Ted Rall for August 15, 2016
Transcript:
Slapped by the Times First they fired me. Then they published lies about me. Now the L.A. times is trying to bankrupt me. They've filed a motion in court demanding I pay a $300,000 cash bond. It's called an "anti-slapp motion." (Woman 1: They have no real defense, so they're deploying a bunch of stalling tactics so you'll give up.) The whole story: gofundme.com/tedrall (L.A. Times: if we prevail, we want Rall to pay my attorney's fees to defend ourselves.) They're abusing the anti-SLAPP law. They're a half-billion dollar corporation. I'm a cartoonist. I'm a critic. The L.A. Times fired me as a favor to the LAPD, whose pension fund owns stock in their parent company for drawing mean cartoons about the cops. Purpose of anti-SLAPP, according to an August 16, 2005, L.A. times editorial: to prevent "a deep-packed corporation, developer or government official (filing) a lawsuit whose real purpose is to silent a critic, punish a whistleblower or win a commercial dispute." Ted Rall: Fortunately, the judge cut it to $75,000. But I don't have it. The times only paid me $300/Week. It's due this Thursday.