The Florida State University community is still in shock over the killing of three people and wounding of others on campus. The bar was rocked today with the news that the alleged killer was one of our own, FSU graduate and attorney Myron May. May’s final post on Facebook was the biblical verse, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Continue reading “FSU Shooter Identified As Lawyer And Former Prosecutor Myron May [Updated]”
I have often written about my love for traveling in Canada. This video reminds me why I love Canadians. At the November 18, 2014 Maple Leafs game against the Nashville Predators, the mic cut off during the singing of our national anthem so the Canadians finished singing the song for us.
There is a surprising plea deal in Georgia this week where Philip Sailors, 69, (left) was accused of responding to Rodrigo Diaz (right) pulling into his driveway by mistake by shooting him in the head and killing him. Sailors has now been allowed to plead out on a single misdemeanor for involuntary manslaughter with no jail time. He was facing a murder charge. Under the plea bargain, Sailors will serve 12-months’ probation and pay a $500 fine. What is equally striking is that Sailors declined to say a word of apology to the family of Diaz when he appeared in court to accept the plea bargain of lifetime. We previously discussed this case.
Continue reading “Georgia Man Shoots and Kills Driver Who Mistakenly Pulled Into His Driveway . . . Allowed To Plead To A Single Misdemeanor With No Jail Time and A $500 Fine”
We have previously discussed how filmmakers are releasing fake videos such as the recent profiling video out of New York — a practice that is not only dishonest but highly counterproductive for groups seeking to address such abuses. Now it appears that a moving video of a Syrian boy heroically rescuing a little girl under fire is a fake, but director Lars Klevberg, 34, is heralding his hoax as a wonderful success and is entirely unapologetic for misleading millions of people.
Authorities in Thailand have asked for the help of the U.S. and Interpol to arrest two Americans who are accused of trying to mail body parts of infants and three adults to the United States. The two men accused of this disgusting crime may not come as much of a surprise to some people already familiar with their names: Ryan Edward McPherson, 31 (aka “Ryen McPherson”) and Daniel Tanner, 33. The two are producers of the infamous “Bumfights” video series where they paid homeless men small amounts of money to fight each other and have “Bumfights” tattooed on their foreheads. They reportedly made millions of the films. In this case, they are accused of buying such items as an infant’s head with its scalp sliced off as a fun gift to take home. The humor may be lost on McPherson and Tanner if they find themselves entertaining in a Thai prison. It expect they are two exports that most officials would gladly like to send to Thailand for good.
The Human Rights Watch has issued a rather shocking report that Indonesia continues to require medical exams for female police recruits to confirm that they are virgins. It is the latest example of the abuses and challenges facing women who try to find work in some countries. Other countries with such virginity tests include our erstwhile allies Egypt, India and Afghanistan.
Continue reading “Human Rights Watch Demands That Indonesia End Virginity Tests For Female Officers”
There is an interesting study out this week on cheese consumption that shows some surprising statistics on the consumption of food around the world. For anyone who has been to France, it will hardly surprise you that the French lead the world in cheese consumption but the amount is staggering? How much cheese do you believe that average French person eats a year?
Continue reading “Report: Cheese Consumption Rises But No One Does Fromage Like The French”
There is an interesting ruling out of New Jersey where a court has ruled that parents of an estranged adult daughter must pay for her college tuition. It is a ruling that runs against the traditional view that upon a child reaching the age of majority, parents are relieved of their mandatory financial obligations just as children are emancipated from their control. We discussed a prior case where a court ruled against such an adult daughter seeking tuition. However, Caitlyn Ricci has secured a ruling that her biological parents Michael Ricci and Maura McGarvey must pay the tuition even though she moved out of their home and has seen them for years — except in court.
The polar bear has become the symbol of the plight of animals in the face of global warming. A new report appears to reaffirm the plight of these incredible animals. A study in the Ecological Applications journal reports that the number of polar bears in eastern Alaska and western Canada has declined by 40%. Perhaps the most unnerving disclosure is that just two of 80 polar bear cubs that the international team tracked between 2003 and 2007 have survived.
Continue reading “Report: Polar Bear Numbers Decline By 40 Percent In Canada and Alaska”
We have been discussing the ever-expanding copyright and trademarks claims on what seems every object and observation in modern life, including such things as pictures taken of public scenes in London and in New York. Now one of the most iconic public images is being claimed as protected: the Eiffel Tower at night. Under EU law, the tower light display constitutes an “art work” and is therefore copyrighted. Thus, you can take a picture during the day but at night the copyright lawyers come out and roam the streets to see if you are taking pictures of the lights of the city of the “City of Lights.” (To show my innate sense of legality, I took this cunning picture just before the lights came on at dusk in Paris a few years ago. Ha!)
There continues to be a national debate over how to handle “deadbeat dads” with some questioning whether jail time is useful as a punishment for non-payment since it often makes it harder for the fathers to hold jobs. Others say that deadbeat dads are often do not take civil penalties seriously and that only jail will motivate compliance to shoulder their responsibilities. There may be no greater case study to support criminal sanctions than Terry Turnage, who has fathered 26 children by 15-20 different women, though the precise number seems difficult to confirm. He has reportedly failed to pay virtually any support to any of the women while driving expensive cars and throwing lavish parties.
As many on this blog are aware, I have previously testified, written, and litigated in opposition to the rise of executive power and the countervailing decline in congressional power in our tripartite system. I have also spent years encouraging Congress, under both Democratic and Republican presidents, to more actively defend its authority, including seeking judicial review in separation of powers conflicts. For that reason, it may come as little surprise this morning that I have agreed to represent the United States House of Representatives in its challenge of unilateral, unconstitutional actions taken by the Obama Administration with respect to implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). It is an honor to represent the institution in this historic lawsuit and to work with the talented staff of the House General Counsel’s Office. As in the past, this posting is meant to be transparent about my representation as well as my need to be circumspect about my comments in the future on related stories. Continue reading “TURLEY AGREES TO SERVE AS LEAD COUNSEL FOR HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES IN CONSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGE”
There are serious questions raised this week as to whether a star football player from Florida State was given preferential treatment not only by university police but Tallahasee police after a hit-and-run where two cars were totaled. At the heart of the controversy, is starting cornerback P. J. Williams who was allegedly driving the car that slammed into an oncoming vehicle. A second starting cornerback, Ronald Darby, also reportedly fled the scene at 2:30 am. However, neither was charged and the incident was not written up by the university police — as if it never happened. Just a couple of minor tickets for the “Noles.” It is a new meaning to nolo contendere. It usually means a defendant not contending a charge. In this case, Nole contendere is used by police to say “I do not wish to contend” a criminal charge against a FSU player. [For full disclosure, my wife is an FSU graduate and a “Nole”].
Of all the victims of the Islamic State, none are more horrific than the girls captured by the jihadists and treated as sex slaves or forced to “marry” fighters. That is the fate of girls from the minority Yazidi towns and we have first-hand accounts from girls who recently escaped from IS forces. What is most striking is that clerics have justified their rape and slavery as consistent with the Koran and expressly justified under the extremist views of Islam and Sharia law. The girls are being declared “chums” or war spoils and their rape is being defended as allowing pure Islamic fighters from committing adultery. Kidnapping and raping thousands of girls is considered a better alternative than the scourge of adultery to these clerics.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan appears to have the same fluid understanding of history as he does civil rights. Erdogan became the latest — and certainly highest ranking — person to proliferate the myth that Columbus not only found that Muslims had discovered the New World before him but that there was an actual mosque left on a mountain in Cuba to greet the explorer.
Continue reading “Erdogan: Muslims Discovered America Before Columbus”