- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! It’s getting tense in Poland,
where thousands of Poles marched in Warsaw to protest the policies of the
populist ruling party under Jaroslaw Kaczynski, denouncing recent decisions by
the regime as blatant assaults on the country's democratic foundations. The
gathering may have had a rather trite name, the "March of Freedom,” but it
was still nice to see citizens rise up against a government it claims, under
the Law and Justice party, has cut away the independence of courts and other
institutions to such an extent that the country would not be accepted into the
European Union or NATO today if it wasn’t already part of both. Given the way
the EU is eyeballing Turkey as the Baltic nation pursues membership with a
government that has more than a passing resemblance to Poland’s current state
of affairs, those fears may not be off-base. Demonstrators gathered for
speeches in a large square and then marched through the city, holding signs and
banner and chanting against The Man. City officials tried to downplay the event
by estimating the crowd size at 50,000 people, much smaller than the 240,000
who took part in the largest anti-government march, in 2015. Assume that there
were more than 50,000 people on hand and that the government would never admit
the actual number because it’s determined to maintain control, shut down the
opposition and seize absolute power no matter who opposes its gradual,
disturbing expansion…….
- Races between über-fast athletes from different sports or
disciplines never amount to much. See Michael Johnson v. Donovan Bailey as a
prime example, or any instance of a fast human racing a horse if you need a
reminder, then apply that knowledge to the potential showdown on the track
between the two fastest men in Cincinnati. On one side is Bengals rookie wide
receiver John Ross, who hasn’t played an NFL down yet, but might be the fastest
man in the league after running the 40-yard dash in a record 4.22 seconds at
the NFL scouting combine. On the other side is Reds center fielder Billy
Hamilton, who recently became one of the quickest players to 200 stolen bases and
recently said he’d love to challenge Ross to a race to raise money for charity.
That idea quickly made its way back to Ross, who said he’s consider the
possibility, but not any time soon. "It would be awesome to do that and we
could probably work out something later," Ross said. "Right now, I'm
just focused on being a Bengal. I don't know what the future holds, but if he
wants to do something for the community later or for charity, that would be
awesome. Right now, I'm just focused on being a football player." Ross
played baseball only as a freshman in high school, but admitted he “couldn’t
hit,” so he moved on. He’s been in Cincinnati for a week now, but hasn’t seen
Hamilton play and doesn’t know how fast he truly is. "He looks really
fast," Ross said. The requisite wet blank in the story is Bengals coach
Marvin Lewis, who dryly noted that, "John is not a circus act or
anything,” later saying he didn’t think Ross or Hamilton “need to risk their
careers in some kind of race." Yes, or risk boring us with an event that
doesn’t come close to living up to the hype………
- Not everyone is an ass hat when it comes to immigration
into the United States. Granted, some of them don’t actually live in the United
States, but they do come to visit from time to time and that’s how we got a
nice event in which 12 swimmers completed a swim across the border from the
United States to Mexico in a show of solidarity with immigrants. This dirty
dozen disputers of the xenophobic ways of Donald Trump hail from the United
States, Mexico, Israel, New Zealand and South Africa and carried out their swim
escorted by a Mexican Navy ship, going from the United States to a beach in
Tijuana, a short distance from a border fence that juts into the Pacific Ocean.
They were greeted by more than 100 cheering schoolchildren and applauded by
Mexico's top immigration official in the region at a public celebration of the
10-kilometer (6.2-mile) swim from Imperial Beach, California. Organizer Kim
Chambers of New Zealand led the swim and reminded the crowd that water connects
all of us, no matter which direction one swims. The event raised support for
the Colibri Center for Human Rights, which helps families identify immigrants
who die on the dangerous trek across the border. It’s a contentious issue with
a decidedly human side that many hard-liners in the Trump world view choose to
ignore, but leave it to a dozen swimmers from around the world to put it in a
proper perspective……….
- It used to be History Channel 2, and now it’s home to a
show from a man who seems to believe that he is the future of the rap game. The
cable channel now known as Viceland and under the direction of Spike Jonze is
soon to be home to “Nuts and Bolts," a show about the artistic process
hosted by Odd Future rapper Tyler, The Creator. Vice Media created Viceland
from the ashes of Hsitory 2 and recently announced plans to collaborate with a
man who is extremely skilled at promoting himself, offending people and causing
a scene. The new show will reportedly follow the Odd Future ringleader and
rapper on his quest to “find out how things are made,” which fairly ambiguous and could mean everything
from fresh beats and new tracks in the recording studio to wicker patio furniture
or riding lawnmowers or the tiny cans used to house SPAM. Either way, the title
of the show is based off of a title that was originally developed from Tyler,
The Creator’s Gold Media company, and odds are that it will have a hell of a
lot to do with music and feature an insane amount of camera time for a man who
clearly loves him some him and takes every chance he gets to shine the
spotlight on himself and his many entertainment pursuits……..
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