This story on the First Lady taking the kids to a Broadway show in New York has an interesting element: a warning by the Secret Service that anyone taking their picture would have their cameras confiscated. Perhaps the Secret Service General Counsel could point us to where in the Constitution and federal law the Secret Service has the authority to ban photographs by the public and the confiscation of cellphones and pictures to enforce the ban.
Category: Bizarre
A recently fired teacher at a Rhode Island school left a final object lesson for high school students hanging in the classroom: an effigy of President Obama. The teacher and his colleagues were fired as part of an effort to comply with accountability standards at failing schools.
Continue reading “Rhode Island Teacher Hangs Effigy of Obama in High School Classroom”
This is an amazing video. A truck (lorry) in Yorkshire first hits a car and then speeds down the highway while the driver appears clueless that he has added a Renault and screaming driver to his load. Why does this video seem so appropriate on the morning after the health care bill’s passage? Continue reading “Video: Truck Pushes Car Down Highway at 60 MPH”
We have been following Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s plan to use the controversial “deem and pass” tactic to pass the health care bill to help members avoid accountability for voting for the unpopular Senate bill. Now, after a week of widespread condemnations, Pelosi has backed down and said that there will be a straight vote.
Continue reading “Pelosi Passes on Deem and Pass”
It appears that Lebanese talk show host Ali Hussain Sibat is again facing death for sorcery in Saudi Arabia. A court in Medina reaffirmed his conviction despite being reversed earlier by the court of appeals. He was convicted of claiming to be able to predict the future on his show, which is treated as a form of witchcraft in the Kingdom.
Continue reading “Saudi Arabian Court Re-Sentences Television Host to Death for Sorcery”
In the midst of apologizing for abuses of children by Catholic priests, Pope Benedict XVI used his public comments to blame liberal secularism for threatening the Church and society. The Pope appears to be joining former Prime Minister Tony Blair and other leaders (here and here) campaigning against the scourge of seclurism — even as he apologizes for the widespread abuses of his church. It is astonishing to watch the expanding campaign against secularists, a rather unlikely group for villification. It appears that the scandal of pedophilic priests is only a distraction from the real threat to society — people who want society guided by civic rather than religious principles.
Continue reading “Pope: The Real Threat is the Scourge of Secularism”
Dutch officials have expressed outrage at the statements by retired U.S. General John J. Sheehan blaming the Srebrenica massacre on the presence of gay soldiers in their Army. The former NATO Commander testified that he was told that the presence of the gay soldiers was a significant contributor to the troops being captured without a serious fight.
Continue reading “General Sheehan: Srebrenica Massacre Due in Part To Gays In Dutch Military”
The Indian Army is turning to native cuisine for combat. The army has decided to use its infamous bhut jolokia pepper — the hottest in the world — as the basis for a new grenade. The Chili grenade explodes in a cloud of pepper — leaving people blind and gasping for hours. It is known as the Ghost Pepper in the West and urban legends say it can be lethal.
Continue reading “Combat Cuisine: India Develops Chili Grenade”
A recent decision by Indiana Judge Roland Chamblee Jr. may have citizens lining up in white robes to get out of jury duty. Chamblee excused Railton Loy from jury duty after he told the court that he is the Imperial Wizard of the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and could only be fair to white folks.
Continue reading “Blind But Not Hooded Justice: Court Dismisses Imperial Wizard From Jury Duty”
Various conservative scholars and legislators are lining up to file suit if the health bill passes on a “self-executing” rule. As I stated earlier, I believe the tactic violates the principles of good government but not the Constitution. However, this could be an interesting challenge and could raise a couple of novel questions. I will be discussing this issue on tonight’s Countdown.
Continue reading “Deem, Pass, and Sue: Lawsuits Prepared To Challenge Deem and Pass”
The New York Police Department has apologized to an elderly couple for targeting their home at least 50 times since 2002. Police say that it was due to computer glitch when the address of Walter and Rose Martin’s Brooklyn home was used in a test of the department’s computer system.
Continue reading “New York Police Targets Elderly Couple’s Home 50 Times Since 2002”
The Boy Scouts of America are accused of engaging in a cover-up of abuse that is reminiscent of the Catholic Church. In a Portland, Oregon court, long undisclosed files have been discovered (over the objections of the Scouts) that reveal numerous such cases of abuse. The Scouts reportedly called the documents “the perversion files.”
Continue reading ““The Perversion Files”: Trial Reveals Secret Files on Alleged Child Abuse in the Scouts”
Be careful about swatting that mosquito — it may be trying to save your life. Japanese scientists believe that they have created a “prototype mosquito” that will give “flying vaccinations” for things like malaria.
Continue reading “A Pest for a Doctor: Scientists Engineer Mosquitos To Give Vaccinations”
Paul Warner Powell could be the first man put to death in part for sheer cockiness. Powell was convicted in a second trial of the murder and attempted rape of Stacie Reed, 16. The evidence against him included a letter that he wrote to prosecutors mocking them with admissions of his crime after he assumed that he could not be tried again for the crime after a reversal.
Baltimore County District Court Judge Darrell Russell Jr. is under intense criticism this week after he stopped a non-jury trial to perform a wedding ceremony in his chambers for defendant Frederick Wood and his girlfriend. They then promptly invoked spousal immunity in the domestic violence case to prevent the state from calling the wife to testify against her newly minted husband. Russell has been reassigned to reviewing motions in civil cases in chambers pending investigation.