Let’s be real, Yvette Felarca does not carry much of a wallop. It’s unlikely that she did much damage, punching as hard as she could, and under other circumstances, there’s a good chance her attempt to fight would have been laughed off with a snarky “you punch like a girl.” Then again, having thrown the first punch, she might also have learned how a punch feels when it lands on her, but the guy she punched didn’t respond in kind.

Yet, Felarca’s defense in court was that her punching the guy wasn’t a crime because she was defending herself from the person who never touched her.

A middle school teacher in Berkeley, California, accused of punching a neo-Nazi during a 2016 protest is arguing that standing up to fascism is not a crime.

Yvette Felarca, 47, was arrested last month for her involvement in a  held in Sacramento.

Felarca, who is a member of an activist group called By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), has been charged with felony assault, as well as two misdemeanor counts of inciting and participating in a riot, according to KPIX TV.

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Much has been made of the DreamHost subpoena for everything, absolutely everything, the internet host possesses with regard to the Resistance website, disruptj20.org. Regardless of side, it’s an outrage that the government would go after such an outrageously overwhelming amount of personal information about people for whom there isn’t the slightest hint of wrongdoing.

The Department of Justice initially used subpoenas to DreamHost to seek subscriber information about who ran the site. That’s fairly straightforward. But then they doubled down. They obtained a search warrant for an extremely broad array of data related to the site, including all stored records of access to the site or communications with the site.

As written, it seems to demand data including the IP addresses of everyone who ever accessed the site and the content of every site visitor’s question or comment submitted through the site’s comment form, as well as all emails sent to or through the web site. The Department of Justice has filed a motion in the DC court where charges are pending to compel DreamHost to respond, and DreamHost has filed an opposition articulating its objections to the warrant.

There is no doubt a strong sense of relief and appreciation that DreamHost refused to acquiesce to this outrage, particularly given that others would have quietly capitulated. As the supporting affidavit is unavailable, it’s impossible to seriously challenge the basis for probable cause presented to the judge who signed off on the warrant. But the sheer magnitude of the compelled disclosure, all somehow relating to the prosecution of about 200 for allegations relating to the inaugural protest, is mind-blowing. Continue reading →

After his third press conference on Charlottesville, the near-universal conclusion is that President Donald Trump is a racist.

There’s a moral awakening taking place across America, but President Trump is still hiding under his blanket.

The racists’ march in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday, a protest against the planned removal of a statue of the Confederate general Robert E. Lee, presented Mr. Trump with the most glaring opportunity yet to separate himself decisively from the white supremacists and neo-Nazis who have cheered him on since he announced his candidacy, and to make clear that America has no room for what they stand for. He blew it. After the marchers turned to violence, and one of them plowed a car into a group of counterprotesters, injuring at least 19 and killing a woman named Heather Heyer, Mr. Trump said only that he rejected violence “on many sides.”

Trump also said there were “fine people” on both sides, as if there could be some fathomable aspect of being the “fine” sort of white nationalist. As commentator after commentator from both left and right opined on the tube, Trump has now shown what he really believes. Continue reading →

That didn’t take long, though the mob is as much in vogue at the moment as DIY was when “This Old House” hit the airwaves. And if the president can rule by twit, why shouldn’t the “survivor” vindicate her accusations by Facebook?

Facebook statuses are now being used as a way to report sexual assault, without involving authorities whom many distrust.  This cynicism follows national cases of sexual assault which share a common ending—the victim is doubted, and the assailant not only walks free, but is typically shown sympathy.

Assailants aren’t shown sympathy, but that’s not the point at all. The point is they aren’t assailants because someone’s status on Facebook says they are, not that the unduly emotional would believe otherwise. Similarly, the victim isn’t a victim, or the dreaded survivor, until the sexual assault is proven to have happened.

But it’s true there is doubt, and with some damn fine reason. Continue reading →

Even the “smartest” and best educated in the country have been consumed by the moment’s heat, and they’re so filled with feelings that they’re changing their syllabus.

President Trump is transforming the study of constitutional law.

The nation’s law professors have spent the summer revising their courses to take account of a president who generates fresh constitutional questions by the tweet. When classes start in the coming weeks, law students will be studying more than dusty doctrine. They will also be considering an array of pressing questions.

When is firing a subordinate to thwart an investigation obstruction of justice? Can a sitting president be indicted? Can the president pardon himself? May he accept financial benefits from foreign governments? Are his campaign statements evidence of religious bias? Must Congress authorize a nuclear strike against North Korea?

These would all make for cool and fascinating blog posts, musing about one-off questions that have miraculously eluded deep scholarly scrutiny over the past couple centuries. We could argue. We could thrust, parry, riposte, all without every reaching any actual decision since there is no settled ruling upon which to rest. Oh, such fun! Continue reading →

Arkansas engineer Kyle Quinn seems like a great guy, and his Friday sounded quite pleasant.

After a day of work at the Engineering Research Center at the University of Arkansas, Kyle Quinn had a pleasant Friday night in Bentonville with his wife and a colleague. They explored an art exhibition at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and dined at an upscale restaurant.

Saturday, however, didn’t go quite so well.

Then on Saturday, he discovered that social media sleuths had incorrectly identified him as a participant in a white nationalist rally some 1,100 miles away in Charlottesville, Va. Overnight, thousands of strangers across the country had been working together to share photographs of the men bearing Tiki torches on the University of Virginia campus. They wanted to name and shame them to their employers, friends and neighbors. In a few cases, they succeeded.

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It was “literally Hitler” six months ago, but it was readily understood to be hyperbolic hysteria by anyone with a brain. So it was ridiculed, because we know it wasn’t “literally Hitler.” At least, I thought we did. I may have been too enfeebled to see clearly.

In a post about why the First Amendment still lives as we’ve reached the end of our hypotheticals of doom, Ken White did something that shocked me.

The Nazis, whether armed with rifles or clownishly clad in khakis, stand against our values — they stand for the proposition that some of us are less American than others by birth, and that America must be “preserved” to the tastes of a particular narrow ethnic prejudice. Nazis attacking and threatening our fellow Americans threaten not just their immediate targets but the foundations of everything we’ve built. Decent Americans should speak, organize, and lead against them. This is the end of another classic hypothetical — what would you do if America’s most shameful ancient wrongs were resurgent? What would you do if the Nazis started marching again?

Ken called the pimples who soiled the earth of Charlottesville the final word: Nazis. I refuse to do so. I reject using this word to characterize them. Much as I respect Ken, I cannot accept this characterization. Continue reading →

Rob Barris only wants the judge to be fair. Who doesn’t, right? Except fair means something different to the Okmulgee County District Attorney than it might mean to others, because Barris seeks to disqualify District Judge Kenneth Adair for being biased against police officers.

The Okmulgee County District Attorney has moved to disqualify one of the area’s two district judges from hearing all cases prosecuted by his office, saying the judge has a bias against law enforcement witnesses.

In a motion filed Monday, District Attorney Rob Barris contends District Judge Kenneth Adair has found that officers’ statements were false in four felony drug-related cases and used that conclusion to make rulings in favor of the defendants in each.

Cops lie? Film at 11. But then, the determination of that any particular police officer’s testimony in any particular case is true or false is a particular determination. It may be that a cop is a habitual liar, or that he fudged details in a specific case to nudge his testimony over a factual hump that might let a guilty defendant walk. Continue reading →

The “risky shift,” once the domain of like-minded folks on committees, is playing out in social media, and being wrapped up in pretty bow under the guise of “truth.” After all, if everybody you like and respect says that what you’re feeling is right, then it’s elevated from merely your feelings into some immutable “truth.” And when something morphs from mere feelings to truth, it becomes obvious, absolute and irrefutable.

As previously argued, facts and truth are not the same thing.

Facts are objective.

Truth is subjective.

This conflation of facts and truth is altering people’s capacity to dispassionately assess facts and reason their way through what is happening in the world around them, and what they can and should do about it. It’s altering their ability to discuss and debate, not just substantively but to the extent of being able to be in the same room as someone who disagrees, even remain married. Continue reading →

Frank Bruni does the unthinkable at the New York Times.

I’m a white man, so you should listen to absolutely nothing I say, at least on matters of social justice. I have no standing. No way to relate. My color and gender nullify me, and it gets worse: I grew up in the suburbs. Dad made six figures. We had a backyard pool. From the 10th through 12th grades, I attended private school. So the only proper way for me to check my privilege is to realize that it blinds me to others’ struggles and should gag me during discussions about the right responses to them.

What are the chances that Bruni would get a job with a broom, no less a column, with the New York Times today? But he’s got one card to play, and he plays it.

But wait. I’m gay.

Red lights go off. Sirens. Whistles.  Continue reading →