- Riot
Watch! Riot Watch! Feel the rage emanating from Lebanon, where a group of Lebanese activists have clashed with Lebanese
police to make their anger felt over that cause of so many massive uprisings
around the world over the centuries - trash. Yes, garbage has been accumulating
on the streets in Lebanon for the past month amid government paralysis and with
The Man’s inability to agree on a solution after Beirut's main landfill was
closed down, Beirut has become an even more, um, pungent place than normal.
That led 100 bold change-seekers to gather outside the government building as
night felling, shouting anti-government slogans and looking to raise hell. In
response to said hell-raising, police retaliated by unleashing water cannons on
the crowd, an ironic twist given that this is a battle over sanitation,
cleaning up a city and avoiding the sort of stank that comes with piles of
rotting refuse stacking up in the streets. When it became clear that neither
side was willing to give any ground, a few of the more heroic protestors
attempted to break the security cordon, sparking the evening’s true violence.
Prior to this latest showdown, Lebanon's health minister said the country is on
the brink of a "major health disaster" unless an immediate solution
is found for its trash problem. As should be expected with a nation in crisis,
bureaucracy has crippled the government and prevented it from making any major
decisions, including agreeing on alternative ways of dealing with the garbage
crisis. It’s all about who’s right and who gets their way and not about fixing
the problem, eh fellas? Eyes on the prize……….
- Is
anyone stunned that Kristen Stewart has admitted
that she would be "kind of fascinated" by a possible revival of the
“Twilight” franchise? Stewart skyrocketed to fame playing Bella Swann in the
original 2008 “Twilight” movie
and happily returned for massive paychecks in each of four sequels released
every year until 2012. It was a disturbingly efficient engine of cinematic
commerce and by the time the last of the five films rolled off the assembly
line and landed in theaters across the world, the quintet made a whopping
$3.345 billion dollars and studio executives were frantically scouring every
inch of the floor in their offices hoping that there were more scripts for
other “Twilight” movies that had simply gotten lost under their leather couches
during the creative process. Stewart, who isn't exactly setting the world afire
with the depth and skill of her thespian talents, clearly would welcome another
massive payday for reprising the Swann role. “I was so genuinely, heavily
entrenched in that, and not in a way that felt like an obligation. Even though
after the first one, which stood alone, it lasted a long time,” Stewart said. "It's
hard to speak to a five-year period in a few sentences, but I loved doing it. But
that doesn't mean I want to keep doing it." So wait….you’re not
interested? "To be honest with you, I would be
interested,” Stewart added. “I'd be kind of fascinated, but it wouldn’t
emotionally affect me one way or the other." Umm, ok? Her latest
film, “American Ultra,” is an action comedy
co-starring Jesse Eisenberg due out soon. Odds are that it won't have legions
of adoring teenage girls camping out at the theaters with their miserable
parents who’ve been forced to chaperone their trip for a midnight screening of
the movie, a la “Twilight,” but a movie is still a movie as long as the check clears……..
- In a
rush to get jam deadly amounts of drugs into the bodies of convicted criminals
and send them shuffling off to the Great Exercise Yard in the Sky, Buckeye
State? It appears that Ohio is itching to get its executioner on and as one of
many states across ‘Merica currently handcuffed by a shortage of the various
drugs needed to mix the fatal cocktail that is used in lethal injections, the
state is turning to some methods that have the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration concerned. The federal agency has warned Ohio that
the state would be breaking the law if it carried out plans to import lethal
injection drugs from overseas, breaking the news to Ohio prisons director Gary
Mohr in a letter that Ohio probably wishes had not gone public. The note followed
Ohio's announcement that it intended to obtain supplies of thiopental sodium to
replace a two-drug combination it halted after a troubled 26-minute execution
in 2014 and now that thiopental sodium is no longer available in the U.S.,
states must fill that void in their murderous hearts elsewhere. According to Ohio
prisons spokeswoman JoEllen Smith, the state continues to seek all legal means
to obtain the drugs necessary to carry out court-ordered executions. Its
definition of what is legal and what isn't appears to differ from, you know,
the actual law, so the process could take a while if Ohio really wants to get
back to strapping convicted killers down, asking them if they have any final
words and then jamming that needle into their arms to bring the great circle of
justice to a controversial end……….
- There
is no shame in Philadelphia Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. being a
blatant liar. Amaro was merely doing what general managers do when asked direct
questions about trades that are obviously destined to happen but cannot be
confirmed until they are actually agreed to by both parties. He was asked about
persistent, omnipresent rumors that veteran second baseman Chase Utley would be
traded now that he’s healthy because a) he’s 36 years old and on an expiring
contract and b) the Phillies are headed nowhere this season. Amao said it was
“unlikely” that Utley would be traded despite strong rumors linking him to the
Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels and Chicago Cubs at various times. Everyone knew
Utley was being shopped and would move soon, but Amaro had to lean forward and
boldly proclaim into a microphone that the odds were against a trade happening.
Those words went up in smoke less than 24 hours later when the Phillies and Los
Angeles Dodgers agreed to a deal sending Utley west in exchange for two minor
leaguers. The move makes a ton of sense in part because Utley grew up in nearby
Long Beach, had full no-trade protection and expressed his preference to play
in Los Angeles. There, he will be reunited with longtime double-play partner
Jimmy Rollins, who the Phillies traded to the Dodgers for a pair of pitching
prospects at last December's winter meetings. Hopes for Utley as a short-term
rental are high, as Utley is 15-for-31 since returning from a right ankle
injury. The Dodgers will receive $2 million from Philadelphia to offset the $6
million remaining on Utley's $15 million salary for this season and after that,
they can let him walk……..
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