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For various hats worn by Popes, see Pope's hat.

Popehat is a law-oriented blog.[1] According to its tagline, Popehat is a "group complaint about law, liberty, and leisure". Its primary blogger, American attorney Ken White,[2] writes about law, scams, and freedom of expression on the Internet[3] in a blunt, often crass style. A Twitter account under the same name was later established, and amassed hundreds of thousands of followers.

History

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Popehat was established in 2005, "aborted because we have lives," and restarted in 2007.[1] After having a low profile for many years, the blog came to widespread attention in 2012 for its coverage of The Oatmeal and FunnyJunk legal dispute involving Charles Carreon, as well as the US Olympic Committee's cease and desist letters to knitters on Ravelry for scheduling a "Ravelypmics."[4] It has also covered swatting,[5] IsAnybodyDown?,[6] Prenda Law,[7] scam letters,[8] and SLAPP issues.[9] The blog sometimes helps arrange pro bono counsel for affected bloggers (the "Popehat Signal")[10] including PZ Myers.[11]

It has been repeatedly linked by Boing Boing, Instapundit, John Scalzi, Techdirt, and others and was included in the ABA Journal "Blawg 100" in 2011,[12] 2012,[13] 2013,[14] and 2014.[15] In 2015, Popehat was inducted into the ABA Journal Blawg Hall of Fame.[16]

The blog was originally anonymous[17] but White's identity was eventually uncovered.[18] White, a former assistant US attorney, was a partner at Brown, White and Osborn as of 2020.[19] White's fellow bloggers (anonymous or known to various degrees) have included Adam Steinbaugh,[20] Charles, David, Derrick, Grandy, Marc Randazza, Patrick, and a bovine character named Via Angus.

In January 2009, the Popehat Twitter account was established. Known for updating his handle to reflect Twitter's trending topic of the day, primary tweeter Ken White continues to comment on legal issues in a humorous but substantive way. He is generally an advocate for broad free speech rights and reform of the criminal justice system.[21][22][23]

In August 2020, the original blog website announced that it was being discontinued and would be preserved only as a historical artifact, with new posts going to a replacement Substack site instead.[24]

Popehat's Twitter account was cited in 2021 as helping spearhead sarcastic responses to Texas Representative Dan Crenshaw's form for Internet users to submit stories of "woke" impositions on the military.[25]

Ken White left Twitter in December 2022.[26]

DPRK News Service

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Two of the blog's writers, Patrick (who died in September 2022) and Derrick, run a satirical Twitter feed purporting to be the voice of North Korea which parodies the style and content of North Korean state media.[27][28] Greta van Susteren, Slate,[29] the Washington Post, Newsweek,[30] CNN,[31] and Reuters Australia have mistakenly identified the feed as authentic.[32] On the MSNBC television program Morning Joe, journalist Mark Halperin cited the feed as evidence that the government of North Korea was expressing support for Donald Trump.[33][34]

References

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  1. ^ a b Wofford, Taylor (December 23, 2014). "Interview with the Authors of the Fake North Korean Twitter Account that Fooled Newsweek". Newsweek. Retrieved August 17, 2023.
  2. ^ "Stop Demanding Dumb Answers To Hard Questions". December 7, 2023.
  3. ^ "Posts by author Ken White". Popehat. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
  4. ^ SHG (November 11, 2015). "Cross: Ken White, The Man Beneath The Popehat". Simple Justice. Retrieved August 17, 2023.
  5. ^ "The Kimberlin Saga". Popehat. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
  6. ^ "Is Anybody Down?". Popehat. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
  7. ^ "Prenda Law". Popehat. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
  8. ^ "Anatomy of a Scam". Popehat. September 26, 2011. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
  9. ^ "Anti-SLAPP". Popehat. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
  10. ^ "The Popehat Signal". Popehat. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
  11. ^ "Last word for now". Pharyngula. August 13, 2013.
  12. ^ "The 5th Annual Blawg 100". ABA Journal. December 1, 2011. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
  13. ^ "The 6th Annual Blawg 100". ABA Journal. December 1, 2012. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
  14. ^ "The 7th Annual Blawg 100". ABA Journal. December 1, 2013. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
  15. ^ "The 2014 ABA Journal Blawg 100". ABA Journal. December 19, 2014. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
  16. ^ "The 2015 ABA Journal Blawg 100 Hall of Fame". ABA Journal. December 1, 2015. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  17. ^ "Why I Blog Anonymously, And Why It's OK: Ed Whelan of NRO Outs Blogger Publius of Obsidian Wings". Popehat. June 8, 2009. Retrieved November 3, 2013.
  18. ^ O'Keefe, Kevin (December 30, 2011). "Popehat unmasked : For a good cause". Kevin.lexblog.com. Retrieved November 3, 2013.
  19. ^ "How is the lawyer known as 'Popehat' on Twitter keeping busy during the pandemic?". www.americanbar.org. Retrieved August 17, 2023.
  20. ^ Adam
  21. ^ White, Ken (June 8, 2017). "Op-Ed: Actually, hate speech is protected speech". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
  22. ^ White, Ken (March 9, 2019). "6 Reasons Paul Manafort Got Off So Lightly". The Atlantic. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
  23. ^ White, Ken (August 13, 2019). "Thirty-Two Short Stories About Death in Prison". The Atlantic. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
  24. ^ Now Posting At Substack
  25. ^ Horton, Alex (June 3, 2021). "Rep. Dan Crenshaw's search for 'woke military' complaints draws ridicule — and war movie quotes". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
  26. ^ Goodbye, Twitter
  27. ^ "North Korea's News Service Barely Needs to be Spoofed but This Duo Nails It". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  28. ^ "DPRK News Service". Twitter. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  29. ^ Newman, Lily Hay (December 22, 2014). "North Korea's Internet Is Down, and It's Probably Not a Coincidence". Slate.com. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  30. ^ Avni, Benny (December 22, 2014). "U.N. Security Council to Debate North Korea Human Rights". Newsweek. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  31. ^ Payne, Ed; Acosta, Jim; Liptak, Kevin (January 4, 2015). "North Korea pushes back against U.S. sanctions for Sony hack". CNN. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  32. ^ "Popehat overview of hoax picked up by mainstream media". Popehat.com. December 20, 2014. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  33. ^ Pick, Rachel (August 10, 2015). "Why Do Media Outlets Still Fall Victim to Twitter Parody". motherboard.vice.com. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  34. ^ Taylor, Adam. "No, North Korea Did Not Offer Support for Noted Scholar Donald Trump". WashingtonPost.com. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
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