News & Media
The Real Housewives of Southie
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=SQoTlVgmPK8#!]
The Stolen Valor Act: This Time I Agree with the Government
I think that I am the only member of the First Amendment Lawyers’ Association who thinks that the Stolen Valor Act should be upheld. The Act makes it unlawful to falsely claim that you were awarded a military medal. The 9th Circuit struck down the law: “The sad fact is, most people lie about some aspects of their lives from time to time,” wrote Judge Milan Smith in a 2-1 decision. “Given our historical skepticism of permitting the government to police the line between truth and falsity, and between valuable speech and drivel, we presumptively protect all speech, including false statements.” (source) If I put an “Intel Inside” label on a box of used pinball machine parts, I can be
More Righthaven Fun – Urgent Appeal
Since my firm is handling this litigation, I will keep my comments somewhat neutral. Our old friend, Righthaven was ordered to pay $34,000 to a guy they wrongly sued. Righthaven didn’t pay. Righthaven begged the court to excuse it from paying. The Court told it to pay or it post a bond for that amount. Righthaven filed an “urgent” motion with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. (here) We, naturally, opposed the urgent motion. Opposition here. I need not comment where others have done such a good job. Ken at Popehat gives us an homage to “A Few Good Men,” with Oh, Well, If It’s An URGENT Motion, That’s TOTALLY Different. Steve Green at Vegas Inc. provides a less opinionated,
Philadelphia > New York (when it comes to appreciation for the First Amendment)
Say what you want about the merits of the “occupy” movement. Whether you think they are the left-wing tea party, freedom fighters, speaking truth to power, simpleton dirty hippies playing hacky sack, they still have a First Amendment right to peaceably assemble. And the asshat award winner, Michael Bloomberg, is renting out the NYPD to Citibank, and he takes the position that they are just “taking away jobs.” It doesn’t really sound like the mayor of a place like New York City, does it? But, those dipshit Yankees Fans elected him. They get the mayor they deserve. Ninety miles to the south, the City administration honors their oaths of office. Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and his Police Commissioner, Charles H.
Can Connecticut take porn from its prisoners? Should it?
Many concerns come to mind when someone thinks about spending time in prison. First and foremost, there is always the risk of being shanked with a very, very sharp toothbrush. For the financial criminals, there is the distinct shame of being bested by Bernie Madoff in a game of badminton. This is to say nothing for the fable of being made someone’s bitch. But what about a lack of porn? Connecticut’s prisons were very tolerant of pornography in its prisons until recently. (source.) Now that the Connecticut prisons are pulling the plug on this entertainment, the inmates are threatening to sue. This is not isolated to the Northeast, either, as a Michigan man filed suit over a guard’s refusal to
Stupid Unamerican Hippies at Occupy Wall Street Protest
/end sarcasm [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aaTGsGdp4c]
Don't Get a Warrant in Essex County.
The Supreme Court has been tapped to decide if it’s OK to strip search someone who is in custody for a minor traffic offense. Source. Albert Florence had a warrant for an unpaid traffic ticket, which he eventually took care of, but in a “whoops, my bad” moment Essex County didn’t remove the discharged warrant from its computer system. So, when Mr. Florence was pulled over for a minor traffic violation in 2005, that system mistakenly told the arresting officer that Florence had an outstanding warrant. Despite showing the arresting officer proof of the discharge, Mr. Florence was arrested and taken to jail where a standard intake search was performed (open mouth/lift tongue, lift nuts, squat and cough). A little
Why Good Cops Should Like Citizens Filming Their Activities
Because sometimes the Cops are right. Not only right, but they show incredible restraint when perhaps even more aggressive responses are appropriate. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaX8pdapc-I] Source, Carlos Miller.
Reverse Graffiti
Awesomeness. These guys drive around cleaning grime off of public surfaces, and leaving art behind. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9n4RCAQKCY] This video was filmed in Riga, Latvia. That’s probably why they were able to do it without some shit head confusing it with terrorism.
Boobies!
Move over, Coca-Cola. Hooters Restaurant (of bodacious tatas and BBQ wings fame) is suing some restaurant group called La Cima for theft of their trade secrets. La Cima wants to open up a bunch of boobie restaurants of their own called Twin Peaks. Source. Apparently, Hooters’ former Vice President of Ops bailed to go be the CEO of La Cima Restaurants and (allegedly) took with him a bunch of sales, recruiting, and other stuff from Hooters. Now La Cima is aggressively expanding into the casual dining industry featuring…boobies! I doubt hiring cute girls and putting them in next to nothing counts as a trade secret. In all honesty, the case is probably more about hiring practices, marketing techniques, and other boring stuff like that
Shocking revelation: Piracy hurts individuals!
By J. DeVoy In a stunning revelation sure to be devastating to freetards everywhere, not everyone who creates copyrightable work is Lars Ulrich or some ponytailed douchebag driving a BMW 7-series while demanding that the RIAA sue more people so his fat, dumb and entitled daughter can have a pony. The common plea from the anti-enforcement community can be summarized as: “How can you sue PEOPLE?!” Well, it’s easy – people commit piracy. We don’t let thieves and rapists off the hook because they’re people. And while copying files is not analogous to either of those crimes, it is still an unlawful act, and one committed by individuals. In fact, there is no one better to sue, and more deserving of
For the Record … Anti-Mormonism is not "bigotry" (neither is any other anti-religious sentiment)
James Fallows over at the Atlantic says, “Just for the Record: Anti-Mormonism Is Bigotry Too.” No. No it is not. Fallows sums his position up: To be against Mitt Romney (or Jon Huntsman or Harry Reid or Orrin Hatch) because of his religion is just plain bigotry. Exactly as it would have been to oppose Barack Obama because of his race or Joe Lieberman because of his faith or Hillary Clinton or Michele Bachmann because of their gender or Mario Rubio or Nikki Haley because of their ethnicity. (source) If a candidate believes in trickle-down economics, and you are against him for his beliefs, that isn’t bigotry. That’s looking at his views, realizing that they are incompatible with logic, and
Federal/State Showdown
From Charles Platt I’m sketchy on this aspect of Constitutional law, but isn’t the Justice Department strongly influenced by presidential policy, formally or informally? I don’t watch TV, so I don’t know how much play this story is getting, but doesn’t it seem utterly outrageous, bearing in mind that the Commander in Chief is an admitted former cocaine user? From a British newspaper: “Federal prosecutors have launched a crackdown on pot dispensaries in California, warning the stores that they must shut down in 45 days or face criminal charges. They also threatened to confiscate their property even if they are operating legally under the state’s 15-year-old medical marijuana law. In an escalation of the ongoing conflict between the U.S. government
Marijuana really brings out the asshole statist in everyone, doesn't it?
Federal prosecutors decided that it is time to make examples of the Californians who are supplying marijuana to willing customers. Their rationale: People are making money off of it. Their heartstring argument, we can’t have people selling marijuana in stores near parks and schools. Yes, “what about the children?” [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3BzpJoapHc] And a few states over, a Papa Johns pizza delivery driver called the cops on a guy who was smoking pot. (source) Turns out the guy had a medical marijuana card, and when the cops got there they apologized for bugging him and left. Lets hear it for the Aurora police department! On the other hand, Papa John’s seems to think that its driver, pissing on the very market that
While you're busy fellating Steve Jobs' corpse…
I don’t know if it is just my network of Facebook friends or what, but I’m getting a little sick of the public mourning in the wake of Steve Jobs’ death. (Edit – Clearly it is not just my friends who are fuckwits – see this gem sent by my friend, ADM) Honestly, if you left flowers at an apple store or stood outside one with an image of a candle on your iPad, you should be sterilized. Forcibly. Without anesthesia. You do not deserve to reproduce, and if your genes are actually carried forward, it will mean that mankind has devolved, even just a little bit. A CEO of a big company died. You like the shit his company
Sexy Sax Man
And now, for something completely different… and awesome. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaoLU6zKaws]
This is COLUMBUS DAY!!!
This is COLUMBUS DAY. I’d like to invite anyone whose name ends with a vowel (Persians excluded) to raise their hands, extend their middle fingers, and flip off the Native Americans, the hippies, and everyone else in the International Association of Crybabies who has a piss and a moan about Christopher Columbus. This is not “indigenous people’s day,” it is not “la dia de la raza” and it isn’t frigging “wear a beret, listen to Joni Mitchell, and wear patchoulli day.” To the “Native Americans” who have a beef with Columbus Day — suck it. First off, it isn’t as though you sprang from the goddamned earth in Foxwoods. You’re immigrants too. You just wandered across ice to get here.
In defense of juggalos
By J. DeVoy It’s easy to laugh at freaks made up like clowns, devoted to the rap group Insane Clown Posse, who call themselves “juggalos.” It’s harder to serve up a cogent defense of the subculture. Nonetheless, In Mala Fide serves up a detailed analysis in this recent post.
Psha! Public Domain Schmublic Domain.
I don’t know about anybody else, but I always feel like the nerd invited to eat lunch with the popular kids with the USSC hears an IP case. Yesterday, the Big Dogs heard a nifty little First Amendment Copyright case that I honestly don’t know how to feel about yet. But pay attention to this one, kids. It’s a doozy. Source 1. Source 2. Golan v. Holder is the name of this little gem and it centers around a conductor who can’t afford to play Peter and the Wolf anymore thanks to Congress yanking it (and myriad other foreign works) back from the public domain. Google, the ACLU, and the American Library are calling this an abject disaster that violates the
More on Nevada's anti-SLAPP law
By J. DeVoy Can Nevada’s anti-SLAPP statutes, for their many flaws, thwart a privately brought federal claim? Why yes, they can. Anti-SLAPP laws come in two flavors: procedural and substantive. Substantive anti-SLAPP laws, such as the previously proposed federal anti-SLAPP law, provide qualified immunity for protected statements and create or crystallize the speaker’s rights. In contrast, procedural anti-SLAPP laws provide a mechanism to dispose of abusive litigation – normally with a Motion to Dismiss. The extent of these procedural protections vary from state to state; Massachusetts’ procedural anti-SLAPP law, for instance, cannot be applied in Federal Court. Stuborn Ltd. Partnership v. Bernstein, 245 F.Supp.2d 312 (D. Mass. 2003). Nevada’s anti-SLAPP statute, however, does not preclude its application in Federal court. Like Massachusetts,
