Baby Taken from Parents for Wanting a Second Medical Opinion

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This is such a disturbing story on so many levels.  If we don’t start standing up for ourselves as a society, pretty soon individuals and families will not be allowed to make any decisions for themselves.  Free will be a thing of the past and “the state” will make all choices for us because, after all, they know best.  Let’s not forget the recent case of a 14 year old arrested for wearing a benign pro-gun t-shirt.  I can’t even begin to fathom how traumatized these poor parents are.  From KSDK News:

It all began nearly two weeks ago, when Anna Nikolayev and her husband Alex took their 5-month-old boy Sammy to Sutter Memorial Hospital to be treated for flu symptoms, but they didn’t like the care Sammy was getting.

For example, one day Anna asked why a nurse was giving her son antibiotics.

“I asked her, for what is that? And she’s like, ‘I don’t know.’ I’m like, ‘you’re working as a nurse, and you don’t even know what to give to my baby for what,'” Anna explained.

According to Anna, a doctor later said Sammy shouldn’t have been on the antibiotics.

Anna said Sammy suffers from a heart murmur and had been seeing a doctor at Sutter for regular treatment since he was born. After Sammy was treated for flu symptoms last week, doctors at Sutter admitted him to the pediatric ICU to monitor his condition. After a few days, Anna said doctors began talking about heart surgery.

“If we got the one mistake after another, I don’t want to have my baby have surgery in the hospital where I don’t feel safe,” Anna said.

Anna argued with doctors about getting a second opinion. Without a proper discharge, she finally took Sammy out of the hospital to get a second opinion at Kaiser Permanente.

Medical records from the doctor treating Sammy at Kaiser Permanente said the baby as clinically safe to go home with his parents. The doctor added, “I do not have concern for the safety of the child at home with his parents.”

“So police saw the report from the doctors, said, ‘okay guys, you have a good day,’ and they walked away,” Anna said.

Anna said the next day police and child protective services showed up on her doorstep. Alex Nikolayev said he met them outside a short time after they arrived.

“I was pushed against the building, smacked down. I said, ‘am I being placed under arrest?’ He smacked me down onto the ground, yelled out, ‘I think I got the keys to the house,'” Alex said.

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Welcome to Kreuzberg, Berlin: The Neighborhood with the Highest Bitcoin Concentration on Earth

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Fascinating article out today from the Guardian about the Kreuzberg area of Berlin, which has the highest density of businesses accepting Bitcoin in the world.  The associated video at the top of the article is also a must watch, as it becomes readily apparent how excited both the merchants and the customers are about using this free market currency.  I am completely convinced that the more people learn about Bitcoin and use it, the more exponential its adoption will become.  My favorite line from the video comes at the very end from Joerg Platzer, owner of the bar Room 77:

“Every day we do not start using a free currency like Bitcoin, we actually actively vote for the current system to continue.”

From the Guardian:

Like Chebli, Martens, whose Kersenvlaai (cherry cake) from her native Maastricht is rated as one of the best culinary offerings of the area, says she decided to accept Bitcoins because of the ease, cheapness and transparency of its payment system.

“It’s an easier way of digital payment than credit cards, which cost me a lot of money as a business and to which I’m forced to sign up for years,” she says.

These two tradespeople are among around a dozen in the Graefekiez, a cosy neighborhood established in the 19th century in the southern Berlin district of Kreuzberg, which currently boasts the highest density of businesses accepting the currency in the world. Its growing list of Bitcoin establishments includes a restaurant, a printing shop, a bar and boutique.

“Kreuzberg is traditionally an area in which people are very politically aware, critical towards existing systems and are constantly discussing and looking for alternatives to them, which makes it the perfect breeding ground for Bitcoin,” says Joerg Platzer, a staunch Bitcoin advocate who roams the neighborhood with a missionary zeal in search of new recruits.

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Canada Goes Completely Insane with New “Anti-Terror” Laws

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I never understood the view of some Americans who somehow think Canada will be a sort of “safe haven” destination after the financial system blows up.  That it is some sort of bastion of freedom and democracy.  For those that still adhere to this view, you’d better take a close look at the new “anti-terror” legislation being jammed through at the moment, Bill S-7.

Meanwhile, how convenient was it that Canada just happened to “foil” a terrorist plot just as this bill was being voted on.  From the CBC:

A new anti-terrorism bill, which passed the House of Commons Wednesday night and received royal assent Thursday, revives provisions from the Anti-terrorism Act passed just after the Sept. 11 attacks and adds some new ones.

“Royal assent.” Sounds appropriately neo-feudal doesn’t it.

Some controversial measures, such as investigative hearings and preventive detentions, which some fear might violate civil rights, have been restored. Some new sections in the bill seem tailored to thwart the early planning stages of an act of terrorism.

Here are eight things to know about the bill passed this week:

1.  Investigative hearings are reinstated
An individual can be forced to appear at a secret hearing without any charges being laid if authorities believe he or she has knowledge of a terrorist activity. The individual must appear and answer questions or risk being jailed for up to 12 months.

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Google Transparency Report: Worldwide Government Censorship Requests Up 26%

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While I tend to focus my attention on the rampant corruption and immoral behavior pervasive in these United States, it is quite clear that similar levels of oligarch thievery and parasitism are manifest throughout the globe. Hence the worldwide bull market in government attempts to censor political speech on the internet (in Canada they like to censor scientists).

In their latest transparency report, Google has announced that total government requests to remove content, i.e. censor, increased 26% in the second half of 2012 compared to the first six months.  The chart below is not encouraging.

Google graph

From The Guardian:

Governments made a record number of requests for Google to remove political content in the last half of 2012, the search giant said on Thursday.

The number of official requests for content to be removed jumped 26% in the final six months of 2012 compared to the start of the year, according to the latest Google Transparency Report. Google received 2,285 government requests to remove 24,179 pieces of content – an increase from 1,811 requests to remove 18,070 pieces of content that the company received during the first half of 2012.

Requests were made to pull videos from YouTube, delete blog posts onGoogle’s Blogger service and to remove items from Google search, making them harder to find.

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Teen Arrested at Middle School for Wearing a Pro-Gun T-Shirt

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This story perfectly demonstrates what a totally sad society we have become.  We can’t arrest a single banker or political crook, but heaven forbid a 14 year old wears a shirt that expresses support for the Second Amendment.  Arrest that infidel immediately!  We discover that:

A West Virginia teen arrested and accused of nearly inciting a riot after a confrontation with a teacher over his National Rifle Association t-shirt has inspired dozens of students across his county to wear similar apparel in solidarity.

Jared Marcum, 14, had a confrontation Thursday with a Logan Middle School teacher over his NRA t-shirt, which bears the organization’s logo, along with an image of a hunting rifle and the phrase, “Protect your right.”

Marcum’s lawyer, Ben White, said that when the teen was told to remove the shirt or turn it inside out, he attempted to engage the teacher in a debate.

“Jared respects firearms and has training to use them, and believes in the Second Amendment,” White told ABCNews.com. “He believes it’s being threatened by current legislation. He wore [the shirt] as an expression of political speech and the need to protect the Second Amendment.”

Marcum was eventually arrested and taken away by police after refusing to remove the shirt.  White said that when police told the teen they were going to arrest him, he stuck his hands out and said, “Fine.”

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PayPal’s President is “Fascinated” by Bitcoin

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Really interesting video interview here by Bloomberg News with PayPal’s President David Marcus.  When asked about Bitcoin, Marcus states that he is “spending a lot of time looking at it” and calls it “truly fascinating.”  Interesting, because 95% of Twitter and mainstream financial “journalists” are entirely convinced it is a bubble and a scam.  Oh, … Read more

Interview with Dr. Dave Janda – April 2013: The Boston Massacre

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There are many, many theories out there regarding the tragedy in Boston; however, the key thing to bear in mind is that it is our response to such horrific events that really matters and will demonstrate what kind of a society we are.  The last thing we should do is allow ourselves to be manipulated … Read more

Mayor Bloomberg Wants to “Reinterpret the Constitution” After Boston Bombings

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“The people who are worried about privacy have a legitimate worry,” Mr. Bloomberg said during a press conference in Midtown. “But we live in a complex word where you’re going to have to have a level of security greater than you did back in the olden days, if you will. And our laws and our interpretation of the Constitution, I think, have to change.”

“Look, we live in a very dangerous world. We know there are people who want to take away our freedoms. New Yorkers probably know that as much if not more than anybody else after the terrible tragedy of 9/11,” he said.

From the quotes above it has become quite clear that NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg is just playing his typical role in the aftermath of a national tragedy.  That is to immediately manipulate it to justify his civil liberties snatching agenda and “sell the population” on implementing a total police state like the one he is eagerly putting in place in NYC.  He says “we live in a very dangerous world.”  Ok…well the world has always been very dangerous, so thanks for the tip.  However, the worst part is that he states “there are people who want to take away our freedoms.”  So I guess the answer to that is to let Bloomberg take them away before the “terrorists” have a chance to.  What a total authoritarian this guy is.  He is doing exactly the opposite of what security expert Bruce Schneier implored us to do in the wake of Boston.

The best writeup of this story I have seen is by Tim Cushing of Tech Dirt.  Below are some excerpts:

Good news, everyone. The terrorists will win and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to help. Of course, his speech is all about not letting the terrorists win. But he’s giving them exactly what they want.

But Bloomberg sees something else, something much more malignant than more cameras and fewer immigrants. He sees this attack as an indication that our country has outgrown its founding principles and that we can’t be truly “safe” without altering the fabric of the nation.

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McDonald’s Hamburger Looks the Same…14 Years After Purchase!

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I’ve heard rumors about this before, but figured it was just an urban legend.  Apparently not!  So Utah resident, David Whipple, originally decided he wanted to save a McDonald’s burger for a couple of months to see what would happen.  It didn’t decompose at all. Then he forgot about it in a coat pocket for a year or so until his wife accidentally found it.  Still no change.  So he decided to save it even longer.  Now, 14 years later, he has informed the world that amazingly it still looks the same.  From the Daily Mail:

A Utah man has unearthed a McDonald’s hamburger he bought in 1999 – and the sandwich looks exactly the same as the day it was first flipped.

David Whipple kept the fast food meal for a month to show friends how the preservative-packed hamburger would keep its composure.

‘My wife didn’t discover it until at least a year or two after that,’ he said. ‘And we pulled it out and said “oh my gosh. I can’t believe it looks the same way.”‘

However, even he was shocked to see that the hamburger still looks the same a whopping 14 years later.

The burger had no signs of mold, fungus or even a strange odor, the show’s hosts said. The only thing that had changed over the years was that the pickle had disintegrated.

McDonalds

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Meet the Disastrous “Internet Sales Tax” Bill Congress is Trying to Sneak Through

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Congress sure is hard at work at the moment trying to pass one horrific bill after the other. With the disastrous CISPA, aka the “Patriot Act for the Internet,” rightfully getting most of the attention since it represents such a treasonous attack on civil liberties (it passed the House of Representatives last week and now moves on to the Senate), another awful bill is also moving forward that we must all be aware of and fight hard against.  I am referring to S. 743, or the Marketplace Fairness Act (MFA), colloquially known as the “internet or online sales tax bill.” While it is being sold by its sponsors and the Obama Administration as helping brick and mortar mom and pop retailers level the playing field with online retailers, what it actually does in practice is create a bureaucratic tax nightmare and could be the final nail in the coffin for the U.S. economy.  But don’t take my word for it…

A bipartisan group of Senators have written a letter to Harry Reid expressing not only their concerns with the bill, but also outrage at the fact that he is trying to sneak it through without normal committee process.  Here is the letter:

Senators Say Legislation Should Go Through Committee Process

Apr 22, 2013

WASHINGTON, DC – In a letter today to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), along with Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR), Jon Tester (D-MT), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Mike Lee (R-UT) and Ted Cruz (R-TX), expressed serious concerns that the “Marketplace Fairness Act” (S. 743) is being rushed to the Senate floor for a vote this week – despite the fact that it has not gone through the regular committee process. Last week, Leader Reid used a procedural maneuver to circumvent the committee process and speed up consideration of the bill, setting a preliminary cloture vote for this afternoon.

BIPARTISAN LETTER TO LEADER REID:

Dear Senate Majority Leader Reid,

We, the undersigned, urge you to reconsider your decision to expedite consideration of S. 743, the so-called “Marketplace Fairness Act”. As described more fully below, we have a number of substantive concerns with the bill. At the very minimum, we believe these concerns warrant a thorough vetting of the bill through regular order.

Though the official title of the bill references states’ “sovereign rights”, it does nothing but erode them. As you know, the Marketplace Fairness Act would allow states to force retailers that have zero physical presence, in a state outside of their own, to collect and remit sales tax to it. Under current Supreme Court precedent, in the absence of a sufficient nexus, a state cannot reach beyond its borders to compel out-of-state Internet vendors to collect taxes on a particular transaction. This standard is the result of the 1992 decision Quill v. North Dakota, in which the Court held that requiring remote vendors to collect such taxes would place an unconstitutional burden on interstate commerce. By usurping this standard, the Marketplace Fairness Act would undermine an important limitation of the Commerce Clause: the nexus requirement.

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