Kathy and George Norris lived under the specter of a covert government investigation for almost six months before the government unsealed a secret indictment and revealed why the Fish and Wildlife Service had treated their family home as if it were a training base for suspected terrorists. Orchids.
That's right. Orchids. By March 2004, federal prosecutors were well on their way to turning 66-year-old retiree George Norris into an inmate in a federal penitentiary - based on his home-based business of cultivating, importing and selling orchids.
Criminalizing everyone: the rapid and dangerous expansion of federal criminal law
EC Probing Biggest Hospital Company
The Securities and Exchange Commission has opened a probe into whether the largest hospital company in the world, Hospital Corporation of America, violated securities law by manipulating its books and records, according to documents and people familiar with the investigation.
In 2006, HCA, then a public company, was bought by a consortium including its management, the family of former Senate majority leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and three major financial firms for about $33 billion in the largest leveraged buyout ever at the time.
Study: Bush administration blocked efforts to prevent housing crisis
Federal regulators in the Bush administration blocked attempts by state governments to prevent predatory lending practices that resulted in the financial crisis now stalking the American economy, a new study from the University of North Carolina says.
Italian scientists claim to debunk Shroud of Turin
Scientists have reproduced the Shroud of Turin— revered as the cloth that covered Jesus in the tomb — and say the experiment proves the relic was man-made, a group of Italian debunkers claimed Monday.
The shroud bears the figure of a crucified man, complete with blood seeping out of nailed hands and feet, and believers say Christ's image was recorded on the linen fibers at the time of his resurrection.
IAF jets scramble as plane flies over Israeli nuclear facility
Israel Air Force fighter jets on Tuesday scrambled against an ultralight plane en route to an air show in the southern city of Arad, after it breached the airspace of the nuclear reactor facility in Dimona.
The pilot reportedly strayed from his planned route, flying from Rishon Letzion in central Israel to Arad near the Dead Sea, and inadvertently entered the reactor's airspace. Realizing his error, the pilot then called in by radio that he had lost his way and was instructed to land in Arad, where he was questioned by local police.
TVNL Comment: Why is Israel allowed to produce nuclear material without UN inspection? Just asking.
U.S. Losing Ground on Preventable Deaths
Are Americans dying too soon? The answer is yes. When it comes to "preventable deaths" -- an array of illnesses and injuries that should not kill at an early age -- the United States trails other industrialized nations and has been falling further behind over the past decade.
Although the United States now spends $2.4 trillion a year on medical care -- vastly more per capita than comparable countries -- the nation ranks near the bottom on premature deaths caused by illnesses such as diabetes, epilepsy, stroke, influenza, ulcers and pneumonia.
Arab states have launched secret moves with China, Russia and France to stop using the US currency for oil trading
In the most profound financial change in recent Middle East history, Gulf Arabs are planning – along with China, Russia, Japan and France – to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council, including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar.
Secret meetings have already been held by finance ministers and central bank governors in Russia, China, Japan and Brazil to work on the scheme, which will mean that oil will no longer be priced in dollars.
Krugman: Republican Party has ‘emotional maturity of bratty 13-year-old’
Krugman penned the line in response to what he called "puerile" tactics of GOP partisans who cheered the failure of Chicago to win the 2016 Summer Olympic games.
"The key point is that ever since the Reagan years," Krugman opines, "the Republican Party has been dominated by radicals — ideologues and/or apparatchiks who, at a fundamental level, do not accept anyone else’s right to govern."
Government admits filming torture of Gitmo inmate, alleged 9/11 plotter
The United States government admitted on Monday that the torture of a Saudi man alleged to be part of the 9/11 plot was recorded on video, according to court documents procured by the Center for Constitutional Rights.The tapes, allegedly showing the torture of Mohammed al Qahtani, 31, have long been kept under wraps, but a discovery motion for video of his interrogations led the court to acknowledge their existence and order their release.
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