Categories
LGBT Issues Mike Pence

Chasten Buttigieg Has The Perfect Clapback To Mike Pence’s Homophobic ‘Joke’

If there’s one thing we know with absolute certainly about former Vice President Mike Pence, it’s that he’s a homophobic bigot who thinks nothing of condemning members of the LGBTQ community, even though they’re Americans and entitled to the same rights and privileges as everyone else in the United States.

So it should come as no surprise to anyone that Pence let loose with a disgusting “joke” aimed at Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, with HuffPost reporting:

Pence drew backlash after he cracked jokes on Saturday night at the Gridiron dinner for journalists in Washington, D.C., that Pete Buttigieg had taken “maternity leave” early in the Biden administration. Pointing to the flight and travel disruptions in recent months, he added that Buttigieg “is the only person in human history to have a child and everyone else gets postpartum depression.”

Buttigieg and his husband welcomed twins Gus and Penelope in September 2021. The Cabinet official took parental leave at the time to be with his newborns. The couple later revealed that the babies had overcome serious health struggles after contracting a respiratory virus. Gus was placed on a ventilator in a pediatric intensive care unit.

That led Chasten Buttigieg to respond via Twitter, and what he had to say in response to Pence was not only perfectly worded, it was also a stinging rebuke to the holier-than-thou fake Christian ex-VP.

“An honest question for you, @Mike_Pence, after your attempted joke this weekend. If your grandchild was born prematurely and placed on a ventilator at two months old – their tiny fingers wrapped around yours as the monitors beep in the background – where would you be?”

He added:

“I’ll leave this here for you should you want to know more about the kids you are so eager to use as a punchline.”

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also slammed Pence at Monday’s press briefing, telling reporters, “He should apologize to women and LGBTQ+ people.”

He should, but here’s betting he won’t, which proves that Mike Pence is a fake Christian who has so much hatred in his heart that he’s headed straight for hell.

Categories
Elections Fox News Fox News Lies

Second, ‘More Dangerous’ Defamation Lawsuit Against Fox Given Green Light To Proceed

As Fox News faces daily revelations from the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems, yet another defamation suit against has been given the go ahead by a court, and this one is considered to be even more dangerous than the Dominion case.

The Guardian reports on the second lawsuit, which has been filed by Smartmatic and is seeking $2.7 billion in damages.

Smartmatic claims that more than 100 false statements were broadcast by Fox News hosts and guests. Smartmatic was falsely said to have been involved in 2020 election counts in six battleground states – in fact, it was present only at the count in Los Angeles county.

Fox broadcast that Smartmatic shared its technology with Dominion, when in fact the two companies had no communication and regarded each other as rivals. Smartmatic was in cahoots with foreign governments in a conspiracy to rig the vote for Biden, Giuliani said on Bartiromo’s show – a claim that the company disputes as false and defamatory.

Fox also described Smartmatic as having been founded in Venezuela at the behest of corrupt dictators. In fact, it was founded by Antonio Mugica and Roger Piñate in 2000 in Boca Raton, Florida, in the wake of the “hanging chad” fiasco, with the aim of using technology to restore people’s faith in election results.

Fox suggested in a statement that the Smartmatic lawsuit cannot stand up to First Amendment scrutiny:

“Freedom of the press is foundational to our democracy and must be protected, in addition to the damages claims being outrageous, unsupported and not rooted in sound financial analysis, serving as nothing more than a flagrant attempt to deter our journalists from doing their jobs. There is nothing more newsworthy than covering the president of the US and his lawyers making allegations.”

But the one-two punch of Dominion and Smartmatic would seem to be Fox’s worst nightmare made reality, and the First Amendment doesn’t protect against blatant lies such as the ones Fox is accused of broadcasting.

Categories
Right Wing Morons Social Media

Right-Wingers Pitch A Social Media Hissy Fit After Michelle Yeoh Wins Best Actress Oscar

On Sunday evening at the Oscar Awards, Michelle Yeoh became the first Asian woman to ever win the award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, truly a historic achievement when you consider the Academy Awards began in 1929.

NPR reported Yeoh’s win with the following announcement:

That triggered conservatives in a BIG way, and they vented their anger on Twitter, succeeding only in proving their own bigotry and fear of nearly everything.

https://twitter.com/Curtains2023/status/1635190563283824640?s=20

https://twitter.com/clhntr/status/1635166456731275265?s=20

Categories
Fox News Fox News Lies Media in America

Here’s Why Fox’s Maria Bartiromo May Soon Be Broke And Unemployable

With Fox News facing the prospect of having to pay billions for lies their hosts told about the 2020 presidential election, one host in particular is on the verge of destroying the network’s already flimsy defense and also winding up being unemployable on any platform.

Maria Bartiromo is most often seen on Fox Business, but also does a Sunday program that appears on Fox News, “Sunday Morning Futures.”

The Los Angeles Times reports that testimony Bartiromo gave as part of the ongoing $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems is damning for Bartriromo and Fox.

Attorneys for Fox have repeatedly asserted that hosts such as Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and Ingraham were merely offering their opinions on the 2020 election and never intended them to be statements of fact that require proof.

“In released court documents and deposition testimony connected to the case, Bartiromo is cited throughout for allowing former President Trump’s false claims about 2020 election fraud to air on the network in an effort to stop angry viewers from abandoning the network. Court testimony shows that in the days leading up to and following the 2020 election, colleagues and executives raised questions about Bartiromo’s online activity and expressed concerns that she was influenced by right-wing conspiracy theorists.”

Why is that a problem? Because Bartiromo herself said under oath that she’s a journalist who reports facts, not opinions.

“Bartiromo is one of four Fox News and Fox Business Network personalities cited in the suit along with Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro and Lou Dobbs, who is no longer part of the company. Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch admitted under oath that they all promoted false claims about the 2020 election, which he believed was fair.”

And therein lies the rub:

“The difference with Bartiromo is she identifies as a news anchor, as she indicated in her testimony. Hannity, Dobbs and Pirro are considered opinion hosts, and executives at Fox News testified that they are not held to the same journalistic standards as straight news programs.”

Even worse for Fox is that Bartiromo also testified “that no one in management did anything to stop her or force her to correct the record.”

“Bartiromo herself made misstatements, such as repeating inaccurate claims that Dominion was owned by voting software company Smartmatic, which is also suing Fox News and other conservative networks for defamation … several Fox News executives in their testimony concurred with Dominion’s assertions that Bartiromo did not challenge any of [Sidney] Powell’s false statements when she appeared on ‘Sunday Morning Futures.’ Bartiromo also admitted that she never presented any evidence to counter Powell’s claims, even though she was provided with correct information provided by Dominion and other Fox News journalists.”

Bartiromo had the facts and the pushback from Dominion, but she chose to believe bullshit conspiracy theories. How’s that for a “straight news” anchor?

Fox is going to lose the Dominion lawsuit. They will likely lose the one filed by Smartmatic, which is for $2.7 billion, too. Punitive damages in both of those suits would bankrupt Fox News. It would also all but guarantee that Maria Bartriomo never works in the media for as long as she walks the face of the planet.

Categories
Fox News Media in America

Dominion Lawsuit Likely To Result In ‘Financial Death Penalty’ For Fox News

If Dominion Voting Systems prevail in their $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News, it could result in a “financial death penalty” for the network, leaving it unable to survive due to a lack of operating capital, according to former prosecutor Katie Phang.

In a column she wrote for MSNBC, Phang notes that “Fox is now trapped in an ever-worsening spiral of lies of its own creation. Time and time again, Fox allegedly trafficked in lies and falsehoods.”

The court filing laying out text messages sent by Fox executives and on-air hosts released this week is especially damning, Phang continues:

“Dominion doesn’t just have the upper hand, it has the truth on its side. If Dominion is successful, then all that would be left to determine is the amount of damages that Dominion is entitled to receive. That’s where the numbers become astronomical. Dominion is seeking $1.6 billion in lost profits and reputational harm.”

And then there’s the possibility of punitive damages, which could result in billions more being awarded to Dominion, Phang explains.

“Punitive damages … are not capped under New York state law and could also be in the billions of dollars. Punitive damages are intended to punish the wrongdoer and to deter others from repeating that egregious conduct. And a multi-billion-dollar punitive damages verdict would not just punish Fox News. It would send a ringing message to all media companies to keep themselves in check and uphold the truth.”

Here’s more on the Dominion-Fox lawsuit from MSNBC: