Motus Mentis

By now you’ve all heard all about the suspension of ABC News reporter Brian Ross for his story on Friday claiming that General Mike Flynn had copped a plea for lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia. Ross initially reported that, during the campaign, Donald Trump had told Flynn to arrange meetings with representatives of the Russian government — something that would support the idea that the Trump campaign had “colluded” with Russia to influence the outcome of the election.

This was big news — and for investors bullish on the idea of an impending tax-reform bill, continuing abatement of burdensome regulation, and other Trumpian economic medicaments, it was bad news as well. It had an immediate effect on the stock market, which plummeted. The Dow fell over 350 points. It’s not good when that happens — a lot of investors have triggers that sell shares when the price dips below a preset threshold, and the wave of selling causes a cascade of further price-drops. An enormous amount of wealth was destroyed.

But wait! Along comes ABC News again, with a “correction”: Mr. Trump’s instructions to General Flynn were given after, not before, the election, and so were simply part of an incoming administration’s normal diplomatic outreach. Whoops!

ABC realized that some show of accountability had to be made, and so announced that Mr. Ross would be suspended for four weeks. Without pay!

Am I alone in noticing a similarity here to the penalties imposed in professional sports for bad behavior? The analogy is almost perfect, if you understand that this is really a Great Game, played by two opposing teams as their fans cheer them on from the sidelines. Mr. Ross, in his zeal, went a little too far, and the officials threw a flag. Now he is going to have to sit out a few plays.

Meanwhile, more than a few people have pointed out that the effect on the markets of this foul play, and the huge financial losses that resulted, my be legally actionable. I have no idea whether that’s so, but I hope someone gives it a try.