ABOUT THAT CHEERLEADER WHO WOULDN’T CHEER for the player she’d accused of rape. Let’s talk about the free speech and other legal issues, but you’ve got to get the timeline right.
Archive for 2011
May 8, 2011
MOTHER’S DAY: It’s still not too late to send an Amazon gift card! You can email ’em for immediate delivery. You can even send ’em via Facebook.
“YOU’RE THE SHARK!”/”I’m only a SEAL, sir.” Alan K. Henderson bests SNL at writing an SNL script on the ripe occasion of OBL’s demise.
THE CRUELTY OF HALF-MEASURES: The Chicago Tribune on the no-exit strategy in Libya. The “war has settled into an inconclusive slog that could go on a long time.” That’s for sure. The morally pure Europeans won’t admit to aiming at Gaddafi, but instead indulge the mendacious fiction that they merely targeted “things” in the mansion and not a person. When they attack the “things,” they go for half-measures, miss the dictator and kill the kids instead. Gaddafi responds by shelling Misrata, creating pretty much exactly the slaughter of civilians that the intervention was supposed to prevent.
RIFFING ON THAT WATCHING-YOURSELF-ON-TV THING that Osama started.
DEFACEMENT ART: On the sad spectacle of graffiti in the museum.
Related: Radical Graffiti Chic.
The Great Books According to Me: The Red and the Black, by Stendhal. This is the only novel that really matters in all the history of the world, and I confess I have been in love with Mathilde de la Mole since I was fourteen; luckily I married her. Happy Mother’s Day, Jean-Marie, and all other mothers.
BLAMING FREUD, NOT FREIDAN for the denigration of the stay-at-home mother.
(And happy mother’s day, to all you mothers, at home and out in the world!)
GRAPHIC: MOTHERHOOD: 2011 IN REVIEW.
YOU’RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER BOAT: The Great White Shark Hunt off Martha’s Vineyard.
Hopefully this isn’t the Summer of 2001 redux.
Inevitability of Greek Default on Sovereign Debt: “The trading patterns of Greek bonds indicate that traders expect a restructuring, and they think it will be messy.” And note to International Business Transactions law students – choice of law and forum clauses matter. “Greece’s negotiating position is improved by the fact that about 90 percent of its outstanding bonds specify that Greek law will determine any disputes — and of course Greece can change its laws if needed.”
China’s Neorealist Regret at OBL’s Demise: “When Washington shifted its focus toward terrorism and the Middle East after the September 11 attacks in 2001, Beijing experienced genuine relief. As China’s leaders and strategists came to believe, an America distracted by two wars and a weak economy presented a priceless window of opportunity for China to extend its influence in Asia and beyond. But Beijing realizes that Washington’s strategic attention will eventually turn eastwards, and the death of bin Laden is one small but significant step in hastening the arrival of that day.”
What Is the US Government’s Legal View of the Armed Conflict Against Terror Groups?: At Opinio Juris, a discussion trying to fairly describe the US government’s position. From a legal standpoint, what are the extension, duration, and adversaries in the conflict with Al Qaeda and parties under the AUMF? The comments are illuminating, too.
TURNING RIGHT AT HOLLYWOOD AND VINE: The updated version of Roger L. Simon’s autobiography is half-price off at Encounter Books.
May 7, 2011
UP TO 30% OFF ON Victorinox Kitchen Knives. When we were having our big kitchen-knife discussion a while back, these got good reviews for quality and inexpensiveness.
Congratulations to Miriam Wittes on her bat-mitzvah!
LAW FIRM ECONOMICS: The Economist foresees a less gilded future for large law firms. So does Larry Ribstein.
10 Years of the Claremont Review of Books. Congratulations – special double sized celebration issue.
How Wars End and Peace Gets Made: Policy Review essay by Henrik Bering on Gideon Rose’s book.
I LOVE THE FIRST AMENDMENT, I REALLY DO. The UK government says it will regulate journalists’ Twitter feeds. The US government would probably do this, too—and oh so much more—if it could.
THE NEW OSAMA VIDEOS. Have you seen them? He looks pathetic.
THE WEEK IN BLOGS: “It’s like taking the Internet, putting it on TV, and then back on the Internet….”