Tag Archives: state

Taylor Armstrong: My Husband’s Suicide Drove Me to Drink

It’s been far too long since Taylor Armstrong used her estranged husband’s suicide for profit or attention, hasn’t it? The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star is back at it, though, blogging this week about her state of mind – and the state of her liver – after Russell Armstrong took his own life in August 2011. “I went through about nine months where I was drinking to cope with the pain and the memories,” Armstrong wrote yesterday. “I was drinking to forget, to stop the recurring images in my head, to relax enough to try to sleep at night.” On Sunday’s episode of this Bravo hit, Kim and Kyle Richards approached Taylor about her drinking problem, causing Armstrong to reflect and now open up. “I was self-medicating and the sad truth is that I didn’t know another way to get through the days — and nights,” she wrote in her entry. “I was confronted with the truth that the life I thought I had was only an illusion. What I finally realized was that ‘pain waits for you.’ I would medicate for a day and the next morning all the emotions would come flooding back — not to mention the massive headache.” But that’s pretty much now all behind her, the reality star concludes: “Thankfully, I had an amazing support system and they helped me realize that it was time for me to feel my emotions and let the healing begin.” She may be healing off camera going forward, however. Rumors continue to float around that major changes are coming to The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills cast .

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Taylor Armstrong: My Husband’s Suicide Drove Me to Drink

Lindsay Lohan Hit With ANOTHER Tax Bill

Lindsay Lohan does not like paying taxes apparently. The broke ass actress has been hit with another bill, this time from the State of California, alleging that she owes MAJOR dinero from tax year 2011. LiLo owes $56,717.90 in unpaid income tax for 2011. The IRS is all over her for unpaid federal taxes for 2009 ($93,701.57) and 2010 ($140,203.30), making her 2011 issues par for the course at this point. At least she hasn’t gotten in trouble for 2012 yet. Actually, the filing deadline for tax year 2012 isn’t until April, so she couldn’t be yet. Sometime next year, they should come after her for 2012 taxes too. Lohan was able to clear her 2009 debt thanks to a $100,000 check from Charlie Sheen , but sadly, she needs double that just to get out of the hole now. That’s not taking into account how many other creditors the hot mess has. This is what happens when you live like an A-list rock star but can’t afford it.

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Lindsay Lohan Hit With ANOTHER Tax Bill

Oscar Pistorius Bail: Why Was it Granted?

Olympic track star Oscar Pistorius is free on bail pending his murder trial in South Africa after a judge’s ruling that surprised many. Why was he let out? Pistorius is free on bail – set randomly at $112,771 – despite shooting his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp to death on Valentine’s Day in his home. Yes, he’s presumed innocent in a court of law, but the grisly nature of the crime made bail seem unlikely, whether you buy his defense or not. The judge’s rationale for cutting the athlete loose was several-fold: It is highly unlikely Oscar Pistorius would flee the country, given his fame. As a double amputee, even if he tried to, airport security would stop him. The prosecutors didn’t prove that Pistorius has a propensity for violence. Most significantly, prosecutors’ charge of premeditation is questionable. Before ruling, the judge asked the state an interesting question: If Pistorius is lying when he says he thought his girlfriend an intruder , as police allege, why didn’t he “stage” a break-in to make his story more believable? The prosecutor had to concede that point somewhat, noting, “The fact that we have only one survivor of that tragic night is difficult for the state.” The prosecutor argued, however, that proving premeditation doesn’t mean Pistorius had to plan the murder the night before, or even hours before. “He planned it that night when she locked herself in [the bathroom],” the prosecutor said, while Pistorius’ attorney argued that the charge is dubious. Pistorius’ lawyer suggested that the charge should be lowered to “culpable homicide” — meaning the Olympian didn’t have the intent to kill Reeva Steenkamp . The athlete’s camp insists it was a “tragic mistake.” In a few months, a jury will have to decide that.

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Oscar Pistorius Bail: Why Was it Granted?

Mississippi Cotdayuuuum! America’s Most Notoriously Racist State Finally Abolishes Slavery, 148 Years After Rest Of The Country!!!

What in the cotton pickin’ hell took so long? Mississippi just got around to ratifying the 13th Amendment and residents there mostly have the film “Lincoln” to thank… Via NYPost reports : Abraham Lincoln’s historic battle to end slavery has finally ended, 148 years after the 13th Amendment was first passed. The landmark event happened earlier this month when Mississippi became the final state to officially ratify the amendment, which ended slavery. The remarkable oversight was found because Dr. Ranjan Batra, an associate professor of neurobiology and anatomical sciences at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, saw Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” and was inspired by the film’s message. Batra returned home and started researching when each individual state ratified the 13th Amendment and was shocked to learn that Mississippi was the only state that had failed to do so. Batra shared the horrifying discovery with his friend Ken Sullivan, who then went and saw “Lincoln” for himself. “People stood up and applauded at the end of it. That’s the first time I ever saw an audience do that,” Batra told the Clarion-Ledger. “I felt very connected to history.” The strange part for Sullivan was that he remembered when the state ratified the amendment in 1995, when he was a senior in high school. Apparently, state Senator Hillman Frazier introduced a resolution to ratify the amendment in 1995, which unanimously passed both the Mississippi Senate and House, only for the resolution to never become official because then-Secretary of State Dick Molpus never sent a copy of the resolution to the Office of the Federal Register. The state’s mistake was finally corrected on January 30th when the office of current Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann filed the official paperwork. On February 7th the director of the Federal Register, Charles A. Barth, wrote back, “With this action, the State of Mississippi has ratified the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.” “We’re very deliberate in our state. We finally got it right.” Frazier said at the news. Better late than never, we guess… Shutterstock

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Mississippi Cotdayuuuum! America’s Most Notoriously Racist State Finally Abolishes Slavery, 148 Years After Rest Of The Country!!!

Rand Paul Gives State of the Union Response on Behalf of Tea Party

In the tea party rebuke to President Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday night, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) laid out an alternative vision for the future. He also broke ranks at times from some in his own Republican party, which was officially represented by Marco Rubio ‘s own State of the Union response. Rand Paul State of the Union Response The son of retired Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) pushed to cut corporate taxes in half and slash trillions in federal spending, welcoming the “sequester” cuts on March 1. “The president does this big ‘woe is me’ over the $1.2-trillion sequester he endorsed and signed into law,” said Ron Paul on behalf of the Tea Party Express. “Some Republicans are joining him.” Rand Paul hit conservative talking points on school choice, 2nd Amendment gun rights and limiting executive powers, but focused mainly on fiscal issues. He called for “a new bipartisan consensus” to cut spending, starting with leaders from each party being willing to take on their own sacred cows. He called for a budget plan that would cap the personal income tax rate at 17 percent and cut corporate taxes in half, while still balancing the budget. Doing that would require steep cuts, Paul unabashedly said, but that includes defense spending, which many in the GOP consider to be off limits. Paul also struck other positions not often associated with the tea party or the Republican party, including backing widespread immigration reform. Republicans need to be the party that “embraces” immigrants, he said. Additionally, he said he opposes “secret kill lists of American citizens who can be killed without trial,” a reference to military drone strikes and surveillance.

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Rand Paul Gives State of the Union Response on Behalf of Tea Party

Obama’s State Of The Union Hits Climate, Gun Control … Hard

During Tuesday night’s speech, president hits a number of issues crucial to young voters. By Emily Blake President Barack Obama at the State of the Union Photo: Getty Images

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Obama’s State Of The Union Hits Climate, Gun Control … Hard

#OurMoments: Halle Berry Is The First Black Woman To Win An Oscar For Best Leading Actress In 2002

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In 1985, Halle Berry represented the state of Ohio in the Miss Teen All-American Pageant and won. A year later, she became the first runner-up…

#OurMoments: Halle Berry Is The First Black Woman To Win An Oscar For Best Leading Actress In 2002

Studios Fork Over Big Cash For Super Bowl XLVII

The Super Bowl’s notoriously pricey ad spots already cost a chunk of change well into the seven figures last year and it’s set to head well northward for 30 seconds of airtime this Sunday. But that has not scared away movie studios from snapping up commercial time on Super Bowl XLVII. Studios will air ads for upcoming blockbusters including Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man 3 , J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness , Johnny Depp’s The Lone Ranger , James Franco and Michelle Williams’ Oz The Great And Powerful and Vin Diesel’s The Fast and the Furious 6 . Brad Pitt’s World War Z is slated for a pre-game spot. Disney’s The Lone Ranger , with a July release, is the pic with the longest wait-time before its theatrical release. Last year, 30 seconds on the sky high rated sports event cost $3.5 million, but that has jumped to a cool $4 million for a half-minute in the match-up between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers. Among the non-studio ads set to air Sunday are spots from Chrysler, Tide, Best Buy, Coke and the new BlackBerry 10, according to Deadline. [ Sources: Huffington Post , Deadline ]

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Studios Fork Over Big Cash For Super Bowl XLVII

Oscar-Nominated ‘Gatekeepers’ Director Warns American Jews Cherish Israel ‘Too Much’

The director of Oscar-nominated documentary The Gatekeepers says he believes American Jews hold Israel on too high of a pedestal – something he believes could prove detrimental to the crisis-torn Middle Eastern country. Israeli filmmaker Dror Moreh told The Huff Post that the Jewish community in the United States view Israel as a “safe haven” nearly seven decades after the Holocaust and that American Jews are willing to support Israel despite the potential of becoming what he called an Apartheid state. Moreh’s acclaimed non-fiction feature spotlights six retired directors of Israel’s domestic spy agency, Shin Bet, exposing the organization’s targeted killings behind the Jewish state’s ongoing occupation of the Palestinian territories. The film has caused waves in both the Israel and the U.S. about the spy agency’s tactics. “There is something that I felt while I am here in America, that most of the majority of the Jewish population here are cherishing Israel,” Moreh told the Huff Post, adding that that strict adherence has lead many in the U.S. to the “wrong conclusion that they have to support Israel no matter what.” He said that orthodoxy is in fact, “damaging to the state of Israel.” “They don’t understand that we are going towards an Apartheid country,” said Moreh. “By not criticizing it, by accepting everything Israel does politically and especially towards the conflict, they are damaging their own goal, to protect the state of Israel as a safe haven for them.” Sony Pictures Classics opens The Gatekeepers in the U.S. beginning Friday, February 1st. [ Source: Huffington Post ]

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Oscar-Nominated ‘Gatekeepers’ Director Warns American Jews Cherish Israel ‘Too Much’

Phil Mickelson Apologizes for California Tax Comments

Phil Mickelson made headlines this week, but not for draining any high-pressured birdie putts or choking away another Major. Instead, on Sunday, the popular golfer stepped into the contentious world of politics , complaining to the press about Proposition 30, the state measure passed last year in California that raises the tax burden on wealthy individuals. Along with federal taxes, Mickelson said he will now be paying nearly 63% of his income in taxes. “I’m not going to jump the gun, but there are going to be some (changes),” Mickelson said a few days ago, hinting at a move out of California. “There are going to be some drastic changes for me because I happen to be in that zone that has been targeted both federally and by the state and… it doesn’t work for me right now.” The comments were mostly met with derision, considering Sports Illustrated listed the golfer as the second-highest paid athlete in 2012, raking in $60 million between PGA tour winnings and endorsements. The public wasn’t thrilled to hear a multi-millionaire whine about his taxes, something Mickelson recognized yesterday in a statement to Fox News: “Finances and taxes are a personal matter and I should not have made my opinions on them public. I certainly don’t have a definitive plan at this time, but like everyone else I want to make decisions that are best for my future and my family.”

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Phil Mickelson Apologizes for California Tax Comments