ic Comics – F/U/C/O/T By thefanlistings.org Published On :: Fri, 08 May 2020 23:09:21 +0000 Finished Comics Characters DC Comics: Grayson, Richard ‘Dick’ (Nightwing/Robin); DC Comics: Death Moved Comics Comic Book Series Johnny the Homicidal Maniac (JtHM) (All) Relationships DC Comics: Kyle, Selina (Catwoman) and Bruce Wayne (Batman); Marvel Comics: Hardy, Felicia (Black Cat) and Peter Parker (Spider-Man) Closed Comics (Open for application) There are no closed forms to process […] Full Article Comics
ic CBS Orders New Dramas "Clarice," "The Equalizer" and New Comedy "B Positive" to Series for the 2020-2021 Broadcast Season By www.thefutoncritic.com Published On :: Fri, 08 May 2020 10:00:00 GMT Additional new series for the 2020-2021 season will be announced at a later date. Full Article
ic Video: "Selling Sunset" - Season 2 Official Trailer - Netflix By www.thefutoncritic.com Published On :: Fri, 08 May 2020 10:15:00 GMT The top real estate brokers at The Oppenheim Group are back and this season, the ladies deal with even more mind-blowing mansions, shocking new romances, and explosive truths that will change their lives, relationships and careers forever. Full Article
ic Kenan Thompson, Billy Crystal, Tiffany Haddish and Byron Allen to Co-Host Two-Hour "Feeding America Comedy Festival" on NBC By www.thefutoncritic.com Published On :: Fri, 08 May 2020 11:03:00 GMT Will Smith, Will Ferrell, Wanda Sykes, Stephen Colbert and Colin Quinn are among the latest additions. Full Article
ic DictionaryPro Browser Hijacker By www.pcrisk.com Published On :: Thu, 07 May 2020 17:09:57 +0000 DictionaryPro browser hijacker removal instructions What is DictionaryPro? DictionaryPro is a piece of software, categorized as a browser hijacker. It is endorsed as a tool for easy access to online dictionaries, spell checking and grammar websites. It operates by altering browser settings in order to promote dictionarypro.co - an illegitimate search engine. Additionally, this browser hijacker spies on users' browsing activity. Furthermore, due to its dubious proliferation method, DictionaryPro is also deemed to be a PUA (Potentially Unwanted Application). Users should note that DictionaryPro often promotes another browser hijacker called Protect My Search Daily. Full Article Removal guides
ic "Wash Your Lyrics" Makes Handwashing a Little More Fun By teenhealthandwellness.com Published On :: Mon, 30 Mar 2020 09:42:10 -0400 One of the most important tips for protecting yourself from COVID-19 is to wash your hands for 20 seconds, or as long as it takes to sing “Happy Birthday” twice. British teen William Gibson decided he wanted the public to have more song options while fighting the spread of coronavirus. Gibson created an online tool that allows a user to enter the title of their chosen song and artist to automatically generate a poster. The poster matches lyrics from the song to a 13-step washing routine. The UK’s NHS Health Secretary Matt Hancock has publically praised Gibson’s initiative as the posters have been shared extensively on social media. Gibson thought it would be popular, but has still been surprised to see some of his favorite celebrities posting about it. Visit the Wash Your Lyrics website to create your own poster for washing hands with your favorite song. Full Article
ic Group Makes Face Masks from Recycled Ocean Plastic By teenhealthandwellness.com Published On :: Mon, 04 May 2020 08:27:50 -0400 Since the outbreak of COVID-19, face masks have been in high demand. One company decided to take an eco-friendly approach to manufacturing and supplying the public with protective masks. The Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) partnered with the sustainable sportswear company Rash’r to turn plastic pollution found in the ocean into face masks. All proceeds from the masks go directly back into the manufacturing of more masks to help recycle plastics from the ocean. The masks feature a number of ocean-themed designs and include special sizes for kids. The company has received more than 15,000 mask pre-orders in just a few weeks—which has helped recycle more than 1,300 pounds (590 kg) of ocean pollution. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now recommends that people wear cloth face masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in public places. The masks made by PADI offer a sustainable alternative to the N95 respirator masks being reserved for health care workers. Full Article
ic “Ветер был реже, чем дождь” – Сильвия Видаль о первопроходе “Sincronia Màgica” By risk.ru Published On :: Wed, 15 Apr 2020 12:03:01 +0300 Фото из архива Сильвии Видаль. Первопрохождение. Соло. Сильвия Видаль. Не восхищаться этой "Чудо-женщиной" в мире альпинизма и её восхождениями невозможно! На этот раз она отправилась в долину Чилино в Патагонии, чтобы соло проложить новый маршрут по северной стене Сьеро-Чилино-Гранде. Full Article
ic Mesajul Primarului Municipiului Timișoara, dl. Ncolae Robu, cu ocazia Zilei Europei By www.primariatm.ro Published On :: Thu, 07 May 2020 00:00:00 +0200 Stimați și dragi timișoreni Full Article Comunicate de presa
ic Magical Fuck-beasts reviewed By www.oglaf.com Published On :: Sun, 01 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000 Full Article
ic The Erotic Adventures of Mesmo By www.oglaf.com Published On :: Sun, 22 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000 Full Article
ic Particle Physics Turns to Quantum Computing for Solutions to Tomorrow's Big-Data Problems By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Wed, 29 Jan 2020 11:15:22 EST Giant-scale physics experiments are increasingly reliant on big data and complex algorithms fed into powerful computers, and managing this multiplying mass of data presents its own unique challenges. To better prepare for this data deluge posed by next-generation upgrades and new experiments, physicists are turning to the fledgling field of quantum computing. Full Article
ic The Medical Minute: Is 'impossible' meat too good to be true? By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Wed, 29 Jan 2020 12:55:32 EST It sizzles on the grill. But does it fizzle in terms of nutrition? That's the question when it comes to the new burgers made of plant-based meat substitutes that are flying off grocery store shelves and restaurant tables. Full Article
ic Genetics Society of America honors outstanding contributions to genetics with 2020 GSA Awards By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Wed, 29 Jan 2020 13:00:24 EST The Genetics Society of America (GSA) is pleased to announce the 2020 recipients of its annual awards for distinguished service in the field of genetics. The awardees were nominated and selected by their colleagues and will be recognized with presentations at The Allied Genetics Conference (TAGC), held April 22-26, 2020, in the metro Washington, DC area. Full Article
ic Scientists Find Record Warm Water in Antarctica, Pointing to Cause Behind Troubling Glacier Melt By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Wed, 29 Jan 2020 13:05:14 EST A team of scientists has observed, for the first time, the presence of warm water at a vital point underneath a glacier in Antarctica--an alarming discovery that points to the cause behind the gradual melting of this ice shelf while also raising concerns about sea-level rise around the globe. Full Article
ic Tiny, ancient meteorites suggest early Earth's atmosphere was rich in carbon dioxide By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Wed, 29 Jan 2020 14:15:29 EST Tiny meteorites that fell to Earth 2.7 billion years ago suggest that the atmosphere at that time was high in carbon dioxide, which agrees with current understanding of how our planet's atmospheric gases changed over time. Full Article
ic Smaller Detection Device Effective for Nuclear Treaty Verification, Archaeology Digs By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Wed, 29 Jan 2020 15:20:30 EST Most nuclear data measurements are performed at accelerators large enough to occupy a geologic formation a kilometer wide. But a portable device that can reveal the composition of materials quickly on-site would greatly benefit cases such as in archaeology and nuclear arms treaty verification. Research published this week in AIP Advances used computational simulations to show that with the right geometric adjustments, it is possible to perform accurate neutron resonance transmission analysis in a device just 5 meters long. Full Article
ic UTEP Professor Named Fellow of International Society for Optics and Photonics By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Wed, 29 Jan 2020 17:30:12 EST Raymond C. Rumpf, Ph.D., professor of electrical and computer engineering at The University of Texas at El Paso, was promoted to Fellow of the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE), an educational nonprofit established to advance light-based science, engineering and technology. Full Article
ic Hard News: ICYMI: Links and things I've been doing By publicaddress.net Published On :: Mon, 04 May 2020 10:15:00 +1200 Like most people, I've been staying at home, doing a bit in the garden, cooking a lot and managing occasional bouts of anxiety. I've also written more here than I have done for a while. At a time when every Friday night has me missing my mates, it's been nice to see you all again.But in the midst of it all – and after everything else disappeared – I got a new gig. It's with my friends from Spark Lab, it's called The Pivot Reports and it's a series of live-streamed shows over the next six weeks talking to business owners… Full Article
ic ComicLab Podcast with Gale Galligan By www.sheldoncomics.com Published On :: Thu, 23 Apr 2020 09:40:39 -0700 EPISODE SUMMARY Today's show is brought to you by Wacom — makers of the incredible Wacom One! This week, the ComicLab guys talk shop with Gale Galligan, creator of the bestselling Babysitter's Club graphic novels. See all of Gale's latest at Galesaur.com. EPISODE NOTES Today's show is brought to you by Wacom — makers of the incredible Wacom One! This week, the ComicLab guys talk shop with Gale Galligan, creator of the bestselling Babysitter's Club graphic novels. Full Article Post
ic This Week's ComicLab Podcast! By www.sheldoncomics.com Published On :: Thu, 07 May 2020 11:23:47 -0700 EPISODE SUMMARY This week, Dave and Brad talk about the best Content Management System (CMS) for publishing webcomics. Toocheke is brand new, and Brad's a big fan. EPISODE NOTES Today's show is brought to you by Wacom — makers of the incredible Wacom One! This week, Dave and Brad talk about the best Content Management System (CMS) for publishing webcomics. Toocheke is brand new, and Brad's a big fan. Questions asked and topics covered... Toocheke i Full Article Post
ic Ask A Librarian: Graphic Novels for Boomers? By www.librarian.net Published On :: Fri, 13 Dec 2019 02:56:25 +0000 I was wondering if you might give my little women’s (boomers) some guidance as to a beginning graphic novel for... Full Article books aska graphicnovel reading
ic The Rules of Excommunication By www.thebigquestions.com Published On :: Tue, 25 Feb 2020 04:49:58 +0000 If Bernie Sanders wants to say that Fidel Castro occasionally did something good, while acknowledging that he often did things that were very bad, I think that’s a reasonable position. (It might also be reasonable to say that Adolf Hitler occasionally did something good, though offhand I can’t think of a good example.) But surely […] Full Article Bad Reasoning Current Events Politics
ic PHP Internals News: Episode 50: The RFC Process - Derick Rethans By derickrethans.nl Published On :: Thu, 23 Apr 2020 08:13:00 +0000 PHP Internals News: Episode 50: The RFC Process London, UK Thursday, April 23rd 2020, 09:13 BST In this episode of "PHP Internals News", Henrik Gemal (LinkedIn, Website) asks me about how PHP's RFC process works, and I try to answer all of his questions. The RSS feed for this podcast is https://derickrethans.nl/feed-phpinternalsnews.xml, you can download this episode's MP3 file, and it's available on Spotify and iTunes. There is a dedicated website: https://phpinternals.news Transcript Derick Rethans 0:16 Hi, I'm Derick. And this is PHP internals news, a weekly podcast dedicated to demystifying the development of the PHP language. This is Episode 50. Today I'm talking with Henrik come out after he reached out with a question. You might know that at the end of every podcast, I ask: if you have any questions, feel free to email me. And Henrik was the first person to actually do so within a year and a half's time. For the fun, I'm thinking that instead of I'm asking the questions, I'm letting Henrik ask the questions today, because he suggested that we should do a podcast about how the RFC process actually works. Henrik, would you please introduce yourself? Henrik Gemal 0:52 Yeah, my name is Henrik Gemal. I live in Denmark. The CTO of dinner booking which does reservation systems for restaurants. I've been doing a PHP development for more than 10 years. But I'm not coding so much now. Now I'm managing a big team of PHP developers. And I also been involved in the the open source development of Mozilla Firefox. Derick Rethans 1:19 So usually I prepare the questions, but in this case, Henrik has prepared the questions. So I'll hand over to him to get started with them. And I'll try to do my best to answer the questions. Henrik Gemal 1:27 I heard a lot about these RFCs. And I was interested in the process of it. So I'm just starting right off here, who can actually do an RFC? Is it anybody on the internet? Derick Rethans 1:38 Yeah, pretty much. In order to be able to do an RFC, what you would need is you need to have an idea. And then you need access to our wiki system to be able to actually start writing that, well not to write them, to publish it. The RFC process is open for everybody. In the last year and a half or so, some of the podcasts that I've done have been with people that have been contributing to PHP for a long time. But in other cases, it's people like yourself that have an idea, come up, work together with somebody to work on a patch, and then create an RFC out of that. And that's then goes through the whole process. And sometimes they get accepted, and sometimes they don't. Henrik Gemal 2:16 How technical are the RFCs? Is it like coding? Or is it more like the idea in general? Derick Rethans 2:23 The idea needs to be there, it needs to be thought out. It needs to have a good reason for why we want to add or change something in PHP. The motivation is almost as important as what the change or addition actually is about. Now, that doesn't always get us here at variable. In my opinion, but that is an important thing. Now with the idea we need to talk about what changes it has on the rest of the ecosystem, whether they are backward compatible breaks in there, how it effects extensions, or sometimes how it effects OPCache. Sometimes considerations have to be taken for that because it's, it's something quite important in the PHP ecosystem. And it is recommended that it comes with a patch, because it's often a lot easier to talk about an implementation than to talk about the idea. But that is not a necessity. There have been quite some RFCs where the idea was there. But it wasn't a patch right away yet. It is less likely that these RFCs will gTruncated by Planet PHP, read more at the original (another 15224 bytes) Full Article
ic PHP Internals News: Episode 51: Object Ergonomics - Derick Rethans By derickrethans.nl Published On :: Thu, 30 Apr 2020 08:14:00 +0000 PHP Internals News: Episode 51: Object Ergonomics London, UK Thursday, April 30th 2020, 09:14 BST In this episode of "PHP Internals News" I talk with Larry Garfield (Twitter, Website, GitHub) about a blog post that he was written related to PHP's Object Ergonomics. The RSS feed for this podcast is https://derickrethans.nl/feed-phpinternalsnews.xml, you can download this episode's MP3 file, and it's available on Spotify and iTunes. There is a dedicated website: https://phpinternals.news Transcript Derick Rethans 0:16 Hi, I'm Derick. And this is PHP internals news, a weekly podcast dedicated to demystifying the development of the PHP language. This is Episode 51. Today I'm talking with Larry Garfield, not about an RFC for once, but about a blog post that he's written called Object Ergonomics. Larry, would you please introduce yourself? Larry Garfield 0:38 Hello World. My name is Larry Garfield, also Crell, CRELL, on various social medias. I work at platform.sh in developer relations. We're a continuous deployment cloud hosting company. I've been writing PHP for 21 years and been a active gadfly and nudge for at least 15 of those. Derick Rethans 1:01 In the last couple of months, we have seen quite a lot of smaller RFCs about all kinds of little features here and there, to do with making the object oriented model of PHP a little bit better. I reckon this is also the nudge behind you writing a slightly longer blog post titled "Improving PHP object ergonomics". Larry Garfield 1:26 If by slightly longer you mean 14 pages? Yes. Derick Rethans 1:29 Yes, exactly. Yeah, it took me a while to read through. What made you write this document? Larry Garfield 1:34 As you said, there's been a lot of discussion around improving PHP's general user experience of working with objects in PHP. Where there's definitely room for improvement, no question. And I found a lot of these to be useful in their own right, but also very narrow and narrow in ways that solve the immediate problem but could get in the way of solving larger problems later on down the line. So I went into this with an attitude of: Okay, we can kind of piecemeal and attack certain parts of the problem space. Or we can take a step back and look at the big picture and say: Alright, here's all the pain points we have. What can we do that would solve not just this one pain point. But let us solve multiple pain points with a single change? Or these two changes together solve this other pain point as well. Or, you know, how can we do this in a way that is not going to interfere with later development that we've talked about. We know we want to do, but isn't been done yet. So how do we not paint ourselves into a corner by thinking too narrow? Derick Rethans 2:41 It's a curious thing, because a more narrow RFC is likely easier to get accepted, because it doesn't pull in a whole set of other problems as well. But of course, as you say, if the whole idea hasn't been thought through, then some of these things might not actually end up being beneficial. Because it can be combined with some other things to directly address the problems that we're trying to solve, right? Larry Garfield 3:07 Yeah, it comes down to what are the smallest changes we can make that taken together have the largest impact. That kind of broad picture thinking is something that is hard to do in PHP, just given the way it's structured. So I took a stab at that. Derick Rethans 3:21 What are the main problems that we should address? Larry GarfTruncated by Planet PHP, read more at the original (another 29525 bytes) Full Article
ic Xdebug Update: April 2020 - Derick Rethans By derickrethans.nl Published On :: Tue, 05 May 2020 08:58:00 +0000 Xdebug Update: April 2020 London, UK Tuesday, May 5th 2020, 09:58 BST Another monthly update where I explain what happened with Xdebug development in this past month. These will be published on the first Tuesday after the 5th of each month. Patreon supporters will get it earlier, on the first of each month. You can become a patron to support my work on Xdebug. If you are leading a team or company, then it is also possible to support Xdebug through a subscription. In March, I worked on Xdebug for about 60 hours, on the following things: Xdebug 2.9.5 The 2.9.5 release addresses a few bugs. One of them was a follow on from the issue where Xdebug would crash when another extension would run code in PHP's Request Init stage, but only on a second or later request in the same PHP process. As this is not something that's easy to catch with PHP's testing framework that Xdebug uses, this issue slipped through the cracks. The release fixes another bug, where throwing an exception from within a destructor would crash Xdebug. The fix for this was merely making sure that PHP's internal state is still available: - if (!(ZEND_CALL_INFO(EG(current_execute_data)) & ZEND_CALL_HAS_SYMBOL_TABLE)) { + if (EG(current_execute_data) && !(ZEND_CALL_INFO(EG(current_execute_data)) & ZEND_CALL_HAS_SYMBOL_TABLE)) { Beyond these two crashes, the release also addressed an issue where Xdebug did not always correct catch where executable code could exist for code coverage analyses. Over the last decade, PHP has been getting more and more optimised, with more internal engine instructions. Unfortunately that sometimes means that these are not hooked into by Xdebug, to see whether there could be a line of code that would make use of these opcodes. As this is often very dependent on how developers lay out their code, these issues are often found by them. Luckily, these issues are trivially fixed, as long as I have access to just the file containing that code. I then analyse it with vld to see which opcode (PHP engine instruction) I have missed. Xdebug 3 and Xdebug Cloud Most of my time was spend on getting Xdebug Cloud to a state where I can invite select developers to alpha test it. This includes allowing for Xdebug to connect to Xdebug Cloud. There is currently a branch available, but it still lacks the addition of SSL encryption, which is a requirement for allowing safe transport of debug information. The communications between an IDE and Xdebug through Xdebug Cloud is working, with a few things related to detecting disconnections more reliably still outstanding. As Xdebug Cloud needs integration in debugging clients (such as PhpStorm, and other IDEs), I have been extending the dbgpProxy tool to act as intermediate link between existing IDEs and Xdebug Cloud without IDEs having to change anything. This work is still ongoing, and is not documented yet, but I hope to finish that in the next week. Once that and SSL support in the Xdebug to Xdebug Cloud communication has been finalized, I will reach out to subscribers of the Xdebug Cloud newsletter to see if anybody is interested in trying it out. Business Supporter Scheme and Funding In April, no new supporters signed up. If you, or your company, would also like to support Xdebug, head over to the support page! Besides business support, I also maintain a Patreon page and a profile on GitHub sponsors. Podcast The PHP Internals News continues its second season. Episodes in the last month included a discussion on PHP 8's JIT engine and increasing complexity, Truncated by Planet PHP, read more at the original (another 720 bytes) Full Article
ic Interview with Derick Alangi - Voices of the ElePHPant By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Tue, 05 May 2020 11:30:22 +0000 @xSavitar Show Notes Derick Alangi on Medium Derick Alangi on LinkedIn Audio This episode is sponsored by Using the WordPress REST API The post Interview with Derick Alangi appeared first on Voices of the ElePHPant. Full Article
ic PHP Internals News: Episode 52: Floats and Locales - Derick Rethans By derickrethans.nl Published On :: Thu, 07 May 2020 08:15:00 +0000 PHP Internals News: Episode 52: Floats and Locales London, UK Thursday, May 7th 2020, 09:15 BST In this episode of "PHP Internals News" I talk with George Banyard (Website, Twitter, GitHub, GitLab) about an RFC that he has proposed together with Máté Kocsis (Twitter, GitHub, LinkedIn) to make PHP's float to string logic no longer use locales. The RSS feed for this podcast is https://derickrethans.nl/feed-phpinternalsnews.xml, you can download this episode's MP3 file, and it's available on Spotify and iTunes. There is a dedicated website: https://phpinternals.news Transcript Derick Rethans 0:16 Hi, I'm Derick. And this is PHP internals news, a weekly podcast dedicated to demystifying the development of the PHP language. This is Episode 52. Today I'm talking with George Banyard about an RFC that he's made together with Mate Kocsis. This RFC is titled locale independent floats to string. Hello, George, would you please introduce yourself? George Banyard 0:39 Hello, I'm George Peter Banyard. I'm a student at Imperial College and I work on PHP in my free time. Derick Rethans 0:47 All right, so we're talking about local independent floats. What is the problem here? George Banyard 0:52 Currently when you do a float to string conversion, so all casting or displaying a float, the conversion will depend on like the current local. So instead of always using like the decimal dot separator. For example, if you have like a German or the French locale enabled, it will use like a comma to separate like the decimals. Derick Rethans 1:14 Okay, I can understand that that could be a bit confusing. What are these locales exactly? George Banyard 1:20 So locales, which are more or less C locales, which PHP exposes to user land is a way how to change a bunch of rules on how string and like stuff gets displayed on the C level. One of the issues with it is that like it's global. For example, if you use like a thread safe API, if you use the thread safe PHP version, then set_locale() is not thread safe, so we'll just like impact other threads where you're using it. Derick Rethans 1:50 So a locale is a set of rules to format specific things with floating point numbers being one of them in which situations does the locale influence the display a floating point numbers in every situation in PHP or only in some? George Banyard 2:06 Yes, it only impacts like certain aspects, which is quite surprising. So a string cast will affect it the strval() function, vardump(), and debug_zval_dump() will all affect the decimal locator and also printf() with the percentage lowercase F, but that's expected because it's locale aware compared to the capital F modifier. Derick Rethans 2:32 But it doesn't, for example, have the same problem in the serialised function or say var_export(). George Banyard 2:37 Yeah, and json_encode() also doesn't do that. PDO has special code which handles also this so that like all the PDO drivers get like a constant treat like float string, because that could like impact on the databases. Derick Rethans 2:53 How is it a problem that with some locales enabled and then uses a comma instead of the decimal point. How can this cause bugs and PHP applications? Truncated by Planet PHP, read more at the original (another 17468 bytes) Full Article
ic Appeals Court Says Prosecutors Who Issued Fake Subpoenas To Crime Victims Aren't Shielded By Absolute Immunity By www.techdirt.com Published On :: Wed, 6 May 2020 10:55:41 PDT For years, the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office in Louisiana issued fake subpoenas to witnesses and crime victims. Unlike subpoenas used in ongoing prosecutions, these were used during the investigation process to compel targets to talk to law enforcement. They weren't signed by judges or issued by court clerks but they did state in bold letters across the top that "A FINE AND IMPRISONMENT MAY BE OPPOSED FOR FAILURE TO OBEY THIS NOTICE." Recipients of these bogus subpoenas sued the DA's office. In early 2019, a federal court refused to grant absolute immunity to the DA's office for its use of fake subpoenas to compel cooperation from witnesses. The court pointed out that issuing its own subpoenas containing threats of imprisonment bypassed an entire branch of the government to give the DA's office power it was never supposed to have. Allegations that the Individual Defendants purported to subpoena witnesses without court approval, therefore, describe more than a mere procedural error or expansion of authority. Rather, they describe the usurpation of the power of another branch of government. The court stated that extending immunity would be a judicial blessing of this practice, rather than a deterrent against continued abuse by the DA's office. The DA's office appealed. The Fifth Circuit Appeals Court took the case, but it seemed very unimpressed by the office's assertions. Here's how it responded during oral arguments earlier this year: “Threat of incarceration with no valid premise?” Judge Jennifer Elrod said at one point during arguments. She later drew laughter from some in the audience when she said, “This argument is fascinating.” “These are pretty serious assertions of authority they did not have,” said Judge Leslie Southwick, who heard arguments with Elrod and Judge Catharina Haynes. The Appeals Court has released its ruling [PDF] and it will allow the lawsuit to proceed. The DA's office has now been denied immunity twice. Absolute immunity shields almost every action taken by prosecutors during court proceedings. But these fake subpoenas were sent to witnesses whom prosecutors seemingly had no interest in ever having testify in court. This key difference means prosecutors will have to face the state law claims brought by the plaintiffs. Based upon the pleadings before us at this time, it could be concluded that Defendants’ creation and use of the fake subpoenas was not “intimately associated with the judicial phase of the criminal process,” but rather fell into the category of “those investigatory functions that do not relate to an advocate’s preparation for the initiation of a prosecution or for judicial proceedings.” See Hoog-Watson v. Guadalupe Cty., 591 F.3d 431, 438 (5th Cir. 2009) [...] Defendants were not attempting to control witness testimony during a break in judicial proceedings. Instead, they allegedly used fake subpoenas in an attempt to pressure crime victims and witnesses to meet with them privately at the Office and share information outside of court. Defendants never used the fake subpoenas to compel victims or witnesses to testify at trial. Such allegations are of investigative behavior that was not “intimately associated with the judicial phase of the criminal process.” Falling further outside the judicial process was the DA's office itself, which apparently felt the judicial system didn't need to be included in its subpoena efforts. In using the fake subpoenas, Individual Defendants also allegedly intentionally avoided the judicial process that Louisiana law requires for obtaining subpoenas. The case returns to the lower court where the DA's office will continue to face the state law claims it hoped it would be immune from. The Appeals Court doesn't say the office won't ultimately find some way to re-erect its absolute immunity shield, but at this point, it sees nothing on the record that says prosecutors should be excused from being held responsible for bypassing the judicial system to threaten crime victims and witnesses with jail time. Full Article