I feel like we’re experiencing Mueller 2.0 – only worse.
At least in the case of the Mueller investigation it was deflated by a sick, despicable Attorney General who’d done the same thing for a different President the first time he held the post. (Doing a repeat was why he lobbied Trump for the job!) A skilled lawyer who knew all too well just how to go about it. This time, it was the supposed good guys, Dominion who punctured the balloon of accountability.
The title pic is a version of something attributed to Lenin although some say it was Marx who first expressed it but it doesn’t matter. American business will sell out for enough money no matter the cost to everyone and everything else.
Let’s be clear. 787 million is a lot of money, even to someone as rich at Rupert Murdoch and/or his media empire. To virtually anyone reading this it’s an unimaginable sum. However, for Murdoch and Fox in the grand scheme of things it’s a speeding ticket. Okay, maybe a really big one like for reckless driving. And the hit to their stock price stings some too but, and this is the important part that’s recoverable. Why do I say that?
Because for all the talk about (and from) Dominion before yesterday it supposedly wasn’t just about the money.
But in the end it WAS!
Up until Tuesday afternoon, before the delay in the start of opening statements turned into hours indicating there was something to the last-minute settlement buzz Dominion’s position was that it wanted more than money. After all, it’s been noted already they could have gotten an equally hefty chunk of money from Fox (with a non-disclosure agreement except probably for the amount becoming public) six months ago. Or even one after a pi$$ed off judge who was sick of Fox’s antic in discovery started releasing some of what their “talent” has said about Trump in private. Once that first tranche became public you have to know Fox was begging Dominion to settle.
Dominion kept pushing, and if you’re like me you believed (fervently) that since they had such a strong case, one that had all the elements of meeting the Sullivan Standard of actual malice that Dominion was demanding Fox be held accountable not just financially but more importantly for their blatant disinformation. Their repeated LIES.
LIES I should note have done incalculable damage to this country.
I think it’s a quite fair accusation against Dominion today to say that no, they were simply and only trying to leverage the highest “right now” payout they could get, with the details including the money coming quickly. No appeals. No foot dragging, at least without additional financial penalty attached. It was a “Just gimme my money. NOW” type of thing.
Ok, so they got Fox to “admit wrongdoing” but clearly they gave free reign to Fox to write the most lame, weak-a$$ed statement possible which I might add cannot in any way be construed as an apology. Fox said some things they reported turned out not to be correct. A feather hitting a heavyweight boxer’s forehead has more force!
WHATÂ THEÂ Â F**K????????????????
That single written statement released minutes after the settlement was announced was it. The evening hosts of what I refer to as the “Three Hour White Power Hour” which spent years promoting the Big Lie didn’t even bring up the settlement! And they sure as hell didn’t acknowledge putting on guests or themselves saying that “incorrect information was aired” much less apologize!
Literally as I’m writing this Dominion’s lead lawyer is on Nicole Wallace’s show (she’s off today) bloviating about accountability and the judge noting that Fox had lied and pretending that Dominion had gotten all it could. She literally just stated the legal system isn’t set up to generate an apology. She’s even putting DOWN the “value of a forced apology” and I call BULL SH!T.
Yes, it was a gamble to continue in the hopes of a large Compensatory Damages award from the jury, and had the case proceeded Dominion could have forced on-air retractions and even if semi-lame apologies on their shows from Fox personalities (they sure as hell aren’t journalists!) but Fox viewers, the bulk of whom get their “news” from Fox in those evening shows and ONLY in those evening shows would have had to hear a little bit of TRUTH for a change!
That’s what the country needed. For Fox to for once tell it’s viewers unvarnished truth. And I’m furious at Dominion for spending so long, and leading us all along promoting the notion that a big part of the accountability they were seeking was Fox clearly admitting their wrongdoing. That it was widespread. Systematic. A conscious choice on their part to present as truth what they privately admitted to so many were outright LIES.
But it was always all about the money. Always. The ole retro-scope provides 20-20 vision and it’s crystal clear today. Dominion is a company that has done one thing which is make machines and software to accurately count votes. There are entire states where they will never sell another product. So they decided to cash out and grab what money they could wrangle from Fox and enjoy the rest of their lives counting their filthy lucre.
Don’t talk to me about the additional lawsuits they’ve got pending against Rudy G., Powell and others or even Smartmatic’s separate lawsuit. I’ll believe the line I’ve heard today about Smartmatic picking up where Dominion left off when I see the Cubs hoist another World Series trophy. Which means I’m not holding my breath.
Business is business and in those boardrooms Directors and top management look at one thing above all – how much money can I pocket and how fast can I get it? That’s all that matters. ALL that matters, as Dominion has just proved.
The common good? Oh how Trumpian they actually are at heart. That kind of thinking is for “suckers and losers.”
Well, the common good lost yesterday. “Bigly” so to speak.
Because like Trump after his first impeachment Fox will be emboldened.
I despise Dominion and their legal team almost as much as I despise Trump and his enablers which of course includes Fox. I’m starting to feel like I did last night. There are things I know better than to say, especially with the level of anger and outright hatred boiling back up inside me again.
F**k Trump. F**k his Big Lie. F**k Murdoch and Fox for doing so much to sell it.
F**k the rationalizing going on about how the judge already ruled Fox had knowingly broadcast lies, or the stuff we’ve learned about what they privately said about Trump and his Big Lie.
And F**k Dominion for letting them off the hook instead of dragging their feet through the mud and slime for weeks to come. You sold out our country and the chance to restore some semblance of integrity that all large journalism outlets should have to adhere to.
Instead you took your money and ran.
If I’m wrong and there is actually a hell ruled by Satan, I hope you wind up there. And Satan himself makes a roll of money consisting of dollar bills. The amount of which adds up to the money you just took instead of forcing REAL accountability from Fox. Think folks how big around that roll of money would be. And Satan would coat every bill with a form of white phosphorus and thermite plasma that will burn for all eternity before shoving it up your aSSes and lighting it on fire.
I’m right there with you Denis. This changes nothing.
At least Carol Burnett got The National Enquirer to publish a retraction acknowledging their story was false. (This was fifty years ago) Still, since they were so widely read and (sadly) believed by lots of gullible people, some of whom made comments to her she sued them. And won! The Sullivan ruling was less than ten years old at the time but Burnett prevailed, even if the damages she was awarded got knocked down considerably by the courts. She eventually settled but the publicity (given her popularity) did a lot of damage to the Enquirer and led to more celebrities taking them to court which to a degree caused them to be a bit more circumspect. However, the main thing is they knew from the get-go, as in before they printed the article it was a load of crap but printed it anyway.
When Burnett stood up and publicly called them out they realized they’d stepped on their cranks and a month later at least tried to make it all go away by printing a retraction.
Fox has done no such thing. As I said, their statement yesterday was a nothing burger. I say we need to start a countdown clock on when one of Fox’s personalties takes a potshot at Dominion. Not too pointed, but with Smartmatic stepping up on a podcast or something one of them will make a statement like “As for this Smartmatic business, like Dominion they’re just out for a payday from someone with deep pockets. All we did was report news”, of course leaving out the part about that “news” being completely bogus. And knowing it was bogus. And NOT saying so while reporting who was claiming what like a REAL journalist would do.
But Dominion’s management and Directors won’t give a sh!t. They’ve made out like bandits, getting many times the amount of what they measurably lost. And without Fox really, truly going on record to atone for their misdeeds the company might well fold and all the workers will be out of a job. But the top management and Directors will have made THEIR pile and won’t give a second thought to the plight of the rank and file employees! Greedy effing bastards. Every goddamned one of them!
you might want to edit 787 billion to 787 million
can you please acknowledge when editing is happening to a story on this site. If you change a story, please note it. I am aware of Murf’s issues and I am trying to be helpful, but it would be nice if there was a disclaimer at some point that a story had been edited for correction. So I don’t get shit for pointing out where some post is not grammatically or factually correct. Or better yet, give me a way to contact post authors without having to resort to posting to comments. Just a suggestion. I am a pretty good editor.
editing comments is easier….
It wasn’t Dominion’s job to fix our Democracy.
A corporation’s purpose is to do nothing more than maximize profit.
In fact, that is a legal requirement. I too am disappointed that FAUX was able to buy their way out of the mess they created, but it will leave a scar.
I can see it from Dominion’s point of view. A payday without years of appeal with them possibly losing in the end. Hopefully the Goul Man, Crazy Sydney, and Pillow Man will not have so easy a time.
Also, we may still have some entertainment courtesy of SmartMatic.
Prior to Milton Friedman rise to prominence in economic policy corporate America was still mostly concerned with profits of course, but in general there was a philosophy of factoring in overall public good into their business models. Friedman was a key member of Regan’s economic team and during the 1980s a new philosophy which is the one you refer to took hold. That a corporation was “obligated” to maximize profits and nothing else mattered. The results after four decades of this “profits and shareholder returns” being the ONLY concern of business/corporate America is evident and it’s not a pretty thing to behold.
If corporations want to be people ala Citizens United, I say they’d better start acting like it.
The settlement is about 6% of Fox’s annual revenue, so it’s going to cause some pain. Remember they also have Smartmatic coming up, and shareholders are making noises about suing management.
But IT IS NOT ABOUT DEMOCRACY. It’s about lies and misinformation.
Hmm. One side has nothing but idiocy… yet win. Oh, and corporate America loves it too: tax cuts and deregulation. The overlords must be protected. At least until more automation and AI take over. The other side had facts, studies, and reason (footnotes and endnotes) and thin margins. Very thin. But even at my age… not yet ready for retirement… fall down 7 get up 8. Gonna be 50 state strategy even if dems in charge are clueless; gonna take some folks running like Adlai Stevenson; gonna take dems not shivving progressives in primaries; gonna take a lot of young kids mad as hell to sweep some fossils (not just old folks… but the ones with moss between their ears; and sometimes take a good enough person until someone better comes along and bite your tongue; gonna take not going for no labels nonsense; gonna take some folks to… buy some am radios and tv stations… just run basic stuff and documentaries … really PSAs; gonna take whole lotta WORK.
Profits over people is the mantra repubs believe in. This is what unregulated capitalism brings us. Dominion was simply following the money as all corporations do. They don’t have a care in the world about our Democracy…….
I still believe that Dominion did the obvious and, knowing it had a winning hand, stepped aside to pave the way for juries to decided in more than twelve other cases pending and some with no intention to settle. We paid Dominion’s award through the carriage fees cable and satellite services collect from s every month. Now the time has come for the other suits to really hit FAUX where old man Rupert lives. I forsee fewer than half the suits being settled, and I also see the possibility of boycotts of service providers that refuse to drop FAUX from its lineup and give customers credit for the difference. Barring that, customers must demand that there be a way for cable to block FAUX and stop with the fees. Maybe the ACLU should get involved.