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Magic Hat

Congresswoman: Obama rule change lets insurance companies keep more profits, pay less for care

Patrick Howley
Daily Caller
Tue, 18 Mar 2014 12:44 UTC
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Republican Tennessee Rep. Diane Black says that the Obama administration's most recent Obamacare rule change will result in insurance companies keeping more profits while paying less for customers' health care needs.

"I am writing to express my concern with the proposed rule change released on Friday, March 14th that would allow insurance companies to keep an additional two percent of premiums for purposes other than medical care...your department is now proposing to increase the amount of money that insurance companies will be allowed to retain for profit," Black wrote in a letter Tuesday to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, which was obtained by The Daily Caller.

HHS' Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services quietly introduced the new rule Friday, which relieves insurance companies of some of the damage about to be levied on them by Obamacare-related administrative costs.

Comment: See Stefan Molyneux's breakdown of the 'botched plans' of Obamacare



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Candle

Putin's full speech to the Russian Federal Assembly (with English translation and transcript)

Vladimir Putin
RT
Wed, 19 Mar 2014 05:40 UTC
Putin speech
© Reuters / Maxim ShemetovRussian President Vladimir Putin addresses the Federal Assembly, including State Duma deputies, members of the Federation Council, regional governors and civil society representatives, at the Kremlin in Moscow March 18, 2014.

Crimea's secession from Ukraine was just like Kosovo's secession from Serbia, and any arguments otherwise are just attempts to bend the West-advocated rules that were applied to the Kosovo case, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

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Pistol

Return of the 'unknown snipers': 2 killed in shooting near military research center as Crimea celebrates joining Russia


RT
Wed, 19 Mar 2014 05:02 UTC
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Right Sektor's Dmytro Yarosh is very probably involved
Two people - a self-defense member and a Ukrainian soldier - were killed after snipers opened fire from a partially inhabited building near a military research center in Simferopol. One sniper was reportedly detained, another is on the run.

As RT producer Lida Vasilevskaya arrived at the scene, the perimeter of the Ukrainian military topography and navigation center was already surrounded by men in camouflage and the situation was "calm."

The local Interior Ministry said in a press release that shooting came from a house under construction opposite the center and targeted Crimean self-defense units as well the military center itself.

"Earlier today self-defense units were informed that a group of armed men had been discovered in a partially inhabited building," the press release said. "As the self-defense were taking measures to check, they came under fire, presumably from a sniper rifle," police said, adding that the shooting came "in two directions from one spot."

Comment: Who profits from setting things ablaze on the day Crimea becomes part of Russia?

Yats cries 'war crime' (he clearly doesn't know what a war crime is), and yet the evidence thus far points to the 'unknown snipers' being on his side...

Kiev snipers hired by new coalition, not Yanukovych - Estonian FM to EU chief Ashton

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Candle

Non-interventionist Ron Paul on Crimea: None of America's business


RT
Wed, 19 Mar 2014 05:13 UTC
Ron Paul
© Reuters / Robert GalbraithRon Paul
Ron Paul is once again speaking up about the situation in Crimea, and this time the former congressman is condemning critics from his own country who are seemingly obsessed with the recent secession.

The former Republican representative for Texas told RT earlier this month that he didn't think the United States had any business meddling in overseas affairs and that worsening tensions in Ukraine should be resolved only by those directly involved. The citizens of Crimea have since approved a referendum to separate from Ukraine, but both the US and European Union responded with sanctions against certain officials from Russia and the former Ukrainian government as a result.

In an op-ed published by USA Today on Monday, Paul asked: "What's the big deal?"

"Opponents of the Crimea vote like to point to the illegality of the referendum," Paul wrote. "But self-determination is a centerpiece of international law."

"Article I of the United Nations Charter points out clearly that the purpose of the UN is to 'develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples,'" he said. "Why does the US care which flag will be hoisted on a small piece of land thousands of miles away?"

"Where were these people when an election held in an Iraq occupied by US troops was called a 'triumph of democracy'?" he asked.
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Che Guevara

Crimea protesters occupy Ukrainian Navy base in Sevastopol, tell foreign army to get out


RT
Wed, 19 Mar 2014 04:57 UTC
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© Screenshot from UkrStream.TVHeadquarters of the Ukrainian Navy, Sevastopol. Contrary to hysterical Western media reports of "Russian army invading Ukrainian military base", ordinary people rightfully reclaimed it following the legitimate removal of Ukrainian power in Crimea.
Demonstrators have stormed the Ukrainian Navy HQ in the town of Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula.

The protesters hoisted Russian and St. Andrew's flags, the latter being the Russian Navy Ensign, according to Interfax.

People have been protesting outside the HQ since 08:00GMT. Several thousand participants have cut the fences, stormed inside and changed the flags on the flagpoles. There have been no immediate reports of violence.

The participants of the rally are currently holding talks with the representatives of the Ukrainian Navy. Russian forces are not party to the negotiations.

There was an immediate alert on the territory of the HQ and the Ukrainian servicemen lined up in front of the protesters, reports Interfax. The line was broken by cars belonging to activists that entered the territory.

The protesters are calling upon the Ukrainian servicemen to leave the HQ. An ambulance has been called as a precaution.
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Stormtrooper

Kiev's fascist government thugs beat head of state TV channel in public and force him to resign, while Russian-language TV channels are banned


RT
Wed, 19 Mar 2014 04:35 UTC
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The head of the National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU) has been beaten by members of the nationalist Svoboda party and forced to write a letter of resignation over allegations that his channel aired anti-Ukrainian content.

The office of the acting CEO of the National Television Company of Ukraine, Aleksandr Panteleymonov, was stormed by people who claimed to be members of the 'Freedom of Speech and Information Committee'. What began as a loud conversation quickly turned into a fight.

A video of the incident has been posted online.

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Pirates

'Islamic Caucasus Emirate' terrorist group confirms death of 'Russia's Bin Laden', Doku Umarov

Bill Roggio
The Long War Journal
Tue, 18 Mar 2014 04:23 UTC
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From left to right: Khamzat, the commander of the Riyad-us-Saliheen Martyr Brigade; Doku Umarov, the leader of the Caucasus Emirate; and Saifullah, the suicide bomber of the deadly Jan. 24, 2011 suicide attack at Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow that killed 35 people.
The Islamic Caucasus Emirate, an al Qaeda-linked group that operates in southern Russia, confirmed today that its emir, Doku Umarov, has died. Although Umarov was rumored to have been killed by Russian security forces late last year, the reports have not been confirmed until now.

"The Command of the Caucasus Emirate officially announced the martyrdom of the Emir Doku Abu Usman [Umarov]," according to statement that was released today on Kavkaz Center, a media outlet for the Islamic Caucasus Emirate.

The Islamic Caucasus Emirate did not say how or when Umarov was killed, and the martyrdom statement provided only a brief biography. Umarov had been reported killed several times over the years, only to re-emerge.

Umarov was first reported killed in a statement on Dec. 18, 2013 by Ramzan Kadyrov, the President of the Chechen Republic. But one day later, a video showing the Islamic Caucasus Emirate leader was uploaded to YouTube.

In mid-January 2014, Kadyrov again claimed that Umarov is dead, and said intercepted communications between jihadist leaders in Kabardino-Balkaria and Dagestan mentioned the election of a new "emir."
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Coffee

Middle East has gone cool towards Qatar

Angy Ghannam, Rana Jawad, Rushdi Abu Alouf and Mark Lobel
BBC News
Mon, 10 Mar 2014 16:28 UTC
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Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates withdrew their ambassadors from Qatar last Wednesday after accusing the emirate of meddling in their internal affairs.

Egypt followed suit the next day, formalising a breach of diplomatic ties that began shortly after the overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi.

The move has added to Qatar's isolation over its support for the Muslim Brotherhood and other allied Islamist groups in the region, who in recent months have seen the gains they made in the Arab Spring rolled back.

BBC correspondents around the region describe below how Qatar is now viewed.
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Control Panel

Saudi Arabia classifies Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist group

Rania El Gamal
Reuters
Fri, 07 Mar 2014 12:48 UTC
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© Reuters/Amr Abdallah DalshSupporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi shout slogans against the military and interior ministry, while gesturing with four fingers, during a protest in front of riot police outside a police academy, on the outskirts of Cairo January 8, 2014.
Saudi Arabia has formally designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, in a move that could increase pressure on Qatar whose backing for the group has sparked a row with fellow Gulf monarchies.

The U.S.-allied kingdom has also designated as terrorist the Nusra Front and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, whose fighters are battling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Interior Ministry said in a statement published by state media.

Friday's move appeared to enforce a royal decree last month in which Riyadh, which backs some rebel groups in Syria with money and arms, said it would jail for between three and 20 years any citizen found guilty of fighting in conflicts abroad.

It underscored concern about young Saudis hardened by battle against Assad coming home to target the ruling Al Saud royal family - as has happened after the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Saudi Arabia's Islamic religious authorities have spoken out against Saudi fighters going to Syria, but the Interior Ministry estimates that around 1,200 Saudis have gone nonetheless.

Last month's decree said a committee would be set up to determine the groups to be outlawed. The ministry's statement on Friday said the groups mentioned were those the committee had agreed on and that had been approved by the authorities.
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Pistol

Black October '93: Tanks in Moscow, unknown snipers on the roofs, blood on the streets


RT
Wed, 02 Oct 2013 16:31 UTC
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In October 1993, Russia was on the brink of civil war. Deputies from the Supreme Soviet of Russia -- the main legislative body in the country - were on one side and President Boris Yeltsin and his supporters on the other. In decree 1400, the president proclaimed that the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation and its deputies were to discontinue their legislative, administrative and executive functions. The deputies responded with a decree removing Yeltsin from the Presidency. This resulted in two days of street fighting, hundreds dead and injured.

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