Stop the politicians. Free the whales. And fire the missiles. It’s Friday, and here are the five things you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door.
BRAZIL POLITICS
More fun than soccer: Think America has the monopoly in the political circus dept? Nuh-uh. In Brazil, ex-Prez Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was almost sworn in as Chief of Staff for the current president. Why’s that a biggie? Because Lula (let’s just call him that; everyone else does) has this little corruption scandal going. And a chief of staff gig would’ve delayed his prosecution. How convenient. Well, yesterday, a judge said ‘Not so fast’ to his swearing-in. BTW, the current prez is facing impeachment for a scandal of her own. Fun times.
CAMPAIGN 2016
Keep hope alive: The anti-Trump brigade held a big meeting yesterday, to assess all the weapons at its disposal to stop The Donald: A unity ticket. A third party candidacy. A good old-fashioned convention flight. Will any of it work? Has anything they’ve tried worked?
Fine, you can have it: Bernie won’t request a recount in Missouri, giving Hillz a 5-for-5 Super Tuesday 3 sweep. Bernie says he’s saving the Missouri taxpayers “some money.” Uncle Bernie is always thinking of others. At least he evenly split the delegates with Hillz, and delegates is what it’s all about, right?
NORTH KOREA
Bombs away: North Korea’s at it again, chunking stuff into the sea. That “stuff” was actually two ballistic missiles, fired off the Korean peninsula’s west coast early this morning. The South Koreans, who have to monitor such things, said one missile went 800 kilometers (that’s almost 500 miles for non-metric folks) east toward the sea, while the other disappeared from radar about 17 kilometers (10 miles) up. Cue the usual wailing and gnashing of teeth from the U.S., the U.N., Japan, China … you get the picture.
SEAWORLD
Free (at last) Willy: Seems like even SeaWorld is done with the whole killer whales-in-captivity thing. The marine park announced yesterday it’s ending its orca breeding program — meaning the whales in SeaWorld’s care will be the last generation enclosed there. Gee, this wouldn’t have anything to do with the backlash from CNN’s “Blackfish” documentary, would it?
CARTOON CONTEST ATTACK
Picture a prison cell: Remember the Prophet Mohammed cartoon contest in Texas and the foiled terror attack that targeted it? An ISIS supporter who provided support for that plot has been convicted for his role in that. It was the first jury trial in the U.S. involving an attack carried out in the name of ISIS. Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem was convicted of conspiring to provide material support to foreign terrorists and a few other bad charges. In other words, he’s not getting out for a long time.