- So if
your city is about to choose a new mayor and you’re a member of a political
party hoping to see its candidate elected, having that party linked to the
ugly, hateful plague that is anti-Semitism is less than ideal. That’s the
situation Senior Labour Party figures are
staring down right now ahead of Thursday's vote for a new mayor of London. The
party’s leaders are fighting back against charges there is anti-Semitism in their
ranks, accusing various groups and rivals of being responsible for the
allegations. Labour legislator Diane Abbott said the party is being smeared by
its political enemies, while union leader Len McCluskey whined - accurately so
- that the controversy is being exploited by the party’s rivals. Yes Len, when
a group is accused of being racist against Jews, other parties are going to
point to that fact and use it to their benefit. Labour Party mayoral candidate
Sadiq Khan isn't admitting that there is anti-Semitism in his party, but did
concede that the anti-Semitic issue has made his election campaign more
difficult in the final days before the vote. Denying the drama became much more
difficult late last week when former London Mayor Ken Livingston was suspended
from his senior Labour Party post after asserting that Adolf Hitler had been a
Zionist before he went mad and launched the Holocaust. Those remarks while
defending a Labour Party legislator who had been suspended for anti-Semitic
posts had the unintended effect of taking a drum of gasoline and an
industrial-strength flamethrower to a controversy that was already sizzling and
now, it’s going to create even bigger problems for this possibly racist outfit………
- It
has the potential to be the best second-round series in this year’s NHL
playoffs and that potential just got a massive boost - and a shot to the head -
courtesy of Washington Capitals defenseman Brooks Orpik. Orpik grabbed everyone
in the series’ attention in his team’s Game 2 loss when he knocked Pittsburgh
defenseman Olli Maatta out with a late hit to the head and when that led to a
confrontation with Maatta’s enraged teammates, he wasn't afraid to shove Kris
Letang in the face after the whistle. While Orpik didn’t answer any questions
after the game, the Penguins were more than happy to speak about what he did. “I
thought it was a late hit," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "I
thought it was a target to his head. I think it's the type of hit that everyone
in hockey is trying to remove from the game. That's how I saw it." The hit
had a bit of an extra edge because Orpik was a big part of the Penguins’ back-to-back Stanley Cup final runs in 2008
and 2009, and his physical play was a big part of that success. Letang made a
rather opaque threat about the physicality of the series after the game ended.
"I'm not there to judge about that. If they're going to let that go, it's
fine. It's going to be equal for every team,” Letang said. Orpik’s three-game suspension for the hit
from the league aside, him appearing to make contact with Maatta's head and being
given a two-minute minor penalty for interference walks that line between
extra-physical postseason hockey and dirty play, with one’s perspective on
where it falls along that line based heavily on whether that person is a
Penguins fan, Capitals fan or just likes seeing massive professional athletes
beat the hell out of one another……….
- Welcome
to the party, Oregon. It’s only natural that Washington’s southern neighbor
would want to increase its ganja street cred with its northern neighbors
quickly cultivating the makings of a stoner utopia, so the next logical step
came when the Oregon Liquor Control Commission approved its first large-scale
recreational marijuana growing permits at a special meeting. Eight businesses
are on the list for approval at least one of them, Hillsboro-based grow
operation Yerba Buena, currently grows chron for medical use. The business
already had its inspection and is raring to go. So are the other seven and like
pot-related businesses and initiatives in other states, these companies have
some celebrity clout behind their push. Two of those involved with businesses
expected to be granted licenses by the OLCC are John Plummer, an owner of the
popular music venue The Doug Fir, and Antonio Harvey, a Portland Trailblazers
broadcaster. Still, some of these entre-pot-neurs feel they will be fighting an
uphill battle at first because those who oppose their mission to bring
top-quality kush to the masses have spent recent years flooding the airwaves
with anti-marijuana public service announcements and trying to give the pot
industry a bad name. In an oddly transparent move, Harvey’s wife, Jennifer
Speer-Harvey, said her husband is associated with the business she runs with
her brother in name only, and will not be part of the business’ operations.
Yes, bringing the name value of a somewhat decent broadcaster for an NBA team
to the highly competitive world of retail Mary Jane, always an enormous edge in
this cutthroat world………
- Is
someone a bit jealous after seeing his old band put out new music with the new lead
singer they chose to replace him? Ex-Blink-182
member Tom DeLonge has moved on after a contentious ending to his tenure
fronting the pioneering pop-punk rockers and is currently directing a movie and
working with his band Angels And Airwaves, but after seeing Blink come back
with a new album featuring Alkaline Trio vocalist Matt Skiba, DeLonge sounds
like a man beginning to realize what he’s lost. With Blink slated to follow up
its reincarnated debut, “Bored to Death,” with a second album, titled ‘California,’
later this year, DeLonge wants everyone to know that he believes he still has a
future with the band - if they can make that “special something” happen again.
He addressed the topic in a lengthy Facebook post over the weekend. "I understand all the craziness out there in
Internet-land, it is an odd time for fans of the Blink-182 legacy, I know- it's
odd for me, too,” DeLonge wrote. “We DO have a future together if we want it,
but for now we are busy doing separate things. I look forward to my upcoming
film and music adventures, and a hell of a lot more... Maybe throw in a bit of
Blink-182, if we can build back that 'special something' that was once there?"
For good measure, he chipped in with a snarky, unprovoked side remark about not
agreeing with the new direction Blink-182 have taken their music, calling their
choice of 5 Seconds of Summer producer John Feldmann as "too far a
change" and an example of his and the band’s divergent musical
philosophies at this point………
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