Taylor Hendricks, 22, is charged with assault after he was ejected from the Philadelphia Eagle playoff. For anyone who has been to a Philly game, that is hardly a surprise. However, Hendricks is charged with assaulting a police horse named Nicky by repeatedly punching the horse in the face.
Continue reading “Pennsylvania Man Arrested For Assaulting Police Horse After Eagles Playoff Game”
I have previously discussed my opposition to sugary drink bans or prohibitive taxation schemes in Chicago and New York. While Cook County reluctantly yielded to public opinion and court decisions recently, Seattle has gone forward with a ridiculous tax of 1.75 cents per ounce on sugary drinks. This paternalistic law is designed to make such drinks economically undrinkable or at least unpalatable for citizens who do not share the views of the majority on beverages and health. The result is that a large box of 35 bottles of Gatorade at Costco with a list price of $15.99 is now taxed at $10.34. So almost $10.50 of the $26.50 price is taxes.
Continue reading “Seattle Sugary Drink Tax Take Effect: $10.34 Tax On $15.99 Purchase”
We have previously discussed the crackdown at Harvard on single gender clubs and associations (even groups off campus). Last year, Harvard established penalties for students who refuse to yield to the rule against belonging to single-gender organizations, including barring students from serving on campus leadership positions. This includes Greek organizations. Now, women are objecting that they are being penalized and denied their “right to choose.” Notably, however, the protesting sororities did not question the barring of males but rather having such rules apply to women.Continue reading “Harvard Sororities Defy Ban On Single-Gender Groups”
Texas Tech fans are known for their finger-gun salutes and “Wreck’em slogan.” It appears however that the TSA training does not include such common displays. When Diana Durkin recently returned to the University, she spotted another fan in line at the airport security for William P. Hobby airport in Houston and gave him the Texas Tech salute. She was immediately pulled out of the line by alarmed TSA personnel but after being delayed and questioned, she was allowed (this time) to leave with only a warning.
Just in case your New Year’s resolution has not already put you on the defensive . . . now we are being judged by the chickens. There is an interesting article in National Geographic with some surprising facts about chickens including that chickens favor good looking people over not good looking people. While it is unlikely that the the idea of fat-shaming poultry will get vegans to change their dietary preferences, it does raise the rather provocative idea of looks being a bona fide occupational criteria. Could Perdue join Hooters in looking for good-looking employees? Ok, probably not.
Continue reading “Chickens Prefer Foxes: Scientists Find Poultry Favor Good-Looking People”
According to police, Richard Evan Kriger, 60, is still struggling with elements of legal ethics training. Kriger alleged attempted a bank holdup for $50,000. That is the amount that he owes on an ethics violation involving a trust account for his son. Before the robbery, he made an appointment to take out a $26,000 loan in unmarked bills for his nephew.
Below is my column in USA Today on the renewed calls of President Donald Trump to change our libel laws to make it easier for public officials and figures to sue over publications like the recent book by Michael Wolff. While the controversy was quickly pushed from coverage by the President’s alarming statements on immigration policy, it is clear that he remains heavily invested in this ill-considered idea.
Sandra Louis Garner, 55, is facing murder charges after police investigating the death of her husband found that, before his murder, Garner searched “how to kill someone and not get caught.” The search does not appear to have offered in terms of compelling advice given the evidence unearthed by investigators.
President Donald Trump and the Wall Street Journal are in an open conflict over what was said in a meeting between the President and editors. It was reported to the shock (and ridicule) of many that Trump said that he has a great relationship with Kim Jong Un of North Korea. The White House went public and said that the President clearly said the “I’d have a very good relationship” and not “I have a very good relationship” with the dictator. The White House disputed that President Donald Trump told The Wall Street Journal in an interview Thursday that “I probably have a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un of North Korea,” saying that Mr. Trump had instead said “I’d probably have a very good relationship” with the North Korean leader. Notably, this was not a denial based on “misspeaking” but a direct denial. Trump then pushed it further with a tweet. Unlike the controversy over the denied use of the word “shithole” in the Oval Office (where Trump said he might have to start recording such meetings), he did record this interview. Now the Wall Street Journal has released the tape and it sounds like the editors were correctly recounting the President’s words (though it is close). I have now listened repeatedly and initially supported the WSJ, but now I am not quite as confident. Trump’s position seems more consistent with the context and he might have swallowed the “did” a bit in “I’d.” The recording is below.
As we discussed yesterday, both Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) have said that President Donald Trump did indeed refer to Haiti and Africa as “shithole” countries. However, Sen. David Perdue (R., Ga.) on ABC This Week says that the word was never used. Period. He also said that the meeting was “productive” and suggested that Durbin is lying (and has lied previously) about such meetings. PreviouslyTom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Sen. Perdue have said that they simply do not recall. Now Purdue says that he has a clear recollection and the words were never used. Sen. Jeff Flake has said that he met with members in the meeting before the words were made public and that members openly discussed Trump’s use of these words. Finally, a conservative columnist has gone public with the allegation that he spoke to friends of the President who said that he called to boast about using the term to energize his base.
Continue reading “Sen. Perdue Denies President Said “Shithole” Countries Remark”
We have been discussing the outrageous acts of Simon Bramhall, 53, who branded with his initials on the livers of patients. In a clearly insufficient sentence, Bramhall has received no jail time and simply a 12-month community order and fined £10,000. He was allowed to plead guilty in the Birmingham Crown Court to two counts of assault by beating.
We have been following the train wreck following the arrival of our new ambassador, Pete Hoekstra, to the Netherlands. The former Republican congressman was confronted by reporters about a false statement that he made in 2015 when he said “the Islamic movement has now gotten to a point where they have put Europe into chaos. Chaos in the Netherlands, there are cars being burnt, there are politicians that are being burnt. And yes, there are no-go zones in the Netherlands.” When confronted by the reporters that no such chaos occurred, Hoekstra denied making the statement. He insisted “I didn’t say that. That is actually an incorrect statement. We would call it fake news. I never said that … it’s not what I said.” The reporter then played the tape and Hoekstra stumbled with “I didn’t call that fake news. I didn’t use the words today. I don’t think I did.” If Hoekstra thought that that would be the end of it, he was mistaken. This week he held his first press conference and and again refused to retract and apologize for the statement. The reporters reminded Hoekstra that in the Netherlands, reporters actually expect leaders to answer questions and continued to press him. Hoekstra was clearly used to reporters in the states who shrug and move on with questions as evasive responses. The problem is that it does not work in the Netherlands and now Hoekstra has painfully and belatedly apologized.
The Washington area has been shocked by two crimes in the area by teenagers who showed an utter lack of humanity or emotion against helpless victims. In Fairfax, Venus Romero Iraheta, 17, murdered a 15-year-old girl but stopped just long enough to tell her to remember her name for when they meet in hell. She was convicted this week in the murder. In Baltimore, six teens savagely attacked an elderly man, stole his car, and then ran over the man. In all of these cases, the mugshots show seemingly youthful innocent faces of young people who appear devoid of the most elemental feelings of empathy for other human beings.
Continue reading “Washington Area Rocked By Chilling Crimes Of Teenagers”
President Donald Trump is denying that he referred to Haiti and African countries as “shithole countries” in a meeting with members of Congress. Clearly someone is lying and it should not be hard to determine who. One of the members in the meeting, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), says that Trump is lying and that he clearly made the statement. The question now is recollection of some of the other people in the room, including Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.).
Update: Sen. Graham has now issued a statement that appears to confirm that the President said this and says that he
directly challenged the President after his comment. Another member has said that Graham told him that President did say it.
I have long been a critic of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his authoritarian predecessor President Hugo Chávez. Chávez remains an icon for many in the left in this country and around the world — despite his destruction of free speech and free press. Now Maduro has reached a new low after starving his country with moronic socialist policies of government controls and centralized powers. The international community has collected massive food donations for the starving populace but Maduro has stopped them at the border. He will not allow his people to eat unless the opposition recognized his internationally ridiculed National Constituent Assembly. He created the assembly to disband the constitutional legislative authority and assume authoritarian control over the government. Now he is turning to the ancient Roman tactic of offering bread to the masses in exchange for acquiescence for his disastrous rule.