The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit doesn’t have this problem often.  But in an October 15 filing, it sent 18 copies of a petition for rehearing to the U.S. Marshalls Service for disposition, because the petitioner attached cannabinoid samples to each copy.  Appellate litigation for the win.

From the Court’s order:

Appellant Jeffrey Nathan Schirripa submitted to the court 18 copies of his confidential petition for panel rehearing and rehearing en banc. Upon examination, Appellant affixed to each petition what appear to be samples of cannabinoids, which may be controlled substances possessed or mailed in violation of federal law.

IT IS ORDERED THAT:

The Clerk of Court is directed to transmit these 18 documents to the U.S. Marshals Service for appropriate disposition or alternate action within the purview of the U.S. Department of Justice.

The Court of Federal Claims denied Mr. Schirripa’s demand that the court enjoin the United States from enforcing the Controlled Substance Act, and a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed.  You can find the complete docket for the case here.

Hat tip to University of Missouri School of Law Professor Dennis Crouch who originally tagged this nugget on Patentlyo.  As of this writing, there is no word about whether Schirripa will appeal the case to the high court.

Law Street Media Staff

Law Street Media Staff posts are written by the team at Fastcase and Law Street Media

The post Appellate Litigation Protip: Do Not Attach Drugs to Your Petition appeared first on Law Street.

A story involving an inventor, a missing female journalist, and a sunken submarine has gripped the people of Scandinavia. But despite what it sounds like, it’s not a crime novel or an action movie. Danish inventor Peter Madsen has been charged with involuntary manslaughter after taking a Swedish journalist, Kim Wall, out for a ride in his self-made submarine.

Early Saturday morning, Wall’s boyfriend reported her as missing, because she hadn’t returned home the night before. A search and rescue operation began, and Madsen was discovered sitting on a sinking submarine. He jumped off the sinking vessel near Copenhagen, just as rescue boats approached.

Later on Saturday, the submarine, called UC3 Nautilus, was recovered from the bottom of the sea, but no body was found inside and there’s no chance to recover any potential DNA evidence because it would have been washed away. Madsen claims technical issues sank the submarine.

Madsen also said that he dropped Wall off outside a restaurant on the mainland at 10:30 p.m. on Friday. But she hasn’t been seen since a passerby snapped a photo of the two on the submarine tower before they left the Copenhagen harbor on Thursday.

A Danish submarine inventor has been charged in the death of Kim Wall, a journalist. But her body is still missing. https://t.co/hWTvDNuCLg pic.twitter.com/1i2IKQqIge

— New York Times World (@nytimesworld) August 13, 2017

Danish police believe Madsen may have accidentally killed Wall and then tried to cover his tracks by sinking the submarine. They said they still hope to find Wall alive, but that they are prepared for the worst case scenario. Madsen is denying any wrongdoing.

Wall is a 30-year-old Swedish freelance journalist who graduated from Columbia University in New York and has worked with publications like the New York Times, Vice, and Time.

According to Swedish media, Wall was in the submarine with Madsen as part of her research for an upcoming article about Madsen and his new space project. Madsen also reportedly gave a second explanation of when and where he supposedly dropped Wall off on the Friday evening, but the police have not revealed any details about that version.

Kim Wall remains missing. Please share her photo with anyone you might know in Denmark. https://t.co/ercjiTclmM

— Jenny Hollander (@_JennyHollander) August 12, 2017

Madsen is known as a “hobby engineer” with “low social skills,” who is currently attempting to build space rockets. His nickname in Denmark is Rocket Madsen, and he is currently running Rocket Madsen’s Space Laboratory, which aims to become the first non-governmental and volunteer-only organization to send humans to space.

In 2014, he started a crowd-funding page attempting to raise $50,000 for the refurbishment of the submarine. He only raised $6,170. But 10 volunteers worked on finishing the refurbishment, which actually ended in an ownership dispute. Nautilus was initially built as a hobby project by a group of enthusiasts, which included Madsen. But after the dispute, the ownership was transferred to Madsen. After that he allegedly said, “You may think that a curse is lying on Nautilus. That curse is me. There will not be peace on Nautilus for as long as I exist.” That eerie statement sounds even more harrowing today, as the search for Wall continues.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Amid what seems like constant chaos in the White House, it appears as though the next source of trouble for the Trump administration may come from celestial bodies–namely the upcoming solar eclipse–according to astrologers.

On August 21, a solar eclipse will occur that is expected to cast a 70-mile-wide shadow diagonally across the entire United States. Solar eclipses occur approximately once every 18 months, but this will be the first time since 1918 that the shadow will stretch across what is known as “the path of totality.”

While Americans are making plans to see this particularly rare event, astrologers have been analyzing the cosmic events surrounding it to discover what it means for the future. Even in present day, eclipses still hold a lot of power in astrology, according to Wade Caves, an astrological consultant who earlier in July published a 29-page analysis of the coming eclipse.

“What we’re talking about is the ability of the sun to be able to give light and life-generating heat, and all these things being momentarily taken away,” Caves told Newsweek. “So there’s this symbolism that’s built in with eclipses about…things coming to a close, and in often a very dramatic fashion.”

Astrologers are not so much intrigued by how rare this eclipse is, but rather how well the astrological activity surrounding it lines up with Trump’s chart.

Bad Omen for Trump

The eclipse falls just before the end of the Leo sun sign, which is in a “rising” stage on Trump’s astrological chart–meaning that the president is exuding personality traits very similar to that of a typical Leo. The personality of the  average Leo tends to fall somewhere between egotistical and confident, so Trump’s zodiac sign shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Leo is also symbolized as a lion, which is commonly used to represent rulers and kings.

As a result, Caves believes that the timing of the eclipse is a bad omen for Trump.

“It seems to me very possible that by this time next year, we’re looking at the reality of Trump not being in office,” he said.

Caves is not the only astrologer with this belief. Debra DeLeo-Moolenaar, a British astrology blogger, interprets eclipses to be “a big burst of energy” that spreads across the sign chart of a nation or person, “giving energy and power into something that’s already in play.”

She believes that growing frustrations throughout the nation may be “set off” by the solar eclipse, and that the moon symbolizes “the common people” blocking their leader–the sun.

In February, DeLeo-Moolenaar wrote that astrological charts showed Uranus, which is apparently known for being disruptive, approaching Trump’s astrological “birth planet,” Mars, during the eclipse. This, she said, indicates a potential “crisis of some sort” for the president.

Is War Written in the Stars?

Eugene Johnson, another astrologer, wrote an analysis in April of the eclipse that expanded to Jupiter, Pluto, and Neptune, and suggested that the United States should be prepared for some significant event just short of war.

“[The eclipse will] mark important developments on the world stage because of the high preponderance of outer planets involved,” Johnson added.

Astrologer Marjorie Orr noted last November that the eclipse is a part of what is known as the Saros series–which has included eclipses in 1909, 1927, 1945, 1963, 1981 and 1999. Coincidentally, significant political events occurred during each of those years, including the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the impeachment of Bill Clinton, and the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

“Certainly this eclipse presages violence in one form or another,” Orr wrote.

Pseudoscience or Nah?

While it may be easy to dismiss these astrologers’ conclusions as pseudoscience nonsense, it’s worth noting that there has been speculation over the use of astrology in the White House before.

Not only did Ronald Reagan experience an assassination attempt in 1981–one of the Saros series years–but he had a deep interest in astrology himself. He is said to have scheduled important meetings, presidential debates, cancer surgery, State of the Union addresses, and his 1967 inauguration as governor of California based on astrological information.

First Lady Nancy Reagan was even said to be in constant contact with an astrologer named Joan Quigley, who died in 2014 and wrote a book about her time in the White House. Considering how highly Trump regards Reagan, and some of the similarities between their presidencies, it’s possible that the eclipse is on the president’s radar.

But even so, there are those in the scientific community who come out against such predictions. Duncan Steel, an American scientist and author of “Eclipse: The Celestial Phenomenon that Changed the Course of History,” called them foolish.

“Way back, when people had little ability to predict when eclipses would occur apart from recognizing that there are distinct cycles, perhaps it is understandable that doom-mongering based on eclipses occurred,” he said in an email to Newsweek. “But for people nowadays to imagine that they are portents of doom is just daft…. If people believe that the forthcoming solar eclipse ‘means’ anything for the U.S., for Trump, for the world, then they are deluded.”

Gabe Fernandez

Gabe is an editorial intern at Law Street. He is a Peruvian-American Senior at the University of Maryland pursuing a double degree in Multiplatform Journalism and Marketing. In his free time, he can be found photographing concerts, running around the city, and supporting Manchester United. Contact Gabe at Staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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With all that is going on in the world today, it’s easy to forget that an alien life force could come and wipe out all of civilization as we know it at any moment. Thankfully, NASA has an entire office dedicated to keeping up with the dangers that lurk above our atmosphere. Now, the agency is looking for someone to lead the Office of Planetary Protection.

The application to be NASA’s “planetary protection officer” opened last month. The primary job description: to prevent alien contamination during NASA space missions, and to keep alien microorganisms from reaching Earth, according to the federal government’s official employment site. The job will reportedly pay between $124,406 to $187,000 a year, plus benefits.

The United States is not the only country to have this position. Other international space programs usually have it as a shared or part-time role. However, the U.S. is one of two places where one can be a planetary protection officer full-time–the other being the European Space Agency, according to Catharine Conley, NASA’s current planetary protection officer.

While the position may sound like one where a person would be in charge of directing forces during an intergalactic invasion, it appears to be more tame than that. Conley told Scientific American in 2014 that her job mostly involves making sure that the U.S. is complying with a 50-year-old international treaty that set space-based biological contamination standards for all space missions. According to the treaty, any space mission must have a less than 1-in-10,000 chance of contaminating an alien world–a risk assessed by the planetary officer.

In missions to Mars, for example, Conley would be in charge of equipment, protocols, and procedures to reduce the risk of contamination in samples taken from the red planet. She is also in charge of making sure that missions from Earth don’t contaminate other planets. As a result, Conley travels to various space stations around the world to make sure other countries’ planet-bound devices don’t contaminate new worlds through a crash-landing or other methods.

Even though Conley has described the job as having a “a moderate level” of difficulty, the qualifications for it are anything but that. Applicants must have at least one year of experience as a top-level civilian government employee, plus have “advanced knowledge” of planetary protection and all it entails. You will also need an advanced degree in physical science, engineering, or mathematics, as well as “experience planning, executing, or overseeing elements of space programs of national significance.”

Applicants still have time to get their resumes in order–NASA will be accepting applications for the position until August 14. You can apply for the job here.

Gabe Fernandez

Gabe is an editorial intern at Law Street. He is a Peruvian-American Senior at the University of Maryland pursuing a double degree in Multiplatform Journalism and Marketing. In his free time, he can be found photographing concerts, running around the city, and supporting Manchester United. Contact Gabe at Staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post NASA’s New Job Offer: Planetary Protection Officer appeared first on Law Street.

Secretary of Energy Rick Perry apparently spent 22 minutes on the phone last week discussing international energy issues with someone who he believed was Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman. Unfortunately for Perry, the call was a prank from Russian jokesters posing as Groysman. They discussed, among other topics, a fuel that is made from home-brewed alcohol and pig manure.

Perry was duped by Vladimir “Vovan” Kuznetsov and Alexei “Lexus” Stolyarov, who are known for pranking high-profile celebrities. Perry and the duo talked via a translator so the American politician was convinced the man he was corresponding with was Groysman. Besides the alternative fuel, Perry discussed underwater pipelines for gas, cyber attacks on America, natural gas in Ukraine, and even the Paris Accords, according to Bloomberg.

“Our position is that it’s our record that should be looked at, not whether or not we have signed onto some international accord,” Perry said. “We see our record of progress relative to the global environment to be substantially defensible.”

The pair even inquired if Ukraine could strike a deal on American coal exports, to which Perry responded that negotiations are always possible.

(FYI: the entire conversation was uploaded to a Russian video streaming site and can be found here.)

The prank phone call was first reported by E&E News. After the hoax was discovered, Perry’s office commented on the matter in an email to the Washington Post:

Secretary Perry is the latest target of two Russian pranksters.These individuals are known for pranking high-level officials and celebrities, particularly those who are supportive of an agenda that is not in line with their governments.

The duo, known as the “Jerky Boys of Russia,” claims to have pranked celebrities such as Elton John, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and John McCain, but rumor-debunking site Snopes notes that while some instances are true, such as McCain’s call, others remain unverified.

The situation is perhaps even more confusing since Perry and Groysman met in person just last month. On June 20, Perry hosted Groysman and his entourage at the Department of Energy office in Washington D.C., according to the Washington Post. So when Perry’s office received a call requesting a follow-up conversation, they assumed it was the Prime Minister. Instead it was the young Russians scheduling their prank.

After serving as governor of Texas from 2000 to 2015, Perry was the second contestant eliminated on ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars,” (though it’s debatable how much of a star Perry really is.) Besides competing on the reality show, Perry has famously been pretty gaffe-prone throughout his career. During a Republican Presidential Debate in 2011 Perry forgot which government agencies he vowed to abolish. Then, in 2013 Perry was giving a speech in New Orleans when he mistakenly said he was in Florida.

Perry has the political resume to lead the Department of Energy, but these juvenile gaffes should worry some Americans as we enter an era in our country where the debate over climate change is fierce. Citizens can only hope that mistakes like these don’t eventually endanger American interests at home or abroad when it comes to the energy sector.

Josh Schmidt

Josh Schmidt is an editorial intern and is a native of the Washington D.C Metropolitan area. He is working towards a degree in multi-platform journalism with a minor in history at nearby University of Maryland. Contact Josh at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Political polarization in the U.S. feels like it is at an all-time high, and it’s hard to find a single politician that both sides of the aisle can agree is absolutely purr-fect. And that designation may become even harder to come by, as sad news just broke that Stubbs, the (honorary) cat mayor of Talkeetna, Alaska, has passed away.

Stubbs had been mayor of Talkeetna, population 876, since he was a kitten, and garnered quite the following on the internet. A few years ago, news that the beloved mayor was attacked by a dog made it into the local media, and Stubbs regularly was featured on high-brow political lists like “Five of the nation’s most accomplished animal mayors.”

Sad news from Talkeetna, Stubbs the Cat, unofficial mayor has passed away. https://t.co/jbg03v7p7a pic.twitter.com/Ww2e8ZNsi2

— KTUU.com (@Ch2KTUU) July 23, 2017

Stubbs’ human family released a statement about his passing, explaining that the publicity at the end of his life was overwhelming:

In 2017, Stubbs did a couple TV shows and more than a handful of interviews, but was not fond of the camera and all the people; it had gotten to be too much for him. He made it to the store a handful of times this summer and was completely bombarded by people passing him back and forth to take selfies.

However, there is some good news. Stubbs’ family believes one of their new kittens, Denali, may be able to make a mayoral run as well.

And of course, Stubbs isn’t the only political pet in the spotlight these days. In Washington D.C., an intense contest is underway to determine the cutest dogs on the hill. At the federal level, Vice President Mike Pence recently welcomed a new puppy named Harley into his family. And of course, there are other animals looking to take on Stubbs’ mantle as actual political leaders in their hometowns. For example, two towns in Kentucky recently “elected” pit bull mayors. And a dog has recently launched a mayoral bid in Durham, North Carolina. He uses Twitter to connect with his followers:

Howdy! My name is Obie! What’s your name? I am a dog! Are you a dog? I’m running for Mayor of Durham NC! Vote for me or just pet me.

— Obie For Mayor (@ObieForMayor) June 30, 2017

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post RIP Stubbs: Cat Mayor Dies at 20 appeared first on Law Street.

It’s fair to question exactly how fidget spinners have become so popular. But one Russian TV network has taken it a little farther–and recently accused the popular toys of becoming a threat to national security.

A news report on the state-owned network Rossiya 24 claimed that opposition politician Aleksei A. Navalny is using fidget spinners to influence young people and raise money for his campaign. Navalny has been the target of repeated attacks and arrests, as he is determined to run against President Vladimir Putin in the general election next year.

“It is a mystery why it has become so popular in Russia right now. Who is promoting this to the masses so actively?” A reporter for the network said. But the implied suspect seemed to be either Navalny or America.

The reporter explained that a video blogger was selling fidget spinners at one of the recent anticorruption protests that Navalny inspired, under a banner that said “Spinners from Navalny.” The reporter also pointed out that the packaging of a spinner bought in Moscow only had instructions in English. “Not a word in Russian!” he exclaimed.

State-run news outlets in Russia said fidget spinners might be an American plot to “zombify” young Russians https://t.co/do0zuZ44oX

— The New York Times (@nytimes) July 19, 2017

One editor of a pro-government news site commented on Rossiya 24’s story, saying, “those who understand political technologies, they understand very clearly that this simple thing is controlling the masses.”

Another report on the same network claimed that the spinners can hypnotize and “zombify” people, effectively manipulating their behavior. The TV network even interviewed a psychologist, Svetlana Filatova, who said that the spinners dull people’s minds and warned that if you focus on one it will take “you to a different world.”

These recent reports prompted Russia’s consumer protection agency to launch an investigation into the little toys that were originally designed to help children focus.

“There has been an aggressive promotion of so-called spinners among children and teenagers in Russia recently,” the agency said, and added that it would study the effects the gadgets have on children, including any negative ones.

On Tuesday, Navalny posted a video of himself using a fidget spinner while waiting for the verdict at one of his trials back in May. But that move seems more like a tongue-in-cheek mocking of the Russian government than a call to arms for revolutionaries.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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It seems like Congress is one step closer to allowing horsemeat for human consumption. In the U.S., it’s illegal to sell or serve meat that hasn’t been inspected by the Department of Agriculture. At the same time, there has been a ban on funding horsemeat inspections, which has effectively shut down the practice of slaughtering horses for consumption.

But last week, the House Appropriations Committee voted down the ban 27-25. Even wild horses could be in danger under the Trump Administration. The budget proposal for 2018 suggested that killing or selling of wild horses should be allowed in order to save money on their care.

Wild horse advocates are concerned that this would end an almost half-century long protection of horses, and said that the president is just giving in to livestock lobbyists.

On Tuesday, the committee will vote on a bill that prohibits government funding for “the destruction of healthy, unadopted wild horses” or selling wild horses if it will lead to “their destruction for processing into commercial products.”

The ban on funds for horsemeat inspection has led to over 100,000 horses being exported annually to Canada or Mexico to be slaughtered. Those in favor of ending the ban said that allowing inspection on horse slaughtering in the U.S. could ensure a more humane treatment of the horses.

Congress is dangerously close to opening the door for horse slaughter to return to the US, take action today: https://t.co/bIYFTMUIHa pic.twitter.com/8zGHbA35qa

— ASPCA (@ASPCA) July 18, 2017

But supporters of the ban said that previous inspections in the U.S. showed the horses were being treated inhumanely, with some even being “conscious during dismemberment.” “We know unequivocally that horse slaughter is not humane and can’t be done humanely because of the unique biology of horses,” said Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard.

Eating horsemeat is controversial in America; most Americans see horses as pets or companions, and Representative Marcy Kaptur pointed out that Americans fought wars and built the country on the backs of horses. The three remaining horse slaughterhouses in the U.S. closed in 2007.

While horsemeat is still seen as a delicacy in some parts of the world, like Japan and Belgium, eating horse is taboo in many Western countries. Four years ago there was a horsemeat scandal in Europe that spread from Ireland across at least 19 countries. Companies like Ikea had to publicly apologize and recall food products after they were found to contain traces of horsemeat.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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A man who works as a high school administrator is accused of intentionally hitting a cyclist with his SUV in a national park in Tennessee, and then fleeing the scene. A friend of the cyclist had a GoPro camera on his helmet and shared a video of the incident on Facebook. After that, the police were able to track down the driver, Marshall Grant Neely III.

On Sunday night, Neely, 58, was arrested on charges of felony reckless endangerment, leaving the scene of an accident, failure to immediately notify of an accident, and failure to render aid.

He was released after posting an $11,500 bail, but could still face additional federal charges. Park rangers will meet with the United States Attorney’s office this week to discuss any further charges.

The chilling footage from the incident shows two cyclists biking through the Natchez Trace Parkway. The road the two were cycling is a designated bicycle route, and bikes are legally allowed to use the whole lane when necessary. In the opening seconds of the video, a white truck passes the cyclists without incident.

Soon after, a black Volvo SUV comes up from behind and hits 23-year-old cyclist Tyler Noe, who is slightly further ahead of his friend, Greg Goodman.

But the video makes it pretty obvious that the car hit him on purpose, as there were no other cars or people in sight. Neely also did not stop to check on Noe. Luckily, Noe was not seriously injured, and was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. Noe got up on his feet after tumbling off of the bike.

“A black Volvo passing the bicyclists struck Noe causing serious but non-life threatening injuries. The Volvo’s driver failed to stop and left the scene,” said a press release from Natchez Trace Parkway officials.

NEW: According to arrest report, Marshall Neely claimed “a man & a woman were standing in the road & threw the bicycle at his car.” @WKRN pic.twitter.com/mZKopldryE

— Josh Breslow (@JoshBreslowWKRN) July 10, 2017

According to Goodman, a witness told him that the same Volvo SUV had tried to hit someone a week earlier as well. According to the police report, Neely claimed that a man and a woman had been standing in the road and had thrown a bicycle at his car.

Neely has worked with children since 1995. Until the accident, he served as dean of students at the University School of Nashville, a K-12 private school. The school also has a mountain biking team. Neely is the father of two USN alumni, and also reportedly has a degree in law.

Neely’s profile has been deleted from the school’s website since the incident, but the school wrote on its Facebook page that he has been placed on a leave of absence while the investigation is ongoing.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post High School Employee Arrested for Hitting Cyclist and Fleeing the Scene appeared first on Law Street.

Hobby Lobby is a family-owned arts and crafts chain based in Oklahoma. The chain has a decidedly religious flavor–in its mission statement it says it is committed to “Honoring the Lord in all we do by operating the company in a manner consistent with Biblical principles.” But now the company is under fire for a seemingly unethical move–smuggling ancient artifacts out of Iraq.

On Wednesday, Hobby Lobby and the Department of Justice reached a resolution that will require Hobby Lobby to pay $3 million and forfeit over 5,000 artifacts that it smuggled out of Iraq. The items include clay bullaes (clay balls with seals on the surface) and cuneiform tablets that were improperly labeled.

Here is a timeline of events that details the criminal activity based on court documents:

• In 2009, Hobby Lobby began collecting historically significant artifacts and documents.
• In July 2010, Hobby Lobby President Steve Green and a consultant met with antiquities dealers to inspect a potential sale of 5,548 distinct artifacts.
• Later that month, Hobby Lobby hired a cultural law expert to review the legal issues relevant to the acquisition.
• In October 2010, the cultural law expert warned Hobby Lobby’s in-house counsel that some of the items that Hobby Lobby was interested in purchasing might have been stolen from Iraq, and could be seized by customs, leading to criminal charges.
• In December 2010, Hobby Lobby purchases the artifacts for $1.6 million.
• Over the next year, the antiquities dealers and Hobby Lobby imported the artifacts under false pretenses. For instance, package labels indicated the goods originated from Israel and Turkey when they actually originated from Iraq.
• In January 2011, five shipments containing artifacts were detained by U.S. customs.

By reaching a settlement, Hobby Lobby accepts full responsibility for its actions in the scandal. In a statement on the matter, Green said:

We should have exercised more oversight and carefully questioned how the acquisitions were handled. Hobby Lobby has cooperated with the government throughout its investigation, and with the announcement of today’s settlement agreement, is pleased the matter has been resolved.

U.S. Customs has not commented on what will happen to the artifacts it seized from Hobby Lobby.

This is not the first time that Hobby Lobby has been on the front page due to a legal issue. In 2014 the store was part of the landmark Supreme Court case Burwell v. Hobby Lobby. Hobby Lobby argued that due to their religious beliefs as a corporation they did not have to provide female employees with free contraception. In a 5-4 decision, the court ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby, expanding the rights of religious freedom to cover corporations as well.

James Levinson

James Levinson is an Editorial intern at Law Street Media and a native of the greater New York City Region. He is currently a rising junior at George Washington University where he is pursuing a B.A in Political Communications and Economics. Contact James at staff@LawStreetMedia.com

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One of America’s most enduring mysteries is what happened to Amelia Earhart after she attempted to become the first female pilot to fly around the world in 1937. Earhart, and her navigator Fred Noonan, seemingly vanished over the Pacific Ocean, and concrete evidence of a crash was never discovered.

But now, researchers may have a new theory. A previously classified photo was discovered at the National Archives which appears to show a short-haired woman sitting on a dock looking at a boat towing a plane that is 38 feet long– the same length as Earhart’s plane. With her back turned to the camera, the woman’s identity is unclear, but her short hair and height match Earhart, according to the Washington Post.

Additionally, there is a man in the picture whose nose and hair match up perfectly with Noonan, in the opinion of a facial recognition expert. Their location would make sense since the small islands could have been along the path that Earhart took before disappearing over the Pacific. The tweet below identifies the two subjects:

Holy crap, there may be new evidence that Amelia Earhart didn’t die in that plane crash https://t.co/RF3xT9jR1Z pic.twitter.com/2JFg00Ot9E

— BuzzFeed (@BuzzFeed) July 5, 2017

The photo was discovered by former U.S. Treasury agent Les Kinney. It will be featured as part of an upcoming History Channel documentary titled “Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence.”  In order to ensure the authenticity of the photograph, it was examined by two independent photo experts who confirmed it was not distorted, according to the Washington Post.

At first, Shawn Henry, a former FBI assistant executive director who is now helping privately investigate the Earhart disappearance, was skeptical of the photo. But once he saw the woman wearing what appear to be Earhart’s trademark pants, his opinion changed.

“I’m looking at her sitting on the dock and thinking, ‘This is her,’” he said.

One of the theories is that Earhart and Noonan were held in Japanese custody after crashing in Japanese territory. Kinney believes that this photo is as close to a smoking gun as has ever been discovered in this decades-long investigation.

“We believe that the Koshu took her to Saipan [in the Mariana Islands], and that she died there under the custody of the Japanese,” said Gary Tarpinian, the executive producer of the special.

After finding the photo–the location pictured is Jaliut Harbor on Jaluit Island, Henry traveled to the Marshall Islands to speak with those who claim that Earhart did in fact visit there. Henry spoke with the son of one man who claimed to have seen Earhart in Mili Atoll in 1937. He also met the last living person who claims to have seen the duo after their arrival, according to the Washington Post. While these stories are inconclusive when considered alone, Henry believes that they corroborate the picture and that all combined we have “proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Japanese authorities did tell NBC News they have no record of Earhart ever being in their custody. However, many documents were lost after the islands switched from German to Japanese ownership, according to BBC.

Japanese explorers first arrived at the islands in the 19th century, but the first permanent settlements were created in the 1920s. The person who took this picture is believed to have been a American spy who was keeping tabs on Japanese military activity in the Pacific, according to NBC News. Japanese power over the region ended after the nation’s surrender in World War II. So, there is the possibility that Imperial Japan did keep Earhart and Noonan in its custody up until that point.

The mystery may never be solved, but this photograph is essentially the only concrete evidence ever discovered, and it has reignited the mystery.

Josh Schmidt

Josh Schmidt is an editorial intern and is a native of the Washington D.C Metropolitan area. He is working towards a degree in multi-platform journalism with a minor in history at nearby University of Maryland. Contact Josh at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Was Amelia Earhart Captured by Japan? appeared first on Law Street.

While the federal government has often struggled to control drug usage, including drugs ingested via snorting like cocaine, it’s not often that officials have to make a call on snorting chocolate powder. But since Legal Lean, an Orlando-based business, recently created a product called Coco Loko, that’s exactly what the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may need to do.

The name Coco Loko is actually a play on Four Loko, an energy drink and alcohol mix that was banned in 2010 and deemed a public health concern. Coco Loko shares plenty of similarities with its namesake, including the energy drink aspect. The fine, brown cacao powder contains taurine and guarana, which were both identified as dangerous substances in Four Loko. The energy-boosting benefits are another commonality between the two products, Legal Lean founder Nick Anderson said.

Anderson said that snorting the powder creates “almost like an energy-drink feeling, like you’re euphoric but also motivated to get things done.” The effects normally last between 30 minutes and one hour, Anderson told the Washington Post. The product, which hit shelves in June, is being marketed as a drug-free, non-addictive way to get a buzz and an energy boost.

An important distinction for the curious is that cacao powder is the purest, least processed form of chocolate while cocoa powder is the refined powder commonly found in American stores, according to One Green Planet.

Legal Lean and Anderson first became interested in developing the product after learning of the trend that was beginning in Europe. The mixture was popular in European nightclubs, culinary institutions, and even among cyclists, according to Daily Mail. Anderson said that while he was skeptical at first, he tried snorting powder and thought “this is the future right here.”

Soon after, Anderson invested $10,000 to create his own version and spent the next 10 months searching and testing for the right recipe. By June, Anderson had the right mixture and Coco Loko was on the shelves even without approval from the FDA up to this point. One tin of powder, which contains 10 servings, sells for $24.99, according to the Washington Post.

One issue that the FDA faces is that this is uncharted territory; no one really knows the risks of snorting cacao powder, Dr. Andrew Lane, director of the Johns Hopkins Sinus Center told the Washington Post. Lane expanded:

There are a few obvious concerns. First, it’s not clear how much of each ingredient would be absorbed into the nasal mucus membranes. And, well, putting solid material into your nose — you could imagine it getting stuck in there, or the chocolate mixing with your mucus to create a paste that could block your sinuses.

A spokesman for the FDA said the agency would need to “evaluate the product labeling, marketing information, and/or any other information pertaining to the product’s intended use” before making a decision. So, for now, the product can be sold even without FDA approval.

Concerns also circulated that snorting the powder could lead customers to try other drugs, but Lane said he isn’t particularly worried about that. The FDA has not decided if, or how, it will regulate consumption. Since the product is comprised of mostly chocolate, obviously a legal food, the powder may be challenging to federally regulate, according to U.S. News and World Report. 

Sales have increased in recent months according to Alex P. of Exclusive Distributors, which helps spread the product nationwide. “It’s not flying off the shelves or anything, but people are definitely curious,” Alex, who did not release his last name, told the Washington Post. Anderson’s brother, a rapper who goes by Bezz Believe, claims to have helped popularize the product by his own usage and its appearance in his music videos.

For now, snorting the cacao powder is more of a silly niche than the fad that swept Europe over the past year. Its popularity remains minimal, but interest has grown in Houston and Atlanta, according to the New York Post. Now that an American-based product has been introduced into the market, popularity could increase. As popularity increases, more attention will be paid to how (and if) the FDA opts to regulate the product.

Josh Schmidt

Josh Schmidt is an editorial intern and is a native of the Washington D.C Metropolitan area. He is working towards a degree in multi-platform journalism with a minor in history at nearby University of Maryland. Contact Josh at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Will Snorting Cacao Powder Become Popular? The FDA May Need to Decide appeared first on Law Street.

An Arkansas man has been arrested for allegedly driving his car into a Ten Commandments monument at the state Capitol early Wednesday morning. Interestingly, this is the second time that Michael Tate Reed, 32, has been arrested for driving into a religious monument. The last time was in 2014, when he ran over another Ten Commandments display at the Oklahoma State Capitol. That time he said Satan made him do it and he reportedly threatened to kill President Obama.

But Reed seems to be non-partisan–he also recently threatened President Trump on social media. He had also planned for the event by creating a GoFundMe page, with which he hoped to raise enough money to replace his car. Around 5 a.m. on Wednesday, Reed drove his car straight into the statue, while shouting, “Oh my goodness, Freedom!” He also streamed the incident on Facebook Live.

Before the crash, he said in the Facebook video that he was back at it with “white plans,” but it’s unclear what he meant by that. He also said that he is a Christian but added, “one thing I do not support is the violation of our constitutional right to have the freedom that’s guaranteed to us, that guarantees us the separation of church and state, because no one religion should the government represent.” Finally, he asked people who support his cause to use the hashtag #Checkmate on social media.

NEW: Man accused of knocking over 10 Commandments statue at AR Capitol did the same thing in OK, 3 years ago:https://t.co/3F8dJsNdur #arpx pic.twitter.com/YtdpH2j292

— Emma Pettit (@EmmaJanePettit) June 28, 2017

The monument crumbled and Reed was taken to the hospital and then to jail. The stone statue had only been up for a day, but Republican State Senator Jason Rapert was confident a new monument would be up soon. He sponsored a law that took effect in 2015, which allowed private citizens to fund the religious monument and put it outside the Capitol. Opponents of that bill said that escaping a government-established religion was one of the things the colonists fled when they first set foot in America.

The crash sparked both criticism and support on social media. Some hailed him as a hero and patriot for standing up for the constitution, while others said the opposite. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee did not exactly support what happened.

Some idiot in my home state broke all 10 commandments at the same time. He wasn’t Moses and it wasn’t Mt. Sinai. https://t.co/r8hXrJ32JZ

— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) June 28, 2017

But others definitely did.

some idiot legislator thought it was okay to place a religious statue in a place where governing occurs, despite separation of church and st https://t.co/1CmKRwVTZg

— John Hornor (@johnhornor) June 28, 2017

Reed was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder back in 2015. Later that year, he sent a letter to the Tulsa World describing why he had destroyed the monument at the state’s Capitol. He wrote that he got his inspiration from Dracula movies, that he thought he was the incarnation of a British occult leader called Aleister Crowley, and that a killer virus in the shape of Michael Jackson’s spirit had infected meat. He said that at the time of the 2014 crash he was also trying to get in touch with Satan’s high priestess, Gwyneth Paltrow.

After the earlier incident, many Republican lawmakers tried to paint what happened as politically motivated or an act of violence or terrorism, but Reed’s family insisted it was his illness. He was released from a mental health facility after doctors found a combination of medicines that seemed to work for him. It’s not clear what prompted Wednesday’s crash, but hopefully, he will get proper care.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Man Arrested for Driving His Car Into Ten Commandments Display at Arkansas Capitol appeared first on Law Street.

A man in California thought he was burying his son. Frank J. Kerrigan spent $20,000 on the funeral ceremony and accepted that his son, Frank M. Kerrigan, was gone. But 11 days after the funeral he found out the person in the casket was someone else. Understandably, he was shocked when a friend called and put his son on the line

The Orange County coroner misidentified Kerrigan’s son, who is 57 and has a mental illness and is living on the streets. Police said he was identified through fingerprints, and so identification by family members was unnecessary. But the Kerrigan family’s attorney said the fingerprint identification failed, so officials instead used an old driver’s license photo.

“When somebody tells me my son is dead, when they have fingerprints, I believe them,” Kerrigan said.

Apparently the men must have looked very much alike, as the family did not realize the mistake despite having an open casket at the funeral. Now family members are planning to sue the coroner’s office, saying that authorities didn’t care much about making a positive identification of Kerrigan because he is homeless.

Father buries his son in $20k funeral – then told days later that the coroner made a mistake and his son is ALIVE! https://t.co/Qr0cpWM5La pic.twitter.com/Qzv8hNR2BI

— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) June 24, 2017

Frank’s sister Carole Meikle visited the scene where she believed her brother had died. “It was a very difficult situation for me to stand at a pretty disturbing scene. There was blood and dirty blankets,” she said.

It is unclear how the man passed away, but the bloody scene did not match what officials had told the family–that Frank passed away “peacefully.” The dead man’s identity is unknown.

Frank chose to go back to the streets. But because of the authorities’ mistake, federal agencies also think Frank is dead and have stopped providing his disability payments. The family is currently working on straightening the situation out.

The Kerrigans informed the authorities of the mix-up, and the Sheriff’s Department extended regrets for “any emotional stress caused as a result of this unfortunate incident. As part of the internal investigation, this incident and all identification policies and procedures will be reviewed to ensure no further misidentifications occur.”

A lot of people came from as far as Las Vegas and Washington to attend the funeral, and the dead man was buried close to Frank’s mother’s grave, in a spot reserved for family members. “We thought we were burying our brother,” said Meikle. “Someone else had a beautiful send-off. It’s horrific.”

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Family Buries Wrong Person After Coroner Mix-Up appeared first on Law Street.

A man who was being taken to the hospital in an ambulance last year, but somehow managed to jump out of it, is now suing New York City, the Fire Department, and the four medical workers in the vehicle. He claims it’s their fault that he injured himself in the fall, as they failed to stop him from jumping out of the ambulance.

This seems like a lawsuit that the plaintiff–Yaugeni Kralkin from Staten Island–could not possibly win. But the snag is that he was very drunk–by the time a second ambulance picked up the then-unconscious man and took him to the hospital, his blood-alcohol level was .34. So it was likely higher when he was in the first ambulance.

For the record, you are not allowed to drive in New York when your blood alcohol concentration is .08 or above. A level of .16 can cause severe impairment to speech, judgment, and memory and cause unconsciousness. A blood alcohol level between .31 and .45 is life threatening.

So considering the amount of alcohol Kralkin, who is 56, had in his blood, it is safe to believe he didn’t make very thought-out decisions that night. Kralkin said he had just returned from a long-haul drive to California–he drives a truck–and was looking forward to seeing his wife and son. But he got into a fight with the son, and hit the bottle.

“Your honor, had the city not supplied the ambulance, I could not have jumped out of it.” https://t.co/9N3JdZoKsQ

— Andrew Harris (@amharris26) June 20, 2017

He said he bought a bottle of cognac and ended up outside a house in the neighborhood, but he doesn’t remember what happened after the ambulance showed up. He did however suffer bruises and cuts after tumbling out of the ambulance. His lawyer Borislav Chernyy said:

He certainly did get himself out of the ambulance, but our position is that he was so grossly unsober, he had so much alcohol in his system, that the condition he was in rendered him the equivalent of helpless, absolutely helpless to make informed decisions about his own safety.

The lawsuit states that the four medical workers “permitted” Kralkin to jump out of the moving emergency vehicle, and that after he jumped, they “failed to properly diagnose, treat, care and transport Plaintiff.” It allegedly took another 12 minutes before he was transported to the hospital, this time without exiting his vehicle, as he lost consciousness in the fall.

Kralkin’s lawyer argues that the medical workers were at fault for not stopping Kralkin. He is seeking damages as well as compensation for his medical bills. But the spokesperson for the medical worker’s union, the Uniformed EMTs, Paramedics and Fire Inspectors F.D.N.Y. Local 2507, says there is no way they could be held accountable.

“What is this E.M.T. supposed to do to stop somebody who loses control of themselves and does something crazy like that?” Robert Ungar, the union spokesman, said. He added that EMT workers don’t have the legal authority to hold someone against their will, and they are not armed. A stretcher in an ambulance is not that hard to break out of, and if someone tries to do something out of the ordinary, the EMTs are under no obligation to get into an altercation. We’ll have to see if Kralkin’s lawsuit ends up being successful.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Man Who Drunkenly Jumped Out of Ambulance Sues New York City appeared first on Law Street.

Space: the final frontier. Outer space has been in the news a lot recently. The recent discovery of seven Earth-sized planets orbiting TRAPPIST-1 in February excited many people at the possibility to explore further into space. What’s more, different companies have been conducting successful experiments to launch commercial flights to space. Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Elon Musk’s SpaceX have both been conducting successful tests of their burgeoning passenger spaceships.

SpaceX launches previously used cargo capsule, a big stride toward eventually reusing spacecraft carrying astronauts https://t.co/QSMb8K0nHj

— Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) June 3, 2017

The allure of space goes beyond the human need to explore new places and see new sights. The financial gain could be huge as well. There are asteroids full of valuable elements, such as platinum. According to a 98-page client memo, Goldman Sachs said that a craft could be built for $2.6 billion and could extract anywhere from $25 to $50 billion worth of platinum from an asteroid.

Of course this raises many issues, one of which is the risk of inundating the market with platinum and tanking its value.

via GIPHY

Another potential issue is the Outer Space Treaty, drafted in 1967 by the U.S. and the USSR. The countries’ main fear was nuclear weapons being put in space, but the treaty laid the groundwork for space exploration. Essentially what the treaty established was that the act of space exploration should be used to benefit humankind. In fact, one line of the treaty explicitly says:

…Believing that the exploration and use of outer space should be carried on for the benefit of all peoples irrespective of the degree of their economic or scientific development…

When the treaty was signed, national governments, and not private companies, had the capital available to venture into space exploration. In 2017, the economic landscape is a bit different. If Goldman Sachs wants to send its own personal spaceship to an asteroid to mine it for platinum, will the profits be used “for the benefit of all peoples” as the treaty would require?

Article VI of the treaty, the only article that addresses “non-governmental entities,” says that the nation the private entity is located in would have to police its actions. It states:

States Parties to the Treaty shall bear international responsibility for national activities in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, whether such activities are carried on by governmental agencies or by non-governmental entities, and for assuring that national activities are carried out in conformity with the provisions set forth in the present Treaty. The activities of non-governmental entities in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, shall require authorization and continuing supervision by the appropriate State Party to the Treaty…

The U.S. would have to ensure that Goldman Sachs use the profits of its mining to benefit all peoples.

Space, as of right now, is technically res communis, or common territory, like a park or the high sea. Unfortunately, what you can and cannot do there is not as clearly defined as it is in these territories. The treaty prohibits “national appropriation by claim of sovereignty,” so does that mean that no one can build a hotel on Mars? And what about that gold mine (well, platinum mine) in the asteroid? Does Goldman Sachs even have the right to mine it, even if it can get there?

For now, space is a legal gray area. We have a long way to go before we become like The Jetsons or Zenon. But it’s still fun to think that one day we could get there.

via GIPHY

Anne Grae Martin

Anne Grae Martin is a member of the class of 2017 University of Delaware. She is majoring in English Professional Writing and minoring in French and Spanish. When she’s not writing for Law Street, Anne Grae loves doing yoga, cooking, and correcting her friends’ grammar mistakes. Contact Anne Grae at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Space Exploration: Can Private Companies Operate in Space? appeared first on Law Street.

As former FBI Director James Comey prepares to speak on Thursday before a Senate committee on recent events surrounding Russia, President Donald Trump, and the 2016 election, many are preparing their watch parties.

First off, not only will C-SPAN and PBS be broadcasting the feed but ABC, NBC, and CBS all plan to replace their normally scheduled daytime programing with a live feed of his testimony, according to CNN.

And some bars in the nation’s capital are changing things up to show the testimony on their flat-screen televisions.

Shaw’s Tavern plans to open at 9:30 a.m. Thursday morning in preparation for Comey’s 10 a.m. testimony, according to The Washington Post. The bar is calling its viewing party a “Comey Hearing Covfefe,” nicknamed after Trump’s mysterious tweet last week.

They will be offering $5 vodka drinks along with $10 “FBI” sandwiches, according to CNN.

A bar fittingly named The Partisan will also be opening at 10 a.m. to offer food and beverages.

Other bars are running with the “covfefe” theme. Duffy’s Irish Pub, normally a Washington Nationals bar, will tune into the testimony instead of baseball. The pub is offering a “Covfefe Cocktail,” an orange drink with unknown ingredients.

Duffy’s getting in on the Comey watch party action pic.twitter.com/HvDT35YMHR

— Tierney Sneed (@Tierney_Megan) June 6, 2017

“…It is like drinking Kool Aid but only a small group of people know what’s in it,” the advertisement says.

“Covfefe” is quite clearly another joke on the administration. In the aftermath of Trump’s strange tweet, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer explained that “the president and a small group of people know exactly what he meant,” according to CNN.

Comey’s testimony on Thursday has the potential to be an interesting morning in Washington so television networks and bars are looking to capitalize. Cheers to what may be a momentous day in American history.

Josh Schmidt

Josh Schmidt is an editorial intern and is a native of the Washington D.C Metropolitan area. He is working towards a degree in multi-platform journalism with a minor in history at nearby University of Maryland. Contact Josh at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Television Stations (and Bars) Prep for the Comey Hearing appeared first on Law Street.

Have you ever cut loose and kicked off your Sunday shoes at a club in New York City? Unless that establishment had a Cabaret License (only 118 out of more than 25,000 do), you were breaking the law. That’s right. According to New York City law:

The City licenses bars, clubs, taverns, and discos that allow dancing. A place that is open to the public and sells food or drinks must have a Cabaret License to allow customers to dance.

This law started in 1926 during Prohibition when city officials targeted African American jazz establishments. When it was first introduced, there were several other regulations that targeted other bastions of African American culture at the time, including banning saxophones and bands with more than three members. While these other parts of the law have been repealed or found to be unconstitutional, the ban on dancing still remains. With clubs already subjected to safety regulations like fire hazards and noise violations, the Cabaret License requirement seems to serve no purpose.

.@FrankieFatGold explains NYC’s Cabaret Law & why it needs to be repealed! Let’s dance in protest tomorrow → https://t.co/rt7zEh2Acz pic.twitter.com/1lnDQJTOiZ

— BOILER ROOM (@boilerroomtv) May 10, 2017

A petition on change.org has recently been gaining traction. The petitioners, the Dance Liberation Network, are aiming to get 5,000 signatures to present to the New York City Council, with the goal of getting the law repealed once and for all.

The Cabaret License requires proprietors to install security cameras, appear before the community board, and pay anywhere from $270 to $535. Once the license is acquired, club owners must follow the law or risk paying $1,000 per violation. Its intent is to keep patrons safe, but with other existing laws in place, this “no dancing” ban seems superfluous. Coupled with its inherently racist roots, the law is likely on its way out.

Or is it?

The law had a revival during Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s tenure, and was used to crack down on different bars and night clubs. But not without protests. In 2000, protesters participated in the “Million Mambo March” where they danced all the way from Tompkins Square Park to Washington Square Park in an effort to bring awareness to the law.

via GIPHY

In 2003 Mayor Michael Bloomberg attempted to change the Cabaret Laws to Nightlife Licences that had more logical applications. Rather than curbing dancing and saxophones (truly the Devil’s pastimes, let’s be real), the Nightlife Licences would aim to regulate noise and unruly crowds. Unfortunately, this measure was struck down.

In 2014 Brooklyn bar owner Andrew Muchmore filed a lawsuit after he was fined for having people dancing in his bar. Muchmore contends that these laws go against the First Amendment and the Fourteenth’s promise that no state shall, “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”  

Muchmore also felt that the ambiguity of what dancing really is can be confusing. Could he be fined if his patrons accidentally started tapping their toes to the jukebox? What about an accidental shake of the hips as you wait at the bar? Standing on a table proclaiming loyalty to La Vie Boheme? The legal definition of dancing is vague, and it is unfair for bar owners.

via GIPHY

Now the law is once again being challenged. By getting enough signatures, the Dance Liberation Network hopes that the New York City Council will once and for all overturn this law and let the people of New York City dance.

Anne Grae Martin

Anne Grae Martin is a member of the class of 2017 University of Delaware. She is majoring in English Professional Writing and minoring in French and Spanish. When she’s not writing for Law Street, Anne Grae loves doing yoga, cooking, and correcting her friends’ grammar mistakes. Contact Anne Grae at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Hold Back Before You Cut Loose: A Look at NYC’s No Dancing Law appeared first on Law Street.

On today’s list of super strange legal battles, a California woman named Jessica Gomez has filed a class action lawsuit against popular jelly bean manufacturer Jelly Belly. She purchased one of their products, Jelly Belly’s Sport Beans, which the company advertises as an “exercise supplement.” The company marketed the beans as containing “carbohydrates, electrolytes, and vitamins.” One of the listed ingredients was “evaporated cane juice,” which is just another term for sugar. But Gomez claims that the fact that the beans contain sugar was not made clear, and has filed a class action suit alleging fraud, negligent misrepresentation, and product liability.

I have a lot of questions. Why would anyone want to eat jelly beans as an exercise supplement? Why would Jelly Belly try to break into the supplement market, of all things? How did Gomez not assume that there was sugar in a product that displayed its sugar content on the nutrition label? Did these weird jelly beans even taste good?

TIL Jelly Belly makes jelly beans… for sports. pic.twitter.com/FJgjiB6jrt

— danielle kefford (@quephird) September 10, 2016

Gomez claimed that by listing the sugar as “evaporated cane juice” instead of sugar, as well as the other advertising that went into marketing the beans, Jelly Belly misled consumers into thinking they were healthy. To be fair to Gomez, the FDA actually recommends that companies not list evaporated cane juice on ingredients lists for this exact reason, something that her lawyers are likely to cite if this case moves forward.

In a motion to dismiss the case, Jelly Belly argued that Gomez couldn’t have thought the beans were sugar-free because the amount of sugar per serving was clearly stated on the product’s nutrition label. The company called the lawsuit “nonsense.” The lawyers representing Jelly Belly also pointed out that the “Plaintiff also does not explain why an athlete–or anyone–would be surprised to find sugar in a product described as ‘Jelly Beans.'”

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Woman Sues Jelly Belly After Finding Out Jelly Beans Contain Sugar appeared first on Law Street.

A man from Texas was not happy with how his first date was going, and sued the woman he went out with–all because she was texting at the movies. Brandon Vezmar, 37, met his date online and invited her to go see the 3D version of “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2” in Austin. But she apparently wasn’t as excited as he was to see the new blockbuster.

In the lawsuit, Vezmar says that the woman “activated her phone at least 10-20 times in 15 minutes to read and send text messages.” He is now trying to get the money for the movie ticket back, $17.31. He also said it is a matter of principle.

“It was kind of a first date from hell,” he said. “This is like one of my biggest pet peeves.” According to Vezmar, he asked his date to stop texting, but she didn’t comply. He then asked her to do it outside, after which she allegedly left and never came back. That left Vezmar with no ride home, as they drove there in the woman’s car.

Obviously the internet had a lot of feelings about the unusual lawsuit and many people called Vezmar petty.

The fees he’s paying to bring this suit (filing + service: $121) are 7x what he’s asking for ($17.31).

Ridiculous.https://t.co/6CY7LPMiyT

— Brian Powell (@briandpowell) May 16, 2017

Vezmar said he texted the woman a couple of days later asking for the ticket money back. He didn’t think he got the full experience of the movie because he was distracted by her texting. In his lawsuit he cited the movie theater’s policy of no texting, saying that the woman affected everyone’s experience.

That’s going to put a huge damper on the second date. https://t.co/MDKxR3Dipp

— MagnoliaPeach (@magnoliapeach) May 16, 2017

“While damages sought are modest, the principle is important as defendant’s behavior is a threat to civilized society,” the petition said. But the woman said she didn’t text more than two or three times, and only did it because her best friend had a fight with her boyfriend and was upset.

@NewsForrest Who takes a girl 2 a movie 4 a 1st date?! Umm ya can’t talk! Serves him right, she should counter sue him 4 being a self-centered douche!

— Asia McClain Chapman (@AsiaRChapman) May 17, 2017

The woman said she filed a protection order against Vezmar after he contacted her younger sister to get the $17 back. “I’m not a bad woman,” she said. “I just went out on a date.” It seems like Vezmar doesn’t mind the attention, as he started a Twitter account on Tuesday evening and started pushing out tweets about his case.

2/2 What contact after movie looked like: 1 text, 1 call, ignored > Text two days later getting serious > Lawsuit. pic.twitter.com/q4EOId868O

— Brandon Vezmar (@BrandonVezmar) May 17, 2017

Even the director of the movie weighed in. But he was probably the only one who took Vezmar’s side.

Why stop at suing? She deserves jail time! https://t.co/c41MWGz74M

— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) May 16, 2017

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Texas Man Sues His Date for $17 After She Texted During a Movie appeared first on Law Street.

Back in November, the single greatest segment in the history of morning television aired: On WEAU-TV’s “Hello Wisconsin,” two comedians, presenting themselves as the fitness duo “Chop and Steele,” demonstrated fake home fitness tips like speed stomping on straw baskets, lifting jugs of gravy, and karate-chopping fallen branches with fervor.

It was later discovered that “Chop and Steele” were actually Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher, New York-based comedians who host the live comedy and film event The Found Footage Festival.

Gray Television, WEAU-TV’s owner, did not appreciate being on the receiving end of this beautiful moment in television history, and is now suing the two comedians for committing fraud, copyright infringement, and conspiracy to commit a wrongful activity, according to The Mercury News.

Gray Television writes in their complaint that Pickett and Prueher have been re-airing the “Hello Wisconsin” episode at Found Footage Festival events, which the company claims is an infringement of their intellectual property. Gray Television is asking for compensatory and punitive damages, as well as fees incurred in pursuing this litigious action.

The suit also states that the duo misused airtime in order to advertise their own brand, which they misrepresented to the station during the booking process. According to the New York Daily News, the duo, under the name “Jerry Chubb,” emailed two of the show’s anchors a fake press release presenting Chop and Steele as a duo that “us[e] their muscles to entertain and educate” and had previously been fan favorites on season three of America’s Got Talent.

According to The New York Post, the suit quotes Pickett and Prueher saying that local morning programs are “easy to exploit,” and highlights another instance when the duo pulled a similar stunt where Prueher dressed up as an expert chef to promote a fake cookbook on the “Fox 6 Wake Up” morning show in Milwaukee.

The Grand Forks Herald points out that Pickett and Prueher had actually appeared as Chop and Steele on other morning shows like “Good Day Dakota,” where, during the bit where the duo lifts the jugs of gravy, one of the jugs Pickett was lifting fell and spilled onto the floor of the studio. Pickett said that he felt so bad about the accident that he stayed after the segment was over and helped clean up. According to the Grand Forks Herald, the “Good Day Dakota” team seemed to have fun with the segment, and Pickett credited one of the anchors for being game with the ridiculous segment.

Pickett and Prueher have expressed to numerous outlets their general annoyance with Gray Television’s lawsuit; however, speaking to the Grand Forks Herald, Prueher said that he was amused that a whole law firm “has to parse out every dumb thing we said and did on that show.”

Austin Elias-De Jesus

Austin is an editorial intern at Law Street Media. He is a junior at The George Washington University majoring in Political Communication. You can usually find him reading somewhere. If you can’t find him reading, he’s probably taking a walk. Contact Austin at Staff@Lawstreetmedia.com.

The post Comedians Sued for Pranking a Wisconsin Morning Show appeared first on Law Street.

Subway is suing Canadian news network CBC over a TV segment in which the show “Marketplace” claims that Subway’s chicken only contains 50 percent chicken. According to the report, which was broadcast in February, many of the Subway restaurants in southern Ontario use meat that is actually half soy protein. Subway issued a statement calling the report “false and misleading,” and said that its food is 100 percent what it claims to be.

Our chicken is made with 100% chicken + spices and marinade. The findings as reported on the show are wildly inaccurate.

— SUBWAY® Canada (@SUBWAYCanada) March 1, 2017

The restaurant chain let two independent labs in the U.S. and in Canada test its chicken products and posted the results on the company’s website. According to those tests, there is a small amount of soy in the seasoning to maintain moisture and texture, but that is far from the 50 percent CBC claimed.

CBC had researcher Matt Harnden at Trent University’s Wildlife Forensic DNA Laboratory test five chicken sandwiches from different fast food restaurants, and reached the conclusion that the one from Subway had only 53.6 percent chicken, and chicken strips from Subway only contained 42.8 percent of the white meat. Sandwiches tested from the other restaurants all clocked in at about 85-89 percent chicken.

But all of the sandwiches tested contained an average of 16 ingredients in their chicken. CBC’s test showed that the fast food chicken contained about a fourth less protein than a home-cooked bird would.

CBC will defend against Subway lawsuit after ‘Marketplace’ said chicken at many Ontario outlets was roughly half soy https://t.co/9yGIzf2LkN pic.twitter.com/MMRYpkFNGS

— Yahoo Canada Finance (@YahooFinanceCA) April 18, 2017

Subway initially asked CBC to retract its information, but the broadcaster didn’t respond. “We have issued a Notice of Action in Canada against the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that asks for $210 million in damages over allegations made by its program, ‘Marketplace,’ that are defamatory and absolutely false,” Subway said.

So it’s word against word, and lab against lab, in the chicken feud. CBC has said it has no comment, except that it will defend itself.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Subway Sues Canadian Network Over Claims that its Chicken isn’t All Chicken appeared first on Law Street.

Last week, a Brazilian man went missing. And as pictures and details from his home have surfaced, it has become clear that this is no ordinary case. Investigators found the walls in Bruno Borges’s apartment covered in code that has been described as “Da Vinci Code”-style writing and satanic signs. Some of the passages are taken from the Bible and there are also quotes from the actual Leonardo da Vinci. And to top it all off, Borges was apparently obsessed with aliens.

The 24-year-old psychology student disappeared from his family home in Rio Branco in Brazil on March 27. A video that was posted by Brazilian news outlet Globo shows that most of the furniture has been removed, and the walls of his large bedroom are covered in writing. There is also a painted portrait of Borges with an alien and a statue of the Italian 16th-century philosopher Giordano Bruno.

Bruno was one of the first documented historical figures to believe that extraterrestrial life exists on other planets. Even though he was a Christian, he thought it was completely possible that there are more planets like ours with aliens that worship their own alien versions of Jesus. Bruno published his theory in a 1584 book and he was burned at the stake in 1600.

The case of Bruno Borges and the odd room he left behind is riveting to me!!https://t.co/8FRte5jqia

— Dylan Jobe (@DylanJobe) April 5, 2017

According to his family, he was working on 14 books, which he planned to publish. He claimed he was completing the work that Giordano Bruno had begun over 500 years ago. His family reports that he had asked them for money, but wouldn’t tell them much about the books, just that they would “change humanity.” His sister said that he recently locked himself in his bedroom for a month when their parents were out of town.

A Brazilian computer expert tried to decode some of the writings, and one part said, “It is easy to accept what you have been taught since childhood and what is wrong. It is difficult, as an adult to understand that you were wrongly taught what you suspected was correct since you were a child.”

While Borges likely suffered from some sort of mental illness, people on social media had lots of crazy theories about what happened. Some thought aliens had come to collect him. Other theorized that Borges is a reincarnation of Bruno, hellbent on finishing the work he began.

Incrível a semelhança entre Giordano BRUNO(estátua) e Bruno Borges. pic.twitter.com/YSXX060eSY

— Natan Peres (@peresnatan) March 29, 2017

Some thought Dan Brown might have something to do with this.

@AuthorDanBrown Do you know about the disappearance of Bruno Borges? It’s very similar to the type of books you wrote

— maris (@boobiased) April 4, 2017

And some were just amazed that this story is real.

Most insane shit ever

Brazilian kid goes missing. In his room they find books written in code, a massive statue. Also wrote on walls pic.twitter.com/MYeRduP1oB

— Izzy Nobre (@MrNobre) April 4, 2017

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Brazilian Man Obsessed With Aliens Goes Missing, Leaves a Room Covered in Weird Writing appeared first on Law Street.

We have all been subjected to the cruel injustice of opening up a new bag of chips only to find that it’s not even half-empty (or full, I guess). On Monday night, as Reuters first reported, two consumers of Wise potato chips said enough is enough, and filed a class action lawsuit in a Manhattan federal court seeking damages for consumers in New York and Washington DC who are being misled by Wise Foods and its bags of air, which contain some potato chips.

Sameline Alce and Desiré Nugent, who are from New York City and DC, respectively, cite in their complaint that Wise Foods leaves its bags 58 percent to 75 percent empty, which is far from the 30 percent that would justify the price consumers pay for the bag.

The 30 percent benchmark that the plaintiffs are referring to comes from the food industry standard known as functional slack-fill. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration defines nonfunctional slack-fill as the empty space in a package that is filled to less than its capacity for reasons besides things like protection from damages during shipping and handling, or the need for the package to perform a specific function. Certain states like California have certain protections for consumers regarding slack-fill, according to The National Law Review.

Over the years, there has been a growing trend of nonfunctional slack-fill cases. In 2015, according to The National Law Review, a class action lawsuit was filed against GNC Holdings Inc. by two consumers who claimed that GNC’s whey protein products were under-filled. In 2016, Herr Foods had a class action lawsuit filed against it for under-filling its potato chips bags.

And if you don’t believe that these slack-fill lawsuits are truly a growing trend, just go on truthinadvertising.org–the website for a non-profit that works to protect consumers from deceptive marketing–search “slack-fill,” and look at how many class action lawsuits have been filed citing this claim against food companies like Mars, Inc. and Kellogg.

So good on Alce and Nugent for fighting the good fight against big food companies constantly deceiving us. It’s only a matter of time before a lawsuit is filed to fight back against other food company outrages like how grape-flavored candies never actually taste like grapes and white chocolate isn’t actually chocolate.

Austin Elias-De Jesus

Austin is an editorial intern at Law Street Media. He is a junior at The George Washington University majoring in Political Communication. You can usually find him reading somewhere. If you can’t find him reading, he’s probably taking a walk. Contact Austin at Staff@Lawstreetmedia.com.

The post Wise Foods Sued for Its Empty Potato Chip Bags appeared first on Law Street.

Jan Polanik ordered bagels with butter at a Dunkin’ Donuts in Massachusetts and couldn’t believe it wasn’t actually butter. So in 2013, he sued two Dunkin’ franchise groups, which run more than 20 restaurants in Eastern and Central Massachusetts, claiming to represent all customers who “ordered a baked product, such as a bagel, with butter, but instead received margarine or butter substitute between June 24, 2012, and June 24, 2016.”

Amazingly he won–according to an attorney for one of the two franchise groups, Michael Marino, a settlement has now been reached. Marino didn’t reveal whether the company had paid up, but he did say that the 17 restaurants that he represents have made changes to how they manage the butter. Spokespeople for the other franchise group have not commented.

According to Dunkin’ Donuts, butter can’t be stored at room temperature for food safety reasons. It needs to be pretty soft to be spread smoothly onto the bagels, so the employees usually use margarine or some other butter substitute. But if the customer asks for it on the side, real butter comes in a package.

Dunkin’ Donuts #Settles Lawsuit for Putting Fake Butter on Bagels https://t.co/1Xpe5BQr6V by @FortuneMagazine pic.twitter.com/wkgaiUbWyt

— Thornton Law Firm (@ThorntonFirm) April 3, 2017

However, the employees normally don’t inform customers that they are receiving butter substitutes, which is what sparked a lawsuit from one particularly upset guest. Barbara Anthony, who leads the state Division of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation, said in 2013, “This is an unfair practice and a misrepresentation–the consumer is in the dark.”

Polanik’s attorney Thomas Shapiro admitted that this is not a very pressing issue and that he thought it through a few times before deciding that bringing a lawsuit would actually make sense. “A lot of people prefer butter,” he explained. He added that the bigger picture is that companies shouldn’t promote that they’re selling one thing and then give the customer something else. “If somebody goes in and makes a point to order butter for the bagel… they don’t want margarine or some other kind of chemical substitute,” he said.

Butter lovers will now be able to get real butter on their Dunkin’ bagels, although details around the settlement or how the butter will be distributed have not yet been made public.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Good News for Bagel Lovers: Dunkin’ Donuts Settles Fake Butter Lawsuit appeared first on Law Street.

Remember hoverboards? They were briefly popular a couple years ago, until it was discovered that they sometimes caught on fire and were also really hard to ride without falling all over yourself. But hoverboards aren’t totally out of the mainstream yet (although I suppose that depends on how you define mainstream.) One hoverboard manufacturer, Sidekick Group, is suing Jennifer Lopez, claiming that she didn’t follow through on her obligation to promote the company on her social media platforms.

According to the company, Sidekick Group, Lopez signed a contract in 2015. The company provided JLo with 42 custom hoverboards to be used in her Las Vegas Show at Planet Hollywood. In return, Lopez was supposed to promote the company on her social media platforms–specifically Instagram and Twitter–at least once every three months. That would be a big boost for the company, given that Lopez has over 100 million followers between the two social media platforms. But the company claims that Lopez didn’t follow through on her obligation. The company is now suing Lopez for roughly $55,000, which it claims is what the customized hoverboards are worth.

That relatively low ask has raised some eyebrows. Forbes has Lopez’s net wealth for 2016 listed at almost $40 million. It seems as though Lopez, or the producers of her show, could have purchased the hoverboards without needing to come to any sort of agreement for promotion.

Media outlets have pointed out that Lopez did follow through on the promise at least once, when she tweeted footage from her show, complete with background dancers on the hoverboards.

The #AllIHave dancers killing it on their @SideKickWheels. Check them out at https://t.co/fkGTynZmrz #JLoVegas pic.twitter.com/1hHOAtuTmn

— Jennifer Lopez (@JLo) May 26, 2016

J-Lo’s team doesn’t appear to have responded to any requests for comment about the lawsuit, and it’s unclear why she may not have posted about the hoverboards. But, we’ll see if she has to pay up, or if this lawsuit just rolls off of her (pun intended.)

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post A Hoverboard Manufacturer is Suing Jennifer Lopez appeared first on Law Street.

“The Watcher” is back. The mysterious stalker who sent letters to a New Jersey couple a few years ago, claiming to be watching them, has sent a fourth letter after a new tenant moved into the house in February. The stalker was apparently not happy about this and seems to think that the house rightfully belongs to him.

Apparently the new letter was even creepier than the previous ones. “This letter contained specific threats and was more derogatory and sinister than any of the previous letters,” the family’s attorney Lee Levitt wrote in a brief filed earlier in March. Police are currently investigating the threats, but that’s pretty hard to do, as no one knows who the stalker is–or where he is.

In 2014, Derek and Maria Broaddus bought the six-bedroom house for $1.3 million. But then they started receiving letters. One of them said that the stalker’s family had been watching the house for generations: “My grandfather watched the house in the 1920s and my father watched in the 1960s. It is now my time… I have be (sic) put in charge of watching and waiting for its second coming.”

“The Watcher” stalker sends fourth, “more sinister” letter to New Jersey home https://t.co/IUlZIzm4HF pic.twitter.com/4I42S8yDYk

— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) March 30, 2017

The stalker soon got the nickname “The Watcher.” Another letter described how the windows and doors of the house allowed him to track the family members as they moved through their house. But one of the creepiest lines must be: “Have they found what is in the walls yet? In time they will. I am pleased to know your names and the names now of the young blood you have brought to me.” As if this wasn’t horrifying enough, he followed up with: “Who has the rooms facing the street? I’ll know as soon as you move in. It will help me to know who is in which bedroom then I can plan better.”

NJ Family Getting Creepy Anonymous Letters From Mystery Stalker ‘The Watcher’ https://t.co/YajhdOiNhA

— Xoobug Feed (@xoobugFeed) March 30, 2017

The Broaddus family didn’t feel like sticking around to find out. They also have three young children, which probably made the part about the young blood especially disturbing. So instead they tried to sell the house, but obviously no one felt like moving into a home that comes with a deranged stalker. So the Broaddus couple sued the people who sold them the house, John and Andrea Woods, for not telling them about “the Watcher.’ The Woods had admitted to having received at least one letter themselves, but they still countersued the Broaddus family for defamation.

After that, Derek and Maria Broaddus tried to get a permit from the township to tear the house down and build two smaller houses on the property. But the request was denied, since two smaller houses wouldn’t fit the street’s image, according to residents and township officials, who were determined to protect the “beautiful street.” But the family filed another lawsuit in the beginning of the month, aiming to overturn that decision.

For now, the Broaddus couple is stuck with renting out their house while living somewhere else. It’s uncertain if we’ll ever find out who the actual stalker is. And now most of us want to know–what exactly did that latest letter say?

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post “The Watcher” is Still Out There, Sending Creepy Letters to New Jersey Families appeared first on Law Street.

A Miami woman, commonly known as the “toxic tush” doctor, was sentenced to a decade behind bars Monday for administering botched buttocks injections that left one woman dead.

Oneal Ron Morris, 36, pled no contest last month to manslaughter and practicing medicine without a license. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison followed by five years probation.

‘Toxic tush doctor’ who ‘injected women’s bums with sealant and cement’ jailedhttps://t.co/8S3N0Z4Mmv pic.twitter.com/VhihBW5cr8

— Daily Mirror (@DailyMirror) March 28, 2017

Morris, who was known by her patients as “Duchess,” was accused of injecting toxic materials–cement, silicone mineral oil, bathroom caulking, Fix-a-Flat tire sealant, and superglue–into women’s backsides to cosmetically enhance their curves.

In 2012, Shatarka Nuby, died in prison from complications related to Morris’ procedures. Prior to her death, the 31-year-old mother of three had penned a letter to the state’s health department claiming that her butt had hardened and turned black, and that she felt sick. She had allegedly paid Morris $2,000 for as many as 10 injections between 2007 and 2010. Officials began an investigation and interviewed Nuby, but four months later she was pronounced dead.

According to the Washington Post, the medical examiner listed the official cause of death as respiratory failure from “massive systemic silicone migration” from injections to Nuby’s buttocks and hips.

“My daughter died the most inhuman death,” Nuby’s mother, Sherri Pitts, said at the hearing. “Eighteen months she suffered not knowing the full of what [was] put in her body.”

However, Morris’ defense lawyer, William Lanphear, disagreed with the sentence, claiming that her patients knew they were not dealing with a real doctor.

“All parties share the responsibilities and the blame for their own actions and the role they played,” he said. “There was an assumption of risk obligation from the victims.”

Morris was previously convicted in Miami-Dade County for practicing without a license and served one year in prison.

In 2013, Morris–and her butt–became a viral sensation after photos of her were released; the attention resulted in the media dubbing it the “toxic tush” case. She reportedly injected herself with the same toxic cocktail she used on her clients, disfiguring her own body.

During the sentencing, Morris denied that she knowingly injected household materials into women’s bodies, stating: “I’ve been found guilty by the media and outside sources based on lies.”

“I have never ever or would dare ever to inject or have injected any human with any type of unknown substance,” Morris said.

The judge ordered Morris, who was born male, to serve her time in a men’s prison because Florida law doesn’t have exemptions for transgender inmates. While the punishment may very well fit the crime, Morris’ lawyers argued that she could become a victim herself in an all-male prison.

According to a 2011-2012 survey conducted by the Bureau of Justice, 39.9 percent of transgender prison inmates and 26.8 percent of transgender jail inmates reported some type of sexual assault. That’s 10 times higher than for the general prison and jail populations, according to the New York Times.

“This isn’t ‘Orange Is the New Black.’ This isn’t going to be all fun and games for her,” said her attorney, Kirstie Cohen. “She’s at risk, and a very high risk, to be abused by not only inmates but guards.”

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post “Toxic Tush” Doc Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison For Deadly Butt Injections appeared first on Law Street.

If someone offered you “drinkable sunscreen,” would you try it? Unless you’re Charlie from “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” I really hope you said no…and apparently so does the state of Iowa.

Iowa’s Attorney General has filed a consumer fraud lawsuit against the makers of two brands of drinkable sunscreen for using “seriously flawed testing” to trick consumers into buying “ordinary water at premium prices.”

Two brands of “drinkable sunscreen” have been accused of fraud by the Iowa Attorney Generalhttps://t.co/JDYsiWS5zs

— mat honan (@mat) March 15, 2017

AG Tom Miller named Osmosis, LLC; Harmonized Water, LCC; and their joint owner Benjamin Taylor Johnson in the lawsuit. Both companies have advertised their enhanced water as the “world’s first drinkable sunscreen.” The UV neutralizer is said to contain a form of radio frequencies called scalar waves that when ingested “vibrate above the skin to neutralize UVA and UVB, creating protection comparable to an SPF 30.”

via GIPHY

But Miller isn’t convinced, calling Johnson’s claims “almost certainly pure bunk” and “pseudoscience at its worst.”

“It’s flat-out dangerous to consumers to make them think without any proof that this water protects them from what we know is proven–potentially cancer-causing exposure to the sun,” reiterated Miller in a statement on Tuesday.

Each bottle of the “harmonized water” retails somewhere between $30-$40, and the company claims it has only sold 35 bottles of the UV neutralizer in Iowa in the five years it has been for sale.

Miller also called “BS” on Johnson’s so-called mosquito repellant, Harmonized H2O Mosquito, and its anti-bug “vibrating shield”–admittedly, like his other products, its only listed ingredient is “frequency-enhanced” water.

And then there’s Johnson’s past run ins with the law. Even though he frequently references his medical degree in promotional advertisements, Johnson lost his license to practice medicine in Colorado in 2001 after two patients complained to the Colorado Medical Board about his laser hair removal services, according to the lawsuit.

He was previously reprimanded by the board in 1999 for selling Viagra online without providing any sort of physical exam, according to medical board documents reviewed by BuzzFeed News. He does, however, still hold a medical license in California.

Johnson defended his products in a statement to Buzzfeed, writing:

I think it is important to note that we have been selling this remarkable product for about 5 years. We have had thousands of re-orders. Surely people understand that as a successful skincare company it would make no sense that we would sell people a fake sun protection water….and if we did, how long does one think those sales would last?

Even so, the attorney general’s office says the seller failed to provide a reasonable basis for the benefits touted by the products, a requirement under Iowa law.

“It’s bad enough when a consumer wastes money on a product that doesn’t work,” Miller said. “But it’s much worse when someone relies on a product to prevent serious harm, and it just doesn’t deliver.”

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Drinkable Sunscreen Maker Accused of Consumer Fraud appeared first on Law Street.

The Oxford comma: an age-old debate for grammar nerds. (Editor’s note: the editorial team at Law Street insists on using the Oxford comma. We know it’s not AP Style. We’re okay with that.) But those of us in favor of the Oxford comma got a little validation this week, in the form of a court ruling in a Maine labor dispute.

In 2014, a company called Oakhurst Dairy was sued by three of its truck drivers. They claim that they were not given sufficient overtime pay. Maine’s rules state that overtime pay doesn’t apply to:

The canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution of:

(1) Agricultural produce;

(2) Meat and fish products; and

(3) Perishable foods.

Notice that the first sentence doesn’t include an Oxford comma. If it did, the sentence would read “the canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment, or distribution of” and would clearly designate “packing for shipment” and “distribution” as two different activities. But as it reads, without the Oxford comma, it only designates packing the items for shipping or distribution as an exempt activity, not the actual distribution itself. This matters because the truck drivers were responsible for distribution. According to Nick McCrea, of the Bangor Daily News:

The drivers read the passage to say that people who take part in packing for either shipment or distribution are exempt. Distribution wasn’t its own category as written, and because drivers don’t do any packing for either of those purposes, the law doesn’t apply to them, the drivers argued. Also, if ‘distribution’ was meant to be its own exempt activity, why isn’t it written as a gerund (word ending in ‘-ing’) like all the other activities in the list?

The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit released a 30-page decision about the matter that began with: “For want of a comma, we have this case.” The Circuit court ruled in favor of the drivers, overturning an earlier district court ruling in favor of Oakhurst.

This comma kerfuffle may have just been a matter of time, because the guidelines Maine has for drafting its legislation specifically recommends avoiding the Oxford comma, stating: “don’t use a comma between the penultimate and last item in a series.” But just because Maine doesn’t recommend an Oxford comma, it doesn’t make up for the fact that the law was ambiguous, which was what led the court to rule in the drivers’ favor.

It’s unclear on whether or not Oakhurst plans on pursuing any further appeals. But fellow lovers of the Oxford comma, rejoice–we should feel vindicated, joyful, and content today.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Court Ruling Shows How the Oxford Comma is Correct, Useful, and Wonderful appeared first on Law Street.

Virginia is for lovers–and for robots.

State legislators recently passed a law allowing autonomous robots to rove sidewalks, a measure supported by multiple delivery services that could use the gadgets to drop off food, groceries, and other goods. It goes into effect on July 1.

Virginia is the first state to pass a law allowing robots to deliver straight to your door https://t.co/p6P1IRJzMB pic.twitter.com/tQ2YJcBW9D

— Recode (@Recode) March 1, 2017

Don’t make a big order or expect it to get to you anytime soon, however. The robots will not be allowed to move faster than 10 miles per hour or weigh more than 50 pounds, and must be monitored by a person. They cannot travel on the road either, unless they are on a crosswalk.

An Estonian company called Starship Technologies, which has already built and started testing robots, joined Virginia politicians Ron Villanueva, a member of Virginia’s House of Delegates, and Bill DeSteph, a state senator, to draft the bill. Amazon and Grubhub also wrote to lawmakers in support of the legislation.

DeSteph said last month that “passage of the bill in the Senate demonstrates Virginia’s commitment to innovation and the Commonwealth’s willingness to encourage the use of unmanned systems.”

Local governments throughout the state will be permitted to further regulate the robots as they see fit.

The machines could soon be rolling across the country, as politicians in Idaho and Florida push to bring the technology to their respective states.

Victoria Sheridan

Victoria is an editorial intern at Law Street. She is a senior journalism major and French minor at George Washington University. She’s also an editor at GW’s student newspaper, The Hatchet. In her free time, she is either traveling or planning her next trip abroad. Contact Victoria at VSheridan@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Special Delivery for Residents of Virginia, Thanks to New Robot Law appeared first on Law Street.

Japan has come up with something that tourists love and Nintendo hates: real life Mario Kart on the streets of Tokyo. This may sound too good to be true, but the company MariCar really organizes tours on custom made go karts, complete with character costumes for rent and even an optional mustache. You can dress up as Toad, Peach, Mario or the other characters from Mushroom Kingdom, and there are also super hero and Disney character costumes.

You also have the option to play the music from the game through Bluetooth speakers in the car, for an additional fee. However, the website warns customers that they are not allowed to actually throw banana peels or red shells at each other or on the street–although it’s unclear where they would even find any red turtle shells. But now the video game giant Nintendo, that created Mario, has thrown a triple banana peel at MariCar by suing the company.

Nintendo is suing Tokyo’s real-life Mario Kart cosplayers for IP infringement ️https://t.co/y3OnWtecCG pic.twitter.com/LxBOQprJ5T

— AllGamesDelta (@AllGamesDelta) February 24, 2017

Nintendo filed the lawsuit last Friday, which stated that MariCar is promoting the Mario Kart-themed tours without permission, despite a previous warning from Nintendo. Apparently MariCar didn’t give Nintendo “a good-faith answer,” so it decided to sue. MariCar, on the other hand, said that it had asked advice from lawyers beforehand, who gave the green light to go ahead with the business model since it doesn’t constitute a trademark violation. MariCar has said it would like to work with Nintendo on the business, but it seems like Nintendo isn’t that interested.

EXOトラック
待ってたらまさかの
マリカー( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ❤️ゎら pic.twitter.com/S9UJacVzAx

— ExO❤︎miku (@EXO218899) December 7, 2016

According to Tripadvisor, customers have rated MariCar almost exclusively as “excellent.” But MariCar representatives are concerned. “We cannot even imagine how much it would cost in a court dispute against the world-famous company. We are afraid that our business will be hugely influenced,” they said in a statement.

Nintendo is doing pretty well after it launched the new Pokémon Go game last summer, which made its stock price double. At the end of last year, Nintendo said it is planning to open several theme parks in Universal Studios in Japan, Orlando, and Hollywood. Super Mario fans definitely have something to look forward to: “Gigantic Piranha Plants spring to life. Question blocks, power-ups and more surround you,” a press release said. “Guests will feel as if they are playing inside their favorite games–this time in real life.”

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Nintendo Throws a Banana Peel at the Real Life Mario Kart in Tokyo appeared first on Law Street.

Arizona’s 2018 gubernatorial race is already garnering a lot of national attention thanks to Noah Dyer and his unorthodox approach to campaigning…complete and utter honesty!

Arizona Gov. hopeful Noah Dyer wants honesty in politics–on everything: https://t.co/HJk9AG3Uri pic.twitter.com/g97pRAfTkY

— Slate (@Slate) February 23, 2017

Rather than wait for his campaign rivals to dig up any unsavory oppo research on him, the Democratic candidate is committed to transparency.  So much so, that under the “Scandal & Controversy” tab of his campaign website Dyer outlines the “nitty-gritty” details of his personal finances, divorce, and even his sex life in the hope that his honesty will win over voters.

“Think about how much time political campaigns spend digging up dirt on their opponents,” reads Dyer’s website. “Noah is confident that all time spent this way is wasteful and unfortunate. It is his belief that the cleverly disclosed scandals that come out of the woodwork in the midst of campaigns mainly serve to divert and distract away from meaningful dialogue.”

By serving up his dirty laundry on a “silver platter,” Dyer believes his would-be constituents will realize these facts have no bearing on his ability to serve as governor.

And Dyer seemingly doesn’t hold anything back. Under the section titled “Sex” it reads:

Noah has had both deep and casual sexual experiences with all kinds of women.  He is an advocate of open relationships.  He’s had group sex and sex with married women.  He has sent and received intimate texts and pictures, and occasionally recorded video during sex. Noah has always been forthright with his partners.  All of his relationships have been legal and consensual, never coercive, or abusive, and he condemns such behavior. Noah is unapologetic about his sexual choices, and wishes others the same safety and confidence as they express themselves.

Woah….!

via GIPHY

He also reveals that he has nearly $100,000 in student loan debt, occasionally fights with his ex-wife, and was technically homeless at one point in his life.

The jury is still out on whether or not this campaign strategy will work in his favor (most likely not), but he’s already getting some praise on social media.

I’m not able to vote in Arizona, but if I were, #NoahDyer would have my vote. Sounds like a man of the people. 10/10 campaign strategy.

— Taylor Hedric (@TaylorHedric) February 24, 2017

Cheers to honesty!

via GIPHY

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post This Arizona Governor Candidate Just Aired His Entire Sexual History appeared first on Law Street.

Remember the Snuggie? The infomercial phenomenon product that allowed us to be covered with a blanket while also having access to our arms? Was it a blanket or a robe? A federal trade court has now gotten involved in that debate, ruling that Snuggies should be categorized as blankets, not clothing.

How did questions about Snuggies make it all the way to the U.S. Court of International Trade? This case began in 2010, when the maker of the Snuggie–Allstar Marketing Group–began clashing with the DOJ and Customs and Border Protection over the classification of the product. The U.S. government has traditionally classified Snuggies as garments, meaning that they’re subject to 14.9 percent duties when brought into the U.S. Allstar fought that classification, because if Snuggies were classified as blankets, they would only be subject to 8.5 percent duties.

The DOJ attempted to compare Snuggies to bathrobes, or other robe-like garments, like priestly vestments, or graduation robes. The DOJ also pointed out that they have been worn as novelty garments–for example, people have done pub crawls in their Snuggies.

But according to Judge Mark Barnett of the Court of International Trade, who wrote the opinion, Snuggies differ from those kinds of garments in that they are open in the back. Additionally, they don’t have any sort of mechanism to stay closed, like buttons or zippers. Just because something has sleeves, doesn’t mean it’s a garment. Barnett said that the sleeves just allow the blanket “to remain in place and keep the user warm while allowing the user to engage in certain activities requiring the use of their hands.” The ruling also recognized that when Allstar trademarked its product with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, it listed the Snuggie as in the category of “fleece blankets and throws.”

So, Allstar will now get to pay less to import its Snuggies. And next time you consider wearing your Snuggie out of the house–remember it’s not clothing!

via GIPHY

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Court Rules Snuggies are Blankets, Not Clothing appeared first on Law Street.

An Indonesian woman, her Malaysian boyfriend, and a woman traveling with a Vietnamese passport have been arrested in Malaysia in connection with the apparent assassination of Kim Jong-un’s half brother, Kim Jong-nam. According to Indonesia’s national police chief Tito Karnavian, Indonesian Siti Aisyah believed she was taking part in a TV prank. Talking to reporters, Karnavian described how Aisyah and the other woman were paid to spray water in men’s faces, which they were told was part of a TV comedy sketch:

Such an action was done three or four times and they were given a few dollars for it, and with the last target, Kim Jong-nam, allegedly there were dangerous materials in the sprayer. She was not aware that it was an assassination attempt by alleged foreign agents.

Suspect in Kim Jong Nam killing says she thought it was harmless practical joke, Malaysian media reports. More here: https://t.co/I2odpNUbtu pic.twitter.com/Bcp6uxW4G1

— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) February 17, 2017

Aisyah’s boyfriend, 26-year-old Malaysian Muhammad Farid Bin Jalaluddin, was taken into custody to assist with the investigation. The second female suspect was captured on security footage wearing a sweater with the text “LOL” and was carrying Vietnamese identification with the name Doan Thi Huong. Her behavior seems more suspicious, as she stayed at a cheap hotel near the airport before the attack, and had a big stack of cash on her. She then switched to a second hotel where she borrowed a pair of scissors from the front desk to cut her hair. The next day, which was the day of the attack, she went out for most of the day, and then checked out and switched to a third hotel.

Although Doan also claimed she thought she was part of a TV prank, it appears that at least some investigators didn’t quite buy it. One Malaysian investigator who spoke to Reuters on the condition of anonymity said: “If you ask me, do her movements indicate that she was an intelligence operative, then I would say yes,” he said.

Vietnamese woman with ‘LOL’ shirt stayed in cheap hotels, carried wad of cash and cut her hair a day before attack,https://t.co/Eh1ZvbvkDm

— Eddie Du (@Edourdoo) February 17, 2017

Kim was on his way to take a flight from Malaysia to Macau, where his family lives, when he was attacked on Monday. The details surrounding his death are still very unclear and at first reports claimed he was attacked with poison needles. Malaysian authorities have conducted an autopsy but have not released any information. The authorities say that they will not release his body to North Korea unless they get a DNA sample from a next of kin so they can make a positive identification. North Korea has so far refused to comply with that request, and North Korean officials have said that they will not accept the autopsy results because they had no witnesses present. And so far, no one from Kim’s family has claimed his body.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Female Suspect in Murder of Kim Jong-nam Claims She Was Part of TV Prank appeared first on Law Street.

The current political climate has resulted in reminders of celebrities that none of us have thought about in a while. First, there was Scott Baio. Then, there was Aaron Carter. Next, it was Three Doors Down.

The latest celebrity who, through the power of conservative politics, has come out of the woodwork is none other than Robert Ritchie, also known as Kid Rock. You know, the guy who sings “All Summer Long.”

According to a report from Roll Call, Kid Rock’s name was brought up at a Michigan Republican Party convention as a potential candidate to run for Debbie Stabenow’s Senate seat. Stabenow, a Democrat, has served in the Senate since 2000. She is one of 25 Democratic senators on the ballot in 2018.

While Kid Rock has not commented on the possibility nor has he been officially asked, a Michigan GOP spokesperson told Fox News that she “wouldn’t be surprised if there was a movement for him to run.”

If Kid Rock does decide to run, he might face some competition from none other than Ted Nugent, the hardcore conservative rock musician who was an outspoken Trump supporter during the campaign and appeared at a couple of his Michigan rallies. One such appearance resulted in Nugent grabbing his crotch on stage while he said, “I’ve got your blue state right here. Black and blue. Each and every one of you have only 24 hours to convince the numb nuts that you know, that you can’t vote for criminals, you can’t vote for liars, you can’t vote for scam artists.” Note that this is also nowhere near the most vulgar thing Nugent has done or said.

Speaking to The Daily Caller about a possible Senate run, Nugent said that he “is always interested in making [his] country and the great state of Michigan great again” and that “there is nothing I wouldn’t do to help in any way I possibly can.”

Kid Rock has proven to be less conservative than Nugent, once telling Rolling Stone in 2013 that he considers himself, politically, to be a “lone wolf” and “more Libertarian,” although he tends to vote Republican. In a 2015 interview with Rolling Stone, Kid Rock spoke about his belief in gun ownership as a “sacred right.”

This past election, Kid Rock supported Trump, telling Rolling Stone that he would like to see America run like a business because: “it’s not really working too well running it not like a business.” Early in the 2016 campaign, he spoke of his interest in Dr. Ben Carson as a candidate. Kid Rock’s website also began selling pro-Trump merchandise during the election. A sample of this merch: a shirt with America’s electoral map on the chest, with the states in blue labeled “Dumbf*ckistan.” The shirt sold for $24.99 plus shipping costs.

Kid Rock has been touting his political beliefs for years. During the 2000s, Kid Rock would perform with a Confederate flag behind him, which came back to haunt him in 2011 when he accepted an award from the NAACP’s Detroit branch. He was also an outspoken supporter of Mitt Romney during the 2012 election. Romney called his song “Be Free” his campaign theme song and Kid Rock performed it for him at a campaign event. He also appeared at multiple Romney rallies throughout the country.

While he has been an outspoken conservative, Kid Rock did perform at an Obama inauguration event in 2009, telling The Guardian that, despite not voting for Obama, “there was an exciting sense of change in the air.” However, Kid Rock has said that Obama helped to create a country that was “more divided than ever.” He was, of course, referring to the tension that is rising among people living in red states and those living in “Dumbf*ckistan.”

If this past year has taught us anything, it’s that we should never say never. This 2018 senatorial race could be one to pay attention to.

VOTE KID ROCK pic.twitter.com/SwTMgckKbd

— Kid Rock (@KidRock) November 8, 2016

Austin Elias-De Jesus

Austin is an editorial intern at Law Street Media. He is a junior at The George Washington University majoring in Political Communication. You can usually find him reading somewhere. If you can’t find him reading, he’s probably taking a walk. Contact Austin at Staff@Lawstreetmedia.com.

The post Is Kid Rock Michigan’s Next Senate Candidate? appeared first on Law Street.

Technology is not glitch-proof, as a businessman from Côte d’Azur in southern France learned last week. The man is suing San Francisco-based Uber for a whopping $48 million after the app let his wife know of his whereabouts, which allegedly caused his divorce.

The man says he used his wife’s iPhone to order a ride through Uber then signed out of the app. But what he didn’t know was that the app apparently kept sending notifications to the phone much later, even when he was logged out. Those notifications let his wife know when he was traveling and when he arrived at a destination.

It’s unclear whether or not she could also see his actual destination, but if he had told her that he was, say, working late or visiting his parents, she probably got suspicious if the app kept telling her he was riding in an Uber. According to French newspaper Le Figaro, it is also not known whether he actually did cheat, but he said that the notifications certainly led his wife to believe so. The couple is now divorced.

@Independent Well, he should have known better

— WeCanGetYouAnything (@WeCanGetYou) February 9, 2017

While it may be common sense to not use your partner’s phone if you’re up to no good, the man and his lawyer still blame Uber for everything. “My client was the victim of a bug in an application […] and the bug has caused him problems in his private life,” said his lawyer David-André Darmon. Uber declined to comment, as the company doesn’t comment on individual cases.

Le Figaro tested recreating the glitch, and confirmed that the app would keep sending notifications to a phone, even if the user had logged out. But it only worked with versions of the app that were older than the December 15 update and only on iPhones.

This is not the first time that Uber has been involved in a privacy issue. For example, at the end of last year, a court filing by the company’s former forensic investigator, Samuel “Ward” Spangenberg, revealed that the company’s lack of cyber security allowed employees to keep tabs on famous politicians, celebrities, and even exes.

Uber insisted that Spangenberg had old information and that the company’s strict policies prohibited employees from seeing such data. But then five former security professionals spoke up and largely confirmed Spangenberg’s account. Both cases raise concerns about Uber’s handle on its users’ private information.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post French Man Sues Uber For $48 Million, Claims the App Caused His Divorce appeared first on Law Street.

Apparently, someone lost their luggage, and they’re probably pretty upset about it. Bags that washed up on two beaches in Norfolk on England’s east coast turned out to contain almost 800 pounds of cocaine, worth more than $60 million. A member of the public found the drugs, packed in colorful North Face bags.

The National Crime Agency deals with organized crime in the UK, and responded to the find. “This is obviously a substantial seizure of class A drugs and its loss will represent a major blow to the organized criminals involved,” said Matthew Rivers from the NCA border investigation team. He added that the place where the bags showed up was most likely not the intended destination–they were found outside two small towns with a couple of thousand people each, Hopton-on-Sea and Caister-on-Sea. The NCA is working with the coastguard to try to determine where the drugs were supposed to go.

Investigation after £50m cocaine found on Norfolk beaches > https://t.co/ieKU1kGOku pic.twitter.com/GT6PoGYkCW

— Norfolk Police (@NorfolkPolice) February 10, 2017

This is not the first time drugs on the loose ended up on a beach in the British Isles. In October, a torpedo-like device with over $5 million of cocaine inside was found stranded on a beach in Western Ireland and was believed to have been there for weeks or months before anyone noticed. There was another similar incident in 2008. And the biggest cocaine seizure in the UK was water related as well–three tons in 2015, worth over $620 million, found in a ship off the coast of Scotland. That seizure led to the arrest of two Turkish nationals.

Drug trafficking to the United Kingdom is estimated to cost law enforcement £10.7 billion a year, which is about $13.3 billion. The amount of cocaine imported every year is believed to be somewhere between 25-30 tons. And though it’s not very likely that someone will come forward to claim this most recent case of lost drugs, the NCA took the opportunity to have some fun with it.

And you thought your missing luggage was bad… If anyone wants to claim it, we’re keeping it safe for you https://t.co/SVrrG8t30p

— NationalCrimeAgency (@NCA_UK) February 10, 2017

Soon there were a bunch of jokes about the drug find, with some saying they should make a version of the show “Narcos,” and various members of the public suggesting that they could take care of the bags.

@EdmondBeech @NorfolkPolice Somewhere very safe. But the rightful owners can come and collect it anytime

— NationalCrimeAgency (@NCA_UK) February 10, 2017

But the NCA doesn’t take criminal activity lightly.

@EdmondBeech@NorfolkPolice Well not if you aren’t smuggling cocaine into Norfolk or involved in some other serious crime. Are you…?

— NationalCrimeAgency (@NCA_UK) February 10, 2017

Norfolk police urged members of the public to get in touch if they find anything suspicious…or this weird!

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post 800 Pounds of Cocaine Wash up on English Coast appeared first on Law Street.

In Florida’s Everglades, the Burmese Python population has spread rapidly over the past two decades, thanks to the warm climate and variety of local wildlife that snakes can eat. The Burmese Python is not native to Florida but has spread after many pet owners (illegally) released their snakes in the wild. According to the National Park Service, more than 2,000 pythons have been removed since 2002, but that is likely a very small portion of the total population. The snakes feed on local groups of mammals and birds, and compete with native predators for food, so they could have a big impact on the ecosystem. After trying several different methods of dealing with the problem, authorities have now turned to singing snake catchers from India to try to catch the big reptiles.

Last year, the University of Florida, Everglades National Park, and the Department of Environmental Protection organized the second edition of Florida’s Python Challenge–a competition that urged residents to capture as many big snakes as they could. The month-long challenge, with a thousand participants, resulted in 106 caught pythons. That may sound like a lot, considering that the pythons are huge and well camouflaged. But in only two weeks, the two Indian men, Masi Sadaiyan and Vadivel Gopal, caught 14 snakes—and one was 16 feet long. They are members of the Irula tribe, from South India. The group is famous for hunting snakes.

Irula tribesmen & detector dogs help @UF @usfwsvero & @MyFWC battle #pythons in #Florida https://t.co/VdFicBd73H #snake pic.twitter.com/ZFN0LDNmJ2

— South Florida FWS (@USFWSVero) January 23, 2017

Sadaiyan and Gopal have headed out to the Everglades almost every day since arriving in the U.S., armed only with tire irons and accompanied by some biologists. They move slowly and head straight into the deep bushes. These experts know how to trace snakes from subtle signs like a specific pattern in the sand or a tunnel through the grass. From traces that the snakes leave, Sadayian and Gopal can determine the animal’s sex, size, and how long ago it was there. Though many people opposed the idea at first, and didn’t think that the methods that work in India would transfer easily to Florida, biologist Frank Mazotti and herpetologists Romulus Whitaker and Joe Wasilewski have been working on the plan for years.

“This is very big and probably the biggest invasive reptile problem that has ever existed on the planet,” said Whitaker, and added that they had to do something. Importing and transporting Burmese Pythons has been banned by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service since April 2015. The species is harmful to wildlife, agriculture, and humans. And the snakes reproduce quickly; the females lay between 30 and 100 eggs each spring.

Until now, the problem has been that local snake catchers haven’t been able to find the pythons quickly enough to halt their spread. Their pattern is extremely difficult to spot in the wild. The pythons have spread to more areas and were found in Key Largo for the first time last year. Sadaiyan and Gopal caught four snakes in Key Largo alone during their first eight days. “It is outstanding that they have been able to remove pythons from Key Largo,” said Mazzotti. “And to get four pythons, including a 16-foot female, is just incredible.”

According to the National Geographic, the Burmese Python is behind the decline in common mammals such as the cottontail rabbit, but also bigger ones like raccoons, deer, foxes, opossums, and bobcats. And the Fish and Wildlife Conservaton Commission hopes that local workers could learn some of the skills the Indian men possess, to keep up the work after they go home. “Since the Irula have been so successful in their homeland at removing pythons, we are hoping they can teach people in Florida some of these skills,” said Kristen Sommers, chief of the FWC’s Wildlife Impact Management.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Florida Employs Snake Hunters to Tackle its Burmese Python Problem appeared first on Law Street.

As humans create smarter and more advanced robots, and they start to take over human jobs, maybe it’s about time to think about their legal status. The European Union is currently considering giving robots the rights of “electronic persons,” based on a draft report. But it’s not quite as sci-fi as it sounds. Robots won’t start thinking all by themselves and demanding equal rights anytime soon. This legal definition is instead a way to hold companies accountable for things their robots do. And it’s not law yet, only a draft of a series of recommendations for EU lawmakers. Member of European Parliament Mady Delvaux, from Luxembourg, who wrote the draft report said:

A growing number of areas of our daily lives are increasingly affected by robotics. In order to address this reality and to ensure that robots are and will remain in the service of humans, we urgently need to create a robust European legal framework.

As robots become advanced enough to make decisions without a human’s input, they can be considered to be more than simple tools. But it’s hard to say just what they are. Legislation would help define that, as well as ensure that someone is liable, for example, if a driverless car has an accident.

EU MEPs endorse Robot rights proposal: “electronic persons” status, kill switches https://t.co/HzmM9yXyMx#Legal #status #EU #robotics #AI pic.twitter.com/zcTIweoxgv

— Ian Hannigan (@IanHannigan) January 12, 2017

Delvaux and other MEPs are campaigning to create a new European agency for robotics and artificial intelligence. In such a new and quickly developing area, experts are needed to ensure that public authorities can easily get access to technical and ethical information. They also suggest streamlined rules for robot appliances and an ethical code of conduct to determine who, in case of a conflict, is to be held accountable for any social, environmental, or health impacts caused by robots. The guidelines would include the recommendation of a kill switch for all AI machines, in case of emergency.

If a robot were to be seen as an “electronic person,” it would “clarify responsibility in cases of damage,” a press release for the draft report said. So it’s not really about making a robot into a person. “Robots are not humans and will never be humans,” Delvaux said to The Verge. Legally, it just makes things less complicated. Legislation like this would ensure that companies can’t just say “it’s not our fault” if a self-driving car crashes and kills whoever is traveling in it.

The next step is for the draft to be passed on to the European Commission, the EU body that makes the laws. An actual decision on the matter could take years.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post The EU May Legally Define Robots as “Electronic Persons” appeared first on Law Street.

At first, Nigerian officials didn’t notice anything unusual about the bags of rice. But on a closer inspection, they could detect a faint chemical smell, and when the “rice” was boiled, it was way too sticky to be normal rice. It turned out to be plastic rice. The customs chief in Nigeria’s largest city Lagos, Haruna Mamudu, said that the fake rice was intended to be sold on the city’s holiday markets.  “Only God knows what would have happened” if people ate it, he said.

Given that it was difficult enough for customs officials to recognize that the rice was fake, they have issued a warning for people to not eat rice that seems suspicious. A sample of the fake food has been sent to laboratories to be examined. It wasn’t clear where the bags that amounted to 2.5 tons had been shipped from, but since similar rice made from plastic pellets was seized in China last year, officials suspect that’s where they came from. The country’s surging food prices and a ban on imported rice, in an effort to boost local production, could be contributing factors. A bag of 50 kilos of rice now sells for around $63, which is more than twice as much as the price in December of last year. Rice is the most common food staple in Nigeria.

Nigeria has confiscated 102 bags of “plastic rice” smuggled into the country https://t.co/gDvxy27sGW

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) December 21, 2016

The rice bags were marked “Best Tomato Rice,” and had no expiration date or manufacturing date printed on them. They were discovered in a store after a tip about a criminal plot to sell the fake rice to specific people in the city. One person has been arrested. According to Haruna Mamudu, the man made a helpful statement about the plot and said that he got the plastic rice from someone who wanted him to help distribute it. “Before now, I thought it was a rumour that the plastic rice is all over the country but with this seizure, I have been totally convinced that such rice exists,” Mamudu said.

Plastic rice is something of a media phenomenon, though it has many times been proven to be just a fake news story. Many stories have claimed that manufacturers mix real rice with plastic fake rice, or make “rice” out of potatoes and then add an industrial resin. According to Snopes these stories are unsubstantiated and false. But with these latest news from Nigeria, it seems like the urban legend may have given rise to a real story. BBC reporter Martin Patience was there and smelled the rice himself.

Whoever made this fake rice did an exceptionally good job–on first impression it would have fooled me. When I ran the grains through my fingers nothing felt out of the ordinary. But when I smelt a handful of the ‘rice’ there was a faint chemical odor. Customs officials say when they cooked up the rice it was too sticky–and it was then abundantly clear this was no ordinary batch.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post A Real Urban Legend? Plastic Rice Seized in Nigeria appeared first on Law Street.

A judge in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, recently ruled that dogs can’t be treated like children, as part of a divorce case. And while I’m as big a fan of puppies as the next person, Justice Richard Danyliuk’s argument makes a lot of sense.

Here’s the backstory: a divorcing couple–married 16 years–were dealing with a “custody” case involving their two dogs, Kenya and Willow (a.k.a. Willy). The wife wanted the dogs, with only visitation rights for the husband, and vice-versa. They argued that this should be treated like a “traditional” custody argument, one that would usually include human children.

This whole dispute ended up in front of Danyliuk, who seemed pretty annoyed that this landed in his courtroom, saying: “To consume scarce judicial resources with this matter is wasteful. In my view such applications should be discouraged.” Danyliuk also expressed frustration that the legal filings by the couple included a lot of extraneous information, including the wife’s claim that her husband had not been very attentive to their cats earlier in their relationship.

But Danyliuk also made a few different compelling arguments why dogs simply aren’t children:

In Canada, we tend not to purchase our children from breeders.

We tend not to breed our children with other humans to ensure good bloodlines, nor do we charge for such services.

When our children are seriously ill, we generally do not engage in an economic cost/benefit analysis to see whether the children are to receive medical treatment, receive nothing or even have their lives ended to prevent suffering.

When our children act improperly, even seriously and violently so, we generally do not muzzle them or even put them to death for repeated transgressions.

Danyliuk pointed out that pets aren’t legally treated exactly the same as traditional property, as there are laws that protect them from abuse and harm, but at the end of the day they are, for all intents and purposes, property.

So, despite how  much you might love your furry friend, they aren’t going to be treated like children in the courtroom–at least in front of this one Canadian judge.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Canadian Judge Rules That Dogs Aren’t Children appeared first on Law Street.

It has become a common sentiment–2016 was awful. One frequent complaint: a bunch of celebrity deaths. It even felt bizarre at points–just how many legendary music stars and acting icons was the Grim Reaper going to take away from us at a time when we need them the most? Think about it: David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Leonard Cohen, Prince, Muhammad Ali, and Gene Wilder all passed away this year.

“Harambe died, America died, Prince and other famous people died.”—Description of 2016 by my 11-year-old, who should be president.

— Ken Layne (@KenLayne) December 2, 2016

So did a lot more celebrities die this year? Or did it just feel that way? The BBC actually looked into that question. It sent its obituaries editor Nick Serpell to check whether there was an abnormal number of stars who died this year.

Serpell analyzed how many pre-prepared obituaries the BBC aired or posted over its TV, radio, and website outlets, from the years 2012-2016. And, interestingly enough, there was huge increase in star deaths in just the first three months of 2016—with twice as many notable deaths compared to the same months in 2015, and five times as many when compared to 2012.

No, It’s NOT Our Imagination. More Famous People HAVE Died in 2016. https://t.co/B5nF6ho3nF pic.twitter.com/alywiBcdtv

— Alan Cross (@alancross) December 16, 2016

Bear in mind though that this is not a completely reliable number to weigh. The BBC doesn’t run an obituary for every single celebrity who dies, and it was only the pre-prepared ones that were measured.

According to Serpell, the spike in celebrity deaths was early and didn’t last. “The last six months of this year were broadly in line with the previous last six months of the previous four or five years,” he said. But, there was an overall increase of 30 percent, which is still noteworthy. “In 2012, we had a total of 16. In 2013, it went to 24. In 2014, it rose again to 29. In 2015, it rose slightly again to 32. For 2016, as of [December 15], it stands at 42,” he said.

I wanna take a moment to remind you how many famous people died (so far) in 2016.

If everyone could stop dying – that’d be great. Thanks. pic.twitter.com/stgjqGepPi

— Nick Monroe (@nickmon1112) November 25, 2016

So, maybe it felt like there was a spike in deaths this year since there were a lot of big names who died, leaving a seemingly large vacuum.  And as Serpell points out, that actually makes a lot of sense. The golden days of the 1960s–when pop culture and TV really exploded–were roughly half a century ago. People who became stars became huge stars. But today, there’s significantly more diversity, so a lot of stars are less universally recognized.

It’s also important to note that the death rate is up generally, because of the enormity of the baby-boomer generation, born between 1946 and 1964. In the U.S., there were about 76 million baby-boomers in 2014–about 23 percent of the U.S. population. These people are now between 52 and 70 years old. That means we may see more celebrity obituaries soon, so get ready and brace yourselves for 2017.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Is it Just Us, or Were There a Lot of Celebrity Deaths in 2016? appeared first on Law Street.

What do a Turkish investment manager, the president of Gringo’s Mexican Kitchen, a Tex-Mex chain owner in Texas, and a Florida-based real estate executive have in common? They all bid thousands of dollars to “Enjoy Coffee with Ivanka Trump in NYC or DC,” as listed on Charitybuzz, a website that raises money for charities through dates or meet-and-greets with celebrities. But as of Friday morning, the “coffee with Ivanka” listing has been yanked from the auction site. Eric Trump, whose foundation posted the event, expressed concern after The New York Times first reported the story on Thursday.

With her father, President-elect Donald Trump, set to take office in a few weeks, questions have been raised about the ethics of allowing people to meet with Ivanka and potentially influence her father’s policies. She has expressed interest in helping her father in the areas of climate change and women’s health. Ozan Ozkural, the investment manager, told The Times he wished to glean more about Trump’s future interactions with Turkey and other countries Ozkural invests in through the “coffee with Ivanka” event.

For Russell Ybarra, the owner of the Tex-Mex chain who bid $67,888 for a word with Ivanka, the coffee meeting was a chance to tell the president-elect’s daughter how important immigrant workers are to his restaurant, and to the industry as a whole. “I believe Ivanka is more open-minded a person you can reason with,” he said in an interview with The Times.

Early Friday morning, before the event was pulled from Charitybuzz, the highest bid for coffee with Ivanka was $72,888. The coffee date was to be held after Inauguration Day on January 20, at either the Trump Tower in New York, or the Trump International Hotel in Washington. Eric Trump’s foundation benefits the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Tennessee.

In an interview with The Times on Thursday, Eric said auctioning off a meeting with a member of the Trump family was an annual tradition to raise money for his foundation. He said: “We utilized Charitybuzz to raise significant funds. Every single year we’ve auctioned off a lunch with one of ourselves. It’s nothing more than an effort to raise a lot of money in an effort to help sick children.”

Alec Siegel

Alec Siegel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. When he’s not working at Law Street he’s either cooking a mediocre tofu dish or enjoying a run in the woods. His passions include: gooey chocolate chips, black coffee, mountains, the Animal Kingdom in general, and John Lennon. Baklava is his achilles heel. Contact Alec at ASiegel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post How Much Does it Cost to Have Coffee with Ivanka Trump? appeared first on Law Street.

A tiny town in Indiana is officially without a police force, after the town marshal and four other officers resigned on Monday. “The Town is currently without the Police Department,” read a reassuring sign posted outside of the Bunker Hill police department. “In the case of an emergency please call 911.” The marshal, Michael Thomison, blamed the Bunker Hill Town Council for the big exodus.

“[The council] would not communicate with us or the officers and they kept scaling back,” Thomison told a local TV station. He said that some members of the council asked the officers to do “illegal, unethical, and immoral things,” such as running background checks on other town councilors. They were threatened when they declined the councilors’ requests, Thomison said.

So who will protect Bunker Hill, a town with an estimated 2015 population of 858, in the meantime? The sheriff of Miami County, which includes Bunker Hill, said county deputies will patrol the town and respond to calls until a new marshal is hired. The town’s website has a job listing for a part-time marshal.

Bunker Hill issues statement after entire police force resigns https://t.co/QMeFTJmNOp via @cbs4indy

— Ms Marvel (@jeana_guzman) December 15, 2016

Thomison also claims that he and the other officers were forced to share one set of body armor. “I did not want to send someone out there with bad body armor so I would take mine off and provide it to the other officers,” he said. In a statement, the Bunker Hill Town Council denied all of Thomison’s allegations, and blamed disagreements over a “lack of funding available to the town to invest in the police department.”

Thomison also had a more personal beef with the council. He was diagnosed with cancer last year, and in May, he told the council he was ready to get back to work full time. The council however, would only take him in a part-time role. “They came at me and said it is costing the town way too much money because of my insurance and they said we are taking you down to part time,” he said.

The Bunker Hill Town Council, in its statement, said the “resignation of the entire police force has come as a shock,” and it was never the goal “to dismantle or otherwise endanger the town police department or officers.” The council thanked the officers for their service, and “asks for patience from the town residents in this process.”

Alec Siegel

Alec Siegel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. When he’s not working at Law Street he’s either cooking a mediocre tofu dish or enjoying a run in the woods. His passions include: gooey chocolate chips, black coffee, mountains, the Animal Kingdom in general, and John Lennon. Baklava is his achilles heel. Contact Alec at ASiegel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Bunker Hill, Indiana Had its Entire Police Department Quit in One Day appeared first on Law Street.

If you saw her, you likely wouldn’t suspect that the 86-year-old, elegant and well-spoken woman with white hair is a major criminal. But Doris Payne, who was arrested in Atlanta on Tuesday, is one of the most prolific jewel thieves of all time.

Payne was just arrested for trying to steal a $2,000 necklace from a department store by slipping it into her back pocket. But she has been an active thief since she was a teenager, and by the early 1970’s she was a jet-setting criminal touring the world. She has stolen expensive diamonds from Paris, Milan, London, and Tokyo, and has a rap sheet longer than most. In 2013 she was arrested for stealing a pricey ring in Los Angeles. The president of the Jewelers’ Security Alliance, John Kennedy, said to the LA Times at the time that he had seen her list of accomplishments. “It was so long. You can’t believe how long it was–it was like 50 pages.”

In 2013 she got away with stealing a $22,500 diamond ring in a shop on the exclusive El Paseo row in Palm Desert, Los Angeles. But the next day a security alert was released, saying that Payne had been spotted at the local Saks Fifth Avenue store, and the store’s staff figured out that she had been there the previous day. They then realized that the ring she had tried on was missing. When she was arrested, she pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years in jail and two years under supervision. The judge also ordered her to stay away from all jewelry stores.

Doris Payne, 86, legendary jewel thief with six decade career, strikes again outside Atlanta https://t.co/LEwjdw2fce

— Joseph L. Savitz III (@JoeySavitz) December 14, 2016

Due to her age and long “career,” Payne has become something of a celebrity thief, starring in a 2013 documentary called “The Life and Crimes of Doris Payne.” She has also been featured on TV and in newspapers countless times. The jeweler in the store that she stole from in 2013, Raju Mehta, mainly laughed about the incident. According to the LA Times, he said: “I was laughing because we have a lot of celebrities come by. And now we say we’ve got a celebrated thief too.”

At this point, it’s an honor to have your jewelry stolen by Doris Payne, tbqfh

— My Prez Is Still Blk (@FeministaJones) December 14, 2016

Payne is currently being held at DeKalb county jail in Atlanta. Sonjia Williams, a spokeswoman for Payne, said that she was shocked to hear the news of the arrest: “I have no idea why she would go out and do this. She knows better.” But Matthew Pond, who co-directed and co-produced the documentary about her, said that he was not very surprised. He stated:

The documentary we made about her focused on a crime she was accused of in San Diego and during her sentencing, as sad as he was to have to send her to prison, the judge said, ‘She’s the Terminator. She won’t stop,’

He added that Payne is a bit of an actress who loves the attention and easily gets bored. Sometimes she admits to stealing but sometimes she totally denies it. He described her as a person who started doing bad things for a good reason and then started liking it. And that seems true. “I don’t have any regrets about stealing jewelry,” she said in the documentary. “I regret getting caught.”

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Notorious 86-Year-Old Jewel Thief Doris Payne Strikes Again appeared first on Law Street.

Imagine being arrested for a crime you didn’t commit–let alone even know about.

Now, imagine being arrested four times for crimes you didn’t commit.

That was the reality for an Orange County, California man whose ex-girlfriend had been impersonating him online. She had been sending herself messages from an account she created on Facebook in his name threatening to harm and kill her, according to a statement from the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

Authorities arrested Tyler Parkervest, between the months of September and December 2015, four times in connection to the claims of harassment and stalking. According to the statement, he was subsequently charged with multiple felonies.

Stephani Renae Lawson Gets Jail for Creating Ex’s False Facebook Threats https://t.co/HxC0yJqNjQ via @ocweekly

— OC Weekly (@OCWeekly) December 1, 2016

“The OCDA investigation revealed that the true victim was John Doe and he was not guilty of the crimes,” the statement said.

Stephani Lawson, 25, “pleaded guilty to one felony count of false imprisonment by menace, violence, fraud, or deceit, and one felony count of perjury,” according to the statement.

Lawson created the fake profile and claimed that her ex-boyfriend, referred to as John Doe in the DA statement but identified as Parkervest by The Washington Post, had broken a restraining order, stalked, and threatened her life on multiple occasions. Lawson would report to the authorities that she had been receiving these harmful messages from her ex-boyfriend and subsequently have him arrested.

Lawson drew suspicion after she testified under oath about the messages she had been receiving in May 2016. Something about the evidence and the Facebook messages seemed off for some at the DA’s office. Turns out, the Facebook threats made to her had been sent using her own devices and her own IP address. The Orange County District Attorney’s Office conducted an investigation of the comments she made and of the messages themselves and concluded that she was responsible for the wrongdoing.

After exhaustive attempts, the Orange County DA’s Office was able to obtain cell phone records from T-Mobile and information from Facebook. This information gave the office what they had suspected: it had been Lawson all along.

“The T-Mobile records showed that Lawson disguised herself as Parkervest with a similar Facebook account,” Orange County District Attorney investigator Loren Dawson told the The Washington Post. “Lawson sent herself numerous criminal threats from the phony ‘Tyler Parker’ Facebook account and reported to law enforcement that Parkervest sent her the messages. Lawson had Parkervest arrested four times for crimes that he did not commit.”

Authorities arrested Lawson in Las Vegas on September 28 and dismissed the charges against Parkervest shortly after. She has since been sentenced to one year in county jail, three years of probation, and ordered to pay restitution, according to the Orange County DA.

Julia Bryant

Julia Bryant is an Editorial Senior Fellow at Law Street from Howard County, Maryland. She is a junior at the University of Maryland, College Park, pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Economics. You can contact Julia at JBryant@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Woman Impersonates Her Ex on Facebook, Sends Threats to Herself appeared first on Law Street.

When actress Sofia Vergara and businessman Nick Loeb were engaged, they created and froze embryos, planning to use a surrogate to have a child. But they split up in 2014, and since then, a legal battle has ensued over the frozen embryos. Loeb wants to use one of those embryos to have a baby despite Vergara’s opposition. And allegedly the reason why they split up was because he wanted kids and she didn’t. A legal contract they signed when they were still together made it clear that the embryos could only be used if both parties consented. But it didn’t specify what would happen if they split up, which is why in May of 2015 Loeb sued Vergara for the right to have his own baby.

Now, Loeb is using a different tactic. He filed a lawsuit on “behalf” of the frozen embryos, which are named Emma and Isabella (yes, they already have names). Loeb wants full custody and the chance to implant them in a surrogate. He contends that they have the right to live and to benefit from a trust fund that Loeb set up for them to fund their future education and health care costs. This sounds like a very bizarre case, and like Vergara says, it’s not ideal to bring their mutual embryos to life considering the couple is separated and she is now married to actor Joe Manganiello. But considering the suit was filed in Louisiana, a very pro-life state, it’s not unfathomable that Loeb gets his way.

STRONG CONTENDER FOR THE STRANGEST HEADLINE YOU’LL SEE TODAY: “Sofía Vergara sued by her own embryos” https://t.co/M83TIVe4gj

— Jon Manuel (@JonManuel) December 7, 2016

If that happens, he would get full custody and Vergara would have no parental rights. Loeb has also previously argued that it’s unfair that women can bring children into the world even if the man objects. “Shouldn’t a man who is willing to take on all parental responsibilities be similarly entitled to bring his embryos to term even if the woman objects?” he wrote in an op-ed in 2015. Quoting religious beliefs about the sanctity of life, he claimed that the embryos should be seen as lives rather than property. He wrote that he has dreamt of being a parent his whole life, but that during their relationship it became apparent that it was not a priority for Vergara, who already has a 22-year-old son from an earlier relationship.

According to her lawyer, Vergara wants the embryos to stay frozen, as she is Catholic and could not let them be destroyed. She claims that Loeb just wants to take advantage of her celebrity status to promote himself. Loeb’s claims that he truly wants children and that he believes that keeping their embryos “frozen forever is tantamount to killing them.” No matter who is right, the case is unusual, and it could be precedent-setting.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Sofia Vergara Sued by Her Own Frozen Embryos appeared first on Law Street.

Colorado voters had the choice on November 8 to decide whether or not to abolish a loophole in the state’s constitution that makes slavery legal as punishment for a crime. Lawmakers from both parties unanimously decided to put the question on the ballot and there seemed to be no opposition to the effort, as no one campaigned against it.

That’s why it was such a shocker when it turned out that a majority appears to have voted against the measure. All of the votes have still not been counted, but by late Thursday there were almost 35,000 more “no” votes than “yes” votes, out of 2.3 million ballots cast.

Many were upset after the election:

Colorado votes NOT to remove language of slavery from state constitution. This is even more concerning than other results today.

— Matthew Bentley (@bentleymaja) November 9, 2016

Colorado voted a minimum wage increase while simultaneously voting to keep slavery in the constitution for criminals. Huh?

— John Livingston (@JohnLivy) November 18, 2016

Colorado, I’m confused. You voted for Clinton, to keep slavery legal, to legalize assisted suicide, & made it harder to propose amendments.

— Suzi Q Smith (@suziqpoet) November 9, 2016

It seems unbelievable that over a million people in a state that recently voted to legalize recreational marijuana would also vote against completely getting rid of slavery. And when it dawned on lawmakers why the results turned out as they did, they probably slapped their heads. The question was worded like this:

Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado constitution concerning the removal of the exception to the prohibition of slavery and involuntary servitude when used as punishment for persons duly convicted of a crime?

Would you know whether to check the “yes” or “no” box?

“I think people were confused by the language,” Democratic Representative Joe Salazar told the New York Times. “I don’t think this was a pushback at all by individuals saying they wanted slavery in the Constitution. I just think the language was too confusing.”

The exception to the prohibition of slavery, which allowed for the practice as a punishment for a crime, was added in 1876, which was after slavery was abolished nationally in 1865. But since it was not widely known that the language exists in the constitution, activists think that people might have misinterpreted it. In addition to the confusing language on the ballot, some believe that voters could also have been thrown off by a voter guide that was sent to every Colorado voter. The guide is required to contain arguments for and against ballot measures and it said that the proposition could lead to legal ambiguity, although experts were not actually concerned.

Lawmakers are determined to try one more time, but next time with simpler language. “We’re going to do it again,” Mr. Salazar said. “We’re going to make sure we finally rid the Constitution of that language.”

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Colorado Votes to Keep Slavery in State Constitution (Really) appeared first on Law Street.

“I want to live and live longer and I think that in the future they may find a cure for my cancer and wake me up,” a 14-year-old British girl wrote to a judge before her recent death. She said “being cryopreserved gives me a chance to be cured and woken up–even in hundreds of years’ time.” The girl, whose name has not been released for legal reasons won a High Court case, granting her the right to freeze her body after she passed away recently from a rare form of cancer.

Judge Peter Jackson, the presiding judge in the case who specializes in the Family Division of Britain’s High Court, said the case represents a new precedent in the confrontation of science and law. “It is no surprise that this application is the only one of its kind to have come before the courts in this country–and probably anywhere else,” he said. Jackson added that the case is “an example of the new questions that science poses to the law.”

Jackson said his decision was not based on affirming the sound science of cryopreservation–there is not any–but rather on settling a family dispute. The girl’s mother supported her wish to freeze her body, but her father, initially at least, did not. The girl’s parents are divorced, and her father also has cancer. His views eventually shifted. “This is the last and only thing she has asked from me,” he told the judge. The procedure will cost the family 37,000 pounds, which is equivalent to $46,000.

Cryonics, which is an extreme type of cryopreservation, where the entire body is frozen with the hope that it will be re-animated at some point in the future once technology has advanced far enough to cure currently incurable diseases, like cancer. There is no evidence that the procedure could be successful, scientists say, though some still hold out hope.

The girl, whose remains were shipped to the U.S. to undergo the cryopreservation treatment, learned of the judge’s decision 11 days before she passed away, according to her lawyer Zoe Fleetwood. “It brought her great comfort,” Fleetwood told the Associated Press. “She saw this as a chance to be brought back at some stage in the future, but she knew it was speculative.”

Alec Siegel

Alec Siegel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. When he’s not working at Law Street he’s either cooking a mediocre tofu dish or enjoying a run in the woods. His passions include: gooey chocolate chips, black coffee, mountains, the Animal Kingdom in general, and John Lennon. Baklava is his achilles heel. Contact Alec at ASiegel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post British High Court Grants Girl’s Wish to be Cryogenically Frozen appeared first on Law Street.

Have you ever thought to yourself: “wow, I need to up my fruit intake. I should go get a Krispy Kreme donut”?

No?

Well, that’s probably for the best. It turns out that many of Krispy Kreme’s donuts don’t actually contain real fruit. 

via GIPHY

If you’re shocked, you’re not alone. A California man named Jason Saidian filed a $5 million class action lawsuit against Krispy Kreme, accusing the food chain of false advertising and fraud for misrepresenting some of its donut flavors. The pastries that he specifically has an issue with are the Chocolate Iced Raspberry Filled, Glazed Raspberry Filled, and Glazed Blueberry Cake donuts, as well as the Glazed Blueberry Cake donut holes because they don’t contain any real raspberries or blueberries. He’s also upset with the Maple Iced Glazed donuts, because they don’t contain real maple syrup. Instead, the donut fillings are made with artificial flavorings and food coloring.

Saidian’s lawsuit contrasts those imposter pastries with Krispy Kreme products that actually are made with fruit, like some of its strawberry, apple, and lemon-themed offerings. That’s fair, and the lawsuit also rightly points out that Krispy Kreme isn’t great about explaining what ingredients are in its donuts, stating:

The donuts sold in-store by [Krispy Kreme] are displayed in a tray behind a glass counter, along with a small placard in front of each tray that provides the name of the donut variety. No ingredients list is provided or available to customers in-store.

But, the lawsuit doesn’t stop there. Instead, it laments the health concerns that could arise from eating fake-fruit donuts, for example blueberries “have the potential to limit the development and severity of certain cancers and vascular diseases…and neurodegenerative diseases of aging.” That seems a bit far-fetched–the little good that could be done by eating blueberries seem like it would be negated by eating a Krispy Kreme donut in the first place. Saidan’s lawyers told Buzzfeed that’s not the point though:

This lawsuit, on behalf of consumers, concerns Krispy Kreme misleading consumers that its products contain premium ingredients such as blueberry, raspberry and maple syrup. This lawsuit is not about whether the [donuts] are healthy or not.

But honestly, I’m more surprised that some of the donuts actually have any fruit components in them in the first place. It’s clearly time for more donuts.

via GIPHY

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post A Fruitless Suit?: Krispy Kreme Sued Over Fake Berry-Flavored Donuts appeared first on Law Street.

Just as Dracula drank blood from young humans to stay alive forever, scientists in California have found that injecting blood from young people into old mice rejuvenates the rodents. The young blood improved their memories, cognition, and physical shape. Earlier experiments had already shown that putting young mouse blood into old mice worked the same way. The older mice’s brains started looking younger and there was a definite rejuvenation effect. But for the younger mice it had an eerily reverse result, slowing them down and making their brains age faster.

After positive results from the mouse-only experiments, researchers at California company Alkahest were curious whether it would work with human blood too. So they injected some year-old mice (that is at least middle aged, in mice terms) with blood plasma from 18-year-old humans. And bingo! After three weeks of injections twice daily, the mice were running around and performing as well on memory tests as three-month old animals. It was also discovered that the brains of the treated mice created new neurons, a phenomenon called neurogenesis that is important to learning and memory.

Teens can be annoying but I hope we don’t drain their blood just to save some old mice https://t.co/V5hBHXdvCQ

— Ryan Teague Beckwith (@ryanbeckwith) November 15, 2016

Neuroscientist Tony Wyss-Coray led the mice-on-mice 2014 study at Stanford University and started Alkahest when he became interested in performing the experiments on people. And who doesn’t want to be young forever? Though it is unlikely that this technique would remove your wrinkles or make you live forever, scientists do believe that it could help people suffering from Alzheimer’s or other age related diseases. It has actually already been tested on people with Alzheimer’s, and Wyss-Coray is expecting to have some results by the end of 2016.

Hide now, teens. Or wear good blood armor https://t.co/xh9jysO4Mg

— Scott Stein (@jetscott) November 15, 2016

In August, a startup company called Ambrosia, also based in California and led by Jesse Karmazin, launched a program that will charge people $8,000 for a one-time injection of young blood plasma plus lab tests. Participants don’t need to be sick nor old–anyone over the age of 35 can join.

Though the concept is legal, it has drawn criticism for being unethical, with a huge cost and no certain results. “There’s just no clinical evidence [that the treatment will be beneficial], and you’re basically abusing people’s trust and the public excitement around this,” said Wyss-Coray. He also warned that it’s not a good idea to swap blood with someone at home, in case anyone felt inspired, since the blood needs to be screened for diseases and the plasma needs to be separated out. “Certainly you can’t drink the blood. Although obviously we haven’t tried that experiment,” he said.

Karmazin said he was inspired by vampire-like Russian scientist Alexander Bogdanov, who in the 1920s injected himself with young human blood that he claimed made him look younger. By August, Karmazin had enrolled three elderly people interested in his experiment, which is registered at the federal website ClinialTrials.gov. But according to some scientists, this experiment and an increasing number of other studies are dubious and are granted a fake legitimacy by being listed on that site. There are also concerns that the study isn’t being well run–there is currently no placebo group, and it will be very difficult to measure any progress if participants are as young as 35.

But as always, the rich and famous are interested in staying young forever and Karmazin’s project has caught the eye of billionaire and Trump transition team member Peter Thiel, who in August said he wants to try it. He has also spent millions of dollars on startup companies researching anti-aging medicine. And why save his money? After all, he’s not getting any younger.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Young Blood Rejuvenates Old Mice: Could it Work on Humans? appeared first on Law Street.

After the devastating news that Donald Trump will be the next president, so many Americans looked into moving to Canada that the country’s main immigration website crashed. New Zealand was also a popular choice for American citizens looking to flee the country. The Canadian website was down several times on Tuesday night as it became clear that Trump was taking the lead.

The Canadian Immigration website has crashed. Seriously. #ElectionNight pic.twitter.com/XXSfCorTd1

— Cause We’re Canadian (@MadelnCanada) November 9, 2016

Lisa Filipps from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada told CNN that the website crashed due to the high number of visitors, but that they were working on getting it up again. It topped Google’s search statistics, along with “how to impeach a president.”

”How to move to Canada” and “how to impeach a president” were just some of the breakout Google queries last night https://t.co/Lw8ATkiyNQ pic.twitter.com/fIYNSfxyoJ

— Fast Company (@FastCompany) November 9, 2016

Many celebrities, like Amy Schumer, Cher, Lena Dunham and Samuel L. Jackson, have threatened to move north if Trump won. On Tuesday night, comedian Ben Schwartz was going to joke about an overloaded immigration website, only to realize it was actually happening.

I was gonna write this as a joke but found out it was real. “The Canada Citizenship and Immigration site crashed around 8 PM” #electionnight

— Ben Schwartz (@rejectedjokes) November 9, 2016

And some Canadian towns even started marketing themselves at Americans, like the island of Cape Breton on the east coast that promoted itself as a safe and quiet refuge for Americans wishing to escape in case Trump won. New Zealand’s main immigration website received 1,593 registrations from the U.S. since November 1, more than 50 percent of what it usually sees over the course of a month.

But it’s not as easy as you may think to just “go move,” even if you are an American. The rules are pretty similar to immigration laws in the U.S. You need a job offer, a spouse, to be wealthy, or a winning ticket in a citizenship lottery. And first of all–you need to get on to the website.

Some Trump supporters had their own ideas about where to go if Trump didn’t win.

I’M MOVING TO RUSSIA IF TRUMP LOSES

— MADAME (@MagicRoyalty) August 23, 2016

But as some people pointed out, you could make more of a difference not by fleeing but by moving to a swing state.

Hey liberals: don’t move to Canada.
Move to Ohio, Florida, North Carolina.

— Dred (@MildredVon) November 9, 2016

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post If you Want to Move to Canada, Don’t Check Out the Canadian Immigration Website appeared first on Law Street.

Chocoholics in Britain are going crazy over the changed shape of the Toblerone chocolate bars. There used to be a tiny gap between the triangles–now it seems to have doubled!

What the what?!?! @Toblerone … when did you create a dual carriage way through the mountains?!?! pic.twitter.com/xfHPF5W5bq

— nathalie pownall (@Nathaliepownall) October 28, 2016

This is a travesty for fans of the iconic Swiss chocolate bar. But the shape has only changed in Britain. According to Mondelez International, the company that owns the brand, the rising prices of ingredients have made it more expensive to produce the mountain shaped chocolate. So the company decided to add more space in between the triangles to save a little cash. They could keep the same packaging, length, and even price, but buyers will get about 10 percent less chocolate per bar. But this was obviously not okay with chocolate consumers.

Why don’t they should just change the name to NO-blerone and be done with it? #Toblerone #TobleroneGate #TobleroneTuesday pic.twitter.com/dpMKDqwMIO

— Claire Murrihy (@ClaireMurrihy) November 8, 2016

Many people have pointed out that this change comes after the Brexit vote. The British will no longer be a part of the European Union, and no longer have the same access to delicious Swiss chocolate as other Europeans.

#toblerone #brexit I told you that leaving the EU would have serious consequences. Now I’ m really upset. pic.twitter.com/w81cWYpNl4

— Mark Greenwood (@markcjgreenwood) November 8, 2016

Since the British opted out of the EU, the value of the British pound has fallen significantly, making commodities like cacao way more expensive than before. This is yet another reason for division between the voters who voted for or against Brexit. However, last Thursday did see a rise in the pound, after the High Court in Britain ruled that Parliament has to vote before an actual Brexit can take place.

Here’s another conspiracy theory for you all: some people believe the chocolate brand chose to reshape the bars right now because no one would notice due to all the U.S. election hysteria.

I bet @Toblerone thought they could sneak their new smaller bar out today and hope #ElectionDay would cover up the news #TobleroneGate

— seanieb1983 (@seanieb1983) November 8, 2016

Financially this is a tactic that more and more companies are using to avoid raising prices, and it could hit more types of candy in the coming months. “The new gappy-teeth Toblerone is yet another example of shrinkflation, where shrinking pack contents allows for a backdoor price rise,” said retailing expert Ratula Chakraborty.

But most of us feel like this:

All this talk about #TobleroneGate is making me want #Toblerone right now.

— Busy Working Mummy (@busyworkingmum1) November 8, 2016

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Chocolate Fans Outraged Over the Changed Shape of Toblerone: Is Brexit to Blame? appeared first on Law Street.

Apparently NASA’s version of getting people to the polls is the motto “vote while you float.” And if Shane Kimbrough could do it, everyone should! The astronaut–who is the only American citizen currently not residing on planet Earth–cast his vote from the International Space Station, by sending it to Earth via an electronic delivery system specially designed for this purpose.

Voting in space: astronaut Shane Kimbrough is the only American to casts a vote from space. https://t.co/qn2CtvVXFS pic.twitter.com/nOEzhRpz79

— Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) November 7, 2016

There is even a specific “space voting” law in Texas, which allows every American astronaut to cast their vote from space and have them registered through the county clerk’s office in Texas. It is all handled via email. A statement from NASA in 2008 described it like this: “An email with crew member-specific credentials is sent from the county clerk to the crew member. These credentials allow the crew member to access the secure ballot.”

.@astro_kimbrough voted from space. What’s your excuse? #ElectionDay https://t.co/zsx0tJKOtF

— Emilee Speck (@EMSpeck) November 7, 2016

After that, the space crew member returns the ballot to Texas, United States, Earth, via the electronic delivery system. Kimbrough’s current expedition has only been in space since mid-October, and will stay up for four months. His predecessor Kate Rubins cast an absentee ballot in case her mission was delayed, listing her address as “low-Earth orbit.” But she did make it back last week, and said: “It’s very incredible that we’re able to vote from up here, and I think it’s incredibly important for us to vote in all of the elections.”

Kimbrough tweeted an amazing picture from when he switched shifts with Rubins.

Farewell #AstroKate, Takuya, and Anatoly! Thanks for leaving the @Space_Station in great shape! pic.twitter.com/2G1InLMtcs

— Shane Kimbrough (@astro_kimbrough) October 30, 2016

According to Kimbrough, astronauts are “pretty much apolitical,” and he said he would be glad to welcome the new commander in chief, whoever it may be.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Voting is Out of this World: U.S. Astronaut Casts Ballot from Space appeared first on Law Street.

On Friday afternoon the internet went totally wild after finding out about one more leaked email that supposedly proved that John Podesta, and therefore the whole Clinton clan, are Satanists.

#SpiritCooking: Podesta has band-aid on middle finger, likely from a cut, just like Marina Abramovic suggest for a “Spirit Dinner” pic.twitter.com/4Edf1bdLqC

— MicroTurkeyLeaks™ (@WDFx2EU7) November 4, 2016

The email in question was sent to John Podesta from his brother, asking if John could join him for a dinner at artist Marina Abramovic’s place. He included the forwarded email from Abramovic, in which she described the dinner as a “Spirit Cooking”. Because of that phrasing, right wing people online got all frenzied and started sharing their best conspiracy theories. The hashtag #SpiritCooking had over 500,000 tweets by late afternoon.

#SpiritCooking

It all makes sense now. The whole family is involved in this satanic cult. pic.twitter.com/KVV7FbOV6w

— Neil Turner (@NeilTurner_) November 4, 2016

The most disturbing thing about the whole #SpiritCooking Scandal is that NO DEMOCRATS are condemning it! Their silence speaks volumes!!!

— Joshua (@joshuakassemi) November 4, 2016

Despite the influx of conspiracy theories, it doesn’t seem likely that it was a real, blood-drinking orgy that took place. “Spirit Cooking with Essential Aphrodisiac Recipes” is the name of a cookbook that Abramovic created for a 1996 exhibition at the MoMA. It was accompanied by a piece of performance art in which she paints with blood and incorporates  a huge snake.

Wow. I just got to this video about #spiritcooking…skipping dinner this evening… https://t.co/Qahq8OGcav via @YouTube

— Hispanic4TrumpPence (@esgrimista73) November 4, 2016

The list of ingredients in the cookbook did call for “fresh breast milk with fresh sperm milk” to be consumed “on earthquake nights,” but the dinner she invited the Podestas to was more a normal one, with real food. “It was just a normal dinner,” she said to artnews.com on Friday afternoon. “There was no blood, no anything else. We just call things funny names, that’s all.” She told the website that John Podesta never made it to dinner and they have never met in real life. She called the right-wing attacks “absolutely outrageous and ridiculous.”

At least as President, Hellary could call the Vatican hotline & get the Pope to perforrm an exorcism #SpiritCooking

— Deplorabe Majority (@trolling4tuna) November 4, 2016

Thankfully all of this insane election mudslinging will be over soon.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post The Internet Thinks Podesta is a Satanist After Leaked #SpiritCooking Email appeared first on Law Street.

On Monday, American media picked up a Chinese news story that had actually been around for two weeks. A young Chinese woman recently found a solution to a problem many of us have. In order to afford a new house she made each of her 20 (yes, 20) boyfriends give her a new iPhone 7. She then sold the phones to a website that recycles used cellphones and got enough money for a down payment on a house. The woman, who is being called Xiaoli by local media, got a total of 120,000 yuan for the phones, which equals $17,700.

A Chinese woman bought a house selling the 20 iPhones her 20 boyfriends gave her. Shameful.
I built my house brick by Nokia brick.

— Gavin Eddings (@GavinEddings) November 1, 2016

The media attention has been so concentrated that the woman allegedly turned down requests for interviews. According to a local blog where the story first broke, Xiaoli comes from a family in Shenzen in the south of the country and was perhaps under pressure to buy her aging parents a house. Her mother is a housewife and her father is a migrant worker, and it is customary in China that children take care of their parents.

But most people are just stunned that she managed to juggle 20 boyfriends:

I’d get 19 more bfs to pay for grad school. LOL “20 boyfriends and 20 iPhones: How one Chinese woman bought a house” https://t.co/NxKDTpsAN6

— mpsm (@mahreeann) November 1, 2016

However, on Monday evening Buzzfeed made an attempt to debunk the story, which is questionable since it first appeared on a blog that is often used as an online gossip forum. The blogger who first posted the story claimed to have heard it from colleagues, but he posted screenshots of text messages that showed that he was the one spreading the rumor. There was also no personal information or photos of any “colleagues” or the woman in question. One theory is that the blogger works for the used phone company that he claimed bought the phones and tried a publicity stunt.

True or not, it would have been a pretty innovative way to get a new house.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Did A Woman Really Swap 20 iPhones from 20 Boyfriends For a House? appeared first on Law Street.

Donuts can be addictive–but they’re not drugs. That seems like common sense, but unfortunately an Orlando man named Daniel Rushing was arrested late last year because local police mistook dried Krispy Kreme donut icing in his car for meth. Now, Rushing is suing the city for $15,000 in damages due to that arrest, as well as the roadside drug test manufacturer that the police officer used.

Rushing was pulled over by Cpl. Shelby Riggs-Hopkins last December. He was pulled over for a legitimate reason–he failed to come to a complete stop after leaving a parking lot. He allowed the officer to search his car, and she found some donut frosting flakes. She described it in her report as “a rock like substance on the floor,” but Rushing insists he tried to tell her that it was just leftovers from his morning snack.

Rushing said:

Every other Wednesday, I get a glazed doughnut from Krispy Kreme. (Police) found four little pieces of icing on the floorboard, which I’m kind of embarrassed about because I should have, you know, vacuumed the car better.

So, Riggs-Hopkins used a roadside test to test the substance, and alleges that it tested positive for meth. But Riggs-Hopkins arrested Rushing on a drug possession charge and he spent almost 10 hours in jail before he was able to post bail. And a few weeks later, when the police tested the supposed meth in a lab, it was shown that there were no illicit substances in the frosting pieces.

In addition to suing the city of Orlando–he alleges that Riggs-Hopkins should have recognized that the substance wasn’t meth, and was improperly trained to use the roadside test–Rushing is suing Safariland, the company that produced the drug tests. According to local news, “Rushing hopes to force more scrutiny over the field tests.”

Rushing’s concerns are fair, but that hasn’t stopped the case from garnering some national attention–after all, donuts may be addictive, but they’re certainly not illegal.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Florida Man Sues After Police Mistake Donut Icing for Meth appeared first on Law Street.

The U.S. has a humongous surplus of cheese. So big that every man, woman, and child in the country would have to grab an extra three pounds and finish that before the end of the year to work through it. The 1.2 billion pounds of cheese sitting in storage are not even the issue. Surplus meat, poultry, milk, and other dairy products are flooding the food market.

The glut of cheese on the shelves has caused prices to drop, which is great for most of us consumers who love a good block of cheddar or ball of mozzarella, but not so great for the dairy farmers. The revenue from dairy sales has dropped 35 percent over the past two years, causing the USDA to announce it will spend $20 million on purchasing surplus cheese to help farmers out.

Good news for the nation’s dairy producers & families in need: @USDA purchasing $20 million of cheese for food banks & pantries across U.S.

— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) October 12, 2016

So why this huge agriculture surplus? Two years ago the international market was hot and prices high. Due to an excess amount of grains on the market, farmers felt confident in buying more cattle since the feed was really cheap. Production of meat and dairy products skyrocketed but unfortunately coincided with the rising value of the dollar. So international buyers were deterred from buying American products, which caused the products to pile up, and the prices to go down.

Some farmers can’t even get rid of the milk by giving it away but have to dump it in lakes–as much as tens of millions of gallons, according to the Wall Street Journal. Sadly many farms are also going out of business. In California alone, 53 dairy farms closed down during the first half of the year.

The U.S. government has a long history of supporting local farmers when prices collapse, by buying a ton of dairy products and simply putting them somewhere else. This program was abandoned in 2012 but now the USDA buys food and donates it to food banks, which could at least help the farmers a little bit. The USDA also has paid 11.2 million to the Dairy Margin Protection Program, a type of subsidized insurance for dairy farmers.

Environmentalists and others have criticized the USDA’s measures, saying it is wasteful and financially not durable. Governments purchasing excess products just to throw them away might affect the economic market in negative ways, even if it is a small contribution. What is the point of letting that much food go to waste when there obviously is not that high of a demand for it?

But one other reason for the diary glut is that adults are not really made to drink milk. Humans are the only species that can drink milk in adulthood, but many of us still struggle with that, since our bodies are not made to digest the sugar in it. Scientists say it is a weird and unnatural genetic adaptation that allows some of us to tolerate lactose.

There’s also the environmental argument that cows produce methane, which is actually a huge contributor to global warming, so the government should not be encouraging raising more cows and making the situation worse. “It’s outrageous that the government continues to prop up the dairy industry and the wasteful pollution caused by year after year of surplus,” said Stephanie Feldstein from Center for Biological Diversity in a statement.

Clearly dairy farmers have another view on the whole controversy. Overall, milk drinking has declined in the country lately for various reasons, so the future is looking tough for the dairy farms. Unless America takes after the French and starts eating cheese with every meal…and would that really be a bad thing?

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post What Is America Going To Do With 1.2 Billion Pounds Of Surplus Cheese? appeared first on Law Street.

We all know airlines might put your luggage on the wrong flight, but in August, JetBlue sent a child to the wrong destination, causing huge distress for his waiting mother. Now New Yorker Maribel Martinez has filed a lawsuit against JetBlue for mixing up two kids and sending her 5-year-old son Andy to the wrong city. Andy flew by himself from the Dominican Republic and was supposed to arrive at JFK, but ended up in Boston instead. The boy the staff believed was Martinez’s son was also 215 miles away from his destination.

Martinez quoted “emotional distress, extreme fear, horror, mental shock, mental anguish and psychological trauma” as reasons for the lawsuit, and said that she thought her son had been kidnapped and that she never would see him again. It took JetBlue staff three hours to find out what happened and where Andy was, and to let him speak to his mother on the phone. In the meantime, airline staff at the Boston airport had presented Andy to a woman he had never seen before, telling him it was his mother. As icing on the cake the boys even had each other’s passports on them.

Woman files lawsuit against JetBlue Airways for flying her son, 5, to the wrong city. https://t.co/5z4R4PkeEc

— Global News Toronto (@globalnewsto) September 30, 2016

Martinez’s lawsuit seeks unspecified damages. She has already rejected an offer of a $10,000 gift from JetBlue, and the company did also refund her $475 for the plane ticket. The airline has not responded to any media inquiries, but according to New York Daily News officials are conducting an internal investigation. They will then forward the information to the U.S. Department of Transportation before any legal actions can proceed. Martinez’s attorney Sanford Rubenstein said:

Any parent can understand the terrifying fear a mother goes through knowing that her child is missing. This never should have happened and the JetBlue employees should be ashamed of themselves.

According to previous statements from JetBlue, both children were always under the surveillance of airline staff. But it’s easy to understand this is the worst nightmare for any parent, and why Martinez is moving forward with the suit.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Woman Sues JetBlue For Mixing Up Kids appeared first on Law Street.

Pepe the Frog started out as a funny, green Internet frog that often featured the caption, “feels good, man,” but on Tuesday he made it onto the Anti-Defamation League’s database of hate symbols. He first appeared in the online cartoon “Boys Club” by Matt Furie back in 2005, and then spread across the internet. Over the years he became popular generally, but during the past few months he has appeared in many memes associated with racism, anti-Semitism, and far-right ideology.

This is what the original Pepe looked like.

Pepe the frog will always be feels good man to me pic.twitter.com/BC6oNNdSp2

— Anarcho-Biden (@Anarcho_Biden) September 28, 2016

Almost ten years after his creation, by the end of 2014, Pepe was widespread in the mainstream online community, where he appeared in various different contexts and outfits. Then, the use of Pepe among white supremacists increased and he often appeared as Donald Trump. As the 2016 elections neared, he was shown as Trump on the American side of a fence at the Mexican border, posing as Trump at a lectern, or adorned with swastikas.

Even Trump himself reposted one image.

“@codyave: @drudgereport @BreitbartNews @Writeintrump “You Can’t Stump the Trump” https://t.co/0xITB7XeJV pic.twitter.com/iF6S05se2w“

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 13, 2015

And according to one man that the Daily Beast interviewed over email, going by his Twitter name @JaredTSwift, this shift was intentional. The purpose was to reclaim Pepe from the mainstream and the “normies.” “Normies” are ordinary, mainstream people who, when they start frequently using a meme, kill the joke. The move to start radicalizing Pepe so that no “normies” would dare to use him again was a very conscious Internet movement, according to @JaredTSwift.

Jonathan A. Greenblatt, CEO of the ADL, said in a statement on Tuesday:

Once again, racists and haters have taken a popular Internet meme and twisted it for their own purposes of spreading bigotry and harassing users. These anti-Semites have no shame. They are abusing the image of a cartoon character, one that might at first seem appealing, to harass and spread hatred on social media.

When everyone says you a hate symbol but you just a sad af frog. #pepethefrog pic.twitter.com/AGJ4saPNGG

— HorseHeadventure (@HorseHeadvnture) September 28, 2016

But Pepe’s creator, artist Matt Furie, thinks the far-right wing use of Pepe is just a “passing phase.” He said in an interview with the Atlantic:

It’s people reapproppriating things for their own agenda. That’s just a product of the Internet. And I think people in whatever dark corners of the Internet are just trying to one up each other on how shocking they can make Pepe appear.

He described Pepe as a good guy: “The comic itself is just mellow, he’s just a chill frog and is pretty good natured.”

And as ADL points out, just using a Pepe meme doesn’t mean that somebody is racist or hateful. Since the green frog can be used to express a wide range of opinions or feelings, the context and specifics of any meme would have to be taken into consideration before drawing any conclusions.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Pepe the Frog is Now on ADL’s List of Hate Symbols appeared first on Law Street.

A new law that allows Pennsylvania drivers to go through some red lights went into effect on Sunday.

Dubbed the “Ride on Red” law, Act 101, sponsored by Rep. Stephen Bloom (R-Cumberland), allows drivers across the state to go through red lights under specific situations using common sense and caution.

Governor Tom Wolf signed the bill into law in July.

The legislation states that in instances when the light is unresponsive or broken, drivers can legally cross the intersection. Originally the legislation was meant for motorcyclists, but was later expanded to include all vehicles.

Often times motorcycles do not trigger the sensors that are under the pavement, therefore never alerting to the light that it needs to change to green. This law is meant to aid in these malfunctions.

The law, however, does not specify how much time a driver must wait before proceeding, but is intended for drivers to treat it like a stop sign, and waiting for a safe time to cross.

I can see it now…. person at light, man its been 30 second I’m going thru it. In to on coming traffic…….. https://t.co/xFUJ6j9cUA

— Pandora CrossBones (@Pandora_Cross) September 18, 2016

“I was seeking to provide a safe and responsible legal alternative to prevent riders from being trapped in perpetuity at a locked malfunctioning red light,” Bloom said in a statement. “This issue was brought to my attention by a local rider and I’ve learned it’s a frequent problem for riders throughout the Commonwealth. This bill doesn’t give riders or anyone else a free pass to run red lights, but it does provide them with a sensible safe option under established standards already in place for other types of signal malfunctions.”

Suddenly, all the lights seem to be defective. https://t.co/wMcSqqj5a9

— cablebandit (@cablebandit) September 18, 2016

The department will also be conducting evaluations on red light enforcement systems.

Julia Bryant

Julia Bryant is an Editorial Senior Fellow at Law Street from Howard County, Maryland. She is a junior at the University of Maryland, College Park, pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Economics. You can contact Julia at JBryant@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Pennsylvania Drivers Can Now Go Through Some Red Lights appeared first on Law Street.

It seems like every family has them–a treasure trove of embarrassing childhood photos. But what happens when those family photos leave the albums, household frames, or boxes, and make it on to social media? One 18-year-old woman from Austria is upset that her parents have posted a number of embarrassing photos from her childhood on Facebook, and is now suing them over those postings.

The 18-year-old, whose name isn’t being made public right now, claims that her parents have posted over 500 images of her as a child over the last seven years. Those include photos of her doing things like being potty-trained, bathing, and other normal childhood activities. But, she claims that the constant exposure of her photos have “made her life a misery.” The photos are viewable by her parents’ combined 700+ Facebook friends.

The woman told local press:

They knew no shame and no limit–and didn’t care whether it was a picture of me sitting on the toilet or lying naked in my cot–every stage was photographed and then made public.

Her father claims that he owns the copyright to the photos, but she argues that because the photos are of her she has the right to privacy. According to Fusion writer Charles Pulliam-Moore:

The family has a court date set for this November and if a judge rules in the girl’s favor, her parents could be forced to pay their daughter for damages as well as cover the cost of her legal fees. In addition to paying out monetary restitution, the court’s decision could set a precedent for similar legal complaints submitted by children against their parents.

There are plenty of concerns that parents should take into account when posting photos of their children online–such as those photos falling into the wrong hands–but being sued by their children probably wasn’t a previously well known one. While this case is being played out in an Austrian court, it raises important questions about who owns a photo and what decisions parents should be able to make about their children’s digital footprints.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Austrian Teen Sues Parents For Posting Embarrassing Childhood Photos appeared first on Law Street.

An attempted robbery led to a fatal shooting in a Walmart parking lot in Kansas on Sunday, and one shopper’s initial reaction was to film a video with her cellphone and publish it on Facebook, calling the shooting “interesting.”

When Wendy Russell Macrorie came back out to the parking lot after buying lightbulbs, the shooting had just happened. In the video she is seen smiling and chewing gum while saying, “So this is interesting, I’m at Walmart, which I hate going to, and this is happening in front of my car.” She then filmed two men with gunshot wounds on the ground while medical professionals tended to them. She ended the video by saying, “Gross, gross, don’t come to Walmart.”

Mom Posts Bizarre Live Video Of ‘Interesting’ Fatal Shooting Outside Walmart https://t.co/hNlKvUQWhj pic.twitter.com/HilKQwVPH9

— Elite Daily (@EliteDaily) September 12, 2016

Her under-reaction to people being severely injured was criticized on Facebook and Twitter.

Between this video by #WendyRussellMacrorie and the Bs heckling #Solange I’m so upset. We need to do better #whitegirls #getittogether

— Amelia Merritt (@oneinamelia) September 12, 2016

The shooting happened around 1:30 PM on Sunday, according to KMBC. A woman was putting her infant in the car outside of Walmart when two men approached her and hit her in the head. A man got out of his car to help the woman but one of the robbers shot him multiple times. Then another man stepped out from his car, and shot one of the assailants. He was identified as John W. Simmons III.

On Tuesday the second suspect, named Arthur Fred Wyatt III, was arrested. He was released from the Kansas Department of Corrections in July after serving a sentence for a 2009 involuntary manslaughter conviction. The man who first tried to help the woman and was shot as a result was a 33-year-old Iraq war veteran who is still in critical condition. The woman that the men tried to rob has been released from the hospital.

Since the dramatic Kansas shooting, bizarrely, two more Walmart shootings have happened. On Tuesday, a non-fatal shooting occurred in St. Paul, Minnesota. Early Wednesday morning, a Walmart employee fatally shot a man who tried to rob him in Sunrise, Florida.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Woman Posts Bizarre Video From Fatal Kansas Walmart Shooting appeared first on Law Street.

A recently discovered parasite that lives in turtles’ blood has been named after our president–as an honor. Baracktrema obamai is the official name of this thin two-inch parasitic flatworm that was discovered and named by biology professor Thomas Platt. And his explanation as to why he picked the name is the best part of the whole story: “It’s long. It’s thin. And it’s cool as hell.”

Platt, who is actually a fifth cousin of Obama, just retired from Saint Mary’s College in Indiana so this is his last scientific achievement. He has previously found more than 30 species, and named most of them after people he respects and wants to honor.

Obama is now officially a parasite (it’s an honor) as biologists name worm after POTUS: https://t.co/E2U4NjurIF pic.twitter.com/IseWTD74gw

— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) September 8, 2016

Platt says Baracktrema obamai “are phenomenally incredibly resilient organisms. I hold them in awe and with phenomenal respect.”

The little creature is 30 to 50 times longer than it is wide and has “post-cecal terminal genitalia.” The turtles that host it live in Southeast Asia, where Obama wrapped up a visit on Thursday.

Obama also has a hairworm, a spider, a lichen, a fish, and an extinct lizard named after him.

Biologist Michael Sukhedo, editor of the journal where Platt’s study appears, told the AP: “Parasites are cool, crucial to life and all around us.” Although most of them are named as an honor to someone, sometimes they’ve been named for revenge. Sukhedo said that one biologist named a whole category of parasites after her ex-husband: microphallus.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Newly Discovered Parasite Named After Obama, Since It’s “Cool As Hell” appeared first on Law Street.

In today’s “news that didn’t come from The Onion, but I had to double check” North Korea has banned sarcasm. Because that’s going to go real well.

Warning: there’s a lot more sarcasm ahead.

Specifically, sarcasm that mocks the authoritarian regime in the country or its leader, Kim Jong-Un, is forbidden. For example, North Korean citizens are no longer allowed to say “this is all America’s fault” when speaking about their woes, a phrase which is apparently equivalent to our snarky American expression “thanks Obama.”

See:

Another phrase that is no longer allowed is “A fool who cannot see the outside world”–which apparently pokes fun at North Korea’s fearless and not-at-all reactionary leader Kim Jong-un.

North Korean citizens were told about the new ban on sarcasm at large meetings held around the country, which sound like a fun time. According to Radio Free Asia, a nonprofit news organization that operates in the area:

‘One state security official personally organized a meeting to alert local residents to potential ‘hostile actions’ by internal rebellious elements,’ a source in Jagang province, which lies along the border with China, told RFA’s Korean Service this week.

‘The main point of the lecture was ‘Keep your mouths shut!’’ the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

You know, if you think about it, banning sarcasm actually makes a lot of sense. North Korea’s citizens are some of the most oppressed in the world and have severely limited freedoms when it comes to speech and the press. According to a UN report regarding the human rights violations in North Korea, the “gravity, scale and nature of these violations reveal a State that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world.” When there’s so little accountability, transparency, and decency, humor is apparently the only thing left to lose.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Kim Jong-Un is the Best Leader Ever, Bans Sarcasm appeared first on Law Street.

When the police arrived at the Tromp family home, they were confused. The front door was unlocked, phones and credit cards still there, keys left in the ignition of the family’s cars, business papers strewn around, and a family nowhere to be seen. The case that left Australian police bewildered may now be one step closer to an explanation, as the father released a statement on Tuesday.

Police sergeant Mark Knight called it the most bizarre case that he’d seen in 30 years. “This is a really unusual case,” Knight said. “We know the family was obviously traumatized by something. We didn’t know what it was.”

On Monday, August 29, Mark and Jacoba Tromp left their farm in Silvan–a small town in Victoria, Australia–with their three adult children Riana, Mitchell, and Ella. They took one of the family cars on a road trip and ended up 825 kilometers away from Silvan in Bathurst, New South Wales. It was supposed to be a technology free trip, and although the son Mitchell brought his cell phone, he threw it out the window a half an hour into the drive.

The next day Mitchell left his family in a suburb of Bathurst and took the train back to Melbourne, where he talked to the police. He told them that his family had become increasingly paranoid and started to fear for their lives.

The two sisters Ella and Riana stayed with their parents until later on Tuesday. The family reached the Jenolan Caves where the two girls split from their parents. They reportedly stole a car near the Jenolan Caves and drove back south to Goulburn where they reported their parents missing. Keith Whittaker, a Goulburn resident, later found Riana in the backseat of his truck and called the police for help.

“I turned around and saw two legs stretched across the back between my seat and the floor. She was lying on the floor,” Whittaker told the Goulburn Post. “I got an extreme shock. I pulled over in a rest area. About 20 minutes later the young woman sat up and was staring straight ahead. I asked her who she was and if she was all right? She did not know her name and had no idea where she was.”

What’s going on with Mark Tromp and his family? pic.twitter.com/8LQSeMdxvV

— Amplify (@thisisamplify) September 6, 2016

Ella kept driving south until she reached their home.

On Wednesday night, a couple in Wangaratta claimed that someone who looked like Mark Tromp, the dad, was “stalking” them while they played Pokémon Go in their car.

“I could barely see his headlights because he was that close to my car,” the young man told The Age. He said the man then got out of his car and briefly stood still, staring at the middle of the road before disappearing into the woods.

On Thursday, September 1, mother Jacoba Tromp was found wandering around in Yass, a town outside Canberra. She was taken to a nearby hospital and was later transferred to the same facility as Riana in Goulburn, where she received psychiatric care.

On Saturday Mark Tromp was finally found walking the streets close to Warangatta airport. Then on Tuesday he released a statement apologizing for his behavior. In the statement he said:

In recent days my family has been through a difficult period. We will soon be reunited together, I hope that we will begin to make sense of our ordeal and return to a normal life […] More than anything, my family and I need time to recover and receive appropriate assistance, including mental health services.

While there has not been any official explanation for what happened or what caused an entire family to have what appears to have been a mental breakdown, speculation has ranged from drugs and environmental poisoning to a serious threat to their lives.

News.com.au argues that this may be a case of a phenomenon called folie à deux or folie à plusieurs–madness of two or madness of many. This syndrome can be shared by two or more people in a close relationship such as a married couple or family members. The affected fall into a spiral in which they reinforce each other’s delusions, which increases in cases of social isolation. All family members worked at their berry farm seven days a week.

Mark is now staying with his brother. The youngest daughter Ella has been charged with car theft and has a court date in April 2017.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Bizarre Tromp Family Road Trip Comes to an End appeared first on Law Street.

Are you ready for a seriously creepy story? Something that could be straight out of “American Horror Story” or “Supernatural”? Well hold on to your seats, because I have a good one for you. Authorities in Greenville County, South Carolina are dealing with reports that clowns have been terrorizing the public and trying to lure children to the nearby woods. I think we all have one message for the people of Greenville, South Carolina:

via GIPHY

To be fair, it’s actually really unclear what’s happening in Greenville. While there’s been a lot of panic over these clowns, there have been no pictures or verified sightings by police officers. But the sightings that have been reported by passersby are disturbing enough on their own.

On August 21, an anonymous individual reported seeing a “suspicious character … dressed in circus clown attire and white face paint, enticing kids to follow him/her into the woods.”

Oh don’t worry…it gets worse.

Another woman told the police that her sons had “seen clowns in the woods whispering and making strange noises.” When she went to investigate she saw flashing green lights and later the same family heard someone knocking and banging on their residence.

Other reports include neighborhood children who said that clowns tried to lure them into the woods offering cash. The same kids also said that they thought the clowns were living in a house in the woods. All said and done there have been six separate reports of these creepy clowns.

Police have told area locals to be vigilant, and at a press conference earlier this week the police chief stated: “The clowning around needs to stop. It’s illegal, it’s dangerous, it’s inappropriate, it’s creating community concern.” I assume the pun was intended.

It’s still very unclear what exactly is happening in Greenville, South Carolina, but it’s not the first time that terrifying clowns have popped up in a random town. A few years ago, a town in California had a similar incident, but it turned out to essentially be an internet hoax. Only time will tell if the clowns in Greenville are the same kind of thing.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post WTF is up With These Creepy Clowns in the South Carolina Woods? appeared first on Law Street.

On Monday, police in Tequesta, Florida walked in on Austin Harrouff biting chunks off a dead man’s face. The man he was eating was a complete stranger who he’d just stabbed to death, along with the man’s wife whose bloody body was lying nearby.

Police struggled to get the 19-year-old Florida State University student to release his victim, deploying stun guns and a K-9 to no avail. It eventually took three or four cops to pull the former high school wrestler off the dead man. Reports say he was making “animal noises” and “grunting and growling” as officers carried him away.

Now the whole world is wondering what would make a seemingly normal college student turn into a psychotic cannibalistic murderer. If it wasn’t premeditated, and it wasn’t a psychotic break or the beginning of a zombie outbreak, could bath salts or its newer counterpart Flakka be to blame?

Florida man, 19, kills older couple and eats man’s face off while “grunting and growling” https://t.co/Tnu6pYNSz1 pic.twitter.com/eRjdvJ98V4

— Boing Boing (@BoingBoing) August 17, 2016

What Happened?

On the night of the attack, Harrouff was eating dinner with his family in a nearby sports bar when he suddenly became enraged–possibly due to slow service–and stormed out of the restaurant. According to the Miami Herald, the teen was in town to visit some of his Alpha Delta Phi fraternity brothers.

He then walked a few blocks in the direction of his father’s house, before coming across John Joseph Stevens, 59, and his wife, Michelle Mishcon Stevens, 53, sitting inside of their garage at 19009 SE Kokomo Lane. This is where the story turns violent.

The Herald reported that multiple “weapons of opportunity” were used to beat, slash, and attack the couple, including a switchblade the suspect was known to carry. Officials said it looked like the husband tried to fight back. A neighbor tried to intervene, but suffered several stab wounds before fleeing to call police.

Couple brutally killed in Martin Co. were raised in South Florida; friends & family in shock. @WPLGLocal10 at 11pm pic.twitter.com/vUCapYZTtV

— Janine Stanwood (@JanineStanwood) August 17, 2016

Why Didn’t the Police Shoot Him?

After news broke of the gruesome murder, several users on Twitter couldn’t help but wonder why the police chose to use non-lethal force.

How come police officers didn’t shoot the 19 year old white kid who ate the flesh off of, and killed a married couple? Hmm.

— Gigi Zamora (@gigizamoraa) August 17, 2016

He ate a man’s face & the police didn’t shoot/called him a good kid. Tell me again how white privilege isn’t real https://t.co/wlDPuU0ikF

— bex (@iguanamilkshake) August 17, 2016

During a press conference Tuesday, Martin County Sheriff William Snyder told reporters that the responding officer used a taser instead of a gun because “the angles there were extremely dangerous, and had there been a gun shot it could have hit the victim.”

Was He High on Flakka?

Doctors tested Harrouff for common drugs such as cocaine, opiates, methamphetamine, and marijuana, but all of the results came back negative. They are still awaiting the toxicology results for more unique synthetic drugs, but Snyder said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if Flakka was involved based on his bizarre behavior.

Harrouff is currently under sedation at a nearby hospital, and is in stable condition after undergoing multiple surgeries for an unspecified life-threatening condition.

Austin Harrouff in stable condition at unnamed Palm Beach County hosp. Had mult surgeries today, “stable, conscious” per @MartinFLSheriff

— Alex Harris (@harrisalexc) August 17, 2016

Find out more about Flakka here.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Did Flakka Make a Florida Frat Bro Kill 2 People and Eat his Victim’s Face? appeared first on Law Street.

Spread out across the United States are our 59 national parks. They include some of America’s most beloved tourist attractions–like Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, and Denali. But our parks aren’t picture perfect. They cost a lot of money to keep open, and to keep in good shape. So, the National Park Service may be turning to the private sector for help–it’s considering a plan to sell corporate sponsorships to companies.

The National Park Service would use these corporate sponsorships to pay for $11 billion in maintenance works that have become backlogged. Another motivation for accepting corporate money would be to make the parks more attractive to young people, although it’s unclear exactly ow that work work. It’s also unclear exactly what a “corporate sponsorship” would entail, given that the plan is still under consideration. While the National Park Service director has said that naming rights would not be allowed, according to the National Parks Traveler one of the changes could be:

Letting individual parks decide how to recognize donations, with restrictions against no implication of NPS endorsement, official sponsorship of the park, or naming rights. Whereas the existing guidelines prohibit donor recognition on vehicles, bricks, benches, or other park furnishings or buildings, the proposed revisions would allow recognition on vehicles if the vehicle was the donation, and would allow recognition on bricks, walkways, benches, and landscaped areas.

Understandably, a lot of people who are upset with the heavy influence that corporations already have on our lives–mainly in the form of advertising–have expressed their concerns over these kinds of sponsorships. A petition, launched by Public Citizen, has garnered over 200,000 signatures of people who are against these proposed changes. A letter written by Public Citizen outlines the reasons why the non-profit advocacy organization is opposed to the potential for corporate sponsorships in national parks, including the fact that:

Citizens are constantly bombarded with aggressive corporate advertising and influence everywhere they go; our national parks should provide a space for people to escape corporate clutter, a haven from a world where everything seems to be for sale.

While it’s understandable that the idea of our parks having any sort of corporate connection could be uncomfortable, the amount of money needed to keep them up to par isn’t grown on the trees of the Redwood Forests. Fear of corporate influence is founded, but now it’s up to the National Park Service to decide if it should even implement this kind of funding.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post America’s National Parks: Now Brought to You by Corporate Sponsors? appeared first on Law Street.

Did Martin Shkreli send a mass email to just over 450 journalists about the recent Wu-Tang Clan album on Friday? That’s what reporters claim and they’ve taken to tweeting about the nightmarish experience all day. Whoever sent the email didn’t BCC the recipients, and a reply-all nightmare quickly unfolded. The incident quickly started trending. Here’s a recap:

Currently stuck on a reply-all chain started by Martin Shkreli, in case anyone is curious what hell looks like.

— Sam Adams (@SamuelAAdams) August 12, 2016

Dear god. @MartinShkreli sent a press release to 450+ journalists… and didn’t bcc. The man is pure evil. pic.twitter.com/zS5LYSPAuc

— Kyle Jaeger (@kylejaeger) August 12, 2016

Often called “The most hated man in America,” Shkreli, the 32-year-old former hedge-fund manager, became world famous after acquiring the American rights to distribute a life-saving drug that many AIDS patients rely on. He raised the price by more than 5,000 percent, sparking an international backlash.

The mass-email reportedly claimed Shkreli would let recipients listen to a track from the Wu-Tang Clan album “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin.” Shkreli, maintaining his widely-hated persona, bought the sole copy of the album for $2 million in 2015. The email also said, “When I reach 200k followers on Twitter, I will drop another track.”

Martin Shkreli recently made the news when he claimed that Hillary Clinton has Parkinson’s disease, based only on his own observations.

Shkreli claims that he never sent the email, but if he did, it would be a pretty good publicity stunt as the story quickly trended online.

wasnt me https://t.co/8mtsCSfbXc

— Martin Shkreli (@MartinShkreli) August 12, 2016

So far, the stunt has brought about mixed reactions:

BEING ON THIS MARTIN SHKRELI EMAIL CHAIN HAS CURED MY DEPRESSION

— Ali Segel (@OnlineAlison) August 12, 2016

Can’t get actual work emails to load on any device because of this stupid Martin Shkreli email chain I was oddly included on. #Help

— Lindsey Thiry (@LindseyThiry) August 12, 2016

Who knows what really happened, but this tweet sums up the situation many reporters find themselves in pretty well:

TFW you’re on an email thread with 500 journalists, started by a fake Martin Shkreli, and everyone hits “reply all” pic.twitter.com/Yz5sdWHcsa

— Arielle Pardes (@pardesoteric) August 12, 2016

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Did Martin Shkreli Start a Massive Email Chain With 450 Reporters? appeared first on Law Street.

If you’re a woman and you want to eat your own placenta after giving birth, should the hospital let you? In the case of one pregnant Mississippi native, the answer was no–unless she first obtained a court order.

Jordan Thiering told The Clarion-Ledger, that at 33 weeks pregnant she was forced to go to court in her hometown of Brandon in order to win the right to her own placenta postpartum. Thiering said, “I grew my baby, I grew my placenta. There should be no one that can tell me what I can or can’t do with it.”

Jordan Thiering never thought she’d have to sue for rights to her own placenta https://t.co/t2Fq8qHf9M pic.twitter.com/Dp1OKSTxn2

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) June 1, 2016

Thiering decided to include encapsulating her placenta into her birth plan after a friend suggested she try consuming it for its possible medicinal benefits. But when she told the folks at River Oaks Hospital her intentions, they told her she’d need a court order to do so.

Even though Thiering’s placenta is a part of her own body, state epidemiologist Dr. Thomas Dobbs defined the placenta as “medical waste,” according to a memo obtained by The Clarion-Ledger.

The memo states in part:

No hospital or other facility may release non-infectious medical waste (including placental tissue) without there first having been obtained by a court order, or other judicial mandate, which will assure proper disposal by the release.

The placenta is the essential organ surrounding the fetus in the mother’s uterus during pregnancy, and after childbirth it is expelled from the body. It allows oxygen, blood, and nutrients to be delivered to the developing baby via the umbilical cord, and also filters out waste from the baby’s blood.

Because this organ is rich in iron, vitamins, and important postpartum hormones, placentophagy, or the act of eating one’s own placenta, has become a growing trend among women (and Kardashians) in order to decrease the chances of developing postpartum depression, or “baby blues.” However, scientific studies have not conclusively supported the effects of the practice.

After obtaining a lawyer, Thiering was able to petition the Rankin County Chancery County on May 2 to ask for the rights to her placenta. On May 17, Judge John McLaurin granted the order.

She told The Clarion-Leger,

It was pretty simple but totally unnecessary in my opinion to need any of that. I don’t think it’s right for someone who has no experience to dictate what a woman can do with her body…he’s not a woman. He shouldn’t have a right to dictate what I can do with my body.

Thiering was told by the health department that she is the first woman to go forward in getting a court order to have rights to her placenta. If this bizarre baby trend continues to gain acceptance, we may begin to see more cases like this heading to our courts.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Pregnant Woman Wins Court Order to Keep Her Placenta, So She Can Eat it appeared first on Law Street.

It’s like the “X-Files,” but in real life! Researchers at the University of California, Davis want to create part-human, part-animal embryos, also known as chimeras, for the purpose of medical research.

The concept is that having access to an animal with certain human cells would allow for more accurate results when researching how different illnesses progress. The term “chimera” comes from Greek mythology–it’s a monster made up of several animals, for example a goat with a lion’s head and a snake’s tail. But actually creating chimeras in real life raises some important ethical questions. For example, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has refused to fund the project, due to its controversial nature.

One of the possible end results would be to breed farm animals with human organs so that they could be donated to terminally ill people. But New York Medical School professor Stuart Newman thinks this is taking it a step too far: “You’re getting into unsettling ground that I think is damaging to our sense of humanity,” he told Boise State Public Radio.

Rob Stein, a Boise State Public Radio reporter, actually got a firsthand look at how the chimeras would be produced, by accompanying biologist Pablo Ross to his lab in California. They discussed a procedure that involved creating a human pancreas in a pig that could be eventually transplanted into a diabetes patient; it involves inserting human stem cells into pig embryos, and then implanting them in the pig.

These kinds of processes are where chimera critics worry things could go awry. Newman points out that if something were to go wrong, it could actually result in a pig with a human-like brain and some sort of human consciousness. Or an even weirder result–a pig giving birth to a part-human baby! As chimeras become a more likely reality, the question is if we really are willing to take that risk and cross those ethical lines.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Scientists Want To Create Chimeras: Part-Human, Part-Animal Embryos appeared first on Law Street.

When John Miller speaks, he’s discursive, darting from topic to topic in a whirlwind fashion. He often says “uh” and “you know,” a cross between a silver-tongued car salesman and any confident suit and tie on the streets of Manhattan. Miller has an oft-used pseudonym, a monosyllabic word that is fixated on the side of giant buildings from Chicago to Las Vegas, Panama to Bali: Trump. Or rather, Miller is an alter ego of Trump’s, a faux-publicist the presidential hopeful would apparently pose as in interviews with journalists in the decades before “The Apprentice” and closed door meetings with Paul Ryan, sharing stories about “Donald” as if he wasn’t the Don himself.

On Friday morning, The Washington Post released a recording of an interview between journalist Sue Carswell and Miller (Trump) conducted in 1991. Carswell, researching a story on Trump’s divorce for People magazine, phoned Trump’s office to ask him about his recent divorce from his first wife Ivana. Instead, she got Miller.

“He’s coming out of a marriage, and he’s starting to do tremendously well financially. As you saw, he got his licenses five to nothing the other day and totally unanimous. And he’s really been working hard and doing well. And probably, as you know, there’s a real estate depression in the United States and he’s probably doing as well as anybody there is. And frankly, he wants to keep it that way. And he just thought it was too soon to make any commitment to anybody,” Miller told Carswell when asked about Trump’s divorce.

It’s all there: the self-inflation, the hyperbole, the inability to commit.

And then there’s this gem of a story, in which Miller addresses Trump’s rumored affair with Carla Bruni Tedeschi, an Italian model at the time who would go on to marry the now former president of France, Nicholas Sarkozy:

What she was having a very big thing with Mick Jagger. And then what happened, she was going with Eric Clapton, and Eric Clapton introduced her to Mick Jagger, and then Mick Jagger started calling her, and she ended up going with Mick Jagger. And then she dropped Mick Jagger for Donald, and that’s where it is right now. And again, he’s not making any commitments to Carla either just so you understand.

Let’s examine a little nugget that was buried in that beautiful anecdote: “And then she dropped Mick Jagger for Donald.” That’s right up there with “Mexico will pay for it” and “ban all Muslims.”

And considering recent comments (and the fact that he denies being the man posing as Miller), perhaps President Trump’s cabinet will be entirely made up of John Millers–all different facets of Trump’s expertise, his deep knowledge of complex subjects, and his understanding of the scope of history. It’s a one man puppet show called “Make America Great Again,” where Trump is both puppet and puppeteer.

Alec Siegel

Alec Siegel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. When he’s not working at Law Street he’s either cooking a mediocre tofu dish or enjoying a run in the woods. His passions include: gooey chocolate chips, black coffee, mountains, the Animal Kingdom in general, and John Lennon. Baklava is his achilles heel. Contact Alec at ASiegel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post And the Oscar Goes To…Donald Trump as John Miller! appeared first on Law Street.

The award for “most creative vandalism” may have to go to Minnie Driver–the actress has been accused by her neighbor of throwing “baby food jars filled with black paint” against the walls of his property, according to TMZ. Daniel Perelmutter has filed a lawsuit against the “Good Will Hunting” actress, claiming that she has been interfering with construction on his home and causing him a great deal of stress. He also accuses the actress of blocking access to a shared electric gate in front of his driveway.

The baby food paint grenades are just one part of what seems to be an ongoing, bizarre war between Driver and Perelmutter. Driver was granted a temporary restraining order against her neighbor last year, and last week Perelmutter pleaded not guilty to a contempt charge after Driver accused him of “yelling profanities, scaring her children and jumping in front of her car,” according to KABC-TV.

Cops also had to come by and break up a fight between the neighbors last week, after Perelmutter’s delivery truck blocked Driver’s driveway.

Perelmutter fired back against the claims and spoke in front of the courthouse last week, telling a reporter that the actress has wished death upon him multiple times and that she needed to be “institutionalized.” Perelmutter, who recently had a heart transplant and was holding a cane while speaking to reporters, pointed out that he was “in no condition” to leap in front of her car, and alleged that Driver herself was the one who tried to hit him.

Before rushing to judgment, it seems that this isn’t Perelmutter’s first time fighting with a neighbor over property. A 2008 filing shows that he fought with previous neighbors over access to a shared driveway, a case which he appears to have lost.

It remains to be seen who’s truly at fault in this “he-said, she-said” situation, but with a trial set for August, this totally bizarre case is worth keeping an eye on.

Mariam Jaffery

Mariam was an Executive Assistant at Law Street Media and a native of Northern Virginia. She has a B.A. in International Affairs with a minor in Business Administration from George Washington University. Contact Mariam at mjaffery@lawstreetmedia.com.

The post Minnie Driver And Her Neighbor Are In a Bizarre Legal Dispute Involving Baby Food Jars appeared first on Law Street.

Check out the weirdest arrests of the week, courtesy of Law Street Media.

Just Wait Your Turn!

Image courtesy of Lee Ruk via Flickr

Shawn Cummins, from Vernon, Connecticut, was arrested after he was hanging out at his neighbor’s apartment and another visitor took too long in the bathroom. Instead of knocking politely, he shot at the door, almost hitting the person inside.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Weird Arrests of the Week appeared first on Law Street.

Another month, another potential class action lawsuit against Starbucks. In March, the coffee company faced a lawsuit alleging that it was shorting customers by under-filling latte cups. This month, a Chicago resident has filed a suit accusing the company of doing the same–but this time, it’s the iced beverages that are brought into question.

The class action lawsuit, filed by Stacey Pincus, claims that the company provides “significantly less product than advertised” for its iced drinks, and blames it on the company’s “standard practices” for making iced drinks. While the drink amounts are advertised to be  8 oz., 12 oz., 16 oz. for tall, grande, and venti drinks respectively, purchasers of iced beverages definitely aren’t getting that amount of liquid.

The lawsuit lays out the process by which the drinks are made, and explains that the company uses “pre-measured plastic scoopers” and black fill lines on the cups to standardize the drink-to-ice ratio in the cup. So the next time your grande iced coffee seems to be more “ice” and less “coffee,” it might actually not be the barista who is at fault.

Similar to the latte lawsuit, this one also alleges that the underfilling of cups is a deliberate move by the company to “make more money or higher profits.” If this lawsuit is approved as a class-action, anyone who purchased an iced beverage from the company in the last decade could be included.

While this may sound like one giant “First-World Problem,” the lawsuit also makes note of the fact that iced beverages cost more than their hot counterparts. Not only are you getting less of your beverage when ordering an iced version, you’re putting up more for it. While it remains to be seen whether this complaint actually carries any legal clout, it seems to put up a more convincing argument than the latte lawsuit, which claimed that the hot beverages were being deliberately undefiled.

The company’s response? They’re not having it. A spokeswoman for the company responded by saying, “Our customers understand and expect that ice is an essential component of any ‘iced’ beverage. If a customer is not satisfied with their beverage preparation, we will gladly remake it.” Or in other words, this:

Mariam Jaffery

Mariam was an Executive Assistant at Law Street Media and a native of Northern Virginia. She has a B.A. in International Affairs with a minor in Business Administration from George Washington University. Contact Mariam at mjaffery@lawstreetmedia.com.

The post Deja Vu: Starbucks Faces (Another) Lawsuit For Underfilling Drinks appeared first on Law Street.

In news that sounds like it would make for a great B-movie plot, the Russian Ministry of Defense is now in possession of some powerful new weapons: five dolphins, which it purchased this week for $26,000. But nobody seems to know for sure exactly how it plans to utilize the animals.

According to NBC News, the Russian Ministry of Defense purchased the mammals for approximately $5,200 each from Moscow’s Utrish Dolphinarium, the winning bidder for the contract. The posting on the Russian website for state tenders set pretty high standards for the selected dolphins, specifying that they must have “…all teeth intact…[and no mucus from the blowhole].”

These aren’t the first dolphins in the Russian military’s possession; Russia gained a whole stock of them in 2014, after the annexation of Crimea. The aquarium that housed Ukraine’s dolphins was part of the land that went to Russia, which became a point of contention between the two countries. According to The Guardian, “The Ukrainian military dolphin [program] was born out of a Soviet-era scheme that, like much of the Soviet army, fell into neglect in the 1990s.”

The training center is one of two such facilities in the world–the other is in San Diego and belongs to the U.S. Navy. Last year, Russian officials told news agency RIA Novosti that the center was still in operation, indicating that Ukraine’s combat dolphins were making a comeback (although Russia claims that they’re not being used for military purposes).

Surprisingly, militarized dolphins are not a new concept. They were used during the Cold War by both the Soviets and the United States for various purposes, including the detection of mines and submarines. A 2002 History Channel documentary called “Inside the Soviet Military Machine: Dolphin Soldiers” looked into the experiments done on dolphins by the USSR (and sadly, many were indeed painful and cruel). 

Russia has continued to remain silent on its plan for the dolphins, but if past experience is any indication, the military could see them as tools in beefing up its defense forces. Although considering Putin’s love for animals, it wouldn’t be completely surprising if he just wanted some new pets.

Mariam Jaffery

Mariam was an Executive Assistant at Law Street Media and a native of Northern Virginia. She has a B.A. in International Affairs with a minor in Business Administration from George Washington University. Contact Mariam at mjaffery@lawstreetmedia.com.

The post Is the Russian Military’s Powerful New Weapon a Bunch of Dolphins? appeared first on Law Street.

In Dallas, Texas an 89-year-old woman helped stop a criminal on a violent streak when he tried to invade her home with a knife. Mili Carter, the grandmother who was at home alone with her two dogs at the time, responded quickly and slyly to the situation, which ended in the arrest of a local criminal and a pretty hilarious lesson.

Carter was sitting alone in her Dallas apartment when the intruder knocked on her back door, yelling for help. When she went to open the door, she was shocked to find a man–later identified as Maxxim Elliot Bedford–with a knife, forcing her to let him inside. Once in her apartment, he tried to drag her into the laundry room in order to get a change of clothes and to hide from the police who were looking for him after an alleged break-in. Instead, Carter ran the other way and called 911 once she was safely outside.

Bedford was a known criminal in the area and had tried (and failed) to steal three cars the day before this break-in occurred. After two failed carjacking attempts, he was stopped in his tracks by a man with a gun–who was not happy to see his car being stolen–on his third try.

In fact, the reason he had demanded to be let into Carter’s apartment was so that he could escape the police after allegedly burglarizing a nearby apartment. Unfortunately for Bedford, he was no match for Mili Carter’s quick wits and brave attitude. After spending two and a half hours locked in Carter’s bathroom, the police finally broke down the door to find Bedford inside with a hair straightener, instead of the gun he claimed to have had.

The most amazing thing about this entire scenario was Carter’s response to the stressful situation. She remained calm and in control and when WFAA News 8 asked about the whole ordeal and how she managed to stay calm, she replied, “I reared three boys and four daughters. You don’t show fear.” Better yet, when asked to comment on the experience overall Carter had this to say: “I’ve lived this long. How do you think I got there? Not by being a wimp.”

The moral of the story? Don’t be a wimp in the face of danger. It’s not that often you find such a cool, calm, and collected grandma in a situation like that. You go Mili!

Alexandra Simone

Alex Simone is an Editorial Senior Fellow at Law Street and a student at The George Washington University, studying Political Science. She is passionate about law and government, but also enjoys the finer things in life like watching crime dramas and enjoying a nice DC brunch. Contact Alex at ASimone@LawStreetmedia.com

The post Grandma Fends Off Armed Intruder in Dallas appeared first on Law Street.

Kimberly Miller, a nun from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, attended a book signing on November 7. After the event, the bookstore owner gave her some leftovers and a bottle of wine to bring back to the convent. That night, Miller took an Ambien, and had a glass of wine before going to bed. Little did Sister Kimberly know, her night had just begun.

She woke up the next day in New Jersey with a half-empty bottle in the back of her car and a blood alcohol content of .15, nearly double the legal limit. She had driven for almost an hour across state lines into New Jersey, and backed into a car repair shop before eyewitnesses called the police. When she was arrested for driving under the influence, she claims to have no knowledge of the incident.

Miller was hoping that her “Reverend Jekyll and Sister Hyde” experience might lessen her punishment–after all, she wasn’t even aware of the fact that she was driving at the time. In court, her lawyers argued that Miller experienced “pathological intoxication,” and never intended to drive drunk. Pathological intoxication is the phenomenon where a person’s personality and behavior drastically change after they consume alcohol, and it is a rare legal defense used to excuse a person from their drunken behavior. Typically, the defense is invoked when a person becomes exceedingly violent or impulsive after consuming a small amount of alcohol, while the nun’s experience involved her knowing consumption of Ambien. The defense must show that the condition’s effect was as strong as a mental illness would be in an insanity defense.

The presiding Judge Martin Whitcraft found that considering that Ambien has been on the market for over 16 years, a person consuming the medicine should reasonably know that its side effects worsen when paired with alcohol. The prosecutor drew attention to the specifics of the law, showing that the statute made no mention of intent–if you drive drunk, it’s your fault, whether or not you intended to do it.

Judge Whitcraft found the nun’s story to be unbelievable at best, saying “I find the defendant’s testimony less than credible. She testified that this wine was placed in the back seat by two sober, reasonable people.” Ultimately, Miller was found guilty of her DUI, but had the lesser charges against her dropped. Her license was suspended for 90 days, and she was placed on leave from her teaching position.

Sean Simon

Sean Simon is an Editorial News Senior Fellow at Law Street, and a senior at The George Washington University, studying Communications and Psychology. In his spare time, he loves exploring D.C. restaurants, solving crossword puzzles, and watching sad foreign films. Contact Sean at SSimon@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Drunk Driving Nun’s Ambien Defense Fails appeared first on Law Street.

Amber Heard and Johnny Depp’s Australian puppy-smuggling saga is finally over.

Heard plead guilty Monday to knowingly producing a false and misleading document, and received a one-month $1,000 good behavior bond. Luckily for the actress, prosecutors dropped the more serious illegal importation charges, which carried a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of 102,000 Australian dollars (that’s $75,000.)

Australian officials’ #WarOnTerrier began back in late April 2015, when Heard flew the couples tiny terriers “Pistol and Boo” into Australia without a permit to visit Depp, who was in the country filming of the next installment of “Pirates of the Caribbean.” The dogs’ secret arrival, however, was in direct violation of the country’s strict Quarantine Act, which is designed to prevent infectious diseases, such as rabies, from spreading.

At the time, Australia’s Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce famously threatened to put the dogs down if they weren’t sent back to the U.S. within a 72-hour window. The combination of Depp and Heard’s celebrity status and the intensity behind the minister’s comments helped propel the unusual illegal immigration story into the national spotlight, as well as offered up plenty of material for online parodies.

But the jokes didn’t stop there.

During the trial, Heard and Depp recorded a video apology that was heard by the court and later released by the Australian government. In the video the couple stated that they were “truly sorry that Pistol and Boo were not declared.” However, the couple’s unusual biosecurity-focused script and overall awkward demeanor didn’t help people take them seriously.

Here’s the full transcript:

Heard: “Australia is a wonderful island with a treasure trove of unique plants, animals and people.”

Depp: “It has to be protected.”

Heard: “Australia is free of many pests and diseases that are commonplace around the world. That is why Australia has to have such strong biosecurity laws.”

Depp: “Australians are just as unique; both warm and direct. When you disrespect Australian law, they will tell your firmly.”

Heard: “I am truly sorry that Pistol and Boo were not declared. Protecting Australia is important.”

Depp: “Declare everything when you enter Australia…thanks.”

Watch the full video below

It didn’t take long before social media began mocking the couples’ sincerity and joking that the pair looked like they were being held hostage. Here are some of the best tweets below.

The Johnny Depp apology feels like a hostage video.

— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) April 18, 2016

That Johnny Depp apology video… pic.twitter.com/8dPUZor4QU

— Jason Tin (@jasonthetin) April 18, 2016

I think my favourite bit is right at the start when Depp goes to read Heard’s line but then realises he is a second tier character

— Helen Davidson (@heldavidson) April 18, 2016

Ranking of Johnny Depp’s worst acting performances:

4. The Tourist
3. Pirates 3
2. Apology to Australia video
1. Mordecai

— Mark Di Stefano (@MarkDiStef) April 18, 2016

When Johnny Depp apologises for Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, we’ll know he’s serious about making it up to Australians #waronterrier

— The Shovel (@The_Shovel_) April 18, 2016

The weirdest thing about Johnny Depp’s Australia apology video was that it didn’t also star Helena Bonham Carter.

— Periwinkle Jones (@peachesanscream) April 18, 2016

Ultimately it doesn’t really matter whether the couple’s apology was sincere or not since Heard already succeeded in getting off with barely a slap on the wrist. That being said, the couple’s definitely learned their lesson when it comes to what not to do when flying their pampered pooches by private jet.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Amber Heard & Johnny Depp Issue Strange Apology For Pet Smuggling appeared first on Law Street.

Throw out your colanders and get rid of all of your spaghetti, a Nebraska judge ruled that Pastafarianism is not a real religion.

Stephen Cavanaugh, a Nebraska inmate, sued Nebraska prison officials seeking $5 million in 2014, arguing that his religion should be treated like every other religion. He claims that he was mocked and harassed over his belief in the Flying Spaghetti Monster. He also claims that prison staff would not provide accommodations for his religion, as they do with others, by refusing to allow him to meet for worship services, to wear religious clothing and pendants, and to receive communion.

Pastafarianism is the belief that the earth was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM), who made it much like it is today. Members of the church say that heaven “has a Beer Volcano and Stripper Factory.” They also dress like pirates. Communion is taken by eating “a large portion of spaghetti and meatballs.”

“Fremont Solstice Parade 2008: Flying Spaghetti Monster” courtesy of Mark Atwood via Flickr

In his ruling, released on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge John Gerrard wrote, “FSMism” is a “parody intended to advance an argument about science, the evolution of life, and the place of religion in public education,” rather than a religion explicitly outlined by federal law.

Cavanaugh is currently serving a four to eight-year sentence in the Nebraska State Penitentiary for assault and weapons charges.

This is not the first time that members of the FSM church have retaliated for not being treated like practitioners of a legitimate religion. There have been multiple cases of followers fighting for the right to wear the symbolic colander on their heads in driver’s license photos and to have the church’s flag on government property.

At the center of the controversy is the question of whether or not Pastafarianism should be considered a legitimate religion. Some lawmakers have argued that it isn’t, like in the case of Cavanaugh, but some scholars are hard-pressed to deny it that right.

“There’s an infinite number of things that some people at one time or another have believed in, and an infinite number of things that nobody has believed in,” evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins wrote in Wired. “If there’s not the slightest reason to believe in any of those things, why bother? The onus is on somebody who says, I want to believe in God, Flying Spaghetti Monster, fairies, or whatever it is. It is not up to us to disprove it.”

In the age of religious freedom, the dismissal of religion by members of other religions seems contradictory. If the basis of religion is proof, then it is not quite certain how any religion can meet the criteria.

Lindsay Miller of Lowell, Massachusetts was denied the right to wear a pasta strainer on her head in her license photo. Headgear is not approved, unless for specific religious circumstances in Massachusetts, so Miller appealed. She was ultimately allowed to wear her strainer.

Pastafarian, Lindsay Miller allowed to wear strainer on her head in driver’s license photo, citing religious freedom! pic.twitter.com/y6MwWSTv3t

— John Zelaski (@jzelaski) November 18, 2015

“The First Amendment applies to every person and every religion, so I was dismayed to hear that Lindsay had been ridiculed for simply seeking the same freedoms and protections afforded to people who belong to more traditional or theistic religions,” Patty DeJuneas, a member of the Secular Legal Society, said in a statement released by the American Humanist Association.

Ultimately, the state of Nebraska felt, “The essence of this action… is that prison officials believe the Plaintiff is not sincere in his religious beliefs about a flying lump of spaghetti that first created ‘a mountain, trees, and a midget.'”

Julia Bryant

Julia Bryant is an Editorial Senior Fellow at Law Street from Howard County, Maryland. She is a junior at the University of Maryland, College Park, pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Economics. You can contact Julia at JBryant@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post The Flying Spaghetti Monster, a Religious Impasta? appeared first on Law Street.

As always, Law Street scours the internet each week for the craziest, funniest, and weirdest arrest stories. Check out this week’s top five in the slideshow below:

Do Better, Next Time

What self-respecting cop would accept this cake as a bribe? https://t.co/mxFtmZqRRk pic.twitter.com/fp5HE0W2mY

— Huffington Post (@HuffingtonPost) April 3, 2016

Edward Corey, 62, was arrested in Bennington, Vermont, after he tried to bribe police officers to avoid going to court over charges he had stolen money from his father. But instead of trying to bribe the cops with cash, he went for a not-so-appetizing cake.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Weird Arrests of the Week appeared first on Law Street.

This week’s weird arrests feature a wayward drone, some bad cereal, and a lost cat. Check out the weirdest arrests of the week below:

Haven’t Heard this One Before

Cat is in custody. Humane Society on the way. Charges pending for scratching me. @lavistapolice pic.twitter.com/SvKhkVmlcc

— Ofc TJ Markowsky (@OfcTMarkowsky) March 17, 2016

This isn’t technically an arrest, but it does involve police officers and a taser, so we’ll take a look. Police in Nebraska lured a cat down from a tree by getting the feline to follow the red laser beam. The kitty is now safe, and has been adopted.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Weird Arrests of the Week appeared first on Law Street.

It’s a habit that I know I’m certainly guilty of sometimes–looking at my phone while I walk. Whether it’s answering a quick text, scrolling through an email, checking directions, or switching the song I’m listening to, it’s easy to look down and get distracted by my phone. And it’s certainly a bad habit, but it’s not illegal. At least not right now–a state lawmaker in New Jersey wants to make texting while walking illegal in the Garden State.

New Jersey Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt has proposed a bill that would make walking and using your phone illegal, unless the device is hands-free. People who are caught violating the law could face a $50 fine, or up to 15 days in prison. These penalties are consistent with the punishments for jay walking. According to Lampitt, the money that comes in from imposing these penalties would in part be used to educate citizens about the dangers of texting and walking.

Lampitt explained her motivations for the bill, explaining texting and driving as a public safety issue. She stated: “An individual crossing the road distracted by their smartphone presents just as much danger to motorists as someone jaywalking and should be held, at minimum, to the same penalty.”

According to Mashable the bill also relied on a:

National Safety Council report that shows distracted walking incidents involving cellphones accounted for an estimated 11,101 injuries from 2000 through 2011. The study found a majority of those injured were female and most were 40 or younger. Talking on the phone was the most prevalent activity at the time of injury, while texting accounted for 12 percent. Nearly 80 percent of the injuries occurred as the result of a fall, while 9 percent occurred from the pedestrian striking a motionless object.

While there are many states that ban texting and driving (as well as doing other things on your phone), bills that would punish texting and walking haven’t been so successful, failing in Arkansas, Illinois, Nevada, and New York.

It’s certain that texting and driving can be dangerous–but whether or not it should be penalized seems to be a different question entirely. It will take time away from law enforcement officers who could be enforcing more serious laws, and many are arguing that this proposed law is a classic case of government overreach. As of right now, there hasn’t been a hearing scheduled for the bill yet, so we’ll have to see if it even comes into consideration in New Jersey.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Will New Jersey Ban Texting and Walking? appeared first on Law Street.

Could you be arrested for attempting to be funny on social media? Apparently, yes. A 27-year-old man named Anthony Novak from Parma, Ohio is facing criminal charges for creating a Facebook account that parodied the Parma City Police Department.

The account confused people from all over the city of Parma as the two accounts were almost identical, except for what they were posting. While the real police department page featured posts about local happenings and updates surrounding crime in Parma, the parody account had satirical posts about the requirements to become a Parma police officer and other supposedly “inflammatory topics.” In one such post, Novak wrote

The Parma Civil Service Commission will conduct a written exam for basic Police Officer for the City of Parma to establish an eligibility list. The exam will be held on March 12, 2016. Applications are available February 14, 2016 through March 2, 2016. Parma is an equal opportunity employer but is strongly encouraging minorities not to apply. The test will consist of a 15 question multiple choice definition test followed by a hearing test. Should you pass you will be accepted as an officer of the Parma Police Department.

In response to the parody posts being shared on the fake account’s wall, the Parma Police department posted a statement to warn its followers about the Parma fraud:

The Parma Police Department would like to warn the public that a fake Parma Police Facebook page has been created. This matter is currently being investigated by the Parma Police Department and Facebook. This is the Parma Police Department’s official Facebook page. The public should disregard any and all information posted on the fake Facebook account.

Novak is facing potential felony charges for disrupting public services through his use of satire on his parody account. The question of whether or not this is an infringement on Novak’s freedom of speech has been brought up in the conversation about if he should be charged. Lieutenant Kevin Riley argues that the material posted on the fake website caused a risk to public safety because of its inflammatory and derogatory nature. Because this material crossed the line from funny satire to potentially harmful, Novak’s arguments are criminal.

Did Novak’s satire cause any harm to the citizens of Parma? The answer is unclear. Some people voiced a love of the parody on twitter.

The fake city of Parma police department page was hilarious

— Abby Roetzel (@abbyroetzel) March 3, 2016

Others voiced their irritation with the account in attempt to try to clarify what was going on for confused onlookers.

Somebody set up a fake Parma Police Department Facebook page. The REAL Police are working with FACEBOOK to shut it down.

— Scott Taylor (@ScottTaylorTV) March 2, 2016

Regardless of the public opinion, Novak will appear before a grand jury next week to determine whether or not he should face any charges for his actions. Ever since his arrest, several parody accounts on Facebook have popped up in his absence claiming to be sticking up for free speech. This case certainly poses an interesting question about how far is too far when it comes to satire and could be setting a dangerous precedent by telling someone they will face jail time for a parody Facebook account.

Alexandra Simone

Alex Simone is an Editorial Senior Fellow at Law Street and a student at The George Washington University, studying Political Science. She is passionate about law and government, but also enjoys the finer things in life like watching crime dramas and enjoying a nice DC brunch. Contact Alex at ASimone@LawStreetmedia.com

The post Ohio Man Arrested for Creating Parody Facebook Page of Local Police Department appeared first on Law Street.

It’s the weekend, so kick back, relax, and check out some of the weirdest arrests of the week.

Bad Time to Defriend

Image courtesy of Sarah Marshall via Flickr

In New Brunswick, Canada, Ryley Smith was arrested after he held up a Subway, getting away with $750. He was apparently friends on Facebook with one of his victims, and then defriended him on social network, leading the friend to become suspicious and send the police in Smith’s direction.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Weird Arrests of the Week appeared first on Law Street.

Representative Pete Sessions (R-TX) introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives on Monday that asks Congress to “recognize magic as a rare and valuable art form and national treasure.” To clarify, this is the House of Representatives, part of the United States Congress. That’s not to be confused with the Magical Congress of the United States of America, which is unicameral, not to mention fictional.

The full text of the resolution, which is recommended reading for anyone who needs their heart warmed, uses some personal anecdotes to illustrate the power of magic. We’re introduced to Rebecca Brown, a Portland, Oregon resident who was so inspired by a David Copperfield performance that she returned to her unfulfilled dream of dancing. The resolution argues that magic is a motivational force for many, and transcends culture as an art form. Ms. Brown’s epiphany isn’t the only mention of David Copperfield in the resolution. Out of thirty-three ‘whereas’ clauses arguing that the resolution be passed, eleven of them mention the magician or his charitable organization specifically. This resolution is one third David Copperfield, so it’s reasonable to assume that Representative Sessions is a fan.

The resolution also makes mention of Wylie, Texas Mayor Eric Hogue, a man who discovered magic as a young child, and “continues to use those skills to teach elementary school students about the different roles and responsibilities of local government” While the description makes it seem like Hogue pulls a discretionary budget out of a hat to teach children all about the city council, videos show him performing fun and simple card tricks, and pulling a bouquet from some scarves.

The actual goal of the resolution is a bit vague: if passed, it would essentially state that the House of Representatives “supports efforts to make certain that magic is preserved, understood, and promulgated.” While its intentions seem goodhearted, the bill, sponsored entirely by House Republicans, has some Democrat lawmakers confused:

Breaking: @HouseGOP believes in magic but not climate change. https://t.co/2uDhitDMnN

— Mark Takano (@RepMarkTakano) March 15, 2016

While nothing in the resolution indicates its sponsors believe that magic is real, Representative Takano (D-CA) illustrates that these legislators are willing to officially recognize magic as a valuable art form while being unwilling to acknowledge the impact of climate change. Representative Sessions has a record of staunch opposition to renewable energy investments and efforts to curb CO2 production. But just because larger issues loom does not mean that magic isn’t important in its own right.

Having been referred to the House Oversight and Government Reform committee, the resolution has yet to be voted on–but magic aficionados around the country are holding out hope that their craft will be given recognition in Washington.

Sean Simon

Sean Simon is an Editorial News Senior Fellow at Law Street, and a senior at The George Washington University, studying Communications and Psychology. In his spare time, he loves exploring D.C. restaurants, solving crossword puzzles, and watching sad foreign films. Contact Sean at SSimon@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post House of Representatives to Decide if Magic is a National Treasure appeared first on Law Street.

Patrick McDermott was found in Mexico last week. Again. Maybe. We can’t be completely sure because McDermott, a cameraman known most for his relationship with singer-actress Olivia Newton-John, may or may not have faked his own death in 2005.

It’s hard to know what the truth is, but we know a few things for sure: On June 30, 2005, McDermott disappeared while on a charter fishing boat. More than 25 passengers and crew members gave conflicting alibis to the police–because life is just another episode of “CSI: Miami.” The Coast Guard investigated his disappearance, coming to the conclusion three years later that he had drowned. Of course, anyone who’s seen any decent crime procedural TV show knows that the first explanation is far too simple to be correct. After all, there are still 15 minutes left in the show! The bombshell here is that McDermott may have owed his ex-wife $8,000, that he had just filed for bankruptcy, and may have had a life insurance policy for his son worth $100,000.

When something happens that sounds ridiculous enough to be on a TV show, it becomes a TV show, so McDermott was the subject of a Dateline special involving the most obvious trap ever set for a D-List celebrity. The investigators launched a website called FindPatrickMcDermott.com (which is no longer online, #MissionAccomplished). Whenever someone visited the website, their I.P. address and location were logged. Soon, reports of McDermott in Mexico and Central America surfaced, and an investigator named Philip Klein received a fax from Acapulco, Mexico. (Aside: “A Fax From Acapulco” sounds like the title of the world’s worst mystery novel). The fax was from a ‘representative’ of McDermott and led to the exchange of documentation and “voice imprints,” which proved beyond doubt that McDermott is alive.

So the investigation ended and all was well and good. Except for just one thing: the ex-wife. Yvette Nipar, who had a son with McDermott, claims that Klein provided no proof of life whatsoever and that his book about the incident was just an attempt to profit off of a man’s death. To date, there has been no photographic evidence of Patrick McDermott alive in Mexico.

This case resurfaced just days ago when the Australian magazine “Women’s Day” published “exclusive proof” of McDermott’s livelihood from investigator Phillip Klein. The story shared the cover with “Best Ever Easter Rocky Road: Too Easy!” and “Sam Armytage’s 7-Week Super Slimdown!” The magazine also cites investigator John Nazarian as saying, “It’s rumored he was with a German national. I spoke to people there [in Mexico]. The girl he was traveling with was described as having a German accent.” He alleges that McDermott is living and working in a remote Mexican village called Sayulita.

Crazy Report Claims Olivia Newton-John’s Ex Patrick McDermott Is Alive, Secretly Living in Mexico https://t.co/NhF1XJzAGU

— Jennifer (@janal811) March 23, 2016

So what is the truth? It’s possible that McDermott actually did drown in 2005, which means that Klein is a liar, Nazarian is a liar, or they’ve been fooled by bad evidence and a girl with a German accent. On the other hand, McDermott could have skipped town, abandoned his family and his financial responsibilities, to start over, off the grid, in Mexico. We’ve been told that proof of that story exists, but haven’t seen or heard it—and in the age of camera phones and the internet, it’s suspect that there hasn’t been a single photo of him in Mexico.

Sean Simon

Sean Simon is an Editorial News Senior Fellow at Law Street, and a senior at The George Washington University, studying Communications and Psychology. In his spare time, he loves exploring D.C. restaurants, solving crossword puzzles, and watching sad foreign films. Contact Sean at SSimon@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Is Olivia Newton-John’s Dead Ex-Boyfriend Secretly Living in Mexico? appeared first on Law Street.

Welcome to Law Street Media, where we love weird arrest and crime stories. Check out the weird arrests of the week in the slideshow below:

Quite an Accident

Image courtesy of dirtyboxface via Flickr

Carlos Adonis Ramos-Erazo was arrested in Florida after he was pulled over for speeding, claimed he needed to use the bathroom, and then drove away from the police. The cops smelled marijuana in his car and followed him to his house. When the police finally put him in the car…he did indeed need to go number 2. Apparently it took a while to clean up.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Weird Arrests of the Week appeared first on Law Street.

You know what time is it–time for a rundown of Law Street’s weirdest arrests of the week. Check out the slideshow below:

Well…This is Terrifying

Image courtesy of -epsilon- via Flickr

A man named Stephen Burton was arrested in Pendleton, Oregon, after he walked into a woman’s house completely naked. After she got him to leave her house, he was found by the police hanging upside down in a tree–seems like he had fallen off a cliff and gotten stuck. Police say he was suffering from “excited delirium,” possibly brought on by drug use.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Weird Arrests of the Week appeared first on Law Street.

For all you milk lovers out there, West Virginia may just be the new place to visit, vacation in, or even move to after this week’s big milk decision. That’s right, you heard me! Raw milk will soon be more accessible in the state of West Virginia for the first time in almost four decades.

Senate Bill 387 was signed by Governor Earl Ray Tomblin on March 3 and will go into effect 90 days later. This bill, which is a newer draft of a bill that failed to pass last year,  specifically legalizes “herd sharing,” or the trading of animals for their milk. The most recent version of the bill also requires the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Resources to work together to create rules that will regulate the distribution and consumption of raw milk, making it more passable. Now, don’t be too quick to celebrate, because the selling of raw milk in West Virginia is still illegal, but it will be easier to get access to raw milk on farms after signing liability waivers.

So, what does this mean for your milk drinking habits? Well, let’s take a second to break down raw milk for those of you who aren’t familiar with this delicacy. Simply put, raw milk is any milk that has not been pasteurized to kill bacteria. It’s a product that has recently been in the spotlight for controversy surrounding its potential health benefits and drawbacks.

It seems like scientists are still in the process of making a judgment on whether raw milk actually is better for you than regular milk, or this whole hypothesis is just a sham. Proponents of the natural movement cite several potential benefits of un-pasteurized milk over your everyday grocery store carton. These benefits include better taste, potential health and allergy benefits, and the freedom argument–we should be able to drink whatever milk we want to drink! On the other side of the issue, raw milk haters claim that raw milk really doesn’t have any benefits relative to pasteurized milk and it is significantly more risky to drink. The CDC falls on that side of the debate, noting “The risks of drinking raw milk outweigh any possible benefits.”

But, regardless of these risk factors, West Virginia has given raw milk the benefit of the doubt! The irony in all this? In the legislature’s celebration after passing this hip new bill, they passed around a glass of milk (unpasteurized, of course) for the entire group to try. A few hours later, several of the delegates who had partaken in the milk festivities became sick with some kind of stomach bug that may or may not be linked to the milk consumption.

Several of the lawmakers claim that they don’t think it was the milk that did them in, but, whatever it was, it certainly does not look good.

The milk enthusiast that day, Representative Scott Cadle, was pushing the other members of the legislative body to “live dangerously” and try the milk. Later that day, after the illness was running rampant, he defended the milk to the Charleston Gazette-Mail, which he did not think was the main cause of illness that day:

With that many people around and that close quarters and in that air and environment, I just call it a big germ. All that Capitol is is a big germ.

It’s unclear whether or not this milk was the source, but pretty much all of the legislators claim that it definitely was not. Is that all just a facade to promote the now-legal raw milk? Who knows.

So, drink up (at your own risk) America. And make sure to click here to learn more about raw milk in your state and to stay updated on all of the rawest raw milk happenings this country has to offer.

To learn more, read: What’s the Deal with Raw Milk?

Alexandra Simone

Alex Simone is an Editorial Senior Fellow at Law Street and a student at The George Washington University, studying Political Science. She is passionate about law and government, but also enjoys the finer things in life like watching crime dramas and enjoying a nice DC brunch. Contact Alex at ASimone@LawStreetmedia.com

The post Legalize Milk? appeared first on Law Street.

When I went on Twitter today to try to find something to write about for all of you, it didn’t take long before my eyes were assaulted by an onslaught of tweets filed under the trending hashtag #TheTriggering.

I mistakingly clicked on the hashtag’s title thinking that it was some kind of fan dialogue on the next lousy “Purge” movie or something, but quickly realized, no, its a bunch of men’s rights fanatics and internet trolls “back at it again with the bulls***t.”

Damn misogynists!

For those of you who are still confused, #TheTriggering, as explained by someone calling themselves TheFoolAndTheWorld on the anti-“social justice warrior” site Age of Shitlords…(yes that is the site’s actual name), is an annual event where racist, sexist, and generally horrible men and women decide to be…even more racist, sexist, and horrible on social media.

Age of Shitlords explains,

Our freedom of speech is under attack from cultural Marxists who seek to subvert us. Well, as The Addams Family said…’we gladly feast on the flesh of those who week to subdue us.’ That is why on March 9th and 10th, to fight political correctness, and to celebrate the return of Lauren Southern’s profile, we shitlords around the world will conduct the annual event known as #TheTriggering on all forms of social media.

Essentially participants are asked to “post the most vile and offensive things [they] can think of (within federal law), in defense of freedom of speech.”

The anti-misogyny site We Hunted the Mammoth reports that the hashtag is the brainchild of Lauren Southern, a Canadian anti-feminist activist and journalist who loves to bully feminists. According to the site, “she first became something of an icon in the internet’s jerk community last year after she showed up at a slutwalk in Vancouver proudly holding a sign reading ‘there is no rape culture in the West.'”

To give you a taste of what that looks like, here are some of the most vile tweets from users reveling in the political correctness protest.

If you’re of minority ethnicity, your segregated “safe spaces” are precisely what Jim Crow racists wanted. Idiots. #TheTriggering

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) March 9, 2016

Feminists don’t get raped. They find a man drunk enough to get it up and then try and extract money from him#TheTriggering — Squints McCuck (@FemsHaveBallz) March 9, 2016

I have ZERO “white guilt” In 2016 shouting racist is a tactic used to gain an advantage#TheTriggering pic.twitter.com/Dj2KWVhzmd — Jared Wyand (@JaredWyand) March 9, 2016

“DEY TOOK OUR JOBS!” “No, we just don’t have a position for someone with a gender studies degree.” #TheTriggering

— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) March 9, 2016

There’s no “gender pay gap” — but there should be. https://t.co/UYaxmTAxT5#TheTriggering pic.twitter.com/rYm3mhH3qC — Milo Yiannopoulos ✘ (@Nero) March 9, 2016

You are either male or female. Biology dictates it. “Gender fluid” & “gender non-conforming” translate to: I need attention.#TheTriggering

— Leah the Boss (@LeahRBoss) March 9, 2016

#BlackLivesMatter is a movement based on a lie, perpetuated by those who glorify criminals. #TheTriggering — Leah the Boss (@LeahRBoss) March 9, 2016

Don’t complain about govt regulating your ovaries if you give them permission to regulate every part of other people’s lives. #TheTriggering

— That Guy T (@_ThatGuyT) March 9, 2016

Right-wingers who aren’t white and male exist, and not just in your nightmares. #TheTriggering — Lauren Southern (@Lauren_Southern) March 9, 2016

While scrolling through tweets I noticed a trend of women involved in the hashtag going above and beyond to prove that they could be just as “sexist and anti-feminist” as their male counterparts, which was pretty sad seeing as yesterday was International Women’s Day.

Clearly these trolls are intentionally looking to piss off as many people as possible, so I guess I won’t take it too personally, but as one insightful user puts it:

FYI people using the #TheTriggering hashtag to upset and offend others; it is only causing a moderate level of PTSD, so the joke’s on you.

— Godfrey Elfwick (@GodfreyElfwick) March 9, 2016

Editor’s note: This post has been updated to remedy a typo.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Web Trolls & Men’s Rights Activists Step Up Hate for #TheTriggering appeared first on Law Street.

For most alcohol appreciating 20-somethings, nothing is worse than going out and getting drunk, and then waking up the next day to realize you vomited everywhere. However, there’s a special kind of low reserved for when you realize said vomiting took place in your Uber ride home, and you have a $200 cleaning bill to pay.

But before you reluctantly fork over your hard earned money to the “puke police,” take a second and ask yourself is that really your vomit? As chances would have it, it might not be.

According to the Gothamist, a Manhattan art director and avid Uber user by the name of Meredith Mandel woke up one morning and checked her Paypal account to find the extra charge tacked on to her $19 Uber fare from the night before. The driver even attached photo evidence of the alleged barf to back up his claim. Problem is, Mandel claims she’d only had two glasses of wine that night and knows for a fact that neither she, nor her riding mates, vomited in the car.

Warning picture of gross vomit (that’s probably fake) below:

Charged $200 after Uber driver ‘created fake vomit pictures’, claims passenger https://t.co/Y1mfqMjTLe pic.twitter.com/6NfQqtoSLh

— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) March 3, 2016

Mandel chose to disable her Paypal account while she tried to dispute the charge, but realized her account needed to be active in order to receive a refund. But when she re-enabled the account she found a second $200 charge pending from Uber, and her driver “Muhammad” miraculously was unable to be reached.

After going back-and-forth with a customer service representative to contest the charge, she was made aware of the fact that the cleaning fee goes entirely to the driver. It was at that moment that she realized she was being scammed. Based on the photos, she told the Gothamist that she had determined a few things.

One: at least one of the three photos appear to show portions of the car in the front seat. She says that she and her fellow passengers were confined to the back. Two: all of the purported puke seems to be confined to easily washed plastic surfaces, mainly floor mats and the plastic of the dashboard and a driver’s-side door. Three: there have been other reported instances of alleged Uber vomit scams, including two incidents in Tampa, Florida that got a driver fired, and another in Los Angeles. Four: when she uploaded the photos to a metadata scraping website, no time or date was attached to the photos (we repeated this process with files she provided and got the same results). And of course, she says neither she nor her companions were drunk.

Needless to say Mandel has sworn off Uber, and says she’s downloaded the N.Y. Taxi app and Lyft to help fill the void. She was never charged that second $200, and an Uber rep claims she will be refunded the cleaning charge. Still this is pretty shady, Uber.

Like Mandel stated above, this isn’t the first time Uber drivers have been accused of trying to take advantage of customers. In February a Washington D.C. man ordered an Uber and asked the driver to drive him one mile to his home, but fell asleep soon after getting into the car. When he woke up the driver had driven him around for more than two hours and had racked his bill up to $171.

After repeated negative stories in the press, including a homicidal Uber driver’s shooting spree in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Uber is definitely suffering from an image problem. The company has some serious room for improvement if it wants drunk partiers to continue to rely on it for “DD” services, so get it together Uber.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Is That Your Vomit? Uber Drivers Accused of Fake Puke Pics Scam appeared first on Law Street.

Drunken bachelors, polite burglars, and children’s toy cars–all great additions to this week’s weird arrests. Check out the top five in the slideshow below:

Very Good Try

Image courtesy of Katsuhiro Osabe via Flickr

Amanda Schweickert, 28, of Sardinia, New York, was arrested after police noticed that she had no front license plate, and a fake license plate on the back of her car. That fake plate was made of cardboard–and not even well done. See it here.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Weird Arrests of the Week appeared first on Law Street.

Banksy is a famous graffiti artist, political activist, and film director whose “real” identity has never been released. For years, there has been rampant speculation about who exactly Banksy is, but his true name has remained under wraps at least in part because graffiti is still a crime. However, his identity may now be easier to figure out than ever before, thanks to some British criminologists who have tested a new system of “geographic profiling” to help catch serial offenders.

Geographic profiling is not new–in fact you’ve probably seen some early derivations of it on your favorite crime procedural. At its most basic, it can be used to pinpoint origins of all sorts of things, including disease outbreaks. When applied to criminology, it can be used to pinpoint serial offenders, by taking crime scenes and then using mathematical formulas to map where an offender may live or frequent.

Researchers at Queen Mary University of London have been trying to create improved versions of geographic profiling, and in order to test their new system, inputted incidences of Banksy’s graffiti in both London and Bristol. The formula spit back the name Robin Gunningham, which shouldn’t really surprise Banksy fans because Gunningham’s name has come up as a Banksy suspect before. The researchers published these findings in the Journal of Spatial Science. However, they were clear to point out that they didn’t think that their method was going to work as well as it did. Steve Le Comber, one of the authors of the study, stated:

What I thought I would do is pull out the 10 most likely suspects, evaluate all of them and not name any… But it rapidly became apparent that there is only one serious suspect, and everyone knows who it is.

As with almost any application of academia, there have been criticisms of the study, including the fact that the researchers didn’t include some outliers, and that because Banksy’s work is anonymous, they could have unknowingly included copycats. And Le Comber and the other researchers are careful to say that Banksy is not definitely Gunningham, but just that their research offers additional support for the theory.

After the findings of the study became known, Bansky’s legal team contacted the researchers, apparently taking some issue with a press release that was going to accompany the study’s journalistic publication. That press release has since been yanked. The paper itself, which apparently Banksy’s legal team did not take issue with, was published Thursday.

The researchers’ findings certainly don’t prove anything definitively about who Bansky actually is–but the fact that they match up with a man who has been accused of being Banksy before isn’t a coincidence. This look into Banksy’s identity was certainly an interesting application of geographic profiling, but if this kind of technology works it could have a huge impact on tracking serial offenders of much more vicious crimes.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Statistics Meet Art: British Scientists May Have Tracked Down Banksy appeared first on Law Street.

Loyal, compassionate, obedient, and unconditionally loving: these two new presidential hopefuls seem to be everything this country needs.

Sick of the GOP and the Democratic Party? Sick of politicians in general? If so, you might want to check out the Canine Party.

Meet Butler Blue III and Georgetown Jack, two bulldogs who represent their respective universities (Butler University and Georgetown University). They have teamed up to run for the presidency this year.

The duo unveiled their campaign in a video posted to Youtube, and it is arguably the best (almost) three minutes of the entire election season so far.

“Take for instance, a homegrown set of Midwestern values matched with a West Coast kid turned Washington insider,” the narrator says in the video. “…or Butler Blue’s courage to speak his mind for the good of all and Georgetown Jack’s enduring composure, demonstrating unparalleled grace under pressure.” The video highlights their strengths–the narrator talks about “one’s unmatched goal oriented drive coupled with the other’s innovative efficiency.” It also states that “it’s clear the individual strengths of Butler Blue and Georgetown Jack speak for themselves, yet the combined power of this doggy duo speaks for America.”

While a dog has never held the presidency, many have resided in the White House, making it difficult for voters and opponents to discredit their legitimacy. This isn’t even the first time an animal has run for office. For example, the mayor of Talkeetna, Alaska who has been in office since 1997 is a cat named Mayor Stubbs. Duke, an eight-year-old dog, is the elected mayor of Cormorant, Minnesota.

I support the #CanineParty! No bones about it, @GeorgetownJack is the right choice. pic.twitter.com/GNHqg3GREy

— Chris Grosse (@Chris_Grosse) February 27, 2016

During an election season filled with surprise candidates who are favored because of their “distance” from politics, it would be no surprise to see these two candidates running up the polls and chasing the bone that is the presidency.

Huge #CanineParty endorsement coming in this morning from @zeldathebulldog! https://t.co/hfF2k7pnklpic.twitter.com/xzqWWE85Te

— Butler Blue III (@ButlerBlue3) February 29, 2016

In addition to these two pups, apparently the bulldog mascot of Drake University is also running for president, which he announced in November.

THIS IS IT! I’m announcing my official candidacy 4 President of the United States of America.#VoteGriff #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/EZHuQAv9Qw

— Griff the Mascot (@DrakeUGriff) November 14, 2015

We’re not sure which pup is planning on taking the presidency and who will be taking the VP position, but the strategic approach of running as a pair will definitely give them (two) legs up on the rest of the competition.

Julia Bryant

Julia Bryant is an Editorial Senior Fellow at Law Street from Howard County, Maryland. She is a junior at the University of Maryland, College Park, pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Economics. You can contact Julia at JBryant@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Georgetown, Butler Bulldog Mascots Strong Contenders for 2016 appeared first on Law Street.

Check out the top five strangest arrest stories of the week, brought to you by Law Street Media:

These Actually Sound Delicious

Image courtesy of Hungry Dudes via Flickr

Four people trashed a pizza shop, after one of them Jessica Conti, got really angry because her garlic knots had cheese on them. They pushed a fax machine and cash register to the floor, and then threw pizza boxes and food on the ground. They left, but were all arrested a short time later.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Weird Arrests of the Week appeared first on Law Street.

Picture this: you wake up in the middle of the night with insane abdominal pain and call 911 to be rushed to the hospital immediately. Once you get there, the doctors decide you are suffering from acute appendicitis and you have to quickly be prepared for an emergency surgery to remove your appendix. Before you’re put under anesthesia, you notice the nurse prepping you is stumbling around, tripping over chords, and is seemingly having a hard time doing average tasks. Worried yet?

This exact scenario unfolded earlier this month at the Wilkes-Barre VA Medical Center, for which a nurse has been charged with reckless endangerment of a patient’s safety, driving under the influence, and public intoxication for showing up to work and then proceeding to work on an appendectomy while drunk.

The story, according to the drunk nurse, Richard Pieri, was that he had forgotten that he was on call at the hospital on February 4 until he received a call around midnight telling him to come into work on an emergency surgery. At that point, Pieri was already four or five beers deep at a local casino, but still decided it would be better to drive while intoxicated to the hospital and work on this surgery than it would be to acknowledge his mistake. In court documents, Pieri acknowledged that he just didn’t want someone else to have to come in while he was supposed to be on call. That is why he decided drunk surgery was a good plan–a great reminder to us all that alcohol can seriously inhibit good decision-making skills. Authorities later visited Piere and asked him if he knew why they were there to chat with him, Pieri nonchalantly responded, “I guess it has something to do with me being drunk on call.”

The Department of Veterans Affairs sent a statement to the Washington Post noting that it will not tolerate behavior like this, especially since it can put veterans who are coming in for care at serious risk. The VA is currently working on reinforcing its guidelines for staff and ensuring that an incident like this never happens again. Pieri’s affidavit notes that he was tasked with prep work that was legitimately important:

[He] was responsible for preparing the patient, retrieving the patient, preparing the materials inside the room, documenting the surgery, and monitoring the vitals of the patient throughout recovery.

In addition, the affidavit pointed out that the operating room, in general, can be dangerous if someone is intoxicated:

[The operating room] is filled with complicated equipment that Pieri needs to operate and has several loose wires and cords that can be tripped on or disconnected by somebody with an inability to properly ambulate themselves.

While details about the patient have not yet been released, reports indicate that he or she was readmitted to the hospital after the surgery for complaints of stomach pains. There is no evidence to suggest that this readmission has anything to do with Pieri’s drunkenness–thank goodness–but he was promptly removed from patient care responsibilities after this incident.

While this story turned out alright (for the most part), it’s a sobering reminder to us all that alcohol can have serious consequences in certain situations. Just because you think you’re alright to drive home, make a large purchase, or even perform a serious medical procedure, doesn’t mean you are. So, think carefully about when and where you drink and make responsible decisions everyone, because no one wants to be that guy who was jokingly asked, “Rick, are you drunk?” after he stumbled into work.

Alexandra Simone

Alex Simone is an Editorial Senior Fellow at Law Street and a student at The George Washington University, studying Political Science. She is passionate about law and government, but also enjoys the finer things in life like watching crime dramas and enjoying a nice DC brunch. Contact Alex at ASimone@LawStreetmedia.com

The post Drunk Nurse Arrested for Reckless Endangerment appeared first on Law Street.

If you’ve  been on the internet at all this week you’ve probably (purposefully or accidentally) seen the viral “Damn Daniel” meme. It’s a video with a teenager following his friend around and saying “Damn Daniel” over and over again in a cartoon-ish voice. Sometimes the voice makes comments too, particularly about Damn Daniel’s white vans. I have no explanation for why this has gone viral, but it most certainly has:

Damn Daniel pic.twitter.com/Va10hmpePO

— josh (@josholzz) February 16, 2016

But internet celebrity comes with a side of risk as well–the young man who made the video has now been swatted.

Swatting is when someone calls in a fake threat to an individual’s home, usually claiming that some sort of emergency, like a hostage situation, is taking place there. When, inevitably, a SWAT team arrives, the victim of the swatting is usually scared and the police are confused. The entire thing usually takes a while to sort out. It’s a “prank” that regularly happens to “internet famous” people, including famous video game players, celebrities like Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber, feminists, and journalists. It’s often used as some sort of revenge or intimidation tactic, and it is incredibly difficult to track who has committed the “swatting.”

In this case, the teenage boy who goes by @josholzz on Twitter and lives in California, was targeted by a caller who phoned the police and said that he had shot his mother. Police swarmed the house before realizing that the call was incorrect. It’s unclear at this point who swatted @josholzz and the investigation is ongoing. But the incident is believed to have been linked to the popularity of the “Damn Daniel” video. According to Riverside police Lt. Kevin Townsend:

We believe and the family believes that since their video went viral, it’s somehow connected. Ever since their video has gone out there, they’ve received a number of what they call strange phone calls and emails, and a lot of strange things happening so tonight was just another incident for their family.

Swatting is a serious, but relatively common issue once someone gains enough attention on the internet. Hopefully @josholzz’s family doesn’t get targeted again, but given the popularity of the “Damn Daniel” video, it certainly wouldn’t be surprising.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Teen Who Made “Damn Daniel” Viral Video Gets Swatted appeared first on Law Street.