Bizarre, Politics

BleachBit Spoofs Clinton In New Product Campaign

cloth_or_something3One of the few beneficiaries of this presidential election has been the virtually unknown company before made a household name by the Clinton aides in attempting to not only delete emails but guarantee that no one could retrieve them. Suddenly everyone was saying “BleachBit” as a virtually self-contained term-of-art. Now the company has used Hillary Clinton’s infamous quip about whether she would use a “cloth” to clean a server as the basis of a new product.

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Bizarre

Cleaning Up: BART Janitor Cleans Up With $235,000 In One Year

Liang Zhao Zhang, a janitor for Bay Area Rapid Transit in downtown San Francisco, promised to clean up and he did just that. Transparent California, a nonprofit organization, released records that show that the janitor earned four times more than his base pay last year in overtime — bringing his earnings to $235,000 in 2015.

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Criminal law, Lawyering, Politics, Society

High-Ranking Justice Official Involved In Email Investigation Found To Have Close Friendship and Ties With Clinton Campaign Chairman John Podesta

kadzik-peters-_1220px-john_podestaThe Justice Department is under fire for allowing the involvement in the investigation of a high-ranking official with close ties to Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. Now, in the latest disclosure of emails, it appears that Peter Kadzik, the assistant attorney general for legislative affairs, proved tips to Podesta on developments in the email controversy.

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Criminal law, Media, Politics, Society

Pennsylvania Moves Toward New Law To Delay Releasing Names Of Officers In Shootings For 30 Days

111px-pennsylvania_state_police129px-philadelphia_police_department_patchWe previously discussed how Dallas Police Chief David Brown quietly changed a rule that would require officers involved in a shooting to wait 72 hours before making a statement. I was highly critical of the change, which treats officers differently from other witnesses to shootings and seeks to avoid contradictions in accounts — difference that might reveal culpability or collusion. Now, Pennsylvania is about to go one better. A new law would prevent the release of the names of officers involved in shootings by 30 days. The bill by Rep. Marina White (R) is designed as a “basic protection from threats” Supporter Rep. Dominic Costa (D) declared, “We are the protectors of our protectors.”

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Bizarre, Society, Torts

The Met Cancels Shows After Man Spreads Ashes In Orchestra Pit [UPDATED]

imagesThere is an interesting potential tort lawsuit in an incident at New York City’s Metropolitan Opera, which canceled its Saturday afternoon performance of “Guillaume Tell” after an audience member sprinkled what is believed to be the ashes of a deceased relative or friend. Update:  The man involved in the incident has come forward and apologized. Dallas resident Roger Kaiser explained that he had promised his friend in 2012 (an opera lover) that he would scatter his ashes at various opera houses after his death.

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Environment, International, Science

Not Your Grandfather’s Steam Engine: Germany Introduces The Coradia iLint

220px-52_8134_hoentrop_2012-09-16220px-lintarrivadanmarkgredstedbroGermany has introduced the hydrogen-based Coradia iLint which will be the world’s first zero-emission passenger train. It will only release steam and represents another towering victory for the Germans in reducing pollution and fighting climate change.

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Bizarre, Media, Politics

Brazile Under Fire As More Emails Purport to Show Secret Leaks of Questions To Clinton

220px-donna_brazile_1200px-Cnn.svgWe discussed earlier how Donna Brazile, the interim chair of the Democratic National Committee, denied the legitimacy of emails that showed her leaking a question to Hillary Clinton that would be asked verbatim at the CNN downhill event. The media has largely declined to investigate the claim, including confirming the receipt of the earlier email from the Clinton staffer. Now additional emails allegedly show Brazile secretly feeding information to the Clinton campaign. Again, there has been relatively little media attention to the story and CNN issued a remarkably weak response that it was “uncomfortable” with the new disclosures on Brazile’s actions while a CNN commentator. “Uncomfortable”? How about words like “unethical”?

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Bizarre, International, Religion

Likud Deputy Minister Proclaims That Italian Earthquakes Were Divine Retribution Against Italy For Criticism Of Isreal

220px-ayoub_kara350px-God2-Sistine_ChapelIsraeli Deputy Minister for Regional Cooperation Ayoob Kara appears to hold a view of the Almighty as petty and capricious as Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte . The Druze-Israeli Likud politician has declared that the two earthquakes in Italy this week were divine “retribution” for Italy’s support of the UNESCO resolution critical of Israel over its handling of a holy site in Jerusalem.

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Society, Torts

Spooky Torts: The 2016 List Of Halloween Litigation Horrors

Here is our annual list of Halloween torts and crimes. This holiday remains a favorite for personal injury lawyers around the world and this year’s additions show why. Halloween has everything for a torts-filled holiday: battery, trespass, defamation, nuisance, product liability and more.

So, with no further ado, here is this year’s updated list of actual cases related to Halloween.

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Congress, Criminal law, Lawyering, Media, Politics

Reid Alleges That Comey May Have Violated Federal Law In Disclosure To Congress

225px-harry_reid_official_portraitJcomey-100I just spoke on the BBC where the anchor was pursuing the question of “whether the FBI broke the law” by informing Congress of the reopening of the investigation into the emails. The allegation came from Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid on Sunday. However, with all due respect to our esteemed GW graduate (and I really do respect Sen. Reid), his allegation is in my view wildly misplaced. Reid is arguing that the actions of FBI Director James B. Comey violates the Hatch Act. I cannot see a plausible, let alone compelling, basis for such a charge against Comey.

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Bizarre, Criminal law

NYPD Officer Charged With Stealing Partner’s Credit Card For Shopping Spree

215px-NypdpatchNew York Officer Josanne Hernandez, 27, allegedly began her career as a police officer with her own crime – or at least shopping – spree. Hernandez is accused of stealing her partner’s credit card and going on a shopping bender at his expense.

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Academia, Politics, Society

Students Object To Dress Code At High School As Sexist

162px-boston_latin_school_logoA recent story involving Boston Latin School recently caught my attention. First, I attended Latin School in Chicago, which like its Boston cousin is an elite private school. Second, the story confirmed my rising concern over the trend in elementary and high schools to instill a hyper-sensitive culture. At issue is something that many of us experienced in our childhood: dress codes. The students of Latin Boston however, have risen up in disgust over such dress codes as sexist attacks on women and even a cause for a rape culture.
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Bizarre, International, Politics, Society

Let Them Eat Pain Au Chocolat: French Presidential Candidate Triggers Controversy Over The Price of Pastries

festival_automobile_international_2015_-_photocall_-_026_cropped_2180px-marie_antoinette_adult4As our presidential campaign de-evolves into petty name calling and calls for prosecution, the French are having a quintessentially French scandal of their own. French presidential hopeful Jean-François Copé has found himself in deep fondue after admitting that he did not know the price of pain au chocolat and then radically understated the price. Sacre Bleu. The French have not been so incensed since “The Terrors” and many have denounced Copé as an out-of-touch elitist.
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