Police in Sugar Land, Texas are looking for a woman who took a power saw to a Botox clinic to steal anti-aging products. She arrived in a luxury SUV like a Mercedes-born Maleficent in search of eternal youth.
Continue reading “Wanted: Aging Woman With Power Saw, Mercedes SUV, And Botox”
At the G7 meeting, President Donald Trump enlisted First Lady Melania Trump to vouch for his view that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is a person with “tremendous potential” after spending time with him. The problem is that the First Lady has never met Kim Jong Un, as the White House later embarrassingly admitted. It was a signature moment for the President who has been struggling to convince people that he never suggested nuking hurricanes despite multiple alleged sources saying that he raised the idea repeatedly. The problem is really not the importance of the First Lady vouching for Kim Jong Un or even nuking hurricanes, the problem is that Trump has made so many false statements (including statements contradicted on videotape) that it is no longer possible to simply take his word for it that he never raised the truly insane idea of nuking hurricanes. It is amazing how Trump’s denial did not seem to have any real impact on the coverage. The credibility bill has come due for the President.
Read more
Most school systems have gifted and talented programs for students who are substantially advanced in courses and need more challenging material. The programs allow teachers on both levels to offer a more holistic curriculum and it also has served to keep advanced students in the public school system after years of “white flight.” The programs however have a majority of white and asian students. A panel appointed by New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has now come up with a recommendation to solve that de facto “segregation.” It wants to simply eliminate the gifted and talented program. Problem solved.
Continue reading “De Blasio Panel Recommends Total Elimination of Gifted and Talented Programs”
We previously discussed the media coverage of politically motivated violence. A new such case has raised in Portland after Luke Lenzner was attacked by a man and a woman simply because he was wearing a “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) hat. Leopold A. Hauser and Adebisi A. Okuneye were arrested after the attack.
Continue reading “Portland Man Assaulted For Wearing MAGA Hat”
Below is my Hill column on the news that Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had additional cancer treatment. I have previously written about “Ginsburg’s gamble” in refusing to resign during the Obama Administration. Already over 80, some encouraged her to leave the Court to allow Obama to pick her successor — and to safeguard dozens of cases impacting the lives of millions. The recurrence of her cancer treatment exposes not only the risks of that decision but also the absence of any way for the Court to deal with potential incapacities.
Notably, Justice Thomas could face the same questions. Long rumored to be considering retirement, a defeat by Donald Trump could hand his seat to a liberal justice and endanger a number of conservative holdings.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “Ginsburg’s Recurring Cancer Exposes Vulnerability On The Court”
There is an interesting defamation case out of the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings. Professor Derrick Evans is suing Huffington Post for a September 2018 story on U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and partying at Georgetown Prep school. The article alleged that Evans committed drug offenses in scoring drugs for friends, particularly cocaine. The most extraordinary — and potentially defamatory — claim was that Evans and his friend Douglas Kennedy not only regularly bought and distributed cocaine but supplied the cocaine in April 1984 that killed Douglas’ brother, David.
Continue reading “HuffPost and Senior Reporter Sued Over Kavanaugh Story”One of the highlights of a prior hike years ago was seeing a wild burro in California. These are wonderful animals who embody the history of California and Nevada during the gold rush. They are gentle and unassuming animals but someone is shooting them. Shooting a lot of them.
Continue reading “Who Is Shooting The Wild Burros?”
Below is my column in The Hill on the recent controversy over President Donald Trump’s comments on ending birthright citizenship. The most notable criticism came from Professor Lawrence Tribe who accused Trump of pursuing a racist agenda to “reverse the outcome of the Civil War.” Others have also labeled the effort as racist including media coverage. It isn’t and the underlying constitutional question is unresolved.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “No, It Is Not Racist To Oppose Birthright Citizenship”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
The innocent days of only finding tarantulas stolen away in banana crates seemingly came to an end when several grocery stores in Washington State received shipments of bananas packed with cocaine.
Safeway stores in Bellingham, Woodinville, and Federal Way received the shipments reportedly worth over one million dollars.
Continue reading “Yes, We Have Coke & Bananas: Grocery Stores Receive 100 Pounds of Cocaine in Banana Shipments”
Criminal law took a giant leap this week with the first alleged crime in space. While “It Came From Outer Space” was originally about aliens, Summer Worden claims it was identity theft that came from space in this sequel. She has accused her former spouse Anne McClain of illegally accessing her bank accounts from the International Space Station. This would not make McClain a “space pirate” since she is on a U.S. flagged vessel, but she would be the first confirmed space criminal if convicted.
Continue reading “One Small Step For Crime, One Giant Leap For Criminal Kind: Astronaut Accused Of Identity Theft From Space”
In what may be the single most vicious commentary that I have read in recent memory, HBO host Bill Maher said Friday that he is “glad” billionaire David Koch, a conservative activist, is dead and added that he hoped “the end was painful.” I strongly disagreed with Koch’s view of climate change and his anti-environmental stances. However, I cannot imagine saying such a thing about someone because I disagree with his heart-felt convictions. Koch was committed to a set of principles that Maher can disagree with but to celebrate a painful death is truly breathtaking.
Continue reading “Bill Maher Celebrates The Death of David Koch And Hopes That He Died In Pain”
We have previously discussed some of the more controversial cases coming before Canadian human rights commissions, which enforce vague and ever-expanding rules on hate speech and class-based insults. The latest target of a complaint is Todd, a single Dad who was looking for a babysitter for his boys aged 5 and 8. When he was contacted by an applicant, he asked the applicants age and gender. He is now facing an investigation by the Alberta Human Rights Commission into whether he violated the human rights of the applicant.
Continue reading “Single Dad Pulled Before Canadian Human Rights Commission For Asking About Age and Gender Of Babysitter”
President Donald Trump has been facing an array of polls showing rising disapproval of voters. A new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows just how much ground has been lost with over 6 out 10 voters now disapproving of his overall performance. What is notable is that much of the disapproval registered in polls concern Trump combative and unpredictable public statements on Twitter and the media. As with his recent controversy over retweeting references to himself as the “chosen one” and statements about “disloyal” Jews who vote Democratic, Trump has been driving wedges with Suburban women voters and other voting groups as the GOP struggles to retain control of the Senate.
Continue reading “Poll: 62 Percent Of Americans Disapprove Of President Trump”
We have previously discussed how thoughtless people can be in the treatment of animals. The latest such controversy comes from La Palmyre zoo in Royan, France. The zoo allows visitors to actually touch animals like a rhinoceros. At least two people used the access to scratch their names on to the back of the animal. “Camille” and “Julien” can now live in infamy.
Continue reading “French Visitors Scratch Their Names Into Back Of Rhino”
We have previously discussed how the effort to control language that has been prominent on college campuses has now spread to city and state legislation like Berkeley getting rid of “manholes” in favor of “maintanence holes.” Now San Francisco has mandated that the use of felons, offender, and criminals is no longer correct. Instead, a convicted felon will now be referred to as a “justice-involved person” or “returning resident.” A juvenile “delinquent” will now be called a “young person impacted by the juvenile justice system.”
Continue reading “San Francisco Declares That Convicted Felons Will Now Be Called “Returning Residents” Or “Justice-Involved Persons””