Night Walk with 4-4 Cav

At Michael Yon's:

It’s amazing how many lights can be seen on a dark night. Especially if you are with the US military. Different-colored lights are useful for differing purposes. The color you use can depend on your job. For medics, blue light is good for blood. It’s also good for tracking blood trails. Bright white is best but then the enemy can shoot you. Red light can make blood disappear, but then again blue light makes petroleum look like blood, and so if you are treating patients at night from after an IED strike on a vehicle, there can be confusion. American military maps are made to be “red light readable” because red light preserves night vision and is harder to see from a distance. The question of lights and how to use them can soak up thousands of words and so let’s keep it simple and move on.

Amazing photo-essay. Check the whole thing at the link.

Beating Righthaven

I've been meaning to put up a big entry on my successful defense against Righthaven. I was thinking I'd write some big fancy post on my motion to dismiss, which I filed with the help of David Kerr of Santangelo Law Offices in Fort Collins, Colorado. But I've been too busy and haven't taken the time. So, with recent developments indicating the end is most-likely near for the reviled copyright trolling concern, I might as well post on it for the record.

Righthaven sued me for alleged copyright violation on March 8, 2011. The docket listing is here. The lawsuit claimed that I'd infringed the copyright held by the Denver Post for its picture of the invasive pat down at this article: "Controversy over pat-downs, body scans lands at DIA." Like dozens of other bloggers, I'd featured a full-size screencap of (the article and) the crotch-grab photograph in a post on TSA's "touching junk" backlash. I filed a motion to dismiss pro se. Attorney David Kerr provided legal advice pro bono.

Righthaven files "no warning" lawsuits. That is, it gives no advance notification to defendants, which violates the norm of providing "take down notices" to those suspected of copyright violations. By doing this, Righthaven --- which made a speciality out of suing small-time bloggers and "mom-and-pop" businesses --- was able to scare the bejesus out of its targets, who then would settle out of court generally in the three to five thousand dollar range. Defendants were threatened with the possibility of a $150,000 judgment and the forfeiture of their website's domain name (URL address). Let me tell you: It's frightening as hell opening up that letter of service and reading the lawsuit. You can't even believe you're being sued, but you can't ignore it or wish it away. A non-response would result in a default judgment, so there's no time to dilly-dally. No wonder so many defendants settled out of court rather than attempt a legal defense, especially since obtaining legal counsel and going to trial would probably run into the tens of thousands of dollars on average. I first found out about the lawsuit from Steven Green of the Las Vegas Sun, who left me message on Facebook and then the link to this article mentioning me as a defendant.

Righthaven's model is entirely predatory, and the company soon earned everlasting enmity by filing lawsuits against folks who were unemployed, on public assistance or disabled. Righthaven, for example, sued cat-blogger Allegra Wong of Boston, who was unemployed and receiving "financial support from a companion." Righthaven also sued Brian Hill of North Carolina. Hill is autistic and chronically ill and is supported by Social Security disability benefits. My attorney David Kerr successfully defended Hill, whose story was featured in the New York Times, "Enforcing Copyrights Online, for a Profit."

After the Hill case, Righthaven seemed to come under withering fire from defendants who refused to settle with what many considered a bloodsucking copyright troll. In a series of cases out of Federal District Court in Nevada, defendants were able to show that Righthaven in fact failed to own the copyrights for the materials over which it was suing. The company had entered into a "strategic alliance agreement" with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, and in April, Roger Hunt, the Chief U.S. District Judge for Nevada, ordered the agreement unsealed in a case involving the Democratic Underground. In the following weeks and months Righthaven continued to suffer defeats at the hands of judges in Nevada, and then later in Denver as well, where soon enough Senior U.S. District Judge John Kane would start handing down a series of devastating defeats for Righthaven. Eventually the Denver court threw out 34 cases filed there alleging copyright violations (including mine), most likely all of them involving the TSA pat down photo. See: "Judge: Righthaven lacked standing, abused Copyright Act."

That was about five weeks ago. Since then Righthaven's been hit with judgments totaling several tens of thousands of dollars and it's been unable to make good on the payments, instead asking for leniency and extensions from the courts. But time's running out. The news out this week is that the District Court in Las Vegas has ordered U.S. Marshals to seize more than $63,000 in Righthaven assets. See: "Marshals ordered to seize Righthaven assets." And see this report from Nate Anderson, at Ars Technica, "US Marshals turned loose to collect $63,720.80 from Righthaven":

Looks like it's time to turn out the lights on Righthaven. The US Marshal for the District of Nevada has just been authorized by a federal court to use "reasonable force" to seize $63,720.80 in cash and/or assets from the Las Vegas copyright troll after Righthaven failed to pay a court judgment from August 15.

Righthaven made a national name for itself by suing mostly small-time bloggers and forum posters over the occasional copied newspaper article, initially going so far as to demand that targeted websites turn over their domain names to Righthaven. The several hundred cases went septic on Righthaven, however, once it became clear that Righthaven didn't own the copyrights over which it was suing. Righthaven, ailing, was soon buffeted by negative court decisions as a result.

In August, the case Righthaven v. Hoehn was tossed by a federal judge in Nevada, who went a step further and declared that defendant Wayne Hoehn's complete copy of a newspaper article in a sub-forum on the site "Madjack Sports" was fair use. On August 15, the judge awarded $34,045.50 to the Randazza Legal Group, which represented Hoehn. Righthaven, which had spent so much time thundering to defendants about just how badly the federal courts would make them pay... didn't pay.

Instead, it filed a flurry of appeals alleging (among other things) that having to pay the money would involve "the very real threat of being forced out of business or being forced to seek protection through bankruptcy." Righthaven contended that it could eventually win the case on appeal and thus should not be bankrupted before it had the chance to make its case.

But the increasingly disorganized organization couldn't even get its appellate filings in on time. Yesterday, Righthaven had to admit that it missed the October 31 deadline for its opening brief in the case. It blamed the problem on a "misunderstanding," then noted it would need a few more weeks to actually write the brief, since "Righthaven’s counsel is scheduled to undergo a surgical procedure for which it is estimated that he will be recovering outside of the office for approximately one week."

Randazza shot back that Righthaven was "prolonging the appellate process by deliberately creating a manufactured deadline crisis. It is nobody’s fault but Righthaven’s that it cannot file a single opening brief with this Court within the original briefing schedules Righthaven knew of, and could have reviewed at any time." All the while, Randazza Legal Group was ringing up more fees with every brief it wrote.

The appeals court has refused to act on Righthaven's request to delay its August judgment further, and the money was due last Friday. When it didn't show up, Randazza Legal Group went back to the Nevada District Court to request a Writ of Execution to use the court's enforcers, the US Marshals, to collect the money. The court clerk issued the writ today, and Righthaven's $34,045.50 judgment has now ballooned to $63,720.80 with all the additional costs and fees from the delay.

There's still more at the link.

I can't say I haven't learned a lot through all of this, although involuntary education isn't my style.

And I want to again thank my attorney David Kerr for being a super stand-up guy and wise counsel. I reached out to a number of law offices in the beginning. It was going to be expensive and I didn't know if I'd be able to afford a defense. David took an interest in my case and my blog and ended up helping me file the defense. That was cool.

More on this later.

Ericka Anderson Runs 36th Marine Corps Marathon

That's gotta be one of the greatest personal accomplishments ever, and Ericka's a veteran at this stuff, apparently.

See: "Marine Corps Marathon #3: So You Think You're a Rockstar..."

And see the news report at WaPo: "36th Marine Corps Marathon: Charles ‘Chad’ Ware wins men’s race; Tezata Dengersa wins women’s."

And more running at Ericka' blog: The Sweet Life. She's so energetic!

Ericka is Senior Digital Communications Associate at the Heritage Foundation.

BONUS: At New York Times, "The Once and Future Way to Run":

We were once the greatest endurance runners on earth. We didn’t have fangs, claws, strength or speed, but the springiness of our legs and our unrivaled ability to cool our bodies by sweating rather than panting enabled humans to chase prey until it dropped from heat exhaustion. Some speculate that collaboration on such hunts led to language, then shared technology. Running arguably made us the masters of the world.

'Stay'

Well, I'm in the mood for more Bowie. For years he was my favorite artist and I think I've been neglecting him here at the blog. Check back for more blogging this afternoon:

'Diamond Dogs'

Okay, back on the grid.

I laughed when I hopped in the van for the round trip back home. Stevie Ray Vaughan popped on the radio, at The Sound L.A. I had SRV posted this morning for my placeholder entry, so I'll pick it up for some evening blogging with the next in the queue, David Bowie in 2004. My wife and I caught this show at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheater:

4:22 - Crossfire by Stevie Ray Vaughan

4:26 - Diamond Dogs by David Bowie

4:32 - American Girl by Tom Petty

4:36 - Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix

4:39 - Bad Company by Bad Company

4:49 - Band On The Run by Paul Mccartney And Wings

4:55 - Boys Are Back In Town by Thin Lizzy

5:02 - You Might Think by Cars

5:05 - You Can't Always Get What You Want by Rolling Stones

5:18 - Black Friday by Steely Dan

5:21 - Rock And Roll Band by Boston

5:25 - You Really Got Me by Kinks

5:27 - Baby Hold On by Eddie Money

5:30 - Have A Cigar by Pink Floyd

Legal Insurrection in the O.C.

Last Tuesday, William Jacobson published a picture of the windmills off Interstate 10 near Palm Springs: "Open – A Tape from California." It turns out William and his wife flew into Orange County Airport and rented a car to head out to Rancho Mirage for a legal conference. I contacted William and we met up for some coffee last night near his hotel near the airport.

He posted an update on their travels last night: "Open – Live from The OC."

It was great meeting William and his wife. We hit it off and had lots to talk about, but there wasn't enough time. I'll look forward to seeing them again, either in New York or perhaps next time they make it to California. It's a bummer the county's so big sometimes, although that's one of the great things about blogging: I've met more wonderful people over these last few years. It's been something to really cherish.

Head on over to see what's going on at the blog. He's just as big a blogging junkie as I am!

1990 Nissan 300ZX

See Doug Ross, "How many 22-year old cars still look modern and up-to-date in 2012?"

Israel Matzav on Erick Erickson's Anti-Semitic Attack on Jennifer Rubin

Carl in Jerusalem picks up on my second post on Erick Erickson's attack on Jennifer Rubin.

See: "Eric Erickson charges Jennifer Rubin with dual loyalty, then backtracks":

What I want to get to is Erickson's labeling of anyone who advocates for Jonathan Pollard's release as having dual loyalties (yes, that still comes through in his apology) and of automatically not being a conservative. Over the last year, Lawrence Korb (formerly Caspar Weinberger's number 2 at the Defense Department), former CIA Director R. James Woolsey, former Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ), former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, former US Secretary of State George Schultz, and Harvard Professor Charles Ogletree have all come out in favor of releasing Pollard. Of those, to the best of my knowledge, only Mukasey is Jewish and only DeConcini and Ogletree are not Republicans.

Additionally, some 500 American Jewish and Christian leaders called for Pollard's release in a letter to President Obama in January. That letter cites all of the following (some of whom are already listed above) as favoring Pollard's release:

Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, Senators Charles Schumer and Arlen Specter, Harvard Law Professors Charles Ogletree and Alan Dershowitz, former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, former Assistant Secretary of Defense Lawrence Korb, Rev. Theodore Hesburgh of Notre Dame, Benjamin Hooks of the NAACP, former federal Judge George Leighton, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olsen, Pastor John Hagee, and Gary Bauer.

And 39 members of Congress.

Would Erickson accuse all of them of dual loyalty? Are none of them Republican or conservative enough for Erickson? Surely Hagee and Bauer (at least) ought to be. And if that's the case, why is Erickson going after Jennifer with a charge like this and not after any of them?

Pollard committed a crime and he's paid for that crime disproportionately. It's long past time to let him go. Unfortunately, much of the American Jewish community cannot find its voice on this issue precisely because it is intimidated by the type of dual loyalty charges made by Erickson against Jennifer Rubin. But the American Jewish community ought to find its voice.

There's still more at the link, and Erickson's getting beaten up in the comments.

Also, at The Other McCain, "Erickson’s ‘Anti-Semitic Screed’?"

Jennifer Rubin Slams Erick Erickson's 'Anti-Semitic Screed'

My post on the Jennifer Rubin profile at Politico was the top entry here through most of the day. Then this morning I saw Erick Erickson's attack on Rubin at RealClearPolitics. I noticed the Jewish slur, where Erickson deploys the disgusting dual loyalty smear, alleging that Rubin's "best understood as 'Likud' rather than Republican or conservative." Well Rubin pushed back, apparently. See Ben Smith, "Rubin dismisses Erickson's 'anti-Semitic screed'."

And Erickson's apologized, "An Anti-Semite?"

Erickson's a clueless hack, as I've held all along. In fact, I don't doubt his claim of ignorance at the apology, where he suggests that, "A friend of mine explains to me that a Jewish-American might find it insulting because it suggests they put Israel ahead of the United States." Hey, you think?

Just one more example of how overrated this dude is. What a loser.

Via Memeorandum and Weekly Standard.

Added: From PolitiJim, "I'm Sorry But Screw You Erick Erickson."

Police Fire Tear Gas at Protesters in Oakland, California

At The Lede:

1:40 a.m. [EST] Updated - Police officers shot several rounds of tear gas into a crowd of hundreds of protesters from the group Occupy Oakland on Tuesday night, as the protesters tried to re-enter an area outside of City Hall that the police had cleared of their encampment on Tuesday morning.

“It sounded like bombs,” said Joaquin Jutt, 24, a digital animator who was among the protesters. “There was a stinging and burning in my throat, eyes and nostrils. My eyes burned like there was hot sauce in them.”

And a nice photo-blog, at J.P. Dobrin's, "PHOTOGRAPHY OF POLICE DISMANTLING OCCUPY OAKLAND."

Vanuatu

Robert Stacy McCain tweeted the other day, "Just updated my profile to include 'future U.S. ambassador to Vanuatu'."

I thought that was kinda funny at the time, but even more so now, with this piece on Vanuatu at Sunday's travel section at Los Angeles Times, "Vanuatu islands: Get happy, get a little wild."

The background on that ambassadorship at The Other McCain, "Memo From the National Affairs Desk to the Herman Cain Presidential Campaign."

Really Amazing Pictures of Ann Althouse at Sunset

Just head over there and check it out, "Autumn Sunset."

I don't think I could take as beautiful of photographs, even if I had that kind of photo gear. Simply wonderful.

Anti-Semitic Protester at Occupy Wall Street — Los Angeles

Via JammieWearingFool:

"These people aren't even trying to hide their ugly anti-Semitism."

And from the blurb at the video:

Here's one of the protesters Reason.tv spoke to at Occupy Wall Street in Los Angeles on October 12, 2011. She identifies herself as Patricia McAllister and as an employee of Los Angeles Unified School District.

"I think that the Zionist Jews, who are running these big banks and our Federal Reserve, which is not run by the federal government... they need to be run out of this country," she said.

Well, no doubt Satan's progressives will be flooding the phone lines at LAUSD. Not.

Roundup on Progressive Campaign of Workplace Intimidation and Harassment — UPDATED!!

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

W. James Casper's Demonic Band of Progressive Totalitarians

I was notified of yet another round of workplace attacks at the college.

I don't yet know who's once again contacting my employer (I should know next week), but I've got a clue. It turns out that Captain Fogg left a comment at stalking hate-blogger W. James Casper's hell-hole, American Nihilist (check the comments at the top result):

I certainly don't participate in what anyone but you would call retaliation, but then I'm not as worried as you that I've stepped over the line of common decency. You in fact, have good reason for retrospection and introspection. At this point I worry for the public at large and for students taught by you. I think you sound dangerous. I almost expect to see you in some headline some day.

I have no problem with people being called to task for harm they might have done to others. As an educated man, you certainly can distinguish between justice and retaliation even if you're somehow unable to get any point across without behaving like a foul-mouthed and spoiled little boy with serious self-esteem and impulse control problems.

How this makes me improperly retaliative or dishonest in your eyes, is beyond me, but then I know more about electrical engineering than about abnormal psychology.

So do you think people need to know about how you express yourself or is someone "retaliating" for quoting you? You either stand behind your words or you have your nose rubbed in them. It's up to you.

Was it you who showed up out of the blue at The Impolitic raving about impotence and penises and stupidity and all that after a rather dry assessment of Mitt Romney? Seems odd that you could dare to accuse anybody of excess after that repetitive example of your obsessive and obscene program of hounding and punishing anyone who writes anything you disagree with. The only reason I'm here is that you were there.

Frankly I think you're so far beyond the bounds of responsible civilized behavior that some public light should be shed on it and you know it because you wouldn't be squirming and squealing about persecution if you didn't know damn well how inappropriate it is for a teacher of young people to be what you are. You've got a body of "work" out there and it speaks for itself and it doesn't speak well of you.

I'll know more later about this. Folks can read the whole comment thread at that top Google result. I have no idea what Fogg is talking about with "retaliation." But I can say that this is the new line of attack from W. James Casper's demonic band of progressive totalitarians. It's a variation on the old line: "Dr. Douglas has no business being in front of a classroom." And so in the progressive mind, this is reason enough to mount campaigns of libel and workplace harassment for the sole purpose of getting me fired. This was the attack of the atheists some time back, during the Elizabeth Edwards backlash. This was the same basic attack launched by Carl Salonen and one of the asshats at Lawyers, Guns and Money. And this has been W. James Casper's latest ploy to continue his hate campaign of sponsoring threats against my livelihood. Now it's not just that I'm conservative, but that I use salty language in responding to these assholes. Yep, they're assholes and dickwipes and I have no problem pointing it out. So now, yet again, we've got the same bunch of idiots down with the defecations on Wall Street screaming like stuck pigs and contacting my employer? Heaven forbid I used some profanity! Fire that man! He's a danger to the commons! Fogg mentions Libby Spencer's The Impolitic, where I commented last week. But those comments have been deleted, so there's no actual record of what Fogg's talking about. And that's it exactly: If someone disagrees with comment at a blog they can delete it, or they can moderate them in advance. But for stalking asshats like Casper and Fogg it's always about contacting my employer, and making libelous allegations. Notice above how Fogg claims I'm "dangerous." That would be perfect, wouldn't it, to allege that "Donald Douglas is a danger to his students and the college community, and he shouldn't be permitted anywhere near a classroom full of impressionable kids"?

I'll have more on this later.

I just love how classic this is. Every time these people attack they prove one more time just how demonic they are, just like the mob.

PREVIOUSLY: "Libel Blogger David Hillman (Swash Zone) Workplace Harassment Fail." And, "Carl Salonen Libelous Workplace Allegations of Child Pornography and Sexual Harassment at Long Beach City College."

BONUS: Hey Fogg, here's the link to the properly spelled "Muphry's Law," and you can thank your idiot hate-sponsor RACIST = REPSAC3 on the origins of your epic self-douche. BWAHAHAHA!!!!!

EXTRA: The only reference to "penises" I can think of would be "Captain Fogg Just Can't Go Long!" And that's a parody, protected by the First Amendment. But hey, progressive totalitarians hate free speech!!

NOTE: Comments are closed. Readers who'd like to comment may reply to me by e-mail (at my Blogger profile) and I'll add comments in updates to this post.

The Smelly Hippies of Occupy Wall Street

Via BCF:

Barbara O'Brien is the Mob!

Check out this hilarious post from numbskull progressive Barbara O'Brien at Mahablog: "Clowns to the Left of Me, Jokers to the Right …" Barbara is practically hysterical in attempting to distance her own ideological commitments from the freak show communists at International ANSWER. But of course, while ANSWER is no doubt a full-time (leaching) faux-vanguard organization, the revolutionary change they spout is simply mainstream on the progressive left. Barbara can't separate her shit from the left's genocidal anti-Israel agitation, because it's all over the occupy movement. And of course this woman at the clip below, identified as a planner on the ground in New York from day one, represents the Democrat-Socialist, SEIU-ACORN-Working Families Party radical nexus. She's calling for the destruction of capitalism through revolutionary change. That's the exact same change ANSWER calls for, and that's the exact mob-style change that forms the left's historical ideology, as Ann Coulter points out in her new book, Demonic. Most of the occupiers have been too stupid to articulate their revolutionary agenda, and the media's been equally stupid in attempting to compare them to the tea parties. Coulter responds to the comparisons, saying "This Is What a Mob Looks Like":

I am not the first to note the vast differences between the Wall Street protesters and the tea partiers. To name three: The tea partiers have jobs, showers and a point.

No one knows what the Wall Street protesters want — as is typical of mobs. They say they want Obama re-elected, but claim to hate “Wall Street.” You know, the same Wall Street that gave its largest campaign donation in history to Obama, who, in turn, bailed out the banks and made Goldman Sachs the fourth branch of government.

This would be like opposing fattening, processed foods, but cheering Michael Moore — which the protesters also did this week.

But to me, the most striking difference between the tea partiers and the “Occupy Wall Street” crowd — besides the smell of patchouli — is how liberal protesters must claim their every gathering is historic and heroic.

They chant: “The world is watching!” “This is how democracy looks!” “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for!”

At the risk of acknowledging that I am, in fact, “watching,” this is most definitely not how democracy looks...

Back at Barbara O'Brien's post, she calls wistfully for some popular groundswell to pick up the sleazebaggers protesting around the country, to give the occupy movement some non-communist legitimacy: "Big nationwide marches filled with middle-class, working people could actually get the attention of politicians in Washington."

Well, yeah. Like the tea parties. Or as Ann Coulter writes:

The Tea Party name is meant in fun, inspired by an amusing rant from CNBC’s Rick Santelli in February 2009, when he called for another Tea Party in response to Obama’s plan to bail-out irresponsible mortgagers.

The tea partiers didn’t arrogantly claim to be drafting a new Declaration of Independence. They’re perfectly happy with the original.

Tea partiers didn’t block traffic, sleep on sidewalks, wear ski masks, fight with the police or urinate in public. They read the Constitution, made serious policy arguments, and petitioned the government against Obama’s unconstitutional big government policies, especially the stimulus bill and Obamacare.

Then they picked up their own trash and quietly went home. Apparently, a lot of them had to be at work in the morning.

In the two years following the movement’s inception, the Tea Party played a major role in turning Teddy Kennedy’s seat over to a Republican, making the sainted Chris Christie governor of New Jersey, and winning a gargantuan, historic Republican landslide in the 2010 elections. They are probably going to succeed in throwing out a president in next year’s election.

That’s what democracy looks like.

Exactly.

Get a clue, Barbara.

Chris Muir's 'Day by Day' Slams Erick Erickson as 'Not Very Classy'

Well, you gotta love this 'Day by Day' panel:

PREVIOUSLY: "David Frum Joining Asshat Erick Erickson as Political Analyst on CNN," and "Erick Erickson: Dude Picks Fight With Sarah Palin Supporters, Loses Badly."

Robert Stacy McCain's Herman Cain blogging is here.

American Power Surges to #74 at Wikio Top Blogs: Hardest Hit — W. James 'Costanza' Casper

I don't bother with these rankings all that much. This time I'm mostly surprised that my blog surged 16 spots to #74 from #90 in September. Half the battle is just stayin' in the ball game, adding something original or worthwhile to the debate now and then. And of course keepin' tabs on the dickwipe commies. Speaking of which, this burns W. James "Costanza" Casper, who claimed some time back (at the top result):

... aside from your sycophants, fewer and fewer people are taking your schtick seriously... You may still get your precious hits--dreck often does--but that doesn't mean folks respect you or what you have to say...

Nope.

Nobody respects what I have to say, nobody like the New York Times or anything, at "The Occupy Wall Street Quiz."

See that? Wishing hate, once again. W. James 'Costanza' Casper is just a hatemongering blog troll, living in his own nihilistic hell, looking to do harm, recruiting progressive asshats and commies, stalking and monitoring, endorsing and sponsoring workplace attacks, and God knows what other Satanic acts. As I've documented here numerous times, RACIST = REPSAC is a coward, fraud, and a liar. And that's just totally pathetic. ASFL.

"The Top 150 Conservative Websites — 4Q11"

From Doug Ross.

My blog came in at #112.