MaxRedline

China Sorta Goes Green

They've closed the Tibetian route up Mount Everest to tourists due to the trash buildup.

Chinese officials said although the entrance is closed, tourists can still visit the Rongpo monastery area at 16,400 feet above sea level. Only those with climber permits, however, will be allowed to go to the base camp about 600 feet higher, and beyond.

In 2014, officials in Nepal ordered climbers and tourists going to the mountain must return with an extra 18 pounds of garbage, The New York Times reported last year. Chinese officials have also followed Nepal's lead in asking climbers to return with litter once they come down, or pay a fine.

Chinese officials said state-run media said cleanup of the mountainside will also include removing bodies of dead climbers from prior climbs located higher than 26,200 feet.

The litter return part seems reasonable enough, but I doubt they'll get many takers for corpse removal duty.

 

Well, They Were Promised An Epic Cruise...

A video posted to YouTube shows the moment the vast Norwegian Epic cruise ship destroyed two mooring points on a pier as it maneuvered into the Port of San Juan, Puerto Rico on February 12. The incident followed sustained power loss by the Norwegian Epic during its current journey, Cruise Law News reported, causing it to divert on a go-slow to Puerto Rico.

Assuming they get things working again, they might make at least one of the stops on the itinerary. But the passengers are entitled to 50% off their next cruise, so there's that.

 

Wrong Target

Down in Jamaica, John Bigbooty made a series of scam calls to a guy who just happened to be the former head of the FBI and then the CIA. Bill Webster's the only person in US history to have served in both positions. As the Jamaican discovered, bad choices carry consequences:

William Webster, who is now 94 years old, and his wife, Lynda, were targeted four years ago by a man who peddled a lottery scam over phone calls and emails. Over multiple phone calls, Keniel Aeon Thomas of Jamaica told the Websters he’d set their house ablaze or have a sniper shoot them in the back of the head if they didn’t pay him thousands of dollars, according to prosecutors’ filings.

Ooopsie.

At his sentencing Friday, Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the district court in Washington noted that Thomas had more than 30 victims and had collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from them. Prosecutors noted in their court papers that lottery scams like these have increased over the last decade. They often turn into violent threats when a target won’t pay. 

Bigbooty's got a new address for the next six years. And it's nothing like Jamaica, Mon.

 

Woah - Needs Help With Self-Control

This Britiot came totally unstrung in Indonesia after it emerged that she'd overstayed her visa by 160 days, which was going to cost her $5600 in fines.

She ended her tirade by slapping an immigration official, and is now in an Indonesian prison, where she'll reside for the next six months.

As two officials escorted her from court, she shouted: “Indonesia is a criminal country. Indonesian law is corrupt. Indonesian judges are corrupt. No lawyer was provided. Indonesian immigration is corrupt.”

You may want to turn down the volume if you hit the link; this Britiot is bat-crap crazy. She's actually lucky - they still sentence people to public caning over there.

 

 

Crisis In Japan

Japan is in the grip of an elderly crime wave - the proportion of crimes committed by people over the age of 65 has been steadily increasing for 20 years.

The reason is unfortunately pretty straightforward:

"I reached pension age and then I ran out of money. So it occurred to me - perhaps I could live for free if I lived in jail," he says.

It used to be that younger Japanese took care of their elders, but that's no longer the case. They've moved off to pursue economic opportunities, leaving their parents to fend for themselves. The parents don't want to be viewed as a burden, but can't live on a meager Japanese pension, so increasingly they've been turning to theft - most often, around $20 worth of food, which will land them in jail for at least a year. Free food, warmth, and a place to sleep.

Newman points out that suicide is also becoming more common among the elderly - another way for them to fulfill what he they may regard as "their duty to bow out".

 

 

She Don't Lie, She Don't Lie, She Don't Lie...

"London is known as one of the highest consumers of cocaine and this suggested everyday usage." "This" being that effluent tests have shown stable concentrations of cocaine and its metabolites on a daily basis, whereas when effluent from other cities is tested, levels fluctuate and generally peak on weekends.

Eels in the Thames are said be becoming hyperactive because of cocaine levels.

Unsurprisingly, those who make their living stoking fear and worry in regard to human activities are now claiming that when Londoners use cocaine and later pee, it causes suffering in wildlife, as evidenced by the hyperactivity of eels in the River Thames. Those folks should bear in mind that a single correlation does not equal causation.

While any number of good reasons to avoid the substance come to mind, an unproven conclusion that it causes local fish to suffer seems a bit over the top.

 

USAID

The agency will reportedly end all Palestinian projects at the end of the month.

No big surprise, as there's been no progress made on the "two state solution". We've just been tossing money over there, building them infrastructure, with nothing to show for it all.

 

Oh, Canada

It may sound unbelievable, but Canada’s revised laws on impaired driving could see police demand breath samples from people in bars, restaurants, or even at home. And if you say no, you could be arrested, face a criminal record, ordered to pay a fine, and subjected to a driving suspension. You could be in violation of the impaired driving laws even two hours after you’ve been driving. Now, the onus is on drivers to prove they weren’t impaired when they were on the road.

Under the new law, police officers no longer need to have a “reasonable suspicion” the driver had consumed alcohol. Now, an officer can demand a sample from drivers for any reason at any time.

“The public has completely missed this one,” said Joseph Neuberger, a Toronto criminal defence lawyer.

He described a scenario in which someone has gone home and watches a hockey game, enjoys a few beers, and gets a knock on the door from police, who received a tip about someone in the house who was driving a vehicle suspiciously.

“The person answers the door and they say, ‘Sir, we’ve had a complaint about your driving, we need you to provide a sample,” said Neuberger, noting if the person failed to provide the sample it would likely lead to arrest.

You just know this is going to be used as a club in marital disputes, etc. Heck, they can now haul you out of a restaurant. You may have walked to the place, but how can you prove you weren't driving under the influence two hours before?

Latest From Britain: Banning Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

No joke, in Bristol, they're not allowing food vendors to sell grilled cheese sandwiches (or "toasties", as they're called over there).

They have been deemed a magnet for antisocial behaviour and the gateway to truancy as councils try to stop locals being ‘terrorised’ by the young.

Apparently, they've solved all other problems, and so are now going after grilled cheese sandwiches. You know how problematic those things can be.

 

 

 

 

Immigration & U.S.

Ellis Island began processing immigrants into the U.S. on Jan. 1, 1892 — 127 years ago.

Over 12 million new arrivals were processed there over the course of 62 years, and medical screenings were mandatory - among other requirements. Things are considerably different today:

Hundreds of migrants and their children seeking to enter the U.S. from Mexico are arriving with illnesses, forcing U.S. Customs and Border Protection to seek additional medical assistance and boost medical screenings, the agency disclosed Monday.

Overall, however, there's much less order, as hundreds of Latinos from Central America routinely attempt to force their way into our country; the latest was two days ago, when another 150 or so tried to storm the border from Tijuana, pelting CBP with rocks. Agents responded with tear gas and drove them back. Interestingly, many of them claim to be fleeing rampant lawlessness in their home countries but demonstrate no respect for law and order here.