Archive for June 12th, 2012

Say it ain’t so, José.

Tuesday, June 12th, 2012

Long and fascinating article in the NYT. Apparently, the Zeta cartel has been laundering drug profits by purchasing quarter horses in the United States.

The affidavit said the Zetas funneled about $1 million a month into buying quarter horses in the United States. The authorities were tipped off to Tremor’s activities in January 2010, when the Zetas paid more than $1 million in a single day for two broodmares, the affidavit said.

Way to keep a low freaking profile there, guys.

Edited to add: More from the Statesman.

Posted in Clippings, Horses, Law | Comments Closed

Administrative announcement.

Tuesday, June 12th, 2012

WCD now has an official mascot.

No, not the drama llama: we are content to leave that for other bloggers.

The official mascot of WCD is the slow loris. How can you not like a venomous primate? If only they could be genetically engineered to fly and kill bureaucrats.

Posted in Admin, Primates | Comments Closed

Meanwhile, back at Alcatraz…

Tuesday, June 12th, 2012

Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the great Alcatraz escape.

Clarence and John Anglin and their friend Frank Lee Morris broke out of the prison and escaped into San Francisco Bay on a raft they made out of raincoats. They were never recaptured, and there is considerable debate to this day about whether they died during the escape or managed to elude capture. (All three would be over 80 today.) More background here.

Anyway, the LAT has coverage tied to a 50th anniversary gathering of various folks involved in the case, including the Anglins’ sisters, federal marshals who are still looking for the trio, and Jolene Babyak, who has written extensively about Alcatraz (one of her books is devoted to the escape).

Posted in Clippings, Law | Comments Closed

Azaria.

Tuesday, June 12th, 2012

I previously noted the fourth coroner’s inquest into the Azaria Chamberlain case.

The verdict is in: the coroner has ruled that Azaria was killed by a dingo.

NYT coverage. The Australian (may ask for a login, not sure). BBC. And by way of the BBC, the inquest findings from the coroner’s website.

Pull quotes:

“We live in a beautiful country but it is dangerous and we’d ask all Australians to be aware of this and take appropriate precautions.”

 

In February, the Mr Tipple told the inquest there were 239 recorded instances of dingoes attacking people in Queensland from 1990 to 2011, with many of those attacks occurring on Fraser Island.

Posted in Clippings, Law | Comments Closed