In 2018 27-year old Marshae Jones was five months pregnant when she got into an argument with Ebony Jemison outside a store in Birmingham, Alabama. The argument escalated and the pregnant Jones was shot in the stomach. Jones was rushed to the hospital but the shooting caused a miscarriage that ended her pregnancy. Police initially charged the shooter with manslaughter, but the grand jury found...
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Fact or Fiction: Not All U.S. State Require Unanimous Verdicts in Criminal Trials
According to TV shows, all criminal convictions require unanimous guilty verdicts from all 12 jurors, right? Actually …. no. As of 2019 Oregon is the lone holdout. In 49 U.S. states and the federal court system, a 12-0 guilty vote is needed to convict in criminal court. But Oregon permits convictions (for felonies other than murder) on a 10-2 or 11-1 vote of the jury....
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Fact or Fiction: California Extends Medi-Cal to Undocumented Adult Immigrants
This is fact! On January 1, 2020, California will become the first state in the nation to allow low-income undocumented adults aged 19-26 to sign up for state-funded health coverage. Currently, only a handful of cities or counties in the United States offer health care coverage for undocumented immigrants. These include Los Angeles County‘s My Health LA program, and San Francisco‘s Healthy San Francisco. Since 2016 California children and teens qualified...
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Should It Be Illegal for Parents to Force Vegan Diets on Their Children?
In one shocking case out of Australia this May, a 20-month-old girl was so malnourished she had no teeth and was suffering from rickets, a bone condition commonly caused by a lack of vitamin D or calcium. In criminal court the father, 34, and the mother, 32, who were not publicly identified, pleaded guilty in court to failing to provide for their daughter. The case......
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Are Men Primary Caregivers? Dads at Big Bank Sue for Equal Paternity Leave
Male and female employees at JPMorgan Chase now have equal 16-week or 4-month paid parental leave after the birth of a child thanks to a complaint filed by employee Derek Rotondo. After the birth of Rotondo’s son he applied for 16 weeks of paid leave granted to primary caregivers. But he was denied and told that, “Men, as biological fathers, were presumptively not the primary caregiver.”......
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Fact or Fiction: Parents May Use Deceased Children’s Sperm or Eggs to Create Grandchildren
Fact! In several court cases Judges have allowed parents to harvest sperm or eggs from deceased adult children in order to attempt to create grandchildren with surrogates! In 2007, a court in Iowa authorized recovery of a man’s sperm by his parents to donate to his fiance for future procreative use. In 2009, a Texas woman got a judge’s permission to have her 21-year-old son’s......
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Can Michael Jackson’s Estate Sue HBO for Defamation?
The answer is no! In the United States neither the deceased nor their estates can sue for defamation. The dead don’t have rights against defamation, even if they are world famous with billion dollar estates. But Michael Jackson’s estate nevertheless sued HBO after it aired the Leaving Neverland documentary, featuring men who very openly allege their grooming and sexual molestation as children aged 7 and......
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Fact or Fiction: Intersex Track Athletes Now Required to Keep Their Testosterone Levels Down
Starting this May, athletes who want to compete in track events from 400m up to the mile, will be required to keep their testosterone levels below a prescribed amount for at least six months prior to competing. The rule was issued by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and will apply to famous runners like Caster Semenya.Semenya filed an appeal, but the Court of......
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Fact or Fiction: Man Wins Traffic Ticket Trial by Claiming He Was Eating a Hash Brown
This is a fact! A Connecticut motorist was ticketed for distracted driving last year, but has won his case after arguing that he was, in fact, eating a hash brown while driving. Westport, Connecticut Police Cpl. Shawn Wong Won testified that he “clearly” saw Stiber speaking into a black cellphone while driving that morning. Specifically, Officer Won testified that he saw Stiber holding an illuminated......
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Should Offensive Words or Phrases Like “FUCT” Be Trademarked?
The owner of the “FUCT” clothing brand, Erik Brunetti, will soon appear before the Supreme Court to challenge a federal trademarking law that allows government officials to refuse trademarks that they deem “scandalous” or “immoral.” Brunetti called the provision an unconstitutional restriction of speech that should be struck down. He also said that the underlying process is arbitrary, and that trademarks more offensive than his could......
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