This simply does not look like a good idea.
McDonald’s recently pulled out of the Crimea after the takeover of the Ukrainian peninsula by Vladimir Putin. While Putin’s authoritarian move did not appear to appeal to McDonald’s, it is only fitting that Burger King would be attracted to the imperial tendencies of Putin. The chain has announced that it will fill the void and expand into the Crimea.
Continue reading ““Have It Your Way”: Where Putin Invades, Burger King Will Follow”
There was an extraordinary moment on a Swedish flight this week taking off from Frösön airport in northern Sweden. The government was deporting Ghader Ghalamere back to his native Iran. A man on the flight stood up to tell the passengers about the deportation and told them not to fasten their seat belts to stop the flight. The passengers did precisely that and the flight could not take off in an extraordinary act of peaceful protest.
A new report concludes that Los Angeles police officers have widely tampered with voice recording equipment to block monitoring of their actions on duty. Officers have been tearing off the antennas of their cruisers to prevent transmitting signals. Yet, there is not a single reported case of a single officer been disciplined, let alone fired. Indeed, none will be investigated.
This is why I constantly tell the boys not to learn history off Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ backside. The answer is below the fold so don’t click for “more” until you have the answer.
Continue reading “Back To Basics: Can You Spot The Problem?”
This week, U.S. Rep. Vance McAllister was faced with the scandalous release of a security video to his kissing his married aide, Melissa Anne Hixon Peacock, at his office in Louisiana. That would normally be the stuff of scandal, but it is even worse when you are married and ran as a religious conservative. McAllister went public with an apology to everyone (except personally to Peacock’s husband who is now divorcing his wife). He asked forgiveness but is now demanding an investigation to potentially jail whoever revealed his conduct: a curious path for a self-proclaimed redemptive sinner.
We have another example of the power of the Internet in fighting crime. After Ahryun Moon, 29, had her laptop stolen in Joy’s Place, a San Francisco coffee shop, the security video was placed on YouTube. Sure enough, someone spotted the women in the video still wearing the same distinct outfit. She is Pawl Raynal, 32, and fittingly enough was arrested in another Bay Area coffee shop.
Continue reading “Viral Video Results In Arrest Of Laptop Thief In San Francisco”
We soon will witness an event that has long been associated with the end of the Earth (fortunate timing before finals for my students): the blood moon. Mars, Earth, and the Sun will all align tonight which happens once every 778 days. However, the red moon is less common (as in only occasionally over 2000 years) and has long been viewed as foretelling the “end of times.”
Sen. Elbert Guillory (R., Opelousas) appears to like poultry pugilism. Chicken boxing, that is. Guillory left a number of his colleagues scratching their heads when he raised the distinction between cockfighting and “chicken boxing,” the latter involving chickens wearing little gloves as opposed to razors to fight.
Continue reading “Chicken Boxing? Louisiana State Senator Wants Poultry Pugilists Protected”
Feeling unappreciated at work? Think what it is like for the guy who was given this locker.
There is a disturbing case out of Northern Virginia where Braulio Castillo, the CEO of a computer company, is accused of beating his wife and then hanging her from the ceiling to make it look like a suicide. Castillo has been under investigation by Congress over $500 million in contracts secured through a special service-disabled veteran status law.
There is a truly horrific case out of Minnesota after David J. Gherity, 60, was arrested for setting his girlfriend on fire in his condominium. What struck me as odd was that he was not charged with attempted murder as opposed to assault in the attack. However, Gheirty’s lawyer says that there is a videotape of Gherity at work at the time of the crime that will vindicate his client.
Continue reading “Minnesota Lawyer Arrested In Burning Of Girlfriend”
Charlotte School of Law professor Brian Clarke has written a series of articles that I hope all of my students and colleagues and blog mates will consider reading (here and here and here). Professor Clarke has written about his own struggle with depression and supplied statistics on the high number of students and lawyers who grapple with this illness. He is the latest in the line of attorneys to come out to discuss depression and has made a particularly insightful and personal case for those who are struggling with the condition. (I am emailing the links to Professor Clarke’s writings to all of my students this term)
New pictures from Mars has people talking about the possibility of an artificial light source on the planet. This photo was taken last week, apparently by one of our NASA rovers and has UFO folks launching all types of theories.
Continue reading “Optical Illusion or Martian Looking For His Car Keys?”
A delicious prank on a professor has gone viral after students at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan decided to celebrate April Fool’s with their macroeconomics professor, Stephan Barrows. The video is below and begins with student Taylor Nefcy getting a cellphone call. Barrows makes anyone who gets such a call in class answer it on speaker mode. On this occasion, there was a prankster on the other end.