Month: February 2015

Academia, Bizarre, Politics, Society

Oklahoma Legislator Introduces Bill To Ban Advanced Placement History Classes

Fisher-Danx175Oklahoma State Rep. Dan Fisher presumably has an array of tough issues to tackle for his state from unemployment to the environment to crime. However, Fisher has decided to take on the ignoble task of banning Advanced Placement history classes in the state because he objects to the inclusion of negative aspects of American history and the omission of material embracing “American exceptionalism.” As an academic, I have previously criticized politicians (here and here and here and here) intervening in our school system to impose their own values or priorities on educators. This however ranks as one of the worst such intrusions that we have seen.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Media

Ice Ice Baby: Rapper Vanilla Ice Charged With Burglary and Grand Theft

Robert Matthew Van Winkle, known as Vanilla Ice, is facing burglary and grand theft charges in a case that could raise the liability or responsibility of production companies in reality shows. The rapper who gained fame in the 90s was reportedly stealing items form a residence as part of a reality show. That presumably created not just a clear record of the crime but would also lead to questions about the role of the company.

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Bizarre, Criminal law

Liar, Liar: Oregon Man Sues Police For Jailhouse Beating . . . Police Then Produce Videotape Of Man Beating Himself Black and Blue In Cell

25C656B600000578-2957716-image-a-14_1424239970435Not since the movie “Liar, Liar” has a man been shown making such a thorough effort at kicking his own butt. In this case, however, Aleksander Robin Tomaszewski, 33, did not come clean like Jim Carey. Instead, he sued the sheriff’s department for the beating only to find out later that his cell was under video surveillance. The result is evidence of his own self-beat-down.

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Bizarre

No Charges For 92-Year-Old Wisconsin Man Who Hit 10 Cars

Screen Shot 2015-02-18 at 10.50.51 AMRussell Kerr, 92, stars in a video that has now gone viral. Unfortunately, the performance is far from flattering. The 92-year-old Wisconsin man is shown in the video below pulling out of his parking space and crashing into nine or ten cars. Police have decided that Kerr will not be charged after concluding that he got his foot stuck in the accelerator. Fortunately, no one including Kerr was hurt.

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Bizarre, Courts, Criminal law, Society

Mississippi Judge Indicted For Allegedly Assaulting A Mentally Disabled Man In Racial Incident At Flea Market

635595197608427362-WeisenbergerJustice Court Judge Bill Weisenberger of Madison County has been indicted on a charge of simple assault involving a confrontation that he allegedly had with a mentally disabled man in which the judge was accused of striking Eric Rivers, a 20-year-old African American, and yelling “Run, ni**er, run.” The alleged assault occurred at the Canton Flea Market on May 8 of last year where Weisenberger was working as either a security guard or a traffic monitor (accounts differ).

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Bizarre, International

The White Powder Movement: Krispy Kreme Pulls Its Planned “KKK Wednesday” Events

DonutPowedered-768926150px-KKK.svgIt appears that White Power and White Powder do not mix. The UK Krispy Kreme branch has made a hasty retreat from its promotion for a new event: KKK Wednesday. No, the donut chain insists that it was not trying to get a neo-Nazi niche market. It was supposed to stand for Krispy Kreme Klub. The news will likely be a disappointed for all of those rotund Ku Klux Klan members seeking a donut with just the right white glaze and segregated flavors. A company spokeswoman has apologized “unreservedly for the inappropriate name of a customer promotion at one of our stores.”

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Academia, Bizarre, Criminal law, Religion, Society, Torts

Leading Chicago Imam Arrested In Abuse Scandal

mohammad-abdullah-saleemWe have been following the expanding scandal over criminal charges brought against leading national Orthodox rabbi , Barry Freundel, who is now accused of filming over 150 women engaged in the ritual bath known as a Mikva. As if not to be outdone, leading Islamic scholar and Imam Mohammed Abdullah Saleem, 75, has been charged outside of Chicago with sexually abusing a 23-year-old employee last year in Elgin’s Institute of Islamic Education. He is also accused of abusing three other women. The four women have filed civil actions against him and the Islamic school in what could be a messy tort action that proceeds in tandem with the criminal charges. We have discussed the same criminal/civil tracks in the case of Rabbi Freudel.

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Bizarre, International, Religion, Society

Detroit Man Asks Strangers If They Are Muslim And Then Stabs Them When They Answer That They Are Not

635597831540837830-Thomas-Terrence-Lavaron-39-YOA-Date-of-Photo-February-14-2015-e1424208036672-300x211Terrence Lavaron Thomas, 39, is a curious representative of the Muslim faith. First, he already stabbed to people at random because they were not Muslims. Second, when arrested, the alleged faithful felon had drugs in his possession. Violent and a drug user. I wonder what Sharia law would do with Mr. Thomas in a place like Saudi Arabia.

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Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Politics, Society

Federal Judge Halts Obama’s Executive Action On Illegal Immigration

President_Barack_ObamaU.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen delivered a major blow to President Barack Obama’s unilateral executive action on immigration with a preliminary injunction in Brownsville, Texas. The case involves a challenge by 26 states and, to succeed, the states had to meet a high standard that they were likely to prevail on the merits in the case. Hanen found that, absent an order, the states will “suffer irreparable harm in this case.” The ruling sets up an appeal that could move the case more rapidly through the system in yet another challenge to the President’s unilateral actions. [For the purposes of full disclosure, I have previously testified against the President’s unilateral actions and I am currently serving as lead counsel to the House of Representatives in its challenge to such actions taken with regard to the Affordable Care Act.]

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Bizarre

The Ultimate Ultrasound: Baby Gives The “Thumps Up” On Medical Check

25B437E100000578-2955165-Paul_Schofield_31_and_Cheryl_Stevenson_32_from_Tameside_Greater_-a-71_1424063634216 An ultrasound can be a challenge to read so the baby of Paul Schofield, 31, and Cheryl Stevenson, 32, from Tameside, Greater Manchester, appears to have helped out with a surprising “thumps up.” If this kid does not become an astronaut or test pilot, I will be very very disappointed.

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Bizarre, International, Politics, Religion, Society

Journalist Films Anti-Semitic Reactions To His Walking Through Paris Wearing Yarmulke

25BE5ACF00000578-2956040-The_clip_shows_the_reporter_for_Jewish_news_outlet_NRG_as_he_is_-m-24_1424122602146Below is a very disturbing video of the responses that Zvika Klein, a reporter for Jewish news outlet NRG, received when he walked through streets of Paris wearing a yarmulke and a tzitzit (knotted ritual tassels). The video shows the level of anti-Semitism even in our capital cities around the world.

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Media, Torts

Driver Involved In Fatal Crash With Bob Simon Was Driving With Only One Workable Arm, A Conditional License, Nine Prior Suspensions, And A Long Record Of Complaints

259E713100000578-2952471-image-m-53_1423848886260There could be a substantial torts lawsuit that comes out of the tragic death of veteran journalist Bob Simon in a car crash in New York. The driver, Abdul Reshad Fedahi, who had only one working arm after a suicide attempt, had been suspended nine times and was the source of complaints from other drivers about his erratic driving. Simon, 73, was driving in a Lincoln Town car that Fedahi, 44, crashed after grazing a Mercedes-Benz C30 in the center lane and crashing into metal poles last Wednesday.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Media, Politics, Religion, Society

Turkish Tweets: Leading Journalist Arrested For Tweet On Erdogan Corruption Scandal

582574_215472875248080_1866740398_n220px-Recep_Tayyip_ErdoganSedef Kabas, a leading Turkish journalist, has been arrested in another example of the rollback on civil liberties under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. As part of his attack on secularism and his introduction of Islamic laws into Turkey’s government, Erdogan has been cracking down critics and journalists over the outcry of the international community. In the case of Kabas, a single tweet on Twitter was enough. The journalist had just sent her five-year-old to school when police came knocking to ask if she authored a tweet about how the government quashed a corruption investigation into his family and close associates of Erdogan. Erdogan previously promised to “eradicate” Twitter in Turkey and he appears to be now doing it one journalist and poster at a time.

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Academia, Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Media, Politics, Religion, Society

Did Harvard’s New Saudi Scholar Try To Have Women Flogged For Revealing Her Affair?

Drhayatsindi220px-Harvard_Wreath_Logo_1.svgDr. Hayat Sindi is a Saudi Arabian medical scientist and a woman who has earned respect for extraordinary accomplishments in a country that denies women basic liberties. She is not only an award-winning scientist but one of the first female members of the Consultative Assembly of Saudi Arabia. Ranked by Arabian Business as the 19th most influential Arab in the world and the ninth most influential Arab woman, it is not surprising that Harvard University has brought her to the country as a visiting scholar. However, a nasty lawsuit in King County has raised deeply disturbing allegations about Sindi’s efforts against women who she accuses of hacking her emails. According to counsel for one of those women, Sindi worked to have another woman flogged for writing on Facebook that she had had an affair with her husband. On the other side is Samia El-Moslimany, a women’s activist and photographer who lives in the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, who is fighting to keep Sindi from forcing the disclosure of the women, who would face medieval Sharia justice in Saudi Arabia.

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Academia, Bizarre, International, Politics, Religion

Erdogan Pushes Forward His Plan For A “Pious Generation”: Turkey Forces Students (Even Christians) To Take Islamic Classes

220px-Recep_Tayyip_ErdoganWe have been following the gradual erosion of Turkey as a symbol of secularism in the Islamic world under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan was elected by Muslim parties and has steadily broken down secular traditions and introduced more and more Islamic influences in government. That effort has now reached the schools, where Erdogan and his party faithful are seeking to turn schools into training grounds for Islamic orthodoxy. The story below discusses the impact of new rules on Christian Pastor Ahmet Guvener who has learned that, even after securing an exemption for his daughter from mandatory religious classes at her school, she is still required to make Islamic classes in the new Turkey being shaped by Erdogan. If she does not learn Islamic courses on the life of Mohammad or the Quran, she will fail. Erdogan calls it all part of his stated goal of raising “pious generations.”

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