A Tortured Defense;
The guessing game is over. We know the U.S. government OK’d and utilized waterboarding. So what — if anything — are we going to do about it? Continue reading “The Tortura De Bush and the Administration’s Taste for Khmer-Style Waterboarding”
Jerry Seinfeld has asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Missy Chase Lapine over comments made about her on national television. Seinfeld insists that he was just joking, but the laugh could be on him under the standard for such pre-trial dismissal. Continue reading “Just Kidding: Seinfeld Moves to Dismiss Lawsuit”
Arizona Bus driver Kim Sullivan has been charged with aggravated assault and disorderly conduct after the video below was shown to authorities. On the video, Sullivan is shown in a full hair-pulling wrestling match with a student. Three students were also charged. It seems likely that civil litigation will likely result from the controversy. Continue reading “Video: Criminal Charges Filed After School Bus Video Shows Fight Between Bus Driver and Students”
Two unsettling announcements were made today. Scientists have determined the precise date for the end of the world while Starbucks has announced that it will stop serving coffee for THREE HOURS today. Breathe, breathe, . . . now panic. Continue reading “Scientists Establish the End of the World as Starbucks Stops Serving Coffee”
An Austrian lawyer, Markus Groh, 49, was killed near the Bahamas after being attacked by a shark. The tourist boat, Shear Water, of Riviera Beach-based Scuba Adventures, routinely chums the water with fish blood and parts to attract sharks — then invites tourists to dive among them. It raises some interesting torts questions. Continue reading “Chumming for Torts: Tourist Killed by Sharks After Company Chums Water with Fish Parts”
An interesting story on tasers has come out of Canada. In Ottawa, the police department instituted special “responsibility pay” if they regularly took a course on the proper use of force. The result appears to be a sharp drop in the use of force and tasers. Continue reading “Taser Use Drops After Ottawa Introduces “Responsibility Pay””
Defense Department General Counsel William Haynes has resigned after a disclosure by the former chief prosecutor for the Guantanamo military commissions, Col. Morris Davis, involving Haynes’ view of the true function of the military trials: to blindly impose guilty verdicts. Davis revealed that Haynes insisted that the military tribunals only produce convictions and no acquittals — leading to the demand of various military lawyers to be transferred. Haynes is the very same person that the White House and GOP fought to be made a federal judge. Continue reading “Top Bush Official Resigns After Reports that He Demanded Only Convictions from the Military Tribunals”
Police in Florida have arrested Moses Rogers, Jr., 28, with cruelty to animals charge for yelling at a police dog in a patrol vehicle. It appears that the dog was deeply offended or agitated by the encounter. Continue reading “Asinine with Canine in the First Degree: Man Charged with Animal Cruelty for Swearing at Police Dog”
Remember the horrific accounts of how Al Qaeda used two women with Down Syndrome to carry out attacks killing roughly 100 people in Baghdad in February? It turns out that there is no evidence that they had any physical or mental ailments and may not have any connection to Al Qaeda. It turns out the the account of the Down syndrome bombers was traced to Iraqi officials who reportedly based their view on the appearance of the women’ heads – which had been severed in the blasts. Continue reading “Government’s Account of Al Qaeda Using Two Down Syndrome Women as Bombers Debunked”
Zacarias Moussaoui is back. The self-confessed terrorist has filed an appeal with the United States Court of Appeal for the Fourth Circuit, contesting the trial court’s refusal to give him his choice of lawyers and the denial of information to him in his defense. While it is extremely unlikely that he will prevail in the Fourth Circuit, the arguments being made by Arnold and Porter are not nearly as crazy as their client. Continue reading “Moussaoui Returns: Appeal Claims Violations of His Sixth Amendment Rights”
It appears that Elmo is past tickling and moving on to busting a cap in the head of toddlers who mess with him. A family has an interesting complaint against Fisher-Price: Elmo says he want to kill their son, James — as clearly shown on this video. Continue reading “Video: Elmo Threatens to Kill Toddler”
American Airlines is looking as a likely lawsuit after a series of mishaps and mistakes on a flight from Haiti to New York. After refusing repeated requests for oxygen from a sick woman, Carine Desir, the airline crew then used faulty equipment and empty oxygen tanks to treat her. She died on the flight. Continue reading “Mistakes on a Plane: American Airlines Faces Likely Lawsuit Over Refusal to Give Dying Woman Oxygen and Then Using Empty Tanks”
After proclaiming that the nation’s security was in imminent danger due to the refusal to give telecommunication companies immunity, the Bush Administration has backed off the claim and now says that there has been no interruption in intelligence. Nevertheless, the Administration has continued to argue that that it is ultimately a choice between giving financial protection to corporations or risk a massive terrorist attack. Continue reading “Administration Backs Off Claim of Imminent National Security Threat in Bid to Get Immunity for Telecom Companies”
Michigan artist Edward Stross thought that he was painting a classic when he used exteriro wall of his studio as the backdrop for Michelangelo’s “Creation of Man.” The problem was not Adam, but (once again) Eve — or at least her exposed breast. In a legal case with biblical dimensions, it appears that both Adam and Edward were undone by Eve until a Michigan appellate court ruled that the city of Roseville could not force a cover-up. Continue reading “Cover-up Exposed: Court Rules that First Amendment Protects Artist’s Depiction of Seminude Eve”
Angela Nellany has pleaded no contest to assault with a deadly weapon in California . The alleged weapon: a can of wasps. Despite the testimony of a man who alleged that Nellany tried to hire her to kill her estranged husband, Paul Nellany, and testimony on the attempt to use a can of wasps (Paul is highly allergic), she did not admit guilt in her plea and will receive only a few more months of prison on a two-year sentence. Continue reading “Wife Pleads Guilty in Case of Assault by Wasp Case”