Most Lindsay Clancy Coverage Has the Law All Wrong

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.

1. 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?

2. 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?

1. Video and transcript of Lindsay Clancy jury instructions and closing arguments (8/28/26)

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

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

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

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