LiesDissolving
UnderOathVille
WUSA, a film released in 1970 that was based Robert Stone's first book 'Hall of Mirrors', is the story of how easily a grifter can shape-shift into a propagandist for money, influence and power.
It was as insightful then as it is today.
The following is from the real life story of the Dominion Voting Machines' defamation suit against FOX News published yesterday by Jeremy Peters in the NY Times:
It was as insightful then as it is today.
The following is from the real life story of the Dominion Voting Machines' defamation suit against FOX News published yesterday by Jeremy Peters in the NY Times:
At the center of this imagined plot (to steal the 2020 presidential election) were machines from Dominion Voting Systems, which (Trump election fraud trumpeter) Ms. (Sydney) Powell claimed ran an algorithm that switched votes for Mr. Trump to votes for Joseph R. Biden Jr. Dominion machines, she insisted, were being used “to trash large batches of votes.”
Mr. (Sean) Hannity interrupted her (while interviewing her on FOX) with a gentle question that had been circulating among election deniers, despite a lack of supporting proof: Why were Democrats silencing whistle blowers who could prove this fraud?
Did Mr. Hannity believe any of this?
“I did not believe it for one second."
That was the answer Mr. Hannity gave, under oath, in a deposition in Dominion’s $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News, according to information disclosed in a court hearing on Wednesday. The hearing was called to address several issues that need to be resolved before the case heads for a jury trial, which the judge has scheduled to begin in April...
Surprise!
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3 comments:
The Criminal Code of Canada used to have a section that would deal nicely with the danger posed by the likes of Hannity et al, but alas nobody was ever convicted on it, and it was found to be unconstitutional by our Supreme Court in 1992. It stayed on the books until repealed in 2019.
“Spreading false news
181 Every one who wilfully publishes a statement, tale or news that he knows is false and that causes or is likely to cause injury or mischief to a public interest is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years.”
Any proposed similar law would stand a snowball’s chance in the Excited States of course given the First Amendment, and so nothing prevents a major “news” network like Fox or even a sitting President from publicly promoting ideas like Italian space satellites or Chinese home thermostats being used to change entered votes on voting machines that aren’t even connected to the Internet.
Nothing that is, except the civil court. And so despite the ability of Fox and its slimy crew to hoodwink tens of millions of gullible followers, the fate of Mr. Murdoch’s pride and joy will depend on whether one judge and one jury will be such easy marks.
I hope and must believe they aren’t, and that this is just the beginning of the much-deserved downfall for these and many other Trump enablers.
A couple of years ago, Tucker Carlson was sued for defamation.
https://www.findlaw.com/legalblogs/greedy-associates/tucker-carlson-successfully-argues-nobody-really-believes-tucker-carlson-is-reporting-facts/
From what I can glean from the tepee lawyers, it’s almost fair game to lie as some lies are protected speech under their first amendment, the only place one can’t lie is in a legal proceeding.
However, this case may end up differently as there is a trail of documents which appear to show fox and friends knew they were pumping out propaganda for the crazies.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/dec/11/rupert-murdoch-fox-dominion-lawsuit-deposition
And yea, what they will do for money, but are you surprised.
Thanks for your insights Keith and Lew--
The thing that bugs me most is that so many media organs still take discredited propagandists like this seriously rather than dismissing them as the dishonest brokers that they are.
Put another way, if serial liars don't pay any price for their behaviour why should they stop (especially when they are monetarily incentivized to do the opposite?
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