Midtown social media was abuzz this week — about a beaver. Local resident Star Ritchey posted photos of the toothy mammal on her Facebook page and it quickly went viral. It appears the critter is building a dam — or a home? — in the sewer near South Barksdale and Central Avenue.
Speculation arose shortly thereafter on Nextdoor.com that the beaver(s) might be responsible for a basement flooding. Dam those suspicious beavers!
There's no evidence yet that a whole tribe of the critters might be working in Midtown sewers, but cautious homeowners might want to keep an eye on their trees for beavery bite marks.
Also possibly relevant: Has anyone seen Mae Beavers lately?
Welp, it's official. Memphis is the fattest city in America, with almost 40 percent of its residents classified as obese. This story, from Politico, delves into America's problem with obesity, using Memphis as its starting point. Well worth a read.
By now, alert students of President Donald Trump are aware that his handshake style is aggressive, awkward, and jerky, much like his conversational and love-making skills.
Here he is with his SCOTUS nominee Neil Gorsuch.
And here he is performing an excruciating 18-second Sumo handshake with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Today, Trump met with Canadian dreamboat PM Justin Trudeau, who'd obviously prepped for the encounter. Watch as he grabs Trump's shoulder to steady himself, then leans in, closing the gap between the two men and rendering Trump's signature move —the "jerk your arm out of its socket" power ploy — impossible.
Well played, Hoser. Well played, indeed.
And now, we breathlessly await the Putin/Trump matchup.
In the wake of yet another brutal massacre by an assailant using an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, many people (and a precious few legislators) are calling for a renewal of the Assault Weapons Ban that was allowed to lapse in 2005.
One of the primary arguments against this that is being used by gun lovers and the NRA is that the AR-15 semi-automatic is not an assault weapon, since the shooter has to pull the trigger for each shot. The implication being that it's similar to your typical deer hunting rifle.
Here's a video of an AR-15 semi-automatic being fired, just so all you tree-hugging, anti-American libtards can see the error of your ways. The weapon is obviously quite useful in case of an attack by a herd of deer or, barring that, the zombie apocalypse.
Check out these shots from last Saturday posted by the Overton Park Conservancy. I think they put to rest the myth that the battle for the park is somehow an elitist struggle being conducted by "well-to-do Midtowners with too much time on their hands."
Oh, this is going to be interesting. The National Enquirer, which has a good track record for breaking sex scandal stories (John Edwards, Tiger Woods, Jesse Jackson), has dropped a bomb on GOP presidential contender Ted Cruz.
The Enquirer claims Cruz had affairs with five women, and included their pixilated pictures in the story. Though the Enquirer has not yet named names, the Internet has been doing that work for them. There are now published claims that one of the women is current Donald Trump spokesperson, Katrina Pierson, and another is a former Carly Fiorina staffer.
Twitter and other media outlets are jumping on the story. Conclusions are no doubt being jumped to, but this is a lot of smoke for there to be no fire. And the political ramifications are potentially huge. If this story is true, Cruz will have to drop out of the race and go home to "spend time with his family," leaving a nice bundle of delegates without a candidate. Does this bring Marco Rubio back into the race? Or the Mittster? Or does Kasich now become the great establishment Republican hope?
The Twitterverse has had a field day, retweeting Barnes' picture along with lots of snarky captions.
Barnes posted the picture an hour after the news of Fisher's firing broke Monday morning. You may remember that Barnes and Fisher, who were teammates and friends while members of the Lakers, got into an altercation in October over Barnes' estranged wife, Gloria Govan. Fisher had begun dating Govan, and Barnes wasn't pleased about it.
Barnes was later fined $35,000 for comments he made before a Grizzlies/Knicks: “Violence is never the answer," Barnes said, "but sometimes it is.”
Barnes was also cited for writing on Instagram on New Year's Day: “being stuck in the ‘triangle offense’ w my ex & snitch, I mean former teammate & friend. Who went behind my back, messed w my ex, got caught, got dealt w for being a snake, then ran & told the Police & NBA.. Instead of taken that ass whoopin like a man & kept it moving….!
Cold. But Barnes seems a little more at peace today, to say the least.
The library's radio station, WYPL, has a full slate of public service shows, covering the arts, books, Congressional activities, health, music, and more. For a full listing of the station's programs, go here.
WYPL also has lots of volunteer readers who narrate best-sellers and biographies, and other books of note. They also read local publications, including the Flyer. That schedule is here.
The Flyer gets read on Fridays at 1:00 p.m. Things usually are pretty straightforward, but once in a while, as in the case of my column last week, about taking over the restroom facilities at Big Hill Pond State Park, the readers get a little flummoxed at having to read "colorful" language on the air.
That said, I think you'll enjoy the efforts of this volunteer, and her skill at leaving out certain words, while still attempting to capture the spirit of the column.
You can listen to it here.