[guest post by Dana]

It’s Friday, so you’ll have to cut me slack for posting about such absurd happenings. But honestly, this fairly defines the absurd culture in which we find ourselves currently flailing about. I studiously avoided posting about the Kathy Griffin debacle when it happened because yawn, but now it’s gotten so ridiculous that it demands its own separate post. So, a comedian exercises very poor judgment in her attention whoring, as evidenced by drawing the unwanted attention of the Secret Service, is shocked when the masses soundly condemn her and the idiots claim she’s committed treason, and apologizes for her bad decision making but doesn’t apologize to the person she’s offended, yet now seems to believe that she is the victim in all of this. A victim of the president, no less. But of course. In the meantime, sane people just want off this crazy train of social psychosis.

First, here is Kathy Griffin expressing her intent to go all out on “‘President Piece of Shit’ Donald Trump,” and his 11 year old son:

For me, that’s Trump and all things Trump. It’s not about trying to be an equal-opportunity offender anymore because Hillary got such a beat down. It’s his turn. So I’m happy to deliver beat down to Donald Trump — and also to Barron. You know a lot of comics are going to go hard for Donald, my edge is that I’ll go direct for Barron. I’m going to get in ahead of the game.

To recap: D-list comedienne Kathy Griffin, along with photographer Tyler Shields, hatched up with a plan to photograph the wanna-be Joan Rivers holding a fake severed head resembling President Trump. It was gruesome and disturbing, and garnered all the outrage and attention that Griffin hoped would happen. President Trump expressed his disgust. First Lady Melania Trump also unloaded on Griffin, especially after 11 year old son Barron Trump got upset after seeing the photograph on television. The right-wing blogosphere condemned the comedian as well. Unexpectedly, so too did some members of the left: Chelsea Clinton, CNN co-host Anderson Cooper – even Slate – denounced her. By Tuesday night, Griffin released a video apology, claiming that she “went too far,” and asked forgiveness. Yet she did not directly apologize to the President. In the subsequent fallout, Griffin found herself dropped as spokesperson for Squatty Potty, her comedy shows were canceled and she was fired by CNN. (Side note: Sen. Al Franken, with whom Griffin was scheduled to host an event with in July, evidenced that his moral compass consists of sticking his finger in the air to see which way the prevailing winds of disapproval blow. Originally, after the photo appeared on Tuesday, his reaction was one of disapproval, saying it was “very unfortunate” and “unacceptable”. However, after Griffin came out with her apology on Tuesday night “begging for forgiveness,” Franken, who “believes in forgiveness,” said the show would go on. But by Thursday, after facing backlash from Minnesotans for his decision, he backed off, saying he had “come to the conclusion that it would be best for her not to participate in the event.”)

And then last night, there was a dramatic turn of events: Kathy Griffin became the victim. Because Hollywood:

Kathy Griffin and attorney Lisa Bloom have scheduled a press conference on Friday where Griffin will elaborate on her decision to do a photo shoot in which she held up a bloody prop that resembled Donald Trump’s severed head.

In a press announcement she posted on Twitter, Bloom said that she and Griffin will “explain the true motivation behind the image, and respond to the bullying from the Trump family she has endured.”

As actor Nick Searcy astutely observed:

What did I tell you? @kathygriffin is the victim now. Hollywood will reward her with her own show or with hosting the Oscars within 6 months

Now, for all of you who were outraged at the photo of Griffin with the fake severed head, how do you feel about it now being used by a Republican Super PAC to attack Democrat Jon Ossoff in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District election?

“Jon Ossoff believes what Kathy Griffin did was despicable and for Karen Handel’s Super PAC to say otherwise is a disgrace,” said Ossoff spokeswoman Sacha Haworth. “Karen Handel should immediately demand this ad be pulled before any more children have to see these disturbing images on TV.”

(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)

–Dana

UPDATE: Here is video of the today’s news conference with attorney Lisa Bloom and comedian Kathy Griffin. In answer to the question of the post’s title, yes, Kathy Griffin is a victim – in her own eyes. I watched the whole thing. It’s pretty nauseating. I don’t know about you, but if making jokes about underboob sweat just doesn’t seem smart. But of course, this had nothing to do with smarts or remorse. Instead it has everything to with Griffin being attacked, being victimized, being threatened, losing jobs, being disavowed, and having everyone turn on her. EVERYONE! Not because of her own poor decision making, of course, but because EVERYONE ELSE! It seems like if the goal were to get past this as quickly as possible, a smart attorney would have advised her client to simply offer a humble apology of remorse directly to the president, or better yet, to Barron Trump. But obviously I’m not a smart attorney, or attorney of any kind, because that was not the game plan. Rather it appears the game plan is to squeeze this for all the self-righteous sympathy Griffin can get. Similar to the president, Kathy Griffin is a victim of her own poor judgement, lack of discretion, and self-indulgence.

–Dana

[guest post by Dana]

This comes after the dismissal of Nick Sandmann’s lawsuit against The Washington Post:

Eight Covington Catholic High School students claim they were defamed during a field trip to Washington in January in a lawsuit filed in Kentucky.

The lawsuit seeks damages for alleged defamatory comments by 12 individuals—lawmakers, journalists and social media personalities, Law & Crime reported Friday.

The individuals include presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman.

Details:

“Several of our Senators, most-famous celebrities, and widely read journalists, collectively used their large social media platforms, perceived higher credibility and public followings to lie and libel minors they never met, based on an event they never witnessed,” the lawsuit said, according to Law & Crime.

“These defendants called for the kids to be named and shamed, doxxed and expelled, and invited public retaliation against these minors from a small town in Kentucky,” the lawsuit said.

Defendants include: Rep. Deb Haaland (D-New Mexico), CNN’s Ana Navarro, comedian Kathy Griffin, ABC News political analyst Matthew Dowd, writer Reza Aslan, Kentucky entrepreneur Adam Edelen, Princeton University History Professor Kevin M. Kruse, activist and journalist Shaun King, Mother Jones editor-in-chief Clara Jeffery and Rewire.News editor-in-chief Jodi Jacobson.

The reports notes that the eight Covington students are listed in the lawsuit as John Doe plaintiffs.

(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)

–Dana

[guest post by Dana]

CNN supervising producer John Bonifield is caught in an undercover video by James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas admitting there is a lack of proof regarding possible involvement between President Trump’s campaign and Russia:

“I mean, it’s mostly bullshit right now,” Bonifield says. “Like, we don’t have any giant proof.”

He confirms that the driving factor at CNN is ratings:

“It’s a business, people are like the media has an ethical phssssss…All the nice cutesy little ethics that used to get talked about in journalism school you’re just like, that’s adorable. That’s adorable. This is a business.”

According to the CNN Producer, business is booming. “Trump is good for business right now,” he concluded.

Bonifield further goes on to explain that the instructions come straight from the top, citing the CEO, Jeff Zucker:

“Just to give you some context, President Trump pulled out of the climate accords and for a day and a half we covered the climate accords. And the CEO of CNN (Jeff Zucker) said in our internal meeting, he said good job everybody covering the climate accords, but we’re done with that, let’s get back to Russia.”

Bonifield also acknowledged: “I haven’t seen any good enough evidence to show that the President committed a crime.” He continues:

“I just feel like they don’t really have it but they want to keep digging. And so I think the President is probably right to say, like, look you are witch hunting me. You have no smoking gun, you have no real proof.”

Also, yesterday it was reported that 3 CNN journalists resigned after being involved in a bit of messy report that ended with an apology and retraction of their story:

Three prominent journalists at CNN resigned on Monday after the cable news network was forced to retract and apologize for a story on its website involving a close ally of President Trump.

The article — linking Anthony Scaramucci, a hedge-fund manager and Trump confidant, to a Russian investment fund supposedly being investigated by the Senate — was removed from CNN.com late last week after the network decided it could not fully stand by its reporting.

The resignations are a black eye at a sensitive moment for the news organization, which has emerged as a regular target of Mr. Trump and his supporters. The president relishes dismissing the network’s coverage as “fake news,” and his closest advisers have accused the channel of harboring a bias against Mr. Trump.

…

CNN’s president, Jeffrey A. Zucker, has invested enormous resources into political and investigative coverage of the Trump White House, and he was deeply upset by last week’s reporting errors, according to two people briefed on the network’s discussions over the weekend who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Mr. Zucker helped lead an internal inquiry that found the story was published despite concerns expressed by CNN’s standards team, the people said. Thomas Frank, a veteran reporter who wrote the story; Lex Haris, executive editor of investigations; and Eric Lichtblau, an investigative editor and reporter hired from The New York Times in April, submitted resignations on Monday morning.

Also noted in the NYT, this comes on the heels of CNN firing Kathy Griffin for her tasteless photo of her holding a facsimile of Trump’s severed head, ties cut with CNN special host Reza Aslan after he tweeted some vulgar stuff toward President Trump, and being compelled to publish a correction on another story that “inaccurately predicted the congressional testimony of James B. Comey”. The report adds: “CNN’s investigative work has won plaudits this year, and the network had highlighted the hiring of marquee journalists as a sign of its commitment to reporting.”

(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)

–Dana

Kathy Griffin.

USAA.

You have strong opinions. Voice them!

[Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.]