Sarah Palin, former Miss Wasilla and once part-time Temp-Governor of Alaska, had her libel suit against the New York Timesthrown of of court. In an editorial, the Timeserroneously linked Ms. Palin’s rhetoric to specific incidents of political gun violence, but quickly issued a correction. The judge found that the plaintiff’s case did not rise to the level of harm established as libel by the Supreme Court. In an unusual move, the judge made his ruling while the jury was deliberating, and the jury, independently, reached the same conclusion.
Sarah Palin, the proto-Trump, will probably appeal.
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, British/American stand-up comedian, cricketer, and former London Lord Mayor, the Monty Python character currently serving as UK Prime Minister, is well in it for a spingtime garden party at his current abode, No. 10 Downing Street. It was a “bring your own bottle” party for staff. Very plesant-sounding. So why is everyone giving him stick?
The boozy party was on May 20, 2020, during a COVID lockdown strickly limiting outdoor gatherings and imposing fines up to £10,000 ($13,715) on violators. On that same day, there were 328 COVID-related deaths in the UK.
Mr. Johnson apologized before Parliament, but “Partygate” might be the scandal that finally gets BoJo made redundant and booted from office.
More:
“‘The party’s over, Boris’: what the papers say about Johnson’s No 10 crisis,” Graham Russell, The Guardian
“What next for Boris Johnson after his party apology?” Laura Kuenssberg, BBC News
Updates:
“Boris Johnson’s staff accused of more rule-breaking parties inside No 10,” BBC News
“On eve of Prince Philip’s funeral, Downing Street held lockdown parties,” Karla Adam, Washington Post
“Met police accused over failure to investigate No 10 lockdown parties,” Vikram Dodd, The Guardian
“Nobody warned me drinks event was against rules – Boris Johnson,” BBC News
“‘In the Name of God, Go’: Boris Johnson Told to Resign Over Boozy Lockdown Parties,” Jamie Ross, Daily Beast
Updated Updates:
“Boris Johnson ‘birthday bash’ added to list of alleged lockdown parties,” William Booth, Washington Post
“London police to investigate Downing Street parties during lockdown, raising stakes for Boris Johnson,” William Booth, Washington Post
The ex-girlfiend of Florida Man and well-known congressional sleazebagMatt Gaetz (R, FL-1) testified to a federal grand jury investigating him on underage sex-trafficking and other charges. The young woman has been in talks for months with prosecutors about an immunity deal, NBC reports, hoping to avoid prosecution for obstruction of justice in return for testifying as to whether Gaetz paid a 17-year-old female for sex and violated a federal law prohibiting people for paying for prostitutes overseas. This testimony is seen as a sign that the grand jury is moving closer to indicting Trump idolator Gaetz.
More:
“Matt Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend testifies to grand jury in sex trafficking probe,” Marc Caputo, NBC News
Update:
“Matt Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend granted immunity before testifying in sex trafficking probe,” Michael Kaplan, CBS News
Right-wing youth indoctrination outfit Turning Point USA (known to us as Trump-Jugend) has been paying teenagers sub-minimum wages to fill social media platforms with attacks on Democratic candidates and disinformation about coronavirus. Twitter and Facebook noticed and shut down the adolescents’ accounts last month. Yesterday, Facebook removed more “inauthentic accounts”and banned Rally Forge, the political marketing firm that helped Turning Point’s Charlie Kirk turn out the teen trolls. Rally Forge is owned by Arizona Republican official Jake Hoffman, who is also behind a phantom campaign called “Navajos for Trump.”
More:
“Facebook bans marketing firm running ‘troll farm’ for pro-Trump youth group,” Isaac Stanley-Becker, Washington Post
Astoundingly, “on-shoring,” one of Donald Trump’s political promises, is happening. His 2020 campaign’s troll farms have moved from Russia to Arizona. A branch of right-wing youth indoctrination outfit Turning Point USA (known to us as Trump-Jugend) has been paying teenagers sub-minimum wages to fill social media platforms with attacks on Democratic candidates and disinformation about coronavirus. Twitter and Facebook finally noticed and shut down the teen accounts this week.
Turning Point Action, an arm of the nominally-nonprofit Turning Point USA, contracted right-wing social media company Rally Forge (get it?) to coordinate the teen trolls’ spamming. Funding may have flowed through shadow political action groups Turning Point PAC and/or RallyPAC. Turning Point USA, Turning Point Action, and Students for Trump are all headed by Charlie Kirk. Rally Forge and RallyPAC are both run by Jake Hoffman. Turning Point Action and Rally Forge are also behind a phantom campaign called “Navajos for Trump.”
More:
“Pro-Trump youth group enlists teens in secretive campaign likened to a ‘troll farm,’ prompting rebuke by Facebook and Twitter,” Isaac Stanley-Becker, Washington Post
Related:
“Turning Point USA co-founder dies of coronavirus-related complications,” Daniel Lippman and Tina Nguyen, Politico
“Pro-Trump super PAC backed solely by bank executive used donations to fund Facebook conspiracy meme campaign,” Brian Schwartz, CNBC
CNN Political Commentator Rick Santorum, former Republican Senator and erstwhile Pope of Pennsylvania, is now on the board of a blockchain-y digital coin called Cathio, “a new payment, remittance and funding platform which provides efficient, secure, and transparent movement of funds within the Catholic world,” promising to provide a “turnkey solution for Catholic organizations to bring their financial transactions into alignment with their beliefs.” “Turnkey”? Wouldn’t that be St. Peter?
How did a Pennsylvania politico get involved with Vatican Venmo? Maybe it’s because his son-in-law is the firm’s CEO.
More:
“Rick Santorum Is a Cryptocurrency Guy Now, Apparently,” Tom Mckay, Gizmodo
“Santorum, Schlapp Shill For Catholic Crypto Coin Whose Founder Has Sketchy Past,” Josh Kovensky, TPM Muckraker
Wayne LaPierre isn’t on the CPAC agenda, but since the NRA is CPAC’s biggest sponsor and the biggest donor to GOP campaigns, he’s certain to deliver his usual demagoguery. There’s a half-hour slot on Thursday’s agenda at 10 AM marked “Special Programming,” so that’s our bet. Mike Pence will bless the gathered wingnuts afterwards, at 10:30.
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