Saturday, November 12, 2016

Bounty hunting for pesos, Donnie Trumpet v. Donny Trump and Flint residents get more free Dasani


- Why the hell are we talking about a college cheerleader and her thoughts on the recent presidential election? Why does anyone care about what any cheerleader, anywhere at any level of sports has to say about anything other than which are the best pom-poms and how much is too much sparkle on your hair ribbons? It just seems pointless to waste time on the fact that the University of Louisville has suspended multiple cheerleaders for comments they made on social media after Tuesday night's election. The drama largely centers on cheerleader Brynn Baker, who tweeted to an unidentified recipient following the election, "stfu about racism, sexism, whateverism." This future Mensa then sent another tweet that said, "You act like you came off a boat." Well said, Brynn. Because lots of people come to America by boat these days, rather than those stupid airplane thingies. One poorly spoken, intellectually stunted college cheerleader popping off shouldn’t be a big deal, but Louisville announced that Baker and others have been placed under investigation for their election night posts. The school's head spirit coach and spirit coordinator, Todd Sharp, released a statement saying he was "very troubled and concerned about the exchanges that took place in social media late last evening involving one or more of our student athletes,” ignoring the fact that CHEERLEADERS AREN’T ACTUAL ATHLETES. See, if not for the actual athletes out there on the field, there wouldn’t be any cheerleaders on the sidelines holding up signs with letters or pictures on them and trying in vain to get indifferent fans to stop checking them out long enough to do actual cheers. So suspend Baker, fire her from the cheer squad, do whatever you want to do, just don’t pretend she’s an actual athlete……..


- Nice try, state of Michigan and city of Flint. You may not want to keep dropping Dasani on the doorstep of the people of Flint as they try to navigate getting their home’s water supply safe following one of the biggest environmental scandals in U.S. history, but a federal judge says you have to do it. District Court Judge David Lawson ruled that unless government can certify that a Flint home has a well-installed and maintained water filter, or unless a household declines service, officials must deliver at least 96 half-liter bottles of water per resident to each household every week until his court says they can stop. Yes, Michigan and Flint officials must deliver bottled water to any Flint home where the government hasn't verified that a filter is properly working because these poor citizens can’t be assured that their water is at an acceptable level of lead content. The city "will do everything we can to abide by the order, including reaching out to leaders at the state level for help," Flint Mayor Karen Weaver said in response to the decision. "We appreciate the judge's order and agree that clean water should be easily accessible to everyone in the city of Flint and more needs to be done to make that happen.” This is merely the latest twist in the tale of the longstanding crisis over lead-tainted water in the city and it helps plaintiffs who wanted government to do more than make bottled water and tap-water filters available at distribution points. It’s so rare for a government to try to do only the bare minimum rather than actually try to help its citizens and meet their needs, but thankfully the court sided with the plaintiffs in this one……..


- Ironically enough, the most abysmal political and social experiment in recent American history is causing a bit of trouble for The Social Experiment, a band whose lineup also includes with Chance The Rapper. The problem involves a Grammy-nominated musician who suddenly finds himself linked a little too closely with the worst president-elect ever in the United States on account of his stage name. Nico Segal has long performed under the stage name Donnie Trumpet, but he’s giving that up and doing the unthinkable for a rock star by playing under his actual name because his assumed moniker is far too similar to that of Human Candy Corn With A Permed Beaver Pelt For Hair Donald Trump. “What began as a joke, a silly play on words, is not funny anymore,” Segal wrote on his Facebook page. “I don’t want to be connected to Trump’s hateful tone or his hurtful message. I don’t want to be misrepresented or misunderstood. Trump’s beliefs are not mine. From this point on, call me Nico. I am proud to be part of a multicultural family, from the great City of Chicago. I am grateful for the diversity of friends and family who have taught me and believed in me and encouraged me. I couldn’t stand to ever hurt them, or you. Thank you for understanding. Peace, please, and so much love.” Segal is part of The Social Experiment and also plays with Chance The Rapper on the rapper’s solo tours as well, but one can’t help but find it convenient that all of this also draws more attention to Segal’s music and gives him a publicity fix for his future releases and tours………


- Looking to escape the United States before Donald Trump takes office, make some extra cash AND stick it to one of the countries that has received far too much bile from the president-elect? If so, you might be interested to know that the Mexican government is offering a reward of 15 million pesos ($730,000) for information leading to the capture of the former governor of Veracruz state, who's accused of money laundering and organized crime. The whole situation is straight out of a Hollywood spy drama with a bloated budget and a wildly overrated, big-name director (hi there, Michael Bay!) at the helm and it began when Javier Duarte stepped down as governor Oct. 12, then disappeared. A cynic might argue that he merely needed a vacation after such a harrowing affair, being accused of money laundering and being involved with the mob, while those on the other side would contend that a guy who allegedly laundered money and had ties to organized crime resigned and disappeared because he didn’t really want to go from the governor’s mansion to jail. Give Duarte credit because the Attorney General's Office said Friday it wasn't able to locate him "despite the broad deployment of criminal investigation agents to arrest him,” so he seems to be pretty decent at hiding. He belonged to the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party before he was stripped of his party rights in September and now, he’s been stripped of the life he once knew. That means a potential huge payday for all of the would-be bounty hunters out there - or simply those who want a new country to call home for the next four years or so………

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