Meanwhile in other news…
‘Kill or Be Killed’: Inside the Ad Boycotts and Power Transfers Shaping the New Fox News
Just as the coordinated ad boycott was gaining steam against Carlson, Fox News was preparing to host its first-ever upfront pitch to more than 100 advertisers. At the presentation, Fox’s president of ad sales Marianne Gambelli touted the news division and high ratings of primetime. She even spun those shows as a safe space for advertisers: “Our audience chooses our opinion programing because they trust the hosts and the content – making it a safe environment for your brand messaging,” Gambelli said, according to a transcript obtained by Mediaite.
The flight of national advertisers from the primetime lineup means commercial breaks resemble the talk radio model, one source familiar with the matter told Mediaite. That means fewer Mercedes ads, more direct-to-sale catheter commercials, My Pillow spots and in-house promos — all of which bring in far less revenue.
Greg Sargent/WaPo:
The Trump scam has officially hit rock bottom
Thus, the narrative Trumpworld is spinning is that, in attacking McCain, Trump is standing up for his voters, by going after a symbol of the GOP elites he campaigned against and of the deep-state forces working against the will of those voters, and those who blocked him from delivering on his health-care promises.
My intention here is not to defend or exalt McCain, but rather to look at what all this says about what a con this whole presidency really is.
TRUMP’S LATEST TWEET COULD HAND THE ELECTION TO NETANYAHU IN ISRAEL
With a single tweet, President Donald Trump turned what was once a right-wing Israeli fantasy into reality with his announcement that it was time for the U.S. to recognize Israel’s control of the Golan Heights.
Trump’s call undercuts the United Nations’ prohibition against conquering and annexing another country’s sovereign territory, and comes about two weeks before Israelis head to the polls to determine which party will head the next government.
What on Earth is going on with Brexit now? Britain’s ongoing drama, explained.
If you are confused about Brexit, you are certainly not alone. Britain’s path toward leaving the European Union is complicated and confounding — full of forks, U-turns and more than a few dead ends. Even seasoned Brexit watchers have been left at a loss for words.
Over the past few months, British Prime Minister Theresa May has lost two historic votes on the exit plan she reached in negotiations with E.U. representatives. (But she has also survived not one but two confidence votes — a sign, perhaps, of how few people envy her position.) And in March, Parliament’s speaker evoked a rule from 1604 to stop members from voting on it a third time, forcing May to seek an extension until June 30. However, on March 21, E.U. leaders only gave her until April 12 to either pass her deal or come up with an alternative.
Confused? Read on.
Paul Krugman/NY Times:
Don’t Make Health Care a Purity Test
There are multiple ways to achieve universal coverage.
On the other side, there’s “Medicare for America,” originally a proposal from the Center for American Progress, now embodied in legislation. While none of the announced Democratic candidates has endorsed this proposal yet [Beto has, iirc], it’s a good guess that most of them will come around to something similar.
The big difference from a Sanders-type plan is that people would be allowed to keep private coverage if they chose — but they or their employers would also have the option of buying into an enhanced version of Medicare, with substantial subsidies for lower- and middle-income families.
The most important thing you need to know about these rival plans is that both of them would do the job.
Monkey Cage/WaPo:
Counties that hosted a 2016 Trump rally saw a 226 percent increase in hate crimes
Does Trump’s political rhetoric have a measurable link to reported hate crime and extremist activity?
We examined this question, given that so many politicians and pundits accuse Trump of emboldening white nationalists. White nationalist leaders seem to agree, as leaders including Richard Spencer and David Dukehave publicly supported Trump’s candidacy and presidency, even if they still criticize him for not going far enough. The New Zealand shooter even referred to Trump as a “renewed symbol of white identity.”
So, do attitudes like these have real world consequences? Recent research on far-right groups suggests that they do, especially when these attitudes are embraced and encourage by peers. Specifically, the quantity of neo-Nazi and racist skinhead groups active in a state leads to increased reports of hate crimes within that state.