I am pretty certain I know the favorite graduate lab in Canada. Canadian researchers have just released the genome sequence of the Cannabis sativa, better none as The Purple Kush, one of the most potent forms of marijuana.
Month: October 2011
Soon after the news that Gadhafi had been shot, Judge Reggie Walton issued an opinion dismiss the lawsuit by members of Congress challenging the war powers claim underlying the intervention in the Libyan war without a declaration of Congress. I represent the members in that litigation. The Court declined to rule on the merits of the constitutional claims and instead held that the court does not have jurisdiction to rule on such questions. Despite the timing, the opinion did not turn on the removal of Gadhafi. The opinion is below.
Continue reading “Federal Judge Dismisses War Powers Challenge By Members of Congress”
In my torts class, we discuss the scope and purposes of dram shop laws, which expose bars and other businesses to liability for “over serving” customers who get into car crashes or other types of accidents. Washington now has such a case involving D.C. United’s Charlie Davies who is suing the owners of a local nightclub and the company Red Bull for $20 million. He is claiming that they are responsible for his injuries from a fatal car crash that dashed his hopes for joining the 2010 U.S. World Cup team.
Continue reading “Does D.C. United’s Charlie Davis Have A Valid Dram Shop Claim?”
French terrorists have landed . . . in San Antonio, Texas. That is apparently the concern of local police after arresting French teenagers who broke into a courthouse, put on a judge’s robe, played with a gavel, and ran around the hallways wearing sombreros and drinking beer. The FBI and Homeland Security have been called in to determine whether this could be an act of terrorism.
Continue reading “French “Terrorists” Break Into Texas Court, Wear Sombreros, and Play With Gavel”
Freemon Everett Seay, 38, like to punish his child the old-fashioned way . . . around the 15th Century old-fashioned. After Seay’s daughter ran away, he donned armor from the Renaissance period and forced her to do the same. He then forced her into a battle for hours until she was covered in bruises and could barely stand. Vanquished, he let his foe leave the field of battle and she promptly recorded evidence of the alleged abuse for that band of not-so-merry men in the Yelm police department.
Continue reading “Renaissance Man and County Inmate: Father Arrested After Forcing Daughter Into Armored Battle”
What do you get a new gas protoplanet just forming 450 Light Years ago. A Buzz Light Year nightlight? That is no doubt one of the pressing questions for a University of Hawaii astronomer who used the twin 10-metre Keck telescopes on Mauna Kea to capture the first direct image of a planet forming around a star. Much like human babies, it proved a bit gassy.
Below is today’s column in The Los Angeles Times on the Supreme Court granting certiorari in the Alvarez case and the constitutionality of the Stolen Valor Act. I have long been a critic of the Stolen Valor Act and supported the decision of the Ninth Circuit to strike down the law. Civil libertarians have good reason to worry.
Continue reading “The Truth Police: The Supreme Court Takes Up Stolen Valor”
Now, this could make for an interesting torts lawsuit. The Synagogue Church Of All Nations (SCOAN), a Nigerian-led Evangelical Christian church in London, has claimed to have the cure of people with HIV that involves their stopping all medications and praying for a cure. The results, critics say, has been not the promised “miracle” but three deaths.
Continue reading “Church Under Fire After Three People Die After Being Allegedly Told To Stop AIDS Drugs In Favor Of Prayer”
There is an interesting controversy in Washington where Stanley Thornton Jr., aka “Adult Baby,” has demanded an apology from Sen. Tom Coburn, who Thorton says effectively accused him of fraud when Coburn called for the Social Security Administration to review his qualification for benefits. Thornton was featured on the National Geographic channel reality television show “Taboo.” Thorton lives part of his life as an “adult baby” and collects Social Security disability payments.
Recently, I wrote a column in the Washington Post about the increasing use of faith as an issue in the 2012 presidential campaign. In the Western Republican Presidential Debate, the candidates appeared to double down on the use of politicized piety. Rick Santorum reaffirmed that a candidate’s faith was essential to his qualifications. Newt Gingrich, however, used the opportunity to again attack agnostics, atheists, and secularists – saying that you cannot trust any leader who does not pray.
Continue reading “Gingrich: You Cannot Trust Politicians Who Do Not Pray”
We just moved a little closer to making Superman obsolete. MIT scientists at the Lincoln Laboratory have announced that they have developed a new radar system that looks through walls using “ultrawideband multiple-input, multiple-output phased-array sensor.” For the rest of us, they developed x-ray vision!!!
Continue reading “MIT Scientists Discover X-Ray Vision . . . Sort Of”
A lesbian couple in California has triggered a controversy by giving their son hormone blockers to delay his puberty so that he can decided whether to be a girl or a boy. The 11-year-old boy named Tommy could decide to be a Tammy now that he is approaching puberty, but many are questioning the basis for such treatment or the ability of a minor to make such a decision. I am one of them.
Continue reading “Tommy or Tammy? California Parents Give Son Hormone Treatment To Delay Puberty To Allow Him To Explore a Female Identity”
I was curious recently about a statement by Ed Schultz, host of MSNBC’s the Ed Show, that Sen. Jim Demint, R-S.C., used racist langauge in his opposition to Obamacare when he said “If we are able to stop Obama on this [health care law], it will be his Waterloo. It will break him.” There are ample reasons to criticize this statements — not the least of which is the notion that we will destroy health care simply to gain a political advantage. However, is “break him” a racist term?
Continue reading “Is “Break” A Racist Term?”
The World Scrabble Championship was rocked by controversy this year when Chollapat Itthi-Aree, from Thailand, demanded officials take Ed Martin, an IT consultant from London, to the toilet for a strip search. The contraband was the letter “G”, which went mysteriously missing in the match.
Continue reading ““Strip Search” Worth 18 or a Lawsuit? Scrabble Competition Rocked By Controversy Over Missing G”
The Secret Service recently stopped a threat to First Lady Michele Obama during her trip to Cape Town, South Africa while sitting in her five-star hotel. They promptly called authorities to confront the culprit: the HMS Edinburgh. The agents were alarmed that the British war ships had its Sea Dart missiles turned toward the hotel . . . and the First Lady. The Secret Service is infamous for overreacting but this really takes the cake. Of course, no one will be disciplined for such an insulting and moronic objection.
Continue reading “Did The HMS Edinburgh Just Try To Murder The First Lady?”