The Mandarin Class in all its glory

As the volume of real news declines, the fascination with the noisy news rises. From Texas Democrat Caught Carrying Envelope of Cocaine by Elizabeth Matamoros.

Texas Democratic state representative Alfonso "Poncho" Nevárez was caught on video surveillance dropping an envelope containing cocaine at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

The Texas Department of Public Safety filed an affidavit on Oct. 29 detailing surveillance footage that revealed Nevárez "dropping a white paper object" as he walked out of the airport on Sept. 6. Two Texas Department of Transportation employees found the white envelope, prompting an investigation.

Inside the sealed envelope were four "small clear plastic baggies" containing cocaine.

Nevárez, who is chairman of the state house Homeland Security & Public Safety Committee, told the Texas Tribune on Thursday "the news is true."

Nevárez used an envelope with official state letterhead to carry his drugs.

"I observed the white envelope had a letterhead that was from the ‘Office of the State of Texas House of Representatives Member Poncho Nevarez,'" Special Agent Otto Cabrera wrote in the affidavit.

A state representative, chairman of the state house Homeland Security & Public Safety Committee, is walking around with his drug supply in an envelope with his official state letterhead.

So many ways to choose to be outraged and/or astonished.