- Let the legal festivities begin, Spain. A Spanish judge
has cleared the way for Princess Cristina, the sister of Spain's
king, to be tried on tax fraud charges as the next step in a landmark
investigation affecting the royal family. The hero in this case is Judge Jose
Castro, whose next move is to decide over the coming weeks whether to formally
indict the princess. The investigative judge may not be able to do so because the
state prosecutor and tax authorities say there is no basis for tax fraud
charges against her, but the mere prospect of putting a member of the royal
family on trial is intriguing in and of itself. Cristina’s lawyers argued that
Spain's Supreme Court has ruled that people can't be tried on tax charges if
neither the prosecutor nor tax authorities present charges, but that legal
argument did not dissuade the Palma de Mallorca court. In making its decision,
the court rejected appeals against the princess being listed as a suspect in a
corruption and embezzlement investigation centering on her husband, Inaki
Urdangarin. Castro noted that the princess is suspected of two counts of
cooperation in tax fraud, although he did drop a possible charge for
embezzlement against her. Urdangarin, who is suspected of embezzlement and
fraud, has also yet to be formally charged. Urdangarin’s alleged indiscretions
center on him using his Duke of Palma title to embezzle about 6 million euros
($8 million) in public contracts through the Noos Institute, a nonprofit
foundation he and a business partner set up to funnel money to other
businesses, including a company he owned with his wife. Not behavior becoming
of the sister of King Felipe VI………
- Musicians have a special bond with their instruments. The
best of the best tend to be even more particular about their axe, drums, bass,
keyboard or brass. Legendary Queen guitarist Brian May is no exception and when
he boarded a British
Airways flight from London to Los Angeles, there was no way he was going to
allow his beloved electric guitar to fall into the bumbling hands of the
airline’s baggage handlers. May, rolling deep with cash and in his affection
for his instrument, elected to pony up $15,000 for an extra first-class seat
for his guitar and traveled with the instrument by his side rather than
allowing it to linger with the golf clubs, overstuffed Samsonites and pet
carriers in the luggage hold underneath the plane. May built the guitar, known
as The Red Special, at his father's workshop 40 years ago and it has been a
staple of Queen's music ever since. A member of May’s entourage and the guitar
were bumped to first class prior to the flight and when it became clear that he
was one of those travelers trying to jam a too-large item into the overhead
compartment and holding up his fellow travelers like an a-hole, May bought the
extra seat for the guitar. The trip to the U.S. isn't a long one and before
long, May will dishonor both his axe and his legacy when he and his band
reunite with former “American Karaoke” contestant Adam Lambert for a series of
shows in the United Kingdom. The two sides announced the mini-tour in September,
with seven gigs starting in Newcastle on Jan. 13 and ending in Nottingham on
Jan. 24, with stops in Glasgow, London, Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham in
between………
- Somewhere in Delaware is a 15-year-old boy who will a) be
a legend among his friends for a long time and b) may have some emotional and
psychological baggage to go with his hero status. On the one hand, that boy
will be celebrated among his teenage friends because he hooked up with an NFL
cheerleader, fulfilling the pipe dreams of thousands of other teenage dudes
across the United States in the process. At the same time, having that sort of
extended sexual relationship with 47-year-old
Molly Shattuck, who was indicted on rape and unlawful sexual contact
charges in Delaware stemming from several alleged incidents involving underage
boys and alcohol, could be a bit much for the brain of a 15-year-old boy to process.
As much as the boy’s friends may want to high-five him, odds are that
Shattuck’s friends are not so eager to congratulate her for cheating on her
ex-husband, a prominent energy executive, with some high school kid. The
indictment alleges that Shattuck provided alcohol to three boys under
the legal drinking age on Aug. 30 and Aug. 31 and after a couple days of booze
and the chicanery that comes with combining alcohol and underage drinkers, the
alleged sexual contact with the boy in question occurred on or about Aug. 31.
Shattuck once made headlines for being the oldest cheerleader for an NFL team,
but any pride she took in looking good enough to twirl pom-poms on the sideline
in skimpy outfits so grown men in replica jerseys could ogle her has to pale in
comparison to what she’s feeling right about now. She’s a national punch line,
she’s been forced to resign her position on the board of a local arts high
school and she’s staring down prison time and the joys of being a sex offender
in prison………
- Maybe it was wrong to say that professional golf was about
to fade into months of irrelevance and the snippy social media exchange between
English star Ian Poulter and now-former PGA of America president Ted Bishop a couple weeks back was merely
extending the sport’s time in the spotlight by a few days. Clearly, the players
of the PGA Tour still have something left in the tank for 2014 and are
determined to end their season on a high note. Take Patrick Reed, for example.
Reed caught some heat for brashly pressing his finger to his lips in Scotland
to quiet the Ryder Cup crowd in the midst of yet another European ass-kicking
of the United States, but he chased that ridiculous display with an even better
one at the HSBC Champions, where he dropped several profanities and a nice gay
slur on live television for the ones and ones of people actually watching the
HSBC Champions. The incident came during the 10th hole of the opening round at
Sheshan International after Reed missed a 5-foot putt. Microphones picked him
up using the F-word twice and capping it off with a gay slur in a fit of rage
over his three-putt bogey. It was so obvious that Golf Channel analyst Frank
Nobilo immediately apologized to viewers and after the round, Reed pretended to
have forgotten what he said until someone brought it to his attention. When he
did and after he had a day to process, Reed issued a fairly bland apology that
didn’t do much to make anyone forget what happened. “I made a stupid
error," Reed said. "Sorry for definitely the words that I said and
everything that went on. Never should have happened. Unfortunately, it happened
to me, and all I can do is just learn from it and move on, hopefully continue
playing well and keep giving fans something to watch." Reed said he sought
counsel from Bubba Watson, who was caught on camera using the F-word in the
second round of the U.S. PGA Championship in August, and will try to move on
from the incident as Watson has done………
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