- Irony,
thy place of residence is South Africa. It’s also the place of death for 49 endangered vultures, all of which were electrocuted by
power lines over the past weekend, according to a South African conservation group. According to
the Endangered Wildlife Trust, the cape griffons were found at several
locations in the Eastern Cape province, near a vulture feeding center when
technology/disaster struck. The group noted that the vultures' wide wingspans,
heavy bodies and "gregarious natures" make them highly vulnerable to
tall man-made structures like power lines and wind turbines that stretch across
vast, usually empty landscapes - i.e. pretty much all of South Africa. Spokeswoman
Carla van Rooyen tried to tug on the heart strings by claiming that some 200
vultures are killed by electrocutions or collisions each year and went on to
cast aspersions on South Africa's national power supplier, Eskom, which she
said has restructured towers in areas with high vulture populations but not
done enough to address towers built before the 1990s, which remain dangerous to
the birds. Vulture conservation groups - which exist because….animal rights
kooks - often rip what they view as the slow pace of redesigning these
structures. Yes, because in an incredibly impoverished nation with so many
problems relating to human beings being treated unfairly or not having their
basic survival needs met on a daily basis, the real focus needs to be on
spending big dollars to alter power towers to make them less of a threat to
some ugly-ass scavenger of a bird. Well played as always, animal rights ass
hats……..
- Dammit,
Keith Richards actually has a logical, salient point. The man who once snorted
his father’s ashes and apparently wishes his children would do the same some
day, who has feuded with virtually every member of his band on the way to them
becoming the biggest bunch of arena rock sellouts around has taken aim at a
very easy target and scored a direct hit on pop music and its produced, artificial
stars. Specifically, Richards has criticized modern
popular music and the prevalent use of songwriters in pop. He was asked to
weigh in on the likes of Rihanna and her ilk working with a team of songwriters
to write their hits and Richards locked in on the most obvious point, namely
that these so-called stars don’t actually have the intelligence, insight or
wisdom to look deep within and come up with their own cogent thoughts to put to
verse. "Well, they can't rely on themselves, can they?" Richards
asked rhetorically. “We're in the midst of a heavy-duty 'showbiz' period, even
stronger than when we killed it last time. The X Factor and all this competition sh*t. It's just for people
who want to be famous. Well, if it's fame you wants, good luck. You'd better
learn to live with it." Well said, man who has snorted enough
cocaine to keep the cartels in business for a few decades. Richards contrasted
the ways of pop music with him penning the iconic “(I
Can't Get No) Satisfaction” ' in "bed with a guitar" in just one
night. And yet it’s infinitely better than the drivel that a cadre of
professional writers will come up with for the next Rihanna single………
- There
isn't a worse place in America right now to be a public school principal facing
federal conspiracy and bribery charges in an
alleged scheme to receive kickbacks from a school supplies vendor. There really
isn't a good place for it, but in the first major American city to go bankrupt,
it’s a downright terrible look to be accused of conspiring with the vendor
Allstate Sales to receiver payments -- through Detroit Public Schools
(DPS) funding -- in exchange for kickbacks. Those are the charges facing
13 current and former principals accused of submitting fraudulent invoices to
DPS for payments to the vendor for supplies that were never received. Oh,
and these educational administrative ass hats did all of this in exchange for
kickback payments from the vendor, according to federal complaints. U.S.
Attorney Barbara McQuade laid out the charges at the end of a two-year
investigation that started as a tip from the state who was conducting an audit
on the Education Achievement Authority. “This case is a real punch in the gut
for those who are trying to do the right thing,” McQuade said. According to
McQuare, the vendor was paid $5 million from the district, of which an estimated
$2.7 million was fraudulent. Norman Shy, listed as the owner of Allstate Sales,
and his company sold and provided school supplies such as auditorium chairs,
supplemental teachers materials and raised line paper. Shy also allegedly
conspired with Clara Flowers to siphon the money from the district and she
worked with at least 13 DPS principals to fraudulently obtain funds from DPS by
agreeing with to pay them a total of approximately $908,518 in kickbacks
relating to business with DPS worth millions of dollars. Ultimately, bogus
invoices were submitted to DPS for payment to Shy for goods that were not
delivered and the money (allegedly) made its back to the conspirators, who were
busy presiding over failing, dilapidated schools by day and swam in piles of
money at night………
- If
anyone in the NHL is playoff-ready right now, Chicago Blackhawks defenseman
Duncan Keith is that guy. The great news for Keith is that he now has plenty of
extra time to get ready for the postseason because he won't be playing any time
soon, not after the league gets done suspending his ass for deliberately swinging
his stick and blasting Minnesota Wild center Charlie Coyle in the face during
the Blackhawks’ 4-1 loss earlier this week. Keith was angry because he was
knocked to the ice by Coyle and retaliated by swinging his stick while laying
on the ice, connecting and leaving Coyle with blood dripping down the bridge of
his nose. For his crime, Keith was assessed a match penalty for intent to
injure and is suspended indefinitely. The game had barely begun when all of
this went down, with just over 10 minutes elapsed from the clock and it left
the Blackhawks without two key defensemen because Brent Seabrook missed the
game because of illness. This isn't the first time Keith has had issued with
his stick miraculously smashing into the face of a foe; in the 2013 playoffs, he
was suspended for swinging his stick and hitting Los Angeles Kings forward Jeff
Carter in the face. In behavioral science circles, this is what is often known
as a “pattern.” When asked about the impending suspension ever-terse Chicago
coach Joel Quenneville was his usual snippy self. "We miss guys all year
long. I'm not worrying about hypotheticals," the veteran coach said
regarding a possible multiple-game suspension. At least it isn't coming simply
due to your guy’s inability to control his temper in a pretty typical hockey
situation………
