Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Neymar on trial, a Lost Boy seeks relevance and Jesus loses his head in Indiana


- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! It was an unusual one in Barcelona, the centerpiece of a region that’s spent more than a year raging against the Spanish machine in an effort to lead the region of Catalonia to independence but is now the staging ground for a revolt that’s trying to demand that the very Spanish government its people want to separate from alter its approach to Europe’s ongoing refugee crisis. Thousands of angry Spaniards marched in Barcelona to demand that Spain's conservative-led government up its efforts to accept more refugees who have fled the war in Syria and other violent conflicts, apparently because they don’t listen to U.S. Traffic-Cone-In-Chief Donald Trump’s warnings that countries like Sweden are having massive problems on account of taking in too many of those refugees. Spain promised to take some 17,000 of these displaced souls, but so far has welcomed just 1,100 of them to the Iberian Peninsula. Protestors toted  a large banner and small signs with the slogan "Enough Excuses! Take Them In Now!" as they marched through the city’s historic center, reminding the government of its September 2015 promise to bring 17,337 refugees in within two years: 15,888 from camps in Italy and Greece and 1,449 from Turkey and Libya. Despite a massive contingent of 66 refugees — 65 Syrians and one Iraqi — who arrived in Madrid last week, the number currently sits at about 1,100 and it seems the bleeding hearts of España want to extend their charity further……..


- Even one of the greatest soccer players in the world can't bend the will of the law the way he can bend a long free kick into the upper left corner of the goal, it seems. Neymar, hero of Brazilian soccer and FC Barcelona, is now Neymar, defendant in a complaint brought by Brazilian investment group DIS. The company is seeking damages on corruption charges related to Neymar’s transfer to Barcelona four years ago and has filed suit against Barcelona, Brazilian club Santos and the company run by Neymar's parents. That collective lost its appeal and will stand trial on claims that DIS was entitled to 40 percent of the transfer fee Barcelona paid Santos for Neymar but received a smaller compensation because part of the fee was concealed by those involved. But this isn't merely an instance of a matter money alone can settle; prosecutors are seeking a two-year prison sentence and a fine of nearly 10 million euros for Neymar and his father on corruption charge. But fear not, soccer hooligans of the world, because that dynamic duo are not likely to face any jail time if found guilty because they would be first-time offenders. Still, the price tag could be high, as prosecutors are seeking about $13 million from FC Barcelona and $10 million from Santos on the grounds that DIS paid nearly $2 million or its 40 percent of Neymar's rights in 2009, but received a scant $24 million of Neymar’s transfer fee because FC Barcelona claimed the transfer fee was just $74 million or so. If the claims in the suit are accurate, DIS would be entitled to an additional $4.5 million or so, and it would be another legal black eye for FC Barcelona just seven months after star midfielder Lionel Messi and his father were sentenced to 21 months in prison for tax fraud…….


- Jesus has lost his head twice now and members of an Indiana church are mighty upset about it. Twice in a span of two weeks, a Jesus statue outside a church on the south side of Indianapolis has been vandalized, with the head being removed. “It makes me sad that somebody would do something like that,” said pastor Brad Flaskamp. “I was hoping it was just a random act to destroy it in the first place.” He and his flock at Cottage Avenue Pentecostal Fellowship thought that the first attack on the inanimate likeness of Jesus was merely a random prank, perhaps staged by local kids with too much time and a wicked sense of humor, but that belief evaporated when it happened a second time. Apparently in its five years of standing guard outside the church, the statue kept its head until the last two weeks. After the first attack, the statue’s head was left on the ground next to the body and with a lot of hard work and quite a bit of super glue, church members were finally able to reattach the head late last week. Rather than stand as a monument to their determination, it apparently served as an open invitation to the vandal or vandals to come back and repeat their feat, something they did within 24 hours. “I can tell you that I don’t think it’s kids,” Flaskamp said. “It would have to be a kid that can wield a sledgehammer.” Have you seen America’s youth these days, pastor? There are some big, strong teenagers running around and they can probably wield a sledgehammer just fine. Maybe this time, build a nice cage for Jesus, stick him inside and keep him safe from the big, bad world around him…….


- Some might argue that Dante Basco is searching for his lost (boy) relevance, along with a healthy chunk of cash. If you have no f*cking idea who Basco is, don’t feel bad. Anyone who’s not a hardcore fan of obscure characters from early ‘90s films doesn’t, but so you know, he played Lost Boy Rufio in the 1991 Peter Pan movie “Hook.” Believe it or not, this E-list actor who hasn’t done anything of note in the 26 years since that film wants to revive his flagging career, er, take fans back to a magical time with a prequel movie set years before “Hook.” The movie, ripping off its title from a Skrillex song, is called “Bangarang” and this short film’s plot is described as ‘the story about Rufio, before the mohawk, before Neverland, before he was The Pan. Roofus is a 13-year-old kid who is destined to be more than he is.’ It’s described that way by a Kickstarter campaign Basco launched to fund the project. He’s reached his goal of $30,000 and now that he’s fleeced enough suckers out of their disposable cash, he’s upping his target to $200,000 and if he can hit that mark, he’ll take the idea from a short film to a feature film. “After his mother is forced to put him into a foster home, he and his rag-tag group of best friends, a Jamaican boy named Julani and a bright-eyed latina force of nature named Ella, find a way for Roofus to escape his ill fate, find his happy thought and fulfill his destiny,” the film’s synopsis reads. “The story has been reverse engineered from what was set-up in Hook. We answer all the questions you’ve ever wondered, How and why is Rufio the leader of the Lost Boys? Where does “bangarang” come from? And of course, how he gets the mohawk.” The synopsis even tackles the fool’s errand of claiming that it’s different than the millions of other sequels, prequels and remakes being churned out by Hollywood because, um, it’s not………

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