Category: Bizarre

Bizarre, Criminal law, Society

Wasted Talent: Sopranos Star Lillo Brancato Stands Trial for Murder

275px-sopranosposters2The murder trial of Lillo Brancato seems like life following fiction for the actor from the Sopranos and The Bronx Tale. Brancato, 32, is accused of killing an off-duty police officer, Daniel Enchautegui, who came upon him and his drug dealer friend, Steven Armento, breaking into an apartment. Armento shot Enchautegui, but the prosecutors are seeking to prove that Brancato knew his friend was armed and therefore shares in his guilt.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Society, Torts

“Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?”: Boy George Stands Trial for False Imprisonment

220px-boygeorge_pacha_brasil_ariadneFalse imprisonment cases are relatively rare but Boy George is standing trial in England for the false imprisonment of a male escort. In addition to the crime of false imprisonment, it is possible for Norwegian escort Audun Carlsen, 23, to sue civilly. The trial is unfolding in an appropriately named Snaresbrook Court and Boy George, 47 (whose real name is George O’Dowd) denies the charges.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Environment, Society

Report: Vicks Personally Hanged and Drowned Dogs

2549Just when you thought that football star Michael Vick’s reputation could not get any worse than after his conviction for dog fighting, it does. A new report states that Vick personally killed at least seven of his fighting dogs by hanging or drowning. The report also says that Vick failed police polygraph tests in which he denied killing animals.

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Bizarre, Lawyering, Society, Torts

Happy Meal — Hold the Consortium: Arkansas Man Sues McDonalds Over Disclosure of Wife’s Nude Photographs

180px-macdonalds_sign_in_times_squarePhillip Sherman has a super-sized problem. He went to a Fayetteville, Arkansas restaurant and left his cell phone on the table with nude pictures of his wife. While he said the store promised to hold the phone for him, the pictures and embarrassing information appears on the Internet. He is now suing McDonalds for $3 million dollars.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Politics, Society

I Write the Sentence: Judge Sentences Noise Violators to Listen to Barry Manilow

220px-barrymanilowIn what may be the first acoustic Eighth Amendment violation for cruel and unusual punishment, Fort Lupton Municipal Judge Paul Sacco has sentenced noise violators to listen to music that they do not like. I can barely stand hearing I Write the Songs once a year in an elevator. I often claw at the door to get out a floor early. On the serious side, it is the latest in a dangerous trend of novel punishments where judges appear to have sport with citizens pulled before them.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Society, Torts

Woman Sues Radio Station for “Win-a-Date” With a Rapist

6519475_600x338Waukegan radio station WXLC is being sued after having women compete to go on a date with a “great guy” Travis Harvey, 46. The radio station did not mention that Harvey had been convicted of violating an order for protection. He has now pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the “winner” in the contest, a 24-year-old who went on the date in February 2007.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Politics, Society

New Chinese Music Standard: All Beat and No Lyrics

250px-download_feastival_2006_-1The Chinese regime is perfectly happy with sex, guns, and rock ‘n roll. However, it has banned the latest Guns N’ Roses album for one word that is strictly forbidden for Chinese consumers to contemplate, let alone dance to: democracy. The Chinese have banned the new album, “Chinese Democracy” for its offensive content. Here is your Zen for the morning: if a billion Chinese dance to Chinese Democracy, but do not officially hear it– does it make a sound?

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Academia, Bizarre, Politics, Society

Elected Officials Score Lower on Civics Tests Than Average Citizens (Who Score Lower than Basic Condiments)

220px-constitution_pg1of4_acAmerican elected officials showed a shocking lack of knowledge about government, history, and basic constitutional principles in a national survey. They scored a failing grade of just 44 percent on a basic test of knowledge of our nation in a quiz by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI). Average citizens scored 49 percent. Note: many of these people scored less than a random or blind selection of answers — quite an achievement.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Religion, Society

Smokin’ Sharia: Men Sentenced to Prison for Lighting Up During Ramadan

250px-zwei_zigarettenAlgeria’s highest court (in a country supposedly committed to secular values) has imposed prison sentences on three men caught smoking during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. In a purported triumph of the rule of law, the Algiers appeals court reduced the prison sentence from three years to two months. However, the men were still convicted for “offending religion.”

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Bizarre, Religion, Society

North Carolina Church Demands Sikh Remove Turban Before Donating to the Poor

180px-sikh_wearing_turbanGary Khera, went with his wife to the Union Mission in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina to give money to charity. The church, however, told him to take off his religious turban while inside the mission — Sir, you have to take your turban off. This is the United States. The Church stands by the demand that religious headwear have the same status as a baseball cap. A typical turban, or dastar, (as shown left) should not be removed by a religious Sikh.
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Bizarre, Society, Torts

Quadruple Amputee Sues Brooklyn Hospital Center for Malpractice Leading to Loss of All Limbs

logoTabitha Mullings is suing Brooklyn Hospital Center after a “medical mistake” allegedly led to the loss of all of her limbs during a visit over a simple kidney stone. Mullings was sent home with painkillers, leaving an infection untreated due to the failure to have a blood test performed. She collapsed in a matter of days into a semi-coma, only to wake without any arms or legs.
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Bizarre, Religion, Society

Staying Fat With Fatwas: Muslim Clerics Embrace Rigidity in Ban on Yoga

200px-yogisculptureMalaysia’s top Islamic body has banned Muslims from practicing yoga, saying that yoga can corrupt Muslims and introduce them to elements of Hinduism. The decision was made by the National Fatwa Council, which says that yoga is based on elements of Hindu worship and chanting.
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Bizarre, Criminal law, Politics, Religion, Society

Maryland State Legislator and Sponsor of Child Protection Laws Sentenced to Three Years for Child Pornography

43526700-21085511Former Republican legislator Robert A. McKee, 59, has been sentencing to more than three years in prison for possession of child pornography. McKee was not just a First Christian Church trustee and executive director of the Hagerstown Big Brothers Big Sisters — he was a key sponsor of the Child Protection from Predators Act this year.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Society

Police Officer Stops Car for Speeding and Then Takes Driver’s Xbox

125px-microsoft_xboxsvgWhen Kenyatta Hillman and his friend were stopped by an Orange County deputy sheriff for speeding, he thought it was a simple matter of a ticket. Then the officer spied a new Xbox in the backseat. The officer insisted on checking if the Xbox serial number showed that it was stolen. It wasn’t, but the officer said he wanted to keep it anyway and took off with the Xbox and various games. When Hillman went to retrieve it, the station initially said it had no such item.

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