News & Media

Conservatives (not all of them) loved it when we got tough on “crime.” No knock warrants, militarized police, doors bashed down, homes invaded, it all worked to keep a little Reagan-inspired law and order. Now a conservative activist finds herself on the ass end of this normalized police abuse. Welcome to the party. You see, Republicans? This is why you

Legal academia largely rejects the notion that professors should have practice experience. Yeah, its the only profession in the world where you teach people to do something, and it is a disadvantage to have actually done the job you’re training people to do. Sorta like if you had a motorcycle mechanic’s school, but you only wanted instructors who could tell

Well, it looks like we know who pushed to kill Nevada’s Anti-SLAPP statute. Video here. And why? Because he got the Pwned while representing Steve Wynn in California. Here’s the loss.

It looks like a bill is working its way through the Florida legislature that could turn it’s terrible Anti-SLAPP law into one that is of the “not so bad” variety. Florida House bill 1041 and its Senate companion, Senate bill 1312, take Florida Statute § 768.295 from “completely useless” to “hopeful.” Currently, Fla. Stat. § 768.295 is super anemic. It

I don’t know Jose Arcaya. I only know about him. I know that he is apparently a psychotherapist and a lawyer. I know that someone wrote a bad Yelp! review about him. I hired Arcaya to help with a case. I asked him at the outset if he had handled these matters before and he said yes. The ensuing performance

After reading this, if you are against SB 444, come back and click here: Choose SB 444, and voice your displeasure to this anti-freedom and anti-business bill. Anti-SLAPP statutes are there so that free expression doesn’t come along with a side helping of bankruptcy, if your speech offends the wrong person. They don’t protect you from liability for real defamation,

A long time back, I wrote about a Third Amendment claim in Nevada. (source) A few weeks ago, Judge Gordon rejected the plaintiff’s Third Amendment claim. (source)

My latest CNN column – sparked by a recent controversy, but illustrating an ongoing theme of enforced ignorance.

The TTAB is looking to add a member to its ranks. (source) This is the perfect candidate, since she seems to be explaining the TTAB’s prevailing view in Section 2(a) cases, with just about as much logic as any written decision handed down by the TTAB. [youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJMiKvnIUjQ&t=82]

This Boston Globe article discusses how fucked up imprisonment rates are. (source) It is pretty shocking how much more likely you are to go to jail if you’re black. Black high school drop outs have a nearly 70% chance of incarceration. You’re seven times more likely to go to jail if you’re black than if you’re white. But, this “all”

Because if you question the victim, you’re committing the crime of perpetrating “rape culture.” Well, you know, unless the story is complete bullshit. Then, I guess that “rape culture” is just a nasty way of pronouncing “the truth” or “due process.” See Erik Wemple, Charlottesville police make clear that Rolling Stone story is a complete crock.

In Knoxville, Tennessee, a Christian church put up what proved to be a controversial sign. The sign read, “Remember, Satan was the first to demand equal rights.” And a shitstorm ensued, of course. Some people found this to be a swipe at gays seeking equal rights. (source) I think, however, they’re looking at it the wrong way. Lets look at

Last week’s post “There will never be a nigger in SAE” has been sanitized for mass publication. See What we risk when we ban racist speech at CNN.com.

I need not collect a compendium of links to show you that American police are more out of control than the crips and the bloods ever were. But, you know what? Maybe if we got rid of the chickenshit laws like underage drinking, possession of marijuana, and the like, they wouldn’t have such an us-vs-them attitude. A 20 year old

Yavuz Baydar, in the Guardian, reports on the sad state of journalism in Turkey. (source) This is a boiled down version of his much longer study, available here. Large media companies kowtow to state pressure, and contribute to a culture of fear and accusations that try to keep independent media in check. Yet if alarm for the independence of the

And I applaud them for it. In the spirit of learning by doing, students drafted a bill to learn the process of how a bill becomes law. They proposed House Bill 373, an act establishing the Red Tail Hawk as the New Hampshire State Raptor. Even though it passed through the Environment and Agriculture committee with a majority vote, some

Irish is, without a doubt, the dominant immigrant culture in Massachusetts. Growing up there, in a town where Sicilians were the plurality, St. Patrick’s Day was always a little underwhelming. Instead, we celebrated St. Joseph’s day on March 19. Of course, every St. Joseph’s Day, someone would bring up the old story that St. Patrick’s day should be “our” day

Next time your server or your supermarket tries to sell you Salmon, ask where it comes from. If it is “Atlantic Salmon,” tell them to fuck off. Well, if you want to be polite, you can just say “no thank you, I don’t eat that garbage, and you shouldn’t be selling it, you soulless heathen fuckhead.” There is no such

Germany’s high court has ruled unconstitutional a North Rhine-Westphalia regulation prohibiting teachers from wearing Muslim headscarves. (source) The law bared religious symbols or actions that were deemed to be a “threat to harmonious co-existence.” (source) The ruling leaves an opening though. Judges at the Karlsruhe-based court in southwest Germany said a ban could only be justified if the wearing of

How could we ever forget? This week marked the five year anniversary of that ill-fated mission. (source)