Comments on: Romney finance co-chair VanderSloot and his distasteful practice of threatening journalists

By: Ty Myrick

Ty Myrick — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 22:18:00 +0000

The possibility that a major politician’s money man is a creep: high
The possibility that the melaleuca bush would feature prominently on BoingBoing on consecutive days: low

Odd

By: AlwaysInTents

AlwaysInTents — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 21:27:00 +0000

How deliciously refreshing to finally see a page of comments about Vandersloot that not only do NOT sound like they were all written by the same person, but sound like they were written by a lot of REAL people (who don’t get paid to kiss his backside) who see him for exactly the megalomaniac creep that he is. It’ll be nice while it lasts…sigh.

By: Jody May-Chang

Jody May-Chang — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 20:28:00 +0000

I believe you are correct Aloisius! ;)

By: Jody May-Chang

Jody May-Chang — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 20:26:00 +0000

Not necessarily true on the outing….Stay tuned….

By: Jody May-Chang

Jody May-Chang — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 20:25:00 +0000

A common tactic I am told

By: DevinC

DevinC — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 22:32:00 +0000

Come on, Boingers! I know these guys are awful and all, but their name is just so much fun to say!

VanderSloot!
VanderSloot!
VanderSloot!

By: jaduncan

jaduncan — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 11:22:00 +0000

Unenthusiastically ”refuting” little known accusations with full page adverts could be more seen as repeating them.

By: Gordon JC Pearce

Gordon JC Pearce — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 09:26:00 +0000

It’s trivially easy to win a libel case in the UK, you just have to be telling the truth.

In the US, you have to have more money than the other guy and you can say what you like. This is one of the reasons why the US’s SLAPP lawsuits are so particularly nasty.

By: Gordon JC Pearce

Gordon JC Pearce — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 09:24:00 +0000

Hence the running joke on light-hearted UK TV programmes about saying “… allegedly” at the end of a potentially dodgy sentence, yes.

Over here, something is not libellous if it is either demonstrably true or presented as opinion.

By: Don Lindsay

Don Lindsay — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 07:08:00 +0000

OK, my bad. According to “Reason”, Romney’s connection to the brainwashing camps is through Mel Sembler, his national finance co-chair:

http://reason.com/archives/2007/06/27/romney-torture-and-teens

By: Vinnie Tesla

Vinnie Tesla — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 03:38:00 +0000

I’m not sure if http://www.frankvandersloot.info/ is more bizarre if it’s on the level, if it’s some sort of astroturf thing, or if it’s a very dry joke. It is written as a fawning-to-the-point-of-worship fansite by an anonymous and disinterested admirer.

By: awjt

awjt — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 01:11:00 +0000

WAIT JUST A MINUTE HERE. ”VanderSloot”????? Any relation to Joran the Caribbean ladykiller?

By: Don Lindsay

Don Lindsay — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 00:28:00 +0000

Wait, remember Cory’s post
Teen survivors of American religious brainwashing camps speak

Isn’t this the guy who is financially involved in those camps ? Lobbies for them in Washington ?

By: Palomino

Palomino — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 23:51:00 +0000

I feel…

By: Palomino

Palomino — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 23:48:00 +0000

It wasn’t that long ago that you heard these popular terms:

Witchcraft
Lawyercraft
Doctorcraft
Priestcraft
Kingcraft

By: Cowicide

Cowicide — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 22:48:00 +0000

Boing Boing lawyers would eat these idiots for dinner.

By: Ionotter Troutnoodler

Ionotter Troutnoodler — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 22:44:00 +0000

Oooooooh, a *BULLY*!!! Oh, I do so adore bullies? *smacks a virtual baseball bat in his palm* They squeal so very sweetly when slapped.

I’ll be mirroring this in my LJ, Facebook, Twitter and oh yeah, on Reddit, too.

Update: http://redd.it/qgg4r Done!

By: Terry Border

Terry Border — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 22:30:00 +0000

And another round of kudos to Glenn Greenwald, the guy to first shed big light on this particular worm. Salon was brave enough to publish a blistereing attack after so many others had caved.

By: dumbbunny

dumbbunny — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 22:19:00 +0000

Throw down the gauntlet, Cory, throw it down.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 22:16:00 +0000

Yeah. Libel suits are quite rare in the US because they’re so hard to win.

By: Jedidiah Sorokin-Altmann

Jedidiah Sorokin-Altmann — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 22:03:00 +0000

Not so much, Gordon, I fear you have it reversed. In the United States, the plaintiff must demonstrate that something was libelous. In the United Kingdom, the defendant has the burden of proving that the statement was not libelous. For a good book on the subject, take a look at Emory Professor Deborah Lipstadt’s book “History on Trial: My Day in Court with David Irving.”

By: alanbooker

alanbooker — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 21:19:00 +0000

Cory, I have followed you for years. Never posted until now. Great work!! Alan

By: Roy Benevidez

Roy Benevidez — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 20:55:00 +0000

I believe that your belief is believable.

By: Roy Benevidez

Roy Benevidez — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 20:54:00 +0000

If comments on the Salon article are any indication, the VanderSloot trollbot postpeople will be spamming these comments soon. Let the countdown begin 3 … 2 …

By: ComradeQuestions

ComradeQuestions — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 20:44:00 +0000

And to anyone who reads the whole Greenwald article, his implications of VaderSloot outing the newspaper reporter are misleading. The reporter had already been outed by a local radio show who accused him of being biased against Boy Scouts and LDS, and the VanderSloot ad was refuting those accusations.

By: phisrow

phisrow — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 20:20:00 +0000

Hmm… he’s on the board at the US Chamber of Commerce. I am shocked, shocked, to hear that he indulges in ethically distasteful practices.

By: MrBillWest

MrBillWest — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 20:17:00 +0000

My mom just purchased a huge load of their stuff. I’ll make sure that never happens again.

By: Aloisius

Aloisius — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 20:13:00 +0000

Can’t you just have to prefix everything with “I believe” to avoid defamation and libel? Since it shifts the factual claim over to what one believes, but still conveys the same base message.

I believe this guy is an asshole. I believe this person is anti-gay. I believe he is a space alien hellbent on destroying humanity.

By: Hakuin

Hakuin — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 20:13:00 +0000

the people of this planet need to dox the billionaires.

By: Gordon JC Pearce

Gordon JC Pearce — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 20:09:00 +0000

This is the problem with the law surrounding defamation in the US. No matter who is “right”, the party with the most money wins. It’s the same with libel law.

You need to switch to a system like the UK has, where you have to demonstrate that something *is* actually defamatory or actually libellous, for your case to have any merit. If the lawsuit between Simon Singh and The British Chiropractic Association had been fought in an American court, he’d have lost with absolutely no chance of winning.