Why Joe Rogan Should Sue CNN

Letting it Slide Only Empowers Them

slan·der·ous

/ˈslandərəs/

adjective: Also known as oral or spoken defamation, slander is the legal term for the act of harming a person’s reputation by telling one or more other people something that is untrue and damaging about that person. Slander can be the basis for a lawsuit and is considered a civil wrong (i.e., a tort).

li·bel·ous

/ˈlībələs/

adjective: Containing an untrue written statement that causes people to have a bad opinion of someone. See the full definition for libelous in the English Language Learners Dictionary.

I originally began to write about the outrageous claims the mainstream media was reporting on the claim that Joe Rogan was using a horse de-worming medication to treat a National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) government-funded and produced virus, COVID-19, that came about under the direction of Dr. Anthony Fauci, an infection he had acquired. Just about every major news outlet was reporting this in addition to a claim that an Oklahoma hospital was being inundated with patients that were overwhelming the health system with overdoses from horse deworming medication. This was purer misinformation. The hospital system in question was not suffering from any patient overload crisis. The photo used to caption the story was unrelated to any hospital siege and the photo in question was shot during the wintertime. Rachel Maddow, an MSNBC hack who has been sued on more than one occasion, reported the hospital story but refused to take down the story after it was proven to be false. She too added to the misinformation of Joe Rogan’s treatment with Ivermectum with him taking a horse de-wormer. But it was CNN who seems to take the full weight of reporting that Mr. Rogan was using a horse de-wormer and took full glee in disparaging the infamous podcaster.

As I said, I started to write about this when it happened but decided to wait because the media ran with this false story for a while. Something did occur however, Mr. Rogan has a sit-down interview with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s medical correspondent. As the interview got underway, the topic of CNN reporting that Joe Rogan was dosing himself with a horse de-wormer by CNN came to the forefront. Dr. Gupta tried steering away from the topic but Mr. Rogan was persistent on the subject. He wanted to know why CNN LIED and made the claim that he was taking a veterinarian medicine horse de-wormer and not the human form medication? Dr. Gupta had no answer other than they should not have said that Mr. Rogan was taking a horse de-wormer.

Being a public person is like living on a double-edge sword. It’s the ying/yang, hot/cold, good/bad dynamic of being someone who has accepted that thorny crown of being a celebrity. Such is the scenario of one Joseph James Rogan, also known as Joe Rogan. Joe Rogan is a somewhat marginally accomplished podcaster who can be found on something called Spotify. Apparently, Spotify compensated Mr. Rogan for his services and I believe he got, minimum, at least $20 an hour.

People tune in to Mr. Rogan’s podcast to hear just about anything Mr. Rogan feels like having a discussion on. From UFOs to politics to films to sharks to cultural changes, the subject matter varies. As millions tune in which may be why CNN has a hard-on for Joe Rogan. On one particular podcast, Mr. Rogan decided to inform his audience that he had experienced a slight illness. He had contracted the very popular National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) government-funded and produced virus, COVID-19, that came about under the direction of Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Upon suspecting that he may be a carrier of the NIAID-funded and produced virus under the direction of Dr. Anthony Fauci, Mr. Rogan, a fully independent thinker who is not led around by an Australian sheepdog, decided to go to his doctor for verification. As he suspected, Mr. Rogan did have the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) government-funded and produced virus, COVID-19, that came about under the direction of Dr. Anthony Fauci, Mr. Rogan, a very astute common-sense man, spoke with his doctor about treatment. Mr. Rogan not being a Fauci sheep follower looking for alternatives other than a prototype vaccine with known side effects that have yet to be patently approved by a government propaganda agency that encourages you to take a drug that has several side effects that includes death that is an acceptable risk as claimed by the mainstream media Mr. Rogan chose to listen to his doctor and between the two of them, they agreed on a series of medication to treat the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) government-funded and produced virus, COVID-19, that came about under the direction of Dr. Anthony Fauci.

One of the medications that Mr. Rogan had employed was a medication called Ivermectin.

Ivermectin is an anti-parasitic drug that is used to treat river blindness and intestinal roundworm infection in humans and to de-worm pets and livestock. When Mr. Rogan informed his audience that one of the medications that he used to treat the NIAID funded and produced virus under the direction of Dr. Anthony Fauci, he informed them that he used Ivermectin. The non-fact checking mainstream media heard about Mr. Rogan using Ivermectin and quickly ran with the narrative that Mr. Rogan had used a horse deworming medication. This, however, was a boldface fallacy based on nothing more than a targeted response to attack Mr. Rogan’s persona, image, and standing as a source for information and news with an ambition to make him look like a lunatic despot relying on unproven science as a means to a treatment. Mr. Rogan’s health improved following his doctor’s medical knowledge, medical direction, and advice

CNN, a low-tier news organization reported on their broadcast and on their website that Mr. Rogan had used a horse deworming medication that went to at least 224,000 broadcast viewers and 334,000 website viewers. At the beginning of this article is the definition of slanderous and libelous. CNN spurious reporting on Mr. Joe Rogan was slanderous and libelous. As such, there are numerous factors as to the reasons why Joe Rogan should sue CNN.

1. CNN has not learned its lesson after settling a similar defamation lawsuit involving the fake reporting of the Covington Catholic School and a then 17-year-old student, Nick Sandman. Mr. Sandman had been accused of harassing a Native American protestor and was labeled a white supremacist because he and his classmate were wearing red baseball caps with the words “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN also known as MAGA hats that are linked to President Donald Trump’s political campaign. On the horse de-worming story, CNN has failed to correct the story nor issued an apology to Mr. Rogan.

2. Mr. Rogan’s reputation has been defamed. CNN has appeared to have taken a perverted glee into reporting the misinformation and ridiculing Mr. Rogan as a deranged individual who takes veterinarian medication as a substitute for human medication.

3. CNN dispersed misinformation through cable, satellite, and phone lines that allowed the horse de-worming story to be picked up by several other news outlets that feed into the false story as being authentic. CNN caused this false story to be amplified even further reaching into the market on a global basis.

4. CNN has caused damages to Mr. Rogan’s reputation by having him defend his position and refute the false story on more than one occasion in order to preserve his image and his livelihood and to those who rely on his talent in several forays and enterprises.

5. CNN has enjoined other new outlets into the defamation arena who also reported the false horse de-worming story. This was more so evident with MSNBC and Rachel Maddow who took exceptional delight in reporting the horse de-worming false story.

6. None of the mainstream media, Internet platforms, and social media venues did any fact-checking that they claim to employ to verify the claim. The fact-checking claim only benefits their posture in order to make them look efficient, right, and unbiased when the opposite is suspected.

Mr. Rogan is an affable man. He is not a rug that allows you to easily walk all over him. This CNN dust-up is not over. Mr. Rogan will seek redress on this matter in one form or the other. CNN has played the bully card one time too many. Stay tuned.

 

Dune 2021 Lives Under The Shadow of Dune 1984

Denis Villeneuve Can’t Seem to Separate His Vision from The Original

There are certain films that are considered classics. Sometimes these films that become classics are based on the characters, the story, the scenery, and in most cases, the fact that there aren’t any sequels attached to them. Films like The Wizard of Oz, Casablanca, Old Yeller, A Clockworks Orange, and Blade Runner fall into that category with an asterisk attached to Blade Runner. Blade Runner on its own is a classic but the sequel is not. What the sequel has in common with Dune 2021 is the director, Denis Villeneuve. He has tasked himself to remake the sci-fi classic, Dune, a film originally made in 1984. There will be a line of demarcation with these films. One will be called Dune 1984 and the other as Dune 2021 muck like Ghostbusters 2016 because we know what that is. Dune 2021, is a visual exception when it comes to special effects. It should because it eclipse the original special effects ten-fold. But the special effects aren’t the problem. It’s the ghost of the original that you can’t escape plus there is a major twist at the end of this film.

We get a refresher course and we are reintroduced to these characters in Dune 2021. Oscar Issacs does an admirable and more fleshed-out representation of Duke Leto Atreides. Timothée Chalamet plays

Paul Atreides with a purpose mixed with an air of ambivalence. As each character is reintroduced to us, you get the sense that there was an unwritten rule to totally divorce themselves from the acting style of Dune 1984. You can sense the purpose and intent to steer far and away from those roles. But that becomes an issue because their intent to remove themselves from those roles only amplifies what they are trying to avoid.

One of the most memorable roles in the Dune 1984 film was that of musician/actor, Sting. He portrayed Feyd-Rautha. What I remembered most about Sting’s portrayal was just how bad his acting was/ In just about every scene Sting was in, he chewed up the scenery with bad acting and bad over-acting. How could he screw up a line of “I will kill him,….. I WILL KILL HIM” in such a way that it’s a meme. His line is followed up by Paul Atreides’ “I will bend like a reed in the wind”. 

To this day, people still quote these lines and that quotability factor is what permeates into Dune 2021. There isn’t anything that is memorably quotable with Dune 2021. This remake clocks in at 2 hours and 35 minutes. Visually, Villeneuve does a yeoman’s job on the camera work just like he did with Blade Runner 2046. Where he misses the mark is not separating these characters from the 1984 version by giving the Dune 2021 characters more gravitas. As the film went on, the characters were starting to fill like cardboard cutouts.

When Zendaya's character, Chani, finally appears, she says very little while trying to be aloof. Of late, a lot of her roles seem to highlight her being aloof to some degree. Her appearance though is only an appetizer. Just as you start to get to the main course, the film ends. WHAT???? Yep, that’s the twist, it abruptly ends. Was this always in the cards? Was this movie suppose to be a continuation? I saw or heard no press that this would be the case. Shouldn’t this be part of the film’s hype?

Dune 1984 clocked in at 2 hours and 17 minutes. Everything was contained in that film. Dune 2021, at 2 hours and 35 minutes, has very long scenes that feel like you’re driving across the country looking at the cows grazing on grass. Where are we going? What’s the point of the travel if there is no payoff to the journey.? The film did not end on a cliffhanger, it just ended to the point where it’s forgettable. You’re cut off guard by this abrupt ending. Furthermore, there is no desire to see this film should there be a second part. Dune 2021 is just bloated It’s bloated like a blue whale washed ashore on the beach that’s been lying there for ten days.

This film is not like the original Star Wars or the Avengers film where there are cliffhangers just hook you into wanting these sequels. Dune 2021 is missing the Avengers formula of enticing viewers with its cliffhangers. I don’t know why Denis Villeneuve chose Dune 2021 as his next film following Blade Runner 2046 because he just repeated himself in tome and style without giving anything to the characters and substance. If this was a battle for supremacy, Dune 1984 would win for the camp, the style, and even the bad overacting because it was memorable substance.

2 out of 5 stars

 

JAMES BOND IS DEAD !!!!

No Time To Die takes the Route of Avengers: Endgame in Bond's Final Bow

It’s probably best to describe the new James Bond film, No Time To Die, as a new old film. It was scheduled for release in November 2019, but was postponed to February 2020 and then to April 2020 and finally was scheduled for an October 2021 release date. Finally, it has reached the big screens in a build-up that is coated in controversy due in part to the director, one of Bond’s co-stars, and a marketing campaign that keeps courting things that are turning off Bond’s core fan base.

No Time to Die has a running time of 2 hours and 43 minutes. It is the longest-running film in the history of the franchise. They could have done some editing at the beginning by cutting some of the introduction to the film out. We were given two different kinds of opening, a kid being terrorized by an assassin which, I suppose was used to set up a back story to the character, and the other is set in a contemporary time as the girl is now a woman in a relationship with Bond.

On the surface, things are seemingly okay but the arm of Spectre is looming large. Bond goes to the grave of his deceased paramour. Bond is seeking some sort of closure in the ritual of burning notes so that he can finish out that chapter in his life. But this is Bond. The chapters in his life are dogeared pages and bookmarks that keep flipping back and forth the pages of his existence. Her crypt blows up with him in front of it. He gets up stunned and realizes that he must go to his new lover, Madeleine, played by Lea Seydoux, You now have the trailer cut scenes in a nutshell. We wrap this up in a tidy bow as Bond and company escape the near-death experience but it comes with a price, the matter of trust. Bond says adieu to Seydoux.

Fast forward five years and Bond is a private citizen but just like the Godfather’s Michael Corleone once said, “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.”, James Bond is pulled back into the espionage game. He is recruited by his CIA friend, Felix Leiter. There is a biological weapon and a mad scientist/doctor who needs to be gotten. In Bond films, these tropes are standard fare, there is usually a mad scientist/doctor and there is usually a bioweapon of lethal degree. While Bond is gearing up to work with the CIA, he’s being tailed by a new female operative. She blatantly inserts herself into Bonds’ proximity in such an egregious way that is in no way being spy smooth.

She disables his vehicle forcing him to get a ride with her on her Vespa. I should note that in this iteration of James Bond, we do not get a list of Q-toys that have always been a highlight in this franchise. Bond is on a Vespa. I don’t know if that’s intentional emasculation or they couldn’t afford any new Q-toys? At his apartment, she goes to his bedroom and removes her wig, and sits on his bed. She reveals her identity and in a most annoying, aggressive, antagonistic, smug, arrogant manner that immediately defines who this character is and not in a good way. She denigrates Bond. She threatens Bond. I found it unnecessary for her to threaten Bond with shooting him in his working knee. In fact, I found it unnecessary for her character to be written this way. She came looking for a fight with Bond when there was no reason for her to have any animosity for Bond. If she had a dick, she would have pulled it out to prove she’s better than Bond. As the film went on, all I could see from her being aggrieved by Bond seemingly only for the fact that it was because he was Bond. Her prejudice for Bond is heavily worn on her sleeve.

She seemed to think that being 007 was a prestigious moniker but Bond quietly stated to her, “It’s only a number,” By saying that, probably pissed off her fragile ego. This definitely was Bond’s moment of facing wokeness. He took the hits and was still standing. This Bond is battling evil scientists/doctors, super villains, and now wokeness. 

We saw the new female 007 characterization coming 3,000 miles away because we’re in this #MeToo Hollywood mode of film-making. You roll your eyes to the back of your head when you hear the triggering words of diversity and inclusion. They are more like curse words in the film industry that people speak in hush tones. We are getting agenda propaganda films based on a single-person ideology with an ax to grind. This doesn’t translate into cinema dollars and only alienates the core fan base. 

Even the director, Cary Joji Fukunaga, has called out Sean Connery’s James Bond as a rapist. Seriously, you’re going to tear down this original Bond icon by calling him a rapist? You’ve turned yourself into the judge, jury, and executioner. Lashana Lynch even talked about her feeling as if she was experiencing segregation. Please stop if you haven’t gone through the experiences of people who have gone through real segregation and civil rights violations if you weren’t born during the time of real turmoil. A Twitter feud does not equate to social injustice. If you are being paid huge sums of money for playing a pretend spy, stop complaining about your perceived injustice. You haven’t been sprayed with a water hose, attacked by police dogs, or had a family member lose their life to a mob lynching. Get over yourself.

So, back to the film. Blofeld is back in the equation. Under his auspicious direction, he develops the bioweapon although he’s in confinement. The bioweapon is used in a club where Bond is but he is spared while other people in his immediate vicinity start to drop. One of the most enjoyable scenes was watching the Ana de Armas character, Paloma, showcase her skills as a new agent in the field. For one brief shining moment, we get to see Bond back in form with his tuxedo and with a beautiful woman at his side. Paloma does a serviceable job in fighting 225-pound guys by literally throwing her full weight into them. This was more convincing than most films where the 100 lb. woman standing toe-to-toe fighting with some muscle neck guy.

Bond is brought back into the fold of MI6 while the female 007 gets even more consternation when Bond is brought in for a meeting and she is left out. Every chance she gets, she wants to put down Bond. But somehow, Bond is still respectful to this woman and yet she doesn’t deserve it. With Bond back in the fold, Blofeld needs to be questioned about the bioweapon. In order to do this, Bond’s former lover, Madeleine, must be involved. She, on the other hand, has a secret, she’s being coerced into using Blofeld’s own weapon against him. There is this awkwardness to the reunion. Bond extends his hand but she refuses to shake it as she is coated with the bioweapon. During the meeting, Bond brushes up against Madeleine and now he is a bioweapon carrier. Madeleine avoids meeting Blofeld as she leaves the facility following an intense conversation with Bond. . Blofeld meets with Bond where he antagonizes Bond to the point where he lunges at Blofeld and chokes him. Bond backs off but the damage has been done as Blofeld is dead seconds later much to the confusion of Bond.

So now it’s time for the former lovers to reconnect. Bond travels to her home where they talk. During the course of this gathering, a little girl comes out and we already know it’s Bond’s daughter but Madeleine puts up roadblocks by saying the child is not his daughter several times. Somehow though, you get the sense that Bond wasn’t subscribing to it. After spending the night and making breakfast for his newfound daughter, Bond gets a call from MI6. The female 007 is on her way to the bad guy, Safin. Bond looks at her trajectory and it’s where he is. He then realizes that Safin is after Madeleine.

A car chase ensues in a decent fashion, two of the bad guys’ vehicles are taking out but there are more popping up in the chase. Suffice it to say, Madeleine and her daughter are captured by Safin who takes them to his island.

Here is a question, why do most Bond villains have an island? This trope has been used so many times in Bond films that it seems like it’s a requirement. ReMax is having a sale on three small self-contained islands. If you are a supervillain in need of a spacious island that includes a state of the art landing strip, a secret underground lab, five bunkers to house your minions, your personal submarine base, a satellite array, eight gun turrets, seven restrooms, and two drinking fountains, we have the island for you. Cash is king. And if you act now, we’ll throw in two alligator moats at no charge, Se Habla Español.

Bond and female 007 makes it to Safin’s island. You get the prerequisite shootout. You get the prerequisite lab getting blown up. You get the prerequisite of killing off the bad scientist/doctor. You get the prerequisite rescue of the damsel and daughter. As they are escaping, the location of the island is radioed in and a warship is set to bomb the place. Bond goes back to open up the blast doors.

More shootout of bad guys as he gets to the control room and opens up the blast doors. While retreating back to his newfound family, Safin pops back up as a hackneyed trope is known to do in Bond films. Bad guys always pop back up for a final fight it’s a given. Bond has also been shot three times but I guess that’s okay as Bond has been shot before so I assume that Safin ran out of bullets? He really didn’t want to kill him just piss him off?

Bond prevails over Safin and Bond shoots him in the face but not before Safin infects Bond with the bioweapon that makes Bond lethal to the touch to his own daughter. By the way, the blast doors have closed again and Bond has to go back and reopen them. This adds time to his quest as the missiles grow closer. He reopens the doors and radios his team. He lets them know that he doesn’t have time to escape. Bond makes it outside as the missiles fall on the island blowing it up and killing Bond in the process.

His colleagues toast his farewell while Madeleine speaks about who her father was in the oddest way by speaking about Bond in a formal way. That was bizarre. She could have just said that the man that rescued us was your father. His name was James Bond and then you roll credits.

And just like Avengers: Endgame, they killed off another male icon. RIP James Bond