised $500,000 for President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign; tech executive David DesJardins, who gave about $1 million to Democratic campaigns in 2012; and businessman Arnold Hiatt, Politico reported.

The letter was coordinated by three pro-public financing groups: Public Campaign Action Fund, Voices for Progress and the Jonathan Soros-founded Friends of Democracy, and correlates with the introduction of the “Government by the People Act” in the House, sponsored by Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.).

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American Sage Kotsenburg Wins First Gold Medal at Sochi Olympics in Slopestyle

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Photo Credit: APSage Kotsenburg of the United States won the first gold medal of the 2014 Olympics on Saturday, soaring to victory in the men’s snowboarding slopestyle final.

Kotsenburg had a score of 93.50 to edge Staale Sandbech of Norway. Mark McMorris of Canada, who barely made the finals, took bronze.

Canadian Max Parrot, who topped qualifying on Thursday, missed the podium. He washed out at the end of his first run and his second run wasn’t quite crisp enough. Parrot finished fifth.

Kotsenburg needed to navigate the semifinals early Saturday but seemed to find his stride. He placed second in the semifinals then rolled with a medal on the line. The 20-year-old clasped his hands over his head in disbelief after his score was revealed.

The laid-back kid from Couer d’Alene, Idaho — nicknamed “second-run Sage” because of his tendency to come through at the last minute — didn’t waste time putting together the run of his life. He tamed the treacherous course that chased away teammate Shaun White earlier in the week and sent several other contenders to the medical tent.

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Eric Holder to Accord More Recognition to Same-Sex Couples

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Photo Credit: APAttorney General Eric Holder plans to announce added recognition for same-sex married couples Saturday, vowing to treat same-sex spouses just like opposite-sex spouses in court proceedings, prison visitation and law-enforcement benefit programs even in states that don’t recognize same-sex marriages, a Justice Department official said.

In a speech to a gay rights group in New York, Holder will promise that Justice Department lawyers will respect spousal privilege for same-sex couples in court proceedings and that officials will award full benefits to same-sex spouses of police officers and other public safety personnel killed in the line of duty.

“In every courthouse, in every proceeding, and in every place where a member of the Department of Justice stands on behalf of the United States — they will strive to ensure that same-sex marriages receive the same privileges, protections, and rights as opposite-sex marriages under federal law,” Holder is to tell a Human Rights Campaign dinner, according to excerpts of his speech released in advance.

“The department will recognize that same-sex spouses of individuals involved in civil and criminal cases should have the same legal rights as all other married couples – including the right to decline to give testimony that might incriminate their spouse. The government will not object to an individual in a same-sex marriage invoking this right on the ground that the marriage is not recognized in the state where the couple lives,” Holder plans to say.

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Ben Carson: Obama Officials ‘Acting Like Gestapo’

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Photo Credit: WNDDr. Ben Carson, the brain surgeon turned popular political analyst, told WND Obama administration officials are “acting like the Gestapo” with the Justice Department indictment of Dinesh D’Souza coupled with the Internal Revenue Service’s political targeting of the administration’s critics.

“I believe we are dealing with an extremely corrupt administration,” he said.

Dr. Carson himself became the subject of an IRS audit after criticizing Barack Obama’s policies at the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington last year.

“I’ve always been someone who has been very careful about my finances and the way I take care of my business,” said Dr. Carson. “I’ve never undergone this kind of scrutiny before, but then it comes after the prayer breakfast. They’re harassing my family. They’re harassing my colleagues. And they’re not finding anything – so that just makes them dig a little deeper.”

In a telephone interview today, Dr. Carson, who is talked about as a potential new brand of non-politician presidential candidate himself in 2016, said he was also disturbed by Obama’s comments in an interview with Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly before the Super Bowl game last week.

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Obama Admin Files Papers to Force Notre Dame to Comply With HHS Mandate

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Photo Credit: LifeNewsThe Obama administration is not content to force Obamacare on the nation but it’s also not going to relent when it comes to religious businesses, schools and organizations that want to opt out of complying with the HHS mandate, that compels them to pay for birth control and abortion-causing drugs.

The Obama administration is fighting the University of Notre Dame’s request for a reprieve from complying with the HHS mandate and filed papers on Tuesday with the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals opposing the Catholic university’s attempt to get out from under it.

According to Politico:

The school, which is complying with the coverage mandate while fighting the policy in court, was denied a similar stay by the 7th Circuit late last year. Notre Dame re-filed its petition after the Supreme Court granted an injunction to the Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged last month.

The school said its case is nearly identical to the Little Sisters; the Justice Department said Tuesday that the facts are not the same.

Notre Dame “Employees and other beneficiaries are currently receiving contraceptive coverage,” Justice Department officials wrote in their brief (posted here).The school “offers no reason why this Court should disrupt the status quo by entering an injunction pending appeal while it is considering the merits of the appeal on a highly expedited basis.”

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EPA Set To Strike Key Blow Against Coal?

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Photo Credit: Fox NewsStymied by the GOP’s long resistance to cap and trade legislation, the EPA this week began public hearings — the next step toward a final rule — to cut carbon dioxide emissions from new coal plants.

The rule would limit emissions to 1100 pounds per Megawatt hour, a level the coal industry says is technologically unattainable.

Green energy proponents disagree.

“Opponents say this will prevent ever building another coal-fired plant in the United States today. They say that the technology is not commercially available. These claims are scare tactics,” Rep. HenryWaxman, D-Calif., said in a press conference Thursday outside EPA headquarters in advance of the hearing.

Some supporters of the proposed rule say fracking has unleashed a treasure trove of cleaner natural gas. Its new abundance and low price has put coal at a competitive disadvantage, a welcome development, they say, given the consequences of global warming.

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Jeh Johnson: DHS Already Preparing to Implement Immigration Reform

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Photo Credit: REUTERS/Gary CameronThe Department of Homeland Securityis already preparing to implement immigration reform legislation, according to DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson.

“When reform legislation is enacted, DHS must be prepared to implement reform. So to prepare for this potential outcome, I have already directed the deputy director of homeland security to coordinate the process to ensure we are ready to implement the law,” Johnson said Friday at the Woodrow Wilson International Center, during his first major policy address since becoming DHS’s fourth secretary.

He praised the House Republicans recent statement of principles on immigration, calling them a “serious step forward” that “contains a lot to work with.”

“With both parties’ recognition that our immigration system is broken and needs to be fixed, this should not be an issue used in one way or another for political advantage,” Johnson said. “Rather we must look to find commonsense solutions to a problem we all know we have.”

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