Police officers are often most at risk in approaching cars along highways and a new case shows just how dangerous that task can be. Two officers were injured when Kelvina Freeman, 23, threw her car into reverse and fled a traffic stop. She was later captured and now, rather than facing a speeding ticket, Freeman is facing serious jail time for multiple felonies.
Category: Bizarre
A prominent lawyer Melbourne barrister, Ross Ray QC, was killed recently in an accident that was both ironic and tragic in its facts. Ray was the lead litigator fighting a requirement of safety rollbars on “quad bike” or off-road vehicles. He was killed on his farm in Mansfield when his quad bike rolled over and pinned him due to the lack of a rollbar.
There is a development in the case of Officer David Rodriguez who was shown in the now viral video below pulling his gun on a citizen who was videotaping him. He was placed on paid administrative leave by the department in Rohnert Park (50 miles from San Francisco) but he was later restored to his position after a finding that he did not act improperly. Millions have watched the videotape and clearly disagree. Rohnert Park resident Don McComas is now suing the officer and the city of Rohnert Park for unspecified damages over the July 29 incident.
Continue reading “California Man Sues Police Department Over Confrontation In Viral Video”
There is a human rights complaint in Ottawa, Canada after Jenna Vecchio was asked by a female employee of Movati Athletic club not to wear a tank top as too revealing. Vecchio has gone public with pictures to say that she was humiliated by all of the attention in the club over her wearing the tank top . . . which she has posted.
Daniel in the Lion’s Den by Peter Paul Rubens is a painting that has inspired millions in capturing the moment of faith dedicated in the Bible. The same cannot be said about the scene this week in Santiago, Chile where a man stripped naked and jumped into the lion enclosure at the zoo in what is believed to be a bizarre suicide attempt. In order to save the man, the zoo was forced to shoot and kill the two lions. (Warning: disturbing video shot from YouTube below.)
Continue reading “Man Strips Naked and Jumps Into Lion Cage . . . Zoo Kills Two Lions To Rescue Him”
United States District Judge Andrew Hanen issued a remarkable opinion yesterday that found that Justice Department lawyers not only lied to him and opposing counsel but “it is hard to imagine a more serious, more calculated plan of unethical conduct.” What is even more remarkable however is that, after finding such calculated and unethical conduct, Hanen ordered the lawyers to simply take ethics classes rather than refer them to the bar for suspension or disbarment. Many attorneys object that government lawyers routinely escape serious punishment for false or misleading statements. In this case, the judge found that the Justice Department misled him and opposing counsel in a case by Texas and 25 other states that sought to block President Barack Obama’s controversial immigration programs. Hansen blocked the program. Notably, the Justice Department is even opposing ethical classes as a sanction.
It is not every recent law grad who can claim that he appeared before the state supreme court soon after graduation. Unfortunately, this is one appearance that University of Wisconsin law graduate Joshua Jarrett is unlikely to add to his resume. In a close vote, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that Jarrett could be admitted to the bar so long as he is supervised for two years. Bar officials sought to block Jarrett after concluding that he had misrepresented his grades and credentials in a job application.
There is a bizarre story out of Barcelona where people are engaging in activity called “sex roulette” where people have unprotected sex knowing that one of the group is HIV positive. For some reason, this adds an element of danger for such people in not knowing if they will contract a lethal virus. Putting aside the deeply disturbing psychological element, there could be some interesting legal elements for anyone who wants to sue. Presumably, this is the ultimate case of an assumption of the risk and plaintiff’s conduct as a defense. However, the party organizers could also be viewed as creating a type of ultrahazardous or abnormally dangerous activity. While defenses could still apply, the question would be law suited from family members or third parties.
Continue reading “Health Officials Raise Alarm Over “Sex Roulette””
We have been discussing the roll back on free speech rights in Germany and the recent controversy over Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to first apologize to authoritarian Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for a satirical poem and then approve the prosecution of the comedian is a shocking and chilling disgrace. The crackdown on comedian Jan Boehmermann has shocked many the West. Despite the global condemnations of Merkel and her government in its yielding to Erdogan, there is at least one German judge who shows the same Merkelian disregard for free speech. A court in Hamburg banned Boehmermann from publicly reading his poem. Indeed, the court ruled that only six lines of the 24-line poem could be recited. It is an absurd case of prior restraint and a chilling example of how free speech is under attack in the West.
Louisiana State Rep. Kenneth Havard is under fire this week for a measure that would have required strippers in Louisiana to be no older than 28 and weigh no more than 160 pounds. The amendment was . . . well . . . stripped from the bill after objections.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards has denounced Kim Kardashian as being a Western agent. Of course, crazed fatwas and threats coming from the Islamic Republic is hardly news. However, in this case, a country is suggesting that Kim Kardashian has a job other than just being a Kardashian. The Kardashians are rightfully viewed as the death of American culture as a group of people without a single discernible talent. The Kardashians literally made being a celebrity as basis for celebrity status — without the need of actually being successful as a dancer, singer, or some other actual skill. The fact that the Iranians view Kim Kardashian as actively engaged in some substantive effort other than being Kim Kardashian shows how out of touch they really are with reality.
Continue reading “Iran Accuses Kim Kardashian Of Being Secret Western Agent”
Anyone who has been China returns with hair-raising stories of people driving on the sidewalks and trucks careening around with massively overloaded beds. However, even for China, this truck driver had people shocked after he tried to save money in transporting trucks separately and instead stacked them on top of each other.
We have been discussing the meltdown at airports due to the latest gross negligence by the Transportation Security Administration. At O’Hare, passengers are facing three hour delays with thousands missing flights and even having to rent hotel rooms when unable to make it to their gates in time. What is incredible is that Homeland Security Secretary not only denied that there was any crisis in grinding airports to a standstill but also seemed to blame passengers for failing to yield to the pressure to accept the expedited screening program called PreCheck. Many people object to the program as yielding privacy under coercion from TSA: share personal data or face hours of waiting as punishment. TSA admits that it assumed more passengers would yield to the pressure. They did not. It also admits to failing to properly staff security in a ten percent cut of screeners — a colossal blunder of under-estimating travel numbers. Yet, again, no one appears to be accountable for this massive failure that has left thousands stranded and airlines struggling to reschedule flights, including a separate TSA failure that resulted in the loss of thousands of bags.
We previously discussed the suspicious claims made by a gay Texas pastor, Jordan Brown, who accused a Whole Foods store of changing his order for a cake reading “Love Wins” to “Love Wins Fag.” Various people seeing the cake immediately began raising questions over Brown’s claims and a videotape seemed to contradict his account. Whole Foods countersued Brown. Brown has now fessed up that he did alter the cake and made the whole thing up. After he dropped his lawsuit, Whole Foods has decided to drop the countersuit though a strong case could be made for seeking damages in such a hoax.
Mike Webb is running for Virginia’s 8th District but has run into a bit of trouble. First, he ran for the Republican nomination but lost. He then ran as an independent but people noticed something a bit odd on this website. A screenshot showed open tabs to what appears to porn sites on his campaign Facebook site. I checked and it was still on the site after various sites reported the sighting. Whatever “Ivone” and “Layla Rivera” are offering, it is not the usual fare for campaign promises. Update: Webb has responded as discussed below.