A Deeply Fractured US

[FJAG]

Was it really about vindication, or just money?

Vindication and Accountability

That’s what one of Dominion’s lawyers said the company had achieved in a statement he made on the courthouse steps in Delaware after the judge announced that the defamation case the company had filed against Fox had been settled for $787.5 million in Dominion’s favor. John Paulos, the Dominion...

open.substack.com

One of the first things that you learn in law school in "torts" (ie civil law suits) is that very rarely can you correct the wrongs someone received at the hands of another. Usually the only way to begin making them whole is through money. It may sound like a cheap and tawdry way for justice to work but it's the best the courts have (and often you win an award from someone who can't pay - which really ads insult to injury)

Fox can afford to pay. So that's the really good news for Dominion.

Everyone who matters already knows that Fox News is an entertainment business that has very little to do anymore with real news. Maybe this will get the holdouts that still follow their "entertainment" department to think twice. But I doubt it. People do love having their confirmation bias stroked.

 

[KevinB]

One of the first things that you learn in law school in "torts" (ie civil law suits) is that very rarely can you correct the wrongs someone received at the hands of another. Usually the only way to begin making them whole is through money. It may sound like a cheap and tawdry way for justice to work but it's the best the courts have (and often you win an award from someone who can't pay - which really ads insult to injury)

Fox can afford to pay. So that's the really good news for Dominion.

Everyone who matters already knows that Fox News is an entertainment business that has very little to do anymore with real news. Maybe this will get the holdouts that still follow their "entertainment" department to think twice. But I doubt it. People do love having their confirmation bias stroked.

Agreed, I was just hoping for a trial for a lot of mud to be dragged out, and some more truths to come out.

 

[mariomike]

Handing over their lunch money without a fight made fox look weak. And vulnerable.

 

[KevinB]

Handing over their lunch money without a fight made fox look weak. And vulnerable.

A fight would have opened up the underbelly to some significant exposure, making even more damage, and potential requirements to alter their ‘journalistic’ approach.

That said it also would have forced Dominion into some admissions as well.

 

[Halifax Tar]

Handing over their lunch money without a fight made fox look weak. And vulnerable.

Kind of like how the west ran from Afghanistan, made the US look weak and vulnerable ?

 

[Remius]

A fight would have opened up the underbelly to some significant exposure, making even more damage, and potential requirements to alter their ‘journalistic’ approach.

I think this is it. It would have been far more damaging short and long term to have RM and many of his star personalities be forced to testify. Fox was desperate to settle even at that amount. I am surprised that it didn’t come with some sort of retraction statement but that was likely a factor in the amount settled on.

That said it also would have forced Dominion into some admissions as well.

Not sure what sort of admissions they would have been forced to make. From all accounts this was a slam dunk case.

 

[KevinB]

I think this is it. It would have been far more damaging short and long term to have RM and many of his star personalities be forced to testify. Fox was desperate to settle even at that amount. I am surprised that it didn’t come with some sort of retraction statement but that was likely a factor in the amount settled on.

Agreed

Not sure what sort of admissions they would have been forced to make. From all accounts this was a slam dunk case.

One of the outstanding issues that could have plagued Dominion is the issue that it was possible to alter votes after they have been entered. Now in all but one case it was proven this didn’t occur, and that one it wasn’t even proven it definitely did occur, but the fact that the system wasn’t as secure as portrayed would have been nice to have been fully explained and explored, and corrected, if for nothing else to remove any potential for claims in future elections.

TBH our election process needs to completely bipartisan overhaul. Starting with voter registration, and ensuring that vote harvesting cannot occur, as well as ensuring bipartisan support for the voting systems.
Which won’t occur as both sides are constantly trying to game the system and make the other party look guilty.

 

[brihard]

I am surprised that it didn’t come with some sort of retraction statement but that was likely a factor in the amount settled on.

Those inclined to believe the rampant lies about ‘the election was stolen’, and about Dominion specifically, are much more cult-like than they are rational. A retraction would have meant nothing to them; they would have found a way to mix it into the next jug of kool-aid. This isn’t a situation where the audience to the defamation were generally good faith actors, and a retraction could have meaningfully righted reputation so harm.

 

[PMedMoe]

Those inclined to believe the rampant lies about ‘the election was stolen’, and about Dominion specifically, are much more cult-like than they are rational. A retraction would have meant nothing to them; they would have found a way to mix it into the next jug of kool-aid. This isn’t a situation where the audience to the defamation were generally good faith actors, and a retraction could have meaningfully righted reputation so harm.

Yep. There's some numpties out there who (somehow) still think Faux won.

 

[QV]

Those inclined to believe the rampant lies about ‘the election was stolen’, and about Dominion specifically, are much more cult-like than they are rational. A retraction would have meant nothing to them; they would have found a way to mix it into the next jug of kool-aid. This isn’t a situation where the audience to the defamation were generally good faith actors, and a retraction could have meaningfully righted reputation so harm.

When its been demonstrated time and again that every institution and process can be, and has been, gamed to have an influence on outcomes, then it is entirely plausible that of the 1000s of elections that take place all are not 100% pure.

 

[kkwd]

Yep. There's some numpties out there who (somehow) still think Faux won.

Can you name those "numpties" for us so we can have an idea who to strike off our Twitter follow list.

 

[PMedMoe]

Can you name those "numpties" for us so we can have an idea who to strike off our Twitter follow list.

TBH, it was on Flipboard.

 

[brihard]

When its been demonstrated time and again that every institution and process can be, and has been, gamed to have an influence on outcomes, then it is entirely plausible that of the 1000s of elections that take place all are not 100% pure.

I said “those inclined to believe the rampant lies about ‘the election was stolen’”, not those with any shred of doubt about small parts of any part of electoral process. I’m clearly and exclusively talking about the results of the 2020 US presidential election which Trump and others continue falsely claimed was stolen by team Biden.

I stand by it, and I stand by my characterization of anyone holding those beliefs.

 

[kkwd]

TBH, it was on Flipboard.

Thanks for that. I've never heard of that, I'll take a look and see what they have there.

 

[kkwd]

Handing over their lunch money without a fight made fox look weak. And vulnerable.

Most suits are settled before during or even after a trial. It's quite simple, Fox admitted they did wrong and settled. The judge even praised both sides for their resolution. As for looking weak, if that is the standard you can add Nick Sandman to CNN and Washington Post's column. He sued for 275 million and received an undisclosed settlement. Fox is not the only one vulnerable, all media outlets need to take care.
Trials

 

[mariomike]

Those inclined to believe the rampant lies about ‘the election was stolen’, and about Dominion specifically, are much more cult-like than they are rational. A retraction would have meant nothing to them; they would have found a way to mix it into the next jug of kool-aid.

Playing "whataboutism" may be more comforting than wondering who their subscription $ will be paying off next, and for how much. Share holders may be wondering the same thing.

A day after agreeing to pay $787.5 million, they still face a $2.7 billion lawsuit from Smartmatic.

There are still ongoing defamation suits against Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo, Rudy G., Sidney Powell, OANN, the pillow guy, Newsmax, possibly others. ( Not sure if Ms. Pirro is on the list? )

Speaking of the pillow guy,

Mike Lindell's company told to pay $5 million in "Prove Mike Wrong" challenge

An arbitration panel awarded Robert Zeidman, who has decades in software development experience, a $5 million payout on Wednesday after he sued Lindell over the sum.

www.cbsnews.com

Stay classy, Oklahoma GOP.

From the Governor of Oklahoma,

Oklahoma officials accused of talk of killing journalists

Gov. Kevin Stitt is calling for the resignations of four officials in southeast Oklahoma after a newspaper's audio recording apparently captured some of them talking of knowing hit men and complaining about two of the paper's journalists.

apnews.com

Gov. Kevin Stitt said Sunday he was seeking the resignations of McCurtain County Sheriff Kevin Clardy and three other county officials: sheriff’s Capt. Alicia Manning, District 2 Commissioner Mark Jennings and Jail Administrator Larry Hendrix.

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is investigating the incident. Attorney General Gentner Drummond has announced his office is also investigating. The FBI has stated it does not confirm or deny active investigations.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Agreed

One of the outstanding issues that could have plagued Dominion is the issue that it was possible to alter votes after they have been entered. Now in all but one case it was proven this didn’t occur, and that one it wasn’t even proven it definitely did occur, but the fact that the system wasn’t as secure as portrayed would have been nice to have been fully explained and explored, and corrected, if for nothing else to remove any potential for claims in future elections.

TBH our election process needs to completely bipartisan overhaul. Starting with voter registration, and ensuring that vote harvesting cannot occur, as well as ensuring bipartisan support for the voting systems.
Which won’t occur as both sides are constantly trying to game the system and make the other party look guilty.

Throughout the entire history of the US, gaming the democratic system was going on. Gerrymandering, vote buy, voter harassment, fake/dead voter. It's all been done at one time or another.

 

[QV]

Throughout the entire history of the US, gaming the democratic system was going on. Gerrymandering, vote buy, voter harassment, fake/dead voter. It's all been done at one time or another.

It was just a whole lot more in 2020

It's quite ironic that while in 2020 the US had the most legit election in US history while under all our collective noses the CCP had it's thumb on the scales in Canada.

Mmmhmm.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Anyone that believes that there is no shenanigans in US elections, including 2020, is just naive. Canadian elections are better because of no machines, a smaller population and paper ballots, but as we've been seeing over the past few weeks, ours aren't foolproof either.

 

[brihard]

Anyone that believes that there is no shenanigans in US elections, including 2020, is just naive. Canadian elections are better because of no machines, a smaller population and paper ballots, but as we've been seeing over the past few weeks, ours aren't foolproof either.

But of course, there were all sorts of shenanigans. Criminal investigations have revealed some of them, likely with more to come. There’s no convincing evidence that any of it got anywhere close to impacting the ultimate outcome of the presidential race, despite some efforts to the contrary.