tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66222838146804194542024-03-12T18:45:36.861-07:00news blog , google trendsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412179410477737310noreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622283814680419454.post-11899219501441258402014-03-19T14:07:00.000-07:002014-03-19T14:07:05.248-07:00FBI, Malaysian investigators working to retrieve deleted files from pilot's simulator, source says<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The FBI and Malaysian investigators are working to retrieve files that were recently deleted from a home flight simulator belonging to a pilot on board Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, a source says, in a hunt for clues as to where the plane headed after it changed course from its planned route to Beijing.</div>
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The source, who is familiar with the ongoing investigation, told Fox News that FBI agents are in Kuala Lumpur and Malaysian officials have asked them to assist in the data recovery efforts. Authorities also are looking to analyze the files in the context of other traffic on the pilot’s computer.</div>
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The massive multinational search for the jetliner – which involves 26 countries -- expanded to the southern Indian Ocean Wednesday.</div>
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Planes from the U.S., Australia and New Zealand are searching an area stretching across 117,000 square miles of the southern Indian Ocean, about 1,600 miles southwest of Perth, on Australia's west coast. The Pentagon said the Navy’s P8 Poseidon search aircraft is participating in the effort. The area was assigned to the U.S. by Australian officials, but the Pentagon would not give further details.</div>
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Nothing has been found, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said.</div>
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Earlier in the day, Malaysia’s defense minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, said the plane’s pilot, Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah, is innocent until proven guilty of any wrongdoing. He added that members of his family are cooperating in the investigation.</div>
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Files containing records of simulations carried out on Shah’s machine were deleted Feb. 3, Malaysian police chief Khalid Abu said.</div>
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The Telegraph, citing Malaysian police, that Shah played the popular games Flight Simulator X, Flight Simulator 9 and X-Plane 10.</div>
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Deleting files would not necessarily represent anything unusual, especially if it were to free up memory space, but investigators would want to check the files for any signs of unusual flight paths that could help explain where the missing plane went.</div>
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The plane, with 239 people on board, disappeared March 8 on a night flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Malaysian authorities have not ruled out any possible explanations, but have said the evidence so far suggests the flight was deliberately turned back across Malaysia to the Strait of Malacca. They are unsure what happened next.</div>
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Investigators have identified two giant arcs of territory spanning the possible positions of the plane about 7½ hours after takeoff, based on its last faint signal to a satellite. The arcs stretch up as far as Kazakhstan in central Asia and down deep into the southern Indian Ocean.</div>
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A source close to the investigation told Reuters that authorities believe the jetliner is likely in the southern corridor. "The working assumption is that it went south, and furthermore that it went to the southern end of that corridor," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.</div>
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The theory is based on the lack of evidence from countries along the northern corridor that the jetliner crossed their airspace, and the failure to find any trace of wreckage in searches in that area, Reuters reported.</div>
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China has said it was reviewing radar data and deployed 21 satellites to search the northern corridor of the search area. But those searches so far have turned up no trace of the plane, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Wednesday.</div>
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On Tuesday, former FAA spokesman Scott Brenner said that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was already 12 minutes into its diverted course when the plane's co-pilot calmly told air traffic controllers that things were "all right." </div>
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"One of the pilots clearly had the intention ... that he was going to take (the plane) in a different direction," Brenner told host Megyn Kelly on "The Kelly File." "It's 100 percent clear this pilot, or this co-pilot, was going to take this plane with the intent of doing something bad."</div>
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Brenner also believes it's likely that co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid and Shah were both involved in the decision to change the flight's course.</div>
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"For a pilot or a co-pilot to punch in a new waypoint in their flight management system without the other one noticing would be hard to do," he said.</div>
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However, on Wednesday, Hussein dismissed the claim that the co-pilot signed off after the plane changed course, without elaborating, The Guardian reports.</div>
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“I can confirm that the aircraft flew on normal routing up until the waypoint IGARI,” Hussein told reporters,“There is no additional waypoint on MH370’s documented flight plan, which depicts normal routing all the way to Beijing.”</div>
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The waypoint IGARI is northeast of Malaysia.</div>
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Airline pilots and aviation safety experts told The Associated Press that an onboard computer called the flight management system would have to be deliberately programmed in order to follow the route taken by the plane as described by Malaysian authorities.</div>
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The New York Times it is unclear if the change in course was reprogrammed before or after the plane took off, but the change was likely made by someone in the Boeing 777's cockpit with knowledge of airplane systems.</div>
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Hussein said background checks have been received from overseas agencies for all foreign passengers on the plane except for those from Ukraine and Russia -- which accounted for three passengers. He says none of the checks has turned up anything suspicious.</div>
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Meanwhile, relatives of passengers on the missing plane have grown increasingly frustrated over the lack of progress in the search, in its 12th day on Wednesday.</div>
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"It's really too much. I don't know why it is taking so long for so many people to find the plane. It's 12 days," Subaramaniam Gurusamy, 60, said in an interview from his home on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. His 34-year-old son, Pushpanathan Subramaniam, was on the flight heading to Beijing for a work trip.</div>
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Before Wednesday's news briefing at a hotel near the Kuala Lumpur airport, two Chinese relatives of passengers held up a banner saying "Truth" in Chinese and started shouting before security personnel escorted them out.</div>
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"I want you to help me to find my son!" one of the two women said.</div>
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Hussein announced that a delegation of Malaysian government officials, diplomats, air force and civil aviation officials will head to Beijing -- where many of the passengers' relatives are gathered -- to give briefings to the next of kin on the status of the search.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412179410477737310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622283814680419454.post-84809886173991997572014-03-19T13:47:00.004-07:002014-03-19T13:47:54.586-07:00World War 3: Are We Really Talking About This Again?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The notion of a third World War was of real concern during the Cold War between the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. Both sides had nuclear weapons, and acronyms like M.A.D. (mutually-assured destruction – the idea that if either side started, both sides would be wiped out) and an “arms race” kept tensions high but real actions at bay.</div>
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The World War 3 trope ran through out movies. The villains in films in America had Russian accents. The color red, bears, sickles, hammers, and big coats with furry hats were all anathema to Yanks until the late 1980′s when Sting convinced us that the Russians surely must love their children, too.</div>
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We watched Ronald Reagan shake hands with Mikhail Gorbachev, felt sure that we had SDI (a “strategic defense initiative”, commonly called “star wars”), and relaxed a bit. Turns out we didn’t have SDI at all. We bluffed, and the Soviets bought it. Then the big, red giant developed some money problems. America was left to stand alone as the only superpower that mattered.</div>
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Hell, we even went to Russia for the Olympics.</div>
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For a while after 9/11, the notion of a World War 3 sparked by rogue nations or groups that had obtained nukes (always from someone in Russia) got traction. We still see movies with that plot. Sometimes they have Korean accents now, too, though most Americans snicker at the idea of North Korea ever getting within spitting distance of an American flag, much less our homeland.</div>
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World War 3 has been firmly a Hollywood construct for some time. Until now.</div>
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Now the idea is in real news again The U.S. has"warned" Russia about its interference in the recent events in Ukraine. Russia has warned back. Russia fired a dummy nuke in a show of force. The U.S. has imposed sanction on some Russian officials it sees as responsible for the upheaval in Ukraine. </div>
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The inquisitr reports that former Ukrainian president Leonid Kravchuk stated:</div>
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<em>“Does Russia not understand that this is the beginning of World War 3?”<div style="margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px;">
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And now Reuters reports that a news presenter with Russian state television has said:</div>
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<em>“Russia is the only country in the world that is realistically capable of turning the United States into radioactive ash.”<div style="margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px;">
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Behind him was a green-screen backdrop of a nuclear mushroom cloud.</div>
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In America, there is a saying: Them’s fighting words.</div>
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Cooler heads tend to think that any kind of World War 3 scenario would end up badly for everyone involved. Maybe this is just big talk and headline-grabbing bluster.</div>
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But hearing it with a Russian accent after all these years sure makes some people’s eyebrows raise.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412179410477737310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622283814680419454.post-74883978095664363672014-03-15T02:58:00.001-07:002014-03-15T02:58:42.741-07:00'Veronica Mars' love triangle resolved?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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One thing fans of the TV series "Veronica Mars" -- sometimes called "marshmallows" -- hope to see in the movie "Veronica Mars" is a resolution to the ongoing debate: Team Logan or Team Piz?</div>
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When last we left the young detective, it seemed Veronica had finally settled down with Piz -- something that still seems to be the case in the trailer for the movie, which was funded entirely by legions of devoted fans.</div>
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"I know people were pissed off the way it did end, mostly because it was unknown," Jason Dohring (Logan) told CNN Thursday at the PaleyFest event for "Veronica Mars," out this weekend.</div>
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"We give it some resolution in the film, but playing it back and forth is what makes the drama in the show. "</div>
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Logan was never supposed to be coupled with Veronica originally, show creator Rob Thomas revealed at the PaleyFest panel. But he grew on the writers when they saw Dohring's chemistry with star Kristen Bell.</div>
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That chemistry came back right away when he did his first scene with Bell on set, Dohring told CNN.</div>
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"I think Kristen is amazing, and when she smiles at me I kind of go, 'holy s--- what do I do?' I smile back, and it just comes right back."</div>
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Meanwhile, Chris Lowell offered "Team Piz" fans this hint about his character's chances of being the one to end up with Veronica.</div>
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"I think Rob likes to not put a period on the end of every sentence when he finishes something," he said. "The show ended on a cliffhanger note. I believe in a way he did a similar thing here."</div>
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Thomas said the resolution might still be debated in fan circles even after they see the movie.</div>
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"I think that fans will understand why Veronica makes the decisions she makes," he said.</div>
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"It's a fun predicament to put Veronica in -- will she go with her good sense or her passions?"</div>
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One thing Thomas did make clear is that he made the final call on how things ended up.</div>
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"It was not up for a vote. Certainly I had a way I wanted it to go and that's how it went, but we'll let the fans decide if they're happy with how it ended up."</div>
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Of course, none of this would have been possible without the crowdfunding from Kickstarter, which gave the movie its budget of well over $5 million.</div>
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"It's been a roller coaster ride for me in terms of hope," he said.</div>
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"There were moments where I felt optimistic and bullish about our chances, and others where I felt so low, I thought it wouldn't happen. Kristen Bell has this confidence and optimism that kept it going. It was like a mini-miracle when it came together."</div>
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Thomas thinks this could potentially be something we see more and more, especially when it comes to Warner Bros., the studio that owns "Veronica Mars" and gave Thomas the opportunity to try crowdfunding. (Warner Bros. Pictures is owned by Time Warner, which also owns CNN.)</div>
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"The next few weeks will tell. If the movie makes money then I think there's an opportunity for more movies like ours to be made," he said.</div>
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"If we find this model that can support $5 or $10 million, I think [Warner Bros.] would be thrilled, and I'd be proud if we got more $5 to 10 million movies [based on existing series or properties] because of this."</div>
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So might we get more "Veronica Mars" after this? There's already a CW Web series based on Ryan Hansen's character Dick Casablancas set to shoot in July.</div>
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Thomas told the fans at PaleyFest that the idea of a Netflix or Amazon season of "Veronica Mars" excites him to no end.</div>
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"I would love to be able to do the R-rated version of 'Veronica Mars.' I would love to tell some darker stories."</div>
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In the meantime, fans can hope that Thomas' TV adaptation of the comic book "iZombie" starring Rose McIver ("Once Upon a Time," "Masters of Sex") gets picked up by the CW.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bUWNR0RAj1M/UyQj2GUgoxI/AAAAAAAAAhg/_LqRm8ugfb0/s1600/images+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bUWNR0RAj1M/UyQj2GUgoxI/AAAAAAAAAhg/_LqRm8ugfb0/s1600/images+(1).jpg" height="122" width="320" /></a>"They said they wanted a kick-ass female centric show like 'Buffy' and 'Veronica,' and I think it's a fun show in that vein," he told CNN.</div>
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"I think we jump off the comic book [storylines] quite a bit, but we keep the basic idea that our young female zombies have to eat brains to survive, and she gets the memories of the people whose brains she's consuming."</div>
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Well, we can see one big difference right away. So not just "Veronica Mars" fans but clearly, "Walking Dead" fans might want to check it out, as well.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412179410477737310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622283814680419454.post-56935966655898391972014-03-11T09:11:00.000-07:002014-03-11T09:11:05.780-07:00A Dot on the Map, After Scandal, Could Be Wiped Off<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It’s easy for motorists driving down busy Route 301 to miss this speck of a city in rural north-central Florida: Fiddle with the car radio, unwrap a pack of gum, gaze out the window at the sunset and, whoosh, it’s gone.<br />
And so it fell to the police to force hurried travelers to stop and savor the 1,260-foot ribbon of roadway belonging to this city. Hidden by trash bins or concealed in a stretch of woods, the officers — a word loosely applied here — pointed their radar devices. Between 2011 and 2012, Hampton’s officers issued 12,698 speeding tickets to motorists, many most likely caught outside Hampton’s strip of county road.<br />
But, as it turns out, surprised motorists are not the only ones getting burned. So many speeding tickets were churned out for so many years and with such brazenness that this city of 477 residents came under scrutiny — and not just for revenue raising with a radar gun. Now, Hampton, an 89-year-old city, is fighting legislative momentum to wipe it off the map, after a state audit last month uncovered reams of financial irregularities, shoddy record-keeping and missing funds.<br />
The state attorney, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Bradford County<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eE6709ot8Mo/Ux8z7pKdq3I/AAAAAAAAAfo/uOevBFlwkEo/s1600/download+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eE6709ot8Mo/Ux8z7pKdq3I/AAAAAAAAAfo/uOevBFlwkEo/s1600/download+(1).jpg" /></a> Sheriff’s Office recently opened a criminal investigation, focusing primarily on the actions of the city’s three former full-time employees — the city clerk, the maintenance operator and the police chief.<br />
“If half of this is remotely true, they’ve used the city as a personal pocketbook,” said the Bradford County sheriff, Gordon Smith, who routinely butted heads with John Hodges, Hampton’s police chief.<br />
In the audit, the city sometimes offered an explanation for its slipshod documentation. The reason, for example, that no water meter logbooks before April 2012 could be found was that they were “lost in a swamp,” the result of a car accident involving the water utility operator. (There was no accident report filed.) Those logbooks might have clarified why the city’s elder-care center did not receive a water bill for seven years and why three city commissioners went unbilled for 17 months. As for the city’s pre-1999 records, Florida floods were blamed for obliterating them.<br />
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“I have said it before: It’s something out of a Southern Gothic novel. You can’t make this stuff up,” said State Senator Rob Bradley, whose district includes the city. “This situation went on for so long and the mismanagement was so deep, we have to seriously consider abolishing the government.”<br />
Hampton, a mishmash of trailers and wood-frame houses, some ramshackle, some not, has about 30 days to come up with a plan and make a genuine attempt to right itself or it will tumble into oblivion. The State Legislature would then take up a vote to dissolve it, handing over management of the city’s one square mile to Bradford County.<br />
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Mustering salvation is a tall task for a city of this size and condition. Hampton lost its three full-time employees to the scandal, seldom runs City Council elections because nobody wants the jobs and often skips holding monthly Council meetings altogether.<br />
Even picking a mayor among the five Council members proved an ordeal. The post was finally filled last September, but two months into the job, the new mayor, Barry Moore, was charged with possession of Oxycodone with intent to sell. He now sits in jail awaiting trial.For years, complaints about Hampton streamed in to local politicians and the county sheriff, most often about the speed trap. Tens of thousands of motorists were stopped for speeding, even though they had little time to slow down from 65 miles per hour to 55 m.p.h., particularly coming from the south, on 301’s 1,260-foot Hampton strip. Among them were the legions of University of Florida Gator fans making game-day pilgrimages from Jacksonville to Gainesville. Even State Representative Charles E. Van Zant Sr., who represents Hampton and spearheaded the audit, got a speeding ticket here in 2011. (He said his speeding ticket — which he paid — had nothing to do with ordering the audit.)<br />
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In 2011, the city took in $268,624 from traffic fines. The sum was $197,247 in 2010 and $151,000 in 2012. Despite those windfalls, the city operated at a deficit.<br />
Traffic fines were by far the chief source of revenue in a city with two gas station convenience stores and only scrapings of property taxes. In fact, Jim Mitzel, 50, a former mayor who left office in 2008 after a conflict with the police chief and the city clerk, said he helped Hampton annex the tiny slice of 301 in the mid-1990s simply to help fill city coffers.<br />
“This town has struggled financially for years and years,” Mr. Mitzel said. “But once we got 301, our chief went crazy.”<br />
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The city went so crazy that it wasn’t long before AAA put it on its list of notorious speed traps.<br />
Nothing changed.<br />
“The last couple of years were the worst,” Mr. Mitzel said. “They went after people like fresh meat. They pulled out in front of semis.”<br />
In pursuit of speeders, the city’s force grew to 17 from one, some of them volunteers and a few of them driving uninsured cars. Sheriff Smith said he did not know how many were actually police officers and how many were trained in radar detection. Fed up, the sheriff last year cut the police chief’s access to databases, radio communications and the use of the jail.<br />
“We didn’t know who was bringing someone to our jail,” Mr. Smith said. “Was he a cop?”<br />
A few years ago, the police chief added ministering to his job description. He suddenly began holding services at the tumbledown City Hall in a novel merger of church and state.<br />
“I called it the John Hodges Church of God,” Mr. Mitzel said.<br />
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City grievances ran deeper than the tickets, but no one ever challenged it robustly, not wanting to rock the boat, Mr. Mitzel said.<br />
There was chatter about nepotism at City Hall. Jane Hall, the former city clerk, is the mother of the former maintenance operator, Adam Hall, who also ran the water system, and the wife of Charles Hall, a longtime city councilman. Her daughter also worked there for a short time.<br />
“I called it, the City of Halls,” Mr. Mitzel added.<br />
There were mutterings about vanishing city funds; personal use of city credit cards, trucks and gas; and trips to Ms. Hall’s clutter-filled house to hand over cash payments for water bills for which she offered no receipts. Some residents were threatened with the loss of water — the one utility controlled by the city — if they made trouble, Mr. Smith said. Auditors found that 46 percent of the city’s water went unaccounted for, much of it leaking through decrepit lines.<br />
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In a February email to The Gainesville Sun, Ms. Hall defended herself and said, “There has been a deliberate attempt to make me look like some criminal mastermind.”<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gicufWNJix8/Ux80ofsGjlI/AAAAAAAAAgg/mlPoFifhMtE/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gicufWNJix8/Ux80ofsGjlI/AAAAAAAAAgg/mlPoFifhMtE/s1600/images.jpg" /></a>Councilman Frantz Innocent said a lack of staff and “oversight” was part of the problem. “We are just trying to fix things that happened,” he said. “If you want to go poking around looking for something, you can always find something wrong.”<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412179410477737310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622283814680419454.post-20600704138154242912014-03-11T08:51:00.002-07:002014-03-11T08:51:21.238-07:00General's defense to try for plea deal in sex case<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Attorneys for an Army general charged with sexual assault will try renegotiate a plea deal with a new set of military officials.<br />
The judge in Brig. Gen. Jeffrey A. Sinclair's case sent the jury of generals back to their duty stations on Tuesday morning, indicating that the trial is not likely to resume soon.<br />
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Judge Col. James Pohl made the offer for another try at a plea deal Monday after finding evidence that the case may have been improperly influenced by political concerns.<br />
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The twist came with the Pentagon under heavy pressure from Congress and beyond to combat rape and other sex crimes in the military.<br />
Sinclair, 51, is accused of twice forcing a female captain to perform oral sex. He has admitted to an affair but denied assaulting the woman.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412179410477737310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622283814680419454.post-70354666264330251972014-03-11T08:45:00.000-07:002014-03-11T08:45:07.396-07:00U.S. cancer doctors urge payment fix as cases set to rise<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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U.S. cancer doctors are worried about their ability to handle an expected surge in cancer cases in the coming years as they face cuts to government health plans and efforts to reduce payments to physicians.<br />
The influential American Society of Clinical Oncology, in a report released on Tuesday, cited estimates that cancer will become the leading killer in the United States by 2030 as the population ages, while treatment costs reach new heights. The group is calling on the U.S. Congress to help stabilize payments to doctors under the Medicare insurance program for the elderly.<br />
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"What you are seeing from Medicare as well as others is they continue to constrain the revenues to practices. At the same time, the number of patients everyone is seeing is going up as the population increases," said Blase Polite, an oncologist at the University of Chicago.<br />
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"Combine that with the cost of the care that we're providing ... It's really creating a very difficult financial situation," Polite, incoming head of government relations for ASCO, told Reuters.<br />
A projected workforce crunch could also hamper care as demand for cancer treatment rises, ASCO said in the report summarizing its survey of 1,162 oncology practices in 2012 and 2013 representing more than 13,000 physicians. Overall, ASCO represents 35,000 doctors, nurse practitioners, researchers and other cancer care professionals.<br />
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Its survey, to be unveiled in a briefing on Capitol Hill later on Tuesday, comes as Congress grapples with how to address looming physician payment cuts ahead of a March 31 deadline.<br />
ASCO and other physician groups have been pressing Congress for years to alter the reimbursement formula known as the<br />
sustainable growth rate, or SGR. The U.S. House of Representatives plans to vote on a replacement on Friday.<br />
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About 14 million people in the United States have had cancer, and the American Cancer Society estimates that nearly 1.7 million people will be newly diagnosed in 2014 and more than 585,000 will die from it.<br />
By 2030, the rate is expected to jump to 2.3 million new cases each year, ASCO said in its report. The number of those who previously had cancer and survived is also expected to grow.<br />
ASCO President Clifford Hudis said he does not see the group's push taking away from the needs of other specialty physicians and their patients. "All of this crisis-to-crisis management has to come to a stop," Hudis, a breast cancer specialist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and a professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, said of Congress's efforts.<br />
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FIXING THE 'DOC FIX'</h3>
Congress is weighing changes to the physician payment system that calls for sharp cuts in reimbursement to doctors. The system has yet to be put in place because lawmakers have overridden the legislation each year. By the end of March, Congress must either repeal the formula or pass another temporary patch, or "doc fix."<br />
One proposal under consideration would replace the formula with a 0.5 percent annual increase through 2018, then a two-track system with either a 0.5 percent or a 1 percent rise depending on which of the two systems providers use. The Congressional Budget Office has said that measure would increase federal spending by about $138 billion between 2014 and 2024.<br />
Most cancer cases are diagnosed in older Americans, many of whom are covered by Medicare. Other insurers also look to Medicare when setting reimbursement rates to doctors.<br />
The ASCO report estimates a possible shortage of more than 1,487 oncologists by in 2025, in part because cancer providers, like their patients, are aging.<br />
Nearly 14 percent of the U.S. population, or more than 40 million people, is age 65 or older, 2012 data from the Census Bureau show.<br />
Drug costs are also a worry, ASCO's Polite said, as prices have risen to $10,000 a month from $1,000 a month in 1990.<br />
Oncologist Sharon Giordano of MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas said while the baby boom generation is likely to "put a strain on the healthcare system," there is room for promoting preventive steps such as quittingtobacco use or controlling obesity to help reduce cancer cases, including recurrence.<br />
"Certainly a new diagnosis ... can be really motivating" to make lifestyle changes, said Giordano, who is an ASCO member but was not directly involved with the report. "It's never too late."<br />
(Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Mohammad Zargham)<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412179410477737310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622283814680419454.post-28694382172002622142014-03-11T08:31:00.002-07:002014-03-11T08:31:37.614-07:00Pistorius had 'big love for guns' part 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Pathologist Gert Saayman said Ms Steenkamp had been shot three times, in the head, hip and arm but that<br />
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he did not know the order of the injuries. <br />
If she had been shot in the hip or arm first, screaming would have been expected, he said. <br />
Neighbours have previously said they heard a woman screaming before the shots were fired but Mr Pistorius' defence lawyers argue that the athlete was the only one who screamed. <br />
When pressed by defence lawyer Barry Roux, Dr Saayman said that there could be an error of "an hour or two" in his estimation of when Ms Steenkamp last ate. <br />
"Gastric emptying is not an exact science My Lady but I don't think we should throw out the baby with the proverbial bathwater," Dr Saayman said. <br />
Judge Thokozile Masipa banned live coverage of Monday's testimony from the post-mortem because of its graphic nature. <br />
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Mr Pistorius has appeared distraught as the events of 14 February 2013 have been recounted in the court in Pretoria. <br />
He was physically sick as Dr Saayman presented his evidence about the nature of Ms Steenkamp's injuries. <br />
The state is seeking to convince the court that Mr Pistorius and Ms Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model, reality TV star and law graduate, had an argument before the athlete fired the shots that killed his girlfriend. <br />
There are no juries at trials in South Africa, and his fate will ultimately be decided by the judge, assisted by two assessors. <br />
If found guilty, the 27-year-old, a national sporting hero dubbed the "blade runner" after having both lower legs amputated, could face life imprisonment.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412179410477737310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622283814680419454.post-90570688390106025262014-03-11T08:24:00.002-07:002014-03-11T08:24:31.241-07:00Pistorius had 'big love for guns'<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
A friend of Oscar Pistorius has told his murder trial that the athlete "had a big love" for guns. <br />
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Darren Fresco said that he had been with him on two occasions when a gun had been fired in public. <br />
Mr Pistorius once accidentally fired a gun in a restaurant but made him take the blame, Mr Fresco said. <br />
The Paralympic athlete denies intentionally killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp and says he mistook her for a burglar. <br />
Mr Fresco said that on another occasion, he was driving when Mr Pistorius fired a gun out of a sunroof after police stopped him for speeding.<br />
He said Mr Pistorius became angry after a police officer handled his gun, which was on the back seat of the car. <br />
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"You can't just touch another man's gun," said Mr Pistorius, according to Mr Fresco. <br />
"Now your fingerprints are all over my gun. So if something happens, you're going to be liable for anything that happens," Mr Pistorius reportedly said. <br />
Mr Pistorius' ex-girlfriend described the same incident in court in the first week of the trial. <br />
Samantha Taylor said both men had been agitated after police stopped them and had joked about "shooting a robot [traffic light]". <br />
Mr Fresco denied making the joke and said that the mood had been calm before the shot was fired "without warning". <br />
He said he was left feeling as if his ears were bleeding and that Mr Pistorius was laughing after firing the shot. <br />
The court has now been adjourned until Wednesday. <br />
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Earlier, Mr Pistorius' defence team questioned a pathologist's finding that his girlfriend had eaten less than two hours before he killed her. <br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gPod_SsYFqk/Ux8qdNKamVI/AAAAAAAAAeA/dbA9WtWU3WQ/s1600/images+(29).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gPod_SsYFqk/Ux8qdNKamVI/AAAAAAAAAeA/dbA9WtWU3WQ/s1600/images+(29).jpg" /></a>This contradicts the athlete's account that the pair had been in bed for several hours before the shooting.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412179410477737310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622283814680419454.post-63619278545996438252014-02-28T10:35:00.000-08:002014-02-28T10:35:03.510-08:00'Grey's Anatomy' post-mortem: Sarah Drew opens up about the what's next for April and Jackson<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">If the latest </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #454545; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Grey’s Anatomy</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;"> left you downright giddy, you’re not alone. Sarah Drew was just as thrilled and surprised as the rest of us after she first read the script, which had more than one big moment for April Kepner.</span><br />
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First, there was the dramatic wedding exit with Jackson (Jesse Williams), who at the tail end of the last new episode declared his love in front of hundreds of April’s wedding attendees. Then, there was the biggest reveal of the night: April and Jackson not only ran away together — they also got married.</div>
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Still speechless from the moment, EW called up Sarah Drew for scoop on the big reveal and what comes next for the pair.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So, to start, tell me about the first time you read the script for tonight’s episode. </strong><br />SARAH DREW: I remember I was so excited. I was sitting down and reading the script and giggling with glee through all of the scenes. And as soon as I saw Jesse, I said, ‘Oh my god, it’s so good!’ He was so excited too. It was fun. We knew it was coming. We were told at the beginning of the season that this whole big wedding interruption thing was going to happen and that April and Jackson were going to wind up together. So we knew this was coming. But I just think it was done really well and it was really beautiful and lovely. I didn’t know that they were going to get married immediately, so that was a surprise. It was fun. It was really cool and surprising.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">So you knew they were going to end up together, you just didn’t know they were going to flash that ring at the end at send my soul into orbit? </strong></div>
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Yes, exactly. We had been told the trajectory was April and Jackson were going to end up together after this potential wedding situation. But we didn’t know that meant marriage. And there was a lot of discussion about whether they should start their romantic relationship at that point and then work through all sorts of issues and then get to a wedding down the road or get married right away. One of the big things was that after all of this stuff about becoming a virgin again and being very committed to waiting until marriage to have sex, if April and Jackson are going to be together, they’re going to want to do that, right? [<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Laughs</em>] And you can’t have her back out of that promise after that has been such an important part of her journey. And she’s not going to destroy a person’s life to date somebody. So, anyway, I guess taking all of those things into consideration they were like, ‘Okay. Well, I guess they have to get married. There’s no way around that.’ And that’s how this relationship is going to work.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I’m glad you brought up her fiancé because he wasn’t really mentioned in this episode and in the aftermath. Are we going to see them have a confrontation later on?</strong></div>
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No. Thus far we haven’t. I think he’s just so deeply humiliated and mortified that he’s not interested in talking to her or anyone she knows. He just can’t show his face. It’s awful. Like, as awesome as it is that April and Jackson are together, what they did to Stephanie and Matthew is just horrific and so awful. They’ve left so much destruction in their wake.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Are April’s interactions with Stephanie (Jerrika Hinton) going to get any better after the news gets out about their marriage? Like, at least she’ll know it wasn’t for a fling or to date, like you said.</strong></div>
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I think there will eventually be some sort of healing in terms of ability to work together. But, you know, Stephanie now has to go to work with all these people who watched her be rejected in the most horrible of ways. So it’s painful, and she’s an intern. It’s not like she’s the head of surgery and something like this happened and everybody has to continue to be respectful. It’s a very painful situation that she was left in and she’s going to deal with the pain of it for a while.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">What about April and Jackson as a married couple? What’s going to be their next big challenge?</strong></div>
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<b><br /></b>I think that’s wonderful and sweet is that we get to see some adorable, sweet moments about the ways in which they are who they are and they love each other for being exactly who they are. I kind of love seeing those little things happen, but there will also be some pretty significant issues that arise because they really just flew into this marriage. They didn’t think about it at all, and to be honest, yes, they’ve been best friends for a little while, but they never even dated. They never had a conversation about any big things like kids or how they see the world or how different April sees the world and how different [it is] from the way Jackson sees the world. So these sort of very big core issues are going to come up and create some significant tension, and April and Jackson are going to have to figure out how to navigate that and really fight for each other and their relationship in the midst of it. So it’s good. There’s some really good meaty stuff coming up.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Do they have to deal with all of that in private or does the rest of the gang eventually find out about the marriage?</strong></div>
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Well, because now there’s this rule against fraternization they’re kind of in a rough spot. They can either pretend that they’re not together in any way shape or form, or they’re going to have to tell their secret. We’ll find out in the next episode what they choose to do. It’s kind of hard to pretend you’re not together when you’re working constantly and around each other constantly and people are watching you all the time. So they’ll have to figure that out very soon.</div>
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Are we going to get to see April meet Jackon’s mom?<br />Yes. And there are things that happen for sure.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In terms of them as a couple, are you glad that their path was, ultimately, quite different than others we’ve seen on the show. I mean, we’ve seen a lot of relationships on this show over the course of ten seasons. But this one has managed to be a standout for its unique trajectory.</strong></div>
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<b><br /></b>I love Jackson and April because I didn’t see it coming. So many times, it’s very clear from the beginning that there’s a spark and an attraction. As an audience, you say, ‘That person was brought onto the show to become that for that person.’ But for me and Jesse, for three years on the show, we never thought we were going to end up together. </div>
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There was no movement toward these people being soul mates; it was just about them being friends and best friends. They rib on each other and they make fun of each other and they’re there for each other — but just friends. And I love that about them. I love that both Jesse and I had no idea it was coming, and that we weren’t playing any of that stuff because sometimes that’s what happens in relationships. You just all of a sudden one day realize that, ‘This is my person and I didn’t know this whole time.’</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412179410477737310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622283814680419454.post-48825615048566665912014-02-28T10:11:00.000-08:002014-02-28T10:11:08.783-08:00Drew Barrymore, Adam Sandler sing heartfelt 'Tonight Show' duet <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Every decade or so <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/entertainment/drew-barrymore-PECLB000366.topic" id="PECLB000366" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;" title="Drew Barrymore">Drew Barrymore</a> and <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/entertainment/adam-sandler-PECLB003617.topic" id="PECLB003617" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;" title="Adam Sandler">Adam Sandler</a> get together to make a movie, and on Wednesday night "Tonight Show" host <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/entertainment/jimmy-fallon-PECLB001624.topic" id="PECLB001624" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;" title="Jimmy Fallon">Jimmy Fallon</a> asked them to express their lovey-dovey feelings in song.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uiiPoH6SPMc/UxDQj16X9MI/AAAAAAAAAbw/NBn2KIrP2ek/s1600/images+(17).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uiiPoH6SPMc/UxDQj16X9MI/AAAAAAAAAbw/NBn2KIrP2ek/s1600/images+(17).jpg" /></a>"Every 10 years we get to fall in love again," <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciZqWkdczWA" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">said</a> the pregnant actress, 39, who appeared with Sandler to promote their upcoming rom-com, "Blended," due in theaters in May.</div>
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"We do. We enjoy it, we have a lot of fun together," added Sandler, 47.</div>
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The pair have costarred in 1998's "The Wedding Singer" and 2004's "50 First Dates." Yeah, the math doesn't quite add up to a decade on those first two, but we'll let it slide. And though they discussed their three famous collaborations, Sandler claimed that the correct number is four, since he purportedly played "E.T." in Barrymore's 1982 breakout film from director <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/entertainment/movies/steven-spielberg-PECLB003751.topic" id="PECLB003751" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;" title="Steven Spielberg">Steven Spielberg</a>.</div>
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In the heartfelt duet, the actors alternate lines, with Sandler, a <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/entertainment/television/saturday-night-live-%28tv-program%29-ENTTV00000001.topic" id="ENTTV00000001" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;" title="Saturday Night Live (tv program)">"Saturday Night Live"</a> alum, usually delivering the late-night-friendly zinger. </div>
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"Am I your best movie husband?" Sandler sang.</div>
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"Of course you are, Adam," she replied.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px;">"Better than Hugh Grant?" he continued, questioning her on-screen romance with the British actor in 2007's "Music and Lyrics."</span><br />
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"Much better than Grant," she said.</div>
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"Better than <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/entertainment/movies/ben-stiller-PECLB003781.topic" id="PECLB003781" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;" title="Ben Stiller">Ben Stiller</a>?" he asked, bringing up her "Duplex" costar.</div>
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"Much better than Stiller," Barrymore said.</div>
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"Better than Jimmy Fallon?" Sandler pointedly asked of her "Fever Pitch" costar, who stepped up at that moment, while he'd just been playing guitar in the background that whole time prior.</div>
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"You both have great qualities...," the convivial actress said diplomatically.</div>
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"I'll take that," Fallon replied.</div>
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Watch the clip above.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412179410477737310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622283814680419454.post-88910839356945759182014-02-28T10:00:00.001-08:002014-02-28T10:00:43.191-08:00‘Scandal’ recap: Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="line-height: 1.5;">After a long hiatus, ‘Scandal’ returned with an episode that sees all of its characters struggling to keep their secrets buried. If there’s one motto everyone is living by, it’s keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer.</span></div>
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Not one to let a little thing like murder get her down, Sally Langston goes ahead with her plan to run for president. Her announcement sends Fitz’s team scrambling and the president to drunkenly throwing barware at the walls of the oval office. Luckily, his tantrum doesn’t last too long and he announces he’d like to see Andrew Nicholls, the governor of California, as his new running mate. Olivia isn’t sold but Fitz wants an old friend, someone he can trust.</div>
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<span style="line-height: 1.5;">While Pope and Associates research the new candidate, Liv visits her father, who she has learned is no longer in charge of B613. He has not taken his firing well. In the most memorable scene of the night, Rowan explains to his daughter that she is “skipping around in a field full of bombs and mistaking them for daisies.”</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 1.5;">A stunned Olivia can only look on in horror when he says “the man who defiled you, also defiled the organization I gave my soul to build”</span></div>
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Rowan is not deterred by the president, he makes it clear he’s out of vengeance.</div>
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“The greatest weapon I can use against him, calls me dad.”</div>
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He leaves his stunned daughter on a park bench but not before declaring, “Fitzgerald Grant is not going to make it to the end of his term. Start grieving now.”</div>
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<span style="line-height: 1.5;">Knowing there is only one way to quiet the rumors about her husband’s affair, Mellie crafts a lunch with Olivia at a restaurant flagged by paparazzi. She’s all smiles, once Liv arrives.</span></div>
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“I’m making a respectable woman out of you Olivia, my husband could never sleep with you if we’re friends!”</div>
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Keenly aware of the press gathering around them, she hands Liv a list of eligible bachelors, telling she has to pick one to quiet the gossip.</div>
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<span style="line-height: 1.5;">Fitz is less than enthused once he hears the news, but Olivia has other things on her mind. Namely, why Jake was chosen to head up B613. His answer? After killing a plane full of people and allowing Olivia’s mother to escape custody (only to have the wanted terrorist kill three more people) he needs someone who can keep his secrets.</span></div>
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Realizing her dream of a life with Fitz is slipping further away, Olivia makes Jake an offer he can’t refuse. Within a day, photos of them kissing have been printed and her secret is buried.</div>
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<span style="line-height: 1.5;">This is important too, because while Nicholls’ background check comes up clean, he may not be entirely trustworthy. It seems he and the first lady have a history, which means the infamous White House love triangle has officially become a square.</span></div>
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That wasn’t all the Gladiators were looking into. While a delusional Sally may have convinced herself that the devil killed her husband, not everyone is buying the story. A reporter becomes aware that Daniel Douglas’ autopsy has been sealed, prompting Abby and Harrison to pay the coroner a visit. When she spins a story about a drunken accident, the camera pulls back to Quinn and Charlie holding the coroners young son hostage in the other room. Quinn hasn’t turned into a full monster yet, we see her stare wistfully out the window, perhaps longing for the days when she donned a white hat.</div>
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<span style="line-height: 1.5;">If Cyrus believes instructing Charlie to keep things covered up is enough, he’s in for a rude awakening. In the episodes closing scenes James meets with David Rosen to inform him that not only is he the leak, but he’s bugged his spouse’s office. David warns him of the dangers of this move, but he isn’t budging.</span></div>
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“My husband is monster David. He thinks he doesn’t have a weakness, but he does, me.”</div>
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Stranger still, Harrison spends most of the episode seemingly fearing for his life. He even goes so far as to borrow Abby’s gun for protection. The mysterious Adnan Salif is back in the U.S. and apparently out for his blood. That is, until Adnan shows up at Pope and Associates. Turns out, Adnan is a female and quite the seductress. Just moments after being held at gunpoint, she’s got him kissing her while she strips him of his clothing.</div>
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<span style="line-height: 1.5;">No doubt, we’ll get more on that next week.</span></div>
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Another duo who will undoubtedly fight dirty? Rowan and Sally Langston’s campaign manager Leo Goldwin. They don’t say much but its clear, whatever they have planned, isn’t good for Fitz.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412179410477737310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622283814680419454.post-15133482499749991242014-02-28T09:42:00.003-08:002014-02-28T09:42:56.981-08:00Tim Wilson mined humor in music, nostalgia and sports<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Comedian Tim Wilson, who died Wednesday at age 52, relished his role as Southern gentleman know-it-all when he visited radio's "Bob & Tom Show" in Indianapolis.</div>
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The Georgia native made dozens of appearances on the morning program that's heard locally on WFBQ-FM (94.7) and more than 100 stations nationwide. Speaking with a thick drawl and frequently wearing a hat, Wilson held court on topics ranging from JFK assassination theories to Chuck E. Cheese's restaurants.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rRVsoq1KNvg/UxDJn_7iTMI/AAAAAAAAAZo/-c1C9MStdks/s1600/images+(3).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rRVsoq1KNvg/UxDJn_7iTMI/AAAAAAAAAZo/-c1C9MStdks/s1600/images+(3).jpg" /></a>"I'm sort of like your uncle who knows more than you do," Wilson told The Star during a 2012 interview. "The curmudgeon who explains things."</div>
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Billy Gardell, star of CBS sitcom "Mike & Molly," referred to Wilson as the Mark Twain of stand-up comedy. Tom Mabe, a Kentucky-based comic known for "reverse harassment" conversations with telemarketers, characterized Wilson as the John Wayne of comedy in a Wednesday tweet.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IoG0rHzcdxo/UxDJterK9XI/AAAAAAAAAZw/rOsN2u3oCqg/s1600/images+(5).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IoG0rHzcdxo/UxDJterK9XI/AAAAAAAAAZw/rOsN2u3oCqg/s1600/images+(5).jpg" /></a>"Bob & Tom" co-host Tom Griswold said Wilson died of a heart attack in Columbus, Ga.</div>
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When speaking about his close relationship with Wilson, Griswold said Wilson is the only comedian in the radio show's three-decade history to borrow Griswold's clothes for a stand-up appearance, borrow Griswold's guitar to play a song and to sleep in a car in Griswold's driveway because Wilson felt comfortable there.</div>
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"It's a real loss," Griswold said during a Thursday interview. "He was a very unusual guy. He was one of the few guys who could go on at great length and be funny on any topic, all the time."</div>
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In 2012, Wilson said Griswold and co-host Bob Kevoian are the "best thing that's happened to road comedians." Wilson said "Bob & Tom" cast members Chick McGee and Kristi Lee were as close to the comedian as a brother and sister, and Wilson complimented Ron Sexton -- known as "Donnie Baker" on the show -- as being a "joke-writing machine."</div>
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In addition to performing in traditional stand-up format, Wilson wrote and recorded comedic songs based on music, nostalgia, religion and sports.</div>
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<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nkjf-11KO7k/UxDJ5r16DDI/AAAAAAAAAaA/0kf79mzXkrE/s1600/images+(9).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nkjf-11KO7k/UxDJ5r16DDI/AAAAAAAAAaA/0kf79mzXkrE/s1600/images+(9).jpg" /></a>"Acid Country" -- from his 1994 debut album "Waking Up the Neighborhood" -- recounts Wilson's musical upbringing, in which his mother gave equal billing to Nashville twang and counterculture rock: "We'd watch Porter (Wagoner) and Dolly (Parton), then throw on the Grateful Dead." On Thursday's episode of "Bob & Tom," Griswold's tribute to Wilson included the playback of the comedian performing "Acid Country" on the show in 1995 -- his first-ever "Bob & Tom" appearance.</div>
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<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mVP21qBBBZw/UxDJ_rJHciI/AAAAAAAAAaI/aGQkQZGDgqE/s1600/images+(7).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mVP21qBBBZw/UxDJ_rJHciI/AAAAAAAAAaI/aGQkQZGDgqE/s1600/images+(7).jpg" /></a>Comedian Tim Wilson, who died Wednesday at age 52, relished his role as Southern gentleman know-it-all when he visited radio's "Bob & Tom Show" in Indianapolis.</div>
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The Georgia native made dozens of appearances on the morning program that's heard locally on WFBQ-FM (94.7) and more than 100 stations nationwide. Speaking with a thick drawl and frequently wearing a hat, Wilson held court on topics ranging from JFK assassination theories to Chuck E. Cheese's restaurants.</div>
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"I'm sort of like your uncle who knows more than you do," Wilson told The Star during a 2012 interview. "The curmudgeon who explains things."</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6R59DHuGbXc/UxDKFkQWg-I/AAAAAAAAAaQ/eIbbol4cu7Y/s1600/images+(8).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6R59DHuGbXc/UxDKFkQWg-I/AAAAAAAAAaQ/eIbbol4cu7Y/s1600/images+(8).jpg" /></a>Billy Gardell, star of CBS sitcom "Mike & Molly," referred to Wilson as the Mark Twain of stand-up comedy. Tom Mabe, a Kentucky-based comic known for "reverse harassment" conversations with telemarketers, characterized Wilson as the John Wayne of comedy in a Wednesdya tweet.</div>
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"Bob & Tom" co-host Tom Griswold said Wilson died of a heart attack in Columbus, Ga.</div>
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When speaking about his close relationship with Wilson, Griswold said Wilson is the only comedian in the radio show's three-decade history to borrow Griswold's clothes for a stand-up appearance, borrow Griswold's guitar to play a song and to sleep in a car in Griswold's driveway because Wilson felt comfortable there.</div>
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"It's a real loss," Griswold said during a Thursday interview. "He was a very unusual guy. He was one of the few guys who could go on at great length and be funny on any topic, all the time."</div>
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In 2012, Wilson said Griswold and co-host Bob Kevoian are the "best thing that's happened to road comedians." Wilson said "Bob & Tom" cast members Chick McGee and Kristi Lee were as close to the comedian as a brother and sister, and Wilson complimented Ron Sexton -- known as "Donnie Baker" on the show -- as being a "joke-writing machine."</div>
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In addition to performing in traditional stand-up format, Wilson wrote and recorded comedic songs based on music, nostalgia, religion and sports.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YF0Gu_R5trc/UxDKK8qkb7I/AAAAAAAAAaY/kPcbUEGoNcQ/s1600/images+(6).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YF0Gu_R5trc/UxDKK8qkb7I/AAAAAAAAAaY/kPcbUEGoNcQ/s1600/images+(6).jpg" /></a></div>
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"Acid Country" -- from his 1994 debut album "Waking Up the Neighborhood" -- recounts Wilson's musical upbringing, in which his mother gave equal billing to Nashville twang and counterculture rock: "We'd watch Porter (Wagoner) and Dolly (Parton), then throw on the Grateful Dead." On Thursday's episode of "Bob & Tom," Griswold's tribute to Wilson included the playback of the comedian performing "Acid Country" on the show in 1995 -- his first-ever "Bob & Tom" appearance.</div>
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Fellow comedian Gardell featured Wilson in a 2013 episode of Showtime cable-TV series "Road Dogs." Wilson had been scheduled to perform on Feb. 28 and March 1 at the Stardome comedy club in Birmingham, Ala.</div>
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Outside of comedy, Wilson co-wrote with Roger Keiss the 2009 book "Happy New Year --Ted."</div>
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The book presents a theory that Ted Bundy committed four murders in Georgia, crimes previously not linked to the serial killer who was executed in 1989.</div>
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"I have the greatest detective story of all time," Wilson said in 2012.</div>
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Wilson is survived by his wife, Deidre, as well as a son, Ari, and a daughter, Sophia, from a previous marriage.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412179410477737310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622283814680419454.post-24430298819354942014-02-28T08:57:00.000-08:002014-02-28T08:57:38.239-08:00Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher Reportedly Engaged! See The Ring<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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At last, the rumors appear to be true.</div>
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Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis are reportedly engaged. The "Jupiter Ascending" actress, 30, stepped out Thursday with a huge diamond ring on "that" finger while shopping with her mother.</div>
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"Ashton and Mila have talked about getting married for quite a while," a source told People last year.</div>
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The former "That 70s Show" co-stars were first linked in 2012, though Kunis insisted at that time that she was "totally single."</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Ashton Kutcher: I Was Hospitalized Becoming Steve Jobs</strong></div>
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"Listen, we hang out. We've known each other for 15 years. We have mutual friends," she told Elle UK of Kutcher, who at the time was separated from his ex-wife Demi Moore. "We're comfortable with one another. That's it! There's no crazy love story, nothing more."</div>
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But in no time the cute couple was spotted kissing in New York City's Central Park and accompanying each other on trips around the globe.</div>
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This would be the first marriage for Kunis. Kutcher, 36, was married to Moore for seven years, until their separation in 2011. Their divorce was finalized in November.</div>
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E! News was the first to break the story.</div>
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Reps for the couple didn't immediately respond for comment.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412179410477737310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622283814680419454.post-21463628442224551812014-02-27T09:16:00.000-08:002014-02-27T09:16:14.663-08:00Real Madrid thrashes Schalke, Mancini counters Mourinho in UCL <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It was a matter of extremes in Wednesday's Champions League round of 16 first-leg ties, as Real Madrid eased past Schalke with a 6-1 drubbing in Germany, while Galatasaray came from behind to draw 1-1 with Chelsea in a tense encounter in Istanbul. Here's what stood out from the contests:</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Player of the day: Karim Benzema, Real Madrid</strong></div>
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The biggest threat to Bayern Munich's Champions League crown may well come from La Liga, but not necessarily Barcelona, as many people have predicted this season. It's Real Madrid sitting three points clear at the top and, after demolishing Schalke in Germany, has more than one foot in the next round.</div>
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Real Madrid is on a record-breaking run at the moment: unbeaten in 27 matches, with 23 of those wins, and for all the brilliance of its wingers Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale - both of whom scored outrageous individual goals - the man who deserves the plaudits is Karim Benzema.</div>
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It was the French striker who pounced on Ronaldo's flicked return from Bale's pass to slot home inside five minutes. Not long after, Bale made it 2-0, jinking his way past three defenders before poking the ball into the net. It was the type of goal he specialized in last season in the Premier League; and almost as spectacular as the 30-yard effort he smacked in off crossbar against Elche four days ago.</div>
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In 21 starts for Real Madrid, Bale has now scored 14 goals and assisted on 10 - not bad figures for a player decried as "a hypochondriac" by one Spain-based journalist. Most defenders find it hard enough to contain Ronaldo - the post came to Schalke's rescue with his 20-yard shot - but with Bale on this form too, Madrid looked deadly. Schalke's defense contributed to its downfall, but Madrid continued the cakewalk in the second half, Ronaldo following up three stepovers with a rasping drive before Benzema added a second to end German hopes once and for all.</div>
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The quiet Frenchman avoids the limelight but has scored seven in his last nine games; a healthy run of form coming after he was dropped from France's starting XI. No wonder coach Carlo Ancelotti is happy with the balance of his team now: once again, the 4-3-3 with Xabi Alonso, Angel di Maria and Luka Modric in midfield was outstanding. It may not suit new signings Isco, Casimero, or Asier Illaramendi, but today was also a reminder of Di Maria's rebirth as a central midfielder - so good has he been, in fact, that it would be no surprise to see him start there for Argentina at the World Cup.</div>
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This team has Ancelotti's stamp on it - and he is making Madridistas believe that its long-awaited decima, 10th European Cup title, could become a reality at last.</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Moment of the day: Iker Casillas saves from Julian Draxler</strong></div>
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We have seen some great saves in this round - not least Atletico Madrid's Thibaut Courtois keeping out Kaka in the win at Milan last week, while Fernando Muslera made a smart stop to deny Fernando Torres in Turkey - but none were better than Iker Casillas diving to keep out Julien Draxler's shot from four yards out - almost point-blank range.</div>
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The chance fell to Draxler, who was not fully-fit, just after Madrid had taken the lead, and had it gone in, it would have changed the game. It might not have changed the result, especially given the dominance the visiting side went on to enjoy, but it also went some way to explaining how Casillas went 952 minutes without conceding a goal (and when it ended, what a goal, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar's volley from the edge of the box, it was).</div>
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One year ago, he was out of the side and worried for his place in the Spain team; now, he is back in form and set to captain the reigning world champion. Pepe, who has been a different player this season, also deserves a mention. If ever a defender seemed to embody his coach, it is the Portuguese: a belligerent butcher under Mourinho, now just a defender who oozes reliability. It was his 31st birthday today and he played like he was 10 years younger; no wonder he is Ancelotti's second-most used outfield player (behind Di Maria).</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Major takeaway of the day: Mancini gives Mourinho a headache</strong></div>
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We have seen glimpses of the old Jose Mourinho in recent weeks, not as the quiet calm statesmanlike figure that he professed to be on his return to England (and while he fulfilled that role, you could not help but wonder why Manchester United overlooked him to replace Sir Alex Ferguson). He hit out at West Ham coach Sam Allardyce for "19th century tactics" at Stamford Bridge, called Arsene Wenger "a specialist in failure" and this week labeled the media 'a disgrace' for releasing footage without his permission. "L'Ego Land" was the smart headline on the front page of French paper <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">L'Equipe</em> Wednesday, accusing Mourinho of "attacking on all fronts."</div>
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His team did something similar in the first half against Galatasaray, taking advantage of Galatasaray's high defensive line and midfield gaps to launch counter after counter that should have resulted in more than Fernando Torres' ninth-minute goal.</div>
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Coach Roberto Mancini got his tactics so wrong that he made a substitution after 30 minutes, taking off Champions League debutant Izet Hajrovic for Yekta Kurtulus, a more defensive midfielder who kept things a little tighter. Before then, Chelsea had threatened to finish off the tie, with the outstanding Cesar Azpilicueta and either Andre Schurrle or Eden Hazard, who switched sides, all giving Emmanuel Eboue a nightmare down the left flank.</div>
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"You have to match Chelsea in midfield or you will get overrun, and that is where Mancini went wrong," said former Galatasaray coach Graeme Souness on <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Sky Sports</em>.</div>
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Instead, Mancini corrected his errors in time for the second half and, short of one Torres effort well saved, Galatasaray battled its way back into the game and just after Selcuk hit the post from Didier Drogba's knock-down, Aurelien Chedjou sneaked in to knock home Wesley Sneijder's corner. As the game went on, Mourinho tried to lock down the midfield battle but it was Galatasaray who looked the more likely to score. In the end, 1-1 was a fair result.</div>
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Mourinho and Mancini are hardly best of friends -- Mancini claimed that Mourinho's Inter Milan side that won the competition in 2010 was 'his side' -- but this result leaves both coaches with something to cling to. In the first half, Mourinho had the upper hand. Mancini clawed it back in the second and that should make for one of the more interesting second legs in three weeks' time.</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">How the second legs shape up</strong></div>
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Real Madrid's tie against Schalke will be one for the numbers guys - a serious chance for Cristiano Ronaldo, who could have had a hat trick Wednedsay, to add to his tally of 11 goals in six games in the competition so far. The task for Schalke will be to steady the ship between now and then, but that won't be easy: it faces Bayern Munich at the weekend (some might say this was the perfect preparation).</div>
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Chelsea's game against Galatasaray could prove to be the second leg of the round, and not just because it will mark the return of Drogba to Stamford Bridge. That in itself will be a momentous occasion, but the striker's sense of timing in big games may worry Mourinho, who knows him better than most.</div>
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And then there is the scoreline: only two games of the eight in this round were not won by the away side, the group winner, and this was the only drawn game. An away goal at Chelsea will make for a fascinating contest. What price would one pay for a penalty shootout at the Bridge with Drogba potentially stepping up to win it for his team?</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412179410477737310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622283814680419454.post-50810695708149244662014-02-27T09:06:00.002-08:002014-02-27T09:06:35.735-08:00The Americans' Shocking Season 2 Premiere Deaths, Arrow's Intense Reunion and More OMG TV Moments<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<em style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; text-align: left;">Spoiler alert! We're about to dig into the biggest, most jaw-dropping moments from Wednesday night's TV. If you haven't yet watched a particular show, and don't want to be spoiled, skip to the next!</em></div>
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<strong><em>Arrow</em>:</strong> It was the reunion fans have been waiting a very long time for and man, did it not disappoint. Oliver finally learned that Slade was 1. Alive. 2. Big badding it up in Starling City and 3. Becoming BFFs with Moira, his mother, on tonight's episode of the CW hit. Oh, how we can't wait to see these comrades-turned-enemies finally go at it. </div>
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Oh, and Oliver said <em>this</em> to Felicity, who was jealous over his, um, bonding, with Sara: "Hey. You will always be my girl, Felicity." </div>
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<strong style="line-height: 1.4em;"><em>The Americans</em>:</strong><span style="line-height: 1.4em;"> Welcome back to the '80s, fellow spies, would you like some shocking deaths to go with your many wigs? </span></div>
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RIP, Emmett and Leanne Connors, as well as their teen daughter. (Their son managed to survive, though he's probably scarred from life after walking into a room to find his entire family dead.) Yes, Elizabeth and Philip's fellow spies were brutally murdered in the FX hit's return, reiterating just how much danger they, as well as their children, are in.</div>
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<span style="line-height: 1.4em;">Speaking of their children, Paige is becoming suspicious of her secretive parents, but she hit pause on her digging into their activities after walking in on them having sex. (A totally different kind of scarring for a teenager.)</span></div>
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<b style="line-height: 1.4em;"><span style="line-height: 1.4em;"><em>Law & Order: SVU</em>: </span><span style="line-height: 1.4em;">#RapelsNoJoke</span></b><span style="line-height: 1.4em;"> </span><span style="line-height: 1.4em;">indeed. Could Benson be ready to end her relationship with Cassidy? It certainly looks to be the case after Benson ignored her boyfriend's call when she learned that he found a comedian's (who turned out to be a rapist, by the way) rape jokes to be funny. Um, what?! Feel free to ignore Cassidy's calls until the end of time, Benson. </span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-n5gS03a5nwg/Uw9wJCcWa0I/AAAAAAAAAX0/Jv1lf578zdE/s1600/images+(3).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-n5gS03a5nwg/Uw9wJCcWa0I/AAAAAAAAAX0/Jv1lf578zdE/s1600/images+(3).jpg" /></a><strong><em>Suburgatory</em>:</strong> How awesome was it to see <em>Parenthood</em> standout <strong>Mae Whitman</strong> guest star on the ABC hit sitcom opposite <strong>Jane Levy</strong>, one of her real-life besties? Whitman got to show off her comedic chops as Caris (aka Charisma!), the leader of a hippie band Tessa joins, only to learn it's basically a cult. Promises of murder included! (Anyone else kind of sort of totaly want to be Whitman's BFF?)</div>
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<strong style="line-height: 1.4em;">Line of the Night:</strong><span style="line-height: 1.4em;"> "Your momma's musty." Hee. Oh, you had to watch </span><em style="line-height: 1.4em;">Psych</em><span style="line-height: 1.4em;"> to truly appreciate the simplicity of this joke from Gus. </span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412179410477737310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622283814680419454.post-58071332359587214192014-02-27T08:42:00.001-08:002014-02-27T08:42:39.313-08:00This Is Spike Lee's Amazing Gentrification Rant<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: freight-sans-pro, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 31px;">Speaking at the Pratt Institute in honor of African American History Month, celebrated filmmaker and consummate Knicks fan Spike Lee, wearing a Knicks beanie, orange socks, blue Nikes and a "Defend Brooklyn" hoodie, launched into a spontaneous diatribe about the pitfalls of gentrification happening across Brooklyn and upper Manhattan.</span><br />
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The speech was prompted by a question from an audience member regarding a possible "good side" to gentrification. Not waiting for the questioner to finish, however, Lee broke in with an impassioned takedown of that argument, as well as a recent "bullshit article in the New York Times<i>"</i> with a similar angle.</div>
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For close to seven, profanity-laden minutes, Lee criticized gentrification in general, and especially the trend of what he views as white people entering neighborhoods with little reverence for the people who live there and their culture:</div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 32px; font-style: italic; line-height: 40px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I mean, they just move in the neighborhood. You just can't come in the neighborhood. I'm for democracy and letting everybody live but you gotta have some respect. You can't just come in when people have a culture that's been laid down for generations and you come in and now shit gotta change because you're here? Get the fuck outta here. Can't do that!</span></span></div>
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Lee pointedly asks why it appears to have taken an influx of white people into the "south Bronx, in Harlem, in Bed Stuy and in Crown Heights" to improve facilities in those areas.</div>
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"So, why did it take this great influx of white people to get the schools better?" Lee said. "Why's there more police protection in Bed Stuy and Harlem now? Why's the garbage getting picked up more regularly?"</div>
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And then there's something Lee calls the "Christopher Columbus Syndrome:"</div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: red; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">You can't discover this! We been here. You just can't come and bogart. There were brothers playing motherfuckin' African drums in Mount Morris Park for 40 years and now they can't do it anymore because the new inhabitants said the drums are loud. My father's a great jazz musician. He bought a house in nineteen-motherfuckin'-sixty-eight, and the motherfuckin' people moved in last year and called the cops on my father. He's not — he doesn't even play electric bass! It's acoustic! We bought the motherfuckin’ house in nineteen-sixty-motherfuckin'-eight and now you call the cops? In 2013? Get the fuck outta here!</span></div>
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The key, according to Lee, is respect. Rather than swooping into a new neighborhood, and metaphorically "[killing] off the Native Americans," newcomers need to honor the history of the areas they have come to inhabit. There is, according to Lee, "a code."</div>
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As far as statistics, Lee has it right: according to the Center for Urban Research, Hispanics constituted 52.9% of southeastern Harlem's population in 2000; a decade later, that figure had fallen to 47.5. Whites took their place (11.5% before, 17.5% after). Another example: Home prices per square foot are up a whoopping 174% in Williamsburg, Brooklyn from 2004 to 2012. And according to according to research published on the Fordham Institute's blog, Brooklyn has four zip codes in the top-25 fastest gentrifying neighborhoods in the US. For a broader view of Brooklyn’s gentrification.</div>
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New York Magazine takes a more diplomatic road than Lee in an article entitled "Is Gentrification All Bad?" The magazine argues that sometimes it takes time to analyze the full effects of the phenomenon.</div>
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"[G]entrification can be either a toxin or a balm," the writer notes. "There's the fast-moving, invasive variety nourished by ever-rising prices per square foot; then there's a more natural, humane kind that takes decades to mature and lives on a diet of optimism and local pride."</div>
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But we wouldn't suggest trying to convince Lee of that anytime soon.</div>
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Do you agree with Lee? </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412179410477737310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622283814680419454.post-62231844128607550142014-02-23T11:43:00.000-08:002014-02-23T11:43:02.909-08:00Heroes Reborn: NBC Set to Revive Heroes as a Miniseries—Get All the Details Now!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y2AJwqxEvnk/UwpOv8KXtRI/AAAAAAAAAU8/6vWONhnl7co/s1600/images+(13).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y2AJwqxEvnk/UwpOv8KXtRI/AAAAAAAAAU8/6vWONhnl7co/s1600/images+(13).jpg" /></a></div>
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<i style="background-color: #ffd966; line-height: 1.4em;">Forget the cheerleader, NBC is saving the series!</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: #ffd966;">The network has announced plans to reviveHeroes in 2015 with a 13-episode miniseries event, titled Heroes: Reborn. No, we're not joking. Yes, this is really happening. NBC dropped the news during its coverage of the Olympics on Saturday with a brief teaser. Can you say Yatta?!</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: #ffd966;">So will any of the original cast members, which included Hayden Panettiere, Zachary Quinto,<strong> Jack Coleman</strong> and <strong>Milo Ventimiglia</strong>, return? Well, that's one mystery NBC is keeping "shrouded in secrecy" for now, but creator <strong>Tim Kring</strong> will definitely return to helmReborn.</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: #ffd966; line-height: 1.4em;">"The enormous impact Heroes had on the television landscape when it first launched in 2006 was eye-opening," NBC Entertainment President <strong>Jennifer Salke</strong> said in a statement. "Shows with that kind of resonance don't come around often and we thought it was time for another installment. We're thrilled that visionary creator Tim Kring was as excited about jumping back into this show as we were and we look forward to all the new textures and layers Tim plans to add to his original concept. Until we get closer to air in 2015, the show will be appropriately shrouded in secrecy, but we won't rule out the possibility of some of the show's original cast members popping back in." </i></div>
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<i style="background-color: #ffd966; line-height: 1.4em;">Heroes, which also starred <strong>Adrian Pasdar</strong>, <strong>Masi Oka</strong> and Ali Larter, was canceled in 2010 after four seasons. NBC also revealed they will introduce new storylines and characters to the mythology via a web series prior to Heroes' return in 2015. </i></div>
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<i style="background-color: #ffd966;">Of course, Heroes isn't the first beloved series to be relaunched as a miniseries; Fox is set to bring back 24 in May with 24: Live Another Day, a 13-episode miniseries event that finds Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutheriand) once again racing against the clock to save the world. </i></div>
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<i style="background-color: #ffd966;">Are you excited for Heroes to come back? Any original castmembers you want to see return? Sound off in the comments!</i></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412179410477737310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622283814680419454.post-34041661084724420502014-02-23T11:27:00.002-08:002014-02-23T11:27:52.202-08:00It's National Margarita Day! Celebrate with 13 recipes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span style="background-color: cyan;">If you're like me, you probably don't need an excuse to lift a celebratory margarita. Still, even this classic cocktail gets its own holiday. That would be today. So Happy National Margarita Day!</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;"><span style="background-color: cyan; font-size: 14px;">To celebrate, we've compiled 13 of our favorite recipes. If you love a classic margarita, we've got you covered. Of course, we'll also take care of you if you'd like to get creative with a little blood orange, pomegranate or guava. Or perhaps you'd like to add a little jalapeno, horseradish or cilantro to the mix.</span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: cyan;">We include a variety of recipes, including favorites from restaurants known for great drinks: El Coyote, Mas Malo and Border Grill.</span></i></div>
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<i style="font-weight: 700;"><span style="background-color: lime; color: red;">BLOOD ORANGE JALAPENO MARGARITA</span></i></div>
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<span style="background-color: blue; font-weight: 700;"><i><span style="color: orange;">Total time:</span></i></span><i style="background-color: magenta;"> </i><i style="background-color: cyan;">10 minutes, plus at least 12 hours infusing time</i></div>
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<span style="background-color: blue; color: orange;"><span style="font-weight: 700;">Servings:</span> 4</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: blue; font-weight: 700;"><i><span style="color: orange;">Note:</span></i></span> <i style="background-color: cyan;">Adapted from Border Grill</i></div>
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<span style="background-color: blue; font-weight: 700;"><i><span style="color: orange;">Infused tequila</span></i></span></div>
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<i style="background-color: cyan;">1 to 1 1/2 pounds blood oranges, thinly sliced</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: cyan;">1 jalapeno, stemmed and sliced in half lengthwise</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: cyan;">1 liter Herradura Silver tequila</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: cyan;">1. Place the oranges and jalapeno in a glass jar or container. Pour in the tequila (save the tequila bottle). Seal and store in a cool, dark place for 4 to 6 hours, then remove the jalapeno. (The jalapeno will infuse the tequila fairly quickly.) Let the tequila sit overnight and up to several days with just the blood oranges.</i></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rCoO4StadSU/UwpJq0siKVI/AAAAAAAAAUk/BPiB1u4ffP8/s1600/images+(11).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="background-color: cyan;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rCoO4StadSU/UwpJq0siKVI/AAAAAAAAAUk/BPiB1u4ffP8/s1600/images+(11).jpg" /></span></a><i style="background-color: cyan;">2. Strain the tequila through cheesecloth or a fine sieve and pour it back into the reserved tequila bottle. Seal and store in the refrigerator or freezer for up to 3 months.</i></div>
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<span style="background-color: lime; font-weight: 700;"><u><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></u></span></div>
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<u style="font-weight: 700;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></u></div>
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<u style="font-weight: 700;"><span style="background-color: lime; color: red;">Candied jalapenos (optional)</span></u></div>
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<i style="background-color: cyan;">2 jalapenos (green and/or red)</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: cyan;">1/2 cup sugar</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: cyan;">Thinly slice the jalapenos crosswise. In a small sauce pan, combine 1 cup of water with the sugar and bring to a boil. Add the jalapenos, reduce the heat, and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. With a spatula, gently remove the jalapenos, laying them flat on parchment paper to dry. Store in a sealed container for up to one week.</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: magenta;"><br /></i></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><span style="background-color: lime;"><b> </b><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: 700;"> Assembly</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1Zfv9ALmsVA/UwpJyL4rPdI/AAAAAAAAAUs/wIKpHorUlJA/s1600/images+(12).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1Zfv9ALmsVA/UwpJyL4rPdI/AAAAAAAAAUs/wIKpHorUlJA/s1600/images+(12).jpg" /></a></div>
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<i style="background-color: cyan;">1 cup blood orange-jalapeno infused tequila</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: cyan;">1/2 cup Grand Marnier</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: cyan;">1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: cyan;">1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: cyan;">1 tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: cyan;">2 tablespoons superfine sugar, or to taste</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: cyan;">4 slices blood orange, for garnish</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: cyan;">4 slices candied jalapenos, for garnish (optional)</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: cyan;">1. Run a lime wedge halfway around the rim of four margarita glasses and dip into sugar. Set aside.</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: cyan;">2. Combine the infused tequila, Grand Marnier, lemon juice, lime juice, orange juice and superfine sugar. Pour half the mixture into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake until chilled, about 15 seconds. Strain into two of the sugar-rimmed glasses. Repeat to make two more cocktails. Garnish with a slice of blood orange and a candied jalapeno, if desired</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: cyan;">Each serving: 263 calories; 0 protein; 22 grams carbohydrates; 0 fiber; 0 fat; 0 cholesterol; 3 mg. sodium.</i></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412179410477737310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622283814680419454.post-15588619189041912772014-02-23T10:57:00.001-08:002014-02-23T10:57:40.558-08:00UFC 170: Ronda Rousey stops Sara McMann in 66 seconds<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--Tl-16hM9Ns/UwpDm4TwOwI/AAAAAAAAATk/XlcZkTjqNPk/s1600/images+(6).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--Tl-16hM9Ns/UwpDm4TwOwI/AAAAAAAAATk/XlcZkTjqNPk/s1600/images+(6).jpg" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: lime; color: blue;"> Ronda Rousey made some more history on Saturday.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: lime; color: blue;">The Ultimate Fighting Championship women's bantamweight champ notched the fastest knockout in UFC women's history, and she also finally won a fight by something other than her trademark armbar. Rousey stopped Sara McMann just 66 seconds into their fight with a TKO stemming from a knee to the liver.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: lime; color: blue;">The women's bantamweight title bout was the main event of UFC 170 event at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: lime; color: blue;">Both fighters came out swinging right away, and after the dust settled, Rousey pushed the challenger to the fence and landed knees on her. Rousey looked for an opportunity for her trademark judo throw. But McMann defended it.</span></i></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iLrFfdZOsh4/UwpD2VrMRfI/AAAAAAAAATs/IRgcjjfi2Wk/s1600/images+(7).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iLrFfdZOsh4/UwpD2VrMRfI/AAAAAAAAATs/IRgcjjfi2Wk/s1600/images+(7).jpg" height="154" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: lime; color: blue;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: lime; color: blue;">But soon after, Rousey hit McMann with a knee to the body. She followed it with an elbow, another knee, another elbow — and then a final knee that put McMann on the canvas.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: lime; color: blue;">Once there, Rousey was quick to pile on with three strikes before referee Herb Dean jumped in to stop the fight. McMann wasn't covering up.</span></i></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9PWjGqJtcd4/UwpEPKjN3XI/AAAAAAAAAUE/w-XDWsvJwBo/s1600/images+(10).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9PWjGqJtcd4/UwpEPKjN3XI/AAAAAAAAAUE/w-XDWsvJwBo/s1600/images+(10).jpg" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: lime; color: blue;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: lime; color: blue;">The crowd booed what it deemed was an early stoppage. But for the first time in her career, Rousey had a non-armbar finish. The TKO win came just 66 seconds into the fight.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: lime; color: blue;">"We studied her videos and knew it was the best thing to concentrate on the liver shot for this camp," Rousey said. "The knee has been working for me the most throughout sparring in this camp."</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: lime; color: blue;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FKQvSbkO0iw/UwpD9Hd9z_I/AAAAAAAAAT0/4bvurPjF16E/s1600/images+(8).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FKQvSbkO0iw/UwpD9Hd9z_I/AAAAAAAAAT0/4bvurPjF16E/s1600/images+(8).jpg" /></a></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: lime; color: blue;">McMann stayed gracious in defeat and wouldn't say Dean's stoppage was early.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: lime; color: blue;">"I thought it was a good fight. I got hit in the liver, and no matter how hard you train, you can't get your liver stronger," McMann said. "I hope to get a rematch and come back here and put on a better fight. I was trying to get back up, but it's my own fault. I should've gotten back to my feet quicker."</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: lime; color: blue;">Rousey (9-0 mixed martial arts, 3-0 UFC) stayed unbeaten and notched another first-round win, the eighth of her career. McMann (7-1, 1-1) suffered the first loss of her MMA career.</span></i></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412179410477737310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622283814680419454.post-88373043878761967182014-02-23T10:42:00.001-08:002014-02-23T10:42:10.154-08:00Rise in violence feared after Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman capture<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For 13 years Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">watched from the rugged mountains of western Mexico as authorities captured or killed the leaders of every group that challenged his Sinaloa cartel's spot at the top of global drug trafficking.</span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">Unscathed and his legend growing, the stocky son of a peasant farmer grabbed a slot on the Forbes'billionaires'list and a folkloric status as the capo who grew too powerful to catch. Then, late last year, authorities started closing on the inner circle of the world's most-wanted drug lord.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">The son of one of his two top henchmen, Ismael "Mayo" Zambada, was arrested at a border crossing in Nogales, Arizona in November as part of a sprawling, complex investigation involving as many as 100 wiretaps, according to his lawyer.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">A month later, one of the Sinaloa cartel's main lieutenants was gunned down by Mexican helicopter gunships in a resort town a few hours drive to the east. Less than two weeks passed before police at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam arrested one of the cartel's top assassins, a man who handled transport and logistics for Guzman.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">This month the noose started tightening. Federal forces began sweeping through Culiacan, capital of the Pacific coast state of Sinaloa - closing streets, raiding houses, seizing automatic weapons, drugs and money, and arresting a series of men Mexican officials carefully described to reporters as top officials for Zambada.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">But the target was bigger.</span></i></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9i-0_OPN07I/Uwo35O5R_SI/AAAAAAAAAS8/SY1okQVP0ig/s1600/download+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #202022; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9i-0_OPN07I/Uwo35O5R_SI/AAAAAAAAAS8/SY1okQVP0ig/s1600/download+(1).jpg" /></a><i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">On Feb. 13, a man known as "19," whom officials called the new chief of assassins for Zambada, was arrested with two other men on the highway to the coastal resort city of Mazatlan. Four days later, a man described as a member of the Sinaloa cartel's upper ranks was seized along with 4,000 hollowed-out cucumbers and bananas stuffed with cocaine. In the middle of this week, a 43-year-old known by the nickname "20" and described as Zambada's chief of security, was arrested transporting more cocaine-stuffed produce.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">By the middle of the week at least 10 Sinaloa henchmen had been seized.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">A U.S. law enforcement official said Saturday that at least some were actually security for Guzman, and authorities used them to obtain information that helped lead to the head of the cartel. The official was not authorized to talk to journalists and spoke on condition of anonymity.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">Agents learned that Guzman, 56, had started coming down from his isolated mountain hideouts to enjoy the comforts of Culiacan and Mazatlan, said Michael S. Vigil, a former senior DEA official who was briefed on the operation.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">"That was a fatal error," Vigil said.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">Working on the information gleaned from Guzman's bodyguards, Mexican marines swarmed the house of Guzam's ex-wife but struggled to batter down the steel-reinforced door, according to Mexican authorities and former U.S. law-enforcement officials briefed on the operation.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">As the marines forced their way in, Guzman fled through a secret door beneath a bathtub down a corrugated steel ladder into a network of tunnels and sewer canals that connect to six other houses in Culiacan, the officials said.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">Guzman fled south to Mazatlan. On his heels, a team of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents set up a base of operations with Mexican marines in the city, according to the current U.S. law-enforcement official.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">Early Saturday morning, Guzman's reign came to an end without a shot fired. Marines closed the beachside road in front of the Miramar condominiums, a 10-story, pearl-colored building with white balconies overlooking the Pacific and a small pool in front.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">Smashing down the door of an austerely decorated fourth-floor condo, they seized the country's most-wanted manat 6:40 a.m., a few minutes after the sun rose.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">A neighbor who declined to identify himself for fear of retaliation said the apartment had only been occupied for two days. An employee of the building's cleaning staff said that clothes were strewn across the floor and bed in the condo, and humble domestic appliances - a microwave, a floor fan, a flat-screen TV on a small table - were left inside.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">Photos of the apartment published by a local newspaper showed cheap and unglamorous furnishings. Inside the condo, the photos showed little food or liquor: just a couple of dozen eggs on a shelf. A bag from a low-end supermarket lay on the floor.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">Guzman was caught with an unidentified woman, said one official not authorized to be quoted by name, who added that the DEA and Marshals Service were "heavily involved" in the capture. Mexican officials said, however, that Guzman was detained along with a man they identified as Carlos Manuel Hoo Ramirez.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">Mexico's government scored a huge victory with the capture of Guzman, but there are dears it could unleash a fresh wave of violence as they fight for control of his turf in a drug war that’s claimed at least 60,000 lives so far.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">Experts say his Sinaloa Cartel should have no trouble in continuing without him.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">"Chapo was the strategy guy, he was the CEO, but he still has his board of directors who are running things," said drug war expert and retired U.S. Air Force captain Sylvia Longmire.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">"Day-to-day on the ground, I don't think there is even going to be a hiccup in the drug flow," she added.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">Nevertheless, Guzman's imprisonment could encourage rivals to try to muscle in on the turf his business empire has held for years from its base in northwestern Mexico.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">For now it is a personal triumph for President Enrique Pena Nieto, who took office in December 2012 pledging to cut spiraling violence in Latin America's second biggest economy.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">Doubts about his strategy on organized crime have grown as the violence continued and his government made a risky alliance with vigilante groups in a confrontation with a drug gang in the state of Michoacan.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">The arrest of Guzman offers a strong riposte to the president's critics.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">Pena Nieto's predecessor Felipe Calderon staked his reputation on bringing the gangs to heel, but despite capturing or killing many capos, violence leapt during his six year term.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">No-one was a more telling reminder of the Calderon government's shortcomings than Guzman. After escaping from prison in 2001, the drug lord built up an empire and made his way onto the Forbes list of billionaires.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">Pena Nieto has taken a more low key approach to fighting organized crime than Calderon, and the cross-border intelligence operation that led to Guzman's capture is a boost for Mexican-U.S. cooperation on organized crime.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">Initially focusing on the Zetas, a brutal cartel that has been behind many of the most shocking atrocities of the last few years, Pena Nieto's government put the group on the back foot by capturing the gang's boss Miguel Angel Trevino last July.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">Murders fell by more than 16 percent during his first full year in the job, but he had hoped for a greater decline and serious problems remain.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">Homicides are still well above the levels recorded when Calderon took power, and extortion and kidnapping rose last year, according to government figures.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">The removal of Guzman from the scene does not mean there is any less for the cartels to play for.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">Trafficking remains a highly lucrative business: according to U.S. State Department figures, the gangs send between $19-29 billion each year from the United States to Mexico.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">In spite of steps to decriminalize marijuana usage in parts of the United States, the drug is still smuggled in vast quantities, and the market for harder narcotics is thriving.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">Between 2008 and 2012, the amount of heroin seized at the U.S. southwest border increased by 232 percent, according to National Seizure System (NSS) data. And though cocaine seizures are down, that has been offset by higher consumption in Mexico and Europe, said Alberto Islas of consultancy Risk Evaluation.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">Meanwhile, demand for Mexican methamphetamine is still enjoying "double digit" growth annually, Islas added.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">Such is the size of the illicit drugs market, that by the time of his fall, Guzman was probably overseeing an empire with as many as 150,000 people in its employ, said Malcolm Beith, author of "The Last Narco", a biography of the kingpin.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">The fallout will likely be violent, he said.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">"Whenever the leadership of a drug cartel is compromised, there are turf wars at lower levels," Beith told Reuters.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">"We've seen increased violence already in recent months in Sinaloa since the capture or death of several high-ranking lieutenants, I expect more to follow."</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">Blows against capos have sparked conflagration in the past. Killings surged in the border city of Tijuana during a lengthy battle for control of the local cartel following the capture of kingpin Francisco Arellano Felix in 2006.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">Guzman's lieutenant Ismael Zambada could now take over but he is over 65 and younger rivals may seek to exploit the sudden opening.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">In the meantime, the government must press home the attack on the Sinaloa Cartel, said Michael Braun, managing partner of security consultancy SGI Global who was formerly a top official at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">"Now is the time to throw every available asset and resource, Mexican and U.S., at the cartel and relentlessly strike at every aspect of the organization," Braun told Reuters.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">But Mexico's efforts to stamp out organized crime will fail if the government does not do more to tackle the corruption that has sustained Guzman and his ilk for years, said Edgardo Buscaglia, a crime expert at Columbia University.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: red; color: lime;">"The politicians who protected El Chapo aren't being arrested, nor are the businessmen who worked with him," he said. "Without that, the arrests end up being inconsequential for dismantling the organization."</span></i></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412179410477737310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622283814680419454.post-49117255525673369592014-02-23T09:33:00.000-08:002014-02-23T09:33:56.700-08:00Arsenal's Mesut Ozil defended over Bayern Munich penalty miss and 'liability' tag by team-mates <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 1.4em;">Arsenal’s German stars have jumped to the defence of compatriot Mesut Ozil amid claims the club’s £42million record signing has become a liability less than six months on.</span></div>
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Per Mertesacker and Lukas Podolski insist the Gunners 25-year-old playmaker, will come through the crisis in confidence that saw him miss a critical penalty in the first leg of a Champions League last-16 against holders Bayern Munich at the Emirates.</div>
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Had he netted, the eighth-minute spot-kick would have changed the complexion of the tie completely.</div>
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Instead, keeper Manuel Neuer saved his tame, down-the-middle shot, Bayern grew into the game and have taken a 2-0 lead home to Bavaria for next month's second leg.</div>
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The Londoners' midfield workhorse Mathieu Flamini was seen verbally tearing into Ozil, a blockbuster August capture from Real Madrid, during Tuesday night's match.</div>
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Ozil is shown in TV pictures angrily pulling away after being pushed by the Frenchman as the pair made their way out of the Arsenal six-yard box.</div>
<span style="font-family: 'PT Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 1.4em;">Gunners boss Arsene Wenger admitted after the match that Ozil’s form had become a concern, while ex-Chelsea and Germany superstar Michael Ballack - a Sky Sports pundit for the game - claimed his countryman looked as though he does not yet have “the acceptance of his team-mates”.</span><br />
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International and club team-mate Lukas Podolski used social media to say: “Thats football! Trust in Mesut, he will give it back twice in return and make all of us happy. Friends stand together. Let’s go AFC!”</div>
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Mertesacker, who himself berated Ozil for not acknowledging Arsenal’s travelling fans after a loss at Manchester City in December, said of the incident with Flamini: “It is good that we encourage each other.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 1.4em;">“We have to do well as a team, so I think talking to each other is the best thing we can do, especially with 10 men.</span></div>
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“We need everyone on the pitch with his full mental strength and maturity. He tries to keep everyone alive and I think that is massive for the team, so I won’t assess that as an argument.</div>
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“It is good to be alive and to show each other that we are ready to fight.”</div>
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Ozil later posted a message on his official Facebook account to apologise for his penalty miss.</div>
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The German wrote: "The next morning doesn't feel better either. sorry guys - it wasn't planned that way. outnumbered it was really hard to win against this team."</div>
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In a scathing assessment of Ozil’s performance on Tuesday, Ballack had said: “He looks a bit lost in this team.</div>
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“When he came here, there was so much expectation with the quality he has. The first games he looked good, played well and was comfortable.</div>
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“He likes to have the ball. But sometimes it looks like he is in a tactical position where he has to work a lot defensively and I was watching one situation where Flamini was moaning to him.</div>
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“It seems like he does not have the acceptance of his team - also Mertesacker, two months ago, when he was shouting at him on the pitch. </div>
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“A player like him should be untouchable - with his quality he should be untouchable and bring out so much in the team. But it looks like he has not the acceptance.”</div>
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Mertesacker added, however: “It is not only up to Mesut, he will come back even stronger. We speak all the time during the game. We need to encourage each other.</div>
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“He has played a lot of games. But he is a massive player and we need him at his best. Game by game, I think he will come back even stronger.</div>
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“It is obvious that when you miss a pen in the first 10 minutes you are disappointed. But you have to get over it quickly, that is the main thing.”</div>
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* BAYERN forward Robben has told the German press he did NOT spit at Bacary Sagna in an incident during Tuesday's match that saw fans watching on TV react with fury on Twitter.</div>
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Robben maintained it was sweat which television cameras showed dripping off his face onto the Arsenal defender.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412179410477737310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622283814680419454.post-1064884750628760632014-02-22T11:42:00.000-08:002014-02-22T11:42:20.464-08:00Watch Justin Timberlake And Jimmy Fallon's 'History of Rap' Reunion<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UnOzWEsx8Dg/Uwj8hwxNNWI/AAAAAAAAAR0/UHdrx3X0QII/s1600/images+(56).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UnOzWEsx8Dg/Uwj8hwxNNWI/AAAAAAAAAR0/UHdrx3X0QII/s1600/images+(56).jpg" /></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.899999618530273px;">As the closing act to Jimmy Fallon's premieere week</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.899999618530273px;"> of "The Tonight Show," Justin Timberlake</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.899999618530273px;"> definitely saved the best for last. A frequent guest on Jimmy's previous "Late Night" (including a lengthy week of performances known as "Timberweek"), JT had an array of viral fan-favorite sketches to choose from for the "Tonight Show." He and buddy Fallon went with the instant classic, belting out the fifth installment of the "History of Rap."</span><br />
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The duo barely sat for a few impatient moments, skipping the intros and immediately grabbing the mics. They jumped straight into old-school textbook rap, reeling off jams from LL Cool J, Salt 'N Pepa and the Beastie Boys before launching into familiar retro favorites like the "Fresh Prince" theme song, which perhaps nodded to Will Smith,s appearance on the premiere episode earlier that week. Rolling into modern song selections, the two included Kendrick Lamar's "Swimming Pools (Drank)," Drake's "Started From the Bottom" and a mash-up of Jay Z's "99 Problems" and Ludacris' "Move Bitch (Get Out The Way)." They finished the performance by jumping into the studio audience for RUN DMC and Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" as the grand finale.</div>
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Back at the desk, they joked with best-friend banter. Justin admitted he had tried Mucinex to battle the recent illness that caused him to postpone a tour date at Madison Square Garden in New York earlier this week. "Now I'm on straight up hardcore things. We're not going full Rob Ford, but probably enough that you shouldn't be on national television," he joked.</div>
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JT also didn't let the hour pass without resurfacing his particularly spot-on impression of Fallon. After mimicking the "Tonight Show" host with repeated phrases like "so good" and "my man" on set (energetic hand gestures included) the two relived a clip from the Saturday Night Live Christmas episode where JT's impression of Jimmy left them both cracking up on camera.</div>
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Justin closed the evening as the musical guest, grabbing the guitar and singing "Not a Bad Thing" backed by The Tennessee Kids. While Fallon may introduce his close friend as "the biggest pop star on the planet," it's nice to see that through improvising song lyrics, slipping into Camp Winnipesaukee voices and rapping the oldies the two really are just Best Friends Forever.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412179410477737310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622283814680419454.post-9161885352244017632014-02-21T12:51:00.003-08:002014-02-21T12:51:36.918-08:00Local beauty queen among six killed in Venezuelan anti-government violence<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A 22-year-old student from the central city of Valencia in Venezuela died on Wednesday after being shot in the head during an anti-government demonstration, her family said.</div>
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Genesis Carmona, who was studying tourism and was also a local beauty queen, was shot during a demonstration on Tuesday.</div>
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She is one of six victims of the political unrest that has gripped the South American country since imprisoned protest leader Leopoldo Lopez urged supporters to keep fighting for the departure of the socialist government of President Nicolas Naduro.</div>
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Security forces and protesters fought throughout Venezuela on Thursday in streets blocked by burning barricades .</div>
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On Wednesday night, the capital Caracas saw one of the worst bouts of violence since the protests began.</div>
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Around a square in the wealthier east of the city, security forces fired teargas and bullets, chasing youths who hurled petrol bombs and blocked roads with burning piles of trash.</div>
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There were also sustained clashes in the western Andean states of Tachira and Merida.</div>
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The demonstrators, mainly students, blame the government for violent crime, high inflation, product shortages and alleged repression of opponents.</div>
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<strong>Death toll mounts</strong></div>
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Alexis Martinez, a brother of a ruling Socialist Party legislator, was killed in the central city of Barquisimeto on Thursday. A local journalist said Martinez was shot in the chest while passing an opposition protest.</div>
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Three people were killed in Caracas after an opposition rally a week ago, and a fourth person died after being run over by a car during a demonstration in the coastal town of Carupano.</div>
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Scores more people have been arrested or injured in the most serious unrest since Maduro was narrowly elected in April 2013.</div>
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<strong>Tensions as opposition leader arrested</strong></div>
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Tensions have risen in Venezuela since Lopez, a 42-year-old Harvard-educated economist, turned himself in to troops on Tuesday after spearheading three weeks of often rowdy protests against Maduro’s government.</div>
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Lopez is being held in Caracas’ Ramo Verde military prison. His lawyer said he had been charged with arson and conspiracy, but the more serious charges of murder and terrorism charges had been dropped.</div>
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“We cannot underestimate those fascist groups whose boss is behind bars,” President Maduro said in a nationally televised speech late on Wednesday. “I’m not playing with democracy. I do not accept that they challenge the Venezuelan people and our Constitution.”</div>
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Maduro said the opposition are trying to create a crisis to topple his administration: “There is an international campaign to justify a foreign intervention in Venezuela.”</div>
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In a pre-recorded video that was to be released in the event he was jailed Lopez told his supporters: “Today more than ever, our cause has to be the exit of this government,” he said, sitting by his wife. “Let’s fight. I will be doing so.”</div>
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“Change depends on every one of us. Don’t give up!” Lopez’s wife Lilian Tintori said via Twitter on Thursday.</div>
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Speaking in Mexico, US President Barack Obama criticised Maduro’s government for arresting protesters and urged it to focus on addressing the “legitimate grievances” of its people.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412179410477737310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622283814680419454.post-58728594954497804382014-02-21T12:34:00.003-08:002014-02-21T12:34:43.001-08:00Trade grades: Pacers deal Danny Granger to Sixers for Evan Turner, Lavoy Allen<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The Pacers have agreed to trade forward Danny Granger to the Sixers for guard Evan Turner and forward Lavoy Allen, according to Yahoo Yahoo Sports. Philadelphia will also acquire a future second-round pick in the transaction, according to Grantland, which was completed just prior to the official trade deadline on Thursday. USA Today<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </em>reported that the pick is for 2015.</div>
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Granger, 30, has been a mere accessory for the Pacers since returning from lingering knee injuries. In limited minutes over the past two seasons, he’s averaged 7.9 points while shooting 35 percent — a far cry from his once-lofty numbers as Indiana’s first-option scorer. (He’s averaging 8.3 points on 35.9 percent shooting in 29 games this season.) The team’s natural evolution and Granger’s $14 million expiring contract presented an opportunity to move him, and the Pacers found a suitable trade partner in the ever-active Sixers.</div>
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Turner, 25, has taken full advantage of Philadelphia’s never-ending fast break by averaging a career-high 17.4 points, six rebounds and 3.7 assists. That’s an impressive and unique stat line — one shared (or bested) by just for other players in the league.</div>
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Allen, 25, rounds out what is already one of the most formidable frontcourt rotations in the league. He isn’t likely to see all that much playing time behind Roy Hibbert, David West, Ian Mahinmi and Luis Scola, but Allen is a serviceable big man in the final year of his contract. Creating immediate depth at no long-term cost suits the Pacers’ plans well.</div>
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Philadelphia is simply along for the ride as a means of securing yet another second-round pick, the sixth it acquired on Thursday. Granger will either play out his contract or be bought out before the end of the season, all for the cost of an expensive pending free agent Philadelphia didn’t have any interest in re-signing (Turner) and a big man who didn’t influence their plans much one way or another (Allen).</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Pacers’ Grade: C+</strong></div>
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For a deal involving two bigger NBA names, this is a trade of pretty marginal value. Turner, for all his production, is more shimmer than substance; pace inflation and ball dominance very much make Turner’s basic stat line more attractive than it should be, as his individual strengths haven’t yet translated well to a team concept.</div>
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In terms of base-level skills, he’s a standout. There’s no question that Turner can handle the ball smoothly and set up his teammates to score — a combination that puts him in select company among wing players. None of those skills, though, have managed to pull Turner’s career from an unfortunate gray area. As long as he’s neither efficient enough to justify a prominent offensive role nor well suited for a complementary one, Turner will continue to pose problems of utilization for whichever team employs him.</div>
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That’s Indiana’s concern now, though it’s one the Pacers gave up exceptionally little to bear. Problematic though Turner may be (especially in a somewhat redundant role alongside Lance Stephenson), Granger is now 22 months removed from playing even replacement-level basketball. His 49-percent true shooting and shaky floor spacing weren’t going to help a championship contender, setting the bar for an upgrade rather low. Turner should hop over it without issue, and if all goes according to plan, he could wind up being a legitimate help to the Pacers as they vie for the NBA title.</div>
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There are attractive elements to Turner’s game, and if nothing else he seems useful in light of Indiana’s inevitable grudge match with Miami. The Heat defense blitzes opponents at the point of attack and requires complementary players to create for themselves. Turner can do that, and through that skill alone may have validated his acquisition. Toss in Allen as an added bonus and it’s hard to judge the Pacers too harshly for redeeming value from a former star who had outstayed his usefulness.</div>
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One last note: This will be the only season that Turner and Stephenson — both impending free agents — play together, as their combined cost beyond this summer will be prohibitive to a team as tax-conscious as Indiana. Should Turner wind up re-signing with the Pacers, it will effectively signal that something went wrong in the effort to re-sign Stephenson. The two aren’t comparable in the slightest in terms of on-court impact, though from the broadest view of their skill sets, I suppose Turner could be seen as something of an insurance policy.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sixers’ Grade: B</strong></div>
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By one framing, all Philadelphia has to show for taking on a player it didn’t really want and adding more than $4 million in salary is a second-round pick. Yet in truth, the Sixers collected yet another draft pick while agreeing to spend money they had<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </em>to spend anyway and giving away two players who didn’t factor into their future.</div>
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The important distinction between those two perspectives lies in accounting for the salary floor. By rule, every NBA team must pay its players $52.8 million in total salary this season, a mark which Philadelphia had yet to meet. The penalty for that deficit isn’t very severe; even in the case that the Sixers didn’t reach the salary floor by the end of the season, they would only be required to pay out the surcharge among the players on their roster. This effectively negates any reason why adding Granger’s larger salary would matter. If they hadn’t acquired him through this deal, the Sixers would be paying the same amount to other players on the roster regardless. That might be a bummer for Thaddeus Young and Michael Carter-Williams, but it doesn’t make any difference in evaluations of this deal.</div>
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The second-round pick acquired might not amount to much, but the Sixers didn’t lose a single relevant asset or pay a single dollar more than they had to. That’s solid work, even if it’s in the margins.</div>
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<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">*Even after adding Granger, Earl Clark, Henry Sims, Eric Maynor and Byron Mullens on Thursday, the Sixers still don’t seem to meet the minimum salary threshold based on publicly available salary data.</em></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412179410477737310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622283814680419454.post-21472376450290596762014-02-21T12:21:00.000-08:002014-02-21T12:21:00.463-08:00Sarah Burke: Olympic Skiers Pay Beautiful Tribute After Her Death<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">The skiing community was brokenhearted when Canadian X Games star Sarah Burke</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> died of a brain injury in January of 2012, and on Feb. 20 they honored her memory at the Sochi Olympic Games</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> with a beautiful tribute that tugged on Sarah’s father’s — and the rest of the world’s — heartstrings.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Sarah undoubtedly would have been thrilled to see</span><strong style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> Maddie Bowman</strong><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> taking the gold</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> in the women’s halfpipe, and no matter what you think may or may not be up in that sky, it still has to tug on your heartstrings when you see every Olympic halfpipe worker pointing to it to honor their fallen friend.</span><br />
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The simple, spiritual act was a beautiful way to honor Sarah, who died doing the very thing that got all of these amazing women to the Sochi games. Sarah was one of the pioneers in bringing the halfpipe event to the Olympic games, and was even considered a favorite to win the gold before her untimely death. Therefore, after learning that they were not allowed to wear helmets honoring Sarah throughout the games, the ladies formed a different plan of “attack” — the workers on the halfpipe formed a giant, human heart and pointed to the sky in her honor. Gorgeous.</div>
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“[The tribute was] far beyond what I thought it would be,” Sarah’s father Gord Burke — who traveled to Russia from Toronto — told the Associated Press after the event. “I never really imagined so much love for one person. So much passion and energy.”</div>
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The AP adds that Gord spent the entire day smiling.</div>
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Australian <strong>Torah Bright </strong>spoke out strongly against the IOC’s decision to ban stickers supporting Sarah in the games, posting a pointed message to her Instagram account on Feb. 7.</div>
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“Tonight marks the beginning of the 2014 Olympic Games. I am at these Olympics for multiple reason. Firstly, to represent my country and share with the world the sport which has blessed my life with beauty and joy. I am also here to honor my great friend Sarah Burke who left this world two years ago. I ride with a Sarah sticker on my snowboard and helmet always. The IOC however, consider Sarah stickers “a political statement” and have banned them. WOW. Sarah is a beautiful, talented, powerful women, who’s spirit inspires me still. She is a big reason why skier pipe/slope are now Olympic events. Lastly, My dear friends lost their first born yesterday. Neena and Andy your strength overwhelms me. More than anything, I wish I was there with you, to support you in love, as you have done for me through my own hardships. I will draw from your strength and do what I need to do. With an aching heart, I board… For your beautiful Indira. #godbewithyou”</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09412179410477737310noreply@blogger.com0