I previously wrote about the defamation claims filed by former Rep. Katie Hill has lost a lawsuit against her husband and a variety of other people, including the Daily Mail for reporting on her sex scandal involving a former aide. I stated that the legal basis for the lawsuit against the media was highly dubious and that the underlying stories were protected under the First Amendment as matters of public interest. As expected, the case against the Daily Mail was thrown out by Los Angeles Judge Yolanda Orozco on First Amendment grounds.
Category: Politics
The New York Times is reporting that Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz asked President Donald Trump for a preemptive pardon at the end of his term. Gaetz is reportedly facing sex trafficking charges and the report would indicate that he was sufficiently concerned back at the end of 2020 to seek the extraordinary protection. Gaetz has not responded to the report. Continue reading “NYT: Gaetz Sought Preemptive Pardon From Trump”
It appears that President Joe Biden did not repeatedly “misspeak” as suggested on CNN. Yesterday, Biden not only did not correct his false claims about the Georgia election law but doubled down that the law is a “Jim Crow law.” Indeed, he has repeatedly said it is worse, “Jim Crow on steroids.” That is why yesterday’s press conference (with only three questions) moved from the inaccurate to the incoherent. Biden is now saying that Georgia is a Jim Crow state with laws worse than the segregationist laws following the Civil War. However, he is saying that it is ok to play the Masters in the state (and for CBS to carry the Masters) after supporting a boycott of baseball. In deciding whether to do business in what Biden calls a “Jim Crow” state, Biden declared “That’s up to the Masters.”
The White House is not the only outfit struggling to explain the false statements repeatedly made by President Joe Biden about Georgia’s election law. Biden’s false claims have been widely refuted, including by the Washington Post. Yet, CNN’s host Don Lemon mocked those raising the false statements and insisted that Biden merely misspoke. The problem is that he repeated the false claims after they were refuted and White House Press Secretary Jan Psaki has insisted that Biden was speaking truthfully in the Biden version of “alternative facts.” What was also not explained on CNN was how the Georgia law is “Jim Crow on steroids” if these two objections are untrue and states like New York and Delaware (and Colorado where the MLB is sending the All-Star game) have stricter provisions. CNN ran the slogan “Facts First” throughout the Trump Administration, but it seems that facts are more fluid in 2021.
We have been discussing the false statements made by President Joe Biden and White House Press Secretary Jan Psaki to support the boycott of Georgia over its new voting law. Yet, the White House is not the only ones seemingly doubling down on that narrative. The MLB refused to reconsider its controversial decision to move the gam from Atlanta. It is now sending the game to Denver. It is a move that will only heighten objections. Colorado also requires identification for voting — one of the key points of objection to Georgia. New polling shows that, even after this campaign, Americans continue to overwhelmingly support such mandatory identification rules with almost 75 percent in favor of such rules. Indeed, over 50 percent of Democrats support such voter identification rules. Some polling shows 63 percent of Democrats supporting such mandatory rules. Continue reading “MLB Moves All-Star Game To Colorado Despite The State’s Mandatory Voter Identification Rule”
Below is my column in The Hill on recent interviews by Hunter Biden, which appear to incriminate him in a possible federal felony. What is most striking from a journalistic perspective is that Biden’s book is a target rich environment for reporters with references to his alleged influence peddling, abandoned laptop, and drug abuses. Yet every major network and newspaper that interviewed Biden skillfully avoided any damaging questions. It was no small feat to delicately avoid obvious problems in his account while seemingly interviewing him on those subjects. Reporters would raise the laptop of Burisma contract and then just shrug and move on without any serious followup. The glaring contradictions were left unaddressed like admitting that he was a crack addict during the time he was receiving massive contracts from foreign companies due to his unestablished “expertise” on energy issues. The conflicts with his own father’s accounts were entirely ignored. The protective press cocoon around Hunter and his father remained intact.
In the end, it is not the possible crime by Biden but the demonstrable collusion by the media that is more of the story from these interviews.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “Did Hunter Biden Incriminate Himself In A Federal Crime?”
For years, the media shredded Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway for a statement on Meet The Press interview on January 22, 2017, in which she defended White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer on attendance numbers at the inauguration. Conway insisted that, while Chuck Todd was citing one set of numbers, Spicer was giving “alternative facts”. The statement produced a firestorm of ridicule that the Trump White House was constructing an alternate reality. That is not the response however to the repeated misrepresentations of the Georgia election law by President Joe Biden — false statements criticized even by the Washington Post. Likewise, there was little response this week when Press Secretary Jen Psaki defended the alternative facts presented the White House and some media outlets, even after another major newspaper called out the same false statements about the law.
We have been discussing a slew of defamation actions this year. Indeed, for a torts professor, this could prove the golden age of defamation. Recently, new such cases were filed against Fox News, CNN, and various public figures. Those cases join various cases against figures like Donald Trump, who recently lost a major ruling. It now seems likely that Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz will be sued in the ongoing scandal involving allegations of sex trafficking. Like many, I was surprised to watch Tucker Carlson’s interview with Gaetz on the first night of the scandal and hear Gaetz identify by name (and law firm) the lawyer who he claims was extorting him. That lawyer is former Justice Department lawyer David McGee, who presumably will be filing a libel action against the congressman. This could prove a “double tap” for Gaetz, 38, who could face a criminal charge and a civil lawsuit as a result of the scandal. Continue reading “Gaetz Could Be Washington’s Latest High-Profile Defamation Defendant”
In a bizarre interview, President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden finally acknowledged that the infamous laptop may indeed be his . . . or the creation of Russian intelligence. After offering detailed accounts going back years on his drug addiction and abuse, Biden seems incapable of remembering whether he had this laptop with thousands of files, including personal and embarrassing images of his having sex and doing drugs. Continue reading “Hunter Biden Says Laptop May Have Been His . . . Or The Russians Did It”
National Public Radio issued a correction after running a false statement about the laptop of Hunter Biden in a story about Biden’s recent memoir, “Beautiful Things.” The article by NPR senior editor and correspondent Ron Elving stated categorically that the laptop story was discredited by news organizations. It was later compelled to correct that false statement but still has language casting doubt on the story and evades glaring contradictions in Biden’s book and his interview. Moreover, NPR continues to run false claims from prior controversies.
Continue reading “NPR Corrects False Hunter Biden Claim But . . .”
We recently discussed the false statement made repeatedly by President Joe Biden about the Georgia election law, which Biden has called “Jim Crow on steroids.” Biden falsely claims that the law closes polling places earlier, a claim that even the Washington Post decried as false. Biden has not only repeated his earlier false claim but added a new one in supporting a boycott of the state of Georgia by Major League Baseball. It is a common false claim made about denying water under the law to people standing in line to vote. What is astonishing is that the media itself has fueled this false narrative and it is being used as a key claim in boycotting the state.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court blocked Democratic Gov. Tony Evers from issuing any new public health emergency orders to mandate face masks. In a 4-3 decision that broke along ideological lines, the conservative majority found that Evers lacked authority for his order. It is similar to a ruling rejecting orders by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. What was most striking was the dissenting opinion from the three liberal justices. The dissenting justice adopted the most convoluted and artificial construct to ignore the plain meaning of the controlling state law. Continue reading “Wisconsin Supreme Court Finds Wisconsin Governor Acted Unlawfully On Mask Mandate”
The scandal involving Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) continues to rage in Washington as Gaetz alleges a conspiracy to extort $25 million and the New York Times has reported an investigation into his traveling across state lines with a minor for sex. Both are serious allegations and someone is clearly lying. The question is why, after a year of reported investigation, the underlying facts appear unresolved. Either this girl was 17 or she was not. Either Gaetz traveled with her or he did not. Then there is a taped call that could prove the veracity of key witnesses. In other words, there is raging speculation over facts that should be easily and already established. Why?
Continue reading “The Gaetz Scandal Is Long On Speculation And Short On Facts”
Recently, Sen. Bernie Sanders raised concerns over the banning of Donald Trump from Twitter as an attack on free speech by corporate censors. It apparently had no impact on Big Tech. Facebook has removed a video of an interview by Lara Trump of her father-in-law and former president. The company declared that it would censor any content “in the voice of Donald Trump.” It appears that Trump has achieved Voldemort status on social media and is now “he who must not be heard.” Continue reading “He Who Must Not Be Heard: Facebook Removes Interview By Lara Trump For Including The “Voice Of Donald Trump””