- The corruption is spreading and the fun is only beginning
in Turkey, where the government has ordered 11 more police officers formally
arrested and jailed pending trial for allegedly illegally wiretapping Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other officials. Turkey's state-run news
agency delivered that not-so-stunning news Wednesday, when the officers were
jailed and raised the number of
officers formally detained for illegal wiretaps to 31. An Istanbul court
green-lit the move after the officers were among dozens policemen detained on
July 22 in raids on their homes. According to the self-serving, oppressive
government, the officers are associated with a moderate Islamic movement led by
a U.S.-based cleric, which it accuses of attempting to topple the government.
That sounds über-paranoid and it is, but the government is spinning quite a
yarn this time. It has pointed the finger at the supposed movement as part of a
corruption probe against four former government ministers and a series of
leaked recordings suggesting corruption by Erdogan and family members. For the
record, the cleric accused of being one of the masterminds for the movement, Fethullah
Gulen, has denied any involvement. His innocence or guilt is of little
consequence here, of course, but it does add another interesting twist to this
shady story……..
- Color me stunned. Chad Channing is that guy, the one who was a part
of a band that later became world famous, but only after he was long gone. Channing
hit the high hats for Nirvana before they were NIRVANA, the face of what was
lamely labeled the grunge movement. Channing laid down the beats in the band’s
early days while Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic sang and strummed. Channing
contributed to Nirvana's debut album “Bleach” and also laid down parts for the
song “Polly” on the band's second album “Nevermind” before his departure from
the band in 1990, when he gave way to Dave Grohl. Grohl is the only drummer
most late comers to the grunge party think of when they think of Nirvana, but
he has since moved on to frontman status for one of the biggest bands in the
world. With Grohl fronting Foo Fighters and Novoselic rambling around the music
scene with little constant direction, Channing was asked if he would be up for
reuniting with the surviving members of his old band. He took all of five
second to say that he could definitely envision playing with Grohl and
Novoselic at some point in future. "Yeah, if they wanted me to. It'd maybe
be something like Dave playing guitar and singing and Krist doing bass. That'd
be about the only arrangement I could think of that we cold pull off,” Channing
said. He insisted that he was fine with not being with Grohl and Novoselic when
Nirvana were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame with Nirvana earlier
this year. "I'm fine about it actually. I've always sort of felt that for
me, everything's so much more about the music than the accolades,” Channing
added………
- It’s about damn time there was something worth listening
to on the radio. Enter Charles Ramsey,
the Cleveland man whose colorful, flat-out awesome interview with a local
television station after discovering and rescuing Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus
and Michelle Knight from the house where they had been imprisoned for more than
a decade. Ramsey is the one who met Berry after she escaped and is credited
with helping Amanda Berry kick in the front door of Ariel Castro's house. "I'm
never going to get it in my head that my next door neighbor was that sinister
and yet so humble. It doesn't go together," Ramsey said at the time. He
then brought the interview to a screeching, epic halt when he told the reporter
than he knew something was wrong when he saw Berry because any time a cute
white woman is running into the arms of a black man, something is amiss. Based
on a single interview, Ramsey found himself a ghost writer and penned a book
sharing his story with the world while simultaneously cashing in on three yougn
women having their lives ruined and their souls tortured for the rest of their
existence. The book was titled “Dead Giveaway” and it dropped this spring. The
book, it turns out, was merely a prelude to bigger and better things for
Ramsey. He now has his own radio show and will be the newest voice on the air
for the Rogue Radio Network, based in the Cleveland suburb of Strongsville. It
should be an interesting show because at a minimum, it will test the limits of
how far a man with a very limited repertoire and what appears to be little
intellectual skill can take his 15 minutes of fame………
- The Philadelphia
76ers have a plan…and the NBA is about to take a wrecking ball to it. Of
course, it’s difficult to feel bad about taking a wrecking ball to a team that
is already a smoldering dumpster fire of awfulness, but even a squad that went
19-63 last season isn’t immune to having its rebuilding plans destroyed. In
particular, the NBA is moving toward changes to the draft lottery system by
next season in order to discourage teams such as the 76ers from taking seasons
to maximize their chances at getting the top pick in the draft. Lottery-reform
measures were introduced earlier this month at league meetings in Las Vegas and
the league’s Board of Governors could vote changes into place as soon as its preseason
meeting in October. Currently, the team with the worst record has a 25 percent
chance of landing the top pick and the team with the fifth-worst record has an
8.8 percent chance of winning it. Under the new proposal, the top five or six
teams would have an equal chance and therefore, less incentive to be awful on
purpose. Another, more radical idea is one that would see all 14 teams have a
relatively similar chance at the no. 1 pick. Because the NBA refuses to admit
that tanking happens or even exists, no one from the league is going to label
the proposed changes as anti-tanking measures, but that’s exactly what they
are…and the 76ers’ management isn't happy. The team is in the midst of a multi-season
rebuilding project and after top-five picks each of the last two seasons, the
76ers feel they need one more year of sucking and possibly earning the top pick
in order to get where they want to be. It’s a bold and unapologetically
insulting plan to ask fans to fiscally support a team that is broadcasting its
intentions to lose for a third straight season and thankfully, it has little
chance of working. Lobbying NBA commissioner Adam Silver to put off the lottery
changes for another year just for one awful team is ridiculous on so many
levels. What a way to honor Philadelphia’s proud basketball history………..
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