as an exploratory journey through that old party question: if you could have a drink with anyone in history, who would it be? History is full of people you’d love to have a drink with. Let’s meet a few.
as an exploratory journey through that old party question: if you could have a drink with anyone in history, who would it be? History is full of people you’d love to have a drink with. Let’s meet a few.
Have a drink with: Hugh Henry Brackenridge Attorney, nog enthusiast, clothing optional Ask him about: Pork as medicine It’s the holiday season, and that means it’s time for nog. Where did eggnog come from? If you look into it, you get a linguistic soup of suggestions (“nog” being an old word for strong ale, or…
Have a drink with: Gilbert Stuart “The one dollar bill.” Ask him about: Chinese knockoffs In August of this year, news outlets reported that the White House opened the door for the United States Trade Representative (an executive agency that advises on global trade policy) to conduct an investigation of potential Chinese intellectual property abuses….
Have a drink with: James Jay They’ve given you a number and taken away your name… Ask him about: passing notes in class With the recent news that Congressional Republicans have rolled back broadband protections on the harvest and sale of Internet search data by service providers, information on how to protect the privacy of…
Have a drink with: The Mainstream Media Fake news. Sad! Ask them about: thin-skinned Federalists Today I’m over at the wonderful Historista blog with an essay on how the Trump administration’s efforts to control news media echo the 1798 Sedition Act. Go check it out!
Have a drink with: The Electoral College Neither elected, nor a college. Discuss. Ask them about: Any December plans? Most people hadn’t though much of the Electoral College before the contested Bush-Gore election in 2000, and many assumed that up to that point in American history it had mostly been a smooth, rubber-stamp affair. In…
Have a drink with: David Bushnell Damn the torpedoes. Ask him about: The one that got away Folks in Warrenton, Georgia were understandably sad when Doctor David Bush passed away in 1826. Single and in his eighties at the time of his death, the old man was a local institution: in more than thirty years…
Have a drink with: New Haven Puritans Judge swung his fist down, plunk plunk… Ask them about: Anything but Quakers. It’s election season, which means we are faced with ample opportunity to confront our worst tendencies and unresolved problems as a society, along with the inevitable call to harken back to a better, simpler, more moral…
Have a drink with: Fanny Hill Grin grin, wink wink, say no more? Ask her about: Sex and the (eighteenth-century) city My friend Dan Klau, who writes a wonderful appellate law blog at Appealingly Brief, and who also just launched a government-accountability site at CT Good Governance – because transparency is very cool – recently posted this…
Have a drink with: The All Writs Act Ain’t no party like a statutory party, because a statutory party is subject to judicial review. Don’t give it: your iPhone passcode Beginning with the iOS8 version of its operating system, Apple has used encryption that makes it impossible for anyone but the user to access the passcode-protected…
Have a drink with: Captain William Kidd Privateer, man of song and legend, unwitting pirate? Ask him about: the tabloid trial of the (18th) century! William Kidd, a merchant captain and commissioned privateer, was tried and executed in 1701 for throwing away the king’s commission to turn pirate in the Indian Ocean. Not 25 years…
