Still No Deal, Drug King Escapes
Sunday, July 12, 2015
Vol. 4, No. 193
On the Brink: A meeting of the European Union’s 28 leaders was abruptly cancelled today because there is no Greek finance deal to vote on.
European finance ministers broke off their discussions at midnight last night in Brussels without reaching an agreement on whether to give Greece its third bailout since 2010. They were expected to meet again today to try to make a deal. Despite the apparent capitulation of the Greek government to austere terms, some European leaders are skeptical that Greece can or will pull itself together.
World: The Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin Guzman, known as “El Chapo,” has broken out of prison — again. Authorities discovered a tunnel out of the shower area.
Guzman busted out of prison in 2001 riding in a laundry cart … must have seen that in a movie … and wasn’t recaptured until early 2014. Guzman runs the Sinaloa cartel, Mexico’s dominant drug organization. He’s a legend and a hero of sorts who’s been the subject of Mexico’s narco-corrido folk songs.
Pope on Tour: Pope Francis has spent his eight-day tour of South America blasting the evils of capitalism as he continues to be one of the most socially activist popes in history. In Bolivia he urged the poor to rise up against the “new colonialism” of corporations while describing the pursuit of money as the “dung of the devil.” Francis said, “This system is by now intolerable: farmworkers find it intolerable, laborers find it intolerable, communities find it intolerable, people find it intolerable … The earth itself … also finds it intolerable.”
Nation: A local Massachusetts district attorney says she plans to prosecute Boston Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev for murder in the killing of MIT police officer Sean Collier. Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said in a statement of prosecutorial bluster, “When you come into Middlesex County and execute a police officer in the performance of his duties and assault other officers attempting to effect his capture, it is appropriate you should come back to Middlesex County to stand trial for that offense.”
Tsarnaev has already been convicted in federal court and sentenced to death.
PolitiSpeak: Surging Republican candidate Donald Trump spoke to a crowd of 15,000 last night at the Phoenix Convention Center, his largest rally yet. Pounding away at his theme of illegal immigration, Trump said, “They flow in like water.” This despite the fact that fewer illegal immigrants are coming into the country and many are leaving as the Mexican economy improves.
Trump’s speech was briefly interrupted by protesters and he said, “I wonder if the Mexican government sent them over here.” Then he told the cheering crowd, “Don’t worry, we’ll take our country back.”
Cash Crop: The State of Washington took in $65 million in taxes on legal marijuana during the weed’s first year on the open market. Retailers in Washington sold 23,000 pounds of marijuana.
Set, Match: Serena Williams beat Garbiñe Muguruza of Spain at Wimbledon yesterday to win the championship and put her one tournament away from winning the Grand Slam of Tennis; the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Is she wins the US tournament she will be the first woman to achieve the Grand Slam since Steffi Graf in 1988.
The Obit Page: Roger Rees, the thin and handsome Welsh actor who won a Tony Award in the lead role of “The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby” on Broadway, has died of cancer at age 71. An accomplished stage actor, Rees appeared in movies and was a regular on the popular television series “Cheers” and “The West Wing.”
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