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19 Sep 2011 20:50

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U.S.: Appeals court: Give this Jose Padilla guy a harsher sentence, already!

The al-Qaeda supporter, center, received a 17-year sentence in 2008 from a Miami judge. Now a Georgia appeals court says that’s too lenient, and ordered Padilla to get re-sentenced more harshly. That doesn’t happen often. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Apr 2011 23:47

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Politics: For second time, federal appeals court finds Arizona immigration law unconstitutional

  • Immigration station: Though its prominence in the news cycle has faded, the fight over Arizona’s controversial immigration law is anything but over; in fact, it’s taken a rather significant turn. Quick recap: When Governor Jan Brewer signed a possibly-racist anti-immigration bill into law last year, the Justice Department successfully sued to block its implementation, arguing that it usurped federal jurisdiction. Brewer appealed the ruling, and today, the appeals court issued its verdict: the Arizona law does in fact encroach on federal authority, and the injunction against it will remain in place. This one could make its way up to the Supreme Court; considering that lower courts’ rulings often influence the decisions of higher courts, this is an important development. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Nov 2010 18:49

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U.S.: Ah, immigration, you old wedge issue you: Arizona case in court

  • There’s no reason why Arizona should stand by and suffer the consequences of a broken system, when (it) has 15,000 well-trained peace officers that Washington authorities aren’t allowing to help fix the system. That’s what Arizona wants to do.
  • John Bouma, the lawyer representing Arizona • Arguing in favor of the state’s immigration law during an appeals court trial in California. The judges in the case asked both sides difficult questions and didn’t seem to be favoring either one. Meanwhile, there were a ton of protesters outside holding the kind of signs that weren’t all that commonplace at the Rally To Restore Sanity. Ah, divisions. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Oct 2010 21:44

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Politics: Obama’s record on gay rights pretty crappy so far, in our book

  • Obama, Obama, Obama … sigh. Look, we know you have the military in your ear. We know that the elections are coming up. We know that your party is probably going to lose a lot of seats come November. But the way you’ve handled this “don’t ask, don’t tell” mess – and gay rights in general – is pretty sad. It’s like you’re paying lip service to the idea of expanding gay rights while heading the opposite direction when the opportunity arises. Your administration’s quick appeal of a lower court’s decision repealing DADT was like dumping water all over many of your supporters. Sure, you can go on about them being unable to see the forest for the trees, but you don’t even seem to be interested in the forest at this point. And don’t even get us started on the fact that you don’t support gay marriage. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Mar 2010 10:34

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U.S.: Get yo popcorn ready! Obama nominates liberal to appeals court

Goodwin Liu could be an appeals court judge. One Repbulican Senator calls the Berkeley professor a liberal “beyond the mainstream.” A huge fight is coming. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

29 Sep 2009 21:36

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Culture: Shed some tears for Dan Rather. He lost his lawsuit against CBS.

  • Remember that faked “60 Minutes” piece? Dan Rather does. Years after the blogosphere proved that his Bush National Guard information was suspect (a great story for typophiles, by the way), he’s been fighting a $70 million lawsuit ever since. An appeals court threw it out, saying that they could find no evidence that the network screwed up his future job prospects or reneged on his contract. All this stuff happened so long ago, we forgot Bush was president! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Jun 2009 00:53

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Politics, Tech: Two examples of old people who don’t get new journalism

  • Judge: Let’s outlaw linking! In this corner: Seventh Circuit Appeals Court Judge Richard Posner, based out of Chicago. A pretty smart guy.
    His argument: Posner, in an argument on his blog, says that “Expanding copyright law … to bar linking to or paraphrasing copyrighted materials without the copyright holder’s consent, might be necessary to keep free riding on content financed by online newspapers.”
    Why he doesn’t get it Because his idea is against the very nature of the Internet and nobody would support him. Plus, his article has a trackback function enabled to encourage linking!
  • Judge: Let’s outlaw linking! In this corner: Seventh Circuit Appeals Court Judge Richard Posner, based out of Chicago. A pretty smart guy.
    His argument: Posner, in an argument on his blog, says that “Expanding copyright law … to bar linking to or paraphrasing copyrighted materials without the copyright holder’s consent, might be necessary to keep free riding on content financed by online newspapers.”
    Why he doesn’t get it Because his idea is against the very nature of the Internet and nobody would support him. Plus, his article has a trackback function enabled to encourage linking!
  • Columnist: Let’s tighten laws! In this corner: Connie Schultz, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, still a solid print product.
    Her argument: Schultz says that there’s too many free riders on the journalism bandwagon and they’re coming at the cost of newspaper revenue. She subscribes to David and Daniel Marburger’s theory that copyright law needs to force aggregators to share ad revenue with producers.
    Why she doesn’t get it While her idea is less crazy than Posner’s (she’s not advocating the blocking of linking), it’s cut from the same cloth. Also, you can share her column on Reddit and Digg!
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink
 

26 May 2009 11:13

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U.S.: Five fast facts about SCOTUS justice pick Sonia Sotomayor

  • She’s a New Yawker of Puerto Rican descent and a huge Yankees fan. source
  • Her pedigree’s pretty sweet: She went to Princeton and Yale Law School. source
  • She was appointed as a trial judge in 1991 and upgraded to appeals in 1998. source
  • In 1995, she effectively ended the MLB baseball strike by blocking replacements. source
  • If she gets on the court, she’ll likely be a solid liberal vote. Well, duhhhh. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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