"Idaho Leaders United" have Lied and Defamed Ammon Bundy and Diego Rodriguez
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"Idaho Leaders United" have Lied and Defamed Ammon Bundy and Diego Rodriguez And they owe them a public apology and retraction or they must be sued in Federal Court
August 10th, 2023 | by Diego Rodriguez
On August 8th, 2023, the Idaho Statesman published a guest opinion article titled, “St. Luke’s victory over Bundy is welcome. The work of fighting extremism must go on” that was full of defamatory lies. In fact, the authors of the article, Idaho Leaders United, a group of statist Republicans and various liberal ideologues, have succeeded in doing the very thing that St. Luke’s hospital fraudulently claimed that Ammon and Diego did to them. Plainly stated, Idaho Leaders United, maliciously and intentionally lied about Ammon and Diego in an attempt to cause them public harm and damage—the definition of defamation!
In order to actually qualify as legal defamation, it must be demonstrated that what they said was a lie or that the slanderer should have reasonably known it was a lie.
In the case of Diego and Ammon, every last thing we ever said about St. Luke’s is the truth and we still know it and believe it to be the truth. We also have evidence to prove nearly everything we have stated. However, Judge Lynn Norton issued an order literally prohibiting me from providing any evidence in our case. That is obviously a very important detail that nobody wants to publish because it would strike terror in the hearts of the public if they knew that this type of dishonesty and tyranny took place in their own courts. Imagine being sued and not being allowed to provide evidence to prove your case!
But Idaho Leaders United has definitely lied about me and Ammon in their article. And they either knew what they were saying was a lie or should have reasonably known it was a lie, and the very tone and language of the article itself evidently demonstrates that their article was published with the specific intent “to impeach the honesty, integrity, virtue or reputation, or publish the natural or alleged defects, of one who is alive, and thereby to expose him to public hatred, contempt or ridicule.” (That is the legal definition of libel which is defamation.)
I have no problem with Idaho Leaders United publishing opinions or facts. They can say that Ammon and I are dumb idiots and that Ammon is a hick from the styx and that I’m a greasy Mexican. Have at it. You can even falsely accuse us of being “extremists” or “anti-government” or whatever other nonsensical pejorative terms you choose to use to further your agenda. We couldn't care less about your opinions.
But lies that are defamatory that misrepresent the truth in a case of great public importance is unacceptable. You must stop lying. Here is a short list of the lies that you intentionally published in your deceptive article:
DEFAMATORY LIE #1 - “The incident at St. Luke’s Health System was a distressing display of extremist behavior, where Mr. Bundy and his followers trespassed on private property and, more alarmingly, blocked access to emergency services.”
Nobody protesting the kidnapping of Baby Cyrus (my grandson) trespassed on private property or blocked access to emergency services. Our protests were on the sidewalk and were entirely peaceful. Had anyone been trespassing, the police would have been called and arrests would have been made. But that never happened. Idaho Leaders United simply lied.
DEFAMATORY LIE#2 - “As a result of their actions, the hospital was forced to shut down, diverting ambulances and blocking emergency department care.”
This lie is connected to the first lie where they are claiming that by trespassing and blocking access to emergency services the hospital was forced to shut down. Notice they said, “as a result of their actions.” On the contrary, the hospital was voluntarily shut down by St. Luke’s on March 15th, 2022 as a distraction so that St. Luke’s could transfer Baby Cyrus to IDHW. Not only did we have a whistleblower from within St. Luke’s call us to tell us that, but we have video on our website showing how peacefully the protestors were acting in the exact moment that St. Luke’s shut the hospital down (Video #4 on this page). Also, St. Luke’s refused to provide video footage of their security cameras in a discovery request, which would have shown that nobody blocked access to emergency services on that day. Obviously and evidently, St. Luke’s refused to provide this evidence because it would prove them to be liars just like Idaho Leaders United is for making these false statements in their article.
DEFAMATORY LIE #3 - “Subsequently, the hospital and staff members were targeted and defamed with vicious lies.”
The truth is that not a single lie was told about a single staff member at St. Luke’s. Everything we ever stated or claimed was true and factual. I provided the factual rebuttals to every single one of St. Luke’s false claims, but Judge Lynn Norton likewise issued an order striking my responses from the record. So while nobody can get those responses from the court docket anymore, they are publicly available on my website on this link here.
Additionally, I am so confident that I have not told a single lie about St. Luke’s or their staff members that I have made a public declaration offering to immediately take down anything I have published about St. Luke’s that is not true. I also offered to make apology videos and other retraction materials for St. Luke’s to use to restore their reputation and I even offered to create a website called DiegoWasWrong.com where all of this information could be stored permanently for public access. And finally, I even offered to write a check to St. Luke’s for $50,000 (the initial amount requested by St. Luke’s in their first complaint), if they could simply prove that I made any factually inaccurate statements.
Let it be known that St. Luke’s never demonstrated in public or in the courtroom that I ever made any factually inaccurate statements about them and as a reminder, all of the evidence that I have to prove my statements accurate were disallowed from being heard in the courtroom.
These are simple facts that Idaho Leaders United should have reasonably known before publishing their defamatory article.
DEFAMATORY LIE #4 - “By peddling misinformation and stoking the flames of fear, extremists like Bundy aim to collect a following of easily influenced individuals who may feel marginalized, frustrated, or disenfranchised.”
As noted above, there was not a shred of “misinformation” that was peddled. And you ought to have known that or should have reasonably verified such a claim before publishing it. In fact, your actions are the Textbook example of “projection” where diabolical and psychopathic bad actors accuse you of doing exactly what they are doing.
We demand a public retraction of your defamatory lies. Feel free to speak negatively about us as much as you want. That is your right to do so. And even if you call me a big, fat, stupid, ugly, right wing extremist, I will fight for your right to say so and to call me that. You can publish any opinions you want.
But no, you don’t get to LIE in public about Ammon and I with the intent “to impeach the honesty, integrity, virtue or reputation, or publish the natural or alleged defects, of one who is alive, and thereby to expose him to public hatred, contempt or ridicule” all so you can breed fear and division among our communities. You must stop lying just so that you can collect a following of easily influenced RINOs and weak men and women who may feel marginalized, frustrated, or disenfranchised. You must stop lying as a means to prey on the vulnerable and attempt to control them through manipulation and false promises.
Idaho Leaders United is nothing more than a fraternity of rich bullies who use their positions, power, and access to spread lies and disinformation in order to attract more followers and magnify their fame, power, and influence. You all should be ashamed of yourselves and your actions.
And you must start TELLING THE TRUTH. We expect your public retraction within 1 week. Otherwise, expect to see a defamation lawsuit filed against Odette Bolano, CEO, Saint Alphonsus; Tommy Ahlquist, CEO, Ball Venture Ahlquist; Gary Raney; Bill Shawver; Doug Gross, CEO, Gross Farms; and Cortney Lilliard, CEO, Ball Ventures. And please note, according to the Constitution Article 1 Section 8, this lawsuit will be filed in Federal court as I am a Florida citizen who will be suing Idaho citizens, so you will not have the protection of the corrupt Ada County court system.
On August 8th, 2023, the Idaho Statesman published a guest opinion article titled, “St. Luke’s victory over Bundy is welcome. The work of fighting extremism must go on” that was full of defamatory lies. In fact, the authors of the article, Idaho Leaders United, a group of statist Republicans and various liberal ideologues, have succeeded in doing the very thing that St. Luke’s hospital fraudulently claimed that Ammon and Diego did to them. Plainly stated, Idaho Leaders United, maliciously and intentionally lied about Ammon and Diego in an attempt to cause them public harm and damage—the definition of defamation!
In order to actually qualify as legal defamation, it must be demonstrated that what they said was a lie or that the slanderer should have reasonably known it was a lie.
In the case of Diego and Ammon, every last thing we ever said about St. Luke’s is the truth and we still know it and believe it to be the truth. We also have evidence to prove nearly everything we have stated. However, Judge Lynn Norton issued an order literally prohibiting me from providing any evidence in our case. That is obviously a very important detail that nobody wants to publish because it would strike terror in the hearts of the public if they knew that this type of dishonesty and tyranny took place in their own courts. Imagine being sued and not being allowed to provide evidence to prove your case!
But Idaho Leaders United has definitely lied about me and Ammon in their article. And they either knew what they were saying was a lie or should have reasonably known it was a lie, and the very tone and language of the article itself evidently demonstrates that their article was published with the specific intent “to impeach the honesty, integrity, virtue or reputation, or publish the natural or alleged defects, of one who is alive, and thereby to expose him to public hatred, contempt or ridicule.” (That is the legal definition of libel which is defamation.)
I have no problem with Idaho Leaders United publishing opinions or facts. They can say that Ammon and I are dumb idiots and that Ammon is a hick from the styx and that I’m a greasy Mexican. Have at it. You can even falsely accuse us of being “extremists” or “anti-government” or whatever other nonsensical pejorative terms you choose to use to further your agenda. We couldn't care less about your opinions.
But lies that are defamatory that misrepresent the truth in a case of great public importance is unacceptable. You must stop lying. Here is a short list of the lies that you intentionally published in your deceptive article:
DEFAMATORY LIE #1 - “The incident at St. Luke’s Health System was a distressing display of extremist behavior, where Mr. Bundy and his followers trespassed on private property and, more alarmingly, blocked access to emergency services.”
Nobody protesting the kidnapping of Baby Cyrus (my grandson) trespassed on private property or blocked access to emergency services. Our protests were on the sidewalk and were entirely peaceful. Had anyone been trespassing, the police would have been called and arrests would have been made. But that never happened. Idaho Leaders United simply lied.
DEFAMATORY LIE#2 - “As a result of their actions, the hospital was forced to shut down, diverting ambulances and blocking emergency department care.”
This lie is connected to the first lie where they are claiming that by trespassing and blocking access to emergency services the hospital was forced to shut down. Notice they said, “as a result of their actions.” On the contrary, the hospital was voluntarily shut down by St. Luke’s on March 15th, 2022 as a distraction so that St. Luke’s could transfer Baby Cyrus to IDHW. Not only did we have a whistleblower from within St. Luke’s call us to tell us that, but we have video on our website showing how peacefully the protestors were acting in the exact moment that St. Luke’s shut the hospital down (Video #4 on this page). Also, St. Luke’s refused to provide video footage of their security cameras in a discovery request, which would have shown that nobody blocked access to emergency services on that day. Obviously and evidently, St. Luke’s refused to provide this evidence because it would prove them to be liars just like Idaho Leaders United is for making these false statements in their article.
DEFAMATORY LIE #3 - “Subsequently, the hospital and staff members were targeted and defamed with vicious lies.”
The truth is that not a single lie was told about a single staff member at St. Luke’s. Everything we ever stated or claimed was true and factual. I provided the factual rebuttals to every single one of St. Luke’s false claims, but Judge Lynn Norton likewise issued an order striking my responses from the record. So while nobody can get those responses from the court docket anymore, they are publicly available on my website on this link here.
Additionally, I am so confident that I have not told a single lie about St. Luke’s or their staff members that I have made a public declaration offering to immediately take down anything I have published about St. Luke’s that is not true. I also offered to make apology videos and other retraction materials for St. Luke’s to use to restore their reputation and I even offered to create a website called DiegoWasWrong.com where all of this information could be stored permanently for public access. And finally, I even offered to write a check to St. Luke’s for $50,000 (the initial amount requested by St. Luke’s in their first complaint), if they could simply prove that I made any factually inaccurate statements.
Let it be known that St. Luke’s never demonstrated in public or in the courtroom that I ever made any factually inaccurate statements about them and as a reminder, all of the evidence that I have to prove my statements accurate were disallowed from being heard in the courtroom.
These are simple facts that Idaho Leaders United should have reasonably known before publishing their defamatory article.
DEFAMATORY LIE #4 - “By peddling misinformation and stoking the flames of fear, extremists like Bundy aim to collect a following of easily influenced individuals who may feel marginalized, frustrated, or disenfranchised.”
As noted above, there was not a shred of “misinformation” that was peddled. And you ought to have known that or should have reasonably verified such a claim before publishing it. In fact, your actions are the Textbook example of “projection” where diabolical and psychopathic bad actors accuse you of doing exactly what they are doing.
We demand a public retraction of your defamatory lies. Feel free to speak negatively about us as much as you want. That is your right to do so. And even if you call me a big, fat, stupid, ugly, right wing extremist, I will fight for your right to say so and to call me that. You can publish any opinions you want.
But no, you don’t get to LIE in public about Ammon and I with the intent “to impeach the honesty, integrity, virtue or reputation, or publish the natural or alleged defects, of one who is alive, and thereby to expose him to public hatred, contempt or ridicule” all so you can breed fear and division among our communities. You must stop lying just so that you can collect a following of easily influenced RINOs and weak men and women who may feel marginalized, frustrated, or disenfranchised. You must stop lying as a means to prey on the vulnerable and attempt to control them through manipulation and false promises.
Idaho Leaders United is nothing more than a fraternity of rich bullies who use their positions, power, and access to spread lies and disinformation in order to attract more followers and magnify their fame, power, and influence. You all should be ashamed of yourselves and your actions.
And you must start TELLING THE TRUTH. We expect your public retraction within 1 week. Otherwise, expect to see a defamation lawsuit filed against Odette Bolano, CEO, Saint Alphonsus; Tommy Ahlquist, CEO, Ball Venture Ahlquist; Gary Raney; Bill Shawver; Doug Gross, CEO, Gross Farms; and Cortney Lilliard, CEO, Ball Ventures. And please note, according to the Constitution Article 1 Section 8, this lawsuit will be filed in Federal court as I am a Florida citizen who will be suing Idaho citizens, so you will not have the protection of the corrupt Ada County court system.
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