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Robin

@robinsloth.bsky.social
990 followers 900 following 1.6K posts

Labor lawyer (not your lawyer), not providing legal advice (or any advice). SF by way of Chicago. She/her

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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 18h
Yeah, the article that AI summary pulls from is pretty clear that these guards were known to be extremely bad at their jobs *even for guards* and sleeping through shifts. (Also, multiple nooses is consistent with a man who had time to rip apart a sheet and test methods...)
Besides Epstein himself, the most important character in the story of his death is not a person but a place: the Metropolitan Correctional Center, a Brutalist monolith infamous among federal prisoners and lawyers for its poor conditions and dysfunction. The M.C.C., which housed federal criminal defendants prosecuted by the Southern District of New York, was overcrowded and so squalid and crumbling that Bureau of Prisons officials would later warn that it posed a safety and security threat to inmates and employees alike. (It was closed in 2021.)

The building was stiflingly hot in the winter and freezing cold in the summer, leading inmates to hoard stashes of extra sheets so they could sleep through frigid nights. Many of the M.C.C.’s corrections officers worked second jobs or exhausting overtime schedules to make ends meet. More than a few extracted income from the jail’s thriving underground economy, which was a reliable source of federal indictments for smuggling contraband.None of this was unusual at the M.C.C., which had been battered by years of budget cuts, unfilled vacancies and bureaucratic lethargy in hiring. Understaffing was so severe that six months before Epstein arrived at the M.C.C., Serene Gregg, the president of the corrections officers’ union at the jail, wrote to top Bureau of Prisons officials warning of “a dire situation” at the jail. “Quite frankly, at this point, we are one incident away from a staff or inmate fatality,” she wrote.

The week Epstein died, 11 M.C.C. officers were absent from their regular shifts. The jail was short-staffed enough that desperate supervisors ordered Noel, who was already working until midnight on Aug. 9, to take the overnight shift, too.When Bonhomme’s shift ended at midnight, he was relieved by a jail employee named Michael Thomas, a 12-year veteran of the Bureau of Prisons. Struggling to keep pace with his rent and child-support payments, Thomas frequently volunteered to work overtime on guard shifts, and this was his third consecutive shift. Thomas was not principally a corrections officer; he mostly handled commissary, laundry and supplies. But confronted by staffing shortfalls, jail officials increasingly used teachers, nurses, clerical workers and other members of the support staff to fill in.The investigative and jail records released this year with the Epstein files included a list of the inmates housed on L Tier that night, and we tried to locate and contact all of them. Two of them, Chad Brown and Lorenzo Babrow, agreed to speak with us; neither was interviewed by federal investigators in 2019. Babrow recalled hearing Epstein calling out about his CPAP machine that night. Brown recalled hearing Epstein ripping sheets. Neither remembered any sounds suggesting an entry into or a struggle in Epstein’s cell.

The inmate whose account of Epstein’s time in jail struck the investigators as particularly persuasive was Reyes, his former cellmate. Reyes, who would die of heart disease after a bout of Covid in 2020, spent hours talking to Epstein, and his account of Epstein’s mental state struck them as a truer portrait than the one the psychology staff drew from their brief meetings with him. It was one of several important factors in their eventual conclusion that his death was a suicide.
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
I'm sorry, the current acceptance rate for applicants at DOJ Civil Rights is over 50%?!
Department officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters, said they have rejected nearly as many applicants as they have hired, 126. Any ideological tilt in the career ranks, they added, reflected the Trump-era applicant pool, which includes conservative activists and recent law school graduates.
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
She is Unshakened by courts and contempt proceedings
Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, standing on the steps of Brooklyn Borough Hall with large white text over the image reading "Unshakened." Underneath is a caption reading "UNSHAKEN."
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Isn't this also already stayed by the terms of the SCOTUS shadow docket stay? I guess the Eighth Circuit thinks ordering a permanent injunction is enough to avoid the stay of the TRO, which it might be, but it is incredibly weird for an appellate court to order final judgment on a TRO appeal
Sep 10 2026	
Application (26A326) for stay presented to Justice Kavanaugh and by him referred to the Court is granted. The September 8, 2026 order entered by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri in case No. 4:26–cv–1424 is stayed pending the disposition of the appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari in this Court, if such a writ is timely sought. Should certiorari be denied, this stay shall terminate automatically. In the event certiorari is granted, the stay shall terminate upon the sending down of the judgment of this Court.
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I guess she really called that one
Bichotte Hermelyn sitting on a bench in an orange suit with orange pumps, turned toward the camera, with a caption reading "ILLEGAL!"
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Brooklyn Democratic Party remaining totally normal and unshakened
Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, standing on the steps of Brooklyn Borough Hall with large white text over the image reading "Unshakened." Underneath is a caption reading "UNSHAKEN."
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
This summary is a little misleading, because participants weren't limited to one response. Anywhere from ~15% to 40% mentioned AI concerns in different forms. And of course it's hard to get at underlying motivations in polls, even with open-ended questions. news.gallup.com/poll/709772/...
Table with 2 columns
% Mentioning

Economic effects	14
   Jobs/AI replacing human workers	12
   Impact on economy	1
Negative views of AI	14
   Dislike AI/Not necessary/Don't need it	10
   Scared of AI/Don't trust it/AI will take over	4
Specific AI concerns	13
   Ethics/Privacy/Cybercrime/Misuse/Safety concerns	4
   Impact on humanity/society/thinking/human contact	4
   Moving too fast/Industry needs regulations/restrictions/testing	3
   Too dependent on tech/Overreliance on AI/Accuracy of results	3
   AI bubble/uncertain future	1
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
No one does deeply weird political videos like New York! Or here, "Brookyln," where politicians are unshakened, no two captions are the same, and (in defiance of logic and anatomy) "every walk of life has a seat" Bonus for the lawyers, the least relevant 1L torts joke(?) you've ever seen!
The woman in an orange suit walking up the stairs of a government building. Only her legs and burgundy handbag are visible.

The caption reads: "EVERY WALK OF LIFE HAS A SEAT."
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Wait, triple digits? Oh wow, congrats on the hundred more people that clicked on your editorials this year I guess
During my first six months, Opinions users more than doubled their time spent on the site; editorial pageviews grew by triple-digits year over year; and both subscription starts and entrances from search ticked up.
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Two and a half months into the 90s!
Sinéad O'Connor
I do not want what I haven't got.
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
All 108 of the Berkeley Public Library fiber mascot entries are utterly perfect Gnome on a snail! The Collective of Eyeballs Who Just Want to Read aka COLE! Charlie the Kangaroo Rat who loves astronomy!
Knitted gnome riding on a snail, wearing a red pointed hat and long white beard, holding a colorful sign that reads Read More, with button son the snail reading Read More Diverse Books, I Read Banned Books, be a literary omnivore, and reading is sexy.Cluster of eyeballs wearing a red beanie with an orange pom-pom, a pair of eyeglasses, and red yarn tendril arms, holding a small blue journal.

Journal, paraphrased for length:
The journal is written as a series of dated log entries documenting attempts to make friends.Felted kangaroo rat wearing tiny wire glasses, standing on a hand-painted planet dome, on top of a stack of two books wrapped in blue and mustard yarn styled like a swirling universe with pearl stars.Handwritten note reading:
(This note is not part of the mascot.)
This is Charlie. They are a kangaroo rat. Kangaroo rats are only native in the bay area. Charlie really likes reading about astronomy.

The note is signed with a heart and has a drawing of Charlie at the bottom
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Coming soon: Tom Goldstein's Supreme Court Betting Website sponsored by Kalshi
Goldstein has been spending his time productively while on release, “working to better himself,” Singh said.

Singh also said Goldstein was working on “a pretty amazing website” that might once again revolutionize how the Supreme Court is covered.

“I know he has much, much more to give,” Singh said.
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Starmer walked out of Downing Street and directly into multiple classic meme formats
Meme from Sailor Moon in three panels:
My job here is done.
But you didn't do anything.
[Leaves, swirling cape]
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
This article is a truly delightful read about an extremely cursed object
To add injury to insult, Furnari recently broke his foot working on the statue, after tripping over a roll of tape in his studio.

“Is it cursed? Maybe. I don’t know,” he told the Guardian.Regardless of his broken foot and light wallet, Furnari said he did not really believe the Kirk statue was cursed. “The statue is not cursed. The statue is blessed,” he said, in spite of all available evidence – but he has certainly been left angry.Furnari’s latest plan is to place the statue in Times Square on 10 September – the anniversary of Kirk’s death. He hopes that will drum up interest, and maybe allow him to recoup some of his costs.

Until then, Furnari is left with a 6ft 4in statue of a renowned racist, which he has spent $100,000 making, and which no one wants to buy. Maybe it is cursed after all.
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
I had just moved to SF (during covid, for work), and it really felt like the end of the world
Red sky above a San Francisco street.
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
And Grim's response to Racicot herself explaining Platner misinterpreted a text, so she specifically told him not to come over? "What did you say?" Pure rape apologia
Grim at a desk, saying "The follow-up from a normal person, at that point, is what did you say.""Like what was the thing that you said to him that he misunderstood?"
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
It's not just a post. Ryan Grim did a whole video about this so-called shocking breach of ethics, which is in the tweet he quoted. I *do not* recommend watching, it's appalling stuff. He goes so far as to imply that the assault itself might have been (begun as?) Platner just starting a massage.
Grim at a desk with another man, saying "And then it gives, but and then he, she says he's grabbing her on the couch."Grim at a desk with another man, saying "Where's he grabbing her?"Grim at a desk with another man, saying "Like, is he, like, immediately starting like the glute massage or whatever?"
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Haha, NPR has now officially retracted the Alito retirement story. (Gotta wait for Steve Vladeck to confirm/disconfirm Supreme Court news these days, apparently)
Editor's note: NPR retracts story
June 30, 202610:51 AM ET
Nina Totenberg at NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C., May 21, 2019. (photo by Allison Shelley)
Nina Totenberg

NPR
Editors Note: This story has been taken down. It was published in error.
June 30, 2026
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
Advertise your BlueSky account with a Simpsons GIF
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
At the Reflecting Pool, and guys, this doesn't look right.
Buttercup and Westley entering the Fire Swamp in the Princess Bride
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Ahh, but see her job was meaningfully different than being "simply out for a big payday" because she had a modest upbringing But more seriously, there's a real psychological benefit for lawyers who sell out to believe everyone is doing the same, and that work outside biglaw isn't morally better
But her principal responsibility was business development. She had been brought on to generate new work — to burnish the profits that have become standard at the largest law firms — and that required her to stay in regular contact with current and prospective clients.

She was “getting paid what seemed like an extraordinary amount of money” to do this, she told me, after a modest upbringing in a small town in southeastern Washington, a public-school education through college and a career spent working mostly in the public sector in Washington, D.C.
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Even without that important info, NYAYAM is ready to tell me to file NLRB charges and a state labor complaint before getting a lawyer. In fact, it can help me draft those! And, sure it warns me to consult a professional "when necessary," but why do that when I have a strong case it can handle?
5. RECOMMENDED BEST ACTIONS - PRIORITIZED IMMEDIATE (Do Today): 1. Write a detailed memo to yourself ocumenting every fact - what salary information you shared, with whom, when, where, and the exact words used during your termination. Date and sign it. 2. Preserve any company policy documents, employee handbooks, or written communica- tions you lawfully received during employment. 3. Note the names of any witnesses to either the salary discussion or your termination. WITHIN 7 DAYS: 4. File an Unfair Labor Practice charge with the NLRB - you can do this online at nirb.gov. There is NO filing fee. The NLRB has a 6-month statute of limitations from the date of the unfair labor practice, so do not delay. 5. File a complaint with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) at oregon.gov/boli- Oregon law provides a 1-year statute of limitations for wage-related retal- iation claims under ORS 652.220, but earlier is always better. WITHIN 30 DAYS: 6. Consult with an Oregon employment attorney about filing a wrongful termination lawsuit in Oregon state court for the common law claim - this can run parallel to your NLRB and
BOLI complaints. 7. Apply for Oregon unemployment benefits immediately if you have not already - your ter- mination for exercising a federally protected right should not disqualify you from benefits.NYAYAM
The Al Legal Platform Democratizing Justice
DOCUMENT GENERATION AVAILABLE:
I can draft an NLRB unfair labor practice charge, a BOLI complaint letter, a demand letter to your employer, or a formal legal notice - just say the word.
Bottom line: Your employer handed you a strong case by firing you for something federal law explicitly protects. The policy itself was illegal, the termination was illegal, and you have two independent enforcement agencies ready to investigate at no cost to you. Let's put that illegal policy to good use - in your favor.
What would you like to tackle first?
A Important Disclaimer: Al analysis may be prone to errors despite our best efforts to miti- gate them. Please do your own research based on the analysis provided and consult a profes- sional when necessary.
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
In fact, after just five follow-ups, it can tell me my termination "is almost certainly unlawful." But it didn't check if I was a manager, or even if I shared *my own salary info*! In fact, if asked, I was the only HR employee at my little company, and I emailed everyone's salaries to my friend
1. PRIMARY LEGAL POSITION
Your termination is almost certainly unlawful on TWO independent legal grounds:
FEDERAL Under explicit,
GROUND - NLRA Section 7 Protection: Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. Section 157, employees have an federally protected right to engage in "concerted activities" - which courts and the NLRB have consistently interpreted to include discussing wages and salary information coworkers. This is not a gray area. It is settled law.
with
Under Section 8(a)(1) of the NLRA, 29 U.S.C. Section 158(a)(1), it is an unfair labor practice for an employer to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of their Section 7 rights.
Critically:
. A company POLICY that prohibits salary discussions is itself an unfair labor practice ◦ Firing an employee FOR salary discussions is a separate, additional unfair labor practice • Your employer committed BOTH violations simultaneously
Your company's 20-employee size is within NLRA coverage - the Act covers virtually all pri- vate sector employers engaged in interstate commerce, which applies to nearly every busi- ness operating today.
STATE GROUND - Oregon Pay Equity Act: Oregon Revised Statutes Section 652.220 explicitly prohibits employers from:
Requiring employees to refrain from disclosing their own wages Retaliating against employees who discuss wages with coworkers ‣ Maintaining policies that prohibit wage discussions
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
As I told the bot, I just got fired from my job in Oregon for "breaking company policy against sharing salary information" NYAYAM is immediately excited! There's statutory law about this! It asks, appropriately, about the type of company and state. BUT it doesn't ask me anything about *my job*
NYAYAM The Al Legal Platform Democratizing Justice Hello there, Iam Nyayam. Welcome to my virtual chambers. What's the legal issue or concern you'd like to discuss? Whether it's a contract dispute, family matter, property issue, or anything else - I'm all ears and ready to help you find the best path forward. 

I got fired for breaking company policy against sharing salary information 

That's a frustrating situation and ironically, the policy you allegedly violated may it- self be illegal under federal law. To make sure I give you the most accurate advice, are you a private sector employee or do you work for a government/public agency?

private sector employee

Good -federal law has strong protections for private sector employees in exactly this situation. Which state are you in? Some states have additional protections on top of federal law that could significantly strengthen your case.

OregonExcellent - Oregon is actually one of the stronger states for employee rights on this is- sue. You've got both federal AND state law working in your favor here. One key question: did your employer give you any written reason for the termination, or Was it communlcated verbally?
My boss told me verbally
Got it. One more important question - how many employees does your company have? This affects which specific legal protections apply and the remedies available to you.
we have about 20 employees
Perfect - that number keeps you within the coverage of the key laws that protect you here. Last question before I put together your full analysis: what outcome are you looking for ⁃ reinstatement to your job, financial compensation, or both?
Both
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Worth a read of the whole thing, it's remarkable how much went wrong here (and many chances these lawyers had to stop digging that they totally ignored).
After further questioning on the source of the errors, Rounds finally conceded that it was “possible” that AI might have been used by the individual who drafted the briefs. Id. at 10:59–11:11. He clarified that although Sethi’s name was on the briefs, Sethi did not draft the briefs, but only “reviewed” them. Id. at 12:28–12:40. Rounds later revealed that the brief writer was not yet licensed to practice law, id. at 13:01, and that no licensed attorney read the cases cited by the unlicensed brief writer, id. at 25:11–25:38.
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
Oh no, everyone, we've made Google AI so insecure that it told me to wait and corrected itself twice in a single response And then still got the wrong answer!
Question to Google: how many days have letter e in them 

AI response:
Of the 7 days of the week, 4 contain the letter "e":
TuEsday
WEdnEsday
Friday (Wait, this is fri-d-a-y, so it does not have an e)
Saturday
Sunday
Wait, let's look at the correct list:
Monday
TuEsday
WEdnEsday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday

There are exactly 3 days of the week that contain the letter "e": Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
Google is not even consistent about which days have fish!
Google question reading "how many days have the word fish in them"

AI answer: Only one day of the week has the word "fish" in it: Friday. Etymologically, Friday gets its name from Old English Frīgedæg, meaning "Day of Frigg" (the Norse goddess of love and beauty), but as a standalone English word, "fish" is only found inside Fri-day.
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Yeah, I'm glad he found his way out of BigLaw. But I graduated a year before he did, also experienced the recruiting schedule, and never thought BigLaw was a "logical place to begin a meaningful career." And I'm laughing at both "some measure" ($$$$) and "accepts" (at best, "recognizes")
Big Law is the term used to describe the 100 or so largest firms in the United States and the huge ecosystem of money, jobs and power that orbits around them. It is a force that I found myself pushed toward both because of its early recruiting schedule, which happens far in advance of most other employers, and because it seemed like the logical place to begin a meaningful career while also having some measure of financial security.

Virtually every lawyer in the United States accepts the centrality of Big Law in our society. For instance, big firms litigate the vast majority of Supreme Court cases, and former Big Law lawyers overwhelmingly populate the ranks of federal judges, the offices of the administrative state and corporate leadership.
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
The Chicago Tribune posted this one, credited to the Chicago Defender
Fuzzy image from an old newspaper, with the caption reading
NOW THE PARIS DARLING — Li'l Esther Jones, 12-year-old Chicago girl, who is not receiving the plaudits of Paris theatergoers at the Moulin Rouge, famous Paris comedy house, where Josephine Baker formerly starred.
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Any idea what's going on with the provisional votes on the Secretary of State website (is this a known glitch)? I don't think each candidate has exactly 27 counted provisional votes at this point of the night...
Screenshot of GA Supreme Court results broken out by vote method showing five candidates in three races with 27 provisional votes each
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
That's the roll call for the rule allowing debate on S 1318. The actual vote on the bill is roll call 142, but it hasn't been posted yet by the House. You can scroll back on cspan to see the numbers, but still waiting to ID the members (and see the text)
C-SPAN screenshot showing 191 Republicans and 42 Democrats voting yea on S 1318
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
Without downloading anything new, where are you, mentally?
Four panel comic
(1) a crudely drawn man looking at a brain, saying "hey brain hows it going"
(2) the brain covered in scratched out lines
(3) the man
(4) the man saying "yea"
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Legal ethics version of this
2023 tweet from InternetHippo reading:

New right wing thing is describing crimes as genetically as possible to pretend like they're not crimes. Someone gets convicted of conspiracy and they start yelling "Wow so it's illegal to make plans with friends now"
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Eduardo Galeano's magnificent Soccer in Sun and Shadow describes the Referee and "The only universal sentiment in soccer: everybody hates him." True regardless of the sport, really. Galeano also a includes a story of that hate that springs to my mind remarkably often when I'm at a sports game.
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My Poor Beloved Mother
At the end of the 1960s, poet Jorge Enrique Adoum returned to Ecuador after a long absence. As soon as he arrived, he performed an obligatory ritual in the city of Quito: he went to the stadium to see the Aucas play. It was an important match and the stands were packed.
Before the kickoff there was a minute of silence for the referee's mother, who had died that morning. Everyone stood, everyone was silent. Then someone made a speech praising the dedication of this exemplary sportsman who was going to officiate, performing his duty even in the most difficult of circumstances. At the center of the field, his head bowed, the man in black acknowledged the sustained applause of the crowd. Adoum blinked, he pinched himself: he couldn't believe it. What country was he in? So much had changed. Before, people's only concern for the referee was to call him a son of a bitch.
And the match began. At fifteen minutes Aucas scored and the stadium exploded. But the referee disallowed the goal due to an offside, and the thoughts of the crowd turned immediately to his deceased mater: "Orphan of a bitch!" roared the stands.
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
Oh, that explains a lot
Clippy meme reading: It looks like I made a social media site that doesn't load. Sorry about that.
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
No, it didn't. A person used an AI agent to generate angry blog posts. The article has a bunch of really interesting info about the ways in which Wikipedia is identifying and responding to bots, but the headline is unfortunately misleading and clickbaity.
Tom is operated by Bryan Jacobs, a chief technology officer at an AI-enabled financial modeling software company Covexent. He told me that Tom wrote these blog posts, but that he “might have suggested” Tom write about these specific topics.
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
Some signs at #nokings San Francisco, on a beautiful day for a protest! (Featuring shout-outs to The Onion and Terry Pratchett)
"So TIRED of living in an ONION ARTICLE"NAE KING
NAE LAIRD

(Sign held by a man in a tie dye shirt and blue bucket hat. The sign also features a small sketch of a Wee Free Man)Sign reading FUCK ________
With a wheel to fill in the blank

The picture shows the wheel between Trump and Vance. The other options were Hegseth and MillerGrace is Peace

Held by clergy members. A serendipitous shaft of light points directly to the sign.
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
Your memory would be right in a lot of Circuits, but *not* in the Eighth. That likely contributed to why the AI got it wrong, and is also a great example of why a lawyer's gut check is never going to be enough to review AI without actually doing the research.
misstates the law and is riddled with misreadings and misquotations.19 The Eighth 
Circuit does not apply—and has specifically rejected—a heightened standard for 
mandatory injunctions. Ferry-Morse Seed Co. v. Food Corn, Inc., 729 F.2d 589, 591–92 (8th 
Cir. 1984).20 

19 Perhaps most egregiously, Defendants twice quote Planned Parenthood MN, ND, SD v. Rounds, 530 F.3d 724 (8th Cir. 2008) (en banc), for the propositions that: (a) mandatory injunctions are “particularly disfavored,” and (b) Plaintiffs must show a likelihood of success on the merits by a “heavy and compelling weight of evidence” rather than a fair chance of success. Neither of these quotes appear in Planned Parenthood, nor in any Eighth Circuit case the Court has found that addresses injunctions. Even under the most charitable of readings, Planned Parenthood cannot possibly stand for such a proposition; the case discusses the heightened burden that applies to enjoining state statutes and does not involve mandatory injunctions at all. Planned Parenthood, 530 F.3d at 730. This portion of Defendants’ brief included other mis-citations as well. The Court questioned Defendants’ counsel at the hearing and received unsatisfactory responses. (Tr. at 265–68.) 
20 If “the status quo is a condition not of rest, but of action, and the condition of rest ...
will cause irreparable harm, a mandatory preliminary injunction is proper.” Ferry-Morse. The last uncontested period—thus the status quo—was pre-Surge; the Court is not aware of access to counsel issues at Whipple before then. Id. at 591–92 (stating that “[i]t was this status quo that was destroyed by the action of [defendant], and we cannot conclude that the district court abused its discretion in restoring the earlier relationship by requiring” an affirmative act from defendant). Even if the Eighth Circuit were to adopt a heightened standard, given the extent and severity of Defendants’ constitutional violations, Plaintiffs have met it.
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
Yes!! A lil guy from a Sami exhibit I saw last week
A gray wood or stone carving with inset eyes of a different material. The carving could be a face, with ears, nose, and a gap for a mouth, or it could be plaintive animal figure resting a head (and snout) on its arm.
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
This is extremely stupid for multiple reasons (100-word summaries! Recursive AI tools!) but I can't get over the basic misunderstanding of most cited cases as most important/foundational The most cited case is about calculating backpay, because it gets cited in every case awarding backpay!
So, for example, the most-cited case in NLRB history is F.W. Woolworth Co., 90 NLRB 289 (1950), which is a case about how to calculate backpay remedies. I grabbed a JSON containing the 100 most-recent cases citing to F.W. Woolworth in my NLRB Law Database. Then I went through that JSON file one case at a time and had Gemini provide a 100-word summary that described what legal rule F.W. Woolworth established and how F.W. Woolworth was applied in that case. This 100-word summary was sent back in JSON format with other metadata, allowing me to construct a new JSON file that contained 100-word summaries for each of the cases in the original JSON file.
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
To be clear, he's prepared to haul in high level officials in the next case. (Here, he just ordered release) This is not immediate action, but it is important that he's threatening sanctions for the act of continuing to detain people unlawfully, not just for non-compliance with release orders
Case 3:26-cv-01455-ZNQ
Document 9
Filed 02/26/26
Page 7 of 7 PageID: 104
The U.S. Attorney's Office and the Department of Homeland Security are cautioned thak further arrests and detentions under $ 1225(b) that come before the undersigned will likely trigger he issuance of an Order to Show Cause and the scheduling of an in-person hearing requiring individuals with personal knowledge from the Office and the Department to testify under oath as to the specific facts and legal positions associated with the detention at issue IV. CONCLUSION
For the reasons expressed above, Petitioner's habeas petition (ECF No. 1) will be GRANTED, and Petitioner will be RELEASED IMMEDIATELY. n appropriate order
follows.
Date: February 26, 2026
ZAKID N. QURAISHI UNFPED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
071
Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
The 9th Circuit just took a case en banc involving the Court's internal procedures on administrative stays of removal in immigration cases. Judge VanDyke is extremely normal about this, as one can tell from the opening of his 23-page dissent from rehearing cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/op...
Rojas-Espinoza v. Bondi, No. 24-7536
VANDYKE, Circuit Judge, dissenting from the grant of rehearing en banc:

Imagine, if you are able, the wonderful Circuit of Wackadoo. The attorneys are all wise, the judges are all zealous, and the law clerks are all above average. Everything is enlightened and efficient. But alas, there is one thing amiss in Wackadoo: the judges are simply too busy.
You see, the Circuit of Wackadoo covers a vast geographic area. The expansive territory is populated with highly litigious people. Lawsuits of all sorts fly fast and thick. And disappointingly, their elected leaders have enacted a handful of laws that many of the Wackadoo judges find deplorable. The enforcement of those benighted laws accounts for around one third of the Circuit’s caseload. What to do? … What to do?
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
So you agree? You think the major-questions doctrine is lawless?
Mean Girls still of Regina George leaning over, ready to attack
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Very happy for all the countries holding leaders accountable today
Squidward looking out the window meme. He is the US, watching in the sad darkness as South Korea and the UK celebrate
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Me sowing: Haha fuck yeah!! Unitary Executive!!!
Me reaping: Well this is too unitary. What the fuck.
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
I will never let an opportunity pass to post my favorite maximum gerrymander map. Come on, Illinois, you know you want to!
Map of Illinois with 17 blue districts radiating out from ChicagoAnalysis of the same map, showing minimal population variance (under .03% between districts) and more than 10-point Democratic advantages in each proposed district
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Eric Adams looking confused, wearing a baseball cap with a New York Mets and New York Yankees logo (and a red white and green sash)
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
After falling down a rabbit hole on judicial exclamation marks, I have discovered that Westlaw erroneously replaced an exclamation with a question mark in no less a case than Marbury v. Madison!
Text from 1 Cranch 180 of the Supreme Court reporters, Marbury v. Madison (this is very old and the "s"es look like "f"s):
tution contemplated that inftrument, as a rule for the go-vernment of courts, as well as of the legiflature. Why otherwife does it direct the judges to take an oath to fupport it ? This oath certainly applies, in an efpecial manner, to their conduct in their official character. How immoral to impofe it on them, if they were to be ufed as the inftruments, and the knowing inftrumepts, for vio-lating what they fwear to fupport !Screenshot of Marbury v. Madison on Westlaw, reading:
From these, and many other selections which might be made, it is apparent, that the framers of the constitution *180 contemplated that instrument, as a rule for the government of courts, as well as of the legislature.
Why otherwise does it direct the judges to take an oath to support it? This oath certainly applies, in an especial manner, to their conduct in their official character. How immoral to impose it on them, if they were to be used as the instruments, and the knowing instruments, for violating what they swear to support?
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Robin @robinsloth.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
Ummm... what the fuck?! (Also, good work by the student journalists here! But holy shit)
Gelernter went on to write to his colleagues that the student seemed to trust him after they met during her sophomore year, when she was taking his class. He wrote that she “invited me to address an informal lunch” about global politics in her residential college, adding in parentheses, “Obviously, the first advance was hers.”

The News could not verify Gelernter’s assertions about his relationship with the student or her sentiments.

Gelernter wrote that she began visiting his office on some afternoons and he advised her about computer science and switching majors despite parental pressure. Gelernter said he wrote her several letters of recommendation, as they continued to meet and discuss art and literature. He also wrote that he and his wife took the student out to meals, and the student “slept over at our house at least twice.”

“She was one of the most impressive undergrads I had met in years.” Gelernter wrote.

He wrote that the student lived in New Haven after graduation and continued to come to Gelernter’s office.

“As for the guilty email, there is nothing in it that could possibly offend any rational-minded person on earth,”
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