Funk nite at the BL pt. C: Stevie Wonder's "I Wish"

     In this fabulotastic 100th!!! installment of Funk Nite, presented on Saturday no less, we present a funk version of Stevie Wonder's "I Wish", with its elegaic theme about days gone by, appropriate for looking back on three digits worth, 100 installments, of Funk Nite:

     Funk it up! for the New Year!! Look for the next 100 installments of Funk Nite!!!

December 30, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Adele, Eugenia, Stephen, John the Apostle, Anthony the Hermit, Aileran, and Anysia, please pray for us.

December 23, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Olympias, Rufus, Nemesius, Domnic of Silos, Peter Canisius, Chaeromon, and John of Kanty, please pray for us.

December 16, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Pope Gregory III, Pope Damasus I, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Lucy, John of the Cross, Mary Di Rosa, and Ado of Vienne, please pray for us.

December 9, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Francis Xavier, John of Damascus, Sabas, Nicholas, Maria Giuseppe Rossello, Romaric, and Juan Diego, please pray for us.

Pearl Harbor Day 2017

     Never forget.

     RIP.

December 2, 2017 saintlist

     Saints John Berchmans, James Intercisus, Catherine Laboure, Saturninus, Andrew, Eligius, and Bibiana, please pray for us.

November 25, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Nerses the Great, Edmund Rich, Gelasius, Cecelia, Andrew Dung Lac, and Catherine of Alexandria, and Blessed Miguel Pro, please pray for us.

Funk nite at the BL pt. XCIX: "Highway to Hell", funk version

     In this funky 99th installment of Funk Nite, we present a funk version of AC/DC's "Highway to Hell", with the late Malcolm Young and his bro Angus, etc., on board:

     Funk it up!

November 18, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Josaphat of Polotsk, Frances Xavier Cabrini, Lawrence O'Toole, Albert the Great, Margaret of Scotland, Hugh of Lincoln, and Rose Philippine Duchesne, please pray for us, and in particular for Malcolm Young (RIP), that he might be spared the Highway to Hell.

November 11, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Elizabeth, Leonard, Achillas, Castorius, Benignus, Leo the Great, and Martin of Tours, on this Veterans Day, please pray for us.

November 4, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Narcissus, Alphonsus Rodriguez, Wolfgang, Valentine Berrio-Ochoa, Victorinus of Pettau, Martin de Porres, and Charles Borromeo, please pray for us.

October 28, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Pope John Paul II, John of Capistrano, Anthony Mary Claret, Daria, Bean, Frumentius, and Jude Thaddaeus, please pray for us.

Funk nite at the BL pt. XCVIII: RIP Fats Domino "The Fat Man"

     Tomite we feature, honoring the late Fats Domino, his seminal 1949 "The Fat Man":

     Funk it up!

October 21, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Teresa of Avila, Gerard Majella, Ignatius of Antioch, Luke, Isaac Jogues & Rene Goupil, Paul of the Cross, and Hilarion, please pray for us.

October 14, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Pelagia, Denis, Rusticus, and Eleutherius, Francis Borgia, Pope John XXIII, Wilfrid, Edward the Confessor, and Callistus I, please pray for us. Sts. Denis, Rusticus, and Eleutherius

October 7, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Therese of Lisieux, Leger, Ewald & Ewald, Francis of Assisi, St. Faustina Kowalska, Bruno, and Artaldus, please pray for us.

Tom Petty RIP

     If you no longer wanted to live like a refugee, in Heaven, we pray, you are a refugee no longer.

     RIP TP.

September 30, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Martyrs of Chalcedon, Finbar, Cosmas & Damian, Vincent de Paul, Lorenzo Ruiz, Michael the Archangel, and Jerome, please pray for us.

September 23, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Salvius of Albi, Paphnutius, Ailbhe, John Chrysostom, Notburga, Valerian, Cornelius, Robert Bellarmine, Joseph of Cupertino, Januarius, Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong Hasang, & Companions, Matthew, Thomas of Villanueva, and Padre Pio, please pray for us.

Funk nite at the BL pt. XCVII: Fall funk

     Tonite we feature, on this first day of Fall, DrFunkenstein101's "Random Fall Funk":

     Funk it up!

September 9, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Pope Gregory the Great, Rosalia, Teresa of Calcutta, Eleutherius, Cloud, Adrian, and Peter Claver, please pray for us.

September 2, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Monica, Augustine of Hippo, Sabina, Rumon, Raymond Nonnatus, Giles Abbot, and Ingrid of Sweden, please pray for us.

August 26, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Bernard of Clairvaux, Pope Pius X, Andrew the Scot, Philip Benizi, Bartholomew, Louis, King of France, and Teresa of Jesus Jornet Ibars, please pray for us.

Funk nite at the BL pt. XCVI: Texas Funk

     Tonite we feature, in honor of Texas which is suffering from Hurricane Harvey, the Fabulous Mark III preforming "Psycho, Pt. 1", from the album "Texas Funk Hard Texas Funk 1968 / 1975":

     Funk it up!

RIP Heather Heyer--a modern-day Viola Liuzzo

     Remembering a heroine of the Charlottesville massacre; someone who resembles Viola Liuzzo of the Civil Rights Movement.

     RIP HH.

August 19, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Hippolytus, Maximilian Kolbe, Alipius, Stephen the Great, Clare of Montefalco, Helena, and John Eudes, please pray for us.

August 12, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Pope Hormisdas, Cajetan, Dominic, Edith Stein, Lawrence Martyr, Clare, and Michael My, please pray for us.

August 5, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Peter Chrysologus, Ignatius Loyola, Aphonsus Marie Liguori, Eusebius of Vercelli, Lydia Purpuraria, John Vianney, and Addai, please pray for us.

July 29, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Bridget of Sweden, John Boste, James the Greater, Joachim & Anne, Pantaleon, Innocent I, and Martha, please pray for us.

Funk nite at the BL pt. XCV: McCain the Trumpinator

     Tonite we feature, in honor of Senator John "Trumping Trump on Health Care" McCain, this astounding and funky video, "McCain does the robot dance":

     Funk it up!

July 22, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Carmen, Carmelite Nuns of Compiegne, Frederick, Arsenius the Great, Margaret of Antioch, Lawrence of Brindisi, and Mary Magdalene, please pray for us.

July 15, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Veronica Giuliani, Benedict of Nursia, John Gaulbert (Abbot), Henry, Kateri Tekakwitha, and Bonaventure, and Blessed Emanuel Ruiz, please pray for us.

July 8, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Bernardino Realino, Thomas, Elizabeth of Portugal, Anthony Mary Zaccaria, Maria Goretti, and Grimbald, and Blessed Ralph Milner, please pray for us.

9 Justices, "Twin Peaks" Part 8, & 1 Muslim-Ban Opinion

     While it may be coincidence that the Supreme Court's opinion in Trump v. International Refugee Assistance Project came out the morning after the broadcast of the bizarre Episode 8 of the "Twin Peaks" revival, who knows? Maybe there is more than meets the eye...after all, who knows how the nine Justices really decide their cases?

     The opinion speaks of allowing people with a "bona fide" connection to avoid the excluding action of Trump's "Muslim ban" executive order. So people with a foot in the door, a tie to the homeland, get to enter.

     Oddly enough, this resembles the part of Episode 8 where the evil "BOB", a truly alien and evil creature, is shown getting ready to invade the U.S. after the Alamogordo nuclear explosion summons a demonic gray creature (his mom?), who vomits him out. But the Giant sends Laura Palmer, homecoming queen and true American, to come help us.

     Well, this may not have been the Court's real rationale, but it is some fun for the Fourth to think on it, as we enjoy the freedom of our home sweet home, as the song says. God bless.

(Cross-posted, and expanded, at Casetext)

July 1, 2017 saintlist

     Saints William of Vercelli, Anthelm, Cyril of Alexandria, Irenaeus, Peter, and Junipero Serra, and the First Martyrs of the See of Rome, please pray for us.

Funk nite at the BL pt. XCIV: "Dance of the Dream Man"

     Tonite we feature more Twin Peaks, here Angelo Badalamenti's "Dance Of The Dream Man", with finger-snapping that adds funky rhythm to the already funky bass:

     Funk it up!

June 24, 2017 saintlist

      Saints Gregory Barbarigo, Romuald, Vincent Kaun, Aloysius Gonzaga, Thomas More, Joseph Cafasso, and John the Baptist, please pray for us.

June 17, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Barnabas, John of Sahagun, Anthony of Padua, Methodius I, Germaine Cousin, John Francis Regis, and Emily de Vialar, please pray for us.

RIP Roger Moore

     No more.

     RIP RM.

     (I once got his autograph, as I believe I did with Adam West...)

RIP Adam West

     Gone West.

     RIP AW.

June 10, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Francis Caracciolo, Boniface of Mainz, Norbert, Willibald, William of York, Ephrem, and Getulius, please pray for us.

June 3, 2017 saintlst

     Saints Maximinus of Trier, Joan of Arc, Mechtildis, Justin Martyr, Marcellinus & Peter, and Charles Lwanga and Companions, and Blessed Margaret Pole, please pray for us.

Should Kennedy Ever Retire?

     When one thinks of "Kennedy" this Memorial Day, there is an embarrassment of riches: . . . .

- - -

     The rest is back at Casetext, but feel free to meander around the rest of this site.

May 27, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Eugene de Mazenod, Rita, John Baptist de Rossi, David I of Scotland, Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, Philip Neri, and Augustine of Canterbury, please pray for us.

May 20, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Matthias, Dymphna, Simon Stock, Paschal Baylon, Pope John I, Celestine, and Bernardine of Siena, please pray for us.

Funk nite at the BL pt. XCIII: "Twin Peaks" theme

     Tonite we feature the intro (or one intro) for Twin Peaks (which is having a return on Sunday), an Angelo Badalamenti instrumental which has heavy enough bass that it qualifies as funky:

     Funk it up!

May 13, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Rose Venerini, Peter of Tarantaise, Pachomius, Damien of Molokai, Ignatius of Laconi, Nereus & Achilleus, and John the Silent, please pray for us.

May 6, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Pope Pius V, Marculf, Athanasius, James the Lesser, Florian, Hilary of Arles, and Dominic Savio, please pray for us.

April 29, 2017 saintlist

     Saints George, Fidelis of Sigmaringen, Mark, Cletus, Zita, Peter Chanel, and Catherine of Siena, please pray for us.

Funk nite at the BL pt. XCII: George Clinton's "Atrumpic Atomic Dog"

     Tonite, riffing offa CNN's George Clinton's 'Ain't no funk in the Trump', we feature his "Atomic Dog".

     Maybe they shoulda run George Clinton instead of Hillary Clinton...

     Funk it up!

April 22, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Bernadette, Anicetus, Apollonius the Apologist, Alphege, Marian, Anselm, and Abdiesus, please pray for us.

Funk nite at the BL. pt. XCI: "The Kylie Show" Kurstinized

     Tonite we are back, with a funky and pluperfectly choreographed performance by whiteclad Kylie Minogue and devotees, done in 2007 on "The Kylie Show" special, to the Greg Kurstin remix of her signature song "Can't Get You Out of My Head":

     Funk it up!

April 15, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Waldetrudis, Michael de Sanctis, Marguerite d'Youville, Julius, Pope Martin I, Lydwine, and Paternus, please pray for us.

Funkless Good Friday

+

April 8, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Francis of Paola, Richard of Wyche, Isidore of Seville, Vincent Ferrer, William of Eskilsoe, John Baptist de la Salle, and Julie Billart, please pray for us.

April 1, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Margaret Clitherow, Rupert, Venturino of Bergamo, Berthold, Peter Regulatus, Benjamin, and Hugh of Grenoble, please pray for us, we "fools for Christ" and others, on this April Fool's Day.

Funk nite at the BL pt. XC: Little Richard and Long Tall Frutti

     Tonite, researching pre-funk, we feature Little Richard doing both "Long Tall Sally" and "Tutti Frutti":

     Funk it up!

March 25, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Joseph, Enda, Lea, Toribio Alfonso de Mogrovejo, Aldemar, and Dismas, and Blessed John of Parma, please pray for us.

Funk nite at the BL pt. LXXXIX: Health funk

     Tonite we feature, seeing the failure to destroy the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act health law, "HEALTH BREAK! Get funky" by Healthy Kris10:

     Funk it up!

RIP Chuck Berry

     Duck walkin' to Heaven.

     RIP CB.

March 18, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Fina, Matilda, Louise de Marillac, Abban, Patrick, and Cyril of Jerusalem, and Blessed Agnello of Pisa, and maybe Chuck Berry, please pray for us.

Funk nite at the BL pt. LXXXVIII: "Rocket 88"

     Tonite we feature, for this crazy 88th installment of Funk Nite, "Rocket 88" by Ike Turner and the Kings of Rhythm (a.k.a. Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats), sometimes considered the first rock-and-roll record ever made:

     Funk it up!

March 11, 2017 saintlist

     Saints John Joseph of the Cross, Colette, Perpetua and Felicity, John of God, Frances of Rome, John Ogilvie, and Constantine, please pray for us.

Funk nite at the BL pt. LXXXVII: "Ides of March"

     Tonite we feature, for the upcoming Ides of March, the band of the same name, singing "Vehicle":

     Funk it up!

March 4, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Isabel of France, Leander of Seville, Pope Hilary, David, Katharine Drexel, and Casimir, and Blessed Charles the Good, please pray for us.

Funk nite at the BL pt. LXXXVI: "Get Smart" theme

     Tonite, for episode 86, we feature the spy-funky theme of Agent 86, Maxwell Smart, in "Get Smart":

     Funk it up!

February 25, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Wolfric, Severian, Margaret of Cortona, Polycarp, John Theristus, and Tarasius, and Blessed Alvarez of Cordova, please pray for us.

Funk nite at the BL pt. LXXXV: "Funky Fun-key"

     Tonite we feature "Funky Fun-Key" by Depart:

     Funk it up!

February 18, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Buonfiglio Monaldo, Catherine de Ricci, Valentine, Walfrid, Daniel, Alexis Falconieri, and Simon, please pray for us.

Funk nite at the BL pt. LXXXIV: DB "1984"

     Tonite we feature, since this is the eighty-fourth installment of "Funk nite at the BL", David Bowie's funky-dystopian "1984":

     Funk it up!

Trademarking Hate May Not Be a Good Idea in 2017

      America’s present refugee-ban megakerfuffle has led presidential counsel Kellyanne Conway to claim she doesn’t look like a terrorist:

     “I was stopped many times ... after 9/11,” she said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I didn’t resemble, or share a name with, or be part of any kind of terrorist conspiracy, but this is what we do to keep a nation safe.”

But what about Timothy McVeigh? Or Dylann Roof? Does a terrorist have a stereotypical appearance? Conway’s curious declaration shows that this may not be a good time for the Supreme Court in Lee v. Tam to allow the trademarking of stereotypical slurs or other hateful terms.

     (The present author has covered some of these issues in his amicus brief in Gloucester County School Board v. G.G., at 33-38. However, recent events, such as the immigration-order crisis, add further considerations.)

I. From Slur to Scandal: A Natural Progression

     Indeed, if an Asian (or other) rock band like respondent Simon Shiao Tam’s band could trademark “Slants” to “reclaim a racial slur”, could people also trademark, say, “F-cking F-ggots of Coloredness Eat Sh-t”, presumably to “reclaim” the value of sex, gays, people of color, and waste material? And if not, why not? Such unpleasant thoughts might emerge from January 18’s Lee v. Tam oral argument, including the shocking conclusion of Tam’s counsel’s argument,

     JUSTICE GINSBURG: Would you say the same thing about a scandalous mark? Would that be equally impermissible?

     MR. CONNELL: I think that conclusion is inevitable.

Id. at 48. So, not only does Tam’s counsel think that the Lanham Act’s disparagement criterion is wrong, he even thinks the Act’s prohibition against the “scandalous” is wrong as well.

     Truly, if you could trademark some horrible disparaging term like “Big Black [N-word] Watermelons”, what principle prevents you from trademarking an also-“scandalous” term like “Big Black F-cking [N-word] Watermelons to Ravage Promiscuous Preteen P-ssycats With”? (Granted, the example just adduced is unlikely, but it does show how a string of slurs and filthy innuendoes could be slapped together and trademarked, if the Lanham Act is gutted or even over-trimmed.)

II. Trademarked Bigotry as False Advertising

     Moreover, as one may note this Black History Month: since black people, African Americans, have honor and dignity, calling them the “n-word” is arguably false advertising, in that it labels them as something they are not. (The forbidden word, like other slurs, implies that the person is beneath human dignity.) Cf. the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. 1125 (allowing civil action for person harmed by “false designation of origin, false or misleading description of fact, or false or misleading representation of fact” re trademark).

     Similar considerations would apply to other groups, e.g., other racial groups, or reducing women to terms about their private parts. Slurs are a sort of falsehood, so maybe should be treated accordingly.

III. Heart of Atlanta and the “Whitefolx” Motel Chain

     There are additional reasons to restrict hatred circulating in commerce, as Lee v. Tam petitioner Michelle K. Lee notes when briefly citing Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States, 379 U.S. 241 (1964) in her merits brief at 49, re government power to stop discrimination in interstate commerce. Heart of Atlanta, supra, is worth further looking at:

Discrimination is not simply dollars and cents, hamburgers and movies; it is the humiliation, frustration, and embarrassment that a person must surely feel when he is told that he is unacceptable as a member of the public because of his race or color. It is equally the inability to explain to a child that, regardless of education, civility, courtesy, and morality, he will be denied the right to enjoy equal treatment even though he be a citizen of the United States and may well be called upon to lay down his life to assure this Nation continues.

379 U. S. at 292 (citation omitted) (Goldberg, J., concurring).

     If, say, a product called Depraved and Undocumented Latino Tacos (!!) were on sale and had a federal trademark, this “state action” might violate the rights just cited, for a Latino consumer, child or otherwise, or even for any consumer with a conscience.

     See, e.g., Bush v. Vera, 517 U.S. 952 (1996), on the possibility of “expressive harm” from government actions such as strangely-drawn, racially-motivated voting districts: “Our Fourteenth Amendment jurisprudence evinces a commitment to eliminate unnecessary and excessive governmental use and reinforcement of racial stereotypes.” Id. at 985 (O’Connor, J.). Arguably, trademarking a racial slur (or other slur) could and should be “eliminate[d]” as well, see id.

     Back to Heart of Atlanta Motel: thank goodness, there is no such thing in real life as a “Whitefolx” motel chain; but why couldn’t there be, if you could trademark anything now? “Whitefolx” might not be an open statement that “People of color can’t stay at our motel”, but it could certainly be interpreted similarly. Knocking down the Lanham Act disparagment criterion could provide an end run around Heart of Atlanta and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

     And if anyone thinks that a “Whitefolx” motel (or hotel) chain would necessarily go out of business due to its icky nature and consequent public disapproval: in these days of neo-Confederatism and other “alt-white” phenomena, bigoted businesses could do very well financially, maybe, among certain sectors of the population. (There were newspaper cartoons in June 2015, such as this one, the month of Obergefell v. Hodges and the Charleston massacre, that showed the Confederate flag going down a flagpole, and the gay rainbow flag going up the same or another flagpole; these days, a cartoon could show the flags going in the opposite directions as before.) There could even be an “ironic hipster” clientele, the types of snide folks who’d say, “I’m not really a racist, but ‘Whitefolx’ has a kitschy postmodern time-warp charm to it! Maybe it’s even mocking racism! Book me a room!!”

IV. Jesus Dartboard, Anne Frank Dartboard

     Incidentally, “conservative” types who are comfortable with trademarking disparaging racial or gender slurs, might have qualms about trademarking “scandalous” items. How about a Jesus dartboard (of the kind removed from a Rutgers display last year), for example? or worse, a Jesus dartboard where the darts have an obscene or blasphemous shape? Should the Government really have no power to resist the trademarking of such vileness? “Conservatives” or “religious” types who want the Lanham Act disparagement provision overturned, might regret getting what they wished for.

     Or how about an Anne Frank dartboard? Even if her name could not be used sans her surviving relatives’ permission, there could still be, say, a “Dutch Female Holocaust Victim Dartboard”. Does anyone find this appealing? or a good argument for trademarking disparaging/scandalous material??

V. Should Civility Be Considered “Viewpoint Discrimination”?

     Of course, viewpoint discrimination by governments tends to be an evil; should government tell you what to think? especially given the First Amendment? However, is a blanket prohibition on any disparagement or scandal really just another way of saying “civility”? Visitors to the Supreme Court are often arrested if they start chanting or waving banners, regardless of the subject. So is that “viewpoint discrimination”, because they are allowed to behave civilly but not uncivilly?

     Also, yesterday, this author went to a local public (government) recycling center, and noted a sign saying roughly, “No abusive/offensive speech or behavior allowed here.” So is that government-forced viewpoint discrimination, or just common sense? If the sign had said, “No offensive speech re the Republican Party allowed”, that would be a problem, because of the specificity of the prohibition. But a general requirement of civility, especially when it pertains to “filthy lucre” (trademarks) instead of a more purely free-speech field (copyright, political debate, etc.), may not be all bad. (One of Donald Trump’s good points is that he realizes unrestricted trade can hurt American well-being. Yes, and that may include unrestricted trademarks.)

VI. The Thirteenth Amendment and Vicious Trademarks

     Even if some uncivility in trademarks, e.g., the term “Go jump in a lake buddy”, had constitutional protection, the Thirteenth Amendment and its penumbra might allow prohibition of racial (or other) slurs in trademarks. The badges and incidents of slavery are not something to be taken lightly. (And note that there may be no “state action” restriction hobbling the operation of the Amendment, see id.) See Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co., 392 U.S. 409 (1968) (Congress, per Thirteenth Amendment, may prohibit racially-discriminatory sale of private property).

VII. Slurs in Context: Some Room for Free Speech

     Of course, a slur might be used in a context that, say, explains bigotry, rather than promoting it. E.g., there is the difference between the use of the “N-word” in Randall Kennedy’s book [N-word]: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word, and the use of that same word by a Klansman or Klanswoman.

     To presume that a governmental body can never figure out the context of a slur, and can never be fair in a trademark dispute about disparagement, may be to presume too much.

VIII. Conclusion: The Court May Get Bad Marks from History for Approving Bigoted Trademarks

     Hate still abounds in 2017, and bad decisions which border on hate. See, e.g., Kanye West “not American enough” to perform at Trump inauguration,

     Despite his recent meeting at Trump tower and his self-proclaimed friendship with Donald Trump, Kanye West isn’t “typically and traditionally American” enough to perform at Trump’s inauguration.

     That’s according to Tom Barrack, chairman of the Presidential Inauguration Committee, who told CNN on Wednesday (January 18) that the inauguration was “not the venue” for a Kanye show.

Id. Not everyone likes Kanye, but to de-Americanize him sounds like burn-cross-on-somebody’s-lawn territory. (And sounds somewhat like Kellyanne Conway claiming not to look like a terrorist, supra.)

     If that is the kind of America the Court wants, that is a pretty questionable legacy to leave. Perhaps our children deserve better than to have hatred trademarked, and to give a whiff of State-backed second-class citizenship to Kanye, or African Americans, or anyone else. Free speech is important, but just because you can say something, that does not mean you can sell it. (Americans can have carnal relations pretty freely, for example, but that does not mean commercial prostitution must be legal.) Not everything is for sale.

     With the refugee/immigration crisis, America risks being resegregated as we speak, on lines of religion, national origin, etc. It appears some people have not learned the lessons of Buck v. Davis, concerning a Texan black man on death row, for...being black, it seems, incredibly enough.

     Of course, Lee v. Tam offers probably less at stake than there is in the refugee crisis. Still, there is a similar question in both: how much should state action allow stereotyping and hatred? If the disaster that has happened with the Administration’s new (anti-)immigration policies is any clue, maybe the Court should decide Lee v. Tam to let the Trademark Office keep refusing to trademark hate. Somehow, on this day of love not hate (Valentine’s Day), this author suspects that the ghost of Martin Luther King, and all the ghosts or icons we remember during Black History Month, are probably not going to blame the Court for deciding in that kindly and honorable direction.

(Cross-posted, with edits, at Casetext)

February 11, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Agatha, Paul Miki, Moses, Jerome Emiliani, Apollonia, Scholastica, and Paschal, please pray for us.

Funk nite at the BL pt. LXXXIII: "Miss You" Stones promo

     Tonite we feature one of the Rolling Stones' funkier, "Miss You" in promo format:

     Funk it up!

February 4, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Sarbelius & Barbea, Aldegunais, John Bosco, Brigid of Ireland, Joan of Estonnac, Blaise, and Joan of Valois, please pray for us.

Funk nite at the BL pt. LXXXII: "The Men All Pause" by Klymaxx

     Tonite we pause to feature more climatic moments from Klymaxx, namely, "The Men All Pause":

     Funk it up!

January 28, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Vincent Pallotti, Ildephonsus, Francis de Sales, Peter Thomas, Timothy, Angela Merici, and Thomas Aquinas, please pray for us.

Funk nite at the BL pt. LXXXI: "Meeting in the Ladies Room" by Klymaxx

     Tonite we feature the Excellent Eighties and Klymaxx's climactic "Meeting in the Ladies Room", one of those "If this isn't funky, what is?" types of songs:

     Funk it up!

January 21, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Paul the Hermit, Fursey, Anthony the Abbot, Volusian, Fillan, Fabian, and Agnes, please pray for us.

Funk nite at the BL pt. LXXX: Obama presidential "uptown funk"

     Tonite we see the President--Obama, that is--, doing some "Uptown Funk", or a comic facsimile of it, on a day he was still President:

     Funk it up! town!

January 14, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Thorfinn; Adrian, Abbot; William of Bourges; Theodosius the Cenobiarch; Marguerite Bourgeoys; Hilary of Poitiers; and Felix of Nola, please pray for us.

Funk nite at the BL pt. LXXIX: "Bela Lugosi's Dead"

     Tonite this Friday the 13th we are lucky to feature something which is not funk maybe, but bloody funky: the vampiric rhythm of Bauhaus' 1979 epic "Bela Lugosi's Dead":

     Funk it up!

January 7, 2017 saintlist

     Saints Blessed Virgin Mary, Basil the Great, Genevieve, Elizabeth Ann Seton, John Neumann, Andre Bessette, and Raymond of Pennafort, please pray for us.

RIP Florida victims

     US Veteran Arrested in Airport Shooting; 5 Dead, 8 Wounded.

     In honor:

     RIP.