Saturday, March 12, 2016

Defending Mo Farah, Bolivian marching powder on the beach and One Direction + World War II


- Ain't nothing gonna slow down the communists when it comes to beefing on their arsenal for whatever war their leader may start next with his unquenchable thirst for invasion, expansion and annexation. As should be expected of him, Russian despot/President Vladimir Putin says Russian military's arms modernization program won't be affected by budget cuts prompted by the country's economic problems. Putin addressed a meeting with top military officials and told them that last year, their outfit received hundreds of new aircraft, missiles and armored vehicles as part of an ambitious weapons upgrade. According to the despot, the Russian military last year received 96 new warplanes, 81 helicopters, 152 air defense systems and 291 radars among other weapons. During his address, Putin said Russia's arms industries have significantly reduced their reliance on imports, but lamented the fact that they still remain dependent on some foreign-made components. In the spirit of fortifying their communist regime from within, the dictator urged the industries to move more quickly to develop production of local substitutes. Putin cited new Russian weapons’ role during Moscow's air campaign in Syria, a campaign with dubious motives and questionable results. Still, there is definitely something to be said for being committed to who you are and pursuing those aims with the sort of dogged determination with which Russians typically chase their next bottle of premium vodka or a quality insulated hat ahead of their 10-month winter……..


- One would suspect director Christopher Nolan knows exactly what he’s doing and the massive group of fans he’s drawing in with one specific casting choice for his new film “Dunkirk.” Nolan has cast One Direction member Harry Styles in the World War II thriller, which will also include Tom Hardy, Mark Rylance and Kenneth Branagh. Combining an overly coiffed man-bander in a movie about one of the darkest, bloodiest and ugliest conflicts in world history doesn’t seem like a logical match, but bringing in Styles immediately brings the attention of the millions of shrieking, irrational and mostly teenaged females who rabidly follow One Direction’s every move. The film is based on a real-life WWII military operation known as Operation Dynamo, which saw a fleet consisting of over 800 boats racing to perform a miraculous evacuation of the French seaport Dunkirk that saved the lives of 335,000 Allied soldiers trapped in a harbor surrounded by the Nazi army. Think of it as another take on the “Saving Private Ryan” concept, only on a much larger scale and with a cast member whose primary talent is getting his voice auto-tuned over top overly produced, manufactured pop music while dancing in unison with three or four other dudes so high school girls can enjoy the show. “Dunkirk” is set for release next July and as of now, it’s not known which character Styles will portray. If there is any justice in the world for those who can’t stand the steaming, stinking piles of monkey crap One Direction calls music, it will be a character who meets a swift and bloody ending………


- When people say that something is like a day at the beach, they rarely mean laying on the sand and watching more than 50 pounds of the Colombian nose candy washing ashore. Depending on who discovers this bounty of blow, it could be the best day ever. Sadly, that does not appear to be the case for two beachgoers strolling down a beach on Jupiter Island, Florida when they stumbled upon bricks wrapped in black and plastic wrap. Rather than see a chance to have themselves an epic party or even make some quick cash, this duo of squares called the Martin County Sheriff’s department. The law responded to the scene and determined that the find contained about $600,000 worth of cocaine in terms of wholesale value and a possible street value of $2 million. While the finders may not have had the means or street knowledge to capitalize on that street value, they could have at least made a run at finding a buyer and scoring enough money for a nice new house or a luxury car or two. Law enforcement noted that this find - although they are unsure of the drugs’ origin and who the intended recipient of the shipment was - indicates traffic routes have not changed and major amounts of the Bolivian marching powder are still flowing into south Florida on a regular basis. That’s stunning because it’s not as if Miami with all of its clubs and nightlife has ever been known as a place where the rich and elite come to party and go face down on a few lines of the best powder they can find. Maybe next time 25 kilograms of coke wash up on a beach, some of those people will find it instead of some total squares with no sense of what fun actually is……..


- If we’re hearing from one of the best distance runners in the world and people are actually paying attention, it must be a Summer Olympics year. Normally, Mo Farah saying he would love to put himself forward for daily drug testing to prove he is a clean athlete would matter only to the running community and not beyond that niche, but since the world’s best athletes will gather in Brazil this summer, the double Olympic champion's words have more traction. Oh, and there’s the fact that Farah’s coach Alberto Salazar and training partner Galen Rupp are currently the focus of an investigation by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, so that factors into. As Farah tells it, he’s willing to go to great lengths to prove that he doesn’t dope. He’s even willing to have an electronic tag fitted to track his every move. "I would love that," Farah said, "I would be the first to put my hand up for that. Tag me, test me, every day." In the next breath, however, Farah expressed complete trust in Salazar despite the coach being in USADA’s crosshairs. The World Anti-Doping Agency responded to Farah’s remarks by saying its testing program is already strong and suggesting that it didn’t need to implant any tracking devices in athletes or have an agent knocking on Farah’s door or hassling him in the locker room for a urine sample every day. In other words, it was a great offer from Farah because it has no chance of actually happening but it draws a lot of attention to him and makes him look better when it comes to any allegations of doping that might be made against him………

No comments: