Land Of The Flea

Aetna withdraws from Maryland Obamacare exchange after state demands lower rates

"Aetna Inc pulled out of Maryland’s health insurance exchange being created under President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform law after the state pressed it to lower its proposed rates by up to 29 percent. Each U.S. state will have an online exchange where Americans will be able to buy insurance plans, starting on October 1. The government is counting on about 7 million people to enroll next year for this insurance, many of whom will qualify for subsidies. According to online documents, Aetna had requested an average monthly premium of $394 a month for one of its plans and the agency had approved an average rate of $281 per month." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAetna withdraws from Maryland Obamacare exchange after state demands lower rates

‘Nut-free’ school zone decision upheld by Michigan Court of Appeals

"Michigan Court of Appeals panel upheld a decision Tuesday dismissing a lawsuit over a Romeo-area elementary school's policy creating a nut-free school. The unpublished opinion addresses a lawsuit filed by the parent of a student at Hevel Elementary School challenging the decision of Romeo Community Schools to make the elementary school a nut-free zone because of a student with life-threatening nut allergies. The ban prohibited all peanuts and tree nuts from the building, and school officials periodically searched lunch boxes and backpacks, according to the opinion." Continue reading →

Continue Reading‘Nut-free’ school zone decision upheld by Michigan Court of Appeals

DC, Maryland: Speed Camera Firms Move To Hide Evidence

"The firms operating red light cameras and speed cameras in the District of Columbia and Maryland are working to suppress evidence that could be used to prove the innocence of a photo enforcement ticket recipient. In Washington, the Arizona-based vendor American Traffic Solutions has repositioned cameras and cropped photos so that it is impossible to determine whether another object or vehicle happens to be within the radar unit's field of view. The change is important since DC hearing adjudicators have been throwing out citations whenever another vehicle was visible, creating the possibility of a spurious radar reading." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDC, Maryland: Speed Camera Firms Move To Hide Evidence

Pennsylvania police chief suspended over profanity-laced, anti-liberal gun videos

"The Pennsylvania police chief who made a profanity-laced videos while firing machine guns and ranting about liberals has been suspended without pay for 30 days. After a 55-minute executive session, the Gilberton Borough Council voted 5-1 on Wednesday to suspend Chief Mark Kessler for using 'borough property for non-borough purposes without prior borough permission' by using machine guns and other weapons in his YouTube videos. Kessler had donated the weapons to the borough earlier in the year. In online videos, Kessler had used profanity to berate 'libtards' and suggested an armed rebellion against the government." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPennsylvania police chief suspended over profanity-laced, anti-liberal gun videos

Arkansas Attorney General Won’t Let School Arm Teachers

"Arkansas school districts can’t use a little-known state law to employ teachers and staff as guards who can carry guns on campus, the state’s attorney general said Thursday in an opinion that likely ends a district’s plan to arm more than 20 employees when school starts later this year. The Lake Hamilton School District has been using the same law for years to train a handful of administrators as security guards, but the guns are locked away and not carried by the administrators during the school day." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingArkansas Attorney General Won’t Let School Arm Teachers

Congress to get Obamacare exemption

"Under the law, popularly referred to as Obamacare, lawmakers and their aides were required to source health insurance 'created' by the law or offered through one of its exchanges; and without the subsidies they currently have, the members of Congress would have faced thousands of dollars in additional premium payments each year, the reports said. However, the Office of Personnel Management now plans to rule that the government can continue to make a contribution to the health-care premiums of the lawmakers and their staff, according to unnamed congressional sources and a White House official." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCongress to get Obamacare exemption

McCain Declares War on Russia

"He continued by calling for the listing of as many Russians as possible under the Magnitsky legislation in the US, which allows those considered – under dubious criteria – to be human rights violators to be prevented from entering the US and to have their assets seized by the US government. Then, reprising his subsequently discredited position during the short 2008 Russian/Georgian conflict that 'we are all Georgians now,' McCain all but called for the US to foment another Georgian war against Russia — this time with NATO providing back-up." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMcCain Declares War on Russia

Police arrest more than 200 protesters for trespassing at Chevron plant

"Police arrested more than 200 demonstrators for trespassing at Chevron Corp in the California city of Richmond on Saturday to mark the one-year anniversary of a massive refinery fire and to protest a proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. The arrests came as a throng of sunflower-carrying picketers chanted, 'Hey hey, ho ho, fossil fuels have got to go,' as people of all ages walked onto Chevron’s property to draw attention to a growing movement against fossil fuel. The arrests included three people in wheelchairs and demonstrators as young as 18 years old. Media reports said most of those arrested were cited and released." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPolice arrest more than 200 protesters for trespassing at Chevron plant

Glenn Greenwald: Congress ‘forced to learn about what the NSA is doing’ from newspapers

"Guardian columnist Glenn Greenwald on Sunday chided the U.S. government for claiming it had provided 'robust oversight' of the NSA even though members of Congress were forced to go to his paper to learn about secret programs that gather data on American citizens. 'We keep hearing that there’s all kinds of robust oversight by Congress,' Greenwald said, adding that lawmakers had provided 'very detailed letters trying to get this information and they’re being blocked from getting it and they’ve said, and other members have said that they are forced to learn about what the NSA is doing from what they’re reading in our reporting.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlenn Greenwald: Congress ‘forced to learn about what the NSA is doing’ from newspapers

The concept of delusions gets a big — but unnoticed — overhaul

"It’s not clear who forcibly sedated her in 1972. It’s not certain that she was admitted to a psychiatric ward in the following year. Many people thought she was mad as she ranted about conspiracies in the White House during eccentric phone calls to the press. Questions about Martha Beall Mitchell’s sanity were encouraged by the Nixon administration, who consistently briefed against her and probably had her medicated against her will. But ultimately her claims were proven correct when the Watergate scandal broke. Claims against authorities are often dismissed by suggesting that the person has mental health problems." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe concept of delusions gets a big — but unnoticed — overhaul