- Kooks: They’re everywhere and sometimes, they walk into
your neighborhood bar with an exotic animal on a leash. In the Chicago suburb
of Lockport, Ill., John Basile is that kook and he’s now facing legal troubles because of
it. Basile recently walked into a bar with a real tiger cub and violated the
law in the process. Basile and his cute, fluffy tiger cub strolled into Uncle
Richie's Bar in Lockport and it wasn’t the first time the duo had visited the
particular establishment. Police were not amused by the scene and have filed
charges against Basile from disorderly conduct to possession of a dangerous
animal for the latest incident. "My concern was really for the people who
frequent the downtown area," Lockport Police Chief Terry Lemming said. All
of the charges are misdemeanors, but Basile seems to believe that his
familiarity with exotic animals somehow makes him immune from the law. He has
handed such creatures for 25 years, he says on his website for the animal
rescue he runs. The rescue organization, called Big Run Wolf Ranch, is
allegedly federally licensed. Sadly, even having that license would not extend
Basile’s rights to the streets of Lockport, where he took his tiger cub for a
walk the same day he visited the bar. Some bystanders pointed and fawned over
the animal as it passed over the Ninth Street Bridge, but not everyone was a
fan. The cub reportedly bit a patron during a visit to Uncle Richie’s Bar. The
alleged victim approached police while they were looking into possible charges
against Basile. Either this fool is living in denial or he’s like the parent
whose child is an out-of-control hellion yet is always bailed out because mom
or dad makes excuses for their boorish behavior. The difference in this case is
that there is a dangerous, wild animal involved instead of a child…….
- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! The rage was real at a border
crossing in Spain's
northwest African enclave of Melilla as more than 200 sub-Saharan African
migrants brandishing bottles, sticks and stones stormed into the area from
neighboring Morocco. A statement from the Spanish Interior Ministry's Melilla
office claimed Friday’s storming was the second in a week and led to the injury
of one police officer, who was apparently struck by a migrant on the head with
a stick in the pre-dawn melee. The clashes are common in the area, with an
estimated 25,000 sub-Saharan Africans living illegally in Morocco, most hoping
to make their way to Europe for what they hope will be a better life. This
particular clash involved some 300 migrants attempting to cross the 20-foot-high
double barbed wire border fence, with 214 managing to get in. Thousands of
migrants attempt to enter the city each year, looking to push their way into
municipality on the Mediterranean Sea, or Spain's other coastal enclave, Ceuta.
A nice slice of karma befell at least 15 migrants who attempted to enter Ceuta
illegally by sea on Feb. 6, so maybe this particular group of angry Africans
learned from that incident and decided to take their chances with the crudest
and most available weapons they could find. The Melilla facility now has 1,300
migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, and is some 800 inhabitants over its
intended capacity. Those who manage to cross into the enclaves are normally
placed in temporary centers while authorities try to repatriate them. In recent
months, Moroccan authorities have worked to clear forest areas around the
enclaves, moving migrants to cities far from the border. Sounds like its time
to start running some serious current through the fences around Melilla and
Ceuta………
- Never, ever underestimate the passion that is WAC
basketball. That goes for everyone, but especially for the fans and players
involved in the massive, arena-encompassing brawl after Thursday night’s game
between Utah Valley and New Mexico State. The sh*t hit the fan when New Mexico State guard K.C.
Ross-Miller hurled the ball at Utah Valley's Holton Hunsaker seconds after the
Wolverines' 66-61 overtime victory against the Aggies, with Utah Valley fans
already on the court to celebrate their team’s big win. Ross-Miller picked up
the ball at midcourt and hurled it at Hunsaker -- the son of Utah Valley coach
Dick Hunsaker -- from close range, hitting him in the leg. New Mexico State
guard DK Eldridge quickly thrust himself into the center of the melee before
New Mexico State coaches dragged him away and order was restored. "It was
a very heated, emotional game, and if any of my guys did anything that was out
of line, they will be punished to the 10th degree," New Mexico State coach
Marvin Menzies said after the game. "That may affect wins and losses, but
they need to learn some life lessons after something like that. That is not
going to happen in my program, and it's just embarrassing." Menzies
admitted immediately after the game that he didn’t not what happened, but
apologized for Ross-Miller’s actions while also suggesting that Hunsaker is a
“chippy” player who may have said something to insight the ball toss. The fans
being involved in the brawl will undoubtedly re-ignite the never-ending debate
over whether schools and conferences should ban court-storming because of the
dangers it creates for all parties involved. Maybe this is just an example of
the co-leaders in a middling, mid-major conference having so much pride and passion
for being the 100th-best team in America that they cannot contain themselves
after a heated battle. More of these incidents in future matchups and there’s a
solid chance for New Mexico State-Utah Valley to become an all-time college
basketball rivalry along the lines of Duke-North Carolina, Syracuse-Georgetown
and the like………
- Way to put down the Little Debbie snack cakes and limit
yourselves to one fun size bag of Cheetohs, children ages 2 to 5. According to Cynthia
L. Ogden, a researcher for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, childhood
obesity in children in this age bracket plummeted 43 percent in the past
decade, which is noteworthy because it might be the first time and demographic
in the United States saw its obesity rates drop that much for any period of
time. “This is the first time we’ve seen any indication of any significant
decrease in any group,” Ogden said. She also noted that although the number of
obese children in that age range has gone down, the numbers for every other age
range stayed the same or rose. It poses the obvious question of what other age
groups can learn from people too young to choose their own food and too
clueless to understand what eating healthy even means. Perhaps all American
need to surrender the power over their food choices to a grown-up who can force
them to eat apple slices and yogurt and drink juice boxes for every meal.
Ogden, the study’s lead author, noted in her findings that there is no
consensus on what caused the decrease in childhood obesity in that age range,
but posited that a rise in breast-feeding among women and an average decrease
in calorie consumption among children might have played a role. “We continue to
see signs that, for some children in this country, the scales are tipping,” CDC
Director Tom Frieden said, presumably with pun fully intended. Ogden played the
role of wet blanket by wrapping up her report with more bad news. "Overall,
there have been no significant changes in obesity prevalence in youth or adults
between 2003-2004 and 2011-2012. Obesity prevalence remains high and thus it is
important to continue surveillance," she wrote in her findings. Important,
but still a losing battle………
- Former LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy is out of the dance music
game. That didn’t stop Murphy from taking a run at the current crop of
“artists” who are cranking out the next generation of tunes that sound eerily
like what he and his bands sold millions of copies of during their run. During
an appearance at the by:Larm festival in Norway, Murphy cracked the commercial
side of new dance music as "repellent" and said he is not excited by
new music at all right now. That will likely change in April when he releases LCD
Soundsystem's final gig on vinyl for Record Store Day, but for now he’s extremely
disappointed in the drivel being cranked out and foisted on tweaker and ravers
around the world. "What I see in the commercial side of it I find repellent.
It makes me want to vomit,” Murphy said. “I’m old and it’s very maximalist and
I’m not a maximalist guy. I'm not excited about new stuff that much.” Give him
credit for admitting that he’s out of the age bracket such music is aimed at
and knowing that these techno-driven tunes are “not designed for me.” He went
on to share a bizarre world view in which he hopes there are a couple of DJ’s
working in some small club or room in an unknown city, doing great work that he
will never hear and he won’t know about these heroes of the turntables until
they strike it big and “do a sh*tty sell out track and I never hear what’s
great about them.” Ironically, those same criticisms could be levied at LCD
Soundsystem, which performed its finals show on April 2, 2011 in New York City.
That gig was documented by the film Shut
Up And Play The Hits and on April 19, it will be released as a five-LP
set, with a wider vinyl and digital release set for May 19………
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