- Is it really over, Gambia? It’s been about a week since
chaos truly began to reign in the impoverished African nation and at long last,
Gambia's lawmakers have lifted the country's state of emergency and quashed
defeated leader Yahya Jammeh's final attempts to cling to power. Parliamentarians
imposed the state of emergency just a week ago, the latest move in an ongoing
chess match in which they also revoked the three-month extension of Jammeh's
term they approved last week. It’s all connected to the election of new
President Adama Barrow, who was excited to be selected to lead his country but
then had his celebration cut short when the guy who had the job before him
refused to leave office, forcing Barrow to cross the border into neighboring
Senegal amid fears for his safety. Hanging out in the next country over rather than taking the position of power to
which you’ve been elected doesn’t exactly come across as presidential, but
Barrow is expected to return home in the coming days after being inaugurated
last week in Senegal. Jammeh, meanwhile, finally caved to international
pressure and ceded power to high rightfully elected successor before fleeing
fled into exile over the weekend. All in all, it’s a true African rarity in the
form of a leader who relinquishes power - albeit only when compelled by force
from within and outside his borders -
and allows someone else to take over the nation, steering it in a new
direction……..
- How does a star actor lose nearly $3 million from his
critically acclaimed new television miniseries? Ask Tom Hardy, who has
reportedly squandered that much cash on account of “Taboo,” his new eight-part
period drama that follows the mysterious James Delaney’s (played by Hardy)
return to London after many years in Africa to claim his father’s inheritance. The
series was co-created by Hardy’s father Chips and “Peaky Blinder” creator
Steven Knight and has received a mostly warm response from fans and critics.
However, the high ratings haven't been enough to help Hardy offset the cost he
incurred when he founded the production company Taboo Productions Ltd. to
handle the finances of making the series. Word on the street is that the
company spent about $13 million on making Taboo, but it has banked just $10.5
million so far. That $2.5-million net loss is a bitter bite to swallow for any
actor, even a successful one with plenty of big roles to his name, although
Hardy reportedly hopes to recoup some of his losses through the sale of DVD,
Blu Ray and digital copies of the show, as well as syndication rights. That’s a
hell of a lot of discs and downloads sold in order to just break even, so Hardy
had best hope that ratings for his show on FX in the United States and the BBC
in the United Kingdom get higher so he can close the income gap a bit and avoid
making this one of the very few nasty blights on what has otherwise been a very
strong career for him so far……
- As always, at least there’s a good reason that someone
lost their life. In this case, the good reason is apparently an argument the
night before over a chili dog, which was apparently enough to prompt a Port
Orange, Florida man to fatally shoot his adult stepson. According to a Volusia
County charging affidavit, Danny Holder faces charges of first-degree murder in
the death of his stepson, Randall Lowen, at a home on Shahab Lane after the two
clashed the night before over a hot dog covered in chili. Holder is attempting
to hide behind the claim that the shooting was nothing more than self-defense.
"There’d been physical violence against my client that morning,"
Holder's attorney, Matthew Phillips said. Unfortunately for Holder, his wife
Jackie told police officers that her husband and Lowen, her adult son, had an
argument over said chili dog and during that argument, Holder then threatened
to shoot Lowen. Apparently his threat scared his wife enough that she hid her
husband's firearm. Still, the argument rolled on and the next morning, as Lowen
explained to his mother what they were arguing about, Danny Holder pulled out a
firearm and his wife pleaded with her son to run. She heard what sounded like
two gun shots, but told police she only knew of one gun belonging to her
husband - the one she’d hidden. However, investigators found multiple guns
inside the home and Danny Holder was eventually taken to Volusia County Branch
Jail on no bond. Here’s hoping that if and when he lands in jail, fights over
food are something he learns to avoid……..
- No credit for not doing the wrong thing, San Francisco
49ers. You just compiled the second-worst record in the NFL, fired your third
head coach in as many seasons and have offered fans no reason to believe that
you’ll pull out of your organizational tailspin any time soon. So don’t expect
any praise for announcing that you’re freezing season-ticket prices for the
next two seasons of the crap-tastic product you humorously call a football
team. "We are announcing that 49ers season ticket pricing will be frozen
through the 2018 season," the 49ers said in a letter sent to season ticket
holders Tuesday. "Invoices for your 2017 season tickets will be made available
to view and pay online in the coming weeks." Oh, and the team has long had
some of the most expensive tickets in the league, with the range for season
tickets between $850 and $3,750 and the range for personal seat licenses
between $2,000 and $80,000, so freezing them isn't exactly some charitable
endeavor. Even though those prices have remained the same since Levi's Stadium
opened in 2014 and this announcement means the prices will be the same for the
first five years of the stadium's existence, some other elements of the team
have remained the same too: its lack of a competent quarterback, its revolving
door at head coach, inept front office performance and a steady stream of
losses piling up for what used to be one of the elite franchises in the NFL.
Keeping ticket prices the same seems to be less than the least the 49ers could
do for their tortured fan base at this point………
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