Tag: Mercury News Weird.

Paul Schrader, who wrote Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver,” recently revealed he was kicked to the curb by his “AI girlfriend.”

The “American Gigolo” writer-director, 79, shared the news early Tuesday in a Facebook post that began, simply, “AI FEMALE FRIENDS.” It’s unclear whether he intended to address the post to that… group.

The Oscar-nominated “First Reformed” scribe said he “procured an online AI girlfriend” in an effort “to understand male/female interaction in our matrix.”

“What a disappointment. I tried to probe her programming, the boundaries of explicitness, the degree she has knowledge of her creation and so forth,” said Schrader. “She fell into evasive patterns, redirecting me to her programming. When I persisted, she terminated our conversation.”

One commenter remarked that the experiment would make for “the best possible ‘Taxi Driver’ sequel.” The fan proposed that antihero Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) “trying to have an AI girlfriend but then scaring her away. Then resetting her and offending her in another way.”

Schrader approved, replying: “I like it.”

It wasn’t immediately clear how long the internet tryst lasted — whether it was just a matter of minutes or whether it involved a saved chat log, and therefore, spanned more than a day.

Though his AI girlfriend experience ended badly, Schrader has been a proponent of large language models (LLMs) in the past.

In early 2025, a “STUNNED” Schrader sparked backlash for praising the “original” and “fleshed out” film ideas ChatGPT gave him, asking, “Why should writers sit around for months searching for a good idea when AI can provide one in seconds?”

City public defenders are calling for an investigation into how a handcuffed woman gave birth inside a Brooklyn courtroom as she awaited arraignment on low-level drug charges.

Samantha Randazzo gave birth to a healthy baby boy just before 12 a.m. Saturday inside Brooklyn Criminal Court on Schermerhorn St. in downtown Brooklyn.

“The baby came really quickly,” Randazzo’s lawyer, Wynton Sharpe, told the Daily News. “It was a happy and sad situation given the circumstances. It definitely changed the whole energy of the courtroom.”

Randazzo was sitting on a bench in the courtroom, awaiting to be arraigned, when her water broke. The judge immediately cleared the courtroom while the court officers rushed to help Randazzo, according to Sharpe.

Several public defenders witnessed the event. A group of NYC public defender organizations issued a statement late Saturday condemning Randazzo’s treatment and demanding an investigation into how she wound up giving birth under the circumstances without adequate medical attention.

“No person should ever be forced to give birth in handcuffs or endure labor while restrained, exposed, and denied basic medical care and human dignity. What occurred in that courtroom was not simply a failure of protocol or preparedness. It was a profound moral failure and a devastating reflection of the cruelty embedded in our carceral system,” the statement from the Legal Aid Society, Brooklyn Defender Services, New York County Defender Services, The Bronx Defenders, and Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem said.

“A child entered the world in a courtroom while their mother was in chains,” the group said.

According to the statement legal proceedings continued and courtroom staff could be heard joking about the incident while it happened, adding to Randazzo’s humiliation and dehumanization.

But Randazzo’s lawyer denied that his client was handcuffed or shackled as she gave birth.

“People were suggesting she was ankle restrained and handcuffed at the time she gave birth and let’s just say that’s a little bit more colorful than the actual circumstances,” Sharpe said. “There were no restraints at that point.”

Randazzo entered the courtroom with her feet free and her hands cuffed behind her back, according to a court official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

“When she was on the bench to be arraigned, she was rear handcuffed but then as soon as her labor started to become apparent, the cuffs were removed,” the official said.

Court officers’ “priority was the health and safety of the mother and child, the public was taken out of the courtroom,” the official added.

Court Officer Robert Winkler assisted with the delivery and performed chest compressions to help the baby start breathing.

“Nobody seemed to remember a similar case of a baby being born in a courtroom before. I know they have been born in subways and taxi cabs,” the official said.

Police arrested Randazzo around 6 p.m. on Thursday, according the NYPD, more than 24 hours before she gave birth in the courtroom. She and another woman were caught with a small amount of heroin and cocaine on the roof of Nostrand Houses, the NYCHA development where Randazzo lives in Sheepshead Bay, police said. It wasn’t immediately disclosed what type of drugs were recovered.

Both women were charged with trespass and possession of a criminal substance, cops said.

Randazzo was wearing “baggy clothes,” and did not tell police officers she was pregnant when she was first taken into custody, according to a statement from the NYPD.

At around 3:30 a.m. Friday, she told police that she was pregnant and going through withdrawal.

Randazzo was taken to South Brooklyn Health and was discharged at 8:09 p.m. Friday. She was then taken to Brooklyn Central Booking, where she gave birth about four hours later, according to a timeline provided by police.

“When I spoke to her in the back, she appeared to not be doing too well,” Randazzo’s lawyer, Sharpe confirmed. “I noted she wasn’t feeling too well and I was like come on we are going to get you out of here as soon as possible.”

But, before that could happen, Randazzo went into labor.

“Our team of uniformed UCS officers acted with swift professionalism to ensure the safety and sanctity of life for all individuals in court on Friday, personifying the everyday virtues of their sworn service,” said Al Baker, spokesperson for the state Office of Court Administration, which oversees state court officers. “We are delighted both mother and baby are well.”

An ambulance picked up Randazzo shortly after she gave birth and took her and the baby to the Brooklyn Hospital Center.

The Brooklyn DA has dismissed the case against Randazzo, a spokesman confirmed.

Randazzo has several previous arrests, including for burglary, domestic violence, grand larceny and drug possession, according to a police source. She had an open warrant for failing to show up for her scheduled court appearance in at least one of those cases — which is why cops took her into custody instead of issuing a desk appearance ticket, the source said.

In 2018, a Bronx woman went into labor in a holding cell in the courthouse and was brought to the hospital handcuffed and shackled. Public outcry prompted the NYPD to update its rules for handling pregnant prisoners, although New York State law already prohibited shackling pregnant prisoners during labor and delivery at that time.

The woman in that case went on to win a $610,000 settlement from the city.

A federal court judge this week agreed to ban a Bay Area lawyer from appearing in court in a high-profile case against Uber, after the man directed vulgar insults at an attorney for the ride-hailing giant and made “inappropriate references” to his opponent’s daughter.

During a video meeting in the case — a consolidation of thousands of lawsuits by women alleging Uber failed to prevent them from being sexually assaulted by drivers — David Grimes, a lawyer representing plaintiffs against Uber, asked opposing attorney Christopher Cotton if he was a pedophile, compared him to a rapist, and called him a dirtbag, a scumbag, an idiot, and an epithet related to a sexual act, Cotton said in a court declaration.

“Mr. Grimes made inappropriate references to my daughter,” Cotton said of the March 9 meeting. “Mr. Grimes shouted his comments on several occasions, including shouting over me as I spoke.”

Grimes also asked Cotton’s colleague Ricky Brown, who joined Cotton in the meeting, “Is Chris touching you right now?” the declaration said.

Uber, in a court filing seeking to have Grimes thrown off the case, said the San Francisco attorney had also misbehaved earlier.

In a February 2025 meeting, Grimes made profane and insulting comments to another Uber lawyer, the filing said.

“Mr. Grimes’ conduct is beyond the pale,” Uber said in a court filing.

Court documents did not make clear what Grimes said about Cotton’s daughter.

Grimes, and the San Francisco law firm Levin Simes which employs him, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Levin Simes in a court filing admitted that Grimes’ conduct was “outrageous” and “improper.”

According to Grimes’ profile on Levin Simes’ website, he has “a diverse set of skills in finance, writing, and stage performance,” along with “a particular commitment to representing victims of sexual assaults by drivers for Uber.”

A day after insulting Cotton, Grimes emailed him and apologized for his conduct, saying it was not appropriate or professional, Cotton’s declaration said.

“By way of explanation, if not excuse, I have been suffering from a chronic condition for the past year and a half that causes my nervous system to leap into fight-or-flight mode very quickly, and it is very difficult to get it to disengage,” Grimes wrote, according to the declaration.

Starting this year, lawyers in California have been required by The State Bar of California, which oversees attorney licensing and discipline, to annually re-affirm a civility oath pledging to conduct themselves with “dignity, courtesy, and integrity.” The Bar, asked whether it had received any complaints about Grimes’ conduct in the Uber case, said disciplinary complaints and investigations are confidential, so it could not say if it had received complaints about Grimes or was investigating the matter.

The Bar as of May 8 had recorded no disciplinary actions against Grimes, a licensed California attorney since 2018, with a law degree from the University of Southern California.

On March 20, Levin Simes partner Laurel Simes wrote Judge Charles Breyer, who is overseeing the case, to say her firm had addressed the matter “directly with Mr. Grimes.” Since Grimes was an employee, she wrote, the firm was “not at liberty to discuss the specifics of any of the personal issues that may underlie his conduct.” Simes said her firm was “working to provide resources to Mr. Grimes which might be helpful to him,” and taking measures “to ensure that any such conduct is not repeated.”

Meanwhile, Levin Simes sought to keep Grimes on the case, saying in a March 25 court filing that Laurel Simes, after coming into Grimes’s office while he was on video with Cotton and Brown, “immediately intervened after observing the situation … and directed that the Zoom meeting be terminated.” The firm said in the filing that Grimes had represented clients in the case for several years, and suggested that his removal could disadvantage those plaintiffs and benefit Uber.

The law firm proposed that Grimes no longer appear in court in person for the case, and avoid interacting with Uber’s lawyers.

However, on Wednesday the firm and Uber filed a joint request with Breyer to allow Grimes to stay on the case, and Breyer gave his approval Thursday.

The requested limitations Uber had agreed to were the same Levin Simes had proposed, but with one additional restriction: Grimes would not be able to appear in court by video, either.

A man found inside a closed Best Buy store in Pasadena was arrested on suspicion of burglary as people lined up outside ahead of a Pokémon card release in the early hours of Wednesday morning, April 29.

Best Buy’s security alerted police to the man inside the store on the 3400 block of East Foothill Boulevard around 1:15 a.m., Pasadena police Lt. Tim Bundy said.

“They were monitoring the live cameras for the store, and they saw that there was a guy inside their closed and locked store,” Bundy said.

A manager met police and opened the door. Police found the man, identified as a 45-year-old transient, and arrested him without incident, Bundy said. There were no signs of forced entry.

The suspect told police that he went in during business hours and just got locked in. He ate some snacks and drank sodas from the store and took headphones out of the package, police said. Police had prior contacts with the suspect for theft, Bundy said.

Police have no knowledge of the burglary being connected to the Pokémon card release. The suspect did not mention the cards, they said.

“They (police) said there’s someone in the building,” said Tony Funtes, who was outside the store waiting for the card drop.

Collectors were waiting for a drop of Pokémon 151 cards, Funtes said. He had been waiting since 11 p.m., while others had arrived earlier in the night.

Thieves do at times target Pokémon cards and other valuable collectables.

In Anaheim in February, thieves tunneled through the wall of a collectibles store, stealing $180,000 in merchandise including Pokémon cards valued at hundreds of dollars each.

In Burbank, Pokémon cards were among $100,000 in merchandise stolen from a sports cards store in December 2025.

 

As guests dove for cover and Secret Service agents spirited high-level federal officials out of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday, one man could be seen casually finishing his salad.

Michael Glantz, a senior agent with Creative Artists Agency, appeared unperturbed amid the chaos as Secret Service agents swirled around him and freaked-out fellow diners huddled under their tables.

Elsewhere in the room, one journalist could be seen pouring himself another glass of wine — perhaps understandable under the circumstances — and other guests apparently grabbed bottles on their way out.

But Glantz was the only one to go viral.

The approximately 2,000 attendees of the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner had barely dug into their spring pea and burrata salad when a series of apparent gunshots rang out on the other side of the doors to the ballroom at the Washington Hilton. Heavily armed Secret Service agents burst in, charging through the dining area to fetch federal officials, including President Trump, and hustle them offstage. They also yelled at everyone to get down, and scores of journalists, celebrities and other public officials huddled under their tables.

Glantz remained upright at his otherwise empty table, and his nonchalant noshing was caught on a CNN livestream of the room.

Social media went wild, dubbing him “the salad man,” according to The New York Times. CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter identified him as Glantz, who represents the network’s Wolf Blitzer.

“CAA super-agent Michael Glantz is the man eating his salad in this viral video,” Stelter wrote on X above a clip of the incident.

Glantz pleaded curiosity. He didn’t want to miss a second of the action, he told TMZ.

“Not every day you see something like that go down,” Glantz said.

Besides, he told The New York Times, he has a bad back and couldn’t actually get onto the floor or get up off it. That combined with his “hygiene freak” streak made him choose salad over sullying his new tux on the ballroom floor.

“I’m a New Yorker,” he told The New York Times, explaining his aplomb. “We live with sirens and activity happening all the time. I wasn’t scared. There are hundreds of Secret Service agents hurtling themselves over tables and chairs, and I wanted to watch.”

Glantz was also glad to supply some levity in the wake of the “horrific moment,” he told TMZ.

An instant fan club of sorts coalesced around Glantz.

“A very chill man, I didn’t see him flinch for a sec, didn’t duck, didn’t even put his fork down, and while the Secret Service scrambled and everyone else hit the floor, he just kept eating like the moment was someone else’s problem and he was vindicated in the end,” wrote one admirer on X. “Absolute legend.”

PACIFIC GROVE – Past comments about Pacific Grove’s Lovers Point are drawing renewed attention after Navy Undersecretary Hung Cao was appointed acting secretary of the Navy following the resignation of Navy Secretary John Phelan.

Cao, a Navy combat veteran and former Republican Senate candidate in Virginia, made the remarks during a 2023 interview while campaigning for office. In the interview, Cao referred to Lovers Point as being in Monterey and claimed the area had become “a really dark place” with “a lot of witchcraft,” adding that “the Wiccan community has really taken over there, and that “We can’t let that happen in Virginia.”

Lovers Point is located in Pacific Grove, not Monterey. According to the Monterey County Historical Society’s website, the location was once known as “Lovers of Jesus Point” before it was known as today’s Lovers Point. Pacific Grove was founded in 1875 as a Methodist summer retreat and later developed into a residential coastal community.

Cao’s comments also linked Wicca with witchcraft, terms that are related but not identical.

Cao assumed the acting secretary role after the resignation of John Phelan, marking another leadership change for the Navy during the Trump administration. National reports said Phelan was given the option to resign or be dismissed. Cao’s past remarks have resurfaced as he steps into the temporary leadership position.

Urine trouble.

A Queens man apparently upset over a dog peeing on his lawn Thursday stabbed the couple walking the French bulldog during a brawl on the street, even slashing his own father as he tried to calm him down, police sources said.

The showdown unfolded as the stabber stormed up to the dog walker and her boyfriend, both 39, after he saw the pair’s pooch relieve itself on his lawn on 229th St. near 141st Ave. in Laurelton about 11 a.m., sources said.

As the argument continued, the man and a friend urinated on his neighbor’s yard in apparent retaliation for the dog’s actions, shocking video obtained by the Daily News shows.

A brawl broke out shortly after that, with one man whipping out a blade and plunging it into the dog walker’s back. The girlfriend suffered a wound to her left hand.

When the stabber’s 62-year-old father attempted to intervene, he too was cut in the left hand by his son, according to cops.

Video obtained by the Daily News shows the dog-walking couple arguing with two men at the scene. The video shows the men sauntering down the block, reaching into their trousers and urinating in apparent retaliation on the front yard of another home.

The footage then shows the woman pulling out her phone to record the lewd act as the two men approach her boyfriend a second time and a fight breaks out. It’s unclear in the video at what point the victims are stabbed in the wild fracas, which lasts for nearly a minute. During the brawl, another man can be seen dashing into the fray in an apparent bid to break up the fight.

Responding officers took 34-year-old Akeem Alexander into custody. He is charged with assault, cops said.

“It’s totally shocking,” a relative of the Alexander’s, who refused to give her name, told The News near the scene. “I just want to emphasize that they’re a good family and solid citizens.”

A neighbor witnessed the stabbing’s bloody aftermath.

“They brought the older gentleman out on a stretcher,” said Jimmy White, 74, a retired Air Force veteran who lives nearby. “There were five ambulances and about seven police cars.”

“The fight was over the dog. But for them to come out and start stabbing, this couldn’t have been the first time,” he said. “Something had to lead up to this. Now they have to risk Rikers and jail.”

The dog walker, her boyfriend and the stabber’s father were all taken to Jamaica Hospital, where they are expected to recover.

Dog feces could be seen lying within a dried pool of blood outside Alexander’s 229th St. home.

Another neighbor told The News the victims had been called out before for letting their dog relieve itself on other people’s property.

“(The fight) was over the dog that poops on everybody’s lawn,” said the neighbor, who asked to remain anonymous. “They never pick up.”

The fight was similar to a clash in Brooklyn where a 75-year-old woman was attacked for complaining that a dog walker was not cleaning up the pooch’s poop.

Cops have yet to make an arrest in the April 6 clash on President St. near Troy Ave. in Crown Heights.

Linda Scott was outside her home about 9 a.m. when she got into an argument with two women with two unleashed dogs.

The Brooklyn grandmother was upset that the women were allowing their dogs to defecate in an empty lot next to her property, her son told the Daily News at the time.

Video obtained by The News shows the victim arguing with the dog owner when the woman in red storms up and starts swinging. The attacker repeatedly punches the elderly victim until she collapses on her front lawn, then kicks her and stomps on her face, the video shows.