Whether you’re a fan (or flan, as that tempster Andrew Fleischman used to suck me in) will probably matter as to whether this strikes you as important at the moment. There are, of course, many other important, even more important, things happening, and even though people say they can think of two or more things at once, they usually can’t. And then there are those people who sincerely believe that only things that matter to them matter at all, because how can anything matter if it doesn’t matter to them?

But Ars Technica founder Jon Stokes said, it’s just a matter of time. Continue reading →

The decision rocked the criminal and immigration law world, as this was a law so widely used, and broadly accepted, that it was essentially inconceivable that a court would reject it. Yet Nevada Chief District Court Judge Miranda Du, appointed by President Obama in 2012, did. And the roar was deafening.

The substance of the law, 8 USC § 1326, creates a crime when someone who has been “denied admission, excluded, deported, or removed” re-entered without prior permission. It kind of seems like an obvious law. After all, if someone has been deported and unlawfully re-enters, it’s unlikely to be an unfortunate mistake, and merely deporting them again isn’t going to change the incentives to not unlawfully re-enter again. Continue reading →

Some years ago, a lawyer pal told me about what happened when he and his wife went on a cruise. He had his sight for most of his life, but woke up one morning after a murder trial blind. It was shocking, but there it was. Diabetes was to blame, and despite heroic medical efforts to deal with it, it wasn’t going away.

There were forms to fill out for the cruise and one asked if he was differently abled. He answered that he was. When he arrived at the ship, he was met with a person with a wheelchair. His reaction was to inform the boat guy that he could walk just fine, but he was blind. Blind, as in he couldn’t see. Not blind as in he couldn’t walk. Continue reading →

It was 2014, and FedEx, or Federal Express as they were formerly officially named, refused to cooperate. They were indicted for it. The putative argument was that FedEx, whose role was to take boxes from point A and deliver them to point B, was responsible for knowing the contents of the boxes. The argument had some holes, and to its credit, FexEx wasn’t about to roll over on its customers.

But as reflected in the decision of the Eighth Circuit in US v. Green, times change and FedEx changed with them.** Continue reading →

When I wrote about tolerance being dead, it expressly spoke to people with “sincere reasons.” Both words were purposefully included to include both the subjective (sincere) and objective (reason) why an position with which many disagree is still worthy of respect. While this shouldn’t have been too nuanced for basic comprehension, it was to some.

The stated reason was they knew of no one who proffered a “sincere reason” for their position. In other words, their rejection of tolerance was based on their personal experience, or at least their claimed experience, as if the limits of their world defines the world for others. The idea that anyone could have a “sincere reason” was at best a theoretical premise and at worst a lie. The only people who disagreed with getting vaccinated were evil and selfish, who cared only for their personal desires at the expense of harm to others and their social responsibility. Continue reading →

On July 8th, President Biden made his stand.

Q: Is a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan now inevitable?

The President: No, it is not. Continue reading →

One wag replied to me that “tolerance isn’t a virtue.” And, indeed, he had a point. Most people who aren’t vaccinated aren’t the right wing crazies and conspiracy theorists, but ordinary people who harbor sincere fears and concerns. There are a not-insignificant number of physicians and nurses who have chosen not to be vaccinated. The New York Times recently noted that only 28% of people between the ages of 18 and 44 are vaccinated.

Their reasons vary from concerns about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine to more idiosyncratic views. Continue reading →

There was never any doubt, at least among people who had any realistic clue about the criminal legal system, that some of the folks released without bail were going to commit crimes while out. On the one hand, those who opposed bail reform would point to the heinous crime and use it as a bludgeon to demand the return to the old bail system for the sake of public safety.

On the other hand, advocates highlight the injustice of holding presumptively innocent people in jail over petty offenses. The story of Kalief Browder is a stark reminder of the harm. Mere days ago, 25-year-old Brandon Rodriguez was found dead on Rikers Island, where he was held in lieu of bail for a misdemeanor. That someone released would do harm was generally minimized or denied. Few were willing to concede that some would walk out of arraignment and, with their case pending, kill someone. It was not a good selling point to their passionate allies. Continue reading →

David Ayer’s “Suicide Squad” (2016) is best described as cinematic masturbation. It’s good for a quick, cheap thrill, but you feel dirty and unsatisfied afterwards.

Maybe that’s why James Gunn’s latest offering, “The Suicide Squad,” feels so satisfying to watch. It’s not a reboot or a remake; it’s a fresh coat of paint on an IP that desperately needed one.

Continue reading →

The “takeovers” of district attorneys’ offices by running, and sometimes getting elected, progressive prosecutors was a remarkably smart plan. It was an office of little interest to most, ripe for the picking. It put the reins of exceptional power in the hands of activists whose goal was to do the opposite of what the job was previously understood to be.

It crosses some significant lines when prosecutors believe they are empowered to ignore legislators and laws, using the power of the office to pursue their personal, often radical, agenda rather than the ministerial tasks of enforcing the law that separation of powers would mandate they do, but then again, it wasn’t as if they didn’t say that’s what they were going to do before they were elected to office. Continue reading →