Congress may take books, musical compositions and other works out of the public domain, where they can be freely used and adapted, and grant them copyright status again, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

In a 6-2 ruling, the court said that, just because material enters the public domain, it is not “territory that works may never exit.” (.pdf)
[...]
Writing for the majority, Justice Ruth Ginsburg said “some restriction on expression is the inherent and intended effect of every grant of copyright.” But the top court, with Justice Elena Kagan recused, said Congress’ move to re-copyright the works to comport with an international treaty was more important.
[...]
In dissent, Justices Stephen Breyer and Samuel Alito said the legislation goes against the theory of copyright and “does not encourage anyone to produce a single new work.” Copyright, they noted, was part of the Constitution to promote the arts and sciences.

It’s pitiful that this is even a question someone would think to ask.

I’m looking for reader input on whether and when New York Times news reporters should challenge “facts” that are asserted by newsmakers they write about.

One example mentioned recently by a reader: As cited in an Adam Liptak article on the Supreme Court, a court spokeswoman said Clarence Thomas had “misunderstood” a financial disclosure form when he failed to report his wife’s earnings from the Heritage Foundation. The reader thought it not likely that Mr. Thomas “misunderstood,” and instead that he simply chose not to report the information.
[...]
This message was typical of mail from some readers who, fed up with the distortions and evasions that are common in public life, look to The Times to set the record straight. They worry less about reporters imposing their judgment on what is false and what is true.

Is that the prevailing view? And if so, how can The Times do this in a way that is objective and fair? Is it possible to be objective and fair when the reporter is choosing to correct one fact over another? Are there other problems that The Times would face that I haven’t mentioned here?

A U.S. District Court judge in Portland, Ore., ruled that a blogger who wrote about an investment firm that subsequently accused her of defamation must pay the company $2.5 million because she’s a blogger who doesn’t legally qualify as a journalist.
[...]
Despite Oregon’s legal definition of “any medium of communication,” Judge Marco A. Hernandez disagreed with Cox, saying that “although [the] defendant is a self-proclaimed ‘investigative blogger’ and defines herself as ‘media,’ the record fails to show that she is affiliated with any newspaper, magazine, periodical, book, pamphlet, news service, wire service, news or feature syndicate, broadcast station or network, or cable television system. Thus, she is not entitled to the protections of the law in the first instance.”

Her Blog is here.

The interesting Occupy Wall Street protests are growing since their inception on the 17th of Sept. The news media has either trivialized it (NY Times) or suppressed coverage (CNN, etc.) on behalf of unstated special interests. One can assume that bankers and the city government of NYC does not want to give anyone any ideas. That said a scan of out-of-state Craigslist postings for ride sharing to NYC for the sole purpose of joining these protests is increasing. Episodes of police brutality on otherwise friendly and non-violent protesters will make matters worse as the NYC city officials grows inpatient with the crowd. The on the ground crowd estimates vary widely but the number of protesters in not insignificant. This could be the final straw that kills big media if they do not step up and cover this story immediately.

There are good home brew videos available that are being taken down for no apparent reason by You Tube.

What we have left are a lot of unedited and random videos that need to be consolidated into a real narrative,

Traveling with the Chairman is like a scene straight out of 24. A friend recalls hitching a ride with Ailes after a power lunch: “We come out of the building and there’s an SUV filled with big guys, who jump out of the car when they see him. A cordon is formed around us. We’re ushered into the SUV, and we drive the few blocks to Fox’s offices, where another set of guys come out of the building to receive ‘the package.’ The package is taken in, and I’m taken on to my destination.”Ailes is certain that he’s a top target of Al Qaeda terrorists. “You know, they’re coming to get me,” he tells friends. “I’m fully prepared. I’ve taken care of it.” (Ailes, who was once arrested for carrying an illegal handgun in Central Park, now carries a licensed weapon.) Inside his blast-resistant office at Fox News headquarters, Ailes keeps a monitor on his desk that allows him to view any activity outside his closed door. Once, after observing a dark-skinned man in what Ailes perceived to be Muslim garb, he put Fox News on lockdown. “What the hell!” Ailes shouted. “This guy could be bombing me!” The suspected terrorist turned out to be a janitor. “Roger tore up the whole floor,” recalls a source close to Ailes. “He has a personal paranoia about people who are Muslim – which is consistent with the ideology of his network.”

Courtesy buzzpal

Who’s fired?

After a roller-coaster flirtation with a presidential bid, Donald Trump bowed out of the 2012 contest in true Trump fashion on Monday, saying that while he would not be a candidate this year, if he had run, he would have been able to win the primary and the general election too.

“I maintain the strong conviction that if I were to run, I would be able to win the primary and ultimately, the general election,” Trump said in a statement on Monday. “I have spent the past several months unofficially campaigning and recognize that running for public office cannot be done half heartedly. Ultimately, however, business is my greatest passion and I am not ready to leave the private sector.”

“This decision does not come easily or without regret; especially when my potential candidacy continues to be validated by ranking at the top of the Republican contenders in polls across the country,” Trump said in the statement.

In the end, however, his decision almost certainly had more to do with his lucrative NBC television contract for his “Apprentice” franchise than anything else. Trump was running out of time to decide whether he would sign on for another season of the “Celebrity Apprentice.”

The momentum for a Trump campaign started to wane earlier this month when Trump’s views on President Obama’s birth certificate, and his refusal to release his tax returns, began to draw a barrage of popular criticism — even mockery — from opponents.

Perhaps he’s smarter than he seems. Did careful thought overcome an ego the size of a small planet? And how thick is his skin? Trump, who says he’s a billionaire, is suing the author of a book in which three unnamed sources said Trump’s net worth is between $150 million and $250 million. The Donald claims it was malicious, and it hurt his business. It might be fun to speculate on the changes such a man would attempt to make in our government.

Just when you thought the MSM (main stream media) couldn’t get less newsworthy. Obviously, this guy needs to get on expensive medication, stat!

Floridian Larry Fischer has six computers A laptop, a desktop, and a server. A couple are just lying around, unplugged, fallow. He doesn’t like to delete email. His desktop is messy. He doesn’t throw away the old computers, because he doesn’t want to get rid of the files on them. “He’s what you might call,” the horribly concerned voiceover guys laments, “an e-hoarder.” Yes, you might. You might call him Captain Banana Cakes, or Sith Lord Pumpkin Pie. You might call just call him Larry. You might call him whatever you want, news show!

Except really, is Larry that different from us? Sure, he’s got some dusty old computers lying around. And he accumulates crap on them. He has 3,552 emails in his Gmail account! MY GOD. Except, I have 13,835. Am I also mentally ill? Nope! We both just use an email service with huge amounts of free storage—and computers built in the last half decade—which don’t give you any incentive to delete things. I have homework study sheets from 10th grade, history reports from 5th grade, countless stupid GIFs, a giant folder on my desktop of bookmarked articles I haven’t gotten a chance to read yet—do I deserve to have a psychologist question my ability to make decisions, like Larry? No. I rarely empty my trash either—because who cares?