Category Archives: The Law & The Courts

Another (pro-Obama) contrarian view on Recessgate

Yesterday, I, a generally pro-Obama left-centrist, called Obama’s “non-recess recess” appointment of Richard Cordray an unjustifiable abuse of power. Now, here comes conservative/libertarian blogger Dale Franks, defending President Obama on the issue — “as distateful as it is to me.” Here’s the blog post. It’s well worth a read if you care about this issue. Money quote: At the very… Read more »

“But for Wales, Barack?” Obama’s unjustifiable abuse of power

President Obama yesterday exercised his “recess appointment” powers to appoint Richard Cordray, whose nomination had previously been blocked by the Senate GOP, as the head of the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. There’s only one problem with this: Congress isn’t in recess. Congressional Republicans have ensured that Congress technically remains “in session” throughout the winter break by holding brief… Read more »

What about Social Security?

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Some commentators and politicians have been suggesting, based on a variety of rationales, that Social Security payments will definitely, without question, be made on time next month, even if the debt ceiling isn’t raised — and that any suggestions to the contrary by the Obama Administration is a lie. Those folks appear to be incorrect.

I, for one, welcome our new robotic writing device overlords

Last night, with the Patriot Act’s surveillance and investigative measures due to expire at midnight, and Congress having just passed an extension while President Obama was on a European pub crawl (or, y’know, addressing Parliament, attending the G-8 summit, meeting with Medvedev, strategizing with world leaders about the revolutions in the Middle East… whatever, same difference), President Obama needed to… Read more »

First bin Laden, now the BCS?

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CNN Breaking News: “The Justice Department said in a letter to the NCAA that it has opened an antitrust inquiry into the Bowl Championship Series system.” UPDATE: Andy Staples says the “CNN story makes it seem as if there is more news than letter provides”: Here’s the full text of the DOJ BCS letter to the NCAA. Sounds like DOJ… Read more »

Hmm, fascinating…

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So I came across this over at Improbable Research. It would appear that there is a scientist who believes her name cannot be used without written consent.

Gawker steals dorky picture of me from my old blog, uses it as stock photo of “Ungrateful Law Grad”

A few minutes ago, I got a @ message from somebody on Twitter saying, “Wondering if you’ve already seen this??!?!?” with a link to this blog post on Gawker, titled “Law Grads Ungrateful for Their Priceless Knowledge.” What makes the post noteworthy, from my perspective, is the stock photo they used to illustrate it: The post has nothing to do… Read more »

iPhone rumor/speculation whiplash alert

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Cult of Mac, 4:17 AM: “Reality Check: The iPhone’s Not Going to T-Mobile or Verizon Anytime Soon” Cult of Mac, 6:42 AM: “Report: Apple to Ship CDMA iPhone in Fourth Quarter” At this point, I’m rooting for the first story to be true, because if #2 is correct, I’m going to feel like a complete sucker for buying an AT&T-saddled… Read more »

Hitler video meme under attack by copyright holder; Hilter pissed

The movie studio that made Downfall, the film that launched a thousand Hilter parody videos (previous posts here, here and here), is abusing copyright law by yanking the videos off YouTube. (Fair use, anyone?!?) Naturally, Hitler is not happy about this: LOL! (Warning: profanity in the subtitles, as per usual. … Hat tip: Outside the Beltway.)

All Your Gene Are Belong To Us

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You may die because of a gene patent that should never have been granted. The owner of that patent owns the gene that exists in your body. It’s private property. Well, according to the late Michael Crichton anyway. Good golly, that sounds frightening. What should and should not be patentable has been the subject of debate – and legal disputes… Read more »