jackybetman: June 2014

Monday, June 30, 2014

Change of Plea Out the Window!

Most prosecutors will negotiate with accused offenders. Obviously, this is done to move the trial court calendar along, eliminate the need to tie up resources that could be used elsewhere, truly not needed when the defendant is willing to change a plea. Even in civil matters, parties negotiate settlements in order to achieve reasonable business outcomes and reduce the cost of litigation.

In at least one civil instance, an insurance company said they will not settle any case, large or small, that everything had to go to trial. This clearly delays the outcomes … and enables the insurance carrier to withhold payment for some time. I’ve not seen any studies about the merits of such activities from the carrier’s perspective. It does, however, frustrate plaintiffs. Frustration without economic benefit is hardly a good business outcome. And the carrier has since reversed this policy.

Now, we have a new version. The State Bar of California has announced that it will refuse to accept “no contest” pleas from lawyers accused of ethics violations. The issue here is not one of criminal liability, but rather of retaining one’s license to practice law. One has to ask what more can be given to the Bar once the lawyer-accused has agreed to take his/her punishment?

The Office of Trial Counsel maintains that accused lawyers are not accepting responsibility for their actions unless they are tried and convicted or accept a guilty plea. That is why they will not accept a nolo contendere plea. Other than civil damages, the effect of a nolo plea is the same … and punishment is no less. Criminal prosecutors understand this. But, the Bar wants its “pound of flesh.” It is questionable whether this is a question of morality.
This is just one more example of the California State Bar’s new adversarial attitude toward its members … Although the legislative directive to the State Bar is that its primary, if not sole, function is to protect the public (not help its members who pay all the expenses of the Bar), one has to wonder how the public is being better helped by this new approach.

Source: http://feeds.lexblog.com/~r/LawBizBlog/~3/-ANxxuDCoWg/

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Supreme Court Rules That Employers Can Deny You Birth Control

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/1857930/hobby-lobby-supreme-court-birth-control/

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Justices To Rule In Hobby Lobby Contraception Case

The Supreme Court is expected to decide Monday whether healthcare plans must cover contraceptives, as legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg tells NPR's Don Gonyea.

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Source: http://www.npr.org/2014/06/29/326669288/justices-to-rule-in-hobby-lobby-contraception-case?ft=1&f=1070

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The Real Winners of the Super Bowl Were...

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/real-winners-super-bowl/1-a-560829?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Areal-winners-super-bowl-560829

Anna Friel Anna Kournikova Anna Paquin AnnaLynne McCord Anne Marie Kortright

Ukraine president signs EU trade and economic pact

[JURIST] New Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko [official website] on Friday signed a trade and economic pact [press release] with the European Union (EU) [official website] in an attempt to move from past Russian ties towards European influence. Ukraine, along with Georgia and the Republic of Moldova, is currently a part of the Conference of the Regional and Local Authorities for the Eastern Partnership (CORLEAP) [official website], which was organized by the Committee of the Regions (COR) [official website] to develop...

Source: http://jurist.org/paperchase/2014/06/ukraine-president-signs-eu-trade-and-economic-pact.php

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Amanda Bynes Bong-Tossing Case Gets Thrown Out

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/1857981/amanda-bynes-bong-tossing-case-dismissed/

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American Airlines Bankruptcy Advisors Seeking $400 Million

A fee examiner tasked with keeping costs down in the American Airlines bankruptcy recommended this week that a court approve nearly $400 million in fees and expenses earned by professionals who he said engineered "perhaps the most efficient airline reorganization case on record."

Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2014/06/27/american-airlines-bankruptcy-advisors-seeking-nearly-400-million/?mod=WSJBlog

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Bobbi Kristina Brown Fires Back at Angela Bassett’s Comments Regarding Whitney Houston Biopic

Bobbi Kristina Brown doesn’t let anyone throw shade her way and things got pretty heated when Angela Bassett said she doesn’t think Whitney Houston's daughter has very prominent acting chops.

During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Bassett chatted about her new movie for Lifetime, documenting the late singer’s life.

When asked about Bobbi portraying her mother in the flick, Angela explained, "I did not think about casting her. And probably for a number of reasons, you know. One being that she's not an actress. I know she's acted here and there. I know she's been on their family's reality show, but she's not an actress and acting is a craft.”

"It's an attempt to illuminate the complexities of human behavior and life. And this is a very fast-paced schedule; we have just 21 days to tell this story. It's more than just saying lines and turning the light on. You have to drive the story—there's a technical aspect,” she added.

The 21-year-old was not impressed with the comments and responded on Twitter by writing, "Ha MsAng "bassketcase" has such a damn nerve my lord, at least the world doesn't mistake me for the wrong sex…she has some #XtraEquipment."

She added, "When I win my first Grammy or Oscar, *Shrugs* hmm whichever comes 1st, I'll be sure 2shout URname out b-tch! Hah UrTestResults = Male. Lmao."

Source: http://www.celebrity-gossip.net/bobbi-kristina-brown/bobbi-kristina-brown-fires-back-angela-bassett%E2%80%99s-comments-regarding-whitney-hou

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I Spoke Too Soon

My expectations that SJ would be moving to new digs at WordPress yesterday were brutally dashed. My initial reaction was to say "screw it, this isn't worth the hassle anymore," but I spoke with a few friends who persuaded me not to give up the effort.

It appears that my plans, having already gone through at least three iterations, need to be redrawn. While I remain disinclined to spend a substantial amount of money to make this happen as a matter of principle, the amount of work needed to accomplish this task has proven to be far harder, more involved and less interesting than previously thought. At the moment, I have neither a solution nor a plan being carried out for an imminent move. Without one, SJ will vanish one day when GoDaddy pulls the plug.

Hopefully, I will figure out a way to accomplish the move before that. In the meantime, I'll resume what I do here and if it ends up vanishing one day for lack of a viable plan, so be it. It's the best I can do for the time being and under the circumstances. Sorry that things haven't worked out better thus far, but I'm still working on it.

© 2007-13 Simple Justice NY LLC. This feed is for personal, non-commercial & Newstex use only. The use of this feed on any other website is a copyright violation. If this feed is not via RSS reader or Newstex, it infringes the copyright.

Source: http://blog.simplejustice.us/2013/07/12/i-spoke-too-soon.aspx?ref=rss

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Ugh: Rumor Has It That Ciara And Future Are Already Having Fidelity Issues

I sincerely hope that this rumor is not true, and at the same time I have to admit that I was not, initially, a fan of the Ciara/Future link-up. I know that it’s 2014, and that many of us will end up in relationships with people who have children from previous relationships. But when a [...]

Source: http://www.pinkisthenewblog.com/2014-06-28/ugh-rumor-has-it-that-ciara-and-future-are-already-having-fidelity-issues

Deanna Russo Denise Richards Desiree Dymond Diane Kruger Dido

Are you a lawyer or a manager?

In a recent case, the lawyer was successful in growing his practice. So much so that he engaged 30 staff; they met with clients and even provided legal advice in loan modification matters. The net result is that the attorney did not provide adequate supervision for his staff and allowed them to five legal advice. This was the unlawful practice of law. The attorney was guilty of violating the Rules of Professional Conduct and was suspended for two years. Punishment could have been more, but the lawyer made financial restitution to aggrieved clients and agreed to community service during his suspension.

Moral to the story: Grow your practice with appropriate supervision of unlicensed staff and technological support. Don’t allow unlicensed staff to provide legal advice. Coaching helps both with growing your practice and with operating your practice efficiently and within professional guidelines.

The larger one’s firm gets, the more management issues arise. Running a law practice is equivalent to running a professional service business and management principles are as important as being legally competent.

Source: http://feeds.lexblog.com/~r/LawBizBlog/~3/l7QnExQ0VsM/

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Erykah Badu Tries to Kiss Reporter During Live Broadcast, Gets Rebuffed

Source: http://feeds.thehollywoodgossip.com/~r/TheHollywoodGossip/~3/F8KNYHMEi18/

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End of Lifed

As some of you know (and I know you know because you write me angry emails and exasperated twits), Simple Justice hasn't worked well for months now. It takes forever for the posts to load, assuming they load at all. After trying to find out from my host, GoDaddy, why this is happening, I was eventually told that they had given up on the blogging program I use, stopped doing anything to maintain its efficacy a year ago, and were preparing to "End of Life" their involvement in blogging.

Mind you, this didn't stop GoDaddy from taking my money to use their program, but I digress.

Over the past couple of months, I have been involved in an effort to move SJ to a new platform over at WordPress with a new host. It had a few hitches along the way. My initial efforts involved some of the turnkey opportunities for blawgers, one of which involved spending huge sums of money because their business model is based on dopey law firms who buy into the "every lawyer needs a blawg or will die" vision of the future.

Since this isn't a marketing tool or money maker for me, there was no way I was going to throw thousands of dollars into this hole. My basic premise is that I write and people get to read, if they want, for free. While I am happy to provide the content for my own purposes, if not yours, I am not happy to pay through the nose to amuse readers.

Another wanted me as part of their stable of law blogs, which wouldn't have been so awful except that they quickly reneged on the deal offered when they saw the volume of traffic here. Reneging isn't something I can live with.

Lacking the mad computer skillz to make this happen on my own, a few people who had significant computer skills and enjoyed SJ offered to lend a hand and make a move happen. One gave me a lead on the big issues, but was too high on the pay grade to do the dirty work. Another was happy to make the nuts and bolts of a change happen.

After being well on the way, he suffered some personal problems and, well, disappeared on me. As in, went dark. I grew far more concerned about his welfare than I was about moving this blog. Some things are real, like a good person's well-being, and to this moment, I have no clue whether he is dead or alive. I hope he gets in touch with me soon. I'm still deeply concerned.

It wasn't easy stuff. GoDaddy's system was proprietary, and didn't play nice with anyone else's system. While GoDaddy had developed an export feature to move content to WordPress, they found out that it wasn't particularly "robust," and that my rather extensive content crashed the system. It could handle about 100 blog posts. I had well over 5000. Nobody at GoDaddy anticipated someone as prolific as me.

But when their general counsel explained that I probably wasn't a great choice of people to piss off, they put some developers on the task of creating a means of moving my content. It took a couple of weeks, but they eventually managed to pull it off. It was a decidedly less than perfect solution, as they were able to include my posts and the comments, but they couldn't manage to get the contents to thread (or nest, if you prefer) at WordPress. Bear this in mind later, so no one bitches at me about the comments. It just couldn't be done.

Many people have suggested their hosts, web designers, programs, whatever, to fix the disaster of using GoDaddy. While I appreciated the concern, it wasn't really helpful after the first few thousand suggestions. Most of my griping had to do with prodding GoDaddy to keep SJ working, at least minimally, until a move could be completed. This wasn't a bleg for suggestions, but deliberate effort to poke GoDaddy by a wee bit of public shaming for their inability to do what they took money to do.

Finally, I was hooked up with a guy who, for a fee, would do what was needed to finish the move. We were on the same page, and although it irks me that I have to pay someone to do the work, I wasn't ready to let SJ die and didn't want to see the content created over the past seven plus years disappear when SJ went dark. But my new guy developed some personal issues that pulled his attention away from making the move happen, I began to think I was a curse to computer people (or maybe computer people were a curse to me?).

It appears that we're are all getting on the same page now, and provided an alien invasion, healthcare crisis or zombie Armageddon doesn't happen in the next couple of days, I anticipate that SJ will move to its new home.

It's not yet clear to me how easily I will accommodate to WordPress. I know, tons of you have told me how easy it is, but I'm an old dog and new tricks come hard. Heck, it took me a few hours to figure out how to use the "intuitive" wheel of an iPod. Yes, I can be that clueless.

I anticipate that there will a day or two, maybe more, when nothing will appear at SJ. It's not that I've quit or gone fishing. I'm not dead yet. It's just that there will be down time while all this happens, while the internet figures out that I've moved to a new home and redirects you to the right address.

There will be problems in the future as well. Images will be missing. Links will be broken. Formatting will get all screwed up do to differences in coding between GoDaddy and WordPress. It will be annoying to you. Me too, probably more so. But short of going back over the more than 5000 posts and cleaning up the mess by hand, there isn't much I can do to prevent the problems. I am not inclined to spend my time that way. Sorry, but we will all have to suck it up.

I hope this makes things a little clearer for readers, and I apologize for the problems, delays and frustration caused by GoDaddy's sucking. I've been working on it for months now, and I hope we've come to the end of the nightmare. In any event, it's better than being End of Lifed by GoDaddy.

© 2007-13 Simple Justice NY LLC. This feed is for personal, non-commercial & Newstex use only. The use of this feed on any other website is a copyright violation. If this feed is not via RSS reader or Newstex, it infringes the copyright.

Source: http://blog.simplejustice.us/2013/07/10/end-of-lifed.aspx?ref=rss

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“Designing Women” Star Meshach Taylor Dead At 67 (Photos)

Emmy-nominated actor Meshach Taylor, best known for his role in the sitcom “Designing Women”, died on Saturday night of cancer. He was 67. Taylor passed away after a cancer battle at his home in Altadena, California. He was in hospice care at his home, surrounded by his wife, children, and mother when he died at ...

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2014/06/designing-women-star-meshach-taylor-dead-67-photos/

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Takeaways From Supreme Court Rulings On Buffer Zones, Recess Picks

The court limited presidential power to make appointments when the Senate isn't in session and narrowed a state's power to have protest-free zones outside abortion clinics. Here are the implications.

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Source: http://www.npr.org/2014/06/26/325909239/takeaways-from-supreme-court-rulings-on-buffer-zones-recess-picks?ft=1&f=1070

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T.I. & Iggy Azalea Have No Mediocre But LOTS Of Fancy At The 2014 BET Awards! See Their Booty-Shakin' Performance HERE!

Lionel Richie may have brought the BET Awards crowd to their feet for a standing ovation- but T.I. and Iggy Azalea got those feet moving!

First T.I. invited gurl on the stage for the back-and-forth duet of No Mediocre.

Then Iggy said buh-bye to T.I. for a solo performance that got the house on their feet and rocking their hips as the BET Awards got Fancy!

Ch-ch-check out the video (above) to see the moves that made everyone groove!

Source: http://perezhilton.com/2014-06-29-bet-awards-2014-ti-iggy-azalea-performance

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The Power of a Structured Settlement: A Personal Story

Today on Ringler Radio, host, Larry Cohen and his co-host, Jim Early, talk with Congressman Jim Langevin, a Democrat, representing constituents from the 2nd District in Rhode Island since 2001. Congressman Langevin talks about his own personal experience with a structured settlement years ago that helped him and public policy for structured settlements today. Hear one of the best cases for the long-term security of a structured settlement instead of a lump sum settlement.

Source: http://ringlerradio.com/podcasts/ringler-radio/2014/03/the-power-of-a-structured-settlement-a-personal-story/

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Celebrities That Look Like They Need A Good Scrubbing

Have you ever noticed there are some celebrities that are very attractive, but just look dirty and smelly? They may have greasy hair, dress in tattered and wrinkled clothing, or be known to reek of B.O. Let’s check out the Hollywood stars that look like a good scrubbing is in order. These celebrities can look ...

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2014/06/celebrities-look-like-need-good-scrubbing/

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‘Do The Right Thing’ Helped President Obama Impress Michelle On Their First Date

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/1857343/do-the-right-thing-helped-president-obama-impress-michelle-on-their-first-date/

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Sunday, June 29, 2014

UN rights experts condemn Detroit water cut-offs

[JURIST] Three UN rights experts on Wednesday condemned [press release] the city of Detroit's Water and Sewage Department (DWSD) [official website] disconnection of water services for failure to pay due to lack of means as a violation of human rights. The experts' criticism comes in response to a report [text, PDF] submitted by the Detroit People's Water Board, the Blue Planet Project, the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization and Food & Water Watch [advocacy websites] describing the water crisis the city...

Source: http://jurist.org/paperchase/2014/06/un-rights-experts-condemn-detroit-water-cut-offs.php

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Starting Your Own Law Firm: Conversation with Jay Foonberg

Starting a law firm from scratch can be a daunting endeavor. With a down economy, limited budget, and not enough clients, solos can have a tough time breaking into the market. In her debut as the new host of New Solo, Adriana Linares interviews Jay Foonberg, the most influential author on the subject of starting your own law firm. Together they discuss where to find clients, how to get paid, and recommended practice areas. Tune in to learn how attorneys stay relevant with new technology, why it's important to train assistants, and how to sustain a long happy marriage.
Jay Foonberg is the author of How To Start and Build a Law Practice (5th edition) and was a practicing attorney in Beverly Hills for over 40 years. He served in the ABA House of Delegates, is on the Advisory Council for the ABA Commission on Evaluation of the Rules of Professional Conduct, and was a founder of the ABA Law Practice Management Section. In addition to being an author of three other important books (all available from the ABA), Foonberg is a much sought after speaker on topics such as client relations, malpractice prevention, and client development in every one of the 50 states and as far afield as Europe, South America, and Asia. He has received the prestigious Harrison Tweed Award and lifetime achievement awards from 4 American Bar Association entities.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/new-solo/2014/05/starting-law-firm-conversation-jay-foonberg

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Melissa McCarthy Talks Comedy, Husband Ben Falcone, ‘Tammy’ and more (Video)

Melissa McCarthy talked about her approach to comedy and defying Hollywood expectations, her new movie, ‘Tammy’ her husband and fellow comedian Ben Falcone and more in an interview on CBS Sunday Morning.

The 43-year-old ‘Mike & Molly’ star will next be seen as is the title character of the movie ‘Tammy’ which she and her husband Ben Falcone co-wrote and he directed. It costars Susan Sarandon as her grandmother with whom she teams up on a road trip, thus evoking ‘Thelma and Louise.’

It’s just one of a number of movies which has seen her as in a lead role solidifying her transition from sitcom star to the Hollywood A list. While a number of actresses before her have made such a leap, hers of course is more closely examined because she does not fit the Hollywood norm.

She’s not shy about taking on the topic, either. On CBS Sunday Morning, she told correspondent Mo Rocca she’s turning that stereotype around, and showing how ironically it puts a comedic actress at a disadvantage. She said, “In a lot of comedies they kind of take all the problems away from the women. They give her great clothes, great hair, she almost always owns an artisanal shop, like a cheese shop in Manhattan.”

She goes on to explain, “And the whole time I’m watching it I just think, ‘How can you pay for rent? You have a Chloe bag? Like, you can’t be broke.’ They’re charming and they just can’t find a man. I would date her! Who’s not dating these women? And then they say, ‘Now, go be funny.’ And I always think, ‘With what? Like, there’s no tools.’”

She spoke about her initial reluctance to take the role of Molly in what has gone on to become the CBS hit sitcom, “Mike & Molly.” She said, “I didn’t want to do something that was just on a topic of weight. Not for any other reason than I just thought, ‘Oh, God, I just don’t find it interesting. It’s not a storyline. It didn’t feel like there was any where to go with it.’ And then I read it and it felt like a romantic comedy.”

As for her own story and how she met her husband, Ben Falcone — who was also interviewed for the show — she spoke about how meeting as they were both working in theater was to their advantage; in portraying characters, she said they had a chance to see each other looking “the worst and the most hideous.” She added, “If you just came out and looked so horrible, it kind of got everybody’s respect. So there was a weird challenge to look your worst.”

Married in 2005 they have two daughters together, and in acknowledging that it is her husband who is the “scene stealer” she said of home life, “I probably laugh to the point where I literally think I can’t get air in probably four times a day.”

While Falcone has appeared in movies with her McCarthy before, ‘Tammy’ marks the first time he is also the director.

Video highlights from the lively interview are posted below.

Pictures: PR Photos

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RightCelebrity/~3/2O8vj_Nm5ZQ/

Denise Richards Desiree Dymond Diane Kruger

Court reports pretrial notice email scam

Check twice if you get an email from the Minnesota Court of Appeals. The Clerk of Appellate Courts office is reporting a scam email is making the rounds. The note tells recipients that their claim has been received.

The public should be aware that these emails are not coming from the Minnesota Judicial Branch of the appellate courts. Official court communications are sent by U.S. mail or by a phone call. The branch recommends not opening and not responding to any suspicious email.

Below is an example of the scam emails making the rounds:

FROM: Minnesota Court of Appeals [court_secretary@new-fantasy.ir] Mon 2/3/2014 8:46 PM Pretrial notice Hereby we confirm that your complaint has been received together with enclosures dated January 30, 2014. The complaint will be reviewed in court in the nearest possible time based on the documents and information you have previously provided. You do not have to be present at trial in person if the Court does not suggest otherwise. Please use this link to check your complaint once again and confirm it. If we do not get your confirmation the claim will be cancelled. You will be further notified without delay of any judgement delivered in regard to your complaint. Sincerely, Court secretary

Source: http://minnlawyer.com/minnlawyerblog/2014/02/05/court-reports-pretrial-notice-email-scam/

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If Katniss Faced Tauriel From 'The Hobbit,' Evangeline Lilly Knows Who Would Win

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2013/12/10/if-katniss-faced-tauriel-from-the-hobbit-evangeline-lilly-knows-who-would-win/

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Exclusive 'The Legend Of Hercules' Photos: Kellan Lutz Is A Man And A God

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2013/12/11/legend-of-hercules-kellan-lutz/

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Husband said his ‘firing’ was ‘mutual’

A husband could not terminate spousal support payments by refashioning his firing to fit under the parties’ property settlement agreement, the Virginia Court of Appeals has ruled. The PSA signed by William and Elizabeth Strack in 2010 called for the husband to pay $4,250 in monthly spousal support. At the time, Elizabeth was unemployed and ...

Source: http://valawyersweekly.com/2013/12/30/husband-said-his-firing-was-mutual/

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Bobby Womack: Legendary Soul Singer Dead At 70

Bobby Womack has created some of the world’s best soul music for seven decades, but the musician passed away on Thursday. Rolling Stone confirmed Womack’s death, although his cause of death is not yet known. He was 70. The singer performed just two weeks ago at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee. Bobby had ...

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2014/06/bobby-womack/

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Supreme Court rules abortion clinic buffer zone violates First Amendment

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Thursday that a Massachusetts law creating a 35-foot protester-free buffer zone around the entrance or driveway of an abortion clinic is unconstitutional. In McCullen v. Coakley [SCOTUSblog backgrounder] the court considered the questions of whether the buffer zone, created by the Reproductive Health Care Facilities Act [text], violated the First Amendment [text] to the US Constitution, which guarantees the freedom of speech and the freedom to protest. Chief Justice John...

Source: http://jurist.org/paperchase/2014/06/supreme-court-rules-abortion-clinic-buffer-zones-violate-first-amendment.php

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Townhome Neighbors Can’t Challenge Access

Plaintiff townhome owners do not have standing to challenge defendant developer’s use of a 50-foot easement that runs between a church and the townhome community for access and a connection to a proposed development with seven new homes; the Fairfax Circuit Court says plaintiffs have not shown they would suffer any particularized harm from installation ...

Source: http://valawyersweekly.com/2014/01/02/townhome-neighbors-cant-challenge-access/

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First Listen: Robin Thicke Previews His New Song ‘Lock The Door’

Last week we saw the tracklisting for Robin Thicke‘s new album Paula which is full of songs that are meant to try and woo back his estranged wife Paula Patton. You may recall that one of those songs is titled Lock The Door. Today, we get our first listen of that song. A minute and [...]

Source: http://www.pinkisthenewblog.com/2014-06-27/first-listen-robin-thicke-previews-his-new-song-lock-the-door

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29 Sexting Attempts That Were Not Sexy at All

Source: http://feeds.thehollywoodgossip.com/~r/TheHollywoodGossip/~3/R65j7j63IAE/

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Pa. High Court Justice's Suit Against Newspapers Survives Objections

The judge presiding over state Supreme Court Justice Seamus P. McCaffery's defamation lawsuit against The Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and several of their reporters and editors has denied all of the defendants' preliminary objections.

Source: http://www.law.com/jsp/law/sign_me_in.jsp?article=http://www.law.com/jsp/pa/PubArticlePA.jsp?id=1202661016217&rss=newswire

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See Our Favorite Butt-Kicking Women

From Shailene Woodley in Divergent to Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games, check out our favorite fierce femmes.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/butt-kicking-women-tv-and-movies/1-b-334955?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Abutt-kicking-women-tv-and-movies-334955

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CFO Network: FCPA - Is The Cure Worse Than Disease (Wall Street Journal)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/law/video/382542727?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Watch: Britney Spears Is Bored, Y’all

Our dear Britney Spears *just* posted a video on her official Instagram profile that is probably the best video that she has ever posted on Instagram … and quite possibly the best video that has ever been Instagrammed in the history of Instagram. We know that Britney and her sons Sean Preston and Jayden James [...]

Source: http://www.pinkisthenewblog.com/2014-06-28/watch-britney-spears-is-bored-yall

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Straight From The Hole

It's far easier to wrap your head around torture when it involves the infliction of active pain. That doesn't make passive pain, the infliction of often unbearable psychological punishment, an less torturous. And it happens regularly, and many time arbitrarily, as explained in an op-ed by Wilbert Rideau, who served 44 years for manslaughter in Louisiana.

Before you dismiss Rideau as a killer who deserved whatever he got, bear in mind that stories from the inside aren't told by saints. Every once in a while, a former inmate emerges with the erudition necessary to put into words the world that most of us never knew existed. When this happens, it's a window through which we need to look. Rideau offers a view of solitary confinement, the hole.

I know something about solitary confinement, because I’ve been there. I spent a total of 12 years in various solitary confinement cells. And I can tell you that isolating a human being for years in a barren cell the size of a small bathroom is the cruelest thing you can do to a person.
Deprived of all human contact, you lose your feeling of connectedness to the world. You lose your ability to make small talk, even with the guard who shoves your meal through the slot in the door. You live entirely in your head, for there is nothing else. You talk to yourself, answer yourself. You become paranoid, depressed, sleepless. To ward off madness, you must give your mind something to do. In 1970, I counted the 358 rivets that held my steel cell together, over and over. Every time the walls seemed to be closing in on me, I counted them again, to give my mind something to fasten on to.

Without having been there, it's likely inconceivable to understand what happens to a mind in isolation. Some of us have trouble being alone for an hour, an evening, a day. Add day upon day, year upon year. But not the way it is for us, where we still have access to television or internet, even if there is no other living person around. No, this is completely different.

But to add insult to injury, don't leap to the assumption that if a prisoner ends up in the hole, he must have done something pretty bad to deserve it.

In a world where authorities exercise absolute power and demand abject obedience, prisoners are almost always going to be on the losing side, and they know it.

The typical inmate doesn’t want trouble. He has little to gain and too much to lose: his job, his visits, his recreation time, his phone privileges, his right to buy tuna, ramen and stale bread at inflated prices in the commissary. The ways even a bystander to the most peaceful protest can be punished are limited only by the imagination of the authorities.

Punishment can be deserved or not. There's no due process in prison. There's no one to complain to about being punished based on a false accusation, a trumped up allegation, a guard pissed off by an attitude. Authorities own the lives of prisoners, and can be as harsh as they want to be, as arbitrary as they feel like. And there isn't a damn thing you can do about it.

Rideau explains that the prison protests in California are an outgrowth of a system run amok and no other means of addressing their grievance.

And yet, sometimes things get so bad that prisoners feel compelled to protest, with work stoppages, riots or hunger strikes. On July 8, some 30,000 inmates in the custody of the California Department of Corrections went on a hunger strike to demand improvements in prison conditions. Their biggest complaint was the runaway use of solitary confinement, the fact that thousands of prisoners are consigned to this cruelty indefinitely, some for decades.

While prisoners are sentenced to incarceration, no judge sentences them to isolation for decades. There is no requirement that any neutral party review the decision to inflict this torture on another human being. It can be imposed for a sound reason or no reason at all. Who is to disagree? But no matter what the reason or nonreason, to put a person in the hole for years, for decades, is to impose psychological torture of a terrible kind on a human being. And there is nothing, absolutely nothing, the prisoner can do about it.

In California, inmates did the only thing left for them to do, protest. Not too many of us care about what happened to "criminals." After all, bad dudes who did bad things to other people. A pox on them. They get what they deserve and their out of sight, out of mind. But there is good reason to give them just a little bit of though. For one thing, they are still people, and we are still purportedly a civilized society that doesn't condone the needless brutal treatment of people. But if you lack anything remotely resembling empathy, than do it for your own sake:

Why should you be concerned about the inhumane conditions of prolonged solitary confinement, with all the social, emotional and mental deterioration that it entails? Well, every year men from California’s Pelican Bay and other supermax prisons around the nation are released directly from the vacuum of their cells into free society, to live and work among you and your loved ones. As a matter of self-preservation, maybe we should all join the prisoners’ request for rehabilitative opportunities that will improve the mental health of those in solitary.

Go say "hi" to the guy who moved in down the block kids. So what if he spent the last two decades in the hole and seems a bit odd. I'm sure he'll get over it.

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Source: http://blog.simplejustice.us/2013/07/17/straight-from-the-hole.aspx?ref=rss

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Demi Lovato Covers ‘Seventeen’ Talks Rehab and Past Struggles, Offers Advice and Encouragement

Demi Lovato graces the cover of Seventeen magazine and opens up on what she has learned from rehab and her past struggles while sharing encouraging words of wisdom for her fans. She also appears with rainbow colored hair and a denim jacket in a retro-1980s style photo shoot.

The 21-year-old pop star has always been candid about her struggles which culminated in a stint at rehab in 2010 at Timberline Knolls near Chicago. She continues her inspirational mission with this latest interview and cover story.

Reflecting upon her past, she told ‘Seventeen,’ “Since I went to treatment, there have been days when it’s felt really easy, and I’ve felt great about where I am. But then I have moments when it’s not. That’s life. You can’t just take your mind and your body into the shop and get it fixed. It doesn’t come out repaired. It’s not like a car. It takes time – pace yourself.’

She went on to offer words of encouragement helpful for anyone who is struggling of any age: “Every day is a new opportunity to change your life and be who you want to be.”

She spoke of the importance of being surrounded by people who are encouraging, saying, “I have to have friends in my life who believe they’re going places and are working toward their dreams. When you’re growing and the people around you aren’t, that’s when you have to start shedding them.”

She added, “I’ve done that a lot over the past few years, but it has been so worth it, because the people in my life today inspire me to keep being creative, to have fun, and to be a good person. My network of women is pretty incredible. I have friends who I can call in the middle of the night just to ask for advice. I’m constantly doing that.”

Now that she is back in the limelight, having been a judge on The X Factor USA, as well as continuing her success as a pop star with her headlining Neon Lights tour, she has also been active on social media, particularly Twitter where she has millions of followers.

And with Twitter comes challenges and potential public battles, as we know. She said of it, “I’m impulsive when it comes to fighting back, but I’ve learned to reel it in. Tweeting without thinking does more harm than good. So take a second. Journal what you want to say, and then if you still feel the same later, that’s when you can tweet it.”

More popular than ever Demi Lovato continues to motivate and inspire. You can see more of the interview and the photos at Seventeen can be seen here.

Pictures: PR Photos

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RightCelebrity/~3/I9kTsq39iPE/

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Saturday, June 28, 2014

Appellate Court Issues Opinion on SEC’s Conflict Minerals Rule

Yesterday, the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued its opinion in the challenge to the SEC’s Conflict Minerals Rule. We have reviewed the D.C. Court of Appeals decision and find that it leaves much of the SEC’s rule intact. It is specifically the requirement that companies describe products as not “DRC conflict free” in their SEC filings and on their website that the Court held constitutes “compelled speech” in violation of the First Amendment. In the words of the Court: “Products and minerals do not fight conflicts. The label ‘conflict free’ is a metaphor that conveys moral responsibility for the Congo war. It requires an issuer to tell consumers that its products are ethically tainted. . . . By compelling an issuer to confess blood on its hands, the statute interferes with that exercise of the freedom of speech under the First Amendment.”

The Court of Appeals upheld the other elements of the SEC Final Rule, however, and rejected the petitioners’ arguments about the absence of a de minimis exception and the SEC’s application of the rule to companies that only contract to manufacture products. The decision therefore leaves intact the requirement for the issuer to conduct a “reasonable country of origin inquiry,” exercise “due diligence on the source and chain of custody of its conflict minerals” and file a conflict minerals report in the circumstances specified in the rule. Under the DC Circuit decision, however, an issuer cannot be required to describe its products as “not DRC conflict free” in its report. The Court of Appeals suggested that issuers use their own language to describe their products and also invited the SEC to consider publishing a centralized list of products that it believes are affiliated with the Congo war based on information that issuers submit.

The case could be consolidated and reheard en banc with the unrelated case related to meat labelling requirements that raises a similar First Amendment issue. It is also possible that the SEC could stay its rule until the appellate process is completed. As of this writing there has been no word yet from the SEC.

Source: http://www.corporatesecuritieslawblog.com/2014/04/appellate-court-issues-opinion-on-secs-conflict-minerals-rule/

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First Listen: Robin Thicke Previews His New Song ‘Lock The Door’

Source: http://www.pinkisthenewblog.com/2014-06-27/first-listen-robin-thicke-previews-his-new-song-lock-the-door

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Federal courts warn of email scam

The federal judiciary has learned of an email scam, in which emails purporting to come from federal and state courts are infecting recipients with computer viruses, it announced on its website

According to the Security Operations Center of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, the emails are instructing recipients to report to a hearing on a specified day and time. The emails also instruct recipients to review an attached document for detailed case information. When the attachments or links in the email are opened, a malicious program is launched that infects the recipient’s computer. Several state courts have reported similar schemes, and also are warning the public about potential viruses.

The court’s website states that unless you are actively involved in a case in federal court and have consented to receive court notifications electronically, you generally will not be served with court documents electronically.

Source: http://minnlawyer.com/minnlawyerblog/2014/01/20/federal-courts-warn-of-email-scam/

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Zendaya Looks Supercute In ‘Flaunt’ Magazine

This fall, Zendaya will portray Aaliyah in a Lifetime made-for-TV biopic about her life but before then, we get to see her in the pages of the new issue of Flaunt magazine. Click thru the gallery presented here to see photos from her Flaunt photospread, shot by Frederic Auerbach, then click below to watch video [...]

Source: http://www.pinkisthenewblog.com/2014-06-27/zendaya-looks-supercute-in-flaunt-magazine

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Headlines from ABA TECHSHOW 2014

Breaking all of its previous attendance records, ABA TECHSHOW 2014 will certainly go down as one of the most successful. True-to-form, many of the attendees were from small firms and solo practices. With the introduction of How-To sessions, lawyers will be getting more out of ABA TECHSHOW for many years to come. On this episode of the Digital Edge, hosts Sharon Nelson and Jim Calloway interview this year's ABA TECHSHOW Chair Natalie Kelly. Together, they cover the highlights of the 2014 show plus take a look into the future Planning Board. This year's hottest topics: the re-emergence of paperless, the Cloud, and iOS. Tune in to hear about the Solutions Lab, Exhibits, and much, much more.
Natalie Kelly is the Chair of this year's ABA TECHSHOW. She is the Director of the State Bar of Georgia's Law Practice Management Program where she provides extensive practice management and technology consulting to members of the Georgia Bar. Kelly is a Certified Consultant and Trainer for AbacusLaw, Amicus Attorney, PCLaw, PracticeMaster, Tabs3, Time Matters, Billing Matters, and TimeSlips software applications. She also speaks and writes frequently on these topics. At home, Natalie is a hard-working wife and mother of 3 daughters.
Special thanks to our sponsor, ServeNow.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/digital-edge/2014/04/headlines-aba-techshow-2014

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The Real Winners of the Super Bowl Were...

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/real-winners-super-bowl/1-a-560829?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Areal-winners-super-bowl-560829

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Plaintiffs Seek to Consolidate Target Data Breach Suits

Attorneys who filed class actions against Target Corp. over its security breach last month have moved to coordinate the swelling tide of litigation, estimated at nearly 50 lawsuits.

Source: http://www.nationallawjournal.com/id=1202637342683?rss=rss_nlj

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Watch: Jay Z Shares Behind The Scenes Rehearsal Video Footage From The ‘On The Run’ Tour

Earlier this week, Beyoncé shared a bunch of behind the scenes photos from tour rehearsals with hubby Jay Z for their On The Run Tour, which kicked off in Miami, FL on Wednesday night. Today we get to see a just-released video that shows actual footage from The On The Run Tour rehearsals so we [...]

Source: http://www.pinkisthenewblog.com/2014-06-27/watch-jay-z-shares-behind-the-scenes-rehearsal-video-footage-from-the-on-the-run-tour

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NLRB: Firing for Facebook posting was legal

Let the NLRB's press release tell the story:

The National Labor Relations Board has found that the firing of a BMW salesman for photos and comments posted to his Facebook page did not violate federal labor law, because the activity was not concerted or protected. [Decision here]
The question came down to whether the salesman was fired exclusively for posting photos of an embarrassing and potentially dangerous accident at an adjacent Land Rover dealership, or for posting mocking comments and photos with co-workers about serving hot dogs at a luxury BMW car event. Both sets of photos were posted to Facebook on the same day; a week later, the salesman was fired from Knauz BMW in Lake Bluff, IL.

The Board agreed with Administrative Law Judge Joel P. Biblowitz, who found after a trial that the salesman was fired solely for the photos he posted of a Land Rover that was accidently driven over a wall and into a pond at the adjacent dealership after a test drive. Both dealerships are owned by the same employer.

In a charge filed with the NLRB, the salesman maintained that he was principally fired for posting photos and sarcastic comments about his dealer serving hot dogs, chips and bottled water at a sales event announcing a new BMW model. “No, that’s not champagne or wine, it’s 8 oz. water,” the salesman commented under the photos. Following an investigation,the regional office issued a complaint. Judge Biblowitz found that this activity might have been protected under the National Labor Relations Act because it involved co-workers who were concerned about the effect of the low-cost food on the image of the dealership and, ultimately, their sales and commissions.

The Land Rover accident was another matter. A salesperson there had allowed a customer’s 13-year-old son to sit behind the wheel following a test drive, and the boy apparently hit the gas, ran over his parent’s foot, jumped the wall and drove into a pond. The salesman posted photos of the accident with sarcastic commentary, including: “OOPS”.

The National Labor Relations Act protects the group actions of employees who are discussing or trying to improve their terms and conditions of employment. An individual’s actions can be protected if they are undertaken on behalf of a group, but the judge found, and the Board agreed, that was not the case here.

As Judge Biblowitz wrote, “It was posted solely by [the employee], apparently as a lark, without any discussion with any other employee of the Respondent, and had no connection to any of the employees’ terms and conditions of employment. It is so obviously unprotected that it is unnecessary to discuss whether the mocking tone of the posting further affects the nature of the posting.” Because the posts about the marketing event did not cause the discharge, the Board found it unnecessary to pass on whether they were protected.

However, the three-member panel differed in its opinions of a “Courtesy” rule maintained by the employer regarding employee communications. Chairman Mark Gaston Pearce and Member Sharon Block found the language of the rule to be unlawful because employees would reasonably believe that it prohibits any statements of protest or criticism, even those protected by the National Labor Relations Act.

Dissenting, Member Brian E. Hayes found that the employer’s rule was “nothing more than a common-sense behavioral guideline for employees” and that “nothing in the rule suggests a restriction on the content of conversations (such as a prohibition against discussion of wages)”.

The Board ordered Knauz BMW to remove the unlawful rules from the employee handbook and furnish employees with inserts or new handbooks. The decision, dated Sept. 28 but made public today, was the Board’s first involving a discharge for Facebook postings; other such cases are pending before the Board.

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Source: http://www.lawmemo.com/blog/2012/10/nlrb_firing_for.html

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Get To Know Kelli Berglund, Disney’s Most BFF-Worthy New Star

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/1856905/kelli-berglund-lab-rats-ariana-grande-interview-video/

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Pharma sales reps are FLSA exempt as outside salesmen (5-4)

This morning the US Supreme Court decided - on a 5-4 vote - that pharmaceutical sales representatives are "outside salesmen" and therefore exempt from overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Court also unanimously held that the Department of Labor's recently-announced contrary interpretation was entitled to exactly zero deference.

Christopher v. SmithKline Beacham (US Supreme Ct 06/18/2012)

Christopher, a pharmaceutical sales representative, sued the employer for violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) alleging failure to pay overtime. The trial court granted the employer's motion for summary judgment and denied Christopher's motion to amend the judgment based on the trial court's failure to consider an amicus brief filed by the Secretary of the Department of Labor (DOL). The 9th Circuit affirmed. The US Supreme Court affirmed (5-4).

The job of a pharmaceutical sales representative is to try to persuade physicians to write prescriptions for products in appropriate cases. For over 70 years DOL acquiesced in an interpretation that they were "outside salesmen" who are exempt from FLSA overtime requirements. In amicus briefs filed in Circuit courts DOL took the position that a "sale" requires a "consummated transaction." In Supreme Court briefing DOL's position was that there is no "sale" unless the employee "actually transfers title."

The Court said that the DOL's new interpretation is entitled to no deference at all because it would impose massive liability for conduct that occurred before the interpretation was announced, there had been no enforcement actions suggesting the industry was acting unlawfully, DOL gave no opportunity for public comment, and the interpretation is "flatly inconsistent" with the FLSA.

The FLSA definition of "sale" includes consignments, which do not involve a transfer of title. Although DOL regulations say that sales include the transfer of title, that does not mean a sale must include a transfer of title. The regulations also use the phrase "other disposition" which - in this unique regulatory environment - includes the work of pharmaceutical sales representatives. The representatives also bear all the exterior indicia of salesmen (average salaries exceeding $70,000, work that is difficult to standardize to a particular time frame, etc.)

The DISSENT reasoned that sales of drugs are made by pharmacists, not pharmaceutical sales representatives. The pharmaceutical sales representative neither make sales nor promote "their own sales." (The dissent agreed that the DOL's current views expressed in briefs are not entitled to any weight.)

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Source: http://www.lawmemo.com/blog/2012/06/pharma_sales_re.html

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