- Never, ever forget that many of the world’s biggest
athletes have some of the world’s thinnest skin and largest rabbit ears. Take
Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo as one of the many examples less than an
hour after he became the first player to score 100 goals in the Champions
League by netting a hat trick against Bayern Munich to help his side win its
Champions League quarterfinal tilt with their German rivals. After making
little impact and appearing disturbingly idle for much of the game, he was jeered
by some home fans for not working hard enough off the ball as Madrid fell
behind 2-1. However, the Portuguese star surged late with three goals to rally
his team through to the semifinals with a 4-2 win on the night, 6-3 on
aggregate. After the match, he had something on his mind and that was whining
about his treatment by the great unwashed. "I don't tell them to be quiet,
never, I only ask that they do not whistle," he said. "Because I
always give my best in every game, although sometimes I do not score goals I
try and work hard to help Real Madrid. I am sticking to positive things. The
team has been fine, we played well and obviously I am happy for the
goals." Ah, no whistling. What are you, R., an international soccer star
or a woman walking down the street in a busy city and wishing the pervy dudes
around her would stop their catcalls? It’s impressive that you became the first
player to score 100 goals in European competition and reached the mark ahead of
rival Lionel Messi, who has 94 goals, but what would be even more impressive is
if you’d chased that by ignoring the jeers of the crowd and just simply balled
out………
- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! There’s something a bit backwards
about this one, given that it’s usually the angry masses on one side and the
long arm of the law on the other, abusing its power and using excessive force
like it has an expiration date. But in the West African nation of Burkina Faso,
it’s the police who have staged a nationwide protest that may lack the
necessary rage to affect real change, but it what officers promise to be the
first salvo in a series of demonstrations against corruption and a lack of
transparency among their leaders. It’s never good when the rank and file are
publicly calling out their law enforcement superiors, but in an impoverished
nation where it’s easy to get your way by throwing some perks and benefits the
way of the law, bribing the powers that be is often the quickest way to
accomplish your goals. Protest leader Patrice Sanou promised that more protests
would follow in a country where tensions within the law enforcement community
have spiked significantly in recent month and where the police union has warned
authorities about unfair treatment and pay among those guarding private
buildings including banks, mining companies and hotels. The union wants written
contracts with companies who hire the police and for the government to address
the growing threat over extremist attacks in the region, the latter of which is
amping up pressure on police already dealing with a litany of issues and
constraints. It’s usually a solid idea to keep the men and women tasked with
enforcing the law happy or at least non pissed off, so now would be a great
time for the powers that be to tackle these issues……..
- Behold the power of massive stacks of cash to bring people
together - or at least convince them to share a set and a few scenes over the
course of the weeks it takes to film a movie. So despite rampant rumors that
they had a major beef with one another on the set of the current biggest movie
in the world, “The Fate Of The Furious,” Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Vin
Diesel have reportedly agreed to appear in the next Fast And Furious film - the
first of what are slated to be the final two of 10 movies in the massive,
sprawling and full-of-excess action franchise. Most of the stories about
clashes between the two posited that their issues stemmed from who received the
most screen time, best action scenes and chances to show off their chiseled
arms. They shared precious few scenes in “Fate,” which only fueled fire of the
rift and given that Johnson previously fired off a few social media shots at
unidentified male cast members with whom he had issues, there’s too much noise
around this one for there to be no issue at all. Johnson did try to smooth things
over by saying publicly that it was Diesel’s movie franchise and the two have
since tried to convince everyone that they’re resolved their issues…which they
may have, given that their latest collaboration broke the opening-weekend box
office record set by ‘The Force Awakens’ in 2015. Money has a funny way of
bringing people together and mending many a broken fence……..
- There are certain tasks for which a state legislature is
well-equipped….namely, issuing hollow proclamations honoring people who win
sporting competitions and other such contests or appearing at public functions
to lend an air of quasi-officiality to the proceedings. But studying a
secretive polygamous sect's outpost in the far western reaches of their fine
state? Not so much. Having said that….wise choice, South Dakota lawmakers who
smartly decided against studying the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
Day Saints' compound near Pringle after Republican Rep. Tim Goodwin proposed
looking into the group, focusing on dicey issues such as whether polygamy or
sex trafficking are taking place there. The latter is obviously a very serious
and important issue - polygamy a bit less so, but still one that many care
deeply about - and presented with a chance to overlook a potentially sticky
subject that was among more than 20 proposals, lawmakers elected to take an
easier - and some would argue more relevant - path by voting to study a water
issue and workforce housing. House Speaker Mark Mickelson addressing the issue
by saying it's up to law enforcement to investigate and after Goodwin's
proposal ranked low in a survey of lawmakers, there was clearly for that
stance. Undeterred by the indifference and reticence of his Mount Rushmore
State colleagues, Goodwin, whose district includes the compound, boldly
proclaimed that he's not "giving up the fight." Nice to see that a
state politician gives a damn about an issue that doesn’t promise to line his
pockets with cash from lobbyists……..
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