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Blogs
May 14, 2012
Oakland Officials Want You to Tattle on Vandals Who Trashed the City in Occupy Protests
For those downtown business-owners miffed about the destruction of their storefronts during Occupy protests, well, here's their chance for sweet revenge. Oakland City Attorney Barbara Parker and City Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan are asking members of the public to snitch on nefarious protesters by tu ... More >>
Blogs
May 10, 2012
George Gascón Lauds Feds' Discrimination Suit Against Sheriff Joe Arpaio
The Department of Justice today took the unusual step of suing a sitting U.S. sheriff. Joe Arpaio, the infamous sheriff of Maricopa County, Ariz., is charged with years of systematically discriminating against Latinos and using the power of his office to retaliate against critics. This paragrap ... More >>
Blogs
May 8, 2012
Ross Mirkarimi Hearing: Judge Grants Eliana Lopez More Time to Fight City Over Video
Update 2:32 pm: Judge Garrett Wong granted Eliana Lopez's attorney's motion for continuance today. This means she will have more time to prepare her argument that the court should not release to the city the video of Lopez describing an alleged domestic assault by her husband, suspended-Sheriff Ross ... More >>
Blogs
April 27, 2012
Occupy Oakland: City Sues Vandals Who Trashed Public Property During Protest
Oakland city officials are demanding that the vandals who treated Oakland like a "playground" during Occupy protests pay up for the damage they caused. The city is suing Chloe Watlington, 25, and Paul Woods, 25, who were arrested at about 9 p.m. on Jan. 28 after they were busted spray-painting publi ... More >>
Blogs
April 26, 2012
Gary Stein, Marine Who Called Obama an "Enemy" on Facebook, Discharged
Gary Stein, the 27-year-old Marine who spewed anti-Obama rhetoric on his "Armed Forces Tea Party" Facebook page, was discharged yesterday, for popping off his political views. Pentagon policy, military prosecutors noted, limits military members' political speech while in uniform. But beyond handboo ... More >>
Blogs
April 24, 2012
Masturbation Not a "Protected Activity," Judge Rules
Masturbation will not make you go blind. Legal arcana related to masturbation, however, could do just that. In San Francisco, the "Masturbatathon" is a cherished, local tradition: Men and women are sponsored to jerk and thrust for as long as they can in order to raise funds for a worthy (and, no dou ... More >>
Blogs
March 2, 2012
Joe Arpaio's 'Cold Case Posse' Concludes Obama's Birth Certificate is Fake
We last heard from Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio back in December, when a panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, based in San Francisco, grilled his lawyer on the sheriff's alleged violation of an Arizona newspaper's First Amendment rights. (Disclosure: That ne ... More >>
Blogs
December 14, 2011
Appeals Court Judges Grill Arpaio's Lawyer on Alleged First Amendment Violations
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe ArpaioAn 11-member panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit had some tough questions today for Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's lawyer about why "America's Toughest Sheriff" should be exempt from a lawsuit claiming he violated an Arizona ... More >>
Blogs
December 2, 2011
List: What's the City's Excuse for Clearing Out Occupy SF?
What are Mayor Ed Lee's excuses for gutting the Occupy SF camp?If our bocce ball courts aren't free, nobody's really freeTourists just hate it when they see a lot of San Franciscans doing something unusual in a public spaceThe messages on those cardboard signs are hurtfulIt's giving San Fran ... More >>
Blogs
November 30, 2011
Alameda Gun Ordinance to Go Before Full 9th Circuit Appeals Court
The quest for the rights of ordinary, hardworking Americans to carry bazookas and roll Abrams tanks across government property continues its slow advance. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to revisit an Alameda County couple's claim that a law banning guns on county land ... More >>
Blogs
November 17, 2011
Occupy SF Prepares for Police Raid Tonight
Kate CongerIs San Francisco next?Update (5:45 p.m.): Department of Health officials led reporters through the encampment this evening as they inspected the area for violations. SF Weekly's Lauren Smiley says that Barbara Garcia, the director of the city's Health Department, claims the toile ... More >>
Blogs
November 11, 2011
South Bay Students Lose Court Battle Over "Incendiary" American Flag T-Shirts
You are not free to wear this t-shirt in Morgan Hill schoolsThree Morgan Hill students got a crash course in American civics this week when they lost a lawsuit against high school officials who sent them home for wearing American Flag t-shirts to school. A judge dismissed the case against Live Oa ... More >>
Blogs
October 26, 2011
Another Student Suspended for Dissing Teacher on Facebook
We've seen a few times over the past year that the casual contact facilitated by Facebook is proving to be a sticky wicket for teachers and their students. Now a Louisiana high-school senior is arguing in federal court that he's the latest victim of unfair policing of online social space.The stud ... More >>
Blogs
October 18, 2011
Mayor Ed Lee Tries to Appease Occupy SF Protesters, Cops
Ellen HuetAfter five people were arrested Sunday at Justin Herman Plaza, Occupy SF protesters gathered at City Hall Tuesday afternoon to tell Mayor Ed Lee and the Board of Supervisors to just leave them alone. Tuesday's affair was nothing quite like what Rome experienced over the weekend, rather ... More >>
Blogs
October 17, 2011
Republican S.F. Chair: I Never Wanted to Sic Government on SF Weekly
No, no, you guys at SF Weekly are fine...Last week, we told you about how the head of San Francisco's Republican Party threatened to sic big government on our newspaper. Harmeet Dhillon, the boss of the local GOP, now tells SF Weekly that was never her intention. She didn't want to abridge our Fi ... More >>
Blogs
October 13, 2011
Obama's New Marijuana Policies Also Target Alt-Weeklies and the Bill of Rights
Say, is that hemp? Kill it!In their unrelenting quest to kill legal medical marijuana dead, President Barack Obama and the United States Department of Justice appear content to incur collateral damage. Last week, property owners who rent to dispensaries were informed that the federal governmen ... More >>
Blogs
October 13, 2011
Republican Party Chair Threatens to Sic Government on Newspaper
Write an offending article, face the consequencesIf you write a newspaper article in San Francisco that rankles a political leader, the government can step in and punish you. That sounds like red meat for right-leaning forces on the Internet, setting off a firestorm of rants about the liberal idi ... More >>
Calendar
September 21, 2011
Not Just Any Old Amendment
Write an offending article, face the consequencesIf you write a newspaper article in San Francisco that rankles a political leader, the government can step in and punish you. That sounds like red meat for right-leaning forces on the Internet, setting off a firestorm of rants about the liberal idi ... More >>
Blogs
August 18, 2011
Five Ways BART Could Make Your Ride Home Less Crappy
Despite the ongoing weekly protests, BART is trying to keep things real by unveiling designs for their new line of cars, named Fleet for the Future. We all know how utterly disgusting BART cars are -- it has oldest fleet of trains in the nation. So yeah, updated trains are long overdue even ... More >>
Blogs
August 11, 2011
Jewish Students Sue UC Berkeley for Allowing "Violent Anti-Semitic Attacks"
Apartheid Week on the UC Berkeley Campus, 2009Two Jewish UC Berkeley students are suing the school, claiming that the UC Berkeley administration failed to halt "violent anti-Semitic attacks and a hostile environment" created by two pro-Palestinian groups on campus. Plaintiff Jessica Felber, who ... More >>
Blogs
August 11, 2011
Tech Blogger Off the Hook for iPhone Exposé
Screenshot from Jason Chen's video, April 2010Gizmodo tech blogger Jason Chen has been let off the hook for buying and writing about an unreleased iPhone 4 prototype left in a Redwood City bar by an Apple engineer. Chen, a senior editor at Gizmodo, made headlines last April when he released photo ... More >>
Blogs
July 29, 2011
Oakland Discriminates Against Anti-Abortion Activists, Judge Says
Oakland discriminates against anti-abortion activists by selectively enforcing their "bubble ordinance," which prohibits contact with individuals entering reproductive health clinics, the Ninth Circuit has ruled. The ordinance, which was passed in February 2008, makes it unlawful for anyone to ... More >>
Blogs
July 27, 2011
Guardian Newsroom Hit with Layoffs
Luke ThomasSarah Phelan, seen here with husband Khalil Abu-Saba, has been abruptly let go by the Guardian in a purported cost-cutting moveVeteran reporter Sarah Phelan was last night shown the door along with several others in a round of layoffs at the San Francisco Bay Guardian.Guardian executiv ... More >>
Blogs
June 27, 2011
Supreme Court Shoots Down State Ban on Violent Videogames
Keep shooting, kidsKids can continue to legally play ultraviolent videogames after the Supreme Court ruled this morning that California cannot restrict kids from buying or renting the shooting games. The court voted 7-2 that such a ban, which was spearheaded by Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Franci ... More >>
Blogs
June 22, 2011
Circumcision Ban Challenged: Religious Leaders File Lawsuit Today
Taylor FriedmanNo, this isn't a bris ceremony Update 1:25 p.m.: Jewish and Muslim plaintiffs file lawsuit challenging San Francisco's circumcision ban. Read more after the jump.We knew this was coming -- it was just a matter of time. The Jewish community has united with other religious groups to ... More >>
News
June 15, 2011
SFPD Tries to Fire Cop for Balking at Conducting Illegal Searches
Taylor FriedmanNo, this isn't a bris ceremony Update 1:25 p.m.: Jewish and Muslim plaintiffs file lawsuit challenging San Francisco's circumcision ban. Read more after the jump.We knew this was coming -- it was just a matter of time. The Jewish community has united with other religious groups to ... More >>
News
March 16, 2011
S.F. Plastic Surgeon Wants to Shut Down Negative Web Commenters
Taylor FriedmanNo, this isn't a bris ceremony Update 1:25 p.m.: Jewish and Muslim plaintiffs file lawsuit challenging San Francisco's circumcision ban. Read more after the jump.We knew this was coming -- it was just a matter of time. The Jewish community has united with other religious groups to ... More >>
Blogs
March 2, 2011
Google Maps Says It's Not to Blame for Pedestrian Hit by Car
Google the phrase "common sense"If Google maps led you off a cliff, would you jump?Well, if you did make the plunge and got hurt in the process, the Bay Area media giant claims it wouldn't be at fault. Google is finding itself at the center of a bizarre and never ending lawsuit where a pedestria ... More >>
Blogs
February 15, 2011
Internet 'Kill Switch' Bill -- What Is This, Egypt?
You can find Uma on the internet, too...Looking back at the momentous goings on in Egypt of late, there are plenty of takeaways to go around. Here's one: Should the government have the power to sever society from the Internet? U.S. lawmakers are considering another attempt to push through a ... More >>
Blogs
January 31, 2011
ACLU Defends Student Who Called Teacher 'Douche Bag' on Facebook
Give me liberty or give me death, douche bags!From the Sacramento suburb of Citrus Heights comes the latest tale of First Amendment issues in the digital age -- this one sparked by a high school sophomore who was suspended for calling his biology teacher a "douche bag" on Facebook.As California W ... More >>
Blogs
January 4, 2011
Will New Online Impersonation Law Kill Faux Twitter Accounts?
Illegally funny?Since the clock struck midnight on Jan. 1, it has been a misdemeanor in this state to malevolently impersonate someone on the internet. The "Malicious E-Personization Bill" authored by Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) outlaws the impersonation of another person on the web for the p ... More >>
Calendar
December 22, 2010
Picturing Queer Literary History
Illegally funny?Since the clock struck midnight on Jan. 1, it has been a misdemeanor in this state to malevolently impersonate someone on the internet. The "Malicious E-Personization Bill" authored by Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) outlaws the impersonation of another person on the web for the p ... More >>
Blogs
December 13, 2010
Where are Wikileaks' Media Friends?
Where are the First Amendment's establishment warriors as government-spooked businesses try to shut down Wikileaks? Hackers with computers, not hacks with press passes, have been the first line of resistance. More to come.
Blogs
November 16, 2010
San Francisco Circumcision Ban Unconstitutional, Professor Says
Perform a brit milah, go to jail? San Francisco can have its proposed circumcision ban, or it can have the First Amendment. But it can't have both. That's the opinion of Peter Keane, dean emeritus at Golden Gate University School of Law and a constitutional law professor. The potential ballot mea ... More >>
Blogs
November 9, 2010
'God Hates Fags' Westboro Baptist Church Brings its Insanity to San Bruno
Good Lord. What now? The Westboro Baptist Church took a break from picketing military funerals -- churchmembers believe the soldiers' deaths were God's will, as our nation coddles homosexuals. Yesterday, the church, almost entirely composed of members of the Phelps clan, protested at San Bruno's ... More >>
Blogs
October 20, 2010
Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasies: Raunchy Album Covers That Didn't Make It
(Complete scene here.)All-around entertainer Kanye West announced the other day that his forthcoming album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, would come bundled with five different album covers. The only one we've seen so far is a painting by New York-based art-weirdo George Condo that depicts a n ... More >>
Blogs
September 17, 2010
PG&E Will Reveal Pipeline Locations -- Sort Of
KTVT/KTXALook! There's one! In the wake of the San Bruno disaster, a number of environmental and First Amendment types have demanded PG&E disclose the routes of its riskiest gas pipes. The utility provider has declined, however, citing the risk that terrorists could capitalize on that sort of ... More >>
Blogs
September 14, 2010
Violent Video Game Law Court Found Unconstitutional Has 72 Percent Approval: Poll
Ah, but is it Constitutional? According to a recent Zogby poll, 72 percent of Americans support a California law preventing the sale of ultra-violent videogames to children. And yet, the validity of that law isn't for Americans randomly picking up the phone to decide, but the nine justices of the ... More >>
Blogs
September 10, 2010
Don't Ask Don't Tell Told Off
The Week In GayLate yesterday, another radical hippie judge in California ruled that queers are protected by the U.S. Constitution. A lawsuit against the military ban on gay service members, Don't Ask Don't Tell, was ruled to be a violation of the First Amendment rights of gay people. The suit wa ... More >>
News
September 8, 2010
Travel writer Edward Hasbrouck sues Homeland Security over travel data
The Week In GayLate yesterday, another radical hippie judge in California ruled that queers are protected by the U.S. Constitution. A lawsuit against the military ban on gay service members, Don't Ask Don't Tell, was ruled to be a violation of the First Amendment rights of gay people. The suit wa ... More >>
Blogs
September 8, 2010
'Skyscraperman' Dan Goodwin May Climb Over Trespassing Charges, Too
Dan Goodwin, possibly not trespassingYou'd think climbing up the side of the Millennium Tower in broad daylight would be an open-and-shut trespassing case. But, then, you'd have thought vaulting a moat and fence to recline in the San Francisco Zoo's Grizzly Bear Grotto would have been a slam dunk ... More >>
News
September 1, 2010
State bill makes malicious sock puppets a crime
Dan Goodwin, possibly not trespassingYou'd think climbing up the side of the Millennium Tower in broad daylight would be an open-and-shut trespassing case. But, then, you'd have thought vaulting a moat and fence to recline in the San Francisco Zoo's Grizzly Bear Grotto would have been a slam dunk ... More >>
Blogs
August 30, 2010
Key Portion of 'SF Smart Reform' Prop. B Struck Down by Judge
With today's cut, Prop. B just become shorter and easier to read. Will it become easier to evade, too?A judge today struck down a portion of Proposition B -- "SF Smart Reform" -- that the measure's author, public defender Jeff Adachi, had claimed was critical for actually ensuring the legislation ... More >>
Blogs
August 30, 2010
Department of Homeland Security Sued Over Secret Traveller Files
Matt SmithWe'll collect all this personal information, y'see. And then we'll make a giant database...San Francisco travel writer Edward Hasbrouck has sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security over what he says is the agency's refusal to give a complete accounting of secret files detailing his ... More >>
Blogs
August 11, 2010
Do You Have First Amendment Rights in San Francisco Parks or Not?
Now valid in National Parks! Right?Jurisdictional lines are funny things. Here in San Francisco you can hoist your banners and beat your drum to express the message of your choosing per your First Amendment Rights -- until you tread onto Ocean Beach, the Presidio, or other federal land. The Natio ... More >>
News
March 3, 2010
S.F. State student who invoked Shield Law reveals murder scene photo in national contest
Now valid in National Parks! Right?Jurisdictional lines are funny things. Here in San Francisco you can hoist your banners and beat your drum to express the message of your choosing per your First Amendment Rights -- until you tread onto Ocean Beach, the Presidio, or other federal land. The Natio ... More >>
Blogs
November 6, 2009
Court Ruling: Man Officially a Dick For Giving Nazi Salute at City Council Meeting
Welcome to Santa Cruz...A legal case lasting longer than America's involvement in World War II has ostensibly culminated with the following conclusion: A man who felt the need to give the Nazi salute during government meetings deserved the Stalingrad treatment he got.A Santa Cruz man named Robert ... More >>
News
April 22, 2009
Whipped and Gagged
Is government spending obscene? Well, it paid to train S&M filmmakers.
Calendar
October 17, 2007
Still Sticking It to the Man
Is government spending obscene? Well, it paid to train S&M filmmakers.
Dining
May 12, 2004
Obsession Junction
Fishing with Morgan Spurlock, survivor of the 30-day McDonald's diet
More >>

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