As we all knew, Fox lies constantly as propaganda to promote right-wing policies, disinform Americans and make money.

Judge destroys Fox News’s defenses in Dominion defamation case https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/04/03/fox-news-dominion-defamation-case-judge-ruling/

#TheRichRParasites
#FoxLies
#FoxIsTheToolOfTheRich
#GOPIsTheToolOfTheRich

"Fox claimed it is protected by a “neutral report” privilege — that is, it can repeat false statements that are “newsworthy.” New York law does not recognize such a defense, Davis stated. Moreover, he found, “Even if the neutral report privilege did apply, the evidence does not support that FNN conducted good-faith, disinterested reporting.” He added, “failure to reveal extensive contradicting evidence from the public sphere and Dominion itself indicates its reporting was not disinterested.”
...
Overall, Davis’s ruling means that even before the first witness is heard in Fox’s defamation trail, the jury will be told the network repeatedly published false statements about Dominion that injured its business reputation...(Fos) didn’t bother to check out an outrageous, obvious lie. Dominion now starts with a powerful advantage: Who’s going to believe anything Fox says at this point?

“The ruling is as significant for Fox News as it is for the whole of right-wing media,” said Angelo Carusone, CEO of Media Matters and who has documented Fox’s antics for years. “For Fox, the ruling underscores their incredibly weak legal position and dramatically increases the likelihood that they Fox will lose at trial.” He added, “Regardless of how this shakes out legally, Fox is on its heels, which means the right-wing echo-chamber is currently without its conductor at a moment when it needs it the most.”

On the issue of malice, Davis’s damning recitation of the facts shows that Fox knew it was lying. Just a brief excerpt from the opinion underscores how much evidence Dominion has:

Dominion points out that Fox witnesses have declined to acknowledge the allegations as true, and in some cases even testified they did not believe the allegations. [Former Fox News host Chris Stirewalt] testified that he [did] not believe the allegations, that “no reasonable person” would have believed them, and confirmed that this was a widely held belief among the news people he talked with. Additionally, the Brainroom addressed many of the allegations and determined the allegations to be untrue. ... In addition to the general knowledge of falsity, Dominion claims that specific evidence shows that each of the following Fox executives expressed disbelief in the allegations, yet engaged in the publication process of the broadcasts — making them each responsible: Ms. Scott, Mr. Wallace, Mr. Lowell, Ms. Cooper, Ms. Petterson, Mr. Clark, Mr. Sammon, Mr. Komissaroff, Ms. Rosenberg, Mr. Mitchell, Mr. Schreier, and the Murdochs.
The mountain of internal communication and deposition in which Fox personnel acknowledged these comments were false is shocking but not surprising. After all, fact-checkers and politicians have tracked misinformation, distortions and wacky conspiracy theories on Fox for years. This is just the first time it’s been shown that the network knew its lies were bunk. The motive, reiterated in internal documents, seemed simple: Keep its radicalized viewers satisfied to keep them from fleeing to competitors.

Fox’s arguments appear weak. It claims there’s a difference between not knowing something is true and knowing it’s false. But running something without any evidence that it is true sounds like the very definition of malice — i.e., reckless disregard for the truth.
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In any case, Fox has already taken a beating. There now exists a legal record of its dishonesty. The public should now understand that Fox personalities are willing to say things they know are false as part of a business model to keep viewers glued to its propaganda machine.

The pretense that Fox is a real news organization is being blown to smithereens — as is a great deal of the right’s narrative about everything from stolen elections to race to immigration. Discredit Fox, and you discredit a huge portion of the right-wing echo chamber and the MAGA pols who thrive in it.

Credible media, elected officials and voters can now stop treating Fox as a legitimate news outlet. If Fox doesn’t believe its own propaganda, why should anyone else?"

It's like I'm beating a dead horse yet the GOP won't stop sucking up to the obscenely wealthy and doing their bidding. They both hate working Americans and want them to suffer. They can't stand social security, medicare, SNAP, student loan forgiveness, Medicare expansion or unemployment benefits. The wealthy want bailouts, regulations rolled back, zero taxes, refunds and social welfare but don't want anything to go to the rest of us. Their quest for ever more money, possessions, power and esteem has left them hollowed out internally, resentful, hateful and cruel. They have become parasites that suck the vital juices out of our economy so that there is little left for the rest of us who are the ones that are generating all the productivity and wealth that they hoover up. Inequality has left them callous, uncaring, hateful and heartless and the GOP is happy to be their lap dog for scraps.

'Republicans keep saying the quiet part out loud': Pence calls for privatizing Social Security - Alternet.org https://www.alternet.org/economy/gop-2659378942/

#GOPRTools4TheRich
#TheRichHateAvgAmericans
#TheyWantTheirSerfsBack
#TheRichRParasites
#Socialism4MeAndCapitalism4Thee
#GOPHatesAvgAmericans

"Experts have forcefully rejected the notion that private savings accounts of the kind Pence endorsed—which would allow workers to divert a portion of their payroll tax contributions into private investment accounts—would be more beneficial than Social Security's guaranteed benefits, as the former vice president suggested.

"The popular argument that Social Security privatization would provide higher returns for all current and future workers is misleading, because it ignores transition costs and differences across programs in the allocation of aggregate and household risk," Olivia Mitchell, John Geanakopolos, and Stephen Zeldes—economists sympathetic to the idea of privatization—wrote in a 2000 paper.

Experts have also said private accounts would not, as Pence put it, "save the government money."

In 2005, analysts with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) estimated that a privatization plan put forth by former Sen. John Sununu (R-N.H.) and former Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) would "create $85.8 trillion in additional debt (equal to 93.7% of GDP) by 2050" while not boosting Social Security's long-term solvency—something Republicans claim they want to do.

"Creation of a system of private accounts would not change the amount of revenue coming into the federal government, but it would increase government spending, because the federal government would be making regular payments into the private accounts," the CBPP analysts explained. "These payments would represent new government spending. This increase in spending, unaccompanied by an increase in revenues, would widen annual deficits."

Despite the myriad drawbacks of private accounts as a partial or full-scale alternative to Social Security, Republicans have continued to promote them.

Last year, the Republican Study Committee—a panel that Pence chaired during the Bush administration—released a budget proposal that urged lawmakers to "consider legislative options that allow employers and employees to reduce their payroll tax liability and use those savings to invest in private retirement options."

Pence's remarks Thursday came as the White House and House Republicans are locked in a high-stakes standoff over the debt ceiling, which the GOP does not want to raise without also inflicting steep cuts to federal spending.

As part of their sweeping austerity push, House Republicans have suggested raising the retirement age, which would cut Social Security benefits across the board.

"Republicans keeping saying the quiet part out loud: They want to cut and privatize Social Security and take away our young people's futures," Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, tweeted late Saturday. "Democrats will never let this happen.""