Uncategorized

Go Hawks: Police To Go Undercover To Catch Football Thugs

images135px-Seattle_Seahawks_helmet_2012Ok, I may lack credibility since I am a Bears fan (and was raised to cheer for two teams: Da Bears and anyone playing the Packers). However, the Seahawks have taken on the thugs who increasingly occupy our football games. For tonight’s game (yes, finally, the season has started), police officers will go undercover wearing Packers jerseys to try to catch abusive or violent fans. I previously praised a similar effort by the Seahawks.

Continue reading “Go Hawks: Police To Go Undercover To Catch Football Thugs” →

Criminal law, Society

Statutory Rape Victim Ordered To Pay Child Support Or Face Jail

article-0-2102AA2C00000578-76_634x709Nick Olivas was justifiably a bit surprised when he received papers for $15,000 in back child support for a six-year-old child that he never knew that he had fathered. He was even more surprised that the demand and threat of jail was triggered by a woman who had had sex with him when he was 14. That would constitute statutory rape and make the woman a rapist but he never reported the crime to the police. Now he could go to jail at the behest of the woman.

Continue reading “Statutory Rape Victim Ordered To Pay Child Support Or Face Jail” →

Courts, Lawyering, Politics, Society

Two California Judges Sanctioned For Sex In Chambers

140902-Judge-Cory-Woodwardscott-steinerIt is a rather bizarre week for the California bench after two judges were separately sanctions for sex in their chambers. Orange County Superior Court Judge Scott Steiner (right) was censured for such multiple trysts with women. Kern County Superior Court Judge Cory Woodward (left) magnified the sanctionable conduct by not just having multiple trysts with his court clerk from July of 2012 until May of last year but engaging in such conduct in both his chambers and in public places. Both were censured but allowed to continue on the bench. Both are former prosecutors.

Continue reading “Two California Judges Sanctioned For Sex In Chambers” →

Academia, Environment, International, Politics, Science

Report: There is a 99.999% Certainty That Humans Driving Global Warming

earth-screensaver_largeThere is a new report on global climate change this week that addresses many of the claims being raised against the theory by critics. Despite the overwhelming agreement of the scientific community, people continue to cite anecdotal observations of cool temperatures to refute predictions. The new report crunches the climate numbers and concludes that there is less than 1 chance in 100,000 that global average temperature over the past 60 years would have been as high without human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.

Continue reading “Report: There is a 99.999% Certainty That Humans Driving Global Warming” →

Animals, Criminal law, Society, Torts

Fowl Play: Police Chief Responds To Failure Of Family To Remove Chickens By Decapitating Boy’s Pet Hen And Leaving Head Near Coop

Screen shot
Screen shot
In a case that has some disturbing comparisons to the Bolger case out of Baltimore, a police chief in Atwater, Minnesota is accused of killing a boy’s pet chicken and then leaving the hen’s decapitated head near the chicken coop. Police Chief Trevor Berger was reportedly responding to a violation of the city ordinance prohibiting fowl and the failure of the Turnbull’s to comply with the order to get rid of three chickens and two ducks. However, like Bolger (who sit a dog’s throat), Berger is accused of taking horrific actions in response to a minor violation. Berger has since apologized by saying that he did not know it was a pet, but that still leaves the question of why an officer would decapitate animals and leave their heads on the ground in response to a municipal violation.

Continue reading “Fowl Play: Police Chief Responds To Failure Of Family To Remove Chickens By Decapitating Boy’s Pet Hen And Leaving Head Near Coop” →

Animals, Criminal law, Society, Torts

Baltimore Police Officers Charged After Slitting The Throat Of Family Dog

Officer-Jeffrey-BolgerThere is a pending prosecution in Maryland that continues to shock the animal rights community, and others. Baltimore police officer Jeffrey Bolger has been charged with animal cruelty for maliciously killing a family’s 7-year-old Shar-Pei, Nala. Bolger allegedly threatened to “gut” the dog and then slit its throat.

Continue reading “Baltimore Police Officers Charged After Slitting The Throat Of Family Dog” →

International, Politics, Religion, Society

OMG U R F! Egyptian Clerics Issue Fatwa Banning Online Chats Between The Sexes

thumb_at_computer_silloetteEgyptDar Al Ifta, Egypt’s official body in charge of advising Muslims on spiritual matters, has shown that Egypt is not going to simply give up in the race back to the Stone Age between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The Muslim cleric have issued a fatwa prohibiting online chats between unrelated men and women. How they are going to monitor that fatwa is a bit unclear but it appears that even sending text messages to a person of the other sex is an affront to Islam. Clerics issued the fatwa with the warning that social media is “one of the tools of the devil and a way for spreading discord and corruption.”

Continue reading “OMG U R F! Egyptian Clerics Issue Fatwa Banning Online Chats Between The Sexes” →

Academia, Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, Society

“The Hysteria is Far From Over”: Maryland Teacher Writes Futuristic Novel About School Shooting . . School Board Sends Him For Evaluation While Police Raid His Home and Distribute His Picture

mclawpatrick-mclaw-investigation-book-coverThere is a bizarre case out of Maryland where school officials sent teacher and novelist Patrick McLaw, 23, to an emergency medical evaluation for publishing, under a pseudonym, a novel about a school shooting. That’s it. A language-arts eight grade teacher at Lane Middle School writes a book about a school shooting and he is put on leave by the Dorchester County Board of Education, investigated by the Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office, and sent away for evaluation. “The Insurrectionist” happens to be set 900 years in the future but the board couldn’t just wait for the shooting to occur and had to act. What is striking is that all of these steps have been taken and McLaw has been effectively treated as a danger to children but no one has said a thing beyond the novel that is the basis for the actions. Was there something else that raise the danger of a violent act by McLaw? Officials have not been shy about distributing McLaw’s picture, assuring parents that they will protect their children (presumably from McLaw), and generally portraying him as a possible threat to children. Yet, when it comes to the basis for these actions, no one is saying a thing.

Continue reading ““The Hysteria is Far From Over”: Maryland Teacher Writes Futuristic Novel About School Shooting . . School Board Sends Him For Evaluation While Police Raid His Home and Distribute His Picture” →

Animals, Criminal law

New Jersey Man Found Guilty Of Shooting Family Dog With Arrow

43b732a544a7d98125536ef314f1b5beDavid Moors, 39, of Beachwood, N.J. has been found guilt of felony aggravated cruelty to animals after he shot and killed a family dog named “Clara” with a bow and arrow — allegedly in front of a little girl from the dog’s family. Moors opted for a non-jury trial, but it did not help. County Judge Donald A. Williams called the act a “reprehensible” crime done with intent and “without justification.” He faces a maximum sentence of up to two years.

Continue reading “New Jersey Man Found Guilty Of Shooting Family Dog With Arrow” →

Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law

Massachusetts Lawyer Charged With Impersonating . . . A Transformer?

decepticoncar-300x225It appears that a Massachusetts man has been arrested for impersonating a transformer. Barricade (an evil Decepticon) to be exact. The driver had his Maserati “dipped” to resemble the character and was pulled over in Braintree, Massachusetts. His car has the words “Decepticons punish and enslave” painted along the side. It is not clear if the officer was a Decepticon or just a clueless deputy. He faces fines of $1000 or more, probation or, in the most extreme cases, up to five years in jail for impersonating an officer.

Continue reading “Massachusetts Lawyer Charged With Impersonating . . . A Transformer?” →

Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, International, Media, Politics, Religion, Society, Uncategorized

Morality Spill On Aisle 6: Saudi Religious Police Beat Husband After He And His Wife Use a Women-Only Checkout Line At Supermarket

Screen Shot 2014-09-02 at 7.20.12 AMIn Riyadh, the Saudi morality police are again in the news. You may recall that when we last left the medieval mod squad they had secured a sentence to flog a woman who insulted them. Now, the religious police was caught on video beating up a British resident after they paid a bill at a women-only cask desk. The religious police was irate at the violation of the strict Sharia-based separation of the sexists and apparently took what they thought was the morality correct approach in beating the man in front of his wife who was wearing a black abaya cloak.

Continue reading “Morality Spill On Aisle 6: Saudi Religious Police Beat Husband After He And His Wife Use a Women-Only Checkout Line At Supermarket” →

Bizarre, Media, Politics, Society

USTelecom Moves To Block Cities From Offering High-Speed Internet Services To Consumers

280px-Logo_ustelecom_lgWe have previously discussed how the United States lags behind many countries in the speed and availability of high-speed Internet. As noted earlier, this is due primarily to the powerful lobby in Washington and members who do their bidding in Congress to allow certain companies to control and profit off of such access. The U.S. cable industry and its lobbyists however have been careful to stay out of the public eye to protect their income and the members that they use in Congress. Now, however, the industry has made a rare play in the open. The industry is moving to block plans in Chattanooga, Tennessee and Wilson, North Carolina to offer high-speed internet services to their citizens. Lawyers and lobbyists for USTelecom, which represents cable giants Comcast, Time Warner and others, have mobilized to stop this trend where municipalities have responded to the demand of their citizens for such access. In the world of Washington lobbying, the slowest in this field has continued to win the race. While slow in service, our telecom companies are fast in making friends in Congress.

Continue reading “USTelecom Moves To Block Cities From Offering High-Speed Internet Services To Consumers” →

Academia, International, Science, Society

International Team Publishes Breakthrough Research Sequencing Ebola Strain Despite the Deaths of Five Team Members

ebolaThere is a chilling international report out of this week on the origins of the 2014 Ebola outbreak. Researchers from the United States and Africa were able to trace the origins of the outbreak to a funeral in Guinea. The report expanded the data on Ebola by 400 percent. However, the standard listing of authors on the study have a chilling notation, a “‡” designation for “Deceased.” Five team members died in the effort to trace this Ebola stain and the release of the report honors their extraordinary sacrifice.

Continue reading “International Team Publishes Breakthrough Research Sequencing Ebola Strain Despite the Deaths of Five Team Members” →