Affluenza Teen, Ethan Couch, Maybe In Deep Trouble ~by Legal Pub

Do recent headlines prove that rich coddled children are incapable of making rational choices?  Ethan Couch's recent behavior seems to suggest such a conclusion.  The wealthy Texas teen recently became a fugitive after breaking his probation sentence for killing four people while driving drunk.  Ethan turned up in Mexico and was taken into custody by Mexican authorities. 

Ethan Couch, 18, became known as the "affluenza" teen, because of trial testimony that suggested that Ethan was too rich and coddled to appreciate the danger of drinking and driving.  Ethan received 10 years probation for intoxication manslaughter after the 2013 incident.  

Ethan may not be the only one that is the subject of scrutiny.  His 48 year-old mom, Tonya Couch, is also front and center in the recent legal drama.  Tonya had disappeared with her son. Is she also "so wealthy and spoiled" that she could not tell the difference between right and wrong? Perhaps we will find out after Ethan is turned over to U.S. Marshals Service and Tonya is queried as to her role in Ethan's decision to violate probation.

Christmas Eve Asteroid Rumor is False ~by Legal Pub

Here at Legal Pub, we almost didn't buy Christmas presents.  After all, rumor had it that on Christmas Eve an asteroid was going to destroy earth or at least cause massive earth quakes.  However, after doing our due diligence we went shopping anyway based on NASA's report that there is no substance to multiple media reports that an asteroid passing by Earth on Christmas Eve will cause earthquakes on the planet.  Those darn asteroid experts at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have caused Legal Pub once again to become over extended on the credit card debt.

Asteroid 2003 SD220 will be about 6.6 million miles (10.6 million kilometers) from Earth on Christmas Eve.  To put it in perspective, that is about 27 times farther than the moon is from Earth. Like Santa's slay, the asteroid  will not even be visible to the human eye.  Complaints for our consumer debt can be addressed to NASA at their twitter account, @AsteroidWatch.

Merry Christmas

Just Call It What It Is! Murdering Lunatics ~by Legal Pub

It would have been nice to have had a guest post by Donald Trump.  Not for the entertainment value, but for direct blunt thoughts about the stupidity occurring at a holiday banquet for the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health in California.

Does a label need to be put on Syed Rizwan Farook or his wife Tashfeen Malik other than murdering lunatics?  The couple conducted what appears to be a well thought out murder of 14 people with approximately 17 others being wounded. Whether it's labeled as workplace violence or terrorism is pure crap!  It is murder.  Let's declare war on murders and make sure of the following:
One:   No more glorification of the murders with so much media coverage.
Two:   Punish each murderer to the full extent of the law.
Questions?  Repeat step one and two!

Farook was apparently born in Chicago but raised in California.  His internet bride apparently is from Pakistan but lived in the Middle East.  The two were both apparently in Saudi Arabia within the last two years. They attended the banquet, then they suddenly left.  They then returned with a plan to murder at a facility designed to help the developmentally disabled. Farook had been a public employee for about five years.  Since returning to the U.S., he was reported as being "reserved."

Both Farook and his bride were killed in a gun fight less than four hours after the mass murder. The couple had fled in a rented SUV. Given the rental vehicle, amount of ammunition and explosives, this was a planned massacre.  Unfortunately, there was a great deal of media coverage of the shootout and unfortunately, publicity is the last thing lunatics deserve.  Furthermore, extensive media coverage appears to spawn further attacks.

Farook's brother in law, Farhan Khan, spoke to the media and condemned the violence. Farook and Malik had assault rifles and semi-automatic weapons in their SUV at the time of their death.  The motive of the shooting is debatable.  Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Los Angeles, said not to jump to conclusions.  Muzammil Siddiqi, chairman of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California, publicized his “sadness and sorrow” for the victims.  “We are in solidarity with them," Siddiqi said, while condemning the “horrible violence," and urged people not to condemn Islam.

Legal Pub takes the position that there is indeed no need to condemn any religion.  What needs to be condemned is anyone who promotes acts of violence and that condemnation needs to consist of punishing crimes to the maximum extent of the law.

Farook and Malik are survived by a six month child who was staying with relatives at the time of the shooting.

The couple apparently met in 2014 on a dating site.  Malik came to the U.S. on a "Fiance Visa." Random dating site and social media photos below

Does Marijuana Increase the Risk of Automobile Accidents? ~by Legal Pub

Clearly drunk driving is a major risk factor for traffic accidents; however, the data on marijuana impairment is less persuasive.

Click image for expanded view.

Two National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) studies seem to come to different conclusions.  Studies  Twenty three states have legalized marijuana (four states and the District of Columbia for recreational use). Perhaps as many as ten other  states will follow their lead within the next three hundred and sixty five days.

A 2013-2014 NHTSA report based on 9,000 drivers indicated that 12.6% tested positive for THC.  Data from  2007 reported only and 8.6% positive.  Interestingly enough the same survey suggested that the number of drivers testing positive for alcohol was 8.3% a significant reduction from a  1973 NHTSA survey.

A second NHTSA report based on more than 3,000 crash-involved drivers and 6,000 drivers not involved in crashes revealed that drivers who tested positive for THC were 25 percent more likely to be involved in a crash.  However, other factors like age, gender, ethnicity and blood alcohol concentration were considered statistically more likely to increase the risk of an accident. NHTSA researchers concluded, “Caution should be exercised in assuming that drug presence implies driver impairment.”

Measuring impairment in a person using marijuana isn’t proved by THC levels. “Most psychoactive drugs are chemically complex molecules, whose absorption, action and elimination from the body are difficult to predict,” NHTSA writes, "and considerable differences exist between individuals with regard to the rates at which these processes occur. Alcohol, in comparison, is more predictable.”  More importantly, marijuana users can have THC in their bodies days or even weeks after using the drug, long after any psychoactive effects. For example, a U.S. district court in New Jersey, excluded evidence that a driver had used marijuana the night before an accident “because its probative value is weak, and a jury is likely to be inflamed by evidence of use of intoxicating substances.” The defense presented evidence that the driver was "significantly impaired... since a significant amount of time passed between the marijuana use and the accident, and there is no standard for measuring marijuana impairment.”

 

More study is needed before the legal system reaches it's conclusions.  No one would suggest that a driver should smoke marijuana before he or she gets behind the wheel. However, testing positive for THC after an accident does not necessarily mean that the driver was impaired.

More Senseless Deaths ~by Legal Pub

We all join in the mourning for the innocent lives lost in Paris this weekend.  There is no rational being who can justify the slaughter of innocent human beings.  French authorities have seized a black Reunault Clio believed to have been used by some of the terrorists who killed 129 people in Paris. Another vehicle, a Belgian licensed car has also been discovered.  Meanwhile, authorities are searching for an eighth attacker believed to have escaped the scene of the killings.

Unfortunately, such barbarian behavior is not limited to Middle Eastern terrorists. In Kentucky, an innocent 7-year old girl disappeared from her brother's football game and was apparently murdered.  Police are investigating the death of Gabriella Doolin very carefully and trying not to jump to conclusions.  When the girl was discovered missing, the stadium announcer at the Scottsville High School football game announced her name over the PA and the game was stopped.  WTVF  

Approximately 30 minutes after she was reported missing, Gabriella was found dead in a creek about a quarter of a mile from the football field.  The death is being investigated as a homoicide. WHAS   There are a few persons of interest whose names have not been revealed.

11-20-2015 Update:Timothy Madden age 38, was taken into custody by the authorities.  Gabriella had been playing with other children when she disappeared,  Timothy Madden is presumed innocent until it is proven otherwise by a court of law.

G.I. Joe Officer Joseph Gliniewicz Apparently Faked His In Line of Duty Death ~by Legal Pub

Two faced?  If you can't trust the police, who can you trust?  Joseph Gliniewicz, a Fox Lake Illinois cop who was the subject of a massive manhunt, apparently committed suicide but tried to make it look like a heroic in the line of duty death.  Apparently GI Joe had been accused by some of his colleagues of misbehavior on and off the job. Gliniewicz, a lieutenant, was 52 years old.  He staged the scene to look as though he was killed by someone else, the reasons are rather shocking.

According to investigators, Gliniewicz apparently unsuccessfully tried to hire a hit man to kill the village administrator to prevent discovery of Gliniewiz' embezzling from the department's Explorers Program for children.  If proven, such an allegation could be devastating to Gliniewiz because he was no stranger to accusations, several of which were detailed in a letter that members of the Fox Lake Police Department apparently sent to Mayor Cindy Irwin in February 2009. According to the letter, Gliniewicz had apparently been suspended six times for "an inappropriate sexual relationship with a subordinate." Other allegations included alleged touching of a women's breast at a Christmas party, been kicked out of local bars, walked out on a $300 tab and used his squad car to run personal errands. All of these incidents allegedly contributed to low moral among his colleagues. 

Not all police are devious or untrustworthy.  In fact, it is rare that a police officer is bad.  But people get sick in all professions and in this case, apparently Joseph Gliniewicz suffered from a lack of judgment that perhaps we will never really understand.

Will Wacky Weed Become Legal In the Midwest? ~by Legal Pub

Election day means the opportunity for change.  Some changes are for the better- others are not.The state of Ohio faces a big decision whether to legalize the recreational use of marijuana.  Issue three on the ballot would amend the state constitution to legalize both personal and medical us of marijuana for adults over the age of twenty one.  If voters adopt the amendment, Ohio would join Alaska, Colorado, Washington, Oregon and the District of Columbia as states permitting recreational use of marijuana.

If the amendment passes, Ohio plans to regulate and monitor producers and sellers.  The state would also tax all sales of marijuana. In fact, if the approved, marijuana will in essence become a highly regulated and controlled state cash crop.

As a key state in presidential elections, the nation will closely watch Ohio. Several other states will vote on the issue in 2016. One suspects that NORML, a group advocating for legalization of marijuana, will be lobbying hard for an affirmative vote in between frequent breaks for "reflection and munchies."      Update 11-7-15:   Ohio voted NO to the amendment.