Authorities are responding to an “active shooter” incident with casualties at Ft. Hood, the scene of a 2009 attack that left 13 dead, the Bell County Sheriff’s Office says.
It was not immediately clear if there was one shooter or multiple suspects, and there was no immediate information on the extent of any injuries.
The sheriff’s office dispatched deputies and troopers from the Texas Department of Public Safety to the nearby Texas Army base, Bell County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Donnie Adams said.
The Department of Public Safety also confirmed there were casualties, but did not specify how many. A person on base with knowledge of the situation said two victims have been rushed to a local hospital.
Fort Hood ordered everyone at the base to “shelter in place.” The order was sent Wednesday on the base’s Twitter feed and posted on its Facebook page.
The 1st Calvary Division, which is based at Fort Hood, sent a Twitter alert telling people on base to close doors and stay away from windows.
A spokeswoman for the base declined to comment.
In 2009, U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, a psychiatrist who had become a radical Muslim while serving in the military, killed 13 people and injured dozens more inside the Army base in Killeen, Texas. Hasan, who represented himself at a military trial after clashing with his appointed attorneys, was sentenced to death in August.
Fox News’ Martin Finn, Jennifer Griffin and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This morning I had a fight with Victor about towels. I can’t tell you the details because it wasn’t interesting enough to document at the time, but it was basically me telling Victor I needed to buy new bath towels, and Victor insisting that I NOT buy towels because I “just bought new towels“. Then I pointed out that the last towels I’d bought were hot pink beach towels, and he was all “EXACTLY” and then I hit my head against the wall for an hour.
Then Laura came to pick me up so we could go to the discount outlet together, and as Victor gave me a kiss goodbye he lovingly whispered, “You are not allowed to bring any more goddam towels in this house or I will strangle you“. And that was exactly what I was still echoing through my head an hour…
To turn back the encroaching tyranny of big government, do we need a Constitutional Convention? The men who wrote the Constitution certainly thought we might. Have we have reached the point where no other choice looks as promising?
James Madison, a Federalist, and therefore a proponent for passage of the Constitution and of a stronger central government, affectionately known as the “father of the Constitution”, in arguing for the Constitution’s passage and in trying to alleviate the fears of those citizens skeptical about giving more power to a central government, said in Federalist 45, “The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and infinite.” That was a mouthful of a sentence, huh? Again, that promise, of a…
Agency employs Orwellian term “Shared Responsibility Payment” to describe Obamacare individual mandate tax.
President Obama’s Internal Revenue Service today quietly released a series of Obamacare “Health Care Tax Tips” warning Americans that they must obtain “qualifying” health insurance – as defined by the federal government – or face a “shared responsibility payment” when filing their tax returns in 2015. The term “shared responsibility payment” refers to the Obamacare individual mandate tax, one of at least seven tax hikes in the healthcare law that directly hit families making less than $250,000 per year.
Your 2014 tax return will ask if you had insurance coverage or qualified for an exemption. If not, you may owe a shared responsibility payment when you file in 2015.
For any month in 2014 that you or any of your dependents don’t maintain coverage and don’t qualify for an exemption, you will need to make an individual shared responsibility payment with your 2014 tax return filed in 2015.
If you (or any of your dependents) do not maintain coverage and do not qualify for an exemption, you will need to make an individual shared responsibility payment with your return. In general, the payment amount is either a percentage of your household income or a flat dollar amount, whichever is greater. You will owe 1/12th of the annual payment for each month you (or your dependents) do not have coverage and are not exempt. The annual payment amount for 2014 is the greater of:
1 percent of your household income that is above the tax return filing threshold for your filing status, such as Married Filing Jointly or single, or
Your family’s flat dollar amount, which is $95 per adult and $47.50 per child, limited to a maximum of $285.
As confirmed by previous IRS testimony to the tax-writing House Committee on Ways and Means, “taxpayers will file their tax returns reporting their health insurance coverage, and/or making a payment”.
Once fully phased in, the Obamacare individual mandate tax will rise steeply, to a maximum of 2.5 percent of Adjusted Gross Income or $2,085 – whichever is higher
Posted by John Kartchon Tuesday, February 25, 2014 6:20 PM EST
(CNN) —Sid Caesar, whose clever, anarchic comedy on such programs as “Your Show of Shows” and “Caesar’s Hour” helped define the 1950s “Golden Age of Television,” has died. He was 91.
A friend of the family, actor Rudy De Luca, does not know the exact cause of death, but says Caesar had respiratory problems and other health problems for several years.
Caesar became famous for “Your Show of Shows,” which went on the air in 1950. It lasted four years and was followed by “Caesar’s Hour,” which combined sketches, musical revues and situation comedy.
Both shows featured writers who became famous in their own right, including Neil Simon, Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks, Mel Tolkin, Lucille Kallen and Larry Gelbart. Woody Allen also contributed to Caesar’s comedy as a writer for one of his specials.
Brooks visited Caesar last night to say goodbye, De Luca told CNN.
Caesar also appeared in a number of films, including “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” (1963), “Airport 1975” (1974) and “Grease” (1978). He received a Tony nomination for his performance in the 1962 show “Little Me,” with a book by Simon.
Caesar, born Isaac Sidney Caesar in 1922, was part of a pioneering group of personalities who helped establish television in its early days. However, while comedians such as Jack Benny and Fred Allen more or less transferred their radio shows to the new medium and Milton Berle’s “Texaco Star Theater” was essentially vaudeville on the small screen, Caesar’s “Show of Shows” presented movie parodies, wordless pantomimes and brisk routines between the host and co-star Imogene Coca.
It was comedy pitched at a high (or, just as often, low) level — and it was done live, every Saturday night at 9.
The versatile Caesar was game for whatever the writers came up with. “Caesar could take on many roles,” wrote Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh in the reference “The Complete Directory to Prime-Time Network and Cable TV Shows,” calling him a “comic genius.” “He was the double-talking foreigner (he was a master of dialects), the henpecked husband or the greasy-haired cad.”
Among the regular routines were a skit with Coca, “The Hickenloopers,” and Caesar as a gibberish-singing opera singer. Reiner and Howard Morris — later Ernest T. Bass on “The Andy Griffith Show” — were frequent supporting players.
The high-pressure hijinks of the writers’ room inspired a number of other works, including “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” created by Reiner; the 1982 film “My Favorite Year,” produced by Brooks; and the 1993 play “Laughter on the 23rd Floor,” by Simon.
“When we came in, we didn’t have the slightest idea of what we were going to do. We christened the beginning of the week ‘Bloody Monday’ because we walked into the room with no material. We had three days to pitch lines and ideas and create six complete sketches,” Caesar recalled in a 2011 interview.
The high pressure also led to a drinking and drug problem for Caesar. It took him years to kick the habit, until finally he went blank one day while performing on stage in 1977. He checked into a hospital soon after got clean.
“I couldn’t stand me,” he said in 2011. “That’s why I drank and took pills. I couldn’t stand to be around me.”
“Your Show of Shows” lasted just four years, but its impact was such that a best-of selection was turned into a 1973 movie, “Ten From Your Show of Shows.”
Caesar followed “Your Show of Shows” with “Caesar’s Hour,” which included Reiner and Morris but not Coca. Among the show’s recurring sketches was one in which the trio played “The Three Haircuts,” a rock ‘n’ roll group.
Other regulars on “Caesar’s Hour” included Nanette Fabray and Bea Arthur.
“Caesar’s Hour” left the air in 1957. In the following decades, Caesar appeared in a handful of films, most notably the comic extravaganza “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World,” in which he played dentist Melville Crump. He did a number of his own gags and hurt his back in the process.
He appeared in films by his former writer Brooks, including 1976’s “Silent Movie” and 1981’s “History of the World Part I,” and popped up in films such as “Grease” and “Grease 2” (as Coach Calhoun) and “Cannonball Run II.”
He hosted “Saturday Night Live” in 1983 and was named an honorary member of the “Not Ready for Prime Time Players” at the conclusion of the show — the only non-“SNL” cast member to earn the tribute.
Among his honors are two Emmys, a lifetime achievement award from the Television Critics Association and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
He was married to Florence Levy for 67 years until her death in 2010. The couple had three children.
Asked by the Archive of American Television how he’d like to be remembered, he responded with six words.
What the hell is going on, everyone agrees that Obama has many impeachable offenses and probably many prosecutable offenses but yet nobody does anything, I don’t understand it.
Via the pool report:
Monticello
At 4:45 POTUS and president Hollande walked out from a portico and strolled in Front of your pool with Leslie Bowman, president of the Monticello Foundation. Looking at a terrace she said that Jefferson loved to admire the landscape from there. POTUS said that he’d like to take a look and seemed delighted to “break the protocol”.
“That’s the good thing as a President, I can do whatever I want” he quipped, walking to the terrace with his guest and Ms. Bowman. Pool now in the mansion as the leaders will come and visit Jefferson’s study.
The comment came around the time the White House announced it would be delaying the Obamacare mandate for some businesses unilaterally.
The French president is here in the U.S. on a state visit.
Hollywood legend turned diplomat Shirley Temple dies at 85
Published February 11, 2014
FoxNews.com
Shirley Temple Black, who as a dimpled, ringlet-haired moppet starred in a series of winsome films that lifted the spirits of millions during the hard days of the Depression, then retired from the screen at 22 and eventually went on to a diplomatic career, died surrounded by family at her home in Woodside, Calif. She was 85.
Temple was the most famous child star of her time and arguably of all time, beginning her film career at age three and becoming the symbol of upbeat family entertainment during an era when many had little to smile about.
By six, she’d received a miniature Academy Award and left her hand and footprints in cement at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.
Her roles tended to follow a template: she was constantly cheerful, smiling, optimistic and pure hearted — sometimes without one parent, sometimes an orphan, but always able to bring joy to the coldest-hearted characters and love to those who yearned for it.
Temple also was a merchandising goldmine: dolls, clothes, dishes, cutout books and numerous other items appeared in her likeness. There was even a non-alcoholic drink named after her: the Shirley Temple (ginger ale, orange juice and grenadine, topped with a maraschino cherry).
But her days as an internationally famous star effectively ended with her childhood and her life took a strikingly different path.
She married twice and gave birth to three children before venturing onto the political stage, serving as US ambassador to both Ghana and Czechoslovakia, a US representative to the United Nations and chief of protocol in the administration of President Gerald Ford.
A widow, Temple is survived by her three children, Linda, Charlie and Lori.
The little girl who tap danced her way into the heart of millions was born April 23, 1928 in Santa Monica, California to businessman George Temple and his wife, Gertrude.
She was sent at three to dance school, where she was seen by two producers for one-reel short films, who launched her career.
By the time she was six, Temple was under contract to Fox Films and her breakthrough came in 1934’s “Stand Up and Cheer!” followed by “Little Miss Marker.”
That same year, her trademark song, “On the Good Ship Lollipop” was introduced in “Bright Eyes.”
Audiences struggling through the Depression couldn’t get enough of her. Then- President Franklin Roosevelt said, “It is a splendid thing that for just 15 cents an American can go to a movie and look at the smiling face of a baby and forget his troubles.”
More films followed, including “Curly Top,” “The Littlest Rebel,” “Dimples,”, “Wee Willie Winkie,” “Heidi” and “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.”
She was “just absolutely marvelous, greatest in the world,” director Allan Dwan told filmmaker-author Peter Bogdanovich in his book “Who the Devil Made It: Conversations With Legendary Film Directors.” “With Shirley, you’d just tell her once and she’d remember the rest of her life,” said Dwan, who directed “Heidi” and “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.” “Whatever it was she was supposed to do — she’d do it. … And if one of the actors got stuck, she’d tell him what his line was — she knew it better than he did.”
One of her last was “The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer” with Cary Grant, in which she played a high school student.
But as she got older, her popularity waned and in December 1950, Temple announced her official retirement from films. In all, according to her website, she made 14 short films and 43 feature films.
By the time she bowed out, Temple had married Jack Agar, a soldier, at 17 and divorced him four years later after giving birth to daughter Linda.
In 1950 she married Charles Black, a former naval officer whom her website describes as her “true soulmate.” They remained wed until his death in 2005 and were the parents of Charlie Jr. and Lori.
In 1958, Temple briefly returned to the performing world as host and narrator of “Shirley Temple’s Storybook” on NBC. It was reworked and reappeared two years later as the “Shirley Temple Show” but neither lasted.
Politics beckoned next and Temple, a Republican, ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the US House of Representatives in 1967.
In 1972 she was diagnosed with breast cancer and became one of the first prominent women, followed by Betty Ford, to discuss it openly.
After serving as US representative to the United Nations in 1969, Temple was appointed US Ambassador to the African nation of Ghana in 1974, Chief of Protocol of the US in 1976 and US Ambassador to Czechoslovakia in 1989.
In later years, she lived in northern California and wrote a 1988 autobiography, “Child Star.”
During a 1996 interview, she said she loved both politics and show business.
“It’s certainly two different career tracks,” she said, “both completely different but both very rewarding, personally.”
California homeowner foils home invasion attempt by firing shotgun, police say
Published February 08, 2014
FoxNews.com
This undated photo shows Carla with the shotgun police say she used to chase off two suspects. (MyFoxLA.com)
A California homeowner foiled an attempted home invasion Thursday when she grabbed her shotgun and fired near the suspects.
Police say two males broke into a home nearby and were able to steal a few items before targeting the 59-year-old’s home.
Carla, who did not provide reporters with her last name, told MyFoxLA.com that she woke up when her dog started barking.
She said she saw one man in her backyard and another waiting by the car. Carla’s 90-year-old mother was also inside the home at the time, MyFoxLA.com reported.
Dressed in her nightgown, Carla grabbed her shotgun and fired at the ground near one of the suspects.
“Hopefully this is going to tell these guys you know, I’m not a sitting duck,” she told MyFoxLA.com. “I’ve got a gun and I know how to use it,” she said.
“You have to at some point in time, take responsibility yourself for your own safety and that’s all I was doing,” she said.
Police say neither suspect was shot and were able to flee in a white sedan. Police have only released that they are described to be Hispanic.
Authorities reported that there have been at least four home invasions in the area in recent months.
Phoebe's Detention Room 