I can't believe this is all legal!
Slow news day, huh? Pardon the interruption, but we just need to remind you that Fox News is a shameless garbage fire of cruelty and shit journalism. Here's an actual sentence from Fox's defense Memorandum in the lawsuit filed by Seth Rich's parents.
Although Plaintiffs assert that the Fox News article caused them pain, other readers might well consider their son to be a hero. Far from condemning Seth Rich for the purported leak, the Fox News article portrayed him as a whistleblower who released the DNC emails to expose that “top party officials conspired to stop Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont from becoming the party’s presidential nominee."
Did these fucking assholes just say that Joel and Mary Rich should be grateful that Fox lied about their son's murder because it made Seth Rich out to be a hero?
UNBELIEVABLE.
Look, Fox was probably going to win this suit anyway. Under the law, you can't defame the deceased. Which is why the very first sentence of this motion refers to Seth Rich's "possible involvement in leaking DNC emails to WikiLeaks." There has never been a shred of evidence, but Fox knows they can keep talking shit about this poor dead guy in a desperate attempt to "prove" that Trump didn't accept stolen emails from the Russian government.
They don't have to be this cruel, they just enjoy it.
Fox is likely right when they argue that the Riches are suing for intentional infliction of emotional distress as a substitute for the defamation suit they can't bring. The First Amendment offers strong protection to journalists and their sources. So Fox will probably get away with allegedly(!) conspiring with wingnut conspiracy loon Ed Butowsky to "help" Seth Rich's parents by hiring private investigator Rod Wheeler to look into their son's murder. Fox News "journalist" Malia Zimmerman ran a bullshit story saying that Wheeler had found evidence of Rich leaking on his computer, and she's probably protected because she "relied" on a "source."
They already got away with it. They don't have to file a motion pretending that they did the Riches a favor by making their murdered child look like a patriot.
[T]he article contained a photo of Rich in an American flag ensemble above the cutline: “Rich was fiercely patriotic, say family members.” [Citation omitted.] That readers could take markedly different views of Rich’s alleged leak underscores that Plaintiffs cannot satisfy the outrageousness element as a matter of law.
FUCK RIGHT OFF WITH THAT.
Okay, back to the Iran/CIA Chief Torturer/Michael Cohen Slush Fund Fuckery/Apocalypse Now that is a regular Wednesday in the Trump era.
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Phnom Penh.