Category: Bizarre

Bizarre, Religion

Home Depot’s Home Invasion

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

150px-thehomedepotsvgIt only took a few minutes for Home Depot to tell the world I visited its website. Now, my home computer reminds me of the mistake I made in providing Home Depot the chance to earn my business. I went to look at one of their products and got spammed as a result. It is truly a sign of disrespect Home Depot shows its customers for walking into its digital doors. Well, I can now add Home Depot to my list of “Fired Corporations Replaced By Small Businesses.”

It seems that window shopping is best left to actual windows instead of Microsoft Windows.

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Academia, Bizarre, Society

Clemson University Apologizes For Holding Mexican Food Night

ClemsondiningWe have often discussed how universities have become battle grounds over so-called “microaggressions” and offensive terms or images involving race, religion, or culture. Some of these efforts raise serious questions of the erosion of free speech as well as double standards applied to faculty and students. The example of the sensitivity toward such objections was evident this week at Clemson University, which apologizes for racial or cultural insensitivity for holding “Maximum Mexican” night featuring Mexican cuisine. Two students were offended and the university has apologized.

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Bizarre, Criminal law

Saudi Housewife Faces Possible Prosecution For Posting Picture of Husband Assaulting Housekeeper

__SaudiWomanCatche_3467063bThe plight of servants in Saudi Arabia is well-documented as foreign workers particularly are beaten and sexual assaulted with little apparent repercussions from the Kingdom. Women generally are denied basic rights and freedoms in the country which follows the medieval Sharia legal system. Now a wife is facing imprisonment because she filmed her husband sexually assaulting a maid and posted it. Such filming is viewed as defamation and subject to imprisonment in the draconian legal system in Saudi Arabia.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, International, Politics, Religion

Saudi Arabia Remains Adamant On The Beheading and Crucifixion Of Political Dissident

ali-mohammed-al-nimrWe previously discussed the truly bizarre scene of having Saudi Arabia sit on the UN Human Rights Council despite being one of the most infamous violators of human rights. As if to remind the world of the crushing irony, Saudi Arabia has issued a statement telling the world that it has no business objecting to the planned execution of a religious dissent. The Saudi Arabian embassy in the UK has denounced “any form of interference in its internal affairs” regarding the case of 21-year-old dissident Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, who has been sentenced to death by beheading for engaging in pro-democracy protests.

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Academia, Bizarre

UPenn Professor Under Fire For Reportedly Calling Ben Carson A “Coon”

butlerDr. Ben Carson is learning the perils of rising in the polls in a presidential election. This week, the National Enquirer produced an article detailing what it says is a pattern of malpractice by Carson, including leaving a sponge in the head of a patient. Some of the harshest commentary however have come from liberal African Americans. Much like some of the criticism faced by Clarence Thomas, Carson has been attacked as being a type of traitor to the black community despite the fact that he is a hugely successful doctor and mentor for many. University of Pennsylvania Professor Anthea Butler however took that criticism to a new low in calling Carson a “coon.” While such a racial slur would normally be followed by demands for terminations from a white professor, the response to the slur has been at best muted.

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Bizarre, Politics

Gun-Toting North Carolina Candidate Pledges To Hunt Down “Rinos” In Political Ad

Screen Shot 2015-10-07 at 7.46.01 PMHouse GOP primary candidate Kay Daly is challenging Rep. Renee Ellmers in North Carolina clearly has a different view of what constitutes a high calibre candidate. The former N.C. GOP spokeswoman and congressional aide is running an advertisement that says that she does not just oppose RINOs (“Republican In Name Only”) but wants to bag them . . . literally.

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Academia, Bizarre, Criminal law, International

University of London Diversity Officer Charged With Threatening Communications After Racist and Sexist Comments

TwitterBahar Mustafa, of the University of London is facing criminal charges for sending a threatening communication. Mustafa attracted international condemnation for her use of a Twitter hashtag #killallwhitemen and asked for white men not to come to certain university events. Despite her unmitigated racism and sexism, an effort to remove her failed after only 165 people signed a petition for her removal. The retention of Mustafa at the university is a disgrace for both the university and academia as a whole.

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Bizarre, Politics

Report: Half of the Country Has No Savings

depression-era-unemployment-lineWe have occasionally followed new reports on the economic condition of the public and the news is rarely good. After an extremely very poor jobs report, a new study found that twenty-eight percent of Americans have nothing in their savings accounts and another 21 percent have no savings account at all. Only 29 percent has $1,000 or more in their accounts.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Religion, Society

New Jersey Priest Arrested, Charged With Aggravated Assault For Allegedly Pretending That He Would Shoot Boy For Wearing Cowboys Jersey To His Church

njpriestpic2St. Margaret of Cortona Church in Little Ferry, N.J. this week is dealing with the arrest of its pastor, The Rev. Kevin Carter, 54. Even more shocking is the charge: aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child. However, on closer examination, the arrest and charge seems wildly out of place according to published reports. What was a gag based on football rivalry has turned into a full fledged criminal case due to the refusal of the police or prosecutors to show a modicum of discretion or logic.

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Bizarre, Politics, Religion, Society

“A Quibble”: Florida Senate Candidate Admits To Drinking Goat Blood

invictus6n-1-web220px-Angora_001Augustus Sol Invictus is not your typical politician. While most politicians are known for kissing babies, Invictus is best known for admitting that he killed a goat and drank its blood in a ritual of thanks after returning from a journey in the Mojave Desert. Invictus changed his former name (which he will reportedly not reveal) to the Latin Sol Invictus (“Unconquered Sun”), which was the official sun god of the Roman Empire and a patron of soldiers. It appears the 32-year-old lawyer is willing to admit that critics got his goat, or at least the story, but insists that people can look beyond a goat-blood drinking Senator. “I did sacrifice a goat. I know that’s probably a quibble in the mind of most Americans. I sacrificed an animal to the god of the wilderness … Yes, I drank the goat’s blood.”

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Torts

$10 Million Defamation Lawsuit Of Sleeping Baseball Fan Dismissed In New York

article-0-1F75612F00000578-313_634x427We previously discussed the bizarre lawsuit by Andrew Rector, 26, who sued ESPN, the Yankees, Major League Baseball, and announcers Dan Shulman and John Kruk are being sued by Andrew Rector, 26, for defamation after the network showed him asleep at the New York Yankees-Boston Red Sox game and joked about his being “oblivious” to the game. While Rector says that the commentators called him “stupor, fatty, unintelligent, stupid,” those insults are not heard on the videotape below from the telecast. Rector sued for $10 million in a complaint that I earlier criticized. The lawsuit has now been dismissed by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Julia Rodriguez, but Rector’s lawyer says that she sees a solid basis for appeal — though I fail to see such a basis. Indeed, given the condition of the original complaint, some judges might have awarded sanctions with the dismissal.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, International

“Nobody is a Saint”: Nigerian Former Governor Runs For Reelection Despite Being On The Run For Stealing Billions During Prior Term

abubakar-audu-Kogi-300x162This is what passes for honesty in Nigeria. The notoriously corrupt country reached a new low this week with Kogi State APC Chairman, Alhaji Hadi Ametuo. Ametuo was asked about the slightly awkward fact of his party’s candidate in the forthcoming governorship poll, Prince Audu Abubakar, being under investigation for stealing over N11 billion during his prior office term. Ametuo shrugged off the alleged theft as something that is quite common and then promised that Audu would return the money . . . if he is elected.

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Bizarre, Politics

WA Department Of Licensing Bundles Handicapped Parking Placard Requests With Red Tape, Then Breaks State Law

wa-compliant-handicapped-parking-signBy Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

The archetype of bureaucracy is often associated with the Departments of Licensing / Departments of Motor Vehicles in various states. Washington’s contribution for this year manifested in the issuance of handicapped parking placards–the cards that hang from mirrors. It most certainly adds insult to citizens’ injuries who need the placards due to restricted mobility when the Washington Department of Licensing changed rules to supposedly address alleged fraud (which I personally have a difficult time accepting is rampant).  But the DOL in doing so created a system that is easily circumvented and worse added another layer of delay for legitimate users by failing to announce changes to forms and procedures; thus requiring untold number of citizens to schedule new appointments with their doctors due to the agency’s bureaucratic rigidity and nonsensical new procedures.

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Academia, Bizarre, Criminal law, Society

BIID: North Carolina Woman Blinds Herself (With Alleged Help Of Doctor) To Fulfill A Lifelong Dream To Be Disabled

220px-Eye_irisIn Raleigh, North Carolina, Jewel Shuping is finally happy. With the help of what was described as a “sympathetic psychologist,” Shuping, 30, fulfilled a lifelong dream in blinding herself with drain cleaner. Shuping says that she always wanted to be blind and is now overjoyed to be disabled. It is the latest example of what is called Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID) where able bodied people disable themselves. What is even more astonishing is that there is no indication of any discipline of the alleged psychologist who performed this harmful practice.

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