- There
is a beef beef in India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to calm things
down before this goes nuclear. Modi called for religious harmony after a week
of silence following the mob killing of a Muslim man rumored to have
slaughtered a cow. The cow murder sparked fears that Hindu zealots were
targeting minorities and while the prime minister waiting a week to actually
take a public stance on an issue like this isn't exactly bold leadership in
motion, at least Modi finally said something at an election rally in the
northern state of Bihar. "We must decide whether Hindus and Muslims should
fight each other, or against poverty," he said. "Only peace and
goodwill can take this country forward." It was a solid appeal for Indians
to ignore hate speech, which is why it probably won't do much good. When a
Muslim man is beaten to death over rumors that he butchered a cow, a few
reassuring words from the prime minister aren't nearly enough to calm the
waters, not when politicians of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party previously made
statements in defense of the Hindu mob that killed the accused cow hitman. In
the wake of the cow culling, a long-running debate about laws on the killing
and eating of cows flared back up and Modi has long supported a nationwide ban on cow slaughter and
criticized the previous government for promoting beef exports. Many Hindus consider
cows holy and as they form a majority of India's population of 1.2 billion,
that means more available beef for some of the country's minority Muslims and
Christians, as well as many lower-caste Hindus. The violence over this latest
incident even reached the national legislature, where lawmakers from Modi's
Hindu nationalist party punched and slapped a Muslim opposition politician in
disputed Kashmir, for serving beef in a government building. "I have done
nothing wrong," said Abdul Rashid Sheikh, the attacked politician. "I
consumed beef. It is my religious right and also my fundamental right." Damn
straight, Abdul……..
- Many
college athletes are thinking it at any time, but UCLA linebacker Myles Jack is
willing to say it. Jack, who suffered a season-ending knee injury two games
into his junior season, has already decided to leave UCLA and enter the 2016
NFL draft rather than rehab, stay in school while applying for a medical
redshirt and possibly have two more years of eligibility. In explaining why he
not only decided to bolt for the pros, but did so in such an expedited fashion,
Jack cited a truth that many college athletes can rally behind. "When you
see people making money off of your likeness and your name ... nobody else
wears No. 30 at UCLA. That jersey is mine," Jack said. “"I would like
to receive compensation for what I've done. That's definitely something you're
thinking about. I took all of that into consideration.” He went on to say that
he felt he “had done enough at UCLA” and now wants to focus on himself, on
getting healthy and getting his knee back in shape to be ready for the draft.
UCLA head coach Jim Mora has not-so-subtly questioned Jack’s decision, saying
in interviews he believes the decision is “risky” for the versatile junior, who
also played running back for the Bruins. Yet Jack projected to be a first-round
draft pick before the season and this wouldn’t be the first time an NFL team
took a major gamble on a top-tier talent coming off a devastating knee injury. “In
regards to my injury, I wanted to have the best training possible and put
myself in the best position to be ready for the combine,” Jack said. Everyone
out there who believes college athletes should be paid from the immense pool of
income their schools and the NCAA makes off their backs has to be roundly
applauding Jack on this one………..
- Bros
will be bros. Why does no one seem to understand that, instead insisting that
the guys with Greek letters on their chests even though they have barely gained
a functional understanding of English act like civilized, respectable human
beings with consciences, dignity and whatnot? The latest instance of a college
community getting all pissy with frat dudes simply for being frat dudes comes
to us from Bloomington, Indiana, where the charter of an Indiana University
fraternity has been revoked after a video surfaced showing members cheering on
a brother involved in a sexually explicit act with a woman. Let’s start with
the obvious. First, this was not a sexual assault heinously perpetrated on a
woman either drunk, drugged or otherwise incapacitated. Secondly, it was not an
encounter that an unsuspecting female had that she thought was private and didn’t
know was being filmed. Thirdly, the females in the video were not underage. So
with all of that in mind, why would the national organization of the Alpha Tau
Omega fraternity shut down the Indiana chapter following the release of the
"highly inappropriate and vulgar" video? According to the national
chapter's chief executive officer, Wynn Smiley, the man in the video was an
initiated member and the two women were exotic dancers hired by a frat member. In
other words, a frat bro got after it with a couple of strippers during an unauthorized
event involving about half the chapter membership. No one was forced to
participate in what happened in the video, but Smiley - not living up to his
name - deemed it “highly offensive." With the revocation of the charter,
the fraternity is closed immediately and both Alpha Tau Omega and the school seem
pretty proud of themselves. "Indiana University takes its responsibility
to foster a culture of care and respect among the students on its campuses extremely
seriously," the school said in a statement. Keep telling yourself that
this was some serious breach of that supposed culture, IU………
- There
is a vicious circle of parasitic behavior encircling the latest release by
country-pop starlet Taylor Swift and the real question is where it will end. First,
indie rock icon Ryan Adams did a full cover album of “1989” as a tip of the cap
to Swift, who called the cover project a dream come true due to her longtime
admiration for Adams. Had it ended there, it would have been a fairly
nondescript story, but of course, there’s more. Former Fleet Foxes member Father John Misty, formerly known as J. Tillman, made
headlines of his own for releasing cover version of Adams' covers of Swift,
which is kind of like a photo of a photo inside of a photo, but less
interesting. Misty covered Swift's 'Welcome To New York' and 'Blank Space' in
the style of The Velvet Underground after Ryan Adams released his Smiths and
Springsteen-influenced covers album, but later decided to take down his
versions for an unusual reason. He said that late rock legend Lou Reed appeared
to him in a dream, saying "Delete those tracks, don’t summon the dead, I
am not your plaything." Reed fronted The Velvet Underground, so his
ghostly presence clearly has the right to make such demands. "From
conception to it being a global news item was like an hour," Tillman said
of his covers album of a covers album, one he created despite allegedly never hearing
Swift’s originals. “I’m sure I’ve been walking by a Cinnabon or something at
the airport and heard it. On some level I knew that it would resonate. By the
time I got back to the bus that night, my TM [tour manager] was like, ‘It’s the
top trend on Facebook! It’s on USA Today!' And I was like, ‘This is
ridiculous,’ so I went and took them down.” What’s funny is that Tillman claims
to have received messages Swift's camp asking him to put the songs back online.
Now, who wants to cover Misty’s covers of Adams’ covers of Swift’s songs………..
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