Just ran across this gem. Who is the funniest Supreme Court Justice? A 2005 study reported in the New York Times has the answer. Boston University Professor J.D. Wexler has conducted a survey of the transcripts of SCOTUS oral arguments, and … drum roll, please … Justice Antonin Scalia is the semi-official “Court Jester,” with 77 laughs. Justice Stephen Breyer came in second with 45, and Justice Ginsburg quipped in just four laughs. Bringing up the rear was the “Harpo Marx” of the troupe, Justice Clarence Thomas, who added zero Continue reading “Take My Scalia, Please!”
Month: November 2010
John Fiala, a 52-year-old Roman Catholic priest, has been charged with soliciting a hit man to kill a teenager who had accused him of sexual abuse. Fiala, who was arrested on November 18th, is being held on $700,000 bond.
Earlier this year, the priest was named in a lawsuit brought by the teen’s family. The boy’s parents accused the priest of sexually abusing their son—and of forcing the young man to have sex with him twice at gunpoint.
The Tea Party sees Thanksgiving as a morality tale about finding salvation in Capitalism. The Pilgrims were failed Socialists who turned to Capitalism for survival. Only after foregoing communal ownership of property and allowing private ownership did the colony prosper. (Communism could also have been used, but socialism is the bogey meme du jour.)
The actual historical details are much more interesting than the Tea Party myth.
Continue reading “The Tea Party Meaning of Thanksgiving: Socialism Doesn’t Work”
see more Political Pictures
-David Drumm (Nal)
Long Island resident, Lindsay Ekizian, has filed an interesting case in Manhattan (NY) Supreme Court alleging that the Hammerstein Ballroom callously failed to allow her use of its restroom. The 35 weeks along mother-to-be asked politely if she could use the bathroom as she was filing out of the establishment after seeing a comedy act. Rebuffed at first, she explained to the manager that she was pregnant (wonder why that needed to be explained) and was in desperate need. “There’s a bathroom at the end of the block,” came the compassionate reply according to the plaintiff. Unable to make it to the nearby diner, Ms. Ekizian suffered an indignity best left to the imagination. Not sure of the theory of liability (intentional infliction emotional distress?), but if there ever was a case with jury appeal here it is.
Source: New York Post
–Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Author’s note: Last week’s entry on American History was so well-received, I thought another might be of interest:
During the cold night of December 16, 1773, several dozen radicals, face-painted to resemble Mohawk Indians, stole aboard three American vessels moored in Boston Harbor christened the Dartmouth, Beaver, and Eleanor. There, the band broke open 340 chests of Chinese tea belonging to the East India Company and tossed the contents overboard. Popular myth has it that the act was widely celebrated in the colonies as an act of defiance and that it was all about higher taxes on tea. Both myths are decidedly … well, mythical.
Continue reading “How A “Corporate Bailout” Cost Britain A Nation: The Real Boston Tea Party”
There is an amazing reported discovery of oxygen for the first time. The Cassini probe found traces of oxygen on Saturn’s moon, Rhea.
Continue reading “Rhea’s Secret: For the First Time, Oxygen Found on Another World”
England has continued its move toward comprehensive blasphemy prosecution with the arrest of a 15-year-old girl for inciting religious hatred by allegedly burning a copy of the Koran (Qur’an) — and showing the act on Facebook. I have written in columns and blog entries (here and here and here) about this dangerous trend in the West as citizens are arrested for blasphemy laws.
Continue reading “England Arrests 15-Year-Old Girl For Allegedly Burning Koran”
Archbishop Kenneth William Storheim of the Orthodox Church in America, has been arrested and charged with two counts of sexual assault in Canada. Families have demanded an investigation into Storheim, 64, for two years without success.
Continue reading “Orthodox Archbishop Charged With Sexual Assault”
Kristopher Allen White, 23, knows how to get himself out of a tight squeeze. White was able to force his body through bars in his cell that were only four and a half inches apart at the Haywood County Jail.
Continue reading “Man Escapes Jail By Squeezing Through Cell Bars”
I wanted to wish all of our virtual family at the blog a Happy Thanksgiving. I am particularly thankful for the regulars on this blog who have made this site a place for civil and reasoned discussion and debate. This is my favorite holiday and I hope that each of you will have a great time today.
Continue reading “HAPPY THANKSGIVING”
In celebration of Thanksgiving, I give you our annual Turkey Torts of a few potential and actual lawsuits from this holiday. From deep-fried Turkeys to salmonella salads, the holiday gives personal injury lawyers a great deal to be thankful for.
Previously, we saw that going to the potty too long is a security risk if you are Muslim or of Middle Eastern descent or appearance. Now, going too many times is a security risk. A passenger on U.S. Airways from Fort Lauderdale to Denver was pulled off a plane after passengers reported that he went to the bathroom too often during the flight. It turned out he had to go to the bathroom a lot.
Continue reading “Small Bladder, Short Flight: Passenger Pulled Off Flight For Excessive Potty Breaks”
Professor Richard Quinn of University of Central Florida delivered this lecture after discovering that at least one-third of the class had cheated on a midterm exam.
Continue reading “Professor Confronts Cheaters At University of Central Florida”
You know those high-level negotiations with the Taliban in Afghanistan that have been touted by both the Afghan and U.S. governments? Well, it turns out that they are not so high level. In fact, the negotiator may not be with the Taliban at all. The man with whom we have been negotiated as “Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour,” one of the most senior commanders in the Taliban movement, turns out to be a nutter from Pakistan who probably could not believe everyone was negotiating with him to design the new Afghanistan. To make this FUBAR complete, one Western official admits “we gave him a lot of money.”
Continue reading “Fubar in Kandahar: Afghan and American Officials Discover That They Have Been Negotiating With Imposter for Months”