Bill O'Reilly: His Christmas Gift to Jon Stewart

Erik Wemple

Jon Stewart of ‘The Daily Show’ rips Bill O’Reilly’s Christmas activism

• BY ERIK WEMPLE

• December 4 at 10:01 am

The Daily Show
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On his Dec. 2 show, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly vowed to “keep an eye” on the so-called War on Christmas. In what’s clearly a not-too-fruitful search for 2013 war-on-Christmas grist, O’Reilly fixated on Macy’s. “This year they’re touting Santa Claus who will help you, quote, ‘With your holiday wish list,’ ” declared O’Reilly, who would prefer that the department store say “Christmas wish list.” More O’Reilly: “So here is my question to Macy’s. What holiday is Santa celebrating? Winter solstice, the birthday of a reindeer — what?”

And that was plenty enough for Jon Stewart, who used a segment of his “Daily Show” program to poke at the war on the War on Christmas. He appeared a bit fatigued by this quite predictable issue, noting how “we do this dance every year.” When Stewart asked what makes this year particularly noteworthy in the tyranny of “happy holidays,” he turned to O’Reilly’s argument about timing: “What is interesting this year is that Hanukkah will be over on Thursday. So there are no more holidays between then and Christmas Day. It’s just Christmas if you want to invoke happy. Bad news for the secular progressives,” said O’Reilly. Stewart ridiculed the notion.

The back-and-forth between O’Reilly and War-on-Christmas detractors like Stewart is a merry pursuit, a staple of the “holiday” season. Last year a poll by Public Policy Polling found that 47 percent of respondents believed this war existed, as opposed to 40 percent who did not. Thirteen percent fell in the “not sure” category, a demographic that O’Reilly and Stewart have gotten an early start on influencing this year.

Chauncey Holt: Multi-talented Man from the U-T

Mysterious San Diego man claims to be 'tramp' at JFK assassination

Conspiracy theory or valid claim?

Copyright 2013 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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SHARETHIS

Posted: 11/22/2013 
Last Updated: 12 days ago

•  JW August  | Email Me

SAN DIEGO - A San Diego man claimed he was one of the three mysterious "tramps" near Dealey Plaza in Dallas the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

Chauncey Holt had many skills -- guns, flying, accounting and more.

Holt said those skills made him valuable to organized crime and, eventually, the CIA.

"He was an artist and according to him, a forger for the CIA. His job was to forge documents," said former Union-Tribune reporter Valerie Alvord.

Her article, a story in Newsweek magazine and Oliver Stone's docu-drama "JFK," all helped to propel Holt into the national spotlight.

Holt claimed to be one of the "three tramps," an important element in many conspiracy theories about the assassination of JFK.

He said his CIA boss sent him to Dallas with counterfeit U.S. Secret Service identification lapel pins and forged Secret Service documents. Holt explained in the documentary the lapels were worn by agents and periodically changed. The pins helped identify an agent to other law enforcement divisions.

His job was to put the "package" into a pickup truck that he said was parked in a secured lot between Dealey Plaza and a nearby railroad yard.

He said he also was instructed should anything go wrong, he was to head to the ninth boxcar in a line of cars at that rail yard, and wait inside the car until he received further instructions.

Holt said he heard the gunfire that killed JFK.

"I didn't actually see the shooting," Holt said in the documentary. "I was 25 yards from the motorcade but I didn't see it."

The 'tramps,' the boxcar and police

When the shots were fired, Holt said he briefly considered heading to the sound of the shots, but he said he ultimately decided to follow his orders and head to the boxcar.

Holt said inside the car, he was joined by two other men. The three of them became known as the "three tramps," he said.

Holt said he knew who the other two men were, but did not know their missions. He said he was sure of one thing -- that they all had something to do with the commotion going on in Deaely Plaza, and the death of the young president.

He recalled that police eventually found them huddled in the boxcar and marched them past news photographers for questioning. The three men were eventually released, no charges filed, and apparently no unanswered questions.

When the media asked the Dallas police what their names were, police said they didn't have the names.

So, was Holt the real deal?

"The problem is, he never told me anything you couldn't find somewhere else if you looked hard enough," Alvord said.

She added that she has a nagging feeling when she thinks of what the Dallas Police did after Holt came forward.

"Chauncey Holt comes out and claims to be the third tramp," Alvord said. "All of a sudden, after all these years, the Dallas police know the identity of the three tramps."

She called it odd and suspicious.

Holt's former CIA job comes out in court

Alvord also said she is stumped by another point.

Holt was on trial for murder in 1985 in Vista. During the murder case, it came out that Holt worked for the CIA. He was found not guilty.

"Chauncey beat the rap, I am not sure how, might have something to do with his CIA connections," Alvord said.

Holt never said he knew who murdered the president, but he died claiming the true story had never been told.

"He believed it was a conspiracy because he was there that day on orders of the CIA, with forged Secret Service documents," Alvord said.

(Editor's note: Team 10 Investigative journalist JW August produced a documentary with Chauncey Holt, called "Spooks, Hoods and the Hidden Elite." The sidebar below is written in the first person by Mr. August to give the reader some additional perspective on Mr. Holt.)

Chauncey Holt -- was he for real?

Impressions of two journalists who met him

Chauncey Holt is an enigma. The Lemon Grove resident may have played a role in the JFK assassination or he could have been be lying. If he was, he was a very good liar.

Holt had approached me to produce a documentary about his experiences, but I was having a hard time believing some of the things I heard about him.

I did know he had been involved in a murder case. I knew he had been the subject of a Newsweek story, which was the result of an article by former Union Tribune reporter Valerie Alvord.

I heard he spent time with Oliver Stone, who directed the movie "JFK."

But I was still uneasy about the project. So over a period of a weeks Holt and I met for lunch.

I could ask any question I wanted to satisfy my curiosity. The discussions focused on the CIA, the mob, and the murder of Kennedy.

I would prepare a line of questioning in advance of our get-togethers. Then, after every meeting, I would go to my car and immediately write down what he said.

I would change up what I would ask and how I would ask it for our next meeting. Or I'd wait a bit and come back to it a couple meetings later.

No matter the approach, he was always spot-on with his responses. He exhibited amazing recall of names, events and dates. The answers were always consistent.

In addition, I found him to be unfailingly polite, soft-spoken and intelligent.

It was hard not to be impressed by him. Which is the same experience Alvord had during her times with Chauncey.

As she told me, "I liked him; I think about him, he was someone you would remember."

I did produce his documentary, not making any judgment about Chauncey or his claims.

I let him tell his story as I promised him I would do.

Eight days after I finished interviewing him, Chauncey Holt died.

I still wrestle with myself internally about the man and what I believe or don't believe.

He was truly an enigma.

copied from the UT

Start my day, every day, with Perry and Della

MeTV--10 AM every morning in San Diego

I watch them every day and I am patterning my life around them.  They are the cutest people I have ever seen in my life.

Today they are going to a nightclub and dancing until dawn.  Perry said "Della, let's create some new memories."

"You're the boss," Della replied, as she had the cutest smile on her face I have ever seen in my life.

Start my day, every day, with my friends Della and Perry.

Larry Hancock Talks David Atlee Phillips

A Broader View by Larry Hancock The recent written confirmation from Anthony Veciana that his long time associate Maurice Bishop was indeed CIA officer David Phillips gives me the opportunity not only to write a bit about that revelation but also about how it fits into the much broader picture that we developed with "Shadow Warfare".   Actually there was no doubt in my mind about the identity of Bishop and I think the extensive information developed by Gaeton Fonzi and Tony Summers fully supports the expanded study which I did in my Phillips chapter in SWHT.   Veciana also made it quite clear to Fonzi and others why he would not identify Phillips in his formal testimony without Phillips permission and its clear that he has now only done so following Fonzi's death and out of respect for Gaeton and his wife Marie. What a good deal of the discussion about Veciana's recent statement is missing however, is that the relationship between the two men started in 1960 inside Cuba and continued for a full decade, with Phillips assisting Veciana to get a USAID position in Latin America in 1968 - even while Veciana was under official INS restriction to Miami's Dade county and should have never have been allowed out of the U.S.  This long term relationship becomes extremely important in two areas that we address in "Shadow Warfare". First, in the context of Kennedy Administration policies and CIA official  positions, it is clear that Phillips worked with and was in contact inside Cuba with a very well organized revolutionary group which almost did assassinate Fidel Castro in a bazooka attack...only very bad luck on their part saved Castro.  And it appears that Phillips continued to contact and work with Veciana in attempts to kill Castro over the next decade, including one extremely complex plot developed in Chile in 1971. Given that there appears to be no Presidential approval or CIA executive sanction for the ongoing attempts, a serious question is raised as to whether Phillips was pursuing his own private agenda and to what extent the plots were supported by CIA vs. private resources.  There is also a major question about whether or not his superiors were aware of this, to what level within the Agency and to what extent the Agency officially covered up his activities to the Church Committee and HSCA investigations. That becomes much more critical in terms of Phillip's long term influence on events in Latin America, including his admitted contacts with Louis Posada, Posada's terror attacks and the activities of other CIA related Cuban exiles across South America - something we discuss in great detail in "Shadow Warfare", including Phillips (and David Morales) seminal activities in what became known as the Condor operation. Another explosive issue raised by Veciana's confirmation is the relationship between the CIA and Alpha 66, which according to Veciana was instigated, funded and directed by Bishop/Phillips.   Exactly who inside the CIA knew that Phillips was helping create Alpha 66 and who knew that he was directing it towards attacks on Russian targets inside Cuba though 62/63 in direct opposition to Kennedy Administration policies and presidential directives?  In "Shadow Warfare", we discuss the issue of CIA rogue action and the real risk posed by decisions by officers who decide to obstruct and subvert administration policies. In short,  those interested in the Kennedy assassination sometimes come to view people like Phillips, Hecksher, Morales, Shackley, Sforza, Robertson and their Cuban exile associates only in terms of 1963, in "Shadow Warfare" we follow their careers and activities over some 30 years and readers will see there impact on a global scale.  Its a much broader view and we think a much more revealing one. copied from the blog of Larry Hancock Thank you, Larry, for all of your hard work and sharing it with us.......cl just saying shall we put this together with the recent post from the Boston Globe talking about the suspicions of RFK after JFK was shot?   Then we will ask Vincent Bugliosi his opinion after that. ............................................................... links to more info about David Atlee Phillips: from wiki:     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Atlee_Phillips from Spartacus Educational:  http://spartacus-educational.com/JFKphillips.htm from JFKfacts.org and very interesting comments:  http://jfkfacts.org/assassination/from-the-files/what-has-bill-oreilly-learned/

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Bill O'Reilly: Punishing in the name of Jesus

The butler of bilge, Bill O'Reilly, loves to try and hide behind Jesus.  This gets into the religion thing--justifying hate with Jesus and religion.  Jesus might love the people Bill wants to deny and judge.  Jesus may even love Bill and let him be a lesson for all of us.  It's confusing but I wish Bill would not try to talk for Jesus because I love Jesus, too.  Bill is tainting my idea of Jesus.  Personally I love Jesus, all religions, atheists; I really love Ron Reagan and cats, and the United States and President Obama---there. 

Are all Catholic men this punishing?

Bill O’Reilly: Jesus is not ‘down with’ food stamps because most poor people are drug addicts (via Raw Story )

No one knows what Jesus would do to feed today’s poor, hungry Americans — but Fox News host Bill O’Reilly is pretty sure the Christian savior wouldn’t be “down with” giving them food stamps because it’s “their fault.” After Rep. Jim…

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Wll Ferrell and George Strombo: Just Two Really Hip-Hop Guys

Will Ferrell to George Stroumboulopoulos: ‘I’m pretty hip-hop’

By Soraya Roberts | North Stars – 1 hour 4 minutes ago

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Ron Burgundy stayed classy in Toronto by announcing that he is a "badass."

Will Ferrell was promoting "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues" on "George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight" this week, and the actor discussed a vital scene at the end of his new film that features a legendary rapper (whom Ferrell didn't identify). In the interview, the actor admitted that he has quite a bit of street cred himself.

"I'm pretty hip-hop. When you look at me you think, 'He's bad-ass,'" Ferrell said in the interview, which airs on CBC on Monday.

The 46-year-old actor said he considered it "high praise" that he has been mentioned in songs like "N---as in Paris" by Kanye West and Jay Z.

"For some reason, lines from the movies we've done and characters have been referenced by the hip-hop community through so many songs," Ferrell said. "I don't know why necessarily, but it's fantastic."

Will Ferrell and George Stroumboulopoulos. (George Pimentel/WireImage)

Ferrell has been promoting his new film, which premieres Dec. 18, across Canada over the past week. On Sunday, he wore a kilt to Winnipeg's curling event Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings while in character as Ron Burgundy. "I tell you, Winnipeg is the Paris of Canada," he said.

A day later, the actor also spoke to the Toronto Star about Rob Ford, for whom Ron Burgundyrecently sang a re-election campaign song, "Working for the Weekend," on Conan O'Brien's show.

"I’m just amazed at Toronto, considering it’s such a sophisticated city, and that’s the mayor," he told the Star. "It’s hilarious."

Ferrell actually met Ford back in July 2012, while he and Zach Galifianakis promoted their film "The Campaign" in Toronto. But something tells us they probably won't be meeting this time around.

copied from Yahoo Canada

sewing a new cat bed--making a cat bed from fabric scraps

Can you see the new cat bed?

Apparently Sam loves the electric throw more.

It was just completed last evening.

I'm sure he will be jumping in it any minute.

It is just a flat oval stuffed with scraps of fabric with a folded long strip, stuffed, and sewed to the edges.

Tip--Sew it before you stuff it--leaving open a large enough space to adjust the stuffing with your hand.

I sewed the edge closed and attached it to the oval all in one zig-zag--about 6 inches.

"you know what Geraldo, you're not afraid"

"you know what Geraldo, you're not afraid"

that is what the caller said this morning--Geraldo Rivera is not afraid of debate. Even if you don't agree you let the other person talk--chatting today about the issue of race and President Obama--voicing both sides of the issue.

Geraldo is not only not afraid of debate but he is also not afraid of women like most of the other Fox News talk show anchors--one with the name of Bill comes to mind.

Good job, Geraldo, on liking women and promoting the new civil rights movement--a new minimum wage for low-income workers.

Where are the jobs in the US today?  Where are the factory jobs for the average joe?

Letting everyone talk without promoting an atmosphere of fear.

Well done.

Geraldo Rivera, on WABC Radio New York--it's a good show.

Shining a Light on Palestine

The Exacerbating Electricity Crisis in Gaza

Press Release

by Alray / December 2nd, 2013

In light of the continued siege on the Gaza Strip, and the silence on the humanitarian crises there, the government realized the need to give a detailed picture of the exacerbating electricity crisis:

The electricity problem is not a problem of the day; it’s an old, sequential one, but its severity differed in relation to the number of cut hours.

1. The focal point of the problem dates back to the first days of the PA’s establishment of the Power Generation Company, as the electricity generated had not been enough to meet the need of the overall population of the Gaza Strip because of the interrupted availability of fuel, or the inability to collect the cash necessary to run the power plant in full capacity, and because it had been subjected to a devastating bombing by the Israeli occupation in 2008.

2. The power generation sector has been impacted by the ongoing Israeli siege on Gaza, which contributed a decline to the enclave’s economy as a whole, and to the rising poverty and unemployment rates, and thus affecting the Gaza citizens’ financial ability to pay the electricity subscriptions.

3. The current problem lies in the lack of Egyptian fuel due to the complete closure of the underground tunnels, which have no commercial alternative to serve the Gaza life needs, and in the rising prices of the Israeli fuel.

4. The Government had agreed with the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah to remove the tax imposed on shipping the industrial diesel from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip except for the one called blue tax. It also proposed to remove the VAT to pay 3 NIS per liter, so we were obliged to pay 4.2 NIS per liter to run the power plant temporarily. Lately, the Government has been surprised by the PA retreating from its decision to exempt Gaza from blue tax to demand 5.7 NIS per liter, which is beyond the Power Generation Company’s financial capacity.

The PA levies huge taxes on the Gaza Strip and deducts income taxes worth millions of shekels from its Gaza personnel’s salaries. We expected the PA to relieve the burden on the Gaza citizens through cutting the fuel taxes.

The Main Obstacles Facing the Government to Solve the Problem:

1. The suffocating siege imposed on the Gaza Strip which leads to devastating economic effects.

2. Preventing the entry of the Qatari fuel (roughly 10 thousand tons) already in Egypt.

3. The rocketing fuel prices which affect negatively the purchase power.

4. The total closure of the tunnels.

5. The failure of some citizens to commit to paying the due bills.

6. The increased price of one electrical unit produced by the Power Generation Company to double the selling price which caused serious financial losses.

7. The continuous increase in the population in addition to the establishment of the Qatari housing projects.

8. Banned purchase of fuel.

Demands:

1.  The immediate lifting of the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip and allowing entry of fuel.

2.  Egypt must help to minimize the suffering of the Gazans through allowing to purchase fuel or enhancing the power plant that feeding the Gaza Strip.

3.  The Israeli occupation must bear its responsibilities as an occupier and provide the Gaza Strip with the basic needs including the electricity.

4.  The Palestinian Authority must remove all fuel taxes imposed on shipping the diesel fuel to the Gaza Strip and make it available at the import price which is 2.2 NIS.

Alray is the official media agency of the Palestinian Government. Read other articles by Alray, or visit Alray's website.

This article was posted on Monday, December 2nd, 2013 at 5:17am and is filed under Egypt, Israel/Palestine.

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