Nov 17, 2019 07:26 AM
(This post was last modified: Nov 17, 2019 07:38 AM by C C.)
Obama issues warning to 'revolutionary' Democrats
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50445743
EXCERPT: Former US President Barack Obama has issued a warning to Democratic presidential candidates, cautioning them against policies that are not "rooted in reality". Mr Obama said Democrats risked alienating voters if they lurched too far to the left politically. The former president, speaking at a fundraising event, said most voters didn't want to "tear down the system". Mr Obama is yet to publicly back a Democratic candidate. [...] They may be seen as a critique of senators Sanders and Warren - widely seen as two of the most left-wing candidates in the field. Both candidates have called for far-reaching political and economic change, including policies that would end private health insurance and decriminalise illegal border crossings. But Mr Obama, who occupied the White House from 2009 to 2017, said the country was "less revolutionary than it is interested in improvement". (MORE)
Murray Energy's "Slapp" against HBO's "Last Week Tonight"
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019...ray-energy
EXCERPT: . . . Last Week Tonight was sued by Bob Murray, the then CEO of Murray Energy, the largest private coal company in America, after the show did a segment highly critical of the coal executive. Since then, “because the case has been in litigation, we haven’t been able to discuss it”, John Oliver explained. But Murray recently dropped the lawsuit, “so we can finally tell you exactly what happened – which is honestly worth doing, not only because it’s a crazy story, but it actually points to a much bigger problem here”.
[...] “Obviously, the lawsuit was a bullshit attempt to silence us,” Oliver continued, “perhaps best exemplified by a motion that Murray filed to try to get a gag order to prevent us from rebroadcasting the story or even having it up online.” The lawsuit was, unsurprisingly, dismissed by a West Virginia court last February, but Murray appealed the case to the West Virginia supreme court. The case languished there for over a year before Murray dropped it.
Which raises the question: “What was the point of him putting us through all of this in the first place?” Oliver asked. “I would argue that winning the case was never really his goal.” And that intent connects to Oliver’s larger issue of the day: Slapp (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) lawsuits. Slapp suits are, Oliver explained, “frivolous suits with no legal merit specifically designed to stifle public debate or dissent.
“The whole point is to put the defendant through a difficult, painful experience and even if cases fail in lower court, as they often do, the plaintiffs can find ways to extend them through intensive discovery requests, depositions and appeals that drain the defendants’ time and resources. Pretty much everyone from judges to legal scholars agree that Slapp suits are a scourge,” Oliver continued, which is why 30 states have some sort of anti-Slapp legislation, usually requiring plaintiffs to sufficiently justify their claims early in the process. But that means 20 states do not have such laws – including West Virginia, where Murray filed his suit against Oliver despite neither of them living in the state.
[...] This was the point, Oliver said: “Lawsuits are like famous Instagram pugs – they don’t have to work to be considered very, very successful. “By cultivating a reputation for being aggressively litigious, Murray may have actually got what he wanted and successfully applied a chokehold to how he is covered." (MORE - details)
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/Cj4fEqDZib0
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50445743
EXCERPT: Former US President Barack Obama has issued a warning to Democratic presidential candidates, cautioning them against policies that are not "rooted in reality". Mr Obama said Democrats risked alienating voters if they lurched too far to the left politically. The former president, speaking at a fundraising event, said most voters didn't want to "tear down the system". Mr Obama is yet to publicly back a Democratic candidate. [...] They may be seen as a critique of senators Sanders and Warren - widely seen as two of the most left-wing candidates in the field. Both candidates have called for far-reaching political and economic change, including policies that would end private health insurance and decriminalise illegal border crossings. But Mr Obama, who occupied the White House from 2009 to 2017, said the country was "less revolutionary than it is interested in improvement". (MORE)
Murray Energy's "Slapp" against HBO's "Last Week Tonight"
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019...ray-energy
EXCERPT: . . . Last Week Tonight was sued by Bob Murray, the then CEO of Murray Energy, the largest private coal company in America, after the show did a segment highly critical of the coal executive. Since then, “because the case has been in litigation, we haven’t been able to discuss it”, John Oliver explained. But Murray recently dropped the lawsuit, “so we can finally tell you exactly what happened – which is honestly worth doing, not only because it’s a crazy story, but it actually points to a much bigger problem here”.
[...] “Obviously, the lawsuit was a bullshit attempt to silence us,” Oliver continued, “perhaps best exemplified by a motion that Murray filed to try to get a gag order to prevent us from rebroadcasting the story or even having it up online.” The lawsuit was, unsurprisingly, dismissed by a West Virginia court last February, but Murray appealed the case to the West Virginia supreme court. The case languished there for over a year before Murray dropped it.
Which raises the question: “What was the point of him putting us through all of this in the first place?” Oliver asked. “I would argue that winning the case was never really his goal.” And that intent connects to Oliver’s larger issue of the day: Slapp (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) lawsuits. Slapp suits are, Oliver explained, “frivolous suits with no legal merit specifically designed to stifle public debate or dissent.
“The whole point is to put the defendant through a difficult, painful experience and even if cases fail in lower court, as they often do, the plaintiffs can find ways to extend them through intensive discovery requests, depositions and appeals that drain the defendants’ time and resources. Pretty much everyone from judges to legal scholars agree that Slapp suits are a scourge,” Oliver continued, which is why 30 states have some sort of anti-Slapp legislation, usually requiring plaintiffs to sufficiently justify their claims early in the process. But that means 20 states do not have such laws – including West Virginia, where Murray filed his suit against Oliver despite neither of them living in the state.
[...] This was the point, Oliver said: “Lawsuits are like famous Instagram pugs – they don’t have to work to be considered very, very successful. “By cultivating a reputation for being aggressively litigious, Murray may have actually got what he wanted and successfully applied a chokehold to how he is covered." (MORE - details)