- Think of him as the Third World Donald Trump Knock-Off
with a little more flair. He’s Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and while
he may or may not be a decent leader for a country, dude is pure entertainment
and more of a wild card than Trump backstage at a beauty pageant without a
chaperone. You might remember Hot Rod D. as the guy who vowed to basically turn
his country into a river of blood to fight its drug epidemic, characterized
himself as a heinous dictator and told President Barack Obama to f*ck off on
more than one occasion, but Duterte is just getting warmed up and his wildest
antics may be yet to come. For example, when he’s hinting that he might follow
Russia's example and withdraw from the International Criminal Court, sh*t is
getting real. It’s probably a giant coincidence that Hot Rod’s critics say he
could be charged over the thousands killed in his war on drugs, but he don’t
give a damn and that’s why he issued this provocative statement before flying
to Peru to attend the annual summit of Asia-Pacific leader. He actually made a
salient point when he noted that the United Nations has been ineffective in
stopping wars and promptly doubled down on that statement by adding that if
China and Russia decide to create a new world order, he would be the first to
join them and leave the U.N. His primary beef with the toothless U.N. is that
it’s dominated by the target for most of his rage, the United States. His final
target was the global agreement to fight climate change on the ground that
there are no penalties for violators and it is not clear which industrialized
countries will contribute money to support developing countries' efforts
against global warming. Oh, and his American doppelgänger Trump coincidentally
wants to pull the U.S. out of the Paris
pact on climate change……
- There will always, always be a fascination with rock stars
who die young. Jimi Hendrix, Janis Jopin, Tupac Shakur, Biggie Smalls and their
peers from across different genres of music who peace out before turning 40
will continue to fascinate fans who see their early accomplishments and wonder
what if, knowing that question will never be answered. So the fact that a new
Freddie Mercury documentary is set to air this weekend is no surprise. This
particular biopic will explore Mercury’s life from the summer of 1985 at Live
AID to the spring of 1987, when he was diagnosed with HIV. The project, titled
“Freddie Mercury: Who Wants to Live Forever,” is described as “a
‘behind-the-scenes’ look at the Queen singer, that is ‘the true story of his
battle to keep his privacy against a prying tabloid press, to work despite
crippling pain and to confound science and save his life.” Although a
documentary, it will feature the admitted dramatization of several important
scenes from the Queen frontman’s life, alongside rare archive footage and an
exclusive interview with Mercury’s bodyguard and chauffeur Terry Giddings. Yet
even as this film airs, news has dropped that “Mr. Robot” star Rami Malek has
signed on to play Mercury in Queen biopic “Bohemian Rapsody.” Malek has drawn
rave reviews for his turn as Elliott in “Mr. Robot,” winning an Emmy for Lead
Actor and besting the likes of Bob Odenkirk, Liev Schreiber and Kevin Spacey to
do so. Hopefully his turn as Mercury can
find a movie screen somewhere before the next Mercury-centric project drops……..
- Stop me if you’ve heard this: Residents of a small,
often-overlooked city in the eastern United States are fighting to protect the
purity of their drinking water. Except that this time, Flint, Michigan isn't
involved. This time, it’s a group of residents fighting on behalf of Hartford,
Connecticut, where this week will see two important meetings being held by the
Metropolitan District Commission. Ahead of those meetings, a group called Save
Our Water has been busy staging protests outside of MDC's office on Main
Street, with their primary target being discounts offered by MDC to the
California-based company Niagara Bottling, which is setting up a plant in
Bloomfield. "We're told to conserve, were told to turn off the faucet when
we brush our teeth ... and then they're pulling 1.8 gallons of water. It
doesn't make sense," said Save Our Water participant Donna Landerman of
Bloomfield. She and her group are irate that the MDC agreed to sell public
drinking water as the historic drought continues in Connecticut, placing its
bottom line above their ability to properly wash their cars, hydrate their lawn
and have proper rinsing fuel when they brush their teeth. In spite of their
protests, Niagara Bottling's plans have moved forward as the company has
reached deals with the town of Bloomfield and the MDC. The sole big win for
Save Our Water so far came in a Freedom of Information hearing over the MDC's
water supply plan, but winning over the objection that homeland security is the
issue for not releasing the requested data doesn’t mean the group will win the
war. This week’s meetings enter on possible changes to sewer and water
ordinances as well as the 2017 budget, but there remain growing concerns among
city and town leaders around Hartford who use MDC water that they may have to
foot the bill if the city of Hartford cannot pay its $11 million bill. It’s a
dicey situation and one that could be settled if everyone could take a nice,
long, hot shower and sit down with a refreshing glass of cold H2O…….
- Most of the world has been busy celebrating and reveling
in the party that has ensued in the wake of Conor McGregor’s latest UFC
triumph, knocking out Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 in New York on Saturday to win
the promotion’s lightweight championship and add it to his featherweight title
belt. One of the coaches for a top UFC lightweight challenger is not among
them. Undefeated UFC lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov and his coaches look at
McGregor and see not a bombastic, charismatic champion, but a potential payday and
their quickest route to glory. Nurmagomedov's striking coach, Javier Mendez of
American Kickboxing Academy, knows that one of his guys has demanded the next
title shot against McGregor and furthermore, Mendez believes that McGregor is
already working really hard to duck the fight. When asked after his big win at
Madison Square Garden whether he should face Nurmagomedov (24-0), who submitted
Michael Johnson on the same night, McGregor dismissed the idea out of hand. He
suggested that Nurmagomedov, who missed all of 2015 due to injury, hasn't
fought frequently enough to warrant a title shot. It was a moderately
supportable claim, but not one Mendez accepts.
"Yes, 100 percent, he is ducking Khabib," Mendez said. "I
know that from the words he is saying. 'He doesn't fight enough for my taste'?
Give me a break. "You can say, 'Hey, I want to fight Nate Diaz a third
time.' Fine. Say that. But don't try to put my guy down because you are trying
to avoid him. Don't belittle my guy. That's bullsh-t." Sure, but McGregor
belittles everyone and the fact is that he already has a lot of guys he’s been
overlooking long before he overlooked Nurmagomedov - they’re collectively known
as THE ENTIRE UFC FEATHERWEIGHT DIVISION. You know, all of the guys in that
division who want a shot at the title McGregor won the belt last December and
hasn’t defended since as he’s fought Diaz twice, challenged Floyd Mayweather to
a fight and bowed out of another pay-per-view because he didn’t want to
participate in the promotional process for it…….
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