- The European Union may have suffered a major setback last
week with the United Kingdom’s vote to exit its little governance club, but
that doesn’t mean it’s stopped doing business. No, the EU is still in business
and it’s top official in Macedonia has expressed "serious concern"
over the lack of progress in overcoming the country's enduring political
crisis, which was triggered by a wiretapping scandal. Aivo Orav, who leads the
EU delegation in Macedonia, said the organization "is seriously
concerned" over the situation and, "regrettably" has not seen
much progress. That seems like a fair description in a country that has been
drowning in political turmoil for 15 months and counting in the wake of opposition
allegations that the governing conservatives illegally wiretapped about 20,000
people, including judges, police, politicians, foreign diplomats and
journalists. A good internal espionage controversy is always fun to watch, but
maybe no so much for those on the inside. Earlier this year, the country's top
politicians agreed to an EU-brokered deal under which then-Prime Minister
Nikola Gruevski stepped down. The idea was to clear the way for early elections
to seek new, non-corrupt leadership for Macedonia, but those early elections
have already been postponed twice and the various dueling political parties in
the mix have yet to agree on anything remotely resembling a date to hold the
vote. Now, the EU is concerned that its deal will fall apart and those fears
appear to have some validity……….
- Behold, the monsoon of cash that is swamping the NBA in a
rain of green when it meets the El Nino that is the influence of winning a
championship on the value of members of said title team. Oh, and mixed with the
worth of a person winning life’s genetic lottery by being born and growing into
a 7-foot-tall human being. Free-agent center Timofey Mozgov has reached a
verbal agreement on a four-year deal worth $64 million with the Los Angeles
Lakers, proving that a dude who played a combined 25 minutes in the Cleveland
Cavaliers’ seven-game Finals win over the Warriors can still make $16 million a
season if he’s really tall and the NBA’s salary cap goes up by $20 million or
so. The 7-foot-1 center averaged 10.6 points and 6.9 rebounds in 46 games
during the 2014-15 season and started all 20 games during the postseason, in
which Cleveland lost to the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals. However,
his role shrunk drastically this season and he averaged just 6.3 points and 4.4
rebounds during the regular season and just 1.2 points in 5.8 minutes during
the postseason. Being Timofey Mozgov was arguably the best job in the world in
June, when he did nothing at all on game nights and was still making seven
figures annually. Now, he’s upping his net work significantly AND he gets to
live and work in sunny Southern California? Not bad for a tall, fairly
uncoordinated Russian who speaks barely functional English and rode every other
Cavalier’s coattails to a championship ring……..
- Verrrrry clever, Utah resident and all-around tool Chris
Sevier. Sevier, who really wants to make the point that he doesn’t agree with
same-sex couples having the right to marry, wants to wed his computer to make a
social point. "This is not a game, OK, this is not some kind of funny
scenario," Sevier said. No, it’s not a game. Just a really stupid,
small-minded publicity stunt by an ass hat who should be able to find a
thousand better, more eloquent ways to make his point - or he would be if he didn’t
have the same IQ as the power cord that provides electricity to his computer. Sevier
went to Utah County Clerk Bryan Thompson to ask for a marriage license, but
Thompson turned him away for reasons that really aren't that difficult to
fathom. "In this day and age nothing surprises me anymore," Thompson
said. "I’ve been in this office long enough, I’ve seen lots of different
things, but I just said, 'No, I legally cannot do that.'" Not to be denied
in his quest for more publicity, Sevier named Thompson, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert,
and Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes in the case filed in district court,
arguing that since it's legal for same-sex couples to marry, all other forms of
marriage should be legal too. In his world, legalizing same-sex marriage is
like turning religious beliefs into law because there's no scientific proof
that homosexuality is a genetic trait. "There is no real proof that there
is a gay gene," he said. "There is no real proof that people are born
gay." That’s your belief, and you’re entitled to it, but (no) credit for
saying that if the Supreme Court nullifies its ruling and redefines marriage as
a union between a man and woman, he would no longer want to marry his computer.
Keep being a tool, bro, and don’t let anyone talk you out of it………
- World, prepare to be stunned. Bon Iver frontman/über-hipster
Justin Vernon is throwing a hissy fit and raging against something popular. Vernon’s
latest target for his snarky rage is Apple Music, the streaming service that
launched one year ago and surpassed 10 million subscribers in January of this
year. Apple’s foray into the streaming world had a rough start, battling
through rumored plans to include not paying artists for listens during a subscribers'
unpaid trial period and prompting an open letter from Taylor Swift to the
company shortly before the launch that changed Apple’s mind. That led to a
surge in subscriptions, but Vernon still isn't sold and he recently took to
Twitter to air out some grievances about its usability, labeling it a
"horrid platform.” Vernon ranted about something hipster fans will
undoubtedly enjoy, namely lashing out at the perceived over-commercialization
of the industry. "apple went from being innovative, plug + play … the best
way to experience music and file management to literally a horrid platform,”
Vernon wrote. “they let the commercialization of apple music get in the way of
making a product easy, simple, and beautiful to use. #neversyncagain." So
that means you’ll be pulling your music from Apple Music, right J? Or not.
Vernon confirmed hat he would not be pulling his music from the platform, which
is going to get a redesign by Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor. Reznor
will team with Apple vice president of iTunes content Robert Kondrk in an
effort to make Apple Music more competitive with rivals such as Spotify. Just don’t
think that’s going to impress Justin Vernon……….
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