Rickie Lee Jones:
http://youtu.be/gNgSb1TGGcQ
Author: susie
See how we are
X:
Things I never needed
Grace Potter:
Home-grown terrorists collecting names
The real threat in America, which the media ignores:
Sovereign citizens groups are scary. For police officers, they’re violent extremists. Now at least one group of sovereign citizens duped young people into collecting the addresses of police officers and other first responders in Austin, Texas.
An FBI alert from the bureau’s San Antonio Division — obtained in August by the non-profit Web site Public Intelligence — details the creepy scheme.
Through late July of last year, small teams of “young individuals” combed through neighborhoods in Austin knocking on doors, according to the alert. When someone answered, the canvassers explained they worked for a fundraising group that helps students master public speaking.
As part of their training — the teams explained — they needed to learn about the professions of the people they spoke with.
The canvassers were then awarded points based on the job of the person they talked to. Different jobs were worth different points. The kids carried yellow note cards that referenced the 15 jobs worth points and their value. The list included professions such as nurse, doctor, and firefighter.
Police officers were worth 2,000 points, the highest value.
In exchange for points, the organizers promised cash prizes and scholarships. More cops and firefighters meant more money.
The alert also explained that the students, “carried a paper card stating the individuals who were in possession of the card were allowed to be doing what they were doing per constitutional law and they were not required to show any identification or be restricted from their duties by state or local officials.”
The card carried no contact information for any organization. The canvassers showed the card to anyone asking questions.
In truth, there was no group geared towards improving the public speaking skills of young people. There were no scholarships or money. A sovereign citizens group — the FBI believes — conned the kids into doing their dirty work. This whole thing was just a clever way for domestic extremists to collect the addresses of first responders.
There’s that justice system again
This is so common, yet most families don’t have the resources to sue their schools:
Called “gay” and “faggot” for years, 14-year old Eric Martin was bullied so severely that one day, he fought back. Several of his classmates beat him into unconsciousness and he spent nearly two weeks in the hospital.
Now, the school is pressing charges – against Eric. He is facing two charges of assault despite suffering a traumatic brain injury, multiple contusions, and a broken arm, while his assailants were largely unharmed. If convicted, he could face jail time and fines.
The big honkin’ loophole in the ACA
I’ve noticed this — I’ve been getting all kinds of charges for things I was never charged for before! Gee, if only we had politicians that could actually fix this:
Leo Boudreau of Massachusetts was thrilled to find a psychologist in his insurance network to treat his teenage daughter for emotional stress related to a medical condition. The therapist worked out of a local hospital.
But he was surprised when the bill for each visit contained two charges: the approximately $100 he expected to see for the therapist — and a similar fee for the room, which was not covered.
“How could it be that the doctor was in network and the hospital was in network, but I had to pay separately for the room?” Mr. Boudreau said.
As insurers ratchet down payments to physicians and hospitals, these providers are pushing back with a host of new charges: Ophthalmologists are increasingly levying separate “refraction fees” to assess vision acuity. Orthopedic clinics impose fees to put an arm in a cast or provide a splint, in addition to the usual bill for the office visit. On maternity wards, new mothers pay for a lactation consultant. An emergency room charges an “activation fee” in addition to its facility charges. Psychologists who have agreed to an insurer’s negotiated rate for neuropsychological testing bill patients an additional $2,000 for an “administration charge.”
Continue reading “The big honkin’ loophole in the ACA”
Oh yay
Jeb Bush’s son said it’s “more than likely” his dad will run for president in 2016 in an interview that aired Sunday.
George P. Bush, Jeb Bush’s eldest son, was interviewed by ABC News. The younger Bush is knee-deep in his own campaign this year, running for Texas land commissioner.
ABC’s Jon Karl asked Bush whether his father is running for president.
“I think he’s still assessing it,” Bush said, offering the same demurral his father and other members of his family have given in recent months.
Getting in shape
As chronically annoyed as I am, I’m still (I like to think) a compassionate person — much to the dismay of those who know me. They get pretty annoyed with my habit of seeing the other side of everyone’s situation. (I remember my father throwing down a paintbrush in frustration and yelling, “Why do you always do that?” “Because there’s another way to look at it,” I said.)
What really annoys me, though, is when people treat me like it’s easy for me. Like I was born that way. I most emphatically was not; it was both a maturity thing and a spiritual practice for me, and it took a long time to break my habits. But it was a decision on my part, not a character trait. I had to learn it, and it was hard.
I’d forgotten that most people don’t think this way until the other day, when I wrote at C&L about Pope Frank calling for an end to the death penalty and to life imprisonment. The comments section was immediately filled with people saying, “Yes, but… all child molesters should be killed!” Or all rapists, or all politicians, or whatever. It reminded me that liberal doesn’t always translate to compassion. Compassion isn’t earned — that’s what makes it compassion. If people deserved it for something they did, it just becomes a transaction. See what I mean?
Or not.
Correct me if I’m wrong
But isn’t this why we have a 4th Amendment? And didn’t we fight a revolution to stop crap like this?
ARNOLDS PARK, Iowa — For almost 40 years, Carole Hinders has dished out Mexican specialties at her modest cash-only restaurant. For just as long, she deposited the earnings at a small bank branch a block away — until last year, when two tax agents knocked on her door and informed her that they had seized her checking account, almost $33,000.
The Internal Revenue Service agents did not accuse Ms. Hinders of money laundering or cheating on her taxes — in fact, she has not been charged with any crime. Instead, the money was seized solely because she had deposited less than $10,000 at a time, which they viewed as an attempt to avoid triggering a required government report.
“How can this happen?” Ms. Hinders said in a recent interview. “Who takes your money before they prove that you’ve done anything wrong with it?”
The federal government does.
Using a law designed to catch drug traffickers, racketeers and terrorists by tracking their cash, the government has gone after run-of-the-mill business owners and wage earners without so much as an allegation that they have committed serious crimes. The government can take the money without ever filing a criminal complaint, and the owners are left to prove they are innocent. Many give up.
“They’re going after people who are really not criminals,” said David Smith, a former federal prosecutor who is now a forfeiture expert and lawyer in Virginia. “They’re middle-class citizens who have never had any trouble with the law.”
On Thursday, in response to questions from The New York Times, the I.R.S. announced that it would curtail the practice, focusing instead on cases where the money is believed to have been acquired illegally or seizure is deemed justified by “exceptional circumstances.”
Richard Weber, the chief of Criminal Investigation at the I.R.S., said in a written statement, “This policy update will ensure that C.I. continues to focus our limited investigative resources on identifying and investigating violations within our jurisdiction that closely align with C.I.’s mission and key priorities.” He added that making deposits under $10,000 to evade reporting requirements, called structuring, is still a crime whether the money is from legal or illegal sources. The new policy will not apply to past seizures.
I drove all night
Cyndi Lauper: