Josh Fox is making a movie about Rebekah Jones

I heard about this today from Jesse Singal’s podcast with Katie Herzog. They mockingly referred to it as the “Most accurate. Documentary. Ever.” Fox who is best known as the person behind “Gasland” an anti-fracking film, has apparently shot it already and is now looking for money to finish it on Kickstarter. His pitch for money portrays her as “deeply controversial” which is one way to put it.

Rebekah Jones is a deeply controversial figure. She is brazen, she is brash, she is bold and she ruffles alot of feathers.  In this process, in terms of the smear campaigns against Rebekah, there have been times when it has been difficult to figure out what is true.  Her enemies and detractors are some of the most powerful people in the country.  And Rebekah herself is far from perfect, she has a pugnacious, wildly checkered past.  But should we focus on character or policy?  On science or personality? What makes the media love and hate Rebekah so much.  This film goes deeply into that conundrum. We promise that you will not be able to predict where it ends up or how deep the rabbit hole goes.

So right up front he’s suggesting we should look away from all of her past history of lying and deceit. After all, she’s on the side of science, right?

There is only one way out of the culture wars that the likes of Desantis have brought us- science and truth. But huge numbers of people, who have been steeped in misinformation and smears for years may stop us from regaining our sanity as a society. The misinformation has become the disease.

Do you believe her? If you google her, will you be able to separate the truth from the smear? The right wing propaganda from the science? The ad-hominem character attacks from the verifiable data?

She’s human and real and flawed and vulnerable and unafraid. She’s determined.

Whether you believe everything she says or not you’ve got to see that she’s fighting the fascists who would love to run the country. The anti-LGBTQ, anti-science, book banning, bigoted authoritarians like Ron Desantis and Matt Gaetz hate her and she has continued to stand up to them. And this world needs heroes who will fight fascists, no matter how flawed they are. And it needs films about what happens to the people who speak out and won’t ever stop. “They only win if I shut up” says Rebekah.

Just as a reminder, nearly everything Rebekah Jones said about her role regarding Florida COVID data was false. Charles Cooke at NRO spelled the whole story out in detail back in 2021. A year later, the same IG who initially said Jones might qualify as a whistleblower published a final report which found all of her allegations were either unsubstantiated or false. The excerpts from the IG report are here if you want to read them but here’s one example:

Allegation 3: At the direction of Dr. Roberson and Dr. Blackmore, the calculation of new case positivity was misrepresented on the DOH COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard…

Conclusion: Unfounded. Based upon an analysis of the available evidence, the alleged conduct, as described by the complainant, did not occur.

Prior to April 30, 2020, DOH only reported COVlD-19 positivity based on “overall positivity.” Beginning on April 30, 2020, the BOE developed a second calculation, “new case positivity,” which was reported in addition to overall positivity on subsequent daily reports and the dashboard. This second calculation was added to show current trends of positive cases in Florida separate from the overall positivity occurring since the beginning of the pandemic.

The OIG found no evidence that the DOH misrepresented or otherwise misled the public regarding how positivity rates were calculated.

Meanwhile, Jones’ home was searched and she was arrested for a computer crime. She framed this as DeSantis coming for her. But last December, to avoid a trial, she reached a deferred prosecution agreement which included an admission of guilt, a $20,000 fine, community service and a requirement that she see a mental health professional.

In April she claimed that Gov. DeSantis had had her son arrested. Her specific words on Twitter were “They kidnapped my son.” In fact, fellow students came forward and alleged her son had threatened a school shooting online. One of his messages read, “Okay so it’s been like 3-4 weeks since I got on my new antidepressants and they aren’t working but they’re suppose to by now so I have no hope in getting better so why not kill the losers at school.” Another read simply, “I want to shoot up the school.” As for the kidnapping, there is video of her walking her son into the police office. Once again, everything she said was a lie.

Finally, just last month, Jones pleaded no contest in a case involving stalking and revenge porn (by her against someone else). She was sentenced to a year of probation.

So, Josh Fox is right about her being brazen. She’s a brazen, proven liar and we should not believe anything that comes out of Jones’ mouth at this point.

As for Josh Fox, you shouldn’t believe him either. His most famous film, Gasland, was pretty well debunked a decade ago by the documentary Frack Nation.