"SLAPP Suits" is a 2019 segment of HBO's news-satire television series
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, focusing on strategic lawsuits
against public participation (SLAPPs), expensive lawsuits designed to
scare targets into silence. In the segment, host John Oliver (pictured)
celebrated his victory in a SLAPP initiated by Robert E. Murray; the
lawsuit followed Oliver's criticism of Murray and his coal-mining
company in a 2017 episode that included a man in a giant squirrel
costume holding up an oversized check made payable to "Eat Shit, Bob!"
Murray's lawsuit sought monetary damages and a gag order on the episode.
The case was dismissed in under a year. In "SLAPP Suits", Oliver
highlights Murray's frivolous suits against others, including reputable
newspapers and private citizens, and stages a musical number titled "Eat
Shit, Bob!", in which he jokingly accuses Murray of committing
outlandish acts such as spitting on the Mona Lisa and shooting puppies
into outer space.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SLAPP_Suits>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1775:
American Revolution: Patrick Henry made his "Give me liberty,
or give me death!" speech to the House of Burgesses of Virginia, urging
military action against the British Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Give_me_liberty,_or_give_me_death!>
1905:
About 1,500 Cretans, led by Eleftherios Venizelos, met at the
village of Theriso to call for the island's unification with Greece,
beginning the Theriso revolt.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theriso_revolt>
1919:
Benito Mussolini and his supporters founded the Fasci Italiani
di Combattimento, the predecessor of the National Fascist Party.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasci_Italiani_di_Combattimento>
1996:
Lee Teng-hui was elected President of the Republic of China in
the first direct presidential election in Taiwan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Teng-hui>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
bulldog clip:
1. A binder clip with rigid handles.
2. (surgery) A surgical instrument with serrated jaws and a spring-
loaded handle used to grip blood vessels or similar organs.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bulldog_clip>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
How many more lives must be lost? How many more bombs must fall?
How many Mariupols must be destroyed? How many Ukrainians and Russians
will be killed before everyone realizes that this war has no winners —
only losers? How many more people will have to die in Ukraine, and how
many people around the world will have to face hunger for this to stop?
Continuing the war in Ukraine is morally] unacceptable, politically
indefensible and militarily nonsensical. What I said from this podium
almost one month ago should be even more evident today. By any measure
– by even the shrewdest calculation - it is time to stop the fighting
now and give peace a chance. It is time to end this absurd war.
--António Guterres
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ant%C3%B3nio_Guterres>
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