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The L.A. Times Sticks to its Guns, and Sticks it to Ted Rall
The Los Angeles Times responded to cartoonist Ted Rall and his accusations of chicanery by terminating his services at the newspaper. After further analysis of the evidence, the Times stands by its decision. As discussed in earlier posts on Ricochet (here and here), and in two columns at PJ Media (here and here), Times editors sacked Rall after determining he had invented details of his October 2001 encounter with an LAPD motorcycle officer in a May 2015 op-ed piece.
Rall claimed he had been handcuffed, thrown against a wall, and “roughed up,” though an audiotape of the incident recorded by the officer contains no suggestion any of it occurred. You can read the Times’s exposition of its case against Rall here, and you can find his response here.
I have to admit, this is one situation where I would applaud police brutality, and am somewhat disappointed to learn it didn’t actually happen.
I must confess to a bit of schadenfreude, watching the Left eat one of their own. Doesn’t happen that often.
Good Lord, I’ve never seen a picture of him before. Put that photo in the dictionary next to “smugprogressive”.
“Smugprogressive” is a tautology.
What a nasty piece of work that man is – an unhappy warrior.
Think of all the time he has wasted – his and others’ – with his complaint, the LA Times investigation, the appeal, etc.
This is one of many cases where progressives have felt the need to lie and make up stories for the “greater good” of highlighting discrimination, unfairness, and mistreatment that may not even exist in the first place.
It’s like “hot water heater”. It just reinforces the function of the object.
Well, the L.A. Times is a well-known right-wing rag so, uh …
… um …
… never mind.
A well written and concise story. Thank you Jack.
Is it just me? Or does Rall look like Pajama Boy’s father?
Fixed that for you.
What a lowlife.
I stand corrected.
How about “Smugressive?”
Yes. I realized too late that that is more euphonious. And it suggests the smugness and aggression demonstrated by progressives like Rall.
We can take shared credit for the neologism.
I think Ted Rall’s main issue with the encounter with the Officer Durr is that he has a problem with African-Americans in positions of authority. Though the audio recording revealed an exchange that was professional and pleasant, Rall insists that Durr was “ill-tempered”, “vile”, “belligerent”, “hostile”, and a “goon”, and he compared the officer to a Taliban fighter and a rapist.
Sen. Harry Reid famously once said that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s “opinions are poorly written.” Reid went on to say that he didn’t “think that [Thomas has] done a good job” and that he was “an embarrassment to the Supreme Court”. The senator didn’t offer a single example to support his position.
What conclusion might one draw about people who make derogatory assertions about African-Americans that are either complete lies or unfounded opinions at odds with virtually all other observers’?
Ah, I see that Ted Rall is still the same SOB who once referred to Condoleeza Rice as Bush’s “House Nigga.”
I know there’s a word for that . . . starts with an “r” . . . rhymes with “bassist.”
Credit where credit is due: Hats off to the LA Times for putting the facts ahead of “the narrative,” at least this time.
Then again, Rall is white, and…well, you can figure out the rest.
In my short time on Ricochet, I’ve voiced my support for punk rock, atheism, defense cuts, pornographers, and men’s rights, but none of that will be as damaging to my conservative bona fides as what I’m about to say. I like Ted Rall, as a cartoonist.
He’s a litigious jerk, but he’s also a lone talent in an ocean of mediocrity. Editorial cartoons are trite, homogeneous, and worst-of-all not funny. Rall skewers the conventions of editorial cartoons here:
I’ve an admitted fondness for the un-PC. Rall was against Obama from the beginning, putting him far ahead of many disillusioned liberals. He made a cartoon defending Mitt Romney’s Mormonism and supports gun rights. He’s also a fan of classic punk and the underrated Freddy Got Fingered.
No other editorial cartoonist makes me laugh. No other editorial cartoonist as far as I know, has lied about being harassed by the police.
Cat, I have also enjoyed Rall’s work in the past. There are also numerous musical artists whose music I love but whose politics I detest.
For my money, though, the greatest political cartoonist – perhaps of all time – is Michael Ramirez.
http://www.investors.com/Search/SearchResults.aspx?Ntt=Cartoons&N=4294909863
Glad to meet another Rall fan. Awhile back he produced some animated cartoons. The production is paltry (the voices in particular are terrible), but some are funny. This one about Obamania should be appreciated here:
Ramirez’s work seems okay from the few I looked at. He’s talented, if not very funny. Have I seen his cartoons featured on NRO?
Yes, I think Ramirez is featured at NRO. I find his cartoons funny and the artwork sometimes beautiful, but humor and beauty are in the eyes of the beholder!