Copyright Law

No Exit

Posted on November 03, 2020
In no particular order, a few thoughts for an "Election Day" that is both on the wrong day if it's supposed to be a single day (it should be Veteran's Day? and there is increasingly less reason to put Veteran's Day on 11 November anyway) and ? especially this year, but for at least two decades ? isn't a single day...

Gonna Get a Big Dish of Beef Chow Mein

Posted on October 31, 2020
Under no circumstances, however, will my hair be perfect (I don't really like pina coladas anyway, and Trader Vic's is right out even without a pandemic). Do vote. Please. That's how you thank veterans for our service. But don't vote for/against professionals whose professional judgment in specific instances must be independent of popular will...

Eight More Days

Posted on October 26, 2020
Watching "laws" and "sausages" being made is far less stomach-churning than watching elections ? especially when not just one candidate, but one entire side, is acting in bad faith. And BTW this isn't about ideology, but factionalism: Not all conservatism at election time is in bad faith; all fascism is, though, however aligned it claims to be with conservative ? or for that matter any other ?

I Voted

Posted on October 22, 2020
? so I don't have to pay attention to tonight's impending trainwreck. FWIW, I think "Wee Willie" Webster would probably be a better choice of moderator; with all due respect, I think Ms Welker is not quite capable of imposing the minimally necessary flying suplex, let alone the more appropriate atomic wedgie, on either of these candidates...

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The Unavailable Best Word

Posted on October 21, 2020
Our Dear Leader notoriously declared that he has "all the best words." There's one best word, though, that he doesn't have; that I doubt that even at his best he could have legitimately obtained; and that absence, that deficit, that incapability lurks beneath all of the ignorance and abuse he spews forth every day: Doctor...

No Sex Education, Please, We're 'Murikan

Posted on October 19, 2020
And now a bit of election-season hostility to the endemic (and inherent) hypocrisy in some downballot matters? Out here in the Pacific Northwet1 we have the dubious opportunity to vote on a purported "citizen initiative," Referendum 90. This is an "inverted" measure, compared to normal practice, and for that reason I expect considerable voter confusion and "misvoting...

An Unconsidered Hypothetical

Posted on October 17, 2020
Were I hypothetically on the Senate Judiciary Committee, I very well might have made a speech like this one last week. It's just as much a "question for the nominee" as most other such "questions"? First, thank you for your time away from your present life-tenured judgeship, Judge Barrett...

No "Debate" Tonight, Fortunately

Posted on October 13, 2020
I finally realized what The Fly's MAGA hat really stood for: Make Amerika Garbage Again. Not only is it a fly ? and therefore loves garbage ? but it was supplying a MAGA hat to Pence for the "debate" in a way that wouldn't muss up his Apprentice hairdo...

Help MEEEEEEE!

Posted on October 08, 2020
With sincere respect to the late, incomparable Thurl Ravenscroft,1 I offer the following description of last night's nationally televised dumpster fire. You know the tune?   You're a mean one, Mister Pence. You really do not care. You're as cuddly as a cactus, You're as charming as a bear, Mister Pence...

Isn't That Special

Posted on October 06, 2020
It has taken me a full day to tone this down to socially acceptable rage. For those few reading this, your screens will thank me; they would have been scorched by my initial reaction. Justice Thomas's irrelevant and uncalled-for screed against Obergefell demonstrates precisely why the law must intervene; the following assertion is in practice a rationale for overt, unlawful discrimination under

Recess Is Over

Posted on October 01, 2020
I am therefore calling out the third-grade bully who darkened our collective consciences on Tuesday night. That performance reminded me of a super-rich kid who knew that his daddy would get him out of any consequences that the (unionized commie scum) mere teachers would impose on him for trying to pick on the kid with a lisp...

Not All Politics All the Time Link Sausage Platter

Posted on September 28, 2020
?because it would drive me insane. OK, noticeably insane. OK, OK, OK, no more avoidanceevasion: More noticeably insane. In no particular order, Our Dear Leader's 2017 federal tax "burden" was less than: The average (mean) car insurance premium in 2020 in any of the three "states" of his "residence" (New York, DC, and Florida) The sales tax I paid on my last car purchase (a used car in

Outside Looking In

Posted on September 25, 2020
Although there are a few linguistic clues that this statement is recent, doesn't it sound like something coming from Selma in 1965 or Philadelphia (no, a different one) in 1964? There will be celebrities, influencers and activists who, having never lived in Kentucky, will try to tell us how to feel suggesting they understand the facts of this case that they know our community and the

Balls, Strikes, and the Rule of White Men

Posted on September 23, 2020
It appears that relatively soon, there will be a vote to confirm a new US Supreme Court justice in the Senate. It will require 51 (perhaps technically 50, as Vice President Pence would cast any tiebreaker and there's no statutory or constitutional provision prohibiting tiebreaking on nominations ? only Senate rules that can be waived) votes to confirm; filibusters against Supreme Court candidates

Tyranny of the (Transient) "Majority"

Posted on September 21, 2020
Dear Senator Turtle: Nothing in the Constitution grants the majority leader of the Senate the power to determine whether, or when, a nomination as a principal officer of the United States comes to the floor of the Senate for the Senate to exercise its power of "advice and consent" (Art...

Interrogative Link Sausage Platter

Posted on September 15, 2020
Really long question set-ups to keep you distracted during pre-election lockdown. Which is something that I suggest every four years notwithstanding pandemics and wildfire-caused dirty air anyway; there's always some scientific reason to stay away from the hysteria? even if this time it's worse than usual...

Wildfire-Smoked Link Sausage Platter

Posted on September 12, 2020
Didn't post yesterday for Reasons. Here's to hoping that New York's Bravest learn to treat every New Yorker with respect and dignity, regardless of skin color ? and notwithstanding a sordid history of doing otherwise. Immigrants get the job done in Germany, too...

Two Notes on Labor Day

Posted on September 07, 2020
Of course, actually recognizing "labor" on one day hardly balances 364 days (365 days some years) of putting "capital" first. Dead Presidents don't breathe, but they speak ? and count most ? and vote. 1. Just remember that the Sport of Kings is the result of a society built on kings...

On Being a Loser

Posted on September 04, 2020
There's going to be continuing controversy over an item in The Atlantic claiming that The Orange One's real reason for not attending a memorial ceremony at a military cemetary in France is that everyone buried there is a "loser." Giving benefit of the doubt where it is undoubtedly undeserved (but nevertheless required by both common courtesy ? a concept seemingly outside The Orange One's

Departmental Link Sausage Platter

Posted on August 31, 2020
But not quite departmentalist. From the Department of Misleading Headlines, let's ponder Google fixes major Gmail bug seven hours after exploit details go public (and the internally linked article detailing the "exploit"). But Gmail isn't the problem ? the problem is using a browser interface, and HTML-based e-mail...

On InCivility

Posted on August 26, 2020
I'm just waiting for when some speaker ? likely more than one ? at, or perhaps at one remove from, the Rethuglican National Convention invokes "civility" as an objection to Black Lives Matter in general, or to protests against whatever the latest police shooting of a minority happens to be by the time of the speech...

Re-re-resectioned Link Sausage Platter

Posted on August 21, 2020
Sometimes one's medical past demands immediate attention, and that's not for the blawg (I sort of resent setting off metal detectors just walking by ? and would even if wearing nothing but a Speedo, and that's a scary enough thought even without the metal detectors)...

Uncaffeinated Monday Morning Link Sausage Platter

Posted on August 10, 2020
It's Monday. All week. Brain-hack victims are so pathetic. It's just an echo in my ghost. And that still doesn't deal with the real barrier to communication ? that much, and depending on the subject most, conscious thought and intentional memory retrieval is language-dependent and even explicitly constrained (or enabled) by language...

Karen With the Multi-Colored Hair

Posted on August 04, 2020
Anyone who says the entire state of Washington is filled to the brim with tree-hugging lefties hasn't been shopping where I have, less than 120km from CHOP (and on the same side of the mountains). Such as when I went to BigBoxStore for BigBoxCommodities (like generic/store-brand multivitamins and such) today...

Lazy-Eyed Link Sausage Platter

Posted on July 30, 2020
As in "too lazy to look past subculturally determined first impressions." The nonrecorded performance arts have been in crisis for decades, but at least now they're admitting it. Sort of, ranging from classical music to ballet to every other artform...

Incentives

Posted on July 25, 2020
One of the primary problems with getting Congress to agree on further pandemic mitigation efforts ? I hesitate to call it "relief" because that implies "we don't really have to do this, but we're magnanimously going to show our noblesse oblige for once" ? has been a focus on free-market incentives as not just necessary, not just sufficient, but a moral obligation...

Bloody Link Sausage Platter

Posted on July 17, 2020
Not to be confused with blood sausages; black pudding doesn't matter (Black lives do). No, this platter is a bit bloody-minded. In a good way. I'm bloody-minded about the "music industry," particularly its Nashville-based components. We'll leave aside the antiintellectualism inherent in that town, and in music emanating from that town, for the nonce...

Making America Great Again

Posted on July 15, 2020
Based on recent news items, Our Dear Leader must mean a return to the three things that made America great: Graft, corruption, and nepotism. Emoluments are graft. And taking advantage of the office for personal financial advantage is? well, the primary daily business...

Feet of Clay, Brains of Clay, and Honoring the Founders

Posted on July 10, 2020
There is a fundamental problem with current discourse on this nation's history, particularly among those overinfluenced by both evangelical protestantism and one-true-church-means-no-differences-allowed catholicism. Which, unfortunately, seems to be the majority of both history textbook editors and elected officials? That problem is this: Honoring individuals for outstanding achievements is not

Justice Delayed

Posted on July 09, 2020
I'm not going to lead with my idiosyncratic take on the Court's end-of-term decisions this morning. There's something much more important to write first relating to much-farther-reaching implications for the conduct of government, and perhaps for the survival of the Republic...

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