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Workers who blow the whistle on violations of the healthcare law will be protected from retaliation by the federal government, according to new rules issued on Wednesday. The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) is encouraging people to turn in employers who fail to abide by the rules set in the Affordable Care Act. Specifically, the rules would shield whistleblowers who report employers who are blocking access to healthcare tax credits or denying coverage to individuals with pre-existing conditions. In the 58-page interim rule, OSHA notes that the healthcare law could “create an incentive for an employer to retaliate against...

LIVE: Thousands Of Companies Around The World Reveal The Truth About The Economy Sam RoJanuary 31, 2013HEADS UP! The world's biggest economies are releasing their January manufacturing PMI reports. This is our live scorecard. Once again, the world will want to see if the emerging Asian economies are continuing the improvement they saw in their recent PMI reports. And they'll also want to see if Europe's manufacturing downturn is slowing. People will also want to know what's up with Japan. A political dispute with China has been a serious problem for exports. Meanwhile, new leadership has been explicit about their...

Rick Santelli made a stunning observation Wednesday about the shocking report that the economy actually shrunk in the fourth quarter last year. "We are now Europe," he declared on CNBC´s Squawk Box. "Hey Joe," Santelli said, "when you act like Europe, you get growth rates like Europe, and our discussions with economists sounds like we´re in Europe. They have the same discussions constantly." "They’re always doing the right thing," he continued. "They’re always thinking they know better. And this is the kind of growth. We have become Europe. We are now Europe."

The mainstream media bullied professional golfer Phil Mickelson into apologizing for criticizing California's high taxes and threatening to leave the state because of California's high income tax rate. But California's high taxes have been forcing many athletes--including those far from the limelight and who have not made as much money as Mickelson--to leave the state for fiscal reasons. Tiger Woods said he left California because of high taxes in 1996. According to the Wall Street Journal, Woods' net savings over those 16 years come to about $100 million. Mickelson, meanwhile, earned nearly $60.7 million last year. After Proposition 30, Mickelson...

There has been “an alarming rise in the number of attacks against Jewish targets” over the past year, according to a new report issued by the Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Ministry on Sunday. The 2012 report on anti-Semitism, which was presented to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu by Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein during Sunday’s cabinet meeting, indicated that the confluence of extreme rightwing political movements and Islamic radicalism have been responsible for a new wave of anti-Jewish sentiment in Europe. The report’s release was timed to coincide with the commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on...

A new bipartisan report from the Senate Homeland Security Committee faults both the State Department and Pentagon for failing to adequately protect the Americans killed in the deadly September attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The report, titled “Flashing Red,” comes after a critical independent State Department-ordered review, and widens the blame for the assault, which left four Americans dead, to the Pentagon and White House. The Committee found that the State Department failed to appropriately assess and heighten security measures after intelligence showed that Americans stationed in Benghazi could be threatened by terror groups, according to reports...

Three top officials in the State Department resigned Wednesday in the wake of a scathing report which slammed "systemic failures" and "management deficiencies" in the attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, which resulted in the murder of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. Assistant Secretary Eric Boswell, head of the bureau of diplomatic security, and Charlene Lamb, deputy assistant secretary for international programs, have stepped down, CNN and CBS television said, citing unnamed department officials. Lamb, who was Boswell’s deputy in charge of international programs, denied requests from the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli for an extension of temporary security...

Clinton gets accountability report on Benghazi attacksBy Andrew Quinn Mon Dec 17, 2012 3:18pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday received an official review of the September attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, setting the stage for testimony on an incident that prompted a political furor and sharp questions about security at U.S. diplomatic facilities overseas. **SNIP** The committee has been meeting in private and State Department officials have declined to discuss almost all specifics of the Benghazi attack pending its reports. The findings are expected to cover questions on whether enough...

A ceasefire between Israel and Gaza could go into effect “within several hours”, according to a Monday night report by the Al-Arabiya network. The report said that the forum of nine senior Israeli ministers was expected to approve an initial outline for a ceasefire with Hamas. According to the outline offered by Egypt and described in the report, Israel will stop the air strikes on Gaza and stop the targeted killings of senior members of Hamas and other terrorist organizations in Gaza, in exchange for a complete cessation of the rocket fire into Israel.

A review of press releases issued by the Department of Homeland Security, the latest being filed Sunday and dealing with DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano’s visit to State Island for a Hurricane Sandy follow-up, reveals the department is crediting itself with all kinds of activities and accomplishments except for its commitment to produce an Inspector General report on Fast and Furious gunwalking independent of the Department of Justice report released in September. A review of the DHS OIG press releases on its website, with the latest filing also being yesterday, also does not mention such a report. The second IG investigation...

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano lied to Congress about her department’s special centers where state and local police could share information with the federal government about terrorism and other crimes. This accusation against Napolitano appears, shockingly enough, in a bipartisan report from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The so-called “fusion center” program, which Napolitano asserted to Congress was a smashing success, had “serious problems,” according to the report, which also stated, “The findings of both the 2010 and 2011 assessments contradict public statements by [Homeland Security] officials including congressional testimony from Ms. Napolitano.” Ms. Napolitano and other officials consistently...

The inspector general’s investigation into the Department of Justice’s role in Operation Fast and Furious was not expected to be a blockbuster report. The primary interest in the document for members of the media, investigators, and the public alike was how Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz would choose to participate in a cover-up. Horowitz did not disappoint. The six-part, 471-page report dedicated an entire chapter to Operation Wide Receiver, a program that began in 2006 and did not terminate until mid-2009. Wide Receiver was an ATF operation started by local agents during the Bush administration which allowed hundreds of weapons...

The author of a study that says tax cuts on high-incomes and small businesses have little to no impact on economic growth has personally donated at least $3,400 to President Obama since 2008—a fact that the media outlets touting the study have failed to disclose. The author, Thomas L. Hungerford, also gave at least $2,450 to Democratic campaign committees during that same period. Hungerford is a public finance specialist at the Congressional Research Service (CRS), the nonpartisan agency that provides “policy and legal analysis” for members of Congress. “CRS is well-known for analysis that is authoritative, confidential, objective and nonpartisan,”...

Fox News has obtained a three-page intelligence report showing that two days before the deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya, a statement incited "sons of Egypt" to pressure America to release the so-called blind sheikh "even if it requires burning the embassy down with everyone in it." The web statement, apparently posted on Sept. 9, was in reference to the embassy in Egypt. It preceded a throng of demonstrators breaching the U.S. Embassy wall in Cairo, supposedly in protest over an anti-Islam film. Obama administration officials claim that attackers in Libya then took their

A Marine spokesperson at the Pentagon denied reports that U.S. Marines defending the American embassy in Egypt were not permitted by the State Department to carry live ammunition in a statement to Fox News Thursday. Pentagon Lt. Col. Chris Hughes told the outlet: “The ambassador and RSO (Regional Security Officer) have been completely and appropriately engaged with the security situation. No restrictions on weapons or weapons status have been imposed. This information comes from the Det Commander at AMEMB (American Embassy) Cairo.” The statement came in response to open-source reporting that U.S. Marines defending the American embassy in Egypt were...

Obama said hang on, but jobs report shows many Americans aren’tBy Chris Stirewalt Published September 07, 2012 FoxNews.com 368,000 — the estimated number of Americans who, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, left the labor force in August. **SNIP** Biden, who literally used the word “literally” 10 times in his brief speech introducing Obama, accused the Republicans of talking down the country in a bid to gain power. “America is not in decline. America is not in decline,” shouted the vice president. “I've got news for Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan: Gentlemen, never ever — it never makes sense,...

ABC News president Ben Sherwood told staff today that last Friday's incorrect report by Brian Ross detracts from the network's otherwise excellent coverage of the Colarado theater shooting, network sources tell POLITICO. Sherwood's remarks, made on the network's daily editorial conference call, came the morning after Ross's report was picked up by late night comedians John Stewart and Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central, both of whom used Ross's erroneous suggestion of a Tea Party link to the Colorado theater shooting as fodder for their Monday night routines. On Monday's conference call,

Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt At a time when voter ID laws in 30 states are coming under intense fire from the liberal media, the Obama administration and civil rights leaders, one of the strongest cases anywhere was offered for voter identification by the lone Republican on the three-member panel overseeing elections in Philadelphia. Wednesday, City Commissioner Al Schmidt unveiled a 27 page report that his office had commissioned entitled “Voting Irregularities in Philadelphia County, 2012 Primary Election.” The report, which focused on cases in 15 of the city’s 1,687 election districts, found cases of double voting, voter impersonation,...

ORIGINAL POST: Last economic datapoint of the day: April factory orders come out at 10:00 AM ET. Analysts expect an increase of 0.2%. That compares to a decline of 1.9% in the previous month. Given all the bad news in econ data-world these days, this one will be closely watched for confirmation or negation of the trend. UPDATE: The numbers are out and bad. Factory orders fell 0.6% in April, which is way worse than the 0.2% growth anticipated. Last month was revised to a decline of 2.1% from a decline of -1.5%. And ext-transport, the decline was a solid...

Alan Krueger, head of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, pointed out that the country has added jobs for 27 months in a row, including 4.3 million jobs in the private sector. The economy still has a few bright spots. Americans bought cars and trucks a strong pace last month, giving automakers their best May since 2008. Underscoring the challenge for Obama with five months to go in the campaign, a May poll by The Associated Press and GfK, a research company, showed that 52 percent disapproved of Obama's handling of the economy while 46 percent approved. Some financial analysts...