Saturday, March 14, 2015

SAE racism is national, James Bond defeated by Welsh legislators and pinkeye v. MLB


- Jerry Seinfeld once joked on his classic sitcom that the high-five is the lowest form of human greeting and should be eschewed at all costs. The Milwaukee Brewers are doing him proud with their new spring training edict, even if their motivation has little to do with advancing civilization and more to do with keeping their players away from the doctor’s office and prescription counter at the local pharmacy. Milwaukee is making its way through spring training out in Arizona and yet, this group of professional athletes is coping with a problem that’s more commonly on the agenda of your average kindergarten teacher. It seems the Brewers are in the midst of a pinkeye epidemic and realizing that in a sweaty, smelly and at-times unsanitary environment like a baseball clubhouse – or dugout – this illness could spread like news that the postgame clubhouse spread has arrived, the team is trying to cut out contact as much as possible. Thus, team officials have banned high-fives to avoid the spread of pinkeye following catcher Jonathan Lucroy and pitching coach Rick Kranitz getting snipered by the ailment and being forced to stay home for 48 hours in hopes of stopping the spread of the annoying and highly contagious malady. "We've been going through it for a while, and it seems like a couple of more show up every day," manager Ron Roenicke said. According to the skipper, the team won't high-five until the outbreak is over, making Friday afternoon’s battle against the Seattle Mariners a hand-slap-free environment. If only other MLB staples like the hot foot, shaving cream pies to the face and bubble gum bubbles on top of hats could be eradicated this easily………..


- Does the United States know what it’s getting itself into by opening the door to normalized relations with Cuba? Sure, allowing Americans to travel to Cuba and having a good economic rapport with the island nation seems swell, but Cuba might be a bigger bunch of badasses than anyone could have imagined. Look no further than this horrifying story of nearly two dozen people suspected of…wait for it….wait a little longer…. conspiring to pilfer millions of eggs for sale on the black market. Read that again and shudder, world, because these gangstas are staring down prison terms of eight to 20 years for their crimes and if Cuban prosecutors get their way, it will be closer to two decades for the 19 suspects accused of food theft, generating fraudulent receipts and other crimes. These aren’t just low-level criminals, either; the group of 19 includes several top executives of the state-run egg distribution company in Havana and according to the Communist Party, these evildoers were responsible for diverting some 8 million eggs to the black market between January and October 2012 in what could well go down as the single most-heinous poultry-related criminal enterprise in world history. It’s safe to say that the Italian mafia and Russian organized crime have never engaged in something so sinister involving items shot out of chickens’ backsides, with the company injured by this alleged enterprise of evil suffering some $356,000 in losses. It’s enough to make you wonder what else Cuba has been hiding behind its wall of secrecy all these years and just how terrifying the underworld is for Egg Beaters in Havana………


- Not everyone in the United Kingdom is a big fan of James Bond, even if he’s single-handedly keeping alive the image that British spies are suave, debonair dudes with great teeth and a nonstop line of smoking-hot ladies parading through their beds. The men and women of the Welsh National Assembly are certainly not overwhelmed by the awesomeness of Bond, not if the director for the new film “Spectre” wanted to shoot scenes in the Senedd debating chamber in Cardiff Bay but was rebuffed by the National Assembly. A request to film inside the debating chamber or Siambr was turned down by the National Assembly of Wales a few weeks back and now, the legislature is talking junk to Hollywood because…well, because it can. "The Senedd's Siambr is the home of Welsh democracy and seat of government for Wales. Some media activity is allowed in the Siambr when it relates to the work of the assembly or reflects the Siambr's status as the focal point of Welsh civic life. It is not a drama studio,” the legislature said in a statement. . "Decisions on requests from the creative industries to use the assembly's estate are made on a case by case basis, and we are proud to have collaborated with many television and film companies on drama productions such as Sherlock and Dr. Who. "The request by James Bond to use the Siambr was turned down and they were offered alternative locations on the estate which they subsequently declined." Served, director Sam Mendes and crew. The 24th Bond film may blow a lot of sh*t up, it may feature epic car chases and memorable fights in between Bond shagging the eye candy for the movie, but it will not be turning the Senedd debating chamber into its personal playground for the festivities………


- What the hell goes on at national meetings for the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity? It’s a question that needs to be asked in light of the SAE chapter at the University of Oklahoma being closed this month after video surfaced showing members engaging in a racist chant and their brothers at the University of Washington under investigation for making racial slurs and obscene gestures to black students as they marched passed the fraternity house during a protest. UW is investigating allegations that fraternity members – several white men – screamed the hateful remarks from the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house as demonstrators passed Feb. 25. Ironically, the protesters were part of a Black Lives Matter march to raise awareness about racism and in an ironic twist, their march may have done that on a larger, uglier scale than any of them could have imagined. The UW fraternity's chapter president, Michael Hickey, confirmed that Sigma Alpha Epsilon has investigated and said the fraternity believes the offending remarks in question actually came from nonmembers. Ever the good Samaritan, he added that the fraternity is working with others to hold them accountable, but the Black Student Union has asked the fraternity for an apology and plans to seek sanctions against it from the body that governs the university's fraternities. Now might be a good time to amend the ol’ SAE charter to include a line or two stating that, “Members and pledges shall not be racist a-holes or make bigoted, hate-speech remarks to any ethnic group or nationality.” You know, because abiding by what should be a universally understood rule seems to be a problem for SAE right now………..

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