Ed Berliner

23/07/2024

Those years I spent in Washington DC are beginning to pay off nicely.

My impeccable source contacts me this morning with the following:

- The Trump campaign is "completely rudderless" with "scads of infighting" on how to deal with Biden's departure and the rise of Harris.
- There is already a movement underway making plans on how to dump JD Vance from the ticket "when and if it becomes necessary".
- They are "scared blind" at the moment knowing George Soros and others are about to write blank checks.
- Trump wants "absolutely nothing" to do with Harris on a debate stage unless they are able to control the place and the questions.
- The Harris campaign is "rolling with strength" at the moment, but there is already a "certainty" from those at the RNC that Democrats are so fat at the moment, they will be caught overestimating Trump and make "massive mistakes" between now and the election.

Kids, this is going to be an election the likes of which we will never see again.

22/07/2024

Something doesn't add up with the "Crowdstrike" mess.

So we're led to believe that a billion (with a B) dollar global, digital security company caused a worldwide outage because one of their techs got a piece of code incorrect?

Speaking with my friends in the industry, they've all snapped back that's a lot of manure to intake. If that's the case, then Crowdstrike should be losing more than just a quarter of their value on the NYSE over the last few days.

I know MAC's are expensive, but we've been on their side for a very long time. The money and aggravation saved by not having to watch as your data gets hacked and hammered is worth the few extra sheckles. Every damn time.

Then again, the fewer people that purchase MACS, the less attuned hackers will be to get into their systems.

On second thought, don't buy a MAC. We're good. ;)

Roughly 8.5 million users of Microsoft Windows devices were affected by Friday’s glitch.

22/07/2024

I just have to share a short "bon mot" from LinkedIn this morning.

Over the last year or so, what was once a fairly good platform for conducting business has become another place for the political nut jobs to spread complete bulls***. This one is an all-timer linking , Kamala Harris, Joe Biden and another "secret plot" by Democrats.

Remember, don't block these people and don't engage them. Just tuck it away and know where the whackaloons live.

What an interesting summer this will be.

19/07/2024

America is shifting, and not for the better.

In Nashville TN, a musical bedrock where songs are produced of hope, love, compassion and fun, the groundswell of religious hate against Jews is growing.

We have reached a point where everyone must take a stand, however they choose, and realize what is happening in our own backyards. This is not a time to argue on social media, in chat rooms, or on places where nothing is accomplished save for textual screeching.

November is but one turning point that cannot be allowed to slip thru our fingers. Decisions need to be made every day in realizing what is happening around us, to our way of life, our families, those we love and seek to protect.

Nashville has become just one epicenter, and we cannot allow them to succeed.

"Even N**i speech is protected under the United States Constitution," said Drake, but assured that violations would act swiftly when there were violations of law.

17/07/2024

Look, let's put the cards on this table, shall we?

If people don't keep up with the news and current events, if they have no desire to be curious and read, if they have no predilection to seek out opposing viewpoints and thus only stay true to one source and one line of thinking, anything written on social media will not make a dent.

We are, politically speaking, an irreparable nation at the moment, and we will remain so likely for the rest of my life and many of yours. It makes no difference how well you support an argument with facts, real hard facts, because there is a slice of society that doesn't give a spit about facts. They believe what they believe, how they believe it, and anything counter that ideal is to be despised and derided at every turn. Recent incidents here and on other platforms have just made the call.

I'm going to do my part for now, perhaps for the foreseeable future. As a veteran journalist, a commentator, a citizen, and a staunch Independent who takes nothing at face value, the reactive choice is clear.

Taking the kids out for a walk, a little fresh air, and upon my return to this desk, plenty will change.

My convictions will never change, but how they are expressed sure as Hell will.

You might want to consider the same. Either way, it's no business of mine.

16/07/2024

Chris Ruddy, CEO of Newsmax, goes low yet again, using the death of a firefighter, the injury of innocents, and a Presidential assassination attempt in order to raise money and viewers for his web platform.

As one who had a reprehensible brush with Ruddy several years ago, I know the man and his thinking. To him, it is always about his profit margin and how he can increase his wealth at the expense of the easily duped.

His is the face of Right Wing media, of creating false information, misinformation and propaganda all for the purpose of profit, nothing more. He has no desire to inform, save for what benefits him. Just ask the people at Smartmatic. who will have their day in court against Ruddy later this year unless he settles out of court as FOX News did.

Ruddy controls the narrative on his platforms, and please, don't call it a "news network". It's not. Ruddy has complete authority over every facet of lie and opinion on his platforms. I know. I experienced it firsthand.

He has grown wealthy over the heinous desire to take advantage of every situation that feeds his pockets. Now, he raises money from a deadly encounter.

This is Right Wing media. This is who they are. This is what they espouse on a daily basis.

Know the opposition. Do not fear them. Instead, do everything you can as an individual to stop them from becoming more powerful.

President Trump understands God’s role in our lives and in our country. He wants our country to remain free and strong.

15/07/2024

Spoke with a former FBI agent friend of mine today about what happened to Trump. It was a wide-ranging conversation, and while I'm not ready to raise a (false colored) flag on all this, they made some interesting points.

- Trump insistent on getting his shoes could have been a shock reaction to the incident. People say some incredible stuff when in the heat of the moment. They discounted this as anything more than a reaction, but said it should be kept in the back of the mind.

- Trump telling the Secret Service to wait, and for them to actually wait, is a solid breach of protocol. No experienced agent would dare do anything but hustle the victim to the waiting safety point. Their ONLY task at that moment is protect the POTUS and get him out of the line of fire. To my friend, "that had stage work written all over it, but again, anything can happen in a shock situation".

- As for the shot and the bullet, my friend knows ordnance and weapons inside & out. While they said anything is possible, for that size bullet to be that precise in getting just a portion of the ear is, in their words, "the greatest miracle since Jesus replicated bread and fishes". They called it the "luckiest miss in history".

- They could see no evidence of a "squib", calling that "more conspiratorial bu****it". As for Trump possibly being hit by shards from a shattered teleprompter, there is no evidence yet that a prompter was even hit. There are no pictures of a broken prompter, no pictures or evidence of glass shards. They did say that the blood pattern would indicate a shrapnel wound, not an actual bullet, but they have no evidence to assume from, and thus far, no such evidence has come forward.

They are not want to stir the guessing game pot, merely commenting on what we see. Still, my friend laughed and said, "Trump has pulled fakery before, and there's no reason to think this wasn't considered right on the Convention doorstep".

Have to admit, there are plenty of question to be answered.

In the end, as my friend noted, "There are far too many loons on social media to take any of this seriously until we have ALL the facts, and that's a long way off. I have yet to read or hear from an real expert on any of this, as the better ones are keeping their mouths shut until we know more."

So for now, we just leave all this right..........here.

15/07/2024

The choice of JD Vance to be Trump's running mate was never in doubt. Burghum and Rubio (especially Little Marco) were always just convenient dodges. Vance will deliver the much-needed (and incredibly hypocritical) Evangelical vote, which is what Pence was chosen for last time.

Already on social media and some3 of the other outlets, evangelicals are claiming in word and picture that Trump is now more than ever "the chosen one" because God kept him from being assassinated. This overlooks all of his many other transgressions which are boldly against any simple Christian value.

Maybe they can run as "The Liar and The Friar", or something else catchy. How about "The Grifter and The God Squadder"? If I see that on tee shirts after this, I'll donate my cut to charity.

To consider for even one millisecond that Trump will have his finger on the nuclear button again, and Vance will be that heartbeat from power, is enough to scare the s*** out of anyone with an IQ over 7.

The 2024 Republican National Convention kicks off Monday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, two days after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. Follow here for the latest live news updates, analysis and more.

15/07/2024

A little reality check.

At the moment, it's estimated that 70,000 people have been killed in Ukraine by the Russian military, with some 125,000 wounded.

Russian casualties are staggering. 120,000 deaths and 180,000 wounded. The numbers are, of course, all estimates.

It was only 2 years ago where Donald Trump praised the war effort of Vladimir Putin, calling him a "genius" and congratulating him for his "savvy". This in the wake of a period when Putin amassed his war machine on the Ukraine border and Trump did nothing to stem the coming tide. His tactics of subverting NATO also helped pave the road for the destruction in Ukraine.

This is in response to those Right Wingers, MAGA cultists and others screeching about wanting "world peace" and blaming the current issues on Joe Biden, while at the same time ignoring the man who helped destabilize Europe and still leads the charge to stop sending money and weapons to Ukraine for their defense.

It's tiring to keep up with the fact and reality checking of Trump and his cult, just as they want it. The more they throw out, the more people become confused and fall for the propaganda.

Put this hairpiece back in charge of US and world defense?

Better tell your kids to start speaking Russian.

The former president's praise for Putin comes at a perilous geopolitical moment in Europe.

15/07/2024

President Joe Biden calls for unity in the wake of the Trump shooting.

Which lasted maybe an hour before Republicans launched an all-out offensive, including calls for Biden to be charged with inciting the shooting.

The political temperature in America is scalding at the moment, and it all falls in the lap of the far Right Wing, White Nationalists, MAGA devotees and their political leaders.

This shooting is what happens when there is a consistent call for violence, revenge and retribution.

One person is dead, 2 others critically injured. They are/were MAGA devotees. Had Trump and his cohorts not stoked these fires for so long, or had they decided to stay home, they would all be alive and well today.

Four months to the election, and then the aftermath.

Only a vote can save America, and even that may not be enough.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Within hours of the assassination attempt on former U.S. President Donald Trump, many of his supporters began laying blame on Democrats, seeking to flip the script on who has stoked America’s heated political rhetoric as cases of political violence reach historic heights. Fro...

14/07/2024

In the media business, whether it's TV or film, news/sportscaster or network host, male or female, the ruthless nature of people who seek to destroy the careers of others has never waned over many decades. There is always someone jealous, angry, wanting to knock you down for no other reason than they can.

Before she passed, knowing her life was coming to an end, Shannen Doherty made the following statement.

"“Nobody likes to read bad things written about themselves, and a vast majority of them were exaggerated or completely false. But to be completely honest, I don’t even think about that anymore. At some point you have to move on.”

Not bad advice for everyone.

At some point, you just have to move on and realize those people who seek to destroy you, have no power over you.

Time to move on.

14/07/2024

Here we go.....

Another ill-informed so-called "strategist", with absolutely no verifiable background to make any such claim, bloviating about the Trump assassination attempt potential being "staged".

Here. let's go there.

NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER.

While it's certainly not at the level of intelligent discussion discourse, I could only suggest one response to people like this.

Please, blow it out your ***.

Moving on......

Mehlhorn suggest the "possibility" among others in an email sent to journalists less than two hours after the shooting at Trump’s Pennsylvania rally.

13/07/2024

Here's where the propaganda bu****it rubber really meets the road.

"Newsmax", the fake news platform that has not a shred of journalistic integrity or ethics oozing from their Qatari-funded pores, slaps up this headline about a "famed BBC broadcaster" stating "Bidengate" is worse than "Watergate".

If only there was an olfactory app on current internet platforms such as this, the smell of the steaming effluent would be more than a human nose could handle.

I won't dignify the nonsense of the article with a link. Propaganda needs no furtherance of clickbait.

Watergate was, before January 6th, the single most traitorous transgression by an American President in history. Fitting that it was also a foreshadowing of the criminality that the Republican Party would undertake to attain it's traitorous agenda.

There is, of course, no "Bidengate", save for that delusional thinking of those who wish to overthrow democracy. While Joe Biden has left plenty of doubt about his ability to lead from here on out, it is more about damning pride and missed chances by the so-called intelligentsia in the Democratic Party than anything unlawful.

By the way, more lies from Chris Ruddy and Newsmax. Neil hasn't been with the BBC since 2020, and is also a former operative of Rupert Murdoch and his propaganda platforms. Neil is a staunch climate denier, believes that HIV is not a cause of AIDS, and a claim to fame is considering himself an "expert" in Italian rap music.

Oh yeah, we need to start believing this clown show.

"Newsmax" is like every other far Right wing propaganda mill, where they will latch onto anything, no matter how laughable, in order to push their agenda and keep the brainwashed clicking.

Do your homework, my fellow minions. Don't let them make you another all-day sucker.

12/07/2024

When the broadcast media lies to the American public and the world, and why there's plenty of blame to go around for why people cannot trust certain media outlets.

No doubt seeking to cover for President Joe Biden and their Progressive ideals heading for November, a Milwaukee radio station conducts an interview with the President, and then allows and agrees with the White House to edit the interview, without notifying anyone on airing that it was edited.

These are the same groups that will rail against the real fake news media in FOX and their ilk, then turn around and lie at the same level.

CIvic Media, the ownership group, has 20 stations in their fold. On their webpage, under the "About Us", is the following statement about their mission:

"To champion the practice of democracy through the power of honest and informative local voices."

Under "Honesty", you will find the following: "We champion quality, fact-based journalism that advances the truth and earns the trust of our audience without manipulation or malicious reframing."

Bu****it. Pure, unadulterated, marketing bu****it.

They call themselves "Hometown Radio", when what they are in essence is the latest round of media ownership with absolutely no sense of journalism and ethics. Just like FOX, Newsmax, OAN and the rest.

It's not just those bad actors giving journalism a bad name, and it certainly is not exclusive to right wing politics.

Milwaukee's Civic Media said the decision to edit a recorded interview with Joe Biden at his campaign's request fell short of journalistic standards.

09/07/2024

Let's consider what is funny and what was once funny, and what is no longer allowed to be funny in 2024.

I'm starting a new series called "Comedy that Wouldn't Work in 2024".

First up, welcome to "The Inquisition".

Please leave reactions here and on the website. Oh, and let's not forget "Toast Boast Roast Comedy" & "Event Laughers" for all your customized comedy desires.

Comedy that Wouldn’t Play Well in 2024: “The Inquisition”Current Events LET US BEGIN WITH “THE WARNING”. This where we are forced by some legalities and certain misguided social mores to perform a necessary action in keeping us away from litigation. Long ago it was always referred to as .....

09/07/2024

I have to admit, Bernie Sanders, sometimes, is the political voice this country needs.

Sanders accused news outlets of making “politics into a beauty contest” while ignoring kitchen table issues.

09/07/2024

In Nashville TN, just 2 days after the celebration of America's independence, a group of White Nationalists paraded thru the streets. Despite the abhorrent nature of hate surrounding this gathering, including a certain outstretched arm salute, it received little attention from most legitimate media.

The "Patriot Front" is growing. The chances are good that there are members well within your own area of the country, perhaps even next door. For the moment, they are being largely ignored by the media as little more than a "nuisance". Some outlets will never report on their activities because a good faction of their audience believes what the group is doing is necessary, and those truly "fake news" outlets don't want to disturb their ratings and clicks.

This is an underbelly of Project 2025 and other related efforts from White Nationalists in America. They are quietly expanding their reach, in the hopes that come November, they will no longer have to "stand by" in the wings. They believe a favorable outcome in the POTUS election will swing open the doors and allow them to get to work in changing America.

A change that can only come about if the rest of this country remains stagnant and ignorant.

The warning signs are here.

With their faces concealed behind white cloths and sunglasses, dozens of protesters marched down the streets of downtown Nashville this weekend chanting “Sieg Heil” and “Deportation saves the nation.”

09/07/2024

The next time certain people screech about "the border", and how President Joe Biden is allowing "floods" of migrants into America, (something Donald Trump would never allow), toss this into their gaping maws and just walk away.

Oh, and remind them about Congressional Republicans who have blocked any attempt to better control the border at the command of Trump and his acolytes.

Why Democrats don't just hammer away with the facts in this and so many issues, LOUDLY, is beyond comprehension. Not that it would make much difference to the cultists, but it's worth a try.

Both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have pledged to return more migrants to their home countries, with differing approaches as immigration has emerged as a top issue in the coming U.S. election rematch.

08/07/2024

A former US Marine and Florida police office now a leading figure in the and spread across America and around the world.

And here you though it was all "bad actors" in and , didn't you?

The #1 request I get for speaking engagements and education comes from Fortune 500 companies, , businesses seeking to change the leadership and daily of their environment, and plenty of colleges who need to pound away on the reality of and the damage it causes to personal and professional .

Let's talk about how we will change the culture in every facet of your organization, simply by confronting the real facts and creating a society that stops being lazy.

Let's face this issue head-on, without fear or favor.

Leave it to several excellent news journalists to show Americans how they've been taken for suckers and used as pawns every single day in the fight against what is the real "fake news". This as every reputable news network is falling over themselves to report the latest on completely unsubstantiated...

08/07/2024

Hey Baby Boomers! You ***ed it all up, and now we're all stuck.

Basically the thinking of Ray Dalio, the billionaire hedge fund investor who founded Bridgewater Associates.

Dalio is part of that BB era, and not afraid to take his own generation to task.

He's correct on every point.

The reason we're here at the intersection of Disaster Blvd. and How Did We Get Here St. is the absolutely horrendous mismanagement, hubris, arrogance and greed of the Baby Boomer generation. Where once America could raise it's collective head proudly with The Greatest Generation, who fought valiantly for true causes, we are now living the leftovers from The Greed Generation, who fights textual battles on social media over complete nonsense.

The Greed Generation has already filtered down to succeeding generations, polluting what could have been ideals of excellence into a whiny band of social and political lemmings.

We can all seek to find the root cause of why we're facing another Biden-Trump battle, why this nation is so divided, why we're stuck in a culture of butthurt rage and smugness.

All a certain group has to do is look in the mirror.

Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio said decades of ‘chronically horrendous leadership’ has now reached an apex in the form of Joe Biden and Donald Trump

07/07/2024

An absolutely brilliant and well-researched treatise on what life will be like under a second Trump Administration. Sadly, it won't be read by most Americans as they have a 30 second limit on reading skills.

For those who continue to spew propaganda about what life in America has been like these last few years, what will happen under Trump 2 should scare the s*** out of everyone.

The dollar will decline, Europe will rise, and Asia will nuclearize.

07/07/2024

Elon Musk is truly a blight on society, in so many ways. While he seeks to undermine American democracy, he's busy destroying the environment to make a buck, and the US Government is helping.

Here's the first few paragraphs from a NY Times story today entitled "Wildlife Protections take a Back Seat to SpaceX's Ambitions". If you van find the entire article without paying for it, or have a subscription, I recommend you take in the entire investigation.

Musk is a cancer. Why anyone would put a penny in the pocket of this despicable cur is beyond intelligence.

"As Elon Musk’s Starship — the largest rocket ever manufactured — successfully blasted toward the sky last month, the launch was hailed as a giant leap for SpaceX and the United States’ civilian space program.

Two hours later, once conditions were deemed safe, a team from SpaceX, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and a conservation group began canvassing the fragile migratory bird habitat surrounding the launch site.

The impact was obvious.

The launch had unleashed an enormous burst of mud, stones and fiery debris across the public lands encircling Mr. Musk’s $3 billion space compound. Chunks of sheet metal and insulation were strewn across the sand flats on one side of a state park. Elsewhere, a small fire had ignited, leaving a charred patch of park grasslands — remnants from the blastoff that burned 7.5 million pounds of fuel.

Most disturbing to one member of the entourage was the yellow smear on the soil in the same spot that a bird’s nest lay the day before. None of the nine nests recorded by the nonprofit Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program before the launch had survived intact.

Egg yolk now stained the ground.

“The nests have all been messed up or have eggs missing,” Justin LeClaire, a Coastal Bend wildlife biologist, told a Fish and Wildlife inspector as a New York Times reporter observed nearby.

The outcome was part of a well-documented pattern.

On at least 19 occasions since 2019, SpaceX operations have caused fires, leaks, explosions or other problems associated with the rapid growth of Mr. Musk’s complex in Boca Chica. These incidents have caused environmental damage and reflect a broader debate over how to balance technological and economic progress against protections of delicate ecosystems and local communities."

06/07/2024

Another lesson in why so many people don't trust the . And in this case, they should never again trust Andrea Lawful-Sanders to be an impartial and fair . Because she's not.

She's the "host" of a radio/podcast on what we in the radio business used to call a "lightbulb" station. 1000 watts during the day and, after the sun sets, barely enough power to be heard across the street.

Lawful-Sanders is not a journalist. She is merely a "host", of which there are multitudes now thanks to and . Her bio claims she has helped adults and kids thru difficult times, and if true, she deserves a measure of thanks for the undertaking. But while she claims to have an undergraduate degree in , and not listing the educational institution that granted her the degree, she is nothing close to being a journalist.

Which is likely why the Administration offered her an interview with the President, as the radio station carrying her show broadcasts to an urban audience, and also flies under the radar of major media.

She claims that before her interview with the , she was given approved questions to ask by the White House, which she approved. No self-respecting real journalist would ever accept such conditions. However, as the "host" of a show seeking publicity, clicks and national mention, they went with the demand. This was not done to further a news story or to ask serious questions. It was done for a level of fame.

It also does not speak well to the Biden Administration, where they seek to control interviews. They are wrong in doing so, and she is wrong in allowing herself to be used in such a manner and fail miserably to ask real, probing questions in a rare interview opportunity. She was used, and allowed herself to be so. That is why, as a journalist, she and others like her should not be trusted. They only make things worse for those solid journalists seeking to do something meaningful.

Joe Biden’s team provided a list of questions to a radio host who interviewed the president this week in the aftermath of his debate performance, the host told CNN.

06/07/2024

Here's why Democrats, unless they wise up quickly, are on the path to sure-fire defeat in the 2024 election.

Their leaders and elected officials are all scrambling to weigh in on the health or Joe Biden, without any medical evidence, only what they can see and opine upon.

Meantime, the RNC and the MAGA-backed Right Wing is gleefully moving ahead with their plans for Project 2025, a blueprint based on turning America into a white-oriented Christian nation where the government employs SCOTUS-backed authority that will become the law of the land.

Not a peep out of these so-called Democratic "leaders". Every single one of them just helping the biased media on both sides to focus on unsubstantiated health claims.

Wait, you mean you haven't heard of Project 2025? That's because the press in America is busying driving an agenda instead of digging deep into what will unquestionably shatter American democracy.

Donald Trump, the man who could never tell a lie, insists he knows nothing about it. This despite his close and long-standing ties to the MAGA-centric "Heritage Foundation" that pushed the agenda and has been planning it since the first Trump Administration.

We can certainly believe Trump, yes? The man has been so honest with the American people his entire life, and most certainly over the last 8 years.

Th RNC and their allies are excellent at this type of subterfuge. They've been getting away with it dating back to the Tea Party.

Heads up, kids. Do your homework. Tell your leaders enough with the nonsense and focus on the coming storm.

The leader of a conservative think tank planning for a massive overhaul of the federal government says we are in the midst of “a second American Revolution” that will be bloodless “if the left allows it to be.”