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North Korea declares war on “the Interview”.

Brendan Spaar
This is a comedy film about a plot to assassinate North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un.
Starring:
Seth Rogen, James Franco,Randall Park

If you’ve ever seen him on the news you know right away that Kim Jong Un doesn’t appear to be a funny man. While the rest of the world might find humor in some of his actions, he clearly takes himself very seriously. North Korean leaders have been the subject of several comedy routines in the past. But no one in power in North Korea is laughing.

Kim Jong Un hasn’t seen the movie yet he has been very vocal about his feelings. Sounds like a couple of movie critics  that have reviewed other movies. There is little to no chance that the film will be shown in North Korea but he still wants control, threatening to take “stern” and “merciless” retaliation if the film airs anywhere. Wars have been fought over a number of issues but Brendan Spaar thinks this might be the first time a country has declared a movie to be “an Act of War”.

Seth Rogen had a great response to this “crisis”. He posted that “people don’t usually wanna kill me for one of my movies until after they’ve paid 12 bucks for it.” This movie will definitely be one that Brendan Spaar will be first in line to see.

Do you really want to “friend” the CIA?

Brendan Spaar
The CIA goes social with their own Twitter & Facebook accounts.
Washington, DC
US

It seems like the CIA now has more friends than you’d expect since it decided to join Facebook & Twitter. Their reasoning is that making their own presence in the social media world will help prevent imposters from making a bogus site. In less than nine hours, the CIA had attracted 268,000 followers on Twitter.  And its first tweet, “We can neither confirm nor deny that this is our first tweet”, was retweeted as many as 170,000 times.

CIA also joined Facebook and had more than 7,300 likes by the end of the day. “We are the Nation’s first line of defense. We accomplish what others cannot accomplish and go where others cannot go,” it said on its Facebook page. There are probably quite a few people that can agree with that statement. It must be odd to be the ones with people following them when they’re used to following people. Brendan Spaar wonders if the CIA is a friend you really want.

Having a social media presence can be fun & a great way to keep in touch but it can also have a dark side. Former friends &  romantic partners or anyone else can use the internet to let the world know how they feel about you & why. No matter if it’s a bunch of crazy stuff or not… it’s still out there for the world to see.  The CIA might find out that having their presence on social media might not be the great idea they thought it would be. Now they will be at the mercy of the online world just like everyone else. Already some followers have asked for help finding their lost passwords & tweeted links to articles about the CIA’s interrogation tactics.

It has been reported that a group from the agency looks at public tweets and statuses from users overseas & that group scans up to 5 million posts a day. Brendan Spaar wonders who was “lucky” enough to get the job of being the person/people responsible for the CIA Twitter & Facebook posts. Is it a real person or a will they use a drone? It’ll be interesting to see what sort of pictures they’ll post on their wall & what things might be tweeted.

Will Justin Bieber face the same consequences for his racist insensitivity?

Brendan Spaar

celebrity singer /performer
Justin Bieber is just another in a growing list of rich/famous people who are apologizing for making racist comments.
US

It seems like more & more celebs or rich & famous have had comments they’ve made come back to haunt them. The most recent to be caught is Justin Bieber. A video of him as a younger teenage boy telling a racist joke to his friends has been published. He has apologized &  mentions his youth as sort of an excuse. Well, Brendan Spaar said if age didn’t excuse Paula Deen or Donald Stirling then it shouldn’t work for Bieber.

Paula Deen & Donald Stirling grew up in an era when Blacks weren’t given equal respect. Their schools  & neighborhoods would have been segregated so that might have shaped their early outlook. Justin Bieber doesn’t have that excuse. He was born after the Civil Rights Movement & surely went to school with students of different ethnicity. But after seeing some of his other behavior, it seems like he has disrespect for a lot more than race.

The consequences of Paula Deen’s comments were being fired from Food Network as a show host & losing millions of dollars in product endorsements. Donald Sterling  has been banned for life from the NBA & is being forced to sell his NBA team after he was recorded making racist comments to his “girlfriend”. Public backlash against these two rich & famous leaves no doubt that there is no excuse for intolerance when it comes to race. If that is true then Justin Bieber should be treated the same. If old age is no excuse then neither should being young & foolish.

Will Bieber face the same public outrage or will there be a double standard? Brendan Spaar is going to wait & see what happens next.

Is Judge Joe Brown ready for the REAL courtroom?

Brendan Spaar
Judge
Judge Joe Brown is hoping to go back to court, a real one, if he wins the race for DA in Tennessee.
Memphis,TN
US

Judge Joe Brown is no stranger to the courtroom. He was a judge in Memphis, Tn before getting his own tv show about 15 years ago. His show was canceled last year so he is trying to get back into a real courtroom by running for District Attorney in Shelby County. Brendan Spaar thinks that Judge Brown will have no trouble doing debates or commercials for his campaign since he is familiar with being in front of a camera. What may be a problem is the fact that Judge Brown was arrested in  March in that same county.  He was arrested &  in county jail for losing control in a courtroom where he was supposed to represent someone in a juvenille court case. Well, at least he can honestly say he has experience in ALL areas of that legal system now.

Advice to Donald Sterling- Mean what you say & say what you mean

Brendan Spaar
L A Clippers
owner
Donald Sterling may own the Clippers but he'll be watching their games on tv like everyone else after his remarks to his girlfriend made the news.
L.A.,CA
US

It stands to reason that someone as rich & well known as Clippers owner Donald Sterling (a former lawyer) should know that in today’s digital world you have to be extra careful about what you say & do. Especially at a big time sporting event where there are bound to be fans with cellphones & cameras everywhere ready to catch anything of interest. But we are talking about the guy who dyes his hair to look younger (like the rest of him doesn’t look old) & thinks someone like V. Stiviano is with him for love not money.

Rush Limbaugh is defending him by throwing out the theory that Sterling was set up by his girlfriend. Brendan Spaar wouldn’t take advice from Limbaugh or believe what he says because Limbaugh has made a living from offensive remarks in his books, radio talk show & speaking events. Maybe Don Sterling can go on Rush’s show & see who can be the most insulting. With a $2.5 million fine to pay & being banned from NBA events, Sterling will need to do something.

The NBA Commissioner Silvers wants to force Sterling to sell the Clippers. Brendan Spaar doubts that will be easy to do. Team owners usually stick together even if they privately disagree. This is another time that what went on in the sidelines was as exciting as what happened in the game.

The Big Bang Theory- tv show or scientific event. What do Americans believe in most?

Brendan Spaar
A recent poll by the Associated Press found that there are more skeptics of the scientific Big Bang Theory than believers.
US

A recent poll by the Associated Press reveals that 51% of Americans don’t really believe that the universe was created by the Big Bang. They believe a “supreme being” must have created it because the universe is so complex. Political and religious values were closely tied to views on science in the poll.  Democrats were more likely than Republicans to support the scientific theory. Scientists are disappointed that faith carries more weight in the decision than the supporting scientific facts do.

Brendan Spaar wonders if anyone taking the survey knew that the person who first posed (in 1927) what became the Big Bang Theory  was Georges Lemaître, a Belgian Roman Catholic priest, astronomer, and professor of physics at the Universite catholique de Louvain. Surely a priest would be the first one to put faith over science unless he found facts to support his theory.

If they polled the same people again, Brendan Spaar thinks that more people would find the Big Bang theory tv show “facts” more believable than the ones supported by Nobel Prize winning scientists.

Boston Police Commissioner is the Marathon Man.

Brendan Spaar
Boston Police Department
Commissioner
The Boston Police Commissioner has run the Boston marathon 18 times. He has been quoted as saying he has a daily 7 mile run. Is he worried about security after publicizing his routine?
Boston,MA
US

 

The Boston marathon has ended this year. There was a sense of relief that the most excitement was the fact that the winner was an American for the first time since 1983. The Boston Police Commissioner , William Evans, is an avid runner who has run 35 marathons. For this year’s marathon instead of running with them, he was charged with making sure the runners were kept safe. In a recent interview he has been quoted as saying he runs a daily 7 mile run, getting up at 4:30 am. Brendan Spaar wonders if giving such details of your daily schedule could put a person in danger.  Evans is a 31 year veteran of the police force so he should be aware of varying routines. This is standard advice in self defense classes.

Brendan Spaar has been training 2-3 times a week to run since 2008.  A marathon is in his future but he hopes to run his next 5K race in 20:12 minutes.

If you can’t stand the “heat”, don’t go into Amy’s kitchen!

Brendan Spaar
Amy's Baking Company
owner
Scottsdale,AZ
US

Brendan Spaar enjoys good food & can tell you lots of great places to eat around the Atlanta Georgia area. Never has he seen the type of craziness that seems to be a regular event at Amy’s Baking Company. It is hard to be sympathetic to the owners when they try to justify their rude & extreme behavior like they are the victims. They charge customers for food & if there are complaints they insult & throw them out. Employees are accused of disrespecting Amy & her husband when it’s the other way around. Facebook & blogger posts are very critical but the restaurant owners say they are fake & attacks because the identity of the posters is hidden.

If you can watch both April Kitchen Nightmare episodes & the Dr Phil interview it’ll make you wonder if all they wanted was free publicity. They felt their food was great, the restaurant was beautiful & Gordon Ramsay didn’t know what he was talking about. So why did they contact the show if they were doing everything right?

Brendan Spaar hopes he isn’t going to find himself in trouble with Amy now that he has written these comments. Maybe the owners of Amy’s Baking Company need to remember the old saying- “Be careful that your words are sweet because someday you might have to eat them”.

 

Is it true that “money talks”?

Brendan Spaar
The recent Supreme Court ruling that struck down a key point in campaign finance law now allows anyone to give to as many political candidates, campaigns or parties as they want.
Washington , DC
US

The recent decision by the Supreme Court to allow donations to as many political parties, candidates or campaigns as you want seems to give truth to the saying that “money talks”. Donors with the most money can spread their contributions more widely than the average wage earner with a limited amount of resources to give. If Brendan Spaar was on the Supreme Court the outcome might have been different. He believes money shouldn’t be the deciding factor on who we vote for.

It seems a real stretch to claim that limiting campaign contributions violates freedom of speech. It’s like saying that the guy who yells the loudest wins. In this case the yelling is done with a checkbook. Brendan Spaar would like to support many more worthy candidates than he has money to give. His freedom of speech is limited by his finances. Donald Trump, Warren Buffett & other political supporters like them don’t have that same restriction now. Is their opinions or candidates they support more valuable than yours? It appears the Supreme Court has said yes.

The upcoming elections this fall will be interesting to watch. Anyone want to guess how much will be spent & by whom?

Does Reality Tv drama lead to more real life drama?

Brendan Spaar
Real Housewives
Reality TV stars in Atlanta & NJ don't have enough drama on their shows so they been arrested & charged with multiple counts of fraud.
Atlanta,Georgia
US

Brendan Spaar believes anyone watching Reality TV would think the stars have enough drama on the show so they would want their private lives to be calm. Guess that’s not true for the stars of The Real Housewives of Atlanta & New Jersey. Phaedra Parks’ husband has been arrested in Georgia & faces federal fraud charges. The charges accuse Nida of stealing millions with identify theft. In New Jersey, Teresa and Joe Giudice pleaded guilty  March 4, 2014 to multiple federal fraud charges. Joe Giudice pleaded guilty to five counts in a 41-count  indictment against the couple. Teresa Giudice pleaded guilty to four counts. Some counts in the indictment had carried maximum sentences of 20 and 30 years in prison.

Wonder if this is the beginning of a new series for these stars behind bars.