Friday Talking Points — Deportation Clarification

Donald Trump going to Mexico could have had a certain “Nixon goes to China” flavor about it, and he actually was getting some good reviews for crossing the very low bar of “not totally embarrassing himself or his country” — at least for the first few hours. Then he went to Phoenix, and Mr. Hyde came back out.

Trump gave what was billed as a major speech on immigration, which turned out to be exactly what he’d been saying all along on the subject. The big difference? It was in (gasp!) a numbered list read off a TelePrompTer. As for the policies, there wasn’t much difference at all from what he’s been saying throughout the campaign so far.

Deportation force? Check! [Trump called it a “deportation task force” which was about the only real change.] Big, beautiful wall? Check! [It will now have magic tunnel sensors!] Mexico pays for the wall? Yep! [“They don’t know it yet, but they’re going to pay for it.”] Deportation for all? Oh, you bet! [Only change seems to be that some will have to wait a little longer to be deported.] Dreamer kids? Deport ’em all! Two million “criminal aliens” deported in the first hour he’s in office? Count on it! Softening? Pivot? Nope! [Fooled ya again, suckers!]

No word on whether Trump enjoyed a taco bowl at any point during his big Mexico/immigration day. The fallout from his hardliner speech in Phoenix was swift, as several of the “Latino advisors” Trump had recently met with quit the effort in disgust and publicly renounced their support for Trump’s campaign. So, it looks like that whole minority outreach thing is going swimmingly, folks!

Tomorrow, Trump is apparently planning the same sort of minority outreach to African-Americans. That should be interesting, to put it mildly.

If it even happens, that is. The negotiations for this visit have been pretty convoluted, so far. Ben Carson was apparently the instigator of this trip, designed to introduce Donald Trump to some actual African-Americans in Detroit (where Carson grew up). Not a bad idea, on the face of it. But the Trump campaign is about as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs about what could happen.

At first, Trump was supposed to address the congregation at a Great Faith Ministries International service. This was then changed to just an interview with the pastor, held in private, to be broadcast publicly a week later. Just to be certain there wouldn’t be any surprises, the Trump campaign demanded all questions be submitted in advance, in writing. Then Team Trump carefully wrote out answers for Trump to parrot back. No word on whether a TelePrompTer would be allowed, or if Trump would be allowed to just read from prepared notes. And the icing on the cake: Trump’s campaign would be allowed to edit the interview after it happened, “so that the final version reflected the campaign’s wishes.” You can see what we mean about that cat nervously eying all the rocking chairs, right?

The New York Times helpfully provided excerpts from the prepared answers Trump was supposed to read. Most of it is commonplace progressive-bashing Republican boilerplate, with faint overtones of racial condescension: “If you want a better America, you must break from the historical hold that Democrats have had on people of color and move to options that allow you to achieve your potential.” The most amusing part of the script was the answer Trump’s handlers prepared for the first question: “Are you a Christian and do you believe the Bible is an inspired word of God?”

As I went through my life, things got busy with business, but my family kept me grounded to the truth and the word of God. I treasure my relationship with my family, and through them, I have a strong faith enriched by an ever-wonderful God.

Translation: “My family’s religious! Didn’t you see my wonderful kids at the convention? All their religious faith has got to have rubbed off on me a little bit, right?” You’ve got to love that last term: “an ever-wonderful God,” which was obviously included in a pathetic attempt to make all of this sound like something Trump would spontaneously say. Now that the prepared script has been leaked, it will be interesting to see how far Trump actually strays from the words he’s been told to say, that’s for sure.

Trump’s campaign did go into some frenetic damage control after the New York Times exposed all their careful preparation. They now say they will refrain from editing the interview themselves (awfully big of them, don’t you think?). They also have promised that Trump will actually speak to more than just one person, and “would indeed address the congregation for a few minutes and would spend a half-hour casually speaking with church members individually.” So it looks like there will still be plenty of room for a few monstrous gaffes after all….

At the very least, though, Donald Trump is putting himself out there. Hillary Clinton seems to have largely disappeared in the meantime, which has coincided with a noticeable drop in the polls for her. She’s still beating Trump, mind you, just by a thinner margin. But the trendline should be worrisome for Democrats. Hillary has slipped a point or two from the bounce she got after the Democratic National Convention, but is still in relatively healthy shape. Donald Trump hasn’t really benefited much from this slip, as most of the restless voters have moved instead to third-party candidates. This is also a worrisome trend, since up until now the Libertarian and Green candidates seem to have drained votes from both major candidates in equal proportion. Hillary Clinton is doing a much better job than Trump of running ads and setting up her ground game, but it is time for her to stop appearing only in front of well-heeled donors and return to campaigning in earnest. Especially after the F.B.I. released another document dump on the subject of her email server today.

In other amusing news from the Republican campaign trail (down-ballot), John McCain and Marco Rubio handily won their respective GOP primaries this Tuesday. McCain wasted no time in running very quickly away from Donald Trump afterwards, releasing a web video where he warns of the dangers of the upcoming Hillary Clinton presidency.

It was revealed this week that Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, also running for re-election, would cut his own children off from receiving their inheritance if they committed more than one felony, or had (or sired) more than one child out of wedlock. Nothing like family values, eh? I mean, it’s not like Republicans are usually big fans of providing incentives for family members to get abortions or anything, right?

What else… Sarah Palin did a face-plant it on a rock-running trail, causing herself a head injury. From what she posted afterwards, it’s really kind of hard to tell the difference between Palin ranting with a concussion and all of Palin’s previous mangling of the English language. Oh, and Iowa Republicans running for Senate all seem to be using exactly the same kids in all their campaign ads. That should be interesting, when their television ads run right after each other!

And finally, we conclude this introductory section with a plug for an election information site that caught our eye. It’s called “ProCon” and it lists in detail all the candidates’ positions on all kinds of specific issues. Complete with quotes and history, it is a valuable resource to compare all the presidential candidates (even some from primary season who didn’t make the cut) on whatever issue matters most to you. So check it out!

 

Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week

Three Democrats were mildly impressive this week: Debbie Wasserman Schultz won the primary for her House seat, Joe Biden compassionately dealt with a heckler at a campaign speech, and Hillary Clinton actually reacted quickly to a news story and introduced a new policy idea to combat rampant greed and price-gouging among drug companies with monopolies on common medications. That last one, in particular, is worth at least an Honorable Mention because it showed leadership and showed Team Clinton could react quicker than they usually do to a big news story. Is her plan workable? Hard to tell, but it’s notable for being just about the only plan out there to directly attack companies who jack up the price of medication by hundreds of percent just because they can.

But this week’s Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week award goes to President Obama, for setting a record that will forever be part of his legacy. Last week, Obama commuted the sentences of 111 offenders, some of them serving life in prison for heinous crimes such as selling LSD at a Grateful Dead show. Obama is using the power of the pen to bring relief to people who were sentenced at the height of the “mandatory minimum” Drug War craze — people who would get far less punishment for the same crimes today.

Obama’s total for August alone was 325 commutations — the most of any U.S. president in a single month, ever. His overall record is equally impressive, now standing at 673 commutations, which is more than the previous 10 presidents combined.

With Obama entering his final months in office, we can probably expect to see hundreds more federal prisoners obtain either commutations of their sentences or outright pardons. This is normal for the end of any president’s term, in fact (although Obama’s numbers are a lot higher).

Now, even 673 commutations is nowhere near enough. Tens of thousands of people were sentenced under Draconian drug laws in the 1990s and 2000s who should also have a chance to be freed or fully pardoned. But Obama has made great strides towards dismantling the worst excesses of the era, as the Drug War slowly winds down after roughly a century of political exploitation.

For doing what he can — more than any previous president in a single month, in fact — President Obama has certainly earned another Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week award.

[Congratulate President Barack Obama via the White House contact page, to let him know you appreciate his efforts.]

 

Most Disappointing Democrat Of The Week

To use a baseball metaphor, Anthony Weiner just got his third strike and is now out — of his marriage.

Yes, our Most Disappointing Democrat Of The Week this week is none other than “Carlos Danger” himself, Anthony “Let Me Show You My” Weiner.

Weiner’s first foray into getting publicly caught sexting pictures of his… um… last name, to women he was not actually married to, cost him his House seat. His second public humiliation for doing exactly the same stupid thing cost him any slim chance he might have had at becoming mayor of New York City.

His third boneheaded sexting adventure is already proving to be the costliest one for Weiner yet, as it has already cost him his marriage (to Hillary Clinton’s closest advisor), and put him under investigation from the local child welfare agency. This was because he actually (shudder) sent one of his sexts to yet another woman who was not actually his wife, which included his young son on the bed with him.

That’s really about all that needs to be said about that. Hopefully, three strikes means he will forever be out of the public eye, and we’ll never have to give him another MDDOTW award ever again. Hopefully, at any rate.

For being a serial peter-tweeter, Anthony Weiner is easily (we were going to say “hands down” but then we reconsidered that imagery) this week’s Most Disappointing Democrat Of The Week. Three strikes, you’re out… as Carlos Danger rides sadly off into the sunset.

[Anthony Weiner is actually a private citizen, and our blanket policy is not to provide contact information for such persons.]

 

Friday Talking Points

Volume 406 (9/2/16)

Today’s talking points have a theme. The theme is: “When reaching out to minority voters, it’s best if you don’t then smack them in the face.” Three of these come straight from prominent Latinos who previously (right up until he gave his Phoenix speech) supported Donald Trump. The first two deal with Trump’s much-ballyhooed African-American outreach. As always, enjoy and use these talking points responsibly (heh).

 

1
   Not funny at all

It is 2016, but apparently some people’s sense of humor is stuck in about the 1950s, it seems.

“I see the Trump campaign’s outreach to minority voters is going about as well as anyone really should have expected. While much attention was paid to Trump’s speech about immigration, Team Trump was also out there trying to woo the African-American vote. By tweeting a cartoon depicting Hillary Clinton in blackface. No really — that’s their idea of what constitutes acceptable humor in this day and age. And I guess that’s their idea of how to reach out to minority voters, too. Seems more like a smack in the face than any definition of ‘outreach’ I’ve seen.”

 

2
   What is Trump scared of?

This one is just too, too funny.

“Donald Trump is heading to the wilderness known as ‘Detroit,’ but don’t worry, he’ll have Ben Carson there to explain stuff to him. Trump will also grant an interview to a second actual African-American, a pastor at a church there. But it seems Team Trump is absolutely terrified by the prospect. First they decided that Trump wouldn’t actually be speaking to the congregation. Then they demanded that all the questions be submitted in advance. The original plan was also that ‘aides would… edit the taped interview so that the final version reflected the campaign’s wishes.’ Even that wasn’t enough cotton padding, they also decided to write out Trump’s answers in advance, in the hopes that he wouldn’t say something outrageous. When this all was exposed by the media, Trump’s campaign quickly backtracked and said they wouldn’t actually be editing the interview themselves, and that Trump will speak for ‘at least 10 minutes’ to the congregation. Gee, I wonder why they’re worried? Donald Trump speaking in front of the biggest African-American audience he’s ever faced, about his supposed deep religious feelings? What could possibly go wrong?”

 

3
   Beautiful outreach

Trump apparently has his own convenient place to shop for new wives. No surprise, really.

“Donald Trump, among his other business enterprises, runs Trump Model Management, an agency for foreign models to work through in New York. But to listen to actual models who used to work for Trump’s agency, the place was nothing more than a multi-layered scam. The biggest revelation was, according to more than one model, that Trump was ‘bringing in all of these girls from all over the world and they’re working illegally.’ No work permits were ever even applied for, and the models were told precisely how to lie to immigration agents when entering the country. I guess it’s not all that surprising that Trump would completely ignore immigration law to his own profit, since we’re still waiting to find out exactly how his current wife entered the country. What she described, in fact, was precisely what a model in New York would have to do to fool the immigration folks by working here on a tourist visa, stating: ‘Every few months you need to fly back to Europe and stamp your visa.’ Trump promised there’d be a press conference to explain Melania’s immigration history, but I’m not exactly holding my breath waiting for that to happen. If Trump were truly serious about cracking down on employers for immigration violations, he’d have to start with his own company, and what are the chances of that happening?”

 

4
   A big fight

These next three are all from prominent Latinos who used to support Trump but now can’t anymore (from two separate articles about Latinos fleeing the Trump campaign). The first is from “leading Latino conservative” and “prominent surrogate for Trump” Alfonso Aguilar, on hoping for a Trump pivot, and on why he can no longer support Trump:

Last week, you could tell, there was the real possibility of a pivot. I think there was a big fight within the campaign, and I think the restrictionist forces won.

 

5
   No time for being scammed

The next two are from former members of Trump’s “National Hispanic Advisory Council” who can no longer live with supporting Trump (there are others who have fled the council, it’s worth mentioning, but due to space limitations we’re only going to quote two of them). The first is from Ramiro Pena, a pastor at Waco’s Christ the King Church.

I am so sorry but I believe Mr. Trump lost the election tonight. The “National Hispanic Advisory Council” seems to be simply for optics and I do not have the time or energy for a scam.

 

6
   Coming soon — Trump TV?

Texas lawyer Jacob Monty was telling anyone who would listen what his reaction to the speech was, as he also exited Trump’s Latino outreach council.

The speech was just an utter disappointment. We were out there defending him. And then to be just lied to like that — it doesn’t feel good. It’s not okay.

. . .

Maybe this is part of a media play where he wants to create a media empire that will focus on the millions of nativists that believe that the country needs to control immigration. And if that’s his play, it will be good and he’ll have millions of followers. But he won’t win the presidency.

 

7
   Foul play?

This last one comes from David Kochel, former campaign strategist for Jeb Bush, on the subject of who exactly Trump’s speech was supposed to impress.

It has to be [the Trump campaign’s] calculation that they can drive up turnout in white working-class areas of battleground states to dizzying heights. Otherwise this move makes no sense 69 days from the election. The “softening” of Trump’s immigration policy died tragically on Wednesday night in Phoenix. Foul play is suspected.

 

Chris Weigant blogs at:

ChrisWeigant.com

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant

Full archives of FTP columns: FridayTalkingPoints.com

All-time award winners leaderboard, by rank

 

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Michigan Begs Supreme Court To Reinstate Ban On 'Straight-Ticket' Voting

Running against the clock, Michigan on Friday asked the Supreme Court to allow the state to enforce a ban on “straight-ticket” voting ― the practice of voting for all the candidates of the same party by marking a single box on a ballot.

Michigan allowed straight-ticket voting for 125 years, but lawmakers eliminated it in late 2015 ― setting the stage for a legal challenge to the ban, which advocates said disproportionately affected African-American voters.

A lower court in May agreed and concluded that the straight-ticket ban amounted to a likely violation of the Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 ― in part because implementing it for the November election would cause voter confusion and increase wait times at polling stations. 

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit largely upheld that ruling last month. But on Thursday the full court split sharply on whether to rehear the case, with a majority declining to do so and six judges dissenting.

“The will of Michigan’s people, expressed through their legislature, was to have the same system as the large majority of states, containing the large majority of voters, of all types of races and parties,” wrote one of the dissenting judges.

In its emergency request to the Supreme Court on Friday, the state included this and other case history, insisting that requiring voters to vote for individual candidates ― rather than in one shot for a party’s entire ticket ― doesn’t harm Michigan voters and is in fact accepted across much of the country.

“Michigan has joined 40 other states by requiring voters to actually vote for each candidate they intend to support — in other words, by eliminating straight-ticket voting,” read the state’s filing, which was addressed to Justice Elena Kagan. “This change is not a burden on voting — it is the very act of voting.”

Lawyers for the state set a hard deadline of Sept. 8 for the court to act, pointing to ballot printing deadlines set by law and other logistics ahead of Election Day. Perhaps to account for that timeline, Kagan asked proponents of straight-ticket voting to respond to Michigan’s request by Sept. 7.

In light of the Supreme Court’s makeup and the divisiveness of voting rights matters, it’s unlikely a majority of the justices will side with Michigan’s request. One voting rights expert, Richard Hasen, predicted the state’s chances weren’t that good.

Friday’s filing is the latest in a string of actions the Supreme Court has been asked to take to put on hold lower court rulings that could impact the November elections. Its most prominent move so far, an order preventing North Carolina from enforcing its restrictive voting law, found the justices divided across ideological lines.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Syfy’s ‘Channel Zero’ series is seriously creepy in new teaser trailer

Syfy, the network with shows just cheesy enough to keep people coming back, has a new series that’ll be airing soon called “Channel Zero.” It is, according to the network, based upon the creepypasta stories that dot the Internet. It appears the show will be broken up into various stories by season, with the first being Channel Zero: Candle Cove … Continue reading

Samsung Launches Exchange Program For The Galaxy Note 7

galaxy-note-7-s-pen_04Now as you might have heard, Samsung has officially announced that they would be recalling the Galaxy Note 7 over concerns regarding the batteries in the phone, and how for some reason a small number of devices have been exploding because of the defective batteries (we assume).

If you live in the US and you own the Galaxy Note 7 and you’re wondering how to send your phone back to Samsung, wonder no more as Samsung has since established an exchange program for the Galaxy Note 7 in the US, so owners of the device will want to take note of how they can send their handsets in for a new (and hopefully not defective) one.

According to Samsung, “While there have been only a small number of reported incidents, Samsung is taking great care to provide customers with the support they need. Samsung has identified the affected inventory and stopped sales and shipments of those devices. For customers, who have Galaxy Note7 devices, Samsung will voluntarily replace their current device with a new one from today.”

Samsung will allow these users to exchange their Note 7 for a new Note 7 starting next week. Alternatively if you’d rather not have a Note 7, Samsung will let you change it for a Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge, and you will also get a refund on the price difference between devices. As a token of their appreciation, Samsung will also be giving customers a $25 gift card or bill credit. To make the exchange, customers will have to either visit the retail store they got their phone from, or call Samsung’s hotline.

Samsung Launches Exchange Program For The Galaxy Note 7 , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

Latest Pokemon GO Update Introduces The Buddy System

pokemon go buddySeveral days ago, information that was data mined from Pokemon go revealed that the game had an upcoming feature in the form of a buddy system. Basically from what we could tell from the code, it allows players to travel with a Pokemon on the map, and from there they would be able to generate Pokemon-specific candy.

For those wondering about the update, it looks like it is here. Niantic has announced the Buddy Pokemon experience which according to them, “Trainers, the upcoming version of Pokémon GO introduces a new Buddy Pokémon experience. You will be able to pick your favorite Pokémon to become your buddy.”

“Having a Buddy Pokémon opens up unique in-game rewards and experiences. Buddy Pokémon will appear alongside your Trainer avatar on your profile screen. A Trainer can earn Candy for their buddy by walking a certain distance.” They also add that gamers will be able to switch Pokemon buddies whenever they want.

This is actually a pretty handy tool because right now, one of the ways to earn candy is by catching the same Pokemon and turning them into the professor for candy, which can be troublesome and a waste of time, so if you’re out and about exploring already, this feature lets you generate some candy at the same time, which might be handy if you’re looking to level a specific Pokemon. The update should be live so check it out if you haven’t done so already.

Latest Pokemon GO Update Introduces The Buddy System , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

Google Confirms Project Ara Has Been Suspended

project-ara-teaserA report from earlier today from Reuters revealed that Google had essentially scrapped their plans for Project Ara, their modular smartphone project. However at that time, Google did not confirm anything yet, at least until now when the folks at VentureBeat reached out and a spokesperson confirmed it.

According to the spokesperson, they told VentureBeat that Google had indeed suspended their plans for Project Ara. Unfortunately the spokesperson declined to comment any further, so as to what the official reason may be, we can’t say for sure. However as per Reuters’ report, apparently this move was done by Google to streamline their hardware efforts.

It is unclear if we will see Project Ara revived again, but considering that Google has yet to bring back some of their previously shuttered projects, it would seem unlikely. Last we heard, Google could be planning on licensing out the technology behind Project Ara, so maybe not all is lost after all, but who will pick up the technology remains to be seen.

While modular smartphones hold a ton of potential, so far some of the efforts we’ve seen aren’t exactly commercial successes. For example LG tried the modular thing with the LG G5 and the LG Friends accessories, but safe to say that hasn’t exactly taken off. Motorola has tried something similar with the Moto Mods accessories, but once again, they’re not exactly being raved about it.

Google Confirms Project Ara Has Been Suspended , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

Adorable robots help travellers at Tokyo's Haneda airport

Getting lost in an international airport is never fun — but if you’re lost in Japan’s Haneda this month, you’ll at least be able get help from an adorable talking robot. From now until the 14th, Hitachi is testing its EMIEW3 humanoid robot in the ai…

Hey Does Anyone Find Roger Ailes' Recent Career Trajectory Puzzling, Or Is It Just Me?

Over at Daily Intelligencer, Gabriel Sherman has a fresh account of the banishment of Roger Ailes from the Fox News Channel, focused mainly on the women at Fox who meticulously built their case against the infamous network head in response to years of sexual harassment. You can revisit many of the gory details of the case: the snide sexist comments, the way Ailes treated his female talent as objects for his on-demand titillations, and the retreat to intimidation whenever one of Ailes’ victims dared to stand up to him. All in all, it paints the picture of an ouster that was justly deserved.

Here’s an interesting side detail to this whole story, though. Ailes went from being forced out at Fox News under a grotesque, career-ending scandal to ― hey, let me double-check this … oh, yeah, here we go ― advising a presidential campaign.

That’s like … fffffucked up, man! I think that maybe more people should talk about this?

Of course, many people have noted that Ailes has ended up in the advisory orbit of GOP presidential candidate and sewage-poisoned log flume Donald Trump. One can’t help but notice this because, of late, the Trump campaign has seemingly made a mission of collecting many of the right wing’s more diabolical characters, “Pokemon Go”-style.

Trump traded up friend-to-dictators Paul Manafort for the dick-to-his-friends Steve Bannon, who apparently nurtured a rancid corporate culture of his own over at Breitbart News. More recently, Trump added Citizens United hatchet-man David Bossie to his camp as deputy campaign manager. They join ranks that include famed “dirty trickster” Roger Stone, trench-mouthed adviser Carl Paladino, and the perpetually hanging on hanger-on Corey Lewandowski, whose relationship to the campaign ― maybe he’s in, maybe he’s not ― seems to depend on the wind direction. (Recent acquisition Kellyanne Conway is the seasoned professional who’s been tasked with extracting a functioning, professional campaign from this rogues’ gallery ― that is, if she has any time left between all the occasions someone asks her to “give him a little twirl.”)

So, yeah, maybe it’s easy to lose a Roger Ailes in that sketchy wilderness, but one would think that the fact that Ailes got tossed from the news network he led to prominence after it came to light that he’d been routinely terrorizing his female employees might make it just a little bit harder. (Harder still, when you factor in the allegations he was using shareholder money for what amounted to prostitution, the “black box” espionage operation he set up within Fox, and the massive settlements he paid out to keep all of this quiet.)

Strangely however, the fact that Ailes’ workplace scandal ― the very thing that made it possible for him to advise the Trump campaign in a formal capacity in the first place ― doesn’t seem to come up all that often, and when it does, it never comes with any sort of accompanying comment noting that it’s really, really messed up that the guy went from his specific sort of tawdry downfall to the inner circle of a presidential campaign, or that this is the sort of hire that most presidential campaigns try to not make at this stage of the game.

The New York Times, in its initial report on Ailes’ involvement with the campaign, very quickly notes that Ailes was “ousted … over charges of sexual harassment.” But the same piece moves quickly to suggest that for Ailes, “being connected with Mr. Trump’s campaign could be a form of redemption after he was pushed out of the powerful network that he helped build.” Leaving aside the fact that the Trump campaign seems to the planet’s least likely repository of spiritual salvation, how would this work? It would seem that Ailes’ path to “redemption” would necessarily include a raft of apologies and the making of substantial restitution to the women he abused.

“Still,” writes the Times, “Mr. Ailes’s involvement is certain to stoke controversy.” Not if you suggest that his involvement might lead to redemption it won’t!

CNN’s Brian Stelter, pointing out the strange way the Trump campaign seemed to not want to make its embrace of Ailes known ― endeavoring to distinguish Ailes as an adviser to Trump, but not to the campaign ― notes Ailes’ ouster and provides the understatement: “The distinction is significant because Ailes is a subject of controversy.” I’ll say! And attendant to that controversy is the fact that Trump actually defended Ailes during the swirling scandal. “I can tell you that some of the women that are complaining,” said Trump, “I know how much he’s helped them.” Sure, sure.

“It makes a certain sense,” writes The Atlantic’s David Graham, “that ― as The New York Times reports ― Roger Ailes, the recently ousted Fox News chief, is advising Donald Trump ahead of the presidential debates.”

But, does it??

“Whatever his failings,” Graham writes, “Ailes knows his way around TV and salesmanship.”

I mean, the whole fact that he made a practice of sexually harassing his on-air talent maybe suggests that these skills aren’t as amazing a commodity to a campaign as one might have previously imagined. Moreover, I’m having a really difficult time picturing a conversation between Ailes and Trump in which Trump accepts the premise that Ailes knows more about how to perform on television than the candidate does.

By far the oddest story on the Ailes-Trump team-up comes from The Washington Post’s Callum Borchers, in a piece titled, “Why Donald Trump and Roger Ailes are so cagey about their relationship.” Based on that headline, you’d think that this explanation would be very quickly and capably rendered, because of the rather obvious reason they’d need to be so cagey. 

Per Borchers:

Now, CBS News reports that Ailes participated in a debate prep session Sunday. If the TV titan is assisting Trump, why so cagey? Why wouldn’t the two men just say they are working together?

A few explanations come to mind.

Well, there’s the one explanation ― the one! ― that comes to mind, sits there in the mind, pecks at the mind, demanding attention from the mind, that will only finally get on up out of your mind and leave you alone when you acknowledge it. What are these “few explanations?”

  1. These are media-savvy men who understand that restricting information keeps the press interested.”
  2. “Another possible reason is that denying basic, factual truths is just a thing Trump does. It doesn’t even have to be bad stuff, necessarily. He just seems to get a kick out of telling journalists that their accurate reporting is actually wrong.”
  3. It’s also worth considering the possibility that Ailes is the one who wants to keep his work for Trump — however informal — on the down-low … On the other hand, Ailes’s jumping aboard the Trump Train could tarnish the accolades he and Fox News received early in the GOP primary for tough coverage.”

Callum! Bruh! Don’t overthink this! They are being “cagey” because Roger Ailes watched his career go up in flames after he sexually harassed a bunch of his employees and then Trump turned around and gave this scoundrel a safe harbor.

“At first glance, it seems silly for Trump and Ailes to be so secretive,” writes Borchers, “But the closer you look, the more it makes sense.”

Okay, in the first place, this piece actually fails to make sense of it. But more importantly, the whole arrangement is what looks, at best, “silly.”

Right now, the Trump campaign should be working to make inroads with women voters. Ailes’ presence on the campaign makes that harder. Right now, the Trump campaign wants to keep attention away from his own sketchy workplace behavior. Ailes presence on the campaign makes that harder. The Trump campaign may want to make more hay out of Bill Clinton’s various sexual pecadillos ― something Trump has been signaling all year that he’s prepared to do. Ailes’ presence on the campaign … well, I’m sure I don’t need to underscore this.

There’s really only one way in which Ailes joining the Trump campaign can possibly make good sense, and that is if what we know as “the Trump campaign” is now in transition from a legitimate presidential candidacy to the foundation of some future media empire ― which is perhaps the most credible theory of what Trump is up to. In that context, joining forces with the ousted Ailes makes sense. The two men might very well be able to construct some new media venture on the backs of their combined talent and the teeming fanbase that Trump has acquired on his presidential run. (”Roger Ailes presents the Trump News Network: the global leader in Title IX complaints!”)

Let us reiterate, for the record: Roger Ailes, a man who was forced from his job running the world’s most successful news channel due to the fact he was a serial sexual harasser, has straightaway gone to work as an adviser to a major party’s presidential campaign.

That’s altogether bonkers, right? We can agree on that, can’t we?

It’s just probably something worth mentioning, on occasion.  

[POSTSCRIPT: Serendipitously, Slate’s Michelle Goldberg had many of the same questions that I did today. Know hope!]

~~~~~

Jason Linkins edits “Eat The Press” for The Huffington Post and co-hosts the HuffPost Politics podcast “So, That Happened.” Subscribe here, and listen to the latest episode below.

Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

A Desperate Plea From A Desperate Writer

Whether this sounds snarky or not it needs to be said, and I guess I’m going to be the one to say it.

PLEASE STOP TALKING SH*T TO WRITERS.

This is a desperate plea from a writer trying her hardest to remain a pacifist, but some people make it hard. While I juggle edits and the general neurosis that goes with trying to tell stories people will read in a world where, to quote Dr. Egon Spengler in Ghostbusters, “Print is dead,” you dum dums say things that make me understand why some of the best writers of our time went a little batty.

Let’s examine, shall we?

1. I’d like to be a writer.

It’s usually said with the same wistful sigh one would use when saying they always wanted a sports car or a pony or their own chocolate factory, or a vacation in the Bahamas for the next six months: the kind of sigh upon which wishes are made. The implication- I live in a fancy dream world where lollipops fall from the sky and everyone looks like they do in overly their overly filtered pictures and not at all like they do at Walmart. Everyone has a luxury tree house and no one gets rejection letters.

2. I’d write too if I had the time

Okay, this one is the best. The image it invokes is me as some sort of Atlas holding not the world, but a giant hourglass filled with copious amounts of time on my shoulders while I drink mimosas in the morning and do evening parties at the Great Gatsby‘s mansion in the Hamptons. It summons up visions of the glamorous writer sipping martinis over charcuterie plates while the world passes her by. While in reality this writer is up before dawn hunched over the keyboard like a gollum protecting the “precious” while the kids sleep. I’m writing notes on Acme receipts at red lights on my way home from food shopping, formulating this blog in my head while out for a run, thinking of ways to come up with a catchy “pitch” to land an agent for my next book. The statement implies a life of lavish rest when the truth is…I AM ALWAYS WORKING.

For how much you ask? That leads to the next one on the list.

3. You have books out. You must be rich.

Hold on a sec on this one while I catch my breath.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. Okay, I’m good. BWAHAHAHAHAHHAHAH.

Nope.

4. I’ve always thought about writing.

Have you ever heard someone on the Savannah say, I’ve always thought about not getting mauled by a lion? Probably not. You never hear someone say while engulfed in flames, “Yeh, I was thinking about putting them out.” That for me is the equivalent of what these chuckleheads are saying because it implies I have a choice as to whether I write or not. For me it has never been a decision but a burning desire. It consumes me. It makes me pull over when I’m driving to write something down. It makes me yank my hands out of the sink while doing dishes to get a story down and wakes me up out of the deepest slumber to get an idea down on paper. It makes me talk to characters who do not exist and write blogs on the snack table while my family watches Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

And last but not least, here is my favorite one. This one that takes the taco for sure.

DRUMROLL…

5. I’d like to try writing but …

Now before I get super snarky, let me clarify there are two versions of this.

The first is the person who says it in a specific tone. They dismissively hold my book in hand like it is a napkin I’ve just used to wipe mustard from my lip, the kind of person who looks at a book like it is, I dunno…a hot dog.

This ding dong diminishes the writing process as if it’s something, hmmm anyone can do one morning if they don’t have a squash match scheduled. To this person writing is a whim or a fancy, like picking up a foot long with sauerkraut because you’ve got a craving.

My reaction: Oh, would you like to write a book (said like a dirty word). That’s nice.*Here comes the snark.* But this is like me walking up to Flea and telling him I’d like to try slapping sometime though I have A. no knowledge of how to play a bass B. a complete lack practice. Oh, and C. zero skill.

The worse or sadder version of this is when it comes from the knucklehead with good intentions, the one who really may want to write but spends more time talking about it than actually doing anything. It happens more often than not.

I know I’m being a bit of an idiot here too (self-awareness is important as a writer) contradicting myself by talking about writing; but when it comes down to it, you just have to do it. Those who choose this life, this insanity of rejections and second-guessing, editing and re-editing, don’t have the luxury to talk about it. They…okay I… am too busy writing notes and crafting characters, researching agents and pushing articles onto every poor soul I know with a fresh pair of eyes.

For this last person on the list, I defer to the great bard himself, Master Yoda. “DO OR DO NOT. THERE IS NO TRY.”

Writing is an art of doing. So if you want it, stop talking about it. Manifest your destiny, cupcake.

And do it.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Samsung spills the details of its Note 7 exchange program in US

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 If you’ve got a Galaxy Note 7, you’ve probably already heard about the recall. But the specifics differ for each region, and Samsung just now released the details for what your options are here in the land of the free. Read More