[PHILLY] Dennis Rodman is at the top of a list no one wants to be on. He's been named GQ's No. 1 least influential celebrity of 2013.
The 52-year-old former basketball player who has visited Kim Pudge Jong-un ...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished... in North Korea was selected as the top pick in the magazine's third annual list of the least influential celebrities, which also includes twerking pop star Miley Cyrus, President Barack Obama If you have a small business, you didn't build that... , and celebrity chef Paula Deen. GQ called Rodman a "Q-list celebrity willing to commit borderline treason just to hang out with a dictator who himself aspires to be a Q-list celebrity."
Rodman said this week he's preparing to return to North Korea late next month for an exhibition basketball tour.
Deen, whose cooking empire imploded this year after she admitted to having used the N-word to describe black employees, came in at No. 2 on the list behind Rodman, while former sexting U.S. Rep. Anthony Carlos Danger Weiner ...aka Hot Dog Tony, the remarkably offensive sex maniac six-term New York congressman who resigned in 2011, then decided everybody had forgotten by 2013, when he decided to run for mayor of New York City... took the No. 3 spot.
"He's the saddest lecher in American politics, and that's saying something, because they're all lechers," the magazine said.
Cyrus, who garnered attention at this year's MTV Video Music Awards for her provocative performance with a foam finger, won the No. 6 position for "basically trying every inane strategy she could think of to rile up America's few remaining pearl clutchers." The magazine noted "what's sad is that it totally worked."
Obama came in at No. 17 because "nothing gets done."
Other celebrities deemed non-influential include Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Ryan Reynolds and Will Smith.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Obama came in at No. 17 because "nothing gets done."
Not so bad. Consider what things might be like if he did get things done. We would look like a full-blown executive branch dictatorship or a socialistic nightmare.
#2
JohnQC - Good point. I was discussing Obama vs. Bill Clinton, and she reminded me that I didn't think Bill was so bad because he did very little that he said he was going to do when he campaigned.
#3
I don't know, I think he has managed to get a lot done. None of it good for the country or working/middle class though.
Obamacare, the banking bill, NDAA, several other bills that I can't remember and has managed to distribute countless billions of dollars into the pockets of his cronies.
Miserable commie bastard.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man ||
11/25/2013 14:00 Comments ||
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[An Nahar] Police in Kenya launched operations Sunday against armed hard boyz who have laid siege to a village in the country's northwest amid a border dispute between communities.
A day earlier, hard boyz surrounding the village of Lorokon, home to the clashing rival Pokot and Turkana communities, seized three cop shoppes and put up "heavy resistance" against police sent to the area, authorities said.
"Two operations are being carried out... to re-establish order in Lorokon," the National Disaster Operations Center wrote on its Twitter feed Sunday without giving further details.
"The siege is still ongoing," the center said.
Earlier Sunday the NDOC had reported that festivities had ended but that hard boyz were still in the area.
Kenyan authorities, who imposed a curfew in the area Saturday, were not immediately available for comment on the siege.
According to a statement from the Kenyan Red Thingy, "an estimated 600 to 900 residents of the village are surrounded by Pokot gunnies who are said to be numbering over 150".
The organization said leaders from the two communities were due to meet on Sunday to try to resolve the dispute.
Two Red Thingy teams were in the meantime negotiating with the leaders to get humanitarian access to residents facing a crisis after days spent unable to leave the village.
"More than 900 people, mostly women and kiddies, cannot go out to look for water and food because they are surrounded by gunnies," regional governor Josphat Nanok warned, in comments quoted by the Kenyan press agency on Saturday.
According to the Red Thingy, trouble began on November 18 after the death of two Pokot, blamed on the Turkana tribe. Retaliating Pokot then surrounded the village.
The Turkana and Pokot tribes, experienced in fighting and farming, often clash, mostly over cattle rustling and territory.
The current crisis in Turkana South is "not new", said the Red Thingy.
"This is a resource-based conflict which includes land, pasture, water, cattle rustling and politics.... Even if the current stalemate is resolved, we are almost certain that this will recur."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Former Congolese vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba's lawyer and a member of his party have been tossed in the clink Book 'im, Mahmoud! on suspicion of tampering with witnesses in the ex-warlord's war crimes trial in The Hague, party officials said Sunday.
The chairman of Bemba's opposition party the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) said International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... warrants were carried out against politician Fidele Babala Wandu in Kinshasa and lawyer Aime Kilolo at Brussels airport.
The ICC confirmed a total of four arrests had been made, including Babala Wandu and Kilolo.
MLC front man Germain Kambinga told Agence La Belle France Presse Babala Wandu was arrested at his home overnight Saturday to Sunday by security forces holding the ICC warrants.
He was being held in the prosecutor's office in Kinshasa. "We did not know about this warrant. We were all surprised, we are in shock," Kambinga said.
Following news of the arrests, members of the MLC met with the president of the National Assembly, Aubin Minaku, to discuss the "regrettable incident," Kambinga said.
The 57-year-old Babala Wandu was Bemba's private secretary when he was DR Congo's vice-president from 2003 to 2006.
Bemba's rebel army is accused of atrocities in the Central African Republic and he has been jugged Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! by the ICC since 2008, charged with three war crimes counts and two of crimes against humanity for murder, rape and pillaging.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2013 00:00 ||
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[Yemen Post] A court in Yemen decided to postpone issuing a final verdict in the case of Huda Abdullah Ali, a young Saudi national who was caught by the authorities as she tried to enter Yemen illegally with her fiancé, Yemen national, Arafat Mohammed Taher al-Qadi.
The couple who were denied their marriage plan by Huda's family decided to escape to Yemen, where they planned to settle and marry, determined to not let tradition and family destroy their hope of happiness. In a society as traditional as Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... where women are no more than commodities under the supreme authority of their male relatives, the idea that a young woman could so blatantly oppose her father's wishes, especially in a matter as gravely important as marriage has had both officials and the religious authorities clamouring for her return; as all want to see her pay for her crime.
While just as traditional as Saudi Arabia, women enjoy a very different status than their Saudi counterpart. So far it is Yemen's more benevolent attitude toward women which has motivated the Yemeni authorities to protect Huda so far, and prompted them to loot at her case with a greater degree of compassion.
Dubbed the Romeo and Juliet of Yemen, Huda and Arafat have captured Yemen's imagination, the contemporary heroes of post-revolution Yemen. Inspired by the couple's plight and maybe on some degree in reaction to Saudi Arabia increasingly prejudiced stance against Yemen, human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... and political activists have chosen to fight in the couple's behalf.
Protesters have demonstrated before the court room, calling on the authorities to answer "the call of love" and show clemency, warning they would not leave until the two are properly married.
Under much public pressure and the scrutiny of rights groups such Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... and HOOD (Yemen's most prominent rights group), prosecutors chose to postpone their decision until it could be determined whether or not Huda could be given a political refugee status under the UN Charter.
Huda's fiancé, al-Qadi, who is himself facing criminal charges for enabling an unauthorized migrant from entering Yemen, told news hounds, "My only demand is to grant Huda humanitarian refugee status so that I can marry her,"
The Yemen Organization for Defending Human Rights, HOOD, said earlier that they have provided the court with all necessary documents for Ali to be registered as a refugee.
HOOD's lawyer Abdul-Raqeeb al-Qadi said the Interior Ministry was still refusing to let the UN refugee agency see Ali, who is in detention.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2013 00:00 ||
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[ARABNEWS] A Yemeni wedding ended in disaster after a guest firing celebratory shots in the air with his AK-47 accidentally killed two men while they were dancing to pop hit "Gangnam Style," according to a police source and a video posted online.
The police source said the guest at the wedding in the southern city of Taiz lost control of his rifle, leading to the deaths. Two other people were being treated in hospital.
A video circulating on the Web purportedly shows the incident, which happened late last week. Its authenticity could not be immediately verified.
The footage shows a man shooting a gun in the air and then starting to dance with several other guests to the hit song.
The rattle of gunfire is then heard and when the camera pans down, bodies are seen lying in pools of blood. The music stops as the guests rush to help the victims.
Celebratory gunfire is common at Yemeni weddings.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2013 00:00 ||
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Saudi Arabia says one more person has died from the Mers virus, bringing to 55 the number of deaths in the kingdom at the center of the outbreak.
The Health Ministry said on Sunday that the 37-year-old man had died in Riyadh. He was among the 130 people who have been infected with the virus in Saudi Arabia since September last year.
The new virus is related to SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, which killed some 800 people in a global outbreak in 2003. It belongs to a family of viruses that most often causes the common cold.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/25/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
In which a young Saudi digs deep for rhymes for "pest house in Jaffa," but despairs and instead ponders where MERS comes from...
Can you catch MERS by smoking cigars?
Was it brought in by Lollywood stars?
What about hotel bars?
I've heard it's like SARS,
That it's spread by loose women in cars.
Did them fellas that took Jimmy Hoffa
Ask "Mind if we knocka you offa?"
Youse might think it trite,
But why not be polite?
Shuddup or I'll smack ya, ya scoffer!
#3
#2 I had a high school English teacher named Zenobia - tried to teach me to write poetry.
Nothing to it. You just roll your eyes back and start swaying...
Zenobia
zen obeah
sweet spiritual ritual
of the Motherland
[bongo]
not the usual
downcast almond eyes
[flute]
silent asians
pondering the skies
[conga]
see the sisters strut like crows
hopping like they stubbed their toes
bottoms broader than their nose
meditate on one of those!
laughing yelling dancing spelling
you can't sit on what your selling
forget that chasing lack of pain --
come on, have some yakkamein!
...then you wake up all sweaty, smelling like rum, with chicken feathers in your pocket. Last one out please lob a nuke into the portal. In all seriousness, I'd like to hear more about that teacher, consistent with opsec and mod/reg temperament. I can't even imagine any of my teachers showing such interest.
#5
Mrs. Zenobia Bellart. Taught English in a public high school in New York State in the 1950's (& before?) & 1960's into the 1970's. Also taught Latin. Not the best on the staff, but it was a good staff and she was pretty good. Unsuccessful in teaching me to write poetry though. Did manage to learn (and forget) the various kinds (sonnets etc.) We did a class reading of Julius Caesar that did teach me an appreciation of Shakey.
Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Garibashvili has been elected chairman of Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia party. The participants of the ruling party's congress, held on Nov. 24 in Tbilisi, unanimously supported Garibashvili's appointment to this post.
Georgian Energy and Natural Resources Minister, Kakha Kaladze was elected the party's Secretary General. 12 members of the governing body of Political Council were also elected.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/25/2013 00:00 ||
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A lawyer representing a self-styled Muslim sheikh accused of being an accessory to the stabbing death of a woman in Sydney says his client will vigorously defend the charges.
Man Haron Monis, alias Sheikh Haron, had previously sent offensive letters to the families of dead Australian soldiers. He is now charged with being an accessory to the murder of Noleen Hayson Pal, who was allegedly stabbed and set on fire in an apartment in April. Amira Duris has been charged with the woman's murder.
Lawyer Manny Conditsos says the pair intend to plead not guilty. He said, "They strongly protest their innocence. In my view, having some knowledge of the prosecution case, it certainly appears to be entirely circumstantial and a weak Crown case."
Enough personal 'helping the poor stories' to warm the heart of any liberal. But to save you the time, many have been on the gubbamint dole for a long, long time and some used to work in the coal mines. No one observed that more could be working in the coal mines, were it not for the war on coal. Most in the article on going on Medicaid; I missed any strong, young folks signing on in case they were to be struck by lighting.
"Yeah, we live on this side of the hill," said Woodrow Wilson Noble, whose family farm had gone under, who lived on food stamps and what his mother could spare, and who was about to hear whether he would have health insurance for the first time in his 60-year-old life.
This is how things are going in Kentucky: Where the computer system works, it seems
As conservatives argued that the new health-care law will wreck the economy, as liberals argued it will save billions, as many Americans raged at losing old health plans and some analysts warned that a disproportionate influx of the sick and the poor could wreck the new health-care model, Lively was telling Noble something he did not expect to hear.
"All right," she said. "We've got you eligible for Medicaid." I am SO glad SOMEBODY is coming out ahead on this deal!
Places such as Breathitt County, in the Appalachian foothills of eastern Kentucky, are driving the state's relatively high enrollment figures, which are helping to drive national enrollment figures as the federal health exchange has floundered. So most of the enrolment that Champ's supporters are taking credit for are signing up in the functioning state exchanges.
In a state where 15 percent of the population, about 640,000 people, are uninsured, 56,422 have signed up for new health-care coverage, with 45,622 of them enrolled in Medicaid and the rest in private health plans, according to figures released by the governor's office Friday. You don't need a calculator to do that math.
If the health-care law is having a troubled rollout across the country, Kentucky -- and Breathitt County in particular -- shows what can happen in a place where things are working as the law's supporters envisioned. How's that? Bankrupting the middle class? Or my grandchildren?
One reason is that the state set up its own health-insurance exchange, sidestepping the troubled federal one. Also, Gov. Steve Beshear (D) is the only Southern governor to sign on to expanded eligibility parameters for Medicaid, the federal health-insurance program for the poor. Somebody remind me who's paying for this. Kentuckians? Or all US taxpayers?
"Okay, Woodrow, now you get to shop a little bit," she said, explaining options he'd never had before.
"If you go to the doctor, all you're going to pay is $1," she began. "If you're in the hospital for an extended period, you should only be billed $5. . . . If you get medicine, generics are $1 and brand is $4. . . . You can go to the dentist once a month -- exams, X-rays and cleanings are covered. . . . Now for your teeth, the plan does take care of having them pulled and does take care of fillings, but not bridges, because that's considered cosmetic."
"I got some warts on me I got to take off, some moles," said Woodrow. "I might have that colonoscopy done. My mom had colon cancer twice. I never had money to do it." He said he was told it could cost at least $2,000.
"I got this pain in my left shoulder," he said, lifting his arm and rotating it. "Might be arthritis, I guess. I don't know."
The per-capita income in Breathitt is about $15,000, and the rates of diabetes, hypertension and other health problems earned this part of Kentucky the nickname "Coronary Valley." I thought The War On Poverty was supposed to help those folks.
Posted by: Bobby ||
11/25/2013 07:53 ||
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#2
Warms the cockles of my heart (sarc on). At last a Democide feel good story...However, it's WaPo. I'm watching Sarah Kliff from WaPo on CSPAN now. If you like this story and believe it, you will most likely like and believe what she is saying on CPSAN. If you are dubious about anything said or that comes from this administration because they have a history of lying about the sun coming up, it will sound like just another load of fictitious, made-up crap.
#3
Sorry about the Glish Tholump4651. It's really JohnQC. I cleaned out my browser and cookies as I was getting too many people trying to sell me stuff.
#9
I don't think I want the kind of award you've been giving a certain Canadian lately. I'm not a Democrat either. So I'll consider myself warned.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
11/25/2013 17:32 Comments ||
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#10
Well, frankly, (can I say that?) these are the people Medicaid was designed for. Altho I suspect Woodrow Wilson Noble (9.75) will be an expensive addition to the risk pool. That ache, them teefs. If it's cheap to consume it will be consumed. But in this case, well I'm gonna cut Woodrow Wilson Noble (brother of Montgomery Ward Noble?) some slack.
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/25/2013 21:28 Comments ||
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#13
Some of the cheapest land in the region is around these places.
The only plot I found that made me groan over the price was: a) an historical farm, b) the site of the only diamond deposit in Kentucky, c) home to multiple oil wells.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
11/25/2013 21:31 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
North Korea
International Criminal Court
Saudi Arabia says one more person has died from the Mers virus, bringing to 55 the number of deaths in the kingdom at the center of the outbreak.
A lawyer representing a self-styled Muslim sheikh accused of being an accessory to the stabbing death of a woman in Sydney says his client will vigorously defend the charges.
