We have previously discussed how history is being forgotten in the United States, England, and other countries. We can now add Germany to the list. While one would hope that there are certain historical facts that are indelible, one in five young Germans has no idea that Auschwitz was a Nazi death camp.
Continue reading “One in Five Young Germans Do Not Know Auschwitz Was A Death Camp”
Former Bronx prosecutor Bernadette Greenwald, 37, has been criminally charged after she pulled a gun on a teen and fired a shot in anger over teenagers ringing her door bell in the “ding-dong ditch” game. Police say that Greenwald fired her pink 9mm handgun to show the teen she had (in her words) “balls.” Greenwald practices under her maiden name, Bernadette Nicchia.
This week’s most frivolous lawsuit was filed by Dr. Randeep Dhillon of Bakersfield on behalf of himself and Bol Punjabi All Regions Community Organization in California. Dhillon is suing Jay Leno for showing a picture of the Sikh holy shrine Golden Temple in Amritsar, India as the image of Mitt Romney’s summer home. The obvious parody is entirely protected but Dhillon has claimed that it constitutes libel.
Continue reading “Sikhs Sue Leno Over Joke Involving Sacred Temple”
I previously criticized Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi for suggesting that she has dirt on Newt Gingrich but would disclose it later. She has returned to that ignoble theme in an interview with CNN, saying that Gingrich will not be elected because “There is something I know.” I have been a vocal critic of Gingrich on this blog, but once again I view this low-grade form of politicking to be grossly unfair to Gingrich and a further degrading of our political system. If you want to attack Gingrich, then do it. Do not constantly suggest that you have severed heads in a duffel bag or some other evidence against the man.
Continue reading “Pelosi: Gingrich Unelectable Because “There Is Something I Know.””
Country singer Garth Brooks has prevailed in his lawsuit to force the IntegrisCanadian Valley Regional Hospital in Yukon, Oklahoma to return half a million dollars from a prior gift. The case will likely be examined closely by universities and hospitals as a cautionary tale on the handling of donor money. What is clear is that, after taking one of its largest donors to court, the IntegrisCanadian Valley Regional Hospital can expect a rather chilly response from future donors. Here is the get part: the jury decided that he was a Victim of the Game and made the damages a cool $1 million dollars with punitive damages. Now that was a smart legal strategy for the hospital.
Oklahoma GOP State Senator Ralph Shortey is one politician who is not afraid to take on special interest groups. This month he has introduced a bill that will enrage that powerful lobby of commercial product cannibals who seek to use human fetuses to spice up food. Shortey’s bill would prohibit the manufacturing and sale of food “which contains aborted human fetuses.” First, however, you will have to find one.
This video on YouTube raises serious questions over the necessity of shooting a man outside of a Carl’s Jr. in Monterey Park, California. The man was smashing windows with a pipe and failed to yield to commands from officers. When he turned toward one officer and raised the pipe, he was repeatedly shot by the other officer in the video.
In Tremonton, Utah, a family is facing a bizarre tragedy after Robby Ostberg, 14, was killed after being shot in the head by a small replica cannon. Notably, the police have said that they first believed that the cannon was purely decorative but then found that it was designed to fire a .50-caliber round. That would create a possible basis for a tort lawsuit for negligence and possibly product liability.
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Norway Mayor Jim Preacher was not apparently happy about being pulled over by a South Carolina state trooper for speeding. After being given a ticket, Preacher proceeded to put on his own blue lights and pulled over the trooper in his capacity as Norway’s chief constable.
In Texas, investigators are demanding answers from Dallas meat-packing company Columbia Packing Company after photos appeared to show the company dumping pig blood into the Trinity River. The case raises some interesting legal questions.
Continue reading “Texas Company Accused Of Dumping Pig Blood Into River Used For Recreation”
We have been following the rapid diminishing of free speech in the West in recent years. It is particularly disconcerting to see this trend in our close allies of England and France (For a prior column, click here). Now, the French Senate has added a new speech crime — denying the fact of the Armenian genocide by Turkey. While I commend the motivation, the legislation is blind to the implications to free speech by criminalizing certain subjects for debate. It seeks to force critics to be silent under threat of criminal prosecution — an approach that produces only the appearance of agreement while denying citizens the basic right to be heard on such controversies.
Continue reading “French Senate Makes Denying Armenian Genocide A Crime”
As a history buff who loves visiting France, I have previously objected to the commercialization of historical sites of a former French minister of Versailles. However, nothing quite prepared me for the new idea of former French minister Yves Jégo, who is planning the creation of “Napoleonland.” He is raising £180 million for the amusement park on the site of Napoleon’s final victory at the Battle of Montereau in 1814 just south of Paris.
Continue reading “Liberté, Egalité, Débauche: Former French Minister Pushes For Creation of “Napoleonland””
Former Florida prosecutor Aaron Slavin, 34, has received a three-year prison sentence for accepting more than 200 oxycodone pills as payment for legal services in 2010. His wife Eryn Slavin, 34, was also convicted of drug possession, but under the deal with her husband she will avoid jail time. His mug shot sheet shows an arrest in 2010.
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I previously wrote about the pending case of United States v. Jones and the effort of the Administration to establish precedent allowing the government to follow citizens with Global Positioning Devices (GPS) without any showing of probable cause. I am happy to report that the Court has ruled unanimously against the government and found the practice to be unconstitutional under the fourth amendment. It is a stinging defeat for the Obama Administration but a roaring victory for privacy and civil liberties at a time when good news is rare.
We have followed the rising prosecution of people for blasphemy around the world, including the West. Now, Muslim groups in India are calling for the prosecution of organizers for reading from Salman Rushdie’s banned book “Satanic Verses” at the Jaipur Literature Festival. Abdul Latif, state secretary of All India Milli council refers to the mere reading from the book as “condemnable” and said that the groups are collecting evidence for prosecution.