Trumped 202

[Doc Holliday]

Ailes on the brink? A shake-up at the top of Fox News would have big political repercussions

Years of running Fox News as his own tyrannical fiefdom have apparently caught up to Roger Ailes

by Simon Maloy

If a major political party weren’t holding a four-day pageant to nominate an ersatz billionaire and former reality TV host as its presidential candidate, the biggest political story of the week would undoubtedly be the apparent downfall of Fox News CEO Roger Ailes. It’s been less than two weeks since former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson filed a sexual harassment suit against Ailes, alleging that she’d been the recipient of unwelcome sexual advances by Ailes and discriminatory treatment. Just yesterday, New York magazine’s Gabriel Sherman broke news that Ailes’ bosses at News Corp., Rupert Murdoch and his two sons, have decided that, one way or another, Ailes is done.

“James Murdoch is said to be arguing that Ailes should be presented with a choice this week to resign or face being fired,” Sherman writes. “Lachlan is more aligned with their father, who thinks that no action should be taken until after the GOP convention this week. Another source confirms that all three are in agreement that Ailes needs to go.” The obvious temptation among Fox News defenders and Ailes acolytes would be to brush this off as anonymously sourced speculation, but 21st Century Fox responded to the report with a nothingburger of a comment that pointedly made no denial of Ailes’ precarious position. Deadline then confirmed that the Murdoch’s are working up plans to “sideline” the Fox News chief.

Assuming this is true, it would represent a massive upheaval within one of the power centers of conservative and Republican politics. Ailes transformed Fox News into a media giant and a political force, and in the process turned it into a fiefdom that he controlled absolutely. As Tim Dickinson’s 2011 profile of Ailes sketched out, he runs the network like a dictator, using it as a vehicle to promote his own brand of paranoid conservative politics and dividing staffers into two categories: those who are fiercely loyal to Ailes, and the rest who are simply too scared of his power to cross him.

That sort of management style is obviously going to foster some bad behaviors and create a lot of bad blood, but Ailes was protected from repercussions by the network’s financial success. Carlson’s lawsuit – filed after she was fired from Fox News and no longer had reason to fear punitive action from Ailes – has apparently inspired other victims of Ailes’ sexual harassment to come forward, and seems to have done him some real damage.

If the reports are accurate and Ailes is on his way out, Fox News will necessarily have to change as well. All of the network’s simmering right-wing paranoia and thinly veiled appeals to white resentment reportedly emanate from Ailes, who also has a talent for figuring out creating programming that appeals to the channel’s core audience of aged white conservatives. And, as noted above, the network is populated with Ailes loyalists whose futures could be uncertain if he is removed from the CEO’s chair. A number of those loyalists – people like Neil Cavuto, Geraldo Rivera – have vocally defended Ailes against Carlson’s allegations, alongside several other Fox News personalities who have attacked their former colleague’s credibility. What happens to them if the internal review commissioned by News Corp. finds merit to Carlson’s claims? One Fox source told Sherman that the Ailes faithful within Fox News are “scared to death” over news that he could soon be forced out.

Changes at the top at Fox would also necessarily impact Republican politics, given that the network essentially operates as a freelance communications shop for the GOP. Editorial decisions made by Ailes and his lieutenants have identifiable ripples within the Republican Party – Megyn Kelly’s puffball interview with Donald Trump a couple of months ago was widely viewed as a sign that Ailes and the rest of the network had accepted Trump as the GOP’s nominee. The network plays a critical role in maintaining the alternative world of conservative, right-wing politics. It’s a place for conservatives to go to escape the evil biases of the mainstream media and have telegenic fake news people repeat back to them the things they already believe. The network provides a safe space for Republican politicians to blurt out talking points and obvious nonsense with no threat of being challenged on their accuracy. Republican officials who find themselves caught in scandals rush to have Sean Hannity help clean up their mess.

Fox News arrived at this position of political influence because of Ailes, who now might be forced out because his destructive behaviors have eclipsed his financial and political heft. What happens to the network after he’s gone is anyone’s guess, but it’s nice to think of a world in which a dirtbag like Roger Ailes is no longer a dominant force in political media.


Ailes to either resign or be fired at Fox News

 

[Doc Holliday]

The Priest Who Walked 360 Miles to Protest Donald Trump at RNC 2016

For 27 days, activist priest Jose Landaverde and 19 other Latino demonstrators trudged from Illinois to Cleveland bringing a dire warning about the GOP standard bearer.

by Tim Mak, The Daily Beast

CLEVELAND—Jose Landaverde braved blisters and a pro-Trump militia to walk 360 miles to Donald Trump’s coronation. His message: If Trump wins the presidency, there may be a “civil war” in America.

Landaverde is an activist priest from the Diocese of Quincy in Illinois. Over 27 days, he and 19 other Latino demonstrators walked through the rain and the heat to bring to protest Trump’s nomination as the Republican Party’s presidential standard bearer.

Day after day, Landaverde said, he walked to “raise consciousness in small towns about the speech of Donald Trump and his hate against immigrant communities and minorities.”

Through small hamlets and large cities, he met with farmers, blue-collar workers, and the press to raise awareness about what he believes is the threat Trump poses to America. They got lost. They heard threats. They pushed through the pain—all to protest the party now taking place in Ohio.

“Donald Trump will be a disaster if he gets elected as the United States president. His policies are racist in attacking immigrant communities, which keep this country economically [strong],” he told The Daily Beast, from his perch in Cleveland’s Public Square. He warned that a Trump victory would be a “disaster” for the world and would stir up racial hatred not seen since the 19th century.

Along the way, he saw many kind faces but also experienced racial animus he believes Trump has stirred up. Twice, in small towns along the route, locals shouted at the small band of protesters, “Hey, Mexicans, go back home!”

And in Norwalk, Ohio, a group of Trump demonstrators holding a “Militias for Trump” sign heard the Latino protesters were in town for a newspaper interview and tried to prevent them from walking through town. The confrontation and the jeering convinced the priest and his band of travelers to take a circuitous route around the region.

“Racism is very alive,” Landaverde reflected. And he said he feels it more today than two years ago, or 10 years ago, “because of some of the speeches that we’re hearing now…The wall of Donald Trump is his rhetoric against minorities. He’s already built it.”

The normalization of Trump as the nominee of a major American political party has brought all sorts of racism out of the wild, he continued, creating the “psychological atmosphere“ for violence against minorities, a violence he fears will become far more widespread as Trump’s political run continues.

“As a Christian, I believe that Donald Trump is out of context of the Christian faith, because Jesus came to teach us a movement that was totally inclusive,” he said. “There is a better world that we can achieve through peace and love.”

After the Republican convention, Landaverde will take a brief break. He’s been talking nonstop to individuals, protesters, and hawkers gathered in Cleveland’s Public Square, sweat pouring down his face in the midday sun, his Jesus-on-the-Crucifix necklace bouncing from his animated gestures.

Following a month on the road—he’ll be driving back.


Priest walked 360 miles to protest Trump

 

[Passionné]

Good morning,

It turns out I was wrong about Melania trump.

Woke up. Turned on the computer. First thing I see. I thought when Melania said she wrote that plagiarized speech she was protecting the real writers. I thought she was just being noble and taking responsibility for the speech she made instead of making excuses. I thought she was a better person than Donald. I was WRONG. It turns out the speech writers had written a clean speech which she didn't like and torn apart. It was Melania who deliberately plagiarized from Michelle Obama. In other words, she has the same very poor judgment as her husband and they are a good match.

We heard Donald was in a rage over the controversy over the speech. He couldn't and wouldn't put the blame on the right person, his wife, so he did what he always does. Blame others. Blame it on a Hillary Conspiracy. Never accept blame for what he, or his wife, chooses to do.

How Melania Trump’s Speech Veered Off Course and Sparked an Uproar

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...e-and-sparked-an-uproar/ar-BBuxmOH?li=BBnb7Kz

The Trump campaign turned to two high-powered speechwriters, who had helped write signature political oratory like George W. Bush’s speech to the nation on Sept. 11, 2001, to introduce the Slovenian-born former model to the nation on the opening night of the Republican National Convention.


It did not go as planned, and it has eclipsed much of the action at the party gathering in Cleveland, where delegates on Tuesday night formally nominated Mr. Trump for president.


The speechwriters, Matthew Scully and John McConnell, sent Ms. Trump a draft last month, eager for her approval.


Weeks went by. They heard nothing.


Inside Trump Tower, it turned out, Ms. Trump had decided she was uncomfortable with the text, and began tearing it apart, leaving a fraction of the original.
Her quiet plan to wrest it away and make it her own set in motion the most embarrassing moment of the convention: word-for-word repetition of phrases and borrowed themes from Michelle Obama’s speech at the Democratic convention eight years ago.

 

[PopeDover]

Everyone knows how the economy prospered between WW2 to the 1973 oil crisis. Most people were well off and paid well. It is interesting to note that corporate taxes were at their highest in those days?

From 1944 to 1971 the entire monetary system was gold-based under the bretton woods system. This might have been a more dominant factor than corporate tax rates in creating the prosperity of this period. Everyone knows that a currency backed by gold puts a ceiling on public debt, i.e., govt spending

When in reality Nazism is part of far-right politics.

Nazis were (are?) anti-Christian, pro-abortion, pro-gun control, pro-class war, and nationalized many industries including health care & education. Thank you for playing.

 

[jalimon]

Nazis were (are?) anti-Christian, pro-abortion, pro-gun control, pro-class war, and nationalized many industries including health care & education. Thank you for playing.

So that makes the Nazis half far right and half far left? With pretty much the wrong half of everything

 

[Doc Holliday]

Megyn Kelly Rallied a Female Colleague to Testify Against Roger Ailes

By Gabriel Sherman

When Gretchen Carlson filed her sexual-harassment lawsuit against Roger Ailes on July 6, the explosive allegations surely did not surprise Megyn Kelly. Fox News' biggest star has since told lawyers hired by parent company 21st Century Fox to investigate Ailes that she experienced similar unwanted sexual advances from the Fox News chair in the mid-2000s when she was a young correspondent in the Washington bureau.

According to a source briefed on the investigation, Kelly has helped at least one colleague speak out, too. In recent days, Kelly has called a former Fox female anchor and encouraged her to share her experience of harassment by Ailes with the corporate investigators. The former Fox anchor had described to Kelly being kissed against her will by Ailes during a private meeting. According to a person briefed on Kelly’s thinking, Kelly decided to speak to Paul, Weiss attorneys and encourage others to do so because she felt that a parade of Fox women marching to Ailes’s defense was presenting a distorted public account of the company’s culture. “Megyn thought the other side of the story needed to be told,” the source said.

Kelly has so far declined to comment. Her lawyer told the New York Times that “she has cooperated with the inquiry fully and truthfully.”

Ailes has responded by launching a counteroffensive against Kelly. Earlier today, Fox spokesperson Irena Briganti emailed reporters a list of glowing remarks Kelly has made about Ailes through the years. Meanwhile, Ailes's lawyer, Susan Estrich, denied the allegations, telling The Hollywood Reporter: "Roger has spent the last 10 years helping Megyn Kelly become the star that she is.” And tonight, Breitbart News reported that more than 50 Fox on-air personalities will walk if Ailes is forced out. One Fox source says the article is spin, and that there's no talk of mass exodus among anchors. “This is being made up,” the person said.

The problem for Ailes is that the Murdochs, who control 21st Century Fox, are siding with Kelly. Tomorrow’s New York Post — a Murdoch-owned paper — features Ailes on the cover.


Megyn Kelly rallied colleague against Ailes

 

[Doc Holliday]

The GOP’s broken convention: The only thing uniting this party is their disdain for Hillary Clinton

Day 2 of the RNC was more of the same: Hillary-bashing, incoherent messaging and, yes, even more plagiarizing

by Heather Digby Parton

After a day of tumult over the Melania Trump plagiarism scandal combined with the startling news that Roger Ailes was reportedly out at Fox News due to his habit of sexually harassing the women who work for him, the convention finally got back to the business of putting on their big show. It didn’t go very well. The theme had been billed as “Make America Work Again” which had seemed to indicate it would be about the economy but they evidently just said “oh to hell with it, let’s just bash Hillary again” because nobody mentioned it.

Paul Ryan opened the convention to explain the rules for the roll call and introduced Jeff Sessions to place Trump in nomination. Sessions set the mood with this dystopian image:

“We have gotten off course. And the people know it. We operate like the trench warfare battles of World War I where hundreds of thousands die while no ground is gained!”

He then said Trump is a “warrior and a winner” and nominated him for president. After some minor procedural skirmishes among the delegates they held the roll call and the New York delegation, led by Donald Jr, put Trump over the top. After all the #NeverTrump sturm und drang it was strangely anti-climactic.

Then came the speeches. They didn’t have another superstar line-up of entertainers like Scott Baio and Antonio Sabato Jr, but they managed to bring in some sports heroes like the Ultimate Fighter Dana White, and a woman golfer who used to have her own reality show on the Golf channel. That was it for the showbiz celebrities.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson gave a rather dull speech, undoubtedly disappointing the planners who were looking for a little of that good old southern gothic whitewater magic. Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey then droned on about Clinton’s alleged email criminality for a while without mentioning Trump, likely because he signed on to the National Review “Never Trump” issue saying Trump had homicidal fantasies and his policies would get him prosecuted for war crimes. He must be voting third party.

A man who runs a weatherproofing company said something boring and then The Donald himself was beamed in from New York to give a video address in which he said everything was incredible and promised to do unbelievable things when he comes to the incredible, unbelievable convention tomorrow after which Mitch McConnell took the stage to insult Clinton by saying “not since Bagdad Bob has there been a public figure with such a tortured relationship with the truth.” (Actually, there’s someone else in the race whose record of dishonesty is truly epic.) Paul Ryan was next with a speech he seemed to be giving to a GOP that doesn’t exist. He said Republicans don’t believe in division based on class and race, boring the heck out of the Trump crowd which waved placards in desultory fashion and reluctantly pushed themselves to their feet as he concluded.

Twenty-two-year-old Tiffany Trump then delivered the first family testimonial. Surprisingly, it was one of the better speeches of the night because her description of her relationship with her father as one of nurturing and interest actually made him sound like a decent person. It stood out for the fact that it was one of the only speeches in the whole convention so far that portrayed Trump as a normal human being. It’s uniqueness just points to the fact that there has been so little of the kind of “intimate portrait” of regular life that we usually see in presidential campaigns. One can guess that’s because there really isn’t much of it.

Unfortunately, that’s not what this convention is about. By this time the crowd was clamoring for a big hunk of Trump red meat and Chris Christie was just the man to deliver it. He didn’t actually give a speech, it was more of a show trial in front of a slavering mob shrieking “guilty!” and “lock her up” as Christie smugly delivered the “evidence.”

Republican strategist Steve Schmidt complained on MSNBC that this endless chanting of “lock her up” is a disturbing banana republic form of politics reminiscent of Pat Buchanan’s infamous 1992 speech that was ecstatically received in the hall but repelled swing voters out in the country. It’s chilling.

Just as I noted that Melania Trump’s speech sounded very professional in my notes on Monday night, my notes on the big Donald Trump Jr. keynote said “better check and see that his speech wasn’t plagiarized too because it was pretty good.” It turns out that his speechwriter did recycle some of his previously published prose for the speech, which seems incredibly stupid under the circumstances but the Trumps don’t seem to think that double checking these things is worth their time.

There were some clunkers in the speech such as his eye-rolling insistence that he and his siblings got their training from people with “doctorates in common sense” and inexplicably spent their childhoods driving tractors. His promise that “we are going to put Americans first, all Americans, not a special class of crony elites at the top of the heap” shows that he’s well on the way to achieving the colossal lack of self-awareness that characterizes his father.

Nonetheless, he is much better at relaying the familiar Donald Trump message by teleprompter than his father is. He made it clear that the world is going to hell in a handbasket in every possible way because the people in charge of everything are stupid and inept. But instead of the usual Trump asides and verbal tics the speech was coherent and delivered with real passion and energy. Fortunately, hearing that message from a normal speaker shows how banal it actually is when it doesn’t come from the man himself.

It’s never been more clear that it’s the man not the message that’s responsible for this phenomenon and it’s a relief to know this nightmare isn’t likely to be replicated. Unless he somehow wins the presidency (God forbid) Trumpism will die with The Donald.


GOP's broken convention: only thing uniting party is disdain for Secretary Clinton

 

[Doc Holliday]

Trump aide offers resignation in Melania Trump plagiarism incident

A Trump organization staffer apologized and offered to resign for plagiarism in Melania Trump’s RNC speech. She said the Trumps rejected her offer to resign.

By Jeremy Diamond, CNN

CLEVELAND - A Trump Organization staffer identified herself on Wednesday as the person responsible for plagiarism in Melania's Trump convention speech and offered her resignation.

Meredith McIver apologized in a statement sent out by the campaign and said Donald and Melania Trump did not accept her resignation.
McIver explained that she included the passages from Michelle Obama's speech after listening to Melania Trump read passages from the 2008 speech.

"Over the phone, she read me some passages from Mrs. Obama's speech as examples. I wrote them down and later included some of the phrasing in the draft that ultimately became the final speech. I did not check Mrs. Obama's speeches. This was my mistake, and I feel terrible for the chaos I have caused Melania and the Trumps, as well as to Mrs. Obama. No harm was meant."

The statement comes more than 36 hours after reporters uncovered striking similarities between the two speeches -- during which time the controversy cast a shadow over Trump's nominating convention and distracted from coverage of the lineup of speakers.

In that time, the Trump campaign refused to acknowledge the incident as plagiarism, reverted to slamming the media and insisted it was moving on, with no plans to fire any staffers.

"The speech was very effective and communicated those feelings," Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort said Tuesday on CNN's "New Day." "The controversy you're talking about is not meaningful at all. She's not a candidate for office. She was expressing her personal feelings about her country and her husband and why he's best for the United States."

Manafort on Wednesday agreed Melania Trump's speech used "similar words" to Obama's and insisted, "I'm not lying about anything."

The Republican National Committee also boosted the Trump campaign's defense, with its communications director Sean Spicer slapping down plagiarism charges by pointing to similar words and themes in everything from John Legend songs to "My Little Pony."

Trump, for his part, pressed forward with the strategy of attacking the media as late as an hour before the campaign statement Wednesday.

"The media is spending more time doing a forensic analysis of Melania's speech than the FBI spent on Hillary's emails," Trump said in a tweet.


Trump speech writer admits to plagiarism and offered to resign


AND THEY SAY THAT SECRETARY CLINTON IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED???? THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN HAS ZERO CREDIBILITY!!!!!!!!!DONALD TRUMP IS THE MOST DISHONEST PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES!!!!

 

[Doc Holliday]

Lying Ted Cruz will be one of the speakers later today at the RNC. Many wonder if he'll publicly endorse Trump for the sake of party unity. Will Daffy Donald be endorsed by Lying Ted Cruz, whom Trump once said was one of the biggest liars in the entire world?? Will Lying Ted Cruz endorse the man who started rumours about all kinds of extra-marital affairs to the media? Will he endorse the man who referred to his wife as ugly? Will he endorse the man who implied that his father was one of those people behind the JFK assassination???

My guess is that Lying Ted Cruz will indeed endorse Daffy Donald for show....for appearances. Lying Ted Cruz is as much a showman as Daffy Donald is and there's no way he'll let this opportunity pass him by.

By the way, if you haven't already heard, the dishonest Trump campaign now admits to plagiarizing Michele Obama's 2008 speech. Unreal!!!!! :lol::lol::lol:

 

[smuler]

Who was the blonde in the pink dress the other night in the Trump entourage when NY put Trump over the top ?

Tall and busty.... :love:

Best Regards

Smuler

 

[lgna69xxx]

Not sure but have you ever seen such a beautiful family as the Trump's? My oh my what a good looking family and so down to earth. Your kids are a reflection of yourself and that is showing the world what a good person Donald really is. Tough as nails in business as should be expected and a wonderful dad. This alone is helping to sway voters and just wait until Eric speaks tonight and Ivanka tomorrow night. The libbys are shaking in their boots lol.

So far a wonderful convention and would not be surprised if it is breaking records for viewers. Nice to see UFC Pres Dana White speak up, short but sweet and "hit and punched" his message home about what a smart man Donald is.

Enjoy the next two evenings folks because the real Shit Show begins next monday in Philly ound:

Who was the blonde in the pink dress the other night in the Trump entourage when NY put Trump over the top ?

Tall and busty.... :love:

Best Regards

Smuler

 

[CLOUD 500]

From 1944 to 1971 the entire monetary system was gold-based under the bretton woods system. This might have been a more dominant factor than corporate tax rates in creating the prosperity of this period. Everyone knows that a currency backed by gold puts a ceiling on public debt, i.e., govt spending

Maybe this had something to do with it but I never said high corporate taxes was the main culprit and I was merely pointing out the coincidence between high corporate taxes and prosperity. When Ronald Reagan came with his trickle down economics everything down the tubes.

Nazis were (are?) anti-Christian, pro-abortion, pro-gun control, pro-class war, and nationalized many industries including health care & education. Thank you for playing.

Here is a great article that explains why Hitler was ultra-right wing-> http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-hitler.htm

And as per Wikipedia Nazism falls under far right politics-> https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazism and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far-right_politics

Thank you for playing.

 

[smuler]

Who was the blonde in the pink dress the other night in the Trump entourage when NY put Trump over the top ?

Tall and busty.... :love:

Best Regards

Smuler

I just saw that she's Donald Jr's wife , former model Vanessa Haydon

She had 5 kids ? :hail:

Best Regards
Smuler

 

[lgna69xxx]

All the lady blondes in that family are gorgeous! Hillary is a blonde too, sort of but uke:

I just saw that she's Donald Jr's wife , former model Vanessa Haydon

She had 5 kids ? :hail:

Best Regards
Smuler

 

[smuler]

Mr Haney looked like a fool tonight

Best Regards
Smuler

 

[lgna69xxx]

He certainly did lol.....

Mr Haney looked like a fool tonight

Best Regards
Smuler

 

[EagerBeaver]

Grandpa Munster Booed at GOP Convention

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/21/politics/republican-convention-2016-day-three-takeaways/index.html

 

[Steely Dan]

Did you expect anything different Smu? This whole Republican convention is a complete clusterfuck!:crazy:

 

[smuler]

Did you expect anything different Smu? This whole Republican convention is a complete clusterfuck!:crazy:

Hi SD

I only watch the convention for entertainment purposes, I don't get involved in politics..

My highlights

The elegant look of Melania, Ivanka, Vanessa...:yield:

Seeing Rudy and Chris Christie give their speeches ( local pride )

And Mr Haney getting ridiculed by his own party...Priceless

I hope you've been getting on the bike lately Steely Dan

Best Regards
Smuler

 

[Passionné]

Combine billions of dollars (because of legal protection against bankruptcy 4 times) and a bombastic obsession to collect anything to inflate his ego to extremes and you get the Trump family. You rarely see ugly billionaire families.

Petra and Tamara Eccclestone - Family net worth $3.9 billion

KAAABOOOOOM!!!

http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/petra-tamara-ecclestone-pose-for-a-portrait-shoot-in-london-for-on-picture-id84265594

Courtin-Clarins (4 sisters) - Family net Worth $2.2 billion

http://media3.popsugar-assets.com/f...image_file333729651389150113.jpg.xxxlarge.jpg