L - O. & HOW r U :)

------------------------- The Adventures... I'm headed somewhere...I just don't know where. Follow me there

Sometimes you just have to be yourself, or “yourself,” to silence critics. ------------------------------------------------------- "play your cards go against all odds, shoot for the moon if you miss you still amongst those stars" - Beanie Sigel What is the “Yesterday” of today? Can the world still get behind a single song? ------------------ trust in your own beliefs. the cart never came before the horse.

Meek Mill "Yall Dont Hear Me Tho" Freestyle from Bennett Moore on Vimeo.

iDoDez.

Araabmuzik from alec sutherland on Vimeo.

iC iC.

Buttons was born in 1959 on Hawaii. He grew up surfing Waikiki when boards were getting shorter. Most surfers didn't really know what to do with these shorter, quicker and more nimble boards boards, but Buttons looked to skateboarding and applied the agility of skateboarding to the smooth lines of surfing. Carving 360's, switch stance, tailslides and proper in the pocket surfing didn't impress judges too much at contests in the 70's and 80's but nowadays this style of surfing wins comps.

The Return Of Jaleel White from The305.com on Vimeo.

Avocado Fries * oil for frying * 2 Avocados * 2 Eggs, beaten * 1 and 1/3 Cup Bread Crumbs * 1 Teaspoon Lemon Pepper * 1/2 Teaspoon salt * 1 Teaspoon Lemon Pepper * 1/2 Teaspoon Salt * 1/4 Teaspoon Cumin Cilantro Lemon Dipping Sauce * 5 Tablespoons Mayonnaise * 3 Tablespoons Fresh Cilantro, chopped * Juice from 1/2 of Lemon Instructions: 1. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the bread crumbs, lemon pepper, salt and cumin. Set it aside. Cut the avocados in half and then slice them vertically into 4 inch by 1 inch wedges. Set them aside. Heat the vegetable oil to 335 degrees Fahrenheit in a large frying pan, adding enough oil so that the oil is about 3 to four inches deep. Dredge the avocado slices in the breadcrumb mixture, then in the egg mixture, then in the breadcrumb mixture again. Place them in the hot oil and fry them for about 2-3 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove them with a slotted spoon or tongs, and set them on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb the excess oil. Allow them to dry for 10 minutes, then transfer them to a serving tray and serve them immediately with the Cilantro Lemon Dipping Sauce. 2. For the Cilantro Lemon Dipping Sauce, place the mayonnaise, cilantro, and lemon juice in a blender and mix until smooth and creamy in texture.

NIKE SPORTSWEAR "COUPE DE BARBES" | Épisode 3 from Jay SMITH on Vimeo.

i b back.

For Hip Hop News & Entertainment at DimeWars.Com

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ***********Artemio López Tardón*********** -----------------------------------------------------

Los Miami gang nabbed in huge drug bust AAAComments (6) By Michael E. Miller Thursday, Aug 11 2011 "I'll keep my money wherever I please," sneered Artemio López Tardón. With his one good eye, Los Miami's second in command glared at the cops swarming his stately narco-fortress on Azalea Avenue in Madrid. Seven years earlier he had been blinded, shot through both knees, and left in the street to die by a rival drug lord, but today he stood firmly as police wrenched his hands behind his back and handcuffed him. Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation Department Álvaro López Tardón On that morning of July 14, Spanish National Police had broken through the mansion's front door and poured inside, assault rifles drawn. In minutes, they had arrested 16 suspected members of Spain's most notorious drug ring without firing a shot. But a mystery remained: Where was all the money? Police quickly found 400,000 euros scattered around the gaudy, aquarium-filled pleasure palace. They discovered another 100 grand stuffed in a dirty laundry basket, then 5 million hidden beneath the mansion's elevator. Finally, they brought out a jackhammer. Between the foot of López Tardón's bed and his ten-person Jacuzzi, police unearthed a secret compartment containing a staggering 19 million euros. The combined haul was the largest horde of drug cash ever recovered in Europe. At that moment — 3:30 a.m. across the Atlantic — a dozen squad cars roared up the long red-brick drive of the Continuum condos in South Beach. Scores of FBI agents swarmed the high-rise as well as two apartments across the water on Brickell Bay Drive. They nabbed four more alleged members of Los Miami, including Fabiani Krentz — a Brazilian bedecked in fur and precious gems who, when she wasn't working for UPS, was the group's fast-talking frontwoman. Most important, the feds arrested Artemio's younger brother, Álvaro — the sculpted, tattooed, Santería-worshipping leader of one of Europe's largest, bloodiest drug networks. Were it not for court records, which are the basis for this article, the story of Los Miami would be hard to believe. In South Florida, the group stands accused of laundering more than $26 million in drug proceeds by buying fancy condos and fast cars. Relying on Santería and assassins to vanquish his enemies, Álvaro directed trans-Atlantic deliveries of cocaine from his South Pointe penthouse, prosecutors say. At least until "Operation Azaleas" — one of the largest intelligence operations in recent Miami history — brought his business to an end. But even more extraordinary is the gang's backstory, mixing the bitter vendettas of The Godfather with the irrepressible villains and absurd twists of a Coen brothers movie. Indeed, Álvaro López Tardón was wanted for at least five murders as well as countless assaults and kidnappings in Spain, where he and his brother had waged a bloody feud with their former boss, a one-legged man named "Dwarf." Álvaro's defense attorney, Richard Klugh, also thinks the story sounds fictional. "This case is a lot of sound and fury," he said at his client's detention hearing. Despite a trail of drug labs and dead bodies, Klugh contends Álvaro and company made their millions trading cars across the Atlantic. Álvaro is expected to join his codefendants in pleading not guilty this week. But with more than 20 arrests and multiple cooperating witnesses, the weight of evidence is against Los Miami. Either way, the remarkable case suggests that the gang's namesake city remains central to the international drug trade. Although Los Miami have fallen, vice is still very much alive in the Magic City. The road to drug riches began in Mediterranean discotheques sometime in the '90s. It was a family affair. Two brothers, Juan Carlos and Iván Peña Enano — "Dwarf" in Spanish — controlled the entrance of cocaine and Ecstasy into nightclubs up and down the Levant. Aided by the López Tardón brothers, the Enanos began selling drugs directly, Spanish police say. Profit soared, as did Álvaro's standing in the group. Soon he was Juan Carlos's top lieutenant. Flush with cash, the gang flew to Miami to buy Corvettes — a habit that earned the rapidly expanding operation the name "Los Miami," which they splashed on their leather bomber jackets. By the late '90s, Los Miami had muscled their way into Madrid. Not even a January 1997 bust could slow them down. Álvaro and Artemio were both arrested, but in a pattern that would become familiar in Spain, witnesses were too intimidated to talk. By 2001, Los Miami had become one of the largest drug networks in Europe, collaborating with Colombian cartels to ship cocaine to Spain via land and sea, authorities believe. As the cartels' "bankers," the gang made 58 million euros per year and employed a fleet of corrupt cops to avoid arrest. As coffers swelled, violence spun out of control. Police arrested Álvaro for the 2003 murder of a local cop, but he got off again when witnesses failed to testify. And when Álvaro tried to split from his boss, all hell broke loose. Spanish police say Juan Carlos tried to kill his deputy. In return, after a meeting to settle the feud, Artemio ran Juan Carlos off the road on his motorcycle. The drug don lost half of his left leg. War broke out between the two factions. Juan Carlos's henchmen threw a Molotov cocktail into Álvaro's car. When Álvaro disappeared, they kidnapped his brother instead. They tortured Artemio for four days, beating him so badly he went blind in one eye. Then they shot him in the kneecaps. Believing him dead, they dumped him on a Madrid street. After ordering another failed ambush on Juan Carlos, Álvaro fled to Miami in December 2004. With Juan Carlos near dead after being shot twice and exiled to Brazil, Álvaro now ran the Los Miami drug network remotely. Artemio had miraculously survived his torture, and the two brothers scaled up their distribution of coke throughout Europe. Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation Department Álvaro López Tardón "They started out bringing processed cocaine to Spain from Colombia," U.S. prosecutor Juan Antonio Gonzalez says. But coca paste was cheaper, so the brothers paid Ana María Cameno Antolín, "the Cocaine Queen," to turn the sludge into powder cocaine using chemicals and lamps hidden in dilapidated farms outside Madrid. Cuts of the profit went to her and Artemio, while funds were reinvested into recruiting listless youths at gyms around the capital to train as assassins. But tens of millions of dollars were also laundered through Miami, where Álvaro had already built a small team of close associates. His straw buyer was Krentz, who made exponentially more setting up shell corporations in Madrid and Miami than she did as a marketing manager for UPS. Prosecutors say she then wired drug money to Miami, where she bought luxury condos. Then she quietly transferred them to Álvaro. Álvaro also relied on his right-hand man, David "Maverick" Pollack, to launder narco-cash. He often sent Pollack to Spain, where the American bought dozens of jaw-dropping cars — including a $1.5 million Bugatti Veyron and a $500,000 Lamborghini Murciélago — then promptly sold them to a company called Collection Motor Sport. Álvaro's attorney insists the business was legitimate, but prosecutors don't buy it. "We're not exactly talking about a sophisticated money-laundering operation here," Gonzalez says. He points out that Collection Motor Sport was registered to Álvaro in Madrid and Miami. "He was essentially selling the cars to himself." And even if the transfers across the Atlantic were legit, where — if not from drug dealing — did Pollack get the money in the first place? "He had no accounts in Spain, and he didn't take any money," Gonzalez argues. "In fact, in 2007, when he bought the Lamborghini Murciélago and a [$250,000] Ferrari F430, his reported income... was $38,740." If cocaine and cars were the group's lifeblood, Santería was its soul. Both Álvaro and Artemio were devout believers. Vicente Orlando Cardelle — a Cuban known as "Padrino" — flew back and forth between the brothers to perform spiritual cleansings, for which they rewarded him with cash and plastic surgery for his wife. The santero even put a photo of Álvaro's archrival, Juan Carlos Enano, in a caldron in the boss's South Pointe penthouse to keep him safe. But Álvaro didn't rely on spirits alone. He installed security cameras in the Coconut Grove condo he shared with his American wife, Sharon Cohen. And he bought $103,000 safes for each residence. None of Álvaro's precautions, however, could keep his operations hidden. On January 7, Spanish police raided a Los Miami cocaine lab near Madrid, arresting Antolín and seizing 300 kilos of coke and 33 tons of precursor chemicals. It was the largest drug seizure in European history. The noose was tightening around Los Miami. Álvaro desperately needed to return to Spain to manage the fallout of the bust, but when he asked his wife to sign his visa papers on March 1, she refused. Enraged, he stormed after her. "At that point [he] went into a rage, head-butted a television set, took a knife, and then held that knife to the throat of his wife and threatened her," Gonzalez argued at Álvaro's detention hearing. Neighbors in the bougainvillea-filled complex called the cops, and Álvaro was arrested for aggravated assault. When he was released the next day, he returned almost immediately to the apartment and was cuffed again for violating a restraining order. Cops found eight diamonds, six luxury watches, five cell phones, and $10,350 cash in his car. But the feds weren't ready to spring their trap. They released Álvaro, just as they released Pollack and Cardelle the santero after each was nabbed trying to carry more than 20,000 euros to Madrid in January and April, respectively. Whether Álvaro caught wind of the investigation or was simply protecting assets from his soon-to-be ex-wife, he began hiding his money and holed up in his 38th-floor penthouse at 100 South Pointe Dr. That's where police found him in the early-morning hours of July 14. They broke down the door just as their Spanish counterparts were raiding his brother's mansion in Madrid. And they used a small battering ram to break into Fabiani Krentz's Brickell Bay Drive apartment. Whereas her loft was full of designer shoes, clothes, and jewelry, Álvaro's lair was covered in Santería votives. "They tore that place apart," one Continuum employee said afterward. "They knocked down the door, the walls, everything." The raid brought an end to more than a decade of drug trafficking and money laundering. In court, prosecutors have already begun portraying Álvaro as a modern Tony Montana who — despite his Facebook postings on spirituality — was hellbent on revenge and profit. "This was a very violent gang in terms of murders and extortions," Gonzalez says. But this is Miami — not everyone is happy to see Álvaro go. "He was a real nice guy," the Continuum employee said. Asked if Álvaro was popular, he added, "You ever had $26 million? It buys you a lot of friends."

Dats.L

The kidney beans were packing more than protein. Customs officials in Fort Lauderdale must have suspected as much Saturday when they noticed that a woman arriving from Colombia had three bags of kidney beans and two bags of pistachios in her carry-on bag. When an inspector cut open one of the kidney beans, according to a report by the Sun Sentinel, “a white powdery substance” spilled out. Officials found more than 13 pounds of cocaine had been put into the beans and pistachios. Rank that one up there among the more creative drug-smuggling schemes ever, a dishonorable list that gained a couple of new entries this week. On Monday, the U.S. Coast Guard captured a make-shift submarine in the western Caribbean carrying about $180 million worth of cocaine. It seems that drug smugglers have taken to building the vessels in the jungles of Colombia. They then use them to transport thousands of pounds of drugs along with a handful of men. They’re designed to sink immediately upon detection, making it almost impossible for authorities to capture the cargo. This week’s cases are part of a trend in which authorities are noticing increasingly ingenious methods of transporting drugs. Heightened detection capabilities are forcing smugglers to conceive of new way to transport their wares. Not all the methods, however, involve sophisticated contraptions such as submersible vessels. Earlier this year, officials found a “pot catapult” designed to hurl marijuana across the border from Mexico into Arizona. Such ingenuity is wasted on a shameless crew of criminals who surely could put their talents to better use. Still, you can’t help but take notice of some of the more imaginative drug-smuggling attempts uncovered by law enforcement in recent years. Of course, we may never know about the truly creative attempts, since those are likely the ones that get past officials. Creativity aside, some of the schemes come with an extra dose of audacity. For example, smugglers in Colombia gave the term “drug mule” new meaning when they taped marijuana and cocaine to a carrier pigeon and then put it on a flight pattern toward a local jail. Police intercepted the pigeon before it had a chance to deliver its, uh, message. Food themes seem to be a favorite of the scoundrels. Consider the surprise of police in Austin, Texas, a few years ago when they flipped open a can of Pringles potato chips to find crisps of cocaine — sliced into thin sheets to look like the popular chips. Then there’s the giant frozen squid, doused in pepper in order to fool sniffing dogs, that was stuffed with more than 1,500 pounds of cocaine. Peruvian police, nonetheless, stopped the mammoth mollusk before it made its way to Mexico and the United States. Sometimes, however, smugglers negate their imagination with trite banality. A couple years ago a Chilean man flew into Barcelona, his fractured left leg wrapped in a cast. The cast was made of cocaine; officials might never have noticed had they not first found a stash of the drug in his luggage.

iDc. :-)

------------------------------ The Journey to Freedom Project is a non-profit organization in Portland Oregon dedicated to educating youth on the topic of slavery. Founded by local history teacher Karanja Crews, the organization works out of local schools, primarily middle schools, with kids from all different back rounds. "Our goal is to turn reluctant readers into motivated readers and motivated readers into leaders". Special thanks to Tom Bacon and Dead Prez for their continued support. Written Directed and Produced by Jake Lyon. Filmed by Janique Robillard and Jake Lyon. Edited by Jake Lyon. Downhill Productions 2011. --------------------------- As politicians stand up and promise "change" to the nation, what are the people who need it the most doing to make a difference in their own communities with nothing at their disposal but their own creativity? Living together in a converted school bus, a wildly diverse group of artists, filmmakers, and musicians leaves Los Angeles behind looking for answers and searching for the intersection of Art and Politics in America. Behind the Wheel is a road movie truly like no other: meet everyone from guerilla poster artist Robbie Conal to controversial film director Oliver Stone; militant hip hop duo Dead Prez to Hurricane Katrina survivors in New Orleans' devastated Ninth Ward. Follow the LAFCO (Los Angeles Filmmakers Cooperative) crew as they search for, and find, pockets of change in the most downtrodden parts of America. From Venice Beach to Brooklyn, New York, through the Southwestern desert to the deep south, this is a portrait of the United States seldom seen in the mass media. "You're trying to change things by doing pure actions. In an impure world, that's a beautiful thing." -Oliver Stone ------------- A piece investigating the phenomenon of colorism and how it relates to the New Orleans Creole community. This project was the brain-child of being given complete creative license with the only obligation being to deliver 1 hour of television. I was deep into the spoken word and slam scene back then and knew I wanted the capture some of the energy of that movement. So that was kind of the spark behind this. But the desire to really get at this 'unspoken' issue was the focus. Major props to Ernest Collins, Brenda Hatfield and everyone on the Cox 10 Production TEAM.

dig it. DiGiTs. u?

Lo-Down In London from Broken Antenna on Vimeo.

Would Wall Street have bitten the bailout hand of George Bush Jr.? PrA’li. It’s only about race to the most pedestrian observer in this clusterfuck. This is all about the consolidation of wealth. Americans think they are wealthy because they have flat screens televisions and $500 mobile phones, but the truth is that Americans live way above their income levels and carry an individual debt load that would cripple most third world countries. We are about to become a third world nation ourselves, or at least in our poorest precincts like Detroit, St. Louis, Kansas City and Camden. Get ready to sell off all your Nike Air Max sneakers. You are gonna need that money to buy yourself some oxygen. ------------------------------------------------------ http://www.irishtimes.com/ Wednesday, August 10, 2011 ***S&P fears US debt of $20 trillion within decade*** ------------------------------------------------------ S&P RESPONSE: THE PROSPECT of US government debt reaching $11 trillion this year was one of the factors that prompted a downgrade of the country’s creditworthiness, ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (SP) said yesterday. The agency, which measures the ability of countries and corporations to repay their debts, cut the US rating from the highest AAA rank to “AA+ with a negative outlook” late on Friday, adding further fuel to the current financial crisis. David Beers, head of S&P’s sovereign ratings division, and John Chambers of its sovereign ratings committee, yesterday said that concerns that US politicians may not be able to agree on how to put US finances on a stable footing by an agreed deadline in November, and fears that its debt would continue to grow, prompted the downgrade. Mr Chambers said the agency thought US debt would hit $11 trillion this year, the equivalent of 75 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) or all the wealth that the US economy would generate this year. He said S&P estimated the debt would increase to $14 trillion by 2015 and top $20 trillion by 2021, which at that point would mean that it was 85 per cent of GDP. In a worst-case scenario, US government debt could outstrip all the wealth generated in the world’s largest economy by 2021. In a conference call at 1.45pm Irish time yesterday, Mr Beers and Mr Chambers explained in some detail S&P’s rationale for its decision to rate the US as less well able to repay its loans than Britain, Canada and France, and on a par with Belgium and New Zealand. They did not deal directly with a row between the S&P and the US treasury, which accused the agency of making a $2 trillion miscalculation over the weekend. However, Mr Beers argued that S&P’s ratings system was very robust. He said it graded 146 countries. None of those which held investor-grade or “A” status had ever defaulted on their debts, while any of those who failed to pay their creditors had lost this status more than a year earlier. S&P defines US general government debt as federal, state and local administrations liabilities net of assets held by these entities. It uses five criteria to rate a country’s ability to repay its debts: political risk, economic risk, external risk, debt risk and fiscal risk. The US has had an AAA rating since 1941, a status it retains with S&P’s rivals Moodys and Fitch. ------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ralph Lauren Says Goodbye To The ‘Polo’ -------------------------------------------------------------

This is rather interesting news. In a new story reported exclusively by WWD, clothing company Ralph Lauren has elected to drop the Polo in their name as they extend the brand to new global heights. The origins of the name stem from 1972 when they introduced their ever popular “Polo” shirt with the three button collar. Ralph Lauren is one of the few clothing companies that have seen a surge in sales, and are doing exceptionally well on Wall Street. Well alright! sn: GUESS THEY GOT TIRED OF BEING THE MOST DIVERSE TOPIC @ THE PARTY :)