Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

After roe, women are no longer free.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

You are here: Home / Politics / GOP Death Cult / GOP Death Cult Open Thread: Shut Up, Dumb Lady’s Noisy Supporters

GOP Death Cult Open Thread: Shut Up, Dumb Lady’s Noisy Supporters

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… It was a one-two punch for Palin. The unanimous verdict came a day after the presiding judge, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff, ruled that he would set aside the jury’s verdict — whatever it might be — and dismiss the case. He said Palin had failed to make a sufficient argument that the Times had acted with actual malice to let the case be determined by a jury.

That legal standard of “actual malice,” set in a 1964 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that also involved the Times, requires that the newspaper either knowingly published damning and false information or recklessly disregarded the likelihood that its claims were likely to prove false.

“You decided the facts. I decided the law,” Rakoff told jurors on Tuesday. “It turns out they were both in agreement, in this case.”

The newspaper cheered the verdict, with spokeswoman Danielle Rhoades Ha calling it “a reaffirmation of a fundamental tenet of American law: public figures should not be permitted to use libel suits to punish or intimidate news organizations that make, acknowledge and swiftly correct unintentional errors.”

Palin is believed likely to appeal. Rakoff wanted the verdict to be heard by the appellate court as well. And now, the jury’s verdict for the Times arrays even steeper odds against Palin’s success….


Me, I’m assuming Peter Thiel is Palin’s new Daddy War-against-democracy-bucks, because there’s been a spate of stories recently about how Thiel has decided to raise his authoritarian profile as a generous GOP donor. But the NYTimes is not Gawker; it seems to me that trying to hit this particular anti-media jackpot for the second time is less a sign of confidence than an it’s-now-or-never desperation throw. Maybe I’m just feeling optimistic!

Reader Interactions

194Comments

  3. 3.

    Roger Moore

    I agree with the last point: the right wing media machine would not survive overturning Sullivan. Their only hope would be to pack the courts to the extent they could always count on a friendly judge throwing out judgments against them.

  4. 4.

    PST

    It has seemed to me from the start that Fox and its media friends, imitators, and competitors had the most to lose from a Palin victory or from the fall of the New York Times standard of actual malice.

  5. 5.

    Kay

    Educational gag orders moving on the next target group:

    But Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill is just the tip of the iceberg. While race, sex, and American history remain the most common targets of censorship, bills silencing speech about LGBTQ+ identities have also surged to the fore. Currently, 15 such bills are under consideration in 8 states.
    What’s behind this sudden interest in censoring these topics and themes? In reality, it is not very sudden. Rather, what we are seeing in 2022 is a convergence between two distinct but related sets of actors: First, anti-LGBTQ+ activists, well-established but with limited success in penetrating public schools; and second, the “anti-Critical Race Theory” movement. The latter has primed the public to support sweeping censorship of classroom speech. For anti-LGBTQ+ activists, this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity, a chance to ram through bills that are far more restrictive than anything the public would normally accept. The goal is quite simply to lock LGBTQ+ topics on the wrong side of the schoolhouse gate.

  6. 6.

    Geminid

    @debbie: For some reason that Fox guy asking if the standard should change reminded me of the adage, “People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.”

    “

  8. 8.

    Jay C

    Well, it’s a “victory” for Madam Half-Term, in the sense that it has gotten her name and face back in the media for a bit, and given her a metric f*ckton of new grievance she can take on to the RW grift circuit for even more exposure and whining about whatever, so yeah: whoever is paying Sarah’s legal fees will be getting some non-trivial return for their money.

    But as for that “court of public opinion” nonsense: well, “case  dismissed (with prejudice)”, IMO: I doubt whether this boneheaded libel trial will sway anybody’s opinion of the ex-Gov one way or another.

  9. 9.

    Kay

    No bill better exemplifies this trend than Kansas’s HB 2662. Introduced last week, it appears at first glance to be a typical “curriculum transparency” and “parents’ rights” bill, similar to many others we have seen this year. The first six pages are a long list of rules about curricular materials, where they must be posted, how parents are to be notified, etc., all of it punctuated by occasional broadsides against “racially essentialist doctrines.” In other words, standard “anti-CRT” fare. But tucked back toward the end, HB 2662 also proposes to make a change to the state’s obscenity law, making it a class B misdemeanor for a teacher to use any material in the classroom depicting “homosexuality.” Note well: not sexually explicit depictions of homosexuality. Just homosexuality in general.

  11. 11.

    Kay

    @Sebastian:

    I looked it up:

    class B misdemeanors carry a maximum sentence of six months’ jail time and a $1,000 fine

    There are 4 classes- A B C D – they put this offense above two other classes. They want to put them in jail.

  12. 12.

    prostratedragon

    @hells littlest angel:  Your nym indeed: if the wrong people see that we’re going to have a 5th grade, or perhaps whatever they have in the UK at that age, full of Saralicias in about a dozen years.

  13. 13.

    mrmoshpotato

    Please move to Canada, and then whine like an idiot.

    Fox News legal analyst Jonathan Turley, on Canada PM Justin Trudeau invoking emergency powers to deal with the "Freedom Convoy" blockade:"By this rationale, they could have cracked down on the Civil Rights movement. They could have arrested Martin Luther King." pic.twitter.com/s9dwkcvihQ— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) February 15, 2022

  15. 15.

    Mike in NC

    Sarah Palin remains one of the worst people in the world who’s not part of the noxious Trump klan.

  16. 16.

    JoyceH

    I believe that a lot of right wingers are genuinely convinced that if kids were unaware that homosexuality exists, none of them would ‘turn gay’.

  18. 18.

    trollhattan

    Can things get better? The can. Welly, welly, welly, what have we here?

    A company that made a rifle used in one of the US’s deadliest school shootings has settled with the families of victims for $73m (£53.9m).

    The settlement from Remington Arms comes in response to a lawsuit brought by the families of nine of 26 victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre.

    The case marks the first time a gun-maker has faced liability for a mass shooting.

    Until now, the industry has been enjoyed immunity from litigation.

    Each family will receive a share of the settlement, but other details of the deal were not disclosed.

    Josh Koskoff, a lawyer representing the families of victims, said they were delighted by the outcome because their focus was on “preventing the next Sandy Hook”.

    “Our loss is irreversible, in the sense this outcome is neither redemptive nor restorative,” Lenny Pozner and Veronique De la Rosa, whose six-year-old son Noah was killed, wrote in testimony released after the settlement.

    “What is lost remains lost,” they added. “However, the resolution does provide a measure of accountability in an industry that has thus far operated with impunity.”
    –BBC

  19. 19.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Mike in NC:

    Sarah Palin remains one of the worst people in the world who’s not part of the noxious Trump klan. 

    Good news for John McCain!

    Also, fuck John “Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran” McCain for introducing this idiot to the other 49 states.

  21. 21.

    louc

    My reaction to the whole “they’re trying to overturn Sullivan!” is the same as that last Tweet. Faux and OAN better be careful what they wish for!

  22. 22.

    trollhattan

    @mrmoshpotato: ​
    “See, Dr. King got treated better, because at least we never arrested him here in America. And that’s why he wrote that ‘God Bless the USA’ song.”

  26. 26.

    catclub

    @trollhattan: because at least we never arrested him here in America.

    umm , so how did he have to time to write that letter from the Birmingham jail? also James earl Ray.  I know this was satire meter stuff.

  27. 27.

    Almost Retired

    If I were her lawyer, I would have argued that my client is so thoroughly loathsome that the court should just presume malice.  Which is perhaps why I wasn’t her lawyer….

  28. 28.

    Brachiator

    Sarah Palin loses defamation suit against NYT for 2nd time in two days, as jury finds unanimously against her

    She needed Prince Andrew’s lawyers. Not sure if the Queen will let him back into the palace, but he seems to have found a way to avoid major prosecution for anything.

    Prince Andrew has agreed to settle a sexual assault lawsuit from Virginia Giuffre, according to a letter filed Tuesday from her lawyer David Boies.

    The sum of the settlement is not being disclosed, and the letter to the court says Prince Andrew “intends to make a substantial donation to Ms. Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights.”

    “Prince Andrew has never intended to malign Ms. Giuffre’s character, and he accepts that she has suffered both as an established victim of abuse and as a result of unfair public attacks,” the letter reads. “It is known that Jeffrey Epstein trafficked countless young girls over many years. Prince Andrew regrets his association with Epstein, and commends the bravery of Ms. Giuffre and other survivors in standing up for themselves and others.”

    Prince Andrew’s only “crime” now is his past association with Epstein.

  33. 33.

    Roger Moore

    @JoyceH:

    I believe that a lot of right wingers are genuinely convinced that if kids were unaware that homosexuality exists, none of them would ‘turn gay’.

    It’s not just kids and gayness.  This kind of wishful thinking permeate the right wing worldview.  Just as an example, their whole approach to COVID seems to be that it we all just pretended it didn’t exist, all our COVID problems would disappear.

  34. 34.

    Ken

    TireSlashingHat: Is there a word for a piece of art where the anticipated reaction by dumb people is an integral part of the art

    “NFT”?

  36. 36.

    RSA

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Fox News legal analyst Jonathan Turley: “By this rationale, they could have cracked down on the Civil Rights movement. They could have arrested Martin Luther King.”

    Whew. Good thing that never happened, am I right?

  38. 38.

    Miss Bianca

    @Ken: Good one!

    Actually the late Christo counted on outraged reaction to his art projects as part of the art project.

  39. 39.

    JPL

    @RSA: In fact, they could have arrested him dozens of times.    Turley is just a sign of what will happen, if teachers can no longer mention the civil rights movement.

  40. 40.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    Where Clinton is concerned, she should be suing. A good bit of the coverage from right-wing outlets could be readily seen as actual malice. I don’t know a better way to descibe it than that. She should take them to the cleaners. She has YEARS of evidence

    I will add they would lose their mind. It would dominate coverage for the next 6 months, taking the heat completely off the Biden administration.

  41. 41.

    Leto

    @WereBear: wingers don’t want kids to know about any sex. That’s why they have abstinence programs. This is just another part of that playbook. I really am fucking  tired of their moralizing.

  42. 42.

    Ken

    @Miss Bianca: I hadn’t heard that about Christo. But isn’t that cheating a bit? Anyone can get an outraged reaction by blocking traffic on a busy highway, whether they do it by an ordinary accident or by stringing day-glo fabric across all the underpasses.

  43. 43.

    West of the Rockies

    @Kay:

    I’d sure like to see corporate America begin to pick sides.  If a corporation doesn’t support these laws, move HQ and such out of states passing bigoted laws.  If they do support such laws, well, then we can as progressive consumers react accordingly.

  44. 44.

    mrmoshpotato

    @debbie:

    @RSA: Canada could have arrested MLK Jr. on American soil?

    (I’m not clear on what FOX Shit is trying to say.  Hard to understand someone with their head so far up their own ass.)

  45. 45.

    West of the Rockies

    @Jay C:

    It got her face in the news again, but I think a lot of shallow men will notice that her face has aged.  Will she still send tingly starbursts up Rich Lowry’s pant-legs?

    If she has lost her GILF status and all she offers is meanness, I think she’ll find her Q number has diminished greatly.

  46. 46.

    Manxome Bromide

    @Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: The “actual malice” standard doesn’t mean “mean-spirited,” much like “probable cause” doesn’t require formally weighing odds. The requirement is that at time of publication the people doing the publishing actually believed that the things they were writing were false.

    Not only is this extremely hard to prove in general, it means that drinking the Kool-Aid is a nearly-invincible defense.

  47. 47.

    Roger Moore

    @Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony:

    An important point is that the “actual malice” standard doesn’t have anything to do with whether the person making the statement does so with bad intent.  It has to do with whether they know the statement is false, or should have known because they recklessly made the statement without attempting to ascertain whether it’s true or not.  So while it’s undoubtedly true that the right wingers vilifying Hillary exhibit malice toward her, it would be an uphill fight for her to prove they know their statements are false.

  50. 50.

    Ohio Mom

    I might have said this in an earlier thread: Palin got the attorney she deserved, a decent one would have told her the case was unwinnable.

    Palin may not have given libel law any thought until recently (one wonders who put the thought into her empty head) but it has been a concern of newspapers since forever.

  51. 51.

    Capri

    @Roger Moore:  And it’s not new. I came across a right wing parenting book 20 or so years ago when my kids were teenagers. (My local library has an extremely high % of right wing books, all donated. Many appear normal until you actually read them).  It was recomended that you not allow your teenager to see any movie above a G rating because once those images get into your child’s head they will never get out.

  52. 52.

    Scout211

    This brings to mind the wonderful movie from 1981 with Paul Newman and Sally Field, Absence of Malice.

    What a great psychological thriller with this current theme, the legal definition of malice.

  53. 53.

    Urza

    @Roger Moore: Knowingly making a false statement is avoided by the rightwing bubbling things up through various obviously fake places until something vaguely with a reputation takes it because so many people are talking about it.  Then its a quick hop over to Faux then CNN for the cycle to complete.  Others supposedly did all the research, they’re just reporting on what people are talking about.

  54. 54.

    Keith P.

    Reminds me of an argument I had with a friend of mine who was convinced that Joe Rogan was going to sue CNN for libel over saying he took horse dewormer.  I tried to explain why a) Rogan would 99% probably not sue, and b) if he did, he’d easily lose because he’s a celebrity who suffered no quantifiable harm, and it would be extremely hard to prove actual malice (or he’d settle for an undisclosed amount so he could save face….same dude kept telling me CNN already lost $500 million to the Sandmann guy).  It was like arguing with a brick wall.

  55. 55.

    Miss Bianca

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    It’s knew or should have known.  Kool-Aid drinking is not a defense.

    So, actual semi-serious question: the right-wing rag in town habitually smears anyone they don’t like (petite moi, as well as my publisher on the actual newspaper, among them) as some form of Communist. My publisher says that he’s lost advertising as a result – tho whether he is surmising this or businesses have actually told him, “I’m not advertising with no Communist newspaper!”, I am not certain. (It could easily be the latter, given where I live.)

    Would he have grounds for an “actual malice” action, if he can prove that a). the right-wing ragbags know he’s not actually a Communist; and b). their lies have materially damaged him?

  56. 56.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Urza: That is such a perfect description of how it works, especially the way “news” bubbles up from the swamps

    Eta: speaking of swamps, trump is on Glen Beck whining about Hillary and ” what is probably, some people say, the greatest crime in the history of this country.”   Oy.

  57. 57.

    Another Scott

    @Brachiator:

    Wonder how much the average UK tax payer contributed to the pay off.

    — HappyToast ★ (@IamHappyToast) February 15, 2022

    You know now would be an excellent time for Ghislaine Maxwell to reveal everything.

    — HappyToast ★ (@IamHappyToast) February 15, 2022

    And the Telegraph says the *Queen herself* is helping to pay the settlement, through Duchy of Lancaster funds. https://t.co/h0LBSNYWuz

    Which means there’s a load of tenant farmers and shopkeepers who pay rent to the Duchy, whose money is now partly going to settle Andrew’s case!

    — Jim Waterson (@jimwaterson) February 15, 2022

    (via dsquareddigest)

    I’m pretty sure the Queen understands how dangerous Andrew and Epstein and Maxwell are to the monarchy. She recognizes that people could easily (and rightfully) be infuriated…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  58. 58.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Miss Bianca: Not licensed in CO.  Not a defamation specialist.  With that out of way, the actual malice standard only applies to public figures; defamatory and wrong is enough for ordinary people to win.  Now, that being said, public figure is a somewhat nebulous thing.  [many, many words omitted]  In addition, satire and hyperbole are given room too.  It is hard to win a defamation suit in the US.  Much easier in the UK; can you see if they would say the things there?

  59. 59.

    trollhattan

    @MagdaInBlack: Hillary and ” what is probably, some people say, the greatest crime in the history of this country.”

    Her stubborn refusal to stop being Hillary? Yeah, that really rankles.

    Also noted: “Some people say.” Say it, you chickenshit pig fucker. (There, I said it.)

    Hrrumph. We continue to find new ways to treat Hillary like dirt. It’s infuriating.

  61. 61.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Capri:

    It was recomended that you not allow your teenager to see any movie above a G rating because once those images get into your child’s head they will never get out.

    Perhaps easier 20 years ago but kids have a lot more opportunities these days to avoid their parents’ prohibitions. I guess you can monitor your kiddos and their devices 24/7 in which case many of them will hate you and leave as soon as they can.

    Apparently, a lot of the right wing’s bitterness stems from their kids leaving the coop for better opportunities. I don’t have kids but I would like to think I would have guided them to think for themselves within reasonable boundaries of avoiding harm and being a decent human being.

  65. 65.

    Brachiator

    @Scout211:

    This brings to mind the wonderful movie from 1981 with Paul Newman and Sally Field, Absence of Malice.

    Yep. Great film. Not sure how accurate it was with respect to the law. But great performances.

    Apart from the stars, I remember Wilford Brimley was great in a small, but pivotal supporting role.

  66. 66.

    cain

    @Kay: That’s messed, what happens if the teacher is gay or lesbian? Literally, you could make the argument revealing your sexuality would put you in jail.

    I can’t imagine that would pass muster in any court. I suppose the next step is to de-classify homosexuals as a protected class.

  67. 67.

    cain

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Really fucking sick of these right wing assholes using MLK for their diatribes. They don’t give a shit bout MLK and would be happy to see his ass in jail.

  69. 69.

    mrmoshpotato

    @cain:

    Really fucking sick of these right wing assholes using MLK for their diatribes. They don’t give a shit bout MLK and would be happy to see his ass in jail. 

    They’ve never given a shit about MLK.  Not now, not when he was alive.

  70. 70.

    cain

    @Roger Moore: Kind of like Indiani parents not telling their daughters about having their period for the first time. Apparently, that’s a big no-no according to this Indian subreddit. My parents had two boys, so it never came up. But I will admit that we have never talked about sexual health.

  72. 72.

    Roger Moore

    @Urza:

    The point is that the right wing fever swamp approach depends on New York Times v. Sullivan.  They can publish absolute crap and claim they thought it was true because it was published somewhere else.  If Sullivan is overturned, though, that defense is no longer enough.  The plaintiff only has to prove the statement was false, not that it was knowingly false.  I guess they have to prove damages, but plenty of the crap the right wing publishes is defamatory per se.

  73. 73.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Miss Bianca: Maybe not.  The many word omitted included so like “depending on the size and reach of the publication that published the allegedly defamatory remarks” and “someone can be a public figure by being a well known local person like a newspaper publisher or columnist” or “local theater personage.”  Then there is the question of whether call someone a communist is defamatory.  Then there is proving that you are not, in fact, a communist.  And so on.

  74. 74.

    Brachiator

    @Another Scott:

    I’m pretty sure the Queen understands how dangerous Andrew and Epstein and Maxwell are to the monarchy. She recognizes that people could easily (and rightfully) be infuriated…

    Possibly. But it’s hard to say. There is a great deal of sympathy towards the Queen, especially in her widowhood. And she went to great lengths to separate Andrew from the Royal family. Any efforts to help him now is because he is her child, not because he is a soiled prince.

    There also seems to be approval of how she is apparently smoothing the way for Charles to succeed her.

  75. 75.

    zhena gogolia

    My P/T guy told me I have to watch the Super Bowl halftime show. I guess I have to. ETA: I do everything he tells me to.

  77. 77.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @mrmoshpotato: Not for the first time, I wonder if Turley’s colleagues ever consider researching “acutely embarrassing” as a justification for revoking tenure. Or just going for it.

  79. 79.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Roger Moore: That is true, but I was just going through some of the difficulties in winning a defamation case.  If someone came to me with one when I was in private litigation practice, I would not have been super encouraging.

  82. 82.

    different-church-lady

    @Brachiator: ​
     

    There also seems to be approval of how she is apparently smoothing the way for Charles to succeed her.

    Sure, if he lives long enough.

  83. 83.

    Jeffro

    Boehlert is right – where’s the reporting on who paid for the Palin suit?

    Who paid off Kavanaugh’s debts just before his SCOTUS hearings?

    Who paid those truckers up in Ottawa?

    Who paid for Jan 6th? (j/k…I already know Ginni Thomas paid for part of that)

    Who paid who paid who paid who paid who paid who paid

    These things would be EXTREMELY enlightening to know, and even if it can’t be found out, just asking loudly and repeatedly would help the public focus on one of the biggest, if not the biggest, issues facing our democracy.

  87. 87.

    Brachiator

    @different-church-lady:

    RE: There also seems to be approval of how she is apparently smoothing the way for Charles to succeed her.

    Sure, if he lives long enough.

    Those Windsors seem to be blessed with longevity. But there are those who would love to see William take over, even if it meant skipping Charles.

  90. 90.

    Jeffro

    speaking of GOP death cult…I had an odd thought…what will Republicans* do if/when trumpov is finally besieged enough by both criminal prosecutions and (more importantly) financial ruin and decides to sell them out in order to avoid prison?  He knows all about how Russia assisted his campaigns, he knows how Russia funneled money to their campaigns via the NRA and others, he knows who’s in Putin’s pocket, he probably has seriously oogy kompromat on half of them.

    *and by ‘Republicans’, I mostly mean the GOP leadership: McConnell, McCarthy, Rubio, Cruz, etc.  But I guess in a way, also what does the GOP base do if/when trumpov squeals?

    I know it is SERIOUS wish fulfillment but I just can’t shake the image of him at that standard-issue police interrogation table, laying it all out in order to save his sorry self.

    Maybe we’re not quite done ‘living through history’ just yet…

  93. 93.

    Gin & Tonic

    Hoping tomorrow is peaceful.

    The whole of ??Ukraine’s armed forces is on full combat alert tonight.
    If the worst is to happen (even though I still don’t think it will), this is going to be our finest hour.
    Goodnight, Ukraine & the world.
    — Illia Ponomarenko (@IAPonomarenko) February 15, 2022

  97. 97.

    The Dangerman

    Maybe I chose the wrong lifetime to stop sniffing glue …

    … but damn Q people are wayyyyyyy out there. Today I got caught in one way conversation and learned that most celebrities are lizard people (WTF?) and China is going to launch an an artificial sun (seriously. WTF?!!!). That was about when I escaped (I was kinda trapped). I knew these Folks were out there but at least their claims were within the realm of possibility (in the same way it’s possible for me to win the lottery). This shit is just la la land.

  98. 98.

    Procopius

    @Omnes Omnibus: You don’t have to prove you are not a Communist, the defendant has to prove you are in order to prove his claim is true. Or at least he has to prove that there exists proof that you are, to show that he made a good faith attempt to prove it.

  100. 100.

    Gvg

    @Jeffro: i don’t think Ginnie Thomas is that rich. I think I have read she paid for some buses, but not much else specifically. She is a big cheerleader but I don’t think she is serious money.

    we do need to follow the money a lot.

  102. 102.

    Steeplejack

    Prince Andrew:

    Never met her. Don’t remember the photograph. I was in pizza express in Woking. Can’t sweat. I demand a trial by jury. Ok here’s a big pile of money.

    — James Felton (@JimMFelton) February 15, 2022

  103. 103.

    Roger Moore

    @Brachiator:

    Those Windsors seem to be blessed with longevity.

    If nothing else, they get the best medical care money can buy.  That said, almost all of the oldest and longest-reigning monarchs seem to have come since the Hanoverian succession, and I don’t think you can attribute, say, George III’s long life to excellent medical care.  He was just a tough bastard.

  106. 106.

    Ruckus

    Fox News’ initial reaction to the judge dismissing Sarah Palin’s libel case against the Times is that Palin won a moral victory.

    Would she have any clue what a moral is

    Seems rather unlikely…

  108. 108.

    Roger Moore

    @different-church-lady:

    I think Elizabeth II is still deeply affected by Edward VIII’s abdication.  For all their many faults, the Windsors do seem to teach their children a sense of duty, and I think they see Edward’s abdication as the ultimate dereliction of duty.  Elizabeth wants to die in the figurative saddle.

  110. 110.

    Roger Moore

    @Jeffro: ​
     

    speaking of GOP death cult…I had an odd thought…what will Republicans* do if/when trumpov is finally besieged enough by both criminal prosecutions and (more importantly) financial ruin and decides to sell them out in order to avoid prison?

    This might help to explain why so many Republicans continue to defend Trump. That said, I think Trump would be a fool to think he could save his sorry skin by selling out the rest of the party. He’s the big target, not the other guys; he would need to have the goods on practically everyone to be able to offer enough to save his sorry ass.

  113. 113.

    Roger Moore

    @Procopius:

    You don’t have to prove you are not a Communist, the defendant has to prove you are in order to prove his claim is true.

    Not in the US.  In the US, the burden is on the plaintiff to prove the claims are false, not on the defendant to prove they’re true.

  115. 115.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Gin & Tonic: Yes, and this will be more miserable than most since the whole Ukrainian army is going to be standing to all night and no one will get a wink of sleep.

  119. 119.

    Ruckus

    @JoyceH:

    Well they seeming are of the opinion that their’s are the only moral concepts that anyone can hold. And, given that their morals give no leeway outside of their insane limitations on all behavior, which they seem to ignore on a daily or possibly hourly basis because they involve removing all humanity whatsoever from the followers, this seems like it would be exactly what they believe.

    Their politics are bullshit. Their morals are bullshit. Their logic is nonexistent. Because it’s not about government, or governing, it’s about selective control. With them in charge and able to buy off any deviation from their asinine rules, which don’t work because they ignore humanity and all the glorious, ridiculous, wonderful differences between all of us.

  120. 120.

    Ruckus

    @mrmoshpotato:

    (I’m not clear on what FOX Shit is trying to say.  Hard to understand someone with their head so far up their own ass.)

    Having one’s body full to the absolute brim with shit is no way to go through life….

    Well not a good way…..

  121. 121.

    senyordave

    I remember reading somewhere that Peter Thiel is a big admirer of Ann Coulter.  Hard to imagine a human being wanting anyone to know that they admire Coulter.  It would be like someone in the 1960’s saying they were a big admirer of George Lincoln Rockwell.  Thiel is almost a caricature of a billionaire, kind of like a young C. Montgomery Burns minus the charm.

  122. 122.

    Roger Moore

    @MagdaInBlack:

    I am sports deficient but I take it that rule is a bad bad thing?

    Let’s just say that there is a big group of traditionalists who think it’s a terrible idea.  I still don’t like it, but I don’t think it’s quite as bad as they say.

  123. 123.

    Honus

    @mrmoshpotato: I don’t recall Bull Connor ever being charged and he did “crack fown on the civil rights movement. As for MLK being arrested, he didn’t write “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” while there on a sociology project. And he was later shot. Maybe Toobin should quit jacking off and learn some history.

  124. 124.

    raven

    P.J. O’Rourke, Conservative Political Satirist, Dies at 7

     

    During the campaign, Mr. O’Rourke announced that he was going to vote for Hillary Clinton, not Donald Trump. Mrs. Clinton, he told The New Statesman in 2020, was “the devil I knew,” whereas no one he knew, he said, liked Mr. Trump.
    “I just thought he was unstable,” he said, and dangerous. “I still do.”
    As time went on, he continued in that vein, describing himself as a member of the “unorganized resistance” against Mr. Trump.

  130. 130.

    trollhattan

    @raven: ​
    Goddamn. Well, he’s runnin’ for governor so maybe that will…wait. Withdrawn.

    Maybe somebody can get him addicted to hang-gliding.

  134. 134.

    zhena gogolia

    @Steeplejack: He hasn’t tried that on me. I think he knows his audience. Today he was praising Hamilton and asking about In the Heights. He’s quite a genius.

  148. 148.

    Dan B

    @Sebastian: There are some smart people who believe that the “Don’t say gay” laws mean teachers cannot tell their students they’re gay and students cannot tell other students, plus kids whose parents are LGBTQ cannot talk about their families.  It seems like a way to get kids expelled and teachers fired.  These laws are extremely broadly written and more than a bit vague.

  150. 150.

    Gin & Tonic

    If – if – this Russian withdrawal actually manifests, I take my hat off for whatever intern at the CIA said “here, what if we just like… spam the internet with every single bit of intel we have on what they might do until they feel like they cant do it”
    — the nerevarine but for prometheism ?????? (@lituainianach) February 15, 2022

  151. 151.

    Dan B

    @senyordave: He’s Roy Cohn 2.0, a gay man who hates being known as gay and a monster who believes that a select few superior people should rule over the peasants.  A spermajority of gay men and other LBTQ people as well believe we will be bedeviled by the Christianists long before Thiel and his boyfriend feel their wrath.

  154. 154.

    Dan B

    @Dan B: Terrible spelling error in my post.

    Walks away, head down.  Please don’t beat me

     

     

    Supermajority.

    Note to self. Never try to type that word on a phone.

  156. 156.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Gin & Tonic: I can’t imagine that interns have access to that level of information.

    Anyway, I hope they enjoy prison if the hierarchy is so broken at the CIA.

  161. 161.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    @Scout211: Thank you!  That movie was my absolute first thought on hearing about the lawsuit.  And of course where I learned about newspapers and “malice” concerns.

  168. 168.

    dmsilev

    Normally, the crank emails I get are about how Einstein got everything wrong, etc. Today’s, on the other hand, brings a unique twist to contemporary politics:

    When Joe Biden lets out a long, loud fart while speaking with the Duchess of Cornwall, wife of the Prince Charles, future King of the United Kingdom, at the COP 26 summit, especially as the Duchess can’t stop speaking about it, and then  returns from the summit with nothing in hand, its a signal that Joe Biden is not the legitimately elected President of the United States of America.

    Apparently there’s a little-known he-who-smelt-it-dealt-it clause to the Electoral Count Act.

  169. 169.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @dmsilev: if there was one thing all the Founders agreed upon, it was that it was the duty of the President to show due deference to the British royal family

    ETA: I mean seriously, you think Prince Phillip left the room? Boris Johnson? Sure, Tony Blair did, but I know from a Helen Mirren movie that they all hated him.

  171. 171.

    Patricia Kayden

    Media prefers to cover politics as a contest between morally equivalent parties that represent equally valid viewpoints because that absolves them of responsibility to report the truth: that one party is in full embrace of violence, bigotry and corruption, and the other isn't.— Greg Pinelo (@gregpinelo) February 15, 2022

  178. 178.

    NotMax

    Okay, this one’s a stumper.

    As y’all may be aware, there were some fraudulent charges made to a credit card about which I received a call from the card company. Called them back, upshot being that account number was cancelled and a new card sent out.

    Received the replacement card in the mail February 14. Called to activate it Monday night Hawaii time, then went online and changed to the new account number at places where I maintain recurring charges Seems bog standard, right?

    Now is when it gets Twilight Zone-ish.

    Today – the 15th – received a fresh call from the card fraud office about ANOTHER charge attempted, using the NEW account number, said attempt made (charge was declined) on the 13th – a full day BEFORE I even received the new card and BEFORE it had been activated. This one was involved some type of concern selling booze in Philadelphia.

    And now that BRAND NEW account number has been cancelled and yet another card is being sent.

  182. 182.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @NotMax:

    Sounds like they’ve got a leak at world headquarters.

    My previous card died a natural death last month, and I was able to remember all of the places to change the new card data except one—my health insurance The auto payment on that got rejected, but I was able to fix it quickly.

  184. 184.

    Jackie

    @Danielx: My daughter created a new word back in 1991: remorize. I was taking a refresher algebra class and had posted basic algebra formulas on the bathroom mirror and above the kitchen sink so I could memorize and remember. She was 6 at the time. We use remorize to this day! ?

  185. 185.

    Ruckus

    @Roger Moore:

    He is evil for sure but do you think he’s smart enough to game this out completely? I don’t. He seems like he just goes from crisis to crisis (all of his own making) and makes things worse as he goes along. I see no actual thinking or actual planning going on, he’s a reactionary. Sure he has desires but he fails at everything he’s in any way charge of. He eats paper for fucks sake.

  187. 187.

    Egorelick

    @Omnes Omnibus: only for a “media defendant for speech of public concern” otherwise the common law burden of proof theoretically remains on the defendant although there is much skepticism in practice. Not a lawyer but actually doing defamation in torts class coincidentally this week. (Torts, Prosser, p. 956).

  189. 189.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Urza: ​
     

    Knowingly making a false statement is avoided by the rightwing bubbling things up through various obviously fake places until something vaguely with a reputation takes it because so many people are talking about it. Then its a quick hop over to Faux then CNN for the cycle to complete. Others supposedly did all the research, they’re just reporting on what people are talking about.

    IANAL and don’t want to be one, but wouldn’t this still leave them open to the “reckless disregard” part of the Sullivan standard?

    Sure, they can report about some wild-ass thing that ‘people are talking about’ but I’d think that if their reporting leaves people with the impression that it could well be true, when anyone with a lick of sense knows it’s probably totally made-up bullshit, wouldn’t that satisfy the ‘reckless disregard’ standard? (There’d still be the part about someone being demonstrably harmed, of course.)

  192. 192.

    Bill Arnold

    @trollhattan:

    “Some people say.”

    Those “people” would be Mr Trump, and the muppetty low-level demonic entity that parasitises his brain on a time-share basis.

  193. 193.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    @laura: I had thought the Running Fence sounded ridiculous when I first heard about it before it was installed, and then when I saw a bit of it driving North up 101 through Marin, I was startled by how cool it actually was. It seemed to emphasize how wonderful nature and the rural meadows were by contrast to the man-made object of the fence.  Somehow it celebrated nature.

  194. 194.

    J R in WV

    @mrmoshpotato: ​
     

    As if Martin wasn’t arrested, beaten, and jailed, over and over. One of his more famous writings was “Letters From a Birmingham Jail,” wasn’t it? What ignorant dumbasses these RWNJ writers are!

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