Pro Tip: Don't Send A Completely Bogus Defamation Threat To A Website That Employs A Former ACLU Bad

[LiberalArkie]

If you happen to recognize the name Jamie Lynn Crofts, it may be from the truly amazing amicus brief she filed two years ago in the nutty SLAPP lawsuit that coal boss Bob Murray filed against comedian John Oliver after Oliver did a (very funny) segment about coal and coal jobs that talked a fair bit about Bob Murray. Crofts, at the time working for the ACLU in West Virginia, filed an amicus brief that was truly wonderful to behold, including sections entitled "The Ridiculous Case at Hand" and "Anyone Can Legally Say "Eat Shit, Bob!" and "You Can't Sue People for Being Mean to You, Bob" and "You Can't Get a Court Order Telling the Press How to Cover Stories, Bob."

Anyway, it appears that Jamie has since moved on from the ACLU, and it appears that she's now regularly writing about legal issues for Wonkette, and doing a pretty damn good job of it as well, looking through her recent stories. I wish I'd known that before, as I would have followed her coverage much more closely. However, Jamie truly shines when dealing with bullshit censorial threats, and apparently the performance artists known as "Diamond and Silk" decided to send a laughably sketchy "cease and desist" letter to Wonkette over some of their coverage of Diamond and Silk and whatever it is that they do. Jamie's response is entitled In The Matter Of Diamond And Silk's Very Real Lawyer v. Wonkette: Bring It, Sh*thead, which maybe gives you a sense of the spirit of her reply.

Normally, in this space, we'd go through and highlight the absurdity of the threat letter, but, honestly, we can't do half as good a job as Jamie does (we probably couldn't do 20% as good a job). So you should go read the whole thing, but here's a snippet.

Snip.

I swear there's a lot more there and it just gets better and better and better. So go read it. And, yeah, maybe don't send a bogus legal threat letter to a site that employs a former ACLU 1st Amendment lawyer who is famous for filing a brief in court about how it's legal to say "Eat Shit, Bob!


Snip Must read


https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20190830/16475242895/pro-tip-dont-send-completely-bogus-defamation-threat-to-website-that-employs-former-aclu-badass.shtml

[MontanaMama]

1. Worth the read!

I'm laughing at my desk.

[comradebillyboy]

2. The Wonderbitch referred to on the Techdirt article is our

old friend Bravenak who writes for Wonkette now. From the article"

So if Calcite and Burlap actually sued us for this, one of the actual issues would be whether Wonderbitch really does hate them for being so dumb. And they'd have to show that their "reputation," such as it is, was harmed by what she wrote.

I surely do miss Bravenak's contributions here at DU.

[SunSeeker]

9. I miss Bravenak too.

[Cha]

12. lol! Yeah, I miss her here.. catch

her on twitter, though.

[ehrnst]

13. .....

[Gothmog]

3. I have been following the Diamond & Silk letter to Wonkette

These idiots have sent letters to other people

Link to tweet

[TheRealNorth]

4. Its called censorship via civil litigation

Its how the 1% now stifle the independent media - through costly litigation. Its the flip side of how Trump got away with not paying contractors- he knew what he didn't pay usually wasn't going to be worth taking him to court.

This is also why Republicans are against class action lawsuits and are for caps on damages payouts- they know lawyers won't take cases against big businesses if the damages are only a few thousand dollars to the individual, and the business will contest it.

[yonder]

5. Thanks.

I was had at Calcite and Burlap for Diamond and Silk.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

8. That alone was worth the time to read the whole post !

[BlueMississippi]

6. Nice

She must be a wonderful intellectual.

[dlk]

7. Hilarious!

[joost5]

10. And who is paying the lawyer fees? ...follow the money...

*hint: Rubles

[mountain grammy]

11. Love this.

Also thanks for that link. Good site.

[Karadeniz]

14. A lawyer with a sense of the ridiculous...loved the article!Thanks!

[Pacifist Patriot]

15. I read that last week and didn't realize that's who she was.

Thanks for the background!!