Today's Olympic doping drama, Saudi Arabia v. dog pageants and brawling state senators

- There is so much wonderful and ironic in the amusing tale of Mississippi State Sen. Chris Massey. Massey, who spends his days accomplishing nothing while wearing a suit and tie like a good elected legislator, spends his off time alongside his father, brawling with landscapers in a place ironically known as Olive Branch. He and his father, who are the homebuilders for a subdivision, had a dispute with two landscapers and blocked the road so their adversaries couldn’t pass by. According to the landscapers, Massey and his father spit in the face of one of the landscapers, causing the landscaper to push Massey and prompting Massey’s father to reach into a nearby truck and grab a shovel. From there, in a development that would make Ron Burgundy and his news team proud, the situation escalated quickly and a tire iron and other lawn equipment were soon weaponized. The landscaper even claimed that the father, Jake Massey, mentioned a gun he had in his car. All of this happened as the homeowner whose yard was the setting for the brawl looked on. Witnesses claimed that the Massey man tried to get others to jump in on the fight, behavior that doesn’t really reflect well on a guy who is - wait for it - the chairman of the legislature’s ethics committee. In the end, three of those involved in the brawl, including Massey, are facing aggravated assault charges. Massey issued a statement insisting he has “committed no crime and have great confidence that once the true facts are known that I will be completely exonerated.” Stay optimistic, Likes to Fight Guy, stay optimistic……..

- While fans wait for the successor to R&B singer Frank Ocean’s critically-acclaimed debut 'Channel Orange,' they’re desperate for any indication of when the new album will come their way. The latest hint may be found in an extremely unlikely place, as eagle-eyed fans spotted a cleverly disguised introductory paragraph about Ocean in a Calvin Klein ad. The ad, on the company’s website, contains source code suggesting what Ocean may have been doing the past few years rather than releasing his second album. The album, expected to be titled “Boys Don’t Cry,” was initially expected to drop last year and its delay his only increased excitement over the project. In the source code for the ad is the sentence, "He has published a magazine and worked on a novel while continuing to perfect his highly anticipated second album." That fits with the theory that a magazine titled “Boys Don't Cry” will be published alongside the new album and it also jibes with Ocean’s previous comments from 2012 that he "might just write a novel next.” While only small bits of information are known about the new album, it is thought to have been recorded at the famed Abbey Road Studios in London and back in March, Ocean’s producer Malay said that the album was “maybe a month away.” That month has grown longer and longer, with no concrete data available on when it will actually become a reality……...

- There are a lot of activities that aren’t allowed in strict societies such as Saudi Arabia, but a dog pageant wouldn’t seem to be one of the happenings that the powers that be won’t allow to go on. Yet if you believe that, then you’re sorely mistaken. Two Saudi men have reportedly been arrested for promoting a dog pageant in the kingdom, where owning a canine for a pet is forbidden. These rebels promoted their planned contest on social media using the hashtag “most beautiful dog in Jeddah,” unveiling a plan in which the 10 best dogs would be recognized, with the top three owners getting prizes in a ceremony scheduled to coincide with the Eid festival, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan. However, social media is a notoriously difficult place to conceal illegal activities and when Saudi authorities learned of the event, they quickly shut it down and arrested the organizers, who face unspecified legal action. City officials posted their own social media message mockingly using the promoters’ “most beautiful dog” hashtag to notify people that the event was canceled. Dogs cannot be owned as pets in Saudi Arabia and other places in the Muslim world because they are seen as unclean, yet cats and dogs remain popular with many citizens. It’s a dicey setting in which so-called “morality police” watch for and report on dog owners and where trying to put a tiara on a good-looking dog is a reason to be thrown in jail……….

- The Olympics are inching ever closer and with each step toward the Games comes another twist in one of the ongoing doping scandals swirling around various nations and their athletes. Russia has gotten a lot of heat and a ban on its track athletes for the Rio Olympics, but Kenya is closing quickly and for the country that has been a dominant force in distance running for decades, it’s only fitting. The current drama centers on Federico Rosa, a manager who was released on bail while Kenyan police investigate him for allegedly providing banned substances to another runner as far back as 12 years ago. Rosa has at least one supporter in world 1,500-meter champion Asbel Kiprop, who defended his manager against doping accusations and said he was being "accused falsely." Kiprop posted a statement on social media advocating for his manager. "I have worked with Federico Rosa since 2008. I will work with Rosa to my retirement. I will stand out for the truth," Kiprop said in his statement. Kenya has been beset by a series of doping scandals in the past four years and the country’s track and field team was already under a microscope with Rio approaching. That will happen when you’ve had around 40 runners banned for doping since the 2012 Olympics, four senior federation officials facing allegations of corruption and your drug-testing program suspended by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Rosa is under fire largely due to  accusations made by Elijah Kiprono Boit, a former runner who competed at the 2001 and 2004 world youth championships. The details are a bit murky, but Rosa is accused of helping administer prohibited substances to Boit and conspiring to injure him through doping in a period from 2004 to 2008. ……...

New Walking Dead friends, middle-fingered thieves and Conor McGregor hate rolls on

- If you come at the South American despot, you best not miss. That’s the lesson for Venezuela's opposition lawmakers, who took over the congress in January armed with promises that it was the beginning of the end for President/dictator Nicolas Maduro. Their threats haven't materialized and Maduro has since managed to almost completely sideline the legislature with the help of the Supreme Court, leaving the scores of Venezuelans who support the legislature and want Maduro ousted with little to cheer about. Maduro is clearly feeling it right now, so much so that his ruling socialist party is talking about shutting congress down completely. "What has congress done these past six months? Wreak destruction. Prepare to say goodbye to history, because your time is coming," Maduro said in a televised address. He’s clearly irritated with the legislature and that might have something to do with the fact that Maduro’s approval numbers languish in the low 20 percent range while Congress President Henry Ramos enjoys 60 percent approval, making him the most popular politician in Venezuela. Oh, and mix in opinion polls indicating that a majority of Venezuelans want Maduro out of office this year, then you start to see why things are heated. You even have outside entities such as the Organization of American States accusing Venezuela of acting autocratically and moving to suspend it from the regional body. World leaders have denounced Maduro for stalling a voter recall referendum that could throw him out of power, but he remains defiant and willing to take on controversial measures such as  closing congress, an idea that many Venezuelans have already called an attempted "self-coup." The dictatorial spirit of Hugo Chavez lives on………

- Despite a disappointing Season 6 ending, “Walking Dead” fans will undoubtedly be awaiting the AMC series’ seventh season with rapt anticipation. When it finally arrives, four characters who made their mark last season will be back, the network has confirmed. Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who appeared as Negan at the end of Season Six, is among the characters promoted as series regulars and given the visceral reaction he sparked with fans, that makes sense. Other newly promoted cast members will be Tom Payne, who played Jesus and a was a new ally to Rick (Andrew Lincoln) in the last series, Xander Berkeley, leader of the Hilltop Colony and Austin Amelio, who portrays Dwight, a member of Negan’s Savior group who had a number of run-ins with Daryl (Norman Reedus) last season. The cast has swelled to 20 series regulars with these additions, marking an all-time high for the drama. Season 6 wrapped in April and the next season is slated to begin in October. Last month, AMC revealed that the seventh season’s sixth episode will "introduce two new characters who don’t sound to me like anyone in particular from the comic-book series.” These two characters will be named Naomi and Jennie, with Naomi described as a "grandmotherly type who, having lost so many loved ones, is now willing to do whatever it takes not to have to bury any more. Jennie will be a "sunny-side-up kinda teenager... who sounds a lot like Beth 2.0, 'kind, with a world-weary toughness.’" Sounds like some wonderful additions to the battle with the undead……..

- If you’re going to be a thieving, low-class a**hole, at least do it with the proper attitude. An unidentified thief in Richmond, Texas knows what’s up when it comes to this aspect of criminality and although police are now searching for him on account of his stealing packages off the doorstep of a home in the 4600 block of Poppy Crest Court off Coeblen Road, this jackass knows how to steal and be a d-bag while doing it. The homeowner from whom he stole has surveillance footage of this jovial jerk getting out of the passenger side of a black Ford F-150, walking up to the front door, picking up a large package that was left on the porch, placing it in the bed of the truck, directing an obscene gesture at the camera and then leaving. Not much is known about this contemptuous jack-wad, although he appears to be in his 30s, around 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighing about 190 pounds. The only thing he could improve is his uninspired wardrobe, which consists of a dark short-sleeved shirt, black pants and white athletic shoes. However, his lackluster look is bolstered by the fact that the truck he was driving was stolen in nearby Sugar Land, so at least he’s all-in when it comes to being a low-rent criminal. In the search for the thief, the Fort Bend County Crime Stoppers are offering a cash reward for information that leads to the arrest of the suspect. Here’s hoping that when they find him and haul him in for his mug shot, he gives the camera a giant middle finger……..

- Now that UFC 200 has taken a massive body blow to its appeal with the removal of main event co-headliner Jon Jones due to a positive PED test result, it’s time to start hyping the big fight for UFC 202 - and hope that nothing happens to ruin it. That fight is none other than bombastic Irish 145-pound champion Conor McGregor against Nate Diaz, the man who choked him out four pay-per-views ago. McGregor was supposed to headline UFC 200, but got into a contractual dispute with the UFC and was pulled from the card after missing a promotional event. He’s back on the agenda for UFC 202 in a rematch with Diaz, but Diaz isn't the only one who wants a piece of the bearded, wild-eyed Irishman. UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez just snagged a shiny new title belt two days ago, but he wasted no time setting his sights on McGregor. After winning the 155-pound title with a dramatic first-round stoppage of Rafael dos Anjos, Alvarez called out McGregor and questioned his mixed martial arts abilities. Because mentioning McGregor is a recipe for clicks and page views, someone asked Alvarez whether he would like to fight McGregor in the future. After praising his recent opponents, including Dos Anjos and former champion Anthony Pettis, Alvarez went all in. "I would ask [UFC president] Dana White, 'Please give me an easier fight like Conor McGregor,'" Alvarez said. "I deserve that. I've been fighting the best guys, so I would like a gimme fight. So, Conor, I'd more than welcome that." He later noted that McGregor is like other fighters who are “good at one thing, and they get matched up stylistically well," alluding to McGregor’s 13-second win over Jose Aldo that won the Irish star his belt. “If he was ever to fight Rafael Dos Anjos or to fight myself, he'd get found out very quickly,” Alvarez added. Here’s hoping we all get a chance to find out……….

Bearcam is back, conspiracy theory kooks dog Stan Kubrick and Canada stays angry

- Canada, you’re really starting to worry the rest of us. First, a provincial court judge decided an indigenous woman who screamed out her hatred of white people before punching a white woman in the face didn’t commit a hate crime and now, Canadians are assaulting furry friends in the Great White North when they meet on the road. Rick Nelson, a Canadian former boxer who was walking his dog over the weekend when he was confronted by a 300-pound black bear protecting its cub, decided to respond in a decidedly un-Canadian way - namely by punching the bear in the snout when it got aggressive. Nelson, who is also a former bear hunter, happened across the animal in Sudbury, Ontario. His bear-hunting past let him know that most bears are right-handed (right-pawed?), so he knew to expect a stronger blow if the animal swung from the right. The animal reared up on its hind legs and readied itself to attack, so Nelson knew he had to take his opening. “I had the perfect shot to take,” he said. “I did an underhand and hit it right in the snout.” Faced with a Canadian who was anything but polite and demure and smarting with a bloodied snout, the bear decided not to fight and left the scene without further incident. “I’m really glad that the bear walked away, and I’m really glad I did, too,” Nelson said. He suffered cuts to his face and shoulder in the process, but that’s a better result than most end up with when they come face to face with a furry killer……..

- The NBA and its 30 teams may not be on the same page when it comes to the current salary cap and financial system that still allows super teams with multiple superstars to form, but at least everyone is unified when it comes to keeping time at games. The league, in tandem with official timekeeper Tissot, unveiled a new shot clock and integrated timing system at its summer league this week. This new-look shot clock mounted to the backboard includes the 24-second and game clocks as well as timeouts, making sure that all 30 NBA teams will use the same system. In order to improve aesthetics, the new system will also  feature the most transparent piece of glass to date, allowing fans seated within its sight line a less obstructed view through to the court. Perhaps motivated by increased scrutiny on referees, league officials wanted a clearer display of numbers, combined with an integrated system that automatically sends data to scoreboards and video equipment, to clear the way for more precise calls made by on-site referees and for those checking those calls at the NBA Replay Center. There are streamlined fail-safes as well, meaning one system can be replaced by its backup with the push of a button. There is no border around the new display and a solid yellow line will flash when the 24-second clock expires. Tissot gets to plaster its logo on all clocks and will deliver three shot-clock systems to each NBA arena by September. The 24-second shot clock has been around since the 1954-55 season, when Syracuse Nationals owner Danny Biasone created it to speed up games. Now, it’s all part of the moneymaking process and a chance to enhance the fan experience……..

- Speaking of bears….Alaska. Now that bears are in the middle of their active summer schedule. Alaska's Katmai National Park and explore.org are teaming up to stream the fourth season of their online reality show known simply as “Bearcam.” There are HD cameras set up throughout the park so people who like the idea of seeing bears in their natural habitat without any chance of getting mauled or eaten, this is a chance to watch hundreds of bears in action, catching salmon upstream and raising their young. "We hope people turn to this for inspiration and when they do, they will see lessons these creatures have for us -- about cohabitation, instinct and beauty," explore.org founder Charles Annenberg Weingarten said. Among the offerings in this scintillating summer show is a camera at Brooks Falls, where the National Park Service says you can "see the biggest, most dominant bears jockey for position" and "watch mother bears teach their cubs lessons in survival." In the past, “Bearcam” viewers have witnessed grizzlies slain and eaten, cubs rescued and cast away and riveting battles over fishing territories. One big change this season is a feature that allows viewers to take a snapshot of the live feed and share it, with daily contests to display the best screen captures. There will also be blog posts, Twitter sessions and live chats with park rangers. It’s part of the National Park Service’s 100-year anniversary, leading the agency to team up with explore.org, a philanthropic media organization, to promote one of its most appealing natural resources……….

- Ah, conspiracy theory kooks, dogging celebrities and public figures through their lives…and beyond. Yes, even when a person passes away, their absence from this life is not enough to silence the kooks on the fringe who believe that said public figures were involved in some sort of vast cover-up that fooled the whole world - except for those smart enough to see through the smoke screen. One of the overarching conspiracy theories that has persisted for decades centers on the belief that late, great film director Stanley Kubrick helped direct footage of the so-called "fake" moon landing some five decades ago. That notion received a wholly unnecessary jolt in 2012 with the documentary “Room 237,” which addresses how Kubrick's work, such as “The Shining,” makes reference to the idea that Kubrick aided the U.S. government in faking the first moon landing in 1969. Now, Kubrick’s daughter Vivian has addressed the matter on Twitter, writing that she was "too aware of the dreadful manipulations perpetrated by governments,” but insisting that her father would be "the very last person EVER to assist the US Government in such a terrible betrayal of its people.” She wondered on social media how anyone could “believe that one of the greatest defenders of mankind would commit such an act of betrayal,” stating the obvious in saying that she - unlike conspiracy theorists who like to toss around wild speculation - actually knew the famed director and asked the world to “forgive my harshness when I state categorically: the so-called 'truth' these malicious cranks persist in forwarding... is manifestly A GROTESQUE LIE." Calling them cranks is probably nicer than those tools deserve, but even that won't deter them from continuing to promote their belief that the moon landing was all one big life fabricated for reasons that have long since ceased to matter………

Trash cleaning up trash in Georgia, Blink-182 by boat and an NFLer naps it out in a pond

- Naps can be a good thing. Many successful athletes, head coaches and even titans of industry swear by their midday power napping time and claim that napping it out for half an hour or an hour recharges them and enables them to tackle the rest of their day with renewed zeal. But any good thing has the potential to be dangerous and for Jacksonville Jaguars running back Denard Robinson, taking a nap landed him in deep - albeit not hot - water earlier this week. Robinson was found asleep at the wheel by authorities as his car was sinking into a retention pond in Jacksonville, Florida, early in the morning with his lady friend in the passenger seat. The two were dozing in Robinson's Chevy Impala when police officers approached the car at approximately 4:22 a.m. and both had to be assisted out of the vehicle. A well-paid professional athlete asleep in his car after driving it into a pond sounds like a recipe for a DUI charge, but amazing, an officer determined that Robinson wasn't impaired, so no DUI charges were filed. Police didn’t find any skid marks to indicate Robinson tried to hit his brakes before the car went into the water and the running back addressed the incident in a tweet, writing that he "should not have been driving that late or when I was that tired." The Jaguars acknowledged the incident in a statement, but a guy who is expected to be used as a change-of-pace option in the backfield this season and not the feature back doesn’t exactly merit a whole lot of fuss……..

- What’s that all aboot, Canada? Aren't you supposed to be annoyingly polite, mild-mannered and big fans of Bryan Adams? That last fact still appears unfailingly true, but the first two are in doubt now that a Canadian judge has ruled that an indigenous woman in Calgary, Canada who yelled, “I hate white people,” before punching a white woman in the face and knocking her tooth out did not commit a racially motivated hate crime. Judge Harry Van Harten issued a written decision in which he ruled that the motivation of the perpetrator, Tamara Crowchief, in the attack on the victim, Lydia White, was not related to racial bias. This provincial court judge seems to be ignoring a direct act of racism and flew in the face of the prosecutor’s argument that the unprovoked assault, which occurred in November 2015, rose to the level of a hate crime. Van Harten said there wasn’t enough evidence to establish the claim that Crowchief attacked White because of her skin color despite loudly proclaiming her hatred of a specific race of people. “There is no evidence either way about what the offender meant or whether … she holds or promotes an ideology which would explain why this assault was aimed at this victim,” the judge wrote in his decision. Yes, because a person says that sort of thing before violently attacking people she has never met before because she in no way, shape or form possesses any sort of bias whatsoever………

- The list of famous people terrified to fly and therefore resigned to traveling the world for their various professions by other, ground-bound means isn't long, but it is growing. Former football announcer and video game franchise inspiration John Madden famously traveled America by a tricked-out bus because he hated planes and now, revived, new-look pop-punk rockers Blink-182 are planning to tour Europe by boat because drummer Travis Barker is no fan of the friendly skies. Barker suffers from flight anxiety and has been unable to travel with the band after a plane crash in 2008 resulted in him developing a fear of flying. Getting around Europe by non-air means is actually pretty feasible, with boats, trains and buses all options. “We are looking into it. Hopefully we can make it work,” Blink member Mark Hoppus said. “Travis is looking into the possibility of taking a boat from L.A., which is a very long trip.” Yeah, maybe you want to drive to New York and then take that boat the rest of the way. Barker has previously said he is willing to make the boat trip and then once he reaches Euroep, to travel by bus even though that will mean much more travel time. Getting rich and famous and being able to charter flights where you want to go is one of the status symbols most bands seek, but for Barker, the experience of being involved in a plane crash has convinced him that there are more important factors to consider……..

- Ah, the karmic symmetry of trash cleaning up trash. Georgia-based Donald Trump fans, a.k.a. members of the Ku Klux Klan, are winning their legal battle to pick up highway trash after Georgia's highest court unanimously ruled in the group's favor. The Georgia Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by the Georgia Department of Transportation after a lower court had ruled the agency violated the Klan group's free speech rights when it denied its application to participate in an "Adopt-A-Highway" program. Rather than deal with the drama, the state suspended the highway cleanup program in 2012, shortly after the controversy broke out. The case centers on questions about the state's right to claim immunity and the constitutional guarantee of free speech, Justice Keith Blackwell wrote in his decision. He determined that the decision rested on jurisdiction and therefore decided that the transportation department filed its appeal incorrectly, leaving the court without the authority to consider its claims. You have to love the in-your-face bigotry of the International Keystone Knights of the Ku Klux Klan when its members applied to participate in the program in May 2012, seeking to adopt a 1-mile stretch of State Route 515 in Union County. Yes, because that was in no way a move to throw the group’s message of hate squarely into the public spotlight. Having the group's name posted on signs along the stretch of road it has adopted wouldn’t have caused a single problem, right? The transportation department denied the application on two grounds, claiming it’s unsafe to adopt the road because it's a controlled-access highway with a speed limit of 65 mph and also because “the impact of erecting a sign naming an organization which has a long-rooted history of civil disturbance would cause a significant public concern.” Who would take up for a group built on hate? That would be the ACLU, which sued  on behalf of the Klan group. The state filed a motion to dismiss the case and now, it lurches forward with this ruling, which sends the case back to the lower court where it could go to trial if the KKK group decides to press the issue………

Maldives family drama, giant Captain America statues and robbing McDonald's on a Schwinn

- Never allow your family drama to affect your business…or the competent governance of an entire nation. If that isn't written into the unofficial rules of business and government, it should be. Then, the powers that be in the tiny island nation known as the Maldives would not be locked in a bitter family dispute that has resulted in the country’s foreign minister resigning amid reports of a bitter dispute between the president, who is her uncle, and her father, who previously ruled the country for 30 years. Dunya Maumoon announced that she had submitted her resignation but won't immediately discuss the reasons, but the timing of her resignation tells the story well enough because it came down amid differences between President Yameen Abdul Gayoom and his half-brother, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the leader of the ruling Progressive Party of the Maldives. The family battle became public last week when Maumoon openly opposed a law to lease out islands and lagoons for tourism projects without competitive bidding. The country already has a tenuous political scene and this dispute could cause even more waves as Maumoon moves to strengthen his hold on the party. One has to imagine that Maldives residents are absolutely thrilled that their country became a multiparty democracy in 2008 because in less than a decade, that multiparty system has pushed them to the brink of a debacle that could set their developing nation back even further than it already lags as compared to the rest of the world………

- Considering the amount of money Captain America has already banked for Marvel, it’s not really that big a deal that the studio has commissioned a 13-foot tall bronze statue of the superhero to be made and erected in Brooklyn. Having a Captain America statue set up in a New York park is a great promotional tool for Marvel with the slew of superhero movies it has in the works. The statue will reside in Prospect Park and will also bear the “Captain America: The First Avenger” quote, "I'm just a kid from Brooklyn." The most recent Captain-starring film, “Captain America: Civil War” made a nice chunk of change earlier this year and will soon be available on Blu-ray and DVD along with 60 minutes of bonus footage which includes deleted scenes, the making of and an exploration of the evolution of Iron Man and Captain America. Mix in a gag reel of outtakes and a behind-the-scenes sneak peak of the forthcoming Doctor Strange movie and it sounds like a worthwhile DVD to own, one that Marvel can promote quite well by setting up a massive statue of a fictional character with zero basis in reality in the middle of one of the most densely populated cities in the world. But hey, Marvel is probably only putting this statue up because of the incredible appreciation the studio has for art and contributing to the advancement of American culture………

- Some lucky kid in Madison, Tennessee is going to have himself a hell of a “What I did this summer” essay when school starts back up this fall. This unidentified teenager will be able to boldly tell the tale of how he rode up on a bicycle to the drive-through window of a McDonald's in Madison and robbed the fast food joint at gunpoint. The robbery happened on South Gallatin Pike around 3 a.m., which raises a lot of questions about why McDonald’s is even open at that time - Taco Bell is, after all, the go-to fast food joint for those trying to sop up the excess alcohol in their bodies with quasi-food - and what this kid’s parent(s) are up to, but either way, the robber was able to get away with an undisclosed amount of cash. There were police officers in the area, but somehow the robber managed to get away clean and there are presently no leads on his identity or whereabouts. Employees described the robber as a black male between 16 and 17 years old, wearing a red shirt and had something blue covering his face. At this point, the only hope authorities have for determining who this bold minor is would be security footage from the restaurant, but that seems like a long shot because if his face was covered - and assuming this dude doesn’t rock a bike with license plates on it - then there is very little chance of accurately identifying him. Unless, of course, that essay shows up when the first week of school rolls around………

- Bank on this being one of the many syrupy sweet puff pieces running during the Olympics next month. When you have an Army reservist who wins his event at the U.S. track and field trials record jump and qualifies for the Games on the Fourth of July, it’s tailor-made for a deep-voiced narrator talking in bold tones over footage of this proud American holding the flag or soaring over the bar in victory. Sam Kendricks is that sure-to-be-lionized Olympian, a second lieutenant who captured the pole vault crown at the track and field trials, then proudly waved his red, white and blue flag in the air. "I love to have the colors [of the flag] in my hands," Kendricks said. "I'm lucky and I'm very thankful for the grace to befall on me that I get to do this and compete for my country. My commitment to my country comes first and foremost." He was one of several service members to perform well in the event, as U.S. Air Force star Cale Simmons took second. Two other Air Force members were also in the field: Dylan Bell and Joey Uhle, who had a mishap with his pole when it snapped in the middle of one of his jumps. Uhle didn't clear a height. "All great jumpers and serving their country on two fronts," Kendricks said. He cleared 19 feet, 4 3/4 inches to break the trials record set by Tim Mack in 2004 and Mack was on the sideline encouraging Kendricks to top his mark. Mack also had the chance to place the gold medal around Kendricks' neck. "The meet record was a byproduct of a lot of great jumping," Kendricks said. "I was lucky enough to have a coach who had a plan." And now, NBC executives have a plan to add his tale to their Olympics coverage……..

Father-son drone kooks v. Big Brother, Poland v. anti-Semitism and college football criminal determination

- If the first arrest doesn’t do it, give it the ol’ college try, eh Oklahoma cornerback Jordan Thomas? Thomas, who was a key member of Oklahoma's defense a year ago, starting 11 games and finishing with 46 tackles and five interceptions to earn All-Big 12 second-team honors, was arrested over the holiday weekend and could face charges of interference, public intoxication and assault and battery. The Cleveland County Sheriff's office in Oklahoma noted that police were called to a Norman bar after a fight and when the arresting officer arrived on the scene Thomas was running away. Yes, because if you can run a 4.5 40-yard dash and cover a speedy wide receiver stride for stride, then you can definitely outrun the police in their cars and with their radios. However, Thomas wasn’t able to elude the law like he mike deke a pursuing receiver trying to chase him down as he streaks into the end zone with an intercepted pass, putting six points on the scoreboard for his team. No, after a foot chase, Thomas was eventually caught and arrested. Believe it or not, the arresting officer determined that Thomas had "slurred speech,” the odor of alcohol coming from his person and admitted to having "6 shots." That last part might be due some credit because this idiot is the first person in recorded history to admit to the amount of alcohol he probably consumed before doing something stupid. And hey, it’s tough to blame Thomas for thinking he could get away with it; he was arrested in December for failure to appear in court for a traffic violation and has been suspended twice for undisclosed team violations during his time with the program, but still has his scholarship, so at this point he has to be feeling damn near bulletproof……..

- Ah, the tried-and-true father-son court appearance to fight the prying eyes and litigious hands of Big Brother. Nothing bonds two men quite like heading to court for a showdown with the Federal Aviation Administration over whether the agency can force them to disclose information about drones shown in two YouTube videos firing a gun and deploying a flame thrower in their backyard. That’s a mouthful to say, but it’s what happens when Austin Haughwout of Clinton and his father, Bret Haughwout, refuse to comply with subpoenas issued by the U.S. attorney's office on behalf of the FAA, saying the subpoenas violate their constitutional right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures and questioning the agency's authority to regulate recreational drones. The issue of drones is taking flight around the country and this week, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Meyer will hold a hearing on whether the Haughwouts have to comply with the subpoenas. What happens at that hearing in New Haven is expected to have national significance because it could set a precedent on how much authority the FAA has over recreational drone use. The facts of the case are online for all to see, as Austin Haughwout uploaded the videos to his YouTube channel last year. The most popular of the videos, viewed more than 3.7 million times, shows a flying drone equipped with a handgun firing rounds. It’s six times more popular than one that shows a flying drone with a flamethrower lighting up a spit-roasting Thanksgiving turkey. Yes, because dropping your turkey into a vat of boiling oil is so tired and played. Father and son are refusing to bow down to Assistant U.S. Attorney John Larson, whose side argues that the subpoenas were issued in connection with an investigation being conducted for the legitimate purpose of ensuring the safe operation of "aircraft" and under the FAA's authority to investigate potential violations of its regulations banning people from operating aircraft in a careless or reckless manner. Game on………

- How popular are superhero movies these days? So popular that A-list actresses are openly pining for starring roles in superhero movies that studios don’t even plan on making. Enter “Pitch Perfect” star Anna Kendrick, who is geeked about the idea of taking on the role of one of Marvel’s lesser known superheroes – Squirrel Girl. Keep in mind that Marvel has no plans for Squirrel Girl film, so Kendrick gushing about the chance to play the hero on screen is kind of totally out of the blue. “My brother sent me a Squirrel Girl comic because he thinks I should [play her],” Kendrick said. “I don’t know what Squirrel Girl does other than be half squirrel, but I could be half squirrel.” Props to Kendrick’s brother for thinking of his sister as a half-squirrel hero, because that is some bizarre logic. For those who don’t follow obscure, rodent-based Marvel heroes, Squirrel Girl has scored some major wins in her hero career, taking down major supervillains such as Dr. Doom and Thanos. This half-bushy-tailed-rat lady possesses superhuman strength, senses, razor-sharp claws and, naturally, the ability to communicate with squirrels. Many Twitter users have expressed support for the idea of Kendrick as Squirrel Girl, including some who have done disturbingly intricate Photoshop jobs of her in the role. The ball, er, nut is in your court, Marvel……….

- That was a slam dunk, eh Polish President Andrzej Duda? Duda, who spoke during commemorations marking the 70th anniversary of a post-war massacre of Jews in Kielce, made sure he was on the right side of history this time when he strongly condemned all forms of racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism, saying there is no room in today's Poland for those forms of prejudice. Those comments were a bit different from that one time he won the presidency after a remark in a debate that seemed aimed at winning the support of anti-Semitic voters. Perhaps sensing that he would be unwise to continue in that line of thought once he was actually in charge, he’s reversed field in recent months, strongly condemning  anti-Semitism and xenophobia several times. Seeing as Poland was home to Europe's largest Jewish community before the Holocaust, Jewish leaders have not been big fans of these mixed messages on matters of prejudice since the election last year that brought the right-wing Law and Justice party to power. When you have party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who is staunchly anti-migrant and accused refugees during the campaign of carrying "parasites" to Europe, having your president firmly on the right side of the battle against bigotry is kind of a big deal. Whoever wrote Duda’s speech for the ceremony did a solid job of driving that point home, so here’s hoping the president remembers to stick with that approach going forward……..

Where's the cloned beef, Johnny Manziel's football rock bottom and escaping Iran

- Maybe this time around, Zack Braff won't have to beg fans for money to get his new project done. Braff, who wrote and directed 2014's “Wish I Was Here,” which he partially funded through Kickstarter, is reportedly working on a new film, set to direct the black comedy “Bump.” “Wish” became a point of controversy on account of crowdfunding because it emerged that the project would also receive funding from a New York film company and Braff himself. The script for “Bump” was penned by Ori Guendelman and Rob McClelland and centers around a young lawyer whose life is derailed when he’s involved in an accidental hit-and-run. Panicked, the lawyer then spends the night attempting to dispose of the corpse. The script was one of last year’s best unproduced screenplays on the Black List and would be a departure from many of Braff’s films. He’s best known for comedic roles such as the one he had on the medical comedy “Scrubs” and for quirky, offbeat fare such as 2004's “Garden State,” a wacky comedy co-starring Natalie Portman that has become a cult favorite. His most recent project was “Going In Style,” the Warner Bros remake that stars Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Alan Arkin, which just wrapped filming. “Going” will be released in April, by which time he could already be well into the process of bringing “Bump” to the silver screen. There’s no word so far on casting for “Wish,” but it doesn’t seem to be the sort of project destined for an A-list, blockbuster-worthy cast of stars………

- Iran: Where you can't get out if you’re a well-known public figure who doesn’t walk in lock step with the government. Famed Iranian artist Parviz Tanavoli is the latest to try and fail to exit the country, saying  in a posting on Facebook that he has been barred from leaving the country while trying to travel to London. The sculptor said he was prevented from leaving late last week when trying to board a flight out of Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport. He wasn’t exactly going on some secret anti-government mission, instead being scheduled to give lectures at the British Museum and Asia House in London. Instead of being allowed to board his flight, he was sent to Iran's main passport office, where he says he attempted to resolve the issue, "but it was of no use." The government hasn’t commented on his situation, but it’s similar to the tales of several artists, poets, journalists and activists who have been detained in Iran since moderate President Hassan Rouhani's government reached a nuclear deal with world powers last year. The connection between those two realities is unclear, but what is clear is that public figures who are in any sort of creative profession may not be taking their artistic abilities outside Iran’s borders any time in the near future………

- Now, at long last, Johnny Manziel has reached rock bottom. At the end of a long, booze-soaked, cocaine-dusted road leading from NFL quarterback to disheveled drug addict, he has hit the mark which alerts any professional football player to the fact that he cannot possibly sink any lower. Yes, he’s officially being used as a publicity-raising tool by the Arena Football League. After the NFL suspended Manziel last week for the first four games of the 2016 season because of a violation of the league's substance abuse policy, the AFL seized on all of the attention afforded Manziel to publicly proclaim that it would be a great next destination for the trouble former Texas A&M star. "We could provide a strong platform for him to demonstrate that he is back," AFL commissioner Scott Butera said. "We would also work with him and provide him whatever help he needed to live a healthy life." Yes, because his own family, two agents and the Cleveland Browns have all tried and failed to help him put down the eight ball of coke and bottle of Grey Goose and clean his life up, but the AFL is going to have the answers for what ails Johnny Football. Oh, and he has that pesky domestic assault case in Dallas still pending, so it’s fair to say that life can - and most certainly will - still get worse for Manziel. He won't be balling in the AFL or anywhere else any time soon, but props to arena football for trying to garner itself attention from all of this……….

- Where’s the (cloned) beef? At West Texas A&M University, where students have achieved a lofty standard for meat in an unconventional way. Back in 2012, a research team from the school successfully cloned a bull which they named Alpha. Alpha was crafted using the carcass of a steer that rated high for having prime meat quality and scored high for having less fat than other beef.  Under U.S. Department of Agriculture standards, this type of beef represents the best combination of quality grade meat and yield of fat. A mere .03 percent of all cattle meet the standard, so it’s a rare thing. West Texas A&M students went on to close three other cows,  named Gammas One, Two, and Three, from another carcass that had the same unique factors as Alpha. They clones were bred and 13 calves were born and as word got out about what the WTAM team was doing, hundreds came out to hear more about it and try the high-grade beef for themselves. The quality is so good that agricultural experts believe the meat would fetch top-end prices in fancy restaurants. In the competitive quest to be one of the best agricultural schools in the nation, these advances give WTAM a leg - or four legs and two stomachs - up on the competition. According to school officials, their primary goals for the project are to develop genetic opportunities to improve beef and provide unique learning opportunities for the students. Of course, selling the artificially created meat could be a third goal and a very profitable one at that, as long as those on the eating end of the equation don’t mind that their juicy steak came through unnatural means………..

PGA Tour drug testing shenanigans, pot on the ballot and Tool on the comeback trail

- The nightmare is over, Venezuela. No, not the nightmare of living under the iron fist of a totalitarian, repressive socialist regime that stifles dissent and reeks of corruption; that lives on and probably will for a long, long time. But one of the nightmares the regime has imposed on its people, electricity rationing that began more than two months ago because a drought had caused low water levels at the hydroelectric dam that provides most of the country's power, has ended. Venezuelan President/dictator Nicolas Maduro says he is lifting the restrictions, announcing that beginning Monday the government will no longer cut off electricity to much of the country for four hours a day. The power cuts have impacted nearly everyone, as only the capital of Caracas and four other states had been spared from the power cuts that were instituted April 25. The government’s official story about the lifting of the rationing system is that a resumption of rain has improved the water level behind the Guri dam, which produces 60 percent of Venezuela's electricity. As part of the restrictions, the government also instituted a two-day work week for civil workers to conserve power they might use on the job, but the reality was that the workers weren't exactly staying home burning candles for light and keeping all of their electronic devices turned off. A normal work week was restored on June 14 and power cuts were suspended on the weekend, and now it’s back to normal for a country where shortages of basic food and hygiene items are still common things……….

- It’s been a decade since legendary metal rockers Tool have released an album and although their drought hasn’t reached the farcical levels Guns N’ Roses hit in Fat-sel Rose’s long quest to release “Chinese Democracy,” the metal world is anxiously awaiting Maynard James Keenan and his bandmates’ next release. Keenan recently addressed longstanding rumors of a new album from the quartet, which would be the first full-length album since “10,000 Days” some 10 years ago. "We’ve found a common ground,” Keenan said. “We just can’t seem to move forward.” Melvins frontman Buzz Osborne is a friend of the band and he claims to be one of the few who has heard material that could be on the new album. According to Osborne, the results are staggeringly long, as in the shortest song on the album so far is 12 minutes. The road back to existence as a living, breathing band has taken some time for Tool, who played their first live show of 2015 dressed as members of Led Zeppelin for Halloween. Keenan has been busy promoting his other band, Puscifer, but playing the Monster Mash festival in Tempe, Arizona on Oct. 31 was a sign that there might be life in Tool after all. A rousing cover of Led Zeppelin's 'No Quarter' was one of the highlights of the night, just as finally getting a new album from their long-dormant favorite band would be the highlight of the musical year for most fans……..

- The quest for full access to ganja whenever and wherever you feel like it is alive and well in California. In other words, a ballot initiative legalizing the adult recreational use of marijuana got more than enough signatures to place it on the November ballot, reviving an issue that voters considered in 2010 when a pot legalization measure was defeated by a 7-percent margin. Will 53 percent of voters be against legalization again? Silicon Valley philanthropist Sean Parker hopes not; he helped fund the signature drive with support from Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, the California Democratic Party and the NAACP. The fight over Proposition 19 was led by political consultant Tim Rosales, who believes that the new initiative has loopholes including some that allow convicted drug felons to legally sell pot. According to Rosales, the tax revenue generated by regulating the sale of marijuana would be eaten up by the cost of enforcing the scheme and policing black market sales. Arguing that the change wouldn’t benefit the state’s economy and that California would actually lose money in the process is bound to sway some votes, but supporters say that those on their side of the issue are seeking social justice, not profits. Supporters of the measure have already raised nearly $4 million. Those against it, namely law enforcement, hospitals and drug policy groups, are trying to position themselves as taking the high ground by using facts and not funding to fight against an idea they view as straight-up wrong for their state………..

- Although many people make jokes at golfers’ expense on account of many of them not looking much like athletes and their sport not being all that physically demanding. But whether people think golf is a legitimate sport or not, the PGA Tour drug tests its members and expects them to stay clear of performance-enhancing drugs that would allow them to drive the ball further, recover from injuries quicker and muscle the ball out of the rough with 24-inch biceps. That includes Steven Bowditch, who had himself a day at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. Bowditch, not among the best players in the field, had racked up five-straight rounds with scores above 80 entering the second round of the event. His streak of futility dated back to the WGC-Cadillac Championship, but he snapped it with a 2-over par 72 in the second round of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. He didn’t have much time to enjoy his feat of being not as far below average as usual because shortly after his round, he was ushered away by a tour official and told to pee in a cup. The tour’s supposedly random drug testing hasn’t always seemed so random to those being tested, as many have been taken in for testing after posting their best rounds in recent memory. But Bowditch found humor in the situation and tweeted a photo of the form he signed informing him of the test. He posted a tweet that read,  “Not even the Tour can believe I broke 80.” Props for finding humor in something that’s tremendously awkward, uncomfortable and weird even on its very best day………

Justin Vernon's hipster rage, a kook hearts his computer and Macedonia v. the EU

- The European Union may have suffered a major setback last week with the United Kingdom’s vote to exit its little governance club, but that doesn’t mean it’s stopped doing business. No, the EU is still in business and it’s top official in Macedonia has expressed "serious concern" over the lack of progress in overcoming the country's enduring political crisis, which was triggered by a wiretapping scandal. Aivo Orav, who leads the EU delegation in Macedonia, said the organization "is seriously concerned" over the situation and, "regrettably" has not seen much progress. That seems like a fair description in a country that has been drowning in political turmoil for 15 months and counting in the wake of opposition allegations that the governing conservatives illegally wiretapped about 20,000 people, including judges, police, politicians, foreign diplomats and journalists. A good internal espionage controversy is always fun to watch, but maybe no so much for those on the inside. Earlier this year, the country's top politicians agreed to an EU-brokered deal under which then-Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski stepped down. The idea was to clear the way for early elections to seek new, non-corrupt leadership for Macedonia, but those early elections have already been postponed twice and the various dueling political parties in the mix have yet to agree on anything remotely resembling a date to hold the vote. Now, the EU is concerned that its deal will fall apart and those fears appear to have some validity……….

- Behold, the monsoon of cash that is swamping the NBA in a rain of green when it meets the El Nino that is the influence of winning a championship on the value of members of said title team. Oh, and mixed with the worth of a person winning life’s genetic lottery by being born and growing into a 7-foot-tall human being. Free-agent center Timofey Mozgov has reached a verbal agreement on a four-year deal worth $64 million with the Los Angeles Lakers, proving that a dude who played a combined 25 minutes in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ seven-game Finals win over the Warriors can still make $16 million a season if he’s really tall and the NBA’s salary cap goes up by $20 million or so. The 7-foot-1 center averaged 10.6 points and 6.9 rebounds in 46 games during the 2014-15 season and started all 20 games during the postseason, in which Cleveland lost to the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals. However, his role shrunk drastically this season and he averaged just 6.3 points and 4.4 rebounds during the regular season and just 1.2 points in 5.8 minutes during the postseason. Being Timofey Mozgov was arguably the best job in the world in June, when he did nothing at all on game nights and was still making seven figures annually. Now, he’s upping his net work significantly AND he gets to live and work in sunny Southern California? Not bad for a tall, fairly uncoordinated Russian who speaks barely functional English and rode every other Cavalier’s coattails to a championship ring……..

- Verrrrry clever, Utah resident and all-around tool Chris Sevier. Sevier, who really wants to make the point that he doesn’t agree with same-sex couples having the right to marry, wants to wed his computer to make a social point. "This is not a game, OK, this is not some kind of funny scenario," Sevier said. No, it’s not a game. Just a really stupid, small-minded publicity stunt by an ass hat who should be able to find a thousand better, more eloquent ways to make his point - or he would be if he didn’t have the same IQ as the power cord that provides electricity to his computer. Sevier went to Utah County Clerk Bryan Thompson to ask for a marriage license, but Thompson turned him away for reasons that really aren't that difficult to fathom. "In this day and age nothing surprises me anymore," Thompson said. "I’ve been in this office long enough, I’ve seen lots of different things, but I just said, 'No, I legally cannot do that.'" Not to be denied in his quest for more publicity, Sevier named Thompson, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, and Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes in the case filed in district court, arguing that since it's legal for same-sex couples to marry, all other forms of marriage should be legal too. In his world, legalizing same-sex marriage is like turning religious beliefs into law because there's no scientific proof that homosexuality is a genetic trait. "There is no real proof that there is a gay gene," he said. "There is no real proof that people are born gay." That’s your belief, and you’re entitled to it, but (no) credit for saying that if the Supreme Court nullifies its ruling and redefines marriage as a union between a man and woman, he would no longer want to marry his computer. Keep being a tool, bro, and don’t let anyone talk you out of it………

- World, prepare to be stunned. Bon Iver frontman/über-hipster Justin Vernon is throwing a hissy fit and raging against something popular. Vernon’s latest target for his snarky rage is Apple Music, the streaming service that launched one year ago and surpassed 10 million subscribers in January of this year. Apple’s foray into the streaming world had a rough start, battling through rumored plans to include not paying artists for listens during a subscribers' unpaid trial period and prompting an open letter from Taylor Swift to the company shortly before the launch that changed Apple’s mind. That led to a surge in subscriptions, but Vernon still isn't sold and he recently took to Twitter to air out some grievances about its usability, labeling it a "horrid platform.” Vernon ranted about something hipster fans will undoubtedly enjoy, namely lashing out at the perceived over-commercialization of the industry. "apple went from being innovative, plug + play … the best way to experience music and file management to literally a horrid platform,” Vernon wrote. “they let the commercialization of apple music get in the way of making a product easy, simple, and beautiful to use. #neversyncagain." So that means you’ll be pulling your music from Apple Music, right J? Or not. Vernon confirmed hat he would not be pulling his music from the platform, which is going to get a redesign by Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor. Reznor will team with Apple vice president of iTunes content Robert Kondrk in an effort to make Apple Music more competitive with rivals such as Spotify. Just don’t think that’s going to impress Justin Vernon……….

China bullies democracy, "It" is back on track and the Dallas Cowboys Drug Club

- It may be time for a collective intervention for the Dallas Cowboys defense. The season is still months off and already, America’s Team knows it will be without not one, not two, but three key players due to violations of the NFL’s substance abuse policy. First, second-year defensive end Randy Gregory was banned for the first four games of the season for violating the league's substance abuse policy, but he was just the tip of a very high, glassy-eyed iceberg. Up next, linebacker Rolando McClain was suspended for the season's first 10 games for violating the same policy just three months after the Cowboys re-signed him to a one-year deal worth up to $5 million. For a dude who is set to receive a $1.25 million base salary and could earn $125,000 for each game he is on the 46-man roster, getting banned for four games is an outright stupid choice. Now, McClain won’t be maxing out at $2 million for games he’s on the roster and he’s going to have a tougher time hitting $1 million in playing-time incentives. It’s another chaotic twist for the eighth pick of the 2010 draft by the Oakland Raiders, a man who was released after the 2012 season in which he was deactivated for the final five games, retired twice and is now back in the league playing reasonably well. But wait, there’s more. Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence will also be AWOL for the first four games of the season for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy, robbing the team of a guy who led it with eight sacks last season but must sit for four games for using amphetamines. Worse still, it’s the second consecutive year the Cowboys will start the season without at least two key defensive players. Time for a 12-step program instead of a defensive team film session, Dallas……….

- Do prison inmates really need running water? It’s a question the mayor of Chester, Illinois is poised to raise on account of years' worth of unpaid utilities from its state run facilities. “The state has not paid us for their utilities for the Menard Correctional Center or the Chester Mental Health Facility, coming to a total of $1.3 million,” Mayor Tom Page said. “It’s been incredibly difficult, we’ve had to transfer from one fund to another, and we’ve basically had to put the brakes on all new initiatives.” Putting the brakes on new initiatives is one thing, but not putting a new roof on the local water plant is one thing and turnonf off the water at a prison housing hundreds of inmates is another. Yet the mayor is a cold, hard man who says he will show no mercy despite the circumstances. “I always tell people, if my 84-year-old mother lived in Chester, Illinois and she was 60 days late on her payment, we would turn her water off, Page said. "It wouldn’t even be newsworthy, but now we have two major facilities that have gone pretty much a year without paying their bills and we’re leaving them on." Page is a former prison warden and says he understands the dire situation facing his town and its prison. If this goes on, Page said the facility would have to transfer inmates, costing locals their jobs. He hopes the state legislature will introduce a bill to pay the cities and vnedors who are owed months of bills and although there is no set date as to when he would shut the state facilities water off, it’s going to be considered. A spokesperson for the Illinois Department of Corrections issued a statement saying the agency has been in constant communication with all of its vendors who have not been paid in nearly a year due to the failure of the majority party to pass a balanced budget and enact structural reforms.” And yet, no money is flowing……..

- It took 27 years - seven longer than it was supposed to - but at long last, filming has finally begun on the remake of Stephen King’s horror classic “It.” Director Andres Muschietti posted an Instagram photo of his director’s chair emblazoned with a blood-red It logo with the caption “Day one,” alerting the world to the fact that the project was finally on track. It will star Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise the Clown, as played by Tim Curry in the original from 1990. It’s not a big-name cast, as other members include Javier Botet, Owen Teague and Jaeden Lieberher. All have solid resumes, but not in the sort of films that the majority of the American moviegoing public has see. Warner Bros. announced plans to remake “It” back in 2009, but the project has been snakebitten ever since. The first director, “Beasts Of No Nations” director Cary Fukunaga, left in 2015. When “It” was dropped on the world back in 1990, it was a two-part TV movie and to honor that spirit, Warner Bros. wanted to release the remake in two parts to honor the spirit of King’s whopping 1,138-page novel. The book was published in 1986 and centers on a shapeshifter that can transform itself into its victims’ worst nightmares. The being’s most common form was as Pennywise and to fight back, a group of young outcasts team up to try to defeat him. Word on the street is that Muschietti’s new film updates the setting to the present day, rather than keeping the original’s 1980s landscape. It would be a nice tweak, but this could still end up as a truly awful, forgettable film that’s most punch line than blockbuster………

- Well isn't that convenient? A Hong Kong bookseller who was set to lead the southern Chinese city's annual pro-democracy protest march conveniently decided that he had something better to do that day … either that, or Lam Wing-kee decided not to take part because he felt "gravely threatened." Organizers of the protest had invited Lam, expecting him to be a big part of an event expected to attract tens of thousands of people, but they had to do what concert promoters around the world are loathe to do because they hate disappointing the masses, announcing at the late minute that their star attraction "suddenly" backed out of the event. Lam is one of five booksellers who went missing for months only to turn up later in police custody in mainland China, so he clearly has reason to be afraid and ending up in police custody in China once and surviving to tell the tale is one more escape from the abyss than most people get. Why run the risk again? Lam has already played with fire by returning to Hong Kong last month and defying Chinese authorities to speak out about his ordeal of being detained secretly on the mainland. One visit or outright menacing message from the Chinese government sent the message that if he showed up for the march, it would be the last bold, socially aware event in which he ever took part………