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| Charlie Sykes |
: Business Insider’s Oliver Darcy posted the transcript of a thought-provoking interview he did with conservative Wisconsin radio host Charlie Sykes (a prominent critic of the GOP nominee) about how significant distrust of the media has been in both the rise and resilience of Trump. It’s worth reading in full:
“We’ve basically eliminated any of the referees, the gatekeepers,” Sykes said. There’s nobody. Let’s say that Donald Trump basically makes whatever you want to say, whatever claim he wants to make. And everybody knows it’s a falsehood. The big question of my audience, it is impossible for me to say that, ‘By the way, you know it’s false.’ And they’ll say, ‘Why? I saw it on Allen B. West.’ Or they’ll say, ‘I saw it on a Facebook page.’ And I’ll say, ‘The New York Times did a fact check.’ And they’ll say, ‘Oh, that’s The New York Times. That’s bull-[expletive.]’ There’s nobody – you can’t go to anybody and say ‘Look, here are the facts.’ And I have to say that’s one of the disorienting realities of this political year. You can be in this alternative media reality and there’s no way to break through it. ”
“When this is all over, we have to go back. There’s got to be a reckoning on all this. We’ve created this monster,” Sykes added. “And look, I’m a conservative talk show host. All conservative hosts have basically established their brand as being contrasted to the mainstream media. So we have spent 20 years demonizing the liberal mainstream media. And by the way, a lot of it has been justifiable. There is a real bias. But,...at a certain point you wake up and you realize you have destroyed the credibility of any credible outlet out there.
(Jessica Hill/AP)
By Carolyn Y. Johnson
Insurance giant Aetna's announcement this week that it would sharply curb its participation in the insurance exchanges set up under the Affordable Care Act was seen by some as payback to the Obama administration for blocking its proposed merger with Humana. After all, in April, Aetna chief executive Mark Bertolini had called selling insurance in the exchanges "a good investment."
Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (N.J.), ranking Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, issued a statementTuesday saying he was "troubled by reports this announcement could be in retaliation" to the Justice Department's decision. Earlier this month, after Aetna announced in an earnings call this month that it was reevaluating its participation in the exchanges, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote on Facebook: "The health of the American people should not be used as bargaining chips to force the government to bend to one giant company’s will."
 Ryan Lochte Learns What Cameras Do Mugging of U.S. Swimmers Now an International Incident What started out as a weird story relayed by American gold medal swimmer Ryan Lochte’s mom led to two U.S. swimmers being pulled off their plane home on Wednesday.Initially Lochte, Jimmy Feigen, Jack Conger, and Gunnar Bentz sais they were mugged at gunpoint following a night of partying in Rio on Sunday. After discrepancies emerged in their story, a Brazilian judge ordered authorities to seize Lochte and Feigen’s passports. Lochte was already home in the U.S. Their story publically and bizarrely began to unravel after a video was seen showing that the athletes were confronted by a security guard after they, apparently drunk, urinated on a gas station wall, and broke the bathroom door at a gas station. “We apologize to our hosts in Rio and the people of Brazil for this distracting ordeal in the midst of what should rightly be a celebration of excellence,” the USOC statement read. Overnight, Feigen agreed to donate $11,000 to a Brazilian charity in offer of restitution. “Brazilians have reacted with anger and indignation at an apparently false crime report that only served to boost the perception of Rio de Janeiro as a lawless, chaotic city that was unprepared to host an Olympics.” The city police chief said Lochte and the others owed Rio an apology for having “stained” the city “for a fantasy.” “As the American swimmers left the police station Thursday evening, they were swarmed by a crowd of journalists amid shouts of ‘liars’ by some, in English.” Lochte’s done as a public figure, of course. Which is probably the most effective form of justice for someone who apparently so craves attention. 
-- USAIN BOLT soared to victory in his last individual race of the Rio Games, winning his third gold medal in the men’s 200m by a wide margin. He’ll now compete in the men’s 4x100m relay Friday, potentially earning him a “triple-triple” sweep and a tie with American Carl Lewis and Paavo Nurmi of Finland for the most career Olympic gold medals in track and field. (Mark Giannotto). The Jamaican sprinter’s win in the 200m – his third in consecutive Olympics –confirmed him as the greatest, most compelling sprint athlete of the modern Games.  on Th Politico’s Steven Shepard looks at all the state-by-state polling and concludes:
 And this doesn’t even include North Carolina and Ohio, where Clinton is ahead. Of cou California to crack down on fire starters
Although around 95% of wildfires are caused by human activity of some kind, only 7% of the total are considered arson. Arson or accidental, California is planning to take a more aggressive attitude toward people who set fires. The move comes as the state struggles with yet another never-ending fire season – worsened by climate change, widespread tree death and a five-year drought.
Justice Department says it will end use of private prisons by The Washington Post's Matt Zapotosky Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates announced the decision on Thursday in a memo that instructs officials to either decline to renew the contracts for private prison operators when they expire or “substantially reduce” the contracts’ scope. The goal, Yates wrote, is “reducing — and ultimately ending — our use of privately operated prisons.” By next year it is expected that only 14,200 inmates will remain in private prisons. In 2013 there were an estimated 30,000 federal inmates housed in for-profit facilities, but recent reports have shown that private prisons are less safe than government operated prisons and don’t save the government very much money.  Milwaukee’s painIn the wake of a black man’s killing by police, residents of Sherman Park yearn for better days but they live with only memories of economic boom and multicultural celebration. One resident, 23-year-old Sylville Smith, was killed by a city police officer last Saturday after he ran from a traffic stop and allegedly pointed a gun. His cousin Sharina describes one constant in the neighborhood: poverty. “It hasn’t gotten any better. It hasn’t changed. People are outraged because of it. They get no attention, no help,” Smith, 32, said. “That’s why people were out on the those streets. My cousin’s death was one more thing.” In the wake of a black man’s killing by police, residents of Sherman Park yearn for better days but they live with only memories of economic boom and multicultural celebration. One resident, 23-year-old Sylville Smith, was killed by a city police officer last Saturday after he ran from a traffic stop and allegedly pointed a gun. His cousin Sharina describes one constant in the neighborhood: poverty. “It hasn’t gotten any better. It hasn’t changed. People are outraged because of it. They get no attention, no help,” Smith, 32, said. “That’s why people were out on the those streets. My cousin’s death was one more thing.”pire or “substantially reduce” the contracts’ scope. The goal, Yates wrote, is “reducing — and ultimately ending — our use of privately operated prisons.”ecret plan to put secret states in play, so you should still Be Very Afraid.ursday.” |
