Quantcast
Channel: Gawker
Viewing all 24829 articles
Browse latest View live

Even More Evidence Shows the IRS Didn't Single Out Conservatives

0
0

Even More Evidence Shows the IRS Didn't Single Out Conservatives

If you needed proof that the current IRS "scandal" is far less scandalous than the American people have been led to believe—besides the proof that already exists, of course—the New York Times has it for you today.

Two weeks ago, Danny Werfel, the new head of the IRS, said in a review of the tax body that inappropriate targeting of groups seeking tax-exempt status wasn't reserved only for Tea Party clubs and other right-wing entities, as some GOP lawmakers had claimed. Today, the Times reports that the vast majority of groups flagged for extra scrutiny by the IRS' tax exemption office weren't even politically involved one way or the other.

According to the Treasury inspector general for tax administration, the I.R.S. received 199,689 applications for tax-exempt status between 2010 and 2012. In 2012 alone, the agency received 73,319, of which about 22,000 were not approved in the initial review process. The inspector general looked at 296 applications flagged as potentially being from political groups. That means most of the applications pulled aside for further scrutiny in those years had nothing to do with politics, conservative or liberal, just as most of the red flags thrown up by the I.R.S.’s lookout lists were not overtly political.

According to the Times, one of the tax-exemption applicants hampered by IRS targeting was a "mainly African-American nurses' society," which is still waiting for an IRS response two years after filing its initial paperwork. Another was a Palestinian-rights group, and still others were open-source software developers, which the IRS feared were commercial companies attempting to skirt tax laws.

Despite the fact that this enhanced targeting clearly went beyond simply "Tea Party groups," that hasn't prevented some on the right-wing of saying as much to anyone who will listen. One particularly blustery critic is Congressman Darrell Issa, chairman of the House oversight committee, who said back in May, "This was a targeting of the president’s political enemies, effectively, and lies about it during the election year so that it wasn’t discovered until afterwards."

In light of the latest evidence, some of Issa's colleagues have begun singing a different tune. Virginia Congressman Gerald Connolly, a Democrat and a member of the House committee that got the ball rolling on the IRS inquiry, now calls the IRS dustup a "gross distortion of reality." "We replaced the leadership of the I.R.S. over this," he told the Times. "We have subpoenas out. We are deposing employees. And we have damaged the president."

Congressman Charles Boustany Jr., a Louisiana Republican and chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight, was forced to admit, "We haven't found political motivation." Republican Senator Roy Blunt echoed that sentiment, saying that maybe Issa and others had been wrong when they made the very serious charge that President Obama abused his power and forced the IRS to attack his political enemies: "I don’t have any reason to believe there wasn’t targeting of conservatives, but it might well have been a lot more than that as well."

Wrong or not, the best part of all this scandal-mongering for Republicans is that the veracity of their allegations doesn't matter in the end. The IRS paranoia has become whirled into the American public's political sniping, and some people will now accept it as truth forever, just as some of them still believe President Obama is a Muslim. In that way, Issa's plan has been a great success.

[Image via AP]


Seth Meyers Is Engaged But I Always Thought He'd Get Engaged to You

0
0

Seth Meyers Is Engaged But I Always Thought He'd Get Engaged to You

Damn. Surprising announcement from that guy I always figured you'd meet (somehow) and eventually marry. It seems comedian Seth Meyers is newly engaged. To someone else.

A rep for the couple—that is: the couple that consists of one part Seth Meyers and one part a woman you've never even met before—confirmed the engagement to Us Weekly. Alexi Ashe—the future Mrs. Seth Meyers—is a human rights lawyer, which is ironic considering she is now taking away your right to marry Seth Meyers at some point in the foreseeable future. The couple met in 2011 at a wedding, not unlike the wedding to Seth Meyers in which you always imagined you would one day have a starring role.There's Andy Samberg making a jokey toast in your mind's eye, employing, Oh God, the private nickname he and Seth Meyers use for you, and there's you making the rounds at every table, "So glad you could come, Ms. Wintour. Have you met Seth's friend Justin Timberlake?" and now Will Ferrell has the mic and he's doing a rap as Ron Burgundy haha, we have fun.

A "source" whose manner of speaking is very peculiar and capable of conveying capital letters in speech told Us Weekly "[Seth's] known that she's The One for awhile, but it was all about timing."

Earlier this year it was announced that Meyers will take over as the host of Late Night when Jimmy Fallon moves to The Tonight Show in 2014.

Mazel tov to the happy couple, which I still can't believe does not include you.

What are we going to do with this new reality?

[Image via Getty]

To contact the author of this post, email caity@gawker.com.

Bullet-Time Fireworks are Dramatic and Astounding

0
0

Look at this spectacular video of fireworks, sparklers, and contained explosives in all their slow-motion, fiery, explosive glory. Although, I harbor a seasonal pet peeve about setting off fireworks and sparklers during the daytime, this is really fantastic looking.

[via Laughing Squid]

Here is a man who has wisely invested $75,000 of his own money into developing a symbol to represent

0
0

Here is a man who has wisely invested $75,000 of his own money into developing a symbol to represent the word "the." All that cash got him a symbol that basically looks like an uppercase "T" and a lowercase "h" smashed together. Smart.

John Kerry Was Totally Chilling On His Yacht During The Egyptian Coup

0
0

John Kerry Was Totally Chilling On His Yacht During The Egyptian Coup

At this point John Kerry should just consider quitting water sports all together. In a flip-flop that played out like that 2004 Bush windsurfing ad, Kerry first adamantly denied — then reluctantly admitted — that he was out frolicking on his yacht during the Egyptian military coup Wednesday.

CBS News' Mosheh Oinounou first called out the Secretary of State for boating around Nantucket (and probably wearing Nantucket Reds or a Villebrequin with Sperries, because he so would be that guy) on Wednesday. According to Oinounou, a CBS producer spotted Kerry on his 76-foot yacht, Isabel, and yelled "Morsi". There was apparently no response.

A State Department spokesperson quickly denied that Kerry was on a boat, saying that Kerry was "working all day and on the phone dealing with the crisis in Egypt."

When pictures of Kerry kayaking around actually surfaced, the State Department backtracked, saying that Kerry was "briefly on his boat on Wednesday.”

The State Department has yet to respond to requests (that were never submitted) about how Kerry intends to be embarrassed during any future water sporting activities.

[CNN, photo via AP]

Edward Snowden, presumably still stuck in Russia's transit zone, or maybe on the Bolivian president'

0
0

Edward Snowden, presumably still stuck in Russia's transit zone, or maybe on the Bolivian president's plane, or maybe he never really existed at all, has apparently applied for asylum in six additional countries. Wikileaks made the announcement, but will not identify the countries due to "attempted US interference."

The Week in Movies: Despicable Lone Ranger Goes Way Way Back

0
0

The Week in Movies: Despicable Lone Ranger Goes Way Way Back

Welcome to Annotate This, where we gather reviews, trailers, and annotate the posters for movies coming out this week. It will help you decide what to avoid, what to see, and what to pretend to see. Click on the image above to add your comments to the mix. Guess what? It's July 4th weekend and studios want to entertain you.

The Lone Ranger (July 3)

Johnny Depp is back in eyeliner in a Bruckheimer/Verbinski film, but this time he's playing Tonto, a Native American spirit warrior. Tonto has a bird on his head, unlike Jack Sparrow, whose name was a bird and had some scraggly dreadlocks hanging from his head-kerchief. Armie Hammer plays a good man, but he's in a mask (ambiguous).

Anyways, the two men team up for a bizarre origin story that cost $250 million. They're running from fire, runaway trains, horses, and Helena Bonham Carter in wig wielding a gun. Is it offensive? Who's to know really, sorry girls. Oh and don't worry Westerns nerds, Verbinski knows his shit. Rich Juzwiak's review here.


Despicable Me 2 (July 2)

Steve Carrell's voice is back and vaguely Eastern-European for the role of former villain Gru, or "Uncle Fester with the personality of Nikita Khrushchev." Kristen Wiig joins as Agent Lucy Wilde, a lipstick-laser wielding action hero. This sequel to 2010's $540 million success isn't very substantive, but it's so cute. Mostly, everyone is thrilled and delighted about these little yellow minions.


The Way Way Back (limited)

The Way Way Back depicts a 14-year-old's (Liam James) coming of age summer and his unlikely friendship with a theme park owner (a wonderful performance from Sam Rockwell). Toni Collette and Steve Carell play bad parents. This warmly funny 1980s period piece is a directorial debut from Oscar-winning writers Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (The Descendants).


The Look of Love (Limited)

This biopic about British adult magazine entrepreneur Paul Raymond, features an "impressive, subtler-than-it-looks performance" by Steve Coogan. The shallow but watchable film gets entrenched in biographical details of the businessman who became one of the richest men in Britain. The Look of Love is Michael Winterbottom and Coogan's fourth feature film collaboration.


Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me (July 3; Limited and On Demand)

Drew DeNicola and Olivia Mori's documentary tribute to the critically-acclaimed commercial failure Big Star is an unabashed, though respectable, attempt to give this criminally overlooked band their due. It's most likely too affectionate, but it does give an excellent history of the band, highlighting music that "distilled teenagerdom to its blissful, bittersweet essence."


Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain (July 3)

This comedy-tour documentary follows Kevin Hart's tour from last year (of the same name), which made over $32 million in ticket sales, crossing 80 cities and 10 countries. Plenty of background information, fans squealing, traveling madness, and on-stage bits in what could be the best stand-up special of the year.


Stuck in Love

This is a divorce comedy in which Greg Kinnear and Jennifer Connelly have moved onto Kristen Bell and a younger man, respectively. Their millennial children (Lily Collins, Nat Wolff) are both writers. It culminates in a hilarious holiday crisis. Directed by first time writer-director Josh Boone, this "male novelist in mid-life crisis" genre flick is a little soapy, but has some nicely humorous moments.


Absence (limited)

This is a found-footage, shaky-cam, biological-invasion thriller about an expectant mother who loses her baby very close to her due date—and where did it go? It's a mystery. Directed by Jimmy Loweree, it's mostly a shapeless horror flick.


Hammer of the Gods (Limited)

Hammer of the Gods takes place in Britain in 871 AD and movie depicts the life of a young Viking and his long journey towards acquiring macho savagery required to be a "warrior." It's an "unbearably stupid exercise in gore."


Just Like a Woman (Limited)

A friendship blooms between a receptionist (Sienna Miller) and a recent immigrant from North Africa (Golshifteh Farahani), who are both unhappy in their lives aside from a belly-dancing glass. In a nutshell: it's female empowerment, exposed navels. They run away to Santa Fe to compete in a belly dancing contest to join a famous belly dancing company. Directed by Oscar nominee Rachid Bouchareb, it's dull and loosey-goosey.


To contact the author of this post, email maggie@gawker.com.

US House of Representatives Endorses Hamptons Uber Chopper

0
0

The bipartisan House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has an important message for you on this Independence Day weekend: if you're frustrated by traffic, try a $3,000 private helicopter. It's #innovation, and that's as American as it gets.

There's no way to know exactly which Capitol Hill intern hit publish on this one, but committee chairman Bill Shuster's mug pairs well with the tweet. If you see Rep. Shuster on the beach this weekend, ask if you can hitch a chopper ride back.


Magna Carta Leaks Early, But Not To All The People It Was Supposed To

0
0

Magna Carta Leaks Early, But Not To All The People It Was Supposed To

Magna Carta Holy Grail? More like Holy Fail. Puns! But really, Jay-Z's new album, released early to Samsung customers who agreed to download an app and give up more information than a Nigerian Prince would think to ask for, apparently glitched.

Many customers — who already agreed to provide Hova with access to their phone's storage, GPS location, and phone call information, in exchange for the early download — complained that technical glitches prevented them from accessing and listening to the album. Magna Carta was supposed to be made exclusively available to them for 72 hours.

Instead, the album not only failed to play for many users, but shockingly also leaked early. It is now streaming across the interwebs four days before its scheduled general release date, and somewhere, Kanye West is quietly, calmly returning a Jay-Z voodoo doll, pockmarked with stab wounds, to a dark drawer in his Paris apartment, as Yeezus plays on loop.

As part of the promotion, Samsung had purchased the first million copies of the album plus exclusive distribution rights for 72 hours for around $5 million. It is not clear if that purchase will count towards the Nielsen SoundScan calculations.

[via, photo via Getty]

Happy four-day-weekend y'all.

0
0

Happy four-day-weekend y'all. Six of eight drivers involved in an eight-car pileup in Atlanta this morning are being charged with DUIs after the crash. The first car struck a pedestrian (who is being charged with walking in a roadway), but thankfully there were no fatalities.

Missouri Is Trying To Bring Back The Gas Chamber

0
0

Missouri Is Trying To Bring Back The Gas Chamber

When your state runs out of the drugs necessary for lethal injections, it seems you have a few options. You can hold off on executing prisoners until a court of law can decide what is humane and what is cruel and unusual, or, if you're Chris Koster, you can try to go retro to exert leverage over said court.

Koster, the Attorney General of Missouri, is trying to bring back the gas chamber, which is still allowed under the state's statutes, but has not been used since the 1960s. The state has been under pressure to find new methods for executing prisoners because the companies that make the three-drug cocktail traditionally used for the death penalty will generally no longer sell to correctional facilities on moral grounds.

Although the drug shortage has affected death rows across the country, Missouri is apparently the only state to turn to a one-drug solution — in this case propofol, the drug that killed Michael Jackson. But many Missouri executions have been stayed in the wake of a 2012 lawsuit on behalf of 21 Missouri death row inmates questioning whether the use of propofol constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

Now, Koster appears to be using the gas chamber option as leverage against the courts as they debate the constitutionality of a one-drug execution.

"The Missouri death penalty statute has been, in my opinion, unnecessarily entangled in the courts for over a decade," Koster told The Associated Press in an email.

When asked if he thought gas chambers could constitute cruel and unusual punishment, Koster replied: "The premeditated murder of an innocent Missourian is cruel and unusual punishment. The lawful implementation of the death penalty, following a fair and reasoned jury trial, is not."

It's worth pointing out that although allowed by Missouri statute, the state does not currently have any gas chambers. As such, Missouri would have to actively build new gas chambers if the courts do not rule favorably on the use of propofol.

[via, image via AP]

Both Venezuela and Nicaragua have offered asylum to NSA leaker Edward Snowden, still ensconced in Mo

Mob Sexual Assaults In Tahrir Square Are Escalating

0
0

Mob Sexual Assaults In Tahrir Square Are Escalating

Tahrir Square was a point of celebration on Wednesday as Egyptians celebrated the ouster of Mohamed Morsi, but for at least 80 women it was a nightmare.

In the last week alone, more than 169 cases of mob sexual crimes were reported in Tahrir Square, The Guardian is reporting. And since last Sunday, at least one woman was raped with a sharp object.

"We call it the circle of hell," one woman said of the assaulting mobs.

According to The Guardian, a typical attack consists of large groups of men who surround a lone woman, ripping off her clothing until she is naked. Soraya Bahgat, a women's rights advocate and co-founder of Tahrir Bodyguard, says that most of these groups of men head into the packed squares with the specific intention of assaulting or raping women.

These mob assaults are nothing new; thousands of women are attacked annually and a large group of men attacking and sexually assaulting CBS reporter Lara Logan in Cairo were captured on video in 2011. But the high number of assaults in the last week suggests that the violence appears to be escalating.

There are at least two volunteer rescue groups (Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment and Tahrir Bodyguard) who are currently patrolling Tahrir Square trying to stop the assaults. They use weapons, like clubs and flamethrowers, to fight off the men, then clothe and hide the women in safehouses or hospitals. Even then, however, the nightmare is not over — according to The Guardian, mobs will sometimes break down safehouse doors or even assault rescuers.

The problem is compounded by poorly defined sexual harassment and assault laws coupled with law enforcement that is largely indifferent to women reporting attacks. According to a UN survey, 99.3 percent of Egyptian women have reported being sexually harassed.

[via, image via AP]

OMG Rich People Are Now Going Below 59th Street

0
0

OMG Rich People Are Now Going Below 59th Street

New York's upper crust is struggling with the age-old existential question, “Do I have an affair, get a divorce or get a downtown apartment?”

According to the New York Times, the "gaggles of Muffys and Thurstons" of the Upper East Side are going with the downtown apartments. Obviously. Affairs and divorces are tres passe, darling. What else does one do above 59th Street?

“Downtown is livelier — we feel as though we have been in Milan for the weekend,” Brooke Garber Neidich, a chairwoman of the Whitney Museum, a founder and chairwoman of the Child Mind Institute and a trustee of Lincoln Center Theater, told the Times.

The Times notes that Muffy and Thurston and their other ridiculously named friends are displacing the "flocks of young New Yorkers who might once have lived in the East Village," but are now forced to live in the Times' favorite neighborhood: Williamsburg. In the meantime, those Williamsburg hipsters are being pushed out to Bushwick. (Or was it up the Hudson?).

And the downtown exodus has women shedding their inhibitions! Shedding their diamonds!

“You can go out to dinner and you don’t have to be dressed,” Linda Lambert, wife of the chairman of a commercial brokerage firm — who also shed her townhouse for a TriBeCa loft — said. “You don’t have to wear jewelry."

[NYT, image via Shutterstock]

MURRICA!

0
0

MURRICA! An escaped convicted rapist thought he could just sidle into an Ohio convenience store and order an iced tea, but he didn't count on American flag t-shirt guy recognizing him and TAKING HIM DOWN, all caught on video.


Man Celebrating 21st Birthday Allegedly Stabs Homeless Vet 70 Times

0
0

Man Celebrating 21st Birthday Allegedly Stabs Homeless Vet 70 Times

Twenty-first birthday celebrations usually involve multiple shots. But Dale "Bugsy" Wakefield apparently opted for stab wounds — more than 70 — on a 71-year-old homeless veteran, police say.

Wakefield was captured by Baltimore police after his sister turned him in for allegedly calling her and telling her that he stabbed someone in Pennsylvania and needed to flee to North Dakota. He made it as far as the Mount Vernon Hotel in Baltimore before police found him.

Wakefield apparently has a history of violent crime — he pled guilty this year to making terroristic threats and simple assault. He has also previously pleaded guilty to a DUI, harassment, and escaping custody. Authorities say that drinking on his 21st birthday would also be a violation of his probation. As part of his probation, he was also ordered to undergo anger management counseling.

George Mohr, the 71-year-old veteran, is still alive and in critical condition in a Philadelphia hospital. Wakefield has been charged with attempted murder, but those charges will be updated if Mohr succumbs to his injuries.

[via, image via Facebook]

Rebecca Martinson, deranged sorority girl and inventor of the "cunt punt," may have been forced out

Bolivia, probably still pissed off over that whole plane incident, is threatening to shutter the US

Police Just Violating All The Constitutional Amendments Now

0
0

Police Just Violating All The Constitutional Amendments Now

A Nevada man is suing the city of Henderson and its police under the rarely-used Third Amendment, claiming that they unconstitutionally arrested him for obstruction of justice when he refused to let them commandeer his home.

Anthony Mitchell, a resident of a Las Vegas suburb, was arrested by Henderson Police in 2011 after he refused police requests to enter his home to "gain a tactical advantage" against the occupant of a neighboring house. The Third Amendment prohibits the quartering of soldiers in private homes without the homeowners' permission.

Mitchell says the violations began when police called him and told him they needed his home to respond to a nearby domestic violence call.

When Mitchell refused, police allegedly smashed open his front door with a metal ram, aimed guns at him, and shouted obscenities at him. According to his complaint, they forced him to lie down on his living room floor, and fired multiple "pepperball rounds" at him. Mitchell says that he was hit by at least of those three rounds. His dog Sam was also allegedly hit by the rounds and left outside in 100 degree weather with no food or shade for hours.

At this point, Mitchell, still lying on his own floor, was arrested for obstruction.

In the meantime, Mitchell alleges, as police searched his home and set up operational positions, they also went to his parents house (on the same street) and tricked his father, Michael into leaving that home. According to the complaint, police told Michael he was necessary for the negotiations nearby, and convinced him to leave and move to a police command center nearby. When it became apparent that the negotiations request was a ruse, Michael attempted to leave the police command center.

Police then arrested him for obstruction too, handcuffing him and placing him in the back of a marked police car. The suit alleges that approximately an hour later, police returned to the parents' house, where Mitchell's mother also refused police entry without a warrant. According to the suit, police forcibly pulled her out of the house and made her to walk to the command center with them. She does not appear to have been arrested.

Although Mitchell and his father were both charged with obstruction of justice and jailed, all criminal charges against them were dropped with prejudice.

In addition to Third Amendment violations, the Mitchells are suing for violations of the fourth and 14th Amendments, assault and battery, conspiracy, defamation, abuse of process, malicious prosecution, negligence and emotional distress.

[via, image via Shutterstock]

A Boeing 777 Has Crashed In San Francisco [UPDATING]

0
0

A Boeing 777 is on fire at San Francisco International Airport. The emergency slides have deployed, though it is not immediately clear what caused the crash and conflagration, nor if there are any injuries.

The flight is Asiana Airlines flight 214, according to NYC Aviation.

We'll update you as we have more information.

UPDATE: Courtesy of Micki Maynard, planes around San Francisco are currently in holding patterns:

UPDATE #2: Twitter user Eunner says he was on the plane, and that so far "most everyone seems fine":

UPDATE #3: Many eyewitness are saying that it was clear the plane was in trouble when it was coming in for a landing, followed by an audible "boom" with what appeared to be dust and smoke emanating from the tail.

UPDATE #4: All SFO flights have been canceled, according to TV station KTVU.

UPDATE #5: The air traffic control recording shows that the tower responded quickly, calmly, and professionally.

UPDATE #6: The National Transportation Safety Board has announced that it has deployed a "Go Team" to investigate the incident. A Go Team is responsible for initiating an investigation as quickly as possible:

The team can number from three or four to more than a dozen specialists from the Board's headquarters staff in Washington, D.C., who are assigned on a rotational basis to respond as quickly as possible to the scene of the accident. Go Teams travel by commercial airliner or government aircraft depending on circumstances and availability. Such teams have been winging to catastrophic airline crash sites for more than 35 years. They also routinely handle investigations of certain rail, highway, marine and pipeline accidents.

During their time on the "duty" rotation, members must be reachable 24 hours a day by telephone at the office or at home, or by pager. Most Go Team members do not have a suitcase pre-packed because there's no way of knowing whether the accident scene will be in Florida or Alaska, but they do have tools of their trade handy — carefully selected wrenches, screwdrivers and devices peculiar to their specialty. All carry flashlights, tape recorders, cameras, and lots of extra tape and film.

UPDATE #7: The plane was not making an emergency landing before the crash, and prior to impact the the situation had been "entirely normal," according to the NY Times.

UPDATE #8: Two people are dead, according to the San Francisco Fire Department.

UPDATE #9: Runways at the airport will be re-opening shortly:

Update #10: Here is the latest information according to a press conference at San Francisco International Airport:

  • The plane originated in Shanghai, China, with a stop in Seoul, South Korea, with San Francisco being the final destination.
  • The plane's manifest included 291 passengers with 16 crew for a total of 307.
  • Two people have died, and approximately 130 people are injured, but not everyone is immediately accounted for. The information on how many are injured is still unclear, though many of the injuries appear to be relatively minor.
  • The FBI says there is "no indication of terrorism."
  • Two of SFO's four runways are in operation.
Viewing all 24829 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images