Author: nick

$500K Damages for False Report of Assault to Police

Politics & Policy

[ad_1] From Bisogno v. Libertella, decided two months ago by the New York Appellate Division, Justices Francesca E. Connolly, Paul Wooten, Helen Voutsinas, and James P. McCormack: On May 9, 2013, the plaintiff and the defendants appeared for a hearing in the Family Court, Richmond County, relating to a child support proceeding between the defendant John Libertella (hereinafter John) and his former wife. The plaintiff, a lawyer, appeared on behalf of his sister-in-law, John’s former wife. John was accompanied by his father, the defendant Giovanni Libertella. As the parties left the hearing, they were involved in a verbal altercation, which…

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As Though It Mattered: Hollywood, AI and the End of Original Ideas

Investigative Reports

[ad_1] Theatrical advertisement from 1950 – Public Domain I am not entirely up to speed on what the feature film business in London is like these days, but I do remember a production meeting for 28 Days Later. There were department heads around a large table, Andrew Macdonald at the helm. There is a particular atmosphere to those meetings—everyone present, but not entirely there, each waiting for their moment to speak, or not to, as though something important were taking place. It struck me, even then, that nothing in the room had quite begun anywhere. At one point someone turned—I…

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Supreme Court “Shadow Docket” Order Preserves Mifepristone Via Telemedicine–For Now

Political Spin

[ad_1] Yesterday evening, as expected, the Supreme Court granted mifepristone manufacturers’ requests for a stay of an order of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit blocking a 2023 Food and Drug Administration regulation allowing doctors to prescribe mifepristone as an abortifacient via telemedicine. The order was issued shortly after the expiration of an administrative stay entered, and then extended, by Justice Alito. Justices Thomas and Alito each dissented. There are no other recorded votes. As is common in such situations, the order in Danco Laboratories v. Louisiana stays that of the lower court pending the disposition of the appeal…

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61% of Americans See Trump’s Iran War as ‘Mistake’, Far Outpacing Disapproval of Vietnam and Iraq: Poll

Conspiracy Theories

[ad_1] “In Iraq, it took more than three years to reach that high. In Vietnam, it took six years.” More than 6 in 10 Americans now say President Donald Trump’s war in Iran was a “mistake,” according to a poll out Friday from the Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos. Within two months, the war—which has inflicted thousands of civilian deaths and caused gas prices to spike worldwide with little tangible gain—has reached levels of unpopularity that previous wars now seen as historic boondoggles took years to reach. The Post has asked the “mistake” for other major wars. But CNN senior political reporter Aaron Blake explained: “In Iraq,…

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Can We Still Laugh Together? Political Cartoons and Censorship

Investigative Reports

[ad_1] Photograph Source: Edward Ardizzone – Public Domain “Journalism is an essential pillar of democracy,” observed Irene Khan, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression on May 3, World Press Freedom Day. According to Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index, the United States has fallen to its lowest ranking on record in 2025 after a decade-long decline. What happens to satire when press freedom shrinks? Why has satire increasingly become something institutions fear rather than defend? Major U.S. media institutions are scaling back or restricting editorial cartoons, from the New York Times ending its international cartoon…

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