TEXAS JUDGE ACCUSED OF MAKING OBSCENE GESTURE
A State district judge in El Paso is accused of showing his middle finger to another judge in a fit of anger and now has a court date after being charged with disorderly conduct. State District Judge Patrick Garcia is scheduled for trial in April after the El Paso County district attorney’s office determined the misdemeanor case should be prosecuted.
A county court judge filed a complaint after he says Garcia gave him the finger in November outside the county courthouse. The El Paso Times reports Garcia was angry because he believed the lower court judge had undermined a plea agreement being arranged in Garcia’s court.
Garcia has told the newspaper he didn’t want to comment. The other judge said in his complaint that he found the incident “humiliating”.
(AP)
NEW JERSEY MAN ‘DODGES’ $56,000 WORTH OF TOllS
A New Jersey man caught trying to skip a toll on the George Washington Bridge is accused of 888 toll violations totaling more than $56,000.
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police spokesman Joseph Pentangelo said officers spotted a 2014 Toyota Camry without front or rear license plates going through an EZPass toll lane without paying about 10.30 am last Saturday.
Pentangelo said the driver, Alesandel Rodriguez, 31, had a New York license tag in the back windshield of the car that expired in December 2015.
Police discovered Rodriguez’s EZPass accounts had been revoked and was accused of 888 EXPass toll violations during the past five years — totaling $56,240 in owed tolls and ensuing fees. Rodriguez was arrested and charged with theft of services. He was issued several traffic summonses and his car was impounded. The suspect was turned over to police in Teaneck, NJ, after he was found to have an outstanding warrant.
(UPI)
$1 MIllION WATCH MADE OF REAl SWISS CHEESE
Swiss watchmakers H. Moser & Cie poked fun at changes to the “Swiss made” label by crafting a “100 per cent Swiss made” watch featuring real Swiss cheese. The company shared a video to YouTube advertising the “Swiss watch” made entirely in Switzerland using “the most precious Swiss material — Swiss cheese”.
“H. Moser & Cie is making Swiss Made great again with the Swiss Made Watch, the most Swiss watch ever produced!” the company said. The watch features a case made of hardened Vacherin Mont d’Or medaille d’or cheese, a strap made of cowhide, and a red dial reminiscent of the Swiss flag, according to Forbes.
The price of 1,081,291 Swiss francs ($1,077,734 USD) is also symbolic of the day the Swiss Federal Charter was signed on August 1, 1291.
“As you may know, since January 1, 2017, the regulations surrounding the Swiss Made label have been modified. Some see it as an improvement, strengthening the requirements; I frankly believe that the Swiss Made label is even weaker today than it was before,” H. Moser & Cie CEO Edouard Meylan said. “We have even decided to remove ‘Swiss Made’ from our dials for all of our new collections because we strongly believe that the Swiss Made label is deceiving as it gives many brands the legitimacy to over-price their products and that promotes a false perception for customers about a Swiss made watch and the reality of what is actually made in Switzerland.” Meylan added one more important detail — he said the cheese in the watch base is pasteurised and therefore does not stink.
(UPI)
WHY BUSH IS TRENDING ON SOCIAl MEDIA
Former President George W Bush is trending on social media after photos went viral of him struggling to put on a plastic rain poncho during Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration in Washington DC.
The Internet exploded with jokes about how Bush was seen grappling with the protective gear and alternately put it on top of his head and over his face, Time magazine reported.
“George W Bush sporting the latest Ralph lauren headgear… #Inauguration,” poster Coxey loxey tweeted, along with a photo of the one-time world leader peeking out from under his soggy tarp. “As wack as today is at least we have George Bush tryna put a rain poncho on lmaooo,” another person joked on Twitter.
(UPI)
THE HOBBIT RETURNED AFTER 38 YEARS
A hardbound edition of The Hobbit is back on the shelves at a New York library nearly 40 years after it was checked out by a reader who travelled the world as a Marine.
Bob James told WSTM-TV in Syracuse that he checked out the JRR Tolkien book from the Tompkins County Public library in Ithaca before enlisting in the Marines in 1979.
The book became so popular with his fellow Marines that there was a waiting list. James believes the book was passed along to Marines and sailors serving aboard at least eight different ships in the western Pacific.
He brought the book home after getting out of the Marines and held onto it until when he returned it to the library.
The library didn’t charge him any late fees.
(AP)