May 31, 2016

Television Networks Struggle to Provide Equal Airtime in the Era of Trump

Donald Trump relishes the spotlight of live television. Hillary Clinton has long recoiled from it. Now, the television news industry is wrestling with how to balance fairness, credibility and the temptations of sky-high ratings as it prepares for a presidential matchup like none other.

Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has become a daily fixture on influential programs, startling producers by even personally calling control rooms to shape coverage.

Mrs. Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, is not absent from cable news; she called in to CNN and MSNBC last week to rebut attacks from her rival. But she remains leery of TV’s unscripted nature, appearing far less often than Mr. Trump and irking some bookers who complain about the difficulties of luring her on the air.

For broadcasters, turning down an interview with a candidate is anathema to a news culture trained to pursue maximum access. Yet the starkly different strategies of the candidates are straining the industry’s bedrock notions of evenhandedness.

“The two candidates are running two different kinds of races,” said John Dickerson, the moderator of “Face the Nation” on CBS, who has interviewed both Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump on his show.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/31/business/media/television-networks-struggle-to-provide-equal-airtime-in-the-era-of-trump.html

Posted to GDP cause is mention Hillary.

May 31, 2016

Rise of Ad-Blocking Software Threatens Online Revenue

Many of the world’s largest Internet companies, like Google and Facebook, rely heavily on advertising to finance their online empires.

But that business model is increasingly coming under threat, with one in five smartphone users, or almost 420 million people worldwide, blocking advertising when browsing the web on cellphones. That represents a 90 percent annual increase, according to a new report from PageFair, a start-up that helps to recoup some of this lost advertising revenue, and Priori Data, a company that tracks smartphone applications.

The use of ad-blocking software has divided the online world. Supporters say it allows people to get better access to content without having to suffer through abrasive ads. Opponents, particularly companies that rely on advertising, say blocking ads violates the implicit contract that people agree to when viewing online material, much of which is paid for by digital advertising.

Mobile ad blockers, though, have become particularly widespread in emerging markets, where people are more reliant on their smartphones to use the Internet.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/31/business/international/smartphone-ad-blocking-software-mobile.html

Threatens revenue, but more importantly for the PTB disconnects the public from their messaging. On mobile devices I've been really happy using the purify app to block all the ads.

May 31, 2016

Holder says Edward Snowden performed a 'public service'

Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder says Edward Snowden performed a "public service" by triggering a debate over surveillance techniques, but still must pay a penalty for illegally leaking a trove of classified intelligence documents.

"We can certainly argue about the way in which Snowden did what he did, but I think that he actually performed a public service by raising the debate that we engaged in and by the changes that we made," Holder told David Axelrod on "The Axe Files," a podcast produced by CNN and the University of Chicago Institute of Politics.

"Now I would say that doing what he did -- and the way he did it -- was inappropriate and illegal," Holder added.

Holder said Snowden jeopardized America's security interests by leaking classified information while working as a contractor for the National Security Agency in 2013.

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/30/politics/axe-files-axelrod-eric-holder/index.html

May 30, 2016

Clinton adds more campaign stops to avert a Sanders upset in California

Source: Washington Post


NEW YORK -- Hillary Clinton has upended her campaign schedule, adding more stops in California, in an effort to prevent an embarrassing loss there to Bernie Sanders, her rival for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Clinton originally planned to campaign for two days this week in New Jersey, but at the last minute canceled an event on Thursday and will instead return to California for a five-day swing.

The schedule change comes as Sanders has barnstormed California, not leaving the state in more than a week. Meanwhile, a recent poll found the race closing significantly. Clinton's lead over Sanders had narrowed to just two points.

Details are scarce, but Clinton now plans to hold events in California from Thursday until the day before the state's June 7 primary.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/05/30/clinton-adds-more-campaign-stops-to-avert-a-sanders-upset-in-california/

May 30, 2016

Japan parents left missing boy in woods 'as punishment'

The parents of a seven-year-old boy missing in the mountains of northern Japan have admitted that they left him alone in the woods as a punishment.

The child has not been seen for two days, since his parents abandoned him in northern Hokkaido, a region home to wild bears.

The couple first told police he got lost as they foraged for vegetables.

But they later confessed they had left him alone for five minutes to punish
him but when they returned he had gone.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-36408641

May 30, 2016

Did Sanders just concede the nomination?

Sanders warns Clinton to pick a true progressive running mate


Bernie Sanders cautioned Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in an interview aired Sunday that she will lose the backing of his many supporters unless she picks a hardline progressive as her running mate.

"That means having a candidate who can excite working families, excite young people, bring them into the political process, create a large voter turnout," the Vermont senator said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Clinton's lead in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination is nearly insurmountable, but Sanders has continued to win primaries and draws far larger and more raucous crowds to his rallies.

The 74-year-old senator has mobilized large numbers of young voters and self-identified independents -- areas where Clinton hopes to make inroads before the November election.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/sanders-warns-clinton-pick-true-progressive-running-mate-144036878.html

If she doesn't win she doesn't pick, sounds like he's conceding.

May 29, 2016

Poverty and boredom gnaw at Japan

Boredom, poverty and war: three themes you’d think would be extinct by now. They’re not — war because humankind as a whole is more peaceably inclined than ever before, poverty because of an abundance of riches and boredom because … doesn’t it go without saying, given the endless stream, not to say flood, of instantly accessible entertainment available? Even real life, if not always (or even often) entertaining, is undeniably interesting. You can say anything you like, good or bad, about the times we live in, but it would seem to require an unusual degree of apathetic detachment to be bored by them.

War we can discuss another time. Boredom and poverty are quite enough to fill one column.

Poverty, of course, is relative. “Extreme poverty,” defined by the U.N. as “severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information,” is endured by an estimated 1.2 billion people worldwide, most of whom, if they have any thoughts at all to spare for Japan, would likely envy even the poorest of poor here.

Japan’s poverty is real enough all the same, and among its indicators is the faltering of an institution — marriage — that, perhaps more than any other, has been a rock of stability down the ages and across the cultural spectrum, in conditions of dearth, plenty and everything in between.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/05/28/national/media-national/poverty-boredom-gnaw-japan/#.V0q6WyLXerW

May 29, 2016

Mother Jones nails it with this video.

Finishing trump with his own words.
https://www.facebook.com/motherjones/videos/10153777810687144/
Sorry I could find this on YT to embed.

May 28, 2016

Dog on the loose kills 280 chickens at farm

HURON COUNTY, Mich. (WEYI) -- Huron County Sheriff's office says on Friday, May 27 around 8:30 a.m. their office responded to the Bird Creek Farms on Grindstone Road, east of Port Austin, where they found that 280 chickens had been killed.

Sheriff's say a Husky dog found at the scene was responsible.

In all, 120 hens and 160 six week old chicks were killed. Sheriff's say the dog's owner was unknown at the time, but was later located through the use of social media.

Sheriff's say apparently the dog had wandered away from its owner's residence earlier, who lives blocks away within the Village. The value of the loss is not known, but it is believed it will exceed several thousand dollars.

http://komonews.com/news/offbeat/dog-on-the-loose-kills-280-chickens-at-farm

May 28, 2016

There is no doubt it's been a tough week for HRC.

I'm curious if there are any thoughts about why our stenographer media, suddenly got the gumption to ask tough questions and editorialize against her. Whenever I see the media working in sync across multiple platforms and companies I get suspicious.

Was it just the IG report? Is this foreshadowing something to come? I find it strange the WAPO, NEW YORKER, LA Times, AP and many more are now supercriticle, where a week ago they were repeating her talking points and not challenging her weak dismissals. It's a blood in the water feeling but I'm really not sure of the catalyst. All these pundits and insiders turning on her in sync.

Is could be just a case of trying to make a horse race look more exciting for advertising dollars and eyeballs. I have been surprised all week by the corporate non right wing media.