- Another day, another German labor dispute fail. With a
poorly structured two-day walkout by train drivers at Germany's national
railway coming to an end Monday having accomplished virtually nothing, it’s
time for the next angry group of everymen to take their short-term stand and
endure a couple days of indifference from their employers before getting back
to work. The next strikers in line belong to a union representing Lufthansa's
pilots and that union has announced a new 35-hour strike against the airline's
short-haul fleet starting Monday, the latest in a string of walkouts over
retirement benefits. The Vereinigung Cockpit union is taking direct aim at
Lufthansa's Airbus A320, Boeing 737 and Embraer fleet, even if it is using that
aim to fire off a weak water pistol of anti-establishment outrage in a work
stoppage that began at noon Monday and will end at midnight local time Tuesday.
It’s not as if Lufthansa can’t work around a strike it knows is coming and put
up with less than a day and a half without some of its workers, so the effects
of the strike shouldn’t exactly be crippling. When it ends, the two sides will
still be fighting over the pilots' demand that Lufthansa keep paying a
transition payment for those wanting to retire early. The airline is trying to
fend off increased competition from budget airlines and major Gulf carriers and
it is insistent on cutting those payments. Maybe the two sides can save some
time, find a number that both of them hate equally and bring this futile labor
dance to an early end………
- Gregg Popovich
is the best. He’s the best coach in the NBA and he’s easily the league’s best
bitterman, routinely unleashing his own special brand of surly on the
Association. The regular season hasn’t even started yet and this hoops icon is
in prime form courtesy of what he perceived as insulting remarks made by
Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver. Sarver took issue with Popovich and his San
Antonio Spurs not sending the bulk of their roster and their head coach to
Thursday night's exhibition game between the Spurs and Suns in Phoenix and
grabbed the microphone before the game to apologize to the fans for the
disappointing game they were about to see. "This is not the game you paid
your hard-earned money to watch," Sarver told the crowd. "I apologize
for it. And I want you to send me your tickets if you came tonight with a
return envelope and I've got a gift for you on behalf of the Suns for showing
up tonight. Thank you." Under the direction of their coach, Popovich, the
Spurs were without Kawhi Leonard (eye infection), Tiago Splitter (calf) and
Patty Mills (rotator cuff) due to injury, and Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili
remained home to rest, continuing a long-standing trend of Popovich giving
players time off during the season because that’s how he chooses to keep his
team fresh for the playoffs, for which they inevitably qualify. Sarver didn’t
mention anyone by name or even single out the Spurs in his remarks, but
Popovich knew exactly who he was talking about. "The only thing that surprises
me is that he didn't say it in a chicken suit. I'll just leave it at
that," Popovich deadpanned. “As I said, the silliness begins. Most wise
individuals would check facts before they made statements; unless you're
interested in putting on a show. In that case, the facts get in your way, as in
this case." And so another year of Pop magic begins………
- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! In New Hampshire? Not normally
known as a hotbed of rage and rioting goodness, the Granite State brought the
ire over the weekend at the rager more commonly known as the 24th-annual
Pumpkin Festival in the sleepy hamlet of Keene. The pungent scents of tear gas
and pepper spray hung in the air as police worked to disperse an angry mob that
may or may not have been fueled by massive quantities of cheap alcohol and
general stupidity. "State and local public safety officials are on the
scene and have been working closely together to defuse the situation,"
Gov. Maggie Hassan said a statement. "We will continue to monitor the
situation and provide any assistance necessary to Keene." What the
governor underplayed in her statement is the true gravitas of the scene, which
featured out-of-control bonfires on city streets with beer and liquor bottles
strewn about. Not surprisingly, students from the glorified 13th grade that is
the local small-town college were at the heart of this thriving machine of
malice. "I am saddened and disheartened at the events surrounding this
year's Keene Pumpkin Festival," Keene State College President Anne Huot
said. "Despite the concerted efforts of organizers, city officials,
police, and Keene State College, there continued to be disruptive behavior at
parties in multiple locations around the city, injuries, and property
damage." Despite the best efforts of the school, the city and police? How
about BECAUSE of the efforts of a handful of drunken lunatics? Hout claimed
some outside the community had billed the event "as a destination for
destructive and raucous behavior." And the problem is? Without that unruly
behavior, it’s just a bunch of people in a small town carving pumpkins,
suffering through boring hayrides and hoping someone has the decency to spike
the cider. Reports of people being pelted with Jack Daniels bottles and
screaming expletives at the police are exactly what a lame local festival
needs, not setting a snooze-inducing record for the most lit jack-o'-lanterns,
which is what the festival accomplished last year……….
- “Fury” brought the battle to the box office and won the
fight with a debut of $23.5 million to edge out the rest of the field and win
the earnings race. Brad Pitt’s latest toppled last weekend’s earnings champ,
“Gone Girl,” which slid one spot to second with $17.8 million and has banked an
impressive $107.1 million in three weeks of release. “The Book of Life” had a
modest debut, finishing third with $17 million against a $50 million budget. It
edged past “Alexander
and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,” which stepped back one spot
to fourth place with a $12 million weekend that left the latest Steve Carrell
comedy with $36.8 million in domestic earnings in its first two weeks of
release. The third new movie in the top five was “The Best of Me,” which didn’t
turn in its best performance but amassed $10.2 million to put it nearly halfway
toward making back its pedestrian $26 million budget. “Dracula Untold”
continued to not connect with movie fans, plummeting four spots as its earnings
fell 58 percent to $9.8 million, giving the horror flick $40.7 million through
two weeks. “The Judge” has likewise been disappointing, falling to seventh,
making $7.9 million and holding a scant $27 million in domestic earnings in its
first two weeks. Eighth place went to “Annabelle,” which fell significantly in
its third week and yet continues to be immensely profitable thanks to a $6.5
million budget. With another $7.8 million, it has raked in $74.1 million in
three impressive weeks. “The Equalizer” secured ninth place with $5.5 million
to boost its four-week domestic haul to $89.2 million. The final top 10 spot
went to “The Maze Runner,” which ran just fast enough to hang on with $4.5
million to make its cumulative domestic total $90.8 million in five weeks. “Addicted”
(No. 11) and “The Boxtrolls” (No. 12) both fell out of the top 10 from last
weekend………
No comments:
Post a Comment