Tuesday, September 06, 2016

South Carolina clown terror, France trucker riots and paying James Bond


- It’s not hard to see the influence NFL players have on younger football players. Touchdown celebrations done in the pros filter down to college and high school, uniform trends make their way down through the ranks and apparently, violent on-field acts of revenge do as well. Miami Dolphins defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh has been making dirty plays, kicking and stomping sensitive areas of opponents’ bodies for years and it seems that USC defender Jabari Ruffin wants to follow in Suh’s footstomps, er, footsteps. USC has boldly suspended Ruffin for the first half of its game against Utah State on Saturday for stomping on the groin of Alabama's Minkah Fitzpatrick over the weekend. Head coach Clay Helton announced the short-term ban, noting that as part of his punishment, Ruffin will also write an apology letter. "He understands his conduct is unbecoming of a Trojan and there will be zero tolerance moving forward," Helton said. "Jabari is a good kid who made a poor emotional decision. I am sorry as the head coach [and] he is also.” Ruffin was clearly frustrated as his team was getting its ass kicked late in the first half of Alabama's 52-6 win against USC and at the end of a kickoff return, Ruffin took action, earning a personal foul and an ejection from a game in which he wasn’t doing much good anyhow. It was the latest indignity for a USC team that has been suffering one misstep after another in the early season, but odds are it won't get (much) worse from here……..


- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! Nothing has the capability of upsetting people in Europe these days quite like the ongoing migrant crisis gripping much of the continent and nowhere is that more evident right now than France, where hundreds of truckers in big rigs, farmers in tractors and dockers and merchants on foot blocked a major highway in northern France to demand the closure of the Calais migrant camp known as the "jungle." The chaos was so severe that local authorities urged travelers to avoid the area in hopes of limiting disruptions from the blockade, aimed at paralyzing traffic on the route used to access Britain via the Eurotunnel and port. The whole scene was the latest evidence of how much tensions have amped up in recent months as the population of the camp has risen to at least 7,000 migrants from the Middle East and Africa, who are trying to reach Britain. Authorities have tightened security and closed half of the camp, but that hasn’t stopped its growth. “We should not be misunderstood. We have nothing against migrants. We have just a lot of animosity toward the government, which does not make good decisions," said Frederic Van Gansbeke, who helped organize the protest.” Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve tried to quell the rage by announcing that the government would dismantle the camp in a controlled operation as soon as possible, but protesters want him to set a date. The truckers are pissed because migrants keep trying to jump into their vehicles to slip across the English Channel, while local businesses say migrants have become an economic drain on the city and a stain on its image. The migrants, in turn, are trying increasingly dangerous tactics to slow trucks so they can hop in the back, throwing tree branches and other objects onto the roadway. It’s an ugly scene and no one seems to have an answer, so this one appears destined to go boom some time very soon…….


- Everyone has their price. Daniel Craig’s, it would seem, is $75 million. Craig is on the record as saying that he would rather "slash my wrists" than play James Bond ever again, but his tune seems to have changed now that he has been offered $150 million to shoot two more Bond movies in succession. The news of that offer, after Craig reportedly turned down a $90 million offer to take on the role for a fifth time, has the British actor back as the odds-on favorite to continue as 007, a role he has filled four times since 2006, appearing in “Casino Royale,” 2008's “Quantum of Solace,” 2012's “Skyfall” and last year's “Spectre.” To the cynic, it might seem like this was all one giant game of poker for Craig, making it appear like he was going to walk away and taking with him a very capable handling of a role that has alternated between good and terrible actors over the years - terrible like you, Pierce Brosnan. If this was all one big negotiating game, then Craig played it more skillfully than James Bond has ever played a single hand in any card game in any Bond movie. The prospect of losing him at a time when the franchise seems to have settled on a general and coherent direction clearly got the studio to up its offer and the way the Bond franchise has become a moneymaking juggernaut over the years, merely keeping up the status quo and trotting out Craig in tight-fitting suits and bathing suits while tossing in the latest up-and-coming female eye candy to round things out will likely be enough to keep the dollars rolling in and making sure that along with the film’s eight-figure leading man, everyone involved in the process is getting paid……..


- This is such an ugly cliché that it’s almost hard to believe it’s real. Yet there is no denying the fact that police are doing extra patrols in a Winston-Salem neighborhood after two children reported seeing a clown trying to lure kids into the woods with treats. Clowns are straight-up creepy under the best of circumstances and these are clearly not the best of circumstances, not when officers are called out at 8:30 at night after two children claim that some freak in white overalls, white gloves, red shoes with red bushy hair, a white face and a red nose approached them and tried to lure them into the woods using candy. An adult heard, but didn’t see, the clown and a few hours later, an anonymous tipster called to report spotting a clown about two miles from the scene. The clown fled when officers initially arrived and police say they didn’t find any evidence pointing to the clown when they scoured the scene. There have been several unverified clown sightings in northern South Carolina in recent days, so there could be a sort of clown epidemic happening here and honestly, that would be far scarier than any possible zombie apocalypse that might happen in the world. Many of the clown sightings have happened at apartment complexes and other areas of Greenville and Spartanburg counties and according to deputies in Greenville County, the clowns were initially seen in wooded areas, where they allegedly tried to entice children to join them, but sightings have now increased with reports that clowns were also knocking on the doors of homes. Way to denigrate your already-awful reputation, you freaks in white makeup and big, floppy shoes………

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