The New York authorities have finally caught up to Alexa Gonzalez, who saw her open life of crime end with an arrest in her junior high school in Queens. Gonzalez was caught doodling on her desk with erasable marker and promptly cuffed and taken downtown.
Continue reading “Not So Sharpie: New York Police Arrest Lime-Green Marker Menace”
In our category of useful things to know, I give you how to light a cigarette if you are caught in the desert with no matches and only an AK-47.
Continue reading “How To Light a Cigarette With Only an AK-47”
Scott Maxwell at the Orlando Sentinel has an extraordinary story about the lengths that social conservatives and anti-gay advocates will go to block the adoption of children by gay couples. Vanessa Alenier and her partner, Melanie Leon, are affluent and loving parents who were awarded custody of a child who was in their foster care in Florida. One problem for the Florida Family Policy Council, it appears, is that they are also attractive, so (on the left) is the picture the council posted with their calls for opposition to the adoption while (on the right) is the actual couple.
Continue reading “Family Group Accused of Using False Picture of Lesbian Couple”
This is getting a bit out of control, folks. I know that I am a Chicago native with a snow attitude but people in this town are doing everything short of sacrificing their young to please the Snow God.
In a shocking development, Heinz company is about to issue a new package for ketchup. No one seems to realize the clear import of this thoughtless corporate act for children across the country.
There is an interesting case developing in New York where a court is being asked to declare that companies cannot patent human genes. The case involves a patent claim by Myriad Genetics, and the University of Utah Research Foundation, In 1994, the company and foundation isolated the DNA sequence for the BRCA1 and later the BRCA2 genes — mutations that greatly increase a woman’s chance of developing breast and ovarian cancer. The patent protects a test that the company and foundation are selling to detect the genes.
Continue reading “New York Court to Decide Whether Human Genes Can Be Patented”
In what may be something of a disappointment for Ian Rushing, 27, women identified the Oregon man as the alleged “St. Helens Flasher” by his pronounced bad tooth.
Continue reading “Flasher Identified By His Pronounced . . . Tooth”
For those of us who are Sir Ernest Shackleton groupies, this story is wonderful. Five crates of whisky and brandy belonging to Shackleton have been recovered from under the Antarctic ice after 100 years. Just for the record, as we wait to receive our estimated 30 inches of snow today, I am burying crates of my favorite wine under the house for the regulars of my blog to recover after my demise.
We have another Islamic honor killing, but this one adds a horrific element: burying the victim alive. Turkish police believe that the 16-year-old girl was buried alive in south-eastern Turkey in a town called Kahta.
Continue reading “Sixteen-Year-Old Turkish Girl Buried Alive in Honor Killing”
Today in a congressional hearing, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair acknowledged that the U.S. may, with executive approval, deliberately target and kill U.S. citizens who are suspected of being involved in terrorism. I discussed this story in the segment on MSNBC Countdown below.
Continue reading “Obama Administration Claims Right to Kill Americans Suspected of Terrorism”
We have been following the criminal investigation into the deaths at a sweat lodge run by self-help guru James Ray. Ray has now been arrested Wednesday and charged with manslaughter in deaths of three people at the Arizona sweat lodge ceremony.
Continue reading “Self-Help Guru James Ray Arrested”
There is an interesting case out of Pennsylvania where a dog groomer has been convicted of animal cruelty for ear and neck piercings. It is the defense of Holly Crawford that makes the case particularly notable.
Continue reading “Goth Cats: Woman Convicted of Animal Cruelty for Piercings”
Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh seem to be vying for which country is the most repressive in the application of Islamic Sharia law. The Saudi courts have ordered a Filipino woman to be lashed 100 times after she was raped. The Bangladesh courts outdid their Saudi counterparts and ordered a girl lashed 101 times for being raped. At what point does the Obama Administration publicly denounce these countries for systemic human rights violations against women?
Associate Justice Clarence Thomas appeared to take on President Obama this week in discussing the ruling in Citizens United — contradicting the President’s portrayal in the State of the Union. In my view, the President did overstate the holding (not unheard of in the halls of Congress), but I continue to despair over the increasing public role played by justices (here). In my view, Thomas should not be engaging in such a public debate and should allow these decisions to speak for themselves.
Continue reading “Clarence Thomas Defends Recent Ruling on Campaign Finance”
Harris County criminal Court-at-Law Judge Reagan Helm has resigned after protests over his allegedly taunting remarks to victims of domestic violence. Helm, 68, reportedly admitted to suffering from dementia and having “medical issues.” He was accused of extreme bias against women in these cases. In one instance, Helm told men accused of domestic abuse that these women have them “by the balls.”
Continue reading “Houston Judge Resigns After Claims of Bias Against Domestic Abuse Victims”