- Put
those axes down, Albania. Your government is watching you - yes, a creepy
thought - and more specifically, they’re watching what you’re doing to the
trees all around you. The Albanian Environment
Ministry relayed the news late last week that the country’s parliament threw
down the environmental gauntlet by passing a 10-year moratorium on chopping
down trees for industry or export purposes. Spokeswoman Ana Kekezi laid out the
edict, which dictates that only local authorities can approve limited wood-cutting
for heating. The idea of folks sneaking out in the middle of the night with an
ax and a flashlight, sneaking deep into the woods to take down that mighty
poplar or oak in the name of keeping their home warm for the evening is mildly
amusing, but parliament was clearly not amused by the fact that Albania's 3.5
million acres of forests have been savagely cut or burnt over the past 26 years
since the fall of the communist regime. Yes, there is actually a part of the
country that is worse off after communism came to an end. But that tends to be
the end result with unchecked foresting in which an average of 2.5 million
trees have been chopped down each year. Environment Minister Lefter Koka
explained that the "extreme decision on this moratorium" came after
recent measures failed to stop loss of forest, one of the main reasons for
floods throughout the country in recent years. It’s only a matter of time
before law enforcement is going door to door, seizing unlicensed chainsaws and
counting rings in a felled tree to see if it was cut down illegally……..
- Marvel
is slowly trying to take over television. Try to list all of the Marvel shows
currently on the air - “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” “Agent Carter” and the like -
and you may run out of breath, but there’s always room for more and that’s why
FX is jumping into the fray with “Legion.” The show is still in the works, but
has added “Downton Abbey” actor Dan Stevens and “Parks And Recreation” star Aubrey Plaza to its cast. "Diagnosed
as schizophrenic at a young age, David is a haunted man, trying to find his way
back to sanity, but he's getting tired and is about to give up when he meets
the girl of his dreams,” the network said of Stevens’ character. Plaza will play David's friend Lenny, a junkie/alcoholic
who "knows that any day now her life is gonna turn around, which gives
Lenny the likeable energy of the impossible optimist despite her rough
demeanor." Stevens will play David Haller, who is the son of X-Men's Professor X alongside Plaza
and “Fargo” actress Jean Smart as Melanie, a "nurturing, demanding
therapist with a sharp mind and unconventional methods." Another “Fargo”
cast member, Rachel Keller, has already cast as the show's female lead Syd, a
street-smart, tough woman with a prickly demeanor but who is a softie at heart.
This future fanboy favorite is being helmed by Noah Hawley, creator of the “Fargo” TV series, along with “X-Men”
creative team members Simon Kinberg, Lauren Shuler Donner and Bryan Singer as
executive producers. FX still hasn’t fully committed to the series, but will
film a pilot episode next month and make a decision on ordering a full series
based on what it sees………..
- Does
no one else see logic where everyone else sees sheer stupidity and
short-sightedness by East Texas resident Courtney Cordell Wheat? Wheat, perhaps
seizing on the news that unemployment in the United States has dipped below 5
percent and there are more employment chances to be had than at any point in
the past few years, took a solid step forward this week when he applied for a
job at the local taco joint. Wheat filled out an application at the Taco Bueno
in Kilgore, which is the one part of his evening with which no one can really
quibble. What happened from there is a matter of dispute and that dispute
involves Wheat, the owner of a rather old Nissan 280 Z and the Kilgore
Police Department. See, after exiting the restaurant and leaving behind a document
upon which he had written his name and plenty of personal information, Wheat
headed out into the parking lot and realized he needed a way to get home. How
he got to the restaurant - by bus, perhaps, or maybe walking - wasn’t going to
do for the commute home and so he spotted the aforementioned 280 Z that
unfortunately belonged to Brandon Jones. Jones went back inside the
restaurant because some of his food was left out of his order and from there,
well, sh*t went south. “I ran back up there and didn’t think anything about it.
Left it running right there by the door so I could get his food and come home
and eat,” Jones said. Wheat allegedly tried unsuccessfully tried to break the
car window and somehow forced his way inside the car. Jones saw what was happening
and confronted Wheat, but the would-be taco maker got away and evaded a manager
at the restaurant when the man tried to follow him. Police had no trouble
finding their suspect’s identity. “Who goes and applies for a job and then
steals a car in the parking lot?” asked police department spokesman Roman
Roberson. Wrong question, R-squared. Salute this man for realizing that if he
was going to have a job, he needed a dependable way to get to that job.
Besides, Wheat was soon located along with his “borrowed” new car at a Budget
Inn on Highway 80. He was summarily booked into the Gregg County Jail for
unauthorized use of a vehicle and is now staring down a possible two-year
prison sentence……….
- The
ages-old question has finally been answered: What exactly does it take to
convince a college football program to give up on a talented recruit who is
clearly not the best guy in terms of character? In the case of the Missouri
Tigers, the answer is being involved in multiple incidents with the mother of
his child within the last year, the latest of which has kept him in jail since
Jan. 25 and prevented him from signing his letter of intent with the Tigers.
While his peers were appearing on ESPN and spraying images and videos from
their signing events across social media, linebacker recruit Marvin Terry was
appearing in a holding cell in Dallas County Jail on a bond of $34,500.
According to a Dallas County arrest warrant, Terry was arrested for an alleged
incident involving the woman, who claimed he struck her with his fists several
times, kicked her in the ribs and threatened her life. That came just months
after Terry allegedly pushed the woman July 9, when she was eight months
pregnant. With all of that in the crock pot, the stew smelled bad enough that Missouri
and coach Barry Odom no longer have interest in signing Terry, a four-star
recruit out of South Oak Cliff High in Dallas. Terry was ranked among the top
25 linebackers nationally by multiple recruiting services, but being set to be
arraigned on one count of "assault causes bodily injury family violence”
tends to hamper a recruit’s appeal. Given that last week, Odom dismissed
quarterback Maty Mauk for "violating team rules” shortly after the release
of a video on social media showing a person believed to be Mauk appearing to
snort a white, powder-like substance, bringing in another guy with serious
character issues proved to be a bit too much for the newly minted head coach to
accept………
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