News & Media
Booze, Mobile Homes and Cannons, oh my
By J. DeVoy San Diego County authorities are investigating the death of a 33-year-old woman who appears to have been killed by a homemade cannonball while her four-year-old child slept nearby. (source.) The victim’s husband, whose name has not been released, was making a homemade cannon with a friend around midnight on March 6, 2012; the cannon exploded, apparently sending the cannonball into the mobile home, striking his wife. (source.) Alcohol is believed to be a factor in the incident, which occurred in a Potrero mobile home park, on Mexico’s border. (source.)
Bieber Bang Bus Presents
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI2T69rNRZM]
Should Sandra Fluke Sue Rush Limbaugh?
Jeff Norman of the Huffington Post discusses whether a woman who was the subject of several comments by Rush Limbaugh about contraception and sex out of wedlock can sue the commentator for defamation. The post cites to a blog post by attorney Marc Randazza: First Amendment attorney Marc John Randazza comes right out and says Fluke has no “basis for a defamation claim.” Read More…
Judge strips Righthaven of rights to 278 copyrights and its trademark
VegasInc reports that a U.S. District Court judge stripped Righthaven of copyrights on March 5. According to the article, Randazza said the copyrights to be auctioned likely will be sold for memorabilia value, though some defendants may want to buy them just to make sure Righthaven doesn’t try to revive its lawsuits with amended copyright assignments. Read More…
Hung Jury in Ira Isaacs Obscenity Trial!
A Los Angeles jury was asked to put filmmaker Ira Isaacs in prison because the government didn’t like his movies. AVN reports that the trial ended today with a hung jury (source). Sources say the jury was 10-2 to convict. Here’s a big Legal Satyricon shout out to those two patriotic Americans who upheld the principle that a free society does not imprison its citizens because the government does not like the content of their books, movies, or photographs.
The "Nude Body Scanners" protect us!
I just got an email from a reader. Name: REDACTED Email: REDACTED@REDACTED.com Message: Mr. Randazza, I know your loathing of the TSA is something of legend among the blawg world, so I thought you might enjoy this little expose on the complete worthlessness of the airport scanning technology. http://tsaoutofourpants.wordpress.com/2012/03/06/1b-of-nude-body-scanners-made-worthless-by-blog-how-anyone-can-get-anything-past-the-tsas-nude-body-scanners/ Yup, pretty much. Enjoy it? In a sick “I want to choke everybody in a blue shirt” way. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olEoc_1ZkfA]
Mary holding the dead Jesus
I mean this without a shred of sarcasm: This is an absolutely awesome study of various images of what I was raised to call The Pietà.
Navajo Nation Sues Urban Outfitters for Trademark Infringement
Last week, the Navajo nation sued Urban Outfitters for trademark infringement, trademark dilution, unfair competition, and a violation of the Indian Arts and Crafts Act for selling products branded as “Navajo” at its stores. The products? “Hipster Panties,” socks, and of all things, a flask. Yes, a flask. Complaint here. The incredible un-coolness of that just stuns me. Urban Outfitters should know better than to use a Native American tribe’s name on its products without permission. But, to not only misappropriate the Navajo nation’s name, but to put it on a flask? Really? Really? I’m certainly not the most politically correct guy, and I won’t be winning any sensitivity awards this year. But, you don’t need to be an anthropologist
Is animal conservation always a good idea?
Isn’t the point of natural selection to get rid of animals like this?
All Righthaven's Intellectual Property Are Belong To Us
So sayeth the Honorable Philip Pro of the District of Nevada. (source)
Lawyer billing rates
Law.com conducted a survey of lawyers’ billing rates. Nationwide, partners averaged $661 per hour, returning to their 2009 average after a dip to $639 per hour in 2010. Average for associates last year was $445 per hour, up six bucks from the year before. (source) I gotta raise my rates….
How much for a blowjob in a Florida trailer park?
Usually about twenty bucks according to the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office.
TSA Agents DO have a choice
My hatred for the TSA is well documented. Examples here, here, here, and especially here. For those of you who say “they are just doing their jobs,” well they have a choice. They can quit, like this guy did.
Quiz: Which religious cult slices up its babies' genitals and then sucks on them?
There’s this strange cult where they cut off a piece of a little girl’s genitals, and then the witch doctor who does it sucks the little girl’s vagina. Isn’t that disgusting? Barbaric? Stone age? Oh, wait, its not little girls, its little boys. The “cult” is a sect of judaism. As part of the ultra-orthodox Jewish circumcision ritual—known as metzitzah b’peh—the rabbi or mohel removes blood from the wound with his mouth. (source) Yeah, and occasionally, when the mohel has herpes, he gives it to the baby. (source). Sometimes then, the baby dies. (source) Nice fuckin ritual you got there, guys.
Leaked stripper video leads to extortion charges in New Mexico
In what has been dubbed “Lapdance-gate” by local New Mexico media, Sunland Parks’ mayor pro-tem and city manager entered not-guilty pleas for extortion charges. District Attorney Amy Orlando alleges that City Manager Daniel Salinas and Mayor Pro Tem Jaime Aguilera attempted to blackmail mayoral candidate Gerardo Hernandez into withdrawing from the race with a recording of Hernandez receiving a lapdance in his campaign office. (Source) After Hernandez says he refused, the video was leaked to the media. New Mexico district court judge Lisa Schultz denied a reduction in both defendants’ bail. The district attorney said she felt the risk of flight for the defendants was large. It’s not the fact that the video was leaked to the media that makes
Judge rules court has no personal jurisdiction over Faceporn.com
U.S. District Court Judge Nathanael Cousins recently denied Facebook’s motion for default judgment against Faceporn.com, a website operating out of Norway, for trademark infringement. Judge Cousins said the court lacked personal jurisdiction over the defendants and recommended that the case be dismissed. Facebook originally brought suit against Thomas Pedersen and Retro Invent citing ten causes of action, including trademark dilution, violating the Facebook mark and wall mark, among others. The court concluded that Facebook failed to show that the defendants had purposefully directed their activities at California, pursuant to the three-pronged Calder test. In order to show that a defendant expressly aimed the intentional conduct at a forum state, the Ninth Circuit requires that the plaintiff show “something more.” The court
My Friend Dahmer
John Backderf, author of the comic strip, “The City” was buddies with Jeffrey Dahmer in high school. On Thursday, he is releasing a graphic novel about Dahmer’s high school years. (source) He says he waited 21 years because he didn’t want to jump on any exploitative bandwagon. It’s been 21 years, so it’s not like exploiting the story for personal gain. If I am, I’m doing a lousy job of it – I should’ve rushed something into print a year after the crimes came to light. I just didn’t want to be a part of the scandal, the sheer feeding frenzy. I wanted to tell a story that I thought was very unusual and compelling, and I wanted to do
(Former) Judge Willie Singletary – Preacher Mode? Judge Mode? Its all Crazy Mode
When Willie Singletary ran for traffic court judge in 2007, he was described as “a scofflaw of major proportions” by the Philadelphia Inquirer. As of primary day, Singletary, 26, owed $11,427.50 for 55 violations, including reckless driving, driving without a license, careless driving, driving without registration, and driving without insurance. In fact, a bench warrant had been issued for his arrest – a fact made public after the election by Bernard Strain, who lost in the Democratic primary for Traffic Court but who won a Republican nomination. (source) His dad paid the fines, and claimed that “roughly half” of the violations were racked up by Willie’s brother. (source) His license was suspended for four years, yet he still won his
This is not what I'd call "game"
CBS Pittsburgh reports that John Jardini, 26, really liked a girl. He liked her so much that he robbed her, took $60 from her, and asked for her phone number. (Which she gave him, for some reason). After he robbed her, he called her twice trying to get her to go out with him. Police used cell phone records to track him down, but such sleuthing wasn’t really necessary. Police got a search warrant for Jardini’s phone records and were on the verge of tracking him down, but then Jardini reportedly assaulted the same girl and her mother outside Zack’s Market on Brownville Road. (source) While this guy is being mocked all over the place, something about this story doesn’t
Woman sues school because her roommate got laid too much
A woman is suing Stonehill College in Easton, MA because her roommate had too much sex in the room. Lindsay Blankmeyer, who says she suffers from depression and attention deficit disorder, is seeking $150,000 from Stonehill, claiming the college violated state and federal laws because housing officials did not give her reasonable alternatives for escaping a bad living situation. (source) Stonehill is a Catholic institution and the school’s student health insurance does not cover oral contraceptives unless prescribed for a medical purpose other than birth control.
