All of Popehat's Prenda coverage is collected here.

When last we left the Prenda Law team, it was reeling from a devastating sanctions order and referral for criminal investigation. Now, as predicted, defense attorneys across the country are filing that order in cases brought on behalf of Prenda Law clients.

This has already led to one comical result.

You may remember that Attorney Jacques Nazaire, representing Prenda Law entity AF Holdings in Georgia, filed an angry and rather bizarre opposition to a defendant's motion for sanctions there. Now, in response to that defendant filing Judge Wright's order — which is what Judge Wright clearly contemplated, and which involves informing the Georgia federal court of an order that is patently relevant to the proceedings — Jacques Nazaire has doubled down and flipped out.

In his objections to defendant Patel's filing of Judge Wright's order about Prenda and AF Holdings, Nazaire argues that the filing is late and not authorized by the local rules, because it is effectively a "sur-reply" – that is, a reply to a reply. That's what just about any lawyer would say; it's within the realm of reason.

But then:

9. While this Court may or may not agree with some of the issues presented in
the California case, unbeknownst to the defendant, the California case will not necessarily become a mandate on this Court. It is solely within the discretion of this Court to follow or not follow the decisions made in the California case.

10. The defendant should realize that California has different laws than
Georgia, a different Governor than Georgia; a different legislative body than Georgia, different business needs than Georgia and different views than Georgia and as such all of its decisions cannot serve as a mandate for Georgia.

11. For example the California Courts have legalized gay marriage. Perry v.
Schwarzenegger 704 F.Supp.2d 921 (N.D. Cal., 2010);Certified question, 628 F.3d 1191 (9th. Cir.); Answered 52 Cal.4th 1116 (2011) Affirmed, 671 F.3d 1052 (9th Cir.) Such a decision cannot serve as a mandate on Georgia Courts to legalize gay marriage as well.

Sure, Nazaire is trying to make a point that the decisions of a United States District Judge in one state do not dictate the decisions of a United States District Judge in another state. But he's doing it in a hilariously silly and inflammatory way. Moreover, the core argument is misleading: both cases are copyright cases premised in federal law, and Judge Wright's decision was premised in federal law. This isn't a case about California or Georgia state law.

Nazaire then proceeds to start throwing Prenda principals under the now battered and flat-tired bus, suggesting he shouldn't be sanctioned:

19. Defendant also argues that plaintiff’s counsel should have made reasonable inquiry of the signature. Prior to filing the document, the undersigned contacted Prenda Law to find out whether or not Mr. Cooper would be available to testify at trial but was advised that they could not locate Mr. Cooper. The undersigned was advised that Mark Lutz and Peter Hansmeier would be available to testify as witnesses. Had the undersigned realized that the Electronic Frontier Foundation was hanging with Mr. Cooper, he would have been able to track down Mr. Cooper and questioned him about the documents. It turns out that Mr. Cooper was a caretaker of one of the properties of a Prenda Law member and had left said property in August, 2012.

20. Therefore, even if the undersigned had placed a knife to the throats of each of Prenda’s members, none would have been able to give him Mr. Cooper’s contact information at the time on November 5, 2012 when Plaintiff commenced its law suit. It is certainly not the first time a company has lost contact with an agent (or alleged agent as stated).

I'm going to give Mr. Nazaire Internet Points for responding to Star Trek references with a "Hangin' With Mr. Cooper" reference that is far more subtle.

Nazaire is also infuriated that his opposing counsel submitted one of his emails:

32. Additionally, an email containing information that was sent by the undersigned, in strict confidence, to Mr. Chintella was presented as evidence in that California case by Mr. Chintella. Chintella went behind plaintiff’s counsel’s back without any notification and submitted the email contents as evidence in order to influence the California case; the same case that now he presents to this Court as a mandate; the same Georgia case from which he intends to profit.

Yeah, here's the thing: if you write something to opposing counsel, especially in a case like this, you should expect it can get filed in court if it's relevant.

Nazaire's filing is furious and more than a little manic.

Is this real life?

Hat tip to Fight Copyright Trolls, via Twitter.

Let he or she who has not gloated at the misfortune of the wicked throw the first stone!

Not many of you should be throwing, because I'd wager that most of you, like me, secretly snicker when the awful are made to feel awful by circumstance.

But in the free speech arena, we can't afford to applaud the legal reversals suffered by assholes. We have to sigh, cowboy up, defend the loathsome from censorship, and question judgments and convictions they sustain.

Here are two examples.

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U. R., M. + M. O. T. + St. J. J, P., R. + M

V I A A N G U S

America is an increasingly crass nation, true. But there are still some places where decorum and good breeding are expected and even demanded.

For instance, anyone acquainted with cryptid enthusiasts knows that a gentleman seeking introduction to their society must first build a solid repute for probity. In turn, those admitted to the drawing-rooms and salons of the cryptidologists know that only the most polished among them can aspire to the rarefied circle of Bigfoot hunters, the royalty of the cryptid-seeking community. And yet even Bigfoot hunters — elite as they are — can encounter self-doubt when they ask themselves, "yes, my poise and quality have made me a Bigfoot hunter, but do I possess the savoir-faire necessary to achieve a position amongst the Bigfoot hunters of Florida? Can I persevere in that imperial land, where the exacting standards for urbanity and good deportment strain the abilities even of graduates of the finest finishing schools in Tampa and Orlando?"

By necessity, when swimming in these heady waters, a good reputation is everything. So you see, when one Florida Bigfoot hunter accused another Florida Bigfoot hunter of being crazy, the latter had no choice but to sue for defamation.

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First of all, remember what I said before: the most important thing you need to know about "blogger" and "investigative journalist" Crystal Cox is that she is the sort of person who will retaliate against a critic by registering a domain in the name of the critic's three-year-old daughter as part of a campaign against him.

But there's something else you should know, too: Crystal Cox is not a sincere supporter of free speech. Crystal Cox is not a defender of the First Amendment. Crystal Cox supports free speech for Crystal Cox, but for her own critics, Crystal Cox is a vigorous (if mostly incoherent) advocate for broad and unprincipled censorship.

This should not surprise us. As I mentioned before, free speech cases often involve defending vile speech by repugnant people. Nearly as often, those repugnant people are no respecters of the rights of anyone else. Do you think the Nazis who marched at Skokie, if they had their way, would uphold the free speech rights of the religious and ethnic minorities who protested them? Do you imagine that Fred Phelps' church, given its choice, would permit the blasphemous and idolatrous freedoms it rails against?

No. We extend constitutional rights to people who, given the opportunity, would not extend the same rights to us. That's how we roll.

Crystal Cox is no different. Eugene Volokh and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are appealing the judgment against her to vindicate (through however flawed a vessel) important free speech issues. But just because Crystal Cox wants free speech for herself, that doesn't mean she supports it for others. In fact, she consistently takes the stance that criticism of her is unlawful and will be met with lawsuits and complaints to state and federal authorities.

Take, for instance, her cross-complaint in the Oregon defamation suit against her. She sued a vast array of people, including all the attorneys in the law firm representing the plaintiff suing her, as well as miscellaneous government entities:

For Complalint against Counter Defendants David Aman, Esq Personally and Professionally, Tonkon Torp Law Firm and all partners, associates and of counsel in their professional and individual capacities, Obsidian Finance LLC and any/all affiliates, Kevin Padrick Esq. officially, professionally and personally, David Brown Esq. professionally and personally, Ewan Rose Esq. officially, professionally and personally, Patrick Flaherty Esq., Bend Oregon District Attorney Office officially, professionally and personally capacities, Deschutes County, Stephanie DeYoung, CPA StudebakerDeYoung CPA PC -Stephanie Studebaker LLP , Mark Neuman, Lane Lyons, Brian Stevens, Tim Larkin, Summit Accomodators Inc. and any and all affiliates, Sean Boushie, Lincoln County Montana District Attorney Bernie Cassidy, P. Stephen Lamont, CEO of iViewit Technologies Inc, Robin Clute Personally and Professionally, and John and Jane Does.

In her Cross-complaint, Crystal Cox asserts that all of these people have engaged in a conspiracy to harass and defame her — by suing her for defamation. Crystal Cox can say whatever she wants about you, but if you say "Crystal Cox defamed me," well, that's illegal:

Plaintif has harmed my Oregon Real Estate Brokerage License by filing a frivolous lawsuit and defaming me among potential real estate clients as I am a licensed real estate broker in the state of oregon.

Writing scores of deranged sites blasting strangers through oddly capitalized screeds is fine when Crystal Cox does it, but if anyone puts up a site that criticizes her, that's a "hate blog" and it's actionable:

Counter Defendant Bernie Cassidy aided and abetted Counter Defendant Sean Boushie to continue on hate blogs, and hate groups, and in conspiracy against counter plaintiff.

Registering domain names incorporating the names of enemies and accusing them of crimes is swell when Crystal Cox does it, but if you try to convince others that she's evil, well, that's actionable too:

Stephen Lamont defamed me in sending emails to all iViewit shareholders to join a hate group against me. This group was and is ran by Sean Boushie of Montana, who claims to this day to be working with David Aman of Tonkon Torp and Kevin Padrick of Obisidian Finance to harm my and financially ruin me.

This pattern repeated in Crystal Cox's motion to exclude a witness. (This witness, a hapless fellow who apparently earned Cox's ire by writing a letter to the editor she didn't like, obtained a restraining order against her; she accused him of a raft of offenses and tried to get a restraining order against him, but was rejected by the court.) Once again, the motion shows Crystal's freakishly narcissistic view of free expression: Crystal Cox can accuse everyone she wants of anything she likes and say any terrible thing about them, but if someone criticizes her in vivid terms, that's "extreme hate, harassment and intimidation" justifying excluding them as a witness.

Finally, consider Crystal Cox's response to the recent attention to her behavior by blogs including this one, not to mention stories at Forbes and the New York Times. Writers, including me, have presented Crystal Cox's own words, her own domain registrations, her own emails, and her own court documents, asked readers to evaluate them, and asserted that they show that Crystal Cox is an evil person who has engaged in what appears to be a campaign of extortion. Crystal Cox crows about her own supposed right to attack strangers on the internet without evidence or reason (or diction, or grammar, or a grasp of reality.) Does she extend that same right to her critics? Of course not. Here's how she plans to respond to her critics:

And now Kashmir Hill of Forbes, David Carr of the New York Times, Marc Randazza, Kenneth P. White of Popehat.com, Tracy Coenen, Randazza Legal Group, have launched a campaign to set up a Blogger for Extortion when I was not accused of Extortion in an Criminal Complaint, nor was I on trial for extortion and now this Lynch Mob has put me under Extreme Duress and ALL will be named in my Federal Hate Crime Filing, Criminal Complaint, Judicial Complaint, FBI Complaint, Attorney General Complaint, Bar Complaint and Department of Justice Complaint.

Crystal Cox is no free speech defender. Crystal Cox is no First Amendment advocate. Crystal Cox is merely that familiar, universally scorned and loathed figure of the playground — the bully who can dish it out, but can't take it.

Every time you think of her, remember: Crystal Cox is someone who will register a domain in the name of the three-year-old daughter of her critic as part of a campaign against him.

Here's the most important thing you need to know about blogger and "investigative journalist" Crystal Cox: when she got angry at First Amendment attorney Marc Randazza, she didn't just register the domains marcrandazza.com and fuckmarcrandazza.com and marcrandazzasucks.com in order to attack him. She registered jenniferrandazza.com and nataliarandazza.com — the names of Randazza's wife and three-year-old daughter.

That's Crystal Cox in a nutshell — an appropriate receptacle.

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The other day I reminded people of my favorite advice: just shut up.

A scraper named "J. Croft" came along and lifted the whole damn thing. He attributed it — by blog name, author name, and link — but he still bodily copied the whole post, rather than posting an excerpt.

I offered what I viewed as a rather mildly worded request at his site:

Pardon me, but copying the entire blog post and reposting it here is not fair use. Feel free to quote, but this is a copyright violation.

A few other commenters there agreed. Did J. Croft take it well? J. Croft did not. Here's what he has to say:

Wow I'm just feeling that Patriot Unity here….

Ken, you have good advice but you're not the only person who has thought of shutting the hell up around the enemy. You just put it in different words is all. I quote full articles all the time and you are the FIRST to get their panties in a wad over it. Get over yourself, you're not Shakespeare.

Trust me Ken, I will NOT be quoting your douchebag ass again. Hang up your website and go back to watching American Idol or jacking off to child porn or taking turns fucking your mother or dog or whatever it is you do.

And as for Tomas-where's YOUR work? But I suppose having nothing's better than Joel Katz's lame ass excuse for a blog: "look at me I got four posts up so I kan rip on a Patriot trying to spread a good article! Hilk!"

God in Heaven you little bitch patriots, you keyboard minutemen are so fucking lame. I got zero-count em'-ZERO patience with you backstabbing little fucks. It's punks like y'all that blindly support Ron Paul as he embezzles you, expecting that putz on a white horse to solve all your problems. Meanwhile you kick back, write a few words or trade articles (NOT PASSING THEM ON IN FULL-GOD FORBID ANYONE DO THAT!)

Ansley knows what I'm talking about;)

I've been up in this since 2005-look to your right at my article index. You little snitch bitches got something to say to that, I'm right here.

Well, J.Croft, the beauty of your modern picture-in-picture TVs is that I can watch American Idol and child porn at the same time while giving the dog a reach-around.

Is it just me, or is J.Croft wound just a little bit tight? Normally I'd have to go to the World of Warcraft forums and advocate nerfing paladins to draw that level of socially dysfunctional sputtering outrage and odd entitlement.

Eh, revolutions have been funded by a motley array of malfeasance before. If J.Croft aims to resist the black helicopters of the New World Order by scraping and thieving, I'd guess he's not alone.

In a word: socialism.

See, it turns out that Google, Yahoo!, and the other big search engines are part of a secret plot to drive traffic to socialist sites rather than decent, God-fearing, pro-American-values sites.

I learned about this courtesy of "Reasonjester" at "Tea Party Nation."

IT IS MY SUSPICION THAT GOOGLE AND YAHOO ARE STEPPING UP GOVERNMENT PROPAGANDA BY MOVING UP SOCIALIST-FRIENDLY (AKA STATE-FRIENDLY) LINKS IN THE SEARCH HITS.

Many people have suspected this before, but I am really starting to see some strange behavior out of Google, in particular. And it is not just a reflection of more aggressive AP and MSM bias, there are numerous leftist blogs that are being moved up.

The explanation is simple: The U.S. government has signaled to the search engines that if you don't play hardball, the government will shut you down. This type of intimidation can be seen with the Chinese instructing Google to censor hits while threatening not to renew its license.

I'm pretty sure Reasonjester meant "if you don't play ball," rather than "if you don't play hardball," but it's possible that incipient socialism has caused me to see mixed metaphors where there are none.

Reasonjester's commenters agree:

Ive also noticed when you try to inter a web sight that is against liberal beliefs the sight freezes up and stalls on you like a connection problem causing you to have to wait forever ,

But a sight that has liberal postings and debates you get in and have no problems .

One of two things .

Either thay are lagging you on purpose are liberal sights are not as active as thay build them up to be making less traffic on the forum's.

So when freerepublic.com crashes, that's because the tubes have been deliberately broken by communists to thwart conservative speech.

I have long suspected it.

Well, as you know, we're total traffic whores here. So we'll be moving to an all-socialist, all-the-time format. I've stopped bathing. Patrick is regrowing the beard he had in grad school. Ezra is — well, Ezra is Ezra.

Fortunately the definition of "socialist" seems somewhat broader than it was when I learned it in school, so we should still be able to bring you a broad range of topics.

Thanks, Tea Party Nation!

Diversity of craziness, that is. Because if all the crazy people were nuts in the same way, it would get boring. Also, they might gang up and present a real danger.

Over at Feral Children, Patrick has put together a jaw-dropping partial list of recently circulated conspiracy theories about matters electoral and political. It's the silly season, sure. But still. Good God.

For added fun, see if you can spot which of the 30 theories Patrick is crazy enough to believe.

Months ago I blogged about [former] New York Judge Robert Restaino, who was removed from the bench after he flipped out when a cell phone rang in his courtroom and he couldn't identify the culprit. When no one would confess, he revoked or increased the bail of all the defendants before him, one by one.

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Anti-wi-fi Luddism is not, as it turns out, confined to Sebastopol. Now it's raised its science-scorning head in Santa Fe, New Mexico:

One Santa Fe resident told local TV station KOB-TV that Wi-Fi and the electromagnetic fields it radiates are causing him severe discomfort and that he's stumping to ban Wi-Fi signals in public buildings because he and others are allergic to the radio waves.

"I get chest pain," Arthur Firstenberg told the TV station. "It doesn't go away right away. I suffer for a couple of days."

Firstenberg, 57, added: "If I walk into a room of a building that has Wi-Fi, my most immediate sign is that the front of my right thigh goes numb. If I don't leave, I'll get short of breath, chest pains and the numbness will spread."

Let me be the first asshole to tell Firstenberg that my God-given right to watch streaming YouTube videos wherever I please outweighs his right not to have his fucking thumb tingle.

Look, there's simply no proof that Wi-Fi causes physical ailments other than carpal tunnel syndrome and head contusions from my wife hitting me from using the laptop too much. Even the notorious hand-wringers at WHO are uncharacteristically clear (from a bureaucratic frame of reference) on that:

The World Health Organization, while acknowledging that some symptoms may be attributable to electromagnetic hypersensitivity, said little is known about Wi-Fi and its link to a possible allergic reaction.

"EHS [electromagnetic hypersensitivity] is characterized by a variety of nonspecific symptoms that differ from individual to individual," the WHO states on its Web site. "The symptoms are certainly real and can vary widely in their severity. Whatever its cause, EHS can be a disabling problem for the affected individual. EHS has no clear diagnostic criteria and there is no scientific basis to link EHS symptoms to EMF [electromagnetic field] exposure. Further, EHS is not a medical diagnosis, nor is it clear that it represents a single medical problem."

WHO even conducted a useful experiment:

But, according to the WHO, laboratory studies have found no true link between the symptoms and exposure to EMFs or Wi-Fi.

"The majority of studies indicate that EHS individuals cannot detect EMF exposure any more accurately than non-EHS individuals," the WHO said. "Well-controlled and conducted double-blind studies have shown that symptoms were not correlated with EMF exposure."

And you know that you are in tinfoil territory when even WHO suggests that your problem may not be physical:

"There are also some indications that these symptoms may be due to pre-existing psychiatric conditions as well as stress reactions as a result of worrying about EMF health effects, rather than EMF exposure itself."

Nonetheless, can anti-Wi-Fi lawsuits be far behind?

It's the end of one of my favorite eras. The newly elected President of Turkmenistan is undoing a few of the wackier precepts of his predecessor the insane in a Bond villain sort of way Saparmurat Niyazov, better known to you and I simply as Turkmenbashi. You see, the new President (who happens to have been Turkmenbashi's personal dentist!) doesn't think that the months of the calendar should be named after Turkmenbashi's family (April is named after his dear mother) or that hospitals outside the capital should be closed.

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You know, there are highly recommended methods of dealing with spikes of clinical depression.  Adjust your meds, go into individual or group therapy, talk it out with loved ones, exercise more.

Screw all that.  I'm getting a high fine grump on.

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