Gilead
Donald Trump
Coup attempt
Fig. 1. “Jake Angeli (Qanon Shaman), seen holding a Qanon sign at the intersection of Bell Rd and 75th Ave in Peoria, Arizona, on 2020 October 15.” Photography by TheUnseen011101 [pseud.], October 15, 2020, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
Because of the protections offered by the First Amendment, there’s a high bar for suing a media organization for defamation. Established in the Supreme Court case New York Times v. Sullivan, the complainant must prove that the media organization was reckless in spreading false information. In a blockbuster legal filing made public on Thursday, lawyers for Dominion present wide-ranging evidence that Fox executives and on-air personalities should have known or, at times, explicitly knew that claims being made about the voting-machine company were false — but pressed forward in making them anyway.[1]
I have to admit, I wasn’t holding out a lot of hope for Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation suit against Fox News. But it looks like they’ve dug up some dirt. Fox has responded, but not substantively.[2]
Philip Bump, “A cascade of mistakes and falsehoods leaves Fox on the brink,” Washington Post, February 17, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/17/fox-dominion-mistake/
So-called ‘ridesharing’
Drivers
Fig. 2. Yeah, this is me. The sign says, “If you’re whining about a labor shortage, STOP ignoring my job applications!” And the QR-code leads here. Photograph by author, January 16, 2023.
I lost money again today. I don’t think people are taking this seriously because the only answer they have is to keep driving for Uber. Even when it’s for nothing or even less than nothing. No. That ends at the end of this month. One way or another.
Fig. 3. Graph of estimated daily average net income (in blue, using Internal Revenue Service mileage allowance) by month since January 2022, what the federal minimum wage would be for a six-and-a-half hour day had it kept pace with productivity[3] (in orange), and the federal poverty line[4] (in red), created by author, February 10, 2023, updated daily.
People who want me to go on living need to find a way to make my life a life worth living.[5] Because I’ve exhausted every possibility I can come up with.[6] Being poor isn’t worth it. Being abused isn’t worth it. Being insulted isn’t worth it. And this is all three.[7]
- [1]Philip Bump, “A cascade of mistakes and falsehoods leaves Fox on the brink,” Washington Post, February 17, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/17/fox-dominion-mistake/↩
- [2]Philip Bump, “A cascade of mistakes and falsehoods leaves Fox on the brink,” Washington Post, February 17, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/17/fox-dominion-mistake/↩
- [3]Dean Baker, “Correction: The $23 an Hour Minimum Wage,” Center for Economic Policy and Research, March 16, 2022, https://cepr.net/the-26-an-hour-minimum-wage/↩
- [4]U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, “Federal poverty level (FPL),” n.d., https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/federal-poverty-level-fpl/↩
- [5]David Benfell, “A life worth living,” Not Housebroken, February 14, 2023, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/12/27/a-life-worth-living/↩
- [6]David Benfell, “About my job hunt,” Not Housebroken, n.d., https://disunitedstates.org/about-my-job-hunt/↩
- [7]David Benfell, “A life worth living,” Not Housebroken, February 14, 2023, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/12/27/a-life-worth-living/↩