Protests in Charlotte, Obamcare Popular

Black Lives: Protests broke out in Charlotte, NC, last night after the local prosecutor chose to bring no charges against the police officer who shot and killed Keith Scott in September.  Police said Scott was holding a gun, although that is not clear in several videos of the incident. They said a gun dropped to the ground after Scott was shot.

The shooting of Scott was a prominent incident in a string of police shootings under national scrutiny.

Healthcare Wars: Only 26 percent of Americans want Obamacare repealed entirely, according to a poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation. A full 49 percent want Obamacare preserved as it is or expanded, according to the poll.

It’s Political: California’s Rep. Nancy Pelosi, 76, beat back a challenger to be elected Minority Leader once again. After a trouncing in the presidential election, the Democratic leadership is beginning to look like the old Soviet Politburo. Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer, 77, will be No. 2 at Whip, and Rep. James Clyburn, 76, of South Carolina will be the Democrats No. 3.

The Democrats see a bright future behind them.

>North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, who brought his state national derision with a law allowing discrimination against people who are gay or transgender, refuses to concede that he has lost his bid for re-election, even though he’s still behind 24 days after the vote. His opponent, Roy Cooper, is ahead by more than 10,000 votes, which prevents McCrory from getting a taxpayer-funded recount. McCrory claims there was “massive fraud” in the election, even though he has no proof of it.

World: Investigators say the passenger jet that crashed with a Brazilian soccer team on board outside Medellin, Colombia, may have simply run out of fuel. Moments before the crash the pilot radioed for an emergency landing saying, ““We ask for permission to approach, we have a fuel problem.”

During a 12-minute recording the pilot also told the tower the jet was having electrical trouble and he called for landing vectors. “Nine thousand feet,” the pilot shouts. “Vectors! Vectors!” Moments later the plane dropped off radar.

>The Colombian congress has approved a peace agreement with FARC rebels. The rebels are expected to begin demobilizing.

Step Outside: If you live public housing and smoke, you’ll have to step outside, according to a new rule laid down by the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development. It will take about a year and a half for the rule to go into effect for about 1.2 million residents.

The feds say the rule is for the health of everyone living in public housing, in particular, those who don’t smoke. The ban will have its biggest impact un New York City, where about 400,000 people live in public housing.

The Obit Page: Grant Tinker, who as the boss of the NBC network aired some of the most memorable shows in the history of television and made NBC a powerhouse, has died at age 90. Tinker brought the public “The Cosby Show,” “Cheers,” “Hill Street Blues,” “Family Ties,” “St. Elsewhere” and “Miami Vice.”

Tinker had produced the “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” featuring his second wife as a single career woman, a groundbreaking concept in television at the time.

> Michael “Jim” Delligatti, a McDonald’s restaurant owner who invented the “Big Mac,” has died at age 98. Delligatti’s Pennsylvania customers wanted a bigger burger, so he gave them what now the classic, “Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.”

McDonald’s, incredibly, at first rejected the burger for franchises across the country.

No Cereal for You: Breitbart News, which until recently was run by Donald Trump’s chief strategist Steve Bannon, is calling for a boycott of Kellogg’s cereal because the company recently pulled its advertising from the Breitbart website.

Kellogg no longer wants to advertise on the ultra-right-wing website.

Breitbart’s Editor-in-Chief Alexander Marlow said it was an insult to Breitbart’s 45,000 daily readers.  “We are fearless advocates for traditional American values, perhaps most important among them is freedom of speech, or our motto ‘more voices, not less,’” Marlow said.

Breitbart’s “traditional American values” includes publishing the headline, “Birth Control Makes Women Unattractive and Crazy.”

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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Page Two

The Most Corrupt Justice

Monday, October 2, 2023

Democracy and Video in the Dark

Sunday, February 26, 2023

Page Two: Do the Right Thing

Tuesday, February 1, 2022

Page Two: Sound Recall

Monday, September 13, 2021

Page Two: Cuomo Must Go

Friday, August 13, 2021

Trump and the Truth

Tuesday, November 3, 2020

The “Great” President

Monday, March 30, 2020

The Wright Stuff

Saturday, February 29, 2020

It's Been Said

"In my mind, I’ve never crossed the line with anyone, but I didn’t realize the extent to which the line has been redrawn. There are generational and cultural shifts that I just didn’t fully appreciate, and I should have, no excuses."

-Andrew Cuomo, resigning as governor of New York after accusations of sexual harassment

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