News & Media
Say What You Like About the Tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at Least it’s an Ethos.
I’ve had a soft spot for banned books for many years. It started in high school when my English teacher produced from the dank and cloistered School Board file room a list denouncing certain books as verboten because my fragile teenage mind would be forever ruined by the filth contained on the pages therein. Needless to say, I spent the next day in a used bookstore locating and purchasing as many of the verboten as I could find. And I am proud to say my home library has since become a cornucopia of evil tomes that the thought police would
From the "I'm So Clever" File
Federal Judge Slaps Back Dino M. Zaffina in Darts Trademark Battle – Los Angeles News – The Informer Odd story. Basically, some dart fan joins the Southern California Darts Association. They snub him by not using his middle initial, unlike, say, the SAG forcing Michael Fox and Jim Bullock to add middle initials. So, he finds out that there is no corporation with that name (as the former corporate entity lapsed). He registers a corporation with that name and tries to stop the association from using that name. After some surprising initial success, he met with a big ole Fail.
Michael Lucas Pays Homage to a Friend
By Laura Tucker Michael Lucas of Lucas Entertainment recently wrote a heartbreaking post about the suicide of former porn actor turned personal trainer Dror Barak. Lucas describes Barak as “shy, smart, sweet-natured, and serious,” someone who helped him out at the gym because Barak was worried Lucas would hurt himself. Lucas takes aim at the commenters on the websites reporting Barak’s death, countering their cold-hearted sneers with warm stories about his friend. Props to Lucas for calling out those who chose to make assumptions about a man they didn’t know. Nice people don’t do porn, one commenter said. Well, here’s
The Boy Scouts are gay for heterosexuals
by Jon Blevins Most understand that the Boys Scouts of America are a private entity. Further, most understand that the Boy Scouts employ religion in its teachings. Thus, most understand that the Boy Scouts probably can keep homosexuals from its ranks. The problem with the Boy Scouts is that it cannot create a rational argument why homosexuals should not be allowed to be troop leaders. For example, in defense of its overt bigotry, the Boy Scouts explained: “Our focus is on delivering the nation’s foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training. Our mission does not include teaching young
Anonymous commenter hit with lawsuit
Former Las Vegas Chief Deputy District Attorney Mary Brown and her husband, defense attorney Phil Brown, filed a complaint against an anonymous reader who commented on an online newspaper article that Mary Brown “had sexual relations in order to get promoted.” (Source). The Browns claim that the comment is false and harmed their reputations, as well as caused them emotional distress. The Browns served a subpoena to the newspaper for the identity of the anonymous commenter. An attorney for the anonymous commenter said that anonymous speech is protected by the First Amendment and is looking to quash the subpoena.
Why Journalism Isn't a Useless Major
By Laura Tucker As a former journalist, I’m used to being scorned in the court of public opinion. About the only profession regarded with more derision is the legal profession, so I suppose as a current law student, that means I’m moving down in the world. The derision continues with The Daily Beast, which recently released a list of “Most Useless Majors,” on which journalism was named prominently. I find The Daily Beast’s reasoning behind the choices suspect, questioning the logic behind these lists as any good journalist should. For one, it seems as though the reason for including these
The Righthaven Experiment: A Journalist Wonders If a Copyright Troll Was Right to Sue Him
ABA Journal features an article from a journalist who was sued by Righthaven, LLC, although the suit was later dropped. The writer speaks with attorney Marc Randazza, who represented multiple defendants in the Righthaven litigation. The article states: Consider Marc Randazza, who is probably the lawyer who has done the most to destroy Righthaven: His court-ordered legal fees for vigorously defending a Righthaven target forced the company to sell its own domain name. Read More….
Do NOT cite Wikipedia…unless you are in Federal Court
To the chagrin of Legal Writing professors nationwide, citing Wikipedia as a source is gaining traction in Federal Court. The evolution from a question “should a judge cite Wikipedia?” to Federal Court routinely citing the peer edited, open source encyclopedia has been quick. It appears the marketplace of ideas is willing to evolve with technology. Also, this is a testiment to the integrity of Wikipedia and its editors. Though, in the interest of full disclosure, to make a point in law school, I edited an article about the War of 1812. I replaced the Secretary of War with my name.
Crazy, meet Racists. Racists, meet Crazy.
Man skipped in line allegedly beats McDonald’s manager with bat | www.wftv.com. Come for the workers’ compensation story, stay for the racist commentary. Seems like some guy has been reading the Consumerist too much and decided that the executive e-mail carpet bomb was insufficient. So, he registered his complaint with management with a baseball bat. Legal stuff: while I know MA law better than FL, generally, he can collect workers’ comp, and file a third-party suit against the customer. Maybe a products liability claim against Louisville Slugger?? Oh, and the comp carrier would have subrogation rights in any third party
U.S. v. Heicklen Explained – a Win for the Wizened and Worried
By Larry Sutter, Special to the Legal Satyricon The Southern District of New York recently issued its order dismissing the United State’s case against Julian Heicklen. The order is available here. While this is an interesting case about the protection of speech advocating jury nullification, what is even more interesting is the story behind it – from both the people involved to the affect it has had on New York’s legal community. The Defendant: An 80-year-old retired chemistry professor who believes in freedom and liberty. Like, a lot. He stands in front of the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan handing
Why I feel very little pain
I knew that letting David Mamet ghost write my daily speech was good for my health. Now lets go play hide and go fuck yourself.
Bitch of the Century
I hereby pledge that anyone who ever works for me will not be treated like this.
ABA Journal Magazine Tackles Righthaven in May 2012 Issue
Remember Righthaven? While it has been stripped of its intellectual property and claims against it keep piling up, the fat lady has not yet sung – and the ABA has noticed. The May 2012 ABA Journal’s cover story is the aftermath of Righthaven. Eriq Gardner, who Righthaven once sued for posting an image of an exhibit from one of its court pleadings, examined both sides of the copyright enforcement equation. Marc Randazza and Ron Coleman are quoted in the lengthy piece, which centers on Righthaven but touches on the RIAA’s litigation campaign, the mass-joinder suits brought by porn studios, and
Every Now and Then, Arizona Gets it Right.
This weekend is the Phoenix Pride Festival. It’s true that most Pride celebrations are later in the year; usually June or July. A friend asked me why so early for we here in Arizona. The answer is deceptively simple. Have you BEEN to Phoenix in July?? And yesterday it was hot- over 100 degrees- which is warm even by Arizona standards for this time of year. That didn’t stop the Mesa Police Department and even a couple of members of the Maricopa County Sherriff’s office from marching in uniform in this year’s Pride Parade. Source. Mesa Police Chief Frank Milstead’s
Your tax dollars at work
The FCC is still insisting that it couldn’t possibly be wrong, and is appealing the Janet Jackson nipple case to the Supreme Court. (MSNBC)
Happy 4/20
Ever wonder where “420” came from? No it isn’t the police code for “marijuana smoking in progress.” The true story ishere. here. Note: For some reason, there was a link to the Honey Badger video in the original post. Oops.
Challenging The Copyrightability Of Porn
Attorney Marc Randazza wrote an article for XBiz discussing the copyrightability of pornography. Randazza writes: In its current efforts to stop theft of its content, the adult industry is once again confronted with a twin-engined erotophobic attack with new life being breathed into an old theory by feminists (both of the male and female variety). The idea that porn can not be copyrighted is not new. Read More…
Tupac Hologram at Coachella
This is pretty bad ass. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=TGbrFmPBV0Y#!]
Drinking, Large Breasts, and the Law
PSL woman Maureen Raymond says her ‘big breasts’ hindered her DUI test performance, affidavit states. While one might think think I posted this article for the prurient interest, it is actually because of a statement in the article that annoyed me. I quote: It wasn’t clear whether large breasts could be cited as part of a DUI case defense or whether case law supports such a contention. Okay, Will Greenlee from Scripps, why did you feel the need to include this masterful insight? It wasn’t clear to whom, to you? How much research did you do to check? What is