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Following the chilling news that a gunman opened fire in Washington D.C.'s Holocaust Museum today, resulting in the reported death of one security guard, police are now confirming that their suspect is James Von Brunn, a white supremacist from Maryland. According to the Washington Post, the 88-year-old Von Brunn—who is now in critical condition at a D.C. hospital—wrote books and maintained a website espousing white supremacy and neo-Nazi slogans. The New York Times reports that Von Brunn was convicted in 1983 of storming the Federal Reserve with a handgun, hunting knife, and sawed-off shotgun in an attempt to kidnap members of the board and "spread awareness of their responsibility... for the nation's economic difficulties." On his website, Von Brunn blamed his subsequent time in a federal prison to being "convicted by a Negro jury, Jew/Negro attorneys, and sentenced to prison for eleven years by a Jew judge." Von Brunn, who claims to be a Mensa member and WWII veteran, worked for decades in the insular world of anti-Semitic media. Von Brunn's online book Kill The Best Gentiles consists of "hundreds of pages of conspiracy theories that include Holocaust denial... and wild webs of fantasy seeking to link the Federal Reserve Bank, the Illuminati, Sigmund Freud and Karl Marx in a grand, centuries-long story of Jewish plotting against white people," reports the Post. Von Brunn worked closely with America's most influential anti-Semitic writers, including the author of The Turner Diaries, famed for inspiring Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.
As if Bush administration's legacy weren't enough under fire. Now D.C. Republicans are investigating whether Bank of America's acquisition of Merrill Lynch last year, at the end of Bush's final term, was tangled up in "improper behavior" by former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke. Politico acquired a colorfully worded GOP briefing document that alleged "In December 2008, Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke put a gun to the head of Bank of America's CEO and Board of Directors in order to force through a merger with Merrill Lynch, even though Bank of America's CEO felt it was his duty to his shareholders to try his luck in the legal system and back out of the deal. They did so in the name of the financial system as a whole, without any transparency or consultation with the American people or Congress." E-mails between Bernanke and Lewis are under scrutiny; Lewis will partake in a hearing before the House COmmittee on Oversight and Government Reform on Thursday.
It’s no secret that recently dethroned Miss California USA Carrie Prejean got her wrists slapped for posing nude in a photo shoot, but were pageant execs egging her on? Hours after news broke that Prejean would be dethroned for breach of contract and too much “extracurricular stuff,” the quondam queen took a phone call from TMZ—and accused pageant big wig Keith Lewis offering her a semi-nude Playboy spread, along with a spot on NBC’s I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! Lewis responded, saying he never pressured Prejean to take Playboy up on their offer, for which she would have been paid $140,000. Lewis said Prejean asked that no jobs be turned down without her approval. Prejean went on to say she was blindsided by the pageant’s decision to fire her and only learned of it after TMZ broke the story. “They don't like me,” Prejean said. “From day one they wanted me out and they got what they wanted.”
A Nebraska doctor said today that he would begin offering third-term abortions in Kansas after abortion provider George Tiller was shot to death in his church. “There will be a place in Kansas for the later second- and the medically indicated third-trimester patients very soon,” said Dr. LeRoy Carhart of his plans. While Nebraska outlaws abortions of fetuses that could ostensibly survive outside their mothers’ wombs, Carhart has performed late-term abortions at Tiller’s clinic in the past in Kansas, where abortions are legal after the 21st week of pregnancy if the pregnancy puts the mother’s life in danger or severely impairs a bodily function, including mental health. Carhart said that since Tiller’s death May 31, he’s already seen an influx of patients at his clinic in Bellevue. Tiller’s family announced yesterday that his clinic in Wichita is permanently closed; Carhart is keeping quiet on whether he’ll work at an existing practice or open his own facility.
The never-ending story of Minnesota’s contested senate seat just got a little pricier: a Minnesota court has ordered Republican Norm Coleman to pay Democrat Al Franken $94,783.15 to make up for the court costs of his appeal of the Minnesota’s U.S. Senate election results. Originally, Franken asked for $161,000—a drop in the bucket, considering the men spent over $50 million in campaign and legal fees—but some of those charges were rejected for insufficient documentation or not justified under Minnesota law, which requires the loser of a political race to reimburse the winner if the results do not change in the appeals process. Originally, Coleman and his representatives argued that Franken was not due any compensation.
Match made in heaven, or hell? The side-by-side funeral marches of the banking and newspaper industries culminate (metaphorically, at least) in today’s announcement that The New York Times Company has hired Goldman Sachs to handle the probable sale of The Boston Globe as well as bids on “any and all” of its New England properties in coming weeks. In an attempt to attract bidders to the 137-year-old Globe, The Times Co. proposed a $10 million package of concessions that would reduce the pay of members of the Globe’s largest union, the Boston Newspaper Guild, by 23 percent. The Guild rejected the proposed pay cuts and petitioned the U.S. government’s National Labor Relations Board, prompting The Times Co. to illicit the help of Goldman Sachs. The Times has said the Globe will post an operating loss of $85 million this year.
From certified hottie to Oklahoma City vandal—how the tables have turned on Jessica Alba. Photos have surfaced of Alba, an actress and hardcore friend to the animals, plastering posters depicting great white sharks on a downtown bridge, a United Way billboard and elsewhere. The posters are intended to raise awareness for the endangered species—they’re already extinct in Oklahoma—but their placement constitutes vandalism. Alba is in Oklahoma City filming a movie with Casey Affleck called The Killer Inside Me, and although police have yet to interview Alba, she released an apology Wednesday for her involvement in the incident. Photos of Alba gluing the posters up were posted on the site of the blogger White Mike but have since been removed.
North Korea's recalcitrant behavior will not go unpunished--the real question is how far will the United Nations go? "Key" U.N. Security Council members have agreed on a resolution to expand sanctions against North Korea, BBC News reports. The draft is expected to pass by Friday. However, a full consensus does not yet appear to be in place, as both China and Russia—who have full veto power—are hesitant to provoke the rogue state. Even with North Korea already teetering on the brink of complete isolation, Pyong Yang talked more smack, saying it was not afraid to use its nuclear arsenal in a "merciless offensive."
Looks like high-end fashion’s got more than just the recession to lose sleep over. Following in the footsteps of the e-tail shopping websites that magically sell designer clothes for fractions of their original prices, Goodwill stores nationwide have begun offering brand-name duds for a pittance. The degree to which Goodwill has upgraded varies store-to-store, from using mannequins for modeling the clothes once thrown into a bargain bin, to carrying designer brands like Marc by Marc Jacobs, Diane Von Furstenberg and Vera Wang. Prices are set at around 10-15 percent their original cost and “more brand-aware managers” can be found trolling the aisles offering assistance, said Mauricio Hernandez, a senior vice president for Goodwill of Greater of New York and Northern New Jersey. Sales at Goodwill stores open at least a year were 7.1 percent higher in the first three months of 2009 than the same period a year earlier, but clothing prices still range from about $7-$20 and Goodwill remains a non-profit corporation. By that token, buying a Prada bag is actually philanthropic!
At least 35 people died and 71 were wounded in a rare car bombing at an outdoor food market near the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah on Wednesday. Several officials expected the death toll to rise. The New York Times reports that this bombing was the first to target civilians in the predominantly Shiite city in the last two years. The bomb, stashed in an illegally parked car, detonated at 9 a.m. when shoppers "would normally have been women with young children," according to the Times. A provincial official blamed Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, although no group has yet claimed credit for the attack.
Shortly after Flight 447 vanished into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 aboard, experts considered a deadly storm the likely cause. But now the Christian Science Monitor reports that French news sources say two passengers' names appear on list of Al-Qaeda suspects. Experts are quick to caution that terror lists are notorious for being prone to mistakes. Nevertheless, several details of the incident will no doubt be fodder for conspiracy theorists: A pilot in the same area reportedly saw "A bright white flash" in the sky—indicating an explosion in midair—and Air France has said that it received a bomb threat in Argentina a mere four days before the incident. However, no terrorist group has stepped forward to claim responsibility, and intelligence organizations have not noticed any of the familiar signs from terrorist groups that appear in the lead-up and aftermath of an attack. The New York Times and The Washington Post have mostly dismissed the terrorist theory today—meaning, of course, that The Weekly Standard now supports it.
An Israeli woman named Annat thought she was doing her mom a favor by buying her a nice new mattress. "Might as well throw out the old one," she must have thought. Little did she know that for years her mother had stuffed her savings into the old mattress, amounting to nearly $1 million. Now, Annat (who is not revealing her last name) has enlisted local authorities to help her find the stash at Jerusalem's two city dumps. Other locals who have heard about the treasure-filled mattress have the same idea, and in response security has been beefed up at the sites. Annat, for her part, does not seem too heartbroken. She told Israeli radio, "It's a very, very sad story but I've been through worse. It's a matter of proportions in life ... people need to know how to accept the good and the bad in life."
It's been a long time since the original "late night wars" of the mid-'90s, and now we are witnessing the sequel. David Letterman's Late Show beat Conan O'Brien's new Tonight Show in the ratings for the first time Tuesday, marking the first time CBS has topped NBC in the 11:30 timeslot in eight months. The Live Feed points out that NBC's broadcast of the Stanley Cup Finals may have given Conan a weaker "lead-in" than usual. An NBC exec also added that the ratings do not reflect demographic data about those that tuned in on Tuesday, as Conan's main audience is the highly-coveted younger demographic, a top priority for advertisers.
So, what is there to know about Edward E. Whitacre Jr., the new CEO of General Motors? Well, he used to head AT&T, his nickname is "Big Ed," and apparently he has no idea when to hold his tongue. In an interview with Bloomberg, Whitacre said, "I don't know anything about cars... A business is a business, and I think I can learn about cars." Despite the baffling comments, Whitacre has the endorsement of many higher-ups in Washington, D.C. and Detroit and is credited with revamping AT&T into a successful 21st century company that embraces new technology. The hope is that he can do the same with G.M.
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has taken a stand against Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's "fake broken ankle," which he described as a shameless ploy to earn "sympathy votes." The latest from humor writer Andy Borowitz lampoons Gingrich's aggressive criticism of Sotomayor--and doesn't seem that far beyond the realm of possibility. "The minute she's confirmed, she'll whip [the cast] off and start dancing a jig," Gingrich (could have) said. The former speaker (theoretically) added, "Ms. Sotomayor needs to brush up on her law. Last time I checked, empathy was unconstitutional."
This relationship is destined to withstand the test of time. Britney Spears and her agent, Jason Trawick, are mixing the personal and professional, People magazine reports. Supposedly, the relationship began in recent months and Trawick has hit it off with the Spears' clan, as he is said to be popular with the pop star's two children, as well as her father and brother. Spears reportedly had a crush on Trawick for a long time. Said one high-level source, "They are totally and definitely dating."
As Journalists are just beginning the process of accountability for the terrorist attacks in Mumbai back in November that claimed 173 people, newly uncovered transcripts reveal a police force caught off-guard and unprepared for such extreme violence. Tehelka reports that senior police officers were seized "by chaos and rigor mortis," thereby worsening the situation of bombings and gun violence. One transcript captures one valiant police officer's stand against two of the terrorists, as he held his ground and pleaded for reinforcements that never came. Overall, the transcripts lead to the chilling conclusion that "both the Mumbai Police and the Maharashtra government are trying to cover up the truth of 26/11."
Terrible news from Washington D.C., as a gunman has opened fire at the National Holocaust Museum on Wednesday afternoon. One security guard and the gunman were hospitalized after exchanging fire. The Associated Press is reporting that the security guard has died. The gunman, reported to be James Wenneker von Brunn, is an 89-year-old with links to white supremacy groups. He was seen with a rifle. A third person was injured by broken glass. The Holocaust museum, which draws nearly 2 million visitors annually, requires guests to pass through metal detectors. The Washington Post is also reporting that authorities are attempting to ensure the safety of over 100 targets listed in a notebook carried by the gunman.
Edouard Stern, one of France's richest men, was playing some kinky games with his mistress, Cecile Brossard, when he talked a little too dirty to her. "One million for a whore, that's expensive," Stern said in reference to money he had promised to give her. Unfortunately, it was an unwise moment to utter such an insult, as Stern was bound in a "submissive position" and wrapped in a latex condom-like suit. Brossard flipped out and fired four shots into her lover, killing him instantly. Now, the scandalous trial has begun in Geneva, and the media is having a field day. Speaking to the court, Brossard begged forgiveness of Stern's family, and said, "It was not a question of money. It was a question of love."
Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson has wed for the third time, and only two weeks after his 4-year-old daughter tragically died in a treadmill accident. The Associated Press reports that Tyson and Lakiha Spicer got hitched at La Bella Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas on Saturday in a short private ceremony. Spicer is not the mother of Tyson's 4-year-old. The couple received their marriage license 30 minutes before the wedding, and according to the chapel owner, seemed very much in love and "very sincere."
Congratulations, Kenneth R. Feinberg. You now have the much-desired job of boss of the world's most despised bosses. As President Obama's "Compensation czar," Feinberg will have the ability to determine the salaries of 175 executives at seven of the nation's largest companies, according to the New York Times. The bosses of bailout companies such as Citigroup, Bank of America, and General Motors will be under Feinberg's watchful eye. Feinberg, a high-profile lawyer in Washington, D.C., is no stranger to difficult cases: The last time he was in the news he had the responsibility of "putting a financial value on the lives of victims of the 9/11 attack."
How bad are things in the Republican Party? In a new USA Today poll, 52 percent of respondents, when asked to name “the main person” who speaks for the GOP, couldn’t come up with an answer. For those who could answer, Rush Limbaugh was the first choice with 13 percent, followed by Dick Cheney, John McCain, Newt Gingrich, and George W. Bush. Does that mean a Limbaugh-Cheney ticket in 2012?
Sad news for baby-back-rib loving Americans—Norman Brinker, head of Brinker International, has died of pneumonia at age 78. Brinker pioneered casual dining in America with affordable, friendly, dependable chains such as Chili's, the Washington Post reports. For Steak & Ale, his first major chain, Brinker invented the salad bar, and hit on later success with the singles "fern bar" concept at Bennigans. Over his storied career he presided over Burger King's flame-broiled campaign in the ‘80s and the Pillsbury Restaurant Group and served as a mentor to the CEOs of Outback Steakhouse, Houston's, and Chuck E Cheese. Brinker International, which Brinker retired from running in 2000, currently owns 1,700 restaurants in 27 countries, including chains such as Maggiano's Little Italy, Romano's Macaroni Grill, and On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina. In addition to his culinary career, Brinker was an athlete, competing in the 1952 Summer Olympics as an equestrian and in the 1954 pentathlon world championships.
Little-known state senator Creigh Deeds won the Democratic primary for Virginia’s governor in an upset victory Tuesday. The 51-year-old country lawyer ran with the least money in the three-way race, but nearly doubled the vote totals of opponents Terry McAuliffe and Brian Moran. Republicans will now face off against a moderate with a strong rural backing instead of McAuliffe, whom they were ready to portray as a hanger-on fundraiser of Bill Clinton who had no strong ties to Virginia. “People are going to be talking about how he pulled this off for weeks and months,” said political science professor Quentin Kidd.
Apparently, we haven't had so many new words since Shakespeare's time. The Telegraph reports that Wednesday the English language—which adds a word every 98 minutes, on average—will reach one million words, as measured by the Global Language Monitor. The GLM is an association of academics that tracks new words, acknowledging them once they've been used 25,000 times by media outlets, social networking sites, and other sources. Dictionaries have more stringent requirements for new words, including use over a certain period of time. Candidates for the millionth word include social networking staples "defollow" and "defriend"; "noob," a slightly negative term for folks new to a task or community; "greenwashing," which is what happens when companies become enviro-friendly; and "chiconomics," which is the new recession fashion.
Perhaps the U.S. government is thinking out of sight, out of mind? The tiny Pacific island nation of Palau—population 20,000—has agreed to resettle up to 17 Uighur detainees from Guantanamo Bay. The Chinese Muslims have been stuck at Gitmo, despite the fact that the Pentagon has said they are not “enemy combatants.” Palau said that it will accept them “as a humanitarian gesture” toward, as President Johnson Toribong put it, “our best friend and ally.” According to the Associated Press, “The U.S. was prepared to give Palau up to $200 million in development, budget support and other assistance in return for accepting the Uighurs and as part of a mutual defense and cooperation treaty that is due to be renegotiated this year.”
The Orlando Magic have won their first NBA finals game in franchise history. After being swept in 1995 and losing the first two games of this year’s finals to the Los Angeles Lakers, the team rebounded last night with a 108-104 victory. The team shot a finals record 63 percent from the field, including 75 percent in the first half, after shooting only 29 percent in the first game of the series. And they held Kobe Bryant to only 10 points in the game’s second half. The Magic had five players score at least 18 points.
Senator Edward Kennedy presented his 615-page health care plan on Tuesday, kicking off Congress' debate on how to overhaul the nation's health care system. There is still no consensus on how large a role the federal government should play or how to finance the $1.5 trillion cost over the next decade. Kennedy's plan includes a powerful government oversight structure for insurance, would require private insurers to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions, and would make health insurance mandatory. Kennedy specifically left out new coverage requirements on businesses and a government insurance plan that would compete with private insurance companies to avoid antagonizing Republicans. Many were still furious and say the bill is being rushed through. The bill offers subsidies to people making up to five times the federal definition of the poverty line.
President Obama is getting tougher on spending. On Tuesday, Obama urged Congress to pass "pay-as-you-go" legislation that would, as Reuters puts it, "require new tax cuts and automatic spending programs to be paid for within the budget" through either tax hikes or spending cuts. This year's budget-deficit forecast shows a whopping $1.84 trillion deficit, worth 12.9 percent of the gross domestic product. Republicans have said that Obama's health care plan, one of the president's top domestic priorities, would only add to America's spending problem. Last week, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke warned that large deficits drive up long-term interest rates.
Someone may want to advise Sarah Palin to choose her battles. The Alaska governor has called late-night host David Letterman “pathetic” after he cracked a joke about her “slutty flight-attendant look” on his show. “What a commentary there,” Palin told radio host John Ziegler. “That’s pretty pathetic, good ole David Letterman.” Palin said Letterman was part of a media culture “where everything is commentary and facts don’t matter anymore.” Letterman’s joke came as part of a Top Ten List about Palin’s recent trip to New York. The number two reason for her visit, he said, was she “bought makeup at Bloomingdale’s to update her ‘slutty flight attendant’ look.”
The Obama administration decided on Tuesday to allow 10 large banks, including American Express, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs, to repay their $68.3 billion in TARP money. What’s in line for the other banks? According to The Wall Street Journal, Obama will appoint a “pay czar” to monitor the compensation practices of those banks still on the government’s lifeline. However, the administration is dropping its plan to cap salaries and will only seek to limit bonuses. And those banks that have already repaid TARP are not exactly out from under the government’s watchful eye: “Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is expected to push all firms—not just those receiving funds from the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program—to more closely tie incentive compensation to long-term performance by paying employees in restricted stock, rather than cash.”
Finally, a foreign leader Silvio Berlusconi can relate to: Libyan leader Col. Muammar Qaddafi is making his first visit to Italy, his country's former colonial master, since he took power in 1969. A man after Berlusconi’s heart, Qaddafi has asked to meet with 700 Italian women from "politics, industry, and culture" because he considers himself "an emancipator of women," The Times of London reports. Of course, Qaddafi will meet Mara Carfagna, the former topless model who serves as Berlusconi's Equal Opportunities Minister, and who landed the Prime Minister in hot water two years ago after the his wife demanded a public apology for Berlusconi's public praising of Carfagna's beauty. Qaddafi is traveling in style, with an entourage of 300, including 40 female bodyguards, and a tent that he's setting up to receive visitors in. Between Qaddafi's eccentricities and Berlusconi's penchant for gaffes, Italy is expecting an entertaining 72 hours.
Has the recession humbled Hollywood stars? The year-long dispute between film and television companies and the Screen Actors Guild is finally over, which means that wary studios, freed from the threat of a strike, are likely to push new films into production. On Tuesday, an overwhelming 78 percent of SAG's 120,000 members voted to accept the two-year contract the studios offered. Initially, the proposed contract sharply divided the union, although eventually a pro-contract campaign led by Tom Hanks and George Clooney won the membership over. New media rights were the main issue on the table, with members like Martin Sheen and Ed Harris opposing the deal studios offered and suggesting that actors might miss out on the future earnings potential of online videos.
A mere three days before Iran's hotly-contested presidential election, one of the country's most powerful clerics wrote a rare open letter to the Ayatollah slamming him for failing to rebuke President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. According to the Washington Post, cleric and former Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's letter to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei came a week after Ahmadinejad called Rafsanjani "corrupt" during a debate with challenger and former prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi. In the letter, Rafsanjani complained that Iran's supreme leader had kept his lips zipped in the face of Ahmadinejad's "insults, lies, and false allegations." Though Ayatollah Khamenei has final say over state policy, Rafsanjani is head of the Assembly of Experts, a clerical council which can depose the Ayatollah if he's unable or unqualified to do his job.
It's not over for the Boston Globe... yet. The Associated Press reports that the New York Times Co. has hired Goldman Sachs to “manage the possible sale” of its Boston-based paper. Reportedly, two anonymous buyers have bid for the 137-year-old paper, which lost $50 million last year and is projected to lose $85 million this year. However, the bids apparently came in before the Boston Newspaper Guild, the Globe's largest union, voted to reject the Times-mandated $10 million in pay and benefit cuts on Monday, and ended up slapped with a 23 percent pay cut instead.
Italian automaker Fiat has finalized its deal for bankrupt American manufacturer Chrysler Wednesday morning, forming an alliance that puts Fiat's CEO, Sergio Marchionne, in the driver's seat. The agreement comes a day after the Supreme Court "refused to hear an appeal of lower-court rulings that approved the asset sale," the Associated Press reports. "Fiat won't put any money into the deal but will give Chrysler sorely needed small-car and fuel-efficient-engine technology."
Will Brangelina have a new centerpiece for one of their many living rooms? Brad Pitt is reported to have spent big at Art Basel during a private viewing for VIPs on Wednesday morning. After a colorful 1998 painting by German artist Neo Rauch caught his eye, Pitt consulted with high-profile Los Angeles collectors Eli and Edythe Broad, then shelled out just under $1 million for the piece at the booth of New York-based dealer David Zwirner. The 9-foot-wide oil-on-linen titled “Etappe” (which translates to a stage or leg of a journey) depicts a racetrack scene, complete with a red, Formula One-style racecar, driver, and workers with hoses.
The presidential plate may be full of pressing issues like the economy and health care, but why not throw public health on there, too? President Obama has lately been signaling that a major public health initiative is in the works that will try to convince Americans to turn off the television and put down their hamburgers. Other plans involve more grocery stores and walking paths in impoverished areas, as well as nutrition counseling, Politico reports. Many of the men and women who will execute these plans are the same people who have spearheaded movements to prohibit smoking in public places, ban trans fat, and force restaurants to post calorie information. But how will this holier-than-thou attitude go over with Americans who aren't ashamed of their beer guts and big pile of nachos? The key may be convincing them that public health is an economic issue, as diseases tied to an unhealthy lifestyle cost $2 trillion.
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