Over at ANewDomain.net, which you should support because I would never have had a forum with which to try to clear my name post-LA Times smear without them, and also because they post interesting stuff, and because they pay me, and support SkewedNews.net, Tom Ewing has published legal analysis on my case.
It’s titled “Why the Ted Rall LA Times Scandal Matters So Much.” Some outtakes:
But the bottom line is this: If any of this could happen to Rall — and it did — it could happen to you.
Whether you’re a fan of Rall’s controversial political cartoons and essays is irrelevant.
Even if you believe, as many of his detractors do, that Rall is little more than a caustic, leftist/libertarian asshole, what happened to him at the hands of the Times is still alarming. And wrong.
So, the Times decided to trash this journalist’s reputation on the basis on a nearly inaudible tape — rather than opt for a quieter response.
We now know that an enhanced version of the audio recording fully supports Ted’s version of events. Listen to it here.
Now, what message does this episode send other journalists?
The message: If you write critical articles about the police and the police don’t care for the criticism, you will lose your job.
Do we really not want the media to ask no questions about the deaths of Tamir Rice, Eric Harris, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, Samuel DuBose and Sandra Bland?
You see, in the absence of any real evidence whatsoever and by the Times own description of what happened, here’s the only possible conclusion: The LAPD simply asked the Times to fire Ted.
If Rall and aNewDomain had not enhanced the faulty LAPD evidence theTimes said it relied on to (so publicly) fire him, Rall’s future as a journalist, commentator or political cartoonist would’ve been destroyed. It actually still looks pretty much destroyed.
This is because neither the Times nor the LAPD have acknowledged the new evidence in their public denouncements of Rall, nor have they moved to independently investigate or authenticate the new evidence.
No one but the police or the involved officers could have known the police tape that recorded Rall’s 2001 jaywalking stop even existed. What other tapes does it or other police agencies have that Americans don’t know about and could use to defend themselves?
How many other recordings does the LAPD have in its files who revelation might cause a revision of long-settled court cases?
This sounds like the makings for an interesting class action lawsuit, does it not?
9 Comments.
Good piece by Tom Ewing at anewdomain, but I believe they misspelled “cartoonist” at the beginning.
“Even if you hate political cartonist and columnist Ted Rall, his firing from the LA Times represents a chilling First Amendment violation, potential due process violations and something way scarier. This legal analysis by Tom Ewing explains why we all should care.”
http://anewdomain.net/2015/08/19/ted-rall-la-times-scandal-first-amendment-due-process-violations-police-misconduct-should-scare-you-legal-analysis/
Love your cartoons and your writing, Ted! Best wishes, th
The LARD did take down their gloating page. I wonder how many responses they got similar to mine – it’s moderated, posts must be ‘approved’ before being made public. Evidently they don’t like posts that contain the word “pig.” Mine never appeared, but a whole lot of “God bless our boys in blue” posts did.
It occurs to me that it’s not just journalists. Think of the bus driver who gets a speeding ticket not because he was speeding, but because officer friendly was behind on his quota. Too many of those & the driver can lose his job.
Or the longhair that Deputy Fife takes a disliking to, and produces a baggie he *claims* he took from said longhair. Longhair is now barred from many jobs because of his bogus “record”
It’s been my experience that judges are much more likely to believe the fine, upstanding officer of the law than they are the perp. He’s heard “that’s not mine” and “I wasn’t speeding” before.
“No one but the police or the involved officers could have known the police tape that recorded Rall’s 2001 jaywalking stop even existed. What other tapes does it or other police agencies have that Americans don’t know about…”
J. Edgar Hoover made a 50 year career out of little pieces of damning information about public citizens of all professions.
Even Richard Nixon was recorded as stating in 1971 that one of the reasons why he did not fire Hoover was that he was afraid of reprisals against him from Hoover.
http://www.nytimes.com/1991/06/05/us/tape-shows-nixon-feared-hoover.html
Even if Ted’s Travails were published in every paper in the land, 98.6% of the sheeple would convince themselves it’s nothing to worry about.
I often wonder whether self-delusion is a survival trait. If Ogg had been realistic about his chances against the sabertooth, he’d never have left his cave. Instead, he figures he’s smarter or stronger than the guy who got eaten just last week.
Righties always rush to defend the killer cops, I suspect it’s the same kind of thinking. “It can’t happen to ME ‘cuz I’m a GOOD guy.” … or those that defend presidents who kill people without due process. I’m always astounded by the Good Christian Ladies who believe that modest dress and prayer will protect them from rape. Neither approach actually works, but the belief that it does keeps them from being afraid every minute of their waking day.
“First they came for the Jews…
And the typical response of establishment idiots that angers me most is: “Well, if you’re not doing anything wrong, you don’t have anything to fear!”
🙁
“The Los Angeles Times is a trusted source of news because of the quality and integrity of the work its journalists do.”
The LA Times, a legend in their own minds.
“I am the greatest!”
Now, who said that?
But he said it as a challenge that he was more than able to back up.
> Now, who said that?
Bender! (okay, he said it two thousand years after Cassius, but still …)