Tag-Archive for » Mexico «
A small plane with an apparently incapacitated pilot that crashed just after noon Eastern Time in the Gulf of Mexico Thursday has sunk, the Associated Press reported, citing Coast Guard officials. Crews flying over the site saw no signs that its pilot survived the crash, the report said.
The twin-engine propeller Cessna 421 went down Thursday about three hours after two F-15 fighter jets tried to make contact with the unresponsive pilot, who was thought to be the only person on the plane.
Coast Guard Chief John Edwards said the plane landed right-side up on the ocean surface and floating, but aircraft monitoring the scene did not see a life raft deploy and never made contact with the pilot, the AP reported.
Air traffic controllers alerted the Coast Guard after they lost radio contact with the pilot about 9 a.m. EDT. The aircraft was circling erratically over the Gulf of Mexico, according to Coast Guard District 8 Chief Petty Officer John Edwards in New Orleans
Efforts to legalize marijuana for recreational use are gaining momentum in Washington state and Colorado, despite fierce opposition from the federal government and a decades-long cultural battle over America’s most commonly used illicit drug.
Officials in Washington state on Friday said an initiative to legalize pot has enough signatures to qualify for the ballot in November. In Colorado, officials are likely this week to make a similar determination about an initiative there.
Supporters are prepared to possibly spend millions of dollars ahead of the November ballot, when they hope a strong voter turnout, particularly among youth, for the U.S. presidential election will aid their cause.
“Whether it’s make or break depends on what public opinion does after 2012, but in terms of voter turnout this is the best year to do it,” said Alison Holcomb, director of New Approach Washington, the initiative’s sponsor.
While 16 states, including Washington and Colorado, along with the nation’s capital, now allow marijuana use for medical purposes, cannabis remains an illegal narcotic under U.S. law – and public opinion is sharply divided on the merits of full legalization.
California voters turned back a ballot initiative to legalize marijuana for recreational use in 2010, in part because of concerns about how production and sale of the drug would be regulated.
Undeterred, supporters of the Washington state initiative say it represents the “grown-up” approach to legalization.
Sales would only be allowed to adults 21 and older through marijuana-only stores licensed by the state Liquor Control Board, which would also oversee production and processing of the drug. Laws on drunken driving would be amended to include maximum blood content thresholds for THC, the main psychoactive element in pot plants.
Colorado already has a robust regulatory system for medical marijuana that includes a registry of over 80,000 card-carrying patients and rules governing how physicians and distributors operate. Here, too, legalization advocates are stressing a rational regulatory approach.
“Voters aren’t being asked to imagine as much as they are in other states, they have seen that marijuana can be regulated and it doesn’t result in significant problems,” said Mason Tvert, co-director of the Colorado-based Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol.
Organizers of the Washington effort have collected over $1.1 million in campaign funds, with $250,000 of that coming from Progressive Insurance chairman Peter Lewis, public disclosure records show.
Loren Collingwood, senior researcher for the nonpartisan Washington Poll run by the University of Washington, said the initiative could pass, but that backers must spend between $2 million and $4 million to run a competitive campaign.
A poll done by the university in October found 48 percent of Washington residents support the idea of pot legalization, but that was not tied to any particular initiative.
“If young voters turn out in droves like they did in 2008 or even start to approach those numbers … then I think this will pass, but they very well may not,” Collingwood said.
Pot legalization supporters have argued for decades that prohibition has failed to curb pot use, and that the policy enriches drug cartels, hurts casual users and deprives governments of a potentially lucrative source of tax revenue.
Baltimore’s finest have shown themselves to be Baltimore’s dumbest. They were making so much easy side money–which for most didn’t amount to more than gas money–through a scam they were running with a local tow and repair shop that they got sloppy…and they got caught! The police commissioner was so outraged by the caper that he made himself available to personally retrieve their badges.
According to local NBC channel WBAL, Majestic Body Shop is owned by two brothers, Hernan Alexis Moreno Mejia and Edwin Javier Mejia, who were paying police officers to drive business to their shop. The officers would respond to an accident and recommend that the drivers use Majestic Body Shop for towing. They would also promote the business for all the repair work and tell the driver that Majestic would take care of the insurance claims for them. Normally, the police officers are supposed to recommend a “city-authorized” company, but they were writing false reports saying that the driver arranged for their own towing. Then the police officer would show up to the shop to receive their payment–most in the amount of $300.
Federal agents raided the shop and the officers were ordered to meet at the city police academy under the guise of an equipment issue. The police commissioner, Fred Bealefeld, was there waiting to personally snatch their badges from them. “I will not tolerate any criminal activity that undermines the integrity of the Baltimore Police Department and the many sacrifices our officers make each and every day,” said Commissioner Bealefeld. But, where is all this righteousness when police officers are authorizing drug sells in our communities? Has anyone seen The Wire?
In other words, there’s no great, historic, heroic bust here. Yes! The officers were wrong, so wrong that they got the attention of the FBI. But, with all the drugs on the street it makes me wonder why this particular crime got the attention of FEDERAL AUTHORITIES. Could it be that the body shop was owned by Hispanics who owned up to the fact that everyone involved were people they knew from the Hispanic community? Once again, minorities making themselves the example for the day.
Your local weed dealers may be experiencing a drought. Law enforcement at the California/Mexico border uncovered nearly 30 tons of marijuana being run through a tunnel. The tunnel that looked like a mining company had set up shop. The tunnel was complete with “a rail system, lighting and ventilation”, according to CNN. There’s only one entity behind such an advanced drug trafficking apparatus that has gone UNSEEN right at the border between Mexico and America…we’re not going to say it. But a hint was given to CNN by Immigration and Customs Enforcement director John Morton: “Obviously this is a cartel and organized drug smuggling of the highest order.”
Definitely, Mr. Morton! A “cartel” of the “highest order” is in full effect when you can run a tunnel like this into the U.S….sight unseen. But, this tunnel is not any old tunnel. The tunnel spans 600 yards and stretches from one warehouse in Tijuana to one in San Diego. How is it possible that this immense operation was running right under our noses? And this is nothing in comparison to what Mexican authorities seized in Tijuana last month. La Policia nabbed 105 tons in Tijuana
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Isaiah Mustafa, the former NFL player whose fame skyrocketed as “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like,” has just been cast opposite Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman in Warner Bros. upcoming comedy “Horrible Bosses.”
The film follows three friends who conspire to murder their awful bosses for standing in the way of their happiness. Mustafa will portray a police officer.
“It’s a smaller role, but who wouldn’t want to be in one of these funny, irreverent comedies?” Mustafa tells the Hollywood Reporter. “The cast is great. I’m playing a cop because I play these authoritative characters well. I don’t know exactly who I’m in the scene with — maybe Jennifer Aniston.”
The casting in “Horrible Bosses” follows parts in Tyler Perry’s “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf,” as well as an upcoming guest spot on NBC’s action-comedy “Chuck.”
All this comes on the heels of Nielsen data indicating that sales of Old Spice body products are up a monumental 107% in the past month as a result of his Emmy-nominated spots, and the Old Spice YouTube channels have been viewed more than 58 million times.
Mustafa’s second ad for the company premiered in recent weeks, and it could be his last.
“As far as commercials, I don’t think there are any more lined up,” he says. “They could always change their mind and want more. I signed on to be their spokesperson for a year, so I still have a few months left.”
If true, the allegations are a huge black eye for the global retailing leader, which prides itself on its reputation for integrity and transparency.
So far, Wal-Mart hasn’t denied the allegations. Rather, it says it is once again investigating them—the way it did several years ago, before it shoved them under the rug.
According to David Barstow of The New York Times, who reported the story, the bribes were directed by the man who went on to become vice-chairman and the head of Wal-Mart’s U.S. division, Eduardo Castro-Wright. At the time, Castro-Wright was head of the company’s Mexico unit, and he was praised and promoted for the astonishing growth he delivered there—growth that the NYT says was directly the result of the bribes.
Wal-Mart’s investigation of the bribery story, meanwhile, was in part overseen by the head of Wal-Mart International at the time, Michael Duke. Duke has since been promoted to CEO of Wal-Mart.
The first reaction of many upon hearing the Mexico bribery story is “So what—it’s Mexico—that’s the way things are done in Mexico.”
That may often be true, but as a defense of Wal-Mart’s actions, it overlooks several key points.
First, Wal-Mart clearly didn’t think it could defend its actions by saying “this is the way things are done in Mexico.” If it had thought it could justify its actions this way, it already would have.
Second, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act makes it illegal to bribe officials in countries in which American companies do business, which is what Wal-Mart is accused of doing here.
Third, the bribes involved internal accounting fraud, which Wal-Mart couldn’t condone under any circumstances.
Fourth, it’s preposterous to think that a company as large and influential as Wal-Mart could take a position that it’s fine to ignore local laws to meet its own growth targets.
So the allegations are a huge deal, regardless how business is generally conducted in Mexico. And, given the current positions of Eduardo Castro-Wright and Michael Duke, they extend right to the top of the company.
If the allegations are true, Wal-Mart needs to apologize, pay whatever fines are required, and then fire both men—Castro-Wright because he oversaw the bribes, and Duke because he knew about them and didn’t do anything. This scandal is far too big for the company to just sweep under the rug.