Social Networking and Freedom of Speech: Not Like Old Times

In Bland v. Roberts, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia was presented with the issue of whether “liking” a page on Facebook is speech protectable by the First Amendment. This Note argues that the court’s holding, that “liking” something on Facebook is not worthy of First Amendment protection, is a disturbing result that endangers one of our most fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution. In Part II, this Note analyzes the facts and holding of Bland v. Roberts. Next, in Part III, this Note describes in detail how Facebook operates and explains the legal background of the first amendment and its interaction with online communication. Part IV examines the court’s rationale in Bland v. Roberts. Lastly, Part V explains the flaws in the court’s reasoning and provides suggestions to courts facing similar controversies in the future

Pictures of America

Published Posthumously Gordon S. Wood. The Radicalism of the American Revolution. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992. Pp. x, 447. $27.50. Who shall write the history of the American Revolution? Who can write it? Who will ever be able to write it? Gordon Wood has certainly taken John Adams\u27s despairing question to heart. He has not tried to write the history of the American Revolution. Instead, he has offered us three verbal photographs to illustrate what America was like before, during, and after the Revolution. The people in the last of the pictures have no features in common with those represented in the first one, which is the point that Wood wishes to make. America was transformed in the course of becoming an independent nation. By 1820 America had, moreover, not just changed radically, but it had become uniquely democratic and egalitarian in its politics and daily manners. In these respects it was and remains unlike any other country in the world. To make his before and after argument effective, Wood has chosen to write the equivalent of group portraits, one after the other, not a narrative. It is unlike a movie, in which a story unfolds in motion, effects and causes following one another imperceptibly. just as even revolutionary social change is supposed to move. In the first picture, Monarchy, a portly, bewigged, decoratively attired, and stem patriarch, sits surrounded by offspring and dependents of various kinds, all in deferential attitudes. His lady sits demurely at his side, the oldest son a bit closer to him than the other children. There might be some black house slave and white servant hovering in the background. The second picture, Republicanism, is of several tall and lean males, dressed quite unostentatiously, though not without elegance. They do not put on togas, for theirs is a modem, not a classical style, but many wear swords and other military insignia. Their wives, however, do wear very decoltée gowns inspired by Roman models, and they seem rather more lively than their predecessors. The young people are less stiff and the older and younger ones are all mixed together. There may be fewer white servants, but the black slaves are in exactly the same positions as in the first picture. The third picture, Democracy, is of an open-air barbecue. There is no order among these people at all. They are not even posing to be painted, being far too busy having a good time and consuming all kinds of local delicacies. Dress is casual and so are table manners, if any. Only a couple of black slaves are to be seen, doing the cooking and holding a baby. In the far distance we do notice a cotton field where a lot of black people seem to be very busy. The picture itself is painted with far more skill than the two earlier ones, because the arts and crafts have come a long way in this new consumer society. This is not, perhaps, exactly what Wood meant to show, but it is what one might well see in his three representations of America. And they certainly do serve his main aim: to highlight the changes that in a brief fifty-odd years turned the people of this country from obedient subjects of a monarch into free citizens of a democracy

Coordinate anatomy of the upper parts of urinary tract at ontogenesis stages: II mature age

The research was aimed at study of the renal hilum normal anatomy with validation of system of morphometric indices of renal hilum morphotype at the stages of human postnatal ontogenesis. The study of anatomical variability of human renal portal at the stages of postnatal ontogenesis has been carried out in conditions of postmortem morphometry on 44 kidneys of people, aged 40-49 yrs. Organometric evaluation of the kidney have been made according to the values of complex of one-, two-dimensional and volume indices (kidney height (LН), thickness (PН), width (DН) and kidney volume (VН); kidney anatomical section area (SН) and renal hilum area (SВ); the suggested criterion – index of hilum area (IA) has been used, which expresses the kidney anatomical section area and renal hilum area ratio)

Coordinate anatomy of the upper parts of urinary tract at ontogenesis stages: II mature age

The research was aimed at study of the renal hilum normal anatomy with validation of system of morphometric indices of renal hilum morphotype at the stages of human postnatal ontogenesis. The study of anatomical variability of human renal portal at the stages of postnatal ontogenesis has been carried out in conditions of postmortem morphometry on 44 kidneys of people, aged 40-49 yrs. Organometric evaluation of the kidney have been made according to the values of complex of one-, two-dimensional and volume indices (kidney height (LН), thickness (PН), width (DН) and kidney volume (VН); kidney anatomical section area (SН) and renal hilum area (SВ); the suggested criterion – index of hilum area (IA) has been used, which expresses the kidney anatomical section area and renal hilum area ratio)

What Makes a Utopia Inconvenient? On the Advantages and Disadvantages of a Realist Orientation to Politics

Contemporary politics is often said to lack utopias. For prevailing understandings of the practical force of political theory, this looks like cause for celebration. As blueprints to apply to political practice, utopias invariably seem too strong or too weak. Through an immanent critique of political realism, I argue that utopian thought, and political theory generally, is better conceived as supplying an orientation to politics. Realists including Bernard Williams and Raymond Geuss explain how utopian programs like universal human rights poorly orient their adherents to politics, but the realists wrongly conclude that utopias and other ideal theories necessarily disorient us. As I show through an analysis of utopian claims made by Michel Foucault, Malcolm X, and John Rawls, utopias today can effectively disrupt entrenched forms of legitimation, foster new forms of political identity, and reveal new possibilities within existing institutions. Utopias are needed to understand the political choices we face today