- Life in Canada can be tough any time of year. Subsisting on round bacon and seal blubber…..just kidding, Canada. You know I love you, but one thing I do not love is your citizens crashing the American border, picking up about 400 pounds of cocaine and attempting top haul ass out of the country. Don’t come here, snare our blow and run. Thankfully, federal narcotics agents arrested Leah Norton and Curtis McLay outside a restaurant on Meridian Street in Bellingham, Wash. and stopped them from completing this dastardly deed. Agents followed the pair during the day on Dec. 6 and observed them as they drove to a location north of Maple Falls that is near the U.S.-Canadian border and known for drug smuggling. According to a criminal complaint against the pair of Canucks, agents began watching Norton and McLay at a motel on East McLeod Road. Surveillance continued as agents followed McLay's truck and an SUV Norton had rented as the pair drove the vehicles from the motel parking lot to the location north of Maple Falls. McLay returned to the truck later on and drove it to the restaurant, where he met with Norton. When the pair went inside to eat, other agents brought in a drug-sniffing dog, which detected narcotics inside the truck. Armed with that evidence, DEA agents were able to secure a warrant. In a search of the truck, they found 184 bricks of cocaine weighing about 2 pounds each, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle, after a second drug-sniffing dog also detected drugs inside the truck's bed, which was covered. McLay was arrested after he was stopped outside the restaurant by agents. He then took the unusual step of explaining that he had no identification on him because he was a Canadian citizen who entered the U.S. illegally by walking through a field (hooray for border security!). The bricks of Colombian nose candy were packed inside nine bags stashed under a covering. The agents arrested McLay, searched him and found keys to the truck and busted Norton as she walked out of the restaurant. She then rolled on her partner and admitted that she would be paid $1,000 for her role in smuggling the drugs across the border as the driver. Both individuals have been hit with the same federal charges of possession with intent to distribute. That’s what you get for coming into this country and trying to sneak out with our Bolivian marching powder, Canada……..
- Phil Jackson is a freaking NBA treasure this season. No, it has nothing to do with the coaching wisdom of the man who has won the most NBA championships (11) in league history. Nor does it have anything to do with the fact that Jackson’s Los Angeles Lakers are among the favorites to win the title again this year. What makes Big Chief Triangle such a show this year is that he’s on the record as saying he plans to retire after this season. He couched those comments by saying that nothing is certain at this point, but he plans to ride off into the basketball afterlife once this season ends. What that means is the already irascible Jackson is basically the NBA version of a crotchety, bitter old person who has some very pointed views on the world, realizes they won't be around much longer and have no compunctions about spouting off with their opinions any time they feel the urge. Whether it’s the hot topic of the week, such as the basketball world fawning over the Miami Heat’s new “big three” or ruminating on his own team’s struggles, BCT cuts loose with his rambling diatribes and doesn’t care what anyone thinks. On Wednesday, his discerning eye turned to the NBA’s decision to purchase the New Orleans Hornets, buying the team from majority owner George Shinn and minority owner Gary Chouest in hopes of finding a new ownership group. With the Hornets in town to play the Lakers Wednesday night, Jackson spoke about his displeasure with the transaction. "Not happy about that," he said when asked about the purchase. "Who's going to trade who to whom? Who's going to pull the button on trading player or when Chris [Paul] says he has to be traded? How's that going to go? I don't know. Somebody's going to have to make a very nonjudgmental decision on that part that's not going to irritate anybody else in this league ... I don't know how they're going to do that." He raises valid points about the arrangement and if the league can’t find a buyer soon, those issues could well come to the forefront. Now, if the NBA miraculously stumbles across a billionaire with a hankering to own a professional sports franchise in the next few weeks, all will be solved. For now, the Hornets’ basketball decisions and day-to-day operations will continue to be controlled by team president Hugh Weber and general manager Dell Demps. That did not placate Jackson, who voiced skepticism that any move made by New Orleans would be viewed as the league helping out another franchise. "That's what everybody is going to be afraid of: Who is going to be helping who out?" Jackson said. "The best thing about [the Hornets franchise] is it’s still in existence; it's still here." To finish off his commentary, Jackson then delivered a swift blast to the package of all Hornets fans by musing on how much longer the Hornets would remain in New Orleans. "I don't know if New Orleans can support [an NBA] team," Jackson said. "It hasn't been successful supporting a team up until now. So, all the situations that have gone on in New Orleans, unfortunate things have happened and you know if the franchise can't make it, somebody is going to have to move it." On behalf of New Orleans, thanks so much for the encouragement…………
- Not that I am a great fount of political wisdom, but I feel compelled to impart some sound words of advice to my pal Rep. Danny Davis, a Democrat from Illinois and mayoral candidate in Chicago. Those words, simply put: DO NOT POKE THE BEAR. DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT ANTAGONIZE THE POLITICAL KILLING MACHINE THAT IS SLICK WILLIE, A.K.A. FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON. I understand full well that Davis, a onetime ally of Clinton's, is running for mayor and is facing ex-Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel in the race. I am also award that Clinton plans to throw his considerable weight behind Emanuel and make a campaign stop in the city next month. Bearing that in mind, Davis needs to allow Slick Willie to do what he wants and not get in his way. Sure, fighting against a Clinton-backed candidate is difficult, but not as difficult as life will get if you piss him off and he decides to turn his power against you. This is the guy we send on diplomatic missions around the world when we need someone to calm down our fiercest and most bitter adversaries, so he’s not going to be frightened to do battle with Rep. Danny Davis. That didn’t stop Davis from issuing a strongly worded statement Tuesday, in which the Chicago Democrat said he is "seriously concerned and disturbed" by Clinton’s potential involvement in the race. "The African American community has enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship with the Clintons, however it appears as though some of that relationship maybe fractured and perhaps even broken should former President Clinton come to town and participate overtly in efforts to thwart the legitimate political aspirations of Chicago's Black community," Davis said in the statement. That message is nothing new to Clinton, who experienced the same sort of opposition in the Windy City in 2008 as he campaigned on behalf of his wife, a presidential candidate at the time battling then-Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination. For whatever reason - probably the same reasons he’s beloved by so many - Bill Clinton has long been a popular figure in the black community. Davis has support in telling Clinton to stay out of the race, as that Carol Mosely Braun, a former ambassador to New Zealand under Clinton and now a candidate for mayor in Chicago, is also calling on Slick Willie to stand down. Considering that Emanuel is garnering close to 44 percent of support from likely Chicago voters while Davis is far back at 7 percent, according to a new poll, it’s easy to see why Davis is so touchy. Now that the Chicago Board of Elections has ruled that Emmanuel is in fact a Chicago resident, and therefore his name may remain on the ballot for the February 22 election, Davis’ hopes are fading fast. In spite of that, Davis is totally off base if he thinks he can tangle with Clinton and win the battle………
- Way to handle your business, Chris Brown. Is it just me, or are the rest of you beginning to get the impression that this guy doesn’t handle pressure situations very well? His abusive ways with the ladies are well-known after his much-publicized incident with then-girlfriend Rihanna when he slapped her and her cell phone around while driving. One might think that after the embarrassing fallout from that incident and vowing to change his ways, Brown would try to keep a low profile for the time being. Never mind on that one, as he has found a new target for his rage. That rage came flying Wednesday in a series of N-bombs and homophobic tweets in the direction of former B2K singer Raz-B. After Raz-B tweeted a comment critical of Brown in a series of complimentary tweets about Rihanna, Brown took the bait and returned fire. "I'm just sittin here thinking how can n---as like [Eric Benet] & [Chris Brown] disrespect women as intelligent as Halle Berry, Rihanna," Raz wrote. Brown waited only a few minutes before going on the attack, tweeting, "N---a you want attention! Grow up n---a!!! Di-- in da booty ass lil boy." Ah, some good old-fashioned hate speech, awesome. Nothing like mocking a guy over allegations he once made that the manager of his old group molested him. Raz-B made those allegations against B2K manager Brian Stokes, but later retracted them. Very classy of Brown to bring them up again. But he didn’t stop there and went on to post several more homophobic-slanted tweets. Instead of going with his normal pattern of threatening to delete his Twitter account and go digitally silent any time he finds himself in an online spat, Brown kept rolling. "I was minding my damn business and Peter pan decides to pop off!!!" he wrote. "I'm not mad though!!! I'm just not silent nor am i one of these scary R&B cats!!" In light of the harsh statements, Brown followed up by writing, "I'm not homophobic! He's just disrespectful!!!" Right, but you’re not mad. You just used more than a dozen exclamation points but you’re not upset? Okay. This pattern has emerged since the Rihanna assault, with Brown making series of outrageous and ridiculous statements that he quickly followed with apologies or retractions. Putting two and two together, that means…..yup, a retraction was forthcoming on Thursday. Sure enough, Brown apologized for his Twitter rant. "Yesterday was an unfortunate lack in judgment sparked by public Twitter attacks from Raz-B, who was bent on getting attention," Brown said. "Words cannot begin to express how sorry and frustrated I am over what transpired publicly on Twitter. I have learned over the past few years to not condone or represent acts of violence against anyone." Apparently those court-ordered anger management courses aren’t quite what they used to be. While an apology is nice, I’m going with the comments he made on Twitter as a more accurate representation of how Brown truly feels than his canned, scripted apology to TMZ. "Molestation and victims of such acts are not to be taken lightly; and for my comments I apologize -- from the bottom of my heart," he stated. "I love all of my fans, gay and straight. I have friends from all walks of life and I am committed, with God's help, to continue becoming a better person." Ah, the “I have friends who are gay/black/Hispanic” defense that everyone gives when they are caught in the act of saying or doing something racist or bigoted. Brown’s apology didn’t seem to placate Raz's brother, the singer known as Ricky Romance, who posted a video threatening that if he saw Brown in Los Angeles, he would "put my mother----ing pistol in your mouth." Don’t you just love the holiday spirit in Celebrity Land………
- Skype is catching plenty of buzz as people around the world get to know the new laptop they received for Christmas and want to use the popular video-chatting service to keep in touch with their friends when texting, Facebook messaging, talking on the phone or emailing just aren’t enough. With smartphones also in nearly everyone’s hand no matter where in the United States they live, the next logical step was for Skype to find a way to make its service available by iPhone. Six days ago, Skype posted and then quickly took down a sneak peek at details of its video-calling service for the iPhone. After that tease, Skype on Thursday officially launched a free offering that enables iPhone users to video-chat with each other. "This season is very special as we are releasing a new version of Skype for iPhone and iPod Touch with video calling. Now you will be able to share all the special moments in video, as they happen, wherever you are," Raul Liive project manager of beta programs at Skype, wrote in a blog post. Technically, the app is not just for the iPhone, as it also allows users make and receive free Skype video calls on their iPad or iPod Touch. The service works with both 3G networks and Wi-Fi and is also compatible with the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch fourth-generation with iOS 4.0 or later. For the technologically backward still using an iPod Touch third generation model, it’s still possible to receive video calls, according to Skype. Once you have the Skype for iPhone app, you can make calls between your device and: PCs running Skype for Windows 4.2 and above; Skype for Mac 2.8 and above; Skype for Linux; and the Asus videophone. There are also the “traditional” Skype features of audio calls to other Skype users and lower-cost phone calls to landlines and mobile phone numbers around the world. Putting all of these pieces together, it appears that the buzz that began when several documents about the new app appeared on Skype's Web site back on Dec. 24 had some basis in reality, although it’s still not clear if Skype intends to market Skype for iPhone as a direct competitor to Apple FaceTime………
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