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Trump rallies for Bevin on election eve 2019

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President Donald Trump and Governor Matt Bevin, Rupp Arena, Lexington, Kentucky (November 4, 2019)

President Donald Trump rallied in Lexington’s Rupp Arena on behalf of Governor Matt Bevin on the night before his re-election bid. Trump talked about Bevin’s many achievements, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s successes in getting federal judges confirmed, Kentucky’s overall progress, University of Kentucky basketball, and many random quips about various national Democrat stars.

“Matt Bevin is pro-worker, pro-life, and 100% pro-Second Amendment,” Trump said to a rousing response from the audience.

As for the chance that Democrat attorney general Andy Beshear could take the governor’s seat from Bevin, Trump stated emphatically “You can’t let that happen to me.”

Trump referenced the all-time high Dow Jones industrial average, intense trade negotiations with China, America’s global standing under his administration, and the challenges that slowed prior presidents.

The Lexington Herald Leader’s takeaway centered on a Trump joke about Bevin’s persistent requests to persuade company owners to consider expanding in Kentucky. Trump kidded that Bevin can be “such a pain in the ass, but that’s what you want.”

There’s the “gotcha” phrase that the Herald Leader can use to mirror its own editorial summary of Bevin, his administration, and anything Republican.

The POTUS mocked Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff, The Washington Post, “fake news” media, and other liberal faves like gun control and the Paris Climate Accord. “These people are lunatics!” Trump blasted from the stage.

Days earlier, the Louisville Courier Journal delivered its usual affirmation for the Democrat du jour.

The state’s two largest newspapers remain perpetually blue, trying to sell their products in a decidedly red Kentucky. No national Democrat rallied on behalf of Andy Beshear over the course of the campaign. With Democrat 2020 presidential candidates’ overt promotion of socialism, free healthcare for illegal immigrants, and climate change prioritization, no Kentucky candidate needs friends like those.

A packed Rupp Arena crowd even cheered when Mr. Trump referenced Ford’s business investment “in Louisville.” Peace is possible.

Earlier in the day, I spoke with Governor Matt Bevin and his challenger Andy Beshear in separate WHAS Radio interviews. Both candidates gave their projection of what Kentucky will experience in the weeks following this election.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell traveled with President Trump on Air Force One for the Lexington rally. Both of Kentucky’s senators were called to the stage to make brief comments.

President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, November 4, 2019

Senator Rand Paul and President Donald Trump, Rupp Arena, November 4, 2019

And just like that, President Trump is back in Washington. Gov. Bevin texted me a few minutes ago with a smiley face and thumbs up emojis to signal his joy with the rally experience.

We will know how Kentucky’s future political landscape is shaped in 24 hours.

A peculiar twist – did UK twist media arms to scrub video – and is the word LIAR embedded in peculiar?

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The University of Kentucky’s football series with the University of Florida has taken on a peculiar twist. Last year in Gainesville, the Kentucky Wildcats snapped a 31 game losing streak to the Florida Gators. UK linebacker Kash Daniel celebrated on the visitors’ field.

This year in Lexington, the Gators won a dramatic contest over UK and a Florida player returned the gesture.

Beyond Florida’s victory came an outpouring of angry Gator fans who saw Kentucky’s Kash Daniel twist the ankle of their quarterback Kyle Trask. Daniel denied any wrongdoing, but further video angles affirm Florida claims that the UK player tried to injure the the QB.

Kash Daniel talked to media the day before that video surfaced from WYMT, a member of the University of Kentucky sports network to televise games.

WYMT offered the clearer angle that does not jibe with Daniel’s explanation. But as pressure mounted from Kentucky fans, WYMT officials removed the video from their web site.

WYMT is a sister station to WKYT, Lexington’s flagship station for Kentucky sports programming and S.E.C. games.

The University of Kentucky is not above pressuring media to remove content it finds objectionable or embarrassing. A few years ago, The Courier Journal apologized to UK basketball coach John Calipari for using an image of the coach wearing a diaper. The newspaper explained that the illustration was provided by a contract employee and the content did not measure up to the newspaper’s standards.

This is a parody photoshop of the original Courier Journal image that riled Calipari and UK officials.

photoshopped image inspired by the Courier Journal illustration that irked John Calipari

The caricature of Caipari was satire, a parody of coaches who doth protest too much. The Courier Journal runs political cartoons and other opinion oriented illustrations every day. So what really happened?

It is likely that a university athletics department administrator informed the Courier Journal that its beat writer would have vastly reduced access unless a published retraction and apology were issued. The Courier complied.

Five days after the Kentucky/Florida football game, flagship WKYT lists no archived content for the Kash Daniel video. They did run a story on Wednesday night that showed the leg twist but the narrative was centered on Kash Daniel’s denial. The story closed with Daniel telling his side of the incident, adding “End of story.”

—from the Lexington Herald Leader—

Lexington Herald-Leader

Revenues for WKYT and WYMT would take a severe hit if UK severed ties with Gray Television, the parent company of both signals. Don’t look for the Kash Daniel video to become featured content on either of their web sites.

Meanwhile, is Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau now a Kash Daniel fan?

Never mind!

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Inadvertent media errors are understandable. Punctuation and camera angles sometimes get the short shrift by media workers.

No one gets hurt by minor mistakes in media. However, lives are ruined when media manipulation is in play. This adds to the burning tire fire that is fake news. Ouch!

This is really helpful to our media business. Thanks for the punch in the face, New York Times.

Rest in Peace, Cokie Roberts. She had the decency to be honest about her Liberal bias in her reporting. At least she owned it.

Liberal “journalists” Cokie Roberts and George Stephanopolous

Vicious, vulgar values know no era. It’s time to end Fancy Farm’s annual hate parade.

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Read the comment thread following this reporter’s tweet announcing that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell fell and broke his shoulder. Here’s a sample from over 600 comments.

So sweet. Perhaps an angry Highlands progressive could pretend to be a home nurse and throw his food tray on the floor. That wouldn’t be the first time.

A group of protesters led by Black Lives Matter activist Chanelle Helm posted this Facebook live video outside Mitch McConnell’s home that included invectives like “fuck you, fuck your wife, fuck everything you stand for.” Helm gave McConnell’s address and encouraged others to shout at him while he recuperates at home.

Chanelle Helm

As her group of progressives shouted various vulgar chants disrupting everyone in the neighborhood, Helm continued her narration: “You better call whoever the fuck you need to call” and “somebody needs to stab the mother fucker in the heart.”

Vicious, vile, vulgar, violent values from those who proclaim NO HATE IN OUR CITY.

Helm first came to prominence with a 2018 LEO Weekly column explaining how white people could become allies of Black Lives Matter by giving up their homes to black or brown people, distributing their estates to black or brown people, and encouraging the firing of co-workers who refuse to be WOKE.

None of the protesters shouting between 9:30 PM and midnight in front of McConnell’s home thought to use the word play proclaiming that the senate majority leader was now literally WOKE.

Liberals are quick to assign America’s incivility to to caustic tweets and comments from President Donald Trump. They’ve conveniently forgotten the daily abuse they heaped upon George W. Bush and his daughters during the internet’s explosive growth between 2000 and 2008.

This one is from the Trump era, validating the internet-never-forgets theorem.

America is suffering today from two mass shootings that killed 29 people and injured nearly 50 more. Vigils calling for America to “come together” are popping up in abundance.

Then McConnell falls hard enough to break his bones and vicious Liberals – the tolerant people – can’t stop celebrating.

Keyboard snipers attack with reckless abandon. Racists attacked Barack Obama and Black Lives Matter pursuits. Misogynists attacked Hillary Clinton. Homophobes attack gays and lesbians. LGBTQ advocates attack anyone who questions their hyper-sensitive agenda. Agnostics and atheists cannot tolerate anyone with a fish emblem on their bumper. Xenophobes despise anyone who doesn’t look like them.

Seattle Times from Barack Obama’s first year as president (2009)

In the wake of weekly mass murders, Second Amendment advocates cannot be persuaded to remove weapons of war from American society.

White nationalists, white supremacists, and unhinged conspiracy theory believers are the overwhelming majority of mass killers. But the NRA advocates can’t see their way to separating weapons of war from the rest of privately held protection weapons like shotguns and pistols. Hardheaded gun owners cannot fathom a slight adjustment to 2A just as pro-choice advocates cannot fathom a slight adjustment to Roe v Wade.

This is where the dam breaks. After all of these deaths at the hand white nationalists, disgruntled workers, and improperly medicated mental health casualties, the weapons of war must go. Period. Any weapon that can be modified to shoot 100 rounds in seconds is essentially a weapon of war.

But vulgar virtue signaling won’t get the job done. Calmly persistent, passionate imagery of those who were killed should flood the inboxes of all elected officials. They also should be exposed to graphic photos of shooting scenes to fully grasp the carnage. Images so raw that it keeps the politicians awake at night.

That will lead to a ban on weapons of war. Meanwhile, people just curse and accuse each other of not having pure hearts. Or worse, suggesting that someone stab them in their “mother fucking” heart.

The Squad: Reps. Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Ayanna Pressley

How many of these elected officials have used sewer language when addressing constituents? Answer: all of them.

Class doesn’t come in a moving van.

Political commentary is a welcome and necessary component of our republic. But all vulgar political commentary is distributed by partisan dirtbags who feel no empathy for their philosophical opposites.

It’s sad and pathetic, but for people who revel in harsh politics, vindictiveness is a comfortable blanket.

Vicious, vile, vindictive, vulgar values can be ignored. That other V word – violence – is the emotional surge that must be neutralized by WHATEVER MEANS NECESSARY. Let’s figure it out, America.

As for the current online hysteria, blaming Trump for rudeness shows a complete lack of historical knowledge. The earliest American political barbs in the 19th century were 10 times more raw than today’s softballs. And Kentucky’s annual rude, obnoxious scream fest at Fancy Farm dates back to 1881.

Trump is a two pump chump compared to some of the mudslingers in the William Randolph Hearst era. But that doesn’t stop today’s news outlets from trying to achieve the same level of empty hype.

Sometimes the hype isn’t real. It’s just hype to fill a day’s news quotient.

Yellow Journalism contributed to the outbreak of the Spanish-American War

On Saturday everyone is screaming hatred for each other at Fancy Farm. The next day after two mass shootings, “we all need to light candles and understand each other.”

Ending the trash dirtbag Fancy Farm verbal abuse fest would be a good start at compassionate understanding of each other.

It’s been one year since John Schnatter’s n-word destroyed his legacy. He has one path to public redemption.

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One year ago, “Papa John” Schnatter contacted me to interview him on the radio. Schnatter’s glorious life was unraveling after intense blowback from the pizza magnate’s use of the n-word on a training call.

The interview got national media attention and online snark but Schnatter’s freefall was in an unstoppable plunge. Instead of reversing the narrative, our 28 minute chat only solidified the image that Papa John wasn’t ready to sincerely apologize. He said that was coerced into saying the n-word by people who were out to get him banished.

But it was Schnatter who was at fault. All he needed to do was literally say “n-word” instead of saying the actual word. But he chose to use the nuclear bomb of words and has never had a moment’s peace since.

It was one of several ignorant comments Schnatter had uttered in the past few years. In an earnings call, Schnatter worried aloud about the cost of paying health care for his employees. He later slammed NFL players who knelt during The Star Spangled Banner, leading to declining TV ratings. In Schnatter’s estimation, that led to declining pizza sales.

In July 2019, Schnatter is still MIA. He doesn’t answer texts. He doesn’t make public appearances. He just sells shares of of his Papa John’s stock and stays in hiding as his personal empire fades.

My opinion is that the public flogging of Schnatter was way overdone, a symptom of today’s WOKE virtue signaling gone awry.

Schnatter donated $1 million to the Louisville Zoo in 2017

A man builds a global company from a broom closet and creates hundreds of thousands of jobs and is simply swept away like tepid bathwater? Insanity.

Schnatter took offense to my question about whether he would move away from Louisville now that his image is so badly damaged. “Why would you even ask me that?” Schnatter snapped.

Over the past twelve months, Schnatter has been shoehorned out of philanthropy that had been his habit over the past 25 years. Charities in the city, state, and other parts of America are not feeling the same love that Schnatter used to throw around.

It’s time for a Schnatter Forgiveness Tour. Set up a foundation, beg for forgiveness for being detached from the pain of everyday working people. and throw lots of money into educational pursuits for African American children.

Schnatter screwed up but it’s not an unforgivable violation. Our overly sensitive culture overplayed this one.

Let’s revisit 1995. The Senate Minority Whip (not a pizza salesman)…the United States Senate Minority Whip Wendell Ford said the n-word live on WHAS Radio. A senator said N-word ON THE AIR and what came of it?

He’s a Democrat…so…crickets.

The Washington Post made note of it in one day’s news cycle. And that was it.

The senator served out his term. No outrage. No WOKE pandemonium.

Imagine if Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had said the n-word. You already know the answer.

Schnatter supported Republican candidates. I think we can all see that his real sin is political affiliation, not word choices.

It’s time to rejoin the human race, John Schnatter. You’re not Papa John. You’re not a political wing man. You’re not a has been.

You’re a guy whose mistakes knocked you out of business. Now is the time to get into the business of helping others, particularly struggling African Americans, move their lives to a more glorious position.

I just received my first vicarious A in school

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On Apr 20, 2019, at 9:11 PM, Emma <@miamioh.edu> wrote:

Hello Mr. Meiners,

My name is Emma Boggess, and I am a Louisville resident, as well as a student at Miami University in Ohio. I am currently working on a project about local media and journalism, and was referred to you by Chelsea Rabideau. Would you be able to answer a few questions over email about local journalism in Louisville and how you think it has changed over the years? If you’d be able to do this, please let me know!

Thank you,

Emma Boggess

—–

On Apr 20, 2019, at 9:45 PM, Emma <@miamioh.edu> wrote:

Thank you so much for your help! I listed below the questions I’ve put together. Feel free to take a few days, I have until Thursday to complete this portion of the project.

1. How are the stories you cover usually determined? Are these choices driven by your typical audience?
2. Do you think there are important stories not covered within the community? Are there areas of the community that you think are less covered than others?
3. Over the years, what changes have you seen in the attitudes of your listeners and viewers towards the news?
4. What are your thoughts on the existence of “fake news” in local media? Do you think the existence of “fake news” has affected the perception of news organizations in Louisville?
5. Are you generally enthusiastic or discouraged about the state of local media today, and why?

Thank you again,

Emma Boggess

—–

Here you go, Emma.

1) We choose stories according to the community’s expected interest level. A big story is one where lots of people are impacted or should be aware of a dangerous or noteworthy situation. A proposed tax increase, for instance, affects everyone. If something happened that affects a small group and has very little bearing on the overall community, it is considered a backup news item in case we need a story to fill the necessary broadcast time. Those filler stories are rare. Most days there are enough newsworthy occurrences that overfill our time constraints.

2) Human beings have built-in biases. One story that may seem important to a particular group may be passed over because a news director does not see the value in reporting on it. Just because that news director does not ascertain the importance of a story does not dim its newsworthiness to those affected.

I doubt that any geographical area is underserved. Social media alerts all of us to all aspects of any community but story selection still sits in the hand of a news director or assignment editor who has listened to reporter pitches but ultimately makes the call on whether a story will go forward.

3) The biggest attitudinal change from media consumers is mistrust. Too many biased people in media have been exposed for their partisan, untrue, or unintentionally incorrect reporting. Because of so many more news outlets with an obvious political agenda, news consumers choose outlets that cater to their own biases, often shutting out alternate life views.

4) Fake news is really skewed news. A news director, assignment editor, reporter, or editor may truly believe that they’re being objective when their body of work indicates that their personal beliefs direct a story’s content, intensity, and selected omissions. People who have been fired for their fake news reporting (Dan Rather, Jayson Blair, et al) have hurt our media industry by crushing trust. Walter Cronkite was called “the most trusted man in America” as the longtime anchor and managing editor of CBS News. His writings after retirement revealed his Liberal nature but he worked hard at serving all of the news consumers to the best of his ability. Did he see life through his Liberal lens? Yes. But he made sure that alternative opinions were included in his CBS Evening News broadcasts. Only until Dan Rather took over following Cronkite’s retirement in 1981 did conservatives begin referring to CBS News as “Rather biased.”

To me, that’s when the modern era of labeling “fake news” began.

5) I am enthused about local news because it constantly evolves into new spheres. Social media has given every community an abundance of tiny specks of local information never before so widely disseminated. That’s good. Information is power.

News organizations need to keep updating to address the needs of people making small news but is huge in their world view. Fresh technologies we have not even imagined will bring on new ways to inform. I am excited about how that will look.

—–

From: Boggess, Emma [@miamioh.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, June 11, 2019 9:58 AM
To: MEINERS, TERRY A
Subject: Re: Local Media Project

Hi Mr. Meiners!

Sorry I meant to get back to you sooner on my project but time got away from me! Just wanted to let you know that I received an A, and thank you so much again for your help!

Sincerely,

Emma Boggess

When any news outlet can be labeled by its political flavor, that’s Dereliction of Duty

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A study from Northwestern University lays bare the obvious political bias Google foists on people searching news stories. Google algorithms slant heavily toward liberal flavored news accounts.

Yawn. We know Google pursues liberal causes. That’s not the real story here.

What the hell happened to an industry that’s primary mission is supposed to be centered on objectivity? Look at how easily we can assign a political flavoring to various news outlets. That’s pathetic.

What kind of jellyfish are journalism schools pumping out into the world?

Does no one have the integrity to see both sides of an argument? If you’re a liberal or conservative activist journalist, you are a fraud and a disgrace to the basic principles of news gathering and dissemination.

There’s no such thing as an activist journalist. A journalist compiles facts and dispenses them with an overriding sense of balance featuring opposing viewpoints.

An activist is a hype man, a carnival barker who is convinced that shouting down others makes their viewpoint correct.

If you’re an embedded activist pretending to be a fair journalist, go do something else for a living.

Journalists (1) present both sides of a story, (2) do not bury stories that they find personally unappealing, and (3) do not promote fool’s gold “stories” that are created just to further a journalist’s personal bias.

If you “hate” such-and-such politician then you shouldn’t report on politics. You’re a hack who’s delivering personal bias masked as “journalism.”

If any of these sources: CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Fox News, MSNBC, HuffPo, USA Today, or The Courier-Journal seem objective and balanced to you, then you are a partisan idiot. Any “news” outlet that constantly hammers one political viewpoint while offering glowing updates on the opposing viewpoint is just a political pawn.

Demand more from partisan people who are merely masquerading their emotions as facts.

They see you as a sea of suckers. If you blindly believe their spun partisan presentation, you are.

At least Hillary and Barack tweeted the word Easter, CNN reporter lances Trump with ham-handed “small stuff” reference after hundreds are killed

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With approximately 300 Christians killed and 500 more wounded in Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama struggled to find the right word to describe the victims.

Some of the victims were surely non-Christian but the targets were Catholic churches and hotels that cater to western tourists. So, yes, mostly Christians.

It was one of the most severe mass casualty terrorist attack series since 9/11.

At least twenty four people were arrested following the bombings. What flavor of terrorists brought these horrors? Mum’s the word by many media outlets.

Labeling the perpetrators is tricky business in an ultra-sensitive news environment where accusations against the “marginalized” are unwelcome. Only a few media references about the Sri Lanka bombing reports use the word Muslim. NBC News used the word Islamists.

Police in Sri Lanka are identifying the bombers as Thowheeth Jama’ath, a small sect of Muslims who officials suspect were assisted by a global terrorist network. Thowheeth Jama’ath (unity of God) has been known to terrorize Buddhists as well as Christians.

But media outlets will quickly tell readers how tough it is for all religions in Asia.

Now what’s that word that Hill and Barack couldn’t muster up?

Christians, Barack! Christians, Hillary! Christians were killed by Muslims.

American media has no filter in describing terrorism created by white males. The headlines and story content spotlight race when terrorists are white males.

Making note of race and ethnicity is absolutely necessary in telling the complete story. CNN’s Don Lemon noted that America’s terrorists are mostly “white men” and that “there is no white guy ban so what do we do about that?”

Lemon is a commentator and his opinion on this matter is spot on. How do we thwart white males (and all other people) in America from inflicting terrorism on others?

News reporting demands factual accounting of details, even if political correctness must be pushed aside. America’s two Muslim members of Congress responded to the Sri Lanka tragedy in completely different ways. Both women frequently comment on matters related to their claims of mistreatment of Muslims both domestically and globally.

Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar remained silent about Muslims killing Christians at Easter services, an ironic twist after re-tweeting about Christian hypocrisy just one day before the bombings.

Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib tweeted multiple times after the Sri Lanka bombings, damning hatred for heightening human distrust.

Civility is paramount. Facts are necessary to fully comprehend the challenges that separate humans of different spiritual callings.

Rep. Tlaib gets it. Barack, Hillary, and Rep. Omar seem to think that feelings supersede facts.

As for CNN, the killing and/or injuries to nearly a thousand people created another chance to deride Trump.

Petty politics and skewed news aside, high quality human beings rise above it all with an eye toward the betterment of humanity.

Interfaith Paths 2 Peace official statement, April 22, 2019

Toughest job in America? The one held by Sarah Huckabee Sanders

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Is there a double standard when it comes media treatment of conservative women vs liberal women? Is the Pope Catholic?

Reverse the roles above and show a white woman comedian torching a woman of color at the White House Correspondents Dinner. You already know that the OUTRAGE machine would be in overdrive.

Selective feminism creates exaggerated fawning coverage of liberal women and guaranteed derision of conservative women. We in the media should own this truth but most journalists will contend that they’re fair.

Want to know any journalist’s personal political views? Read their twitter feed. The truth shines through in topic selection and omission. Which dart is always thrown? Which topics are never raised?