this post was submitted on 21 Apr 2026
126 points (97.7% liked)

politics

31114 readers
2149 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles. Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to US politics and contain quality and original content. Social Media adjacent hosts like Substack are allowed, but ONLY if they tie back to a company/subsidiary. No personal or friend group blogs and no self-promotion. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and re-hosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing other users of being bots or paid actors.
  3. No memes, trolling, misinformation, or low-effort posts/comments (including reposts). If you see posts like this that anger you, do not engage. Report, block, and live a happier life than they do. Any slap-fight is subject to comment removals. Fights full of rule violations will result in temporary bans to cool off.
  4. No manipulating votes via bots or alt accounts; this will result in permanent bans. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in an account ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be permanently banned.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules and use critical thinking when reading, posting, and commenting. Users that repeatedly have comments or posts removed, weaponize reports, or violate the code of conduct, will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users. The reason(s) behind moderator action(s) are publicly available through the Modlog.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Donald Trump’s FBI director is suing over a critical article. He has a tough legal standard to meet.

Before he filed his defamation lawsuit on Monday against The Atlantic, FBI Director Kash Patel said he had a claim that “some would call a legal lay up.”

It’s unclear who would call it that. But in any event, it’s unlikely that Patel will have as easy a time in court as he suggested.

His suit stems from a damning report published Friday that was written by Sarah Fitzpatrick. She is also named as a defendant in Patel’s complaint, which describes the report as a “sweeping, malicious, and defamatory hit piece.”

top 19 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Hideakikarate@sh.itjust.works 29 points 4 months ago (2 children)

You bet your ass, if I had any photoshop skills, Kash's stupid wide-eyed stare would be on the players' faces.

[–] CaptDust@sh.itjust.works 5 points 4 months ago

The urge to create kash ai slop of that Nick Young shot is so strong.

[–] LordMayor@piefed.social 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Would better if it was one with a lay-up.

[–] Hideakikarate@sh.itjust.works 11 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Hey, I got the right sport. That's the best I can do.

[–] fartographer@lemmy.world 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, I'm not much of a hockey fan either. Most of those sports from the USA are kinda strange, like soccer. Not like Japan's pastime: baseball.

[–] EditsHisComments@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

Damn, it's rare that I see a comment unify the entirety of the Americas out of anger

[–] mr_account@lemmy.world 24 points 4 months ago (1 children)

This strikes me as an overconfident (and probably still drunk) idiot asking chatgpt for legal advice.

"You're absolutely right! Your feelings matter and it's a good idea to sue them."

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

Not to mention he’s totally coked up most of the time

[–] NekoKoneko@lemmy.world 21 points 4 months ago

The really interesting thing is that Patel directly references the "actual malice" standard, which as the article points out, is very very difficult for him to meet as a public figure plaintiff.

The reason why it's interesting is that he is demonstrating he's aware of the heightened standard (which he clearly cannot meet), which helps show he is himself acting in bad faith, and that could help the Atlantic recover legal costs for Patel's frivolous SLAPP lawsuit.

[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 18 points 4 months ago

“some would call a legal lay up.”

The trick here is that you can literally use 'some would say' to say literally anything.

Some would say that leprechauns hide in ATMs on the east side of NYC.

Some would say that geese have 3 wings.

Some would say that the Earth is flat.

It's a non-statement that is used everywhere. It sounds like they're saying something, but they're really not.

[–] mthomson@forum.macaque.social 11 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Discovery is going to be interesting. 😏

[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago

This is one of those cases that will be loudly announced to grab some news cycles and then quietly dropped. It'll never get to discovery.

[–] Zombiepirate@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago

The Atlantic is going to be so embarrassed when they get a copy of the certification that he doesn't have donkey brains.

[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 10 points 4 months ago

He must have had one too many and thought he's on the defendant's side of this case. Yeah, then it's a layup.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Yeah it's a "legal lay up," but not in the direction he thinks:

"Your Honor, I'd like to submit Exhibit A:"

"Exhibit accepted."

"The Defense rests, Your Honor."

"Yeah, I figured. This is going to be a quick one..."

[–] santa@sh.itjust.works 4 points 4 months ago

Sometimes layups go doink.

[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 4 points 4 months ago

He's definitely Mack from Always Sunny.

They should make an episode where Mack plays Kash, Frank as trump, Dennis as Hegseth, Dee as Karoline Leavitt, and Charlie as Stephen Miller.

I feel like it would be so on the nose.

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago
[–] TigerAce@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 4 months ago

Anything that half brain coke head says can be assumed to be untrue. This isn't news.