- There
is simply something weird about having the dude who became famous playing a
mystical child wizard playing a character inspired by a man who leaked the
largest stash of top-secret government documents in recent American history. Yes,
in a casting twist no one saw coming, “Harry Potter” star Daniel Radcliffe will reportedly
portray former CIA employee and whistleblower Edward Snowden in an off-Broadway play. The play, titled “Privacy,” will open the Newman Theater in New
York on July 5 and run until August 7. According to a plot synopsis,
this Great White Way masterpiece will "explore
how technology and privacy relate in our current digital age, having been
inspired by the revelations of Edward Snowden.” Because you don’t want
to actually tell a literal story in a literal way, Radcliffe won't actually be playing
a character named Edward Snowden. Instead, he will
play a character inspired by Snowden, a role described as "a lonely man
who moves to a new city.” That’s opposed to the actual Snowden, who isn't so
much a lonely man who moves to a new city as a bold, daring whistleblower who
flees the United States, becomes the centerpiece of an international shell game
and ends up hiding out in Russia where he somehow becomes friendly with the
country’s despotic leader and may never actually be able to return to the
country from whence he came. Come to
think of it, though, that actual story could make for a pretty great Broadway musical
if anyone were daring enough to do it……..
- Stop standing
in the way of justice, Polish government. You might think your Constitutional Tribunal being stifled in doing its job is
no big deal because your repressive regime has it all under control. You would
be wrong, at least according to the European
Parliament, which has condemned Polish government policies, saying they
paralyze he top court and threaten Poland's democracy and the rule of law. A vote
earlier this week continued European Union pressure on Poland's conservative
government to find a solution to a political conflict surrounding the country’s
highest court by urging the Polish government to unblock the court by
publishing a recent ruling, something the government refuses to do. It’s not
the same as American legislators refusing to properly staff the United States’
highest court by merely DOING THEIR DAMN JOB AND GIVING A SUPREME COURT NOMINEE
AN ACTUAL HEARING, but it’s still an ugly scene. That ugly scene prompted the
EU parliamentary resolution, adopted by a 513-142 vote, which in turn drew
angry reviews from Poland's ruling party
lawmakers, who said it misrepresented the situation in Poland and sided with
Poland's opposition parties. Of course, the opposition chimed in with its view
that the vote was a sign that things are going in the wrong direction under the
current government. Not that the Polish government gives a damn, but the resolution
stressed all EU members must observe the bloc's values and principles. Sadly,
the Polish regime doesn’t appear to have much in the way of principles……..
- Put
those iPads down, NCAA football offensive coordinators and special teams
coaches. You may have thought you were going to get to use electronic devices such as laptop computers and tablets during
games starting next season, but you’re going to have to wait another year because
there is nothing - NOTHING - the NCAA likes more than stifling progress. Thus,
the NCAA football rules committee has postponed the use of such electronic
devices by coaches until 2017 just a month after that same damn committee
proposed allowing coaches' use of electronic devices in press boxes and in
locker rooms, but not on the sidelines, this season. Something known as an oversight
panel approved a request from the committee to delay implementation and
according to the NCAA, none of this is its fault. In a written statement, the
NCAA said after receiving feedback from coaches in Divisions I, II and III,
"it was decided more time was needed to develop guidelines that would
allow for consistent application of the rule, help manage the costs and to
provide time to see if any unintended consequences develop." Such as?
Something like an especially irresponsible graduate assistant hijacking the
iPad from the defensive coordinator at a crucial point in the game and using it
to send a sweet Snapchat to his girlfriend at the exact moment said defensive
coordinator is trying to use the device to review video so he can make a
crucial decision on what defense to call for the next play? Way to think ahead,
NCAA, and reverse field on something you yourselves initiated mere weeks
earlier……..
- The
only real question is how this didn’t happen sooner. Hearing that drug
smugglers are now using drones to carry drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border is
easily the least stunning news of this or any other year, so hopefully the Border
Patrol officials in the Yuma Sector who have reported at least three cases
where remote-controlled drones carried between 10 and 30 pounds of
illicit drugs into the United States weren't picturing themselves as
breaking any sort of earth-shattering story here. Wait….drug cartels that drop
drug packages from low-flying planes, build extensive tunnels under the border
and ferry their product across the border in vehicles using drug mules even
though they know some of their product will be found but will allow more of it
to get through in the process …. these people are taking advantage of unmanned,
inexpensive aerial vehicles to transport cocaine and marijuana across the
border? Hell, even Donald Trump’s mythical 50-foot wall couldn’t stop that sort
of chicanery. Drones were blamed in September when a 28-pound bundle of
marijuana valued at $10,000 fell through a carport roof in Nogales, Arizona. "Someone definitely made a mistake
and who knows what the outcome of that mistake might be for
them," Nogales Police Chief Derek Arnson said. Oh boy, a police chief
throwing shade with cryptic comments about some low-level cartel flunkie
getting an early, permanent retirement for effing up delivery. Border Patrol
officials in Yuma say the drones being used to transport narcotics typically
two to four feet wide, with some kind of basket attachment. Such drones
typically cost between $2,000 and $3,000 and a larger version, somewhere between
four and six feet wide, is capable of transporting more than 30 pounds and
flying three to four miles on a single battery. Officials suspect the drones
hauling larger bundles of drugs are likely the OctoCopter style with
eight blades, but the good news is that you can definitely take these
drones down with the eagles that Dutch police are training to take down
unmanned aerial vehicles, and wouldn’t you know it, the bald eagle is America’s
freaking national bird……….
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