First there was the Wisconsin Tourism Federation changing its name to avoid the confusion with another usage of WTF, here. Now, Canada’s second-oldest magazine, The Beaver, is changing its name because it continues to be confused with porn sites and filtered out on computers.
Continue reading “History in the Unmaking: Publisher Drops The Beaver As Magazine Name”
Rev. Pat Robertson often attributes horrific events to God’s wrath as when he explained that the 9-11 attacks and the Katrina disaster were punishments for our sins. Now, Robertson has proclaimed that the earthquake in Haiti was sent by God to punish Haitians for a “pact with the Devil” made to overthrow the French.
Continue reading “Pat Robertson: Haitians Were Punished By God for “Pact With the Devil””
A flight to Hawaii from Portland, Oregon was turned around after a flight attendant was given what they said was a potentially threatening note. Joseph Hedlund Johnson was arrested for the note, which seems to make not a reference to an act of terrorism but ‘Gilligan’s Island.”
Call me a softie, but I find this really cool. A young boy wrote a letter to the cartoonist John Kricfalusi, the creator of Ren & Stimpy. Instead of just blowing him off, he sends this illustrated letter.
Continue reading “Cartoonist Sends Letter to Young Boy”
This is an example of the perils of televised challenges. This BBC reporter at the CES convention responds to a challenge from a CEO to break the unbreakable phone and proceeds to do so.
Continue reading “OOPS: BBC Reporters Breaks Unbreakable Phone on Television”
The TV presenter and former model Myleene Klass is justified to be a bit confused. When she was confronted by teenagers staring at her and banging on her window, she grabbed a knife and waved it at the intruders. Rather than complimenting Klass on thinking fast, the police issued her a formal warning not to do that again.
We have been following the killing of people in Africa – from children accused of witchcraft to albinos for magical potions — due to traditional African medicines and beliefs. Now, the BBC has documented how human sacrifice is on the rise in Uganda. To its credit, the government has admitted that human sacrifice is on the rise and has taken steps to crackdown on the practice.
Continue reading “BBC: Human Sacrifice Is On The Rise in Uganda”
For much of the week, the White House has been dealing with an unspeakable looming crisis. No, it is not terrorism or global warming. The State of the Union speech was scheduled for Feb. 2nd . . . the same night ABC was kicking off the final season of “Lost.” The White House has announced that the State of the Union will have to wait.
Continue reading “Lost Address: President Obama Delays State of the Union Speech To Defer to “Lost” Episode”
Haisong Jiang, 28, may not want to talk about his particular criminal charge while in the cellblocks waiting arraignment. It turns out that Jiang was the man who went under a security rope at Newark airport to give his girlfriend one last kiss goodbye . . . and sent the entire airport into a security alert that stranded thousands.
Continue reading “Lethal Lips: Police Arrest Man Who Shut Down Newark With a Kiss”
While many people are chatting up a storm about Majority Leader Harry Reid reference in Game Change to President Obama as a “light skinned” black man “with no Negro dialect,” Ben Smith has pulled out two other notable sections, including Bill Clinton objecting to Ted Kennedy that “A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee.”
Last night, the Plaintiffs in the World Bank/IMF protest case filed our opposition to the summary judgment motion filed by the District in the World Bank/IMF protest case. The District is trying to use a proposed settlement in another case to bar us from seeking more comprehensive reforms (or equitable relief) at the trial in September. As lead co-counsel in the Chang case (with my colleague Daniel Schwartz of Bryan Cave), I am limited in what I can say on the case. However, to reduce calls to my office, I am posting the filings below.
Continue reading “Plaintiffs Fight Effort to Limit Reforms in World Bank Protest Trial”
There is an interesting sanction imposed by U.S. District Judge William Zloch against Florida lawyer Loring Spolter for filings accusing him of having religious bias and engaging in potentially criminal conduct. Spolter was hit with $110,000 in sanctions for his filings over the course of 42 months to try to get Zloch to step down from employment cases due to his religious beliefs and those of his clerks. While Spolter accuses Zloch of a Catholic bias, Zloch dismisses his filings as “[c]onjecture and fantasy of this sort are usually scrawled on loose leaf and filed by inmates.”
Continue reading “Lawyer Accuses Federal Judge of Catholic Bias and Misconduct; Judge Hits Lawyer With $110,000 Sanctions”
This week, the Plaintiffs in the World Bank/IMF protest case filed a notice with the Court on the appointment of a forensic expert to investigate the destruction of evidence in the case. As lead counsel in one of the two cases (with my colleague Daniel Schwartz of Bryan Cave), I am limited in what I can say on the case. However, to reduce calls to my office, I am posting the filings below.
Continue reading “Plaintiffs in World Bank Protest Case File for Forensic Expert”
PETA’s new ad featuring Carrie Underwood, Tyra Banks, Oprah Winfrey and the First Lady bills them as “among the most stylish and influential women in America” who “all refuse to wear real fur.” The First Lady also refuses to make such endorsements. The ad raises questions over the use of celebrity images without consent and possible appropriation of name or likeness in torts.
Continue reading “Fur Flies Over Advert: PETA Runs AD With Picture of First Lady Without Permission”
Tennessee General Sessions Judge Durwood Moore has a curious view of the fourth amendment and the doctrine of judicial notice. Moore is the subject of a judicial ethics complaint and lawsuit after he had an observer in his courtroom arrested and forced to do a urinalysis. Moore insisted that this is simply his routine practice when he has “a hunch.”