Res ipsa loquitur ("The thing itself speaks")
In another flagrant violation of international law and human rights, Iran is set to execute Ramdin Soodmand for the crime of converting from Islam. Sharia law mandates such punishment and Islamic countries continue to apply the penalty despite the fact that it violates core international principles. Indeed, Rashin’s father was executed eighteen years ago previously for the same Sharia crime.
Continue reading ‘Iran Set to Execute Another Christian for Converting From Islam’
In a major civil liberties ruling, the Connecticut Supreme Court has ruled that gay and lesbian couples have the right to get married. While conservatives like Sarah Palin have insisted that we should leave questions like abortion to the states, this ruling is likely to increase calls for a federal constitutional amendment to prevent states from deciding the question as a matter of federalism.
Continue reading ‘Connecticut Rules In Favor of Same-Sex Marriage’
I just stumbled over this video of a police officer giving an interview with CNN as a thief steals a car behind him and proceeds on a high-speed chase.
Continue reading ‘Shock Video: Car Stolen as Police Officer Gives Interview with CNN’
A bipartisan investigation has found that Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin abused her power as Alaska’s governor and violated state ethics law. The allegations stem from effort to get Palin’s ex-brother-in-law fired from the state police. While Palin originally agreed to cooperate with the investigation, she refused to comply with a lawful subpoena issued by a bipartisan committee once she became a national candidate. She now represents something of a novelty. While Dick Cheney was accused of various forms of federal violations, he waited until he was in office to start breakin’ the law. Palin is now running for the second highest constitutional office in the land while refusing a valid subpoena and facing a finding of ethical violations in office.
Continue reading ‘As the Waters Rise, McCain Keeps Palin’: Running Mate Found Guilty of Ethical Violations But Will Remain on Ticket’
I will be overnight in North Carolina with the little livestock, so postings may be delayed this weekend. 
A tragedy in Tuscan, Arizona is developing into a difficult torts case. Deshun Glover was killed by electrocution after a baseball game in July. There appears to be a combination of negligent acts leading to the death as companies deny responsibility.
Continue reading ‘Eight-Year-Old Boy Killed at Baseball Field With Faulty Wiring’
McDonald’s was given a fair degree of credit by liberals for its refusal to drop support for the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) after a boycott by the American Family Association. It appears that got the company nuggets in a knot and AFA now claims that McDonald’s has announced that the board member who supported the group has resigned and the support will end.
Continue reading ‘McDonalds Reportedly Agrees to Drop Support for Gay Business Group’
Now, here is a respondeat superior case: a tourist goes to a bar in Goa, India where he is beaten to death by the staff for being rude. This is what the family says happened to Austrialian John Kelly, 65, at the Club City Restaurant.
Continue reading ‘Beaten to Death In Club City: Australian Tourist Killed by Staff at Indian Restaurant for “Arrogant” Attitude’
In a remarkable investigation, Brian Ross has uncovered extensive abuses within the military surveillance program operated out of Fort Gordon. The investigation includes interviews with two former employees who say that purely private conversations were intercepted between U.S. citizens, including phone sex tapes that were passed around for fun. I was interviewed for the story.
Continue reading ‘ABC Investigation: Government Intercepted Private Calls and Personnel Passed Around Tapes for Recreation’
Now, this is a new one. prosecutors in Newark Licking Valley, Ohio have charged a 15-year-old of sending child pornography to friends at a high school. However, the cell phone pictures are of herself. The illegal use of minor referenced in the charge is herself.
Fifty-five children in Florida are being questioned about an incident with a public school bus driver, who allegedly stopped their bus on a train track and threatened to leave the children there if they did not start to behave — as a train approached. The driver, who had a child on the bus, reportedly lost her temper over misbehaving kids and decided to use the classic “behave-or-I-will-have-a-train-crush-you” parental technique.
The video of “Obama Youth — Junior Fraternity Regiment” (shown below) has become a favorite of the Internet. The video is the work of a middle school teacher in Kansas City, Mo. and shows kids in military uniforms addressing “President Obama” and chanting his “yes, we can” campaign line.
Continue reading ‘No, We Can’t: Missouri Teacher Suspended Over “Obama Youth” Video’
David Kernell, 20, of Knoxville, Tenn., the son of state Rep. Mike Kernell, has been indicted for hacking of the e-mail account of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. He should have known that only the Administration can hack into accounts and intercept calls on citizens without a warrant.
Continue reading ‘Politician’s Son Indicted for Hacking into Gov. Palin’s Email Account’
For some environmentalists, there are few people as vile as Scottsdale-based developer George H. Johnson and his associates. Johnson was accused of bulldozing, filling and diverting a 5-mile stretch of the Santa Cruz River and its tributaries. As Joe Biden would say, “let me repeat that” 5 MILES. While the government reached a settlement with a $1.25 million penalty, Johnson and his contractor will not have to admit guilt and will not face any possible criminal charge.
Executives at American International Group Inc. (AIG) were obviously raked with guilt after running their business into the ground, ruining the lives of thousands of employees, and requiring taxpayers to assume the debt of their poor decisions. They were who distraught, days after the bailout, that they spent $440,000 on a posh California retreat for spas and relaxation. This weekend frolic is the equivalent to the average household annual salary for roughly 20 citizens who will be footing their bill on debt.
Randolph Flechsig, president of Davenport University in Michigan has pleaded guilty to a DUI and refusing to take a breath test during his arrest. The video below shows the arrest. Davenport was declared the “College President of the Year” in 2003. While a spokesperson first denied alcohol was the culprit (as opposed to a diabetic complication), he now admits to multiple Bloody Marys. Of course, he can claim that unlike a college president in Iowa recently, he did not have a picture taken pouring a beer keg in the mouth of a student.
Continue reading ‘“College President of the Year” Arrested for DUI’
The Georgia Supreme Court has ruled that a woman who won a Riverdale City Council position in November did not mislead voters because she was born a man. Michelle Bruce did not tell voters that she was once man and the losers in the election cried foul. Georgia Fuller and Stan Harris filed actions to invalidate the election that they lost to Bruce, but the Supreme Court ruled for the transgender city councilperson.
The White House has long been obvious in its effort to run out the clock on the constitutional challenge to the subpoenas for former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten. As a court found, the White House arguments are meritless, but the Administration has been relying on the calendar more than the Constitution. This week, that strategy succeeded with an appellate court issuing a stay that guarantees that the subpoenas will expire with this Congress.
In our expanding list of “things you can do to get tasered by police,” we have another outstanding entry to add to getting out of a bath naked and calling for help. Catherine Isebelle Morris, 34, was tasered by Gaston County Police Officer G.S. Kendall because she insisted on getting her shoes in the house when questioned outside about a domestic disturbance. She is lucky. Under this operational standard, Imelda Marcos would have been lit up like the Chrysler building.
All one hears from politicians is how our medical system is the best in the world. Yet, Mike Herrera would likely beg to differ — if he was still alive. The 58-year-old man died of cardiac arrest after waiting 19 hours in the emergency room at Parkland Memorial Hospital. It is all caught on the video below.
Continue reading ‘Texas Man Left in Emergency Room for 19 Hours — Eventually Dies of Heart Attack’
University of New Hampshire officials have suspended Phi Mu Delta after two students were sent to a hospital with alcohol poisoning after a pledge period. Police arrested seven students on alcohol possession. It is a classic example for potential vicarious and personal liability that we have discussed in class.
Continue reading ‘Pledge Problems at Phi Mu:University of New Hampshire Suspends Fraternity’
Sen. Ted Stevens was caught on tape discussing the possibility of a prison sentence with his former friend and wealthy businessman Bill Allen. Unbeknownst to Stevens, Allen was recording the conversation as an informant with the FBI. Stevens sounds every inch a felon on the tape, advising Allen to “really lay low” and be tough. In one particularly damaging section for the jury to hear, Stevens acknowledges “We might have to pay a fine and spend a little time in jail.”
Continue reading ‘“We might . . . spend a little time in jail”: Stevens Caught on Tape Discussing Criminal Investigation’
In Buffalo Grove, Illinois, a 72-year-old man had just been given a ticket when he made a situation far worse. He floored the car in reverse and rolled over the police car — as captured in this dashcam video.
Continue reading ‘Note to Self: Drive Forward After Ticket and Avoid Police Cruiser’
With the approach of Yom Kippur, animal rights advocates and officials in California are launching a campaign to end the ritual of Kapparot, where a fowl is held by the neck and swung around the head of a Jewish person. The sins of the person are then transfered to the fowl (usually a chicken) which is then sacrificed. The practice has been denounced as little more than animal cruelty and many have called for criminal charges under state laws.
A California prisoner, Barry A. Hazle Jr., 40, is challenging a condition of his release from prison after a year on drug possession: mandatory drug treatment. It is not the drug treatment idea that bothers Hazle, it is the religiosity of the program. Hazle is an atheist and would like a program that does not require his commitment to both sobriety and God.
Continue reading ‘What Price Sobriety? Atheist Prisoner Challenges Mandatory Religious Program’
A Marianna, Fla. middle-school teacher, Greg Howard, will not be fired after he allegedly explained to his class what supporters of Barach Obama really mean by “Change.” He reportedly wrote the word on the board as an acronym: “C.H.A.N.G.E. — Come Help A (N-word) Get Elected.” It appears that in Florida, openly racist lesson plans are merely cause for a 10 days suspension and a relocation to a new job within the district.
Continue reading ‘Florida Teacher Fined But Retained After Allegedly Racist Lesson for Middle School Students’
Officials at the Berkeley Unified School District are investigating an allegation that Jefferson Elementary School teacher Gwen Martin not only told her students that Santa and the Easter Bunny were fakes but told them that God is very real.
Continue reading ‘Making the Naughty List: California Teacher Tells Students that Santa and Easter Bunny Do Not Exist’
The Pittsburgh diocese has broken away this weekend in the latest defection from the Episcopal Church over homosexuality.
Continue reading ‘Its Splitsville in Pittsburgh: Episcopal Church Breaks Away Over Homosexuality’
In a potentially wide ranging decision a British immigration court has ruled that a Syrian young couple who converted to Christianity from Islam are entitled to asylum due to the likely threats against their lives. Some Muslim clerics insist that any such converts must be killed. Six Republican members of Congress encouraged the court to rule in favor of asylum.
Continue reading ‘British Court Finds that Muslims Converting to Christianity Qualify for Asylum’
A federal district court judge has issued an interesting decision in Miller v. Penn Manor School District, (ED PA, Sept. 30, 2008). This case originally captured national attention when a high school student, Donald Miller III, was prevented from wearing a T-shirt that said “Special Issue-Resident-Lifetime License, United States Terrorist Hunting Permit…” The Court upheld the ban on such messages including violent messages. However, it struck down a religious-related ban.
Continue reading ‘Federal Court Enjoins Limitations on Student Religous Expression’
Sheikh Muhammad al-Habadan in Saudi Arabia is calling for women to wear a niqab, or full veil, that covers all but one eye. Currently, women wear head to toe coverings that show two eyes. However, al-Habadan says women are wearing eye make-up and flirting with their two eyes.
In a clear effort to simply delay an investigation until after the November election, Alaskan GOP politicians have appealed the recent ruling upholding the investigation of Gov. Sarah Palin. Anchorage Superior Court Judge Peter Michalski dismissed their lawsuit Thursday shortly before the debate. I discussed the ruling on the Rachael Maddow Show. This is precisely the same tactic used by Dick Cheney and the Bush Justice Department in filing motions and appeals to advance meritless claims for the sole purpose of delay. In political cases, justice delayed is justice.
Continue reading ‘Delay and Conquer: GOP Politicians Appeal Troopergate Ruling’
As Congress was passing a bailout of $700 billion to rescue companies like Fannie Mae from their own poor decisions, Addie Polk in Akron, Ohio was being evicted after Fannie Mae foreclosed on her home. She was bailed out of her home when medics carried her out after she shot herself.
Joshua Hickson, 19, appears by any measure to be an idiot. When he found out that a student at Wenatchee High School was severely allergic to peanuts, he repeatedly smeared a peanut butter sandwich on the student’s forehead. However, some people are objecting that he is now charged with criminal assault despite the lack of any injury or allergic reaction. He faces a year in jail if convicted of the misdemeanor. It could be a new addition to our criminal lexicon: Assault and Battery (A & B) with P & J.
O.J. Simpson has been convicted on all 12 counts in his armed robbery case in Las Vegas. The case involving the the robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers at a casino hotel could result in a life sentence for the former football star. Simpson was engaged in a conventional act of self-help in the most unconventional work to retrieve a small number of sports memorabilia items. The drama of the conviction was magnified when his sister Carmelita Durio sobbed as he was being escorted out of the courtroom and then collapses — requiring paramedics to carry her out of the courtroom. Co-defendant Clarence “C.J.” Stewart, 54, was also convicted. The convictions came exactly 13 years to the day after O.J. Simpson was acquitted of two murders in California of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
Given the Second Circuit’s overturning of the New York terrorism convictions, the testimony below before Congress may offer a broader understanding of the poor performance of the Bush Administration in this area.
Continue reading ‘The Body Count Culture: The Bush Administration’s Record on Prosecuting Terrorism Cases’
In class, we often discuss the limitations on suing children for torts, particularly children under seven. Now, an Australian case represents the problem in dealing with kids who cause destruction. In this case, a seven-year-old broke into a zoo, bludgeoned lizards to death and fed them to Terry, a large crocodile.
This week, Obama secured the most sought after endorsement of the election. The ultimate “Joe-Six-Pack” often discussed by Gov. Sarah Palin has endorsed and voted for Sen. Obama in the video below.
Continue reading ‘The Ultimate Joe-Six-Pack Vote: Obama Endorsed by Homer Simpson’
Shortly before the start of the Vice Presidential debate, Alaskan judge Peter Michalski handed down a major ruling threw out a challenge by Republican politicians seeking to block an investigation into Gov. Sarah Palin in the so-called Troopergate scandal. [Update: I discussed this last night on Rachael Maddow’s show, click here).
Continue reading ‘Judge Upholds Troopergate Investigation of Gov. Sarah Palin’
In another loss of the Bush Administration, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit overturned the convictions of Sheik Mohammed Ali Al-Moayad and Mohammed Mohsen Zayed. Ironically, when the decision came down, I was speaking at Cleveland State College of Law on the dismal record of the Bush Administration in prosecuting terrorism cases. This case is another example of how the Justice Department has undermined its own cases with poor quality and sensational tactics.
Continue reading ‘Second Circuit Overturns Major Terrorism Convictions’
JetBlue seems to have taken a bad turn this week. In Fort Lauderdale, two JetBlue pilots, Pilots William Hart Smith, 40, and Brad Leopard, 38,, went to a strip club and then allegedly attacked a taxi driver over a $9 fare to a Subway restaurant. In the meantime, a women has said that a flight from Fort Lauderdale became a nightmare when a JetBlue flight attendant allegedly harassed and groped her.
Senator Ted Stevens may get a mistrial after the judge discovered that prosecutors withheld material evidence from his defense. It is a great irony for the Republican Senator who, like Sen. Larry Craig, spent careers stripping criminal defendants of rights, but soon found the value of those hated little “technicalities.”
Continue reading ‘Possible Mistrial in Sen. Stevens’ Corruption Trial’
The tragic case of Iman Morales just got more tragic. Morales was found dancing naked on the top of a ledge. Police shot him with a taser, resulting in his fall and death. It was an obviously poor decision in violation of department guidelines. Now, the officer in charge who gave that order, Lt. Michael Pigott, has committed suicide in the police locker room after being stripped of his badge and gun.
Continue reading ‘Accused Police Officer in New York Taser Death Commits Suicide at Police Station’
Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is facing a discrimination action by a victim of drunk drivers, who claims that she was removed from public events due to her appearance. A drunk driver left Rose Harn with one working eye, brain damaged, and a shriveled, disfigured body as well as the need for a rag to catch her drool. She alleges that she was told that she was too disturbing to look at for a booth at a state fair in Idaho.
A major fight is brewing in the tranquil environs of the Hamptons. Rabbi Marc Schneier and Orthodox Jews want Westhampton Beach officials to approve the placement of an eruv, a religious boundary that allows observant Jews to perform minor tasks on their Sabbath or on religious holidays. Citizens have objected, including some more secular Jewish citizens and there is talk of a lawsuit.
Continue reading ‘Religious Controversy Grips the Hamptons’
Republican politicians continue to explore the possibility that Barack Obama is the Anti-Christ. Recently, a Republican County Chairperson suggested that he was indeed the biblical beast foretold in the Book of Revelation. Now, Fort Mill, S.C. Mayor Danny Funderburk admits that he sent out an e-mail warning about the possibility, but insists that he was “just curious” about gathering evidence on the question. In the meantime, John McCain remains silent on allegations (first raised on this blog) that he is indeed the Aztec Demon God Itzcoliuhqui.
Continue reading ‘Latest Biblical Beast Sighting: GOP Mayor Says that It Remains Unclear Whether Obama is the Anti-Christ’
The Bristol City Council has finally acted in response to a rash of burglaries of council-owned sheds: it has asked tenants to stop using locks because burglars often damage the doors to get inside. The National Criminal Association applauds the act as a needed reform where the government and burglars can work together in a productive fashion.
A trooper in South Carolina is accused of intentionally hitting a suspect and then bragging out it on a police recording. Lance Cpl. Steven Garren is heard on a tape boasting about how he bagged the suspect, Marvin Grant, who is shown on a dash cam recording bouncing off the hood of his cruiser.
Continue reading ‘Police Officer Accused of Intentionally Hitting S.C. Man and Then Bragging Out It’
MIDDLETOWN — This could be the easiest line-up that the Middletown, Ohio police ever put on. Michelle Allen, 32, was arrested after allegedly chasing children and urinating on a front porch in her neighborhood. She was easy to spot. She was wearing a cow outfit.
Continue reading ‘The Cow Did It: Ohio Woman Terrorizes Neighborhood Children While Dressed as Deranged Bovine’
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