- Smuggling
drugs into the United States is a risky proposition. It takes creativity,
boldness, ice in your veins and a willingness to put it all on the line every
time you try to drive, fly, bike, walk or parachute across the border.
Sometimes, you have to channel your inner vegetarian if you’re going to take a
legit run at sneaking your mass quantity of pot or cocaine across the
U.S.-Mexico border - and sometimes, that creativity isn't enough. Thus, U.S.
border officers seized more than a ton of marijuana stuffed into fake carrots
interspersed with real carrots inside a commercial shipment of fresh carrots
entering from Mexico. "Once again, drug smuggling organizations have
demonstrated their creativity in attempting to smuggle large quantities of
narcotics across the U.S.-Mexico border," Port Director Efrain Solis Jr.
said in a statement. Officers in Pharr, Texas, on Sunday snagged the 2,493
pounds of suspected marijuana concealed within the fake orange sticks as the
truck hauling the produce crossed the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge along
the Texas-Mexico border near the Gulf of Mexico. The border station’s imaging
inspection system flagged the vehicle for a secondary examination and it didn’t
take officers long to find the smuggled drugs, according to the U.S. Customs
and Border Protection statement. Their search uncovered 3,000 carrot-shaped
packages mixed in with real carrots, enough for agents to fill up the beds of
two pickup trucks with the seized contraband. With an estimated street value
$499,000, it’s not a catastrophic loss for whichever cartel had its product
seized; merely the cost of doing business in the modern world…………
- Hello,
heavy metal scapegoat. In the showdown between litigation-loving metal men
Metallica and Canadian Metallica cover band Sandman, the person being blamed for the
sending of a 41-page cease and desist letter to the tribute group is
Metallica’s (allegedly) former attorney. That attorney and his colleagues took
objection to Sandman's logo, which riffs off Metallica's own logo, and sent the
voluminous legal document to which Sandman had a puzzled reply. "The band
have been using this logo for years with no problems at all," guitarist
Joe Di Taranto said. Metallica took a lot of heat for the letter and when it
was clear how bad they looked for being so hostile about something so trivial,
the band themselves released a statement, blaming an "overzealous attorney.”
"Neither we nor our management were aware of until it surfaced online,”
Metallica said in its statement. “Lucky for us, the band was kind enough to
post it for us to see, and it turns out that we have a very overzealous
attorney who sent this letter without our knowledge. Sandman should file the
letter in the trash," the band continued. "Keep doing what you’re
doing... we totally support you! And in the meantime, our attorney can be found
at SFO catching a flight to go permanently ice fishing in Alaska.” Di Taranto
confirmed that Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich also called him to apologize for
the situation and to give Sandman permission to keep using the logo with
Metallica’s full approval and blessing………
- Those
hoping for a war between the fair-haired Swedes and the small, yet feisty nation
of Morocco, it looks like you’re going to have to wait on that one. Following a months-long row, Sweden says it won't recognize a
disputed territory in Western Sahara as an independent republic, a move that
should allow tensions with Morocco to cease. The Swedish Foreign Ministry said
that a government-ordered review of the issue concluded that the conditions for
recognizing the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, or SADR, "have not been
met,” and therefore it will not recognize the mineral-rich former Spanish
colony Morocco annexed in 1975. Morocco got rather pissy last year after Sweden
said it was reviewing its policy on Western Sahara and the mere suggestion that
it might be willing to officially recognize SADR was enough to prompt the Moroccan
government to say that it would consider boycotting Swedish products and
companies. As millions of Moroccans fretted over the potential loss of their
access to IKEA products, Sweden took its time and ultimately decided to back
down and keep its existing policy in place. Swedish Foreign Minister Margot
Wallstrom announced that Sweden would support United Nations’ efforts to
resolve the conflict and "recognition would not further that process,” so
the Swedes will sit on the sidelines and allow the U.N. to sort out the matter
and be the ones to offend Morocco should the need to take any sort of offending
action arise………
- The
title of worst stadium in Major League Baseball is a small race between a few
select cities, most notably Tampa Bay and Oakland, both of which play in subpar
venues with all sorts of oddities, quirks and weirdness that makes for a poor
fan experience. The Tampa Bay Rays suffer from poor attendance while
inexplicably existing as a Florida-based baseball team that plays its games
indoors at Tropicana Field in downtown St. Petersburg. Rays officials have long
wanted a better home and at long last, the St. Petersburg City Council has
voted to give the team permission to search for new ballpark sites on both
sides of Tampa Bay. The Rays have played at the same stadium in Pinellas County
since their inception, but the 5-3 council vote gives them three years to also
explore possibilities on the east side of the bay where Tampa is located. Team
officials, anticipating the move, have already started examining potential
sites for a new stadium in St. Petersburg or surrounding Pinellas County and
under the terms of the agreement, they know how much it would cost them in fees
if the club leaves its current home before its lease expires in 2027. Should the
move happen, the agreement also contains a provision for the team to benefit
economically from the redevelopment of the Tropicana Field site, which St.
Petersburg mayor Rick Kriseman believes is the best location to build a new
stadium. “We look forward to further progress in the weeks and months ahead as
the Rays strive to ensure the future of the franchise with a first-class
ballpark in the region,” Kriseman said, sounding very much like a grandstanding
politician trying to sell a development that could result in citizens being
asked to pitch in a large amount of financial support should the Rays decide to
build themselves a shiny new baseball palace……….
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