We have been following how police in the United States and abroad have started to arrest people filming them in public, including today’s story out of California (here). Maryland police continue (in my view wrongly) to claim that recording them in public is a crime in that state as shown in this video from the Preakness.
Continue reading “Maryland Police Again Threaten Citizens With Arrest for Filming Them in Public”
When Michael Clauer went to Iraq as a captain commanding over 100 soldiers in Iraq, he was likely contemplating many potential dire consequences, but he probably was not thinking about the threat posed by his homeowners’ association. Because Clauer’s wife did not pay the homeowners’ fees, the association foreclosed on his $300,000 house and sold it for $3,500. They owed only $800. The story reveals the gross abuse allowed under a Texas law which gives such associations the right to foreclose on homes for failure to pay ANY amount — and to foreclose without a court order. Select Management Co., which runs the development, has refused any comment.
This video reportedly shows Los Angeles police menacing riders in a “critical mass” bike protest against British Petroleum by sticking out their feet. According to the cyclists, when one person filming the scene objected, he was arrested.
Big Fella’s Baxter Ward is this week’s Pet of the Week.
After months of evading questions, the White House appears to have confirmed that it did play a leading role in trying to get Rep. Joe Sestak to drop out of the race against now defeated Sen. Arlen Specter. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel reportedly asked former President Bill Clinton to offer an unpaid position on an intelligence board in exchange for Sestak pulling out.
Continue reading “Report: White House Had Clinton Offer Intelligence Position to Sestak to Drop Out of Race Against Specter”
In Camden, New Jersey, a 17-year-old high school student has pleaded guilty to defecating in a classmate’s soda during an auto-shop class.
Continue reading “The Uncola: Student Prosecuted for Defecating in Soda of Classmate”
In a little reported story, scientists have made a breakthrough in the fight against Ebola — the often fatal “bleeding disease.” Thomas Geisbert of Boston University and a team of researchers have developed an experimental drug that appears to protect monkeys from the most lethal strain of Ebola.
Continue reading “Scientists Announced Breakthrough in Ebola Drug”
Kim Flemming thought that losing Jake, her 12-year-old yellow Labrador, in Aurora, Ontario was bad enough. That was until she received a letter from State Farm Insurance demanding that she pay for the dented bumper on the car that killed Jake.
While the Catholic Church may be criticized for covering up crimes by priests and resisting efforts to discipline offenders, it seems to waste to time with errant nuns. Sister Margaret McBride has been excommunicated for the offense of approving an abortion to protect the life of a mother as a senior administrator of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix. There does not even appear to be any room for mitigating circumstances in such a case. Bishop Thomas Olmstead (left) immediately excommunicated McBride.
Continue reading “Nun Excommunicated After Supporting Abortion To Protect Life of Mother”
Pakistani fertilizer dealer Malik Mohammad Iqbal, 42, and his eunuch partner “Rani” Kashif, 19, are at the center of a controversy over whether they were throwing a party with other “eunuchs” or throwing a wedding party. They have been charged with trying to wed and unnatural acts under a Sharia-based law.
Continue reading “Court Orders Additional Jail Time for Couple Arrested in Alleged “Eunuch Wedding””
Two Israeli activists were arrested for shouting insults at White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in Israel this week. The activists spotted Emanuel in Jerusalem’s Old City with his family and shouted “Jerusalem is not for sale.” Heck, Rahm Emanuel is known to say worse stuff in a shower, here. That would be protected speech in the United States, but it appears that you can be arrested for shouting at celebrities and high-ranking officials in Israel.
Continue reading “Israel Arrests Activists Yelling Insults at Rahm Emanuel”
Long Beach police are investigating a beach tragedy after one of its officers rushed to help a drowning man — only to run over a sunbather and crush his spine.
Continue reading “Long Beach Police Rush to Save Drowning Man — Run Over Sunbather”
There was a time when we got things like the Beatles and Monty Python from our British cousins. The most recent import from England, however, is far less redeeming: vodka eyeballing. Upset that vodka shots took too long to be absorbed into their blood streams, British drinkers have discovered that pouring vodka directly into your eye socket results in a faster avenue to inebriation.
Continue reading “Coming to a College Campus Near You: Vodka Eyeballing”
The legal situation over the Deepwater Horizon explosion appears to be getting more serious as accounts emerged that there was a serious argument between Transocean and BP officials shortly before the blast — with references to the possible use of the blowout preventer. One BP official, Robert Kaluza, has become the first known person associated with the blast to invoke the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination to refuse to answer questions.
Once again, I will simply note that Cubs fans are the greatest fans in the world.