statism

Meredith Whitney: ‘Detroit Will Start A Wave of Municipal Bankruptcies’

"At the root of the problem is the incentive system that elected officials used to face. For decades, across the US, local leaders ran up tabs for future taxpayers; they promised pensions and other benefits for public employees that have strong legal protection. That has been a great source of patronage for elected officials: they can promise all sorts of future perks to loyal supporters with very little accountability on the delivery of those promises.[...] Leaders across the country cannot continue as they have. They must choose sides because there is simply not enough money to go around. Will they side with taxpayers, unions or the municipal bondholders?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMeredith Whitney: ‘Detroit Will Start A Wave of Municipal Bankruptcies’

Chilling Development: NSA Takes on Amash Amendment

"The Huffington Post reports today that NSA director General Keith Alexander called an emergency Top Secret/SCI-level meeting on Capitol Hill to urge Members to vote against Rep. Justin Amash's (R-MI) amendment to the Defense Appropriations bill which would end blanket collection authority under the Patriot Act and stop the NSA and other agencies 'from using Section 215 of the Patriot Act to collect records, including telephone call records, that pertain to persons who are not subject to an investigation under Section 215.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChilling Development: NSA Takes on Amash Amendment

Tax watchdog: IRS travel costs are ‘excessive’

"A handful of Internal Revenue Service officials spent most of their time traveling for work in 2011 and 2012 and amassed thousands of dollars in seemingly excessive costs for transportation, hotels and meals, the tax-collecting agency’s watchdog said in a report on Tuesday. 12 IRS officials claimed more than $60,000 a year in travel expenses for fiscal year 2011 and nine executives surpassed that figure in 2012, mostly in travel to Washington, said the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), the IRS watchdog. Some executives traveled for more than 80 percent of their working days in the past two years, the report said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTax watchdog: IRS travel costs are ‘excessive’

Florida Study Documents Shortened Yellows At Camera Intersections

"An investigative reporter's claim that Florida cities have been exploiting shortened yellow times at red light camera intersections has been vindicated by a report commissioned by the city of St. Petersburg. WTSP-TV's Noah Pransky has been documenting timing shortfallsthroughout the region since last month, and a new report by the engineering firm Kimley-Horn and Associates confirms several of St. Petersburg's photo enforced intersection approaches fail to meet the minimum specified under state law. They found half of the photo enforced intersections had problems with shortened yellows. As of March, 47,715 tickets worth $7,538,970 have been issued." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFlorida Study Documents Shortened Yellows At Camera Intersections

Atheist anti-war immigrant to be awarded US citizenship following public outcry

"A woman who was nearly denied U.S. citizenship over her lack of church membership will soon be naturalized thanks to a public outcry. The immigration office in Houston had informed Margaret Doughty, 64, that she would need to provide proof of membership in a church if she wished to gain conscientious objector status. Doughty, an atheist, had provided the immigration office with a secular rather than religious explanation for why she objected to war. In response, groups sent letters to the immigration office demanding Doughty be granted conscientious objector status. The office withdrew the request on Thursday and approved her application." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAtheist anti-war immigrant to be awarded US citizenship following public outcry

Austrian children’s home charged with ‘decades’ of physical and mental abuse

"Children were physically and mentally abused for decades at a former Austrian children’s home and city authorities knew about it but did nothing, a commission charged with investigating the allegations said Wednesday. The violence went beyond the severe education techniques of the time and clearly violated regulations on children’s homes which forbid beatings, Helige said, confirming that rapes also took place. Unusually, all files from the home were destroyed after its closure so the report relied heavily on interviews with some 220 people, including former staff and children from the Wilhelminenberg home." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAustrian children’s home charged with ‘decades’ of physical and mental abuse

Justice Department sues Florida over ‘deliberate indifference’ in treatment of disabled children

"The U.S. Justice Department sued the state of Florida on Monday, accusing health officials of violating the Americans with Disabilities act by placing almost 200 handicapped minors in nursing homes usually used for elderly residents, Mother Jones reported. Florida is the 12th state sued by the department over alleged mistreatment of physically or mentally disabled residents in the past four years. The Miami Herald reported that while the state has increased patient care payments to $550 per day for children placed in nursing homes, lawmakers also cut $6 million from a program allowing residents to get private health care at their homes." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJustice Department sues Florida over ‘deliberate indifference’ in treatment of disabled children

Doctors caught on video using household drills in Moldovan state-run children’s hospital

"Doctors at a Moldovan state-run hospital used household tools, including an electric drill and pliers, to perform surgery in a video leaked to local press and published on the Internet, prompting outrage among the public and government officials. Prime Minister Iurie Leance ordered Healthcare Minister Andrei Usatii on the same day to investigate the incident. Usatii, in turn, told local television that while the use of household tools was allowed in certain circumstances, the hospital in question had adequate specialized equipment. Moldova, a former Soviet republic of 4 million, is one of the poorest nations in Europe with an average monthly wage of about $300." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDoctors caught on video using household drills in Moldovan state-run children’s hospital

Cannabis for Elders: A Precarious State

"Ailments ranging from chemotherapy side effects, arthritis, glaucoma, chronic pain and even malnutrition are being treated with cannabis, a promising alternative for seniors who are increasingly susceptible to the dangerous side effects and growing dependency of multiple prescription medications. But as many move into assisted living facilities, questions arise on the use of medical marijuana behind their doors. Muddied by its illegal status at the federal level, social stigma, and often hesitant attitudes of administrators who in some cases fear losing funding for allowing a controlled substance on their property, medical marijuana presents a list of challenges for seniors." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCannabis for Elders: A Precarious State

NSA Says It Can’t Search Its Own Emails

"The NSA is a 'supercomputing powerhouse' with machines so powerful their speed is measured in thousands of trillions of operations per second. The agency turns its giant machine brains to the task of sifting through unimaginably large troves of data its surveillance programs capture. But ask the NSA, as part of a freedom of information request, to do a seemingly simple search of its own employees' email? 'There's no central method to search an email at this time with the way our records are set up, unfortunately,' NSA Freedom of Information Act officer Cindy Blacker told me last week. The system is 'a little antiquated and archaic,' she added." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNSA Says It Can’t Search Its Own Emails