Man Charged With Smuggling Meth In Frames Of Religious Art

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Photo Credit: KDKA

Photo Credit: KDKA

It’s a drug-smuggling scandal straight out of a movie.

Federal agents say they’ve uncovered a scheme in which meth was hidden in the frames of religious artwork and shipped to Pittsburgh from Mexico, according to an affidavit filed in court.

Carmelo Rojas-Perez is charged with smuggling.

He lived in an apartment in Oakland, but according to court papers, he’s a Mexican citizen who came here illegally in 1993. The man who owns the store below Rojas-Perez’s apartment says he came into the store regularly, but the owner says he had no idea what was allegedly going on.

Custom agents at the FedEx hub in Memphis caught on to the hidden drugs.

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Drone Hunters Line Up for Colorado Town’s ‘license’ Ahead of Vote – $100 Bounty for Fed’s Drones

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picture - Drone Hunding CO townThe tiny Colorado plains town of Deer Trail has yet to vote on a proposal that would create drone-hunting licenses and bounties, but that hasn’t stopped the man behind the initiative from selling 100 of his own licenses online.

The Denver Post reports that Phillip Steel, a traveling structural inspector who spearheaded the drone-hunting initiative, is selling the $25 novelty licenses to anyone who applies on his website, droneshooters.com.

Deer Trail, population 500, on Oct. 8 will vote on whether to issue permits to hunt drones. The proposal calls for a $100 bounty reward for shooters who bring in debris from an unmanned aircraft “known to be owned or operated by the United States federal government.”

Steel, who insists the initiative is a symbolic stand against government surveillance, said he’s given part of the income he’s received from selling the fake licenses to the town.

“These are not big drones you see on TV that look like airplanes. These are little 55-pound things that can come right down into your land,” Steel told The Associated Press.

Steel got the idea after seeing news reports about the National Security Agency’s domestic spying efforts. “Do we really want to become a surveillance society? That’s what I find really repugnant,” Steel said.

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I Came, I Saw, I Skedaddled

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Photo Credit: GARY LOCKE

Photo Credit: GARY LOCKE

Chief Executive of Sparta,
Barack Leonidas Obama,
at the Battle of Thermopylae

Stand down, men. The chairman of the Greek City States Alliance Joint Chiefs of Staff has indicated to me that our capacity to execute this mission against Xerxes is not time-sensitive.

Julius Barack Caesar Obama
Crosses the Rubicon

I am crossing the Rubicon. Brrr, the water’s chilly. Deep, too. I’m going for a walk along the riverbank to look for a bridge. And I will cross the Rubicon as soon as the weather warms up. The die has been cast. That is, the deck has been shuffled. Or the Wheel of Fortune has been spun. And I’ll buy a vowel.

Pontius Barack Pilate Obama,
Matthew 27:24

When he saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of these just persons, but I’ll ask the Senate back in Rome for authority to do something-or-other, although it may have to wait until after Good Friday.”

Christopher Barack Columbus Obama

Many prominent experts, including Thomas Friedman of the New York Times, maintain that the earth is flat. This is a debate I would like to have. Meanwhile, I have discovered a new route to France.

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New Mexico Outhouse Labeled ‘Obama’s Presidential Library’ Causing Controversy

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Photo Credit: opposing views

Photo Credit: opposing views

A sign on top of an outhouse in New Mexico is causing controversy and discussion around town. The outhouse, which is located in the town of Tucumcari, is actually “Obama’s Presidential Library,” according to its label. Residents of Tucumcari, which is located right off of historic Route 66, are split about whether the sign is a deft political statement or simply an example of bad taste.

The man who built the outhouse and put up the sign won’t reveal his identity and he also won’t be taking down the Obama-bashing bathroom anytime soon, KOAT reported.

“It’s like watching TV. If you don’t like what the hell you’re watching, turn the channel,” said the man who put up the sign. “I’m not even certain he even deserves that level of respect, but that’s my opinion.”

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Jon Stewart Returns to Blast Obama Administration, Congress on Syria

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Photo Credit: Comedy Central screen shot

Photo Credit: Comedy Central screen shot

Jon Stewart returned to Comedy Central’s “Daily Show” Tuesday night after spending the summer directing a film in Jordan, and the host wasted no time in going after the Obama administration and Congress members on Syria.

Correspondent John Oliver filled in for Mr. Stewart for eight of the 12-week break, and he gave the returning host an on-air rundown of the summer’s news.

“Wow! America taking military action against a Middle East regime? It’s like I never left,” the host said, before leading into a segment called “Uncle Jonny Stew’s Good Time Syria Jamboree,” featuring presidents who delivered various threats against Middle Eastern countries.

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Introducing a Flu Vaccine You Give Yourself

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Photo Credit: Purdue University

Photo Credit: Purdue University

What if getting a flu vaccine no longer involved getting a shot?

Researchers at Georgia State University have spent the past few years working on a microneedle patch that dissolves into the skin for patients to easily and painlessly self-administer vaccines. Now, they’ve developed a flu vaccine using the system that, when tested on mice, proved to be 100 percent effective more than a year after the mice were vaccinated.

As they report in the September 2013 issue of the journal Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, the influenza vaccine uses dry virus-like particles (VLP) instead of a liquid with the dead or attenuated virus. The VLPs coat the micronneedle patch alongside a stabilizing agent, so that the patches won’t necessarily need to be refrigerated.

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Born with Down Syndrome, Newark Man Wins Respect Powerlifting (+video)

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Photo Credit: Jennifer Corbett

Photo Credit: Jennifer Corbett

Sitting at the kitchen table in his family’s Newark home, Jon Stoklosa comes across as a laid-back, almost shy guy. He answers questions with a word, preferring instead to look out the backyard window and let his parents, Hank and Liz, do the talking.

But the medal he clasps in his right hand offers a glimmer of the personality that hides beneath his sturdy 5-foot-5 frame.

It’s from a recent powerlifting competition in upstate New York, one where he bench-pressed a personal best of 402.5 pounds and came in third in his age division. He also picked up the “Most Inspirational” award, a unanimous choice by other competitors, many of whom gathered to watch the 31-year-old make his lifts.

Friends and family say Jon, who was born with Down syndrome, is an example of what is possible when people aren’t tethered by labels.

In addition to being able to bench-press more than 400 pounds, Jon can squat 440 pounds and dead-lift an identical amount. He has excelled at the sport, winning a gold medal in the Special Olympics World Games in 1999.

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Nyad Makes History with Swim From Cuba to Key West

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Looking dazed and sunburned, U.S. endurance swimmer Diana Nyad walked on to the Key West shore Monday, becoming the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without the help of a shark cage.

Nyad arrived at the beach just before 2 p.m. EDT, about 53 hours after she began her swim in Havana on Saturday.

As she approached, spectators surrounded her in the water, taking pictures and cheering her on. Once on the beach, she was put on a stretcher and received medical treatment, including an IV. Her lips were swollen.

It was Nyad’s fifth try to complete the approximately 110-mile swim. She tried three times in 2011 and 2012. She had also tried in 1978.

Her last attempt was cut short amid boat trouble, storms, unfavorable currents and jellyfish stings that left her face puffy and swollen.

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George Bush Sr Mistakenly Announces Nelson Mandela’s Death

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Photo Credit: REX FEATURES

Photo Credit: REX FEATURES

Mr Bush, 89, sent condolences which were picked up by an American newswire, BNO. It was then flashed up by CNN.

Jim McGrath, spokesman for Mr Bush, sent out an email entitled: “Statement by President George H. W. Bush on the death of Nelson Mandela.”

He wrote on behalf of the former president: “”Barbara and I mourn the passing of one of the greatest believers in freedom we have had the privilege to know.

“As President, I watched in wonder as Nelson Mandela had the remarkable capacity to forgive his jailers following 26 years of wrongful imprisonment – setting a powerful example of redemption and grace for us all. He was a man of tremendous moral courage, who changed the course of history in his country. Barbara and I had great respect for President Mandela, and send our condolences to his family and countrymen.”

But Mr McGrath tweeted and emailed a statement that the earlier comments were based on a flash from the Washington Post.

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Which Organs Can I Live Without, And How Much Cash Can I Get For Them?

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Photo Credit: Victor de Schwanberg

Photo Credit: Victor de Schwanberg

First, a disclaimer: Selling your organs is illegal in the United States. It’s also very dangerous. Handing off an organ is risky enough when done in a top hospital, even more so if you’re doing it for cash in a back alley. No, really: Don’t do this. OK? OK.

There are many organs one can theoretically do without, or for which there’s a backup. Most folks can spare a kidney, a portion of their liver, a lung, some intestines, and an eyeball, and still live a long life. That said, donating a lung, a piece of liver or a section of intestines is a very complicated surgery, so it’s not done frequently on the black market. And no one’s going to make much cash on an eyeball. “In the U.S., there’s a fairly steady supply of donated corneas from corpses,” says Sean Fitzpatrick, director of public affairs at the New England Organ Bank. “There’s pretty much no market demand for eyes.” Giving up a kidney, though, is a relatively simple surgery that has netted desperate people a few bucks.

Now, black-market organ dealers don’t do a great job of filing taxes, but here are some prices based on rumored deals and reports from the World Heath Organization. In India, a kidney fetches around $20,000…

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