- Do you know who Run The Jewels are? If not, now would be a
good time to get acquainted with the rising rap duo because according to them,
they’re fighting The Man on your behalf and speaking out when the powers that
be tell them not to. Run The Jewels is Killer Mike and El-P and they plan to release their
new album, the unimaginatively titled “Run The Jewels 2,” next week and it is
the successor to their well-received 2012 debut project. To promote the album,
they’ve been popping up in places like Fox News and CNN under the guise of
discussing the ongoing riots and racial tensions in Ferguson, Mo. Maybe those
appearances whetted the duo’s appetite for political commentary because Killer
Mike is still talking about the ongoing climate in American politics and how
the new album connects with those issues. "Repping the sh*t that we rep and
the way that we do isn't grandiose because this is what rap is supposed to do.
We're being told to shut the fuck up on a national scale,” he said. “When we
were young, it was Broward County telling us to shut the f*ck up and now it's
the federal government… and this record says no." There is no word
on precisely who is telling he and his partner to shut the f*ck up, but the duo
say their inspiration comes from iconic Southern California rappers NWA. "They
said 'F*ck tha police.’ They wore black. They scared people,” Killer Mike
added. “But NWA said 'F*ck tha police' in a time where it was actually
thrilling... It was during a time where the police were beating the sh*t out of
me and I don't mean socially – I mean they caught me and beat my f*cking ass.” It’s
a nice story, but NWA these two certainly ain’t……..
- The Hippocratic oath means different things to different
people. To one Italian nurse, it appears to mean nothing at all, at least not
when patients or their families are getting on her nerves. Italian
police are investigating Daniela Poggiali, a nurse at Umberto I Hospital in
Lugo, in connection with a patient’s death. Poggiali was arrested over the
weekend in conjunction with the death of Rosa Calderoni, 78, who was found dead
in April with high levels of potassium in her bloodstream. But if you ask
prosecutors, this death may simply be the latest in a long string of suspicious
deaths that all trace back to Poggiali. The government belives the curiously
ineffective nurse may have killed 37 others because they or their relatives
annoyed her. Initially, she was charged only in Calderoni’s murder, but authorities
are now reviewing 37 other cases, 10 of which they describe as “very
suspicious.” On the surface, someone with a low tolerance for demanding people
or tense situations would seem like a poor fit for the nursing profession, so
perhaps someone along the course of Poggiali’s career should have taken note of
her attitude and suggested that she find a new direction for her life. Then, should
would not have (allegedly) killed nearly 40 patients who bothered her or had
demanding relatives. Then there is the sociopathic side of things, which comes
into play because pictures reportedly found on Poggiali’s phone showed her
giving a thumbs up next to a dead patient. In spite of the pictures, she has denied
wrongdoing in the deaths, claiming that she is a victim of a conspiracy
organized by her enemies. Spoken like a true nut job………
- Soccer, you are nothing if not dependable. Where the rest
of the world sees a bunch of mullet-wearing floppers running around a big
grassy field not kicking a black-and-white ball into massive goals guarded by a
single man, those locked in the sport’s kooky little world see a chance to riot
over something as innocuous as a drone flying over the stadium with a flag. Credit
to Serbia and Albania for this one, as they managed to bring ethnic tensions to
the pitch during a European Championship qualifying match and forced the
abandonment of a major international contest. The game was abandoned after 41
minutes following ugly clashes between both sets of players following the
arrival of a mini-drone, which flew over the stadium while carrying a flag
depicting the "Greater Albania." Serbian player Stefan Mitrovic
ripped the flag down, which may not have been the right move. Yes, the
"Greater Albania" insignia refers to the idea of an extended area in
which all ethnic Albanians reside -- one which would include Kosovo. Still,
ripping down any flag is a guaranteed reason to go and when the fighting on the
field and in the stands got out of hand, English referee Martin Atkinson took
the players off the field and brought the game to a scoreless end. UEFA, the
game's European governing body, confirmed the game’s termination and said both
nations would be disciplined for their actions after missiles and flares were
hurled onto the field and the visiting Albanian players fled for their lives. Fans
stormed the pitch in the mayhem and chaos reigned." The offending flag
featured images of Isa Boljetinac, an Albanian nationalist who led uprisings
against the Serbs and Ottomans in 1912 and 1913, and Ismail Qemali, is
considered to be the founder of the modern Albanian state, which became
independent in 1912. The icing on the offensive cake was the word
"Autochthonous," which refers to an indigenous inhabitant of a place,
and is considered an offense to Serbians. The two countries have an extremely
contentious history and this isn't going to help matters……….
- Government inefficiency is the best. The city of
Turlock, Calif. is ground zero for bureaucratic ineptitude and that was proven
over the past few months as the local government debated a ban on smoking in
public parks. Following months of tense and heated debate, the city council was
surprised to learn that it had already put a similar ban in place years ago. Under
the existing law, smoking on the street is acceptable but smoking inside any
city park is not allowed. The law was clearly forgotten and hasn’t been
enforced, but it came to light in August when a group of Girl Scouts asked the Turlock
City Council to ban smoking in parks to prevent secondhand smoke inhalation.
Had the scouts bribed the council with cookies, maybe they would have gotten
immediate action, but instead they had to wait it out as local lung dart lovers
fought back and council members dragged their feet like the wind-blown bureaucratic
buffoons they are. At some point in the process, a parks department employee
corrected everyone and let them know that the smoking ban they were so wary of
enacting was already in place. Turlock spokesperson Maryn Pitt said the
frequent turnover in the Parks and Recreation Department is likely to blame for
the law simply being forgotten. “We’ve had a great deal of turnover of our
managers when this policy, which was part of a comprehensive package, was
proposed,” Pitt said. There are signs around city parks about littering and
crime, but none about smoking. Perhaps now would be time to dip into the city
budget and find a few hundred dollars to remedy that……..
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