Torts

“Something Wicked This Way Comes.”: Halloween is Starting With a Litigious Flare

“Something wicked this way comes.” Those words from William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” capture the approach of Halloween.

Traced to the Celtic festival of Samhain to mark the end of the harvest, pagans would often summon the dead. Halloween today more often summons contingency lawyers by the gross. If there is a holy holiday for personal injury lawyers it is Halloween with its mix of slip-and-falls, food liability, and costume defects.

After all, what can go wrong with a holiday celebrated at night with millions in ill-fitting costumes handing out tons of foodstuffs to strangers?

This year, it is already producing its share of spooky torts.

In Queens, a haunted house was shut down after various people filed lawsuits over being injured. “A Haunting in Hollis” was called “a death trap” by the Fire Department, but not the fun kind. The converted two-family home was accused of such attractions as the ankle shatterer.

Solainne Mancero-Tannis of Jamaica, Queens, says she was at the house with her family when she went down “Satan’s Slope.” The slide in a pitch-black space allegedly hurled her into a concrete wall at the bottom, shattering her ankles.

The FDNY has since allowed the house to re-open with improvements.

Sometimes, Haunted Houses are a bit too haunted, even for the trained eye. Take the case of Sgt. Eric Janik, 37, who went to a haunted house called the House of Screams when he was confronted by a character dressed as Leatherface with a chainsaw. Janik pulled out his service weapon and pointed it at the man, who dropped character and fled the house.

This year, an employee, Anora Jenkins, was working at a haunted attraction in Tennessee when she jumped up to scare a group, and a frightened man slugged her, sending her to the hospital. AMS Haunted Attractions said that spooked customers assaulted several of its actors.

Some haunted homes can be a tad too improvisational. In Dickson v. Hustonville Haunted House and Greg Walker,  Glenda Dickson, 51, broke four vertebrae in her back when she fell out of the second-story window left open at the Hustonville Haunted House. She was in a room called “The Crying Lady in the Bed” when one of the actors came up behind the group and started screaming. Dickson jumped back through an open window covered with only a sheet.

Halloween can bring out the best and worst of people, even neighbors.

A few years ago in Florida, a woman filed a defamation and emotional distress lawsuit after her neighbor set up decorations that included a fake tombstone that read, “At 48 she had no mate no date/ It’s no debate she looks 88.”

This year, another woman in Ohio took a more direct approach in Toledo. On Oct. 7, the woman went on a rampage in the front yard of the home of the Zeller family with their extensive Halloween decorations. Over half an hour, she caused roughly $1,000 in damages, including destroying cherished family items. Police arrested 48-year-old Christina Horvath, who is also accused of stealing some items.  Yet, the Zellers are not literally giving up the ghost. They put up a sign reading “She Came in Like A Wreckin’ Ball” next to a skeleton riding a wrecking ball.

Each year, costumes produce a slew of jump scare lawsuits from demon eye contact lenses that can actually blind you to this year’s witch hats that can turn into flaming headwear. In New York a few years ago, Sherri Perper, 56, of Queens, New York, filed a personal injury lawsuit due to defective shoes allegedly acquired from Forum Novelties. The shoes were over-sized clown shoes that she said made her trip and fall because they were . . . well … oversized.

I admit that my house is one of those over-the-top Halloween houses. As a torts professor, I try to walk the line between a fun attraction and an attractive nuisance.

Indeed, I have contemplated the ultimate jump scare of meeting children with a notary, and a waiver form covering everything from slips to nut allergies.  There are simply some scenes that are too scary for the young and old alike.

So welcome to the most hallowed holiday for lawyers. Have fun but it is strictly BYOC, bring your own counsel.

Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”

137 thoughts on ““Something Wicked This Way Comes.”: Halloween is Starting With a Litigious Flare”

  1. Charles Cooke is on fire. Genius.

    👏🏽🔥

    Charles C. W. Cooke
    @charlescwcooke

    I’ve watched the video three times this morning—once slowed down to half-speed—and I’m beginning to hear an umlaut.

    It’s “suppörters,” not “supporters.” And “gärbage,” not “garbage.” The “e” in “gärbage” may even have a grave accent on it—“gärbagè”—but it’s hard to tell because of the stutter.

    https://x.com/charlescwcooke/status/1851599624924021202

    1. Can someone explain whatever the —- this is and its relevance, nay, coherence in an indecipherably nebulous context?

      Is this the very raison d’être of the Gunning Fog Index, or “Fog Factor?”

      Admittedly, it is possible that anyone who is “on fire” should perceive or conjure a stutter, but wouldn’t its presentation be intuitive and apropos?

  2. Jonathan: Yes, Halloween is full of tricks and treats. DJT tried to pull off a lot of “tricks” after the 2020 election that are now coming to light after the unsealing of Jack Smith’s indictment and the accompanying thousands of pages of supporting evidence in the Appendix. Legal scholars are now pouring over those docs and have come up with one piece of evidence that has not been covered by the mainstream press. This involves a burner phone , routed through Egypt, that DJT used to try to overturn the 2020 election results in Michigan.

    One of Jack Smith’s allegations is that DJT used a burner phone on Nov. 18, 2020, two weeks after the election, to call the then Michigan GOP Senate majority leader, Mike Shurkey, to get him to change the election results. In a deposition contained in Smith’s Appendix Shurkey says he was told by Lee Chatfield, the then GOP speaker of the Michigan Senate, that Shurkey would be receiving a call on 11/18 from DJT and that the call would appear on his speaker phone as coming from “Spam risk Egypt”–the code that DJT was calling. In his deposition Shurkey indicated DJT wanted the Republicans in the Michigan Senate to change the elections results to show DJT had won–despite the popular vote showing Biden had won the state. Sharkey took the call from DJT but refused to change the election results–as did Lee Chatfield. So now we know that DJT not only tried to personally change the election results in Georgia but also Michigan.

    One of the jobs of Judge Chutkan is to go through each of Jack Smith’s allegations and supporting evidence to determine whether any of DJT’s acts fall within the SC’s “immunity” decision. Chutkan has to determine whether the infamous 11/18/20 call fell under any of president’s core Constitutional responsibilities, whether the call could be deemed an “official act” or whether the call was entirely private and not entitled to immunity.

    First, all legal scholars agree that under the Constitution the running of both state and federal elections are controlled by the states. The President has no role in how elections are conducted. DJT’s lawyers will argue their client was calling only to insure the “integrity” of the election. But that is not a core responsibility of the president and not what DJT was up to. Second, could the 11/18 call from DJT be arguably construed as an “official act” that deserves presumptive immunity? If it was an “official act” why did DJT use a burner phone routed through Egypt? Why didn’t he place the call through the “official” WH switchboard?

    The evidence is pretty damning. Candidate DJT used the burner phone to try to hide his illegal attempt to change the election results in Michigan because an “official” call would shown up on WH phone logs. It also shows DJT mens rea, his state of mind and intent to violate election laws.

    None of this evidence will matter if DJT wins the election. Out of his bag of Halloween tricks DJT will pull out a new AG who will shut down Jack Smith’s case and prevent the public from seeing all the evidence at a trial. This is the only reason DJT desperately wants to get back into the WH. This and his desire to persecute and prosecute all his political enemies–what he calls the “enemy within”. Another reason DJT should never see the inside of the WH ever again!

      2. Media Bias Fact Check describes “Just the News” as follows:

        “Overall, we rate Just the News Questionable and Right Biased based on story selection that mostly favors a conservative perspective. We also rate them Mixed for factual reporting due to numerous failed fact checks and the promotion of conspiracy theories and right-wing propaganda.”

        So, Upstate Farmer, reasonable people don’t believe the slop you publish that comes from “Just the News”.

        1. Gigi, a mixed review from the faux left wing fact checkers is a glowing review.

          I would note that John Solomon has been the first on every major Trump story.
          He was first to call the collusion delusion hoax.
          He was the first with the Dirt on the Biden crime syndicate in Ukraine.

          Reasonable people do beleive John Solomon – because he is a real journalist, and does not print things that are not verified.

          I will bet your “fact checker” was on the wrong side of the collusion delusion, and the Biden crime syndicate.

          Who is more credible ? Those who are constantly wrong ? Or those who are constantly right ?

        2. Natasha, quoting a leftist so called fact checker that is not credible, trustworthy is unreasonable. And that does not dispel the fact the Harris campaign did in fact attempt to manipulate Reddit’s algorithm in violation of platform rules to make them look more popular. Just The News is more credible and fact driven then any of the MSM crap you quote, like anything by Rachel Maddow.

    4. As Liz Cheney Slams Donald Trump’s Character, Her Integrity Comes Under Fire
      “But new evidence has emerged suggesting that Cheney may have unethically influenced crucial anti-Trump testimony while serving as vice chairman of the January 6 Committee that investigated the protest at the U.S. Capitol in 2021.”
      https://realclearwire.com/articles/2024/10/29/as_liz_cheney_slams_trumps_character_her_integrity_comes_under_fire_1068213.html

      1. You know the world is coming to an end when a Cheney enjoys BFF status with DNC leaders, that or it is time to up the dose of xanax 😜

    5. Ford continues posting huge losses on its electric lines, while automakers reverse course on EVs
      “The Biden-Harris administration received more bad news this week regarding its goal of getting most drivers in the U.S. to switch to electric vehicles. Ford Motor Company on Monday posted a loss of $1.224 billion on its electric vehicle lines. That brings the company’s loss on EVs in the first nine months of this year to $3.7 billion.”
      https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/energy/ford-continues-posting-huge-losses-its-electric-lines-while-automakers

    6. Trump’s Truth Social now worth more than social media company X
      “Trump Media & Technology Group is now valued at over $10 billion, according to the Associated Press, which is more than quadruple what it was worth last month. X is worth an estimated $9.4 billion”
      https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/all-things-trump/trumps-truth-social-becomes-worth-more-social-media-company-x?utm_source=referral&utm_medium=offthepress&utm_campaign=home

      1. UpstateFarmer – X is not a publicly traded company – anyone valuing it is just guessing.

        I am glad that Trump and Truth are doing well,
        But I do not think there is a world in which X is not worth many times more than Truth.

        X had 260M daily users when Musk bought it. Depending on who you beleive X has between 250M and 600M daily users now.

        Truth may have 5M daily users.

    7. Dennis – you STILL do not grasp that
      an ALLEGATION is not a FACT.
      A true allegation is not a crime merely because you do not like it.

      The constitution specifies that State legislatures are entirely responsible for elections in their states.
      In the past state electors were selected by the state legislators.
      The decision to select them by vote of the citzenry was a decision made by state legislatures.

      You keep claiming that Trump wanted to “overturn” elections – there is no crime of “overturning an election”.
      There is a crime of election fraud.

      It is however perfectly constitution – and even legal for a state legislature to determine that the election in their state was fraudulent and to override the Executive and to send their own slate of electors to congress.

      At its core THAT is what you and Smith and the left are fighting about.

      The huge problem you have is that it is both legal and constitutional.

      Trump can call state representatives to discuss election fraud and what to do about it.

      I would note that he can do so OFFICALLY as president.

      While I find this bizare egyption burner phone story completely absurd,
      There is absolutely no reason to buy an egyption burner phone when there are trivial ways to have an untraceable conversation if that is what you want.

      The nonsense from the left constantly presumes that Trump is a moron.
      And would behave stupid committing crimes that would near certainly get caught, when perfectly legal and cheaper alternatives were readily available.

      Left wing nuts beleived for years – many still do that Trump engaged in incredible tradecraft that none of the media or even NSA has been able to find, to collude with Russia, to get really stupid adds placed on facebook that were split evenly between trump, Sanders and clinton, and that mostly did not run until after the election.

      In the lefts view Trump would rather expend enormous effort to commit a crime that he would with near certaintly get caught for nothing of value when he could just send a couple of million to Cambridge Analytics for a far far far more effective job.

      Trump AS PRESIDENT, can call legislative leaders in any state and discuss election fraud and make recomendations regarding how that state should deal with that fraud.
      He can do that – whether you beleive there was fraud or not.
      He can do that even if there is zero doubt at all that there was any fraud.
      He can discuss any option that is not blatantly unconstitutional.
      And having the legislature appoint an alternate slate of electors is not only constituional,
      But it is the way courts long ago decided that state legislators can challenge elections.

      None other than Lawrence Tribe proposed this as a constitutional means for Hillary to challenge the 2016 election.

      Personally I think this Egyptian burner phone story is absurdly stupid.

      Even the mob is not going to do something this idiotic. The NSA monitors international communications – especially from places like Egypt.

      I know you do not grasp that – but Trump is NOT this stupid.

      Trump can call a state legislator from the oval office perfectly legally and discuss all the things you beleive he can not discuss.

      He can FaceBook message them, or Zoom them, or use signal or whatsapp, he can purchase a pair of encrypted phones – they are readily available and perfectly legal – it is corporate malpractice for any publicly traded company board members of CEO’s to discuss sensitive business information on insecure communcations – the SEC will come after you for enabling insider trading if you don’t.
      Or Trump can get a pay as you go phone anywhere in DC or NYC or Florida and calls from those will attract less attention,
      Though the best approach when acting legally and constitutionally is to do so OPENLY.

      I would note that Trump’s claims of election fraud were made OPENLY.
      Trumps efforts to challenge the election were made OPENLY.
      His efforts to get state legislators to appoint alternate electors were done OPENLY.

      So exactly what is it that you think Trump needed an egyption burner phone for, when Trump is littlerally talking to state legislators about alternate electors right out in the open through the media.
      Not only that but the efforts to select alternate electors were all down OUT IN THE OPEN.

      So precisely why does anyone do something as stupid as you and Smith are claiming to say secretly EXACTLY the same thing as Trump was saying publicly ?

      I would further note that Trump was the president of the united states.
      As we learned regarding Obama – he has if he wants is a secure communications smart phone that even the NSA can not monitor, And even if they could, he is president, he can ORDER the NSA or FBI or …. to NOT monitor any communications he wishes.

    8. “First, all legal scholars agree that under the Constitution the running of both state and federal elections are controlled by the states. The President has no role in how elections are conducted.”

      And those legal scholars would be OBVIOUSLY wrong.

      The very fact that Smith is prosecuting Trump PROVES otherwise.

      Smith is part of DOJ, DOJ is part of the executive. All executive power isPRESIDENTIAL power constitutionally.

      Smith is prosecuting trump for crimes that YOU are claiming are related to the election.

      Q.E.D. Presidents have a law enforcement role in federal elections.

      END OF STORY.

      If Trump is barred from acting with respect to federal elections – then so is Smith.

      1. “ Dennis – you STILL do not grasp that
        an ALLEGATION is not a FACT.”

        So all the allegations of voter fraud and election fraud from republicans were never fact according to you. Because all they have been able to offer as “proof” is allegations. That’s why 60 court cases were tossed back in 2020-21 because their ‘evidence’ of voter fraud were mere allegations.

        1. George – your comment makes no sense and has nothing to do with what I wrote.

          There are many allegations of election fraud from 2020. A few have been proven FALSE.
          Some have been proven true. Most have never been seriously investigated.

          And Jack Smith is trying to prosecute the person who was president of the United States at the time for demanding that those allegations be investigated.

          As I pointed out to Dennis – which you are too dense to grasp – If the president has no role in investigating election fraud – then DOJ does not, and SC Smith does not.

          Article II
          All executive power of the United States vests in the president.

          As to your rants about the courts – there is not a single court case dismissed on the merits.
          Courts are not free to dismiss cases just because they are allegations. Just as they are not free to convict based on just allegations.
          As I said about – there was very little investigation of most of these allegations.
          There were no subpeona’s, no discovery, no witnesses called and cross examined.

          There certainly was not an SC who spent 4 years trying to find dirt and so far has come up with “Trump was acting within his capacity as president”

          If as you claim – SC Smith is free to prosecute Trump for investigating Election fraud.
          President Trump will be free to prosecute SC Smith for investigation Election fraud.

          Turn about is fair play.

          But logic isn’t your forte.

      2. * I hope the taxpayers are spared the postage on all those mail-in ballots next time. Let’s just morph once again into Drop-in-box ballots. Less traceability that way and who the H knows when they were dropped. Some time before and after election DAY.

        best wishes

    9. Jonathan: Yes, Halloween is full of tricks and treats. DJT tried to pull off a lot of “tricks” after the 2020 election that are now coming to…

      Wouldn’t the time Dennis McIntyre spends dropping his deuce posts get a better reception and more support over on blogs run by Rachael Maddow, Whoopy Goldberg, etc instead? What personal gratification or reward does Dennis get from being immediately ridiculed, laughed at mocked, treated with derision, and called a pathological serial liar each and every day?

      Should we be open to considering that Dennis McIntyre is not a pathetic liar and political apparatchik? But instead, a person that isn’t motivated by ill will and a complete lack of morality – but instead Dennis is a person whose posts are motivated by extremely severe mental illness that is uncontrolled.

      Should we feel sympathy for Dennis as somebody unable to function normally due to mental illness, instead of derision and contempt?

    10. Dennis: thanks. I see another equally-important reason for DJT to pull every trick and tell every lie in the book–that massive ego of his–he cannot stand being branded “loser”. Not only that, he HAS to have that power, that glory, the Marine band playing “Hail to the Chief” to honor a person who views them as “suckers and losers”. And, as you pointed out, he wants that POWER to go after people who dare to stand up to him. But, he is very desperate, so he’s already trying to sow seeds of doubt. It appears that several duplicate voter registration forms were discovered in Lancaster Co, PA, so Trump, the liar, said “WE” found proof that multiple people voted more than one–that’s a LIE. First of all, the duplication was discovered by voter registration officials–not Trump. Secondly, there’s no proof that anyone who registered multiple times actually voted at all–much less more than once.

      This discovery is encouraging–the system is WORKING to weed out fraud! Then, there’s the fake video of ballots for Trump being torn up but those for Harris being counted–that was debunked as a fake. Then, there were incendiary devices placed in drop boxes in Oregon and Washington. What Trump is doing is trying to set the stage for a second coup attempt and to keep his disciples distrusting our voting system.

      1. Gigi, Trump does not like being called a loser – neither do you, or Dennis, Biden seems to be actively sabotaging Harris.
        In a few days we get to see who the next loser really is.

        Politicians pull dirty tricks and lies. Though I am hard pressed to think of any Trump dirty Trucks.
        No Collusion Dellusion Hoax. No claims that Hunters Laptop was Russian Disinformation from Trump.
        No prosecuting political enemies baselessly.

        All of the political dirty tricks – frankly throughout my lifetime have come from the left.

        As to Lies – Trump exagerates – we all know that – as Politicians go most of his exagerations are tame.

        But once again – the kings and queens of lies are on the left.

        I would note that ALL your idiot claims about things Trump has said – “like suckers and losers” have been debunked.

        But the name calling by Harris and Biden and the left are on video.

        Trump drove up to his last rally in a Garbage Truck.

        I am actually shocked at the past 4 years. Democrats have always been stupid. They have nearly always been wrong on policy and the constitution. but for my entire life they have been far better than Republicans at messaging.

        Yet Trump has made you all loose your head.

        “he wants that POWER to go after people who dare to stand up to him.”
        Yet he left Hillary alone – even though she is STILL claiming the 2016 election was stolen from her – and so are you.

        I though that beleiving elections were stolen was a crime ? Are you going to lock yourself up ?

        “But, he is very desperate, so he’s already trying to sow seeds of doubt.”
        Are you paying attention – trump is having fun. He is happy. He is having a grand time.
        But the joy is gone from Harris’s campaign – everything is going to schiff.

        “It appears that several duplicate voter registration forms were discovered in Lancaster Co, PA, so Trump, the liar, said “WE” found proof that multiple people voted more than one–that’s a LIE. First of all, the duplication was discovered by voter registration officials–not Trump. Secondly, there’s no proof that anyone who registered multiple times actually voted at all–much less more than once.”
        You are blurring many cases together – There are approximately 2500 invalid voter registrations in Lancaster, PA – they appear to mostly be coming from the same out of state source. If the allegations are true – that is election fraud. But yes, it was caught before any of it turned into fraudulent ballots. ‘

        But there have been fraudulent mailin ballots elsewhere. Ballots cast by people who did not ask for a mailin ballot.
        Most of these were caught – but a handful DID get counted, and there is nothing that ca be done about it.

        13,500 people in Maricopa county voted 48,000 times in 2020 – it is also likely that most of those fraudulent ballots when not individuals trying to vote multiple times, but large scale fraud submitting fraudulent ballots for voters that were not expected to vote.
        If 13,500 people who were not expected to vote actually did, How many fraudulent ballots in AZ were cast for people who were not expected to vote and did not ?

        I would note these stories are coming up – because there is a more serious effort by Republicans to prevent Voter Fraud BEFORE the election.

        There were some efforts in 2020 – but mostly it was NOT taken seriously, before the election – and after it was too late.
        Now we KNOW how the fraud was committed.

        Republicans are looking for it. Unfortunately in many states courts, DA’s AG’s are ruling against them.
        But in others they are not.

        There will be fraud in this election – there is always election fraud.
        There will be significantly more fraud than there should be
        But it is highly unlikely that there will be as much fraud as 2020.

        Everyone is watching.
        Further a supermajority of people beleive there WILL be fraud in this election.

        Finally Trump is on track to win the popular vote.
        If he does so, the courts will take allegations of election fraud by him more seriously.

        But I do not think we will see that.
        Harris is loosing, and by more than the margin that Fraud can fix.

        “This discovery is encouraging–the system is WORKING to weed out fraud! ”
        Gigi, Lancaster County is about as deep red as you can get.
        What is surprising is that anyone even tried to get away with election fraud in Lancaster.
        Only a moron would try in Lancaster.

        “Then, there’s the fake video of ballots for Trump being torn up but those for Harris being counted–that was debunked as a fake.”
        There is lots of fake video – like the Fake of Harris in a McD’s uniform.

        There is also lots of True stories of serious election issues.

        Overall I expect this election to have about half the fraud of 2020.
        Not everywhere, but in many places people are watching.

        “Then, there were incendiary devices placed in drop boxes in Oregon and Washington.”
        yes, in or near Portland – you know where ANTIFA rules.

        You really think Trump supporters are committing Arson ?
        All the Arson in 2020 was by the left.
        The BLM riots had massive arson.
        The Riots near the WH burned down St. James.
        The Riots in Portland lit the federal courthouse several times.
        I can go on and on about arson in 2020 – ALL FROM THE LEFT.

        There was not a single fire, molotov cocktail, firearm in the capital on J6.

        Arson is a left wing thing.

        People do not trust our elections – for good reason. Even Russia is doing better than we are.

        I am praying that this election is not as close as the polls say – and I do not think that it is.
        I am praying that it is clear who won on election night – and I think that it will be.

        Because a razor thing election decided days after election day will not be trusted.

        Nor should it be.

  3. It’s often like a haunted house here in the comment section.
    Gigi popping up around the next corner, moaning in her scary voice,
    “Trummmp! Trummmmmmp! He’s a Monster! BEWARE!!!”

  5. OT: The Ordeal and Triumph of Mr. Netanyahu 

    How a great man stuck in darkness succeeds in bringing Israel from the October 7th attack into a new world where Israel prevails despite the horrific barriers erected by Biden while the Biden administration protected terrorists and forced Israel to play easy on Iran despite Iran’s nuclear aims that place the entire world in jeopardy.

    https://victorhanson.com/the-ordeal-and-triumph-of-mr-netanyahu/

    2. You think Netanyahu, the man that wanted to consolidate his power by limiting the powers of Israel’s judiciary, is a “great man”? Without a constitution, the Israeli state’s only check on its power is the Supreme Court.

      Your love for authoritarians like Netanyahu makes sense, given your love for Trump.

      1. Without a constitution, the Israeli state’s only check on its power is the Supreme Court. Your love for authoritarians like Netanyahu makes sense, given your love for Trump.

        Is that you day drinking and Anonymous posting, Associate Justice Birthing Person Ketanji Brown Jackson?

        You must have graphic fantasies of our SCOTUS having the power of your counterparts on the Israeli Supreme Court – the power for radical judges to rule like a Court of Star Chamber from the bench.

        And better yet, to handpick the judges who will succeed them when they leave the court.

        And how DARE Israelis want to put an end to such magnificent authoritarian power exercised by such wise judges!

        Imagine how great it would be to have an endless succession of self-identifying Genius Latina Racist Women who can endlessly proclaim their opinions and decisions are always better than any from a judge whose disqualifying characteristics are that they are (a) white, and (b) male.

        Serving right beside an endless succession of equally brown and equally none male judges like yourself, Justice Brown Jackson. Wise none male justices who testify under oath that they can’t define what a woman is. Even after having given birth and after a quick peek down into their panties to see if there’s a gaping yawn looking back at them.

      2. As usual, you enter the room making rash comments based on ignorance rather than knowledge. You can look up the problems with the Israeli Supreme Court, so I will just ask a question.

        Which is authoritarian: the Supreme Court or the Premier?

        The Knesset elects the Premier, but the people elect the members of the Knesset. Therefore, the Premier reflects the people’s voice.

        The Supreme Court consists of a few unelected people who can choose who the seat is passed down to.

        Therefore, the Premier is elected democratically, and the Supreme Court is autocratic. One can also say you don’t know what you are discussing.

        I suggest a Supreme Court that deals only with legal issues, not policy or military issues. The Supreme Court should also be more representative of the nation than the few.

        The power of the Premier is severely limited because he represents a plurality rather than a majority.

        Next time you appear, come back with knowledge, not stupidity.

  6. Solainne Mancero-Tannis of Jamaica, Queens, says she was at the house with her family when she went down “Satan’s Slope.” The slide in a pitch-black space allegedly hurled her into a concrete wall at the bottom, shattering her ankles.

    By the look of her photo post-injury, it would be reasonable to conclude that her ankles were already subjected to “Satan’s Slope”: gluttony, slothfulness, pride

    “A Haunting in Hollis” looks like your typical house of horrors. OTOH, so do major cities in America run by Democrats, eg. Richmond, Norfolk, Washington DC, Baltimore and, yes, Puerto Rico aka “La Isla Del Espanto” (the island of horror) as locals on the island called it when I lived there

  7. The scariest thing for me this Halloween is the complicit nature of MEDIA in America, providing cover for Biden’s comment that Trump supporters were “garbage.”
    Just search-engine “Biden calls Trump supporters “garbage.” Listen to or watch the video and make up your own mind. —

    But MEDIA is helping you digest this by softening/smoothing over what is a blatant and unequivocal Biden quote:

    NPR: “It SOUNDED like he was calling….”
    NYT: “Biden APPEARS to insult Trump supporters”
    Scripps News: “He SEEMINGLY insulted,…referring to a comedian..but it didn’t come out that way..”
    ABC: “Biden SUGGESTS Trump supporters are “garbage” following comic’s insult”
    But The best of all was Politico’s Jonathan Lemire, who made Biden’s comment more palatable this way:
    “Biden, in a Zoom call with the organization Vote Latino, said ‘the only garbage’ was the ‘hatred’ of Trump supporters who said such things about American citizens,’ Lemire wrote.”
    Importantly, NONE of the above showed the actual video of Biden saying these words.

    Can you even imagine If Trump had called Harris’ supporters “garbage,” ???
    A video/television coverage of Trump saying it would be all over the news, indeed, PRIME TIME NEWS, over and over, from now until election day.

    I posted about this last night.
    Thanks for considering this.

    2. Lin,
      Well said.
      Watching the Democrats go into their wild and crazy panic as Harris campaign is failing and Trump is winning brings a smile to my face.

    3. This is completely false. Axios covered it in full. Axios provided the reason for the lack of definitiveness from other sites (the “sounded like” hedging, etc.).

      The transcript to the video shows as follows: “The White House argued that Biden was only referring to the comedian in his comments and sent a transcript in which Biden says: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter’s.”

      One could absolutely take that to mean that – only supporters of the comedian are garbage. The video verifies that these are the words used verbatim. The subsequent words referring to “him” clarify that “he” is the comedian, not Trump. “…his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.”

      https://www.axios.com/2024/10/30/biden-garbage-trump-supporters-puerto-rico

      1. you should read your own link, clown.

        “The White House argued that Biden was only referring to the comedian in his comments and sent a transcript in which Biden says: ‘The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter’s.'”
        “Asked if they had spoken to the president to ask him what he meant before sending the transcript, the Biden spokesperson requested to go off the record. Axios declined and the White House did not respond further.”
        ” After this story was published, the spokesperson told Axios that staff did speak to Biden about what he meant to say to inform the transcript. Axios asked for more details and the White House declined.”

  8. The left is again trying to steal the election:

    “A supporter of President Trump’s was arrested today for encouraging people to stay in the early voting line and cast their ballots freely in Pennsylvania,” Whatley wrote on X. “This follows reports from across the commonwealth that voters are being turned away in conservative areas. This is voter suppression from the left. Do not let them turn you away. GO VOTE!”
    —
    Election officials in California have been registering ‘self-confessed’ noncitizens to vote:
    —

    1. OT: SCOTUS has granted an emergency stay allowing Virginia to keep self-identified non-citizens off the voter roles until the case is finally resolved, which will be after the election. The vote was 6-3, and no explanations of either position were published.

      Given how the Virginia statute operates, this was a common sense result, but I am skeptical about how the standards for an emergency stay were met. This appears to have been a systematic program conducted within the 90-day quiet period. It’s possible that the Court reacted to the selective enforcement aspect of this, because, according to Youngkin, Virginia had applied this law in the past during the quiet period without objection from DoJ.

      Maybe this is a sign that the Court will take a more active role this time in policing the politically motivated actions of the DOJ or election officials.

      1. Thanks for letting me know.

        I don’t know the law well enough but should any judge let criminal behavior be overlooked because of this type of circumstance?

        The left is criminal.

  9. Saw a Halloween decoration in someones front yard, read in big letters, “Bidenflation!” Then underneath it in smaller wording, “I could not think of anything scarier!”

  10. My costume is to dress up in a pin stripe as a family law attorney carrying a couple of baby dolls and a package with DNA results written on it. Scares the hell out of the guys!

    1. Traveler: True story. Several years ago, I threw a Halloween nighttime road rally/scavenger hunt.
      One “trick” required people to drive outside town a few miles, to a bridge over an old creek with a rope hanging over the edge into the water below. The question they had to answer was, “What did Billie Joe McAllister throw off the Tallahatchee Bridge?”
      At the end of the 20-foot rope down in the water was a pregnancy test from the local Dollar Store.
      Ha ha, we all still laugh about that ten years later.

    2. * I’ll be right behind you dressed as Dr. Ob Gyn rolling a wheelbarrow of beheaded dolls smeared with ketchup and on my back a sign—> Abortions R US.

      something scary

  11. * Loss of personal responsibility for choosing clown shoes. Everything must be, shall be foolproof when fools abound.

    Ordinary moms and pops dress up kiddies and the little ones, knock on the doors of personal friends and family only.

    One Halloween in my naivete I put out a large bowl of candies and a sign saying–take one. The third trickster took all including the bowl.

    Condolences to the person with broken ankles.

    1. * PS: The take one sign was that moral –> take your share and leave the remainder for others. 😔
      Oh! They were with adults! I forgot that part of the story.

      Condolences to the person with 4 broken vertebrae now injured for a lifetime.

    2. Yes, there was a time when the treats could consist of fresh apples, or loose candies, without parents sifting through bags out of worry about razor blades or poison. Alas, those times are gone, taking our society with them, and I doubt that either will ever return 🙁

    1. “OT: Kamala and Halloween have a lot in common.”

      Not OT at all. After all, Harris has been costumed and masked to appear to be capable of assuming the Presidency…

  13. “They put up a sign reading “She Came in Like A Wreckin’ Ball” next to a skeleton riding a wrecking ball.”

    I saw that sign on a neighbor’s lawn.

    The “she,” though, read “Kamala Harris.” The skeleton looked like Karl Marx.

  14. If I were a teenager, my costume would be a pushing a wheelbarrow full of dollars dressed in ragged clothes.

    1. * I’d be a drug dealer passing out handfuls of sweet tarts or maybe a Dr. Ob Gyn and abortions are us carrying a beheaded doll.

      Something scary…

  15. The trick will come after Inauguration Day, when the Deep State finally pulls the plug on a badly-mismanaged Biden economy. Wall Street has become a Democrat head fake, but there’s so much garbage in the pipe–regardless of who is elected–the economy has to face a reckoning.

    I know I’m going out on a limb on this, but inverted yield curves this long and deep don’t lie.

    If Trump wins, they’ll blame it on Trump. That’s the new “insurance policy.”

    If Harris wins, they’ll do what California did for years: blame it on “Republican obstructionism.” They’ll setup multiple votes with poison pills to make it look like the GOP doesn’t want to help the distressed. Halloween will never end. American taxpayers and savers will have egg all over their houses, as will the Constitution.

  17. The scariest thing about Halloween this year is that we are in the 4th year of an administration who has had a president who was marginal intellectually at the start (either by early dementia or just outright stupidity) and has progressed to outright neurological pathology.
    Obviously the staff at the Memory Care Center at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave are doing a lousy job of keeping their patient away from communication devices and others who might actually write down what he says. Either that or they simply no longer care what he says.
    I had heard that Joe Biden was actually a very nasty individual in the past so I am unsure if this is just his real personality with the mask removed or if the dementia has truly and rapidly progressed to where his anger and ego simply can no longer tolerate the prison he put himself in and the neurological process has simply removed all constraints.
    He already is lead around, does not remember people, waves in the air, and weaves over and around the stage and appears on the verge of collapse.
    Of course the other possibility is that Susan Rice has tired of her marionette job and has laid down the strings and lets the puppet just jump around on its own.
    Or It’s almost like a chicken whose neck is broken but still jumps around the yard until the rest of the body gets the news.

    1. Come on GEB, give the bimb* some credit. Just because Willy passed her around, doesn’t mean she was intellectually disadvantaged. She was a real crowd pleaser in her heyday.

      1. * total misogyny . I know you don’t see it.

        I’d like to call attention to that male hoe, Brown ,using underlings.

      2. * There’s always Fani Willis paying her underling hoe, Nathan Wade, with public money. Willy Brown and Fani Willis are just pimpin’ for the cause, huh? Let’s not bring up that hoe Bill Clinton and the starry-eyed underling , Monica. Ruined her life.

  18. We’ve always had fun sending a willing teenage boy up to the house of some bachelor we know who ‘likes the ladies” wearing a sign around his neck saying “Hi Dad!” A Halloween treat to behold and a different sort of “trick” for the man!

  19. The White House is haunted by a scary ghost who threatens to drown his many enemies. Assisting him is a witch who talks in riddles and cackles at her own pointless remarks.

    1. Yeah, you’re right. The Founding Fathers had a strange sense of humor.

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