John McAfee has released a new video “guide to uninstalling McAfee Antivirus,” playing up the the crazy image he’s often portrayed as having by the media. His title in the video is: Founder, McAfee Antivirus Software, Eccentric Millionaire.
“Although I’ve had nothing to do with this company for over 15 years, I still get volumes of mail asking, ‘How do I uninstall this software?’” says McAfee. “I have no idea.”
“As I’ve said, I’ve had nothing to do with McAfee Software for over 15 years,” he says. “I’ve had more pressing things to do. But recent events have made me change my mind. I’ve had, over the years, many responses from users who are complaining about the difficulty of removing the software. I’d like to read you a few things.”
He then reads some rather vulgar letters (NSFW language) complaining about McAfee Software, and gets his friend Bartholomew to walk users through the steps for uninstalling the software. Meanwhile, McAfee gets a lap dance, and snorts some bath salts with his guns on the table. Eventually he shoots a computer.
By the time the video is over, you probably still won’t have any clue how to uninstall the software, but you’ll probably have had a few laughs. McAfee Software appreciates it, I’m sure.
Ronald Poppo, the homeless man who was the victim of the infamous “Miami Cannibal”, Rudy Eugene, is doing as well as can be expected. After being attacked by Eugene near a busy Florida road, Poppo lost both eyes and most of his nose. Eugene, who police suspected was high on “bath salts”–a synthetic drug–tore the flesh from Poppo’s face with his teeth and then turned on officers, who shot him to death. The grisly attack was the beginning of a string of weird incidents around the country last year, which set off much speculation about the dangers of synthetic marijuana.
But during the mediastorm, we barely heard a thing about the victim, who came away from the gruesome event disfigured but alive. A photo of him is floating around the web this week; be warned, it’s a pretty graphic image. This is what Poppo looks like today, one year later.
How would you like to draw a nice bath and fill it up with some nice blue crystal?
Lucky for you, you can. Introducing Bathing Bad, the Breaking Bad-themed bath salts. No, not those kinds of bath salts – the ones you use in the tub. I know it’s confusing. Anyway, here’s what makers Firebox has to say about their bath salts:
Whether you’re an underappreciated science teacher or a kid from the wrong side of the tracks, sometimes the only way to relax is to take a bath. Crafted from all-natural ingredients under strictly controlled conditions, the Bathing Bad Bath Salts are vastly superior to the bath salts you might cop on the corner. Contrary to a certain particularly gruesome scene, this is one time when baths and Breaking Bad DO mix.
Here’s another shot of the salts, complete with generic dude in a biohazard suit holding them up:
Yes, one more bath salts story, in case you weren’t terrified enough.
This one doesn’t involve face-chewing or flesh eating of any kind, if that makes you feel any better. It does, however, strengthen the argument that bath salts should probably be banned.
New mom Carla Murphy of Altoona, Pennsylvania, was charged with smoking the synthetic drug just two days after giving birth to her son last month, while still under the hospital’s care. She’s also been charged with aggravated assault after she attacked various staff members in the maternity ward, which included kicking a nurse in the chest, when they tried to subdue her. The antics started when she refused to answer questions about why she was suddenly sweaty and aggressive; she stripped naked, began yelling and cursing at the nurses, and then rolled around on the bathroom floor to prove how serious she was. When they couldn’t get her under control, police were called, and she pulled the same behavior with them, only she tried to bite one of the officers. She later admitted to smoking “Disco”, a form of bath salts.
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Image credit: Facebook
With the exception of having just given birth, all of those things is strikingly similar to behavior exhibited by several other people across the country in recent months. And although the story that started it all was that of Rudy Eugene–the man who chewed about 75% of a homeless man’s face off in a bizarre attack that left him dead–and toxicology reports later cleared Eugene of ingesting anything other than marijuana, a whole lot of other peoplehave admitted to taking bath salts after after being taken into custody for violent actions.
So what does all this mean? I wish I knew. But it seems like officials should be taking this way more seriously than they are. And as someone who doesn’t advocate the use of drugs, I still have to wonder what all the fuss is about the legalization of marijuana when bath salts are contributing to these terrifying acts of violence.
In recent weeks, the term “bath salts” has exploded around the web as speculation about its involvement in a string of bizarre incidents leads investigators to a crack down on the synthetic drug.
It all started with the “Miami Cannibal“, Rudy Eugene, who attacked a homeless man over Memorial Day weekend in a fit of rage and chewed off 75% of his face. Police had to shoot and kill him in order to stop the attack, so finding out what caused it had to be delayed until the toxicology report came back. Until then, rumors flew as everyone tried to figure out what would make a man do what Eugene did.
The report eventually came back positive only for marijuana, but in the weeks between the attack and its release, speculation ran rampant about a drug known as bath salts. Not the scented powder used in bathwater, but a synthetic drug known to cause something of a psychosis in users, who reportedly undergo a feeling of invincibility and show signs of heightened strength. During the interim after Eugene’s attack, several cases of bath salt-induced violence were reported around the nation, many of them involving biting or tearing of the flesh. It was for that reason that the public–and officials–became certain that Eugene must have been under the influence of the drug.
The toxicology report isn’t stopping many officials from trying to ban the drug, however, and several are cracking down on those in possession of it. Until a federal law is passed, however, it’s going to be very difficult to police the drug, because it is currently still legal in several states and is sold in gas stations and head shops under inconspicuous-sounding names like “Cloud 9” and “Vanilla Sky”.
New York senator Joseph Griffo says he wants to see tougher legislation regarding the drug, calling it a “scourge on our society”.
“What we are seeing in recent days is a dramatic upsurge in incidents in which the violent, bizarre behavior of individuals who have confronted the police is being linked to their use of these drugs,” said Griffo.
Griffo was instrumental in getting a law passed banning the making and selling of bath salts last year; however, the chemists are getting around that law by simply altering the makeup of the drug and taking out key ingredients noted in the legislation.
“They are the Lex Luthors of chemistry and we need to put them out of business,” he said. “…We want to close the loopholes.”
It seems I’ve been reporting on “bath salts” and insanely violent, terrifying stories related to them for a year now. In reality, it’s only been since Memorial Day, and now it looks like that first holiday weekend story–of Rudy Eugene attacking and eating 75% of a homeless man’s face in Miami–doesn’t even have anything to do with bath salts.
The medical examiner has confirmed, after much speculation, that Eugene was definitely not high on bath salts, or any other synthetic drug, when he attacked Ronald Poppo. In fact, the only thing in his system was marijuana.
The official report says they specifically tested Eugene’s system for bath salts and found not a trace.
“The department has also sought the assistance of an outside forensic toxicology reference laboratory, which has confirmed the absence of “bath salts,” synthetic marijuana and LSD,” the report said.
Something doesn’t add up here, and since at least part of this attack was caught on surveillance camera, it’s hard to imagine that officials got their story mixed up–either purposely or on accident. Eugene reportedly displayed all the signs of being high on bath salts: violence, rage, the urge to bite and chew on human skin (although he didn’t eat any of it, but spit it out instead), and an apparent feeling of invincibility, as well as displaying an almost super-human bout of strength that made him hard to take down.
Unless the victim, Ronald Poppo–who is slowly recovering in a Florida hospital–has any more to add to the story, it’s likely we will never know what made Eugene fly into his cannibalistic rage.
Out of all the weird, disturbing, disgusting, frightening stories to come out of this bath-salt craze, none have really rivaled the first story–that of Rudy Eugene eating 75 percent of a homeless man’s face over Memorial Day weekend–until now.
22-year old Michael Daniel was arrested in Waco, Texas on Monday after he raged through his home, assaulting family members there, and then chased a neighbor while barking and growling. He then picked up the family dog, beat it, strangled it, and ate it.
Daniel was later examined and it was determined that he was on a “bad trip” after ingesting the synthetic drug K-2. He has been charged with felony animal cruelty and is awaiting sentencing.
With each new story regarding “bath salts” and related drugs, tales of bloody violence are attached, making people fearful for their own safety. The randomness of a lot of these crimes is perhaps the most frightening thing, as in several news reports, the victims of violence just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Such was the case of an elderly woman who invoked the wrath of a young man last week and was attacked with a shovel.
These attacks bring up many questions, especially after rumors began to run rampant last month regarding bath salts and their effects on the brain. They also bring the apparent nationwide problem of bath salt use to the forefront of a lot of minds, as some officials are trying to get them banned (they are easily accessible in some states and are even sold legally in some gas stations and head shops under inconspicuous-sounding names like Cloud-9).
For now, it looks like we will have to adopt a wait-and-see attitude, and be even more wary of strangers.
Zombies aren’t real, of course, unless you live in the world of “The Walking Dead”, and even then they’re not called zombies. But “Walker Apocalypse” just doesn’t have the same ring to it. Of course, with all the stories pouring in from around the nation involving bath salts and their pesky, flesh-eating affect on the human brain–9, at last count–it might be prudent to call this the “Bath Salt Apocalypse”, as The Village Voice suggests.
Whatever you call it, it’s pretty damn scary. And, I hate to do this to you, but here’s one more story to add to the growing pile.
A Utica, New York police officer responded to a call about a disturbed person at a bar on Saturday night. When he arrived, he found a 41-year old woman sitting in a stairwell with a blank look on her face. When he tried to engage her in conversation, she became agitated and violent and tried to bite him repeatedly, yelling that she wanted to “eat and kill someone”. She was later taken to the hospital, where it was determined that bath salts were indeed the culprit for her insane behavior.
According to their official Facebook page, Utica officers also responded to two different bath salts calls in one day on June 21st; one regarding a man who claimed to be having bath salt withdrawals and chest pains, and the other involving a woman who was taken to the hospital after experiencing “hallucinogenic effects” from the drug. And while most agree that the synthetic drug causes more of a psychosis than hallucinations, it can lead the user to have very realistic visions that are compared to those that come with taking LSD.
With all the stories coming in about the drug’s effects, it’s sort of surprising that people are continuing to use it. Every drug has its share of dangerous side effects, and some can be fatal, but face-eating? Murderous intent? That’s a side effect I believe I’d want to stay away from, even if I enjoyed partaking.
Bath salts, a highly volatile synthetic stimulant, have been in the news a lot lately because of several stories regarding their involvement in the recent “cannibal” and “zombie” stories coming from all over the country. They were rumored to be the cause of Rudy Eugene’s freak-out when he attacked a homeless man in Miami over Memorial Day weekend and ate most of his face, and since then the drug has popped up sporadically in various states’ police reports about violent attacks, which have almost all involved biting or flesh-eating.
And the stories just keep coming. A 20-year old Glendale, California man was arrested on Friday after attacking an elderly woman with a shovel; the woman apparently asked him to stop swinging the tool at some birds, and he allegedly turned on her, saying, “I hate you and I want to kill you today.”
The woman was taken to the hospital and treated for non-life threatening injuries, but Robert White barricaded himself in his apartment for over an hour until police forced their way in; it reportedly took at least one rubber bullet and a taser to subdue White enough for paramedics to take him away for treatment. He later admitted to drinking soda spiked with bath salts.
So far, in every report where bath salts have been indicated as a cause for violence, there have been similar threads of a feeling of invincibility on the part of the user, as well as rage-induced super strength that causes police officers to break out several weapons in order to subdue them. The scariest part about bath salts is that they are easily obtained and are often sold (in some states) in gas stations and head shops under inconspicuous-sounding names, like “Cloud 9”. Thus far, the psychosis the drug causes is enough to make officials wary when responding to certain calls, and some states are trying to ban the drug for good.
The story of the Miami cannibal--32-year old Rudy Eugene–went nationwide very quickly last month after news broke that a man had eaten 75% of a homeless person’s face in a fit of naked rage. Since then, more alarming stories have cropped up, putting the entire country on edge and sending the interwebs into a flurry of rumors regarding a popular, somewhat legal synthetic stimulant called “bath salts”.
Now, a new story has come out of Palmetto, Florida, sending residents into a panic and a whole new set of rumors flying. 26-year old Charles Baker, under the influence of an unknown substance, went into a rage on Wednesday night and bit a chunk from another man’s arm during an altercation. Baker had gone to visit his children at their mother’s home. According to witnesses, he banged on the door, then barged in and proceeded to take his clothes off. He stormed around in a rage until Jeffery Blake, who lives at the home, tried to stop him, at which point Baker bit a chunk of flesh out of his arm. When police arrived, they used a taser on Baker to no effect. Baker actually pulled the taser prongs out of his skin and continued to rage. This happened two more times, until officers were finally able to subdue him enough to put handcuffs on him.
If you are familiar with Rudy Eugene’s story–and I’d wager that you are–you’ll recognize a lot of the above paragraph as familiar. Eugene also got naked before attacking his victim and chewed on the man’s face, although autopsy reports now show he didn’t actually ingest any of the flesh. And he also was extremely difficult to take down, charging at police officers without fear and taking several shots from them before being fatally wounded.
Toxicology reports take a while to be processed, so we’re still waiting to hear whether or not Eugene was high on “bath salts” as rumored. No word yet on what substance Baker was high on, but if it’s determined that the drug caused his rage, it could go a long way to help certain political groups in getting it banned.
Ok, by now most of us know about Rudy Eugene, the 31-year old “zombie” in Miami who ate 75% of a homeless man’s face over Memorial Day weekend. If you haven’t heard the story, check it here, and then subscribe to our blog so this won’t happen again.
Since that initial attack, more stories have poured in from all over the country involving violent murders and cannibalism that have been tied to the drug known as “bath salts” (although Eugene’s toxicology report hasn’t come back yet, leaving police to speculate on his motives based on similar behavior from known users of the drug).
Now, just when the public’s fear had begun to wane a bit, a new story comes out of Louisiana that is eerily similar to that of Eugene’s, and police believe it, too, is connected to the bath salt craze.
Carl Jacquneaux, 43-year old man from Lafayette Parish, was arrested over the weekend after he showed up at a friend’s home, argued with him briefly, then chewed off a chunk of the man’s face. Police were called regarding a “domestic dispute”, and when they arrived discovered that the victim–Todd Credeur–had fended off his attacker with a can of wasp spray. Jacquneaux was already gone by that time, hiding at another friend’s house, whom he briefly took hostage with a knife and gun. Police tracked him down and arrested him and later reported he was under the influence of bath salts. Credeur was treated at the hospital for non life-threatening injuries.
There have been several conflicting reports as to what exactly bath salts are and what they do to the human body. While reactions depend on the specific person, they usually include a sharp spike in body temperature (which leads to the user taking their clothes off in order to cool down, something which can tip off police as to what they’re on before a chemical test is issued), a feeling of invincibility, violent rages, sudden strength, and hallucinations which some liken to LSD effects and others say are more akin to a psychosis.
Because the drug isn’t illegal everywhere–it can be found in gas stations if you know where to look–it’s still relatively easy to come by, and police in Miami say they are seeing an influx of it on the streets. Some legislators are pushing for a ban on the synthetic drug, but until then, we may hear more and more of these cannibalistic incidents.
While the story of Rudy Eugene–the 31-year old Miami man who devoured most of a homeless man’s face over Memorial Day weekend–has garnered lots of attention in the press with labels of cannibal and “zombie”, the police have a very different side to the story, one they believe is tied to a drug that’s been showing up a lot in the homeless community.
“Bath salts“–as they’re known for their crystalized appearance–are sold in some gas stations and online under euphoric-sounding names like “Ivory Wave”, “Vanilla Sky”, and “Cloud 9”. For some people, the effects of the drug reportedly range from a deep psychosis to hallucinations to a violent rage in which they feel untouchable. Most experience a sharp increase in body temperature, making them feel as though their insides are baking; these people usually remove their clothing, which is a tipoff to police.
Rudy Eugene displayed all of those traits, leading police to believe he was under the influence of the drug when he attacked 65-year old Ronald Poppo on a Miami causeway. Officers ordered him to back off, but he refused, becoming agitated and advancing on them while growling with a piece of flesh dangling from his mouth. They shot several rounds before taking him down.
Because so many people have displayed similar actions while high on bath salts, police believe it’s responsible for a wave of strange behavior in Miami recently, including a homeless man named Brandon DeLeon. DeLeon walked into a restaurant on Saturday night where two police officers were eating and began yelling obscenities at them. When he couldn’t be calmed down they took him into custody, where he allegedly banged his head against the bars of the cell, growled, and tried to bite one officer’s hand off.
The arresting officers issued a safety bulletin about the incident, warning their peers about future patrols:
“It was later discovered DeLeon had taken a synthetic drug named Cloud 9. This bears resemblance to the incident that occurred in the City of Miami last week when a male ate another man’s face. Please be careful when dealing with our homeless population during your patrols.”
DeLeon also had alcohol in his system; it is not known if the combination of bath salts and alcohol is what causes the violent reactions. DeLeon later told a judge he had no recollection of the events.
On the heels of one of the most disturbing and grisly stories to come about in recent years comes talk of a federal ban on the synthetic drug “bath salts”, which would make it illegal to manufacture, distribute, dispense, or possess the stimulant.
Although the Senate was already working on such a bill, they took their sweet time about it until news came of Rudy Eugene’s face-chewing attack on Ronald Poppo over Memorial Day weekend. Now, it looks like the case will be passed over to the FDA; Pennsylvania representative Charlie Dent is hopeful that it will be the push needed to get the bill moving. He’s been trying to set it in motion for a while now, but with no luck since the Senate declared drug enforcement should be handled by individual states.
“These drugs have odd psychotic effects on people,” Dent said. “Out of this terrible tragedy in Florida, we hope this will bring about greater awareness and accelerate the need to enact meaningful legislation that will protect people from this poison.”
Dubbed “bath salts” because of its appearance, it’s not the same thing you buy to scent your bathwater. The drug is reportedly close in chemical makeup to an amphetamine, and officials all over the country are coming forward with stories about the terrifying effects it can have on the user. Not only does it appear to cause almost superhuman strength, they say, it raises internal temperatures, making the user feel as though they are baking from the inside out. Many abusers of the drug apparently strip naked once they’re high, a fact that did not escape the attention of Miami police after Rudy Eugene was found nude and eating Ronald Poppo’s face on a causeway. He was shot dead after refusing to submit to police orders to leave Poppo alone, and although an autopsy showed nothing out of the ordinary, toxicology reports take much longer to complete. Police are still waiting for confirmation that Eugene was high on the drug, but they feel it is their best explanation as to his erratic and horrifying behavior.
Unfortunately, even if the ban is passed on bath salts, some fear it may not keep avid users from just making it–or a version of it–themselves with household items–something reportedly seen when one chemical is taken off the market and substituted for another–and that could prove dangerous not only for them, but as we’ve seen, for the general public.
“This is a terrible drug because it takes a combination of methamphetamine, and the paranoia and the aggressiveness, and LSD, the hallucinations, and PCP, the extreme paranoia that you get, combines it into one, and has unpredictable effects on human behavior,” Paul Adams, an E.R. doctor in Miami, said.
But while doctors and police say one thing, there are some who say that “bath salts” are nothing like LSD and cause something more akin to a psychosis than “hallucinations”. Twitter user @esotericPharma says there’s a lot of misinformation being spread about the drug and what it does to the human body, pointing out that there’s a big difference between hallucinations and psychosis. While bath salts are a stimulant, LSD is a psychedelic. And because it hasn’t been proven that Rudy Eugene was even under the influence when he attacked Poppo, we are left to try and piece together a puzzle with many tiny pieces. One connector seems to be bath salts, so that’s what so many news stories are grabbing onto. But that doesn’t make it true, according to Time online. Unfortunately, all it takes is one misinformed police officer or doctor to unintentionally start a rumor that spreads like wildfire.
For now, all we can do is wait and see what the toxicology report says regarding Rudy Eugene. And sadly, any answer we find will likely be a scary one.
Bath salts drugs were discovered after a man led police officers on a high-speed pursuit through the town of Medford, Oregon. Zachary Jordan Krawczyk, a repeat offender who was once charged with possession of the aforementioned drug, was parked in front of a well-known drug house Sunday night when an officer ran the car’s plates. Not surprisingly, the vehicle was stolen, prompting a late-night car chase that came to screeching halt after Krawczyk ran over a series of spike strips.
Although the suspect and his companions attempted to flee the scene after crashing their car, police quickly rounded up the driver and his four friends. After searching his clothes, officers discovered a white substance that Krawczyk identified as “bath salts”, the same drug that officials believe sparked the infamous Miami cannibal case that’s currently making headlines all across the country. The salts, which are often described as “legal Ecstasy”, have been known to cause serious brain damage in those who abuse them.
According to Mail Tribune, the substance has been showing up in Medford at an alarming rate. “We are encountering people exhibiting bizarre behavior who are using these bath salts. They are often violent and have a high tolerance for pain. They are hard to subdue,” Lt. Mike Budreau explained. “t’s unlike meth or cocaine or anything else we’ve seen. It’s actually quite scary.”
Krawczyk, meanwhile, has been arrested on charges of possession of synthetic drugs, attempting to elude police in a vehicle, attempting to elude police on foot, reckless endangerment, reckless driving, and failure to appear in court on theft and drug charges.
