David Harlow, 38, may not be a good option for a second date for a woman who met him through Tinder. After she went to the bathroom at their first face-to-face meeting, Harlow allegedly ran off with her purse.
Category: Bizarre
There has been an abundance of discussion of Kendall Jenner’s “social justice” Pepsi ad that proved a disaster for the company after Black Lives Matter objected that (even though no signs in the commercial referred to BLM) the commercial trivialized BLM. The commercial showed people marching with signs saying things like “Join the conversation” and Jenner giving a police officer a Pepsi. When I saw it, I just thought it was sappy and shallow. It was an effort of another major company to sell its product on a social justice theme. Even if you want your Pepsi with a side of social justice, companies want to be praised as having a conscience without actually saying anything controversial or edgy. To corporate and media officials, Jenner wiping off her make up was a brave and edgy moment. (Apparently a starlet taking off her makeup is a brave and inspiring thing to behold). The commercial however has raised a legal question that returns to a prior subject discussed on this blog: copyright and trademark laws. It appears that not only did BLM hate the commercial, so did the police. The San Francisco Police have threatened a lawsuit stating the image of a badge looks like their official badge, and used without their permission. Once again, I do not know how we allowed Congress to put us in this place where showing a police badge (or in this case a badge resembling a police badge) can get you sued.
Elevators were at the center to two ironic stories this week. The first, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson’s two-day visit to Miami to discuss the challenges for public housing. His most immediate challenge was getting out of the elevator at the Courtside Family Apartments in Overtown. In the meantime in England, Australian tourists Browyn and Graham Cowan went to Court after suing over an elevator mishap with the Tower Bridge. They then missed their court date because . . . you guessed it . . . the court elevator trapped them.
Continue reading “Elevating Irony: Two Elevator Mishaps Prove Poignant Points”
I am (as many on this blog know) an avid dog lover so I cannot resist sharing videotapes of dog exploits. This videotape made my morning to watch as a 10-year-old Great Pyrenees named General decide that he has had enough with hospital food and accommodations. The dog opens a series of doors until he finally just strolls out into the world.
Jon Vincent, 44, turned over a new leaf and the result could be a long stint in jail. In a modern twist to a classic criminal tactic, Vincent is accused to adopting the name of a deceased baby to assume a new identity while on the lam from a prison escape. However, the name Nathan Laskoski came up on an ancestry search of the baby’s aunt. That “leaf” led her — and ultimately the police — to the Pennsylvania man. For her, the company motto of “who will you discover” is a bit more of a surprise than that second cousin twice removed in Pittsburgh.
Ok this was an easy one . . . .
Continue reading “Can You Guess What This Person Was Charged With?”
Many of us have experienced the frustration of waiting to see the parade or fireworks at Disney only to be blocked by the crush of the crowd. There are However, while some may entertain the idea of strangling people blocking you, Tabbatha Mature, 41, is accused of doing just that. Worst yet, the alleged victim was a young girl.
We previously discussed the falling enrollments at the University of Missouri after their Black Lives Matters (BLM) protests. The closure of dormitories has continued with three additional undergrad residence halls being shuttered. There are now seven such closed dormitories on campus.
Continue reading “University of Missouri Closes Four More Dormitories”
We have been discussing the alarming rollback on free speech on United States campuses with the active or passive support of university and college administrators (with the exception of schools like University of Chicago). Students now treat free speech as itself a threat and seek to prevent other students from hearing from speakers with whom they disagree. The latest such example is at Claremont McKenna College where students succeeded in preventing other students from hearing from Heather MacDonald due to her pro-police views.
Continue reading “Claremont McKenna Protesters Disrupt Pro-Police Speaker”
At Walmart, Fresh Express promise an “organic mix” and it delivered more than it advertised. A customer in Florida found a bat inside of its Organic Marketside Spring Mix. It was not this bat but it was reportedly a bat. What is interesting from a torts perspective since two people started to eat the lettuce. That raises a question of negligent infliction of emotional distress.
Continue reading ““Organic Mix”: Walmart Fresh Express Lettuce Found Containing Dead Bat”
The crackdown on free speech and dissent in Russia knows few bounds. Vladimir Putin’s image or name are often treated as virtually sacred as when people were arrested for showing the authoritarian leader in underwear or spitting on his image in protest. Now the Russian Justice ministry has banned this image of Putin as a gay clown as “gay propaganda” promoting homosexuality. Of course, the greater concern may be promoting free speech in a nation rapidly replacing individual rights with a cult of personality.
Continue reading “Russia Bans Picture of Putin As Gay Clown”
The marriage of underaged girls remains a common abuse in Muslim countries. We have continued to follow the plight of girls and women in Islamic countries who face honor killings and child marriages. Some Islamic clerics have maintained that there can be no age limitation on child brides. They often note that Muhammad married Aisha when she was seven and consummated the marriage at nine years old. Indeed, some clerics have endorsed the notion of girls as “religious offerings” and rejected any age limitation The latest outrage over child brides has come with the “wisdom” of Malaysian MP Shabudin Yahaya who insisted that marrying off nine-year-old girls is perfectly acceptable and moral under Islamic law.
CBS may be the “Tiffany Network” but the Tiffany Li network appears far more flush these days. CBS is reporting that Li was given a $35 million bail for her alleged murder of her husband, Keith Green. That is an amount clearly intended to put release beyond the reach of anyone, but Li’s friends have ponied up the full amount. It just might be the largest bail of its kind.
The Trump Administration has proven to be something of a perpetual motion machine churning out novel ethical and constitutional issues from emoluments to nepotism. The latest involves Dan Scavino, the White House social media director, after he went to his personal twitter account to call for the defeat of Michigan Rep. Justin Amash as a “liability” to the GOP. Amash was one of the conservative members of the Freedom Caucus to bar the effort to replace Obamacare. The tweets have raised questions under the Hatch Act as a form of political advocacy from the White House — a position endorsed by Richard Painter, a chief White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush. I am less convinced.
The Washington Post has an interesting story this week about a group of high school reporters who showed what true investigatory journalists are capable of. Connor Balthazor, 17, and his colleagues at the Booster Redux at Pittsburg High School in southeastern Kansas began to dig into the background of their new principal, Amy Robertson. They found discrepancies and Robertson resigned.
Continue reading “Meddling Kids Score Journalistic Coup In Kansas”