Category: Bizarre

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

GoFundMe Site For Six Charged Baltimore Officers Taken Down After 41 Minutes

816fd620-f069-11e4-a4a8-49179b3b0ba2_Baltimore-copsLike many, I am still waiting for the evidence used as the basis to charge the six officers in Baltimore for the death of Freddie Gray. This morning, however, I was disturbed to read that an effort to create a fundraising site for the defense of the officers was taken down on GoFundMe. It appears that the site has a very questionable standard for funding that does not afford accused parties a presumption of innocence in asking for support to fund their defense.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Society, Torts

Bloodletting Parties Raise Questions Over Legality of “Arterial Tapping”

300px-4_transfusionJust when you thought this world could not get weirder. The story below describes a new fetish fad where New Yorkers is to cut veins to bleed over canvas or just bleed out among friends. Bloodletting parties involve what is called “arterial tapping,” whereby a dominant partner taps a submissive partner’s artery – the ultimate in bondage where the dominant partner controls actual blood flow. What I found most notable about the story from a legal perspective is the fact that it names the “Santos,” or organizer, of some of these parties as Dr. Edwin Perez, a licensed physician. That leads to an interesting question of whether Perez could be stripped of his license if the allegation is true.

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Bizarre, Politics, Society

Baltimore Councilman Accuses President and Baltimore Mayor For Using Racist Term In Calling Rioters “Thugs”

20130915StephanieRawlings-Blake1280x1920-1President_Barack_ObamaBaltimore City Councilman Carl Stokes (D) went on CNN yesterday and attacked President Obama and Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (D) for referring to rioters in Baltimore as “thugs” saying, “just call them n*ggers”. It is a familiar controversy for readers of this blog. Last year, various commentators objected to my writing about the “thuggish” behavior of Seahawks’ cornerback Richard Sherman
 as inherently racist — a position that I rejected. I have continued to use thug as both a noun and adjective. Now it appears that President Obama and Mayor Rawlings-Blake are being accused of the same use of racist code words by Councilman Stokes.

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

Putin Does Not Twerk: Women Jailed For Twerking In Russia

Russia-jails-women-in-twerking-video-at-WWII-memorialA Russian court has sentencing two women and a teenager to 15 days jail time for twerking. That’s right, twerking. The women filmed a dance video with twerking in front of a World War II memorial. The timing could not be worse — or better — depending on your perspective. The Putin regime is using the 70th anniversary of the Allied victory to rally citizens. The court ruled that the twerking constituted “hooliganism.” You will recall that this is the same undefined crime used to jail two members of punk band Pussy Riot to prison for two years for an impromptu protest at Moscow’s main cathedral in 2012.

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Bizarre, International, Military, Society

U.S. Funded Industrial Park in Afghanistan Found With Only One Business and No Electricity . . . And Missing Records

158px-flag_of_afghanistansvgWe have yet another example of how we are wasting billions of dollars in Afghanistan where a combination of incompetence and corruption continues to drain the U.S. treasury. This week, SIGAR released two reports showing how, an inspection of the $7.8 million Shorandam Industrial Park in Kandahar is an utter failure and how the money to create a sustainable source of power for Kandahar City has left the city literally in the dark. Once again, there is no indication of any discipline or action taken against those who approve such projects and oversee such failures.

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Bizarre, Torts

Rope-A-Dope: Leading Facial Surgeon Removed From Hospital Panel After Repeatedly Punching Patient In Face During Surgery

220px-Bellows_George_Dempsey_and_Firpo_1924Professor Ninian Peckitt, 63, is under fire this month after the facial surgeon shocked colleagues by asking another doctor to hold the head of an unconscious patient and proceeded to punch the patient in the face up to ten times “like a boxer.” Now, this was not some pay back for an insult in a bar. Peckitt wanted to move a cheekbone back into place and decided to use a more Muhammad Ali approach.

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Academia, Bizarre, Free Speech, International, Society

ISIS Bans Archeology and Tourism Studies At Mosul University While Cutting The Heads Of Foosball Figurines.

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A new story on life after the take over by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Mosul reveals the bizarre existence for academics at places like University of Mosul. ISIS has outlawed lessons on democracy and political thought in favor of concentrations on religious indoctrination and Sharia law. Not too surprising, ISIS also banned hotel management and tourism and archaeology.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Society, Torts

Police Arrest Precious In Nicetown For Vicious Hit-And-Run

Precious_Coleman-1024Precious Richardson Coleman, 29, is facing a particularly strong prosecution case in a remarkably disturbing criminal case. Coleman is accused of purposely running over Beatrice “Dee Dee” Spence, 24, and her uncle Damon Watson, 37. She allegedly targeted Spence with her 2004 white Dodge Durango in a jealous rage — resulting in the amputation of Spence’s leg. A video before shows her speeding up in the Nicetown neighborhood of Philadelphia, jumping the curb, and then backing up on the street before fleeing. She is charged with two counts of attempted murder and related offenses. The attack also left Spence without a home after her mother ran out to help her with fried chicken cooking on the stove. [Warning: the story below has foul language]

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Society, Torts

St. Louis Marathon Officials Strip Woman Of Victory After Allegations Of Cheating

AAba06j.imgWe have another Rosie Ruiz controversy of someone who took credit for winning a major marathon only to be accused of skipping much of the race. Kendall Schler celebrated her victory at the St. Louis Marathon on April 12th only to have her title taken away after marathon officials discovered that she cheated. Officials say that they believe that she slipped onto the course after the last checkpoint — a conclusion reinforced by the fact that Schler did not register any times on the route. It is interesting that there is no threat of a lawsuit either by the race or by Schler, who would presumably sue in defamation if she had indeed run the race.

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Bizarre, International, Society

Cattle Call: Airbus and Southwest Moves To Add Even More Seats To Coach

220px-Economy_Seat220px-Boeing_737-2A1_N25SW_Southwest_SAT_17.10.75_edited-2I have previously authored columns and blog entries criticizing the airline industry for its nosedive in customer services and accommodations. (here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here). The includes the planned switch to “bench seating” where passengers are expected to start bringing their own cushions. Despite the rising criticism of airlines making record profits while continuing to strip away every comfort, there is a new report that Southwest is now turning its back on passengers. The airline and Airbus are going to stuff another seat into coach class with new A380 superjumbo carriers.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Torts

New York Police Arrest Office Manager Who Allegedly Pretends To Be Dentist And Botched Procedures

DrPatients in the Bronx have learned that the dentist who performed their procedures — including botched procedures — was actually not a doctor but an office manager. Valbona Yzeiraj, 45, worked as an office manager at Dr. Jeffrey Schoengold’s office and claimed that she was a trained professional from her native Albania. However, even if true, she is not licensed to practice medicine in the U.S. but performed procedures on patients, including a root canal that left a patient with an infection and another with “persistent pain” two years after the procedure.

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Bizarre, Criminal law

Long Island Doctor Arrested For Allegedly Trying To Kill Competing Doctor and To Burn Down His Office

279B57E600000578-3040684-image-a-4_1429129084204There is a bizarre case out of Long Island where Dr. Anthony J. Moschetto, a cardiologist, allegedly had the office of another doctor torched, then attempted to have the doctor killed to get his business. The evidence in the case presented at the press conference is equally notable, though less compelling than the rest of the reported case against Moschetto.

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Bizarre, Society

Clipped: Court Orders Girlfriend of Former Clippers Owner Donald Sterling To Repay Roughly $3 Million In Gifts To Sterling’s Wife

gavel2A California judge has ruled that the girlfriend of former Clippers owner Donald Sterling must pay back the $2.6 million given to her in gifts from Sterling in a surprising ruling that defines these gifts as community property even though the couple was separated and moving toward divorce. Judge Richard Fruin Jr. awarded Shelly Sterling most of the nearly $3 million she had sought. I have previously discussed how the case highlights the often troubling line of what constitutes prostitution and what constitutes a gifts. [Notably both Sterling and Stiviano deny having a sexual relationship] If Sterling had given V. Stiviano money directly for sex, it would be illegal. Instead, he gave her millions in gifts as part of a relationship. Regardless of where to draw that particular line, Fruin said that the line on community property is drawn to include the house, luxury cars and expensive gifts given to Stiviano as she served as the companion of the octogenarian Sterling.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Torts

Louisiana State Police Officers Park Illegally And Get Booted . . . Then Arrest The Parking Attendant And Take Keys To Remove Boot

800px-LSP_Badge_PhotoThere is an interesting lawsuit out of New Orleans where two undercover Louisiana State Police troopers, Sgt. Joseph Patout and Master Trooper Christopher Treadaway, stopped for Sushi and parked illegally across the street. A booting company employee promptly booted the vehicle and when the police came out, they ordered him to remove the boot. The employee refused without their paying the fine so they arrested him, searched him, took the key and removed the boot. The attendant, Brandon Hardeway, was never charged and the company was then fired by the parking company in what many suspect is the company’s currying favor with the police over the incident. What is most striking is that there does not appear to have been any discipline, let alone termination, of the officers responsible.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Religion

Police Seek Parents and Pastors After Church Starves 2-Year-Old To Death In Exorcism Ritual

araceli-214x300Police are pursuing those responsible for the death of a 2-year-old boy at a church in Texas where the parents and pastors starved the boy to rid him of his possession by a demon — only to try to resurrect the dead boy later with the use of blessed oils. Police say the pastors at a Balch Springs church starved a 2-year-old boy they said was possessed by a demon, and later held a ceremony to resurrect the boy. The parents are believed to have taken the body to Mexico while Aracely Meza, 49, was arrested Monday and charged with injury to a child causing serious bodily injury by omission. The boy was given only water for 25 days and died on March 22.

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