N.H. City Wants a “Tank” to Use Against Occupiers and Libertarians

"Police Chief John Duval now says that he doesn't actually believe the Free State Project or Occupy New Hampshire are domestic terror threats. 'I wish I would have worded things different in retrospect,' he says. 'I understand why their eyebrows are raised about that.' He says it was meant to refer to the 'unpredictable nature of unpredictable people who attach themselves to otherwise lawful situations.' Duval has no plans to issue a formal apology, but he has exchanged emails with Carla Gericke, president of the Free State Project, who is suing a police department for arresting her in 2011 for allegedly recording a police traffic stop." Continue reading

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ATS Settles PlatePass Rental Car Ticketing Lawsuit

"Plaintiffs in the suit complained that under ATS' PlatePass program, for example, $10.75 was automatically billed from their credit card to cover a 75 cent toll. The $11 million payment comes on top of the $4.2 million that ATS will pay to red light camera ticket recipients in New Jersey as part of a settlement for illegally issuing tickets at intersections where the yellow signal timing was not justified. Ticket recipients in that case began receiving post cards this week. The settlement agreement leaves it between ATS and Hertz to decide whether 'one or both' companies should pay the refunds." Continue reading

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California’s first mobile Amber Alert shocks strangers

"FEMA sends out Amber Alerts from cell towers in locations near the abduction. The alerts can pop up on new phones with Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) capabilities, or phones that get the corresponding software update. It’s a voluntary system, and participating wireless companies were required to add WEA services to their phones by April 7, 2012. Californians were angry and confused about the Amber Alert, scared by an alarming phone notification they didn’t know they had. The reaction mirrors New Yorkers’ response a few weeks ago, when the first New York City mobile Amber Alert woke people up at 4 in the morning." Continue reading

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Obama Denies Domestic Spying But He’s Wrong

"Obama on the Jay Leno show said 'We don’t have a domestic spying program.' He said 'What we do have are some mechanisms where we can track a phone number or an e-mail address that we know is connected to some sort of terrorist threat.' Obama is incorrect. The XKeyscore program of the NSA spies on everyone. 'A top secret National Security Agency program allows analysts to search with no prior authorization through vast databases containing emails, online chats and the browsing histories of millions of individuals, according to documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden.' It’s not the only program of the government." Continue reading

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Obama: ‘We don’t have a domestic spying program’

"Obama said the programs were critical to counterterrorism work. But he said more needed to be done to assure Americans they were not being spied on themselves. 'We don’t have a domestic spying program,' he said. 'What we do have are some mechanisms where we can track a phone number or an email address that we know is connected to some sort of terrorist threat.'" Continue reading

Continue ReadingObama: ‘We don’t have a domestic spying program’

Obama: Persecution of LGBT people violates basic morality

"President Barack Obama on Tuesday night condemned Russia and some African countries for persecuting gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender individuals. 'I’ve been very clear that when it comes to universal rights, when it comes to people’s basic freedoms, that whether you are discriminating on the basis of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation, you are violating the basic morality that I think should transcend every country,' he said on NBC’s The Tonight Show with host Jay Leno. 'And I have no patience for countries that try to treat gays or lesbians or transgender persons in ways that intimidate them or are harmful to them.'" Continue reading

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Immigration Reform — The Time for Free Trade

"During the 19th century, tariffs and other barriers restricted international trade in goods and services. However, for the most part, labor was free to enter or leave the United States. Following World War I, the federal government enacted a series of laws restricting immigration. The interwar years also witnessed significant restrictions on trade in goods and services. Market forces are necessary to coordinate the international labor market as well. Increasing the number of H-1B visa's or temporary work permits is a small step in the right direction but governments can no better plan the international labor market than the Soviets could plan their markets." Continue reading

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Think Government Is Intrusive Now? Wait Until E-Verify Kicks In

"If this part of the bill passes, all employers will be forced to use the government-run, Web-based system that checks potential employees' immigration status. That means, every American will have to obtain the federal government's prior approval in order to earn a living. E-Verify might seem harmless now, but missions always creep and bureaucracies expand. Surely we should link E-Verify to the criminal records of pedophiles? And why not all criminal records? We don't want alcoholic airline pilots, disbarred doctors, fraudster bankers and so on. E-Verify will be attractive as a way to enforce hundreds of other employment laws and regulations." Continue reading

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How to escape from a car underwater

"On Friday night, Morgan Lake lived through many drivers’ nightmare: She found herself plummeting about 27 feet off the edge of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge into the water below. And the 22-year-old student managed a feat that pilots and military personnel take hours of specialized training to perfect: She escaped from her sinking car, swam to safety and survived. Ken Burton, president of Panama City, Fla.-based Stark Survival, has guided helicopter operators worldwide through his $2,295 underwater-egress class. For those who might find themselves underwater in their cars, Burton offered this advice." Continue reading

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How to Survive a Plane Crash: 10 Tips That Could Save Your Life

"In a report analyzing airline accidents from 1983 to 2000, the National Transportation Safety Board found that the survival rate of crashes was 95.7%. But it’s important to take note of another interesting tidbit that the FAA and NTSB found in their research on plane crashes: 40% of fatalities that did occur happened in crashes that were survivable. Close to half of all airplane crash fatalities might have been prevented had passengers taken proper action. In today’s post we’re going to offer research-backed advice from Ben Sherwood’s The Survivor’s Club on what you can do to make it out of a plane crash alive." Continue reading

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