- Rarely
has a person receiving reward money for assisting police in finding wanted
criminals needed the money more than Matthew
Hay-Chapman. The homeless man with two names and a need for one big break lives
in San Francisco, but his $100,000 reward will come because he helped police
track down two Orange County fugitives. The Orange County Board of Supervisors
voted to give Hay-Chapman $100,000 of
the $150,000 reward that was set for the arrest of the two escaped prisoners,
county spokeswoman Jean Pasco said. The only thing keeping Hay-Chapman from a
$150,000 payday is the two Target employees and a man whose van was stolen by
the two escapees, with that trio splitting the remaining $50,000. “He said he
had a duty to bring these individuals back into custody,” Orange County
Supervisor Todd Spitzer said. “That was really cool. A lot of people are afraid
if they participate, they will get hurt.” Really cool? Are you the Orange
County supervisor or a spring-breaking college bro chillaxin’ at Venice Beach?
Then again, in Orange County, maybe everyone talks that way. Hay-Chapman
spotted Hossein Nayeri, Jonathan Tieu and Bac Duong weeks after they escaped
from Central Men’s Jail in Santa Ana on Jan. 22 and were the subject of a
nationwide manhunt. Hay-Chapman spotted Nayeri and Tieu in San Francisco and
recognized their stolen GMC van from news reports. He then narced them out to
local law enforcement, leading to their arrest. Duong was arrested in Orange
County a day before when he surrendered to police. The escape from prison also
impacted Armando Damian, a Los Angeles man who posted his van for sale on
Craigslist and in a shocking turn, had someone steal his van after taking it
for a test drive. All in all ,a truly stunning tale………
- The
number of Cuban stars in Major League Baseball remains relatively small, but
perhaps that number is about to take a leap. Thanks to President
Barack Obama's administration breaking down more of the U.S. trade embargo on
Cuba, the road has been paved for more Cuban athletes to one day play in MLB
and other U.S. professional sports. The wink-wink alterations also turn a ban
on U.S. tourism to Cuba into an unenforceable honor system and all of this just
happened to go down five days ahead of the first presidential trip to Havana in
nearly 90 years. Perhaps feeling like there is little left to lose in the last
year of his presidency, Obama also eliminated a ban on Cuban access to the
international banking system. "The simple basis of our policy is that by
loosening these restrictions, we are better able to engage with the Cuban
people, to support them and to build bridges between our two countries,"
deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said. "We deeply believe that
this is in America's national interest." The fact is that Cuba has always
churned out quality baseball talent, but it trickled into the U.S. slowly as
players defected and put their fate in the hands of all manner of shady
characters and harebrained schemes to ferry themselves across the sea to
Florida. Many jumped ship and sought asylum in intermediary countries when
playing in tournaments abroad, but now they can have a much clearer path to
America - as long as they don't pay
special taxes in Cuba. The new rules specifically mention athletes, artists and
performers as potential beneficiaries and until now, only Cubans who had begun
the process of emigrating to the U.S. could legally earn money in the United
States beyond a small living stipend. MLB is negotiating with both the U.S. and
Cuban government to create a legal means for Cuban baseball players to play in
the U.S. without having to abandon their country, so this song and dance is far
from over……….
- Riot
Watch! Riot Watch! Peru is the place to be right now if you’re pissed at those
in power and while a bigger crowd would have been nicer, it was awesome to see
hundreds of people march in Peru's capital for the
second time in under a week to protest the presidential candidacy of the
daughter of imprisoned former leader Alberto Fujimori. Lima was lit up because
center-right politician Keiko Fujimori is leading in polls ahead of next
month's presidential election, proving that countries can be as horrified of
someone running to lead their country as most Americans are of Donald Trump.
Opposition groups are demanding Fujimori be disqualified on allegations of
vote-buying after one of her strongest rivals was tossed from the race last
week by electoral authorities in a ruling questioned by international observers
and President Ollanta Humala. Fujimori’s father is imprisoned for authorizing
death squads and corruption committed during his decade-long rule in the 1990s
and his daughter narrowly lost the 2011 presidential race to Humala, so she’s
vying once more for the right to terrorize the people of Peru. Her continued candidacy
inspired around 2,500 people to march in downtown Lima in what turned out to be
a sadly peaceful gathering that didn’t feature a single Molotov cocktail, overturned
police car in flames or any dumpsters or piles of tires set ablaze. Next time,
Peruvian dissidents, if you really want to make an impact on the political
process, then you need to make it look like you are simultaneously attempting
to burn your own city to the ground while you’re using the attention that sort
of activity draws to get out whatever message you feel so strongly that the
world needs to hear. As always, if you’re not willing to riot an rage for your
cause, then your cause must not be worth that much to you……….
- Could
the next James Bond prefer an icy cold Guinness or a shot of Jameson instead of
the same old, tired shaken martini? If rumors are true that Irish actor Aidan
Turner is in talks to take over from Daniel Craig as the lead figure in the iconic James Bond franchise,
then it might be time to break out the badass accent, wolf down some black
pudding and stir that Irish stew. The Dublin-born actor has previously starred in
films such as “The Hobbit” and
in TV shows like “Being Human,”
Poldark” and “Desperate Romantics” and recently
flew to Los Angeles for further talks about taking over the Bond mantle. Craig
has vacillated back and forth on continuing in the iconic role in recent
months, at times suggesting that he would rather do bodily harm to himself than
keep playing the super spy. Rumors about who might replace him have run
rampant, with Idris Elba sparking arguably the most talk in large part due to
the fact that a few select ignoramuses still have an issue with a black man
playing a role that has been exclusively staffed by white dudes up to this
point. Casting Turner would very much fit into the Bond mold and not come
remotely close to treading any new ground, meaning in other words that it’s the
most likely choice. Friends have recently added to the speculation that Craig
is indeed ready to relinquish the role, so Turner’s alleged arrival in L.A. is
merely the latest piece of evidence that the transition is underway………
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