- Trying to demolish a person’s house can be a contentious
exercise. People can become defensive when a crew comes to tear down the place
they call home and have built their life. Yet when a demolition crew attempted
to mistakenly tear down the domicile of Butler County (Ohio) resident Daniel
Clemons, Clemons wasn’t the one who lost his mind. He lives in a subdivision in Butler County and his
small parcel of land is at the center of a very big dispute. Clemons bought the
land in 2006, but structures in the area are being torn down to make way for a
new development. He was under the impression his home wasn’t one of them, which
caused a problem when a demolition crew was sent to his home. The crew showed
up, a confrontation ensued and in a video that has made its way to YouTube, a
member of the demolition crew screams at Clemons, "I'll knock your
(bleeping) head off!" The company, L and L Distribution of Springfield,
Ohio, had a letter from Ross Township's administrator, Robert Bass, giving them
permission to clear the land. Even after Clemons’ family showed up with the
deed and tried to give it to the police officers who'd been summoned, the
officers allowed the crew to being the demolition process. Clemens estimates
that he lost about $40,000 in property, including piles of what appeared to be
junk but were actually his livelihood as one of the glorified junk collectors
who buys crap at auctions and then tries to pawn them off for more money to
schmucks at flea markets. The shed where Clemons stored that junk and a motor
home parked on his property are now gone. "This was wrong to do to a
person," Clemons said. "What is to protect the next person out there
from this happening to them?" Be quiet, NRA, be quiet. Clemons was in the
right; he does still own the property and he only lost a piece of land on the
other side of the fence in a foreclosure. However, the Butler County Recorder's
office claimed the deed to the parcel he still owns had a typo on it when a Cincinnati
attorney submitted it to them. Officials explained that one piece of property
has a parcel number that ends in 0033, while the one right next to it ends in
0032. All of this is fascinating, but the real issue here is a showdown in
which Clemons claims he was trying to get a motorcycle out of his yard and a
blue-collar thug threatened to rearrange his face. L and L owner Duane Grigsby
claimed that Clemons and his family harassed the crew and stood by the actions
of his workers…….
- That was awkward. Watching “Iron Man 3” obliterate the
competition the way Robert Downey Jr. has to so many villains in the course of
the superhero franchise he now anchors was a bit uncomfortable to the point of
feeling bad for every other movie at the local multiplex. The third installment
in the franchise banked $175.3 million in its opening weekend, nearly matching
its $200 million budget with its domestic earnings alone. It is the
second-highest opening-weekend total ever and was more than enough to trounce
last week’s box office champ, “Pain and Gain,” which dropped to second. The
Mark Wahlberg-led project brought in $7.6 million to up its two-week domestic
tally to $33.9 million. “42” claimed third place with $6.2 million and after
four weeks, its overall haul stands at $78.3 million. Fourth place went to
“Oblivion,” which mediocre-ed its way along with a total of $5.8 million and
has earned $75.9 million in three weeks. “The Croods” rated as the top family
film in fifth place on the strength of a $4.2 million weekend and has made
$168.7 million through seven weeks – or $6.6 million less than “Iron Man 3”
made in one weekend. “The Big Wedding” continued its disappointing run by fading
to sixth place and has managed a mere $14.2 million in its first two weeks of
release. “Mud” landed in seventh place despite remaining in limited release,
slopping its way to $2.2 million for an overall bank roll of $5.1 million. “Oz
The Great and Powerful” actually rose five spots to return to the top 10,
churning out $1.8 million to give it $228.6 million after nine weeks. In ninth
place was “Scary Movie 5” with $1.4 million, good for a four-week haul of $29.6
million. “The Place Beyond the Pines” completed the top 10 by making $1.3
million and has brought in $18.7 million and counting so far. “G.I. Joe:
RetaliatioN” (No. 11), “Olympus Has Fallen” (No. 12) and “Jurassic Park 3D”
(No. 13) all dropped out from last weekend’s top 10……
- So…..this week should be fun in the German city of Munich.
Fun, of course, is a relative term, but anyone who enjoys the trial of a woman dubbed the
"Nazi Bride” should enjoy what’s ahead. Beate Zschaepe is allegedly the
sole surviving member of the National Socialist Underground, a neo-Nazi
terror cell accused of a seven-year racist killing spree, and has in
many ways become the face of right-wing militancy in Germany. Her trial began
Monday on charges of complicity in the murder of eight ethnic Turks, a Greek
and a policewoman, two bombings and 15 bank robberies. Zschaepe is
accused of being not only the ride-along girlfriend of the far-right group’s
leader, but the person who gave the terror cell "the appearance of
legality and normalcy towards the outside,” according to German federal
prosecutor Wolfgang Range. "I am convinced that she wasn't just an
accessory or merely a companion, but was in fact acting on the same level as
the others,” Range said. The prosecutor described Zschaepe as a "unified
killing commando" responsible for a series of execution-style
murders. Her case is projected to be the most in-depth examination to date of
the growing role that women are playing in the neo-Nazi scene. Statistics show
that nearly 20 percent of executives in Germany's extremist NPD party are women,
a much higher number than in many smaller mainstream parties. As many as 40 far-right
women's organizations alone have reportedly been established since 2000, giving
German women a chance to show that like their male counterparts, they too are
über- violent and fully politically motivated in their actions. German
government's domestic intelligence agency estimates that there are more than
22,000 active members in the country's right-wing scene, including 9,800
violent extremists, but has not pegged the number of women in those groups. Zschaepe
has kept quiet since her arrest, but with a trial expected to last a year or
more, she will have plenty of chances to speak. She turned herself in to police
in November 2011, shortly after two accomplices committed suicide. Germany’s intelligence
community has been vilified for failing to detect the group and focusing too
much on left-wing extremism and Islamists instead. Extremists, it seems, are on
both ends of the political continuum……
- It’s Gus
Bradley’s first year as an NFL head coach, so maybe he can be excused on this
one on account of his naïveté. The first-year Jacksonville Jaguars coach
inherits a team that tied for the worst record in the league last season at
2-14 and needs both its new players and its returning ones to play well above
their talent level in order to turn things around in 2013. One of those players
is troubled wide receiver Justin Blackmon, who was suspended last week by the
NFL for the first four games of the coming season for violating the NFL's
substance-abuse policy. The league dropped a four-game ban on Blackmon after his
second violation in less than a year, which would seem to point to him having
status as a full-fledged addict or junkie because he’s one season into his NFL
career and he’s already n the verge of wrecking it (and his franchise along
with it) because he can’t put down the bong and sober up. However, both Bradley
and Jacksonville general manager Dave Caldwell say they stand behind Blackmon
and believe he will turn his life and career around. "I told Justin I do
trust him," Bradley said. We both have to earn each other's trust, and I
don't want trust to be mistaken for being naive." Sadly, that’s an
incredibly naïve statement to make and Bradley might just been looking through
rose-tinted glasses and hoping for the best from a talented-yet-troubled athlete
who led his team in catches as a rookie last season. Bradley admitted he has
had "six or seven" conversations with Blackmon since the league
alerted the team and player of the ban and insisted that Blackmon “understands
we're disappointed in what took place.” Blackmon hasn’t exactly owned his
actions, apologizing only in a written statement after his suspension was
handed down. He’s going to have a tough time matching his totals of 64 receptions
for 865 yards and five touchdowns as a rookie while playing in a maximum of 12
games this season………..
- In the world of cheap, low-end computers, Acer is a busy
bee. The bargain basement tech company is always hard at work with all manner
of chintzy machinery and is at it once again. Acer is adding a new line of Windows 8 based Aspire R7 laptops to its
hardware lineup, on the heels of a week where it introduced a new Aconia A1
line of ultra low-cost Android tablets and “accidentally” announced the first
8-inch Windows 8 tablet. Acer’s new addition, the Aspire R7, is interesting in
a sense because while it’s a lightweight in the tech world overall, it is also a
new kind of laptop-tablet hybrid, relying on Ezel technology to transfer the
screen back and forth for either keyboard or touchscreen input. It also endeavors
to present a different take on the Windows 8 hybrid theory, in contrast to Microsoft’s
own Surface Pro, which is more of a tablet than a PC. Before introducing the Aspire
R7, Acer showed why it’s on the lowest rung of the tech ladder by f-ing up and
letting slip another Windows 8-based product. Amazon was also involved,
accidentally posting an early listing for Acer’s new Windows 8 based tablet,
the first 8-inch tablet from any vendor to run the Windows 8 operating system.
Microsoft probably wanted to be the first to make such an announcement, but
Amazon incompetence allowed Acer to beat it to the punch. Acer is also battling
in the Android tablet arena and has introduced the Aconia A1 in a bid to scrape
new depths in terms of price and quality. The result is a $169 tablet that
costs little and does less. The company’s idea of expensive seems to be the Aspire
R7 touchscreen laptop, which is projected to cost around $1,000…….
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