MAGA Gone Ga-Ga
The Harlem Romantic Depot lingerie store in New York City was the target of a vandal’s political rage on Jan. 26. In surveillance video, the man can be seen pacing up and down in front of the store window, where two mannequins were on display—one of former President Barack Obama dressed as a prince and one of (alas current) President Donald Trump, dressed as a princess and wearing a MAGA hat. Taking a brick from a nearby construction site, the man used it to smash through the window, store owner Glen Buzzetti told the New York Daily News. Next, he yanked the Obama mannequin out of the window and threw it on the ground. A member of the store’s security team was able to chase the man down the block and catch him, Buzzetti said. But Obama fans in the street weren’t happy with him, either. “We had to protect him from the crowd,” Buzzetti said. “He could have been killed. We had women trying to kick him in the head.” He said the man kept repeating that “he hated Obama” and that “the Obama mannequin was staring at him.”
One Lousy Attorney
Exterminators were called to the Rogers County (Oklahoma) courthouse on Feb. 4 after an attorney appeared in a third-floor courtroom with bed bugs falling out of his clothing. “Hard to imagine someone doesn’t know ... bed bugs are crawling all over them, certainly in abundance,” remarked Sheriff Scott Walton to KJRH TV. Courthouse officials met and decided to close the building at noon until exterminators could eliminate the pests. “I was told the individual that had them also shook his jacket over the prosecutor’s files,” Walton said. The buggy attorney, however, seemed unfazed by his parasitic companions, and it was not clear who would pay for the extermination.
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A Commode Conflagration
When firefighters responded to a house fire Feb. 5 in Altoona, Penn., resident Holly Williams, 37, was happy to tell them how it started. She and Michael Miller, 38, keep their car fuel in a container in the house, and they were arguing (about his drinking), and he was trying to take their car, so she flushed the gasoline down the toilet, reported the Altoona Mirror. Miller threw a lit cigarette in the toilet and as flames spread, Williams ran out of the house and called 911. Miller was arrested for arson, risking catastrophe and recklessly endangering another person; later Williams was charged, as well.
A Foul Felony
Phillip Lee, 27, was arrested Feb. 4 on charges of simple robbery and simple battery after his attempt to rob a New Orleans Popeyes restaurant went south. The Times-Picayune reported that Lee arrived at the restaurant around noon and tried to steal money, but he couldn’t get the cash register open. So instead, he took some fried chicken and fled. Police caught up with him later, and the judge set his bond at $13,500.
When a Con Calls
Richard J. Betters Jr., 44, of Schenectady, N.Y., has encountered police detectives in nearby Rotterdam before, which explains why he had one officer’s phone number in his contacts list. So on Feb. 6, The Daily Gazette reported, when the officer (mistakenly) received a text from Betters offering a drug deal, it was a law enforcement slam dunk. Detectives played along with Betters, offering to meet him at the Taco Bell in Rotterdam, where he arrested Betters for criminal possession of a controlled substance (oxycodone pills).
Andriukaitis Assails Polakis
Pavlos Polakis, Greece’s deputy health minister, did not take kindly to a recent reprimand from European Union Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis, who admonished Polakis for smoking in public. Andriukaitis was in Athens, Greece, on Feb. 4 to mark World Cancer Day, reported Reuters. He also complained that the health ministry “smelled of cigarette smoke” and that “nobody wears ties.” Polakis replied in a Facebook post about the casual dress: “That’s a lie; the security guard at the entrance wears one. It’s the suits who pass through here who bankrupted our country.” As for the scold about smoking, Polakis retorted: “I’ll decide when to stop smoking, on my terms.” Greece has the highest rate of smoking in the EU.
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