News & Media
Steubenville SLAPP suit dismissed
The Steubenville SLAPP suit has been dismissed. Although I was on the case, I really only played a minor supporting role. The real work in the case was done by Thomas Haren and Jeffrey Nye.
Proposed New Porn Rule: No porn with your kids
A few weeks ago, I declared that I have two rules for porn: Rule #1: The subjects must be adults Rule #2: The subjects must be consenting adults I am not sure if I should add this as a third rule: Proposed Rule #3: The subjects should not be in a pornographic film with their children, of age or not. A mother-daughter duo is, apparently, launching a porn career together. (Oh… one guess where these beauts are from). The mother and daughter claim that this is not technically incest because they refrain from making physical contact with each other during sex, while participation of a third party. Although in the video it may seem as though they are touching or
Snake hunting, anyone?
Joe Patrice, over at Above the Law, made me laugh out loud with this: “Florida, the national leader in providing reasons why America can’t have nice things…” But then he goes on to talk about how Flori-duh is sponsoring a great Burmese Python hunt, in the Everglades, with machetes and guns! There are even PRIZES! A $1,500 prize to whoever kills the most, and $1,000 to whoever kills the longest one. Sure, its not a lot of money. It wouldn’t even be worth sending my law clerk out there, at her billable rate. But sweet christ on a cracker, swinging machetes through a swamp on a mission to kill huge prehistoric sized snakes that could, theoretically, eat you? That sounds
Could we just have all judges watch "The Big Lebowski?"
The National Judicial College should require every judge that attends to watch The Big Lebowski. Further, every state should require a person to view it before they can assume the powers of a judge. It would result in a lot less unconstitutional orders from judges who seem to not know any better when it comes to issuing prior restraint orders. Walter Sobchak made it pretty damn clear when he shouted “FOR YOUR INFORMATION, THE SUPREME COURT HAS ROUNDLY REJECTED PRIOR RESTRAINT!” I mean, ’nuff said, right? Even if you watch The Big Lebowski, you will be infected with a bit of Dudeism, which will never hurt when you are trying to judge cases. But, more to the point of this
Babies testing positive for marijuana? Not so fast…
Turns out there is an innocent explanation.
Dickens was a Communist?
A friend of mine posted this as his facebook update: I re-read A Christmas Carol not long ago and was surprised that such a piece of political hack work should have won such a place in so many people’s hearts. Of course there is a political message in much of Dickens, but this goes all the way into simplistic, caricatured propaganda. Scrooge was merely a capitalist, investing in a business and providing employment, yet is compelled by that most odious tactic–guilt mongering–to redistribute the earnings that were rightfully his. Lenin would have loved this story. So, add that to all the other deceptive myths and fables at this time of year. I guess I agree. Dickens’ story would have been
"Sir, please turn off your cell phone."
“Sir, please turn off your cell phone” might finally be a thing of the past. (source). You know why you should turn off your cell phone in flight? Because it sucks the battery life out of it as it looks for a tower for a couple of hours.
A Christmas miracle of interfaith unity, and how it proves that the Pope and the Prophet Abraham both suck
On Friday, Pope Benedict said “In some countries, the Catholic Church has already joined forces with Jews, Muslims and members of other religions….” Yes, the three great Abrhamic religions finally got back together for a common purpose! To what? To end hunger? To end prejudice? To end war, pestilence, or honey boo boo videos? No, to end gay marriage. (source) So sayeth the first Pope who also happened to be a member of the Nazi party, although he was just a kid then. On this Christmas, I hope that the spirit of the holiday really does get into you. I have it. I’m sitting here, trying to like my enemies a little more, trying to feel affection for those I
Good Advice
Just in case you ponder the age-old question, “should I stick candied ham to grandpa’s face?” H/T: Rogier
Happy Christmas. Fuck You.
Denham Springs, Louisiana resident Sarah Childs was in a dispute with her neighbors. So she exercised her First Amendment rights and created a special holiday message just for them. The neighbors were not happy about this and complained. A lot. And Miss Sarah fought back. Source. I’ve composed this Christmas poem just for her. ‘Twas the month before Christmas and all through the ‘hood The neighbors all gossiped that Sarah’s no good. Angry and tired her response did not linger A Holiday light show comprised of a finger. “Outrageous! Offensive! How dare she!” They whined They called the cops and so she was fined. She took down the show and felt quite dejected Until the ACLU interjected. The attack on
Instant Manly Man, Just Add Assault Rifle.
About two years ago, Bushmaster Firearms rolled out a new marketing campaign for its AR Platform assault rifles. It apparently started as a sweepstakes that looks to have evolved from there. It consists of a series of “manhood questions” that are designed to elicit responses that prove the test taker is a “real man”. Anyone who passes the test gets a “Man Card” to show off to all his friends. If a man is caught behaving in an unmanly way (such as doing Pilates or spending more than $8 on a haircut) his friends can revoke his Man Card. Source. The only way said sissy la-la can earn his man card back is to purchase the Bushmaster assault rifle of
Federal Circuit’s COCKSUCKER Decision Sucks
As many long-time readers know, Section 2(a) of the Trademark Act is one of my pet peeves. This is the section of the Trademark Act that gives pretty much unfettered discretion to a trademark examiner to deny a trademark registration on the basis that the mark itself is “immoral” or “scandalous.” The Federal Circuit just decided In Re Fox, in which it reaffirmed some very bad law, and in which it lacked the integrity to address some Constitutional fictions upon which most 2(a) denials are based. “[n]o trademark by which the goods of the applicant may be distinguished from the goods of others shall be refused registration on the principal register on account of its nature unless it[] (a) [c]onsists
Sunshine is the best disinfectant – the Steubenville Rape Case
The mainstream media has noticed that something is amiss in Steubenville, Ohio. (Rape Case Unfolds on Web and Splits City). And Jezebel gives credit where it is due — to a blogger who refused to let the story die. (We Wouldn’t Know About the Steubenville Rape Case If It Wasn’t for the Blogger Who ‘Complicated’ Things). I won’t comment beyond my earlier post on the case, because I have been brought in to help defend the blogger.
Proving Yourself Wrong About Things You Think You're Right About
By Christopher Duston This is a story about hypothesis and fact-checking on the gun-violence debate. And about how proving you are wrong about something is better the thinking you are right. I was listening to an interview on NPR with Jack Levin, a sociologist and criminologist from Northwestern Northeastern University in Boston. He commented that there are not very many similarities between the shooters in these mass killings, making it hard for policy-makers to target the problem. However, he said most of them had some kind of “history of depression.” I did not verify the accuracy of that statement, but that suddenly made sense to me – it is at least believable that citizens in a 21st century United States
"Honor is everything here" … on this day in 1943
This is just an amazing story.
Daniel Inouye
If you were a member of the 442nd in World War II, you were per se a bad ass. Daniel Inouye, super bad ass. He pulls the pin on a grenade, gets shot in the arm, and then pulls the grenade from his own severed arm to toss it at a nazi. Yeah, I dare you to be half that much of a bad ass. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MCHjb50S20] H/T: bro-in-law
Deadspin Weighs in on Raanan Katz Suit
As some of you remember, Raanan Katz sued Google and others for copyright infringement this summer over a Blogger user’s publication of an “unflattering” photograph of him. Today, popular sports blog Deadspin has the story. Beyond the copyright suit, the Deadspin piece goes on to discuss a Florida trial court’s order in separate, concurrent litigation that Katz has brought against the same defendant as his copyright suit. This is a very complicated case. You know a lot of ins, a lot of outs, a lot of what-have-yous, but in particular, Deadspin addresses a decision by Florida’s 11th Judicial Circuit enjoining the defendant from writing further about Katz, since what the Defendant has written thus far is “arguably defamatory.” (source.) As
This Domain Name Seized from Crystal Cox
A number of domain names, formerly registered by the well-known cyber-extortionist, Crystal Cox, now forward to this post. On Nov. 30., the World Intellectual Property Organization awarded six of them to me in Randazza v. Cox, WIPO Case No. D2012-1525. (Cox’s commentary on the case is here) On Dec. 14, the United States District Court in Las Vegas issued a TRO seizing the rest. See Randazza v. Cox, 2:12-cv-02040 (D. Nev. Dec. 14, 2012) I prefer not to comment much on the cases themselves, as there has been plenty of that from third party media sources. However, I have put up this post so that any of the seized domain names can point to this post. If you represent any
Guest Post: Silence is not an option
By Catherine Bonier Silence is not an option. Something must be done. A tragedy. Children are gone. The internet is ablaze with righteous anger. The news cycle begins and the story in every detail is unavoidable. Experts analyze each fact and angle, and politicians promise a response. Social media is the answer. We post images as badges of belief – a beautiful young teacher is a hero, a survivalist mother is to blame. There is no time to waste. The horror amplifies the issues – guns, mental health care, violence. We must act now. We must harness raw emotion. Anything else would be cowardly, shameful. All we know is that this window of fear and opportunity will soon snap shut.
Dead Children…
The tragedy of innocent children dying violently at the hands of a complete stranger should make us all sad. And I am not talking about Newtown. I’m talking about Pakistan and Yemen. You tell me how those children’s lives are worth less than the lives of the kids in Newtown. There is no moral difference between the dead kids in Newtown and the dead kids in Pakistan and Yemen, except for the fact that your tax dollars directly paid to kill the brown kids — the brown kids were killed in your name.
