Odd-but-True Stories

clared it unconstitutional for states to execute the intellectually disabled and killers younger than 18. In addition, she questioned the quality of lawyers for poor accused murderers.

In the most divisive of cases, including the Bush v. Gore decision in 2000, she was often at odds with the court’s more conservative members — initially Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justices Sandra Day O’Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy and Clarence Thomas.

The division remained the same after John Roberts replaced Rehnquist as chief justice, Samuel Alito took O’Connor’s seat, and, under Trump, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh joined the court, in seats that had been held by Scalia and Kennedy, respectively.

Joan Ruth Bader was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1933, the second daughter in a middle-class family. Her older sister, who gave her the lifelong nickname “Kiki,” died at age 6, so Ginsburg grew up in Brooklyn’s Flatbush section as an only child. Her dream was to be an opera singer.

Ginsburg graduated at the top of her Columbia University law school class in 1959 but could not find a law firm willing to hire her. She had “three strikes against her” – for being Jewish, female and a mother, as she put it in 2007.

She had married her husband, Martin, in 1954, the year she graduated from Cornell University. She attended Harvard University’s law school but transferred to Columbia when her husband took a law job there. Martin Ginsburg went on to become a prominent tax attorney and law professor. Martin died in 2010.

Ginsburg will be lying in repose at the Supreme Court on Wednesday and Thursday. She will be lying in state in the National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol on Friday, the first woman to do so.

Additionally, the Supreme Court is paying tribute to Ginsburg by draping a black wool crepe on her chair and the bench in front of it.

F-35 Sale by December

According to Reuters, the United States will be inking a deal to sell F-35 stealth jets to the United Arab Emirates by December. The U.S. is making sure that Israel’s concerns regarding its security won’t be jeopardized by the sale of the advanced jets.

Citing unnamed “sources close to the negotiations” between Washington and Abu Dhabi, the report says the two governments hope to produce a “letter of agreement” on the sale by December 2, the UAE’s National Day. It will likely take several more years before the first plane is delivered to the Emirates.

The U.S. has repeatedly committed to Israel over the years to help ensure its qualitative military edge, or QME, over its neighbors on the battlefield, and is reportedly now seeking ways to ensure the sale doesn’t undermine that commitment.

The U.S. already reduces the performance of weapons platforms it sells to foreign governments to ensure they can’t compete head-tohead with American platforms. A similar reduction may be employed with the Emirati F-35s.

Since the Israel-UAE peace agreement was announced last month, Abu Dhabi has been open about its desire to acquire F-35 warplanes and other advanced U.S.- made weaponry. Israel is the only U.S. ally in the Middle East to possess the stealth fighter jet.

Senior Emirati officials have said that normalization with Israel should lift any remaining barriers to the sale.

“The whole idea of a state of belligerency or war with Israel is over, so I think it should actually be easier [to purchase the fighter jet],” senior UAE diplomat Anwar Gargash opined in August. “We feel that with the signing of this treaty in the coming weeks or months…that any hurdle toward this [purchase] should no longer be there.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu initially said he opposed the sale of the planes to any other nation in the region, even an Arab country at peace with Israel. But since then, he has softened his line, signaling he will trust the U.S. to honor its commitment to ensure Israel’s military edge in the region.

Under U.S. law, Congress is tasked with vetting sales of arms to Middle Eastern countries and weighing them against America’s QME commitments, a determination usually made following consultations between the Pentagon and Israeli defense officials. While Israel cannot veto a sale, it can raise concerns that could make it more difficult to seal a deal.

U.S. President Donald Trump said in early September that he has “absolutely no problem” with selling advanced F-35 fighters to the UAE. Junk Mail

If you’re visiting Khao Yai National Park in Thailand, better take your empty snack bags with you. The park has announced that it will be mailing your garbage back to you if you leave it behind.

Those guilty of leaving more than their footprints behind will also be banned from returning to the park, have to register with the police, and face a potential five years in prison or fine for littering in a national park.

Varawut Silpa-archa, Thailand’s minister of natural resources and environment, wrote on Facebehind that could pose harm to the park or its wildlife will be retrieved, packaged and mailed to the guest who left it.

“I will pick up all of your garbage,” he wrote. “Postage back… home as souvenir.”

This is really tough trash talk. Snake Mask you may have encountered a ssscary sight.

A man on the bus was spotted wearing a live snake as his face mask. The snake was wrapped around his neck and around his mouth to protect other passengers from any possible corona germs.

A passenger on the bus said she at first thought the man was wearing a really “funky” mask – until the reptile started slithering over the handrails.

Other passengers didn’t seem bothered by the sight.

“No one batted an eyelid,” the

book that any trash or materials left

passenger said.

Leave it to authorities to state the obvious. A Transport for Greater Manchester spokesperson said regarding face coverings, “Government guidance clearly states that this needn’t be a surgical mask and that passengers can make their own or wear something suitable, such as a scarf or bandana. While there is a small degree of interpretation that can be applied to this, we do not believe it extends to the use of snakeskin – especially when still attached to the snake,” the statement said.

Despite the unconventional face mask, we are sure this man had no problem maintaining a six-foot separation between himself and other passengers.

Asbestos Agita

The town of Asbestos in Canada is sick of its name. Turns out, that the word “asbestos” conjures negative connotations for many, and so the small village wants to change its moniker.

But it’s not easy. The names that were in the running as replacements didn’t tickle too many people’s fancy.

Some considerations were Apalone, which is an endangered turtle; Phenix, the name of the city’s Trois-Lacs, a mythical bird.

But the town of more than 7,000 residents isn’t enthused by any of those picks. “People can be scared we’re going to forget the past, people can be scared we’ll lose our identity, so it’s a major process we’re living,” Caroline Payer, a town councilor, notes. “It’s a historical one too. It’s not so often that a municipality changes its name.”

The town of Asbestos was a thriving asbestos mining and product manufacturing center years ago. At one point, its asbestos mine was the single-largest source of the product in the world. Now, the material is banned in most construction around the globe, as inhaling it can cause severe medical problems.

For now, it’s up in the air what Asbestos will be called in the future. We’ll be holding our breath until they come to a conclusion.

Inking the Deal

When Bruno Neves wanted to propose to Patricia Calado, he didn’t just buy her flowers. No, the 33-yearold from England really inked the deal when he asked Patricia to marry him.

Bruno visited a tattoo parlor in England, while Patricia waited in the lobby. After a while, Bruno came out with a paper over his chest. Peeling off the paper, he showed Patricia his new tattoo: the words “Will you marry me?” with two boxes below, one for yes and one for no.

Thankfully, the surprised brideto-be checked the box “yes” with a pen provided to her from the workers at the tattoo parlor.

After employees wished the new couple congratulations, Bruno went back to get the check inked into the

first asbestos mine operator; and

Did you know?

National Punctuation Day is September 24. Isn’t that amazing?!?!

“yes” box on his chest.

“It was a complete surprise,” Patricia said. “I had no idea what he was having done that day. He has some tattoos on his body that he wants to get covered up, and sometimes I will go along with him and wait, so I thought it was all quite normal.

“I was quite confused when he came out and revealed the tattoo to me,” she added. “It took me a moment to realize what it was. Then I just laughed and told him, ‘You’re crazy.” But, of course, I ticked yes. I’m very happy.”

As for Bruno, he is certain that Patricia is the right one for him.

“I would not have done it if I had not been absolutely sure – a tattoo is something you really have to think

Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.

about,” he added.

We hope you thought long and hard, Bruno. Sandwich Souvenir

Jenne, of Sullivan, Illinois, was a Boy Scout when future President Richard Nixon visited the town during a September 22, 1960 campaign stop. Nixon attended a cookout and ate half a buffalo chicken sandwich. Jenne took the other half and has kept it in his freezer ever since.

“I looked around and thought, ‘If no one else was going to take it, I am going to take it,’” Jenne recalled.

Jenne said the appearance yielded him a half-eaten snack from Carson, as well as a paper plate signed by Steve Martin, who quipped that he had earlier used the plate to eat some chicken salad. Jenne said his collection now also includes unfinished foods from entertainers Tiny Tim and Henny Youngman.

The Nixon sandwich, though, remains the crown jewel of his collection.

“As long as I am living, that sandwich will be stored in my freezer in a container that is labeled, ‘Save, don’t throw away,’” Jenne said.

He makes a half-eaten sandwich sound as if it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Gucci Goop

If you like the lived-in, old pair of jeans look and have extra money weighing down your wallet, you may want to head to your nearest Gucci store.

The luxury brand is offering a pair of denim overalls designed to look like they are already grass stained.

The price? A mere $1,400.

The “eco washed organic denim overall” is part of the brand’s grunge-inspired fall/winter men’s collection. The overalls are “specifically treated for a stained-like, distressed effect.” In other words, it looks like it’s been rubbed in the dirt and rolled in the grass.

I can give you some of my jeans with the same look – and I’ll even give them to you for free.