Category: Bizarre

Bizarre, Criminal law, Media

Furay Into Criminal Stardom: Texas Teenager’s Mugshot Goes Viral

1045440-6-20151110102533-happiest-mugshot-in-america-is-of-19-year-old-alleged-drug-kingpinWe have previously discussed people who simply do not know how to take a mugshot . . . and some who appear long prepared for their close up. Sarah Elizabeth Furay, 19, is one of the photo-ready alleged felons. Dubbed the “happiest mugshot” by the Houston Chronicle, Furay seems like she has been selected for a free exotic cruise rather than a slew of drug charges in College Station, Texas. Indeed, this smiling individual has been described by media as an alleged “drug kingpin.” I hardly see the basis for that distinction but the police certainly hit a treasure trove of drugs and evidence.

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

Russia Moves To Shoot Down Turkish History: New Legislation Would Make Denial Of Armenian Genocide A Crime

260px-MarcharmeniansThe Russians appear to be moving in the aftermath of Turkey shooting down one of its fighters: it has targeted Turkish history in a new and abusive criminal law. Russian lawmaker Sergei Mironov said that his Just Russia party has proposed a bill that criminalizes the denial that the 1915 killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turkish forces was a “genocide.” I previously wrote about a similar law passed in France as not just a denial of free speech but academic freedom. The law was later struck down. The Russians are moving just weeks after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Switzerland also violation freedom of speech for its criminalization of the denial of the killings of Armenians as genocide.

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Academia, Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Free Speech, Media, Politics, Society

Massachusetts Cheerleader Tweets A Criticism Of Illegal Immigration And School Responds By Banning Her From Her Team

2ECD3FC200000578-3333566-image-m-25_1448461305506We have been discussing the rapid erosion of free speech on our campuses. That trend started a long time ago in our high schools where officials have steadily attacked the exercise of free speech by teenagers. Few however have reached the level of censorship and content-based punishment as Revere High School in Massachusetts. Cheerleader Caley Godino has been banned from her team because she tweeted political comments that her teachers did not like about illegal immigration.

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Bizarre, Criminal law

“Silly Piggies Tricks R For U”: New Jersey Woman Arrested For False Assault Report To Avoid DUI Stop

images-1If the allegations are proven, Hayley Oates, 25, have succeeded in combining virtually every bad trait into one dysfunctional personality. Oates allegedly wanted to drive home drunk but was sober enough to worry about a DUI stop. While most people would opt to take a cab or order coffee, Oates decided to call 911 to report an assault in another location to draw officers away from her route home. She then added stupidity to dishonesty and dipsomania by taunting the police on social media with a message “lmao.. 2 mins later the cop peals out.. silly piggies tricks r for u.” No, dear Oates, tricks are for you . . . it appears that police read social media.

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Academia, Animals, Bizarre, Criminal law, Free Speech, Media, Politics, Society

Former Indian Chief Justice Causes Near Riot At Academic Conference For Noting That 95% of Beef Traders Are Hindi

Screen Shot 2015-11-24 at 7.21.35 PMAs we have discussed, there seems to be a rising level of intolerance in academia and campuses for opposing views. A recent international conference showed this intolerance in the response to former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court Justice Rajinder Sachar in his speech on “Radical Islamism.” In an effort to address stereotypes and intolerance shown Muslims, Sachar noted that 95 per cent of beef traders in India are Hindi. The reaction was an immediate walk out with some academics demanding that Justice Sachar not be allowed to continue and turning off the lights and fans.

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Academia, Bizarre, Free Speech

University of Ottawa Students Pull The Mat On Yoga Classes As “Cultural Appropriation”

Uottawacoa.svgUstrasana_-_Camel_PoseI have been writing a great deal about my concern over the erosion of free speech on our campuses. Part of the problem is that I sometimes have a difficult time even understanding the objection to some forms of speech or association as in the ever-widening range of things deemed “micro aggressions.” The latest such example is out of the University of Ottawa where students have been told that popular yoga classed have been suspending out of concerns that they involve a form of “cultural appropriation.” Jennifer Scharf, who have been leading the free weekly yoga sessions for eight years, is understandably confused but Staff at the Centre for Students with Disabilities believe that “while yoga is a really great idea and accessible and great for students … there are cultural issues of implication involved in the practice.” Just for the record, the two horses on the university seal are not doing the “Lord of the Dance” yoga position.

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Bizarre, Criminal law

Trump Retweets Wildly Inaccurate Figures on The Rate of Blacks Killing Whites

495px-Donald_Trump_by_Gage_SkidmoreThere have been an uptick in stories challenging statements made by presidential candidate Donald Trump such as his account of watching thousands of people cheering the destruction of the Twin Towers in New Jersey. One such factual dispute comes from a retweet on Trump’s account that shows dark-skinned man wearing a bandana, a dark shirt and military-style pants and holding a handgun sideways. The image is accompanied by the rather surprising figures based on an unknown source called “Crime Statistics Bureau – San Francisco” on murders committed by blacks versus whites. It is an example of why retweets can be so dangerous.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Society

The Mark of Cain: Alleged New Orleans Shooter Arrested After Wounding Student Hero

nutulaneshooting_20151123_151819HT_euric_cain_2_jt_151122_v4x3_12x5_1600Police have arrested the man allegedly shown in a despicable and disgusting attack in New Orleans. The man was caught on a surveillance camera dragging a woman down a street Friday morning and then shooting fourth-year medical student Peter Gold, 25, when he tried to help the woman. Gold is a genuine hero and is recovering for a gunshot to the stomach. The man on the videotaped has been identified as Euric Cain, 21. Cain’s signature or mark appears to be a profane gesture for anyone coming across his Facebook site.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law

Court Tosses Lawsuit By Escapee Who Claimed Gov’t Negligently Allowed Him To Break Out

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

Jose Banks
Jose Banks

An inmate who previously escaped from a detention facility in Chicago filed a lawsuit against the government demanding ten million dollars in damages resulting from his escape caper failed to convince the Seventh Circuit of his claim’s merit, but the court at least acknowledged his lawsuit “gets credit for chutzpah.”

The jailbreak occurred in 2012 when plaintiff Jose Banks and a cellmate rappelled down seventeen stories down a high-rise corrections center using a rope constructed of sheets and dental floss. He managed to hail a cab and evade law enforcement for several days before recapture.

Banks claimed among other things that he suffered emotional injury from the trauma of fearing for his life as he dangled from the makeshift rope used in his escape.

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Animals, Bizarre, Environment, Politics, Science

Genetically Modified Salmon Coming To A Store Near You

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

chinook-spawning-phaseIt is a truly blasphemous concept to a pescetarian–genetically modified, farm raised salmon. But, the United States Food and Drug Administration voted Thursday to allow for the marketing, and just as worrisome, the exemption from food labeling as such, of genetically altered fish that reportedly grows twice as fast as natural salmon. It once again shows how consumers cannot rely on politicians and the U.S. Government for informed choices on what we eat.

The producer of the fish, AquaBounty Technologies, received clearance to manufacture their AquAdvantage(R) Salmon after the FDA “determined that they have met the regulatory requirements for approval, including that food from the fish is safe to eat,” according to Bernadette Dunham director of the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine. This culminates in a two decade effort for the company to gain approval to sell the fish to producers.

AquAdvantage is the first genetically modified animal to win approval from the FDA to sell to consumers. It is now up to these consumers to do their homework to determine if food products contain frankenfish, since labeling is not required. In a conference call to reporters, the FDA advised consumers wishing to avoid GMO fish will need to purchase Wild-Caught since the term Farm Raised will encompass natural and altered genome types.

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Academia, Bizarre, Free Speech, Media, Politics, Society

Persona Non Grata: Princeton Agrees To Explore Removing Woodrow Wilson’s Image and Name In Agreement With Protesters

220px-Princeton_shield.svgThomas_Woodrow_Wilson,_Harris_&_Ewing_bw_photo_portrait,_1919Princeton University has agreed to explore the removal of the name and images of former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson from buildings and school programs under a deal signed with protesters who objected to Wilson’s support of segregation, which was legal at the time. This action occurs as Harvard Law students have demanded the dropping of the school seal due to a connection to a slaveholder.

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Academia, Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, Media, Politics, Society

Harvard Law Students Demand University Drop University Seal Due To Connection To Slaveowner

Harvard-seal-3Harvard Law students have started a campaign to drop the historic seal of Harvard because it is tied to an 18th-century slaveholder. The students organization, Royall Must Fall, have held campus demonstrations demanding the removal of the seal.  The three sheaves of wheat on the seal come from the Royall family crest (which raises the compromise possibility of just replacing that portion of the seal attributed to the Royall family).  Third-year law student Alexander Clayborne insists that the effort is part of “[o]ur larger goals include decolonization of the law school in general and decolonization of the law school curriculum.”

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Bizarre, Criminal law

Rough Interview: Applicant For Michigan Police Job Arrested After Background Check Shows Outstanding Rape Charges In Kentucky

1297771646383_ORIGINALWe have previously discussed the curious pattern of people with past crimes seeking employment in law enforcement . . . only to end up as a defendant rather than an applicant. The latest to join this ignoble group is John Wesley Rose, 25, who applied for a job at a Michigan sheriff’s department despite an outstanding warrant in Kentucky on sexual assault charges.

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Bizarre, Media, Politics, Religion, Society

Turkish Fans Disrupt Moment of Silence For Paris Victims With Boos and Calls Of Allahu Akbar

Screen Shot 2015-11-18 at 6.58.59 AMUsually moments of silence are solemn and dignified events that can help heal wounds left in the aftermath of tragedies. Two such occasions this week however show how they can leave troubled feelings in their wake. The first blown event was G-20 Moment of Silence for the victims in Paris. The problem is that it turned out to be a G-19 Moment of Silence because President Obama walked in late. While one would hope that this deeply symbolic moment would be sufficiently important to get the President there on time, problems can occur. Yet, this President has been criticized for years for being consistently late to events, which shows a lack of respect as well as organization. This is one of the worst such failures in a long line of delayed arrivals. The second incident was far more disturbing in Turkey.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Torts, Uncategorized

Two California Officers Under Criminal Investigation After Videotaped Beating In Mission District

920x920San Francisco police and prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation following the posting of videotape in the Mission District showing two Alameda County sheriff’s deputies beating 29-year-old Stanislav Petrov. Petrov is still recovering from his injuries and the incident is being compared to the Rodney King beating. The video shown below is quite disturbing.

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