> Why doesn't somebody sue this guy?
Here's just a partial list:
- most of what he writes is opinion, not
fact, (in the law significant senses of these
terms) and, as such, is not defamatory;
- to the extent he does make statements of fact
about others' past words/behaviors, most of what
he says as such anyway is true and, as such, is not
defamatory;
- even if there were a target of his who could
prove he lied about that person with resulting
(also: realistically provable?) damage, most of
his individual targets are "public figures" to
one degree or another and, as such, would have
to prove not just a lie and resulting damage in
fact but also "malice" and yet the latter
requirement (that he lied knowingly/deliberately
or at least with disregard for the truth that is
"reckless") at is a usually very difficult and
anyway very expensive burden, even for one who
could afford to litigate;
- except to the extent that he may welcome being
sued by some of his "celebrity" targets (he wants
and maybe even craves the attention - right?), he
tries to avoid the above alternatives by emphasizing
that he promptly will correct any errors of fact
pointed out to him, and from time to time he has
done so;
- lest there is an individual target who might be inclined
to sue nonetheless, he is comparatively very well
funded, thus able to defend, and, though, possibly, there
is a would-be plaintiff who is financially able and willing
to sue, so doing (suing effectively) would require spending
(squandering?) of many tens of thousands of dollars --
more likely, many hundreds of thousands of dollars --
just to, in effect, "get one's foot inside the courthouse
door" in the sense of actually obtaining a trial;
- he is a pissant, a toad, not worth paying attention to, much
less suing, even when (or, perhaps, especially when) he lies;
- using litigation to try to punish the expression of opinion,
or even misstatements of fact (especially when not published
by a pissant, a toad) is arguably an option to be disfavored.
> It doesn't seem like it would be too hard
> to get him for defamation of character.
What do you think are the well-founded bases this speculation?