Sunday, April 02, 2017

Punch cards v. President, Dwight Schrute to Stark Trek and Riot Watch! Paraguay


- If no one got punched, threw a drink in someone else’s face, spit on anyone or left in the back of a squad car, let’s consider this one of the rare athlete-in-a-bar-altercation situations ever. While there was a lot of social media buzz after a video circulated of former Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson allegedly being asked to leave a bar in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, it seemed we might have ourselves another instance of a highly ranked draft prospect walked into the wrong bar at the worst possible time and walked out having done significant damage to his reputation and his draft stock. Instead, Watson appears to have kept his head and avoided bigger issues in an incident caught on cellphone video and distributed on social media, one where he can be seen leaving the Innisfree Irish Pub after a conversation with other patrons. The key is that he walked out under his own power and not in the custody of law enforcement and better still, he soon had an apology from the bar. "Over the years we have had thousands of visitors from rival schools and have always treated them fairly. Today was not any different. The unfolding of events were not led by our staff or anyone employed by Innisfree Irish Pubs. Unfortunately a customer attempted to invoke the right to refuse service on our behalf and after being identified, was immediately asked to leave the premises following the incident." Watson’s presence at the watering hole was a problem for some because he led Clemson to a 35-31 victory over Alabama in the College Football Playoff National Championship game in January, so maybe hanging out in Tuscaloosa wasn’t the smartest choice……


- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! South American is this year’s Africa it seems, with Venezulans in an uproar over their government and pressing for regime change and now, that ire has spread to Paraguay, where riots erupted between police and protesters outside congress after senators approved a constitutional amendment to allow a president to run for a second term. A few bold rioters s broke through police lines and entered the first floor, setting fire to papers and furniture and as any true fan of riots knows, it’s not really an uprising until something goes up in flames. Police responded with water cannons and rubber bullets to drive demonstrators away from the building while firefighters extinguished blazes inside, but their was no quenching the rage after a majority of Paraguayan senators approved the amendment, a move called illegal by opposition members and opposed by the Senate president himself. Unfortunately, the measure was backed by 25 of the country's 45 senators and it’s not tough to figure out who to blame because the yes votes came from members of the governing Colorado Party and from several opposition groups. Even the opposition of Senate President Roberto Acevedo of the opposition Authentic Radical Liberal Party and his argument that the process used to bring the amendment to a vote violated Senate rules wasn’t enough to stop the measure, but Acevedo filed an appeal to the Supreme Court seeking to have the vote overturned. Should it stand, the measure would allow current President Horacio Cartes and Paraguay's previous presidents to run for the top job again in the 2018 election, whereas they were previously limited to a single five-year term. This clusterf*ck still isn't law because it is now with the Chamber of Deputies, where 44 of the 80 members belong to the Colorado Party. Should it pass there, it will move on to a national referendum on the amendment………


- He had his villainous side working for Dunder Mifflin and now, Rainn Wilson will truly embrace his inner bad guy as part of the forthcoming “Star Trek: Discovery” TV series. The franchise will return to the small screen after a 12-year absence following the conclusion of the Enterprise series, which ended in 2005 after four years on air, and it will hold down prime time real estate for CBS. The first trailer for “Discovery” was released at the end of January and Wilson will join a case that includes Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Anthony Rapp and James Frain. He brings a lot of name value to the show and while it will be a drastic departure from his portrayal of Dwight Schrute in the American version of “The Office,” playing the villain Roger C. Carmel in the new series could definitely expand his brand. For now, the show is guaranteed 13 episodes for its first season and if show runners Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts can avoid f*cking with the immense popularity of the franchise and its massive fan base, then they should get another season or two beyond that. According to CBS, the show will begin its first run either late this summer or early in the fall, which would put it ahead of most new and returning shows and allow it to get its legs under it before it faces stronger competition as the season wears on. The most recent Star Trek movie dropped last year so there should still be some lingering buzz from that project to help Wilson and his new friends……


- As always, a savvy business owner is getting exactly what he wanted and the enraged masses are playing right into his hands. The winners in this scenario are Black Forge Coffeehouse co-owners Nick Miller and Ashley Corts, whose Pennsylvania-based business is boosting business by brewing up controversy with its loyalty card. Like many sandwich shops and coffee houses, Black Forge Coffeehouse has a loyalty card that offers customers a free beverage once they rack up 10 purchased drinks. What makes this card different than most is that its 10 entries are marked not by numbers or pictures of coffee cups, but by photos of 10 controversial public figures that management knows will raise the ire of a few and draw the rabid support of others. On that list are Donald Trump, Rick Santorum, Ann Coulter, Mike Pence, Martin Shkreli, Pat Robertson, Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz, most conservative politicians, one an oversized cheese puff with a dead ferret stapled to the top and the other a pharmaceutical company CEO/colossal D-bag who is best known for purchasing the one and only copy of an iconic hip-hop outfit’s latest album with the profits he derived from bilking the families of seriously ill people through massive price hikes from his company’s cancer drugs. The are numbers on the other side of the card behind the photos, but Corts said she recently updated the cards to include Trump."We’re not threatening the president," Corts said. "We don’t want to physically hurt him, we do not condone any sort of hate. It’s completely against who we are." The updated cards are also are a boon for Glenn Beck, Creflo Dollar, Jerry Falwell and Billy Graham, who were booted from the group of 10 in favor of the current crew………

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