Source: Online-Paralegal-Programs.com
Month: January 2014
Just what Chicago needs. More guns. That should slow the ever increasing crime rate *wink wink*. This, after a judge gave the green light for more gun shops to open their doors for business in the bullet ridden capital of the United states.
The NRA must be so proud!
Well, the other shoe has dropped.
Knicks guard J.R. Smith was fined $50,000 for what the NBA termed “recurring instances of unsportsmanlike conduct” in a Wednesday announcement, stemming from Smith’s shoelace-untying antics in the team’s past two games.
Smith initially was let off with a warning after the league investigated him for untying the shoelace of the Mavericks’ Shawn Marion during a free-throw attempt in Sunday’s game in Dallas. Then he was back at it Tuesday, trying the shoelace trick again — but the Pistons’ Greg Monroe successfully avoided it.
“He was warned, he comes back and he makes the same mistake, and it’s not right,” coach Mike Woodson said Wednesday on ESPN radio. “I’m going to address it tomorrow when he comes in for work, because it’s unacceptable. It’s unprofessional. That’s the only [two words] I can use. You just can’t do that.”
The mercurial swingman, who is averaging 11.3 points on miserable 34.8 percent shooting, was previously fined $25,000 by the NBA in November for directing “hostile” Twitter posts at Detroit’s Brandon Jennings.
Ah Chris Christie. Allow me to refer to you as piblic bully number one.
By now everyone’s heard of Bridge-Gate, where the busiest bridge in the nation – the George Washington – was mysteriously closed back in September on the first day of school, right before the election in 2013.
No one seemed to know the reason for the bridge closing and although questions were asked, answers were few. The answer that initially came forth – the closure was a traffic study – made no sense.
Then it was revealed that the closure to the bridge happened in the town of a Democratic mayor who endorsed Chris Christie’s opponent in the gubernatorial election. Then more questions were asked. Did Chris Christie ordered the bridge closing to cause havoc in this town of Fort Lee, thus, causing unnecessary problems for Mayor Mark Sokolich – the man who refused to endorse him?
Christie denied it of course, then today, the emails were made public.
“It will be a tough November for this little Serbian,” wrote David Wildstein, one of Christie’s appointees to the agency responsible for maintaining the bridge. His comment, apparently referring to Mayor Mark Sokolich.
The emails show that Bridget Anne Kelly, a deputy chief of staff in Mr. Christie’s office, gave a signal to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to close the lanes about two weeks before the closings occurred.
“Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” she emailed David Wildstein, Mr. Christie’s close friend from high school, and one of his appointees at the Port Authority, which controls the bridge.
After the emails were released on Wednesday, Mr. Christie canceled his one public event for the day, which had been billed as an announcement of progress in the recovery from Hurricane Sandy. His office had no immediate comment.
Mr. Christie’s handpicked chairman of the Port Authority, David Samson, was also involved in the closings, according to the emails, which describe his efforts to “retaliate” against New York officials who had not been told of the changes and sought to ease the gridlock.
A text between Christie affiliates went like this.
“Is it wrong that I am smiling?” Mr. Wildstein texted Ms. Kelly.
“No,” she texted back.
“I feel badly about the kids,” he texted.
“They are the children of Buono voters,” she said, referring to Mr. Christie’s Democratic opponent, Barbara Buono, who was trailing consistently in the polls and lost by a wide margin.
Christie’s canceled all appearances today after these emails were made public. He might as well cancel his plans to run for president in 2016.
About 24,000 retired Detroit public servants will soon receive letters notifying them that they are losing their health insurance on March 1, even as the city claims to be negotiating with retirees’ groups to strike a better deal on health care.
The bankrupt city’s emergency manager Kevyn Orr is sticking to the same proposal for drastic retiree health care cuts that he initially intended to implement this month, prompting a group that represents retired Detroit workers to threaten they will sue the city.
For the two-thirds of the retiree group who are old enough to be eligible for Medicare, the plan means shifting onto the government-run insurance program for seniors. But 8,000 younger retirees will have their insurance plans replaced with a monthly stipend check of just $125 to subsidize the cost of insurance plans they will have to find on their own.
When that plan was initially floated last fall, a pair of retired firefighters young enough to be stuck with stipend checks told ThinkProgress that the change would doom their recoveries from the serious injuries they sustained protecting the city. Retired librarian Gwendolyn Beasley, 67, said the shift to Medicare’s less-generous coverage would mean choosing between groceries and prescriptions
Mark Obama Ndesandjo
President Obama’s half-brother Mark Obama Ndesandjo is a skillful pianist, author and businessman. Educated at Brown, Stanford and Emory Universities, he uses his skills to create art, pen memoirs, and teach the arts to orphans in Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China. After living there for 12 years, Ndesandjo says living in China helped find himself, whereas growing up in Kenya taught him survival skills and America overwhelmed him as he attempted to navigate the academic and dating
– See more at: madamenoire.com
Jay Carney, the President’s press secretary didn’t actually say whatever dude, but he could have. When Carney responded to Rodman CNN outburst, he basically dismissed the nose-ring wearing nutcase.
“I’m not going to dignify that outburst with a response,” Carney said at as his daily press briefing. He repeated the Obama administration’s position that the communist country has the choice to “join the community of nations” or will face further sanctions and isolation “because of its insistence upon using its resources to fund its military program and fund its nuclear ambitions.”
During the CNN interview, host Chris Cuomo asked Rodman if he would speak up for Bae’s family and “say, ‘Let us know why this man is being held?’ If you can help him, will you take the opportunity?”
The eccentric hoops star began to raise his voice, responding, “The one thing about politics, Kenneth Bae did one thing…If you understand what Kenneth Bae did. Do you understand what he did? In this country?” Rodman seemed to suggest Bae did something wrong but would not go into detail.
Bae, who was in North Korea as a tourist in 2012, was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for alleged anti-government crimes. The punishment came amid high tensions between the U.S. and North Korea following Pyongyang’s third nuclear test. The White House has repeatedly urged North Korea to release Bae, a Christian missionary who was living in China and leading tours to North Korea.
I have no words for this, except… Prozac… and maybe if he removed that lip ring, the words would come out better… but, I have no words…except, Prozac… maybe…!
A Fox News contributor is perplexed. He is demanding that Republicans stand up and fight against extending unemployment benefits for the unemployed. Contributor Steve Hayes even went as far as calling congressional Republicans “a little too wimpy” for not forcefully standing up against Democrats on the issue.
While Democrats have always been for extending unemployment insurance, most Republicans have steadfastly been against it. These Republicans are demanding that any extension in benefits must come from cuts in other social programs. Steve understands their reasoning, but thinks they’re being “wimpy.”
“They make a very pragmatic, practical argument about deficit neutrality,” Hayes said. “I think that’s a fine argument, as far as it goes. But I think Republicans are being a little too wimpy on this. I think it’s time to make a moral argument against extended unemployment insurance forever.”
Like a majority of Republicans, it is Hayes view that extending unemployment benefits for these out of work Americans is in essence, holding these Americans back. Hayes, and others like him think providing this temporary assistance to those in need will lead to a society of lazy Americans depending on entitlements, thus, making unemployment a “way of life.”
“We’ve been hearing that it’ll be cut off now for the better part of five years,” Hayes said. “There used to be widespread, bipartisan agreement in Washington that unemployment insurance was sort of the last place to go, the last place that somebody who was down on their luck could turn. Now, it’s increasingly becoming a way of life.”
“What’s surprising to me is that Republicans aren’t making a moral case about how often unemployment insurance that goes on forever leads to more unemployment.”
Got that? Considering that a minimum of three applicants apply for every one job opening, it is the Republican’s opinion that any help to these people is wrong. The apparent believe is if an unemployed cannot bully his/her way into getting that one job opening, then they and their family need no help.
Remember North Dakota congressman, Rep. Kevin Cramer? He tried to justify his vote to kick veterans, the elderly and children off of food assistance by misrepresenting and misquoting a passage in the Bible, saying ‘If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.’ Well that same ideology is being played out here in the unemployment insurance fight – if they don’t work, they shouldn’t eat.
Democrats have shocked the political world by defeating Republican obstruction and moving on to a final vote on extending unemployment benefits by a margin of 60-37.
All Democrats voted for the bill, and were joined by Republicans co-sponsor of the bill Dean Heller, Susan Collins, Kelly Ayotte, Rob Portman, Ben Coats, and Lisa Murkowski. These 6 Republicans deserve praise for doing what is right for their constituents who are out there looking every single day, but are struggling to find a job.
Before the vote, Majority Leader Harry Reid said that, “It’s true that the rich are getting richer, and everyone else is getting squeezed.” Reid said that among the unemployed who need an unemployment extension are 20,000 veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Reid said, “For many Americans these benefits make the difference between being able to live a decent life and becoming homeless.”
The last time emergency jobless benefits were allowed to expire was in November 2008. At the time, benefits were extended for three months by a voice vote in the Senate. Republicans in both the House and Senate supported an extension under President Bush that was not paid for, but they are objecting to the same extension under President Obama, and demanding that it be paid for.
Yes, Matt Drudge is the same conservative hero responsible for much of the daily Republican talking points. If he wants to, Drudge, the owner of the omline conservative’s bible called The Drudge Report, could afford to pay for his healthcare out of pocket.
Pocket change.
Today, Matt took to Twitter and tweeted that he has chosen to opt-out of Obamacare for life. And he was advising his less fortunate followers to do the same.
The tweet caught the eyes of Ezra Klein. Klein tweeted a question to Drudge: “Are you going to be uninsured? Or are you just buying qualifying insurance (in which case you’re not opting oyt)?”
Ezra point? That any policy sold in America must meet certain standards as laid out in Obamacare. So if Drudge is buying a policy on his own, it will still be governed under Obamacare rules.
As of now, Drudge hasn’t responded.
It took an appearance by Scandal’s Kerry Washington for Saturday Night Live to finally realize that they need, not want, need a black female cast member. When Washington hosted the show back in November, she was forced – well, maybe not forced – to play various black roles in the same skit. Her appearance highlighted the void in the popular television show.
Enter Sasheer Zamata, a comedian from Brooklyn New York. According to SNL’s producer, Zamata will make her appearance on January 18th, when the show airs its first broadcast for 2014.
Get yourself acquainted with the new addition. The video reel below shows some of Zamata’s acting skills,as she played the roles of Michelle Obama, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, and more!