Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour pardoned four convicted murderers last Friday, freeing them from life imprisonment sentences. A fifth criminal, serving a sentence for burglary and robbery, was also pardoned.
All of the felons worked at the governor’s mansion as trusties while serving their sentences, performing duties such as waiting tables, washing vehicles, and kitchen work. On the pardon orders, Barbour wrote that each criminal “proved to be a diligent and dedicated workman”.
This was one of Barbour’s final acts in office, as his term as governor is up this week.
It’s nice to know that washing a few cars at the governor’s mansion is enough to let you off the hook for murder in Mississippi.
Read more…
A purse, to most of us. To the TSA, a replica weapon and federal offense.
A 17-year-old pregnant Florida teen found herself in hot water with the fashion police TSA last month over the design on her purse.
TSA agents stopped Vanessa Gibbs in Virginia when they noticed that her purse had an antique-style western revolver emblem on it. An agent told Gibbs that the purse was “a federal offense because (the emblem) is in the shape of a gun”. Gibbs was detained while the TSA determined that the purse-gun wasn’t real and posed no threat. Even so, Gibbs wasn’t permitted to take the purse with her, and the TSA investigation took long enough that she missed her flight.
An image of Gibb’s purse is posted so you can see what all of the fuss was about. The gun design is clearly just a few inches in size.
Read more…
If you have even a passing interest in free speech or the future of the internet, you’ve probably been following developments to H.R. 3261, or the Stop Online Piracy Act, for the past couple months. The ironically-named bill seeks to massively expand the power of U.S. law enforcement and private corporations in fighting online copyright infringement. The proposed legislation is currently before the House Judiciary Committee, where they’re scheduled to continue debating its merits this month.
The future of the internet in America?
Regardless of your stance on piracy, copyright, intellectual property rights, etc — SOPA is completely idiotic. Here’s why:
Read more…
A Dutch architectural firm was forced to apologize for its design of twin luxury apartment buildings last month, after enraged Americans flooded them with death threats. The skyscrapers, planned for construction in South Korea, are dubbed “The Cloud” by their Dutch designers. The irregular structure that joins the two towers together at their midsections is meant to evoke visions of a wispy cloud, lazily floating by.
Instead, hoards of infuriated Americans saw a terrifying tribute to the horrors of 9/11. Naturally.
Read more…
… Amazon has you covered with these $1000+ beauties. They’re a whopping 3 feet in length and have plugs at both ends!
These babies make the ever-popular (internet whipping boy) Monster Cable brand
look like a positive bargain by comparison! Seriously though, I was positive that I was looking at a price mistake, but I was able to find the same brand HDMI cables at similar astronomical prices at Best Buy.
Read more…
A California marine biologist is facing more than 20 years in prison, and over half a million dollars in fines… for feeding a group of whales during a 2005 research trip.
I, for one, am certainly glad that the US Department of Justice and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration could spare the resources to investigate this heinous crime. Illegal whale feeding is an unforgivable offense, and a known gateway to more serious crimes, such as dolphin riding.
In all seriousness, this is completely idiotic.
Read more…
Credit cards get a bad rap. The popular opinion is that they exist solely to bilk the public out of their hard-earned money, while lining the pocketbooks of the financial elite.
But that isn’t entirely fair — when used properly, credit cards can be a valuable personal finance tool. And while it is true that credit cards are indeed a mechanism for shifting wealth from the poor to the rich (or at least, the less poor), you have nobody to blame but yourself if you’re on the short end of that stick.
Read more…
Recent Comments