Category: Bizarre

Mumpsimus: Merriam-Webster Taunts Trump With Definition Of Obsessional Stubborn Person

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.”

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“Don’t Do It”: Author Calls For People To Stop Wearing Red Hats To Avoid Traumatizing The “Disenfranchised”

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.

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Manafort Spotted In Video Of Nickelodeon Game Show

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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“Sharpiegate”: Trump Ridiculed For Altered Hurricane Forecast

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.

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Riddikulus! Catholic Pastor Bans Harry Potter Books Because They Contain “Actual Curses and Spells”

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.

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New Photos Show British Hunters Who Came To South Africa And Killed Hundreds Of Baboons and Monkeys

 Trophy hunter Alan Nicholson smiles as he holds up the corpse of the baboon he killed
Trophy hunter Alan Nicholson smiles as he holds up the corpse of the baboon he killed
Credit: Facebook

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.

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“I Don’t Know Why You Are Freaking Out”: Woman Drowns As 911 Operator Tells Her To Calm Down

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.

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Montana Judge Orders Men To Wear Shaming Signs For Claiming To Be Veterans

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.

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NYPD Looks For Teenagers Who Beat 67-Year-Old Woman With Her Own Cane

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.

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Rockefeller University Moves To Redesign The “Dude Wall” After Rachel Maddow Remarks [Updated]

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.

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Texas Man Arrested After Ice Cream Licking Video

We have been discussing the disgusting trend of people filming themselves licking ice cream and then returned the tubs to the freezer for some unsuspecting person to buy. The prank has caused huge losses for stores and ice cream makers. There is an interesting twist on this story out of Port Arthur, Texas where authorities have charged D’Adrien Anderson, 24, with the crime. Anderson has produced a receipt showing that he purchased the ice cream but, under Texas law, it does not matter.

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ISIS Terrorist Killed By Drone Bomb After A Low Battery Charge Caused Drone To Return Home

Always check your batteries. There is a report out of the United Kingdom that an ISIS terrorist rigged a drone as a bomb only to kill himself. The reason? The terrorist failed to fully charge the drone which ran low in mid flight so it returned to its base automatically –detonating over the head of the terrorist.

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Deterring Crime Through Crime: Man Robs Store Only To Find Someone Stole His Getaway Car

Police in Kennewick, Washington may have reached a curious equilibrium point for crime. They received a call around 6 am from William Kelley to report that someone had stolen his red, 1992 Chevy pick-up. When the police reviewed the tape, they concluded that the truck was stolen when Kelley went across the street to rob a business.

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