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The goons can only be successful if there aren't many people who stand up to them.
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Fauci, Top Biden Officials Subpoenaed in Lawsuit Alleging They Colluded With Social Media to Suppress Free Speech
Top-ranking Biden administration officials — including Dr. Anthony Fauci — and five social media giants have 30 days to respond to subpoenas and discovery requests in a lawsuit alleging the government colluded with social media companies to suppress freedom of speech “under the guise of combatting misinformation.”By
Megan Redshaw
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Top-ranking Biden administration officials — including Dr. Anthony Fauci — and five social media giants have 30 days to respond to subpoenas and discovery requests in a lawsuit alleging the government colluded with social media companies to suppress freedom of speech “under the guise of combatting misinformation.”
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry on Wednesday served third-party subpoenas on Twitter, Meta (Facebook’s parent company), Youtube, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Schmitt and Landry on Tuesday filed discovery requests seeking documents and information from the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and Fauci, its director; White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre; Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy; and former Disinformation Governance Board executive director Nina Jankowicz.
Discovery requests also were sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and its director, Jen Easterly; the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS); and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
“In May, Missouri and Louisiana filed a landmark lawsuit against top-ranking Biden Administration officials for allegedly colluding with social media giants to suppress free speech on topics like COVID-19and election security,” Schmitt said in Tuesday’s press release.
Schmitt added:
“Earlier this month, a federal court granted our motion for expedited discovery, allowing us to collect important documents from Biden Administration officials. Yesterday, we served discovery requests and today served third-party subpoenas to do exactly that.
“We will fight to get to the bottom of this alleged collusion and expose the suppression of freedom of speech by social media giants at the behest of top-ranking government officials.”
Schmitt announced in a July 12 statement that Terry Doughty, a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, ruled in favor of a June 17 motion for expedited preliminary injunction-related discovery and set a timetable with specific deadlines for depositions.
According to Schmitt, government officials “both pressured and colluded with social media giants Meta, Twitter and Youtube to censor free speech in the name of combating so-called ‘disinformation’ and ‘misinformation,’ which led to the suppression and censorship of truthful information on several topics, including COVID-19.”
“The Court’s decision cleared the way for Missouri and Louisiana to gather discovery and documents from Biden Administration officials and social media companies,” Schmitt said in a press release on Tuesday.
“The order states, ‘The First Amendment obviously applies to the citizens of Missouri and Louisiana, so Missouri and Louisiana have the authority to assert those rights,’” he said.
In a statement on Twitter announcing the court’s decision to grant the attorneys general’s request, Schmitt said, “No one has had the chance to look under the hood before — now we do.”
Children’s Health Defense (CHD) President Mary Holland, who also serves as CHD general counsel, praised the ruling:
“CHD welcomes this groundbreaking ruling from Judge Doughty of the Western District of Louisiana to discover whether the Biden administration has violated the First Amendment through censorship.
“For two years, CHD and many other media outlets have not been able to comprehend the mechanisms whereby our major media platforms have ruthlessly censored, suppressed and distorted our information.
“Now, through the discovery process that the judge has allowed, we’ll find out how Meta, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube have been colluding with the federal government to curb so-called ‘disinformation’ and ‘misinformation.’ This is a new day.”
Fauci, CDC, White House press secretary and more must turn over documents
According to the press release, Fauci, chief medical advisor to President Biden and director of the NIAID, was asked to turn over any communications with social media platforms related to content modulation and/or misinformation, and to disclose all meetings with any social media platform related to the subject and to provide all communications with Mark Zuckerberg from Jan. 1, 2020, to the present.
Fauci also must turn over all communications with any social media platform related to the Great Barrington Declaration; the authors and original signers of the Great Barrington Declaration; Dr. Jay Bhattacharya; Martin Kulldorff, Ph.D.; Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, Sunetra Gupta, Ph.D.; Dr. Scott Atlas; Alex Berenson; Peter Daszak, Ph.D.; Shi Zhengli, Ph.D.; the Wuhan Institute of Virology; EcoHealth Alliance; and/or any member of the so-called “Disinformation Dozen,” including CHD chairman and chief legal counsel Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is required to identifyevery officer, official, employee, staff member, personnel, contractor or any other person associated with the White House communications team who communicated or is communicating with any social media platform related to content modulation and/or misinformation — and to turn over those communications.
Jean-Pierre also must identify all persons who “engage regularly with all social media platforms about steps that can be taken” to address misinformation on social media, which engagement “has continued, and … will continue,” as stated during an April 25 White House press briefing — and turn over all communications with any social media platform involved in such engagement.
Defendant Nina Jankowicz, who was tasked with heading up the Biden administration’s “Disinformation Governance Board” must provide all documents related to communications with social media platforms and content modulation and/or misinformation.
Jankowicz is required to identify the nature, purpose, participants, topics to be discussed and topics actually discussed at the meeting between DHS personnel and Twitter executives Nick Pickles and Yoel Roth scheduled on or around April 28.
The CDC is required to provide the names of every officer, official, employee, staff member, personnel, contractor or agent of CDC or any other federal official or agency who communicated or is communicating with any social media platform regarding content modulation and/or misinformation.
e communications with any social media platform related to content modulation or misinformation, any meetings that took place with social media platforms related to content modulation and/or misinformation, and must identify all “members of our senior staff” and/or “members of our COVID-19 team” who are “in regular touch with … social media platforms,” as “Jennifer Psaki [former White House press secretary] stated at a White House press briefing on or around July 15, 2021.”
The agency must also disclose all “government experts” who are federal officers, officials, agents, employees or contractors, who have “partnered with” Facebook or any other social media platform to address misinformation and/or content modulation, including all communications relating to such partnerships.
Like Fauci, the CDC must turn over information and communicationson the “so-called disinformation dozen,” Great Barrington Declaration, alternative news outlets and key experts and scientists who have spoken out against the government’s approach to treating COVID-19 or mandating face masks and lockdowns.
Meta (Facebook) was “commanded” to produce all communicationswith any federal official relating to misinformation and/or content modulation, to produce all documents and communications-related actions taken based in whole or in part on information received, directly or indirectly, from any federal official and to produce all communications and documents related to a list of search terms that include Kennedy’s name and/or the names of prominent doctors and physicians who were censored for their views on COVID-19.
Facebook also must disclose meetings, communications and documents related to remarks made by Psaki, who said the White House is “in regular touch with these social media platforms, and those engagements typically happen through members of our senior staff, but also members of our COVID-19 team,” and regarding the White House’s efforts to flag “problematic posts for Facebook that spread disinformation.”
Similar requests were made to other government officials and social media platforms, including Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Lawsuit alleges collusion to suppress disfavored speakers and viewpoints
Attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri in May filed a lawsuitalleging government defendants “colluded with and/or coerced social media companies to suppress disfavored speakers, viewpoints, and content on social media platforms by labeling the content ‘disinformation,’ ‘misinformation’ and ‘malinformation.’”
The count lawsuit alleges social media companies falsely labeled truthful content “disinformation” and “misinformation” and contends the suppression constitutes government action, violating free speech protected by the U.S. constitution.
The complaint also alleges that DHS’ Disinformation Governance Board was created “to induce, label, and pressure the censorship of disfavored content, viewpoints and speakers on social-media platforms,” and that HHS and DHS violated the Administrative Procedure Act to “hold unlawful and set aside final agency actions” that are deemed to be an abuse of power and arbitrary and capricious.
The lawsuit provides several examples of truthful information that was censored by social media companies who later admitted the content was truthful or credible.
According to The Epoch Times, the lawsuit could help bring to light the Biden administration’s “behind-the-scenes efforts” to discourage the dissemination of information related to the lab-leak theory of COVID-19’s origins and the efficiency of masks and lockdowns.
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More fun with urban Africans. It's not all Africans!
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Take home advice, stop being afraid. Your fear is being used against you.
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Entire North Carolina Town’s Police Department Resigns After New Manager Is Hired
By Jack PhillipsJuly 22, 2022 Updated: July 22, 2022
biggersmaller
The entire police department of a North Carolina town resigned on Friday after a new town manager was hired, according to the former police chief.
Kenly Police Chief Josh Gibson, as well as four other full-time officers, the town clerk, and a utilities clerk, resigned, according to letter (pdf) that were sent to the town’s council and new town manager Justine Jones. Gibson blamed what he described as a “hostile work environment” for the mass exodus.
Gibson confirmed to WAVY-TV and on Facebook that the town’s entire police force resigned. Local media reported that the town is left with three part-time officers now.
“I have put in my 2 weeks notice along with the whole police dept., Sharon Evans, and Christy Thomas with the town of kenly after 21 years of service,” Gibson wrote on Facebook on July 20. “The new manager has created an environment I do not feel we can perform our duties and services to the community.”
“In my 21 years at the Kenly Police Department, we have seen ups and downs. But, especially in the last 3 years, we have made substantial progress that we had hoped to continue. However, due to the hostile work environment now present in the Town of Kenly, I do not believe progress is possible,” Gibson wrote in his letter.
Gibson told WCNC-TV that he can’t go into more details and said that lawyers are involved. The department, he said, is supposed to have eight full-time officers but has had only five.
The Johnston County Sheriff’s Office told WRAL that deputies will handle policing in the town.
“We’re stepping up and stepping out, and as Johnston County and the sheriff’s office, we’re going to be there for our people and the citizens. They may be the citizens of the town of Kenly, but they’re still citizens of the county of Johnston, also,” Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell said.
Jones was just hired as the Kenly town manager in June, according to the Town of Kenly in a news release reported by local media.
“Jones has dedicated her career to public service over the last 16 years during which she worked in progressively responsible positions with local governments in Minnesota, Virginia, South Carolina and North Carolina,” the statement said. “She began her municipal career as the Executive Assistant to the City Manager and National Urban Fellow in the City of Norfolk, Virginia.”
Jones declined an interview with WRAL and said that she was “not at liberty to talk because of a personnel matter.”
Officials told CBS17 that the Kenly Town Council will hold an emergency meeting Friday.
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I love happy endings, don't you? One less thug on the streets of what's left of America
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I was thinking of putting it in the good news thread but think it belongs here. Not all cops are bad but who would want to "serve and protect" and put up with this every day. They want to do their job and go home at the end of their shift. THey do thei jobs & the da or judge lets them out to do it all over again. It's like the open border policy. Deport, arrest, deport again........
Think about it. More like suicide by cop than anything.
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Luv it! There is a great awakening going on all over the world.
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Nick Sandmann's libel lawsuits against five national media companies dismissed by federal judge; Sandmann's lawyer vows appeal
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by former Covington Catholic student Nick Sandmann against five major news outlets that reported on a confrontation between Sandmann and a Native American activist at the Lincoln Memorial in January 2019. Sandmann, who was 16 at the time, became the...
www.theblaze.com
Nick Sandmann's libel lawsuits against five national media companies dismissed by federal judge; Sandmann's lawyer vows appeal
NEWSCHRIS PANDOLFO
July 27, 2022
Image source: Video screenshot
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A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by former Covington Catholic student Nick Sandmann against five major news outlets that reported on a confrontation between Sandmann and a Native American activist at the Lincoln Memorial in January 2019.
Sandmann, who was 16 at the time, became the center of a national controversy after a video emerged that showed Covington (Kentucky) Catholic High School students standing in front of a Native American man who was banging a drum and chanting. The students were attending the March for Life that year, which coincided with the Indigenous Peoples March. Multiple media organizations reported that students — including Sandmann, who was wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat — had mocked, surrounded, and were trying to intimidate the man, Nathan Phillips, but additional video disproved those claims. Sandmann became a focal point of outrage and smears because he had smiled at the man in the video.
Don't miss out on content from Dave Rubin free of big tech censorship. Listen to The Rubin Report now.
After it became clear that initial reporting of the incident was false, Sandmann filed defamation lawsuits against eight news organizations. Three companies settled with Sandmann, but on Tuesday, a federal judge threw out the remaining lawsuits against the New York Times, CBS, ABC, Gannett Co. Inc., and Rolling Stone.
Sandmann's attorney, Todd McMurtry, told the Lexington Herald-Leader he was "disappointed" with the decision from United States District Eastern Kentucky Court Judge William Bertelsman and planned to file an appeal.
“We’re fully prepared to argue these cases in the 6th Circuit," Sandmann said in a statement.
Bertelsman's opinion was centered on statements published by the news outlets in which Phillips had claimed Sandmann had "blocked" and "would not allow" him to retreat from the Lincoln Memorial.
Sandmann's legal team argued that the reports had "conveyed false and defamatory charges," and that the media companies had malicious intent in publishing them.
But the judge found that Phillips' statements about Sandmann's actions were "objectively unverifiable and thus unactionable opinions.”
"Instead, a reasonable reader would understand that Phillips was simply conveying his view of the situation. And because the reader knew from the articles that this encounter occurred at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial, he or she would know that the confrontation occurred in an expansive area such that it would be difficult to know what might constitute 'blocking' another person in that setting," Bertelsman wrote.
The judge said the press did not defame Sandmann by reporting Phillips' version of the incident, since his statements were opinions and not facts.
“The media defendants were covering a matter of great public interest, and they reported Phillips’s first-person view of what he experienced,” he wrote. “This would put the reader on notice that Phillips was simply giving his perspective on the incident.”
Bertelsman added, "Phillips' statement did not imply the existence of any nondisclosed defamatory facts, and only under such circumstances does a statement of opinion lose its constitutional protection."
“Therefore, in the factual context of this case, Phillips’s ‘blocking’ statements are protected opinions,” he concluded.
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So simple, so natural, gator-aid.
Video at link
www.newsweek.com
Quality
Fullscreen
Video Shows Texas Deploying Fleet Of Boats On Rio Grande To 'Stop Flow Of Migrants'
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U.S.ANIMALSWILDLIFEALLIGATORSCROCODILES
Giant alligators have been released into the Rio Grande to deter migrants from crossing the border river to the United States, reports Mexican media.
The scare emerged after U.S. Border Patrol agents photographed what looks like an enormous gator swimming near Eagle Pass, Texas, which is a regular crossing point for migrants.
Eagle Pass is across the Rio Grande from Piedras Negras in the Mexican state of Coahuila.
Giant alligators have been released into the Rio Grande to deter migrants from crossing the border river to the United States, reports Mexican media. Above, an alligator swims through the Wakodahatchee Wetlands on May 15, 2021, in Delray Beach, Florida.PHOTO BY BRUCE BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES
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The photo of the gator was featured on the official U.S. Border Patrol Facebook page with a heavy-handed grim sense of humor.
The page stated: "Alligators ask lots of questions! So much so that they would make great interri-Gators... Or maybe even an investi-Gator... Or if you need directions, a navi-Gator..."
Now Mexican media has claimed that alligators have been released deliberately into the river to deter migrants.
Mexican newspaper Excelsior reported that the reptile is a "crocodile," claiming it was there to scare migrants from crossing to the U.S. side.
NEWSWEEK SUBSCRIPTION OFFERS >
And the News Collective website reported: "It is said that the Texas Ranch Association suggested dumping alligators in the Rio Grande to solve the problem without caring about the deadly dangers this posed.
"The source added that those were rumors since the end of last year, and now we see it as a reality."
U.S. Border Patrol agents photographed what looks like an enormous gator swimming near Eagle Pass, Texas, which is a regular crossing point for migrants.U.S. BORDER PATROL/ZENGER
The 2014 Farm and Ranch Association Directory of the Texas Workforce Commission does not list a Texas Ranch Association.
And a representative of a Texas ranchers' organization said he did not know of any organization bearing that name.
Border Patrol agents use watercraft, horses, and vehicles to patrol the river border dividing Texas from the Mexican states of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, and Chihuahua.
They have encountered at least 542,000 migrant crossings in the first three months of 2022.
Extensive fences, patrols, and even alligators have not deterred hundreds of thousands of migrants seeking to enter the U.S. illegally, mostly from Mexico and Central America, but increasingly from elsewhere.
March saw more than 221,000 migrants crossing the Texas border, according to the Border Patrol, which was despite federal government limits imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the agency.
In April, the number crossing at all points of the border from Texas, through Arizona, New Mexico, and California rose to just over 240,000, according to a May 16 court filing by the Department of Justice.
According to Texas Parks and Wildlife, crocodiles are not native to Texas due to the state's cool winters.
The American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) is rare and found in brackish waters in Florida, along Mexico's coastline, and in various Caribbean nations such as the Dominican Republic.
The freshwater American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) is a related albeit distinct species, which does not tolerate salt water.
Native to Texas, alligators are found in wetlands, marshes, lakes, and in marshlands along most of the areas along the Gulf of Mexico, according to the Texas state government.
Historically, alligators ranged as far west as Laredo at the 100th meridian on the Rio Grande, hundreds of miles from Eagle Pass, but were reduced because of hunting, reduced levels of water, and pollution.
According to Texas Parks and Wildlife: "The American alligator is the only crocodilian native to Texas."
They explained small populations living outside the modern range "may represent remnant populations from a former range or from released American alligators."
The name alligator is a deformation of lagarto, Spanish for lizard. The Spanish word for crocodile, however, is cocodrilo.
On the Mexican side of the river, where it is known as Rio Bravo del Norte, there are signs warning against "lagartos" and the danger they pose to hapless humans.
Mexican media reported in 2012 that "crocodiles" were spotted on the Mexican side of the river at Reynosa, near the mouth of the river on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.
Mexican media have reported in the past that "crocodiles" have also been spotted in Piedras Negras, Nuevo Laredo, Matamoros on the Rio Grande, which Mexicans call Rio Bravo del Norte.
Native to Mexico and Central America is Moret's crocodile (Crocodylus moretii), which is found in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, just across the international border from Texas.
In response to an email, Professor David M. Hillis of the University of Texas wrote with regard to media reports: "I wonder if this is a language issue?" and noted that scientists sometimes refer to crocodiles, caimans, and alligators as crocodilians.
He also questioned whether there is any reliable confirmation of crocodiles living in the river, adding: "The photo in the story certainly looks like an alligator to me."
Hillis, an expert on molecular evolution, phylogenetics, and systematics, wrote he is not surprised that introduced alligators live in the Rio Grande but would be surprised if there are any crocodiles there.
He wrote: "I have not seen reports of Morelet's crocodiles from north of central Tamaulipas (around Ciudad Victoria), so nowhere near Texas or the Rio Grande. But yes, unlike the American alligator, Morelet's crocodile is usually found in fresh water. However, they are a smaller."
Alligator attacks are rare but do happen.
In 2015, a 28-year-old Texas man was attacked and killed by an alligator while swimming, and a 500 pound gator nearly grabbed a 4-year-old girl near Galveston on the Gulf of Mexico shore in 2020.
Alligators can grow to 4.4 meters (14 feet) in length and weigh as much as 450 kilos (990 pounds).
Video at link
Gator aid: Are giant reptiles being used to police U.S.-Mexico border?
Giant alligators have been released into the Rio Grande to deter migrants from crossing the border river to the United States, reports Mexican media.
www.newsweek.com
Gator Aid: Are Giant Reptiles Being Used to Police U.S.-Mexico Border?
BY MARTIN M BARILLAS, ZENGER NEWS" ON 5/17/22 AT 4:47 PM EDTQuality
Fullscreen
Video Shows Texas Deploying Fleet Of Boats On Rio Grande To 'Stop Flow Of Migrants'
SHARE
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on RedditShare on FlipboardShare via EmailComments
U.S.ANIMALSWILDLIFEALLIGATORSCROCODILES
Giant alligators have been released into the Rio Grande to deter migrants from crossing the border river to the United States, reports Mexican media.
The scare emerged after U.S. Border Patrol agents photographed what looks like an enormous gator swimming near Eagle Pass, Texas, which is a regular crossing point for migrants.
Eagle Pass is across the Rio Grande from Piedras Negras in the Mexican state of Coahuila.
Giant alligators have been released into the Rio Grande to deter migrants from crossing the border river to the United States, reports Mexican media. Above, an alligator swims through the Wakodahatchee Wetlands on May 15, 2021, in Delray Beach, Florida.PHOTO BY BRUCE BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES
NEWSWEEK NEWSLETTER SIGN-UP >
The photo of the gator was featured on the official U.S. Border Patrol Facebook page with a heavy-handed grim sense of humor.
The page stated: "Alligators ask lots of questions! So much so that they would make great interri-Gators... Or maybe even an investi-Gator... Or if you need directions, a navi-Gator..."
Now Mexican media has claimed that alligators have been released deliberately into the river to deter migrants.
Mexican newspaper Excelsior reported that the reptile is a "crocodile," claiming it was there to scare migrants from crossing to the U.S. side.
NEWSWEEK SUBSCRIPTION OFFERS >
And the News Collective website reported: "It is said that the Texas Ranch Association suggested dumping alligators in the Rio Grande to solve the problem without caring about the deadly dangers this posed.
"The source added that those were rumors since the end of last year, and now we see it as a reality."
U.S. Border Patrol agents photographed what looks like an enormous gator swimming near Eagle Pass, Texas, which is a regular crossing point for migrants.U.S. BORDER PATROL/ZENGER
The 2014 Farm and Ranch Association Directory of the Texas Workforce Commission does not list a Texas Ranch Association.
And a representative of a Texas ranchers' organization said he did not know of any organization bearing that name.
Border Patrol agents use watercraft, horses, and vehicles to patrol the river border dividing Texas from the Mexican states of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, and Chihuahua.
They have encountered at least 542,000 migrant crossings in the first three months of 2022.
Extensive fences, patrols, and even alligators have not deterred hundreds of thousands of migrants seeking to enter the U.S. illegally, mostly from Mexico and Central America, but increasingly from elsewhere.
March saw more than 221,000 migrants crossing the Texas border, according to the Border Patrol, which was despite federal government limits imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the agency.
In April, the number crossing at all points of the border from Texas, through Arizona, New Mexico, and California rose to just over 240,000, according to a May 16 court filing by the Department of Justice.
According to Texas Parks and Wildlife, crocodiles are not native to Texas due to the state's cool winters.
The American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) is rare and found in brackish waters in Florida, along Mexico's coastline, and in various Caribbean nations such as the Dominican Republic.
The freshwater American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) is a related albeit distinct species, which does not tolerate salt water.
Native to Texas, alligators are found in wetlands, marshes, lakes, and in marshlands along most of the areas along the Gulf of Mexico, according to the Texas state government.
Historically, alligators ranged as far west as Laredo at the 100th meridian on the Rio Grande, hundreds of miles from Eagle Pass, but were reduced because of hunting, reduced levels of water, and pollution.
According to Texas Parks and Wildlife: "The American alligator is the only crocodilian native to Texas."
They explained small populations living outside the modern range "may represent remnant populations from a former range or from released American alligators."
The name alligator is a deformation of lagarto, Spanish for lizard. The Spanish word for crocodile, however, is cocodrilo.
On the Mexican side of the river, where it is known as Rio Bravo del Norte, there are signs warning against "lagartos" and the danger they pose to hapless humans.
Mexican media reported in 2012 that "crocodiles" were spotted on the Mexican side of the river at Reynosa, near the mouth of the river on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.
Mexican media have reported in the past that "crocodiles" have also been spotted in Piedras Negras, Nuevo Laredo, Matamoros on the Rio Grande, which Mexicans call Rio Bravo del Norte.
Native to Mexico and Central America is Moret's crocodile (Crocodylus moretii), which is found in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, just across the international border from Texas.
In response to an email, Professor David M. Hillis of the University of Texas wrote with regard to media reports: "I wonder if this is a language issue?" and noted that scientists sometimes refer to crocodiles, caimans, and alligators as crocodilians.
He also questioned whether there is any reliable confirmation of crocodiles living in the river, adding: "The photo in the story certainly looks like an alligator to me."
Hillis, an expert on molecular evolution, phylogenetics, and systematics, wrote he is not surprised that introduced alligators live in the Rio Grande but would be surprised if there are any crocodiles there.
He wrote: "I have not seen reports of Morelet's crocodiles from north of central Tamaulipas (around Ciudad Victoria), so nowhere near Texas or the Rio Grande. But yes, unlike the American alligator, Morelet's crocodile is usually found in fresh water. However, they are a smaller."
Alligator attacks are rare but do happen.
In 2015, a 28-year-old Texas man was attacked and killed by an alligator while swimming, and a 500 pound gator nearly grabbed a 4-year-old girl near Galveston on the Gulf of Mexico shore in 2020.
Alligators can grow to 4.4 meters (14 feet) in length and weigh as much as 450 kilos (990 pounds).
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Dutch Farmers: “You Want Our Land? TAKE THIS!” (27 Jul 2022)
Today the Dutch farmers dumped tons of manure and hay bales all over the lanes on highways with a message “F*** the government, we are not joking.” At the same time, their convoys are blocking roads and highways in the Netherlands. Traffic is at a s…
DUTCH FARMERS: “YOU WANT OUR LAND? TAKE THIS!” (27 JUL 2022)
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What a circle jerk of word salad from that old as dirt Lib. Judge. I believe the entire Appeal Court will revoke that decision.Nick Sandmann's libel lawsuits against five national media companies dismissed by federal judge; Sandmann's lawyer vows appeal
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by former Covington Catholic student Nick Sandmann against five major news outlets that reported on a confrontation between Sandmann and a Native American activist at the Lincoln Memorial in January 2019. Sandmann, who was 16 at the time, became the...
Nick Sandmann's libel lawsuits against five national media companies dismissed by federal judge; Sandmann's lawyer vows appeal
NEWS
CHRIS PANDOLFO
July 27, 2022
Image source: Video screenshot
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A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by former Covington Catholic student Nick Sandmann against five major news outlets that reported on a confrontation between Sandmann and a Native American activist at the Lincoln Memorial in January 2019.
Sandmann, who was 16 at the time, became the center of a national controversy after a video emerged that showed Covington (Kentucky) Catholic High School students standing in front of a Native American man who was banging a drum and chanting. The students were attending the March for Life that year, which coincided with the Indigenous Peoples March. Multiple media organizations reported that students — including Sandmann, who was wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat — had mocked, surrounded, and were trying to intimidate the man, Nathan Phillips, but additional video disproved those claims. Sandmann became a focal point of outrage and smears because he had smiled at the man in the video.
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After it became clear that initial reporting of the incident was false, Sandmann filed defamation lawsuits against eight news organizations. Three companies settled with Sandmann, but on Tuesday, a federal judge threw out the remaining lawsuits against the New York Times, CBS, ABC, Gannett Co. Inc., and Rolling Stone.
Sandmann's attorney, Todd McMurtry, told the Lexington Herald-Leader he was "disappointed" with the decision from United States District Eastern Kentucky Court Judge William Bertelsman and planned to file an appeal.
“We’re fully prepared to argue these cases in the 6th Circuit," Sandmann said in a statement.
Bertelsman's opinion was centered on statements published by the news outlets in which Phillips had claimed Sandmann had "blocked" and "would not allow" him to retreat from the Lincoln Memorial.
Sandmann's legal team argued that the reports had "conveyed false and defamatory charges," and that the media companies had malicious intent in publishing them.
But the judge found that Phillips' statements about Sandmann's actions were "objectively unverifiable and thus unactionable opinions.”
"Instead, a reasonable reader would understand that Phillips was simply conveying his view of the situation. And because the reader knew from the articles that this encounter occurred at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial, he or she would know that the confrontation occurred in an expansive area such that it would be difficult to know what might constitute 'blocking' another person in that setting," Bertelsman wrote.
The judge said the press did not defame Sandmann by reporting Phillips' version of the incident, since his statements were opinions and not facts.
“The media defendants were covering a matter of great public interest, and they reported Phillips’s first-person view of what he experienced,” he wrote. “This would put the reader on notice that Phillips was simply giving his perspective on the incident.”
Bertelsman added, "Phillips' statement did not imply the existence of any nondisclosed defamatory facts, and only under such circumstances does a statement of opinion lose its constitutional protection."
“Therefore, in the factual context of this case, Phillips’s ‘blocking’ statements are protected opinions,” he concluded.
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Who dat?
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That's a year or two old but a great reminder on how to deal with Feds Policy-men.
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I know it ain't who most of us wish it was.
I saw rhis a while back. It got better. There was more... a LOT more.
They eventually found out he WAS a fed, but not before the guy was crying and not before the cops pointed out to him that if he hadn't been such a self-important, arrogant asshole, he would not have had his ass kicked.
Beautiful.
Confucius wonders
If you enter with two arms and leave with one, is it truly an armed robbery?
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He disarmed the would be robber.
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*IF* t;he MSM ever shows this on Prime time, you know it is over.
It could happen... Even CNN is noticing Biden may have just slightly erred.
Holland is like the fuse to a barrel of gunpowder. It is such a little thing, but it is VERY HOT.
It could happen... Even CNN is noticing Biden may have just slightly erred.
Holland is like the fuse to a barrel of gunpowder. It is such a little thing, but it is VERY HOT.
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I'm glad the 80 yr old has survived the heart attack he had shortly after the attempted robbery.
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BRAVO !
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And I hope the robber has to wipe his ass with his other hand for the rest of his misserable life.I glad the 80 yr old has survived the heart attack he had shortly after the attempted robbery.
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Brazil allowes killing of motorcycle robbers. I think that's gunna leave a mark. Watch to the end.
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I watched it to the end about 5 times, laughing hysterically the whole time.
Sometimes cameras everywhere can be entertaining.
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I LOVE "Hopalong Cassidy" trying to get back to the bike with his leg waving like a flag in the wind.
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I hate to admit it but I frequent the UK Daily Mail out of boredom mostly. Anyway I remember seeing that incident there about 6-8 months ago. What makes that one even funnier is the name of the place where the guy went to get patched up... And I couldn't make this up - Campo Limpo Hospital.I LOVE "Hopalong Cassidy" trying to get back to the bike with his leg waving like a flag in the wind.
SUV rams motorbike robbers as they hold up couple on street in Brazil
CCTV shows an SUV speed up and ram into two masked men on a motorbike as they attempt to rob two pedestrians in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo.
That first clip though where the robbers double as launch ramps on the curb... Now that would suck- but not for long I suppose. They were both meat crayons.
Each and every time I watched that video it was like looking through an aquarium with one eye I was laughing so hard. The capper was the sound track on the last one- now that's funny. I think I had to 'watch' it 4 times before I actually saw the one guy land. Yeah, I think I'll have to go watch it again...