- This
one is almost too absurd to be false. Given the absolute battle that the issue
of homosexual rights has become around the world in every remotely civilized
country, it’s tough to imagine anyone with access to a television, computer,
tablet or smartphone being completely oblivious to the central elements of the
subject. Yet that’s the argument being used by a Saudi
doctor who was arrested and is facing a considerable amount of heat for flying
a rainbow pride flag above his home. How could anyone in a developed nation
make such an implausible argument, especially given that homosexuality is
illegal under Sharia law in Saudi Arabia and people involved in same-sex
relationships have been punished through execution, chemical castration and
imprisonment? The man insisted he had no idea about what the flag meant and
only purchased the flag online after one of his children found the colors
“pretty.” He was adamant that said he didn’t know it represented LGBT pride,
perhaps thinking of it as the flying fabric equivalent of a bag of skittles.
This resident of Jeddah was actually bailed out after an investigation from the
Saudi religious police and agreed to remove the flag. It was a wise move given
that he seems to be total oblivious and it will also clear the way for him to
proudly and boldly display his next purchase, that bitchin’ red flag with the
blue crossbars and white stars he will insist that he has no idea represents
the Confederacy in American Civil War times. There are clueless fools all
around us, world, and they’re in bountiful supply………
- Somehow,
“Kingsman 2” is a thing. Director Matthew Vaughn is plowing ahead with the
sequel to the 2015 original, a blundering, clunky action comedy in which Taron Egerton, Mark Strong, Colin Firth, Michael Caine and
Samuel L. Jackson anchoring a convoluted plot in which Jackson played a
megalomaniac billionaire hellbent on worldwide genocide. The movie wasn’t that
good or that funny, yet it managed to bank more than $400 million at the global
box office, becoming a surprise smash for 20th Century Fox. That made “Kingsman: The Golden Circle” an
inevitability and at long last, Vaughn has revealed not only the film’s title,
but a few plot teasers. In the totally unnecessary next chapter of this
franchise, Egerton's Eggsy and Strong's Merlin head to the United States to
work with the Statesmen, an American secret spy society whose headquarters are
disguised as a whiskey distillery. There, they will partner with the
organization’s leader, Ginger, played by Halle Berry, to combat a villain named
Poppy, played by Julianne Moore. "You
try not to read what people want, but they do want another church
sequence," Vaughn said. "I have no reason for another massacre to
happen. But I have other sequences you've never seen before." One person
who won't be around for the sequel - smart move - is Firth, while the rest of
the cast is largely a question mark at this point. As for explaining why this
franchise is still a thing….it’s based on a comic book - “The Secret Service” by Dave Gibbons
and Mark Millar and anything comic book-related is movie gold at this point……….
- If
three juries of people not smart enough to get out of jury duty can't deliver a
satisfactory result, then maybe it’s time to try something different. Calvin Harris - not the pop music artist and producer who
works largely with auto-tuned leading ladies like Ellie Goulding - is accused
of killing his estranged wife in 2001 when she came home late at night to the
home they shared with their four young children. He’s been put on trial three
times, with the results being mixed, but still unsatisfying to anyone who’s a
fan of, you know, actual justice being served in a guilty/not guilty kind of
way. Two previous convictions against Harris have been overturned and a third
trial last year crashed and burned when it ended in a hung jury. The key
stumbling block for prosecutors has been the always-pesky lack of a body in a
murder case, as Michele Harris' body has never been found. In spite of that
fact, a fourth trial for this accused killer will happen soon and this time,
the case will be heard by a judge, not a jury. To kick off the week, a state
judge granted the defense’s request for a non-jury trial as proceedings were
set to start in a Schoharie County court. This time around, the murder charge
will be considered by Judge Richard Mott, who will begin the trial Thursday.
The facts of the case haven't changed and Harris is still accused of murdering
his wife and disposing of her body, but the burden for deciding whether or not
he’s guilty will go from 12 bumbling fools who couldn’t simply pretend the jury
duty notice got lost in the mail to one guy who actually gets paid a handsome salary
to decide this sort of thing………
- Because
his other legal and disciplinary issues weren’t enough, why not add a disputed
traffic stop resulting in five citations - including one for drag racing - in
downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico for UFC star Jon Jones. Jones, who was pulled
over and cited in February for driving without a license, registration or proof
of insurance, was already under supervised probation as part of a plea
agreement he entered into in September stemming from a felony charge of leaving
the scene of a crash in April 2015. Oh, and he was
arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence after he crashed his
Bentley into a telephone pole in Binghamton, New York back in 2012 and tested
positive for metabolites of cocaine while training for his bout against Cormier
in December 2014, after which he was suspended by the UFC for “disciplinary
reasons.” He hasn’t had much of a defense for any of those missteps, but this
time he believes he does. Despite being cited for drag racing and four other
violations including equipment modifications, issue with a license plate
and failure to maintain a traffic lane, the former champion claims he’s
innocent. "I was not drag racing nor was I speeding. I did not get a
speeding ticket. I was driving within the speed limit of the 35 mph zone,"
Jones said in a statement. "I feel that police used a technicality to
ticket me for drag racing, for simply revving my engine and acknowledging some
of my local fans.” He claimed he said regrettable things to the officer, but
only after being informed of the drag racing charge. He and his white Corvette
will have their chance to clear their collective name in court, but it’s
unclear how these new citations might affect Jones' probation or his upcoming
bout with current UFC light heavyweight
champion Cormier at UFC 197 on April 23 in Las Vegas………
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