The judge has appointed a special master
Julia Jester, Jane C. Timm and Daniel Arkin

Judge Eric Davis has formally appointed a special master to investigate Fox News over its handling of discovery, nearly a week after he scolded the media company for not turning over evidence in a timely fashion.

Davis tapped Delaware litigator John Elzufon to look into whether Fox complied with its discovery obligations heading into the defamation trial, according to the filing.

The special master can depose whomever he wishes — and all those costs must be paid by Fox, as Davis explained from the bench last week.

Elzufon must provide a written report regarding the investigation no later than 4 p.m. ET on May 15.

D'oh-minion: Fox's exhibit list includes four clips from 'The Simpsons'

Daniel Arkin (via Twitter)

Fox's lengthy list of trial exhibits includes four clips from "The Simpsons," a cornerstone of the Fox broadcasting network's prime-time lineup for more than 30 years.

The clips in question each include scenes in which Homer Simpson votes in a presidential election:

— Season 20's "Treehouse of Horror XIX" shows him attempting to cast a ballot for Barack Obama.

— The promotional short "Homer Votes 2012" shows him voting for Mitt Romney.

— The YouTube short "Homer Votes 2016" features Russian President Vladimir Putin disguising himself as an American voter and trying to convince Homer to vote for Trump.

— Season 32's "Treehouse of Horror XXXI" finds Homer unsure whether to vote for Trump or Biden.

It was not immediately clear why the clips were included in Fox's list of exhibits. The half-hour prime-time version of "The Simpsons" has aired on Fox since 1989, although the series is now technically produced by Disney, which acquired Murdoch's entertainment assets in 2019.

I had a boss once that, during a discussion about an issue, gave me the best advice I ever got when it came to problem solving: "You're too close to the issue. You have to look at it from 10,000 ft. up"

I've been doing that in regards to the Tennessee three. From up close it seems like a bunch of White Supremicists making an example of two young black men and one white woman, for speaking out against their authority. Much of the discussion centers around that.

But what do we know about Republicans?

1. They move in lockstep with each other. There most definitely is a Republican leadership controlling the messaging and motivations of the party.

2. They always accuse the other side of what they, themselves are doing.

3. They are desperate to defend against the onslaught of bad news and/or criminal indictments they know are coming

There are more, I'm sure, but my point is, perhaps the expulsion of the three lawmakers for "breaking decorum" or rules of the body, is in preparation for the anticipated expulsion of Republicans from state and national offices for their participation in J6. They could be setting the stage to claim the expulsion of Rs from office to say it's retaliation for TN.

I think #3 is a primary motivation for what most of the Republicans are doing right now.

Just my 2 cents on a rainy Saturday.

I will no longer link to Twitter. Luckily many of my favorites are on Spoutible.

https://spoutible.com/thread/280629|


hey everyone, the AR in AR-15 actually stands for who gives a fuck what it stands for, no civilian needs to have one
~jeff tiedrich

Kevin again. Let's see if he had anything left of his soul to sell.

Count reveals there is.

sigh........

https://twitter.com/lindseygrahamsc/status/727604522156228608?lang=en|


If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed.......and we will deserve it.
~Lindsey Graham

But I keep waiting to hear anyone mention Chuck Grassley's claim that he would be presiding over the count on J6 cause they didn't expect Pence to be there. Even in MSNBC's post hearing covering when showing J. Raskin discussing Pence not getting in the car and how chilling his words, "I'm not getting in that car" were. Maddow, "only chilling if understood to be part of the larger plot".

Perfect time to mention Grassley's statement from J5. Why isn't this coming up?

While preparing to sign the toxic burn legislation into law. So glad to hear his praise and to hear the thundering applause that followed.

All the kompromat held against Rs in the House and Senate.

Lil Marco is sure spouting off a bunch of trash about the raid.

https://twitter.com/marcorubio/status/1556800977541423105|

The FBI isn’t doing anything about the groups vandalizing Catholic Churches, firebombing Pro-Life groups or threatening Supreme Court justices

But they find time to raid Mar A Lago