Tag: CNN

Open Letter To Trump Voters

Today is Tax Day…..so I will give you something to try and take your mind off of the hurt to come.

This is an open letter by S.E. Cupp, who is a conservative commentator but a conservative with a brain (very few of those lefty)…..she wrote this letter last week when Donny threatened to destroy Iran and their civilization.

Tuesday morning, the president of the United States threatened genocide against another nation, all because he does not know how to get out of a war he started to distract Americans from his terrible economy, disastrous immigration headlines, and attempts to bury the Epstein files.

“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” he wrote on Truth Social, the social network he had to create so he can say deranged things like this without being deplatformed.

“I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” he continues flippantly, suggesting that he will “probably” nuke a nation that just a month ago he was insisting he wanted to liberate.

In case it needs pointing out, this threat of genocide would be a war crime, as are the many threats he’s made to strike Iranian infrastructure like water and bridges.

So as we sit on the precipice of what could be NUCLEAR WAR, my question to Trump voters is this: what more are you willing to ignore?

What more are you willing to “compartmentalize” while you tell yourself this is all an acceptable bargain to get judges and tax cuts?

What indefensible, illiberal, un-American and inhumane garbage are you willing to defend in service of MAGA’s childish obsession with “owning the libs”?

How much more chaos, b.s., gaslighting, lying, grifting, incompetence and corruption are you willing to put up with?

And how much economic pain and destruction are you willing to suffer so that he can get rich and spend your taxpayer dollars bombing other countries, suing his political enemies, and building monuments to himself?

Ten years ago, Trump told us exactly who he was, and he’s been revealing himself ever since.

He was a bad person then. During campaign rallies and his presidency, you watched as he made fun of disabled people, prisoners of war, women, and children. You ignored it.

He was a bigot then. You watched as he defended neo-Nazis, called for travel bans against Muslims, called African countries “sh­-­hole nations,” denigrated Black and Brown communities in American cities, called Mexican immigrants rapists and murderers, called himself a nationalist and welcomed white supremacists into the party. You ignored it.

He was a misogynist then. You watched as the “Access Hollywood” tape came out, as woman after woman told their stories of rape and sexual assault, as the Epstein rumors swirled for years, as porn stars revealed their affairs, as he made fun of women’s faces and biology. You ignored it.

He was a fraud then. You watched every story about the fraudulent Trump University and Trump Foundation, stories of tax fraud, licensing scams, real estate fraud, contractor non-payment, election interference, and now crypto corruption. You ignored it.

He was a terrible Christian then. You watched as he repeatedly broke nearly every Commandment, every tenet of Judeo-Christian faith, all while corrupting the religious right to sell bibles with his name on them. You ignored it.

He was a terrible conservative then. You watched as he abandoned nearly every long-held conservative principle that Republicans had stood for, from lowering the debt and deficit, to anti-protectionism, to family values. You ignored it.

And he was a terrible leader then. You watched as he turned American against American, broke the trust of our allies, propped up our enemies, sent his own supporters down dangerous.

So what now? Does he need to nuke a nation to lose your trust and respect? Does he need to shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue to test your moral compass? Does he need to bankrupt our country, destroy 250 years of American exceptionalism, undo 70-year-old international treaties, and start WWIII to get you to finally object to one more second of his unhinged lunacy?

If not now, when?

Sincerely,

Sane America

S.E. Cupp is the host of “S.E. Cupp Unfiltered” on CNN.

She hit the nail on all heads.  I was seldom a fan of hers in the past but at least now she can communicate with a brain…..something her contemporaries cannot muster.

Now that that corrupt MAGA POS has CNN will she be silenced?

Tell me what you think of her letter.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The News Will Get More Unreliable

This post is for the many people that turn to CNN for their daily news….you might want to rethink that decision.

It is no secret that I do not trust many of the MSM to tell us peasants what is really happening in the country and the world.

Now CNN will most likely enter into the Trump sphere of bullshit.

Concerns are mounting about the state of the US media landscape now that it looks increasingly likely that Paramount Skydance—a company controlled by the son of billionaire Larry Ellison, a donor to President Donald Trump—will succeed in its bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery.

One day after Netflix announced that it was dropping its previously accepted bid to buy Warner, many critics demanded that antitrust laws be invoked to block the Paramount-Warner merger from going through.

Alvaro Bedoya, former commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission, warned that the Ellison family could soon use their control over vast swaths of US media properties to engage in mass censorship, and he pointed to their decisions to cancel Stephen Colbert’s program and to refuse to air an interview with Democratic US Senate candidate James Talarico.

“One family is about to control CBS, CNN, HBO, and TikTok,” he wrote in a social media post. “They’ll buy [Warner Bros. Discovery] with $24 billion in money from the Saudis, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi. To win over Trump, they canceled Colbert… and blocked Talarico. Much more will follow. Block this rotten deal.”

Craig Aaron, co-CEO of Free Press, said the proposed Paramount-Warner merger was “even worse” than the proposed Netflix-Warner merger.

“This deal endangers our democracy by giving a family of pliant billionaires even more control of vast swaths of our news coverage, TV stations, and movie studios,” Aaron said. “Allowing more mergers in the already highly concentrated movie business will harm filmmakers and industry workers when Paramount delivers on its promise to make deep cuts to please its Wall Street backers.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/paramount-warner-merger-criticism

Little Donny already has FOX News and OAN in his pocket and now that will expand.

The morons are already slobbering over this eventuality…..Pistol Pete has his say….

During a briefing on the Iran war Friday, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth ventured into unexpected territory: ownership of CNN. “The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better,” Hegseth said in complaining about the network’s war coverage, reports the Hill. Ellison’s Paramount Skydance is poised to acquire CNN parent company Warner Bros. Discovery. Hegseth’s remark is likely to amplify anxiety inside CNN and across the industry that Ellison—who is friends with President Trump—could steer the channel’s journalism in a direction more favorable to the White House, per the New York Times.

Ellison has publicly pledged to protect CNN’s newsroom from political interference. “Editorial independence will absolutely be maintained,” he said in a CNBC interview last week. “It is maintained at CBS; it will be maintained at CNN.” Ellison bought CBS last year and installed Bari Weiss, a high-profile critic of legacy media, as editor in chief of CBS News. Weiss has faced internal and external pushback, particularly after delaying a 60 Minutes piece critical of the Trump administration.

“Fake news from CNN reports that the Trump administration underestimated the Iran war’s impact on the Strait of Hormuz,” Hegseth said Friday. “Patently ridiculous, of course. For decades, Iran has threatened shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. This is always what they do. … CNN doesn’t think we thought of that. It’s a fundamentally unserious report.” The former Fox News host also complained about negative TV news banners. “What should the banner read instead? How about Iran increasingly desperate?  Because they are.”

So maybe look for another news source that is reliable because CNN just does not make the grade anymore.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

CNN Is Changing

I have noticed that a few of my visitors and commenters use CNN as one of their primary sources…..I use them occasionally but not a major contributor to my posts…

I saw a report that I thought might interests those that like CNN and their coverage of the news….

CNN is making some big changes as President Trump’s second term begins. In a memo to staffers Thursday morning, CEO Mark Thompson outlined the “next phase of change” at the news organization, which will include laying off around 200 people, 6% of its staff. Thompson described the layoffs as an “unwelcome but inevitable part of the change process.” He said the company’s headcount would remain around the same, with people involved in traditional TV operations laid off and new employees, including data scientists, hired with the $70 million it is investing in plans to grow its digital business. Thompson said the company is responding to “profound and irreversible shifts in the way audiences in America and around the world consume news.”

  • New streaming service. A new streaming service will be introduced as part of plans “to develop a new way for digital subscribers at home and abroad to stream news programming from us on any device they choose,” Thompson wrote, per the Hollywood Reporter. “It’s early days but we’ve already established that there’s immense demand for it not just in America, but across much of the world.” CNN also plans to introduce its first “lifestyle-oriented digital product,” Thompson wrote.
  • Vertical videos. CNN has been focusing on vertical videos, which can be viewed easily on phones. The company plans to publish up to 100 of the videos per day, and it is working on a TikTok-style video news service that lets users swipe through the videos easily, reports the New York Times. “You can use your thumb to flick from a CNN news story to a CNN anchor to a reporter,” Thompson tells the Times. “That’s a really interesting experiment.”
  • Viewership is way down. The focus on digital comes as cable TV viewer numbers are sagging. CNN averaged “578,000 prime-time viewers in the three months through December, down by 74% from its peak in the fourth quarter of 2020,” according to the Wall Street Journal. During the same period, viewer numbers fell 62% at MSNBC and 27% at Fox News.
  • Jim Acosta. A CNN spokesperson said they are in “active discussions” about a new time slot for Acosta. Sources tell the Independent that Thompson spoke to Acosta, an outspoken Trump critic, last week about potentially moving his show to the midnight slot.

Okay do any of my viewers see this move as a good one?

Or is CNN caving to Trump pressure?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

“Il Duce” Sh*t Show

Last night the country and possibly the world was treated to a CNN town hall with the one and the only Donald Trump….(yes Irene I watched it and yes it was decision that I will regret)….

I’ll everyone is waiting with bated breath for my take on the town hall…..well here is what someone thought of the night.s clown show….

During a contentious CNN town hall Wednesday night, former President Donald Trump dug in on his lies about the 2020 election, downplayed the violence on Jan. 6, 2021, and repeatedly insulted the woman whom a civil jury this week found him liable of sexually abusing and defaming, the AP reports. (He at one point referred to E. Jean Carroll as a “wack job,” drawing laughter from the audience.) Trump, returning to the network after years of acrimony, also refused to say whether he wants Ukraine to win the war against Russian aggression and said the US “might as well” default on its debt obligation, despite the potentially devastating economic consequences.

The live, televised event—held in early-voting New Hampshire—underscored the challenges of fact-checking Trump in real time. The former president was cheered on and applauded by an audience of Republican and unaffiliated voters who plan to vote in the GOP primary, as moderator Kaitlan Collins sometimes struggled to correct the record as Trump steamrolled with untrue statements. “You are a nasty person,” he snapped at her at one point. He repeatedly doubled down on his lies that the 2020 election had been “rigged,” even though state and federal election officials, his own campaign and White House aides, and dozens of courts, including Republican judges, have said there is no evidence to support his claims.

He also displayed no remorse for what happened on Jan. 6, when a mob of his supporters violently stormed the Capitol in a bid to halt the certification of Biden’s win. He excused his delayed response that day—he was silent for more than three hours as the carnage unfolded—pulling out a printout of his tweeted timeline as a form of defense. Instead, he lashed out at the Black police officer who shot and killed rioter Ashli Babbitt, calling him a “thug,” despite a Justice Department finding that the shooting was justified. And he said he is inclined to pardon “a large portion” of the rioters charged in the attack. More than 670 people have been convicted of crimes related to that day, including some found guilty of seditious conspiracy or assaulting police officers.

Trump also rejected a suggestion that he apologize to his former vice president, Mike Pence, who was targeted by the mob after Trump wrongly insisted that Pence had the power to overturn the election results. “I don’t feel he was in any danger,” he said. In fact, Trump said, Pence was the one who “did something wrong.” He would not commit to accepting the results of the next election, either, saying he would do so only if he feels “it’s an honest election”—as he said before the 2020 election. The difficulties of interviewing Trump live on air became immediately apparent, and as the evening wore on, Collins became more aggressive in trying to pin Trump down on specifics, trying half a dozen times to get him to say what he would do if a federal abortion ban were to reach his desk. He said that he would “negotiate” so “people are happy.”

Anyone that thought this would be anything other than what it was is so deluded that I could sell them my bridge in Brooklyn.

It is exactly what I thought it would be….a moronic clown show.

Yep–a typical Trump Sh*t Show!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

All That ‘Breaking News’

This draft was written before the mass shooting in Uvalde and now the SCOTUS ruling…it had to wait for the news to play out.  I apologize for the delay.

I have avoided the MSM since the invasion of Ukraine…..they are pro-war and anti-gun and they are trying to influence the country as best as they can….and their corporate masters continue to set the news….but many of us are disillusioned by the way the MSM handles the news.

A growing number of people are selectively avoiding important news stories such as the coronavirus pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the cost-of-living crisis, according to a report released on Tuesday.

While the majority of people surveyed consume news regularly, 38% said they often or sometimes avoid the news – up from 29% in 2017 – the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism said in its annual Digital News Report. Around 36% – particularly those under 35 – say that the news lowers their mood.

Trust in news is also declining, and is lowest in the United States. On average, 42% of people said they trust most news most of the time; that figure has fallen in almost half the countries in the report and risen in seven.

“Large numbers of people see the media as subject to undue political influence, and only a small minority believe most news organisations put what’s best for society ahead of their own commercial interest,” wrote Reuters Institute Director Rasmus Kleis Nielsen in the report, which is based on an online survey of 93,432 people, conducted in 46 markets.

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2022-06-14/more-people-are-avoiding-the-news-and-trusting-it-less-report-says

Then there is the manure of ‘breaking news’….

Since the conflict in Ukraine began I have been bitching about the use of the news tag of ‘breaking news’……CNN was the worse offender….it was breaking news for 12 hours, the same report time after time…..of course I have written about this….

Ukraine And The Media

The Reporting On Ukraine

Please read those and see what I am on about….

With the recent mass shooting this story got lost in the headlines….

If you’re a regular CNN viewer, you’re also intimately familiar with one of its most well-known chyrons: the bright-red “Breaking News” banner that seems to accompany a good number of its newscasts. No more, says new network chief Chris Licht, who’s now issued an edict on cutting down on the banner’s use. Axios reports that on Thursday, Licht, 50, informed staff there are now stricter parameters on when to use the “Breaking News” label; updated guidelines have been written by Sam Feist, the network’s DC bureau chief. “Breaking News” has to “mean something BIG is happening,” Licht wrote in a memo to employees. “We are truth-tellers, focused on informing, not alarming our viewers. … The tenor of our voice holistically has to reflect that.”

The reasoning behind the shift, which CNBC calls “the first significant programming alteration” Licht has made, ties to his desire to pull CNN back from a more progressive-leaning, sometimes sensationalist approach to one more focused on hard news. That return to traditional journalism is also said to be a top priority for David Zaslav, the CEO of CNN parent Warner Bros. Discovery. The move is also intended to keep the “Breaking News” banner from become diluted by overuse. “It has become such a fixture on every channel and network that its impact has become lost on the audience,” Licht noted in his memo.

Licht, who took the helm of CNN in early May, was said to have held meetings with staff to try to suss out when and how the banner is employed, at which point he directed Feist to come up with an update on its usage for CNN’s stylebook. Licht noted he’s open to feedback and “tweaks” to the guidelines, but that “this is a great starting point.” He added in the memo: “We must be vital, relevant, and respected—and how we show up for our audiences, in every story, in every part of the country, and around the world, matters.” Deadline has his memo in its entirety.

Maybe someone was reading after all…..

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

2019 Dem Debates–Part 2

Tuesday and Wednesday night were debate nights on CNN.

20 candidates….two nights….and the manufactured fireworks……

First Night–

Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren were the two highest-polling candidates in Tuesday night’s Democratic debate, the first of two 10-candidate debates in Detroit—but it was a letdown for anybody expecting a clash between the two progressives. Since they are competing for similar voters, “everyone was girding for them to actually, you know, debate each other,” writes Aaron Blake at the Washington Post. Instead, they “largely agreed to a cease-fire” and even tried to defend each other against moderates who attacked their positions on issue like health care as too radical. More:

  • Buttigieg, O’Rourke “lost in the middle.” Beto O’Rourke and Pete Buttigieg have enough resources to stay in the race for a long time to come, but the former sensations looked a lot like has-beens Tuesday night to David Siders and Christopher Cadelago at Politico, who describe the debate as a “boring mess.” With the debate seen as a battle of progressives versus moderates, they write, O’Rourke and Buttigieg “fell somewhere in the middle, which makes it difficult to sustain air.”
  • Big night for Bernie. The “feisty” senator from Vermont’s tops the list of winners at CNN. Former Maryland Rep. John Delaney, who repeatedly clashed with Sanders and Warren, also makes the list, simply for reminding people that he exists. Losers include the “rehearsed and wooden” O’Rourke and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who failed to get anywhere near a breakout moment.
  • Breakout moment for Bullock? Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, who didn’t qualify for the previous round of debates, had a good night and could “make waves in the race as a centrist who has won elections in a deep-red state,” write Max Greenwood and Jonathan Easley at the Hill. Bullock put himself across as a moderate who believes in Obama-era health care and immigration policies. “It used to be Republicans who wanted to repeal and replace, now it’s Democrats,” he said of “Medicare for All” plans that would replace ObamaCare.
  • A taste of things to come. While the moderates who targeted Sanders and Warren, including Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, may not qualify for future debates, Tuesday night was a preview of the rifts likely to appear in debates where Joe Biden debates the progressive senators, the New York Times reports. “We’ve talked about taking private health insurance away from union members in the industrial Midwest, we’ve talked about decriminalizing the border, and we’ve talked about giving free health care to undocumented workers when so many Americans are struggling to pay for their health care,” Ryan said. “I quite frankly don’t think that that is an agenda that we can move forward on and win.”
  • Williamson wins the Internet. Self-help author Marianne Williamson surged in Internet searches with her unconventional responses, which included references to “emotional turbulence” and President Trump’s “dark psychic force. “On some level, we all seem to know that Marianne Williamson shouldn’t exactly be on the debate stage,” write Katherine Miller at BuzzFeed. “Even she seems to know it, because she operates like she’s performing a commentary on the rest of the stage, speaking from a different stage about the debate taking place.”

The only thing of interest to me was the divide on health care….it was old Democratic Party versus the New….the Moderates sounded more like the GOP than the GOP…….but the final word is that the first night was not anything to remember.  Hopefully the second night on CNN will be better served for the public.

The night and this debate will go down in history as the most forgettable waste of time.

Night Number Two…….

Joe Biden faced attacks from all sides in the second Democratic debate in Detroit—but the front-runner seemed more prepared and readier to hit back than he did in June, analysts say. Biden, criticized by some of the other nine candidates onstage on issues including health care, climate change, race, immigration, and his record on women’s issues,”cleared a low bar” and “highlighted both his close association with a popular Barack Obama and his brand of moderation that has led many voters to view him as the party’s best coalition-builder in a general election,” according to the New York Times. “Everybody’s talking about how terrible I am on all these issues,” Biden said during the debate. Obama “knew exactly who I was. He chose me and he said it was the best decision he made.” How the other nine fared:

  • Kamala Harris. The California senator, who made waves with her attack on Biden’s record in the June debate, found herself a target on Wednesday night, with other candidates pulling no punches when they criticized her record as a prosecutor. “Challenged repeatedly by some of the lower-polling candidates on the stage, she was at times halting and didn’t seem fully ready for the challenge at hand,” writes Aaron Blake at the Washington Post.
  • Cory Booker. Booker was one of the night’s winners, according to Vox. The New Jersey senator focused on criminal justice reform, telling Biden that the policies he has championed since the 1970s led to mass incarceration. When Biden tried to deflect the attacks by bringing up Booker’s own record, the senator delivered one of the night’s best lines: “You’re dipping into the Kool-Aid and you don’t even know the flavor.”
  • Tulsi Gabbard. The House lawmaker from Hawaii raised her profile and became Google’s most-searched-for candidate with what CNN calls “a performance that ranged from adversarial to deeply personal.” She slammed Harris’ record as California’s attorney general, saying the senator should apologize to people who “suffered under your reign as prosecutor,” and brought up her own record as an Iraq War veteran while arguing that it is time to “bring the troops home.”
  • Jay Inslee. This may have been the “final appearance on a debate stage” for the low-polling Washington governor, but he managed to hit Biden hard on climate change which has been the main focus of his campaign, reports the Seattle Times. He said he was “mad as hell” about the issue and slammed Biden’s “middle of the road” approach. “The time is up. Our house is on fire!” Inslee said. “Get off coal. Save this country and the planet, that’s what I’m for.”
  • Bill de Blasio. The New York City mayor’s debate performance was overshadowed by problems at home, the New York Daily News reports. His opening statement was almost drowned out by protesters shouting “Fire Pantaleo,” referring to the NYPD officer in the Eric Garner case. When the issue came up later in the debate, the mayor tried to shift the focus by asking Biden what he had done about it while vice president.
  • Andrew Yang. The tech entrepreneur was not a huge presence in the debate: He had the least speaking time of all the candidates, at 8 minutes, 53 seconds. His most talked-about moment came during a discussion of climate change, when he suggested it was time for Americans to start moving to higher ground, using the $1,000-a-month universal basic income he has proposed.
  • Julian Castro. Castro made it onto CNN‘s list of winners with his forceful remarks on immigration reform, and one of the night’s top lines. “It looks like one of us has learned the lessons of the past and one of us hasn’t,” the former HUD secretary told Biden when the Obama administration’s record on the issue came up.
  • Kirsten Gillibrand. Sen. Gillibrand’s biggest moment came when she attacked Biden over a 1981 op-ed in which he argued that giving higher earners a child care tax credit would subsidize the ” deterioration of the family. ” But Biden seemed prepared: He responded by discussing his record on women’s issues, his personal life, and Gillibrand’s history of working with him on issues including violence against women. “From the very beginning, my deceased wife worked when we had children,” he said. “My present wife has worked all the way through raising our children.”
  • Michael Bennet. There was no breakout moment for the senator from Colorado, though he “distinguished himself as a centrist voice” on issues including health care and immigration, according to Business Insider. He called for adding a public option to ObamaCare, saying Medicare for All “would make illegal employer-based health insurance in this country and massively raise taxes on the middle class to the tune of $30 trillion, as Joe Biden said.”‘

But Americans need winners and losers….

Everybody on that stage was looking for that sound byte moment that would control the news for a couple of days……they failed.

Harris who won the first debate looked ill prepared for this one…..in the after debate she took a cheap short at another candidate….I do not like that.

Booker and Castro had a good night and that should help them in the next debate.

Biden won the night simply by not screwing up……still using tired talking points from the past on health care….at one point he could have been a Repub spreading manure.  He is still the front runner with tired talking points and a closeness to Obama all he has….plus the MSM is in his corner and hype him whenever possible.

No one should break out from the debate…the order will stay much as it was before it began.

Still saw NOTHING that would change my mind on who to support….but it does reinforce my feeling that about half these “candidates” should go home and play with the wife/husband.

There is some good news for Tulsi….according to Google Trends she was the most searched candidate after the debates….hopefully those people will see what I see in her for she still has my support.

The only good to come out of this debate was that the MSM had something to fixate on besides Mueller, Russia and impeachment…..the best line from the debate was when the moderator said “goody night from Detroit”.

I will reiterate…I think these “debates” are worthless and all they do is give the networks fodder for a week or so.  I want to seer these candidates face off on real subjects…like war and the endless use of troops over and over and over then to discard them and find new fodder.

In stead that talk about issues that will talk both Houses to enact and that will not happen even with the control of those Houses.

These “debates” are a waste of time….PERIOD!

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

VOTE!

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

2019 Dem Debates #2

Today and tomorrow CNN will hold the next round of Dem debates…..10 candidates per night for two nights…..I thought we would start losing candidates after the first round of debates and so far Rep. Swalwell is the only one to drop out of the race to the nomination.

This is my small preview of the debates….I shall hold my analysis until both nights have been in the can (as they say)…..

According to CNN on the debates……

The stakes at CNN’s Democratic debate in Detroit are high. New criteria will make it considerably harder to qualify for the next debate in September. And for much of the field of more than 20 candidates, the more difficult threshold will be impossible to clear, barring a game-changing moment.

“Maybe 12, 13 of these candidates, there’s not going to be another shot after this. To some extent, not qualifying for the next debate is a death sentence,” Robby Mook, who managed Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, told Borger.
Campaign veterans who spoke with CNN said their advice to the lower-polling candidates is this: Go in with a short list of clear goals, fight for speaking time and try to walk the fine line between differentiating and damaging yourself.
 
The guys and gals that are in the “lead”…so to speak….will have to have a good debate for they have everything to lose……(according to CNN)……
5. Pete Buttigieg: The mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has been the story of the race so far. But his spring surge has faded into a summer status quo. Buttigieg is now a second tier-candidate — although he’s at the front of that pack. His massive fundraising in the second quarter — $25 million raised — should help with that problem, but a strong debate performance Tuesday night could also go a long way to restarting the buzz machine for him.
Buttigieg was very, very solid in the first debate; he seemed intent on making sure no one thought he was too young and inexperienced to be president. He played it safe. Which is fine! But Buttigieg is likely to take more incoming in this debate than he did in the first one — which is an opportunity and a danger.
To date, Mayor Pete has outperformed expectations in every possible regard in the race. Can he do it in this debate, too?
 
4. Kirsten Gillibrand: The New York senator seems to have all the right traits — female, liberal, a powerful voice in the #MeToo movement — to make some noise in the wide Democratic field. It just hasn’t happened for her yet, and, man, time is running short.
Gillibrand, barring some sort of moment in this debate, will be in danger of missing the third debate — and that could be the end. Which means: Now is the time for her to start making her move.
What might be her play? She seemingly gave a hint this past week when she accused nameless “Democratic candidates running for president right now who do not believe necessarily that it’s a good idea that women work outside the home.” Hmmm … maybe name names?
 
3. Bernie Sanders: While former Vice President Joe Biden caught most of the flack for a less-than-stellar performance in the first debate, Sanders wasn’t all that much better. And since that first debate, the Vermont senator’s poll position has only grown more tenuous — with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren continuing to eat into Sanders’ support among the most liberal voters in the party.
Sanders has the most debate experience other than Biden in this field. Which should accrue to his benefit. But, it feels like Sanders has only one gear — shouty and scoldy — and, at least in the first debate, that didn’t turn out so well. Can Sanders adjust? And is he willing — and able — to take on Warren, to try to win back some of the voters she has peeled off of him?
 
2. Beto O’Rourke: No candidate has underperformed expectations like the former Texas congressman. When he entered the race in March, he was seen as one of a handful of candidates with a real claim on the Democratic nomination. Today, he finds himself — still — in search of a message and momentum, hanging solidly in the middle of the second tier.
O’Rourke’s performance in the first debate did him no favors. He was too robotic and got beat, badly, in an exchange on immigration policy with former San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro. O’Rourke’s team is promising more fireworks this time around, with a particular eye on Buttigieg, who sort of stole O’Rourke’s mojo in the race.  
O’Rourke simply isn’t going to get all that many more chances to live up to his promise in this race. Tuesday night’s debate is a huge one.
 
1. Joe Biden: No one has more to lose (or possibly gain) than the former vice president. Biden was very mediocre in the first debate of the race last month — seemingly caught entirely flat-footed by Harris’ attack on his votes on school busing. It’s very unlikely that Biden will be that surprised again by an attack from one of his rivals — and he’ll have a chance to exact a bit of revenge, too, as he shares a stage with Harris on Wednesday night.  
But if Biden is bad — as in, if he looks, again, as though the speed of the game is too much for him, he is going to spend the next month (at least!) fighting off questions about his age (he’s 76) and whether the race has passed him by. All of that could cost him his frontrunner status.
I have said many times that I do not think these debates do little to move the electorate because one gets a enough time to flesh out their policies.
 
I will be watching for I want to see who the media (CNN in the case) will hype as the front runner.
 
And I will be watching my candidate (for now) Tulsi to see if she gets her time in the “light”…..
 
Be Smart!
 
Learn Stuff!
 
Then VOTE!
 
“Lego Ergo Scribo”
 

Ammo-Sexual Or Douche Bag?

Closing Thought–20Feb18

Earlier today I wrote a post about the protests that are being lead by the kids of the school that suffered the attack….in case you missed my post……..

https://lobotero.com/2018/02/20/childrens-crusade/

Sorry for beating you about head with this subject but this is something that needed to be posted.

I am writing another one because of something I read after my article was posted……I was wondering in the post how long it would take for the pigs on the right to start attacking these children…..well to answer my question….not long at all…..

CNN viewers on Tuesday demanded that the network fire conservative contributor Jack Kingston after he suggested that students who survived the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida were being organized by liberal activists.

During an interview on CNN, Kingston asserted that students organizing for gun safety laws were being “hijacked by left-wing groups that have an agenda.”

“I would say to you very plainly that organized groups that are out there like George Soros are always ready to take up the charge, and it’s kind of like instant rally, instant protest and those groups are ready to take it — take it to the streets,” he added.

The remarks outraged CNN viewers, who wondered why Kingston was given a platform to speak on CNN. Some viewers called on the network to terminate the former Republican congressman.

A douche bag knows no limits……brings to question how much does this person owe the NRA to prompt him to attack children?

This man (I use the term loosely) needs to be made to be the face of the protests……he illustrates the Trumpian mindset….if you do not agree then insult…..it is tacky and shameful but pathetic mostly.

Damn!  How low will these people (and I use this term loosely also) go?

MSM: Give Third Parties More Exposure

Believe it or not there are other candidates for the presidency beyond the corrupted 2 parties we hear about every day.

The Mainstream Media could do the right thing and let the American people know they have more choices than tweedle-dee and Tweedle -dum…….as a matter of fact CNN has gained some support from the town halls they held with Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson…..

The Libertarian Party Town Hall event hosted by CNN on Wednesday night was the highest rated show on cable news in the coveted 25-54 demographic for the night.

More than 1.6 million viewers tuned in to the hour-long event featuring Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson and vice presidential candidate William Weld.

Perhaps more important than the raw numbers is the massive uptick in viewership for Wednesday’s event compared to a similar Libertarian Town Hall discussion hosted by CNN on June 22. Overall viewership was up 74 percent and viewership in the 25-54 demographic increased by 101 percent—more than doubling the “in demographic” audience for the first town hall with Johnson and Weld, CNN reported Thursday.

Source: Huge Ratings Uptick for CNN’s Second Libertarian Town Hall, As 1.6 Million Tune In – Hit & Run : Reason.com

My hat goes off to them for having the alternative townhall….the American voter needs more exposure to alternative candidates…..maybe then we can get down to repairing this f*cked up process.

Here’s a thought….why not do the same with the Green Party…..that require backbone and I just somehow do not think they can manage it.

After I wrote that thought about CNN…news has come down that they will hold a Green Party townhall on 17 August

As the Green Party convenes in Houston this weekend to formally nominate Dr. Jill Stein for president, the party’s stars appear more aligned than ever. The Greens have a catchy unofficial slogan: “Jill, Not Hill.” There’s a new generation of politically rootless democratic socialists to woo. The Green Party is predicting it will be on the most state ballots in its history. And Stein is getting more media coverage than any Green since 2000 nominee Ralph Nader, having just secured a prime-time CNN town hall for August 17.

The town hall is a critical opportunity, since Stein is the least known of the four top candidates, including Libertarian Party nominee and former Governor Gary Johnson. And while she has certainly been to political candidate school—male pundits won’t have to remind her to smile—she doesn’t have the inspiring cadence of an Obama or the gruff everyman shtick of a Sanders. Her even keel and consistently left-wing outlook goes down easily with the Democracy Now! audience, but she’ll need to raise her game if she’s to connect on CNN.

Source: Can the Green Party Win With ‘Jill, Not Hill’? – POLITICO Magazine

I stand corrected…..and I will be watching…..will you?

13 vital questions CNN should (but won’t) ask at tonight’s Democratic debate – Salon.com

Tonight the Dems hit the big time!  Yep, that time again….another debate only this one will be for the Dems…..

We will finally be exposed to all 5 candidates in the run for the nomination of the party….we will get the chance to hear what they think about different things….which is good….but only if substantial questions are asked……personally I am not looking for anything substantial to be asked……

These are the question that need to be asked….but if everything is normal….none of them will be done so…..

Don’t count on hearing anything consequential tonight. That would mean asking a question with teeth…..the MSM is just not up to asking real questions…..

Source: 13 vital questions CNN should (but won’t) ask at tonight’s Democratic debate – Salon.com