In what we're hoping will soon become a trend, ABC News has suspended their reporter Brian Ross
not for boob grabbing, fanny patting, weeny waggling, or misuse of an under-the-desk "rape button," but rather for committing
actual journalistic malfeasance.
Specifically, Ross broke the story (perhaps not realizing just how broken it was) that former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn was prepared to testify that candidate Donald Trump had told him to make contact with the Russians during the election - no doubt for purposes of heinous collusion in the first degree.
Wow! That's a pretty damning story - and the stock market reacted with a plunge of over 300 points as evil millionaires and billionaires rushed to the exits, aware that the criminal Trump administration was finished.
Fortunately for us, and quite
unfortunately for ABC,
the story was 100% untrue - although we can't say yet if this can be attributed to straight up lying or just ham-handed ineptitude.
Actually, Flynn was prepared to testify that President-Elect Trump (
after the election) predictably and appropriately asked him to make contact with Russia as
any transition team would do - in this case to discuss the possibility of joint US/Russian military options to fight ISIS.
Ross has been suspended without pay for 4 weeks, and ABC has issued a retraction of the earlier story...albeit without the hoopla surrounding their original "scoop." Frankly, we're hoping that Ross spends his time off productively, perhaps watching old reruns of "Dragnet." He'd at least be reminded of the importance of gathering "just the facts."