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]”
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.
Continue reading “Texas Man Arrested After Ice Cream Licking Video”
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.
Continue reading “ISIS Terrorist Killed By Drone Bomb After A Low Battery Charge Caused Drone To Return Home”
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.
Continue reading “Deterring Crime Through Crime: Man Robs Store Only To Find Someone Stole His Getaway Car”Police in Sugar Land, Texas are looking for a woman who took a power saw to a Botox clinic to steal anti-aging products. She arrived in a luxury SUV like a Mercedes-born Maleficent in search of eternal youth.
Continue reading “Wanted: Aging Woman With Power Saw, Mercedes SUV, And Botox”
At the G7 meeting, President Donald Trump enlisted First Lady Melania Trump to vouch for his view that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is a person with “tremendous potential” after spending time with him. The problem is that the First Lady has never met Kim Jong Un, as the White House later embarrassingly admitted. It was a signature moment for the President who has been struggling to convince people that he never suggested nuking hurricanes despite multiple alleged sources saying that he raised the idea repeatedly. The problem is really not the importance of the First Lady vouching for Kim Jong Un or even nuking hurricanes, the problem is that Trump has made so many false statements (including statements contradicted on videotape) that it is no longer possible to simply take his word for it that he never raised the truly insane idea of nuking hurricanes. It is amazing how Trump’s denial did not seem to have any real impact on the coverage. The credibility bill has come due for the President.
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By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
The innocent days of only finding tarantulas stolen away in banana crates seemingly came to an end when several grocery stores in Washington State received shipments of bananas packed with cocaine.
Safeway stores in Bellingham, Woodinville, and Federal Way received the shipments reportedly worth over one million dollars.
Continue reading “Yes, We Have Coke & Bananas: Grocery Stores Receive 100 Pounds of Cocaine in Banana Shipments”
Criminal law took a giant leap this week with the first alleged crime in space. While “It Came From Outer Space” was originally about aliens, Summer Worden claims it was identity theft that came from space in this sequel. She has accused her former spouse Anne McClain of illegally accessing her bank accounts from the International Space Station. This would not make McClain a “space pirate” since she is on a U.S. flagged vessel, but she would be the first confirmed space criminal if convicted.
Continue reading “One Small Step For Crime, One Giant Leap For Criminal Kind: Astronaut Accused Of Identity Theft From Space”
In what may be the single most vicious commentary that I have read in recent memory, HBO host Bill Maher said Friday that he is “glad” billionaire David Koch, a conservative activist, is dead and added that he hoped “the end was painful.” I strongly disagreed with Koch’s view of climate change and his anti-environmental stances. However, I cannot imagine saying such a thing about someone because I disagree with his heart-felt convictions. Koch was committed to a set of principles that Maher can disagree with but to celebrate a painful death is truly breathtaking.
Continue reading “Bill Maher Celebrates The Death of David Koch And Hopes That He Died In Pain”
We have previously discussed some of the more controversial cases coming before Canadian human rights commissions, which enforce vague and ever-expanding rules on hate speech and class-based insults. The latest target of a complaint is Todd, a single Dad who was looking for a babysitter for his boys aged 5 and 8. When he was contacted by an applicant, he asked the applicants age and gender. He is now facing an investigation by the Alberta Human Rights Commission into whether he violated the human rights of the applicant.
Continue reading “Single Dad Pulled Before Canadian Human Rights Commission For Asking About Age and Gender Of Babysitter”
We have previously discussed how thoughtless people can be in the treatment of animals. The latest such controversy comes from La Palmyre zoo in Royan, France. The zoo allows visitors to actually touch animals like a rhinoceros. At least two people used the access to scratch their names on to the back of the animal. “Camille” and “Julien” can now live in infamy.
Continue reading “French Visitors Scratch Their Names Into Back Of Rhino”
We have previously discussed how the effort to control language that has been prominent on college campuses has now spread to city and state legislation like Berkeley getting rid of “manholes” in favor of “maintanence holes.” Now San Francisco has mandated that the use of felons, offender, and criminals is no longer correct. Instead, a convicted felon will now be referred to as a “justice-involved person” or “returning resident.” A juvenile “delinquent” will now be called a “young person impacted by the juvenile justice system.”
Continue reading “San Francisco Declares That Convicted Felons Will Now Be Called “Returning Residents” Or “Justice-Involved Persons””