The FCC is a master class in jawboning of late. That's not a compliment. I'm a signatory to TechFreedom's excellent letter.

Listen to Wesleyan University President Michael Roth and @genevievelakier.bsky.social discuss the #jawboning of higher ed and how the admin is weaponizing allegations of antisemitism: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...

The billion dollars is the least of it. It’s universities’ autonomy, independence, and integrity that Trump is really after. www.cnn.com/2025/08/08/p...

From @knightcolumbia.org’s analysis of the Columbia settlement. knightcolumbia.org/blog/what-th...

Watercolor painting showing the cool development of the longfin batfish (Platax teira) from juvenile to adult #sciart #fish #watercolor

Bit late to the game, but Thinh Nguyen and I have an op-ed in The Hill explaining why use of copyrighted materials for AI training data is fair use: thehill.com/opinion/judi...

At what point do we just accept that the Fifth Circuit is trash?

“A 2010 study that analyzed 40 years of protest coverage in five major newspapers, including The New York Times and The Washington Post, found that the papers depicted protests — even peaceful ones — as nuisances rather than as necessary functions of democracy.”

Within a few hours of Harvard's motion for a new temporary restraining order, judge grants the temporary restraining order. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

It's also a misunderstanding of what the grants are for. It's not a billion dollar donation, Harvard won the grants to do specific research that it is in a relatively unique position to do. Trade schools aren't going to be able to take over, eg, Harvard's cancer immunotherapy research.

Since George Floyd’s Murder, US Police Killings Keep Rising, Not Falling - The New York Times www.nytimes.com/2025/05/24/u...

lol

The Director of National Intelligence's FOIA website (which has reappeared after the entire site was briefly down) no longer has a reading room of released documents or links to its FOIA regulations which, were we to be picky, violates the EFOIA amendments of 1996. Amazing timing.

After multiple defeats, Trump finally (partially) won an Alien Enemies Act ruling by a federal court. See my critique of this seriously flawed decision: reason.com/volokh/2025/...

NEWS: Paul Clement tells the court that two WilmerHale attorneys had their security clearances pulled under the Trump executive order targeting the firm. (Note: This is not violating the TRO, which did not enjoin the clearances part of the executive order.) storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Rob Manfred making Pete Rose eligible for the Hall of Fame because Donald Trump whined about it in a tweet is a fucking nightmare, man.

Little known fact that Grover Cleveland used to ride around the world in the Statue of Liberty and have sensitive national security discussions inside it, before taking possession of it himself after he left office.

Come for the jawboning; stay for the Loper Bright! Serious props to @techfreedom.org, CEI, @berinszoka.bsky.social , and all the panelists.

So, usual disclaimer: I'm a panelist. But, I think this is a rigorous and diverse conference exploring what these two federal agencies can and cannot do within First Amendment and statutory limits.

Everything is stupid.

Tired: All of reality is an AI construct and we’re in a computer simulation Wired: All of reality is an AI construct and we’re in a computer simulation specifically designed to humiliate and degrade Drew Ensign

"The poll found that on a weekly basis more than 90% of people use weather forecasts, job market reports, food safety warnings and other information that is based on federal science. But only 10% are concerned that cuts to federal support for science might impact their access to such information."

It will be a minor note in the history of all this but the utter inability of Schumer to understand what's happening and to respond appropriately is historically bad in its own way

NEW: DeSantis directed the University of Florida to cancel a nearly-complete search for its next dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences — because the governor believed the finalists were not in alignment with the state's opposition to DEI

From the Department of Things Columbia Could Have Done

JUST IN: Harvard has designated its newly filed suit against the Trump administration as related to one filed earlier in April by Harvard professors. So, it will be initially assigned to the same judge, Allison Burroughs, an Obama appointee. Doc: www.harvard.edu/research-fun...

www.clickorlando.com/news/politic... Why are Florida attorneys general uniformly rejects from a clown show? That's a rhetorical question; everyone knows why.

It's genuinely hard to express to sort of normal not politically plugged in non-lawyers *how* lawless the Trump administration is, and I think that's some part of the problem. You sound like you're hyperventilating, but it's just a flat description of what is going on.

SNEAK PEEK 🚨🚨: Regulators around the world are forcing websites to verify users' ages. This is baffling because, as my new paper explains, age verification requirements counterproductively HURT children, adults, & the Internet papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... #ChildSafety #AgeAuthentication

Must-read: @ericgoldman on age verification laws. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... One of Internet law's best thinkers covering a topic that badly needs great thinking.

Just wondering who still pays attention to George Will. It's like the Washington Post somehow is capable of time travel back to 1988.

NEW: The first front pages of Saturday’s newspapers in the UK. “Ukraine Hero Ambushed” “Trump stuns world with vile rant at Zelensky” “A spectacle to horrify the world” Trump is obliterating the global reputation of the US.

Guys like joe rogan are funny because they still think smoking weed that they buy legally from places that look like an apple store makes them hunter s thompson

My article "Target(ed) Advertising" is now out in U.C. Davis Law Review! Warmest thanks to the Davis team for a superb job of editing. lawreview.law.ucdavis.edu/archives/58/...

Dogs: I must fetch Beavers: I must build a dam Academics: I must tell everyone I need to write and then not write

NIH cuts would sting Alabama’s biggest employer. From @johnarchibald.bsky.social www.al.com/news/2025/02...

Giving access to SSNs, other data on government employees to non-employees like Musk is a violation of 5 USC 552a, and carries with it a penalty of $1000 per person whose data was accessed. We are building a case. Govt employees who want to participate should contact me directly

Worcester, my old home town (I lived in a suburb of Worcester, which functions exactly as you would expect). Still, props to Worcester public schools for protecting their kids.

People on TikTok are reporting ICE raids happening in small cities in various states. To get past algorithmic censorship, they’re writing down the information on paper and holding up and shuffling through the handwritten signs as they talk about pretend subjects like shopping, food, and animals.

Ugh the worst

Use Signal. Donate to Signal.

This seems like a good summary of how the media is failing here.

“The past was alterable. The past has never been altered. Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia.” Not sure if Yglesias is high on his own supply or is just confident that his patrons are too stupid to notice him talking out both sides of his mouth.

With dozens of key vacancies soon to open up in the Department of Justice, incoming Attorney General Matt Gaetz is expected to tap some of his young staffers.

The real weirdos are always super-invested in being high-IQ. It’s a huge part of their self-image. I’ve known a lot of smart people, good and bad. I’ve never met a person whose entire identity was “high IQ” who wasn’t a completely insufferable douche.

Tour de force by Jim Dempsey in @lawfare on how to build a sensible liability scheme for software: lawfaremedia.org/article/stan... It's a serious, substantive piece that deserves to be a starting point for discussions on a neglected but vital cybersecurity topic.

In a new piece for our Security By Design series, @dbambauer.bsky.social and Melanie Teplinsky explain what safe & inverse safe harbors are, the benefits and risks, and argue that they should be in the National Cybersecurity Strategy's software liability regime.

Huge thanks to the brilliant Melanie Teplinsky & the superb team @lawfare.bsky.social - the piece argues for an affirmative safe harbor (the shield) and an inverse one (the sword) as complements to the standard of care in the NCS software liability system: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/shie...