OMG - it never ends, just one thing right after another

By Jane Sutton

MIAMI (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Karen formed in the southeastern Gulf of Mexico on Thursday and was forecast to sweep through U.S. oil installations before hitting the Gulf Coast between Louisiana and the Florida Panhandle, the National Hurricane Center said.

Energy companies in the Gulf started shutting in production on Thursday and were evacuating some workers from offshore platforms as Karen approached a region that produces nearly a fifth of daily U.S. oil output.

Three days after much of the U.S. government was closed down over a budget standoff, the Federal Emergency Management Agency began recalling furloughed workers to help prepare for the storm.

The storm, the first to threaten the U.S. coast during the 2013 Atlantic hurricane season, had top winds of 65 mph and was centered about 430 miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi River.

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A man walks on the beach as clouds form on the horizon in Cancun October 3, 2013. REUTERS/Victor Rui …

It was moving north-northwest and was expected to slow down and turn north. Coastal residents could start feeling its bluster by Friday night and the center was expected to cross the coastline east of the Mississippi-Alabama border early on Sunday.

A hurricane watch was issued for the coast from Grand Isle, Louisiana, eastward to Indian Pass, Florida, alerting residents to expect hurricane conditions within 48 hours.

Karen would become a hurricane if its sustained winds reach 74 mph. That was expected to happen late Friday.

Obama Blames U.S. For Gun Violence In Mexico

Meeting face-to-face with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, President Obama on Thursday said the U.S. is to blame for much of Mexico’s drug violence, and he set up a major congressional gun-control battle by calling on the Senate to ratify a treaty designed to track and cut the flow of guns to other countries.

Mr. Obama said he wants to renew a ban on some semiautomatic weapons but that it is not likely to pass Congress. Instead, he called for the Senate to ratify a decade-old hemisphere wide treaty that would require nations to mark all weapons produced in the country and track them to make sure no weapons were exported to countries where they were banned.

“I will not pretend that this is Mexico’s responsibility alone. The demand for these drugs in the United States is what’s helping keep these cartels in business,” Mr. Obama said at a joint news conference with Mr. Calderon. “This war is being waged with guns purchased not here, but in the United States. More than 90 percent of the guns recovered in Mexico come from the United States, many from gun shops that line our shared border.”

Illegal immigrants arrested in phony UPS van

NILAND, Calif. (AP) — It was a special delivery indeed — 13 suspected illegal immigrants from Mexico stuffed in a phony UPS van.

The U.S. Border Patrol said Tuesday that agents stopped the van Friday as the driver tried to circumvent a highway checkpoint near Niland, about 150 miles east of San Diego in California's Imperial Valley, near the Mexican border.

The van looked like a legitimate United Parcel Service Inc. delivery vehicle, except the company decal on the back door was slightly crooked.

The driver, U.S. citizen Daniel Lopez, was charged in federal court in El Centro with illegal transportation of aliens, authorities said.

Carlos Goens, the driver of another truck, was charged with the same crime after being detained at a Border Patrol checkpoint. He is suspected of coordinating with the UPS van.

Migrants told authorities they had agreed to pay between $5,000 and $8,000 each to be smuggled into the United States, according to the criminal complaint.

An agent reported seeing Goens leave a suspected stash house for illegal immigrants in the town of Brawley, leading authorities to the UPS vehicle. Another agent pulled over the UPS van at a mobile home park in Niland.

Cartagena

I haven't seen anything brought up about it, but I have to wonder, WHO was paying for all this FUN in Cartagena?  Expense accounts can be a great thing. My guess is that the American Taxpayers were footing some of the bill. Obama seems to be aware of everything else that is going on around him, why not this incident. It had to have been going on for quite some time. Look at all the traveling Obama was doing around the world, almost daily. How many "advance" teams were there? "Dig a little deeper in the well."

American taxpayer dollars at work

Mexico finds 2nd 'pot-catapult'

Mexico finds 2nd 'pot-catapult' used to fling marijuana across border into US

Associated Press

HERMOSILLO, Mexico - Drug smugglers are using an ancient invention as a new way to move marijuana across the border from Mexico to Arizona.

The discovery of two "drug catapults" in the Mexican state of Sonora marks the latest twist in the cat-and-mouse game traffickers play with authorities.

U.S. National Guard troops operating a remote surveillance system at the Naco Border Patrol Station say they observed several people preparing a catapult and launching packages over the fence late last week.

A Mexican army officer says the 3-yard (3-meter) tall catapult was found about 20 yards (20 meters) from the U.S. border on a flatbed towed by a sports utility vehicle.

The officer says the catapult was capable of launching 4.4 pounds (2 kilograms) of marijuana at a time. He says soldiers seized 35 pounds (16 kilograms) of pot, the vehicle and the catapult.

The smugglers left before they could be captured. The surveillance video of them using the catapult was released Wednesday.

A second catapult was discovered Thursday in near Agua Prieta, another border town. Another army officer in that area said an anonymous tip led soldiers to the scene and the catapult was similar to the first.

Mexican officials say it is the first time they have seen this smuggling method used by local traffickers.

Mexican traffickers have previously used planes, tunnels, vehicles, boats and couriers to smuggle drugs into the United States. Colombian drug traffickers have even used homemade submarines.

Jose and Carlos

Every day, Jose brings home a suitcase full of ten dollar bills. He drives a new Mercedes, lives in a mortgage-free house, and has lots of cash to spend.

"Hey, amigo," Carlos says to Jose, "I work just as long and hard as you do, so how come you bring home a suitcase full of ten dollar bills every day?"

Jose says, "Look at your sign, what does it say?"

Carlos' sign reads;

I have no work, a wife and Six kids to support.

"What's wrong with that?" Carlos asks him.

"No wonder you only get eight or nine dollars a day!"

Carlos says, "All right, so what does your sign say?"

Jose's sign reads:

I only need ten dollars To get back to Mexico