MaxRedline

About Time

Law enforcement officials have long tried to stem the opioid crisis in America with criminal charges for street dealers and cartel kingpins who traffic in drugs like fentanyl and oxycodone. Now, for the first time, federal authorities are bringing the same kind of felony drug-trafficking charges against a major pharmaceutical distributor and two of its former executives for their role in fanning the crisis.

Company reps admit that they "made mistakes".

I've never quite understood how some people become addicted to oxycodone. Back when I had cancer surgery, I was prescribed the stuff. Took it for about two days; hated it. Seemed better to just tolerate the post-surgical pain.

 

Disease Outbreaks

Wednesday night, 500 people rampaged through downtown [Chicago] looting, destroying property, attacking white people, defying police, stopping traffic, threatening tourists, and created lots of mayhem and chaos.

All on video. Some of which you can find here.

If local media is to be believed, race had nothing to do with the fact that every single one of the rioters was black. 

Colorblindness is a difficult malady. Like many others, there appears to be no cure.

In other health news:

What is the point of having health insurance that you can’t use? This is the question raised by high-deductible health plans, which are becoming increasingly common. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, deductibles have increased eight times faster than wages since 2008.

I'm still looking for the $2500 savings that Barry promised...among the many other things that the Great Orator pledged to us. Thanks, Obama!

And then there are dentists:

Don't even get me started on them.

Ever wondered why dentists want to have you come in four times a year?

It's all about the Benjamins, baby.

 

Hot Trend

Grocery stores are increasingly eschewing plastic packaging in the produce aisle, opting instead for this:

Yep - banana leaves. Compostable, they don't end up in landfills. Of course, around here, almost every store offers plastic bag recycling bins, so the new trend seems more like a feel-good thing than something that's really needed.

 

Welcome To The Hotel California

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KOVR) — Hotels in California may no longer be able to provide guests with tiny bottles of shampoo, conditioner, lotion, or other personal care products.

No word yet on whether the California Assembly plans to ban real poo in addition to sham-poo.

 

Every Kiss Begins With Kay

Signet Jewelers, which owns the Kay Jewelers, Zales and Jared retail brands, is shuttering 150 stores.

Guess diamonds have lost their glitter.

The jewelry giant, which operates more than 3,500 locations, is rolling out a three-year plan to close 13 percent, or about 455, of its stores. Signet already closed 262 stores (232 of them in North America), focusing on underperforming mall locales.

No big loss, maybe their former employees can get real jobs - like unloading railroad cars.

 

Retail

JCPenney, Payless, and Lifeway have announced plans to close at least 3000 stores. Some 41,200 people will lose their jobs as a result.

And while Poland Spring bottled water may be popular among the 13 million people who buy the stuff, the Nestle-owned company has come under scrutiny, since the Poland spring dried up half a century ago. Now, a class action lawsuit is being filed against the parent company for deceptive practices:

It's claimed that Portland Spring has been filling its bottles with ordinary groundwater from wells, and that "Not one drop" in the bottles is actually spring-derived.

Phoney spring water? No wonder the company was so eager to acquire rights to the water from an actual spring in Cascade Locks, Oregon - a battle that went on for years, and which the company ultimately lost.

 

Sweet Deal

Dairy Queen is once again giving away free, small vanilla ice cream cones at all of its non-mall locations in the United States on Wednesday, March 20, to celebrate the start of spring.

According to Dairy Queen, the free soft serve cones will be available while supplies last. The company said cones are limited to one per customer.

And oddly, they're doing it without government "help".

 

Phone Works Again

The guy who installed a new SIM chip in the thing yesterday managed to screw that up, so I took the phone in again today and mentioned that if I wanted a brick, I'd go to the Fred Meyer store across the way and buy one for fifty cents. That kind of focused their attention.

Faced with losing a cell subscriber, they went at it, removing and replacing the new SIM chip and testing the phone on-site to ensure it actually worked. It's amazing how quickly a little comment can garner attention.

 

Last One Standing

From 9,000 locations at its peak, Blockbuster Video has one store left - its franchise in Bend, Oregon. But that one has kind of morped as well:

The last remaining Blockbuster brick and mortar store on Earth is located in Bend, Oregon, and it’s turned its rarefied status into a benefit, attracting tourists and selling its own signature craft beer.

We used to have several around here - they're now Chase bank branches.

Like we don't have enough bank branches? Ah well, times change.

 

Colorado Bureaucrats Fold

Colorado’s Civil Rights Commission announced Tuesday that it will dismiss its latest charges against cake artist Jack Phillips. You might remember Phillips from his victory at the US Supreme Court last summer. 

After the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Phillips, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission decided to attack him on this new charge. Instead of watching another case slowly creep through the courts, attorneys at the Alliance Defending Freedom went on the offense, suing the bureaucrats for their anti-religious bias.

Well if that's the way they're going to play, the bureaucrats decided, then they'll just take their ball and go elsewhere.

They really don't see why the guy and the attorneys backing him don't just play by the bureaucrats' rules, but having been burned badly during the last dance, they've decided not to do-see-do with those folks again.

Finally, bureaucrats have some sense pounded into them!