Leona Helmsley’s dog Trouble must be aghast. He is now only marginally a multimillionaire after Manhattan Surrogate Judge Renee Roth reduced his inheritance from the “Queen of Mean” to $2 million. The other $10 million will go to charity and, most notably, the two grandchildren that she wanted to disinherit.
Continue reading “He Should Have Been a Retriever: Leona Helmsley’s Dog Trouble Loses $10 Million of its $12 Million Inheritance”
In a very disturbing video below, children are buried alive in an Amazonian tradition, including a little boy who dies because no one will raise him. It is rare footage of a practice involving hundreds of children a year.
Continue reading “Shock Video: Children Buried Alive in Amazon”
Iranian police have launched the latest crackdown to preserve decency according to Islamic law. Women who allow hair to show or wear clothes that show the shape of their bodies can be arrested or subject to whippings. It appears that Iran follows the same principle of Henry Ford when he said that customers could have any color “so long as it’s black.”
Continue reading “Any Color So Long As It’s Black: Iran Cracks Down on Public Dress Code”
The Army Times has an incredible insight into the trauma of serving in Iraq for our soldiers in its story of 1st Sgt. Jeff McKinney and his tragic death. The increase in suicides is an often overlooked measure of the cost of this ill-conceived invasion.
Continue reading “A Soldier’s Suicide Story”
On the heels of the Supreme Court’s decision affirming basic constitutional protections for detainees, a report has emerged that shows precisely why habeas corpus is so important. The Administration is accused of knowing that certain detainees were in fact innocent but still held them for years.
Continue reading “Administration Accused of Holding Detainees That It Knew Were Innocent”
Details have emerged from the Rev. Al Sharpton’s financial empire and how companies have essentially paid what many have criticized as protection money against threats of boycotts. The leading companies shelling out are some of the biggest Anheuser-Busch, Honda, Colgate-Palmolive, Macy’s, PepsiCo, General Motors, Wal-Mart, FedEx, Continental Airlines, Johnson & Johnson, Chase and Pfizer among the 50 companies who have given to Sharpton and his organizations.
Continue reading “Cash Machine: A Glimpse into the Economic Empire of Al Sharpton”
New York may be looking at another tort case that explores the inherent value of a pet versus the value of the pain of its loss. Robert Machin was walking his Boston terrier Ginger in the Bronx when a street sweeper swerved to avoid a speed bump and sucked in the small dog.
Continue reading “New York Street Street Sweeper Kills Boston Terrier”
Stephen Beerling, a one-legged Navy veteran, could have been excused for not intervening when he heard a mother with a baby being harassed by thugs in England. Instead, he grabbed a rusty retractable truncheon that had long been in one of his drawers. After rescuing the mother and baby, he was charged with use of an “offensive weapon”– as opposed to those non-offensive weapons that one might bring to an assault and battery.
In a reminder that Father’s Day is not always a happy occasion for some children, police have arrested Brice Brian McMillan, 41, and his wife Sandra Elizabeth McMillan, 36, in the death of their 13-year-old son, Tyler Gene McMillan, who they tied to a tree as punishment. The couple in Macclesfield, North Carolina are charged with first-degree murder and felony child abuse.
Continue reading “North Carolina Parents Arrested in Death of Son Who They Tied to Tree”
Rachelle Jackson, a Chicago nurse, was probably expecting a thankful reception from the colleagues of Officer Kelly Brogan, a police officer that she dragged from a burning police cruiser. Instead, she was arrested and stayed in jail for 10 months on charges that she robbed, battered and disarmed a peace officer. She now has $7.7 million worth of apologies from a Chicago jury. Defense counsel is irate, insisting that the officer said that Jackson put her into a strangle hold and took her gun.
Continue reading “Chicago Nurse Wins $7.7 Million After She Rescued an Officer Only to Be Arrested by His Colleagues”
Randi Goldklank, 40, the general manager of WHDH-TV (NBC), has resigned her position in Boston after pleading disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. The arrest at Logan International Airport was the obvious result of drinking and the plea means that Goldklank will not face assault and battery charges.
Continue reading “It’s a Wrap: Television General Manager Resigns After Guilty Plea”
Police have arrested a Sacramento, California man who used his own home for illegal chiropractic services. Antonio Arellano, 76, has been arrested after he snapped the neck of a patient — leaving him brain dead.
Continue reading “Unlicensed Chiropractor Snaps Patient’s Neck”
Before 9-11, the rationale for expanded oil drilling was sustainable energy for an expanding economy. Then, after 9-11, it became an anti-terrorism measure. Most recently, Cheney rose the alarm that we had to start drilling because the Chinese are coming. He insisted that Chinese were drilling under contracts with Cuba 60 miles of the Florida coast. He has now admitted that that is false and his office explained that his source was George Will. I thought that was the Vice President and the President’s reigning energy expert. Yet, he gets his industry intelligence from columnists?
Continue reading “Cheney Admits that His Warning of Chinese Oil Drilling Was Wrong”
Things continued to get worst for Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski. This week, the ABA Journal has revealed that the inclusion of copyrighted music mp3 videos and copyrighted material on his site could raise ethics issues. Much more alarming is a lengthy letter from Ralph Mecham, who retired as director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts in 2006 that accused Kozinski of a federal crime in disabling a court computer system — exposing the entire court system to hackers. The disclosure came after learning that the music and pornography had previously bogged down the court system.
Veteran newsman and my friend Tim Russert has died at 58. I was floored to learn the news because we just saw each other on Sunday at NBC. As a former employee of NBC and repeated guest on Meet the Press, I came to view Tim as a friend and an inspiration.