- Drug dealers need someone to look up to just like
everyone else. When one’s business is peddling heroin, cocaine, marijuana,
Ecstasy and the like to the masses and competition is fierce in what can
accurately be described as a deadly enterprise, having a role model or
protector can do wonders for the soul. According to authorities with the Department of Homeland Security, drug dealers in
New Mexico have found their patron saint and his name is La Santa Muerte. Yes,
“the Saint of Death.” He does happen to look a lot like the Grim Reaper, but
for many people of Mexican heritage, this folk saint can be a miracle worker.
Believers say the skeletal icon brings prosperity and can ward off evil spirits
and perhaps that’s why shrines for the saint are showing up in drug dens
throughout New Mexico. Kevin Abar of the Department of Homeland Security
Investigations unit said La Santa Muerte "has become a narco patron
saint." DHS officers have found that cartels believe La Santa Muerte
protects them from law enforcement, military and from other drug cartel members
– well, that and a lot of big, powerful guns that they use to kill anyone who
stands in their way. DHS officers who have found such shrines say the displays
usually include sacrifices, which can include money, lines of cocaine or blood
that they give to the patron saint. However, the DHS wants everyone to know
that there are many in the Hispanic community who believe in the patron and are
not involved in illegal activity. "There’s a lot of good people, hard working
people, that believe in this saint as well," Abar said. "A lot of the
working class individuals believe in the patron saint. They believe it will
bring them prosperity and more money." Yes, but will it bring them
protection from the cartel threatening to kill them unless they agree to run
drugs across the border……….
- This is a curious stop in Google’s quest for world
domination. Google
executive chairman Eric Schmidt should be all about supporting technology is
just about any form, but he took a curious detour in a recent interview in
which he claimed domestic drones pose a threat to personal privacy. Schmidt
drew the uncalled for example of a peeping neighbor in trying to explain the privacy
infringements that the flying cameras could allow. "You're having a
dispute with your neighbor," Schmidt said. "How would you feel if
your neighbor went over and bought a commercial observation drone that they can
launch from their back yard. It just flies over your house all day. How would
you feel about it?" Umm, you would feel fine…once you shot that mo-fo
down. If a neighbor has a drone and it invades your airspace, then
anti-aircraft measures are the natural response. Schmidt’s thoughts aside, privacy
rights activists and early users of civilian drones remain at odds over the private
use of unmanned aircraft. Officials in Seattle explored plans to use drones
over its downtown area for security purposes, but the resulting uproar led to
the project being scuttled before it began. Presently, small drones can be
purchased and flown by people in the U.S. for private, non-commercial
activities without special approval from the FAA. All a person must do is abide
by the FAA's guidelines for model aircraft operation. Those rules include not
flying the drones out of range of sight, staying below 400 feet and steering
clear of places such as hospitals or schools where the noise could cause a
disturbance. Schmidt also lumped weaponized drones in with the rest of his
argument, saying, "I'm not going to pass judgment on whether armies should
exist, but I would prefer to not spread and democratize the ability to fight war
to every single human being.” One of his fears seems to be drones falling into
the wrong hands, which could definitely cause problems in suburbia, where neighbor-on-neighbor
crime is a real and pressing problem……..
- Nerlens Noel
took a chance once. He won't be taking another one with his basketball future.
The Kentucky All-American forward and No. 1 NBA draft prospect did what the NBA
mandates of graduating high school seniors, namely wait a year before entering
the its amateur draft. He went the normal route of playing college basketball
and that earned him a truncated season in which he sustained a season-ending
knee injury on Feb. 12. In his one shortened season of college basketball, he led
the nation with 4.4 blocks per game and averaged 10.5 points and 9.5 rebounds.
With his ACL still healing and his health a question mark, Noel has announced
that he feels he's "ready to take the next step to the NBA." He will turn
professional as he continues recovering from that torn ACL. The 6-foot-10
forward earned Southeastern Conference defensive player of the year honors,
along with first team all-conference and freshman team selection, and hopes his
defensive-led game will translate into being the top pick in June’s draft. "I've
learned so much here at UK and am thankful for Coach (John) Calipari, the staff
and my teammates for all of their support," Noel said in a statement.
"I especially appreciate the Big Blue Nation and all of the support,
prayers and well-wishes I've received from them during my rehab and
decision-making process. I'll always be a Wildcat!" He is seeking to
follow the path walked last year by a player he has regularly been compared to,
o Kentucky All-American Anthony Davis, now in the NBA after leading the
Wildcats to a national championship as a freshman. Most draft experts rank Noel
as the top prospect in the draft and his college coach did exactly what the man
best known for recruiting one-and-done prospects who blow right through a
college campus on their way to the NBA should do in this situation – fully support
the move. expected decision to leave for the pros. "I support
Nerlens' decision to enter his name in the draft and am excited for him and his
future," Kentuckt coach John Calipari said in a statement. "The hard
work and will to win he showed on the floor this year and the dedication and
attitude he has shown in his rehab will only be a reward for him and whatever
team drafts him in June." Yes, and Noel will always have that less than
one year he spent in Lexington to treasure……
- Daft Punk’s new album will be….something. The French duo's new release
Random Access Memories” is highly anticipated and if you’re able to decode the
bizarre praise bestowed on the effort by Daft Punk’s producer and collaborator Pharrell Williams, the album sounds
great – probably. Williams explained that he "met the robots at a Madonna
party and they were just like, 'We're doing something.’ I said, 'Whatever you
guys need, I'll do it. I'll play tambourine.' It feels like the only
click-track they have is the human heart beat and that makes it really interesting
because these are robots,” Williams said. He was then asked what the ideal
setting is for a person to have their first listen to “Random Access Memories”
and replied: "In a car, pulled up to the beach with my girl. Just let it
play. This music is beyond 3D, it's 4D. You don't need MDMA to enjoy this
music.” The MDMA reference was a poorly chosen link to Madonna’s awful
most-recent album and if Daft Punk’s latest is anything like it, it will be an
abysmal failure. A trailer previewing Williams' collaboration with Daft Punk
and Nile Rogers, titled “Get Lucky,” was shown at Coachella Festival in
California over the weekend. Williams is one of many collaborators for Daft
Punk on the album, due out May 20. The duo have also pulled in synth pioneer Giorgio
Moroder, Todd Edwards, Panda Bear and Chilly Gonzales for roles on the release
and Edwards’ description of the effort is nearly as odd as Williams’ breakdown.
"They reversed gears and went back to a time that no one's really focused
on. They're fulfilling their vision on all levels,” Edwards added. All right,
then……..
- Tunisia had itself quite a weekend. Like any angry debtor
looking to collect what they’re owed by the deadbeat who won't pay them back,
the African nation has been working hard to recover what it calls looted assets held abroad by
ousted President Zine Abidine Ben Ali and his family. Those efforts paid off
for the first time late last week when its government received $28.8 million in
assets from their ousted leader. State media reported that a check in that
amount had been handed to President Moncef Marzouki by Ali bin Fetais Marri,
the middle man appointed by the United Nations to head efforts to recover money
from leaders overthrown in Arab uprisings. Marri, Qatar's attorney general, has
held his sweet gig as UN Special Advocate for Stolen Asset Recovery since
September, so it’s about time he started showing some results. The money was
reportedly returned to Tunisia from a Lebanese bank account belonging to Laila
Trabelsi, the wife of Ben Ali, who fled to Saudi Arabia with his family on Jan.
14, 2011 when a wave of angry citizen uprisings forced him from office. No
self-respecting despot leaves at the end of a 23-year reign without stealing
something, so of course Ben Ali fled with (allegedly) billions of dollars. Much
of that money remains unaccounted for and the odds that it will all be returned
seem low given that the exact amount is not known. The country’s Islamist-led
government is currently neck-deep in economic sh*t, so every little bit helps
at this point. Its leaders remain under intense pressure to recover the money
while lacking the necessary clout to do so. While it waits, an International
Monetary Fund team arrived in Tunis late last week to discuss a $1.78 billion
loan requested by the government…….
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