Public Defender Dude has been in a jury trial the past two weeks. The jury is out now. His thoughts on the various stages of the trial, from the day there was testimony by "lying cops" to closing arguments and now to sweating out the deliberations is a great read for anyone who's interested in trials.

Mrs. Kos has gone into labor and Baby Kos is on its way. Stay tuned.

Update: It's a healthy boy. We got a phone call from Kos, the labor was 23 hours. Congrats to Kos and Elisa.

In our experience, there are two cities that stand head and shoulders above the rest on Halloween: New Orleans and Maui. Here in New Orleans, the festivities are underway. At night, the streets of the French Quarter are closed to traffic. The costumes are plentiful and outlandish. Police patrol on horseback. Crowds swell the second story balconies of almost every establishment and residence, throwing beads and candy down to those below. Street musicians are everywhere, playing terrific blues and jazz.

We've got a NACDL Budget Committee meeting and a Legislative Affairs meeting left this afternoon before we shut down to enjoy the festivities, and indulge in some more oysters on the half-shell, seafood gumbo, and our very favorite, beignets.

A happy Halloween to all.

In our experience, there are two cities that stand head and shoulders above the rest on Halloween: New Orleans and Maui. Here in New Orleans, the festivities are underway. At night, the streets of the French Quarter are closed to traffic. The costumes are plentiful and outlandish. Police patrol on horseback. Crowds swell the second story balconies of almost every establishment and residence, throwing beads and candy down to those below. Street musicians are everywhere, playing terrific blues and jazz.

We've got a NACDL Budget Committee meeting and a Legislative Affairs meeting left this afternoon before we shut down to enjoy the festivities, and indulge in some more oysters on the half-shell, seafood gumbo, and our very favorite, beignets.

A happy Halloween to all.

As everyone knows by know (we're a little behind the 8 ball on this since we're out of town), Atrios got a letter from a lawyer named Jeffrey J. Upton in Massachussetts threatening to expose his identity and sue him over some of Atrios' posts and reader comments to those posts about a NRO columnist named Donald Luskin.

Bloggers are not liable for the content of comments posted by readers. The Batzel case referred to in the article is Batzel v. Smith, 333 F.3d 1018 (9th Cir. 2003). The statute involved is 47 USCS § 230, The Communications Decency Act of 1996 . Since Batzel, the 9th Circuit has reaffirmed this position in Carafano v. Metrosplash.com, Inc., 339 F.3d 1119, 1122-1123 (U.S. App. , 2003). Yale Law Professor Jack Balkin agrees.

Upton charges that Atrios libeled Luskin by calling him a stalker. Professor Balkan responds:

.... read in context, Atrios' post is (a) not an allegation of actual criminal behavior, and (b) is a protected statement of satire and opinion. He is making fun of Luskin's own comparison of himself as someone who stalks Paul Krugman. Luskin's argument that Atrios has libeled him shouldn't survive a motion for summary judgment. Of course, the real problem is that getting to that point will cost Atrios money to defend himself.

Atrios should not have to go through this ordeal. We suspect, however, that just like the Fox suit against Franken lifted Franken's book up the best-seller charts, so too will Atrios ultimately benefit from the mainstream media attention the cease and desist letter will bring.

As everyone knows by know (we're a little behind the 8 ball on this since we're out of town), Atrios got a letter from a lawyer named Jeffrey J. Upton in Massachussetts threatening to expose his identity and sue him over some of Atrios' posts and reader comments to those posts about a NRO columnist named Donald Luskin.

Bloggers are not liable for the content of comments posted by readers. The Batzel case referred to in the article is Batzel v. Smith, 333 F.3d 1018 (9th Cir. 2003). The statute involved is 47 USCS § 230, The Communications Decency Act of 1996 . Since Batzel, the 9th Circuit has reaffirmed this position in Carafano v. Metrosplash.com, Inc., 339 F.3d 1119, 1122-1123 (U.S. App. , 2003). Yale Law Professor Jack Balkin agrees.

Upton charges that Atrios libeled Luskin by calling him a stalker. Professor Balkan responds:

.... read in context, Atrios' post is (a) not an allegation of actual criminal behavior, and (b) is a protected statement of satire and opinion. He is making fun of Luskin's own comparison of himself as someone who stalks Paul Krugman. Luskin's argument that Atrios has libeled him shouldn't survive a motion for summary judgment. Of course, the real problem is that getting to that point will cost Atrios money to defend himself.

Atrios should not have to go through this ordeal. We suspect, however, that just like the Fox suit against Franken lifted Franken's book up the best-seller charts, so too will Atrios ultimately benefit from the mainstream media attention the cease and desist letter will bring.

According to today's Blog Street Index, we are the tenth most influential blog out of the 144,733 blogs tracked by the site. Thanks to all our readers for putting us there. We are proud to be in the same vicinity as Instapundit (#1), Atrios (#3) and Daily Kos (#7).

We'll be hitting the road this afternoon, bound for New Orleans for a meeting of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers ( NACDL).

We'll be posting again beginning Thursday, on a lighter schedule until we return Saturday. Keep your eyes on Daily Kos, whose baby should be arriving any minute.

Thanks to those of you who have contributed via the PayPal and Amazon links on the left. Blogging and scouring the news multiple times throughout the day and evening does take a lot of our time. So, if you can afford it, your donations are very much appreciated.

According to today's Blog Street Index, we are the tenth most influential blog out of the 144,733 blogs tracked by the site. Thanks to all our readers for putting us there. We are proud to be in the same vicinity as Instapundit (#1), Atrios (#3) and Daily Kos (#7).

We'll be hitting the road this afternoon, bound for New Orleans for a meeting of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers ( NACDL).

We'll be posting again beginning Thursday, on a lighter schedule until we return Saturday. Keep your eyes on Daily Kos, whose baby should be arriving any minute.

Thanks to those of you who have contributed via the PayPal and Amazon links on the left. Blogging and scouring the news multiple times throughout the day and evening does take a lot of our time. So, if you can afford it, your donations are very much appreciated.

What's good to read today? Atrios on identity politics.

Jeanne D'Arc of Body and Soul on Walmart's agenda.

Patrick Nielsen Hayden of Electrolite on the recent Hosting Matters DOS attacks and cyberterrorism--not.

Oliver Willis has picked himself a bride.

Hesiod at Counterspin tells us what we need to know about Republicans and the gay marriage issue. For more, check out Dave Cullen at Conclusive Evidence who keeps all his posts on this issue on one page.

Melanie is the new guest blogger for Daily Kos and she's doing a great job. Kos, by the way, should be a father any day now.

Avedon Carol at Sideshow tackles Republicans and who should pay for the war in Iraq.

David Neiwert of Orcinus on Bush and First-Amendment zones.

Patrick Taylor of LegalWrites details the deportation of Maher Aher from begining to end.

What's good to read today? Atrios on identity politics.

Jeanne D'Arc of Body and Soul on Walmart's agenda.

Patrick Nielsen Hayden of Electrolite on the recent Hosting Matters DOS attacks and cyberterrorism--not.

Oliver Willis has picked himself a bride.

Hesiod at Counterspin tells us what we need to know about Republicans and the gay marriage issue. For more, check out Dave Cullen at Conclusive Evidence who keeps all his posts on this issue on one page.

Melanie is the new guest blogger for Daily Kos and she's doing a great job. Kos, by the way, should be a father any day now.

Avedon Carol at Sideshow tackles Republicans and who should pay for the war in Iraq.

David Neiwert of Orcinus on Bush and First-Amendment zones.

Patrick Taylor of LegalWrites details the deportation of Maher Aher from begining to end.

Yesterday we traveled to West Palm Beach. From Denver, that's an all day trip. Today we start our assignment--at 6am with a jog on the beach followed by our first meeting at 8am. We'll check back in this afternoon.

Our newsfeed (on the left) won't be updated until Sunday or Monday. We recommend you visit Hamster, Cursor, Buzzflash , How Appealing and Common Dreams for news and views of interest.

On a related note: This is our first trip with our new laptop generously and anonymously purchased from our Amazon wishlist last month. It's awesome--just what we wanted--and so much faster and better than our old one which was on its last leg. In case our benefactor is reading TalkLeft today, we just wanted to express our thanks again.

Yesterday we traveled to West Palm Beach. From Denver, that's an all day trip. Today we start our assignment--at 6am with a jog on the beach followed by our first meeting at 8am. We'll check back in this afternoon.

Our newsfeed (on the left) won't be updated until Sunday or Monday. We recommend you visit Hamster, Cursor, Buzzflash , How Appealing and Common Dreams for news and views of interest.

On a related note: This is our first trip with our new laptop generously and anonymously purchased from our Amazon wishlist last month. It's awesome--just what we wanted--and so much faster and better than our old one which was on its last leg. In case our benefactor is reading TalkLeft today, we just wanted to express our thanks again.