The dying wishes of South Africa’s anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela will be revealed on Monday, the Constitutional Court announced.
“The executors in the estate… invite you to a media briefing on the contents of his last will and testament,” the court’s vice president, Dikgang Moseneke, said in a statement Sunday nearly two months after Mandela died on December 5.
The Mandela Foundation will reveal the contents at midday on Monday at the foundation, he said.
A spokeswoman for the foundation, Danielle Melville, told AFP: “I don’t know if the entire document will be read, but certainly it will be summarised.”
Mandela became South Africa’s first black president in 1994 after spending 27 years in apartheid prisons.
It’s official because I said so. And I’m also not afraid to say that this ad will cause some Republicans to complain. They still can’t understand the interracial aspect of it. If I was working at MSNBC, I’d be fired for making that statement and Mr. Phil would be issuing yet another apology.
In the first go around, Bill O’Reilly had his way with the first term President. Bill showed a level of disrespect to the president not seen in a long, long time. O’Reilly lived up to his Fox News expectation and interrupted, cut off, spoke over the young Barack Obama. So when I heard that the President was offering O’Reilly another interview, I couldn’t understand the reason.
I do now. Like he did in the second debate against Mitt Romney, President Obama kept Bill O’ Reilly and his Fox News talking points at bay.
In the second go around, President Obama stood his ground and directly pointed out that Bill O’Reilly and the people at Fox are the ones pushing the misinformation to the country. He refused to allow Bill O’ to run the show like he did in the first interview and over the 10 minutes of the interview, President Obama got his message across, leaving Bill O’ to try to cut the interview short, but the President continued, letting the country know that he is doing his part, unlike those who wish to continue push a misleading narrative to their listeners… like Fox News.
Forget about rain, snow, sleet, freezing rain or any other objects that might be falling down over the next few days in New Jersey. The real forecast is that the sky is falling on Governor Chris Christie and he has little time, and no room for error, if he wants to regain his reputation as a bully leader anytime soon.
The problem isn’t that he’s an able politician, because he is whether you disagree with him or not, or that he can get the Democrats to sign on to what will be his signature accomplishment, which was to raid public employees’ pockets and blame them for the recession enact a pension and benefits bill that made public employees pay more for their pensions and benefits (discovered the strike through key, didn’t I? OK, I’ll stop).
No, the problem with Chris Christie is that his style finally caught up to him. He is a big guy with a big personality who doesn’t suffer people whom he considers fools very patiently. Now his main personal strategy has him gasping for clean political air, which is usually in short supply in this state, and it’s choking him.
The latest example is a memo the Governor’s Office released in response to former Port Authority official and main player in the GW Bridge traffic scandal, David Wildstein, who said that he had evidence, still unreleased, that shows Christie knowing about the lane closings as they happened. That contrasts with what the governor told the public at his two hour news conference after the scandal broke.
Now, I understand that both parties play the blame game and the strategy has always been that if you’re accused of something to deny it, either truthfully or to stonewall and hope the investigation shows nothing, and to attack your opponents. This memo, though, is officially in the Hall of Fame for its vacuous and lame attempt at slurring Wildstein. From the article:
The memo listed five incidents as evidence, saying that “as a 16-year-old kid,” Mr. Wildstein had sued over a school board election; that he had been “publicly accused by his high school social studies teacher of deceptive behavior”; that he had a controversial tenure as mayor of Livingston, N.J.; that he had been an anonymous blogger; and that he “had a strange habit of registering web addresses for other people’s names without telling them.”
I’m assuming that you’ve stopped laughing.
Suing over a school board election? Doesn’t that qualify you to be in the He-Man Government Hater’s Club? What about being accused of deceptive behavior in social studies class? As a social studies teacher, I now have ultimate political power over most of the approximately 2,500 students who have sat in my classes over the years. Can’t wait for some of them to run for office. Controversial politician? Like you, Governor? Anonymous blogger? Not anymore.
In sum, the governor has bupkis on this guy. If he did, he would have released it weeks ago and would have gone on the offensive as he did in most other cases. If he wanted to play hardball, he would have offered to pay Wildstein’s legal fees so he could defend himself without having to out Christie with what they both know is true. Firing Wildstein, and former Christie aide Bridget Anne Kelly, has now opened the governor to all kinds of problems, because those people are now trying to save their lives. Some of what they say will be wrong, but much of it will be true. And Christie knows that.
The Bridge is not the only problem the governor has because there are reports that he didn’t implement the reconstruction aid program from Sandy until a full 10 months after the money was delivered to NJ. My sense is that this is going to be a bigger problem than lane closures. That was done for political payback; stalling aid to people whose houses were now in the Atlantic is far worse.
And pundits said the President had a rough fifth year. Christie’s win in 2013 will be his final election victory.
The entire nation was saddened when it was revealed that school officials in Utah took away the lunches of about 70 poor school children and tossed those lunches in the garbage. Their reason? Because the parents of those children were too poor. School’s accounting showed that the parents had not pay the monthly stipend for their kids to continue eating school lunches.
Yes, everyone was outraged. Everyone that is, except some Republicans.
Below is a conversation between a twitter user @GammaRae206 and the Republican official for Utah, State Senator Todd Weiler. It was GammaRae206’s position that today’s Republican party and their attitudes towards the poor contributed to the school officials taking such horrific steps against innocent school children. GammaRae206 wanted to engage in a discussion with the Senator to see what could be done to avoid such incidents from happening again in the future. Instead, GammaRae206 was met with a hardened, insensitive attitude, unexpected of the State Senator… even a Republican State Senator.
The good thing about a he saud, she said situation, is that the truth will eventually come out.
After a New York Times report stating that David Wildstein had information showing Chris Christie knew about the lane closings on the George Washington Bridge last September, Christie is firing back on all cylinders.
His office released the following letter.
Things You Should Know About The Bombshell That’s Not A Bombshell
1. New York Times Bombshell Not A Bombshell. A media firestorm was set off by sloppy reporting from the New York Times and their suggestion that there was actually “evidence” when it was a letter alleging that “evidence exists.” Forced to change the lead almost immediately, the Times was roundly criticized, and its editor was forced to issue this extraordinary statement to the Huffington Post:
• “We’ve made probably dozens of changes to the story to make it more precise. That was one of them. I bet there will be dozens more.”
2. As he has said repeatedly, Governor Christie had no involvement, knowledge or understanding of the real motives behind David Wildstein’s scheme to close lanes on the George Washington Bridge.
• GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: “So what I can tell you is if people find that hard to believe, I don’t know what else to say except to tell them that I had no knowledge of this — of the planning, the execution or anything about it — and that I first found out about it after it was over. And even then, what I was told was that it was a traffic study. And there was no evidence to the contrary until yesterday that was brought to my attention or anybody else’s attention.” (Press Conference, 1/9/14)
3. The Governor first learned lanes at the George Washington Bridge were even closed from press accounts after the fact. Even then he was under the belief it was a traffic study. He first learned David Wildstein and Bridget Kelly closed lanes for political purposes when it was reported on January 8th.
• GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: “And I knew nothing about this. And until it started to be reported in the papers about the closure, but even then I was told this was a traffic study.” (Press Conference, 1/9/14)
4. In David Wildstein’s past, people and newspaper accounts have described him as “tumultuous” and someone who “made moves that were not productive.”
• As a 16-year-old kid, he sued over a local school board election.
• He was publicly accused by his high school social studies teacher of deceptive behavior.
• He had a controversial tenure as Mayor of Livingston
• He was an anonymous blogger known as Wally Edge
• He had a strange habit of registering web addresses for other people’s names without telling them
• Thomas L. Adams, Wildstein’s Council Running Mate: “It Was A Tumultuous Time.” (Shawn Boburg, “Ex-Blogger Is Governor Christie’s Eyes, Ears Inside The Port Authority,” Bergen Record, 3/3/12)
• Robert Leopold, Livingston’s former Democratic Mayor: Wildstein Was “A Political Animal” Who “Frightened People.” (Shawn Boburg, “Ex-Blogger Is Governor Christie’s Eyes, Ears Inside The Port Authority,” Bergen Record, 3/3/12)
• “He Was A Very Contentious Person.” (Shawn Boburg, “Ex-Blogger Is Governor Christie’s Eyes, Ears Inside The Port Authority,” Bergen Record, 3/3/12)
Wildstein Created “Culture Of Fear” Within Port Authority. “He and others referred to a ‘culture of fear’ within the authority, reflected in testimony from other authority officials about their reluctance to report to Mr. Foye or others what they considered an ‘odd’ request from Mr. Wildstein—to abruptly realign lanes that had been in place for decades and to tell no one about it.” (Ted Mann, “Port Authority Chief Testifies in George Washington Bridge Flap,” The Wall Street Journal, 12/9/13)
5. David Wildstein has been publicly asking for immunity since the beginning, been held in contempt by the New Jersey legislature for refusing to testify, failed to provide this so-called “evidence” when he was first subpoenaed by the NJ Legislature and is looking for the Port Authority to pay his legal bills.
• Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich: “Look, from my perspective and Fort Lee’s perspective, we have credibility issues with Mr. Wildstein…He is certainly bucking for immunity.” (Susan K. Livio, “GWB letter raises credibility questions for Chris Christie, Port Authority official, politicians say,” Star-Ledger, 2/1/14)
• Assemblyman John Wisniewski: “‘I am curious (Wildstein) has documents … he did not provide them to the committee when he was subpoenaed,’ Wisniewski added.” (Susan K. Livio, “GWB letter raises credibility questions for Chris Christie, Port Authority official, politicians say,” Star-Ledger, 2/1/14)
Bottom line – David Wildstein will do and say anything to save David Wildstein.
New York’s Mayor Bill de Blasio took his family to 42nd Street today – renamed Super Bowl Ave – and unleashed a series of taunts on his high afro son Dante after the two took a slide down the 6 stories Toboggan Run.
“Score one for the older generation,” the mayor said in excitement after the two raced down the slide and what appeared to be a win. “Victory for the parents! You got nothing! You got height and you got hair, but you got nothing else!”
The family, along with members of de Blasio’s administration took multiple rides on the slide with the mayor taunting all the way.
Of course things like this surprises no one. Congressional Republicans and other elected officials have just about said these same things, only not in so much words. So hearing a Congressman encouraging a woman calling for the president’s execution, is sadly not surprising.
U.S. Congressman Jim Bridenstone (R-OK) attended a luncheon hosted by the Tea Party sub-group Tulsa 9:12 Project last week to discuss the issues of the day with his constituency. One of the people in the crowd said “Obama is not President as far as I am concerned. He should be executed as an enemy combatant really” the congressman’s response was not to immediately shoot down the stupidity and treason expressed.
Instead, Bridenstone fed into the woman’s moronic fears, based on lies and a lack of understanding if what an Executive Order is. Bridenstone laughed and said “Don’t hold back, Emma.” The woman then went on to ask the congressman about “the Muslims that he is shipping into our country through pilots and commercial jets.” Bridenstone’s lack of denial about such nonsense is telling regarding just how far he will go to gain the support of people wishing for the death of the standing President of The United States.
According to the report filed by NBC, $4.8 million in federal relief funds were used by the Christie administration in the renovation of an apartment building not affected by the storm.
New Jersey’s Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency approved the disbursement as part of the state’s Fund for Rebuilding Multifamily Housing. The program is intended to speed the construction of new affordable housing in communities ravaged by the storm.
But New Brunswick lost relatively little of its housing stock when Sandy stormed through the state, and a Rutgers University study ranked New Brunswick 188th on a list of communities that suffered the most hardship due to Sandy.
“They’re not spending the money on the people that they’re supposed to be spending,” said Doris Narkum, a storm victim whose family lost their house on the Jersey Shore.
A New York man allegedly found sitting in a car with a loaded rifle, machete and a container of gasoline was charged on Friday with threatening to kill George W. Bush after professing a romantic interest in the former president’s oldest daughter, prosecutors said.
Benjamin Smith, 44, of upstate New York was arrested in Manhattan by the U.S. Secret Service, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court.
‘Bush will get his,’ Smith screamed as he was taken into custody, according to the complaint.
Later, when asked about his marital status, he told agents he was divorced and ‘working on a relationship with Barbara Bush.’
At a preliminary hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Griswold told U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry Pitman the government believes Smith was referring to the former president’s daughter and not Bush’s mother, who shares the same name.
It is a crime under federal law to threaten a current or former president.
On Thursday, the man’s mother called police to report she had found a threatening note in the home she shares with her son and that a rifle was also missing, the complaint said.
‘I’m going to work for George W. Bush and the Pentagon,’ the note said, according to the government. ‘I have to slay a dragon and then Barbara Bush is mine.’
The Prince of Wales has launched an attack on climate change sceptics, describing them as the “headless chicken brigade” and accusing “powerful groups of deniers” of engaging in intimidation.
Charles, who has long campaigned to raise awareness of global warming and has hit out at sceptics in the past, unleashed his latest salvo during an awards ceremony at Buckingham Palace for green entrepreneurs.
“It is baffling, I must say, that in our modern world we have such blind trust in science and technology that we all accept what science tells us about everything – until, that is, it comes to climate science,” the prince said in a speech on Thursday evening.
“All of a sudden, and with a barrage of sheer intimidation, we are told by powerful groups of deniers that the scientists are wrong and we must abandon all our faith in so much overwhelming scientific evidence.
“So, thank goodness for our young entrepreneurs here this evening, who have the far-sightedness and confidence in what they know is happening to ignore the headless chicken brigade and do something practical to help.”
Charles made his comments as the inaugural Prince of Wales Young Sustainability Entrepreneur Prize was awarded to Gamal Albinsaid, who founded the Indonesian social enterprise Garbage Clinical Insurance, which helps the poor gain access to health services and education through the collection and recycling of rubbish.
In his weekly address, President Obama expanded on the goals he laid out in the State of the Union address. Goals that if followed by those in Congress, would result in a better opportunities for the American people.
After four years of economic growth with eight million new private sector jobs, our unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been in more than five years. And with the economy speeding up, companies say they intend to hire more people this year.
But while those at the top are doing better than ever, average wages have barely budged. Inequality has deepened. Too many Americans are working harder and harder just to get by. And too many still aren’t working at all.
Our job is to reverse those trends. It’s time to restore opportunity for all people – the idea that no matter who you are, if you work hard and live up to your responsibilities, you can make it if you try.
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