edbermac

edbermac's Journal

March 27, 2020

EarthCam - Times Square.

Usually packed with cars and people.

Checking other webcam sites, very eerie to see very little activity.

https://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/timessquare/?cam=tsrobo1

March 26, 2020

Alex Jones Loses Sandy Hook Court Appeal, Must Now Pay Nearly $150,000 In Legal Fees

Alex Jones, a conspiracy theorist and repeated loser of court battles, was ordered Wednesday to pay more than $20,000 in attorney fees after losing another appeal in a defamation case related to the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. He now owes nearly $150,000 in legal fees before he even faces a jury.

The Texas Court of Appeals sided with Sandy Hook father Neil Heslin, who for years has been attacked by conspiracy theorists who falsely claim the school shooting in which 20 children and six adults were killed never happened.

Heslin’s lawsuit accuses Jones and his website, Infowars, of defamation after Jones claimed the parents of the dead children were “crisis actors” who helped stage the shooting. Jones is now being sued by nine family members of people who died in the shooting.

Jones’ most recent appeal to dismiss Heslin’s lawsuit was found to be “frivolous,” the court ruled Wednesday. Jones was ordered to pay $22,250 in attorney fees.

Jones was also ordered to pay approximately $25,000 in October after a court sanctioned him. And in December, he was ordered to pay $100,000 in legal fees after a Texas judge ruled his defense team “intentionally disregarded” an earlier order to produce witnesses.

Attorney Mark Bankston, who is representing Heslin and other families suing Jones, told HuffPost in a statement that the latest victory for his client spells the end for Jones.

“It is rare to see a legal defense so incompetent and disrespectful to the rule of law that it causes a defendant to rack up $150,000 in fines during preliminary motions before even reaching trial,” Bankston said. “These fines are only the beginning. A far greater reckoning awaits Mr. Jones.”

Former allies have turned against Jones during his legal battle. Rob Jacobson, a former Infowars editor, testified in a deposition that staff laughed at him when he warned them against spreading lies about Sandy Hook.

“I told [Jones] straight to his face: ‘They’re going to come after you for Sandy Hook. This is really bad,’” Jacobson said. “He just stared at me like a deer in the headlights, he had nothing to say. And we just went on our way.”

Paul Watson, Jones’ longtime friend and a contributor to Infowars, testified in December that he also warned Jones to leave the parents alone, but was largely ignored.

Jones was most recently in the news after he was caught peddling a toothpaste he falsely claimed could kill the deadly coronavirus.

https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/alex-jones-loses-another-sandy-hook-court-battle-must-now-pay-150000-in-court-costs-200531738.html

Boo hoo hoo.

March 26, 2020

Actor Mark Blum dies of Coronavirus complications.

Mark Blum, Star of ‘Desperately Seeking Susan’ and ‘You,’ Dies at 69 Due to Coronavirus Complications

Mark Blum, a veteran character actor who starred in the films “Desperately Seeking Susan” and “Crocodile Dundee,” as well as the recent TV series “You,” has died due to complications from the coronavirus. He was 69.

The New York theater company Playwrights Horizons first announced the news, and SAG-AFTRA executive vice president Rebecca Damon confirmed that Blum passed away due to COVID-19. Representatives for Blum additionally confirmed the news to TheWrap.

Blum was also a fixture of the New York theater community, having won an Obie Award for his performance in the Playwrights Horizons production of a play from Albert Innaurato, “Gus and Al.” He’s also appeared on Broadway in Neil Simon’s “Lost in Yonkers,” Gore Vidal’s “The Best Man” and more.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/mark-blum-star-desperately-seeking-155058856.html

Remember him from Crocodile Dundee.

March 26, 2020

And now the FLOTUS checks in.

https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/1243175999526838272

Agreed, one just shudders to think what children will be exposed to on social media.

March 26, 2020

What Trump's coronavirus briefings are really about.

If you've watched President Trump's daily press briefings about the coronavirus outbreak, you've learned how little you've learned. Every time he talks about the pandemic, he tells us more about his o narcissism than he does about the pandemic.

Trump began holding press briefings when he could no longer hold rallies, and for the same reason: He needs praise like he needs oxygen, and these briefings, like his campaign rallies, are his oxygen tank. Public health is not the point. They are about what Trump wants to hear, not what we need to know.

When he talks about the pandemic, he's vague, misleading, and self-congratulatory, often at the same time. "We have a lot of things happening, a lot of very positive things," Trump said while discussing things.

He prefers to discuss things that have nothing to do with the pandemic, such as his "very popular" wife and "Sleepy Joe Biden." While he has not called for the coronavirus to be locked up, he said, "We're building a wall." His logorrhea occasionally takes him into the unchartered territories of pseudo-empathy and complete sentences, as when he said, "Life is fragile" and "The whole concept of death is terrible."

Also terrible is the credit Trump isn't getting. More than anything, he wants to be commended. On Sunday, he complained that "nobody said thank you" after he donated part of his presidential salary to fighting the coronavirus. He donated $100,000, which is $30,000 less than what he spent on silencing a porn star.

Trump boasts of the job he's supposed to be doing (‘a phenomenal job’) and cites people without proper names as confirmation. "Many doctors — and I've read many, many doctors — they can't believe the great job that we've done," he claimed. He said governors are "loving what we're doing," "were thanking us for the job we did," and "were very complimentary." Asked if he sold any stocks before the epidemic, Trump compared himself to George Washington, "a rich man" who "ran the presidency and he also ran his business."

Even when Trump is not talking about himself, he talks about himself. A reporter asked if he regretted his handling of the crisis. "I'm not interested in myself," said Trump, putative author of eight books whose titles begin with "Trump," about himself.

When not praising himself, Trump vilifies those who fail to praise him as much as he does. He denounced "fake news" and "dishonest journalists." He reprimanded NBC News correspondent Peter Alexander for asking "a very nasty question" and told him, "You're a terrible reporter." He called The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal "very dishonest media sources." Last week, he said he wanted to "get rid of about another 75-80 percent of you. I'll just have two or three that I like in this room." The president is holding press conferences in a pandemic to say he wants to get rid of the press.

It's no wonder why he feels this way. Unlike at his rallies, where thousands of fans shout his name, the audience at his coronavirus briefings consists of reporters asking questions about the health and safety of Americans, all but one of whom are not him.

Instead of reassuring the country, Trump wants the country to reassure him.

Last week, his friend Lou Dobbs gave him a farrago of praise, adulation, and exaltation. On Twitter, Dobbs asked people to "grade President Trump's leadership in the nation's fight against the Wuhan Virus." The three options were "superb," "great," and "very good." Two days later, Dobbs self-quarantined after one of his staffers contracted the coronavirus, which suggests that Trump's leadership has been very good, not superb or great.

Republicans have criticized Democrats for politicizing the pandemic. Yet, at his press briefings, Trump's sycophants, not health experts, do most of the talking, and most of their talking consists of praise for the president. They thank him for the opportunity to praise him. At Sunday's press briefing, the president's trade adviser Peter Navarro began his remarks by saying, "Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mr. President." He concluded by saying, "I salute you, sir."

Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the White House coronavirus task force, was not present at Sunday's or Monday's briefing. Fauci is an expert in infectious diseases, not assuaging Trump's ego. The more you know about something, the less Trump trusts you.

These are not press briefings. They are praise briefings.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trumps-coronavirus-briefings-really-094502156.html