On Memorial Day, police arrested a 29-year-old man in the Herald Square Macy’s store in Manhattan after spotting him "brandishing" what was described as a curved, rusted, "pirate-style sword," presumably a cutlass. The report also used the word "carrying," although…

I guess it is understandable that some readers believe that the previous post, about a New Zealander who was sentenced to community service for falsely reporting he had been raped by a wombat, an assault that he said caused him…

As you can tell (at least if you’ve seen a past version of this site), the design has changed mildly.  I remain loyal to blue, but certain other long-serving design elements have been ruthlessly and suddenly dumped, something I now…

Witnesses estimated the crowd of drunken Santas numbered about 50, and said that they rushed in through the front door of Hoyts Cinema in Christchurch, New Zealand, and began ripping down movie posters and smashing things. "They were all dressed…

Once again, ’tis the season for Christmas-assault cases.  Most of these stories involve simple assault and battery upon (on sometimes by) Santa Claus, but this is the first such story I’ve come across in which someone touched his Kringle. A…

Is it really "torture" if what you’re being burned with are freshly baked cookies right out of the oven? Well, obviously not, if you’re John Yoo, since this seems unlikely to cause pain equivalent to that caused by organ failure…

Lawyers involved in a 60-year-old German man’s appeal of indecent-exposure charges were, for some reason, "stunned" when the man took his clothes off during a court recess. "The court withdrew for deliberations and during the adjournment the man removed his…

Time again for "Google Searches That Led To Lowering the Bar," that exciting series in which we learn what odd questions some people out there have for Google (anonymously — as I mentioned before, I can see the search terms,…

While the facts of the underlying opinion in U.S. v. Freeman aren’t especially comical — it was an appeal from a conviction and sentence on drug-conspiracy charges — it does have some educational value.  The question was whether the district…

Police in Tartu, Estonia, said that a driver they arrested on Saturday may face jail time and the loss of his vehicle because he is a repeat offender.  Police first arrested the 20-year-old man a week ago.  The article did…