Student Group Forced To Remove “Blasphemous Pineapple”

Reading University Atheist, Humanist and Secularist Society was forced to remove a “blasphemous pineapple” named Mohammed as a form of hateful or discriminatory speech. The pineapple was intended to spark debate over whether

The Reading University Atheist, Humanist and Secularist Society (RAHS) took part in the fair on Wednesday, in order to to “encourage discussion about blasphemy, religion, and liberty.”

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Minnesota Police Facing Criminal Charges For Beating Man In Wheelchair In Detox Room

Duluth, Minnesota Police Officer Richard Jouppi will face criminal charges for beating a man in a detox facility last month after a review by an independent counsel. Jouppi will be charged with counts of fifth-degree assault and disorderly conduct, both misdemeanors.
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Just Say No To Drugs Daisies: Canadian Police Pull Up Man’s Daisy Plants in Drug Raid

Police in Alberta Canada announced a major drug bust in ripping up 1,600 marijuana plants from the back yard of Ryan Thomas Rockman. It was the work of the Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT), which has dropped the charge of producing a controlled substance after they found that they had pulled up the man’s drugs daisies.

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New Orleans Prosecutor Resigns After Joint Drops Out of Pocket In the Middle of Court In Front of Cop

Jason Cantrell, an assistant city attorney in New Orleans, has resigned after being given a summons for marijuana possession. Cantrell was in court when a joint fell out of his pocket in front of a New Orleans police officer. The incident not only cost Cantrell his job but has put his wife, New Orleans City Council candidate LaToya Cantrell in a difficult spot.

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Police Chief Suspended In Latest Scandal To Grip Detroit

Detroit has yet another high-ranking scandal this week. This time it is the Police Chief Ralph Godbee who has been suspended with pay after a subordinate officer Angelica Robinson was seen on Twitter with her service weapon in her mouth. Godbee replaced Police Chief Warren Evans, who was fired in 2010 after . . . you guessed it . . . he had an affair with a subordinate officer. By the way, Robinson worked at Internal Affairs, the office that investigates misconduct by officers.

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Philadelphia Woman Arrested After Stripping Naked With Adult Children In Front of High School To Prepare For The End Of The World

It appears that stripping naked is becoming something of the rage around the country. After a Michigan State Professor stripped naked in his math class, Sarah Butler brought her three children to a high school and stripped naked in what she believed was a logical response to the approaching end of the world.
Her attorney insisted that the incident in front of the suburban Philadelphia high school was triggered by an adverse response to a prescription drug. I can accept that but what I find intriguing is the fact that her two adult children and teenage son also stripped naked in front of the school.

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Tragedy of the [Space] Commons: Orbiting Junk Causes Emergency Measures Again In Space Program

The Space Station will not be moved out of orbit after all due to space debris. The Russian space program’s Mission Control Center had announced that it will move the International Space Station into a different orbit to avoid possible collision with space junk. We just discussed debris in space in my legal theory class as an example of Garrett Hardin’s Tragedy of the Commons. The debris has passed, but the potential crisis highlights the increasing problem with space junk.

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The Stench of Falafels: Bachmann Never Called For Banning Falafel As “Gateway Food”

We have yet another fake story that has been picked up by various sites and run as an actual news story. The latest story by the Daily Currant claimed Minnesota Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann was irate in finding falafel on a menu for school lunches and called for it to be banned as an example of “jihadi food.” The story went viral and I had a number of people send it to me to be posted. It is entirely untrue but many followed the old adage that this was “a fact too good to check.” The wide circulation of the story comes after the “stench” barely cleared after a Politico story last week targeting another Republican, Mitt Romney.

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Akin on Abortion: It is a Common Practice For Doctors To Give Abortion To Women Who “Are Not Actually Pregnant”

Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo) appears to have a long-standing issue with women and reproductive issues.  This video from 2008 shows Akin informing the Congress that it is a  “common practice” for women “who are not actually pregnant” to get abortions. While he has claimed that he just used one word incorrectly in saying that women can physically stop themselves from getting pregnant from “legitimate rape,” this tape shows a certain pattern that is quite odd.
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Pug Mugs: Miami Considers Dangerous Dog Registry and Mug Shot Gallery

There is an interesting law that has been proposed in Miami-Dade to require online registry of “dangerous dogs.” The law would require registration of any dogs or other pets that attack or bite people in the same way that sex offenders register to public disclosure. The registry could have significant implications for tort law and the liability for dog bites. One commissioner is even proposing a dog mug shot gallery.

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Woman in Tunisia is Raped By Two Police Officers, Files Complaint, and is Promptly Arrested for Public Indecency

We have often discussed the plight of women in the Middle East where they are often treated as chattel and denied basic rights and privileges. A story this week out of Tunisia therefore may not surprise the readers of this blog but it again shocks the conscience in giving a glimpse into the desperate existence of many women. The victim in this latest case was pulled from a car with her fiance by three police officers. As the boyfriend was taken to withdraw money from an ATM and robbed, the other two officers took turns raping the woman. When she filed a complaint, the police responded by arresting her for public indecency. So much for the balanced scales of justice on the country’s coat of arms.

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Doctor Claims Alternative Personality Was Responsible For Criminal Fraud

Dr. Diana Williamson, 56, has a novel defense to Medicaid fraud: she says the crime was actually committed by Nala, her alternative personality. The ultimate Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde defense. She claims that the disorder developed as a result of sexual abuse as a child by a Massachusetts priest. Supporting their claim is a diagnosis some 25 years ago.
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Michigan State Professor Reportedly Strips Naked In Class And Screams “None Of It Is Real”

Michigan State University students had an unconventional math class this week after professor John McCarthy, 57, reportedly stripped naked in Calculus 1 class and began screaming that “there is no f—ing God” and “It’s all an act and none of it’s real.” In the age of laptop computers, the most surprising thing is that the students noticed and looked up from their computers. Presumably one student asked the standard question of “will this be on the test?”

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WYWH XOXO: Bovine Sextexting Hits Switzerland

The scourge of sex texting has continued to spread. This week, Swiss scientists announced that dairy cows will now text farmers to tell them when they are in heat. Sensors have been implanted in cows to detect and report shifts in heat and will then send text messages in German, French or Italian as well as English or Spanish. The Jersey cows tend to be the most crude. I believe the message reads simply “I’m horny.”

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