And the biggest single reason I can't wait to see this state in my rearview mirror for the last time.

......and I didn't stay in a Holiday Inn last night.

In my head, I know you and Byron are completely correct. In my heart.....well.

On the face of things, it appears that Ventura offered Kyle the opportunity to get out of this without going to court. It also appears that while the event may not have occurred exactly as told by Kyle, other people present at the time found Ventura offensive and boorish. I think the consensus may have been he "needed a whupping" even if he didn't get one, and the sea story began there....

Unfortunately, both men's egos are/were such that a compromise couldn't be found. Should Kyle have retracted? Yes. But having said that, I think it was incumbent of Ventura to have continued to pursue an alternative solution, rather than drag a grieving woman to court. Yes, she is the representative of the estate, but she is still the widow of a murdered man. Some compassion could have gone a long way, and yet it still ended up in court.

To me that shows a man whose single-minded pursuit of his "reputation" was more important than, oh, um, his reputation. Because to his dying day, he will be remembered as the guy that dragged a woman into court to finish off an argument with her dead husband over whose d**k was bigger, right or wrong.

Otony

"But attorney John Borger, who represented Kyle in her capacity as executor of Chris Kyle’s estate, said Tuesday that insurance won’t cover everything. He said it will cover the $500,000 awarded for defamation, but not the $1.3 million for unjust enrichment.

“All of that comes directly from money that Taya and Chris received from royalties or whatever assets the estate may have,” he said.
Borger also asserted that under the law, the $1.3 million part of the jury’s award is only advisory and the final determination will be up to U.S. District Judge Richard Kyle, no relation to the author. He also said they will be considering all their legal options “in the days and week to come,” including a possible appeal."

Otony