Baltimore Prison Saga
The current dinner table talk in my neck of the woods is of worthy of an HBO drama series….and it’s all true.
The synopsis of the current ‘can you believe this is happening’ story is this:
The feds say an inmate impregnated four correctional officers and masterminded a criminal empire from behind bars in a Baltimore jail.
The corruption scandal at the Baltimore City Detention Center has captured national attention. Naughty boy Tavon White was a member of the notorious Black Guerilla Family gang and essentially ran the Baltimore City Detention Center as his own kingdom, using cell phones for drug deals and recruiting correctional officers to help.
Oh, it’s all going on behind bars….
To top off this, the kingpin allegedly impregnated four correctional officers! Not just one – FOUR!
One of those correctional officers is currently eight-months pregnant with his baby. Poor, poor baby.
In conversations captured by federal wiretaps, he said he ran the jail and everything had to go through him. This one such wiretap:
“This is my jail,” he said. “You understand that? I’m dead serious…. I make every final call in this jail … and nothing go past me, everything come to me…. Any of my brothers that deal with anybody, it’s gonna come to me. You see what I am saying? Everything come to me. Everything. Before a —– hit a —- in the mouth, guess what they do, they gotta run it through me. I tell them whether it’s a go ahead, and they can do it or whether they hold back. Before a —– stab somebody, they gotta run it through me…. Anything that get done must go through me.”
Investigations say that White even ordered champagne and seafood dinners. Nice if you can get it.
Read more here for the latest in this saga:
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-04-23/local/38756337_1_black-guerilla-family-bgf-state-prison
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-04-29/news/bs-md-ci-bgf-jail-indictment-tavon-white-plea-20130429_1_detention-center-indictment-black-guerrilla-family
Gun fact
Check this out for a crazy gun fact currently doing the rounds on social media…..food for thought?
High fructose saga
My rage against high fructose corn syrup escalates. The bloody stuff is everywhere.
http://phys.org/news/2013-04-high-fructose-corn-syrup-tied-worldwide.html. In this instance researchers find high-fructose corn syrup may be tied to worldwide collapse of bee colonies. Sigh. First teeth, now bees.
As my friend, Tom, commented: ‘It’s like the Bruce Willis of bad things.’
Bye bye bees
Cinco de Mayo!
This weekend I will be celebrating my first Cinco de Mayo. But what is this, I hear my UK chums cry!
Aha, let me share with you what I have discovered: Cinco de Mayo is a celebration held on May 5 – yep, you got it! It is celebrated in the USA and regionally in Mexico, primarily in the state of Puebla, where the holiday is called El Día de la Batalla de Puebla (English: The Day of the Battle of Puebla). It originated with Mexican-American communities in the American West as a way to commemorate the cause of freedom and democracy during the first years of the American Civil War, and today the date is observed in the United States as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride.
So basically, we get to eat mountains of Mexican food, drink tequilas and have margaritas – hoorah!
Bring on the tequila!
Long live Cinco de Mayo!
Pledge of Allegiance
Today I did the Pledge of Allegiance for the very first time at Harry’s school assembly. Well, to be honest I didn’t actually do it, because I had no idea what to say. Is that terrible of me? Should I have at least learned that since I am living in this country, or do I not need to pledge an allegiance, since I am a Brit and should be honouring my Queen and country….? Confused, I am!
Anyway, I joined in as best I could and performed the hand on heart thing and looked at the stars on the flag, and when I glanced at Harry I realised he was just mumbling a bit as well, so I think I may have to learn this with him.
This is it, just in case you want to have a stab at it too…
USA Pants vs UK Pants
Harry and I attended a most excellent blog event at Greenberries with a new bunch of Americans ladies one evening this week and Harry was enjoying the attention as the only child there.
Harry decided to stand up and tell a short story to the crowd, flitting with ease between his British and American accents.
‘So he can speak in both accents?’ ask the lovely, smart American ladies.
‘Oh yes,’ I say, proudly. ‘Harry, say something in American.’
So Harry points to his trousers and declares in his American accent:
‘These are my pants.’
Then he PULLS DOWN HIS TROUSERS/PANTS, points to his underpants and declares in his best British accent: ‘And these are my pants.’
My most excellent, talented son 🙂
I must say something about Greenberries – it’s a beautiful place, so totally unlike anything I’ve seen in this area so far. It’s not a chain kids’ place, thankfully (I can’t bear ruddy Toys r Us anymore); it’s unique and clever, and dedicated to bringing the community together.
The problem I have with some of the ‘villages’ of Columbia is that the buildings are very unappealing – a bike shop and a bathroom shop are located in the same area as Greenberries and have the same features and architecure – it is just so hard to see beyond the frontage……
But this makes me realise that, as with so many places here, you truly must not judge a book/building by its cover. It’s what’s inside that counts – I guess that can be said for most everything, but I shan’t be going down that philosophical route in this blog!
The same can be said for the Mexican restaurant, El Azteca, that we will be celebrating Cinco de Mayo at – an awful building in 1970s flat roof style – but a gem of a place inside – the best in Howard County I am led to believe!
Hurrah for Howard County!
ukdesperatehousewifeusa 
What’s craziest about the prison scandal is that these woman guards won’t even lose their jobs!
Just a note on the Pledge–The version you posted is the old one. In 1954, it was amended to read, “One nation under God.” And no, I don’t think you need to say it if you don’t want to. 😉
Thanks! I think I may just try to learn it anyway just because 🙂
I didn’t realize they get to keep their jobs. Wow.
I was going to say the same thing about the pledge you posted. The controversial words “under God” are missing.
I think Columbia is one of those “planned cities” sort of like Milton Keynes. Funny, they’re both known for being unappealing.
You know what I think about what Harry said – Classic!
God is a controversial word innit!!!?
Have they actually taken “under God” out of the pledge?
Greenberries is by my yoga studio, though you wouldn’t know it looking at it from the outside!
No you do not need to learn the pledge of allegiance lol. However, it’s really supposed to say “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.’
Not sure if it was amended in 1954 as stated above, but then re-amended. This political correctness crap bloody well pisses me off! Phew! Glad I got that off my chest lol!
“Under God” was added in 1954, as part of an ideological war against “godless communism.” It isn’t part of the original.
I am learning so much!
4 women…that is so sad! These are the parts of Baltimore I don’t miss.
Crazy days!
Pants vs Pants! Love it! I remember watching “Bridget Jones” a while back and she was talking about grabbing some pants for a spontaneous weekend away – and I remember thinking, “Just pants? What about underwear?” Had to look that one up!
Knickers, pants….. 😉