PicoBlog

Welcome to Original Jurisdiction, the latest legal publication by me, David Lat. You can learn more about Original Jurisdiction by reading its About page, and you can email me at davidlat@substack.com. This is a reader-supported publication; you can subscribe by clicking here. Thanks! Welcome to the latest Supreme Court Clerk Hiring Watch. The last one appeared in August of last year, so I have lots of new hires to report. As mentioned in last weekend’s Judicial Notice, I planned to include my thoughts on Justice Clarence Thomas’s hiring of Crystal Clanton, the clerk accused of sending a racist text around nine years ago, in this hiring roundup.

If you’re like anyone else on the planet right now, you are likely spending more time than ever online, hovering up the deluge of showbiz news in an attempt to remove yourself from the weight of the ‘real’ news we’re all trying to overcome. As the vegan scene continues to flourish (cheers, #veganlife) there is even more great plant-based content to devour. Paul Rudd has made waves online by taking up the super trendy challenge of the iconic ‘hot ones’ feature show.

Today’s issue of Dust On The VCR is another subscriber request! This film was chosen by Edward Bowser, a long lost coworker-turned-actual-friend of mine who is always “busy” because he works for the Mayor, but not too busy to be a committed pop culture hound. You can usually find him complaining about the current state of hip-hop and R&B over at Soul in Stereo (where I occasionally contribute a movie review!

Welcome to Natural Wonders, where lately I’ve been on a tree kick and it looks like that trend will continue with the next issue because yesterday I visited some GINORMOUS trees and now I have all sorts of questions about old growth forests. Look for more on that soon… Until then, some tree-adjacent foliage facts for today! Last week I traveled to Florida with some friends for a long bike ride supporting the San Felasco Hammock Preserve state park.

Good morning. Let’s basketball. Ashes; Edvard Munch; 1895 There’s absolutely no surprise that the Boston Celtics moved at least one of their guards early this offseason. On top of Jaylen Brown, the lightning bolt All-NBA wing due for a massive contract extension, the Celtics last season employed the following trio: Derrick White, age 28, making just shy of $20 million per year while playing about 2,300 minutes Marcus Smart, age 29, making just shy of $20 million per year while playing about 2,000 minutes (all as a starter)

Multi-level marketing companies (MLMs, aka “direct sales,” aka pyramid schemes) are hard to miss. If you’re on social media—and especially if you’re a woman—you’ve likely seen friends, family, and distant acquaintances selling everything from lipstick to leggings. Maybe you’ve been invited to a “party” hosted by a friend who’s agreed to let someone bring in a selection of jewellery, handbags, or sex toys along with a bunch of games and prizes.

For those who don’t know, back in the 1980s and 1990s there was a big deal about the New Perspective on Paul. This was a scholarly view of the apostle Paul associated with E.P. Sanders, James D. G. Dunn, N.T. Wright, Terence Donaldson, and Bruce Longenecker. In a nutshell, NPPers argued that Judaism was not legalistic, therefore, Paul’s problem with Judaism was not over salvation by works, but rather that Judaism was ethnocentric, and Jews believed that salvation was limited to the Jews.

I have been reminded a lot recently of the novel Remains of the Day, by Kazuo Ishiguro. The narrator is a butler who was loyal to his lord. The butler idolized his employer. But as the novel unfolds, the lord he so fondly and faithfully served turns out to have been a foolish Nazi sympathizer in the years leading up to WWII. Imagine spending decades of your life serving someone you admire, and then having to face up to the reality that the man was a knave.

During a recent interview with Glamour Magazine, Academy Award-winner Lupita Nyong’o was asked what irritates her most about being an actor. “Interviews,” she responded. “You asked. I have to be honest.” Not all interviews, she clarified, but specifically press junkets, which she likened to a “torture technique.” Why? “You have to give each one of them attention, focus, and an articulate answer that you just gave to the person before. That’s irritating.