SUNDAY, JULY 31, 2016
Today’s Good News And Bad News
From Our Local Political Junkie We’ll Call “Cincy Dave”

TRUMP WINS
Although the Democrat Convention outdrew the Republican Convention over the four-night total of each, Trump was on TV this morning, crowing about how his speech outdrew Hillary’s “By millions.” That is not exactly true because the Nielson ratings, which he is going by, do not count PBS, whose viewers tend to lean left, and also do not count on-line streaming. So if Trump outdrew Hillary at all, it may have been by less than one million. Additionally, Trump understated Hillary’s Nielson ratings by saying she drew only 28 million when in fact it was closer to 30 million (29.8) compared to his 32.2. After eight nights of political convention coverage, people were probably tired of it all by the time Hillary got on stage. Besides that, everyone knew that she was unlikely to say anything outrageous. She did not surprise anyone in that respect.

VOTER SUPPRESSION NEWS
When federal courts struck down the voter I.D. law in North Carolina last week, they had some damning evidence that the legislature intentionally did it to disenfranchise black voters. Here is an article about the smoking gun they found: (“The ‘smoking gun’ proving North Carolina Republicans tried to disenfranchise black voters”) This information will, of course, be used in every other lawsuit trying to overturn similar laws in the 30+ other states where they have been enacted, all of them by Republican legislatures. Eventually, they will all be decided by the Supreme Court, if we ever again get a court with nine Justices on it. Mitch McConnell says he is working on that but it could take until 2021 or 2025.

FOX NEWS BIMBO ERUPTION
Here’s a Juicy story about Fox News head Roger Ailes, or rather what it was like to be one of his blonde bimbos. (“Former Fox News Booker Says She Was Sexually Harassed and ‘Psychologically Tortured’ by Roger Ailes for More Than 20 Years”) For Ailes, he is receiving a 60 million dollar severance package from Fox after being forced to resign. Maybe they should save some of that to pay off all the forthcoming lawsuits from dozens of harassed women, many of whom may need knee replacements. Fox News will certainly change with the demise of Ailes, but probably nowhere nearly in time to have any effect this year.

WILL WWIII START ON THE INTERNET?
The CIA has told =Obama that they are pretty sure that Russia is behind the hackings into the DNC emails and the Hillary Campaign emails. Now there is a concern that they will hack into voting machines – those in states where they are interconnected – in order to influence the election. Of course, the CIA could preemptively strike back, disabling a lot of Russia’s servers, but that would let them know how deeply the CIA is already in them. This a big decision for the Prez – do we strike back now, setting off a big round of counterattacks or just play defense? If Trump wins some unlikely states, such as California, New York, or Illinois, we may have our answer.

BAD NEWS FOR TRUMP?
Trump attacks parents of dead U.S. Soldier: Speaking at the Democrat Convention on Thursday, Khizr Khan—the Muslim-American father of a soldier killed in Iraq told Trump, “you have sacrificed nothing” Trump immediately counterattacked by saying “If you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say. Maybe she wasn’t allowed to have anything to say. You tell me.” Additionally, Trump responded that he has sacrificed a lot by creating thousands and thousands of jobs, as if that were a sacrifice. Mr. Kahn responded to the attack on him and his wife by saying, “The snake oil he is selling, and my patriotic, decent Americans are falling for that. Republicans are falling for that. And I can only appeal to them. Reconsider. Repudiate. It’s a moral obligation. A person void of empathy for the people he wishes to lead cannot be trusted with that leadership. To vote is a trust. And it cannot be placed in wrong hands.” How long this war of words between Mr. Kahn and Trump will continue is anybody’s guess, but, so far, such attacks by Trump on those who have sacrificed much (i.e, John McCain) do not seem to have cost him anything.

THIS IS BAD NEWS FOR OHIOANS TOO, BUT WE ALREADY KNEW THAT
Trump is boxed in by Electoral map. With the selection of the popular Virginia Senator, Tim Kaine, as VP, Virginia is probably history for Trump, as are a several other former swing states like Colorado. Republican strategists now are saying that Trump’s only path to victory is to concentrate on four states, and he has to win all of them. Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio and North Carolina. That’s a tall order because Obama won all four in 2008 and all but North Carolina in 2012. [MORE] So get ready for a barrage of TV ads, telephone calls flyers and door-knockers lasting from now to November 8.