TMQ is back temporarily, for the first of his two yearly draft columns. We were actually kind of wondering about this; ESPN dropped “Page 2” a couple of weeks ago, and we were unsure if TMQ would stay or go.
Anyway, we are glad to see Easterbrook back, and, after the jump, we will mock his mockery…
Remember Greg Mortenson and the whole “Three Cups of Tea”/”Three Cups of Deceit” controversy? If you don’t, here’s some background.
Mortenson and the Central Asia Institute agreed to a settlement yesterday with the Montana Attorney General. Here’s the entire NYT story.
And here’s the entire LAT story. One paragraph in the NYT, two pages in the LAT. (To be fair, the LAT does bring in some non-CAI related issues, like Kony 2012.)
Summarizing: Mortenson will reimburse $1 million to CAI, CAI’s two remaining board members will leave and a new seven-member board will take over, and Mortenson will no longer be on that board.
The article states that the settlement will “toss Mortenson out of his own charity’, but quotes the “interim executive director” saying:
…that Mortenson would remain a paid employee of the charity but would not serve on the new board.
More parking problems at the Long Center over the weekend.
The notoriously corrupt California city of Vernon is holding city council elections next Tuesday. Hilarity has ensued.
Amen, brother. I don’t get people knocking on my door for elections, thank Ghu, but the phone calls really make me angry.
Worth noting: recent reforms (adopted in an attempt to keep the state from disincorporating Vernon) cut council salaries from $70,000 a year to $25,000 a year, eliminated subsidized rent for council members, and imposed term limits.
Current TV fires Keith Olbermann.
Raise your hand if you didn’t see this coming the moment his hiring was announced. Oh, wait: Ray Charles could have seen this coming.
But it gets better. Would you like to know who is replacing Keith Olbermann? Why, none other than Eliot “Client Number 9” Spitzer himself!
And if you’d like to read Olbermann’s response, you can find it here.
(And subject line hattip here.)
About two months ago, a class action suit was filed against Yassine Enterprises. The company was accused of not paying wages to employees who received tips: they own a long list of clubs in downtown Austin.
Earlier today, the FBI, IRS, and TABC raided the offices of Yassine Enterprises. 11 people involved with the company have been charged with an interesting assortment of federal crimes, including money laundering, cocaine trafficking, and “transferring a firearm knowing it is to be used in a drug trafficking crime”.
To which all I can say is “Wow”. And possibly “don’t f–k with the bartender”. It’ll be interesting to watch these cases play out.
Edited to add: Second day coverage from the Statesman here.
Two Coffee Travelers for my office: $28.04 with tax.
Receipt: free with purchase.
Sending a clear message to the gun banners: priceless.
There are some things money can’t buy. Like schadenfreude. People have to earn that. And in this case, the gun grabbers have.
Bunch of stuff from the NYT this morning. Sorry, but that’s how things roll sometimes.
First up: I didn’t know there were plans for an Eisenhower memorial. I like Ike, and the artist’s conception doesn’t strike me as being too awful. However, I’m skeptical of the need for yet another memorial in DC. The big news here is that Eisenhower’s family is now raising “concerns” about the design.
Extra bonus points: the memorial designer is WCD’s (and Lawrence’s) favorite architect.
And this is why they do it:
Lecture mode on:
And finally:
I commend to the attention of Mayor Bloomberg and “Mumbles” Menino Matthew 7:5. Better yet, I commend to both gentlemen and the other members of the criminal organization Mayors Against Illegal Guns the simple strategy of shutting the f–k up.
Edited to add: Oh, drat. I forgot that I wanted to make note of Alberto Contador being stripped of his 2010 Tour de France win. Congrats to Andy Schleck.
Obit watch: prominent spy novelist Dorothy Gilman.
Ben Gazzara. I’m glad to see “Run For Your Life” get some mention in his obit; that’s another series RTN was re-running, and that I wish someone would bring out a full DVD set of. (And I’d also like to see “Anatomy of a Murder” sometime; I’ve read the book, but haven’t seen the movie.)
Hey, how about that lengthy Federal investigation into Lance Armstrong’s alleged doping? The Feds took their best shot…and turned up nothing. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the guy has been tested so often that either he’s telling the truth and is totally clean, or his doping technologists are not only ahead of the curve, you can’t even see the curve from where they are.
Finally, I wanted to make note of a developing local story. Early Friday morning, a guy wrecked his car near a railroad crossing in the Avery Ranch area of Northwest Austin. The guy walked away from the wreck. A little while later, the wife of a homeowner in the area heard voices outside and saw a man (the same guy) lying under her car. Her husband went out to investigate, and apparently attempted to hold the man at gunpoint. The homeowner ended up shooting the intruder three times, killing him.
And the homeowner has now been charged with murder.
There are too many unknowns in the current press coverage to make me feel comfortable passing judgment in this case. I know the article quotes the homeowner as saying, “If you flee, I’m going to shoot you,” and then firing on the intruder as he tried to flee. But we don’t know what else the intruder did at this point; did he display a weapon? Was there a disparity of force involved (23 year old intruder, 47 year old homeowner)?
I think there is one thing we can say for sure:
Use your gun defensively, and even if it is a good shoot, your life is going to change; probably not for the better. Commvault Bryan and I were talking the other day about having an attorney on “retainer” and the various groups that offer that service for a small monthly fee; I need to get with Karl and get the name of the organization he recommends.
Terrell Owens has signed with Dallas.
Well, technically, Allen.
The Allen Wranglers, that is, of the Indoor Football League.
In the FARK thread on this, I suggested that the Wranglers should also seek out Tiki Barber. But I’m going to throw it open to you, good people; what other notorious team cancers can the Allen Wranglers sign? And if they sign enough of them, will the suburbs of Dallas collapse into a black hole?
Chapter 7, that is.
There’s a rapper who calls himself “Young Buck” (real name David Darnell Brown). He owes money to people. People like the IRS. People like his baby mama. And people like 50 Cent and the G-Unit record label; according to the LAT, he owes them “more than $10 million”.
“Young Buck” originally filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11, which, as you know Bob, allows one to reorganize their debts. But now the Chapter 11 has been turned into a Chapter 7, aka “total liquidation”.
The fun part? The name “Young Buck” (which is also trademarked) is an asset that will be sold off in the liquidation.
A couple of notes:
We have previously noted the attempt to revoke the city charter of Vernon, a notoriously corrupt city in California.
The most recent attempt, sadly, failed.
Why did it fail? One reason might be that the city agreed to some governmental reforms in lieu of disincorporation.
Another reason might be that a state senator asked Vernon to give $60 million dollars to fund “community projects” in the cities around Vernon. Vernon agreed, the senator and one of the cities that would get the money reversed their position on disincorporation, and low and behold, the legislation got defeated.
The punchline? Now Vernon has to come up with $60 million, and doesn’t know where they’re going to get it.
Heh. Heh. Heh.
You’ll never guess who is suing the producers of “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark”.
No, really. Go ahead, try to guess.
Did you guess Julie Taymor? Very good. Take two gold stars and advance to the next blue square.