- Everyone just quit. That’s the message being sent out by a
coalition of Congo's opposition parties as they call for a general strike after
the country's electoral commission said a presidential election once meant for
November won't be held until next year. It’s ironic for Americans, who probably
wish at this point that someone had the capability to postpone this year’s
presidential election indefinitely until we can find someone to vote for who is
actually qualified to handle the job, to hear that other countries are angry
that their government is in no hurry to hold elections, but Congo is locked in
a major battle over this topic. The process of establishing a new electoral timeline will begin this
week, but the opposition coalition says it won't take part and is urging the
country to stage a general strike to exert influence on the government until it
relents and sets a date for elections. Congo's opposition has long worried that
President Joseph Kabila wants an election delay to remain in power beyond his
mandate and since that sort of thing is usually African leaders’ jam, it’s not
an unfair allegation. With tensions already high, the electoral commission kicked
things up a notch when it announced that voter registration for the election
would not be ready until next year. It’s a bullsh*t excuse that’s tired,
clichéd and unimaginative all at once and the opposition coalition was having
none of it, saying it rejects the dialogue's mediator because he has ties to
Kabila. One opposition party, the Union for the Congolese Nation, is breaking
from the pack and says it will participate given the international mediation,
but the rest of the opposition refuses and is taking a hard line on an issue
central to its nation’s future……
- He may be insane, he may be well past his prime and in many
ways he’s become a caricature of himself, but Tom Cruise still demands top
dollar at the negotiating table and his contractual muscle is apparently the
primary hindrance to the next Mission: Impossible film. The follow-up to last
year's “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” is going to happen if for no other
reason than there is far too much money to be made once it’s released, but the
project is reportedly being delayed because Cruise and Paramount Pictures
cannot agree on his salary. Cruise is undoubtedly looking at the fact that “Rogue
Nation” grossed over $680 million at cinemas worldwide and figuring that with
those numbers, he can demand a huge chunk of the new movie’s profits. Stars
often have their pay tied to the earnings of a movie and Cruise is using his
leverage to hold up a project that was supposed to begin shooting early next
year under the guidance of “Rogue Nation” writer-director Christopher McQuarrie.
McQuarrie penned the script for the new movie, with J.J. Abrams due to serve as
a producer. None of that matters until Cruise agrees to a contract and he
apparently wants a deal that matches his
lucrative payday for the upcoming big-budget reboot of “The Mummy,” which is
due to hit cinemas in June. Both sides have remained quiet publicly on the
issue, but “Mission: Impossible 6” was due for a release late next year and
without its star on board soon, that could in jeopardy. Whenever he extorts
Paramount for more money and signs on the line that is dotted, Cruise will join
returning cast members Jeremy Renner and
Rebecca Ferguson for another big-budget romp full of espionage and explosions……….
- For many months, Americans have looked on in horror as the
people of Flint, Michigan have deal with toxic, chemical-laden water unsafe for
cooking, drinking, bathing or even looking at lest they fall ill with any
number of serious illnesses. Celebrities, communities, charities and government
organizations have rallied behind Flint, donating money and supplies to help in
the fight, but the sad truth is that even in catastrophes such as this, there
are scumbags who use the opportunity created by an ugly situation to cash in.
Enter Flint residents who, while they and their fellow citizens are still being
urged to use filters and bottled water, are taking some of the ever-shrining supply
of bottled water on hand and flipping it to make some extra spending money.
Local churches and charities are distributing bottled water knowing that some
who are receiving it will choose not to use it for their own needs, but rather
to sell it. Police have warned various organizations still passing out water
that there are segments of the community that are taking advantage of their
charity, but most of these do-gooders are electing to plow ahead, figuring that
they are there to help and not to make any assumptions about how their gifts
are being used. However, there are those who want to find a way to stop the
abuse of charity. "If you are one of the individuals out there that's
actually receiving that water for free and then taking it and selling it to
other residents, or selling it to the stores, we're going to ask you to stop
doing that please," Flint Police Chief Timothy Johnson said, noting that
at present there is nothing illegal about selling the water. Johnson wants the
city to figure out a way to legally stop the resale process. "Once we get
word back from the prosecutor's office and we can figure out just how to move
forward with this, then we will be going after the ones who are actually
selling the water that they got for free," Johnson said. Way to turn the
good part of a terrible story into a terrible story of its own, opportunistic
Flint residents……..
- College football season won't officially kick off until
next month, but several top programs around the country are certainly doing
their part to create buzz ahead of the season’s commencement. Notre Dame had
itself a weekend with six players arrested in two separate incidents away from
the field, but the Miami Hurricanes are doing their damage within the confines
of their campus. The school is looking into several football players who may
have received extra benefits from a South Beach car rental agency and among
those in the crosshairs is standout receiver Stacy Coley. Coley is one of the
team’s top offensive threats and had 47 catches for 689 yards and four
touchdowns last year, numbers he may have trouble replicating this season if
he’s suspended for being one of those accused of having “used cars” from South
Beach Exotic Rentals, a luxury car agency, “in exchange for future promises.”
Coley, starting defensive end Al-Quadin Muhammad and starting linebacker
Jermaine Grace are also being investigated by the school and linebacker Juwon
Young was removed the Miami roster as a result of the investigation, reportedly
because he was not honest with school officials. It’s a mess for a program that
less than a decade ago was facing possible sanctions for the unsavory, illegal
actions of former booster Nevin Shapiro and was notoriously full of excess and
rule breaking during its most prominent period of success in the 1980s and
‘90s. Miami has not commented on the statuses of any players alleged to be
involved, but it is the university handling the investigation and not the NCAA.
It is expected that several players will receive short suspensions, but so far
none of the investigated players have been declared ineligible by Miami. That
could change, but given that the team’s new head coach is a man who presided
over a Georgia program that regularly topped the SEC in arrests each season,
Mark Richt, it’s hard to imagine Miami suddenly walking the straight and
narrow…….
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