I am not a big fan (make that a fan) of Chuck Norris but even I found this pretty funny as a response to Claude Van Damme’s commercial.
Houston bankruptcy and family law attorney Michael Busby Jr. has filed a rather curious lawsuit on his own behalf (and those of more than 100 people) for alleged fraud by a fortune teller. Busby claims that he gave fortune teller Melena Thorn $2,700 in a box for “cleansing” that she never returned to be part of a husband-wife reunification ritual. (The money was to be placed under the “marital bed” to bring about happier relations). Busby claims also to have paid Thorn $30 for a tarot card reading and $500 for the ritual. Many would be rather embarrassed to participate in such supernatural services, but Busby is taking Thorn to court under a claim of fraud.
There is a truly bizarre case out of Ohio where Norman Gurley, 30, was arrested for having a hidden compartment in his car. However, there were no drugs or guns or anything illegal in the compartment. Indeed, there was nothing illegal in the car or on Gurley. However, just have a hidden compartment in your car can now be charged as a crime in Ohio. It is part of the expanding criminalization of America where virtually any act can be charged as a crime by police.
Continue reading “Ohio Man Arrested For Having Hidden Compartment In The Car . . . Without Drugs Or Guns”
I am often surprised (despite prior cases of religious lunacy) of how self-described religious people can commit the most heinous and unjustified acts of violence in the name of faith. We have seen a series of riots and murders committed by Muslims after word has spread of the desecration of a Koran (Quran). The latest riot however is truly one for the books in sheer insanity. A rumor spread in Quetta, Pakistan that a crate of pomegranates from Iran contains some pages ripped from a Koran. As a result, Muslims went on a rampage looking for Shiites to kill. The mob ended up killed one man and wounded three others and torching neighborhoods to get right with Allah.
Well, my friends, we are down to the last day in the annual competition for top blog with the ABA Journal. We stand here like nerdy bloggers on the eve of the Battle of Agincourt. If you like our blog, it is time to answer the call of history. We are in the highly competitive News/Analysis category and we need your vote if you can just spare a minute to vote. You can vote here. It just take a few seconds to register to avoid vote rigging.
Continue reading “AWOL WITH THE ABA? LAST DAY TO VOTE FOR OUR BLOG AS TOP NEWS/ANALYSIS BLOG”
Special forces rabbits train to leave no bunny behind.
University of Colorado is currently embroiled in a controversy over its diversity director allegedly running a phone sex operation out of her university office. It also received national criticism for Halloween guidelines citing costumes like Cowboys and Indians as inappropriate. Now the University is facing an accusation from sociology professor Patti Adler that she was forced out of teaching due to her use of student actors to vividly demonstrate the realities of prostitution. The university reportedly said that the skit might be viewed as sexual harassment or improper conduct by a faculty member. The action against Adler raises serious questions of academic freedom.
Environmentalists have been fighting the expanding use of fracking operations in the United States as a harmful practice, particularly for water contamination. The practice involves injecting millions of gallons of chemical-laced water and sand deep underground to crack shale formations to extract oil and gas. Not only does it use a huge amount of water in areas of water shortage but the chemicals contaminate both surface and underground water resources. Now a study in the journal Endocrinology has found a linkage to chemicals that have been linked to infertility, birth defects and cancer as well as elevated levels of the hormone-disrupting chemicals in the Colorado River.
Former CIA Director James Woolsey has one wish for the holidays: for Edward Snowden to be tried for treason and “hanged.” That was Woolsey’s response to the suggestion of amnesty for Snowden.Of course, the National Intelligence Director can commit perjury and CIA officials can lie to Congress without nary an investigation let alone prosecution. Intelligence officials can run a torture program in violation of treaties and international law without punishment. CIA officials can openly destroy evidence so that it cannot be used against them in a criminal case and continue in office without penalty. The CIA director can even reveal classified evidence to a filmmaker working on a pro-torture movie. All of that is perfectly correct, but Snowden must die.
Continue reading “Ex-CIA Director Calls For Snowden To Be “Hanged By His Neck Until He Is Dead””
How dogs engineer accidents for unwanted owners . . .
Continue reading “Rex Makes His Move As She Approaches A Busy Intersection”
Now this would make for an interesting torts case in the United States. In Cabo Frio, Brazil, doctors performed a cesarean section on a 37-year-old woman only to discover that she wasn’t pregnant. The hospital later said that they were relying on the woman who said that she thought that she was pregnant and that they panicked when they could not hear the baby’s heartbeat.
Zachary Golob-Drake, a 5th grader at the Patel Partnership School in Tampa Florida was elated recently when he won first place with a speech and an invitation to compete in the 4-H Tropicana Public Speech Contest. However, his assistant principal then told him that he would be stripped of his honor because she did not like the topic of the speech, the history of people using religion to justify murder. It is the latest example of how free speech principles are routinely denied to students in public school. Here is a boy who takes on a difficult and highly advanced subject, but is told that he must either give up the first amendment or his first place prize.
Scientology has long been accused of thuggish treatment by former members who say that they are followed and harassed if they go public with disclosures about the church. The latest such accusation comes from Monique Rathbun, wife of former high-ranking church member Marty Rathbun. She alleges that the Church set up a surveillance system next to their home and followed the couple when they tried to find a remote hideaway from the church. What is different is that she claims to have pictures of the Scientology operatives responsible for the harassment. Rathbun filed her lawsuit in Texas and detailed how the Church maintains a group that it calls “squirrel busters” who track down and harass former scientologists. Continue reading ““Squirrel Busters”: Scientology Accused Of New Campaign Of Abuse Against High-Ranking Defector”
There is a major development in the movement among universities and colleges to boycott Israeli universities over objections to its treatment of the Palestinians. The influential American Studies Association on Monday endorsed the boycott with mover 3000 of its members voting and 66 percent supporting the action as a response what they view as a pattern of human rights violations by Israel. It is a major victory for academics pushing for cutting off ties to Israeli educations institutions.
Continue reading “Major U.S. Academic Group Joins Boycott Of Israel”
Of all of the pitiful mug shots that we have seen through the years, the sorrowful Santa’s helper in Louisiana. Indeed, Brandon Touchet, 34, who apparently got a bit too jolly while dressed as Buddy the elf. He brought back some fond memories of my old home of Lafayette where I lived while clerking for Judge Eugene Davis of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.