We previously discussed the case of Ghoncheh Ghavami, 25, who was arrested for trying to attend a men’s volleyball game. Iran imposes a Sharia legal system that punishes those who do not comply with medieval religious rules and practices. Ghavami has now been found guilty of “propagating against the ruling system” and sentenced to one year in jail.
Category: Bizarre
By Mark Esposito, Weekend Blogger
In the red corner, wearing angelic white trunks trimmed in gold that darling of the Right, that Gipper of trickle-down economics, the Great Communicator himself, Ron–ald “The California Killer” Rea–gan.
And in the blue corner with black trunks trimmed in red, the “change” President, the foil of all things conservative, the first of firsts in American History, Bar–ack “Betcha Can’t Believe Where I’m From” O–Bam–a.
And today’s contest is a three-round fight for the World Super Heavyweight Economics Guru Belt. The format is a 10 point “must” system and you are the judges. I, your humble ring announcer, get a scorecard but it’s only advisory.
But first some background, both fighters weigh in after tangling with some decidedly tough contenders before this big bout. Reagan came into office with a much more serious recession than most on the Left give him credit for. In addition, he followed hot on the heels of what his predecessor called the great American “malaise.” Plus he had an adversarial relationship with the nation’s biggest rival, the Soviet Union.
Obama came into office with a war on two fronts in Iraq and Afghanistan, a massive recession, and a world-wide financial industry on the brink of collapse. Pretty tough contenders. Plus, he had and has a Congressional opposition party whose expressed goal was to make sure nothing he proposed made it into law. And law, as you know, is the political boxer’s stock-in-trade.
Ding— ding — ding.
Continue reading “Best Out Of Three Rounds: Obama vs. Reagan On The Economy”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
Sometimes, timing is everything–whether it be gambling, investing, or even news publishing. Often in the latter case it is mostly automatically generated ad content that can be funny, or even inappropriate when combined with the subject of an online news story.
But a screenshot of The Wenatchee World news, a publication in Central Washington State, put the small 1.7 square mile town of Rock Island in a interesting contrast of news headlines.
Picture below the fold
Continue reading “With The News, Sometimes Timing Is Everything”
By Mark Esposito, Weekend Blogger
We’ve been subjected to some depressing football stories this year. Most came from the professional ranks, but the colleges and high schools have their own share of mayhem to unleash. I detailed some of the predatory behavior in a post a couple of weeks ago (here). Now, perhaps the most disturbing story so-far as five California (PA) University football players allegedly beat and kicked a man senseless for defending his girlfriend from presumed harassment all the while chanting “Football Strong” as they made their getaway. “Football Brave,” too, I see. Doctors confirm the man sustained a traumatic brain injury and that “the lower part of his brain has shifted 80 degrees.”
Continue reading “The Season of Our Discontent II: “Football Strong(Men)” Vs. Women”
Here is our annual list of Halloween torts and crimes. This holiday remains a favorite for personal injury lawyers around the world and this year’s additions show why. Of course, with Sandy, our area is already looking pretty spooky with downed trees and tattered exteriors.
So, with no further ado, here is this year’s updated list of actual cases related to Halloween.
Continue reading “Spooky Torts: The 2014 List Of Halloween Litigation Horrors”
The video below shows a particularly well-planned prank for Halloween, though one has to wonder about the danger of injuries to people with weak hearts (discussed in another posting today) or resulting injuries from fright. Nevertheless, everyone shown on the film seemed to enjoy the prank, which had some funny moments.
Continue reading “Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Enter The Pumpkin Patch . . .”
Bo is the type of dog everyone loves. Happy, friendly . . . well perhaps a bit too friendly. His owner, Edwin Henderson, ran from police serving a drug search warrant and hid the in the surrounding terrain. When an officer saw his dog Bo he said “go get him” and let him loose. Bo did precisely that, running to some high grass with his tail wagging excitedly in finding Henderson. The police were no less excited. They arrested Henderson with failure to obey police, manufacturing a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. He is accused of being a meth dealer.
It is not clear what will happen to the dog, who is likely to be viewed as something of a rat. There must be a witness protection program for canines to assume a new name and identity, perhaps as a ranch dog in Montana?
Source: ABC
Despite claims from the government (outside of Saudi Arabia) that it is seeking to modernize its legal system, the Sharia-based Saudi system continues to churn out abuses that shock the conscience. The latest victims are three lawyers who have been jailed for Tweets denouncing the Saudi court system — widely ridiculed by lawyers around the world as a medieval anachronism.
Continue reading “Saudi Arabia Jails Lawyers For Criticizing Court System On Twitter”
The viral video below shows one of the closest calls that any of us have seen. This little girl in Ukraine barely avoid being killed by a collapsing segment of a building.
Continue reading “Ukrainian Girl Avoids Certain Death By Inches In Collapsing Facade”
By Mark Esposito, Weekend Blogger
Fascinating book out by NPR media reporter, David Folkenflik, entitled Murdoch’s World: The Last of the Old Media Empires that explores the strange world of publisher Rupert Murdoch. Gobbler of such English-speaking newspapers as The News of The World, The Sun, The Wall Street Journal, and The Times, Murdoch is mostly known for his media collaboration with Roger Ailes in the development and promotion of Fox News, the Right’s mouthpiece of choice. Until his inglorious dismount from credibility in the London Phone Hacking scandal where a Murdoch newspaper employee was convicted of hacking the telephone voice mails of murdered British teenager, Milly Dowler, Murdoch had personified all that is unseemly about tabloid journalism. The personification of Charles Foster Kane, Murdoch fed the Right the red meat of dissention blending news with opinion and relying on practices that were criticized by honest journalists (even conservative ones) around the world calling it right-leaning tabloidism (here).
By Mark Esposito, Weekend Blogger
I have been reading about the latest Breitbart-inspired dire prediction of the nefarious ( and possibly illegal) machinations of the Obama Administration. You know “Green Paper-Gate.” It’s the one where the conservative blog, Breitbart, reports that a draft solicitation proposal for purchase of green paper issued by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services definitely means that the Obama Administration is secretly planning a massive amnesty campaign of undocumented aliens. And, worse still, that it’s keeping that secret until after the mid-term elections as a boon to Democratic candidates. I went back and took a look at the proposal and here is the offending language: “The requirement is for an estimated 4 million cards annually with the potential to buy as many as 34 million cards total. The ordering periods for this requirement shall be for a total of five (5) years.” A draft RFP issued a few days later contains the same language but adds the following: “In addition, the Contractor shall demonstrate the capability to support potential “surge” in PRC and EAD card demand for up to 9M cards during the initial period of performance to support possible future immigration reform initiative requirements.” You can view the proposal (here) and the RFP (here) and then read all the GSA bureaucratic verbiage for yourself. Have a good time.
Continue reading “Predicting Obama: Is The Right Ever Right?”
As a Chicago native, I am often faced with references to dead people voting and rigged elections. Unfortunately, having grown up under the original Daley machine, they are largely true. My parents helped found the Independent Voter movement and documented some unbelievable cases of fraud. I recall on precinct where the captain actually produced more votes than registered voters. In one percent where I was an observer, a voter discovered that her dead husband had voted before her. For that reason, the controversy with voting machines this week could not have come at a worse time or place — particularly with polls showing the Democrats approaching what could be a disaster. When Republican state representative candidate Jim Moynihan went to cast his vote Monday at the Schaumburg Public Library, he experienced a Homer Simpson moment when every time he tried to pick his name, the machine registered the vote for his Democratic opponent.
I have noticed recently that airlines have been ramping up the safety video that most people ignore on flights with some long needed humor. However, I am afraid that Air New Zealand has the competition won.
Continue reading “Air New Zealand: “The Most Epic Safety Video Ever Made””
Just in case you were wondering of the fatal attraction of some Internet relationships, you might want to ponder Genoveva Nunez-Figueroa. Nunez-Figueroa was pulled out of the chimney of a man in Thousand Oaks, California. She was trying to get into the home of a man who said met on online and went on a few dates before he broke it off. She was not ready to end the relationship apparently. She was previously spotted on the roof of the man but ran off. This time she was found stuck in the chimney in the ultimate “why don’t you love me?” scene.
The 34th Beijing International Marathon was held on Sunday — an event long-planned by the government to highlight its economic development and tourism. It did not work out quite that way. Instead of a marathon, the race looked like a competition to see who could hold their breath for over 26 miles after pollution levels surpassed the hazardous level. It looked more like a medical emergency with hundreds of runners using oxygen masks to breath and using sponges to clean off pollution on their skin. The government of course reported only “moderate” pollution. When the Chinese government says that pollution is moderate, it may be time to be a couch potato at home like this lovely couple.