News & Media
Amazon Censoring Kindle Title List
by Charles Platt After Amazon caved in and removed _The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure_, other titles with erotic content are now being targeted. The currently uncertain situation is summarized here.
Likely Backlash Against Assange’s Self-Righteous Crusade
by Charles Platt I’m getting an uneasy feeling when I watch Julian Assange using pretentious phrases such as “my philosophy” and “my work.” (See his latest interview, here.) It’s the same feeling I had when I saw the World Trade Center going down. A feeling that I am watching a golden opportunity for people in power to take away some of my freedoms. Assange’s self-righteous crusade is sufficiently defiant, and is being done in such a pompous style, some kind of retaliation seems inevitable. Already the UN is on record as wanting to “harmonize” efforts to regulate the Internet, in response to Wikileaks. (See this news item.) I am old enough to remember how publishers got rid of US laws
Not wanting to do doc review called "immature" by "consultant" – follow the money and smell the bullshit
The ABA reports on Ann Israel, a “career consultant” who scolded a Yale Law graduate as “very immature” for wanting to know how to escape from document review purgatory. (source) Here is his question: I’m a Yale Law grad winding up a federal clerkship in a small legal market. I had a horrendous experience with document review a few summers ago, and my goal is to avoid it at all costs. Do you think I can use my credentials as leverage for avoiding this work as a condition of employment? Alternatively, if I show the partners at the firm that I am a fantastic writer, will that allow me to avoid document review? (source) Israel’s answer: There are plenty of
Big Win for Common Sense and EFF
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed common sense this week. In U.S. v. Warshak, the Sixth Circuit ruled the government must obtain a search warrant prior to a search and seizure of our emails stored by email providers. The Sixth Circuit decision closely followed arguments of EFF in its amicus brief, holding that email shares fundamental similarities with traditional forms of communication such as postal mail and telephone calls and that it would “defy common sense to afford emails lesser Fourth Amendment protection.” The Court went on to state: “…It follows that email requires strong protection under the Fourth Amendment; otherwise the Fourth Amendment would prove an ineffective guardian of private communication, an essential purpose it has long been
Legislation banning "crush" videos signed into law
By J. DeVoy Ever the free speech patriot, president Obama signed the Animal Crush Video Prohibition Act of 2010 (ACVPA) into law earlier this month. The bill, which labels crush videos as “obscene,” contains a maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment for violating its provisions. (full text here.) Here’s the relevant portion of the new law, 48 U.S.C. § 18: (a) Definition- In this section the term ‘animal crush video’ means any photograph, motion-picture film, video or digital recording, or electronic image that– (1) depicts actual conduct in which 1 or more living non-human mammals, birds, reptiles, or amphibians is intentionally crushed, burned, drowned, suffocated, impaled, or otherwise subjected to serious bodily injury (as defined in section 1365 and including
McDonald's sued for enticing children to eat poison while their dumbass parents stand by and watch
By Randazza The LA Times reports: The Center for Science in the Public Interest has filed a lawsuit against McDonald’s Corp., claiming that the company’s meals with toys unfairly entice children into eating food that can do them harm. (source) Here’s the thing. I agree. I agree that McDonald’s is rat dung. I agree that no human should consume that crap, unless that human is as hung over as a whore on the sixth of May in Nogales. (In which case, Mickey D’s and a vicodin is just what the doctor ordered). Short of that, any person who has too many McDonald’s molecules in their body is simply a piece of refuse. Has “The Center for Science in the Public
'We operate on the principle that it's much more effective to detect the would-be terrorist than try to find his bomb."
Israelis are neither the servile fucking pussies that Americans are, nor are they brain dead morons trying to detect the last bomb. (source) Aside from the whole neo-apartheid thing, Israel seems like a pretty nice place to live.
Nothing can hurt a Marine – except Teh Ghey
General James Amos, the commandant of the Marine Corps said that allowing gays to openly serve in the military would “pose a distraction” and cause more battlefield casualties. (source) Huh? Seriously? Does this guy think that a gay soldier is going to be hiding behind a wall, shells exploding all around, and his buddy is going to rip off his helmet and say “I just HAVE to do something about your hair?” What bizarre stereotype is this “distraction theory” based upon? In an interview with newspaper and wire service reporters at the Pentagon, Amos was vague when pressed to clarify how the presence of gays would distract Marines during a firefight. But he cited a recent Defense Department survey in
Introducing Vaughn Greenwalt
Faithful Satyricon Readers: I come to you after arriving entirely overdressed (and Moto Guzzi-less) for an interview with Marc in San Diego. My name is Vaughn Greenwalt, and I am apparently the latest victim to become a Satryiconista. My experience with the internet consists mostly of porn but I occasionally peruse Drudge Report, Politico, The Huffington Post, POPEHAT, Andrew Sullivan, S.E. Cupp, and this gem of a site. My perspective is forged in the fires of nightly viewings of both Rachel Maddow and Bill O’Reilly. (I usually agree with both- figure that out) I walk around looking for the perfect venue to tell people why they should be sterilized- FOUND IT! My educational background is mediocre at best. It includes
If you're in the military to "protect freedom," please see a doctor, because you can die of asphyxiation if your head is in your ass for too long
I remember when I was briefly in the army. We had all this rah rah hoo ha shit about how we were “protecting freedom.” With sincere adoring apologies to the people I love who are in uniform, that’s bullshit. If you’re in the military because you like the job security, then good. I approve. If you’re in the military because you want to blow shit up, I approve. If you’re in the military because you’re gay and you love showering with other men, then good. I approve. In fact, if you’re in the military for any reason except for the “I’m protecting freedom” bullshit, then I’m in your corner. But if you’re in the military and you think it has
For-Profit Toilet Colleges Preying on Fear, Deception
By J. DeVoy [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSV3dS2uc8g&fs=1&hl=en_US] In short, we have institutions that: -Get 25% of Federal education aid, yet -Are responsible for 44% of discounts, and -Forge records and use deceptive tactics to enroll students And yet they’re blaming the government for obstructing the relationship between potential students, who need to be saved from themselves, and these money pits. Hardcore libertarians, take note: This is why people think you’re foolish. While there’s a lot wrong with higher education, at least the feds are trying to prevent wholesale theft.
"Tater disease what brung us Irish."
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsBRfmErTEA] H/t: D. Sterlace
Abercrombie & Fitch brings guns to bear on cybersquatters
Lets say you go to the website “abercrombieandfitchstore.com.” What would you expect to find there? Probably not what you see below. That’s cybersquatting, and it is illegal. Abercrombie & Fitch have had enough, and they’ve brought suit against the as yet unidentified owners of more than 150 infringing domain names. Most of them are Pay Per Click sites, and it is pretty clear that the plaintiff should prevail. As many readers might know, when a plaintiff takes aim at a cybersquatter, there are two avenues of attack — bring suit in federal court (which is generally more expensive) or file a nice, quick, and cheap UDRP complaint. In this case, Abercrombie opted for the former, but this seems to be
Jenzabar tries to suppress critical website through bogus trademark claim – fails
Public Citizen reports: In a ruling this week, a Massachusetts trial judge upheld the free speech rights of a documentary filmmaking company against an effort by a Massachusetts software company to use trademark litigation to punish the filmmakers for the portrayal of one of the student leaders in the Tiananmen square protests. (source) Sadly, this kind of thing happens all the time – companies (and individuals) frequently try to use trademark infringement to try and suppress what they perceive as negative attention. Massachusetts Superior Court Judge John Cratsley granted summary judgment to the defendants because there was no support for the claim that a reasonable person might be confused as to whether Jenzabar sponsored the documentary filmmaker’s website. Decision here
PLOT UNCOVERED: Secret homosexual plan to give America the gay
Eugene Delgaudio, a Loudon County (Virginia) local politician conducted an extensive investigation into the new TSA patdowns, and his findings are nothing short of shocking and revolting. We here at the Legal Satyricon been blogging up a storm about our suspicions that the TSA was run by incompetent fools or possibly by clever geniuses trying to make us get used to being servile sheep. It appears that we were WAY off. The new TSA rules are nothing short of a plot by the wide-scale homosexual agenda. (source) Wide scale, I tell you. Wide scale. In an email, Delgaudio wrote: “That means the next TSA official that gives you an enhanced pat-down could be a practicing homosexual secretly getting pleasure from
This is how you deal with a guy who takes advantage of your daughter
Helmut Seifert, 47, got word that his daughter’s boyfriend was Phillip Genscher, age 57. Helmut called the police, who said that they couldn’t do anything about it. So Seifert decided that he would do something about it. He got two buddies and a bread knife, went over to Genscher’s house. “The man was forced to remove his trousers and, fully conscious, he was castrated. The severed testicles were taken away by the perpetrator.” The man was close to bleeding to death but managed to call police. His life was saved but he remains a eunuch for life. (source) Yep, he cut the old bastard’s balls off. I see absolutely nothing wrong with that.
The Legal Satyricon is "interesting"
By J. DeVoy, henchman to the Legal Satyricon If this happened on facebook, the post title would be “Jenna Haze ‘likes’ The Legal Satyricon,” but I’ll take what I can get. The first link resolves to Ynot.com, and the second to the Legal Satyricon post Anonymous, we respectfully dissent (a defense of Porn’s Antipiracy push). Like most things in life, there’s no particularly juicy story here – just a bit of luck spurred by timing and insomnia. For the twitter-inclined, you can return the promotional favor and follow Jenna Haze. And yes, jmdiv is me.
Music For One Apartment And Six Drummers
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SylGOskjWw] H/T: Rogier van Bakel
