Hillary Clinton Rejects Jason Segel’s Casting Suggestion, Remains Coolest Person on the Planet

by Julie Miller

BY CHUNG SUNG-JUN/GETTY IMAGES.

Earlier this month, we noted Hillary Clinton’s sudden surge in coolness after the Secretary of State spent a night dancing and drinking beer at a bar in Colombia, where she was attending an international summit. (President Obama, who attended the same summit but was not pictured in blurry bar photos the next day, we theorized, had faked an illness so that he could catch up on Mad Men and aimless Wikipedia searches in his hotel room.) But just how is Hillary Clinton accelerating her awesomeness this week? By coolly rejecting tenuous casting offers for popular prime-time television shows.

On last night’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Jason Segel appeared to promote his new comedy The Five-Year Engagement. But before discussing the movie, the comedic actor excitedly dove into an anecdote about how, according to Segel, the stateswoman recently got in touch with him to turn down a role that she was never officially offered on his CBS sitcom, How I Met Your Mother.

“Every time I’m on the red carpet and [reporter ask me], ‘Who is the mother going to be?’ I always say Hillary Clinton, just as a joke. And then I got a letter in the mail that was like, ‘I appreciate your request but I must say that I am very busy doing politics. If the opportunity ever arise, I would be happy to do something together. —Hillary Clinton.’ [Laughing.] I got a rejection letter from Hillary Clinton.”

Watch the Late Night With Jimmy Fallon Episode Video >>

That’s right. If you make a snide joke about casting Hillary Clinton on the red carpet, she will allegedly locate her coolest stationery, find your address, and personally reject your fake casting offer. (Not to mention create an entertaining anecdote that topic-bombs the late-night-talk-show segment you were supposed to dedicate to your upcoming movie.) Point: Hillary Clinton. At this rate, Clinton will either inspire her own Chuck Norris–style satirical factoids, start quoting Tupac Shakur on Capitol Hill, or spur her own Ryan Gosling–style meme, which she will respond to in the coolest fashion possible. Oh wait.

[vanityfair.com]

PIC: Somber Pippa Middleton Steps Out for First Time Since Gun Scandal

Credit: INFphoto.com

Not quite the bubbly Pippa the world is familiar with.

On Friday, Pippa Middleton came out of hiding in central London. Wearing a trendy color-block blouse, leggings, heels and sunglasses, Duchess Kate‘s 28-year-old sister wasn’t in the mood to smile as she headed into the Rosano Ferreti Hair Spa.

It’s the first pic of the socialite, entrepreneur and world-famous royal bridesmaid since she was photographed in Paris last Saturday; Middleton seemed to be laughing as she sat in the front seat of an Audi convertible alongside the driver, who pointed what appeared to be a semi-automatic pistol at a lurking photographer.

PHOTOS: Pippa’s world-famous body

The photos (as seen in the new Us Weekly) sparked controversy, and even potential fines and jail time for Middleton and her three pals, when they emerged earlier this week.

Middleton had been in hiding, reportedly at the Middleton family home in the English countryside, since the incident.

No word yet on when Middleton will be questioned by French authorities.

While she never addressed the scandal, one of her friends in the car, Viscount Arthur de Soultrait, released a statement to Us Wednesday.

More >>

[usmagazine.com]

Room for one more? Stunning pictures of U.S. troops crammed into military plane as they fly out to Afghanistan

U.S. troops sit tightly beside one another in a packed aircraft as they await their departure to Afghanistan, in stunning pictures taken today.

The servicemen sit aboard the military plane at the U.S. Transit Centre in Manas, 30 km outside Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek.

The onward movement of personnel to and from Afghanistan is one of the four mission pillars of the centre that is used as a transit hub for about 15,000 troops, planes and 500 tons of cargo a month. The other three are airlift, aerial refueling and humanitarian assistance.

Tight: US servicemen inside a military plane before their departure to Afghanistan from the US transit center in Manas, 30 km outside Kyrgyzstan's capital Bishkek, on March 27, 2012

Close-up: Dozens of U.S. servicemen interact with each other while holding their rifles and belongings

US servicemen perform their daily routines on the runway at the US Transit Center in Manas, 30 km outside the Kyrgyzstan's capital Bishkek, on March 27, 2012

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[dailymeil.co.uk]

EXCLUSIVE: First photos of Colombia escort in explosive Secret Service hooker scandal

24-year-old single mom is known as Dania, she says agent offered $30 for $800 service

BY EDGAR SANDOVAL / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

CARTAGENA, COLOMBIA – The Daily News can reveal the first photo of the 24-year-old Colombian call girl whose encounter with a cheapskate Secret Service agent ignited the agency’s worst sex scandal.

Eleven Secret Service agents and nine military servicemen are under investigation for hiring 20 or 21 hookers in Cartagena last week when they were supposed to be preparing for President Obama’s arrival at a summit.

THREE SECRET SERVICE AGENTS BOOTED AFTER HOOKER SCANDAL

One of the agents tried to brush off his girl, the single mother of a 9-year-old son known as Dania, the next morning with only $28 in cab fare. She caused a ruckus, demanding her full payment, so cops got involved and word reached the US Embassy.

Three Secret Service agents, including two senior supervisors, have been ousted: One was forced to retire, one quit and one was fired.

There were reports in Washington that more may be gone by the weekend.

abc news video >> Secret Service Sex Scandal: Woman Speaks Out

[nydailynews.com]

The Forbes Five: Hip-Hop’s Wealthiest Artists 2012

Back in 2007, Jay-Z, Diddy and 50 Cent released “I Get Money (The Forbes 1-2-3 Billionaire Remix).” The song was a celebration of the artists’ inclusion atop the first-ever Forbes Hip-Hop Cash Kings list, now an annual package on the genre’s top-earning artists. It seems fitting that those same three artists find themselves in an even more exclusive group—the Forbes Five, a short list of hip-hop’s wealthiest moguls.

Indeed, the original trio boasts a combined net worth well over a billion dollars, rendering their lyrical prognostications accurate. They’re joined by Dr. Dre, flush with cash from his Beats headphone line, and Cash Money Records cofounder Bryan “Birdman” Williams.

“One of my motivations in life is to be a billionaire,” said Birdman in a telephone interview with FORBES. “We’re going to keep working hard until we get our brand to be as big as possible. That’s the goal in life, that’s what I live for.”

Diddy is the closest to becoming a billionaire, leading the pack with a net worth of $550 million. The Bad Boy Records founder has remained a mainstream mainstay for 15 years thanks to his knack for self-promotion. Lately, he’s been channeling that energy toward Diageo-backed Ciroc vodka, much to the benefit of his bank account: he receives double-digit millions annually as a share of profits. Sales of the spirit spiked 122% last year in the wake of strong demand for new flavor Ciroc Peach; he is entitled to a nine-figure chunk of cash if the brand is ever sold.

Diddy also boasts stakes in clothing lines Sean John and Enyce, marketing firm Blue Flame, record label Bad Boy and a handful of tech startups. But it’s his deal with Comcast to launch cable channel Revolt in 2013 that could push him into billionaire territory. He’ll own the channel outright, and based on projected viewership totals, its value could soar into the low-to-mid nine figures within the next few years.

Full Coverage: The Forbes Five

Next up is Jay-Z at $460 million. Unlike his fellow Forbes Five members, Jay-Z still churns out music and goes on tour—most recently with pal Kanye West—adding to his considerable war chest. He sold his Rocawear clothing label for $204 million in 2007 and signed 10-year $150 million deal with Live Nation in 2008, and also holds stakes in the New Jersey Nets, his 40/40 Club chain, ad firm Translation, cosmetics company Carol’s Daughter and other businesses. (For more on his rise as a businessman, check out Zack’s Jay-Z biography, Empire State of Mind).

1. Diddy: $550 Million
2. Jay-Z: $460 Million
3. Dr. Dre: $270 Million
4. Birdman: $125 Million
5. 50 Cent: $100 Million

Read More >>

[forbes.com]

Revealed: The hotel where 11 Secret Service agents and five soldiers had ‘wild party with Colombian PROSTITUTES’… but were exposed when ‘one refused to pay’ ©

>Several of the 11 men sent home are married; two are supervisors.
>All the agents have been suspended pending investigation.
>The misconduct is believed to have occurred before the President’s arrival in Colombia for the Summit of the Americas.
>Hotel employee claimed that the men were drinking heavily.
>Five U.S. military personnel confined to quarters over the incident.

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Eleven Secret Service agents were recalled to Washington last week after nearly all of them allegedly brought prostitutes back to their rooms at a luxury hotel in Colombia.

The team was in the country to scout out the security situation ahead of President Barack Obama’s trip there for the Summit of the Americas this weekend.

But the agents – who have now been placed on leave – reportedly capped off a week of heavy drinking at the beachfront Hotel Caribe in Cartagena by cavorting with prostitutes.

The partying was exposed when one of the women caused a commotion after an agent refused to pay her. Local police and hotel security were called.

Luxury retreat: The 11 recalled Secret Service Agents were staying at the Hotel Caribe in Cartagena, Colombia

Security breach: Experts say the agents' behavior could have endangered the president, though the White House says that was never the case

Five U.S. military personnel, who were working with the Secret Service, could also be involved in misconduct and have been confined to their rooms and ordered not to have contact with others. They face possible disciplinary charges.

Rep Peter King, who was briefed on the incident, said 11 agents, many of them married, were in the team that was recalled to the U.S. – instead of 12 as originally reported – and that ‘close to’ all of them were involved.

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Mr King said he was told that anyone visiting the hotel overnight was required to leave identification at the front desk and leave the hotel by 7am.

When a woman failed to do so, it raised questions among hotel staff and police, who investigated.

They found the woman with the agent in the hotel room and a dispute arose over whether the agent should have paid her. Mr King said he was told that the agent did eventually pay the woman.

The incident was reported to the U.S. embassy, prompting further investigation.

In the field: The agents were in Colombia the week before President Obama's arrival to the Summit of the Americas

Beachfront property: The Hotel Caribe is a luxury resort that costs about $160 to $200 per night

During their week-long stay at the five-star hotel in Cartagena, the agents were seen drinking heavily, according to waiters there.

A number of the White House staff and traveling press corps were also staying at the hotel.

The White House said Mr Obama had been briefed about the incidents but would not comment on his reaction.

‘The President does have full confidence in the United States Secret Service,’ presidential spokesman Jay Carney said when asked.

Mr Carney insisted the matter was more a distraction for the media than Mr Obama. But Secret Service assistant director Paul Morrissey said in a statement: ‘We regret any distraction from the Summit of the Americas this situation has caused.’

The Washington Post reported that Jon Adler, president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, said the accusations related to at least one agent having involvement with prostitutes.

The association represents federal law enforcement officers, including the Secret Service.

President Barack Obama (blue shirt) surrounded by Secret Service agents during a visit to the Port of Tampa, Florida on his way to the Summit of the Americas in Colombia

Security: Police patrol the waters surrounding the convention centre in Cartagena where the Summit is held

Ronald Kessler, a former Post reporter and the author of a book about the Secret Service, told the newspaper that he had learned that among the agents involved, several are married.

Although prostitution is legal in parts of Colombia, the Secret Service is said to consider solicitation inappropriate behaviour for its agents.

Colombia has become known as ‘the Thailand of Latin America’ for its loose laws on prostitution and the easy availability of sex workers.

The incident threatened to overshadow Mr Obama’s economic and trade agenda at the Summit of the Americas and embarrass the U.S.

Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan would not confirm that prostitution was involved, saying, ‘The Secret Service takes all allegations of misconduct seriously.’

‘These personnel changes will not affect the comprehensive security plan that has been prepared in advance of the President’s trip,’ said Mr Donovan of the conference in the Colombian port city attended by Obama and more than 30 world leaders.

He said the allegations of misconduct were related to activity before the president’s arrival on Friday night.

Greeting: Mr Obama shakes hands with Colombia's president Juan Manuel Santos at the start of the summit

Mr Obama was attending a leaders’ dinner on Friday night at Cartagena’s historic Spanish fortress.

He was due to attend summit meetings with regional leaders on Saturday and Sunday.

Those involved had been sent back to their permanent place of duty and were being replaced by other agency personnel, Donovan said.

The matter was turned over to the agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility, which handles the agency’s internal affairs.

On the steamy streets of Cartagena, a resort city with a teeming prostitution trade, there was condemnation for the Secret Service agents for what residents saw as abusing their station and dishonoring their country.

Edwin Yepes, a souvenir vendor, said: ‘They are supposed to come here and set an example.

We are an inferior culture, and so it’s better if they don’t come than if they damage our image of them.’

Read more:
Washington Post: U.S. Secret Service agents leave Colombia over prostitution inquiry

dailymail.co.uk™©

JOHN F. KENNEDY’S FUNERAL: RARE AND UNPUBLISHED PHOTOS ©

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GREAT LEADERS
’60s

Five decades later, the assassination of John F. Kennedy remains one of the few utterly signal events from the second half of the 20th century. Other moments — some thrilling (the moon landing, the fall of the Berlin Wall), others horrifying (the killings of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, the Challenger explosion) — have secured their places in the history books and, even more indelibly, in the memories of those who witnessed them. But nothing in the latter part of “the American century” defined an era as profoundly as those rifle shots that split the warm Dallas air on November 22, 1963, and the sudden death of the 46-year-old president.

There was Camelot — a media construct, of course, but a rarity in that it actually resonated with so many people, everywhere — and then there was the somber, profoundly uncertain period after Camelot. For countless millions in America and around the globe who lived through the near-surreal transition, the days and weeks after JFK’s assassination felt like a chilling, restless pause: a moment so charged with unease that even reflection, or taking stock, seemed impossible.

Here, on the 45th anniversary of JFK’s March 1967 reinterment, when his remains were moved from his initial resting place to the permanent grave site and memorial at Arlington, LIFE.com offers a gallery of photographs (some never published in LIFE magazine) from the deeply fraught funeral held mere days after Kennedy was killed. While both ceremonies — the state funeral in ’63, and the reinterment three-and-a-half years later — were marked by sorrow, the rawness of the emotion evident in 1963 is still striking, and rending, today.

“A woman knelt and gently kissed the flag,” LIFE magazine reported of the scene as JFK’s casket lay in state for two days after his assassination. “A little girl’s hand tenderly fumbled under the flag to reach closer. Thus, in a privacy open to all the world, John F. Kennedy’s wife and daughter touched at a barrier that no mortal ever can pass again.”

The next day, Kennedy’s body was taken “from the proudly impassive care of his honor guard” and was carried from the Capitol rotunda to Arlington.

“By a tradition that is as old as Genghis Khan,” LIFE noted, “a riderless horse followed” the flag-draped casket, “carrying empty boots reversed in the stirrups in token that the warrior would not mount again…. Through all this mournful splendor Jacqueline Kennedy marched enfolded in courage and a regal dignity. Then at midnight she came back again, in loneliness, to lay some flowers on her husband’s grave.”

life.time.com™©

The Photograph That Has Everyone Texting Hillary Clinton ©

From glitter-bombs to meetings inside the White House Situation Room, politicians are prone to becoming Internet memes in this digital age.

By TIME STAFF

PHOTOGRAPH BY DIANA WALKER FOR TIME

The original photo that started the meme was taken on October 18, 2011 by Diana Walker at the start of a week long trip through the middle east. In the photo Hillary Clinton checks her PDA, in her sunglasses, upon departure in a military plane from Malta, bound for Tripoli.

Via newsfeed.time.com