Judge rejects Sarah Palin's defamation lawsuit against New York Times! Update!

Judge Rakoff has dismissed Sarah Palin’s defamation lawsuit against The New York Times. Story soon.

— Sydney Ember (@melbournecoal) August 29, 2017

Courtesy of The Daily Beast:

A Manhattan judge on Tuesday threw out former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s lawsuit against The New York Times. Palin sued the newspaper for defamation earlier this year over an editorial that tied an ad featuring crosshairs denoting anti-gun politicians, produced by her political action committee, to the 2011 shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. The Times was forced to append a correction to the editorial, noting the fact that “no such link” was established between the Palin group’s ad and the shooting. The judge said Palin was unable to prove on a “plausible factual basis” that the Times’ mistake was “malicious” in nature.

Hah!

I knew this thing was going to blow up in Palin's face!

Well I think we all know what expressions she is wearing now.

Yep, that's the one.

Update:

U.S. Judge in Manhattan has dismissed Sarah Palin's defamation lawsuit against The New York Times "with prejudice," meaning case is over.

— Benjamin Weiser (@BenWeiserNYT) August 29, 2017

Well good for the judge.

I think most of us dismissed Sarah Palin with prejudice years ago. 

Originally scheduled to receive the William F. Buckley award, Sean Hannity will no longer be the recipient after Buckley's son expressed outrage.

Courtesy of CNN: 

Fox News Channel star anchor Sean Hannity will no longer receive the conservative Media Research Center's William F. Buckley Award for Media Excellence at its September 21 gala, sources familiar with the situation tell CNN. 

Buckley, the founder of the National Review, who died in 2008, was hailed in his day as "arguably the most important public intellectual in the United States." Giving an award in his name to Hannity -- a pugnacious talk radio host who has shared conspiracy theories on his popular cable news show -- had caused hand wringing among some conservatives. 

It also caused distress among Buckley's family -- in particular his only child, best-selling author Christopher Buckley. 

A source familiar with the situation tells CNN that Christopher Buckley "expressed great dismay" at the announcement that the award would go to Hannity, who has spent a great deal of time insulting conservative intellectuals on Twitter, particularly since he became a strong supporter of Donald Trump.

Buckley, sources say, called the Media Research Center and expressed his disapproval. Sources tell CNN that the MRC acquiesced and will no longer give the award to him. Hannity has since been removed from the gala website.

Apparently there were a lot of behind the scenes attempts at damage control over this, with both sides suggesting that there was a "scheduling conflict."

However Christopher Buckley responded to that by saying, "perhaps Mr. Hannity has been offered the Ronald Reagan Great Communicator Award on the same evening and had decided to leverage upwards."

Oh yeah, THAT'S going to leave a mark.

I am old enough to remember watching William F. Buckley sparring with liberals and fellow conservatives on TV.

Even back then I totally disagreed with his politics, but I never once thought of the guy as ignorant or lacking in intelligence. Far from it in fact.

To have given a knuckle dragger like Sean Hannity an award named after him would have been an insult to the memory of a such an eloquent, if often acerbic, conservative giant.

Second federal appeals court rejects Trump's Muslim ban.

Trump showing off his signature on the Muslim ban that is never going to happen.

Courtesy of the New York Times:

A second federal appeals court has ruled against President Trump’s revised travel ban, delivering on Monday the latest in a string of defeats for the administration’s efforts to limit travel from several predominantly Muslim countries. 

The administration has already sought a Supreme Court review of a similar decision issued last month by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in Richmond, Va. Monday’s decision came from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco. 

The two courts employed different reasoning to arrive at the same basic conclusion. The Fourth Circuit said the revised executive order violated the First Amendment’s prohibition of government establishment of religion. 

The Ninth Circuit, by contrast, rested its conclusions on statutory grounds. It said Mr. Trump had exceeded the authority Congress granted him in making national security judgments in the realm of immigration without adequate justification. 

“The order does not offer a sufficient justification to suspend the entry of more than 180 million people on the basis of nationality,” the Ninth Circuit’s opinion said. “National security is not a ‘talismanic incantation’ that, once invoked, can support any and all exercise of executive power.”

This news of course pissed off the Orange Fuhrer.

Well, as predicted, the 9th Circuit did it again - Ruled against the TRAVEL BAN at such a dangerous time in the history of our country. S.C.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 13, 2017

"As predicted?" I don't remember Trump ever suggesting that this ban would fail. All I remember is hearing him talk about all of that winning.

I love the fact that not only is Trump under constant fire from the various investigations into his dealings with the Russians, but virtually everything he promised to do during his campaign he is now failing to deliver.

By the way when was the last time anybody even heard any talk about that stupid border wall?

Trump's Muslim travel ban banned. Again.

Courtesy of TPM: 

Hours before it was to take effect, President Donald Trump's revised travel ban was put on hold Wednesday by a federal judge in Hawaii after hearing arguments that the executive order discriminates on the basis of nationality. 

The ruling came as opponents renewed their legal challenges across the country, asking judges in three states to block the executive order that targets people from six predominantly Muslim countries. 

More than half a dozen states are trying to stop the ban, and federal courts in Maryland, Washington state and Hawaii heard arguments about whether it should be put into practice early Thursday. 

U.S. District Court Judge Derrick Watson decision prevents the executive order from going into effect, at least for now. Hawaii had requested a temporary restraining order. 

Hawaii also argued that the ban would prevent residents from receiving visits from relatives in the six countries covered by the order. The state says the ban would harm its tourism industry and the ability to recruit foreign students and workers.

As you might imagine this annoyed Orange Hitler to no end, and so he held another rally where he said this:  

“This ruling makes us look weak ― which, by the way, we no longer are, believe me. Just look at our borders,” Trump told a crowd at a campaign-style rally in Tennessee. “We are going to fight this terrible ruling. We’re going to take our case as far as it needs to go, including all the way up to the Supreme Court. We are going to win.” 

And this:

“It’s a watered-down version of the first one,” Trump said of his new ban. “And let me tell you something: I think we ought to go back to the first one and go all the way, which is what I wanted to do in the first place.” 

That sound you hear is every White House layer slamming their heads into the wall after hearing their client essentially make the case himself that this bill is essentially a watered down version of the first one, which his lawyers had argued it most certainly was not.

And if you remember Rudy Giuliani said this about that first travel ban: 

“When [Mr. Trump] first announced it, he said, ‘Muslim ban.’ He called me up. He said, ‘Put a commission together. Show me the right way to do it legally.’”

And those words were actually cited by the judge in Hawaii when he put the brakes on this latest version. 

I swear it's like watching the Keystone Kops run the White House.

Florida man fires 33 rounds into woman's front door after she rejects his romantic advances.

Courtesy of HuffPo:  

On Monday, according to police, a drunk Florida man who was obsessed with his female neighbor stood outside her house and fired 33 rounds into it with a semi-automatic handgun. 

The woman, who has not been named, told police that Howard Sparber, 69, had been harassing her with sexual propositions since November of last year. She told police that Sparber had been stalking her, and she’d begun taking deliberate steps to avoid him. At one point, she said, he pointed a gun at her making her fear for her life. 

 Luckily, she wasn’t home when Sparber opened fire on her residence, blasting into the storm door, front door, foyer and kitchen cabinetry, and causing around $3,000 in damages. Police say he shot up her house in an attempt to get inside.

The article goes on to point out that there are literally so many stories of men whose sexual advances are rejected, who then resort to threatening the women with firearms, that it is hard to cover them all.

And of course that's true.

Men, especially insecure men, who feel they are being rejected may then feel they have to prove their masculinity by waving around their metal penis extender. 

It is far more common then we would like to believe. 

Guess what guys, it proves just the opposite.

Kansas Christian school retains the right to expel a student if ANY of their family members are gay.

Courtesy of the Independent:

A Christian school in Kansas is at the centre of mounting controversy after it emerged that it reserved the right to expel students if any of their family members were gay or transgender. 

A so-called Statement of Understanding sent to parents who wish to send their children to the private school located in Wichita, requires them to agree that a student who attends can he asked to leave if their home life promotes anything “counter to the school’s understanding of a biblical lifestyle”. All pupils and parents are required to sign the document. 

“Given the debate and confusion in our society about marriage and human sexuality it is vital that Trinity families agree with and support the school’s traditional, Christian understanding of those issues,” says the document.

“Therefore, when the atmosphere or conduct within a particular home is counter to the school’s understanding of a biblical lifestyle, including the practice or promotion of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) lifestyle or alternative gender identity, the school should have the right, in its sole discretion, to deny the admission of an applicant or discontinue enrollment of a current student.”

Man you really have to hand it to religious fundamentalists, when it comes to deep dark nasty discrimination they have no equal.

Now see to a freethinker like myself the very idea that some school would reject me because they held a prejudice opinion of some member of my family would get their name scratched off my educational wish list so fast I would probably snap my number two pencil in half doing it.

But then again I did not spend my formative years being indoctrinated into a primitive superstitious cult that would make me ignorant enough to even consider attending a school like Trinity Academy.

I think that Paul Ryan likes Rock and Roll, MUCH more than Rock and Roll likes Paul Ryan.

Courtesy of the LA Times:  

Pretty soon, the only songs Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan might be able to play will be the collected works of Hank Williams Jr. and Ted Nugent, at least judging by a statement Dee Snider made Wednesday morning. 

After learning that Republican vice presidential hopeful Ryan had been warming up crowds with "We're Not Gonna Take It," the lead singer of Twisted Sister requested that the song be pulled from Ryan's playlist. 

"I emphatically denounce Paul Ryan's use of my song 'We're Not Gonna Take It' as recorded by my band Twisted Sister. There is almost nothing on which I agree with Paul Ryan, except perhaps the use of the P90X." 

This of course comes after Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello also denounced Romeny's VP pick after learning that the candidate was a Rage fan; and after L.A. band Silversun Pickups complained about Ryan's use of their song "Panic Switch."

Look SOMEBODY needs to tell Ryan that if he is looking for a band who will NOT complain about his use of their songs, he needs to start checking out honky-tonks and redneck wedding receptions.

By the way for those who may not have ever heard Twisted Sister, below is their video from "We're Not Gonna Take It." You tell me if Ryan does not seem to have much more in common with the father (Played by Animal House alum Mark Metcalf), than he does with the young protagonist.

God that almost makes me miss the 80's. (Yeah, not really!)