Most of time, when you mention the name "Jerry Lewis", you think of him in any number of the roles he played in his dozens of classic comic movies or you think of him singing in a shaky vibrato as the host of the annual Labor Day Telethon to help "his kids" or being fanatically worshipped by millions of French people.
Face it, when most of us think of Jerry Lewis, we think of a harmless guy best known for making people laugh.
But could there be a darker, edgier side to the "Jerster" that we don't know about?
The legendary entertainer was at Las Vegas's McCarran Airport recently, getting ready to take a trip to Detroit. However, a quick baggage check revealed a gun inside his luggage.
So, does this mean that the "Nutty Professor" is really a closet gangsta about to bust a cap off in somebody's backside and become far more interesting than he's been in years?
Apparently not.
Although Lewis was cited for having a concealed, unloaded gun by the "Sin City" cops, it turns out that the "weapon" was just a prop gun for his act.
People who ride buses usually do so because it is a less expensive, more convenient way to travel and there are few hassles or risks of danger.
Sadly the story of a bizarre crime that recently took place on a Greyhound bus in Canada changes that perception.
According to observers, a 20-something-year-old guy boarded the bus and ended up sitting near the back area, beside another male passenger who had on headphones to listen to music. The two men were strangers to one another..
Nevertheless, when the music listener fell asleep, he was attacked by his fellow passenger, who stabbed him several times and, to the horror of others on board the bus, beheaded him, afterwards, swinging the head around like a macabre lantern. Understandably, the bus came to an abrupt stop and the remaining passengers got off fast.
The insane attacker was locked in the bus until the authorities arrived and, after some negotiation, calmly gave himself up, without any show of conscience.
Crisis counseling is being offered to the shaken up observers of the crime, but it will probably take some time before they erase those horrible images out of their heads. Monetary compensation is also being offered.
When the wife of Broadway mogul Philip Smith trashed him before a worldwide audience on You Tube, her motives were obviously to cause him much personal embarrassment by airing their dirty laundry before millions.
It seems that Tricia Walsh-Smith was mighty peeved about the prospect of being tossed aside by her wealthy spouse and, even unhappier about being evicted from their luxury digs. Her tearful tirades on You Tube drew attention from the both viewers and the media, as she lashed out at her hubby by ridiculing their...er..."intimate moments" and dogging out her in-laws. For good measure, Walsh-Smith even phoned his office and let a member of his staff in on these private details.
Many thought that the spurned wife's goal was to humiliate her husband to the point that he would give her a more---shall we say?..."acceptable" divorce settlement.
Unfortunately for Walsh-Smith, matters have backfired. A judge granted Philip Smith a divorce, with grounds being "cruel and unusual punishment" on the part of his wife. The prenup remains valid, meaning she has to move out of their apartment within a month.
Although she does get $750,000, Walsh-Smith is still unhappy and plans to appeal the decision.
If the first week's box office receipts are any indication of the future, then "The Dark Knight" is likely to break records for the most tickets sold for a major motion picture.
Fans worldwide stood in long lines in hopes of being able to see the dark Batman thriller that features the late Heath Ledger as The Joker. This was Ledger's final film before his tragic, untimely death. Much of the reason ticket sales are so high is likely due to the macabre element involved, sort of a "James Dean Syndrome," where a promising star who died at a young age is catapulted to greater fame than when he was alive.
From all accounts by both fans and critics, Ledger actually gives a very layered, skilled performance as The Joker and some are even declaring that his work in "The Dark Knight" is Oscar-worthy.
The fact is that it is nearly impossible to get tickets to this movie now.
As expected, if there's an opportunity for the unscrupulous to make some bucks , they will certainly take advantage of it. Reportedly Craigslist has some folks offering tickets to this film for $150 a pop.
Mostly everybody has a family member or two who causes you to cringe in a corner with embarrassment and wish they would just disappear from the face of the earth on occasion. However, there are some relatives who do things that are so unbelievably stupid that you are left wondering how you could possibly share the same gene pool with them.
For example, one Denton, Texas pizzeria clerk recently found herself baffled and humiliated by the brain-twizzled actions of some of her close family members.
When the Pizza Patron pizza restaurant she worked at was robbed, hard-working employee Stephanie Martinez was stunned to learn that she knew the perpetrators...her own parents. After another clerk at the restaurant moved into action by knocking off one of the robber's disguises, Ms. Martinez saw that it was her 41-year-old father Benjamin Ramirez. Also in on the crime were Martinez's mom Sonia and, to add insult to injury, Martinez's hubby Jose also participated in the crime.
To date, Stephanie, who must still be in total shock, has not been charged, since her rascally relatives confirmed that she had no prior knowledge of their boneheaded plans to rob her workplace.
42-year-old comedian Andy Dick is in trouble again. Apparently, getting decked by Jon Lovitz not too long ago-embarrassing as that was- wasn't enough to keep Mr. Andy in line, permanently.
Dick was arrested in Murrieta, California for allegedly possessing drugs (a gram of marijuana) and sexually battering an underage girl. According to reports, he was higher than a flag on the 4th of July and, while outside a restaurant and bar, the inebriated comedian fondled the 17-year-old female and then pulled down her top.
Cops were called and Dick was identified by the alleged victim and then arrested.
It's not as though his actions are a tremendous surprise, since he has a solid history of going over-the-top. Some of his past incidents include trying to "feel up" Ivanka Trump on a talk show, peeing in public and being caught with marijuana and cocaine. It is believed he was responsible for getting Brynn Hartman back on the drugs that caused her to murder her comedian husband Phil Hartman and take her own life in 1998.
Arraignment for his latest "run-in" with the law takes place on August 12th.
How far down does this guy have to go before he gets a clue?
Does it seem to you that real life is steadily becoming more and more like a science-fiction movie?
As if flying the friendly skies wasn't torturous enough in these days and times, now it's alleged that the future may include requiring all airline passengers to wear a special bracelet. It would supposedly cut down the time you spend in line and make things more organized and safe, since it would provide all of your personal info, keep track of your luggage and replace boarding passes, all the things that normally slow us down.
Sounds pretty good so far, huh?
There is a scary side to this, however, since the electronic device in question would also work as a kind of GPS system that tracks your every movement and can shock you-literally- if you are deemed to be a threat. A little mini-taser right there on your tender little wrist! While it could indeed protect airports and airlines from possibly dangerous individuals, it also brings us extremely close to becoming an Orwellian society.
According to some news reports, this may well be something that is being seriously considered
Perhaps it will make things safer, but it still sounds like a "Twilight Zone" episode.
There are a lot of good cops who do a great job of protecting the public, but there are periodic incidences, in which some "law enforcement officers" appear to miss the boat, entirely.
Such was the case, regarding a recent situation in the UK.
Law-abiding citizen Sydney Davis and his family wanted nothing more than to live peaceably in their home. However, their desire was thwarted, due to the actions of a few young thugs. They tormented the family by throwing stones at their house and it went on for the better part of two years. According to reports, the Davis home was attacked over 700 times.
When they called the cops to report yet another attack more recently, nobody showed up immediately, and when a sizable stone came crashing through the kitchen window, Davis decided he had had enough of the abuse.
The frustrated husband and father allegedly got a wooden plank and went outside, with the intentions of threatening the hoodlums and an arrest was made...of Sydney Davis.
Charged with possessing an "offensive weapon", he could get prison time, while the thugs that threw the stones ran off at the cops' arrival and are still walking around free.
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Most people in their 70's are supposed to be enjoying the fruits of their labor, surrounded by grandkids and pondering the time they have left on this earth.
Or at least, that is our stereotype of them.
Not every person fits the mold society has put them in, as recently evidenced in a major way by 70-year-old Omkari Panwar, an Indian woman from New Delhi who has crowned her golden years by giving birth to twins.
That's right...giving birth!
Omkari and her 77-year-old spouse Charan, already the parents of two grownup daughters, decided that they wanted to achieve their longtime dream of having a son. So, the two went all out to make it happen, by selling livestock, mortgaging off their land and going into hock with creditors, all to finance IVG treatments for Omkari.
Miraculously, the treatments were successful and the elderly farmer's wife became a geriatric mom by giving birth to twins- a boy and girl.
This makes Omkari Panwar the oldest known woman on record to give birth.
The previous record holder was a 66-year-old Romanian lady.
While some shudder at the idea of an elderly couple having babies, the Panwars see it as a blessed event.
Compassion seems to be at a minimum more and more nowadays, at least in this recent news story that has already been seen all over the world.
When 49-year old Esmin Green walked into the King's County Hospital psychiatric emergency room in Brooklyn, New York, it was with the purpose of getting help..
What she ended up with was becoming a sad statement on modern society.
A surveillance tape captured Green falling out of her chair and apparently going into some kind of convulsions. Instead of getting some attention from hospital personnel, the suffering patient was pretty much left lying face down on the floor, as people passed by, waked past her and acted as though she were invisible.
Sadly, Ermin Green passed away on the spot.
If that wasn't bad enough, staff members may have "doctored up" her medical charts, to alter the truth. But, face it not even the most clever liar can outdo the proof of a surveillance camera that clearly showed security guards and others ignoring this woman.
The staff members in question were dismissed, but the scary thing is that they will probably be hired at another hospital, to the possible detriment of patients somewhere else.
We all understand the tremendous pressure a lot of schoolteachers are under. Long hours, lousy pay and bad publicity for the profession is enough to frustrate anybody. However, there are some folks within their ranks who really are not helping to improve their image, such as one really over-the-top Pennsylvania teacher who recently got into some big trouble.
An elementary school teacher who formerly taught in Bucks County may be looking at 73 years in the "Big House."
She seems to have either been way too stressed out or just plain nutty. According to reports, the Longstreth Elementary School 4th-grade instructor tried to get rid of a little angst by leaving a number of threatening notes throughout the premises.
Of course this didn't sit too well with the principal and parents, once the teacher's actions were discovered. She was found guilty by a jury of planting these horrific threatening notes, despite her protests that she is innocent.
Here's what I'm wondering. When are the school systems around the country finally going to begin administering psychological tests to the people who are supposed to be responsible for allegedly "molding the lives" of our kids?
Perhaps, this explains why some people choose to do homeschooling!
I don't know of anybody who enjoys having to go to the dentist, but it is one of those displeasurable, but necessary things we have to do.
This news item, however, may make you think twice about going to the dentist.
Winter Park, Florida resident Charles Gaal, 90-years-old, was taken to the dental offices of Dr. Wesley Meyers. Gaal's daughter took him there to get implants, believing she could entrust her dad in the dentist's care.
Instead of receiving the kind of professionalism she had expected, Anne Greer was horrified to learn that the clumsy dental expert dropped a screwdriver down her father's throat, while in the midst of doing the implanting procedure. Only after having a colonoscopy was the tool able to be removed.
Evidently, Gaal still believed enough in the oafish dentist to give him a second chance to put in implants, but the next time around, Meyers dropped a torque wrench down his patient's throat. Gaal later died in the hospital.
Following an investigation, Meyers was fined a measly $17,000 and told not to attempt implants until he was better trained. Anne Greer has, understandably, filed a lawsuit.
Meanwhile, Meyers is still practicing dentistry in Winter Park.
So, what does an act of heroism get you in Chicago?
Apparently, in a whole lot of trouble.
A cop car was involved in a car crash in November 2002, when it was side-winded by the careless driver of another car, who had run a stop sign. it looked like the two officers inside might be done in for, since smoke was billowing from their wrecked vehicle.
Concerned citizen and nurse, 41-year-old Rachelle Jackson, happened to come up on the scene of the incident and, fearing that the police squad car could explode at any minute, risked her own safety to go pull one of the officers out of the mangled vehicle.
Of course, Chicago's finest gave her a heartfelt thanks, a commendation, or some other special award to honor her actions, right?
Wrong. Instead, they accused her of stealing the rescued officer's service weapon, then jailed the heroic nurse for 10 months. A Cook County judge threw out the case, after being unconvinced of the validity of the accusations.
Jackson later sued the city and the ungrateful cop for false arrest. The jury justifiably awarded her $7.7 million.
Now, maybe you can understand why people balk at getting involved nowadays.
Evidently, you don't necessarily have the be the sharpest tack on the bulletin board to be a criminal, at least, not in this particular "true crime" story.
Recently, a 19-year-old Fort Worth Texas dude made what turned out to be a very unwise choice in deciding to victimize an innocent family in the Grand Prairie area. Cameron Sands planned to break into their home, which he actually did. Packing heat, the heartless young crook kicked in the door and was intent on robbing the homeowners at gunpoint.
Sands made a quick move to take the gun out of his pants, where it was hidden, with the alleged purpose being to shoot the unarmed homeowner. The problem is that the person who ended up getting shot was the hapless 19-year-old thug. It seems that, while taking the gun out, he accidentally shot himself in the belly. Injured and probably a little embarrassed, the young criminal dropped his weapon and exited the premises.
Cops called to the scene discovered the lifeless body of Sands sprawled in the driveway of the home he had attempted to rob.
One can only hope that more of those who attack innocent citizens are equally as inept.
