Usa Thread

[Flashermac]

Nah, not much need to look at porn on the Internet when you live in LOS. Well, not much anyway.

[Flashermac]

Flight delays pile up amid FAA budget cuts

 

 

NEW YORK (AP) -- Flight delays piled up across the country Monday as thousands of air traffic controllers began taking unpaid days off because of federal budget cuts, providing the most visible impact yet of Congress and the White House's failure to agree on a long-term deficit-reduction plan.

 

The Federal Aviation Administration kept planes on the ground because there weren't enough controllers to monitor busy air corridors. Cascading delays held up flights at some of nation's busiest airports, including New York, Baltimore and Washington. Many operations were more than two hours behind schedule.

 

At one point, the delays were so bad that passengers on several Washington-New York shuttle flights could have reached their destination faster by taking the train.

 

...

 

 

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_FAA_FLIGHT_DELAYS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-04-22-18-26-49

[Flashermac]

White House Endorses Internet Sales Tax

 

 

 

The White House today endorsed the Marketplace Fairness Act, which would be a tax hike for purchases made over the Internet. The White House claims the tax would "level playing field for local retailers."

 

"The Administration strongly supports S. 743, which will level the playing field for local small business retailers that are in competition every day with large out-of-state online companies," reads the Obama administration's statement on the policy.

 

"Although States presently have the authority to tax the sale of goods or services sold from out-of-state vendors, they are prevented under current law from requiring the collection of such duly-enacted taxes. As a consequence, while local small business retailers follow the law and collect sales taxes from customers who make purchases in their stores, many big business online and catalog retailers do not collect the same taxes. Because these out-of-state companies are able to play by a different set of rules, this disparity undermines the ability of cities and States to invest in K-12 education, police and fire protection, access to affordable health care, and funding for roads and bridges. This bill would eliminate the unfair advantage currently enjoyed by big out-of-state online companies over local neighborhood-based small businesses.

 

"In recent years, collection technologies have improved and States have made significant strides to cut red tape and simplify their tax systems. At the same time, Internet-facilitated sales continue to grow as a share of total transactions, contributing to ongoing State budget pressures. In recognition of these developments, a broad and growing group of bipartisan State and Federal leaders — including governors, mayors, business and labor groups, and members of Congress from both parties — has called for commonsense Federal legislation to make the system more fair.

 

"The Administration strongly supports provisions in S. 743 that would directly address those concerns by granting only those States and localities that have simplified their sales tax systems the option to require all retailers, including those located out-of-state, to collect sales and use taxes already owed under law. The Administration also is pleased that S. 743 provides an exception for small online businesses and requires States to make available, at no cost to retailers, software that helps calculate the State sales tax on remote transactions, as well as administrative services.

 

"The Administration looks forward to working with the Congress on this bipartisan legislation to support State and local priorities and promote a level playing field for local retailers. "

 

The legislation is being considered in the Senate.

 

 

http://www.weeklysta...tax_718208.html

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k5ooaufrLM

[Flashermac]

eBay CEO enlists users' aid to defeat online sales tax bill

 

 

eBay is trying to marshal its users to change federal sales tax legislation pending in the Senate that could usher in the first national Internet sales tax.

 

eBay CEO John Donahoe began sending e-mails to the online auctioneer's users on Sunday, asking they contact their federal representatives to express their opposition for the Marketplace Fairness Act. The proposed legislation, which the Senate is expected to vote on this week, would allow states to require online vendors to collect sales and use tax on certain out-of-state purchases. Only businesses with less than $1 million in annual U.S. sales would be exempt.

 

Donahoe, who argued that the proposed tax places an unreasonable burden on small retailers, singled out rival Amazon, which supports the legislation.

 

"This legislation treats you and big multi-billion dollar online retailers -- such as Amazon -- exactly the same," Donahoe wrote in the e-mail, which was first reported by Reuters. "Those fighting for this change refuse to acknowledge that the burden on businesses like yours is far greater than for a big national retailer."

 

Backers of the bill, including Walmart, Macy's, and Best Buy, argue that online retailers often do not collect sales taxes at checkout and thus enjoy an unfair competitive advantage over the big-box stores. The Marketplace Fairness Coalition, a group of companies supporting the legislation, says the act would "level the playing field."

 

"Mr. Donahoe wants you to believe that the Marketplace Fairness Act would somehow penalize small online businesses," the MFC said in a statement to CNET. "This is disingenuous because it overlooks the fact that this legislation exempts small sellers with less than one-million dollars in annual remote sales to address concerns about small business compliance. To put this in perspective: the Marketplace Fairness Act exempts 99 percent of all sellers and over 40 percent of all online commerce.

 

Opponents say the bill amounts to a multibillion-dollar tax hike on American consumers. Last month, the National Taxpayers Union set up a petition to Congress saying the tax was "really just a way to unleash state tax collectors on the Internet," and 15 conservative groups also sent a letter to members of Congress saying an Internet tax law is is "bad news for conservative principles and the cause of limited government."

 

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid filed a motion on Thursday supporting the proposal. Since Reid filed the motion, the Senate is now expected to vote as soon as Monday on the motion, but it could come later in the week.

 

 

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57580648-93/ebay-ceo-enlists-users-aid-to-defeat-online-sales-tax-bill/

[dean]

I did skip over the section of the Kansas sales tax owed on out of state purchases. Like Kansas, which is lowering income tax rates (to try to eventually eliminate state income tax), raising the various sales taxes is a movement that isn't going away. I do like to see a level playing field, with internet taxes being collected as they are on brick and mortar business. I'm not going to pay it until forced to, however. Ebay could care less about its customers, given several disputes that I have had with sellers. Let those that don't want to sell on Ebay because of the sales tax go to Craiglist. If the government can get Craigslist sellers to collect sales tax, that would be impressive.

[unit731]

“EBay owns more than 28 percent of Craigslist, which eliminated EBay’s board seat at Craigslist Inc. after EBay jumped into direct competition with Craigslist in the classified field. EBay and Craigslist filed a wide range of claims and counter-claims, with Craigslist accusing EBay of competing unfairly and violating contractual agreements. Among the disputes: Whether EBay was precluded from competing directly with Craigslist due to an agreement they signed shortly after EBay bought its shares in Craigslist Inc. from Philip Knowlton; whether Craigslist could adopt a “poison pill†measure that diluted the value of EBay’s shares in Craigslist Inc., and whether EBay breached its fiduciary responsibility to Craigslist Inc. when it opened its competitive site, then known as Kijiji.com (now called EBayClassifieds.com) in the United States.â€

 

LINK

[Flashermac]

Tsarnaev eyed in 2011 murders

 

 

Authorities are investigating whether Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev had killed before — as part of a two-man slay team that slit the throats of a close friend and two others in 2011.

 

Cops were tipped off to the possibility after people who knew Tsarnaev began speculating he might have been involved in the unsolved triple murder.

 

The chilling chatter started the same day that Tamerlan and his brother, Dzohkhar, were identified as suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings.

 

“We weren’t looking into it before, but we’re looking into it now,’’ a law-enforcement source told The Post of the potential link between Tamerlan and the murder of his best pal, martial-arts trainee Brendan Mess, and two others.

 

An unidentified relative of one victim suggested to the Boston Globe that Tsarnaev’s younger brother, Dzhokhar, also may have played a role in the homicides. The relative said victims’ kin had urged authorities to take another look at the case after the bombings.

 

A spokeswoman for the Middlesex County, Mass., District Attorney’s Office, confirmed that the DA is considering the possibility of at least Tamerlan’s involvement as a new “lead.â€

 

“I can’t comment that there is any connection, but we’ll look at any new leads that come in,†said DA rep Stephanie Guyotte.

 

She wouldn’t say whether Tamerlan previously was a suspect in the 2011 killings.

 

The renewed attention to the case came after a Tamerlan associate, “Ray,’’ told the Web site Buzzfeed, “A few of my friends, without even speaking about it beforehand, have all been thinking†that Tamerlan played a role in the slays.

 

Tamerlan died in a shootout with cops Friday.

 

The 26-year-old, who had hopes of being a US Olympic boxer, had been extremely close to Mess, 25. Theytrained together at a local gym, and also were fans of a hip-hop group.

 

On Sept. 12, 2011, Mess’ girlfriend found him and two Cambridge men — Erik Weissman, 31, and 37-year-old Raphael Teken — dead in Mess’ Waltham pad.

 

The relative of one of the victims told the Globe he believes they were killed the day before — the 10th anniversary of 9/11 — because, “They all stopped using their cellphones’’ at 8 p.m. that day.

 

The fact that marijuana was found around the men had at least initially led cops to suspect the killings were drug-related. There was no forced entry, which suggested they knew their killer or killers, too.

 

Two unidentified men were seen at the apartment before the slayings.

 

Ray told Buzzfeed that when he was questioned by cops after the murders, they told him that Tamerlan may have been with Mess on the day of the killings or the previous night.

 

Ray said he and Mess’ other friends found it odd that Tamerlan failed to show up at either Mess’ funeral or memorial service — and now find that absence extremely suspicious.

 

 

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/fiend_eyed_in_murders_5yYWPzj9APgcZnc5RvKERL

[Flashermac]

Tamerlan Tsarnaev got Mass. welfare benefits

 

 

Marathon bombings mastermind Tamerlan Tsarnaev was living on taxpayer-funded state welfare benefits even as he was delving deep into the world of radical anti-American Islamism, the Herald has learned.

 

State officials confirmed last night that Tsarnaev, slain in a raging gun battle with police last Friday, was receiving benefits along with his wife, Katherine Russell Tsarnaev, and their 3-year-old daughter. The state’s Executive Office of Health and Human Services said those benefits ended in 2012 when the couple stopped meeting income eligibility limits. Russell Tsarnaev’s attorney has claimed Katherine — who had converted to Islam — was working up to 80 hours a week as a home health aide while Tsarnaev stayed at home.

 

In addition, both of Tsarnaev’s parents received benefits, and accused brother bombers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan were recipients through their parents when they were younger, according to the state.

 

The news raises questions over whether Tsarnaev financed his radicalization on taxpayer money.

 

Relatives and news reports have indicated that Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s descent into extremist Islam began around 2008 or 2009, when the ethnic Chechen met a convert identified only as “Misha,†began to become more devout, and sought out jihadist and conspiracy theorist websites, and the rabidly anti-Semitic propaganda tract, “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.â€

 

In 2009, he was quoted in a photo essay as saying, “I don’t have a single American friend, I don’t understand them,†adding that he believed Americans had lost their “values.â€

 

His uncle Ruslan Tsarnaev said it was around that time his nephew gave up drinking and was devoting himself to “God’s business,†while Tamerlan’s mother, now wearing a hijab — an Islamic headscarf — began relating conspiracy theories about the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks to her cosmetology clients that she said her son had told her.

 

In early 2011, Tamerlan Tsarnaev first came to the attention of the FBI when the Russian FSB intelligence service contacted the U.S. agency to warn that he was suspected of being a dangerous radical and sought information.

 

“The request stated that it was based on information that he had changed drastically since 2010 as he prepared to leave the United States for travel to the country’s region to join unspecified underground groups.†The FBI reported finding no “terrorism activity.â€

 

In mid-2011, he was being monitored by the FSB, apparently prompting the FBI contact, ahead of his six-month trip home to Dagestan in 2012, where Time magazine reported he is believed to have attended a notorious radical mosque.

 

The state did not say when the Tsarnaevs began receiving benefits. But Health and Human Services spokesman Alec Loftus said the Tsarnaevs “were not receiving transitional assistance benefits at the time of the incident,†a reference to the marathon bombing that killed three and injured 260.

 

Loftus declined to specify what kinds of benefits and the amount of benefits the family received.

 

Their taxpayer-funded status came to light last night after repeated calls and emails to welfare officials from the Herald. They refused to comment throughout the day, but pressure mounted last night when the Herald started asking lawmakers whether the Department of Transitional Assistance should release the information.

 

 

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2013/04/tamerlan_tsarnaev_got_mass_welfare_benefits

[dean]

I'd really like to know who his sponsor is.

[dean]

Nevermind, he was granted asylum, which allows him to receive welfare benefits.