- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! It’s on in Italy and the rage most
definitely isn't limited to one city or one region in the economically troubled
Mediterranean nation. The uprising against controversial government
economic reforms spread from coast to coast as tens of thousands of union workers
marched through more than 50 Italian cities to protest measures that they say
erode their rights. Non-union, anti-government protesters clashed with police
in several cities, which is disappointing because if these folks really cared
about their cause, they would have been trading blows with the law at every
last one of their demonstrations. The best scene may have been in Milan, where
students dressed as Santa Claus jumped the fence at a regional government
office building and threw bottles and other objects. Police responded with
their typical tactics of excessive force spearheaded by tear gas, which both
dispersed the demonstrators and furthered a melee in which 11 officers were
reportedly injured. The widespread strike shut down basic services throughout
he country and it is one of the largest by two of the nation's most powerful
union groups against a center-left government, which had traditionally been
much friendlier to unions. Without basic services available, Italy’s transportation
system became a patchwork quilt of minimal functionality as trains, buses,
schools, ports and other services closed down. Given the state of turmoil in
which Italy has existed for the past few years, this latest round of rage was
nothing new and will certainly not be the last as the government attempt to
keep its fiscal ship afloat……….
- If you’re going to miss one of the biggest rivalry games
on your team’s schedule, it had best be for a damn good reason. Iowa State second-leading scorer Bryce
Dejean-Jones didn’t have a good reason for being suspended for Friday night's
game against Iowa. In fact, he
barely has a reason at all. Head coach Fred Hoiberg announced the suspension
after DeJean-Jones was arrested Wednesday night on three charges. Ames Police
Department officials laid out the case against the forward, saying that the
drama began after Dejean-Jones and his roommates had been warned by officers
several times to keep the noise down at their apartment. In fact, officers had
been to the residence several times in the past, so they knew exactly where
they were going when they responded to a call and charged Dejean-Jones with a
nuisance party violation and a noise ordinance violation -- two simple
misdemeanors. Amazingly, there was also ganja on the premises when the fuzz
busted in and found four people in the apartment -- Dejean-Jones, teammate and
roommate Abdel Nader, Dejean-Jones' brother, and a friend from Los Angeles.
Even though the chron did not appear to be his, Dejean-Jones also was charged
with gathering where marijuana is used, which is a serious misdemeanor.
Officers smelled the after-odor of pot being smoked, but by the next day,
Dejean-Jones had the drug charge dropped due to insufficient evidence. "I've
tried to gather as many facts on the situation as possible," Hoiberg said
Thursday. "I've talked to numerous people in our department,
administration. I've talked to Bryce. ... We feel that the best move at this
time for Bryce, for our team, is to suspend him. It’s tough to imagine how a
brilliant decision-maker like Dejean-Jones is on his third school and doesn’t
seem to have gotten any smarter………
- Is Billy Joel in Manhattan for the holiday season? The
Piano Man does spend a lot of time in New York City, so it is possible, but
initial reports suggest that it is another building-crashing driver who left
the road, crossed the sidewalk and smashed into the Forever 21 store in Herald Square at
50 W. 34th St., ramming into pedestrians and leaving six people injured. The
accident occurred around 10 p.m., as the last of the holiday shopping crowd was
bundling up its packages of overpriced goods and knockoff items and took place
just east of the iconic Macy’s department store on 34th Street. According to police,
the Ford Mustang jumped the curb in front of the Forever 21 store and then went
into the building. On its way there, it struck several other vehicles and a few
pedestrians before hitting the front of the building. A witness told officers
that one of the injured victims was pinned between the car and the window of
the store and claimed a woman at the wheel suddenly started driving crazily and
the resulting mayhem spiraled out of control quickly. “She must have freaked
out. She backed up, took off, went around on the other side of the street, went
through the intersection, skidded out, fishtailed, then fishtailed again the
other way and smacked into all the cars waiting at the light on that side of
the street,” witness Matty Thomas said. “Cut across, she jumped the curb, and
literally five bodies flying in the air.” Multiple vehicles sustained damage
and six pedestrians were taken to Bellevue Hospital in serious condition, but
not with life-threatening injuries, police said. Investigators are still
attempting to determine the cause of the accident, but it should definitely
spice up the remaining shopping days in midtown Manhattan regardless of why it
happened………
- Star Wars dorks are extremely revved up right now, more
than a year from the highly anticipated seventh film in the iconic outer space
franchise. J.J. Abrams and LucasFilm president Kathleen Kennedy have given them even
more reason to be geeked out of their mind by releasing a batch of trading
cards depicting characters in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” The eight cards
give fans a chance to know five new characters, including John Boyega as Finn, Daisy
Ridley and Oscar Isaac, who is shown as X-Wing fighter pilot Poe Dameron. The
cards are color-coded and have a decidedly retro vibe, a direct tip of the cap
to the old school collectible decks used to promote the first Star Wars
films in the 1970s and '80s. "I’m only sorry we couldn’t give everyone a
stick of gum," Abrams joked. Right, because those sticks of flavored
plywood that came in old packs of trading gum and which disintegrated into a
thousand dry, crumbly pieces the instant you bit down on them were actually
gum. On one of the trading cards, Daisy Ridley's character, seen riding her
"speeder" in the trailer, is called Rey, but her surname remains a
secret. Abrams has established plenty of mystery around the character, who was
rumored to be the daughter of Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Princess Leia
(Carrie Fisher). Oh, and the cards also clued fans into the moniker of the
ball-like droid seen scrambling across the sand in the film's
much-discussed trailer: BB:8. Why any of this matters is something only the
light saber-wielding dorks in basements around the world can answer……….
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