Mark Burnett Says ‘Weird Things Happened’ On ‘The Bible’ Set

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Lightworkers Media/Hearst Productions

Last Sunday, the first installment of History’s five-part miniseries The Bible beat everything on television with a massive 13.1 million viewers, making it cable’s most-watched entertainment telecast this year.

For producer Mark Burnett, who worked on the ten-hour special with wife Roma Downey, the success of The Bible isn’t all that surprising. “It will be, over the next 40 or 50 years, the most watched thing that Roma and I have ever made,” he told EW, quite confidently, back in January.

At the time, Burnett gushed about shooting the series. “I really believe what I’m going to tell you right now,” he said. “The hand of God was on this…. the edit came together perfectly, the actors came together perfectly, it just comes to life.” But Burnett wasn’t just speaking about how well the practicalities of production had gone. “Weird things happened during filming,” he said. “Everybody would look at each other like, “Whoa.”

Here are a few of the “weird things” he was talking about:

A mighty desert wind

“There’s a scene with Jesus and Nicodemus, when Nicodemus comes to Jesus in the night. It’s a very still night, not a breath of wind, and we’re on the edge of the Sahara desert in a palm grove in an oasis… Jesus says, ‘The Holy Spirit is like the wind.’ At that moment, a wind, like as if a 747 was taking off, blew his hair, almost blew the set over and sustained for 20 seconds across the desert, and the actors didn’t break — they kept going. And everything stopped. Everyone just looked at everyone like, ‘What just happened?’”

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Dem Staffer- Democrat Budget Will Produce ‘Zero’ Deficit Reduction In 2014

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Daily Caller

A staffer for Democratic Sen. Patty Murray told Republican Sen. Mike Crapo Thursday that the newly proposed Democratic budget will essentially not reduce the deficit at all in its first year.

“You’re talking about a $1.85 trillion deficit reduction over ten [years],” Crapo said during a Senate panel about the budget proposal. “How much of that happens in year one?” he asked.

“There are spending savings in year one, but in total, it’s about no — in the first year,” responded John Righter, Democratic deputy staff director on the Senate budget committee.

Watch video here:

https://youtu.be/zaRwr5N-23k

Read more from this story HERE.

Pope Francis Reaches Out To Jews

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Oded Balilty

Like his predecessor, Pope Francis reached out to Rome’s Jewish community at the very start of his pontificate, pledging to continue to strengthen the increasingly close ties between Catholics and Jews.

Just hours after he was elected the first Latin American pope in history, Francis sent a letter to Rome’s chief Rabbi Riccardo di Segni, saying he hoped to “contribute to the progress that relations between Jews and Catholics” have seen since the 1962-1965 Second Vatican Council.

In an interview Friday with The Associated Press, di Segni said the dialogue between Catholicism and Judaism was “complicated” but added that the new pope’s background “gives me trust and hope” that relations will continue to improve.

Other Jewish leaders welcomed the election of a pontiff seen as an ally when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires. Israeli President Shimon Peres said Francis would be a “welcome guest in the Holy Land” while Ronald Lauder, the president of the World Jewish Congress, said the new pope “always had an open ear for our concerns.”

“By choosing such an experienced man, someone who is known for his open-mindedness, the cardinals have sent an important signal to the world,” Lauder said. “I am sure that Pope Francis I will continue to be a man of dialogue, a man who is able to build bridges with other faiths.”

Read more from this story HERE.

US To Deploy More Ground-Based Missile Interceptors As North Korea Steps Up Threats (+video)

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: The U.S. Army

The U.S. is deploying 14 new ground-based missile interceptors in Alaska to counter renewed nuclear threats from North Korea and Iran, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Friday.

The new interceptors will be based at Fort Greely, an Army launch site about 100 miles southeast of Fairbanks, Alaska, and are projected to be fully deployed by 2017, Hagel said. The additions will bring the U.S.-based ground interceptor deployment from 30 to 44, including four that are based in California.

That will boost U.S. missile defense capability by 50 percent and “make clear to the world that the United States stands firm against aggression,” he said in a briefing at the Pentagon.

The announcement comes as North Korea has been making bellicose threats to void the armistice that ended the Korean War and launch a nuclear attack on the U.S. The U.S. and South Korea began annual military drills this week despite the North Korean threats.

Hagel said the U.S. would also shift some “resources,” which he didn’t specify, from the delayed Aegis anti-missile program in Europe to U.S.-based defenses, saying the Aegis program was “lagging” because of reduced congressional funding. And he reiterated previously announced plans to add a second U.S. anti-ballistic missile radar installation in Japan.

watch video here:

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Read more from this story HERE.

NRA’s LaPierre: ‘Let Them Be Damned!’ (+video)

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore

Wayne LaPierre, the CEO of the National Rifle Association, let loose against the media and government who have recently characterized the gun lobbyist’s talking points as “crazy.”

“Let them be damned!” roared LaPierre.

In a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, LaPierre accused gun-control advocates of offering “illogical” solutions to the problems of gun violence.

“They denigrate, and they call us ‘crazy’ for holding fast to [our opposition to gun control]. In their distorted view of the world, they’re smarter than we are; they’re special; they’re more worthy than we are; they know better than we do,” he said. “The liberal media can keep hating on me, but I’m still standing.”

LaPierre dismissed the Obama administration’s efforts to curb gun violence as ineffective and an infringement on Second Amendment rights. He described Democrats’ calls for expanding background checks as a “placebo” to which criminals won’t submit. “There are only two reasons for government to create that federal registry of gun owners, to tax them or to take them,” LaPierre said.

LaPierre reserved his harshest criticism for Janet Napolitano’s Department of Homeland Security, which suggested in a recent Web video that citizens use objects like scissors when faced by an active shooter.

Watch video here:

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Coulter Blasts Feinstein’s Reaction To Ted Cruz’s Gun Regulation Questions

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Daily Caller

In an appearance on Sean Hannity’s Fox News Channel program on Thursday night, conservative commentator Ann Coulter blasted California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein for telling Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz at a hearing earlier in the day that she’s “not a sixth-grader” when he attempted to analogize the First and Second Amendments.

“He asked some very important questions, and Dianne Feinstein, like her other ‘I am woman, hear me roar’ Democratic female Hillary Clinton, as soon as they get a question they don’t like, they start crying,” Coulter said. “Oh that’s fantastic.”

Coulter, the author of “Mugged: Racial Demagoguery from the Seventies to Obama,” then made her own comparison of the first two amendments.

“She raised the First Amendment and she said, ‘Well, we banned child pornography.’ The very answer proves the absurdity of what is happening. The First Amendment protects speech, not photographs. It certainly does not protect photographs of genitals. If we interpreted the Second Amendment,which protects arms, the way we interpreted the First Amendment, you would have a right to your own personal nuclear weapon. That’s how extreme it is, and I would add in fact the First Amendment does protect virtual child pornography. It certainly protects writing about child pornography, and for her to say, ‘Well don’t worry, we’re not banning these other guns,’ well OK, how about we just ban The New York Times because we still have The Daily News and The New York Post.”

Watch video here:

Read more from this story HERE.

Court Orders CIA to Acknowledge Drones

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: wbaiv

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) must acknowledge whether an armed drone program exists, a federal appellate court ruled on Friday.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) took the CIA to court after filing a Freedom of Information request about drone strikes overseas. The CIA denied the request, saying it could not release any documents because even acknowledging the existence of the program would harm national security.

“The existence or nonexistence of CIA records responsive to this request is a currently and properly classified fact, the disclosure of which reasonably could be expected to cause damage to the national security,” the CIA argued to the court, which initially agreed.

But on Friday, the appellate court overturned the earlier decision, noting that President Obama and other senior intelligence officials have talked openly about drone strikes in recent months, undercutting the CIA’s argument that acknowledging its role in the operation could harm national security.

“The defendant is, after all, the Central Intelligence Agency. And it strains credulity to suggest that an agency charged with gathering intelligence affecting the national security does not have an ‘intelligence interest’ in drone strikes, even if that agency does not operate the drones itself,” Chief Judge Merrick B. Garland wrote.

Read more from this story HERE.

North Dakota Passes Most Restrictive Abortion Bills In Nation

/9 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: abbybatchelder

North Dakota’s Senate passed a pair of anti-abortion measures Friday that are considered to be the most restrictive in the nation, including one that would prevent women from having an abortion based on a genetic defect.

The measures now to go to Republican Gov. Jack Dalrymple who has indicated he will sign them.

The new state laws are even more strict than one finalized last week in Arkansas that would make the procedure illegal after 12 weeks of pregnancy. One North Dakota measure would prevent women from having abortions based on a genetic defect, like Down syndrome. The other would ban doctors from performing an abortion if a fetal heartbeat is detected — as early as five or six weeks.

Republican state Rep. Bette Grande of Fargo sponsored both bills. Grande, a ninth-term legislator, is one of the more conservative lawmakers in the state. She’s pushed for controversial right-to-life issues and has been vocal about the issues.

Grande recently said she had relatives who had children born with genetic abnormalities and has been surprised at the discrimination she’s seen. “It takes you back to Hitler, and we know where that went,” she has said. “He started going after those with abnormalities, and I think it’s an absurdity we would go back to that kind of thing.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Insecure Social Security: House Oversight Committee Investigating Fraud And Waste In Social Security Program

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: AP

Fraud could be a major reason that the number of people enrolled in Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) has risen so dramatically over the past 10 years, according to two letters written by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

The number of enrollees in the program grew by almost 60 percent between 2003 and 2012, from 5.58 million to 8.82 million people, the March 11 letter to acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration Carolyn Colvin says. This rate of growth is twice what the previous decade experienced.

The increase is likely not coming from people who actually need the care, the letter contends. Fraudulent enrollment and improper payments are pushing up the numbers.

The letter, signed by Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) and two subcommittee chairmen, points out “significant management problems that lead to misspending within the program.”

The letter says many ineligible people are receiving benefits citing a 2010 Government Accountability Office report. For example, some people receive SSDI before receiving a Commercial Drivers License, which requires a rigorous physical exam—indicating that they are not disabled. And some people simply lie about their income to receive the benefits, according to the chairmen.

Read more from this story HERE.

Interior Chief: Shell ‘Screwed Up,’ Must Improve To Resume Arctic Affort

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Lee Jordan

Royal Dutch Shell “screwed up” in 2012 during its troubled efforts to begin oil exploration off Alaska’s coast, and must improve planning and contractor oversight before regulators will let it return, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said.

Interior on Thursday released the findings of its 60-day review of the oil giant’s mishap-filled effort to begin looking for oil in Arctic waters off Alaska’s coast last year.

“Shell screwed up in 2012 and we are not going to let them screw up” when they seek to resume their effort, Salazar told reporters on a conference call.

“This review has confirmed that Shell entered the drilling season not fully prepared in terms of fabricating and testing certain critical systems and establishing the scope of its operational plans,” the review states.

Interior said it would require Shell to develop a “comprehensive and integrated” operational plan and complete a third-party audit of its management systems, which are two of the various recommendations in the report.

Read more from this story HERE.