- Someone
get jailed Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo
Lopez a burger, some fish tacos, a quesadilla or a steak because the man has
clearly earned it. Lopez was jailed for daring to oppose the country’s
oppressive regime under despot Nicolas Maduro - the handpicked successor of the
late dictator Hugo Chavez - and he z and another imprisoned politician stopped
eating in May, demanding that the government set a date for legislative elections.
In typical government fashion, the powers that be dragged their feet and for 30
days Lopez and his comrade refused to eat. That came to an end this week as the
two men ended their 30-day hunger strike after authorities set a date for elections.
Lopez's wife, Lilian Tintori, read a letter from Lopez at a press conference in
which the activist announced his decision. The government is clearly not eager
to hold elections because the opposition is favored to win the vote by a
landslide amid mounting frustration with Maduro's management of Venezuela’s
oil-dependent economy. The National Electoral Council announced at the start of
the week that on balloting would be held Dec. 6 and if the government actally
follows through with them, they would effectively refute months of speculation
by the opposition that the contest would be canceled. Add Lopez to the long
list of leaders who have used a willingness to go weeks without eating as an
effective weapon to help create change in situations where a defiant regime
would otherwise be content to defend the status quo in order to maintain is
iron grip on power………
- The
Sacramento Kings have been an NBA wasteland for the better part of the past
decade; a charred wasteland of wasted draft picks, ill-advised free-agent
signings and a revolving door at their head coaching position to the point that
the housemates on “Big Brother” have more stability in their life. So why
change that way of living just because you hired a new coach and theoretically
want to bring winning basketball back to California’s capital city? The scene
palying out right now in Sacramento is so Kings that it’s wonderful, with newly
hired head coach George Karl locked in a death struggle with both his team’s
best player and a front office that refuses to allow him to trade that
talented, yet troubled player. Karl has been given the power to make draft
picks and engineer some trades, but the one he most wants to make involves Kings
forward DeMarcus Cousins. Cousins has yet to turn 25 and yet averaged 24 points
and 13 rebounds for a terrible Kings team this season, but he is also a
notoriously difficult player to handle and one with his share of maturity
issues in his past. Karl is adamant about trading him and Cousins reportedly
was unhappy when the coah was hired in mid-April. The two reportedly haven't spoken
for months and there are multiple reports that coaches and players are
horrified at the possibility of these men having to work together next season.
Yet Kings owner Vivek Ranadive will not allow Karl to trade Cousins and said
the team has "zero interest" in dealing its best player. “We have no
interest in moving him. From my perspective, it's really simple: We feel that
he's a one-of-a-kind player.” Hearing Ranadive advocate for stability is funny because
this is a man whose team has started each of the past four seasons with a new
coach and him putting his foot down on this one could lead to disaster………..
- Know
your mark. That mantra would have done wonders for Philip
Tabili Jr., whose burglary attempt in Kenosha, Wisconsin met a painful end at
the hands of the man whose home he attempted to burglarize. That would be high
school wrestling coach Jerril Grover, who clearly is not the sort of man whose
castle you want to attempt to storm. Tabili, who admitted to the officers who
showed up to end his pain at the hands of Grover and arrest him that “he uses
heroin every few days and was looking for work” when he tried to enter Grover’s
bedroom through a window. Grover was having none of it and confronted the man
on his window ledge, knocking Tabili down and smashing a vase over the suspect’s
head. Going Gallagher on a dude’s head - albeit with a vase instead of a
watermelon - might be enough to end most fights, but against some meth head
tweaker burglarizing your house, you’re going to need more. Grover, a wrestling
coach at Bradford High School, was more than prepared to finish the fight. He
told police that after the vase smash, his "adrenaline kicked into
action" and after the ensuing skirmish, he hogtied Tabili and laid on top
of him until police arrived. In a bizarre twist, he also told police that the suspect
told him that he wanted to cut his grass. Grover was also disturbingly calm in
the aftermath and expressed no ill will toward Tabili. “It all worked out well in the end, and I hope
the young man is getting some help,” Glover said. For now, Tabili is charged
with burglary, theft and disorderly conduct and is clearly a man in need of a
new direction in life……….
- NBC
is cannibalizing "Hannibal." The network
has canceled Bryan Fuller's "Silence of the Lambs" prequel series,
ending its run after three well-received seasons. Its full 13-episode third
season will run its course on Thursdays at 10 p.m., culminating in a series
finale on Sept. 3. "NBC has allowed
us to craft a television series that no other broadcast network would have
dared, and kept us on the air for three seasons despite Cancelation Bear Chow
ratings and images that would have shredded the eyeballs of lesser Standards
& Practices enforcers," Fuller said in a statement. "[NBC Entertainment
exec] Jen Salke and her team have been fantastic partners and creatively supportive
beyond measure.” Fuller expressed hope that the show could live on elsewhere
and added that he is optimistic about working with NBC again in the future. NBC
was likewise chipper, noting that it has “been tremendously proud of 'Hannibal'
over its three seasons” and saying that “Bryan and his team of writers and
producers, as well as our incredible actors, have brought a visual palette of
storytelling that has been second to none in all of television.” Those are
mighty nice words for a show that was canceled after starting its current
season June 4 with 2.57 million total viewers before slipping to a series low
the following week when only 1.66 million tuned in. The show stars Hugh Dancy
and Mads Mikkelsen and has been a smash with critics, who saluted Fuller for
challenging the normal standards of broadcast television with the show's
graphic and visually creative deaths. “Hannibal” had served to bridge NBC’s traditional
TV seasons after they ended in May and resumed in the fall, but its ratings of
late were simply not enough to justify keeping it alive. At three seasons, it
still lasted longer than many new shows……….
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