There is a horrific report out of Hollywood where a man accidentally lit himself on fire and, while some people struggled to help him, other party goers gathered around with cameras and filmed the man as he burned. Some reports had people dancing and laughing as people tried to push them back so the man could be assisted. Gilbert Estrada, 51, later died. People posted the scene below on YouTube which shows people cheering and laughing as Estrada lay on the ground.
Kenyan police are facing a global outcry this month over a brutal gang-raping of a girl named Liz during which men broke her back and then dumped her into a latrine. Not only were the men not prosecuted but they were told to simply cut grass as their punishment. There is a demand for an investigation of the local police but many Kenyan women are rallying around the case as illustrative of a rape epidemic in the country.
This may be the most ironic story of the year. We often discuss two outstanding characteristics of modern China: expanding pollution and shrinking civil liberties. Now, the two have collided where Chinese officials are struggling with the loss of surveillance from its thousands of surveillance cameras spying on citizens. Pollution is now making it difficult to maintain such surveillance due to the permanent shroud of particulates and pollutants. Thus, while Chinese lives are being shortened, their government may have given them a slight respite from monitoring. Of course, it is hard to use free speech when you are gasping for breath. A recent report details how pollution in one Chinese city is being attributed as the cause of lung cancer in an eight-year-old boy.
On Monday, Secretary of State John Kerry met with Saudi King Abdullah to deal with increasing tensions with the Kingdom. What I thought was the most interesting moment came when a female reporter asked Kerry about the continued bar on women driving in the Kingdom. We just discussed how a Kuwaiti woman was arrested for driving her father to a hospital during a diabetic seizure. Kerry’s response was remarkably muted on an issue of human rights.
Continue reading “What’s Driving Mr. Kerry? Clearly It Is Not Human Rights”
What is interesting to me is the concern of one of the Elk with the trapped animal. The others do not seem particularly bothered.
We recently discussed the crackdown on sorcerers in Muslim countries. Mystics are finding themselves targeted in the United States as well in recent weeks. In New York and Florida, clairvoyants have been prosecuted for fraud and some cities and states are moving to ban soothsaying.
Christina and Christopher Gring insist that they were just trying to stop the bullying of their young son when they went onto the bus. They clearly made a mistake, particularly when they allegedly started screaming at terrified students and using profanities. However, they were then arrested for conduct that at one time would have resulted in a meeting with the principal and clear guidelines on staying away from the bus in the future.
The insatiable appetite of Chinese for consuming endangered species has been previously discussed on this blog as fueling the black market for such products. This week, however, the scope of such crimes was on full display after police in Tanzania arrested three Chinese living in Dar es Salaam in a house filled with a reported 1.9 tons of blood ivory. At least 200 elephants were slaughtered for the ivory. Seven tons in all have been seized in recent weeks.
Continue reading “Chinese Citizens Arrested In Tanzania With Almost Two Tons Of Blood Ivory”
When a group of guys say that they want to go on a hunt for Bigfoot, there are a host of concerns that come to mind about heading off with weapons to shoot at a mythical creature. None of those concerns appear to have stopped men in Oklahoma this week. Indeed, police say that Omar Pineda, 25, (left) may have thought he had Sasquatch at least when he heard “barking” behind him and fired. He bagged his friend with a shot to the back. Then it gets really weird.
Continue reading “Big Foot Fever: Oklahoma Family Arrested After Friend Is Shot On Sasquatch Hunt”
It always seems that when the world is failing apart with war, religious strife, and natural disasters, God sends a sign that all will be okay. Last night, he again used his favorite team, the Monsters of the Midway, The Chicago Bears. The Bears beat the Packers for the first time since 2007 at Lambeau Field which seemed cursed for the team. What made the game interesting is that both teams played with back-up quarterbacks with both Aaron Rodgers and Jay Cutler out with injuries.
We have previously discussed how, after Sept. 11th, officials have simply begun to classify acts to be terrorism to use ramped up surveillance and sentencing laws. It was inevitable that with Western countries giving official unprecedented anti-terror powers, they would start to move as many crimes as possible under the expanding category. That is evident after it was disclosed this week that British authorities framed the case against David Miranda, the partner of journalist Glenn Greenwald, as a case of terrorism “terrorism” for carrying documents from Edward Snowden.
We previously discussed horrific cases of tourists defacing or destroying priceless works of art. The latest outrage occurred at the Pompeys Pillar outside of Billings where Captain William Clark carved his signature on July 25, 1806. While some might have viewed that as graffiti in 1806, it is viewed as a national monument today and people were a bit put out to find that two people jumped over a fence, ignored signs, and carved Cole + Shpresa 10/10/2013 and a heart symbol on the monument. The suspected couple has been identified in some media reports as Cole Randall and Shpresa Lieshiaj, singers out of Minnesota.
Continue reading “Minnesota Singers Accused Of Defacing Pompeys Pillar Outside Of Billings”
Abu Dhabi is taking a step back in following other Muslim countries criminalizing “sorcery.” We have seen countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia pursue witches and sorcerers under Sharia laws. Abu Dhabi currently treats sorcerers as a form of fraud but now wants heavier criminal penalty as a form of blasphemy.
Continue reading “Abu Dhabi Moves To Impose Severe Criminal Punishment on Sorcerers”
I have previously written about the increasing monitoring and discipline of teachers for conduct in their private lives. In San Diego, three high school coaches and a volunteer teacher were suspended for wearing costumes with black face at a Halloween party. They were not doing a minstrel show but were going as the Jamaican bobsled team featured in “Cool Runnings.” The party was at the San Diego State University.
Those libertine Kuwaitis are at it again. A Kuwaiti woman was arrested in Saudi Arabia for the offense of driving her ailing diabetic father to a hospital. She was promptly arrested even though there is no formal law against women driving in Saudi Arabia. Women are allowed to drive in Kuwait and recently some women protested by driving in Saudi Arabia though some fear retaliation.
Continue reading “Kuwaiti Woman Arrested For Driving Ailing Father To Hospital”