Friday, June 24, 2016

CM Punk will finally fight, Cameroon equalizes adultery and transporting 1,000 pounds of ganja


- There’s not a lot of defending your case to be done when you’re stopped by police officers and they discover nearly 1,000 pounds of marijuana in the back of the U-Haul van you’re driving. But best of luck to Philadelphia residents Baojie Chen and Da Fen Xiong in making their case after they were arrested when troopers found a U-Haul van during a traffic stop on Interstate 95 in Cecil County (Maryland). Troopers stopped the van on the northbound exit ramp from I-95 to southbound Route 279 just after 8 p.m. for an unspecified traffic violation, but their law enforcement spidey senses perked up and they surmised that something wasn’t quite right. A trooper introduced a drug-sniffing dog into the mix and with half a ton of ganja nearby, the dog didn’t take long to identify the illegal substance in the vehicle. A subsequent search of the vehicle found approximately 938 pounds of marijuana in the cargo hold and authorities believe it may be the largest marijuana seizure ever in the county. “We’re thinking it probably is the largest, if not it’s definitely up there,” Maryland State Police JFK Highway Barrack Lt. Daniel Everett said. Everett estimated the street value of the seized hippie lettuce at $5,000 a pound, making the seizure worth nearly $4.7 million and meaning there is now a rather angry drug dealer or two out their after their drivers failed miserably to keep a low profile and complete their assignment. Chen and Xiong are charged with possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of more than 50 pounds of marijuana and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, crimes for which $4.7 million could mount a top-end legal defense……..


- Noooooooooo! Stay away, iconic directors, from a film franchise that has come to define the law of diminishing returns. That goes for both of you, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. Spielberg confirmed that he'll reunite with “Indiana Jones” creator Lucas for the fifth installment of the iconic adventure series starring an aged-out Harrison Ford alongside a rotating cast in increasingly awful and poorly written films that took a huge turn for the worst with “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” in 2008. The fifth movie in the series, which has one advantage in that it will be tough to make a movie as bad as “Crystal Skull,” is due out in 2019 and will see a 70-something Ford returning as the titular whip-cracking archaeologist, while composer John Williams will score the film as he’s always done for the franchise. "George is going to be an executive producer on it with me,” Spielberg said. “Of course I would never make an Indiana Jones film without George Lucas. That would be insane." Hear that, G., that you can kill this terrible idea simply by changing your mind and saying no. But hey, at least Spielberg sounds pumped about this. "I'm super excited,” he said. "I think this one is straight down the pike for fans. The one thing I will tell you is I'm not killing off Harrison at the end of it." Lucas will act as an executive producer on the project, which is interesting because he previously announced that he was retired from filmmaking and made billions of dollars selling off his “Star Wars” empire to Disney………


- Score one for gender equality in Cameroon. Up to now, adultery has been a criminal act for women only in the African nation, but that’s about to change now that Cameroon's parliament has voted to change the country's penal code to criminalize adultery for men. The changes are expected to be endorsed by both the Senate and President Paul Biya, who had proposed the revision, so now both parties can be thrown in jail if a man cheats on his wife with a woman who’s cheating on her husband. The current penal code stipulates that women should be punished for adultery with two to six months in prison or with fines of up to about $175 and in a twist that should encourage men to either keep their pants zipped up or at least get better about cheating and lying about cheating, men would face the same punishment under the expected changes. It sounds like a thoroughly reasonable idea that no logical, fair person could oppose…unless that someone is Barrister Nick Tazoh of the Cameroon Bar Council, who claimed the law is taking the central African country backward and will send more people to already congested prisons. Yes, refuse to hold both parties accountable for a mutual decision because it will stunt social progress and send men who refuse to adhere to a completely fair law to prison. This, Cameroon, is why you cannot ever have nice things……..


- He was once WWE’s World Heavyweight Champion. Now, pro-wrassler-turned-MMAer CM Punk will make his UFC debut in the city that’s home to the NBA’s newly minted world champions. Punk, birth name Phil Brooks, signed with the UFC in December 2014, and will finally make his UFC debut in a welterweight bout against Mickey Gall at UFC 203 on Sept. 10. His debut was pushed back by a shoulder injury, but now Punk will step into the octagon at UFC 203 in Cleveland, an event in which hometown hero Stipe Miocic will defend his UFC heavyweight title for the first time against Alistair Overeem. There will also be a co-main event in which Fabricio Werdum will take on Ben Rothwell, but it’s a fair bet that there will be a lot of eyes on the Punk-Gall bout simply because Punk has been dangled in UFC fans’ faces for a year and a half now and most believe there is no way he’s going to be successful in his new sport because he’s 37 years old and despite being in great shape, he’s entering a whole new world. His foe, Gall, is 2-0 and is a welterweight prospect fighting out of New Brunswick, New Jersey, some 13 years younger than Punk. Gall made his UFC debut on Feb. 6 and picked up a first-round submission win, which means he’s two wins ahead of his next opponent and will probably be favored heading into the fight. Still, drawing eyeballs to the action and selling pay-per-view buys is what UFC is ultimately about whether Dana White and his business partners sell their business or not. Punk is good for business in that respect and whether he pans out or not, his first fight will do some good for UFC’s bottom line……..

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