- Seattle
isn't normally thought of as a trashy place. It’s typically viewed as a trendy,
bohemian city, one that gives rise to famous musicians and the latest in crappy
Microsoft products to be foisted upon the world. But a mounting dispute between
the city and some of the hipsters who call it home is threatening to tarnish
the Emerald City. The showdown over garbage centers on nine full-time solid
waste inspectors who have been hired as part of a controversial program to
check city trash to make sure people are recycling. The city has also effectively deputized contracted waste haulers
as trash police, bestowing them with the authority to tag bins when people fail
to recycle and compost enough. Yes, this is really happening and it’s
every bit as offensive as it seems. That’s why the program is now the subject
of a lawsuit by citizens who cannot believe that Big Brother is now sifting through
their banana peels, coffee grounds and shredded documents and tagging their
trash cans if they’re not being kind enough to the environment. “I understand
people have noble goals,” said Keli Carender, who got tagged two weeks in a row.
“But at some point we have to say, you can’t violate my rights to achieve this
noble goal.” An estimated 14,000 residential and commercial customers have been
tagged this year, their bins festooned with a sticker warning them that more
than 10 percent of their trash content should have been recycled or put into
compost bins. Those behind the lawsuit claim the program is an invasion of
their privacy even though the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled garbage, once left
at the curb, is not protected private property under the 4th
Amendment. “The Supreme Court of Washington state went the other direction,”
said Ethan Blevins, an attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation who filed the
lawsuit. “[It] said our state Constitution provides better protection, and we
believe that people expect that our garbage is going to be protected from
prying eyes.” Fines ranging from $1 to $50 start Jan. 1 for trash offenders,
but participants in the lawsuit hope that day never comes………
- Score
one for blatantly obvious and disturbingly logical government solutions to
glaring problems. Burkina Faso - or as most Americans know it “Is that a
made-up country or a planet in the new ‘Star Wars’ movie?” - underwent a
massive uprising last year, one that toppled the
president of nearly three decades. Having a president who is in office for
nearly three decades is a problem, which explains the uprising but doesn’t
justify the actions of an elite military unit accused of killing demonstrators
during said revolt. The Presidential Security Regiment has long cause strife
even within the military because of its large budget and suspected involvement
in crimes under former President Blaise Compaore. A small group with a large
budget and the apparent favoritism of the president is bound to make waves and
after Compaore resigned amid the uprising last October, the question for
Burkina Faso became how to deal with the (alleged) murders committed by the
elite unit. Enter a reconciliation commission that has called for the
dismantling of the Presidential Security Regiment. Those seeking justice in the
killings have also pressed for the resignation of current Prime Minister Lt.
Col. Isaac Zida and some transition cabinet members and the commission has
echoed some of those sentiments. In its report, the commission said the elite regiment
should be dismantled and replaced by police and military police. Police are
never, ever corrupt and never act like they're above the law. Actual justice in
this case doesn’t appear likely at any point in the near or distant future, but
it should be entertaining to watch it all unfold……….
- Danger
Mouse has done the high-powered collaboration album before, so giving it
another shot with one of the hottest rappers in the game seems like a solid
idea. His latest big-name team-up effort hasn’t yet hit the market, but A$AP Rocky confirmed during a chat with pop hack/producer
Pharrell Williams that the project has been recorded. The rapper revealed the
news when he was asked if he and Danger Mouse were going to do any sort of
concept album. "We kind of already did," Rocky said. "Danger
Mouse is ill. People don't appreciate that kind of sh*t. There's no lyrics out
there. What's important about this, he told me, 'yo dude, you bring out a side
in me that I need'. And I feel he brings out a side in me. We got records. I
can't wait to let you hear them." Danger Mouse, the musician, producer and former half of duo Gnarls
Barkley along with Cee Lo Green, has produced or teamed with any number of
major artists and Williams was so geeked by the prospect of a concept album
between A$AP Rocky and the über-producer that he immediately tried to
gravy-train the idea, half-jokingly asking Rocky to cut him in on the action.
Footage of the recording process for the album has leaked and with team-ups
such as Kendrick Lamar on 'Alright' and Snoop Dogg on 'Drop It Like It's Hot' as part of the album, it should be a good
final product, assuming Williams isn't actually allowed to participate and
infuse his special blend of overproduced dance-pop garbage into the mix………
- On
a day when the Florida Gators wore bright orange uniforms from head to toe, the
lasting memory most people will have of their 31-24 victory against East Carolina
is head coach Jim McElwain seeing red. Late in the game running back Kelvin
Taylor went full-on bonehead by getting flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct
after making a throat-slash gesture following his touchdown run. The gesture
was both obvious and incredibly stupid and when Taylor, the son of retired NFL
running back Jacksonville Jaguars star Fred Taylor, reached the sideline he was
greeted by an irate McElwain. A video
clip with audio depicts McElwain yelling at Taylor: "Look at me! Don't
look down! F------ be a man! You f------ let your team down." It was a
public dressing down of the starting running back and McElwain chased that rant
by demoting Taylor from first to third team on the depth chart. Still, the
first-year head coach admitted that maybe he could have gone without the
F-bombs on the sideline. "I'm not proud about it, and neither is my
mother," McElwain said. "I don't feel good about it. As you know,
this is a very public job. This is a public thing that we do. I understand that
I have a long ways to go and I make mistakes. ... Am I proud of it? Absolutely
not. Do I feel bad about it? Yes.” Fred Taylor weighed in as well and as a former
NFLer who made the same inappropriate gesture many times and even was fined
$10,000 for doing so during a 2012 game against the Washington Redskins, he
clearly had the right to do so. "I don't think he should test his
manhood," Taylor said. "I think it was a little bit extensive, a
little bit much. Either my son is going to fall to it, or he's going to use it
as motivation, as I told him, and go out and play some real ball." He’ll
play real ball, all right, and maybe next time he can just high-five his
teammates, jump around in the end zone and get his ass back to the sidelines
without simulating someone getting their throat cut open……….
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