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May. 26, 2018 - 7:20 - Should Republicans be optimistic about the 2018 midterms? Reaction on 'The Greg Gutfeld Show.'
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| Greg Gutfeld |
Conservative Blogger
Sunday, May 27, 2018
Former commander of USS John S McCain pleads guilty, retires after deadly collision
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| Navy veteran Alfredo Sanchez, former commander of the USS John S. McCain, pleaded guilty Friday to dereliction of duty in connection with a deadly collision in August 2017. (Reuters) |
Cmdr. Alfredo Sanchez, who has served in the Navy for more than 20 years, testified during a special court-martial at the Washington Navy Yard, Stars and Stripes reported.
“I am ultimately responsible and stand accountable,” Sanchez said. “I will forever question my decisions that contributed to this tragic event.”
Per disciplinary proceedings, Sanchez agreed to retire from service, forfeit $6,000 in wages, and was issued a letter of reprimand.
In this October 5, 2017 photo, a temporary patch is welded to the area damaged by a collision aboard USS John S. McCain.
(REUTERS)
Sanchez claimed responsibility for the deadly collision. He said had failed to put a well-rested, well-trained crew in place to steer the destroyer into the Straits.
The former commander, who was immediately reassigned after the collision, initially faced negligent homicide charges, CBS News reported.
According to Sanchez, an 18-year-old undertrained helmsman had been navigating the destroyer, known as "Big Bad John," leading up to the collision.
The Navy judge, Cmdr. Charles Purnell, who presided over Friday’s court-martial, singled out the failure to navigate the console as the “overarching failure.”
Sanchez acknowledged his failure to provide a more rigorous training.
More than a dozen relatives of the fallen crewmembers attended Friday’s hearings, reading impact statements, and calling out the Navy for negligence, Stars and Stripes reported.
“I am haunted by it every day,” said Karen Doyon, mother of Petty Officer 3rd Class Dustin Doyon, 26, of Connecticut. “This is a tragedy that should have never happened.”
The USS John S. McCain is named for the father and grandfather of U.S. Sen. John S. McCain III, R-Ariz., who like the senator had distinguished careers in the Navy.
Nancy Pelosi 'punted' on NFL anthem question, critics say
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| House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi addresses reporters in Washington, June 15, 2017. (Reuters) |
Though she claimed to side with the players, her answers didn't sit well with many political observers.
"She punted," writes Becket Adams in the Washington Examiner, describing Pelosi's response to CNN's Chris Cuomo as a "professional-strength nonanswer."
Pelosi spoke with Cuomo as part of a "town hall" telecast Thursday. The host began by describing the policy recently announced by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
“When the anthem comes on, you stand," Cuomo said. "If you do not want to stand, stay in the locker room. If you come out on to the field, you kneel or you in other ways protest, you will be fined."
He then asked Pelosi: "Are you OK with this rule change by the NFL?”
The California Democrat responded: “I would be more OK with it if they consulted with the players. I don’t think the players agreed to this. This is the owners. And by the way, it’s the owners who would be fined,” she said, to audience applause.
“I would be more OK with it if they consulted with the players. I don’t think the players agreed to this. This is the owners. And by the way, it’s the owners who would be fined.”“I love the national anthem. … I’m from Baltimore. That’s where it was written, during the War of 1812. So I’m very possessive of it. Some people say maybe we should change the national anthem. No,” she said, to audience laughter.
She finished by saying she not only loves the flag, but also the First Amendment.
But to many on social media and other outlets, the reponse seemed wishy-washy at best.
“This is Democrats at their worst. Uhg. You either believe people have the right to voice their opinions or you don’t,” Hollywood producer Judd Apatow tweeted.
In a Washington Post essay, titled “Nancy Pelosi’s refusal to condemn NFL decision shows why Democrats struggle with black millennials,” Eugene Scott, who writes for the Fix, questions whether the Democratic Party has black voters’ "best interests in mind."
Scott writes that Adrianne Shropshire, executive director of BlackPAC, told the Fix that rhetoric like Pelosi's explains why, in her view, most blacks in 2016 voted against President Donald Trump rather than for the Democratic Party.
“Democrats need to develop a message that incorporates the critical economic security issues along with a message that acknowledges the impact of the rise in racism in the country on younger voters and have actual solutions on how they plan to deal with that,” she said. “But any message that fails to incorporate those two things will land on deaf ears.”
Meanwhile, Jacob Weindling, writing for Paste Magazine, defends Pelosi’s response, arguing that the minority leader needs to be careful with her words, because they could be used against her.
“If Nancy Pelosi had said something like, ‘It was horrible of the NFL to violate their employees’ First Amendment rights, and we all need to understand this isn’t about protesting the military or the anthem,’ that reasonable clip would still appear in every GOP commercial across the country," Weindling writes.
He calls Pelosi's wavering on the issue “actually a very smart move.”
"They would play the edited video with sinister overtones, and say something to the effect of ‘[Congressional candidate] is a Nancy Pelosi liberal who wants to go to Washington to help make it easier to protest the men and women in uniform of this great country.’”
Overall, the Examiner's Adams writes, it seems the Democratic Party's leadership may simply have not yet decided “where to come down on the matter.”
Trump optimistic about North Korea summit as Moon, Kim hold surprise meeting
President Donald Trump on Saturday said talks regarding a possible summit with North Korea were “going along very well,” just days after he canceled next month’s highly anticipated meeting with the rogue nation.
“We’re doing very well in terms of the summit with North Korea,” Trump said at the White House after welcoming home Joshua Holt, who returned to the U.S. on Saturday after being incarcerated in a Venezuelan jail. “Looks like it’s going along very well.”
Trump said meetings were ongoing and they were still “looking at June 12 in Singapore, that hasn’t changed.”
He added that if “it would be a great thing” if they were “successful in the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
The president’s remarks followed a surprise meeting Saturday between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, during which the pair agreed their countries would have “high-level talks” next month and Kim “expressed his fixed will” on meeting with Trump, according to Yonhap News.
On Sunday, Moon told reporters that Kim committed to meeting with Trump and to a "complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," the Associated Press reported.
Moon said he assured Kim that Trump has a "firm resolve" to end hostile relations with North Korea and initiate economic coooperation if Kim implements "complete denuclearization."
The two Korean leaders met on the North Korean side of the demilitarized zone in the village of Panmunjom to discuss peace commitments made during their historic first summit last month. They also reportedly talked “frankly” about how they could make the potential summit between Kim and Trump a success.
The meeting came hours after South Korea expressed relief over revived talks for a summit between Trump and Kim following a whirlwind 24 hours that saw the U.S. president cancel the meeting.
"Kim Jong-un thanked Moon Jae-in for much effort made by him for the DPRK-U.S. summit scheduled for June 12, and expressed his fixed will on the historic DPRK-U.S. summit talks," Yonhap reported, citing the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). "Kim Jong-un told Moon Jae-in to positively cooperate with each other as ever to improve the DPRK-U.S. relations and establish mechanism for permanent and durable peace.”
The leaders of the neighboring countries said they would hold “high-level talks” on June 1 and also promised to “meet frequently in the future to make dialogue brisk and pool wisdom and efforts, expressing their stand to make joint efforts for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” Yonhap reported.
The talks between North and South Korea was initially supposed to occur earlier this month until it was called off by the North, citing military exercises conducted by the South and the U.S.
Prior to Kim and Moon’s meeting, Trump suggested that his summit with North Korea may still go ahead.
“We are having very productive talks with North Korea about reinstating the Summit which, if it does happen, will likely remain in Singapore on the same date, June 12th., and, if necessary, will be extended beyond that date,” Trump tweeted.
Friday, May 25, 2018
Three FBI officials to answer House panel's questions about Clinton emails
U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C.,
questions then-FBI Director James Comey and National Security Agency
Director Mike Rogers during a hearing into alleged collusion between
Russian and the Trump campaign, March 20, 2017.
(Reuters)
House Republicans in June plan to interview three FBI officials linked to the agency’s controversial handling of the Hillary Clinton email probe, part of an ongoing joint investigation by the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform committees.
The panels will interview Bill Priestap, assistant director of the FBI’s counterintelligence division; Michael Steinbach, formerly head of the agency’s national security division; and Steinbach’s predecessor, John Giacalone, the Hill reported.
Priestap played a prominent role in the FBI during the Clinton and Russia probes, including the agency’s decision, led by former Director James Comey, to call Clinton’s email debacle, “extremely careless.”
He also oversaw counterintelligence agent Peter Strzok, who’s anti-Trump text messages provided fodder for Republicans and conservatives alike, as evidence of possible political bias in the bureau.
According to the Hill, Strzok will not testify before the panels.
Meanwhile, Democrats have derided the Republicans' probe as a partisan effort to stagnate Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible ties between the Trump presidential campaign and Russia.
But U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., who leads the joint Judiciary-Oversight review, has insisted that the investigation is an impartial probe into the FBI’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email probe, and not a Republican effort to bring charges against her.
The three hearings with the FBI personnel, scheduled for successive weeks, will be the panel’s first interviews since October.
Rachel Dolezal hit with felony theft charge in welfare fraud case
Rachel Dolezal, pictured here in 2009, changed her name to Nkechi Diallo in 2016.
(AP Photo/Nicholas K. Geranios, File)
Rachel Dolezal, the former NAACP chapter leader who resigned after her parents revealed she's not African-American, is facing a felony theft charge in Washington state after she allegedly made false statements to secure nearly $9,000 in food and childcare assistance.
The charges against Dolezal, who changed her name to Nkechi Diallo in October 2016, were first reported by KHQ-TV.
According to court documents, investigators with Washington state's Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) started looking into Dolezal's finances in March 2017 after the publication of her autobiography, "In Full Color: Finding My Place in a Black and White World."
DSHS investigator Kyle Bunge said Dolezal had claimed that "her only source of income was $300.00 per month in gifts from friends." However, the department found that she had deposited nearly $84,000 in her bank account between August 2015 and September 2017 without reporting it.
According to the investigation, the money came from sales of Dolezal's autobiography as well as "the sale of her art, soaps, and handmade dolls."
Authorities say Dolezal illegally received $8,747 in food assistance and $100 in child care assistance from August 2015 through November 2017.
Dolezal did report a "change of circumstance" to the state agency, saying she did a one-time job in October 2017 worth $20,000, court documents said. The DSHS report says Dolezal told investigators in April that she had "fully disclosed her information" and declined to answer further questions.
Dolezal is also charged with perjury and making false verification for public assistance.
Dolezal resigned as head of the Spokane NAACP chapter in June 2015 after her parents told local media that she had been born white and was merely posing as a black activist. She also was fired from a police ombudsman commission and lost her job teaching African studies at Eastern Washington University.
In 2017, Dolezal told The Associated Press that she still identifies as black, despite being "Caucasian biologically."
"People didn't seem able to consider that maybe both were true," she said at the time. "OK, I was born to white parents, but maybe I had an authentic black identity."
In addition to her autobiography, Dolezal was the subject of a Netflix documentary, "The Rachel Divide," that premiered at New York's Tribeca Film Festival last month. Fox News recently reported that Dolezal has taken to Instagram to show the apparent success of her in-house hair salon business.
How a weakened ESPN became consumed by politics
Tucker blasts sports network for not sticking to sports and entertainment and now becoming more known for political controversies, like the latest involving a commentator's Twitter rant where he calls Pres. Trump a white supremacist
John Skipper was furious.
One of his star anchors, Jemele Hill, had sent a tweet calling President Donald Trump a “white supremacist.” Mr. Trump’s supporters called for her to be fired. Prominent black athletes defended the anchor, who is African-American.
Sitting in his office last September, Mr. Skipper, then ESPN’s president, lit into Ms. Hill, according to people familiar with the meeting. If I punish you, he told her, I’d open us up to protests and come off as racist. If I do nothing, that will fuel a narrative among conservatives — and a faction within ESPN — that the network had become too liberal.
Mr. Skipper chose to spare Ms. Hill. Mr. Trump weighed in on Twitter : “ESPN is paying a really big price for its politics (and bad programming). People are dumping it in RECORD numbers.”
The president’s tweet was hyperbolic, but it tapped into real anxiety at ESPN. What was the way forward for a company shaken to its foundations by the cord-cutting revolution?
Executives at the sports-media giant wanted to seek out new audiences by spicing up shows with opinionated analysis and debate, including on SportsCenter, its struggling news and highlights franchise.
But the amount and intensity of political expression generated sharp internal disagreements over whether ESPN was appropriately taking part in the broader national conversation, or whether top executives were encouraging a divisive company culture and giving too much leeway to hosts to promote left-leaning views, both on air and on social media.
The amount and intensity of political expression generated sharp internal disagreements over whether ESPN was appropriately taking part in the broader national conversation, or ... giving too much leeway to hosts to promote left-leaning views.Well before Ms. Hill’s tweet controversy, network icon Bob Ley had approached Mr. Skipper to say “there was a problem with balance internally,” people familiar with the matter said. Reached for comment, Mr. Ley said Mr. Skipper “was always extremely receptive.”
Linda Cohn, one of ESPN’s most prominent female anchors, in April 2017 gave a radio interview opining that ESPN’s politics were pushing away viewers and the network had overpaid for NBA rights. Mr. Skipper called to berate her on both counts, people familiar with the call said.
Why ESPN found itself torn up by the nation’s partisan politics traces back to its fundamental business challenge. Its status as cable TV’s most expensive channel had become a liability. As consumers grew fed up with their monthly cable prices, big cable distributors began offering discounted packages that didn’t include the network. Many consumers opted for those offers, while others cut the cord entirely, leading ESPN to shed 16 million subscribers over seven years.
At the same time, costs have ballooned, especially for vital live sports rights. Average annual payments tied to ESPN’s four biggest, long-term rights deals have more than doubled since 2013 to $4.7 billion. After years of growth, ESPN’s profit declined in the fiscal year that ended in September 2017, people familiar with its finances said. Declines have continued for the two ensuing quarters. ESPN has laid off some 600 employees over the past several years, including well-known hosts, though it has hired in areas such as technology and data.
ESPN has laid off some 600 employees over the past several years, including well-known hosts.ESPN’s relationship with majority-owner Walt Disney Co. DIS -0.76% grew tense as the once reliable profit engine turned into a public headache, people close to the situation said. A recent management shake-up gave Disney a chance to exert more control. Mr. Skipper departed suddenly in December, citing a substance-abuse issue. He later said someone from whom he bought cocaine had tried to extort him.
Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger installed as his replacement James Pitaro, Disney’s former consumer products and digital chief. Mr. Pitaro has promised to expand ESPN’s audience by targeting younger and casual fans, including with a new streaming service launched last month. He believes ESPN leaned too much into politics and that has influenced how the company was perceived, a person close to ESPN said. He has encouraged its programs to return to news and highlights and move away from opinionated commentary.
Mr. Pitaro has said that despite the political debates roiling the network last year, total day ratings were up 1% in 2017 from the previous year, in a largely bleak cable-TV landscape.
ESPN has struck new deals with some cable companies ensuring it gets a share of the monthly bills paid by at least 85% of their subscribers, regardless of how many sign up for packages that include ESPN, people familiar with the terms said. And it has added back 2.4 million subscribers thanks to growth in the past few years from new streaming cable TV services such as Hulu and Sling TV.
An ESPN spokesperson said the company’s momentum is strong.
Several network employees said the company has turned a corner. “When you know that there are dark days coming, it wears on folks collectively,” said ESPN’s late-night SportsCenter anchor Scott Van Pelt, about morale in the past during rounds of layoffs. But more recently, under Mr. Pitaro, “there is a sense that those days are in the rearview,” he said.
Others are jaded after budget cuts and job losses, according to interviews with current and former staffers. “I think the morale there is probably as bad as I’ve seen it in my 22-year tenure,” said Jeannine Edwards, a longtime on-air reporter who retired in December.
“I think the morale there is probably as bad as I’ve seen it in my 22-year tenure.”Other workplace culture issues have surfaced. Some female staffers were aghast when the network launched a show last fall with Barstool Sports, even after some prominent hosts privately expressed concerns to executives that the outlet’s content was sexist and offensive, according to people familiar with the conversations. ESPN canceled the program after the outcry became public.
More recently, a producer filed a human resources complaint that ESPN wasn’t doing enough to promote women and minorities in production, and the network has interviewed several people who work on SportsCenter, according to people familiar with the situation. ESPN declined to comment on the investigation.
'Flat-earthers'
Turmoil in the sports powerhouse’s business traces back to a spring day in 2014. Disney had invited about 100 analysts and investors to ESPN’s headquarters in Bristol, Conn., to hobnob with talent including tennis legend John McEnroe and show off ESPN’s new, $150-million-plus production facility.
In an unusual move, Disney gave long-term financial guidance for its cable networks division, largely powered by ESPN. It was rosy. ESPN’s research department presented data arguing cord-cutting was unlikely to become widespread, according to attendees.
“They were flat-earthers,” said one former ESPN executive.
At the same time, ESPN was spending aggressively. The company agreed to triple the fees it would pay the NBA, which it believes is growing in popularity. On the talent side, Mr. Skipper closely managed negotiations, desiring to beat back rivals like Fox Sports 1 and NBC Sports. Agents, former ESPN executives and hosts said that led him to overpay for several on-air personalities.
By 2015, it became clear the research staff was off base, as ESPN’s subscriber losses accelerated beyond internal projections. That August, Mr. Iger lowered the company’s earlier financial guidance, causing a stock selloff that lopped more than $20 billion off Disney’s market value that week.
Mr. Iger expressed reservations to Mr. Skipper about ESPN’s programming. SportsCenter was flooding the airwaves with many editions and he said it wasn’t distinguishing itself, a person familiar with the conversation said.
Former Disney boss Bob Iger expressed concern about ESPN's programming.
ESPN shaved spending, including by producing games remotely without announcers on site, but changing the culture was challenging. In 2015 the network spent lavishly to beef up its “SportsCenter on the Road” segments, including by pouring over $2 million into programming surrounding the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao boxing match, well above initial projections internally, people familiar with the situation said.
For some staffers that became a symbol of excess. Rob King, the executive in charge of SportsCenter at the time, appointed a senior producer to monitor budgets closely after the episode, the people said. A person close to ESPN disputed that spending on the fight overshot internal projections.
Some current and former employees said bloated contracts for talent weighed the company down and led to layoffs. ESPN is still paying many hosts, including former NFL reporter Ed Werder, who were on multiyear contracts when they were laid off more than a year ago.
A new morning talk show that launched last month, “Get Up,” costs far more than its predecessor, a SportsCenter morning edition, and is underperforming it in ratings. Payments to the show’s talent total some $15 million a year, with co-host Mike Greenberg making $6.5 million, people familiar with the costs said. Midlevel SportsCenter hosts tend to earn less than $500,000, one agent said, with better-known ones making up to $1 million and stars landing multimillion-dollar deals.
Mr. Pitaro told reporters in May that ESPN is monitoring the show daily, “trying to identify what’s working and what’s not.” He said the show’s ratings are up since its launch.
#BoycottESPN
There is broad agreement within ESPN that covering sports news means sometimes tackling hot topics like politics and race. The internal debate centered on the tonnage of such coverage, conduct on social media and whether ESPN as a company should take political stances.
Mr. Skipper sought to promote progressive social values, but often his moves came off as overtly political, staffers said. Under Mr. Skipper, ESPN awarded a prestigious “ESPY” award for courage to Michael Sam, the first openly gay athlete drafted into the NFL, and another to Caitlyn Jenner for coming out as a transgender woman.
An ESPY award for Caitlyn Jenner came across to some as being overtly political.
Conservative ESPN staffers grew frustrated by increased political commentary, including from ESPN executives during the presidential election, and worried about #BoycottESPN hashtags cropping up on Twitter. “Our viewers turned to us for sports,” said Jay Crawford, a longtime SportsCenter host who was laid off a year ago. “Realizing there’s never been a time in my lifetime where our country has been more divided, I saw no value in adding to that division.”
Conservative ESPN staffers grew frustrated by increased political commentary, including from ESPN executives during the presidential election, and worried about #BoycottESPN hashtags cropping up on Twitter.Mark Shapiro, who helped pioneer debate shows at ESPN and is now co-president of media conglomerate WME-IMG, said, “there was too much emphasis on talking heads and fiery opinions and less on breaking news and analysis.”
Tensions boiled over with the controversy over Ms. Hill in September. At their meeting, Mr. Skipper asked pointedly if Ms. Hill thought it fair to paint colleagues who voted for Donald Trump with a broad brush as white supremacists.
“No, but I do think that they have the benefit of privilege,” Ms. Hill responded.
Several ESPN employees later told Mr. Skipper that Ms. Hill should have been suspended for her Trump tweet because she violated the company’s social-media policy.
Several ESPN employees later told Mr. Skipper that Ms. Hill should have been suspended for her Trump tweet because she violated the company’s social-media policy.“To me it was clear-cut that these are areas to stay away from regarding racial topics, religion, sex orientation, politics,” said Tim Legler, an ESPN basketball analyst and 17-year company veteran.
Weeks later, Mr. Skipper suspended Ms. Hill when she used Twitter to urge a boycott of Dallas Cowboys advertisers after the team’s owner had suggested benching NFL players who staged social-justice protests during the national anthem. ESPN determined that was detrimental to the company, as ESPN shared some sponsors with the Cowboys, people familiar with the situation said. In February, Ms. Hill left SportsCenter to write for ESPN’s “The Undefeated” website.
Ms. Hill’s supporters said critics often conflated “politics” with hearing diverse viewpoints from women and people of color that Mr. Skipper promoted on air. “More minorities at ESPN with strong voices” has “evidently made some people bothered,” said on-air host Dan Le Batard on his show a year ago.
On Wednesday, the NFL said it would require players to stand during the national anthem and would fine teams if they don’t comply. The decision was debated on ESPN shows like “First Take” and “SportsCenter,” including with references to President Trump’s distaste for such protests. Ms. Hill tweeted, “Me, trying to find any NFL owners with common sense.”
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