If David Wayne Jordan, 36, goes to prison, he is likely to be viewed as the modern Robin Hood. In this case, the man of Bellingham forest was using his skill with a bow to bring marijuana to the men of Whatcom County Jail. The arrow with a small baggie of pot missed the alleged target, the second-floor recreation area. After his arrest, Jordan insisted that he was aiming at a squirrel. Presumably, the squirrel would eat the pot, become disoriented and then fall to its death outside of the prison wall.
International media is reporting that Kim Jong-un ordered his ex girlfriend, Hyon Song-wol and members of her orchestra machine-gunned to death shortly after watching one of their popular performances. They were accused of the rather incongruous crimes of making pornography and possessing bibles. The notion of a cabal of bible-thumping pornographers would be laughable in most countries but perfectly consistent in “the second happiest place on Earth.” Indeed, the bizarre environment created in North Korea makes it very difficult to dismiss stories that would initially appear a hoax. The fact that this is considered in the realm of possibility says much about the state of North Korea.
A California Sutter County District Attorney Carl Adams has been named a “person of interest” in the suspected arson of the Yuba City home of Sarah Garibay, 32. Garibay was the mistress of Adams, who is married and the father of three. While Adams could well be entirely innocent, but his conduct in the matter at a minimum raises questions of his fitness to continue in office.
Continue reading “California Prosecutor Named As “Person of Interest” In Torching Of Lover’s Home”
Many people were horrified at the death of 88-year-old World War II veteran Delbert “Shorty” Belton in the parking lot of his Fraternal Order of Eagles lodge. Belton survived the Battle of Okinawa where he was wounded but lost his life in a parking lot at the hands of teenagers Kenan Adams-Kinard and Demetruis Glenn, both 16, in Spokane, Washington. Now, it has been disclosed that Adams-Kinard says that the whole thing was a crack deal gone bad with Belton as the dealer in a type of Geriatric edition of Breaking Bad. The teen said that the whole thing started when they went to get a “zip of crack cocaine from Shorty,”
The attorney for the city of Union, William “Billy” Whitney Jr., 65,, has been arrested after being accused of dismissing criminal defendants in exchange for sexual favors. He was employed as a prosecuting attorney for Union in 2011 and 2012 when the alleged misconduct occurred.
Russian police have shutdown an art gallery in the latest attack on free speech under President Vladimir Putin. The police declared a painting to be illegal and pornographic because it depicted Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in women’s underwear and another of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church covered in tattoos. The paintings were seized from the Museum of Power. Last year, we saw how a protester was arrested for spitting on the image of Putin during a demonstration. It appears that after years of cultivating a cult of personality with action-hero photo ops and staged acts, Putin is not about to let a bunch of artists mock his well constructed image.
As most football fans know, the NFL has been struggling with rules changes to address the danger of concussions and Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in players in the wake of expanding medical research on injuries. Colleges and High Schools have implemented strict new guidelines, particularly in preventing helmet to helmet hits. None of that seems to have sunk into Frostburg University, which is accused of a shocking display of ignorance and negligence in the death of Derek Sheely, a 22 year old fullback. According to a lawsuit, Sheely was bleeding and complaining that he did not feel right, but the coach told him “Stop your bitching and moaning and quit acting like a pussy and get back out there.” Sheely collapsed a short time later and never regained consciousness.
Continue reading “Family Sues Frostburg University Coaches And NCAA Over Death Of College Student”
There is a controversy brewing at Tulane Law School where I began my academic career. The law school was the scene of a confrontation between controversial conservative filmmaker and activist James O’Keefe and former U.S. Attorney James Letten whose office handled the prosecution of O’Keefe for his entry in the office of Democrat Sen. Mary Landrieu under false pretenses. Letten is now an Assistant Dean at the law school. Letten never explained why he recused himself from the case but O’Keefe suggests that he was responsible for leaking confidential information to the media. In the video below posted and edited by O’Keefe, Letten confronted O’Keefe and accuses him of “terrorizing” his wife and violating state and federal law by appearing at the law school. Letten calls O’Keefe and his crew a bunch of “hobbits” and berates the filmmaker. While I am no fan of O’Keefe, I am afraid that I do not see the basis for the alleged crimes by O’Keefe or the basis for his being held by law enforcement outside of the law school. The school has banned O’Keefe from the campus after the confrontation with Letten.
Stacey Dean Rambold, 54, is a former teacher who confessed to a sexual relationship with Cherice Morales, a 14-year-old girl at his high school — a girl who later committed suicide. Despite the original charge of multiple counts of statutory rape and a sentencing to 15 years in prison, Yellowstone County District Judge G. Todd Baugh suspended all of that sentence but 31 days and then gave him credit for one day in jail. That left a sentence of 30 days for statutory rape.
We have previously discussed how students are being punished for out-of-school postings and statements on social media sites, a trend that I have criticized. Now, with the Supreme Court expanding the power of school officials to discipline students and teachers for outside activities, schools are creating their own surveillance and monitoring systems in our society. The Glendale Unified School District has hired a company called Geo Listening to monitor the conversations and postings of all of its students to detect any areas of concern. It is the latest example of how privacy in America is dying by a thousand papercuts.
President Barack Obama appears poised to take the country into yet another military campaign, according to the Washington Post. With critics mocking him over his repeated references to “red lines” in warning Syria, Obama seems to feel compelled to now act even if it could result in an expansion of the war. He is reportedly considering a two-day cruise missile and bomber campaign to hit targets unrelated to the chemical weapons of the country. It will cost hundreds of millions at a minimum, but we appear now to be at perpetual war even as we cancel key environmental, educational, and scientific programs (including program cuts this week).
Continue reading “Obama Reportedly Ready To Order The Start Of Syrian Military Campaign”
Outside Las Vegas is a facility that has served as the last line of defense for the beautiful desert tortoise — an animal forced near extinction by developers and sprawling suburbs. Tortoises are brought to the Desert Tortoise Conservation Center, which is largely supported by developer fees and federal support. Now, due to a lack of federal funding, the federal government plans to euthanize hundreds of the tortoises — animals added to the endangered species list in 1990. The cost? One million dollars a year. So our government continues to waste billions in Iraq and Afghanistan while exploring a new war in Syria, but we cannot support a $1 million budget that is so important to the preservation of this species. The Administration would prefer to deliver bags of money to Karzai, buy Russian aircraft that Afghans can’t fly or maintain, or build huge buildings to be then torn down unused. Of course, we have invaded their habitat, but it appears that they are not entitled to the years of upon ended reconstruction funding because they do not threaten to tortoise extremism around the world.
Monterey County has agreed to pay a family $2.6 million after police conducted a military-like raid on the home of an innocent man and burned down the home with the man inside while blocking fire trucks rushing to the scene. Rogelio “Roger” Serrato, 31, died at the scene and left a family with four children without a father.
After leading an assault on civil liberties and privacy in his Administration (as well as blocking efforts to prosecute Bush officials for torture), President Barack Obama may just be the last person who should be giving advice on training lawyers. Yet, Obama told lawyers last Friday that he would like to see law school cut by one-third to reduce time studying legal principles and history. Of course, given the number of constitutional provisions that Obama has effectively negated, it may take less time to study the remaining laws after the Obama years. Before law schools follow his lead to a fast-food version of legal education, we need to ask what we want in our lawyers. The President would reduce legal training to a program slightly longer than current paralegal schools.
There is an investigation afoot in England where someone felled one of the Queen’s swans, plucked it, and barbecued it on the riverbank near Windsor Castle. In a throwback to the age of Robin Hood, all swans in England remain the property of the Crown and, until 1988, killing a swan was an act of treason. The Mute Swans remain protected under law.
Continue reading “English Police Hunt Person Who Killed And Barbecued One of Queen’s Swans”