Strange & Stupid: Amusing News

Our proud parents of the day got high on meth and then let little Timmy toddle his way into the walls. Then they laughed until their scars hurt.

STANLEY, N.C. — Two 19-year old parents stand to face child abuse charges after recording their blindfolded son running into walls.
The video shows the “parents” blindfolding their 11-month-old son and watching him fall on his face and run into walls.

Burgess told NewsChannel 36 on Thursday that the video looks worse than it was. She said her son was not injured and the family was just having fun.
Delmer Frank James Doss and Amber Lynn Burgess are out on bond. The child remains in Burgess’ care.

Ever wonder if its true that “they” smuggle drugs into Europe by shoving bags of heroin up unsuspecting teddy bears asses?

Turns out, its not.  They use bananas.  Madrid police found over 25 KILOS of heroin hidden in plantains headed for the Lidl supermarket chain.

El Mundo reports that the worker who uncovered a brick of smack in a crate of plantains called police, who found 25 other bricks in that and other Lidl branches.

The fruits had come from the Ivory Coast and Ecuador.

By Larry Copeland and Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
ATLANTA — In a city where Coca Cola, United Parcel Service and Home Depot are the titans of industry, there are new powerful forces on the block: Mexican drug cartels.

Their presence and ruthless tactics are largely unknown to most here. Yet, of the 195 U.S. cities where Mexican drug-trafficking organizations are operating, federal law enforcement officials say Atlanta has emerged as the new gateway to the troubled Southwest border.

Rival drug cartels have established Atlanta as the principal distribution center for the entire eastern U.S., according to the Justice Department’s National Drug Intelligence Center.

In fiscal year 2008, federal drug authorities seized more drug-related cash in Atlanta — about $70 million — than any other region in the country, Drug Enforcement Administration records show.

“The same folks who are rolling heads in the streets of Ciudad Juárez” — El Paso’s Mexican neighbor — “are operating in Atlanta. Here, they are just better behaved,” says Jack Killorin, who heads the Office of National Drug Control Policy’s federal task force in Atlanta.

The same regional features that appeal to legitimate corporate operations — access to transportation systems and proximity to major U.S. cities — have lured the cartels, Atlanta U.S. Attorney David Nahmias says.

An added attraction for the cartels, say Nahmias and Rodney Benson, the DEA’s Atlanta chief, is the explosive growth of the Hispanic community.
Nahmias calls northeast suburban Gwinnett County, about 30 miles northeast of Atlanta, the “epicenter” of the region’s drug activity.

Gwinnett’s Hispanic population surged from 8,470 in 1990 to 64,137 in 2000, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. Now, 17% of the county’s 776,000 people are Hispanic.

“You see Mexican drug-trafficking operations deploying representatives to hide within these communities in plain sight,” Benson says. “They were attempting to blend into the same communities as those who were hard-working, law-abiding people.”

The cartel representatives here range from the drivers, packagers and money counters to senior figures in the drug trade.

The best part of this is that the future crack addict is listening to that catchy little tune Love song by Sara Barreilles.

Stolen Directly from FOX NEWS - Two of Mexico’s deadliest drug cartels have reached a combined force of 100,000 foot soldiers, wreaking havoc across the country and threatening U.S. border states, the U.S. Defense Department told The Washington Times.

The cartels rival the Mexican army in size and have both Mexico and the U.S. in crisis mode as they deal with what they fear is a coming insurgency along the border.

“It’s moving to crisis proportions,” an unidentified defense official told The Times. The official also said the cartels have reached a size where they are on par with Mexico’s army of 130,000.

About 7,000 people have died in the last year — more than 1,000 in January alone — at the hands of Mexico’s increasingly violent drug cartels. Murders often involve beheadings or bodies dissolved in vats of acid.

The two most dangerous cartels are the Sinaloa cartel, nicknamed the “Federation” or “Golden Triangle” by law enforcement agencies, and “Los Zetas” (the Gulf Cartel). They have been growing and are reportedly discussing a truce or merger to better withstand government forces, The Times reported.

Mexico is now only behind Pakistan and Iran as a U.S. national security concern, coming in ahead of Afghanistan and Iraq, the defense official told The Times.

Nearly 2,000 Mexican soldiers and armed federal police poured into the border town of Ciudad Juarez last weekend.

The city - just across from El Paso in Texas - has been ravaged by drug gangs. Just this month 250 people were killed there by hitmen fighting for lucrative smuggling routes.

Between federal police and Mexican Army soldiers up to 2,000 law enforcement officers swarmed the streets of Juarez over the weekend to join the 2,500 already there - and there are more to come - The soldiers are the first contingent of as many as 5,000 troops and federal police being sent to Juarez.

Mexico has deployed some 45,000 troops across the country to try to crush drug gangs, but clashes between rival cartels and security forces killed around 6,000 people last year.
Juarez is a city of 1.6 million.

MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) - A motel in northern Mexico is putting steel doors on its rooms to protect guests from kidnappings and shootings in an escalating war between rival drug cartels.

Owners of the Rancho El Trueno, or Thunder Ranch, began fortifying the highway motel near Monterrey a year ago but have decided to shield all 35 rooms as drug killings have worsened in the area in recent months.

Complete with hot tubs, red imitation-leather beds, mirrored walls and striptease poles, the rooms are shuttered behind steel gates about 1.5 inches thick and some already have steel doors.

“We want people to have fun and be able to feel safe. Lovers come, big groups come, we are full on weekends,” said Emilio Massa, the motel manager.

He said the owners came up with the idea after guests in nearby motels were shot and kidnapped.

“Do drug gangs come? Well you never know, do you?” Massa said to the grating sound of machines cutting steel doors to put on the rooms.

Thunder Ranch charges 150 pesos ($13.80) for three hours or 400 pesos a night for a room. It also boasts a huge suite with a swimming pool, palm trees, a water slide, a sauna, pool tables and video screens.

“Our suite is booked up weeks ahead of time,” Massa said.

PITTSBURGH—Pittsburgh police say one homeless man was stabbed by another after they argued over who was the better panhandler.
Police are not identifying the victim, who was taken to Allegheny General Hospital with minor wounds. Forty-six-year-old Larry Milburn remains in custody awaiting arraignment on aggravated assault and other charges.

The men began arguing in an area where homeless people are known to encamp about 4:15 p.m. Thursday. that’s when police say Milburn cut the other man in the neck using kitchen shears.

Police say the men were arguing about which of them was the best panhandler on the city’s North Side, a neighborhood that contains the city’s pro sports stadiums.

Fire marshals Saturday busted a career criminal who injured 10 people when he started a blaze at a Bronx drug den by setting a stuffed animal on fire, authorities said.

Duane Mims [who is hot b/c you're not], 55, allegedly tore apart the teddy bear and used a lighter to ignite it. The fire spread from the couch to the Highbridge building’s stairwell about 1:15 a.m. Thursday.

“The apartment’s door was open so the fire raced out the door, up the steps and cut off people’s means of escape,” said Chief FDNY Fire Marshal Robert Byrnes. “It got bad in a hurry.”

Mims, whose rap sheet is plastered with more than 80 prior arrests, escaped the inferno.

Witnesses told fire marshals that several drug users had gathered in the apartment and Mims was convinced that another man owed him $100.

The marshals also found a handwritten note in the apartment that read, “I’m going to burn you out and I mean it.” It was signed by Mims, officials said.

Investigators arrested Mims at a homeless shelter in the Bronx Saturday.