The Right Side of the News

Christopher Blair runs a political satire Facebook page where he plumbs the depths of what the right will believe. Shirley Chapian believes every word Christopher Blair writes. Enjoy: ‘Nothing on this page is real’: How lies become truth in online America--Percy

You were asked for an analysis. That's an unhinged rant, not any kind of analysis.The transcript is available. Not free except for interested parties. I don't know where.Edited by JonF, : No reason given.

The original judicial decision that established due process was necessary for revoking a White House press pass was posted by Percy upthread. The journalist in that case, incidentally, was denied his press pass by the Johnson and Carter White Houses. Not everything is a matter of liberal vs conservative.The White House takes away a press pass; judge notes that according to precedent there are more steps needed to take away a White House press pass. I don't see what's either wacko or liberal about that.Can't help but feel the whole thing is being made into a bit of an unnecessary mountain. This is hardly a great attack on press freedoms. Trump rarely gives press conferences anyway; and as Robert Sherrill (the journalist whose case set the original precedent) noted when explaining why he never applied for a White House press pass after winning his case:

quote:

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I had been in Washington long enough to realize that was the last place to waste your time sitting around for some dumb fuck to give a press conference.

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It's possible he was set up I suppose, but it would have been a rather complicated feat to pull off since the woman had facial injuries to show for her side of the story, and there is also this rather telling bit of fact that seems to have been dropped from recent reports, that when Avenatti was first arrested he said "she hit me first," which sounds like a smoking gun to me. So if this was a set-up the woman had to have intentionally provoked him by hitting him and then been willing to suffer some bruises for it. Even in that case the fact that he hit her "back" doesn't speak well for him.As I said, this little fact about his saying she hit him first was reported at the beginning and then has become rather hard to find.But here's one report I found by specifically searching on "She hit me first"Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

According to a news report I heard early this morning, the White House has issued a written protocol for behavior in WH press conferences in response to the court decision, beginning with the statement that they would have assumed there should be no need to spell out such commonly understood rules of civility.ABE: CAFFEINE: You mention a post of Percy's that refers to a prececent but I can't find it in the voluminous stuff he's written. Please post the exact reference. Thanks.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

The report about she hit me first came from a gossip site (TMZ) and also claimed that the woman was Avenatti’s wife. Avenatti’s wife denies it. It all comes down to the reliability of TMZ’s law enforcement sources and whether they were reporting something they had actually seen or just gossip - and I think that the odds must be on the latter.

That's because it was an early report when they thought it was Avenatti's wife, but you can find other reports of his saying "she hit me first." I just posted the first one that came up. I heard it many times on the news when the story first came out.

The other reports all seem to be repeating what TMZ said. So it comes down to the reliability of TMZ and it’s sources. Which doesn’t seem that great to me. Maybe it is true, maybe it isn’t. There’s no way to be sure.

CAFFEINE: You mention a post of Percy's that refers to a prececent but I can't find it in the voluminous stuff he's written. Please post the exact reference. Thanks.You are certainly right, this is hardly an attack on press freedoms.

Why are you assuming TMZ was the original source?

What are you talking about? The quoted paragraph was somebody's condensation of the content of the radio show, not a "rant" for pete's sake. There is no reason to doubt that it is very hard to come by according to Levin who said he and his wife and his producer were all unable to find it "in the usual places." And the same difficulty was reported on another talk show I heard this morning.The problem may be, as Levin explains in that radio show, that this was a "ruling from the bench" rather than a written ruling. So the transcript is a court reporter's account of the proceedings and not a written ruling. This may explain the difficulty getting a transcript.If caffeine is right that the judge was following a precedent that may solve the whole problem, since that is information that Levin was not able to find before doing his show. Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

Here's a report that says TMZ was the original source but that their information was corroborated by the police:Avenatti "She hit me first" - Search

I am not *assuming* that TMZ was the original source. TMZ claims to have gotten the information direct from their sources, other reports credit TMZ - or nobody. My position is based on those facts.

Today News seems to be a YouTube channel. Given the lack of official information from LAPD I have my doubts about their confirmation.

Yeah, not sure about this, but... EXCLUSIVE: 'It was just a joke!’ Trump activist says his firm's tweet claiming credit for Michael Avenatti's arrest was no ‘set up’ but a joke the lawyer decided to glom onto