The free press is facing a formidable foe in lawsuits
Free health clinic in Hudson Falls scheduled for April
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As I rode down in the elevator with Elon Musk's five attorneys, I wanted to ask them if they really believed in what they were doing.
If they believed a hollowed out First Amendment would be in the best interest of the country.
If they believed milking every non-profit dry with frivolous lawsuits was how they wanted to be remembered.
Or maybe it was just a paycheck.
There were too many questions and it was only one floor to the lobby.
And like too many of us, I did not say a word.
Musk's X Corp. had sued Media Matters of America in 2023 when it reported shortly after Elon Musk had taken over that X had placed ads for major media corporations next to pro-Nazi content. The reporting included a series of screen shots of the advertisements next to social media posts about Nazism.
Non-Profit Quarterly reported that "almost immediately" advertisers left the X platform.
"In an open letter to X's biggest advertisers, Media Matters and dozens of other groups warned advertisers that the changes Musk were making to the platform where ushering a flood of hate speech, misinformation and disinformation and urged the companies to reconsider placing ads on the platform," Non-Profit Quarterly wrote in January.
Musk immediately denounced the reporting, but more importantly, Musk threatened to file a "thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters and ALL those who colluded" with it.
He did that several days later and with his new found celebrity in Republican politics, Texas followed the same day with an investigation of Media Matters, and then last March the state of Missouri also filed a lawsuit against Media Matters.
Free speech advocates were concerned.
If you are not familiar with Media Matters it is described as a nonprofit left-leading watchdog journalism that has been holding right-wing media like Fox News accountable since 2004.
It appeared Musk's lawsuits - whether they had merit or not - were meant to chill media organizations by burying them in legal bills.
In May, Media Matters laid off 14 people and its president, Angelo Carusone, said in a statement the layoffs were necessary to keep Media Matters "sustainable" while "confronting a legal assault on multiple fronts."
On the day of the layoffs Media Matters LGBTQ program director, Ari Drennen, posted on X, "Many of my best colleagues at Media Matters lost their jobs today. However you feel about our work, it should worry you that any billionaire could do this to any outlet at any time for any reason. It's a sad day for free speech."
Now that Musk is knee deep in running the government.
Last fall, U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor ruled that Media Matters waived its First Amendment privilege by failing to comply with requests for documents and ruled that Musk and X could pursue federal claims that Media Matters "knowingly and maliciously fabricated side-by-side images of major advertisers next to neo-Nazi content."
That forced Media Matters to appeal so there they were Tuesday morning in the ornate En Bank Courtroom with their four lawyers appealing that decision at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
Of course, X had five lawyers.
Media Matters attorney Gregg Costa argued the previous judge "failed to address the organization's harassment concerns."
"I think it is especially strong here, given the threats by (Musk) directly, not just to our organization - calling it evil - but to our donors, saying that he is coming after them," Costa said about statements Musk made at the New York Times 2023 DealBook Summit. "How is the name of a person who gave a $50 donation to Media Matters three years ago relevant to this lawsuit over two discrete articles that were published in November of 2023?
X's lawyer Judd E. Stone II said other nonprofits like ProPublica and The Texas Tribune disclose donor information without a problem.
Finally, Judge Don R. Willett asked Stone to address the harassment charges.
Stone argued there was no dangers to the donors because Musk's lawyers could not legally share the information with him or anyone else.
The argument had an odd ring to it since Musk currently has access to almost every sensitive document the federal government possesses, so why not court documents?
Judge Graves said he considered waiving of a constitutional right like the First Amendment to be a "draconian sanction."
He is right.
In 40 minutes it was all over except for paying the lawyers.
As I rode in the elevator with the X lawyers, they made small talk. They did not seem worried about how the hearing had gone, but then I remembered their job isn't to win the argument, but to keep the case going for as long as possible because media companies can't afford the legal bills.
But billionaires like Elon Musk can.
Health clinic
The Southern Adirondack Health Initiative will be holding its fourth annual free medical, dental and vision clinic at Hudson Falls High School April 12-13.
The organization's mission is to help under-served people in the region gain access to high quality health care by organizing free clinics, providing grants for hearing aids, prescriptions and giving out information about health care options.
Considering the concerns over the gutting of our health systems, the clinic may of be needed more than ever.
In 2021, the clinic served 178 people, then 256 in 2022 and over 200 in 2024.
It is looking for volunteers to set up and take down the clinic by contacting Karen Weinberg at 518 222-6695.
To help the cause with donations, click here:
Louisiana health
Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy is a doctor who provided the pivotal vote to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
For the past week, a political advertisement has been running on New Orleans television thanking Cassidy for supporting President Trump's agenda and voting for RFK Jr.
Shortly after RFK Jr. was confirmed, the Louisiana surgeon general suspended mass vaccinations in the state and ordered health department officials not to recommend vaccinations while a measles epidemic was percolating in neighboring Texas.
That led to nine medical organizations represent thousands of Louisiana doctors to publicly state that vaccinations "should not be politicized."
Despite the fact that Sen. Cassidy helped put his constituents in this predicament, he told The Times-Picayune that the policy "ignores the reality of people's lives."
Cassidy said he voted for RFK Jr. only after he was assured that vaccine policy would not change without approval of the Senate Committee on Health.
And Cassidy believed them.
"Removing these resources for parents is not a stand for parents' rights," Cassidy said in his statement. "It prevents making health care more convenient and available for people who are very busy."
The state did it anyway.
Preserving history
My son has previously worked for the National Park Services at Gettysburg, Pa, San Antonio, Texas and Lowell, Mass.
He's is hearing from a lot of worried former colleagues these days.
On Wednesday, the New York Times reported the Trump administration fired about 1,000 employees of the National Park Service.
The park rangers are help preserve the natural wonders of our national parks and our history. Most of the national parks and historic sites were already understaffed and now things will get worse.
Ken Tingley spent more than four decades working in small community newspapers in upstate New York. Since retirement in 2020 he has written three books and is currently adapting his second book "The Last American Newspaper" into a play. He currently lives in Queensbury, N.Y.
Reading your account of the law suit against a non-profit, people leaning, good publication made me think of Musk as a form of freedom of speech and money sucking black plague. The man is a villain who has master minded a take over of industrialized countries, starting with ours. For what reason? I truly don't know. In his illness, money doesn't seem to be the driver. Cruelty rings closer to the true motive. He is a racist, mean man. His genius saw an opportunity to manipulate the entity in the White House to usurp power, otherwise completely out of reach to him. Now, Musk seems unstoppable. Your reporting is very valuable, Ken. Be careful down in Louisiana.
“The moment we no longer have a free press, anything can happen. What makes it possible for a totalitarian or any other dictatorship to rule is that people are not informed.” - Hannah Arendt
And here we are. The events since the election have given me the thought that many Americans don’t deserve the idea and ideals of America, as they have done so little to protect them, while actively preventing others from doing so.