News & Media

By Robert Horne Friends describe Jean Cabut, 77, as a man who tried to laugh as much as possible. An interviewer once asked the esteemed French cartoonist if laughter and drawing could bring him through the economic crisis of the press. (source) His answer is haunting. “I try. You can try, but sometimes there are delicate subjects. Sometimes laughter hurts,

I hate to interrupt the obituaries of the Charlie Hebdo martyrs (and I use that term with all reverence). I had promised myself that we would publish nothing else until all 12 were done. But this story demands that I interrupt. I am sure that all of the Charlie Hebdo 12 would approve. Raif Badawi is a Saudi Blogger who

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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,

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

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