Category: Bizarre

Bizarre, International, Politics, Society

Majority of Nobel Committee Reportedly Objected to Awarding Obama Prize

225px-official_portrait_of_barack_obamanobel-medal_thumbnail_0Various people, including civil libertarians, have criticized the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama given his expansion on Bush policies and his opposition to war crimes investigations. Others have criticized the fact that he was nominated after less than two weeks in office and selected after less than a year in office. Now, it appears that the majority of the Nobel committee had the same objections and had rejected him for the award.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Society

Pee-Wee Football Coach Reportedly Gave Police Officer Cellphone with Bestiality Image — Leading to Discovery of Hundreds of Child Porn Images

raymond+travisThe same day that a Wisconsin man was arrested after a bartender found child pornography on his cellphone (here), a Tennessee man and Pee-Wee football league coach, Raymond Travis, 51, was arrested after he handed over a cellphone to police containing bestiality pictures.
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Bizarre, Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, International, Justice, Lawyering, Media, Military, Politics, Religion, Society

Obama Moves to Change Law to Avoid Supreme Court Ruling on Withheld Detainee Photos

225px-official_portrait_of_barack_obamatorture -abu ghraibPresident BarackN Obama, the world’s newest Nobel peace laureate, is again expanding on the policies of former President George Bush and fighting to conceal evidence of U.S. torture and abuse. As did the Bush Administration, the Obama Administration is seeking to change the law after courts rejected its absurd argument that the President can withhold photos of detainee abuse simply because they are embarrassing to the United States. Democrats in Congress are assisting in the effort to try to stop the Supreme Court from considering the issue by preempting the litigation.

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Bizarre, Politics, Society

Canadian Trucker Fined for Smoking in a Workplace: His Own Truck

180px-Red_truck_USAcigaretteWhile we recently discussed criticism of the evolving “nanny state” in England, it appears that Canada may also have a degree of runaway paternalistic regulations. Truck driver Brad Weber, 44, was fined recently for smoking in his workplace. Of course, his workplace is the cab of his truck, which he owns and operates alone.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Society

Wisconsin Man Arrested After Leaving Cellphone at Bar Containing Child Pornography

aaron_kleinAaron R. Klein, 24, of Brookfield, Wisconsin may spend a number of years in prison for what began as an unpaid bar bill. Klein was unable to pay his bar tab and agreed to leave his cellphone as security at the bar. When the bartender opened the phone to find Klein’s telephone number, he discovered child pornography.
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Bizarre, Criminal law, Society

Burrito Bomb: South Carolina Charges Teen with Throwing Deadly Missile at Car

1014092inside1South Carolina police have charged a 15-year-old boy with the serious offense of throwing a deadly missile at a moving car. The missile was a burrito. Driver John Addie says that a hard object (possibly a bottle) hit his car before the burrito came through his window.
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Bizarre, Criminal law, Politics, Society, Torts

Detroit’s $18.5 Million Solitaire Game

180px-KPatienceDetroit has long held the reputation as one of the worst run cities in the nation, particularly with its top politicians continually the subject of corruption scandals and criminal indictments, here. Now, an internal report has revealed that the city spent more than $18.5 million on an in-car computer system that is so poorly designed and used that investigators found that “its most common use today is a platform to play solitaire.”

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Society, Torts

The Scales of Justice: Oregon Man Pleads Guilty to Fish Murder

260xStory180px-Betta_splendens_paleIt appears that Oregon police take fish murder more seriously than Texas police. We previously saw how police declined to charge a woman who fried and ate her ex-husband’s pet fish, here. Now, Donald Earl Fite III has pleaded guilty to stabbing Sarah Harris’ pet betta (Siamese fighting) fish, DeLorean, to death when she (inexplicably) declined to resume her relationship with him. DeLorean was found at the crime scene on the wooden floor with a knife in its back.
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Academia, Bizarre, Criminal law, Society

Eagle Scout Suspended for Having 2-Inch Pocketknife Locked in Car

293499_GThe same week as the horrendous story of a six-year-old cub scout being suspended and sent to reform school for bringing his cub scout mess kit to eat lunch (here), New York educators have added another ridiculous case out of the “zero tolerance” madness gripping schools. Matthew Whalen is a 17-year-old senior at Lansingburgh High School who has just completed basic training to be a soldier. He kept a 2-inch keychain pocketknife locked in his car with other camping equipment. When the school learned about the knife, they suspended him and, when he appealed, they added 15 days for the Eagle Scout.
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Bizarre, Lawyering, Society, Torts

The Wedding Crasher: Women Sues Bride’s Brother and Hyatt for Fall at Wedding

200px-Wedding_crashers_posterThanks to one of my torts students, we have another interesting “dram shop” case. In New Jersey, Christine Mancision has filed a lawsuit after she was hurt by the drunken brother of the bride, Mary Graeber, at a wedding. James Graeber apparently is well named. He grabbed Mancision on the dance floor and ultimately knocked her down, causing her to break her wrist and requiring the insertion of a metal plate to reconstruct the wrist. However, she is not just suing Graeber but Hyatt Hotels Corp. for another $1 million in damages under New Jersey’s “dram shop” law.
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Bizarre, Society, Torts

Question of the Day: Are Farmers Liable for Cows Falling From Great Heights?

black-and-white-cow-3As anyone who has taken my torts class can attest, I collect bizarre torts cases, often falling body cases and res ipsa loquitur cases. One appears to have gotten away a few years ago that a current student just sent in. Charles Everson Jr. and his wife Linda barely escaped injury when a cow fell out of the sky and landed on the hood of their moving minivan. What is most amazing is that I can actually top this story in the airborne bovine category.

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Bizarre, Courts, Lawyering, Society

Attorney Orly Taitz Fined $20,000 for Frivolous “Birther” Litigation

orly2The bill is in for Orly Taitz, the California lawyer leading the “Birther” litigation: $20,000 for sanctionable conduct. U.S. District Court Judge Clay Land previously issued a stern warning to attorney Orly Taitz and others in the so-called “birther” campaign: do not file another such “frivolous” lawsuit or you will face sanctions. Land threw out the lawsuit filed on behalf of Capt. Connie Rhodes who is an Army surgeon challenging her deployment orders due to President Barack Obama’s alleged ineligibility to serve as President. Land (a Bush appointee) noted that “[u]nlike in ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ simply saying something is so does not make it so.” In the most recent order, Land said that Taitz’s conduct “borders on delusional.”

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