Opening Arguments

VR43 - Today on this special edition of Vapid Response: ICE boot enthusiast Milo Yiannopolous is not a particularly interesting person, but his recent unexpected removal to the UK makes for quite a teaching moment. Matt brings 20 years of instincts and experience as a deportation defense attorney to some of the more mysterious questions surrounding Yiannopolous’s recent encounter with the realities of immigration enforcement and ensuing swift removal to the UK. How did someone on an “extraordinary ability” visa (lol) who was married to a US citizen end up with a removal order? How did he hold down this status after being canned by Breitbart in early 2017? Why is he lying about having been a permanent resident?  And does this man even actually have a lawyer at all? We then take a look at some of the funnier editor’s comments from the draft manuscript of his 2017 book Dangerous which was so bad that it was used as evidence by Simon & Schuster in their defense against his lawsuit for breach of contract when they refused to publish it.
Milo Yiannopolous’s first post-deportation interview with Piers Morgan (9/1/2026)

The Deportation Data Project’s website

“The Elements of Vile,” Mitchell Ivers, Harper’s (March 2018)

Complete manuscript of Milo Yiannopolous’s Dangerous as introduced into the record of Yiannopolous v. Simon & Schuster, with editor’s notes

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OA1294 - Haley Moss was the first openly autistic woman to practice law in Florida, and she is now an advocate for disability, autism, and neurodiversity in the workplace. She joins Matt and Thomas to discuss what law firm hiring managers need to know about autistic lawyers, why people in a profession which attracts neurodiversity are still so reluctant to disclose it, and the kinds of simple accommodations which can help lawyers on the spectrum thrive. 
Haley Moss’s website

Great Minds Think Differently: Neurodiversity for Lawyers and Other Professionals, Haley Moss (2021)

Talking the Talk About Autism: How to Share & Tell Your Story, Haley Moss (2024)

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OA1293 - In this extra-special Rapid Response Friday, Thomas visits Boston to record live in Matt’s office and talk out two very different legal stories in the news that the media aren’t quite getting right this week.
THE TRIAL OF LINDSAY CLANCY: Why were the defense and the prosecution both talking past each other in their closing arguments, and what is everyone missing about why Massachusetts law makes it nearly impossible for Clancy to present the defense that most people seem to believe that she is putting on?

THE DEPORTATION OF MILO YIANNOPOLOUS: How did a white British man who was one of Trump’s most obnoxious supporters in 2016 end up in deportation proceedings--let alone detained by ICEand swiftly deported? Did Milo Yiannopolous really buy a ticket to fly into the major airport closest to one of the country’s largest ICE detention centers without knowing that he would almost certainly be detained and sent back to the UK ASAP? Matt shares what he has pieced together beyond the headlines, with more to come on next week’s Vapid Response Wednesday.

Finally, in today’s footnote: an upstart new social media platform is taking on Elon Musk’s X by calling itself... Twitter? Can they do that?
Video and transcript of Lindsay Clancy jury instructions and closing arguments (8/28/26)

“When Jurors Can Not Agree,” Massachusetts Jury Instruction #2.460 (2009 Edition)

“The reidentification of Milo Yiannopolous’s court data,” Jonathan Gerhardson (8/30/2026)

“Here’s How Milo Yiannopolous and White Nationalists Smuggled Hate Into the Mainstream,“ Joseph Bernstein Buzzfeed News (10/5/2017)

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Hey folks, no VR this week because Lydia and I are traveling. (We're in Boston, going to record RRF live together with Matt!) But folks NEED to hear this episode of Gavel Gavel we did. It's so absurd.
Gavel Gavel Episode 83:
Thomas, Lydia, and Matt dig into a newly released federal indictment out of Minneapolis, where ICE's undercover operation, officially named Operation Puppet Master, has charged roughly 15 protesters under the same statute as the sandwich guy. The conspiracy map names a boxing club, a bike club, and some of the largest unions in America. The overt acts include renting a U-Haul, exchanging Signal messages, and being introduced to someone named Sam.
Part 2 gets into the HSI undercover memos and the defense's discovery motion. You can get it right now at patreon.com/gavelpod.
Cases discussed:
United States v. Sant et al. (D. Minn.)

United States v. Bigazzi et al. (Broadview indictment)

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OA1292 - Jenessa takes us through the Supreme Court's 6-3 shadow docket ruling in Trump v. California, which lifted a preliminary injunction blocking Trump's executive order directing the U.S. Postal Service to gatekeep mail-in ballot delivery before the midterms. Is this a procedural technicality or a five-alarm fire for November? And what does it mean that the Postal Service published its final rule on a Friday night, in apparent violation of an injunction, right before the Court's Monday ruling? Jenessa walks through the chaotic docket, Judge Talwani's genius pivot, and why Justice Jackson's 20-page solo dissent might be the most important thing you read this election season.
Cases discussed:
Trump v. California (Supreme Court shadow docket, 8/25/2026)

League of Women Voters of Massachusetts v. Trump, D. Mass.

DSCC v. Trump, D.D.C.

State of California v. United States Postal Service

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