I shall discuss the habeas rulings but first will deal with a few other things.
Judge Kozinski: A Bronx native (probably the reason my local tabloid has extended coverage, including this update), oh we are proud surely, is up for prosecution on a federal obscenity charge. The absurdity of such a measure aside, and the desire to focus resources in this fashion is but one of the lesser problems of the current administration, a wrinkle arose because of the trial judge (once) presiding. Judge Kozinski, an appellate judge now presiding over the whole ninth circuit (IIRC), turns out (via the work of a disgruntled litigant) to have a not quite private family website that has some sexually explicit materials.
Why this should be relevant is unclear. There is the claim that the materials include bestiality, but that is overblown b.s.. The previous link (and others related) suggests the libertarian judge in question is computer savvy and quite concerned with his privacy. The situation underlines the limitations of both, but legally having sexual materials in a largely private area is the core issue at hand. Should someone who is overly Puritan be barred from presiding in such a case? It is mere hypocrisy to argue otherwise, if one wants to be consistent.
Zombies: On a less sensitive literary front, The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks was a quite creative and well written book. It is listed as "humor," which is a misnomer, since it is quite serious. True, the best humor often is facially serious, but it is surely better listed as science fiction as its companion account of a zombie war. Brooks provides a rather well rounded analysis of the situation, including an extended "history" of zombie outbreaks.
Baseball: As to the local front, we have the NY Mets. [The Yanks struggle along, showing enough life to think a wild card berth is quite possible. Joba pitched a nice game vs. the Astros, even taking a couple turns at bat.] After a possible respite, the manager's job is again in jeopardy because of repeated (quite literally, almost a straight week) of blown games ... the proximate cause being the bullpen (an extra inning win was required to prevent a sweep by the Diamondbacks, when the Mets should have done the biting -- a sweep the other way was quite possible). But, we need not, should not, limit our focus.
Pelfrey (showing signs of hope, even if the team repeatedly don't honor him with wins when he does pitch gems) and Santana (though he again threw too many pitches, meaning he didn't pitch an essential another inning) shined, but there were problems there. Maine has struggled. Reyes again is caught stealing. Runs are not added or gotten when possible. The manager is part of the problem. You can't have it both ways there. If they were doing well, would he not be deemed part of the success. I think so. But, firing him without more is no answer.
And, it seems a tad bit outrageous to fire him in significant part because Wagner choked back to back to back. Still, say all you want about the team's flaws. They are surely there. Shouldn't be this bad. Nope. At some point, you start to have some gallows humor. Like, I overheard during the last game versus Arizona comments suggesting they were winning. They were 4-0. My quip: oh, Wagner didn't blow the save again? Ha ha. He later did, and they lost 5-4. Still, Pelfrey did finally get a hit. There's always that.
Dangerous Drugs: Finally, interesting report on a study that determined that prescription drug abuse can be more dangerous overall than illegal drugs. The lesson seems to be that we need better policies to target those, including by illicit means, that abuse said substances. It also might be that dangerous "drugs" are not just things pot or cocaine, and very well (particularly the former) might not be them at all. IOW, a realistic analysis might determine the true danger. Perhaps, that is what needs to be done to truly address the problem.
Changing well accepted "truths" can be much harder though.