- There’s always something rich about a person who works in
law enforcement and makes their living on the investigation, arrest and
incarceration of criminals being found to be just like those his of her
employees spend their days policing. When someone like New York City Department
of Corrections Commissioner Joseph Ponte hurriedly resigns in the wake of
rampant criticism for using his city-owned SUV to repeatedly drive to vacations
in Maine, it’s hard to muster an ounce of sympathy for him. Abusing your
position of authority and misappropriating resources may not land you in jail -
unless you’re outright stealing money from your employer - but it’s such a bad
look for Ponte, who led Maine's state prison system for three years before he
was hired to reform New York's Rikers Island jail in 2014. For weeks now, Ponte
has been getting heat for alleged ethical lapses. He’s been in the crosshairs
of New York's Department of Investigation, an anticorruption agency, which
released a report last month saying Ponte spent 90 days out of state last year
in his department SUV. Approximately one-third of those days came during the
work week and according to the report, city officials generally aren't allowed
to use their taxpayer-funded vehicles for personal trips out of the region. At
least Ponte wasn’t alone, as the report said other officials at the agency used
their vehicles for trips to Cape Cod, the Hamptons and other destinations. Even
after Ponte promised to repay the city, his promise was soon drowned out by a
subsequent report accusing corrections officials of using internal affairs
officers to eavesdrop on conversations between Department of Investigation
investigators and inmate informants at the jail. Mayor Bill de Blasio tried to
defend Ponte, but those efforts have clearly failed and now, the end is here………
- If you’re still calling yourself a princess when you’re
old enough to retire, that’s probably a red flag on your life as a whole. Keep
that in mind as the story of a 64-year-old princess from Abu Dhabi, Sheikha
Hamda Al-Nahyan, who are on trial before a Belgian court on charges that she
and her seven daughters mistreated around 20 servants forced to work for them
in a plush Brussels hotel. Al-Nahyan and her crew rented out the entire fourth
floor of the hotel for several months in 2008 and according to workers, they
were treated abusively by the royals, which is both sad and humorous because,
one again, you have a woman who’s still rocking the princess title when she’s
nearly 60 years old at the time of the alleged mistreatment. Shouldn’t there be
a rule that if you haven't ascended to a throne of some kind by the time you
turn 50, you cede that title to someone else? This case has been lurching
forward since 2008, when police raided the Conrad Hotel where this entire saga
is set. Fifteen plaintiffs claim that some of the servants were forced to sleep
on the floor and tend to the princesses around the clock for little or no
money, which sounds about right when it comes to how snotty, spoiled royals and
their children would act when taking over an entire floor of a posh, luxury hotel
for months at a time…….
- Oh, the indignity of it all. International soccer sleights
via Twitter are just such an ugly, heartbreaking aspect of this world of ours
and no one knows it better than Karim Benzema, who is very much a part of
Champions League finalist Real Madrid and very much still hated in France, for
whose national team he has not played since October 2015 after his alleged
involvement in the attempted extortion of Mathieu Valbuena emerged during an
ongoing police investigation. He’s been a man in soccer exile since, which is
why the French national team's official Twitter account chose to snub him, but
congratulate his Real Madrid teammate and fellow Frenchman Raphael Varane on
reaching the Champions League final. It’s clearly not on account of Benzema’s
play, as he was front and center for the reigning European champions as they
clinched their place in the final berth at the expense of neighbors Atletico.
After the game, Varane received a congratulatory message from Les Bleus'
official Twitter account, but fans took notice of the Benzema sleight. When
they did, the terse reply from the national team’s Twitter account noted that,
"we only talk about the sports news of players who have been called up by
the French national team in the last year." Oh, OK. That seems like a new,
hastily crafted and totally made-up rule conveniently used here, especially
given that Alexandre Lacazette, whose last appearance for his country came just
three days after Benzema's, received a congratulatory message for Lyon's Europa
League win over Roma earlier this season………
- Your rock icon credibility has its limits, Nick Mason, and
you’re pushing them severely right now. Mason may be the drummer for one of the
biggest rock bands ever, but hitting the high hats for Pink Floyd doesn’t mean
you can do some ridiculous sh*t like openly pine about playing drums for former
man-bander and newly minted solo act Harry Styles and not have it taint your
image a bit. Styles, taking time away from man-band outfit One Direction,
dropped his debut solo album today and made an appearance to promote the
project with Mason also on hand. Mason reflected on the first time he heard one
of Styles’ songs, “Sign of the Times,” and went full-on fanboy with it. “I
happened to be driving along and I heard Harry’s single. I listened to it and
the DJ said afterwards, ‘It sounds a bit like Pink Floyd to me,’ and I thought,
‘Yeah, I could play that’. I listen to music on the radio in a particular way,
which is [in terms of the] drums and bass,” Mason said. “My belief is that
bands are made up of bass, drums and a bunch of novelty acts. Anyway, I heard
[Style’s single] and I thought I’d ask Harry if I could play drums on a track
on his next album.” Styles quickly jumped in, saying that he would be open not
only to Mason being part of his next album, but that Mason could play on his
tour to promote the album. “My drummer Sarah [Jones, former New York Pony Club
and Hot Chip drummer] is actually a major fan of yours,” Styles added. All in
all, not the proudest moment for an iconic rock band like Pink Floyd………
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