The end is near

As I mentioned last week, we will soon be moving our operations over to caaflog.com. My understanding is that all of our previous blog posts will still be accessible, but all of the documents that are currently on caaflog.com will disappear. We're planning to take just a few of those docs over to our new site. So if you want a copy of any document that's on caaflog.com now, please download it in the next 48 hours.

New commentator joins the CAAFlog herd

We're pleased to announce the addition of a new CAAFlog commentator: Zachary Spilman. Zachary, please introduce yourself to our readers.

To quote David Bowie, ch-ch-ch-changes

As CAAFlog approaches its third anniversary, we find ourselves about to outgrow our existing digital footprint.

Serendipitously, just as that is about to happen, we received an offer to move all of our operations to a new host that could accommodate both our blog and our website, which makes it possible for us to post content that we can then link to.

Obviously the No Man understands far more about the possibilities for improved "functionality" than this unfrozen caveman lawyer could ever understand. Perhaps the No Man will supplement this post with some of the details.

But here's what you need to know for now. In about a week, all of the material on our caaflog.com website may disappear. I'm planning to move only a small amount of the material that's there now to the new website. So if you want anything that's on caaflog.com, please download it now because it may no longer exist by the end of next week.

[No Man Tech Update: While we may lose some of the documents, we will move all the posts over to a new site. We'll keep the blogger site up in case you have old links to posts (actually that's more of an ego thing for us, as various news stories have linked to CAAFlog posts). Your old bookmark will take you to the new site--so hypochondriacs out there need not worry about extra mouse clicks. We suggest you update your bookmark and RSS feeds once you get to the new site. Our email addresses will remain the same, so feel free to email us with comments about the new site, or how much you liked the old one.]

No winner in our Denedo contest

At the end of last year, we announced a CAAFlog contest to predict which justice would write the Court's Denedo opinion. Amazingly, even though there were 12 entries in the contest, none predicted Justice Kennedy.

Degraded comments?

Am I the only one who thinks that, as of late, the comments have become increasingly shrill and/or juvenile?

I've stopped reading the comments on every blog I read except for this one. (Of course, my favorite blog -- SCOTUSblog -- no longer even permits comments.) There are certainly still worthwhile comments on CAAFlog, including (but not limited to) those by JO'C and Sir Cloudesley. But I'm very near the point of thinking that picking out those nuggets is no longer worth the time investment to wade through all the invective.

I believe in the free marketplace of ideas and very rarely delete comments. But I deleted one tonight that treated a fine public servant with incredible (and vulgar) disrespect. I sincerely hope that the anonymous poster who wrote that comment was neither a military officer nor an attorney, because each of our dual professions demands better of us than that.

Can we all please try to elevate the level of discourse to reinstate a useful dialogue in the comment section? And I strongly encourage individuals to post using their own names.

I'll stand by now for the barrage of rhetorical spitballs that normally follows a call for civility on the web.

Quick update

Sorry, I've been derelict in my blogging duties. Let me give a couple of quick updates, which I'll expand upon over the weekend.

Most importantly, CAAF released an opinion yesterday in United States v. Von Bergen, __ M.J. ___, No. 03-0629/AF (C.A.A.F. Apr. 2, 2009). In a highly fact-specific decision, CAAF held it was error not to give the accused a new 32 after the original charges went belly up, but held that the error was harmless.

CAAF's Tuesday daily journal included an interesting summary reversal of a Navy-Marine Corps Court decision. United States v. Thomas, __ M.J. ___, No. 08-0738/NA (C.A.A.F. March 31, 2009).

Golden CAAF II

With Denedo well underway, I thought the time was right to introduce Golden CAAF II. GC2 is seen here transiting the Suez, with the Sinai Peninsula in the background. I'm told it was the site of an initially well-received but ultimately unsatisfactory prototype.

Big news day

CAAF issued two opinions and the Air Force Court issued a published opinion today. We also have some other news to pass along. But all of that must wait until sometime after 2100.

Lots of updates

The No Man has already posted the big news of the day. I may have more updates than time, so today's posts may stretch into tomorrow.

Happy Groundhog Day

First off, to current and former Code 45ers, happy Groundhog Day! (Groundhog Day is the quasi-official holiday of Navy-Marine Corps Appellate Defense. Why? Because every day is the same.)

I'll have a few updates tonight but I'm under the gun this week, so they'll be quick hits -- probably quicker than they deserve.

New CAAFlog Technical Gadget

You'll notice our posts now have category labels at the bottom. Until now it was an unused feature here on CAAFlog. In light of a suggestion by the ABA Blawg 100, we thought we'd add this feature. Now if you want to see all stories about a particular topic, just click on the label at the bottom of the story. It will take us a bit o' time to populate labels with old posts (we have over 1,250 of them). With a little work, they'll all eventually get tagged. All new posts will have labels---and we'll try to keep the categories to a minimum.

Web woes

We've previously discussed multiple occasions when CAAF's web site has been down. Tonight it was my turn. I've finally clawed my way back onto the Net. I'll post a Conliffe recap tomorrow night. (No Man -- I think you jinxed me with that 2 a.m. comment.)

New Year's Resolutions

As CAAFlog begins another year, we ought to take a moment not only to thank Dwight and the other regulars for their work, but also to consider some New Year's resolutions to make this valuable blog even better. I'll kick things off:

1. We will not post anonymously except for good cause shown.

2. We will not be snarky, especially in the rare instance when circumstances dictate anonymous posting. See No. 1 supra.

3. We will re-read posts before hitting the Publish Post button.

4. We will read others' posts carefully before responding.

Over to you all for Nos. 5 et seq.

[NOTE: some comments were removed from this post's comment chain post because they made or related to allegations that the Kabul Klipper and I don't believe have been substantiated in any formal proceeding. dhs]

December 2008 CAAFlog’s busiest month.

I believe that CAAFlog had more posts in December 2008 than in any other previous month. No Man, can you confirm that? Is CAAFlog getting more popular or do the good Colonel and No Man just have a lot of time on their hands?