CNN cutting staff by as many as 300 jobs

Most likely, few if any prominent on-camera personalities will be taking buyouts or will get pink slips. It will be more anonymous staffers suffering the damage. While CNN has actively driven away its viewers, the network still has continuing revenue from cable and satellite providers that helps cushion the decline in advertising revenue that will inevitably follow its ratings crash.

Thomas Lifson  "Maybe President Trump ought to use the adjective “failing” in front of CNN instead of the New York Times. In point of fact, Trump hatred has been good for the Gray Lady, with digital subscriptions up substantially (over $700 million in revenue last year) as the paper became the premier source of anti-Trump fulminations.  

"But with CNN, the story is very different. The network that pioneered cable news long ago lost its dominant position to Fox News, and since Donald Trump became president has bet its future on the Russia Hoax – and lost. Bigtime. FromThe Hill:

CNN's prime-time ratings dropped a whopping 26 percent in April compared to last year, according to Nielsen Media Research.

MSNBC's ratings were down 14 percent in April 2019 compared to April 2018, while Fox News's ratings overall were flat.

The sharp decrease for CNN marked its lowest-rated month in total viewers since October 2015.

"Most humiliatingly, CNN now is a distant third place in the ratings among cable news providers:

In prime time, Fox News finished first with an average of 2.4 million viewers. In April 2018, the network also averaged 2.4 million viewers, according to Nielsen.

MSNBC was second with an average of 1.66 million viewers, down from 1.93 million in April 2018.

CNN was third with 767,000 average primetime viewers, down from 1.04 million in April 2018.

"A plan unveiled yesterday shows that CNN is cutting costs and downsizing its staff. Paula Blyard reports at PJ Media:" . . .

 An example of hard-hitting reportage seen at CNN as done by Dan Lothian's penetrating question of Barack Obama as he speaks nonsense to power:

CNN to Obama: Are GOP candidates “uninformed, out of touch, or irresponsible”

Then Mr. Obama gives us his signature, That's not who we are speech.

VDH: The Fright of James Comey

In the meantime, expect James Comey to continue his frenetic pace on TV, radio, and in op-eds attacking William Barr and Donald Trump in deathly fear that his illegal behavior may finally have a legal accounting.

Victor Davis Hanson  "In a recent op-ed, fired FBI Director James Comey was back again preaching to the nation about the dangers of Donald Trump and his capacity to corrupt any top-ranking federal official of lower character than Comey’s own.

"Comey seems to have become utterly unhinged by Donald Trump, especially when the president, in his thick Queens accent, scoffs in the vernacular—quite accurately, given the transgressions of the FBI hierarchy—about “crooked cops.” What an affront to Comey’s complexity, his subtlety, his sophistication, his feigned Hamlet-like self-doubt—at least as now expressed in his latest incarnation asTwitter’s Kahlil Gibran.

"One can say a number of things about the timing of Comey’s latest sermon and his characteristic projection of his own sins on to others.

"First, Comey’s unprofessionalism was home-grown and certainly did not need any help from President Trump. His schizophrenic behavior both as a prosecutor and investigator in the Hillary Clinton email matter was marked by exempting Clinton aides Cheryl Mills and Huma Abedin from indictment, despite their lying to his own federal officials about their knowledge of a private Clinton email server. Comey wrote his summation of the Clinton email investigation before he had even interviewed the former secretary of state. He was hardly independent from a recused Attorney General Loretta Lynch in the Clinton email investigation. As her rubbery courier he bent to her directives on all key decisions that led to de facto exoneration of likely next president Hillary Clinton.

"Second, Attorney General William Barr is soon to receive a number of criminal referrals from Congress, inspectors general, and perhaps other prosecutors. He won’t allow collusion hysteria to cause him to recuse himself in the manner in which Jeff Sessions sidelined himself and elevated Rod Rosenstein." . . .

The Democrats Are Humanitarian Frauds on the Border

Rachael Bovard

"The evidence that Democrats are now an unapologetically open borders party is piling up, and Republicans need to start calling them on it.

"From opposing expanded detention facilities, actively blocking legislation to fix family separation policies, and even voting against legislation that would prohibit illegal immigrants from voting, it’s becoming abundantly clear what Democrats want out of U.S. immigration policy: open borders, new voters, and a system that never actually gets fixed, so they can use it as a cudgel against Republicans.

"Consider that just days after the family separation policy erupted, Republicans brought bills to the floor to fix the 1997 Flores settlement—the governing legal agreement which doesn’t allow children to be detained longer than 20 days. In practice, this means that individuals or families who show up with a minor are either separated from that minor and detained for processing, or the entire family unit is simply released into the interior of the country while awaiting a court date.

"Republicans brought legislation to the floor of the Senate which would vitiate the Flores settlement and allow family units here illegally to be detained and processed together. But Democrats, after howling about the cruelty of the Trump administration’s strict reading of the current separation law, then turned around and repeatedly blocked Republican efforts to fix it.

"The move was transparently cynical. Democrats were “unwilling to have the votes that it takes to make sure family units stay together,” observed U.S. Senator James Lankford (R-Okla.), “because the drama of tearing families apart looks so much better on TV.' ” . . .

Also from Rachael Bovard: Democrats’ Sanctuary Hypocrisy Shines Through

. . . "But this should not be a surprise, given that lip service is a Democratic specialty. Look no further than their response to a suggestion by the Trump administration to release detained immigrants into “sanctuary cities”—cities who intentionally disregard federal immigration enforcement law." . . .

Oh, Beto, we hardly knew ye

"Beto’s campaign, sparse and directionless as it is, has been an experiment in what happens when an overgrown child runs for president. What he stands for, what he’s fighting for, what the entire point is of an unemployed flash-in-the-pan former congressman vying for the White House, are questions that remain up in the air."

Taylor Lewis  "The once wunderkind from El Paso has lost his shine of late, and is now being eclipsed polling-wise by a Midwestern mayor whose sexual predilection scratches off one of the Democrats’ diversity boxes. Perhaps O’Rourke’s gringoish nickname is no longer fooling liberal voters; after all, his baptismal name of “Robert Francis” is the kind of icky Anglo-Irish stuff that is de trop in the diversity party.

"Or, in a crowd of divas and inflated egos with legs, maybe Beto O’Rourke’s assumed qualities no longer stand out. Anyone can give a speech while practicing a manic form of port de bras. Even at a spry 77 years of age, Bernie Sanders has mastered the art of stern finger-pointing and raising his arms barely above his torso.

"Maybe Beto supporters once held out hope the rapid flapping of his arms would somehow help him take flight, like a bird after rooting for scraps at the hustings.

"It might even be the case that Beto’s schtick, callow and self-possessed as it was, has just worn thin. Existential crisis in the form of a road trip? Please. The Beat era has long passed. So, why’s the former Texas congressman acting like Ike Eisenhower is still in the White House?

"Beto’s one-man kitchen-sink drama has lost purchase among the Democrat faithful, particularly women. How do I know? The barometer for insipid progressive opinion: “The View.”

"The prating ladies of the daytime cable gabfest have lost interest in the Democrats’ former Sirius in a powder-blue button-up. What they object to isn’t Beto’s desperate attempt to compensate for his dearth of substantive policies by releasing pie-in-the-sky proposals for ridding America of Sunoco stations by 2050. What they take umbrage with is Beto’s knack for leaving his wife and kids and driving aimlessly around the country, visiting rustic locals and munching on flapjacks at way station diners.

“No woman could ever lose running for Senate, then go on a Jack Kerouac road trip, abandoning his wife and kids, finding himself,” Meghan McCain vented. Whoopi Goldberg, nobody’s idea of a culturally conservative mother, concurred: “If you have children as a woman… you can go… [but] nobody will understand.”

Goldberg then imitated Beto with all the theatricality of an Elizabethan actress. “Men are always…’ Oh, I’ve got to find myself.’” Lord, what fools these mortals be, indeed." . . .

"American society"; "the wisdom of the American voter", all made manifest in cheers of youthful girls as the candidate skateboards onto his campaign stage."

Beyonce And Jay Z Want Michelle Obama For President 2020, Beyonce Cries With Blue Ivy Over Donald Trump Win

Inquisitr, 2016  . . . “They are both convinced that she would be the ultimate candidate, and have spoken to the first lady about the possibility of this many times. With [Donald] Trump winning, Beyonce will continue to encourage Michelle to run for president in 2020.”

"Beyonce and Jay Z desperately want Michelle Obama to run for president in 2020 after learning about Donald Trump’s win, according to The USA News Online." . . .

2016: The outgoing First Lady has consistently held higher approval ratings than her husband throughout his administration – and her supporters want her to be the next Obama in the Oval Office

But nowadays...Don’t rule out Michelle Obama as Democrats’ Hail Mary Pass to prevent a Bernie apocalypse  "Michelle Obama has repeatedly said she doesn’t want to run for president, and she will not run for president.

"I believe her. But her husband once made a declaration that he would not run for president, until he did.

"We have been on Michelle-for-President-watch longer than just about anyone else:

• Get Ready for Michelle Obama 2020 (September 10, 2017)
• Michelle Obama 2020. Yes She Can. But will she run? (January 29, 2018)
• Michelle Obama 2020 coming into focus with Memoirs release just after 2018 midterms (February 25, 2018)
• Michelle Obama may be best Dem hope for 2020, but says she doesn’t want the job (April 7, 2018)
• Rasmussen Poll: Michelle Obama would beat Trump (November 19, 2018)
• Michelle Obama’s Grammys Buzz – A reminder of the mediocrity of Democrat presidential candidates (February 11, 2019)
• With Bread Line Bernie rising, expect Michelle-mentum (February 21, 2019)

"The logic of Michelle as Hail Mary Pass is as clear as it ever was. At least to me.

"The Democratic field is expanding, with Joe Biden set to announce tomorrow, if someone remembers to wake him up.

"And therein lies the problem. It’s Bernie’s nomination to lose. He may lose, but there’s no obvious person, other than Biden perhaps, who can stop him.

"I don’t believe that establishment and non-lunatic Democrats will allow a Bernie nomination. Bernie as nominee would be extraordinarily risky to Democrats. He’s not only a socialist, he wants the Boston Marathon Bomber to be able to vote from prison!

"Is there any doubt for whom, as between Trump and Bernie, the Boston Marathon Bomber would vote? Republican attack ad makers never had it so easy?". . .

Venezuelan socialism victims send message to American socialists

Townhall

Campus Reform  "Amid a historic uprising in Venezuela, where opposition leader Juan Guaidó is attempting to overthrow socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro, some Venezuelan expatriates here in the United States have a dire warning for American socialists: don't do it.

While President Donald Trump has stated that America "will never be a socialist country," a number of 2020 Democrat presidential candidates are pushing what they call Democratic Socliast policies. And, as Campus Reform has repeatedly m.reported, the popularity of socialism has been on the rise, especially among college students. 

"According to Gallup, the majority of Democrats view socialism more favorably than Capitalism.

"People who support socialism had ever heard from people who’ve suffered under it, Campus Reform's Cabot Phillips headed to a Venezuelan Freedom rally in Washington, D.C. earlier this year. It soon became abundantly clear that the Venezuelans in attendance were horrified by the idea of bringing socialism to the United States. Asking them, “What is your message to those who want socialism here,” the attendees were in agreement: don’t do it. “You do not ever want anything close to socialism,” one attendee said, while another added, “people are eating from trash cans in the streets, so how has socialism helped?”Another attendee, whose family is still in Venezuela, said, “No Venezuelan can like socialism, because we’ve seen it put in place very well.”

The free speech stories this week you may have missed

https://legalinsurrection.com/

Campus Reform  "It was quite a week when it comes to free speech on college campuses. Campus Reform covered six incidents in five states where conservative individuals or groups faced censorship or disruption while exercising their First Amendment rights to free speech. 

"The multiple incidents occurred as two Oklahoma's governor signed into law a campus free speech bill, and the Texas legislature inched closer to sending a campus free speech bill to its governor's desk. If Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signs a campus free speech bill into law, which he has said he will, the Lone Star State would become the 13th state to have passed campus free speech legislation. Fifteen other states have introduced, but not passed, campus free speech legislation. 

"Here's a map and brief roundup of the stories you may have missed: " . . .

Read entire article here.

Missouri lawmaker faces calls to resign after posting ‘I hope Trump is assassinated’ on Facebook

Flex Mag  "A Missouri lawmaker is under mounting pressure to resign after she said on social media she hopes President Trump is assassinated, following his response to violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville.
"Democratic state Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal went on her personal Facebook page Thursday morning to vent two days after the president blamed “both sides” for the brutality.
“I put up a statement saying, ‘I really hate Trump. He’s causing trauma and nightmares.’ That was my original post,” she told the Kansas City Star. The Facebook post received many responses, Chappelle-Nadal said, and to one she replied, “I hope Trump is assassinated!” 
“ 'There are people who are afraid of white supremacists,” she added. “There are people who are having nightmares. There are people who are afraid of going out in the streets. It’s worse than even Ferguson.”
"Though the senator quickly deleted the comment, an image of the statement swept social media, catching the attention of the Secret Service and prompting calls for her to step down.
"The Secret Service said it is “looking into the comments,” adding that all threats made against the president, vice president and other protected people are investigated, whether the threats are direct, implied or made in [anger?].
"Chappelle-Nadal later explained that she didn’t actually wish harm to come to Trump but wrote it out of frustration."

Missouri lawmaker faces calls to resign after posting ‘I hope Trump is assassinated’ on Facebook  . . . "Meanwhile, the Missouri House on Wednesday opted to open an ethics review of Republican State Rep. Warren Love, who is white, for an August Facebook post in which he called for those responsible for defacing a Confederate monument in Springfield, Missouri, to be “hung from a tall tree with a long rope.”

"After that post, the Missouri Democratic Party called for Love’s resignation, saying his words brought to mind the lynchings of black people. Love said his words were “cowboy slang” and not a call for lynchings. He soon apologized “to all who this post offended.'”.

UPDATED, 5/6/2019: In the "greatest deliberative body in the world" we have...The Chicken Man!

Update, 5/8: Stunt Backfire: Dem Rep Steve Cohen Admits That Stuffing His Face With Chicken ‘didn’t picture well’    Brit Hume had but one comment for Cohen:
"How fun to enjoy one’s second childhood in Congress."

UPDATE: "WATCH: Chicken Eating Cohen: I Want AG Barr Physically Dragged In To Testify Before House Judiciary" He said this on - wait for it - CNN

. . . "It's really hard to take someone like Cohen seriously, especially when he shows up to a Committee hearing meeting with a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Maybe he missed the memo: the majority of his Democratic colleagues have law degrees. Most of them have practiced law in some capacity and others have even taught law school classes." . . .

‘Chicken Barr’: Steve Cohen brings fried chicken to Barr’s no-show committee hearing

"Lookit me, guys! Ya gettin' this?"

Did Rep. Cohen’s Fried Chicken Stunt Lay An Egg?  . . . "Because this is 2019 and no silly stunt is off the table for either side, Cohen placed a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken and a chicken figurine in front of Barr’s empty chair implying cowardice … or snack time. Cohen enjoyed eating some chicken (no mention if it was crispy or extra crispy) for the benefit of the cameras. Trust me, no one really wanted to see that." . . .

What reason do we have to hold any respect toward the Democrats and the American left as a whole? 
Dread, yes; respect, no.

Timothy Bishop

via GIPHY

Ian Macfarlane

Jerry Nadler will restore congressional dignity to this juvenile farce. Oops, what? Really?

Obama and Clinton’s Coup d’état Enters the 2020 Election Campaign

Canada Free Press

"The coup in which Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton used the FBI to try to overturn the 2016 election of Donald Trump lives on, and has moved full-bore into the 2020 presidential election campaign.
"Making it a big deal that he is “not Obama endorsed”, ex-vice president Joe Biden launched his presidential bid as the front runner who will fight off Trump for the “soul of America”. 
"Behind all the hullabaloo, aside from spreading the Big Lie that Trump’s a “racist”, Biden is really only in the presidential race to keep a seat warm for Obama, who will install whomever he wants as the Democrat nominee, unfortunately perhaps including his overbearing wife, Michelle. 
"Having lost his last shot at a third term in office through the 2016 humiliating defeat of Hillary Clinton, the Big O’s back in the presidential game, and this time he’s playing for keeps. Obama continues to be extremely popular among the Democrats, who see him as their “Resistance Leader”. 
"Don’t believe for a New York nano-second that that big-talking Biden will be nominated by the DNC to run against President Donald Trump. Biden’s a handpicked Obama stand-in, who will promptly stand down whenever his former boss gives the order. 
"It’s now “Trump’s a racist!” times 20. The 20 being contenders in the car full of Democrat crazies that will come before the hapless masses 24-7, courtesy of mainstream and social media. 
"For most everyone else, yesterday was April 25, 2019, the day that Joe Biden launched his presidential campaign by video before posing as a common man, riding the rails back to a 3-day rest to rejuvenate at home. 
"But to Barack Hussein Obama, it was November 9, 2016 when he lost his last shot at a third term in office by the humiliating and unexpected defeat of his former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. 
"For Obama, Hillary and the Democrat wolf pack at large, yesterday was a second chance to go back to what should have been their victory on Nov. 9, 2016. 
"In a field rife with Trump Haters For Life, Biden comes into the 2020 race as the ultimate ANTI-TRUMP, while self identifying as an “Obama-Biden Democrat”.
"All 20 Democrat presidential hopefuls and their supporters are playing against a backdrop of “Who’s a socialist democrat?” and “Who’s a moderate progressive?”, and will continue the Act over the next 18 months,.
"All Democrats, are, of course, socialist Democrats. Moderate Progressives have long ago, gone with the wind.
"Front row on centre stage at the moment are two frontrunner septuagenarians Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders, supposedly fiercely duking it out. 
"But how long will it be before Biden, 76, and Sanders, 79, will need to be resuscitated with smelling salts? 
"According to Biden: “I asked Obama not to endorse me”. “I asked President Obama not to endorse,” he told reporters in Delaware. “And he doesn’t want to—whoever wins this nomination should win it on their own merits.”  . . .

Injured Cop Will Be Allowed To Sue Black Lives Matter Leader

Weasel Zippers  The network of street and campus demagogues known as Black Lives Matter pretty much has operated with impunity since its founding. But a court ruling late last month could make these social media-based grievance peddlers think twice before targeting cops. 

"On April 24, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit unanimously ruled that an injured Baton Rouge, La., police officer has legal standing to sue DeRay Mckesson (he prefers not to capitalize the “k”), Black Lives Matter’s unofficial mouthpiece and most visible organizer. Mckesson, the complaint read, in coaxing a large group of demonstrators to block traffic on a highway back on July 9, 2016, created the conditions for the attack on the officer, identified only as John Doe. The decision overturns a district court ruling. And it is the right call. 

"Black Lives Matter (BLM), now with dozens of chapters across the U.S., came together in July 2013 following the justified acquittal by a Florida state jury of George Zimmerman, a white neighborhood patrol volunteer charged with murder in the shooting death of a black teen attacker, Trayvon Martin. The group attained a national profile in August 2014 when it sponsored continuous street rallies in Ferguson, Mo. to protest the police shooting death of an “unarmed” young black adult, Michael Brown, who in fact had violently assaulted the officer only a minute or two before. Rioting occurred that month, and again more destructively, that November after a county grand jury decided not to indict the officer. 

"With Black Lives Matter, the preordained script is “white oppressor, black victim,” regardless of location." . . .

Hero Citizen Tackles Suspected Arsonist Setting Wildfire in Los Angeles

Legal Insurrection

“I yell at him, like, ‘what are you doing?’ . . . he says, ‘I’m destroying everything.'”

"Legal Insurrection readers may recall that in the autumn of 2017, a series of wildfires broke out in Southern California. One of those blazes threatened the famed Getty Center Museum.

"On Easter Sunday this year, a suspected arsonist, who set off fires in the Sepulveda Pass near the Getty Center, was taken into custody after a an alert citizen saw the man lighting the fires and tackled him.

The suspect was arrested after Richard Lazenby took him down to the ground and held him there until officers arrived. Part of that confrontation was caught on camera.

“I yell at him, like, ‘what are you doing?” Lazenby told KTLA. “And he says, ‘I’m destroying everything.'”

Lazenby was driving home from Easter Sunday church service with his family when he saw brush fires burning along Sepulveda Boulevard. He then saw the suspect lighting another fire, and blocked the man with his vehicle.

. . . Unless there is a change in the approach to homelessness, Californians better hope that citizens like Richard Lazenby remain in the state. We will need more heroes.