The Church of Scientology won a major victory in federal court when U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer granting summary judgment in two major lawsuits alleging labor law violations, human trafficking and forced abortions. The opinion raises some interesting questions over the deference shown by courts in such disputes.
Continue reading “Scientology Wins Major Court Ruling”
If you see Samuel McMaster Jr., 59, at the poker table this year, do not bother him. He is working off his criminal sentence. The convicted con artist accepted a plea bargain after defrauding 20 victims — and agreed to play poker to pay off his debt.
The International Soccer organization, Fifa, has launched an investigation into allegations that the North Korean World Cup coach and players were tortured by the government after losing all three games at the World Cup competition in South Africa and conceding the most goals of any team.
Today Muslims around the world will be able to set their clocks by Mecca-time. The Royal Mecca Clock Tower starts operations today — a Muslim alternative to Big Ben and Greenwich Mean Time. As noted earlier, Muslims have argued that Mecca not Greenwich should be the touchstone for time internationally.
Continue reading “Big Al-Ben”
As expected, President Obama is planning to lift the drilling moratorium and to return to his planned drilling program off pristine areas of the East Coast. While Obama is no longer claiming that oil rigs really do not spill much, it really does not matter much. Bureau head Michael Bromwich has announced that the six-month ban is unlikely to be renewed in a blow to environmentalists. One lasting change? The Obama Administration changed the name of the scandal-laden Minerals Management Service to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
Kristina Hensley, a exotic dancer with Naughty Bodies, has been arrested after a client was found under her car in Ohio.
Continue reading “Naughty Bodies: Stripper Charged After Customer Found Under Car”
Paul Blankfeld, 36, was arrested in Boynton Beach, Florida, and accused of allegedly punching a father at an Olive Garden because an autistic baby was crying too much and interrupting his “dining experience.” [UPDATE: Blankfeld is the subject of an order last month expunging all record of the arrest and finding that he had not been adjudicated as guilty of any charges in the case.]
Continue reading ““When You’re Here, You’re Family”: Florida Man Cleared Of All Charges In Olive Garden Case [UPDATED ]”
In Buffalo, Gary L. Korkuc, 51, is facing a particularly disgusting allegation that he was driving around with a cat marinating in his trunk to be eaten later.
Continue reading “New York Man Arrested for Allegedly Marinating Cat in Trunk”
Idaho authorities believe that four men are dead after a joke gone bad. The police were called by a child on a boat on a southern Idaho reservoir. They later found four dead adults and a boat filled with five terrified children.
Continue reading “Boat Filled With Children Found After All Four Adults Drown After Practical Joke”
Former Judge Samuel Kent has been placed in the position of filing complaints as an inmate in Texas. He is serving 33-months for obstruction of justice after he lied about allegations involving groping and sexual assault of two female court employees. He claims to have been abused as a prisoner due to his status as a former federal judge.
Continue reading “Former Judge Samuel Kent Files Motion Alleging Abuse in Prison”
The Spanish government is demanding the appearance of a three-man US Abrams army tank crew in a trial on the death of cameraman Jose Couso in Baghdad in 2003. The call follows a reversal of a lower court’s decision finding that the death was found not to be premeditated when a tank shell hit a hotel in the city.High Court judge Santiago Pedraz has issued three international arrest warrants for the soldiers.
Continue reading “Spain Re-Opens Murder Investigation of Three-Man U.S. Tank Crew”
This is an astonishing video posted on YouTube that purportedly shows police officers smashing the windows of the car of retired businessman Robert Whatley, 70, and then dragging him from car.
I am getting a lot of emails on the location of the “buzzing bush” that I mentioned this week in remarks at the ABA Convention in San Francisco. I mentioned that some courts have banned cellphones entirely — a practice that I oppose. This has led attorneys in one court to leave their cellphones secreted in a bush outside the door of the court which continually buzzes. While Moses has the burning bush, spectators encounter the buzzing bush outside of the Eastern District of Virginia.
Continue reading “The Buzzing Bush”
Jetblue flight attendant Steven Slater may have slid into the thing of legend among flight attendants. After a passenger argued with Slater about getting up before the airplane pulled into the gate, Slater allegedly let loose a string of profanity, grabbed two beers, and slid down the plane’s evacuation slide.
Continue reading “Flight Attendant Raves Over Intercom, Grabs Two Beers, and Flees Down the Emergency Slide”
Joel Deckard, 68, a former Indiana congressman who left Congress under a cloud of scandal has revealed that he turned to human trafficking in smuggling Brazilian families across the Canadian border.
Continue reading “From Congressman To Human Trafficker?”