I don’t know about you but I was hoping to have a relaxing weekend of BBQ, beer and games. Instead, Hurricane Dorian was upgraded to a Category 5 and absolutely devastated the Bahamas. Dorian is expected to remain Category 5 and hit parts of Florida and Georgia but meteorologists hope a wind shift will push the hurricane a bit East and the two coasts will avoid the worst of the storm. Another mass shooting killing rampage happened, this time in West Texas. A 36 year old man was fired from his job and then, a few hours later started massacring citizens. At least 7 people were killed with another 20 wounded. It ended when police rammed the shooter’s vehicle and, as he tried to exit the stolen car, police shot him dead. A 75 foot boat called the Conception caught fire off the coast of Southern California. At least five people have been rescued but the ship was entirely ablaze and it looks unlikely rescuers will find other survivors. Approx. 30 people, maybe more, were on board. For thirteen weeks protestors in Hong Kong have been battle state authorities. That’s - thirteen weeks! Hong Kong is obviously a city in China but for more than a century it was a colony of the United Kingdom until 1997 when the British handed it back to China. The problem being is that Hong Kong still has a political and legal system based off British rule which is known as the Basic Law,…

Jeffrey Epstein's cause of death has been ruled a suicide by hanging; however, there a series of conspiracy theories that suggest he was strangled. There are some distinct physical findings that would differentiate the two. 66 year-old Jeffrey Epstein, who recently pleaded not guilty of sex trafficking charges, was found dead in his jail cell on August 10. He had recently been on suicide watch and reports initially suggested he had hung himself by his bed sheet. However, the results of the financier’s autopsy suggest he sustained trauma consistent with hanging (after preliminary reports suggested strangulation). How do forensic experts tell the difference? Hanging With hanging, one drops from a height and suspends, incurring a fracture of a neck bone which in turn may sever the spinal cord. A severe blood pressure drop can ensue and the victim may die within minutes As seen above, a “hangman’s fracture” is seen with hyperextension injuries where the pars interarticularis on the pedicle of the C2 vertebrae becomes fractured. The distance of the drop is crucial in determining the success of the execution. A drop to long could cause beheading, a drop too short could cause strangulation. If they do strangulate ...they asphyxiate (lose air flow), or lose blood flow from their carotid arteries being compromised. From a capital punishment standpoint, hanging is one of the most common and barbaric ways to execute. Three states still have this form of execution as an option if lethal injection is not available (DE, NH, WA).…