While this may be just another “he said, she said” situation, a document released at the University of Tennessee suggests that it may be actually a “ze said, xe said” situation. Donna Braquet the director of the university’s Pride Center is asking faculty and students to drop using “he” and “she” in favor of using “correct pronouns” for particular students like ze, hir, zir, xe, xem and xyr to reflect a broader array of gender identifications. We recently discussed how the University of California has adopted six different gender categories for students. Braquet is now suggesting that faculty adopt the new array of pronouns (“dozens of gender-neutral pronouns”) and use whatever the student feels is appropriate.
Continue reading “University of Tennessee Considers Adopting Gender Neutral Pronouns Like “Ze,” “Hir,” and “Xyr” To Avoid Discrimination”
New York has a rather bizarre case this week where Jordan Zeidman, 20, sued his own mother, Shirley Zeidman, 54, to recover $5,000 that his grandmother gave him as a bar mitzvah gift. Shirley Zeidman has now been found liable for conversion and unjust enrichment. It might not have been a bona fide but it was a baba fide transaction according to the court. The case is Zeidman v. Zeidman, CV-011924-14.
Former TV judge Joe Brown, 66, has surrendered to Tennessee deputies to begin serving a five-day jail term for contempt of court. Brown was held in contempt by Magistrate Judge Harold Horne for an outburst in Juvenile Court in March 2014. He took the issue all the way up to the Tennessee Supreme Court, which denied Brown’s application to appeal a Court of Appeals upholding the ruling. Brown called the court a “circus” and a “sorry operation.” Of course real judges do not have producers and set designers. When Horne told him to stop, Brown did not. He gave him a day in jail but Brown continued until he had five days in jail.
Continue reading ““Judge” Brown Goes To Jail Over Contemptuous Encounter With Real Judge”
Today the briefs of the Brown family arrived at the Denver courthouse in the Sister Wives case now before the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. (The actual electronic filing was made the night before under the federal ECF system). I continue to serve as lead counsel to the Brown family in their successful challenge of the criminalization of polygamy in Utah. Last year, United States District Court Judge Clarke Waddoups issued the final decision striking down the cohabitation crime used against polygamist in Utah. The State has appealed to the federal court of appeals in Denver and below is our defense of that decision by Judge Waddoups. I want to thank my friend and local counsel (and GW Alum) Adam Alba and all of the students who have worked so hard on this case over the years. This brief benefited from the assistance of Patrick Fenior and Emily Hoyle as well as assistance from GW grad (and my local counsel in the Al-Timimi case) Thomas Huff and my assistant Seth Tate.
Continue reading “The Brown Family Files Briefs In Sisters Wives Case In Denver”
Timothy Jason Martinez, was just a week ago working a $160,000 a year job as the former deputy superintendent of Albuquerque Public Schools. That is over as he now faces multiple felony charges, including child sexual assault. What is astonishing is that Albuquerque appeared clueless about prior arrests in hiring Martinez as the second in command of the large school system.
Des Moines Officer Vanessa Miller will not face charges after a grand jury looked at her shooting of Ryan Bolinger, 28. Miller shot Bolinger from her car after he approached her car by “walking with a purpose.” Miller had chased Bolinger after he got out of his car earlier and began dancing.
My daughter sent me this incredible videotape of a 10,000 iPhone 5 Domino display. The finish is particularly impressive.
We often discuss the “perils of the press” in humorous stories of the unexpected for journalists. However, we are often reminded of the dangers faced by reporters in their daily jobs. Today offered one such tragic example from Moneta, Virginia. Vester Lee Flanagan, who used the name on-air of Bryce Williams, shot and killed WDBJ reporter Alison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27. He then posted the filmed event and tweeted about it. It is a bizarre and chilling example of how social media has become intertwined with such crimes in our society. Flanagan later shot himself in a confrontation with police.
Continue reading “Former Reporter Guns Down News Crew On Live Television”
One of the most interesting aspects of the case against Jared Fogle, Subway pitchman, for pornography was the use of a dog named Bear. While incorrectly called a “porn sniffing bloodhound,” Bear is actually one of five dogs trained to find hidden electronic data devices. Bear found the thumbdrive used to incriminate Fogle.
Continue reading “Meet Bear, The Dog That Helped Nail Jared of Subway”
We have all been in this position. We buy a coffee or water and TSA informs us that we have to drink it or toss it before going through security. (Just on the other side of the TSA is often a Starbucks mirroring the one that you just visited and ready to sell you the same exact beverage). Many people gulp down the drinks but most are not stopped with a bottle of Rémy Martin XO Excellence worth £120. A Chinese woman named Zhao was stopped at the Beijing airport told to dump it or drink it. She drank it. She was then pronounced too drunk to board her plane.
“Flowers”, an oil-on-canvas work by Italian artist Paolo Porpora valued at $1.5 million, is one of the highlights of the show Face of Leonardo: Images of a Genius exhibition in Taipei. That face got something of a black eye when a teenager slipped and put this fist through the painting.
There is a growing outcry in Tuscaloosa, Ala. after a police officer fatally shot a man wielding a “large metal spoon in a threatening manner.” Jeffory Ray Tevis, 50, was killed after a confrontation with the officer on his balcony. Police say that he may have been “suffering from a mental episode” . . . and then he grabbed a spoon.
Continue reading “Alabama Officer Shoots And Kills Man Wielding A Large Spoon”
There is an interesting story out this week of how comedians are avoiding college campuses due to the increasing levels of speech regulations and complaints over speech deemed insulting to any group. We have been discussing the rapid expansion of speech controls on campuses and the loss of core principles of free speech that once defined American academia. The rule today appears to be to laugh less and protest more on campus.
We have previously discussed the ongoing controversy over the confederate flag as well as past cases of student speech being curtailed. This story combines those themes after Jordan Beattie, a student at Cossa Academy in Wilder, Idaho was banned from flying the confederate flag that his girlfriend had given him. He was told that the flag was interpreted to be a gang symbol.
Continue reading “Idaho School Bans Confederate Flag On Student’s Car”