Brilliant Arguments


Portland Pimp Has a Point (But Suit Is Still Stupid)

Everyone seems to have rushed to judgment in the case of Sirgiorgio Clardy, the pimp sentenced to 100 years in jail for, among other things, stomping someone's face while wearing Air Jordans, and who has now sued Nike for allegedly failing…


Okay, I Thought People Were Using “Affluenza” as a Joke

That is, like "the Twinkie Defense"—a label people were using, not something specifically argued. But "affluenza" does seem to have come out of the mouth of a person who was being serious at the time. Specifically, an expert witness who…



The Rogers Doctrine

This was Stephen Colbert's take on the hearing where Rep. Mike Rogers insisted that your privacy isn't violated if you never find out about it (see "If They Violate Your Privacy in the Woods, Do You Make a Sound?" (Oct. 30,…



An Important Solar Update

Toby McCasker of Vice.com somehow got an interview with Angeles Duran, who as I'm sure you remember is la mujer española que es la propietaria del sol. See "The Woman Who Owns the Sun Is Using Her Powers for Good," Vice.com (October 2013); see also "Sunshine No…


If They Violate Your Privacy in the Woods, Do You Make a Sound?

Not if you don't know about it, according to Rep. Mike Rogers, who, incredibly, is the chair of the House Intelligence Committee. Mike Masnick writes at techdirt about an amazing exchange between Rogers and Prof. Stephen Vladeck, a law professor at…


UPDATE: Hiccup Girl Convicted of Murder

Jennifer Mee originally became semi-famous in 2007 when she had hiccups that lasted for months and sometimes hit a frequency of 50 hiccups per minute. (They eventually stopped by themselves.) She became more semi-famous three years later when she was…