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49,000 North Carolina Medicaid cards mailed to wrong addresses


CBS Charlotte
Mon, 06 Jan 2014 20:00 UTC
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© Andreas Rentz/Getty Images
North Carolina health officials said Friday that they had inadvertently disclosed the personal information of tens of thousands of children receiving Medicaid coverage, but were tight-lipped about precisely what caused the massive privacy breach.

The state Department of Health and Human Services issued a written release saying that new Medicaid cards for nearly 49,000 children were mailed on Dec. 30 to the wrong people. The information on the cards includes the children's names, Medicaid identification numbers, dates of birth and the names of their primary care doctors - personal medical data that is supposed to be tightly protected under federal law.

"The department has begun a careful review of this incident to determine how it occurred and to ensure personal information is protected," said Sandra Terrell, the state's acting Medicaid director. "DHHS knows exactly which Medicaid cards were sent to which addresses, and is rapidly working to issue correct Medicaid cards."

Agency spokesman Ricky Diaz said state officials were first informed of the problem on Thursday by county officials. The release publicly disclosing the breach was emailed Friday at 5:20 p.m., shortly after WSOC-TV in Charlotte posted a story about the error.

Diaz insisted that the agency disclosed the information to the public "as quickly as possible."
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Cowboy Hat

Fight back: MMA fighter kills armed intruder, 'severely' injures another and scares off two more


Mail Online
Mon, 06 Jan 2014 19:20 UTC
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MMA Fighter Joe Torrez
A mixed martial arts fighter in New Mexico may face charges after authorities say he fended off four home invaders - killing one and severely injuring another - during a an early morning break in on New Year's Day.

According to authorities in Dora Ana County, MMA fighter Joe Torrez fatally beat and stabbed one of the intruders, beat another so badly he needed to be taken from Torrez's home in an ambulance and then convinced the other two to retreat in fear.

Authorities found the body of 25-year-old Sal Garces near Torrez's trailer home in the 600 block of King James Avenue.

Garces, his 19-year-old brother Raymond Garces, 20-year-old Nathan Avalos and 22-year-old Leonard Calvillo forced their way into 27-year-old Torrez's house about 2 a.m. on New Year's day.

Once inside the home, a fight began between the intruders and Torrez - a fight that ended with Garces dead, Avalos being admitted to a hospital with 'severe' facial injuries and the other two fleeing the scene.

The younger Garces and Calvillo were arrested shortly after the altercation, while Avalos was taken into custody at the hospital.
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Heart - Black

SOUTHWEST leaves 'bags piled everywhere' for weary passengers on delayed flights...

Bob Roberts
CBS Chicago
Sat, 04 Jan 2014 18:14 UTC
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Bags, bags everywhere - and no one to claim them. That's the problem facing travelers at Midway Airport already weary from flight delays and cancellations.

The bags are piled everywhere in the Southwest Airlines baggage claim area on the ground floor of Midway. Southwest has tried to keep the bags in groups by airport codes, but each destination could have a dozen or more widely-scattered piles. In many cases, the bags preceded passengers into Midway by a day or more.

Megan Milk, of Kankakee, said her bag contains a valuable Pandora bracelet and other Christmas presents. She last saw it Thursday when checking it at Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport, where her flight twice left the gate, only to return and be cancelled. She was unable to get a flight into Midway until midday Saturday, but said she was told that her bag went out on the first Southwest flight between Atlanta and Midway Friday.
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Heart - Black

Natalie Webb accused of molesting three of her children while adults watched (GRAPHIC DETAILS)

Sebastian Murdock
The Huffington Post
Mon, 06 Jan 2014 10:02 UTC
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© Beckham County CourtEvil: Natalie Lynn Webb is accused of raping her three young children.
An Oklahoma mother faces serious charges after authorities say she sexually abused her children in the presence of other adults.

Natalie Lynn Webb, 30, was arrested in Elk City, Okla., and charged with sexual abuse of children under 12, and child neglect. Police said she abused three of her children from December 2012 to March 2013.

Webb is due in Beckham County Court Jan. 6 for a preliminary hearing, and is being held on a $2 million bond. Her four children now live with their grandparents.

A Dec. 18 police affidavit, obtained by The Huffington Post, contains accounts of repeated rapes, beatings and deplorable living conditions through interviews with Webb and her children.
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Red Flag

Here's how much it costs to buy weed in Colorado now

Matt Ferner
The Huffington Post
Thu, 02 Jan 2014 16:11 UTC
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© AP Photo/Brennan LinsleyPartygoers smoke marijuana, left, and cigarettes during a Prohibition-era themed New Year's Eve party celebrating the start of retail pot sales, at a bar in Denver, late Tuesday Dec. 31, 2013.
Recreational marijuana is now legal to buy in Colorado, and it's not cheap. But pot smokers who waited in five-hour long lines weren't necessarily looking for a deal on Green Wednesday.

"Our most expensive strains sold the quickest," said Toni Fox, proprietor of Denver's 3D Cannabis Center, to The Huffington Post. "We're closing Monday and Tuesday next week to reassess after the large volume of sales we are seeing."

The Huffington Post spoke with owners at many of the roughly 30 dispensaries that sold legal weed on New Year's Day, and they all said the same thing: an eighth of an ounce of marijuana, which would have normally sold for as low as $25, was fetching anywhere between $35 to $70, after taxes.

The proprietor of Denver-based Medicine Man revealed to The Denver Post that, after taxes, the shop was selling an eighth for about $64, and although The Associated Press found at least one shop selling the same amount for as much as $70, Marijuana.com found that the average price right now is approximately $65.

Comment: Since when have the 'Powers That Be' supported such liberty?

Effects of smoking pot:
  • Distorted sense of time; short-term memory loss
  • Increased appetite (munchies)
  • Paranoia
  • Delusions and magical or "random" thinking
Effects of smoking tobacco: When have governments done something that is truly in the best interest of the people?

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Che Guevara

French comedian Dieudonné explained in 5 mins


YouTube
Mon, 06 Jan 2014 14:45 UTC
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Forget the mainstream media noise; here's everything you need to know about French comedian Dieudonné M'bala M'bala inside 5 minutes...

Though hounded by the government and media in France as an 'anti-Semite' and a 'racist', in truth, he is neither. Always very popular with the public, Dieudonné has defied convention by becoming even more popular since he was banned from appearing on TV, relying on word-of-mouth and social media networks to get his message out. The French government today issued an edict to the head of every department in the country, declaring that henceforth he must not be allowed to perform at any public venue 'because of the risk to public order'.


Comment: See also:

The Move to Muzzle Dieudonné M'Bala M'Bala

Dieudonné M'bala M'bala and the Quenellization of France

Before Dieudonné, there was Michel Coluche

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Arrow Down

Parents say their schizophrenic son was killed in "cold blood" by police who were called to help


Police State USA
Mon, 06 Jan 2014 11:58 UTC
Police Killing
© Triad NC NewsOutside the scene of Keith Vidal’s killing.
Boiling Springs Lakes, NC - A devastated family is claiming that when they asked police for help in calming down their frantic schizophrenic son, police officers came and killed him "in cold blood." When the 90-lb boy would not drop a tiny screwdriver, officers tased him repeatedly and shot him to death.

The incident occurred on the afternoon of Sunday, January 5th, when Mark Wilsey and his wife called police for assistance with their son, Keith Vidal, who was suffering from a "schizophrenic incident" and was disoriented. Vidal had obtained a screwdriver, which his parents say was tiny and could not have hurt anyone. Distressed over his disoriented state, his parents called the police to help calm him down and take away the screwdriver.

The Boiling Spring Lakes Police arrived at the home, as well as Brunswick County Sheriff's deputies.

Vidal's parents say they had tried multiple times in the past to get him treated for his mental illness, but had been unsuccessful. At eighteen years old, he weighed only 90 pounds.

The responding officers came into the Wilsey home and treated their son like a violent suspect.
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Treasure Chest

SOTT Focus: There Will Be No Economic Recovery. Prepare Yourself Accordingly - Beware of the Libertarian Agenda

Matt Shultz
Sott.net
Mon, 06 Jan 2014 05:32 UTC
Stefan Molyneux is a Canadian blogger, essayist, author, philosopher and host of the Freedomain Radio series of podcasts on political philosophy, atheism, personal and relationship issues, and related topics. He is an anarcho-capitalist and atheist. He has written numerous articles and smaller essays which have been published on libertarian websites including LewRockwell.com, antiwar.com, and Strike The Root, and has recorded numerous podcasts and videos, and self-published several books. Molyneux holds a B.A. in History from McGill University and an M.A. in history from University of Toronto. The following is his podcast entitled "There Will Be No Economic Recovery. Prepare Yourself Accordingly."


All in all, an excellent example of how a well-educated person can have a fine command of (certain) facts and figures, yet be unable to see the wider picture due to ideological blinders. This guy definitely does not have the whole banana though, from his thousands of podcasts with "The Truth About..." in the titles, one suspects that he thinks he does. Allow me to explain what is going on in this video.
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Che Guevara

Before Dieudonné, there was Michel Coluche

Paul Prescott
My French Life blog
Wed, 26 Oct 2011 06:19 UTC
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Michel Coluche
It's the Story of an Oxy-Moron...

It's hard to understand a culture if you don't understand its humor. Michel Colucci, better known by his stage name 'Coluche', is a prime example of this because as a serious clown, he embodied the complexity of both French humor and French society as a whole.

To commemorate the 25th anniversary of his passing, the Parisian suburb of Montrouge (where Coluche grew up), erected a statue to honor the man who hated the men for whom statues were erected to honour.

It's the Story of a Kid...
"It's hard to make ends meet. Especially the last thirty days."*
Four months after the Liberation of Paris, on October 8, 1944, Michel Gérard Joseph Colucci was born in Paris's 15th district. His mother was a florist and his father was an Italian immigrant who painted buildings. When he died three years later, he left no trace but a dark spot on Michel's youth.

Left to raise her two children alone in a studio with a kitchen, Monette had to go back to work and took jobs where her scoliosis did not prevent her from bending over backwards to accustom her children to a lifestyle beyond their means. Fed up of hunger and worn out from being dressed down by the neighborhood kids about his girlish clothes, Michel began hanging around the suburb of Montrouge where the only thing he passed at school was time.

He tried a variety of jobs before surrendering to the military for career guidance, which led him to prison for insubordination.
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Health

French mother to sue couple who filmed drunk son before he drowned

Kim Willsher
The Guardian
Sun, 05 Jan 2014 12:42 UTC
Sylvie Zecca accuses pair of breaking law requiring people to help anyone in danger, after they let teenager walk away

Garonne
© Remy Gabalda/AFP/Getty ImagesThe Garonne river in Toulouse.
A grieving mother in France is to sue a couple who allegedly mocked and filmed her drunken son who was later found drowned.

Sylvie Zecca, a former police officer, says she wants to make an example of the pair, and accuses them of contravening a French law requiring individuals to help anyone in danger.

Her 19-year-old son, Vincent, disappeared after a night out in Bordeaux in March 2012. Three weeks later police divers retrieved his body from the Garonne river that runs through the city.

At first the family thought he had been murdered, as one of his credit cards appeared to have been stolen and used that evening. A police investigation concluded he had accidentally drowned after slipping into the Garonne while drunk.

After gaining access to the police file shortly before Christmas, Zecca announced she was suing the two passersby who told police they had seen her son.

The pair, who have not been named, told investigators the teenager was "very drunk ... near comatose". Instead of helping him, the couple apparently laughed at him, filmed him with their smartphone and watched him walk off.
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