WEIRD NEWS
Mentally Ill Plan Hijacker Running for NYC Mayor!
There would appear to be a severe problem regarding New York City mayoral candidate Aaron Commey (KOH-may), and nobody seems to be too concerned about it. Commey himself admits he's "shocked" that so little attention has been paid to the fact that 17 years ago he was arrested for trying to hijack an airliner at gunpoint! In July 2000 he boarded a National Airlines plane in New York and ordered the pilots to fly to Argentina or Antarctica. The plane never took off and nobody was injured. Meanwhile, Commey was acquitted by reason of insanity in 2003 and was released from a prison medical facility in 2015. Now he's running for mayor of New York City as a Libertarian and says it's reasonable for voters to wonder if he's suited for office and that he's surprised the issue has gotten so little attention. He says, "I was shocked, because I expected this to be the first thing out the gate and like nobody said anything." Commey, who was 22 at the time and suffering from delusional disorder and paranoid schizophrenia, says he has fully recovered and is "committed to nonviolence." He does offer voters the unique perspective of having experienced and witnessed injustice and wants to change the system. (City & State New York)
Kellogg's Apologizes for Racist Corn Pop
Earlier this week Marvel Comics writer and fantasy author Saladin Ahmed was looking at the artwork and a box of Kellogg's Corn Pops when something struck him as odd. He then tweeted: "Why is literally the only brown corn pop on the whole cereal box the janitor? This is teaching kids racism!" Indeed, the box shows a bunch of yellow corn pops hanging around and having fun at a mall - except for a single brown corn pop, which is working as a janitor. Ahmed said, "Yes it's a tiny thing, but when you see your kid staring at this over breakfast and realize millions of other kids are doing the same..." To their credit, Kellogg's quickly responded and told Ahmed the artwork is being redone and the new boxes will be in stores soon. "Kellogg is committed to diversity and inclusion," the cereal-maker tweeted. "We apologize." But AdAge is still unclear on how the art was ever approved, calling it a "how-did-they-not-catch-this marketing blunder." Still, Ahmed seems moderately satisfied with Kellogg's response. He tweeted: "Today I used the computer in my pocket to get a cereal company to make their boxes less racist. What even is the 21st century?" (USA Today)
Cheaters Never Prosper
Some call professional poker champ Phil Ivey the "Tiger Woods of poker." But the 40-year-old won't be getting the $10.2 million he thought he won from a London casino because the courts found he cheated. Ivey was playing a version of baccarat at Crockfords Club in Mayfair in 2012. He's been fighting to get the millions ever since, insisting the strategy he used to win wasn't illegal. But Britain's Supreme Court upheld the lower court's ruling which said Ivey and a colleague used a technique called "edge sorting," in which they got the dealer to unknowingly arrange the cards in a way that allowed Ivey and the other player to figure out what cards were being dealt, based on small differences in the pattern on the back of the cards, and bet accordingly. Crockfords returned Ivey's stake but never paid out the winnings, leading to the court battle. The Supreme Court found what Ivey did was definitely cheating, but after the ruling Ivey maintained his innocence. (Guardian)
Throw a Rock - Get Life in Prison
Five Michigan teens are looking at life in prison after allegedly killing a 32-year-old father by throwing a large 6-pound rock from a highway overpass. Bail has been refused for all five, aged 15 to 17, who have all pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and other charges. Each is charged as an adult and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted. However, a lawyer for one of the teens says he expects "a distinction once the evidence comes forward" adding, "Although the charges are all the same, the kids are all different" and "the actions that the kids may have become involved in are all different." Police believe 17-year-old Kyle Anger was the one who threw the rock that killed construction worker Kenneth White via blunt force trauma to the head and chest. However, they also say 20 other rocks were thrown from the overpass. White's fiance, now a single parent to the couple's 5-year-old son, says she hopes the teens are punished to the fullest extent of the law, adding, "I just hope they realize ... how many lives they [tore] apart, and know that what they did was wrong." (CNN)
Not That Many Folks Going to Greece
Karon Grieve just had a very rare once-in-a-lifetime experience. She flew to Greece...and was the only passenger on the 188-seat plane. She asked how many people were scheduled to be on board when she checked in and a staffer at the desk told her there would be just three. But the other two would-be passengers never showed up, leaving Grieve with what she calls a "surreal" experience on her $61 flight. The crew told her, "You have your own private jet today." Grieve says of the crew, "We were all on best friend terms before we'd even got on the plane. The captain was fantastic. She came and sat beside me while the first officer did all the flight checks and we were chatting away about the flight." She chose to sit in the window seat of the first row and when the flight landed, her baggage was handed to her rather than sent to the baggage carousel. (Daily Record)
Second Woman Alleges Groping by George HW Bush
The former 41st president, George HW Bush, has issued his second apology in two days after another actress accused him of groping her during a photo-op. Jordana Grolnick told Deadspin that the former president touched her inappropriately in 2016, when he came backstage during the intermission of a Maine production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. "He reached his right hand around to my behind, and as we smiled for the photo he asked the group, 'Do you want to know who my favorite magician is?' As I felt his hand dig into my flesh, he said, 'David Cop-a-Feel,'" Grolnick said. She said other people present "laughed politely and out of discomfort" and Barbara Bush quipped that he would "get himself put into jail." On Tuesday, Bush apologized after actress Heather Lind accused him of very similar incident in 2014. A spokesman delivered another apology and said, "At age 93, President Bush has been confined to a wheelchair for roughly five years, so his arm falls on the lower waist of people with whom he takes pictures. To try to put people at ease, the president routinely tells the same joke - and on occasion, he has patted women's rears in what he intended to be a good-natured manner. Some have seen it as innocent; others clearly view it as inappropriate." He said Bush apologizes "most sincerely" to anyone has he offended. Interesting how in spite of the apologies, the Bush camp seems to view this as "offensive behavior" rather than the crime that it actually is. Still got a long way to go. (Deadspin)
Oops!
All hell broke loose after an absent-minded shopper at a Portland, Maine grocery store accidentally took somebody else's shopping cart. The problem is there was a sleeping baby inside, causing a lockdown and a full police investigation. Portland police say the shopper was mortified when he realized his mistake but didn't bother to alert anyone, instead the shopper left the cart in another part of the store and then went and retrieved his own cart. Surveillance video backs up his claim. Police Chief Michael Sauschuck says grocery store staff quickly locked down the store. Police determined the conduct didn't warrant criminal charges. The baby was restrained in a car seat and slept through the entire scare. (Newser)
What the Wok?
A Malaysian Taoist medium has died after a "human steaming" ritual went wrong. It seems 68-year-old Lim Ba guy actually sat on top of a bubbling wok and was covered with a giant metal lid. He suffered a heart attack and severe burns during the elaborate ceremony performed during the Nine Emperor Gods festival at a Chinese temple. Witnesses heard banging coming from the metal lid after about half-an-hour. He was found unconscious as soon as his devotees lifted the lid. Lim, who had performed the stunt for decades, was pronounced dead at the scene. According to reports, he had a decade's worth of experience performing the stunt, with food His family had reportedly warned against him performing the ritual this year as he had undergone heart surgery last year. (Sky News)
There would appear to be a severe problem regarding New York City mayoral candidate Aaron Commey (KOH-may), and nobody seems to be too concerned about it. Commey himself admits he's "shocked" that so little attention has been paid to the fact that 17 years ago he was arrested for trying to hijack an airliner at gunpoint! In July 2000 he boarded a National Airlines plane in New York and ordered the pilots to fly to Argentina or Antarctica. The plane never took off and nobody was injured. Meanwhile, Commey was acquitted by reason of insanity in 2003 and was released from a prison medical facility in 2015. Now he's running for mayor of New York City as a Libertarian and says it's reasonable for voters to wonder if he's suited for office and that he's surprised the issue has gotten so little attention. He says, "I was shocked, because I expected this to be the first thing out the gate and like nobody said anything." Commey, who was 22 at the time and suffering from delusional disorder and paranoid schizophrenia, says he has fully recovered and is "committed to nonviolence." He does offer voters the unique perspective of having experienced and witnessed injustice and wants to change the system. (City & State New York)
Kellogg's Apologizes for Racist Corn Pop
Earlier this week Marvel Comics writer and fantasy author Saladin Ahmed was looking at the artwork and a box of Kellogg's Corn Pops when something struck him as odd. He then tweeted: "Why is literally the only brown corn pop on the whole cereal box the janitor? This is teaching kids racism!" Indeed, the box shows a bunch of yellow corn pops hanging around and having fun at a mall - except for a single brown corn pop, which is working as a janitor. Ahmed said, "Yes it's a tiny thing, but when you see your kid staring at this over breakfast and realize millions of other kids are doing the same..." To their credit, Kellogg's quickly responded and told Ahmed the artwork is being redone and the new boxes will be in stores soon. "Kellogg is committed to diversity and inclusion," the cereal-maker tweeted. "We apologize." But AdAge is still unclear on how the art was ever approved, calling it a "how-did-they-not-catch-this marketing blunder." Still, Ahmed seems moderately satisfied with Kellogg's response. He tweeted: "Today I used the computer in my pocket to get a cereal company to make their boxes less racist. What even is the 21st century?" (USA Today)
Cheaters Never Prosper
Some call professional poker champ Phil Ivey the "Tiger Woods of poker." But the 40-year-old won't be getting the $10.2 million he thought he won from a London casino because the courts found he cheated. Ivey was playing a version of baccarat at Crockfords Club in Mayfair in 2012. He's been fighting to get the millions ever since, insisting the strategy he used to win wasn't illegal. But Britain's Supreme Court upheld the lower court's ruling which said Ivey and a colleague used a technique called "edge sorting," in which they got the dealer to unknowingly arrange the cards in a way that allowed Ivey and the other player to figure out what cards were being dealt, based on small differences in the pattern on the back of the cards, and bet accordingly. Crockfords returned Ivey's stake but never paid out the winnings, leading to the court battle. The Supreme Court found what Ivey did was definitely cheating, but after the ruling Ivey maintained his innocence. (Guardian)
Throw a Rock - Get Life in Prison
Five Michigan teens are looking at life in prison after allegedly killing a 32-year-old father by throwing a large 6-pound rock from a highway overpass. Bail has been refused for all five, aged 15 to 17, who have all pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and other charges. Each is charged as an adult and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted. However, a lawyer for one of the teens says he expects "a distinction once the evidence comes forward" adding, "Although the charges are all the same, the kids are all different" and "the actions that the kids may have become involved in are all different." Police believe 17-year-old Kyle Anger was the one who threw the rock that killed construction worker Kenneth White via blunt force trauma to the head and chest. However, they also say 20 other rocks were thrown from the overpass. White's fiance, now a single parent to the couple's 5-year-old son, says she hopes the teens are punished to the fullest extent of the law, adding, "I just hope they realize ... how many lives they [tore] apart, and know that what they did was wrong." (CNN)
Not That Many Folks Going to Greece
Karon Grieve just had a very rare once-in-a-lifetime experience. She flew to Greece...and was the only passenger on the 188-seat plane. She asked how many people were scheduled to be on board when she checked in and a staffer at the desk told her there would be just three. But the other two would-be passengers never showed up, leaving Grieve with what she calls a "surreal" experience on her $61 flight. The crew told her, "You have your own private jet today." Grieve says of the crew, "We were all on best friend terms before we'd even got on the plane. The captain was fantastic. She came and sat beside me while the first officer did all the flight checks and we were chatting away about the flight." She chose to sit in the window seat of the first row and when the flight landed, her baggage was handed to her rather than sent to the baggage carousel. (Daily Record)
Second Woman Alleges Groping by George HW Bush
The former 41st president, George HW Bush, has issued his second apology in two days after another actress accused him of groping her during a photo-op. Jordana Grolnick told Deadspin that the former president touched her inappropriately in 2016, when he came backstage during the intermission of a Maine production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. "He reached his right hand around to my behind, and as we smiled for the photo he asked the group, 'Do you want to know who my favorite magician is?' As I felt his hand dig into my flesh, he said, 'David Cop-a-Feel,'" Grolnick said. She said other people present "laughed politely and out of discomfort" and Barbara Bush quipped that he would "get himself put into jail." On Tuesday, Bush apologized after actress Heather Lind accused him of very similar incident in 2014. A spokesman delivered another apology and said, "At age 93, President Bush has been confined to a wheelchair for roughly five years, so his arm falls on the lower waist of people with whom he takes pictures. To try to put people at ease, the president routinely tells the same joke - and on occasion, he has patted women's rears in what he intended to be a good-natured manner. Some have seen it as innocent; others clearly view it as inappropriate." He said Bush apologizes "most sincerely" to anyone has he offended. Interesting how in spite of the apologies, the Bush camp seems to view this as "offensive behavior" rather than the crime that it actually is. Still got a long way to go. (Deadspin)
Oops!
All hell broke loose after an absent-minded shopper at a Portland, Maine grocery store accidentally took somebody else's shopping cart. The problem is there was a sleeping baby inside, causing a lockdown and a full police investigation. Portland police say the shopper was mortified when he realized his mistake but didn't bother to alert anyone, instead the shopper left the cart in another part of the store and then went and retrieved his own cart. Surveillance video backs up his claim. Police Chief Michael Sauschuck says grocery store staff quickly locked down the store. Police determined the conduct didn't warrant criminal charges. The baby was restrained in a car seat and slept through the entire scare. (Newser)
What the Wok?
A Malaysian Taoist medium has died after a "human steaming" ritual went wrong. It seems 68-year-old Lim Ba guy actually sat on top of a bubbling wok and was covered with a giant metal lid. He suffered a heart attack and severe burns during the elaborate ceremony performed during the Nine Emperor Gods festival at a Chinese temple. Witnesses heard banging coming from the metal lid after about half-an-hour. He was found unconscious as soon as his devotees lifted the lid. Lim, who had performed the stunt for decades, was pronounced dead at the scene. According to reports, he had a decade's worth of experience performing the stunt, with food His family had reportedly warned against him performing the ritual this year as he had undergone heart surgery last year. (Sky News)
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