CaptainKudzu

Monday, February 20, 2023

A shameless prayer request

“We did find cancer.”

That’s not a phrase anyone wants to hear. It’s a phrase that changes your life in a matter of seconds. And it’s a phrase that I heard from my doctor recently.

A few months ago, I had a routine physical where the doctor did bloodwork. My PSA level came back a little high so he referred me to a urologist for a follow-up visit.

If you don’t know, PSA is a prostate-specific antigen. There are several reasons that it can be high that are nothing to worry about, but a high PSA level is also a red flag for prostate cancer. When my urologist tested my PSA level again and it was still high, we decided to do a biopsy. The results of the biopsy were what led to the phone call where he gave me the news.

person holding book page with string lights — Photo by Timothy Eberly on Unsplash

Hearing that you have cancer can come as a shock. One day I was feeling as healthy as when I was a kid and the next day I’m a cancer patient. I had no noticeable symptoms and no idea that there was a tumor eating my body from the inside out.

Just hearing the word “cancer” triggers a roller coaster ride of emotions and mental stress. How serious is it? Has it spread? Is this going to be what kills me? How long will I be out of work? Will we be okay financially?

Part of the stress is that there are no answers at the beginning. A cancer diagnosis triggers a flurry of other tests and appointments. Until those results come in, you just have to wonder what’s going on inside your body.

In my case, thankfully the news has been relatively good since the bombshell of the initial diagnosis. Prostate cancer is extremely common among men, but it is also very slow-moving and treatable. In my case, doctors recommended treatment even though my cancer still seems confined to my prostate.

I’m not ashamed to say that I have been afraid throughout this chapter of my life, but I’m actually surprised at how positive I am at this point. After an initial freakout, I have come to feel calm and at peace about the situation. I really can only attribute that to prayer and God’s grace and comfort.

As my longtime readers may remember, this is not my first bout with cancer. Almost five years ago, prompted by what now seems to have been a prophetic dream, I discovered that a blemish on my face was melanoma. That cancer was removed and I moved on with my life. I hope to do the same after prostate cancer.

So far, this story isn’t as dramatic, but I can see God’s hand in the discovery of my cancer at a time when prostate cancer deaths are on the rise because some doctors are not screening for it due to confusing guidelines. I can thank God that my primary care physician was an old-school doctor who does blood tests in addition to the “digital” prostate exam. I can thank God that I was able to get a quick surgery date with a leading doctor at one of the nation’s best hospitals. I can thank God for his comfort and the assurance that everything is going to be okay.

I admit to having wondered why this is happening to me. It’s actually still hard to believe that it is happening to me. I’ll probably be worried about the cancer returning for the rest of my life, but my hope is that God will use the experience to deepen my faith. We all need to be brought closer to God because, unless we live to see Christ return, we will all eventually face that something that is going to kill us. It’s terrifying to think of facing death without God.

And maybe part of my purpose is to remind you to get yourself checked on a regular basis. If you’re a man with a prostate, and that includes all biological men who haven’t had them removed, you are at risk for prostate cancer. If you’re approaching middle age, get your PSA checked. Talk to your doctor about doing this even earlier if you have a family history of prostate cancer. And then go back and do it again on a regular basis.

And take time to get yourself a good physical every year or so at a minimum. That includes you ladies without prostates as well. You have different concerns but are no less in need of medical monitoring.

So I’m going to be selfish and take advantage of my public platform, limited though it is, to ask for your prayers this Tuesday as I go under the robotic knife to have my prostate removed.

Please pray that God will guide the doctors and medical staff in successfully removing the cancer.
Pray that the entire cancer will be removed and that it will not return.
Pray that the early indications are correct and that there is no spread.
Pray that any side effects from the surgery will be minimal and short-lived.
Pray that the FAA will be satisfied with the results so that I can return to my day job.
Pray for my family as they support me.

And pray for all the other cancer sufferers out there. My church prayer list and community news are both filled with mentions of the c-word. There are many people who have it much worse than me.

I’m thankful that my prognosis is good and I’m thankful for the outpouring of support that I’ve had already from family, friends, and church members. I’ll still take as many prayers as I can get.

I am confident that I’ll get through this and that I’ll grow in the process. My immediate goal after surgery is to work my way back into the cockpit, but I’m also looking forward to resuming running. I want to get back out and run another 5K soon.

I’ll be the guy in the “cancer sucks” shirt.

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The above describes one of the reasons that I haven’t been writing much lately. Between work and doctor appointments and freaking out, writing just hasn’t been a priority.

I don’t know when you’ll see me post here again. A lot depends on how I feel. I’ll probably be tweeting and putting updates on my Facebook page before I get back to writing full articles. You can follow both me and Racket News on the various platforms. Those addresses are below.

MASTODON: If you’re on Mastodon, so are we. In fact, we are on Mastodon whether you are or not. Find the Racket News on Mastodon at @RacketNews@federated.press

Give us a follow on the extinct pachyderm to see all of our articles and memes.

You can also find Racket News on Facebook and Twitter.

Speaking for me personally, I have created a number of new social media accounts as I brace for Twitter’s implosion. I’m not extremely active on any of them yet, but you can find me on Post (@captainkudzu), Mastodon (@captainkudz@mastodon.world), and Counter Social (@captainkudzu@counter.social) at the click of each link.

TWEET OF THE DAY: After the downer news above, I’ll leave you with something light. A Twitter user reimagined every US president as a Pixar animated character. Here is the charming result.

Dan Szymborski @DSzymborski

My Saturday fun project: using AI, every US president as a Pixar character.

Saturday, February 18, 2023

The Fox guarding the henhouse

I used to be a Fox News watcher. The conservative outlet was my preferred choice for television news, especially after Glenn Beck and his whiteboard left CNN. Back in the old days, Fox claimed to present “fair and balanced” coverage. But then something happened.

I can’t point to one single event that made me realize that the character of the network had changed. Instead, as with the slow deterioration of the Republican Party, Fox News seemed to be gradually and thoroughly corrupted by its association with Donald Trump. Fox was probably never as fair and balanced as it claimed, but during the Trump years, the network abandoned any pretense of impartiality and objectivity to become a cheering section for The Former Guy.

Thank you for reading The Racket News. This post is public so feel free to share it.

It was during this period that some of my favorite Fox personalities, like Shepard Smith and Chris Wallace, jumped ship or were forced out. Although some good people remain (Brett Baier, who I once flew, for example), the exodus of serious journalists from Fox was reminiscent of Beck’s departure from CNN on grounds of ideological differences.

The departures further changed the character of Fox, leaving the network as more of an opinion-driven arm of the GOP than a real news organization. Both CNN and Fox have always included both objective news and opinion shows, but Fox seems to have made a decision to tell its Republican viewers only what they wanted to hear.

While many people on the right mistrust CNN and accuse it (and all mainstream media) of being the PR wing of the Democratic Party, CNN has attempted to reach out to conservative viewers where Fox News and other right-wing outlets like Newsmax seem content to double down on their market niche. I don’t think Fox has any interest in attracting liberal or moderate viewers.

The shift became apparent in 2020 with the network’s post-election coverage as well as its reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccine rollout. While the fearmongering about masks and vaccines likely costs many lives, it is the election coverage that has landed the network in hot legal water.

Many of the network’s personalities went on the air with conspiracy theories about voting machines, and now Fox is being sued for defamation by Dominion and Smartmatic, two companies that make voting machines and that were specifically mentioned on Fox. This week a court let the lawsuit against Fox proceed.

And that’s not all.

In a court filing that became public last week, Dominion asked for a summary judgment in the case. This is essentially a request to bypass the trial and jury and have the judge make a ruling based on the evidence presented in other filings so far. Summary judgments are only likely when one side’s behavior is egregious and indefensible.

In the filing (full version available here), internal communications from Fox News personalities, executives, and other employees make it plain that Fox knew the stories that it was airing about massive voter fraud and hacked voting machines were false when it aired them. The words “nuts” and “crazy” were frequently used to describe the allegations and the people who made them, yet the allegations continued to air and conspiracy mongers like Trump lawyer Sidney Powell continued to appear on Fox.

For her part, Powell’s lawyers have admitted that the claims she made on Fox and other outlets were false, saying in her defense in her own defamation lawsuit last year, “No reasonable person would conclude that the statements were truly statements of fact.”

It was all just political theater, and the memos and emails obtained during discovery make it clear that Fox knew it was all theater. The company was apparently more frightened of criticism by My Pillow magnate Mike Lindell than of defamation lawsuits.

And with good reason. Defamation lawsuits are notoriously hard to win. Under legal precedent, it isn’t enough that someone airs injurious lies, but the evidence has to meet the “actual malice” standard. This means that the false statement has to be made with “reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.” It isn’t clear yet whether a court and jury will say Fox met this standard, but the judge who allowed the case to proceed at thinks it is at least possible.

In this case, Fox’s behavior seems, at least to this nonlawyer, to meet not only the actual malice standard but a number of other requirements that pertain to defamation as well. These include knowingly and publicly communicating false information to Fox’s viewers. The cases may hinge on whether Dominion and Smartmatic can prove that Fox’s airing of the conspiracy theories resulted in actual damages that can be compensated or punished.

Defamation has to be balanced with Fox’s First Amendment rights. The outlet has a right to free speech, even false speech, but it does not have the right to lie about people and companies with impunity. There is a limit.

I want to be clear that, in the pending cases, the First Amendment is not at issue. The First Amendment protects Americans from government censorship of speech and that is not what is happening here. The government did not prevent Fox from airing the false reports. Nor is the government now punishing Fox for what its hosts said.

Instead, what is happening is that Fox News is being called to account for telling lies about private companies by the very same companies that it defamed. This is occurring through a civil law process with a jury as the ultimate arbiter (unless the judge grants Dominion’s request for a summary judgment). The government is not involved beyond the legal system acting as a referee.

These cases aren’t about free speech, they are about lying for profit. To a certain extent, lying for profit is indeed protected speech, but lies that damage the reputation and business of innocent people and companies can cross the line. That seems to be the case here.

I was once a Fox News fan, but given the blatant lies that so many of the network’s employees pushed, lies that directly fueled the insurrection and brought the United States to the brink of civil war, I hope that the jury finds against the disgraced network. This trial should end with Dominion owning Fox News. Literally. (And I mean that in the traditional sense of the word “literally,” not the new redefined definition.)

At the very least, the scandal should wake people up to the fact that the opinion shows on Fox are not real news. These shows are feeding people propaganda and deepening the divides that are tearing our country apart. And they know exactly what they are doing. Sadly, this also implies that Fox News has a pretty low opinion of its viewers.

As for me, I don’t watch much television news anymore unless it’s a rapidly unfolding story. I prefer to get my news from textual sources where I can get more details and nuance than from a three-minute spot or a 10-second soundbite.

I’ve come to hate conspiracy theories with a passion. As far back as 2011, I wrote about how to become a more discerning user of the internet and many of the same rules apply to television and print sources. Treat opinion articles and shows skeptically and remember that extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence.

Don’t just believe what your itching ears want to hear.

PENCE DEFENSE: In another legal story, former Vice President Mike Pence is fighting a subpoena from the Department of Justice to testify before Special Counsel Jack Smith’s January 6 investigation. The interesting thing here is that Pence isn’t basing his refusal on executive privilege but on the speech and debate clause. This is a novel, but not baseless legal theory centered on Pence’s secondary role as president of the Senate.

I’m skeptical that the strategy will work because the clause itself contains an exception for “Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace” that should apply directly to the January 6 riot and insurrection. As with the limits on executive privilege, political immunity should not be extended to cover criminal wrongdoing. Pence may not have taken part in the January 6 conspiracy, but he almost certainly had knowledge of what was going on.

The fact that Pence is fighting the subpoena is further evidence to me of his misplaced loyalties. Three years after the insurrection, he is still defending Donald Trump when he should be helping to bring radical lawbreakers and coup plotters to justice. If I still had any doubts that Pence was unfit for higher office, this would dispel them.

Granted, it is almost impossible to confront Trump and have a career in the modern GOP, but that conundrum is one that is largely of Pence’s own making. The former VP needs to sit up and take his medicine.

MASTODON: If you’re on Mastodon, so are we. In fact, we are on Mastodon whether you are or not. Find the Racket News on Mastodon at @RacketNews@federated.press

Give us a follow on the extinct pachyderm to see all of our articles and memes.

You can also find Racket News on Facebook and Twitter.

From the Racket News