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December 2022

Happy Holidays from the Executive Director

Santa Freeman's Gift List for Media Players Naughty & Nice

George Freeman

The brave Political Cartoonists who spoke at the MLRC London Conference – a lifetime supply of ink 

Donald Trump – a bobblehead doll: “Loser”

Zoom Video Communications, Inc – Tapes of our over 125 Zoom calls since the start of the pandemic with leading journalists and lawyers, in 2022 alone with Ted Koppel, Katy Tur, Ken Auletta and Judge Michael Luttig

The Justices of the Supreme Court – 9 cans of Campbell’s Tomato Soup to sip while deciding the Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith case

Campbell’s soup for the SCOTUS justices deciding the Warhol Foundation case

Sarah Palin – a better outcome with former Ranger star Ron Duguay than in her ill-founded defamation case against The New York Times

Election Deniers – a trip on an Elon Musk rocket to Pluto

Thanks to Merrick Garland for the revised DOJ guidelines

Merrick Garland – a Mitch McConnell effigy doll to thank him for broadening the DOJ Guidelines regarding the government’s subpoenaing journalists

Julian Assange – a “Get Out of Jail” card in the event the U.S. succeeds in extraditing him

Mike Pence – a photo of the 2005 MLRC Annual Dinner where he spoke in favor of a Federal Shield Law, reminding him of days when he had guts in speaking out

Twitter – A content moderation policy that does not confuse freedom of speech with the whims of a billionaire dilettante

Amber Heard and Johnny Depp – any means by which they can avoid going through their marital spat in court for a third time

Santa’s gift seems to have been well received as the Virginia cross-defamation cases have been settled.

Donald Trump – a new golf bag for his retirement from politics, with the US Constitution affixed to it, clarifying to its owner that the 235 year old document is permanent, not to be suspended for his political whims

King Charles – a long life, with assurances that his funeral will not be on the date of a future scheduled MLRC London Conference
 
Jack Daniel’s Distillery – a bevy of dogs, to play with the dog bones designed to look like its bottles

Chief Justice Roberts – a Court he can lead
 
David Muir – name recognition befitting the most-watched network evening news anchor
 
The Justices of the Supreme Court – a spotter’s guide to the perils and pitfalls of regulating on-line speech as the Court delves into Sec. 230 for the first time
 
Fox – recognition of the neutral reportage privilege, even with its qualifications, in their voting machine libel case

Judge Michael Luttig – a copy of Profiles in Courage for repudiating his former staunch conservative and election denier colleagues and insurrection apologists

Judge Luttig, left, awarded a copy of Profiles in Courage for repudiating conservative election denier colleagues

Joe Biden – A podium to give some presidential press conferences from
 
Donald Trump – a 4th grade textbook on the values of American Democracy (and the companion audiobooks he can listen to during Story Time)
 
The Justices of the Supreme Court – a copy of MLRC’s 50-State Surveys of Libel and Privacy in the event the Court takes its first media content case in over 20 years

MLRC Staff – My heartfelt thanks for all your work, effort and dedication in a very daunting year in producing Zoom calls, Daily Reports, LawLetters, Bulletins, 50-State Surveys, Conferences and Committee work every day, and without which we would not be able to give the benefits we do – professional, intellectual, social and fun – to our members

My wife Annie – heartfelt thanks for supporting and helping me throughout this challenging year

And, finally, I wish our loyal readers and members a very happy and healthy new year, with high hopes that ’23 will be a better year than the one now ending.

This column reflects solely the opinions of George Freeman, and does not reflect the views of the MLRC. It condenses the holiday card sent to members in December.