07-30-2023, 06:00 PM
Following the movie of
COCAINE BEAR...
Truth is stranger than fiction!
Junkie Sharks Strung out and Tweaked in Florida!
Quote:This gives new meaning to the words Great White.
The new Discovery special “Cocaine Sharks” investigates rumors of rampant recreational cocaine use by strung out sharks in the Florida Keys — getting high on millions of pounds of nose candy dumped into the waterway via the area’s illicit drug trafficking trade.
“I firmly believe, and it’s not just a chance of probability, that a shark will come across a floating bale [of cocaine] and take a bite,” Tom “The Blowfish” Hird, who hosts the show as part of Discovery’s annual Shark Week, told The Post.
“What’s interesting is that the sharks we saw … weren’t right, they weren’t just so, they seemed a little bit off — now that was very interesting,” said Hird, a renowned marine biologist.
“One thing is for sure — we had a couple of sharks behaving strangely, and while it may not be cocaine … nothing suggests that it wasn’t.”
In the special, premiering July 26 at 10 p.m., Hird and scientist Dr. Tracy Fanara dive into the waters off the Florida coast, attracting tiger sharks, hammerheads and lemon sharks — some of which exhibit unusually aggressive behavior. Others, as Hird says on-air, appear to “have the spins,” are “slightly twisted” or are “tweaked” as a “junkie shark” might be if it ingested cocaine.
A shark pounces on one of the bales of “cocaine” dropped into the water off the Florida Keys in “Cocaine Sharks.”
To see if sharks will attack bales of cocaine dropped into the water from above, which is how the Florida Keys coke ends up there, Hird and Fanara toss bales filled with fish powder — akin to the stimulant Dopamine found in coke, into the water — then watch as “super-feisty” sharks of all shapes and sizes greedily grab the bales and swim away, ignoring decoy [fake] swans.
It is, as Hird told The Post, a “siren call” for the beasts, who would rather grab a foreign object than feast on a living creature.
“We know that cocaine acts as an analgesic and anesthetic to some extent, so certainly, if a shark got a hold of a big lump of coke, just like a human I think the first thing that would happen is that its gills would be numbed,” Hird said. “But we have no idea of what might happen — if they might become very agitated and much more unpredictable or if they get stoned, becoming lethargic and disinterested in food.
“There really are no guidelines to what may happen.”
While sharks have not (yet) been tested for cocaine consumption, salmon have — and, as seen in “Cocaine Sharks,” they get extremely hyper when exposed to cocaine.
Meanwhile, Hird said that studies in the UK undertaken at 15 sampling sites along London’s River Thames showed some startling results vis-a-vis fish and drugs.
“At each one of those 15 sites they found shrimp, and each shrimp contained cocaine,” he said.
“I was not aware of local stories [in the Florida Keys] about sharks getting on cocaine and going on a three-day bender, but the minute [the ‘Cocaine Sharks’ production company] brought this idea to me — and asked me if it was legit — I said, ‘Yeah, it totally is.’
“We knew then and there that we had a great story to tell that, at its end, has an important conservation message and will hopefully spur a bit more research in this area.”
Bassist, known for his signature upper register, dies of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Quote:
Randy Meisner of The Eagles during an interview in London in 1973
Randy Meisner, bassist and founding member of the Eagles who wrote and sang “Take it to the Limit,” died on Wednesday. He was 77 years old.
The Eagles confirmed Meisner’s death in a statement on their website, stating he died from complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
“The Eagles are sad to report that founding member, bassist, and vocalist, Randy Meisner, passed away last night in Los Angeles,” the band wrote. “Randy was an integral part of the Eagles and instrumental in the early success of the band. His vocal range was astonishing, as is evident on his signature ballad, ‘Take It to the Limit.’”
That song, released off 1975’s One of These Nights, showcased Meisner’s talent — and his soaring falsetto was so iconic that it later inspired Fred Armisen in The Blue Jean Committee, his Seventies parody rock band with Bill Hader from Documentary Now!
Meisner wrote “Take it to the Limit” one night at his home in Los Angeles. “I was feeling kind of lonely and started singing ‘All alone at the end of the evening, and the bright lights have faded to blue,’” he recalled. “And it went from there.”
Randall Herman Meisner was born on March 8, 1946 in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. Prior to the Eagles, he was the founding bassist in Poco, which he formed in 1968 with Buffalo Springfield’s Richie Furay and Jim Messina. Meisner left the group after the release of their debut Pickin’ Up the Pieces and briefly joined Rick Nelson’s Stone Canyon Band.
He then became a member of Linda Ronstadt’s backing band alongside Don Henley, Glenn Frey, and Bernie Leadon. In 1971, they parted ways with Ronstadt, signed to David Geffen’s Asylum Records, and named themselves the Eagles.
Meisner spent the next six years with the band, singing on tracks like “Tryin'” (1972’s The Eagles), “Certain Kind of Fool” (1973’s Desperado), and “Midnight Flyer” (1974’s On the Border). He also found himself navigating the intense creative direction of Henley and Frey.
“No, I don’t go along with everything they say or do,” he told Cameron Crowe in the Eagles’ 1975 Rolling Stone cover story. “For example, I’m probably the only one in the band who loves funky rock & roll, trashy music and R&B. And I don’t agree with some of our images either. But Don and Glenn have it covered. I guess I’m just very shy and nervous about putting myself on the line. They’re used to doing that.”
That shy and nervous side took a toll on Meisner, especially after the release of “Take it to the Limit,” which peaked at Number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent 23 weeks on the charts. “Randy said, ‘If it’s a hit, I’m going to have to hit that note every night,’” recalled producer and engineer Bill Szymczyk. “Which is exactly what happened.”
“Take it to the Limit” became a concert highlight and fan favorite — especially on the massive 1977 tour supporting Hotel California — and Meisner became increasingly reluctant to sing it. This, paired with other factors like his failing marriage and exhaustion from touring, resulted in his departure from the band later that year.
“When the tour ended, I left the band,” he said. “Those last days on the road were the worst. Nobody was talking to me, or would hang out after shows, or do anything. I was made an outcast of the band I’d helped start.”
Meisner’s later years were plagued with hardships, including an alleged threat of murder-suicide in 2015 and the accidental shooting death of his wife, Lana Rae Meisner, a year later. The Los Angeles Coroner’s Office ruled the death an accident, with one LAPD source telling CBS News that there was no indication of foul play.
In a 2008 interview with Rolling Stone, Meisner said he had no regrets about leaving the Eagles despite everything it cost him. “You’re wasting your time thinking about that stuff,” he said. “I got a great business manager. When he invests, you make money.” The musician gushed about his “two little chihuahuas and tomato plants that are five feet high right now,” before adding, “I’m happy as a clam.”
On Friday, fellow Eagles member Joe Walsh took to social media to pen a tribute to Meisner. “An honor and privilege to share the stage with, Randy was a great guy with an unforgettable voice,” wrote Walsh. “Here’s to always being a dreamer, my friend.”
WHITE HOUSE DOJ INTIMIDATING
HOUSE OVERSIGHT WITNESSES
SENDS A SURRENDER TO PRISON DATE FOR DEVON ARCHER TWO DAYS AHEAD OF TESTIMONY
Quote:House Oversight Chairman James Comer told FNC's Maria Bartiromo that the DOJ is trying to stop former Hunter Biden business partner Devon Archer from testifying on Monday in an act of "obstruction of justice."
MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Wrote:I want to ask you about your investigation, but first let me get to this breaking news. I have in my hand a letter from the Department of Justice that was sent to the Southern District of New York on Saturday. By the way, Devon Archer is testifying on Monday. Do you ever see -- do you usually see the DOJ send letters like this out on a Saturday?
REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): Wrote:Never. Never. This is the first time I have ever heard of the Department of Justice doing anything on a Saturday.
BARTIROMO: Wrote:So, what is this letter? Can you walk us through it? The government is apprising the court of the status of Devon Archer's appeal of his judgment of conviction. And they request that the court set a surrender date for the defendant to report to a facility. Please walk us through what this letter says.
COMER: Wrote:Yes. The letter from the Department of Justice is trying to nudge the judge to go ahead and sentence Devon Archer for something unrelated to what we're going to be talking to him about tomorrow. It's odd that it was issued on a Saturday. And it's odd that it's right before he's scheduled to come in to have an opportunity to speak in front of the House Oversight Committee and tell the American people the truth about what really went on with Burisma.
So, I don't know if this is a coincidence, Maria, or if this is another example of the weaponization of the Department of Justice, but I can tell you this.
The lengths to which the Biden legal team has gone to try to intimidate our witnesses, to coordinate with the Department of Justice, and to certainly coordinate with the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee to encourage people not to cooperate with our investigation, to encourage banks not to turn over bank records. To encourage Treasury not to let us have access to those suspicious activity reports, it's very troubling.
And I believe that this is another violation of the law. This is obstruction of justice. But, nevertheless, we're going to continue to move forward and try to present the American people with the facts and the truth about this president and his family.