Spyke

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America vs Europe: Two Ways to Build a City

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Fun facts: The Katy Freeway goes to Katy, Texas, and Katy, Texas is a southern terminus of the Katy Railroad (formally the Missouri, Kansas and Texas railroad, or "MKT"). The Katy was a major passenger railroad once upon a time.

So in a way, the freeway is helping motorists get to the trains, just trains that are in the past.

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Why do radio stations keep playing the same stuff over and over?

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There had to be a balance in editorial content

This rule was was the Fairness Doctrine, and it was in effect from 1949 to 1987. So it's fair to say that Reagan got rid of it.

if the station supported Candidate A, Candidate B had to be allowed equal time.

This is a different rule called the Equal Time Rule, and it's still in effect today.

Recently this rule was in the news when Stephen Colbert interviewed Senate candidate James Talarico on his (now concluded) show, without offering the same interview time to Talarico's primary opponent Jasmine Crockett. I believe in the end the interview was cut from the over-the-air broadcast to comply with the rule. (The interview segment was published on YouTube, which is not subject to the rule.)

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We're losing

What's funny to me is that the algae problems started when they switched off of DC tap water and installed the pump system that draws in Potomac River water. Back in 2011-2012. Before Trump was ever a politician.

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Supreme Court unanimously strikes down gun law used to prosecute Hunter Biden

This headline is seriously misleading. The court did not "strike down" the entire law.

The law says that users of illegal drugs cannot purchase guns. The court said that the law cannot stop a person who uses marijuana a few times per week from buying a gun. Because marijuana usage is common and normalized now, a gun ban would violate that person's right to keep and bear arms.

This decision does not automatically get Hunter Biden off the hook, because Hunter Biden's case involved a much greater variety of drugs. Hunter will certainly try to litigate this, but success is not certain for him.

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US supreme court issues emergency order blocking full Snap food aid payments

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What the fuck is Justice Jackson doing ?

Here's one analysis:

Jackson gets this application because it's from the 1st circuit, and she is assigned to initially handle all shadow docket matters from the 1st circuit. By writing this admin stay, she potentially keeps the full court from stepping in and doing it for her. And this way she gets to set the 48 hour limit. This could cause the whole case to be decided one way or another a lot faster.

The supreme court let the trans passport case sit on the shadow "emergency" docket for 48 days. This stay gives the 1st circuit approx the weekend to make their decision, then the 48 hour deadline puts some oomph on the rest of scotus to make their decision.

If Justice Jackson did nothing, and 5 votes on the court intervened to issue a stay at 1 am, then there would be no 48 hour limit.

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Multiple Life Sentences for Minor in Police Shooting He did not Participate in.

This is probably "felony murder". The rule here is that if you are committing some kind of felony, and someone dies as a result, then you are guilty of murder for that person. This bypasses all of the usual intent filters between first degree murder, second degree murder, and manslaughter.

Classic example: you and a friend decide to hold up a bank. It goes sideways and a bank security guard shoots and kills your friend. You are guilty of murder because your friend died because you both decided to commit a felony.

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Queer photojournalist charged with hate crime for coverage of NYT vandalism, social media posts

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The charge is aggravated second degree harassment with hate crime enhancement.

The complaint is that the defendant took pictures of the vandalism of the NYT building, where red paint was splashed on the building along with messages protesting NYT's coverage of Gaza. Think along the lines of, "you're complicit. Etc etc."

The defendant didn't do any vandalising, just "harassed" whom? The NYT? By posting photos or messages to a social media account.

The hate crime part is presumably charged as some kind of antisemitism angle.

Overall this seems like a pretty slam dunk first amendment deal, but I didn't get all the facts. In order to stand up against the 1A, the harassment case has to look more like "yelling fire in a crowded theater" than it does now.