Police in London have released the videotape below of a vicious attack by a cyclist on a pedestrian after having run a red light. The cyclist almost hit the man, returning later to headbutted the 57-year-old pedestrian before fleeing.
Continue reading “London Police Search For Head Butting Cyclist”
Judge V. Stuart Couch, an immigration judge, is under fire this week after he allegedly threatened a Guatemalan child that he would have a “very big dog” bite him if he did not keep quiet. Kathryn Coiner-Collier, a legal advocacy group coordinator, signed an affidavit accusing Couch of the repeated threat to the child.
Continue reading ““Do You Want Him To Bite You?”: Immigration Judge Accused Of Threatening Child With Dog Attack If He Did Not Keep Quiet”
President Donald Trump has tweeted that he has fired National Security Adviser John Bolton. Bolton however pointedly contradicted Trump and said that he resigned. What is clear is that another high-ranking Trump official is out — an astonishing turnover of such officials in a single Administration. However, few are likely to object on this one given the unpopularity of Bolton in Washington, which viewed him as someone who has long advocated the use of military interventions and wars. Update: President Trump responded by saying that Bolton was indeed fired and he did not resign as he has stated.
Continue reading “Bolton Out: National Security Adviser Suggests Trump Is Lying About His Firing”
Sen. Kerry Roberts of Springfield has called for the end of higher education, which he dismisses as a “liberal breeding ground.” It is a curious view for a politician from a state with world-class universities which fuel the state’s burgeoning high tech industry and bring huge amounts of revenue in the form of tuition, support contracts and tourism. That includes Vanderbilt University, which is viewed as one of the world’s greatest universities. There is also the much beloved University of Tennessee with its statewide supporters of the Volunteers football team.
Continue reading ““Liberal Breeding Ground”: Tennessee Lawmaker Calls For The End Of Higher Education”
Merriam-Webster seems to have found the bizarre controversy over President Donald Trump’s insistence that he was right that Hurricane Dorian was on a path to hit Alabama on September 1st. Trump continues to tweet about being right while the Washington Post is reporting that, despite Trump’s denial, he was the person who altered the hurricane path map with a Sharpie. So Merriam-Webster tweeted the definition of mumpsimus, or “A stubborn person who insists on making an error in spite of being shown that it is wrong.”
Continue reading “Mumpsimus: Merriam-Webster Taunts Trump With Definition Of Obsessional Stubborn Person”
Author, Rebecca Makkai, 41, is calling for people to stop wearing red hats. Any red hats. The reason is that she believes that “disenchanchised” people are being traumatized by the color due to its use in Make American Great Again (MAGA) hats. At first I thought that this was another example of derangement in the Trump era, but, as a fellow Chicagoan, I am just assuming that Makkai has found clever way to dissuade people from wearing hats for the Cincinnati Reds and the Nats.
Continue reading ““Don’t Do It”: Author Calls For People To Stop Wearing Red Hats To Avoid Traumatizing The “Disenfranchised””
It is not uncommon for otherwise innocuous videotapes to take on a more sinister meaning with the appearance of a later notorious figure. That is the case of the rather bizarre discovery of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort in an episode of a cheesy game show on Nickelodeon called “What Would You Do?” The show features Kathleen Manafort trying to win a prize by emptying out her purse, including her husband’s wallet The host notes the excessive number of credit cards for her husband, a problem that would later become a criminal matter for Manafort. Manafort was recently convicted of bank and tax fraud after his indulgent lifestyle led to mounting debt. To answer the shows question, “what he did” was fraud and the episode caught a laughing Manafort at the very time that he was courting some of the world’s more blood-soaked figures to pay for those cards.
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Fox News joined other networks yesterday in ridiculing a truly bizarre moment from the Oval Office where Trump appeared to show a forecast map of Hurricane Dorian with a hastily drawn extension into Alabama. Trump previously claimed that Alabama was in the hurricane’s projected path and was widely contradicted (including by federal officials). He then showed up with the map that seemed to have an extension written by a Sharpie. It was another bizarre misstep that expanded a minor story into a major embarrassment. Trump had to personally deny that he took a Sharpie to the altered map in what people are humorously calling “Sharpiegate.“
Continue reading ““Sharpiegate”: Trump Ridiculed For Altered Hurricane Forecast”
The Reverend Dan Reehill is the pastor of St. Edward Catholic School in Nashville, Tennessee and he has banned Harry Potter books because he believes that the books contain “actual curses and spells” that “risk conjuring evil spirits.” Reehill is a grown man who thinks that actual magic or evil spirits may be summoned by reading the books. Moreover, he is in charge of a school of children.
Continue reading “Riddikulus! Catholic Pastor Bans Harry Potter Books Because They Contain “Actual Curses and Spells””
As regulars on this blog know, I am no fan of such trophy hunts. British hunters came to South Africa with more of a massacre in mind. South Africans helped the hunters mow down 500 baboons and monkeys over a 30-year period. While the fun of shooting monkeys for pure blood lust ended two years ago, new photos show how hunters brought their children to wantonly kill the animals.
Continue reading “New Photos Show British Hunters Who Came To South Africa And Killed Hundreds Of Baboons and Monkeys”
Heather Elaine Garcia, 38, (above) is the subject of a curious charge in Davis County, Utah. Garcia is charged with impersonating her daughter to avoid arrest on outstanding charges after a routine traffic stop.
Continue reading “Utah Mother Arrested After Impersonating Daughter At Traffic Stop”
In a horrific recording, a 911 dispatcher dismisses the cries of panic by Debbie Stevens, 47, (above) as her car fills with water in Fort Smith Arkansas. At one point, the dispatcher, Donna Reneau, says “I don’t know why you are freaking out.” Stevens explained that she was afraid of dying and kept apologizing. She later drowned in the car waiting for rescue.
Continue reading ““I Don’t Know Why You Are Freaking Out”: Woman Drowns As 911 Operator Tells Her To Calm Down”
I have previously written about the rise of shaming punishments in the United States in both blogs (here and here and here and here and here) and columns (here and here). We can now add Cascade County District Judge Greg Pinski in Montana who crafted his own flavor of justice by requiring Ryan Patrick Morris, 28, and Troy Allan Nelson, 33, to wear signs reading “I am a liar. I am not a veteran. I stole valor. I have dishonored all veterans.” As always, such punishments are hugely popular with people but they are also, in my view, high damaging to the legal system.
Continue reading “Montana Judge Orders Men To Wear Shaming Signs For Claiming To Be Veterans”
We have yet another shocking videotape released by police of a mob of teenagers beating down a defenseless person. This attack occurred in Queens, New York where teenagers jumped from a late model Nissan Ultima and beat a 67-year-old woman with her own cane while taunting and laughing at her.
Continue reading “NYPD Looks For Teenagers Who Beat 67-Year-Old Woman With Her Own Cane”
We have previously discussed how universities are removing portraits of their founders or their most accomplished figures because they are white males. The latest such example is Rockefeller University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute where neurobiologist Leslie Vosshall announced that a wall displaying portraits of the winners of the prestigious winners of the Nobel Prize and the Lasker Award must be changed. The problem is that they are the wrong race and gender so a committee is expected to order the design of the wall. The “problem” was identified by MSNBC host Rachel Maddow who gave an award for leading female scientists and derisively referred to the portraits by asked “What is up with the dude wall?” Now the “Dude Wall” will be changed in a move that raises real concerns over the growing trend toward removing historical portraits in colleges to achieve diversity.
Continue reading “Rockefeller University Moves To Redesign The “Dude Wall” After Rachel Maddow Remarks [Updated]”