Category: Media

Bizarre, Criminal law, Media

Report: Police Officer Removed Knife From OJ Estate And Kept It As Souvenir

oj simpsonIn an unbelievable development, news reports have revealed that an unnamed police officer found a knife on the estate where O.J. Simpson lived at the time of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Sources say that the knife appeared to have possible blood residue. Here is the truly incredible part: the officer, who was off-duty at the time, kept the knife as a souvenir and later sought to confirm the case number for a proper framing of the knife. There still may be more to this story and we have not heard from the officer. However, unless the officer clearly knew that this knife was not involved in the crime or other crime, the failure to disclose the potential evidence is startling. There is no indication that the officer has been arrested for the removal of the possible evidence. While it could prove to unrelated to the murders, the officer clearly thought that it might be key evidence.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, International, Media, Politics, Religion, Society

Russia Arrests Atheist For Questioning The Existence of God On Social Media

225px-Vladimir_Putin_official_portraitPatriarch_Kirill_of_MoscowWe have recently discussed how Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia have arrested and flogged atheists under medieval Sharia legal systems. However, the most recent case is not out of the Middle East but rather Russia. Viktor Krasnov has been arrested for simply stating his belief that “there is no God” during an argument on social media. For his atheist views, Krasnov has been charged with “offending believers feelings.” He is the latest victim of the political alliance of Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church.

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Bizarre, Free Speech, International, Media, Politics, Religion

Egypt Expels Lawmaker For Inviting Israeli Ambassador to Dinner

CcEfGVdXIAApEnUEgypt’s parliament voted overwhelmingly to expel Tawfik Okasha from the legislature for the apparently unforgivable sin of inviting the Israeli ambassador in Cairo for dinner. The picture of him meeting with the ambassador took that opposition into a full rage. Now remember that Egypt has full diplomatic relations with Israel, but Okasha’s merely having dinner with the ambassador resulted in a vote of 465 out of 490 legislators supporting this expulsion.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Media, Politics

Clinton Staffer Granted Immunity From Prosecution In Exchange For His Cooperation

Hillary_Clinton_Testimony_to_House_Select_Committee_on_BenghaziIn a move that can only be viewed as ominous by the Clinton legal team, the Justice Department has granted immunity to former State Department staffer, Bryan Pagliano, who worked on Hillary Clinton’s private email server. Pagliano had refused to cooperate after invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. He was an obvious target of potential criminal charges if he knew that the server was meant to circumvent federal laws, including the mishandling of classified information.  Update: there is a new report that investigators are zeroing in on the possibility that passwords were exchanged to allow people to access classified sites (and explaining how classified information seem to “jump the gap” between secure and non-secure systems).  That is a strictly prohibited practice.

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Academia, Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Free Speech, International, Media, Politics, Religion

Oberlin Professor Retained Despite Controversial Facebook Postings

1456789323213We have another case of a professor who was put under scrutiny for her postings on social media. Joy Karega, an assistant professor of “rhetoric and composition” at Oberlin College posted bizarre claims on Facebook blaming Jews and Israel for 9/11 as well as ISIS. The college however has decided that such postings are protected and it is correct in doing so. However, once again, there is a concern over how colleges treat such controversies depending on the views and conclusions of the academics or students.

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Bizarre, Media, Society

“Blue Drug Fairy” From Viral YouTube Video Found Dead From Reported Overdose

15-2n026-bluefairy-300x300Sharissa Turk, 25, is dead. If you do not recognize the name, your kids might. Turk was the “blue drug fairy” in a YouTube video that went viral entitled “My World Is Blue.” The video was made by Staten Island’s White Trash Clan and produced by Turk’s one-time fiancé Incite DaRiot.

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Academia, Bizarre, Media, Society

Student Steals Teacher’s Phone and Posts Semi-Nude Private Pictures . . . School Demands Resignation of Teacher

DSC_0850_pp-Dr.E1Ok, this would seem a straightforward case. A student at in Union, South Carolina, steals his teacher’s phone and then accesses her private photographs. He finds semi-nude pictures that she took for her husband for Valentine’s Day and shared them with other students. Result? Union County schools superintendent David Eubanks (left) and his colleagues demanded her resignation. I can certainly understand why teacher Leigh Anne Arthur might be a tad confused.
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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Free Speech, Media, Religion

Erdoğan Announces That He Will Not Comply With Court Ruling Protecting Two Journalists

220px-Recep_Tayyip_ErdoganTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has continued his assault on basic freedoms in his country with an assault this month on the decision of the Constitutional Court. The Court had the temerity to disagree with Erdoğan and rule that the imprisonment of two prominent journalists for a report on alleged illegal arms transfers to Syria was a violation of their rights. Erdoğan has announced that he will simply ignore the ruling of the court because he disagrees with it. Erdoğan has become increasingly bold in his crackdown on opponents and civil liberties — relying on his base of Islamic organizations.

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Bizarre, International, Lawyering, Media, Politics, Religion, Society

Jewish Woman Sues El Al After Being Pressured To Move To Accommodate Ultra Orthodox Man

El_Al_Israel_Airlines_Boeing_737-700_4X-EKE_AMS_2014-02-16Logo_of_El_Al_Israel_Airlines.svgRenee Rabinowitz, a retired lawyer with a Ph.D. in educational psychology who lives in Jerusalem, has finally had enough with having to deal with sexist rules imposed by Orthodox men. The 81-year-old woman has filed a discrimination lawsuit against Israeli airline El Al after she was allegedly forced to move seats after an Ultra-Orthodox man complained about having to sit next to a woman. As have previously discussed such cases where religious men have forced delays and movement of women without penalty from El Al — requiring everyone else to accommodate their extreme religious views. Even Delta airlines did nothing after ultra orthodox men prevented a flight from taking off until women were moved from the seats that they rightfully purchased.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Media, Society

Three Albany Students Charged With Falsely Claiming That They Were The Victims Of An Assault By 10-12 “White Men”

imagesThree black female college students in Albany have been accused of assault after originally claiming they had been the victims of a racist attack from “10-12 white men” on a city bus. The alleged attack happened on January 30th and Ariel Agudio, Alexis Briggs and Asha Burwell (all 20) claimed that they were the victims of a racist attack. However, after the videotape was reviewed the police found that it was the three students who allegedly initiated the attack and then participated in rallies denouncing racism in America. Hillary Clinton tweeted support for the women in their claim as victims of racist.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Media, Politics, Religion, Society

Saudi Arabia Sentences Atheist To 10 Years In Prison and 2000 Lashes For Speaking About His Values On Twitter

125px-Coat_of_arms_of_Saudi_Arabia.svgTwitter LogoSaudi Arabia is again reminding the world of the medieval demands of its religious, Sharia legal system. Recently, Saudi Arabia enacted a law making atheism a form of terrorism. It was an act that reaffirmed the Kingdom as one of the most oppressive government’s in terms of free speech and free exercise of religion. The law was particularly ironic since Saudi Arabia and its extreme Wahhabi brand of Islam has been a major contributor to Islamic extremist and terrorism around the world. However, it is atheism that the Kingdom believes is the source of terrorism. Making good on that threat, a Saudi court has sentenced an atheist to 10 years in prison and 2,000 lashes for expressing his views on Twitter posts.
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Academia, Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, Media

Embattled Missouri Communications Professor Sacked

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

Screen-Shot-2015-11-10-at-6.41.56-PM-620x375We previously featured beleaguering Missouri Professor Melissa Click who generated controversy by obstructing a student journalist and calling in “muscle” to push him away; denying his first amendment rights.  She was later videotaped in another incident yelling at police officers while blocking a protest at a homecoming parade.

After the former incident, she was charged with assault.

Now, the Missouri Board of Curators voted 4-2 to terminate Assistant Professor Click’s employment. Since late January she was on paid administrative leave
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Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Media, Politics, Society

Court Tosses Out Indictment of Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry

perry2I have long been critical of the indictment of former Texas Governor Rick Perry. Two years ago, Perry was indicted by a grand jury in Austin on charges of abuse of power. The charges stem from Perry carrying out a threat to veto funding the budget for the Travis County Public Integrity Unit, which handles political corruption investigations. The charges have now been dismissed but I remain concerned that such charges were brought in the first place.

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Bizarre, Media, Politics

The Happiest Place On Earth: Disney Outsources More Jobs To Foreign Workers While Asking Existing Workers To Donate Part Of Their Wages To Support Lobbyists

There was a gut-wrenching moment in the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration this week as Leo Perrero, former Disney IT worker, broke down in tears as he recounted how the company fired him and his colleagues despite record profits so that the company could give their jobs to cheaper foreign workers. The video is below. The company then ordered them to train their replacements or lose their severance pay. At the same time, Disney CEO Bob Iger sent a letter to the remaining company’s employees, asking for them to donate money to support the company’s lobbyists in Disney’s political action committee, DisneyPAC. Disney has been at the forefront in securing draconian copyright laws and protections from Congress.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, Media, Politics, Society

Malaysian High Court Upholds Government Ban On T-Shirts Calling For “Clean” Government As National Security Risk

Najib_Razak_2008-08-21bersih-4-0-t-shirt-bersih-4-bersih-collection-soonber-1508-18-soonber@5The Malaysian High Court has issued a ruling that confirms the virtual eradication of free speech rights in that country, one of our closest allies in Asia. The Court upheld an absurd edict from Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi banning T-shirts with the word “clean” in Malay as a national security threat. That’s right. A t-shirt calling for clean government has been declared a threat to national security and High Court Judge Muhammad Yazid Mustafa has declared that there is nothing preventing the government from barring such speech. The t-shirts were a response to reports that nearly $700 million had been deposited in the personal bank account of Prime Minister Najib Razak (left).

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