Emily Pattison – 2L
Point/Counterpoint

Alright 2L’s and 3L’s, bust out those Con Law books and flip to the First Amendment section. Twitter may need some help in the freedom of speech department soon. See, the site recently unveiled a new censorship policy that allows it to censor tweets in countries with more stringent speech laws. But there’s more. The censorship will make the content of tweets “selectively available” in certain countries, but not others. So an anti-government tweet might be removed from the site in Turkey, but viewable in the U.S. or Great Britain. The website issued a formal announcement last week saying, “Starting today, we give ourselves the ability to reactively withhold content from users in a specific country – while keeping it available in the rest of the world.” As one might imagine, this development sparked considerable outrage across the Internet world, resulting in the pledge of many Twitter users to end their patronage of the site. Seems to ring a bell. Netflix, anyone?

Speaking from a practical standpoint, who can possibly monitor all these offensive tweets? If a foreign government asks Twitter to censor one tweet, there will likely be 10 more just like it that slip through the cracks. The Internet functions like a black hole of information – even with the most vigilant of watchdogs policing, it’s nearly impossible to control the spread of information.

And Twitter, be honest. Would this have anything to do with wanting to expand into China where the website is currently banned? People have now begun referring to Twitter as “dictator friendly,” which stands in stark contrast to how it was originally used – as a tool to topple dictatorships. It helped spread the message of protestors in Moldova, Egypt and the Middle East while simultaneously functioning as a vehicle to promote aid and assistance to Haiti. Even the Occupy movement in the U.S. made use of Twitter to spread its message. This censorship business coming from such an original bastion of free speech, quite frankly, has folks’ heads spinning.

With SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act), PIPA (Protect IP Act) and other Internet censorship debates flying around cyberspace lately, this comes at a very inopportune time, especially because Google just announced a change in its privacy polices as well. Internet users worry that a trend is developing where governments pay closer attention to the Internet with an intent to regulate its use. The changes on these major websites now have users asking “How far is too far?”

If citizens of other countries want to exercise their right to speak, Twitter should not try to silence them. Even if it succeeds in censoring tweets, countless other outlets exist to help spread their message. There will always be other mediums and alternatives to using Twitter to spark an uprising or to organize a protest. And with the way the Internet censorship debates are going lately, it looks like the elements for another protest are in the making.

New $eme$ter – Time for New $ayings

“If at first you don’t succeed, lower your standards.” – Tommy Boy. If you are like me, you have already waived the white flag at your New Year’s resolution. Let’s focus on a more realistic goal for this semester: abolishing unnecessary sayings in the classroom.

Everyone knows that law school is not cheap.  The tuition for the 2011 – 2012 year is $38,086 or $19,043 a semester. This breaks down to $1,360 per week of instruction (14 weeks). The typical law student takes 15 hours a week so each hour one is in class equals about $91. Every minute in class comes out to be about $1.51 or $.03 a second. Yikes!

Now that I have monetized law school, here are some ways that we can save a little coin.  Let’s try to avoid these sayings.

5.) “To be honest with you” – Why wouldn’t you be honest?

4.) “Not gonna lie” – Were you going to lie if you didn’t state this?

3.) “You know what I am saying” – Most of us probably don’t know.

2.) “I don’t mean to throw a wrench” – Why bother, you’re going to do it anyway.

1.) “I have a question” – Oh! That is why your hand was up.

I am not saying that you shouldn’t talk in class. I am merely trying to highlight ways one can get to his or her point a little faster. Classes are meant to be interactive with the professor, but lets think a little before we talk. On a side note, why is it that when the parking lot is covered in snow, everyone forgets how to park?

Happy 2K12 everyone!

By Jon Kohlscheen

Twitter, the now infamous micro-blogging site that facilitated revolutions and is featured in our presidential debates, has come under heavy fire for a new policy change that would allow it to block tweets from being seen in countries where the content of the message might violate that country’s speech laws. Many are quick to denounce Twitter, but the move is the least restrictive option Twitter has if it wants to continue to expand its services around the world and protect itself from liability and legal conflict.

Twitter, which currently has around 100 million users, has set an ambitious goal of 1 billion users in the not-so-distant future in an effort to become an online advertising behemoth on par with Google. Realistically, this means that Twitter has to keep expanding internationally, reaching new users in new countries that have so far avoided the Twitter bug. The San Francisco-based social networking site, formed in 2006, has over 700 employees in the United States, with only a handful abroad in England and Japan. In order to facilitate their international expansion, they will likely begin creating larger offices around the world, staffed with programmers, advertising executives, lawyers, and the like.

The problem lies in the speech laws of other countries that Twitter would like to expand into. Personal jurisdiction law varies from country to country, especially in terms of the Internet. But as Twitter begins actively targeting new users in countries around the world, let alone establishing new bases of operation, it will expose Twitter to potential liability when its users run afoul of their own country’s speech laws. For example, were Twitter to aggressively expand its operation in France and Germany, Nazi sympathizer tweets that denied the Holocaust would violate those countries’ law.

Up until now, Twitter had the choice between removing the tweet globally or putting itself in legal hot water. This new policy change allows Twitter to remove the Tweet only in countries where it clashes with the law, leaving it available for the rest of the world to see. Twitter has not yet used this capability and if it does, it has promised transparency by disclosing when it removes tweets and for what reason. While this might not be the best case scenario for Internet free speech activists, it is a measured response to a real problem faced by Twitter that still preserves much of the free speech Twitter is known for.

No one has a right to absolute free speech on Twitter. At the end of the day, Twitter is a company that exists to provide a service that people want, pay good salaries to its employees, and make a profit for its investors. Twitter has done its best to preserve the free speech rights of its users while at the same time expand its business and protect itself from legal trouble. Let’s not be so quick to condemn Twitter. And if you do, keep it to 140 characters or less.

By Steven Cichon

First-year law student

(This is a work of parody, satire, and a dash of exaggeration).

Hello,  I want to thank you all for taking time out of your busy schedules for tuning in.  I have no doubt that by this time next year I will be standing here, before you again, and I will be outlining then what I was not able to do because of the Republicans.

Let me be clear, I am not a big fan of the terms “Red States” and “Blue States.”  If you remember, I spoke at the 2004 Democratic Convention, saying these very things.  In one of my autobiographies, I wrote about the same things.

But one thing I have learned since becoming President is that even though the Democrats and I are done with the Red State/Blue State dichotomy, the Republicans are not.  In 2008 I had a Democratic supermajority in Congress and I was more than happy to drop in from time to time to get the Republicans’ thoughts on what would become the very popular and successful stimulus and health care reform.

Unfortunately, the Republicans did not want to work with me, and because they do not like my great ideas and stood up for their beliefs, we have an unacceptably high unemployment rate.  The stimulus program that they opposed worked beautifully, and would have created twenty million green jobs if we would have been able to spend more money.

And that brings me to my biggest point of tonight.  There are some who say that we have too much debt.  That $15 trillion in federal debt is too much, and that we need to work on balancing the budget.  They forget that I had a plan that would have eliminated the debt.  Earlier I argued against the tax break given to corporate jets.  We could have raised trillions in revenue by eliminated that tax break.  Raising the taxes on the top 1 percent was another solution that would have raised trillions more.  Instead, they want to give more money to the rich by stealing from the poor.

I don’t want to dwell on that subject much longer, since I want to talk more about green jobs, but I found it ironic that they opposed my health care reform, which would have saved trillions of dollars.  They opposed it because they didn’t want uninsured people to get health insurance, even when it could have saved so much money.

The Republicans are much more interested in helping the Big Oil companies.  The most recent example of this was their insistence in fast-tracking the Keystone pipeline, which would start in Canada and end in Texas.  It would have given Big Oil hundreds of billions of dollars and only created a couple hundred jobs at most.  On top of that, it would have doubled our carbon emissions and certainly increase the Earth’s temperature and resume the rise of the oceans, which stopped rising after my inauguration speech when I was elected in 2008.

Let me be clear, right now, we need to focus on green energy.  There are those who say that we should ignore green energy and give more trillions of dollars to the oil industry.  That is a recipe for disaster.  We can kill two birds with one stone by creating ten million green jobs, which would reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and end global warming.

As you can see, my ideas are the best for moving America forward.  Yes, two years ago the Republicans did okay in the midterm elections, but that was because of the Koch Brothers and Fox News spreading misinformation.  By the way, my new plan for education would bring hundreds of New York Times editorials to the classrooms across America.  Unless someone is against students reading more, I can’t imagine why anyone would oppose that measure.  It would also create about five hundred newspaper jobs.  I’m just saying..

So, in conclusion, as President, I have helped move America forward.  Let me be clear.  The next election is the most important election we have had yet.  I have just gotten started implementing my great ideas to fundamentally transform America.  It would be a shame for that to be put in jeopardy.  Just let me be clear, America can’t afford that.  Republicans would say we can’t afford anything when we are $15 trillion in debt, that we should not support science, education, health care, green energy, and apple pie.  I will not accept that.

So in November, make sure you get out and vote.  If you do, I make the following promises: close Guantanamo Bay, create ten million green jobs, reduce unemployment to zero percent, end global warming, and everyone who votes a straight Democratic ticket in November will get a slice of my next stimulus bill.

Thank you, and good night.

Courtesy of NBC

Here are my ten favorite scripted shows of 2011 with a few thoughts on each. It was a great year filled with a lot of quality stuff. Some other shows that deserve mention for being good but didn’t make the cut are Modern Family, The Good Wife, New Girl, True Blood, Wilfred, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Treme, Falling Skies, Parenthood and Cougar Town.

10. SONS OF ANARCHY

Kurt Sutter crafted an emotionally-charged tension-filled season with inner-club turmoil threatening to break SAMCRO for good. Charlie Hunnam and Maggie Siff delivered awesome performances throughout and the stakes were never higher. A finale that undid a lot of what was set up is why this ends up lower on the list.

9. COMMUNITY

When this comedy is on its game, there is nothing more original on television. I loved the paintball sequel, the Glee spoof, Donald Glover screaming at Lavar Burton, and the seven timeline episodes especially. I hope NBC gets this show back on the air ASAP this Spring.

8. BOARDWALK EMPIRE

The Jimmy/Nucky season 2 conflict delivered in spades as all the maneuvering, scheming, and killings led to a fateful climax for one of the main characters of the first two seasons. With a distinct look, terrific acting, and ballsy writing from Terrence Winter, Boardwalk took a big-step forward creatively in year 2.

7. LOUIE

Season 2 of Louie was one deranged, dark, hilarious ride that could only come from the brilliant mind of the ultra-popular stand-up comic. From plots dealing with Louis bringing a duck to Iraq to a one of a kind confrontation with Dane Cook at MSG, you never knew what you would get each week, but knew that it would be some of the best written entertainment on television.

6. FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS

“Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose.” Jason Katim’s five season masterpiece finally came to a close in brilliant fashion in a season that finally brought Kyle Chandler a richly-deserved Emmy for his work as Coach Taylor. With returns from the past and compelling plots with the current inhabitants of Dillon, FNL season 5 gave all fans the closure they were looking for with great moments at every turn.

5. GAME OF THRONES

HBO’s new fantasy epic burst onto the scene in grand form. Featuring a tremendous battle over power in the Kingdom of Westeros, the show delivered twists, deception, sex, snarky dialogue, and action in unique and incredible ways. No one was prepared for the shocking death the climax of the season would bring but with dragons now in the picture and no one appearing to be safe, season 2 should up the ante this coming Spring as the answer for who really is the king comes to fruition. Peter Dinklage as Tyrion was the standout earning an Emmy for his work as the imp, Tyrion Lannister.

4. JUSTIFIED

Season 2 was incredible featuring the three-way feud between Raylan Givens, Boyd Crowder, and the vicious Mags Bennett. Margo Martindale earned an Emmy for her portrayal of Mags while Timothy Olyphant and Walton Goggins got to continue showing off some of the greatest chemistry on the small screen as Raylan struggled to believe Boyd was a changed man of faith after all the damage he had caused.  With great banter due to the novel-like writing, tremendous action, and well-defined three-dimensional characters, Justified is one of the finest shows on television at the moment.

3.  PARKS AND RECREATION

Parks delivered the perfect season in season 3 as the colorful cast sought about creating a great Harvest Festival while the romance between Leslie and her boss Ben heated up. Combining the stupid innocence of Andy and April, the stand-up type A personalities in Leslie and Ben, the Hollywood Dreams of Tom Haverford, and the funniest character on television, Ron Swanson, Parks and Rec has something for everyone. The combination of sharp humor and characters with heart continues to impress in ways no other comedy comes that close to matching. Here’s to hoping there are many more episodes ahead.

2. HOMELAND

Bursting onto the scene this fall, Showtime’s epic new series showed that when you combine great actors with a great concept, a winning show emerges. Claire Danes played bipolar CIA agent Carrie Matheson, a woman convinced that recently returned marine Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis) has been turned into a terrorist. Throughout the season, we are never quite sure what to make of Brody and the ways Carrie stays right on his tail are shocking and fun to watch. Both leads deserve Emmys as this series delivered week after week with stakes continually raising to a thrilling climax in the finale. Luckily for us, the show will be back for season 2 next year.

1. BREAKING BAD

“I am the one who knocks.” This Walter White quote sums up season 4 of one of the best dramas ever created. From the tremendous breakdown of the Jesse/Walt alliance to the riveting Walter/Gus conflict, season 4 of Breaking Bad delivered everything a fan could have hoped for. It answered once and for all whether Walt would be Scarface or a pawn in the drug game and showed the depths he’d stoop to in order to get there. Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, and Giancarlo Esposito all deserve acting awards. Vince Gilligan continues to craft briliant scripts while also putting to film what is the most beautiful-looking show on television. I can’t wait for the sixteen-episode final season.