Lou

Fox and Dominion Voting Systems reached a $787 million settlement Tuesday in the voting machine company’s defamation lawsuit, averting a trial in a case that exposed how the top-rated network chased viewers by promoting lies about the 2020 presidential election.

“The truth matters. Lies have consequences.

The resolution in Delaware Superior Court follows a recent ruling by Judge Eric Davis in which he allowed the case to go to trial while emphasizing it was “CRYSTAL clear” that none of the allegations about Dominion aired on Fox by Trump allies was true.

Many of us hoped that this would go to trial to expose Murdoch and the Fox anchors. This is unlikely to sway the Fox audience as they live in the alternative reality of Fox and most don’t know of this case. It is a step forward as it is the second time that right wing liars have lost in court, the first being Alex Jones. This is not the end as Smart-Matic is suing Fox for $2.7 billion.

Trump was accused by Manhattan prosecutors on Tuesday April 4 of orchestrating a hush-money scheme to to silence a porn star, a mistress and a Trump doorman in order mislead the voters two weeks before the election and then covering it up from the Oval Office of the White House.

Trump was fingerprinted but not placed in handcuffs and no mug shot was taken, although the Trump campaign was selling mug shot tee shirts on line during the arraignment.

Trump pleaded not guilty in the case that opens a perilous chapter in the long public life of the real estate mogul/game show host and now faces the embarrassing prospect of a criminal trial.

Trump was indicted on 34 felony charges and stands accused of covering up a potential sex scandal with a porn star during the last days of the 2016 presidential election campaign. Trump made an extraordinary appearance at the Criminal Courts Building in lower Manhattan , his home town, to face charges. Relatively few Trump supporters (estimated at 350) and anti-Trump protestors (estimated at 150) raged outside as the former president sat quietly while prosectors laid out the case against him.

As a common ordinary person, Trump replied “not guilty” in the pin-drop silent courtroom.

“Everyone stands equal under the law”, Alan Bragg, the Manhattan DA said at a news conference after the arraignment.

The prosecutors addressed the threatening posts made by Trump against the DA, his wife and his daughter, against the Judge and his wife and including” death and destruction” would follow if he was charged.

The judge, Juan Merchan, addressed Trump’s lawyers telling them ” please speak to your client and anybody else you need to, and remind them to please refrain from making statements that are likely to incite violence or civil unrest.”

Trump held a rally at Mar-a-Lago and immediately ignored the judges instruction.

Next hearing is scheduled for December 4.

Gus Bickford, Massachusetts Democratic Party Chairmen since 2016, plans to step down this spring, ending a 6½-year run in which the party flipped nearly 20 seats statewide — including the governor’s office — and grew its supermajority in the state Legislature.

Bickford announced his decision to party activists at a Democratic State Committee meeting Saturday, and will remain chairman until its next meeting on April 24, when it will hold a special election to replace him. Bickford also endorsed a successor in Steve Kerrigan, a former lieutenant governor nominee and Democratic National Convention Committee executive, telling activists that Kerrigan has both his and Governor Maura Healey’s support.

A Manhattan grand jury has voted to indict former president Donald Trump, making him the first person in U.S. history to serve as commander in chief and then be charged with a crime.

The indictment was sealed, which means the specific charge or charges are not publicly known. But the grand jury had been hearing evidence about money paid to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels during Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, allegedly to keep her from saying she’d had a sexual encounter with Trump years earlier. Trump is expected to turn himself in and appear in court on Tuesday at 2:15 p.m., said a person familiar with the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss plans that have not been publicly announced.

Today is a sad day for the country. There is no joy about this but it was necessary. No person, even a former President, is above the law. He is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. He will have the opportunity to defend his actions in court, like you or me, and if he is proved innocent of breaking any law, he will go free.

Opponents of a new 55-megawatt “peaker” plant in Peabody are taking their fight to the big screen.
“#StopPeabodyPeaker,” a new documentary created by Peabody resident Steven Andrada.

Its 40-minute runtime will discuss what led to the construction of the plant at the Waters River substation (off Pulaski Street), which is expected to wrap up this summer, and why some activists, state legislators and local leaders have tried to stop it.

The new $85 million plant would be powered by oil and natural gas, and only run during peak times of energy use.

The Select Board voted unanimously to nix universal mail-in ballots for the town local election on May 2.

Danvers will have one day of early in-person voting but opted out of universal mail-in voting. Early voting day will be on Saturday, April 22 from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM at the Town Hall. Absentee voting is still allowed by mail.

Positions open for this election are:

• Select Board member (Maureen Bernard’s seat is open.)
• Six Town Meeting spots in EACH precinct.
• Town Moderator
• Two School Committee seats
• Three Library Board of Trustees seats
• One spot on the Danvers Housing Authority

Nomination papers can be picked up at the Town Clerk’s office at the Town Hall beginning on February 1.