News & Media
Marine who criticized Obama seeks shelter under the First Amendment
See Washington Post. My military legal experience is limited. But, if there’s one thing I learned when I was in the Army — there’s no First Amendment on base. That said, it seems perverse that a guy can’t engage in political speech just because he is in the military. UPDATE: Eric Mayer, who knows from this stuff, tells me that
What makes Crystal Cox tick?
Wow… I never really asked what got Crystal Cox all interested in the whole Summit Bankruptcy thing. Philly Law Blog asked that question — and answers it.
Perspective
Last night, I had to make a little visit to the emergency room. (BTW, everything is just fine) You know how the ER goes. My problem was pretty big, so they rushed me right in. Then out. Then in. Test. Wait. Test. Wait. My wife gets there, and is amazed at how calm I was. Normally, being made to wait
WHAT THE HELL IS OOZING OUT OF OUR GROUND?????
Now THIS is what I call an “investigative blogger!” Personally, I think this may be a gay conspiracy Please, spread the word. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON???? [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c6HsiixFS8]
You're all suspect!
I’m late to the party on this one, so I won’t comment too heavily on the Supreme Court’s recent decision that American citizens can be strip-searched after arrests for any infraction whatsoever. (NYT article here) I’d just like to suggest how we deal with this. If there are any cops out there in the DC area who still believe in
Who killed chivalry? Our "pussified legal system"
Mike at Crime & Federalism makes a good case for not giving a shit when you see someone getting harassed or picked on. (here) Essentially his point is that if she’s not actually getting raped or killed, you have more of a chance of winding up in prison for being a “White Knight,” so better to let small petty annoyances
Carlos Miller on Crystal Cox
Color me embarrassed. Carlos Miller is one of my First Amendment heroes. He fights for the rights of photographers everywhere. I’m not talking as some cushy lawyer. He is in there, in the trenches, and gets arrested for it. He wrote about the Crystal Cox extortion case back in December, and I missed the story. He’s done as good a
New York Times chimes in on the Crystal Cox Story
David Carr brings us “Judge Clarifies That Bloggers Can Be Journalists (Just Not One in Particular)” this column on the Crystal Cox “bloggers vs. journalists” story. The first time this story broke, much of the reporting on it was sloppy. Bloggers and “traditional” journalists alike all latched on to the narrative that Judge Hernandez locked bloggers out of the journalism
TSA can't handle the heat of criticism
Ars Technica reports: Bruce Schneier, the security expert who coined the term “security theater” to describe the Transportation Security Agency’s airport screening procedures, was uninvited from speaking on a Monday Congressional panel at the insistence of the TSA. (source)
April Fool's Day
For those of you who did not pick up on it already, yesterday’s post on Section 230 reforms was an April Fool’s Day prank – concocted by Eric Turkewitz. Read his deconstruction of it here.
Section 230 Amendment strips websites of immunity from anonymous commenters
Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, who is not particularly known for his friendliness toward the First Amendment, is at it again. As chairman of the Senate homeland security committee, Lieberman urged Twitter to stop hosting pro-Taliban tweets last fall, in addition to persuading Internet companies to remove blog posts that promote terrorism. It appears he’s now taking the idea one step further
How Crystal Cox is helping to prove the strength of the First Amendment
If you read yesterday’s post, Judge rules, again, that blogger Crystal Cox is not a journalist. You know why? Because she ISN’T a journalist, it likely made you throw up in your mouth a bit. But, in a way, this nutcase is helping to prove why, when confronted with bad speech, the best cure is more speech. When she turned
Judge rules, again, that blogger Crystal Cox is not a journalist. You know why? Because she ISN'T a journalist.
For those of you not familiar with the the Crystal Cox “bloggers are not journalists” case, it was a bit of a blogosphere kerfuffle when U.S. District Judge Marco Hernandez ruled that Cox is not a journalist under the definition of Oregon’s Shield Law. A number of poorly-researched blog posts went up thereafter, with the blogosphere rallying behind her cause.
Massachusetts court strikes down ordinance limiting permits for adult businesses
By Laura Tucker A U.S. District Court in Mendon, Mass., granted summary judgment in favor of Showtime Entertainment, allowing the company a special permit to open a live nude dancing venue and invalidating an ordinance that gave the zoning board too broad of authority to deny permits to similar businesses. In its order, the court reasoned that even if the
Two Wheeled Awesomeness
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=K-nknEIXa84] Disclaimer: I am trademark counsel to Ryca Motors. Super Brag: I am trademark counsel to Ryca Motors.
Economic Diversity by Legalizing Prostitution and Marijuana
KLAS-TV Channel 8 reports on different industries that could help the Nevada economy, including the adult film industry. Attorney Marc Randazza, who represents some adult film companies in Nevada, says about those companies in the story: They’ve filled facilities that are otherwise empty, they’re spending money on rents, they’re spending money buying cars. Read More…
Spam Notes: Randazza
Spam Notes author Venkat Balasubramani recently wrote about attorney Marc Randazza’s progress in the Righthaven litigation. Balasubramani writes: Randazza (and others at the Randazza Legal Group) deserve serious kudos for taking down Righthaven, taking away their domain name, and their intellectual property.
Verrr Nice! NOT!
Kazakh Maria Dmitrienko won the gold medal in a shooting competition in Kuwait. While she stood on the podium, they played the Kazakh National Anthem — except it wasn’t the real one… it was Borat’s version. Apparently, the organizers accidentally downloaded it from the internet. That’s what you get for using BitTorrent to get your music, dumbasses. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B39cenrIQW0]
The End of Righthaven
KNPR’s State of Nevada program featured Wired Magazine’s David Kravets. The Randazza Legal Group is mentioned starting at 11 a.m. Listen to more….