Category: Bizarre

The Lupe Vélez Defense: Husband Faces Second Trial Over Toilet Murder

Toilet DrowningWisconsin prosecutors are considering perjury charges against their own witness in the prior murder trial of Douglas Plude, 42, in Wisconsin while planning a new trial that will seek conviction on the basis of a new expert on alleged use of a toilet as a murder weapon.
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International Blasphemy: The Free World Bars Free Speech

stone-1Here my column in Sunday’s Washington Post on the increasing prosecutions in the West for insulting religion. The rise of international blasphemy prosecutions (and the proposal of the international criminalization of blasphemy) has sacrificed free speech in the name of free exercise.

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Can You Hear Me Now? Texas Police Officer Breaks Nose of Deaf Man Who Did Not Follow Orders

0408stop_0019-t240A Fort Worth, Texas police officer broke the nose of a deaf man when he failed to heed warnings at a routine traffic stop. As shown in the video below, Christopher Ferrell, 43, was reaching for his card explaining that he was deaf when Officer J.A. Miller slammed him into his car.

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Michele, Michele, How Does Your Garden Grow?

180px-gntvegcart225px-michelle_obama_official_portrait_headshotMichelle Obama’s garden must go or she needs to add some good American chemicals. That appears to be the view of chemical and agricultural companies who view her organic garden as a threat to the nation’s agricultural industry. Lobbyists and corporate officials have been peering over the fence in worry and disgust as the First Lady plants a dangerous seed in the minds of Americans.

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Frozen Assets: Court To Decide Distribution of Bullmastiff Semen as Estate Asset

800px-bravehearts_sampsonFamily Court Judge Cheryl Matthews had a logical question when Anthony and Karen Scully appeared in his court with a lingering estate asset question left over from their divorce: “Am I Being Punk’d?” The court and lawyers were presented with the rather novel question of who gets the frozen semen of AKC-registered bullmastiffs Cyrus, Regg and Romeo. The frozen semen is worth thousands of dollars and, while their six dogs were divided with the rest of the estate, the lawyers are set to go to trial on assets.

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Crucifixion Day: Dozens of Filipinos Flogged and Crucified For the Glory of God

default2It is crucifixion day again in the Philippines as dozens of Catholics allowed themselves to be nailed to crosses as people cheered every nail pounded into their hands. A far greater number of devotees beat themselves bloody with whips to experience the torments of Christ.
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No Duty to Rescue Rule: Court Holds That New York Transit Workers Had No Obligation To Help Woman Being Raped in Station

180px-south_ferryUnder the common law, one of the more controversial rules is the “no duty to rescue rule” that says that, if you were not responsible for placing someone in danger or risk, you have no obligation to help them even when it would cost little to save their life. A New York judge has shown how far this rule extends in clearing two transit employees would did nothing but call their superiors while a woman was raped in their station.

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Legal Forecast: Overcast With a Chance of Falling Bodies

125px-flag_of_russiasvgChina's flagIn the same week as a teenager who was injured at a mall by a falling suicide jumper, bodies are also flying in Russia and China in an expanding area of body torts. In Russia, a man repeatedly through himself out of a high window without success while in China a teenager was hit by a flying corpse.

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Better Wright Than Wong: Texas Legislator Wants Asian-Americans to Adopt Names That Are Easier to Pronounce

bettybrownTexas State Rep. Betty Brown (R) finally hit on the problem that she has with Asian people: they are just a bit too . . . well . . . Asian — at least in terms of their names. Brown has caused a firestorm in suggesting that Asian-Americans change their names so that “Americans” can pronounce them.

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Alaska Legislators Demand Apology to Stevens And Federal Lawsuit

225px-ted_stevens Former Sen. Ted Stevens (R., Alaska) and his allies are continuing their implausible campaign to rehabilitate the disgraced Senator and portray the Justice Department’s gross negligence as a vindication of the ethically challenged Stevens. Alaskan legislators in the House passed a resolution demanding not only an apology from the federal government but a lawsuit to recoup his fees and costs in defending himself.

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Teenager Hurt After Suicide Jumper Lands On Top of Him at New York Mall

300px-nordstrom_wing_far_pentagon_city_mallThere is an interesting potential torts case in New York. A woman in her fifties apparently decided to commit suicide at a Mall by jumping from an upper level. She landed on 17-year-old Derrick MuInoz who was knocked unconscious and suffered a large gash on his head.

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Egyptian Court Bans Literature Journal For Publishing Blasphemous Poem

EgyptA respected literature journal, Ibdaa (or Creativity) has been banned by an Egyptian court for publishing blasphemous poem by poet Helmi Salem that compared God to a villager who feeds ducks and milks cows. It is only the latest crackdown on poets who have used the Koran or references to God in artistic ways.

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