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02 Nov 2011 18:42

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U.S.: Four elderly men charged with plotting murder of federal employees

  • 68 average age of four attempted terrorists from Georgia source
  • » Don’t forget about domestic terrorism: The four men in question have been described as belonging to a fringe militia group, and the virulent anti-government rhetoric attributed to them seems in line with that: “There is no way for us, as militiamen, to save this country, to save Georgia, without doing something that’s highly, highly illegal. Murder. That’s f**king illegal, but it’s got to be done,” said Frederick Thomas, 73. Also, from the “young buck” of the group, the 65-year-old Ray Adams: “The first ones that need to die is the ones in the government buildings.” The quartet appeared in court today, and had trouble hearing what the judge was saying despite her use of a microphone. We smell an action-packed reboot to Grumpy Old Men for some reason.

27 Jan 2011 10:32

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U.S.: By the way, New Yorkers, DC-area residents feel your pain, too

  • 422,000 without power (but not us) source
  • » We’re going to work today, but … many federal employees are going into work late, if at all in the wake of the wet, slushy mess which crimped our collective commutes home last night. We’d complain more, but we have power and were able to make it to Panera this morning.

29 Nov 2010 11:22

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U.S.: A federal pay freeze might halt out-of-whack wage increases

  • 3% the yearly increase in pay rates above inflation for public-sector workers
  • 0.8% the increase of the same measure for private-sector workers source
  • » Also worth noting: As of 2010, 82,000 federal workers make over $150,000 – a huge leap from even five years earlier. And had Obama not ordered the pay freeze, federal pay would’ve gone up by 1.4 percent across the board. Federal workers are getting paid out of whack with the private sector as-is. To stop this now, as he’s getting hit on all sides, seems like a very smart move on Obama’s part, though we’ll see as the story develops.

17 Jun 2009 09:28

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U.S.: Obama boosts same-sex partner benefits for federal employees

  • good Today, Obama will sign an executive order that gives wider benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees.
  • bad The order doesn’t go nearly as far as it could, stopping just short of giving full health care benefits to them.
  • why? Obama has faced criticism from gay-rights groups for not doing enough – but he’s trying to avoid a fight. source