Lincoln Project skewers Trump's repeated failure to offer a long-promised replacement for Obamacare
October 23, 2020
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Fox News producer says network made her and Maria Bartiromo 'sacrificial female lambs' in $1.6 billion Dominion suit
March 27, 2023
A Fox News producer who is suing the network says she and host Maria Bartiromo were "scapegoated as sacrificial female lambs in its $1.6 billion defamation battle with Dominion Voting Systems, Law&Crime reported.
Abby Grossberg, who worked on Bartiromo's show on the Fox Business Network and then Tucker Carlson's nightly primetime show on Fox News Channel, alleges that the network’s toxic work environment persisted after the sexual harassment lawsuits that led to the ouster of ex-CEO Roger Ailes, and she witnessed antisemitic comments and jokes from Carlson’s managing editor and senior producer Alexander McCaskill.
“Ms. Grossberg’s deposition testimony, as manufactured by Fox News, put Ms. Grossberg and Ms. Bartiromo squarely on the frontline of the Dominion/Fox Lawsuit so they could be scapegoated as sacrificial female lambs,” the amended complaint states.
As CBS News points out, Grossberg "claimed that she did not receive a copy of her deposition transcript until early March, although she had requested it at least six times and then was given days to submit an errata sheet, which lists a witness's changes to his or her testimony. The truncated timeline denied 'her sufficient time to review the transcript as she was entitled to 30 days to review under' state rules."
IN OTHER NEWS: Trump's lawyers caught up in 'infighting' as his legal situation grows more precarious
In her amended suit, Grossberg says the reason for the numerous changes were due to "impermissible coaching and coercion by Fox attorneys," adding that she "felt that I had to do everything possible to avoid becoming the 'star witness' for Dominion or else I would be seriously jeopardizing my career at Fox News and would be subjected to worse terms and conditions of employment than offered to make employees as I understood it."
Grossberg says the strategy to blame her and Bartiromo came from Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch himself.
“True to form, and as corroboration of Fox News’s plan to scapegoat Ms. Bartiromo and Ms. Grossberg, Rupert Murdoch testified at his deposition in the Dominion/Fox Lawsuit that Ms. Bartiromo, but not Fox, ‘endorsed‘ the false notion of a stolen election, throwing Ms. Bartiromo directly under the proverbial bus,” the complaint reads.
Grossberg claims Fox treated “certain blameworthy male colleagues” with “kids gloves."
“This blame-shifting would, in turn, transfer culpability for publishing the alleged defamatory statements about Dominion away from Fox Corporation given that these men were and/or had a direct line of communication with the higher ups at the Network and had to endorse the false coverage of Dominion for the false information to make it on air for the purposes of increasing and retaining viewership,” she alleges.
Read the full report over at Law&Crime.
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The James Webb Space Telescope has measured the temperature of a rocky exoplanet for the first time, finding that a "cousin" of Earth most likely lacks an atmosphere, researchers said Monday.
When the Trappist-1 system was discovered in 2017, astronomers were excited at the prospect that some of its seven rocky planets -- which are roughly similar to Earth in size and mass -- could be habitable.
Just 40 light years from Earth, the planets orbit much closer to their ultracool red dwarf star than the rocky planets in our Solar System. But their star gives off far less energy than our Sun.
The system made an obvious target for the piercing gaze of the Webb telescope, which has unleashed a torrent of scientific discovery since releasing its first observations in July last year.
Astronomers focused on Trappist-1b, the closest planet to the red dwarf, because it was the easiest to spot.
Webb's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) measured the change in brightness when the planet moved behind its star, in what is known as a secondary eclipse.
"Just before disappearing behind the star, the planet gives off the most light because it almost exclusively shows its 'day' side," Elsa Ducrot, a co-author of a new study published in the journal Nature, told AFP.
By subtracting the brightness of the star, the researchers calculated how much infrared light the planet was giving off.
The MIRI instrument was therefore able to act like "a giant touch-free thermometer," NASA said in a statement.
- 'Perfect for baking pizza' -
The planet's dayside temperature was determined to be 230 degrees Celsius (450 Fahrenheit) -- "just about perfect for baking pizza," NASA added.
France's Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) said that the heat was not redistributed throughout this "cousin" of Earth, a role normally provided by an atmosphere.
The scientists therefore concluded that Trappist-1b "has little or no atmosphere," said Ducrot, a CEA astrophysicist. She emphasized that other wavelengths would need to be analyzed to confirm the result.
But it was certain that the atmosphere did not contain carbon dioxide, because that would have absorbed some of the light, she added.
The Spitzer Space Telescope was not able to rule out an atmosphere on Trappist-1b despite observing 28 secondary eclipses, Ducrot said.
"The James Webb saw it in a single eclipse!"
The ability to analyze the potential atmospheres of such rocky exoplanets opens "a new era" in the study of planets outside our Solar System, she added.
It was already known that Trappist-1b was uninhabitable, as it is too close to its star.
But Trappist-1e, Trappist-1f and Trappist-1g are all thought to be in what is called the "goldilocks zone".
Planets in this zone have a moderate temperature which could support liquid water -- considered essential for life anywhere.
© 2023 AFP
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"Florida is where woke goes to die," according to the Sunshine State's governor, Republican Ron DeSantis, who has based much of his expected 2024 presidential campaign on being "anti-woke."
But a new poll from Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal is devastating to many of the policies being promoted and enacted by Governor DeSantis in his "free state of Florida," calling into question how he and other Republicans who embrace his ideas will fare on the national stage.
"Patriotism, religious faith, having children and other priorities that helped define the national character for generations are receding in importance to Americans," warns the WSJ, with some on social media pointing to a graphic that purports to capture how much America has changed in the past 25 years.
The importance of issues of patriotism, religion, having children, and community involvement have dropped dramatically across America. The one that has increased? Money.
One Democratic strategist calls it "eye-popping."
Money is also the only issue on which Democrats and Republicans both agree.
But the real siren for Republicans comes in answers to so-called "culture war" questions.
The gap between Democrats and Republicans, expectedly, is huge, but DeSantis – should he launch a presidential run – will confront conservative and independent voters (not to mention, of course, Democrats) who aren't as keen on, say, banning books, as he might like.
Asked, "Which of these concerns you more about schools today?," a whopping 61% chose "some schools may ban books and censor topics that are educationally important." Just 36% opted for "some schools may teach books and topics that some students or their parents feel are inappropriate or offensive."
And more than half the country (56%) say they have some or a great deal of confidence in public schools. Just one-third (33%) said very little or none.
DeSantis' attempts to radically reshape the concept of public education in Florida made another dramatic move last week, when the Republican-majority legislature passed a bill the expands the school voucher program to every student. It could decimate enrollment in public schools, which would also reduce the amount of federal funding public schools in the Sunshine State get. Expected to cost billions, it could also lead to expansions of private and faith-based schools.
Monday morning, surrounded by school children, DeSantis signed it into law.
And yet nationally, according to the WSJ poll, a plurality of Americans oppose school vouchers.
"Do you favor, oppose, or neither favor nor oppose states giving parents tax-funded vouchers they can use to help pay for tuition for their children to attend private or religious schools of their choice instead of public schools?"
37% oppose the vouchers.
34% support them.
Democratic strategist and former Hillary Clinton campaign national spokesperson Josh Schwerin lists a "few findings from the new WSJ poll that should scare Republicans relying on 'woke' attacks": "1) Tolerance is as important as money 2) Book banning is far worse than offensive content 3) Majorities think society has been about right or not gone far enough on range of DEI issues."
For those who look at Trump rallies, watch right-wing news, or listen to GOP politicians or influencers, the idea that another "red wave" is coming next year may seem real, but even the right-wing Wall Street Journal found that a plurality of voters (44%) identify as Democrats – and just 38% identify as Republicans. 18% call themselves independents without leaning one way or another.
Nearly half the country (47%) identifies as moderate.
One issue from the poll DeSantis and the GOP do seem to have support on is diminishing the rights of transgender Americans, who are under attack every day.
Despite increased anti-trans hate crimes, despite the 430 anti-LGBTQ bills filed this year alone (according to the ACLU,) a plurality of Americans (43%) say society has "gone too far" in accepting transgender people. Just one-third say society hasn't gone far enough.
But on other issues of equality, as Schwerin mentioned, nearly half the country (48%) say society has not gone far enough in promoting equality between men and women. And pluralities also say society has not gone far enough in accepting people who are gay, lesbian, or bisexual (37%), and businesses taking steps to promote racial and ethnic diversity (39%).
There's another statistic that also flies directly in the face of DeSantis and his "where woke goes to die" motto.
Two-thirds of the country say society has either not gone far enough has been "about right" on "Schools and universities taking steps to promote racial and ethnic diversity."
Just three in ten Americans (30%) say society has gone too far.
See the video and graphics above or at this link.
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