We often discuss the transformative role of video technology on the prosecution of police abuse, particularly the ubiquitous presence of cellphones with video capability. However, this is not a one way street. The technology also clears some officers rather than implicates them in crimes. One such case is the controversy at a traffic stop in New Jersey after Hyacinth Peccoo, 50, of Irvington, accused Officer Daniel Caffrey of yelling and pulling a gun on her. A dash cam video not only showed that Caffrey not only did not do so but actually appeared to cut her a break on a violation.
Alaska Airlines in San Jose International airport has a bit of a problem after its employees were filmed throwing suitcases on a concrete war in a contest akin to tossing the caber. In this case it was a rolling bag, but the concept appears the same.
Continue reading “Alaska Airline Employees Videotaped Tossing Bags In Caber-Like Competition”
Monte Leon Hanson, 59, has a curious concept of a pious life. Hanson ordered a “red beer” (a mixture of beer and tomato juice) from his neighbor, Joe Lewis, who works as a bartender at the Rainbow bar in Hamilton, Montana. After drinking the red beer, Hanson learned that Lewis used Clamato tomato juice made from clam broth. He became irate that he did not use straight tomato juice because the Clamato juice was not kosher for his Jewish faith.
Continue reading “Jewish Montana Man Shoots Neighbor And Dog Over Serving Non-Kosher Drink”
Continue reading “Cosmetic Surgeon Removes Model’s Ribs To Look More Like Jessica Rabbit”
By Cara L. Gallagher, weekend contributor
This year, Groundhog Day will be celebrated on Wednesday, December 9th. That’s the day Fisher v. The University of Texas at Austin – a case that tests the use of race in admissions processes – returns to the U.S. Supreme Court. The case heads back to the SCOTUS Wednesday only two years since Fisher I. The University received a warning shot last time when a 7-1 majority remanded the case back to the lower court ordering the UT prove the only way to achieve a “critical mass” of diverse students was to do so using race as a factor in their admissions process.
That was in June of 2013. Since then UT hasn’t changed its admissions processes and the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled again last summer that the school’s use of race passed constitutional muster.
So what does this mean? It means the SCOTUS was being conciliatory last time and likely won’t be so understanding this time.
UT is going to lose this case, sending affirmative-action policies on college campuses across America into a tailspin. But not a death spiral.
Continue reading “What happens after race-based admissions policies lose in the Supreme Court?”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
Chelan County resident Martin Hoyer will not be enjoying this holiday season. He might also want to consider a new year’s resolution of finding a new illicit drug.
Hoyer admitted to smoking meth for two consecutive days and began hallucinating, hearing voices through a vent to his neighbor’s apartment. He convinced himself that the neighbor and “A bunch of Mexicans and White Guys” were conspiring to rob him.
You can only imagine how quickly things devolved from there.
Continue reading “2015 Was A Very, Very Bad Year For Chelan County Meth User”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
Seattle Police reportedly stopped a seventy-three-year-old man for driving without his headlamps on during hours of darkness. It could have been just a warning for the driver but after the officer returned from checking the driver’s status and vehicle registration he found something truly unexpected–the driver snorting cocaine.
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
It was nearly two years ago that I featured strong showing of just how uncaring and incompetent DSHS/CPS in Washington can aspire to with a terrible case of child abuse mentioned HERE.
In my previous article I wrote how in March of 2013 the children’s parents Sandra and Jeff Weller of Vancouver were each sentenced to twenty years in prison after having been convicted of fourteen counts of child abuse; double the statutory determinate maximum sentence. Clark County Superior Court Judge Barbara Johnson levied the exceptional sentence due to the severity of the crimes.
The claim against the state on behalf of five children alleges nearly ten years of abuse of the children by the parents where little to no action was taken by Child Protective Services to address the issues and protect the children from further crimes by the parents.
Now we have another example of the incompetence, indifference and permissible atmosphere the Washington Department of Social and Health Services, allowed for what reportedly amounted to a fiendish and unconscionable maltreatment of a blind, developmentally disabled child afflicted with cerebral palsy. This person suffered torturous neglect over another ten year period–despite ample amount of complaints and reports that should have directed the agency to find another foster home for the child.
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
There are times when I feel I like an analog man trapped in a digital world.
While I have worked in the past immersed in technology, including working on prototype hardware and pre-release software, I am increasingly realizing that the disposable, non-tactile, vaporware nature of life’s latest consumer purchases are trivializing life.
Several years ago when I bought my current house it came with an old Magnavox Hi-Fidelity stereo–the kind that is more a piece of woodwork furniture than anything. It is of course, very heavy, and hence the “free” nature of coming with the house, which made it at the time at least “interesting”. It seemed to be a copy of the one my parents had when I was growing up back in the 1970’s.
For the first couple of years it performed remarkably as an efficient collector of ambient dust. But, I decided should at least put it to work and make use of it. Now, it is just one of the more reasons to go back living the analog life.
Continue reading “Why I Fired My Media Player And Went Back To Basics”
We finally have a face to go with the name of a murderer who would abandon her own baby and slaughter people, including some who had thrown her baby shower. It now appears that San Bernardino shooter Tashfeen Malik pledged allegiance to ISIS and left her baby in pursuit of paradise in return for her massacre of her husband’s co-workers. Malik and her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, not only left their baby and family to face the aftermath of their despicable crime but killed people who had supported them both at and outside of work.
Continue reading “The Face Of Evil: Tashfeen Malik Finally Shown In Photo”
The New York Daily News has a controversial front page this morning blasting politicians and others who are offering prayers while opposing to take steps to curtail gun access in this country in the wake of the latest massacre in California. It is the same message sent by President Barack Obama who appears ready to use executive authority to restrict gun sales at gun shows. The problem with calls for such action is that Congress has declined to order such changes — raising yet another potential conflict over executive overreach in our system. Moreover, the right to own firearms is now recognized as an individual right under the Second Amendment, limiting the extent to which gun ownership can be meaningfully curtailed. Absent a constitutional amendment, many of the calls for banning gun ownership would fail as unconstitutional.
This month, Israel will honor Roddie Edmonds, the first U.S. soldier to be recognized among those called Righteous Among The Nations. The recognition is for an extraordinary act of courage in January 1945 in a German POW camp, an act where Edmonds stood face to face with pure evil and refused to yield.
Continue reading ““We Are All Jews”: In Memory of Roddie Edmonds, A True American Hero”
Circuit Judge Jack Schramm Cox has made a rather ignoble entry into national news with a clearly unconstitutional order to the Palm Beach Post to unpublish material from its website. The act of prior restraint violates core first amendment protections and will achieve nothing since the information was part of a public filing. The utter lack of legal judgment (and knowledge) shown by Cox in this order is deeply troubling.
Continue reading “Florida Judge Issues Shocking Order For Newspaper To “Unpublish” News Story”
The massacre in San Bernadino, California is as baffling as it is chilling. I am very familiar with the Redlands and San Bernadino areas since I would spend summers in the area growing up and still have relatives there (including one of the officers responding to this shooting). What is so chilling is the lack of any indication of such an act from a couple that seemed to be living the American dream with a good income and new baby . . . and highly supportive colleagues who they proceeded to slaughter.
Harvard University has long followed the ancient tradition of British schools in naming “Masters” for undergraduate residential houses. These are senior faculty members who serve as the chief administrative officers for each of the houses. The school has announced that that long-standing term will be dropped as racially insensitive for African American students, even though it has nothing to do with slavery or racism.
Continue reading “Harvard To Drop Traditional “House Master” Title As Racially Insensitive”