It may not be illegal but this thuggish isht should be criminal! Robney hopes get an up on votes by swaying CEO’s and, while we’ve been getting used to his shady azz , his encouragement goes against the definition of a ‘secret ballot’. According to The Huffington Post… In a June conference call hosted by the conservative-leaning National Federation of Independent Businesses, Mitt Romney encouraged business owners to let their employees know which candidate they support and how the election’s outcome will affect their business. During a telephone town hall with small-business owners, first reported by In These Times, Romney said President Barack Obama’s policies have hurt employers, criticizing the president on trade, labor, and his signature health care law. “It’s an anti-business, anti-job agenda,” Romney said. At the end of the call, Romney urged business owners to relay their thoughts on the election to their employees. “I hope you make it very clear to your employees what you believe is in the best interest of your enterprise and therefore their job and their future in the upcoming elections,” Romney said. “And whether you agree with me or you agree with President Obama, or whatever your political view, I hope, I hope you pass those along to your employees.” He continued: “Nothing illegal about you talking to your employees about what you believe is best for the business, because I think that will figure into their election decision, their voting decision, and of course doing that with your family and your kids as well. I particularly think our young kids … they need to understand that American runs on a strong and vibrant business and we need businesses growing and thriving this country.” Romney is correct that such behavior is not illegal. After the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, which greatly expanded corporations and unions’ political speech, employers can legally compel workers to participate in political campaigns. However, the practice is often controversial…Arthur Allen, CEO of ASG Software Solutions, made a similar plea in a pro-Romney email leaked last week. “If we fail as a nation to make the right choice on November 6th, and we lose our independence as a company, I don’t want to hear any complaints regarding the fallout that will most likely come,” Allen wrote. These fools aren’t even try to hide this isht anymore. Images via WENN
Another grown azz Man thought his life was in danger and took a teens life. According to The Huffington Post : The Oakland police officer who shot and killed a black teenager earlier this year will not face charges in a case that has touched off a lightning storm of controversy between the city’s African American community and a troubled police force on the brink of a federal takeover. On Tuesday, the Alameda County District Attorney’s office released an 18-page report on the incident, stating that Officer Miguel Masso acted in self defense when he shot Alan Blueford three times in the torso after the 18-year old Skyline High School student pointed a gun at him. “Officer Masso actually and reasonably believed that his life was in danger after he had made eye contact with Mr. Blueford and that if he did not shoot, he would be killed,” Senior District Attorney Keneth Mifsud wrote. The report states that on May 6 of this year, Masso and his partner Officer Joe Fesmire were driving in their patrol car and saw Blueford walking with two others in Oakland’s Castlemont neighborhood, allegedly in the process of a drug deal, when the officers noticed that Blueford looked as if he might be concealing a gun in his waistband. Masso and Fesmire detained the trio but Blueford soon fled on foot. Masso gave chase for a number of blocks before the teen allegedly pulled an object that Masso identified as a handgun from his pants and pointed it at Masso. In front of a private residence where a birthday party was underway, Blueford tripped, fell to the ground and again pointed a gun at the officer. Masso fired four shots, three of which fatally struck Blueford and the other which hit his own foot. “I was scared,” said Masso, who claimed this was the first time anyone had ever pointed a gun at him. “It scared the living crap out of me.” Masso is currently on medical leave. A coroner’s report on Blueford found no gunpowder residue on his hands and no drugs or alcohol in his bloodstream. Police found a gun containing Blueford’s fingerprints on the ground near where he was shot that was stolen from the home of a police officer last year. The victim’s father, Adam Blueford, told the San Francisco Chronicle that he was disappointed at the district attorney’s decision not to charge Masso. “We thought it might go this way,” he said. “My son didn’t commit any crime at all other than running. This is alarming.” The Blueford family has led a series of contentious protests in recent months. “Alan cannot speak, so I’m going to speak for Alan,” said his mother, Jeralynn Blueford, at a protest in front of an police substation last month. “[OPD’s] job is to protect and serve–I was not served and Alan was not protected. We are about standing for justice.” The Oakland PD REFUSED to publicly release a police report about the incident and we’re told there have been different reports on whether or not Blueford ever fired a gun. Folks in the community believe this is all part of a police coverup. Images via facebook
These fools don’t even care anymore!!! Texas Republican Bud Johnson has a nice house down south. Neighbors driving by his spot lately though have noticed an odd fixture on display in his front yard…an “empty chair” tied up on a rope hanging off of his tree! According to The Huffington Post… When asked about the display, Johnson said he didn’t “give a shit ” if it was offensive and went on to criticize the president. “I don’t really give a damn whether it disturbs you or not,” Johnson told Burnt Orange Report. “You can take [your concerns] and go straight to hell and take Obama with you. I don’t give a shit . If you don’t like it, don’t come down my street.” The image of an empty chair became synonymous with Obama after actor Clint Eastwood talked to an empty chair representing the president while speaking at the 2012 Republican National Convention. This isn’t the first time a racist public display has been made against Obama. A photograph of a bumper sticker featuring racist anti-Obama language went viral on Facebook in March, and a Georgia bar is facing backlash after posting a sign that read, “I heard the White House smelled like collard greens and fried chicken.” That’s some KKK isht right there! Way to encourage hatred and racism…think this dude is angry? Images via Burnt Orange Report and Facebook
Coño mane… Mexican Families Buy Armored Vehicles To Protect Themselves From Drug Cartel Violence Eighty million citizens in Mexico headed to the polls today to elect a new president at a time when drug war violence remains a crucial issue. Some of them likely took that journey in their own armored vehicles. More than 50,000 people have died in Mexico’s drug war, causing the armored car business to boom, allowing regular families with enough pesos the opportunity to make their vehicles safe havens. “I would say in the last four years, the business is up 1,000 percent. It’s huge,” an auto shop owner in Mexico told ABC News’ Cecilia Vega. A midsize SUV outfitted with armor is bullet-resistant and can withstand 15 to 20 rounds of bullets fired from a handgun. These so-called “family tanks” are a sign of the violent drug war that has become a top issue in today’s election. Frontrunner Enrique Pena Nieto has said he wants to focus on curbing violence in the streets and less on catching cartel leaders and blocking the flow of drugs into the United States. Pena Nieto is a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). The party ruled nearly uncontested for seven decades until it was defeated in 2000 by Vicente Fox, ushering in 12 years of conservative leadership. Sounds like something Chicago will need soon if they don’t get their isht together…SMDH. Image via ABCNews Source
This is a shame. Deadbeat dads dependent on government benefits may be truly S.O.L. thanks to the latest changes in the Treasury Department. Old child support debts could cost thousands of poor men their only income next year because of a policy aimed at reducing the cost to the government of mailing paper checks to pay federal benefits. The Treasury Department will start paying benefits electronically next March. It will stop issuing the paper checks that many people rely on to safeguard a portion of their benefits from states trying to collect back child support. States can freeze the bank accounts of people who owe child support. A separate Treasury Department rule, in place since last May in a preliminary form, guarantees them the power to freeze Social Security, disability and veterans’ benefits that have been deposited into those accounts. Once paper checks are eliminated, about 275,000 people could lose access to all of their income, advocates say. In many cases, the bills are decades old and the children long grown. Much of the money owed is interest and fees that add up when men are unable to pay because they are disabled, institutionalized or imprisoned. Most of the money will go to governments, not to the children of the men with child support debts, independent analyses show. States are allowed to keep child support money as repayment for welfare previously provided for those children. In some instances, the grown children are supporting their fathers. The rule change illustrates how a politically desirable goal like cracking down on so-called deadbeat dads can have complicated, even counterproductive, effects in practice. “The rule doesn’t look at the fact that the money is mostly interest, the money is going to the state, the kids are usually adults, and it’s leaving the payer with nothing,” says Ashlee Highland, a legal aid attorney who works with the poor of Chicago. Highland says her office has clients in eviction, in foreclosure and unable to pay their bills because of states’ aggressive efforts to collect back child support. Marcial Herrera, 44, has had his bank account frozen repeatedly since 2009, blocking his access to $800 a month in government benefits. Unable to work because of a severe back injury he suffered in 2000, Herrera fell behind on child support. He owes more than $7,000 – not to his 22-year-old son, but to the state of New York, because his son received welfare years earlier. Herrera sought help in court and had his son speak on his behalf, but the judge could not erase the thousands he already owed. “I’m just waiting for them to lock me up,” he says. “I don’t see no other way of me repaying that debt.” A legal aid attorney suggested Herrera collect his benefits by paper check. It costs him $15 to cash the check each month, but at least he can be sure that he will have money to pay his bills. States have had the ability to freeze accounts for years. That’s why people like Herrera rely on paper checks to safeguard part of their income. Starting next March, that option will disappear. The Treasury Department will deposit federal benefits directly into bank accounts or load them onto prepaid debit cards. Either way, state child support agencies will be able to seize all of it. Electronic payments are expected to save the government $1 billion over the next 10 years, the Treasury Department says. It costs the government about $1 to mail a check, compared with about 10 cents for an electronic transfer. The Treasury Department understands that forcing people into direct deposit could deprive them of all of their income, say officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the rule-writing process. States can garnish only 65 percent of benefits before the federal government sends them out. But the limit does not apply once the money is in an account and states ask banks to freeze it, according to a Treasury Department memo obtained by The Associated Press. A Treasury spokesman declined to discuss the policy. Letting state agencies seize the money contradicts the public stance of the Department of Health and Human Services, the federal agency in charge of child support collections. The department does not want states to collect child support so aggressively that poor people lose their only income, spokesman Ken Wolfe says. “Child support enforcement – getting that money and passing it on to parents and children – is a measure to fight poverty, and it doesn’t make sense to accomplish that by impoverishing somebody else,” he says. Wolfe said HHS is developing guidelines for states to “make sure we’re not putting someone into deep poverty as a result of an automatic collection.” He declined to provide details of those plans. Lawyers from HHS agreed with Treasury’s decision to let states seize benefits, according to the Treasury memo. An early version of the Treasury department rule protected people from having their federal benefits frozen by debt collectors – including private collection agencies and states seeking back child support. State child support agencies replied in public comments on the proposed rule that blocking their access to people’s benefits would cause great harm to parents and children receiving child support. HHS research suggests the policy could deepen the hardship for people who collect benefits as well. People who owe large amounts of child support are almost universally poor. Among those owing $30,000 or more, three-fourths had no reported income or income of less than $10,000, HHS says. Many had their earnings interrupted by disability or jail time and are unlikely to repay the child support debt, the government-sponsored research says. The usual methods of collecting back child support often don’t work with the poor. States typically start by garnishing wages. If that doesn’t work, they can suspend driver’s licenses, revoke passports and take away professional credentials. Those measures have little effect on poor people without jobs who rely on federal benefits. They have no wages to garnish and no passports. Many can’t afford a car and do not need a driver’s license. The White House is reviewing the final version of the rule. Its impact so far has been limited, legal-aid lawyers say, because people can still use paper checks. A White House spokeswoman did not respond a request for comment. In a letter sent last week, the National Consumer Law Center and dozens of other groups called on the head of the Social Security Administration to withdraw his support for the rule. “While both current and past due child support orders should be paid,” the letter said, it should not result “in the complete impoverishment of recipients” of federal benefits. The issue has failed to raise alarm in part because most people feel little in common with men labeled deadbeat dads, says John Vail, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Litigation who provided legal services for the poor for decades. “There’s not a lot of sympathy for deadbeat dads, and justly so,” Vail says. “But everybody’s got limits, and I think people who have never walked a mile in some of those old, worn-out shoes are a little quick to rush to judgment about what that life might be like.” See Uncle Sam will always find a way to put his hand in your pocket… even when your pockets are EMPTY! The states shouldn’t be entitled to outdated payments, interest, none of that. Especially not if the kids are grown. SMH This ish is cray! Source YouTube More On Bossip! For Discussion: Viola Davis Wears Her Hair Natural To The Oscars – Revolutionary Or Not? For The Stans: Beyonce, Jay-Z And Blue Ivy Carter Hit The Streets Of NYC For Their First Family Outing [Photos] Has Sweathog Rick Ross Got His Paws On Amber Rose’s Cakes Now? Shining Stars: A Gallery Of Celebrities At The NBA All-Star Game
The Occupy movement is showing no signs of stopping any time soon … About 300 people were arrested Saturday during a chaotic day of Occupy protests that saw demonstrators break into City Hall and burn an American flag, as police earlier fired tear gas and bean bags to disperse hundreds of people after some threw rocks and bottles and tore down fencing outside a nearby convention center. Dozens of police officers stood guard outside City Hall late Saturday following the most turbulent day of protests since November, when Oakland police forcefully dismantled an Occupy encampment. An exasperated Mayor Jean Quan, who faced heavy criticism for the police action last fall, called on the Occupy movement to “stop using Oakland as its playground.” “People in the community and people in the Occupy movement have to stop making excuses for this behavior,” Quan said. Protesters clashed with police throughout the day, at times throwing rocks, bottles and other objects at officers. And police responded by deploying smoke, tear gas and bean bag rounds, City Adminstrator Deanna Santanta said. “These demonstrators stated their intention was to provoke officers and engage in illegal activity and that’s exactly what has occurred today,” Santana said. Do you think the Occupy protesters are doing the right thing? Source More On Bossip! Twit Pic Of The Day: Rihanna Gets “Thug Life” Tattoo On Her Knuckles And Sends More Subliminal Tweets About Breezy Since You Love The Smut So Much: A Gallery Of Non-Black Ethnic X-Rated Bangers…Would You Wife Any? For The Stans: Beyonce Working Hard To Get That Pre-Blue Ivy Baawwwdy Back [Photos] Can You Spell That? Celebrity Kid Names That Are Way Weirder Than Blue Ivy Carter
It’s a sad state of affairs in Africa Nigeria imposed a 24-hour curfew Saturday in the northern city of Kano after assailants killed scores of people and wounded others in a hail of gunfire and coordinated bombings of eight government sites. A military official told CNN that at least 156 people were dead and feared the number would rise. “The hospitals are not equipped to deal with the influx and severity of the injuries, so we are expecting that figure to go up further,” the official said. Nwankpa Nwankpa, a Red Cross information officer in the capital, Abuja, said 50 people were injured in the attacks. He said that search and rescue operations are underway and volunteers are working to assist the injured. The attacks targeted several police stations, barracks and the building housing the assistant inspector general of police in Kano, Nigeria’s second largest city. A passport office, state security headquarters and the immigration office were also hit, police said. This probably will not bode well for Nigeria’s foreign relations as an militant Islamic group has proudly taken responsibility for the death’s of the countries citizens. Islamist group Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the blast in a phone call to the Daily Trust, according to journalists at the newspaper. Nigeria closed its borders Saturday with Cameroon and Niger, whom it has accused of allowing the militants to move freely into Nigeria. …In December, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in four northern states. The declaration followed a series of Christmas Day attacks on Christian churches blamed on the Boko Haram group. The man suspected of masterminding those attacks, named Kabiru Sokoto, was briefly captured this week before escaping police custody while being transferred to another prison. Several police officers and the local commissioner are under investigation over his escape. A 50 million naira ($307,000) reward was also offered by police Thursday for any information leading to Sokoto’s re-arrest. R.I.P. to those who perished in this tragedy Source More On Bossip! Twit Pics Of The Day: Rihanna Toots That Thang Up In A White Bikini And Invites Khloe Kardashian To Come “Tap That” [Photos] Reading Is Fun-damental: 10 Of Hottest “Hood Classic” Books And Their Authors Must Be The Shoes: The Hottest Women In The World Wearing Killer Heels…And Not Much Else Black And Missing: Lost People And Faces That Mainstream Media Have Not Been Looking For [Photos/Info]
SMDH … As owner of A-Z Outlet in Holland, Bryan Vandenbosch has purchased a lot of electronics, jewelry, and tools, but after almost 19 years in business, he bought something he never expected — a Purple Heart, a medal awarded to U.S. soldiers wounded in battle. This one was earned in Afghanistan in May 2010. “(The soldier had) been in here the week (before Thanksgiving),” says Vandenbosch. “He brought it in the following week, I purchased it from him, and put it on display.” Vandenbosch says the active duty solider, on leave from Afghanistan, was reluctant to sell the medal at first, but like a lot of people, he needed a little extra cash for the holiday season. So, the soldier gave up one of his two Purple Hearts — something he almost gave his life to get. As word began to spread about the medal, Vandenbosch says the phone has been ringing off the hook with people wanting to help. “I have people that have walked in already this morning that have asked me `hey, how much did you pay for it? I’ll pay for it so he can get it back,’” he says. One of those people is Garrett Vanderduim, a Vietnam veteran. “A purple heart is a treasured thing among service guys, and it stands for a lot,” explains Vanderduim. “I thought it would be a good thing to help out, especially during Christmas time.” But the medal is not for sale, and the store owner says he’ll keep it safe until the soldier decides to come back. “(In case) the gentleman wants it, it’s never going to be sold,” he says. Now, nestled between diamond earrings and a gold watch lies the military medal. It’s quite a sight for Carlos Mendez, who was born in Cuba, and doesn’t take his rights as an American for granted. “When I see something like that it’s just awesome that somebody is willing to go out there and defend our freedom,” Mendez says. Many items in the pawn shop have a story; from the green leather suit that gave a woman enough money to leave an abusive marriage, to a musical instrument that paid for cancer treatments, but the story behind each Purple Heart is one that affects every American. “It means the ultimate sacrifice for your country,” Vanderduim says. “(The soldier was) wounded, you can’t get much closer to the end than that.” This says so much about us as a country and the things and people we value most… Source
Mexican police arrested the suspected leader of a brutal drug gang called “The Hand with Eyes” and he has confessed to helping carry out or ordering more than 600 murders, authorities said Thursday. Oscar Osvaldo Garcia Montoya, 36, was arrested in an overnight raid on a presumed safe house on the outskirts of Mexico City, State of Mexico Attorney General Alfredo Castillo said at a news conference. “The Hand with Eyes” is one of the groups blamed for bringing the drug violence typical of northern Mexico to Mexico City and its surrounding areas. The organization is known for extreme violence, including decapitations. Many of its victims have been drug dealers and rivals killed as the group fought for control of drug sales in Mexico state, an area that includes many of the poor suburbs ringing the capital. The gang spread terror by dumping severed heads in the streets of towns surrounding Mexico City. Castillo said Garcia is a deserter from the Mexican marines who worked as a bodyguard for major cartel figures including Edgar Valdez, aka “La Barbie,” a top assassin for the Beltran Leyva cartel until he was arrested in 2010. With the capture or death of Valdez and most of the leaders of the Beltran Leyva cartel, Garcia split off and formed his own group. The bushy-haired Garcia gazed coolly when he was paraded before journalists Thursday, held firmly by two masked police officers. Castillo said Garcia had received some training from members of the Guatemalan special forces called the “Kaibiles,” who are known for massacres during the Guatemalan civil war that ended in the 1990s. Some of them are believed to have been hired by Mexican drug cartels. Source
Allah, take the wheel and drive the children far from this madness! An eight-year-old Afghan girl was killed when insurgents detonated a bomb in a bag which they had given her to take to police nearby, the interior ministry said Sunday. The incident happened in the southern province of Uruzgan on Saturday, the ministry said in a statement. “The enemies of peace and stability committed another unforgivable and shameful crime — an explosive-laden bag was handed to her and she was told to take it to police,” the statement said. “The child, pure-hearted and in good faith, took the bag and moved towards the police vehicle. As she got close to the police vehicle, the enemy detonated the bomb by remote control, killing the innocent child,” the statement added. No police or other civilians were killed, it added. The ministry did not specify which insurgent group was responsible but the Taliban are the main militant group waging a near-decade-long insurgency against the Western-backed Kabul administration. The attack happened on the same day 38 people were killed by a suicide car bombing at a hospital in Logar province, south of the capital Kabul. Maybe there really is a reason for us to be in Afghanistan after all. Source
