Scott Stapp on reality TV, failed lady Army Rangers and what rugby is supposed to be about

- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! It was on a smaller scale, but it was still a display of disdain over the weekend as brawls broke out during a small demonstration against the radical leftist Podemos (We Can) party in Madrid six days after local elections boosted its power base in several of Spain's regions. A small, yet angry mob of  200 protesters gathered in downtown Colon Square carrying Spanish flags and shouting slogans against Podemos on the grounds that the vote had given the party  sufficient votes to negotiate the balance of power in the local government. One photographer had his camera broken in the chaos and several other observers were pelted with verbal abuse and a little bit of physical intimidation before police stepped in and brought an end to the uprising. One protestor, attorney Teresa Barrios, said she was protesting peacefully when "some unpleasant" characters arrived and "began acting aggressively against members of the press."  As always, blame the bad element for turning things awesome and taking a lame, peaceful assembly and turning it into a riot. Barrios said the main purpose of the protest was to stop Madrid's government from being swayed too far to the left, but the real purpose was to shake sh*t up and make people pay attention and thanks to those who went amateur hooligan on the event deserve all of the credit for ensuring that it happened. For everyone else who attended but was totally boring and lame, take notes and do it better the next time you’re looking to stick it to The Man……….

- Wait….isn’t this what rugby players are supposed to do? Dylan Hartley will miss England's three World Cup warm-up games and the tournament opener against Fiji at Twickenham on September 18 all because he accepted a charge of head-butting Saracens hooker George in the second-half of Northampton's 29-24 Aviva Premiership semi-final defeat on Saturday. The combustible Northampton hooker's guilty plea in a disciplinary hearing yielded a four-week ban that could allow him to come back for the end of the Cup. "This offense falls within the low entry point for striking with the head," said HHJ Sean Enright, who chaired the hearing. “"There was no significant injury to the other party, the opposition player was not removed from the field of play and the incident did not affect the game. However there cannot be any place in our game for this class of behavior, and that is why we have imposed this sanction." But again, isn't beating the holy hell out of other players - maybe even your own teammates - in the name of whatever you’re supposed to do to win a rugby match kind of the whole point of the sport? Apparently not because with this ban, Hartley has now been suspended for a total of 54 weeks in his career. His hope is clearly that the disciplinary panel will not ding him further, but he could still become the first player to miss both a British and Irish Lions tour and a Rugby World Cup owing to suspension and he’s now received bans for elbowing, eye-gouging, biting, punching and swearing. If he’s not careful, people are going to start labeling him a dirty player……..

- Nice try, but no, would-be lady Army Rangers. All of the female volunteers who tried their hand at Army Rangers School failed on their second attempt to pass the first phase of the traditionally all-male infantry course, the Army announced. The Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade staged its first co-ed course of Army Ranger School on April 20 at Fort Benning, Georgia with 19 women and 380 men pre-screened for the combat training course. Somehow, despite knowing how hellaciously hard the course would be, three of the women still failed to pass the Ranger Physical Fitness Assessment, a requirement to enter Ranger School. Of the 16 remaining ladies, eight completed the Ranger Assessment Phase, or RAP week, which consists of day and night land navigation, obstacle courses, skill tests and a 12-mile road march with a rifle, fighting load vest and rucksack weighing approximately 47 pounds. Unfortunately for feminists everywhere, the eight remaining females weren't able to complete the first phase and advance to the second phase of the course. The final eight were allowed to repeat the Darby Phase along with 101 male candidates, but none of the eight passed the Darby Phase on their second attempt. "This is normal course procedures and is used when students struggle with one aspect of the course and excel at others," the army said in a release. The next Ranger School class begins on June 21 and according to Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army will likely run a couple more pilots where females go through Ranger School. This all stems from former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's January 2013 directive that all services open combat-arms roles that so far have been reserved for men to women. The women who failed the Rangers course did so because they led poor graded patrols, a poor evaluation of their teamwork from their peers or accumulating too many negative spot reports………

- When your life is falling apart and you’re on YouTube alleging that the IRS froze your bank account and that your "civil rights had been violated," leaving you homeless, the best place to go is a reality TV show where your alleged efforts to get yourself together. That’s why its so nice that former Creed frontman and hypocritical arena rock poseur  Scott Stapp and his wife have signed up to appear on the next series of VH1’s celebrity exploitation series “Couple's Therapy.” Stapp has been a raging tire fire the past year and recently confirmed that he is diagnosed bipolar following a number of alarming incidents, but that won't stop he and his wife Jaclyn from appearing on the sixth season of the VH1 series in which couples with problems in their private lives spend three weeks in therapy with Dr. Jenn Mann. The attempt to shamelessly turn these troubles into ratings, er, help these troubled souls fix their lives hasn’t gone well, but maybe this time will be difference for  model Janice Dickinson and fiancé Robert Gerner, “Mob Wives” star Angela "Big Ang" Raiola and husband Neil Murphy, “RuPaul's Drag Race” contestant Carmen Carrera and husband Adrian Torres and “Love & Hip Hop” stars Joe Budden and Kaylin Garcia. Stapp is currently undergoing intensive therapy, as well as taking medication, and was last seen asking fans to crowdfund his third solo album. Stir all of these elements into a pot and drop it under the spotlights of reality TV and there’s no way this ends well, which is really the point of reality shows anyhow………

SkyMall rides again, Dwyane Wade wants paid and Deadpool is done

- Would you believe that there is such a thing as the Council of Europe? It sounds like some vague group that you'd make up for a spy movie or novel, but it actually exists and this council is using whatever might it may or may not have to plead with Hungary to investigate the scale of human trafficking within the country, which it says is on the rise. That makes sense, what with eastern Europe being something of a stark departure from the rest of the continent and still a relatively poor and struggling place in some areas. According to a report put together by the good people of the possibly made-up Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, "internal trafficking is a growing phenomenon," especially affecting Hungary's poor northeast region. For anyone who has ever visited Europe, the fact that the people often known simply as gypsies - i.e. Roma - may represent 40 percent of the victims, who suffer sexual or labor exploitation or may be taken for forced marriages. These men, women and children seem to have flooded every corner of Europe and are often seen begging for money around popular tourist locations, but in Hungary they face a much bigger ill than begging for cash, it seems. The group that put the report together visited Hungary in 2014 and called on authorities to increase the detection of possible victims of human trafficking among the growing number of asylum seekers and migrants, to set up a support framework for child victims and designate prosecutors specifically trained to deal with human trafficking. Odds of that actually happening? Not so good……….

- Six years after he played Marvel Comics anti-hero Wade Wilson, a.k.a. Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds has confirmed that production has now wrapped on a movie that will give the character famed for his over-chatty personality and tendency to break the fourth wall his own chance to shine. Reynolds first played the character in 2009's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" and now he will bring it back to life in a movie that has been in some form of in-progress since 2010 under the direction of first-time film runner and accomplished visual effects specialist Tim Miller. Miller put together he opening sequence for 2013's "Thor: The Dark World," but he's making his directorial debut from a script by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. Filming began in late March in Vancouver and according to Reynolds' Twitter feed, filming has officially wrapped. Its success or failure will depend largely on a supporting case that includes Gina Carano, former "Homeland" actress Morena Baccarin and "Silicon Valley" star T.J. Miller. Although production is officially done, the movie won't officially hit theaters until February, but given the ravenous following fanboys have for anything and everything in the superhero/comic book realm, that wait shouldn’t dull the buzz around the project. Reynolds will never be confused with a great thespian, but maybe there will be enough around him to make up for it……….

- Hell freaking yes. There are some things in this world you simply should not be able to kill and SkyMall is one of them. It's an American institution and something we all should treasure because where the hell else are you going to find stairs for your dog to climb into your bed and affordable garden zombies at 25,000 feet? So a few months ago when it was reported that SkyMall was going away, it felt like all of America was about to lose a piece of its soul, one it could never get back. But those dreams of a 100-watt hand-held garment steamer with travel pouch and accessories for the low, low price of $29.99 is alive and well because SkyMall has been purchased by New Jersey-based company C&A Marketing for under $2 million. That was followed by a wonderful, heartwarming tweet from SkyMall that consumers can purchase products online at SkyMall.com and the travel catalog is expected to be back on planes by the year's end. The tweet noted that "we have new owners who are working on bringing it back," which is what we all hoped for when the The former parent company of the airline catalog, Xhibit Corp., filed for bankruptcy in January, citing a funding crisis.  "There's a lot to do with a well-recognized brand that has a certain DNA, a certain expectation and a certain promise, Chaim Pikarski, C&A's executive vice president, said in April. "It's just that the delivery and the catalogs were a little stale and outdated, both in terms of people having other forms of entertainment and the changing of the times." He has since confirmed that SkyMall will be back on planes  by the fourth quarter of the year and that is something we can all get with………

- The slightly discounted ride is over, Miami Heat. Arguably the best player in franchise history has twice taken pay cuts to help his team sign other players - albeit while still making eight figures annually - but Dwyane Wade says no more. Wade took an $11 million pay cut last season in order to help the Miami Heat cut deals with Chris Bosh and Luol Deng, but his deal came with an option to choose out after this current season and he's apparently leaning toward doing just that. Word on the street is that negotiations between the veteran guard and the Heat have reportedly stalled out and Wade is potentially looking to take his talents away from South Beach for the first time in his career. Wade opted out of his $41-million contract last summer in order to give the team more flexibility to re-sign LeBron James, which clearly didn’t happen and left the team with the pu-pu platter of Bosh and Deng. Wade later re-signed on a two-year deal with a player option and after James conspicuously left to return to Cleveland and the Heat failed to make the playoffs, it seems that Wade started pondering what he'd given up and what his limited remaining time in the Association would  look like with the Heat. He's won three NBA titles and doesn’t need to sign somewhere on the cheap just to chase a title, but the Heat also have to work on re-signing guard Goran Dragic. Thought Wade has said over the years that he'd like to play out his career with the Heat, the fact that he's making noise now about leaving suggests that something has shifted and he's either agitating for more money or seriously considering leaving, which makes little sense because he's not worth as much to any other team as he is to Miami and conversely, he means a lot to the franchise and it shouldn’t be eager to let him go……..

Bubble baths with Big Talk, West-bozo Baptist Church needs IQ tests and Ray McDonald's new profession

- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! It’s on in Paris, where thousands of doctors, nurses and other hospital personnel are demonstrating in the center of the City of lights to protest planned working-hours changes they say will result in more burnout and worse patient care.  In other words, they're being asked to work more and drink wine while nibbling on cheese and croissants while debating the latest fashion trends less and they are NOT happy about it. The protest itself was fairly lame, as technicians in white lab coats and nurses wearing green scrubs gathered in the street outside the headquarters of Paris' regional hospital authority, which oversees 95,000 employees and 38 hospitals. They rocked banners with slogans like "Taking away our rights never made the economy grow" and showed their French might by lining the roadway near the city's Renaissance-style city hall.  Why would the powers that be dare ask these medical professionals to work more? Money, of course. The reform aims to save 20 million euros ($22 million) annually by renegotiating hospital staffs' working-hours agreements, but protester Sabrina Benmesbah, a cardiac nurse at Lariboisiere hospital,  was having none of it. She claimed  the reform would result in less time off for staff and worse care for patients. She may actually be correct on both accounts because if you try to rip time off from doctors and nurses and force them to work more to earn their lavish salaries, they're going to be pissed and angry people typically do not provide the best patient care to the hurting, suffering and seriously ill who come their way…………

- Former Chicago Bears defensive end Ray McDonald has a new profession. His NFL career is over because he's a bonafide bad guy with rage issues and abusive tendencies, but he seems to have found his new calling. The bad news is that his new line of work doesn’t pay well, comes with severe living restrictions and doesn’t offer a lot of chances for upward growth. McDonald was introduced to his new profession when he was  arrested at 5:35 p.m. local time by the Santa Clara Police Department  for violating a restraining order, marking his second arrest in less than 72 hours. McDonald's felonious week began Monday when authorities charged him with domestic violence and child endangerment as a result of an early morning altercation with his former fiancée and mother of his child. Following the incident, police located McDonald at the home of former teammate Justin Smith and placed him under arrest, after which the Bears released a player they never should have signed, given that McDonald was accused in August of domestic violence by the ex-fiancee, but the district attorney in that case decided to not press charges. He's now been arrested four times in the past year and cut by two teams. . The restraining order he is accused of violating was issued as a result of Monday's domestic violence and child endangerment charges and it ended with him being  found McDonald at a local restaurant where he was arrested without incident. His defense, according to his attorney, is that McDonald was never served with a restraining order and that before going to the house, McDonald was told his fiancée would not be there. At this point, there is no way any NFL team is signing him and he'll be fortunate if he avoids serious prison time……..

- It's time, ass hats of Westboro Baptist Church. It's time for you to start administering an IQ test to would-be members to your little Kansas cauldron of unjustified, zealous hate that gives the entire world the mistaken impression that everyone calling themselves a Christian is a bile-spewing, intolerant hatemonger who doesn’t understand a word of what the Bible actually says. The easy solution would be to actually stand for what Christianity is supposed to be about, but we all know that ain't happening. In lieu of that, the church best known for picketing the funerals of U.S soldiers and trying to claim that their deaths of God's punishment for America's tolerance of homosexuality would do well to ensure that it doesn’t look like jingoistic, ignorant fools who don’t bother to do a shred of actual research before staging one of their regrettable demonstrations. Their latest f*ck-up came when Ireland voted to legalize gay marriage and the Westboro numb nuts  took to the streets to picket Emerald Isle's historic same-sex marriage referendum. With their patented “God Hates Fags” rhetoric, they shouted and displayed the orange, white and green flag that we all know represents….the Ivory Coast? Yup. See, Ireland the Ivory Coast have the same three colors on their flag, but their rectangles are shaped and oriented differently. So instead of being hateful and spiteful toward the white, ginger-haired residents of Ireland, the West-bozos were actually hating on Ivory Coast, whose biggest crime of late has been ending up as the most perennially disappointing African nation on the international soccer scene. Desperately trying to cover their own hypocritical asses, the West-tools later made up the bogus story that they intentionally flipped the tri-color flag to suggest a country in distress. Nice try, suckas………

- Who are Big Talk? It's unclear, but the band is hoping to change that and they want to do it with bubble baths. It sounds bizarre, but Ronnie Vannucci has announced that his band will release their second album on direct-to-fan platform Pledgemusic via Little Oil Records. The album will drop July 24 and it will be titled "Straight In No Kissin," with The Killers drummer leading the charge. According to Vannucci, he wants to release something "a little bit more toothy" than the band's self-titled debut. "I wanted to cut live punk rock songs, but I wanted to put something in there for the ladies as well," Vannucci said.  "This way, there’s a nice pop sensibility, but you can tell that there are men playing, not machines. I wanted to give it some f*cking strength." An album with "f*cking strength" doesn’t come cheap or easy and to make ends meet, Big Talk are trying to offer perks and benefits to those willing to pay for them to make an album they will then use to make money. There's an acoustic show at your house ($2,500), Vannucci's microphone ($3,900) and the chance to share a bubble bath with a member of Big Talk ($500). Hopefully one of those incentives sounds good and you'll want to jump on a chance to invest in an album that  was recorded at The Killers' Battle Born Studios in Las Vegas and Vannucci's home studio in Sonoma County. This whole trend of financing bands' albums for them just seems a bit wrong, especially when you can just let some other sucker do it and then pirate the music once it drops……….

Tinder + STD fun, AP vs. the Vikings and Greece's new business plan

- Normally, remaking a crappy movie that just came out 12 years ago would be a terrible idea. But the last time someone tried to do a big-screen version of "The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen," it was f*cked up so badly that it almost begged for someone to redo it and at least make it watchable. The comic book series created by Alan Moore was previously adapted into a 2003 movie starring Sean Connery, Stuart Townsend and Jason Flemyng, and it was such a dumpster fire that it literally killed Connery's acting career. It managed to bank $179 million globally from a $78 million budget, but there is no question that it sucked exponentially bad and no amount of money can ever change that. Two years ago, Fox ordered a pilot for a TV series based on the comic book series, but the project was abandoned before casting took place, proving that the movie had taken the entire franchise past the point of toxic and directly to nuclear holocaust level untouchable. Yet a movie remake it reportedly in the works, with Fox apparently planning a potential franchise based on Moore's comic books.  The studio is keeping details under tight wraps, which is wise given the franchise's ugly recent past, but for those who don’t know, Moore's original comic book series followed the adventures of a superhero ensemble featuring classic characters from literature including Mina Harker (Dracula) Allan Quatermain (King Solomon's Mines), Dr. Jekyll (Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde) and the Invisible Man (H.G. Well's The Invisible Man). It was a short series, containing 15 issues and two original graphic novels published between 1999 and 2007………

- Business is a-boomin’ in Greece…just not the legal kind. The Mediterranean nation's troubled economy continues to teeter on the brink of utter collapse, but that might change if only the government could find a way to turn the nearly 12,000 immigrants arrested entering the country illegally last month into cash. If you do the math, the number of illegals streaming into Greece represents an almost seven-fold increase from the previous year and according to Greece's coast guard, a whopping 11,873 people were arrested in April and 6,583 were arrested in March — nearly all on islands facing the coast of Turkey. Suggesting that one capitalize on the prevalence of illegal immigrants to help boost a faltering economy might seem unsavory on the surface - and on every other level that one could create or imagine - and it is, but Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, on a visit to Athens Tuesday, could be just the man to spearhead this effort. He said he would back a European Union relocation plan to assist Greece and Italy and why couldn’t that plan include say, garnishing a portion of all the immigrants' future earnings or forcing them to serve as "interns" for a couple of years in a new profession as a way to provide cheap labor?  Greece's government has welcomed the plan and even wants a higher quota to help it cope with large numbers of arriving from war-torn Syria, estimating that some 37,500 immigrants and asylum seekers have reached Greece illegally so far this year. Don’t deal with the problem and the economy could literally collapse, but that's probably going to happen anyhow. Might as well try something innovative to solve it……….

- The game of chicken is on in Minnesota. On one side, disgruntled All-Pro running back and confirmed child abuser Adrian Peterson and on the other is the Minnesota Vikings, an NFL team refusing to bow the the demands of a disgruntled All-Pro running back and confirmed child abuser. Peterson, who has been absent since the start of the Vikings' offseason workout program and remains bitter over what he perceives as unfair treatment by the team following his indictment on child injury charges last September, is refusing to take part in the Vikings' organized team activities and wants to be traded. He said back in February that he was "still uneasy" about returning to the Vikings in 2015 and believes that the team didn’t do enough to support him and adding his family. He also lied and claimed that he was so discouraged about the NFL's handling of his suspension that he'd contemplated retirement, trying to lay the groundwork for forcing his way out of the Land of 10,000 Lakes. But he remains under contract with the Vikings and knowing they would never get full value for a player under these circumstances, the team isn't backing down. Head coach Mike Zimmer made it clear at the OTAs Peterson refuses to attend that the running back faces a simple choice. "He's not going to play for anybody else," Zimmer said. The Vikings doubled down when they passed up what might have been their best chance to replace Peterson in last month's draft and seem content to wait Peterson out. "He's missed a lot of OTAs over the course of his career. I'm not worried about it," Zimmer said. "I've got 89 guys out here that I'm coaching to try and get better." Ouch. That stings, eh Adrian……….

- Surprise, surprise. You may or may not know this, but there are these newfangled apps that the kids are using to set up their hookups, which are….never mind. And surprisingly, Rhode Island's Department of Health says that sexually transmitted diseases are way up in the state, in part because of the increase of hookup apps like Tinder. From 2013 to 2014, cases of syphilis in the state grew by 79 percent, while HIV infections were up 33 percent and gonorrhea cases increased by 30 percent. Coincidentally, younger people use apps like Tinder more than older folks and STD cases for young adults just happen to be growing at a faster rate than the rest of the population. According to Rhode Island officials, the recent uptick in STD cases follows a national trend and they blamed "high-risk behaviors that have become more common in recent years," including "using social media to arrange casual and often anonymous sexual encounters." Tinder has yet to weigh in on the subject, but the idea of blaming social media and online hookup apps for a rise in STDs is actually not a new concept. Back in 2013, a New York University study found that Craigslist was responsible for a 16 percent increase in HIV cases between 1999 and 2008 across 33 states. Of course, Craigslist is a place where the cesspools of humanity converge in a hellish blend of awful, but it's not just Craigslist. Grinder, a hookup app for gay men, was associated with more than half of all syphilis cases in New Zealand in 2012, according to Christchurch Sexual Health Clinic. "These new data underscore the importance of encouraging young people to begin talking to a doctor, nurse, or health educator about sexual health," said Rosemary Reilly-Chammat, an HIV/AIDS sexuality specialist for the Rhode Island Department of Education, in an official statement. Maybe Tinder can add a feature to the app allowing users to search for potential lovers by which STDs they have or don’t have. Then again, Tinder would then have to shut down forever for lack of users……….

A$AP Rocky v. Rita Ora, Cash-for-Grass (No Ass) in Cali and racist athletes owned by Snapchat

- Gas, cash or rebates…nobody gets a green lawn for free in today’s California. The state is locked in a brutal drought that has Gov. Jerry Brown ordering mandatory cuts in urban water usage and preventing
many from watering their lawns. Brown is the new green in California these days, but there might be a way to return some of that lost green to the lives of locals thanks to cash-for-grass program that has proven so wildly popular that a water wholesaler is considering boosting the budget for turf replacement rebates. Under this unique program, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California pays homeowners and businesses $2 per square foot to replace grass with drought-friendly landscaping. In other words, get rid of your grass and put in mulch, colored rocks or some other substitute for a green lawn. That offer – or more specifically the chance to pad their pockets with some cash in a ruggedly tough economy – has proven to be such a draw that the MWDSC’s board members will meet to discuss adding $350 million to its lawn rebate program. The program's current budget is $100 million, but that amount, which once looked pretty substantial, has begun to shrink in relative since residents and businesses bum-rushed the agency to request the rebates since April, when the program debuted. If the cash doesn’t dry up the way lawns are in the state, this could prove to be the best way for Californians to earn money for their next round of Botox since that oft-overlooked plan to offer the rest of the country a chance to become an honorary member of the Kardashian family for a day for just the low, low cost of their dignity and self-respect………..

- Athletes around the world should really know by now. Anything said or done with a smartphone nearby is fodder to come back and bite you in the ass by means of any number of social media services. You know who still hasn’t fully grasped this lesson? The three Brazilian gymnasts suspended by their country’s gymnastics confederation for comments made to a black teammate that were caught on video. The confederation said the suspension of Arthur Nory Mariano, Fellipe Arakawa and Henrique Flores would be for 30 days, or until a final ruling is reached in the case. They’re banned from entering any national or international competition and lose their rights to any financial incentives they might have been receiving, all for telling teammate Angelo Assumpcao, who is black, that a smartphone's screen is white when it works and black when it doesn't, and that supermarket bags are white and trash bags are black. The humor is lame, trite and subpar at best, but it was enough to merit the suspension and for the case to be analyzed by a local gymnastics sports tribunal. Assumpcao and the three suspended gymnasts are expected to be questioned by the tribunal and it happened after one of the gymnasts was dumb enough to send out the video on Snapchat. It later leaked to media outlets, prompting the confederation to open an investigation last week. These genius gymnasts thought they could release another video saying they wanted to publicly apologize to Assumpcao, insist that they were joking and that viewers misunderstood them and blew the incident out of proportion and it would all be forgotten. "There are no hard feelings," Assumpcao said in the video, sitting alongside his teammates. "We are friends." You might be friends, Angelo, but your friends are morons………

- Shock jocks aren't so different no matter where they carry out their zany antics. Be they holding down the morning drive time spot in Chicago, rocking the lunch hour in New York City or claiming they clubbed a young rabbit to death on air with a bicycle pump in Copenhagen, there just isn't that much to differentiate between these microphone-rocking maniacs. Oh, you hadn't heard? Meet Kristoffer Eriksen, the co-host of a morning show for Danish public broadcaster Radio24syv, whose actions have set off a storm of angry protests after he and his broadcast partner said they had beaten a live rabbit to death during their show and later posted a video on Facebook allegedly showing the cooking of a rabbit and an English-language explanation about the action. That came after zookeeper Jesper Lauritzen claimed had advised the channel on how to put down the nine-week old rabbit as painlessly as possible, advice that presumably did not include any bicycle repair tools or blunt force trauma to the rabbit. Eriksen said the morning show stunt was aimed at initiating a debate about "the vast hypocrisy surrounding our relationship with animals,” but what he actually meant was the he did it to get ratings and attention and in that respect, his act was wildly successful. A group claiming more than 800 supporters have appealed to listeners for a boycott of the broadcaster and while that number is laughable in terms of affecting any real change, it’s enough to make this a global story for a few days and let a much larger number of people know who Kristoffer Eriksen is…………

- Speaking of stunts done to draw as much attention as possible, A$AP Rocky has sparked controversy with lyrics from his track “Better Things.” The track is the one making headlines off the rapper’s new album, “At.Long.Last.A$AP,” which drew some early buzz when it was surprise-released one week early Tuesday. The  album is the successor to A$AP Rocky’s much-hyped 2013 debut “Long.Live.ASAP” and after just one day on the market, it’s already poised to get more attention based largely on allegedly offensive lyrics which allude to an alleged sexual encounter with singer Rita Ora: "I swear that b*tch Rita Ora got a big mouth. Next time I see her might curse the b*tch out. Kicked the bitch out once cause she b*tched out. Spit my kids out, j*zzed up all in her mouth and made the b*tch bounce." Aside from being a bit too reliant on the word “b*tch,” the lyrics are under fire for being, among other tings, disrespectful and possibly even misogynistic. Of course, anyone who is upset by these words has clearly not listened to much rap because there are 1,000 songs more hate-filled and woman-bashing that have been released the past year alone. A more intelligent point of view is that A$AP is being immature because you don’t hook up with someone and then turn around and clown her to the world, but then again, if you date a foul-mouthed rapper and even consider having kids with him, you have to assume that he’s going to take parts of your relationship and turn them into lyrical fodder for his next diss track. Hell, odds are high that Rocky himself will say or do something infinitely more offensive to either women or society in general during the course of promoting and touring in support of the album, so let’s all avoid burning too much of the fuel in our respective rage reservoirs in anticipation of what’s to come. Oh, and be sure that Ora will likely respond with some bile of her own, which will likely be followed by the two of them hookimg up again at some point in the future because, you know, famous people………

SoCal car chase hijinks, a sixth "Mission Impossible" is possible and anything to avoid the Boston Olympics

- Anything but Boston. That should be the motto when it comes to bids to host the 2024 Olympics. Hamburg, Germany, and Boston are the only declared candidates for the Summer Games and with Boston arguably the worst fit imaginable given its cramped infrastructure and transportation concerns even before throwing thousands of athletes and tens of thousands of visitors into the mix for three weeks, anything that lessens the city’s chances of actually being chosen is worthy of applause. Maybe we can all get behind Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino’s proposal that medal ceremonies be held at the Colosseum if the Italian capital wins the bid. Italian Premier Matteo Renzi announced Rome's cost-conscious Olympic bid in December, a mere two years after Italy bailed on bidding for the 2020 Games because of financial concerns. Marino had a meeting with IOC President Thomas Bach and bid committee officials, as well as Italian President Sergio Mattarella, and he channeled his inner Martin Luther King Jr. to win the group over. "I have a dream: If we manage to have the Olympics in Rome, I would like the medal ceremonies to take place at the Colosseum," Marino said. "We want to rebuild the arena of the Colosseum so that the athletes can be lifted in like the gladiators in the Roman times." Bach tried to yuk it up when he cracked that the idea is fine "as long as the lions don't then arrive." Italy’s bid committee is also exploring the possibility of having the finals of various sports at other historic locations, including the Circus Maximus. Rome last hosted the Olympics in 1960 and with . Paris and Budapest, Hungary, expected to enter the race soon, it’s looking good for Boston – and the United States – to dodge this hosting bullet………..

- Memo to Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek: When talking about budgetary concerns for a country that has a very recent – i.e. ongoing – history of unrest, uprisings and backlash against the government, try to avoid dismissive, offensive terminology like calling government spending of $1.3 billion on luxury cars and other vehicles for officials "peanuts." Simsek said the sum was "peanuts" compared to Turkey's budget, which was probably not the best way to attempt to justify a move by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who promised to provide an armored Mercedes to the country's top Muslim cleric. The promise came after that very same cleric earlier returned such a vehicle, following public uproar over the extravagance. But hey, if the public is incensed over a massive and wholly unnecessary expense, just wait a bit and try it again. People never get even angrier if you try to sneak it by them a second time. At election rallies ahead of Turkey's June 7 elections, enraged opposition party leaders said Sunday the money could have been spent to improve pensions or to aid Palestinians. Yeah, but….. an armored Mercedes is awesome, right? So what did Simseak do in response? He tried to defend his legume-based explanation for spending ten figures on luxury whips even as Erdogan faces increased heat for moving into a 1,150-room palace that opponents say was constructed despite a court injunction. Yes, it’s a foolproof strategy that you have to be an absolute fool to use and this situation is proof of that………..

- It is, quite simply, the way of Hollywood. A new movie is set to hit theaters and before it can even make its red carpet premiere in New York or Los Angeles, studio executives are already pushing behind the scenes for a sequel. That typically happens with known commodities like “Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation,” a blockbuster fifth installment of the iconic action franchise that is set to arrive in cinemas in July. The movies have gotten steadily worse as the series has dragged on, but movies being what they are, the actual quality of a film has little correspondence to the amount of money it takes in and therefore, how successful it is judged to be within the industry. For example, 2011's “Ghost Protocol” was the highest-grossing film in the series so far and Cruise’s highest-grossing film ever with nearly $700 million worldwide, yet it was terrible and bordered on unwatchable at times. Yet here we are, less than two months from the debut of “Rogue Nation” and word on the street is that a sixth Mission Impossible movie is already coming down the pipeline, with Tom Cruise on board as producer and J.J. Abrams attached as well. Cruise is reportedly not set to star in the movie – not yet, anyhow – but this project is so early in the process that it’s tough to tell exactly how it will look. There will clearly be massive explosions, all manner of car and vehicle chases, aerial theatrics and horrible dialogue, but beyond that it’s up in the air. Nothing is official just yet and should “Rogue Nation” unexpected bomb out in theaters, that could deal a setback to the prospects of any potential sequels. Then again, it’s difficult to imagine Hollywood permanently turning its back on this sort of money-printing machine………..

- How clichéd and common are car chases in southern California? Common enough that your average SoCal resident is sick and tired of them to the point of actively trying to stop them so they can go the hell on with their day and not be hassled any further. Check out what happened over the weekend when a motorist evading California police in a slow-speed chase was stopped not by a spike strip or road block, but by a pedestrian who strolled out in front of the slow-moving vehicle and caused the inebriated driver to stop so police could apprehend and handcuff him. Police also cuffed the man who stopped him after the driver took them on a car crawl that saw his black Mustang convertible lead three police vehicles down a long stretch of Ventura Boulevard, one of Los Angeles' major thoroughfares. The whole bizarre scenario began when police received a call about a possible DUI. They stopped the inslopsticated driver, but he tapped on the gas pedal and eased away from them in a car with its doors decorated with hand-drawn signs in red, white and blue, and decorated with stars, one reading, "VicTorY, war over we win." It’s unclear who “we” are and what we’ve won, but this devious driver motored along at a leisurely pace, flashing "V" signs at pedestrians and rolling along with his hazard lights flashing. Ever the considerate driver, he stopped at intersections for red lights and as he crawled through his last intersection, he encountered a pedestrian who had seen just about enough of some liquored-up a-hole causing an annoyance to his day and his ‘hood. That pedestrian moved from lane to lane in an effort to block the Mustang’s path and the inebriated driver couldn’t shake him. The driver stopped, got out of the car and put his hands in the air. The would-be hero pedestrian took him by the scruff of his shirt and walked him over to a police cruiser, pressing him onto the hood. Three officers took the driver to the pavement and cuffed him, while a fourth officer walked the pedestrian away by the arms and put him in cuffs, too. Stay weird, SoCal……….

French Open fan selfies, no free carnivals for NYC kids and stealing from a cancer-stricken indie rocker

- Service is about to get real spotty in a hurry, Nigeria. Your leading cell phone provider is desperate for diesel and if it doesn’t get the fuel it needs, it says it will have to shut down services across Africa's biggest oil producer. The months-long fuel shortage gripping the country has already grounded many aircraft and vehicles and silenced some radio stations and it shows no signs of letting up any time soon. Because of an erratic electricity supply, most businesses depend on diesel generators to keep operations going and that is not a formula for success in enterprise. MTN Nigeria posted a message on Twitter overnight saying most of its base stations and switches are powered by generators and the fact that their phone provider is tweeting out bad news to the masses cannot make average Nigerians feel too good about their situation. The 50 million subscribers in Nigeria who depend on the company to communicate are not in a perilous position as MTN says it may be compelled to suspend service if it does not receive significant amounts of fuel in the next 24 hours. The energy crisis originated when oil suppliers claimed the government owes them as much as $1 billion. The situation took another turn for the worst when oil tanker drivers unpaid by the suppliers went on strike along with other oil workers, exacerbating the situation. Spotty cell phone service is a common headache shared by people around the world, but having your provider tell you that it can't keep the data service streaming because it’s out of power is a new twist………

- There are scumbags, there are major scumbags and then there are people who steal funds raise by an indie rock band trying to raise support for one of their members who happens to be battling a rare form of cancer. The latter type of person resides somewhere in northern Illinois, where indie rockers Surfer Blood made a stop on their current U.S. tour. Having announced last month they would be raising funds to help guitarist Thomas Fekete, who has been diagnosed with cancer, the band has been forced to appeal to the public for information after their van was broken into and money raised for Fekete at their recent live shows was taken. The band detailed the incident in a Facebook post, saying that funds collected at their last eight shows plus some personal items and other money were thieved by an unknown scumbag. "We deeply regret having to inform you this, but our van was broken into today in Schaumburg, Il just outside of Chicago," they wrote next to a picture of the damaged vehicle. "Not only did we lose thousands of dollars in personal items and show settlements, but we also lost all cash donations we collected for Thomas over the last 8 shows at our merch table. This last detail is perhaps the most heartbreaking of all in that so much positivity and amazing generosity could be ruined by one bad person(s)." They asked fans to look out for one-of-a kind guitar pedals that could lead authorities to those responsible for the theft. Odds are that whoever stole the money doesn’t know or care that they took cash intended for a guy who is currently undergoing treatment for a rare form of cancer and had a large tumor removed from his abdomen earlier this year only to have the cancer spread to his spine and lungs, but that doesn’t make them any less of a piece of crap for their criminal actions……….

- Kids need to learn life’s harsh lessons at some point. Don’t fault the PS 120 elementary school in Flushing, New York for delivering one of those tough lessons to children whose parents didn’t pay up the money so their child could take part in the school’s year-ending carnival. Like many schools around the United States, PS 120 has a special event at the end of the year to celebrate reaching the end of a long schedule that includes all sorts of tests, quizzes and challenges. The carnival includes inflatable slides, a bounce room, a twirling teacup ride, popcorn, flavored ices and DJs rocking the party with kid-friendly pop music. Students from pre-K-to-fifth-grade classes took turns, each spending 45 minutes outside…except those whose parents did not pay $10. That’s ride, gas, grass or juice boxes, b’otches, because at this carnival no one rides for free. The district is either cheap or poor and charged students to attend the event. Those who did not have the money were forced to sit in the school auditorium while their classmates had fun outside. Nearly 900 students attended the carnival while the other 100 students were funneled into the darkened auditorium to just sit or watch an old Disney movie while aides supervised. They could hear the joyful shouts and laughter outside, adding to the ambiance of the auditorium for sure, and many of those who could not participate in the carnival are the children of Chinese immigrant families crammed into apartments struggling to survive financially. It’s amazing that in the greater Manhattan area, no one thought to seek out a wealthy local businessman to donate the money to make the carnival free for all, but maybe next year………

- Is it too much to ask that the security guards at the French Open actually, you know, provide security on the court? Right now, it might be given that Roger Federer was approached by autograph seekers on the actual court following his afternoon practice session Saturday and then on Sunday, a 17-year-old fan bum-rushed the court during his match to snap a selfie with one of the greatest men’s tennis players of all-time. The fan rushed up to Federer on center court, moving unimpeded onto Court Philippe Chatrier for a selfie after Federer defeated Alejandro Falla. Seventeen Grand Slam wins should afford a man a bit of respect on the court, but after handling the incident with class on the court, Federer was fuming afterward. "I'm not happy about it, obviously not one second I'm happy about it," Federer said. "It happened yesterday in the practice, too. And, today on center court, where you would think this is a place where nobody can come on, just wanders on and nothing happens. So I definitely think this is [a change] that something needs to happen quickly. But obviously [I] want this to happen immediately.” So do the rest of us, Fed. He went on to say that he believes he speaks for all players in saying that “where you do your job, that's where you want to feel safe.” The idiot fan, who was sitting in box seats near the court, was later detained by security and told he would not be allowed to attend the rest of the tournament, which seems a bit lenient given that dude did trespass and could have been prosecuted. It brought back memories of the horrific incident in 1993 in which Monica Seles was stabbed in the back by a crazed Steffi Graf fan during a Hamburg changeover. Given that massive, club bouncer-sized men in black, two of them on the big courts, protect the players as they sit with their backs to the crowd on changeover chairs, someone should be able to restrain and possibly body slam some moronic teenager who tries to grab Instagram fame with Fed. This all happened with what French Tennis Federation director Gilbert Ysern described as heightened security surrounding the tournament in the wake of recent incidents in Paris. Maybe not so heightened after all……….

Hockey cold wars, China v. Myanmar and pork-based hate crimes

- Is a hockey cold war in the offing? If former Detroit Red Wings star and current Russian senator Slava Fetisov is allowed to decide, then the answer is going to be an emphatic yes. Fetisov is leading the charge to have the Communist hell hole on the eastern flank of Europe reintroduce Soviet-style restrictions to prevent promising young hockey players from moving to the NHL. Because any time you can channel the policies of Stalin, you need to cash in on that chance. The esteemed senator said that federal law should be used to stop Russian players from moving to North America before they turn 28. In other words, keep them under Russian control through the best years of their career with the aim of keeping  "our most talented guys, the ones who the people come to see." How jingoistic of you, Slava. It’s fitting that this guy who is trying to keep the best Russian players in a form of indentured servitude – albeit with better pay – is named Slava, because dude wants to make these athletes a slave to the machine. Ironically, Fetisov was one of the first players to benefit from the relaxation of Soviet-era rules that prevented any hockey players from leaving. He bolted from Russia to the NHL in 1989, joining the New Jersey Devils when he was 31, and went on to win two Stanley Cups with the Red Wings. Now that he’s made his money and earned his fame, he wants to tighten the reins on the next generation and make sure that they aren't jumping ship for bigger money and better hockey in that bastion of capitalist greed to the west………

- China, you have company. Your controlling policies on how many children couples are allowed to pop out have long been the gold standard for the government reaching into the lives of private citizens are dictating how they can chase their dreams and ambitions, but your friends in Myanmar are gaining ground fast. They took a huge step forward when their president signed off on a controversial law requiring some mothers to space their children three years apart. The Population Control Health Care Bill — drafted under pressure from hard-line Buddhist monks with a staunchly anti-Muslim agenda — definitely seems like it overreaches and critics smartly point out that it could be used not only to trample women’s rights, but also to restrict religious and ethnic minorities. Foreign parties have suggested that such a law could stoke the always-simmering flames of intolerance in Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist nation of 50 million that is already deep in the throes of sectarian violence. Supporters of the bill counter that the law merely gives regional authorities the power to implement birth-spacing guidelines in areas with high population growth rates, preventing people with no self-control and no intelligence on the practices of various birth control tactics from flooding poor areas with strained resources with too many kids to support. As usual, if common people would simply use the brain cells God gave them and realize that having five kids in five years when you don’t even have the income to support on is a poor idea………

- Score another one for artistic weirdness when it comes to the truly esoteric rock band of the 21st century, Radiohead. The weird one leading the parade for the auteurs of ‘Karma Police,” Thom Yorke, has channeled his inner hipster and recorded an 18-day soundtrack to a new art exhibition by Radiohead visual artist Stanley Donwood. Donwood, who has been designing Radiohead’s artwork since the British rockers released “The Bends” in 1995. Yorke and Donwood launched the showcase at Carriageworks in Sydney, Australia, revealing a comprehensive look at 25 years' worth of work. It is titled ‘The Panic Room’ and runs until June 6 and anyone who shows up will hear a little something different as Yorke’s ambient soundtrack, 'Subterranea,’ features 18 days' worth of original material. There are no plans for an official release, but the soundtrack is audible in a preview online for anyone who doesn’t have the time or spare cash to fly to Australia and spend a day or two immersing themselves in the high-minded, pompous artistry of two men who probably believe they are way, way cooler than you. Donwood also gave fans a preview via Twitter, sending out pictures from inside The Panic Office, which includes artwork for Radiohead, Thom Yorke and Atoms For Peace. Finding another band this wrapped up in its own mythology and creations might be difficult, but if you have a patented art-observing stance, sigh and pensive look to pull out when examining a new creation, this could be the next great adventure for you……..

- When an attempted gesture of racial hate is so lame, so clichéd and so tired, it’s almost not worth getting angry. Someone should have told that to the hundreds of people who gathered in suburban Boston for a peace rally in response to the desecration of a Holocaust memorial with chunks of pork earlier this week. Sure, the gathering was actually an interfaith service that drew a large crowd at Pride of Lynn Cemetery in Lynn, site of the Holocaust memorial, but there really was no reaction needed to some ass hat leaving five chunks of raw pork at the memorial's base Tuesday. Yes, Jewish dietary laws prohibit eating pork. Yes, this was a definitey sign of a loser who thought it would be funny to insult Jewish people with a gesture both unimaginative and just plain ignorant. However, the idea of police investigating the incident as a possible hate crime and pursuing a new lead after a cemetery worker found what appears to be a supermarket wrapper in which the pork may have been carried is just too much. If the best someone can do is waste their time and money buying raw pork and tossing it at a Holocaust memorial, then that person is such a lost cause that it’s beneath the insulted people to even respond. It was nice of Chabad Lubavitch of the North Shore Rabbi Yossi Lipsker to say that people at the rally stand united against all forms of evil and we all should do so, but in this case the responsible  party is like the drunken, slurring family member at your holiday gathering, the person everyone ignores because he’s a brain-dead ignoramus when he’s sober and ,ay actually have a negative IQ when drunk. Actually, uncle Terry and his .12 BAC are probably still smarter than whoever pulled this pork prank and thought it was cool……….

Of course Kiss will record again, idiots design flags and skateboarding, beer-stealing losers

- Well, this is embarrassing. No, not for the Olympia Police Department, which had one of its officers involved in the shooting of two black men at a grocery store. Not for the city, which now has to endure the national scrutiny that comes these days when a white officer shoots a black person. Not even for the store, which was robbed by a pair of nitwits who tried to steal items of less than $40 in value. No, this is embarrassing for the two stepbrothers accused in the crime and anyone unfortunate enough to call them friends or family members. Why? Because the crime was (allegedly) committed by a 21-year-old man and a 24-year-old man whose mode of transpiration for their crime was a freaking skateboard. Oh, and their attempted booty….beer. This shouldn’t be complicated. If you are immature or life-progress-stunted enough that a skateboard is your preferred method of transportation, then you should not be allowed to obtain or possess beer in any capacity. Skateboarders are a fine group, but it’s a group mostly populated by guys either still trying to get their high school diploma or those who stopped trying in life after earning theirs and now reside in the basement of a family member while working part-time at the local movie theater. If you’re old enough to drink beer, then you also need to be old enough to put down the board and let go of your Tony Hawk dreams unless you are, in fact, Tony Hawk/good enough to earn a living skateboarding. Instead, these two tools were caught trying to steal beer and officer Ryan Donald was among those who responded around 1 a.m. to a call from the Safeway store. He reported that he was being assaulted with a skateboard, but shot both men, leaving the younger of the two in critical condition and his stepbrother in stable condition. Brad Watkins, chief deputy of the Thurston County Sheriff's Department, confirmed that two skateboards were recovered from the scene and said an investigation will likely take three to six weeks. Neither man was armed, although they did allegedly try to use some of their plundered beer as projectiles to throw at employees who tried to stop them. Well done, ass hats……….

- Hope Erisbel Arruebarrena started himself a passbook savings account when he inked that five-year, $25 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers in February 2014. At that time, he was a highly touted prospect from Cuba who was expected to do big things for the team paying him big money. Now, he’s a man without a team or much to do this summer. Arruebarrena was suspended by the Los Angeles Dodgers for the remainder of the season on Thursday for what the team cryptically deemed "repeated failures to comply with his contract." In other words, look for stories of how he was disobedient, uncooperative and/or disrespectful to start leaking out in the weeks ahead. Either that or the team made up claims because they committed $25 million to a dude who split the season among four minor league teams and the Dodgers and hit .195 in 22 games for Los Angeles. He The Dodgers designated him for assignment on Dec. 31 and after clearing waivers, he was sent outright to the team's Triple-A affiliate. That didn’t work out too well, as he remained at extended spring training and did not play in any minor league games this year, when his deal calls for a $3 million salary. Conveniently, the team does not have to pay him while he is on the suspended list and in order to fight that status, Arruebarrena is going to have to appeal to baseball commissioner Rob Manfred. The good news is that dude knows a little something about fighting, having sparked a massive brawl in Triple-A last year during which he ripped off his helmet and hurled it at former major leaguer Mike Jacobs. Maybe after committing more than $165 million to Cuban players in recent years, the Dodgers will want to do a little more research on the temperament of their potential signees going forward…….

- You create a contest asking for public submissions for damn near anything – statues, banners, slogans, songs, flags, etc. – you’re going to bring out the freaks, misfits and morons. Enter the government of New Zealand, which has received hundreds of, um, unique flag design entries as part of a national initiative to replace the New Zealand Blue Ensign flag. The campaign to update the flag stems from the fact that the current one features a remnant of the country’s colonial heritage in the form of a Union Jack. It’s a totally justifiable reason to sketch out a new flag, but the official Flag Consideration Project being opened up to the public has been more detrimental than beneficial. Yes, New Zealanders are clearly excited about the opportunity to select their next national symbol, but too many submissions have been amateurish at best and an F- submission to even the most easy-grading kindergarten teacher. To be fair, some of the entries have clearly come from young children who have used crudely drawn sheep and ice cream cones in their design, but there has also been a startling quantity of kiwis, rainbows and laser beams. In short, it looks less like a flag design contest and more like the refrigerator of a mother with four children in fifth grade or under. A referendum will be held in December where citizens will select their design from four entries somehow culled from this morass of mediocrity by a panel and from there, a second referendum will be held in March 2016 where citizens will either select the current flag or the winning new design. The old flag has been in use since 1902 and getting 114 years of mileage out of a flag is solid enough. However, this contest has to have the powers that be thinking maybe they could coax another century out of the old look before they have to try and come up with a new one……..

- There was never any doubt that Kiss would release another album. Gene Simmons and his band are too hungry for money, fame and attention to simply bow out meekly and live out the rest of their lives on the mountains of money they’ve already made. Even after frontman Paul Stanley suggested that he has some serious misgivings about releasing new music, there was no chance of an early retirement for the iconic rock band. And sure enough, Simmons was ready and willing to promise fans that a new album from his rock band is on the way. : "It will happen when we have time. I have music in me that needs to come out,” Simmons said. “I recently wrote a song called 'Your Wish Is My Command'. It feels like a Kiss song and it just needs to be released on a Kiss album." A new album would be Kiss’ 21st full-length release and as Simmons tells it, all four members of the group are behind the project, with Stanley set to produce. That could be news to Stanley, who was asked about the idea previously and said he felt that releasing a new album didn't "feel necessary." Simmons heard those words and blew right past them with his typical self-promoting flair. “I'm glad [Paul is producing]," Simmons added. "I no longer have the energy to come to the studio every day. Paul doesn't have so many other things in his life that demand attention, so he can concentrate fully on the project." In other words, I’m too busy with my many business enterprises, so let my friend who has no life take care of it. Simmons did caution that the band has a lot of shows to do and likely won't get to work on the new album until late this year………..

Soccer corruption fun, naked air travelers and Riot Watch! Chile

- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! Valparaiso, Chile is the place and President Michelle Bachelet is the reason for the rage as police and protestors are at each other’s throats after the long arm of the law launched water cannons and tear gas to repel protesters trying to get past a barrier as the president attempted to address her nation. Officers squared off with marchers several blocks from the Congress building in the port city of Valparaiso, about 66 miles northwest of Santiago. The protest started calmly and likely would have stayed that way if not for a few innovators who donned masks and boldly set barricades ablaze in the street. These masked madmen also vandalized nearby businesses and as anyone knows, you can't start a revolution by being meek and mild. Multiple arrests were made and it was an awesome way to celebrate Naval Day, a holiday when presidents traditionally speak to the nation. This year, the holiday just happened to fall at a time when Chileans are increasingly fed up with politicians amid several scandals. The real shocker here for a president whose approval rating is hovering around 30 percent isn't that these violent demonstrations took place, but rather than there weren't more people rising up to smash and burn their own city in order to make the point that they are unhappy with their government. Any gathering that doesn’t include a few Molotov cocktails just isn't a real party, so credit to those who stepped up to make this Naval Day a memorable one for all of Chile. You all are good people………

- It’s like “Juno,” only in reverse and with its stars a few years older. A new comedy film titled “Tallulah” will reunite “Juno” stars Ellen Page and Allison Janney under the leadership of Sian Heder, best known as the moment for penning four episodes of “Orange Is The New Black.” Heder wrote the script for “Tallulah” and will make her directorial debut with what has been dubbed a dramatic comedy, with a plot that follows a woman who rescues a baby from a reckless mother and proceeds to raise the child with her ex-boyfriend's mother. “Juno,” of course, saw a teen mother played by Page give her baby up for adoption because she knew she couldn’t raise it properly. Janney played her stepmother in the movie and the duo also worked together in the 2013 indie film “Touchy Feely.” Their new joint venture is scheduled to begin shooting next month, with no official release date yet set. "We believe in emotionally charged stories with universal themes," said Russell Levine, CEO of Route One Entertainment, the production company behind the film. "This project has award-winning talent teamed up with a gifted young writer-director who wrote a brilliant script. Ellen Page and Allison Janney will give this film the nuanced comedic and dramatic strength it needs and we're thrilled to move this project forward." This movie may or may not be Oscar-winning as “Juno” was, but both are solid actresses who should lend both credibility and acting chops to the movie even if its creator is a relative unknown……..

- Air travel is often stressful. It can drive even the most patient person past their wits’ end and push folks to become a screaming rage monster even their closest friends scarcely recognize. It can leave them with beings bulging in their neck, devoid of any clothing and putting on an impromptu nudist exhibition for hundreds of horrified strangers at Charlotte Douglas International Airport… as an example. Let’s just say that a certain male traveler was one of the many people who have found themselves in a pinch because their airline did something that should be illegal and overbooked his flight. Set aside your indignation at airlines being able to sell seats that don’t exit and simply be awed by the performance of a would-be passenger who first turned his ire on a gate agent for not having a seat for him on a US Airways flight to Jamaica and then turned his rage on his wardrobe, deciding to get undressed right in the middle of the concourse. According to a witness, the man still had his clothes on while he was yelling at the gate agent. That changed some time in the moments after the confrontation as the man began removing clothes and saying nothing as security agents arrived to surround him. What ensued, weirdly, was not the man being arrested for any number of crimes including but not limited to public indecency, but rather this kook standing naked in the concourse for about an hour. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police eventually took the man into custody and announced that he was taken by emergency personnel for treatment of what was termed "a medical issue" and will not face charges. Still, it’s something to think about the next time you want to go to war with that person in the seat next to you over custody of your shared arm rest………

- If another Sepp Blatter reign of terror is inevitable, should the soccer world just sit back and enjoy it? That’s a trick question because it doesn’t matter. The corrupt, tyrannical leader of soccer’s international governing body is going to be re-elected because, well, soccer. It’s a bit sad to watch fringe candidates who never had any chance of unseating Blatter drop out of the race, just as Luis Figo did on Thursday, calling football's governing body a dictatorship under Blatter. The Portugal great and former FIFA world player of the year dropped out of the FIFA presidential election with a statement in which he said he would not be a part of an electoral process that is designed "for the delivery of absolute power to one man" -- indicating Blatter. Figo bowed out mere hours after another candidate, Dutch football federation president Michael van Praag, did the same. The only sham candidate left in the race is Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan and there is no way Ali can buy off, er, win over enough voters to pull the upset of the century. Unsurprisingly, Figo said during campaigning that he encountered hypocrisy among federation presidents around the world, but wouldn’t name any names. "I have seen with my own eyes federation presidents who, after one day comparing FIFA leaders to the devil, then go on stage and compare those same people with Jesus Christ,'' Figo said. He then landed a haymaker by saying FIFA was "living under a dictatorship" with Blatter and had lost credibility amid corruption scandals and accusations of nepotism leveled the embattled leader. Rumors of Blatter-related improprieties are both abundant and hard to confirm, but odds are that Figo is spitting truth here……..

Gym Guy + NFL star, raging v. the Big Mac(hine) and South American oil wars

- Let’s consider this one a draw, world. Sure, Simon Cowell has a new dance music TV talent show that will launch next pring, but just consider the fact that one of his original reality TV monstrosities is coming to a close and chalk it up to being a zero-sum game. “Ultimate DJ” is also much further from the cultural mainstream than “American Karaoke,” so there should theoretically be less of Cowell in our lives very soon. The “DJ” debut was announced by co-producer and Ultra Music founder Patrick Moxey at a festival in the club-hopping capital of Ibiza and Moxey said the show would "give a massive global platform for new and emerging artists. When you think about the underground music that Ultra started with 20 years ago, and how it's now become a global lifestyle phenomenon today, to me, this is the next step in the evolution of this phenomenon." Whatever you say, tweaker. If you say your Ecstasy-fueled excuse for a show will "take contestants, people with fantastic talent, and put them out to a mass audience,” so be it. Moxey will team up with Simon Cowell, Yahoo and Hamish Hamilton, who he characterized as “probably the top entertainment director in Hollywood at the moment." To provide some EDM star power, DJ Steve Aoki will reportedly act as a judge on the show, which will be broadcast online via Yahoo's live streaming service, Yahoo Live. To review, we’re moving from “American Karaoke” terrorizing all that is good about music on network television to a show streamed on some afterthought of an online service. Who gives a damn if the winning DJ will get a headline spot at a major electronic music festival and will be offered a record contract with Ultra Records and Sony Music? This show is going to be forgotten faster than a cheap glow stick fades out and with Cowell involved, that’s the best you can hope for………..

- If you discover oil, be ready for a brawl. Hope Guyana is up for a massive international rock fight after Exxon Mobil Corp. released information about what it calls a "significant" oil discovery in a disputed area off the coast of the South American nation. According to Exxon, it encountered more than 295 feet of high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs in the drilling site known as the Stabroek Block, which is about 120 miles off Guyana and is claimed by neighboring Venezuela as part of a long-running border dispute. Dangling that fresh piece of economic meat in front of two hungry nations is a recipe for a brawl and Venezuela isn't likely to just be chill after Exxon Mobil and the government of Guyana said May 7 that the drilling was showing promise but did not provide details, then released a statement saying that the oil giant was still evaluating the commercial viability of the site. If  you ask ExxonMobil Exploration Co. President Stephen Greenlee, he is encouraged by the results of the first well in the 6.6 million acre block and the prospect of billions of dollars on oil revenue is too much for any country to pass up. Hell, if multiple nations are willing to go to war – not literally, just yet  - for possible oil reserves identified in frigid, Arctic-like settings in far-flung corners of the globe, then just imagine how heated the fight will be if two aspiring South American powers realize there is black gold in a region they both claim to be their own. If only the late despot Hugo Chavez were here to fan these flames with some of his patented rhetoric……..

- New York Giants left tackle Will Beatty and Gym Guy have a lot in common right now. Both like to hit the gym, throw ridiculous amounts of weight on the bar with adrenaline-juicing music blasting through the speakers and max out with their bros on hand to give them a spot for that brutally tough final rep. Also, both know what it feels like to have one too many plates on the bar, feel a pec pop and end up rushing to the emergency room in excruciating pain. Unlike Gym Guy, whose muscle shirts, Godsmack-heavy playlist and two-gallon jugs of water carried around like most people rock a Dasani bottle, Beatty will still be making a sh*t-ton of money over the next six months while he recovers from a torn pectoral muscle sustained lifting weights during the team's offseason conditioning program. Beatty already underwent surgery to repair the injury and his recovery is estimated at five to six months, which means he's likely to miss at least the first half of the 2015 season. That’s a problem because Beatty has started 46 games in a row for the Giants dating back to 2012 and even battled back after breaking his leg in the final game of the 2013 season and started all 16 games in 2014. He was expected to be one of the few reliable pieces on the Giants' offensive line but now, the team will have to scramble for a fill-in. Justin Pugh, who's been the starting right tackle for the past two years, could fill the spot, or it could be Miami tackle Ereck Flowers, who the Giants selected with the No. 9 overall pick in the draft three weeks ago. Whoever the Giants choose, they have to count on that person to protect Eli Manning's blind side for the first half of the season while Beatty recovers. Maybe Gym Guy is available………

- Feel the rage and resentment of thousands of underpaid, grease-stain-on-your-apron workers and be afraid, McDonald’s. This is not a new battle, but the dissent is fresh, real and raw from thousands of McDonald's workers seeking a minimum wage of $15 per hour. One might argue that paying such wages to people who often do not have a college degree and aren't qualified for more skilled jobs is out of order and that those who put in the time and grinded out a college degree should be the ones getting raises, but Ronald McDonald’s minions swarmed the fast-food giant's headquarters for the first of two days of protests to coincide with the fast-food chain's annual meeting and they're not backing down. Uprisings by low-wage fast-food and retail workers have sparked a national debate about pay levels and large corporations like McDonald’s and Walmart have responded by raising starting pay. That hasn’t placated people like Chicago resident Tyree Johnson, who raged against the Big Mac(hine) outside McDonald's headquarters in the Chicago suburb of Oak Brook. "They keep telling me they value me but they don't give me more money," Johnson said. On one hand, you can admire a man who lives in a men's hotel because he can't afford an apartment on his wage of $8.55 per hour, but on the other hand, this dude has worked in McDonald's restaurants since 1992 – 23 years of cleaning out the fry filter, hauling trash and grilling second-rate beef. "We respect their right to peacefully protest," McDonald's spokeswoman Heidi Barker Sa Shekhem said, lying by adding that the world's largest restaurant chain regularly looks at the wage issue. Well, that might not be fair. McDonald’s executives probably do look at the issue, then laugh and go back to drinking from their gold-rimmed chalices. Steve Easterbrook, McDonald's new chief executive, last month announced that starting pay at company-operated restaurants would be set at $1 above the locally mandated minimum wage, but for a company that is already struggling with shrinking market share and other issues, that’s plugging the hole with Bubble Yum……….