When I wrote a story on Duck Dynasty’s $400 million merchandise empire for a recent issue of Forbes, one quote stood out during my reporting.

“It’s a huge risk, taking on personalities,” said Charlie Anderson, CEO of retail marketing agency Shoptology. “Look at what happened with Paula Deen,” he said, referring to the Southern chef’s racism scandal and resulting loss of lucrative partnerships.

Anderson added: “The Duck Dynasty guys have flaws, but they’re wholesome.”

Hmm. Wholesome, if you get warm fuzzy feelings from horribly outdated, ignorant anti-gay rhetoric.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2013/12/18/duck-dynasty-stars-anti-gay-rant-is-walmart-and-aes-400-million-retail-empire-at-stake/

A young man has attempted to burn himself to death on a live stream watched by 200 encouraging people on the internet.

The incident took place on Saturday evening and involved a young man who identified himself only as “Stephen”.

The University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada confirmed that a fire was deliberately started in its Dundas Hall student residence by a 20-year-old student who was later taken to hospital with severe but non-life threatening burns.

Stephen is said to have logged-on to the controversial anonymous imageboard website 4chan on Saturday evening, stating his intention to take his own life. He posted that, as he’d been a long-time user of the website, he was willing to broadcast his suicide as a bizarre form of entertainment for fellow 4channers.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/4chan-suicide-attempt-200-people-watch-live-stream-of-young-man-trying-to-set-himself-on-fire-encouraging-stephen-to-take-his-own-life-8977319.html

REDDING — Redding police say a 21-year-old man stole a truck Thursday morning so he could make it to his court date for stealing another vehicle.

Cpl. Chris Smyrnos said officers went to the 5800 block of Cedars Road in south Redding shortly after 8:30 a.m. to handle the stolen vehicle call.

The victim, John Westberg, 69, told officers he was working on his 1989 Ford Ranger when a man jumped in and drove it away, Smyrnos said.

http://www.chicoer.com/news/ci_24715417/redding-man-steals-truck-get-court-stolen-vehicle

Maybe he's visiting the great big Bunny Ranch in the sky.

Johnny Orris, 86, died on Thursday, hours before he was supposed to redeem his prize for winning Howard Stern's "Get My Grandpa Laid competition," Radar Online reports.

Orris choked on a piece of steak just prior to when he was scheduled to have sex with two women from the Moonlight Bunny Ranch in Carson, City, Nev. where prostitution is legal.

"This is the saddest day in Bunny Ranch history, owner Dennis Hof told TMZ as he sat next to a crying Caressa Kisses, who had selected Orris as the winner.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/15/johnny-orris-dies-howard-stern_n_4449380.html?utm_hp_ref=weird-news

Florida. The Sunshine State. The melting pot of melting pots. The land of the violent naked pooping masturbator.

This year was huge for (weird, insane) Florida stories. We love the material that comes out of Florida just as much as the folks over at the Sun-Sentinel, so we compiled our list of 2013's best.

What's your favorite story that showed up on the Weird News page? Check them out below and vote in the comments.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/17/the-year-in-weird-florida_n_4435009.html?utm_hp_ref=weird-news

These quarrelsome Santas definitely should pen themselves in on the "naughty" list this year, after engaging in a drunken street brawl following SantaCon on the streets of New York City Saturday night. We don't know what triggered the incident, but we can be sure Mrs. Claus will be kicking Santa to the couch tonight.

SantaCon, a Santa-themed pub crawl which sees thousands of revelers in Santa costumes pour through New York's bars, has faced criticism lately for rowdy participants that imbibe too much "Christmas Spirit." Despite a push this year for SantaCon-ers to donate to charity and spread joy, "Not terror. Not vomit. Not trash," the video, titled "Santapocalypse NYC 2013," won't be helping their case much.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/15/street-fighting-santas-video-santacon-2013_n_4449579.html?utm_hp_ref=weird-news

ISLETON, Calif. (KCRA) —A Rocklin man who rented a "Smurfs 2" DVD from Redbox was shocked to pop in the disc and instead find pornography.

The movie rental company is now working with law enforcement to prosecute whomever is responsible for disguising the porn as a kids movie. The film has since been turned over to police.

"So, this is what I got from the Redbox movie -- looks just like Smurfs Part Two," said James Terry on Wednesday as he held the disc, hanging out on his boat in Isleton.

He was on the same boat when he put the movie into his DVD player earlier this week.

"I saw girls in bikinis at first, and I was like, what am I watching?" Terry said. "And then it became more and more disturbing, with hardcore porn."

Read more: http://www.kcra.com/news/kids-movie-from-redbox-swapped-with-porn/-/11797728/23464710/-/w12jkg/-/index.html#ixzz2nfaBU4wV

"We just get richer and richer"


In 2013, the wealth of the world’s billionaires reached a record high -- helped by 200 newcomers like Facebook (FB) founder Mark Zuckerberg. The 2013 Forbes Billionaires List names 1,426 billionaires with an aggregate net worth of $5.4 trillion, up a whopping 17 percent from $4.6 trillion last year. And that doesn't include royalty or, um, dictators. Of those, some 442 make their home in the U.S. (there are 386 in the Asia-Pacific region, 366 in Europe, 129 in the rest of the Americas and 103 in the Middle East and Africa combined, according to Forbes). The average net worth of each U.S. billionaire: $10.8 billion, up from $9.1 billion last year, according to a separate survey released this month by private wealth consultancy Wealth-X and UBS.

Meanwhile, the rest of the country’s net worth has actually fallen since the Great Recession -- and has yet to recover. Adjusting for inflation, real net worth per U.S. household hovered at $652,449 by the end of June 2013, according to the Federal Reserve, or about 95 percent of its 2007 level of $684,662. If that seems inordinately high, that's because the majority of U.S. households carry their net worth in their home. That average also is inflated by, well, millionaires and billionaires: In fact, around half of U.S. households have a net worth of no more than $83,000, a Pew Research Center’s analysis of 2010 Federal Reserve survey found.) And while ordinary Americans have seen their net worth fall since the recession, billionaires saw their net worth rise by over 50 percent from $3.5 trillion in 2007.

"One million -- or 10 -- ain't what it used to be"


In a time when the median price of a home in Manhattan is just over $1 million, according to real-estate website Trulia, experts say that being a millionaire no longer means that you're rich. It could just as easily mean you own your own a home in New York or San Francisco, or have a vacation home on the Jersey Shore. "The word now doesn’t have as much power," says Charles Merlot, author of "The Billionaire's Apprentice: How 21 Billionaires Used Drive, Luck and Risk to Achieve Colossal Success." "In the eyes of the public, even $10 million is considered at the low end of high-net-worth."

For the global elite, keeping up with the Joneses, Gateses and Buffetts can require, at bare minimum, an eight-figure annual income. The online listing site Jameslist.com, a Craigslist for the super-rich, lists helicopters for a snip at $7 million-plus. (Failing that, one could always quietly take a share in one through a site like FlexJet.) For those who believe a Bentley is too -- well, obvious -- the fastest and most expensive production car in the world is the $2.4 million Bugatti Veyron Super Sport car. Billionaires who don’t want (or like) their neighbors can check out PrivateIslandsOnline.com, which has a collection of hideaways around the world to choose from. The 225-acre Katafanga Island in Fiji in the South Pacific is currently on the market with a price tag of $20 million.

"You say evading, we say avoiding"


There's no data on whether the ultrawealthy shirk their responsibility to pay taxes more often than the average citizen, but incidents involving billionaires certainly garner more media attention — presumably because of the vast sums involved. "A lot of billionaires try to avoid paying taxes," says Friedman of Wealth-X. The latest to be named and shamed -- and face jail time: Ty Warner, 69, CEO of Ty, the maker of stuffed Beanie Babies and worth an estimated $2.6 billion, according to Forbes. "I apologize for my conduct," Warner told a U.S. District Court in Chicago in October. "I made a mistake. I'm fully responsible." He owes the government $53.6 million for failing to file a report on foreign financial accounts, one of the largest offshore-account penalties ever.

The line certainly gets blurred between illegal tax evasion and lawful tax avoidance. For the most part, Martiak says, "no-one is deliberately or intentionally avoiding paying tax." The very wealthy -- billionaires included -- also have the opportunity to pay a far smaller percentage of their income in taxes, since most of their income is from investments and, therefore, taxed at lower rates than wages and salary.

The woman who last year won the case regarding her first amendment right to display a middle finger in Christmas lights on the roof of her Denham Springs home is back at it again this year.

Sarah Childs claims she is continuously harassed by a neighbor, Kayla Weldon, so this is the way she is choosing to express her anger.

"You know lots of people just resort to violence," says Childs. "Look at road rage, people flip each other off all the time. I really don't see what the big deal is."

This incident sparked national media attention last year when law enforcement officials forced Childs to remove the lights, but later the ACLU stepped in and sued the city.

Denham Springs eventually dropped the matter.



http://www.wwl.com/pages/17954724.php?contentType=4&contentId=14347061

Airport security agents confiscated a toy pistol from a sock monkey based on a John Wayne’s character in “True Grit.”

Phyllis May, of Redmond, Wasington, said she and her husband were traveling from St. Louis to Seattle with some of her hand-made dolls and sewing supplies stowed in her carry-on bag.

The bag wasn’t returned right away after the couple went through the screening process, and May said a Transportation Security Administration agent held it up and asked whose bag it was.

“I realized, oh my god, this is my bag,” May told KTVB-TV.

Inside was a cowboy sock monkey, “Rooster Monkburn,” that she makes and sells as part of her small business.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/09/tsa-agent-seizes-john-wayne-sock-monkeys-toy-gun-from-womans-sewing-bag/