- What’s
the point of behind the mayor of a relatively anonymous town in Kentucky if you
can’t extort convicted criminals for sexual favors? There is no real glory in
presiding over a place like Shepardsville in and of itself and whether you
serve as mayor for one term or for decades, neither the modest financial
compensation nor the recognition you receive from citizens is enough to make a
man or woman want to sacrifice countless hours of their time in the name of
civil service. Shepherdsville Mayor Scott Ellis knows this well and has clearly
known it for some time, which is why he’s been at the center of an
investigation for convincing a parolee with a drug conviction on her record to
perform sexual favors for him in his office. Ellis had been indicted for
solicitation of prostitution, but managed to get those charges dropped even
though he admitted to using his position to get sexual favors from a woman on
parole. Ellis, ever the slimy politician, claims he was coerced into confessing
to Bullitt County Sheriff’s detective Lynn Hunt that he did have oral sex with
a woman on parole for a drug conviction. Authorities discovered Facebook
messages between Ellis and the woman documenting favors taking place between
June and December 2014. According to prosecutors, Ellis paid $40 to $60 for the
parolee’s tanning bed visits, promised a pardon for her convictions and called
an apartment complex on her behalf. In return, he received oral sex from her in
his office, although last year he insisted he never had any sexual relationship
with the parolee and only gave her $20 for her parole supervision fee as a
friend. Yes, the ol’ mayor-convict BFF arrangement. But….the Facebook messages.
“What I meant by you need something
and I need something. Is you needed money for your phone and I needed a bj or
sex (sic),” Ellis wrote in an October 2014 message. Among the mayor’s other
lies were that he promised to try to get the woman a pardon “just to shut her up.” In the end, having
sex behind his desk in his office seems to speak loud enough……….
- It’s
time to dive into who’s been trying to game the international sporting
community through doping. The game never really ends and when the conversation
stops, it’s typically because the world gets tired of talking about it for a
bit. Russia was in the crosshairs a few months ago and has promised to combat
widespread, systematic doping in its track and field program, so let’s all
shift our attention to China. The International Association of Athletics
Federations, track’s governing body, is investigating the authenticity of a
two-decade-old letter suggesting state-sanctioned doping in the 1990 and
putting longstanding world records set by Wang Junxia in the women's 3,000 and
10,000 meters in doubt. If Wang is found to have doped, the former Olympic and
world champion could have her records annulled. She reportedly penned a letter,
signed by nine other members of coach Ma Junren's training program, in 1995 in
which she revealed that athletes were forced to take banned substances and that
Ma injected athletes. "It's all true that Coach Ma had beaten, verbally
abused and mistreated us for years," said the letter, dated March 28,
1995. "It's also true that he had coaxed or forced us into using large
quantities of banned drugs.” In the letter, Wang said it was necessary to bring
the misdeeds to light “because we don't want to see the same thing to happen to
the next generation.” The IAAF acknowledged the letter and said it has asked
the Chinese Athletics Association to assist with an investigation to verify if
the letter is legit. All of this is tied to a recently published chapter about
Ma's track team, a chapter that had been banned for years but was printed in
2014 when publishing authorities allegedly believed the Chinese public would be
able to accept the scandal. Of course, Wang tried to cover her tracks by denying
doping in 2008 and crediting her record performances to her youth, health and a
brutal training regimen.………
- Don’t
think the Dutch are a bunch of tulip-sniffing stoners who ride bikes everywhere
they go and power their entire country with historic windmills. Those are ugly
stereotypes and ignore the fact that although small in size, the Netherlands is
a country with great ideas and forward thinkers. Ask yourself this question:
Has anyone else come up with a great, low-tech way to combat the growing menace
that is rogue drones wreaking havoc in skies around the world? No, they
haven't, but Dutch police have and they’re looking to bring a "low-tech
solution to a high-tech problem” by utilizing eagles against unauthorized
drones. With help from the Hague-based raptor security firm Guard From Above,
police are training eagles to spot and take down the drones. A video released
by the police shows two eagles in a warehouse with their handlers, taking out
drones in the air, although the video itself does have a bit of a staged feel
to it because in the video, the drones are slightly smaller than the birds,
which makes it seem like this was all set up to make these birds look good.
Will they still fare well against larger drones? "These birds are used to meeting
resistance from animals they hunt in the wild, and they don't seem to have much
trouble with the drones," Guard From Above representative Sjoerd
Hoogendoorn said. The first step is training the birds to recognize drones as
prey, but a close second is fighting off the animal rights kooks who worry
that the birds' drone-killing could
affect their welfare. At least one scientific research group is doing research
to determine whether this is the case, but experts contend that the eagles'
sharp eyesight and sense of timing should protect them from harm. In other
words, let the battle in the skies commence………
- Here’s
hoping Stone Temple Pilots know what they’re doing…. and that they don’t pull
an INXS on this one. The ‘90s rockers who are still around and trying to cling
to a shred of relevance recently dealt with the surprising death of former
frontman Scott Weiland and although the mercurial rocker had been gone from the
band for some time, his death in December was still a shock. In recent times,
STP had used Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington (or co-frontman, as
Bennington is the group’s designated screamer while Mike Shinoda is the other
frontman and designated rapper) as its leader singer, but Bennington already
has a gig and has announced his intentions to go back to whatever the hell it
is that Linkin Park has devolved into. That leaves STP with both a lingering
sadness about Weiland and a need for a new lead singer, prompting the band to
post instrumental-only versions of their tracks 'Interstate Love Song,’
'Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart' and 'Vasoline' to their website with an
invitation for every world-be rock star in the world to put their own spin on
the tunes vocally. “We've already heard from many talented people, but want to
make this an opportunity for many more so we've set up a way for you to do just
that,” the message reads. "We are officially announcing that we are
seeking a new vocalist to front Stone Temple Pilots. If you think you have what
it takes to front this band, record with this band, and tour with this band, we
would dig hearing from you. No one will ever "replace" Scott, that
was never the intent. The intent is for Stone Temple Pilots to continue on, to
evolve, and to do what we do... make music! We look forward to seeing
you." At least they’re not hosting a reality show to find a new singer, as
INXS did, but it’s hard to see this one not ending badly for all involved………
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