Friends

http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/020937.html

Mom: So Good Luck Chuck kind of sucked, huh?
Teenage daughter: Well, what did they expect? It's Dane Cook and Jessica Alba, for crying out loud! That's bad luck!

--Tomoe Sushi

Overheard by: Sromeo

http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/020936.html

4-year-old boy to father waiting in line to buy ice cream cone: I used to like chocolate, but not so much anymore. (pauses to consider) Now I think it's disgusting.
Father, shocked: That's pretty strong language!

--Bittersweet Cafe, DeKalb Ave

Overheard by: Hilariter

http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/020935.html

Girl to loser boyfriend: You wonder why we have all these problems? It's like, no matter what I say, everything goes in one ear and out the other with you.
Loser boyfriend: Nah babe, I listen to everything you say.
Girl: No, you don't--it's like I'm speaking another language...
Loser boyfriend: What do you mean "another language"?
Girl, getting upset: Nothing fuckin registers in that head of yours. We have all this shit to deal with because you don't know what the fuck I say. You say you listen but you just don't register nothing. Like I'm speaking another language or some shit!
Loser boyfriend, looking at another girl: So... what are you sayin'?

--South Ferry

http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/020934.html

Bible flier girl: Would you like a pamphlet to read about the good news of god?
Blind guy with walking stick: It's in Braille?
Bible flier girl: Oh, umm, no it's not.
Blind guy: You've got to be kidding.

--32nd & 7th

Overheard by: The WC

http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/020933.html

Angry woman to frantically dancing little boy: Stop that! Stop it! Have you lost your damn mind?
Little boy, still dancing: Yeah... a little!

--6th Ave & 18th St

http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/020932.html

Hippie: Jung would say I have a very low sensate rating.
Meathead: What? So you're retarded?

--Greenpoint, Brooklyn

http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/020931.html

Creepy drunk guy: I'm going to go to the bathroom and then I'm going to come back and hit on you some more.
Girl to friend: I fucking hope not, I think that guy has an open wound on his arm.

--W 12th

http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/020930.html

Street performers to people leaving: Hey, we didn't leave when you got here!
Random passerby: I threatened them with sex!

--Washington Square

Overheard by: RAR!

http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/020929.html

Southern hipster #1: Man, I don't loooove ice cream...
Southern hipster #2: You must, you been talkin' about it all day.
Southern hipster #1: Yeah, like ice cream cake that you can write dirty words on!

--Williamsburg

Overheard by: Giri

http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/020928.html

Crazy old hobo, holding up bags and drawing: Where's the moon? Where's the moon? If the earth is in Columbus Circle, then the moon would be on 64th and Central Park West! Come see my exhibition!
Hipster teen surrounded by giggling friends: Is your exhibition inside those bags?
Crazy old hobo: No, those are Michelle Obama's dresses. You want to be smart with me? Why don't you be smart and become an exhibitionist?
Hipster teen surrounded by giggling friends: Do you know what "exhibitionist" means?
Crazy old hobo: Of course! It's someone who goes to museums every day!

--1 Train

http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/020927.html

Girl sitting with friends listening to music: Ohmigod, the guy who sings this song is sooooooo ugly!
Friend: Really?
Girl: My family said I look like him.

--Central Park

http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/020926.html

Father to little boy: If you keep misbehaving, the police are gonna take you to jail.
Little boy: (giant grin)

--110th & Broadway

Overheard by: Ladle

http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/020925.html

Philly girl #1, pointing to picture: Hey! My dad once punched that guy in the face!
Philly girl #2: Benjamin Netanyahu?
Philly girl #1: Yeah.
Philly girl #2: Wait... isn't he from Israel?
Philly girl #1: Nope. He went to Cheltenham high school, same as my dad.
Philly girl #2: What happened?
Philly girl #1: My dad said, "if you poke me one more time, I'm gonna punch you in the face."
Philly girl #2: (silence)
Philly girl #1: He poked him.

--M60 Bus

http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/020924.html

Little boy: The Russians eat brains?
Mom, looking at cookbook: This is a French cookbook.
Little boy: The french eat brains?!
Mom: Not human brains. Animals'.
Little boy: That's disgusting!
Mom: Yes, it's very high in cholesterol.

--Barnes & Noble, 86th & Lexington

http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/020923.html

Girl #1: No, you cannot have my Sunny D.
Girl #2: Just dropkick me in the fucking heart.

--University Dorm

http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/020922.html

Obviously inebriated brunette: So... I'm pretty sure I'm going to die tonight.
Obviously inebriated blonde: Well, if we do, I think I should put up a Facebook status so everyone knows.
Obviously inebriated brunette: I'm pretty sure the tox screen will show it.
(ten seconds later)
Obviously inebriated brunette: Kill me. Oh, wait, no need. I'll be dead in three hours.
Obviously inebriated blonde: Just don't go dying in my bed... that's creepy.
(five seconds later)
Obviously inebriated brunette: Um... did you just burp?
Obviously inebriated blonde: Yeah. Why?
Obviously inebriated brunette: Because it just went up my nose.
Obviously inebriated blonde: Now... that's legendary.

--Barnes & Noble, Midtown

Overheard by: NYLove

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scotusblog/pFXs/~3/ik0XFoYI2nk/

http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/?p=12916

The Obama Administration on Friday evening urged the Supreme Court to turn aside a test case by four former Guantanamo Bay detainees, and to do so without ruling on their claims of torture and religious discrimination by U.S. agents there.  It is clear, Solicitor General Elena Kagan argued in the new filing, that the detainees had no legal basis for their claims at the time they were at Guantanamo — between early 2002 and March 2004.  Thus, she contended, the officials sued are immune from the lawsuit.

The filing came in the case of Rasul, et al., v. Myers, et al. (09-227).  In August, the four Britons filed their second appeal in the Court, challenging a new ruling by the D.C. Circuit Court in April finding that former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and ten senior military officers had immunity from the claims because the torture and discrimination claims were not based on rights that were “clearly established” at the time.  (An earlier post discussing the petition can be read here; the post includes links to the Britons’ petition amd to the Circuit Court’s opinion.)

The Supreme Court last Dec. 15 ordered the Circuit Court to reconsider an earlier decsion against the Britons’ claims, and to take into account the Justices’ June 2008 decision in Boumediene v. Bush, establishing a constitutional right for Guantanamo detainees to challenge their captivity.  In its prior decision, the Circuit Court had ruled that detainees at the U.S. military prison in Cuba had no constitutional rights at all.

After reviewing the case again, the Circuit Court said it was not necessary to rule on the constitutional claims, because of its finding that they at least did not exist in the 14 or so months when the Britons were at Guantanamo.  In her filing Friday, the Solicitor General contended that the new ruling is correct, and does not conflict with any other lower court ruling.

She did argue, on the detainees’ constitutional claims, that “special factors counsel hesitation” before courts should create a new right to sue for damages “in this military setting.”  The Court, she said, has instructed lower courts “to pay particular attention to any special factors counseling before authorizing a new kind of federal litigation.”

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scotusblog/pFXs/~3/jcfffaw9DO8/

http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/?p=12913

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates ruled on Friday that 44 photos that reportedly show abuse of detainees by the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan cannot be released publicly.  The Obama Administration notified the Supreme Court on Friday evening of this action by the Pentagon leader, and urged the Court to set aside a lower court ruling directing release of those photos.  The new brief was filed in Defense Department v. American Civil Liberties Union (09-160).

UPDATE: The Court may not act on the new filing until after the AC LU responds.  A statement by the ACLU reacting to the Pentagon decision is here.

The Pentagon had appealed the case to the Supreme Court, to get a ruling on whether the photos at issue are exempt from mandatory disclosure under the federal Freedom of Information Act.   The government was relying on Exemption 7(F) of the Act, which protects law enforcement records that, if released, could be expected “to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual.”  The Second Circuit Court, however, ruled that this exemption only applies if a government agency identities at least oen specific individual who would be endangered, and it concluded that the Pentagon had not done so.

While the Pentagon petition was pending at the Court, however, Congress passed an amendment to FOIA, explicitly to overrule the Second Circuit ruling so far as it applied to the 44 military photos, some of which have been made public and some of which have been used in criminal prosecutions within the military.  The new law, signed by President Obama on Oct. 28, is written so that it reaches photos taken between the 9/11 attacks in 2001 and last Jan. 22 relating to treatment of individuals captured abroad by the military after 9/11.

The law gives the Pentagon chief the authority to issue a certificate that disclosure would endanger U.S. military service members or U.S. civilian employees serving outside the U.S.   Using that authority on Friday, Gates issued the certificate.  (The document is included as Appendix B to the filing linked above.)  Submitting it to the Court, Solicitor General Elena Kagan urged the Justices to vacate the Second Circuit ruling, and then take into account the new law and Gates’ action.