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Posted by Ann Barnhardt - March 16, AD 2013 8:08 PM MST Here is the full video of Pope Francis' first Mass in the Sistine Chapel. The consecration of the Host happens at 51:47. The consecration of the Chalice happens at 52:32. I cannot believe I am about to type these words. The Pope DID NOT GENUFLECT after either consecration. He did a weird bow thing, but didn't feel the need to bend his knee to God Almighty, physically present in his hands upon the altar. HE. DID. NOT. GENUFLECT. This is absolutely stunning. And unprecedented. Oh yeah, we're in...

Six Boston cops fired after testing positive for cocaine have been ordered reinstated — with back pay — after a state board struck down hair tests as unreliable in a bombshell ruling that could have a far-reaching impact on how city workers are drug-tested. In a stunning, 134-page ruling, the Massachusetts Civil Service Commission this week ordered the six cops back on the job, finding that “the present state of hair testing for drugs of abuse ... does not meet the standard of reliability necessary to be routinely used” to fire someone.

Hundreds of thousands of kilograms (pounds) of cocaine are seized en route to the U.S. every year, and the Defense Department estimates about 850 metric tons of cocaine departed South America last year toward the U.S., down 20 percent in just a year. The most recent U.S. survey found cocaine use fell significantly, from 2.4 million people in 2006 to 1.4 million in 2011. ... Assistant Secretary of State William Brownfield, head of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs said the goal is to make it so hard for traffickers to move drugs to the U.S. that...

A search of a South Side home Friday revealed about $10 million worth of cocaine and more than $500,000 cash, leading to the arrest of the 21-year-old man who lived there. Two others also face felony charges in the case. Jose Pelayo-Aguilar, of the 3600 block of South Leavitt Avenue, was charged with manufacturing or delivering and possessing more than 900 grams of cocaine. During a Sunday court appearance, Judge Israel Desierto ordered him held on a $75,000 cash bond.

Two Houston police officers are facing life in prison without the possibility of parole after allegations they accepted $2,000 in bribes to protect a stash of cocaine being smuggled through the city

"Paraguay: Alleged Hezbollah financier detained Wassim el Abd Fadel, a Lebanese with Paraguayan citizenship, faces human trafficking and narco-terrorism charges."  SNIPPET: "ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay – Wassim el Abd Fadel is behind bars inside Tacumbú prison in Asunción, Paraguay, as he awaits trial on human trafficking, money laundering and narco-trafficking charges. But Paraguayan authorities suspect the Lebanese with Paraguayan citizenship’s involvement in crime is much greater, which is why he’s being investigated for financing the terrorist organization Hezbollah. Fadel, 31, was arrested on Dec. 21 in Ciudad del Este, which is on the border shared by Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina, about...

A 56-year-old British grandmother has been sentenced to death by firing squad in Indonesia for drug trafficking. Lindsay Sandiford was arrested at Bali's airport in May last year after 4.8kg (10.6lb) of cocaine was found in the lining of her suitcase during a routine customs check. Sandiford, whose last UK address was in Gloucestershire, said she was coerced into bringing the drugs to the island. Foreign Office minister Hugo Swire has condemned the sentence. He told MPs the government strongly objected to the death penalty imposed. Her lawyers have said they were "surprised" at the verdict and would appeal. Prosecutors...

Shortly after Hugo Chávez won his first election as Venezuelan president in December 1998, a lawyer from the western state of Barinas, which was then governed by Chávez's father, delivered a prescient warning to Newsweek magazine: "Venezuelans are dreaming of a savior, but Chávez is a dictator. People don't know what they are getting."  More than 14 years later, a cancer-stricken Chávez is reportedly near death, but his autocratic legacy is very much alive. Venezuela long ago ceased to be a real democracy: The ruling regime effectively controls the Supreme Court (which in 2004 was expanded and packed with Chávez allies), the National Assembly...

<p>The battle to retake Mali's north from the al-Qaida-linked groups controlling it began in earnest Saturday, after hundreds of French forces deployed to the country and began aerial bombardments to drive back the Islamic extremists from a town seized earlier this week.</p>

Forty-odd (exceedingly odd, I might add) years ago, who would have envisioned a national war against drugs? Nobody took drugs -- nobody you knew, nobody but jazz musicians and funny foreign folk. Then, after a while, it came to seem that everybody did. Drugs became a new front in the war on an old social culture that was taking hard licks aplenty in those days. I still don't understand why people take drugs. Can't they just pour themselves a nice shot of bourbon? On the other hand, as Gary S. Becker and Kevin M. Murphy argue, in a lucid piece...

At Stratfor, we follow Mexico's criminal cartels closely. In fact, we are currently finishing our 2013 cartel forecast, which will be released later this month. As we analyze the Mexican cartels, we recognize that to understand their actions and the interactions between them, we need to acknowledge that at their core they are businesses and not politically motivated militant organizations. This means that although violence between and within the cartels grabs much of the spotlight, a careful analysis of the cartels must look beyond the violence to the business factors that drive their interests -- and their bankrolls.  There are several distinct business factors that have...

From Chicago to Rio, from Jamaica to Nigeria, gang violence is leaving an indelible mark on communities across the globe, leaving authorities at a loss for what to do about the epidemic of lawlessness among young men who see little hope in their futures. Certainly the global economic crisis has much to do with the rise in gang violence and influence, as young men of color in most of the affected countries see few options for gainful employment. In Chicago, among 400 murders that have occurred in 2012, an estimated 80 percent of them have been gang-related. The killing in...

MADRID (AP) — Spanish authorities say they have arrested a Panamanian woman arriving at Barcelona airport with 1.38 kilograms (3 pounds) of cocaine concealed in breast implants. The Interior Ministry said Wednesday that border police noticed fresh scars and blood-stained gauze on her chest as well as pale patches beneath her skin.

Documents obtained by CBS News show that the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) discussed using their covert operation "Fast and Furious" to argue for controversial new rules about gun sales. PICTURES: ATF "Gunwalking" scandal timeline In Fast and Furious, ATF secretly encouraged gun dealers to sell to suspected traffickers for Mexican drug cartels to go after the "big fish." But ATF whistleblowers told CBS News and Congress it was a dangerous practice called "gunwalking," and it put thousands of weapons on the street. Many were used in violent crimes in Mexico. Two were found at the murder...

Quebec police have busted more than 100 individuals for their alleged roles in a drug conspiracy which used a trucking firm to bring cocaine into Canada from the United States, and the arrested include those with suspected ties to the Italian Mafia, the Irish West End Gang and Hells Angels motorcycle club as reported by The Canadian Press: "Police said the organization, which had been under investigation for about six months, managed to rake in an estimated $50 million in that short time. * * * The group allegedly used a middleman to co-operate with Mexican drug cartels and appeared...

Unlike Bill Clinton, Barack Obama has admitted that he did drugs when he was young: In the book [Dreams from My Father], Obama acknowledges that he used cocaine as a high school student but rejected heroin. “Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it. Not smack, though,” he says. We know from David Maraniss’ Choom Gang reports that Obama didn’t just flirt with pot. Instead, he was a serious stoner in high school.  As far as I know, though, no reporter has tied Obama to long-term cocaine use.  Obama’s own statement — “maybe a...

Snorted cocaine peaks in about a half hour, and the high then continues for slightly less than that after the peak. To complicate matters, presidential debates last about 90 minutes. So, an informal, two-question poll for Freepers: At tonight's debate, will Obama be: 1. Wiping his nose or not? (Outstanding reference YouTube video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXdkxLDdxMA for anyone who's been under a rock on this matter.) 2. If you answered in the affirmative to question one, do you anticipate that he will be over, under, or properly dosed?

A millionaire cocaine addict who retired abroad at the age of just 36 after making his fortune has been jailed after police found a haul of drugs hidden in his luxury car. Property developer James Brown's habit was so bad his nose collapsed after nine years of daily cocaine use. The 45-year-old has now been jailed for five years after a haul of cocaine was found hidden in the air vents and folding roof of his luxury Bentley.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The presidents of Mexico, Colombia and Guatemala all called for a vigorous global debate of anti-narcotics laws at the United Nations on Wednesday, raising new questions about the wisdom of the four-decade-old, U.S.-led "war on drugs." Although none of the leaders explicitly called for narcotics to be legalized, they suggested at the U.N. General Assembly that they would welcome wholesale changes to policies that have shown scant evidence of limiting drug flows while contributing to massive violence throughout Latin America. "It is our duty to determine - on an objective scientific basis - if we are...

Photos of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar’s abandoned private island At the height of his power, Pablo Escobar was worth an estimated $3 billion (USD) and his Medellín Cartel controlled 80% of the global cocaine market. So he may have had a few extra dollars to throw around on a private island. In fact, many drug lords had luxurious villas on small islands off the coast of Cartagena, islands that have since been abandoned by their human occupants. Urban explorer and photographer Stefaan Beernaert, also known as Fotantje, has explored the islands off Catagena and photographed the so-called "Drug Islands."...