Are Obama insiders secretly making retirement plans for the Obamas with the expectation the president will lose his bid for re-election in November?


Very quietly, Obama’s chief financier, Penny Pritzker, has entered the Hawaii housing market to buy a retirement home for the president and his family that will be available not in 2016, but in January 2013, according to a confidential source within Pritzker’s Chicago organization

Pritzker, a wealthy Chicago business executive and heiress to the Hyatt Hotels fortune, served as national finance chairman for Obama’s 2008 campaign and is the co-chairman of his 2012 effort.

The source told WND that highly confidential internal polls conducted by the Obama campaign indicate Obama cannot win re-election, despite public surveys that show him in the lead.

“The public polls are mostly political,” the source argued. “Obama radicals want Romney supporters to feel discouraged and give up. Truth is that Romney’s winning.”

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The source further told WND that Pritzker is experiencing frustration in her fundraising efforts, as wealthy donors who contributed generously to Obama in 2008 are not even returning her phone calls.

The source said Pritzker is “reminding everyone how generous to their supporters the Clintons were when they left office.”

“Everything is for sale. Ambassadorships, government grants, stimulus money – you name it,” the source told WND.

“There’s nearly three months between the Nov. 6 election and the Jan. 20 inauguration – plenty of time to hand out goodies to friends from the Oval Office.”

Aloha

Pritzker is telling potential donors that the Obamas have no intention of returning to Chicago when they leave the White House, according to the source.

She is also raising money for the Obama presidential library and museum, which also are slated for Hawaii.

Pritzker’s search for a developed property, suitable for occupancy four months from now, instead of property where a custom-designed estate might be built, is further indication that insiders believe Obama will not be re-elected.

Kevin DuJan, founder and editor of HillBuzz.org, first reported Pritzker was acting as a proxy to purchase a $35 million oceanfront estate in Kailua, the “Beverly Hills of Hawaii,” on the northeast shore of the island of Oahu.

DuJan reported billionaire Pritzker herself may contribute up to half the $35 million purchase price of the future Obama residence.

Madonna took a moment out of her Saturday show in Atlantic City to borrow some relevance from send a message to Lady Gaga. The Material Girl told the crowd she wanted to dedicate her song, "Masterpiece," to none other than Mother Monster. Here's Madonna's benediction: "I'm going to dedicate this next song … to Lady Gaga. You wanna know something? I love her. I love her. I do love her. Imitation is the highest form of flattery. But one day, very soon, we're going to be on stage together. Just you wait. You think I'm kidding? I love Lady Gaga." Madonna had previously covered Gaga's "Born This Way," which has been compared to "Express Yourself," a hit off Madonna's 1989 album, Like a Prayer. She also called "Born This Way" "reductive" in an interview . Gaga eventually responded, though she didn't mention Madonna by name -- just by age. "I don't even want to fight back because it's more important to me to keep writing music. Because that's really all I care about, is the music," she said. "Things are really different than they were 25 years ago, and that's what makes 'Born This Way' so relevant for me. We're socially in a different place and it's OK, we don't have to all slice and hate each other anymore." Then again, we're not really sure why we're talking about this. Elton John already said Madonna's career is over.

 An actress who appears in the anti-Muslim film trailer that has sparked riots in the Middle East is suing the filmmaker for fraud and slander, and is asking a judge to order YouTube to take down the clip.

Cindy Lee Garcia's lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles claims the actress was duped by Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, the man behind "Innocence of Muslims" who has been forced into hiding since its 14-minute trailer rose to prominence last week. She was unaware of the film's anti-Muslim content and the pages of the script she received had no mention of the prophet Muhammad, religion or sexual content, according to her complaint.

The lawsuit states Garcia responded to an ad and thought she was appearing in an ancient Egyptian adventure film called "Desert Warriors." Dialogue in the amateurish film was later dubbed to include anti-Islamic messages and to portray Muhammad as a fraud, a womanizer and a child molester, and it was also translated into Arabic.

"The film is vile and reprehensible," Garcia's attorney, M. Cris Armenta, wrote in the document. Her client has received death threats since the film's trailer began drawing attention, and she is no longer able to care for her grandchildren, the lawsuit states.

"This lawsuit is not an attack on the First Amendment nor on the right of Americans to say what they think, but does request that the offending content be removed from the Internet," the complaint states. Garcia's attorneys plan to seek an injunction against the film Thursday in a Los Angeles court.

YouTube has refused Garcia's requests to remove the film, according to the lawsuit. The complaint contends that keeping it online violates her right of publicity, invades her privacy rights and the post-filming dialogue changes cast her in a false light. "(Garcia) had a legally protected interest in her privacy and the right to be free from having hateful words put in her mouth or being depicted as a bigot," the lawsuit states.

YouTube said it is reviewing the complaint and its lawyers will be in court on Thursday. The site is owned by search giant Google and has blocked users in Saudi Arabia, Libya and Egypt from viewing the "Innocence of Muslims" trailer. It has also blocked the video from being viewed in Indonesia and India because it violates laws in those countries.

Garcia, who lives in Bakersfield, Calif., claims her association with the film has harmed her reputation and caused "shame, mortification, and hurt feelings" and will impact her ability to get future acting roles, according to the lawsuit.

A man who answered the phone at the law offices of Steven Seiden, who represents Nakoula on any criminal repercussions he may face, declined comment. He said Seiden does not represent Nakoula, who is on probation for a bank fraud case in which he opened 600 fraudulent credit accounts, in civil matters.

According to the terms of his probation, Nakoula was allowed to only access websites with the permission of probation officials and for work purposes. It is unclear who uploaded the film to the site.

The lawsuit also names Sam Bacile, an alias that Nakoula gave to The Associated Press after the trailer was linked to protests that have since killed at least 30 people in seven countries, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya.

When you're a pop star of Madonna's stature, you get to call in any number of favors. Like having progressive house superstar Benny Benassi produce your single, "Girl Gone Wild," and open for you in Abu Dhabi.

Benassi and Madonna have a long history together. The Italian Stallion remixed both "Celebration" and "Vogue" (though the latter was a bootleg). If Madonna stays in the game after MDNA, she's likely to link up with Benassi again. (Other house heads she's worked with: Avicii, who remixed "Girl Gone Wild," and Martin Solveig, who produced a good chunk of the album.)

Ultra Music is premiering footage from the July concert tomorrow on the label's YouTube channel, but HuffPost Entertainment has an exclusive preview. Watch the teaser below and let us know what you think in the comments.

It has been a strong year for women in television, but only in some aspects. According to the Center for Study of Women in Television and Film the annual study, women make up 26% of all creators, directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors, and directors of photography, which is up one point from the previous year and five points from the 1997-98 season. But 68% of all shows don’t even have a female writer on staff.

The study, written by the center’s head Dr. Martha Lauzen, looks at individuals working on prime-time dramas, sitcoms and reality shows on ABC, CBS, CW, Fox and NBC. It compares those employment figures with figures from the 1997-98 season. In the last year we have seen a major shift in television to more female-driven shows, especially comedic ones. Comedies that have debuted in the last year include New Girl, Girls, Suburgatory. All of these shows were created by and focus on women. Plus, we are looking forward to new shows such as The Mindy Project, co-created by Mindy Kaling as well as Emily Owens MD and Nashville premiering in the next few weeks. Shonda Rhimes also added to her television empire with Scandal (which is the first major network show to have an African American woman in 38 years.) But clearly we are still behind with getting women in the writing rooms. For every Lena Dunham and Tina Fey, there are…I can’t do fancy math…but there are just a lot more male writers.

Last year  Jezebel wrote an article that addressed the issue of the lack of female writers in the world of late-night comedy shows. Chelsea Handler had the most with five female writers (and five male writers) followed by Saturday Night Live with four female writers out of a staff of 16. Then the numbers get really sad: Jon Stewart has two out of 13, Jimmy Fallon has two out of 15, Jimmy Kimmel has one out of  10 (and she is also his girlfriend),  Craig Feguson has one out of 10 (and she is his sister), Conan O’Brien has one out of 15, Stephen Colbert has one out of 16, Jay Leno has one out of 20 and Bill Maher has no women on his staff of nine writers. The Late Show With David Letterman made history in July 2011 when it hired Jena Friedman as its second female writer. It was the first time in the history of the show that two female writers were ever on the payroll.

“It’s harder; there are less women looking for work. It’s easier to have an all-white male writing staff,” said Dan Harmon, the creator and former showrunner of the NBC sitcom Community. He was challenged to hire women for half of the writing staff of the show when it started in 2009 by then-NBC Entertainment president Angela Bromstad and he succeeded.

AOLTV writer Maureen Ryan takes spoke with a wide variety of writers and creators, both male and female on this topic. Everyone seems to agree that gender diversity leads to better television. As one female writer told Ryan, “A balanced writers’ room is like a balanced world. Everyone thrives, good work gets done, people like each other and the show is better for it. Women keep the room moving. They’re great at multitasking and getting along with others. They don’t procrastinate and they open up with lots of personal anecdotes that make for great stories on the show and great character beats. They tend to smell good.”

Midway through a routine Internet search, James Carter IV stumbled upon a video that just didn't seem right.

The grandson of former President Jimmy Carter and a self-fashioned Democratic opposition researcher, the younger Carter had watched countless hours of footage of Republican Mitt Romney and made it a habit to search YouTube every few days for keywords like "Romney" and "Republicans."

But on this day in August, one clip jumped out. There was Romney, in an undisclosed location, bluntly discussing a visit to a Chinese factory with substandard conditions.

"The hidden camera video — it was all blurred out at the beginning, and it was mysterious," Carter said. "It piqued my interest."

Something told him there might be more there than the brief clip posted on the YouTube channel "Anne Onymous." Although not affiliated with any campaign or super PAC, Carter had made it a personal mission to help get Democrats elected in 2012 — and to do his part to push back against Romney's relentless campaign-trail mockery of his grandfather.

So Carter, 35, of Atlanta, set out track down the source of the video. He sent a message to the YouTube user seeking details. No luck. But then, after sharing links to the video on Twitter, Carter realized he had a new follower with the same name as the YouTube account. He quickly shot off a direct message.

"They were wary at first," Carter said in an interview with The Associated Press. "But they did respond."


In a string of Internet conversations, Carter showed the source evidence that he had helped David Corn, a journalist with the magazine Mother Jones, report a story about Global-Tech Appliances Inc., a Chinese firm that Romney's Bain Capital briefly invested in. Both Carter and the source suspected it was that firm's factory that Romney was speaking about in the video.

"That gave me credibility," Carter said. "They opened up to me a little bit."

Soon after, Carter persuaded the source to trust Corn with the full video — on the condition that he keep the source's identity a secret. Corn ran with it, using clues in the video to triangulate when and where it had been recorded.

On September 8, 2012, a suicide bomb ripped through the diplomatic quarter in Kabul, right outside the headquarters of ISAF in the Afghan capital. No members of the international coalition were harmed in the attack. Instead, six young Afghan children lost their lives.

Four of the children were members of Skateistan, the skateboarding school in Kabul that made headlines last month when a photo captured an Afghan girl skateboarding in Bamiyan.

The blast in front of the ISAF compound killed 14-year-old Khorshid, one of Skateistan's rising stars and an instructor for young girls. According to the organization, Khorshid was "a role model for up to 160 girls attending Skateistan each week." Khorshid's 8-year-old sister Parwana, who had just joined Skateistan, also died in the attack.

Fourteen-year-old Khorshid was an instructor at Skateistan. (Skateistan)

8-year-old Parwana died in a suicide blast in Kabul on Sept. 8. (Skateistan)

Seventeen-year-old Nawab, another skater who also lost his life in the attack, had won the 2012 Go Skateboarding Day boys’ competition, while 13-year-old Mohammad Eeza was one of Skateistan's original students.

According to the New York Times, the four children frequented the area near the ISAF compound every day after school and on public holidays to sell scarves and chewing gum and to beg to help support their families.

In a statement on its website, Skateistan wrote:

    It is with great pain and heavy hearts that we share our memories of children who were not just victims of senseless violence, but also beautiful human beings who will never be forgotten by their teachers, peers, co-workers, students, friends or family.

Founded by Australian Oliver Percovich, Skateistan attempts to keep Afghan children off the street and combines skateboarding with education. Rhianon Bader, media officer for the organization, told the BBC that the organization will continue its activities in Kabul despite the tragic incident.

It doesn't get any easier for Lindsay Lohan: The "Liz & Dick" actress was arrested early Wednesday morning in New York for "leaving the scene of an accident and causing physical injury," a spokesperson with the New York Police Department told NBC News.

According to the spokesperson, Lohan, 26, was driving a 2010 Porsche SUV down an alley on the west side of Manhattan, heading to the Dream Hotel, when she struck a pedestrian while traveling at a low speed.

The NYPD spokesperson said Lohan went into the hotel on West 16th Street after the accident and was arrested after she came out at 2:30 a.m. Lohan was booked, issued a desk appearance ticket and released without bail.

TMZ reports that alcohol was not involved. The 34-year-old pedestrian was injured in the knee and taken to Bellevue Hospital where he was in stable condition, Reuters reported.

Though she was released from formal probation in March of this year after being charged in 2007 with drunk driving and cocaine possession, the actress remains on informal probation until 2014 in connection with the theft of jewelry in 2011. According to Access Hollywood, the L.A. City Attorney's office has forwarded information about the incident to the relevant authorities. It's unclear if Lohan will be charged with a violation of probation.

A Southern California chef on trial for allegedly killing his wife told police he slow-cooked her body then dumped it out as kitchen waste, according to an interview that was played in court on Tuesday.


Dawn Viens disappeared in 2009 and police identified her husband David – the chef at the former Thyme Café in Torrance, Calif. – as a prime suspect.

In 2011, investigators dug up the Thyme Café, which Dawn co-owned, searching for her body. But in a taped interview played Tuesday in court, David Viens seemed to tell police why her remains may never be found.


"I took some, some things like weights that we use and I put them on the top of her body, and I just slowly cooked it and I ended up cooking her for four days," Viens said on tape.

Documents: Read David Viens' interview with deputies

Viens claimed he argued with his wife, then bound her arms and feet and duct-taped her mouth shut. He said he panicked when he found her dead the next morning.

Viens claimed he stuffed his wife's 105-pound body in a drum and disposed of the remains as if it were kitchen waste.

"I came up with the idea of cleaning the grease traps and commingling in the, the excess, the excess protein," he could be heard saying on the tape.

David Viens told police he recovered Dawn's skull and jawbone and hid them in his mother's attic. Investigators say they never recovered any body parts.

After a relatively calm period which saw her all loved up with Taylor Kinney, it seems the old Lady Gaga is back and up to her old shocking tricks.

Gaga was seen puffing on a "wondrous" spliff during her Born This Way Ball show in Amsterdam last night.

lady gaga

Lady G told the crowd of it's "medical wonders" as she sparked up a fancy fag on stage, claiming it was the "appropriate place" to talk about her love of the drug, since it has been effectively decriminalised in the capital of Holland.

"I want you to know it has totally changed my life and I've really cut down on drinking. It has been a totally spiritual experience for me with my music," GaGa told fans at the gig, according to The Sun.

The star - who then donned a customised weed t-shirt thrown to her on stage by a fan - joked she was going to have a word with Barack Obama to get the drug legalised all over the world.

She then claimed the marijuana leaf is the "new peace sign" and added: "It's like saying everybody needs to take a breath and it's going to be okay."

Later on Gaga was seen arriving back at her hotel looking relatively normal.

She'd donned a floral tulip dress in tribute to Holland's national flower.

Earlier on in the day, her outfit was suitably ridiculous though.