While Rep. Akin may have doomed Republican efforts in retaking the U.S. Senate, a Minnesota state representative may have done the same for Democrats in that state. Rep. Kerry Gauthier, 56, has admitted to having a liaison with a 17-year-old boy at a rest stop but insists that it was all perfectly legal since the boy was over 16 years old. The thing that struck me as the most interesting is his claim that it is not a crime to have sex at a rest stop in Minnesota.
Month: August 2012
Three Delaware day care givers — Tiana Harris, 19, Lisa Parker, 47, and Estefania Myers, 21 — have been charged with organizing a type of baby fight club where they encouraged 3-year-olds to fight for their entertainment. We now know the third rule of fight club after you don’t talk about fight club you don’t talk about fight club . . . you don’t use pre-school toddlers.
Continue reading “The Third Rule Of Fight Club: Don’t Use Toddlers”
Some strategists believe that Rep. Todd Akin may have not only saved the most unpopular Democrat in the U.S. Senate but could well have kept the Senate in Democratic hands. It is too early to tell, but Akin yesterday let the deadline pass for withdrawal without a court order and refused to yield to demands from leading Republicans that he drop out. He appears hoping that the Republicans in the state would prefer to send a man viewed internationally as a dysfunctional moron rather than accept six more years with McCaskill. What is even more disturbing, however, is Akin’s view of his own conduct. In refusing to leave the race, Akin said that he simply mad a bad choice in using “one word in one sentence on one day.”
Continue reading “Akin: I Just Used One Word Incorrectly”
Massachusetts Judge Cheryl Ann Jacques is facing a bizarre misdemeanor larceny charge for allegedly misrepresenting the features of a combination crib-and-playpen set she sold on Craigslist. Jacques, 50 sold the Graco Pack ’n Play to Tracey Christopher, 39, for $75. It sells for roughly $150 new. Christopher insisted that there were parts missing but that Jacques refused to return her money. On both this allegation and a prior ethics charge, the level of scrutiny does not appear (in my view) justified by the underlying allegations.
Winston Dudley (shown left) has won a false arrest case where a police account was proven to be false after the review of security tapes. Officer Daniel R. Gowans wrote a report that said that Dudley was “disorderly intoxicated” and resisted arrest on Sept.18, 2010. However, the video directly contradicted Gowans account. While Dudley will receive $30,000, there is no indication that the officer will be fired for a early false report following a false arrest.
Detroit has long been viewed as an example of a catastrophic failure of a city with soaring crime, unemployment, and the continued reelection of corrupt or abusive politicians (here and here and here and here). Unable to pay bills, the city has left whole areas without street lighting and even proposed allowing buildings to burn rather than spend the money on fire fighters. However, the Detroit horseshoer remains fully employed . . . even if the city does not have a single horse to shoe.
Continue reading “Detroit Continues To Maintain Horseshoer Despite The Absence of Horses”
There is an interesting ruling out of Australia where lawyer Michael Gerard Sullivan, 54, has succeeded in avoiding a conviction for theft. That would seem rather surprising since Sullivan previously pleaded guilty after being captured on CCTV taking the two paintings of the Katoomba Fine Art Gallery in December 2008. However, Sullivan claimed amnesia and Judge Jennifer English agreed with the diagnosis and declined to record the conviction.
There is new unrest among students in Prague. No it is not a new Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia. This is Prague, Oklahoma where the valedictorian at Prague High School, Kaitlin Nootbaar, was denied her high school diploma for saying the word “hell” in her graduation speech. It would however seem to be in keeping with the school’s mascot: the little Devil (below).
They may be Supreme but they are also apparently Supremely forgettable. Two-thirds of Americans polled cannot name a single sitting Supreme Court justice. Of the relatively few who can remember a name it is that of the Chief Justice John Roberts. The least well known is Justice Stephen Breyer. Only one percent could remember them all.
Continue reading “Breyer Who? Two Thirds of Americans Cannot Name A Single Sitting Justice”
Emory University on Friday became the latest and one of the most prestigious schools to be found to have misreported key data in the rankings competition. The school misrepresented data for as much as ten years and the difference was considerable.
Continue reading “Emory Admits To Falsifying Data In Rankings Reports For As Much As 10 Years”
A German court has ruled that the far-right group Pro Deutschland may display cartoon caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed during planned demonstrations outside mosques this weekend. The act is viewed as an effort to provoke Muslims. Past publications of the cartoons led to riots and the killings of Christians around the world.
The ever-watchful folks at the Ukrainian Ukraine’s National Expert Commission for Protecting Public Morality are reportedly moving against another invasion “aimed at the destruction of the family, and the promotion of drugs and other vices.” His name is SpongeBob Squarepants. The popular Nickleodeon characterhas been found to “present a real threat to children” and is on a list of shows to be banned with The Simpsons, Family Guy, Futurama, Pokemon and The Telletubbies.
Pakistan may have another opportunity to execute another blasphemer for insulting Islam. This time it is an 11-year-old Christian Pakistani girl Rifta Masih accused of burning Islamic texts. In the meantime, Christians have been persecuted in the area as a local mullah claimed a witness saw the girl burn pages from an Islamic text.
Rep. Todd Akin had no sooner won Missouri’s GOP Senate primary this month than he seemed eager to hand over the election to incumbent Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill. Akin instantly became a national sensation with a shocking statement about how “legitimate rape” rarely results in pregnancy.
Respectfully submitted by Lawrence Rafferty (rafflaw)- Guest Blogger
In light of Elaine’s excellent discussion of the radical voting record of Mitt Romney’s Vice Presidential pick, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, I got to thinking just why would Romney pick such a radical Congressman to be be his Vice President? I understand that Mr. Romney would want an individual who has conservative credentials to improve his standing within his own adopted party and within the Tea Party. But Mr. Ryan has serious baggage with his now infamous Ryan Budget that attacks the middle class and the poor, all for the purpose of retaining and enlarging tax cuts for the wealthy. Why would Mitt take on Ryan’s baggage when he is facing challenges on his lack of transparency on his tax returns?
It seems that the answer to those questions may all relate back to the Koch Brothers and the princely sum of $100 Million dollars!
Continue reading “Did the Koch Brothers Just Buy a Vice President?”