Stamey files “first of many” lawsuits

By Dan Brooks in Politics versus Government 0 Comment
Suspended Ravalli County treasurer Valerie Stamey

Suspended Ravalli County treasurer Valerie Stamey

Last Friday, independent auditor James Woy filed a status report with Ravalli County Attorney Bill Fulbright on the first two weeks of his investigation into the county treasurer’s office as Valerie Stamey left it. Quote:

At this point, it is apparent the duties of the Ravalli County treasurer were not properly executed and the state of the treasurer’s office was in disarray.

What’s that word for when something happens that you expected all along? I can’t think of it right now, because I’m too busy trying to think of a word that describes Stamey’s announcement, made yesterday through her attorney, that she is suing Woy for libel. You didn’t think she was going to roll over, did you?

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“Dumb Starbucks” less funny ha-ha, more funny legal ramifications

By Dan Brooks in Contemporary Media 1 Comment
Dumb Starbucks, a mysterious coffee shop that opened in Los Feliz last weekend, was a prank by Nathan Fielder.

Dumb Starbucks, a kind of prank by Nathan Fielder.

It turns out that Dumb Starbucks, the mysterious coffeeshop that opened in a Los Feliz strip mall this weekend, was in fact a hilarious prank by comedy central show-haver Nathan Fielder. Here we use “hilarious” in its strict sense, to mean “funnier than an LA Times headline, I guess.” Basically, Fielder opened a coffee store that was almost identical to Starbucks except A) all the drinks were free, B) the word “dumb” appeared in front of them—dumb iced coffee, dumb frappuccino, et cetera, and C) it wasn’t inspected by the health department. LA County shut down Dumb Starbucks for item (C), but I’m more interested in what the parody store says about fair use.

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Nelson, GA will not enforce mandatory gun ownership law

By Dan Brooks in Politics versus Government 1 Comment

 

Brennan Moss of Moss Firearms in nearby Jasper, GA

Brennan Moss of Moss Firearms in nearby Jasper, GA

Back in May, the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence filed a lawsuit against the town of Nelson, Georgia, which passed a city ordinance requiring all heads of households to own at least one gun. In a settlement last week, the city council declared that the law “cannot and will not be enforced,” according to NBC News. According to the Nelson police chief, that was the idea all along. Councilman Duane Cronic agrees, likening the law to the security-company signs on certain suburban homes. “Some people have security systems, some people don’t, but they put those signs up,” Cronic said in April. “I really felt like this ordinance was a security sign for our city.” Consideration of how a law should differ from a deceptive yard sign after the jump.

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Asiana Airlines will not sue Fox affiliate over joke pilot names

By Dan Brooks in Here Is Your American Culture 0 Comment
Screencap from KTVU's coverage of the crash of Asiana Airlines flight 214

Screencap from KTVU’s coverage of the crash of Asiana Airlines flight 214

Reuters reports this morning that Asiana Airlines has abandoned plans to sue San Francisco Fox affiliate KTVU. In its early coverage of the crash of Flight 214, the station broadcast joke names for the flight’s pilots, which it says were confirmed by the National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB blames it on a summer intern. The whole saga makes you feel safe, doesn’t it? The unfolding of this story inspires nothing but confidence—in our news outlets, in our federal safety administrators, in our emergency personnel, and in the corporations that raise us 30,000 feet into the air and, one way or another, return us to the ground. Now please excuse me while I polish my tiara, because I am Marie of Romania. Video after the jump.

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Bible mom maybe lies about vaccinations, maybe just loves Bible

By Dan Brooks in Christianism 2 Comments
If you Google "bible vaccinations," this is what you get.

If you Google “bible vaccinations,” this is the second most popular result.

A. Ron Galbraith has alerted me to the news that Bible mom doesn’t want to vaccinate her child, because Bible, but a federal judge in Brooklyn has denied her request for an injunction. For the purposes of this discussion, we will pretend that the New York Post is a reputable source of news and that Staten Island is part of the city. In February, Dina Check sued the NYC Department of Education on the grounds that she had unfairly been denied a religious exemption to let her daughter, A’ishah Mary, attend PS 35 without her shots. Her reason, which is maybe two reasons, reveals a fundamental problem with religious objections to law.

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