“A billion dollars, it has to be there," Ball said. “That’s our number, a billion, straight out of the gate. And you don’t even have to give it to me all up front. Give us $100 mil over 10 years."

The Ball boys already are riding in style — at least the two that have driver’s licenses. Lonzo and LiAngelo each drive $100,000 BMWs, said Ball, who is a self-employed personal trainer and whose wife, Tina, is a middle school physical education teacher.

“To get my boys a little $100,000 car, that’s nothing,’’ he said. “I don’t have to pay for education. I’m saving over $1 million dollars."
The math is sketchy. UCLA’s tuition for in-state residents is $34,000 a year, meaning Ball could save about $400,000, if each of his sons stayed at UCLA for four years. Lonzo is expected to go pro after this season and is projected as a top-five pick for the NBA draft.

Meanwhile, Ball dismisses the notion that his comments could have a , a USA TODAY Sports first-team all-American who is averaging 14.6 points, 7.7 assists and 6.1 rebounds per game.

“They try to twist him up,’’ Ball said. “ 'Ah, man, your dad’s distracting you. What’s he doing? His dad ain’t out here on the court with no hula hoops going, Hey, make a shot through here. That’s distraction.' "

http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ncaabk/lavar-ball-and-his-boys-are-here-to-change-the-world/ar-AAohihY?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp

DAHLONEGA, Ga. — The mayor was still home when his phone started ringing. The reverend was still down with the flu when he began getting one message after another. Valerie Fambrough had just dropped off her daughter at day care when she heard.
“Have you seen the sign in the square?” a parent asked her on a cold morning three weeks ago. “There’s a Ku Klux Klan sign in the town square.”
And, in fact, there was. Just past the old brick courthouse and across the street from candy stores and antique shops, a large rectangular banner was screwed tight into the cracked wood siding of a long-vacant building on East Main Street. “Historic Ku Klux Klan Meeting Hall,” it said.
It had a cartoonish drawing of a white-sheeted person raising a hand. In addition, there was a Confederate battle flag at one corner of the building and a red flag with a white cross and the letters KKK at the other. They were fluttering in the wind blowing across Dahlonega, and what happened next would become one more pocket of America dealing with a disturbing incident at a time when hate crimes have been on the rise and new brands of white nationalism have been making a comeback across the country.
In Upstate New York, the home of a Jewish man was spray-painted with swastikas. In Virginia, fliers were distributed in several neighborhoods with the words, “Make America WHITE again-and greatness will follow.” In Colorado, two typewritten notes that read “WERE GONNA BLOW UP ALL OF YOU REFUGEES,” were left at a community center serving mainly Muslim immigrants. Now whatever was happening in other parts of the country seemed to have arrived in Dahlonega.
The mayor got dressed and headed for the square. The reverend called the sheriff. Fambrough recalled how she hurried over to see for herself, saying “No, no, not here,” the whole way, and “Hell,no,” until she was there, alone, staring at the banner.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/in-georgia-reaction-to-kkk-banner-is-a-sign-of-the-times/ar-AAoccgl?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp

For opposing democracy and oppressing its citizens' freedom, China's leaders are "foreign thugs" and "jackboots" worthy of contempt, according to Congressman Dana Rohrabacher.

But Russia's authoritarian practices, including a habit of using assassination to quiet government criticism, gets a weird pass in Rohrabacher's brain, which surely digested ample legitimate reports of Vladimir Putin's corruption and campaign to erode all civil liberties.

Nonetheless, over the last decade, Orange County's senior career politician repeatedly praised Putin and even wept at a conservative political forum about what he sees as callous American abuses of Russia.

Rohrabacher quadrupled down this week on his sentiment during a telephonic town hall meeting after one caller expressed dismay about Russian intelligence hacking operations and advocated for an independent prosecutor to investigate.

The congressman downplayed Putin's burglaries of computers tied to Hillary Clinton's campaign because the espionage produced "accurate information" to harm the Democrats and, besides, he claims, the Unites States secretly meddles in Russia's elections too.

"About the Russian involvement in the election . . . which actually disclosed the emails of Hillary's campaign manager and people who are higher up in the opposition there in the Democratic Party." said Rohrabacher, who unsuccessfully lobbied to become Donald Trump's secretary of state and, given his mimicking of the president's pro-Russian lines, may still want an administration job. "But, uhhh, none of the things that were made public were inaccurate. They were all accurate and I, certainly the Russians, we don't condone them hacking into our system at all."

http://www.ocweekly.com/news/new-headline-7953950

President Donald Trump has been described as an Internet troll. Yet for months his critics have been trolling him right back, not just via social media but by bashing Trump hotels, restaurants, and resorts with bad online reviews—and the strategy could mean upwards of $100 million in lost revenues for Trump companies.

As Business Insider reported, a new study from the online rating market technology company Signpost shows that the average online ratings for Trump properties in the U.S. have declined about 40% since Trump became president. Researchers looked at three years of user review ratings at Yelp and Google to come up with the data, which indicate that 29 Trump properties now have an average rating of 3.7 stars out of 5. Around the 2016 election, the properties collectively had a 4-star rating.

The ratings dip may seem minor, but previous studies have shown that even a small decrease in online ratings can translate into a significant decrease in revenues. Signpost researchers estimate that the ratings drop would equate to a loss of at least $66 million over four years for Trump businesses, assuming the current review trends continue. “These calculations are conservative and according to the most recent revenue estimations,” the report stated. “The actual cost if these trends continue could be in excess of $100 million.”

It appears as if the lower ratings at Trump properties are mostly about politics. There is a long history of people attempting to manipulate online ratings by posting fake or ironic reviews on everything from Confederate flags to Paula Deen’s books to voice political opinions.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-hotels-getting-hammered-horrible-184639067.html