Alert, The polls have some pausing results for Progressives that prove something we must discuss. I love the Chris Hayes, Rachel Maddow, & Lawrence O’Donnell lineup as they are usually the closest we can get to an in-your-face pushback against the plutocracy by the traditional mainstream media. Last night though I had had it and had to turn it off and meditate to, some Daniel Caesar music. Here is why.
Mainstream Media falling for Republican trick, Trump Distractions
Last night MSNBC’s line up concentrated almost entirely on Trump Distractions. Sadly, the Mainstream Media leave too much that affect everyday Americans wholly uncovered or marginally covered.
While the Mainstream Media continue to hyperventilate about Trump’s Russia and Stormy Daniels problems, it is immediately evident Americans are concerned about other issues. The media is, in fact, acting like a bunch of elitists. You, those in the mainstream media, have nothing in common with everyday Americans. They are intrigued by a president who is likely a traitor, one who treats women like crap, one who pay them off for their silence, and many other harmful things.
Enough Americans voted for this man to make him president. They were acutely aware of his shortcomings. But they had so much more disdain for the system as they saw it that he got in. Instead of the Mainstream Media trying to overcompensate for their failures of the past that assisted in electing Donald Trump, one would expect them to report on the issues that are materially affecting Americans.
A recent CNN Poll is probative. Donald Trump, with all his problems reported meticulously by the Mainstream Media, is up six points. Trump is even net positive on his handling of the economy. Does anyone remember the phrase, “It’s the economy, stupid?”
This poll is a clear message from many Americans. They do not care about his shenanigans relative to all that is wrong that affect them. Russia, Stormy Daniels, money laundering, and payoffs are real issues that could bring down the presidency. But it is a slow legal process. Americans need to know what is occurring elsewhere that materially affect them.
It is more evident than not why it is imperative that we have a strong independent media. So while the Mainstream Media continues to hyperventilate on issues that don’t directly affect our fellow citizens, let’s talk about a few issues that do.
Protect Our Care: At the annual National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) meeting, Trump Administration officials told insurers that they will not make a decision on their proposed junk plan rule until this fall, right before Open Enrollment begins. Axios noted: “That would give insurers very little time to adjust their premiums to account for the finalized regulations — which would probably make them more likely to err on the side of caution and seek bigger initial increases.” In response, Protect Our Care Campaign Chair Leslie Dach released the following statement: “Middle-class consumers are already bracing for higher rates next year as a direct result of the TrumpTax bill and ongoing Trump Administration sabotage. After sabotaging their own half-hearted attempt at a so-called stabilization bill, Republicans in Congress have nobody to blame but themselves for the rate hikes that insurance companies are now predicting. If they truly want to contain the damage and protect consumers, they should call on the Trump Administration to immediately rescind the junk plan rule that would once again allow discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions and also force rate increases for real insurance. It’s important to remember that it didn’t have to be this way: before President Trump took office, rates were leveling out and some insurance companies were planning to offer lower premiums. But instead, Trump led Congressional Republicans into an all-out war on our health care, and now that they have failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act, they seem to have decided to just keep digging.”
Daily Kos: All you had to do to understand the Trump administration’s different responses to Hurricane Harvey, which hit Houston, Texas, late last summer and Hurricane Maria, which hit Puerto Rico, was read Donald Trump’s Twitter feed. Or listen to him talking. Or time how long it took him to visit the disaster-struck areas. FEMA claims that it did everything it could for Puerto Rico and that the circumstances were just different and there wasn’t favoritism. Yeah, right. The circumstances were that Puerto Rico’s needs were greater and its resources were less but its political clout—especially with a Republican administration and especially with a president who’s made Latino-bashing his stock in trade and may or may not realize that Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens—was also less. It was criminal neglect and the evidence is everywhere.
Electronic Frontier Foundation: In the final pages of the bill—meant only to appropriate future government spending—lawmakers snuck in a separate piece of legislation that made no mention of funds, salaries, or budget cuts. Instead, this final, tacked-on piece of legislation will erode privacy protections around the globe. This bill is the CLOUD Act. It was never reviewed or marked up by any committee in either the House or the Senate. It never received a hearing. It was robbed of a stand-alone floor vote because Congressional leadership decided, behind closed doors, to attach this un-vetted, unrelated data bill to the $1.3 trillion government spending bill. Congress has a professional responsibility to listen to the American people’s concerns, to represent their constituents, and to debate the merits and concerns of this proposal amongst themselves, and this week, they failed.On Thursday, the House approved the omnibus government spending bill, with the CLOUD Act attached, in a 256-167 vote. The Senate followed up late that night with a 65-32 vote in favor. All the bill requires now is the president’s signature. Make no mistake—you spoke up. You emailed your representatives. You told them to protect privacy and to reject the CLOUD Act, including any efforts to attach it to must-pass spending bills. You did your part. It is Congressional leadership—negotiating behind closed doors—who failed.
Chris Hedges at OpEd News: Gives a necessary analysis on the Gig economy. A 65-year-old New York City cab driver from Queens, Nicanor Ochisor, hanged himself in his garage March 16, saying in a note he left behind that the ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft had made it impossible for him to make a living. It was the fourth suicide by a cab driver in New York in the last four months, including one Feb. 5 in which livery driver Douglas Schifter, 61, killed himself with a shotgun outside City Hall. “Due to the huge numbers of cars available with desperate drivers trying to feed their families,” wrote Schifter, “they squeeze rates to below operating costs and force professionals like me out of business. They count their money and we are driven down into the streets we drive becoming homeless and hungry. I will not be a slave working for chump change. I would rather be dead.” He said he had been working 100 to 120 hours a week for the past 14 years. Schifter and Ochisor were two of the millions of victims of the new economy. Corporate capitalism is establishing a neofeudal serfdom in numerous occupations, a condition in which there are no labor laws, no minimum wage, no benefits, no job security and no regulations. Desperate and impoverished workers, forced to endure 16-hour days, are viciously pitted against each other. Uber drivers make about $13.25 an hour. In cities like Detroit this falls to $8.77. Travis Kalanick, the former CEO of Uber and one of the founders, has a net worth of $4.8 billion. Logan Green, the CEO of Lyft, has a net worth of $300 million.
These are four different kinds of stories that either affect us all or affect a large number of our fellow citizens. These cable networks are 24-hour networks that have capacity on the airwaves to do real news. Their dereliction of duty is reflected in our dysfunctional body politic.
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