Saturday Post

The world does not stop...


That was a nice interview about losing your coverage you gave Fox News. It would be a shame if you were audited:

Bill Elliott, a cancer patient who told Fox News' Megyn Kelly his insurance was canceled because of Obamacare, now says he is the target of an IRS audit, The Blaze reported Friday. A health insurance broker who helped Elliot keep his insurance is also the target of an IRS audit dating back to 2003, FrontPageMag added.

Elliott appeared on Fox earlier in November to explain that his plan was canceled due to new regulations because his cancer was considered “beyond a catastrophic pre-existing condition.”

Elliott was given one choice: A $1,500 per month plan to replace the plan he had been paying $180 per month for. Elliott said he decided to pay the fine and "let nature take its course."

After the issue had been worked out with the insurance company, Elliott received a notice from the IRS informing him of the audit.

“Monday I got a certified letter, I went down and got it and it’s from the IRS and they are auditing my books from 2009,” he told Charleston, S.C., station WQSC.

At the time, he said, he worked for the government and didn't own a business. Moreover, he said, he's paid his taxes every year.

The notice also said that “due to federal budget cuts,” the meeting between him and the IRS won’t take place until April 2014.

This truly is a mafia administration with the Teflon Don-in-Chief at the top. It might as well put decapitated horses' heads in people's beds and be done with.


Merrill Newman, an American Korean War veteran who has been detained by the North Koreans for over a month, has been made to apologise for crimes against the North Korean state:

North Korea state media claimed Saturday that an elderly U.S. tourist detained for more than a month has apologized for alleged crimes during the Korean War and for “hostile acts” against the state during a recent trip.

North Korean authorities released video showing 85-year-old Merrill Newman, wearing glasses, a blue button-down shirt and tan trousers, reading his alleged apology, which was dated Nov. 9 and couldn’t be independently confirmed.

Pyongyang has been accused of previously coercing statements from detainees. There was no way to reach Newman and determine the circumstances of the alleged confession. But it was riddled with stilted English and grammatical errors, such as “I want not punish me.”

“I have been guilty of a long list of indelible crimes against DPRK government and Korean people,” Newman purportedly wrote in a four-page statement, adding: “Please forgive me.”

What is North Korea's game here? It would not be the first time North Korea forced a false confession out of someone, North Korean or not. This also falls on the heels of China's belligerence over the Senkaku Islands and North Korea's perennial nuclear arms/sanctions dance. It also does not help that aside from the US, there is no real military opposition to North Korea or its boss, China. Kim Jong-Un may very well be attempting to coerce the West into undoing its scant sanctions or just trying to be a bully knowing full well no one will stand up to it. Either way, it is those who enter North Korea, whatever their motives, who will suffer.

What? They are a bunch of heathens!

In the video, Manitoba Progressive Conservative Leader Brian Pallister — who was also a federal Conservative MP — wishes everybody happy holidays, even those "infidel atheists."

Now, let's relax. There is no point in one's taking offense over what is really a flippant remark. I thought someone might wear the "infidel atheist" crack as a badge of honour. I mean- what are you going to do on Christmas Day, anyway? Nothing?

Then chill....


Hey, remember when Pope Francis sent out "Evangelii Gaudium" and no one read it but started accusing the Pope of being a socialist and then the discussion got really, really ugly?

Oops:

Shortly after the document was released, some political and economic conservatives took exception to the pope's comments on how economic systems and politicians fail the poor and vulnerable. Some even characterized his words as an all-out attack on capitalism. Of course, on the other end of the political/economic spectrum, there were those thrilled to apparently have a pope on their side.

Subsequently, there began a trickle of questions about the translation of one of the most contentious passages (click here and here and here for initial skepticism, and here for skepticism about the skepticism, which itself was met with some skepticism and has been since updated with a correction).

Most papal documents are released in Latin, which has been the lingua franca of the multilingual Roman Catholic Church for centuries. But it's not easy to find someone fluent enough in Latin to translate long, complicated documents, laden with religious references and idioms. So, journalists have relied on the Vatican's own English version.

But in the case of Evangelii Gaudium, trusting that translation may be problematic.

Over at the Fur:  pruning the English language to suit feminist double-speak never ends well, Islamic unrest in Russian territories results in burned churches (scorched earth policy to enacted in five, four..), the new Dark Ages, Israel denounces Obama for giving Iran the opportunity to enrich uranium and much, much more!