- It’s one hell of a re-election campaign Newark (N.J.)
mayor Cory Booker is running – and he’s not even up for re-election. When
Booker does need the voters of his fine Garden State city to support him, he’ll
have plenty of goodwill in the bank because by that point, he will probably
have saved the lives of three-fourths of his constituents, or at least the life
of someone they love. Booker, who was hospitalized for a few hours in April
after he and two members of his security detail attempted to rescue next-door
neighbors trapped in a burning home in the Upper Clinton Hill neighborhood on
Hawthorne Avenue, was at it again Thursday morning. His latest heroic act came
when he rushed to the aid of a man struck by a car. While seeing the accident
before it happened and pulling the victim out of the way would have been
awesome, Booker was on his way back from speaking at a graduation ceremony when
he and his security came upon an accident scene at the corner of Clinton Avenue
and Parkhurst Street. Police were on the scene, but Booker got out of his car
and spotted a man in his 50s, bleeding profusely from his head, and lying in
the street, unconscious. He sprinted the man’s side, held his hand and began to
talk to him, according to his office. The man regained consciousness and asked “Are you Mayor Booker?” Booker posted a
series of tweets about the encounter, writing “Driver did the right thing &
stayed & helped me & others aid man until medical help arrived,”
followed by, “There is nothing more uplifting to the soul than human kindness
and determined decency,” and the finale, “In a cynical world, good deeds
resound more loudly than any negative words.” Unlike the heroic save from the
house fire, Booker was not taken to a local hospital suffering from smoke inhalation
and second-degree burns on his hand and simply walked away from this one……….
- Sonic Youth’s Thurston
Moore is turning into the next incarnation of Jack White. White has more side
projects and jobs than just about anyone else in rock even though the one he’s
best-known for, the White Stripes, is now defunct. Moore is closing fast after
the revelation this week that he, ex-wife and still fellow Sonic Youth member Kim
Gordon and Yoko Ono are
set to release a mini-album entitled “YOKOKIMTHURSTON” on Sept. 24. The six-track
album will feature the 14-minute-long single, “Early In The Morning.” With the
future of Sonic Youth in doubt after Gordon and Moore announced their split
last October after 27 years of marriage and their record label, Matador,
admitting that plans for the band remained "uncertain," Moore is
adding to his musical to-do list by adding a new band he unveiled Friday, named
Chelsea Light Moving.
The band features
Keith Moore on guitar, Samara Lubelski on bass and John Moloney on drums and it
definitely has eclectic origins, as its first release, “Burroughs,” is inspired
by the last words of beatnik author William S. Burroughs. The band announced
plans to debut a new track next week and should Sonic Youth not return from its
indefinite hiatus, Moore should have plenty to keep himself busy and channel
his creative energies now that his muse, Gordon, is no longer his loving
wife……….
- The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has fired and Lance Armstrong has
fired back. Facing what only seems like the 157th doping allegation against him
and his former cycling team, the seven-time Tour de France champion filed a
scathing response Friday to USADA’s claims that Armstrong used
performance-enhancing drugs and other improper methods to win cycling's premier
event from 1999-2005. Friday was the final day of the 10-day time period for
Armstrong and his legal team to respond to USADA's warning that charges were
pending before his case moves to the next stage. After an initial denial of the
charges, Armstrong filed a formal response and in it, accused the agency of
violating its own rules and possibly breaking federal laws during its
investigation. In an 11-page filing Armstrong's attorneys claimed they still
haven't been allowed to see the evidence against him, including witness names
and any expert analysis to support USADA's claim that 2009 and 2010 blood tests
are "fully consistent" with blood doping. In facing a series of
accusations from the federal government, former teammates and anti-doping
agencies over the past decade, Armstrong has repeatedly said he is the most
tested athlete in the world and has never failed a single test. He has
steadfastly denied doping and reacted swiftly and angrily to each new claim
again him. If he is found guilty of doping by USADA, he could be stripped of
his titles and banned from cycling, though he retired from the sport last year.
In the letter, Armstrong’s attorneys said USADA's case is "long on stale
allegations disproved long ago and short on evidence" and "offensive
to any notions of due process." USADA officials have denied access to a
list of witness names and any expert analysis to support its claims,
allegedly in order to protect witnesses from possible intimidation. With
Armstrong’s response submitted, USADA will now decide whether to file formal
charges. If the agency does so, the case could go to a three-person arbitration
panel by November. The letter outlines Armstrong’s potential strategy, which
focuses in his inability to mount a legitimate defense until he's able to see
the evidence against him. In the event of an arbitration hearing, Armstrong
will be allowed to review the evidence in advance and will be allowed to
cross-examine witnesses. For its part, USADA claims it has 10 of Armstrong’s former
teammates willing to testify that they either know he used
performance-enhancing drugs or talked about using them and encouraged them
within the team. Those PEDs allegedly included the blood-booster EPO, steroids
and improper blood transfusions. Armstrong disputes those claims, believes investigators
coerced false testimony from witnesses, questions whether USADA improperly
gained access to testimony in a recent federal grand jury criminal
investigation that ended in February and challenges d the 2009-10 blood tests,
which were taken during his two-year comeback from retirement. The fight is on……….
- Facebook’s financial troubles just took a turn for the
worse. A botched, possibly fraudulent initial public offering (IPO) of its
stock was a bad first step and now, a court settlement in a class-action
lawsuit by a group of users of the social networking site is set to take away a
large chunk of cash from Mark Zuckerberg’s operation. The case had to do with
the privacy and persona information of users and what Facebook does with that
data. The company reportedly agreed to a settlement last month and as part of
the agreement, it will pay $10 million to a charity as part of the settlement, $10
million for the plaintiff attorneys' fees and give users more notice and
information regarding their appearance in ads and other forms of sponsored
content. It will also allow users to opt out of its Sponsored Stories ads,
which include users' Likes, names and pictures. According to the agreement, Facebook
must give users the ability to "prevent individual interactions and other
content from appearing in additional Sponsored Stories.” The lawsuit originated
last year, when five Facebook users sued the company, alleging that the
Sponsored Stories benefited from Facebook users' Likes without giving them
compensation or a chance to opt out. Facebook took the wise route by settling,
avoiding billions of dollars in potential losses. Under the terms of the
agreement, the changes must remain in place for at least two years and Facebook's
advertisements will also undergo changes. To answer the most obvious question,
yes, you can still share your favorite memes, photos of yourself from two feet
away taken from your camera phone and b*tch about whatever the latest site
changes Facebook makes…………
- The governmental efficiency in Pakistan continues to
plumb new depths and shows no signs of improving any time soon. Keeping a prime
minister in office is a major problem at the moment and should continue to be
an issue after lawmakers elected a
ruling party loyalist with a checkered past to the post on Friday, restoring
government to the country after days of political turmoil but creating a wave
of speculation that Raja Pervaiz Ashraf could be ousted in a matter of days.
His predecessor, Yousuf Raza Gilani, was dismissed by the Supreme Court earlier
this week for refusing to initiate a corruption investigation against his boss,
President Asif Ali Zardari. In a nuclear-armed country locked in a pitched
battle with the United States over the latter’s continued drone strikes within
Pakistan, political turbulence is not helping calm matters. Ashraf was selected
after the first choice for the post, outgoing textile minister Makhdoom
Shahabuddin, was removed from the race by the minor, nagging issue of an arrest
warrant for his role in a drug import scandal. An anti-narcotics force run by
the military issued the warrant. The force wields significant political power
and has staged three coups in Pakistan's short history. A coalition within the
parliament elected Ashraf as prime minister by a vote of 211 to 89. Ashraf
addressed lawmakers after his election, telling them the economy, the power
crisis and inflation were his main priorities. "Our country cannot afford
politics of confrontation at this time," he said. He spoke in both Urdu
and English during the speech and warned there would be no peace in Pakistan
without peace in Afghanistan. As he takes power, the current government faces
an earlier-than-expected end to its term, which was scheduled to conclude in
March 2013. Ashraf could also be on his way out if the Supreme Court — a panel
of activist judges — does as it is expected to do and issues the same demand to
him as it made to Gilani. The case dates back to allegations that Zardari
laundered state money in Switzerland more than a decade ago and has now become
a giant political hand grenade no one wants to handle. As he assumes power,
Ashraf doesn’t have much goodwill in the bank. He served as head of the water
and power ministry for three years and became a punch line for claiming the
power crisis would be over by "December" only to have daily blackouts
and other issues occur routinely in the months that followed. Critics suggested
the coalition chose Ashraf because they knew he wouldn't last long in office
and didn’t want to “waste” an appointee of whom they thought highly in a no-win
situation. Wonder if they considered Mitt Romney………
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