For teachers, there is nothing more sacred than the space of a classroom. While the sanctuary of rooms are sometimes shattered by violence, it remains thankfully rare. That makes the video this week particularly disturbing as physics teacher at John F. Kennedy High School in Paterson, New Jersey is attacked by one of his students. The other students do not come to the aid of the 62-year-old physics teacher as he is thrown to the ground by a sixteen-year-old student, though one student eventually comes over to tell the attacker to break off the attack. The teacher had taken the teenager’s cellphone.
Category: Society
This week has continued the on-going conflict between the the National Football League (NFL) and Seahawks Running Back Marshawn Lynch. This is not about what Lynch has said but what he refuses to say.
Lynch was recently fined for a crotch grab on national television. However, he is more reticent off the field where he avoids media. The NFL has fined him to force him to speak with media — a rule that in my view is moronic and counterproductive. Rather than just encouraging players to speak with media (some cannot be kept away from the cameras and social media like Lynch’s teammate Richard Sherman), the NFL actually fines players who simply have nothing to say. Now Lynch is being criticized for going to the compelled press conference and just repeating the same line over and over: “I’m here so I won’t get fined.”
Continue reading “Seahawks Running Back Facing New Threat Of Fines After Taciturn Press Conference”
I have been a long critic of copyright and trademark claims that seem to be growing exponentially with companies claiming ownership over basic words and images in a feeding frenzy of claims. The latest example of just how ridiculous this has become is the lawsuit by owners of “Chubby Noodle” restaurants in the San Francisco area who are suing a rival opening a restaurant called “Fat Noodle.” Too confusing, they insist. It appears that any Rubenesque reference to a noodle is taken.
Continue reading “Noodle Wars: San Fran Restaurant Claims Trademark Protection On Portly Noodles”
Former 8th Circuit Assistant State Attorney William Ezzell, 37, was charged Friday with video voyeurism for allegedly using a cellphone to record a woman in her underwear at a Gainesville tanning salon. The bizarre case could end a career that included some notable cases for Ezzell as a prosecutor.
Continue reading “Florida Prosecutor Arrested In Peeping Tom At Tanning Salon”
If the Seattle Seahawks are known for their aggressive offensive line, their players are nothing when compared to the aggression of their lawyers. Outdoing even the brutish NFL lawyers who claim copyright to terms like “Super Bowl,” the team has filed two dozen trademark applications in a little over a year to claim ownership to such terms as “boom” and “Go Hawks.” The team is also claiming ownership to the number 12 in a font like the one used by the team. It had to settle a prior lawsuit over its use of “The 12th Man” phrase (referring to the fans) — a phrase claimed by Texas A & M where it was forced to pay a licensing fee for the limited use of this common term. Now it is trying to the do the same in claiming parts of the English language as owned by the team (I am waiting for the Patriots to trademark “Deflate-gate”). It is all perfectly bizarre but Congress has done little to stop the frenzy to claim common terms and phrases. Too bad there is not anyone willing to throw a flag for encroachment to protect citizens.
Continue reading “Offensive Holding: Seahawks Move To Trademark The Word “Boom” and the Number 12″
We have been following the response of police in the aftermath of the murder of two officers in New York. One fear is that this effort will extend to areas of free speech and the arrest this week of a teenager boy in Brooklyn would seem to confirm those concerns. Osiris Aristy posted what police consider to be threatening text and digital cartoon images – or emoji on Facebook. He was arrested for terroristic threats as well as criminal possession of a weapon, criminal use of drugs and criminal possession of marijuana. His bail was set at $150,000.
There was a curious confrontation between the New Zealand navy this month and three notorious boats illegally poaching in the waters near Antarctica. The Navy caught the boats red-handed poaching and using illegal nets. The Navy called over for the three rust buckets to stop the illegal operation and the boats simply refused. The Navy called over again that it wanted to board to check their documentation and the boats said know. They simply continued to poach in front of the Navy and then the New Zealanders let them leave without firing a shot. This was called a victory by the New Zealand Navy but I am not sure why.
I have previously written about my childhood sports hero Chicago Cubs great Ernie Banks. It is therefore particularly sad to write of his death this weekend at the age of 83. “Mr. Cub” had 512 career home runs in 19 major league seasons and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1977. He was also selected to baseball’s All-Century team in 1999. He retired in 1971.
Continue reading ““Let’s Play Two”: Farewell To Ernie Banks”
There is an interesting phenomenon that occurred after the Patriots pulled ahead of the Colts in their championship game: the price of Superbowl tickets reportedly fell significantly. People it appears are just not excited about seeing the Patriots play in another Superbowl. However, many people see more than a dominant team or deflated footballs are the reason for who plays in the Superbowl. A recent study found that one out of four Americans believe that God helps choose who wins sporting events. I personally find this hard to accept since the Chicago Bears remains God’s chosen team and yet they remain again out of the Superbowl. However, over twenty-five percent of people believe that they are watching the hand of God in the outcome of sporting events.
Continue reading “Study: One Out Of Four Sports Fans Believe God Chooses Winners In Sporting Events”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
We previously reported HERE the bizarre and saddening controversy involving Miss Universe contestant Saly Greige representing Lebanon who was photographed in a selfie by Miss Israel Doron Matalon. The event caused a row that could have stripped Saly of her crown for violating Lebanese fraternization prohibitions with citizens of Israel.
Now, a Lebanese government official announced that no sanctions would be taken against the young hopeful.
The University of Michigan Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity has been suspended by its national office and its members may face criminal investigation after its members were accused of causing $50,000 in damage at a ski resort last weekend. The pictures of the damage at the Treetops Resort are astonishing and the incident raises the question of whether students involved in potential criminal mischief should be expelled from the school for such extracurricular conduct.
We previously discussed the gross negligence exhibited in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (or Obamacare) rollout and how there appeared little accountability for such failures even when they cost hundreds of millions.(For a column, click here). Now it turns out that, after costing the country a fortune due to this shoddy work, the IRS has reportedly awarded the company yet another contract to do work on . . . you guessed it, Obamacare.
It was like watching Master Sergeant Hans Georg Schultz suddenly appear in back-to-back performances in the New England Patriots headquarters. Coach Bill Belichick insisted that he not only had no idea how the balls in the game with the Colts were deflated, he claimed utter ignorance about virtually anything to do with the subject of air pressure and footballs. He was followed by quarterback Tom Brady who, despite previously saying that he preferred underinflated balls, said that he could not tell that the balls were deflated (even when a Colts employee could immediately feel the difference and report it). It is the immaculate deflation. It just happened by some cosmic coincidence over(1) and over(2) and over(3) and over(4) and over(5) and over(6) and over(7) and over(8) and over(9) and over(10) and over(11) again.
There is another controversy involving a police shooting. Jermane Reid was shot and killed after the Jaguar in which he was riding was pulled over for running a stop sign by Bridgeton officers Braheme Days and Roger Worley in a Dec. 30 traffic stop. When one officer reported seeing a handgun in the glove compartment, things got tense and ultimately led to the fatal shooting of the unarmed Reid. [Warning: the video and text includes foul language]
Hillsborough County (Fl.) Judge Eric Myers is now on the other side of the bench after an arrest for alleged domestic violence and an order to stay away from his wife and daughter. The arrest occurred on Saturday morning and Myers’ wife, Shirley Sanchez-Myers, 40, petitioned the court for protection over the weekend. She says that the judge beat her as their young daughter pleaded “Daddy stop hitting mommy.” Myers is the former head prosecutor overseeing drug cases in the county.
Continue reading “Florida Judge and Former Prosecutor Arrested For Alleged Domestic Abuse”