- Made-up countries are the best. They are magical worlds
where rules are made up, people get to leave behind a world they don’t like and
the impossible(y ridiculous) is possible. They are places like Liberland, population 250,000 – logic, common sense and reality
not among them. Who is an integral part of this land of loose grips on reality
is self-professed Czech Libertarian politician Vít Jedlička, a member of the
Conservative Party of Free Citizens. Jedlička claims to have created a new,
sovereign country on the Croatian-Serbia border where citizens decide their own
tax burden, property and individual rights are respected and the national motto
is "Live and Let Live." This nut bag has actually appointed himself
president of the Free Republic of Liberland, a “micronation,” located on the
banks of the Danube River in a 2.7-square-mile patch of what he says is
unclaimed territory. As Jedlička sees it, neither neighboring nation claimed
the land when they established their borders following the breakup of
Yugoslavia so international law gives him a clear path to stake his claim. “The
objective of the founders of the new state is to build a country where honest
people can prosper without being oppressed by governments making their lives
unpleasant through the burden of unnecessary restrictions and taxes,” the newly
(fake) minted nation declares in a statement that could be a precursor to
Liberland's constitution. Neither Croatia nor Seriba seems to take Liberland
seriously, but an undeterred Jedlička said he has already received about
250,000 applications for citizenship and those people have already been
approved even though most will never get within a long walk to reality of the
country. Not only that, the faux president claims Liberland has already
received commitments from various investors, including one who is willing to
set up a telecommunications infrastructure. Yes sir, big things poppin’ and
little things like reason and sanity be stoppin’ here in Liberland……..
- Phoenix Suns forwards Marcus and Markieff Morris are twins who
are freakishly joined together, to the point that when negotiating their new
contracts, they had the team set aside a pool of money for them and were
allowed to divide it up as they saw fit. But even for super-close twins, this
might be taking it a step too far. The Morris twins have been charged with
felony aggravated assault following an incident on January 24 at a Phoenix
recreation center and if you believe police, they were two of five men involved
with the alleged assault of a man at the Nina Mason Pulliam Recreation Center.
Toss in Gerald Bowman, a safety at USC who is preparing for this year's NFL
draft, and you have three current or future professional athletes allegedly
beating the hell out of one man. The Morris’ twins’ agent, Leon Rose, said he
was confident his clients would be cleared in the beating of Erik Hood, who alleged
that he attended a basketball tournament at the recreation center. He saw the
Morris brothers enter the gym with three other men: Bowman, Julius Kane and
Christopher Melendez and after the game, he claims Kane confronted him while he
was struck from behind on the head by Melendez. When Hood attempted to run to
his car, he was too woozy and fell to the ground, where he was then repeatedly
punched and kicked by all five suspects. A female companion of Hood witneses
the alleged attack and Hood was taken to the emergency room at Phoenix Baptist
Hospital, where he was treated for a broken nose, bruises and abrasions. Given
that he also claims to have known the Morris brothers since they were in high
school and that he mentored the brothers through college, this whole situation
is bizarre, as is the fact that police say that Hood was assaulted for sending
"an inappropriate text message" to the Morris brothers' mother some
time before the incident…………
- In Kentucky, you do NOT f*ck with the state’s unofficial
official beverage. You most definitely don’t do what nine sticky-fingered
criminals are accused of doing by hijacking such a massive quantity of bourbon
whiskey that even Kentucky authorities say it was more bourbon
whiskey than one person could drink in a lifetime. Those nine people were
indicted earlier this week and are accused of being rogue distillery workers
who spent years and years thieving tens of thousands of dollars' worth of
whiskey from two prominent bourbon makers — the Buffalo Trace and Wild Turkey
distilleries. Pinpointing the exact date this chicanery began has proven
difficult, but authorities believe the criminal syndicate operated since 2008
or 2009. In the indictments, the booze-boosting ring is linked to two highly
publicized heists in the world's bourbon-producing hub — the theft of barrels
of Wild Turkey bourbon earlier this year and the disappearance of Pappy Van
Winkle bourbon. Pappy Van Winkle is both über-rare and extremely valuable and
stealing even one bottle of it is enough to send the entire Bluegrass State
into a disappointingly sober furor. According to The Man, the recovered whiskey
alone is worth at least $100,000 and while there are precious few details about
precisely how these men jacked so much high-alcohol booze or what they expected
to do with their ill-gotten gains, the balls they showed by taking so many
barrels and expecting to get away with it is impressive on some level. In the
end, they were either not smart enough to get away with it, got greedy or some
combination of the two and so this criminal crew will face the wrath of a
judicial system that is going to be mighty miffed that a national treasure was
taken from it………….
- Being a member of The Darkness must not be a lot of fun. If it
were, new drummer Emily Dolan would not
be on her way out the door less than two months after making her live debut
with the over-the-top Canadian glam rockers. Dolan - who was formerly a
session musician for Bryan Ferry and Tricky – first appeared with Justin
Hawkins and his bandmates on March 6, but she has left the band to pursue
"new projects.” It’s the sort of statement you might expect to hear from
someone who has been a part of a group for years instead of weeks, but at least
the band released a statement trying to put a positive spin on the mess. It
reads in part, "We part ways with fond farewells. Emily played a huge part
in the recording of our new album 'Last Of Our Kind' and makes a final
appearance in the video for our single 'Open Fire', which is coming to a screen
near you soon… Good luck, Emily!" It seems unlikely that the band foresaw
itself having to try and shine up this musical monkey turd when it happily
welcomed Dolan into its ranks at the start of the year when she replaced
founding member Ed Graham, who left The Darkness at the end of 2014. "Ed
has had some well-publicized health problems in the past. And for one reason or
another, he wasn't capable of doing his job anymore,” Hawkins said at the time.
“We're still friends with Ed. But now that we have Emily in the band, the worry
is gone." As for “Last Of Our Kind,” it is due out June 1 and it will be
the first and only Darkness album featuring Dolan’s drum stylings………
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