Federal drug officials today said they have dismantled a major Mexican smuggling operation that shipped large quantities of methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin through Colorado Springs.
The 22-month investigation netted 29 arrests and the seizures of 30 pounds of methamphetamine, 13 pounds of cocaine, 3.75 pounds of heroin and $1.4 million in cash and other assets, Drug Enforcement Administration officials said during a news conference at the 4th Judicial District Attorney's Office.
The investigation was part of a multistate set of drug cases dubbed "Operation Deliverance" that was first disclosed in June. However, authorities held off on discussing the Colorado Springs cases, some of which resulted in arrests as recently as last month.
"Deliverance," which resulted in 2,278 arrests nationwide, was initiated by investigative leads developed in Colorado Springs, Merrill said. The biggest catch in that operation was the arrest in May of Carlos Ramon Castro-Rocha, whom DEA investigators identified as a drug kingpin. He is being held in a Mexico City jail pending extradition to a federal court in either Arizona or North Carolina.
Four suspects in the Colorado cases remain at large. The 29 Colorado arrests included 22 Mexicans in the U.S. illegally and Nathan Stack, a former Cheyenne Mountain High School student whom police previously identified as being part of a group that supplied tar heroin to about 25 fellow students.
Barden acknowledged that others will take the place of those arrested in Colorado."But can you imagine what the world would be like if we didn't do the things we do?" he asked. Posted in full, since the Gazette (my local fishwrap) has a terrible archiving system. Part of this happened literally in my back yard. Edited by me, since full-length posts are a potential legal problem for the Burg. AoS
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/21/2010 15:24 ||
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A Filipino passenger has been found dead in the toilet of a plane flying from Bahrain to Manila. Crew members on the Gulf Air flight say they found the 36-year-old man with a cord tied around his neck just minutes before the landing. Oooh! I seen dat movie!
The man - whose name has not been released - was officially pronounced dead by medics after the plane landed in Manila. "He's dead, Jim."
"Is that official, Bones?"
"It's as official as he's dead."
Police are now investigating whether it was a suicide. "Inspector Camembert! To the white courtesy phone!"
Officials say the man was working as a technician in the United Arab Emirates and was returning home. They gave no further details. "We can say no more!" It is the second unusual incident involving a Gulf Air plane in the Philippines in two months. "It may be a pattern, Legume!"
In September, a newborn baby was found in an airliner rubbish bag. The baby boy - who arrived in Manila from Bahrain - was covered in blood and wrapped in tissue paper, with his umbilical cord still attached. The boy was treated in hospital, and officials said he was in good health. Police later found the mother, a Filipino national. She claimed she decided to abandon her son because she had been raped while working overseas. "... but if it is a pattern it is a very subtle pattern!"
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Posted previously under "Finally Some Good News"....which I thought it certainly was. Unfortunately it was summarily deleted as were several of my contributions yesterday. Apparently someone believes articles about money and finance or gays in the military are more appealing to this audience than a story about a true WWII hero.
#3
Very gratefull for another outstanding post during a time of war, Besoeker. My father was awarded 3 bronze stars during WWII. He and his fellow dismounts should have been given another for eliminating 10,000 japs in less than 20 minutes one fine day. But, there is always tomorrow.
#8
You know Pappy, I rarely say anything to anybody on this box I wouldn't say directly to their face. Would that be your policy as well? After watching your cmnts for years, somehow I doubt it.
#10
Stop, Besoeker, please. You of all people shouldn't need to play macho games. You submit a lot of articles, trying to help make this a good site, and we appreciate that. Accept feedback on what fits here, and either send the rest to another site or share a couple in the O Club, where the conversation isn't so focussed.
You aren't the only one whose submissions don't all make the cut. We've all suffered that way at some time (or many times -- we're not going to talk about my percentages as I continue to climb the learning curve). Sometimes submissions are not a fit for Rantburg, sometimes we have too many on the same subject, sometimes we have repeats. You have more articles published over your name than most, accept that gracefully.
#11
You know Pappy, I rarely say anything to anybody on this box I wouldn't say directly to their face. Would that be your policy as well?
Yes, it is.
After watching your cmnts for years, somehow I doubt it.
Care to try me, meneer? It'd be a bit of pathetic amusement for the others to watch a 1.5-legged old ship-driver go up against a superannuated pseudo-boer bentleg, but I've done other pointless things in my life.
It's a hybrid instead of the touted electric (it has a gasoline engine that drives the front wheels directly at times), gets about 26mpg if driven so that it doesn't pi$$ off other drivers, costs way too much even with a $7,500 taxpayer-funded subsidy, and the not-so-green Lithium ion battery fills half the car and probably costs several thousand dollars every few years to replace.
Did I miss anything other than the fact that this boondoggle is going to dry up soon? Other than that we taxpayers also helped save the company that designed this boondoggle ... II'd be clawing back a few bonuses for this one.
#1
Fox news reporter's review on it. Doesn't sound bad, but I would wait a few years until the technology bugs are ironed out. I drive about 40 miles per day in hilly California so my gas bill would go way down.
#4
My dead stock Toyota Camry(2002) gets 37, plus I spoke to another lady at a stoplight yesterday driving a Prius, she gets 50
No overpriced Toys for me.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/21/2010 18:42 Comments ||
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#6
Interesting article yesterday on Bloomberg, about how 'sustainable' energy subsidies are driving unsustainable budget deficits to the tune of $100B++.
#8
Redneck Hello!, I bet she gave you the showroom mileage figure for open road. Most people I know don't bother to figure it out. The tip off is the even number and I bet rounded up. Spending all that money she wouldn't want to look shall I say sub-par.
#10
Since you mention it, I bought the Camry from my daughter, she wanted a newer car and they wouldn't give her squat, so she sold it to me for Blue Book, $3,500 we both made out like bandits.
136 thousand and has absolutely nothing wrong with it. (Mechanic's Daughter, knows how to keep it in good shape.)
needed tires, big deal, put 4 on for around $300, ran it through the Toyota dealership where I used to work, and records showed ALL maintenance done as needed.
Caught myself today on new asphalt passing 100 and didn't know it until I glanced at the speedometer.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/21/2010 23:32 Comments ||
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[Al Jazeera] Two political protesters have been killed and several others injured in street festivities with police in Guinea's capital, Conakry, just days before a presidential run-off fist fight.
According to witnesses, the police were initially attacked on Tuesday by supporters of Cellou Dalein Diallo, the leading candidate contesting the October 24 poll.
A doctor speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... said at least 29 people were maimed in the clashes, including "13 adolescents and three maidens of tender years".
Diallo accused the police of killing his supporters and said that some of his supporters had died in the violence. "The security forces are beating my supporters, killing some of them and arresting others," Diallo said.
Increasingly tense
Diallo won the first round of the election on June 27 with 43 per cent of the ballots, against Alpha Conde, who had 18 per cent.
Relations between Diallo's supporters and security forces have become increasingly tense as the election date gets closer, with traditional festivities taking place in several districts of Conakry, the capital, on Monday as well.
Jean-Marie Dore, the prime minister, said: "If there is any public disorder, we will jug those who are in the streets, as well as those who are directing them."
The presidential poll was supposed to bring civilian rule to the West African nation, but the country's first free elections have divided the country. The two remaining candidates come from the two largest ethnic groups and divisions have fallen along these lines.
In an attempt to ensure that the poll goes ahead on Sunday, General Sekouba Konate, the head of the military government, replaced Lounceny Camara, the controversial head of the Independent National Electoral Commission [CENI].
Diallo had pressed for a "neutral and consensual" replacement for Camara, whom he accused of being wrongfully elected and being close to his opponent.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2010 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] A British court sentenced a Saudi prince to at least 20 years in prison on Wednesday for beating and strangling one of his servants at a swank British hotel.
Such a disgrace that even the Magic Kingdom did not demand him back.
Justice David Bean ordered Prince Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser al Saud to serve a minimum of 20 years to life in prison, for the brutal assault at the Landmark Hotel in London on February 15.
Prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw says the prince had abused his aide in the past and that photographs stored on a mobile phone "plainly proved" that there was a "sexual element" to the abuse.
The sensational case had featured days of lurid testimony, complete with video images of the shaven-headed prince brutally assaulting his aide in a hotel elevator.
"No one in this country is above the law," Bean said. "It would be wrong for me to sentence you either more severely or more leniently because of your membership of the Saudi royal family."
Do ensure that he can't use his pocket money to ease the conditions of his imprisonment. No one should be allowed solitary confinement with Persian carpets and Turkish toffees.
The jury had deliberated just 95 minutes before returning its verdict. The prince was convicted of both murder and a second count of grievous bodily harm with intent relating to the attack in the elevator.
Al Saud originally told police that he and Abdulaziz had been swigging champagne into the early hours of the morning, and that when he awoke at 3:00pm he could not rouse Abdulaziz.
Jurors rejected a claim by his defense lawyer John Kelsey-Fry that the prince was guilty only of manslaughter.
Since the prince's arrest, Saudi officials have said nothing about the case, and Saudi newspapers and television have not even mentioned it, a sign of how embarrassing the trial and sentencing are for the royal family. Media in the kingdom strictly avoid any discussion of the private lives of members of the royal family -- particularly of anything that casts them in a negative light.
And this lurid tale casts a very negative light indeed.
The prince's grandfather is the half-brother of the current king.
See what happens when one's family tree looks like a barber's pole?
Britain has no prison transfer agreement with Saudi Arabia, so there is no possibility the prince could serve his sentence there.
After all, the prince is not from Libya, so what reason could the government possibly have for considering a compassionate release or a transfer of custody?
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
For the UK, this is actually a "sticky wicket". First of all, he is technically, at least, nobility, which means that the Queen has to be involved in some way.
By a quirk in their law, all royals in her family are under her control, if she pays them. And going back to the days when many *European* royals were related, this allowed her to extrapolate this protection to other nobles visiting England.
Add to that I would be surprised if any royal close to the Saudi king wouldn't be given diplomatic immunity, which may or may not cover homicide...
I'm sure there are some high falutin' lawyers paid to know all these ins and outs.
He was alleged to have strangled his valet and impregnated his sister while in the House of Lords, and also was suggested to want to murder the young Princess (later Queen) Victoria and become the King of England.
Conveniently, his associate domain, the Principality of Hanover's, king died at just the right time, so he was shuffled off to Hanover to be made its new king, as it would be improper to try him for murder in the Lords, if he was a head of state.
The various Dukes of Cumberland were a troublesome lot. One of their earlier number became known as the "Butcher of Culloden", and the last one was stripped of his title for German sympathies, in 1919.
The line still survives to this day, and may request reinstatement among the noble houses of England, but have not chosen to do so.
(KUNA) -- The Boeing Co. on Wednesday announced a third-quarter profit of 837 million dollars, based on sales of commercial planes.
Company officials said they plan to increase production rates of the 737, the top-selling Boeing aircraft, as orders and deliveries have begun growing amid recovery from the 2007-09 recession.
Boeing expects to deliver 460 commercial planes this year, and is aiming to deliver the new 787 in the middle of the first quarter of 2011, and the latest version of the 747 in the middle of next year, officials said.
Boeing obtains about half its revenue from commercial planes and half from defense, space and security.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] French authorities have forced open three fuel depots blockaded by workers protesting against plans to raise the retirement age.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the president, ordered the blockades surrounding the depots to be removed as one-third of petrol stations nationwide ran out of supplies following six days of demonstrations.
Brice Hortefeux, interior minister, said that the depots had been reopened peacefully in the early hours on Wednesday.
"The current situation cannot continue without serious consequences for our life as a society and our economy but also for the health and safety of our citizens," Hortefeux said at a news conference.
"We will continue to unblock these depots as much as necessary," he said.
Protests planned
Further strikes against plans to overhaul France pensions system are expected after a night of unrest between youths and riot police in several towns.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2010 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- The international trade deficit of the 27-member European Union was 37.1 billion euro in the second quarter of 2010, compared with a deficit of 42.1 bn euro in the second quarter of 2009 and a deficit of 31.8 bn euro in the first quarter of 2010.
In the second quarter of 2010, compared with the second quarter of 2009, the deficits of the goods account (-29.9 bn euro compared with -14.9 bn) and the current transfers account (-14.2 bn compared with -11.9 bn) both increased, according to figures released today by Eurostat, the EU's statistics office. In the second quarter of 2010, the EU external current account recorded a surplus with the USA (+19.4 bn euro), Switzerland (+9.6 bn), Hong Kong (+5.7 bn), Brazil (+5.2 bn), Canada and India (both +1.8 bn), and a deficit with China (-31.5 bn), Russia (-13.0 bn) and Japan (-8.6 bn). In the second quarter of 2010, the EU made direct investments abroad of 50.1 bn euro, compared with 75.0 bn euro in the same quarter of 2009, while foreign direct investors recorded Disinvestments in the EU of 12.0 bn, compared with investments of 81.4 bn in the same quarter of 2009.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2010 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- The European Parliament voted Wednesday in favour of extending the minimum maternity leave from 14 to 20 weeks.
"Yeah, go ahead. We got lotsa money. We'll cover you!"
An investment in future babies which would pay off, were the society in question a great deal more child friendly. Unfortunately it isn't, except for the colonizing Mohammedans. And given how many of them are already on the dole, maternity leave really isn't an influencing factor -- nor paternity leave either. So no worries about having to pay out much on this new commitment.
It's a cheap way to demonstrate their solidarity with socialism, especially cheap when it's someone else's money ...
Workers on maternity leave must be paid their full salary, which must be 100% of their last monthly salary or their average monthly salary, stated the EP resolution adopted by 390 votes in favour and 192 against. The resolution also wants EU member states to give fathers the right to fully paid paternity leave of at least two weeks within the period of maternity leave. The resolution bans the dismissal of pregnant workers from the beginning of a pregnancy to at least 6 months following the end of the maternity leave.
"Mothers' rights are a key priority for the European Commission. If we want to move towards gender equality in the work place, we must find the right balance between concrete rights for mothers and the current economic realities facing businesses in the EU," Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights ? said after the vote held in Strasbourg.
The resolution will now go before the EU Council of Ministers for discussion and approval.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Given that Muslim women are mostly not employed & native Euro women mostly don't have babies, it's a cheap gesture.
#2
As a measure to encourage working women to have children, it's a good thing.
By way of comparison, the Australian Labor Party has just introduced a scheme whereby all women get the same minimum wage maternity payment, irrespective of whether they work or not. Which just incentivizes the unemployed to have more children. Demographic politics at its worse.
#1
Big Deal. I notice no one complains about foods being Kosher.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
10/21/2010 8:44 Comments ||
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#2
Deacon, you must not have read the article. It is not about halal or kosher. The point is that the organization doing the certification has Muslim Brotherhood roots. Remember them? The guys that declared militant jihad on the USA recently?
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
10/21/2010 9:09 Comments ||
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#3
I'll do it. Gimme the rule book and a big wad of cash ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/21/2010 9:18 Comments ||
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#4
The Rule Book; that might be awhile finding. Need to check under piles of libtards, icky business that.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
10/21/2010 9:48 Comments ||
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#5
I read it. I still say Big Deal.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
10/21/2010 10:08 Comments ||
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#10
certified Kosher. I don't hear anyone complaining about that.
Kosher is a quality control certification, Deacon Blues. That's why kosher hot dogs are better quality than regular hot dogs. Halal is about saying the prayer while facing Mecca, if what I've read is correct, which isn't about the quality of the ingredients or the cleanliness of the equipment.
Faced with increasing casualties from roadside bombs in Afghanistan, the U.S. military will experiment with remote-controlled, unmanned helicopters to deliver supplies to remote outposts, according to a report Thursday.
The U.S. Navy is seeking a contractor to operate the program, scheduled for 2011, the report in Stars and Stripes said.
This is a rapid deployment effort being led by the Navy in response to an urgent needs requirement for a Cargo UAS (unmanned aircraft systems) capability in support of Marine Corps forces engaged in Operation Enduring Freedom, Eric Pratson, leader of the Navy team behind the project, told Stripes.
Lockheed-Martin and Kaman Aerospace say their K-MAX unmanned helicopter system can do the job. They tested it at the Armys Dugway Proving Ground earlier this year and it met or exceeded requirements, according to a Lockheed-Martin statement.
#2
You free up manned 'thinking on the fly' choppers from doing routine supply runs to support medivac missions et al. You cut down the cargo flight hours of who you have on hand to focus on other priorities. Remember the theater is at the end of a very long logistical cord. Right off the bat, you save the lift cost of the pilot and co-pilot and add that to the cargo.
Google Inc. cut its taxes by $3.1 billion in the last three years using a technique that moves most of its foreign profits through Ireland and the Netherlands to Bermuda.
Google's income shifting -- involving strategies known to lawyers as the "Double Irish" and the "Dutch Sandwich" -- helped reduce its overseas tax rate to 2.4 percent, the lowest of the top five U.S. technology companies by market capitalization, according to regulatory filings in six countries. As Mr. Green points out, "Higher tax rates do no necessarily generate higher tax revenue."
Flat tax now!
Careful with the unintended consequences. If we had a flat tax, the government would be taking more of our money and would grow even bigger than it is now.
#2
Not necessarily, gorb. It would have to be hard wired to a certain percentage and a lot of other taxes went away. The countries which have adopted it and kept it reasonable have had great success with the flat tax.
#3
It would have to be hard wired to a certain percentage and a lot of other taxes went away.
State & local property taxes were supposed to be 'hard wired' to a certain percentage, but that has rarely happened. As for making the other taxes 'go away,'...
#4
This issue is almost as complicated as paying for health care. There's a FairTax website here. Its online comparison tax calculator tried to persuade me that paying 400% more in federal taxes was good for me.
#7
It would have to be hard wired to a certain percentage and a lot of other taxes went away.
Like the income tax when it started out at 1%? Turns out that was just a pilot program, I guess.
But yeah, if they could fix the flat tax permanently to say 5% for the feds and abolish all other forms of federal taxation I'd go for it.
Once you add up all the taxes, including taxes on evil businesses, energy, sins, cell phones, property, and whatever else, it probably turns out we have to work from January through July or August to pay for it all. Maybe if people had to give their paychecks directly to the tax authorities until the yearly quota is reached it would provoke a few changes in how people look at their taxes.
#8
Gorb, I think they were proposing exactly that in the UK - the government would get all paychecks and dole out what they wanted to give to people.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
10/21/2010 20:44 Comments ||
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#9
No Halloween candy at my house for the trick-
'r treaters this year. I'm taking the Obama lead and sending it to kids too lazy to walk the neighborhood and carry a bag.
Williams responded: "Look, Bill, I'm not a bigot. You know the kind of books I've written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous."
Williams also warned O'Reilly against blaming all Muslims for "extremists," saying Christians shouldn't be blamed for Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. Whoa! Careful with that feather, you almost knocked me over!
But strong criticism followed Williams' comments.
Late Wednesday night, NPR issued a statement praising Williams as a valuable contributor but saying it had given him notice that it is severing his contract. "His remarks on The O'Reilly Factor this past Monday were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR," the statement read. Couldn't have anything to do with the 1.8 million Soros just gave NPR
#3
Interesting. I've heard NPR 'Reporters" call Tea Partiers Insurgents, rascists, and bigots. I very seldom listen to NPR. Even the local station has stopped playing music and runs re-runs of Democracy Now, Fresh Air, and the BBC all day.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
10/21/2010 10:11 Comments ||
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#4
NPR shouldn't be possessive
They should not be publicly funded doctrinaire dickheads, either.
#5
Soros also just used a front organization, the Open Society Foundations, to give 100 reporters, bought and paid for, to NPR, to report news at the State level.
"...the journalists would not be part of typical statehouse coverage, but instead would work on enterprise journalism that looks at how state government decisions play out over years, and extend beyond a single states borders."
Techniques may include exaggeration of news events, scandal-mongering, imaginary sources and sensationalism. Often is it politically oriented attack journalism sponsored by one organization against another.
#7
NPR applies Political Correctness Shariah. Similar to Islamic Shariah but no restrictions on pork.
Posted by: lord garth ||
10/21/2010 11:41 Comments ||
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#8
"His remarks on The O'Reilly Factor this past Monday were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR,"
Yeah right. They were looking for any little thing to give him the hook. Williams was an analyst for NPR not a correspondent. That status was specifically created to allow news organizations great latitude in distancing themselves from controversial comments made by staff. Does the name Daniel Schorr ring a bell? And then theres NPR contributors Bruce Kluger and David Slavin who are currently on the NPR payroll. They used to write a satirical piece in Salon spoofing to be internal memos of the Bush Administration. In one of their bits they muse about something called "Operation We Have to Get Black People to Like Us."
One cant help but wonder how does the following quote from that piece gell with NPRs high standards?
I opened the papers to see a shot of our esteemed secretary of state, Colin "Dove Bar" Powell, singing karaoke to the Japanese foreign minister.
Oh sure, they were calling the highest ranking African American official in Americas history an Uncle Tom. But hey thats satire. And besides he's a Republican.
#10
Oh sure, they were calling the highest ranking African American official in America's history an "Uncle Tom". But hey...that's satire. And besides he's a Republican.
#13
CAIR's Ibrahim Pooper Hooper was just on Fox and said Juan has drifted right and no longer fit NPR philosophically. Now that "Spooky Dude" Soros owns NPR only left wing purist need apply.
#16
Remember, it's Pledge Week. Be sure to call in to your local NPR station and support "free" socialist public radio, with the information you can't get anywhere else, with you after tax pledge. Tonight. Tell 'em Juan sent you.
Posted by: Your Local NPR Station ||
10/21/2010 16:06 Comments ||
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#17
All Things Considered.... Except That
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats ||
10/21/2010 16:10 Comments ||
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#22
As I recall, Mr. Williams is no saint. He's said some pretty insulting things about the right side of the spectrum in the fairly recent past. I look forward to discovering whether this was the moment he discovered his inner classical liberal/neocon, or if he just had a single moment of clarity.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.