- Since when does an 85-foot-tall artificial Christmas tree
serve as a monument to peace and harmony? Since a Muslim businessman who erects
it declares his faux-tree stationed in the middle of Baghdad as a symbol of
solidarity with Christians this holiday season. According to Yassi Saad, he
wanted to put the tallest tree in the Iraqi city with the aim at “joining our
Christian brothers in their holiday celebrations and helping Iraqis forget
their anguish, especially the war in Mosul.” It was a nice gesture - and one
that will be lucky to survive the holiday season without being bombed to hell
or burned down - and here’s hoping it inspires the sort of sentiment Saad
clearly feels. The tree has a diameter of 33 feet and was erected in the center
of an amusement park in the Iraqi capital at a cost of around $24,000. One
local teacher took her students to visit the tree and they posed for photos in
front of it while expressing hopes that Iraqi Christians an return to Iraq and
live normal and peaceful lives. The country’s Christian community has steadily
dwindled since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, largely because Christians have been
targeted by Islamic extremists on several occasions and have fled the country
for both security reasons and better economic opportunities. One of the most
noteworthy exoduses came when thousands of Christians fled Mosul and
surrounding areas when IS swept across northern Iraq in the summer of 2014. The
extremist/terrorist group forces Christians to convert to Islam or pay a
special tax and often confiscates their property. The few Christians who have
managed to return to villages outside of Mosul that have been retaken by Iraqi
forces have come back only to find that their homes and churches have been
ransacked. Maybe a fake tree can be a catalyst for change…….
- Ah, another Hollywood remake. The next one in the assembly
line process is “Dune,” which was previously adapted into a 1984 film by David
Lynch, who lined up a large ensemble cast including Francesca Annis, Kyle
MacLachlan, Sting and Patrick Stewart. The “Dune” remake will likely be helmed
by Denis Villeneuve, director of next year’s “Blade Runner 2049,” whose new
thing is apparently directing remakes of various iconic sci-fi movies. Villeneuve
is in talks to direct the remake after Legendary Pictures secured a new deal
for the film and TV rights to Frank Herbert’s classic sci-fi novel and should
he agree to take on the project, it would be his third sci-fi effort in a row
following this year’s “Arrival” and next year’s “Blade Runner” sequel. To knock
the recycling of “Dunes” is not to knock Villeneuve, who has done some bang-up
work on films such as “Sicario,” “Enemy” and “Prisoners.” He may well craft
something worthwhile out of this unimaginative, unoriginal effort, but it
doesn’t lessen the lameness of continuing the remake and regurgitate every damn
movie ever made in lieu of actually trying to craft something original. Yes,
“Dune” has reached the enviable status of the best-selling sci-fi novel of all
time, which is great, but it was also made into both a movie and a three-part TV mini-series in 2000. In other
words, it’s been done to death and it’s time to strike out in search of
something that hasn’t been done before…….
- There’s nothing quite so bureaucratic/government-esque as
a municipality coming back years after the fact to demand that dozens of
retirees - including former police officers and firefighters — pay back a
combined $1 million the city claims it errantly paid them nearly a decade ago. Such
is life for former city of San Jose employees who are receiving very unwelcome
messages from their former employer after an audit revealed the city messed up,
overpaying retirees almost $1 million. Resolving this issue will take money
from the pockets of about 300 retired San Jose police and firefighters and the
city is mighty cold and detached about all of this. “The miscalculations were
based on incorrect data that was being furnished from our payroll system to the
retirement system,” said David Vossbrink, the city’s director of
communications. In true, slow-moving governmental fashion, the city first found
out about the problem in 2009 and only let retirees know about it last month.
“It’s taken us several years to replace the incorrect data with a complete set
of new data so the calculations could be completely accurate,” Vossbrink said. In
a statement about the matter, Association of Retired San Jose Police Officers
and Firefighters president Mike Alford said, “Our association is working to
ensure that the mistake is promptly fixed in a legal and fair manner and that
no retiree be placed in financial hardship because of the city’s mistake.”
According to Vossbrink, the city has no choice but to pursue repayment, which
the amount charged to each person ranging from a few hundred dollars to
thousands. The city plans to host a series of public meetings inviting all
affected retirees to talk about how they plan to repay the funds and in an
ironic twist, some retirees also were underpaid and those individuals will now
be reimbursed for lost wages………
- Few things are more hazardous to a college football
player’s eligibility than the time off between the end of the regular season
and their team’s bowl game. Since much of that time also comes with classes
having ended for the semester, there is free time galore and what’s a college
student-athlete to do during their down time other than be up to no good? Enter
Texas A&M wide receiver Speedy Noil, who has been suspended from the team
after he was charged with misdemeanor drug possession. Granted, his crime
wasn’t exactly a serve one, but he is charged with possession of less than two
ounces of marijuana. That could simply mean he and his freidns had already
smoked most of their stash before police responded to a call regarding a
disturbance at his off-campus apartment. Upon arriving, officers said they
smelled marijuana and when Noil refused to allow them inside, they obtained a
warrant and found the drugs. Noil, a junior from New Orleans, surrendered to
College Station police, posted a $2,000 bond and was released, but it’s hardly
the first time he’s been on the wrong side of the law since arriving in College
Station. He suspended before a postseason game last year and missed the Aggies'
2016 season opener, so no one should be surprised that Noil has been foiled
once more and will be AWOL when Texas A&M plays Kansas State on Dec. 28 at
the Texas Bowl in Houston. At this point, he might want to use his time off to
decide whether playing football is more important to him than getting high………
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