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Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Walker Recall: Death Threats and Signatures

A protest against Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, 03/12/11. (photo: Sue Peacock/flickr)

Channel 3000
Excerpt: "Opponents of Gov. Scott Walker said they have faced threats and thefts in the days since the recall effort began.... The threats involved phone calls from an area code in Minnesota.... 'They said, 'If you don't stop circulating recall petitions, we will kill you,' ... He said I had attracted the attention of some very bad people, and my life and the lives of my family were in danger'"
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A $400 million twist: Huguette Clark signed two wills, one to her family

Huguette Clark with one of her prized dolls. She reached age 98 without declaring who should receive her copper-mining fortune, and then signed two contradictory wills back to back.


By Bill Dedman
Investigative Reporter, msnbc.com

NEW YORK — There is a new surprise in the mysterious story of reclusive heiress Huguette Clark. It turns out that she signed two wills, the first one benefitting her family, the second one cutting out her family altogether. And she signed them one after another, within six weeks.

Despite years of pleading from attorney after attorney, Clark reached age 98 without directing who should inherit one of America's great fortunes from the Gilded Age, estimated to be at least $400 million. She made no plan for her $100 million oceanfront estate in Santa Barbara, Calif.; her $20 million country house in New Canaan, Conn.; her three apartments on New York's Fifth Avenue, worth up to $100 million; her precious paintings by Renoir and Monet, or her doll collection worth millions.
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Monday, November 28, 2011

Georgia Business Announces Refusal To Hire "Until Obama Is Gone"

Via ThinkProgress:



Bill Looman, who owns U.S. Cranes, LLC in Waco, Georgia, explained that while “I’ve got people that I want to hire now,” he didn’t think he would be able to foot the expense “unless some things change in D.C.”

Not content to simply implement the new policy internally, Looman decided to plaster it on all his company’s trucks. He did so, as 11Alive noted, “for all to see as the trucks roll up and down roads, highways and interstates.”
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NASA launches Curiosity, nuclear- powered rover to Mars in search of life

Terry Renna/AP
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover lifts off from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday.

It will take 8½ months for Curiosity to reach Mars following a journey of 354 million miles

BY Associated Press
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Saturday, November 26 2011, 11:01 AM

The world's biggest extraterrestrial explorer, NASA's Curiosity rover, rocketed toward Mars on Saturday on a search for evidence that the red planet might once have been home to itsy-bitsy life.

It will take 8½ months for Curiosity to reach Mars following a journey of 354 million miles.
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Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

New Payment System Sidesteps Credit Cards


By Alyson Shontell, THE BUSINESS INSIDER
November 11, 2011

here's a tiny 12-person startup churning out of Des Moines, Iowa.

Dwolla was founded by 28-year-old Ben Milne; it's an innovative online payment system that sidesteps credit cards completely.

Milne has no finance background yet his little operation is moving between $30 and $50 million per month; it's on track to move more than $350 million in the next year.

Unlike PayPal, Dwolla doesn't take a percentage of the transaction. It only asks for $0.25 whether it's moving $1 or $1,000.

We interviewed Milne about how he is building a credit card killer and Square rival from the middle of the nation where VCs and press are scarce.

BI: We hear you're making credit card companies angry. How are you doing that?
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Courts freeze assets of Bernie Madoff associate Sonja Kohn

Ludwig Schedl/Bloomberg Sonja Kohn, 63, reportedly made at least $56 million introducing clients to Madoff.

Judge says Kohn made $56 million introducing clients to fraudster

BY Bloomberg News
Sunday, November 27 2011, 12:59 AM

A U.K. court froze the assets of Bernard Madoff associate Sonja Kohn, the former chairwoman of Bank Medici AG, who a judge said made at least $56 million introducing clients to the convicted fraudster.

Liquidators of Madoff’s estate are pursuing Kohn and the directors of Madoff Securities International Ltd., the company’s English unit, for the return of assets.
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Six HIV patients die after church tells them to stop taking meds because they were healed by God: report


VIDEO: therapy involves screaming to purge the devil, in place of drugs designed to keep HIV patients alive

BY Amanda Mikelberg
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Sunday, November 27 2011, 2:58 AM

At least six HIV-positive people have died after evangelical churches in Britain reportedly told them to stop taking their medication because they had been healed by God.

Pastors at several churches in England and Scotland told undercover Sky News reporters that they could be healed through an exorcism-like process that involves shouting over the patients and spraying water in their faces.

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