Things in news stories that bug you
 

OK, I'm talking about specifics here, not random things about the news and what they cover that annoy you.

I have two stories to discuss here. The first is the Carol Gotbaum case. USA Today story

For those of you who aren't familiar with the story, a woman apparently got drunk at the airport, became hysterical when denied boarding and made a big scene, and was arrested. In custody, she died, possibly from strangling herself in an attempt to get out of her handcuffs.

Here's what's annoying me most about this story:

--
"If the airline or the police authorities had treated Carol with some modicum of sensitivity and grace, or one single person at that airport had put an arm around her shoulder, sat her down and given her some protection, she might still be with us today," Noah Gotbaum said at her funeral Sunday in New York.

Noah Gotbaum made at least three calls to the airport switchboard that day in an urgent attempt to warn police that his wife was suicidal and should not be left alone, records show. Transcripts of his calls make it clear that he thought his wife was in danger but still alive. In one call he urged dispatchers not to leave her alone.
--

This woman is from a very prominent New York family. She was apparently headed to an alcohol rehab center in Phoenix. Sounds like her family had big concerns about her well-being. WHY THE F WAS SHE TRAVELING ACROSS THE COUNTRY ALONE THEN?

I find it disgraceful that the husband and family are pointing fingers at the airport police and others involved in this case when they are the ones who sent someone they characterize as distressed and suicidal on this trip alone.

OK, on to the second case.
$6.1 million McDonald's prank call verdict

This one doesn't really bug me, it's more just super bizarre. In this case, a prank caller was calling fast food restaurants pretending to be the police, and getting managers to strip search female employees while on the phone with him. Apparently he did this a number of times.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_R._Stewart

In this specific case, the caller asked the manager (who also had her boyfriend along) to take an employee to the back and strip, then had her assume a bunch of positions, and finally HAD HER PERFORM ORAL SEX ON THE MANAGER'S BOYFRIEND.

So, two things that bug me about that case.

1) Oral sex, WTF? "Hey the police are on the phone and say you have to blow me, go ahead" WTF? How does that happen?

2) The manager who led the strip search (and had her boyfriend assist her) WAS AWARDED $1.1M IN DAMAGES BY THE JURY, WTFWTFWTF?

BTW, the boyfriend in the case was found guilty and sentenced to 5 years in prison.

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

There was a thread about #2 a long time ago. The boyfriend was apparently mentally retarded. I don't doubt all three involved are mentally retarded.

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

I saw that headline on CNN.com today, "Widower: Wife needed hugs, not handcuffs" Ok, so the police are going to sit there and hug her and tell her to calm down. Give me a break. Restrain her and get her to calm down. What a lunatic.

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

[ QUOTE ]
$6.1 million McDonald's prank call verdict

This one doesn't really bug me, it's more just super bizarre. In this case, a prank caller was calling fast food restaurants pretending to be the police, and getting managers to strip search female employees while on the phone with him. Apparently he did this a number of times.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_R._Stewart

In this specific case, the caller asked the manager (who also had her boyfriend along) to take an employee to the back and strip, then had her assume a bunch of positions, and finally HAD HER PERFORM ORAL SEX ON THE MANAGER'S BOYFRIEND.

So, two things that bug me about that case.

1) Oral sex, WTF? "Hey the police are on the phone and say you have to blow me, go ahead" WTF? How does that happen?

2) The manager who led the strip search (and had her boyfriend assist her) WAS AWARDED $1.1M IN DAMAGES BY THE JURY, WTFWTFWTF?

BTW, the boyfriend in the case was found guilty and sentenced to 5 years in prison.

[/ QUOTE ]
IIRC, there was a big thread in OOT about this case awhile ago. What I think is insane is this part of the wiki:

"During his interrogation, Stewart insisted he'd never bought a calling card, but detectives found one in his house that had been used to call nine restaurants in the past year, including a Burger King in Idaho Falls, on the day its manager was reportedly duped. Police also found dozens of applications for police department jobs, hundreds of police magazines, police-type uniforms, guns and holsters, indicating that being or becoming a police officer was possibly a fantasy of the suspect.[8] Nevertheless, a jury found Stewart not guilty.[9]"
WTF?!

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

[ QUOTE ]
This woman is from a very prominent New York family. She was apparently headed to an alcohol rehab center in Phoenix. Sounds like her family had big concerns about her well-being. WHY THE F WAS SHE TRAVELING ACROSS THE COUNTRY ALONE THEN?


[/ QUOTE ]

if the husband let the wife go to the airport knowing she was suicidal then i agree w/ you. it's also possible the wife was at the airport and the husband realized the extent of his wife's depression while she was there and he decided to alert the airport police.

regarding the mcdonald's case, yeah, weird. wasnt the manager guilty in criminal court of charges and on probation for the situation. now she wins a civil case because of it?

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

That manager lady got money out of it?????? that puts me on [censored] life tilt.


Here is one story that I hated

This was more about the writing of the story and especially the picture. Pretty much your typical out of touch fluff piece about slang, but it was painful to read. He talks about "gnar(ly)" and "dank" and then goes on the "web" and searches for slang.


L8ter Sk8ter.

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

[ QUOTE ]
Nevertheless, a jury found Stewart not guilty.[9]"
WTF?!

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Looking at it on the surface, it seems at least plausible that the boyfriend capitalized on an opportunity, rather than some guy pulling a Jedi Mind Trick from thousands of miles away on the phone.

Also, if this guy is so good, maybe he just got on the stand and said, "I am not the perv you're looking for." Boom. Ship the acquittal.

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

the best part is according to the wiki article Diana Summers, the retarded manager who condoned her boyfriend getting oral sex from the cashier because a policeman said to do it, was awarded 1.1 million as well for her trauma.

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

[ QUOTE ]
1) Oral sex, WTF? "Hey the police are on the phone and say you have to blow me, go ahead" WTF? How does that happen?

[/ QUOTE ]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

That McDonald's thing, which I remember hearing about before, blows my mind. How does the boyfriend end up with prison time? What the hell? Are people asking "Shouldn't you come down and do the search yourself? Blowjobs? Do we need a semen sample for testing?" EDIT: Having read a bit more, I think I had a different scenario in my head as to how the BJ went down, and can see potential jail time for it the way Wiki describes it.

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

[ QUOTE ]
That McDonald's thing, which I remember hearing about before, blows my mind. How does the boyfriend end up with prison time? What the hell? Are people asking "Shouldn't you come down and do the search yourself? Blowjobs? Do we need a semen sample for testing?" EDIT: Having read a bit more, I think I had a different scenario in my head as to how the BJ went down, and can see potential jail time for it the way Wiki describes it.

[/ QUOTE ]

You single people should use this line in a bar for guarenteed sexin.

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

oT,

"it seems at least plausible that the boyfriend capitalized on an opportunity"

Yes, that was my impression as well.

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

When the ticker at the bottom of the TV that says "African American shot by police". To me that adds to racial tensions. I mean why couldn't it say "Man shot by police"?

It would be different if it was racial motivated. If so add something to it like "Off duty policeman in KKK uniform shoots African American".

Disclaimer - I'm absolutly not racist at all! I just think stuff like this adds to it and can't be very helpful.

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

I can't think of any specific examples (which is what this thread asked for), but a lot of the titles of news headline put me on tilt.

I've noticed that a lot of research studies, which I'm sure are actually useful/important, have titles like "Study shows that people get hungry." or "Study shows people are upset when a significant other dies." I'm sure the research study (I hope) goes into more detail than this, but some of these titles make me go NO [censored] WAY??

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

All,

"OK, I'm talking about specifics here, not random things about the news and what they cover that annoy you."

Nick and b_j were nice enough to provide examples.

Please stick to actual annoying/idiotic/strange stories rather than generalizations, thanks.

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

[ QUOTE ]
oT,

"it seems at least plausible that the boyfriend capitalized on an opportunity"

Yes, that was my impression as well.

[/ QUOTE ]

Fodder for the "Basic legal things everyone should know" thread: If you're going to play the, "The Guy On The Phone Made Me Do It" card, best to be the sucker and not the suckee.

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

[ QUOTE ]

Nick and b_j were nice enough to provide examples.

[/ QUOTE ]

I see what you did there.

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

Mine was specific. I mean the ticker didn't say the guys name and I was saying what part of it really bothered me.

A specific example was on an AM station here in Memphis where some guy names Savage comes on at like 7:30 local. He was talking about how Bill Clinton secretly put NATO symbols on our fighters supporting the Kosovo deal and killing all these civilians.

My specific problem with that is that I was in Italy at Aviano AB supporting these planes and Savage was full of it. The signs on the side of our fighters had their base letters, nothing new or different.

I didn't like Bill Clinton all that much but I hate it when people make up stuff like that just to knock others down.

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...-2005Mar7.html


This story is really pissing me off, 50 something mexicans on death row, are going to be wasting more of our tax dollars because of a BS international law.



The situation of Mexicans facing capital punishment in Texas has been a sore point in relations between Washington and Mexico City. Mexico argues that its citizens would fare better in Texas courts if they got aid from home-country diplomats.





Ya, well, guess what, they committed the crime in the US, and found guilty in the US, gfy mexico, just keep sending us your slave laborers, and keep your mouth shut from now on.

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

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Ya, well, guess what, they committed the crime in the US, and found guilty in the US, gfy mexico, just keep sending us your slave laborers, and keep your mouth shut from now on.

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Well, we signed a treaty saying they had to have access to a consul, and that treaty is supposed to be American law at that point. So even by our laws this seems to be how it should go. Also, while military bases are a slightly different context, it's not like Americans don't push very hard for extraterritoriality for the soldiers we station overseas.

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Ya, well, guess what, they committed the crime in the US, and found guilty in the US, gfy mexico, just keep sending us your slave laborers, and keep your mouth shut from now on.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, we signed a treaty saying they had to have access to a consul, and that treaty is supposed to be American law at that point. So even by our laws this seems to be how it should go. Also, while military bases are a slightly different context, it's not like Americans don't push very hard for extraterritoriality for the soldiers we station overseas.

[/ QUOTE ]

soldiers v civilians....completely different



and just because it is law doesnt mean it is a good one.

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

[ QUOTE ]


soldiers v civilians....completely different



and just because it is law doesnt mean it is a good one.

[/ QUOTE ]

So if you were to commit a crime overseas, you would be okay with being tried and convicted by local law while being denied contact with your embassy? That is my understanding of what's going on here. And you think that the military should not be subject to these restrictions? Even for cases like this one?

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]


soldiers v civilians....completely different



and just because it is law doesnt mean it is a good one.

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So if you were to commit a crime overseas, you would be okay with being tried and convicted by local law while being denied contact with your embassy? That is my understanding of what's going on here. And you think that the military should not be subject to these restrictions? Even for cases like this one?

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Yes, if I commit a crime overseas, I should be held accountable and go through the same process as the people who live there, I should not receive any extra help.

The military, in cases of non-combatant situations should have to abide by the laws of the country that they are in. The people who piloted those planes should have been tried in Italian court imo.

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

[ QUOTE ]

Yes, if I commit a crime overseas, I should be held accountable and go through the same process as the people who live there, I should not receive any extra help.

The military, in cases of non-combatant situations should have to abide by the laws of the country that they are in. The people who piloted those planes should have been tried in Italian court imo.

[/ QUOTE ]

Okay, cool, that all seems like a reasonable position then.

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

As great as America is, the story of the McDonald scam would've never taken place in a third-world country. In a less educated environment, we call the girls and the boyfriend stupid.

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

God damn that stupid manager bitch has to be the least deserving person ever to have a million dollars. Damn I'm on tilt now.

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

WTF I'm even more on tilt now. They sued McDonalds??? WTF? How is McD's ever guilty here? I want all sue-happy people going for completely disproportional amounts of money to die in a grease fire. That's all.

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

This doesn't quite follow the theme of the thread, but it bugs me how every mention in every article in Newsweek that quotes an anonymous source has to give a disclaimer.

For example, "A Pentagon official, who didn't want to be named discussing sensitive matters..." or "A Bush aide, who wished to remain anonymous discussing the personal moods of his boss..."

I get it! Anonymous sources have obvious reasons for remaining anonymous. I don't need to be told this Every. Single. Time. you have an inside source.

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

This will be general, but I can't help it. Every news story I've ever been a part of or had first hand knowledge of had fairly major factual inaccuracies that were easily knowable. Not always critical, they-got-it-completely-wrong in terms of the point of the story (though it's happened), but several relevant facts to the story are always incorrect.

One specific egregious case. A foreign language teacher in my HS from a country with no hangups on blacks said, in regards to some unruly students, "The should put those kids in the zoo, and send the lions and monkeys back to Africa." Some, not all, not most, of said students were black. He was quoted by Students Against Racism protest flyer as "They should send those monkeys back to Africa!!!" The misquote was duly reported in the local papers, and the teacher lost his job in the subsequent uproar. That he didn't actually say what he was accused of, and appeared to have no racial bias for ten years, was irrelevant.

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

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WTF I'm even more on tilt now. They sued McDonalds??? WTF? How is McD's ever guilty here? I want all sue-happy people going for completely disproportional amounts of money to die in a grease fire. That's all.

[/ QUOTE ]

If your manager says "you need to strip search and give me oral" cause a guy on a phone said so, you fail as a company for hiring/poorly training the guy.

(That's my guess on how you can sue McD's)

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

Here is something that just bugged me after I saw it:

"Cop drops slippy puddle lawsuit"

First off, a police officer suing someone for slipping in a puddle?

And secondly, is it slippy or slippery? Slippy sounds so corny and lame.

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

Here's another contender that I'm sure everyone is aware of:

Judge Who Seeks Millions for Lost Pants Has His (Emotional) Day in Court

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

[ QUOTE ]
In this specific case, the caller asked the manager (who also had her boyfriend along) to take an employee to the back and strip, then had her assume a bunch of positions, and finally HAD HER PERFORM ORAL SEX ON THE MANAGER'S BOYFRIEND.

[/ QUOTE ]

Somebody give this guy the Glengarry leads already. McDonald's manager deserves third prize.

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

There is almost always much more to the story than the simple write-up you get. I suspect that when you know the whole story relatively few of these cases would really upset you so much. The crux of the McD case was that they knew that these hoaxes were taking place over and over at their stores and didn't do anything to warn their managers. A simple memo that went to all stores telling them to hang up on this guy might well have stopped the whole thing.

McDonalds tried to conceal and deny the prior cases. Eventually they were sanctioned by the judge for lying about what they knew to him and the other attorneys. They wound up turning over the material on prior cases just a few days before the trial started (this fact was presented to the jury). They also refused to provide the information on past cases to criminal prosecutors, hindering the case against the guy who ran the hoax in the first place.

They eventually admitted that their head of security suggested that they warn all the stores, but that they didn't actualy do it. They also looked like the classic big company with so many lawyers at the table that one of them actually objected to a question posed by another defense attorney, which actually caused members of the jury to laugh at them (as reported in the papers).

In their defense phase, one of the witnesses (the janitor) testified that the statement the lawyers provided on his behalf was false and that he couldn't read or write. They admitted that they changed the victim's timecard in an attempt to get the case classified as worker's comp and the lawsuit thrown out (she wasn't actually working at the time this all went down). They also put on a psychologist who said that the victim had "grown in some ways" as a result of the hoax. I'm guessing that the jury didn't much buy that line of reasoning.

There was also something in the papers about detectives hired by McDonalds that threatened and intimidated witnesses and that the state was considering criminal charges against the detective. I don't know if the jury heard about that or not.

So you have the company hiding the information of the prior cases as hard as they can, eventually rising to the point where they were sanctioned by the judge (this is not a minor deal), you have them admitting that they falsified her timesheet to try to get the case thrown out (had she been on the clock, she would have been limited to workers comp) and claiming that she was actually better off. Add to this a phalanx of lawyers presenting mixed messages and a small town jury looking to find someone to pay for what happened, and the verdict is a lot easier to understand. The jury was angry at McDonalds and it appears to me that they had pretty good reason to be.

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

I should have included more primary sources, but I was lazy.

Hoax warnings inadequate
Exec didn't know of prior hoaxes
McD's officials testify
McDonalds opens defense: some testimony may have backfired
McDonald's expert: Hoax helped victim grow after sexual assault

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

nice post nosoup.

you always assume there's more to it, but i never really thought about it beyond that. the first reaction is just OMFG SHE GOT HOW MANY MILLIONS??

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

Disclaimer: I don't necessarily intend to support or not-support Bill O'Reilly with this post.

The recent ridiculous news stories that have accused O'Reilly of calling soldiers that disagree with the war in Iraq "phony soldiers" has seriously made me tilt harder than anything ever.

It seems like seriously none of these media sources gives ONE FLYING F*** about what he actually said, because it makes a better story to just report what they wish he had said. It's ridiculous.

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

Iron,

"Somebody give this guy the Glengarry leads already. McDonald's manager deserves third prize."

Whenever someone bitches at me for deleting some stupid joke response in EDF, I will point them to your response illustrating how we are all for funny responses, AS LONG AS THEY ARE ACTUALLY FUNNY.

Nice work.

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

NS,

Excellent post, thanks. Now if you can find some stuff that explains how the f the manager got a verdict for $1M!!!!

Re: Things in news stories that bug you
 

[ QUOTE ]
Disclaimer: I don't necessarily intend to support or not-support Bill O'Reilly with this post.

The recent ridiculous news stories that have accused O'Reilly of calling soldiers that disagree with the war in Iraq "phony soldiers" has seriously made me tilt harder than anything ever.

It seems like seriously none of these media sources gives ONE FLYING F*** about what he actually said, because it makes a better story to just report what they wish he had said. It's ridiculous.

[/ QUOTE ]

You're confusing two things. Rush Limbaugh is the one being attacked for saying the "phony soldiers" comment. Bill O'Reilly defended him.

Bill O'Reilly was being attacked for a different comment about black patrons in a black restaurant that was taken out of context, too.