To paraphrase, Sarah Palin: you know the difference between a pit bull and a Hockey Dad? A laser, apparently. In Boston, Joseph Cordes, 42, has been arrested for allegedly sitting in the stands with a laser that he was using to blind the goalie of his daughter’s opposing hockey team. His daughter was playing for Winthrop against Medway-Ashland in the Division 1 preliminary game when a parent spotted him with the laser. He has now been charged with disorderly conduct.
Category: Bizarre
While strapped to a chair in a padded cell in Steuben County (Indiana) jail, Thomas Mars Willis, 32, spit on a guard’s wrist. He has now been sentenced to two years for that act after a jury found him guilty of felony battery by bodily waste.
Continue reading “Inmate Gets Two Years For Spitting On Guard”
Scott Lupien insists that he is the ultimate conservationist. According to the article below, Lupien, an American fluent in Chinese, takes wealthy Chinese to Canada where they can see magnificent Polar bears up close . . . and kill them and turn them into rugs. The , Lupien is a professional hunter who is “teaching the Chinese about conservation” by leading trips to shoot down male polar bears. He insists that his customers respect nature: “Each hunter is allowed to kill one male only. We then turn them into rugs.” On his website, however, Lupien says that the story is false raising an interesting question of potential defamation.
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) has called on Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke to sue Rush Limbaugh for calling her a “slut” and a “prostitute” on his radio show. Hoyer insists that the reprehensible comments are also actionable libel. He is half right.
Continue reading “Bad Advice: Hoyer Encourages Fluke To Sue Limbaugh For Defamation”
China has found its answer to Survivor. Emphasizing a strength, the latest television sensation is Interviews Before Execution where condemned prisoners breakdown in confessions before being led off to be executed.
Continue reading “[Non] Survivor: China’s New Hit Show Features Condemned Prisoners In Last Moments”
The Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin has reported a theft. Nothing new there. However, the item is not one of the golden chalices or crosses that are often targeted by thieves. Someone stole the preserved heart of St. Laurence O’Toole (also known as Lorcán Ua Tuathail).
Continue reading “Heartless: Thief Steals The Heart of St. Laurence O’Toole”
Japanese researchers can finally claim to have invented a device that has left their colleagues speechless. Kazutaka Kurihara of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, and Koji Tsukada of Ochanomizu University, have created a “SpeechJammer” gun that can silence people by sending back their words to them to confuse their cognitive processes. I really need to get one of these for faculty meetings.
Continue reading “Unspeakable Science: Japanese Scientists Invent Speech-Jamming Device”
A statement that Rick Santorum made recently is attracting more attention this month as the Republican primary continues to drill down on conservative social issues, particularly same-sex marriage. At the end of December, Santorum pledged he will push through an amendment to the Constitution banning same-sex marriage — nothing new there. However, he is also asserting that the amendment would be retroactive and nullify prior same-sex marriages –estimated to be more than 131,000.
Submitted by Gene Howington, Guest Blogger
Is an opinion defamation? Is it defamation if it is worn on a t-shirt? Is it defamation if you post a picture of yourself wearing said t-shirt on Facebook? Is the manufacturer liable for civil damages a purchaser of their t-shirt incurred since they wrote the content later found defamatory? An unusual case in Spain raises these questions and more.
A woman in Madrid, Spain is certainly perplexed by a court ruling that found her guilty of a “dignitary tort”. She was sentenced and initially ordered to pay 2,000 euros ( ≈ $2640) in damages and a 240 euro-fine ( ≈ $317), but the court later reduced the damages on appeal to 1,000 euros ( ≈ $1320) and eight days of house arrest in lieu of the fine. Adding insult to injury, the claimant – her ex-husband – asked that the damages be paid in installments to supplement his 700 euro per month income ( ≈ $924 per month).
This is a cause of action here is one we do not have an exact analogy for in the United States, but defamation is close. Historically, the primary dignitary torts recognized in English and subsequently American law are battery, assault, and false imprisonment. These torts still exist under modern American tort law, but they also have criminal law counterparts because they contain elements of violence. Under modern jurisprudence, the term dignitary torts is more closely associated with defamation (slander and libel), false light, intentional infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy, and alienation of affections. In some jurisdictions, the use of the phrase “dignitary torts” is limited to those torts which do not require the threat of or actual physical injury. What was required in the present Spanish case was that the statement in question insulted someone’s dignity and effectively damaged that person’s reputation.
What did this woman do to merit this punishment? She posted a picture of herself to Facebook wearing a t-shirt with a slogan on it. Her boyfriend bought it for her while they were on vacation. It’s the kind of “gag t-shirt” commonly sold around the world. What did the shirt say that was so offensive? I’ll tell you below the fold.
By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
A disturbing report from the NFL released on Friday charges that the coaching staff of the New Orleans Saints tolerated and encouraged a bounty system designed to violently remove opposing players from the game. The bounties ranged from $1,000.00 for putting an opponent out of the game to $1,500.00 for a “cart off.” A “cart off” being injuring an opponent so severely that he would have to literally be physically helped to leave the field of play.
In 2009, the Saints were the league’s poster boy for “feel good football.” Following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, the Saints were credited with boosting the spirits of New Orleans and providing the impetus to rebuild. Indeed, it may have been the only institution in the storm ravaged town actually functioning as intended. It’s Super Bowl win for the 2009 season after decades of frustration as the league’s laughing-stock, was seen as a vindication of the power of sport to unite a community and help it over come adversity. It’s diminutive quarterback, Drew Brees, was seen as a national hero for his laudable efforts to restore some civic pride to the devastated city. But behind all the glory was a dark secret that permeated the team and could topple its legacy.
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
Wasilla Alaska, the hometown of ex half-governor Sarah Palin, is in the news again. Artists Jim Dault and Shala Dobson were commissioned to create an outdoor sculpture for Wasilla High School. The $100,000 work of art is entitled “The Warrior Within” and is pictured on the left.
The problem? Some parents and students think it looks like … girlie parts.
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
Simon Beck spends between 5 and 9 hours creating these magnificent snow patterns. To see more, click here.
A campaign to pressure Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., is well underway, but it is not the usual parade of industry lobbyists that run feral in the halls of Congress. Rather, Camp is facing demands that he pressure his adviser Aharon Friedman to grant a Jewish “get” to his wife who wants to divorce him. Jewish community members are seeking to pressure Friedman by pressuring Camp, but is that an appropriate matter for a Member of Congress or any employer?
Continue reading “Should A House Member Force An Aide To Grant A Jewish “Get”?”
John Hockenjos, 55, is a New York man accused of trying to run over a Brooklyn officer with his car. The officer claimed that Hockenjos tried to run him over — a claim strikingly familiar to past cases that we have discussed. However, on this occasion, the citizen had this night-vision surveillance tape that showed that the officer lied. The felony charges have now been dropped, but there remains the question of the officer. Citizens are routinely charged criminally for making false claims to police. However, officers are rarely fired, let alone charged, in such cases.
Georgia Chief Judge David Barrett, chief judge of the Enotah Judicial Circuit, has resigned over what the district attorney called “a poor rhetorical point.” District Attorney Jeff Langley’s description may not quite capture the moment. Barrett pulled out a gun in his courtroom in the Enotah Judicial Circuit and told a women in a domestic assault case “You might as well shoot your lawyer.”