I'm sorry.

I've tried, and I've tried, and I've tried, and then I tried some more. And the more I tried, the more I realized that I just couldn't do it.

I simply cannot see the Fox-Dominion settlement as any kind of real "victory." Okay, sure, Dominion's pocket book will be a little thicker and Fox's a little leaner - but other than that, what was accomplished?

Nothing.

That became obvious the moment Fox released that ridiculous statement about their "continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards." 

Yeah, sure. If they got their degrees at the Paul Joseph Goebbels School of Journalism.

Good grief, Jake Tapper couldn't keep a straight face reading that statement on the air...

That Dominion lawyer can thump his chest and bellow until the cows come home about "consequences." The only consequence we see here is that Fox doesn't have to admit it did anything wrong, and thus gets to keep operating in its capacity as America's self-appointed Ministry of Propaganda.

The only moral to the story is that if you have enough money, you'll get a slap on the wrist and be sent back out onto the playground to misbehave again. 

That's not the way I remember my parents teaching it, but then Mom and Dad suffered at times from a nasty strain of idealism.

Yesterday's settlement was a great day for Dominion's bank account and Fox's hubris. But it was a sad, sad day for American democracy.

Of course, as that legal expert interviewed on CBS Mornings said today, this was never about democracy.

And that's precisely the problem. It should have been.

So there's our lesson for today, kids: Money Good, Truth Bad.