Ukraine Meetings Begin, Whistleblower Protections Expanded, Obama's Budget Wants All of the Money: P.M. Links

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  Credit: castle79 / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA

  Russian President Vladimir Putin says the armed men around military instillations in the Crimean area of Ukraine are not Russian troops, prompting a "Really?"-style response from Secretary of State John Kerry, who is now in the country. The White House has announced a $1 billion aid package for the country, and meetings between Ukrainian and Russian ministers have begun.

• In a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court has declared that whistleblower protections provided to public companies also apply to contractors for said companies.
• Edward Snowden will be speaking at the South by Southwest Festival, though it will be via teleconference from Russia.
• President Barack Obama's $3.9 trillion budget for 2015 seeks $651 billion more money from the rich. Republican House Speaker John Boehner called the budget proposal "his most irresponsible budget yet."
• RadioShack could be closing about a fifth of its stores, as many as 1,100 locations. I remember back in the late 1970s when they sold the earliest home computers (and remote control cars and transistor radio kits) those places were like that generation's version of the Apple Store.
• Another Bitcoin site has shut its doors. Bitcoin bank Flexcoin has closed down after hackers stole all their currency.
• The latest idiotic school "zero tolerance" nonsense has a 10-year-old boy in Ohio suspended for making finger guns.

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