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For Sat., Nov. 18, 2017
~All Gave Some~Some Gave
All~God Bless America
Summer will return...sooner or later…
Moore May Have Proved His Innocence With Move Investigators Were Watching for
BY CILLIAN ZEAL
When Roy Moore accuser Beverly Young Nelson came forward with feminist lawyer Gloria Allred and a yearbook that Moore had allegedly signed, liberals thought it was all over but the eventual admission.
After all, here was a complimentary remark Moore was supposedly making to a teenager — a remark that could well be read as flirtatious or even suggestive, considering that it became part of an accusation of sexual assault making national headlines almost 40 years later. And here was Moore’s signature on that remark, as clear as day.
However, at a news conference Wednesday, Moore attorney Philip Jauregui made a move that could show Moore’s innocence of Nelson’s charge.
According to the Washington Examiner, Jauregui demanded that Nelson and her team turn over the infamous yearbook for forensic examination.
“We demand that you immediately release the yearbook to a neutral custodian,” Jauregui said, “so that we can see the ink on the page, we can see the indentations, and we can see how old is that ink. Is it 40 years old or is it a week old?”
Jauregui made a number of comments during the news conference that attempted to throw doubt on Nelson’s story and insinuated that the yearbook signature was a forgery.
“We’re still working through some things, but there are some things you need to know and we want to make you aware of,” Jauregui said, according to Newsmax.
“We… had a handwriting expert look at the evidence submitted” by Nelson Allred at a news conference in the form of the yearbook.
“Judge Moore not only has denied everything (Nelson) said before, but now flatly denies that and he says it’s not true. We have a handwriting expert… that is looking at those. …Right now our attorney is sending a letter to Gloria Allred demanding that the yearbook be released.”
According to an intelligence expert speaking on background, Jauregui’s request was a move investigators were looking for.
“Moore is vindicated,” the expert said. “When the yearbook signature was reproduced, every Investigator in the country was waiting to see whether Moore would make the critical move: Ask for the yearbook to be examined by a forensic expert. Because the ink always indicates the year of the writing. Always. If he didn’t make the request he was toast. If he makes the request he never signed it.”
There were two inconsistencies that Jauregui focused on during the press conference, both of which were interconnected. One was the fact that Nelson claimed she had never seen Moore after he allegedly tried to assault her as a 16-year-old by locking her in a car and inappropriately touching her.
However, Moore had signed Nelson’s second divorce when he was a circuit court judge in 1999, Jauregui said — something one would assume Nelson would remember.
The other inconsistency came in how Moore signed the yearbook — as “Roy Moore, D.A.”
“Judge Moore can’t ever remember signing his name with D.A. after it, but he had seen it before,” Jauregui said.
“You know where he had seen it? When he was on the bench, his assistant, whose initials are D.A., Deborah Adams, would stamp his signature on documents and put capital D.A. That’s exactly how the signature appears on the divorce decree that Judge Moore signed.”
That’s a possible sign it could have been forged from court documents — something a forensic analysis of the ink could prove.
Since a forensic evaluation would indicate whether or it was written almost 40 years ago — as Nelson maintains — or rather recently, whether the notebook is turned over could be a telltale sign of how believable the story is.
Now, of course, this still wouldn’t exonerate Moore on all charges. Even if it turns out to be a fraud, as Moore and his lawyer are claiming, it could just be one individual piggybacking on several accusers whose very serious allegations about the former judge’s conduct could be 100 percent true. This case deserves a thorough examination of the evidence. Both the accusers and the voters of Alabama deserve no less.
But that examination should start with the most compelling piece of evidence — and that’s the yearbook Moore claims he never signed.
Congressman Ron DeSantis proposes law:
Targeting Child Predators
I have prosecuted child exploitation cases in both the federal and military judicial systems and investigations targeting child predators should not yield an inch when it comes to bringing these predators to justice.
I have introduced H.R. 883, the Targeting Child Predators Act, in order to ensure that internet service providers provide law enforcement a limited window of time to investigate before notifying the suspected child predator of the existence of a lawfully-issued subpoena.
As a former prosecutor, I know firsthand just how valuable electronic evidence can be to target predators and protect our children. The Targeting Child Predators Act will prevent suspects from destroying evidence and covering their tracks, giving law enforcement the tools they need to better investigate these heinous crimes.
I have introduced H.R. 883, the Targeting Child Predators Act, in order to ensure that internet service providers provide law enforcement a limited window of time to investigate before notifying the suspected child predator of the existence of a lawfully-issued subpoena.
As a former prosecutor, I know firsthand just how valuable electronic evidence can be to target predators and protect our children. The Targeting Child Predators Act will prevent suspects from destroying evidence and covering their tracks, giving law enforcement the tools they need to better investigate these heinous crimes.
NOTE: The Act has passed the house and awaits senate action. President Trump has indicated he favors the DeSantis legislation.
NFL Hit With Disaster, This Won’t End Well
In what’s becoming a reoccurring theme, the NFL got another piece of bad news concerning the effect these anthem-protests are having on their ratings.
As reported by Deadline, the league’s ratings have declined substantially from the Veterans Day protests. With the week 10 Monday Night Football getting a 6.2 rating, an 18 percent decline from last week, NFL officials are worried that low ratings have persisted ever since the season’s record low in October.
The NFL’s ratings have been steadily low throughout the season, taking a significant hit following the weekend’s Veterans Day protests when three Miami Dolphins players “took the knee” during the match-up.
Last week’s Monday game between the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers saw ratings rise slightly from the week prior, pulling in a 3.8 rating and 11.08 million total viewers.
It’s a stark contrast to last year’s games, in which the November 14th, 2016 face-off between the New York Giants and the Cincinnati Bengals saw ratings at least 22 percent higher. Overall, this week’s game marked the second-worst showing on Monday night this season and the fourth worst MNF ratings since it moved to ESPN in 2006.
A contributing factor to this game’s dismal ratings was the fact that the NFL announced there would be “no change” to their kneeling policy despite threats of boycotts. One Facebook page, called “Boycott the NFL,” grew to over 227,000 followers and warned the league that disrespecting United States veterans was unacceptable.
“We’re sending the National Football League, its corporate sponsors, and the television networks a message this Veterans Day weekend!” 2ndVote wrote according to The Washington Times. “Americans are sick of the disrespectful National Anthem protests that the NFL has not only allowed to continue, but has institutionalized in pregame ceremonies.”
Overall, 22,000 Americans said that they would not be watching the game because of the league’s policy, which currently states that players “should” stand for the anthem, but are in no way forced into doing so. “Until millionaire football players stop protesting the National Anthem of the United States, we’ll be here,” the group added.
President Trump has consistently condemned the protests on Twitter while challenging the leadership of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. “Two dozen NFL players continue to kneel during the National Anthem, showing total disrespect to our Flag & Country. No leadership in NFL!” he tweeted.
As reported by The Hill, only 44 percent of those polled last month by the Winston Group said they thought favorably of the NFL, down from 57 percent last year. “The fall off in favorables occurred among important audiences. Among males, NFL favorables fell 23 percentage points, going from 68 percent to 45 percent,” according to Winston.
“In looking at a more specific audience, males 34-54, NFL favorables fell 31 percentage points, going from 73 percent to 42 percent. Among this group the NFL has a surprising negative image, as it went from +54 percent (73 percent favorable-19 percent unfavorable) in August to -5 percent (42 percent favorable-47 percent unfavorable) in September,” added the group.
From the loss in ratings to weakened business relations, the NFL anthem-protests are having a detrimental effect upon this once great sport. Hopefully, the leadership within the league will finally recognize this truth.
Spare me the phony outrage
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The political and media classes are in high dudgeon over the allegations of sexual assault leveled against Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore from almost 40 years ago. Please spare me the phony outrage.
The politicians running from Moore like he’s a plague-infested rat are some of the same politicians who considered Ted Kennedy the “Lion of the Senate.” All Kennedy did was drive – most likely while drunk – his car off a bridge, leaving 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne in it to drown. Kennedy waited until the next day to report the accident, and then only after the car was located by authorities.
It was common knowledge in the District of Corruption that Kennedy was a lush and that he picked up “party girls” (aka prostitutes) on the average of three times a week at a private Georgetown club. He was caught on several occasions having sex with women in public places and sexually assaulting waitresses. In one sexual assault at the La Brasserie restaurant on Capitol Hill he was accompanied by Senator Chris Dodd in making a “waitress sandwich” in which Kennedy rubbed his genitals on the woman who, when she finally got away, ran screaming from the room.
The late actress Carrie Fisher once claimed that in 1985 while at a restaurant having dinner with Kennedy and Dodd that Kennedy asked her if she’d be having sex with Dodd – whom she had met that night for the first time — after the dinner.
The politicians running from Moore are some of the same ones who dismissed the accounts of countless women who accused Bill Clinton of rape and assault: Juanita Brodderic, Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey, Connie Hamzy, Eileen Wellston, Sandra Allen James, Christyi Zercher, an unnamed 22-year-old student at Yale and an unnamed student at the University of Arkansas are some of them. They are also some of the same politicians who refused to hear evidence in Clinton’s Senate impeachment trial. And some of these same politicians did more than just dismiss the accounts, they defended Clinton as if was the victim of a “vast right wing conspiracy.”
Clinton took dozens of trips on Jeffrey Epstein’s Lolita Express. Also on the plane were 12-year-old girls that Epstein – at least – used as his toys. Not a lot condemnation from the political or media class about that, either.
The politicians running from Moore are the same ones whose silence on the charges against New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez is deafening. Menendez is on trial for selling his office and providing special favors in exchange for campaign cash and all-expense paid trips to the Dominican Republic where he was provided underage prostitutes. According to Politico, Democrats aren’t likely to push Menendez out of office even if he’s convicted.
Menendez was indicted two years ago. It doesn’t require any fingers to count the number of Washington politicians who have stated that Menendez isn’t fit to serve in the Senate. And John McCain’s lapdog, Senator Lindsey Grahamnesty who has called for Moore to step aside, even testified at Menendez’s trial as a character witness, calling him “very honest” and “honorable.”
While not involved in a confirmed sex scandal – though accusations of an adulterous affair arose during the 2008 Republican primary – McCain had a hand in one of the biggest financial crimes to rock the U.S. prior to the crash of 2008. In 1989, McCain was caught with four other Senators trying to stifle an investigation by federal regulators into the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association on behalf of their benefactor, Lincoln’s head man Charles Keating — as part of the overall Savings and Loan scandal — over fraudulent practices that ultimately cost 23,000 of Lincoln’s customers (mostly retirees) some $288 million. For that, McCain became known as one of the “Keating 5,” but the media and time have absolved him; and the poor, defrauded retirees are all dead and gone. Now he’s considered a “leading light” of the Republican Party.
The list of known Congressional sex scandals is as long as your arm and those accused who remained in office include Henry Hyde, Helen Chenoweth, Dan Burton Ken Calvert, Daniel Inouye, Charles Robb, Gus Savage, Jim Bates, Dan Crane, Gerry Studds and a host of others.
A former “congressional handler” named Brent Wilkes – whose job it was to take care of visiting congressmen — claims that when they visited the Honduras the local soldiers would go out into surrounding villages and round up young girls at gunpoint for the visiting dignitaries and stand guard outside so the girls couldn’t escape.
But politicians aren’t alone in their hypocrisy. The mainstream media — which is chasing ratings more aggressively than Kennedy chased a bottle and who are acting in concert to destroy Moore — seem to think that if you are an actor or actress in Hollyweird, dating children is not only perfectly acceptable but a badge of honor.
Roy Moore may or may not be or have been a pervert. But if he is or was that doesn’t make him “unfit for the Senate.” It means he’ll fit right in. And if he’d just embrace baby murder, genocide, granting special rights for people who can’t look between their legs and tell whether they are male or female, and kiss the ring of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, he’d be elevated to the Senate ruling class.
Update: We’ve added Senator Al Franken to the list of sexual harassers serving in the Senate. Bespectacled loud mouth lout.
Israel open to sharing intel with Saudi Arabia to confront Iran
Written by Yaron Steinbuch
The head of Israel’s military said in an unprecedented interview with a Saudi Arabian news outlet that the Jewish state is willing to share intelligence with the Gulf kingdom in its efforts to confront Iran, according to reports.
The head of Israel’s military said in an unprecedented interview with a Saudi Arabian news outlet that the Jewish state is willing to share intelligence with the Gulf kingdom in its efforts to confront Iran, according to reports.
Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot told the Saudi Elaph online newspaper that Iran poses the “real and largest threat to the region,” according to the Israeli Haaretz newspaper.
“We are ready to exchange experiences with Saudi Arabia and other moderate Arab countries and share intelligence information to confront Iran,” he said.
In the wake of allegations in the Arab world that Israel is planning on attacking the Iranian-backed Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, Eisenkot, 57, said there is “no intention of attacking Hezbollah in Lebanon and bring about a war.
“However, we will not accept a strategic threat to Israel,” he said in the first-ever interview with Arabic media.
Eisenkot said Iran is trying to destabilize the region by building weapons factories and supplying advanced arms to terror groups — and warned that the expansion of Iranian influence in the Mideast is a major concern to both countries.
“Iran seeks to take control of the Middle East, creating a Shi’ite crescent from Lebanon to Iran and then from the [Persian] Gulf to the Red Sea,” he said. “We must prevent this from happening.”
Asked whether Israel has shared “information” with the Saudis recently, Eisenkot replied, “We are prepared to share information if it is necessary. There are many mutual interests.”
Israel and Saudi Arabia do not have official diplomatic ties, but have never fought each other.
Eisenkot also said he welcomed President Trump’s announcement that it is necessary to end the Iranian ballistic missile program and Iran’s growing hold in Syria and Iraq.
“With President Donald Trump there is an opportunity for a new international coalition in the region. There should be a major regional plan to stop the Iranian threat,” Eisenkot told the outlet.
Eisenkot was blunt about what a lengthy Iranian presence in Syria would mean.
“Our demand is for Hezbollah to leave Syria and for Iran and its militias to retreat from Syria,” he said.
“We have said openly, and also quietly and secretly too, that we will not accept Iranian consolidation in Syria in general, and their concentration west of the Damascus,” he said.
“We will not allow any Iranian presence, we have warned them against building factories or military bases and we will not allow it.”
According to the IDF, while Hezbollah has increased its military capabilities due to its fighting in Syria, the group has spread its troops across the Mideast and is hurting financially, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Last week, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah accused Saudi Arabia of having appealed to Israel to launch an attack against the group in Lebanon, offering the Jewish state “billions of dollars” to do so.
On Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was quoted by Press TV as saying “It is very reprehensible and shameful for a Muslim country in the region to beg the Zionist regime [of Israel] to bomb the people of Lebanon.”
“It is unprecedented in history for a Muslim country to take such measures, and this indicates the immaturity of the individuals, who have come to power in those countries,” Rouhani added.
Eisenkot, the son of Jewish immigrants from Morocco, became IDF head in February 2015. He earned a master’s degree from the United States Army War College in Pennsylvania.
MSNBC Pushes Story on Moore Past, Didn’t Know Mall Manager Would Come Forward
BY BENJAMIN ARIE 
Senate candidate Roy Moore is facing an uphill battle against a growing scandal, and the line between rumors and facts seems to become increasingly blurred every day.
The outspoken former judge has been accused of sexual misconduct with teenage girls that allegedly took place some 40 years ago. Right now, there’s no solid proof that the allegations are true, but that hasn’t stopped the rumors from flying.
In what is beginning to look like a joint attack on the anti-establishment candidate, the mainstream media and Moore’s political enemies are spreading claims that have already been questioned by credible sources.
One of those accusations is that Roy Moore was banned from a shopping mall decades ago. The implication is that the now 70-year-old former judge was some sort of predator. There’s one major flaw: The retired manager of the Alabama mall says he doesn’t believe it’s true.doesn’t believe it’s true.
This week on MSNBC, host Stephanie Ruhle repeated the completely unproven claim during a fiery exchange with Pastor Mark Burns.
Burns warned that by tossing aside the presumption of innocence and not asking for any proof, the country risks becoming a place where anyone’s life can be ruined based on rumors.
“Today it’s Judge Moore, tomorrow it could be you,” the pastor said. That pushed Ruhle into a sanctimonious rant.
Pastor Mark Burns: Today it's Judge Moore. Tomorrow it could be you.
“Sir, it can’t be me tomorrow, because when I was in my 30s, I didn’t get banned from a mall,” she exclaimed.
The MSNBC host stated it as a fact, but is it true? The former manager of the mall says no.
That’s not quite in the time frame for the Moore accusations, most of which involve the 1970s, but it’s a good chance that the manager at the time would have known if a prominent member of the community — Moore was an assistant district attorney at the time — had been banned from the mall in the recent past.
“To my knowledge, he was not banned from the mall,” Boyle told the news station.
In other words, MSNBC and other major news outlets are literally repeating vague rumors as fact. (For a vivid look at rumor journalism in action, check out this New Yorker piece on the mall story. It’s hard to find a single verifiable fact in it, past “The Gadsden Mall opened in 1974.”)
To be clear, we don’t know whether or not the allegations against Roy Moore are true… but that is exactly the point.
We do not know. Neither does MSNBC, or CNN, or the establishment politicians like Mitt Romney who have written Moore off as damaged goods.
What we do know is that the timing of the accusations is incredibly suspicious. Moore was in the public light as a prominent judge and in other positions for decades… yet these bombshell claims only emerge 30 days before an important election the Democrats were losing?
We also know that there are gaping holes in the credibility of several of Moore’s accusers. It’s doubtful that the claims would hold up in court, but the media doesn’t seem to care.
This is the true problem with the Roy Moore situation: Rumors and innuendo have now replaced the burden of proof and facts.
Presumption of innocence, one of the basic tenets of free countries, has been tossed aside because it just isn’t salacious enough for cable news.
What Pastor Mark Burns said before he was interrupted and lectured on MSNBC is a very strong point. When we stop caring about evidence and proof, every single American can be smeared and their reputation ruined in an instant.
The election may soon be over, but the fallout of this new distaste for proof will continue to have repercussions for years.
Al Franken Should Resign Immediately
Democrats’ credibility on sexual harassment is at stake.
Sen. Al Franken attends a hearing on Capitol Hill on July 19.On Thursday morning, Los Angeles radio host Leeann Tweeden wrote a disturbing article alleging that Sen. Al Franken sexually harassed her on a 2006 USO tour. According to Tweeden, Franken coerced her into “rehearsing” a kiss for a skit, then forcefully stuck his tongue in her mouth. She also provided a photograph of Franken appearing to grope her while she slept.
There is no rational reason to doubt the truth of Tweeden’s accusations, no legitimate defense of Franken’s actions, and no ambiguity here at all: Franken should resign from the Senate immediately. Democrats should call for him to step down straightaway. This revelation is a test of the Democratic Party’s consistency, honesty, and decency. If Democrats wish to preserve whatever moral standing they have today, they must exhort Franken to leave the Senate, with no hesitation or reservations.
Franken, it seems, won’t go quietly. His first response to Tweeden’s article is a case study in pseudo-apologetic denial, an effort to gaslight Tweeden while purporting to express regret. “I certainly don’t remember the rehearsal for the skit in the same way,” Franken said, “but I send my sincerest apologies to Leeann. As to the photo, it was clearly intended to be funny but wasn’t. I shouldn’t have done it.” He deserves no credit for this hollow contrition. Franken “doesn’t remember” the harassment “in the same way”? His actions were “intended to be funny”? Touching a woman’s breasts without her consent is not a joke. It is a crime. Franken is not really admitting guilt or apologizing to Tweeden. He is laying the groundwork for his own defense.
The hypocrisy of Franken’s reaction is galling. Following the Harvey Weinstein scandal, the senator wrote an impassioned Facebook post declaring that sexual harassment is “appalling” and “far too common.” He added that it “takes a lot of courage to come forward, and we owe them our thanks.” Franken then praised Gretchen Carlson for writing about “the disappointing responses women often face when they go public both embolden harassers and encourage victims to stay silent.”
Now Franken has issued the exact kind of “disappointing response” that Carlson bemoaned, attempting to dismiss the accusation against him as a botched joke that his victim misremembered. Is anyone surprised? Yet another self-proclaimed defender of women’s rights has revealed himself to be a misogynistic fraud. Franken’s ardent promotion of gender equality on the Senate floor is rendered meaningless in the face of his disgusting conduct.
In recent weeks, Republicans have struggled to contend with extremely credible allegations that Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore pursued and molested teenage girls as an adult. Many Democrats rightfully criticized GOP senators who initially declined to disavow Moore outright and Alabama Republicans who continue to stand by him. The Democratic Party now has a chance to set the proper example and prove that absolute intolerance for sexual harassment crosses party lines. Democrats should not hedge or wring their hands or await more accusations. The path forward is simple: If the party wishes to retain an ounce of credibility, it must demand Franken’s swift resignation.
Update, Nov. 16, 2017, at 2:25 p.m.: Franken has issued a second statement responding to Tweeden’s allegations. His follow-up is significantly more remorseful, though it still seems to dispute Tweeden’s memory of the unwanted kiss. Franken also now recognizes that there’s “no excuse” for the groping photo and admits that his hypocrisy makes him “feel ashamed.” He has called for a Senate ethics investigation into his own behavior—which indicates that he has no intention of resigning quickly. Instead, he appears to be attempting to rehabilitate his reputation by expressing penance and desire to grow. The full statement is reproduced below.
The first thing I want to do is apologize: to Leeann, to everyone else who was part of that tour, to everyone who has worked for me, to everyone I represent, and to everyone who counts on me to be an ally and supporter and champion of women. There's more I want to say, but the first and most important thing—and if it's the only thing you care to hear, that's fine—is: I'm sorry.
I respect women. I don't respect men who don't. And the fact that my own actions have given people a good reason to doubt that makes me feel ashamed.
But I want to say something else, too. Over the last few months, all of us—including and especially men who respect women—have been forced to take a good, hard look at our own actions and think (perhaps, shamefully, for the first time) about how those actions have affected women.
For instance, that picture. I don't know what was in my head when I took that picture, and it doesn't matter. There's no excuse. I look at it now and I feel disgusted with myself. It isn't funny. It's completely inappropriate. It's obvious how Leeann would feel violated by that picture. And, what's more, I can see how millions of other women would feel violated by it—women who have had similar experiences in their own lives, women who fear having those experiences, women who look up to me, women who have counted on me.
Coming from the world of comedy, I've told and written a lot of jokes that I once thought were funny but later came to realize were just plain offensive. But the intentions behind my actions aren't the point at all. It's the impact these jokes had on others that matters. And I'm sorry it's taken me so long to come to terms with that.
While I don't remember the rehearsal for the skit as Leeann does, I understand why we need to listen to and believe women’s experiences.
I am asking that an ethics investigation be undertaken, and I will gladly cooperate.
And the truth is, what people think of me in light of this is far less important than what people think of women who continue to come forward to tell their stories. They deserve to be heard, and believed. And they deserve to know that I am their ally and supporter. I have let them down and am committed to making it up to them.
Fox News Viewers Demand Shep Smith be Fired After Error-Filled Uranium One Report: ‘Send Him to CNN’
by JEROME HUDSON
AP Photo/Richard Drew
In the wake of Fox News anchor Shepard Smith’s six-minute fallacy-filled Uranium One “fact check” rant on Tuesday, social media is brimming with enraged Fox viewers calling for the network to dump the longtime host and “send him to CNN.”
Several left-wing and establishment media outlets reported some of the more searing social media screeds from fans of Fox, many of whom wished the cabler would part ways with its liberal broadcaster.
Breitbart News has debunked the myths peddled in Smith’s monologue. Below is a roundup of some of the best headlines and social media posts from angry and disappointed Fox fans.
Fox News viewers declare war on Shepard Smith for debunking Uranium One conspiracy
The segment did not go over well with Fox News viewers, who were hoping that the scandal would distract from the disasters plaguing the Trump administration. Fox’s audience took to Twitter to express their disgust in Smith and some even called for his firing.
‘HE HAS TO GO!!!’ Fox fans furious after Shep Smith blows up right-wing conspiracy about Uranium One
Explaining the facts was seen as a betrayal by Fox News viewers, who seemed to prefer the network parrot White House talking points absent journalistic examination.
Fox News anchor Shepard Smith is under fire from his own viewers after he debunked what the network dubbed the Hillary Clinton uranium “scandal.”
Some even suggested he ought to look for work at liberal rivals CNN and MSNBC.
…
Fox News loyalists took to Twitter after the broadcast to bash Smith, and call for his removal from the network.
“Get Shepard Smith off of Fox. He’s arrogant and doing his own spin. Nobody knows how deep the left’s conspiracy goes and Shepherd Smith has ZERO inside info because nobody trusts him. OUT!” Brook West tweeted.
“The worst part of a relaxing day is when Shepard Smith starts talking. He is a smarta– that needs to be on CNN,” Jana Jo said.
Franken’s Frightening Fix for Free Speech Menace
Comedian-turned-senator Al Franken – yes, THAT Al Franken - recently wrote an op-ed (sorry, no booby-grabs in this one!)published in The Guardian titled, “We Must Not Let Big Tech Threaten Our Security, Freedoms and Democracy.”
Pretty frightening. Not for the alleged problems Franken outlines, but the “Big Brother” government remedies he proposes.
Franken warns of the “outsized role that the major tech companies” – primarily Google, Facebook and Twitter – “play in so many aspects of our lives.” He goes on to accuse these companies of failing “to take commonsense precautions to prevent the spread of propaganda, misinformation, and hate speech.”
Of course, by “commonsense precautions” Franken is talking about government-sanctioned, if not imposed, censorship. And what Franken personally considers to be propaganda, misinformation and hate speech might very well not be considered such by others.
As the old saying goes, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
Indeed, in reading Franken’s manifesto I came to conclusion that it, itself, is government propaganda by a government official that is filled with misinformation.
And some might even consider his gratuitous slap at President Donald Trump over what Franken calls the president’s “truly unpredictable outbursts on Twitter” to be a form of hate speech which, like beauty, is often in the eyes of the beholder.
To look more closely at this issue, let’s start with the obvious…
Google, Facebook and Twitter are “platforms” where the opinions of others are posted – just as The Guardian is a platform where Franken’s opinion on publishing opinions he doesn’t like was published.
And if you’re going to hold Google, Facebook and Twitter responsible for the opinions expressed by independent individuals on their platforms, then you you’re gonna have to start holding every website and newsblog responsible for op-eds like Franken’s, as well.
This is insane.
If Google, Facebook and Twitter wish to regulate and self-censor speech on their platforms, that’s one thing. But unless the First Amendment prohibition on government abridging the freedom of speech and the press is repealed, there’s no constitutional grounds for the government censorship remedies Franken is suggesting.
Even if someone writes something that’s not protected by the First Amendment – for example, something libelous – the individual who wrote the offending piece should be held responsible, not the platform.
Franken went on to claim it was “alarming” that these three tech companies “have unprecedented power to guide Americans’ access to information and potentially shape the future of journalism.”
You mean like the unprecedented power ABC, NBC and CBS had on television before the advent of cable TV?
And even after the addition of CNN, there was still a liberal bias in Americans’ access to news until FOX News came along. Indeed, it was the advancement of cable technology that BROKE the philosophical monopoly of the television news airwaves that no one in the 1960s or 1970s could have seen coming.
Indeed, the same new Internet technology that has spawned Google, Facebook and Twitter is also enabling scores of alternative blogs, news sites and podcasts that give Americans’ unprecedented options for learning about what’s going on in the world today.
We should be encouraging the further development of such messengers, not strangle them in their crib with heavy-handed government regulation and censorship.
Franken goes on to maintain that the very size of tech giants such as Facebook stifles the ability of new platforms to develop. But that’s exactly the same argument some were making just ten short years ago about…MySpace.
In The Guardian (the same publication where Franken’s op-ed was published) back in 2007, Vic Keegan reported that…
“John Barrett of TechNewsWorld claims that MySpace is well on the way to becoming what economists call a ‘natural monopoly’. Users have invested so much social capital in putting up data about themselves it is not worth their changing sites, especially since every new user that MySpace attracts adds to its value as a network of interacting people.”
Anybody out there still using a MySpace account?
So much for that argument.
And then there’s the advertising.
Franken complains about tech companies using digital advertising as their “main source of revenue” for their platforms, bemoaning that 98% of Facebook’s second quarter revenue this year came from its advertising business.
So what?
I open the newspaper. Advertising. I listen to radio. Advertising. I watch television. Advertising.
Sure, if I want to pay for programming free of advertisements – such as movie channels and satellite radio – those options are available for a subscription fee. But what business is it of the government’s to decide what revenue model a private business uses?
If you don’t like the ads on Google, Facebook or Twitter, simple. Don’t go to Google, Facebook or Twitter. And if you’re an advertiser and don’t like what Franken refers to as the “unfair terms and fees” of Google, Facebook and Twitter, simple. Don’t advertise there.
Nobody’s forcing anyone to use those sites. It’s still a free country. For now. Unless government officials such as Sen. Franken get their way.
And Franken’s sheer hypocrisy – or historical ignorance - on this is breathtaking…
“(A)s the wealth of information available on the internet has grown, big tech has taken it upon itself to sort through all the viewpoints, news, and entertainment, and decide for us what we should read, watch, buy, or even how we should engage in civil society.
For decades the Big Three television networks took it upon themselves to sort through all the viewpoints, news, and entertainment and decide for us what we should watch.
For decades big city print newspapers took it upon themselves to sort through all the viewpoints, news, and entertainment and decide for us what we should read.
For decades big commercial radio stations took it upon themselves to decide what music and which musicians we should listen to.
But now, thanks to the very technology Franken seeks to regulate and censor, Americans have thousands upon thousands of options and alternatives which the people themselves sort through and determine for themselves what viewpoints, news and entertainment they choose to read, watch or buy.
Why would anyone ever want the government to take that away from us?
Oh, speaking of buying, Franken also has a problem with how we buy various products online these days.
“Currently,” the comedian-senator complains, “Amazon controls over 83% of e-book sales, nearly 90% of online print sales, and almost 99% of digital audio sales.”
This is brain-dead.
While Amazon truly built a better mousetrap for purchasing books which has eaten away at market share for brick-and-mortar book stores, the fact is Amazon also has made it possible to self-publish books by authors that in the past would never have been given the time of day by the big publishing houses.
Unless your name was Steven King, John Grisham or Robert Ludlum, good luck getting your book published before Amazon came along. Indeed, using Amazon’s “Create Space” service, anyone under the sun can write and publish a book today even if the author is the only one who ever buys it!
Ditto musicians. Until Amazon and other platforms came along, the odds of anyone ever being able to listen to or purchase a musician’s product without being signed by one of the big record companies was near zero.
In conclusion, Franken asks “what role should these companies play in our lives?”
Wrong question. The real question is what role the GOVERNMENT should play in our lives.
Thank you very much, senator, but I can decide for myself what role Google, Facebook, Twitter and Amazon play in my life.
I have no interest whatsoever in returning to the Stone Age days when the Big Three TV networks decided what I should watch; when big commercial radio stations decided what I should listen to; when big city newspapers decided what I should read; and when big brick-and-mortar retail stores decided what I could buy.
In short, Mr. Franken’s views on who should control what we get to read, watch, listen to and buy is akin to an old saying: “There’s nothing wrong with a benevolent dictatorship…as long as you’re the dictator.”
In a free society, I’m perfectly content to make those decisions by myself, for myself.
Mr. Franken is free to make suggestions and recommendations as to what I should read, watch, listen to or buy. But when it comes to him using the coercive power of government to make those decisions for me, I defer to those three famous words by former First Lady Nancy Reagan…
Just…say…no.
Mr. Muth is president of Citizen Outreach and publisher of Nevada News & Views
Busted! CNN doctored Moore yearbook image
President Donald Trump has repeatedly referred to CNN as “fake news,” and he may of just been proven right.
An Alabama woman used a signature in her high school yearbook as proof that GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore sexually assaulted her when she was 16.
CNN tweeted images of the yearbook, but they may have doctored the images, according to the Conservative Tribune.
The alleged signature reads, “To a sweeter more beautiful girl I could not say, ‘Merry Christmas.’ Love, Roy Moore DA, 12-22-77, Olde Hickory House.”
CNN posted an image of the accuser, Beverley Young Nelson, to Twitter Monday, and critics immediately begin pointing out that it appears to be in two separate shades of ink.
Beverly Young Nelson said Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore wrote a message in her yearbook in December 1977 that said, "To a sweeter more beautiful girl, I could not say, 'Merry Christmas.'"
She said he signed it, "Roy Moore, D.A." http://cnn.it/2hy3AEB
Roy Moore's lawyer denies one woman's sexual assault allegation and demands that a handwriting expert examine a note she says the Alabama Senate candidate wrote http://cnn.it/2htLj7F
Assuming the image didn’t magically change on it’s own, the question was raised if CNN could be responsible for altering the image in order to make it appear more authentic.
And this isn’t the only speculation raised that the image is a fake.
In a letter to Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Moore drew attention to other discrepancies.
He claimed he wouldn’t of signed the image as DA, standing for District Attorney, in 1970. At that time, he was Assistant District Attorney.
He also acknowledged the fact that the handwriting seems to change, saying:
“Those initials as well as the date under the signature block and the printed name of the restaurant are written in a style inconsistent with the rest of the yearbook inscription. The ‘7’s’ in ‘Christmas 1977’ are in a noticeably different script than the ‘7’s’ in the date ’12-22-77.’ I believe tampering has occurred.”
Nelson’s lawyer Gloria Allred released a statement Wednesday saying they agreed to have the yearbook examined by an independent expert after the Senate committee agrees to investigate the accusations.
-The Horn editorial team.
G’ day…Ciao…
Helen and Moe Lauzier
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