Society

At the Sunrise Café...

  ... you can talk about whatever you want. [Author: [email protected] (Ann Althouse)]
Tags: Law, Sunrise, Photographer, Lake Mendota, Ann Althouse

"What if you had to argue...?

  It's a podcast.  Topics: "Bad arguments, bad evidence, irony, Trump’s struggle, Amy Coney Barrett’s first death penalty case, hypocrisy, Kyle Rittenhouse, problematizing the UW rock, not casting an autistic actor, Michael J. Fox and Parkinson’s and gratitude." [Author: [email protected] (Ann Althouse)]
Tags: Podcast, Law, Michael J Fox, Trump, Ann Althouse, Amy Coney Barrett, Kyle Rittenhouse

"What the data says (and doesn’t say) about crime in the United States"

The title of this post is the title of this effective short FactTank report about US crime rates authored byJohn Gramlich for the Pew Research Center. I recommend the full piece, which includes lost of links, and here are some exerpts: As Trump’s presidency draws to a close, here is a look at what we know — and don’t know — about crime in the U.S., based on a Pew Research Center analysis of data from the federal government and other sources... Property crime in the U.S. is much more common than...
Tags: Law, US, Fbi, United States, New Hampshire, Maine, Alaska, New Mexico, Oakland, Pew Research Center, Trump, Gallup, Long Beach California, Douglas A Berman, Gramlich

Terrific coverage at CCRC as "Marijuana expungement accelerates across the country"

Long-time readers here and at my other blog know I have long been interested in how marijuana reform can advance criminal justice reform.  My 2018 article, "Leveraging Marijuana Reform to Enhance Expungement Practices," called for much greater efforts to ensure marijuana reforms advance criminal record expungement efforts.  Happily, my 2018 article now already feels a bit dated because there has recently been a much greater emphasis on record relief in many marijuana reforms proposed and passed ...
Tags: Law, Montana, South Dakota, Arizona, Ccrc, Joseph R Biden, Douglas A Berman, David Schlussel, Arizona Montana New Jersey

Strewth, bloody, rooted: is there a quintessentially Australian swear word?

In this book extract, Amanda Laugesen says it’s hard to argue that Australians swear more than others, but we do our best, and we try to be inventive in the processLinguist Geoffrey Hughes writes that “people swear by what is most potent to them”. What is considered to be “most potent” changes across time, although taboo has often focused on the religious (hell), the sexual (fuck), and the excretory (shit). More recently racial, sexist and other discriminatory epithets have become our most taboo...
Tags: Books, Society, Australia news, Language, History books, Geoffrey Hughes, Amanda Laugesen

"[H]e talked about how it had all been for the best. Parkinson’s, he said, had made him quit drinking, which in turn had probably saved his marriage."

"Being diagnosed at the heartbreakingly young age of 29 had also knocked the ego out of his career ambitions, so he could do smaller things he was proud of... When Fox was diagnosed, he had been married for three years and his son, Sam, was a toddler. At first, he couldn’t believe it.... There were, he says, some dark days spent lying on the sofa, but after a while he got bored. 'Then I came to a place of gratitude. Finding something to be grateful for is what it’s about,' he says. Optimism is a...
Tags: Law, Fox, Disability, Optimism, Tracy, Sam, Long Island, Michael J Fox, Aquinnah, SCHUYLER, Ann Althouse, Tracy -RSB- Pollan

Human rights must not be 'trampled' in global rush for PPE, say MPs

Calls come after Guardian finds UK sourced PPE from factories in China where North Koreans work in modern slaveryUK sourced PPE from factories secretly using North Korean slave labour Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageMPs and experts in the procurement of personal protective equipment have said human rights must not be “trampled” in the rush to secure PPE for frontline workers via global supply chains.The calls come after a Guardian investigation found evidence that the...
Tags: Health, UK, Human Rights, North Korea, China, Society, UK News, World news, Hospitals, Asia Pacific, Infectious Diseases, NHS, Slavery, Guardian, Coronavirus

Flashdance

The Louisiana Supreme Court has ordered the removal of a justice of the peace who was the subject of complaints after assuming office in 2018 In his sworn statement to the OSC, Respondent explained that he did not attend the... [Author: Legal Profession Prof]
Tags: Law, Louisiana Supreme Court, Legal Profession Prof, Judicial Ethics and the Courts, OSC Respondent

Understaffing at Texas prisons reaching dangerous levels: #txlege must close, consolidate units

Whether due to COVID or some other reason(s), vacancies among prison staff at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice have reached disturbing levels, according to this report from the agency. Thanks to Keri Blakinger of the Marshall Project for passing it along. Regular Grits readers know TDCJ has chronically short staffed several units in recent years, but the number with serious shortages is higher than any time during the two decades your correspondent has been tracking the agency. In the pa...
Tags: Texas, Law, Texas Legislature, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Gritsforbreakfast, TDCJ, Keri Blakinger, Blakinger, Oklahoma Utah Oregon

Who Owns Vacation Photos of You? Probably Not You–Hubay v. Mendez

A perennial copyright law professor hypothetical: who own the copyright to a person’s vacation photos? Obviously the vacationer owns the photos they take, including any selfies. But if you hand over the camera to a stranger/passerby, who owns that photo? As a default proposition, the person who takes the photo owns the copyright (unless the photographer is a monkey, in which case the photo is in the public domain #ThankYouNaruto). So does posting your vacation photos taken by someone else infrin...
Tags: Law, Washington, Copyright, Washington Dc, Marine Corps, Movement, Mendez, Licensing/Contracts, Hubay, Military Sexual Trauma Movement MSTM, MSTM, Losieniecki, Lubay, CCNV

The 12-foot-tall Chamberlin Rock — in the news these days as racist — is featured as a climbing destination at Mountain Project.

It's one of the "the classic, most popular, highest rated climbing routes in this area" — "UW Madison Campus Bouldering" (click to enlarge and clarify): The route is marked:   There's "Chamberlin Rock East Arete": Sit start and work your way up the arete using holds on both sides of the corner. Top out. In my opinion this is the best problem on this rock.In the comments there: Found some more routes on this little boulder. Hang below the plaque and climb and top out at top left corner. If...
Tags: Law, Wikipedia, Sports, University, Conversation, Canada, Language, Geology, Wisconsin, Native Americans, Landscapes, WSJ, Cemeteries, University Of Wisconsin, Don, Abraham Lincoln

Must Hollywood cast an actor with autism to play a character with autism?

Hollywood strikes again with another film where non-disabled actors play disabled roles. Having a neurotypical play an autistic person is offensive enough; rolling this trailer out at the start of #DisabilityHistoryMonth is a kick in the bloody teeth.No captions, either. https://t.co/VJOnVUv9Mz— Liam O'Dell (@LiamODellUK) November 19, 2020 Criticism and responses here, at Twitter: "Sia faces backlash after casting Maddie Ziegler as an autistic teen in upcoming movie Music." Answers from Sia:  ...
Tags: Hollywood, Movies, Law, Actors, Disability, Autism, Sia, Liam, Maddie Ziegler, Ann Althouse

Tonight: Georgia State Capital

Homeless everywhere. Very dangerous area. We must fix our country. [Author: [email protected] (Michael Yon)]
Tags: Featured, Military, Michael's Dispatches, Michael Yon, Georgia State Capital

"Kyle Rittenhouse was released from jail in Wisconsin on Friday afternoon after his attorneys posted $2 million bail..."

"... setting the teenager free as he awaits trial for fatally shooting two men and wounding a third during summer protests in Kenosha, police said. His release came over the objections of family members and lawyers for two of the men he shot. They had asked for higher bail and voiced concerns Rittenhouse would flee, which his lawyers have said he would not. The 17-year-old’s release was funded by donations sought by his attorneys, who appealed to the political right, where Rittenhouse is popular...
Tags: Law, Joe Biden, Wisconsin, Kenosha, Chicago Tribune, Rittenhouse, Ann Althouse, Kyle Rittenhouse

The first and last sentences of a Washington Post article titled "Supreme Court continues capital punishment trend with Barrett on the bench."

First sentence: "The Supreme Court continued its trend late Thursday night of allowing federal executions to go forward, with new Justice Amy Coney Barrett participating in her first capital punishment case on the court."  Last sentence: "Hall and three others drove the teenager to a motel room in Arkansas, where they assaulted her and then beat her with a shovel before she was buried alive." ADDED: Notice the switch to the passive voice: "they assaulted her and then beat her with a shovel ...
Tags: Murder, Supreme Court, Law, Washington Post, Arkansas, Death Penalty, Catholic, Notre Dame, Catholics, Hypocrisy, Robert Barnes, WaPo, Supreme Court Justice, Barrett, U S Court of Appeals, Religion And Government

Michael J Fox: ‘Every step now is a frigging math problem, so I take it slow’

After living with Parkinson’s for 30 years, the actor still counts himself a lucky man. He reflects on what his diagnosis has taught him about hope, acting, family and medical breakthroughsThe last time I spoke to Michael J Fox, in 2013, in his office in New York, he was 90% optimistic and 10% pragmatic. The former I expected; the latter was a shock. Ever since 1998, when Fox went public with his diagnosis of early-onset Parkinson’s disease, he has made optimism his defining public characteristi...
Tags: New York, Science, Television, Drama, Film, Society, Fox, Medical Research, Culture, Television & radio, Back To The Future, Parkinson's Disease, The Good Wife, Michael J Fox, Lucky Man, Parkinson

"Trump is a bully. He’s famous in many well-documented instances of asking or doing things that are inappropriate in most people’s view. I don’t think it would be surprising that he’d do something inappropriate today."

Said Rick Snyder — the ex-governor of Michigan — ironically using the same form of reasoning Trump is using in his effort to fight to win the election: You know what kind of people we're dealing with here, the kind of thing they do.... Quoted in "Trump suffers twin defeats in his effort to overturn Biden’s victory in key states" (WaPo). [Author: [email protected] (Ann Althouse)]
Tags: Law, Michigan, Biden, Evidence, Trump, Rick Snyder, Ann Althouse, Trump 2020

How 'woke' became the word of our era

An alertness to racial injustice, a weaponised word in the culture wars, a reflection of our times ... Kenya Hunt explores how the world woke upAs I write this, I’m staring at a fashion magazine with the coverline “Woke bespoke”. Next to it, a newspaper supplement features a dating diary of the search for “Mr Woke”. On my desktop is a guide to a “woke Christmas”, and in the adjacent tab is an internet rant in response to said guide demanding people and publishers leave all writing about wokeness...
Tags: Books, Music, Film, Race, Society, Culture, Harry, Black Lives Matter Movement, Meghan, Society books, Kenya Hunt

Covid vaccine technology pioneer: 'I never doubted it would work'

Katalin Karikó’s mRNA research helped pave way for Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna’s successful workCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe Hungarian-born biochemist who helped pioneer the research behind the mRNA technology used in the two Covid-19 vaccines showing positive results believes it was always a no-brainer.“I never doubted it would work,” Katalin Karikó told the Guardian. “I had seen the data from animal studies, and I was expecting it. I always wished that I woul...
Tags: Health, Science, Biology, Society, UK News, World news, Chemistry, Medical Research, Vaccines and immunisation, Biochemistry and molecular biology, Moderna, Coronavirus, Pfizer BioNTech, Katalin Karikó

Scottish community refused funding to buy land from duke

Scottish Land Fund raises concerns about split in local support for Wanlockhead bidA community attempt to buy land surrounding Scotland’s highest village, Wanlockhead, has suffered a serious setback after its £1.5m funding bid was rejected.The Scottish Land Fund told the buyout campaigners earlier this week it had turned down their application for public funding, saying it was worried about the levels of local support and insufficient community consultation. Continue reading...
Tags: Scotland, Communities, Society, UK News, Wanlockhead, Land Ownership

Respect and value girls – they can transform Africa's security and prosperity | Graça Machel

Investment in girls brings socioeconomic benefits, but too many countries lack the political will to bring about equality of opportunityBy 2050, Africa will be home to around half a billion girls and young women. If respected and treated as equals, they have the potential to transform the continent’s security and prosperity. This matters because every penny invested in girls’ education, healthcare and social protection benefits society many times over, while failure to invest in girls results in...
Tags: Gender, Education, Africa, Women, Society, World news, Global development, Child marriage, Graca Machel