Dalindyebo Shabalala (he/him)

This is so true. I cannot emphasize how much of my experience of watching my dad run a local pharmacy ( and working in it) shaped my view of how precarious small business entrepreneurship is but also immensely rewarding and how I could NEVER.

In the area of my research on intellectual property and traditional knowledge, I find a real problem is the refusal to recognize the political and cultural equality of indigenous knowledge system to those of copyright and patents. Without that, you get real bad faith bargaining.

Some kind of political and cultural sovereignty is necessary for the existence of indigenous peoples and there is no escaping the necessary reckoning with multiple colonizations. Good outcomes need to begin from a stance of recognizing the true equality and modernity of indigenous peoples.

A Bid to Undo a Colonial-Era Wrong Touches a People’s Old Wounds

“Timeless indigenous” peoples is a bad construct. It asks indigenous peoples to justify their existence by appeals to timeless traditions. Indigeneity is a political claim to sovereignty. Recognizing that makes many issues like repatriation clearer if still complex. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/02/w...

In the area of my research on intellectual property and traditional knowledge, I find a real problem is the refusal to recognize the political and cultural equality of indigenous knowledge system to those of copyright and patents. Without that, you get real bad faith bargaining.

Some kind of political and cultural sovereignty is necessary for the existence of indigenous peoples and there is no escaping the necessary reckoning with multiple colonizations. Good outcomes need to begin from a stance of recognizing the true equality and modernity of indigenous peoples.

A Bid to Undo a Colonial-Era Wrong Touches a People’s Old Wounds

“Timeless indigenous” peoples is a bad construct. It asks indigenous peoples to justify their existence by appeals to timeless traditions. Indigeneity is a political claim to sovereignty. Recognizing that makes many issues like repatriation clearer if still complex. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/02/w...

• Wagner will issue a public statement to the college community stating that it will comply with Title IX, specifying that Title IX forbids Wagner from allowing male students to compete in female athletic programs and from occupying female intimate facilities;

Most people can’t quite grasp how it feels to read this, but imagine if the federal government commanded every agency to form task forces charged with finding new ways to humiliate you. Then imagine every institution in your life not only folds but starts participating.

www.ed.gov/about/news/p...

How the Threat of Trump’s Highest Tariff Derailed an African Nation

Lesotho was an example of how international trade can do poverty alleviation. Democrat, largely stable, and a US ally. No threat of any kind. And yet, the lawless, careless, breaking of people and countries is of a piece with the tragedy of destroying USAID. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/01/w...

How the Threat of Trump’s Highest Tariff Derailed an African Nation

Lesotho was an example of how international trade can do poverty alleviation. Democrat, largely stable, and a US ally. No threat of any kind. And yet, the lawless, careless, breaking of people and countries is of a piece with the tragedy of destroying USAID. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/01/w...

It also helps explain why he can cut through ordinary corporate governance practices (and laws!) without any punishment from his “base” of retail shareholders and x users.

As a result, the governance of his companies betrays all the characteristics of populism-in-power: denigrating courts, vilifying the press, stoking cultural cleavages, creating emotional connections with followers, images of grandiosity and Manichean battles, etc.

Is Elon Musk a populist? Can populism explain what's going on with his companies? His stock prices? His weird company governance? Well, I dug through my old political theory notes and my new corp law notes (and spent too much time on his feed) to come up with: YES.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

In addition to filing a nonmeritorious infringement claim, "PSP's complaint cited the general venue statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1391, rather than the patent-specific venue statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1400." PS Prods. Inc. v. Panther Trading Co. Inc., 122 F.4th 893, 899 (Fed. Cir. 2024)." #CivProMatters

chart from the opinion showing the asserted design and the accused product, which clearly does not infringe

Did you know: In December, the Federal Circuit *affirmed* an award of sanctions against a design patent plaintiff. PS Prods. Inc. v. Panther Trading Co. Inc., 122 F.4th 893, 898 (Fed. Cir. 2024).

The “deal” that Brown made with the Trump admin is much more extreme than is being reported. It includes government oversight of course evaluations and no barrier to government interference in faculty hiring.

Read it for yourself here:

www.brown.edu/sites/defaul...

Historic Inter-American Court Ruling: A Game-Changer for Environmental Defenders? The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has issued one of the most progressive climate justice decisions of our time. Its historic Advisory Opinion on the climate emergency and human rights, released...

⚖️ What does the historic #climate ruling by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights mean for environmental #defenders?

🔎 Via @ipsnews.net, CIEL’s Luisa Gómez and Alexandra Colón-Amil explore how States MUST protect the right to defend the planet in #LatinAmerica and beyond.

👇 bit.ly/4fqC5VN

As you say, there are no deals worth having here and all of them require breaking with core values and principles fundamental to the mission and purpose of a university.

A letter to Alan Garber & John Manning

The 👏 president 👏 has 👏 neither 👏 statutory 👏 nor 👏 constitutional 👏 authority 👏 to 👏 unilaterally 👏 negotiate 👏 “trade deals”

🔥 The final scheduled round of #PlasticsTreaty talks kick off next week in Geneva.
👉🏽 Here are 9 things you need to know about INC-5.2.
📖 Read them all: bit.ly/455h7IJ
📍 Follow along for updates.

Campaign Finance Issues in the Roman Republic #ELB I’ve been reading Lawless Republic: The Rise of Cicero and the Decline of Rome, by Josiah Osgood. I came across this striking passage on campaign finance issues in elections in 66 BCE, which shows tha...

2000 years ago "the Romans struggled over how to define the law between legitimate campaign finance activity and bribery. They also worried that defining bribery too expansively would lead to the weaponization of campaign finance laws. Plus ça change…" [Richard Pildes, Election Law Blog]

| Knight First Amendment Institute

Recent law grads — we're now hiring for legal fellows to begin in Fall 2025. Our First Amendment rights are under daily assault. I hope you'll consider applying to work with us at @knightcolumbia.org to push back.

knightcolumbia.org/page/legal-f...

The words "The future of law school loans" over a backdrop of dollar and cent signs.

How the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will affect law school loans:

www.americanbar.org/groups/law_s...

How the world's highest court bolstered the fight for climate reparations An International Court of Justice ruling that climate harm violates international law could shape reparations lawsuits as early as this week.

Another excellent article explaining why the International Court of Justice's climate ruling is so groundbreaking, including when it comes to #ClimateReparations 👇

#ClimateJusticeAtTheICJ #AOLetsGo
@grist.org @ciel.org

With #PlasticsTreaty talks around the corner, Panama’s Juan Carlos Monterrey Gómez reminds us what’s on the line.

We’ll be in Geneva fighting for courage, ambition, and a treaty that delivers justice — for our families, our communities, and our future.

Learn more 👉🏽 bit.ly/INCGeneva

Jay Leno Says Today’s Late-Night Hosts ‘Alienate’ Half the Audience With Political Jokes ‘Cozying Up to One Side’: ‘I Don’t Think Anybody Wants to Hear a Lecture’ Jay Leno believes late-night TV hosts have become too politicized -- and that they risk losing half the viewing audience.

A fun exercise for anyone who believes this line about how his show aimed for a big tent that included everyone is to go back and watch a few monologues from that era.

The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars | Columbia University Press The ongoing assault on climate science in the United States has never been more aggressive, more blatant, or more widely publicized than in the case of the H... | CUP

Another great book from a decade prior is Michael Mann’s, about his experience getting smeared.

Vaccine scientists have gone through it. Climate scientists.

It’s an old playbook. Collective pushback and denying them their shaming spectacle is the best response.

cup.columbia.edu/book/the-hoc...

They want to intimidate you. To make you back away from your work, take down your website, decline to comment for their bullshit story — they want to set the frame.

No.

You have to tell your story, on your terms, yourself. If your administrators tell you to be quiet: that is the wrong strategy.