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It was the sting that had everyone laughing back in January of last year. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife agent dresses up in a gorilla costume and crouches in a manure-laden cage to nab three Mexican citizens in the act of allegedly attempting to smuggle a real gorilla out of Miami. Jay Leno wanted but didn't get the agent on his show. A Mexican newspaper claimed the incident proved "the U.S. judicial system is one of the most corrupt in the world." Another published a special cartoon section entitled "El Changogate" (in Mexico chango means monkey) which, among its panoply of gorilla and law enforcement jokes, features one ape declaring, "This animal act by the agents of imperialism is an assault on NAFTA!" The normally responsible Washington Post ran an editorial with nearly every fact wrong, repeating an apocryphal story about the gorilla grunting, "You're under arrest," yanking off his mask, and chasing the screaming smugglers around the plane. "It is a moment we deeply wish we could have observed ourselves," the editorial added.
That moment never happened, just as a real gorilla was never available for smuggling, and just as most everything related to this case isn't exactly as it appears. The gorilla caper is only one subplot in a five-year saga starring the baron of wildlife dealers, Matthew Block of Miami. Set in the murky and duplicitous world of animal trading, where truth shifts and loyalties divide, the tale is shaped by unlikely alliances and unforeseen outcomes, until a fake gorilla fits right in with the rest of the illusion.
All told, five Mexican nationals were arrested on the night of January 25, 1993, and charged with conspiring to violate U.S. laws regulating trade in endangered species. Two of the accused went to trial May 2; the other three agreed at the last minute to plead guilty to a misdemeanor in exchange for dismissal of five other charges. After a two-week jury trial before U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno, the two were convicted of three felonies and two misdemeanors each. Victor Bernal, a 58-year-old former top official of the State of Mexico, and 33-year-old businessman Eduardo Berges face up to seventeen years in prison and almost one million dollars in fines apiece. Both remain in jail while awaiting sentencing on July 18.
The punishment in store for the Mexicans is far harsher than what Matthew Block is likely to suffer for a crime much more serious and detrimental to the world's endangered ape populations. Block played a central role in the gorilla sting and in an earlier arrest of a Jacksonville bird dealer; so central, in fact, that the arrests would almost certainly never have occurred had it not been for Block's legal difficulties in late 1992 and early 1993. He was facing prison time after pleading guilty in connection with an aborted plot to smuggle six valuable baby orangutans from their native Indonesia to Moscow in 1990 -- the notorious "Bangkok Six" case. Three of the orangutans died after being flown from Singapore to Bangkok in cramped crates, causing an international uproar. None of the participants in the smuggling conspiracy has been arrested except Block, who agreed to cooperate with prosecutors -- become an informant -- in exchange for reduced charges and, he expected, leniency at sentencing. Block didn't get what he was expecting, due to still other strange twists in the story. Currently he is free while appealing a thirteen-month sentence.
As for the government, which put some sixteen agents to work hundreds of hours over three weeks to spin a web around the Mexican gorilla-buyers, the resulting publicity was overwhelmingly positive. Some posttrial news reports lauded the breakup of an international smuggling ring, although the existence of a ring would be hard to conclude from evidence presented at trial. Neither defendant had any criminal history, and no endangered species were saved, since none had been for sale, although prosecutors contend the buyers would have sought a gorilla through other illegal channels had they not been arrested. "We're here because in 10, 20, 40, 100 years, my children, your children, our grandchildren, can go to the zoo and look at one of these animals," Assistant U.S. Attorney Guy Lewis said in his spirited closing argument to the jury on May 16.
Ironically, the guilty verdicts were not cause for rejoicing for many wildlife conservationists, especially those working for years to see Matthew Block in jail. Shirley McGreal, chairwoman of the International Primate Protection League (IPPL) in South Carolina, has begun a campaign to publicize what she calls "the worst travesty I've ever seen." Besides press releases to various media worldwide, McGreal has written to the American Civil Liberties Union, the Mexican-American Legal Defense Fund, and U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, calling for an investigation into the government's conduct. "The Mexicans really did nothing, compared to Block's vile crime.... Yet they are in jail, not him," McGreal wrote to prosecutor Lewis on May 19. "In my opinion, they should not get any jail time at all."
McGreal, a relentless crusader connected to an international network of activists, was instrumental in first linking Block to the Bangkok Six debacle and continues to monitor his legal and business affairs. "Despite its 21-year battle against wildlife crime, IPPL believes that entrapping people with no criminal backgrounds and engineering degrading, humiliating, and demeaning publicity for the 'sting' victims while aggrandizing themselves, meanwhile letting a real criminal jet the globe, is an outrage and total waste of taxpayers' money," reads an IPPL press release. Now, in one of those unusual quirks of this case, animal advocates around the world are expressing their sympathy and offering support to family members of the two Mexicans convicted of violating wildlife laws.
Jorge Enrique Pic centsn, senior resident agent in the Miami office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is a 22-year veteran of undercover operations in Latin America and the U.S., and he has caught some mean animal smugglers in his time. Most of the time the Colombia-born Pic centsn, his thinning black hair combed neatly back, occasionally donning reading glasses, looks almost professorial. But when he goes undercover, a rougher persona emerges. As "Jorge Blanco," the long-haired, bearded, foul-mouthed mafioso who had just the right gorilla for the unlucky Mexicans, the 46-year-old Pic centsn played his part with relish.
In late December 1992 or early January 1993, Matthew Block, who had been cooperating with the government for a few months, reported to Fish and Wildlife agents that some clients, Mexican businessmen, were eager to buy a gorilla to replace one that had recently died at a zoo in Toluca, just north of Mexico City. The mere nature of the inquiry -- the fact they had gone to Block instead of through the time-consuming but legal channels within established zoological organizations -- alerted Pic centsn that something was wrong. "Bells just rang all over my brain," he says. "I think [Block] is telling me something too good to be true; you just don't find people asking for gorillas at the drop of a hat. So I conferred with my superiors and Guy Lewis, and they said give it a try and see what happens."
Not that he or Block actually had a gorilla, or any intention of selling one to the Mexicans. Trade in the highly endangered apes (about 30,000 remain in the wild, experts estimate) is prohibited by U.S. endangered species laws and international treaties under most circumstances, and then only after securing several permits. Acquisition of a gorilla by any North American zoo must be approved by the American Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Even transporting a gorilla is a delicate and risky business that requires the presence of a veterinarian and several handlers. However, to lay the proper trap for the prospective buyers, Pic centsn would have to find a gorilla. "I tried to obtain a real gorilla," Pic centsn recalls, "but people said I was crazy."
The sting as set up by Pic centsn and his agents, with help from the Fish and Wildlife regional office in Atlanta, never was reviewed by the service's Undercover Operations Review Committee in Washington, D.C., or approved in writing by service director Mollie Beattie, the procedure prescribed for undercover operations of that type in the service's Law Enforcement Division policy manual. Pic centsn says that's because it was an emergency.
Block and Pic centsn already had teamed up on a bust just a few weeks before the gorilla sting. In December 1992, acting on another tip from Block, Pic centsn had accompanied his new informant up to Elkton, west of St. Augustine, where he won the confidence of bird dealer Clement Solano by posing as a wealthy wildlife buyer. Pic centsn and five other gun-wielding Fish and Wildlife agents then suddenly arrested Solano, who had several species of illegally imported (but not endangered) Australian birds for sale.
Solano, however, had been a mere warmup for the Mexicans, who arrived in Miami a few weeks later. First came Jose Luis Alcerreca and Eduardo Berges, described by prosecutors as wildlife dealers, then Victor Bernal. Actually, Alcerreca and Berges handled several enterprises through two different companies, mostly brokering sales of marine equipment to Mexican governmental agencies. (When they were in Miami, according to Berges, they were also overseeing construction in Fort Lauderdale of four boats commissioned by the Mexican government.) But for some five years before their arrests, Alcerreca and Berges also had brokered the sale of hundreds of laboratory monkeys to the Mexican government for medical research. The animals came from Worldwide Primates, Matthew Block's company in Miami. The two had personally met with Block a couple of times and had developed a good business relationship. According to Berges, they also knew nothing of Block's legal problems, much less his agreement to become an informant for the government. So it was logical to think of him when they learned the Zacango Zoo in Toluca, the capital of the State of Mexico, needed a gorilla. The zoo's male specimen, King, had died of pneumonia in December, leaving bereft a female and the throngs of children who loved to visit.
How Alcerreca and Berges happened to become interested in acquiring a gorilla for the zoo isn't clear; they claim they received an inquiry from an employee of the Mexican state finance department, a woman who was a trusted assistant to Victor Bernal, head of the state's Natural Parks and Zoos Commission. Bernal, on the other hand, testified that Alcerreca contacted him from time to time since 1990, proferring several endangered or exotic animals, and that in early January 1993, Alcerreca told Bernal he could get a gorilla. Matthew Block says Alcerreca and Berges had sought to buy gorillas and orangutans from him as early as 1991, but after he informed them about the strict regulation of such purchases, the matter was dropped. This time, Block alleges, the two were not so picky about paperwork.
The government's first surreptitious audio recording in the case picks up a January 6 phone call from Berges and Alcerreca in Mexico City to Block in Miami. Berges says he usually did the talking for the 46-year-old Alcerreca when English was required, and spoke to Block on most occasions. In the January 6 call, Berges broaches the subject of a gorilla for the Toluca zoo, apparently not for the first time, and Block says he thinks he heard of one for sale; he'll check it out and call them back. When Berges asks for orangutans, Block tells him he does know of some available (Block's long-time business associate, Dr. Bern Levine, part-owner of Parrot Jungle, breeds orangutans). Seventy-nine subsequent telephone calls were taped, 72 of which either Pic centsn or Block initiated to Berges or Alcerreca.
By the time Alcerreca, Berges, and Bernal had checked into the Airport Hilton Hotel on January 12, Fish and Wildlife agent Jorge Pic centsn had prepared as elaborate a ruse as possible, given the short notice. After inquiring of zoos around the country about borrowing a gorilla and being told he was crazy, Pic centsn went to Metrozoo's general curator, Bill Zeigler. Pic centsn proposed bringing his "clients" to see Moja, the zoo's ten-year-old male gorilla. He would do this after the zoo had closed for the day. "That way I can tell them you work for me and I'm paying you under the table to keep [the gorilla] for me," Pic centsn recalls telling Zeigler. Another reason he wanted to visit late, he explains, is that people at the zoo know him and guess when they see him that he's on the trail of some illegal activity. Zeigler was amenable but said he first had to get approval from the zoo director and Metro-Dade officials. That done, Pic centsn planned his next move. Zeigler already had agreed to lend him a cage. "Once I convinced the folks it was my gorilla, what if they want it?" Pic centsn mused. "Now I have to produce a gorilla, and the only thing is to get me a gorilla costume." So he went shopping. There was a nice gorilla suit at a store in Coral Gables, but it didn't look authentic enough. He mentioned his quest to Bern Levine, who remembered one of his Parrot Jungle volunteers had worn a gorilla costume to a party. He'd see if he could get it. Pic centsn also arranged with Levine to bring the Mexicans by Parrot Jungle to look at some baby orangutans before they stopped at Metrozoo.
On January 13, at the Airport Hilton coffee shop, the cool, well-mannered Block introduced the abrasive Jorge Blanco to Alcerreca, Berges, and Bernal. They got into the back seat of Pic centsn's rented gray Continental for the drive south to Parrot Jungle, Block in the passenger seat. The entire time Pic centsn wore a microphone on his waist and a recorder strapped to his ankle, picking up very unclear conversations about Miami, the recent Hurricane Andrew, and the deal that Senor Blanco wanted to make with his new friends. (Pic centsn had planned to back up his own tapes of unreliable clarity with an expensive Customs recording system, but it never functioned, he says. Most of the government's recordings were left out of the evidence at trial as a time-saving agreement between the defense and prosecution.)
Some very valuable animals had been bestowed on him in payment of a debt, Blanco explained conspiratorily. He was keeping a male gorilla temporarily at Metrozoo and some baby orangutans at Parrot Jungle, and was bribing employees to care for them. But he wanted to get rid of them fast before someone figured out they didn't belong there. "I have a lot of business to the Caribbean basin, I do not want the...U.S. government to come down on my ass and arrest me because of a freaking gorilla or orang," Blanco tells his prospective clients in one exchange. "Because if they come down on me with that shit, then they might discover other stuff that I do, that, you know, is not for nobody to know about here."
Anyone who is even vaguely familiar with the complicated legal process by which endangered apes end up in zoos would probably have serious questions about such a bizarre and apparently corrupt arrangement. On the other hand, as defense lawyers attempted to point out at trial, bribery has different connotations in Mexico than in the U.S., and the scenario didn't necessarily seem suspicious. Besides, according to Berges, his and Alcerreca's only contact with the wildlife business had been through Block; they assumed the well-known primate dealer knew what he was doing and did it legally.
As the five men got out of the car at Parrot Jungle and walked toward the entrance, two U.S. Customs agents sitting at a picnic table, playing tourists, snapped photographs. Inside the park, to the exuberant screeches and calls of exotic parrots and macaws, four more enchanted-looking agents trailed the visitors with a video camera. Bernal eagerly produced his own compact camera and took snapshots of the orangutans and chimpanzees. (In one photo, Se*or Blanco cuddles a little red orang.) The party left Parrot Jungle in midafternoon, still too early to show up at Metrozoo, so Pic centsn and Block dropped off the Mexicans at their hotel and returned a few hours later.
Bill Zeigler met the five at the zoo's front gate, led them to an enclosure where Moja waited, and left. Pic, in his testimony at trial, recalled Bernal commenting that the gorilla watched them with a human, knowing expression. On the way back to the hotel, Berges and Bernal have said in testimony and interviews, the undercover agent informed them that the zoo's real gorilla had been moved elsewhere while damage from Hurricane Andrew was repaired but would soon come home, whereupon the interloper would have to leave. And if a place could not be found for him, he would have to be killed.
"I remember Jorge Pic said, 'Hey listen, guys, if you don't take this animal, I'm going to sacrifice it.' It was in the car going out of Metrozoo," insists Berges. "You don't forget something like that -- it surprised me. Victor said, 'No, tell him I'm going to pay the whole amount and come back in two or three months with the documents.' And they say, 'No, no, we can't do that.' I can swear it in front of anybody." Any recordings made in the car leaving Metrozoo were not introduced into evidence at trial, but Pic is equally certain he never threatened to kill the gorilla.
Later that evening Pic and Block met back at the Fish and Wildlife offices in the Doral area to listen to the tapes and discuss logistics. Block walked into his office, Pic recalls, carrying a box about the size of an attorney's briefcase: "He says, 'By the way, is this what you're looking for?'" The gorilla suit Block produced was exactly what Pic had in mind.
It looked as though he would have to use it; Bernal wanted the gorilla and one of the orangutans and was willing to take them immediately. The day after the field trips, Bernal, Berges, and Alcerreca flew back to Mexico City to arrange financing, to catch up on other work, and, prosecutors allege, to give Bernal a chance to set up a covert reception point at the Mexico City airport from which the gorilla was to be trucked to Toluca, bypassing Mexican customs. But before they left Miami, Jorge Blanco insisted on a cash payment of $2000 for chartering a plane and pilot. He and Block also showed the Mexicans legitimate U.S. export documents, which they said they had obtained with bribes, to be filled out before the animals left the country.
Alcerreca and Berges returned to Miami six days later; the following day, January 22, Bernal's assistant, Maria Eugenia Villada, arrived to help with financial details, along with an employee of the parks and zoos public relations department, Margarita Barrera. Bernal himself came a day later. Before Bernal returned to Miami, however, he ordered the gorilla's destination changed on the export documents -- from Mexico City to Tijuana, nearly 2000 miles to the northwest. The address was a racetrack and zoo owned by Bernal's friend Jorge Hank Rhon, whose business card was confiscated from Bernal when he was arrested. Bernal asserted at trial he changed the address to divert public attention from the expensive purchase. But the government contends Hank Rhon was Bernal's smuggling contact. The son of Mexican agriculture minister Carlos Hank Gonzalez, Rhon was fined by U.S. Customs in 1991 for attempting to smuggle a rare tiger across the border. His father is one of Mexico's most powerful and wealthy politicians and a mentor of former Mexico state governor Ignacio Pichardo.
Villada began making arrangements for $92,500 of the State of Mexico's money to be wired to Matthew Block's bank account. The total price for the gorilla and orangutan was $250,000, the balance to be paid by a check made out to Bernal from the State of Mexico. Villada received confirmation of the money transfer late in the afternoon of January 25, a stormy Friday. A few hours later Block and Pic met Bernal, Alcerreca, and Berges at their hotel. In two cars, the group headed to the Opa-locka airport. (Block had brought along a young orangutan and was putting her to sleep with a baby bottle.
The tape transcripts are loaded with hints and downright warnings by Pic centsn that the gorilla didn't have any papers, that no legal permits to export the animals existed, that the documents Pic and Block provided the Mexicans were not legally obtained. But Block and Pic also had told them early on, according to trial testimony, that the proper papers could be obtained.
Bernal doesn't speak English and says he left the dealing to Alcerreca and Berges, and that since in all such transactions the exporter is responsible for the paperwork, he wasn't aware until the night before the gorilla was supposed to be flown to Mexico that something was wrong with the permits. By then, Bernal testified, even though he began to have second thoughts, he was sure Pic centsn would not return their money, and he was confident in any case that once the ape was in Mexico he'd be able to secure proper documentation.
When the five men had gathered on the runway, Pic presented the completed export documents to Bernal, who became annoyed when a big raindrop splashed on one of the papers. After placing the documents in a folder, Bernal climbed inside the plane to take a look at the "gorilla." That's when Pic, on the ground with Alcerreca and Berges, whipped off his baseball cap and waved it over his head -- the signal for the bust. Bernal, stunned to see the gorilla opening the cage, backed toward the ladder. The pilot and copilot, also undercover agents, pulled him into the plane and a few seconds later brought him down to the tarmac, where they forced him to kneel alongside Alcerreca and Berges with his hands on his head. Moments later the two women, Maria Eugenia Villada and Margarita Barrera, were arrested at their hotel.
Berges didn't testify during the trial. His attorney, Frank Quintero III, reasoned his client couldn't add to the information already in evidence, and that it had been proved Berges wasn't present at a key meeting at which Pic showed false permits to Alcerreca and Bernal. After all, Quintero posited, Matthew Block had more to do with the case than Berges. However, Quintero did attack the Fish and Wildlife Service. Among other things, he cited records showing that of the sixteen shipments of primates entering the U.S. through Miami last year, not a single one was inspected by the service. Nine of those shipments went to Block's Worldwide Primates. "They've known as early as February 1992 [when Block was indicted in the Bangkok Six case] he was involved in criminal acts, yet no inspectors met his shipments," Quintero asserted. "He's still doing business. They should be doing their job and stopping people like Block instead of cutting deals with him. But it is a lot easier to create a crime than to stop one."
Victor Bernal's Miami attorney, Donald Bierman, opted for a different approach; he believed his client would do well on the witness stand. Bernal is a lawyer, married with three children, and proud of his long career as a state and federal employee. Tall and slender, with well-trimmed gray hair and mustache, Bernal sat calmly during his trial, his expression slightly unbelieving. As director of the State of Mexico's Natural Parks and Zoos Commission since 1989, Bernal oversaw fifteen parks, two zoos, and a reserve for migratory monarch butterflies. He held prominent positions in several wildlife conservation and zoological organizations. Before his trial began, he declared his confidence that the proceedings would clear his name and allow him to resume a normal life in Toluca. "Why would I have any need to do the things they have accused me of?" Bernal asked in consternation. "I'm an honorable person."
Other Mexican government officials seemed to agree. State governor Ignacio Pichardo, Bernal's immediate supervisor, wrote to the U.S. Attorney's Office here vouching for his friend. The state also paid at least part of Bernal's legal fees and hired a Mexico City lawyer to accompany him on his numerous court dates, along with Miami attorney Bierman. The Mexican attorney general's office attempted to intercede on his behalf with the U.S. Department of Justice. That effort, though, was unsuccessful.
From the witness stand, Bernal told the jury in detail about his good reputation and professional accomplishments. And the tactic may have worked to his favor with some of the jurors, a few of whom said afterward they felt positive about Bernal's character but had no sense of who Eduardo Berges was, only that he spoke English and thus had to have known more about the questionable goings-on than Bernal.
But neither man could credibly argue he hadn't committed the acts recorded on audio or videotape. Ultimately the defense of both had to be an attempt to discredit the government for inducing them to do something they wouldn't have done otherwise. But defense lawyers say it's becoming ever more difficult to successfully use an entrapment defense because several Supreme Court rulings in the past few decades have given the government wider leeway in staging crimes while requiring defendants to prove they were not predisposed to participate. The mere act of inventing a crime doesn't technically prove entrapment, even if jurors may have an aversion to that act. One juror explained: "If, for example, we knew nothing about the law and they presented this case to us, we would have said it was entrapment."
"Now it's almost impossible to win on the entrapment defense," says William Kunstler, one of the nation's most prominent defense attorneys, interviewed by telephone in his New York office. "In this day and age, with juries looking for more and more law enforcement, they're inclined to believe [entrapment] is the only way you can get these guys. We've become so panicked over crime, we think we can stop the drug trade, end crime in the streets by making more draconian sentences, more laws to make it easier to convict."
Adding to the dilemma, say Kunstler and other defense lawyers, is the rampant transformation into government informants of people convicted and serving draconian sentences. In their attempts to reduce those sentences, convicts often are willing to lie, inform on friends, or otherwise do whatever a prosecutor wants, lawyers say.
In the gorilla sting case, prosecutors and defense lawyers discussed plea bargains for all five defendants. Jose Luis Alcerreca, Maria Eugenia Villada, and Margarita Barrera were allowed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge in exchange for that loaded vow of "full cooperation," but Assistant U.S. Attorney Guy Lewis says Bernal and Berges balked at cooperating. Without that, or without a plea to a more serious felony charge, Lewis was unwilling to consider a deal. Despite assurances that Alcerreca would testify for the government, Lewis never called him to the witness stand. Alcerreca returned to Mexico before the trial ended.
Matthew Block's possible appearance at the trial remained a question until the last day of testimony. Neither the prosecution nor the defense wanted to call him; both sides had excoriated the case's foundation figure as a liar and criminal. Block's testimony normally would have been a valuable prosecution tool, but a year earlier at his sentencing in the Bangkok Six case, Lewis had accused Block of withholding information from him and altering evidence in the case. Because of this, an angry Lewis backed away from his plea-agreement promise to submit a recommendation to the judge -- called a 5K1 letter -- to depart from the rigid federal guidelines and impose a lighter sentence on Block because of his cooperation with the government. Without the letter, judges are bound by the guidelines. U.S. District Judge James Kehoe sentenced Block to thirteen months in prison and imposed a $30,000 fine -- still at the low end of the guidelines. Block has appealed that sentence to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh District in Atlanta.
About a week into the trial, Judge Moreno threatened to take the unusual but not unprecedented step of calling Block to the stand himself. He felt questioning of Block could provide important information that hadn't been raised or that hadn't been admissible. But Bierman saved Moreno the trouble. Block took the stand as the final witness late on Friday, May 13.
Bierman professed to have only one objective in calling Block: to prove his contention that Pic centsn's motivation in the sting was revenge for the 1985 murder in Mexico of Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena. Block testified that Pic centsn, during a conversation with him, had vowed to christen the gorilla sting "Operation Kiki." Earlier Pic centsn had testified he never said anything of the kind. No one seemed to care, anyway.
About a half-hour into Block's testimony, and due to the late hour, Moreno dismissed the jury for the weekend. But then Block, an Orthodox Jew, told the judge he wouldn't be able to take the stand on Monday or Tuesday because of a Jewish holiday. Since the trial already had lasted two weeks and neither side planned to call more witnesses, no one wanted such a delay. So prosecution and defense agreed to waive their rights to continue questioning Block. The bearded and bespectacled 32-year-old entrepreneur, the secretive target of great rage and curiosity, stepped purposefully from the stand. Looking straight ahead, no doubt feeling the inquiring gazes fixed on him from all corners, Block made his way out of the courtroom. In doing so, he took with him most of the information he might have provided about the gorilla caper, and whatever glimpses he might have afforded into a shadowy world where wildlife is bought and sold, and not infrequently killed.
On Tuesday, May 17, the nine-woman, three-man jury rendered its guilty verdicts. Foreman Joel Margolies had no qualms: "I think we weighed the evidence and came up with the verdict as we saw it." Not so with some other jurors. Several said afterward they were deeply distressed by their decision because they didn't consider the defendants guilty of serious crimes, but that they believed they had no choice but to follow the letter of the law according to the instructions they were given.
Not surprisingly, the issue of entrapment provoked the most anxiety. Even though some jurors believed the government had inappropriately lured the defendants into committing a manufactured crime, Judge Moreno's instructions prohibited them from finding entrapment if the government proved the defendants had some previous intent to commit the crime and had taken some constructive action to corroborate that intent.
In a telephone interview after the verdict, however, juror Mirta S. Martinez said she didn't believe that Victor Bernal was guilty of conspiracy, the first of the three felony charges against him and Berges. Martinez has written to Moreno asking for leniency for Bernal, but she did not state any misgivings about the conspiracy charge or the the jury decision in general.
The alternate juror, Kathryn Cabrisas, has written her own letter to Moreno. "The things I saw really shook my faith in the way our government operates," she wrote. "It was obvious entrapment based on their character and the lack of evidence. Although I know I have no say in the sentence, I wanted to relieve my conscience."
Another juror, who didn't want his name used, said he went along with the guilty verdicts because of "the way the law was written," even though he didn't believe the defendants had done anything seriously wrong. "It's so hard to believe [the government] used this informant, who actually committed a crime himself, and they're gonna use this asshole to try to get these people," the juror said indignantly. "It's incredible.


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Learning Catalytics
Foster student engagement and collaborative learning
Learning Catalytics is an interactive student response tool that encourages team-based learning by using students' smartphones, tablets, or laptops to engage them in interactive tasks and thinking.
As an instructor, you can pose a variety of open-ended questions that help your students develop critical thinking skills, while monitoring responses with real-time analytics to find out where they're struggling. With this information, you can adjust your instructional strategy in real time and try additional ways of engaging your students during class.
Learning Catalytics also lets you manage student interactions by automatically grouping students for discussion, team-based learning, and peer-to-peer learning.
See Learning Catalytics in action on campus
Eric Mazur
Eric Mazur is the creator of Peer Instruction, speaker on physics education and interactive teaching, founder of SiOnyx, and a professor of physics and area dean at Harvard.
Gary King
Gary King is an expert on statistical methods, founder of Crimson Hexagon, Director of the Institute for Quantitative Social Science, and one of just 23 University Professors at Harvard.
Brian Lukoff
Brian Lukoff is an educator, entrepreneur, technology designer, and engineer. He was previously a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard and a Stanford Ph.D. in educational measurement and technology.
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Harvard's 'active' system helping other universities improve outcomes
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Transforming the Lecture Space
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Harvard Professor Wins $500K Minerva Prize
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Grouping Students With Software
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A "Moneyball" Approach to College
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Doing linear algebra with peer instruction and Learning Catalytics
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Making Big Data Actionable in Class
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A Huge Leap for the Classroom
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Ending the "tyranny of the lecture"
July 27, 2011 | eSchoolNews


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I would agree degrees, courses and the focus of education should evolve with time... but just because a new degree program is created, doesn't mean the courses created/offered may do the goals of the degree justice. Who decides on the curriculum and what assurances do new students have that they'll get something meaningful from it? Also, if profs that taught existing courses were now told to teach new curriculum, would they do a good enough job at it? Or would new teachers with those backgrounds be required to effectively teach and go beyond the textbooks to be able to inspire and really prepare the students for this new world, new degree? Making a course on paper is one thing. Accomplishing the goal of teaching something new is another. Thoughts?
Thursday, March 03, 2016
New degrees? Are they worth it?
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Popular Science Monthly/Volume 38/January 1891/Obituary Notes
Sir Richard F. Burton, who died at Trieste, Austria, October 30th, was one of the most venturesome travelers and explorers and voluminous authors of modern times. He was born in Hertfordshire, England, in 1821. Having no taste for the university, he entered the East India and afterward the British diplomatic service, he visited the holy places of Arabia and won fame by the book he wrote about them; was the first European to visit Herat; discovered Lake Tanganyika; traveled to Salt Lake City and California; spent three or four years in western Africa; explored the Brazilian highlands and Paraguay; spent two vacations in "unexplored Syria"; visited Iceland; explored the land of Midian; and accompanied Cameron to the Gold Coast. His published works approach eighty volumes, of which thirty-nine are accounts of travel and exploration. Of these the Lake Region of Equatorial Africa is one of the best books on Africa. Burton also published grammars of three Oriental languages, five volumes of folk-lore, three books on fencing, and translations of the Portuguese poet Camoëns, and of the Arabian Nights.
Mr. John Hancock, an English ornithologist, died at his home in Newcastle-on-Tyne, October 11th, at the age of eighty-nine years.
The death is announced of Dr. Wenzel Leopold Gruber, Professor of Anatomy in the University of St. Petersburg. He was seventy-six years old.
Prof. Thorold Rogers, the eminent English economist, has recently died at Oxford. He was educated at King's College, London, and at Oxford, and began life as a clergyman of the Puseyite school. He afterward became a "coach" at Oxford, where he wrote a hand-book on Education and a pamphlet on the Law of Settlement. He was made Professor of Political Economy at Oxford in 1862, after which he devoted himself mainly to economical subjects, and entered Parliament in 1880. He published two volumes of Historical Sketches; Cobden and Modern Political Opinion; Agriculture and Prices in England (his most important work); Six Centuries of Work and Labor; The Economical Interpretation of History; and the History of Holland in the Story of the Nations series.
Mr. Robert Brough Smyth, of Victoria, Australia, who died in August last, had an important part in the scientific work of the colonies. He was from 1855 to 1858 Director of Meteorological Observations for the Colony of Victoria; was for some years member and Secretary of the Board of Science; honorary secretary and member of the Board for the Protection of Aborigines; Director of the Geological Survey of the Colony; and author of many works and papers on geology, ethnology, and philology.
Captain John Page, of the Argentine Navy, a summary of whose lecture on the Gran Chaco and its rivers has been published in the Monthly, died in June or July while making an attempt to explore the Pilcomayo River at about one hundred and fifty leagues from its mouth. The expedition reached the mouth of the river in the small steamer General Paz in April last, and Captain Page attempted the ascent thence in a vessel built especially for the service, drawing only eight inches of water; but even then the ascent was found impracticable, and the steamer could often be kept afloat only by damming up the stream.


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We Own Tonight CA by Corinne Michaels
New York Times, USA Today, & Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author
I'm not a one-night stand kind of woman. I'm especially not the woman who has a few drinks at a concert and ends up in bed with my childhood celebrity crush, Eli Walsh.
However, that's exactly where I find myself.
What's a girl to do after a drunken mistake? Run. I grab my clothes and get away from the powerful, irresistible, and best-sex-of-my-life superstar as fast as I can. His gorgeous green eyes, rock-hard body, and cocky smile have no place in my world. My life is complicated enough.
Someone forgot to tell him that.
Eli is relentless. Pushing his way into my heart, wearing me down, proving he's nothing like I assumed, and everything I need. But when my world shatters to pieces, he holds the broken bits together. Unwillingly, I fall desperately in love with him.
He made me think we'd have forever . . . I should've listened when he said we could only own tonight.


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Associative Allusions | SnarkDaily
by Clara
Penzkoferhaus by Peter Haimerl Architektur
Fourth Grace by Will Alsop
National Gallery of Greenland by Bjarke Ingels Group
Drift by Snarkitecture
Fig 1: Malevich Generative Art
Fig 2: Misguided PC Souls
Fig 1: Minerals
Fig 2: The Tasmanian Devil
Fig 1: Complacent Forms
Fig 1: Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Man
Fig 2: Egg Slicer
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BuildingSatire is a blog consisting of architectural satire, cynicism, and humor to alleviate the tension and pretension in professional architecture. we also have a twitter. whatup.


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RV Garage w/Rec Room 20-039
This traditional garage plan can house up to 8 cars. The larger, RV garage door is 12' wide and 14' tall. The smaller garage door is 16' wide and 10' tall. On the left side of the garage is a recreation room with a full bathroom and closet space. The second floor is a vaulted closet.


text: Artist: Insane Clown Posse Album: Forgotten Freshness Vol. 4 Song: Dead Pumpkins Typed by: AZ Lyrics [Teacher] "J, do you have a Halloween story for the class?" [Violent J] "Y-y-yeah, um, there was this boy, and he lived in his house and he went to bed one day, and then when he woke up, um when he woke up, he was buried up to his head in the dirt and he couldn't move, and this man came walking along but instead of the man helping him out, the man just started kicking him and kicking him in his face, over and over and then he got the lawnmower, and then he....." Dick or treat, bon appetit All the little kiddies running down my street Gathering candy treats door to door But they walk past mine, what for? Probably 'cuz the pumpkins on my porch are real Real human heads carved out with steel Cut out the eyes, man, it takes but a minute Rip out the b-b-b-b-brains and put a candle in it Maybe they run 'cuz I take 'em inside Come and meet Mother, two years ago she died Little boys laugh, 'cuz they think it's just a dummy But then the smell hits 'em, MMMMM..... smells yummy Open your bags and I'll give you my treat Crusty yellow toes off a dead woman's feet Take me by the hand, and I'll lead you downstairs And that, little chickies, is where you'll spend the next seven years Starving and weakening, chained to a wall Staring at a roach, hoping it will crawl Into your mouth for a tasty cuisine Yes, my little friends, it's a Dead Pumpkins Halloween [Shaggy 2 Dope] "Awwwwwwwwww, yeah, it's that special time of year, boys and girls so come to the pumpkin patch and bring your pantysacks so I can shit in it you beeeeeyitch!!!!!" [Violent J] Well, I love all the kiddies, but I can't fuck around Don't come to my door dressed as a clown 'Cuz you never know, I might take it the wrong way 'Cuz I'm the real wicked juggalokaro Violent J All year 'round, but I love my Halloween You'll never get an apple or a purple jelly bean Dropping some chocolates, a licorice snack Instead you get a deep-fried French poodle nutsack Peeking out my door, I see no children in sight Perhaps they're all dead, yesterday was Devil's Night They burn down the city and they leave it crispy-charred I light myself on fire and I dance around my backyard Hungry bellies, I can see where you're at Sitting on my window, I can turn into a bat Watching you remove all your little clothesies for bed I crash through the window and land on your head Drinking the blood, blood is gone to the bone But now, I must leave, Mother's calling me home Up to the moonlight, I'm gone from the scene Peace to Detroit City and have a Dead Pumpkins Halloween [Shaggy 2 Dope] "Yeeeeeeeeah, I'm gonna smash your little candy bags only I'm gonna tie 'em around your muthafuckin' necks and choke you with 'em Wicked Clown style, muthafucka!!!!!" [Violent J] "Detroit's in this bitch!!!!!"


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In Asia's trend-setting cities, iPhone fatigue sets in
Apple Inc's iconic iPhone is losing some of its luster among Asia's well-heeled consumers in Singapore and Hong Kong, a victim of changing mobile habits and its own runaway success.
Driven by a combination of iPhone fatigue, a desire to be different and a plethora of competing devices, users are turning to other brands, notably those from Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, eating into Apple's market share.
In Singapore, Apple's products were so dominant in 2010 that more devices here ran its iOS operating system per capita than anywhere else in the world.
But StatCounter http://gs.statcounter.com, which measures traffic collected across a network of 3 million websites, calculates that Apple's share of mobile devices in Singapore - iPad and iPhone - declined sharply last year. From a peak of 72 percent in January 2012, its share fell to 50 percent this month, while Android devices now account for 43 percent of the market, up from 20 percent in the same month last year.
In Hong Kong, devices running Apple's iOS now account for about 30 percent of the total, down from about 45 percent a year ago. Android accounts for nearly two-thirds.
"Apple is still viewed as a prestigious brand, but there are just so many other cool smartphones out there now that the competition is just much stiffer," said Tom Clayton, chief executive of Singapore-based Bubble Motion http://www.bubblemotion.com, which develops a popular regional social media app called Bubbly.
Where Hong Kong and Singapore lead, other key markets across fast-growing Asia usually follow.
"Singapore and Hong Kong tend to be, from an electronics perspective, leading indicators on what is going to be hot in Western Europe and North America, as well as what is going to take off in the region," said Jim Wagstaff, who runs a Singapore-based company called Jam Factory http://www.jamfactoryonline.com developing mobile apps for enterprises.
Southeast Asia is adopting smartphones fast - consumers spent 78 percent more on smartphones in the 12 months up to September 2012 than they did the year before, according to research company GfK http://www.gfkrt.com.
Anecdotal evidence of iPhone fatigue isn't hard to find: Where a year ago iPhones swamped other devices on the subways of Hong Kong and Singapore they are now outnumbered by Samsung and HTC Corp smartphones.
While this is partly explained by the proliferation of Android devices, from the cheap to the fancy, there are other signs that Apple has lost followers.
Singapore entrepreneur Aileen Sim, recently launched an app for splitting bills called BillPin http://www.billpin.com, settling on an iOS version because that was the dominant platform in the three countries she was targeting - Singapore, India and the United States.
"But what surprised us was how strong the call for Android was when we launched our app," she said.
Indeed, 70 percent of their target users - 20-something college students and fresh graduates - said they were either already on Android or planned to switch over.
"Android is becoming really hard to ignore, around the region and in the U.S. for sure, but surprisingly even in Singapore," she said. "Even my younger early-20s cousins are mostly on Android now."
BillPin launched an Android version this month.
Napoleon Biggs, chief strategy officer at Gravitas Group http://www.gravitas.com.hk, a Hong Kong-based mobile marketing company, said that while Apple and the iPhone remained premium brands there, Samsung's promotional efforts were playing to an increasingly receptive audience.
For some, it is a matter of wanting to stand out from the iPhone-carrying crowd. Others find the higher-powered, bigger-screened Android devices better suited to their changing habits - watching video, writing Chinese characters - while the cost of switching devices is lower than they expected, given that most popular social and gaming apps are available for both platforms.
"Hong Kong is a very fickle place," Biggs said.
Janet Chan, a 25-year-old Hong Kong advertising executive, has an iPhone 5 but its fast-draining battery and the appeal of a bigger screen for watching movies is prodding her to switch to a Samsung Galaxy Note II.
"After Steve Jobs died, it seems the element of surprise in product launches isn't that great anymore," she said.
To be sure, there are still plenty of people buying Apple devices. Stores selling their products in places such as Indonesia were full over the Christmas holidays, and the company's new official store in Hong Kong's Causeway Bay has queues snaking out of the door most days.
But the iPhone's drop in popularity in trendy Hong Kong and Singapore is mirrored in the upmarket malls of the region.
"IPhones are like Louis Vuitton handbags," said marketing manager Narisara Konglua in Bangkok, who uses a Galaxy SIII. "It's become so commonplace to see people with iPads and iPhones so you lose your cool edge having one."
In the Indonesian capital Jakarta, an assistant manager at Coca Cola's local venture, Gatot Hadipratomo, agrees. The iPhone "used to be a cool gadget but now more and more people use it."
There is another influence at play: hip Korea. Korean pop music, movies and TV are hugely popular around the region and Samsung is riding that wave. And while the impact is more visible in Hong Kong and Singapore, it also translates directly to places like Thailand.
"Thais are not very brand-loyal," says Akkaradert Bumrungmuang, 24, a student at Mahidol University in Bangkok. "That's why whatever is hot or the in-thing to have is adopted quickly here. We follow Korea so whatever is fashionable in Korea will be a big hit."
(Additional reporting by Lee Chyen Yee in Hong Kong; Khettiya Jittapong and Amy Sawitta Lefevre in Bangkok, and Andjarsari Paramaditha in Jakarta; Editing by Emily Kaiser)


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About 3,800 species are found there – over 1,300 in the Amazon, 28 of which are endemic to the region1.
There is considerable variety in the geographic range from one species to another. While the harpy eagle ranges from southern Central America to the Amazon, some toucan species may be found only in relatively restricted areas.
At one site in the Peruvian Amazon, about 575 bird species have been identified within a mere 5,500-hectare section of the rainforest. By comparison, 700 bird species are found in the whole of North America.
From November to March, some birds migrate from North America to the Central American and South American tropics. Others are found exclusively in the Amazon rainforest.
Most birds live in the dense undercover of the forest, looking for insects from the rainforest floor to the canopy. Others prefer flying insects, or fruit and flowers while some, such as the harpy eagle, capture other mammals and reptiles and birds.
Green winged macaws (Ara Chloroptera) feeding on minerals at river ...
The differences seen between birds and the adaptations represents the variety of the Amazon species in which each one has developed. This heritage, however, is under threat as the Amazon rainforest, prime bird habitat, loses ground to pastures and cropland.
Undoubtedly one of the most majestic Amazon birds, the harpy eagle is over a metre tall, and has a wingspan of 2 m. Its legs and feet are extraordinarily thick and powerful, while the head has a tall, blackish-grey crest of feathers. Females are about a third larger than males.
There is almost no prey too large for the harpy eagle, which feeds on monkeys (less than one-third of its diet), sloths (more than one-third of its diet) and birds.
Harpy eagles spend considerable amounts of time perched and listening. Having identified a prey, they glide toward it with claws extended and grab the victim as they swoop. Because of their larger size, females attack larger prey than males.
Although the species ranges from the rainforests of southern Central America to those of the Amazon, it is very difficult to find within this vast area. Deforestation is taking away their only habitat, and as a result, populations are declining. As the eagles are scattered over a wide area, it is impossible to obtain an accurate population estimate.
The harpy eagle is classified as Near Threatened by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species3.
A young Harpy or Harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja) on his nest. Juruena ...
Small, hyperactive and amazingly adapted, hummingbirds are represented by more than 300 species. Hummingbirds give the impression of always being hyperactive (they often look like large insects when seen from afar).
Because of the constant availability of at least some nectar and fruit in the rainforest, this has made it possible for several bird groups to focus exclusively on one or both foods. Hummingbirds are the only birds that are nectar feeders, and they are attracted to red, orange and yellow flowers. Males are territorial, defending favoured flowers and nectar-rich plants.
Some of their unique adaptation includes the ability to rotate their wings through a 180-degree cycle. They also have a very high metabolism, with heartbeats reaching 1,260 beats per minute. This allows some species to beat their wings 80 times a second. All this comes at a cost – hummingbirds need to make up for the energy they use and must refuel (with high-calorie nectar) often.
Trochilidae Hummingbird In the cloud forest at 1600 meters Manu ...
The toucan is a ubiquitous symbol of the Amazon, instantly recognized by its colourful bill, which is almost the same length as its body. The plumage is equally colourful, and includes patches of green, yellow, red and white. It ranges in size from 31 cm to 61 cm.
The species occurs in lowland moist forests and montane cloud forests, where it nests and roosts in tree cavities. Although toucans are heard all the time in rainforests, they are rarely seen because they mostly stay high up in the canopy.
They are primarily frugivores (fruit eaters), and prefer the ripest fruits. Toucans pick fruit with their bill and hold it at its tip. Then they tilt their head backwards and gulp the food. In addition to fruits and berries, toucans eat spiders, insects, lizards and snakes, as well as nesting birds and eggs.
Channel-billed toucan (Ramphastos vitellinus). This Toucan is the ...
This unique bird is found on the streams and oxbow lakes of the Amazon river system. About the size of a chicken, it evokes primitive birds in its size and appearance – a small head, slender neck, and a conspicuous, ragged crest at the top of the head. It is also peculiar in that it is a weak flier.
The hoatzin feeds mostly on leaves, which represent more than 80% of its diet, obtained from plants that contain toxic compounds. These are detoxified inside the bird, where the food ferments.
A communal breeder, hoatzin reproduction involves 2-7 birds in a single nesting. The non-breeding birds are called "helpers", and help to incubate and feed the young. As a result the offspring grows more quickly, which reduces the length of time they are vulnerable from predators. When faced with danger, the young hoatzin drops from branches into the water.
1Kricher, 1997
21999. "Harpia harpyja" (On-line). Animal Diversity Web. Accessed October 11, 2005 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/
3BirdLife International 2004. Harpia harpyja. In: IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. www.redlist.org
Hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin); Venezuela


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Google's self-driving car was once just a pet project, but it has since bloomed into one of the company's largest endeavors. Now, Google's autonomous fleet has logged over 190,000 miles, is street-legal in Nevada, and it may or may not have gotten into its first crash. But what we don't know is just how the automated system manages to stop at a red light or keep from careening into us–until now.
Stanford University professor Sebastian Thrun, who led the development of the Google's self-driving car, and Google engineer Chris Urmson revealed the secret workings of these autonomous vehicles in a keynote at the IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems last month. The talk divulged how the system works, and Sebastian dn Chris showed footage of how it sees the world.
At the "heart of the system" is the Velodyne 64-beam laser range-finder that's mounted onto the car's roof. The device scans and records laser measurements to create a 3D model of the world around it that it then correlates to high-resolution maps. From this, it creates routes that avoid obstacles and obey traffic rules.
The vehicle is also equipped with radar, GPS, an inertial measurement unit, and other sensors that keep the vehicle on course and provide it with 360-degree situational awareness.
More interestingly, the car is programmed to be extremely courteous–it'll yield to any pedestrian crossing the street and it strictly adheres to road rules. At the same time, it can also be aggressive toward other vehicles that aren't obeying the right-of-way rules by easing into the intersection to assert that it will be turning first.
Be sure to check out IEEE Spectrum for the full story, along with plenty of photos and videos.
Do you feel safer knowing how an autonomous Google car works? Leave a Comment.
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Discover Skateboarding in a Week-Long School
Do you want to learn skateboarding?
Discover all of the basic principles of skateboarding quickly in a one-week camp. We will show you the basics of skateboarding like how to balance, push, turn, proper foot placement, and how to stop. No matter, of where you are at.. you can benefit from personalized instruction to meet your current skill level.
Skateboarding is a leisure activity, an art form, or a method of transportation. Skateboarding has been shaped and influenced by many skateboarders throughout the ages. A 2002 report by American Sports Data discovered there were 18.5 million skate boarders in the world. 85 percent of skateboarders polled had used a board in the most recent year were under the age of 18, and 74 percent were male. Those numbers have have doubled since the time of the study. In the following years the locations of skate parks have more than tripled making skateboarding more accessible as publicly and privately owned skate parks and indoor skate parks are becoming a reality.
The most significant change has been the generation bubble that skated in their youth and have grown up with the "X" Games explosion into the worldwide mainstream of competitive sports and now sees it as a natural participation sport for their children led by X-Games Athletes who are affiliated and instruct for our brand and web site.
Skateboarding school since 2009.
How you can start skateboard lessons?
What will you learn?
Jachin AL Skateboard Lessons
Skateboarding-Lessons of Jachin was developed to help motivated youth demographic that wants to participate in the lifestyle and skilled regiment of skate boarding. We take great pride in helping people of all ages learn how to skateboard.
Goskate.com is passionate in it's desire to provide the means through it's Skate School lessons to being a confident skateboarder, by providing the premiere school for all ages and abilities throughout Alabama.
Meet Allan & Regine — Your Personal Helpers for Skateboard Lessons
Skateboarding is our life. We want to make it your passion as well. Join us in a skateboard lesson so we can teach you the benefits of the lifestyle!


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Oregon CRA Roundtable
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
8:30 am - 11:00 am
Courtyard Portland City Center
550 SW Oak Street
Portland, OR 97201
8:30 am - 9:00 am Continental breakfast
9:00 am – 11:00 am Program
There is no cost to attend, but advanced registration is required.
Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) officers are invited to participate in this roundtable to learn about lending, service and investment test opportunities throughout the State of Oregon. At this roundtable, CRA officers will learn how they can develop an effective CRA program, and learn about Oregon Solution's statewide activities and related CRA opportunities.
Craig Nolte, Regional Manager, Community Development
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
(206) 396-2192
- Office of the Controller of the Current
- Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
- Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco


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For immediate release: September 23, 2013
Gulf Red Snapper Opens Recreationally Oct. 1 in State and Federal Waters
The recreational harvest of red snapper will open Oct. 1 in state and federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico. In state waters, which are from shore to 9 nautical miles in the Gulf, the season will remain open through Oct. 21, closing on Oct. 22. In federal waters, which are from 9 nautical miles out to 200 nautical miles, the season will remain open through Oct. 14, closing on Oct. 15.
These supplemental recreational red snapper seasons are for 2013 only. The minimum size limit in state and federal waters is 16 inches, and the daily bag limit is two per harvester, per day. There is a zero daily bag and possession limit for captain and crew on for-hire vessels.
Anglers are required to use circle hooks and dehooking devices when fishing for any reef species, including red snapper, in Gulf of Mexico state and federal waters. The requirement to use venting tools in federal waters was removed on Sept. 3. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will consider adopting similar changes at a future meeting. The intent of these rules is to help conserve fishery resources by increasing the chances for a fish to survive after being caught and released.
Learn more about red snapper by visiting www.MyFWC.com and clicking on "Saltwater" and "Recreational Regulations."


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After yesterday's practice, Nick Saban announced that standout safety Ha'Sean "HaHa" Clinton-Dix was suspended indefinitely. No reason given, just "violation of team rules," as with many of the other nine Bama players suspended over the past eight months. Now we've got a pretty good clue: Alabama has placed an assistant strength coach on administrative leave for providing a "short-term loan" to Clinton-Dix.
That's per the Tuscaloosa News, which also reports that assistant strength and conditioning coach Corey Harris has "a connection to an associate of a sports agent." Clinton-Dix has at least three degrees of separation from the guy he's not supposed to talk to—athletes are getting smarter about this.
According to the News, Harris made a loan under $500 to Clinton-Dix sometime over the summer. Clinton-Dix was able to show bank records backing up his claim that he repaid Harris. Which is still an NCAA violation, and not merely a "violation of team rules." The only reason teams suspend good players is fear of having to forfeit wins.
This is also interesting:
This is likely more of the same scheme revealed in a report by Yahoo last month, that implicated, among others, former Alabama tackle D.J. Fluker. Agents take care of players in fairly innocuous ways—pay their cell phone bills, offer no-interest loans, chip in for rent for family members—in the hopes of getting the inside edge on signing them when they go pro. Clinton-Dix is projected as a first-round pick in next year's draft.


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This site owners don't have any relation to links provided on this site. All links contained in this web-site are to models 18 years of age or older and provided by 3th partyes.


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Businesses that have high credit rates, increased risk factor, potential fraud and a high turnover fall in the "High Risk" category. Merchants with high risk businesses have a difficult time getting accepted with banks and credit card processors and many merchant account providers are not ready to take the risk. Usually the charges tend to be so high that most merchants back out.
Businesses related to industries like adult entertainment, online pharmacies, replica products, gambling and casino providers, travel, sports wagering, online tobacco business, alcohol, online dating, computer hardware and software, debt services, hosting and email services etc are high risk.
The major reason for banks and processors for turning down the high risk merchants is the volume (caps) limit. Because these firms are high risk, interest in a chance that turnover would be high along with the merchant account would be closed down due to this.
Very few merchant account providers will offer you high risk merchant account services for all organization needs with along with assorted major benefits. With chance CBD merchant account us account you basically require various services that will help facilitate your business. Each and every high risk merchant account service provider will provide real-time and cost effective solutions with a fast and simple setup. Having an e-commerce business without a shopping cart is next to impossible and so you need a provider whose services will allow and your customers to process transactions online. With the internet fraud on rise, make sure that your high risk merchant account provider is also supplying you online fraud protection with scam control and SSL encrypted servers so which you can process the payments any kind of worries. Automated recurring billing, online reporting, dependable infrastructure, 24/7 customer support, multi-currency processing and major credit and debit card acceptance are just a some of the major benefits that your high risk merchant account provider should offer.


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Content Map Terms
Topic Overview
While there are certain symptoms that people with heart failure experience more commonly, there are many other symptoms that heart failure can cause. These symptoms are typically less common because they often result from more severe heart failure, when the body can no longer compensate properly for the failing heart.
The first table summarizes congestive symptoms that result from fluid leaking into the lungs and the rest of the body. The second table summarizes symptoms that occur because the heart can no longer pump enough blood to meet the body's needs, which causes poor blood circulation. After the tables is a more detailed explanation of each symptom.
Tell your doctor if you experience any of these less common symptoms.
What happens?
What causes it?
Backup of blood and fluid into the lungs
Abdominal bloating
Abdominal bloating can result from fluid backup in your:
Abdominal cavity ascites, tenderness, or fever can indicate an infection in this fluid buildup.
Backup of blood and fluid into different parts of the gastrointestinal system or abdominal cavity
What happens? What does it feel like?
Results from poor circulation to the:
Less frequent urination
Feeling cold in arms, legs, hands, and feet
Arms, legs, hands, and feet
Mental confusion
Fainting or passing out
Male genitals
How does heart failure make the arms, legs, hands, and feet feel cold? People with heart failure may find that they often feel cold in their arms, hands, feet, and legs (the extremities). This happens because the body is circulating most of the available blood to the brain and other vital organs to compensate for the failing heart's inability to pump enough blood to the entire body. As a result, the extremities get less blood, and without blood to warm them, these parts of your body feel cold.
These symptoms usually occur only in people with chronic, severe heart failure. If your extremities suddenly become cold and clammy, and other symptoms of heart failure, such as fluid buildup (edema), mental confusion, or decreased urine, are becoming worse, you may be going into shock. Shock develops when the amount of blood your heart is pumping becomes critically low. If you experience signs of shock, you will need immediate medical attention.
What happens when the brain doesn't get enough blood? When the body can no longer compensate adequately for the failing heart, blood circulation to the brain will start to drop. Without enough blood, the brain does not function well, resulting in light-headedness and/or mental confusion.
Light-headedness is a sensation of dizziness or mild disorientation. People with heart failure may also experience light-headedness as a side effect of certain medications.
When blood flow to the brain becomes critically low, people with heart failure may experience an inability to think clearly. Specifically, they may have problems with their memory or with understanding language. This can be particularly dangerous because it can prevent people with severe symptoms from being able to report them to their doctor.
Mental confusion resulting from heart failure means that the amount of blood the heart is pumping is critically low. Typically, this level of impairment occurs in people who are already hospitalized with heart failure. If this is not the case, someone with heart failure who experiences mental confusion needs to see a doctor immediately.
What causes impotence in men who have heart failure? Some men with heart failure cannot achieve an erection (impotence). The specific cause of this impotence can vary. In some cases it results from low blood flow to the genitals caused by the failing heart. In other cases, it can happen as a result of the buildup of plaque (atherosclerosis) in the arteries that supply blood to the genitals. Atherosclerosis in the arteries that supply blood to the heart (coronary artery disease) is often what causes heart failure in men who experience impotence.
Also, impotence can be the result of depression or other psychological factors related to heart failure. Certain medicines used to treat heart failure may also cause impotence.
Related Information
Current as of: January 10, 2022
Author: Healthwise Staff
Medical Review:
Rakesh K. Pai MD, FACC - Cardiology, Electrophysiology
Anne C. Poinier MD - Internal Medicine
Martin J. Gabica MD - Family Medicine
E. Gregory Thompson MD - Internal Medicine
Adam Husney MD - Family Medicine
Stephen Fort MD, MRCP, FRCPC - Interventional Cardiology
Current as of: January 10, 2022
Author: Healthwise Staff
Medical Review:Rakesh K. Pai MD, FACC - Cardiology, Electrophysiology & Anne C. Poinier MD - Internal Medicine & Martin J. Gabica MD - Family Medicine & E. Gregory Thompson MD - Internal Medicine & Adam Husney MD - Family Medicine & Stephen Fort MD, MRCP, FRCPC - Interventional Cardiology
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Mood: irritated
Now Playing: Cynthia McKinney on boat that was rammed in International waters
Topic: HUMANITY
Z3 Readers watch the video (link is in article below) where Cynthia Mckinney tells about being rammed by Isreal on International Waters. This boat is bringing first aid supplies to Gazza. There is more info on my website click here
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Gaza relief boat
damaged in encounter with Israeli vessel
(CNN) -- An Israeli patrol boat struck a boat carrying medical volunteers and supplies to Gaza early Tuesday as it attempted to intercept the vessel in the Mediterranean Sea, witnesses and Israeli officials said.
"Our mission was a peaceful mission," says former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney, who was aboard the Dignity.
CNN correspondent Karl Penhaul was aboard the 60-foot pleasure boat Dignity when the contact occurred. When the boat later docked in the Lebanese port city of Tyre, severe damage was visible to the forward port side of the boat, and the front left window and part of the roof had collapsed. It was flying the flag of Gibraltar.
The Dignity was carrying crew and 16 passengers -- physicians from Britain, Germany and Cyprus and human rights activists from the Free Gaza Solidarity Movement -- who were trying to reach Gaza through an Israeli blockade of the territory.
Also on board was former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney.
Penhaul said an Israeli patrol boat shined its spotlight on the Dignity, and then it and another patrol boat shadowed the Dignity for about a half hour before the collision.
One patrol boat "very severely rammed" the Dignity, Penhaul said.
The captain of the Dignity told Penhaul he received no warning. Only after the collision did the Israelis come on the radio to say they struck the boat because they believed it was involved in terrorist activities, the captain said.
But Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor denied that and said the patrol boat had warned the vessel not to proceed to Gaza because it is a closed military area.
Palmor said there was no response to the radio message, and the vessel then tried to out-maneuver the Israeli patrol boat, leading to the collision. Watch Penhaul describe the boat damage »
Don't Miss Other Gaza Human Right Stories Here
The captain and crew said their vessel was struck intentionally, Penhaul said, but Palmor called those allegations "absurd."
"There is no intention on the part of the Israeli navy to ram anybody," Palmor said.
"I would call it ramming. Let's just call it as it is," McKinney said after the boat docked in Lebanon. "Our boat was rammed three times, twice in the front and one on the side. Watch Cynthia McKinney discuss the collision »
"Our mission was a peaceful mission to deliver medical supplies and our mission was thwarted by the Israelis -- the aggressiveness of the Israeli military," she said.
The incident occurred in international waters about 90 miles off Gaza. Israel controls the waters off Gaza's coast and routinely blocks ships from coming into the Palestinian territory as part of an ongoing blockade that also applies to the Israel-Gaza border. Human rights groups have expressed concern about the blockade on Gaza, which has restricted the delivery of emergency aid and fuel supplies.
Tuesday's collision was so severe, Penhaul said, that the passengers were ordered to put on their life vests and be ready to get in lifeboats. The Dignity began taking on water, but the crew managed to pump it out of the hull long enough for the boat to reach shore.
"It could have ended with people drowning if they hit us more square on," Dignity's captain, Denis Healey, said. "It could have gone down in minutes."
Palmor said the vessel refused assistance after the incident.
The boat was carrying boxes of relief supplies, volunteers and journalists to Gaza, the Palestinian territory that has been subject to an intense Israeli bombing campaign since Saturday.
Israel Tuesday lambasted McKinney -- the Green Party's 2008 candidate for the U.S. presidency and a former Democratic congresswoman from Georgia -- for taking part in the maritime mission.
In a written statement, the Consulate General of Israel to the Southeast, based in Atlanta, Georgia, said McKinney "has taken it upon herself to commit an act of provocation," endangering herself and the crew.
"We regret that during this time of crisis, while Israel is battling with the terrorist organization of Hamas and defending its citizens, that we are forced to deal with Ms. McKinney's irresponsible behavior," the statement read.
The trip was the Free Gaza Solidarity Movement's sixth in as many months.
Israel launched airstrikes against Gaza on Saturday in what Defense Minister Ehud Barak called an "all-out war" against the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has ruled the territory since 2007. The Israeli military says its goal is to stop a recent barrage of rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel. Watch the chaos in Gaza and Israel »
The Palestinian death toll has topped 375, most of them Hamas militants, Palestinian medical sources said Tuesday. At least 60 civilians have been killed in Gaza, U.N. officials said.
Hamas has pontinued to fire rockets at southern Israeli towns since the airstrikes began, Israel says. Six Israelis have been killed -- five of them civilians.
Hamas has vowed to defend Gaza in the face of what it calls continued Israeli aggression. Each side blames the other for violating an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire, which formally expired December 19, but had been weakening for months.
All About Gaza • Israel • Cynthia McKinney


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Her Yerde Sen – Episode 11
Her Yerde Sen - Demir and Selin, are stubborn to each other and are forced to live together in the same house, as if this is not enough, the company will get even worse when someone comes to the company he works for and the other as manager. This is, Her Yerde Sen (You Are Everywhere).
Serial: Her Yerde Sen
Title in English: You Are Everywhere
Actors: Aybuke Pusat, Furkan Andic
Director: Omer Ozguner, Ummu Burhan
Duration: 125 minute
Quality: FULL HD
Year: 2019
IMDb: 6.5
Statusi: Completed
tags: her yerde sen episode 11, her yerde sen episode 11 english subtitles, her yerde sen episode 11 with english subtitles, watch her yerde sen episode 11 english subtitles, her yerde sen ep 11BACK TO HOMEPAGE


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Pentagon chief says he's seen no hard evidence embassies under threat
WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Mark Esper explicitly said Sunday that he had seen no hard evidence that four American embassies had been under possible threat when President Donald Trump authorized the targeting of Iran's top commander, raising questions about the scale of the threat described by Trump last week.
As the administration struggled with its justification for the drone strike that killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Esper and other officials tried to refocus attention on voices of dissent in Iran.
Esper said street protests in Tehran show the Iranian people are hungry for a more accountable government after leaders denied, then admitted shooting down a Ukrainian passenger plane. The plane was downed shortly after Iran launched strikes against U.S. bases in Iraq in retaliation for Soleimani's killing.
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper holds an end of year press conference at the Pentagon on Dec. 20, 2019 in Arlington, Virginia. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
"You can see the Iranian people are standing up and asserting their rights, their aspirations for a better government — a different regime," Esper said. He appeared on two Sunday news shows while national security adviser, Robert O'Brien, was interviewed on three others — pressing the White House's campaign to bring "maximum pressure" on Tehran to change its behavior.
O'Brien suggested the United States sees this moment as an opportunity to further intensify pressure on Iran's leaders, with whom the U.S. has been at odds for four decades. Iran's leaders already are under enormous strain from economic sanctions that have virtually strangled Iran's main source of income — oil exports.
Trump himself is under great pressure as he faces an expected impeachment trial in the Senate. Many in Congress also are upset over his handling of Iran, complaining that the administration did not consult them in advance of the Jan. 3 strike that killed Iran's most powerful general, nor adequately brief members afterward. Trump complicated the debate by asserting on Fox News that he had to strike quickly because intelligence showed Iran could have attacked four American embassies.
RELATED: Trump tells Fox News' Laura Ingraham 'four embassies' were targeted in imminent threat from Iran
Both Esper and O'Brien said they agreed that Iran might have hit more than just the U.S. Embassy in the Iraqi capital. But Esper, when asked whether there was a specific piece of evidence, replied: "I didn't see one with regard to four embassies.'' And in response to a question about whether Trump was "embellishing'' the threat, Esper said, "I don't believe so."
After the U.S. killed Soleimani in Baghdad, it appeared the backlash in Iran and elsewhere had helped Tehran by shifting the focus away from its internal problems. The strike also seemed to divert attention away from domestic unrest in Iraq over government corruption, and it intensified efforts by Iraqi politicians to expel American and other foreign forces.
But the shootdown of the Ukrainian plane on the night of the Soleimani strike, killing all 176 people aboard, opened a new avenue of pressure for the Trump administration.
"`I think the regime is having a very bad week," O'Brien said.
"This was a regime that's reeling from maximum pressure, they're reeling from their incompetence in this situation and the people of Iran are just fed up with it," he said, adding that regime change is not U.S. policy.
"The people of Iran are going to hopefully have the ability at some point to elect their own government and to be governed by the leaders they choose," O'Brien said.
In Tehran, Iran's security forces deployed in large numbers on Sunday. Demonstrators defied the heavy police presence to protest their country's days of denials that it shot down the Ukrainian plane. Videos posted online showed protesters shouting anti-government slogans and moving through subway stations and sidewalks.
Earlier Sunday, Trump tweeted his support for the Iranian protesters.
"To the leaders of Iran - DO NOT KILL YOUR PROTESTERS," Trump wrote on Twitter Sunday morning. "Thousands have already been killed or imprisoned by you, and the World is watching. More importantly, the USA is watching. Turn your internet back on and let reporters roam free! Stop the killing of your great Iranian people!
Esper said Iran deserves credit for taking responsibility for the shootdown.
"My hunch is it was an accident," he said, adding that although Iranian government officials initially blamed American propaganda, they ultimately "did the right thing by admitting it." He said they need to allow a full investigation.
RELATED: Iran admits it shot down jetliner by mistake
The Ukrainian plane crash early Wednesday killed all 176 people on board, mostly Iranians and Iranian-Canadians. After initially pointing to a technical failure and insisting the armed forces were not to blame, Iranian authorities on Saturday admitted to accidentally shooting it down with its air defenses. That acknowledgement came in the face of mounting accusations by Western leaders.
Iran downed the Ukrainian flight as Tehran braced for retaliation after firing ballistic missiles at two bases in Iraq housing U.S. forces. The ballistic missile attack, which caused no casualties, was a response to the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Iran's top general, in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad.
Iranians have expressed anger over the downing of the Ukrainian flight and the misleading explanations from senior officials in the immediate aftermath. Later the government took the blame for the shootdown, saying it was caused by human error.
Reviewing the dramatic sequence of events that preceded the downing of the Ukrainian jetliner Wednesday, Esper justified the U.S. killing of Soleimani as an act of self defense, and he said the U.S. foresees no more Iranian military attacks in retaliation for that. Even so, the leader of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which is closely aligned with Iran, said Sunday that Iran's missile attacks on two bases in Iraq housing U.S. forces last week were only the start of the retaliation.
Hassan Nasrallah described Iran's military response, which caused no casualties, as a "slap" at the U.S. He called it the "first step down a long path" that will ensure U.S. troops withdraw from the region.
Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he was concerned that "Iran has lots of ways that they can take action against us, both overt and covert, and I don't think they're done trying to seek revenge.''
Esper spoke hopefully of getting the NATO alliance more involved in Iraq to help train Iraqi security forces. He said this could allow him to reduce the number of American troops in Iraq, currently numbering more than 5,200, but he did not say any reduction was in the works yet.
Esper also said the administration's offer to negotiate a new nuclear deal with Iran without precondition "still stands." Trump's decision to pull the United States out of an international nuclear deal with Iran in 2018 is cited by his critics as the trigger for escalating tensions that led to the killing of Soleimani.
Esper said Iran's paramilitary Quds Force still presents a threat across the Mideast, but the specific attacks he said were being planned by Soleimani, have been "disrupted."
Esper was pressed to comment on Trump's statement in a Fox News interview that the president believed Soleimani had been plotting to attack four U.S. embassies. Esper said he shared the belief that Soleimani was planning attacks on multiple U.S. facilities, but Esper did not say these included four embassies.
While seeking to defend Trump's remarks as representing the president's personal belief, not an assertion of a specific piece of hard intelligence that four embassies had been targeted, Esper indicated there was no such piece of evidence.
"I didn't see one with regard to four embassies," Esper said. "What I'm saying is I share the president's view that probably — my expectation was they were going to go after our embassies. The embassies are the most prominent display of American presence in a country."
O'Brien seemed to agree with Trump on that point.
"It's always difficult even with the exquisite intelligence that we have to know exactly what the targets are, but it's certainly consistent with the intelligence to assume that they would have hit embassies in at least four countries," O'Brien said.
Esper appeared on CBS' "Face the Nation" and CNN's "State of the Union." O'Brien appeared on ABC's "This Week,'' "Fox News Sunday" and NBC's "Meet the Press." Coon was on Fox.