“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.” Juliet’s famous line seemed to have a more poignant meaning this week with the arrest of Fellony Silas, 30, for . . . you guessed it . . . a felony battery at a bar.
Continue reading “Charing Fellony: The World’s Most Unfortunate Name For A Criminal Defendant”
This corpus delicti was the key piece of evidence in the arrest by the FBI of alleged super hacker Higinio O. Ochoa. I am not sure why this piece of evidence caught the eye of FBI agents, but they used its posting on Twitter account of @MissAnonFatale to find Ochoa’s girlfriend and then Ochoa.
Continue reading “Keeping Abreast Of Crime: Hacker Traced By FBI From Picture of Girlfriend”
Even in a city full of lobbyists, John Bowles is a stand out. He is the new lobbyist for the American Nazi Party. With lobbyists from General Electric and Exxon, Bowles will work the offices on behalf of skinheads and antisemites. I can’t wait to see the gift baskets.
This is not exactly the picture you want public when you are invoking your Fifth Amendment Privilege Against Self-Incrimination. The picture shows General Services Administration official Jeff Neely enjoying a spa tub and wine as part of the $822,000 Las Vegas conference that is now the subject of a congressional investigation, as previously discussed. Neely, the GSA’s Public Buildings Service regional commissioner, invoked his Fifth Amendment rights in a hearing. His seat remained vacant at the hearing after his invocation.
Continue reading “What Happens in Vegas, Stays In Vegas: GSA Official Invokes Right To Remain Silent in Congressional Hearing”
With the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, various auction items are being offered to the highest bidder. Last week, an admission ticket for the voyage fetched $56,250 while a menu on the ship sold for $31,250. There is one item on the menu however that caught my eye and curiosity.
Continue reading “They Never Finished Their Capons: Titanic Menu Sold in Auction”
Clayton Keith Dovel, 36, is the latest Transportation Security Administration baggage inspector arrested for theft. Dovel was found with stolen iPads from luggage of passengers snatched at the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport.
Continue reading “TSA Inspector Arrested For Stealing iPads”
The United States achieved a major victory last week by avoiding the title as the fattest nation on Earth. That distinction goes to the wealthiest nation on Earth: Qatar where half of the population is obese and seventeen percent are suffering from diabetes.
Respectfully submitted by Lawrence Rafferty (rafflaw)- Guest Blogger
As one who was taught by Benedictine nuns in a Catholic elementary school, I grew up with some strange and possibly severe restrictions on what the nuns called “mixing” the boys and girls. More recently, when my adult children were in school, the Diocese of Rockford forbade Altar boys being on the altar at the same time as Altar girls! With that background, I thought I had seen it all. However, the State of Tennessee has just beaten that sorry record of over restrictive rules for school children. It seems that Tennessee state senators, in their infinite wisdom have updated their already suspect abstinence based sex education law by suggesting that holding hands is a gateway to sex. Continue reading “The Dangers of Holding Hands”
Fox News and Newt Gingrich (who once held a Fox contract) are exchanging blows today after Newt Gingrich accused Fox of an overwhelming bias in favor of Mitt Romney and, even worse for diehard Fox fans, said that CNN offered more balanced and fair coverage. Fox responded that Gingrich was auditioning for “a CNN gig.” That might be a needed job after Gingrich’s $500 check to enter the Utah primary bounced. Now Gingrich is selling the names and addresses of his donors to the highest bidder.
Continue reading “Gingrich: Fox News Is Not Fair Or Balanced”
In Illinois, Boots has walked from a bizarre death sentence. Boots was the pet of Georgia Lee Dvorak of Berwyn, Illinois. When Dvorak died, she specified in her will that 11-year-old Boots should be put to death. However, the executor of her $1.3 million will — the Fifth Third Bank — could not get themselves to euthanize the friendly cat. So they went to court and got the language set aside in a rare judicial intervention.
After the bruising battle for the top opinion blog in past years, our regulars have been planning to prepare for this year’s competition. However, I am sorry to report that as of this morning I have decided to shelve the plans for a Turley Blog Death Star. Due to these lean times of downsizing and layoffs, the Death Star is no longer financially practicable in light of the recent report by Lehigh students that the star will cost $852 quadrillion. With current revenue generation from advertisements at zero, we will have to focus on other methods of seeking a competitive edge against Volokh Conspiracy, Ann Althouse and the rest.
Continue reading “Note to Bloggers: The Turley Blog Death Star To Be Shelved”
We have previously discussed the abusive tenure of former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and his unethical conduct in conjunction with Sheriff Joe Arpaio. In a triumph of ethical ethics, a three-member disciplinary panel of the Arizona Supreme Court has now issued a 247-page opinion (below) disbarring Thomas and one of his former deputies, Lisa Aubuchon, as well as suspending another former deputy county attorney (Rachael R. Alexander) for six months and a day for prosecutorial abuse. In the action, the Arizona Bar not only upheld the integrity of its membership of lawyers but all lawyers. In response, Thomas has denounced the decision and compared himself to Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. The bar seems to have a different image in mind. It began its analysis with this quote from Proverbs 12:15–17: “The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice. A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult. A truthful witness gives honest testimony, but a false witness tells lies.”
Continue reading “Former Maricopa County Attorney Thomas Disbarred; Compares Himself To Gandhi”
This morning’s gem from Vice President Joe Biden is his declaration that Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., is a “leading legal scholar.” It just goes to show that you can do great thing if you believe “I’m good enough. I’m smart enough. And doggone it, people like me.”
Continue reading “Biden: Al Franken Is A “Leading Legal Scholar””
A former student of mine sent me this disturbing story about students at Jack Robey Junior High School in Pine Bluff being pepper-sprayed when they failed to go to their classes fast enough after lunch. One mother says that her daughter suffered a severe allergic reaction to the spray.
The State Bar of California is seeking the disbarment of Linda Nell Lowney, 54, an attorney accused of taking advantage of an ailing and elderly client thirty years her senior. Lowney was the attorney for Thor Tollefsen in handling his estate planning. However, she switched from Thor’s hammer to his hubby in 2006. Thor’s relatives in Norway allege that Lowney proceeded to take his money and effectively abandon him. He died later in a nursing home. The bar investigators agreed and recommended disbarment.