News & Media
Second Circuit Strikes Down FCC's "Fleeting Expletive" Rule
Huzzah! Broadcasters and free speech wonks scored a major victory today as the Second Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the FCC’s “fleeting expletive” rule for chilling protected speech because the rule was unconstitutionally vauge. The fleeting expletive prohibition required broadcasters to monitor live broadcasts and censor naughty words or face fines upwards of $300k. Given the subjective nature of what is obscene, broadcasters often chose to forgo broadcasting controversial live events rather than these risk massive fines or losing their license. This just in: A zombie George Carlin was seen dancing in the streets of Manhattan. We will update
Another example of the whiny nanny-state in action
By J. DeVoy In 1990, the world was a different place. Gas was cheap, mini-vans were coming into vogue, and Iraq was a country where our dealings were mostly sub rosa arrangements between Donald Rumsfeld, the CIA and Saddam, rather than another costly foothold in the American empire. Additionally, Aghanistan was more of the soon-to-be-defunct USSR’s problem than America’s (and it wasn’t producing as much dope). Most importantly, the year 1990 was a time of trust. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEXKOR5Oepo&hl=en_US&fs=1] Back then, bands and venues, however small, allowed fans to push themselves right up to the stage and be in the thick of the
Dead Wrong on Copyright
by Christopher Harbin Tony Woodlief of the Wall Street Journal recently penned an opinion piece rife with terrible analogies and poor logic on the subject of copyright incentives. One passage in particular really irks me. In reality, both sides agree with the premise embedded in the Constitution, which is that people ought not enjoy art without compensating the artist, any more than one can dine without paying the chef. The first flaw Woodlief makes is that he frames copyright as a merely a measure to ensure an artist gets paid fair compensation for her work. On one level, I suppose that is
Time to pack it in
Well, I guess that’s the end of this blog. According to Prince, the Internet is on the way out. See you all on the next publication medium.
Wanted: My Illuminati subsidy
By J. DeVoy Henry Makow spells it out in the succinctly titled blog post “Illuminati Use Sex to Degrade Us.” I suspect porn receives a hidden subsidy from the Illuminati[.] Well then! What contacts do I need to cash in on that nice little arrangement? Porn serves a vital function for the Illuminati. We know they want to enslave us using debt, mind control and false flag terrorism. But we are not aware they have a deliberate program to enslave us spiritually using sex. The Federal Reserve, MK Ultra, the Gulf of Tonkin cover-up, mandatory RFID chipping and Lexi Belle?
Attention hippies: Avoid oil cleanup efforts
By J. DeVoy Because otherwise you’ll die. No, really. Almost every member of the Exxon Valdez cleanup crew is dead, believed to be caused by – or at least strongly correlated with – exposure to crude oil and dispersants. The toxic soup brewing in the Gulf of Mexico, a mix of that same crude oil and dispersants with methane and benzene, a known carcinogen. My first thought was that volunteers in the Exxon Valdez incident were already extremely aged, namely retirees with enough time to go painstakingly scrub oil off of rocks with toothbrushes. But the life expectancy of those
Silly Redneck
by Jason Fischer Anyone with a law school education knows that state action is required before anyone can whine about having their free speech rights taken away. Well, okay — you can whine about it, but that’s about it. You can’t get a court to step in and fix your problem, unless some government entity is involved. Not to go too far off track here, but this is the whole idea behind the Constitution. It’s a big long list of the things that government isn’t supposed to do, and a really short list of what it *may* do. Enough 1790’s
XXX Revenue Reporting?
Provides analysis of a new tax statute that will require online businesses to report all earned revenue on form 1099-K beginning in 2011. Previously, the federal government has not been able to effectively tax online commerce, and according to Randazza and RLG attorney Jonathane Ricci, reporting requirements were lax. This new requirement bears significant implications for online businesses in the adult entertainment field, which heavily use affiliate programs and payment processors, which now have new obligations to address – even if based outside the United States.Read more…
Girl Drink Drunk
By J. DeVoy The greatest Kids in the Hall clip of all time. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_H_sVNgvf4&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
Elena Kagan on the First Amendment – troubling, to say the least.
By J. DeVoy From the Citizens United v. FEC oral arguments, Kagan argues that a statute banning books is valid as long as it is not applied. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBqdKKKRrrg&hl=en_US&fs=1&] Future post: Obama’s shockingly poor record on civil liberties, including things like giving INTERPOL agents unprecedented diplomatic immunity in the United States, the continued cyber-surveillance of average citizens, and renewing the Patriot Act despite his expressed desire to change or repeal it, which never happened despite his supersonic-speed backtracking. His blasé attitude about the First Amendment, evidenced by the Kagan nomination, is just another data point to this end. For those of
Beyond Garcetti: Public employees and the Pickering-Connick test
I’ve previously written about the landmark public employee speech case Garcetti v. Ceballos, 547 U.S. 410 (2006), which provides a threshold inquiry as to whether state actors may punish employees for their speech. Generally, speech made pursuant to employees’ work duties is not protected, while private speech is. Among the Federal Courts of Appeals, there is growing dissension as to how fact-intensive this inquiry should be. If, however, an employee is not speaking as a public official, another test is applied: The Pickering-Connick balancing test. Public employees’ political speech is protected by the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech, but
Offices of Child Rape Cult Raided in Belgium
A bizarre cult of child-rapists had its Belgian offices raided today. (source) A bunch of old pederasts in black dresses got pissed off about it.
.XXX becomes a reality
By J. DeVoy After six years of teasing, ICANN finally delivers on a .xxx top-level domain for sites displaying adult content. The domains, which will be available by 2011, already have 110,000 pre-registrations through ICM Registry.
Truth in advertising
By J. DeVoy [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gwr8KJO0Fc&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
Awesome
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZWaWrvJ7nA] Speaking of awesome, hat tip for this goes to the publisher of Siouxsie Law.
Surprise, surprise!
By J. DeVoy Joran Van Der Sloot, the suspected killer of Natalie Holloway and Flores Ramírez, claims that he is being showered with affection while behind bars. We’ve previously discussed this phenomenon here. If true, Van Der Sloot joins the ranks of Scott Peterson, Ted Bundy and the preppy killer, Robert Chambers, in receiving amorous advances and even wedding proposals while incarcerated for heinous crimes. Human psychology is a dark and scary thing.
SDNY grants summary judgment to YouTube in Viacom suit
By J. DeVoy The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York has granted YouTube’s motion for summary judgment in its ongoing litigation with Viacom. The opinion, available here, held that the video website was protected by the DMCA’s safe harbor provision against copyright infringement claims, and is protected when working with copyright holders to help defend their rights online.
Nebraska town has had enough of the damn imm'grints
Fremont, Nebraska has decided that it is tired of being overrun by immigrants. The town passed a law banning illegal immigrants from working or renting property. (source). Because, you know, the first thing that illegal immigrants look for when they hop the border is how to get to fucking Nebraska. The town anticipates that it will have to cut back on services in order to defend the ordinance from legal challenges. The town has 25,000 residents and only 4.4% are foreign born. Out of those 1100 people, I wonder how many are part of this horde of illegals that threatens
Scientists discover new BP oil spill doomsday scenario
By J. DeVoy Buried below the Gulf of Mexico’s floor with millions of barrels of oil is a 15-20 mile large lake of explosive methane gas – and it’s being agitated by efforts to plug the ongoing oil spill. The gas is estimated to be stored at an astounding 100,000 psi, a pressure that current engineering cannot contain. By way of comparison, a car’s tires are inflated to about 30 psi; the power of a .30-06 gunshot tops out around 6,000 psi, and the oil leaking from the Deepwater Horizon explosion was initially pressurized at about 20,000 psi. There