Monday, May 30, 2016

Despots on trial, Jeremy Irons owns failure and stripper-on-stripper violence and justice


- Someone needs to tell Tennessee Titans veteran tight end Delanie Walker that the whole grizzled, hard-edged old-timer persona is tired and boring in professional sports. Trying to act like some incredibly accomplished, tenured icon who deserves to be respected and revered simply because you’ve scored a few touchdowns or signed a big contract is as ridiculous as can be and when it comes to Walker’s plans for interacting with his new, rookie teammates is ridiculous with a capital R. "I don't get to know anybody until they make the team," Walker said. "I talk to them, but they might not be here. There ain't too much I need to learn from them till they make the team. That's everybody. Anyone that's a rookie. You've got to earn the right. These rookies come in nowadays, stuff's given to them. I'm not going to be your friend until you make the team." Hey D., you were drafted in the sixth round by the San Francisco 49ers in 2006, so you and your  two-year extension signed this offseason that will keep you with the Titans through 2018 means you have a job, not the task of pretending to be some high and mighty dude who’s simply too busy or too big to be bothered with chatting up a few lowly rookies during offseason activities. Don’t be a jerk, don’t ignore them and quit pretending that being a 10-year veteran means you’re a made man. “They don't talk to me at all. Not at all," Walker said of the rookies. "I'm a good dude, but they know. You've got to make the team first.” Whatever makes you feel special, D……..


- You just hate to see it end like this, but stripper-on-stripper crime is just a reality of this harsh, cruel world in which we live. Sometimes, one pole-working skank with a drug habit and daddy issues not only commits an act of violence on one of her fellow G-string-wearers, but she also flees the country and tries to take her skin-bearing act on the run to stay a step ahead of the law. Meet former Providence, Rhode Island, resident Katherine Pimental, who was arrested last week and returned to Massachusetts, where she's facing charges stemming from a July 2007 stabbing of a fellow dancer at a Dartmouth strip club. Following her stripper shanking, Pimental allegedly fled the United States more than six years ago on the eve of her trial for armed assault and when she didn't show up for court on the day her trial started in December 2009, it didn’t seem like the sort of fugitive tale that would take police the better part of a decade to solve. Yet a woman who made her living letting strangers stuff $1 bills down her underwear was able to successfully evade the long arm of the law for seven long years. Now, she’s back and facing new charges in addition to those from attacking her old co-worker, leaving her with severe injuries to her face and arm. It’s a messy situation and it brings some tarnish to what is a truly valued and respected profession that brings so much joy to so many people on a daily basis………


- Thank you for your honesty, Jeremy Irons. Admitting that “Batman vs. Superman: Dawn Of Justice” deserved its poor reviews is a solid gesture - just not as solid as offering to personally refund the ticket purchase of every person who forked over $12 to see that cinematic tire fire. The Oscar-winning Irons plays Batman's butler Alfred Pennyworth in the superhero mash-up , which has banked an amazing $870 million globally despite totally sucking on nearly every level. In response to its 27-percent Rotten Tomatoes rating and general hatred from critics and movie fans like, Irons called the movie "muddled" and "overstuffed” and owned the fact that critics have panned nearly everything about the movie, including his performance. "Deservedly so. I mean it took $800 million, so the kicking didn't matter but it was sort of overstuffed,” Irons said. “It was very muddled. I think the next one will be simpler. The script is certainly a lot smaller, it's more linear." Oh, so the first one that people already paid to see sucked, but you’re totally going to make up for it next time - and yes, there will be a next time because #Hollywood and because Irons also confirmed that he will appear in future installments of the franchise. “I'm tied into The Batman at the minute, which is nice because it's a bit of income,” Irons said, adding that nice dose of honesty that comes with owning the fact that you took a sh*tty role in a terrible film because they paid you a hell of a lot of money to do so. Irons can  next be seen as Pennyworth in “The Justice League Part One,” which is due out next year………


- Who saw this coming? Could anyone have predicted that a judge would find Chad's former dictator Hissene Habre guilty and sentence him to life in prison for crimes against humanity, war crimes and torture? It’s not as if there was ample evidence that Harbe was responsible for some 40,000 deaths during his rule, other than 40,000 people dying during his rule, a truth commission report and plenty of witnesses. Sure, the  ex-dictator has denounced his trial on war crimes charges as being politically motivated, which is actually fitting because so was his mini-genocide of the people who opposed his oppressive regime. Judge Gberdao Gustave Kam delivered the verdict and sentence inside a packed courtroom, most of which was not exactly a cheering section there to root for an unlikely upset victory for the former despot as he tried to avoid accountability for his crimes against humanity. It was indeed a landmark trial and result, as it’s the first time one country has tried the former leader of another for crimes against humanity. The Extraordinary African Chambers was formed by Senegal and the African Union to try Habre, who has lived in Senegal's capital since fleeing Chad in 1990, and Senegal deserves credit for delivering a swift kick in the ass for the sake of justice to a man who showed incredibly little regard for human life, fairness, common decency and respect for his fellow man for so many years. Habre may not have liked how it turned out, but he’s still receiving a far fairer deal than the tens of thousands of people who lost their lives at the hands of his regime during his tyrannical reign of terror…….

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