Show #422

Everyone was in the Bunker this week.  Nic’s Cairo assignment fell through.

So, the House repealed the ACA no Democrats voted for the AHCA, all but 20 of the GOP voted for it.  It will most likely die in the Senate, but the members of the House that voted for it should be voted out.

The House also voted to allow employers to deny overtime pay.

If you laugh at a Senate hearing you could be arrested, tried and convicted of that and serve 12 months in jail.

And much more!  Hope you enjoy this week’s installment.

Talk at you next week.


One Response to Show #422

  1. Hi Jody,
    There have been people who climb over the border fence. Some people dig tunnels. Here’s a story about smugglers who tried to drive over the fence with ramps against the top of the fence on one side then down another side on ramps to the US side. People have tried using long ladders like a see-saw. Ultra-Lights, drones and radio controlled model airplanes have bee used to smuggle drugs.
    Gary
    = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
    Jeep gets stuck trying to drive over U.S.-Mexico border fence

    By the CNN Wire Staff

    Updated 7:51 AM ET, Thu November 1, 2012

    Tunnels under the U.S.-Mexico border are nothing new, but authorities spotted two smugglers taking a different approach this week: driving a Jeep over the 14-foot fence dividing the two countries.
    But the makeshift ramp the suspects propped up at the border near Yuma, Arizona, didn’t work, officials said.
    U.S. Border Patrol agents patrolling the area saw the Jeep get stuck. It was left wedged atop the fence, and its drivers fled into Mexico, the patrol said in a statement. It was not immediately clear what the vehicle may have been carrying.
    “Suspects attempting to drive a vehicle over the border fence fell prey to their own devices,” the statement said.
    Border Patrol agents confiscated the vehicle and the makeshift ramp.

    http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/31/us/mexico-border-jeep/

    Ultralight Aircraft Used to Smuggle Drugs Across Border

    A newly released California Attorney General Report cites more than 200 incidents involving ultralight aircraft and drug smuggling since 2008
    By Steven Luke

    Ultralight aircraft are the latest tools being used to smuggle drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border, including flying narcotics into San Diego County. NBC 7’s Steven Luke reports. (Published Wednesday, March 26, 2014)

    For years, federal agents have looked out, across and under to find drug smugglers entering San Diego County. Nowadays, however, they’re increasingly looking up.

    That’s because ultralight aircraft are frequently being used to smuggle drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border.
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    The use of ultralight aircraft flying under the radar and at night presents an increasingly concerning problem for U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents tasked with protecting our nation’s borders.

    “They just come in, drop, and go right back,” explained Deputy Special Agent in Charge Joe Garcia with San Diego’s branch of Homeland Security Investigations.

    Read: Aircraft Carrying 250 Pounds of Pot Crashes in Mountains

    Ultralight aircraft are like gliders, but with engines and the pilots are seated.

    “Essentially it’s a lawn mower with wings,” said Garcia, who is worried about public safety given the increased use by cartels in the past decade.

    The pilots fly at night to avoid detection and carry hundreds of pounds of drugs in a basket-type contraption beneath the aircraft. A lever allows the pilot to release the drugs from the air at a designated drop zone. The plane rarely touches the ground.

    “It never lands physically in the U.S., unless it crashes,” said Garcia, pointing to Friday’s crash in the Laguna Mountains as a perfect example.

    In that incident, federal agents found roughly 250 pounds of marijuana along with a busted ultralight aircraft in the remote area of eastern San Diego County.

    The aircraft had slammed into a dead oak tree before crashing onto the ground. There were no traces of blood, so authorities believe the pilot walked away from the wreck without serious injuries.

    “We believe the pilot walked away, but what if he hit a house? Hit a car?” said Garcia.

    A newly released California Attorney General Report cites more than 200 incidents involving ultralight aircraft and drug smuggling since 2008, when the first sightings were reported. While the use of ultralight aircraft isn’t expected to outpace panga boats, another popular smuggling conduit, the report says smuggling by air could become more difficult to combat as technology surrounding drones advances.

    Local agents say most of those cases occurred outside San Diego County but authorities now working to find new ways to combat the problem before someone on the ground gets hurt.

    Published at 8:48 AM PDT on Mar 26, 2014 | Updated at 12:07 PM PDT on Mar 26, 2014

    http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Ultralight-Aircraft-Border-Drug-Smuggling-Agents-San-Diego-252461841.html

    Two plead guilty in border drug smuggling by drone

    by Kristina Davis

    When 28 pounds of heroin made it across the U.S.-Mexico border near Calexico in April, it didn’t come by the usual methods of car, truck or tunnel. It came by drone, federal authorities said Wednesday, making it the first cross-border seizure by U.S. law enforcement involving the new smuggle-by-air tactic.

    Two men pleaded guilty Tuesday to retrieving the drugs near California Highway 98 in Imperial County, a pickup that was captured on Border Patrol cameras on April 28, according to court records.

    “With border security tight, drug traffickers have thought of every conceivable method to move their drugs over, under and through the border,” U.S. Atty. Laura Duffy said in a statement. “We have found their tunnels, their Cessnas, their Jet Skis, their pangas, and now we have found their drones.”

    U.S. law enforcement officials call the use of drug-laden drones from Mexico an emerging threat, yet at the same time have questioned how profitable the practice can be because drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles, are limited in how much they can carry.
    With border security tight, drug traffickers have thought of every conceivable method to move their drugs over, under and through the border. — U.S. Atty. Laura Duffy

    Lauren Mack, spokeswoman for U.S. Homeland Security Investigations in San Diego, said authorities have been prepared for cross-border drones since at least last year when they received a tip that smuggling operators might be considering the tactic.

    Thus far, the activity appears to be mostly test runs, authorities said.

    Drones as a drug-smuggling tool made news in January when one hauling meth crashed in the parking lot of a Tijuana shopping center, two miles from the U.S. border. It was loaded with about seven pounds of drugs and was likely being ferried from neighborhood to neighborhood, Mexican law enforcement said.

    Months later, Border Patrol camera operators spotted a person carrying a large object in a field near Calexico who waved down a vehicle, according to the complaint. The large item was thrown in the trunk and the person climbed into the passenger seat.

    Agents stopped the vehicle nearby and found a duffel bag full of drugs in the trunk that turned out to be heroin.

    NEWSLETTER: Get the day’s top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >>

    The driver, Jonathan Elias, 18, told agents in an interview that he’d known the passenger, Brayan Valle, for about a month, according to the complaint. He said Valle had called asking him to pick him and the drugs up for $100. Valle, 19, also admitted picking up the drugs, as well as a drone controller, according to his plea agreement.

    Each pleaded guilty Tuesday in El Centro federal court to one count of possession of drugs with intent to distribute. They are set to be sentenced in San Diego on Oct. 20. Their plea agreements don’t give further details about the drone or who operated it.

    Small drones, which have become easily accessible and affordable to the general public, can fly up to an hour and as far as five miles, and some can be navigated by preset GPS coordinates. Mexican media have reported that drug cartels are commissioning engineers for custom-made drones.

    [email protected]

    http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-drone-drugs-20150813-story.html