Appeals court finds RFK Jr's case against Meta is full of worms. Court To RFK Jr.: Fact-Checking Doesn’t Violate 1st Amendment Nor Does Section 230 Make Meta A State Actor From the that's-not-how-any-of-this-works dept. https://abovethelaw.com/2024/08/cou...nor-does-section-230-make-meta-a-state-actor/ You may recall that RFK Jr.’s nonsense-peddling anti-vax organization “Children’s Health Defense” (CHD) sued Meta back in 2020 for the apparent crime of fact-checking and limiting the reach of the anti-vax nonsense it posted. Three years ago, the case was tossed out of court (easily) with the court pointing out that Meta is (*gasp*) a private entity that has the right to do all of this under its own free speech rights. The court needed to explain that the First Amendment applies to the government, and Meta is not the government. Yes, Meta looked to the CDC for guidance on vaccine info, but that did not turn it into a state actor. It was a pretty clear and easy ruling smacking down CHD (represented, in part, by disgraced Yale law professor Jed Rubenfeld). So, of course RFK Jr. and CHD appealed. Last week, the Ninth Circuit smacked them down again. And we learn that it’s going to go… very… slowly… to hopefully help RFK Jr. and Rubenfeld understand these things this time: To begin by stating the obvious, Meta, the owner of Facebook, is a private corporation, not a government agency. Yes, the majority opinion admits that there are some rare cases where private corporations can be turned into state actors, but this ain’t one of them. CHD’s state-action theory fails at this threshold step. We begin our analysis by identifying the “specific conduct of which the plaintiff complains.” Wright, 48 F.4th at 1122 (quoting American Mfrs. Mut. Ins. Co. v. Sullivan, 526 U.S. 40, 51 (1999)). CHD challenges Meta’s “policy of censoring” posts conveying what it describes as “accurate information . . . challenging current government orthodoxy on . . . vaccine safety and efficacy.” But “the source of the alleged . . . harm,” Ohno, 723 F.3d at 994, is Meta’s own “policy of censoring,” not any provision of federal law. The closest CHD comes to alleging a federal “rule of conduct” is the CDC’s identification of “vaccine misinformation” and “vaccine hesitancy” as top priorities in 2019. But as we explain in more detail below, those statements fall far short of suggesting any actionable federal “rule” that Meta was required to follow. And CHD does not allege that any specific actions Meta took on its platforms were traceable to those generalized federal concerns about vaccine misinformation. (Much more at above url)
Is he still alive? You don't hear anything about any of his campaign events. Gee I wonder why? Note From the CEO's to all employees of MSNBC, ABC, CBS, WP, NYT, LAT : "Do not mention this man's name. He gets zero coverage. Dissenters will be immediately terminated." OOPS! RFK Jr. campaign 'looking at' joining forces with Trump, running mate Shanahan says Published Tue, Aug 20 202412:46 PM EDTUpdated 4 Min Ago "Now what do we do?"
The independent presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is considering abandoning his quest for the White House to "join forces" with Republican nominee Donald Trump, Kennedy's running mate Nicole Shanahan says in a new interview posted online Tuesday. Shanahan also said the campaign also is considering remaining in the contest to try to win more than 5% of the popular vote and "establish ourselves" as a third-party alternative to the Republican and Democratic parties, and build on that ballot access for the 2028 election. "There's two options that we're looking at and one is staying in, forming that new party, but we run the risk of a Kamala Harris and Walz presidencybecause we draw votes from Trump, or we draw somehow more votes from Trump," Shanahan said in the interview on the Impact Theory podcast. "Or we walk away right now and join forces with ... Donald Trump and you know, we walk away from that and explain to our base why we're making this decision," Shanahan told interviewer Tom Bilyeu. "Not easy, not an easy decision," the attorney and entrepreneur added. If Kennedy and Shanahan quit the election contest, it is not clear if their would-be voters would necessarily go to Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio. But some polls suggest that the Democratic nominee, Vice President Harris, would be stronger against Trump in swing states when Kennedy is included as a candidate, as opposed to when Kennedy is not an option. Earlier in the interview, Shanahan said, "I did not put in tens of millions of dollars to be a spoiler candidate." "I put in tens of millions of dollars to win, to fix this country, to do the right thing," she said. "We don't want to be a spoiler." "We wanted to win. We wanted a fair shot," Shanahan added. -->Kennedy is going MAGA?!
Billionaire who helped RFK Jr. get on NC ballot won't back his new effort to get off the ballot Mark Cuban helped fund Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s winning fight against a Democratic Party lawsuit to get him off the ballot. Now Kennedy is trying to get off the ballot, but without Cuban's help. https://www.wral.com/story/billiona...is-new-effort-to-get-off-the-ballot/21606154/
why were the democrats eager to keep him off the ballot. No liberal is voting for that guy, but some magas would.
The state election board consists of three Democrats and two Republicans. The reasons Democrats want to keep Kennedy on the ballot are: He made an absurd fuss to get on the ballot and went about it using a questionable shell political party, not as an independent. In North Carolina, it is believed that keeping Kennedy on the ballot will hurt Trump more than it will hurt Harris. The state polls tend to confirm this.
The Democrats on the state election board; they wanted Kennedy to follow proper procedures to be added to the ballot in our state and not use the scam of using a shell political party.
I also forgot one other factor. In North Carolina, the ballots have already been printed. On September 6th, county boards of elections begin mailing absentee ballots to eligible voters who submitted an absentee ballot request form. It is too late to change the ballots. North Carolina is not the only state denying RFK Jr's request to be removed from the ballot. Michigan judge denies RFK Jr.'s lawsuit to be removed from Michigan presidential ballot https://www.freep.com/story/news/po...sues-remove-name-michigan-ballot/75057733007/