We previously discussed the defamation lawsuit against Deadspin and writer Carron Phillips over an article claiming that nine-year-old Holden Armenta appeared at a Chiefs game in 2023 in black face. I noted in a prior column that I believed that the court would view this as a matter that had to go to a jury. It now has. Superior Court Judge Sean Lugg this week rejected Deadspin’s motion to dismiss.
Phillips posted a side image of Holden at a game of the Kansas City Chiefs against the Las Vegas Raiders, showing his face painted black. The 9-year-old was wearing a headdress while doing the signature “Tomahawk Chop.”
Phillips went into full attack mode.
The senior Deadspin writer had a Pavlovian response in a scathing article on the boy’s “racist” and “disrespectful” appearance.
“It takes a lot to disrespect two groups of people at once. But on Sunday afternoon in Las Vegas, a Kansas City Chiefs fan found a way to hate black people and the native americans at the same time…Despite their age, who taught that person that what they were wearing was appropriate?”
Phillips also denounced the NFL for “relentlessly participating in prejudice.” In a now-deleted tweet, Phillips later called people “idiots” for “treating this as some harmless act.”
Of course, the full picture showed that Armenta had the other half of his face painted in red paint — the Chiefs colors. It also turns out that he is Native American. Indeed, his grandfather is serving on the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians.
Deadspin obviously valued Phillips’ take on race as do other journalists and columnists. Despite his past controversial writings, he was selected as the 2019 & 2020 National Association of Black Journalists Award Winner.
Deadspin was sold to Lineup Publishing after the lawsuit by Holden’s parents Raul Jr. and Shannon. However, they appear to have retained Phillips who is still on their website.
In Armenta v. G/O Media, Inc. Lugg wrote that “[h]aving reviewed the complaint, the court concludes that Deadspin’s statements accusing [Holden] of wearing black face and Native headdress ‘to hate black people and the Native American at the same time,’ and that he was taught this hatred by his parents, are provable false assertions of fact and are therefore actionable.”
The opinion turned on whether this could be treated as opinion as opposed to a statement of fact. California law applied in the case and the court focused on two opinions that held that claims of racism can be statements of fact. Lugg wrote:
Generally, statements labeling a person as racist are not actionable. “A term like racist, while exceptionally negative, insulting, and highly charged—is not actionable under defamation-type claims because it is a word that lacks precise meaning and can imply many different kinds of fact.”…
Deadspin argues that the statements alleging H.A. wore Black face are nonactionable for the same reasons that calling him racist would be non-actionable. {“Blackface is used to mock or ridicule Black people; it is considered deeply offensive.” Deadspin, in recasting Black face as “culturally insensitive face paint” in the December 7 Update, recognizes the negative understanding of the descriptive term.} … But there is a legally significant distinction between a statement calling someone a racist and a statement accusing someone of engaging in racist conduct; expressions of opinion are not protected if they imply an assertion of an objective, defamatory fact. Two recent decisions applying California law, Overhill Farms, Inc. v. Lopez (Cal. Ct. App. 2010) and La Liberte v. Reid (2d Cir. 2020), assist in clarifying this distinction.
The Court in Overhill Farms held that “a claim of racially motivated employment termination is a provably false fact.” In that case, a group of employees accused their employer of engaging in racist firings of Hispanic workers as a pretext to hide racist and discriminatory abuse against Latina women immigrants. After the employer sued for defamation, the employees moved to dismiss, arguing that their statements were non-actionable opinions. The California Court of Appeals denied the employees’ motion, reasoning:
[D]efendants did not merely accuse [their employer] of being “racist” in some abstract sense …. [I]n almost every instance, defendants’ characterization of [their employer] as “racist” is supported by a specific reference to its decision to terminate the employment of a large group of Latino immigrant workers. The assertion of racism, when viewed in that specific factual context, is not merely a hyperbolic characterization of [the employer’s] black corporate heart—it represents an accusation of concrete, wrongful conduct…. [T]he statements reflected in defendants’ written press release, leaflets and flyers accused Overhill of more than harboring racist attitudes; they accused Overhill of engaging in a mass employment termination based upon racist and ageist motivations. Such a contention is clearly a “provable fact;” indeed an employer’s motivation for terminating employment is a fact plaintiffs attempt to prove routinely in wrongful termination cases.
In La Liberte v. Reid, a community activist brought suit after a television host republished two photographs of her at a pro-immigration rally with captions alleging racist conduct. The first caption accused the plaintiff of screaming “You are going to be first deported … dirty Mexican!” at a 14-year-old boy. The second caption compared a photograph of the plaintiff to white Americans yelling at the Little Rock Nine. The television host moved to dismiss the activist’s defamation claims, arguing that her statements were “nonactionable statements of opinion.” The trial court agreed and granted dismissal. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed, explaining:
A reader could interpret the juxtaposition of the Photograph with the 1957 Little Rock image to mean that [plaintiff] likewise screamed at a child out of racial animus—particularly in light of [defendant’s] comment that “[h]istory sometimes repeats.” That interpretation is bolstered by [defendant’s] description of the white woman in the Little Rock photograph as a “person screaming at a child, with [her] face twisted in rage” and [her] comment that it was “inevitable” that the photos would be juxtaposed. [Defendant] thus portrayed [plaintiff] as a latter-day counterpart of the white woman in 1957 who verbally assaulted a minority child. Like the defendants in Overhill Farms, [defendant] “did not merely accuse [plaintiff] of being ‘racist’ in some abstract sense.” Rather, her July 1 Post could be understood as an “accusation of concrete, wrongful conduct,” which can be proved to be either true or false. That makes it potentially defamatory.
The Armentas contend that the Original Article and its Updates involve defamatory statements regarding conduct that is provably false and, therefore, this Court should be guided by Overhill Farms and La Liberte. These statements include:
(1) H.A. was wearing “Black face;”
(2) H.A.’s conduct in wearing “Black face” was motivated by his hatred of Black people;
(3) H.A.’s wearing of a Native headdress resulted from his hatred of Native Americans;
(4) H.A. is part of a “future generation[ ]” of racists who had “recreate[d] racism better than before”; and
(5) Raul and Shannon Armenta “taught” their son, H.A., “racism and hate” in their home.
Deadspin’s audience could understand its portrayal of H.A. to mean that his entire face was painted black and, because his entire face was painted black, it was H.A.’s intent to disrespect and hate African Americans. The publication went beyond an expression of opinion and flatly stated H.A.’s motivation for appearing as he did.
Similarly, a reader could be left with the belief that H.A. wore a Native American headdress as a signal of disrespect to that population. Any doubt as to the thrust of these representations is resolved in the opening line of the article, where the author unequivocally asserts, “It takes a lot to disrespect two groups of people at once. But on Sunday afternoon in Las Vegas, a Kansas City Chiefs fan found a way to hate Black people and the Native American at the same time.”
While arguably couched as opinion, the author devotes substantial time to describing H.A. and attributing negative racial motivation to him. Further, the article may be reasonably viewed as derogating those who may have taught him—his parents. A reader might not, as Deadspin contends, interpret this assertion as a reflection of the author’s opinion. To say one is a racist may be considered opinion, but to plainly state that one’s attire, presentation, or upbringing demonstrates their learned hatred for identifiable groups is actionable. A reader may reasonably interpret the Article’s assertion that H.A. was wearing Black face as fact….
The CBS broadcast showed H.A. for approximately three seconds. In those three seconds, viewers could see that H.A.’s face was painted two colors: black and red. Deadspin published an image of H.A. that displayed only the portion of H.A.’s face painted black and presented it as a factual assertion that there was a “Chiefs fan in Black face” at the game. The complaint asserts facts that, reasonably interpreted, establish Deadspin’s Original Article and its Updates as provably false assertions of fact….
Deadspin contends that La Liberte and Overhill Farms stand as outliers from decisions recognizing that accusations of racist behavior are “inherently subjective and therefore non-actionable[.]” Not so. They reflect reasoned assessments of the lines between protected and actionable speech and offer a paradigm for identifying and assessing provably false allegations of racial animus. This Court may grant Deadspin’s motion under Rule 12(b)(6) only if “under no reasonable interpretation of the facts alleged could the complaint state a claim for which relief might be granted.” Applying the analytical framework of La Liberte and Overhill Farms to the facts here, the Armentas maintain a “possibility of recovery.” …
This is a well-constructed and well-supported decision that could have lasting importance. In an age of rage, including race-baiting columns like the one in this case, the opinion is a shot across the bow for publications like Deadspin.
We have seen a series of major rulings allowing public figures to go forward in other defamation lawsuits against media companies. In addition to alienating much of their markets with echo journalism, these outlets are now facing mounting legal costs due to attack pieces like this one. The bill is now coming due.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
The Court had to pretend that it ruled against Deadspin, but will uptime rule in its favor. The Court well knows that calling political opponents (including children) racists is a tactic deployed by Dunceocrats all of the time. It’s a vital part of the Marxist-Dunceocrat means of communication and of advancing the Dunceocrat narrative and agenda. The Court knows it must ultimately preserve the rights of Dunceocrats to say or do anything that advances the Marxist-Dunceocrat ideology.
You might be right about rulings down the road. At this point, it’s a 12(b)(6) motion that was denied. The Court takes the factual claims as true and then determines if there is a recognizable cause of action. The ruling does not tell us what the Court thinks about the strength of Plaintiffs’ evidence or legal claims the way granting a Temporary Inunction might.
* In fairness I tried to find the original article written by Carron Phillips. I made it to “Deadspin”. All sports and a cameo about Carron in which he succinctly says he’s a Morhouse man, eats his wings with lemon pepper, likes his liquor brown, likes his women brown.
Real macho guy. Picks on children and their racist parents with bravado.
* Morehouse
* Deadspin was sold by its parent company. The entire staff was laid off or resigned. Google reported such and Mr. Football remains unemployed.
Maybe it’s fake news. Would anyone really want to do business with Mr. Phillips?
There is no excuse for creating hate, especially targeting an innocent child. It is deliberate divisiveness and people are sick of it !
* Just give him liquor, women, football, some chicken wings and he’s a happy man. Does he beat his chest, too?
Scary
* Blackface is such a stretch and then saying hating two groups at one time even greater stretch. It took me 3 days to figure out what he meant. The red man and the black man. No one sees that. People see the chiefs colors. What about cheese heads? Do they hate cheese?
This man is unhinged poor guy. He was steeped like a teabag in CRT from childhood causing paranoia .
It depends on what is being said. As this article correctly points out, freedom of speech does not cover defamatory statements or statements that are provably false. I do no know what DeSantis is asserting in this suit so it is impossible to comment on wether or not this is a 1st Amendment issue.
In Declaration of Independence Jefferson wrote that the King had “endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.”
Savages! Imagine the audacity. Today he would lose his law license under Rpc 8.4. Savages!
Saloth Sar
Professor Turley, thanks for calling attention to this. It is a really thoughtful, useful handling of defamation law’s opinion/fact distinction.
When does Ridiculous become Absurd, or do I have turned around, either or is fitting for what the Democratic Party and their leadership have cast upon America. The continually pick at Constitution and usurp the Law to their desires, forsaking the very foundation of this Great Nation to fulfill their Utopia dream. Their party leader was interviewed and reminded there is a Real World out there.
If the democratic nominee is successful, I fear that the Song “The Party’s Over” may be the future, the ending chorus say it all:
Turn out the light’s the
party’s over
They say that all good
things must end
Call it a night, the party’s
over
And tomorrow starts the
same old thing again.
God help us ALL!!!
Do you believe names can determine a person’s fate? Take nine-year-old Holden Armenta. My only question for the jury is this: Was the boy at the center of this case named after “The Catcher in the Rye,” a novel by J.D. Salinger (published in 1951), about two days in the life of 16-year-old Holden Caulfield, after he has been expelled from prep school? Pay attention, kid. You’re getting a great education from this.
Anyone who says “lying is not protected speech” is permitted to say that because lying is protected speech. But certain lies are not protected, such as defamation, fraud, perjury, and false reports to the police, all of which have specific definitions.
A person has the right to keep and bear arms; a person may not abuse that right and cause damage with those arms.
A person has the freedom of speech; a person may not abuse that freedom and cause damage with that speech.
That seems to make sense, doesn’t it?
That makes sense to me. Where things get more complicated is in fleshing out what “may not” means in practice. When does it involve legal consequences rather than only moral ones? And with legal consequences, when does it involve civil liability only, and when does it also invoke criminal liability?
Legislation the denies rights and freedoms to individuals is unconstitutional and may not and shall not stand.
The focus and emphasis of American fundamental law is individual freedom, not governmental power, as is the case with the Communist Manifesto.
As a rule you are never allowed to ACTUALLY harm others.
If you do so violently – that is a crime.
If you do so negligently – that is a tort.
If you do so by breaching a contract – that is a violation of contract law.
Not even Turley beleives that if you tell someone to murder another person – that is protected free speech.
Personally, I think the tort of defamation should be reigned in – it is too easy to weaponize and too much a lottery.
It is easier to deal with defamation by the reputation harm it causes the defamer when they are caught.
But that is NOT our law today.
But certain lies are not protected, such as defamation, fraud, perjury, and false reports to the police, all of which have specific definitions.
Oldman, the legal code is not self-enforcing. Our entire justice system is not self-enforcing. It requires people to enforce it. And it is painfully obvious the law is not enforced equally. There are simply classes of people ‘more equal’ than others. For instance, the political class survive not by telling the truth. They survive because they’ve mastered the art of deception. So yes, certain lies are protected as long as they are made by a certain class of people.
True, but some lies are protected from legal consequences no matter who speaks them. For instance, if I lie to my grandmother about the color of my car, or I say the Giants beat the Cowboys when in fact the Cowboys won, or I tell someone I’ll meet them for lunch when I have no intention of doing so, ordinarily that kind of lie carries no legal consequence. It may be immoral but it is not illegal.
True, but some lies are protected from legal consequences no matter who speaks them.
Oldman, my comment was directed at your statement that But certain lies are not protected…
Those lies are protected if the criminal justice system decides not to enforce the law.
Olly, true. In effect they’re protected, but by a biased prosecutor rather than by the First Amendment
* I’ll meet you for lunch at noon, in the local donut shop. I have no intention of being there. While driving to meet you I die in a car wreck.
A person down the street does the same. It’s a no show and the person leaves the pizzeria and arrives safely home.
We all know moral luck. In the first case is the lie told by the person responsible for the death?
Legally giving false witness against another or for personal gain since one’s self is also a person suffices but not in the no show case?
False witness is immoral. Truthful witness to the best of your ability is moral. Deception isn’t considered a lie? It is a lie. Deception is used to obscure the truth. It can also be indifference to the truth.
Lies do attack truth.
* Phillips isn’t concerned with truth or lies. His one effort is CRT DEI and truth or lies will do. He said the children are the upcoming racists trained at home. He’d even make the argument if a person were sitting to the right of H.A., they’d think it was blackface. Unfortunate fellow.. .
* Phillips used 5 lies to support the costume is racist etc. There’s an opinion in some case by some court that says a person cannot state an opinion as fact. It’s been decided somewhere.
There are consequences for lies and half truths, deceptions . They aren’t always apparent. The reason for truth is a moral imperative.
This is defamation. The consequence is swift.
Yes it is quite odd that those touting equity – equality of outcome, have abandoned equality before the law.
Jonathan: Here’s a tragic human interest story in the news that caught my eye this morning. It’s about Jesse Craig whose family home was swept away in Fairview, North Carolina by Hurricane Helene. Jesse is alive but he lost his mother, father, aunt, great-aunt, great-uncle, cousins and second cousins who all died. Friends of Jesse and the community have started an online fundraiser to help with funeral expenses and costs of continuing medical care for other family members who are still in the hospital.
Now DJT claims he helped organize relief efforts after Helene. I’m not on Truth Social but perhaps there is someone on this blog who is. Maybe you could send DJT a message asking him to make a donation to Jesse’s relief fund. It would really help and it would show DJT really cares. However, don’t be surprised if DJT doesn’t respond!
President Donald J. Trump has launched this GoFundMe campaign as an official response for MAGA supporters to offer their financial assistance to their fellow Americans impacted by Hurricane Helene.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-hurricane-helene-victims-with-president-trump
Thanks for posting.
From your link, as of 6:17 PM EST:
$7,654,914 raised
$1,000,000 goal · 47.7K donations
That is simply staggering. And encouraging!
Good to see, and I’m not surprised, that some Americans still exist that have compassion, empathy and a sense of other-ness. Democrats are all talk. They have no other-ness. Republicans may have it in their minds but they lack action. Thus the above link shows some do have action but in giving funds. Disbursing funds is easy. Showing up to interact with the smelly sheep, that is just too much for some conservatives.
The blog has entirely way too many pessimistic, doom & gloom comments. Much like the MSM, “if it bleeds, it leads” dictates comments on here.
I firmly believe the US can not do a 180 degree turn around. It’s too late. You can not get 330+ million people, nor 50% of them, to do an about face and return to traditional Christian values. As I told OLLY yesterday, and he seemed pissed about my comment to him, a civilization is built on one person at a time. Jesus Christ came to convert hearts one person at a time. Yet, Jesus Christ needs us, as His hands, to do His work. Mother Theresa comments apply here: “I am but a pencil in God’s Hands”. so true.
yes, UpstateState Farmer, I know you’re an atheist. But that is irrelevant. You, like Sam, our notorious atheist doom & gloom commenter, have benefited immensely from a Christo-centric Western Civilization. Regardless of your lack of belief therein, Christianity has influenced, guided, shaped Western Civilization. Our US Founding Fathers were guided by Christian philosophy. I have benefited form architects, engineers and artists, even if I am not an architect, engineer nor artist. In molecular biology we speak of the “bystandeer effect”. Cells that are contaminated, damaged or infected with viruses/bacteria, can damage other cells nearby via the bystander effect. Likewise, goodness in others can fall on those proximal by virtue of being in their vicinity.
The United States is gone. It will take each of us, even you OLLY, but especially you OLLY, to influence those in your vicinity, one person at a time. We must remember that it took only 11 Apostles, fools that they were, to set the path of Western Civilization. So fools like me, and OLLY, can set the path of the United States back on its former path, regardless of the Sam’s and Upstate Farmer’s non-believers. Good >>>> Evil. As Mother Theresa of Calcutta once stated:
“God does not require that we be successful only that we be faithful.”
― Mother Teresa
Get to it.
NB: if I’ve pissed you off, OLLY, oh well. Chances are I’ve let myself down by my own hypocrisy, deficiencies and lack of cooperation with God far more than I’ve let you down. I have never had malice towards anyone on here, and you OLLY should know that by now.
re: Hurricane Milton – it has arrived. My relatives are getting hit in Western Florida.
St Francis of Assisi, pray for us! Oremus!
forward and onward!
Estovir
* and god gave you the sinner so you’d have something to do…
“I’ve let myself down by my own hypocrisy, deficiencies and lack of cooperation with God”
Estovir, you mentioned some common deficiencies, but you left out idolatry. You are familiar with the Shema, which is listed in three places in the Torah. Shema Yisrael, “Hear, O Israel: God is our Lord, God is one…”
Arrogance is idolatry. I don’t need to explain why, as you are undoubtedly familiar with it, and as you also know, God is forgiving.
“yes, UpstateState Farmer, I know you’re an atheist.”
Perhaps Upstate is an atheist, and he said so on the blog. I don’t know. If he didn’t say it, you have crossed a line like you did with another long ago. When I listen to Upstate, I hear a man with morals and a giving attitude that is spoken of in the Torah.
Estovir, mostly I agree, but I am going to challenge a few points.
First -while I think there is a lot data that “conservatives” give more money an more time to charity than progressives.
The difference is not “night and day”.
I am involved in charity in my community – a conservative community, and even here an awful lot of the meals for homeless or other acts of charity are funded and manned by groups – nearly all churches – that are NOT voting for Trump.
While I think that the data would support the claim that in the US there is a massive amount of private charity from churches.
and that overall there IS a big difference in charity – both money and time, between those who beleive in god and those who do not,
The big distinction is beleif in god – not Red/Blue.
I will also take issue with Mother Theresa.
I still involve myself in charity. But one of the things I learned from the Financial crisis, was that Adam Smith did more for the poor than Mother Theresa.
It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.
Adam Smith
or
Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism, but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice: all the rest being brought about by the natural course of things.
I am not a great admirer of Bill Gates – yet Bill Gates did more for Humanity BEFORE he got into charity than Mother Theresa.
Bill created tens of thousands of jobs, and improved productivity and therefore standard of living.
There are sometimes things that can not be accomplished except by Charity.
But Charity is notoriously inefficient. Only government is worse.
WE are focusing on the selfless people who are delivering aid to SC right now.
But there is a huge army of people doing so for their own benefit.
There are guys with pickups and trailers hauling Generators and Water accross dangerous back roads – that may be gone,
hoping to make a buck over the price people in the disaster area will pay for water and generators right now.
That is what Harris wants to punish – but the FACT is without them – there will be FEWER generators and food, and less water and recovery will take longer, be more expensive not less and maybe even more people will die.
But there is another form of Self interest – price gouging is NOT the evil Harris paints it as – it is actually a positive good.
But it is also RARE.
The local Diner – prepared for this. The local hardware store – prepared for this.
The local home depot – prepared for this. The local Walmart prepared for this, …
The national chains learned of the disaster and quickly dispatched lots and lots of supplies – just outside the disaster area, moving in as soon as it is safe – often sooner. They KNOW from experience what is needed.
WHY ? Because get people what they want – for free, or of low costs during a disaster – and you have them as a customer for life.
This happens all the time in every natural disaster. There are economic studies on it – an even how the businesses that essentially become charities during the disaster benefit greatly in the long run.
Smith again
We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our necessities but of their advantages.
My family feeds about 100 homeless people atleast once a year – we buy the food, we cook it we serve it.
I am proud of that.
But after the financial crisis, I delved more into economics, and I came to realize that building a business – employing people,
producing value that people want and need – that too is “gods work” and doing “gods work” well – requires being successful.
In Matthew, when Christ sits in Judgement he does not ask – did you want to feed the hungry, he does not ask – did you try to feed the hungry. He asks DID YOU FEED THE HUNGRY. Nor does he ask if you were paid to do so.
I do not have the exact quote from Smith – but Smith grasped that as you become more wealthy – you increasingly work for the benefit of others and not yourself.
The left often notes – what is Musk going to do with $400B dollars ? There is no lavish life style Musk could live that would consume but 1/100th of a percent of that. It does not matter whether Musk has $2B or $400B – his life will be no different.
What is different between Musk at $2B and at $400B ? The difference is the exponential increase in value Musk produces for others.
A ludicrously profitable business make 15% on what is invested.
If Musk has $400B and it is nearly all invested – that means he makes $60B/year – the reality is far less.
But to make that profit – he had to build factories, and hire 10’s of thousands of people – he had to put $400B into doing things that benefit OTHERS. And of that $60B in “profits” – nearly all of it goes back into producing even more things for other people – and paying lots of people to do that.
The uber rich are uber rich because they create things other people value – so much so that ultimately they can not spend a fraction of what they make on themselves – and nearly all of it goes to improving the lives of other people.
In Matthew, when Christ sits in Judgement he does not ask – did you want to feed the hungry, he does not ask – did you try to feed the hungry. He asks DID YOU FEED THE HUNGRY. Nor does he ask if you were paid to do so.
The Latin word ecclesia is traditionally used to refer to church, but it comes from the Greek ekklēsía = assembly. Christianity is not a solo sport. It is an ekklēsía / ecclesia endeavor.
Ecclesia is anathema to Americans today. OTOH, Americans are all for socialism like Social Security Income and Medicare when it takes care of them. This is why I have stated many times, shut down the Federal Govt. Let Americans depend on family, friends, neighbors, ecclesia. However, Americans prize their individuality especially atheists. Recall Dante’s “I will not serve” when it came to characterizing Lucifer. Thats America’s ethos today, aka NIMBY, did it my way, “my rights”, etc
Yet witness the high level of divorce, single parent families, Z Generation who are emotionally broken, addiction to internet (like here), loneliness, depression, etc more than ever. America’s biggest problem at its founding, other than finding consensus, was health related: infectious diseases. Now it is not health related. There is literally no consensus in America. Ive said this many times, including quoting extensively from Jesuit Fr John Courtney Murray from his classic work published in 1960.
The word “conservative” means whatever you want it to mean and conservatives are as far from ekklēsía = assembly as they come, e.g. Republicans in US House are beyond consensus. Democrats, for evil, do reach consensus.
E pluribus unum. etc, etc, etc.
Happily human cells do not agree. Cell signaling keeps humans alive. Americans have killed the national corpus.
There is an answer but Im now wasting my time which is why I seldom comment anymore.
Take care, John
“[I[t took only 11 Apostles, fools that they were, to set the path of Western Civilization.”
Yet another of your laughably false lies about the history of Christianity and the causes of Western civilization.
The Apostles: c. 1 AD.
Western civilization as we know it (The Renaissance/Enlightenment): 15th c AD.
A lacuna of 1400 years. Really?! What took so long?
BTW, that lacuna (starting 5th c AD) is called by historians the Dark/Middle Ages — a barbaric history that your ideology did cause, and one you continuously try to evade.
The Jesuits are not sending their best.
Upstate Farmer–WHY are you promoting giving money to Trump that will SUPPOSEDLY go for Hurricane Helene relief—knowing that Trump STOLE money from his alleged “charitable foundation” that was shut down by the State of New York because Trump used it as a personal slush fund to pay his own bills? He was fined several millions of dollars. He also was found civilly liable for fraud on loan applications and got a hefty judgment. Trump is a PROVEN THIEF. GIVE MONEY TO THE RED CROSS–not to any fund that Trump could get his tiny hands on. The Red Cross is audited and accounts for what it does with funds that are donated. Trump is A PROVEN THIEF.
Donald J. Trump is NOT the President–and because he started an insurrection by lying to his followers, stole classified documents, is a convicted criminal and under multiple criminal indictments, does NOT deserve the honorific title of President.
DONALD TRUMP IS A PROVEN THIEF–From “Law & Crime”, dateline 11/7/2019:
“President Donald Trump must personally pay $2 million in fines because he illegally used his charity to benefit his 2016 candidacy. A state judge in New York delivered the judgment on Thursday afternoon. The judicially-assessed penalty must be paid to a number of nonprofit organizations in the Empire State.
A press release from New York Attorney General Letitia James notes the general contours of the settlement:
[James] announced that her office entered into multiple stipulations with the Trump Foundation and its directors to resolve the remaining claims in the lawsuit. Chiefly, Mr. Trump admits to personally misusing funds at the Trump Foundation, and agrees to restrictions on future charitable service and ongoing reporting to the Office of the Attorney General in the event he creates a new charity. The settlements also include mandatory training requirements for Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump.
The judge’s order ends multiple pending actions in the case that was originally filed in June 2018–and also puts to bed a prior statement of defiance made by the 45th president.”
If you want to help victims of both hurricanes, give money to the Red Cross–they won’t steal it or lie about what they did with it, and they are audited.
Maybe you could send DJT a message asking him to make a donation to Jesse’s relief fund. It would really help and it would show DJT really cares.
Dennis, what you’re doing here is showing – yet again – that greedy, envious communist Democrats like yourself demand OTHER people spend THEIR money to do the good things YOU demand.
Maybe you could explain why you’re apparently a lawyer, owning some pretty flashy real estate next to a Trump golf course, with sufficient money to jet around the country to have cocktails with the Muslim Hamas wing of the Democrat party at fund raisers in Michiganistan….
But you’re not posting to tell us how much money of your own you’ve cut a check in the name of Jesse Craig for. Or the fundraiser you’re setting up not for the Hamas wing of your party to raise money for CH – but to raise money for Jesse Craig instead.
No of course you’re doing none of that Dennis. Because like Weirdo Walz and Cackles Harris, you also don’t really care about normal American people.
As always with you retrograde communists – it’s always got to be OTHER people’s money and OTHER people’s work, time, and effort.
We won’t be surprised if you don’t respond – you never do after landing to deposit your day’s ration of poo, you just fly away.
Dennis
Money is being raised – By Trump and others. Alot of it by people wearing MAGA hats – but plenty by people with Harris/Walz signs on their lawn.
People are also in NC helping – local first responders, Responders from nearby communties that were NOT devasted, from neighboring states.
Or just ordinary people – in groups or alone that came to help.
We will see the same in Florida as soon as Milton has passed – though my expectation is that as Bad as Milton is, recovery will be easier.
Not because Milton is not a severe huricane. But because the last Time Tampa saw something like this was 2005. The last time Ashville did was probably 500 years ago. Florida is prepared – not because they are wiser but because Milton is not that unusual in Florida.
Regardless – people will help in Florida too.
Because that is what is a part of what is great about this country.
FEMA will be there with big checks – in a couple of months, after Congress spends way to many hundreds of billions on disaster recovery,
But NOW it is ordinary people who care about their neighbors – regardless of whether the yard sign that floated away was red or blue.
Did you say crack? Asking for a Biden…
Hilarious! Trump interviews Biden for 60 minutes:
https://x.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1844070472729886833
Make that . . . On 60 Minutes (the show). Hey, if they’re going to chop up the footage to make Kamala look better, at least be funny.
X (twitter) to be restored in Brazil by tomorrow. Long live freedom of speech!
https://cointelegraph.com/news/x-restored-brazil-24-hours-rules-justice-alexandre-de-moraes
Hillary’s in the dem dungeon somewhere wiping Brazil off the board, “OMG, now we’ve lost Brazil!”
* predicted it. He found the judges for the payola. That’s all itvwas in the 3rd world of Brazil.
Get yourselves a donkey. Nothing but crime and immorality. We are all disgraced.
Adieu
OT
“WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, IN ORDER TO FORM A MORE PERFECT UNION,…SECURE THE BLESSINGS OF LIBERTY TO OURSELVES AND OUR POSTERITY.”
A vote for Kamala Harris, the puppet of Obama, is a vote to cede America to foreign control.
The Lord admonished humans to “Love Thy Neighbor.”
The Lord did not command humans to “Sign Over The Deed To Your Home To Thy Neighbor.”
The camel got his nose under the tent and proceeded on to complete dominion.
Obama polished his puppet and manipulated her into a position she did not obtain through a democratic electoral process.
The American Founders and Framers required that the president be thoroughly an American, a natural born citizen, as Jay sought to “…provide a strong check to the admission of Foreigners into the administration of our national Government.”
Obama’s father and Kamala Harris’ parents were not citizens of the United States at the time of the candidate’s birth, as required in the one and only formal, scholarly, and legal definition of “natural born citizen” in history.
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“Permit me to hint, whether it would not be wise & seasonable to provide a strong check to the admission of Foreigners into the administration of our national Government; and to declare expresly that the Command in chief of the american army shall not be given to, nor devolve on, any but a natural born Citizen.”
– John Jay Letter To George Washington, 1787
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Law of Nations, 1758
Book 1, Chpt 19
§ 212. Citizens and natives.
The citizens are the members of the civil society; bound to this society by certain duties, and subject to its authority, they equally participate in its advantages. The natives, or natural-born citizens, are those born in the country, of parents who are citizens. As the society cannot exist and perpetuate itself otherwise than by the children of the citizens, those children naturally follow the condition of their fathers, and succeed to all their rights. The society is supposed to desire this, in consequence of what it owes to its own preservation; and it is presumed, as matter of course, that each citizen, on entering into society, reserves to his children the right of becoming members of it. The country of the fathers is therefore that of the children; and these become true citizens merely by their tacit consent. We shall soon see whether, on their coming to the years of discretion, they may renounce their right, and what they owe to the society in which they were born. I say, that, in order to be of the country, it is necessary that a person be born of a father who is a citizen; for, if he is born there of a foreigner, it will be only the place of his birth, and not his country.