Joe Lieberman, chairman of the senate homeland security committee, may be delighted with Amazon for cutting off access for Wikileaks, but its customers are not. There are growing calls for a boycott of the company — particularly as a review of the Wikileaks material has disclosed important information such as the efforts of the Obama Administration to block investigations into torture.
Continue reading “Amazon Facing Growing Calls For Boycott After Cutting Off Wikileaks”
Category: Media
The U.S. Copyright Group has long been criticized for its tactics in pursuing people for copyright infringement of movies or music. Critics charge that USCG coerces people to settle for thousands of dollars to avoid high litigation costs and penalties. USCG sues thousands of people in a given year to force such settlements in what is legitimately described as a factory operation by Dunlap, Grubb and Weaver. One attorney, Graham Syfert, says he tried to even the playing field by publishing a “self-help” guide on how laypersons can fight USCG. The attorneys at USCG reportedly responded by suing Syfert.
The D.C. Council has unanimously approved a law that makes it a crime to wear a mask while protesting outside of a resident. This bizarre law was passed because animal rights activists have been protesting outside of residences in Washington. The problem is that the law could be used to curtail free speech and gives the police another arbitrary basis to arrest protesters.
Continue reading “D.C. Council Unanimously Criminalizes Wearing Masks During Residential Protests Over Objections of Civil Libertarians”
While democracy appears on the skids in Russia as Putin expands his power, there is one sliver of good news coming out of Moscow. The Duma has finally acknowledged that it was Josef Stalin himself who ordered the murder of roughly 20,000 Polish officers, intellectuals, and leaders in the forests of Katyn.
Continue reading “Russian Duma Acknowledges That Stalin Personally Ordered Katyn Massacre”
It is that time of the year for our annual blawgletting — the ABA top blog competition. We have once again been selected as one of the top 100 legal blogs (of over 3000) and nominated for the IMHO (opinion) category and it is time to release our minions upon the field of blog battle. Vote here to defend our way of life and the future of the planet.
Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), the incoming chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, has called for WikiLeaks to be officially designated as a terrorist organization. This would, of course, allow the same designation for The New York Times and other organizations to be declared terrorists for publishing leaked stories on torture, secret prisons, or the Pentagon Papers.
The latest Harry Potter movie is greeted by movie theaters as a record blockbuster and kids as the long-waited sequel. For one person, however, it is the start of the new season of demonic possessions. Father Thomas J. Euteneuer explained in an interview this week that Harry Potter has opened the gates of Hell for millions and triggered a spate of possessions that keep him busy.
A Florida dance troupe is learning the cultural ways of the Big Apple after they ditched their cars in the Lincoln Tunnel and dashed away on foot wearing camo. Seems our tiny dancers were late for a TV appearance on BET’s “106 & Park” show. Those lovers of dance, the Port Authority police and the FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorism Task Force gave chase. The Tunnel was shut-down for 45 minutes during rush hour. Even with the rousing police escort, the dancers were late and headed back to Jacksonville still undiscovered but famous nonetheless.
Continue reading “(Below) River Dance Closes Lincoln Tunnel”
Boris Johnson, the conservative Mayor of London, has declared George Bush a persona non grata — asking him to stay out of London with his new torture-touting memoir. The question is whether such international shunning will become actual effort to prosecute Bush, who just confessed to war crimes. I discussed the controversy on Countdown.
In this video, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) suggests that he would like to see both FOX and MSNBC taken off the air so that people felt better about Congress and their government. This is coming from a Senator who led the effort to kill dozens of public interest lawsuits suing telecommunication companies for violations of their privacy and supported the effort to bar any investigation into the torture program. The problem, it seems, is the new coverage.
The trial of alleged Al Qaeda accomplice Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani has resulted in an acquittal on all major terrorism charges in New York. Ghailani was charged with crimes related to the 1998 suicide bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans. I will be discussing the verdict tonight on Hardball.
An independent prosecutor has found Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio and former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas had no basis for their public-corruption charges against critics and judges who sought to curtail their abuse of their offices. Navajo County Attorney Brad Carlyon reached the same conclusion as virtually all outside observers, including this blog. In the meantime, Arpaio continues his use of this office to pander to public sentiments and legitimize vigilantism. He announced this week that he had added “Hulk” star Lou Ferrigno and actor Steven Seagal to his anti-immigration posse.
Brownmark Films is suing “South Park” creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker in a case that seems right out of one of the South Park scripts. The court will decide whether Stone and Parker stole copyrighted material from “What What (in the Butt) — a music video that went viral. They are accused of stealing the idea from the website CollegeHumor, but the show insists that this is simply protected parody.
Continue reading “Parody or Pilfering? Court to Decide What’s What (In The Butt)”
Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler has moved to fine a GOP political consultant to former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (left) for thousands of false calls to suppress the vote in the recent governor’s race to help out Ehrlich. Republican political consultant Julius Henson and his company Universal Elections sent out thousands of calls to convince Democratic voters to stay at home by telling them that they had already won the election. Also named is employee, Rhonda Russell, who reportedly taped the message — which Gansler alleges violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by not identifying who was behind the messages.
Continue reading “Maryland Attorney General Seeks $60 Million Fine Against GOP Consultant”
While heavier and a bit jet lagged, I have returned from the France. I must report that we came and we were captured. The conference in Paris was fascinating. I had some very interesting discussions on the cultural defense with American and foreign lawyers – including some pending cases in France on the issue. Of course, as in real estate, it was “location, location, location.” Paris was gorgeous with leaves in full autumnal splender. It was impossible to get a bad meal or a bad glass of wine. Trust me, we did an exhaustive survey. I just landed this morning and I will be sharing a few pictures later, but I wanted to check in today.
Continue reading “I Have Returned: Merci Beaucoup To Elaine, David, and Mark”