Ever wonder why clowns are so creepy? I just saw this old commercial on Reddit and had to share it. It is guaranteed to produce not only a clownphobic response but an eating disorder in any child.
Category: Bizarre
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
For a bit of a break from this weekend’s topics on troublesome issues we bring you a new dawn in primate research. It is true, monkeys like horror movies.
Researchers in Kyoto, Japan were interested in if chimpanzees and their cousins bonobos could display the trait of long term memory through anticipating and predicting outcomes of two similar situations. To do this, the primates were placed watching a movie with an eye tracking device to gauge their interests and whether they would predict what would happen next. Just like in any human horror movie, when the teenage actor looks to the left, we anticipate the zombie will attack from the right.
Ahmed Mohamed, 14, had thought that he had achieved something that would garner praise at at MacArthur High School in Irving, Texas. He had made a homemade digital clock from a pencil case. Instead, teachers called police and Ahmed was interrogated and taken to the police station on suspicion of a bomb hoax. UPDATE: some critics have expressed doubt over the clock as well as the narrative.
Continue reading “Texas Teen Named Mohamed Arrested After Making Digital Clock And Taking It To School”
We have previously discussed the myriad of discriminatory rules facing women in Iran under that country’s application of Islamic rules. Now one of those archaic rules has cost the country’s soccer team it’s captain. Niloufar Ardalan, 30, will not be competing in Malaysia because her husband refused to sign papers to allow his wife to renew her passport. The Asian Football Confederation Futsal Championship is set to run from Sept. 21-26.
A University of Kentucky law student, Peyton Wilson, 24, has been charged with wanton endangerment after allegedly flying a drone at Commonwealth Stadium just before the season opener game against Louisiana-Lafayette. It is the latest such case of drones harassing or endangering people on beaches, streets, or stadiums.
Continue reading “University of Kentucky Student Arrested After Crashing Drone At Football Game”
We have yet another child criminally charged for something that at one time would have been treated as a mere conduct issue warranting a note to a parent. In Pikesville, Maryland, a 13-year-old will be charged with second-degree assault for kissing a 14-year-old girl on a dare. This absurd case began with school officials calling police who pursued the minor on criminal assault charges.
Continue reading “Police Charge 13-Year-old Boy With Assault for Kissing Girl On A Dare”
We have periodically discussed the use of diplomatic immunity to avoid criminal conduct in the United States. The latest such case occurred in Beverly Hills where two men raced a white Porsche 911 and a yellow Ferrari LaFerrari through the streets of the city — running stop signs and barely missing pedestrians. When the yellow car was followed to a $10 million home, the driver threatened the reporter and claimed diplomatic immunity — allegedly adding “F*** America” for good measure. He even allegedly told the reporter that he could murder him and not be held accountable.
There is a curious case out of Georgetown, Texas, where Williamson County District Judge Rick Kennon has ruled that Williamson County District Attorney Jana Duty intentionally withheld evidence in the murder trial of Crispin Harmel. However, Kennon refused a defense motion to bar a second trial under the double jeopardy clause. There is no indication of any punishment for Ms. Duty for this case. She continues to serve as a lawyer and a prosecutor in Texas. She has however racked up an impressive number of allegations of misconduct and was sent to jail in August for contempt. However, it is odd not to see a direct referral by the court. I can understand the ruling, though the Texas Court of Appeals recently extended double jeopardy protections to a case where prosecutors intentionally forced a mistrial to avoid an acquittal. However, at a minimum, one would expect a court to deal separately with the violation of her core obligations to the court and the bar.
We have been following the case of Angelika Graswald who is accused of murdering her fiancé Vincent Viafore by sabotaging his kayak on a river outing on the Hudson. Indeed, we previously heard that she had confessed and said “it felt good” to see Viafore die. Now there is a report that Graswald confessed , saying “All right, I’ll give you a f–king statement . . . I wanted him dead and now he’s gone . . . And I’m OK with it.” It is a bad defense case getting worse but I am still surprised by the report of the New York medical examiner that she determined the death to be homicide from an examination of the body.
Continue reading “Coroner Rules That Kayak Death On Hudson Was Homicide”
Wythe county citizens were shocked recently when Dr. Paul A. Williams was found stabbed twice outside of his clinic. Melton said that a man approached him as he was leaving the back door and asked him if he was Dr. Williams. When Williams confirmed that he was but said that the clinic was closed, he said that man responded with “I’m going to teach M F’er. You need to write more scripts for pain meds” and stabbed him twice. A manhunt ensured, but now Williams has admitted that he stabbed himself in the shoulder and the stomach.
There are some cases that produce truly Earth shaking ironies. The prosecution of Pennsylvania attorney general Kathleen Kane is one such case. We previously discussed the case where Kane is accused of leaking grand jury information and lying about it to a grand jury. She is accused of using the leaks to attack her opponents or critics. Her team is now objecting to the damage to her case after a leak that confirmed that bar authorities in Pennsylvania are seeking to suspend her law license. They insist that such leaks are clearly designed to hurt Kane.
Kimberly M. Jackson, 36, is every defense attorney’s nightmare . . . though it is not like she had a particularly strong defense to begin with. Jackson was photographed having sex, or at least trying to have sex, with her boyfriend in a parking lot Norfolk, Virginia. She helpfully explained that “[I] was in the mood, and that’s basically what happened.” Her boyfriend, Earl Palmer, did not exactly help things out when he came in to “clear her name.”
Continue reading ““I Didn’t Finish The Job”: Virginia Police Halt Tryst In Parking Lot”
Some might think that a driver with driving violations might be able to “work something out” in a town called “Bribie,” but this is not that type of place, this was not that type of officer, and most certainly this was not just any violation. The officer saw a door flapping on a car and discovered that it was just held shut with a rope.
Continue reading “For Sale: 4dr Sedan, Radio, and Rope Pull . . .”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
Decades of progress in making cooler, faster, more race-car like patrol cars took a turn for the worse when LAPD, at the behest of (of course) the mayor and city suits, handed down a rather puny runt of a patrol car. While this car might be good for a general purpose civilian strip mall warrior, in police culture it does not cut the mustard.
The city stuck the PD with some of the city’s 160 BMW i3 electric vehicles. While I certainly applaud this for a general purpose city vehicle as I am a supporter of electric cars, but an i3 patrol car? No thank you. When first reading USA Today’s article announcing this, one of my first thoughts was that rookies better hang low for a few months.
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
Kentucky was faced with another case of drama and failure to perform statutory duties and the federal courts. The Casey County Clerk announced that he would refuse to issue marriage licenses to couples who’s marriage he objects to.
The clerk, in a bit of irony, is named Casey Davis.
Davis insists that he has a duty to himself to violate state law but oddly he feels the Commonwealth should pay for an attorney to represent him.