Looks like Dzhokhar Tsarnaev gave Rolling Stone another cover opportunity with the just released prison selfie of the convicted Boston Marathon bomber flipping off the Feds. Not a great way to win sympathy when it comes to sentencing but let’s face it, there’s nothing he could do to gain any support at this point. The boy is doomed. It’s just a matter of what to do with him. On a more inspiring note, this year’s Boston Marathon on Monday included Maickel Melamed, a Venezuelan with muscular dystrophy, who despite his disability and sometimes drenching rain, completed the 26.2 mile race in 20 hours, coming in last but in triumph.
“After 20 hours of rain, wind and cold, Boston is still strong,” Melamed said.
* * *
Well…the cease fire in Yemen didn’t last long. Saudi Arabia has been pounding the hell out of Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen (and hence most of the country) for the past month, until Tuesday when the Saudi military announced the end of the U.S. backed aerial decimation. The rebels responded within hours by seizing a military base in Taiz, leading to dozen’s of new airstrikes by the Saudis across Southwestern Yemen. Following the strikes, thousands of Houthi supporters took to the streets in Yemen waving flags and guns, declaring their defiance. The U.S. says it supports negotiations, meanwhile half a dozen U.S. Warships are posted near Yemen to address the “deteriorating security situation,” according to the Pentagon.
And then there’s Vladimir Putin who claims to have 9/11 satellite images that somehow show the U.S. complicit in a false flag attack on the World Trade Center and convicted al-Qaeda plotter Zacarias Moussaoui who claims members of the Saudi royal family helped fund the 9/11 attacks.
On second thought, let’s not get in to all that right now….
* * *
In happier news, the U.S. Supreme Court made a landmark ruling yesterday that prohibits police officers from holding citizens in custody while waiting for a drug dog to arrive at the scene of a standard traffic stop; and DEA administrator Michele M. Leonhart will step down next month as a result of the scandal over DEA agents attending sex parties with prostitutes, funded by local drug cartels on government-leased property overseas over several years. Unfortunately the Drug Enforcement Agency will remain intact and wild sex parties are expected to resume. Can’t just let all those drug seizures and asset forfeitures go to waste ya know…
In other drug news, Kansas activist and medical cannabis patient Shonda Banda had her child seized by the state and is facing charges that include possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of drug paraphernalia and child endangerment, following a raid on her home by police. The raid was precipitated after the school called police when Banda’s 11-year-old son defended the use of medical cannabis during a drug education class
Banda is well-known to marijuana activists and patients. She is the author of a book “Live Free or Die: Reclaim your Life . . . Reclaim your Country!” that recounts her use of a concentrated cannabis oil to treat Crohn’s Disease. No arrests have yet been made on any drug charges. A gag order has been issued in the custody case.
* * *
And finally, in Earth Day news, Christopher Swain swam New York City’s Gowanus Canal today to bring attention to water pollution issues.
“It tasted like mud, poo, ground-up grass, detergent, gasoline…there’s a lot of goo in there,” Swain said after his dip.
The canal, a Federal Superfund Clean-up Site, remains as filthy and goo-filled as ever.
