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Obama rejects calls for independent probe of IRS scandal

"President Obama brushed off calls for a special independent investigator into the IRS scandal that has engulfed his administration during a press conference this afternoon, saying the internal audit and criminal investigation headed by Attorney General Eric Holder are 'sufficient.' The press conference comes after Obama scrambled last night to fend off growing concerns about his administration following the news that the IRS targeted conservative groups. He also has been battling other controversies, including questions about the deadly attacks in Benghazi and the Department of Justice secretly obtaining Associated Press phone records." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama rejects calls for independent probe of IRS scandal

Cuba’s Past Could Be Your Future

"If the reader lives in a country where laws are being written to limit his ability to expatriate a portion of his wealth, or, worse, to repatriate it if it has already been internationalised, he would do well to examine which of his freedoms will be the next to be lost. There is little discussion at present over whether it may soon be necessary in some counties that are part of what was once called the 'free' world, to apply for an exit visa in order to travel outside that country.Yet, historically, declining countries commonly impose such restrictions to assure that their citizens do not seek greener pastures." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCuba’s Past Could Be Your Future

Anger over East German medical ‘human guinea pigs’

"Germany is confronting another chapter from its past — allegations that Western drug companies used more than 50,000 people in the former communist East as 'human guinea pigs' in 1980s medical trials. Several people were known to have died during trials, and some tests involved infants and delirious alcoholics, said the report on the agreements with the police state that collapsed with the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall. Calls have grown for full transparency into the agreements overseen by the State Security (Stasi) secret police to earn the communist state tens of millions in hard-currency Deutschmarks." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAnger over East German medical ‘human guinea pigs’

Merkel Admits She Was “Responsible for Brainwashing in the Favour of Marxism”

"A new book is out that claims current German Chancellor Angela Merkel, while living in the 1980's in then East Germany, was a physicist and also member of the communist youth organisation 'Freie Deutsche Jugend' at the Academy of Sciences in Eastern Berlin and was in charge of 'agitation and propaganda', the journalists Ralf Georg Reuth and Günther Lachmann claim in their book. 'I never concealed anything', she said at a Berlin cinema on Sunday night. Ms Merkel admitted that she was not only a member of the FDJ but also of the workers’ union and the German-Soviet friendship society, both organisations with strong ties to the ruling Communist party." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMerkel Admits She Was “Responsible for Brainwashing in the Favour of Marxism”

Argentina: BMWs Gaining Bitcoin-Like Appeal as Inflation Hedge

"Car sales in Argentina increased by the most in almost two years last month as a ban on buying dollars made Argentines turn to vehicles to protect savings against the fastest inflation in the Western Hemisphere after Venezuela. Luxury models are becoming more attractive because they are imported at the official dollar rate, said Gonzalo Dalmasso, vehicle industry analyst at Buenos Aires research company Abeceb.com. Argentines with savings in dollars are able to purchase cars at half the cost by trading in the unofficial currency market." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingArgentina: BMWs Gaining Bitcoin-Like Appeal as Inflation Hedge

Venezuela running out of toilet paper

"Venezuela’s socialist government is scrambling to find new sources for toilet paper as consumer supplies run out nationwide. Shortages of key supplies like milk, sugar, coffee, butter and cooking oil have grown much worse in just the last month, amid a decade-long trend of rising inflation and increasing consumer prices. Venezuelan Minister of Commerce Alejandro Fleming told state-run AVN News that the government would respond by 'saturating the market' with 50 million rolls of imported toilet paper, in hopes of calming the populace. However, CNN noted that he also said Venezuelans go through about 150 million rolls of toilet paper every month." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingVenezuela running out of toilet paper

Rich Manhattan moms hire handicapped tour guides to cut lines at Disney World

"Some wealthy Manhattan moms have figured out a way to cut the long lines at Disney World — by hiring disabled people to pose as family members so they and their kids can jump to the front, The Post has learned. The 'black-market Disney guides' run $130 an hour, or $1,040 for an eight-hour day. 'My daughter waited one minute to get on ‘It’s a Small World’ — the other kids had to wait 2 1/2 hours,' crowed one mom, who hired a disabled guide through Dream Tours Florida. Disney allows each guest who needs a wheelchair or motorized scooter to bring up to six guests to a 'more convenient entrance.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRich Manhattan moms hire handicapped tour guides to cut lines at Disney World

Roadside manicure services boom in Nigeria

"A comfortable salon may be the ideal place to have a manicure-pedicure, but in Nigeria’s sprawling economic capital, the curb above a open sewer works just fine. Privately tailored suits delivered to your home or office are a luxury reserved for the wealthy in some cultures, but in Lagos, many in the middle class are also in regular contact with their personal clothier. And, while paying for your toe and fingernails to be soaked, scrubbed, trimmed and moisturised is considered a luxury in some parts of the world, in Lagos, 'it’s for everybody,' said Bashir Haruna, 32, a groom at a polo club who also hauls boxes at an appliance store for extra cash." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRoadside manicure services boom in Nigeria

Palestinians can now order Kentucky Fried Chicken via tunnel to Egypt

"Junk-food starved Gazans can now order KFC to go thanks to a new smuggling service which brings takeout from Egypt via a network of underground tunnels. It’s not exactly 'fast' — taking several hours to arrive, with the Palestinian delivery company behind it charging hefty prices to cover the cost of fuel and transport. 'Last chance to order for the Thursday 6:00 pm delivery is Wednesday night,' says the Yamama delivery firm on its Facebook page. Yamama then orders the meals, about 30 on a typical run, from the KFC outlet in the Egyptian city of El-Arish, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) away. There are no international fast food chains in Gaza." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPalestinians can now order Kentucky Fried Chicken via tunnel to Egypt

You can now spend bitcoins at your local mall

"Last week, bitcoin payment processor BitPay announced a deal with Gyft, a seven-month-old Google Ventures-backed software app that lets users buy and upload retail gift cards to Android-based smartphones. The partnership will allow customers to use bitcoins to buy gift cards for stores such as Gap, Lowe's, Sephora, GameStop, Burger King and over 200 other retailers. While those stores won't handle the bitcoin transactions themselves -- that's done by Gyft and BitPay -- it brings the number of locations where customers can effectively pay with bitcoins from around 8,000 nationwide to over 50,000, according to BitPay co-founder and CEO Tony Gallippi." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingYou can now spend bitcoins at your local mall