Headlines

'Its not going to be a great meeting': Trump to welcome European Commission head

House Financial Services chair splits with Trump on farm relief: 'Donald Trump has too much power'

Turkey vows to keep buying Iran oil, 'We will not obey' ...

U.K. Ministry of Defense runs out of money ...

Trump attacks 'week politicians' who speak out against tariffs

Southern California home sales crash, a warning sign to the nation

Founder of anti-Putin feminist group found dead ...

Page surveillance documents indicate State Dept.provided in initial info

Pompeo, Mattis on cleanup duty after Trump diplomatic blowups

Judge rejects Trump's bid to dismiss foreign payments lawsuit

Radar detects lake on Mars ... 12-mile wide reservoir ...

Income inequality much worse in blue states than red states

Obummer's Legacy

Obummer may not be the worst president in American history, but he still has six more months to sew up the title. He promised us hope and change ... and he certainly changed most things for the worse ... to the point where many of us are willing to take a flyer on a loud-mouth self promoter who just might repair enough things to save our nation's bacon. To reprise Obummer's last 7 1/2 years, here is the legacy he has left us with:

- More than a doubling of our national debt to an unsustainable level

- Race relations at an all-time low

- Corruption tainting almost every cabinet department

- Growing income inequality squeezing the middle class

- Urban crime rates back on the rise

- Economic and wage growth in the toilet

- Negative balance of payment at an all-time high

- Number of people dropping out of the workforce at an all-time high

- Swarms of illegal immigrants from Latin America countries

- An open door policy for unvetted Muslim immigrants

- A doubling of families receiving food stamps

- Zero tax reform

- Zero entitlement reform

- Huge increase in burdensome government regulations

- A gutting of our military

- Disastrous remaking of our health-care system

- The Middle East in smoking ruins

- Much more belligerent Russia, China, North Korea and Iran

- An alienated and abandoned Israel

- Deteriorating national infrastructure

- Serious loss of our international hegemony


And Hellery Clinton has promised to continue us down Obummer's primrose path!

!

Income Inequality

In what industry do women earn much more money than men? Not surprisingly, it is the pornography industry ... see: Daily Mail Story. I suppose this has something to do with naked women having more commercial appeal than naked men. This article also points out that many of the actors in this medium, who perform as male homosexuals, are surprisingly heterosexuals. I have never ventured into this male-only cinema genre, but I have suspected that this is indeed the case with "gay" females ... not that there is anything wrong with that.

Can we also extrapolate this income differential into the high-fashion modeling business?  I suspect that this is also true. The top female model, Gisele Bundchen, certainly makes a pile more lucre than even her famous sports-star husband, Tom Brady ... see: ESPN Story. So, can we then say that income inequality is "relative?"

And there are at least 15 other industry sectors where women out-earn men ... see: Forbes Article. Can we now expect Mika Brzezinski to modify her periodic Morning Joe mouth-foaming rants against income inequality? I kinda doubt it ... for I suspect this has more to do with what Joe Scarborough earns next to what she makes.

Question

The following headline is on the cover of this Sunday's New York Times Magazine: "Christians in the Middle East are being forced out of their homes, enslaved and killed. Why is no one coming to their aid?" (See: New York Times Story.)

Obvious answer: Because Pope Francis, President Obama, and much of the rest of the Christian world all seem to be preoccupied with global warming, income inequality, and the evils of war.

Media Nazis

The Soup Nazi

I realize that the use of the term “Nazi” is a sure loser … unless of course you are Jerry Seinfeld. But I do believe that it is quite appropriate in this case. The Obama administration's FCC now wants to monitor news outlets (I assume this includes the Internet) to insure that they are following what Big Brother considers important media stories ,,, its term for these priorities is  Critical Information Needs (CINs) … see: PJ Media Story. Our Gestapo in Washington wants to make sure that its eight topics are getting adequate on-air coverage. 

So far these CIN topics are somewhat nebulous but one can assume that they will include: climate change, income inequality, women’s reproductive rights, voter suppression, homophobia, and food deserts … and won’t include the Benghazi killings, NSA’s snooping, IRS targeting of the Tea Party, true unemployment rates, Fast and Furious, the al-Qaeda resurgence, and excessive Presidential golfing.  Here are the questions that will be asked during these proposed First Amendment violations:

Station Owners, Managers or HR
• What is the news philosophy of the station?
• Who is your target audience?
• How do you define critical information that the community needs?
• How do you ensure the community gets this critical information?
• How much does community input influence news coverage decisions?
• What are the demographics of the news management staff (HR)?
• What are the demographics of the on air staff (HR)?
• What are the demographics of the news production staff (HR)?

Corporate, General Managers, News Directors, Editors, etc
• What is the news philosophy of the station?
• Who else in your market provides news?
• Who are your main competitors?
• How much news does your station (stations) air every day?
• Is the news produced in-house or is it provided by an outside source?
• Do you employ news people?
• How many reporters and editors do you employ?
• Do you have any reporters or editors assigned to topic “beats”? If so how many and what are the beats?
• Who decides which stories are covered?
• How much influence do reporters and anchors have in deciding which stories to cover?
• How much does community input influence news coverage decisions?
• How do you define critical information that the community needs?
• How do you ensure the community gets this critical information? 

On-Air Staff (Reporters, Anchors)
• What is the news philosophy of the station?
• How much news does your station air every day?
• Who decides which stories are covered?
• How much influence do you have in deciding which stories to cover?
• Have you ever suggested coverage of what you consider a story with critical information for your customers (viewers, listeners, readers) that was rejected by management?
o If so, can you give an example?
o What was the reason given for the decision?
o Why do you disagree?

So far my upstairs spare bedroom (where I write these blogs) has not been invaded by these jack-boots … but I do have an upturned wastepaper basket upon which they can sit and watch me compose my pap … if they are willing to show up at 3 AM ... and are not offended by flatus.

Afterward: Adweek Magazine reports that the FCC may be backing off this intrusion into our First Amendment rights ... see: Adweek Story.  Was this just a canard to piss us off and get our attention off of Obamacare, the Ukraine, etc.

After Afterward: The Wall Street Journal, through a FCC commissioner, has some interesting points to make about this cause celebre ... see: WSJ Story.