He should sue for libel. It’s clear cut.
$500m ought to do it.
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Unfortunately, the BBC still has this strong governmental yoke.
Which is a little weird, really, as UK TV viewers pay for household licenses that in aggregate pay for the BBC.
It doesn’t even go through the general wash of overall taxation.
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I’m not sure how much I agree. The past few governments have been pretty annoyed with the BBC, which is generally a sign that they (the BBC) are doing it right. I worry more about the ‘checks and balances’ the government keep trying (with some success) to introduce to ‘improve’ the BBC. The last tweak that sticks in my mind was that pensioners retain the right to a free TV license, but that the BBC should just stuck it up, rather than the government paying for them, as had previously happened. Oh, and the ‘the BBC must not compete on the internet’ line, that was a good one. All in, I’m a fan of Auntie. And quite a long way OT.
Here’s the meme I want to take root:
We don’t have a normal president, or normal people reporting to him. He’s not a politician. He’s not a decent human being. He is a lying sack of shit. People who work for him are lying-sack-of-shit enablers.
This is how he always needs to be referred to. Like Voldemort. Whoever runs against him in 2020 needs to do it too. In their stump speeches, in the debates. “Well, President lying-sack-of-shit says immigrants are cannibals, but look at the source!”
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The government being scared of Rupert Murdoch and doing things to please him is not the same as the BBC getting it right. The BBC is far from unbiased, Ukip still get a disproportionate amount of coverage despite losing their only MP at the last election. Actually having an MP elected with sane policies apparently isn’t enough though (Caroline Lucas and the Green Party). The only reason any socialist viewpoints are now made on BBC current affairs programming is because they can’t ignore Corbyn.
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We all need to try and channel Mr. Rogers. That combination of gentleness, understanding and absolutely rock solid values and morals is sadly lacking in today’s world.
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I bet Mark Zuckerberg could expound for hours about why Facebook is a good thing and why the decisions they have made have been the right ones. I’d probably it was all just thin rationalization over desire for more money and more power.
Some of the founders seem like genuinely progressive people and perhaps revolutionary thinkers (for their time), others not so much. They aren’t monolithic, and “people with power” certainly aren’t monolithic. I just think that it’s probably worth paying attention to which rights were given to the people by people with power, and which rights had to be torn from their hands.
(Which is a bizarre point because the US constitution is the outcome of a war. I’m embracing contradiction these days, though.)
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I just think he should be able to do his job, which is pretty critical to all our lives right now.
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Also claims more will lose their credentials for “not treating him with respect.” People, i believe we can truly say the gloves are off. Any attempt to pretend to respect the constitution is now done.
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In a very broad and abstract sense, one of the components of respect is “good faith”.
Good Faith is the idea that
Most people are honest, and aren’t actively trying to rip you off.
Most people aren’t evil, and don’t go through life calculating the benefits of crimes versus the likelihood of getting caught.
Most people in the political opposition aren’t traitors.
There are certain benefits associated with assuming good faith, as well as certain risks. If stretched too far, good faith looks more than a little naive. But a society without good faith collapses under the weight of omnipresent suspicion.
The TrumpRussia thing, if true, cuts to the core of good faith assumptions…
If true, it assumes that, Trump sold out this country for money, and is currently engaged in a project of obstructing justice to avoid getting caught.
A bad faith interpretation of respect is that reportage devoted to uncovering the truth of what Donald Trump does in office constitutes a lack of respect and an example of Lèse-majesté.
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In a few countries, lese majeste is a crime with severe consequences. I am watching for that to start here.
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You know, I read this, thought little of it, didn’t think anything could happen, even if it really should, but then the Atlantic put this up, and I’m like, well, shit.
How do we make that happen?
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