The appointment of National Research Council president John MacDougall in Canada — effectively the country’s top scientist — is being received by scientists the way James Watt was received by environmentalists in the Reagan Administration as head of the national park system. Like Watt, MacDougall seems antagonistic to the field that is supposed to be fostering with federal funds. Recently, MacDougall announced that “Scientific discovery is not valuable unless it has commercial value.” It turns out that all of that stuff by Galileo was just academic crap.
Category: Bizarre
There are some crimes that appear to be punishment in themselves. In Oklahoma, a woman had an unnerving experience of going to the bathroom at a Sand Springs water park only to look down and see a man staring back at her from inside the septic tank. It was Tulsa resident Kenneth Enslow, 52, who was pulled out of tank and charged with being a peeping Tom.
Continue reading “Tulsa Man Arrested Inside Septic Tank As Peeping Tom”
It appears that there is something worse than fake eggs. Chinese police in Guangxi raided a storage site and found decades-old chicken feet — some dating to the cultural revolution in 1967. A criminal gang smuggled chicken feet, beef tripe and cartilage from Vietnam — some 20 tons of bad meat and chicken feet that were processed with bleach and other chemicals to hide the smell.
Continue reading “Mao Meat Sale: Chinese Seize Chicken Feet and Meat From 1967”
We have previously discussed the often unhinged reaction to jokes and postings referring to violence by authorities. It is certainly understandable and commendable to take such postings seriously, but even when all available evidence points to a juvenile exchange or bad joke, the cases seems to go into autopilot with prosecutors and police insisting on absurd charges. That appears to be the case of Texas teenager Justin Carter who has been held for over four months due to a single sarcastic posting on Facebook for “terroristic threats.” This case shows, once again, prosecutors and police showing no judgment or logic in the handling of such cases.
It is often difficult to get actual charges against a police officer, but former St. Louis Officer Rory Bruce, 35, was an exception. After all, it was a police video that clearly showed him verbally abusing a teenager and then sucker punching him while handcuffed. One would think it would be an easy conviction, even without the testimony of the 16-year-old boy. That is if the judge watched the video. She did not. Judge Teresa Counts Burke showed no reason to actually watch the video before ruling and now the police union is demanding that the department rehire Bruce.
Remember that whole business in the Third Amendment about not having quarter soldiers in private homes without the owner’s consent or that stuff in the Fifth Amendment about takings of property or that other stuff in the Fourth Amendment on unreasonable searches and seizures. It does not appear to apply to police in Henderson Nevada. The City of Henderson is being sued with its police chief Police Chief Jutta Chambers (left) as well as the City of North Las Vegas and its Police Chief Joseph Chronister (right) for a bizarre takeover of a home for a stakeout. Anthony Mitchell says that he was told that police needed to occupy his home to get a “tactical advantage” on the occupant of a neighboring house. When Mitchell refused, the police ultimately, according to his complaint, busted through his door, hit him with pepper balls, and put him into custody. The lawsuit also names Officers Garret Poiner, Ronald Feola, Ramona Walls, Angela Walker, and Christopher Worley.
You thought you had trouble choosing between one percent and two percent milk? Go to China. Poor young mothers are being hired by agencies to breastfeed rich adults in the south China city of Shenzhen for between 8,000 yuan (US$1,303) to 15,000 yuan a month. Some Chinese believe the breast milk has healing qualities not available in that stuff you buy in the carton. It apparently makes for a great chaser with that tiger bone and other endangered species products.
Continue reading “Human Dairy: Chinese Adults Paying To Be Breast Fed By Poor Nursing Mothers”
James Kistler is in the midst of an expensive row with the city of Delmont over his pets Larry, Moe, Curly and Fred. In May, the city sent Kistler a notice that he was in violation of the city ordinance on domestic pets and that he could not keep ducks as pets. The letter states that he will be subject to a $500 day fine unless he gets rid of the ducks.
Basic environmental and scientific programs suffer but the State Department felt free to spend more than $630,000 on advertising campaigns to boost the number of Facebook “likes” for the agency’s pages on the website between 2011 and March 2013.
Texas has been the scene of intense protests and debates over a senator’s filibuster to block an abortion bill. As reporters were threatened with arrest and other controversies mounted, this scene unfolded in the gallery. According to reports, a 74-year-old woman was arrested for assaulting an officer after the Lt. Governor ordered the gallery to be closed. Troopers then encountered Martha Northington who did not move fast enough out of her chair. Continue reading “Trooper Grabs 74-Year-Old Woman And Then Arrests Her After She Hits Him With Her Purse For Being Rough”
Prosecutors in the George Zimmerman trial are facing a collapsing case and renewed question over whether Angela Corey succumbed to the political pressure and overcharged the case. The prosecution’s case has thus far been a disaster and many are now questioning whether charges should have been brought at all, let alone charged as second degree murder. For some inexplicable reason, the prosecutors led with Rachel Jeantel, who was one of the least compelling witnesses that they could have called from earlier perjury to ever-changing testimony. Now Angela Corey (right) and her office appear to be turning toward alternative areas of prosecution involving the daughter of one of the defense counsel.
We have previously discussed stolen valor cases where police arrest people for pretending to be former decorated veterans and heroes. But what if the man is not only the police but the police chief? When Robert Kerkorian joined the Waukegan, Ill., police department 26 years ago, he said that he was a Navy Seal (a common claim for stolen valor cases). That may have remained his secret until he was promoted to chief and a little checking led to a big embarrassment. Kerkorian was in the Navy for only six months and never even made it to Seal training.
Continue reading “Stolen Valor: Illinois Police Chief Demoted Over False Claim Of Being A Seal”
This is yet another video of a citizen confronting a police officer about his taking her iPad because she was using it to film him in the course of a stop or arrest. The officer tells her that she can pick it up tomorrow and that she is risking an arrest by continuing to confront him.
Continue reading “Officer Seizes iPad and Threatens Arrest After Being Filmed in Public”
Something to get you ready for the morning commute
We have previously seen how Christian leaders like Pat Robertson routinely attributed natural disasters like Katrina to God’s revenge for everything from gay rights to abortion to secularism. Not to be outdone, according to various sites, Colorado pastors Kevin Swanson and Dave Buehner have informed the faithful that the recent deadly forest fires were punishment for gay rights and abortion even though they struck the conservative areas of Colorado Springs rather than places like Boulder. Presumably, God also wanted 19 fire fighters killed in Arizona under the same theory.
Continue reading “Christian Pastors: Colorado Fires Were God’s Retribution For Gay Rights and Abortion”