Saturday, April 18, 2015

Tame Impala v. men, doctors + hitmen and a dictator's daughter seeks to be president


- If you hated dear old dad the despot, maybe you’ll like his daughter, Guatemala. Efrain Rios Montt is a former dictator facing charges of genocide for massacres committed during his 1982-83 regime in the Latin American nation and while he presided over one of the bloodiest periods of Guatemala's civil war and oversaw a period in which about 245,000 people were killed or disappeared during the 1960-96 conflict and the vast majority of killings blamed on the army and paramilitary groups, his daughter his hoping that the people won't hold that against her. Zury Rios Sosa is running for president and the three-time member of congress announced that she would accept the nomination of the Christian conservative Vision with Values party to compete in general elections later this year. "Before God and all of you, I take the responsibility and the decision to return to the political arena, to public politics, to the office of a public servant, to submit myself to the judgment of the people," she said. She still has the stink of her father’s legacy hanging over her, but she was only  14 years old when her father, an army general, seized power in a coup. She certainly didn’t make the choice to suspend the constitution and launch a brutal campaign against political dissidents, nor was she convicted in 2013 of genocide and crimes against humanity for the killings of 1,771 Mayan Indians by soldiers under her father’s command. Hell, she even married Jerry Weller, who at the time was a Republican U.S. congressman from Illinois, in 2004. Sosa declined to comment on whether her father's legal case could affect her race and also seems to believe it won't be an issue that when he was in Congress,  her husband was named one of the most corrupt members of the House……….


- Look at Australian rockers Tame Impala, trying to make a deep social statement with their lyrics and inspiring an entire gender to do more and be better. The band is readying its third album and one of the tracks on it has already created a bit of a stir. “Cause I’m A Man” is not your average rock jam and despite what it’s title implies, it doesn’t laud dudes’ ability to do and say whatever the hell they want just because. In fact, frontman Kevin Parker says the song is actually about how weak men are and how they should be much better. "Lyrically I’m not usually that out there and straight up saying things, but it’s meant to be really tongue-in-cheek at the same time,” Parker said. “The song is about how weak men are, basically, and how we make all these excuses but really we’re just these odorous male members of the animal kingdom. We don’t have any self-control and are pathetic, basically. Again, that was probably a bad description of the song, but I guess I’ll let people figure it out for themselves." He went on to say that he hopes people won't perceive the song as sexist, but noted that was a distinct possibility “because people have whack interpretations of things sometimes." With or without insightful lyrics and regardless of who it offends and why, “Currents” is still a much-anticipated follow-up to the band’s well-received 2012 release “Lonerism.” But now that Parker has laid out the logic behind “Cause I’m A Man,” the rest of the album has a high standard to live up to………


- It’s a cutthroat world in the arena of New York cardiology. Not only are there patients who, you know, are counting on their doctors to save their lives, but rival doctors are apparently beefing with one another and engaging in turf wars heated enough to compel them to hire hitmen to take out their rivals. Meet Dr. Anthony Moschetto, a suburban New York cardiologist has been charged in connection with a failed scheme to have another physician hurt or killed. The not-so-good doctor pleaded not guilty to criminal solicitation, conspiracy, burglary, arson, criminal prescription sale and weapons charges in connection to what prosecutors called a plot to take out a rival doctor on Long Island. The case is serious enough that Moschetto had to post a $2 million bond and surrender his passport. Two co-conspirators, James Chmela and James Kalamaras, also pleaded not guilty and were released on bail. Moschetto's attorney, Randy Zelin, said his client "will be defending himself vigorously.” “Doctors are supposed to ensure the health and wellbeing of people, but Dr. Moschetto is alleged to have replaced that responsibility with brazen, callous and criminal acts," Acting Nassau District Attorney Madeline Singas said in a statement. The entire story is so bizarre and over-the-top, with police officers allegedly discovering approximately 100 weapons at Moschetto's home, including hand grenades, high-capacity magazines and knives. Grenades and knives? Was this guy looking to off a rival or stage a coup in a Third World nation? There was even a hidden room behind a switch-activated bookshelf to conceal many of the weapons and this case got rolling a few months ago when undercover officers began buying heroin and oxycodone pills from Moschetto in what was initially a routine investigation into the sale of prescription drugs. The doctor later (allegedly) sold the officers two semiautomatic assault weapons as well as ammunition, prosecutors said, and told them that he needed dynamite to "blow up a building." He ultimately went with arson instead of incendiary devices, and here we are trying to sort the whole mess out in court………..


- Kris Bryant has found the place where he belongs. The top prospect made his major league debut Friday, one day after he was called up from a totally transparent two-week minor league stint to start the season so the Chicago Cubs ensured he can't be eligible for free agency until after the 2021 season, and his first MLB game proved he is a Cub to the core. Bryant struck out in his first three at-bats against James Shields in the Cubs’ 5-4 loss to San Diego. After the Cubs selected Bryant's contract from Triple-A Iowa and immediately inserted him into their starting lineup as the cleanup hitter and third baseman, he proceeded to whiff on three pitches for an inning-ending strikeout following a two-out walk to Anthony Rizzo in the bottom half of the first inning. He received a standing ovation before the at-bat and as the crowd snapped photos, Bryant went to work living up to his lengthy future with the Cubs. He batted again in the fourth inning, quickly fell behind 0-2 before working the count full and then swinging over another changeup. His final strikeout came in the bottom of the fifth after the Cubs scored twice and he was able to bring the rally to a screeching halt to by striking out on a cutter with runners at second and third. To Bryant’s credit, he played solid defense and one day doesn’t define his worthiness to help the Cubs win their first World Series title in 107 years, but having the most-hyped player to come through your organization in years look badly overmatched and fall flat on his face in his debut is so befitting the most snakebitten and perennially inept team in baseball that it’s almost sad………

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