Federal Government to Seize NYC Skyscraper Tied to Iran

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

It was once known as the Piaget Building because the Swiss jeweler used to have offices in the skyscraper near Rockefeller Center.

In the near future, it will be known as property of the federal government.

U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest has granted a summary judgment that clears the way for the government to seize the 36-story office building owned by a corporation and foundation with ties to the Iranian government. The move is the latest chapter in a short but storied history that includes design by John Carl Warnecke, the same architect who drew up the John F. Kennedy Eternal Flame gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, Logan International Airport in Boston and the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

A statement by the U.S. Justice Department says the ruling “paves the way for the largest-ever terrorism-related forfeiture.”

The building at 650 Fifth Ave. in Manhattan is owned by the Alavi Foundation and Assa Corp., which took part in money laundering, the statement says. Assa is a front for Bank Melli, which is a “a front for the government of Iran,” according to the statement.

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With the End of Fed’s QE in Sight, U.S. Public Says ‘Huh?’

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Photo Credit: Reuters

Photo Credit: Reuters

The Federal Reserve this week is expected to start winding down an epic economic stimulus that is credited with helping the United States claw back from the deepest slump since the Great Depression.

The Fed’s $2.8 trillion “quantitative easing” program has, among other things, lifted stock prices to record highs, driven interest rates to record lows and put a floor under what had been a reeling housing market.

Yet barely a quarter of Americans even know what it is.

A poll leading up to the Fed’s pivotal decision, expected Wednesday afternoon, found just 27 percent of U.S. adults could pick the correct definition of quantitative easing from among five possible answers.

Quantitative easing, or QE for short, is when the Fed buys bonds in order to push down interest rates and boost the economy.

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Census Data on Obama Presidency: Record Number in Poverty

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

During the four years that marked President Barack Obama’s first term in office, the real median income of American households dropped by $2,627 and the number of people in poverty increased by approximately 6,667,000, according to data released today by the Census Bureau.

The record total of approximately 46,496,000 people in the United States who are now in poverty, according to the Census Bureau, is more than twice the population of Syria, which, according to the CIA, has 22,457,336 people.

In 2008, the year Obama was elected, real median household income in the United States was $53,644 according to the Census Bureau. In 2012, the last full year of Obama’s first term, median household income was $51,017. Thus, real median household income dropped $2,627—or 4.89 percent—from 2008 to 2012.

In fact, real median household income dropped in every year of Obama’s first term. In 2008, when he was elected, it was $53,644. In 2009, the year he was inaugurated, it dropped to 53,285. In 2010, his second year in office, it dropped to $51,892. In 2011, his third year in office, it dropped to $51,100. And, in 2012, his fourth year in office, it dropped to $51,017.

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Sebelius Goes from ‘Will Get Covered’ to ‘Can’ to ‘May’

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Kathleen SebeliusTuesday morning, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Kathleen Sebelius announced on Twitter:

Big news! Nearly 6 in 10 uninsured Americans will #GetCovered for less than $100/month starting Jan 1 #Obamacare #ACA pic.twitter.com/RimQkFIuPJ

— Kathleen Sebelius (@Sebelius) September 17, 2013

However, while Sebelius’s claim sounds like a sure thing (“will” get covered,) the accompanying graphic is somewhat less unequivocal, employing the phrase “can”get covered. But the truth is even one additional step removed…

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Report: CIA Employee who Refused to Sign Non-Disclosure Agreement on Benghazi Suspended

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Photo Credit: Getty Images

Photo Credit: Getty Images

A CIA employee who refused to sign a non-disclosure agreement prohibiting him from speaking out about last year’s deadly terror attack in Benghazi, Libya has been suspended and forced to hire an attorney, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) said Monday that his office received an anonymous call about the employee’s suspension, the Free Beacon reported. Wolf previously revealed that Benghazi survivors had been forced to sign non-disclosures in a speech on the House floor in July.

“The reports on the NDA are accurate. We’re getting people who call,” Wolf said at an event launching the new Citizens’ Commission on Benghazi…

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Undocumented LA County Parents On Pace To Receive $650M In Welfare Benefits

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Photo Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty

Photo Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty

A projected $650 million in welfare benefits will be distributed to illegal alien parents in 2013, county officials said Monday.

Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich announced the latest figures from the Department of Public Social Services, which showed more than $376 million in CalWORKs benefits and food stamps combined have been distributed through July to illegal alien parents for their native-born children.

Approximately $54 million in welfare payments are issued each month…

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U.S. Attorney Wants to Take Away Corrupt Politicians’ Pensions

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Photo Credit: SETH WENIG/AP

Photo Credit: SETH WENIG/AP

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara has had enough of corrupt politicians breaking the law — then collecting their taxpayer-funded pensions from jail, parole or scandal-induced retirements.

The prosecutor Tuesday took the unprecedented step of notifying three indicted New York pols that he plans to go after their pensions if they’re convicted.

While New York state law allows public officials to collect their pensions even after they’ve been convicted of felonies, the federal prosecutor says he has a way to get some of that money back.

He filed notices of forfeiture Tuesday targeting State Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Queens), City Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Queens) and Assemblyman Eric Stevenson (D-Bronx), who all stand to collect pensions paid by the same taxpayers they’re accused of robbing.

Smith faces charges for allegedly paying off Republican operatives to help him get on the ballot in an ultimately abandoned run for mayor. Halloran and Stevenson are charged with pocketing thousands of dollars in bribes.

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Inspector General: Dept. of Justice Is Misreporting Terror Statistics

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

A follow-up to a 2007 audit released Monday by the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found that DOJ did not accurately report terrorism-related statistics in 24 of the 26 categories auditors reviewed.

“For purposes of this audit, we considered the misreporting of a statistic as significant if the statistic was either overstated or understated by 10 percent or more,” the report stated.

The follow-up audit casts new doubt on the “number of terrorism-related cases filed, the number of defendants convicted at trial or by guilty plea, and the number of defendants sentenced to prison” previously reported by DOJ.

“These inaccuracies are important because Department management and Congress need accurate terrorism-related statistics to make informed budgetary and operational decisions,” the audit states.

Major inaccuracies in “terrorism-related statistics” were reported by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys (EOUSA), and the DOJ’s Criminal Division.

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Navy Yard Dropped Its Guard, Pentagon Inspector General Says

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Photo Credit: Evan Vucci

Photo Credit: Evan Vucci

A soon-to-be-released government audit (Now public, see here) says the Navy, in an attempt to reduce costs, let down its guard to risks posed by outside contractors at the Washington Navy Yard and other facilities, a federal official with access to the report tells TIME.

The Navy “did not effectively mitigate access-control risks associated with contractor-installation access” at Navy Yard and other Navy installations, the report by the Department of Defense Inspector General’s office says. Parts of the audit were read to TIME by a federal official with access to the document.

The risks resulted from an attempt by Navy officials “to reduce access-control costs,” the report finds.

The audit comes as questions are emerging about how the alleged perpetrator, or perpetrators, of the attack at Navy Yard in Washington on Monday gained access to the facility. At least 13 people are dead in the attack, including the alleged attacker, Aaron Alexis.

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The Cops at Ohio State Have an Armored Fighting Vehicle Now

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Photo Credit: Reddit

Photo Credit: Reddit

The Ohio State University Department of Public Safety has acquired an armored military vehicle that looks like it belongs in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Gary Lewis, a senior director of media relations at OSU, told The Daily Caller via email that the “unique, special-purpose vehicle is a replacement” for the “police fleet.” He called the armored jalopy “an all-hazard, all-purpose, public safety-response vehicle” with “obviously enhanced capabilities.”

Lewis did not specify exactly what previous mode of transport was replaced.

He noted that the vehicle was “acquired at no cost from Military Surplus.” He also bragged that it has “extremely low miles and is in nearly new condition” but elaborated no further concerning the acquisition.

“We are in the process of making it usable for our needs in an urban campus environment,” Lewis explained. “Specifically we are removing the top turret and repainting.”

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