- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! Moldova was expecting to have
itself a party, a fun day of celebrating how great it is, as the former Soviet
republic marked its independence day. President Nicolae Timofti and other
officials laid floral wreaths at a monument honoring Stephen the Great, a
15th-century Moldovan hero, but it was not all flowers and national pride, as
hundreds of anti-government protesters crashed the proceedings and clashed with
police. Police fired tear gas to disperse the group, which pushed its way
toward the main square of Chisinau, Moldova's capital, even though few citizens
were permitted to enter the square amid heavy police security. The
demonstrators shouted "thieves!" and "shame on you!" as
they marched, with the resulting clashes with police resulting in multiple
reported injuries. Timofti made a speech earlier in the day in which he noted
that Moldova's independence and security were undermined by the presence of
"foreign military forces that are on the country's territory against the
wishes of the population." That was a direct reference to the presence of
1,000 Russian peacekeepers in the pro-Russian separatist enclave of
Trans-Dniester in eastern Moldova, “peacekeepers” being a relative term since
Trans-Dniester broke away from Moldova in 1990 amid fears that it wanted to
reunite with Romania, which Moldova was part of until 1940. Nearly 1,500 died
in a war in 1992 between Moldovans and separatists and the country continues to
have tremendous economic struggles. Riots on independence day merely underscore
the tense, perilous atmosphere in which the country exists on a daily basis……….
- Ezekiel Elliott is making quite a name for himself and he
still hasn’t played a single down in a regular-season NFL game. The Dallas
Cowboys drafted Elliott fourth overall this spring and while injury issues have
dogged him all preseason long, they’re nothing compared to the fact that he’s
under investigation by the Columbus, Ohio, attorney's office for an alleged
domestic violence incident involving a former girlfriend, or the fact that he
appeared in a video submitted to TMZ this week, showing him visiting a Seattle
marijuana dispensary hours before he made his preseason debut. The video shows
a man believed to be Elliott in Herban Legends in Seattle and even though he
was not shown making any purchases, it’s a decidedly bad look for an NFLer to
be hitting a head shop just before he’s supposed to take the handoff and hit
the hole. Marijuana remains a banned substance in the NFL even though it’s
totally legal to use recreationally in Washington, so Dallas Cowboys owner and
general manager Jerry Jones weighed in on the video and didn’t sound very
happy. "Well, I think that in and of itself the reason we are talking
about is in a way part of the learning process," Jones said. "But it's not good. It's just not good.
It's just not good." In his defense, Elliott carried the ball seven times
for 48 yards in the first quarter of the game against the Seahawks, so at least
he knows how to deliver despite doing something stupid. The NFL is monitoring
the domestic violence case and the pot dispensary visit likely won't have any
repercussions in terms of discipline from the league, but Elliott is off to
anything but a flying start to his pro career……….
- Weirdness, filth and general mayhem are common occurrences
on the trains and subways around New York City. If you show up, get from point
A to point B and don’t experience pests, mental instability, squalor or just a
kook talking to themselves and carrying on all three sides of a conversation,
then you’ve had a highly unusual trip. As such, it should surprise no one that
a mentally unhinged woman was hassling her fellow passengers by trying to sell
live crickets and worms on the D Train between Chinatown and Brooklyn one evening
this week. Anyone who’s walked around Chinatown knows that weird critters are
swimming and hanging just about everywhere you go, so a mentally unhinged woman
looking to shake you down for a few dollars for one of her pet crickets fits
right in, but the situation went sideways when the crickets escaped and began
jumping all over passengers, causing general chaos and prompting one especially
panicky rider to yank the emergency brake, bringing the train to an immediate
halt as the train went over the Manhattan Bridge. Various passengers quickly
began posting on social media about what was happening, lamenting the fact that
being stuck on the Manhattan Bridge for half an hour is far worse than having
to put up with crickets jumping all over them. When the train screeched to a
halt, mass hysteria broke out and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority had
to resolve the mess. MTA officials confirmed that the woman, described as
emotionally disturbed, was taken off the train at DeKalb Avenue in Brooklyn,
after which the rest of the passengers were able to complete their journey. All
in all, just another day on New York City mass transit………
- Ah, unoriginality….you continue to rule Hollywood as no
one else does. The never-ending quest to bring all old shows and movies back to
life instead of coming up with original ideas for new ones rolls on and its
latest inclusion is Joel Schumacher’s cult classic “The Lost Boys,” which is
being adapted for a new television series. The original film is decades old and
starred Kiefer Sutherland, but the TV show will actually take the original
story in a different direction, following the titular gang over a period of 70
years starting in San Francisco during 1967’s Summer of Love. Theoretically,
the show will run for seven seasons with each season introducing new
characters, settings and stories, but that’s assuming it doesn’t hit
catastrophically low ratings as so many new shows do and get canceled within
their first five episodes. In keeping with the movie, there will be vampires,
but the commonalities will likely end there. The project is the brainchild of “Veronica
Mars” and “iZombie” creator Rob Thomas and will reportedly explore the ins and
outs of what it really means to be immortal. When it’s ready, the show will air
on the CW network, which is hanging its reputation largely on superhero shows
and vampire dramas these days. “The Lost Boys” will fit right in alongside the
likes of “The Originals” and “Vampire Diaries,” so it at least has a solid
foundation for success…….
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