The death of Marisa Harris, 22, proved to be a terrible tragedy matched only by its sheer irony. Harris was a Marymount University graduate student who committed her life to working with depressed teens. Her life was cut short when a depressed 12-year-old boy reportedly jumped from an interstate overpass and hit her car.
Here is our annual list of Halloween torts and crimes. Halloween of course remains a holiday seemingly designed for personal injury lawyers around the world and this year’s additions show why. Halloween has everything for a torts-filled holiday: battery, trespass, defamation, nuisance, product liability and more.
So, with no further ado, here is this year’s updated list of actual cases related to Halloween.
Continue reading “Spooky Torts: The 2017 List Of Halloween Litigation Horrors”
Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez made a curious point in a Tuesday night speech when he declared “the Electoral College is not a creation of the Constitution.” Given the focus of the DNC chief on elections, the misunderstanding of the origin of the electoral college is a bit like a chief of police not knowing that warrants are required by the Fourth Amendment. To make matters worse, Perez made his statement at the Indiana University Law School. Just for the record, Article II of the Constitution states “Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress.”
Continue reading “Perez: “The Electoral College Is Not A Creation Of The Constitution””
Below is my column in the Hill Newspaper on the effort to remove President Donald Trump through Section 4 of the 25th Amendment. I ran a column a couple days ago in the Washington Post on the constitutional and procedural issues of a 25th Amendment attempt. This column looks at the medical and historical aspects of the controversy. The effort appears to have picked up steam this week with reports of Democrats reaching out to psychologists — just as they did against Barry Goldwater. The demise of the “Goldwater Rule” is a dangerous development. I have no more idea of Trump’s mental state than I do other leaders. What I do know is that claims of narcissism or other conditions are unfounded absent an evaluation and far more serious evidence of mental illness to justify a 25th Amendment effort.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “Trump, the 25th Amendment and The Demise of “The Goldwater Rule””
It is called “progressive stacking,” a technique where teachers give priority to students according to race or gender. The technique is being hotly debated at the University of Pennsylvania after Grad student Stephanie McKellop tweeted about how she only reluctantly will call on a white male after giving preference to various groups based on their gender or race. While many find stacking to be a form of discrimination, some academics have rallied to the side of McKellop in favor of such techniques.
It would seem payback time was in order for that Goldilocks invasion. A Scottish family came home to find that a badger had entered their house through the cat door and feel asleep in the cat bed.
Continue reading “And The Littlest Bed Was Just Right . . .”
If airlines do not have enough on their hands with Al Qaeda and changing weather patterns, it now has to face a new threat: superstitious elderly Chinese travelers. For the second time in weeks, a flight was suspended after an elderly Chinese woman threw coins into an airplane engine for good luck . . . and engine failure. The Lucky Air flight was fortunately halted after other understandably alarmed passengers asked for the metal debris to be removed from their engine.
Continue reading “New Aviation Threat: Superstitious Elderly Chinese Travelers”
There was another incident of student protesters preventing a meeting or class from occurring, though this incident has a welcomed conclusion: arrests. At the University of California, Santa Cruz, students found out that fellow students were meeting in the library as part of the College Republicans. That was unacceptable to them, so they put out a posting on Facebook to stop the meeting. They succeeded. The protesters entered the room denouncing their fellow students as “fascists,” “racists” and “white supremacists.” One student protester reportedly told a Young Republican: “Your existence is a disturbance to every marginalized person in this country.” It was a telling comment. The very existence of a young Republicans is viewed as an offense like some type of human microaggression.
It appears that the Senate race in Alabama between Republican Roy Moore and Democrat Doug Jones is now a dead heat. The tie in the normally reliable red state reflects controversial views of Moore who was twice removed from his job as chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court for defying federal court orders. One of his most alarming recent statements concerns the Supreme Court. Moore told followers that he would support the impeachment of any justice voting in favor of same-sex marriage, a position that would destroy the integrity and traditions of our legal system.
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout says early on in the story that she only heard her father Atticus say that one thing was a “sin.” Atticus said “remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” The Biloxi School District appears to repentant sinner this month after it axed the Harper Lee classic because some parents complained about the book’s language. Despite being one of the most powerful works in history against racism, parents could not overcome the authentic Southern and racist lexicon of the period. News reports indicate that the problem was the use of the “n-word” in a Southern period where that word widely used.
The crime charged against Christopher Wilson, 37 was tragically all too obvious . . . as it is likely to be for the jury. Wilson is an Ohio man charged with sexual imposition and assault.
Continue reading “Ohio Man’s Tattoo Could Raise Issue Of Prejudice In Trial For Sexual Assault”
Kyle Adam Maraghy has been arrested after a viral videotape shows him beating a 62-year-old man who simply asked him to sit down at the recent Panthers-Philadelphia game. Maraghy and his girlfriend represent the worst of fans today at stadiums. As we have previously discussed, I do not go with my family to football games because of all of the loud and obnoxious drunks in the stands. In this case, however, Maraghy, 26, is facing jail time for his unprovoked and brutal assault, though not nearly as much as he should be facing.
Continue reading “Panthers Fan Arrested After Viral Video Of His Assaulting 62-Year-Old Man”
A twenty-eight-year British man experienced cardiac arrest this week after he accidentally swallowed a 6-inch long Dover sole that he caught on a fishing trip in Boscombe, England. The man was dangling the fish over his mouth as a joke when it broke free and went right down his throat. Fortunately, paramedics arrived within minutes and saved his life by removing the fish with forceps.
Cleveland Willis, 28, will face an interesting witness for prosecution for alleged armed robbery . . . himself. When an employee of KFC restaurant recognized Willis behind a mask and asked if it was him, Willis responded. “No, It’s Not Me.”
In one of the most reckless and chilling attacks on free speech, the