- Andy Dufresne would be so disappointed. The real-life
Mexican city where Tim Robbins’ character fled with $350,000 worth of the
ill-gotten gains of Shawshank Prison Warden Samuel Norton following an escape
from prison is now the home of Mexico’s latest über-corrupt police force. That’s
one of the effects when you have the detention of the entire municipal police
force in Zihuatanejo, a popular U.S. expat hotspot on the Pacific coast. There,
20 alleged drug traffickers were found to have been masquerading as cops before
they were busted by state and federal police, along with the Marine Corps. All
told, that crew acted on mounting evidence of corruption in the precinct and
detained all 246 officers and officials until they could provide official
credentials. When the dust/cocaine residue settled, 51 arrests were made,
including three high-ranking officers, but 31 were later released on charges of
operating without full accreditation. Left behind were 20 men and women “Many
of them are real police officers, but who we believe have strong ties to
organized crime in the region,” Zihuatanejo Public Security Chief Carlos Cruz
said. “The cartels are very powerful in the state of Guerrero, and we are
working to purge our public bodies of links to drug trafficking.” It’s been an
odd scene in the Pacific resort city since last week’s operation, with the
municipal force taken off duty, leaving state police and Mexican military to
patrol the streets. Nothing reaffirms public confidence in the government quite
like benching the whole police force…….
- She may have spurned a reported plea from Democratic Party
leaders to run for public office, but Selina Meyer will remain in power for at
least one more year on the airwaves of HBO. That’s because HBO has announced
that it has renewed “Veep for another season,” bringing back the highly rated
political satire that premiered in April 2012 and recently began its sixth
season. The network will bring back one of its most popular shows for a seventh
season, continuing the long-running tradition of American networks hijacking popular
British shows and turning them into a slightly new version, as NBC did with
“The Office” and HBO has done with “Veep,” which was created by Armando
Iannucci as an adaptation of the British sitcom “The Thick Of It.” The series is
set in the office of Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), a fictional vice president
and later, President of the United States. The sixth season runs through June
25, following Meyer and her team as they try to navigate the dangerous political
waters of the capital and make their mark on the country while avoiding the
daily political shenanigans and tomfoolery that are the hallmarks of
Washington, D.C. In announcing the renewal for “Veep,” the network also
commissioned a fifth season of “Silicon Valley,” which would have been
especially helpful if Louis-Dreyfus had said yes when approached by “top
Democrats” about potentially running for office………
- You’ve probably forgotten about him, America, but just
know that the Juice is still lurking. Yes, (alleged) double murderer/Hall of
Famer/seeker of the real killers/convicted robber of memorabilia dealers in Las
Vegas O.J. Simpson could get released on parole as early as this year from his
home at Lovelock Correctional Center in Nevada. He’s nearly 70 years old and
has reportedly exhibited good behavior in jail - aside from senseless and
consistent assaults on chocolate chip cookies in the cafeteria - and as a
result he’s thought to be a good candidate for parole. The board will consider
his disciplinary history at the jail, his age and in conjunction, the
likelihood that he’ll return to a life of crime. Sure, the rate of recidivism
is usually lower for those past retirement age, but that may not be the case
with Simpson. Technically, the Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners can’t
consider that the Juice almost certainly attempted to decapitate his ex-wife
Nicole Brown Simpson and her new boyfriend Ron Goldman two decades ago, but it
should cross the minds of the rest of society if he is indeed freed after the
board holds his hearing, expected to take place next month, on a 33-year
sentence for a 2007 robbery at a Las Vegas hotel. For that, he was convicted of
first-degree kidnapping, armed robbery and conspiracy to commit a violent crime
despite arguing that he was trying to retrieve memorabilia and some personal
items belonging to him. Now, the board will have to decide if the time has
finally come for him to resume his search for the real killers………
- Be careful who you confront about the volume of music or
the amount of smoke wafting from their grill into your party area the next time
you tailgate at a University of Georgia football game. Now that Georgia's new
"campus carry" legislation is in place, anyone who is properly
licensed in the state of Georgia to carry a handgun in a concealed manner will
be allowed to do so while partaking in on-campus tailgating activities and that
means bullets could be flying right alongside footballs as fans party it up in
the parking lot before heading inside Sanford Stadium. University System of
Georgia Chancellor Steve Wrigley announced that while concealed weapons are
prohibited from being taken into on-campus stadiums and arenas, concealed
handguns will be allowed at tailgates because clearly, someone asking to borrow
your mustard or poaching one of your bratwursts from the grill is something
against which you must defend. In one category of House Bill 280, which will go
into effect on July 1, one category includes "buildings and property used
for athletic sporting events." "This exception includes stadiums,
gymnasiums and similar facilities in which intercollegiate games are staged
(but does not extend to so-called 'tailgating' areas where fans may congregate
outside the gates of the sports facility)," Wrigley noted. Currently,
licensed carriers are allowed to keep weapons secured in motor vehicles, but
beginning July 1, House Bill 280 will allow "anyone who is properly
licensed in the state of Georgia to carry a handgun in a concealed manner on
property owned or leased by public colleges and universities." In other
words, step lightly when you tell Kevin in the tailgate next to you that his Lynyrd
Skynyrd is cranked a little too loud………
No comments:
Post a Comment