Ryan Sholin

Tag: Politics

  • U.S. Code Search

    —

    by

    Ryan Sholin
    in

    Search the US Code, chapter and verse. U.S. Code Search

  • Hey Iraq, mind if we write your newspapers for you? Thanks, Uncle Sam.

    —

    by

    Ryan Sholin
    in

    Today’s LA Times reports that “the U.S. military is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to publish stories written by American troops in an effort to burnish the image of the U.S. mission in Iraq.” Oh. Okay. So we talk and talk and talk about all the democracy we’re giving the Iraqis, but in the meantime, the…

  • Regulations.gov

    —

    by

    Ryan Sholin
    in

    A U.S. government website where you can comment on regulations under consideration. Regulations.gov

  • Welcome to the Marketplace of Ideas

    —

    by

    Ryan Sholin
    in , ,

    I’m working on a term paper for my Media Law class. The paper is all about attempts to regulate speech on the Internet, from the CDA and its little brothers COPA and CIPA, down to FEC Advisory Opinion 2005-16, with lots and lots of case law, starting with Holmes’ dissent in Abrams v. US in…

  • Where to vote

    —

    by

    Ryan Sholin
    in

    Heads up – it’s election day. If you don’t know where you’re supposed to go, you can look it up here. [tags]california special election, california, elections[/tags]

  • California special election tomorrow

    —

    by

    Ryan Sholin
    in

    Vote NO on everything. Seriously. I know there’s a long history of ballot initiatives in California, and I know some of tomorrow’s counter-initiatives might have some merit, and in fact, I prefer direct democracy to layers of representation whenever I can get it. I am fully aware that James Madison and Alexander Hamilton shaped the…

  • Daniel Pepper negotiates everyday journalistic problems…

    —

    by

    Ryan Sholin
    in ,

    …in Beirut. And when you’re a photojournalist based in Beirut, getting Hezbollah to credential you for their events becomes an important part of your job. It’s not exactly getting a University press pass to cover the volleyball game, but you get the idea. As Daniel wrote in a recent post about his ongoing Hezbollah melodrama,…

  • Bricks and Baseball Bats Win the Day in Toledo

    —

    by

    Ryan Sholin
    in

    In the Media Law class I’m in this semester, we’ve tossed around lots of fine examples of the First Amendment in action, including your classic cases of the Klan being allowed to march, speak, and get harangued by onlookers. As I’ve said before somewhere, everyone has the freedom to be an asshole. The theoretical response…

  • Fantasy President Index, a la Weinberger

    —

    by

    Ryan Sholin
    in ,

    David Weinberger mulls over the number of fake/fantasy/fictional U.S. presidents on television and asks: How many TV shows about fictitious presidents do we need to get the taste of the current one out of our mouths for at least a few minutes? Sounds like a fun little research project for someone with more time on…

  • Tom Delay on the wrong side of Dystopia

    —

    by

    Ryan Sholin
    in ,

    I just noticed last Thursday’s New York Times sitting around the newsroom. This picture jumped out at me from the front page: photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images We’ve seen a thousand pictures of talking heads at press conferences, but something looks different in this one. Delay’s pout is a given, the wide angle/low angle seems…