Olympic corruption lives on, erasing Confederate memories and celebrating independence with C4

- Every country celebrates its independence a bit differently. Some nations go with standard fireworks celebrations, others enjoy military parades put on by their dictator and then, there’s Indonesia, which went a very different route in marking the anniversary of its freedom. The southeastern Asian nation decided to mark its Independence Day by sinking 60 foreign ships seized for fishing illegally in the country's waters. To each their own…and even better if “their own” includes explosives and watercrafts being sent to the bottom of the sea in a giant ball of flame and malice. Maritime and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti said the ships were sunk at eight separate locations across the Indonesian archipelago, which is nice because it gives everyone a chance to watch something go boom and across all cultures and civilizations, that’s a true joy that all of us can enjoy, regardless of our age or socioeconomic status. Pudjiastuti is quite the pyromaniac, having organized the destruction of more than 200 illegal fishing boats since 2014. Sadly, this time the sinkings of the renegade boats were carried out in lame, low-key fashion compared with previous occasions, when the government made its point in über-public fashion by televising the kabooms live. Blowing sh*t to smithereens always makes your point well and seeing C4 detonated and turning a boat into a cascading mess of wood and metal is the sort of national bonding experience that can really unite a nation and send everyone away feeling better about the place they call home……..

- On the surface, a live-action Pokemon movie based on the recent Pokemon Go craze seems like a terrible idea….and it is. But maybe some good can come out of “Guardians Of The Galaxy” scriptwriters Nicole Perlman and Alex Hirsch penning the script for the first live-action Pokemon film…and that something good is the punishment for all of the ass hats who spent the past few weeks wandering around the world with their heads up their asses while their noses were stuck in their phones as they stumbled into walls, doors and buildings in search of digital glory by finding all of the Pokemon characters imaginarily scattered in their area. The movie itself will be on the new game Detective Pikachu, a game which is currently only available in Japan and focuses on Great Detective Pikachu, a character who isn’t as nimble as other Pokemon characters, relying on his intelligence to solve cases. It’s ironic because the tools who have devoted their lives to Pokemon Go seem to exhibit no signs of intelligence. This movie should be a dumpster fire of cinematic awfulness, so anyone who has caused a single inconvenience for another person while playing Pokemon Go should be forced to watch the Pokemon movie on a loop….for as many hours as they spent playing or thinking about the game. This could work because Legendary studio bosses say they have put the Detective Pikachu film into fast-tracked production so that filming can start in 2017, meaning this punishment-by-crappy-film can get underway sooner rather than later………

- Why, oh why, would any college want to rid itself of the vestiges of one of the ugliest, most regrettable eras in American history? You, Vanderbilt University, are freaking unbelievable. How dare you pay the Tennessee chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy $1.2 million in exchange for relinquishing the naming rights to the private school's Confederate Memorial Hall. Such a B.S. move, doing something you feel might eliminate an ugly reminder of a hateful, shameful time in America’s past, especially for the many African-American students, staff, faculty and visitors who pass through your Nashville campus each day. Showing its hurt for all the world to see, the UDC said in a statement "is disappointed that an institution such as Vanderbilt University would attempt to whitewash, sanitize and rewrite American history." However, the group claimed that once the university made the offer, it had no choice but to accept even though the UDC’s attorney, Doug Jones, said that a successful 2003 lawsuit to block the dorm's renaming resulted in a ruling that Vanderbilt couldn't change the name of the residence hall without paying back a 1933 donation of $50,000 — adjusted for inflation and interest. It took a little while, but once Vanderbilt decided to pay, Jones said the group had "no legal option or alternative" than to accept the money.Yes, it’s sad that people can't simply appreciate a union built on the idea that no one was going to tell its citizens whether or not they could wrongfully enslave other human beings and treat them as less than human based on…umm…….

- Rather than prosecuting Patrick Hickey for allegedly scalping tickets for the Summer Olympics, maybe we should all be admiring him for being bold enough to commit a crime in Rio right now. Sure, it seems simply shady that an International Olympic Committee executive who is also president of the Olympic Council of Ireland as well as president of the European Olympic Committees had an arrest warrant issued for him by Rio de Janeiro authorities as part of a wider probe of tickets allocated to Ireland that were being sold for higher fees. It looks like a rich, old white dude was using his lofty position to cash in illegally….and that’s probably true. "Continuing our investigation, civil police discovered the involvement of Patrick in the international scheme of ticket scalping," the Rio police fraud unit said. Wow, already on a first-name basis….that was quick. But given the robbing, murdering and other criminal nonsense going on around Rio, the fact that an old dude on foreign soil was bold enough to engage in his own criminal enterprise is impressive on some level. As part of the probe, agents seized more than 1,000 tickets that were being sold for high fees and allocated to the Olympic Council of Ireland. At the center of this scam along with Hickey (allegedly) is British hospitality provider THG Sports. Kevin James Mallon, one of the heads of THG Sports, was arrested at the start of the Rio Games along with an employee who was working as an interpreter and allegedly has false tickets in his possession. From there, the threads of the case led to Hickey and another case of Olympic corruption, much to the surprise of no one…….

Gator v. common sense, Lin-Manuel Miranda isn't forgotten and Marcell Dareus loves weed more than NFL paychecks

- It’s always uplifting when a successful, well-paid professional athlete chooses ganja over getting paid seven figures a year to play a sport. It makes the rest of us feel good to know that having a job virtually all of us would love to have and the corresponding lifestyle that making millions of dollars a year brings is less important to an athlete than taking bong rips and that’s why it’s so life-affirming that Buffalo Bills star defensive tackle Marcell Dareus has been suspended four games for another positive test for marijuana. The Bills announced Dareus' suspension but did not offer specifics and he chased that with a vague, uninspiring Instagram post in which he wrote that “with deepest regrets I want to apologize to the @BuffaloBills organization, my fans, my family and the entire NFL football community for the incident that led to me missing 4 games for the upcoming 2016-2017 season. I will not #makeexcuses for the events in question and will allow the process to proceed as is required by the @NFL.” The best part of the statement, though, is that he claimed to be “committed to the game and am more committed to my #Billsorganization and fans,” a claim directly contradicted by the fact that he chose to get high rather than remain highly focused on his training and preparations for the season. That all of this comes after the sixth-year defensive tackle was suspended for the first game of the 2015 season for a violation of the substance-abuse policy following a May 2014 arrest in Alabama for criminal possession of a controlled substance reinforces that he’s not all that committed to playing football or being great at it, otherwise he’d seek help for what seems to be a persistent addiction to the hippie lettuce……….

- Oh, that old ceasefire agreement? The one we came to terms on a quarter of a century ago? You expect us to keep honoring that? That seems to be the general philosophy of Morocco when it comes to a 1991 ceasefire agreement precluding it from trying to seize control of the disputed Western Sahara. The Polisario Front movement seeking independence for the region is accusing Morocco of violating by sending troops and equipment into the territory, allegations that if true would fly in the face of a United Nations-brokered peace accord struck in 1991, a deal the U.N. followed by establishing a mission, known as MINURSO, to monitor it and help prepare a referendum on the territory's future, which has never taken place. In its defense, the Moroccan government claimed it was trying to dismantle "smuggling rings and illegal trade,” but U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said the U.N. mission in Western Sahara is contacting the Polisario Front and Morocco about the alleged violations to determine the facts. No one is actually scared of the U.N. or worried about it flexing its limited, tiny diplomatic muscles, so it seems safe to say that Morocco isn't really sweating Haq’s promise that the U.N. mission "will deploy its capabilities if it is so required as per its mandate." It’s a mandate no one takes seriously or respects and seeing as this fight has been ongoing in some form since Morocco annexed Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, in 1975 and fought the Polisario Front, expecting either side to just raise its arms in surrender and walk away just seems naïve and extremely foolish………

- Now that he’s done starring in “Hamilton,” it’s good to know that thespian Lin-Manuel Miranda hasn’t been forgotten. Miranda elected to end his run starring in the biggest musical to hit Broadway in years and given the immense praise he received for his work leading that show, it seemed fairly certain that someone else might want him and his immense star power for their project. That someone is Disney, which has inked Miranda and veteran songwriter Alan Menken for its forthcoming remake of “The Little Mermaid.” Disney cranked out a well-received animated take on the iconic Hans Christian Anderson tale in 1989, but this one will be a live action take on the story. Menken, who scored the original 1989 animated movie and classics like “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin” and “Pocahontas,” will write new songs for the project along with Miranda, who will also produce the film along with Marc Platt. It’s clear Disney has gone sequel crazy, what with its upcoming Mary Poppins redux starring Emily Blunt, Meryl Streep and Ben Whishaw and Miranda, while Channing Tatum is set to play a mermaid in the film studio's forthcoming remake of ‘80s movie “Splash.” Obviously, tales of magical things happening in the sea with plenty of parts for attractive, big-name actors is what the studio plans to hang its hat on in the months ahead, even if that means showing zero originality or willingness to produce a film with an original script and which isn't a sequel or revised take on a film that already has a proven track record of success. Stay bold, Disney………

- Don’t shoot the gators. No matter what. That’s the takeaway for 74-year-old Sumter County resident and certified gator assassin Reginald Blanton, who went from badass gunslinger and defender of his family to criminal in a hurry when he was arrested for shooting and killing an alligator that attacked his son. Yes, his son is 58-year-old Jack Hildreth, not exactly a helpless youngster about to be gobbled up for lunch by the hungry beast. And yes, Hildreth really asked to become gator food when he intentionally approached the alligator, which obliged by lunging at him and biting him in the leg, injuring him severely. But don’t focus on the recklessness and idiocy of the son; lock in on the quick-thinking, trigger-happy father who saw that gator lunging at his son and while another man helped pull Hildreth away from the alligator, Blanton fired multiple shots. Hildreth was taken to an Ocala hospital and treated for severe injuries, but it was his old man who really felt the pain when Sumter County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Blanton for unlawfully killing the alligator. Not only is the family now dealing with medical expenses for Hildreth, but they’re also footing the legal bills for Blaton, hiring an attorney to defend his actions in killing what they describe as an aggressive gator that came onto private property. Oh, and it’s worth mentioning that Blanton opened fire on the gator with only a handgun, so he didn’t exactly have immense firepower to defend his son and horses, which were also nearby at the time of the attack. In the end, it’s reassuring to know that the law has the scaly, cold-blooded back of reptiles and not those of residents in harm’s way when it all goes down……..

International airport news ticker rage, stadium sound guys as comedians and Mariah Carey v. censorship

- File this under the heading of massive, massive understatement….and then some. A Menlo Park, N.J. woman says she’s undecided on whether or not to open the door to her home to another potential hooker to use it as a makeshift brothel after a previous Airbnb guest flooded her home and ran an adult business from the room she was renting. Sharon Marzouk probably figured she was just fine when she headed out of town, knowing she had a roommate who could keep an eye on things while she was away…and if not for that roommate giving her a ring, the situation could have been much worse. “He told me that I’d better come home quickly and there is an emergency at the house. And where’s the circuit breaker?” Marzouk recalled of talking to her roommate on the phone. She hurried home and found that the woman to whom she rented her room on Airbnb had turned on the faucet for the tub and walked away, flooding the upstairs. “It had overflowed from the second floor to the first floor and water was pouring from all the light fixtures,” she said. Oh, but that was just the start. It turned out that the guest was not only sleeping their, but setting up a sort of sex shop. “I noticed that there was a handbag with only condoms in it,” Marzouk said. After (almost certainly) burning her sheets, her mattress and every other flammable item within arm’s length of her bed, Marzouk was able to take stock of the situation and shockingly, said she’s simply not sure whether she’ll ever list on Airbnb again. “It’s the house owners and the hosts that are putting all of their assets on the line,” she said. Yes, her insurance will cover most of the damage caused by the overflowing bathtub, but there is no insurance for the mental scarring with which she has to be dealing………

- Even when it comes to Las Vegas, apparently there are still limits. Mariah Carey, who at this point is pretty much coasting through her career based on her long list of past pop hits and sex appeal, is set to perform at Caesars Palace later this month, so she threw down a nice chunk of change for a photo shoot to promote her performances. She will be finishing a five-leg residency in Las Vegas, entitled “Mariah: #1 to Infinity,” and the photo shoot yielded Carey covered by a gold sheet, an image that was then used as the centerpiece for billboards to be posted in the area around Las Vegas and surrounding states. Those must have been some damn suggestive billboards because a pair of California airports have banned the billboards on account of Carey revealing too much skin in the photo. Word on the street is even Caesars, which again WILL BE HOSTING THE CONCERTS - wants a toned-down version of the billboard lest it offend anyone who comes to the world’s tackiest city, a place where prostitution is legal and modesty is the most foreign word imaginable. Carey is reportedly unwilling for any alterations to be made to her advertisements, putting her foot down even though it puts her at odds with the very venue with which she will be working once she actually begins her stint in Sin City. Maybe she can focus her attention on her upcoming guest spot on Fox’s hit drama “Empire,” a show of which she’s a big fan and one that probably doesn’t mind her generating some extra publicity for herself ahead of her appearance. If she’s smart, Carey will also find a way to work that controversial gold sheet into her Vegas shows as well…….

- Pick your fights, Turkey, because right now you have a lot of them. You’re still trying to regain control over your country following an attempted coup last month, you have various terror groups all around you and quite frankly, it’s questionable judgment to turn a non-incident involving a digital news ticker at a foreign airport into a battle. Yes, news tickers at the airport….those scrolling signs of insignificance no one actually pays attention to and only stares at distantly and absent-mindedly while waiting for their travel buddy to buy an overpriced danish at Hudson News….and yet, such a ticker is the reason Turkey has summoned Austria's charge d'affaires to answer for crimes over which he has no control. The offending message was shown at Vienna's airport and it claimed Turkey allows sex with children under age 15. According to a Turkish Foreign Ministry official, the diplomat was called to the ministry over the weekend to listen to Turkey’s outrage over the incident. A ministry statement accused Austrian officials of encouraging news reports that "besmear" Turkey, although trying to silence everyone to criticizes Turkey at this point is something of an overwhelming endeavor. Turkey's Constitutional Court last month scrapped a penal code clause that defined all sexual acts against children as abuse, a move that raised widespread concerns among child rights advocates. Turkey’s parliament now has six months to enact a new law, but the country is in a weird gray area until then. Oh, and there’s also the small issue that Austrian officials have urged an end to Turkey's EU membership talks, while Turkey has called Austria the "capital of radical racism." In other words, this supposed news ticker beef is about a whole lot more than a digital message scrolling right to left for a few seconds. Next up, social media slander allegations, perhaps………

- Dear sounds guys at all high school, college and professional sports venues around the world….you’re there to make sure to microphones work and to play the same bland, mainstream pop playlist that every other arena in the world plays to entertain the masses during lulls in the action. You are NOT there to amuse or entertain with your wit or to show off how clever you are with a well-timed zinger of a musical pun. It was true nearly a decade ago when Baltimore Ravens running back Willis McGahee suffered a serious leg injury trying to turn the corner on a running play and the DJ at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh quickly chimed in by playing Credence Clearwater Revival’s “Down on the Corner” and it was true over the weekend when a clown spinning tunes at Wrigley Field bumped Prodigy's "Smack My Bitch Up" after Cubs reliever Aroldis Chapman left the mound during a 6-4 loss. Chapman infamous missed the first 29 games of this season under baseball's domestic violence policy because he was involved in an October incident where he allegedly choked his girlfriend. Although police did not file charges against the Cuban-born left-hander, citing insufficient evidence, the charge has stuck to his reputation and Major League Baseball announced Chapman's suspension in early March, two months after the Yankees traded four minor leaguers to the Cincinnati Reds for the All-Star closer. Why anyone working for his current team would clown one of their own players this way is curious. Doing it to Chapman on the road would still be over the line, but at least make sense. Maybe this was a rogue domestic violence crusader looking to make a statement … or maybe this was just a moron who deserved to be fired, as he or she was the next day. "We apologize for the irresponsible music selection during our game last night," Cubs president of baseball operations Crane Kenney said in a statement. "The selection of this track showed a lack of judgment and sensitivity to an important issue. We have terminated our relationship with the employee responsible for making the selection.” Next time, stadium sound guy, stick to Usher, Bruno Mars, Justin Timberlake or Rihanna and you should be fine…….

The Great Tamale War, Jon Jones free to find the real PED culprits and Adele won't be Super

- British songstress Adele won't be saying hello from this side, the other side or any side at all when it comes to center stage at one of the biggest sporting events in the world. The talented vocalist broke the news that she has turned down an offer to perform at next year's Super Bowl after a week of rumors that she was in discussions to headline the halftime show at the NFL’s biggest event. On one hand, Adele performing at the Super Bowl made total sense because the likes of Aerosmith, Madonna, U2, Beyoncé, Bruno Mars and Coldplay have all held down center stage at the game and she’s as skilled as any of them….but upon taking a step back, it made no sense at all. There was one report that the big stumbling block for her agreeing to perform was her persistent case of stage nerves and the NFL reportedly agreed that Adele could be joined by Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic, with whom she is close friends, to help keep her calm. But in explaining why she decided not to accept the NFL’s offer, Adele gave the most logical explanation possible.  "First of all, I'm not doing the Super Bowl," she said. "I mean, come on, that show is not about music. And I don't really... I can't dance or anything like that. They were very kind, they did ask me, but I said no." Exactly. Her best talent is her voice and she’s not going to ride in on a massive mechanical tiger like Katy Perry, nor is she going to dance in front of a pair of dudes in cheesy shark costumes or have a bevy of backup dancers like Beyonce. There are a lot of kick-ass artists out there who have great musical skill, but their skill set doesn’t translate well to a pop-centric, medley-based 12-minute halftime effort that’s more light show than concert……..

- At least you didn’t become the 21st century Hindenburg. That’s probably the best thing you can say about the blimp-shaped, helium-filled airship billed as the world's biggest aircraft making its maiden flight over the weekend. Dubbed Airlander 10, the 302-foot-long craft has jokingly been nicknamed the "flying bum" because of its bulbous front end, but took off from an airfield 45 miles north of London, proving that a hybrid air vehicle — part lighter-than-air blimp, part plane - can get off the ground and move at a relatively slow pace without anything terrible happening to it. The Airlander is designed to use less fuel than a plane, but carry heavier loads than conventional airships, none of which offsets the fact that it can only travel at up to 90 mph. It’s a curiosity to be sure, able to reach 16,000 feet and stay aloft for days at a stretch - allegedly. See, it’s debut flight was merely for an hour and a half at heights of up to 3,000 feet. It’s probably best to not push things too far - or too high - on the first day, but any hopes of making this more than a novelty act will hinge on being able to meet and possibly even exceed those alleged standards of flight laid out to those behind the Airlander 10. Then again, not crashing in a giant ball of fiery death is also a nice way to introduce yourself to the world, so perhaps let’s just stick with calling this a relative success and not push it………

- Now, in the mold of O.J. Simpson, Jon Jones can go in search of the real culprits responsible for his positive PED test prior to his scheduled bout against Daniel Cormier at UFC 200 on July 9. The former UFC light heavyweight champion has accepted a plea deal in connection to his highly publicized traffic stop in March and now that Jones has appeared in Bernalillo Metropolitan Court on Thursday and pleaded guilty to charges of unlawful exhibition driving and improper display of registration, he can shift his focus to what really matters. That, of course, is who’s responsible for his failed drug test on June 16, a result he defended by insisting he had no idea how the illegal substance got into his system. That argument didn’t stop UFC from removing him from the event days before after the United States Anti-Doping Agency reported he had tested positive for two banned substances, including estrogen blockers, but with the curious case of three additional charges from his traffic stop - unlawful drag racing, unlawful use of modification of exhaust systems and failure to maintain traffic lane - now dismissed as part of the plea deal and Jones about to complete 60 hours of community service and an aggressive driving class, he should be able to investigate who put those illegal substances into his body and how it happened rather than arguing with the officer who arrested him during that traffic stop on March 24 in Albuquerque, New Mexico and calling that cop a "f---ing liar." Because if Jones can't come up with a better excuse for his positive PED test, he’s the one who looks like a f---ing liar…….

- You’ve gotta fight…for your right…..to tamale. Dennise Cruz is a Carrollton, Texas resident who is fighting The Man after receiving a warrant arrest notice in the mail on account of her tamales. Yes, the food product comprised of masa inside corn husks, served up piping hot and according to the city of Carrollton, served up illegally. Cruz received a bold, demanding yellow postcard in the mail from the city ordering her to contact the city court or else face possible arrest. “That has to be wrong. I don’t have any tickets under my name. That’s just my first reaction. Never would have I thought, tamales,” Cruz said. “To know that somebody can be arrested over that, that to me is unbelievable.” Her saga began a few months ago when she decided to whip up some masa, steam up some corn husks and post on Nextdoor that she would be selling her tamales. Cruz felt it was a common practice and was stunned when she learned that selling food without a permit could result in a $700 fine. “I don’t understand because if anything I would have rather them come to me first if they had any concerns,” Cruz said. Yes, but that’s not really how it works. The government doesn’t actively seek out people it guesses might have an interest in possibly doing something that requires a permit and have a friendly chat with them first. Carrollton Environmental Services officials say they fined Cruz rather than simply issuing a warning because tamales are considered “potentially hazardous food” due to the cooked corn and meat being used. The fine would have been $617, but by fighting it in court, Cruz upped it to $700, although one of her friends set up a GoFundMe account to help pay for the mounting legal costs incurred by this culinary crusader in the Great Tamale War………

Kashmir rises up, Bad Boys won't go away and murder over a broken lawnmower

- It may not be in Comic Sans font and it might not have the same naïvely defiant air about it, but the open letter penned by Miami Heat managing general partner Micky Arison to his team’s fans has a feint whiff of the infamous note Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert wrote to his team’s fans when LeBron James fled Cleveland for South Beach. Arison, whose team lost star Dwyane Wade after 13 seasons and three championships with the franchise and failed to sign any marquee free agents, released an open letter to the team's fans, informing them he is confident they'll enjoy the upcoming season. The letter was posted on the team’s official Twitter account a few hours after the NBA schedule was released and tried to paint a rosy picture for a team that has no chance of contending in the Eastern Conference. "Obviously, this has been a challenging summer ... one with significant change," Arison wrote. "For the first time in a long time, Dwyane Wade will not be part of our team, but it will be a joyous homecoming when we someday hang his No. 3 jersey from the rafters." Arison tried to shift focus from a dim immediate future to the past, referencing that in his 21 years leading the franchise, there have been both highs and lows. And so, as (Heat president) Pat Riley has said on numerous occasions, 'One of the only things you can count on in life that is permanent is change,'" Arison wrote. Yes, change that will take your team from also-ran in the East back to the pack of teams with zero title hopes……….

- As always, at least there’s a good reason a person is now dead and their family is left to struggle through life without them. Minneapolis is the scene and the story is one of a man fatally shooting his neighbor in a bizarrely escalating dispute over a lawnmower. Edward Holzinger is accused of shooting his neighbor, Bruce Brown, near 15th Ave and Main Street NE in Minneapolis. A normally quiet northeast Minneapolis neighborhood was turned into the Wild West because according to police, Holzinger was upset with his neighbor about a lawnmower. A police report says Holzinger loaned the lawnmower to Brown, who allegedly returned it broken and inoperable. The two men then spent several days having arguments about the lawnmower, culminating in a showdown around 8:30 p.m., with Brown having a cookout with his family in their backyard. The report claims that Brown sarcastically yelled out at Holzinger, who was sitting on his porch, “Do you want a hamburger?” Because no one is going to let a sarcastic hamburger remark go unchecked, Holzinger allegedly shouted back, “Come over and find out.” Despite family members wisely urging him to ignore the verbal challenge, Brown ignored those pleas and walked toward Holzinger. A few seconds later, gunshots rang out and Brown fell to the ground, having been shot twice in the chest. Brown’s niece attempted to stop the bleeding, but an unrepentant Holzinger came over and said, “He deserved it. He called me a pedophile. I know I’m going to jail and I don’t care.” Moments later, Brown was pronounced dead on the sidewalk near his home and Holzinger later confessed to the crime and has been charged with second-degree murder. Way to keep things in perspective, guys………

- Its stars may end up appearing on the streets of Miami chasing down suspects on their Jazzy power scooters, but the “Bad Boys” franchise will not be silenced. There have already been two Bad Boys films, including the original in 1995, and the third installment has now been given an official title and release date. “Bad Boys for Life” will hit theaters in January 2018, with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence once again playing the roles of Miami detectives Burnett and Lowery, dealing with the thugs, low lives and criminals of South Beach despite being 20-plus years past where they were when they first burst onto the scene in their respective roles. The third film will be different in that built-for-excess director Michael Bay, genetically engineered to blow studios’ money with excessive pictures drowning in explosions and special effects, won't be helming it. Bay directed the first two Bad Boys movies, but will not return for the third - and fourth - films. That honor will go to Joe Carnahan, who inherits a bloated, past-its-prime franchise that seems like a cash grab and nothing more at this point. The fourth film is already in the works as well, set to debut about a year and a half after the third movie. Calling the next one “Bad Boys for Life” sounds like more of a threat than a promise, as if we’re going to be seeing Smith and Lawrence collecting Social Security checks, playing shuffleboard and trying to solve crimes in the retirement home before anyone is willing to pull the plug on this franchise. But hell, it’s always best to keep making movies in a series until you’re 1,000 percent sure that there is less than no life left in them………

- You can impose a strict curfew and attempt to curtail dissidence in Indian-controlled Kashmir, but you cannot keep the people from making their voices heard. Authorities in Kashmir have extended a strict curfew to most parts of the region, but their efforts could not stop the rage as separatist leaders called for weekend protests against Indian rule. It was a thrilling scene as government troops in armored vehicles patrolled the streets seeking to thwart any attempt by protesters in Srinagar to march to the city's commercial center, squaring off against Kashmiris trying to march to a historic square over the weekend to demand a referendum to decide the future of the region. They did so at the behest of separatist leaders who challenge India's sovereignty over Kashmir and want to see the people given a chance to decide who will govern them. With the military on one side and dissidents on the other, all against the backdrop of that curfew, protests erupted at about eight places in the city and at two especially combative locations, police and paramilitary soldiers fired tear gas and shotgun pellets to stop rock-throwing protesters. Throwing rocks is at the simplistic end of the continuum when it comes to methods of conveying rage by protestors, but not everyone has the recipe for a quality Molotov cocktail. Despite the tear gas, pellets and rocks, there were no immediate reports of injuries in the clashes, but this fight is a long way from over……….

The real Hope Solo returns, Homeland's big extension and Frace v. migrant camp kitchens

- Let them eat cake…or basic, low-flavor foods prepared by makeshift eateries in migrant camps in a remote city in your proud nation. The Prefecture of the Pas de Calais region, the state representative, is fighting an uphill and some might say punitive battle to close the 72 eateries and shops in the makeshift migrant camp in the northern port city of Calais, but its quest to turn off the gas to those stoves and smack the cups of tea out of the hands of migrants hit a snag when a French court rejected a bid to shutter those restaurants. The Lille court rejected the prefecture’s demand to close the operations, which humanitarian organizations contend are a lifeline for the migrants, estimated at over 7,000 in the camp. To make its case look more palatable, the prefecture issued a statement alleging that the installations don't respect sanitation rules, risk fires and are a source of public disorder. That’s probably an accurate statement of most everything associated with the migrant camps around France, but if municipalities get the green light to start shutting things down on such a basis, then it’s not going to be long before the powers that be make it wholly impossible for migrants to remain in their country. Undeterred by this legal setback, the prefecture says it will continue inspections and legal action against what it calls a dangerous underground economy. Literally living underground may be all that’s for migrants if this fight for survival ever starts to swing in the direction of those they’re fighting against………

- Getting extended for more than one season is a rarity for TV shows. Getting two seasons is a massive endorsement from a network, which means the news that “Homeland” will have at least three more seasons is beyond rare. The national security-themed drama stars Clare Danes as its mentally unstable central figure and earlier this season, it was revealed that the show would continue for a sixth season. Now, we know that there will also be seventh and eighth seasons on the heels of Season 6, which will air starting in January. The sixth season will be set in the aftermath of a U.S. presidential election, although Danes previously said that the season will be based around a fictional presidential nominee rather than being based on someone like current Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, saying the presidential character would be “kind of a composite of all of the different candidates and a kind of — not rebellious necessarily — but she’s challenging norms and is a little threatening for that reason.” In announcing the multi-season renewal for the show, Showtime's programming president Gary Levine was straightforward in his praise. "Homeland was deserving of a multi-year pickup, and that's what Howard [Gordon, executive producer] has achieved with his enthusiasm,” Levine said. Very few shows are able to last for eight seasons or more, even the really good ones, so winning that war of attrition and outlasting its rivals is an accomplishment in its own right for the show. Now, who to cast in the role of Human Circus Peanut Trapped Inside a Hairball Donald Trump……..

- Being a gas station clerk is not a glamorous job. Showing up day after day, working behind bulletproof glass and dealing with people who treat you with utter disdain as they pay for their lottery tickets, fountain drinks and candy bars can wear on a person’s will to live, so in the rare instance when a gas station clerk gets to fight back, you had best believe he or she will take that opportunity with gusto. So it was for two clerks at a Shell gas station in Florida City, Florida who battled  back against two robbers who stormed into their store and tried to take what didn’t belong to them. The thieves entered with a baseball bat and bad intentions, but the clerks weren't backing down and at one point, Emanuez Santos and Joseph Aguilera were able to gain the upper hand and seize control of the bat. This all went down in the middle of the day, around 2:30 p.m., with surveillance footage showing the two robbers walking up to the store and immediately approaching the clerks. Santos was struck in the arm and as that happened, the second suspect climbed over the counter and ripped $300 from the register before Aguilera grabbed him, causing him to fall to the ground. At that point, Santos grabbed the bat and used it to strike the thief several times, causing the man to fall against a nearby merchandise rack as Santos reached for his leg and clubbed him several more times with the bat. The suspect broke free in a dazed state, stumbling out of the store with his accomplice and fleeing the scene in a gold-colored SUV. It was a rare win for the minimum wage-earning, polyester vest-wearing segment of the workforce and a reminder that when it’s your turn at bat, you had best swing for the fences……..

- Damn, it’s good to have Hope Solo back - the real Hope Solo, that is. For the past few months, the loose cannon goalkeeper for the U.S. Women’s National Team managed to put on a friendly front as she and her teammates promoted their run for gold at the Summer Olympics, but that version of Solo really doesn’t entertain anyone. No, the Hope Solo we want to see is the one who lays out her own coach for not playing her in a key loss in a major international tournament, which is the same Hope Solo who was infamously involved in a domestic violence incident in which she was accused of assaulting multiple family members. That Hope Solo is pretty damn entertaining and after Sweden bounced the U.S. 4-3 on penalty shots in the quarterfinals of the Olympic soccer tournament to decide a game tied 1-1 after 120 minutes of play, it’s that Hope Solo who showed up for the postgame press conference. "I thought that we played a courageous game," Solo said. "I thought that we had many opportunities on goal. I think we showed a lot of heart. We came back from a goal down; I'm very proud of this team. I also think we played a bunch of cowards. But, you know, the best team did not win today; I strongly, firmly believe that.” Verrry classy, Hope. The bad news for you is that the better team did win because in sports, the team that wins is always the better team on that day. Oh, and you play soccer, a sport renowned for its fake injuries, flopping and asinine goal celebrations, so there really isn't anywhere on the pitch where courage can be found on soccer’s best day. “I think you saw America's heart. You saw us give everything that we had today. Unfortunately the better team didn't win,” Solo added. Her primary point seems to be that Sweden played a defense-first strategy, knowing it didn’t have the offensive firepower to shoot its way past the U.S., but in soccer it doesn’t matter that the Americans dominated possession and finished with 27 shots, yet lost to a team that had only two shots on goal. Coach Pia Sundhage, the Swedish coach who formerly coached the United States and won two Olympic gold medals, owned the U.S. once more and if Solo wanted to disprove the verdict delivered by the scoreboard, maybe she should have stopped more of those penalty kicks………

Star Trek led by a lady, weed battles in Missouri and you can't believe Bobby Petrino

- This may seem like a conflict of interest…and it probably is, but let’s overlook that for now. Instead, let’s dive in to the total mess than is Poland's Constitutional Tribunal ruling that parts of a new law governing its own operation are unconstitutional. Deciding whether or not the rules by which you can do business are legal or not seems like it’s bass-ackwards, but this ruling is merely the latest plot twist in a convoluted nine-month saga centered on Poland's highest legislative court. The players in the drama include the right-wing ruling Law and Justice party, which got all of this rolling after taking power last November, taking significant steps to stack the court with its supporters and change the rules by which it can reach rulings. The court isn't the only one with a beef with the legal changes, as the European Union says the steps have weakened the rule of law. This isn't a small, easily fixable issue either; the court said among rules that are unconstitutional is a provision giving four judges on the 15-judge court the power to block rulings for up to six months. It’s a sharp rebuke for the ruling party, but given the calloused disregard and disdain they’ve shown for what’s fair and just during their first few months in power, it’s not difficult to imagine them responding to all of this with a giant middle finger to the world and simply passing new laws trying to make their previous unconstitutional actions totally constitutional and acceptable……….

- If Bobby Petrino really want the world to believe that his Twitter account was hacked after material including a link to an adult website and sexually suggestive hashtags were "liked" by his profile, he should probably find someone other than himself to make the case. The third-year Cardinals coach - a man who has lied, deceived, ducked responsibility and generally shown no semblance of integrity or character at every single stop in his coaching career - said in a statement that he generally supervises his Twitter account but noted that there are "multiple people, and possibly an unauthorized user" with access to his account. Issuing statements rather than get in front of cameras himself is a Petrino specialty, as he famously quit as the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons mid-season by leaving a form letter in players’ lockers in the middle of the night. Oh, and his integrity on pretty much any subject will forever be in doubt given that he a) once lied straight to his athletic director’s face about leaving Louisville while he was working on getting the Atlanta job and b) was fired by Arkansas in April 2012 for misleading school officials about a motorcycle accident that eventually revealed his mistress was a passenger. So when someone using his Twitter account likes some Internet freakery and shows a proclivity for the sort of sexually devious behavior to which he seems fairly inclined given his history of infidelity….let’s just say it’s hard to give Bob Petrino the benefit of the doubt. But keep selling your innocence, coach, eventually maybe someone will buy it……….

- A weed battle is threatening to ruin lives in the Show Me State. Alice Hezel has lived in her historic Maplewood home for more than 35 years and much like the down-and-out soul who has given up on life and bails on the idea of personal hygiene, in recent years she has elected to allow the plants in her garden and yard to grow unchecked. She especially enjoys growing milkweed because it is a natural habitat for the monarch butterfly, which she enjoys viewing. Her approach caught the attention of city leaders, who have determined that the plants are weeds and says Hezel is in violation of an ordinance which mandates that a land owner or occupant cannot  allow or maintain on any such lot or tract of land or any part thereof any growth of grass or weeds to a height of 12 inches or over. Simply put, mow your damn yard. Hezel has received tickets for ordinance violations since 2012, leading to her recently being designated a habitual offender who must answer to a judge for her crimes. “They’re going to issue a warrant for my arrest. I’ve lived here for 35 years. They don’t need to issue a warrant, they know where I live,” Hezel whined. She intends to fight for her butterfly garden and in the battle for public opinion, the city recently responded with - of all things - a Facebook post insisting it does not arrest residents for weed-based violations. “No resident of Maplewood is facing possible jail time for a weeds violation,” the city wrote. “The attorney of a Maplewood resident had previously called for a hearing after receiving a citation for a weeds violation, not the City of Maplewood. The City of Maplewood views this matter as a maintenance issue (lack of cultivation); the type of plants that are being grown is not an issue.” If only this woman were growing actual weed, then there would be something interesting to talk about in this mess………

- The new Star Trek TV series is looking to push some boundaries and boldly go where other network shows haven’t gone before, so it only makes sense that the show’s lead character will be female. Show runner Bryan Fuller previously revealed that at least one crew member will be homosexual and now, he says “Star Trek: Discovery” will focus on a female Lieutenant Commander, rather than the Discovery’s captain. The lady commander will have a crew of which many members will be aliens and he believes that focusing on a the lieutenant commander rather than the captain will give the series “a different perspective” from previous Stark Trek series. “For our new lead to understand something that is truly alien, she first has to understand herself,” Fuller said. Having the ship’s crew try to be friendly towards alien races is a bold step and it will be interesting to see how fans react to all of this when the show hits the airwaves next year. Although that date is in the future, the show will actually be set 10 years before the original TV series featuring Captain James T. Kirk. Rumors of storylines and who will be cast in specific roles have been running rampant for months and given the recent run of Star Trek and Star Wars films, it’s clear that Hollywood believes the public’s thirst for all things space-related is as high as it has ever been. Having a diverse cast is one more way to increase that appeal and try to draw in as many different types of fans as possible because alien or not, at the end of the day, the only color that really matters in this business is green……..

Italian mob politics, because you're Deon Long and "Ocean's Eight" furthers an asinine trend

- This trend can stop any time. The trend of taking movies - good ones - and reviving them when there’s no life left in their franchise name by doing a “bold” all-female version is getting lame in a hurry.  The middling, uninspired “Ghostbusters” spinoff earlier this summer was proof that the concept doesn’t work, but just to hammer that point home, “Ocean’s Eight” is marching forward. The new film will be an all-female spin-off from the Steven Soderbergh-directed Ocean's trilogy, which started out well with “Ocean’s Eleven” and got progressively worse with “Ocean’s Twelve” and “Ocean’s Thirteen.” Perhaps feeling like “Ocean’s Fourteen” would just be numerically excessive, Warner Bros. elected to go the opposite direction and discard George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon in favor of Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Mindy Kaling and Asian-American rapper and actress Nora Lum…along with Rihanna, the newest addition to the cast. The new project will be co-written and directed by “The Hunger Games'” Gary Ross, which means not only will it get rid of the cast and chemistry that made the first two movies in the series solid or better, but it will replace the creative vision that helmed them. The project even has a lame nickname, “Ocean’s Ocho,” which simply means it’s now a terrible idea in two languages. At best, this is a new slant on Hollywood wanting to do a remake or sequel of every movie ever made rather than come up with original ideas, cloaking it under the fabricated notion of gender equality by giving the ladies a chance to lead. Give them original, fresh ideas for movies if you really want them to shine, yo……….

- Oh, the perils of the eager beaver. An overly zealous and possibly rabid beaver made its impact felt near the Pomfret/Killingly town line in Connecticut earlier this week, attacking two people and prompting the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to warn all swimmers and boaters in the area to be on guard. A man and woman were swimming in the Quinebaug River around 7 p.m. when they were bitten by the angry animal, according to DEEP officials, in the vicinity of the Route 101 bridge. Both beaver bite victims received stitches at Day Kimball Hospital in Putnam and will have to go through a series of rabies shots as a precaution. Wildlife officers searched the area and located a beaver "exhibiting aggressive behavior" near the Route 101 bridge, but were unable to do the crucial part of their job by bringing in this renegade beaver. "We did see an animal in the area where this took place and it was looking aggressive to our officers so all the more reason for people to stay out of the water, even people in small water crafts like a kayak or canoe," said DEEP spokesman Dennis Schain. "There have been fairly rare reports of beavers being aggressive toward people, also beavers can be infected So we don't see that a lot but it does happen. So we don't know here if it's a healthy beaver being aggressive or an infected beaver with rabies acting out.” Maybe you want to find that out before this critter sinks his massive chompers into someone else, D. As wildlife officers, you have one job and at this point, you don’t seem to be very good at it……….

- Because you’re Deon Long. There’s really no other way to explain a random roster transaction by a consistently mediocre NFL team happening the way it did, with Long getting axed by his head coach on national television because the wide receiver brought a woman into his training camp dorm room. Rams coach Jeff Fisher cut long in a scene broadcast on this week’s episode of HBO's "Hard Knocks," with the veteran coach informing Long that he is being cut for violating team rules. "What part of the rules, what part of 'no female guests in the room,' did you not understand?" Fisher asked Long in their meeting, filmed as part of HBO’s annual series profiling one reluctant NFL team during training camp. Long protested, arguing that his visitor was there before curfew and he didn't intend to have her stay, but Fisher realized he was talking to a guy who spent time with the Tennessee Titans and Miami Dolphins last season but never played and only recently signed with the Rams, meaning he didn’t have to overlook the transgression the way he would for a player such as Todd Gurley or Jared Goff. "Sorry, but this is our world, man," Fisher says. "We have rules and we have to abide by them. Not the first time I've done this for this particular violation, but I thought I made myself really clear." Oh, you did coach. You made it clear that a fringe player who you can make an example of on national television is going to get no leeway in your organization……..

- In the world of non-shocking news, the Italian government believes Mafiosi have infiltrated the local administration of Corleone, the Sicilian town which inspired the fictional crime clan's name in "The Godfather" novel and movie. Premier Matteo Renzi's Cabine took bold action this week, dissolving Corleone's municipal government and putting its City Hall under temporary control of the interior ministry at the urging of Interior Minister Angelino Alfano. Political corruption is almost expected in Italy, but it goes to another level when you have Corleone's mayor voicing worries about Mafia infiltration. Sicily's Cosa Nostra is well-known for flexing its criminal muscle to intimidate those who stand its way and to exert influence on decisions and public contract bidding or to support local politicians sympathetic to the Mafia's economic interests. Corleone is one of many city halls in Italy's south, and, lately, increasingly also in the north, that has been put under the national government’s control in a last-ditch effort to remove mob influences from the political process. Corleone was an extremely obvious place for all of this to unfold, as the city was the stronghold of convicted mobster and reputed chieftain Bernardo Provenzano, who recently died. His demise doesn’t seem to have lessened the mob’s presence in the area and if the national government is hijacking control of governance in the area, this is a much bigger problem than anyone in the government cares to admit. But hey, corrupt government is still better than the prospect of electing Donald Trump to run your country, eh Italy? Count your blessings………

Conor McGregor hearts WWE, GPS quirks and hijinks and a Polish O.G.

- This could very well redefine the term O.G. An 80-year-old woman in Poland is proving that you’re never too old to be a no-morals thug ripping people off of everything they have in their pockets by means of cunning, deception and of course, drugs. Police claim the woman drugged and stole from a string of suitors she met through dating ads in her local newspaper -- a crime that could put her behind bars for 20 years, which seems a bit ridiculous because this woman may not live another 20 months at her age. According to prosecutors, the suspect, identified as Janina M., would sneak the powerful sedative lorazepam into her victims' food, lulling them to sleep during what they thought was a romantic meal.” One especially glaring case involved this woman allegedly snatching $2,000 in cash, jewelry and electronics from a 78-year-old man who'd invited her to his home in Szczurow, east of Krakow. "I'd never have imagined this lady was capable of doing something like this, nor that she's 80," prosecutor Andrzej Lesniak said. Precisely, A. That’s what makes her such a badass, because even though court records show she's been convicted of theft and fraud eight previous times, she’s managed to convince a lot of people that she’s not that bad of a person. Using lorazepam, commonly prescribed to treat anxiety, is a deadly tactic if it is combined with alcohol or other drugs, but this woman was willing to push the limits in order to fund her criminal lifestyle in the final years of her thoroughly unscrupulous life……….

- “Suicide Squad” may be getting crushed by many critics and fans, but the producers of TV's “Gotham” are apparently impressed by what they’ve seen. The Fox drama apparently plans to introduce characters made popular by the blockbuster movie. Executive producer John Stephens revealed that a "forerunner" for Margot Robbie's character Harley Quinn and a "proto-version"of Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje's Killer Croc will appear in episodes of the show…at some point. "That might just be, like, Reddit talk for, 'We haven’t quite figured it out.'" Stephens said. "It's sort of like you see the first version of it, and you see how it comes from [that] after-the-fact. As if you see someone who has a scientific anomaly so their skin grows in a certain way, and [you say], 'Oh, I'm gonna take that and grow Killer Croc from that in the future.'" He added that Cameron Monaghan's character Jerome's genesis into The Joker will continue to develop during the show's upcoming third season, which also links to “Suicide Squad” because Jared Leto delivered his own unique take on the character in the film. "It's about developing the myth of The Joker, just like we're developing the myth of Batman. It's so we can stretch him over multiple seasons,” Stephens said of his show’s take on the Joker. “The cult of The Joker began, and we'll explore how that deepens and changes this year. There are underground movements where they talk about Jerome." Ah, the vaunted underground movement, always such an important part of the process………

- Navigation apps are one of the smartphone era’s true mixed bags. On one hand, they often provide relatively accurate guidance to one’s destination, helping navigate unfamiliar areas and avoid traffic delays. On the other hand, they can sometimes send people to completely unrelated locations from where they intended to go, putting their life in danger in the process. The current situation in a residential area of Southington, Connecticut falls somewhere in the middle. A GPS quirk is sending people to a residential area instead of an amusement park and the unhappiest people in this situation are residents in the Mount Vernon Road area, who say the situation is making their lives miserable and causing traffic issues in their neighborhood. Folks like Mary Sargent are trying to help get lost drivers on the right path to Lake Compounce in Bristol, but claim the problem has lingered for months on end. The GPS problem leads drivers to a service entrance on Lake Avenue, from which they all end up at where Welch Road, Mount Vernon Road and Lake Avenue meet and have to do a U-turn to get back on track. "We have had constant traffic issues with out of state cars and tour buses that are constantly going by our houses,” Sargent said. In response, she posted a homemade sign, but of course that hasn’t really made much of an impact. The GPS issue stems from folks being sent to Lake Avenue if they're looking for Lake Compounce, with the navigation apps directing them to a service entrance at 822 Lake Ave. in Southington instead of 186 Enterprise Drive in Bristol. Lake Compounce representatives claim they’ve tried for two years to get Google Maps and Nav Tek, which provides information for Tom Tom, Garmin and other GPS devices, to fix the issue, but to no avail. Maybe it’s time to pull a Trump and build a wall to keep out the unwanted…….

- Because #ConorMcGregor. He hasn’t fought in months and pissed away his chance to headline UFC 200 due to his own macho head games with Dana White and Co., but the Irish MMA sensation remains one of his sport’s biggest personalities and it should surprise no one that he’s picking a wholly pointless fight with a quasi-sport at which he would probably excel. McGregor, who will return to the octagon next month, is basically UFC’s equivalent of a World Wrestling Entertainment superstar, decided to take a run at the entire  WWE roster after being asked if he was interested in one day participating in the world of sports entertainment. “For the most part, those WWE guys are [expletive], to be honest,” McGregor said. “They’re messed up [expletive], if you ask me. Fair play to Brock [Lesnar], he got in and fought, but at the end of the day he was juiced up to the [expletive] eyeballs, so how can I respect that?” He did throw a slight dose of respect to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Paul “Triple H” Levesque and the McMahon family by calling them “dons,” but doubled down on the hate on social media by tweeting that he “didn’t mean no disrespect to the @wwe fans. What I meant to say was that I’d slap the head off your entire roster. And twice on Sunday’s.” Thanks for clearing that up, C. Just know that once your 15 minutes of UFC fame are up, you’re basically on track to become the Bizarro C.M. Punk. You already have the disheveled look, tattoos and beard, so embrace your destiny……….

Fox wants more "X," Hungarian yoga protests and Yasiel Puig makes baseball fun again...for himself

- There’s nothing to welcome a teenage girl to adulthood quite like spicing up her 15th birthday party with the wacky unpredictability of edible marijuana goods, eh? Someone in San Francisco knows how to put the kush in quinceañera and because of this adventuresome soul, the city's Department of Public Health is trying to figure out just how it was that edible marijuana offered at this party sickened 19 people in San Francisco's Mission District. The initial findings came after preliminary lab tests showed that gummy ring candy from the party contained THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. "Anyone who attended the quinceañera and may have taken home some of the gummy rings is urged to discard them immediately," said Dr. Tomas Aragon, health officer for the city and county of San Francisco. All 19 people were taken to the hospital with symptoms ranging from a rapid heart rate and dilated pupils to nausea, lethargy and confusion, which is amazing because it suggests that none of these people had ever gotten high before and in a wide-open city like San Francisco, what are the odds of finding 19 people gathered in any one place, all without any stoner habits? But none of the hospitalizations were too severe, as all were soon released, leaving health officials to investigate the origin of the candy, including the catering company, which is from Oakland. "The question remains, where did the candies come from?" Aragon asked. "A situation like this, where they were consumed by unsuspecting people, and many children, is greatly concerning.” Wait….dosing unsuspecting children with uncertain quantities of ganja is a bad idea? Maybe this crew just has a different view of how to celebrate a girl's 15th birthday in Latin American cultures………

- Yasiel Puig: Making baseball fun again, even if it’s just for himself. The embattled outfielder was demoted to Triple-A Oklahoma City by the Los Angeles Dodgers earlier this month after the team failed to trade him at the deadline and decided it was tired of his behavioral antics, at which point he took his sweet time going to Oklahoma City. Now that he’s there and is expected to work on his issues in order to get back to the majors, he’s going to take this sh*t seriously…right? Or not. The team is now promising to internally handle  Puig's activity on social media following a loss this week. Puig posted videos to his Snapchat account of him partying with his new Oklahoma City teammates after a 3-2 loss at the Iowa Cubs, beginning with a video of him shirtless in the team's locker room, smiling and saying: "It's so funny. We lose today, and everybody's happy." He chasd that with other videos showing he and his teammates dancing, singing and chanting, often using profanity. A banner on one of the videos reads, "I Love this Team." Probably not what Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and his crew wanted to see two days after Puig indicated through a translator that he was using his demotion to get his act together in order to get back to the majors. But hell, the guy went 2-for-4 in his first game with Oklahoma City on Sunday and 0-for-3 the next day, so clearly his game is right where he wants it to be. And it’s not as if the Dodgers inked him to a $42 million, seven-year contract in June 2012 and expect more big returns on that investment…….

- Ah, the truest and most violent of uprisings, built on a foundation of warrior pose and downward facing dog. Yes, all great revolutions start with stretchy pants, rolled-up rubber mats and finding your inner self. Organizers of protests this week in Hungary know this truth and that’s why these yoga instructors held classes for over 600 practitioners on Budapest's Freedom Bridge. Sure, they’ll tell you the gathering was mostly an effort to popularize the discipline and practice it in a unique location, but the truth is that this is an effort to reclaim the span after the bridge was temporarily closed for traffic due to renovations in June. But maybe this trendy yoga hangout has become a little too trendy, as a dozen instructors held simultaneous classes there earlier this week, with their sweaty devotees laying their mats on the tram tracks on the bridge that crosses the Danube River. According to one of the instructors, Judit Varga, she and her crew chose Freedom Bridge for their activities "because a special location has a special vibe. Since its closure, the bridge has become a community center, a place to make connections." Participants noted that the views of Budapest from the bridge gave the classes an added attraction, along with the middle finger extended to those who took the bridge away from would-be visitors in order to renovate it. Here’s hoping this starts a trend of yoga practitioners in Budapest taking their mats to random places and looking to become calm and centered as the world goes about its business around them……..

- When you bring back a dormant TV show, you may as well go all-in, eh Fox? Now that the network has brought “The X-Files” back from the dead and invested more time and money into the sci-fi franchise, Fox Entertainment President David Madden said his company is now "in significant talks with the three principals" for another batch of episodes. Those so-called three principals - stars Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny and show creator Chris Carter - probably won't mind a big payday after they reunited for a six-episode event series on Fox earlier this year. While the new episodes, the show's first in nearly 15 years, were ripped by many critics and fans, the ultimately pulled big ratings and in the end, that’s all that matters to a network as it tries to do its principal job of selling advertising time for as much money as possible. "The show was off the air for a very long time," Fox's co-President Dana Walden said in response to criticism of the recent episodes. "They had the challenge of filling in the mythology. ... Going forward there won't be the same obligation to reset the series. I think that there was some very strong work throughout the season, and we look forward to more.” In other words, we had some groundwork to lay and that’s why the episodes felt laborious and dragged at times, but we promise, it will be better from here on out. Before any more episodes are filmed, it’s probably good to tackle the fact that Anderson was initially offered half of Duchovny's fee to re-join “The X-Files” for this year's event series, only to wrangle an equal salary to her co-star. Don’t lowball her this time around, Fox, and you might have yourself a revived hit………

Reviving Superman, Italian coast guard hero + drowning cat and Walter White + Virginia mayor

- If this guy isn't pulling as much high-end, designer skirt as a guy possibly can, something is wrong with the world. For starters, the dude in question is Italian and for many women in the world, that gives him an irresistible charm fueled by his accent and general smoothness when it comes to romance. On top of that, he’s a sailor with the coast guard and again, many women love a man in uniform. Thirdly, ladies often love animals and especially cats, despite the animals’ unjustified aloofness and arrogance. So hearing that the Italian coast guard rescued and revived a drowning kitten at a Sicilian port after a group of panicked children begged the coast guard to intervene….that’s the stuff that legendary sex appeal is made of. The hero of the tale is a heroic sailor who jumped in the sea to rescue the cat, which was floating apparently lifeless in the water, as the coast guard ship entered the port Marsala after a patrol mission. Further enhancing the sailor’s rapidly growing legend, a video released by the coast guard showed crew members administering mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and massaging the kitten to remove water from its lungs, encouraging it: "Breathe, breathe. Wake up." It was a touching moment capped with more good news, as a veterinarian on shore said the kitten is now in good health and has been given a home at the Marsala maritime district office. The cat has been named Charlie and when the sailor who saved its life scores a date with every hottie within sailing distance of Marsala, here’s hoping he rewards Charlie with an extra ball of yarn and top-end litter……..

- Wait….Superman died at the end of “Batman vs. Superman,” right? If so, then how is it that Warners Bros. have reportedly green lit a sequel to 2013 Superman movie “Man of Steel,” a film that was received with a resounding, “Bleh, whatevs,” by virtually all fans and critics? The studio is reportedly in the early stages of developing the follow-up to the Christopher Nolan produced and Zack Snyder directed movie, a project in which Henry Cavill donned the superhero’s cape for the first time. That film launched the DC Cinematic Universe and went on to take $668 million in the global box office, but it was hardly a great film begging for a sequel. Oh, and Superman died fighting Doomsday at the end of “Batman vs. Superman,” so what gives? Batman, a.k.a. the totally miscast Ben Affleck, makes an appearance the recently released “Suicide Squad,” but Cavill as Superman has been on pause lately. Affleck’s stink as Batman has apparently extended to “Suicide Squad,” which was widely anticipated as one of the summer’s big blockbusters, only to debut over the weekend to terrible reviews. “Suicide Squad” director David Ayer has heard the heat on his movie and is trying to battle back. "I love reading stuff. I love going on the Internet and I guess I'm a little bit dauntless in that regard,” Ayer said. You love “reading stuff,” Dave? Very deep. Casting Affleck in the Batman role for even a limited time is a recipe for disaster, but maybe reviving Superman from the dead in a year or two will be a better decision for DC………

- Ah, when Walter White meets the world of corrupt American politics. Those worlds come together in the form of Richard "Scott" Silverthorne who is - for the very short term - the mayor of Fairfax, Virginia, a wealthy Washington suburb of 22,000 people. This is a guy who is both the mayor and a substitute teacher in the county’s public schools, but he’s on track to trade those jobs for a future at a medium security correctional facility because of his side job as - wait for it - a meth dealer. This Walter White wannabe has been arrested and charged with felony distribution of methamphetamine and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia, Fairfax County police said after delivering him to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center. Silverthorne was later released on his own recognizance, but resigned as mayor the following day. His downfall began when some narc called police and tipped them off about the mayor’s alleged methamphetamine distribution enterprise. Investigators were easily able to identify a person who was allegedly distributing methamphetamine via a website used to arrange casual sexual encounters between men, then launched an undercover operation in which an officer was communicating via text message with a suspect, who offered "methamphetamine for sexual encounters," according to a statement. They were able to set up a group sex encounter with Silverthorne, who allegedly agreed to bring drugs, along with other men, and when the parties rendezvoused at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Tysons Corner, the mayor was arrested. As to the question of why the mayor of a city has two side jobs and risks going to jail for one of them, it’s pretty clear that being the mayor of a rich, small Virginian city doesn’t pay quite as well as making the white trash drug of choice……..

- The only thing worse than being a top NFL draft pick selected to play for a team in one of America’s best cities in which to live only to be sidelined and kept from your millions of dollars by a prolonged contract dispute is what happened over the weekend to San Diego Chargers first-round pick Joey Bosa. Bosa, who is embroiled in a contract dispute with the Chargers, had the same groan-inducing moment as nearly every elementary school student has at some point, with his mother trying to make a difficult situation better by sticking her nose in the middle of something her son should really handle on his own. Bosa's mother, Cheryl, wrote a Facebook message responding to a well-wisher who expressed hope that the third overall pick in this year’s draft would get a deal done soon with his new team. The fan wrote that he hoped "it turns out well for your son. Chargers are horrible at stopping the running game." It was a relatively benign message and much more measured than the average NFL fan’s input on a player’s contractual issues, but Mama Bosa couldn’t stay in her shoes. “It bums me out for him so much. Wish we pulled an Eli Manning on draft day,” she wrote in response. That was a direct reference to Eli Manning, who diva-ishly refused to play for the Chargers when San Diego drafted him No. 1 in 2004. Manning and his family staged a power play that led to the Charges making an immediate trade with the New York Giants in which they acquired quarterback Philip Rivers, whom New York selected No. 4 as a condition of the trade, along with several other picks. Manning has won two Super Bowls with the Giants, but could have done the same in San Diego and done so with perfect weather on a daily basis, but he and his pageant parent father Archie Manning deemed New York to be a better place to place. It’s actually fitting that Bosa is holding out because his father, John, also was a holdout as an NFL rookie after he was drafted No. 16 by the Dolphins in 1987 and held out 41 days before signing his rookie contract. Selected No. 3 by San Diego in this year's draft, Bosa remains the only first-round pick who has not signed with his team and at this point, haggling over what is likely a relatively small gap in the two sides’ negotiating positions makes him look bad while also putting him behind the pace in competing for a starting spot………

Pizza ATM's, Matt Damon v. China and Russia's Paralympic shame

- There’s shady, there’s über-shady….and then there’s ramping doping of your PARALYMPIC ATHLETES. Yes, that’s directed at you, Russia. It was bad enough that the International Olympic Committee nearly banned all of your Olympic athletes from this year’s Rio Games due to systemic doping in recent years, but shooting/pilling/roiding up those competing with various physical disabilities that qualify them for the Paralympics is another level of scum-baggery. That latter approach to gaining an unfiar advantage led to Russia being booted from the upcoming Paralympics as punishment for the state running a doping operation that polluted sports by prioritizing "medals over morals." Paralympic leaders dropped the hammer on one of their most significant members due to years of doping deception, including tampering with samples at the 2014 Olympics and Paralympics in Sochi. "The facts really do hurt," International Paralympics Committee president Philip Craven said. "They are an unprecedented attack on every clean athlete who competes in sport. The anti-doping system in Russia is broken, corrupted and entirely compromised. Tragically, this situation is not about athletes cheating a system, but about a state-run system that is cheating the athletes." Craven laid out Russia and its government, saying the Putin regime “has catastrophically failed its Para athletes.” The blanket ban on the communists removes a contingent that finished second in the medal standings at the 2012 London Paralympics and had 267 athlete slots for Rio in 18 sports. Russia can appeal between now and the Paralympics, when begin next month, but it doesn’t sound like the IPC will show much mercy for the Russians in wheelchairs, with amputated limbs and clearly, with a government whose unethical behavior knows no bounds…………

- Not all protests/riots/rallies are awesome. For example, if your government is organizing a bogus demonstration in the wake of an  abortive July 15 coup that killed over 270 people, then your gathering is a lot more lame and a lot less badass than most other such events. Enter the crowds that gathered to cap the weekend in Istanbul at a massive rally to mark the end of nightly democracy demonstrations following last month’s coup. The lamely titled. "Democracy and Martyrs' Rally" allegedly aimed to represent Turkish unity, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urging attendees to bring only the Turkish flag instead of party banners. It was a cheesy, pathetic request tagged with the despot claiming before the event that "there we will stand together as a single nation, a single flag, a single motherland, a single state, a single spirit." Yes, standing and ignoring the fact that the reason there was a coup is your oppressive, dictatorial regime that pisses off a nation to the point that you try to create fake unity at an event attended by the highest levels of Turkish leadership and two of Turkey's three opposition parties. The only ones who don’t look bad here are  pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party, or HDP, who didn’t receive an invitation to an event the government was so intent on keeping under wraps that nearly 15,000 police were on hand for security, while the crackdown on anyone even tangentially involved with the coup through the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon Principle continues across the country. Yes, it truly was a festive and memorable weekend for all of Turkey………

- The debate over Hollywood whitewashing is so deep at this point that even Jason Bourne is being sucked in. Yes, Matt Damon is under fire by proxy because “The Great Wall” director Zhang Yimou has been accused of whitewashing following Damon’s casting as the movie's lead. A trailer for the film sparked the drama because those who viewed it believed Damon was playing a role that should be played by a Chinese actor. Yimou took exception, arguing that Damon’s role is merely one of several big ones in the movie. "The arrival of his character in our story is an important plot point. There are five major heroes in our story and he is one of them — the other four are all Chinese,” the director said. “I have not and will not cast a film in a way that was untrue to my artistic vision. Our film is not about the construction of the Great Wall. Matt Damon is not playing a role that was originally conceived for a Chinese actor." That didn’t placate comedian and actress Constance Wu, who was among the chorus of naysayers decrying Damon’s addition, claiming the film was "perpetuating the racist myth that only a white man can save the world.” That was a heavy claim made by someone who has clearly never watched the United States Congress in action…living proof that white men can’t even save their own country from total ineptitude in the face of rampant gun violence.  "Our heroes don't look like Matt Damon," Wu tweeted. Enter the Wu, eh haters? The film itself is set 1,000 years ago on the Great Wall of China, where a group of warriors battle to defeat a number of mythical creatures. It’s slated to hit theaters in February……..

- The real question is why this idea took so long to become a thing. Americans love pizza, Americans love getting unhealthy food in a hurry and Americans love ATMs. Why not roll all of that into one and create an ATM that dispenses piping hot slices of pizzas instead of $20 bills? Enter a company from, of all places, France to make this greasy, cheese-covered dream a reality. Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, is teaming with France-based Paline to bring the first pizza ATM to North America and taking advantage of college students with easy access to alcohol, disposable cash on their meal plan and little dietary discipline is an idea this tandem is looking to exploit. The PTM is being installed in the lobby of Fenwick Place just outside XU's Hoff Dining Hall and will be stocked with 70 pizzas at a time. It sounds like a potentially disgusting idea on par with hot dogs sitting on that slow-rotating metal rack at 7/11 for a week or two before some desperate, drunk dude bites the bullet and buys them at 2 a.m. after a major bender, but at least one person is selling this idea hard - conveniently enough, someone whose job is to promote all that is supposedly good about Xavier. "It is the best pizza I've ever had, and I hate to admit that as a New Yorker," said Jennifer Paiotti, marketing director of XU's auxiliary services. Nice try, Jen. Anyone buying from the PTM isn't looking for quality of food, just like they weren't really looking for quality when they downed seven Keystone Lights to set them up for the questionable decision of buying pizza from an ATM……..