The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Update: Rebekah Jones ‘Could Not Meet Required Burden of Proof,’ Judge Rules

Posted on | May 2, 2021 | Comments Off on Update: Rebekah Jones ‘Could Not Meet Required Burden of Proof,’ Judge Rules

Rebekah Jones, the former Florida health department employee who gained nationwide notice as a COVID-19 “whistleblower” last year, failed to silence one of her critics when a Maryland judge on Friday rejected Jones’s petition for a peace order against journalist Christina Pushaw.

Apparently the hearing was livestreamed (because of COVID-19), and Max Nordau had some interesting tidbits from Fridays’ proceedings:

Rebekah Jones doesn’t seem to understand what it means to be a “public figure,” and why her activities are newsworthy. She reminds me of certain feminists who think they can engage in political activism without ever being subject to disagreement or criticism. It’s “harassment” or even “terrorism” to disagree with a feminist — such was the essential claim made by Anita Sarkeesian, et al., during the #GamerGate controversy.

Jones has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from her claim of being a “whistleblower” critic of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. This inherently makes her a newsworthy person, whose activities are subject to journalistic scrutiny. This attracted the attention of Christina Pushaw, who wrote a 2,000-word Human Events article about her:

THE “FLORIDA COVID-19
WHISTLEBLOWER”
SAGA IS A BIG LIE

This article was the most sustained negative coverage of Jones, who otherwise was basking in the warm sunshine of media adulation.

Well, into every life the rain must fall. You can’t soak up media praise — and exploit that praise for fundraising from “progressive” enemies of Florida’s Republican governor — and then cry “harassment” the first time a journalist writes a negative article about you. And, in the age of social media, it is to be expected that journalists will discuss their work on Twitter. If, in turn, such discussion means that your Twitter notifications are filled with harsh comments — well, whose fault is that? Perhaps Rebekah Jones should ask herself what kind of online comments were directed at Gov. DeSantis after Jones claimed the governor was falsifying Florida’s COVID-19 data. If Jones is a “victim” of anything, it’s the boomerang effect of her own decisions, which made her a hero to Democrats, but understandably enraged many Americans who do not share her partisan affiliation. Unless she can demonstrate that Christina Pushaw knowingly published falsehoods about her, Jones has no legal recourse. She ought to just take the “L” and go home.

Somehow, though, I doubt Jones will heed such advice.




 

Category: Florida, Maryland

Comments

Comments are closed.