Sunday, May 10, 2015

Sugar-bombing a man bander, corruption in Guatemala and Vermont power abusers


- What’s the point of being a Vermont state senator if you can't extract every possible ounce of (illegal) perks and benefits from your position of oh, so limited power? State Sen. Norman McAllister, a successful Franklin County dairy farmer and one of nine Republicans in the 30-member Senate, is a slightly less successful sexual favors extortionist and he now faces the wrath of the legal system for his shortcomings. McAllister has pleaded not guilty to charges he tried to extract sexual favors in exchange for rent, used sex as a punishment and told a woman they could both earn extra money if she had sex with farm workers. Aside from being a great way to boost the morale of your farm workers, such actions are apparently illegal and so the second-term senator was arrested Thursday outside the statehouse. Among the nuggets in court records released after Friday's arraignment was a transcript of a recorded call in which McAllister and a woman who rents property from him talk about the extra money she could earn if she went to other farms to have sex with farm workers. This could clearly be one of the reasons the senator has become such a successful dairy farmer and he responds "yes" when the woman says he would take half of what she earned from the sex to help pay her rent. “That's totally up to you. I mean, we were trying to figure out a way to get you money,” the skeevy senator stated. Yet McAllister is also accused of forcing the woman to allow him to perform a sexual act on her as punishment when a worker was injured while teaching her how to drive a tractor. According to the accuser, she had sex with McAllister once or twice a month and said she felt she had to do it to keep her housing. A second woman who worked for McAllister on his farm said the sexual acts were "definitely not" consensual and said in chilling fashion that, "I was screaming no at him and he still ... went for it.” Not really what you’re looking for from your elected officials……..


-Anonymous surveys of professional athletes are the best. They can be totally fictionalized, numbers can be altered or manipulated and in the event they are actually legitimate, they provide a glimpse into an honest reaction from a player in any sport about subjects they normally wouldn’t touch with a pole vault pole. In the case of golfer Rickie Fowler, they can yield an awkward situation in which a millionaire professional athlete is bumping around on Twitter and comes across his own name in a post on a Sports Illustrated player poll in which he shared the dubious distinction of being voted the PGA Tour's most overrated pro. Fowler, though, had the wherewithal to not respond in the prideful way that many athletes in his position would. His version of events may or may not be totally accurate, but what’s clear is that he didn’t thumb out a vitriolic tweet vowing to find out who the hell voted for him and make them pay. "I laughed," Fowler said. “I thought it was funny." He probably didn’t think it was funny, but he didn’t need to fire back because there have been quite a few people who have risen to his defense on social media. Others have taken the other extreme in the debate, ignoring the fact that just last year, Fowler joined only Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as players in the modern era to finish top-five in all four majors. Hell, he’s currently ranked a solid 13th in the world and although he’s only won one tournament in six PGA Tour seasons and none in his past 70 starts, no one ever pegged him as the man to make the golf world forget about Tiger Woods. "It's fine by me," Fowler added. "I'm going to try and play as well as I can this week and I'm going to take care of my business." All righty, then……..


- Depending on who you ask, Guatemala's vice president is either a really bad person or a really, really bad person. Entrants into both categories will be thrilled with the news that Roxana Baldetti has resigned amid a customs corruption scandal that implicated her former private secretary and opened her up to an investigation. Baldetti said in a resignation letter that the move means she is giving up her immunity from prosecution and promised "to collaborate with all investigations" into the graft scheme and her former boss, President Oscar Perez Molina, called the decision "brave.” It may not be the sort of history one usually wants to make, but Baldetti is the first Guatemalan vice president to step down due to a corruption case. So far, prosecutors have not implicated her in the scandal and she denies involvement, but when she is indicted, she can thank a United Nations commission that has been investigating criminal networks and fighting impunity in Guatemala since 2007. Taking eight years to produce any significant results might seem like typical government bureaucracy on an international level….and it is. Still, it’s hard to imagine Baldetti being innocent when he former aide, Juan Carlos Monzon Rojas, is alleged to have been the ringleader of a scheme to defraud the state of millions of dollars by taking bribes in exchange for lower customs duties. Monzon's last known whereabouts were overseas and authorities are seeking him as you read this, but it is Baldetti who is facing the most heat right now and finally decided to step down amidst rising calls for her resignation by protesters and influential business leaders. The country's Constitutional Court ruled that congress would have the power to strip her of the immunity from prosecution that came with her office and her resignation sparked massive celebrations in the street, with revelers shooting off firecrackers, honking horns and chanting, "Roxana's resignation is a victory for the people!" Many crowded the central Constitution Square and Molina moved quickly to turn the page, announcing that d he would send congress a list of three names from which a new vice president can be selected. Baldetti is far from the only (allegedly) corrupt civil servant here, as at least 50 people, including many public officials, are suspects in the customs scandal. It’s a far-reaching scandal that has shaken faith  in an already shaky government and put Guatemala on the map in all the wrong ways………..


- Life is rarely fair. People who do bad things often get away with their evil deeds and folks who do good frequently receive the sort of unjust harvest that should come to the true scumbags of the world. Navid Farsi is one of those people and it’s clear which of the two groups he falls into. You might know Farsi’s name because he threw a rock at Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson in April, but not all of his acts of late have been so d-baggish. For example, he threw a bag of powdered sugar at Maroon 5 lead man bander and reality karaoke judge Adam Levine prior to an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” Levine was covered in the white powder as he signed autographs for fans and it was a truly heartwarming moment for everyone with even a shred of musical taste and who therefore despises Levine and his overly coiffed, poseur self and his hack man band with instruments with every fiber of their being. Sadly, Levine decided to press charges and Farsi was charged with battery and convicted, with a sentence of three years of probation, 52 counseling sessions and 20 days cleaning California's highways. If there were real justice in this world, it would be Levine picking up trash with a pointy stick alongside the 405 for foisting “Moves Like Jagger” and similarly sh*tty songs on the world. Instead, a second count of battery involved a security guard who was also covered by the powdered sugar and Farsi has also been ordered to stay 500 yards from the Jimmy Kimmel Live set with a protective order making it illegal for him to approach Levine in the future. Oddly, if you’re not approaching Levine to cover him in some sort of baking product as a means of vengeance, then there really is no point in being near him anyhow………

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