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Nearly a half million Californians enrolled in Obamacare health plans through the end of December, according to data released Monday. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said 498,794 Californians picked health exchange plans, which gives the state 23 percent of the nearly 2.1 million enrollments nationwide. Considering the state has about 12 percent of the nation’s population, California has been more effective than other states in enrolling residents. The state has nearly met the lower threshold of predictions that call for 500,000 to 700,000 Californians to buy policies by March 31. “There is a feeling of optimism here...

**SNIP** When the Legislature opened on Wednesday, Senate GOP leaders said passing a gun rights bill was a top priority for the legislative session. Like last year's bill, the new version would also reduce the age requirement for concealed carry permits from 21 to 19 and prohibit municipalities from passing ordinances to limit openly carrying a firearm. Many Missouri Democrats are likely to oppose the measure again this year as an unconstitutional waste of the Legislature's time. "The state will never trump federal laws," said Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, a St. Louis Democrat. "It is again another right wing Republican attempt...

Banks Warn Fed They May Have To Start Charging Depositors Tyler Durden 11/24/2013 15:24 -0500 The Fed's Catch 22 just got catchier. While most attention in the recently released FOMC minutes fell on the return of the taper as a possibility even as soon as December (making the November payrolls report the most important ever, ever, until the next one at least), a less discussed issue was the Fed's comment that it would consider lowering the Interest on Excess Reserves to zero as a means to offset the implied tightening that would result from the reduction in the monthly flow...

Former ATF agent accused of embezzling SEATTLE — A former Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent accused of embezzling nearly $20,000 when he worked for the federal agency was indicted Thursday. A federal grand jury in Seattle indicted James Contreras, 51, of Maple Valley, Wash., on an embezzlement count and 30 counts of making false statements, the U.S. attorney's office in San Francisco said. The U.S. attorney's office in Seattle is recused from the case. While Contreras worked as an agent and supervisor at the ATF office in Seattle, he's accused of embezzling money from a cash fund...

Looks like there’s an election law showdown about to happen — and it involves House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and who can use her name. The conservatives behind the new political action committee called Stop Pelosi PAC launched their campaign against the San Francisco Democrat on Wednesday — despite federal election officials telling them that there was something wrong with their PAC. It uses the name “Pelosi.”

**SNIP** Last Friday, the Federal Election Commission wrote him saying his campaign may have failed to file a report for the third quarter of the year. The letter to him was addressed to a Chicago post office box. Jackson’s campaign last filed a report to the FEC in December, saying it had $105,703 in cash, records show. Jackson had resigned from Congress the previous month, but that did not end the campaign’s reporting obligation.

A veteran Washington D.C. investigative journalist says the Department of Homeland Security confiscated a stack of her confidential files during a raid of her home in August — leading her to fear that a number of her sources inside the federal government have now been exposed. In an interview with The Daily Caller, journalist Audrey Hudson revealed that the Department of Homeland Security and Maryland State Police were involved in a predawn raid of her Shady Side, Md. home on Aug. 6. Hudson is a former Washington Times reporter and current freelance reporter. A search warrant obtained by TheDC indicates...

Feds Say Possession of “Large Amounts” of Weapons May Indicate Terrorist ActivityPublic Intelligence10/16/13 A joint bulletin issued in early August by the Department of Homeland Security and FBI warns state and local law enforcement agencies to look out for people in possession of “large amounts” of weapons and ammunition, describing the discovery of “unusual amounts” of weapons as a potential indicator of criminal or terrorist activity. Citing the example of Norwegian mass-murderer Anders Behring Breivik, who reportedly “stockpiled approximately 12,000 pounds of precursors, weapons, and armor and hid them underground in remote, wooded locations,” the bulletin instructs law enforcement to...

(CNSNews.com) – National Park Service (NPS) rangers removed the handles from some 40 public water pumps and closed restrooms in the 184.5 mile- C&O Canal National Historical Park, but they haven’t been able to keep hikers and bikers off the popular trail known as a “cyclist’s dream.” “It’s full every day,” said Gail Hall, who runs Mountain Side Bikes at the trailhead in Cumberland, Md. “They’re bringing in their own water and utilizing the tree-lined areas [of the park] for restrooms. Some towns like Harper’s Ferry even brought in potties to accommodate them. As long as they can pedal, they...

The federal government wants to reduce the number of Americans diagnosed each year with cancer. But not by better preventive care or healthier living. Instead, the government wants to redefinethe term “cancer” so that fewer conditions qualify as a true cancer. What does this mean for ordinary Americans — and should we be concerned? On July 29, 2013, a working group for the National Cancer Institute (the main government agency for cancer research) published a paper proposing that the term “cancer” be reserved for lesions with a reasonable likelihood of killing the patient if left untreated. Slower growing tumors would...

(CNSNews.com) -The Utah National Guard has cancelled its order for $47,174 in mechanical bulls. CNSNews.com had reported the order on Monday in a story that was linked to the Drudge Report and cited on Fox News. A cancellation notice for the contract was posted on the General Services Administration (GSA) website at 9:32 AM Thursday. Press Information Officer Lt. Col. Hank McIntire of the Utah National Guard tells CNSNews.com there never really was a contract, “There were glitches in the contracting process. So, no contract was ever drawn up or consummated.” When asked if he could tell CNSNews.com what the...

National Park Service officials cited the government shutdown as the reason for ordering an elderly Nevada couple out of their home, which sits on federal land. "Unfortunately overnight stays are not permitted until a budget is passed and the park can reopen," an NPS spokesman explained to KTNV. Ralph and Joyce Spencer, aged 80 and 77, respectively, own their home, but the government owns the land on which it sits. "I had to be sure and get his walker and his scooter that he has to go in," Joyce Spencer told the local news outlet. "We're not hurt in any...

4x4 fans look away now! Land Rovers imported to U.S. are CRUSHED by customs for failing safety rules because they don't have airbags • The exclusive vehicle was seized by customs officers in Baltimore • Its importer had attempted to fool the authorities by changing its plate • But they spotted the ruse and deemed it unfit for the US' roads • Often selling for upwards of $100,000, this one is now worth just $30 The wrecking claw hangs over the Land Rover Defender as its operator prepares to crush the exclusive vehicle on the orders of US customs. Moments...

Fannie and Freddie have been in operation for decades without problems until recently. Fannie began in 1938 as a quasi-governmental agency making affordable homes available to people by making the financing easier and funds more readily available by establishing a secondary market for mortgages. Previously banks had held onto their mortgages in a system called portfolio mortgages and were made mostly to their own account holders. With the homes as collateral, the banks then lent out that same money again to other local borrowers. If you remember the scene from It's a Wonderful Life when there is a run on...

The Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested the mayors of Miami Lakes and Sweetwater Tuesday on bribery charges. “They both were surprised,” a source familiar with the case told CBS4′s Jim DeFede. The arrests, first reported by CBS4 news partner the Miami Herald, will be separate cases involving different people... Maroño is not only the Mayor of Sweetwater, but also president of the Florida League of Cities and was part of Governor Rick Scott’s transition team.

WASHINGTON — A judge signed an order today that will give former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. time to pay a $750,000 forfeiture arising out of his criminal case. In the order, the judge agreed to a request from lawyers in the case to postpone until Oct. 25 a decision on whether the government may seize Jackson’s interest in two homes and an individual retirement account should he fail to pay up. **SNIP** The order came after prosecutors and defense lawyers involved in Jackson Jr.’s case told the judge Thursday that the former congressman will "make his best efforts" to satisfy...

Daylight checkpoints

Student forgotten in DEA holding cell gets $4.1M SAN DIEGO — A UCSD student scooped up in a drug raid and left in a Drug Enforcement Administration holding cell for 4 1/2 days without food or water will get $4.1 million to settle his claims, his attorneys announced Tuesday. Daniel Chong, 25, was among seven people detained in an April 21, 2012, raid on a University City home. Chong, an student at UCSD, was handcuffed and put in 5-by-10-foot cell, by an officer who told him, “Hang tight. We’ll come get you in a minute,” his attorney Julia Yoo said....

HUD's New 'Fair Housing' Rule Establishes Diversity Data for Every Neighborhood in U.S. o ensure that "every American is able to choose to live in a community they feel proud of," HUD has published a new fair-housing regulation intended to give people access to better neighborhoods than the ones they currently live in. The goal is to help communities understand "fair housing barriers" and "establish clear goals" for "improving integrated living patterns and overcoming historic patterns of segregation.

The Obama administration, already under fire for the IRS scandal and National Security Agency snooping of the computers and cellphones of Americans, is also spending millions to have private contractors conduct a dragnet for confidential and personal credit and bank transactions without a warrant. Newly obtained documents from the Obama-created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reveal that the administration has OK'd a project to accumulate the personal financial data of some 5 million and share it with other agencies to build a "nationally representative panel of credit information on consumers for use in a wide range of policy research projects." The...