Will Rupert Go Down Fighting?

Rupert Murdoch

Outfoxed and cornered... Delaware Superior Court has dropped a bombshell on Fox Corp., rejecting its bid to kill the $1.6B libel suit lodged against it by Dominion voting machine maker.

It ruled that Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch may have acted with “actual malice” by allowing voter fraud claims that they knew were false to be aired on Fox News.

The Court cited reports that Rupert privately said that he knew Donald Trump lost the electron.

His Wall Street Journal and New York Post properties criticized Trump and called for him to accept defeat.

Dominion claimed that Rupert Murdoch “decided to promote former President Trump’s narrative after Trump’s condemnation of Fox damaged its stock and viewership.”

Judge Eric Davis wrote: "These allegations support a reasonable inference that Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch either knew Dominion had not manipulated the election or at least recklessly disregarded the truth when they allegedly caused Fox News to propagate its claims about Dominion.”

Fox has called Dominion’s claims baseless and lacking even a shred of merit. It also is “proud of” its election coverage.

The $64K question: will Fox change its tune and now seek to settle the suit in the aftermath of the Delaware court ruling?

Or do Rupert and Lachlan go down fighting?

Journalism’s finest moment. Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov raised $103.5M on June 20 by auctioning off his Nobel Peace Prize medal.

He is donating the proceeds to UNICEF to help children displaced by the invasion of Ukraine.

Muratov has already given his $500K cash prize for winning the Nobel to UNICEF.

He is the founder of independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta and was editor-in-chief when it shut down after the Kremlin cracked down on remaining press freedoms following the invasion of Ukraine.

Muratov’s medal went to an anonymous bidder.

Loving Biden over there but not here. Favorable views of the US and of America’s democracy are on the upswing overseas, according to the Eurasia Group Foundation.

Fifty-five percent of those polled in nine nations hold a favorable view of the US. That was the highest score in the four years of the ESG polling.

Brazil, Nigeria, Poland and India are most bullish on the US. Germany, Egypt, Mexico, Japan, China are less so.

More than half (52 percent) give the Biden administration high marks for its management of the Ukraine crisis. Only 19 percent believe Biden screwed up the response to the invasion.

Fifty-two percent say the US managed the COVID-19 response better than other nations. Forty-one percent say the US lagged other national responses.

More than twice as many respondents (49 percent to 20 percent) support Biden’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan.

If Biden decides not to serve another term in DC, there’s a big job in the United Nations awaiting him.

Attorney general Merrick Garland wants snitches… The Justice Dept, which has stepped up enforcement of the Foreign Agency Registration Act, has issued a handy online brochure to help spot unregistered foreign agents.

It sets out four scenarios, one of which tells of a former big city Congressman who arranges a meeting to discuss agricultural tariffs.

He shows up at the meeting and ditches the ag tariff talk for a pitch about “a foreign country’s high-profile and longstanding request to release a prominent dissident, mirroring talking points used by the foreign country’s leaders or spokespeople.”

If that happens to you, the Justice Dept wants you to contact the local FBI office or the FARA unit.

Garland and his crew will follow-up with the Congressman.