- Martin Luther King, Jr. would be proud. The iconic civil
rights leader is several decades gone from the Earth, but there is no doubt he
would be thrilled to learn that a city in Texas is considering allowing a Confederate
memorial to be built at corner of Interstate 10 and a road named in King’s
honor, Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. While nothing is official yet, city
officials in Orange, Tex. and a small group of citizens gathered Wednesday
morning for a closed-door meeting at the city zoning office to discuss a
planned memorial to be built by the Sons of Confederate Veterans organization. "I've received many
negative comments about the project... The mayor asked me to schedule a meeting
with some of the participants that made public comments," said Orange City
Manager Shawn Oubre. "The concern of the image that it's going to give the
city as we try to develop and attract tourism.” Among those lining up against
the planned memorial is the local chapter of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Orange NAACP branch president Dr. Jackie
Mayfield participated in the meeting and made it clear he and his membership
view the flags as a symbol of racism the city doesn't need. "They may not
see it that way, but they have a flag that symbolizes slavery... and that is
not good for the public and will bring down the city financially if it's allowed
to happen," Mayfield explained. According to the Sons of Confederate
Veterans, the memorial would feature 26 different flags used by the Confederate
States of America. Mayfield said following the meeting that those involved
discussed possible avenues of legal action, but admitted that no decisions were
made. Instead, the fight will go on and so far, the quietest party in the
entire process has been the Sons of Confederate Veterans themselves. No one
representing the group attended the meeting, nor has the group issued any
official statement on the memorial………
- Shia LaBeouf walked away from Broadway and now, he’s blasting away at
his critics on Twitter for criticizing his choice to quit on his role in the
upcoming revival production of the play “Orphans.” LeBouf, who has more free
time on his hands now that he won’t be a part of the “Transformers” franchise
moving forward, was to be a part of the cast for the production but decided to
walk away in the face of a growing controversy centering on his relationship
with co-star Alec Baldwin. LeBouf and the temperamental Baldwin reportedly
clashed on several occasions and rather than forge ahead and try to co-existing,
LeBouf stepped down. Now, he’s taking his case to the people by tweeting out
what he claims is evidence about what really went on behind the scenes. He
started his offensive by posting what purports to be personal emails involving
Baldwin, another co-star, Tom Sturridge, the play’s director. The first email,
from “Orphans” director Daniel Sullivan, says in part: “Alec is who he is. You
are who you are. You two are incompatible. I should have known it … This
one will haunt me. You tried to warn me. You said you were a different breed. I
didn’t get it.” A second email, allegedly from Baldwin, reads in part: “When
the change comes, how do we handle it, whether it be good or bad? What do we
learn? I don’t have an unkind word to say about you.” The second message is
odd, rambling and cryptic, but perhaps LeBouf should have stuck it out instead
of quitting. His role in the play was that of a kidnapper who, along with
Sturridege, kidnap a wealthy businessman, played by Baldwin. Fake-kidnapping someone
and slapping them around on stage can typically help relieve tension between
two people, but LeBouf’s Broadway debut will have to wait a while longer. On
the plus side, he can now follow through on his promise to leave big-budget
Hollywood movies to focus on more-independent projects……..
- Are you still feeling good about that free flu shot you
waited for in line for over an hour at the local Walgreen’s, elderly America? Data
from the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control shows that this year's flu vaccine provided little
protection to those 65 and older who got a shot. The CDC data suggest the
vaccine reduced an older adult's risk of contracting H3N2 influenza by just 9
percent. The H3N2 strain is the primary pointed out that older people who
received a flu shot and have since developed any flu-like illness should still
see a doctor and find out whether they need antiviral drugs. Hearing that flu
shots offered virtually no discernable benefits to the very people who are
always most eager to get them and über-paranoid that they will catch something
and die if they don’t is funny on several levels, especially because this
year's flu vaccine reduced the risk of developing influenza requiring
medical care by 56 percent overall and 47 percent for H3N2. In other words, the
vaccine helped a lot of people and did plenty of good, just not for the people
who all but camp out at their neighborhood CVS the night before flu shots are
made available. The rates provided by the CDC show the same general level of
effectiveness for this year’s flu vaccine as the numbers released by Canadian
health officials last month. Sorry for the bad news, elderly Americans, but
maybe next year’s flu vaccine will be more effective….assuming you survive that
long, of course…….
- He may coach one of Major League Baseball’s worst teams on
an annual basis, he may work for one of the most moribund organizations in all
of professional sports and his team may start this season with no hope of
winning a World Series or even the American League pennant, but don’t ever
question Ned Yost’s toughness. Yost and his team are hard at work in Surprise,
Ariz. as they get spring training rolling. They’re trying to find a way to maximize
the talent they do have in order to compete in a division where three teams
(Detroit, Chicago and Cleveland) have all outspent them dramatically over the
course of the past two seasons. Yost has a lot on his plate with his team, so
he decided to remove one ginormous pain from his life by leaving camp in
Surprise and driving to nearby Phoenix, where a doctor who works for the Arizona Diamondbacks
removed his gallbladder. Yost said he had endured two years of recurring pain
and couldn’t tolerate the discomfort any longer. He added that eating Kansas
City’s famed barbecue offerings was more difficult because of his gallbladder issues
and so he went under the knife. The surgeon made three incisions, Yost’s wife
was there with him for the procedure and she drove him home after the
outpatient surgery. Ever the grizzled baseball veteran, he laid back and
rested……for all of a few hours. By the time the sun rose over the Arizona
desert Wednesday morning, he was in his car and headed back to camp. If only
the Royals’ players can channel some of that toughness when they face the
adversity that will greet them throughout this season, maybe the Royals can
actually contend for something………
- No one has ever accused New Zealanders of not knowing how
to have fun. The Kiwis and their rivals in Australia are known for boozing,
fighting and throwing one hell of a party…so of course it was New Zealand where
police found four men and 10 sheep crammed inside a 1994 Ford Laser hatchback. Officers discovered
the very smelly and very tiny car Wednesday during a routine patrol. An officer
was simply driving around at about 1 a.m. local time Wednesday in Havelock
North when something odd caught his eye. He spotted the hatchback lurching and
laboring along, needing even more effort than normal to putter forward using the
power of its 1.3-liter engine. “He would have done a double take and said,
‘What the hell?’” Wellington police spokesman Guy Callahan said. “The officer
basically pulled the vehicle over and discovered it was full up with men and
sheep. … It’s quite a small vehicle.” In an amazing coincidence, 10 sheep had
allegedly just been stolen from a farm. The sheep apparently matched the
description of 10 sheep that had just been stolen from a nearby farm. The
animals were hog-tied and crammed inside the car with three men, ages 35, 22
and 21. Callahan explained that stolen sheep are generally slaughtered and
eaten, but these beasts will live to be sheared another day now that their
captors have been arrested and charged with theft of stock and cruel treatment
of an animal. Their plot to get some free sheep meat, which is expensive, will
need to be revised before they give it another go. “A lot of sheep get poached,
especially during lambing season,” Callahan added. “But something like this is
not regular. It’s bloody hot here because it’s in the middle of summer, so 10 wool sheep and four men -- it’s, well
… it’s hot.” Perhaps nothing has ever hit the description of a hot mess any
better………
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