Ugh

by Ugh I posted this on TiO almost three years ago but thought I'd bring it up here because of ESPN's 30 for 30 film on a point shaving scandal in college basketball from the late 1970s (and involving Henry Hill of Goodfellas fame no less).  So I thought I'd again ask:  why is point … Read more

by Ugh So, it seems the United States has embarked on yet another campaign of floggings for love in the Middle East, or as Glenn Greenwald, winner of this week's "trolling of the internets" headline award* put it "Syria Becomes the 7th Predominantly Muslim Country Bombed by 2009 Nobel Peace Laureate."   It also seems that the United … Read more

by Ugh I'm leaning Kafka, but could be convinced otherwise, or why not both?   The Justice Department intervened late Friday in a defamation lawsuit against United Against Nuclear Iran, a prominent advocacy group that pushes for tough sanctions against Tehran. The government said the case should be dropped because forcing the group to open … Read more

by Ugh So the latest and greatest tax news in the popular press (MSM, if you must) is about corporate inversions where a U.S. parented company becomes a non-U.S. parented company via a merger with a non-U.S. company (often significantly smaller than the U.S. company, but not always), thus escaping large amounts of the "contributing … Read more

by Ugh The Scene:  Saturday, Pizza Joint The Players:  Ugh, Ugh’s almost 3 year old The Setting:  Pizza ordered, just sat down to wait. Almost 3 Year Old (cheerily):  I want pizza! Ugh:  Okay, it’s coming soon. [30 seconds later] A3YO (cheerily):  I want pizza! Ugh:  Don’t worry, it’s coming. [30 seconds later] A3YO (cheerily): … Read more

by Ugh The dribs and drabs of N!S!A! and other U.S. intelligence apparatus spying news continue to flow from the Edward Snowden FilesTM and elsewhere.  Here is a story about how even "incidentally" collected information is stored and searched.  Most disturbingly (to me at least, there are many other disturbing details) in that story, is … Read more

by Ugh I had the, um, pleasure of being called for potential jury duty today.  I was not placed on a jury (although likely would have been had I been closer to the front of the line) but had some thoughts about it and the US criminal justice system generally. First, I'm not sure I'd … Read more

by Ugh The glorious U.S. Supreme Court will issue its decision in the Hobby Lobby case this morning around 10am.  SCOTUSblog will have live coverage. Hard to call this one.  I can see 5-4 for the Hobby Lobby, or 5-4, maybe even 6-3 for the other side.  More likely, given the various issues, it will … Read more

by Ugh I'm sure folk have read about the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl from Taliban custody in exchange for transferring five Taliban mutant super-terrorists (worse than Magneto!), formerly held at Gitmo, to Qatar.  And likely the assorted related and unrelated right-wing outrage that has accompanied the exchange, most of it predictably misdirected, offensive, and/or irrelevant. … Read more

by Ugh Not sure if LJ was going to put one up, but talk about whatever.  New unemployment numbers, Final Four, the forthcoming release of a portion Senate Intelligence Committee report on the CIA torture jamboree, Letterman retiring, doing your taxes, etc.  I guess the new baseball season too, if you must.