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The Cats... Republicans
The Frozen Lake... The MSM
The Big Fish... If you don't know by now you never will
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Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Chelsea Clinton Demands $65,000 for 10-Minute Speech
A chip off the old block.
I'm sure after she gave this illuminating 10 minute speech those present were richly rewarded and because of her living far better lives. Or they just got taken again by another Clinton.
Listen baby...for $6,500 bucks a minute you better be able to tell me who's going to win the World series, in how many games, and the final score!
The money goes to the 'Clinton Foundation' alright.
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(Washington Post) – When the University of Missouri at Kansas City was looking for a celebrity speaker to headline its gala luncheon marking the opening of a women's hall of fame, one name came to mind: Hillary Rodham Clinton.
But when the former secretary of state's representatives quoted a fee of $275,000, officials at the public university balked. "Yikes!" one e-mailed another.
So the school turned to the next best option: her daughter, Chelsea.
The university paid $65,000 for Chelsea Clinton's brief appearance Feb. 24, 2014, a demonstration of the celebrity appeal and marketability that the former and possibly second-time first daughter employs on behalf of her mother's presidential campaign and family's global charitable empire.
More than 500 pages of e-mails, contracts and other internal documents obtained by The Washington Post from the university under Missouri public record laws detail the school's long courtship of the Clintons.
They also show the meticulous efforts by Chelsea Clinton's image-makers to exert tight control over the visit, ranging from close editing of marketing materials and the introductory remarks of a high school student to limits on the amount of time she spent on campus.
The schedule she negotiated called for her to speak for 10 minutes, participate in a 20-minute, moderated question-and-answer session and spend a half-hour posing for pictures with VIPs offstage.
As with Hillary Clinton's paid speeches at universities, Chelsea Clinton made no personal income from the appearance, her spokesman said, and directed her fee to the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
"Chelsea is grateful to have the opportunity to speak at events like this while also supporting the work of the Clinton Foundation," said the spokesman, Kamyl Bazbaz. He said she was happy to "celebrate the legacy of women in their community."
Chelsea Clinton, who at the time was just shy of her 34th birthday, commanded a higher fee than other prominent women speakers the university considered booking when Hillary Clinton proved too expensive, including feminist icon Gloria Steinem ($30,000) and journalists Cokie Roberts ($40,000), Tina Brown ($50,000) and Lesley Stahl ($50,000), the records show.
Officials with the school appeared to believe Clinton was worth her fee, which university spokesman John Martellaro said was paid using private donations. They exulted to Clinton's representatives that the luncheon sold out quickly, with 1,100 tickets selling for $35 each — which would equal $38,500. University officials say the event was intended to boost attention for the new hall of fame, not raise money.
"Chelsea was the perfect fit," Amy Loughman, an alumni relations official who managed the event, wrote in an e-mail a few days later. "It created fantastic buzz in the community."
Chelsea Clinton has become an increasingly public figure in her own right.
With her parents stepping back from the foundation, started by former president Bill Clinton in 2002, Chelsea Clinton has assumed a prominent management role there and as an advocate for its work on global health, childhood obesity and other issues. Until last summer, she worked as a special correspondent for NBC News, where Politico first reported she earned an annual salary of $600,000.
Clinton is stepping out as an early key surrogate for her mother's campaign, appearing this spring on the cover of Elle magazine and walking at the head of the campaign's marchers at last weekend's gay pride parade in New York City. Last week, an all-male a capella group released a playful music video called"Chelsea's Mom," which Clinton praised on Twitter.
Clinton has delivered nine paid speeches on behalf of the Clinton Foundation in recent years, raising between $370,000 and $800,000 for the nonprofit organization. Overall, the foundation has taken in between $12 million and $26 million in speaking fees, the lion's share of that money from 73 speeches delivered by Bill Clinton.
In dozens of e-mails exchanged between University of Missouri officials and Clinton's representatives at the Harry Walker Agency, which arranges appearances by all three Clintons, there was no reference to her $65,000 fee going to charity. Nor was there any reference in the five-page contract.
The university paid the fee — which also covered Clinton's travel expenses — in two disbursements to the Walker Agency. But Martellaro said, "We have no knowledge of how funds were disbursed from that point."
Bazbaz said all of Clinton's paid speeches through the Walker Agency are delivered on behalf of the foundation "to support implementing its life saving work" and that this was "always the intention" with the University of Missouri. He added that neither she nor her hosts receive charitable tax deductions.
The contract stipulated that Clinton would have final approval of everything, such as the selection of her introducer (celebrities, journalists and elected officials were prohibited from consideration), the onstage setup (there must be "room-temperature water" next to her podium along with "two comfortable armed-and-backed chairs" for the question-and-answer session) and the type of microphone provided for her use (both lavaliere and handheld).
In e-mails with university officials, Clinton's aides closely edited the texts of press releases, marketing materials and introductory remarks. Clinton's representatives instructed that a line about her being the daughter of Bill and Hillary Clinton be deleted from one news release and that her title of vice chair of the Clinton Foundation be added beneath her name on an electronic flier. Other materials mentioned her parents, however.
When reviewing the script that a student would read introducing her, a Clinton Foundation aide asked university officials to remove the list of Clinton's degrees. A Clinton adviser, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about the event, said "this was by no means an intention to script a high school student's introduction of Chelsea," but rather to avoid what otherwise would have been a recitation of all of Clinton's achievements.
Clinton's representatives also instructed university officials to cut a reference to her mother-in-law, former congresswoman Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky, from a news release being drafted about the event. Margolies-Mezvinsky was an acquaintance of Martha Jane Phillips Starr, a Kansas City philanthropist and namesake of the hall of fame that Clinton was unveiling. However, a Clinton adviser noted that Margolies-Mezvinsky was mentioned during the event itself.
Clinton's representatives also closely managed her time on campus. They asked whether she would be free to depart from the event once she finished her remarks, rather than waiting until the luncheon concluded. Martellaro said she stayed until the end.
Clinton agreed to pose for photographs backstage with 100 VIPs prior to the speech. But her representatives requested that only 20 to 30 minutes be budgeted for the photo line, rather than 45 minutes the university initially sought.
The contract required that the university submit a final list of attendees (including their occupations, titles and affiliations) two weeks prior to the event "for vetting" and stipulated that guests must be lined up prior to Clinton's arrival and then "proceed to their seats" after their photos were taken. The contract also gave Clinton's team "final approval" of which media outlets were authorized to cover the speech.
Some of these requirements are standard for prominent speakers.
The documents show that university officials were persistent in pursuing Clinton as a speaker. When they first inquired about her availability, a Walker Agency staffer informed them that Clinton had never before accepted a speaking invitation.
Later, a speaking agency staffer told the university that Clinton had decided to "consider a very select few invitations" and that the mission of their project made it something she might agree to do.
During her remarks, Clinton praised both her parents and highlighted the work of their foundation, talking at length about its efforts to lower drug prices.
"As my mother has observed, equal rights for women and girls remains the unfinished business of the 21st century," she said, according to a university account of her remarks. "We will only complete this business if we are equally committed and we highlight the role models we are already blessed to have."
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Same story two takes...make that 4
Take 1
Man exonerated last year after 30 years on death row dies
SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — A 65-year-old Shreveport man on death row for three decades before being exonerated last year has died.
An attorney for Glenn Ford told multiple media outlets that Ford died Monday. Ford had been diagnosed with lung cancer.
The attorney, William Most, says Ford had been the longest-serving death row inmate in the U.S. at the time of his release on March 10, 2014. Ford was found guilty in 1984 in the 1983 murder of a Shreveport jeweler, but his conviction was vacated after new evidence pointed to a different suspect in the killing.
After his release, Ford petitioned the state of Louisiana for compensation but was denied.
Ford, who resided in New Orleans after his release and until his death, is survived by several children and grandchildren living in California.
So you read this story and you say to yourself...Man did this poor bastard get screwed!
Take 2
Exonerated convict Glenn Ford succumbs to lung cancer at 65
Glenn Ford, who spent nearly 30 years on Angola's death row for a murder that prosecutors eventually conceded he did not commit, died in New Orleans early Monday (June 29), supporters announced. He was 65.
Ford learned he had lung cancer shortly after his release from Angola on March 11, 2014. A news release from Ford's supporters said he died at 2:11 a.m., having been "surrounded by friends, loved ones and family in recent days."
Ford, who was born in Shreveport on Oct. 22, 1949, was convicted of the 1983 murder of 56-year-old Isadore Rozeman, a Shreveport jeweler and watchmaker for whom Ford had done occasional yard work. Ford had always denied killing Rozeman, and on March 10, 2014, he was exonerated of the crime when the state vacated his conviction.
State District Judge Ramona Emanuel voided Ford's conviction and sentence based on new information corroborating his claim that he was not present or involved in Rozeman's death, Ford's attorneys said.
Ford was tried and convicted of first-degree murder in 1984 and sentenced to death. He spent 29 years, three months and five days in solitary confinement on Angola's death row. At the time of his release, Ford was the longest-serving death row inmate in the United States, supporters said.
The final 15 months of Ford's life were spent outside prison walls but not without challenges.
Attorney General Buddy Caldwell's office filed a petition to deny Ford state-mandated compensation for his wrongful conviction and imprisonment, arguing Ford failed to meet the law's "factually innocent" clause. The provision requires petitioners to have not committed the crime for which they were originally convicted as well as "any crime based upon the same set of facts" used in the original conviction.
First Judicial District Court Judge Katherine Clark Dorroh sided with Caldwell in a ruling three months ago, deciding Ford was aware of the plan to rob Rozeman and failed to stop it, and took and sold items stolen during the robbery. The judge also ruled Ford tried to find buyers for the weapon used in Rozeman's murder, and that he tried to hinder the police investigation by initially giving a false name for the man he later identified as Rozeman's killer.
Ford died while awaiting the outcome of separate federal lawsuits aimed at securing compensation for his imprisonment and failing health, which he claimed resulted from insufficient medical treatment while in prison. Supporters said all he had received from the state before his death was $20 for a bus ride home from prison.
Supporters said Ford is survived by "several children" who live in California, and "more than 10 grandchildren."
A memorial service will be held at the Charbonnet Funeral Home at 1615 St. Philip St., but a date and time had not been immediately determined, supporters said. They asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be made in Ford's name to Resurrection After Exoneration at www.r-a-e.org.
BTW...this is Glenn Ford... then and now.
What take more closely reports what actually happened?
Behold yet a 3rd take.
And a 4th!
It is interesting to note in only one of the 4 articles does it mention...[Ford was aware of the plan to rob Rozeman and failed to stop it, and took and sold items stolen during the robbery. The judge also ruled Ford tried to find buyers for the weapon used in Rozeman's murder, and that he tried to hinder the police investigation by initially giving a false name for the man he later identified as Rozeman's killer.]
Is this true? If it is he did exhibit at lease some culpability in the commission of this crime. I don't think to the tune of 30 years in jai was right. But why were they the only one to report it? Why did the others leave it out?
Just something to think about.
Monday, June 29, 2015
World markets plunge, bank lines grow as Greece financial crisis deepens
DOW
-350.33
In Greece those working in strenuous occupations for 25 years and contributing overall for 35 years could retire as early as 55. In 2006, over a third of new pensioners in the country’s main private-sector fund (IKA) belonged to these trades, which remarkably included far from arduous jobs such as hairdressing. And, since a relatively generous minimum pension was available for anyone with at least 15 years’ contributions and there was also a minimum-income top-up payment, it made sense for many to stop contributing once they had reached that threshold of 15 years, by dropping out into the black-market economy.
Coming to our shores? No it's already here.
Say you have a 401K. Your retirement plan goes up or down depending on the whim of the market. Government employee pensions, negotiated by the unions, are paid by the taxpayers and are guaranteed. No matter what they get their money. This is unsustainable and the reason many big cities in America are going broke.
Margaret Thatcher:
"The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other peoples' money."
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Long lines formed at ATMs and bank branches across Greece Monday as the nation's financial crisis worsened, limiting cash withdrawals and causing global markets to plunge.
Senior citizens looking to collect their monthly government benefits swarmed closed bank branches Monday in the hope of getting their checks, and lines formed at ATMs as bankers gradually began dispensing cash again following the imposition of strict controls on capital.
Greece has imposed restrictions on money withdrawals and banking transactions to keep its financial system from collapsing due to a run on the banks.
The government has imposed a stringent daily limit of 60 euros ($67) on cash withdrawals from ATMs this week. The banks and the country's stock market have been closed for the week after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' surprise call for a referendum next Sunday on creditor proposals for reforms Greece should take to gain access to blocked bailout funds.
Tsipras is advocating Greeks reject the creditor proposals, in the popular vote, which increasingly has the look of a vote on euro membership itself.
The referendum asks Greeks to vote on a simple question: "Should the proposal which was submitted by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund at the Eurogroup of June 25, 2015, which consists of two parts that together consist of their comprehensive proposal be accepted?"
Without a deal to extend the bailout program expiring on June 30, Greece will lose access to the remaining 7.2 billion euros ($8.1 billion) of rescue loans, and is unlikely to be able to meet a 1.6 billion-euro debt repayment to the International Monetary Fund due the same day.
The uncertainty drove Greeks to banks and supermarkets Monday as fears of disruptions to gas and medicine supplies grew, Reuters reported.
"I came here at 4 a.m. because I have to get my pension," said 74-year-old Anastasios Gevelidis, one of about 100 retirees waiting outside the main branch of National Bank of Greece in the country's second largest city of Thessaloniki.
"I don't have a card, I don't know what's going on, we don't even have enough money to buy bread," Gevelidis said.
As global markets plunged following one of the most dramatic weekends in Greece's five-year financial saga, the country woke up to a changed financial landscape that many in the markets fear could be a prelude to a messy debt default and a damaging Greek exit from the euro.
Mounting concerns about Greece drove markets down Monday. U.S. stocks fell, while major indexes in Europe took much bigger losses.The Standard & Poor's 500 index was down 26 points, or 1.2 percent, to 2,076 as of 12:23 p.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 220 points, also 1.2 percent, to 17,723, and the Nasdaq composite fell 72 points, or 1.4 percent, to 5,009.
"Whenever you see any kind of bank line there is in the back of investors' mind the thought: `What if it spreads? What if people panic?' " said Karyn Cavanaugh, senior market strategist at Voya Investment Management. "What's going on in Europe, of course it's going to roil markets in the short term." But for U.S. investor, she said, "the long-term impact is not that big of a deal."
Investors around the world are worried that should Greece leave the euro and say it can't pay its debts, which stand at more than 300 billion euros, the global economic recovery could be derailed and questions would grow over the long-term viability of the euro currency itself.
President Obama and French President Francois Hollande discussed the Greek debt crisis by telephone, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Monday.
"The President reiterated to President Hollande something that we have indicated in the past which is that it's important for the parties sitting around the negotiating table to develop a package of reforms and financing that would allow Greece to return to growth and debt sustainability within the Eurozone," Earnest said.
Many elderly Greeks don't have bank cards and make withdrawals in person at bank branches, and so find themselves completely cut off from their money. "Nobody knows anything. A bank employee came out at 8 a.m. and told us `you're not going to get any money,' but we're hearing that 70 branches will open," Gevelidis said.
The finance ministry said the manner in which pensions would be paid would be announced later Monday afternoon. Deputy Minister of State Terence Quick said special arrangements would be made for pensions, telling private Antenna television that pensions would be dispensed in full as many pensioners don't have bank cards.
The daily withdrawal limit wouldn't be enough to cover many basic necessities. "What can I do first with 60 euros? I owe 150 just to the pharmacy," Gevelidis said.
Although credit and cash card transactions have not been restricted, many retailers were not accepting card transactions Monday morning.
Electronic transfers and bill payments are allowed, but only within the country. The government also stressed the controls would not affect foreign tourists, who would have no limits on cash withdrawals with foreign bank cards.
The capital controls are meant to staunch the flow of money out of Greek banks and spur the country's creditors to offer concessions before Greece's international bailout program expires Tuesday.
The accelerating crisis has thrown into question Greece's financial future and continued membership in the 19-nation shared euro currency -- and even the 28-country European Union.
The euro hit its weakest level against the pound since 2007 as international markets reacted to the Greek crisis, Sky News reported Monday.
Asia was the first to tumble, with stocks falling more than 3 percent in Hong Kong and Japan.
European stock markets later dived on opening, with the CAC 40 in Paris and the German DAX both losing 4.3 percent. Banking stocks in Spain, Italy and Portugal bore the brunt of the sell-offs in their respective countries, as the problems in Greece infected investor confidence for the first time since 2011 -- the height of the eurozone debt crisis.
As the FTSE 100 in London fell 2.2 percent, British Prime Minister David Cameron said he sees Sunday's referendum in Greece as essentially a vote on remaining in the eurozone -- and that it is for the Greek people to decide.
Cameron told the BBC that if the Greeks vote no on budget savings and reforms that the country's creditors had proposed in exchange for loans, he would "find it hard to see how that is consistent with staying in the euro."
"The images of queues at ATMs in Greece are stripping traders of what little confidence they have left in the nation, and the financial earthquake that happened in the eurozone over the weekend can be felt around the world," said David Madden, market analyst at IG.
Among the major markets in Europe, the CAC-40 stock index in France was down 3.6 percent at 4,877 while Germany's DAX fell 3.5 percent to 11,088.
Tsipras announced the capital controls in a televised address Sunday night, blaming the eurogroup, the gathering of the eurozone's finance ministers, and its decision to reject an extension request for the bailout program. He has asked again for the extension to allow for the referendum.
French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said talks with Greece could resume at any time, while Pierre Moscovici, the European commissioner for economic affairs, said negotiations were cut off when an agreement seemed within reach.
The situation now largely rests on a `yes' vote in Greece, Moscovici said.
The referendum decision, ratified by Parliament after a marathon 13-hour session that ended in the early hours of Sunday, shocked and angered Greece's European partners. The country's negotiations with its European creditors have been suspended, with both sides accusing each other of being responsible for talks breaking off.
Greece is dividing into two camps ahead of the referendum. A demonstration is planned in Athens later Monday by those against the proposals from the creditors. Another one is planned for Tuesday by those who want to make sure that Greece's position in Europe is not threatened.
Tsipras also blamed the European Central Bank's Sunday decision not to increase the amount of emergency liquidity the lenders could access from the central bank -- meaning Greece has no way to replenish fast-diminishing deposits.
"It is now more than clear that this decision has no other aim than to blackmail the will of the Greek people and prevent the smooth democratic process of the referendum," Tsipras said. "They will not succeed."
The repercussions of same sex marriage
It's going to be amusing to see how the latest SC ruling on same sex marriage is going to work out in the real world especially since... 'I now pronounce you man and wife' no longer adequately covers it.
The opening salvo:
We will hear soon from those of the Christian faith... who I'm sure will refuse for obvious reasons to preside over it. (Although, I can't say I would be surprised if the Pope officiated over a few himself)
When the refusals come pouring in the left will bare their teeth tearing them up in retaliation. We already got a taste of it...in this a fine example:
The Chick-fil-A same-sex marriage controversy
Remember when Chick-fil-A was the focus of controversy following a series of public comments made in June 2012 by chief operating officer Dan T. Cathy opposing same-sex marriage.
The left attacked them viciously.
But it backfired on the protesters! Chick-fil-A reported many stores doing a much higher then normal business because of people who supported their stance. I don't even like Chick-fil-A and I went. If Dan T. Cathy opposes same sex marriage that is his inalienable right. He wasn't afraid to voice his opinion and live by the strength of his conviction. He's just another homophobe you say? I can prove you wrong. Because of their religious belief and devotion to Christianity Chick-fil-A is closed EVERY Sunday. Do you have any idea how many millions of dollars they lose a year by putting their religion first in their lives?
What will be far more entertaining is watching same sex marriage forced down the throat of the pampered Muslims. Hell, they can't carry out a terrorist attack without it deemed workplace violence! Something tells me the Muslims will get a free pass. Then again Muslims don't seem to have a problem with homosexuals and or same sex marriage.
They never quite seem to make it to the alter.
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