Wishing Ted Rall All the Best with His First Amendment Hearing

A week from today my colleague, editorial cartoonist Ted Rall, will take the LA Times to court.

The paper fired Rall for lying. Then the LA Times wrote an op ed, slandering Ted. He was able to prove that the paper was wrong, but ...

"Times executives doubled down, publishing a second piece reaffirming the first one. In March 2016, I filed suit in LA Superior Court against the Times for defamation, wrongful termination, blacklisting and other charges."

Due to the Times' lawyers citing a law for out-of-state residents to have to prove that they can pay 100% of the defense's legal fees, Ted was forced to raise $75,000 as a cash bond just to have his three days of hearings next week. So ... even though he wants his day in court, it'll cost. He was able to raise the money through GoFundMe.com. I gave a contribution.

His syndicated column, Sue the SOBs? It’s Harder Than You Think, has a lot more details, including the financial conflict of interest between the paper and the LA police.

I wish him all the best. This is not a cause that I see getting much coverage the past year, but I hope that changes. If he is successful, a trial date will be set for later in 2017 or maybe it'll be 2018. This is only the beginning. I hope you will take a moment to read what's going on.