Category: Society

Pachyderms and Packy Don’ts: Man Caught At Dulles International Airport With Elephant Tails and a Case of Horrors

I have long complained that U.S. customs forms are missing obvious boxes to check for elephant tails, dried hedgehogs, chicken blood, and the like. That appears to be the defense of a man caught traveling from Ghana with a case filled with a horror show of animal parts.

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Night At With The Apollo

This clip has been widely shown of Vladimir Putin playing piano and singing “Blueberry Hill.”  Shown on various networks, it has been played with spans of the audience of thrilled actors and celebrities from the West. I must confess that, as a civil libertarian, I had a distinctly different reaction.  I hesitated to post the clip because I did not want to appear a Killjoy.  However, watching all of these American and European actors gush over Putin singing made me a bit ill.  Here is a guy who had destroyed democratic reforms in Russia, re-militarized his country, and incorporated the security services to every aspect of Russian life.  But he can sure belt out “Blueberry Hill” on a piano.

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The Curious Death of George Wythe: “I Am Murdered!”

Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

Author’s note: This is my third submission about events of historical significance following pieces about George Washington and The Boston Tea Party. It is quite lengthy and for that I apologize, but the story and the people involved are both larger-than-life and fascinating. I hope you enjoy reading  this history as much as I do writing about it.

Clutching the mahogany bannister of his elegant  home located in the Shockoe neighborhood of Richmond’s River District, the old man haltingly descended the steps. Sweating profusely, and  doubling up in pain, he could not even summon the energy to cry out. Almost falling numerous times, the  ‘father of American  jurisprudence,”  finally reached the kitchen only to find his freed-slave housekeeper, Lydia Broadnax, and her son, Michael Brown, writhing in distress and afflicted with the same intestinal ailment. Hours later when one of the triumvirate of Richmond’s elite medical establishment would arrive, the Judge would purposefully sit-up in his bed to declare, “I am murdered.” It was May 25, 1806. Fourteen agonizing days and numerous repetitions of the charge later, that prediction would come true.

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The Blog Force Is With You Or Don’t Mess Around With Katie!

Evanston, Illinois may not seem like the epi-center of a galactic struggle between “The Force” and the “Dark Side” of bullying, but for seven-year-old Star Wars’ fan, Katie Goldman, it surely was.  When the first grader announced she would no longer be bringing her cherished Star Wars waterbottle to her classroom, mom and dad wanted to know why. Katie was as mum as R2D2, but her parents kept pressing. Finally, the little girl said her classmates were teasing her because  “only boys liked Star Wars.” She didn’t want the water bottle anymore.

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Get Lost, Get Cold, Get Drunk, Get Acquitted

Thomas Drummond is a resourceful fellow. Driving in the unfamiliar wilds of southeastern Missouri, Drummond spun out on icy roads and ended up in culvert. In his last-“ditch” effort to notify someone of his plight, he texted his girlfriend about the accident around 2:00 a.m., but, in a curious omission, forgot to tell her the location.  Two hours later, a soused (0.148 BAC) Drummond was found by the highway patrol and promptly arrested for operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.

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Crowd Screams “Off With Their Heads” As Prince Charles and Duchess Are Mobbed In Their Car


Prince Charles and his consort, the Duchess of Cornwall were attacked by a mob protesting tuition hikes screaming “Off With Their Heads” and “Tory Scum” on Thursday as seen in this extraordinary video. One protester reported was able to poke Camilla with a stick through a window left open by security.

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Vandals Cut Down The Holy Thorn Tree of Glastonbury

With a 2000 year old history, the Holy Thorn Tree of Glastonbury has stood as an important symbol for Christians in England — a pilgrimage point retracing the steps of Joseph of Arimathea (believed to be Jesus’ great uncle). Now it has been cut down in what some are alleging to be an anti-Christian act of vandalism. I have seen no evidence establishing an anti-Christian intent.

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Child Abuses Allegations Hit The Orthodox Jewish Community

We have previously followed complaints from families in the Jewish Orthodox community that pedophiles continue to receive protection from disclosure or prosecution — even as the Catholic Church is forced to deal with its own scandal. This has come to another flashpoint with the hunt for Brooklyn Rabbi Gershon Kranczer and his 21-year-old son Asher for the sexual abuse of four family relatives.
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Jaws V: The Mossad Menace

I have always marveled how everything in the Middle East can be reduced to a conspiracy theory. This week, however, Egyptian authorities are exploring the possibility that the recent shark attacks in Sharm al-Sheikh were the result of Mossad using GPS technology to guide the sharks. That’s right, shark attacks at a beach resort so the Jews did it.
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Police Officer Allowed to Remain on Force after Arresting Man and Stealing Images of His Girlfriend From His Cellphone

William Vasilakos has a novel claim against Hartford, Connecticut Officer Michael Presti — alleging that Presti took his cellphones and then emailed revealing pictures of and videos of Presti’s girlfriend to his own phone.
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Child Porn Conviction Overturned of Elementary Principal Who Pasted Pictures of Students on Bodies of Adults

While I was trying the case, the Florida appellate court issued an interesting ruling that a former elementary school principal was wrongly convicted of child pornography when he pasted the faces of some of his 11- and 12-year-old students over pictures of adult women. John Stelmack is already serving five years for the crime.
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Florida Police Officer Puts Minor in Choke Hold and Charges Two With Felony Battery After Being Hit . . . By An Air Kiss

Bob Hope once charged that “people who throw kisses are . . . hopelessly lazy.” Former Bradenton Beach (Florida) Police Officer Tim Matthews thinks that they are also forms of battery. Matthews is the subject of a lawsuit after he arrested a 14-year-old bloy who blew a kiss at him.
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Run A Mile In My Shoes: Dr. “Elvis” Aids Collapsed Runner

A San Francisco anesthesiologist dressed as Elvis Presley “D[idn’t] Think Twice” and came to the aid of a collapsed runner at Las Vegas’  Rock-and-Roll half marathon. Claudio Palma, M.D., dressed in jumpsuit, long sideburns and scarf, (and maybe “Blue Suede Shoes” or even “High-Heeled Slippers,” who knows) administered CPR to the passed-out young lady. Startled upon her revival, the runner said she was O.K. and bid farewell to the look-alike who “Return[ed] to Sender” with the other runners. To cap off the day, Palma “D[id] the Vega,” and got married at a run-through chapel.

Source:  YahooNews

–Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger