- There
aren't any easy answers for Europe’s growing migrant crisis, but Finnish Prime
Minister Juha Sipila is all about the small ones. With displaced folks from the
Middle East and Africa flowing to the continent in rapidly increasing numbers,
the European Union is trying to find countries willing to take on people who don’t
speak their language and can't add much to society at this point. Finland,
located at the extreme northern end of the continent, isn't exactly the prime target
for individuals and families coming from warm-weather climates to the south.
Yet Sipila is looking to lead the way for his countrymen by opening his own spare
house to refugees. He announced that after some discussions and consultation
with local authorities, he and his wife decided to make their house in Kempele,
a town of about 17,000 in central Finland, available as of Jan. 1. Yes,
refugees need only hang on for a few more months and they could have a shot at
a house the prime minister and his family have not used since moving to
Helsinki. "We all should think what we can do ourselves," Sipila
said. Finland actually has seen an increase in the number of asylum seekers —
people fleeing poverty and conflict in eastern European countries and the
Middle East — in recent weeks by way of Sweden and Finnish officials expect
their number could reach 30,000 by the end of the year, compared to the 3,600
people who sought asylum in Finland in 2014. "It is easy to outsource
everything to the society. Still, society has limited possibilities. The more
citizen activity we can find to this matter, the better," Sipila added. So
far, there are no details on how refugees can apply for this opportunity of a
lifetime…………
- How
very soccer of you, Italian soccer league Serie B. Only soccer could try to
make itself better by taking a corny concept from its youth levels and
implement it at the professional levels in the hopes of encouraging highly paid
professional athletes to behave like 8-year-old brats whose only concern is
whether or not their mom is taking them for ice cream after the game. Soccer
already has yellow cards and red cards for bad behavior, but the Italian league
is implementing green cards referees can use in order to reward good behavior.
Much like giving your dog a Snausage when he or she barks and lets you know it’s
time to go outside and take a bathroom break, the league wants officials to use
the green card in an attempt to promote fair play and sporting gestures. The
new system is being introduced on a trial basis and will come in to effect
around the fourth or fifth round of matches for the new season. The hope is
clearly to motivate players to act politely and kindly, either by playing the
ball out for an injury, or even by being honest with the referee when he’s
trying to make a call and didn’t see everything that happened. Still, the plan
is incomplete because there is no standard for what - if any - benefits teams
will gain from their players receiving green card. The only (very limited)
incentive at this point is that at the end of the season, a classification will
determine an overall fair play winner, with the leading player likely to win a
trophy like the top goal scorer award. What a battle there should be to win
that grand, majestic award…………
- The
feeling of relief has to be palpable for the members of No Devotion, a band consisting of former Lostprophets members. When your
former frontman was convicted of child sex offenses and is now in prison,
moving forward isn't easy. You can change your name, change your lead singer
and never again play any songs from your old group, but your names are always
going to be linked to a pedophile whether you like it or not. Watkins was found
guilty of multiple sexual offenses against children and sentenced to 29 years
in jail in December 2013 and six months later, the remaining members of Lostprophets joined
forces with Thursday singer Geoff Rickly. Now, No Devotion are preparing for
the release of “Permanence,” their debut release. It will drop Sept. 25 and
will be yet another step in the process of trying to move on. "This time
last year we had to tell the story every time we stepped onstage I had to say,
'This happened, but thank you for being here and actually letting us get past
it' and I said something along those lines yesterday and somebody said, 'Why
would you say that, we don’t care any more, that’s the past' and I was like,
'Really?” Rickly said. “It's only been a year, we haven’t even put out a record
yet, we’re allowed to move on' and everybody’s like, 'Please move on, we don’t
want to think about that any more' and we're like, 'Good, we don’t want to
think about that any more, it was a terrible time in our lives.' So yeah, it’s
really nice that we get to move on." Probably nicer for your new bandmates
than you, Geoff………
- This
is truly stunning news. Across the United States in the past few years, police
have shown themselves to be universally above reproach, never once lying,
breaking rules or abusing their power because they can get away with it. So to
hear that a police officer in the small town of Mills, Massachusetts - a town of 8,000
people located about 25 miles southwest of Boston - lied when he said somebody
shot at his patrol car, causing it to crash and catch fire. According to police
Sgt. William Dwyer, the man, who was a dispatcher hired as a part-time officer
crafted a bizarre plot in order to make it appear that he was the victim of a
terrible attack. "We have determined that the officer's story was
fabricated," Dwyer said. "Specifically that he fired shots at his own
cruiser as part of a plan to concoct a story that he was fired upon." This
Grade-A ass hat was training to become a full-time officer, but he’s gone from
trying to become a cop to facing prosecution. His story wasn’t exactly airtight,
as he reported that a white man in a dark pickup truck fired shots at him,
causing his patrol car to spin around, strike a tree and catch fire. The
officer claimed that he returned fire on the suspect, but after police
conducted an intensive search with officers from other law enforcement
agencies, firefighters, police dogs and a Massachusetts State Police helicopter,
no leads were found. The story began to unravel in a hurry and soon, a guy who
tried to style himself as a law enforcement hero took a gas can and blowtorch
to his career and life for reasons that have yet to be fully explained. As
always, he’s hoping all of this trouble was worth it………..
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