- Three years after ousting President Hosni Mubarak,
how far has Egypt come? Not far. If anything, the troubled north African nation
has taken two giant steps backward in its journey as a country. For evidence of
that, look no further than the 20 people who died and more than 100 who were
wounded as blasts and protests rocked Cairo late last week on the eve of
the third anniversary of the uprising that pushed Mubarak from power. The day
of festivities kicked off when a truck bomb exploded shortly after sunrise as
it tried to get into police headquarters in the Egyptian capital. The incident
produced the first five deaths and 76 injuries of the day as onlookers screamed
curses at the assailants and several police officers sat on the sidewalk with
tears in their eyes. A body lay on the ground, covered by a sheet and state
television quoted witnesses as saying that gunmen opened fire on buildings
after the blast. Both the police headquarters building and nearby
19th-century Museum of Islamic Art were heavily damaged by the blast. More
incendiary antics were forthcoming, as a second explosion near a subway station
rocked Cairo while smoke from the first blast was still wafting over downtown.
A Ministry of Health spokesperson confirmed that one person died and another
four were wounded in the second explosion and local media reported a third
explosion from an improvised explosive device next to a police station near the
Pyramids district of Giza on the outskirts of Cairo. Amazingly, those
three blasts were not the end of the day’s drama. The health ministry reported
that 14 people later died in fierce clashes that later broke out between
thousands of supporters of deposed Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and
Egyptian security forces. In a fitting display on such a hostile day, rioters
hurled Molotov cocktails at the police and officers responded with tear gas
canisters. The militant group Ansar Beit al Maqdis released a statement
claiming responsibility for the near-simultaneous bombings…….
- Manny Pacquiao is either extremely desperate or incredibly
clueless on financial matters. Regardless, his latest half-baked idea is his
worst yet and it doesn’t deserve to be taken seriously by anyone inside or
outside his camp. The Filipino congressman and former eight-division world boxing
champion has shown signs of slowing down of late, suffering two losses in his
past four fights and taking a tumble from the top of the ranks in the process.
Along the way, the idea of the fight that everyone wanted to see – Pacquiao
against self-proclaimed pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. – went by the
wayside because the Pac-Man was no longer who he used to be. Mayweather still
hasn’t lost and perhaps inspired by a win in his most recent fight, Pacquiao
has cooked up an idea that is equal parts desperation and idiocy. He suggested
that the megafight between he and Mayweather could still happen and went so far
as to challenge Mayweather to fight him for free, suggesting that the two
donate all revenue generated from the bout to charity. In a sport with a long
history of bizarre proclamations and bombastic challenges, it was one of the
oddest offers ever made. It also made no sense as Mayweather Jr.
earned a guaranteed $41.5 million in his last bout, a dominating majority
decision over Canelo Alvarez, and doesn’t get out of bed in the morning unless
there’s a suitcase of $100 bills waiting for him. As much as the offer made no
sense for Mayweather, it made even less for Pacquiao. He is accused of owing
tens of millions of dollars in back taxes and the last thing he can afford to
do is throw away the one thing he could do for major cash by performing for
free. At worst, he could accept a the short end of a 65-35 split and hope
Mayweather bit on that deal. When asked about the offer, Mayweather wasn’t
biting. "I offered Manny Pacquiao the fight before," Mayweather said.
"We didn't see eye to eye on terms. Years later we come back and I try and
make the fight happen again,” Mayweather said. “All of a sudden, he loses to
Timothy Bradley, he loses to Marquez … he has tax problems now. All of a sudden
want to say: 'You know what? I'd do anything to make the fight happen,' when
he's really saying: 'Floyd, can you help me solve my tax problems, get me out
of debt?'" In other words, no thanks………
- Polar bears: Helpless victims of climate change or
recipients of far too much sympathy from bleeding-heart liberals? Before
answering that question, take a gander at a few new studies led by Linda Gormezano,
a biologist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. These
studies depict the Arctic’s greatest predator as capable of adapting better
than previously thought to climate change specifically in terms of modifying
its diet. Gormezano’s research indicated that polar bears are turning to other
sources of sustenance in times when seals, its preferred prey, are in scarce
supply. Hungry polar bears have turned to snow geese, caribou, grass seeds and
berries to fill their empty stomachs. "What our results suggest is that
polar bears have flexible foraging strategies," Gormezano said. Shrinking
Arctic ice and other repercussions of global warming have reduced the area
available for polar bears to prowl in search of seals, so a willingness to
expand their diet could be vital for the predators moving forward. Besides, a
hungry human will eat damn near anything – even McDonald’s or Taco Bell – if there
is nothing else available, so why should polar bears be any different. Another
study of polar bears’ diets examined polar bear poop and found that the animals
conserve energy by eating what’s right around them. That same study showed as
many as six different food types in a sample of sh*t, so give polar bears
credit for having culinary versatility. There was one small caveat, as some
bears with wayward gastrointestinal leanings were found to chow down on
less-nourishing items like the seats of snowmobiles, lead acid batteries or
even the hydraulic fluid drained from a forklift. But hell, there will always
be a few deviants………
- Maintaining perspective is vital in life regardless of
one’s station or socioeconomic status. Keeping successes and adversity in their
proper ratio and not overreacting to difficult, but not devastating,
circumstances helps make for a well-rounded and non-douche baggy person. San
Francisco venture
capitalist Tom Perkins needs to learn (or re-learn) this lesson because his
ass-hatted and insipid claim that liberals' push to reduce inequality in the
United States is just like Nazi Germany's war on Jews reeks of a massive
persecution complex and lack of cultural intelligence. Yes, someone else has
dared to equate a current, non-life-threatening non-crisis to the horrors
suffered by the Jews at the hands of Adolf Hitler and his henchmen and the
comparison in this misstep is likening an attempt to reduce that absurd gap
between the über-wealth and the poor to the so-called “Kristallnacht,” when
Nazis and their supporters spend a night trashing the homes and businesses of
German Jews, setting buildings on fire and brutalizing anyone who stood in
their way. It was the unofficial kickoff of the Nazis’ reign of terror and
according to Perkins, a founding member of Kleiner Perkins Caufield &
Byers, a “progressive Kristallnacht” could be imminent. In a letter to the
editor published in The Wall Street Journal, Perkins moronically responds to an
editorial on speech codes at American colleges by ranting about a totally
unrelated issue. “Writing from the epicenter of progressive thought, San
Francisco, I would call attention to the parallels of fascist Nazi Germany to
its war on its "one percent," namely its Jews, to the progressive war
on the American one percent, namely the rich," Perkins wrote. First, bonus
points for unilaterally declaring your city to be the epicenter of progressive
thought. Second, more bonus points for trying to in any way compare
billionaires with luxurious lifestyles to a group of persecuted people who had
their entire lives ripped from them before they were murdered in concentration
camps in the most inhumane conditions possible. The only real regret here is
that Perkins couldn’t also work any rape or slavery references into his
manifesto……..
- A truly uninspired weekend at the box office with no major
new films arriving at the local multiplex left a top 10 virtually unchanged
from one week ago, topped by the Ice Cube-Kevin Hart buddy comedy “Ride Along.”
In its second week of release, the film added $21.2 million to its earnings and
had banked $75.4 million in domestic earnings so far. “Lone Survivor” remained
in second place with $12.6 million, giving it a five-week haul of $93.6 million
and counting. In third place for a second straight weekend was “The Nut Job,”
which amassed $12.3 million for the frame and has earned $40.2 million overall.
“Frozen” and “Jack
Ryan: Shadow Recruit” swapped spots, with “Frozen” jumping one spot to fourth
with $9 million and “Jack Ryan” dropping down to fifth with $8.8 million. The
two movies have made $347.8 million and $30.1 million, respectively. The lone
new film to crack the top 10 was “I, Frankenstein,” which had a dud-tastic $8.3
million outing against the backdrop of a $65 million budget to rank sixth.
“American Hustle” was next in seventh place, adding $7.1 million to its
bankroll for an overall domestic tally of $127 million in seven weeks. “August:
Osage County” remained in eighth place with a $5.1 million effort and in five
weeks of limited release, the critical favorite has brought in $26.5 million. “The
Wolf of Wall Street” inched closer to the $100 million mark with $5 million and
is up to $98.1 million in its first five weeks. “Devil’s Due” slipped three
places but hung on to the final spot in the top 10 with $2.7 million. In two
disappointing weeks, the demonic thriller has banked $12.9 million. “Her” (No.
11) was the lone movie to lose its spot in the top 10 from last weekend………
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