Like millions of people in this area, I was thrilled to watch the Discovery fly around Washington on its piggyback ride to the Air and Space Museum. The shuttle first flew directly over my car on George Washington Parkway at an extremely low altitude. It was amazing to see it from directly below at what seems like less than a 1000 feet. I then saw it from different spots while driving in D.C. It was awesome.
Police in Keyes, California are investigating why police officers killed an unarmed 32-year-man after first shooting him with a stun gun. Family members called police to tell them that George Ramirez was suffering from depression and threatening suicide. The Stanislaus County sheriff’s deputy is now on administrative leave. According to reports, Deputy Art Parra Jr. has been on the force for six years.
Here is your morning solar flare shot to get you started. The Sun’s “northwestern limb” gave us this incredible display this week with an arcing jet of super-heated plasma.
D.C. Circuit Judge Janice Rogers Brown has long been controversial since her nomination was opposed by many for what were viewed as extreme view as a member of the California Supreme Court. She was finally confirmed in a deal in the Senate that many denounced as a surrender by Democrats. Now Brown has used an opinion to denounce “powerful groups” and courts for limiting “Cowboy capitalism” that she says has been “disarmed” in America.
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.” Juliet’s famous line seemed to have a more poignant meaning this week with the arrest of Fellony Silas, 30, for . . . you guessed it . . . a felony battery at a bar.
Continue reading “Charing Fellony: The World’s Most Unfortunate Name For A Criminal Defendant”
This corpus delicti was the key piece of evidence in the arrest by the FBI of alleged super hacker Higinio O. Ochoa. I am not sure why this piece of evidence caught the eye of FBI agents, but they used its posting on Twitter account of @MissAnonFatale to find Ochoa’s girlfriend and then Ochoa.
Continue reading “Keeping Abreast Of Crime: Hacker Traced By FBI From Picture of Girlfriend”
Even in a city full of lobbyists, John Bowles is a stand out. He is the new lobbyist for the American Nazi Party. With lobbyists from General Electric and Exxon, Bowles will work the offices on behalf of skinheads and antisemites. I can’t wait to see the gift baskets.
This is not exactly the picture you want public when you are invoking your Fifth Amendment Privilege Against Self-Incrimination. The picture shows General Services Administration official Jeff Neely enjoying a spa tub and wine as part of the $822,000 Las Vegas conference that is now the subject of a congressional investigation, as previously discussed. Neely, the GSA’s Public Buildings Service regional commissioner, invoked his Fifth Amendment rights in a hearing. His seat remained vacant at the hearing after his invocation.
Continue reading “What Happens in Vegas, Stays In Vegas: GSA Official Invokes Right To Remain Silent in Congressional Hearing”
One of the alleged culprits from the brutal attack on a tourist in Baltimore has turned himself into police. His name is Aaron Parsons, 20, and he was identified on social media posts over the past week. He is now charged with assault, robbery and other crimes. [Update: Bail has been reduced]
Continue reading “First Suspect Charged In Brutal Baltimore Attack”
George Washington has been named Britain’s greatest ever foe by the UK’s National Army Museum. There is one guy who has grounds to object that those little skirmishes of Battle of Trafalgar and Waterloo appear to be entirely irrelevant.
Continue reading “Excusez-Moi? George Washington Named Britain’s Greatest Foe”
With the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, various auction items are being offered to the highest bidder. Last week, an admission ticket for the voyage fetched $56,250 while a menu on the ship sold for $31,250. There is one item on the menu however that caught my eye and curiosity.
Continue reading “They Never Finished Their Capons: Titanic Menu Sold in Auction”
Clayton Keith Dovel, 36, is the latest Transportation Security Administration baggage inspector arrested for theft. Dovel was found with stolen iPads from luggage of passengers snatched at the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport.
Continue reading “TSA Inspector Arrested For Stealing iPads”
The United States achieved a major victory last week by avoiding the title as the fattest nation on Earth. That distinction goes to the wealthiest nation on Earth: Qatar where half of the population is obese and seventeen percent are suffering from diabetes.
Respectfully submitted by Lawrence Rafferty (rafflaw)- Guest Blogger
As one who was taught by Benedictine nuns in a Catholic elementary school, I grew up with some strange and possibly severe restrictions on what the nuns called “mixing” the boys and girls. More recently, when my adult children were in school, the Diocese of Rockford forbade Altar boys being on the altar at the same time as Altar girls! With that background, I thought I had seen it all. However, the State of Tennessee has just beaten that sorry record of over restrictive rules for school children. It seems that Tennessee state senators, in their infinite wisdom have updated their already suspect abstinence based sex education law by suggesting that holding hands is a gateway to sex. Continue reading “The Dangers of Holding Hands”
By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Which ethnic subset of American teens is most likely to become substance abusers and thus possessors of illegal drugs, alcohol, or tobacco?
a. Caucasians; b. Hispanics; c. African-Americans.
If you answered “c” you are wrong and probably Caucasian. Large-scale national surveys like the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R) find that African-Americans are significantly less likely to have substance use disorders than their White counterparts. Continue reading “Profiling The Profiler: The Unflattering Mirror”