- Is
Uganda trying to become the Russia of Africa? It may lack the international
clout and the military might to invade neighboring countries whenever it damn
well pleases, but in at least one area, the small African nation is looking to
emulate the House That Vlad Putin Rules With a Tyrannical Iron Fist. Just like
Russia, Uganda is looking to push through legislation
seeking to regulate the operations of civic groups in Uganda. The draft
legislation gives the interior minister and a national board the authority to
approve, inspect and dissolve such groups and in other words, it means that the
government can shut down and slap down any groups it believes are a threat to
its total grip on power or might undermine its message. Should it be approved, the
law would also impose penalties for violations, including jail terms of up to
eight years for offenses such as operating without a permit. Not surprisingly, activists
argue that the potential law would hamper their operations and could be used to
target those seen as opposed to the government. One of the loudest voices is
the transparency group Global Witness - the very sort of group at which the
bill is not-so-subtly aimed - and the group quickly denounced the bill as draconian
and an attempt by the government to silence its critics. Coincidentally, just a
few days ago, a group of 13 organizations, including Human Rights Watch, said independent
groups face an increasingly hostile environment as Uganda prepares for
elections in 2016. Somewhere, Putin is riding a horse shirtless, smiling and
pumping his fist in support of his Ugandan comrades……….
- Hipsters,
start your checkbooks. You thrive on owning the obscure musically and there is nothing
you like more than being able to hold it over the heads of those not nearly as
cool as you that you have a rare recording, an album from an obscure band they
haven’t even heard of or something else that shows you’re two steps ahead of
them taste-wise and always will be. That makes it decidedly good news that a rare
test pressing of Bob Dylan's 'Blood On The Tracks' is on sale at a record shop
in Los Angeles. Amoeba Records recently purchased a collection of 4,000 that
had many "great, rare and one-of-a-kind items" and discovered a rare
pressing of one of Dylan’s most iconic records among the boxes. The record,
which dates back to 1974, is on sale at the Hollywood store for $12,000 and the
shop’s owners called it the "most expensive piece Amoeba has ever had for
sale.” The album is actually a gem in the sense that it includes previously
unreleased versions of 'Lily, Rosemary And The Jack Of Hearts', 'Idiot Wind',
'If You See Her, Say Hello', and 'Tangled Up In Blue', as well as an alternate
take of 'You’re A Big Girl Now' that appeared on the 'Biograph' box set. Dylan
has been around so long that an album that is now 41 years old is also his 15th
studio effort, one that hit the top of the U.S. charts and has been awarded a
double-platinum certificate by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Ponying up the price of a very nice used car just to own some vinyl that you
probably won't ever play and will use merely as a trinket to impress visitors
to your home is a lot to ask, but you know someone will do it………
- Someone
needs to tell 63-year-old Marilyn Hartman that
snakes on a plane is a bad Samuel L. Jackson movie and not a prescribed life
plan for real people. This retirement-age kook has repeatedly tried to sneak
aboard airplanes around the country and has actually succeeded at least once,
getting on a Southwest Airlines plane and flying from San Jose to Los Angeles
last August. Why she insists on trying
to traffic slithery reptiles on commercial flights is inexplicable, though she
once tried to explain her behavior by saying, "Even smart people do stupid
things." That may be true, but it has nothing to do with her. If it did,
she would not have been arrested after trying several times to get past
security at O'Hare and Midway airports in April and May. Hey M., no high-IQ
human being is going H.A.M. on airport security and the TSA at a major
metropolitan airport all so they can get some cheap thrill out of jamming a
garter snake into their pocket and sneaking through the full-body scanner. Not
only that, but Hartman has tried numerous times in recent years to board
flights without a ticket. She pleaded guilty this week to misdemeanor criminal
trespassing on state land and was released Thursday after nearly two months in
jail at the Cook County Jail in Chicago. The world is a worse place for her
daily presence in it and unless one of those smart people to whom she alluded
does a stupid thing and actually tries to help educate her on how not to be a
moron, odds are she’s going to end up back in jail again……..
- There
are a lot of happy professional athletes in the first four days of NBA free
agency this summer. Dozens of large, athletic and talented grown men have been
reduced to smiling, high-fiving children after agreeing to contracts worth tens
of millions of dollars over the next three, four or five years…and then there
is Duke Ihenacho. Ihenacho is a safety for the Washington Redskins and he will
make $660,000 this season - far less than the NBAers who inked new deals this
week. Let’s just say he’s a little bitter. Because almost all NBA contracts are
guaranteed while NFL deals only have a portion that are guaranteed, Ihenacho
went on a Twitter rant that raised a few salient points. “All this guaranteed
money NBA throwing. Meanwhile the NFL, which generates the most money wont even
make the league minimum $1M. Yes $1M minimum,” Ihenacho tweeted. “That means
every single player's salary in the NFL should start there. Highest risk of
injury..brain trauma, richest league. No security in football. Obviously unless
you hit the lick.” Hit the lick is street for coming into a massive amount of
money in a short time and star quarterbacks in the NFL occasionally do, but not
a decent defensive back like Ihenacho. He knows that the the NFL's minimum
salary for rookies this season is $435,000 while a player with 10 or more years
of experience will earn a minimum of $970,000, compared to an NBA veteran with
10-plus years receiving a minimum salary of $1,499,187 this season. The NBA is
clearly less physically punishing and damaging to the body in the long term
than the NFL and yet, Khris Middleton agreed to a guaranteed five-year, $70
million contract with Milwaukee this week - $10 million more in guaranteed cash Ndamukong
Suh received this offseason when he signed with the Miami Dolphins. Not so hard
to see why Ihenacho might be bent………
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