A Ridiculous Obama Rumor, Romney’s Tax Increases, and More

Plan Favors the Rich:

Want to pay higher taxes? Then Mitt Romney’s your guy! If elected president, Romney will raise taxes on a whopping 95 percent of Americans, according to a new study by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. However, if you’re lucky enough to be one of the wealthiest 5 percent, then congratulations—you’ll be getting a tax cut! So if you don’t want a tax hike, the solution is simple: Get rich now (or better yet—retroactively). (Read more)

Email Plotting: Hey, Anderson Cooper. Here’s one for the RidicuList. Rep. Kelly Keisling, a Republican member of the Tennessee state legislature, apologized Wednesday for forwarding an email to his constituents with, among other things, a rumor that President Obama might fake his own assassination in an attempt to stop the election from taking place. According to the email, that’s just one of a series of events planned by Obama and the Department of Homeland Security to get martial law imposed in order to delay the election. At least Keisling acknowledged that he should not have sent the email. Additionally, he also pledged to be more cautious when distributing information in the future. (Read more)

New Birther Theory: Rep. Steve King, a Republican from Iowa who is kind of known for saying some crazy things, is going full-on birther. During a recent town hall meeting, King suggested that President Obama’s parents telegrammed their baby’s birth announcement to Hawaiian papers from Kenya. Said King: “It would have been awfully hard to fraudulently file the birth notice of Barack Obama being born in Hawaii and get that into our public libraries and that microfiche they keep of all the newspapers published. That doesn’t mean there aren’t some other explanations on how they might’ve announced that by telegram from Kenya. The list goes on.” An endorsement from Donald Trump is expected soon. (Read more)

Abortion Law Barred: The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has blocked an Arizona law that would have banned abortion, with the exception of a medical emergency, after 20 weeks. By issuing the preliminary injunction, the court has ensured the law will not go into effect this week as scheduled. The 20 weeks, by the way, is counted not from conception, but rather a woman’s last menstrual period. (Read more)

Castro to Give DNC Keynote: No, not Fidel or Raul. Julian Castro. Though he might not be a household name yet, Castro—the mayor of San Antonio who has drawn comparisons to Barack Obama—has been tapped to give the keynote at the Democratic National Convention in September. Just in case you weren’t aware of the similarities between the two politicians, the Democratic Party made it abundantly clear in its announcement email: “Eight years ago at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, then-Senate candidate Barack Obama stepped into the national spotlight and delivered a keynote address that sparked a movement to bring our country together. On Tuesday, September 4, Mayor Castro will help President Obama once again deliver a clear vision for our path forward.” As Castro himself noted, those are some pretty big shoes to fill. (Read more)

Video of the Day: Mitt Romney’s gaffe-filled trip around the world has given Jon Stewart some good comedic material. Last night, “The Daily Show” host pointed out the irony of the latest gaffe, which was made in Poland by a Romney aide during the presidential candidate’s final tour stop.