The World Scrabble Championship was rocked by controversy this year when Chollapat Itthi-Aree, from Thailand, demanded officials take Ed Martin, an IT consultant from London, to the toilet for a strip search. The contraband was the letter “G”, which went mysteriously missing in the match.
Continue reading ““Strip Search” Worth 18 or a Lawsuit? Scrabble Competition Rocked By Controversy Over Missing G”
Category: International
The Secret Service recently stopped a threat to First Lady Michele Obama during her trip to Cape Town, South Africa while sitting in her five-star hotel. They promptly called authorities to confront the culprit: the HMS Edinburgh. The agents were alarmed that the British war ships had its Sea Dart missiles turned toward the hotel . . . and the First Lady. The Secret Service is infamous for overreacting but this really takes the cake. Of course, no one will be disciplined for such an insulting and moronic objection.
Continue reading “Did The HMS Edinburgh Just Try To Murder The First Lady?”
a new book is making a shocking claim that Vincent van Gogh might did not commit suicide in 1898 but was in fact killed by a local boy named Rene Secretan. In “Van Gogh: The Life,” Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith suggest that van Gogh was shot by Secretan and then lied to protect the boy.
Continue reading “Was Van Gogh Murdered?”
I have never hidden my concerns over the expanding claims of trademark and copyright protections over common names, symbols, and parodies (here and here and here and here). Now, Lady Gaga has sent in the lawyers to stomp on Lady Goo Goo, a cartoon character on Moshi Monsters, a website on which children adopt and name characters. Lady Goo Goo sings a popular parody called “Petty-razzi” below — a youtube hit.
Continue reading “Lagy Gaga Crushes Lady Goo Goo”
Just when you think you have planned for everything on your cross-country bike trip in South Africa . . .
Continue reading “Antelope 1, Biker 0”
Here is our picture of the week from our erstwhile colleague in the City of Light, Eric Tenin.
Continue reading “Sunday in Paris With Eric”
As I and others were celebrating last night at the home of Irish Ambassador Michael Collins, there was one Irish lawyer who could not attend: Pat Finucane. Finucane was gunned down in front of his wife and three children in a savage murder in in Belfast in 1989. His family was crushed this week in a meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron when he told them that he was blocking a public inquiry into the death — linked to a police informant. Instead, Cameron said he would ask a lawyer to look into the matter.
Continue reading “PM Cameron Blocks Inquiry Into Killing of Irish Lawyer Pat Finucane”
The annual selection of the Top 100 Irish Lawyers in the World has been released by The Irish Voice and I am honored to be included again among the honorees this year. Last night, I received the award with fellow honorees from around the world at the residence of the Irish Ambassador, Michael Collins and his wife Marie. Despite a downpour that left some of us dripping like we had just swum across the River Shannon, Collins greeted us with a towel and a warm welcome. He is a great credit to Ireland and turned out his home to lawyers from around the world for the evening.
With Barack Obama refusing to allow the investigation, let alone the prosecution, of CIA employees or Bush Administration officials for our torture program, human rights and civil liberties groups are calling on Canada to fulfill international obligations and arrest George Bush on his planned visit to that country.
For those who have complained about the growing “nanny state” laws in the European Union, it may not come as a surprise that your kid now needs a nanny to blow up your balloon or blow a whistle. Under new EU rules, balloons can no longer be blown up by unsupervised children under the age of eight as well as prohibitions on other party favorites for young children like whistle blowers.
Continue reading “EU Bans Unsupervised Children Blowing Up Balloons”
Chris White, 45, has become the latest victim in a trend in the United States (here) and England cracking down on citizens taking pictures in public. In White’s case, he was simply taking pictures of his daughter at a shopping center in Glasgow, Scotland when he was detained as a possible terrorist threat.
Continue reading “Toddler or Terrorist? Father Detained For Taking Picture of Daughter in Mall”
Today, I will appearing on the National Public Radio (NPR) program, Talk of the Nation to discussing my column in the Los Angeles Times on Barack Obama’s disastrous impact on civil liberties in the United States. The piece has generated some interesting discussion on the LA Times blog as well as other blogs. Despite my disagreement with some of the commenters, any discussion of civil liberties is welcomed in this political atmosphere. Ironically, the day of the column (which specifically discussed the President’s assertion of his right to kill citizens he considers terrorists), President Obama ordered the killing of U.S. cleric Anwar al-Aulaqi and reportedly a second U.S. born cleric. [Update: Here is the TOTN interview].
Continue reading “Obama and Civil Liberties: Talk of the Nation”
The Iranian courts have responded to a film detailing the repression of artists in Iran by ordering the flogging and imprisonment of an actress, Marzieh Vafamehr. Vafamehr will be given 90 lashes and imprisoned for a year for her role in “My Tehran for Sale,” a film that tells the story of a young actress in Tehran who cannot perform due to government repression.
For years, civil libertarians have objected to the United States losing lives of our military personnel and hundreds of billions of dollars in Afghanistan as the country imposed rigid religious laws, suppresses minority groups, and denies women basic freedoms and protections. Now the United Nations has found Afghans returning to another prior habit: torture.
Continue reading “United Nations: Afghan Government Torturing Prisoners”
Here is our picture of the week from our erstwhile colleague in the City of Light, Eric Tenin.
Continue reading “Sunday in Paris with Eric”