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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.

 

This Is Just Weird

Washington state Rep. Matt Shea, who recently published a manifesto calling for the execution of all males who refuse to follow “Biblical law,” has been caught plotting violent attacks against progressive opponents.

Sorry, he's not my idea of a conservative. Don't know what he is, other than nuts.

Many condemned Shea after news of the nefarious activities of the conservative Christian extremist were made public.

He ain't Christian, either.

Homosexual and hates himself? Possibly.

 

Rich People Problems

The Philippines was rocked with a 6.3 earthquake this morning that sent buildings swaying and people running for safety. But one of the most bizarre videos of the earthquake so far has to be this footage of water pouring out of a residential skyscraper in Manila’s Binondo district. According to local reports, that water is from a penthouse swimming pool.

 

Boy Scouts

Alarming new claims have surfaced against the Boy Scouts of America, accusing thousands of leaders of abuse.

The claims are expected to be revealed in detail Tuesday in New York and New Jersey and the names of nearly 200 of the accused are also expected to be released. 

I never became a boy scout. i was always more of a girl scout.

 

Don't Hire A Creepy Porn Lawyer

When Hassan Whiteside of the Miami Heat wired $2.75 million to Michael Avenatti in January 2017, the pro basketball player intended most of the money to go to his former girlfriend, Alexis Gardner.

Avenatti was Gardner’s attorney. An actress and barista, she’d hired him just a few weeks before to negotiate a settlement of a potential lawsuit against Whiteside. It’s unclear what she would have alleged. Avenatti quickly struck a $3-million deal, and the $2.75 million was Whiteside’s first payment.

Avenatti, prosecutors say, was entitled to take just over $1 million in legal fees, leaving the rest for Gardner.

Instead, they allege, Avenatti hid Whiteside’s payment from her and immediately took $2.5 million to buy a share of a private jet.

The full story of Avenatti’s alleged embezzlement from Gardner came to light in bank records and in the April 10 indictment of the Los Angeles lawyer by a federal grand jury in Santa Ana.

Gardner is one of five clients whose money prosecutors say Avenatti stole. One of the others, Geoffrey Ernest Johnson, was a mentally ill paraplegic man on disability who won a $4-million settlement but received just $124,000 from Avenatti.

Avenatti is also charged with dodging taxes, bank fraud, perjury and bankruptcy fraud. In a separate federal case in New York, he is accused of extortion and conspiracy in his alleged shakedown of Nike, the sportswear giant.

Naturally, the serpent denies everything.

Who would expect anything else?

Even "Stormy Daniels" has dumped him.

 

Religion Of Pieces Again

The bombings, Sri Lanka’s deadliest violence since a devastating civil war ended a decade ago on the island nation, killed at least 290 people with more than 500 wounded, police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said. Twenty-four arrests have been made but no single group has claimed responsibility for the terror acts, the Sri Lanka Daily Mirror reports.

Defense Minister Ruwan Wijewardena described the blasts as a terrorist attack by “a radical Islamic group.”

There are pockets of racists in the world, and individuals who engage in terrible acts of violence against innocent people. These are dangerous men, capable of doing tremendous damage. But no group threatens global peace the same way that political Islam does. None has its reach or material and theological support. None has created more mayhem and death in the world since the end of the Cold War.

 

Even The Mexicans Have Had About Enough Of Them

They're getting damned tired of the jackasses.

MAPASTEPEC, Mexico (AP) — Madison Mendoza, her feet aching and her face burned by the sun, wept as she said she had nothing to feed her 2-year-old son who she’d brought with her on the long trek toward the United States.

Mendoza, 22, said an aunt in Honduras had convinced her to join the migrant caravan, which she did two weeks ago in the capital of Tegucigalpa. The aunt said she’d have no problems, that people along the route in Mexico would help as they did for a large caravan that moved through the area in October.

But this time, the help did not come. The outpouring of aid that once greeted Central American migrants as they trekked in caravans through southern Mexico has been drying up.

Oh, Maddy - what a bummer. Maybe you should have stayed home with your kid.

You want, you want, you want. Got anything to give? No? Go back home.

This isn't the land of Milk and Money, honey.

 

Settled Science

We all know that "the science is settled" when it comes to "man-made global cooling/global warming/climate change". But apparently it's not the case when it comes to measles - at least in the state of Washington.

Sen. Lynda Wilson, who also represents a portion of Clark County, said it should be up to parents whether to have their children vaccinated. "Science is not settled," she said in floor debate on Wednesday.

Science is evidently whatever one feels it should be.

 

More Special Rights For Bicycle Riders?

Senate Bill 998 would effectively turn stop signs and flashing red signals at intersections into yield signs for cyclists.

So if you're riding a bike, the rules wouldn't apply. On the other hand, riders routinely blow through signals and signs anyway. SB 998 would legalize what they're already doing.

 

Love And Marriage

Same-sex marriage carries a lot of extra baggage:

Same-sex couples were 73 percent more likely to be denied a mortgage than heterosexual couples with the same financial worthiness, according to an analysis of national mortgage data from 1990 to 2015. In addition, those who were approved for loans were given higher rates.

It also can affect you:

Once a same-sex population increases in a neighborhood, rejection rates and fees rise for other borrowers in the neighborhood, the study found.

Which isn't to imply that it's all fun and games for heterosexual couples, however:

A Missouri man is accused of killing his wife just hours after a nonprofit group posted his $5,000 bail in a domestic violence case involving his spouse. The St. Louis Bail Project posted his bail and he was released on April 9, according to the probable cause statement. Scott would go to their St. Louis home at 7:45 p.m. that same night, according to authorities, and she was later found unconscious, with a broken eye socket, several broken ribs and multiple bruises. She died on Sunday.

“No one could have predicted this tragedy,” Bail Project Executive Director Robin Steinberg said in a statement. “It’s important to remember that had he been wealthy enough to afford his bail, or bonded out by a commercial bail bond agency, he would have been free pretrial as well. In times like this, we must come together for this family and keep sight of the need to transform the larger systems that create poverty, racism and violence, including the pretrial bail system.”

Oh really? Did they think they were bailing out a model citizen?

Samuel Scott, 54, has multiple convictions for assault and drug crimes.

Yep, they bailed him out of jail - and he went home and beat his wife to death. He's in jail again, this time bail is set at $1 million. Will the "Bail Project" pay up again?

What Missouri needs are some common-sense fist-control laws.