News & Media
Chinese Star Of Hollywood Films Accused Of Trying To SLAPP Down American-Based Journalist
TechDirt reports that Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi sued U.S.-based Chinese dissident newspaper, Boxun, accusing them of defamation. Attorney Marc Randazza represents defendant Watson Meng, and recently filed a bond motion, discussed in the post: Mr. Meng was deposed three times. Mr. Meng produced reams of documents. The Plaintiff conducted three expert depositions. Throughout all of this, the Plaintiff has not
Greg Lukianoff: How Campus Censorship Breeds Incivility, An interview with Wendy Kaminer
I am both psyched and honored that Marc asked me to contribute to The Legal Satyricon. I am a First Amendment lawyer and president of FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. Marc and I know each other through the First Amendment Lawyers Association, a group of bad-ass attorneys that have devoted their careers to defending the rights that
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.
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
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.
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
"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)
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
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
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
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
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
"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
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
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
