French President Francois Hollande has finally got his super tax on high incomes after the country's highest court upheld the law's latest version.

Hollande originally promised a 75 percent tax on income over 1 million euros ($1.38 million). It would have affected a tiny number of taxpayers, but it became a symbol of Hollande's campaign promise to make France fairer for the middle class.

But the constitutional council threw out that tax as unfair.

Hollande's administration rewrote the tax in the 2014 budget. It is now a 50 percent tax paid by the employer, and doesn't reduce employees' earnings.

The council ruled Sunday that tax was constitutional. In a series of rulings on the budget, it declared a change to the wealth tax that would have taxed latent revenue unconstitutional.

Source: Associated Press

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) sent out a paranoid email Saturday evening urging supporters to vote for Democrats so that Republicans can't impeach President Obama.

The email, subject line "Impeachment," was sent to Obama for America supporters, imploring them to contribute to the DNC's 2014 efforts. "What do these people all have in common?," the email asked, featuring quotes from Republican Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, Rep. Kerry Bentivolio of Michigan, and Rep. Blake Farenthold of Texas discussing the possibility of impeaching Obama for one of his numerous instances of presidential misconduct.

The DNC email discussed the "I-Word" and said that "Republicans are actually excited about the idea."

© yupedia.com

#1 TIPPING 101:

So I'm the owner of Company X. My workers' used to be paid a whopping 7.25 per/hour because of the ridiculous "minimum wage" labor laws that are seriously cutting into my profits. I only want to pay them 2.13 per/hour, which is still way too much! If I do this I can save about $5 dollars per hour on every employee. Actually, I don't want to pay them anything, but I know that won't fly. They might start asking for a fair wage or even worse: dreaded "union" representation! If I have 50 full-time employees I can make an extra $500,000 extra dollars a year! How can I achieve this? The law is against me. Or is it? DING DING. TIPPING!

So people can come to my restaurant and give TIPS to my workers for "good" service. What if I make tipping account for nearly their entire wage? That way the CUSTOMER has to pay for their labor while I don't need to pay my workers an EXTRA penny! I don't even have to include it into the price of the food or on the bill most of the time. It's just an additional cost the customer should be expected to pay. Now, let's make it part of the LAW and the CULTURE and VOILA! You got yourself some home grown All-American authentic: CORPORATE CHARITY. What a brilliant CORPORATE SCAM!

Because my customers have morals and don't want to bear witness to their poor server on the street, begging for loose change; they will act as CHARITY. To top it off, my employees will "work" even harder if their pay is "performance" based - especially if they want to beat minimum wage on slower days. So, if they want acceptable CHARITY TIPS they have to please my customers who, if continue patronizing my establishment, will fully cover the cost of my 3rd vacation home in Florida.

Saudi Arabia has secretly offered Russia a sweeping deal to control the global oil market and safeguard Russia's gas contracts, if the Kremlin backs away from the Assad regime in Syria.

The revelations come amid high tension in the Middle East, with US, British, and French warships poised for missile strikes against Syria, and Iran threatening to retaliate. The strategic jitters pushed Brent crude prices to a five-month high of $US112 a barrel.

''We are only one incident away from a serious oil spike. The market is a lot tighter than people think,'' said Chris Skrebowski, editor of Petroleum Review.

Leaked transcripts of a behind closed doors meeting between Russia's Vladimir Putin and Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan shed an extraordinary light on the hard-nosed Realpolitik of the two sides.

Television presenters, former sports stars and an actor from The Bill were among those recruited by police forces to help front safety campaigns and attend awards nights, new figures show.

The list, which reads like the contents of Alan Partridge's contacts book, shows a handful of police forces in England and Wales sought the clout of celebrity status from the likes of ex-newsreader Angela Rippon, former England footballer Jack Charlton and Gladiator "Atlas" over a three-year period.

Forces paid nearly £30,000 to hire the celebrities, although many of the fees were covered by sponsorship.

In some cases, payment took the form of a donation which was passed on to a charity of the celebrity's choosing.

Norfolk police made three separate payments including giving £3,000 to Graham Cole, who plays PC Tony Stamp in the ITV police drama The Bill, to feature in a staff film about "customer service".

In the film, which can be viewed on the force's website, Cole is seen walking through the streets in uniform discussing public perception of the police.

Police released thousands of pages Friday from their investigation into the Newtown massacre, providing the most detailed and disturbing picture yet of the rampage and Adam Lanza's fascination with murder, while also depicting school employees' brave and clearheaded attempts to protect the children.

Among the details: more than a dozen bodies, mostly children, were discovered packed "like sardines" in a bathroom where they had hidden. And the horrors encountered inside the school were so great that when police sent in paramedics, they tried to select ones capable of handling what they were about to witness.

"This will be the worst day of your life," police Sgt William Cario warned one.

The documents' release marks the end of the investigation into the December 14, 2012, shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary that left 20 first-graders and six educators dead.

Lanza, 20, went to the school after killing his mother, Nancy, inside their home. He committed suicide with a handgun as police arrived at the school.

A "female suicide bomber" has been blamed for an explosion at a train station in southern Russia which has killed at least 13 people.

The country's National Anti-Terrorism Committee issued a statement following the attack at the central railway hub in the city of Volgograd.

The blast occurred at around 12.45pm local times (8.45am GMT), and footage from the scene showed bodies laid out next to ambulances outside.

A spokesman for the nation's top investigative committee said 13 had been confirmed dead so far, though that figure was expected to rise. The Volgograd health department told reporters several dozen people had been injured in the blast.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes two months after another female suicide bomber blew up a bus in the same city, killing six and injuring around 30.

Officials said the attacker in that incident came from Dagestan, where Islamist insurgent activity has grown since the two separatist wars in Chechnya.

The United States has barred Russia from building monitor stations on its soil for fears they could help Moscow spy on America, according to a report.

The measure was included in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2014 that was signed into law by President Barack Obama on Thursday, The New York Times reports.

Moscow first broached the idea of erecting the domed antenna structures inside the US nearly two years ago and insists they are designed to improve the accuracy of Russia's version of the Global Positioning System (GPS), the American satellite network that steers guided missiles to their targets and helps passengers with navigation.

The State Department supported the Russian plan as a means to mend strained ties with Moscow.

Media Matters looks back at the best of the worst of right-wing media's treatment of women in 2013.

On A Woman's Role

Fox Contributor Erick Erickson: "I Understand That Some Women Believe They Can Have It All, And That's The Crux Of The Problem." On the May 30 edition of his WSB radio program The Erick Erickson Show, Fox contributor Erickson expressed his views on female breadwinners:

ERICKSON: [T]he subset of children who are raised in a two-parent, nuclear, heterosexual household, children where the father is the one who is the leader of the family, or the breadwinner of the family, however you want to say it, tend to out-perform those where the mother is the primary provider of the family outside of the home. Those are the facts. All I have done is point them out.

[...]

I understand the reality that some moms are single moms not by their choice. And I understand that some women believe they can have it all, and that's the crux of the problem. I have to tell you, as a man, where women are told that men have so many more advantages in society, we can't have it all. Women, you can't have it all either. Life is a series of compromises and choices. [WSB, The Erick Erickson Show, 5/30/13]