By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
In another case of police wannabes acting on impulse and getting themselves arrested, Shawn Robinson of Alexandria, Virginia is alleged to have pulled over a driver and announcing he was a police officer. The joke was apparently on him when the suspect he pulled over was an actual police officer who gave chase.
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
Police in Everett, Washington made multiple arrests after a social medial linked crime spree at an elderly woman’s home while she was out of state seeking treatment for emphysema and heart disease.
Thieves waited after each other to burglarize the residence then pilfered and ransacked the house retrieving whatever remained. But police soon discovered the game and offered their response in kind.
Continue reading “Police Arrest Ten For Allegedly Burglarizing Sick Woman’s Residence Eight Times”
High school teacher Jesse Hagopian is reportedly planning to sue the city of Seattle after a police officer sprayed him with chemical irritant as he left a rally on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. He was simply walking away while speaking on a cellphone, as the video below captures.
Continue reading “Video: Seattle Officer Pepper Sprays Man Brandishing . . . A Cellphone”
There is an interesting case out of Pittsburgh public defender Andrew Capone, 29, has been criminally charged for allegedly given inaccurate information to a judge’s staff about whether his client had appeared for trial in a sex assault case. The case is troubling because, based on what has been released, it is difficult to see where the line was drawn between criminal and noncriminal conduct for counsel.
We have been discussing for years how China has allowed pollution contaminate the soil, water, and air of its country to a shocking degree. That is no more apparent (literally) than the air in Beijing (here and here and here and here). Now the city is being called “unliveable.” That is nothing new except this is Beijing’s own mayor, Wang Anshun.
Continue reading “Mayor: Beijing Is Now “Unliveable” Due to Pollution”
Alabama’s first openly gay state legislator, State Rep. Patricia Todd has created a stir this week by declaring that she intends to publicly reveal the adulterous affairs of colleagues who oppose same-sex marriage on the basis of family values. The threat raises the prospect of potential tort liability and some interesting questions of privilege.
For teachers, there is nothing more sacred than the space of a classroom. While the sanctuary of rooms are sometimes shattered by violence, it remains thankfully rare. That makes the video this week particularly disturbing as physics teacher at John F. Kennedy High School in Paterson, New Jersey is attacked by one of his students. The other students do not come to the aid of the 62-year-old physics teacher as he is thrown to the ground by a sixteen-year-old student, though one student eventually comes over to tell the attacker to break off the attack. The teacher had taken the teenager’s cellphone.
This week has continued the on-going conflict between the the National Football League (NFL) and Seahawks Running Back Marshawn Lynch. This is not about what Lynch has said but what he refuses to say.
Lynch was recently fined for a crotch grab on national television. However, he is more reticent off the field where he avoids media. The NFL has fined him to force him to speak with media — a rule that in my view is moronic and counterproductive. Rather than just encouraging players to speak with media (some cannot be kept away from the cameras and social media like Lynch’s teammate Richard Sherman), the NFL actually fines players who simply have nothing to say. Now Lynch is being criticized for going to the compelled press conference and just repeating the same line over and over: “I’m here so I won’t get fined.”
Continue reading “Seahawks Running Back Facing New Threat Of Fines After Taciturn Press Conference”
I have been a long critic of copyright and trademark claims that seem to be growing exponentially with companies claiming ownership over basic words and images in a feeding frenzy of claims. The latest example of just how ridiculous this has become is the lawsuit by owners of “Chubby Noodle” restaurants in the San Francisco area who are suing a rival opening a restaurant called “Fat Noodle.” Too confusing, they insist. It appears that any Rubenesque reference to a noodle is taken.
Continue reading “Noodle Wars: San Fran Restaurant Claims Trademark Protection On Portly Noodles”
If the Seattle Seahawks are known for their aggressive offensive line, their players are nothing when compared to the aggression of their lawyers. Outdoing even the brutish NFL lawyers who claim copyright to terms like “Super Bowl,” the team has filed two dozen trademark applications in a little over a year to claim ownership to such terms as “boom” and “Go Hawks.” The team is also claiming ownership to the number 12 in a font like the one used by the team. It had to settle a prior lawsuit over its use of “The 12th Man” phrase (referring to the fans) — a phrase claimed by Texas A & M where it was forced to pay a licensing fee for the limited use of this common term. Now it is trying to the do the same in claiming parts of the English language as owned by the team (I am waiting for the Patriots to trademark “Deflate-gate”). It is all perfectly bizarre but Congress has done little to stop the frenzy to claim common terms and phrases. Too bad there is not anyone willing to throw a flag for encroachment to protect citizens.
Continue reading “Offensive Holding: Seahawks Move To Trademark The Word “Boom” and the Number 12″
There was a curious confrontation between the New Zealand navy this month and three notorious boats illegally poaching in the waters near Antarctica. The Navy caught the boats red-handed poaching and using illegal nets. The Navy called over for the three rust buckets to stop the illegal operation and the boats simply refused. The Navy called over again that it wanted to board to check their documentation and the boats said know. They simply continued to poach in front of the Navy and then the New Zealanders let them leave without firing a shot. This was called a victory by the New Zealand Navy but I am not sure why.
There is an interesting phenomenon that occurred after the Patriots pulled ahead of the Colts in their championship game: the price of Superbowl tickets reportedly fell significantly. People it appears are just not excited about seeing the Patriots play in another Superbowl. However, many people see more than a dominant team or deflated footballs are the reason for who plays in the Superbowl. A recent study found that one out of four Americans believe that God helps choose who wins sporting events. I personally find this hard to accept since the Chicago Bears remains God’s chosen team and yet they remain again out of the Superbowl. However, over twenty-five percent of people believe that they are watching the hand of God in the outcome of sporting events.
Continue reading “Study: One Out Of Four Sports Fans Believe God Chooses Winners In Sporting Events”
This month I wrote a column for the Washington Post on the crackdown of free speech in France and we have previously discussed the decline of free speech values in the West. (here and here and here). This has included attacks in the United States (here and here and here and here). Now, Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh has prepared his city for its bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics by effectively suspending free speech for city employees and banning them from uttering any negative comments about the Games or the process. I suppose Walsh can cite John Adams’ infamous use of the Alien and Sedition Acts as precedent.
The University of Michigan Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity has been suspended by its national office and its members may face criminal investigation after its members were accused of causing $50,000 in damage at a ski resort last weekend. The pictures of the damage at the Treetops Resort are astonishing and the incident raises the question of whether students involved in potential criminal mischief should be expelled from the school for such extracurricular conduct.
We previously discussed the gross negligence exhibited in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (or Obamacare) rollout and how there appeared little accountability for such failures even when they cost hundreds of millions.(For a column, click here). Now it turns out that, after costing the country a fortune due to this shoddy work, the IRS has reportedly awarded the company yet another contract to do work on . . . you guessed it, Obamacare.