Something no human being should ever have to bear and suffer in their whole life
Devin Nunes is suing, suing I tell you!
Stung by obscene and pointed criticism, Representative Devin Nunes, a Republican from California, has sued Twitter and three users for defamation, claiming the users smeared him and the platform allowed it to happen because of a political agenda.
Poor man. Has no one ever told him that politicians have to expect a lot of harsh criticism?
Though absorbing criticism comes with the territory for politicians, the complaint described the objectionable tweets from the three users as something “that no human being should ever have to bear and suffer in their whole life.”
Welllll, Dev, you kind of signed up for it.
To make his case, he cited a wide variety of tweets that included accusations of criminal misconduct, crude jokes at his expense and relatively banal criticism. The complaint says the tweets “falsely stated” that Mr. Nunes had brought “shame” to his family and that he was voted “Most Likely to Commit Treason” in high school, and that one of them included a cartoon image of a sexual act with Mr. Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. The complaint lists dozens of other tweets he found insulting.
He’s certainly going the right way about encouraging us all to ignore them.
Mr. Nunes singled out Liz Mair, a Republican strategist who said on Twitter that she would not comment on the lawsuit, and two parody accounts: @DevinNunesMom, which was suspended last year, and @DevinCow, which is still active. The complaint says that Ms. Mair coordinated with the anonymous accounts on “a vicious defamation campaign” but did not offer evidence she was behind them or communicated with them, except for one tweet encouraging people to follow @DevinCow.
Yes but that one tweet totally counts!
“As part of its agenda to squelch Nunes’ voice, cause him extreme pain and suffering, influence the 2018 Congressional election, and distract, intimidate and interfere with Nunes’ investigation into corruption and Russian involvement in the 2016 Presidential Election, Twitter did absolutely nothing,” the complaint said.
Naughty Twitter, sitting there in its Twitteroffice giggling into its Twittersleeve about Nunes’s extreme pain and suffering.
The lawsuit by Mr. Nunes had the perhaps unintended effect of sharply increasing the reach of @DevinCow, the parody account that had around 1,200 followers before the lawsuit was filed. The account was up to 46,000 followers as of Tuesday morning and rapidly growing.
Oops.
I hear Barbara Streisand might have some beachfront property Nunes could be interested in…
Gloating is fun and turnabout is fair play, but when leftist politicians are subjected to this kind of stuff we don’t immediately reach for “well you bought the ticket…”. This post went down a nauseating rabbit hole for me, in that sense.
That being said, if this lawsuit succeeds on the basis of 3 accounts, then leftists will have a field day with the precedent – stuff that is an order of magnitude worse is served up daily by the avatars of the slimy right, and they have rich ripe crops which are very ready for reaping.
I am told by my sister (I don’t do Twitter) that there is now a Twitter account for DevinNunezCow’sLawyer (sp?).
Boblin, I’m not so sure. This sounds like the sort of stuff that has always been the sort of thing politicians deal with, only it’s often in newspaper cartoons, etc. Stating his brought shame to his family is hardly anything more than an opinion, and the jokes are crude and banal, but not really outside the realm of the usual political nonsense. It may not be funny, but you can see this sort of thing happening ever since the beginning of politics. And I don’t just mean American politics. It’s just that Twitter now gives each joke, each insult, the possibility of a wider audience.
This doesn’t appear to be doxxing of the family, threatening, or saying that they should suffer from horrible harm; it is just political criticisms. This is one reason many of us do not choose to run for office, because once we run, we are subject to things like this and we do not believe we could handle it. If the courts find for Nunes, it could be a political game changer, as you noted, but it would seem to be in violation of precedents about public figures and defamation.
Sheesh! All these punitive lawsuits by dickweeds (Not Mr Nunes of course – other dickweeds – doh! I mean other subsets of people of people who may intersect with the dickweed set) is just another way to squelch free expression. At times like these I am thankful for my low viewership since it would be impossible for any of the rougue’s gallery of DWs who get the star treatment in my comics to claim significant harm. The truth may be an absolute defense in a US libel suit but it still costs a ton to defend these things.
WE. NEED. A. FEDERAL. ANTI-SLAPP. LAW. NOW.
Bug all of the Democratic candidates about this. This is actually something that could pass even the current Congress if some momentum got going, because Republicans love to pose as defenders of free speech and a few are even sincere about it!
Screechy, I agree, but I expect our SLAPPer in chief would veto, so they would need a pretty substantial majority.
Boblin –
But this isn’t about Nunes’s being subjected to this kind of stuff, it’s about his suing over it. Saying politicians shouldn’t sue people for harsh commentary isn’t the same as saying all harsh commentary is fair and justified. Criticism is one thing and suing is another.
And what’s a nauseating rabbit hole? I’m not familiar with the metaphor.
iknklast, true about the veto. I was thinking more along the lines of a Democratic president in 2021 with a similar Congress. (A fairly realistic scenario, because while the 2020 Senate map isn’t as tough for Dems as 2018, the paths to a majority are still fairly slim.)
Devin in Chunderland
(I think that’s what Boblin must be referring to)
Has anyone told him to stop being such a snowflake yet?
Anyway, I find it hilarious that he cites the desire to ‘influence the 2018 congressional election’ as a banworthy offense. I guess that means we’ll just have to ban all politicians and their supporters from Twitter!
;_;
Popehat, or as he is currently known on Twitter DefamatoryCowHat, is having some quiet fun with this…
https://twitter.com/Popehat/status/1107776212766617600
https://twitter.com/Popehat/status/1107791666839117826
https://twitter.com/Popehat/status/1107861543146840065
It wasn’t even a depiction of a sexual act, it was *clearly* a human centipede reference. Get it right, dude.
Ophelia,
Suing over it does take his assery to a new level, and the situation is absurd so it definitely does deserve to be mocked.
At the risk of sounding like a tone troll, I was lightly disturbed by the gloating tone of your peice. Obviously the man is an ass and deserves criticism of that (particulately since he chose public office) but we don’t like it when the slime claim that their abuse amount to criticism and gloat when it has the desired effect, so I think we shouldn’t take that rhetorical route either.
If I read a gloating tone that was not intended though, then clearly the fault is with my perception and I will be happy to step back on this.
A nauseating rabbit hole is merely a rabbit hole (in the wonderland sense) that is nauseating to contemplate.
Well there is no gloating. There is mockery, yes, because I think Devin Nunes is being absurd, for instance by defending Trump who insults people constantly at the same time he (Nunes) is suing people who insult him – but gloating is another matter. It just is the reality that anyone who goes into politics has to expect harsh commentary. Note that there’s a difference between saying they have to expect it and saying they deserve it. I was careful not to say they deserve it, because that’s not what I think, at least I don’t think they deserve the Trumpian, personal, ugly kind.