The “Red Wave” Mass Hysteria Was A Sad Commentary On The Media-Polling Business Nexus

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The 2022 midterm election will not only go down in history as one which produced the most unlikely outcome for the party in power, but also, one where the pollsters got it totally wrong. As a matter of fact, the pollsters got it so wrong, that the public is convinced, they were deliberately misled with the “red wave/tsunami” predictions. It’s therefore only fair that the mainstream media journalists who got sucked into the red wave mass hysteria be named and shamed, and their actions memorialized for future reference–sort of a handy list, if you will.

MSNBC did an interesting, and quite frankly, hilarious mashup of the “red wave” mass hysteria that appeared to suck up even some well respected journalists from reputable networks. This shows how these faulty/fake polls can affect mainstream media coverage of elections, which can then have negative consequences, up to and including depressing voter turnout. This is therefore an issue that needs to be addressed head on as we approach the 2024 general elections.

Politicians are known to exaggerate, so they are not the subject of this naming and shaming. Our interest here is only on journalists, who ought to know better.

Fox News’ Steve Doocey(0:26): “You know, your predictions of a red wave are accurate.”

Unidentified Fox News Reporter(0:25):”…a red wave is coming.”

Fox News star Anchor Laura Ingraham(0:27): “Red Wave Rising.” This is the title of a whole segment Ingraham dedicated on the “red wave” on 10/18/22. Not a good look, Laura, not a good look.

Unidentified Reporter on NewsMax(0:34): “Sleepy Joe just guaranteed a red wave in Pennsylvania.”

Fox News’ Dana Perino(0:44): “Democrats are bracing for the worst case scenario, a red Tsunami.”

Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld(0:48): “We are officially on a red Tsunami watch.” He was apparently referring to an Axios piece by Josh Kraushaar titled “RED TSUNAMI WATCH.” Not a good look Josh, not a good look.

Fox News’ Clay Travis(0:51): “Red Tsunami grows…that means red Tsunami.”

Fox News’ Stephen Miller(0:59): “Poverty, joblessness, critical race theory, crazy gender ideology in our schools, we are going to see a red Tsunami.”

Unidentified host of Fox News’ The Five show(1:19): “Up next, Elon Musk ready to ride the big red wave.”

Fox News’ Steve Doocey(1:21): “Elon Musk tweeted massive red wave.” For the record, Musk did indeed tweet about a red wave. Other Fox News personalities who used this Elon Musk tweet to proclaim a “red wave” were Tucker Carlson(biggest star on Fox), Maria Bartiromo, among others. Not a good look, Elon, not a good look.

Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro(1:26): “You’re about to see a red wave, that makes ‘Day After Tomorrow’ [the popular movie] look like nothing.”

Leading Podcaster Joe Rogan(1:30): “That’s going to be responsible for the red wave. I think the red wave that’s coming is going to be like the elevator doors opening up in ‘The Shining'[popular 80’s movie]”

Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro(1:38): “Rogan said that the red wave is going to look like the elevator doors opening, and the blood pouring out of the elevator in ‘The Shining’, that is correct, except it’s not going to be an elevator, it’s going to look more like ‘Deep Impact ‘[popular movie], the tsunami at the end, but colored red.” Good Lord have mercy!!

Fox News Contributor Dan Bongino(1:54): “Remember that Teo Leone ‘Deep Impact’ disaster movie? That’s the red wave tsunami that will come ashore.”

Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro(2:00): “It’s going to be a brutal week for the Democrats beginning on Tuesday.”

Fox News’ Clay Travis(2:05): “Frankly, I’ve already DVR-ed CNN and MSNBC for election night, not because I’m going to watch, but just because I want to enjoy the tears post-red tsumami.” Hope you’re enjoying those DVRs, Clay.

Fox News’ Jesse Watters(0:13): “It’s going to be a wave election, and you [Democrats] gonna lose the Senate, I’ll bet you $1,000 now.”

Fox News’ Lisa Boothe(0:20): “Democrats are going to be crushed on November 8th because a red wave is coming.”

Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld(0:25): “Betting that Joy will learn two new words on Tuesday, red wave.”

Unidentified Fox Business host(0:29): “How big could that looming red wave get?”

Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo(0:31): “We begin this Sunday morning with expectations of a red wave this Tuesday.”

Fox News Contributor Marc Thiessen(0:37): “We’ve been hearing, ‘is it going to be a red wave?’, ‘is it going to be a red tsunami?’, I think it’s going to be a red hurricane.”

Fox News’ Pete Hegseth(0:51): “When the red wave comes, and it is coming, Joe Biden’s political utility is over.”

Fox News’ John Roberts(0:56): “Are we in for a red wind here, or a red wave?”

Fox News’ Martha MacCallum(0:59): “Red wave or red tsunami, what are you feeling today?”

Fox News’ Jesse Watters(1:02): “And don’t listen to the lies they are spewing, that this could take days…to know who won. This is total bs. A wave like this, we should know that night, basically, who won the Senate and the House, and even if it happens Wednesday into Thursday, it’s gravy.”

Unidentified Fox News Reporter reporting on an actual tropical storm approaching Florida(1:17): “Right out the back door, I’ve got a tropical storm brewing right now. I think they’re saying it could be a category one by the end of the day. However, let me tell you what is the storm, that red wave…”  Oh boy!!

There’s also this clip from MSNBC’s The Beat with Ari Melber which shows even journalists from CNN sucked into the “red wave” mass hysteria. Not a good look, CNN, not a good look.

CNN & ABC’s Alyssa Farah Griffin(7:29): “A red wave is coming. Republicans are going to win the midterms…”

New York Post’s Karol Markowicz(7:32): “Forget red wave, I’m rooting for a red tsunami. “

CNN’s Jake Tapper(7:35): “Politicos with whom I spoke today all agree, as of now, a modest red wave at the very least, seems to be building.”

Fox News’ Dana Perino(7:49): “Signs of a red wave are kind of getting bigger than ever, but not everybody in the media wants to hear that.” Dana is a former White House Press Secretary.

Fox News’ Jesse Watters(7:55): “It wasn’t looking like a red wave earlier in August, and now it looks like a tsunami.”

As MSNBC host Ari Melber aptly summarized it (8:00): “The point there is not that multiple news channels over there echo Fox and sound similar, as they make those predictions that have been proven false…It’s bigger than the media or polls. This is a larger effort to hack your mind, and the discourse, and shape the ultimate turnout for the results in our democracy itself…It is legal to be sure, but it’s also misleading with real consequences…If you really have a huge bankable lead, you don’t need to hype it. You just turn your voters out and win, but so many Republican leaders know their slate of MAGA candidates lately, is very weak…So Republicans concluded they needed to inflate their perceived support in the hopes that that might then create more support than they have actually have…”

Bottom line folks, this stuff is serious. New York Governor Kathy Hochul also addressed this fake poll issue, which featured prominently in her race. What Gov Hochul said about this serious issue lines up with the assessment by MSNBC’s Ari Melber.

Bottom line folks, voters have voters have a right to know which polling firms are credible, and those with a history of manipulating polls to aid campaigns. This will prevent reputable news channels from getting sucked into these “wave” hoaxes, as they report on elections.

For the record, Yours Truly never fell for the “red wave/tsunami” mass hysteria for one minute.

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Was The Georgia Runoff Decision Premature?

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Election officials in Georgia formally announced(11/09/22) that the U.S. Senate race between incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock(D) and his challenger Herschel Walker(R), will be headed for a runoff slated for December 6th, 2022. Prior to this formal announcement however, Gabe Sterling, the Chief Operating Officer at the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office, appeared on CNN, where veteran Anchor John King, an authority in election result coverage, appeared to question the wisdom behind the decision to declare a runoff, when in his opinion, there were still enough outstanding votes to bring either candidate to 50%. I found that exchange quite interesting because it was John King, a very respectable figure, essentially arguing that a runoff decision was premature.

John King(0:46): “Why are you certain at this point, it will be a runoff? If you look at the results, there’s 49.2[Warnock] to 48.7[Walker] and we have the estimated outstanding vote here, maybe you have updated numbers. We have it at 96% estimated reporting, and you still seeing these circles, a decent amount of votes, a decent share of the votes still to come in in Fulton County and the suburbs around it, where Senator Warnock is doing well. You’re certain that there’s absolutely no possibility he gets to 50?”

Gabe Sterling: “At 2 AM last night I tweeted out it’s pretty safe to say we’re going to have that runoff. As we get closer and closer, more votes keep coming in. By our internal estimates, we have less than 10,000 votes to go into the election night reporting for the final counts. You know, I’ve seen some of these estimates of these votes and I’m like, I don’t know where the hell they are getting these numbers from, but we know there’s about less than 10,000, so there’s just not enough numbers out there still, to change the outcome of this race.”

Did CNN get the numbers wrong? Was Gabe Sterling’s answer satisfactory? Is this an issue the Warnock campaign needs to look further into? Hmm, lots of valid questions here, that’s all Yours Truly is saying.

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CNN Pundit Says Florida Gov Ron DeSantis Defeated “A Political Corpse”

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CNN pundit Ana Navarro, a longtime resident of Miami, Florida, appeared as a panelist on one of the network’s segments covering the midterm election results, where she gave her reasons for the shellacking Democrats got in the race for Florida Governor. One of the eye-popping reasons Navarro gave host Erin Burnett, was that Democrats essentially ran “a political corpse”, an obvious reference to Democratic candidate Charlie Crist.

Host Erin Burnett and her panelists struggled to contain an on-set outburst of laughter following Navarro’s remarks.

Ana Navarro specifically told host Erin Burnett: “You know I’ve been dying to talk about Florida, and I think it’s being completely misread, I think the narrative is all wrong…I told you he was going to win bigly, but listen, Ron DeSantis barely won in 2018 by 35,000 votes, by the skin of his teeth, against a Black Progressive, little known Mayor from Tallahasee, Florida. Yesterday he won by 20 percentage points. Why? Because he gamed the system, because he turned Florida into an unlevel playing field. He changed election laws, making it harder to vote by mail. They paraded a bunch of people, Black people that they arrested for voting fraud, and paraded them in front of national media. He created an election police. He also was very good at responding to Hurricanes and other tragedies. He also invested and laser focused on Miami-Dade.”

Navarro then delivered her bombshell hit saying(1:19): “What you had is that the press deflated the Democratic vote, and who can blame them when you nominate a corpse? Yes he [DeSantis] won bigly, but he won against a political corpse, and that’s an insult to corpses. I apologize to the voters everywhere.”

Now, Yours Truly has witnessed many political “post mortums”(no pun intended) after hard-fought elections, but this one by Ana Navarro, certainly takes the cake. It will be very interesting to hear what the good folks at Team Crist or the Dem establishment have to say about Navarro’s scathing attack.

Bottom line folks, Ana Navarro is absolutely correct on one issue, and that is, no statewide Democrat in Florida, should be getting blown out by 20 points in a crucial election. Florida Dems can absolutely do much better/be more competitive in statewide races. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama won the state both in 2008 and 2012, and Democrats can certainly do it again.

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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul Slams Lee Zeldin As “The Architect Of The Big Lie”

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New York Governor Kathy Hochul(D) appeared on MSNBC’s 11th Hour (11/04/22) to essentially make her closing argument against her Republican challenger Lee Zeldin in the election slated for this coming Tuesday(11/08/22). You’ll remember Hochul, then Lt. Governor, took over when former Governor Andrew Cuomo was forced to step down amid sexual harassment allegations. Hochul is now seeking election to a full term.

Asked to comment about her challenger, Lee Zeldin, Gov Hochul didn’t mince words, telling New Yorkers that Zeldin was “the architect of the big lie”, which formed the basis of former President Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. She specifically said(0:50): “This is something that needs to come out. Lee Zeldin was described by Donald Trump as a brilliant lawyer. You know why? Because Lee Zeldin had sent text messages right when the question of the presidential election was out there. He sent messages helping strategize on how to create the big lie. So you think about the architect of the big lie, actually undermining our democracy, as well as being out there supporting the insurrectionists, refusing to certify Joe Biden’s election on the same day as the attack on the seat of our democracy. He is so extreme, opposes women’s right to choose, doesn’t support a single bit of gun safety legislation, says he’s tough on crime, but boy, is he soft on guns, so people need to know, that’s who’s running for Governor, trying to hide all that now, like ‘Oh no, he would never do all these things’. Come on, voters in New York are smarter than that.”

Gov Hochul then touched on one of the biggest questions related to Zeldin’s quest for the governorship, and that is, whether it’s all tied to a possible Trump pardon. Gov Hochul specifically said(1:46): “Being so close to Trump though, you got to wonder, does Donald Trump raise money for him, associate with him…Donald Trump is probably sizing up saying, boy, this guy could give me a pardon if he were the Governor.”

Asked whether a Governor Zeldin could derail all the investigations into Trump’s businesses currently being conducted by New York Attorney General Letishia James, Gov. Hochul said(2:26): “Absolutely. Tish James is one tough prosecutor, she’s a great friend, and I know she’s going to go to the mat, but if there’s a conviction, that’s when a Governor has the power to pardon or grant clemency. Donald Trump knows this because he granted a pardon to a guy who went to jail who defeated me for Congress, Chris Collins, so he knows all about how this game is played. Let them do what they want, their dirty tricks, get convicted, but then you got a friend in the Governor’s office who can pardon you. That’s what Donald Trump is banking on, that’s why he’s so supportive of Lee Zeldin, and people need to know that close connection between the two of them. Lee Zeldin was called one of Donald Trump’s earliest and staunchest supporters. That should mean something to New Yorkers.”

The interview then shifted to probably the biggest topic in the New York Governor’s race, and that is, crime. Asked what she has done to combat crime in New York, Gov Hochul said(3:46): “Last January in my state of the state address, January 5th, this is not an election conversion here. January 5th, you can go look at the records, I was talking about how people are feeling insecure, we need to reduce crime, we need to get more guns off the streets. Since I’ve been Governor, we have 8,000 more guns off the streets. Why? Because I took my police force, state police, and said we don’t need to give out as many tickets, let’s get them stopping the guns from flowing into our streets, and for the first time in decades, you have the Governor of New York, working in partnership with the Mayor of New York City…No Governor has spent more money than I have on public safety in history.”

Gov. Hochul also addressed the contentious bail issue, that her challenger Lee Zeldin has used to cast her as weak on crime–criminals getting arrested, only to be released back on the streets due to a lax bail system. Gov Hochul told host Stephanie Ruhle(6:48): “You mentioned the bail laws. The reason the New York state budget, my very first budget was nine days late, I wanted it on time, but I said I’m not leaving here until we deal with the repeat offenders you mentioned, who will keep taking things off the shelves in the drug stores every day, the bail laws now cover them. Anything with a gun, the bail laws now cover them. I gave more powers and discretion to judges and district attorneys than they had before. We made those changes in our law, but they’ve only been in effect a short time.”

Asked whether she thinks the perception that she’s weak on crime is in any way related to her gender, a sexist perception based on New York’s history of “alpha male, macho men” Governors, she responded(7:44): “People ought to know I’m as tough as hell. I’m from Buffalo. My father and grandfather were steel workers, grew up in a big, Irish Catholic, rough and tumble family. There’s no one tougher than I am, and I’ve been through hell and back in this job, and I loved every minute of it. But there’s no one tougher than me, and if anyone thinks that I’m soft on crime, look at what we’ve been doing. We have been aggressive about this, and so I’m breaking the mold perhaps, people haven’t seen a Governor who looks like me, I want to make sure that this becomes the norm. We have the toughest, I am a mother, I’m actually a grandmother, so this is personal to me when people have that fear, so I have my own toughness, but also that compassion and the empathy that perhaps others don’t have.”

The interview then shifted to the “tightening polls” being parroted by Fox News and other rightwing media outlets. Gov. Hochul dismissed these bogus polls as gimmicks commonly employed by Republicans to raise more money for their candidate based on the false perception that they are on the brink of victory. Gov Hochul specifically said, regarding the “tightening polls”(10:43): “All you have to do is see the name Trafalgar. It’s going to show that we’re neck and neck , or that Lee Zeldin is beating me today. Our own polls show that that’s wildly wrong, but you’re making money. You’re getting super billionaire donors like Ron Lauder to dump millions ans millions and millions of dollars in negative ads against me to prop up your election because you gave them a fake poll. Democrats are too honest to do that, we’re not playing that game, and so that’s what’s going on here. I think that is having an effect, but I don’t care, I’m not intimidated by them, by their polls, their money, I have my faith in New Yorkers, and I know they’ll do the right thing. All I need to win on this election, is Democrats turning out. We have enough Democrats, but they get complacent…That’s when you get in trouble. We cannot let that happen.”

Gov. Hochul finished with this powerful message(11:17): “I’m calling on all New Yorkers to stand up, defend your democracy against a Trump-loving, climate change denier, election denier, abortion denier-denying abortion rights, that’s who’s on the ballot. It’s time people understand that.”

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FBI Forwaded Tip Line Complaints About Kavanaugh To White House Counsel Without Investigation

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FBI Director Christopher Wray appeared for a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on 08/04/22. One of the most interesting moments in the hearing, especially for Supreme Court enthusiasts like Yours Truly, came during the questioning by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse(D-RI). Senator Whitehouse’s questions focused on the supplemental background investigation (B.I.), the FBI conducted on then Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, a topic that has been the subject of much speculation on social media.

Senator Whitehouse has been in a battle with FBI Director Wray since 2019, trying to get to the bottom of whether the FBI thoroughly investigated the numerous tips it received from the public regarding then Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

This intro by Senator Whitehouse is important for establishing the context for the ensuing questioning: “As you know, we are now entering the fourth year of a frustrating saga that began with an August 2019 letter from me and Senator Coons, regarding the Kavanaugh supplemental background investigation, and I’d like to try to get that matter wrapped up.”

Senator Whitehouse(video at 0:23): “First, is it true that after [Justice] Kavanaugh-related tips were separated from the regular tip line traffic, they were forwarded to White House counsel without investigation?”

Director Wray(0:47): “When it comes to the tip line, we wanted to make sure that the White House had all the information we have, so when the hundreds of calls started coming in, we gathered those up, reviewed them, and provided them to the White House.”

At that point Senator Whitehouse interjected, “Without investigation”, to which Director Wray responded, “We reviewed them and then provided them to the White House.”

Sen. Whitehouse:“You reviewed them for the purposes of separating them from the tip line traffic, but did not further investigate the ones that related to Kavanaugh, correct?”

Director Wray:“Correct.”

Senator Whitehouse: “Is it also true that in that supplemental B.I., the FBI took directions from the White House as to whom the FBI would question, and even what questions the FBI could ask?”

Director Wray:“It is true that consistent with the longstanding process that we have had going all the way back to at least the Bush administration, the Obama administration, the Trump administration, and continue to follow currently under the Biden administration, that in a limited supplemental B.I., we take direction from the requesting entity which in this case, was the White House, as to what follow up they want. That’s the direction we followed, that’s the direction we’ve consistently followed throughout the decades, frankly.”

Director Wray went on to add, “It is true as to the ‘who’, I’m not sure as I sit here, whether it’s also true as to the ‘what questions’, but it is true as to the ‘who’ we interviewed.” In other words Director Wray agreed that in a supplemental B.I., it is true that the White House tells the FBI who to question, he’s just not sure yet, whether the White House also tells the FBI what questions to ask the people they question.

Senator Whitehouse:“By the way, is it true that even today we have not been provided by the FBI, it’s written tip line procedures?”

Director Wray: “Senator, I know that we have provided a lot of information to the committee and to you. I would have to check on that specific item. I know there is some information that you have requested that is not our call to provide, that has to do with interaction, communication with the White House.”

There’s no other way to interpret Director Wray’s responses to Senator Whitehouse’s questions other than (I’ll be happy to stand corrected of course), during the highly contentious Kavanaugh confirmation hearings, the complaints the FBI received through its tip line regarding Kavanaugh, were not investigated by the FBI, but instead, forwarded to the White House Counsel. The White House Counsel then told the FBI who among the complainants, the FBI was to question, and possibly, even what questions to ask them.

Folks, no reasonable person presented with this information can ever conclude that the supplemental background investigation into Kavanaugh was “thorough”, as had been portrayed by Senate Republicans during his confirmation hearings. Director Wray argues that this is the same supplemental B.I. process the FBI has used for decades, but as we all know, none of Kavanaugh’s predecessors faced as many serious complaints about their character, requiring a thorough independent investigation. So, while Director Wray raises a valid point regarding consistent FBI practice, reasonable people will agree that Kavanaugh’s case was markedly different, and called for a thorough investigation by the FBI.

Bottom line folks, we’ll wait for Senator Whitehouse’s final report on this issue. As he indicated to Director Wray, he’ll give the FBI one more month to comply with his information requests, after which he will produce a final report on the Kavanaugh supplemental B.I. saga. One only hopes that if Senator Whitehouse’s investigation reveals that there were serious credible allegations against Kavanaugh that went uninvestigated, then an independent investigation will be launched into them immediately.

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Al Gore Says This Should Be A Moment Of Global Epiphany Re Climate Change

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Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore appeared on ABC’s This Week show (07/24/22) to discuss the growing problems caused by climate change. Gore, you’ll remember was already warning about this problem way back in 2006, through his popular documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. With almost all the predictions in his documentary realized, Gore now says this “should be a moment for a global epiphany” re climate change.

Al Gore told host Jonathan Karl(video at 0:53): “Scientists have predicted these extraordinary and catastrophic events for going on decades now, and the fact that they were dead right, maybe a little  conservative even in their projections, should cause us to pay more careful attention to what they are warning us about now. They are saying that if we don’t stop using our atmosphere as an open sewer, and if we don’t stop these heat-trapping emissions, things are going to get a lot worse. More people will be killed, the survival of our civilization is at stake.”

Gore then dropped a major bombshell telling host Jonathan Karl(1:35): “Behind me you see a picture from the International Space Station, that shows how thin the atmosphere is. We’re putting another 162 million tons into it every day, using it as an open sewer, and the accumulated amount now traps as much extra heat as would be released by 600,000 Hiroshima-class atomic bombs. That’s why the heat records are being broken all the time now, that’s why the storms are stronger, why the ice is melting, and the sea level is rising, and why the droughts and fires are hitting us so hard, and so many other consequences, and they are predicting now, up to a billion climate refugees crossing international borders in this century. We have got to act.”

Asked whether President Biden should declare a climate emergency, the former VP punted, adding that there are other things the Biden administration can do via the Environmental Protection Agency(EPA). He said the EPA can limit emissions from power plants and vehicles, adding that the recent Supreme Court decision “did not take all their power away.” Gore added that the Biden administration could stop allowing drilling for oil and gas on public lands, and that President Biden could appoint a new head of the World Bank to replace “the climate denier that leads it now, appointed by his predecessor [Trump].”

Another very notable thing former VP Gore said was(4:26):“The International Energy Agency(IEA) has said that we should have zero new drilling for oil and gas reserves. We’ve already got enough to incinerate the planet. We’re seeing this global emergency play out, and it’s getting worse more quickly than was predicted. We have got to step up. This should be a moment for a global epiphany.”

Interestingly, Gore, who knows a thing or two about election outcome controversy, was asked about the ongoing January 6th investigation. Gore said(5:31):“I would like to say the[Reps]Bennie Thompson and Liz Cheney, and every single member of that Committee have performed an amazing service to our democracy. I think these hearings have been the most persuasive and effective since the Watergate hearings so long ago, and I think we’re seeing a huge impact on public opinion in our country too. They’ve done an incredible job.”

Bottom line folks, Al Gore is the classic example as to why leadership matters. Reasonable people can reasonably disagree as to whether he really lost the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush. The can be no disagreement however, that with Gore as President, America would have tackled the climate crisis with the urgency it deserved, saving many lives and livelihoods in the process.

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Rep Veronica Escobar Slams Gov Abbott For Creating “Wild West” Environment That Enabled Uvalde Shooting

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Rep Veronica Escobar(D-TX) appeared on MSNBC Reports w/Andrea Mitchell (07/18/22) to discuss the recently released report by the Texas Senate on the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Rep Escobar made a very important point on the show, telling host Andrea Mitchell that the deadly “wild west” environment created by Texas elected officials, beginning with Governor Greg Abbott, is partly to blame for the horrific shooting in Uvalde.

This point is largely missed by the mainstream media when reporting about the mass shooting in Uvalde, but it cannot be restated enough.

Rep Escobar(video at 1:00):“I think the report is important, but I also think we need to zoom out a little bit because the leadership void goes far beyond law enforcement. And what the report did not touch on[are]2 things, (1) the Governor, who is the highest ranking elected official, the chief elected official of the state and (2) the state legislature that makes open carry the law of the land in Texas so that anyone can get access to a gun without any training and really a loosening of gun laws that was historic. It is so important that these reports and that this analysis look at what happened on the ground that day, but we also have to look at the context in Texas, the environment that has been created by Republicans, who want to create a wild west sort of environment  in a state, that has led us to be…one of the most deadliest states for mass shootings.”

Rep Escobar went on to specifically address Gov Abbott’s failures:“He’s been pretty silent. He’s very eager to point the finger at others, really on any situation including Uvalde and he, as the highest-ranking elected official in the state of Texas, I have yet to hear the Governor accept any responsibility, or bring forward any ideas for meaningful change. He is literally someone who has only used his position to make Texas less safe for its citizens and uses our resources for political stunts.”

She went on to add that the political stunt Gov Abbott is pulling at the southern border aka “Operation Lone Star” has siphoned much needed funds away from mental health services and public schools, both of which are still poorly funded in Texas compared to other states.

Bottom line folks, Texas is, and has been a solid red state for quite some time now. It is important however for people who don’t live in the Lone Star state, or keep up with its politics, to know that none of Governor Abbott’s Republican predecessors created the deadly gun violence environment in the state like Gov Abbott and his allies have. Rep Escobar is absolutely spot on, that any meaningful discussion of gun violence in the Lone Star state has to take into account the “wild west” environment created by Gov Abbott and his Texas Republican allies.

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Senator Chris Murphy Wants U.S. Led Probe Into Shireen Abu Akleh’s Death

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Senator Chris Murphy(D-CT) appeared on MSNBC Prime(07/13/22) to discuss President Biden’s trip to the Middle East, and especially his trip to Saudi Arabia which has drawn condemnation, given Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s implication in Washington Post Columnist Jamal Khashoggi’s brutal murder. During his interview , Senator Murphy also delved into another controversial topic, and that is, the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by Israeli troops.

An investigation conducted by the Israel government into Akleh’s killing concluded that IDF troops shot her by accident. Naturally, this conclusion has generated a lot of criticism from around the globe, and especially from press freedom advocates. Senator Murphy is calling for an independent U.S. led investigation into Shireen Abu Akleh’s death.

Asked by host Ali Velshi why it was important for the U.S. to conduct an independent investigation, Senator Murphy responded(video at 4:57):“Senator Murphy told host Ali Velshi(video at ):”First and foremost, any time an American dies overseas, we should apply the highest degree of scrutiny to make sure we get to the bottom of the story as to how an American citizen was killed, and in this case, given that it might have come at the hands of foreign security forces, that inquiry is even more important. We are simply asking that we do a thorough review that we are not confident the Israeli authorities have done themselves. So I think it’s important to get to the bottom of this even if the bottom involves some unsavory truths about what an important ally of the United States may have done, or elements of their security forces may have done to contribute to this American’s death.”

Bottom line folks, Israel has been, and remains America’s closest and dearest foreign ally. Ordinarily, Yours Truly would be inclined to accept Israel’s explanation of Shireen Abu Akleh’s death at face value but where, as here, the death in question is of a U.S. citizen, Yours Truly has no choice but to agree with Senator Murphy, that the United States needs to conduct its independent investigation. however unpleasant the results may be. Israel and the United States will forever remain close friends, so there’s no harm in finding out the truth behind Shireen Abu Akleh’s death. The Biden administration owes her family the truth regarding the circumstances of her death overseas.

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NY Governor Kathy Hochul Slams SCOTUS Decision Knocking Down Her State’s Gun Law

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In a fiery speech delivered minutes after the United States Supreme Court handed down a decision knocking down her state’s concealed gun law, New York Governor kathy Hochul slammed the decision, calling the high court, “a politicized Supreme Court.”

Governor Hochul specifically said:“We are not powerless in this situation. We are not going to cede our rights that easily, despite the best efforts of the politicized Supreme Court of the United States of America…Apparently, the Supreme Court has now decided, with this far-reaching decision, that the two step standard that had been in place since Heller vs McDonald, where they analyze the 2nd amendment where it combines history…but also means and scrutiny–does the means of the restriction justify the infringement, and most people would say, yes we have a right to protect people from gun violence…They[Supreme Court]have now said, that the government must demonstrate that the regulation is consistent with this nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation. That’s it. No longer can we strike the balance.”

Gov Hochul then read directly from the text of the Supreme Court decision:“Only if a firearm regulation is consistent with this nation’s historical tradition, may a court conclude that the individual’s conduct falls outside the 2nd amendment’s unqualified command”, to which she responded, “Shocking, absolutely shocking, that they have taken away our right to have reasonable restrictions. We can have restrictions on speech, you can’t yell fire in a crowded theater, but somehow there is no restrictions allowed on the 2nd amendment? This is New York, we don’t back down, we fight back…I’m sorry this dark day has come. We are supposed to go back to what was in place since 1788 when the constitution of the United States of America was ratified. And I would like to point out to Supreme Court Justices that the only weapons at that time were muskets. I’m prepared to go back to muskets. I don’t think they envisioned the high-capacity assault weapon magazines intended for battlefields, as being covered. I guess we’re just going to have to disagree.”

Governor Hochul has since convened an extraordinary session of the New York legislature to address issues raised by this Supreme Court decision–leadership matters, folks!!

Bottom line folks, given the recent horrific mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, it’s not hard to understand Governor Hochul’s frustration with this Supreme Court decision, which reasonable people will agree, curtails efforts by states to institute common sense gun control measures.

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Senator Jeanne Shaheen Introduces Additions To The HAVANA Act Of 2021

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President Biden signing the HAVANA Act on 10/08/2021

There were some interesting developments this week in the directed energy weapons front, the biggest one being news that Senator Jeanne Shaheen(D-NH), a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has introduced additions to the HAVANA Act of 2021, seeking to make it easier for victims of the attacks to get the medical care they deserve. Details of Sen Shaheen’s additions are included in this 06/16/22 press release sent out by her office.

Senator Shaheen said this about her additions:“No American injured in the line of duty should be forced to fight for or justify their need for medical attention. That’s why I’ve worked across the aisle for years to secure medical benefits for those suffering from ailments as a result of directed-energy attacks. I appreciate the desire from members on both sides of the aisle to make this a priority in the fiscal year 2023 defense legislation cleared by the committee, which will provide substantial funding to investigate the nature of these injuries so we can better care for those afflicted. I also appreciate the inclusion of my provision requiring the Pentagon to produce a report on anomalous health incidents to inform and improve our military’s ability to respond to the threat of AHIs. We need to have confidence in the safety we provide to U.S. personnel and their loved ones when we station them around the globe, which is why it is paramount that we get to the bottom of these attacks to prevent future instances and ensure care to those recovery.” 

The press release from Senator Shaheen’s office comes on the heels of news reports that a piece of legislation introduced by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, seeks to impose criminal penalties on the harmful use of drones. The lawmakers involved are Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), Dina Titus (D-Nev.), Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Peter Meijer (R-Mich). Among the harmful conduct the bill seeks to penalize, is weaponizing drones with firearms and electromagnetic pulse devices or using them to interfere with aircraft, cars and boats.

This of course raises a whole host of interesting questions, chief among them, whether members of Congress have known all along, that drones armed with electromagnetic pulse devices, could be used to assault civilians? Or are these weaponized drones only used to assault government employees? Hmm, certainly a line of inquiry that the mainstream media could pursue further.

Another interesting development this week, was the unsurprising revelation by a leading national security lawyer, Mark Zaid, that the CIA is not helping out very much with the effort to get to the bottom of directed energy attacks. This prompted the frustrated Zaid to send out a tweet asking, ” What is the CIA hiding?”. Zaid has previously asserted, and backed up his assertions with a document bearing an NSA letterhead, that the agency has been aware of microwave attacks on political dissidents, way before the attack on our diplomats in Cuba.

Bottom line folks, any news that efforts are being made to get to the bottom of directed energy weapons attacks, like we got this week from Sen Shaheen’s office, is welcome news. It cannot be left unsaid however, that there are serious questions among members of the public, as to whether the Pentagon in particular, and our national security establishment generally, are totally clueless about directed energy weapons, and who may be using them for nefarious purposes. It would be very helpful if the government, to the extent possible given classification issues, would level with the public about some of these concerns. Another issue the government seriously needs to level with the public about, is whether regular civilians(not government employees) have also been victims of directed energy weapons attacks, and who’s behind such attacks. Radio silence on this issue is not helpful at all, and is instead spawning wild conspiracy theories.

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