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Mo News: The Verdicts Are In

Author

Mosheh Oinounou
August 05, 2022

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Hi everyone,

Here is what you need to know as we head into the weekend:

  • We will break down the verdicts in two major trials we have been watching: Alex Jones' defamation trial and the Brittney Griner case in Russia;

  • Trump's grip on the GOP is once again put to the test. How his candidates fared in this week's midterm elections;

  • Are Democrats setting themselves up for failure in November? How their midterm strategy could backfire - and why members of their own party are warning not to play with fire;

  • Why the $1.3 billion dollar Mega Millions drawing could indicate we're in a recession;

  • Klondike indicates it now may be ready to bring back my beloved Choco Taco;

  • And, the big question our weekly "Cheers to the Freakin' Weekend" section answers. Is the future of Saturday Night Live in doubt?!

And, if you missed it, check out my interview with Brooklyn Magazine, where I was thrilled to recently be named one of Brooklyn's Most Fascinating People. I spoke to the magazine's Editor-in-Chief Brian Braiker about my journalism career, how I ended up launching the Instagram page, and what's next for Mo News!

~Mosh

⚖️ ALEX JONES MUST PAY MILLIONS

A jury found Thursday that conspiracy theorist and right-wing talk show host, Alex Jones, should pay parents of a child killed in the Sandy Hook school massacre at least $4.1 million for falsely claiming the 2012 shooting was a hoax.

  • Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, parents of slain six-year-old Jesse Lewis, testified that followers of Jones harassed them and sent them death threats for years in the false belief that the parents were lying about their son’s death. They were seeking up to $150 million in damages in the defamation case, but an attorney says they are pleased with the outcome. ~ReutersSo with the compensatory damages decided, the jury will next consider the parents’ request for punitive damages from Jones for spreading falsehoods. Those deliberations begin on Friday. [Compensatory damages are intended to compensate the injured party for loss or injury. Punitive damages are awarded to punish a wrongdoer.]

  • Even after the Texas trial is done, Jones' attorneys will be busy. He faces two similar trials in Connecticut by additional Sandy Hook parents. And with the Wednesday revelation of his text messages and emails, which contradict things he said on the stand, Jones faces the prospect of criminal perjury charges. ~NY TimesBut wait, there's more. Numerous federal and state investigators, including the House panel investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection, have also asked for those email and text records mistakenly sent to Sandy Hook family attorneys by the right-wing conspiracy theorist’s law firm.

🎙For a breakdown of the trial, the dramatic week of testimony and what's next for Jones, check out my Mo News Podcast conversation with Law And Crime's Adam Klasfeld. 🎙

🇷🇺🏀 WILL GRINER HAVE TO SERVE 9 YEARS?

American basketball star Brittney Griner was sentenced to 9 years in Russian prison yesterday. The verdict is just below the maximum 10 year sentence.

  • The back story: Griner was convicted on drug possession and smuggling charges after Russian authorities found vape containers with a trace amount of cannabis oil in her luggage in the Moscow airport back in February.

  • The defense: Griner’s legal team had her plead guilty, hoping for a lesser sentence. She also said she has a legal permit to consume marijuana in the U.S., which she says helps treat pain from basketball. But, medicinal and recreational marijuana consumption is illegal in Russia. Her attorneys added, “we believe that the court should be fair to everyone regardless of nationality. The court completely ignored all the evidence of the defense, and most importantly, the guilty plea. This contradicts the existing legal practice.” ~ESPN

  • What’s Griner saying? In her final plea, Griner, speaking from behind bars before the verdict was read, told the judge, “I never meant to hurt anybody. I never meant to put in jeopardy the Russian population. I never meant to break any laws here, I made an honest mistake…” But the judge disagreed, saying the WNBA star committed the crime deliberately.

  • White House response: President Biden released a statement saying, “Russia is wrongfully detaining Brittney. It’s unacceptable, and I call on Russia to release her immediately." He added that he will "continue to work tirelessly and pursue every possible avenue to bring Brittney and Paul Whelan home safely as soon as possible.”Griner’s trial underscores the rising tensions between the U.S. and Russia since Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

  • Attention now turns to a potential deal on a prisoner swap.The Biden administration has offered to release a Russian convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout, known as the "Merchant of Death" in exchange for the release of Griner and imprisoned former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan--who was convicted of espionage in 2018.Russia has countered, saying they also want former Russian colonel and convicted murderer Vadim Krasikov. He is currently in German custody, prompting U.S. officials to call the counteroffer “a bad faith attempt to avoid a very serious offer and proposal that the United States has put forward.”Bottom line: Griner will be serving at least some of this sentence as the two sides figure out a deal.

🗳 TRUMP’S VICE-LIKE GRIP ON THE GOP

While former President Trump may not be officially on the ballot in the midterms, he certainly is influencing it. This week’s critical primary contests in Arizona and Michigan advanced multiple Trump-backed candidates to November’s general election. It’s the latest test of his influence over the party. ~ New York Times

  • The “Impeachment 10.” That’s the nickname for the group of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Trump over January 6th. Trump has made it his mission to make sure none of them return to Congress. Three faced primary challenges this week and it appears at least one of them went down. Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI) lost his seat on Tuesday to a Trump-endorsed Republican (more on him below). The two others...both from Washington state, appear to have survived to make it to the general election in November. ~ PoliticoOf the remaining seven, four didn't bother dealing with a primary challenge and chose to retire instead.The next one to watch is Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), who also sits on the Jan 6 committee, and is facing voters on August 16 in one of the most pro-Trump states in the country. The latest polling shows it might take close to a miracle for her to keep her seat. In a brand new campaign ad, her father, former VP Dick Cheney, calls Trump a "coward and the greatest threat to the nation in its 246-year history. ~Washington Post

Axios

  • Trump sweep in Arizona: Trump endorsed three AZ GOP candidates who supported his claims that the 2020 election was stolen. And, all three won their primary elections and now face Democrats in the general election this fall.Mark Finchem, who won the GOP primary for Secretary of State, participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection and has pushed for the state legislature to have the authority to reject election outcomes.Blake Masters, who won the Republican primary seat for U.S. Senate, said he would have objected to the 2020 presidential election certification, had he been a sitting U.S. Senator.Kari Lake, who locked in the gubernatorial nomination, has said she wouldn’t have certified Biden’s 2020 victory in the state.

  • Michigan: Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI) lost his primary to Trump-endorsed challenger John Gibbs, a former Trump cabinet official. Meijer, a U.S. Army Reserve veteran who served in Iraq, voted to impeach then-President Trump after the Capitol riot. Gibbs will now face off against Democratic nominee Hillary Scholten in November – she lost to Meijer in 2020 by over 6 percentage points.

Playing Dirty: Democrats are under intense scrutiny for inserting themselves into the Michigan race, and helping a far-right candidate who has embraced false claims about the 2020 election overcome a moderate Republican who had voted to impeach Trump.

  • It is part of a larger behind the scenes effort to boost some of the most extreme pro-Trump candidates to victory in their primary races. Yes, you read that correctly. Democrats are funneling big money into far-right primary candidates – hoping they’ll be easier to beat in November.How much money are we talking? Millions. Some estimates are as high as $44 million on advertising campaigns across 5 states. You can see the ads here.Bipartisan backlash: Democrats have received blistering criticism – including from within their own ranks – for meddling in this year’s Republican primaries. Dozens of former Democrat leaders called the tactic “unethical” and “destructive”. In a scathing write up, The New York Times editorial board called it “a cynical low for the democratic party.” Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) deemed it “an egregious misuse of Democratic resources.” And the Washington Post thinks it’s flat out wrong.The hypocrisy: The party has spent the last year warning Americans that Trump and his supporters were endangering democracy by casting doubt on the legitimacy of our election systems and embracing a stolen election theory. Now, they're elevating them to (temporary) success.Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI) was a target of this strategy. In his race, The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) spent nearly half a million dollars on ads boosting his far-right opponent, thinking he'd be easier for the Democratic nominee Hillary Scholten to defeat in November. Meijer summed it up in an op-ed: “They said Trump was a threat to democracy. Now they are propping up my MAGA challenger.”The risk: The risky move assumes voters in November will reject candidates who embrace the former President. But it could dramatically backfire – and thrust extreme right-wing candidates into key state and national offices. Republicans and Democrats are warning the party’s top officials that they’re playing with fire by promoting extremist candidates.

🗞 THE SPEED READ

Four current and former Louisville police officers were federally charged yesterday for their role in the 2020 botched raid that left 26-year-old Breonna Taylor dead. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the charges include civil rights violations, charges of unlawful conspiracies, and unconstitutional use of force and obstruction. Breonna Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer, said she has waited 874 days for any charges to be filed. “Every day’s been March 13 for me,” Palmer said, referring to the date of her daughter’s death.

Historically, the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of businesses 41% of the time, but in 2020 the court ruled in favor of businesses 83% of the time. It makes the current Supreme Court the most pro-business in history, according to the Supreme Court database. The data looks at court decisions between 1921 and 2020 and shows the six most pro-business justices in modern history are the six conservatives currently sitting on the court. The study does also find that liberal Justice Elena Kagan also votes pro-business in a slight majority of cases.

Remote work has driven up home and rent prices in cities that were inexpensive before COVID-19. Boise, Idaho, and Austin, Texas are examples of “pandemic boomtowns” where home prices have soared over the past two years. Since early 2020, home prices have surged 53% in Boise, where the average income for home buyers in 2021 was $98,000. In Austin, the average income is up 19%. But it's a tale of two cities: homebuyer incomes fell 1.5% in San Francisco, as residents fled the city in search for cheaper options.

In a swift reversal, Klondike officials now say they will look into bringing back the 'Choco Taco' following uproar from customers over the company's decision to discontinue the dessert. Klondike says it could be brought back “in the coming years" but haven't revealed specifics. The dessert was initially canceled after Klondike’s parent company, Unilever, said they had a surge in demand for other products.

Last week's $1.3 billion Mega Millions jackpot marked the second-largest drawing ever. One economics professor at Cornell University says the number of people buying tickets and grasping at the billion-dollar jackpot could be an indicator of the economy - and a recession: higher financial anxiety likely increases the appeal of massive payouts, like last week’s jackpot. “It’s a little bit of desperation,” he says.

Some content creators (particularly those involved in art and photography) are moving to alternate social media platforms after being turned off by Instagram’s recent changes that resemble TikTok. Instagram has de-emphasized pictures over the past several years in order to push more video (Reels!) content.

The Department of Health and Human Services reported Tuesday that the national uninsured rate has dropped to a record low of 8% in the first quarter of 2022. The drop in uninsured Americans began last year, when Congress and Biden signed off on a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill. That legislation lowered premiums and out-of-pocket costs for new or returning customers purchasing plans through the private health insurance markets.

According to a press release by the company in November, Triller, a short-form video app similar to TikTok, made business deals with 300 Black content creators and offered contracts totaling $14 million. However, dozens of influencers and content creators who spoke to the Washington Post under anonymity, said they are not getting paid. Triller said this was the “largest ever one-time commitment of capital to Black creators,” - but some influencers said their payments have been erratic, some have gone into debt, and others are even facing eviction or skipping meals.

🎉 CHEERS TO THE FREAKIN' WEEKEND

What We're Watching: SNL re-runs...they might be all we have left soon, if what Keenan Thompson says is true.

What We're Reading: Loving this headline out of the Atlantic Magazine, as we head into the final weeks of summer. "How to Embrace Doing Nothing"

What We're Eating: Tomatoes, tomahtos. However you say it, they've reached their peak ripeness. 🍅

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