Category Archives: The Media

Push Here to Sue

New App Lets You ‘Sue Anyone By Pressing a Button’ was the headline. I thought it was the Onion, but it’s apparently real.

Do Not Pay, a free service that launched in the iOS App store today, uses IBM Watson-powered artificial intelligence to help people win up to $25,000 in small claims court. It’s the latest project from 21-year-old Stanford senior Joshua Browder, whose service previously allowed people to fight parking tickets or sue Equifax; now, the app has streamlined the process. It’s the “first ever service to sue anyone (in all 3,000 counties in 50 states) by pressing a button.”

Can’t test it though, as it’s only available for the iPhone, not Android.

Posted in Onion/Not-Onion | 1 Comment

On a Roll

© User:Colin / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

The Onion is on a roll today. I knew these stories were ‘fake’ but alas they are also too true:

And this non-UN one too: Experts Say Puerto Rico Still Extremely Vulnerable To Future U.S. Government.

Posted in Onion/Not-Onion, Uncategorized | Comments Off on On a Roll

I Guessed Wrong

Brett Kavanaugh wins coveted Roy Moore endorsement.

This is not the Onion. It’s real.

The original source is a TPM article, Moral Authority Roy Moore Urges GOP To ‘Take A Stand’ And Back Kavanaugh. It explains:

Failed Senate candidate Roy Moore, who was accused of sexual misconduct by nine women, has decided that the time is ripe to throw his support to fellow accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

Posted in Law: The Supremes, Onion/Not-Onion | Comments Off on I Guessed Wrong

White House Watch is Back!

My brother is reviving White House Watch. It was his best journalism, back before he got sucked into management, and I’m really happy to see it again.

He even has a sort of manifesto, of which this is a part:

I see two ways it can add value above the din:

1. By relentlessly putting Trump’s incremental actions in their proper, alarming context as an ongoing, corrupt assault on pluralism, shared truths, and core liberal democratic values; and
2. By convening an ongoing online dialogue about what we need to do once Trump is gone, with an emphasis on strengthening our democracy and curbing executive branch powers that have grown unchecked.

We can’t allow this to become the new normal. So how do we restore pre-Trump expectations? And having learned some very painful lessons, how do we apply them to rebalance and reenergize our democracy?

I don’t have the answers, but I’m excited about asking the questions and reporting what I hear.

In addition to multiple postings using the latest news as a point of departure, I’ll do my own reporting and interviews. I’ll talk to experts about the weakening of the checks and balances intended to protect us from tyranny, and how to strengthen them. I’ll review literature on key topics, especially related to the violation and restoration of norms. I’ll experiment with online annotation of articles, essays and white papers. Depending on the site’s budget, there could be podcasts and even teach-ins.

I’m also intent on offering a megaphone to the growing community of groups and individuals already focused on the work of restoring and protecting democratic principles. The endless scandals, outrages and distractions of the Trump era have robbed them of the national attention they deserve. White House Watch will work with them on internet time to inject their important perspective into the daily political discourse.

(My only question is why I had to hear about this from Mom?)

Posted in Dan Froomkin, The Media | Comments Off on White House Watch is Back!

Miami Beach to Criminalize Unlicensed Renting

Scene from anti-Airbnb protest in Barcelona.
Source Barcelona-home.com

The Miami Herald’s Kyra Gurney reports Miami Beach could soon arrest people operating Airbnb-like rentals without a license. The city is banning unlicensed apartment rentals with a term of less than six months, which seems like a long time to me. Asheville, NC, for example, requires a minimum of a month’s lease, which seems enough to keep out the riffraff, preserve the character of neighborhoods, or whatever they are doing.

Anyway, Ms. Gurney and I had a nice talk about how you enforce a rule against short-term rentals which are commonly advertised and rented online, and a small fragment of that talk ended up near the end of her article.

Posted in Law: Criminal Law, Miami, The Media | 1 Comment

Miami Law Explainer on 3D Guns

This week’s edition of the Miami Law Explainer features yours truly being interviewed on 3D guns. You can get the Apple-flavored Miami Law Explainer, or the Android-flavored Miami Law Explainer.

I’m told that either way it runs about eight minutes, which isn’t even long enough for a trip to the store.

The Miami Law Explainer is a new series in which different members of the MiamiLaw faculty are interviewed on current legal topics.  Check it out.

Posted in Cryptography, Law: Everything Else, The Media | 1 Comment