Yearly Archives: 2013

Nerf toy causes lockdown at Long Island school

"A lime-green Nerf toy gun caused an hours-long lock-down at a Long Island school on Tuesday. A 911 caller told Nassau County Police she saw a suspicious teen at about 7:38 a.m. Tuesday wearing a black jacket and carrying a black backpack at Elmont Memorial high School in Elmont. The caller said he was also carrying a lime green gun. A SWAT team searched the school room by room. They eventually found the toy lime green and yellow lever action Nerf gun in a student locker. Police did not make any arrests and the lockdown was lifted." Continue reading →

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Remaining Marginal is No Badge of Honor

I’ve spent most of my political life on the margins. This was largely my fault. My brand of conservatism was considerably different from the big government Republicanism of the George W. Bush-era. And so my political existence throughout the 2000s was primarily that of a news junkie scouring the headlines for any morsel of hope [...]

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Iran plans to phase out dollar, euro in foreign trade: Econ. min.

"Iran's Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Shamseddin Hosseini says the country plans to phase out dollar and euro in its future international transactions after the US and the European Union (EU) imposed sanctions on Iran. '[Iranian] government has made up its mind to phase out vehicle currencies such as dollar and euro in its [foreign] trade,' Hosseini told reporters. He added that after the imposition of sanctions on Iran by the US and the EU, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) immediately moved to change the country's hard currencies reserves into euro and gold which 'was beneficial to the country.'." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIran plans to phase out dollar, euro in foreign trade: Econ. min.

French capital flight spikes as Hollande hits business

"Simon Ward from Henderson Global Investors said the net loss of funds was €53bn (£43.8bn) over the two months, roughly the period when Mr Holland unveiled a string of tax rises and suffered a collapse in relations with French business. A key gauge of the French money supply -- six-month real M1 -- has been contracting at an accelerating rate ever since Mr Holland's election in May. It has fallen to levels last seen in the depths of the crisis in 2008. France's money data is now flashing more serious warnings than numbers in Italy or Spain." Continue reading →

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Westerners Kidnapped in North Africa — but Is France the Real Target?

"Tightened security measures sent hundreds of armed soldiers patrolling Metros, train stations, airports and tourist sites across France, while officials instructed the French people to be wary of the increased risk of attack at home — and abroad. News reports indicated Islamist radicals had kidnapped numerous French, European, and American workers from an oil installation in eastern Algeria. Somalia’s al-Shabab militia also announced it would execute a French spy. Those developments came after warnings by a jihadi leader in Mali on Monday that by attacking Islamist forces in Africa, 'François Hollande opened the gates of hell for all French people.'" Continue reading →

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Honi Soit Qui ‘Mali’ Pense

"The United States, incapable of allowing a military intervention to pass by without jumping on board, dutifully followed France in the Libya debacle, blowback from which was responsible for the re-igniting of the Touareg rebellion in Mali. What do the Touaregs have that is causing such stirring in France's colonial loins? France is dependent on nuclear power for 75 percent of its energy needs. The larger African region controlled by the Touareg, including particular in Niger, contains tons and tons of that substance that brings back memories of the Bush administration's Iraq lies: uranium." Continue reading →

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France adopts words of war by vowing to ‘destroy terrorists’

"With its talk of 'destroying' enemies and confronting 'jihadi terrorists', France has adopted a language of war for its intervention in Mali that few expected from Socialist President Francois Hollande. As French warplanes carry out airstrikes and French troops clash with Islamist rebels in the West African country, Hollande and his ministers seem to have taken a page from former US president George W. Bush’s playbook on war-time communications. French media reported that ministers have been banned from using the words 'Islamist fighters' in statements on the conflict and must always refer to rebels as 'terrorists'." Continue reading →

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NE Medicaid Expansion (#1): The Race is On

Author’s Note:  This is the first in a series of articles about Nebraska’s Medicaid program, the Unicameral’s apparent intent to expand it, and the many reasons why expansion is an uncommonly bad idea. Last year when the Unicameral expanded the state’s already generous Medicaid program to cover prenatal care provided to women who were ineligible… more

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Debate intensifies over ‘draconian’ cyber crime laws after Aaron Swartz’s death

"As funeral services were held for Internet activist Aaron Swartz, the debate intensified over what some called a 'draconian' US computer crime law used by allegedly overzealous prosecutors. An online petition calling for the removal of the prosecutors in his case garnered more than 31,000 signatures Tuesday and some of Swartz’s supporters blamed a 1986 computer crimes statute for his suicide. Swartz, who was just 14 when he co-developed the RSS feeds that are now the norm for publishing frequent updates online and went on to help launch social news website Reddit, hanged himself in his New York apartment on Friday." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDebate intensifies over ‘draconian’ cyber crime laws after Aaron Swartz’s death

Glenn Greenwald: Carmen Ortiz and Stephen Heymann: accountability for prosecutorial abuse

"Prosecutors are vested with the extraordinary power to investigate, prosecute, bankrupt, and use the power of the state to imprison people for decades. The US has become a society in which political and financial elites systematically evade accountability for their bad acts, no matter how destructive. Those who torture, illegally eavesdrop, commit systemic financial fraud, even launder money for designated terrorists and drug dealers are all protected from criminal liability, while those who are powerless - or especially, as in Swartz's case, those who challenge power - are mercilessly punished for trivial transgressions." Continue reading →

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