Tag Archives: Ha Ha

Court returns rare gold coins Treasury seized from jeweler’s family

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“A fortune in 1930s gold coins seized by the federal government from the family of a deceased Philadelphia jeweler must be returned, a federal appeals court said Friday.  For more than a decade, the U.S. Treasury Department insisted, and persuaded a jury, that the rare coins had been stolen and belonged to the government.  But on Friday it lost the argument and the coins – because of paperwork.  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit said the government had failed to file a timely forfeiture action, and therefore had waived its right to keep 10 rare 1933 $20 double eagle gold coins. How valuable were they? One similar coin was auctioned for $7.6 million in 2002.”

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/20150418_Court__Rare_coins_belong_to_jeweler_s_family.html

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Detroit makes millions from parking meters, can’t afford to power them

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“Detroit is missing out on potentially millions in revenue because just about half of its 3,404 parking meters are out of service, according to city officials. It’s estimated that the city could get an extra $6 million in revenue just by getting the rest of the meters in working condition.  As part of efforts to reduce city spending, the Duracell batteries that power the meters were swapped out with off-brand units. The cheaper batteries apparently can’t hold a charge as long as the Duracells.  To make matters worse, the old locks used to secure the batteries easily seize up from water or grime, leaving even more meters out of service.”

http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/10/5988135/detroit-makes-millions-from-parking-meters-but-cant-afford-batteries

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IRS Drops Further Appeals On Invalidated Tax Preparer Regulation

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“The lapse of the deadline marks the conclusion of a two-year battle over whether the IRS had the authority to impose a nationwide licensing scheme on tax preparers.  The IRS had unsuccessfully argued that the ‘Horse Act’ of 1884—a statute passed to govern compensation claims for dead horses brought on behalf of Civil War veterans—had provided it with such authority.  If the licensing scheme had not been struck down, approximately 350,000 tax-return preparers would have been affected by the IRS regulatory regime.”

http://www.accountingtoday.com/news/irs_watch/irs-drops-appeals-decision-invalidating-tax-preparer-regulation-70630-1.html

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Obama ordered to divulge legal basis for killing Americans with drones

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“The so-called targeted-killing program—in which drones from afar shoot missiles at buildings, cars, and people overseas—began under the George W. Bush administration. The program, which sometimes kills innocent civilians, was broadened under Obama to include the killing of Americans.  Government officials from Obama on down have publicly commented on the program, but they claimed the Office of Legal Counsel’s memo outlining the legal rationale about it was a national security secret. The appeals court, however, said on Monday that officials’ comments about overseas drone attacks means the government has waived its secrecy argument.”

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/04/obama-ordered-to-divulge-legal-basis-for-killing-americans-with-drones/

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Rancher, armed militias win standoff with Feds; govt returns cattle

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“The tense stand-off between hundreds of protesters and police has ended in the Nevada desert, forcing the authorities to cancel the round-up of 300 animals and to return the cattle to their owner.  The standoff between rancher Cliven Bundy and the US Bureau of Land Management has lasted over a week, after hundreds of armed agents with the United States Bureau of Land Management and the FBI turned up in the Clark County to execute the court-ordered confiscation of nearly 1,000 cattle. The US government says the animals have trespassed on federal property.  This provoked a fierce backlash from anti-government groups, right-wing politicians and gun-rights activists.”

http://rt.com/usa/nevada-cattle-rachner-row-268/

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Iceland’s EU bid is over, commission told

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“Iceland’s bid to join the EU is over, the country’s foreign minister told the European Commission on Thursday (13 June). Speaking during a frosty press conference with reporters on Thursday (13 June), Stefan Fule, the Czech commissioner responsible for EU membership bids, admitted that Iceland’s decision was a personal blow. The April election, which was won decisively by the centre-right Independence party and the Progressive party, was viewed as a vote against EU membership. Opinion polls indicate that only 25 percent of Icelanders support EU membership.”

http://euobserver.com/political/120501

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Ecuador breaks US trade pact to thwart ‘blackmail’ over Snowden asylum

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“Ecuador has ramped up its defiance of the US over Edward Snowden by waiving preferential trade rights with Washington even as the whistleblower’s prospect of reaching Quito dimmed.  President Rafael Correa’s government said on Thursday it was renouncing the Andean Trade Preference Act to thwart US ‘blackmail’ of Ecuador in the former NSA contractor’s asylum request.  Officials, speaking at an early morning press conference, also offered a $23m donation for human rights training in the US, a brash riposte to recent US criticism of Ecuador’s own human rights record.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/27/ecuador-us-trade-pact-edward-snowden

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Glenn Greenwald: Snowden’s Files Are Out There if ‘Anything Happens’ to Him

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“As the U.S. government presses Moscow to extradite former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, America’s most wanted leaker has a plan B. The former NSA systems administrator has already given encoded files containing an archive of the secrets he lifted from his old employer to several people. If anything happens to Snowden, the files will be unlocked.  The fact that Snowden has made digital copies of the documents he accessed while working at the NSA poses a new challenge to the U.S. intelligence community that has scrambled in recent days to recover them and assess the full damage of the breach.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/06/25/greenwald-snowden-s-files-are-out-there-if-anything-happens-to-him.html

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Russia defiant as U.S. raises pressure over Snowden

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“The White House said it expected the Russian government to send Snowden back to the United States and lodged ‘strong objections’ to Hong Kong and China for letting him go.  But the Russian government ignored the appeal and President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary denied any knowledge of Snowden’s movements. Asked if Snowden had spoken to the Russian authorities, Peskov said: ‘Overall, we have no information about him.’ Other Russian officials said Moscow had no obligation to cooperate with Washington, after it passed legislation to impose visa bans and asset freezes on Russians accused of violating human rights.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/24/us-usa-security-flight-idUSBRE95M02H20130624

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Federal Europe will be ‘a reality in a few years’, says commission president

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“The president of the European Commission has fanned the flames of British debate over EU membership by insisting that fiscal union in the eurozone will lead to ‘intensified political union’ for all 27 member states. ‘This is about the economic and monetary union but for the EU as a whole,’ he said.  ‘The commission will, therefore, set out its views and explicit ideas for treaty change in order for them to be debated before the European elections.’  ‘We want to put all the elements on the table, in a clear and consistent way, even if some of them may sound like political science fiction today. They will be reality in a few years’ time.'”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/10041817/Federal-Europe-will-be-a-reality-in-a-few-years-says-Jose-Manuel-Barroso.html

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