- Some artists value their musical credibility very highly,
but Atlanta rapper 2 Chainz is clearly not one of them. He could continue to build his
brand in the hip-hop world, but he is branching out and looking to conquer more
than just the rap game. Some of those endeavors will succeed and others will
fail, but none of them are likely to make any less sense than his appearance in
pop-punk outfit Fall Out Boy’s promo for their new song “My Songs Know What You
Did In The Dark (Light Em Up).” No one has less credibility both in their own
musical genre and beyond than Fall Out Boy, a band with as much of an edge as a
butter knife made of silly putty. Venturing into acting with a debut t on the
CBS comedy “2 Broke Girls" is fine, partially because 2 Chainz will be
playing himself and partially because no dude with a pulse is turning down a
chance for screen time alongside series star Kat Dennings and her famously
massive chest, but teaming up with Fall Out Boy isn’t going to earn respect
from anyone. The single is the first off the band’s new album, “Save Rock
and Roll,” that is set to drop on May 6. The name itself is incredibly
ironic because there is nothing rock and roll about Fall Out Boy, but maybe
having a presently popular rapper who still isn't close to having name
recognition in the mainstream do a guest spot on a song isn’t exactly infusing
rock credibility into your sound. Judging by the promo video, 2 Chainz will
feature heavily on the song itself and in the video, he can be seen dousing
everything in gasoline and lighting a match to set everything ablaze. The “2
Broke Girls” episode will air Feb. 11, one day after the Grammys……..
- Americans b*tching about gas prices should take a step
back, observe what’s happening in Lithuania and temper their whining
accordingly. Lithuanians are suffering through a typically brutal winter and
they’re doing so while paying absurdly bloated prices for gas. Prices have
skyrocketed over
the past several years, propelled by the country shuttering of its only nuclear
power plant in 2009. That led to an increase in imports of Russian gas and the
Communist hellhole to the east has shown no compunctions about using its energy
dominance to bully its former vassal states. Lithuanian households have stood
by helplessly as the retail cost of natural gas pumped from Siberia have
increased 450 percent — from $169 to $769 per 1,000 cubic meters – in the past
seven years. Lithuania currently pays Russia a wholesale price of about $540
per 1,000 cubic meters of natural gas piped from Siberia, 15 percent more than
Baltic neighbors Latvia and Estonia and 25 percent more than Germany.
Conspiracy theorists believe Lithuania is being punished by Russia for unsolved
political issues, which would be absurd if it weren't so likely to be true. The
popular theory is that Lithuania’s government demanding compensation from
Moscow for alleged damages incurred during the Soviet occupation from 1945 to
1991 is the reason for the price gouging, although Lithuania enacting a
European Union directive to separate gas supply and distribution last year
probably isn't helping matters. Estonia and Latvia have done neither and their
gas prices remain conspicuously low. Russia's state-owned gas monopoly,
Gazprom, rarely addresses such issues and has justified the price rises by
saying the deal allows it to index gas rates to oil prices. That stance has
rankled Lithuanian leaders. "We believe Lithuania should pay a fifth less
than it does now," Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius said. An ongoing
lawsuit by Lithuania's previous center-right government against Gazprom in
international arbitration court for $1.9 billion hangs over the battle,
although Butkevicius said he is willing to scrap the litigation in exchange for
cheaper gas. In the meantime, freezing Lithuanians are shivering and simply not
paying gas bills they can't afford, hoping the situation is resolved soon…….
- Crash and burn. A highly anticipated trial of a new booster vaccine has ended in failure and the battle
against tuberculosis (TB) is no further ahead. The study was the first
involving infants since the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine was introduced
in 1921 and because BCG is only partially effective against the bacterium that causes TB,
several international teams are working on new vaccines. A trial of a vaccine known
as MVA85A concluded recently in South Africa and it failed to protect babies
who had already had BCG. It involved 2,794 healthy children aged four to six months, half of whom
received MVA85A and the rest a placebo. Researchers followed the children for an
average of two years and found 32 cases of TB in those who had received the
vaccine compared with 39 in the placebo group. That gave the vaccine an
effectiveness of 17 percent, a number that ranks it as statistically insignificant.
The MVA85A vaccine is designed to boost the immune responses that have been
primed by the BCG vaccine and it has been undergoing human trials for more than
a decade. While shown to be safe and to stimulate a high level of immune
response in adults, it does not seem to be as effective in children. "[It]
induced modest immune responses against TB in the infants, but these were much
lower than those previously seen in adults, and were insufficient to protect
against the disease,” said professor Helen McShane of the University of Oxford,
who developed the vaccine. "This is the first efficacy trial of a new TB
vaccine since Bacille Calmette-Guérin, a significant step in itself, and there
is much that we and others can learn from the study and the data it has produced."
The World Health Organization argued that the results are not a terminal
prognosis for MVA85A, but it is obviously a big setback………
- For the first time since moving to Los Angeles, the
Clippers are legitimate title contenders and their rise coincides with their
in-house rivals’ tumble to also-ran status in the Western Conference. With the
Lakers mired in 10th place in the West and their own fortunes soaring, the
Clippers have one eye on the postseason and they know they may need another
piece to complete their team before the playoffs begin. Already battling injuries to guards Chauncey Billups, Chris
Paul and Jamal Crawford, getting healthy is part of the solution and maybe the
Big Ticket can be the other. The Clippers are reportedly interested in
acquiring Kevin Garnett from the Boston Celtics, who theoretically should be in
selling mode after All-Star point guard Rajon Rondo tore his ACL last week,
ending his season. Even before his injury, the Celtics were a middling team
with an aging roster and general manager Danny Ainge was fending off rumors
that he would consider breaking up the team and shipping out aging veterans
such as Garnett and Paul Pierce. Now that Rondo is done for the year, seeing
what you can get for Garnett while he still has some tread left on his wheels
isn't a bad move. Officials from the two teams reportedly met before the
Celtics beat the Clippers 106-104 on Sunday, but the Celtics have since claimed
that they are not shopping Garnett. On the other end, sources say the Clippers
are intrigued by the possibility of acquiring Garnett in a deal that would
likely involve promising point guard Eric Bledsoe and veteran forward Caron
Butler. However, taking on Garnett would also mean swallowing the two years and
$23.5 million remaining on his contract after this season. Even if they don’t
trade for Garnett, the Clippers need to find a way to reverse their fortunes
with Paul out with a knee injury and having lost six of their past eight games.
If Ainge is to be believed, Clippers fans shouldn’t hold out hope for a deal. Ainge
has maintained in recent days that the team is in wait-and-see mode and on the strength
of four straight wins since Rondo’s injury, maybe it’s not time to break up the
Celtics……..
- Why in such a hurry to leave, now-former Nebraska Lt.
Gov. Rick Sheehy? Just because a media outlet made a public records request for
your phone records and those records showed thousands of calls to four women on
your state-issued cellphone is no reason to hurriedly resign. So what if one of
those women also claims to have had a romantic relationship with you?
Politicians and affairs have been inextricably intertwined for as long as there
have been politicians and Sheehy running away in shame is just weak. Gov. Dave
Heineman accepting Sheehy's resignation and announcing it at a hastily called
news conference Saturday morning is equally cowardly, but most of the blame has
to go to the man at the center of the adulterous storm. The scandal has
obliterated the political future of a man who had been considered the
front-runner in the 2014 gubernatorial race and had been endorsed by Heineman,
who could not distance himself from his former lieutenant governor fast enough.
"As public officials, we are rightly held to a higher standard,"
Heineman said. "I had trusted him, and that trust was broken." The
fact that no one is giving Sheehy credit for juggling as many as four different
women on the side while also maintaining his sham of a marriage is sad, but the
world of political affairs isn't what it once was. The calls do offer a hint as
to why Sheehy’s wife filed for divorce last year, but there’s no need to jump
to any conclusions. Most of the calls, which number in the thousands, occurred
late at night and Sheehy spoke with some of the women numerous times a day in
conversations that lasted anywhere from a few minutes to more than an hour,
according to the records. Dr. Theresa Hatcher of Bellevue is one of the women
who received calls from Sheehy and she has previously claimed that she and
Sheehy had maintained a long-term relationship after they met at a convention
of emergency responders in Texas in 2008. "I thought I was the only one,"
she said. "Apparently, I was grossly mistaken." A lot of people
appear to have been mistaken on who Sheehy is and his former boss doesn’t sound
like the two of them will be working again together any time soon. Heineman
said he doesn’t expect Sheehy to run for governor next year and insisted that
if he did, “I would not support him under the circumstances.” Clearly, people
can't get off Sheehy’s bandwagon quickly enough………
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