The Robertson family just drew a line in the sand with A&E — NO PHIL, NO SHOW … and says they are already talking to the cable channel about possibly pulling the plug on “Duck Dynasty.”
The family issued a statement on their website saying, “As a family, we cannot imagine the show going forward without our patriarch at the helm. We are in discussions with A&E to see what that means for the future of Duck Dynasty.”
They also say their “disappointed” that Phil Robertson was suspended by A&E just for expressing his religious beliefs … which, they point out, is his “constitutionally protected right.”
Fun fact: “Duck Dynasty” is the highest rated cable reality TV show ever.
People purchasing new plans on the health insurance exchanges have just been given an extension on their first payment deadlines, courtesy of the insurance industry. The sign up deadline is still December 23 for plans beginning on January 1, but now the first premium can be paid as late as January 10, with coverage retroactive to January 1, AHIP announces.
Health plans across the country are voluntarily giving individual market enrollees who select a plan by December 23 more time to pay their first month’s premium. Consumers must still pay their first month’s premium before coverage takes effect, but those who pay their premium by January 10 will now be able to have coverage retroactive to January 1.
“Our community is taking an important step to give consumers greater peace of mind about their health care coverage,” said AHIP President and CEO Karen Ignagni.
This statement, from Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson was published by the Huffington Post.
“I myself am a product of the 60s; I centered my life around sex, drugs and rock and roll until I hit rock bottom and accepted Jesus as my Savior. My mission today is to go forth and tell people about why I follow Christ and also what the bible teaches, and part of that teaching is that women and men are meant to be together. However, I would never treat anyone with disrespect just because they are different from me. We are all created by the Almighty and like Him, I love all of humanity. We would all be better off if we loved God and loved each other.”
In a recent interview with GQ, the
patriarch of the Duck Dynasty television hit, Phil Robertson, ruffled some feathers that landed him in some hot water. So much has been made of the statements, that it caused the producers of the Duck Dynasty show on A&E to issue a statement, explaining that Mr Phil Robertson was fired, terminated or placed on permanent hiatus from the show.
“We are extremely disappointed to have read Phil Robertson’s comments in GQ, which are based on his own personal beliefs and are not reflected in the series Duck Dynasty,” the statement from A&E reads. “His personal views in no way reflect those of A+E Networks, who have always been strong supporters and champions of the LGBT community. The network has placed Phil under hiatus from filming indefinitely.”
Variety in their title heading reported that Robertson had been “fired,” but in their report stated:
While the cast member has not officially been fired, he will not be filming with the show moving forward.
In a graphic and ugly interview, the 67-year old Louisiana patriarch of the Duck Dynasty clan had compared homosexuality to bestiality, adultery, prostitution, alcoholism, lying, stealing — and terrorism. He also, unsurprisingly, said gay people are not going to heaven.
And then, there was this remark:
“It seems like, to me, a vagina—as a man—would be more desirable than a man’s anus. That’s just me. I’m just thinking: There’s more there! She’s got more to offer. I mean, come on, dudes! You know what I’m saying? But hey, sin: It’s not logical, my man. It’s just not logical.”
But in the GQ interview, Robertson also made insensitive and troubling remarks about black people during the Jim Crow era:
“I never, with my eyes, saw the mistreatment of any black person. Not once. Where we lived was all farmers. The blacks worked for the farmers. I hoed cotton with them. I’m with the blacks, because we’re white trash. We’re going across the field…. They’re singing and happy. I never heard one of them, one black person, say, ‘I tell you what: These doggone white people’—not a word!… Pre-entitlement, pre-welfare, you say: Were they happy? They were godly; they were happy; no one was singing the blues.”
Democratic senators are unhappy the White House didn’t give them any credit for key fixes to ObamaCare.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) recently reproached President Obama in private on the issue, arguing Obama should have given his colleagues more praise.
1 did communicate to him that there have been things done by the White House that improved the healthcare bill and those fixes were suggested originally by my senators and they got no credit for it. I thought that was improper,” Reid said in an interview Wednesday with The Hill.
Reid didn’t specify what ideas Senate Democrats had offered to the White House.
Obama suggested in public remarks on Oct. 30 that his administration had received little constructive feedback from critics.
“If folks had actually good ideas, better ideas than what’s happening in Massachusetts or what we’ve proposed for providing people with health insurance, I’d be happy to listen. But that’s not what’s happening,” he said.
Democratic senators had several meetings with White House chief of staff Denis McDonough and other senior administration officials to put together a rescue plan for ObamaCare.
If a Jewish senator can turn a “Secret Santa” gift exchange into a tradition for his colleagues, why can’t Santa be Jewish?
That’s Sen. Al Franken’s (D-MN) take on the whole “Santa is white” debate.
“You know, there’s been a lot of controversy about the ethnicity of Santa lately,” the former “Saturday Night Live” comedian joked Wednesday on NPR’s “Morning Edition.” “Maybe, you know, he’s Jewish.”
Senate lawmakers on Tuesday night celebrated a third year of their gift exchange, which Franken came up with to bring colleagues from both sides of the aisle together for the holidays.
Among this year’s quirky gifts were presidential Pez dispensers, buffalo jerky, and an elephant statue carved from coal. That last one was a present from West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin (D) to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL).
Speaker of the House John Boehner has long denied that his perpetual tan skin color is the result of sunless tanning. He just spends a lot of time outdoors, the Ohio Republican is known to say.
But despite his repeated denials of using tanning beds, Boehner has ties to the industry. Not only has he accepted campaign contributions from a group called the Indoor Tanning Association, Boehner actually lives in a D.C. apartment owned by a lobbyist for the American Suntanning Association.
Boehner rents a Capitol Hill English basement apartment from John D. Milne, a lobbyist with the firm mCapitol, Milne and Boehner’s office confirmed to The Daily Caller on Tuesday. Milne lobbies for the American Suntanning Association, which retained mCapitol for $90,000 in 2013
The Washington Post reported in 2006 that Boehner was paying $1,600 a month that year to rent Milne’s two-bedroom apartment. In that article, a Boehner aide stressed that Milne did not seek to influence Boehner on legislation. “John Milne does not lobby John Boehner on any issue and has not lobbied him on any issue during the time period in which John has been renting the property,” he said.
Forms indicate that the Indoor Tanning Association gave Boehner $5,000 in 2011. It gave money to a number of other lawmakers that year, including South Dakota Sen. John Thune, also known for his year-round tan skin color.
The Indoor Tanning Association opposed the so-called 10 percent sales tax in Obamacare, something the Republican conference also opposed in 2010.
A self-proclaimed tea party patriot is in hot water after being charged with distributing and receiving child pornography.
According to a federal complaint filed Tuesday, Brian Schwanke, 46, allegedly used the e-mail account hornypastor@outlook.com to trade hundreds of child sex photos and videos, The Smoking Gun reported.
Federal agents raided Schwanke’s home in Adrian, Michigan in August, after getting a tip from Australian law enforcement officials, RawStory.com reported.
An undercover police officer in Queensland allegedly had an email conversation with Schwanke in July, during which Schwanke he sent a video of a naked prepubescent girl.
He also claimed to have been a pastor for 20 years and allegedly had sex with numerous underage girls during that period, some as young as 8.
“I’ve even knocked up a couple but we were able to make people believe it was someone else,” he allegedly wrote, according to a court document.
There is no evidence that Schwanke is or has ever been a pastor, but during the August raid, Schwanke allegedly admitted to “sending, receiving, and viewing child pornography” and told them he began looking at illicit images about ten years ago.
On his LinkedIn page, he does claim to be a public safety professional, and an emergency medical services worker. He also is an avid Civil War re-enactor.
He is also a Tea Party patriot, according to his Facebook page, where he describes the group as:
“A non- racist, non-sexist, group of patriots who believe that the Government has too much say in our personal lives. We believe that a smaller government operating on a fixed budget that can not be increased or wasted is the right way to go. We believe this country WAS founded on a CHRISTIAN foundation, and the progressive, atheist left is running us into the ground to create a Socialist country that will fall like all the others.”
On the same page, Schwanke claims to be fluent in American English, German, Klingon and Entish, a fictional language created by J.R.R. Tolkien and states under “religious views” that “All men have sinned and only by forgiveness through the Blood of Christ can we avoid the punishment of Hell.”
The Smoking Gun asked Schwanke about the accusations via Facebook and he responded that he had not been advised of any Federal Charges against him and “would not be able to respond at this time.”
“First of all, I wouldn’t even call this a work of art,” said Jerry Saltz, who made an appearance on CNN’S New Day program on Wednesday. “It’s a travesty, a placard, a poster, something you might see in protest.” At one point, Saltz even called Zimmerman’s work a “confession” of sorts.
Saltz, a renowned art critic wasn’t finished tearing into the single art piece of Trayvon Martins killer. He continued;
“It’s talking about liberty, justice for all. Well, you know, it’s almost like none of this ever happened. And then also, you have this is his funny little – he’s almost trying to be a cause. And the cause is that I think he is is a travesty of justice, a crime. It’s insipid, it’s not — there’s no thought in it. It’s needing to be the center of attention. I think it’s a bit psychotic.”
“To me,” Saltz concluded, “what he made was a simpleton, quasi-psychotic painting, in my opinion.”
(AP) — A blind man and his guide dog were struck by a subway train in Manhattan on Tuesday after the man lost consciousness and they tumbled on to the tracks, but both escaped without serious injury.
Cecil Williams, 61, told The Associated Press from his hospital bed that he was on his way to the dentist during the morning rush hour when he felt faint on the 145th Street platform. His guide dog, a black Labrador named Orlando, is trained to protect him from going over the edge.
“He tried to hold me up,” Williams said.
Witnesses said the dog was barking frantically and tried to stop Williams from falling, but they both fell to the tracks when Williams fainted.
The train’s motorman slowed the subway cars while witness called for help. Williams and Orlando were struck, but not badly hurt.
“The dog saved my life,” Williams said, his voice breaking at times. He also was astonished by the help from emergency crews and bystanders on the platform.
As Williams regained consciousness, he heard someone telling him to be still. Emergency workers put him on a stretcher and pulled him from the subway, and made sure the dog was not badly injured.
“I’m feeling amazed,” Williams said. “I feel that God, the powers that be, have something in store from me. They didn’t take me away this time. I’m here for a reason.”
This is a “ghost organ.” It has been decelluralized, leaving only connective tissue. The organ can then be reseeded with a patient’s own cells to regenerate it so it can be transplanted without fear of tissue rejection.
Two winners will share the second-largest jackpot in U.S. history after the Mega Millions draw on Tuesday.
One winner bought a ticket at Jennifer’s Gift Shop in San Jose, California, the other at Gateway Newsstand in Atlanta. They will soon split a jackpot that could top $648 million according to a California Lottery spokesperson.
CBS News reports that the winners have beaten the 1 in 259 million odds of drawing a winning ticket, which Mega Millions recently changed from 1 in 176 million in order to create bigger jackpots. The current jackpot swelled to its enormous size after 22 consecutive draws without a winner.
The winning numbers were 8, 14, 17, 20, 39; Mega Ball: 7.
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