News & Media

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

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

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

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

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,

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

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

Murum Aries Attigit. That phrase gets batted around a lot with my name attached to it. But, what does it really mean? Caesar described the concept in Commentarii de Bello Gallico. It literally translates to “the ram has touched the wall.” The “ram” meaning a battering ram, and “the wall” meaning a besieged city’s outer defenses. Under Roman Law, a general had the right to offer any terms to a besieged city. As long as the city submitted, the terms could be quite favorable. The Romans were quite civilized in this regard, and dispensing quite favorable, even beneficial, terms was

As someone who blogs, it bugs me when other people steal my work and re-post it on their own blogs. It bothers me even if they provide a link back. Why? Because fuck you. This is my work. If you want to quote part of it, you’re most welcome. You feel like you need to do a large block quote? Go ahead. You hate it and want to ridicule it? Go ahead. You think I’m awesome? You must be sick. What I’m getting at is fair use is fine, but just ripping off my shit is douchetastic. When I find

Yesterday, I wrote this: I personally have not seen The Interview. I watched the trailer for it. That is two minutes and 28 seconds of my life that I want back. I sure as hell don’t want to waste my time watching this movie. Well, of course, I do predict that one day I’ll be wasted enough to watch it, and then I will wake up feeling a bit of shame. (source) Today, stone cold sober, I said “fuck it” and watched the thing. Holy fuckballs was I wrong. It was awesome. Let me define “awesome.” To me, a movie

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court just issued a unanimous opinion in Commonwealth v. Johnson – a case in which William and Gail Johnson found themselves on the ass-end of a prosecution after engaging in a pretty persistent course of harassment. The Johnsons were convicted under Mass. Gen. L. c. 265, § 43A: Whoever willfully and maliciously engages in a knowing pattern of conduct or series of acts over a period of time directed at a specific person, which seriously alarms that person and would cause a reasonable person to suffer substantial emotional distress, shall be guilty of the crime of

If you ever read this blog, you’ll already know that I think the United States is a cowardly bunch of mewling pussies hiding behind some very out-of-date fairy tales to try and appear otherwise. It is as if Dick Cheney gelded us 5 minutes after Osama Bin Laden punched us in the nose. (see, see, see, see, see) While we peed our pants and dissolved more important freedoms than this, it is pretty telling that you can’t even take fucking pie filling on an airplane, because terrorism. (Enjoy this video for more of that) So, it was no surprise at

In some cultures, Dr. Theopolis would be considered “bling.” That is all

The motion we filed on behalf of Argentine journalist Jorge Lanata was granted yesterday. (Order) The order has some very inspiring language in it. When a judge cites to Madison’s writings, you know you’ve had a good day as a First Amendment lawyer. JAMES MADISON, THE FEDERALIST NO. 51 (“If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige

I have the privilege of representing Argentine journalist Jorge Lanata and The Center for Investigative Journalism in the Americas. I’ll let them speak for themselves – here – but suffice to say, I’m quite proud to be working for them.

On this day, in 1941, the Empire of Japan attacked the United States. We reacted by kicking the shit out of them. It wasn’t all a Frank Capra film. We made some little mistakes along the way, internment camps for Japanese and Italians, for example. But, for the most part, we went through the War with our ideals intact. In fact, WWII spurred us to be even better. We didn’t change who we were because some pussy-assed “Emperor” okayed an attack on us. When we rolled into a place, they called us “liberators.” That was when this country had courage

“[F]eminists adore trigger warnings because it reinforces the idea that women are ruled by their emotions, are incapable of recovering from trauma and are just generally hysterical nitwits unprepared to confront adulthood and reality.” (source)

I do not think much of Julien Blanc. That much has made its rounds on the internets due to a letter I wrote. I did not release that letter to the public, so I do not want to link to it. Despite having a very negative opinion of Blanc, I was dismayed to see this — that he has been denied a visa to enter the UK because of his thoughts. (source) As objectionable as I find Mr. Blanc, I find no justification to deny a guy entry to your country, because you’re afraid that he will speak bad words.