Category: Bizarre

Bizarre, Congress, Media, Politics, Uncategorized

Fire Me: U.S. Attorney In Manhattan Reportedly Refuses To Resign [UPDATED]

Bharara,_Preet_HeadshotThe United States Attorney for Manhattan, Preet Bharara, appears to believe that he is working for a different branch of government.  After Attorney General Jeff Sessions asked for the resignations of all U.S. Attorneys, a standard change of political appointees in a new Administration, Bharara reportedly indicated that President Donald Trump would have to fire him.  Just as with the bizarre conduct of Sally Yates as Acting Attorney General, Bharara has shown a curious understanding of this position and his obligations as a federal officer.  If these media reports are true, President Trump should immediately accommodate him and Bharara will have to explain to future employers how he justifies such an unfounded stance. [Update: Bharara has been fired]

I sincerely hope that the reports are not true or that Bharara quickly reconsiders and gets his letter of resignation in today.  This is not the way to close a successful career as U.S. Attorney.  In the end, I am not sure what the basis for refusing a letter of resignation is. Bharara seems a rebel without a cause.

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Bizarre, Criminal law

Hawaiian Airlines Diverts Plane After Passenger Becomes Irate Over Being Charged $12 For A Simple Blanket

Hawaiian_AirlinesThere was a news story this week about a Hawaiian Airlines flight that was diverted to Los Angeles because of an unruly passenger.  Frankly, the most important aspect of the story was not the diversion but the reason:  the airline charges $12 for a passenger to have a simple blanket.  We have been discussing how airlines are stripping away basic human comforts and turning flights into cattle calls.  On top of that, the airlines are charging fees for every possible comfort, including reducing leg space to virtually zero and then charging for small increments of space in coach.  However, a $12 blanket truly represents a new low — particularly on a long flight to Hawaii.

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Academia, Bizarre, Congress, Constitutional Law, Free Speech, Politics

Impeachable Tweets: A Response To Professor Tribe

120406010959-laurence-tribe-headshot-story-bodyTurley-600x287I have great respect for Harvard law professor Lawrence Tribe, who remains one of the iconic figures in constitutional law and someone with whom I have had exchanges for years on legal controversies affecting this country.  While I was not surprised to see that we disagreed on a constitutional issue related to President Donald Trump, I was surprised to see that he took literally a comment that I made as a joke about impeachable tweets on Morning Joe recently.  Tribe ironically responded in a series of tweets to the comment.  The more serious problem is that I considered the suggestions of impeachment over Trump’s criticism of President Obama to be laughable. They clearly are not to Professor Tribe.  It is something of a reversal of roles since both Tribe and I testified during the Clinton impeachment hearings where he suggested a narrower definition of the constitutional standard while I argued that Clinton could be impeached for an act of perjury.

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Bizarre, Courts, Criminal law

Pants on Fire: Lawyer Defending Accused Arsonist Suddenly Has Pants Catch Fire

Claudy CharlesStephen Gutierrez was in the middle of defending Claudy Charles (left), 48, when an odd thing happened: his pants spontaneously caught on fire.  It did not help that his client is accused of intentionally setting his car on fire in South Miami-Dade. Gutierrez was arguing that the car spontaneously combusted when his pants did so.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Politics, Society

Mein Meth: German Arrested After Posting Hitler Toast
Bizarre, International, Media, Politics, Society

The Manchurian Senator? Sen. Whitehouse Suggests Sessions Could Have Been “Message Boy” For Russians

Just a day after Sen. Al Franken publicly accused Attorney General Jeff Sessions of perjury, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) went public on CBS with a theory that appears to have been bothering him:  “You can imagine a set of circumstances in which the Trump campaign gave him talking points [and] he was a message boy for them.”  The purpose, Whitehouse suggested, was for Sessions to convey “Mission accomplished” after meeting with his Russian handlers. It is a curious notion that Sessions was a Manchurian senator but the Russian ambassador still met with him in the presence of staffers on the Hill or in public at the Republican National Convention.  If this is a sequel to the Manchurian Candidate, I may have to pass.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Torts

Vicarious Inebriation? Vodka Company Forced To Recall Vodka That Claimed 40 Percent Alcohol While Delivering 81 Percent

imagesThere is a story out of Canada that could make for a fascinating torts case.  Georgian Bay Vodka has been told to recall a batch of its vodka because the bottle shows  40 per cent alcohol by volume, but the alcohol content is actually 81 per cent.  Obviously that can present an immediate health risk, but what if someone became intoxicated from a couple drinks and caused an accident?  Could this be a case of vicarious liability for inebriation?

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Free Speech, International

Father Of Conservative French Leader Ordered To Pay €5,000 For Offensive Speech

We have previously discussed the shocking rollback of free speech in France in the name of combating hate and intolerant speech.  The latest fine was imposed on Jean-Marie Le Pen, the father of French conservative presidential candidate Marine Le Pen. His crime was calling Roma “smelly.”  It was an offensive and prejudiced comment but the criminal prosecution of such insults demonstrates the slippery slope that France is now on — a slope that inevitably leaves to greater and greater speech control.  This is the ninth time that Le Pen has been prosecuted for the crime of insulting other people or groups.

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Bizarre, Criminal law

S’More Crime In Florida: Brothers Arrested After Destroying Girl Scout Cookie Table and Assaulting Family

web-daniel-kennedy-0120-1488295261Daniel Kennedy, 18, and his 16-year-old brother were arrested this week after allegedly overturning a Girl Scout table and attacking the family over a $20 debt.  The two Florida teens confronted the family outside of a  Palm Coast Wal-Mart over the debt and then demanded payment in cookies.  When the family refused, bedlam ensued (and was captured on surveillance cameras).

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Bizarre, Criminal law, International

Chicago White Sox Admits To Eating Fake Passport While Flying To United States

Chicago White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu admitted on the stand in a Miami courtroom that he ate part of a fake passport while flying to the U.S. to cover up his illegal travel as part of a Cuban ballplayer smuggling operation. Now, I am admittedly a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan and we have no love loss with our White Sox neighbors, but it is pretty amazing that this admission (given under a guarantee of immunity) has not resulted in Abreu being dropped by MLB or the White Sox team. Indeed, at the time of immigration reforms and crackdown, this is a case of someone who knowingly used and then destroyed a fake passport to gain entry into this country.

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Animals, Bizarre, Environment

Groups: The Vikings Stadium Kills Birds

ctyp_stadiumbird3us_bank_stadium_-_west_facadeThe new Vikings stadium has yet to prove a killer for NFL rivals but it is certainly racking up bird kills according to the Audubon Society and other environmental groups. That modern glass exterior appears to be killing an alarming number of birds and groups are complaining that the stadium is continuing to “study” the problem while the dead birds mount. This stadium seems truly star-crossed. We recently discussed how the stadium has been found to be hazardous to hearing.
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Bizarre, Justice, Society

$5,000 Hamburger: One Claims It Was ‘Absolutely Worth It’. No, It Was Not.

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

While I consider myself to be more of libertarian and believe individuals should be able to spend their money as they please, no matter how foolishly, there are times where conspicuous consumption is so insulting and demeaning to those who have little it can only be described as a bit immoral.

I read a review by Robert Frank of CNBC of a restaurant that serves a Five Thousand Dollar Hamburger created by Chef Hubert Keller’s “Fleur” restaurant at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. The articles author claims the burger was “absolutely worth it.”

Obviously, I don’t doubt the quality or the hype–reportedly twenty-eight of these burgers have been reportedly sold so far–congratulations to them for being such a good business model and their windfall but what is the social cost to this level of arrogant consumption given that ordinary people must work to pay for basics.

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