You’re welcome Guess “Baghdad Bob” Carney has possibly had enough? White House Press Secretary Jay Carney’s behavior during daily briefings has changed, Mediaite’s columnist Joe Concha observed last year. “He…
Maryland isn’t only about crab cakes and football; it’s about nullification, too. Maryland’s House of Delegates overwhelmingly passed HB 1321, a bill that would nullify some federal drug laws and legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes. The bill allows those with debilitating medical conditions such as HIV, glaucoma, cancer, PTSD, and other disorders…
A bill to ban creation of a state insurance exchange under the Affordable Health Care Act was passed by the Oklahoma State Senate on this month by a 30-8 vote. SB1994 was introduced by Sen. Nathan Dahm (R-33) and Rep. John Echols (R-90) on Feb. 3. The bill would ban the state from participating in…
“Don’t ever take a fence down until you know the reason it was put up.” G. K. Chesterton [J]udges … should be always men of learning and experience in the laws, of exemplary morals, great patience, calmness, coolness, and attention. Their minds should not be distracted with jarring interests; they should not be dependent upon …
"Ukraine's parliament is to consider draft laws which would ban foreign-currency bank deposits and introduce a 25% tax on interest on deposits in banks and other financial institutions in circumstances where the interest received is more than 5% above the rate set by the National Bank of Ukraine. The proposed amendments to banking and tax legislation were put forward by Yevhen Sihal, who is a member of the country's ruling Party of Regions. In an explanatory note submitted with the drafts, he argued that the higher tax rate will encourage consumer spending, reduce the cost of business loans, and provide extra funding for the country's Pension Fund." Continue reading →
"International payment system Mastercard has stopped serving clients of seven Russian lenders, after the US issued sanctions against it regarding Russia’s position over the Ukrainian turmoil. Rossiya Bank was blocked by both Mastercard and Visa, with the latter also cutting ties with Sobinbank, SMP Bank and Investcapitalbank. Washington’s move is meant to put pressure on people they see as members of President Vladimir Putin’s 'inner circle'. The bank’s owner, Yury Kovalchuk, is on the list as well, as an individual. Visa and Mastercard have a record of bowing to political decisions from Washington, most notably in blocking donations to the WikiLeaks whistleblower website." Continue reading →
"CurrencyTransfer is a business foreign exchange price comparison marketplace. International business payments can be expensive and opaque, with hidden markups of up to five percent of the value of transfers. CurrencyTransfer aims to bring transparency and impartiality to the market, by getting currency specialists to lifestream their tradable rates -- which are usually decided 'manually' over the phone depending on the client -- in a transparent market. It was set up by computer scientist Stevan Litobac, who was born in Sarajevo but fled to the UK when the Bosnian war started, and Israeli-Brit Daniel Abrahams." Continue reading →
"A Federal Reserve rule allowing banks to charge retailers 21 cents to process debit-card transactions has been upheld by a federal appeals panel, a blow to big merchants such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Target Corp. The dispute stems from a Dodd-Frank provision that required the Fed to set the so-called interchange fees, known colloquially as swipe fees, at a level reflecting the actual processing costs. The Fed's staff recommended cutting the fee from 44 cents per transaction on average to just 12 cents. But after heated protests from the financial industry, the Fed in June 2011 set a cap of 21 cents per transaction." Continue reading →
On February 11, 2014, The Connecticut House of Representatives Education Committee introduced HB 5078, “An Act Imposing a Moratorium on the Implementation of the Common Core State Standards.” On March 12, a public hearing on the issue packed a House committee chamber. The bill is co-sponsored by 18 Republican members of the House and seeks…
Seized property sits vacant nine years after landmark Kelo eminent domain case The controversial Supreme Court ruling that expanded eminent domain to give government the right to take private property to allow economic development may have been all for nothing, according to a report. Nine years after the high court sided with a Connecticut municipality […]