CHRISTOPHER BUCKTIN: Meth-addled Florida man's X-ray raises more questions than answers
In this week's round-up of bonkers news from across the Pond, Trump's bragging lies, robot cars and a haunted hotel
Liar-in-Chief Donald Trump has once again discovered a talent no one else has: predicting things that never happened. At a Navy event, he claimed in his 2000 book that he warned America about Osama bin Laden - a “prophecy” so secret, it never made it into the actual book.
Fact-checkers debunked this tall tale years ago, but Trump keeps reviving it like a bad sequel. “You gotta take a little credit,” he said, apparently for writing about a man he never mentioned. He even boasted he told his Pete Hegseth, at the time, when the moronic US defence secretary had barely passed puberty.
History will remember many things about Trump, just not his nonexistent psychic phase as the ghostwriter of hindsight.
*** Northern California cops were stumped when a Waymo taxi pulled an illegal U-turn - and no one was behind the wheel to ticket. The San Bruno Police shared on social media that during a DUI sweep early Saturday, the self-driving car made a move in front of them. “No driver, no hands, no clue,” they joked, noting their ticket books don’t have a box for “robot.”
Waymo was contacted to fix the “glitch,” hopefully keeping future autonomous lawbreakers in line.
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Las Vegas’ oldest, and allegedly most haunted, hotel is daring thrill-seekers to spend a weekend chasing ghosts for cash. The El Cortez Hotel & Casino, which has seen everything from mobsters to mayhem since 1941, is offering one brave soul the chance to hunt its resident ghosts, with $5,000 on the line.
The contest, run by Casino.org, will pick a single “lucky” winner to spend the night on Fremont Street, also known as the “Old Strip.” In other words, it’s Vegas’ version of The Shining, only with slot machines, neon lights, and slightly better room service.
*** Florida Man strikes again, and this time, he’s really full of surprises. While being booked on drug and trespassing charges, 51-year-old Walter Frymire went through a jail X-ray scan that revealed he wasn’t smuggling drugs or weapons but a full-sized flask.
According to Sheriff Grady Judd, the thermos had made its “grand entrance” the day before via “the exit ramp”. Frymire, a veteran of 28 years of meth use, was arrested for trespassing on Amtrak property. As for how the thermos fit in? Let’s just say it wasn’t travel-sized.
*** The Nobel Committee’s biggest challenge this year isn’t picking a winner, it’s finding one. Fred Ramsdell, who just won the Nobel Prize for Medicine, is apparently too busy “living his best life” on an off-grid hiking trip to notice he’s now a global superstar.
His colleague Jeffrey Bluestone admitted he can’t reach him either: “I think he may be backpacking in Idaho.”
