- Does anyone else get the impression that Madonna is a)
senile and doing absurd things because she doesn’t know any better and/or b)
beginning to realize she has only a few minutes of quasi-relevance left and is
doing the most outrageous things possible to keep the spotlight on her? Right
now, she’s scrapping with France over swastikas and exposing herself on stage
at a regular clip. Her biggest battle is with the National Front, France's far-right
party, which said it plans to sue the Material Skank singer for showing a video
of leader Marine Le Pen with a swastika on her forehead during her Saturday
concert in Paris. Le Pen plans to file a lawsuit with the Paris courts in the
next few days because apparently, she doesn’t find the symbol of Nazi
atrocities being artificially emblazoned on her forehead without her consent to
be flattering. The video has been played during other stops on the Material
Skank’s tour and the National Front, which has been accused of anti-Semitism
and therefore may be a bit touchy on the issue, threatened legal action last
month if she were to show the video in France. "We can't accept this,"
National Front Vice President Florian Philippot said Sunday. "Showing
Marine Le Pen's image with a swastika is like saying she is a Nazi,” added FNP lawyer Wallerand de Saint-Just. No, Wally, it’s not like saying she’s
a Nazi. It IS saying she’s a Nazi. In between besmirching the reputations of
political leaders with hate symbols, the MS is regularly exposing her breasts
on the tour, although she added in a mooning to her Paris show as well, which
lends credence to the whole idea of her being off her rocker at her old age……….
- The real shocker is that there aren’t more parent vs.
parent, coach vs. parent or coach vs. coach brawls in youth sports all across
the United States. Too many people care far too much about wins and losses in
events that are supposed to be about children having fun and too many of those
people have disappointing lives and feel the need to live vicariously through
their children. So in non-shocking news, a cell phone video of a massive brawl
following a girls’ youth league soccer game Sunday has surfaced. The incident
occurred after a particularly combative game between the under-17 teams for
Greece and Attica and involved the fathers of several players. The footage,
which has hit YouTube, shows several people being restrained in the aftermath
of the brawl and two men in particular seem extremely angry. “There was
culpability on the part of both of them,” says Greece police spokesman Captain
Steve Chatterton. However, no one was injured and criminal charges will not be filed, so public ridicule and
embarrassment will have to suffice for both men. So what the hell happened to
spark the fight? “There was a red card issued and some trash talking among the
players,” explained Mary Arter, president of the Rochester District Youth
Soccer League. That red card was for unsportsmanlike or violent conduct and
perhaps it should have been expected, given that the two teams have met three
times this year and each matchup has been increasingly chippy. For the
following game in the tournament, officials seated fans from the two teams on
opposing sides of the field just to be safe……..
- Many people don’t know where Romania is or much about it
beyond its dominance in Olympic gymnastics a few years back, but there is
definitely reason to pay attention to the Eastern European nation now. European
authorities have accused Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta, of systematic
abuse of the country's constitution and undermining the rule of law in his
campaign to unseat the country's president. A 22-page report from the European
Commission highlighting Romania's failures to observe EU legal standards
excoriated Ponta for his actions and claimed he has ignored the constitution,
threatened judges, illegally removed officials from key posts, and tampered with the
democratic system of checks and balances in order to try to secure the
impeachment of President Traian Basescu. In other words, typical politics.
Ponta led the charge earlier this month as he used his parliamentary majority
to unseat Basescu, pushing through new referendum rules on impeachment and
ignoring the country's supreme court verdict that the moves were
unconstitutional. For some odd reason, the EC report says the government's
commitment to democracy has been put in doubt. "However, this political context cannot
explain the systematic nature of several actions. They raised serious doubts
about the commitment to the respect of the rule of law or the understanding of the
meaning of the rule of law in a pluralist democratic system. Political challenges
to judicial decisions, the undermining of the constitutional court, the overturning of
established procedures and the removal of key checks and balances have called into
question the government's commitment to respect the rule of law and independent judicial review. The commission is, in particular, extremely
concerned by the indications of manipulations and threats which affect
institutions, members of the judiciary,” the report states. Commission
officials demanded that Ponta reverse what he has done and restore Basescu to
power. Basescu has been suspended from office as head of state pending a
referendum at the end of the month and interim president, Crin Antonescu, a
Ponta ally, remains in power. The impeachment vote will need a turnout rate of
half of the electorate plus one to be valid and with turnout expected to be
low, it is likely that the referendum will be void. Still, Ponta has vowed all
the demands set by the commission president, Jose Manuel Barroso. Romania has
been a member of the European Union since 2007, but remains subject to an EU
monitoring regime because it is seen as highly corrupt and criminalized, with a dubious
commitment to the rule of law. In a real slap across the face, the report says
the Romanian government may not understand how a pluralist democracy works and may not be fit to be an EU member. Aww, come on. Every
family need that one black sheep to screw sh*t up and make everyone else feel
better about themselves………..
- Hopefully, the New York Knicks are happy with their
point guard choices going forward. The team elected not to match the three-year
offer sheet the Houston Rockets made to sudden star Jeremy Lin, allowing him to
leave New York after a lightning-in-a-bottle half of a season in which he
vaulted to stardom from nowhere. To replace him, the Knicks traded for point
guard Raymond Felton from Portland and signed veteran free agent and sure-fire
hall of famer Jason Kidd, who is at the tail end of his career but should be an
outstanding backup for Felton. Well, assuming he can stay sober, Kidd will be a
great backup. He just needs some time to sober up and deal with some new legal
issues after he was arrested early Sunday and charged with a misdemeanor of driving
while intoxicated, according to Southampton Town police. In the always-popular
(for drunks anyhow) single-car accident, Kidd’s his 2010 Cadillac Escalade
struck a telephone pole and went into the woods in hamlet of Watermill at
around 2 a.m. The area is mostly residential, so having an NBA star in a
high-profile DUI-related crash should provide plenty of excitement for the good
folks of Watermill. Kidd suffered minor and was treated at Southampton Hospital
and was then transferred to police headquarters to be processed. He was held
for arraignment Sunday morning and was released on his own recognizance, but
police would not confirm whether or not Kidd had taken a breathalyzer test.
Neither he nor his agent responded to requests for comment, but this is
probably not how one of the best point guards in NBA history imagined his time
in New York starting after he signed in free agency last week. The 10-time
All-Star now faces a DWI charge that carries the potential for up to a year in
jail. Kidd, of course, is familiar with the area, having played in New Jersey,
leading the Nets to two NBA Finals appearances, before being traded to Dallas.
He is also familiar with police stations, as while playing with Phoenix in
2001, he was arrested on a domestic violence charge, acknowledging
that he struck his former wife. The tabloids will have a lot of fun with him if
that’s how he’s going to roll as a member of the Knicks………..
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