Nielsen Media Research reports CNN ratings suffered a major collapse in May, while Fox News Channel continues to dominate the cable news wars.
In ratings data released Wednesday by Nielsen Media Research, FNC extended its run of consecutive months at number one to a staggering 197, while building hitting another impressive milestone: Fox News Channel has now beaten every other network in basic cable for 23 months straight, based on total day ratings, with an average total day audience in May of 1.4 million viewers.
In prime time, Fox News destroyed its competition, with an average total audience of 2.381 million viewers, compared to MSNBC’s 1.384 million and CNN’s 835,000. Among viewers 25-54, the group most coveted by advertisers, FNC shook off a challenge in recent months from MSNBC to claim a clear victory: 461,000 viewers, well ahead of MSNBC (329,000) and CNN (265,000).
Of all the cable news networks, CNN experienced the biggest decline in primetime viewership, down a full 25 percent in May.
Fox News’ Sean Hannity averaged 3.261 million viewers per evening, while Rachel Maddow of MSNBC took a distant second with 2.627 million.
As reported by Breitbart News’ Editor-at-Large John Nolte, CNN’s highest-rated program, Anderson Cooper 360, attracted fewer viewers than all Fox News programs after 6:00 am EST for the month of April.
CNN’s second-highest-rated program, Erin Burnett OutFront, had only 965,00 total viewers, putting the show in 27th place.
NEW YORK — The sudden, massive barrage of potentially deadly rocket and mortar fire from the Gaza Strip is a transparent attempt by Iran to utilize its Gaza proxies to advance Iran’s own aims inside Syria.
Notably, the attacks from Gaza were reportedly carried out in large part by the Iran-backed Islamic Jihad terrorist organization, which could not possibly have launched a rocket campaign of that magnitude against the Jewish state without a greenlight from their controllers in Tehran. Hamas took joint responsibility for the attacks, but according to numerous sources, Gaza’s Islamist rulers were not the ringleaders.
The rare barrage saw an estimated 180 projectiles fired into Israel within 24 hours, including mass produced Iranian shells that the Israel Defense Forces say were smuggled into Gaza. One of the rockets hit an Israeli kindergarten before schoolkids were due to arrive.
The Jerusalem Postreported on the extent of the attacks:
Three soldiers and several civilians were wounded by the Gazan salvos and evacuated to a hospital. One soldier was moderately wounded in his legs, while the other two sustained light injuries, the army said.
Earlier in the day, a man was lightly wounded in the head by mortar-shell fragments. Another man in Sderot suffered bruises while running for shelter, and another two suffered from shock. One Israeli was lightly wounded by the morning mortar barrage and was taken to Soroka-University Medical Center in Beersheba in light condition with a shrapnel wound to his hand.
At least 25 mortars from the barrages launched in the morning were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile-defense system, the IDF said. Several others struck open areas.
Israel struck back by targeting dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror installations in Gaza. An Egypt-brokered ceasefire appeared to have taken effect by Wednesday evening in Israel.
Islamic Jihad initially claimed the barrage was “revenge” for the IDF’s elimination of three of its terrorists who were killed while attempting a border attack earlier this week. Putting aside the distorted logic of “revenge” for an attack that Islamic Jihad itself initiated, the Iran-backed terrorist group’s excuse simply doesn’t fly. The sheer volume of the projectile attacks — the largest volley since the 2014 Israel-Gaza War — was too great for a tit-for-tat “revenge” exchange. The purpose was pure escalation.
IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Ronen Manelis pointed a finger at Iran while stopping short of directly blaming the mullahs. “The Palestinian Islamic Jihad organization is a terrorist organization that is based on Iranian ideology and funding, and today it used Iranian-made weapons,” he said.
Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, the former director-general of Israel’s Strategic Affairs Ministry and former chief of the research division in Military Intelligence, went further, saying the attacks were “encouraged by the Iranians.”
There can be little doubt that the attacks were directed by Iran, which stands to gain the most from the attacks. It is in the strategic interests of Hamas to avoid a larger confrontation with the IDF. Hamas, which has reportedly been attempting for months to secure a long-term ceasefire, cannot afford another costly war with Israel. Already the terrorist organization is teetering on the brink after its border riots failed to achieve much, and there is widespread and growing anger in Gaza over the territory’s all but collapsed economy. However, since Hamas is cash-strapped and needs Iranian patronage, it wouldn’t dare oppose Iran’s short-term designs to heat up Israel’s southern border.
Iran has been humiliated and strategically devastated by Israel’s repeated strikes against Iran-run military bases in Syria, and has been feeling the pressure.
Today, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman is on his way to Moscow amid widespread reports that Israel and Russia are finalizing a deal that would see Iran-backed forces removed from the area of Israel’s border with Syria. If the deal is finalized, Iran would lose its foothold along the border, positions that have been the source of one of Tehran’s main threats against the Jewish state. Iran could be using the Gaza card as a pressure point to secure more from the negotiations.
Iran has been suffering on other fronts. One report claimed that Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has restricted the Iranian military from using the regime’s air force hangers for fear of further Israeli strikes. Regardless of the accuracy of that report, the Iranians are clearly desperate to secure their remaining positions in Syria following scores of major Israeli bombing raids.
The IDF released satellite photos showing the devastation its warplanes wreaked on Iranian bases during the bombing campaign earlier this month that marked the largest IDF action inside Syria since the 1973 Yom Kippur War. This after Iranian forces in Syria fired a volley of around 20 rockets aimed at IDF positions on the Golan Heights — the first time Iran was accused of directly rocketing Israel.
There have since been more airstrikes in Syria attributed to Israel targeting Iran-run bases. The volleys started after Iran brazenly dispatched an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) into Israeli territory in February before it was quickly shot down by the Israeli military. An IDF investigation revealed the Iranian drone, sent from the Iran-run T-4 airbase in Syria, was carrying explosives and seemingly deployed to attack an Israeli target.
Iran doesn’t want more Israeli bombardments in Syria, so it must be careful not to provoke another fierce response. Instead, Iran seems to be acting to divert Israel’s attention to the Gaza Strip. It is likely heating up the southern border, perhaps even briefly, as both retaliation and a signal to Israel that Iranian proxies can be turned on at will. For now.
Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio.” Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook.
An evangelist famous for preaching the “prosperity gospel” wants donations so he can buy a $54 million private jet. He claims to have been given this edict from the heavens above.
According to MSN, “Louisiana-based televangelist Jesse Duplantis raised eyebrows Tuesday when he said God told him he needs a new jet.” Duplantis then asked his followers from around the globe to send him donations for this divinely-inspired jet that costs more than just a widow’s offering.
What could have possibly spurned the Almighty to direct His angelic legions away from the aiding of huddled masses to bestow unto Mr. Duplantis the wisdom to know of this most providential jet? Nothing really, except for the fact that his previous private jet is now 12 years old and can’t fit nearly as many passengers or fly nearly as fast as the new Falcon 7X.
Mr. Duplantis also cited Scripture to justify this heavenly jet, saying that if Jesus were on Earth today, he’d trade out the donkey for his one of those Falcon 7Xs. “He’d be in an airplane preaching the gospel flying all over the world,” he said.
Indeed, the Son of God, the Christ who changed water into wine, who walked on water, who has the power to instantly transport to anywhere in the world, would be so humble that He would ask His followers to donate $54 million in order to fly around in a private jet. Imagine the cheering multitudes gathered on the runway as He emerged from the cockpit exclaiming, “I am the way, the truth, and the life!”
People would definitely believe him.
And speaking of belief, Duplantis told his followers that God whispered unto his disbelieving ears, “I want you to believe in me for a Falcon 7X.”
Naturally, Duplantis worried about the price, but God reprimanded him, saying, “Jesse, I didn’t ask you to pay for it, I asked you to believe for it.” And by believe for it, God surely meant for Mr. Duplantis to ask his followers for donations. He has done this as many as three times “for God.”
“I used them — and just burning them up for the Lord Jesus Christ,” Duplantis told his followers. “You know, some people believe that preachers shouldn’t have jets. I really believe preachers ought to go on every available voice, every available outlet to get this gospel preached to the world.”
“I like all people to know exactly what I’m doing in this ministry; we don’t hide nothing whatsoever at all. … I can’t live long enough to travel by car, or by ship, or by train, but I can do it by an airplane. … I don’t want to learn how to fly it, I’m not interested in that. I’m interested in preaching the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
As noted by MSN, Duplantis has preached the Joel Osteen brand of “prosperity gospel,” teaching people that money to pastors and ministries is an investment. On TBN, he has also stated that God even blesses people who please him with material wealth.
“The televangelist was investigated in 2010 for a $3 million tax-free house serving as a church rectory that was paid for through non-taxable donations as legally he was not permitted to take the donations for personal use,” reports MSN. “His flight records show he took thousands of trips on his private planes.”
On this week’s Did She Say That, Sonnie Johnson compares Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan to progressive activist Linda Sarsour, whose strain of radical Islam, Sonnie argues, is much more dangerous than Farrakhan’s. “The opposite of Farrakhan is Linda Sarsour, and under Linda Sarsour is Sharia law,” Sonnie explains, building on a point she made in a recent podcast about how progressive Democrats align themselves with anti-Israel Islamic activists and seek to indoctrinate young black leaders into their causes. In addition, Sonnie explains why creating for profit business ventures in the black community is much more beneficial than starting up non-profit organizations. She also offers her opinion on the recent controversy at a Kendrick Lamar concert when a white fan was booed for using the n-word while rapping the lyrics to “m.A.A.d city.”
Sonnie Johnson is the host of the weekly Breitbart podcast Did She Say That with Sonnie Johnson. She is the host of Sonnie’s Corner on SiriusXM Patriot 125, Saturdays at 1 p.m. (Eastern). Follow her on Twitter @SonnieJohnson.
Several recent polls, plus the popularity of Sen. Bernie Sanders, demonstrate that young people prefer socialism to free market capitalism. That, I believe, is a result of their ignorance and indoctrination during their school years, from kindergarten through college. For the most part, neither they nor many of their teachers and professors know what free market capitalism is.
Free market capitalism, wherein there is peaceful voluntary exchange, is morally superior to any other economic system. Why? Let’s start with my initial premise. All of us own ourselves. I am my private property, and you are yours. Murder, rape, theft and the initiation of violence are immoral because they violate self-ownership. Similarly, the forcible use of one person to serve the purposes of another person, for any reason, is immoral because it violates self-ownership.
Tragically, two-thirds to three-quarters of the federal budget can be described as Congress taking the rightful earnings of one American to give to another American — using one American to serve another. Such acts include farm subsidies, business bailouts, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, welfare and many other programs.
Free market capitalism is disfavored by many Americans — and threatened — not because of its failure but, ironically, because of its success. Free market capitalism in America has been so successful in eliminating the traditional problems of mankind — such as disease, pestilence, hunger and gross poverty — that all other human problems appear both unbearable and inexcusable. The desire by many Americans to eliminate these so-called unbearable and inexcusable problems has led to the call for socialism. That call includes equality of income, sex and race balance, affordable housing and medical care, orderly markets, and many other socialistic ideas.
Let’s compare capitalism with socialism by answering the following questions: In which areas of our lives do we find the greatest satisfaction, and in which do we find the greatest dissatisfaction? It turns out that we seldom find people upset with and in conflict with computer and clothing stores, supermarkets, and hardware stores. We do see people highly dissatisfied with and often in conflict with boards of education, motor vehicles departments, police and city sanitation services.
What are the differences? For one, the motivation for the provision of services of computer and clothing stores, supermarkets, and hardware stores is profit. Also, if you’re dissatisfied with their services, you can instantaneously fire them by taking your business elsewhere. It’s a different matter with public education, motor vehicles departments, police and city sanitation services. They are not motivated by profit at all. Plus, if you’re dissatisfied with their service, it is costly and in many cases even impossible to fire them.
A much larger and totally ignored question has to do with the brutality of socialism. In the 20th century, the one-party socialist states of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Germany under the National Socialist German Workers’ Party and the People’s Republic of China were responsible for the murder of 118 million citizens, mostly their own. The tallies were: USSR 62 million, Nazi Germany 21 million and PRC 35 million. No such record of brutality can be found in countries that tend toward free market capitalism.
Here’s an experiment for you. List countries according to whether they are closer to the free market capitalist or to the socialist/communist end of the economic spectrum. Then rank the countries according to per capita gross domestic product. Finally, rank the countries according to Freedom House’s “Freedom in the World” report. You will find that people who live in countries closer to the free market capitalist end of the economic spectrum not only have far greater wealth than people who live in countries toward the socialistic/communist end but also enjoy far greater human rights protections.
As Dr. Thomas Sowell says, “socialism sounds great. It has always sounded great. And it will probably always continue to sound great. It is only when you go beyond rhetoric, and start looking at hard facts, that socialism turns out to be a big disappointment, if not a disaster.”
Jim Acosta Throws a Tantrum: Kim Kardashian Shouldn’t be Talking at the White House (VIDEO)
by Cristina Laila May 30, 2018
CNN’s resident crybaby, Jim Acosta said Wednesday Kim Kardashian shouldn’t be at the White House discussing prison reform.
Strange, Jim Acosta never complained about Jay-Z, Justin Beiber, Katy Perry or any other vapid celebrities who met with Barack Obama.
Kim Kardashian West headed to the White House Wednesday to address prison reform.
The reality star headed to the White House Wednesday to request President Trump pardon a 62-year-old great grandmother serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for a first-time drug offense, reported Vanity Fair.
Cosmopolitan Jim Acosta didn’t approve!
“Forget about the fact that Kim Kardashian is here at the White House today and what planet that is anything resembling normal because it’s not. She shouldn’t be here talking about prison reform. It’s very nice that she is here but that’s not a serious thing to have happen here at the White House,” Acosta said.
Kim Kardashian West visiting the White House to discuss prison reform is more productive than Jim Acosta shouting out questions about the Russian collusion hoax.
Perhaps if Kardashian sauntered over to the White House to lecture Trump on eating two scoops of ice cream, CNN would have approved.
VIDEO:
Comments
As a privately owned web site, we reserve the right to edit or remove comments that contain spam, advertising, vulgarity, threats of violence, racism, anti-Semitism, or personal/abusive attacks on other users. The same applies to trolling, the use of multiple aliases, or just generally being a jerk. Enforcement of this policy is at the sole discretion of the site administrators and repeat offenders may be blocked or permanently banned without warning. Guest posting is disabled for security reasons.
Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley tore into the U.N. Security Council Wednesday for failing to condemn Hamas rocket attacks against Israel, calling it "outrageous" and "the height of hypocrisy."
The U.S. called for an emergency session of the Security Council following Tuesday’s rocket attacks against Israel by Hamas, the Islamist terror group governing the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military said Hamas fired 70 rockets and mortars into Israel; one mortar hit a kindergarten yard. Israel responded with airstrikes on 35 Gaza targets.
Kuwait, a non-member state, blocked the attempt by the U.S. to have the Security Council condemn Hamas.
"It is outrageous for the Security Council to fail to condemn Hamas rocket attacks against Israeli civilians, while the Human Rights Council approves sending a team to investigate Israeli actions taken in self-defense," Haley said. "I urge the members of the Security Council to exercise at least as much scrutiny of the Hamas terrorist group as it does to Israel’s legitimate right of self-defense."
To ignore Hamas’ actions and expect Israel to sit on its hands while being attacked, Haley said, was "the height of hypocrisy."
"As I have asked my colleagues before, I will ask you again today: Who among us would accept 70 rockets launched into your country?" Haley said. "We all know the answer to that. No one would."
As she has done previously, Haley called out the U.N. for what she often describes as a clear double standard regarding Israel.
"You might think that the rest of the Security Council would join us in condemning a terrorist organization like Hamas," Haley said. "There shouldn’t be any debate about this, but of course, because this attack is about Israel, the standard is different."
"Apparently, some council members did not think Hamas launching rockets qualified as terrorism," she added. "The United States begs to differ."
Haley also forcefully defended Israel on May 15 following its response to violent riots in Gaza and attempts to breach the border, saying no country in the chamber would have acted with more restraint.
Haley called Hamas’ rocket fire on Tuesday "indiscriminate," noting there were several injured in Israel but thankfully no deaths.
"The horrifying damage that could have been done is unthinkable," she said.
Haley called Hamas’ attacks a clear escalation of violence with the obvious desire to cause maximum civilian casualties. The organization’s stated purpose of Israel’s destruction is clear, she said, with its rocket attacks, construction of terror tunnels and incitement of violence at the border, the latter to provoke a response from Israel and bring about a predictable international outrage.
"Hamas’ actions prove the falsehood of the idea that the people of Gaza require international protection," Haley said. "The people of Gaza do not need protection from an external source. The people of Gaza need protection from Hamas."
On Wednesday, President Trump signed the “right-to-try” bill, which now permits terminally ill patients to gain access to experimental medical treatments not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The bill was staunchly supported by Trump and Vice President Pence, along with congressional Republicans. In March 2015, Pence, then governor of Indiana, signed a similar bill into law.
Indiana’s law permitted physicians in the state to prescribe a drug that had passed the first phase of the FDA’s three-phase clinical trial process. The three stages work like this: Phase 1 trials are implemented on between 20 to 80 healthy patients to determine their safety and what is a safe dose. Phase 2 trials involve between 100 and 300 people who could gain from the drug therapy; phase 3 trials involve the testing of hundreds and sometimes thousands of patients who would benefit.
As he signed the bill, accompanied by terminally ill patients and their families, Trump stated, “Thousands of terminally ill Americans will finally have hope, and the fighting chance, and I think it’s going to better than a chance, that they will be cured, they will be helped, and be able to be with their families for a long time, or maybe just for a longer time.”
Democrats and public health groups have opposed the bill, arguing that patients would be endangered.
Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said, “FDA oversight of access to experimental treatments exists for a reason — it protects patients from potential snake oil salesmen or from experimental treatments that might do more harm than good.”
But Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) and health subcommittee chairman Michael Burgess (R-Texas) countered, “While a long time coming, today is a monumental win for patients desperately seeking the ‘right to try’ investigational treatments and therapies. With ‘right to try’ being the law of the land, we are confident that the Trump Administration, and FDA Commissioner [Scott] Gottlieb, will take both congressional intent and the safety of patients into consideration when implementing this important law.”
Ikea, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and the University of Maryland Medical System have been added to a lawsuit which alleges certain companies routinely use Facebook advertisement targeting to exclude older people from job applications.
According to the Chicago Tribune, the Communications Workers of America “added claims under California’s fair employment and unfair competition statutes to the lawsuit, which was initially filed in December.”
“The Communications Workers of America is suing on behalf of union members and other job seekers who allegedly missed out on employment opportunities because companies used Facebook’s ad tools to target people of other ages,” the Chicago Tribune explained. “The original filing named defendants are Amazon.com Inc., Cox Media Group, Cox Communications Inc. and T-Mobile, as well as what the union estimates to be hundreds of employers and employment agencies who used Facebook’s tools to filter out older job hunters when seeking to fill positions.”
“When Facebook’s own algorithm disproportionately directs ads to younger workers at the exclusion of older workers, Facebook and the advertisers who are using Facebook as an agent to send their advertisements are engaging in disparate treatment,” the complaint declared.
Last year, Amazon, Verizon, Goldman Sachs, Target, and Facebook itself were accused by ProPublica of using the practice to exclude certain demographics.
Despite the fact that Washington employment lawyer Debra Katz claimed the practice was “blatantly unlawful,” Facebook disagreed, arguing it was “an accepted industry practice.”
“In the last year ProPublica has uncovered a number of different flaws in our advertising systems. Several of them were serious failures on our part. It’s why we apologized and took immediate action to prevent them in future,” declared Facebook Vice President Rob Goldman in a statement. “Today ProPublica has raised new concerns about companies, including our own marketing team, using Facebook to show recruitment ads to specific age groups. We have carefully reviewed their concerns — and this time we disagree.”
“First, our own advertisements. Facebook tailors our employment ads by audience. For example, we may use pictures of women or older people depending on the context. These individual ads are part of broader-based recruitment efforts designed to reach all ages and all backgrounds,” Goldman expressed. “We completely reject the allegation that these advertisements are discriminatory.”
Comments
As a privately owned web site, we reserve the right to edit or remove comments that contain spam, advertising, vulgarity, threats of violence, racism, anti-Semitism, or personal/abusive attacks on other users. The same applies to trolling, the use of multiple aliases, or just generally being a jerk. Enforcement of this policy is at the sole discretion of the site administrators and repeat offenders may be blocked or permanently banned without warning. Guest posting is disabled for security reasons.