Andrew Brandt: The Secret Word on Hurd

A criminal complaint was filed yesterday against Sam Hurd, the now-former wide receiver of the Chicago Bears. It is a shocking account of a pattern of activity from a player well respected and seen as nothing like the one depicted in the complaint. An official at the Bears told me "He seemed like a great guy, quoting the Bible and always friendly." Most con men are.

The complaint includes an affidavit attached to it, required to show probable cause to arrest, wherein the federal agent swears under oath that this story is true.

Days before signing with Bears

On July 27th, T.L. (a Hurd co-conspirator) attempted to purchase 4 kgs of cocaine on behalf of Hurd from a Homeland Security confidential informant.

They set up a meeting in Dallas and federal agents intervened, stopping T.L. for a routine traffic stop where they discovered marijuana and $88,000. T.L. said both the money and car belonged to Hurd. A vehicle registration check showed that the car did belong to Hurd. T.L. said that he routinely performed maintenance on Hurd's cars. The authorities seized the money and released T.L.

On July 28th Hurd contacted and met with federal agents, stating that he was a Dallas Cowboy and that the $88,000 was his. He claimed he withdrew the money from a certain bank account and packed the money in his car prior to leaving it with T.L. for "maintenance and detailing." The agents reviewed the bank statement, which didn't corroborate Hurd's story as the transactions and amounts differed.

On July 29th, Hurd signed a three-year contract with the Bears that provided a $1.35 million signing bonus and a 2011 salary of $685,000.

More summer heat

On August 14th, T.L. again tried to broker a deal for Hurd with the informant, this for purchasing 5 kgs of cocaine.

On August 15th, federal agents learned of Hurd's association with four California men arrested on July 25th possessing money, drugs, and weapons. Hurd's cell phone number appeared in texts describing drug dealing and money laundering.

Season starts, drug activity continues

On September 9th, T.L. again tried to broker a deal for Hurd with the informant for 5 kgs of cocaine.

On December 6th, T.L. met the informant at a Firestone store in Texas where he contacted Hurd and passed the phone to the informant. Hurd expressed his desire to purchase 5 kgs of cocaine and said T.L. would give him Hurd's phone number in case the informant was ever in the Chicago area.

Sting set up

On December 14th, Hurd met the informant and an undercover agent at Morton's Steakhouse in Chicago. Hurd was interested in purchasing 5-10 kgs of cocaine and 1000 lbs of marijuana per week. They negotiated a price of $25,000 per kg of cocaine and $450 per lb of marijuana. Hurd acknowledged that he currently distributed about 4 kgs of cocaine per week in the Chicago area and that while his partner did smaller deals, Hurd focused on "higher-end" ones.

Hurd also inquired as to Mexican cell phones - believing them to be safe from law enforcement hearing conversations - while also disclosing that he had money seized in Dallas months earlier.

The undercover agent provided Hurd with 1 kg of cocaine. Hurd left the restaurant, placed the bag in his vehicle, and was subsequently arrested by authorities.

The charge

Hurd is officially charged with "knowingly, intentionally and unlawfully combine, conspire, confederate, and agree together, and with other persons known and unknown, to possess with the intent to distribute 500 grams ... of cocaine, a controlled substance." He faces the possibility of up to 40 years in prison

A federal judge in Chicago ruled that Hurd must stand trial in Texas because the criminal charges were filed there.

Hurd is represented by Los Angeles attorney David Kenner, whose past clients include Snoop Dogg.

Bigger issues

More worrisome for the NFL - other than the disturbing facts of the story itself - is that the authorities claim to have a list (possibly in the double digits) of NFL clients that Hurd served.

Unfortunately for the Bears and perhaps the Cowboys and the NFL, this story is only the beginning.
As with many criminals, people who thought they knew Hurd are shocked. Stay tuned.

?

Follow Andrew Brandt on Twitter: www.twitter.com/adbrandt

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-brandt/the-secret-word-on-hurd_b_1155181.html

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Overstock.com unloads goods at Utah auction (AP)

SALT LAKE CITY ? Overstock.com, the online retailer known for selling distressed merchandise, was feeling a little distressed itself. With household merchandise stacking up in a warehouse, it opened the doors Thursday for an auction of goods assembled hodgepodge that had to be bought together on pallets.

Overstock was overstocked.

"We call it revenue recovery," said Carroll Morale, a vice president of supply chain, who said Overstock had already written off the mostly returned goods as a loss and was happy to get anything back.

More than 600 people registered for the warehouse auction, and many said they were bidding blindly because pallets were shrink-wrapped in black plastic and they didn't study the manifests.

"I just came to blow some money ? my wife is going to kill me," said Joseph Kikel, a 34-year-old car salesman who bought a pallet of furniture for about 25 cents on the dollar.

The man from Layton, Utah, spent $350 for a leather chair, a dresser, an entertainment center and padded bench. He wasn't certain what he bought until he unloaded boxes in his pickup.

It was Overstock's first auction and to mix things up, workers stacked pallets with whatever moved down a conveyor belt ? "you could get dinnerware with luggage," Morale said.

Salt Lake City auctioneer Rob Olson said 307 pallets of goods were sold for around $150,000.

"It was crazy," he said. The auction's final pallet contained $14,000 worth of women's dresses, he said. It sold for $1,800.

Normally Overstock arranges sales of unsold goods privately to other liquidators. The company called the auction a community service, and said it was able to empty part of its sprawling warehouse for expected holiday merchandise returns.

"A lot of it is furniture and decor, but one of my lots had a laptop," said Karl Fackrell, a 65-year-old real-estate developer in South Jordan, Utah.

Fackrell said he paid about $2,500 ? or about 20 cents on the dollar ? for six pallets of goods. "I'll sell the stuff I don't want," he said.

The auction was the latest innovation from a company whose innovations sometimes backfire.

Overstock "shot itself in the foot" earlier this year with a rebranding campaign as "O.co" that only confused consumers, said Daniel Kurnos, a stock analyst with The Benchmark Co.

Overstock was penalized earlier this year for setting up fake websites that linked to its own website, Google has said. During the two-month penalty time, Google pushed Overstock further down in search results. Overstock has said its revenue dropped 5 percent as a result.

And in California, the company's efforts to avoid charging sales tax forced it to cut ties with merchandisers who generated 5 percent of Overstock's revenue, he said.

Overstock reported a loss of $16 million for the first nine months of 2011, compared with a loss of $1 million in 2010. The company has generated profits in only two of its dozen years in business as it tries to compete in a crowded field of Internet liquidators.

"They're expecting growth for the holiday quarter, but they have to dig themselves out of a hole," Kurnos said.

Overstock says things are looking up ? Cyber Monday sales after Thanksgiving weekend were the largest ever for the company. The company once aspired to take on Internet goliaths, but competitors Amazon and eBay generate sales 30 or more times greater.

On Thursday, some Utah consumers were just happy to grab a quick deal and unwrap it at home.

Others who described themselves as more serious bidders were holding onto their wallets until the end of the one-day auction, when they hoped to pick up stuff for pennies on the dollar.

Douglas Larson, a home renovator looking for furniture, was unimpressed by Overstock's emphasis on the full retail value of goods.

Nobody pays full retail, he sniffed.

"So you cut that in half right away, then cut it in half again," he said.

That was his bidding strategy, but he complained he couldn't inspect any of the shrink-wrapped boxes of goods.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111216/ap_on_hi_te/us_overstock_overstocked

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Bargainers reach deal to head off gov't shutdown

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio pauses during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio pauses during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif. gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Barack Obama speaks in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the campus in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011, where he announced action to provide minimum wage and overtime protections for in-home care workers. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Congressional negotiators reached agreement Thursday on a compromise spending bill to avert a weekend federal shutdown. They also worked toward a deal renewing the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits for another year but prepared a shorter version as a fallback.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told reporters he was still optimistic that bipartisan talks on yearlong extensions of the Social Security payroll tax cut and unemployment coverage would succeed. But as a "Plan B," he said, they were working on a two-month extension as well, which would also prevent cuts in Medicare reimbursements for doctors during that period.

"We're still working on the long-term" bill, Reid told reporters as he exited the Capitol after a day of talks over both the payroll tax and spending measures. As for the two-month version, he said, "We'll only do that if what we're working on doesn't work out."

Reid's remarks put a slight damper on a day on which for the first time, Democratic and Republican leaders expressed optimism at prospects for swift compromise on their payroll tax standoff and a spending battle that had threatened to shutter federal agencies beginning at midnight Friday.

A deal on a $1 trillion spending bill was reached after Republicans agreed to drop language that would have blocked President Barack Obama's liberalized rules on people who visit and send money to relatives in Cuba. But a GOP provision will stay in the bill thwarting an Obama administration rule on energy efficiency standards that critics argued would make it hard for people to purchase inexpensive incandescent light bulbs.

The House is expected to approve the spending measure Friday, and the Senate could follow suit, possibly the same day.

Donald Stewart, spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said talks aimed at agreeing to a yearlong extension of the payroll tax measure will continue.

"We're 12 hours into this debate, they just started talking," he said when asked about the two-month version of the bill. "I wouldn't hit the panic button."

A senior White House official said the administration supported the two-month plan.

Bargainers were considering the two-month extension of this year's payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits bill because so far, they haven't agreed how a yearlong extension would be paid for, said a Democratic aide who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private talks.

The two-month bill would cost $40 billion, according to the aide. It would be paid for from a list of around $120 billion in savings that bargainers are considering, including sales of the broadcast spectrum and raising fees that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac charge to back mortgages, the aide said.

The two-month extension would let lawmakers revisit the measure after returning to Washington after the holiday season. That could be risky because that work would come well into the 2012 presidential and congressional election year.

Without congressional action, the payroll taxes would rise and extra benefits for the long-term unemployed would expire on Jan. 1. Doctors' Medicare payments would be automatically reduced that day by 27 percent, a reduction that could prompt some to stop seeing Medicare patients.

?"Right now, Congress needs to make sure that 160 million working Americans don't see their taxes go up on Jan. 1," said Obama, referring to the tax cut extension at the core of the jobs program he outlined in a nationally televised speech three months ago.

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, the most powerful Republican in an era of divided government, agreed. "We can extend payroll tax relief for American workers, help create new jobs and keep the government running. And frankly, we can do it in a bipartisan way," he said. ?????

?In the Capitol, the previous day's bristling rhetoric and partisan jabs all but vanished.

Still another year-end bill, setting new rules for the handling of terror suspects in U.S. custody, won final congressional approval and headed to Obama's desk for his signature.

?Republicans agreed to consider changes to a $1 trillion spending bill compromise that they and at least one Democrat said had been wrapped up days ago.

On the payroll tax cut bill, Democrats abandoned their demand for a surtax on million-dollar incomes that they wanted to include in the measure.

?At a news conference, Boehner minimized the concession, noting that Democrats lacked the votes to impose the surtax a year ago when they commanded 60 votes in the Senate. Even so, he said, "there was some movement yesterday from the White House and Democrat leaders" toward a compromise.

?Boehner also left open the possibility of a compromise on another key sticking point ? a House-passed provision that all but requires construction of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to Texas Gulf Coast refineries.

?Construction "will put 20,000 people to work immediately And there are about 115,000 other jobs directly related to it," he said. Yet he skipped an opportunity to say construction of the project was non-negotiable as talks on the payroll tax cut bill proceeded.

Obama has threatened to veto the House-passed bill, in part citing the requirement for the pipeline. The project has been studied for more than three years, but the president recently announced he would put off a decision until after the 2012 elections.

At Obama's insistence, Congress cut the 6.2 percent Social Security payroll tax to 4.2 percent this year in an effort to stimulate the economy with more consumer spending. The president has proposed deepening the cut to 3.1 percent next year, but Republicans have only shown a willingness to renew it at this year's level.

Obama also wants to leave in place a system that provides aid for up to 99 weeks for the long-term unemployed. The House-passed measure reduces the total by 20 weeks, a step that the administration says would cut off 3.3 million individuals and that Democrats are hoping to soften if not reverse.

Reid indicated that a number of expiring tax breaks were on the table, as well, a list that included a provision that benefits commuters who use mass transit.

The House-passed payroll tax cut measure relied on a pay freeze and increased pension contributions for federal workers, as well as higher Medicare premiums for seniors with incomes over $80,000, beginning in 2017. The bill would also raise a fee that is charged to banks whose mortgages are guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and cancel more than $40 billion from the year-old health care bill, Obama's signature domestic achievement.

The year-end, $1 trillion spending measure would lock in cuts that Republicans extracted from Democrats in negotiations conducted months ago against the deadline of a previous government shutdown threat. It funds 10 Cabinet departments, including the Pentagon and dozens of smaller agencies, awarding a slight increase to the military and veterans' programs while trimming most other domestic programs.

?The separate defense bill covered military personnel, weapons systems, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and more at a cost of $662 billion, $27 billion below Obama's request. The Senate approved it by a resounding 86-13.

?The main controversy revolved around a provision to require military custody for foreign terrorist suspects linked to al-Qaida or its affiliates and involved in plotting or attacking the United States. Under a change made to gain Obama's backing, the legislation would permit the FBI to arrest and interrogate foreign terror suspects, as is now the case.

___

Associated Press writers Donna Cassata and Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-12-15-Congress%20Rdp/id-6102f69aa9d44621ae37e81fdb95dfef

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Madonna Inks Deal With Interscope

Singer reportedly signs for three albums at rate of $1 million each.
By Jocelyn Vena

Madonna
Photo: Getty Images

As Madonna inches closer to the release of her in-the-works album, a report has surfaced that the Queen of Pop has signed a deal with Interscope Records, making her labelmates with music superstars like Lady Gaga and Eminem.

The report first appeared in the New York Post early Wednesday (December 14), and a source confirmed the deal to Billboard. Madonna will reportedly work with the label on three records for $1 million each. Reps for the singer and the label had not responded to MTV News' requests for comment by press time.

Madonna will also remain with Live Nation, with whom she signed a deal in 2007. Currently she has a 10-year "360 deal" worth upward of $100 million that covers touring and merchandise. Live Nation CEO Irving Azoff hinted back in February that a merger could happen for the star sometime this year. Live Nation always had intended to partner with a record label for the release of Madge's next album.

"Live Nation, prior to the merger, entered into some of these all-rights deals, so there are certain artists, Madonna being one of them, that there is a recorded-music strategy," Azoff said. "Once she gets the album recorded, we'll sit down with her and her manager, Guy Oseary, and figure out what's best for the record. It has to start with the music."

A source tells the New York Post, "It's just about keeping relevance so that she can tour. She is still in the demo phase, but the idea is to get the first album out early next year."

Madonna is expected to drop her highly anticipated album this spring. In February, she'll not only release her film "W.E.," but she's also slated to take the stage during the Super Bowl halftime show.

She just shot the video for her song "Give Me All Your Love," which features Nicki Minaj and M.I.A. The shoot made headlines when Nicki tweeted about kissing Madonna on the set of the clip, directed by the Megaforce.

Are you looking forward to new music from Madonna? Tell us below!

Related Artists

• Madonna

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1675969/madonna-album-deal-interscope.jhtml

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Reader recommendation: Of Thee I Zing

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Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/98w93TeH4ZI/Reader-recommendation-Of-Thee-I-Zing

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Gingrich meets with Trump, begins first ad in Iowa

Donald Trump listens at left as Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich talks to media after their meeting in New York, Monday, Dec. 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Donald Trump listens at left as Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich talks to media after their meeting in New York, Monday, Dec. 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Donald Trump talk to media after a meeting in New York, Monday, Dec. 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, right, waves after meeting with Donald Trump, and talking to the media in New York, Monday, Dec. 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Donald Trump shake hands after they met and spoke to the media in New York, Monday, Dec. 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Surging in polls, Newt Gingrich declared confidently Monday that he plans to run a general election campaign in all 50 states should he win the Republican presidential nomination. But he also found himself defending comments he had made about poor children ? hinting at the potential troubles and new scrutiny he faces in the race.

"I do not suggest children until about 14 or 15 years of age do heavy, dangerous janitorial work," Gingrich told reporters, seeking to explain previous remarks that rivals have used to criticize him. "On the other hand, there are a number of things done to clean buildings that are not heavy or dangerous."

At issue is a remark Gingrich made last week in which he suggested that poor children as young as 9 should work at least part time cleaning their schools in order to learn about work.

The Republican said his original point had been "distorted" to make him look insensitive, and he twice tried to explain where he stood. The idea, Gingrich said, would be "to get them into the world of work, get them into the opportunity to earn money, to get them into the habit of showing up and realizing that effort is rewarded and America is all about the work ethic."

Trying to show sensitivity on the issue, Gingrich also said he had persuaded Donald Trump ? the real estate mogul with whom he met privately earlier in the day ? to mentor a group of children from New York City's poorest schools.

"I thought it was a great idea," said Trump, who hosts the reality show "Celebrity Apprentice." ''We're going to be picking 10 young wonderful children and make them 'apprenti.' We're going to have a little fun with it."

Gingrich spent the day in New York with a busy schedule of fundraisers and meetings as he looked to solidify his status at the head of the GOP pack alongside Mitt Romney in polls nationally and in Iowa, which holds the first presidential contest on Jan. 3.

The former Georgia lawmaker chose the heavily Democratic city to announce he planned to run in all 50 states ? not just traditionally Republican or swing states ? if he becomes the party nominee.

His campaign, meanwhile, debuted a new television ad in Iowa ? the first of his campaign.

"Some people say the America we know and love is a thing of the past. I don't believe that, because working together I know we can rebuild America," Gingrich says in the ad that's laden with Americana, down to the white picket fence, the Statue of Liberty and the American stars and stripes.

As the day began, Gingrich met privately with Trump, who flirted with a bid for the Republican nomination last spring.

But the candidate left without an endorsement. Trump said he would refrain from endorsing a candidate until after he hosts a televised debate in Iowa a week before that state's caucuses.

Even so, Gingrich praised Trump as a "true American icon." And Trump said he was impressed by the former House speaker's strong showing in the GOP presidential contest.

Gingrich said he would be pleased to participate in the Trump-hosted debate and dismissed criticism from rival Ron Paul that such a forum demeaned the presidency.

"This is a country that elected a peanut farmer to the presidency. This is a country that elected an actor who made two movies with a chimpanzee to the presidency," Gingrich said, referring to Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. "Donald Trump is a great showman; he's also a great businessman. I think one of the differences between my party and the other party is we actually go to people who know how to create jobs. We need to be open to new ways of doing things."

Trump has hinted he might run for president as an Independent if the Republicans nominate a candidate who can't beat President Barack Obama. Trump sidestepped questions about a potential run but said he believes Paul has "zero chance" of getting the nomination.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2011-12-05-Gingrich-Show%20of%20Force/id-0b35c02a74a4471ca083dc2d8ff96b8a

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Toxic Montana Lake's Extremophiles Might Be a Medical Treasure Trove

I find it so hard to even have an opinion about global warming because the questions and subject is so loaded.

First of all the global temperature doesn't stay the same, it's constantly rising and falling. Earth has ice ages which are defined as ice sheet existing on planet as is the case currently at our poles and we have glacial periods and interglacial periods which are defined as more extensive ice sheets and the times between them.

The earth naturally undergoes periods without any ice caps all at the poles. Volcanoes erupt all the time (in the geological sense) and put out way way more gases that change the atmosphere more profoundly than man. A bunch of small volcanoes can cause global warming in a few thousands of years and a large super volcano explosion can send us into an ice age and or glacial period overnight.

Earth weather does indeed change and that is the norm.

Human beings are unquestionably contributing to climate change. But how bad is it really vs the climate shifts that would occur anyways if we didn't exist? Where no one makes the distinction is calculating where the climate would be without humans. Global temperatures and been consistently rising since modern man appeared at the beginning of the decline of the last glacial period approximately 12,000 years ago. We probably didn't significantly effect climate until at the earliest 2000 years ago although I suspect is more like after 1200AD. But the earth was warming anyways...

Second they don't comment on possible benefits climate change can have in some areas vs the bad in others. No one seems to even notice that without ice caps we get a new continent to inhabit.

Further it seems to me we are overly focused on greenhouse gases and the atmosphere and temperature. I think a bigger issue of consequence is deforestation of unoccupied land and the over farming of the oceans. The more variety of life the quicker the adaptation rate.

And while we may be totally fuck up this planets current ecology I doubt we could destroy it completely even intentionally. Given our best shot to turn the earth into a desert I bet the earth would be teaming with life again 100 million years later.

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/6_b-SN9JbKo/toxic-montana-lakes-extremophiles-might-be-a-medical-treasure-trove

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