Monday, November 24, 2014

Yes means yes, Vlad Putin tells more lies and Olympic athletes must rise early


- After backup quarterback Colt McCoy led the Washington professional football team to an unexpected win earlier this season and a media member attempted an unauthorized on-field interview with him after the game, a Washington PR flack angrily screamed, “NO MEANS NO!” and quashed the interview before it began. The state of New Jersey is considering going to the other extreme when it comes to individuals getting together and sexing it up.  As a national debate bubbles up over the idea of  "yes means yes" — more accurately called affirmative consent — the Garden State is weighing a new measure to require college campuses to define when "yes means yes" in an effort to stop sexual assaults. Such policies aren't necessarily proven to stop rape, but colleges and universities across the United States are under pressure to do something, anything and everything they can to make any possible impact. California adopted a similar measure in August, New York is headed in that direction and New Hampshire is strongly considering the change. Supporters of such laws claim it will push students to talk openly and clearly about sex and will be more effective than the “no means no” mantra that has ruled in previous years. However, critics claim the “yes means yes” laws don’t offer sufficient protections for the accuser and accused alike. It could, they claim, shift the burden of proof unfairly to the accused and since breaking out the iPhone or calling a witness into the room pre-boot-knocking to have them witness your prospective partner’s consent is sometimes tough to pull off, all kind of headaches are possible. No one is denying that sexual assaults on campus are a growing problem, with reports of forcible sexual offenses on campus nationally rising from 3,443 in 2011 to 4,062 last year. What to do about it is the point where the various sides in the debate diverge……….


- This is going to seriously cut down on the late-night sexing for many athletes at the Olympic Village at the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. The village is typically a place where the allotment  of condoms is used up multiple times before the Games are even halfway over and where late-night boozing is as much of a sport as anything happening on the field, court or track, but enjoying the extracurricular activities will be much more difficult for at least a few competitors in Brazil in about 18 months. The International Association of Athletics Federations, the ruling body of world athletics, has announced plans to stage finals during the morning sessions of its program at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Morning finals have not been a part of the Summer Olympics since the 1988 Games in Seoul, and with good reason. For various reasons, many of them related to alcohol, sex and other late-night fun, the world’s elite athletes tend not to be at their best before noon. It’s why professional and international sporting events are almost never held before noon, but 13 events in Rio will have morning finals. The group that will suffer the most is runners, as eight of those morning finals will be track and field, including five on the road, with three walking races and the two marathons. One might argue that runners are crazy anyway and shouldn’t complain about waking up early anyhow, but it just seems like a d-bag move by the IAAF, which actually made an unrelated kind gesture during the same meeting when its executive council also decided to give provisional membership to the world’s newest nation, South Sudan……….


- Good news and bad news, Russia. You’re still ruled by a tyrannical fascist who likes shirtless horseback rides, stages photo ops with animals he didn’t actually kill and antagonizing the rest of the world by invading countries that don’t belong to him. Now, for the bad news. Vlad Putin isn't going away any time soon and worse still, he’s selling bullsh*t stories about how long he’s going to remain in power. In a canned interview with a Russian state news agency, the unofficial dictator said he won't remain Russia's president for life and will step down in line with the constitution no later than 2024. As Putin tells it, staying beyond his 72nd year on this planet would be "detrimental for the country and I don't need this.” My man, you didn’t need to rig the last election to ensure your official return to power after being in office from 2000-2008, sort of leaving for the next four years because you couldn’t run again but running the country through his puppet, Dmitry Medvedev, then getting bogusly elected in 2012 to a six-year term. That four-year stint as prime minister was a charade and so is claiming that a decision on whether to run for a fourth term in 2018 will depend on the situation in the country and his "own mood." The decision has already been made and power-hungry narcissists don’t give up the reigns unless death or imprisonment forces them to do so. Putin also used the interview as a forum for thinly veiled shots at the West for allegedly trying to undermine his rule. He said the Western sanctions against Russian individuals and businesses over Ukraine were merely a plot to punish his amigos and were "driven by a desire to cause a split in the elite and then, perhaps, in society." However, Putin said the sanctions have united Russia even though some factions do not support him. His biggest lie was that he’s cool with his critics as long as their criticism was constructive and they didn't violate the law. That’s mighty tough because the law is essentially that you don’t get to disagree with Putin………


- Whether or not “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay” kicked a sufficient amount of ass in its debut depends on your point of reference. At $123 million, it posted the largest debut of 2014 and earned more combined than every other movie in theaters across the United States. On the flip side, it had by far the lowest earnings total of any of the three “Hunger Games” movies, clocking in at about $30 million less than its two predecessors. Last weekend’s second-place finisher, “Big Hero 6,” stayed in the same place this time around with $20.1 million, good for a two-week domestic total of $135.7 million. “Interstellar” continued to be a relative disappointment, remaining stuck in third place for the second weekend in a row with $15.1 million. In three weeks, the Matthew McConaughey non-epic has grossed $120.7 million domestically. Fourth place was the landing spot for the reigning earnings king, “Dumb and Dumber To,” which saw its earnings plummet 61 percent to $13.8 million, giving the comedy sequel $57.4 million in two productive weeks of release. “Gone Girl” remained amazingly steady by sticking in the top five with $2.8 million and has amassed $156.8 million in its first two months in theaters. “Beyond the Lights” claimed sixth place with $2.7 million and in two weeks of limited release, it has brought in $10.1 million. Fellow limited-releaser “St. Vincent” was close behind with $2.4 million and has a seven week domestic bank roll of $36.6 million. In eighth place was “Fury,” owner of $1.9 million in weekend money and $79.2 million overall. Ninth-place finisher “Birdman” was the third movie in limited release to crack the top 10 thanks to its $1.8 million effort. The $14.4 million the bizarro comedy has made in six weeks is solid, as are its critical reviews. “The Theory of Everything,” which showed in a mere 140 theaters, slotted 10th with $1.5 million and has $2.8 million in three weeks of very limited release. “Nightcrawler” (No. 11) and “Ouija” (No. 12) both lost their spots in the top 10 and Jon Stewart’s “Rosewater” once again failed to reach the top 10, placing 16th………

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