- The lesson, as always, D.T.A. Don’t trust anyone. That
lesson has been drive home emphatically for the members of Munger Avenue
Baptist Church in Dallas, where the flock has been led astray and locked out of
their place of worship by a man who they say stole from their church. That
would be bad enough, but the man accused of pilfering cash from the ol’
offering plate is pastor Wade Davis, who was indicted by a grand jury on
multiple charges of felony theft and who is also facing a civil suit filed by members
of the church he once led. Church members suspected there was something fishy
going on with their finances, but they put trust in their leadership for a
while before doing some closer analysis on bank statements and finding that
there was a hell of a lot of money missing - hundreds of thousands of dollar,
actually. The good news is that attorneys for the pastor say the accusations
are false and claim that there are other factors in play that the world simply
doesn’t know about yet. Church members feel like they’ve been betrayed, but
maybe if they didn’t so blindly put so much trust in a person who isn't any
better, holier or more righteous than they are, they wouldn’t be in this
unfortunate position. Some have gone to Munger Avenue Baptist Church all their
lives and now, the tears are flowing in Old East Dallas and a broken church has
to figure out how to move forward……..
- Bands have long used the term “psycho” in their album
titles, song titles and song lyrics, but rarely does it cause as much of an
uproar as it has for British indie rockers Kasabian, who are promoting their
new album and doing so right now with the single “You’re In Love With A
Psycho.” The video for the song shows the band, along with Noel Fielding and “Taboo”
actor Stephen Graham, as inmates dancing around West Pauper Lunatic Asylum,
which gave rise to the title of the band’s third album in 2009. All of that
dancing - literally - around the topic of mental health has raised the ire of a
mental health charity called Time To Change. “As so many musicians have
recently talked openly about their experiences of mental health problems it is
disappointing to see this video,” Time to Change director Sue Baker said. “The
use of the word ‘Psycho’ in a song and accompanying music video featuring
people pretending to be psychiatric inpatients is unhelpful, damaging and
disappointing when society is moving on from this sad and tired stereotype. We
are sure the insult and harm was unintentional, or misjudged irony, but we are
raising it as we know it will only serve to fuel stigma.” This sounds an awful
lot like a group using a new song from a well-known band to grandstand and draw
attention to its cause and while that cause seems worthwhile in this case, it seems
that villainizing Kasabian is a bit of a reach in this case, given that they didn’t
invent the use of the word psycho in song and it’s so commonly used in society
that one good indie rock band incorporating it into a song doesn’t really worsen
the problem………
- Sounds like someone has themselves a burning death wish. That
someone is Venezuela's powerful attorney general, who has taken the
bold/suicidal step of publicly denouncing the country’s judiciary’s takeover of
congress. Attorney General Luisa Ortega, usually considered a key ally of the Socialists
who have ruled Venezuela for the past 18 years, shook free from the tentacles
of dictator Nicolas Maduro’s regime long enough to speak out against a move
that is obviously wrong, but still state-sanctioned. "It constitutes a
rupture of the constitutional order. It's my obligation to express my great
concern to the country," Ortega said. She does have plenty of support from
the irate Venezuelans rioting across the South American nation and from
multiple nations around the world who have spoken out against the move. It’s über-rare
in Venezuela for any public official to rip Maduro's socialist government,
although quite a few prominent political figures have leveled criticism at the
regime after leaving office. Ortega’s words came on the same day when several
dozen students marched in Caracas to the Supreme Court, which this week assumed
the functions of the opposition-led National Assembly. While it would have been
awesome to see more than a few dozen rise up against the machine, there were
small pockets of protestors who also briefly blocked highways around Caracas,
waving the Venezuelan flag and banners reading: "No To Dictatorship."
It’s only been a dictatorship for more than a decade, but it’s nice that
someone is finally speaking out about it………
- They might be fans of a minor league football team, but
that doesn’t mean they’re below-average human beings. Supporters of the Salt
Lake Screaming Eagles, an Indoor Football League team in its first season of
play, made a bold - and smart statement when they were asked whether or not
(alleged) woman abuser/drug junkie/all-around bad guy Greg Hardy should be
allowed to suit up for their squad. The team, in keeping with the typical M.O.
for minor league teams, pursued a player with name value and the accompanying
spotlight that comes with that name, but knowing it could milk more attention
from this and also avoid pissing off a lot of people in its first season,
posted a vote on its website, saying Hardy was interested in joining the team,
but whether he was added to the roster would be left up to the fans’ vote. “We
have spent the past week speaking with Greg directly and with many of his
former teammates and coaches,” the team wrote. “After hours of deliberation and
debate, Screaming Eagles ownership, management, and coaches are in unanimous
agreement that we will support Greg joining the team under one condition – that
our fans vote to allow him.” Fans, asked if they wanted the Eagles to add
former NFL Pro Bowl defensive end Greg Hardy, were nearly evenly split. A
graphic in the voting box showed a 50-50 yes vs. no split, meaning a) the vote
was so close it went down to percentage points or b) the team rigged it to
appear that the vote was so close it went down to percentage points, because it
was (allegedly) decided by the thinnest of margins and in the end, not even the
fans of a first-year minor league indoor football team wanted anything to do
with Hardy. He may have spent the 2015 season with the Dallas Cowboys, but
hasn’t played organized football since then and with his domestic assault
history and 2016 arrest for cocaine possession, the odds of him playing
anywhere outside of a pickup game at a local park when Kenny’s younger brother
can’t play because he has karate that afternoon are looking more miniscule by
the day……..
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