Fears grow in North Carolina as ultra-extreme Republican eyes governor’s mansion

gwb-trading · Oct 22, 2024

gwb-trading said:
This headline is reflective of the times we live in... the MAGA Trump era of politics.

Former porn clerk files motion to dismiss NC Lt. Gov Mark Robinson’s $50 million lawsuit
https://myfox8.com/news/politics/nc...lt-gov-mark-robinsons-50-million-lawsuit/amp/

WAKE COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — The man who is being sued alongside CNN by North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson for what Robinson alleges are defamatory claims has filed a motion to dismiss the claim.

On Tuesday, Robinson and his attorney, Jesse Binnall, who represented former Pres. Donald Trump in multiple cases including his unsuccessful attempts to have the 2020 election thrown out, announced in a Tuesday morning news conference that they had filed a defamation lawsuit. They accuse The Assembly and CNN of publishing false articles in September that allege that Robinson frequented a pornographic video store and pornographic message boards at various points in the 1990s and early 2000s.

The complaint claims that the defendants — CNN and Louis Love Money, who spoke to The Assembly in September — intentionally shared defamatory statements about Robinson to interfere with the election.

You can read the full complaint below:
Complaint-2024.10.15Download

On Thursday, Money and his legal counsel filed a motion to dismiss Robinson’s claim.

The motion alleges that Robinson’s complaint, “contains many impertinent and bizarre allegations, meandering into two discussions of George Soros, conspiracies about media bias, and applauding Mark Robinson for lifting himself out of bankruptcy.”

The motion also alleges that Robinson’s legal counsel violated Rule 8(a)(2) of the North Carolina General Statutes.

The statute pertains to general rules of pleading and claims for relief. It reads as follows:

A demand for judgment for the relief to which he deems himself entitled. Relief in the alternative or of several different types may be demanded. In all actions involving a material issue related to any of the subjects listed in G.S. 7A-45.4(a)(1), (2), (3), (4), (5), or (8), the pleading shall state whether or not relief is demanded for damages incurred or to be incurred in an amount equal to or exceeding five million dollars ($5,000,000). In all negligence actions, and in all claims for punitive damages in any civil action, wherein the matter in controversy exceeds the sum or value of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000), the pleading shall not state the demand for monetary relief, but shall state that the relief demanded is for damages incurred or to be incurred in excess of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000). However, at any time after service of the claim for relief, any party may request of the claimant a written statement of the monetary relief sought, and the claimant shall, within 30 days after such service, provide such statement, which shall not be filed with the clerk until the action has been called for trial or entry of default entered. Such statement may be amended in the manner and at times as provided by Rule 15.

Rule 8(a)(2) of the North Carolina General Statutes.

Money’s motion alleges that Robinson’s counsel may have violated Rule 8(a)(2), “for the very purpose of creating media attention for Mr. Robinson’s campaign by creating a rambling narrative regarding CNN, Mr. Robinson, and a man who did an obscure video poking fun of Mr. Robinson for frequenting a pornography store (which the Complaint seems to at least partially agree with as alleged in paragraph 15) and for owing him $25.”

In the motion, Money is seeking to have the complaint dismissed, the costs of his attorney fees and litigation paid for by Robinson and/or his counsel and that the court hold a hearing on the possible violation of Rule 8(a)(2).

You can read Money’s motion in full below:
mot-with-exh-1Download

Who is Louis Love Money?
On Aug. 11, 2024, local band Trailer Park Orchestra put out a music video for the song “The Lt. Governor Owes Me Money,” where the frontman, defendant Money, sings about making a bootleg porn tape for Robinson and says that Robinson still owes him $25.

“In the Music Video, a man in a suit, wearing a generic rubber mask of a black man, intended to depict Lt. Gov. Robinson, enters a pornography video store to view and purchase pornographic video,” the lawsuit reads. “In the Music Video, Defendant Money repeatedly addresses the song to ‘Mark’ and to ‘Mr. Robinson,’ further identifying the subject as the ‘first black man’ to hold the title of lieutenant governor. The lyrics of the song falsely accuse Lt. Gov. Robinson of owing money for a ‘bootleg’ porn video that Defendant Money supposedly produced for him, which is the basis for the song’s title.”

“When the band did the video, it was an inside joke. We got an album coming out called “True Stories,” so when he became lieutenant governor, it was like, ‘Well, how do I not write this song? It’s a true story,'” Money said.

Money says he loved the lawsuit.

“I was immediately thinking that I hope that Trailer Park Orchestra got about 20,000 more views on Spotify and YouTube,” Money said.

North Carolina political news site The Assembly, which the lawsuit describes as “a major online publication with links to George Soros,” posted an article on Sept. 3 entitled “Ex-Porn Shop Employees Say Mark Robinson Was A Regular. He Denies It.” It features a picture of Robinson and Money posing together at Planet Fitness.

The article’s author spoke with Money and other people identified as former video store employees who claim they knew Robinson in the late 90s and early 2000s and that he frequented his video store. Money characterized him in the article as visiting and using the private rental booth almost nightly, sometimes until the early hours of the morning.

Money says he sold the videos to Robinson for roughly $25 a video. Money estimates Robinson paid him thousands of dollars over the years for these videos.

Money told FOX8 Robinson would pay him with postdated checks for the videos except for one Money obtained while in New York City at a music festival.

“I said … ‘I’m going up to New York. You know how the porn shops are up there. Do you want me to get you something we can’t get down here?” Money said. “All of them said, ‘Yeah.’ I grabbed it. I dubbed it … gave it to him.”

Money was 19 when he started working at the porn shop formerly located along Gate City Boulevard near Holden Road.

“[Robinson] was already a customer, and I just came in working … We just became friends,” Money said. “He was almost like a standup comedian … He would have us and everyone else that was in the store just laughing.”

However, Robinson states in the lawsuit that he categorically did not visit these video shops to buy or rent pornography. He says that, at the time, he was working at Papa John’s, and “Nearby was an adult video store where Defendant Money worked. Lt. Gov. Robinson, who has always been a gregarious, outgoing person, made friends with Defendant Money, who also worked the night shift. He would occasionally bring over free pizza and socialize.”

According to the lawsuit, “Lt. Gov. Robinson was not spending hours at the video store, five nights a week. He was not renting or previewing videos, and he did not purchase ‘bootleg’ or other videos from Defendant Money. When Robinson managed the closing shift, usually closing at around midnight, he went home after work so that he could wake up at a reasonable hour and spend time with his wife and two young children. Robinson stopped working at Papa John’s in or about early 2001, and from then until 2022 he never saw Defendant Money again.”

This, the lawsuit states, was the nature of their relationship. In 2022, they bumped into each other at Planet Fitness and, while Robinson did not specifically remember Money, he took a photo with him which was then used in the article.

CNN
Then, 16 days after The Assembly’s article was published, CNN published “I’m a black NAZI!’: NC GOP nominee for governor made dozens of disturbing comments on porn forum.” The CNN article alleges that Robinson made a range of comments that vary from identifying himself as a “black Nazi,” insulting Martin Luther King Jr. and voicing a desire to own slaves. The article also alludes to the existence of sexually explicit comments that CNN would not publish due to their graphic nature.

In the CNN article, the authors claim that the comments were posted by a user on the pornography website NudeAfrica with the username “minisoldr,” the same username Robinson had used on his personal X, then Twitter, and YouTube at the time. The NudeAfrica user disclosed biographical details that match Robinson, including age, location and year of marriage, and used several specific turns of phrases that Robinson has also used.

“The CNN Article also falsely claims that Lt. Gov. Robinson, as a married man, created an account on AdultFriendFinder.com, which is a website used to find sexual partners,” the complaint states.

In addition to NudeAfrica and AdultFriendFinder.com, Robinson’s team also referenced claims regarding Ashley Madison, a website for married people seeking affairs, in a news release about the lawsuit. Within a section containing what they described as “key excerpts of the investigation outlined in the complaint,” Robinson’s team writes, “As CNN is aware, people who create accounts on websites like NudeAfrica, AdultFriendFinder, and Ashley Madison, prefer not to use their own names and identities for obvious reasons.”

The filed complaint, however, does not contain any references to Ashley Madison. The accusation that Robinson’s personal email address was used on the Ashley Madison website was made by Politico explicitly using data from the affair-seeking site’s data breach several years ago. The CNN article does not directly reference Ashley Madison.

In refuting CNN’s claims, Robinson and his legal team say in their news release that CNN’s article is “based on data from a dubious website, supposed corroboration from unverified—indeed, unverifiable—data, apparently sourced from hacked, data breach files, obtained from the dark web.”

The CNN authors link the NudeAfrica account with accounts on the online commenting platform Disqus and Black social networking site Black Planet citing usernames and email addresses that were “publicly leaked online” from Disqus in 2017, according to the article.

“CNN had every reason to doubt the veracity of the data upon which it relied,” the lawsuit said. “CNN knew that supposed archives from a suspicious website like NudeAfrica were unreliable and failed to meaningfully investigate or digitally scrutinize them. CNN knew that supposedly corroborating information it used was from unverifiable, dark web-sourced data breach files. CNN knew or recklessly disregarded the fact that Lt. Gov. Robinson’s email, passwords, and personal data had been stolen. CNN knew that Lt. Gov. Robinson’s facebook history, which is unlocked and transparent to all, goes back to 2007. CNN knew that just weeks prior to its article, Lt. Gov. Robinson had been targeted by another ludicrous and dubiously sourced hit piece by The Assembly. CNN knew that the election was less than two months away.”

In the suit, Robinson’s team accuses CNN of knowingly publishing false information about him to harm his reputation, and they claim that the timing of both of these articles was deliberately chosen to interfere with the North Carolina gubernatorial election.

“Defendant CNN acted with actual malice and reckless disregard for the truth, as demonstrated by Defendant’s antipathy, ill-will, and desire to inflict harm on Lt. Gov. Robinson, CNN’s actual knowledge of the dubious nature and timing of the allegations, its use of unverifiable data to corroborate its reporting, its reckless failure to investigate, and its knowledge of exculpatory information and alternative explanations that it deliberately omitted from the CNN Article,” the complaint said.

Since the publication of the CNN article, Robinson’s legal team says that the news network has refused to issue a retraction or provide the article’s source material.

“On October 1, 2024, Lt. Gov. Robinson, by counsel, sent a retraction demand to CNN. Two days later, on October 3, 2024, Lt. Gov. Robinson further demanded that CNN produce the source material for its bogus allegations so that it could be subjected to forensic scrutiny and verification. CNN responded the next day, refusing to retract the article and has still declined to produce any of its source material for inspection,” the lawsuit alleges. “Almost immediately after the CNN Article broke, the management of NudeAfrica shut down the forum section of its website, where these alleged posts were supposedly archived. It then apparently deleted all messages from minisoldr, thereby removing any evidence that could be investigated. As of this filing, the owner of NudeAfrica has ignored all attempts to contact him.”

NudeAfrica’s homepage reads that “the NudeAfrica free message board is currently closed,” and that a paid “members Area” is still available for $24.95.

“Lt. Gov. Robinson can never be fully compensated for the damage done by Defendants’ lies. His private and public lives have been devastated. Friends and family have turned their backs on him. He has been humiliated. It is therefore imperative that CNN, Money, and anyone else involved, be held fully accountable, not just to mitigate the harm they have done, but to vindicate Lt. Gov. Robinson and allow him to begin the healing process.”

He is asking for $50 million in damages from both defendants.

While the complaint does not name Robinson’s rival in the gubernatorial race, North Carolina District Attorney Josh Stein, the lieutenant governor previously claimed in a video posted to his X account that Stein had “leaked” the information to CNN.

The day the CNN article dropped, Robinson said, “The news media is at it again. My opponent is at it again. You all have seen the half-truths and outright lies of Josh Stein on these ads over and over again. Now, a story leaked by him to CNN is appearing now. Let me reassure you. The things that you will see in that story. Those are not the words of Mark Robinson.”

“One reason I believe the CNN thing to be true is because the Mark I knew with my story would have just been, ‘Haha. You got me. Old news.’ the old Mark I knew wouldn’t have cared about using his real name or using his real email. That’s why I believe the CNN thing. He’s just become another politician now,” Money said.
More...

Robinson has amended the damage claim in his suit to "in excess of $25,000" instead of $50 Million. I don't understand why he did this change, but I guess the reasoning will eventually come out. I assume the reduced amount may limit the discovery actions that can be taken against Robinson by CNN somehow -- but I really don't know.

NC Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson amends damage claim in CNN lawsuit
https://www.cbs17.com/news/north-ca...ages-in-cnn-lawsuit-from-50-million-to-25000/

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson and his legal team amended his lawsuit against CNN which now seeks an excess of $25,000 in damages.

This amended filing of the case was submitted on Monday.

Robinson and his lawyers hosted a news conference in Raleigh last week after filing the defamation lawsuit, stating they were suing CNN for $50 million.

This comes after the CNN report alleging the Republican gubernatorial candidate made several offensive comments on a pornographic website called “Nude Africa” before his political career, which included calling himself “a Black Nazi” and expressing support for reinstating slavery. His campaign has called the report a “smear” and “outrageous lies.”

“We are holding CNN accountable,” Robinson said during the news conference announcing the lawsuit on Oct. 15. “This is a high-tech lynching of a candidate that’s been targeted from day one, by folks who disagree with me politically and want to see me destroyed.”

“We are glad to take these first steps to fight back against what we consider to be one of the greatest examples of political interference in this state’s history, and quite possibly this nation’s history,” he added.

Robinson’s attorney, Jesse Binnall, called the CNN report a “journalistic hit job” with information that shows a “reckless disregard for the truth” and “actual malice.”

“There were a number of inconsistencies that were used that went beyond journalistic standards in the way that CNN performed their reporting,” Binnall said on Oct. 15. “We will get to the truth.”

Court documents show the case is scheduled to be heard in court on Nov. 18, nearly two weeks following the 2024 general election.

You can read the amended lawsuit below:

(Article has inline PDF of amended lawsuit)

ipatent · Oct 23, 2024

Looks like Robinson's problems may hand the state to Trump...

North Carolina's Black turnout is way down

Atlantic · Oct 23, 2024

gwb-trading · Oct 29, 2024

Just like Trump, Robinson does not pay his bills.

Mark Robinson owes North Carolina Highway Patrol $14,000 — he still hasn’t paid: records
https://www.rawstory.com/mark-robinson-highway-patrol-bills/

gwb-trading · Oct 30, 2024

Let's catch up with some more insane shiat out of the mouth of Mark Robinson.

Every child that has ever been raped turns into a reprehensible monster. Well Mark, what should we do then -- just put children who have been raped to death so they don't turn into monsters? It seems that this is your type of solution for everything else.

Mark Robinson: Children Who Are Raped Turn Into 'Monsters' Who Do 'Unspeakable Acts'
The North Carolina Republican nominee for governor filmed himself saying this on Facebook in December 2018. The video is still up.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mark-robinson-children-raped-monsters_n_672116e2e4b0b049cc423645

gwb-trading · Nov 5, 2024

Remember this idiot... He's down at least 14 points in all the recent polls in our state. All of his donors, PACs, the Republican Governor's Association, etc. have withdrawn funding from him over recent weeks. He has no commercials on TV. At this point maybe he should go promote his campaign on internet porn sites.

Mark Robinson Seems To Lash Out At Republicans Who Ditched Him
As his campaign flails, the GOP gubernatorial nominee in North Carolina ranted about politicians who “turn on your fellow so-called conservatives.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mark-robinson-lashes-out-republicans_n_67295679e4b0266a3458772b

gwb-trading · Dec 18, 2024

Here is today's hint... When in the middle of a defamation lawsuit against CNN for their reporting that you made racist comments on a porn website, don't use that same username to log into your state meeting.

Mark Robinson logs in to state meeting as 'minisoldr,' the handle at the center of CNN allegations
The username 'minisoldr' became famous in September, when CNN reported allegations that Robinson used the moniker to post messages on a pornographic website. Robinson, who is suing the network for defamation, says he never made the posts.
https://www.wral.com/story/mark-rob...le-at-the-center-of-cnn-allegations/21771075/

A username at the center of allegations against Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson — claims by cable network CNN that he used the alias ‘minisoldr’ to make lewd and racist comments on a pornographic website more than a decade ago — popped up last week in a meeting over Gov.-elect Josh Stein’s inauguration.

Robinson, a Republican, lost to Stein in the November election by 15 percentage points. The loss came a little more than a month after CNN reported that Robinson used the online handle to post remarks on a website called Nude Africa, including purported comments in support of slavery and one declaring “I’m a Black Nazi.”

Robinson has denied the allegations in the CNN report and sued the network for defamation, claiming that it failed to follow journalistic standards and that data breaches could have enabled an impersonator to write messages under the username. The username is associated with other online accounts controlled by Robinson, CNN reported and Robinson acknowledges. .

In a Dec. 10 meeting for the Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, Robinson logged on to the virtual meeting with “minisoldr” as his username, The Assembly reported.

Matt Hurley, a spokesman for Robinson’s gubernatorial campaign, told WRAL that Robinson has used the username for two decades and that his personal use of it has nothing to do with the comments posted to the pornographic website.

“Mark’s personal username has been MiniSoldr for more than 20 years,” Hurley said in an email. “Anyone who has been following Mark for any period of time knows this. People attempt to impersonate him all the time by utilizing variations of the name.”

Robinson was attending the inauguration planning meeting virtually from home because he was recovering from a dental procedure, Hurley said.

Robinson’s use of the moniker generated a buzz, said state Sen. Jim Burgin, R-Harnett, who also participated in the meeting.

“Other people have already called me about it and said, ‘Is it true?’” Burgin said, referring to Robinson’s username in the meeting. “And I’ve said, ‘Yes, it is.’”

Burgin said he noticed Robinson’s username immediately upon joining the meeting. No one asked Robinson about the username during the meeting, Burgin said. Robinson was only on the call briefly, Burgin said. Robinson called the meeting to order, mentioned his dental procedure, and then left the meeting, Burgin said.

Stein is scheduled to be sworn in Jan. 11 at 10 a.m. Robinson’s case against CNN is still pending. Jesse Binnall, the Virginia-based attorney Robinson hired to investigate CNN’s reporting, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The network last month filed a notice to move the case from a state court to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, arguing that the lawsuit belongs in federal court in part because CNN isn’t based in North Carolina.