A scam is a scam is a scam

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/lottery-fixing-scandal-spreads-nationwide-article-1.2470819

DES MOINES, Iowa — The allegations read like a movie plot: a lottery industry insider installs undetectable software giving him advance knowledge of winning numbers, then enlists accomplices to play those numbers and collect the jackpots. And they secretly enrich themselves for years – until a misstep exposes them.

Eddie Tipton, former security director of the Multi-State Lottery Association, has been convicted of fraud for fixing one jackpot in Des Moines, but prosecutors say his high-tech scheme extended far beyond Iowa. He’s accused of tampering with lottery drawings in four states over six years, and investigators are expanding their inquiry nationwide…

Celebrating Trees

“Trees are Earth’s endless effort to speak to the listening heaven.” Rabindranath Tagore

“A man has made at least a start on discovering the meaning of human life when he plants shade trees under which he knows full well he will never sit.”  D. Elton Trueblood

“Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names the streets after them.” Bill Vaughan

“I was on acid and I looked at the trees and I realized that they all came to points, and the little branches came to points, and the houses came to point. I thought, ‘Oh! Everything has a point, and if it doesn’t, then there’s a point to it.'”  Harry Nilsson

It’s the end of the month, I’m poor, and I’m bored. Hence, more posts. Have I thanked you today for taking the time to visit my little corner of the internet? Gracias, mis amigos. 🙂

(Photos taken 12/14/2015, except for the last one, which was taken in November, 2014.)

My Tree Is Taller Than Your Tree

http://derrickjknight.com/2015/12/19/feeding-time/

I have yet to get a good photo of this remarkable tree, but I think I can say that it’s taller than the trees in Sir Derrick’s photos. However, his trees win in the unusual shape category — bent over, as if they were old, tired, and needed a walking cane to lean on. 🙂

(Photos taken 12/14/2015.)

Buy My Leaves

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/oct/09/autumn-leaves-order-online-fall-foliage

A lot of things can be bought with $20: five Big Macs, seven tall lattes from Starbucks, a lamp from Ikea and, as of this week, authentic autumn leaves from New England. Ship Foliage, which launched on Tuesday, delivers preserved leaves right to customer’s doors, but only three. And shipping is not included…

The leaves are gathered by “foliage experts”, according to the website. But Waring says it’s him, his wife, and a few friends that do the leaf picking. The selection process is quite particular and Waring claims they only choose “perfect Grade A leaves”…

(Photos taken 12/13/2015.)

More People Died Of Opioid Overdoses Last Year Than Ever Before

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opioid-overdose-deaths-2014_56745bbbe4b014efe0d55516

My comment:

Johnna Stahl · Albuquerque, New Mexico
Opioids, by themselves, do not usually cause death. It’s using legal and illegal opioids with drugs like alcohol and benzodiazepines that can cause the heart to stop. Of course, people who are forced into the underground drug market are also at risk for adulterated drugs.

And while certain agencies blame drug addiction on the drugs themselves, the real experts have come to understand that this theory is outdated and incorrect. The war on drugs can continue to demonize certain drugs — like cannabis and opioids — but users know the truth. Because of that, the opioid war will have the same disastrous consequences as the war against bud — only this time, the victims will be mostly white people.

Kira Kinski
The causation is rooted in the War on Drugs. These deaths do not have to occur, and everyone who perpetuates the War on Drugs is culpable. But don’t take my word for it. Educate yourself. Watching this TED talk by Carl Hart is an excellent way to start...

#GiveItToMe!

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2014/02/26/

susana_barracuda_does_bigger_stage_await_gov_martinez__121723.html

Sarah Palin’s blessing may have raised Martinez from relative obscurity within New Mexico politics, but the association with Palin these days threatens to keep her there instead of elevating her to the national stage…

When Time magazine last year cited Martinez as of one of the 100 most influential people in the world, it was none other than Karl Rove who penned the magazine’s blurb on the “reform-minded conservative Republican.” …

Over the last year, independent studies have ranked New Mexico next-to-last in job creation and 50th in childhood hunger, overall child welfare and poverty rate…

And when it comes time for the 2016 Republican presidential nominee to consider potential running mates, Martinez is likely to be a strong contender — if not the consensus early favorite — to become the second female Republican vice-presidential nominee in the nation’s history…

Despite the attention that these issues have received among Santa Fe politicos, the accusations of bullying and ethical breaches have not resonated deeply with either New Mexico voters or national Republican operatives, who remain unconvinced that Martinez will be tarnished by them…

Famous taglines:

“Be afraid. Be very afraid.” – The Fly

“In space, no one can hear you scream.” – Alien

“One ring to rule them all.” – The Lord of the Rings

“Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water…” – Jaws 2

“Some houses are born bad.” -The Haunting

“It knows what scares you.” -Poltergeist

“Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas.” – Army of Darkness

#BreakingBadSusana

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/drunk-new-mexico-governor-cops_5674aae0e4b014efe0d5aaf0

Totally Not Drunk New Mexico Governor Chastises Cops For Breaking Up Her Hotel Party

Three audio recordings obtained by several local media outlets feature staff at the El Dorado Hotel in Santa Fe, New Mexico, calling police in the early hours of Dec. 13 to ask them to kick noisy people off the hotel premises after complaints from other hotel guests.

“We have guests that have been partying in their room,” Shelly Garcia at the El Dorado front desk told the Santa Fe police dispatcher. “They’ve been warned already and they are still not quieting down.”

Garcia told police that the rowdy guests had been throwing bottles off their hotel room balcony…

A slurry-sounding Martinez can be heard on the second recording repeatedly pestering Garcia to tell her who had complained — or at least say what room they were in… Martinez then gets on the phone with the police dispatcher, who also refuses to identify the people who complained.

The third, and funniest recording, has Martinez speaking to an officer on the phone, incredulous that cops had been sent to the hotel. It’s unclear at that point whether she is back in her room.

“So we’re sitting in there, I’m the governor of the state of New Mexico, and we’re in there with my sister, who’s disabled, along with about six other people who are having pizza,” Martinez said.

Told by the cop that there were reports of partying guests throwing bottles off the balcony, Martinez gave this creative denial:

“I’m sorry. There’s no one on the balcony and there’s no one throwing bottles off the balcony,” she said. “And if there were, it was about six hours ago.”

http://krqe.com/2015/12/18/governors-post-party-call-to-police-call-off-your-officers/

The dispatcher tells the governor that there’s been a noise complaint.

“Loud noise?” the governor asks. “We’re in a room eating pizza.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am. Someone called us out there and we have to go,” the dispatcher replies.

“Someone? Who is someone?” the governor demands.

For numerous public safety reasons, police dispatchers do not immediately give out information about people making complaints to the subject of the complaint.

“Why can you not?” the governor responds. “It’s public record. Give it to me.”

As the dispatcher tells the governor he would like to transfer her to a supervisor, Martinez turns her attention to the front desk attendant: “Has there been another resident who’s been making complaints?”

The governor asks for the room number of the hotel guest who has been complaining. The front desk attendant tells the governor she can’t give out the information, but Martinez continues to press.

“Tell me. What room number? So that… Are they on the fourth floor? … Next door? To our room?”

“They’re in that area, yes,” the attendant replies.

“That area? Are they next door?” the governor continues, “And I wanna know who they are.”

Like the dispatcher, the attendant won’t give up the information about the person complaining about the noise…

Before conducting interviews, the Governor’s Office issued a statement Friday afternoon. It incorrectly says that the governor was called by police as they inquired about the complaint. In fact, hotel staff placed the call and handed the phone to the governor at her request. News 13 asked Sanchez, the governor’s spokesman, about the error and will update this if he responds.

Here is the statement in its entirety:

“Unbeknownst to the Governor, there had been complaints about noise and someone throwing what turned out to be snowballs from the balcony of that room earlier in the night while the governor was in the ballroom…”

Under comments:

chethardy • 5 hours ago
Ladies and Gentlemen: The president-elect of the Republican Governors Association.

I for one, am glad she was drinking. I’d hate to think she was sober when she said all that.

PS. Some days I think the Albuquerque evening news should be syndicated and turned into a reality TV show. Did you see the following story? “….and in other news the Secretary of State went to prison today.”

Oswald Cobblepott • 8 hours ago
A quote from the governor in an interview with another prime numbered news channel “I had one cocktail and that happened around uh the very late”

Red_Painter • 10 hours ago
Hahaha….
We threw the bottles 6 hours ago.
You didn’t catch us.
What a lowlife. This woman should be cleaning public toilets in the bus station.

Dianne Bock • 8 hours ago
Why the insistence on finding out who lodged the complaint? If it was a guest at the hotel, there is a large chance that they couldn’t give a rat’s behind about Her Highness and the peet-zhaa party that *we* threw for her and her esteemed staff.

What was she going to do – try to ugly them to death?

(BTW Ms. Martinez, this is Dianne Bock. B-O-C-K. Come and get me.)

FHRITP • 8 hours ago
I was the one who complained. I was in the room below. I heard what sounded like Christians having guilty sex, cocaine use, you name it!