Patterico's Pontifications

6/14/2008

The So-Called “Bestiality” on Kozinski’s Site Was No Such Thing

Filed under: Dog Trainer,General,Kozinski — Patterico @ 12:28 pm



I have received confirmation of something I had previously suspected: that the video referred to in the L.A. Times article about Judge Kozinski’s website was, in fact, that popular video of a man running away from an aroused donkey:

Reporter Scott Glover described it as “a video of a half-dressed man cavorting with a sexually aroused farm animal.” “Cavorting”? Nonsense. This description offered by the L.A. Times was substantially misleading and, indeed, outrageously so. Worse, it led to a statement in the San Francisco Chronicle that the server/website contained “images of bestiality.”

These papers owe Judge Kozinski an apology and a retraction.

More details when they become available.

41 Responses to “The So-Called “Bestiality” on Kozinski’s Site Was No Such Thing”

  1. you are right. “cavorting with a sexually aroused farm animal” has so much more prurient click value though, and if people don’t click, then they don’t get to see the ads on the story page, and nobody makes any money from that page.

    assistant devil's advocate (c9943a)

  2. Cavorting is defined as “to prance or caper about.”

    Certainly describes what I saw.

    steve (c1ca13)

  3. Worse, it led to a statement in the San Francisco Chronicle that the server/website contained “images of bestiality.”

    I smell libel per se, if Judge Kozinski were not a government official.

    Occasional Reader (75bc93)

  4. The LA Times willfully cooperated in a miscreant litigant’s vendetta to damage Judge Kozinski’s reputation.

    In light of their at least partial (but hopefully reversible) success, and given the LA Times’ track record, what makes you think that an inconsequential concern such as the issue of truth would matter?

    Brian (cfed45)

  5. Sorry for the multiple posts, but commenter Steve says:

    “Cavorting is defined as ‘to prance or caper about.’ Certainly describes what I saw.”

    But I think the the pertinent phrase is “cavorting with.” But there was no “with” here. You might say “cavorting away,” i.e., prancing away from the horny donkey, if that weren’t a clumsy way to put it.

    Brian (cfed45)

  6. Do you really think this was a candid photoshoot, Patterico? That the video camera and its operator just happened to be there when a totally innocent man felt a desperate need to defecate in a field occupied by a horny jack? Who could not find the time to pull his pants and underwear up? Throughout the whole scene? This was a scripted bestiality video. Yes, the gypsy was *cavorting* with the donkey.

    nk (4bb2be)

  7. If that’s bestiality, then YouTube is hosting bestiality videos . . .

    Daryl Herbert (4ecd4c)

  8. Anybody who sees something sexy (aka prurient) here is not ordinary. This is obviously a gross joke. No reasonable adult would think this is supposed to turn anybody on.

    In fact, it is a funny joke. That’s relevant in that nobody looks at pinups for a laugh and nobody watches joke video for a turn-on.

    I get the impression that the LA Times willfully distorted the situation.

    Lucas (b8264f)

  9. If that video is bestiality, then YouTube is hosting bestiality videos . . .

    Daryl Herbert (4ecd4c)

  10. Well, it might be porn from a donkey’s POV–but I don’t think that the porn industry is going after *that* market just yet. From a human POV, it seems more like a cautionary tale: don’t be around large farm animals when you’re too drunk to run away from them–you might not like what they have in mind for you if they catch you.

    M. Scott Eiland (a16843)

  11. Yeah, who knew a donkey show could be so tame?

    fat tony (601b8d)

  12. Another example of a bell that cannot be un-rung!

    Another Drew (8018ee)

  13. We once held public officials in high esteem. Judges would have been at or near the very top. The list included teachers, police officers, and I think even postal workers and maybe public utility workers, who came to one’s house.

    In earlier times (my childhood), anyone caught with this stuff would humbly resign with great embarrassment. Regrettably, it’s virtually impossible to embarrass anyone these days.

    And I think that’s a shame. More disrepute for those to whom we should look to for inspiration. Not good for our society, culture or country.

    ManlyDad (75cbfe)

  14. This was a scripted bestiality video.

    I guess we’ll have to defer to the expert on that one.

    Rob Crawford (b5d1c2)

  15. I’ll defer to your expertise, Rob.

    nk (4bb2be)

  16. Much as I would prefer to extend the courtesy of doubting this to be some form of bestiality, I still find the video a bit disturbing. What in heck was he doing?

    Art Hippler (76dcfa)

  17. I have no idea, nk, you’re the one claiming the expertise to make the call.

    Rob Crawford (b5d1c2)

  18. The whole story reminds me of a scene from the movie “Dirty Harry.” He says he shot a guy who was attempting to rape a woman. The other person (the mayor or the police commissioner, I can’t remember which) says, how do you know he was trying to rape her ? Harry says, “When a man is chasing a naked woman with a butcher knife and a hard-on…..” That video looks like attempted bestiality to me.

    Mike K (2cf494)

  19. That video looks like attempted bestiality to me.

    It looks like the jack intended it, but the guy wasn’t all that willing.

    Rob Crawford (b5d1c2)

  20. “Much as I would prefer to extend the courtesy of doubting this to be some form of bestiality, I still find the video a bit disturbing. What in heck was he doing?”

    My guess, he and some friends got drunk, and figured they’d make a video of him shaking his ass in front of the donkey but not really intending or expecting anything more, but just to look stupid. Then the donkey got randy.

    Who knows, maybe the people involved are fairly adept technically and intended to cut from the guy shaking his butt to a mock-post-coital cigarette, as if something had really happened.

    I don’t think genuine beastiality involves *fleeing* from the animal.

    Kinda defeats the purpose.

    It’s not like America is the only country sophisticated enough to have people making ‘Jackass’ videos.

    Jon H (83e072)

  21. If that is the video Glover was describing, then it is a precisely accurate description. “Cavorting” does not mean have sexual relations with someone or something, period. It means dancing, capering, prancing in one sense. or flagrantly associating with something, in another. I have used the word in the second sense.

    Is this bestiality? I don’t think so, and I don’t think the LA Times meant it so. It is just one of the many out of this world bizarre things Kozinski put on the web.

    So, looking at the charges:

    Closeup video of women giving handjobs to guys in cas? Check.

    Video of staged orgy? Check.

    Full on pictures of “chicks with dicks”? Check.

    Images of guys diving into pubic urinals or urinating? Check.

    Picture of women dressed as cows with photoshopped genitalia, seemingly ready for action? Check.

    But actual representations of human/animal love? On that charge, and that charge alone, I would vote to acquit the honored jurist from the Chronicle’s statement.

    Cyrus Sanai

    Cyrus Sanai (4df861)

  22. I totally defer to Rob Crawford and his experience and expertise regarding donkey on man sex. Whatever he says on the subject is gospel as far as I’m concerned.

    nk (4bb2be)

  23. Rob and nk – If neither of you guys are going to fess up to expertise on the donkey sex, I guess we’ll have to wait to ask JD.

    daleyrocks (d9ec17)

  24. If that is the video Glover was describing, then it is a precisely accurate description.

    You know, I really, really don’t think so. I think the paper’s description makes it look like it was a video by someone interested in bestiality. But it’s really just a goofy video about a guy running away from an aroused donkey.

    Honestly, once I learned for sure this was the video, I was truly outraged. I’m interested to see what else is on the CD Mr. Sanai will be sending me, but as far as this video goes, it seems like the paper had no regard for accuracy or the judge’s reputation.

    By leaving out the important fact of the humorous context, the paper made it sound like Kozinski was a fetishist interested in bestiality. You can’t conclude that from this video — not by a longshot.

    Patterico (a7a78e)

  25. Cyrus, you’re reaching and you’re ascribing the worst possible motive to everything you refer to, while ignoring that this is commonplace stuff, much of which has arrived in millions of email boxes because it’s kinds funny.

    This is a molehill and calling it a mountain doesn’t make it one.

    Pablo (99243e)

  26. The question still comes around to why did he store the dumb things?

    nk (4bb2be)

  27. The question still comes around to why did he store the dumb things?

    Storing them on a web server was pretty stupid. But I suspect the why is more of a matter of not understanding how the web works than of any desire to be your comedy porn/MP3 destination.

    And I don’t know Kozinski from a hole in the wall. This just stinks.

    Pablo (99243e)

  28. Why the hell is this a popular video?

    Alan (0cf397)

  29. Why the fuck is this case getting so much attention?

    Leviticus (e1e9bb)

  30. Because Kozinski has been hounding attention for thirty years. Now he got more than he wanted.

    nk (4bb2be)

  31. Leviticus,

    I think there are several reasons Judge Kozinski is especially interesting. First, he is the Chief Judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, one of the largest federal appellate courts in the nation. The circuit courts are the next level beneath the Supreme Court so they are very important.

    Second, Judge Kozinski has an impressive background and family history. In addition, he is a libertarian/conservative, which is rare in the Ninth Circuit so he is of special interest for that reason.

    Third, Judge Kozinski employs humor, is a fine writer and has a keen legal mind. Federal judges often have some of those qualities but it’s somewhat unusual to find judges with all those qualities.

    Fourth, Judge Kozinski is arguably a legal/judicial prodigy, having been appointed to the Ninth Circuit at age 35. At that time (and perhaps still) he was the youngest person ever appointed to a circuit court.

    Finally, many of Judge Kozinski’s law clerks end up clerking for Supreme Court Justices, and he has even been described as a feeder judge for Supreme Court clerks.

    DRJ (721b95)

  32. The operative word here is, “staggering”. The idiot is drunk and he is staggering. Cavorting is a deliberate act that requires coordination. Mr. Darwin Award Audition is not coordinated and his actions are reactionary, not deliberate.

    Why is the donkey aroused? Most likely because there’s a female donkey in heat nearby, and Mr Amorous Equine is responding to her. This response including not just the erection, but more aggressive behavior regarding interlopers. He’s being flooded with adrenaline and testosterone, and so he’s feeling belligerent. What Mr. Pickled Pre-Frontal Lobe was being threatened with was not a buggering, but getting (quite literally) chewed out.

    Alan Kellogg (366e81)

  33. I have seen plenty of drunken dancing, prancing, leaping and/or cavorting. Some people do it better.

    I just don’t see the bestiality implication. What I see is the weirdness implication. Kozinski’s site had weird, weird stuff that was put up for distribution. That being said, it is not the LA Times, but the Chronicle which owes Kozinski a correction.

    Apparently Kozinski also had a servelist of jokes, whiich he submitted under the name Easy Rider (see WSJ). They are characterized as “ribald”.

    Here is where the division between the public revulsion at Kozinski’s behavior and the support on some blogs divides. Federal judges get lifetime appointments. That’s a privilege not received by most state court judges or any other branch of government.

    The flip side is that judges have a duty to uphold the dignity of the bench and the appearance of fairness and impartaility. Distibution of PG-13 jokes, videos of horny donkeys or nude pictures is not consistent with the dignity of judiciary. The same issue would be arise if a federal judge was a contestant on the Batchelor or the Dating Game, endorsed a hamburger cooker on QVC, displayed her cootch a la Britney Spears, or had after hours sex with an intern in his chambers. None of that behavior is acceptable from a judge, period. It deserves at least a public reprimand.

    Breach of the law by a judge is 100% unacceptable, and good reason for removal, as is dishonesty. Kozinski has major problems on the mp3 distribution side. It’s even worse when the judge is a hard-liner on contributory infringement.

    Lastly, where I think Judge K is going to sink himself is on the damage control and cover-up. He initially took the smart route and confessed. Had he held to that position, the contents that I discovered 2007 would probably result in reprimand, the reversal and other relief I requested, and maybe at worst pressure to let someone else be chief judge. But he is going in a different direction that will make things much worse, it appears.

    Cyrus Sanai

    Cyrus Sanai (4df861)

  34. How would the LA Times describe a Rickroll? “The video depicts a young man feverishly thrusting his hips and moaning, eyes squeezed shut with passion…”

    Jim Treacher (847ea3)

  35. Cyrus Sanai,

    You were granted a license to practice law by the State of California, which is the conferral of a position of trust, as well as the conferral of certain coercive powers. It remains to be seen whether your petty and vengeful and unprofessional conduct will be deemed inconsistent with that license.

    Brian (cfed45)

  36. This is a political video.
    This shows what happens when the Dems win in ’08 this year.The man represents taxpayers.

    Or,is this Hillary chasing for delegate support?

    Forty acres and a mule? Nope, I’ll take the Farmall tractor instead.

    SteveofTheNorth (8447d8)

  37. One of the images which Kozinksi had on his computer apparently showed a young man contorting to administer oral sex to himself.

    Several commenters over at the Volokh Conspiracy seem to believe that the young man appears to be 12 or 14 years old. Others say he appears older.

    Isn’t the mere possession of images of underage “children” engaged in masturbation a felony?

    dht (f8fbe9)

  38. “Several commenters over at the Volokh Conspiracy seem to believe that the young man appears to be 12 or 14 years old. Others say he appears older.”

    dht – It looks like Kos to me. Isn’t he in his 30s, but looks like a kid.

    daleyrocks (d9ec17)

  39. Pond Scum > Lawyers > Activist Judges > Journalists

    Roy Mustang (1641ac)

  40. I know something about equine behavior, as I own several horses. It is not normal for a stallion to become aroused by, much less to chase, a man. That this donkey did so indicates that he may have been teased or trained to become aroused by a man. Thus, this video is part of a bestiality encounter. Whether the judge knew/understood this, however, is another question entirely.

    DS (19b124)

  41. DS, I doubt very much that you’re right about that. I mean, I have no idea about the topic, but you’re drawing some specific conclusions when much simpler explanations exist, such as the one above in this thread about a female donkey.

    It is a stupid video, and Kozinski did a stupid thing, but at this point it’s obvious that he was attacked by dishonest spies and a dishonest media. He shouldn’t even recuse himself from the obscenity case. He’s a normal person who acts like a judge.

    Jem (4cdfb7)


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