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Monday, 1 August 2016

Moyes Faces 'Building Job' At Sunderland

in on 22:51:00 No Comments
Moyes Faces 'Building Job' At Sunderland


David Moyes conducts his first press conference as Sunderland manager at The Academy of Light on August 1
David Moyes conducts his first press conference as Sunderland manager
David Moyes admits he has taken on a "building job" at Sunderland and hopes to lure Manchester United duo Marouane Fellaini and Adnan Januzaj to the Stadium of Light.
Moyes was confirmed as new England manager Sam Allardyce's successor on 23 July and has spent the past 10 days getting to know his squad ahead of the new Premier League season.
Sunderland are yet to strengthen this summer, but Moyes confirmed he and chief executive, Martin Bain, are working hard to add new faces to the squad and declared his interest in Fellaini and Januzaj.
When asked whether he would like to bring the pair to Sunderland, Moyes said: "If anyone of those players want to join us, I would be happy to have them because they are excellent players.
"We are interested, but I am sure a host of other clubs are too."
Moyes has signed Fellaini twice before during his spells in charge of Everton and Manchester United, and also handed Januzaj his United debut against Sunderland, when the Belgium international scored twice in a 2-1 win on Wearside in 2013.
As well as discussing the difficulty of securing transfer targets, Moyes also stressed his desire to bring stability to Sunderland, who have successfully battled against relegation in each of the past four seasons.
<<enter caption here>> at Aon Training Complex on January 9, 2015 in Manchester, England.
Moyes is interested in Manchester United duo Marouane Fellaini and Adnan Januzaj
"The FA have been speaking to Sam for a few weeks, so I don't know how much business you can do in that period, you've got to give us a bit of grace on that," Moyes, who signed a four-year deal at Sunderland, added.
"It does take a little bit of time, they only avoided relegation late in the season, so it's hard to get things in place. But we'll turn it around and we'll get signings in. We've got offers in just now and I am hoping to get things done quite quickly. 
"It doesn't always work like that, anyone who you talk to about football says it's a difficult window, I think it's a difficult window because of the prices. 
"We're not going to hide the facts, Sunderland finished 17th and 16th over the past couple of seasons, so this has to be a building job.
"Hopefully I am here for four years and I can bring a level of stability to the club. It reminds a bit of when I took over at Everton. 
"Everton had been in the bottom six for the past four or five years before I came in, so there's a similarity there. 
"But you are not going to change it in a couple of days or one transfer window and if we are a little late in the transfer market, we'll do the best we can. 
"We want to get the right players at the right price and players that want to go on the journey with us." 

Monday, 11 July 2016

in on 06:12:00 No Comments

“A viscous, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement.”

That’s how President Obama described the ambush of police by at least one sniper in Dallas. The officers were doing their jobs, enabling and protecting a group of people peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights to protest the latest killings of black men at the hands of police officers under questionable circumstances.
A Dallas police officer covers his face as he stands with others outside the emergency room at Baylor University Medical Center, Friday, July 8, 2016, in Dallas. Snipers opened fire on police officers in the heart of Dallas on Thursday night, killing some of the officers. (AP)

A Dallas police officer covers his face as he stands with others outside the emergency room at Baylor University Medical Center, Friday, July 8, 2016, in Dallas. Snipers opened fire on police officers in the heart of Dallas on Thursday night, killing some of the officers. (AP)
A Dallas police officer covers his face as he stands with others outside the emergency room at Baylor University Medical Center, Friday, July 8, 2016, in Dallas. Snipers opened fire on police officers in the heart of Dallas on Thursday night, killing some of the officers. (AP)
37-year old Alton Sterling was shot several times in the chest as he was pinned by two white police officers on Tuesday night — graphically chronicled on video from several angles
Wednesday, 32-year old Philando Castille was shot in his car after being stopped by police for a broken tail light in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. His girlfriend broadcast the aftermath live on Facebook, demonstrating an out-of-body composure while interacting with the officer who still had his gun drawn. Her four-year old daughter was in the backseat.
Also caught on video was 25-year old Micah Xavier Johnson, the sniper in Dallas. Before he was killed in a standoff with police, Johnson said he was upset with the police shootings and wanted to kill white people.
Dallas was already infamous from the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. But, according to  the Washington Post, Dallas is progressively implementing police reform.
No doubt Black Lives Matter will again intersect with the Thin Blue Line this summer. Cooler heads must prevail.

Dallas Must Wake from this Nightmare United

Editorial Board – Dallas Morning News

Our hearts are broken….
A peaceful protest in downtown Dallas on Thursday night, planned to mark police shootings in other cities, morphed into a horrific sniper ambush on the men and women sworn to protect them.
These were police officers who had earlier posed for photos with the demonstrators, shaken their hands and provided security for their rally. Throughout the evening, mutual respect was visible between the two groups.
These were the police officers who, when shooting broke out from high above them, tried to make sure protesters got out of harm’s way.
These were the officers who then did what law enforcement heroes always do — they rushed toward the source of danger to try to stop its perpetrators.

American Is Driving Toward the Abyss, and It’s Time We Hit the Brakes

David French – National Review

It is extraordinary to see the extent to which ideologues will fixate on any given crime (or suspected crime) and immediately blame it on entire segments of American society, thus taking an individual crime and turning it into a group indictment….The actions of three cops (the officer who shot Castile and the officers who engaged Sterling) became stand-ins for – and alleged proof of – the racism of American police generally. Then, last night, while the police were still engaged with a shooter in Dallas, one of the most widely trafficked conservative sites in the world put up this headline:
When we tribalize conflict, we create a tribalized society. It’s that simple.

Death in Black and White

Michael Eric Dyson – The New York Times

A nonviolent protest was hijacked by violence and so, too, was the debate about the legitimate grievances that black Americans face. The acts of the gunman in Dallas must be condemned. However, he has nothing to do with the difficult truths we must address if we are to make real racial progress, and the reckoning includes being honest about how black grievance has been ignored, dismissed or discounted….
We all can see the same videos. But you insist that the camera doesn’t tell the whole story. Of course you’re right, but you don’t really want to see or hear that story.
At birth, you are given a pair of binoculars that see black life from a distance, never with the texture of intimacy. Those binoculars are privilege; they are status, regardless of your class. In fact the greatest privilege that exists is for white folk to get stopped by a cop and not end up dead when the encounter is over.

The Second Amendment Is So White: What the Past 24 Hours Have Taught Me About Black People’s Right to Bear Arms

Preston Mitchum – The Root

In less than 24 hours, two black men have been killed by police officers even though the Second Amendment indicates that they should have been protected. Black America yet again bears witness to state-sanctioned violence at the hands of trigger-happy rogue cops—one in Louisiana, a state that has open-carry laws, and the other in Minnesota, where the victim had a permit to conceal and carry firearms. The truth, however, is that the Second Amendment (and subsequent open-carry laws) does not apply to black people in America….
In 2014, 18-year-old Steve Lohner carried a loaded shotgun as he walked down an Aurora, Colo., street and refused to show police identification. He walked away with a citation. That same year, John Crawford III, a 22-year-old man living in Dayton, Ohio, was gunned down by police in a Wal-Mart as he carried a BB gun that he’d picked up off a shelf. Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy living in Cleveland, was killed over a BB gun. Ohio is also an open-carry state. These are not isolated incidents.

Wednesday, 6 July 2016

50 Cent, rapper gone broke, settles debts

in on 23:44:00 No Comments

New York (AFP) - Rapper 50 Cent, whose once-extravagant lifestyle crumbled after a failed business deal and a lawsuit over a sex tape, received court approval Wednesday to get out of bankruptcy.
A Connecticut court gave the green light to a proposal submitted by 50 Cent, who was celebrating his 41st birthday, to pay some $23.4 million to creditors over five years.
The plan approved by Judge Ann Nevins said creditors who accounted for 99.5 percent of claims against the rapper accepted his arrangement.
Best known for his album and movie "Get Rich or Die Tryin,'" the rapper filed for bankruptcy protection last year soon after losing a lawsuit over a sex tape.
50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis James Jackson III, had appeared in a wig and spoke in an artificially high voice as he narrated a video that depicted sex acts by Florida woman Lastonia Leviston.
He had been seeking to mock fellow rapper Rick Ross, who was formerly in a relationship with Leviston. After she sued, 50 Cent was ordered to pay $7 million in damages.
Under the bankruptcy deal, 50 Cent will instead pay her $6 million, a court document showed.
The biggest claim against the rapper was from investors in Sleek Audio, a failed headphone venture.
He agreed to pay them more than $17.5 million under the deal.
In the settlement, 50 Cent said he was putting forward $7.4 million to his creditors immediately in cash and would generate nearly all the additional money by selling his home, a Connecticut mansion once owned by boxer Mike Tyson.
When he filed for bankruptcy protection, 50 Cent had told the court that his lavish lifestyle was all a show and that he even borrowed expensive jewelry that he returned after wearing it in public.
He did not appear chastened by the bankruptcy settlement, however. He posted pictures on Instagram of himself flying in a helicopter and, shortly after the judge approved the plan, wrote: "Oh now I remember where I put that money."
50 Cent had earned an estimated $100 million in 2007 when he sold a stake in enhanced water drink VitaminWater.