New York Mayor Mess, CNN Nosedive, And Cosby Cut Loose: The Week In Review

Headline #1:      Officials Drop Ball with Results for NYC Mayor Race

On Tuesday, the Board of Elections in New York City released updated results from last week’s mayoral primary elections and they mistakenly failed to remove over 100,000 ‘test’ ballots.

Thoughts and Observations:

• We’re not talking about a few dozen votes, we’re talking about six digits worth of votes. This wasn’t just a minor error, it was a huge one. New York politics has always had a shady reputation; not quite as bad as Chicago, but still shady. And the city’s BOE has been accused of improprieties for years. This type of screw-up makes that reputation even worse.
• Tuesday’s erroneous results showed former NYPD Captain and current Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams with a very slim lead of slightly over 51% of the total vote, and the corrected numbers showed virtually the same margins. Adams has rightfully expressed skepticism over those numbers and has hinted at asking for judicial intervention. The situation is ugly and could get a lot uglier.
• The city hasn’t even begun to count more than 100,000 absentee ballots yet, which means if these results are to be believed, it’s still anyone’s race. Close elections are part of politics and are nothing new. But close elections combined with obvious and utter incompetence is a really bad combination.
• Naturally, many have pointed to the city’s ‘ranked voting’ method utilized in the election, a process detailed here last week, as the reason for the mayhem, but that claim doesn’t hold water. Other governments use ‘ranked voting’ without a problem. The issue doesn’t appear to be the process, the issue is the clowns who are managing the implementation of the process.
• For those who argue that elections are pristine, and anyone who questions their results are conspiracy theorists, this incident just debunked that notion. Elections are like anything else in which human involvement is required. If people are part of the process, then mistakes happen. That’s just reality. So, when states like Georgia, Florida and Texas take steps to shore up processes and protect the integrity of elections, nonsense like this make the need for such laws that much more obvious.
• The left has been screaming that the laws enacted in states like Georgia and Florida are akin to ‘Jim Crow,’ which is a lie. But those assertions beg a question. What’s more similar to Jim Crow: laws requiring people to show ID when they vote, or an election which resulted in over 100,000 fake votes being counted to the detriment of a black candidate, which Eric Adams is?
• The confidence in our elections has been deteriorating for years. With the 2000 election in which George W. Bush narrowly defeated Al Gore for the presidency, the whole country received an unsolicited lesson in ‘hanging chads’ and we scratched our heads. In 2016, Democrats were essentially screaming at the clouds about Russian Collusion and called Donald Trump an illegitimate president. And of course, last year’s election has left millions of more Americans doubting that election’s validity. States, cities, and counties need to straighten up their election processes and laws, and they need to do so quickly. If Americans don’t trust the results of an election, they won’t trust the government it produced, and that, friends, is a serious problem.

Headline #2:      CNN Ratings Drop by 57% Year Over Year

Ratings for CNN for the second quarter were released this week and they were awful, with a 57% overall drop according to Nielsen, and a horrendous 68% decline during prime time.

Thoughts and Observations:

• Ratings equal revenue, and revenue drives profitability. If you were even remotely responsible for a business operation which suffered a disastrous 57% drop like CNN and you think you’d still keep your job after those results, please raise your hand. Hmm, not a lot of hands out there.
• So, has there been a parade of executives walking out of CNN headquarters in Atlanta this week, carrying cardboard boxes with their belongings? Of course not. CNN is owned by the conglomerate Warner Media, which is owned by AT&T. CNN isn’t in business to make money, profits are irrelevant. CNN operates with one purpose: to promote the leftist agenda espoused by the crony capitalist, Democratic Party lapdogs who oversee it.
• Fox News, which may have left some of us with a sour taste in our mouths but is still the most-watched conservative news option, not only beat CNN’s ratings, they almost beat the ratings of CNN and MSNBC combined. During prime time, Fox averaged 2.2 million viewers, MSNBC averaged 1.5 million viewers, and CNN averaged 0.9 million viewers. Additionally, four of the top five top prime time shows were Fox shows, and none were CNN. Ouch.
• Ironically enough, one of the best summations of CNN’s collapse was offered by an Ivy League academic from Cornell named William A. Jacobson who observed, “CNN and MSNBC were one-trick ponies, and that trick was bashing Trump. The audience has disappeared because it never was loyal to CNN and MSNBC hosts, it was loyal to Trump hatred.” An excellent assessment, Mr. Jacobson.
• Speaking of former President Donald Trump, unsurprisingly he was unable to stay quiet about the news. On Tuesday, Trump issued a statement taking aim at CNN anchor Jake Tapper in particular whose ratings are down an unfathomable 75%. Trump said the ratings plunge was “a wonderful thing to see.” Tapper and others at the network tried to punch back, relying on referencing the January 6^th riot, but their counter attacks fell woefully short. Man, I miss Trump.
• Have CNN and MSNBC learned their lessons? Will they change their ways and shift to more fact-based, neutral reporting and attempt to reestablish some credibility? Not a chance, and in fact it will only get worse. They’ll pray to their sectarian gods that Trump runs again in 2024 so they can go back to their original recipe, and if Trump doesn’t come back they’ll seek to demonize whoever replaces him as “worse than Trump.” We’re already seeing them lay the groundwork for this approach with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and it will soon accelerate.

Headline #3:      Bill Cosby Freed from Prison, Conviction Overturned  

The disgraced comedian was released from prison on Wednesday after Pennsylvania’s highest court overturned his 2018 conviction for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman in 2004.

Thoughts and Observations:

• The court decided to overturn the conviction due to the prosecutor’s disregard for an apparent agreement which had been made giving Cosby immunity for previous testimony on the matter. Cosby had been told he would not be charged with a crime if he testified, so he waived his fifth amendment rights and took the stand. The prosecutor went on to prosecute Cosby anyway, and he was found guilty. Cosby’s right to ‘due process’ was violated, which is why he is now free.
• Is Cosby still guilty of the crime? Of course he is, and if we are to believe the accusations of several other women, Cosby is guilty of far more than just the 2004 assault. Very often, guilty people go free, just ask O.J. Simpson and Robert Durst. It sucks, but the rule of law is critical. If we want to be angry with someone, other than Cosby of course, we should be angry with the prosecutor who botched the case.
• We are also free to continue considering Cosby guilty in the court of public opinion. Just like Simpson, just like Durst, and just like scores of other obvious criminals such as Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, and Casey Anthony. Cosby is 83-years old and will be spending the short time he has left living with the shame and humiliation he deserves. He’s a rapist, and he’s despicable. It would certainly be better if he’d spent that time behind bars, but we are a nation of laws and Cosby has rights.
• Speaking of the right to due process, let’s not forget the case of Derek Chauvin. Based on my limited knowledge of the law, Cosby had a good case, but Chauvin has a great case. Don’t be surprised to see a similar reversal of a jury case with the Chauvin trail, but we should expect a much different reaction from the public and the media if/when that happens.
• The conundrum for the left on the Cosby situation has been interesting to watch. On the one hand, we have the entire #MeToo movement which promotes the mindset “believe all women.” On the other, we have a formerly beloved black entertainer. The left’s intersectional coalition has competing interests in the Cosby case. Many feminists have been outraged at Cosby’s release and are screaming as loud as they can, but the mainstream media’s reaction to Cosby’s release has been largely tempered. So much victimhood, who do we get behind?
• The reaction by that same media would be much different if the person having his conviction tossed were white: say, perhaps, Harvey Weinstein. If Weinstein wins his appeals, which is always possible, the left and their media will go absolutely ballistic.

Headline #4:      Gwen Berry Disrespects National Anthem After Qualifying For The Olympics

A hammer thrower by the name of Gwen Berry came in third in the U.S. Track and Field Trials last weekend, and during the awards ceremony she turned away as the national anthem was played.

Thoughts and Observations:

• According to Berry, “I feel like it [the playing of the anthem] was a set up. I feel like they did that on purpose, and I was pissed, to be honest.” I can assure you, Gwen, that you are correct that the anthem being played was on purpose. You are mistaken, however, if you think it was done to piss you off. You may be surprised to learn this fact, but the world doesn’t revolve around you.
• Berry went on to say, “It was real disrespectful.” She wasn’t talking about what she did, she was talking about the fact that our national anthem was being played at our Olympic qualifying competition’s awards. Apparently, Berry felt that she should have been consulted before the song was played. Among many other things, Ms. Berry is delusional.
• For those who took shots at Berry for being only a third-place qualifier, that’s unfair. If someone is third-best in our country at an athletic event, that still means they’re extremely talented. Berry is a terrific athlete, no doubt, and her athleticism should be celebrated. Her moronic political views and childish behavior, however, deserve the utmost scorn.
• Many on the left were predictably clapping like circus seals at the news, leaving many of them to no doubt question, “I wonder what kind of hammer she throws. Is it one of those with a claw on the back, or the ballpeen variety?”
• The common accolade from the left regarding Berry’s infantilism was to applaud her “bravery.” There’s no bravery in disrespecting our flag or country anymore; not when the left and their media gush over the athlete in question who ends up with millions of dollars in endorsements. That’s not courageous. The ones taking a stand against Berry’s ridiculousness as they’re screamed at for being ‘racist’, they’re the ones showing courage.

Headline #5:      Caustic Kamala Causing Problems for Democrats

Reports began emerging this week depicting a dysfunctional work environment amongst the staff of Vice-President Kamala Harris, labeling it as “not healthy” and one in which Harris frequently “refuses to take responsibility for” any number of missteps.

Thoughts and Observations:

• This shouldn’t come as a surprise. Harris was a lousy presidential candidate who was polling fifth in her home state of California before dropping out in December 2019. She was only selected by President Biden as a running mate because Biden famously committed to picking a “woman of color” prior to beginning his search. And she has been a thoroughly incompetent Vice-President. Kamala Harris is horrible at her job, and poor morale in such situations should be expected.
• One staffer explained, “It’s not a place where people feel supported but a place where people feel treated like sh–.” Uh-oh. Behind that nervous, absurd laugh of Harris’ is apparently a Machiavellian ingrate.
• Part of the toxic environment within Harris’ staff is the reported constant rejection of any input from advisors. This insight answers some nagging questions, particularly regarding Harris’ complete mismanagement of the border crisis, and her idiotic responses to the press a few weeks ago. Anyone paying attention to Harris’ actions with the border has to wonder what the heck she is doing. How could her handlers be so inept? The problem isn’t the handlers, we now know, the problem is Harris.
• Many Democrats appear to be worrying about Harris being Biden’s heir apparent and automatic nominee in 2024, or 2028 if Biden decides to run again, and they are right to be concerned. Harris got destroyed during last fall’s Vice-Presidential debate against Mike Pence, she’s exceedingly unlikeable, and she’s just lousy at her job. She was an awful candidate when she ran last time, and she’ll be even worse now that she has a dismal record to defend.
• Unfortunately for Democrats, they’ve painted themselves in a corner with Harris. She’s the heir apparent because the left and their media have made it so. Kamala Harris is the left’s Frankenstein. But Vice-Presidents almost always get the party’s nomination after a President serves their term. Nixon succeeded Eisenhower. Mondale succeeded Carter. Bush 41 succeeded Reagan. Gore succeeded Clinton. The only reason Biden didn’t succeed Obama was that Hillary was in the way, and she had long been designated as the heir apparent. If Democrats think they’re going to deny Harris, a black woman, her place on the ballot without a huge backlash from within their own ranks, they’re nuts. Democrats are stuck with Harris, and they’re a match made in heaven.

Photo by Conecta Abogados at Flickr.

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