The beards are here to stay. According to Deadline, the cast of Duck Dynasty just signed a lucrative new contract, one day prior to the show’s fourth season premiere on A&E. Network sources confirm that the Robertsons will receive over $200,000 per episode, a mammoth pay raise from their previous arrangement and an amount that will be divided each week between the nine adults and 11 kids on the series. The deal also ensures future seasons of the wildly popular program, which focuses on the family’s multi-million dollar duck call empire in Monroe, Louisiana. But will Willie Robertson be around for the duration of the series? Sources actually say he’s being wooed for Congress, a topic debated in the following video. Should Willie run? Willie Robertson to Run for Office?
Break out the tissues, Showtime viewers. The first official promo for Homeland Season 3 has been released. In this extended spot, we see the fallout from the explosion that rocked CIA Headquarters to close out Season 2, as Carrie is seen in tears (and handcuffs); Saul is called to testify before Congress; Dana is exploring her sexuality and her religion; and Brody? He’s alone… in bed… with a shaved head. The terrific drama returns with new episodes on September 29. Watch the emotional, mostly musical trailer now: Homeland Season 3 Promo
Farrah Abraham’s controversial, short-lived stint in rehab ended early in part because she got physical with a nurse … according to Michael Lohan. The reality star was kicked out for being a disruptive influence and taking pics of Tan Mom, but that’s not all, says Lindsay Lohan’s dad (who was there). MiLo says Farrah Abraham “physically cornered” a nurse at the facility, the last of a string of outrageous incidents that earned her the heave-ho. “She would just go off on tirades,” Michael Lohan recalled to Jared and Katie in the Morning on 107.5 KZL FM. “She was very abrasive towards staff.” Mike is a spokesperson and an interventionist at The Lukens Institute, so he’s got first-hand knowledge of the antics that got Farrah’s arse kicked out. “Especially the nurse at our place. She physically cornered the lady. She cornered the nurse,” Michael told Jared and Katie about her shocking behavior. Farrah denied reports that she was booted out of the treatment center, telling FOX News “My old manager, who is a lying b!tch, said I was disruptive.” However, Michael says that Abraham totally was … not surprising, as she’s a pathological liar as well as a porn star, despite her denials of each. “She was very disruptive at the house. They didn’t even want her in the house.” Somewhere, James Deen is nodding. Or shooting porn with Google Glass on.
There’s a new member of the Fox News family. The network announced today that anchor Megyn Kelly has given birth to a son named Thatcher Bray. He weighs in at 8 pounds, 2 ounces; is the third child for Kelly and husband Douglas Brunt; and is ” totally awesome ,” according to the mother herself. Kelly and Brunt were married in 2008 and are already parents to Yates, 4, and Yardley, 2. The reporter announced on Valentine’s Day – live on air! – that she and Doug were expecting their third child. She then went on to eviscerate Lou Dobbs and Erick Erickson on her program. We send our very best to the expanded family!
Anthony Weiner says he is staying in the 2013 race for Mayor of New York City despite falling poll numbers and mounting pressure for him to exit. He had actually been near the top of the Democratic field before The Dirty released Anthony Weiner nude photos and explicit texts earlier this week. The fact that the sexting with Sydney Leathers occurred a year after he quit Congress in disgrace over online affairs leaves his comeback bid in peril. But in the face of rivals’ calls to drop out and concern among Democratic leaders that more embarrassing revelations could emerge, he’s staying in. Weiner is adamant that he won’t leave the race over the sexting scandal , soldiering on during a candidates forum Thursday night in Queens. Still, it’s hard to see his campaign rebounding from this one. Scandals blow over and voters are more inclined to give politicians second chances than you often think … but this was his, and he’s just ridiculous. Full-on crotch shots Weiner sent Leathers, 23, were reciprocated by shots of the Indiana resident in a thong-like panty, and another of her in heels. He has a foot fetish, apparently. Weiner, who welcomed his first child with wife Huma Abedin in December 2011, acknowledged that he is still “working with people” to get help He insists he does not have an addiction, however. “I don’t believe that it is . I want to have some modicum of privacy between me and the people who are offering me this help, but the answer is no,” he said. Campaigning at a soup kitchen in Brooklyn, Weiner was asked again about his Internet relationships, putting the total number at “six to 10, I suppose.” Asked how many occurred after he left Congress amid his first sexting scandal in June 2011, Weiner said, “I don’t believe I had any more than three.” There weren’t “dozens and dozens,” the 48-year-old added. New York City voters’ fears? Totally assuaged right now.
Eliot Spitzer is mounting a comeback. The disgraced ex-governor of New York State, who resigned in 2008, is running for New York City comptroller. He cleared the first hurdle in his unexpected quest to become the city’s accounting and financial chief by filing 27,000 signatures to get on the ballot. Eliot Spitzer’s political career was all but over until he announced his surprise candidacy for the somewhat random (but still elected and powerful) position. He far exceeded the threshold of 3,750 signatures required to get on September ballot in the Democratic primary election. He had until midnight to file. “I want to say thank you to the citizens of New York,” said Spitzer standing in front of four boxes of petitions. “This is a demonstration of popular support.” His place on the ballot is not yet assured. The signatures must be validated by the city’s Board of Elections and are subject to challenge from opponents. Signatures can be nixed if a voter already signed another comptroller candidate’s petition, is not a Democrat in NYC or runs afoul of other technicalities. Because of New York’s tough (some might say arcane) rules, Spitzer needed roughly 15,000 signatures to feel secure that he could stave off challenges. For comparison, Scott Stringer, the Manhattan borough president who also seeks the job, submitted approximately 100,000 names on his petition. Spitzer running for comptroller – an job responsible for auditing a roughly $70 billion budget and managing roughly $140 billion in pension funds – came as a shock. Political comebacks are nothing new, but the way in which he resigned – getting busted paying prostitute Ashley Dupre – was particularly sordid. Voters have been unable to escape comparisons between Spitzer and Anthony Weiner, who left Congress in 2011 because of a sexting scandal. Weiner is running for mayor of New York in 2013. “You could have a cable TV show,” said Baruch College (N.Y.) public affairs professor Doug Muzzio. “It’s the Real Politicians of New York.” We’d watch it.
CBC To Meet With Barack Obama On Black Unemployment Unfortunately, black unemployment is getting worse and folks want to know Barack Obama’s plan to get us back on track. According to Wall Street Journal: Bloomberg News reports that President Obama will meet today with the Congressional Black Caucus. It will be the first such meeting since May 2011. “CBC chairwoman Marcia Fudge, a Democrat from Ohio, plans to press the president on what he’s doing to lower black unemployment,” according to Bloomberg. The black jobless rate rose in June to 13.7 percent from 13.5 percent a month earlier. Given the policies that Mr. Obama has pushed since their last confab, you might think the president and black lawmakers had lots to discuss. Earlier this year, for example, Mr. Obama called on Congress to raise the minimum wage to $9 an hour from $7.25 and to automatically adjust it with inflation, even though the minimum wage is a proven job-killer for blacks and black youths especially. Last month, the administration sued BMW BMW.XE -0.62% and discount retailer Dollar General DG -0.62% for the alleged use of unfair criminal background checks to screen workers. But empirical studies show that employers who check criminal backgrounds are more likely to hire blacks, and black men in particular. The president opposes school vouchers, even though they increase high school graduation rates. And he supports racial preferences in college admissions, which result in more black kids dropping out and fewer black scientists and engineers among those who earn a degree. The problem, of course, is that blacks victimized by these policies will have no one batting for them in this meeting because the Congressional Black Caucus stands with Mr. Obama on every one of these issues. Which is not to say that they don’t occasionally have their disagreements. “While members of the caucus initially faulted Obama for not appointing more minorities to cabinet positions, they tempered their criticism as Obama’s filled out key positions,” reports Bloomberg. “He has tapped former Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx for transportation secretary and Rep. Mel Watt to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency.” If you’re among those blacks suffering from double-digit unemployment, don’t you feel better now? Discuss… WENN Continue reading →
Got milk? Venezuela is considering going to great lengths to get new moms to breast feed . Via NYDailyNews reports : Venezuela’s Congress will discuss legislation next week that would prohibit bottle feeding of infants to try to encourage breast feeding and reduce the use of baby formula, said a lawmaker of the ruling Socialist Party. Legislator Odalis Monzon said the proposal would “prohibit all types of baby bottles” as a way to improve children’s health. “We want to increase the love (between mother and child) because this has been lost as a result of these transnational companies selling formula,” Monzon said on state television on Thursday. She said the Law for the Promotion and Support for Breast-Feeding, passed in 2007, did not establish any sanctions for using formula. However, she did not say what the sanctions might be if the proposed change to prohibit bottle feeding is passed by Congress, where the Socialist Party has a majority. Monzon said, however, that exceptions would be allowed, such as in the case of the death of a mother, or for women with limited breast milk production, as determined by the health ministry. She did not respond to phone calls seeking details, including how long babies would be breast-fed. Such legislation would likely raise the ire of opposition sympathizers who say the government of the late President Hugo Chavez excessively extended the reach of the state into the lives of private citizens. “People are free to feed their children as they see fit,” said Ingrid Rivero, a 27-year-old mother in Caracas. “My daughter stopped breast feeding after seven months. What can I do? Force her?” Chavez ally Nicolas Maduro, who was elected in April after his mentor’s death from cancer, has vowed to extend his predecessor’s 14-year self-styled revolution that enjoyed strong support among the country’s poor. These seems a little extreme. Can’t they just tax the baby bottles or something to promote breastfeeding? Shutterstock
Good news for us but the Post Office still needs to get them checks to start coming in! Via NY Post reports : The U.S. Postal Service says it will delay plans to cut Saturday mail delivery because Congress isn’t allowing the change. The Postal Service said in February that it planned to cut back in August to five-day-a-week deliveries for everything except packages, as a way to hold down losses. But a statement Wednesday from agency’s Board of Governors notes that Congress has passed a spending bill that continues the long-time prohibition against reducing delivery days. As a result, the board says it believe that Congress “has left it with no choice but to delay implementation” of the five-day-a-week plan. Damn… Isht sounds like times are hard over there. Barack need to help ‘em get the dollars up!
NFL star Michael Vick says he won’t be bullied by a spate of recent death threats, but he has canceled his upcoming book tour in the wake of them. The once-imprisoned QB and author of Finally Free: An Autobiography says he will continue his work with community service organizations, too. Vick nixed his book tour after “credible threats” were called in to several Barnes & Noble stores across the country, but “won’t let this control his life.” Michael’s rep says, “Regardless of the past threats, he has millions of fans around the world and has been receiving countless messages of support.” “He will continue to keep an active schedule working with charities.” Mike Vick will continue to work with the Team Freedom Outreach (recreation and visitation programs for youth detention centers) and the VFW organization. He also has several security measures in place in case more threats are made and plans on giving police a heads up before he visits the centers. “Mike is committed to helping make his community a better place,” Vick’s rep says. “[he] is determined to continue his work with charity and helping others.”
