Nominee for Attorney General William Barr told the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning that he "can conceive of situations where, as a last resort," journalists could be prosecuted for “putting out stuff that is hurting the country.”

This was in response to Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who, using the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi as an example, asked Barr whether he thought the Justice Department should prosecute journalists "for doing their jobs."

Yep, this is where we are folks.

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Hundreds of angry Christians protested at a museum in Haifa, Israel, demanding that the museum remove an exhibit that featured a "McJesus" sculpture. The sculpture – Ronald McDonald crucified on a cross – is part of a larger exhibit commenting on society's worship of capitalism, but after photos of the crucified clown were shared on social media, a group of Christians became irate.

They rioted by throwing a firebomb at the museum and stones at police officers, injuring three of them. Police then used tear gas and stun grenades against the crowd.

According to NBC:

Church representatives brought their grievances to the district court Monday, demanding it order the removal of the exhibit's most offensive items, including Barbie doll renditions of a bloodied Jesus and the Virgin Mary.

Museum director Nissim Tal said that he was shocked at the sudden uproar, especially because the exhibit — intended to criticize what many view as society's cult-like worship of capitalism — had been on display for months. It has also been shown in other countries without incident.

The museum has refused to remove the artwork, saying that doing so would infringe on freedom of expression. But following the protests it hung a curtain over the entrance to the exhibit and posted a sign saying the art was not intended to offend.

"This is the maximum that we can do," Tal said. "If we take the art down, the next day we'll have politicians demanding we take other things down and we'll end up only with colorful pictures of flowers in the museum."

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Although many national parks are still open during the longest government shutdown in US history, there is no one around to clean the increasingly filthy bathrooms. Except, perhaps, for one man, Dan Little, who found the bathroom at Mt. Hood National Forest Sno-Park in Oregon to be so disgusting, he cleaned it himself. He then sent a $28 bill to Trump. That's the spirit!

Of course, with Trump's disgraceful reputation of not paying his employees for their work, it's highly doubtful Mr. Little will get a pat on the back from the president, let alone a paycheck.

This is just one of the many reasons I love my husband, Dan. He visited Mt. Hood National Forest Sno-Park, and like many national parks across the country, found it a mess due to the partial government shutdown. He cleaned the bathrooms—and sent the bill to President Trump. pic.twitter.com/GvGSZAkoSQ

— Governor Kate Brown (@OregonGovBrown) January 11, 2019

Via Mashable

Image: S.Schön/Pexels Read the rest

I don't usually pay much attention to gymnastics, but this routine by 21-year-old UCLA gymnast Katelyn Ohashi is mind blowing.

Via Uproxx:

Katelyn Ohashi is about to become a household name. The 21-year-old UCLA gymnast wowed spectators with an absolutely flawless routine at the Anaheim Arena over the weekend, which subsequently went viral when the UCLA Gymnastics ‏Twitter account tweeted video after her performance. Gymnastics ‏Twitter account tweeted video after her performance. “A 10 isn’t enough for this floor routine by Katelyn Ohashi,” the tweet correctly expressed.

A 🔟 isn't enough for this floor routine by @katelyn_ohashi. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/pqUzl7AlUA

— UCLA Gymnastics (@uclagymnastics) January 13, 2019

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A man carrying a firearm in his carry-on luggage got past the TSA screeners at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and flew with it to Narita International Airport on January 3. This occurred during the government shutdown, after "hundreds of TSA agents from at least four major airports had called in sick," according to CNN.

The man, flying on Delta Airlines, had apparently forgotten that the gun was in his bag. Once he remembered he was carrying it, he informed Delta, who then reported it to TSA. It's not clear when the passenger disclosed this information to Delta.

Via CNN:

"TSA has determined standard procedures were not followed and a passenger did in fact pass through a standard screening TSA checkpoint with a firearm at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on the morning of January 3," the release states.

The security breach came two weeks into the government shutdown, during which TSA agents have been required to work but have not received paychecks. CNN first reported on January 4 -- a day after the breach -- that hundreds of TSA agents from at least four major airports had called in sick.

TSA, however, denies that the shutdown had anything to do with their security lapse, claims that they were completely staffed that day, and states that they will "hold those responsible appropriately accountable."

Image: US Department of Homeland Security/Flickr Read the rest

Today is the first day federal employees won't see their paycheck, thanks to Trump's government shutdown, and already we can see its effects. Miami International Airport has announced that they will be shutting down one of its terminals – Concourse G, which has 15 gates and includes United Airlines – on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, starting at 1pm each day. The concourse will be open in the mornings.

With TSA screeners – many who live paycheck to paycheck – working without pay since December 22, a higher rate than usual are calling in sick. This isn't to take advantage, but, according to Business Insider, they're having "financial hardships" that, of course, make it difficult for them to work for free.

Via Business Insider:

An airport spokesman, Greg Chin, however, told the Miami Herald on Thursday that federal screeners were calling in sick at "double the normal rate for Miami" and that managers of the Transportation Security Administration, which runs the checkpoint security, weren't sure whether they'd be able to operate all of the airport's checkpoints at normal hours.

The person added that the TSA experienced a 5.1% unscheduled call-out rate on Thursday, up from 3.3% on the same day in 2018.

The TSA workers' union president, Hydrick Thomas, has said workers are calling out at higher rates because of financial hardship.

"TSA employees aren't calling out intentionally," Thomas told Business Insider last week. "They are calling out because they don't have the funds to make it work."

"The loss of officers, while we're already shorthanded, will create a massive security risk for American travelers since we don't have enough trainees in the pipeline or the ability to process new hires," says Thomas. Read the rest

A bus driver in Milwaukee noticed a small toddler, alone and barefoot, running on a freeway overpass. She stops the bus, runs across the street and rescues the child. A passenger offers up her coat to keep the child warm until help arrives.

UPDATE (9:28am pst) – According to CNN: The video was shot December 22. "The child went missing after officials believe her mother had a mental health crisis, the transit system statement said." The 19-month-old child has since been returned to her father.

Via AP Read the rest

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has some stiff competition when it comes to dance videos. Twitter user @katiemgould missed her flight in Atlanta and had to wait four hours for another plane. But rather than sit around in a bored stupor, she took advantage of the airport and made this MTV-worthy music video to "You Make My Dreams," by Hall & Oates.

I missed my flight and it was 4 hours until the next so this is what I did pic.twitter.com/BPHMU9q5km

— lil hunny (@katiemgould) January 10, 2019

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On May 8, 1958, art imitated life in 2018. In an episode of a TV show called Trackdown, there was a conman named Trump, who tried to scare the bejeezus out of a town by preaching, "at midnight tonight, without my help and knowledge, every one of you will be dead.” The only way he could save them is by building a wall.

One sane man tries to talk some sense into the sheriff, with Trump in their presence. "How long are you going to put up with this?" he asks. But the brainwashed sheriff replies with a dumb, "What do you mean?"

How long are you going to let this conman walk around town?" the man persists.

Then Trump speaks his signature line: "Be careful son, I can sue you."

I Googled Trackdown and yes, this show was real. Also from Snopes, "A representative for MeTV, a Chicago network that airs reruns of Trackdown, confirmed that the episode was real." Hopefully the title of the episode, "The End of the World," isn't as prophetic.

Here is the full episode:

Via The Wrap Read the rest

Gambling site Bookmaker took quite a punch last night after losing $276,424 to people who correctly bet that Trump would make at least 3.5 "false statements" (aka lies, or alternative facts) during his Oval Office address last night – in fact, 92% of the people who placed a bet got it right.

"Bookmaker.eu asked people to wager on the president's truthfulness, offering odds of -145 for more than 3.5 lies and +115 for less than 3.5 lies. That means if a person bet $145 dollars that Trump would lie at least four times, they would win $100," according to BuzzFeed. Bookmaker used The Washington Post's Fact Checker to determine which Trump statements were falsehoods.

The big question is, why would a gambling site offer such a stupid bet in the first place? Apparently, they were banking on the fact that Trump wouldn't be able to squeeze in enough lies in the short 8-minute time allotment he had. Huge miscalculation – we're talking about Trump, after all.

Via BuzzFeed:

The site used the Washington Post's Fact Checker as the arbiter of Trump's truth and lies. The Post's live blog has corrected six statements that Trump made during the televised address seeking a border wall. (Here's the reality of what's going on at the border.)

Lester said Bookmaker expected Trump to lie, but that it had also factored in the time constraints the president would be under in delivering Tuesday's speech.

"We figured the president's strategy going in would be a bit of fear mongering to create pressure on the Democrats to approve the funding of the wall (or barrier), however the president was also constrained by an approximate 8-minute time limit," Lester said.

In a freak accident, a 53-year-old woman was driving on a highway in Melbourne, Australia when a huge road sign from above fell and crushed her car. She was rushed to the hospital with neck injuries but is in stable condition, according to Time. The video was caught on dashcam from the car behind her. Read the rest

Austrian train workers were clearing tracks that go through the Gesaeuse national park when they noticed a mountain goat that wouldn't move from the sidelines of their path, even after honking the train. They then saw a snowdrift completely bury the creature. So the workers stopped all operations, grabbed some shovels, and got to work. Yay for good deeds.

Via AP Read the rest

A gentleman thought he could threaten a woman waiting for an Uber outside of her home in Rio de Janiero by demanding that she hand over her phone and that he was armed. What he didn't know is that the 26-year-old woman, Polyana Viana, is a UFC fighter.

Within minutes he was beaten with punches, a kick, and a "rear-naked choke," according to CNN, and Viana kept the bloody man subdued until police showed up. The man's concealed "gun" – which he patted when he threatened her – turned out to be a cardboard cutout.

An ambulance took the beaten man to the hospital for his injuries before heading to the police station, where Viana filed charges.

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On the left is @polyanaviana, one of our @UFC fighters and on the right is the guy who tried to rob her #badfuckingidea

A post shared by Dana White (@danawhite) on Jan 6, 2019 at 7:01pm PST

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What do you do if you're walking alone on a lonely dark street and a car starts chasing you? This man is minding his own business when a car stops alongside him. It's not clear what the passenger of the car says or does to make this guy scared, but he runs in the opposite direction. The car then chases him by driving in reverse, so the guy stops in his tracks, reverses his direction again while crossing the street diagonally.

At this point another car comes by, and the man again changes his direction to run alongside it, making it impossible for the stalker to continue without making an obvious scene. This guy was both smart and lucky! Read the rest

This black bear in Florida thought he'd pay a social visit to a family over the holidays. After lumbering onto the porch and knocking over some decorations for fun, he rang the doorbell. But the family was not amused. They got on the intercom and firmly repeated, "Bear, go away!" The unwanted guest finally got the message and went on his merry way. Read the rest

It's an unusual day in the Fox news sphere when one of their own busts Press Secretary Sarah Sanders for her alternative facts.

Fox host Chris Wallace interviewed Sanders on Sunday, and when she claimed that "nearly 4,000 known or suspected terrorists come into our country illegally, and we know that our most vulnerable point of entry is at our southern border..." Wallace abruptly cuts her off to set the facts straight.

"I know the statistic, I didn't know if you were gonna use it but I studied up on this. Do you know where those 4,000 people come from, where they're captured? Airports. The State Department says there hasn't been any terrorist that they've found coming across the southern border," he says.

Although cornered, she soldiers on, but Wallace doesn't let up. The child-caught-in-a-lie look on her face is priceless. Read the rest

In response to the old-fart Republicans who thought they finally had a gotcha moment by digging up a college dance video of Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, she fired back with the best tweet of all – a new dance inside a hall on Capital Hill.

Granted, this one isn't nearly long enough, or as joyous as her first one, but it's still fantastic. Notice how she comically peeks over her shoulder before she begins. Once she realizes the coast is clear, she dares to dance to Edwinn Star's "War."

I hear the GOP thinks women dancing are scandalous.

Wait till they find out Congresswomen dance too! 💃🏽

Have a great weekend everyone :) pic.twitter.com/9y6ALOw4F6

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 4, 2019

In case you missed it, here is Ocasio-Cortez's "scandalous" dance that threw frightened Republicans into a tizzy.

...High School video of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez -- Congratulations New York! pic.twitter.com/VSKdUImhZj

— Dan Jordan (@realdanjordan) January 2, 2019

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