- Hawaii is supposed to be a chill, laid-back place people
go to escape the cares of everyday life. It’s not normally thought of as a
pioneering state tackling important social issues and setting the tone for the
other 49 states. Yet here we are, with the Aloha State on the verge of becoming
the first state in the United States to enter gun owners into an FBI database
that will automatically notify police if an island resident is arrested
anywhere else in the country. Stephen Fischer of the FBI's Criminal Justice
Information Services Division noted that the majority of those entered in the
"Rap Back" database elsewhere in the U.S. are those in
"positions of trust," such as school teachers and bus drivers, but so
far no one has added gun owners. Supporters of Hawaii doing so claim it would
make Hawaii a leader in safe gun laws, while opponents argue that they shouldn’t
have to worry about Big Brother peering over their shoulder wherever they go in
these here United States. State Sen. Will Espero introduced the bill and has
some big fans in the Honolulu Police Department, men and women who want to see
their state drop the hammer on those who want the right to carry a firearm
while also breaking the law wherever they go. Legal experts believe the bill
could face challenges, but would probably hold up in court. For now, the bill
will undergo a legal review process by departments including the Attorney
General's Office, which supported the bill, before Gov. David Ige decides if he
will sign it into law. On the upside, it’s a great excuse for the gun-hugging
kooks who run the NRA to write off their next tropical vacation as a trip to
fight anti-gun injustice wherever it lurks………
- How addictive are sequels, remakes and continuing
established movie franchises to anyone even tangentially connected to them?
Addictive enough that “Halloween” director John Carpenter is returning to be executive
producer on a new film in the franchise, marking his first association with the
franchise since 1981. Carpenter will team with “Black Swan” executive producer
David Thwaites for a reboot of the ‘chise, having directed and co-wrote the
original “Halloween” film in 1978 and co-produced “Halloween II” but smartly
going his own way after the first sequel. Six more movies continued in what
became a continuing saga, which n introduced masked slasher Michael Myers,
played by Nick Castle, with veteran horror actor Donald Pleasence as Myers’
arch enemy Dr. Loomis. “Thirty-eight years after the original Halloween, I’m
going to try to make the tenth sequel the scariest of them all,” Carpenter said
of his cash grab/comeback. Miramax previously vowed to find a director to fast-track
the project and who better to expedite the process than the guy who set this
ship sailing in the first place. Getting the fracnhsie back on track is
important because Myers didn’t even appear in “Halloween III: Season Of The
Witch” and more recently, there were two simply regurgitated versions of the
original two “Halloween films,” directed by heavy metal singer Rob Zombie.
Handing the franchise back over to someone who has a clue what he’s doing is
typically a solid choice, so props to Miramax on this one……..
- Beer is a big freaking deal in Europe. Germany has actual,
legally established standards for what can be called beer and places such as
Denmark, England and Ireland all take their brews seriously, so the European
Union's regulator giving a thumbs-up to the proposed merger of Anheuser-Busch
InBev and SABMiller definitely matters. The approval removes another hurdle for
the combination of the world's two biggest beer makers and although the deal is
conditional on selling practically the entire SAB beer business in Europe, that’s
a mere formality with this much money on the line. The approval from European
Commissioner Margrethe Vestager apparently will "ensure that competition
is not weakened in these markets and that EU consumers are not worse off,” but
this is little more than another instance of governments doing what’s best for
big business and figuring that will ultimately benefit everyone else.
Supporters of the change believe that it will ease concerns that AB InBev,
which makes Budweiser, would have a stranglehold on the European market. For
those who don’t know, SABMiller owns brands such as Miller, Peroni, Pilsner
Urquell and Grolsch and with Europeans buying around 125 billion euros ($140
billion) worth of beer annually, there are so many late-night drinking sessions
to be fueled that companies are going to do everything they possibly can to
conquer the market and boost their bottom line with whatever they can pass off
as beer……..
- In the end, isn’t self-esteem what this is all about? Sure,
Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy ripped running back Eddie Lacy after last
season for being overweight, suggesting that his portly ball carrier "cannot play at the weight he was at
[last] year," but is Lacy’s slimmed-down look at offseason team activities
really about shedding pounds to pleas his coach and win football games? The real motivation behind Lacy dropping as
many as 20 pounds so far and likely more to come through the magic of P90X
should be Lacy looking at himself in the mirror and feeling good about what he
sees….right? If that’s the true metric, then this weight-loss journey is already
a success. "I think I look good," Lacy said after the Packers' first
open organized team activity of the year. It was the first time he’d put his
new-look physique on display for the world to see and after playing somewhere
near 260 pounds last season, he seemed to be moving much better. After seeing
his production drop to 758 yards after consecutive 1,100-yard seasons to start
his NFL career, Lacy said he changed his eating habits and sought the guidance
of P90X founder Tony Horton. Doc Horton worked his magic and Lacy took his -
and McCarthy’s words to heart. "At the end of the day, we're all grown
men," Lacy said. "Whether he calls me out, I just have to take care
of that responsibility. You don't get mad or [lash] out or anything like that.
You just take it as it is what it is and make it go away. If he can continue on
his current trajectory and resemble an NFL running back instead of an offensive
tackle, then the Packers just might have themselves some realistic Super Bowl
hopes for the season ahead…….
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