News & Media

By Robert Horne & Marc J. Randazza Franck Brinsolaro was a married father of two and a police officer. His assignment was to guard Stephane Charbonnier, editorial director of Charlie Hebdo. Brinsolaro’s protection was necessary because of constant death threats against Charbonnier from Muslim extremists. (source) Brinsolaro knew his job protecting Charbonnier was dangerous, but he also understood the importance of the idea of free thought and expression. We know this because he was married to a journalist. His wife, Ingrid Brinsolaro, is the editor of the Awakening Normand, Bernay. (source) A husband of a journalist and bodyguard to a marked man — marked because of his commitment to free expression. Brinsolaro was the real deal. This was no tragic

By Robert Horne As a copy editor, Mustapha Ourrad lived his life behind the scenes; cleaning up the work of his colleagues to make sure they put their best work out for readers. Copy editors know their lot in life is making others look good, and we do it with a great sense of pride. Copy editors don’t get the pats on the back or the awards, but without good copy editors, neither would those whose name appears on the plaque. I know because I once worked as a copy editor at local newspapers in the Southern United States. Ourrad was shot dead in the Jan. 7 attack on Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical weekly newspaper. As a copy editor,

By Alex J. Shepard Phillipe Honoré was born in Vichy, France in 1941. Which, all told, was not a great year to start out. He was a self-taught artist, cartoonist, and regular contributor to Charlie Hebdo who started his career early; he was only sixteen when his cartoons started getting picked up by French newspapers. Honoré is one of the original gang of Charlie Hebdo, as he was a contributor to its predecessor, Hara-Kiri Hebdo, along with John Cabut and Georges Wolinski. He also drew cartoons for several other publications, including Le Monde, Libération, and Les Inrockuptibles. (source). What struck me about this guy is that he made the last public statement of Charlie Hebdo before the attack. He drew

By Theresa M. Haar Bernard Verlhac was better known as Tignous. His pseudonom is a derivation of “teignoux” which translates roughly to “scabby” or “repugnant” or “nasty.” He was a cartoonist with a reputation for never being excessively polite, proper, or demure. And for that, those who knew him not only loved him, but respected him deeply. Tignous literally wrote the book on how to shock as many people as possible on all possible subjects. In addition to being a well-regarded political newspaper cartoonist for well over twenty years, Tignous authored nine books. One of his earlier works, published in 1999, was Guide Officiel du Politiquement Incorrect, or the Official Guide to Political Incorrectness, in which he provides a list

According to eyewitnesses, “Do you want to kill me?” were the last words spoken by police officer Ahmed Merabet. “Okay, chief” were the last words that he heard before he was shot in the head on a Paris sidewalk. Officer Merabet was 42 years old, married, and Muslim. Officer Merabet did not work at Charlie Hebdo. He was a beat cop, assigned to patrol the neighborhood where Charlie Hebdo’s offices are located. It was probably a pretty good beat. The neighborhood is known for the breadth of its fine dining and wines. Biographical information on Officer Merabet is still sparse on the World Wide Web. Unsurprisingly, to the media, his faith has become his defining attribute over the past 36 hours.

Frédéric Boisseau was the janitor at Charlie Hebdo. As such, there is not much I can find about him online. He was not an illustrious artist. He was not famous, until today. As I sat down to try to write 12 profiles of the 12 Charlie Hebdo martyrs, I came across his name. I thought at first, perhaps he had not really signed up for this. After all, he was apparently sweeping the lobby when they killed him. But, he worked at Charlie Hebdo for 15 years — including both before and after the 2011 bombing. (source) I can not find any photos of him. I can not find much more about him. For that reason, I wanted to write

Much has been written about Charlie Hebdo Editor, Stéphane Charbonnier. Obviously, since he was the man at the helm. But, let us remember that 11 other heroes died on January 7. I am doing my best to learn all of their names, and a little something about them. Pictured here is Georges Wolinski. He was the editor in chief of Charlie Hebdo from 1961-1970. (source) He is quoted as saying “humor is the shortest way from one man to another” (source) His obituary in Le Monde makes him sound like a consummate libertine. It describes him as having a taste for luxuries and an obsession with women. A party boy until the end. Nevertheless, he was married for 44 years.

I lower the flag to half mast today with the second heaviest heart I have ever felt upon doing so. I did not feel this way on 9/11. I felt this way on the day they bombed Boston – because that was my home. Today, our home was attacked. I don’t mean France. I don’t mean Paris. I don’t mean Charlie Hebdo. I mean our freedom of expression. Ours. A group of lowlives attacked and killed at least twelve people at the offices of a satirical magazine for no other reason than they disliked its sense of humor. They believed that their religion trumped anyone’s right to mock it. They believed that their umbrage meant that they had the right

Dershowiz moved to intervene. Analysis to follow, but the documents are here: Motion to Intervene Declaration of Alan Dershowitz

Remember the Harvard prof who tormented a restaurant over $4? He’s reconsidered his prior position: “Having reflected on my interaction with Ran, including what I said and how I said it, it’s clear that I was very much out of line,” Edelman wrote. “I aspire to act with great respect and humility in dealing with others, no matter what the situation. Clearly I failed to do so. I am sorry, and I intend to do better in the future. I have reached out to Ran and will apologize to him personally as well.” (source) Good enough for me. We all fuck up.

It is about time – Flori-duh is finally churning out married same sex couples. All I can say is “welcome to first class citizenship.” (source)

A woman by the name of Virginia Roberts claims that a convicted sex offender, Jeffery Epstein, “trafficked” her to rich, powerful, and famous people while she was underage. One of those people is Prince Andrew, and another is Alan Dershowitz. (source) Riiiiight. I suppose that anything is possible. But, Dersh had this to say: “I’m planning to file disbarment charges against the two lawyers who signed this petition without even checking the manifests of airplanes or travel itineraries, et cetera,” he said. “I’m also challenging the young woman and the lawyers to level those charges against me outside of the courtroom, so that I can sue them for defamation…..Finally, I’m challenging the woman to file criminal charges against me because

Harper Collins is getting some deserved flak for omitting Israel from its world atlas specifically designed for Middle Eastern markets. (source) The map simply omits Israel, as if it does not exist. Collins Bartholomew, the subsidiary of HarperCollins that specialises in maps, had told The Tablet that including Israel in the Middle East Atlas would have been “unacceptable” to its customers in the Gulf and that the amendment incorporated “local preferences”. (source) After international pressure, Harper Collins withdrew the book and is “pulping” the entire edition. As it should. I don’t care how anyone feels about Israel. You’re allowed to love, hate, or meh Israel as you choose. But, using textbooks to try and pre-program kids into your pre-existing political

Wow, I would have thought that Michael Palin wrote this, not Sarah. Aren’t you the same anti-beef screamers blogging hate from your comfy leather office chairs, wrapped in your fashionable leather belts above your kickin’ new leather pumps you bought because your celebrity idols (who sport fur and crocodile purses) grinned in a tabloid wearing the exact same Louboutins exiting sleek cowhide covered limo seats on their way to some liberal fundraiser shindig at some sushi bar that features poor dead smelly roe (that I used to strip from our Bristol Bay-caught fish, and in a Dillingham cannery I packed those castoff fish eggs for you while laughing with co-workers about the suckers paying absurdly high prices to party with

Brian Tannebaum, ethics lawyer to the stars, recently tweeted that he would be ok with a complete shut-down of the legal profession from December 23 to January 2. I thought that sounded like a good idea too. We have to take all these bullshit CLE hours about recognizing substance abuse. We have rules that we have to “be nice,” even though those simply escalate the number of bar complaints. Meanwhile, the focus of such rules are what? Simply to deal with the stress that law practice can bring. Tannebaum’s idea sounds like a good start. Why not just have “law vacations.” Periods of time in which you are ethically prohibited from practicing law, unless it is a bona fide emergency

I was the keynote speaker at the US Virgin Islands bar association meeting a few weeks ago. My talk was on online defamation, and a challenge to the USVI to pass an Anti-SLAPP law. But, the conference itself was quite heavy on the discussion of marijuana decriminalization — in particular, the ethics of advising clients on marijuana issues. The USVI, along with 20 states have decriminalized small amounts of marijuana. In addition, we have medical marijuana in 23 states. (source) But, as most know, the federal government remains entrenched in its position that marijuana is illegal, dangerous, and scary. Nevertheless, the Department of Justice released a memorandum in October 2009 stating that although medicinal use of marijuana was in violation

In honor of Cliff Heller, who merged with the infinite on this day in 2006, the Legal Satyricon flag is lowered to half mast and there will be no posts today. If you happen to find yourself with a bottle of tequila nearby, I would like to invite you to take a shot (no salt) in his honor. If you have none, Makers’ Mark will do. Blue skies Bueno Rodriguez. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAblYFFx0Cw]

These are the top search terms for yesterday’s traffic to this site.

USA Today has a pretty damn good editorial calling us out on the fact that the American Eagle has turned into a scared kitten. From Ebola, to terrorism, to academia’s paranoia about hurting the little snowflakes’ feelings, to the initial response to The Interview — we’ve lost The Spirit of ’76, to say the least. Part of the explanation for the fear is the indelible scar left by 9/11. Part is the fear of lawyers and lawsuits in an overly litigious society. And part comes from a cynical age that has eroded faith in so many institutions. All of these need to be tempered. The world’s greatest and most powerful nation deserves people who exhibit backbone and have the confidence

Although Sony reversed course, this post by Brad Willis is still spot on. Capitulation. That’s a hell of a word. Last time it occurred to me, it rhymed with something called The Patriot Act. Ask yourself this: in the name of security, in the name of Protecting the Homeland, in the name of protecting what America holds dear, what have we as a nation given up? What ideals did we surrender in the name of keeping us safe? (source) He then gives us a laundry list of the civil liberties we gave away in the false name of “security.” [I]f you’re mad at Sony because you’re afraid it makes America look weak and willing to give up its ideals in