Today is Monday April 17, 2023. Fox Newscorp and Dominion were scheduled to have a trial begin today yet the actual basis of this trial is now still being spun by not just Faux Spews but other more reputable sources as well. Seems laziness has infested our corporate-owned media outlets of all varieties. New meat will eat up attention so I’ll drop this here and repost later on fresh meat. (Forum is difficult to follow for me on mobile.) NYT has an article about the Dominion vs Faux Spews trial. They are shaping their reporting on the trial as a question of whether or not Faux Spews lied and is that a first amendment right even if it defames. Yet this is not true—it is Fox’s spin on the trial. Dominion won a summary judgement on the material facts of the case, namely that Fox lied. Repeatedly and knowing lied to its viewers. The judge frankly and clearly stated there was nothing presented by Fox to counter this finding as presented by Dominion via Fox’s own internal communications and public presentations. The question at hand during this trial is the willful and knowingly malice part. Did Faux Spews knowingly defame Dominion for their own benefit? If so, Dominion stands to be awarded much more than they are suing for ($1.6B) in punitive damages. Why the NYT is getting this wrong is beyond me unless I am misunderstanding. (Full text from email newsletter as I don’t believe it violates fair use as it was sent as an email teaser to draw to article.) “A First Amendment case Starting tomorrow, Fox News is scheduled to be on trial. Dominion Voting Systems, which makes voting machines, is suing the cable news network for $1.6 billion. Dominion claims that Fox spread a false conspiracy theory that its machines were rigged against Donald Trump in the 2020 election. The trial had been set to start today, but the judge overseeing the case announced a one-day delay last night. Fox may be seeking to settle the case before a trial can begin, The Wall Street Journal reported. We have already seen some of the evidence for Dominion’s side. Texts and emails uncovered through the lawsuit show that several of Fox’s executives, hosts and producers privately doubted the claims against Dominion, which were promoted by Trump, but amplified them on the air anyway. Even with this evidence, Dominion may not have an easy time winning the case because of legal protections for media companies. Those protections were established by a 1964 Supreme Court ruling, New York Times v. Sullivan, based on the First Amendment’s safeguards for freedom of speech and the press. The ruling requires that defamation lawsuits by public figures against media companies prove “actual malice,” meaning that journalists must have known an allegation was false but broadcast it anyway or have acted so recklessly that they overlooked the facts. “It is an incredibly high bar to prove,” said my colleague Katie Robertson, who is covering the lawsuit. The case will test whether Fox’s brand of journalism — which includes a long record of spreading falsehoods (such as about where Barack Obama was born) — is legally vulnerable. Today’s newsletter will look at both sides of the case and its broader implications. What is Dominion’s argument? There is no doubt that Trump’s allegations against Dominion were false. The judge overseeing the case, Eric Davis of the Delaware Superior Court, has already ruled that Dominion won’t have to prove that the claims were wrong during the trial. Its task will be proving actual malice, as well as proving financial damage because of the coverage. To do that, Dominion will point to a trove of texts, emails and other documents showing that Fox News’s leaders and hosts doubted the claims against Dominion but aired them anyway. Referring to claims that Dominion’s software rigged the election, Tucker Carlson texted his producer, Alex Pfeiffer, that the idea was “absurd.” He also texted that Sidney Powell, one of Trump’s lawyers, was “lying.” Yet Carlson later argued on his show, “This is a real issue no matter who raises it or who tries to dismiss it out of hand as a conspiracy theory.” Why did Carlson do this? It seems the answer has to do with his audience. Carlson initially cast doubt on Powell’s claims on air, saying, “She never demonstrated that a single actual vote was moved illegitimately by software from one candidate to another. Not one.” His audience revolted, criticizing him for questioning a Trump ally. Carlson then walked back his public skepticism on air. It’s a recurring theme in the texts and emails. Fox’s leaders and hosts expressed doubt about the conspiracy theory in private, but they also raised concerns about “respecting our audience.” To avoid losing viewers to competitors like Newsmax, Fox hosts and producers seemingly chose to broadcast and support the claims by Trump and his allies. What is Fox News’s argument? Fox News previously argued that even though it knew the claims against Dominion were false, it had to cover them anyway because they were newsworthy. But Judge Davis has ruled that Fox won’t be able to make that argument in the trial. “Just because someone is newsworthy,” he said, referring to Trump and his lawyers, “doesn’t mean you can defame someone.” Without that argument, Fox has focused on others. The network argues that Dominion still needs to prove that Fox’s hosts — who ultimately decide what to air — knew the claims were false and broadcast them anyway. And Fox claims that at least some of the hosts genuinely believed the allegations and therefore were not intentionally defaming anyone. Mostly, though, Fox is relying on Dominion failing to clear the high legal standard established by New York Times v. Sullivan. Dominion, not Fox, has the burden of proof. Legal experts have said that Dominion’s case is stronger than most defamation lawsuits but that the company still may not win. “Proving this in a legal sense is more complicated than proving it in the court of public opinion,” said my colleague Jim Rutenberg, who wrote a Times Magazine article about the case. What are the implications? Fox News argues that if it loses, the case will do irreparable damage to press freedoms, opening all news outlets to lawsuits. “A free-flowing, robust American discourse depends on First Amendment protections for the press’ news gathering and reporting,” a network spokesperson said in a statement. Some legal experts argue the opposite, saying that a loss for Fox could bolster protections for the press. Fox’s actions in covering the 2020 election were so egregious, the argument goes, that any legal standard that protected them would be no standard at all: For First Amendment protections to endure, news organizations need to be held accountable for knowingly spreading false and damaging information. Sign up for our newsletter recapping the latest Fox-Dominion trial updates.”

President Biden made some remarks about the pandemic being over although we still have much to do regarding this SARS-Cov2 virus. I will let you decide how he meant what he said. https://www.npr.org/2022/09/19/1123767437/joe-biden-covid-19-pandemic-over https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna48266 https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-says-the-pandemic-is-over-even-death-toll-costs-mount-2022-09-19/ One public health professional wrote this and his sentiments are echoed by many others. Dear Mr. Klain and colleagues-- I’ve been a Democrat all my life. I’ve traveled to other states to work on get out the vote for the party and I come from a Republican family. And yes, I even volunteered for the President’s transition team for a few weeks at the end of 2020 as some of you will know.Nothing, nothing has made me more disgusted by our party than what the President said on 60 Minutes last night about the COVID-19 pandemic being over. You all in your bubble think it’s just politics, particularly the old-timers, and for some who are new to government service you see no way of objecting or for the deeply ambitious among you will say anything to get ahead But what the President said, what you have all consented to, is deeply craven, cynical, and dishonors our 1M+ dead and those who have fought to keep people alive and safe. 500 people are dying per day in the US. COVID, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation was the 2nd leading cause of death in the week of September 9.We lead in overall COVID mortality and excess deaths among the G7. Life expectancy in the US is down and has not rebounded. Hundreds of thousands of Americans are likely to suffer from long COVID. And we’re grossly under-vaccinated and under-boosted as a country. These are the facts. You choose to ignore them out of political expediency, seeing no “win” for the mid-terms or 2024 in any real response from the White House on this disease. You’re counting votes. Many of us are just counting bodies. Please don’t comfort yourselves by saying you are doing all you can do, the country is “tired” and you cannot do more. At least call it what it is: capitulation. It’s akin to President Bush’s Mission Accomplished moment from 2003 and will be remembered as such, but perhaps with more scorn in history as the carnage is here at home, not in Iraq. Saying the pandemic is over gets no one vaccinated, no one boosted. Saying the pandemic is over, gets no one access to care and treatment if they have no insurance. Saying the pandemic is over, does not refurbish the ventilation in a single school building. Saying the pandemic is over, puts no food on the table of someone who is out of work from long COVID or from simply a bout of the disease that sidelines them for a week from a job that pays only if you show up. Saying the pandemic is over gets you nothing but brings suffering and death to too many. I cheered on Election night. I cheered when you made your initial appoints in public health, medicine and science. I cheered when I read your initial plan to combat the pandemic. Now? How has it all gone so badly? More dead under your watch than under President Trump’s.Clearly those of us in public health who still see unfinished business in a pandemic that is taking a devastating toll on this country will have to do this alone. But we will also bear witness to a story of people who once devoted themselves to public service, to the health and happiness of all Americans, but who put their own political interests and career prospects first—there is no other way to explain.I’ve heard the excuses from some of you directly, the I’m-doing-all-I-can-do-you-just-can’t-see-it self-justifications. But I’m over it. This is what happens when some Americans become disposable people. I saw it with HIV/AIDS, I see it now. You may say, there is no use in speaking up, doing more if we don’t win elections and you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet.But many of us see you for what you are people who lost their way on the way up. History will not be kind to you. Best regards Gregg Gonsalves Unfortunately, although I agree with everything Mr. Gonslaves wrote above, there is a political and societal reality within which we all live here in the US. That reality is reflected in the vaccination numbers cited in the articles above. Our under 5 vax rates are atrocious and our rates throughout the age spectrum is not much better. Our booster rates are far behind what is recommended and even vaxxed and boosted folks here at SAV are questioning whether to seek the new bivalent immediately as become eligible or wait and time their ‘boost’ for fall and holidays—I am not going to say that is good or bad, it just is what it is. This is sadly the societal reality we live in at present. The political reality is that there has been a concerted effort by a very large faction of the GQP who have been very effective in politicizing this public health issue. So effective that it is not just MAGAt and GQP diehards questioning covid mitigation measures but folks of all stripes. Couple that reality with the very real efforts of that same GQP to destroy democracy in favor of a fascist authoritarianism and a citizenry too wrapped up in their own lives or too stupid to understand they are being played and the tragic reality is that our present government could try to mandate vaccines, mandate more mitigation measures, mandate more stringent workplace rules and possible save a few lives—but then lose the House and Senate because, as our vax rates demonstrate, not enough US citizens care or understand that this virus isn’t done with us. Do we really think a GQP congress is going to do any better? Is the loss of our democracy worth it even though we have now seen that these mandates will NOT be acceptable to enough among us who will fail to understand the benefits of the same? The same people who have not been vaxxed yet but also those skipping out in boosters or getting their kids vaxxed will probably not be enamored of mandates—that is just a reality. https://erictopol.substack.com/p/to-boost-or-not-to-boost Personally I am furious with the GQP and its taking our country hostage over the past fifty years—all culminating in the inability of majority rule to effect the good policies we need to protect our most vulnerable citizens. We are now faced with a choice of saving more folks with good public health policies or losing our democracy and also losing any public health policy protections as well. That is not an acceptable choice but it is the unpleasant reality we face today.

Ever wonder why the GQP and those who own that party and its elected assholes do not care that their BS about covid (and damn near everything else) don’t seem to care that their misinformation and politicization of public health is killing primarily their constituents like the ignorant moronic and downright stupid antivaxxers featured here? It is actually pretty simple—they feel they don’t need them as voters. This is the GQP and their owners’ end-game. This is for all the marbles and could very well allow fascism to finally be achieved here in US. Unfortunately there are too many independents and even Democrats who are oblivious to the implications of what Moscow Mitch and all the other GQP enablers have been working on via their well-funded think tanks and non-profit organizations. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/moore-v-harper-explained This goes directly against the very heart of American democracy and its foundational system of checks and balances. https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article265448061.html

Thanks to the Federalist Society and over 70 years of concerted effort by the oligarchs to take control of the Supreme Court we are watching in real time how democracy ends. The RW activist justices took away female privacy and self-determination and state a clump of nonviable cells are humans with rights but the woman carrying those cells is not worthy of the same consideration and rights. Then they gut the federal government’s ability to enforce regulations through agencies established under the executive branch. Now they seek to take away federal oversight over the electoral college and even state’s courts to consider state constitutions when ruling in voting cases which would allow legislatures to ignore the popular votes in their state and select a slate of electoral college electors regardless of the vote. This is the same playbook used to attempt the coup of Jan 6 in tandem with the violent insurrection (meant to indicate the traitors mean business while also delaying the process for select states to produce and present the alternate slates of electors to steal the election from Biden. If the SCOTUS rules as we know they were appointed to rule they will make this totally legal and remove the guard-rail of state supreme courts protecting the majorities in states from having their votes disregarded by state legislators as they certify their preferred slate of electors to the electoral college. This process has been in play since the 1960’s and accelerated in the past 40 some years since Raygun’s term. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/07/01/democracy-advocates-raise-alarm-after-supreme-court-takes-election-case/ Good reads on this subject: "Dark Money" (2016), "Democracy in Chains" (2017); "Evil Geniuses" (2020) These tomes expose a stealth plan, overseen by radical right-wing billionaires determined to "liberate" themselves from all effective government limitations on their actions and accumulation of wealth.

I give Tesla six months before the board shitcans Musk or the stock tanks or both. https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/01/tech/elon-musk-tesla-ends-work-from-home/index.html

Originally posted in commentary for a SAVer but thought it would work here as well. All of this is connected. Someone posted the preamble to constitution. Others posted how there is so much disdain and distrust in government and those elitist “experts”. Someone else posted about how their ’friend’ was a MAGA idiot who thought we are not a democracy at all but just a representative republic. Of course they had no idea about the branches of government nor how many SCOTUS justices sat in that court. Just astonishing to me how effective movement conservatism has been. As for government in a deomcratic representative republic (they somehow forget the democratic part because of the fucking propaganda): This is the thing that movement conservatism has wrought—the “othering” of government. Yet right in the preamble it gives the very basis of our democratic representative republic (the Q-tards and conservatives love to point out the republic BS): “WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES”. As in WE are the government—through our elected representatives. And how did this happen to so many dipshits here in US? Two words: movement conservatism. Find wedge issues (anti-union, pro 2A, anti-abortion, anti-immigrant, anti-public health, etc etc ad nauseam) and pound on them and then connect them to every evil those socialist commie demoncrats are doing. These wedge issues distract from the GQP’s lack of policy and goals that might actually help the vast majority of citizens—in fact would even help the minority richest and corporations as a stable world and economy is just better for all. Everyone has to eat and drink safely or be protected from public health issues like deadly viruses lor the fucking factories shut down. And everyone needs a living wage or they cannot be secure and able to buy all the crap being sold much less houses and food and cars etc. The fact is that the GQP, via those who have bought and paid for them, has lost sight of these realities. And there are no more “moderate“ GQP—they may think they are but conservatism has devolved into ONLY a quest towards authoritarian fascism. Liz Cheney voted more in line with the Orange Shitgoblin than Stefanik. This is the reality and anyone supporting the present Republican party needs to acknowledge this and fucking own it. The numbnuts falling for the carnival barkers are just useful idiots and pawns and they have no clue they are just so much expendable trash to their own party—including those who still think there is actually a “moderate” wing of the GQP.

I am noticing a lot of newcomers pushing back on “off topic” posts in the commentary sections. These folks all seem to come from the rightward end of the political spectrum. Some describe themselves as such and others just slowly reveal this after many postings with their wording and sources and/or statements. Yet these are the loudest voices against “off-topic” discussions despite the very stark fact that the topic is anti-maskers/anti-vaxxers/anti-public health vocal proponents who repeat all the same propaganda and bullshit on their social media and then die or suffer severe damages from the very same virus they shitpost about. And non of their shitposting is original—copy-paste BS developed and repeated primarily in right-wing echo chambers as a wedge issue to garner support for movement conservatism and their candidates. This is very troubling for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that those calling for this censorship are the very people who need to take a good hard look at who they support and those people’s actions that contribute to the deaths and harm of innocents—including the wedge issue of the 2A. Supporting one part of the party engaged in their propaganda fed wedge issue politics means support of ALL that party and that movement represents. They should be proud to defend their support and proud to own it as well—not sweep the uncomfortable reality under the rug or drive it away from the more popular and contemporaneous discussions on the commentary pages and to the less popular and less well-visited forum pages. I understand the difficulty of managing and moderating a site like this (been there, done that) but if education is truly the goal of this site than pushing uncomfortable (to some) discussions out of the limelight does everyone a disservice especially since it is demonstrably a life and death issue and only one political end of the spectrum apparently doesn’t give a shit if people live or die just as long as they can maintain their position of minority power. If you support this than I say have the courage of your convictions and own it and defend your position. In the interest of educational discourse we should all be happy to have a civilized conversation about the underlying issues driving the issue at hand here at SAV.

Perhaps a word about one-dimensional media is needed? A reminder that not everyone is articulate in the written word and that upwards of 90% of communication is actually non-verbal—visual and auditory cues that give context to what words are being used. These non-verbal cues are entirely absent on one-dimensional written media. This reality requires a bit of self-reflection when reacting to what has been written and then read on these comment boards—especially important on emotionally charged subject matter such as anti-vaxxers’ self chosen demise which is so broadly tied into the over-arching social milieu that seems to be full of disinformation and outright lies turning US society (and to a lesser extent global society) into a cesspool of “us” vs “them”. Just a friendly reminder and not meant to come off as self-righteous or scolding. But, alas, in this one-dimensional media it may very well read that way. Be well all and please try to take care of yourselves and others coming here to vent. This pandemic has ripped off the scabs of social rot brought about by love of, and pursuit of, power and $$ at any cost.

There has been a fair amount of discussion regarding Fauci’s latest public comments on this covid pandemic. I think Fauci is correct. We here in US have entered a transition phase in this pandemic. Two separate interviews I have read about Fauci’s comments both indicate he does not think we are out of the pandemic completely but are transitioning toward an endemic phase. He also indicated that, as with everything else covid, there remains much uncertainty because the world is definitely not in the same place the US is currently. This is a reality—serum surveillance indicates that upwards of 2/3s of all Americans have been infected and a national vax rate of 54-56% coupled with the prior infection rate has bestowed some measure of population level immunity. This immunity is not sterilizing immunity (prevent infections with Omicron variants) but life-saving immunity (prevent serious illness and/or death) among those with persistent prior-infection immunity but more so with vaccinated with or without a prior or subsequent infection. Granted, those with only a prior infection acquired immunity are still rolling the dice as we know that immunity is variable in strength and durability. However, we also now have actual effective therapeutics to treat and prevent serious illness and death. The above facts present an interesting reality—anti-vaxxers can say, “see, natural immunity helped us get to ”herd immunity” without those dangerous vaccines“ and “we have therapeutics now.” Granted many still rely on debunked efficacy of IVM and HCQ and all the associated snake oil ‘cures’ and not so much the monoclonals, anti-virals, and remdesivir but they are factually correct. However, as many pointed out when the dipshits released their Great Barrington Declaration, the cost of attaining ”herd immunity” by the “let er rip and let doG sort em out” was extremely steep in its human toll. Pro-vaccinators can now point out that, “see, your policy of let er rip was unnecessarily painful and extremely damaging—in terms of needlessly wasted or injured human lives, economic terms, and in holding society together through our societal compacts of doing what is best for the vast majority.” This is also factually correct. Unfortunately too many (even among the non-antivaxxer folks) will recognize the benefit of this painfully acquired population level immunity without acknowledging the truly painful and unnecessary costs. I think Fauci is correct in that we are in a transitioning phase here in US and the challenge now is recognizing this and somehow coming to terms with the absolute demonstrated reality that a significant portion of our population will actively work against the common good if the effort to do so even slightly inconveniences them.This is a difficult reality to acknowledge. Yet, somehow, we do need to acknowledge this and worse yet, try to figure out how to move forward as communities knowing this is the reality. I struggle with this daily as I would prefer not to do business with nor associate with people who are actively demonstrating they couldn’t give a damn about the well-being of those around them because of their political or religious or propagandized beliefs. Additionally, there are just too damn many of these types to effectively avoid doing business and still function. It is a challenge and I wonder how others are approaching or dealing with this transition.

Putting this out there for anyone still using Twitter, Fecesbook, etc who has followed some of our featured SAVers. I keep hoping to find out what happened to Heidi Ho after her Super (spreader) bowl party. Especially after she actually commented a few times on her own post. We know Friesen is still shitposting and generally continuing to be a RQNJ in Canada. Some others to follow like QT and more. Have at it all you folks with great sleuthing skills.