There is another bizarre account from Iran where the government has been cracking down on “baldy veiled women.” It appears that it is not just actual women who offend Sharia-sensibilities. There is a photo running on the web that allegedly shows how Iran’s religious police are giving double mascetomies to mannequins to avoid the appearance of breasts in public.
Continue reading “Mannequin Mascetomies: Iranian Officials Reportedly Ordering Removal of Breasts From Mannequins”
Author Mark Arax has written an article in Salon that details allegations against the Los Angeles Times in killing a story on how the Israeli lobby was helping efforts to deny the Armenian genocide in exchange for Turkey’s support of Israel. Despite the focus on media issues on this blog, I am embarrassed to say that I was unaware of the controversy until this column.
Continue reading “Salon: Author Details Controversy at LA Times Over Article on The Israeli Lobby and Denial of the Armenian Genocide”
We have another case of a citizen arrested for photographing police. Francisco Olvera says that he was charged in Seeley, Texas with “illegal photography” when a police sergeant followed him into his own home, and he objected and took the officer’s photo with his cell phone.
Continue reading “Texas Officer Charges Homeowner With “Illegal Photography” For Taking His Pictures During An Alleged Unlawful Entry”
The Treasury Department has learned that roughly 1,300 prison inmates wrongly received more than $9 million in tax credits for homebuyers as part of the Administration’s stimulus effort. These unique homebuyers included 241 inmates serving life sentences.
Continue reading “Report: 1,300 Inmates Wrongly Given Over $9 Million in Homeowner Tax Credits”
Swimmers and surfers in Miami are a bit put out this week after they learned that 20 million gallons of raw sewage was released along beaches without adequate notice to the public. It brings a new meaning to the surfer term “floater.”
Continue reading “Floaters: Surfers and Swimmers Complain Over Lack of Notice of Sewage Release Along Miami Beaches”
Chattanooga police officer Jim Daves has been suspended in the controversy over his arrest of Eric Wright, the husband who ran red lights to get his critically ill wife to the emergency room. As we discussed earlier, Daves allegedly blocked Wright from carrying in his wife to the ER and later charged him with a variety of criminal acts, including evading arrest for staying by his wife’s side.
Continue reading “Chattanooga Officer Suspended Over Arrest of Husband Rushing Wife To Emergency Room”
We have been following the Iranian crackdown on “badly veiled” women. It now appears that at least 62,000 women have been issued warnings about their failure to properly cover their hair in the Shiite holy province of Qom.
Continue reading “Veiled Threat: Iranians Issue Warnings To 62,000 “Badly Veiled Women” and Confiscate Cars”
Erik Fabian, 20, was sentenced this week in Chicago for an outrageous prank where he and his friend, Armando Reza, 18, took turns striking bicyclists with their car. He pleaded guilty and received a relatively light sentence of two years probation for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and leaving the scene of an accident.
Continue reading “Two Chicago Men Intentionally Strike Bicyclists For Fun and Receive Probation for Aggravated Battery”
The Naked Cowboy has previously fought against rivals to protect his unique brand in New York. Now, however, he is facing a new menace: the Naked Cowgirl. It sounds like a struggle more befitting the Garden of Eden than Madison Square Garden but both naked cow people are pulling out their briefs.
Continue reading “Battle of the Briefs: Naked Cowboy v. Naked Cowgirl”
In British Columbia, firefighters bravely saved a half-dozen victims in a blaze and were suspended for performing emergency resuscitation. Canadian Mounties are investigating the firefighters, who pulled kegs of beer from a burning hotel and then tapped a couple of the kegs in celebration.
Continue reading “Firefighters Suspended For Performing Emergency Resuscitation on St. Pauli Girl”
As BP flacks try to stem criticism of Tony Hayward going yachting during the crisis in the gulf, many have surmised that Hayward and his staff are living on a different planet. That seemed confirmed by Planet BP — the company’s in-house magazine — which quoted a local seafood businessman as saying “[t]here is no reason to hate BP” and insisting that “[m]uch of the region’s [nonfishing boat] businesses — particularly the hotels — have been prospering because so many people have come here from BP and other oil emergency response teams.”
Continue reading “BP: The Disaster is the Relief”
A New Orleans federal judge lifted the six-month moratorium imposed on deepwater drilling by President Barack Obama after the BP spill. In New Orleans, U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman found that the administration had failed to satisfy requirements for notice and comment from industry. The case is Hornbeck Offshore Services LLC v. Salazar, 2:10-cv-01663(E.D. La.).
Continue reading “Drill, Baby, Drill: Obama’s Deep-Drilling Moratorium Lifted By Federal Court”
The Dutch city is now famous not just for its cheese, but its “decoy Jews” In an effort to combat attacks on Jewish citizens, the police are disguising officers as Jews to capture anti-Semitic hooligans.
The Supreme Court rejected first amendment claims and upheld a federal law on providing “material support” to foreign terrorist organizations in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project. The material support law (found in the 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA)) is the darling of prosecutors and widely ridiculed by civil libertarians for allowing virtually any act to be classified as material support. The ruling is a victory for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan and a loss for civil liberties. Notably, however, even the conservatives on the Court found the interpretation of the Obama Administration to be too extreme.
Continue reading “Supreme Court Rules In Favor Of Expansive Reading of Material Support Law”
We have been following the case of Ohio officer Thomas White who shot an unarmed motorcyclist, Michael McCloskey, Jr. The crime was captured on the video below. White was sentenced this week to 10 years in prison for the shooting which left McCloskey paralyzed two years ago
Continue reading “Ohio Officer Sentenced to Ten Years in Shooting of Unarmed Motorcyclist”