We have often discussed how airlines have gradually stripped passengers of basic comforts and, more importantly, basic rights. That was evident this week in the Gainesville Regional Airport when an entire plane of passengers was told to get off their flight. Some said that they were told of “mechanical problems” the favorite mantra of airlines canceling flights for any reason, including too many unsold seats. However, passengers were a bit peeved when they looked out the window and saw the University of Florida men’s basketball team get on the plane. It appears that the airline decided to dump the ticketed passengers to fly the Gators to Connecticut for a game against the University of Connecticut.
Category: Society
I have previously said that I find the work (and lifestyle) of Pope Francis to be inspiring. However, that bond became only stronger yesterday when it was revealed that the Pope once worked as a bar bouncer. It appears that, before laying hands on the faithful, Pope Francis would lay hands on the boozeful. He just gets cooler and cooler by the day.
Continue reading “Holy Roller: Pope Reveals That He Once Worked As A Bar Bouncer”
On a story of falling educational standards, this is probably not the graphic that you want to use.
This morning I will testify in Congress before the House Judiciary Committee on “The President’s Constitutional Duty to Faithfully Execute the Laws.” The hearing will address areas where President Obama has ordered the delay or nonenforcement of federal laws. While I happen to agree with some of these policies, I have great reservations about this record and its implications for the separation of powers.
Julius Nyang’Oro, the former chairman of the Department of African and Afro-American Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has been charged with a felony count of obtaining property by false pretenses. The charge is exceptionally rare because it involves $12,000 that Nyang’Oro received for a summer course that he taught. While the course originally was meant to have regular classes, Nyang’Oro structured the class as an independent paper course. Notably, the university did not actually lose the $12,000 but recouped it in his final paycheck. Before his resignation in 2012, Nyang’Oro had a roughly $160,000 a year salary.
Continue reading “North Carolina Professor Criminally Charged For Teaching Course Without Classes”
Maria Acosta has sued the Bastrop County, its police department, and its school district after a tragic accident left her son Noe Nino de Rivera with a brain injury. Acosta says that her son had broken up a fight at Cedar Creek High School when police arrived. They told him to put his hands in the air, but she says that they shot him anyway with a taser that knocked him to the ground where he struck his head causing “a severe brain hemorrhage”. Randy McMillan, a Bastrop County sheriff’s officer who works as a school resource officer, is named in the lawsuit. Police say that Noe Nino or “N.N.” acted “aggressively.”
It is that time of the year for our annual blawgletting — the ABA top blog competition. We have once again been selected as one of the top 100 legal blogs and this year inducted into the Hall of Fame. It appears that, as an inductee, this will be our last year to compete for top blog so we should go out with a bang. We are in the highly competitive News/Analysis category and it is time to release our minions upon the field for one last blog battle. You can vote here. It just take a few seconds to register to avoid vote rigging.
Continue reading “WE NEED YOUR VOTE FOR THE TOP NEWS/ANALYSIS BLOG!”
A court in Tokyo has ordered a hospital to pay a 60-year-old man $411,100 (or Y38 million) for its negligence in 1953 in the switching of him with another baby. The man’s biological family was quite wealthy and the other baby was given a life of luxury with his other three brothers. The man however was sent to a poor Japanese family, never married, and is now an unemployed truck driver. What was interesting about the case is that at least one of the couple suspected something was wrong after the switch.
Somewhere between the visit to the American Girl store and the racetrack, there had to be a happy medium.
Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)-Guest Blogger
The five alleged 9/11 defendants currently being held at Guantanamo Bay where they have been detained since 2006, are currently preparing their defenses for trials that are scheduled for September 2014. All five defendants have been subjected to what the United States government called enhanced interrogation techniques at CIA black sites even before they got to Gitmo. Continue reading “Kangaroo Commissions and Torture”
Submitted by Charlton Stanley, Guest Blogger
“I am regularly asked what the average Internet user can do to ensure his security. My first answer is usually ‘Nothing; you’re screwed’.”
– Bruce Schneier
The quote by Professor Bruce Schneier at the top of this article is the unvarnished truth by one of the leading internet and cryptography experts in the world. Which brings us to the subject of this story. The latest threat to everyone’s computer is a form of malware called “Ransomware.” This is not new, having first appeared years ago. Those first attempts were clumsy, the software codes easily broken, and the perpetrators caught. However, in the past few weeks the threat is back, more sophisticated and more dangerous than almost any malware threat to date. Although often referred to as a virus, it is not a true computer virus, because it does not self-propagate. It is a Trojan. Ransomware does not try to steal your files, passwords or photographs. Rather, it holds them hostage until you pay a ransom. There are several ransomware viruses going around, but CryptoLocker is the one getting the most media attention. How it works is this; you click on a file that may have arrived by email. Sometimes it will arrive by clicking on a web page link. Possibly a PDF of some business letter or report. Shortly after clicking an infected link, the image at the left appears. You will have no warning until it is too late. When the warning box appears, your files are already encrypted. Follow me over the flip to see the message:
Continue reading “CryptoLocker, ransomware and holding the internet hostage”
Last night, I watched the Steelers game with friends from Pittsburgh in a perfect day of food and football. The game produced a controversy that rivals the NBA “Great Spill” controversy of 2013. In this case, Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin appeared to many to intentionally stand in front of Baltimore Ravens’ Jacoby Jones as he was running toward a potential game winning touchdown in the second half. His actions seemed to force Jones to move away from the line and allow a tackle by a Steelers defender. The Ravens still won but the question lingers.
The NBA obviously has its own courts, but does it have proper cause to punish Brooklyn Nets head coach (and former point guard) Jason Kidd who was fined $50,000 for spilling a beverage at the game with the Los Angeles Lakers. The Nets were down two with only 8.3 seconds left but had no timeouts. Worse still, Lakers’ Jodie Meeks was on the free-throw line. Then it happened. A fortuitous spill that delayed the game long enough for the Nets to devise a plan. It did not help. They lost 99-94 and . . . of course $50,000.
Continue reading “Kidd Spills Drink in Court . . . Fined $50,000”
We have often discussed the lack of separation of temple and state in Israel as well as the control of religious figures on aspects of public life. A story this week vividly illustrates the problem. A rabbinical court has fined a woman hundreds of dollars for refusing to circumcise her baby son and thereby endangering her child. Many doctors are questioning the necessity and value of circumcision, which is generally left up to the parents. However, this is an issue with both religious and medical importance in Israel. The mother was fine $150 dollars every day that the boy was left uncircumcised.
Continue reading “Rabbinical Court Fines Mother $150 A Day Until She Agrees To Circumcise Son”
There is a new study out of the University of Japan that explains a lot to people who find cats, including their own, remarkably aloof and uninterested in them. The study suggestions that pet cats are capable of recognizing their owner’s voice but simply choose to ignore them. This, it is suggested, was the result of a long evolutionary history that selected such dismissive traits.