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"He's Literally Suing an Imaginary Cow": Late-Night Hosts Mock Rep. Devin Nunes:
On Monday, Devin Nunes' cow was an obscure Twitter account with around 1,200 followers. Then Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) filed a lawsuit demanding that Twitter and several Twitter accounts—including the user behind the pseudonymous cow—pay him $250 million for the "pain, insult, embarrassment, humiliation, emotional distress and mental suffering, and injury to his personal and professional reputations" caused by their tweets.
Now, Devin Nunes' cow has more than 420,000[*] Twitter followers—that's more than Nunes himself, who has 395,000 followers.
It's a beautiful example of the Streisand Effect. Nunes appears to have filed the lawsuit in part to raise his own profile within the conservative movement, as the lawsuit was peppered with gratuitous swipes at the Democratic Party, Fusion GPS, and other high-profile villains in the conservative pantheon.
But the lawsuit appears to have done more to raise the profile of Devin Nunes' cow than it did Nunes himself. Television comedians Jimmy Kimmel, Trevor Noah, and Stephen Colbert all had fun at Nunes' expense on Tuesday night.
"He's literally suing an imaginary cow," Kimmel said, noting that Nunes had co-sponsored the Discouraging Frivolous Lawsuits Act during the last session of Congress. "We can't have livestock insulting our elected officials. This DevinCow account obviously really bothers Devin Nunes. So in the interest of civility, I'm asking you please don't follow @DevinCow on Twitter."
[...] Santa Clara University legal scholar Eric Goldman is skeptical that Nunes will win his lawsuit. The law gives online service providers like Twitter broad immunity for content posted by its users. As for Devin Nunes' cow, many of the supposedly defamatory statements made by the parody account are clearly non-actionable opinions.
[*] 420,000 at the time the linked story was posted (2019-03-20 18:42:00 UTC). At the time of this submission (2019-03-21 03:42:03 UTC) the count had risen to 534K. That works out to adding 1000 followers every 5 minutes or so.
Following @DevinCow on Twitter could reveal moooving comments on all that is at steak in this rare social medium... you can run but you can't hide.
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Bot on Friday March 22 2019, @05:02PM (26 children)
- "He's literally suing an imaginary cow"
the progs: HAHAHA SUCH FOOL LMAO
oh so using an imaginary animal should make you fly under the radar of progressives, right?
- "a frog is a sinister symbol of white supremacy"
the progs: WHOA KILL IT WITH FIRE KILL IT KILL IT
Account abandoned.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 22 2019, @05:33PM (1 child)
In all fairness the imaginary cow is more clever than those displaying the imaginary frog.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 22 2019, @05:39PM
Your opinion is like another stream of urine being pissed into the ocean.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Friday March 22 2019, @05:54PM (11 children)
He's suing someone for using their right to Free Speech in a satirical way.
I thought you guys cared about freedom of speech.
I guess it's only speech you agree with that's protected.
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by Bot on Friday March 22 2019, @06:29PM (9 children)
The 'satire' defense is valid for the frog too. HOPEFULLY. So?
Account abandoned.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Friday March 22 2019, @06:31PM (8 children)
Yes. That's why there are no elected officials suing people for posting it.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Friday March 22 2019, @08:16PM (7 children)
The choice of weapon [vice.com] in censorship is scarcely relevant but if you want to make it into the discriminant...
Account abandoned.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 22 2019, @08:41PM (4 children)
Ohes Noes! Private corporation controls their own platform!!!
Lawl, fuckin' regressive shithead idiots.
I'm not a big fan of corporate censorship myself, especially when average users are locked into a walled garden, but every time businesses did "bad things (TM)" that liberals didn't like you fuckheads would hop in with "bbbbut private business does what it wants!"
Children, mentally deficient adults, whatever you want to be called. The end result is you're bigoted hypocrites.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Saturday March 23 2019, @10:25AM (3 children)
I always say "their site their rules". So what, The topic wasn't "are they justified", but "does pepe censorship happen", so:
Those bothered by a frog are laughing at those bothered by a cow.
No amount of ad personam diversions are going to change this, I am afraid.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 23 2019, @09:09PM (2 children)
"Those bothered by a frog are laughing at those bothered by a cow."
In one case we have a bunch of "progressives" concerned about white supremacists using a frog as their mascot in propagating a racist ideology. On the other hand, we have Devin Nunes doing battle with an imaginary cow because the cow is exposing him to public embarrassment and ridicule. You honestly don't see the difference here? Seriously?
(Score: 2) by Bot on Sunday March 24 2019, @12:11AM (1 child)
I see a difference. What I fail to see is how such difference impacts the phrase "Those bothered by a frog are laughing at those bothered by a cow."
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 24 2019, @05:59AM
OK, I'm going to bludgeon you with your final clue. It is not the frog that bothers them but the ideology of those using the frog as their mascot. It is like seeing a swastika; the swastika by itself is harmless but it sends a powerful message about the person wearing it. In contrast, Devin Nunes is getting bent out of shape by an imaginary cow that is mocking him; ironically, it looks to me like the the cow is mostly retweeting stupid things that Nunes has said or done. Scandalous, no?
(Score: 5, Touché) by DeathMonkey on Friday March 22 2019, @08:52PM (1 child)
I walked into Fox News and demanded they air my segment about how Trump is a poopy-head.
They refused.
HOW DARE THEY CENSOR ME!!!!
(Score: 2) by Bot on Saturday March 23 2019, @10:26AM
Because poopy heads are brown, so yours is a fake news. Obviously.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 22 2019, @10:25PM
Not all of it is just satirical. Some of it actually could rise to the level of libel, although that's always hard to prove. If he were smart about this, he'd have gone after a much smaller list of tweets.
Of course, the progressive side of things making fun of him for suing an imaginary animal instead of, you know, addressing the point that he's trying to find out who's behind a fake account that's libeling him is only going to help him with his base and further the political split.
Lots of stupid all around on this one.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 22 2019, @06:28PM (11 children)
You might just have a (partial) point if not for the fact that there seems to be a clear pattern among Trump and his dittoheads over the last few years. Remember when Clint Eastwood had an argument with an empty chair? [youtube.com] Or, what about Trump's continuing feud with a dead man? [cnn.com] I really don't think you can blame the rest of us for noticing that today's Republicans seem to be waging wars with imaginary (or dead) foes. It's embarrassing to watch and, frankly, it's getting just a little creepy now. Just sayin'.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Friday March 22 2019, @06:30PM (7 children)
Wait, I am not defending trumpusconi, I am offending democrats. I thought I was clear.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday March 22 2019, @06:36PM (6 children)
Doing a poor job of it, then.
Displaying your hypocrisy for all to see make me pretty happy, honestly.
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by Bot on Friday March 22 2019, @08:18PM (5 children)
The hypocrisy found in your completely arbitrary rendition of my position towards the republicans does not bother me much, frankly.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 22 2019, @08:30PM
Dude, just own it. It's yours.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday March 22 2019, @09:15PM (3 children)
You're getting your not-so-shiny metal ass kicked up and down the aisle, Bot. Just give it up; you are making me embarrassed *for* you by proxy.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Redundant) by Bot on Saturday March 23 2019, @10:28AM (2 children)
All I have seen is one actual objection (but cow is satire), addressed. If you want to try harder.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday March 23 2019, @11:27PM (1 child)
No, no, I'm embarrassed for you the same way I wince in sympathy at seeing some idiot get in the middle of a midlife crisis get liquored up and start hitting on a woman half his age. He, and you, are so out of your gourds you don't realize how pathetic you look.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by Bot on Sunday March 24 2019, @12:13AM
LOL whatever.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 3, Informative) by krishnoid on Friday March 22 2019, @07:58PM
Remember when Trump was figuring out Twitter [twitter.com]? Good to know the cow is in good company.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Friday March 22 2019, @08:21PM (1 child)
It's a good thing that they're representing their constituency, such as the old men yelling at clouds.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 22 2019, @11:25PM
Far be it from me to take away from a bunch of old geezers with dementia the simple pleasure of arguing with their imaginary friends. But, as you point out, these old geezers have a constituency; they are supposed to represent us (at least in theory). I would rather find some way to bring them back to reality than indulge their psychoses. Just sayin'.