A few odds and ends:
- The University of North Carolina system is debating whether students’ rights to free speech, in a public forum explicitly reserved for free speech, include “hate speech”. To my shame as a UNC alum, I link to a Duke professor who gets it right;
- Ted Frank is a modest man. He hasn’t pointed you to this (non-pdf, easy to read) article on his role as an objector to the sham Grand Theft Auto class action settlement (the article was linked here some time ago, but it was in inconvenient format – readers interested in games, class actions, or lawyerly self-dealing should review it);
- Will Barack Obama seek to relax or repeal federal marijuana laws? Esquire thinks so. I think he lacks the guts. We’ll see who’s right. (Via Crime and Federalism);
- Bathroom sex, cops, wrestling, and catfighting lawyers! Note that not all lawyers who brawl are sexy;
- 20% of Americans think Dick Cheney is the worst Vice President in history. Ergo, at least 20% of Americans have never heard of dueling assassin Aaron Burr;
- Upstate New York Judge orders “living wage” of $13.11 per hour (!) for parking attendants. Unintended consequences ensue;
- Stray thought: if you haven’t seen When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions, you should. It was the best documentary I watched this year.
While I’ll be blogging tomorrow, I suspect that many of you won’t be reading. Have a Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Ecstatic Eid, Joyous Kwanzaa, a very late Merry Diwali for Hindu readers, and for the secular among us, Happy Holidays.
7 Comments
The point about Cheney and Burr is a non sequitur. I am familiar with Burr’s history. Even if his personal conduct was more scandalous than Cheney’s, Burr did not do nearly the damage to the United States, other people, or the rule of law that Cheney has.
Apart from trying his damnedest to split off the western part of the country to form a personal kingdom, and to get the remainder into a war with the Spanish empire?
I’m not a fan of Cheney myself, but show some perspective. Don’t be one of the twenty percent Bill.
Spiro Theodore Agnew was better than Cheney?! And that was just in my lifetime.
I blame Bush.
Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa?
What about Festivus?
SSFC,
The activities that you attribute to Burr are largely speculation. it is far from clear what exactly Burr was up to in the West. Indeed, you’ll note that he was acquitted at trial for the excellent reason that the government was unable to produce witnesses against him.
In any case, even supposing that he was trying to set up a personal feof in the West, how bad would that have been? Effectively, he would merely have created his own version of Texas.
Parking attendant-Living Wage story: these laws just make me gleeful. When the gov. tries to legislate market outcomes, rarely is good found in the results. Such is what happens with socialistic ploys. My favorite part is: “Said one maintenance worker: “It’s to the point, I’m so angry, I just want to see the city lose. I don’t even care if I get a dollar.” (Sure you don’t.)
If these kind of antics continue, pretty soon all the smart and competitive people will go on strike and leave the rest to fend for themselves. Someone should write a book about that.
Bill, one Texas provides enough material for me.