World News Korner

NOVEMBER 22--An 81-year-old "birther" was arrested today and charged with threatening President Barack Obama’s life, according to federal court records.

Prosecutors allege that Elwyn Nels Fossedal was in a post office near his Wisconsin home last month when he announced, “If President Obama was here I would shoot him right there and kill him right now.”

When Secret Service agents confronted Fossedal about the threat--which was relayed to law enforcement by witnesses--he would not recant the statement and “repeated the threat using different words. He also made a number of additional threats towards the President,” according to a felony complaint.

A Secret Service investigation determined that Fossedal’s wife Margaret Ann--to whom he had been married nearly 57 years--died in early-October and that “he is displacing his grief on her loss with anger towards” Obama and other public officials being protected by the Secret Service.

An investigator noted that Fossedal “is proficient in the use of various firearms.”

Pictured above, Fossedal this morning made an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Madison, where a magistrate judge ordered him detained. If convicted of the threat, he faces a maximum of five years in prison.

Fossedal, a retired Pfizer employee, appears to be a “birther” based on comments he has posted online. A Rush Limbaugh fan, Fossedal has also called for Obama’s impeachment over the Affordable Care Act and declared that, “We need to throw the Muslim in the White House, OUT.” [...] Continued at TheSmokingGun.




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Rude, crude, and totally bipartisan, last night's New Rules skewered targets both on the Left and the Right.

However Maher saved his best smackdown for those who worship at the alter of Ronald Reagan.

In response to Sarah Palin's statement that there are no Ronald Reagan's around today for her to put her faith in, Maher said "When Reagan was elected, Sarah Palin was barely sixteen, probably pregnant, but still in third grade."

Then Maher goes on to unfavorably compare the Rooster Cogburn image of Ronald Reagan to the Don Draper image of JFK. Yeah, THAT should win him more fans with the Reagan sycophants that populate the GOP.

And speaking of Reagan sycophants here is Palin behind the scenes as she sits in preparation for her interview with Chris Wallace, in which she will pimp her book and bitch about the Martin Bashir comments, to be broadcast tomorrow on Fox.

As you can see she has her personal flotation devices firmly attached just in case she gets in over her head and starts floundering.

P.S. Just in case HBO decides to be a party pooper you can still find the video by clicking here.

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Courtesy of the Seattle Times:

Susan Hutchison, the new chair of the state Republican party, gets a salary of about $75,000 a year — substantially less than the $95,000 earned by her predecessor, Kirby Wilbur.

But when Hutchison tried last weekend to convince the GOP executive committee to boost her pay to Wilbur’s level, the conversation turned ugly and Hutchison’s request was rebuffed.

Hutchison bemoaned the decision in an internal party memo obtained by The Seattle Times.

In the memo, sent Monday to the state GOP executive board, Hutchison wrote the “positive spirit” of the GOP meeting had “soured late in the day” when her salary request came up.

The pay for the Republican chairman’s position had been cut by GOP leaders — citing budget issues — at a meeting just prior to Hutchison’s election in August.

But Hutchison argued that vote had violated the party’s bylaws and could be viewed as “discriminatory and vindictive” — and even play into the hands of Democrats who have talked up the GOP’s problems among female voters.

“The pay cut defies the concept of equal pay for equal work, playing into the ‘war on women’ narrative against Republicans,” Hutchison wrote. She added she’d personally raised $22,000 from 18 non-Republican Party donors from her personal list of contacts — “which more than covers” the $20,000 pay raise.

“I left the meeting demoralized, and so did my hardworking staff. I heard that some of you felt beat up and angry, while others were very pleased. This kind of division over something so minor is not what will move us forward,” Hutchison wrote.

Of course after this kerfuffle Republican sources are claiming that they were planning to cut this salary all along and it had nothing to with the fact that Hitchison is a chick, and for her part Hutchison is trying to minimize the fact that she just ran head long into the GOP "War on Women," but I think we know what's really going on here.

Let's face it in the Republican world having ovaries is a preexisting condition, and the men believe that the doors of opportunity are pried open with their Viagra engorged penises. (Or a gun, same thing really.)

Should I even bother to ask, yet again, WHY women bother to join the Republican party?

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Courtesy of the Telegraph:

Rob Ford, the crack-smoking mayor of Toronto, has a higher approval rating than Barack Obama, according to a survey.

A Forum Research survey of 1,049 Toronto voters found that 42 per cent approved of the job Mr Ford has been doing as mayor of Canada's largest city.

Although it is a two point drop from two weeks ago, it is up from the 39 per cent approval rating he had before he admitted smoking crack cocaine.

By comparison, earlier this week Mr Obama's popularity slumped to an all-time low, with only 37 per cent of Americans approving of the job he is doing.

The result suggests that Mr Ford could still be competitive in next year's municipal election, although only 33 per cent of those polled said they would vote for him in 2014.

I swear I could watch this gif all day.

Seriously? This guy polls higher than President Obama?

I cannot tell if I am more concerned that there is something wrong with Canadians, or that there is something wrong with Americans.




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Courtesy of Mediaite:

Sarah Palin will address the controversial comments made by about her by MSNBC’s Martin Bashir for the first time on the November 24th edition of Fox News Sunday. Fox News’ Chris Wallace is also expected to interview Palin about the Affordable Care Act and her new book Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas.

After Palin made her own controversial remarks comparing America’s debt crisis to “slavery,” Bashir delivered a monologue on his MSNBC program in which he suggested that, in order to truly understand the horrors of slavery, someone should defecate into Palin’s mouth. Bashir later apologized, but, despite continued outrage from Palin’s defenders, MSNBC did not take any disciplinary action against the host.

Palin evidently decided to grant Wallace the first interview on the matter after Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly revealed on Wednesday night that she had turned down his invitation to discuss the matter on The O’Reilly Factor.

Trashed by Bashir, slammed by O'Reilly, and pissed off at NBC, oh you just KNOW this is going to be good television!

It never fails to amaze me that there can be THAT mush vitriol and hate packed in such an emaciated frame.

I have seen insects with thicker legs than those.




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Sheriff Joe Arpaio was interviewed by Western Center for Journalism and provided the following comment:

"The birth certificate investigation, which we started two years ago and is still in progress. And we're finding more fire, and that's another issue..... I will say that I do not get a Christmas card from the President....."


RELATED: Lt. Zullo: Universe-Shattering Evidence In Obama ID Fraud Investigation - DETAILS HERE.




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Read Full Article Source here
Author: By John Cherwa

You need a Doctor? Good news: Doctor Who has some Doctors for you! The legendary time-tossed adventure series celebrates its 50th anniversary today with The Day of the Doctor, a Very Special Episode packed with Very Special Guest-Stars. Current Doctor Matt Smith will share the screen with his beloved predecessor David Tennant, who’s also bringing along Best-Companion-Ever Billie Piper. Not enough Doctors? The telefilm will also feature acting legend and alien-baby-daddy John Hurt as The War Doctor, a heretofore-unrevealed regeneration of the Time Lord.


Read Full Article Source here
Author: By Darren Franich

Courtesy of USA News:

With the historic announcement out of Geneva on Saturday that Iran has agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for an easing of sanctions, President Obama scored one of the most unlikely — and potentially most meaningful — foreign policy victories of his time in office.

The capture of Osama bin Laden by Navy SEALs was thrilling and brought some closure to many Americans' collective grief over the Sept. 11 attacks, but the al-Qaeda leader posed a limited threat to American security after escaping Tora Bora, Afghanistan, in 2001.

By ending the Iraq War in his first term, Obama followed through on closing out an unpopular war and fulfilling a 2008 campaign pledge, but the endgame was inevitable and expected.

Just six months ago, it was close to fantasy for even some of the most optimistic Iran watchers that Tehran would be willing to come to the negotiation table with world powers, let alone the country it once deemed the "Great Satan."
This unlikely diplomatic route started with an exchange of letters between Obama and Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani, this summer, followed with a telephone call between the two leaders earlier this year, and culminated with the agreement that was nailed down in the middle of the night in Geneva. (The White House also confirmed after the agreement was reached that senior administration officials secretly met on several occasions with Iranian officials in recent months.)

As could be expected Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu is less than optimistic about this deal:

"What was concluded in Geneva last night is not a historic agreement, it's a historic mistake," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters. "It's not made the world a safer place. Like the agreement with North Korea in 2005, this agreement has made the world a much more dangerous place."

But then again Netanyahu is the Jewish equivalent of a neo-con much like our Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, he needs there to be a great evil for his country to always be on guard against in order to justify his policies.

The fear mongers like Sarah Palin, Right Wing radio, and everybody over at Fox News will continue to claim that the President is being naive and that nobody can trust Iran. But many experts are coming forward with praise for this deal. It is far from perfect, but it is an important first step in convincing Iran to resist the urge to develop nuclear weapons and hopefully to develop better relations with the West.

Keep in mind that those who are speaking out against this deal, are those who have a vested interest in this President being an abject failure. Much like the Affordable Care Act they do not worry that this will fail, they worry that this will succeed.

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Courtesy of The New Civil Rights Movement:

A federal district court judge has declared “unconstitutional” a portion of U.S. law that allows “a minister of the gospel” to not pay income tax on a specific portion of their compensation.

U.S. District Court Judge Barbara B. Crabb of the Western District of Wisconsin ruled that the so-called “parish exemption,” which allows religious ministers to avoid paying taxes on the value of their housing granted to them by their religious employers, “violates the establishment clause” of the U.S. Constitution and must be discontinued.

The law, 26 U.S. C. § 107(2), has been on the books since 1954.

The tax exemption was estimated to cost U.S. taxpayers $2.3 billion from 2002-2007 alone, likely more in the years since.

Heralding it as a “major federal court victory,” the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which brought the lawsuit along with their co-presidents, Annie Laurie Gaylor and Dan Barker, offered an explanation of yesterday’s ruling.

Ministers may, for instance, use the untaxed income to purchase a home, and, in a practice known as “double dipping,” may then deduct interest paid on the mortgage and property taxes.

“The Court’s decision does not evince hostility to religion — nor should it even seem controversial,” commented Richard L. Bolton, FFRF’s attorney in the case. “The Court has simply recognized the reality that a tax free housing allowance available only to ministers is a significant benefit from the government unconstitutionally provided on the basis of religion.”

Crabb wrote: “Some might view a rule against preferential treatment as exhibiting hostility toward religion, but equality should never be mistaken for hostility. It is important to remember that the establishment clause protects the religious and nonreligious alike.”

The 1954 bill’s sponsor, Rep. Peter Mack, argued ministers should be rewarded for “carrying on such a courageous fight against this [godless and anti-religious world movement].”

“I agree with plaintiffs that §107(2) does not have a secular purpose or effect,” wrote Crabb, adding that a reasonable observer would view it “as an endorsement of religion.”

Crabb wrote that “the exemption provides a benefit to religious persons and no one else, even though doing so is not necessary to alleviate a special burden on religious exercise.”

All taxpayers are burdened by taxes, Crabb noted. “Defendants do not identify any reason why a requirement on ministers to pay taxes on a housing allowance is more burdensome for them than for the many millions of others who must pay taxes on income used for housing expenses.”

One study has estimated that in total, combined religious tax exemptions cost American taxpayers $71 billion each year.

And now with this one declared unconstitutional I am not sure what the argument would be to protect the rest of the exemptions. Does that mean that we will soon see the day when churches are taxed just like ever other big profit making, politically connected, corporation? Because THAT would be awesome!

Gee I wonder how Sarah Palin will work THIS into her book tour?

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Great group of kids.

Now if you will excuse me I think I have a speck of dust in my eye.

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