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Google Pays Fine Over
Street View Privacy Breach
New York Times, by David Streitfeld
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Original Article
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Posted By:Ribicon, 3/12/2013 3:25:25 PM
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| Google has agreed to pay $7 million as a result of an investigation brought by a coalition of state attorneys general, officials said Tuesday, in one of the largest fines for violating privacy in the digital age. The fine stems from the Street View case, where Google deployed special vehicles to photograph the houses and offices lining the world’s streets. But for several years the company was also secretly collecting personal information — e-mails, medical and financial records, passwords — as it cruised by. It was data-scooping from millions of unencrypted wireless networks. “Consumers have a reasonable expectation of privacy,
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Comments:
Company collects information on private citizens, including cross-referencing people´s IP addresses with their home addresses (such that any website you visit can be pinpointed to your residence), and receives a mild slap on the wrist.
Raises the question of who they´re working for, apart from advertisers.
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Reply 1 - Posted by:
LudicrousSextus, 3/12/2013 4:12:14 PM (No. 9221480)
This would be immensely more amusing if not for the fact that Google´s ´Street View´ couldn´t hold a candle to the coming ´drone invasion´ with a blow-torch...
It´s been estimated that 20,000 drones will be in the air over the US by 2020 - with the capability of counting your acne scars. The government that would fine Google for something which government itself is augmenting in an exponentially more invasive fashion - is pretty short on ethics - and pretty long on hypocrisy.
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Reply 2 - Posted by:
bkt23, 3/12/2013 4:23:50 PM (No. 9221493)
It bears mentioning that if you want your information kept secret, don´t broadcast it on an unsecure radio (wifi) unencrypted.
I´m no fan of google at all, but c´mon: protect what´s important to you.
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Reply 3 - Posted by:
keeptherepublic, 3/12/2013 4:24:53 PM (No. 9221495)
Google´s "Street View" makes me furious.
But, we are assured by the media and the Democrats and McCain & Graham that nobody cares about drones, and that Rand Paul´s concern about such is just a juvenile prank. Indeed!
And all this just a few hours after a drone nearly took down an airliner over NYC. Did you notice how fast that story disappeared from the headlines?
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Reply 4 - Posted by:
Bobn.T, 3/12/2013 5:10:45 PM (No. 9221562)
All levels of gov´t are doing the same thing but with even more zest and more advanced technologies.
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Below, you will find ...
Most Recent Articles posted by "Ribicon"
and
Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)
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Most Recent Articles posted by "Ribicon"
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Dropouts: Discouraged
Americans leave labor force
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Associated Press, by Paul Wiseman and Jesse Washington
Original Article
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Posted By: Ribicon- 4/6/2013 3:42:46 PM
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Washington — After a full year of fruitless job hunting, Natasha Baebler just gave up. She´d already abandoned hope of getting work in her field, counseling the disabled. But she couldn´t land anything else, either — not even a job interview at a telephone call center. Until she feels confident enough to send out resumes again, she´ll get by on food stamps and disability checks from Social Security and live with her parents in St. Louis. (Snip) Baebler´s frustrating experience has become all too common nearly four years after the Great Recession ended: Many Americans are still so discouraged that they´ve given up
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Pork found in Ikea´s moose lasagna
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Associated Press, by Staff
Original Article
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Posted By: Ribicon- 4/6/2013 3:24:56 PM
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Stockholm — Ikea says it has withdrawn 17,000 portions of moose lasagna from its home furnishings stores in Europe after traces of pork were found in a batch tested in Belgium. Ikea spokeswoman Tina Kardum said the product had only been on sale for a month when it was pulled off the shelves on March 22. The company didn´t announce the withdrawal publicly until Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet wrote about it Saturday. Kardum said the company found out Friday that a follow-up test in Belgium confirmed the lasagna contained 1.6 percent pork. "We have more information now. That´s why we choose
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DPS crime lab scientist was
promoted despite problems with work
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Associated Press, by Jim Vertuno
Original Article
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Posted By: Ribicon- 4/6/2013 12:57:16 AM
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Austin — A crime lab scientist for the Department of Public Safety whose shoddy work may have tainted thousands of drug cases had been promoted despite a history of problems doing accurate and timely work, according to a review by the Texas Forensic Science Commission. A commission report adopted Friday found that Houston crime lab worker Jonathan Salvador struggled with chemistry, was told to correct his work in about a third of his cases and, according to his supervisors, routinely scrambled to keep up with monthly work expectations. Salvador was suspended in 2012 after his work at the DPS lab came into
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Army Reserve training material
lists Catholics, evangelical
Christians and some Jews in
´religious extremism´ category along
with the KKK, Hamas and Al Qaeda
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Daily Mail [UK], by David Martosko
Original Article
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Posted By: Ribicon- 4/5/2013 6:53:21 PM
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A slideshow presentation shown to US Army Reserve recruits classifies Christians, including both evangelicals and Roman Catholics, as religious extremists, placing them in the same category as skinheads, the Ku Klux Klan, Hamas and Al Qaeda. The presentation also warned that members of the military are prohibited from taking leadership roles in any organization the Pentagon considers ´extremist,´ and from distributing the organization´s literature, whether on or off a military installation. The opening slide warns that ´the rise in hate crimes and extremism outside the military may be an indication of internal issues all [armed] services will have to face.´
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Struggling automaker Fisker lays
off 160, may file for bankruptcy
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Detroit News, by David Shepardson and Karl Henkel
Original Article
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Posted By: Ribicon- 4/5/2013 5:00:02 PM
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Washington — Fisker Automotive Inc. on Friday laid off about 160 people — most of its staff — as the struggling start-up automaker searches for a buyer or may file for bankruptcy in coming weeks. A company statement confirmed it had laid off about 75 percent of its workforce of around 210 people. "Our efforts to secure a strategic alliance or partnership are continuing in earnest, but unfortunately we have reached a point where a significant reduction in our workforce has become necessary," Fisker said. (Snip) Fisker - which raised more than $1 billion - has around $30 million left. It could opt
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Hackensack officer beaten with
his own nightstick, three others
injured during street brawl
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The Record [Hackensack, NJ], by Dan Ivers
Original Article
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Posted By: Ribicon- 4/5/2013 4:26:48 PM
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Hackensack — A city police officer was beaten with his own nightstick and three others were injured Wednesday night during a violent confrontation with three men, according to officials. Police Director Michael Mordaga said that Sgt. Ben Marino and Officer Matthew Jacobsen were patrolling the high-crime area around Anderson Street when they spotted three men with known criminal histories. As approached 24-year-old Walter Alston, 33-year-old Julius Mitchell and 34-year-old Charles Singletary, Alston rushed the officers, screaming "I´m an animal! I´m an animal!", Mordaga said. Alston, who stands
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Lesbian cop in Raritan sues,
saying town officials discriminated
against her for pregnancy
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Star-Ledger [Newark, NJ], by Seth Augenstein
Original Article
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Posted By: Ribicon- 4/5/2013 1:15:17 PM
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Raritan Borough — A lesbian police officer said the town’s mayor and other officials discriminated against her after she became pregnant, according to a report on MyCentralJersey.com. Kathleen Sausa, 42, told borough officials in early 2011 that she was pregnant with twins, according to the lawsuit she filed Monday in Superior Court. Sausa accuses officials of targeting her after she announced her pregnancy. She claims they refused to grant her family leave or other accomodations during her pregnancy – and also singled her out for a physical “fit for duty” examination, resulting in a suspension, according to the report on the lawsuit.
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Ca. college student body
president is sex offender
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Associated Press, by Staff
Original Article
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Posted By: Ribicon- 4/5/2013 12:19:25 PM
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Riverside, Calif. — When flyers appeared at Riverside City College on April Fool´s Day saying the student body president was a sex offender, students were stunned by the cruel prank. They were even more stunned when they learned it was true. "I was flabbergasted," said Amanda Waring, a theater arts major who works for the school newspaper. "At first people thought it was a joke." Doug Robert Figueroa, 40, who was elected to a one-year term as student body president in May, pleaded guilty in 2005 to kidnapping and lewd and lascivious acts with a boy under 14, the Riverside Press
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Princeton man charged in
fatal crash had mental health
issues, police report says
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Times of Trenton [NJ], by Jon Offredo
Original Article
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Posted By: Ribicon- 4/4/2013 11:49:41 PM
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Princeton — A man charged with causing a car crash that killed a retired Princeton University rabbi last week has a history of mental health problems and was taken to a psychiatric hospital after the crash, officials said today. Eric Maltz, 20, had a previous encounter with police on March 21, when they went to his family´s Braeburn Drive home. His father had called to report his son was "acting out" and throwing things around the house, according to a police report. Police found Maltz’s room “trashed” with various items scattered across the floor and Maltz calmly sitting on his bed, the
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Police: Recent crime pattern
in Englewood targets
Hispanic immigrants
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The Record [Hackensack, NJ], by Rebecca Baker
Original Article
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Posted By: Ribicon- 4/4/2013 1:49:55 PM
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Englewood – Two recent assaults may be part of what police say is a disturbing pattern of attacks against Hispanic immigrants in the city. “We have information that Hispanics are being targeted,” Police Chief Arthur O’Keefe said. “These are not isolated incidents.” The growing number of incidents — about six in the past month — has authorities investigating a potential link to gang initiations and assuring victims that officers won’t check the immigration status of anyone who reports a crime to Englewood police. “The police are not interested in your immigration status,” Detective Capt. Tim Torell said. “If you’re a victim
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Reality Check: Loopholes
Allow Double Dipping
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WPMI-TV [Mobile, AL], by Tami Brehse
Original Article
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Posted By: Ribicon- 4/2/2013 11:35:37 PM
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Mobile, Ala. — In March we told you how much food stamp fraud costs Alabama taxpayers. In a Local 15 follow-up investigation, we found out the problem goes beyond food assistance. Some clients know how to take advantage of the system to double dip in multiple entitlement programs. On paper, Raven Yates is a young, single mother of two who´s out of a job. But when we did a little digging, the reality proved much different. Documents we obtained show in August of 2012, Yates applied and was approved for Section 8 housing for herself and her two kids.
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Alabama hospitals fight
Medicare ´boondoggle´ provision
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Montgomery Advertiser [AL], by Mary Orndorff Troyan
Original Article
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Posted By: Ribicon- 4/2/2013 4:12:25 PM
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Washington — Alabama hospitals are losing out on more than $10 million a year because of a change in Medicare funding policy that mostly benefits one state at the expense of others. Known as the “Bay State boondoggle” by its critics on Capitol Hill, the provision in the 2010 health care law has pumped an extra $367 million annually into the 82 hospitals in Massachusetts — and reduced payments to hospitals nearly everywhere else. (Snip) “Scarce Medicare funding should reward value and efficiency in health care, not be diverted based on artful manipulation of obscure payment formulas,” hospital officials from Alabama and
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Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)
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We Are Living in
a Dying Country
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Rushlimbaugh.com, by Rush Limbaugh
Original Article
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Posted By: Desert Fox- 4/5/2013 4:53:10 PM
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RUSH: Folks, I don´t know how else to categorize this. We are living in a dying country. I don´t know how else to categorize what´s happening -- 88,000 new jobs. The unemployment rate, because of a terrible statistic, is down to 7.6%. The number of people in this country who are not working is shameful. Ninety million Americans are no longer in the workforce. Ninety million. People not in the labor force grew by 663,000, and now 90 million. That´s the labor force participation rate. This is 1979 levels.
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Why Obama´s ´Best-Looking Attorney
General´ Comment Was a Gaffe
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The Atlantic, by Garance Franke-Ruta
Original Article
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Posted By: Oblio- 4/6/2013 6:51:15 AM
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President Obama´s biggest gaffe yesterday when speaking of California Attorney General Kamala Harris was not in flirtatiously complimenting her as "the best-looking attorney general," but in introducing an observation from the system of beauty into a forum that was about the system of power.What´s that, you say? Irin Carmon does a great job in Salon in laying out the bounds of propriety for when it´s appropriate to talk about a woman´s looks as a general matter. But I´ve long felt we lack a solid theoretical underpinning for easily discussing these issues, and why precisely it is that
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´My bangs are getting
a little irritating´: Michelle
Obama admits she already regrets
her high-maintenance hairdo
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Daily Mail (UK), by Margot Peppers
Original Article
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Posted By: pineledger- 4/7/2013 7:43:42 AM
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Michelle Obama has admitted that she is already tired of the bangs she first sported in January. The First Lady said in an interview with Entertainment Tonight: ´Bangs are a day-by-day proposition. They´re starting to grow out, get a little irritating.´ Still, she hasn´t let her hairdo woes get her down. ´It´s okay,´ she said after her initial complaint. ´We´ll be good.´ The first indication that her hairstyle was becoming a burden came about last weekend, when Malia, 14, was spotted adjusting her mother´s hair during the White House Easter Egg Roll.
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Hillary Clinton Would Not
´Clear the Field´ for 2016
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New Republic, by Tod Lindberg
Original Article
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Posted By: StormCnter- 4/6/2013 5:22:36 AM
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No one is more preoccupied these days with Hillary Clinton´s 2016 plans than the Beltway political class—not even the former presidential candidate herself. To hear some tell it, her decision will be dispositive for all other Democrats thinking of entering the race. And pundits and reporters aren´t the only ones positing the "The Hillary Factor": No less than the House Democratic whip, Steny Hoyer, told BuzzFeed, “I don´t know that anybody would run against Hillary…. If she runs, she clears the field.” It´s an understandable conclusion, given Clinton´s stature in the Democratic Party and her 70 percent
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Obama critic apologizes for
his ´poorly chosen words´
on gay marriage
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The Hill [Washington DC], by Alexandra Jaffe
Original Article
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Posted By: JoniTx- 4/6/2013 12:18:19 PM
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Neurosurgeon Ben Carson, considered by some to be a potential Republican contender for president, apologized to Johns Hopkins University for the "poorly chosen words" he used in expressing his opposition to gay marriage last month.“I am sorry for any embarrassment this has caused,” Carson said in the letter, reported in New York Magazine.(Snip) "Although I do believe marriage is between a man and a woman, there are much less offensive ways to make that point. I hope all will look at a lifetime of service over some poorly chosen words.” Carson will remain as commencement speaker at Johns Hopkins,
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Hillary Clinton: The clock is turning
back for women in America
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Washington Examiner, by Charlie Spiering
Original Article
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Posted By: Desert Fox- 4/5/2013 3:25:20 PM
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Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton explained to the Women in the World summit in New York today that the clock is turning back for women in America. Clinton praised her own mother for helping empower her to success and marveled at the opportunities that her own daughter Chelsea has pursued. But Clinton warned that there is still so much to do to promote women´s rights in America. "As I look at all these young women that I am privileged to work with, or know through Chelsea, and its hard to imagine turning the clock on them," Clinton said.
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White House Blames Jobs
Numbers on Sequester
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Breitbart´s Big Government, by Wynton Hall
Original Article
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Posted By: Dreadnought- 4/5/2013 8:02:58 PM
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The Obama White House is scrambling to blame Friday’s abysmal March jobs numbers on the sequester’s trimming of the rate of growth in federal budgets that have yet to fully commence. After the Labor Department announced that a mass exodus of 663,000 workers left the U.S. workforce last month and that job creation fell 112,000 jobs short of projections, Obama’s top economic adviser Alan B. Krueger, took to the White House blog to blame the sequester: It is important to bear in mind that the March household and payroll surveys are the first monthly surveys to look
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Mother Of Slain Benghazi
Officer To Sean Hannity:
‘They Want Me To Shut Up’
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Mediaite, by A.J. Delgado
Original Article
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Posted By: StormCnter- 4/7/2013 5:00:16 AM
Post Reply
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On Friday, Sean Hannity brought Pat Smith, mother of the late Sean Smith, on his radio program. The 34-year-old information management officer was one of four Americans murdered in the Benghazi embassy attack on September 11, 2012. In the chilling interview, a distraught Ms. Smith, in tears, pleaded for answers and spoke of the efforts to silence her. Ms. Smith first relayed how her son, prior to the attack, requested additional security in advance and warned the State Department: He did tell them, ahead of time, he typed it into his little typewriter over there,
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Trayvon Martin´s parents
settle wrongful death claim
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Orlando Sentinel, by Rene Stutzman
Original Article
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Posted By: Desert Fox- 4/5/2013 3:15:25 PM
Post Reply
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SANFORD - Trayvon Martin´s parents have settled a wrongful death claim for an amount believed to be more than $1 million against the homeowners association of the Sanford subdivision where their teenage son was killed. Their attorney, Benjamin Crump, filed that paperwork at the Seminole County Courthouse, a portion of which was made public today. In the five pages of the settlement that were available for public review, the settlement amount had been marked out. Lower in the agreement, the parties specified that they would keep that amount confidential. When asked during an earlier interview whether the amount was
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Beyonce, Jay-Z celebrate 5th
anniversary in Havana, Cuba
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Los Angeles Times, by Nardine Saad
Original Article
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Posted By: Fiesta del sol- 4/6/2013 8:20:04 AM
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Beyonce and Jay-Z celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary in Cuba this week. The couple, who married on April 4, 2008, took in the sights of Old Havana, visited a school, dined on a rooftop terrace and strolled the fan-filled streets in their island best.(snip).The power couple declined to answer journalists´ questions about their visit to the island nation, but some outlets are reporting that the moguls are there as tourists, though that would be illegal because of the half-century embargo the U.S. has on the Communist country. However, the Miami Herald said Washington has issued special licenses for
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Obama Budget to Cap Retirement
Accounts at $3 Million
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Breitbart´s Big Government, by Tony Lee
Original Article
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Posted By: Desert Fox- 4/5/2013 9:40:39 PM
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The budget President Barack Obama will submit on April 10 will contain a proposal that would prohibit individuals from accumulating more than $3 million in Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and tax-preferred retirement accounts. According to a White House statement, the Obama administration believes the current rules allow some wealthy individuals "to accumulate many millions of dollars in these accounts, substantially more than is needed to fund reasonable levels of retirement saving." "The budget would limit an individual’s total balance across tax-preferred accounts to an amount sufficient to finance an annuity of not more than $205,000 per
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