Marquette University has apparently dumped Susannah Bartlow, the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center director after the center celebrated the completion of a mural featuring convicted Assata Shakur who was convicted of an execution style killing of a New Jersey trooper in 1973. The mural was joint project of the Center and the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.
Category: Bizarre
Attorney Richard Fields his estranged wife Ekaterina may represent the worst of stereotypes that people have of the top 1 percent and their distinct problems. The couple has been in an intense battle of who gets a $100,000 baby grand piano in the couple’s former New York apartment. Neither is actually a pianist but Fields, who is managing director of Juridica Asset Management, insists that he already lost another baby grand in an earlier divorce from another wife. Indeed, both of these people make a Tom Wolfe novel look like Little Home on the Prairie.
Continue reading “Who Gets Baby? Wealthy Couple Fights Over Custody Of Piano In New York Apartment”
We have another case of a man fired for obnoxious conduct outside of his workplace. While we recently discussed this issue with regard to academics, it is increasing common for private employers to fire people who make themselves notorious with thuggish or insulting conduct in public. The latest is Shawn Simoes, who appears to have the mentality of a three year old and taunted a female report with a disgusting sexually explicit heckle on television. He was an engineer with Hydro One, which fired him after the scene was posted outside of BMO Field.
We have previously discussed Saudi Arabia’s infamous “Chop Chop” square where the country’s medieval Sharia law is carried out for everything from apostasy to drug dealing to murder. The Kingdom has had a bumper crop of executions this year with as many beheadings already this year (85) than the entire 2014 period (87). The work appears to be exhausting their executioners so the Kingdom is hiring eight new executioners. While the Saudis insist that this is a humane form of execution approved by the Koran, the fine print on the advertisement is notable: no experience is needed for those who want to cut the heads off people in Chop Chop square or handle amputations under Sharia law.
There is a deeply disturbing case of Illinois where Josephine Bell, 71, is accused of killing her granddaughter’s cat and four kittens with a hammer to teach her grand kids a lesson for not cleaning their rooms. The case again raises the question of the proper punishment for cruelty to animals separate from the obvious abuse of this 13-year-old child.
Like many around the country, I went late last night in watching the overtime win of my Chicago Blackhawks over the Anaheim Ducks. I was fading on the couch despite some of the best hockey playing that I have seen in years but it was all worth it to see Andrew Shaw turn the game into a soccer match and headbutt the puck into the net past Frederik Andersen. Not only was it a very cool thing to watch, it introduced a wonderful legal dispute in the championship for lawyer fans like myself to feel part of the game.
Continue reading “Ice Soccer? Blackhawk Shaw Uses His Head To Score Against Ducks In Overtime”
This is shaping up for another bad week for Hillary Clinton with stories on another undisclosed and unofficial email account that was used during tenure as Secretary of State as well as a New York Times story on the role of Sidney Blumenthal in seeking business with the State Department while continuing as an unofficial and controversial adviser to Clinton. However, the story that I found most interesting is a report that unions have been pouring significant money into the Clinton Foundation. The Foundation has been accused of being a conduit for donors and foreign governments to give money to the Clinton, who have used the Foundation to hire loyalists (like Blumenthal) and pay for luxury travel for the Clinton family. While some have denounced the Clinton Foundation a “slush fund,” the New York Times has offered a more tempered criticism of the Foundation for its business dealings and advancement of Clinton’s political interests. Yet, Clinton supporters insist that the Foundation has done important work around the world. The use of union funds to support the Foundation would in my view be the most serious of the past disclosures, though it has received less attention than the huge sums paid by corporate and foreign figures trying to influence Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State.
Continue reading “Report: Labor Unions Contributed To Clinton Foundation”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
The mysterious ways of a familiar high school institution, the Tesla Coil, once again has conjured another spectacle. A Salem, Oregon high school teacher was charged with the shocking crime of Criminal Mistreatment after allegedly employing the coil to burn sweet nothings into the arms of students
After an investigation, Salem Police arrested Samuel Dufner for the alleged crime at South Salem High School.
Continue reading “Teacher Allegedly Burned Students With Tesla Coil, Sparking Controversy”
As expected, the NFL has suspended New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and imposed team sanctions for “deflategate.” As we discussed this week, the NFL investigation found rejected the claims of innocence in all of the balls being deflated after inspection in the New England’s AFC title game against Indianapolis in January. The NFL report stated “We found these claims not plausible and contradicted by other evidence.” The report found that Brady “was at least generally aware” of all the plans to prepare the balls to his liking and that it was “more probable than not” that two Patriots employees – officials’ locker room attendant Jim McNally and equipment assistant John Jastremski – carried out the plan. McNally is accused of demanding expensive shoes and signed footballs, jerseys and cash. Now, Don Yee, the agent for New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, has lashed out at the NFL and suggested a bizarre pre-game collusion between the NFL and the Colts.
While Professor Saida Grundy has not actually started teaching at Boston University, she is already facing calls for her removal from the faculty. After being hired by BU, Grundy let loose with a series of tweets that are denounced as racist and sexist. Grundy tweeted, for example, “White masculinity isn’t a problem for america’s colleges, white masculinity is THE problem for america’s colleges.” The tweets have triggered a debate over whether there is a double standard for such comments and whether such comments should be treated as protected speech.
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
A Seattle news medium saw it fitting to send a news team out to investigate a report of a child leaving school early and walking home. No, it was not The Onion but KOMO News. It does show a sense of the zeitgeist and the culture of fear that is sadly inherent in many today.
A five year old boy wanted to walk home after having first been driving to school by his father. He then left school early and walked home to see his mother. He reportedly walked a mile to reach home.
Continue reading “Child Walks Home From School—Panic Ensues”
A Florida fitness trainer, Elissa Alvarez, 20, and his girlfriend, Jose Caballero, 40, have been found guily in a notorious case where they were filmed having sex on a public beach in front of families with children. There is general agreement that Alvarez and Cabellero were disgusting and shocking in their conduct. There is little debate that they deserved to be arrested for lewd and lascivious exhibition, particularly with a videotape and calls to the police. However in a move that has become all-too-common , the prosecutors are set to punish the couple for not pleading guilty by pushing for an absurdly draconian sentence against Caballero of up to 15 years in jail.
Continue reading “Florida Couple Facing 15 Years in Jail For Tryst On Beach”
Levi Charles Reardon facebooked himself into jail after “liking” his own most wanted poster on a Crimestoppers Facebook page. The moment of vanity was not missed by police who arrested Reardon on April 24th.
Continue reading “Facebooked: Montana Man Arrested After “Liking” His Own Online Wanted Poster”
There is a tragic case out of New York that has the makings of a controversial murder prosecution. The defendant in the case is Angelika Graswald, who is accused of killing her fiance, Vincent Viafore, on a kayaking trip on the Hudson river. The police believe that Graswald, who has posted regularly pictures of the couple and comments since Viafore’s disappearance, killed Viafore in a faked boating accident. Viafore’s body has never been found. In addition to the absence of a body, there is no direct evidence of murder revealed publicly. Police are citing inconsistencies in Graswald’s account as well as critical diary entries.
Continue reading “New York Woman Arrested In Alleged Murder of Fiance During Kayak Trip”
There is a troubling case out of Houston that shows the continuing immunity of the government from even lethal acts of negligence. In Patty v. United States, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 54871A, Plaintiff Steven Craig Patty sought damages in a bizarre case where the DEA paid one of his drivers, without his knowledge, to participate in a highly dangerous drug sting with one of the most violent Mexican drug cartels. Lawrence Chapa, 53, (right) the driver, (who had been arrested in 2010 for possession of a controlled substance) was shot eight times. The sting went badly and resulted in the killing of Patty’s driver and shooting up his tractor-trailer. He claimed conversion, abuse of process, and constitutional torts, but U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal ruled that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is not liable to him even for the repair of this tractor-trailer. It is all an example of the sweeping protection afforded to “discretionary” acts by federal officers.