Category: Bizarre

China to Britain: Do No Raise Human Rights Or Risk Ruining “Golden” Relationship

245px-Official-photo-cameronXi_Jinping_October_2013_(cropped)The meetings this week between President Xi Jinping and British leaders came with a clear instruction from the Communist regime: do not raise the issue of human rights. The Chinese told British diplomats that any questioning about the regime’s continued denial of basic human rights would be viewed as a hostile act. As always, the Chinese just want to talk about business and not people. What is most striking is that many countries have become so dependent on China that they follow such outrageous dictates.

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Infamous Hungarian Camerawoman Announces Plan to Sue Refugee Who She Tripped and Then Possibly Move To Russia

screen-shot-2015-09-08-at-9-30-05-pmWe have previously discussed the infamous former Hungarian camerawoman, Petra Laszlo, who was shown tripping refugees trying to enter the country. She has been fired and faces criminal charges. However, in an apparent effort to secure the “Worst Person In The World” award, Laszlo has announced that she plans to sue one of the refugees that she tripped . . . and then possibly move to Russia where true freedom reigns. I expect most Hungarians would gladly help Laszlo and her husband pack and then transport them to the border. I guarantee no one will try to trip her to keep her from leaving.

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Alabama Judge Under Fire For Blood-for-Fines Trade

220px-Blood_Donation_12-07-06_1Alabama Judge Marvin Wiggins is under fire this week after he offered to trade blood donations for judicial fines or fees while threatening those without money or blood donation receipts with arrest. The Southern Poverty Law Center filed an ethics complaint The SPLC obtained audio tapes, including people complaining that they felt forced to give blood by Wiggins.
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LAX Worker Sues Halle Berry and Husband For Fall While Trying To Take Their Picture

Screen Shot 2015-10-20 at 7.22.28 PMLAX worker Ronaldo Owens is demanding $5 million from actress Halle Berry and her actor husband, Olivier Martinez. That is pretty steep even for an alleged assault by Martinez. After Rodney King received only $3.8 million for being beaten by multiple officers with batons. The $5 million assault? Martinez knocked over Owens with a child safety seat.

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San Francisco Principal Withholds Results Of School Election After Students Fail To Elect Sufficiently Diverse Representatives

1442646280822.jpg_w235Everett Middle School in San Francisco’s Mission District is teaching its students a thing or two about democracy . . . or the lack of it. Parents were informed by Principal Lena Van Haren (left) that the winners of the recent student elections would not be announced (or possibly honored) after the election failed to produce a sufficiently diverse selection. The school is composed of 80 percent students of color and 20 percent white students. The students however appeared to pick their representatives based on their individual qualifications rather than their race and that was a problem for Van Haren who told parents that the results were “concerning to me because as principal I want to make sure all voices are heard from all backgrounds.”

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C for Censorship? CBS Bars Advertisements Of “The Truth” Movie On Bush Military Record

Truth_2015_posterThere is an interesting story coming out of CBS this week where the network has refused to air advertisements for Truth by Sony Pictures Classics. The problem is that the film starring Cate Blanchett and Robert Redford places CBS in a negative light in exploring the network controversy over airing the 2004 news story on former President George W. Bush’s military service record. The story was discredited and CBS fired producer Mary Mapes. Anchor Dan Rather later retired from CBS. [For full disclosure, I worked for CBS as an on-air analyst with Rather and thought very highly of him in our work on the Bush v. Gore coverage].

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Ohio Body Mistaken for Halloween Decoration and Left Hanging On Fence

635803670417387129-Donnie-Cochenour-Jr-1013As we head to Halloween, there is a chilling case out of Ohio where Chillicothe police say that Donnie Cochenour Jr., 27, got a seasonal break (at least temporarily) on detecting his alleged murder of Rebecca J. Cade, 31. Cade’s body was left hanging on a fence and was mistaken by neighbors as a Halloween decoration.

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“Please Be Careful As [Passengers] May Have Shifted During Flight”: Airbus Seeks New Design To Stack Passengers On Planes

lead_largeWe have been discussing the race to the bottom in airlines in the treatment of passengers from endless special charges to the elimination of every possible convenience or comfort. As I fly back to Washington this morning, I thought I would share the latest vision of the industry to stuff more people into planes by stacking them like kindling. It would seem that airlines may have to change their standard warning about luggage shifting in overhead bins to alert passengers to the danger of failing passengers who shifted during flights.

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You Won An IOU: Illinois Forced To Halt Payments On Lottery Winners Due To Lack Of Funds . . . But Continues to Run Lottery

illinois-lotteryWhile I loved spending a few days back home in Chicago this week, it was depressing to see how decades of mismanagement of the city and the State continue to take a toll on citizens and businesses. The latest absurdity is the announcement by the Illinois lottery that anyone who wins more than $600 will simply get an IOU for their winnings due to a lack of cash. Yet, the state is still encouraging citizens to play the lottery.

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D.C. Church Claims Bike Lane Would Violate Freedom Of Religion

imrs.phpThe United House of Prayer on M Street NW in Washington, D.C. has a curious view of the free exercise clause of the First Amendment. The Church has claimed that the city is denying the freedom of religion by seeking to add a bike lane on one side of its street. While there is a rich literature on the scope of the protections afforded to religious practices, it is perfectly delusional to claim that the addition of a bike lane violates “constitutionally protected rights of religious freedom and equal protection of the laws.”
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Sick 74-Year-Old Brit Faces 350 Lashes For Possessing Homemade Wine In Saudi Arabia

P-6e3039b7-72e8-4f94-8b30-e3b30803464e.thumbSaudi Arabia is about to add another victim to its adherence to the medieval Sharia law system imposed by the Kingdom. Karl Andree, 74, is a sick asthmatic Englishman who has survived three periods of cancer treatment. He has already been held in prison for a year but will now face 350 lashes . . . for having homemade wine. He has been held for a year despite that fact that his wife Verity is dying of Alzheimer’s — all under the Kingdom’s insistence on carrying out the tenets of Islamic morality codes.
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Alaska Governor Calls For Increased Oil Drilling . . . To Offset Costs of Climate Change

bill_walker_official_portrait_2400-1The increasing recognition of politicians of climate change has been a welcomed change from the long denials of the past. However, Alaska Gov. Bill Walker has made a curious pitch in a BBC interview: increased oil drilling to offset climate change that most people associated with oil consumption.

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New York Aunt Loses Lawsuit Of 8-Year-Old Nephew For Jumping Into Her Arms

auntjen13n-1-webJennifer Connell, of New York City, has lost a case but appears to have won the distinction of being the worst aunt alive. Connell, 54, sued her 8-year-old nephew Sean Tarala for $127,000 for jumping into her arms at a party. The act caused her to fall and break her wrist. It is the type of thing that happens in families but Connell sued her nephew in torts. A six-member Connecticut jury unanimously rejected the claim in just 25 minutes — barely enough time to get to the jury room, take their seats, and vote down the case.

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American Sentenced In Canada For Possession Of Child Pornography . . . Of Cartoon Characters

200px-Dora_and_BootsThere is an interesting criminal case in Canada where American Peter Hasler, 25, of Murrells Inlet, S.C., is under arrest for possession of child pornography. However, the images were not of human beings but cartoon characters. Canada treats sexual cartoon images as pornography – a view widely rejected in the United States as inimical to free speech protections.

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