Free Speech

Don’t Mess With The Oatmeal

Matthew Inman, who runs the hilarious and extremely popular site The Oatmeal, announced the other day that he had been threatened by a lawyer representing FunnyJunk.com over this post in which he noted that FunnyJunk had reposted hundreds of his original…



Norwegian Legal Update

It appears to be illegal to transport reindeer in your car, even in Norway, at least without special permission. According to this report (via Dave Barry), police in Lapland noticed antlers inside a Subaru Forester, and found three live reindeer…





City Makes Public Statement Regarding the Sugar Plum Fairy

Here's an official statement from the city of St. Charles, MO, on the Sugar Plum Fairy incident. As should be obvious, all italicized and/or bracketed material is my commentary and not part of the official statement. Mayor Sally Faith –…


Sugar Plum Fairy Fired for Cursing During Drug Test

St. Charles, Missouri, has been in the news before (my news, at least), back when it was contemplating an ordinance that would have banned "profane language" anywhere alcoholic beverages are sold, a ban that would have been unconstitutional as well…



Police Shoot Photographer With Rubber Bullet, Just For Fun

Today Boing Boing asks the question, "Is it legal for police to shoot photographers in a public place simply because they do not want to be photographed?" Well, no. No it is not. That includes Oakland. This video, taken by the shootee,…