White House says former Nazis should not be getting Social Security payments
WASHINGTON — Former Nazis should not be collecting Social Security benefits as they age overseas, the White House said Monday, responding to an Associated Press investigation that revealed millions of dollars have been paid to war-crimes suspects and former SS guards forced out of the U.S.
“Our position is we don’t believe these individuals should be getting these benefits,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters in Chicago. He did not say whether or how the government might end the payments.
AP reported Sunday that dozens of Nazi suspects collected benefits after leaving the United States. The payments flowed through a legal loophole that gave the Justice Department leverage to persuade Nazi suspects to leave. If they agreed to go, or simply fled before deportation, they could keep their Social Security, according to interviews and internal U.S. government records.
The White House comments came after a senior House Democrat demanded the Obama administration investigate the benefit payments. Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York requested the inquiry on Monday in letters to the inspectors general at the Justice Department and Social Security Administration.
Colorado health officials seek to ban pot-infused brownies, cookies, candies
DENVER — Colorado health officials want to ban many edible forms of marijuana, including brownies, cookies and most candies, limiting legal sales of pot-infused food to lozenges and some liquids.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment told marijuana regulators that many forms of edible marijuana “are naturally attractive to children” and violate the law’s “requirement to prevent the marketing of marijuana products to children.”
The recommendation was obtained by The Associated Press in advance of a third and possibly final workgroup meeting Monday to draw up rules for identifiable markers or colors for edible marijuana products so they won’t be confused with regular foods.
The health department’s recommendation, sent to the regulators Oct. 14, would effectively take most forms of edible marijuana off store shelves. The final decision will be made by the Department of Revenue’s Marijuana Enforcement Division, which oversees retail marijuana sales.
Rabbi leads vigil outside Met as firestorm over embattled opera hits fever pitch
NEW YORK — A globally prominent rabbi led Jewish teenagers in a prayer vigil Monday outside the Metropolitan Opera to protest an opera they say glorifies Palestinian terrorists.
Rabbi Avi Weiss and youths from several faith-based schools later planned to join former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and other big-name politicians at a rally against the Met’s premiere of “The Death of Klinghoffer.” On Monday, youths sat at their makeshift prayer spot opposite the Met, discussing Hebrew scriptures in shifts of about a dozen throughout the afternoon.
“We’re here because the Met is glorifying the killing of a Jew, and we must speak out — we’re the next generation,” said Shabbos Kestenbaum, 15.
HBO and CBS join the a la carte streaming brigade, but don’t count cable out
NEW YORK — Cord cutters rejoiced last week after HBO and CBS announced plans to sell stand-alone streaming services, a move that cable and satellite television providers have resisted for years.
Customers tired of paying big fees for hundreds of channels they never watch just to have access to a few favorite shows might be expected to start cancelling cable service in droves. Get Netflix, throw in HBO, add a network here and there — why would anyone sign up now for cable?
Well, don’t sound the death knell for cable companies yet.
Some would-be customers may balk when they see just how much paying a la carte actually costs. Stations that offer services a la carte will have to pay for marketing that the cable and satellite companies usually cover. Fewer eyeballs on live TV could mean less advertising revenue, since online ads are generally cheaper, and that will boost the network’s cost of running the channel. And smooth streaming costs money: to avoid so-called “throttling” during peak evening viewing times, Netflix buckled to broadband distributors like Comcast and Verizon and paid up so that its streaming service would run at a higher bandwidth and work more smoothly. Those added costs might be passed on to customers.
By wire sources