Her Gotcha Backfired Spectacularly…

Sam and crew go over Graham Platner’s win and his interview with Mika Brzezinski Scarborough on Morning Joe. Amoung the jokes about her interview they go over his acceptance speech. I am personally satisfied he has answered all the questions. I love his line “… if you give me the chance I will be a senator for the people who cannot afford to buy a senator”. I am a progressive and a believer in DSA policies. Graham Platner is not the perfect person who is flawless and unlike many his flaws are out in the open, not hidden behind a facade of fake religious politeness. He is a populist. I am not looking for religious leaders in our lawmakers, I am not expecting someone who walked blamelessly through life, that they way only one person did and his name was Jesus. I am looking for someone whose policies help the lower incomes and the public at large, not the privileged few. I am looking for a congress and White House filled with people who do not think elected office is their golden ticket to personal wealth and authority over others. Real people screw up and those that ask and work for a second chance should be given a chance to show they deserve it. In my opinion Platner has and does shown he deserves his forgiveness. Plus people look at Graham’s past are not looking at Collin’s past or even Mika who started dating Joe when he was still married. To me a lot of these people going on about Platner’s past seem to hold him to a different standard than they themselves are held or republican canidates are held. Hugs.

Fired journalist accuses CBS News chief of interfering with report because it did not echo Trump’s view of the shooting

Scott Pelley was fired from CBS 60 Minutes last week. Photograph: Charles Sykes/AP

The fired 60 Minutes anchor Scott Pelley has accused editorial management at CBS of interfering with a broadcast segment on the killing of the Minneapolis protester Renee Good by an immigration officer in January.

The veteran broadcaster, who was recently dismissed from the show, said CBS News’s editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss, had sent an email to his supervisor requesting changes shortly before the airing of the segment in question.

In an interview with the New York Times published on Sunday, the 68-year-old Pelley accused Weiss of injecting “falsehoods and bias” into programming.

Pelley told the outlet: “Two of the things in the email include, ‘Can we make the protesters look more violent?’ Now, I’m paraphrasing. I don’t have the quote, but that’s what was communicated to me. And the other thing, Renee Good’s car. You need to describe her as driving toward the officer.”

Pelley maintained that was the direction contained in the email even though video of Good’s shooting did not support such a conclusion.

A CBS News spokesperson told the Times in response to Pelley’s statements that Weiss had made four points in an email exchange on the segment that had “no political motivation and were proposed solely to make the piece as strong, fair, and accurate as possible”.

“Not everything she raised made it into the final piece,” the statement added.

Pelley’s accusation comes amid turbulence at the flagship TV news show that has seen the 60 Minutes executive producer Tanya Simon replaced and several correspondents and producers leave over questions of editorial independence. Three of the show’s veterans – Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim – are staying on.

The newly installed executive producer, Nick Bilton, a former Vanity Fair journalist and film-maker, told staff in a memo that “the foundation of 60 Minutes is journalistic independence.

“We will always pursue stories without fear or favor.”

Pelley’s accusations to the Times followed a heated exchange at a meeting on Monday in which he accused Weiss of “murdering” the show. He was fired soon after.

In his latest salvo, Pelley said he was concerned that Weiss “had zero television experience and had never managed a large global operation like CBS News”. He also called her lack of TV news experience “red flags to me”.

Pelley also said that Bilton’s mission to modernize the 58-year-old show ignored changes that were already in play.

“Of course we have to reach out to a younger and younger audience, but their argument about joining the internet age is just disingenuous,” Pelley said. “It’s almost as if Bari Weiss and Nick Bilton were sealed in a time capsule in 1990, and it just cracked open. They’ve just discovered the internet, and they’re running around telling everybody how important it is.”

Pelley’s accusations over the Minneapolis segment in part centered on what took place in the seconds before Good was shot by an immigration enforcement officer.

“On the video, you see the officer standing slightly off the front of the car,” Pelley told the Times. “You clearly see Ms Good’s wheels turned completely as far as they will go, away from the officer. But he shoots her in the head [and] kills her.”

Pelley also alluded to cellphone video from the officer’s vantage point that was publicly released and captured him calling Good a “fucking bitch”.

As Pelley put it, the officer said “something about her that I can’t repeat in polite company”.

Pelley said that 60 Minutes had “gone out of our way in our plan from the very beginning to show the protesters for the responsibility that they had … somehow that wasn’t enough for Ms Weiss”.

He added that video of the shooting showed that the officer wasn’t standing in front of the car and she wasn’t “driving toward him”. He argued that Weiss “wanted it described that way” because it echoed what Donald Trump said of the shooting in his capacity as president.

Asked to respond to Pelley’s claim that Weiss “was putting a thumb on the scale on behalf of the [Trump] administration”, CBS News said there was “no credible argument” to suggest she was doing that.

“That’s The Way Life Is”: Trump Tells Knicks Fans That Can’t Afford $8K Tickets To Kick Rocks

Van Jones And Fetterman Join Desperate Smear Campaign Against Graham Platner

ICE Detention Protests Heating Up | Wali Khan | TMR

This clip was with a reporter detailing the abuses in ICE detention facilities and the illegal actions of ICE agents and for profit prison staff. Profit over people as these ICE and prison staff do not see the detainees as humans like themselves. What is concerning is ICE is learning how to use existing laws to make the local law enforcement work against the will of the people. This young man wont admit he was attacked by ICE agents instead saying he thinks he hit a tree limb in the confusion but I showed Ron the video and he said the guy looks to him like he was hit repeatedly and hard in the head and possibly the body as well. When will we as a people see that these abuses are so very similar to the abuses suffered by the minorities in 1930s Geermany. Hugs

Platner Smear Flops | Jeet Heer | TMR

Sam points out that the times interviewed at least four women. Only one had anything bad to say about Platner and the rest had only positive things to say about him. The Times couldn’t collberate the claims of the woman who accused Platner of being physically rough with her. The woman making the accusations is a republican operative and one of the co-founders of the group Ladies for Kavanaugh. A group that supports Justice kavanaugh who was very credibly accused of rape. This woman accusing Platner of abusing women is a longtime Republican operative who helped Susan Collins write the speech she gave supporting Kavanaugh. She used a lot of the same language in the Times smear article as she has used in in other republican-supporting articles and events. It seems the majority of the attacks aimed at Platner are being driven / created by centrist and pro-Israel groups. These attacks include hints of far more serious crimes to come to light but they can’t substantiate them. Hugs

Smears Against Platner Are Getting Desperate…

I am finding the coverage of this story an interesting example of the open bias and deliberate slanting of the story depending on who or which side is covering it. The same reports are covered with drasticly different tones, phrasing and include or exclude details depending on which group the reporter is either trying to promote or degrade. For example on This Week Martha Raddatz reported the story in the darkest most impassioned way to present Platner as an out of control phycotic abuser of women and repeatedly elaborated on his sexting of women while dating and slightly after he was married to his wife as a great moral failing making him not worth or qualified to serve in Congress. Yet she never faulted Ken Paxton or tRump the same way. During her report on this story she talked up Janet Mills praising her repeatedly while mentioning that she was the needed alternative to Platner. Her report made it sound like the entire state of Maine and all the Democrats did not want Platner but the majority of people she interviewed were supporting him. In the reporting of this by The Majority Report they take a different tact in the reporting on Platner. They report the facts in a less sensational manner and put everything in context to modern society. Below is just a clip of the transcript of the show. For those not wanting to watch this I recommend at least reading the transcript. There might be details, facts, or context not reported elsewhere. Sam askes where are the other accusers and their stories. Hugs

Um, and I’m also fascinated by the way this story has developed, like who is doing this? Uh, because the the timing of this stuff is strange. Um, and suggests that it’s not just a question of Republicans because Mhm. If the Republicans had this stuff, they would drop it uh you know in October. But why or or it could be about Republicans taking a different tact here and saying we need to get him out of the race as opposed to try and beat him because we may not be be able to beat him. The best thing is for us to get him out of the race. Yeah. And now is the most opportune time to do that. But uh regardless. So let’s put up this tweet from Lindsay Fitfield. She is the only person to suggest uh any type of physicality uh and again uh she wouldn’t have called it like abuse but any type of physicality from Platner and she also suggests that he knew uh what his tattoo

And the reason why she does that is because she wants the Times to carry the story as opposed to another outlet. And she is strategizing. The Times is are going to hit the audience. I want them to hit. If you wanted this on the uh, you know, on the right, you wouldn’t go to the Times. That’s what comms professionals do. We have this story. Where are we going to go? And she went to the Times and made a deal with them. You’ll get an exclusive when you write this.

Uh after the story went up, I began to ask them, “Wait, where are the stories from the other women? Where are their accusations of sexual assault? Why am I the focus? Why are there 11 paragraphs uh dedicated to detailing my work history?” Which is that hilarious because it was such a footnote in the story. It obscures the true nature of her collaboration with Republican operatives and her work in Republican politics. And she’s asking, “Where are their accusations of sexual assault?” Yeah, they probably just wanted to embarrass themselves by leaving those out like as if they actually existed.

Yeah. because in that instance it the whole thing sounds like a total hit job uh by these reports. Remember they’ve been working on this story for months according to her, right? I mean the dragged on and um and that’s just when they had her stuff. Keep put u why does uh it say nobody corroborate could corroborate when I offered them sources that could corroborate. They obviously went to these sources and those sources could not corroborate.

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[Sen.] Gallego Introduces Legislation to Crack Down on Billionaire Tax Loophole

Legislation would close the ‘borrow’ aspect of the ‘buy, borrow, die’ tax loophole used by the ultra-wealthy to avoid paying capital gains or income tax

WASHINGTON – Today, Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) introduced the Redistribution Of Billions by Instituting New High-income Obligations on Overlooked Debt (ROBINHOOD) Act to close the ‘borrow’ aspect of the ‘buy, borrow, die’ tax loophole that is used by the ultra-wealthy to finance extravagant spending without paying income or capital gains taxes.

“Working and middle-class Americans are paying their fair share – they do it with every paycheck. But the billionaires in this country? They’re using legal loopholes and tricky accounting to finance private jets and yachts while most Americans struggle to afford healthcare and groceries,” said Senator Gallego. “My legislation closes a critical loophole and brings us closer to billionaires finally paying their fair share.”

Punchbowl News: Gallego targets ‘buy, borrow, die’ tax maneuver

The ‘buy, borrow, die’ tax loophole has three stages:

Buy: A wealthy individual buys, or is given as part of their compensation package, assets, such as stocks. This allows them to store and grow their wealth without paying taxes since the gains from these assets are considered unrealized.
Borrow: The individual then borrows tax-free cash loans, often backed by those assets, to finance their extravagant lifestyles. All the while, their assets continue to gain value.
Die: Finally, when they die, their assets are gifted to their heirs on a stepped-up basis, meaning their heirs can sell the assets without paying taxes on the capital gains accumulated during the individual’s life.

The ROBINHOOD Act closes this loophole by treating taking out a loan as a realization event, meaning the individual would have to pay taxes on capital gains equal to the loan amount. The provisions of the bill apply to taxpayers who have an income over $100 million and/or assets worth more than $1 billion.

You can find a one-page summary of the legislation HERE.

You can find a section-by-section explainer of the legislation HERE.

You can find the full text of the legislation HERE.

Companion legislation was introduced in the House by Rep. Dan Goldman (NY-10).

“While working, wage-earning New Yorkers pay income taxes on every single paycheck, billionaires live tax-free by borrowing against their stock portfolios, real estate holdings, and art collections without paying a dime in taxes on that money,” Congressman Dan Goldman said. “By restoring basic fairness to our tax code and making the ultra-wealthy pay their fair share and contribute what they owe, this bill will generate revenue to invest in universal pre-K, child care, and working families instead of subsidizing billionaires’ yachts and private islands. It’s long past time for the wealthiest people in the country to pay their fair share.”

A Small Bunch Of Stuff

Life has been happening here with me this couple of weeks, and I have a few things I’ve picked up here and there to post when I’m busy. Most of this is positive, because why not?

Hey-today is World Environment Day! Let’s be proud to care for our home; we all get overheated.

June 5, [since 1972]

World Environment Day was established by the U.N. General Assembly to commemorate the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment in Sweden.
The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) was established as a result of the conference.

The 1972 Stockholm conference

UNEP’s mission: To provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.

Each year World Environment Day adopts a different theme.