- NBA
Twitter beefs. They’re a thing again. You might remember that back in April,
the Houston Rockets fired their social media manager for getting loose with a
tweet that featured a gun emoji next to a horse emoji - sending the message
that it’s off to the glue factory for Mr. Ed - to mock the rival Dallas
Mavericks after a Rockets win. Because teams’ social media accounts seem to be
one of the most poorly-guarded sources of potential public relations disasters,
such incidents are typically blamed on interns and lackeys, but they’re a
problem nonetheless and so the Los Angeles Clippers find themselves in the
midst of a Twitter sh*tstorm. Feeling mighty proud for a team that had just
lost 112-108 at Golden State, someone working for the Clippers decided to
soften the blow of losing to one of the team’s most-hated rivals by finding a
scapegoat and mocking that scapegoat for suffering an even uglier loss two
nights earlier. Enter the Memphis Grizzlies, who sustained a 119-69 ass-kicking
at the hands of those same Warriors on Monday. Following the Clippers’ loss,
their official Twitter account posted the losing score followed by the hashtag
#didntloseby50, referencing the Grizzlies' defeat. As always happens in such
situations, the tweet was soon removed because those responsible refuse to
admit or are simply ignorant of the fact that the Internet is in ink and
deleting a tweet or post does little good because screen captures exist and
allows those posts to live on forever in infamy. Grizzlies guard Tony Allen
called for the employee responsible for the tweet to be fired and teammate
Courtney Lee called it “childish,” but other than saying that the employee who
sent out the tweet was disciplined but not fired, the Clippers seem content to
let this one slide………
- Last
one out, turn of the lights in Bujumbura….assuming the power is still on and
there are lights to turn off. The impoverished nation in central Africa is not
a great place to be right now, which is probably why hordes of panicked people
are fleeing parts of its capital city ahead of a looming security crackdown
that has raised fears of a wave of killings. The panic is being driven by a government-issued
deadline to turn in illegal weapons or face extraordinary police action, a
deadline that inspired at the end of last week. Why is the government demanding
something that the Burundi N.R.A. - if trigger-happy gun-rights kooks formed
clubs in poor African countries - would find extremely offensive? Because the
United Nations estimates that at least 198 people have been killed in Burundi
since late April following President Pierre Nkurunziza’s announcement that his
bid that was ultimately successful for a third term in office. That news didn’t
sit well with a lot of people judging by the hot mess of homicides, which have
raised international concern. Nkurunziza has exacerbated tensions by telling police
to use all means necessary to restore order, which is a problem because most
observers place blame for the killings on those same security forces the
president is giving carte blanche in its efforts to restore order. It reeks of
a corrupt, tyrannical leader trying to silence all who would oppose his dubious
third term in office. Given that at least 13 people have died in the past week
and many of them have come from Bujumbura neighborhoods that are opposition
strongholds, this whole situation reeks………
- Nothing
says sincere apology quite like expressing contrition on camera. That apology
is even better when it comes from a mumbling, bumbling, drug-addled, worn-out
rock star whose level of mental competence is a fraction of what it used to be.
In other words, hope you enjoyed that bizarro moment you had recently with
Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne, who recently returned to the Alamo, the
very historical monument where
he was arrested in 1982 for public urination. The monument, one of the calling
cards for any visit to San Antonio, was formerly known as the site of a vital
battle in the Texas revolution, one that
saw the Mexican Army attack the Alamo Mission. In 1982, it became the place
where a rock star who was probably peaking on any number of illegal narcotics
at the time was arrested for leaving his hotel room to drink in his wife's
dress after Sharon Osbourne hid his clothes to try and prevent him going out,
getting liquored up and dropping trou to take a piss on history. He later
claimed - in a move that amazingly managed to make his gesture even more
offensive - that he thought the Alamo was merely a giant heap of trash. After
not making things any better, Osbourne was banned from ever playing in San
Antonio again, though he later had the ban lifted by donating a scant $10,000
to the group that runs and protects the monument. His most recent visit to the
site was with his rug-headed son Jack to formally apologize, albeit for a
television show that will air on History Channel. Then again, all of this is
drumming up more publicity for the Alamo and even though the apology was
probably slurred and mumbled to the point of indecipherability, it’s the
thought that counts………
- Stunning
news abounds in the world. In an age when government efficiency and efficacy
are qualities in abundance in every civilized nation around this spinning
sphere of ours, it’s simply shocking to hear that the brilliant bureaucrats of
the Federal Emergency Management Agency can’t adequately account for more than
70 percent of the money spent on fuel for New York in the aftermath of
Hurricane Sandy, the super storm that pounded the New York City area in October
2012. A federal audit released late last week found that FEMA spent $6.37
million for 1.7 million gallons of fuel as a gasoline shortage struck the storm
region, but there was "incomplete and questionable" documentation for
$4.56 million of that spending. An audit by the Office of Inspector General at
the Department of Homeland Security also revealed that $1.81 million worth of
fuel went to recipients outside the scope of work that FEMA established for the
crisis, so virtually all of that money spent either vanished into thin air or
was directed to people who weren't supposed to receive it. Bang-up work, FEMA.
To clarify, you ass hats can't be sure any of that fuel went to approved power
restoration or emergency public transportation work in New York and worse
still, FEMA officials agreed with all of the report’s recommendations, which
include recovering lost funds and devising new procedures. "FEMA concurred
with all of the OIG recommendations for rectifying the issues identified in
their recent report and improving mission assignment effectiveness going
forward,” a FEMA spokesperson said. “FEMA takes seriously its duty to ensure
fiscal responsibility during disaster relief operations, and has been
reimbursed by New York for more than $2.1 million." Yeah, saying that you “take
seriously your duty to ensure financial responsibility” rings somewhat hollow when
more than $6 million is wasted in the wake of a potent storm that knocked out
power to gas stations, caused widespread flooding and cut gasoline-supply lines
from ports. Not only did you fail to do what your name implies, manage problems
in the wake of emergencies, but you f*cked over a lot of people in the process………..
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