The application of Sharia law in countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran has supplied this blog with a steady stream of cases involving stonings and censorship. Now, Israel’s Justice Minister Yaacov Neeman wants the country to adopt its own religious book, the Torah, as the basis for the country’s laws.
Continue reading “Justice Minister Calls For Israel to Adopt Torah Law As The Governing Rules for the Nation”
Category: Bizarre
Oregon is preparing to try yet another child death case related to the Followers of Christ in Oregon City, a group of faith healers with a long record of dead children. The group was part of the focus of a recent column on the prosecution of parents for faith-based neglect. Jeff and Marci Beagley are mentioned in the column and are now challenging the criminal neglect statute as vague and raising free exercise of religion claims to block their prosecution for the death of Neil Beagley, 15.
Continue reading “Suffer Not The Children: Faith-Healing Parents Charged in Death of Teenager”
The Bush Administration repeatedly denied that there were missing emails and later insisted that any emails that were missing could not be found. Now, 22 million missing White House e-mails have been found, according to two public interest groups who reached a settlement over the records. I discussed the issue on this segment of MSNBC Countdown.
Continue reading “You’ve Got Mail . . . A Lot of Mail: 22 Million Missing E-Mails From Bush Administration Found”
This video is simply incredible. During a television debate on global warming, Henrik Svensmark was hit by a heart attack.
Russell Vanderwerf, 44, has presented the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) with a bit of dilemma. He is charged with disabling the fire alarm system and damaging property at a Residence Inn in Metairie, Louisiana. However, the case could lead to litigation over what is an employee’s personal affairs and what is a basis for personal action.
Continue reading “High-Ranking ATF Officer Arrested in Bizarre Hotel Damage Case”
There is an interesting science story out this week that could raise legal issues as to risk of radiation for airline passengers. A new study at the Florida Institute of Technology, University of California, Santa Cruz and the University of Florida found that passengers could be exposed to a radiation dose equal to that from 400 chest X-rays if their airplane is near the start of a lightning discharge or related phenomena known as a terrestrial gamma ray flash.
Continue reading “Study: Airline Passengers May Be Exposed to Harmful Levels of Radiation From Storms”
Ohio officer Ken Roth doesn’t need no stinking radar guns, he has speed-calibrated hearing. Well, he did until the Ohio Court of Appeals ruled that a motorist cannot be convicted based solely on what Roth said he “heard” as speeding.
Continue reading “An Ear For Crime: Ohio Appellate Court Rules that Officer Cannot Issue Speeding Tickets Based on Sound Alone”
Larry Flynt has won a jury verdict in a four-day trial over his nephew’s violation of his trademark and invasion of his privacy. Flynt prevailed on the trademark case. One of the more interesting aspects of the trial was Flynt’s admission that (while his company is worth many millions of dollars) he fired his brother and his nephews’ father, Jimmy Flynt Sr.,to help pay for the costs of suing his sons.
Continue reading “Skin Flynt: Jury Rules In Favor of Hustler Owner in Dispute With Nephews”
Daniel Noble, 31, has a novel defense after he was caught by Washington State University Police after speeding down a country road and hitting two people while wearing only pajamas and flip flops (in 5 degree weather) — he was over-caffeinated.
Continue reading “Starbucks Psychosis: Washington Man Claims Caffeine Induced Hysterin”
By last count, we were roughly 25 votes out of first place in the ABA competition. Twenty-five votes stand between us and ever-lasting glory. Who among us can now claim that we have done enough when we are mocked from across the Internet?
Continue reading “Flog the Blog: A Call to Arms for the Greatest Blogging Generation”
Despite my work with older prisoners at the Project for Older Prisoners (POPS), you sometimes find people that buck the trend and commit crimes late in life. Police say that Laura Lundquist is one such “later bloomer.” She is 98 years old and accused of killing her 100-year-old roommate Elizabeth Barrow (shown here) in Massachusetts at the Brandon Woods Nursing Home.
Continue reading “Ninety-Eight-Year-Old Woman Kills 100-Year-Old Roommate in Massachusetts”
While Thomas the Tank Engine may be a capitalist stooge (here), one train employee has become a proletarian hero. A London Underground or tube announcer had some unconventional advice for riders recently: if they are frustrated with the service they might want to consider suicide as an option.
Continue reading “Railing Against the Bosses: London Train Announcer Suggests Suicide as Option for Travelers”
Professor Shauna Wilton and colleagues at the Department of Social Sciences Research at the University of Alberta have made a disturbing discovery: Thomas the Tank Engine appears to be a vehicle used to implant a “conservative political ideology” in our children. This is the liberal version of the campaign against Purple Teletubby Tinky Winky by Jerry Falwell as sending hidden gay messages. The professor, however, may find proletarian values in another railway, the London underground: here.
Continue reading “Thomas the Capitalist Stooge: Professor Finds Dark Messages in Children’s Series”
A recent study found that as much as three-fourths of the state schools were holding back the most talented and brightest students because they wanted to combat the scourge of “elitism.” These students were not being given more advanced work even though they were not being sufficiently challenged by grade-level material.
Federal prosecutors allege that high school drug counselor was a bit too close to his subject. They have charged the intervention specialist with conspiracy to distribute and distribution of oxycodone.
Continue reading “High School Drug Counselor Arrested For Drug Dealing”