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WiGWag: Bieber turns down RNC, and other oddities
Bieber turns down RNC
Justin Bieber turned down $5 million to perform a 45-minute set for Republican donors during the party’s convention in Cleveland. According to TMZ, Bieber initially considered the offer. But his manager and recording label urged him to decline, saying the gig was “100 percent political.”
Hate when that happens
A 22-year-old Florida woman ended up in the hospital after shooting herself in the hand while making a Snapchat video of herself posing with a 40-caliber pistol.
Weird priorities
Police in Lexington, Kentucky, say a group of men armed with semi-automatic weapons and wearing body armor showed up at a Wal-Mart store talking about doomsday. Police were called to the scene by witnesses concerned about a baby — neither armed nor wearing armor — traveling in a car with the men. Police had no problem with the guns or the armor but did issue citations for alleged marijuana possession.
Rednecks hold Summer Games
There were no world-class athletes or top-notch sporting venues, but there was cold beer, barbecue and a muddy tug-of-war at the event formerly known as the Redneck Olympics. The event now is officially known as the “Redneck (Blank)” after the real Olympics threatened to sue over the use of “Olympics.” The event also featured bobbing for pig’s feet, a greased watermelon haul, toilet seat horseshoes, a wife-hauling contest and free mud runs for big-tired trucks.
OMG HRC
Yeah, yeah, many tweeted #ImWithHer and #ShesWithMe during Hillary Clinton’s historic acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in July. But how many were at the ready with Hillarymoji? The new keyboard for smartphones debuted on Apple’s App Store earlier this summer. So kids, look for your auntie or your nana to be texting emoticons like Hillary Clinton in a snappy red pantsuit or sporting a T-shirt that reads, “The future is female.” And be ready to text back with a cartoon Clinton as “Rosie the Riveter.”
Madame Tussauds DC recently released the first images of the clay-head sculpts of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Displayed face-to-face, the Clinton and Trump heads were built on wire frames that support the busts upright. But only one of the candidates will be immortalized in full-figure wax. In keeping with tradition, the museum will create a figure of the 45th president in time for the inauguration in January.
Hot mess
This summer has been so hot and dry in upstate New York that horse poop is bursting into flames in the Finger Lakes region. Local officials received multiple calls complaining of smell and smoke coming from a burning pile of horse manure at a property in the town of Throop. The owners of a horse stable had been storing manure in large piles that frequently spontaneously combusted in the excessive heat and dry conditions. Prevailing winds carried the odor of burning manure through neighbors’ windows. It took three fire departments two hours to douse the burning poop.
Cool cops, good humor
The Boston Police Department rolled out a unique tool in its campaign to thaw community relations and bring citizens and cops together. The department this summer unveiled an ice cream truck as part of its patrol fleet. The truck is part of the Operation Hoodsie Cup community policing effort, which has distributed hundreds of thousands of ice cream cups donated by a local dairy.
Sugar rush?
Police in Orlando, Florida, arrested a 64-year-old man on drug charges after a traffic stop. The man had dropped off a neighbor at a hospital for chemotherapy and then stopped on the way home at a convenience store to pick up a friend — and apparently a sweet snack. An officer monitoring the area for drug activity stopped the motorist and noticed four flakes of glaze on the floorboard that she suspected were pieces of crystal meth. The flakes turned out to be from a Krispy Kreme doughnut — not nearly as addictive but much higher in calories.
April 1? Or Aug. 11?
WiGWag recently received a review copy of a new e-book titled Donny Trumpet Goes to the Election: The Story of a Yuge Yellow Bird by Nazan Sattci and released by Fairy Hill Publishing. Sattci says she didn’t intend to write about the 2016 presidential race, but Birdland is populated by feathered folk who resemble Jeb Bush, Bernie Sanders, John Kasich, Ted Cruz, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. And then there’s Donny Trumpet, a yellow bird who disparages the other candidates, threatens violence and pledges to ban migratory species from Birdland’s skies. This one is probably not on any back-to-school reading list.
