A New York police officer has been tragically killed by a fellow officer late last night. New York Police Department Officer Omar Edwards, 25, was shot twice by another officer who was chasing a man that he believed was trying to break into his car. He mistook Edwards for the suspect and shot him.
Continue reading “New York Police Officer Killed By Fellow Officer Pursuing Suspected Car Thief”
Father Alberto Cutie, known as “Father Oprah,” has been much in the news after photos were published showing him hugging a woman at a bar and beach. Facing a resumption of celibacy, Father Cutie has discovered the Episcopal Church.
Continue reading “Faith With Fräuleins: Father Cutie Goes Episcopal”
Yonkers police officer Wayne Simoes, 39, has been acquitted by a jury, which reviewed this videotape of Simoes body slamming Irma Marquez, 44, face first into the floor — breaking her jaw and knocking her unconscious at a restaurant.
Continue reading “Yonkers Police Officer Acquitted in Body Slam Incident Caught on Video”
Another teacher has been fired for activities outside of school. Leonora Rustamova, 39, (known as Ms. Rusty) taught English at Calder High School in England and was a successful teacher until she wrote a book that the school found a bit too racy. “Stop! Don’t Read This” is a fictional story about students at the school but includes sex and drug references as well as the name of headmaster Stephen Ball.
Continue reading “Canning Ms. Rusty: English Teacher Fired For Writing Racy Fictional Novel”
The debate over Judge Sonia Sotomayor continues to rage this week. What is remarkable is how much is being said and how little substance can be found in the coverage. One would think that the law of averages alone would guarantee that some substantive points would be hit, if only by accident. It is becoming increasingly clear that, once again, we will not have a substantive and civil review of the qualifications of a Supreme Court nominee. Neither conservatives nor liberals seem to want (or are willing to tolerate) objective discussion of Sotomayor’s qualifications or opinions. For what it is worth, I would like to discard some of the most often heard arguments in the vain hope that we might still achieve some level of reasonable discourse in this debate.
Continue reading “Confirming Nonsense: Both Liberals and Conservatives Distort Debate Over Sotomayor”
Earlier, we discussed the story involving a Chinese man who was upset with a man holding up traffic by threatening to jump from a bridge. This video of the incident has been found.
Continue reading “Video: Chinese Motorist Tosses Man Threatening to Jump From Bridge”
Legislators in the Knesset gave initial approval to a law that would make it a crime to deny the right of Israel to exist — mandating a year in prison for such an exercise of free speech.
Continue reading “Israel Moves To Criminalize Statements Against Israel’s Right to Exist”
In torts, we have seen a steady line of cases related to the abuse or mishandling of corpses. However, this Indiana case is off the charts. Rev. Reginald Burrell and his parishioners from Northlake Church of Christ went to their newly purchased building only to find four bodies abandoned from 2006.
Continue reading “Funeral Home Operator Accused of Abandoning Four Bodies in Building Since 2006”
Theodore B. Olson, the U.S. solicitor general under Bush and his lawyer in Bush v. Gore, and David Boies, who represented former vice president Al Gore in that case, have joined forces to challenge Proposition 8 in federal court after this week’s loss in the California state court system.
Continue reading “Olson and Bois Team Up on Proposition 8 Challenge”
Chicago Police Officer Richard Bolling was charged in a hit and run that killed a 13-year-old Trenton Booker who was riding his bicycle. In such cases, standard procedures calls for a breathalyzer as soon as possible. However, Bolling’s colleagues gave him four hours and, when they administered the test, he registered 0.079 — miraculously just under the 0.08 limit.
What happen when you hold a trial and the police are the ones who take the Fifth? That question was answered by Cook County Circuit Judge Clayton Crane who ordered a new trial for Gangster Disciple member Cortez Brown, who alleged that he was forced to confess during beatings in custody.
This picture was taken when a family went to put flowers on the grave of their veteran family member.
In a truly bizarre scene, Royal Governor General Michaelle Jean, the representative of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II as Canada’s head of state, protested restrictions on seal products by eating the raw heart of a dead seal. It is moments like these that one wonders whether a strong letter and signed picture might have sufficed.
Continue reading “Royal Governor Eats Raw Seal Heart In Protest of EU Ban”
While buried by the news of the Sotomayor nomination, yesterday was a disappointing day for many of us who favor same-sex marriage. The California Supreme Court voted 6-1 to uphold Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage. The only good news for couples is that the Court ruled that the 18,000 unions licensed before the proposition would not be invalidated.
President Obama has selected Judge Sonia Sotomayor of United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. She has an inspiring life story and gave a moving speech at the White House. She is not the intellectual powerhouse that many academics had hoped for. However, many nominees did not find their voices until after years of service on the Court. I discussed the nomination on this segment of Countdown. [For an update on debunking conservative and liberal attacks in this debate, click here]
Continue reading “The President’s Pick: A Review of Sonia Sotomator’s Rulings”