Lea Bickerton

A White Nationalist Wrote a Law School Paper Promoting Racist Views. It Won Him an Award.

Words fail me.

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/21/u...

RFK slams processed foods, pesticides, vaccines as harmful to kids in sweeping MAHA report The commission to "Make America Healthy Again" was tasked with investigating chronic illness and delivering a plan to fight childhood diseases.

“The 69-page report, titled ‘Making Our Children Healthy Again,’ also says these drivers are partly propelled by corporate influence and government lobbying.”

He called it the MOCHA Report. I vaguely remember learning that titles set the tone for what follows…

www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...

This is how the Republican Justices on SCOTUS have defined corruption-they insist it is the *only* definition of corruption. (It is not! They don't control the English language! Or common sense!)

Congress has defined corruption in other ways- SCOTUS has just imposed its own definition on all of us.

Had a really interesting discussion with some friends last night about why so many lawyers end up practicing at full blast into their 70s and even 80s. From all our perspective, man no way! But then I bet many people who said that 30 years ago are still at it.

You’ll want to read @ilyasomin.bsky.social on anti-commandeering and how Trump keeps losing in court with this stuff

The Attorney General shall pursue all necessary legal remedies and enforcement measures to enforce the rights of Americans impacted by crime and shall prioritize prosecution of any applicable violations of Federal criminal law with respect to State and local jurisdictions whose officials: (a) willfully and unlawfully direct the obstruction of criminal law, including by directly and unlawfully prohibiting law enforcement officers from carrying out duties necessary for public safety and law enforcement; or

So this, I think, is reasonably interpreted as a claim that it is illegal for states to prohibit state officials from assisting ICE. This is bullshit. State officials are not obliged to enforce federal law and actually constitutionally can’t be forced to do so. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Remember how in “Romeo and Juliet,” Romeo was really distraught because he was banished from his city-state and he felt that banishment was worse than death?

Y’all, I remember when I thought that AI legal research and drafting tools were ok if they were used by lawyers, who would have the capacity to know if the cites were good

Defamation is a fancy way of saying “he lied about me and hurt my reputation.” If the statement is a fact or opinion, it’s not defamation. So, “you probably deserved it” isn’t defamation while “I heard you deserved it” could be.

Tonight’s dumb napkin cartoon…

There it is: 7:19 pm — Cory Booker has buried the odious arch segregationist Strom Thurmond’s record for the longest speech in Senate history — and Booker is acknowledging him as “the man who tried to stop the rights on which I stand… I’m here despite his speech."

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/01/u...

I’m sure he’s looking up watching right now.

Watching Cory Booker and thinking about just how committed to segregation Strom Thurmond had to be to do this before Gatorade, Depend, and 48-hour antiperspirants.

“Like an attorney, the media are supposed to have a duty to their client, the public.”

Just had a flashback to an ethics class where the professor mentioned imminent harm to others as one of the times when an attorney’s duty to the public outweighs the duty to the client…

Not being the least bit curious about who you’re related to has its benefits.

This is why certain people who are between 5’8 and 5’10 just lie and say that they’re 5’11 and a half.

The AI chatbots apparently have a lot in common with bad lawyers.

‘Earth, Wind, & Fire’ implies the existence of Water and Heart, and when their powers combine…

James Bond owners reveal gender of the next 007 EXCLUSIVE: Fans of 007 feared Amazon Studios would corrupt the British super spy after buying the Bond franchise and rights for £770 million from Bond stewards Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson.

Bond is going to be “British or from the Commonwealth.” Which means a Jamaican Bond is possible. I’d go to the theater twice to see that.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

It really doesn't

Cybercrime crew stole then resold hundreds of tickets to Swift concerts, prosecutors say NEW YORK — A cybercrime crew stole then resold more than 900 digital tickets to Taylor Swift concerts and other pricey events on StubHub, according to prosecutors in New York. The international ...

I wonder how many weeks it would take to pick an impartial jury on this
triblive.com/news/wire-st...

Anyone ever have to tell a co-counsel that they are too much of an asshole to work with? No matter how good the case is?

No new bombshells in Justice Department’s release of Jeffrey Epstein files Attorney General Pam Bondi was expected to publicly release flight logs and other government documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, though the files are unlikely to include new bombshells.

The 40th Anniversary of Geraldo Rivera opening Al Capone’s vault is next year
apnews.com/article/jeff...

New book to detail ‘cover-up’ of Biden’s health decline before 2024 election Original Sin by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson will focus on president’s ‘self-delusional’ decision to seek re-election

I will never pre-judge a book I haven’t read yet, but if half of this book doesn’t cover why journalists didn’t rely on their own eyes and video archives instead of what their sources were telling them…
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/f...

They were both born in the US

There is no acceptable reason for doing this. None.

There is no conceivable situation in which Trump officials will be in the position of Lincoln officials trying to figure out whether to obey Dred Scott. No one should fall for this.

HUGE: The Supreme Court sides with Richard Glossip, holding that prosecutors violated his constitutional rights by failing to correct false testimony at his trial. It directs the Oklahoma courts to vacate his conviction! www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...

Birthright citizenship 3: My letter to editor of NY Times on Barnett and Wurman’s misleading essay This is my more concise letter to the NY Times editor, a short summary of Birthright Bates Backfire posts 1 & 2 on Barnett and Wurman’s irresponsible and misleading (at best) misuse of Bates. I…

Birthright citizenship 3: My letter to editor of NY Times on Barnett and Wurman’s misleading essay

They’re not publishing it, so I’m self-publishing.
Now y’all know what to do:
shugerblogcom.wordpress.com/2025/02/21/b...

My recommendation is to fight the bans. Comment at school board and library board meetings. Sharing books only helps the people with access to the people sharing books and is, at best, putting a band-aid on an infected wound.